Citizen
gender: Female
status: offline
Race: Magically altered human
Gender: Female
Clan/Family: Kaliba
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Post by Rosewyn Kaliba on Jun 24, 2017 21:09:53 GMT -8
]She had been awake most of the night. The riot in the tenements along with reports of monstrous creatures wreaking havoc in the district weighed heavily on her heart. Lady Rosewyn Kaliba braced her hands against the railing of the balcony that attached to her bedroom and looked out over the city. A city that was beautiful at first sight, but recently began to hold an ominous feel, something somehow decaying right in their midst. And Rosewyn just couldn't see it.
She had done everything she could think of doing. Bolstering the presence in the guard, expecting professionalism from them at all times. Festivals were held to try and improve morale among the citizens. In fact it was something Rosewyn had insisted on since New Arisalon's inception. She payed visits to the districts, met with merchants and the owners of establishments, listening to concerns and attempting to find resolutions. Food was regularly passed out among the less fortunate. She couldn't bear the thought of anyone living in squalor in her city. In Arc's city. Though there were times that she could not do as much as she wished.
Fingers raised and threaded through her honey blonde hair as she allowed herself a rare moment to
indulge in the sadness that gripped at her. That she imprisoned behind a mask of compassion and hope. At the moment, no one could see her. No one could hear the broken whisper that parted her lips.
"Oh, Arc...What a mess you've left me with."
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Citizen
gender: Female
status: offline
Race: Magically altered human
Gender: Female
Clan/Family: Kaliba
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Post by Rosewyn Kaliba on Jun 24, 2017 21:12:16 GMT -8
Death did not suit him, but here among the light he hungered for it. Arcanus Kaliba had not expected just what closing the Hellgate involved. He knew the power received from Dreanna was borrowed, just like he knew it would take his life by receiving it much less using it. The mission to Hell to free the bastard who didn't wish freedom held a hazy memory for all but him- and while he would of welcomed death- he did not welcome what had happened to him. Disincorporated. His body quite literally annihilated, but his spirit... his consciousness made one with the Light that burned within him. That potent force of that power had lead to the birth of his newest children, children he had never held...but children he watched.
The realm which held his consciousness was everywhere, and the power to make the slightest change upon the realm in which his family existed took massive will and discipline. So much so, that appearing to his wife as more than something wispy and insubstantial was quite hard...and something he could do only because of her ring, something kept that he had not expected he was bound to. Laelia's sword was a stronger connection, holding a portion however infinitesimal of his godspark. Arcanus Kaliba spoke with a voice that held a gentleness reserved only for his wife, his children. " I'm afraid I've little excuse." Arc did not stand there as much as he appeared there, in line behind her...reaching for something he could not touch.
Her breath hitched at the sound of the voice suddenly behind her. A voice that should not have been there, if anyone should have been there at all. Rosewyn whirled abruptly, fearing that perhaps she had begun to go mad. Her back pressed into the railing of the balcony, a fortunate thing that the People's Palace was well constructed and the railing was sturdy.
Water-filled eyes fixed upon the spectre in startled silence, not trusting herself to speak lest her voice crack and break the quiet dignity of her grief with something far more raw and powerful. Rosewyn's stricken expression was mingled with confusion and a touch of caution. Agonizingly slow, she leaned away from the railing, raising a hand and extending it towards the spectre. "Are you...really there?" She finally asked, voice barely above a whisper. Her fingertips, when they dared to try and touch the reaching hands of her husband's ghost, passed right through them.
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Citizen
gender: Female
status: offline
Race: Magically altered human
Gender: Female
Clan/Family: Kaliba
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Post by Rosewyn Kaliba on Jun 24, 2017 21:20:07 GMT -8
Arc spread his 'arms' in gesture. "I am as here as I am anywhere. I really tried to return to you earlier, my love." Arc held a sorrow in his voice that went beyond mere grief of his own death. He had watched what had become of his city. His dream. He could not say he was not surprised. The Empire had not been unlike this. They assimilated people, they didn't invite them along. A part of Arc recognized all this as the necessary metamorphosis expected to create something truly powerful. It didn't mean he liked it.
Arc didn't move closer, didn't move to look over the balcony, but remained still as if his projecting onto this realm was something that took some level of stationary intention. " Rosewyn, we must talk on things. You must have questions.. needs. I haven't time to explain this, but precious time left to speak."
"I...don't know how you're here at all." A soft sob wracked her body and she raised the back of her hand to her mouth. That hand still bore her wedding ring. "And yet...I shouldn't be surprised." A bitter laugh was followed by a sniffle as she attempted to bring her emotions back under control. "You always did find ways of doing the impossible." She didn't want him to see her cry. She'd known he was going to die. And she'd tried to bear it as bravely as she possibly could. But now and then...that bravery crumbled. "Arc...Trent...he's gone." Her head shook wildly, eyes closing as if she could will that her statement wasn't true. "And everything is falling apart. I'm more lost than I've ever been. And I don't know what to do."
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Citizen
gender: Female
status: offline
Race: Magically altered human
Gender: Female
Clan/Family: Kaliba
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Post by Rosewyn Kaliba on Jun 24, 2017 21:21:28 GMT -8
"You cannot win the war your enemy is fighting. The people's minds are poisoned. Roland Murdt... I've watched the streets from my prison. I've seen and heard. You must fight your own way. " His words held urgency, but his face showed a solemn sympathy. "I do not think he is dead. But I do think, he cannot yet find his way home. Where he is, I cannot find, and I cannot go. But these are only feelings- I cannot be sure." He said straining to manifest more fully...to offer an embrace where they could be none.
"I want you to listen to me. Send Victor to the Isle of Sakov, far to the north past the ice flows that never melt. As Arbiter of the Gods, I put something there. Something I did not intend to be used again. He is of age. Teach Verity all that was taught you and more. Make sure wealth is set aside in the Merchant Bank in Tyran. Move it quietly- and send someone you truly trust to establish a household there. I have seen these tactics, these strategems employed against you. New Arisalon may soon be lost to you. You fight an Imperator. Ruthless beyond measure- insight and magic both to warp kingdoms as others would fold paper." He said the words quick...knowing his time already was short.
"Laelia. Tell her, she need not be sorry. " He inched closer, the spectre's presence a chill upon the skin that brought warmth to the bones. "You saved my soul, so you must know...my dream was not this place. My dream is held in your breast. Your heart. The hearts of our children. Remain their conscience."
"I will be with you....always." And as if to prove the opposite, the spectre dissipated into nothingness like fog burned away by the sun.
So many things were set in that short utterance of words. Her mind whirled with it all. And she knew he was trying to say it all as quickly as possible, knew he didn't have much time. She could hear the strain in his voice as he pushed his mental fortitude to the point of exhaustion. "Arc, I..."
He was gone before she could tell him she loved him. Her hand lowered to rest against her breast, feeling the sturdy beat of her heart beneath her palm. Arc wouldn't hold it against her. He knew she loved him with every moment she drew breath. Fighting back the urge to sink to her knees upon the stone of the balcony, she felt both crushed and relieved at the same time. He had essentially released her from her burden. He would not blame her if she failed to hold New Arisalon. Ensured she knew the true reality of his dream. A weight lifted from her shoulders and while she would continue to do what she could for the people of their city, she no longer felt the desperate need to control and fix everything to honour Arc's legacy. His legacy was his children. Their impact on the world. And rather than fight a losing battle, he had instructed her to ensure they had a place to fall back to in the eventuality that this ground was lost. A long exhale preceded the wiping of the tears from her cheeks. Her shoulders squared.
Rosewyn Kaliba had work to do.
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