Trapped Within Darkness

[Nerull]

For years he had wandered these halls, the ages passing him by as he was forced to watch it from within his prison. Not a prisoner held by chains or bars, but a prisoner the same within the walls of the Citadel. Even if he wanted to he could not leave the place of his own accord.

The shadowy form cloaked in the robes of a mage glided down the hall. The seemingly endless supply of rooms having been explored ages past. His concern now being to find a means of escaping his dull confinement.

During such times as these aimless wanderings, the monotonous process of drifting around the building, he would cast his mind out to attempt to brush the consciousnesses of persons outside of these walls. It was on one of these such attempts that he discovered one with some promise. The one had a hint of dark desire within it's soul, a thirst that could not be quenched by ordinary means. With his discovery of such a person, Nerull was rather excited about finally being able to leave. (It had of course become rather dull following the same routine again and again.) Over time, his whispered urging and guidance led the individual to find where Nerull had been confined.

*************************

The eerie quite that occurs just before the onset of a storm had fallen around the high walls of the citadel. The pale moonlight illuminating the ground created strange shadows off the craggy rocks on the dusty road leading up to the outer walls. It was the kind of night where you couldn't trust your eyes to judge the distances in the dim illumination. Sizes of shadows hid many things and if one tried to walk without already knowing the area, he would become hopelessly lost amid the seemingly ever changing landscape.

As the drifting clouds covered up the moon, the shadows swallowed the land into darkness. The distant rumbling of thunder hinted at the foul weather on it's way. Looking toward the sky from a balcony high in the citadel, Nerull spoke to himself, "And so it begins..."

[Avean Luxenbourg]

Avean had been wandering herself. The silence over the halls was growing uneasy as she walked down a flight of stairs. She heard footsteps above. She turned and slowly headed in the direction of the noise, soon dissapearing.
Avean walked in it's direction, hoping it was just a rat. She felt a floorboard creak threateningly underneath her. She stepped off of it, hoping the thing she had heard, hadn't heard her.

[Viktor Delacro]

Viktor stepped onto the high balcony above the large foyer. He watched the intruder walk about his palace. His citadel.

"You there. What business do you have here?"

[Avean Luxenbourg]

Avean heard a voice, loud and close. Hoping it wasn't directed at her she searched for the source. She had been searching for something that had great importants to her but was abandoning the mission in search of the inhabitance that was currently in the citadel.

[Nerull]

Turning his head down from gazing outward, Nerull glided back into the building. A feeling that he was not alone anymore had brought him out of his thoughts. Inside the citadel once more, he hastened to the inner foyer and gazed down upon those in the entrance hallway. A chill breeze blew lightly from the balcony upon which he stood as tendrils of dark mist crept from within the depths of his cloak. The shadows surrouding him allowed for only the twin pinpoints of saphire light to escape from his hood.

Nerull cast his eyes on the two as the male spoke up at the female.

[Avean Luxenbourg]

Avean spoke to the darkness as no one else had answered. "I am looking for an object of great importance to me." she called out, hoping it woud satisfy the voice. She pulled her white cloak tighter around her as she turned in all directions looking for the person in which spoke. Avean looked up and saw a shadow.

[Viktor Delacro]

Viktor's temper flared, "You do not just simply enter this citadel unannounced!"

His eyes tinged with flame and their bloodhot countenance fell upon her.

[Avean Luxenbourg]

She looked at the shadow, a man it looked. Avean pulled her hood up and continued to look at him. "I was hoping to find what I was searching for and be on my way...but it seems someone else is in this citadel sir...unless you can be in two places at once." she commented, hearing another presence near.

[Viktor Delacro]

"You'll find I am much more dangerous than a shadow, girl. Now tell me what you want and I shall see to your speedy exit."

Viktor leaned on the massive basalt bannister.

[Avean Luxenbourg]

Avean looked in the direction of the other occurance and smiled, knowing it was a person. She turned back and looked at the man. "A book...I was told it would be here." she said, one eye still on the area where the other person was.

[Nerull]

If his face were more corporeal a bemused expression would have been seen across it, as this was not so a flicker of his eyes was all that could be detected of his mild amusement.

Nerull moved about the high balcony so as to move closer to the dark lord. His malevolent presence causing the stonework of the floor to darken as he glided over top of it. His cloak shifting as though in a constant light breeze that only he was affected by. His shadowy aura following him as his amorphous tendrils of mist dissipated and reformed continuously around himself.

"I see we have a rather dull event going on," Nerull rasped, the voice echoing from somewhere deep within his robes.

"And what might you be doing back so soon Delacro?"

[Avean Luxenbourg]

Avean followed the shadow and let out a silent gasp as she noticed where it was. She let a smile crack on her face just before the unknown shadow revealed itself. Avean crossed her arms and watched.

[Viktor Delacro]

"Nerull..."

The name dripped like venom from Viktor's lips. He did not look at the mage. This was the mage that had led him to Tiamat, but also the mage that had cast him down again.

"I've come to reclaim my rightful place. My Throne as High Lord of Delacro."

He now looked to Nerull, and glared.

"I will regain what was mine."

[Nerull]

The amused twinkle left Nerull's eyes and the air became colder around him. The tendril's darkened in color from deep blue to almost black. The perpetual breeze around him changed in direction as Nerull brought himself to his full height.

"And I suppose the impact hurt almost as badly as the fall didn't it?" Nerull said in a mocking tone, "Though I expect the fall of a paladin could be considered as quite a traumatizing experience. Though one I wouldn't have to have worried about, I trust you should be careful as to what you try to bargain for. You may be signing yourself to something beyond your comprehension."

His cryptic speech was obviously had to do with something from both his and Delacro's past, though what exactly it was would escape the comprehension of someone overhearing it.

[Avean Luxenbourg]

"Isn't this just a wonderful get togther." she mumbled under her breath, shuffling her foot against the stone floor in bordum.