Life and Death

[Malachy]

Deep in the cemetery one of the mausoleums, if it was opened, revealed a stone casket and inside that was the end of a stone spiral stair case. The stairs lead deep under ground to a place that looked like the catacombs of Paris. The labyrinth-like walls where covered with skulls. There where foot deep sections of the wall that had candles, the wax had melted onto the skulls that held them up.

If you followed the correct path you would find a series of rooms. Most of them seem like normal catacombs with deep beds, where dead bodies would lie, dug into the earth. Only one of the tombs was lined with skulls like the rest of the cave. and in this ones the beds in the rock and dirt did not hold dead bodies instead they held living people. These were the Priests of Rathma.

In the chamber across from where the priests slept was a room with a flat table made of stone and dirt and clay, and the wall where lined with similar tables. One of the priests, Malachy was in this room looking over some records. in front of him was the hand of a skeleton sticking out of a wall and it was writing on a peace of parchment.

What Malachy reading was not pleasing him one bit. during his year or more of hibernation it seemed that Aesir had fallen, and was nothing but ruins. And there was nothing but one rogue mage that was keeping magic alive so to speak. There where a few other practitioners, but no city of magic as there had been in this area of the world before. Did any one around here understand how much they could have damaged the veil with that war? They would be luck if the greater evils themselves didn't appear and destroy everything.

Normally it was not their way to meddle in the world of mortals but this was too much to ignore, so, he donned his bone and leather armor, put on a traveling cloak, and a pouch of gold (which he ended up tying to his belt) and made his way through the catacombs, up the stairs, out of the casket, and into the open night air of the cemetery.

This is where his journey would begin.

[Tiy Lockheart]

Tiy had been going to the cemetery ever since the war. She had seen many people die for a war they could not win and those that died so innocently. She had felt a pain for them and a longing for wishing she could have done more than she did. She knew that she had been at school at the time, but she helped fight whenever she needed too. She sighed lightly as she laid a lily on a grave of a little girl that had been taking lessons from her when she first came to the great kingdom. She sighed lightly and ran her fingers over the markings on the tomb. She was sad to see the girl go, but she knew that the small girl, of only eight, had put up a fight before she died. It was very brave of a girl so small, but she used all her powers that she had learned from Tiy to protect her family and defend herself. Her older brother who had gotten away, had told her of his little sister's stand against the evil men, and Tiy was happy. She was in a better place now, and she did not have to worry about men breaking in and raping her mother and killing her family.

She sighed again and began to hum a tune she used to sing to the kids she babysat next to her parents house and then she stopped as she heard foot steps. She turned and looked to see a man coming out of a tomb. She raised a brow, but stood to her feet and looked over at him. She was not sure what to say, but she did wonder what he was doing in the tomb. Of course, she had heard of a certain cult or group of priests that lived in the tombs and she assumed he was one of them.

[Malachy]

Malachy felt her eyes, heard her breath, end could almost feel her life force. So much time in the complete silence of the crypt among the dead and buried coupled with his own practices made such subtle and normally unnoticeable things easy to detect. He turned and saw a young woman standing over the grave he understood to belonged to a little girl. Such an untimely death, how unfortunate. But there was no need, weeping for the dead. They would no longer feel the pain and suffering that those of this world knew only too well.

The man did not recognize the woman, but he noticed the mixture of fear and curiosity. Malachy, bowed and walked closer to her. He stopped at the hallowed ground before her. In a raspy voice that sounded like it hadn't been used in years and in a rather old but understandable accent he ask "You, knew her in life?" and he gestured at the ground before him referring to the little girl that was buried peacefully under six feet of dirt. He looked at the woman and awaited her answer.

[Tiy Lockheart]

The man walked closer to her and she smiled lightly at him as he motioned over the grave and asked her if she had known her in life. Tiy nodded. "She was one of my students. She used what I had been able to teach her to defend her family. But she died trying..." she looked over at the man and wondered just what it was he was doing out here in the night. Maybe her being there had brought him out, she would probably never know.

"Are you one of the priests that lives in the tomb?" she asked him, her tone gentle, and curious. She really was interested in hearing about his ways and his practices, but she was sure that would come in time. She looked at him and wondered just how long it had been since he had last spoken. His voice almost sounded out of practice. She stood there, pulling her shall tighter over her shoulders and crossing her arms over her v-neck black dress, awaiting his answer.

[ooc: i'm so sorry i forgot about this one! your character is great, i'm hooked! ^^]

[Malachy]

Malachy listened quietly to her words, her voice, her language. It seemed speaking had changed slightly but not extraordinarily so. It was still the same language. When she asked if he was one of the priests from the crypt he was only momentarily puzzled about how she had known of their existence, but he nodded in affirmation.

He closed his eyes for a moment allowing the voices of the wandering spirits to filter through his mind and fill him in on some of the reasons for the most recent deaths. Then he opened his eyes and spoke. "So, I take it you are one of the few left that actually practice magic?" His voice was still a little rusty but it was getting clearer as he spoke more. "It is not a presence that draws me above ground, but the lack there of." He stopped and looked around and then took another step towards her "You see, magic is a very powerful force that is very persuasive in terms of nature as well as the balance of life and death. There is still magic in the world but it seems to be a dieing presence. If that happens..." He stopped revealing too much may cause more problems than necessary.

He smiled an oddly fitting expression for his skull-like features. "Excuse my rudeness. You may call me Malachy I am a priest and I use magic. May have your name my dear?"

[Tiy Lockheart]

He asked if she studied magic and she nodded, with a bright smile. She was happy that he was not going to attack her like so many other 'purists' did. She listened to him and she nodded. Indeed it did seem that magic was rarer and rarer. But she did have a surprise for the monk. He went on to give her his name and she smiled again at him, bowing lightly in front of him to show respect. She rose again as she spoke her name. "I am Lady Tiy Lockheart. I am on the ruling council, mage and professor at the School of Magic in the North." she waited to see what his reaction would be.

"I have traveled around, teaching magic to children whose parents permitted it. But you are right to say that magic is dwindling. There are people who call themselves 'purists' and have attacked both men and women, my self included, for using magic," she placed a hand on her chest at the mention of herself. "My grandfather is shocked at how many people are against the use of magic. And I find it hypocritical of them to come to me to heal their sick and wounded and then they turn and tell me, once I am done, that magic is evil." she shook her head lightly.

She looked up at him again. "Forgive me, I have a tendancy to ramble when someone expresses the same passions as I," she nodded lightly.

[Malachy]

Malachy was not surprised or if he was he had no trouble hiding his reaction to learning that she was a teacher. But he did raise a pale eyebrow at the mention of the purists. Something told him that these purists, as most anti-mages, would loath his brand of magic, but the same went for many other magic users. The art he was practiced in was becoming viewed as more and more dark as its practitioners payed less and less to the balance of life and death. Needless to say whether she was comfortable with magic or not he was not about to reveal that he practiced necromancy. Not yet anyway.

She apologized for her rambling and shock his head closing his eyes for a moment as he did so. "No, no, no. I agree." He said as he looked back up at her. "You see." He gestured with his hands pointing at her a moment as he moved onto his point. "In my experience these, purists, are blind to what they don't understand. They mark magic as evil just because it can be harmful, or because the believe its beyond our right to influence nature, and that such power is reserved only for their god or gods." He paused and shook his head as if in shame of such ignorance.

"A god that truly believes that power over nature is only for them is selfish, and in my opinion not worth a prayer. When a god uses his followers to get rid of people he doesn't like he is openly giving his followers a right to judge, which truly is a job fit only for a god and a god that gives that power away is lazy. Magic in and of itself is as dangerous as any weapon. Take fire for example. Obviously it can hurt you, but it can heal you and it can light your way. Its only dangerous when not under control or in the hands of either a stupid or sadistic person."

He looked down at the lily laying on the soil over the grave. Being cut from its roots killed the plant it was dead and would eventually become one with the soil again. But the necromancer had an idea. In truth the plant could be saved. He pointed to the flower and from the cut end uf the stem sprouted string roots that snaked downward and buried themselves in the soil He forced the pant to take in nutrients and moisture from the soil and it reacted by raising skward, a new and rather beautiful plant brought back to life. Power over nature could do the same thing so this didn't reveal anything really. "You see, under the right circumstances magic, like fire, can be simply pleasant to see while its alive."

[Tiy Lockheart]

In truth, this man was brilliant. She loved his passion and his hope for the skill of magic and she found herself growing closer to the man. Sure, they had just met, but when people shared talents and passions, it made them friends, or one the follower, even faster than normal. She smiled at him as he spoke, and kept her eyes glued to him. He spoke so truthfully and she could not bare the thought of ever ignoring his words and thoughts. She was just blown away.

She watched as he pointed at the plant and watched it grow roots that snaked over the soil and rooted itself and then grew again. She smiled at it and then nodded as he said that power over nature was a good thing. She raised her hands and closed her eyes as she concentrated on the nearest water source, which happened to be a fountain just at the entrance of the Cemetery. She silently chanted a spell in her mind and a ball of water came to float above her hand. She knelt by the flower and rested the ball of water at its roots and then pulled away, letting the water sink into the ground around it. She looked up at him and nodded.

"There would be no such thing as magic if power over nature was not allowed to the beings in this world." she stood gracefully. She looked around and then looked at him, locking her eyes on his. "I would like to ask you to come to dinner. I... I understand if you cannot being a priest, but the offer stands. It would be a honor to have you there, Priest Malachy." she nodded to him gently.

[Malachy]

He smiled and laughed slightly at the comment she had made. Not injest but in sort of agreement. "With out power over nature we would not live fore very long. For what its cutting down a tree with an awe and cutting it up to make into a house, or digging a well or using a flint and some steel to start a fire if not power over nature." But he stopped himself discussing too much now. He had other things to talk about and explain and she had offered him a meal.

"My lady, I would be honored, and maybe if you like i could teach you a thing or two about what I know about magic." He said he would only show her if he was sure she wouldn't judge his art negatively right away. "So when and where shall we meet. And where is it I could find a place to stay until then. Its too much of a hassle to run back and forth from my home under the cemetery. Not to mention the moment one of those 'purists' sees me go into a crypt and not come out I'll probably be taken in or slain as some sort of undead atrocity." He wasn't ignorant and he understood how these purists thought, at least well enough to keep from loosing his life to them for no good reason.

[Tiy Lockheart]

He laughed at her remark and then made a point and she smiled and nodded lightly. "Indeed... I suppose that is true." she laughed with him. And then he said he would be honored to dine with her and that he would teach her about what he knew about magic. Her eyes went wide and her smile was bright, "OH! What a delight! That would be wonderful! And as for a place to stay. I live in a manor house at the end of the market road. Why don't you stay with me? I have a few guest rooms!" she remarked.

Oh, what a wonderful idea it was to come to the cemetery tonight! She looked over at him and wondered if he thought that was all right. She was not exactly sure how this priest and his religion worked, but she hoped to learn it more, and hoped that his staying at her home would be accepted by his practices. He had all ready agreed to dinner, maybe her hospitality for the room would also be excepted.