Doubt and the Breaking of an Alliance

Scritch...

It couldn't have been long before that Lorelei had sketched a missive to Gorandis. Perhaps it takes longer for the man to decipher what it meant. It was Valmasian, in concept, the writing upon the vellum but the level of corruption upon it was exceedingly obfuscative. It was akin to attempt to read portugese when one only knew spanish--the grammar was familiar and the words were reasonable but their spellings and terms were far beyond what was common in Valmasian.

The name--and the location--are perhaps one of the few things that the letter has laid obviously out for the recipient. Back to the Citadel...

Lorelei had been hard at work upon the roof--an area that held enough space for the size of the ritual needed. At a glance, should Gorandis peer towards it, the ritual was conceptually familiar--especially if he had initially seen Lorelei's work on summoning Adramalech into the vessel.

The vessel which, at this moment, excitedly whispers audibly--as if years of effort were coming to a quick fruition. Lorelei, on the other hand, is oddly placid--carving against the roof of the Citadel slowly and meticulously with her gnarled and corrupted hand.

Only when she can feel the arrival of another body does she even begin to retort. "....Gorandis." She speaks, a bit of sweat dripping from her brow as she crawls, rather slowly, around the circle making her additions. "You have come. I am." She fishes for the right pejoritive to use.

Finding none...

"...pleased." Speaks the witch after a pause, her talonic nail digging deeper into the stonework. "Tell me--what did you think? Of the Spirit Realm. Of it's denizens. Did it change your perspective?"

The circle was large, elaborate, and Gorandis had to be careful where he stepped. A central summoning circle sits at the core with four cardinal sub-circles expanding outwards--each humming with a different energy.

The eastern circle hums with aquamancy. The southern, occultism. The western, sheer depraved mana and the northmost hums a spiritual one. Each funneled down to an unprepared core.

"What do you think of those that are pulled from there afterwards? Their natures--their wants--their desires."
(Lorelei)

The missive had been... challenging. If it wasn't for the dark feeling emanating from it he would have assumed it to be some sort of prank. The grammar and wording were beyond broken but from what he could make out he was wanted back at the Citadel, right after he'd told Nahele that he would be staying in Loranthis for a while...

He made his way onto the citadel roof, feeling the slight tugs on his soul, the tug on the creature attached to it. WIth a crimson flash he appeared far on the outskirts and paced over. He recognised the runework, after all, Lorelei had given him her notes on her original summoning of Adramelech, well, notes was putting it nicely...

"Yes well... It's always good to have the favour train rolling. Having someone in your debt is always the best way to go about things wouldn't you say?" He crossed his arms as he paced around, reading over the runes, likely the only language Lorelei could write that he would be able to understand. "The spirit realm was... different from what I expected."

"But not entirely so, the tome had been quite accurate even if not too complete with its bestiary." He scratched at his chest idly, the red goats head flaring beneath his clothing as he did so. He ignored the second question for now, instead pushing through with one of his own. "So what exactly do you need me to do here? Your missive was less than legible."

"Next time it might be better to kidnap someone and send them to me to explain..."
(Gorandis)

"Perhaps I was the one mislead." She muses as she etches, making her way around the runic circles she creates. Where once there were runes that dictated coordinates within the Spirit Realm that it would pull from, those same flourishes now dictate a distance rather close and rather near--each directing the energies inward to the circle. Beyond that, it seems as if it was rather the same ritual.

"Catch."

Adramalech is rather brazenly thrown through the air, the flaming skull arcing with a harsh searing sound as it rapidly approaches Gorandis. Perhaps he flinch, failing to catch it? Perhaps it would break--but more likely it would merely dent if it was failed to be caught.

It would not burn the man--the flame was spiritual and emitted no heat. It felt strange, as if running one's hand through the silken energies of a ghost itself. It whispers--now to Gorandis--though what it says isn't always clear.

"DowhatshesaysputmedowndonotdropmeyouknownotwhatyouhandleIcanoffersomanythingsifyoucanhelpdonotdropmedonotruncomplywithherandIofferyousalvationplacemedownplacemedownplacemedown"

"If you could," The girl continues as Adramalech whispers in it's maddening tone, slowly rising with a hunch. "Place the skull in the center, would you?" As fortune would have it, there seemed to be a resting place straight in the center of the ritual for Gorandis to place the skull in--if he chose.

There was always the option of absconding with it...

"I need you..."

Lorelei wouldn't speak until the skull was placed proper into the center. "...The spirit realm made me think." She suddenly breaks her previous sentance. "Adramalech has been inspiring me to find objects of power--locations of power--minerals of power in order to make him corporeal. To summon him into a proper body. I was going to."

The ritual seemed mostly finished--the girl making several finishing touches.

"...They can take souls--essence--time--?" Lorelei seems genuinely shocked, shaking her head lightly as she recalls the time in the Spirit Realm. "How dreadful. I don't want that. I don't want that at all. So I've changed my plan. Care to guess how?"
(Lorelei)

The skull is caught if a little poorly, Gorandis' staff instead clatters away to the ground as he had to hastily make room in his hands for it. The whispers assault him but it's nothing he couldn't handle. After all, he'd been through several bouts of madness already and these whispers weren't even using his own voice... how easily ignored they were.

"I don't see what kind of salvation he could possibly offer me, I don't even talk with my own demon, let alone someone else's..." The skull is carried over to the centre of the circle and was deposited in the proper place. The runes were admired for a bit longer before he retreated, picking his staff back up and clearing the area, wandering around the circumference to join up with Lorelei.

"If I were to guess it would ruin most of the surprise. But, given what Adramelech's tone I suppose he is not in store for any fun times..." He leans heavily on his staff and balefully looks out to the skull now flaming gently in the centre. "And they aren't the only ones to take essences mind you... I've managed to collect my own while in Loranthis..."

"But I can talk about that later, I'm sure you'd rather focus on your own thing for now."
(Gorandis)

Twitch...

The girl overlooks Gorandis with a split-second white-hot rage that wells up as he speaks of his own essence theft. Adramalech was being set up for no other reason then he was a threat to her very soul--Gorandis? He's sized up, wholely, with a gaze that would freeze even an--

--what was the proper name for an ice yokai, anyway?

Idle ponderances not-withstanding, Lorelei shakes her head simply to cast away the thought as she rises, again, from her knees and wiping off her hands. "I am aware." She speaks coldly, her own depraved limb flexing idly. "If you can do the same..." A feat that she is exceedingly skeptical of, mind. "...then you might know how terrible and threatening it is. Souls are devoured to make one stronger--and they represent the height of the natural order. Rainwater begets the tree from which the fruit is plucked--and the creature that feeds is hunted. Taking souls from predators is the next step higher. I will not be pursued by--"

Twitch!

Lorelei's glare affixes itself upon the skull that has now, suddenly, gone quiet--as if the forboding in the atmosphere was reaching inside the skull and the terror was slowly welling up within the demon as it was forced to watch it's ritual come to fruition.

"--by something that I have sought to help and aid!" There's nothing to say that Adramalech even intended to--there is no proof to think that there was anything but benevolence within the demon. It was paranoia, just or unjust, that moved Lorelei now.

Perhaps that is all it had ever truely been.

"What I want." She follows up, standing before the ritual. "And what I will owe you for." For however much Lorelei's debts were worth. "...I'm going to summon Adramalech. He gets his freedom. I want you to chain him the moment he becomes 'real'. I'm killing him. The only way I can."

The depraved limb glimmers harshly in the evening sun, a dark twinkle welling up inside as it readies itself for a planar sacrifice.

"...And perhaps take notes. I trust your essence theft is a poor mockery of the true thing. Let me know when you're steeled."
(Lorelei)

Lorelei's gaze was met surprisingly evenly. He was well aware of how much she hated the act of someone taking someone's essence. How very hypocritical of her. Still, while he had the red brand on his chest to prove it and the crystals lining the insides of his robes that gently glowed with the power of stolen life... He found it hard to see things from her point of view.

"So, you don't want to happen to you what you have done to others, yes?" He waves a hand dismissively before giving her the chance to react nor get too riled up... hopefully. "I don't know if Adramelech really would be so brazen as to harm you like that, but, I'm not here to make judgements... And If I'd wanted to I would have prevented this sort of thing."

"But it's your demon, your choice." His arms come out and the runes in the centre of his chest begin to glow the same deep purple as always. Thick ropes of the cloying deep colour dangle down and begin to intertwine and mingle into separate shapes. The shapes of heavy chains that even managed to rattle in his hands. He weighs one experimentally.

"These should hold far better than by usual ones... the things you learn with time, eh?" He swings them a little before they seem to be taken hold of by some invisible force, floating in the air under Gorandis' hand. "Perhaps it is a poor mockery, but you've already seen me do it first hand and you didn't try to stop me then. So I don't see your problem now, really."

He shrugs. "But, again, we can talk later, I'm ready whenever you are."
(Gorandis)

It was one thing to take a spirit--another to take a soul.

To many, there is a very fine line between them. To Lorelei, they're vastly separate entities. Whether she was right or wrong was never the fixation--for to convince the girl she's wrong is an uphill battle that culminates into an eruption of the volcano once it has been scaled. What a spirit truely was in respect to the soul is a subject oft debated for it isn't easy to study either of these facets--the physiology of life gets very gray the more ephemeral the creatures become.

The world was given so many years of necromancy to study the soul and few can speak to what it actually is.

"I will not be taken."

Gorandis is given only a token, harsh response--for it was all he needed. Were it hypocritical, then so be it. Lorelei would not eat the bitter pill she forces others to swallow--she knows first hand the terror and horror of soul loss. She relives it often--for those memories are now her memories--and the fleeting pain of every life she's taken is live and well within her.

Demicles is risen high into the air, the woman channeling a great deal of power from the spirit realm as she trembles, lightly, with depravity before a harsh cacaphony of screaming blasts from her form--souls swirling around the girl as if they were desperate to generate enough power to break from her orbit. It was a sight that Gorandis had seen before and the same tell-tale signs of trauma begin to form upon her.

Blood slowly trickles from Lorelei's eyes and mouth...

Bang!

A flash of pure, silver energy fills the air as the ritual finds itself super-charged, the skull within rattling dangerously as it pops and cracks--a tall, strong beast emerging. Ephemeral at first, bit by bit does flesh begin to take form upon him--a tall, flaming mane of hair around a lion-esque face with the rippling body of a veteraned athelete for his torso and what seems to be hooves for feet--sharp like diamonds and glimmering equally.

Lorelei clutches to her staff with all her might to give the overwhelming energy needed.

"C--" She speaks, poorly, and with great difficulty. "C---" Again she attempts, all her effort lost within simply giving Adramalech enough energy to form. Perhaps, in the end, Adramalech was to gain the upper hand? For no other reason then Lorelei needs to devote so much energy to even summon it.

"Cha---"

It's all she can give as she fixates upon the rapidly-becoming-corporeal demon as Demicles drains the energy from her as quickly as she generates it.
(Lorelei)

Her nature never changed, did it? Gorandis sighed as he waited for the ritual to truly begin. The chains hovered, swaying in an unfelt breeze as Lorelei underwent her, well, powering up sequence. The familiar screams returned and so did the destruction of her body. Gorandis grimaced looking at it, it was one thing he did not envy of hers.

His eyes moved to focus on Adramelech as he formed, a great body to befit a strong demon. Or at least one that mirrored old religious texts. All very mythologically poetic. Gorandis raised his arms further, the chains moving with it, he understood what her stammering meant and he was intelligent enough to piece together whet he needed to do.

But... he hesitated. Perhaps this was the time to finally put Lorelei in her place? To have her fail and falter and know defeat. The thought was pleasing... but... The purple chains shot out and began to wrap around Adramelech's new form. THeir rattling almost as loud as the wailing around them as the chains began to bite into flesh, becoming tighter and tighter.

Now was not the time to be betraying anyone. After all, there was nothing for him to gain by having her fall here. There was still more he wanted her for in the future. Things she very much wouldn't approve of. But her opinion wasn't one he entirely cared for either. Adramelech's form was tightly bound the effort apparent on Gorandis' body and face.

But unlike Lorelei he wasn't exploding at the seams. "I have him!"
(Gorandis)

It was sapping at her.

The ritual was like the parasite within--taking from her essence and empowering itself. Yet unlike the parasite of the Malpercius it does not in return feed Lorelei the (corrupted) power but take it for itself--flesh becoming tight like steel and the spiritual essence congealing into something more.

It roars--a diresome cry that threatens to push those that chain it down off the ledges of the rooftop and tumbling down below--it rages against the binding of it's chains, and rages against the betrayal of it's summoner. It should have expected it--it should have expected it long ago.

And, perhaps, it did--perhaps it was worth it to stage a fight here and now instead of be relegated back to the plane where it is but a small fish in a very large pond. Upon Valmasia, it was a force to be reckoned with. But what was it in the plane above if not for a middling spirit, long from it's apex?

Against a roaring maelstrom of spiritual energy does Lorelei desperately attempt to encroach, Demicles held tight as if it were warding the creature away from her very core instead of being fixated upon summoning the creature. Time was the essence, the counting of the sand that flows through her fingers that fall faster and faster--if she failed, she likely would be devoured in kind. Gorandis, too, would likely be lost--

Demicles shines brightly, a beacon of power that holds her close as Lorelei steps into the circle--the beastial creature lashing out with flame from it's maw--the visage of Lorelei becoming engulfed in a diresome flame. Unlike when it was but a vessel, this flame was very real--and very hot.

Conciousness fades--

--and with a harsh, wicked and gut-wrenching cry does the parasite take over, dropping Demicles for a moment and lunging viciously at the chained beast. The flames burn hotter--and her flesh melts more and more before the limb is risen within the burst of flame and spirituality and jamming it within the core of Adramalech.

It roars--a wicked and diresome roar--but that isn't what Gorandis should worry about. The demon cracks--it bleeds--as it's vital essences are robbed and Lorelei's proverbial time re-wound as her flesh begins to regenerate under the effects of the soul's theft. Yet Adramalech, rapidly, begins to decay--and rumble with a diresome power.

Before it's finally gone--

Bang!

A cacaphony of explosions erupt from the beast as a detonate emerges from it's core, the two magi sent flying in their respective directions. Were Gorandis agile, he may just be able to jaunt himself away with the aid of his occultic lightning. Lorelei? Lorelei isn't truely concious and stands little chance of avoiding anything, draining Adramalech dry until it's last.

Whereever she lands, it's likely not upon land.

In the distance is a faint splash that echoes out as the ritual-circle drains of power, a weak smoke and plume of sulfur emerging where it once was...
(Lorelei)

Adramelech was bound as tightly as Gorandis could muster both physically and spiritually. The deep purple chains worked on far more than a real world level, after all, these were the very same chains that bound his own demon to him. A small and imperceptible link was formed between Gorandis and Adramelech, just enough for him to hear his roars booming in the back of his mind.

But his ground is held and so is his spellwork as Lorelei began her approach. Gorandis could only struggle and watch as the bleeding woman cast off her vestiges of humanity and lunged at the creature. Flame upon flesh, flesh upon flesh, Gorandis released his chains as soon as the decisive strike was delivered. He rushed forward a short distance and scooped up Demicles.

Just in time to see the crumbling of Adramelech and the cracks of energy forming within. Gorandis knew where this was going. Not bothering about Lorelei he turned and ran, diving off of the roof and just dipping below the stonework as the shockwave shattered the stone just above his head. He fell, landing heavily but unharmed upon the grass.

With a staff in each hand he pushes himself up to his feet and barely managed to catch the sound of the splash. Cursing, he strapped both staves to his back and rushed off towards the sound. Lorelei really was no use to him dead. He runs to the shoreline, not yet jumping in and instead scanning the surface, if Lorelei was not found then this was about to get annoying...

Around him, the air began to solidify with summoning magics.
(Gorandis)

She was able to be found--but not easily.

The water was tumultuous, the ebb and flow of the tide harsh as the moon clings to the water, it's gravity combined with the explosion upon the nearby citadel causing a minor storm upon the shores.

All waves crashed harshly and returned just as rough. Looking for Lorelei wasn't as easy as trying to feel her out--and if done her unique signature was merely being slapped by the tides as she slowly emerges upon the shore.

She seemed, oddly, better then she was beforehand--the wounds and sores upon her 'healed' even if new burns have arrived. Superficial--and nothing debilitating.

The only odditiy is that the girl seems to flicker, lightly, etherially--though it's hard to discern why.

She'll come to, in time, on her own--it seemed as if she were wholely drained of energy, recooperating ina torpor-like state.
(Lorelei)

Gorandis didn't search alone. Or rather, he did but by using more than just himself. Winged creatures fell out of the sky before their wings took hold, powering them aloft. Strange, bat-like things that flapped away over the seas tasting around for Lorelei's very distinct signature and while it did take a while, it wasn't a difficult task to locate her.

With a bit of tugging here and there by the summoned creatures, she would be washed up on the shore. Gorandis took a small moment to make his way down, not rushing but not taking his time. She probably wasn't dead nor really that injured from what he could tell. Gorandis dragged her further inland to a small clearing by a stream.

A large lance of crimson lightning burst forth from the sky and shattered the base of a tree, toppling it down to the earth. Lorelei was placed within the fallen leaves, cushioning her somewhat more than anything else would around here as Gorandis got a small fire going near her to try and dry her off just a little bit. Mainly so that she would wake up in a decent mood.

Demicles lay in his hands as he took the time to examine it before finally laying the staff next to her and pulling out the black crystal from the depths of his robe. He would take the time to run some tests on it while Lorelei recovered... The flickering was unnerving but he would wait to see what came of it and he would wait with her until she awoke.

If only so that he could ask her directly.
(Gorandis)

Flicker...

Lorelei glimmers with a faint energy, spiritual energy that has left a heavy residue upon her. Whether it was temporary or not remained to be seen--but what is clear that after several hours does the girl twitch, her body stirring and groaning with a hacking cough and a wheeze.

Weakly the corrupted limb of the girl reaches out, scratching against the grasslands before it as if to try and cling her forward. She murmors, weakly, as her head clouds with a thousand and a half thoughts. Frazzled, she barely manages to do more then roll her head over and open her eyes.

Blink...

"...You're still here."

She speaks with a hoarse voice, scratchy and dark as if she had been smoking for decades prior.

"Why."

It doesn't seem as if Gorandis garners any appreciation for his benevolence, but then again he never did.
(Lorelei)

"Because I had to give you your staff back." He gestures over to Demicles before continuing the meal Lorelei's stirring had interrupted. It wasn't much, just some packed, dried food that he offered out to her. The black gemstone lay at his feet, gently pulsing with depraved energies. Depending on how attuned Lorelei was without Adramelech, she might be able to feel the spirit trapped within.

"Not only that but you seem to be glowing. Well, flickering rather, on and off. Was that you goal in all of this? To have something like that happen to you?" Despite her fried appearance the questions came normally. He leant back, the ashes of a fire seeming to shift as he does, the air seeming to grow a little clammy as his hand wraps around the gem once more.

"So then, now what? You've gotten rid of the spirit you took so much effort in trying to summon in the first place. Have you just fallen to paranoia or do you actually have something else planned in the mean time? You've always been too meticulous to be foolish... or at least that how I've seen it." He doesn't make any comments on her attitude.

It was par for the course at this point.
(Gorandis)

Slowly, Lorelei tilts her head.

Ah, Demicles.

Weakly she reaches for it, grasping the ivory-inlaid pole and slowly rising--driving the base of the staff into the ground and utilizing it to uplift herself with a great deal of effort. Compared to before, when her hobbling was born from true wounds then anything else, now it is simply exhaustion. Her muscles no long cry out in agony, merely thrum with soreness.

"My goal..." Speaks the witch with great difficulty, finally coming upon two feet. "...was to kill it before it tried to kill me. A creature like that, bound and malevolent? It needs to be eliminated. As for myself, any strong soul empowers me." There's another weak thrum of spiritual energy that washes over her like a wave, a faint phasing to her form before it becomes corporeal again.

Only now Lorelei notices, frowning lightly with concern.

"...Magical contamination." She reasons, truely unsure. "Don't be concerned about me. I'm far stronger then you believe." With Adramalech's help that may very well be true, too. ""...Any strong body that falls by your hand, if you can drain their essence, is empowerment. Be it friend. Be it foe. There are no allies, Gorandis. Nothing is forever."

Lorelei slowly raises her hands, a weak cracking rolling off herself as her bones pop lightly from the stretch. "If you're not ready to kill those close to you at a moment's notice, they'll end up killing you first."

It seemed to be paranoia, though it also seemed to be born from a very poor view of those around her.
(Lorelei)

"He remains seated as she took to stretching out, he was at ease around her, which is surprisingly really considering all he's seen her done and how she usually treats him. But, really, he enjoyed having his strength respected even if his views never were. "I'm not the same, sappy person I once was, Lorelei. But I appreciate the warning nonetheless."

And he did see it as a warning. Lorelei had always been unhinged as it were. Quite possibly one of the most dangerous people if only due to her paranoia and unpredictability. A knife was forever hovering over her back. but the plunge wouldn't be taken... not just yet at the very least. No, there was always something else he felt he needed her for.

"I Shall be concerned about whomever I wish, thank you... I worry sometimes, about your parasite. I don't want to lose you to madness, that would be such a waste of talent... and the favour you owe me." He got to his feet, dusting himself off and clutching his own, quite mundane staff. "And you do owe me now, perhaps this dance of favours will continue forever."

"Or until one of us dies. Whichever comes first..." He pauses for a moment, falling silent before speaking again in a softer but seemingly more serious tone. "Should we ever come to blows... proper blows, a to the death sort of deal... Would you rather I kept your essence alone? Because I would very much like for you to leave mine alone."

His eyes fall to her corrupted arm before he sighs. "You may say there are no allies but you have been a good one all the same Lorelei. And I fear the end between us will be more violent than any other..." He sighs, scratching the small goatee resting on his chin. "Perhaps I do still care too much..."
(Gorandis)

"Don't be concerned with my essence!"

Lorelei is quick to snap back, cracking her neck lightly from side to side. It felt good--for once in a long while she felt simply sore instead of maimed or mangled in some way. The burns, still fresh upon her robes, have more or less become healed--though the healthy skin replaced with the mottled and corrupted obsidian carapace.

Demicles still is her anchor upon the ground, but it seems that Lorelei leans upon it much less. "And don't be concerned about my mind. Every moment you worry about someone else is a moment you leave yourself betrayed. Stop. Just stop. Don't insult me with your false-concern."

The girl moves, lightly, down the penninsula that she has found herself upon. She knew where she was--even if she didn't like where she was. Far from Loranthis--far from the Citadel.

"Lives are taken by the strongest. The strongest dictates what happens. Even if I agreed, would you believe me? Would I even self-enforce it? I'll do what I please in the moment--I suggest you do the same."

With little in the way of a thanks, she moves south-bound. There is a certain lack of malice in her voice, sadly, that betrays her own words. She's appreciative--but she'll never show it, nor never say it. In fact, she may never externalize it--the appreciation hers and hers alone.
(Lorelei)

"It is not false..." The words trail off behind her as she moves away. "I am concerned. In a world full of idiots, children and the incompetent... I don't have many people I can rely on. As much as you speak of betrayal and mistrust and backstabbing. We have never betrayed one another..." The words are called out again towards her back.

He lets out a sigh mixed with a groan. "It is only you I ever seem to care about in this shit hole land... Yes, I know, pathetic, disgusting among other things. I'm weak for thinking so and all of that. But I will not have you gone... I will not have you fall away." His hand tightens its grip on his own staff before he turns away, facing the opposite side of the forest.

"Not while i can help it..." And with that he himself begins to move northwards. Still well within earshot of any retort that Lorelei would give. His footsteps are heavy somewhat and his hand goes into his cloak to grasp onto the black crystal that lay there. One day... one day the strong will dictate what happens. And it will be him who does so.
(Gorandis)

Never yet.

There would, eventually, come a time--and it would be a vicious time--and it's unknown who would betray the other first. Lorelei wasn't one to keep allies and all, eventually would likely fall--but time was rapidly moving from day to day--it is very likely the girl doesn't live long enough to do so.

"...You should avoid Loranthis." Her response comes quiet as she slows her movements,, struggling to comprehend the emotion coming from the man behind her. "It's a bad place that is soon to be purged. Lasswell--Nahele. They think themselves immune. It falls to debauchery. It is impure. Lord Dumuzid's reign is being clouded by their own self-aggrandizing feats.They take their feats as their own feats--and don't do it purely for Lord Dumuzid."

Step...

She continues to exit, her movements slower but not halting. "There's going to be a time when I take them to the sword for it. I'm unsure when. Sometime after the tournament. Perhaps during. If you care," the term is spoken with malice and venom.

"Then be ready for violence within the city."
(Lorelei)

He winces as she spits the word 'care'. But he does well to hide it, listening on to it all. "They already plan to purge it themselves. And they wanted my help to do so. I have yet to give them anything definitive. Something about wanting me to use my abilities for them, no doubt only for their own gain... which is how you want me to think too, isn't it?"

His voice rises but the drops the point all the same with another tired sigh. He was wasting his breath. "But I will try to avoid the city all the same... At least, somewhat. You still owe me a favour Lorelei... I will seek you out when I need to, no doubt you wont be able to properly respond to any written summons..." He smiles a little under his hood.

But he continues his slow walk. He doesn't turn back anymore, he said everything he wanted to say and while he would still be able to hear Lorelei's words, he would no longer respond to them. There really was nothing else worth talking about... nothing else worth saying to deepen a rift between the pair. Except for one, final thing.

"And even if I'm not the one who owes you... you can still count on me for anything of your own design..."
(Gorandis)

"They aim to purge those they view as 'lesser'. They don't understand that they're all lesser. Scum that clings to Dumuzid to inflate themselves. It seems that the more power they gain, the more they want. They say they will dive into the maw of Dumuzid, but I trust they lie."

Step...

With a faint flicker she seems to depart--with only a blip of her voice carrying through the air as she fades unseen.

"...You know how to find me when you need me, I trust."

With that, she's gone!
(Lorelei)