RP:Derry's Transformation

Deeper Into the Woods

Once a dense section of Frostmaw's behemoth forest, this area has recently become a man-made clearing. Tents are scattered along the eastern side of the site, near a brush-choked pathway, and one large tent seems to be home to a makeshift forgery, with worn tools collected outside as they await their rebirthing. The centre of the lumberjacks' camp is home to a burning pile of debris, kept safely away from the other trees, and other small fires mark which tents are currently occupied by the logging crew. Beside the western path is a large pile of stripped logs, trained mammoths carrying them off in twos and threes only to have fresh ones replace the old ones in short time. The once deep snow here has been packed flat against the earth by many boots and mammoth feet, allowing the stumps of former trees to be visible peeking above ground-level. Despite the many trees felled thus far, it seems to have made hardly a dent in the forest, with a veritable wall of trees running for countless miles to the north and east.

Derry was in the heart of the forest, exploring when he had happened upon the camp. Looking about at the various lumberjacks clearing the forest, Derry nodded, approving that people were taming the wilderness. Standing stoic with his staff, the vampire didn't like the cold, so it led him to wonder why in the hell he had agreed to ally himself with a bunch of snow dwellers.

Kirien was a wanderer at heart, prone to aimless meandering across vast terrain, simply trudging wherever his feet might take him. By virtue of this he’d ended up passing close by the lumberjacks’ camp, silent strides carrying him along by felled trees dusted with freshly-fallen snow. He only began to pay attention to the surroundings, rising out of his thoughts, when the empath came to take note of a familiar sort of feeling; a recognisable scent amongst the smell of wood and pine. Pausing, Kirien tilted his head in Derry’s direction, then abruptly hopped over a log to wander quietly toward him.

Derry turned to glance at Kirien who was approaching the young vampire. Nodding, Derry turned to face the rest of the forest around them, "Tell me... what sort of creatures layabout this forest? I don't like always going somewhere I am not too familiar with.."

Kirien flicked an ear and might've grinned a little in some sort of silent response to that nod. Following the other's gaze, blind as he was, he spent a moment looking contemplative and pondering the question before he answered. "Ahh-- you're wanderin' around et you have no idea what lives out here?" A brow arched and the vampire almost seemed surprised. "That's…reckless. Aha. Erm. As for your question, lots of things live here! Most of them are deadly. There're wyverns up that way?" Swinging about, he pointed in the general direction of north. "And…-things- in that direction." There was a pointed glance westwards at the shadow of the old gate further along the snowy track. "I don't know what they are. I only hear the voices. Ghosts, maybe?"

Derry reaffirmed his gaze on the north,"Wyverns eh? I've never seen one, I think I may have to go take a look for myself." Derry picked his staff up out of the ground and began trudging towards the northern section of the woods,"Come if you want, I wouldn't mind the company."

Kirien 's brows raised further despite his best attempts to do otherwise. "You're just…gonna go see wyverns when you've no idea how they act." Momentarily bemused, his lips quickly quirked into a smile which soon broadened into an eager grin. "I like it. Better choice than the things that way." Another glance to the west and then Kirien was falling into stride with the other, moving easily through the snow.

And so they traveled to the Wyvern's nest...

Wyvern Nests

As you travel down a path which moves between large snow covered boulders, you stumbles into an area with large dead trees. Upon the trees you see several nests, and upon further investigation, as you look up you can see frost wyverns gliding as they look for prey. The nests contain some young, while others are empty, or with eggs. You can leave this place by heading back to the north.

Derry walked through the trees, and happened upon a rather large boulder. Crouching and then jumping onto the boulder, Derry glanced around, and then he spotted them in the trees. The nests of the Wyvern. Spotting the young ones, the eggs, and the empty nests, Derry is kinda awestruck,"So that's a wyvern..." He was enjoying this, glancing back towards Kirien,"Why didn't you tell me they were so small?"

Kirien knew parts of Frostmaw's vast forest well enough and so probably led Derry half the way to the beasts he'd decided he wanted to observe. Most of his time was spent scrutinising his apparent coven mate in curiosity rather than paying attention to the wyverns. He'd hop onto that boulder then over it and move closer to the nests; the elders of the small group here eyed the empath who was now quite a familiar sight to them all, while a couple of the younglings perked up and paused in their playing. "You never asked for detail," Kirien said with a short shrug to the other vampire, lingering on the edges of the nesting grounds. "What d'you think?" He asked out of habit, though the feeling picked up from Derry told him enough.

Derry glanced between the nests, he hadn't seen the elders yet, so Derry had no idea the two were being watched. Moving closer to the nest, he grinned, a hand reaching out towards the nest. That was when a large blast of wind moved onto the young vampire, and the sound of wings beating was alive in the sky. Derry was a stranger to these creatures, and had approached the nest uninvited, dumb thing to do. After hearing the wings, Derry turned around just in time to see a rather large talon strike into his chest. A horrorific display of gore happening upon the male. Thankfully being an undead, Derry hadn't really FELT the pain, it was moreso along the line. Watching as the dark sanguine fluid started to drip from the wound as he was elevated into the air by one of the older Wyverns, he wanted to yell, but couldn't find it in his ability. Edan however, flew out of the duster of the male, and flew next to the wyvern, its pages flapping,"Derry just do it damnit!" The rather 'bass' voice echoing about the vampire, and would probably confuse Kirien as to who that was.

Kirien :: "Ah, don't touch the--!" Kirien's warning was a little too late, it seemed, for one of the elders had already decided to take action against the newcomer, strange and unknown to the whole brood; and thus the man was viewed as a clear threat when he approached that nest, much to his coven mate's concern. Young wyverns scattered at the contact of talons punching into Derry's chest while Kirien swung round, momentarily wary of being attacked himself for having led him here to begin with. In that time Derry was lifted from the ground and left the empath's perception, and when he came to notice, Kirien cursed. Violently. "Oi! Derry!" The earth gave a shudder underfoot. "Where--" A new voice reached sensitive hearing just then - a disembodied one at that had the blind vampire frowning in confusion, as he'd been unaware of any other presence that might have followed them here. There was no physical body to go with that voice and it honestly unnerved him, but he'd the more pressing problem right now of trying to work out just where in the air Derry currently was. "Put him down!" he shouted at the wyvern though his words went unheeded.

Derry gritted his teeth, he hadn't wanted to do this ever really, but it came down to this. Grunting slightly, Derry mustered all of his strength to say a single thing, a name,"Edan.." The other voice was prominent now, laughing, its chuckles filling the mountains and echoing around as the book that had followed Derry for so long began to burn. The book started to fall, its ashes fluttering about in the area as the stench of burned paper filled the air. It was about halfway to the ground before it completely opened, a red light blasting from the book towards the vampire who was still amidst the Wyverns Talon. The light would encompass Derry and frightened the Wyvern enough to drop the vampire. Now falling himself, Derry sort of just, spontaneously combusted there. He was also picking up speed as he slammed into the ground. As he hit, much of the snow on the ground flew up, some of it water from the flames that were wrapped around the vampires body. After everything had settled though, there were no more flames, there was just Derry, standing up as if he were never punctured. Head lowered so that his hair cast a shadow over his face, there were a few notable difference about him. His duster was missing for whatever reason, and that left his upper body exposed save for the vest he had been wearing. Along Derry's right arm now was a bright red upright triangle, and form it diverged a series of crimson colored lines up and down the remainder of his arm. The ones that had traveled up his arm connected with a mantle perched upon his shoulders. Now looking up towards the sky, Derry had began to speak, but what was coming from his mouth wasn't only his voice, but the one from earlier as well,"The contract between Derry and Edan has been completed.. We are now one."

Kirien occasionally found his being blind a hindrance, as it would be constantly were he not able to still view the world in a sense through the ground. All he caught right now were whispers and laughter, and the shrieks of confused and startled wyverns from around them while the smell of something burning began to fill the frigid air. Fire swirled, whirling, unseen by the vampire but certainly felt; and like that deepened voice, it only unnerved him all the more. Agitated, he paced back and forth a couple of times as if trying to work out what exactly to do in this situation, when abruptly he felt Derry hit the ground and reappear without warning in his vision again, and spun swiftly toward him. A pause followed in which Kirien stared and the other spoke in a voice not entirely his own but twinned with that other being from previously; and, once, the empath flinched as though picking up on something off or different. "…Who is Edan?" he asked after a moment or two, approaching quietly, almost warily. Amber gaze, sightless as it was, remained affixed to Derry. Kirien blinked, then said, "…You feel like fire," and raised a hand. Curious as ever, even when instinct told him it was probably a bad idea, he'd attempt to touch the other, just briefly on the face, as if to ascertain something to himself through the contact. His attentions drifted to the unseen markings on the man's arm and though he didn't ask, he silently hoped he'd receive an explanation for what just transpired here.

Derry looked towards his fellow coven member, the deeper of the two voices faded into Derry's original voice now,"Edan was a fire elemental bound in a spellbook that had started a contract with Derry. To address us as seperate now would be incorrect. For Derry and Edan are together now. We will assume the name Derry however due to this form being close to his.." The hand was allowed to touch Derry's face, although, his skin would be warm now, not from a pulse or flow of blood, but from the magic present in his body.

Kirien honestly looked a bit bemused by all this, and by what he felt. There was still no pulse, just an echo of what might have been one in previous years before brushes with Death for eternal life, but there was warmth there and for a moment he appeared utterly perplexed; at least until that explanation. Derry was regarded for a long time in silence, the empath staring sightlessly at his face, brows knitted together in a slight frown. "An elemental," he said finally before he withdrew, glancing once down at his hand. He wiggled his fingers a bit then continued. "What kinda contract is it? Outta curiosity et such." A tilt of the head followed and now Kirien looked more childishly intrigued than anything else.

Derry continued to keep his gaze on Kirien,"Derry sought power, so I offered it to him. In return, when something like this should happen, he offered his body to me. So now we are one being. Derry has the power he sought, and I am no longer bound to that damned book.."

Kirien murmured, "Book…" before his mouth dropped open and he pointed, almost accusingly and somewhat dramatically at Derry. Actually he pointed more at Edan but since the two beings shared the same body now… "You burned the book up?! That-- did you -really- have to do that? You couldn't just float outta it or some such? Bad fire elemental." He may have pouted, assuming the countenance of a displeased librarian as he squinted over the rim of his glasses. "Even if it's in your nature to burn things, ah, books are precious things. Et what do you intend to do now you've got a body, of a sort? He-- Derry's contracted elsewhere too, y'know. It's probably a good idea not to go messin' that up." A pause followed in which Kirien inhaled sharply, then exhaled a sigh. "…Well. This was more than just seein' wyverns, at any rate. Coterie is never boring, apparently."

Derry shook his head at Kirien,"I am aware of Derry's other contract. Slowly we were merging into one anyways. But this just spread it up... Like I said, we are Derry still, just... more powerful."Glancing to the pile of ash that was the book that had bound Edan,"It wasn't a real book, it was a prison. It holds no power, no writing, no nothing at this point.."

Kirien 's head cocked slightly to one side. "Well, that's good at least? Would hate to see another siblin' killed et such. What kinda powerful are you now?" Full of questions as always, he cast a brief look downward to the remains of what had once been a book, and where the scent of burned paper and bindings was strongest. "How on earth did you end up stuck in a book anyway?" This was asked as the vampire fell to a crouch beside the ash pile and squinted at it.

Derry began to walk away as flames spawned from the mantle on his shoulders, forming a cloak about the vampire. As they stretched to encompass his form, he shook his head,"That doesn't matter, I'm off to find Kasyr." And he was gone, in the instant.

Kirien huffed a chilly breath. "Hellfire and blizzards for sure," he said, probably to the wyverns.