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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 20:22:45 GMT -5
Skylos turned around and startled. Someone had seen them...? But he seemed to know something. "Who are you?" Skylos tried to inquire calmly...Of course that was quite hard because Omni was down... And he didn't look close to waking up either.
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 20:39:06 GMT -5
"Me? I'm just your friendly inter-temporal tour guide," the man answered with a wink, then sauntered over to Omni. "Now, without any further ado... ah good, I've got a little bit of power to work with here..." He placed a hand upon Omni's forehead. Nothing visible happened for a few seconds, but then Omni would quite suddenly wake up, fine again. Still now power... but somehow he'd be able to live without it. For the moment. "Wakey-wakey, Mister Pantech," the man chuckled. "Oh, I suppose you'll all be wanting a name to call me by. Let's go with... Thascalos. Yes, that works." He straightened once more.
Yamiken raised an eyebrow. "I see..." Thascalos? That sounds Greek... but I don't know Greek as well as I do Latin. Hm.
Naga just stood back a bit now that Omni seemed to be better. He was a bit taken aback too. He wondered if this 'Thascalos' intended to offer any explanations...
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 20:48:47 GMT -5
Omni looked up. "Oh. Hello." Omni said, quite fine. He looked at the others. "Why so grim? You look like someone just died." Omni chuckled and got up. "Hmm. Thascalos? Good to meet you. But how did you get here, exactly? You seem an anachronism."
Skylos just bit his lip, unsure what to think.
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 20:55:46 GMT -5
Thascalos gave a bit of a snort and smirked at them. "Look who's talking," he responded. "At least I was alive at this time, in a manner of speaking." He took a look around their surroundings. "Ah, but on that note we're starting to draw looks. Come, let's find somewhere a bit more private... I know just the place." Gesturing for them to follow him, he started leading them down the street in the direction of the town centre.
Yamiken glanced at Omni, as if to check he were really alright, then shook his head and followed. This is most bizarre. Naga followed as well, looking troubled. He supposed he'd have to wait for his explanation...
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 21:09:17 GMT -5
Omni looked to Yamiken and mouthed 'I'm fine' to him. There really was no sense in scaring him, after all. He then followed to find out what was going on.
Skylos just wanted to know where and when they were. But based on what was said...It had to have been a very long time ago.
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 21:14:40 GMT -5
Eventually, after about a quarter of an hour of walking, they reached an abandoned property, its windows boarded up and its door hanging open. It was into this somewhat decaying two-storey house that Thascalos led them. Once through the front door, he took the first left into a sitting room which still had a pair of dusty sofas and some other, wooden chairs, if not much else. Thascalos grabbed one of thse chairs and sat down. "So then," he smiled pleasantly up at the other four as he gestured to the rest of the seating. "Take a seat and I'll explain a bit what's going on here."
Naga hesitated, then sat down at the end of one of the sofas. Yamiken chose to remain standing, leaning against the back of the same sofa and regarded Thascalos with a cool expression.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 21:17:06 GMT -5
Omni sat as well, giving him a plesant smile. "Ah. That would be nice. I'm quite interested to know what we've gotten ourselves into." What Zephyr got us into....
Skylos sat as well. He had nothing to add.
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 21:24:10 GMT -5
"Well... there's numerous interpretations I could offer as to your being here," Thascalos told them, cryptically. "But none or all of them could be true, so I'll stick to the bare facts version. The date..." He fished a rather cumbersome, old-fashioned watch out of his pocket and flipped it open. "... is 8th January, 1982, and we're in a suburb somewhere in England. Oxfordshire I believe. Possibly even Oxford itself. Lovely city. But that doesn't really tell you what you want to know." He closed the pocket watch again and put it away. "There's no simpler way of putting this - you're in an entirely different reality to your own. The one which came before that. Not yours," he cut Naga off. "There wasn't really any break in continuity between yours and the 'current' one. Nearly was, sure, but not on the same scale as the break between this one and yours."
Naga shut his mouth, eyebrows alternately rising and furrowing as he processed this. "I... see," he replied, sounding both fascinated and disturbed. "Then... what happened to my reality..."
Yamiken, for once in his life, was entirely speechless with awe. Another... reality? Before our own? And so similar too...!
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 21:34:08 GMT -5
Omni didn't seemed too shocked. Quite possibly, this only made him more excited... And to think they were blaming Maximilian! Just look at Omni all happy... Ahem.
Skylos blinked. "Before? Gosh...How many Realities have there been?"
Omni shrugged. "I don't remember. It's possible that I wasn't even around for some. For once, I'm stumped!" Omni grinned. Oh well. That was bound to happen one of these days...er...one of these past days? Now talk about confusing... "oh well. It's obvious that Sources haven't been invented. That's kind of...Ah. Distressing." He smirked.
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 21:41:24 GMT -5
"Oh, yes, magic was entirely different in this one," Thascalos related cheerfully. "Actually, it changed several times, but there's no need to go into that. At this stage it was still as it was made in the beginning, anyway - two sources, if you like, Light and Dark. But I won't go into the complex metaphysics." He winked. "Possibly that was even you, Omni, though rather different from how you are now, as your reaction to arriving here showed. But anyway." He addressed Skylos. "How many? Ah, I'm afraid that's a question which is impossible to answer. Infinite you could say. But then you could also say that this was the first. It's... ah... complicated. Best if we don't get into it, to be honest. It would take a while to explain, and please don't take any offence when I say you probably wouldn't understand it anyway. Einstein couldn't, and he's the smartest human being I've ever known, frankly. But anyway." Finally, turned to Naga. "And yes. That. That's the crux of why you're here. As you've correctly assumed, my friend, what nearly happened to your reality did happen, in its entirety, to this reality."
Yamiken found his voice again at last. "And what was that, pray tell?" he asked.
Thascalos looked at him and answered, quite mildly, "Why, it was destroyed, of course. Quite violently too." He said as though commenting on the weather.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 21:47:34 GMT -5
Omni chuckled. "I am the center of the universe, well, Reality, after all." Omni joked.
Skylos wasn't going to take offence... He was quite right. This was all...Whoa. It almost made his head hurt. But then he heard that last bit and his jaw dropped. "Destroyed? You mean like...every Terra... Every...uh."
"Series." Omni prompted. "Do they do that here?" Omni squinted. "I mean, I can remember when our Reality only had one Series...More are made every once in a blue moon and..." he trailed off. "That's not important here." He cleared his throat and smiled. "What caused this reality to be destroyed, exactly?"
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 21:53:58 GMT -5
"Yes, all of it," Thascalos nodded. "Oh, and they do have something like Series and Terrae here... it's a bit different, though. You're right, of course, it's not important. What is important is that it all vanished - and it's entirely one man's fault. Osric Pantera." He pronounced the name solemnly and looked at each of the four in his audience in turn. For some reason, his gaze lingered upon Yamiken a couple of seconds longer than the others...
Yamiken didn't notice this for once. He was too busy frowning. "Destroyed..." he muttered, then gave an uncharacteristic shudder. "What a terrible fate!"
Naga just gave a sad nod. "It's what nearly happened to mine," he related quietly. "In a way, it did happen; the different realms were saved, but the main universe... entirely reset. That was the beginning of your universe. Reality, I should say."
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 21:59:14 GMT -5
"Reset." Skylos repeated. Now that reminded him of something. "Why...That sounds like what a demon told me once."
That produced a rather shocked, then angry glance from Omni. But then, both of these emotions were gone and it was more of a puzzled look... In any case... "This Osric... What was his fate? Did he did along with the Reality that he destroyed? In fact...How did anyone survive?"
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 22:07:48 GMT -5
Naga started at what Skylos' said. Thascalos just laughed. "In a way, that's exactly what he meant," he assured Skylos with a wink in Naga's direction. He then turned back to Omni. "Ah yes, Osric, Osric, Osric... he really is the key to this entire affair. You see-"
"I remembered that name now!" Naga suddenly exclaimed. "It was..." He frowned. "The force which came out of the box... the chaos. It said it once had a name..."
"Bingo," Thascalos nodded with a smirk. "Yup, that's what became of our good friend Osric Pantera. The most brilliant mind, the most brilliant magician, of all time became the very antithesis of existence. He destroyed reality... but he persisted. And ever since reality was reborn, in that same instance after it was destroyed, he has sought to redo was he once did. And he very nearly succeeded in Naga's time."
Yamiken was quiet. The most brilliant mind... Did that fact have any significance, he wondered? Heh... maybe if it does then Omni is right to be so suspicious of Solus. If that, after all, is his destiny... to repeat what this Osric Pantera did...
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 22:20:52 GMT -5
"Box!" Skylos nearly jumped. Gosh...How had Skylos stumbled on to all of these topics of great importance?! True Demons, Dimension Stone, Time travling watch, a box...Well. He hadn't actually found that. Okugi went off on that quest... "Sorry. But I was just thinking of Pandora's Box. I recently met someone who said he was supposed to be guarding it, or something...But he lost his memory..."
Omni frowned slightly. "Is...Osric still around, even to this day?" Omni asked cautiously.
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 22:30:22 GMT -5
Thascalos gave Skylos a measured glance, then looked back at Omni. "Why of course," he answered. "But he's sealed outside reality. That seal has just one weakness... which manifests itself as none other than Pandora's Box."
"Which, fools we were, we opened," Naga lamented bitterly. "Our scientists discovered it... pah! They were sure they would control it, but how wrong they were! This is why I have always distrusted such people ever since..."
Yamiken finally voiced a question of his own... well, sort of. "You never answered Omni's question fully, Thascalos-san," he pointed out. "You didn't explain how anything survived Osric's destruction of this universe."
"Ah yes," Thascalos replied with a nod. "Well, again, the key is Osric himself. Two things survived along with him... one was Time. Well, that wouldn't have survived long on its own. But Time shall last as long as there is anything to perceive it, and as well as Osric himself there was something else... well. In a way it was another part of him. But it was the human part - the last, abandoned remnant of his goodness, humanity and compassion. I don't think to this day he is even aware of its existence... how reality was reborn is a mystery to him. But it was this remnant which drew upon Osric's memories, distilled all the best parts of his greatest rivals, and out of this created... well. In a way, it was a god, to be frank. Perhaps for more religiously sensitive ears we'll call it a guardian force. But whatever you wish to name it, this force recreated reality in such a way that it hoped there would be no repeat of Osric. It sealed Osric out, so that he could not destroy this reality too. And that was Naga's world." He paused there.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 22:38:24 GMT -5
Skylos paled slightly. It looked like they had a bigger problem then they could possibly imagine... In fact, he should find Okugi the next time he was free...
Omni shook his head. "It's not the science, it's the pride." Omni noted to Naga. "So this force is still around, I take it? Hmm." he scratched his chin. "Oh right. But why are we here, actually? I had almost forgotten our perdicament. I mean, we were sent to somewhere outside of known Power. Could we even get back by a Power that doesn't exist yet? I mean...I don't even remember how this Power works here...So it's not like I could get us back." He thumbed the demon necklace around his neck. Twenty-four out of twenty-five demon orbs were on it.
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 22:45:21 GMT -5
"Well... I said I'd keep to the pure facts version, but here's where I'll speculate a little," Thascalos told Omni. "I think you've been hi-jacked a little. Time... Time is by no means a simple. You can almost regard it as a sentient force in its own right on occasion. I'd say that by pulling you all back here it's trying to teach someone a lesson - that it, alone out of everything else, has persisted through the various realities." He smiled mildly. "Of course, that's just speculation." He paused, then continued, "Besides, there's a very relevant trial for Naga here. I'm surprised you haven't figured out what it is yet."
Naga considered this... then his eyes widened. "Don't tell me!" he gasped.
"Osric," Yamiken murmured, completing the thought. He still looked very pensive. "He's nearby, isn't he?"
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 22:49:35 GMT -5
"With our luck, he's in the next house over." Omni pointed out dryly.
"No no. With our luck, today is the day this Reality ends." Skylos countered with worse bad luck.
Omni chuckled. "So who's turn is it to hold someone down from changing history?"
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 23:03:31 GMT -5
"Oh, no, nothing like that," Thascalos chuckled dryly. "Oh no, you get an even bigger choice. You see, this is when Osric is still very young. In roughly... five minutes, the boy who will become Osric Pantera will be beaten up and turned by a gang of vampires whilst saving his half-brother. The scars left by this day will, in a couple of decades' time, germinate to make him the greatest megalomaniac history has ever known." His grin grew broader. "He'll then start a war. Having conquered this world, he'll attempt to invade other universes. This won't be enough, of course; he'll have to expand other ways, too. He'll send ships up into the skies, exploring this galaxy, and others; he himself will travel to alternate dimensions - other Series if you like - and spread his war to those. In a millennium's time, his great war, the most savage reality will ever have known, will have reached unprecedented scales and claimed billions of lives. And it doesn't end there." He gave another dry chuckle. "I could go on, but I think you get the point. By killing Osric today, you'd not just prevent reality being destroyed not once, but twice, but you'd be preventing the greatest war history has ever known - not to mention several genocides, planet-wide experiments of a hideous nature and the enslavement of the peoples of worlds without count. That is what you can prevent by altering history this day. I think it's quite fair to say that this is the most momentous event you've been given the chance to intervene in on your little Odyssey through time." He gave them another mild smile. "But of course, intervene and none of you will ever be born. Well, except for you, Omni... in a way. But nonetheless."
Naga just sat there, stunned by this speech. Everything I could prevent... just by... what? I wouldn't even have to kill him from the sound of things... just... well, rescue him! Should I...?
Yamiken was also silent. Another disturbing parallel had occurred to him in this account... but no. That was... foolish. Entirely different things... he refused to consider it.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 23:15:56 GMT -5
Skylos felt like an anchor had been dropped on him...Well not one anchor...About six billion. "But...Even if..." Skylos couldn't find the words.
Omni frowned. "I like living... I'm sure everyone does as well. But what we are today is based on what the people before us were. We may not be them entirely, but we are shaped by one another, no matter if we didn't know who that person was. You can learn from people through books...learn how they were, learn from their mistakes. To change a point in history, even this monumental moment, would be denying that we are imperfect beings. yes, this awful occurrence did happen, and it will happen. But it's this knowledge that should be passed on so that it does not happen again. In fact, changing it means nothing." Omni looked at Yamiken. "You are trying to to take all terra for yourself. Perhaps your goal is not to destroy everything, and comparing something like this would only pale in comparison, but my point is that just because it did happen once, doesn't mean that it won't happen again. We can change something, but that doesn't guarantee that what we do does anything. The lesson is lost, and ignorance is carried onto the future. Besides." Omni started again. "By changing the timeline, you, Naga, would be responsible for the deaths of everyone from when you changed history, up until what we know as the present. Are you willing to sacrifice the people you do know, for the ones you have never met and shouldn't exist? Are you willing to kill yourself for something that does not concern you in the first place?"
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 7, 2010 23:34:32 GMT -5
Naga looked defensive. "It wouldn't be the same as killing them," he muttered. "They'd just never exist in the first place. And all the people who would've died-"
"No," Yamiken broke in, "Omni's absolutely right. We've no guarantee our action will change anything. Who's to say, for example, that another man like Osric Pantera wouldn't come along and do exactly the same thing if we're to stop it happening now? What if this other man succeeds entirely where Osric at least partially failed? Our history is not, has never been and never ever shall be perfect, but it is still our history, and if some of it could have happened for the better, a lot of it could quite easily have happened for the worse. No, we can't meddle here. We must do as we've done in each of the other places, and do nothing whatsoever. Indeed, this time, I have to say I feel no compulsion to even watch." His mouth twisted in a grimace. "It's irrelevant on a personal level to each of us, after all, and unlike Solus' creation it doesn't even have the redemption of being some demonstration of grand science, or even Power. I say we just sit it out here. Go if you really must, but I don't see why you'd even want to."
Thascalos for his part stayed out of it; he just watched them argue with that small smile of his on his lips. Indeed, you could even say he looked like it was all a game to him. And who was to say it wasn't?
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Post by Skylos on Jan 7, 2010 23:46:16 GMT -5
Skylos and Omni stayed put and stared at Naga. There was also the unspoken: 'Or we'll have to stop you by any means necessary.'
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 8, 2010 10:46:56 GMT -5
Naga looked from each one to the other in turn. "And what if I decide to do this anyway?" he asked quietly. He stared at them defiantly. "Somehow I think I'm the only one here with very much experience in close combat without Power. If I decide I want to take this chance to prevent history going so wrong, how are any of you going to stop me?"
"Don't be a bloody-minded fool," Yamiken snapped at him, tone suddenly very harsh. Naga flinched back. "Did you not listen to anything I just said? To anything Omni just said? You've no idea if you can change things for the better! What if it's inevitable that this reality is destroyed? Hm? You!" He pointed at Thascalos suddenly, who just looked up at him and smiled inquiringly. "Tell me. Is Osric being manipulated towards his fate in any way? Does someone want reality to end?"
"I wouldn't go that far," Thascalos responded mildly. "Still... there is a measure of truth in what you're suggesting, I'll give you that." Then he laughed. "In fact, Omni should know! He, as he was in this time, played a large part in it. But that's all I'll say." His eyes twinkled. "I don't want to embarrass anyone."
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Post by Skylos on Jan 8, 2010 14:29:22 GMT -5
Omni grunted. "I wouldn't remember. Maybe if I was One, but I doubt very seriously that that will happen anytime soon." Omni looked away. "I don't even know who willed me to this shape..." Omni conceded. Now the person who did that could have been around at this time...but he didn't think that had much to do with anything. In fact, it was safe to say that Omni wasn't even the same person from back then...
Skylos just watched Naga, not really knowing what Omni was talking about...
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 8, 2010 15:02:48 GMT -5
Yamiken looked at Omni curiously for a second or two. He had a slightly better idea what he was talking about than Skylos... but only slightly. However, that wasn't the issue for the moment. He snapped his attention back on Naga. "You see?" he drove the point in. "Your intervention here could just lead to a worse fate later on, as the rival forces in this universe continue to drive at one another. You can't change history, Naga. Accept that, learn its lessons, and move on." He glared at the dragonslayer.
Naga, to his credit (in a way), managed to hold Yamiken's gaze for a few more seconds, before finally wilting and, with a sigh, admitted defeat. "Alright..." he mumbled. "I won't do anything. I'll let today's events happen as they already did..."
"Speaking of which," Thascalos piped up now that the situation had been resolved, "It'll be starting soon. Anyone want to go watch? It's still history in the making, even if it is pretty unpleasant and mundane."
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Post by Skylos on Jan 8, 2010 15:15:36 GMT -5
Skylos frowned. "To be honest... To know what he looks like could be helpful later...You know...In case the unthinkable were to happen." He didn't need to say what that was... "I'll go."
Omni sighed. In fact... Perhaps that was a good idea. He wouldn't admit it, though.
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 8, 2010 15:59:51 GMT -5
"If he appears in the same form," Thascalos chuckled. But he then gave a shrug as he got up. "Which he may. I've no idea how his mind works now. No one of this reality can. So in a way, it's useless to try and speculate how he'll act." He walked to the doorway, then paused and turned round to regard the four. "Hm..." he frowned. "Of course, we do have one problem - you still stick out like four very sore thumbs. But maybe..." He raised his fingers and snapped them. Suddenly, the illusion that all five of them - himself included - were dressed in ordinary, casual clothes appeared. Thascalos gave a grin. "Ah, I can do that," he assessed with satisfaction. "I love this reality." Chuckling, he turned round once more and walked out towards the front door.
Yamiken looked down upon himself. He was wearing pretty much the same clothes he'd been appearing to wear during Skylos' trial. Interesting. He noticed the same went for Naga. He gave a shrug and walked out after Thascalos. He supposed Skylos' logic made sense... well, as if they had anything better to do anyway. Interrogating Thascalos for more juicy details about this reality somehow gave the impression of a potentially fruitless task.
Naga just got up silently and followed. Watching and not intervening... that would be difficult. But then, since when had anything in his life been easy...?
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Post by Skylos on Jan 8, 2010 16:29:42 GMT -5
Skylos had figured that Thascalos would not tell them much more... It's not like he could force him in this state...In fact, he had Power and they didn't. Even his mace wouldn't be much of an option. But did threating really matter here? No...he just wanted this trial to be over with... It was becoming more than he could stomach.
Omni gestured to Skylos to follow, and they both walked out.
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Post by Mumiyoshi on Jan 8, 2010 18:47:31 GMT -5
Out the door again, Thascalos led them deeper into the city. It was growing dark, just turning evening. Lights were beginning to come on in windows. Suddenly, from a side-street just ahead of them came shouts and the clatter of shoes on ground as, from the sound of things, a whole gang of people came running. Then this stopped, and the sounds of a fist-fight emerged instead. A shout followed. "Run, Zack!" Seconds later, a young boy came tearing out of the alleyway. He could only have been about twelve or so; his shock of brown hair was ruffled and his clothes ripped and torn. His expression briefly looked the group of five's way, long enough for them to see the panic on it; then, with a last look back the way he'd come, whence the sounds of a fist struggle still came, he turned and sprinted the other way, further into town.
"The half-brother," Thascalos noted plainly in case any of the others hadn't guessed - which in fairness they probably had. "Osric, or Marcus as I believe he was still known at this time, will be just round that corner. Shall we?" He walked for once more, towards the mouth of the alleyway.
Yamiken gave a shrug and followed; Naga, with a bit more reticence, did the same.
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