Invited:
Kumajii
Mingnon

Please do not post in this thread unless you are on the Invited list.
Thank you.

A long time back, in the years of the Silk Road, there was a man who made a fortune through his spice trade, made manifest in a mansion that he would call his own. However, as fate might have it, it seemed that his interests moved beyond mere spices and material wealth, and moved onto something... forbidden.

Black Magic.

It was said that those who took up its arts would be blessed with powers that breach the spiritual laws. However, with such forbidden power comes a cost, as this man had failed to realize... and such ignorance would come at this cost; his life.

...Or so those who were told of his 'passing' would believe.

What both parties didn't realize was with the black magic in his veins, he was still allowed to live, but only as in a corpsed form. Because of this curse, he was forced to live out his days underneath the mansion in an underground system of chambers, while those who remained above were unsuspecting of what lived beneath.... until reports came of missing persons, used by this main as food for his snakes, as well as some other uses...

As a result, the mansion had gone through many exchanges in ownership, until finally, the mansion was deemed as haunted by the mansion's first owner, and abandoned.

Not that the aforementioned first owner stopped taking lives.

Stella had been, against her comfort, charged with investigating the mansion itself, under the guise of its newest owner. It wasn't something that she had preferred to do, personally; not only would she be thick within human civilization, but she would be dealing with something that might not even exist at all. However, her father, a full-blooded elf, had high expectations of her to become the general of the Hunters' Militia, back in the Elven Capital.

As much as Stella was a mere Half-Elf with a human mother, she was still uncomfortable with the idea of cooperating with humans. But to her surprise - and relief - none of the humans would accompany her to give her a grand tour; instead, she was given a packet with details about the mansion itself. Were they that afraid of a building..?

Sighing to herself, she brought her bags and provisions into the mansion. To her surprise, it wasn't very dirty.. guess the last owner left only a little while back.

She proceeded to head to the food storage to put away the food she had brought, before heading up to the bedroom where she would stay with the rest of her things. Finally, once inside the bedroom - the supposed "Master Bedroom", she set the bag against a wall where the dresser was, before plopping herself onto the bed. She hummed contently - oddly, it felt nice... maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a break before she would begin...

Cedric sat on a large bench, carved from the yellow stone that created the long chamber in which he had sat brooding for days. He gazed at the bold flame of a torch, hanging on the wall, as he lifted his hand to allow a long green snake to slither around it. It's long body slithered from a crevice in the ground all the way up to his hand, wrapping around his arm several times.

A loud bumping noise flushed through the chamber. Any mild noises from the mansion above were amplified as they echoed through the large motionless passages. Cedric turned his head and looked down into the dark, indifferent to the eerie racket, then gazed once more at the flame.

"Are you hungry, Egil?" he said softly, as he reached to stroke the snake's smooth scales. "It sounds like we are once again sharing company." He held his right arm out and let the Egil slither downward, until it reached the ground and disappeared into the dark. Cedric pushed himself up and followed his pet, walking away from the fire until he was drowned in darkness. He kept walking until he approached another light, hanging beside a wall marking the end of the passage. He calmly stood and waited, then raised his arm and muttered until a large flat slate on the wall opened.

He stepped through the doorway and up a short staircase, until he reached another door. He turned a stone cylinder on the wall beside him until the door lifted. A burst of fresh air pierced his nose, and the pupils of his eyes shrank as the intense light hit them. He walked out the door, arm over his face, until he was standing in a small, grassy pit. He climbed the small slope until he was at level with a large, lush forest and a small pond. A deer turned it's head towards him and bounded off through the trees.

Cedric walked to his right, towards a large grass clearing. As he approached the clearing he could see a wooden well and a small fence, marking the past presence of civilization. Turning once again to his right, he saw his tall white mansion, lodged amid the tall trees and wild grass. He turned his head towards the chamber entry from which he came, and a fleet of snakes, ranging from various colours and sizes, slithered out and followed him.

"You guys wait out here, and don't act unless I give you permission." They crawled to the trees and hid amid the bushes. Cedric approached a large tree, meters away from the mansion, and sat against it. He waited and observed his large home, waiting to see who lived there and what to do with them.

After a bit of rest, Stella yawned a bit, and stretched... how long did she break for, anyway..? It was one of the many reasons her father wanted her as part of the militia; her sheer laziness and casual behavior. But oftentimes, she personally wished that the old man would stop being such a nag...

Finally getting up onto her feet, she headed over to pick up the packet of instructions, and as she filed through them made her way to the foyer, and to the front door. She thought it might be a good idea to start the tour with the outside.

Once out the door, she shielded her face from the sunlight until her eyes were able to adjust, before she began to step down the frontal stairway, and down the path that lead from the mansion. While she wasn't looking through the papers, she was looking around at the scenery that was outside. It reminded her a little of her own home; just that the trees were smaller than what she was used to, and the mansion was in the middle of a supposed clearing... however, something caught her eye..

She looked over to see a figure leaning against a tree. She would of just paid him no mind, only... he was by himself. Plus, she wasn't told that there would be neighbors... Quickly, she looked away from him and skimmed through the instruction papers... just in case.

Cedric watched as a young woman, who after observation appeared to be a half elf, walked down the path, reading some sort of paper. She aroused his interest slightly, as many of the former residents of the mansion, which he liked to think of as his, were unattractive and uninteresting snobs whom he had no problem creating fear and misery in.

A small red snake slithered around the tree and down his arm, and hissed as it looked between him and the woman. "Patience" Cedric whispered, "you can wait until we know.." It abruptly slithered back, seeming impatient. He looked back at the woman to see she was observing one of the many trees. He got up and walked towards the mansion. As he walked, he looked back at the snakes and gave them a piercing glare, telling them to stay. He coolly approached the door, and touching a large stone in the doorway (that until now seemed rather insignificant), created a small blue light from his hand. There was a loud click, and he entered the home.

He was happy to find nothing more had changed, any more than from the former residents anyways. Knowing the home from top to bottom, he hastily made his way to the kitchen. It was a very large kitchen, with exquisite wooden counters and a large oven that could make almost any delicacy imaginable. He glanced uncontently at a small black microwave someone had left behind, while he approached a small drawer with a lock in it. He pulled a key from a pocket of his slightly bedraggled pants, and unlocked the drawer. Opening it revealed a small black notebook, with gold lined pages, and a silver chained necklace with a large round plate attached to it. There was an imprint of a star sticking out of it.

Cedric touched the necklace, feeling the front of it. He then put it down and flipped through the pages of the book. He then put it back, and before locking it up, he took a small red stone from his pocket and added it to the drawer. He stood still for a moment, listening to see if he was still alone, then continued towards the stairway. It was a wide stairway, constructed with polished oak and a long red carpet accenting the center. He went to a wall beside it, where there was a glass screen. He slide it open and entered. there was a small room, with a bookcase, a regal chair and a marble end table. He could see that a book had been taken, and that a few were added. He looked at them and, uninterested, placed them back on the shelf.

He looked to his right where a small stairway led downward, then turned and continued. He followed it, and at the bottom was a small landing of stone. It was made of the same yellow stone that lined the chambers. In front of the stairs was a large door, with no handle. Most of the residents never came to this spot after first seeing it, if they ever dared to visit at all. He placed his hand on it and pushed. The doorway wiggled slightly, and at that he turned to a small table and opened the drawer. A tiny piece of chock rolled as he did, and he picked it up. He looked at the surface of the table to noticed a small potted shrub had been placed there. But as people rarely liked to walk down those stairs, it was nearly dead from thirst.

He turned back to the door, and drew a large circle on it with the chalk. He then drew a big line through it, and muttered a word. The he pushed the door again, and it was as still as the wall beside it. He lazily wiped off some of the chalk, and turned to leave. But as he did, he heard steps, then the front door opening. He eyed the door once again, wondering if he should undo what he just did.

Stella continued to look around the outside, eyeing the well, fence, among other thing, then turned her attention to the forest again, this time with a pond... wait...

She looked over towards a tree... wasn't there a figure some time ago?

And then she heard a noise... sounding like a click. She turned around, and suddenly noticed that one of the stones that made the front door's frame was... glowing!? She took some steps toward the door to take a closer look... this was unusual.. but she didn't know about this until...

Wait, that could only mean one thing; someone besides her was here... and if she was right...

She began to head up the stairs towards the front door and stepped inside, looking around. It appeared as if it was empty, just like when she first stepped inside... but feeling a bit anxious, she just had to make sure...

"I know you're in here!" She called out. "You can't just hide from me!"

The girl's voice lingered in Cedric's mind for a moment. It was the first time he ever felt threatened, and he had no clue why. Usually if someone came in while he was in the mansion, he just slithered out and gave no second thought to it. But he worried this time, and felt the need to get out. Chalk still in hand, he redrew the circle, properly erased the middle line, and made another line that went the opposite direction. His voice wobbled as he again muttered a word, and placed his hand on the door. He shoved it open, and after struggling to push it in a foot or two, it suddenly slid aside. He placed the chalk back and took a final look at the stairs.

He imagined if the woman suddenly came around the bend on the stairs, and looked at him. What would he do? Would he feed her to the snakes? For once he didn't know how to feel. But his character soon returned, and he realized that if necessary he had to attack her, and that right now he was in no danger. He walked through the doorway into the chamber, and the door closed behind him, leaving only chalk to tell of his presence.

Stella began to climb up the large stairs that would normally lead into the Master Bedroom, where she stayed before. "I said I know you're here! There's no using in hiding!" She called out again. For some reason, she knew someone is here... she could just...

Something caught her eye, again. This time it was a glass screen that would be, to her, mistaken for just a normal wall, but to her surprise, it was slid open. So someone definately was here. She went through the way it revealed and into what appeared to be a sort of... office... according to what humans would call it. She looked around a little, and as she went further into the room, she found that there was a sort of stairway. Curious, she descended.

Her eyes widened a bit to see that at the bottom of the stairway, there was a worn, wooden door, but was lacking a handle to open it with. Here, she would just give up... but then she felt it again... a presence... this time it was stronger. So whoever it was would most likely be past the door.

Approaching the door, she called out. "This is your last warning...!"

((For future reference, the glass screen door is on the main floor. It doesn't make a difference this time, but just so you know))

Cedric walked through the passageway, heart still beating faster from his close call. Then he heard her: "This is your last warning!". He froze, wondering if she could still hear him. He continued, a little slower, until he got to an intersection with another passage. There, a few of his snakes had waited for him. They could tell he wasn't going to let them go to the mansion. Without a word from him, they slithered into the darkness, most likely to find some rats to eat.

Again Cedric continued down the hallway until he reached a stone door in the wall. Not so elaborate; he turned the handle and opened it to reveal a small study. A desk and a bookcase was carved from stone, while a wooden chair with detailed designs engraved in the edges broke the otherwise stone scene. He flicked a switch and the lights came on. He grabbed a blue book, that read Magical Defenses and Seals, and began to read it, now making little of the earlier events.

Stella stood and waited for a moment, as she felt the presence from earlier fade from her. Surely this isn't some dead end... She felt the door, hoping for some kind of way to open it, but unexpectedly as she pushed it, she noticed the door wobble itself open. She blinked in surprise to find yet another room beyond it. She took a few steps in, taking a look around.. it was like the 'office' from before, only more... primitive. She then noted that there was a dying plant... most likely it was from a very long time back. As she looked around some more, she noticed... some chalk on the wall...? She figured that whoever's presence she felt earlier was trying to elude her...

But maybe he succeeded. She groaned a bit, and began to turn around to leave the room...

Cedric reviewed the defense charms, thinking of what he could apply to his situation. He had never felt the way he did this time. Usually the residents were too incompetent to notice him, or to do something about it.

He placed the book back on the shelf and left the room. He went back to the door that lead to the mansion and, putting his hand on it, opened it. He looked in, then went to the stairs and looked up. He could tell she had gone right to the door, but she was gone now. He took the chalk from the drawer and went back through the doorway. From inside the chamber, he drew an x with horizontal lines through it. Struggling to remember, he put both hands on the door and spoke. "Fermla Mend Bia" The door sealed shut as before, but this time it melded into the walls and become part of them. Now it was just a big flat wall that divided him and.. her.

According to the book, it was also supposed to make trespassers weary of it, however the woman's will was unpredictable. He slipped the chalk into a crack in the wall beside him, in case he would need it again. When he turned around, Egil was slowly approaching him, staring at his shoes. "Egil," he commanded, "Go to the outside entrance and warn me if someone approaches it.

The snake lingered for a moment, then following orders turned and disappeared.

"Hm...?" She stopped as she had begun to leave the room she had heard some noises. Most likely, it was that door... and whoever she had been following before. Deciding to check the door one last time, she turned around, headed back downstairs, and approached the door, to find it closed again. She placed her hands on it and began to push on it, only to realize that it was stuck to the wall.

After a little pushing though, it was as if she had begun to lose interest... She sighed and, once more, began to leave.

He walked again down one of many dark passageways, occasionally turning his head to look at one of the bold, crackling flames burning on the torches. Eventually, as far as he could see, there was a big pit of black with no light. It looked perhaps as though the hallway ended. He approached it, and soon the tempo made by his footsteps echoing ended. He reached out his arm and flicked a switch. A series of fake candles lit up on the wall, then a large chandelier burst out with light, to reveal an amazing room. It had a fancy red carpet, and walls covered in wood rather than the yellow stone. In the middle sat a table with chairs, and a porcelain tea set. A number of decorative tables and plants line the walls, and there was a large cabinet made of dark wood, with a window revealing plates that each fashioned a unique painting of a flower. The room was built in an intersection, as three other passageways left from their respective sides.

Cedric went through to another passageway, where a small oven and stove had been placed in the wall. He began boiling some water, then he sat at the table. He took the pot, and placed a small wrapped bundle of dried plants, that resembled dead grass, only darker, inside. It smelled sweet, and had a slight cherry sent. He took the kettle and poured the boiling water in. He could feel the heat wafting towards him, the first touch of warmth he had felt in a long time.

He poured himself a cup of the tea, and took a long sip. The feeling still shocked him every time. There was never a pinch when he drank hot liquids. He couldn't quite taste the same fine quality. There was no satisfaction of feeling the tea trickle down his throat. He abruptly place the cup on the table, and sat back, staring at his feet.

Stellena groaned to herself as she marched her way back to the master bedroom... she was so close... she could literally sense it. It wasn't fair to her; all she wanted was to get this over with as quickly as possible so that she could return home!

In a fustrated manner, she returned to the Master Bedroom, and once more flopped onto the bed. If that wasn't enough, she covered her head with one of the larger pillows. While her head was shrouded in darkness, she began to go through some deep thoughts... did her father... or anyone else for that matter, care about her...?

Considering that she was sent alone - on a mission that could possibly cost her life due to what had been said to have gone on no less - without any sort of help... from them, from humans... not from anyone at all.

Now she began to think that it was just some excuse to finish her off... What use was there for some idealistic slacker anyway...?

After some time, her body began to shake as muffled sounds could be heard... if they could be bothered to be heard...

A green glow floated through the air. Nothing else could be seen. It floated slowly through the air. It stopped, and suddenly blew up into a burst of light. A silhouette could be seen for a split second. After the burst, everything was dark, and as if someone had turned a light on with a dimmer, light slowly returned, burning through from the torches that remained lit the entire time.

Cedric sat casually across a stone bench, holding his finger out. He pulled his hand in and looked at it. It had been a while since he practiced his magic, but it seemed he was now more capable of maintaining a basic level of decency when casting any spell. In fact, only later in life had he been able to see his own magic at work.

His thoughts were disturbed by a clacking sound, it sounded like something hitting the ground. His heart raced. Rarely had anything beyond his knowledge happened down in his domain. He suddenly got an image of the girl in his mansion, tip toeing through his dungeon, dropping something and gasping. He imagined her being in his secret chambers so vividly, he nearly believe he had seen her there. Trying to shake that objectively silly thought out of his head, he walked toward the sound, and eventually found a stone in the middle of the passage. Perhaps a bit of rock had fallen? He picked it up, and held it up, looking with one eye. He pinpointed a crack in the sealing where it had fallen from. "Hope the ceiling doesn't break anytime soon," he muttered.

He realized now that he couldn't leave any space for foil. It would be wise to rid himself of the girl. He hissed loudly, and like he had flipped a switch, a small blue snake slithered into view. It had green diamonds on it's back, and empty white eyes. It inched towards Cedric, no expression and no emotion seeming to emanate from it. Cedric bent down, "I'm afraid I can't quite let you feast, but perhaps you could.. make an appearance in the mansion." It blankly stared at his shoe for a moment, then slowly turned around and headed off into the dark.

She continued to sob for a while, cursing her own fate... cursing her mission... she wasn't supposed to return unless it was done... but what was she able to do by herself?! She had started to come to terms with the fact that she was just weak and useless by herself...

Maybe it was because of that that they sent her here... to get rid of her...

Finally, she sat up and threw the pillow against the wall, before she, in a sudden rage, picked up the pile of papers off the drawer and tore it to many pieces as she screamed in fustration, right before throwing what remained against the wall along with the pillow. Finally, she began to sob bitterly, covering her face with both her hands.

The blue snake steadily slithered through a winding series of cracks and openings, until he finally reached the walls of the mansion. It crawled up through the wall, climbing along the side of a pipe, and through another hole until it was in the master bedroom. It hissed slightly. The girl sat crying, face in hands, as the snake sneaked along the wall behind a shelf.

Outside, Cedric stood in the wind, hair waving, eyes fixed on the window high above. He could hear a faint sound of crying and sobbing. He wondered if his snake had already done something. He wondered if it had been a bad idea to send it in. He hissed quietly. The wind seemed to carry it, and immediately the snake froze, and turned around to slither out of the room. After a few minutes, it appeared outside the front of the building. It slithered through the long grass, and climbed up Cedric's leg, onto his shoulder. In it's first display of thought, it looked up at the window as it's master did.

Stella continued to cry and sob, unaware of whatever presence there might be aside from her own. She slowly stopped sobbing and was just crying now... While it was useless to go on just crying like a child, what else was she supposed to do...? As much as she didn't want to now, she decided to go ahead and... try to calm down.

She slowly got up from the bed and approached the window. However, before she would open it, she caught a glimpse from below.... It was that strange man from earlier! Finally eager again, she hurried out of the room on the way out... she secretly prayed that she would be able to catch him this time... if he was the one evading her.

Cedric hesitated. He wondered if now was the time for confrontation. He saw a red and black snake appear from the forest, looking at him. He looked to the door, and back at the snake. His eyes told the snake to leave.

Cedric stood, the wind still blowing through his hair. He looked behind him, then ran towards the forest. He slid in behind a tree, and peered back, waiting until the moment he would make his decision.

Stella hurried until she was outside. She looked around anxiously... only to notice that there was noone to be seen. She fell down, dumbstruck.

She almost had him! Almost!

It was then that she began to cry again. This wasn't fair to her! She was lazy and such... but she could never tolerate a game being played against her! Not to mention that she was all alone now, which made things althemore worse...

Cedric looked from behind the tree, to see the girl crying. He slowly stepped out from behind the tree, and watched her. He still wasn't sure about it, but now, whether or not he liked it, he was revealing himself to her.

She continued to cry, and decided to look one last time at her surroundings. She noticed someone standing there. A bit desperate, she tried to stand up and stumble over to his location.

"P... please! ...Don't... run away from me...!" she pleaded.

A she stumbled towards him, he reached out his arms and held her up, hesitating for a moment. Then he set her on her feet, and simply looked at her, not sure what to say.

It was both stupid and embarrasing, she realized now, as she was picked up and set onto her feet. But she was feeling lonely and desperate, and didn't seem to care any more who would comfort her.

She was like a child all over again...

She suddenly put her arms around him and placed her head on his chest. "Please... I... don't want to be alone..." She told him.

His eyes widened, and he was taken by surprise. He wasn't sure what to do, with her holding him. He awkwardly placed his arms on her back, and whispered "what are you doing here?" He looked down at her, with both sympathy and irritation.