A Riddle for Mice

[Sola]

86th of Glade, 4623 [Late at night]

A lot had happened today. After Luna had watched Jared’s form disappear from her field of view she tried chasing after him. She’d looked around for a while then given up because how was she supposed to find something she couldn’t see? She thought about his riddle and called it quits. Not long after she gotten to Miguel’s estate, she’d gotten into a magical battle and used a newfound power she’d discovered to defeat a bad man.

It had been so much for just one day… so Luna was understandably stress. It was only because of this stress that she had any hope of solving Jared’s riddle. She was walking along down the streets at night, following a path she usually took to get from Miguel’s place to her own cottage. That’s when she saw a rat climbing up the wall of a house.

“A rat? Wasn’t that part of the riddle that guy gave me?” she asked herself. She shook her head and walked past the rat but then turned around a minute later. She looked into the sky to see the moon was not yet at its peak. She sighed and thought, “what the hell, let’s give this a try.” She tapped into the processing power of her enhanced mentalist brain and deduced that Jared was referring to water. She’d no idea what he’d meant by Thieves Highway, but at least she had something to go off of.

“To the port then,” she thought.

Getting to the port was fairly simple. It was not that far away and she knew the way. It was a busy part of town so she felt pretty safe as she walked the main streets and avoided alleyways. When she got close to the water she sat on a crate and looking around to see if she could spot anyone resembling Jared. She hardly remembered his face as it’d been overwritten by the trauma she’d experienced earlier. She only remembered the clothing he wore and an approximation of his height. Perhaps she was already where she was supposed to be, perhaps not.

Created by Moop!

[Gloomcrest]

86th of Glade, 4623

As the day turned to night, the amber-eyed thief took this chance to rest and change his clothing and gear. Then, in the gloom of night, when the mice and rats come out of their hiding spot, the shadows once formed in the wake of light become formless as the shroud of dusk ushers by Tenebrax’s will.

The amber-eyed Draedan of Saren was sitting on top of the many rooftops, focusing on the silvery orb of light floating at the palm of his blackened yet tattered gloved hands. Jared was by no means distracted as his senses were quite sharp, yet at the same time, his control over his Ray was becoming increasingly more fascinating for anyone that would witness it.

For a moment, the sphere would change into a cube, slowly rotating in various directions as the thief concentrated on manipulating the nature of Light within his Mark of Control with Lucence. While still a novice as a Light-Touched magus, the thief had a lot of experience with Raw Magic in general, and the previous experience has guided him in refining his techniques.

"Come rain, snow, sleet or hail, or even in the darkest hours of the night, I shall not be deterred from my quest to improve myself. It is my unwavering determination to work hard and strive towards becoming the finest version of myself that propels me forward.... I must...."

Jared couldn’t help but stop his focus for a moment which caused the cube of light that was rotating aimlessly to halt and hover as he briefly placed his right hand over his chest where his heart and soul would be. Shortly feeling each beat, recalling how much had changed and what the purpose of being in Atharen would be; His goal was still unknown, and from what Taelian had told the young Draedan, most would often join their parents to participate in the Endless War; something that did not sit well with Jared.

By no means is the Draedan as opposed to using force when necessary, but in a war against others. That was something that Jared couldn’t fathom; when his calling came to the centre of his being, his divine name given, and the awakening of who he was meant to be, the Alistian thief couldn’t help but ponder why his spark awakened, what did Saren have in place for his tone remains cryptic all this time.

In all of this, his presence in the world would be much to the shock of everyone if people were to find out who he was; It was common knowledge that Venadak had many children that had yet to awaken their spark, but for Saren, the god of time, fate and decay there only a few; a handful or simple the amount of fingers that could be counted in a single hand. All of which remains to be unknown, yet the one truth is that Jared’s presence meant that a change was about to start; in what way, shape, or form it would take, the thief would not know.

"I wish I had more knowledge about what the future holds, or a way to uncover secrets from the past. Unfortunately, both remain out of my reach, and I must work with what I have in the present moment."
Cloaked in black and masking many of his features, the thief would stop delving into his inner thoughts as, in the corner of his eye, the same woman he had encountered in the day had appeared. Seemingly puzzled, her being around in the docks meant that she had at least understood part of the assessment.

"It looks like the precious dove has made an appearance. Why don't we give her some time to see if she can figure out what the Thieves' Highway is?"

Jared couldn’t help but smile for a moment, the lower half of his face covered in a tattered black cloth as he held out the shining cube of light, controlling the intensity of the morning to mimic a faint candlelight as if he was providing a hint to see if Luna could figure out where he was. The light source was somewhat noticeable, but Jared’s position was very much obscured, making it difficult for anyone from below to find out where he was hiding as he used the angled rooftops to distort his figure, especially how distance affects the visibility for most people.

"It would be intriguing to witness a game of hide-and-seek with her, given her unwavering desire to learn. Only those with a fervent determination to rise from the ashes can truly achieve greatness."

[Sola]

▬ι═ﺤ

Luna sat on the crate for a while and didn't see anyone that looked like Jared. She was exhausted both mentally and physically. Still, she felt like solving this riddle would make her feel better so she got to her feet and started walking around.

"Theives highway, what could that even mean?" She asked herself. Once more she saw a rat running up the side of a building. Only then did she look up to peer at the roof. There were more rats scurrying about up there.

"He couldn't possibly have meant roofs, could he?" She thought. Well, it was either that or she was supposed to explore a shady alleyway and she would much rather try out the roofs first. She looked around and saw no ladder. There was always the possibility of lifting herself with magic, but that was not something she'd ever tried before nor did she want to expend ether if she could help it.

So, she pulled over a crate and used it to gain some height. It was still not enough. She thought hard and saw some rope. She fetched it and spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to get it to wrap around the chimney of the building, afterwards she pulled herself up.

"I did it!" She said to herself as she laid down on the roof to catch her breath. She sat up and wondered, "now what? Was this all for nothing?" She peered around, trying to see if anyone else was on the rooftops.

Created by Moop!

[Gloomcrest]

86th of Glade, 4623

It wouldn’t be hard to notice that Luna was in deep thought based on the body language being provided; usually, it would be hard for most people to see from a distance without any sort of aid to improve their eyesight. However, in Jared’s case, his demigod nature has allowed the clarity and length that he could see to become more focused. Also, his hearing could pick out specific patterns and sounds from what Taelian has told him. Of course, this was normal for Draedans since divinity moulds the demigod to a form of perfection in the eyes of the gods themselves or how Jared interprets it.

“It seems like she is getting closer to an answer; let's hold the ground for a little longer. It would be fun to start a chase, but that would be a bit mean, especially since whoever this person is; is trying hard…. Not too sure what I could teach her, though…. Many of the things I can do now wouldn’t be easy.”

The amber-eyed thief couldn’t help but lean forward from his perch, pondering about how to approach the potential of needing to take someone under his wing for a time or two. This was different, however, As Jared was teaching Ford how to use magic while learning more about himself and accepting various aspects that the young Draedan was and possibly still is confused about.

Nevertheless, the amber-eyed Draedan would continue playing around with his luminous orb manifested through his Mark of Control. It was funny, in Jared’s opinion, it was funny that his loss of Nightfall and, to that extent, part of his identity as a Nightfallen was exchanged to finally understand who he was meant to be and that his journey gifted him Lucence. The mere thought of the concept of ‘Light gives meaning to the dark’ caused the orb of light to flutter for a moment; the intensity of the light flared for a moment before dulling, repeating itself as Jared concentrated on the repeated sequence.

The repeated flashes would be bright enough for Luna to see if she was actively looking at the rooftops and searching for Jared, as despite his slight frame, the Alistian thief was making little effort to hide his position from the woman in question.