Olansaf 2 - Draft 2

And then it all cleared and with a gasp I was back in the room. Lucifer was looking at me confused, still holding my hand, but he’d straightened up now. His eyes seemed to swirl with gold and purple, alluring and endless, absorbing, making me want to stare and get lost. His voice interrupted me. I tugged my hand back.

“Well that’s new,” He cocked his head. “ No ones done that before.”

“Done what?” asked Jace.

“Rejected me. She just said no and pushed me out. It was like hitting a brick wall. Not even He can do that... He just gives me black or gore that makes me want to get out. Never actually force me.”

“Can you get back in?” Jace glanced at me.

“I’m trying but she’s not letting me.” He grimaced. “She’s for real Jace, she’s impossible.”

I raised an eyebrow at the conversation.

“I’m impossible? You just walked into my mind like it was a book you wanted to read. That requires more explanation than I do.” I exclaimed. Lu looked blank so I spun around and faced Jace. He sighed and relented.

“No time like the present,” he muttered “I’ll tell, but you’re sitting down and not interrupting. You’re one of us. Kinda.” He gestured over to the fire and the table in front of it.

“After you.”

I walked around the table; I took the seat closest to the fire, facing out into the room. It warmed my back as I waited for the others to sit. Lucifer took a seat on the end of the table next to me, black hair next to me. Brown-hair dashed away into one of the rooms and came back carrying a two pitchers of wine and some metal cups. He set one on a metal table over the fire to warm, and added a few spices to it, before setting the other down with the cups on the table. He then sat down directly opposite me. JayJay was next to him, and the other man, who I had nicknamed blondie, who had been in the open room from the start, sat at the end. There were only six chairs around the table so Jace stayed standing. He stirred the heated spiced wine with a wooden spoon and then grasped the handle of the pitcher and transferred it to the wooden table we sat around.

“Anyone for Hot Wine?” he asked. JayJay and Black-hair nodded and he poured a cup for them both. I nodded meekly along with them and Jace passed me a steaming cup as well. I wrapped my hands around it, grateful for the warmth. Jace set the warm pitcher back down and poured four more cups, one for Lucifer, Brown-hair, Blondie, and himself. Once they were all given out, he began to talk.

“This is not an easy thing to explain Hatter. There is a great chance that before the end you will call me a delusional liar, but I ask that you stay and witness what proof we have before drawing a conclusion.” He didn’t wait for me to answer. “I suppose the best place to start with is the people sat around you. You’ve already met Lucifer Yates, and you have felt what he can do. He can turf up old memories, walk into your mind and make you remember things that never happened. He is what we call a Writer.” He paused to sip his wine and Lucifer spoke into the gap.

“I meant no ill my dear, I was merely disbelieving of what Jason had thought. My deepest apologies if it unnerved you. And may I say, I am sorry for your loss.” A few of the others raised an eyebrow at this but no-one spoke. I did not want to think about my ship, my losses, right now. Jace continued.

“The man sitting opposite you is Ben Bangham. He may be the fastest and most physically able of us, but his skill is the slowest to develop. Ben can see the future, the major events that have yet to happen. He once predicted we would have a guest that would touch everyone of us.” Ben interrupted Jace.

“Actually I saw a lion save a hat, catch it before it fell. I saw a wolf repair the hat to splendour, I saw a snake add decorations to it, and fix it inside, make it strong. A monkey cared for it and made sure it stayed in tact while the winds from the south shook it. I saw a raven pluck it from its perch and reunite it with its original owner, but not before a White Tiger had added it’s own, not so subtle addition. There’s only one place I’ve ever seen those animals.” Jace interrupted.

“Will you stop getting ahead? I’m leaving the best until last. Anyway, Ben is a Sighter.

“You’ve met JayJay. She abandoned her surname a while ago, so she’s just JayJay. You’ve also felt a small amount of what she can do. She has a skill which allows her to use charms, sigils, symbols and potions; A Charmer. She didn’t just touch your arm, she traced the ‘Heal’ sigil.” He paused to take a drink and I spoke into the silence.

“Thanks for that JayJay,” I smiled and waved with my right arm.

“That’s okay. No big deal, I can soon reverse it,” to prove her point she swiftly traced a symbol on Ben’s left arm and he gritted his teeth and grunted in annoyance. He used his right hand to pick up and place his now useless arm on the table, revealing the crooked angle it sat in. JayJay smiled sweetly and traced another sigil, making it click sharply back into place. Ben shrieked and glared, jumping backwards out of his seat. He growled loudly, a long chattering sound, and shook his arm.

“Lucifer, Alert our patroller that there’s no cause for alarm.” Lucifer nodded briskly and his iris’s started to swirl. Jace switched his attention to me. “My Class is a Wisdom. I am a controller of the soul, Master of Words and Keeper of the Truth. Watch, behold what I can do!” His words seemed to echo with power and as I watched his body collapsed. It seemed lifeless, as if a part of him was now missing from it. A second or so later I felt a tap on my shoulder, barely a breeze, but enough for me to know it was Jace. I turned and all I could see was a flickering shadow upon the floor.

“I know you’re there Jace, how, I don’t know, but there nonetheless.” I glanced back to Jace’s body and he sat up, smiling.

“I am a Wisdom. What we do is dangerous and all too easy to get consumed or destroyed by. Before I was a Wisdom I learnt the Armer Class.” He gestured to Blondie who wasn’t gaping at me, but his eyebrows had shot up into the fringes of his strong, golden hair. “Meet Chris Griffeth, our resident Armer. He is a teacher of sorts. You will find none more capable than an Armer, as they understand even the things Venoms do not. A Venom is a protector, a keeper, they keep our world by any means necessary. As such they are overly capable in the physical arts, and Billy, our resident Venom, knows every weakness of bodies - human or animal. Although, he does look rather like a giant cuddly toy to me.” Jace’s eyes glinted with humor as both Chris- Blondie, and Billy- Black hair, smiled and nodded my way.