The Big Story

[Areada]

The first thing that had to be dealt with was undoubtably the chain on her ankle, Miir thought, cautiously stretching her leg into the utter blackness that surrounded her, noting again the weight and rattle of what was undoubtably a heavy-duty dungeon chain.

She was laying on her back, she thought, but it was hard to tell because she felt sort of…not at the present moment. She could vaguely sense herself, and where she was, and was only aware of her leg because of the unnatural weight resting on the ankle.

It was an extraordinarily strange feeling, and one that she didn’t like. It felt like the aftermath of what was perhaps an extremely strong sedation spell. Miir didn’t pretend to be altogether knowledgeable of the bits and pieces of magic practice, but she knew enough to know when magic was around. She’d been on the receiving end of enough minor spells to have a general idea when a spell was really not minor in any way, shape, or form.

She shivered involuntarily, and regained some sense of self. That was better. Her fingertips twitched, and she was pleased to discover that she did not seem to have been damaged or hurt in whatever experience had relocated her to this very dark place with chains.
How had she gotten here, anyway?

What did she remember…

With a very worried start, she realized she remembered nothing very particular at all. She knew what she could do and who she was-but as for why any of that was, she was just as in the dark as the space surrounding her.

Why was she here? Why was she named Miir? Why was anything about her the way it was? With a worried stretch of the imagination, she wondered if she was some creation of a dark wizard, some chimera or being that was created specifically to do a type of work. If these things had been imbued into her at creation, there was no background that she would be able to remember.

But that was ridiculous. Things like that didn’t happen. No…no…surely she would not be so self aware if that were true.

It felt awkward, to know things without knowing why. It felt like she had a lot of conclusions in her head that weren’t backed up by anything practical or logical, and that was incredibly unsettling. There was only a shallow layer of knowledge, and everything below was dark.
Speaking of dark…

Miir stretched again, testing the darkness around her. And when she brushed against something that twitched, she managed to sit straight up and scream.

[Nayaby]

“Could you keep it down mayhaps?” An slightly accented voice pierced the darkness, conjuring the mental image of an arid desert people. “It is probably just a rat. Many of them around here. Not much else to eat.”

The speaker gazed at the woman with feline eyes, just barely able to make out her silhouette in the pitch dark.

“We are likely to be eaten by a grue ourselves,” the speaker pondered aloud. “Ah, but forgive me. I have yet to introduce myself. I am Qasari, the djinni. I would say more about myself, but I seem to have forgotten. And I would call our meeting a pleasure, but the circumstances do not seem so pleasurable. I would appear we are prisoners of some sort.”

Unlike Miir, Qasari was not bound by chains. Not physical ones, at least. A djinni, he was bound to the caged bottle in the centre of the room, unaware of its presence due to the darkness, and unaware of its significance due to his apparent forgetfulness.

[MozytheHealer]

It may have been dark. Raix couldn’t tell, though. She put a hand to her head, feeling for any bruises. She hadn’t felt anything hit her, and she wasn’t quite sure where she was. It didn’t feel like where she had been before blacking out. She couldn’t feel the piece of cloth that she normally wore over her eyes, so something must have happened that was out of the ordinary for her to lose it.

Raix felt the ground next to her. It was hard and not very smooth. She sat up and worked her hand carefully across the floor, or at least what she thought was the floor. It could be some sort of ledge that dropped off a few feet away from her. She could feel something cold and probably metal around her ankle, and she moved her hand to that next. It was definitely metal, and there was a chain attached to it. She stayed sitting and followed the chain to find the wall.

Using the wall as a guide she stood up carefully and stretched a hand out in front of her. She went as far along the wall as her chain would let her, feeling the ground with her foot before taking another step and barely lifting her feet off the ground. When she reached the end of her chain she started in the opposite direction, which is when she heard someone scream. She tried to make her way to the noise without tripping and then heard a different voice. She carefully stopped walking, her hands out in front of her, feeling the air and trying to find whoever was talking without hitting anyone.

There wasn’t anything in front of her, so she slowly started moving forward again. Raix had absolutely no idea where she was walking to, and so she moved slowly back to the wall and tried to find a way to keep the wall and move towards the others. She was slightly relieved to know that there were other people there who could hopefully be able to tell her where they were.

Thankfully Raix was able to find a corner and gingerly start making her way across the room. She felt a few ruts in the floor, but not many. The room was most obviously well made and probably stone or something equally hard and cold. The wall was equally cold, though much more smooth than the floor, which really didn’t make much sense in her mind.

[Areada]

“Yeah, keep it down!” Miir said exasperatedly, looking around blindly for the location of the disembodied voice, “And there’s someone…or something else moving around in here! I say, has anyone got a light at all?”

[MozytheHealer]

“Who are you? Could you maybe tell me where I am?” Raix asked, slowing down and moving toward the voice with one hand out in front of her. She could almost always tell where people were, but she didn’t want to take any chances running into someone. “Is it dark?”

[Nayaby]

“It cannot say it is bright,” Qasari said, “But not so dark I do not notice your fumbling outline. Be careful not to trip on those bones.” His feline eyes could only just make out the broken remains the littered the floor. “As for your questions,” Qasari continued, “I am Qasari, and my companion is the source of the shrill scream you undoubtedly heard. It seems we are being held captive, though I cannot say where or hazard a guess as to who our captors may be.”

[Areada]

"Your companion?" Miir complained, "No, I don't think so. Rather like fellow inmate."

Miir kicked savagely with her free leg, scattering invisible clattering things that must have been, as the djinni had said, bones. She did not scream this time, being too thoroughly disgusted with her present situation, though still considerably frightened.

"I can't see anything." she said, "Djinni, is it your magic that lets you see outlines? I don't suppose you could manage a light of some sort?"

[Nayaby]

“Magic? Do djinni have magic? I think I had forgotten,” Qasari muttered, “My eyes are simply better than yours is all.” In the dark he raised a hand to stroke his beard. “I think I may be able to remember a spell for this situation, yes. The darkness gives my friends a fright, bestow us with a gracious light!”

A tiny yellowish magelight blinked into existence over Qasari’s head, illuminating the room in a dim aura.

“Will that suffice?”

[MozytheHealer]

“Bones?” Raix asked, feeling around with her foot and nodding slightly. “Ah. I see what you mean. I’m Raix, by the way.” She let go of the wall, now fairly comfortable with her surroundings. “I am in the company of a Djinni? I’m honoured, I suppose.”

In the dim light she still could not see anything, but everyone else would be able to see the scarring around her one remaining eye, which did not work. When she heard Qasari start the spell she raised one hand to her eye to hide it. People tended to over-react when someone only had one eye, and more so when they saw the scars around it.

[Areada]

“It is sufficient.” Miir said, “Though I don’t know why you don’t know if you have magic or not. I certainly remember that I particularly don’t! Though I couldn’t tell you why, not at all.”

“Light, glorious light!” said an enthusiastic voice from somewhere that sounded below Miir, “I don’t suppose you could give me a hand here? I seem to be slightly stuck in a ribcage.”

Miir blinked, and looked down. A young woman with what looked like curls and waves of blonde hair cascading on the bones surrounding her was struggling with her arm, which was stuck in what was definitely a ribcage. A pointed look of slightly pathetic determination was visible on her face, and Miir felt a sharp pang of strange dislike.

“How did you manage that?” Miir asked skeptically as she jerked the young woman’s hand out of the bones and helped her stand up, none too gently.

“Oh, I was just exploring.” the young woman said, “and I stayed quiet while you all were walking around because I couldn’t figure out if I was sleeping or not. Then, when I really did get my arm stuck in a very real and painful way, I realized that I was probably not dreaming.”

[Elfie]

The floor was hard, rough, as was the wall, which was boring painfully into Sinjin's back. He sighed, hearing other prisoners stirring. He'd been awake for a while, though how long he couldn't be sure, as there was no window and the darkness, hence, was no indication of day or night. He was a bit upset that he wasn't alone in this room, prefering solitude while a captive. But he tried to tune out the voices, deciding to continue to sort out his thoughts, as he'd been doing since he'd awoken. If no one noticed his presence, so much the better.
His name was Sinjin, that much was clear to him. He was average height, not too old, was on the thin side, and had several scars on his body. Vague memories would pop into his head regarding those scars, but nothing stayed long enough for him to grasp, or really remember, anything. He had discovered that he had a knife sewed into the lining of his clothing, which was pretty ragged. The palm of his hands and wrists were bloodied, the chains that forced his arms behind his back having cut into them.
Suddenly he was seized by more images. Ones that happened long ago... and not so long ago. They made no sense, running together. A woman was always in or around them, speaking, taunting him. Why? Who was she? Had she brought him here? But no. He wasn't alone, he reminded himself. Someone else had put them here. Why? So many questions and no answers, Sinjin thought to himself, starting to breathe more heavily. He yanked on the restraints, tried to get up. He was thrown back, his backside rubbing painfully against the stonework. He made a noise like the cry of a wild animal; his mind went out of focus and he didn't care if anyone knew of his presence in the room. He leaned his head back, almost falling into unconsciousness. Then he suddenly snapped his eyes open and winced.
What had happened? He couldn't remember his thoughts, though he'd only just thought them several minutes ago. It had only been that long, hadn't it? He was still in the room, anyway, and the same voices were floating around him. Had this, his mind playing tricks on him, been Emyln's doing? He sat up straighter, surprised. Where had that last thought come from? Who was Emyln? He'd never heard of anyone with that name... or had he?
Sinjin groaned, starting to feel dizzy.

[MozytheHealer]

Raiz cocked her head slightly, hearing more noises than just the four people who she had identified by voice. "I think that there's someone else here." She said quietly. "This person is slightly more... abrupt in their motions, from what I can hear. They're quiet, for the most part, but not completely. I think that whoever it is is hurt, though, from the sounds.”

Putting a hand up for everyone else to stop talking Raiz cocked her head toward where she thought the noise was coming from. “Over in that direction.” She said, feeling for the wall so that she could try to find this other person, if she could get that far.

[Lycanthrope]

Water. Water was everywhere. Pain started to arise; an ever increasing pain in his head. Some hand was forcing his head into the water. His brain screams for oxygen; is this how it ends? When he could no longer hold his breath and was ready to fall into darkness, bright lights showered him as his head was pulled out of the water. He gasped, deliciously inhaling the vital air.

“Tell me where it is now!”

He could not process the information, unable to speak. His head was returned back into the water. Another submerged trauma in the darkness before another gulp of nature’s oxygen.

“Can’t keep this up forever!”

Gasp!

Aboto wakes up from his nightmare. Just a dream, right? Aboto stretches his hands out, seeking answers from his environment. Cold, wet tiles is what he received. Wet? He touches his clothes; his tan shirt is soaked as well his grey trousers.

He screams, unable to comprehend the situation in front of him. All that came out was a gurgle.

Aboto widens his eyes in disbelief and wiggles his muscle to confirm his hypothesis. His eyes grow further; his tongue is removed.

[Areada]

“Well, there seem to be a considerable amount of us.” Miir said, wondering if this was a good thing, in that they had more people who could contribute to escaping. In the dim light, she could see a few others, some just waking up. Six or seven of them in all? More? The light did not quite extend to the corners of the room, and the ceiling was pitch black, and she could not tell how far up it was.
“This is really-this is really quite strange.” the young woman with the ocean of blonde hair next to Miir said, “I don’t understand at all. And I’m having a very difficult time remembering why or when, or where. How curious and uncomfortable.”

Miir frowned. Something about the woman’s speech was a bit strange, and did not make her altogether sympathetic towards the young woman. She looked around, wondering if other people were having a similar reaction, but she quickly realized that considering the circumstances, no one was really bothering to pay much attention to the finer details of everyone’s personality.

[MozytheHealer]

Raiz hadn’t realized it until the woman with the blonde hair had said something about it, but she could not remember quite a bit about herself and her life. It was an interesting feeling for her. She didn’t think that she had ever forgotten that much before, but she was really just guessing.

Raiz dismissed that however. She thought that finding out exactly who was there and finding a way out was probably slightly more important, so she continued to follow the noise that she had heard and carefully kneeled down as close to them as she dared, putting a hand out to find the person’s shoulder. Her hand brushed cloth and she was able to figure out where the person was from that. She could tell, or at least she thought, it was a man from his breathing and his cry from earlier.

“Hello. Are you another human?” She asked, keeping her face down and with her free hand touching the wall lightly as if she was a little afraid it would disappear. That was not always normal for her, but she was disconcerted. “You sound less calm than the rest of them. Are you hurt? Or just scared?” Raiz let her hand find the chains connected to the man’s wrists. She wondered why his hands were chained, and if his foot was chained as well, and if so, why, but refrained from asking.

[Elfie]

Emyln. The more he said the name, the more it started to become familiar. Dark haired, he remembered, with a pasty complexion, and.... a birthmark. That's right. She'd told him a story about that mark, and had taken great pride in it. He laughed, a sound which held no amusment but plenty of scorn. And she'd had a pet, but he left her. Much to her fury. That's when she had turned into...

Sinjin tensed upon sensing someone – or something? - coming towards him. Were they coming to him? If so, why? And how could they? Weren't they chained as well? And then, he started to panic. Was it one of them, their captives? Or was it--

He heard a female voice speak to him, asking him questions. Felt her touch the chains... It didn't sound like her, but that was no true evidence to the contrary. He spoke, his voice sounding broken and hoarse. He hated that, especially if it was her; it would show nothing but weakness. „I'm human. Hurt, ha! Of course I am. Bodily, mentally...“ Scared? Of course he was. But he'd never tell her that.

„Why are you doing this? Why Emyln?“ Her name burt from him in a hiss, and he clenched his fists and his teeth ground together as he asked, „Why do you enjoy such sick games!?“

---------------
A woman wearing a dark cloak walked around a small room, muttering to herself. Sinjin was missing – again – and she was becoming restless. What had the bloody scoundrel done now? „Probably in jail again. And here I sit, waiting for him to come and help me, and all he can do is get himself caught!! STEVAN!!!“ She stopped in the middle of the room, screaming the name of her servant, in such a high piched tone that the picture around her fell from their hooks.

He came in meekly, a small, slightly hunch-backed man who was older than he looked. Much older. He gave a quick, resigned glance at the fallen pictures. Well, that was nothing new. It happened a lot more when Master Sinjin was around. But he did so loathe the job of hanging them, when all they did was fall again weeks later. Sometimes he wondered why he didn't just pack up and leave, but then another reminder of his bondage would arise.

The woman raised her arms, disgusted when she noticed Stevan's roaming thoughts, and said shrilly, „Tell me where Sinjin is! Or you'll be sleeping with the rats again!“ She didn't really mean that, but Stevan had to learn sometime that he was to pay attention, not keep things from her, and stay loyal to her, not that twit Sinjin.

„I, er, recieved word that the Master was seen taken to the Tower... I don't know when, but that is where he currently is.“ Stevan replied.

„The Tower, hmm? Hm, hmm, hm...“ The woman tapped her lips with one of her long nails that extended from her ashen, bony fingers. Then she stalked to a table scattered with a dizzying variety of papers, books, sewing materials and half-finished dolls. „I see. I see. This is interesting. He couldn't be there because of me then, or they wouldn't have taken him there. No. So, what trouble did he get himself into to be taken to the Tower? Find out, if you can, Stevan!“

„But, M'lady, I'm not sure---“

„SILENCE!!! I've got a better idea!“ She turned rapidly around, her face full of glee, clapping her hands together, which effectively silenced, and rather scared, Stevan. „I'll go! I'll find out why he is there. And then...“ She stopped, remembering she wasn't speaking to herself this time. „Well, you can go, Stevan. I'll handle this on my own.“

Stevan eagerly left, deciding not to mention the pictures, closing the door behind him.

„Yes, I'll handle this.“ The woman nodded, starting to gather a few things she would need.

[MozytheHealer]

Now that he was talking, Raiz could tell that it was a man. His voice sort of betrayed the fact that he was scared, but only if she listened closely. Raiz was slightly taken aback by the name, though. “Emyln? Is she someone you know?” She hadn’t thought that anyone who was here could remember anything. The man seemed to be in worse shape than the others she had talked to, though. Unfortunately she couldn’t tell how bad. All she really had to go by was his movements and his voice. “I’m just one of the prisoners.”

[Areada]

"He doesn't seem all right." Miir said, "Though I'm surprised some of us seem to be all right. Not that we are-I can't remember much..." Miir stumbled over the last few words, uncomfortable that she could not articulate as well as she liked to in conversation, due to the unnerving atomosphere of the situation.

"I don't know anyone named Emyln." said the blonde, with some confusion, "So I don't suppose any of us know each other."

"Not right." Miir said, "I don't remember anyone, so for all I know, I could know you all."

"I suppose." said the blonde, "But I-"

Miir was glaring. The blonde looked uncomfortable, and stopped talking.
"The memory loss is uncomfy." the blonde said, finally, "Does anyone have any idea of anything at all?"

"We've got a memory for one of us." Miir said, "The name Emlyn. Maybe that means he has more memory than the rest of us."

[MozytheHealer]

“That may be true…” Raiz turned her head toward the voices. “Can all of us really remember nothing? We can remember our names, can’t we? Maybe we can remember something else as well.” At the same time she said that she started attempting to remember even just a small part of what had happened before this room. “Possibly something that would tell us why we are all in here?”

[Areada]

"Nothing!" Miir said, frustrated, "I keep trying and trying and I don't know anything. I remember what I can do-what I am capable of-and it seems that my knowledge is retained, but I have no memory of how that knowledge was obtained. It is utterly awful."

"I'm sorry." the blonde said sympathetically, which only made Miir more irritated.

"Don't be. It seems we're all the same in regards to that right now." Miir said.

"Well, rather." the blonde said, "But I'm not a person who really needs to know why things happen, so I don't feel so...so..."

"That's terribly helpful." Miir said, "Thanks for completely not sympathizing."

"You're really irritable." the blonde said, frowning, "I'm sorry for trying to be kind."

She turned to the others in the room, "My name is Sylene Yra. I can work magics, and specialize in theoretical time and dimensional travel, in addition to being excellent at abstract spellwork. I cannot remember anything...of help."

Sylene looked uncomfortable, "I cannot say I feel completely cut off from my past. There are enough feelings in my head that seem to apply to this situation in an understandable way. First, I do not like this place. Second, this seems inevitable."

[MozytheHealer]

“So you can remember stuff other than your name…” Raiz said thoughtfully. “I have retained my knowledge as well, which seems to make me think I did something connected to theology. I’m not sure how, though.” Raiz was mostly wondering how she was able to read whatever books that one had to read when studying theology. “Can anyone else remember anything of that sort?”

[Areada]

Syrene nodded, "Like I said, I remember what I can do. But I don't remember what schools I went to, or the names of my friends and family. What if I was married? Or had children? It's really terrifying."

Miir could not help but feel even more irritated towards Syrene. As if her paranoid speculating was going to get them anywhere.

Not that she had anything better to offer.

"I'm a musician." Miir said, "I remember everything about that, and nothing about anything else."

[MozytheHealer]

“I do wonder if I had a family, or even an assistant of some sort. I must have, or how would I have been able to study whatever theological subjects that I apparently was interested in.” Raiz said, shrugging a little. “Can you really time-travel? Or is it just speculation? Or can you not remember? I think I was interested in the past theologies, or at least that’s what it seems like from what I can remember.” She brushed her hair, that she was fairly certain was brown, out of her face, even though that wasn’t very necessary.

[Areada]

"I can time travel." Syrene said, enthusiastically, "in theory. It's fascinating, all the possible theories that we can't prove yet. We're really decades and decades ahead of technology, but eventually people will get around to being able to test the theories. I can only hope that I will live to see it. But you know, if time travel does work out, who knows, I might get transported into the future to assist with experimentation and refining the techniques!"

Miir decided that the personality for this young woman was 'bubbly' and 'idiotic'. She was more and more irritated by the minute. In fact, it was beginning to become the focus of her mind, more than her fear of the situation she was in. Who was this young woman that she could be so naive in such a situation?

Syrene had made a decision to ignore Miir, and was doing so very effectively. She babbled on, about time and dimensions, and theoretical diagrams with potential effects.

"-and that's why it might be possible, if you aligned the effects of a complex communication spell and a basic potential time merge spell, you could have communication that slips out of space and time. Speaking over the ages!" Syrene concluded, brightly, then said "Now, maybe we should think about getting out of this place?"

Miir raised her eyebrows. That was the first sense the woman had said this entire time. Best to acknowledge it.

"I agree." Miir said, "Do any of us understand anything about what is going on? In the memories that remain to us, is there anything that could explain this situation?"

She looked around the room expectantly, but it was dark and her companions were not expressive, save for Syrene's now concerned countenance.

---------

The girl sat under a tree, feeling sadder than she could remember feeling. It wasn't her fault that...whatever had happened had happened. She wasn't cut out for this school, this wasn't her thing, it was all wrong.

"Are you from the ... school?" someone asked, from behind the tree, "Can you work magic?"

The girl sniffed, "Yes." she said, "Only no one likes me because they don't like my magic."

"That's stupid." the person behind the tree said, "Magic is a gift. All my siblings are good at it, except me."

"I'm sorry." the girl said, "But it's not that great. It doesn't make people like you better or anything."

"Maybe." said the person behind the tree, "But it's also true that since it's only a gift, it shouldn't make people like you more or less just because it exists. So I can only conclude that your treatment isn't fair. Unless you did something horrible with it."

"No!" the girl protested, "I only-I only tried to be creative."

The person behind the tree stepped away and came around to the front. The girl saw that it was another girl, her age, who had an expression of defiant precociousness stamped on her face and practically radiating out in a glow of antagonistic personality.

"I don't like them." the person who had previously been behind the tree said, "I think they're stupid. Tell me about it. My siblings never tell me anything about magic."

[Lycanthrope]

Aboto hears voices around him. Random babbling from a high pitched voice, and mumbles from a variety of low male and female voices. One voice asks if anyone knows the current situation. Based off how everyone is entrapped within an enclosed space and he was tortured, Aboto assumes they have been imprisoned by someone or something. Furthermore, since he was tortured for information yet drastic measures were taken, the person or thing needs information yet knows other sources are available. In conclusion, any one of these people will be the next to be tortured.

Aboto crawls out of his corner to the closest person he hears. With a wet hand, he reaches out to find the woman who babbled about time travelling. Finding some cloth, he clutches it and pulls his body closer. He opens his mouth to warn them that guards will soon come to take one of them away, but all that comes out is a low, raspy gurgle.

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