Thom - Eternal Flame: Can I be a hero too?

[11:36:32] The young Maria could be found picking flowers in the newly formed Sunflower Village. It was quite interesting to see the different breeds of plants that had cropped up. All sorts of colors, shapes and sizes had taken root almost overnight it seemed, at least in the grand scale of things. It was hard to believe that this area still belonged to the same swamps that were filled with so much danger.

Well, these flowers were no brimstone honeywart at least. Well, okay maybe that was for the better too. The stench of those flowers, regardless of how useful they might be, was quite... Pungeant. Sulfur, of an almost volcanic origin. It was pretty unbearable to be around for long periods of time.
(Maria Shateiel)
[11:39:56] Was it ever going to come out?

After a little potion in Nostvale, Thom would have headed to the deadland marshes to see about getting its after effects off. The boy looked like a walking traffic cone, but as he came across a few Crellus and fought them the acid started to disolve a lot of the mess. It was a lot faster then trying to wash it off, but the boy could think of no way to get the oranage color out of his hair, nor a few little dots of orange looking like freckles off his skin.

It would be while he traveled through the marshes however, that the youth would find a small village. It was odd and as they went through the trees surounding it, he would ifnd it to be peaceful.. The amount of people seemed to be small, but it didn't seem bad. The boy walked over to the closest one, a girl with red hair and draknite wings who seemed to be doing things with flowers..

"Hey what is this place miss? Oh! And I'm Thom!"
(Thom)
[11:48:28] "Oh, another first-time visitor?" Maria would question with a smile, looking up from the flowers. "I'm Maria, a pleasure to meet you. This place is called Sunflower Village apparently; it's led be a druid who was able to place a blessing upon the land as you can tell. I certainly prefer it over the deadlands themselves!" Sh'd smile widely at Thom, rising to her feet.

"I was surprised to see the amount of flora that's growing here. There's so many different kind of plants, and some even look to be entirely new breeds. If I was the scholarly sort, I think I'd be having quite a lot of work to do studying the events that have taken place in this village."
(Maria Shateiel)
[11:52:44] "Yeah, first time visitor!" Thom nodded, his hand going to rub the back of his head as he let out a little laugh. "I didn't even know this was here.. But thats cool! It looks really pretty so I hope it does well!" The boy owuld then blink a bit letting out a bit of a hm.

"Your name sounds farmilar. I swear I've heard it before.." The boy closed his eyes, thinking really hard before giving a little 'aha'. "Are you Lia's friend? She said she knew someone named Maria! Oh wait.. Wouldn't they be in Nostvale.. Sorry I'm silly."

"And yeah there sure is a lot of stuff here that looks new! But I don't know a whole lot out here.. I don't leave Nostvale a lot. But thats ok." A nod of his head once more. "You said you're not scholarly miss Maria right? What do you do?"
(Thom)
[12:02:08] "Liara?" Maria questioned, cocking her head to the side. "Yes, I know her. The one in Nostvale." She'd nod, confirming the connection between the two girls. "She's a member of The Eternal Flame. I'm it's leader, Maria Shateiel. Us two, along with a few others," She'd pause and smile, "Are going to save the world. We're the Heroes of Valmasia, and we're intending to free it from the darkness that's taken over."

"I don't usually stay in Nostvale myself, as the Keeper of Flame I have to travel through Valmasia a lot. It's quite a lot of work, but I'm devoted to the cause! Part of the reason I came to this village was to see if it was something in line with the Eternal Flame's goals. Turns out that Quazla's the druid here, so I think an alliance might be attainable!"

"What about yourself Thom? You're a friend of Liara's, right? Did she send you to look for me?"
(Maria Shateiel)
[12:08:06] The orange haired boy's bounced up and down much like a bobblehead. "Yeah Liara! She told me I could call her Lia though." Thom explained before blinking. "The Eternal Flame. Oh thats right, that thing I heard about too." A slight grin spread across his features. "Oh cool! Are you going to be good heroes? And what sort of stuff are you fighting right now?" Thom questioned, nearly bouncing on his feet in exictment as the slight cackle of blue lighting jolted to life around him. "I wanna be a hero when I grow up! A hero of Justice!"

"And oh wow! I mostly just stay in Nostvale.. The walls are pretty safe as long as you don't get seen by the bad people. But even then I'm ok cause I'm a magi!" The boy nodded his head quicky. "And Quazla!? I think I met him once! He's nice!

And nah she didn't send me. I came here cause my hair is orange.. It used to be black but this orange dust stuff got in it. I'm trying to think of how to get it out cause Crellus acid might melt my hair off and I still like it.."
(Thom)
[12:17:29] "I think you need a bath then," Maria commented with a giggle as to the orange tint of Thom's hair. "I dunno, you could stick with the look. I personally think the red hair tones look great!" She'd tease Thom, running a hand through her own scarlet locks, clearly just using the moment to boast about he own good looks.

"But yeah, we're heroes. We're fighting Dumuzid, the Hiranos, and the Kyros! They've been spreading way too much depravity around, and that's hurting the lifestream. If the lifestream gets damaged, who knows what could happen!" Geeze, quite the lofty goal there, wasn't it? To oppose every kingdom simultaneously meant that the Eternal Flame was an enemy to nearly all in power.

"If you want to be a Hero, you could join us you know!"
(Maria Shateiel)
[12:23:28] Thom would shrug his shoulders before letting out a bit of a laugh. "I tried washing it, but it didn't come out.. And I dunno maybe I'll keep it." Thom would move his hand to his braid, moving it gently and glancing at the orange color, before deciding it wasn't that bad. "Beside it might away on its own or something."

The next word seemed to cause a bit of confusion on Thom's face. "Hiranos and Kyros spreading a bit of depravity? I don't.." The boy fell silent for a moment. "Ok, maybe the parents.. Mr. Kyros is kinda scary.. But I dunno about all of em. Like yeah, Dumuzid is bad but aren't they all fighting each other and stuff?.. Sholdn't one be good?.." It perhaps was his youthful mind and growing up in Nostvale that made him slightly blind to the depravity generated by the two cities leaders.

"But yeah damaging the life.. stream is bad. Thats part of the realm right? My teacher said I should protect the realm." A nod of Thom's head before he heard the next sentence, causing the boy to grin.

"Really? That could be cool! What kinda things would we be doing?"
(Thom)
[12:31:08] "Evil fights evil now, to ascend to even greater powers. They know with none to oppose them, the might of divinity is in their grasp. They want no competition, so they turn their blades on each other, like starving wolves cursed by gluttony." Maria explained, "For Dumuzid, perfection awaits, the goal of any Yokai. Clio Hirano seeks an unending and absolute control of all freedom. Those of New Alteros shall revive Azrael if left to their own. All this cites the end of Valmasia as we know it."

"So that's why The Eternal Flame fights. If no one else will, we have to. We can't take a side with any of them, no matter how much benefit there might be. Not a one can be allowed to succeed, and we must fight tooth and nail to be able to stop them."

"So, if you join The Eternal Flame, you can expect to find yourself facing the darkest of enemies. Undead. Vampires. Malpercians. Oscuri. Yokai. The list does not end in this era of shadow. Your faith and actions however, will bring light, and vanquish those nightmares. Do you have the strength to face them, Thom?"
(Maria Shateiel)
[12:37:07] Thom was silent, frowning for a minute. A conflict within, given how Cilo Hirano had never hurt him, but he also knew that the girl was speaking the truth if only somewhat.. And even if Cilo was the least evil he acknowleged, he still saw the bad in the other two factions that existed.

".. None of those sound good.. But.." Thom would look up towards Maria. "We're not going to kill them right?.. I mean Dumuzid, yeah, but.. The others are people right?.. Are we going to kill them?" The boy questioned, imagining his friends who might end up dying if brought into such a conflict. He would quickly attempt to shake off the thoughts.

"I wanna fight to protect the weaker people. And I wanna fight stuff that are bad for the realm.. But.. I don't know if I should kill other people." Thom said, looking slightly down before looking back up to Maria.

"..What about occultists and stuff? Like if they don't hurt the life stream but just have that darkness?"
(Thom)
[12:45:39] Maria's face turned quite grim at the question Thom posed. It was one of the things that had bothered her most; the aspect of killing those the opposed. "I... We... We cannot be tyrants like they. Mercy will be offered; should they refuse however..." It was clear the answer Maria gave. If the Hirano and Kyros would not surrender after Dumuzid's defeat, then they would force her hand.

"Members of The Eternal Flame swear an oath of mercy, amongst others. We do not kill those who can be saved. There are those who cannot be however. A mere occultist, as you ask, can be shown how to live with others. There are those beyond salvation unfortunately, those who have marked their very soul with depravity. The lifestream itself will let us know where our blades should strike, if ever at all."
(Maria Shateiel)
[12:49:55] Grim possibilties indeed. The way her face looked would not be lost on the orange haired child, grey eyes widdening for a second, halfway expecting her to say no mercy was to be had. A little sigh that came afterwords would likely show his relief. "Yeah we should offer them mercy.. We should make sure that they don't have to be bad people." A nod of his head.

"How do you know if someone is saved though?" Thom would inquire for a second before looking at his hand (still covered in bits of orange) before showing it to her. "I'm.. An occultist. My dad got really mad at me when he found out because he said occultists are bad. But.. My uncle is an occultist. And he says I should try to be a hero.

Do you think someone like me could ever be a hero.. Someone like me could be good? I don't do any of that depravity stuff but.. Do you?" Thom would ask, looking hopefully towards the Drakanite.
(Thom)
[12:58:27] "Thom, I won't decieve you. I don't have all the answers," She stated softly, "In fact, I'm fairly certain that some of these things will just have to be answered with the passage of time. The only person who can truly save oneself, is themself. It's... Complicated. Maybe if we can reach the hearts of those people, they will change. That's all we can truly do; show them there is a different way."

"I don't think occultists are evil; but their power is one of great burden. The Yokai were the only beings made to be able to handle the influence of the dark, and even they emerged flawed by it. It is not to say that it controls one completely, but there is certainly an influence by it. I feel as, just as with the Yokai, it should be controlled and directed."

"Perhaps your own heroism could simply be forming a school to help other occultists? The dark arts are something that one should never tread into alone. Such guidance would be heroic, in it's own form. Don't you think? There are more paths to heroism than simply fighting, and even if you desired to take a stand against Dumuzid - Your dark powers would be turned against you. You should seek an answer of your own, as to whether you can be a hero or not."
(Maria Shateiel)
[13:05:16] Thom blinked a few times, but then nodded understandingly. It wasn't exactly fair to ask everything to Maria and expect her to have everything all planned out from begining to end. Though at some point Thom would shake his head. "I dunno. I don't think someone can just save themself." The boy admitted looking at the drakanite. "Sometimes people need to be saved by others. Thats why There are heroes. Because heroes look at peoples hearts and save them."

Thom would say full of hope before hearing the rest of what the drakanite girl said. Slightly his eyes glanced towards the ground. ".. I know its not good. That it changes me sometimes.. But thats why I just got to try harder. I gotta control it instead of it controlling me.. If I don't face it.." The boy looked up towards her. ".. I mean I guess you could face it but I wanna stop it before it gets bad by mastering it you know?"

"And.. Maybe I'll make a school one day. And what if he can't stop me? I hear that really strong occultists can even resist yokai! And I'm really strong Maria!" Thom nodded his head, a wide grin spreading across his face.
(Thom)
[13:12:06] Maria would grin ear from ear with that. It seemed that they had certainly come to an agreement on certain things! "Ha! Yes, I bet you're very strong Thom! I'm sure if you set your mind to it, you'd beat Dumuzid into a pulp!" She'd giggle a bit, knowing that it was likely impossible for any occultist to defeat Dumuzid. It was after all, her foretold destiny to be the one to slay him.

"You're going to make a great hero, Thom, whatever destiny awaits you I hope you meet it in glory. Your magic, your birth, your heritage - None of those things determine who you will be. Only the choices you make."
(Maria Shateiel)
[13:16:22] An agreement indeed, causing a grin to form over his features, or rather, for it to widden further then it was before. Course her telling him he could beat Dumuzid caused for the boy to chuckle a bit good naturedly. "I don't know if I'm that strong! I hear he can use lighting too and thats what I use so he's probally a little better! But one day I'll be strong enough to give him a run for his crowns!" A nod of his little head.

"And I hope I'll become a great hero too! I just gotta train and get stronger and all sorts of stuff! And find a good weapon and armor.. and." Thom started looking at his fingers as if counting what he would need. "But awesome! If you ever need help with stuff send me a letter so I can help too too ok?" Thom thought for a moment of an adress.

"Send it to.. Antegria! With a rune or something on it so no one can see it if it needs to be super sneaky!"
(Thom)
[13:28:19] "Okay! I'll reach out to you if I need you!" Maria was quite happy to have found another would-be hero. It really seemed like the youth of Valmasia had truly had enough of the last generations shenanigans. "You should definitely see Quazla though! Maybe he'll know a way to get rid of that stuff in your hair!"
(Maria Shateiel)
[13:29:10] Thom would nod. Honestly the suggestion was a good one, and as Maria began to walk away he would wave to her. The boy would then quickly dart away, looking for Quazla, hoping he would have some remedy to orange hair dye.
(Thom)