Whispers in the Dark [Private - Fourth]

--Note this is an NPC--

At Cassius's Private Bunking quarters in the middle of Adliet snuck in the messenger. This was the easiest part of his journey, scaling the castle walls and sneaking past the tight guard was hard compared to this simple incursion. The man was dressed in plain red clothing, trousers with many buckles and pockets lining it so that he could carry anything of importance, his jacket came over his head with a hood, his skin was natural colored, though the only visible skin was that on his chin sticking out from beneath his hood. It was starved and deprived like he had not eaten in a long time, or was very old. His hands were covered by leather gloves of a deep brown color.

He made his way to Cassius's bunk and moved to the front door. At this moment a strange sensation would overwhelm Cassius and he would awake. The messenger knocked lightly once and glanced both ways to make sure no one could hear him skulking about. On his right arm was a sort of padding around his elbow, inside poked out a note.

The messenger as far as anyone could tell held no weapons on him, he simply stood there waiting for the door to be answered. if it was not he would show himself in, he was under strict orders. So he waited, silently, his facial expression void of anything.

Cassius was sound asleep, his chest slowly rising and falling with his deep breathing. His sleep was aided from a rough day with a few recruits, draining the majority of Cassius' energy and leaving him in want of his lumpy mattress. It had only taken him a moment to pass out into unconsciousness, but that did not mean he was completely unknowing of the conscious world around him; being a soldier will do that to you. His mind seemed attuned to any and all sounds and feelings that were not normal and at the slightest hint of this abnormalcy, his body would stir silently with his eyes opening slowly.

The messenger was no exception.

Although what awoke Cassius was not an abnormal sound but a feeling; a feeling strong enough to arose him despite sleeping in the comfort of the military base of Kreine in his own bunk. His eyes opened first, focusing on the ceiling, then darting down as far as they could to look past his feet and to the door. Something wasn't right, and right when Cassius' body reacted to the feeling by starting to sit up, he heard the knock on the door, pausing the motion of sitting up for a second before completely doing so. It seemed a bit coincidental that Cassius received such a feeling as to wake him from his sleep and seconds later, a knock at the door; far too coincidental for Cassius to assume that nothing odd was going on.

Despite this odd situation unfolding, Cassius reminded himself that he was in the stronghold of Kreine, deciding not to strap on his sword belt as he slid his feet over the side of his bed. Placing his bare feet against the slightly cold ground, he stood from the bed, making his way to the door. He reached out for the handle, opening the door just enough to see who was there before fully opening the door. Cassius paused with the door slightly open, not recognizing this person that stood in front of his military abode, but partially assumed this person was cleared by guards to get this far, opening the door fully. Cassius stood in front of the messenger, only wearing a pair of black pants.

"Can I help you?" Cassius was polite in voice but hardened in his facial expressions, looking exactly like a man who had just been woken from a deep sleep from something troublesome. He was less irritated and more concerned/curious about why he was awoken and who this person standing here before him was. Being a soldier, Cassius had already started assuming scenarios that could unfold with this strange person, preparing himself for any sort of knee-jerk reaction he'd have to move with.

The messenger's eyes remained concealed but he could not resist the urge to lick his lips gently upon the sight of the man. From beneath the solid walls of his hood he examined the soldier. Well-built and a fighter's heart. He would do well. His arm moved slowly and cautiously to his opposite arms elbow holster, the note was crumpled and the page's color was yellow. A golden seal held the note in place, it was dry for the time being but it was clear that it had been rained on perhaps several times, it was something that had been carried through night and day. The dark rings below the messenger's eyes showed that as well. He extended the note towards Cassius. "This is for you." His lips opened just enough to get the words out, a black tongue showed as the lips parted. The messenger's chuckle was louder then his words.

"I once saw a man hanging from a cliff," he said slowly. "The brink was crumbling beneath his fingers, and the only thing near enough to grasp was a tuft of grass, a few long blades with roots barely clinging to the rock. The only chance he had of climbing back up on the cliff. So he grabbed it." His abrupt chuckle held no mirth. "He had to know it would pull free." The messenger frowned. "Can you feel it yet Cassius Prolithicus?" The messenger grimaced. "That deep feeling within you that you draw strength from.." The messenger smirked, "You are to go to Tola. You may read the note now or once you arrive in Tola, your decision will bring you great power or great despair." The messenger tilted his head up slightly. "It's never over, Prolithicus. The battle's never done." A dark mist began to emerge from the mans clothing, a black mist.

"I will see you tomorrow, or i will see you dead." The man's cloak collapsed to the ground and disintegrated into thin air. A chuckle could be heard in the wind.

Cassius watched the actions of the messenger closely, his eyes narrowing slightly as the messenger licked his lips, focusing on the dark hood that concealed most of this strange person's facial features. As the messenger went for the envelope in a slow fashion, Cassius' eyes moved to the envelope. He could tell that the envelope, despite the golden seal adorning the outside of the object, had been weathered since it's inception, assuming that the envelope had either been treated poorly or had taken quite awhile to reach its destination.

As the messenger held out the envelope, Cassius' eyes moved from the envelope to the messenger darkened face, hearing him speak and watching the flicker of dark flesh from his mouth. Something was not right about this individual as Cassius began to wonder if the messenger had in fact been cleared by the guards at this point. Reaching out slowly, Cassius retrieved the envelope from the messenger, pulling it in slowly and giving the object a pensive look before his eyes returned back to the messenger as he began speaking again.

The story the messenger told, Cassius was unsure what he was talking about exactly. Taken at face value, Cassius could only assume the messenger was referencing some sort of inevitability struggle, where the outcome is the same regardless of the action. Cassius kept his eyes narrowed at the messenger and his story until the messenger mentioned his name; his eyes widened slightly at that and his body language was a bit more tense. Already he was beginning to dislike this person, his eyes narrowing again.

Only when Cassius saw the dark mist emitting from the messenger's clothing and his words about "it" never being over, his free hand began to emit a glowing white light, beginning to be encased in quietly burning white fire. As the messenger gave Cassius an explanation and then dispersed into nothing, the motion of the cloak falling caused Cassius to jerk forward with his free hand, assuming this was the messenger's reaction to somehow evading the knight and leaving the complex. To Cassius' surprise, his white flaming hand held the top of the cloak with the cloak being entirely empty. The fire extinguished from Cassius' hand as he held the cloak, looking down at the garb and down the length of the hallway that his room resided in. What the hell just happened?

Despite not wearing a shirt, Cassius, while still holding the cloak, made his way down the hallway where he knew a guard was stationed. The guard was surprised by Cassius and his appearance, and became confused when Cassius started asking about a messenger. Cassius even showed the guard the cloak, but the guard was even more confused as if there was a messenger, why did Cassius have the messenger's cloak?

Cassius retreated into his room and locked his door, lighting a candle on a small wooden desk as he threw the cloak into the corner of the room. He sat down at the desk with the envelope in his hand and examined it, flipping it over a few times while looking at the seal. He didn't recognize the seal to be of any sort of nobility or royalty within the area, nor did he even know who would send him such an envelope with such a messenger. He laid the envelope flat on the desk with the seal staring Cassius in the face as he thought about the messenger's words: "You may read the note now or once you arrive in Tola, your decision will bring you great power or great despair." What did the messenger mean by that?

Either way, Cassius couldn't wait to open the envelope later; something of importance could be within the envelope and waiting to read it when he arrived in Tola could prove to be his downfall. He slowly began to open the envelope, unsure what to expect of the contents.

The Golden seal fades into nothing as it is broken away from the envelope. Despite the wear and tear the envelope has gone through the note it self seems unscathed completely.


Find the hand that lies in the shadow of the light. In the eye of the husband of the eye of the cow.

Was all that the message stated.

But something would click inside Cassius. Some deep sensation would click.

Now what was Cassius to do? To Tola or to Remain here.

Cassius jerked his hands away from the envelope slightly, almost stumbling backward as he did so from the sudden dispersing seal. He paused for a moment, waiting for something else to happen. To his surprise, nothing else happened. Very carefully, Cassius slid two fingers just barely inside the envelope to retrieve the note that was protruding from the package. Still holding the note with his two fingers, he leaned closer to the lamp that was lit on the desk, narrowing his eyes to focus in the dim light as he read out loud,

"Find the hand that lies in the shadow of the light. In the eye of the husband...of the...eye of the cow?" Cassius' tone of voice curved upward in a question, a bit confused as to what the phrase meant at the very end. Well, he was confused about the entire phrase but that latter part was a bit more confusing than the former. As soon as he was done reading the note, however, an odd sensation ran down the length of his spine, giving him goosebumps. This feeling was something different than what he felt when the messenger arrived, but even still, his eyes darted toward the door, expecting some sort of knock again. The knock never came.

He placed the note on the desk and read it a few more times before moving his thoughts past the words and onto his actions. Cassius stood erect and moved away from the desk, walking over to where his sword belt was hanging off of a chair. Whoever this note came from, it sounded as though they knew Cassius or thought they knew Cassius, which means he was being targeted on a personal level. The whole thing smelled like a trap, but if Cassius was being called out on something he personally did, he would not need to include the human army or anyone else in his affairs. Trap or not, he was going to Tola to find out what exactly this note means.

The threat on his life to leave for Tola or not did not bother Cassius because it seems as though whoever wanted him, wasn't going to simply kill him if he did not show. That being side, Cassius wasn't going to wait for someone into his room and stab him while he slept; he was going to meet his opponent or opponents--assuming they are in fact his opponents--on the battlefield.

Despite not wanting to involve any of Kreine in his personal matters, by the time he was finished suiting up and adorning a cloak to conceal himself, he began writing a letter with a quill and ink, addressing a select few on the letter in regard to where he was going and what he was doing. He had enough respect in the military to leave from active duty to pursue someone or something, given that he would return within a period of time. In his note, he made sure to state where he was going and if he did not return, to start looking there.

Cassius quickly sealed the note and tucked it into a satchel that was slung across his chest and hung at his hip. He also picked up the cloak and stuffed it into the satchel, smothered his lamp, and walked out of his room, locking up behind him. As he walked down the hallway, one of the guards saw him coming and saluted him, although this very same guard who was confused about a bewildered Cassius not 15 minutes before was again confused as to why Cassius was leaving in full armor in the middle of the night. Cassius dug out the note from his satchel and handed it to the guard, instructing him on who to give the note to. After that, he gently slapped the guard on his shoulder and passed through the bunks to the stable.

As he would enter the stable, he would find a strong and quick horse, mount it, and begin his journey to Tola under the veil of the night.