Fantasy Chronicles of Sylaria (Open)

[Kirby3178]

After training for the day ended, Akira put his armor back on the shelf and retrieved his scimitar. When he picked it up, he felt a strange sense of peace, like being reunited with an old friend or something from one's childhood. He remembered when he got the item in the game. He had to complete a long quest in the desert region and though he spent many hours going through it, he found it worth it given the weapons stats.

But, Sir Keiran called Akira over to talk about his training. He was about to speak when a servant in fine clothes came running up to him. Keiran nodded to the servant and began looking over his shoulder. He motioned for Akira follow him back to the manor. When the rest of the guards where far enough away, Keiran leaned in and said,

"I just got word that Lady Beaumont's been taken---Along with your friend. We're to meet with Lord Beaumont to go over the details for conducting a proper search. Please refrain from speaking directly to the Lord unless he addresses you first, understood?"

Keiran didn't give Akira a chance to respond before he quickened his pace towards Lord Beaumont's study. The two along with the servant hurried down the long corridors of the Beaumont Estate before coming to a large wooden door. Keiran straightened himself up and knocked on the door. There was a moment of silence. Then a muffled voice spoke from behind the door.

"Enter." Keiran opened the door which opened into a study. On the opposite side of the room was a large wooden desk where a man sat visibly worried. The walls were lined with bookshelves and as Akira passed them, he caught a glimpse of the words on the spines. He had to do a double take, but he couldn't read what any of the titles were. Akira shook his head and tried to focus.

"Lord," Keiran said stopping short of the desk and bowing to the man "I've come as quickly as I could and I've brought the Adventurer per your request."

[Location: Lord Beaumont's Study / Mentioned: Saffron and Scarlett ( XxJadePhoenixX )]

 

[XxJadePhoenixX]

Scarlett groaned softly as she slowly began to regain consciousness. Somewhere distantly in the dark she could hear voices. They seemed to be talking about her, but she couldn't understand what was being said. Then all at once two words rang through her mind. Spoken by a woman standing right behind her. "... Kill her," she said, "We only needed Lord Beaumont's daughter."

"Wait," Scarlett tried to say, her throat was dry and her voice sounded scratchy. Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself surrounded by people in a room she did not recognize. When she tried to stand the ropes binding her to the chair prevented her from doing so.

"She speaks," the woman continued, coming around in front of Scarlett so that the Elf could see her. She leaned down and looked Scarlett squarely in the eye.

She had striking features, high chiseled cheekbones, full lips, a narrow chin, and a tiny nose. Her auburn locks hung down across her face and her leather armor hugged every curve of her body. On her hips, she wore a pair of curved daggers. "Do you wish to say something, Elf," the woman asked, she spat the world 'Elf' as if it were an insult.

"Not an Elf," Scarlett answered groggily. Her mind was still clouded and the room around her wouldn't stop spinning.

The woman smiled, her grin stretching from ear to ear. "Not an Elf," she repeated incredulously, "Well, that's one hell of a costume then. Why don't you tell me what you were doing with Lady Beaumont before I gut you like the filthy Fae you are?"

Scarlett leaned her head back. The room was lit by candles, but somehow the dim light they shed was still too bright. "Library," she answered after a moment of hesitation. "Trying to find a way home."

"You don't need a library for that," one of the men standing nearby interrupted. "Just travel east, you stupid Fae."

The Elf struggled to shake her head, making the room's spin even worse. "Not from this world. Woke up here only six days ago. Not an Elf. Not a girl."

The woman straightened up then looked at one of the men standing behind her. Scarlett couldn't be sure, but she guessed that her expression must have matched the confusion she could see written all over his face. "The girl must be daft," she said. Then she turned back to look at Scarlett. "Explain to me how you're not really an Elf or a girl?"

Scarlett's head drooped, hanging low above her lap. Her long, red hair fell around her shoulders covering her face and pooling atop her thigh. After a while she leaned back in her chair, fighting to ignore the nausea she felt rising up from the pit of her stomach. "Name is Alexander," she continued, tilting her head to one side to look at the woman. "I was born in Sacramento, California on a planet called Earth. This body, Scarlett, is my character from The Chronicles of Sylaria, a video game I played with my sister. Six days ago everyone playing the game all blacked out at the same time. When we woke up again we found ourselves in the game world, inside the bodies of our characters."

A second man stepped forward and stood in front of the woman. "You're not actually believing any of this is true, are you? The Fae is trying to trick you."

The woman pursed her lips and thought about it. The story seemed rather outrageous, sure, but if the girl was lying to save her own skin would it not have been better to spin a more believable tale? "Six days ago there was a flash of light in the southwestern sky," she said quietly, mostly to herself. "I'd never seen anything like it before. If she really did wake up in this world six days ago then there might be some truth to her words after all."

Scarlett twisted her neck, trying to look at her surroundings. "Where Saffron," she asked after failing to find the other woman anywhere in the room.

The woman and her other captors stared at her in shock. No one from this world would ever dare address a noble by just their first name. "Safe in another room," the woman explained, "We're using her as leverage." Then she knelt down next to Scarlett so that they were speaking at eye level. "Go back to what you said a moment ago. You said everyone who was playing the game blacked out. Are you saying there are others like you?"

Scarlett nodded, though the motion threatened to make her sick. "The adventurers. All of them. All from--same place."

The woman stood then turned to address one of the men. "Tavion, find me an adventurer to corroborate her story. I'll decide what to do with her then."

The man nodded then hurried out of the room. The woman stepped behind Scarlett out of sight then slipped a dagger from its sheath. She cut the bonds holding the Elf to the chair and Scarlett all but collapsed onto the floor. "My name Kara DeVries. Welcome to the Coalition for the Free People of Northwind."

Then she half turned and started to leave. "Give her some food and water then see to our other prisoner," she threw back over her shoulder to the two people still remaining. They hurried after her after she had left the room and once the door had closed behind them Scarlett could hear a key being inserted into the lock, working the mechanism from the inside before it snapped into place, bolting her in

"Just another day in Sylaria," she grumbled to herself as she laid back on the floor staring up at the ceiling. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to get the room's spinning under control with little luck, with a sigh she finally opened them again then stumbled towards the door. There was a small window with iron bars embedded into the top of the door. If she stood on the balls of her feet should coud just see over the rim into the darkened hallway beyond. There seemed to be two men on guard duty who sat at a table nearby playing cards. On her left there were other doors similar to the one she was looking through now. For the moment she wondered which one of them held Saffron...

**********

"Lord," Keiran said stopping short of the desk and bowing to the man "I've come as quickly as I could and I've brought the Adventurer per your request."

"Good," the older man said as he stood from his chair and came around to the other side of the desk. "Then perhaps he can explain to me why less than a day after I invited him to my home the Fae he traveled with absconds with my daughter. What does she want with my child? What is she planning? And were you privy to this kidnapping?"

His tone of voice carried with it a measure of menace. Enough to put Keiran on edge. The other man stood nearby with his hand on the hilt of his sword in case Akira tried anything.


[Location: Beaumont Estate, Northwind / Interacting: Akira ( Kirby3178 )]

 

[Kirby3178]

Akira cleared his throat.

"With all do respect Lord Beaumont, I'm not entirely sure what you and your people have against Scarlett, but she's not the monster that you think she is and I don't appreciate the way that your guards have treated her. She's not plotting anything. She'd never hurt Saffron and neither would I." As Akira said this, he put his hands calmly in front of him and looked straight into the man's eyes. Sir Keiran looked at Akira stunned, then his gaze shifted nervously back and forth between him and Lord Beaumont. Akira wouldn't let himself stay quiet when his friend was being singled out for no apparent reason other than she's an Elf. But, he also realized where he was standing: before a powerful man and desperate Father who wants to find his daughter at all costs.

A moment of silence swept over the room. Akira cleared his throat and spoke again.

"I'm sorry if that was out of line. I just felt compelled to speak up," he felt it necessary to bow his head, then he asked "Is there any other information we have about who took Saffron and Scarlett?"

[Location: Beaumont Estate / Interacting / Mentioned: Lord Beaumont, Saffron, Scarlett ( XxJadePhoenixX )]