Just Walking [Open]

[Sir Percival]

Draconas was around. Walking. Again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. But even as he was walking, he thought of the time he had been spending with Jillian. She was...nice, and he hadn't really known anyone quite like her. Anyone at all like her, in fact.

The dark mage hadn't really had much in the way of friends. He used to be a bit of an introvert, but that seemed to be slowly changing. Meeting more people was doing that to him. Looking around, he wondered at the things he hadn't seen when walking through the city before. Such beautiful artwork, and even the fountains, he hadn't even noticed. Not truly.

Now, he was sitting around staring at the fountains. Well, sitting around on the edge of a rooftop. But regardless, he was just watching the water spraying into the air with a rapturous look on his face. Draconas was truly happy, now, and that was something that he had not felt in quite some time.

[prythian]

((Just a watching... and a waiting... on the edge of our seats, anticipating...))

An old man nearby was also looking at the fountains, moving slowly. He would first tap his black cane forward, and then shuffle along the rest of his body, bent heavily onto the cane. His white robe shuddered in the same wind that blew the water of the fountains in a thin mist shining in the air, and he smiled.

When he reached the edge of the fountains, Darnas simply stood there, looking into the water. He almost seemed reflective, which wasn't all that odd, considering that his hair and wrinkles marked him as someone that had seen a lot in past ages.

[Sir Percival]

Draconas noted the old man's approach. He didn't know what it was, but something told him that this aged fellow was someone he'd be interested in knowing. Considering most of the older people--anyone older than mid twenties, that was--he knew hadn't liked him, and he hadn't liked them, this was quite the happenstance. He hopped off of his perch, his knees bending reflexively when he hit the ground.

Rubbing his leg muscles, Draconas slowly walked to stand beside the old man. He wasn't really sure why he was so apprehensive about the guy; nothing was odd about him, really. Except the cane. He found himself staring at the magnificence that was the handle of this particular cane. Either it was a magnificent work of art, or it was crafted by magic. Whichever it happened to be, he knew that he was not going to see another like it, probably ever in his life.

Draconas flexed his gloved hand subconsciously. Realizing he was gawking, the boy turned his head quickly to look back at the fountain. "Sorry for staring at your cane. It looks like it is very," it took him a moment to think of the right word, "precious." He looked at his own precious item and sighed. "Like my glove," he murmured, then gave a start at realizing he had spoken aloud.

He turned himself slightly to hold a hand out to the elderly man. "I am Draconas."

[prythian]

"Heh. It's nice to meet you, Draconas. My name is Darnas Glin." The old man said, smiling kindly as he shook his hand. "And there's no need to apologize. Others have stared at it before. I'm used to it." He turned back to the fountains. "Did you know I was here before these fountains were ever put in? It was way back in the day, of course, back when there was still a king. Not that that was a good thing, of course; he was a nasty piece of work, that king. His predecessor was much better." He nodded firmly.

"That isn't to say the old days were all bad, young man, don't get me wrong. There were things that existed back then that now most people don't even know about. Or, at the very least, they don't talk about it anymore, and no one bothers to ask. You people nowadays are so filled with energy and also focusing on the future that you forget to look back at the past sometimes."

[Sir Percival]

Draconas stared at the man in awe. Darnas had been there? He had lived through it all? Well, not all of it, but at least some. And a good portion of it, if he was to be believed. But the dark mage didn't see any reason why he would lie. "You survived through that much history?" His mouth closed; he had not known he had been gaping. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry with anticipation.

But he didn't know what to ask first. How should he phrase his questioning? Draconas didn't want to anger the elderly man...but Darnas seemed nice. So, he would just ask the first thing he thought of. "What was it like, back then?" He blinked. That wasn't what he thought he was about the ask. "You much have all kinds of knowledge from times past."

What he left unspoken was, "and maybe it could help me figure out what to do next." That was why he was asking, of course. Why else? Draconas didn't know where he was going now. He saw his former path as wrong, and he knew that he would be devastated if harm were to befall Jillian. However, he didn't know what to do. Dark magic wasn't exactly a good starting point...but maybe some of the other people he'd met could help.

And, maybe, just maybe, Darnas could, too.

[prythian]

"Well... that's a difficult question to answer. There are lots of changes that happened only because of how time passes... Mentioning the differences between then and now, if I included those, would take up enough time that you would grow impatient." Darnas chuckled. "The major change, of course, is that what the king wanted, the king usually got. That worked out well when the king was worried more about the people than himself, but with the last king... Obviously that didn't turn out well."

He shook his head. "There used to be three great academies in this city, you know. The last king shut them down because they rose up in rebellion against him. There was an academy to train people in the fighting arts. I am a proud graduate of that academy!" He lifted up his cane and swished it through the air, becoming unbalanced and rapidly putting it back down. "Then there was the academy for magic. I never visited it, but before it was closed I heard that it had a great library of spellbooks. Doubtless those books are now burned or lost. The final academy, of course, was for those learning to be healers. Alas, what a pity that such great universities are lost to time..."

[Sir Percival]

Draconas smiled. He hadn't really expected to hear all of the differences, but he was slightly disappointed that he hadn't the time for it at the moment. His ears perked up though, at the mention of academies. Three they were, it seemed. One for the physical arts, one for the magical arts, and another for...healing? Perhaps books from these academies would help him!

But no, it seemed they were burned to the ground, and any books they might have held were burned with them. Any remaining would have been carefully hidden, and would now be jealously guarded. Draconas knew it was too much to hope for, that he might find one of these books, containing within them lost arts.

"I myself am a student of magic. Of all kinds." His gloved hand flashed with darkness. Then he called fire in the sky above them, and ice in the fountain before them, freezing some of the flowing water, temporarily slowing the flow. But not for long. Never for long. "I must confess, I had hoped that something might have survived. Something that could help me-"

The dark mage cut himself off. He was sure that the man wouldn't want to listen to him ramble about his problems. Draconas sighed. Why couldn't everything be like it was in stories? If he was a hero like the characters therein, things would be crystal clear for him. "Some hero I'd be," he muttered. "Using darkness from my heart as a source of power. Storybook heroes would be ashamed."

[prythian]

Darnas snorted. "Young man, all you need is some perspective. Now, let me ask you something. Didn't you ever wonder why spellbooks of darkness exist in the first place? Or, for that matter, darkness exists in the first place? The students at the academy of magic, or so I've heard, handled darkness on a restricted basis... that is, they let them use darkness in their spells once they knew that those people could handle it." He turned to look at Draconas directly, his eyes looking more serious than they had before. Truth be told, he didn't actually know if that was the case; he made up that last bit of information.

"If you can still hold onto this world and its light, then what makes you think you need worry about the darkness? If someone is in danger of being washed down a river, they grab hold of a firm rock. If someone is falling, they hang onto something solid on the way down. Self-pity can easily be nothing more than an excuse not to do anything. All you need to do is find an anchor and don't let go."

[Sir Percival]

Draconas had been scuffing his shoes on the ground, but now he was completely attentive. Darkness being used? Of course, it would be, it was an energy just like any other. As he had been telling others, it was just what it was used for that was the issue in question. So long as he could hold onto the world, and its light...with friends like Jillian, he would have a hard time not doing so.

An anchor? Well, that made sense. If the darkness helped anchor him to the light, odd as it was, then he should continue using it. For the right reasons. Maybe the heroes of stories wouldn't be so ashamed with him after all. The dark mage's eyes were bright. "I never thought of it like that. It makes sense, but I never thought..."

He returned the much older man's look with his own look of gratitude. "Thank you. It helps to know. Power is as power does, I suppose, and since I use it to try and help, even though I don't always succeed," his mind was reminded of the time he caused mass destruction on accident, "I still try." He was murmuring to himself at this point, as if he didn't remember that he was with Darnas still.

Then, of course, he did remember. Draconas almost jumped. "Oh, sorry, I forgot where I was for a moment. I don't usually get like that." A thought popped into his head. "What do you think about the Storm?" he asked, curiosity seeping into his tone. "Were you a member of those who fought off the Anomaly?"

[prythian]

Darnas looked grim for a moment, and then, surprisingly, chuckled. "Actually, by the time I realized what was happening and got outside, the majority of the work was done. You young people just have so much energy and impatience that you move far quicker than one old man." There was, of course, the unspoken question of whether or not an old man would've been of that much use, considering he'd said he was a student of the fighting academy, not the magic one. "Though, I daresay they'd find themselves on the run if they appeared again!" He swung his cane about again, wobbled, and quickly put it back down on the ground with a thump.

"And you don't need to thank me or apologize. It's nice to have someone that will actually listen to me for a change, you see. Most people figure they know everything about the world, and don't listen to those of us wise enough to know exactly how little everyone actually knows. Keep that in mind, young man; you can never know everything." He thumped his way a bit closer to the fountain and carefully dipped the bottom of his cane into the water, making sure to only touch the cap in it. "Knowledge is like the water in this fountain, you see..." He raised the cane back out. "It flows around you, and you can only retain a small bit of it."

[Sir Percival]

It wasn't that hard to believe. Knowledge flowed, moved, like a living thing around one's self, and you could only hold the smallest piece of it. But, could one immerse oneself in the flow of it, and surround oneself with knowledge? Perhaps he was reading too much into it. But, regardless, it begged further study. Not now, but later.

Draconas wasn't surprised that Darnas had not participated in the fighting of the Anomaly. He had lived through quite a few world-changing events, and he was older than most. So, it was understandable that he hadn't fought. But there were so many who had. And one had fallen, from what he had heard from Jillian, and she had been there to see it.

"I like talking to you. You know things, things that I don't." The boy shrugged his shoulders, grinning sheepishly. It just made sense to talk to the older fellow, really. "And anyways, you're a nice guy." And not judgmental of me for my usage of darkness, he mentally added. "I haven't met many who were this kind to me."