The Mirror's Curse (full!)

Aritha:

Man, all these new people were giving me serious whiplash.
The halfling was really freaking me out. Especailly since the bag he was holding was emanating dark magic like the Mirror was, but this was different. Smaller, but just as powerful.
And then, some crazy little blondie ran into the clearing with Alekon right on her tail. Surprisingly, even after running away from him barefoot, she still told us about herself. She had seen the Mirror too. interesting.
I was angry and really confused, but didn't say anything. Even though I was grumpy and didn't like this little girl, she seemed to kind of glow. The Voice quieted when she walked into the clearing, whichh was way weird, and made my head hurt. I actually kind of wanted her in our group, but the others would notice my mood switch, and might start to want to get to know me, which I couldn't allow.
Never.
Never again.

*Will now try and get the main plot going. Also Noelle I'm pretty sure Alekan doesn't have a human form. He is a griffin after all. I don't think he can shapeshift like Hector.*

Rhyder:

He was not with these guys. Ignoring the others antics he turned and rummaged through the saddlebags on the pack horse he'd been tied to. Rhyder came across a scroll with a pair of wax seals. One of them was red, stamped with his mother's personal seal. The second seal was black and Rhyder's blood ran cold as he got a closer look at it.

Pressed into the black wax was the shape of four objects. Layered one on top of the other but each one distinct. A mirror, an open book, a sword and a ring. Behind him someone swore visciously and Rhyder turned to see Kyler peering over his shoulder. The others came over to see and seemed to recognize the meaning of the markings.

Unfortuneatly the message had been written in code. So the scroll itself was useless. But the signatures were telling. Someone connected to the Dark Relics had insinuated himself into Queen Alleyah's inner circle.

Rhyder closed his eyes in resignation. He had sworn never to return to the castle of his birth. "I really should be more careful with the words 'never' and 'forever'. It's starting to look like I'm going to have to eat those words.

The Villain Appears:

Snarling, Melus slammed the door to his private chambers. He had believed that the High Fae Queen had a weak will and would be easy to control once he corrupted her. But now she'd taken it into her head to have the Relics for herself. His creations.

It was a good thing Melus had never told her who he was. That would have made things even more difficult. Sighing he braced his hands on the table and stared at the mirror hung over the mantle. It had been hundreds of years since Melus had seen the Dark Glass. But he still remembered how to use it without invoking it's Gift, and the Curse that came along with it.

The mirror was set in a frame of bone that had yellowed with age. For two inches all around the rim the glass was smoky black. As if damaged by time. But the nether runes carved into the frame were still as clear as the day it was made. The silvered glass had been forged not from sand but from the ashes of a member of every magical race in existence. From the lowliest Demi-Fae, to the selkie that swam in the ocean. From the High Fae who ruled the earth, to the Skylords that had once governed the heavens.

Melus had forged the mirror first. It was oldest of the Relics. The black taint was not damage. The stain would only grow as those poor fools touched by the Glass descended further into madness. In the centuries the Glass had been missing the Stain had grown. Idly, Melus considered what would happen when the mirror went completely dark. Sometimes even he wondered what he had created when he had forged the Relics.

Oh, I forgot. I'll fix that!

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I have alot going on, so if I don't post, sorry!

Kyler

I hadn't been worried about the halfling's power. I knew he was in control, no matter how worried Aritha had been. But no matter how powerful he had been, I wanted some answers. Of course, he didn't want to give them to me. Especially after everyone else showed up. I rolled my eyes and cursed under my breath. Why couldn't I just do this solo? Rhyder turned around and started to rummage through a bag. I walked closer to him and cursed as I saw him pull out a scroll with a black seal.

"So you're tangled up in this mess with the d*** relics too, huh?" I muttered. The rest of the group walked over to the two of us and stared at the stupid scroll, trying to decode it. Rhyder nodded, lost in thought. I shook my head and walked away from the crowded group towards a tree. I sat down and leaned against it.

"So," I said after a moment. "What's the plan now?"

(Sorry i have been MIA, I was busy at my grandma's whilst she was in the hospital. hope this is alright not sure how to get Itaeo back into the action.)

Itaeo Haruon:

My day had gone, by now, completely to h***. I just had to admit it. the Holy One hated me, I had been screwing up since the day I was born I guess. Destiny and fate seemed to have strangle hold on my life and no matter how hard I struggled I would just bury myself deeper.

Since this morning I had met up with the most unlikely group of creatures the Holy One ever allowed upon the earth. We all seemed cursed in one way or another by the relics, that was unnerving. We were drawn to one another by some evil will, not of our own.

The half-ling Sky-lord glared around at us all clutching a small bag in one hand and holding a scroll in the other. Evil magic resonated off of him strongly but not from his own soul, interesting.

"Well what's the plan now?" Kylar looked around the group eyes asking for answers that I doubted any of us had. I shrugged, I honestly had no idea.

"It seems we have two choices." I began, everyone looked towards me. "play with the hand that's been dealt us and keep together, or fold and go our separate ways."

(hope this works, I can edit if not)

Aritha:

We were all silent. It was true the choices he gave us. I had a sudden realization why we were so against each other. Hello, we were a whole bunch of half-mad people which could easily kill one another in the middle of the forest with not a single sane person to calm us down.
Fail.
I knew that I should have voted that we go our seperate ways. It was getting late and i couldn't stay up all night, I couldn't keep off the voice in my weakened state. But something kept me back. Whether it was the Voice or my lack of socailization I had no clue, but whatever it is, i had to fight it., I had to leave, to keep everyone safe.
The Lizard.
The Nymph.
Alekon.
The Halfling.
Even the new girl, though I hardly knew her.
And Kyler.
Kyler, Kyler the most of all.
I had to protect them, at any cost. And yet, my hand was stayed at leaving. I could hear the voice laughing at my failed attempt to protect them.
They will all die. It said with a sneer, if that were possible.They will all die, and you can't stop it. For the first time in a long while, fear pricked at me for someone I cared about.
Not again. I thought. Not again like last time.
I began to think about the last time I was staying with someone. He was a good friend. Married, with kids, happy, and so caring. I had fallen asleep and had awoken with blood staining the floor, the shirts of my friend and his wife and children, and my hands. The Voice had laughed and said those same words, "They will all die, and you can't stop it."
please, not again. Not again.

Felicia

I stood close by as the group made their decision. Were they really going to break up right when I got there? Oh no, what if I was the reason they had decided to leave! I couldn't handle that kind of thing. I was already unstable as it was.

But weren't we all? Isn't it best for us to stay together then, in order to keep each other in check?

I looked at each of their faces in turn, seeing the torment that was hidden within them. We were all suffering. We all needed someone to feel our pain, to understand.

"Um, can I add something," I asked. I stepped forward nervously and stared at the ground. Would they listen to what I was going to say? I knew I was new and everything, but they had to listen; I had something important to say.

"Look, I know that no one here really knows me, but hear me out. This might sound a little creepy, or very creepy. Just-I've been following you guys for a while, hiding out, watching. You all make a great team. I don't care if all of you have some insane strong power inside you that could lash out at any minute. I'm in the same predicement as you are and going alone," I shake my head and look up. "It's not the way to go. You have to stick together. Just look at this group!"

I look at each of them in turn. I can't tell if they are moved or not by my little speech. I sure as hell hope they agree with me. "Look at this group," I repeated. "If you weren't meant to stay together, you wouldn't have been able to make it this far. No offense, but you guys are a pretty weird group. If you were destined to go your seperate ways, you would've crumbled a while ago. And just look at the way you fought off those soldiers! You'd be completely lost without each other."

I looked back down at the ground and went back to where I was standing. The group was silent as they pondered my words. I sure hope I had made an impact. I needed someone. They seemed like my only chance.

Aritha:

Interesting. That's the only word I could say for this girl. She had definitly seen the mirror, and yet she seemed to be fighting it off, and succeding.
But she didn't understand what would happen once I had fallen asleep. Time to act rude.
"Very nice words, but I think it's a good idea if we split up. I mean, like you said, look at us. We are a bunch of mad freaks that wound up on each other because of what made them mad, and most of us already hate each other. We can lash out at any moment, and will lash out hard. So if we don't all want to be made minced meat," I looked directly at the girl, "We should get as far aways from each other as possible." She looked kind of upset at my words, but it was true.
Even though I had just said that, I decided, that if the group stayed together, then so would I. I'd figure some way to keep them safe.
I leaned back against a tree trying to seem as defiant and rude as possible. As dangerous as possible. Nobody seemed very fazed. Until Rosalie stepped up.
"I think, for now it would be best to stick together."
Alekon nodded. So did Kyler, though reluctantly. Iteao did, too.
We were all silent for a minute, counting up the votes.
"Of course! We have half the group say stay together and half not." Kyler said. He was obviously getting tired of this. Then i did something that shocked myself.
I raised my hand and said, "Stay together."
Everyone looked at me in surprise. What, did I, just do?... The Voice crackled in my head, quieter, but still there. I dropped my arm quickly and went back to leaning against my tree. Everyone was silent. They were probably thinking, "What the heck was that?"
Alekon said, "Okay, that settles it. We stick together."
"Maybe, now that it's officail, we should have someone in charge, preferably the most sane." Kyler said. True, but the least mad one of us was Felicia. For some reason that thought made me happy and irritated me to death at the same time.

(tell me if Your characters were incorrect and I'll change them. or if you wanted something else to happen. Thanks!)

*One thing, Rhyder's anti-social problems have more to do with him being a Skylord then any effect from the mirror.*

Rhyder:

Rhyder eyed the group out of the corner of his eye and snorted in amusement. His lips curled in a lopsided smile as he spoke. "Well if I had to be stuck travelling with people at least none of you are boring."

Aritha turned to glare at him. "Then I think we deserve to know what's in that bag." She pointed out.

Rolling his eyes Rhyder laughed. His normally upbeat nature bouncing back fast from his earlier predicament. "Yeah. Alright I'll tell you. It's the Ring, and no I am not taking out to prove it to you."

That stopped the rest of them in their tracks."The Ring!?" Kyler stated the obvious, almost squeaking in surprise. "The ring that comes in a set with the mirror!?"

Rhyder shrugged. "I'm a lucky guy. Although whether it's good luck or bad luck I'm never entirely sure."

"So, where do we go from here?" Itaeo asked. "Clearly the Ring needs to be protected and hidden. At the same time we need to find out what's going on Queen Alleyah's court. That's going to be a problem. I mean it's not like we can we can just waltz up to the castle and get an audience with the Queen."

Wincing Rhyder was forced to admit. "Actually we can just waltz up to the castle and get an audience with the Queen. Or at least, I can. She's my mother."

*Going on vacation. I'll continue to post but it might be a little sporadic. If you can try and get the group to the capital city. It's not all that far off to the south-east from where our characters are. The forest they're in is the Royal Preserve. Exclusive hunting ground of the aristocracy.*

Rosalie Levia:

I looked at Rhyder with a weird expression.

"You're her son?" I asked.

"I said that, didn't I?" he responded. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"Question is, how?" I heard Felicia ask. That's right, how? I mean, we're in the middle of no where, in some forest.

"Right, how are you going to accomplish that?" I asked.

(Sorry it's short, I have writer's block If I didn't play any of the characters right, just tell me and I'll edit.)

These people weren't very smart, were they? They were so dumb, they didn't even know where they were! Then again, I didn't know where we were. Somewhere near the royal palace's forest. it was mainly used for hunting, which was why I was there. I decided not to tell them though, just to let them wiggle trying to discover where they were for a little bit. I smiled inwardly at the thought.
(Wow! Really short!)

Felicia

Everyone began talking at once. Where were we? What were we going to do? Was Rhyder really telling the truth?

"Listen guys," I piped up. I had had enough of the bickering. "It shouldn't be too hard to figure all this out right?"

"But we don't know where we are." Itaeo added.

"The other problem is we don't know how what Quenn Alleyah is doing," Rosalie answered. "I highly doubt she's going to invite a group like us into her castle. Even if that one is her son." she sai, pointing at Rhyder.

I looked around and found Aritha leaning against a tree. A smug look was upon her face as she was watched us. It was as if she already knew something, but wasn't going to tell us.

Suddenly, I became very angry. Aritha almost tore this group apart! What gave her the right to stand there and smirk at the rest of us? Not to mention she was the one who broke the tie breaker. Shouldn't she be one of the ones in on this conversation?

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. The I looked back at Aritha and said, "She knows where we are. Don't you, Aritha?"

Ah man! I had let a small smug smile loose and Felicia had seen it. Great. Now I had to tell. My fun was over.
I stepped out from my tree. "We're in the forest right beside the royal palace gardens, only two or three miles northwest of them." I said, no longer trying to hide my smile. We were actually four or five miles away, but they didn't need to know that.

Seven eyes turned to me. Most of them were glaring for not talking sooner.

"Look, it's not my fault that you guys are complete idiots for not even knowing where you were." They glared harder.

Kyler turned in some direction and began walking. Several others in the group began to follow him, as he usually knew where to go. Felicia and the half-ling stared after them. "Don't worry. He usually knows where he's going." Rosalie said before following. i jumped into the trees and began to follow as well. Walking was no fun. Plus, then you had to listen to everybody else talk. And then you were expected to talk back, which really got on my nerves.

We walked for a little while before I dropped down beside Kyler. "it's getting late, we should stop." He looked at me for a second, and then nodded and told the others. We reached a clearing and began to make a fire. I went off to hunt and came back with deer, bunnies, and even a frog. I grabbed enough for me, cooked it, and then took it back to the trees. I did NOT want to be around people right then. plus, I had to get as far away as possible before i fell asleep.

Itaeo Haoun:

I wanted to strangle her for not being honest with us, I wanted to strangle myself for not realizing there was civilization under my nose this whole time, and I just wanted to strangle something or someone in general because this day was anything but pleasant!
I ground my teeth so hard they hurt and sullenly and silently followed behind our group. Kylar for some reason took the lead, he could do whatever he wanted to in my mind as long as he got me out of this godforsaken forest!
We walked for another hour until it was almost dark as pitch, then we stopped and made another camp. I was in no mood to be talking to anyone so I grumbled my way to a tree and leaning against it faded away into my wraith form.

Aritha had skittered away once again from our group and knowing she was anything but honest I followed her still unseen, to see what she was up to. In my wraith form even strong magic users cannot sense me so I had no fear of detection.

I followed her about whilst she caught some small animals and bringing them back to our camp she cooked them sullenly and again made her way into a tree. that girl was like a leopard or a monkey, she seemed more at home in the trees than on the ground! I waited until among the leafy shadows watching her until she fell asleep. I then went back to my physical form. Straddling the branch Aritha was curled up on I wondered what had happened to her to make her like this.
Was is the mirror's curse affecting her very soul like this? would that happen to me once I fell further into my madness? I shivered at the thought.

As a reaper I can sense the health of a soul, and Aritha's was confusing to me. It felt both fully alive and vibrant like a young woman's soul should be, but yet it felt completely dead at the same time. Like her soul had stopped growing and living, it was staying the same, frozen in a way. I inched closer to her and brushed then bangs out of her face. I unwound my withered hand and gently placed it's fingertips to her temples, I wanted to find out what was really wrong with her. I had to do it while she was asleep though, when awake the mind protects the soul and makes it almost imposable to fully read what's within.

I closed my eyes, began reading and came face to face with the most terrifying being only seconds later.

(Ice- I hope this is okay, you've been writing Aritha's madness like it's a separate entity (which is so cool by the way!) so I wanted to keep that within my post. if you don't like this or something is wrong I can edit or remove the post. )