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Post by Emiko on Jul 11, 2020 12:44:35 GMT -6
To her words...Celaine offered nothing but silence and a soft smile. She...honestly didn't have it in her anymore to speak and...just that simple walk across the room to give Ravenna the blanket had worn her out considerably. She knew the young thief had questions and...Celaine wanted to answer them. But...the chance for her to speak was long gone by this point... Even if she wanted to, Celaine couldn't bring herself to utter a single syllable let a lone words to explain. That was...not if she valued her own life...
The silent, ominous way things had proceeded would only grow when out of the darkness came a voice to answer Ravenna's question. However, this wasn't the weak voice of concern from Celaine sitting before Ravenna... This voice, though feminine in nature matched the tone of the room itself. It was dark, firm, cold...dominating...
"...That is precisely what I would like to know... I'm very curious to find out what's happening here, and why..."
As the voice rang out, it sent a noticeable chill down Celaine's spine. Her smile to Ravenna faded almost immediately upon hearing it and...without uttering another word, Celaine quietly turned towards the source falling very weakly from her bent position to a literal kneel. Once like this, she lowered her head towards the ground and started to shiver again showing incredible fear in the wake of this stranger... The name of that stranger...? It was none other than Lady Saveria herself...
Stepping into the very dim light provided by the lantern, Ravenna would see a formally dressed woman with her long black hair tied up decoratively. Her icy blue eyes, chilling to the gaze quietly moved between the chained up Ravenna and the kneeling Celaine silently as if assessing the situation. Her gaze then would move about the room as if, despite how dark it was, she could actually SEE what was going on. Or rather...what had gone on earlier...
A moment of tense silence lived between Saveria and the two fallen women before finally, the mistress of the house glared towards Celaine with contempt. Without even the slightest hesitation, she violently grabbed Celaine's bangs covering her left eye and pulled the hair out of her face. Grabbing the eye patch covering her left eye, she jerked it clean off and glared into Celaine's artificial eye seeing how faintly, almost lifeless the eye was now compared to earlier...
"...You used your talisman carelessly again, didn't you...? I sense the magic of the Eye of Mirage all over this room... In the bells, in the atmosphere, but it's especially strong on this girl you've chained up... And seeing the faint glow of life in it now, I can see how hard you've pushed it... And yet..I'm curious as to why you expended so much of your life and yet...this girl lives... Care to explain?"
Lady Saveria would not hold onto Celaine's hair for long. However, the act of releasing it was more of a violent push causing the guardian to collapse in the room. Looking up to Saveria submissively, Celaine was panting heavily doing everything she could not to break into tears... And with her voice weak and trembling she tried to say...something...
"...I'm sorry, Mistress... I am...so sorry... I...tried to do my duties... But...I...I got caught up in a moment of weakness and..."
Saveria wouldn't allow Celaine to finish before she interrupted with a firm tone of dominance knowing exactly what had happened...
"You fell prey to your soft heart and couldn't bring yourself to finish a pretty face...is that right? You used my gift to you to create an illusion and got swept up in the fairy tale... I honestly expected better of you..."
...Her words were so harsh and cold that Celaine didn't dare say anything else after Saveria accused her of...what she had basically done. She instead gave her Mistress a silent nod and kept low to the floor knowing that now was not the time to do anything else... Unfortunately for Ravenna, now that Celaine had confessed, Saveria would turn her attention to the chained up thief. She glared at Ravenna for several moments before addressing her almost as coldly as she did Celaine...
"...And who might you be? Who would have the nerve to invade my home, steal from my collection, and think they could get away without consequence? Choose your words wisely, or I swear...they will be your last..."
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Post by yooom on Jul 11, 2020 13:18:14 GMT -6
Ravenna was about to pipe up once more, to demand more information from Celaine as she backed away silently, but was silenced when another voice rang out in the dark. She jumped, despite the fact that she was invisible for her, her voice was quite clear, as if she was speaking only a few inches from her ears, in a high, deadly voice that set shivers down Ravenna’s spine just as it had Celaine’s.
Ravenna watched as the woman revealed herself, stepping powerfully forward, into the light of lantern the now kneeling Celaine had set on the floor before her. She was tall, with an imposing figure and a positively venomous expression on her tight lips. Ravenna shivered, feeling colder just to be within this fearsome woman’s gaze, but fortunately, for Ravenna at least, the woman’s attentions were not on her, at least for the moment. She spared the bound thief only a cursory glance, as she turned to gaze across the rest of the reliquary, gazing with ease at the dark shadows, and spoke in that same cold, high tone to Celaine, who bowed and scraped as the woman berated her.
The woman’s words were vicious, harsh, but extremely helpful to Ravenna, whose memory of the fight and it’s exact outcome had become a little fuzzy. As the woman, with shocking accuracy, reproached Celaine while narrating every beat of their little fight, memories began to return. The Eye of Mirage...the bells..and the girl...Ravenna herself… The sound came back to her, the plaintive peals, magically empowered by Celaine’s brilliantly gleaming eye. She had enchanted her, with the music, and with her hypnotic gaze. Ravenna looked down, trying not to give away the fact that she was smiling slightly. Now, at last, she understood what had happened, and now she would be able to come up with some kind of plan. Blushing faintly as she heard the woman call out her “pretty face,” Ravenna set about planning her escape.
As for who caused Celaine such fear, there was no longer any doubt. There was only one person who could be so knowledgeable with magic to tell exactly what had occurred here from only the rubble of their fight, only one person who could stride around this venerable hall like she owned the place. Ravenna was face to face with Lady Saveria herself, the woman who’d plundered half the reliquaries of Europe, the woman with more magical artifacts than any other human on the planet.
And yet, as Saveria swept past Celaine, to gaze furiously at Ravenna, she felt the fear in her body diminish slightly. The way Celaine had spoken, it had been as though she’d been speaking about a demon, the way she’d seemed to beaten, so drained, it had scared her far more than any angry human could ever make Ravenna. Ravenna had stared into the eyes of angry clerics ever since she’d been a little girl, and they didn’t scare her any more than Celaine had with her gun. She was just another obstacle to overcome.
Ravenna sat up slightly, shifting in place, and, as she did, she moved her hands, straining the chain so that the length of it ran against her fingers. She might have lost her coat, and all the magical artifacts within it, but she still had a half dozen rings, and one of them would suit the purpose of breaking these chains perfectly. A red gem gleamed faintly on one of her rings, growing hotter and hotter against the chain, concealed under the blanket Celaine had given her. Ravenna said a silent prayer of thanks for the blanket, it would be all she needed to make this getaway possible, and gazed back into the face of Celaine’s mistress. “Me? Well, I’m that pretty face you mentioned.”
She felt a pang of recognition at the pale blue of her eyes, the same shade of Celaine’s own magical eye, and she immediately averted her gaze from the cold eyes, fearful of the same kind of hypnosis, looking instead just below them, at the pursed, furious lips. “I can’t say it’s much of a pleasure to meet you, Saveria, even if you something of a legend in the world of arcane artifacts.”
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Post by Emiko on Jul 11, 2020 14:12:42 GMT -6
Saveria's ability to sense expelled magic was limited to just that, expelled magic. She was thankfully unable to necessarily sense spells and trinkets that let off the soft amount of energy Ravenna's ring was producing. Even if she could...the amount of energy Celaine had expelled was all over the room making the sensations of everything else incredibly difficult... That, combined with the blanket providing cover to Ravenna all worked in her favor for the moment...
At Ravenna's words, Saveria just glared at her with the same expression she had been offering before. The same quips that had earlier sent Celaine into an absolute rage rubbed off of the head Mistress without a trance of emotion. She just stared to Ravenna with a clear expression of anger, but...a very calm and controlled rage... The only other way to possibly describe her look would be menacingly if not even a quiet sort of evil...
"...So this girl is the one that infatuated you...?" Saveria softly replied to Celaine rather than Ravenna herself. "...A common thief with a rambunctious tongue... You couldn't finish off the filth that is lower than the dirt...? I'm beyond disappointed, Celaine... I honestly don't think you deserve to be saved from your fate..."
That threat from Saveria...not being deserving to be saved shocked Celaine more than anything. She weekly looked up towards her Mistress with a small stream of tears flowing down from her right eye, the only one that could produce as such. As she did, she practically begged for the cold woman to reconsider what she had just said...
"Mistress...please... I...I can't..."
All at once before Celaine could speak, Saveria gave a hard stomp to the wooden floor which instantly shut the begging girl up and asked her a simple question...
"...What are my three rules, dear...? The three things everyone in this church must follow without fail..."
Celaine knew right then and there that...she had just crossed a line... She knew what the rules were and she had just broken a major one by speaking back against her Mistress' wishes... Still, as hard as it was just to talk, she would recite them perhaps to Ravenna's horror...
"...Act when ordered...Speak when spoken to...and...do not act to the contrary..." Celaine replied lowering herself even lower to the ground if that were even possible at this point.
With a devious grin spreading over her face, Lady Saveria offered her a gentle nod and turned back towards where Ravenna was still chained. She stared at her in silence for several moments before raising a gloved hand near her face. What...she was intending to do wasn't immediately clear, but...her words certainly didn't leave much to the imagination...
"...That's right, my dear... You've remembered them well... Now also remember your place, your role, and understand that I don't take lightly when things aren't done that need to be done... I'll spare your fragile heart the pain of eliminating your infatuation this time. Only because I think I'd take great delight in finishing it myself... If you survive long enough to see the end of this Celaine, we'll discuss this matter further. For now...rest until this is finished..."
It was about this time that Saveria stretched out a hand towards the chained up Ravenna. With her hand outstretched, in the palm of it formed what looked like a very strange orb of dark, magical energy. There was no telling what Saveria had intended with this very real magic trick. Whether it was an intimidation tactic, or an actual threat it didn't make it any less frightening. Whatever it was...it was intended for Ravenna perhaps...in a fatal way...
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Post by yooom on Jul 11, 2020 14:40:29 GMT -6
Saveria only stared grimly at Ravenna’s taunt for a moment, before turning back to Celaine, who she seemed to prefer to torment, perhaps because she’d failed to intimidate Ravenna.
If she was attempting to scare Ravenna by attacking Celaine, it was quite an effective strategy, for the girl crumpled at her Mistress’s words, reduced from a ferocious fighter to a meek servant, begging like a child for forgiveness from Saveria, who forced her to recite their rules, to prove her already apparent devotion to Saveria. Ravenna’s stomach crawled at it, the way Celaine was bowed, so subservient, so fearful of this woman. Perhaps she had magical abilities, perhaps she was capable to snuffing out Ravenna’s life with a wave of those long, icy fingers, but no one alive deserved this kind of worshipful treatment, nor should anyone relish the pain and fear they caused like Saveria did, as she turned back to Ravenna, a self-assured smirk on her face. Ravenna glared at her, lost for words, feeling only anger at the way this foul woman had treated her devoted servant.
As the two had talked, Ravenna had continued to hold her heating ring up against the chain, and felt the metal start to give against her wrists, holding back a wince as the hot metal burned her skin there. Just a bit more...just a bit more…
Saveria dismissed Celaine, and now devoted her full attention to her captive, raising a palm out towards her, where a ball of dark magic formed. Ravenna was quite well versed in illusion magic. She knew how to detect an illusion, in the way it moved without the right amount of sound, the way it rippled faintly at the edges. So she could tell that dark ball of magic Saveria had brought forth from seemingly nothing was no illusion. Whatever it was, it was very, very real, and Ravenna was quite sure that she did not want to stick around and find out what it was. Ravenna bit her lip, nervous, but not scared, calculating, just as she had before.
“Now, now, hold on,” Ravenna said, in mock apprehension, shifting in place, so that her boots were aimed squarely on the floor. “I-I just wanted a look. I know a little bit about magic, you see, and it seemed that-” At long last, the tiny ring cut through the last bit of chain around her wrist. Ravenna grinned, throwing the blanket and the length of chain her upper body had been trapped in forward, directly in Saveria’s face. This served a couple purposes. First it would hopefully break Saveria’s concentration on whatever eerie black ball she was working on, interrupt the spell before it lasted much longer, and secondly, it put something between Saveria and Ravenna, if only for a split second. Sight was important for any mage, Ravenna knew, and, if she couldn’t see her, she couldn’t use any magic on her.
Ravenna leaned forward, bending around her boots, and they propelled her upwards, in an almost frog-like leap upwards, almost colliding with the lowest of the bells as the magical leap sent her sailing up. She landed unevenly on her feet behind Saveria, and kicked away the coils of chain that had been around her legs.
She hadn’t taken anything from the reliquary, indeed, she’d lost most of the artifacts she’d come in with, along with her coat, but at this point she was more than happy to cut her losses. Her life, and the story she’d be able to tell, would be more than enough of a reward for her. “I wish I could stay until this was all finished, but I really must be going,” she said, unable to resist the barb, as she dashed over towards the door, naturally on the far side of the hall.
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Post by Emiko on Jul 11, 2020 15:06:38 GMT -6
What Lady Saveria had intended for Ravenna wouldn't be fully known due to the swift actions of her captive. Without any sort of warning, Saveria had a wad of chains wrapped up in the ball of the blanket hurled towards her at a rather incredible speed. However, rather than be stunned by this or even taking the blow, the cold woman actually managed to somehow see it coming and did a simple side step to dodge the blow.
Out of 'harm's' way...if you could call it that, Saveria quietly lowered her hand down and allowed the orb she had formed inside of it to simply...vanish. From there, she quietly glanced around the room following the path of Ravenna's magic until she did a full turn to see Ravenna behind her...
In utter silence, she watched as Ravenna kicked off the chains from around her feet and bid the two of them a fond, but rather cocky farewell. And honestly...the lack of actions or words following made it seem like again, Ravenna might actually get away with this. The real reason that Lady Saveria didn't make a move yet was because she actually enjoyed something of a chase. And that little stunt of Ravenna's was providing her a much needed bout of entertainment after such a long trip...
"...I impressed... I see this one is full of tricks, my dear..." Saveria softly commented to Celaine as she turned towards Ravenna with a smile. "...I think I understand why you unleashed such a great deal of energy just to catch her. Still...the fact you used my gift to you to charm this...wild thing is beyond me..."
Saveria literally allowed Ravenna to get as close as a mere foot step from the stairs when she swiftly rose a hand in the air at the thief's direction. Instantly out of nowhere, strange shadow shackles and chains seem to materialize and at Saveria's command flew at Ravenna... With pinpoint precision, the shackle latched onto one of Ravenna's wrists and swiftly jerked her back into the room against her will. One shackle was met by another as another shadow shackle flew out of the darkness and clung to Ravenna's other hand. From there, the two chains pulled Ravenna up and left her suspended a few feet off the ground, no doubt shocked... All the while...Saveria never once stopped conversing with her guardian...
"...She may be tricky and have a pretty face. But that gift in your eye was not given to you to use for your little fantasies... Have you forgotten why you ended up here in the first place? Have you forgotten how you lost your eye and the reason why I gave your sight back to you in the first place...? And you are willing to throw all that away, push yourself to the brink of death for...her?"
At 'her', Sevaria willed a few more shackles forged of shadow to latch themselves onto Ravenna's ankles ensuring that she was chained in full... Once fully chained up now with separate shackles on various parts of her body, Saveria allowed Ravenna to fall back to the ground below to see what else she'd do. Pinned to the sanctuary, if she tried to leave, Saveria could just pull her back in. If she tried to attack, the same result would happen. If nothing else was certain...the fact Ravenna wasn't leaving this room surely was...
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Post by yooom on Jul 11, 2020 15:45:05 GMT -6
The surprise of her sudden attack seemed to work. Saveria seemed stunned, and Ravenna made her way for the door, running past where Celaine’s body still rested, kneeling in that devoted position. She gave her a pitying grimace as she raced past her, the door was coming closer, and then she would be in the clear.
And then there was a clattering sound like a mouse trap, and Ravenna let out a cry of pain as something icy cold closed painfully tight around her wrist. She barely had a second to turn and see what it was, to see the gleaming black metal of a manacle around her arm before it gave a powerful tug, dragging her backwards, past Celaine, past Sevaria, still speaking in that cool, casual voice, to collide painfully with the stone wall, right back to where she been. She snarled, lost for words, her free hand instinctively trying to free herself, but, out of the shadows, more chains materialized, binding her other hand, wrapping against her ankles, pulling her body taut against the wall, three or four feet off the ground, completely immobilized.
She gazed helplessly, frozen as Saveria gazed again coldly at her, and for the first time since Sevaria had arrived, felt genuine fear at her opponent. Celaine had taken her off guard, she hadn’t expected the magic to come from bells, and even now she was quite certain that she stood a good chance of beating her in another match up. Saveria, on the other hand...she was another matter entirely, and Ravenna was severely outclassed by the cleric.
Saveria was still speaking to Celaine, and as she again mentioned Ravenna’s ‘pretty face’, and talked about Celaine’s fantasies like Ravenna wasn’t even in the room, not even worth addressing, much less worrying about. Ravenna felt her face redden slightly, as more flashes of memory of her encounter with Celaine came to her. Dancing together, their bodies pressed warmly together, as Celaine whispered sweet nothings in her ear.
Quite abruptly, the pressure of the chains keeping her pressed tightly against the walls died, and Ravenna went crashing back down to the floor. She pushed herself up, on her hands and knees before Saveria, spluttering slightly, eyes watering from the impact. She gazed at the black steel that kept her wrists bounds. While they were as cold and as hard as metal, upon the momentary close examination they did not quite look like metal, they lacked the usual luster. Their bizarre appearance, as well as the way Saveria seemed to conjure them from nothing, seemed to point to only one thing: shadow magic. A little-known form of dark magic, Ravenna had the sinking feeling that, in a dark room like this, Saveria was practically invincible.
She rose slowly, with a groan of pain from the impact with the floor. She hadn’t broken anything, but the crash against the hard wood still hurt her plenty. She stood before Saveria, examining the mage’s work.
“So...what kind of Cathedral owner specializes in Dark Magic like this?” she asked. It wasn’t simply an attempt to enrage her, Ravenna wasn’t entirely sure she could take being smashed on the floor again, but it was important, not least because, the more she knew about the kind of magic Saveria practiced, the quicker she could get to work on some kind of countermeasure, though against Saveria with her limited supplies those were bound to be temporary at best.
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Post by Emiko on Jul 11, 2020 16:13:07 GMT -6
It seemed after all of that Ravenna finally found a bit of humility and concern as her next move wasn't necessarily to make another attempt at escape, but instead question her captor about the abilities of this magic. To her question, Lady Saveria initially said nothing. Instead, she offered the little thief a cocky smile and confident laugh as if to mock Ravenna for her own overconfidence earlier. Afterwards, she gave the thief an answer, though...it wasn't one she would find comforting...
"...The kind that simply owns the building due to its location on sacred, magical grounds... The building otherwise...serves no purpose to me other than a place to sleep at night..."
With her explanation offered, Saveria softly moved her hands about in the air as if she were conducting something much like Celaine had earlier. However...instead of the bells playing a soothing song, the motions of Saveria's hands actually controlled the chains attached to Ravenna's body to start moving forcing her to move with them... Through this action of controlling the chains, Saveria actually began working to move Ravenna's body as if it were a mere puppet on strings forcing her to dance and move in ways that the dark sorceress desired... And needless to say...each movement would be hard, if not a bit painful on purpose... Any resistance...met with a hard jerk of the chains to ensure the poses were met...
"...Speak when spoken to, Celaine..." Lady Saveria softly said as she addressed her fallen guardian once more. "...You see how powerless this girl is in spite of her tricks... Why did you do give so much of yourself, drain your life force so horribly? What was the purpose...?"
Celaine, who had otherwise been silently watching from the floor this whole time didn't dare speak out against Lady Saveria for what she was doing. Nor did she want to talk about WHY she had done what she had done... But...she knew better than to disobey her Mistress and stay silent. And so she would speak even though...it was still hard to do...
"...I didn't do it for her... A moment was created where...I felt accepted and loved... I know it wasn't real and...I'm sorry I did it... But...it's been so long since...I felt anything like that... I just...wanted to feel it again at least once...for a while... I'm sorry...Mistress..."
Celaine's explanation, while accepted didn't exactly help Revanna all that much. In fact, Saveria's puppeting movements of her body seemed to be becoming harder and more painful... The dark sorceress certainly seemed like she had no qualms about dancing Ravenna's body to death. That wasn't quite on the agenda yet though... She wasn't through toying with this rambunctious thief, nor was her conversation with Celaine finished either...
"...When will you learn, dear...? You live in a world where what you desire is unrealistic... And what you seek can't be created through the use of magic... I took you in and gave you a purpose when the rest of the world simply left you for dead... And all I asked in return was that you guard my collection and our home... What value is it to me, or you even...that this girl remain alive after trying to steal from your Mistress?"
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Post by yooom on Jul 11, 2020 16:49:41 GMT -6
Ravenna felt her heart sink slightly as Saveria smirked at her, laughing openly at her question, at her attempt to get some information, and felt herself lose still hope as she replied casually. The site was ancient, easily the most impressive the collector had obtained. To hear it spoken of so casually would have incensed the pious, but, for Ravenna, it told her one thing. That all of this collection had no devotion, no piety behind it. Her tasks, Saveria’s endless journeys across the continent, were only for the power of the artifacts alone, power she wanted solely for herself.
Saveria waved a hand, and Ravenna was once again viscerally reminded of Celaine, the way she had danced with her with one hand while conducting the heavenly symphonies of the bells from above. And, just as when the music had begun, Ravenna’s body began to move. But, instead of being dictated by the magical harmonies, she was dragged forcibly by the chains at her ankles and wrists, as he arms and legs were dragged to and fro in some agonizing kind of ‘dance’ Ravenna let out a sharp cry of pain as her arm was first dragged backwards by the first chain, nearly dislocating her arm, it felt like, only for the other chains to join in, tugging maliciously at the woman’s form, forcing her into a frenzied, frightening display.
And yet, as Saveria toyed with Ravenna’s body, drawing continually cries and shouts as the dance grew more frenetic still, she hardly paid Ravenna hardly any attention, focusing again on Celaine, still bowing, her tearful eyes on the floor. Their conversation was quiet, and, over the clank of metal and her own yelps as the metal forced her to dance, jerking and tugging at her body with increasing ferocity, Ravenna could not quite make out the words of either Saveria or Celaine. Nevertheless, it was quite obvious to her what they were talking about, she was doubtlessly continuing to reprimand her for Celaine’s own magical display, for letting Ravenna live, even if she seemed to be taking great pleasure in tormenting Ravenna herself.
The spell, quite like its caster, was merciless, tugging at her body viciously, forcing her into more desperate and painful contortions, straining her joints. Ravenna felt as if it was tearing at her very bones, and was quite sure that it wasn’t going to stop until she’d tugged her arms and legs clean off. Still, she wasn’t about to die begging for her life from some sadistic witch and her ward, or, worse yet for Ravenna, unnoticed as the two of them continued to converse. Her arms and legs might be bound, but her tongue still worked.
Saveria’s last phrase was louder than the rest of their conversation, and, at the Mistress’s question of Ravenna’s she perked up, calling out to her even as the chains contorted her body in still more painful positions, less a dance, and more simply an effort to pull her apart, Ravenna suspected.
“You speak of your value!” she cried out, as her arms crossed, the chains tugging them in opposite directions, and she stopped speaking for a moment to grunt in agony. “That you’re worth so much more than me because of these chains, of this ma-aah!” The chains at her legs had moved again, cruelly tugging them apart, forcing into a kind of split, and Ravenna cried out again, before continuing to speak, glaring at Saveria. “of this magic. I have no magic, and yet I was able to get here, past all of your protections, right into the heart of this place.” She yelped again as the chain on her ankles dragged her upwards, so that she was hovering off the ground, her limbs still slashing wildly to an unheard tune. “What value do I have...what value do YOU have, if I was able to make it this far under your very nose.”
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Post by Emiko on Jul 11, 2020 19:01:17 GMT -6
Celaine was just about to try and offer some sort of answer to her Mistress when the agonizing screams of Ravenna could be heard echoing throughout the chamber. She was in pain...horrible pain the likes of which she had probably never experienced before. And despite the fact that Celaine for all tense and purposes didn't know her or have any sort of real attachment to her, Ravenna's screams still tugged hard at her heart... She couldn't explain why, but...she wanted to save Ravenna before it was too late... But...how could she go against her Mistress when she herself was on death's door in need of her Mistress' mercy...?
When a reply didn't come from Celaine as Saveria was expecting, she was just about to scold her again for failing to speak when spoken to when once again, the defiant little thief had to chime in with some little quip. Her words came out as perhaps an attempt to defiantly show she had value that Saveria couldn't comprehend. However...the head Mistress instead took it a completely different way. She saw it as a fool's attempt to save herself, or at the very least a nagging insult against herself...
Taking the action the wrong way, Saveria simply offered Ravenna a devilish, almost sadistic smile as she intended to punish her for that one... And to do so, she purposely made the next jerk and arrangement of her chains the most painful yet she had experienced... Anymore of this level would seriously be enough to rip her limbs off leaving the cocky little thief without any arms or legs to speak of...
The accompanying screams that followed were so intense to Celaine that she literally fell into tears unable to handle it... This was a horrible display of torture that not even Celaine had seen Saveria take part in the entire time she was in her services... But...among the screams that came from the agonizing dance, Celaine suddenly came up with something of an idea that...may honestly save them both... And...if she proposed it just right, she wouldn't be going against her Mistress...
It took all the strength she had for her to just sit up into a soft kneel once more. Once in an upright position, she used what little strength she had left to shout out to Saveria ensuring that her Mistress not only heard her, but would understand her sincerity...
"...She's alive because she could be of incredible value in your quest to collect your special treasures!"
...The words at first seem to fall on deaf ears as Saveria continued to magically pull at Ravenna's limbs as if she were going to tear them off similar to how a sadistic child might pull the wings off a butterfly... However, the chains tug suddenly stopped and relaxed allowing Ravenna to have at least for a moment, a bit of peace... In the meantime, Saveria slowly turned towards Celaine and glared at her with a small sense of curiosity, though also a look of sincerity to show her guardian the possibility of very real consequences if this was some sort of trick...
"...You say she is alive because...she can be of value to me... Care to explain how that would work, exactly? What value could this...common thief be of any sort of value to me?"
...Honestly, Celaine couldn't believe that her statement had actually gotten through to Lady Saveria. For a brief moment all she could do was sit there dumbfounded unsure of what to say or how to act... Not wanting to be scolded again, and knowing the very real possibility of death that awaited BOTH of them if she didn't follow up, Celaine tried her best to explain...
"...That girl... S-she's right... She manged to sneak in here and tricked both me and you... You said it yourself...she impressed you... She could use her skills for you...steal treasures for you... You wouldn't have to negotiate for your collection anymore, she could just steal it... There...is value in that..."
Celaine's words admittedly brought Saveria to a very long pause in contemplation. It wasn't often that she was presented with something of value that needed considering. In all of her life, all she needed to do was sprinkle a little magic on her business associate to get what she wanted and had gotten rich in doing so... To be at the actual consideration of negotiations...if you could call this situation that...it was quite rare... It was honestly a situation that only came up once before when Celaine negotiated the 'price' for her services back when...
"...You make a compelling argument, my dear..." Saveria replied as she looked towards Ravenna curiously. "...There may very well be value in her skills... Still, I'm not sure I'd trust her to return with what's she's stolen if let go. And...I also can't help but feel like you have some ulterior motives for wanting me to enlist this girl... Am I mistaken...?"
Celaine didn't want to admit the truth so openly, but...she had Saveria at the bargaining table so to speak and...if it meant that both of them could get out of this alive, what was the harm...? She could deal with the collateral damage of revealing her feelings and motives another time when she actually had a chance to... Just getting that chance...was the big thing right now.
"No, you aren't mistaken... I do have ulterior motives in that...I want more time to experience the things I did earlier today... I know it wasn't real, but...it was so special to me... I don't want to lose that... Her value to me is that of a friend and the chance to to let me experience what I can't find confined inside these walls... That's her value to me, but...her value to you can be more richly rewarding... Imagine how much easier building your collection would be with her... And if I had someone, even just a friend...I would be less inclined to offer mercy in my duties like I did today..."
Celaine's words weren't entirely what Saveria was expecting to hear, but...her point was made well enough. It was clear that Celaine saw something of potential in Ravenna for both of them. While Celaine's reasons were less important as her own, Saveria wasn't so cruel to her guardian that she would dismiss them outright... So long as Ravenna served her purpose without complicated the others, the arrangement was a plausible one... And so, she took a couple of soft steps towards the young thief to see what she thought of the arrangement...
"...What say you, little thief...? Celaine seems to think you could be of value putting your skills to work for me and helping me expand my collection. She also seems to think you'd make her happy and give her the company she's clearly desperate for... It would be just as easy for me to enlist you as it would be to destroy you... What's your thoughts on the matter?"
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Post by yooom on Jul 11, 2020 20:12:16 GMT -6
Ravenna’s glare quieted somewhat as Saveria stared coolly at her, and she quailed as her expression turned into a frightening, sadistic grin, making a rather embarrassing squeak of terror as the Mistress’s arms moved suddenly, and Ravenna’s body was sent flying upwards, as the chains around her each all pulled in opposite directions in a single, torturous move. Ravenna grimaced, bearing the pain, but her limits were reached in seconds, and she was soon gasping, twisting in place as she tried in vain to secure a little slack for herself, trying to keep her vicious captor from quite literally tearing her apart.
Her gasps soon turned to screams as the torture continued, as she felt the chains tug themselves further and further apart, and she was quite sure she could feel her arms and legs actually starting to detach, as her voice went fuzzy, the only sound she could hear her own screams of agony, the only thing she could feel the cold metal as it cruelly continued wrenching her apart.
She was aware of Celaine’s voice calling out, saying something, but her words were faint, as if she was very far away. Whatever her words were, Ravenna doubted they mattered. Saveria had trampled Celaine throughout the brief time she’d listened to the two of them spoke, she doubted any appeal for her life would ring true for this witch. She was going to die, she was going to be ripped into pieces surrounded by magical artifacts, any one of them likely enough to get her to escape, or, better still, if only she’d had some magic of her own, instead of having to rely on these damned relics. Then she might not have even come here, might not have met her end at the hands of a sadistic art collector and her submissive ward. It was quite an end, though, she had to admit, one worth a story, if anyone ever learned of the thief who had made it this deep into Saveria’s hold without any magic of her own.
Her dazed, rambling thoughts were cut off once again by the sudden crash of wood as her the enchanted chains went silent. Ravenna did not get up, lying on her belly, the muscles and joints in her arms and legs burning with pain. She simply lay there, as her sight slowly came back to her, and she steadily became more aware of her surroundings. Her cheeks were wet, she had apparently started to cry some way through the torture, she observed, an outsider to her own body. Was...was she dead? No...no, she was still in her body...that’s why she could feel the brown floor against her chin, against the rest of her body, against her aching legs and arms. But then...why wasn’t she dead?
As she continued to take in her surroundings once more, she again heard the sound of Celaine’s voice, talking urgently, begging Saveria for something. Just like when she’d been hypnotized, the words were hazy, only now it was the physical agony she had suffered from that made it hard to focus.
value...a compelling argument...value in her skills...enlist this girl...ulterior motives…
They were bargaining. Bargaining for her life. Celaine wanted her..wanted to experience the things she had done earlier to her. If there had been any residual enjoyment in her memories of her time with Celaine, the subsequent torture at the hands of her Mistress made it feel like a facade, a distraction to get her tied to bring her before this monster who would tear through people without a second thought. If Celaine hadn’t done that, she wouldn’t have felt this pain, this agony of being brought inches from death. The tears welled up again, as Ravenna listened, hating herself for her own helplessness. She wanted to move, wanted to run from this horrible place, wanted to at least sit up, but even the thought of moving her arms or legs caused the pain to spike. And so she lay there, crying, while, inches in front of her, the two women negotiated for her.
She heard the cold clatter of what must have been Saveria’s shoes, and watched them tearfully as they drew nearer, and listened to her voice, teasing her, taunting her for her weakness, calling her a little thief. And she did feel little, laying there on the floor, not able to meet Saveria’s eyes, not even able to look at her ankles, gazing through her tears at her expensive-looking black shoes, inches from her own face, part of her terrified that she would step closer, part of her wanting desperately for her to bring her heel down on her skull, to bring this agony to an end, as she listened to her proposal. Work for her. help her expand her collection. Make Celaine happy. All for her life.
She wanted her to surrender. She wanted her to stay here, in this horrible place, bowing and scraping to Saveria, hypnotized by Celaine, going out and fetching more trinkets for this witch’s hoard, letting Celaine prance around with her as she entranced her mind, all to make her a better puppet to the both of them. Fury burned within Ravenna and, if she focused on it, she was able to blot out some of the pain. With all her might, Ravenna’s neck curled. She groaned in pain as she moved, slowly, slowly turning to gaze up into those evil, soulless eyes. Hatred was quite clearly etched in Ravenna’s own eyes as she stared up at Saveria.
“You think...you think that I would steal from places for you? You think that I would spend my days with...with her? Being enchanted by that wannabe seductress? It’s because of the both of you that I’m still here, that I’m...” Her voice trailed off as Ravenna glared up at Saveria, helpless to so much as lift a finger against her, but her spirit unbroken. She glared at Saveria’s eyes, as she spat “I would rather die than serve you.”
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Post by Emiko on Jul 11, 2020 21:02:42 GMT -6
After everything she had been through, Ravenna still had the spunk and pride to fight against her captors... She had just experienced the most horrible torture and had been reduced to tears from the pain and yet...she'd rather die than live in any kind of service. Honestly, that response wasn't exactly what Saveria was expecting to hear... However, contrary to how you'd expect she'd react, the dark sorceress simply offered the fallen woman a smile before nodding with a strange sense of understanding...
Saveria's actions would become even more perplexing when with a snap of her fingers, the shadow-shackles around Ravenna's wrists and ankles were suddenly released and vanished without a trace... She quietly moved to within mere feet of Ravenna's fallen body and gently knelt down to her as if she were to show her some kind of mercy or respect. What she was really doing...was far darker than that...
"...First off, the only reason you are here is because you came here without invitation... That decisions was all yours, and yours alone... Secondly...Celaine a seductress...? Don't make me laugh, dear... She has a burning hatred for most, if not all of humanity savor a few... If she's taken a fancy to you, that's honestly surprising. She never trusts or gets close to anyone which...baffles me why she would feel any connection to you..."
The thought of what she had just said couldn't help but make Saveria laugh just a little. She turned back to her weakened ward and could see how exhausted and weak she was... Celaine honestly...didn't have much life left in her and it honestly took a great deal of strength to not let her emotions get the better of her when Ravenna said the awful things that she did. Saveria could see it and...in a twisted sort of way relished it... Better she realize it now than later. Still, there was the matter of clearing this misunderstanding up with Ravenna...
"...Regardless of that, I'm sorry to hear that you'd rather die than 'serve' me as you put it..." Saveria replied as she glanced down at Ravenna once more. "...Service to me is richly rewarded with safety, protection, provision...freedom? I would have honestly been willing to give you anything you desired if your value is there and negotiate your price just as I did with Celaine... However, I can tell from your fighting spirit that no amount of money or prestige would sway your decision. So...instead of negotiating for your services...I'm just going to take it..."
Not offering any explanation to Ravenna, Saveria suddenly stood back up and took a couple of steps back to put distance between herself and the thief. Once back beside her young ward, all Saveria had to do was raise a hand softly in the air to trigger the shadows in the room to once more bend to her whim. Unlike before however when chains came forth to snatch and stretch Ravenna out, a strange sort of shadowy haze began to formulate and encircle the fallen youth...
This haze may have seemed like nothing more than ordinary smoke, but it had a very dark purpose... If inhaled, the hypnotic properties of its scent would have a profound impact on the human consciousness... It would gradually slow the victim's cognitive functions down putting them into a state of pure and utter helplessness... The smokey haze itself wasn't designed to hypnotize Ravenna as much as it was to slow her brain functions down for the real trance inducing element. And that...would be revealed not long after the thief had been drugged by the dark mist...
Saveria made absolutely certain that the only thing Ravenna were capable of breathing would be the dark shadow mist. And as soon as she began to show any signs of weakened mental functions, she would wave her hand once more causing something of a dark halo to gradually lower onto Ravenna's head. That halo would slowly lower bit by bit until it was perfectly leveled with her forehead. With a soft snap of her finger, that halo would wrap itself firmly around Ravenna's head creating a dark circlet that was more than just decoration...
With the dark circlet now on her drugged guest, Saveria simply smiled and snapped once more causing darkness within the room to flow into Ravenna's brain courtesy of the circlet... Ravenna's skull was hardly a barrier of any kind and did NOTHING to keep the darkness from seeping into and filling her mind... That very darkness...was aiming to fill up her mind and being as much as possible so Saveria could literally go in and magically manipulate the parts out of the thief that she didn't want... Thanks to the hypnotic smoke...there was no way to fight it... Before long, Ravenna's mind and body would be totally filled with dark shadows which she could manipulate at will. It was that moment she was quite anxious for...
...Seeing this all unfold, Celaine knew what Lady Saveria was up to... She had done it in front of her many times with the staff of the house. Saveria would perform this little ceremony on them and somehow...rip out their individuality and consciousness. In the end, they were little more than mindless drones who fulfilled orders and did little else... The only reason Celaine was spared that fate was because...Saveria needed someone with a conscious, analytical mind to guard her treasures. That was something a drone could never do... It was a fate honestly worse than death, but also one that Saveria would use to lead to such a thing... It was hard witnessing this, but...Celaine didn't know if she could, or even wanted to do anything about it now that Ravenna had made her choice...harshly at that...
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Post by yooom on Jul 12, 2020 8:57:39 GMT -6
Ravenna gritted her teeth, glaring up at Saveria, bracing herself for her final, killing stroke. After all she’d seen of her, she was certain that she had crossed a line for her, that her continued resistance would grant her nothing but a vicious, hopefully quick, death.
She flinched at the sound of Saveria’s snap, but she did not feel the slightest pain, beyond the ache of the previous torture. She watched, surprised, as the chains on her body vanished, blowing off of her like smoke in a light breeze, and turned, confused, back to Saveria, as she drew nearer still, kneeling before the thief’s slumped body. Even on her knees she towered over Ravenna, as she spoke to her, mocking her words, laughing at what had meant to be her final, resolute message to this monster. Ravenna glared up at Saveria, fury burning in her eyes, though she was still too hurt to move, to rise up and strike this arrogant witch, to do anything but stab at her with her fiery gaze.
Saveria didn’t seem to even notice, as she rose, walking back to Celaine. Ravenna watched, still slumped on the floor, her head perched up, watching Saveria nervously, waiting for her next move, knowing that, in her present state, she wouldn’t be able to counter, or even attempt to dodge her next magical attack.
Saveria’s next magical move was not a sharp slash or attack. Instead, it was a soft, gentle raising of her hand. Ravenna watched as the shadows responded to their Mistress’s will, bending, oozing out of the corners of the room, settling in a thick ball of smoke that moved slowly, purposefully towards Ravenna, congealing around her body. Ravenna flinched again, shifting in place, all the movement she could manage to attempt feebly to avoid it, to avoid what was surely the next phase of Saveria’s torture, but..the smoke didn’t hurt her. It felt cold, icy, and a memory surfaced, unprompted, one that Ravenna had not thought of in a very long time.
A thick layer of snow covered the mountains, as the crew of girls, each dressed in long, black gowns, trekked along the narrow cleared path. Every so often one would step too far from the path, and their sink up to their knees in the banks, leaping back, startled, onto the path, to raucous giggles from the rest of the cohort. Ravenna was at the end of the line, barely a teenager, her dark fluttering in the icy breeze. She paused in the march, leaning to take a closer look at the snow. “Come, Ravenna,” a voice called out sharply from the front of the line, and Ravenna jumped speeding off after the rest of the girls. “Coming, Reverend Mother!” she called, marvelling at the view from the mountain. From up here, the abbey, the fields around it, the village below, it all seemed tiny, insignificant, the Italian countryside stretching out to the horizon, cities mere specks, bustling highways threads, all the world she knew barely a blot on this vast, endless world.
Ravenna blinked, no longer thirteen, an adult, crushed again on the floor of Sanctuaire Sacre. The cold air was not the fresh, chilly air of the Alps, but some dark magic, and she could feel its effects already on her mind, could feel herself slowing, even her blinking felt slow. The floor seemed to unfold, the room growing larger and larger, or maybe Ravenna was shrinking.
“Waait...waaait…” she mumbled, weakly, as the smoky haze thickened, Celaine and Saveria vanishing into the blackness, until she could only see a few inches in front of her, where the smoke was curling and dancing, mocking her for her inability to move, inability to even bat it away with a hand, much less rise and fight for her life as Saveria cruelly took it from her. She coughed, trying in vain to clear her lungs of the black stuff that filled it, making the floor spin underneath her. She felt distant, distant from herself, as though she was an outsider to it, merely watching some woman with her name suffer under Saveria’s torture, and not the victim of it.
She felt something against her face, as cold as the shadows that were pressing themselves into her body, but heavier, more solid, and her head slumped down under the weight of Saveria’s crown of shadow, her chin again pressed to the floor, helpless able to only murmur wordlessly as she tried and failed to speak, to say something, anything to stop Saveria. Then she heard a snap, and felt a cold rush of air against her head, INTO her head, and...everything vanished. The smoke, the floor below her, the sounds of Saveria, of Celaine’s quiet sobs, it all went blank. Ravenna couldn’t see, couldn’t feel, couldn’t hear. It was if she had been completely disconnected from her body, unable to sense anything in the slightest. There was no world around her, there was nothing at all, except the darkness, pressing around her very soul, smothering her being.
Ravenna’s body would go completely limp, as the whites of her eyes darkened, smoky, the soft brown of her pupils now surrounded by the pure black of Saveria’s magic. To even call it hypnosis wasn’t right, for there had been no effort by Saveria to lull Ravenna’s senses to sleep. She had simply ripped Ravenna’s self from her body, crushing her mind under layer after layer of icy shadow. No, this was complete and utter domination of her body, of her very being.
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Post by Emiko on Jul 12, 2020 9:27:13 GMT -6
To see Ravenna's sudden reactions and subtle changes was a sight that Celaine could never get use to... Even if she had seen it many times before, it didn't make it any easier watching a helpless girl lose her identity and will entirely. And this case proved to be especially hard due to the fact that Celaine allowed herself to get too close in their own encounter earlier... She couldn't stand to watch what was happening and at times honestly had to look away hating what her Mistress was doing... There...was a reason why Celaine was frantically trying to get Ravenna to leave and...now she was seeing why...
As for Saveria, the sight of the sassy thief now displaying signs of the darkness entering and taking hold of her body brought a sadistic smile to her face... The dark sorceress did have a certain lust for sadism, but like everything else kept it in perfect control... Saveria was well known for how cruel she could be, but also how well she controlled it as well. Control, perhaps more than cruelty was her most infamous trait. Then again...perhaps controlling would be a better way to describe her...
Regardless of the terminology, Ravenna now had dark magic pulsing into her body via the circlet on her head. It wouldn't take long for the darkness to fill every void of her being until it was basically apart of her now. Not aiming to destroy her with the darkness as much as...rearrange some things, Saveria was quite careful to cut off what entered into the thief's body before it became a fatal dose. Once it was finished, Ravenna had just enough of the shadow element in her body to completely control her, but not overdose her...
Her work completed, Saveria quietly motioned with her hands for the hazy smoke and infiltrating shadow to cease and fade in an instant. And now with the only bit of dark magic contained within the cocky thief, the real 'fun' of this little trick of Saveria's could really begin...
Lady Saveria knew full well the amount of control that she had over Ravenna. Even still, she knew it was a bit dangerous to go forward with the purpose of this if she didn't have absolute authority over her victim. And so, to display her dominion over Ravenna and test the depths at which she'd obey, the dark sorceress simply motioned a command to her with her hand... No words, no hints, no orders... All she simply had to do was motion for the darkness within Ravenna make her stand and the possessive magic inside of her should force her to do that hesitation. Saveria was quite confident Ravenna would stand regardless of much her body ached from her earlier treatment...
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Post by yooom on Jul 12, 2020 9:47:39 GMT -6
The darkness flowed through Ravenna’s body, the black halo acting as a conduit for it, as it pulsated right down the length of her body, washing away everything that was truly Ravenna away from any form of control, so that she was barely even a passenger in her own body. Although Saveria was carefully metering out the amount of black magic she sent into the helpless thief’s body, it hardly felt that way to Ravenna, as she drowned inside her own skin in darkness.
With another slicing motion from Saveria, the smoky haze that had surrounded Ravenna dissipated, though the magic that had penetrated her remained. Her eyes remained blackened, her body completely subservient to Saveria’s whims.
Wordlessly, Saveria gestured Ravenna to rise, and the girl pushed herself up off the ground, to stand before her new Mistress. Ravenna did not feel the slightest bit of pain from Saveria’s torture, indeed, it was a stretch to say she “felt” at all right now. Even from the way she stood, it was clear that she was barely Ravenna. Her stance was completely different, where Ravenna had been light on her feet, even when hypnotized by Celaine, she now stood clumsily, her feet awkwardly close together, where her posture had always been powerful, cocky, she now slumped slightly in place. Ravenna had known, from the moment the chains had first appeared, that she was outmatched by Saveria, but she could never have expected her control to be so overpowering, so complete over her, as she stood before her, blank, nothing more than a thrall, a puppet to the sadistic and all powerful Mistress of Shadow. She gazed forward without seeing, stood without standing, nothing more than a vessel for Saveria’s commands.
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Post by Emiko on Jul 12, 2020 10:18:29 GMT -6
The way Ravenna moved and rose so lethargically was as ominous as the room she was in... The way she stood at slumped attention, clearly no longer the girl she use to be was as haunting as Saveria's power itself... For Celaine, it the stuff of nightmares she had seen over, and over. Slipping a girl into darkness, 'testing' her obedience, and then stripping them down to a state of utter obedience... This was to be Ravenna's fate and...it was hurting poor Celaine more than being at death's door due to the overuse of her magic earlier...
To Saveria, the look and motions Ravenna gave were seen in a totally different light... To her, Ravenna was filled to the brim with dark magic and the wordless obedience she displayed made it crystal clear to her that she was ready... As far as Saveria was concerned, she was about to get a new servant with no will to speak of. It was true that if the thief got caught on one of her missions due to her lacking cognitive abilities, this would be a waste. At the same time however...she wouldn't really be losing anything valuable per say...
With Ravenna's obedience firmly in check, it was time for Saveria to get to work converting this...once spirited girl into yet another one of her willing drones. And to do that...she'd have to erase and rearrange things inside of that pretty head of hers. A truly willing servant to Saveria was one that had no memories of their former life, nor an identity to entice them to go on their own. Those that lacked identity and memories were more likely to act in uniform obedience making Saveria's job of controlling them much easier. And so...it was time to get to work erasing Ravenna's identity...
"Very good, dear... Very good! Now, it's time to do a little work on that mind of yours... I need you to bring to the forefront of your mind the memories of your past... All the things that made you who you are and what you've experienced to this point... Your very identity... Bring all of that to the forefront of your mind. Let it play out in your mind's eye in full. Every...last...memory...to the front..."
Saveria knew this would be a bit of a overwhelming thing for Ravenna's sluggish brain and...part of that was by design. The dark sorceress was purposely wanting to overload Ravenna's mind so she would understand what letting her have her own thoughts would feel like... And then, once Ravenna would have had enough, Saveria was confident she'd willingly let them all go and be taken from her... Though you could hardly call this hypnosis in any sense...there was still a bit of willingness that was needed for one to just give up everything... If nothing else, it was icing on the cake for Saveria...
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