Amoren - Volundr: A Divinity’s Shadow

[Gloomcrest]

20th of Ash, 4623

For a moment in Jared’s life, occasionally having a chase was an excellent way to test his skills, how he has developed his abilities and what he needs to improve upon. Training by one’s lonesome could only provide so much insight, and the need to pressure test what is possible constantly and not was only the tip of the iceberg.

While it has been a few seasons now that Jared has managed to foster his divinity. The growth of which was taking a slow but steadfast pace in recent times, it was essential for the Alistian thief to take on more challenges and while it did risk him exposing his origins to a degree. There was something about that risk that honed his desire to change.

The amber-eyed Draedan was fleeing from the crime scene, a rather lavishly decorated store that housed many decor that could be pawned off to some fences and be repurposed if one knew how to salvage the pieces.

Chasing at his heels was a small battalion of guardsmen and women who were on high alert due to the recent string of robberies that had been taking place in the past couple of days.

He quickly darts from one street to another, attempting to lose his pursuers by losing line of sight and confusion. The Draedan of Saren was currently cloaked in his divinity, the fabric of his cloak being transparent and warping the surrounding visual as if he was mainly invisible to most eyes. Yet despite being on the run, fate seems to have more installed for the newly-born Draedan as his path seems to entwine with another soul or more.

"Come on, Jared, you can get out of a sticky situation like you always do; Just rely on your quick thinking and experience. The rest will fall in place."

[Volundr]

This had not been a good start to the season for our local Nightfallen. What with invoking the wrath of mageblight onto his soul and ascending the ladder of magic in the process, along with finding books on Nightfallen, the Entente as a whole, and a few others, he wanted to test the new knowledge he had obtained. So, running across the rooftops in his condition, he felt a unique pain on his body. This wasn't pain from standard physical exertion, but from the mageblight he had developed. It was nothing serious, but it was as if his very soul was feeling the pain rather than his body. As a result of this, he could feel his magic reacting a bit slower, fighting him as his own body did its best to fight off his suffering. The past few weeks had allowed him to shed some of the mageblight via normal methods, but it was nowhere near enough.

Glancing down at the guards chasing after... something, Volundr took a running leap off of the roof, pooling the Umbraplasm he had developed somewhere around his mid back. Massive black wings unfurled from one of the few compasses constantly on the scout's person, catching the air below them as he flew up quite a bit, making himself appear more like a large bird in the sky rather than a flying man. Looking down, his eyes narrowed, looking for anything out of the ordinary. There. A shadow that had no clear body to it, sneaking through the streets and alleyways and making its way away from the battalion. Following above it in a less direct route, he made sure to keep an eye on the shadow.

Moments passed, Volundr tilting down as he aimed to divebomb the shadow by surprise. Tucking the wings into his form, he dropped like an arrow, aimed directly for the shadow. Using both his cloak and wings as air brakes, Volundr attempted to land foot first into what he figured was the back of whoever was somehow invisible, remembering that there were other people who used magic like him who were much more efficient. However, he wouldn't realize that his path would intertwine once again with a familiar but distasteful (at least for him) face.

[Gloomcrest]

Stuck in a rather tricky situation, the amber-eyed Draedan of Saren was quickly navigating through the various twisted streets and alleyways of Amoren. It was enough to lose some guards, but some were more familiar with the roads than the Gentvarian thief. Stumbling upon another small group of guards who were attempting to pincher the thief in his place, Jared in turn was forced to apply some brute force by condensing a ray of light before launching it at one of the guardsmen as a spear of light would arc through the air, leaving a brief trail of glimmering light.

The impact caused a brief light explosion, which cascaded a blast of blinding light in a small radius around the target. The strike itself caused the initial target to be knocked back slightly, giving ample room for the thief to dash towards and slide underneath the small group of guards before quickly picking himself up and escaping through the winding streets.

His camouflage was only effective in certain circumstances, which the Draedan knew quite well. Acclimate allowed him to make various adjustments with any sort of item, tool or material at his disposal, and the importance of using his knowledge to create creative openings was the reason that Jared was able to escape with minor injuries at best.

Despite all of this, the thief knew from the back of his skin that the chase was not over and far from it; a familiar sensation would wash over him as if a hunter was on the prowl, and that uneasy feeling would soon be met as a blur of a shadowy figure would descend upon him from the Thieves’ Highway or more commonly known as the rooftops. Quickly ducking to the side, the Draedan brandishes a simple dagger in his right hand.

At the same time, his weapon wasn’t suited for direct combat; it was more for creating windows of opportunity during his dodges and parries. After all, the thief wasn’t the kind of person to go for the kill and snuffing one’s life was usually in times of desperation. From another person’s perspective, it would seem that Jared’s entire body looked somewhat hazy as if a mirage was standing in front of them; only parts of his face were visible, his striking amber-hued gaze and the slightly crackling gold hues that peak out underneath his veins was evident.

“Leave me be. I have nothing against you.”

It was clear that despite Jared’s stance seeming a bit aggressive at first, on closer inspection, his body language suggested that he merely wanted to escape and avoid more trouble than he was already in.

It was clear that behind the mirage was an assortment of trickery, as one could not simply see what the thief had underneath his cloak of guile and mystery. Still, one thing is for sure: for one man to be able to avoid a battalion of guards suggests that whoever this person is, they are very skilled at avoiding people.