[OPEN] Fabula Aeternam
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
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Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#57
"Dammit, Samuel!" Jigano might have roared if the body he was in didn't turn it to a loud neigh instead. He redoubled his struggle against his captors, feeling the gentle warmth of the feather as it settled into his mane. It sat there, tingling, a bare inch from his skin and the ropes around his throat, making him itch in the most abominable way.

He bucked as Samuel was dragged away from him - his friend bound with his wrists behind his back and forced to kneel at swordpoint - swearing viciously in three different languages, but they didn't have to wait long. The red carpet was rolled up by trembling servants to reveal polished flagstones beneath - except in one area, charred black as if from great heat. Others brought large ricks of wood that were arranged on the spot, even as a quartet of massive guards rolled in a large black cauldron, large enough for a man to sink into to his neck - or lower, if he was short, as Sam was.

The courtiers whispered among themselves, fearful and unhappy as the tripod was assembled and the buckets of water brought to fill it. The fire crackled merrily beneath, adding a cheerful cast to the morning. The Vizier strode over to smirk down at his captive, ignoring the white horse's whinnies as always. "You thought you could deceive our King, traitor?" he gloated cruelly, though the unholy glee in his eyes told a different story. "You shall receive the just desserts of such betrayal!" Once more the strange passage of time seemed to occur, the cauldron full and bubbling as he turned away.

"This bath will wash away your sins against the kingdom," the King intoned, striding to join the Vizier and dragging the firebird's net cruelly behind him, like a child with a toy. "Though I doubt even God will find mercy on your black soul. Do you have any last words, before you receive your punishment, scoundrel?" As he spoke a platform was rolled into place, with stairs to the cauldron's lip - the easier for Samuel to be tossed into the drink.
Samuel Wordsworth
Book maker/seller

Age: 34 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1
MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#58
Sam, despite their whole situation, still flinched when Jigano yelled. He didn't have any time to apologise or explain himself though before he was bound and the room became transfixed with the presentation of the large cauldron.

Once as a teenager he had come across a book in the Atheneum containing diagrams of methods of torture. The text was illegible but the pictures had stuck in his mind, particularly the one of the man being boiled alive, his red skin and panicked face practically bleeding off of the page. It seemed almost ironic that now, in a book in the Atheneum, he would meet the same fate.

"It-it's just some cups. That I didn't steal." He mumbled under his breath in response, having to speak bitterly so he wouldn't cry. When asked for last words by the King he thought for a moment, looking back to Jigano then forward to the King. If this was truly just fiction and he would end up back alive in the Atheneum, it didn't matter anyway. If it wasn't...he still didn't have much to say. He shook his head.

He stood (more appropriately, was dragged) to his feet and approached the steps to the cauldron. The bubbling liquid within was frightening enough even if it ran the chance of being fake, and he was aware of his hands shaking behind him.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#59
This was not how a story should end, Jigano thought grimly. He was a bard - he knew stories, and this was unacceptable. And if it wasn't a story, well, their problems couldn't exactly get any worse, now could they? He snorted, trembling with rage and momentarily standing still, watching Samuel be dragged and pushed towards the cauldron. His captors were wary after his earlier fight, not relaxing their grips. But others were caught by the spectacle...

The King and Vizier leaned closer, obscenely eager for Samuel to be pushed into the pot. Indeed, only the heat kept them at bay, and then only barely. Behind them the firebird wept, the silver strands of the net beginning to glow red again in her agitation.

And the feather in Jigano's mane burned with her.

Startled, he shook frantically, dancing on all four hooves as he sought to dislodge the feather. It slid down white tresses, brushing over the ropes around his neck before dropping to the ground.

And the seared ropes-- snapped.

As the tension released and the guards fell back in two piles Jigano reared and snorted ferociously, hooves pawing the air in warning to keep any other enterprising soldiers away. Courtiers ringed the edges of the room, but the way to the cauldron was clear and, hooves slipping a bit on the stone, the horse lunged for it with wicked purpose.

The humans in the room had only just begun to react, cries and screams of alarm ringing out. The King and Vizier had looked up, startled and confused as their fun was interrupted but not yet afraid.

By the time they realized what Jigano intended it was far too late.

The stallion skidded into a turn, hindquarters dropping as they swing around. His feet scrabbled to find purchase, but the moment he had his balance he kicked with those powerful back hooves up and out, catching the rim of the cauldron. Heavy iron it was, and filled with water. It shouldn't have done more than splash a little over the side--

But one of the chains holding it to the tripod snapped, rusted through after so many years of wrongful executions. The cauldron teetered for one eternal second, and then Jigano neighed with the strain and gave a final push. Hot water cascaded over the side as the cauldron tipped over, catching the King and the Vizier as they tried too late to run. The King yanked on the Vizier's coat, and as he fell the Vizier snatched at the King's leg, tripping him as well. Both screamed in agony as the boiling water inundated them - and then were silenced as the hot iron cauldron rolled on top of them.

Samuel was left standing alone on the platform, the guards rushing to find something to tip the cauldron off their (almost certainly former) King. And as for the firebird...

She, too, had been doused by the water and trapped beneath scorching iron.

For a moment all was still and silent except for the sounds of a horse breathing heavily, a fire hissing its dismay at being doused, and the trickle of water over the flagstones.
Samuel Wordsworth
Book maker/seller

Age: 34 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1
MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#60
Sam was so transfixed with the bubbling water before him in the pot he didn't hear Jigano struggled at first, until the snap of the ropes caught his attention and he glanced backwards. He was frozen in place for just a moment, his mind not really processing what his eyes were seeing; but he managed to jump back just as Jigano slammed into the cauldron, avoiding the splash of the water on his skin.

He watched with wide, horrified eyes as the cauldron fell on both the King and Vizier, the smell of the whole affair almost worse than the sight. Overwhelmed by so many things, terror, relief, despair...Sam covered his face with shaking hands and tried to shut the world out for just a few precious seconds.

When quiet came into the room so pointedly it was almost a cacophony, he looked up. Slowly, he realised two things; firstly that the firebird was no longer present. Secondly, that they should leave. With soft, unsure steps, he made his way down from the platform and walked to Jigano's side, stepping by the panicked guards.

"W-We um. Is this the end? Do..do you think? Can we go?" He asked, sounding more desperate with each question.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#61
The monumental effort had left Jigano trembling. The horse's body was so much more powerful than his own, but even so it wasn't as if he were a great draft horse. He suspected that he'd had a little help - be it from a deity, luck, or some overarching desire of the story itself to be told, he didn't know. But that it was a story he now felt certain. The narrative was too pat, the changes in time and distance to get rid of tedious transitions too convenient.

When Samuel made it to his side the horse shook himself, finally taking the several steps needed to turn himself around so he could see what he had done. Ears laid flat back at the smell of burned flesh, he felt a brief moment of guilt - but no more than that. The King and Vizier had been lying, planning to kill an innocent man lest Samuel become too popular - and netting themselves a tidy profit which would, if he knew anything about kings and countries, have been used as an excuse to raise taxes to 'restore what had been lost.'

"Not yet," he consoled his friend tiredly. "But soon, I think. Where's the damn bird?" He was slipping, he knew, but it was hard to care. He was exhausted, and his silver tongue felt tarnished and heavy. Samuel was safe, though, and so everything else could just sort itself out without him being charming for awhile.

Indeed, as they watched iron halberds were brought in and levered under the edge of the cauldron. It was tipped off the bodies that had been caught beneath it - two men, thankfully face down and quite, quite dead.

The firebird was nowhere in sight, but rising from the wreckage, where she had been curled into a ball to protect herself, was a woman in cloth-of-gold accented with crimson. Her long hair was bright red, and her eyes a clear amber as she looked around, confused for a moment. The light streaming in from the upper windows caught the coronet on her head, sending flashes of gold around the room.

Her eyes settled on Samuel and lit up - literally, flashes of fire leaping in their depths for a moment - as she daintily stepped away from the dead King and his Vizier. Her smile was brilliant as she made her way over to him, reaching out her hands in welcome as the courtiers began to shift and whisper in awe. "Huntsman, you and your horse have broken the curse and saved me! I was once a princess of this realm, but an evil wizard turned me into a bird and locked my memories away until my magical flames could be extinguished. But because of your good heart and courage I am now free, and the evil King is no more. Will you marry me, my hero, and rule by my side?"

She reached out her hands to him joyously--

--and Jigano adroitly stepped back and used his head to try and give Samuel a nudge into her waiting arms. "If you say anything other than 'yes'," he muttered, voice deceptively amiable, "I am going to bite you."
Samuel Wordsworth
Book maker/seller

Age: 34 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1
MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#62
"I don't know. I think she might have left..?" Sam stared determinedly at Jigano, not wanting to look at any of the rest of the room, where boiled flesh and yelling guards lurked just waiting to create a horrible flashback for him to deal with later.

He finally turned around when he heard the cauldron being moved, just in time to see the woman rising from the ashes like the phoenix she had been. She was beautiful, even though Sam had no chance in hell of being attracted to her. He watched her approach with a slightly open mouth, unable to believe he had made an accurate prediction earlier. He was even more shocked when she seemed pleased enough with him to marry him, despite everything.

Awkwardly, he reached forward to take her hands, his own shaking as they clasped her much more delicate fingers. Jigano's encouragement wasn't needed. As much as Sam desperately never wanted to be married to a woman, he would have agreed to anything if it meant the end of this book-induced nightmare. Mutely, he nodded at the woman and then looked back to Jigano with a half-sick smile.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#63
Samuel's nod of acceptance was enough, it seemed, to satisfy the story's end. As he looked back over his shoulder at Jigano the world began to shift, colors and edges running together. The hands in his melted away to a memory of warmth, and for a moment only Jigano's startled equine face was solid.

There was a sensation of falling - not down, but up - and a moment of darkness that gave way to sudden light. The ground was still hard flagstones, but they were chilled rather than warm to the touch. Jigano sat on the floor, blinking, Samuel beside him and between them --

That damned book, slender and blue and deceptively innocent. Now, though, it lay open before them, pages ruffling in a dying breeze and revealing the brightly colored pages of a children's fable. They settled on the last page, where a red-haired woodsman stood holding hands with a radiant princess.The simple letters beneath them read:
"...And they lived happily ever after."

"...Well," Jigano said, a little weakly as he looked at his hands in open relief, flexing his fingers just to prove he could. "That was... different. I seem to be in one piece though..." He blinked and then shifted to check his hip, which was whole beneath the loose drape of his clothing. "Even the burn is gone... Hm. What about you, Samuel? Are you alright?"
Samuel Wordsworth
Book maker/seller

Age: 34 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1
MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#64
Sam wasn't sure whether he should feel relieved or terrified as the hands in his slipped away into a general warmth and the place around them faded away, but upon seeing the familiar Atheneum come into view around him he took a loud shaking breath and fell to his knees, not paying any attention to anything except his panic and the stones beneath him.

He barely heard Jigano speak at first, but slowly turned towards him, his eyes wet with not-quite-fallen tears. Sam touched a hand to his chest to feel his familiar clothes and not the leather huntsman's garb, then nodded.

"Y-yes. I think so. But I never want to d-d-do that again. Ever." Shaking his head, he used the table to get up, his legs still weak. He saw the book and stared at it for a long moment before suddenly surging forward to slam it shut then throw it away from them, where it bounced and skidded across the floor before coming to a stop several shelves away.

"...I...think I'm going to go home." He announced to Jigano, shaking hands going to gather up his things where he had left them on a chair when all he'd been doing was helping with a heavy book.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#65
Samuel looked in far worse shape, and no wonder. The adventure had been unsettling due to not knowing what was happening or why for most of it, but now that they were returned, safe and sound, Jigano found his heart rate slowing again. The story had been... fun? It would have been more fun if he'd known what to expect, but he rather thought it wasn't terrible, as unexpected twists of fate went.

The bookmaker's sudden outburst caught the bard off-guard and he jumped, scrambling to his feet in alarm as Samuel made a pounce for the book and then flung it away. The bard sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly as he regarded his companion with open concern as his friend stood shaking in the afternoon shadows of the Atheneum. From the movement of the light an hour had passed, but not much more.

But Samuel looked entirely done-in. Hell, Jigano felt exhausted after all that had passed and the levels of stress and fear of the unknown that they had been operating at for the entire time. "Alright," he said gently. "I'll look for you again in a few days, in the market. You said you had a stall there, right?" He didn't try to smile - he wasn't sure Sam would appreciate levity at the moment - but he did reach out to touch his friend's shoulder lightly. "Travel safely, Sam. And... maybe don't mention the part where I was a, ah, horse to anyone you choose to share the story with? Please?"

With that final request he stepped back, giving Samuel room to depart from what had been, all in all, a rather bizarre day.

As for Jigano, once the redhead was safely on his way he returned to the fallen book, picking it up and dusting it off thoughtfully before moving it to a high shelf, where he wedged it very firmly between two large neighboring tomes to trap it - at least, for now.


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