ABF:BtOS - Bringer of Nothingness

[bunnygirl]

Without having any knowledge of the palace interior, Sylar will simply become lost in the labyrinth of sparkling hallways and beautiful rooms.

So, if Sylar really wanted to find the sultan's advisor, it will require him to stop a guard or a maid and ask exactly where Nouh ab Zaiah is located.

In a room in one of the palace towers filled with bizarre knick-knacks and old, yellowy paper scrolls, Sylar finds who is he looking for.

"Yes?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Lol, okay, they can be black.

[Platinum Piece]

It is Sy'Lar. I got the feeling that there was more that you wished to discuss. I did not mean to offend you Nouh ab Zaiah. I was just trying to make the best of a poor situation.

[bunnygirl]

"You have misunderstood, Sy'lar. There was no offense taken." The tall man folds his hands behind his back, standing there like some kind of wise man in his room of knowledge. "The sultan I serve can be very... stubborn in his ways, has you may have noticed. The sultan forgets that I am his advisor and not his palace jester..." Casually, with a straight face, Nouh changes the subject. "Is there something else you wish of me, Sy'Lar?"

[Platinum Piece]

Yes, well, I did have a question for you. I was wondering if you could tell me more about this true nature of mine that you warned me about?

[bunnygirl]

The robed man frowns slightly. "The true nature I speak of is man's nature for violence." If it didn't make sense the way he said it the first time, Nouh shall try to elaborate. "What I refer to is philosophical. It was not meant to be taken as a criticism of your character, Sy'Lar. Your killing of one of my magic demons in the pit. That was all." He doesn't forget to add, "You were able to impress the Great Sultan and bring him amusement. Not an easy feat for the average man."

[Platinum Piece]

"Ah, I'm beginning to understand." Without hesitation, Sylar presses on. "You say that the demon was of your creation. Does it not unsettle your magic causes the death of so many?

[bunnygirl]

He considers his answer carefully. "To be fair, there is no law in these lands that forbid those able to use however they wish their own property. As far as I am aware, the Great Sultan owns your life. A slaver sold you, as that same slaver sold all those you arrived with."

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In case it isn't clear, Sylar inhabits a part of the world where slavery still exists. Culture shock, I know. :D

[Platinum Piece]

Sylar takes a moment to let it all sink in. This time less confidently, regaining his composure as he speaks "The Sultan said that I am to be the servant of the princess. If I have not taken too much of your time already, might you share with me what that might entail?

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It sure is a culture shock for Sylar. I'm just trying to play him getting used to his situation, one he never would have seen himself in, in a million years.

[bunnygirl]

"Hmm..." He replies thoughtfully, "I am afraid the only one that can answer that is the Princess herself."

[Platinum Piece]

"Ah, well thank you for the conversation. I'm afraid that I've wasted too much time as it is. I'll be off to see what it is I've gotten myself into. If you ever want to have another, I'm sure you can find me." With that, Sylar bows to Nouh and sets out to find where the princess has gone, trying to remember his way around the palace as he searches. Hoping that there were second chances for good impressions.

[bunnygirl]

After the reaper made his bow, but before he turned around to make his exit, it occurs to Nouh that Sylar could probably use a helping hand. With one aged hand of his, the robed man stops Sylar at the shoulder and beckons him with his other hand towards a window in the room.

Through the window, Sylar spies with his unique eyes, a beautiful woman taking a dip in the indoor palace crystalline water pools among a courtyard covered in leafy trees and a nice, green lawn. As per usual, armed gaurds patrol the perimeters and maids stand-by.

When Sylar arrives to this location at last several minutes later, he will find Princess Aini standing at the edge of the pool in nothing but her swimsuit and her maids drying the water from her scantily-clad body with clean, white towels.

[Platinum Piece]

Aini was without a doubt the most beautiful woman Sylar had ever seen. That is to say, Sylar had not seen many women, but of those he had she took the prize. It was not just her physical beauty that caught his eye, but her inner beauty, one that he knew others could not see, that made these thoughts occur to him. She seemed to have so much life in her that it was bursting from her seams, and yet, he saw that parts of her wanted to grow more, but that something he couldn't quite grasp was stoping her from fulfilling her destiny.

Shaking away these idle thoughts, Sylar approaches the future queen and calls out, "It is I, Sy'Lar your most recent servant, your grace. May I approach further?" Stopping several yards away.

[bunnygirl]

The young woman extends her arms and a pair of maids dress their princess in the finest white silk robe. It shimmers softly in underneath the hot sun in the sky. Then, she turns around to take a look at whom may be addressing her right now. Her dark brown eyes are judging of Sylar. "Do what ever it is you need to do," she says. "Papa can buy what ever he wants with the royal jewels and gold, but that doesn't mean I have to like everything he thinks can be bought."

[Platinum Piece]

"The best I can guess is that I am here to protect you. And while your father may have bought my body, Princess Aini, but both it and my mind are here to please you." Pauses slightly and smiles. "I am yours my lady, regardless of if you wanted me or not." Sylar then slowly kneels, looks up, and locks eyes with Aini, with an intense, yet soft stare.

[bunnygirl]

Although she is accustomed to be given the fancy words and people running at her beck and call, the princess has a very cautious stare on her face. "You cannot fool me!" There is something about the way the Sylar talks of and kneels before her that infuriates her. "I am not interested in your body or your mind." Then, she declares very clearly, "You do not know what I want! So, don't try to insult me with your pretending!" Aini is a princess who lived in the lap of luxury, but apparently there is something about this princess which could not be pleased. Kushistan's royal princess is not any normal princess, after all. She had an entirely different agenda altogether, none that not even the Great Sultan or the wise advisor could ever know of.

She crosses her arms and appears to be in a foul mood, but the princess isn't about to admit that it wasn't entirely Sylar's fault. On top of that, she could choose to turn around and leave, but something was giving her a reason to stay, despite how upsetting it was making her. She's a complicated one, indeed.

[Platinum Piece]

"Very well princess, I shall not pretend to know what you want, but in return I ask the same courtesy of you. Before I came to this strange land, I was an outcast of my people. Despised by all of but a few. To now be despised by the one person whose inner power is the likes I've never seen before is a cruel twist of fate. Though now I am a mere servant, I have been given more respect by you than my people have Ever shown me. Before, my purpose was to punish those who the old fools who governed my land were too soft to hurt. But now? Now I am here. In front of you. You who's inner fire could change the world, but is being constricted. I see the strands of your life princess, and I believe with all of my being, that you are important to the world, not because you are Aini Ben Sharif, heir of Kushistan, but because you are Aini, the one who shall mold this age. I pledge to you upon my true name and the blood that sustains me, that when I say I am yours, I will never betray you.

Spoiler: OOC

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btw: I'm loving this story.

[bunnygirl]

The princess opens her beautiful mouth, but before she could spit any more of her fire at the man who beseeches her, she finds her lips closing, falling shut, and condemned to silence. Aini decides that the man didn't deserve to be standing at the burning end of her words, especially after telling her all that he had. ...For now, it seems.

A little calmer, a little quieter, she says, "There may be a task I have need for you, after all. When I call for you, you must come." Then, she watches him with her dark eyes full of warning, "If you don't, then you will provoked a fury not even the Djinn hath none equal." And with that said, the princess pushes forward and brushes past the reaper, her silk robe fluttering out behind her as the maids hurry soon after her.

Sylar is left once again alone in the whole wide palace.

Spoiler: OOC

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XD I'M GLAD TO HEAR YOU'RE HAVING FUN. :D

Anyway, so, Sylar has some more free time until Princess Aini calls for him. :D So, go and do what you have to, or you can time-skip to Aini's event. :D

[Platinum Piece]

It has been a while since Sylar ate, so he goes in search of something to eat, eagerly awaiting the princess's summons.

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And, time skip, with food :)

[bunnygirl]

Some kind of clay-based bowl filled with steaming broth and soup with exotic ingredients is the kind of dinner Sylar finds having to put into his belly. The cooks tell him it contains primarily of goat meat, and other things. More than the poorer citizens of Karjah, capital of Kushistan, ever had for sure.

After dinner, but before the sun sets over the golden desert and the sparkling palace, Sylar will receive the summons that is said to come. A knocking at his chamber door. A maid, one of the princess' own, steps through the slim opening through the door. It will be assumed that the maid's appearance is the wordless announcement that Sylar only needs. Without even entering Sylar's chambers, she turns and disappears into the corridors, but not without allowing the reaper a chance to glimpse and trail her.

Sylar arrives to another part of the palace that houses the other palace servants. Then, through here, the very back section of the entire palace. The 'back door', for the lack of a better description. Once here, a different maid appears, and in her arms she offers Sylar his equipment and other belongings.

"Take them if you require it." The princess approaches, but instead of the silken dresses and distracting jewelries on her body, she has exchanged them for something less conspicuous. All the gold and glittering accessories are gone. There is only plain linen with dull colors, a large, brown leather belt around her slim waist, and a cloth that wraps around her head, disguises her face, and drapes around her shoulders. "Papa has made claims to your strength. I hope my Papa was not wrong." She turns away, receives a weapon from one of the other maids, and handed the leather tethers to a pair of horses. Holding onto one of her own, she extends the tether of the other to Sylar. "Do you ride?"

[Platinum Piece]

Sylar takes his leather and puts it on with haste. He almost takes his circlet, then looks at the princess and says to the maid, "Please keep this for me." Sylar then takes the tether from Aini and speaks, "Passably, my lady," jumping onto the horses back. "May I ask were we are headed?"

[bunnygirl]

The maid will hold onto Sylar's headpiece. Has the reaper decided he is some kind of ex-reaper, from today on?

To answer Sylar's question, "Our destination is Port Tahar. Just a little northwest from the palace. Towards the Inner Sea." Gracefully, the princess steps up onto her horse, too.

Spoiler: OOC

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WHOOPS. For some reason, I read that as the princess receiving Sylar's circlet. XD Edited my post accordingly.

[Platinum Piece]

"Lets be off then." Sylar states. Excited to have some more adventure, he was starting to feel cramped in the palace, massive place that it was.

Spoiler: OOC

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Nah, he's not an ex-reaper quite yet. He just saw the need for stealth and figured wearing a gemstone on his forehead could draw attention XD

[bunnygirl]

So, there does the princess as the reaper ride into the desert in the secrecy of night. Without the blazing sun beating down on their backs and giving them away in broad daylight, the desert at night is possibly safer for traveling. The trip does not spend all night to arrive to Port Tahar. As the coast begins to appear in the distance and the Inner Sea glistening darkly underneath the starlit skies over Kushistan, the teeming life and yellowy lights of a city appears. In the port docks, sway gently boats of all different origins and sizes and models on the shallow waters.

The princess slows her horse and approaches a wooden post. The gathering of other horses tethered to the post indicate this is that one should do the same before entering Port Tahar. She steps off the seat on her horse, opens a sack that hangs on the side of the beast, and produces a long piece of linen cloth to Sylar. "Wear this over our head, so as you do not stick out like a goat among a herd of sheep." And with that, the princess enters the town with Sylar in tow.

[Platinum Piece]

Sylar follows the princess with the oddly wrapped cloth on his head. He is both excited to be here and wary of the people. He did not know what would happen if he and the princess were spotted, but he felt it wouldn't be good.

[bunnygirl]

Port Tahar is a town, like many others, are buildings made of sand and stone, low-roofs made of reed. But, the people, are another story. The port brings some recent and unsavory individuals since the Great Sultan declared Kushistan independent from the rest of the world...

"Can you believe that since the separation from the Holy Empire, Kushistan is left with vulnerabilities that are being exploited? Thieves, assassins, and pirates thrive like rats who have made a new nest. And the rich only get richer and the poor only get poorer." The princess sighs, "It is like inviting a disease into Kushistan. But I cannot simply get up and leave, because—" She will glance over her shoulder at him. And, for the first time for the whole day Sylar has known Princess Aini, in those beautiful, dark eyes, the man will see not the fires of fury she normally holds in there, but a the flickering flames of compassion. "—Kushistan is my home, too."

She walks on alongside Sylar cautiously through the stony and sandy pathways of Port Tahar, until they come upon a building which she darts into an shadowy alleyway and around barrels and boxes. Around the corner, she will crouch and point to some kind of activity that is taking place on the docks. Armed men dropping off their latest shipment from overseas. A group of women with absolutely no relation to each other, chained and shackled at the wrists all together.

"We must find a way to take those girls away from these pirates before they are paid by the slavers."

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I SEE WHAT YOU DID. WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT ICON ON YOUR POST? XD

[Platinum Piece]

Sylar pauses for a moment and thinks. Yes that might just work. He then asks the princess, "If I can distract the pirates, can you get the girls to safety?"

[bunnygirl]

There is a nod of the head. Then, she will go get into position elsewhere as Sylar goes to do his thing.

[Platinum Piece]

Sylar had seen enough drunk men to know that people they were easy prey. He hoped these fellows were the sort to take advantage of a drunkard.

Sylar stumbles out from behind the barrels and yells out, making his foreign accent really pronounced, "Ay, you sorry bash'tards. *hiccup* Dish you shee which way mi friends want. I ishn't really from *hiccup* 'round *hiccup* here. Dam fools ran off *hiccup* wi'out their 'urses. Gold piece if you'ens 'll *hiccup* 'elp me." Swaying from side to side slightly as he approaches them.

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This is probably my last post for the night.

[bunnygirl]

The pirates all shoot suspicious looks at Sylar and his drunken antics, but aren't entirely persuaded to leave their positions and interfere. After all, they weren't about to step away from cargo that was gonna be worth a lot of money. Or, at the very least, worth losing a good hand or foot should one of the precious cargo decided to make off into town right under their noses.

"Go away and beg somewhere else, beggar," one of the pirates say.

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LMFAO. I find it kind of hilarious that Sylar thinks he can do such a feat considering his skill set. XD

[Platinum Piece]

Well, time for Plan B, Sylar thought. At least they weren't taking him seriously.

The air temperature around Sylar drops as he rushes at one of the pirates and launches a solid punch at him.

Spoiler: OOC

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Activating emptiness extrusion and attacking, hopefully by surprise.

The original plan was to just get one of them close and sucker punch them XD