Trust

After gathering more wood, Gevurah decided to go back to the beach and store the resources in a corner near the rocky wall, along with the ones he put there before. After securing and hiding them, he turned back to face the sea and saw a man standing there, with a bow on his back. The teen started walking up to him. As he got closer, he recognized the man. It was the one that was inside Leo's house the other day.

"Oh hey, I know you. From Leo, the other day, right? What are you doing over here?"

After speaking he finished walking over to him and stopped. Not too close nor too far.
(Gevurah)
After finally having gone through some wars in Agartha, having seen corruption and tragedies, deaths and changes of course, Atla was once again on the beach, with her feet watered by the sea and the sand massaging her feet.

The waves were something he needed to see again, the waves soothed him, they doubled in tandem with the wind itself, the odds that once helped him master his mystical ability now resonated again in his heart.

While he was enjoying the beautiful night scenery of the beach a boy arrived, it was Gevurah, the same boy who was in Leo's house, Atla then turned to answer him.

"Oh, Genvurah is your name, right? Well, I live here." He said as he pointed to the house above.

"The beach at night is perhaps the most beautiful sight I know here in Agartha..."
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
The boy listened to the man while he was trying to remember his name. Alat...? No. Atla? Yes! That was it, yes.

"Ah, and you are... Atla, right?" He agreed with what the man said, it surely was a beautiful view. He lived near a beach when he was little, and he could see it every day in his tough trainings. "True, it is beautiful. I suppose it's good living right beside it. I haven't seen many views from this country, though."

Another man appeared, asking things about runescribing to Atla.

"Ok, I'll give you two a moment."
(Gevurah)
Uro appeared suddenly for an enchantment, Atla then took care of this quickly to continue the conversation with Gevurah.

"Yes, Atla is my name, certainly living next to the beach is very good, this house is the gift of a deceased friend ..."

Atla then turned to the sea again, paying attention to the moon and the Great Spiers in the distance while talking to the boy.

"You're new here right? You seem to have come here recently, what tribe are you coming from?"
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
The other man was quickly dismissed after a short ritual.

"So, you're a runescriber huh? Interesting." He continued listening to the man's words "A deceased friend? I'm sorry."

Atla then asked about his past. Things seem to repeat themselves, coincidentally even on the same place.

"Yes, I'm new. Not even from here. I come from a family that trained their kids roughly because they planned on taking over the country we lived in, but it failed. After an attack, we were dizimated and I somehow survived... I woke up here heavily wounded and with almost no clue of what happened exactly. It doesn't seem that any of my brothers ended up here as well."

He finished talking about that matter and realized he was looking at the sea. Turning his head back to the man, he asked:

"Well, this is it. What about you?"
(Gevurah)
Atla listened to the story as the glow of the moon was reflecting in her eyes, the sound of the tide perpetuating in her ear and the night breeze hung in her hair.

He did not want to know exactly the man's story, only his tribe, but apparently he was not even Gehenniano.

"Well, then you're not a Gehennian? What country did you come from then?"

The archer's stories were not worth telling either, but he at least said the basics.

"Well, I am Half-Valmasian, Half-Gehennian, but I grew up in Ezmara on the main land, I came here to study this land full of mysteries and to help my people."
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
"No, I'm not a Gehennian." Gevurah tried to force his memory a little, but it didn't seem to work, as expected."My memory isn't exactly...very clear."

The teen listened to his story, paying attention to him.

"I see. By your people, you mean... Both Gehennians and Valmasians?"
(Gevurah)
"No, I'm not a Gehennian." Gevurah tried to force his memory a little, but it didn't seem to work, as expected."My memory isn't exactly...very clear."

The teen listened to his story, paying attention to him.

"I see. By your people, you mean... Both Gehennians and Valmasians?"
(Gevurah)
"I understand. I don't know much about the old Valmasian culture, and only a little about its actual one."

He payed more attention to the man's attires. He was wearing an almost completely white outfit and a cape to match it. Then Atla asked if Gevurah was going to help the tribe he was now situated in... That could be an decisive question, he had to answer carefully.

"If I'm gonna help Ezmara? I can't answer that just yet. I haven't had time enough to judge this tribe worthy or not. I'm still getting to know the place."
(Gevurah)
With the breeze blowing in his cloak and lifting it up, it was sometimes possible to see runes on Atla's right shoulder.

"I understand, I hope you stay to help Ezmara, we only seek knowledge to save our land, we are not as irrational and bloodthirsty as the Atl were, but anyway, if you want to help Ezmara talk to me, I've been needing help for some experiments to help Ezmara. "
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
Runes were visible on the man's right shoulder. He realized the man wasn't just a common runescriber, he was more than that. Even his physical body was apparently mixed with that craft.

"Is that so? But can you speak for your entire tribe? Is everyone like that...or just you? Maybe a few others, also. A man who succumbs to his beastly and primal desires, totally renegading his honor and objectives as a man is not worthy of living." Atla mentioned something about experiments.

"Experiments? Of what kind?" He asked.
(Gevurah)
Atla crossed her arms to hold his pose in the cool breeze of the night, the time was passing, the moon was already beginning to fall for the sun to rise.

"These are the terms of Ezmara, that is why we are known, but obviously they are not all that are so, everywhere there will always be someone problematic or who does not follow the same line as the others."

The eagle's eyes hovered over Gevurah, the analysand, noticing his manias and physical appearance, the boy already possessed a robust physique for his age.

"About the experiment, well, it's something I've been developing using the runes and my mystical energy..."

He stretched out his hand as he spoke, and suddenly the very manna of the air around him began to join in the hand of Atla in the form of energy, the energy was much denser than the ordinary and yet it was still malleable as the own waves of the sea, mystic energy surrounded and moved in his arm.

"Basically I put some of my power in runes on people, making a spiritual connection, so I can see what they see, I intend to use that to create a central intelligence in Ezmara, so I can avoid conflicts and help Ezmara grow."

The information was valuable and so he did not want Gevurah to know, but somehow he simply trusted him at that moment, maybe Atla was just being too nice, part of his Gentleman personality.
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
"That's true. But there's always a more dominant group who demonstrates the true nature of a population."

Gevurah watched as the bowman demonstrated his energy powers. The teen was beginning to identify some similar power in himself, but obviously the man had that much more develop and powerful. Maybe he could get some lessons or tips later on with him about that matter. As the man went on explaining his experiment, Gevurah could agree that it was certainly a smart strategy, but it wasn't for the boy. His spirit was sacred and shouldn't be violated like that, specially because he barely knew the man.

"I understand. It's smart, I'll give you that." He could see that Atla wouldn't just tell anyone that so he bet that he was trusting the teen. "If you're worried about me leaking or selling that plan to other people, don't worry I'll give you my word I won't tell or sell it. I'm a man of my words."

He adjusted his posture a bit, and then resumed speaking: "But I'm afraid I can't let you see what I see whenever you want. That wouldn't be right for me and my honor, I'm sorry. But, if there's anything else I could help, or vice-versa... Well, I'm here."

He kept on looking at the man, waiting for what he was going to do next.
(Gevurah)
Atla then turned back to the sea and sat on the sand, that feeling that there was always someone behind him, this someone was Renata, they shared the same connection.

He listened to Gevurah's words but did not reply, just nodded, after all he was just a boy, he did not look like he was more than 16 years old.

Suddenly Renata appeared beside Atla, there in the sand, the Archer did not react to it, it was as if he just knew that it would happen, maybe the time was making their connection stronger and stronger.

There was nothing more that Atla wanted to talk to Gevurah, so her attention did not hang on him anymore, her eyes just fixed on the horizon, Renata rested on Atla's shoulders, hugged with him.

The feeling that Atla felt was peace, after finding Renata and acquiring the mystical power his personality was even more resolute, he understood himself perfectly, his eyes could now see through the etheric plane, but there was still something he didnot understand completely, the spirit that accompanied him, Renata.
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
A new day, a sunrise. At least for someone who got up so late from bed, he was just beginning his chores. He had the best night he could expect, in his entire life. And his happiness was on his face, he was totally happy making others feel it, because they were close to him.

"Oh, hello beach! Hello Gevurah! Hello Atla! How are you, guys, feeling today? I feel so alive for some reason...Hehe."

He spoke as he sat next to Gevurah in the sand, watching the sea and Atla which seemed to be in some sort of position there. He didn't even know what to say, what to do. He just wanted to seize the moment, and then go get more supplies for his store's stock.
(Leão)
West blinks, stumbling down the steps to the cottage with a gentle sigh as he scratches at his unruly, frizz-laden mop to blink out to the general occupants of the beach. "Howdy," He calls, grunting silently through his crumpled-looking smokeleaf cigarette, dimly illuminating his face hidden behind the vast majority of his lion's mane of hair.

That is, until he simply shakes his head, readjusting it out of his face to get better visibility. "I was told one of you guys were uh. An energy mage? I /may/ potentially, probably, perhaps, maybe, almost, might need some help from someone fitting that description. Also they're a bowman, apparently?" West shrugs his shoulders bewilderedly. "I don't know."
(West)
Atla was still in the same position, sitting in the sand with his legs crossed and eyes closed, his cloak was lying in the sand and his shoulders were showing, the rune on his right shoulder glowing brightly, energy began to flow gently around Atla after hours of meditation.

The spirit that was with him now was no longer seen, apparently he had merged with Atla to increase the connection between them, in his mind Atla only imagined the waves of the beach, he had already gone through it several times but for some reason was different with Renata there.

"What do you see?" Renata asked him telepathically.

"I see turquoise petals, they fall like autumn leaves." He answered.

He did not notice the other people nearby as he was concentrating, but then suddenly the runa on his right shoulder began to emerge a wing, a wing made of mystical energy, it seemed different from the ordinary, maybe Renata was making changes in Atla.
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
Gevurah, was barely waking up from a rather long night of sleep, well long when compared to his normal nights, when Leo arrived quite cheered up. He sat straight and adjusted his posture and realized Atla was still sitting by the sea in the same position as before. Another person also walked in, that last one was unknown to the teen. He was looking for an energy magi, but Gevurah decided to remain silent, as he was probably referring to the more experienced bowman.

"Hey there Leo. You seem quite happy. Something happened?" He turned to the stranger "Ah, Hey there also. You're probably looking for him" -- he pointed to Atla, the man near the sea who didn't even seem to notice the rest of the people that were also on the beach.

Suddenly, a burst of energy came out of Atla's shoulder, forming into a wing. That impressed the teen, who had never seem something like that before. Could powers similar to that be hidden inside him somewhere, as well ?
(Gevurah)
West raises an eyebrow at the display but remains silentl, turning from Gevurah to the other guy as he concentrates on the ocean. A thin exhale of smoke pours from his lips to be caught in the ocean breeze and dissipated amongst the cliffs, and he grunts as he stands there silently.

The man's shaggy, raven-back mane riddled with frizz and curls cascades past his shoulders to lunge with lust at the cliff face, and he nods with gratitude over to Gevurah. "Oh, yeah?" He murmurs, raising his voice to where he could be heard.

He glances to the man as he remains focused, and shrugs his shoulders, still suckling gently on his bent-looking cigarette. "He looks like he's knee-deep in something important. This a bad time? I may have a bit of a job for him, you see."
(West)
The approach of another person made Leo react in an instantaneously positive way, he was soon pointing and repeating several times with a smile on his face.

"There, there he is, right there in the water!!You can go and call him, you can go, nothing will happen...Do it, do it!"

Listening to Gevurah, he just smiled in response then making it clear that something very good happened, yes. He could only slap Gevurah's shoulder, and leave the mystery in the air filled with happiness. It was nice to leave the thing mysterious, after all, maybe it wasn't the right time to reveal something of the sort...Saying only:

"...I just hope this happens more often."
(Leão)
As he focused on his mind Renata decided to manifest on the physical plane to look at Atla's physical body, when she realized that there were several people there.

'There seems to be some people on the beach.' She warned telepathically.

Atla then awoke from meditation, his great wing of mystical energy began to slowly disappear, he rose from the sand and picked up his cloak, removing the sand before dressing it again.

He turned to those present and tried to figure out what was happening while he stood beside Renata.

"Leo, Gevurah and... who are you?"
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
West grins, somewhat lackadaisically as he scratches at his goatee, his lion's mane of hair billowing in the gentle breeze emanating from the waters. He grins over to Atla, winking in his general direction as he exhales a bit of smoke from his cigarette.

"Oh, hey. You're awake. Fan-diddly-tastic. I'm West," This comment is proceeded by a healthy grin and he shrugs with his hands, presenting them outstretched at his sides. "I have a bit of a problem and I was hoping I could get some help from what I've heard to be a very competent, very bow-and-arrow-enjoying, beach-house-having energy mage."

West's explanation earns Atla another coy, shyster-esque grin as his duster billows in the breeze. "What do you know about the manipulation of mana conduits in someone's body?"
(West)
Gevurah nodded back at the stranger and said: "I'm not sure if you should interrupt, but oh well."

Turning his head back to Leo, he understood. The teen didn't like mystery very much, but he accepted it. "Sure." To finish, he showed a brief smile on his face, something rather uncommon for him.

Suddenly, a woman appeared beside Atla and told him about the people on the beach. Gevurah asked: "Ah, um, well hey there...lady."
(Gevurah)
Unlike the others, Leo just sat there enjoying the sea breeze. He was not paying so much attention to the others on the beach. Anesthetically, he was in ecstasy.

By the creator's beard, it would surely be a mystery to his friends. But it seems Leo entered a storm of harmony and pleasurable sensations, he couldn't explain. But in the language of a sailboat sailor, he would say that he has conquered the best sea. A sea he was willing to conquer thousands of times.

"Life is made up of misadventures, but when you have a Gevurah adventure, enjoy it to the fullest...That's all..."
(Leão)
West grins at the group before silently withdrawing the smokeleaf cigarette from his mouth, exhaling a cloud of smoke to his right -- out of the way of both himself and potential onlookers should they be adversely effected by the cloud.

He shrugs his shoulders, still maintaining that grin as he slips the cigarette back into his mouth. His gaze turns to a bit of seaspray coming up the beach as the tides roll in, and he gives it a foreboding look, edging several steps along onto the beach house's stone patio.

(West)
Atla did not quite understand what Leo was talking about but focused his attention on West, he seemed strange, definitely did not seem to come from Gehenna, his look and manner of speaking was unusual, this made Atla a little suspicious.

"Well, I do not know exactly what problem you are with, but if you are referring to the magic circuit of a Magi, well, it is the circuit that transmits mana to magi, and mana is energy, energy is spirit, magic circuit connects both body and spirit, it is possible to manipulate it through Runes and also spiritual connection. "

He stood there with his arms folded, Renata kept her eye just watching, without saying anything.
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
West grins, nodding over to Atla and his newfound, decidedly-attractive lady-friend of undoubted magical origin. He glances over to the water once more -- perhaps simply to ensure his distance from it, his features clouding with the gentle onsets of worry before he turns his attention back to him.

"Yeah? Have you heard anything of being able to manipulate mana leylines outside of runes? Via advanced energy magic, or something similar?" West asks, raising an eyebrow to the man and scratching at his goatee at the same time. A true multi-tasker.

"Not that it was done like that -- I don't know how it was done. How would you say someone's magical circuitry are scrambled?"
(West)
Leo lay on the sand and closed his eyes, seemed to enjoy the moment. Without paying so much attention to what was happening around him, he just let it roll and that feeling of happiness prevail.

Maybe he was even giving a little attention to that conversation, somehow, knowledge can always be drawn from events like these. Even when your person is in bliss totally unfocused.

At least it wasn't worry, but good memories in his head.

(Leão)
His eagle eyes studied the stranger, Renata felt uncomfortable with all of them looking at her and then decided to go back to the spiritual plane.

"Do not tell him everything." She said telepathically to Atla.

Atla understood and then proceeded to answer only one of the man's questions.

"As I said, the magic circuit is the reflection of the body and spirit, if the body of a Magi is not damaged then look in his spirit, although not many are able to do this, anyway, why exactly do you want to know these stuff?"
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
"Well, I guess she's not the talking one." He said as the lady by Atla didn't answer him and disappeared.

Gevurah just moved his feet around in the sand a little before standing up straight and cleaning the sand off his clothes with quick taps before looking around to check out the entire shoreline and the sun shining bright in the sky. Temperature was rising.

"It seems you guys are having a rather important conversation. Want me to leave so you can talk more privately?" He said, not expressing much on his face.
(Gevurah)
West raises an eyebrow to him -- specifically as the woman sizzles and fades into the spiritual plane. He shrugs his shoulders for several seconds before raising his fingers -- his index and middle, presenting them to the bow-wielding gentleman with a raised eyebrow.

Suddenly, without warning a lackluster pop is heard -- an arc of electricity travels haphazardly from one finger to the other, barely visible, much less dangerous. It even causes him a mild amount of physical discomfort: He allows the hand to drop to his side, coaxing his other fingers over to rub at them while he opens his mouth.

"Because I get the vague impression something similar's occurred to me," He tells him, retreating his hands from his fingers to scratch at his goatee. I can't step into water, and I can't handle metal without electrocuting myself. I used to be a relatively competent lightning user until my ex-wife did..../something/. Hell, I'm not even sure it's her, but she's the only energy mage I'd ever known and we'd had a really big falling out the day before,""

He explains, sucking on the last of the cigarette and simply flicking it into a nearby set of polished rocks. West shakes his head to Gevurah, not apparently caring who listened.
"Don't worry about it, you guys are the pals. I'm just the customer." He turns to Atla, raising an eyebrow.

"So what do you think?"

(West)
Still with her arms crossed Atla kept looking at West, watching him try to do something with electricity and explain his situation, but some things needed to be cleared up earlier.

"Hm, I understand, but before we continue, where do you come from? Which tribe are you affiliated with?"
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
Gevurah nodded back to West and glanced at Leo, who was just laying there in his sort of daydreaming. The teen could only imagine what had happened to that guy.

He turned around and looked over to a small rock coming out of the sand and walked up to it, throwing sand up in the air with every step taken until he finally arrived to his destination and sat on top of it, with his back agains the rocky wall. After getting comfortable, he just sat there and decided to listen to the conversation of the two. Maybe something useful for Gevurah could come out of it, so he was all ears.
(Gevurah)
Gevurah decided to leave them for a while and go for a walk to the marketplace, to see if maybe there was something of his interest over there.

The sun was making the sand too hot and it was bothering him a bit. He got up and headed quickly to the rocky staircase and then slowed down to a common walk speed.
(Gevurah)
Leo rose from the sand, and then looked over the sea saying goodbye to the beach. Taking their way out of that place and carrying out their daily activities in the market. Nothing to do there. Of course, it would be better to leave the place and leave Atla and his business alone.

The young man walked up the stairs and waved a goodbye, going home.

(Leão)
With the output of Leo and Gevurah Atla was a little confused, did not understand why they were there from the beginning, but he waved to the two as they left.

His attention kept on West, but soon a deep sigh came from Atla.

"I'm sorry but in this case I can not help you, information is important in this world, information changes battles, and so I can not leave important information for someone who is not an ally."
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
West shakes his head vehemently -- forcing his frizzy mop to flow every-which-way as he shakes it. "But you not helping me is a problem. Yeah, I sometimes travel outside of gehenna -- very freakin' rarely, pal, because you know what? This world is going to hell. And in order for me to not die horribly impaled on someone's spear, I'm gonna need to be able to use my magic."

West jerks his thumb down on the beach -- clearly demarcating Gehennan soil. "You want me to knock some heads, zap some people for the winning side? Sure. I hate the jinks, and I hate the valmasians. But I can't not be helped. /Please/." West puts forth this last comment with a raised eyebrow, clearly desperate.

"I've been sandbathing for the better part of two years now, and I can't touch metal and haven't been able to since she did this to me. Can you or can you not unfuck me? You're an energy magi, right?"
(West)
With steady steps in the sand the archer approaches the traveler, the bow stays firmly on his back while the cape is just above the sand.

"Sorry, but no, if you just care to be on the winning side then this is a problem, it's easy for you to turn against Gehenna, a word does not prove anything, words are only proven through actions, the only way for you help would be if you prove your word with your own skin, letting me mark your body with a rune, with it I can make sure that you will not go against us in the future. "
(Atla-Cuauhtli)
West scratches at the back of his head before grunting, scowling at him. "You know, you goody-two-shoes types are real pieces of work." West grunts, rifling around in his duster -- apparently for another cigarette before scowling, having found none. He stares daggers at the man before shrugging his duster off and lifting up his shirt, allowing it to drop to the stone patio before turning around.

What's revealed on his skinny, pale frame is obvious to someone who would understand runes -- Sarradian ritual runes, given to the babies of House La'Heba at birth. Curiously, none of the strict water-magic-assisting runes are present, owing to the fact that the man may simply have not been raised Sarradian and likely didn't have the skin tone to be properly accepted properly -- or the affinity for water magic.

"I don't show this to many people because it's bad for business. The runes are there. You wanna add to them for no reason? Be my guest, pal. You're the doc, aren't you?"


(West)
Atla could be Gehenna's greatest Gentleman, but still possessed his sense of trust tuned to his homeland, which West showed was not enough for Atla to help him.

"Like I said, only those affiliated with Gehenna or those who accept my rune are the ones I help." He said with frowning brows, his answer would not change just because of some Sarradian runes.

His sense of trust in Renata was greater than before, only a few runes of Sarradian ritual meant nothing to him, the Runescriber had already experienced betrayals and many spies, so he was developing his Eagle Vision ability so that Ezmara would not suffered more through betrayals.
(Atla-Cuauhtli)