The power within

The voice of a young woman sounded from not far from where Ghost was standing. Somehow his footsteps had carried him out into the wilderness of Reim's north eastern forests. On a grassy knoll stood a tall slender figure with a walking stick. Her waist long hair was raven black and combed straight with three feathers tucked into the locks. She did not wear the clothing of most Reiman folk and instead wore the garb of plainsfolk dyed with a blue so vibrant it almost seemed to glow in the dark. At a glance Ghost would be able to see the woman was facing the moon with an open palm and appeared to be offering prayers when he stumbled upon her.

The great silver moon hung on the firmament backlighting the figure who stood silently and without movement as if he prayers could not resume unless he answered her question. Were it not for the subtle sound of her breath on the cool night air one might even think she had become a statue. Even as a shooting star cut across the sky before then she remained like an ancient placid well. Not even the slightest ripple of reaction rose from the woman. Not until Ghost gave his answer.

As he looked around he heard a voice he was not familiar with. That was odd because of all his years of coming to this very spot especially to be alone and when he came up here he was sure he was alone. Ghost could sense something was amiss with this one. But he would respond to her," My favorite quote of all time about that very word. Power is the capacity to cause change, produce effects on others, or potentially influence others. Power is the function of a relationship because it belongs not only to the leader but also to the followers and the situation. A wise being once told me that. So I say to you power is neither good nor bad but it is necessary to achieve your goals at large. So depending on how you handle that said power to gaol the said results power in itself could be either good or bad."
As he looked on he would be in shock at how still she was. As be would the say.

I am Ghost and just who might you be?

Ooc: Ghost is Feeling confused at the being before him.

The woman listened but was silently as she performed her ritual. Her arms raised towards the moon and grasped her walking stick in both hands. A gust of wind seemed to meet her gesture sending her hair and clothes into a wild dance. At the same time in the far distance just upon the horizon one could see thick clouds quickly gather even in the darkness of the night. Then a flash of light, and another, and another. A lightning storm had appeared as if by the woman's demand. Even though it was far away it was easy to tell how fierce the storm was as strike after strike of lightning feel. Eventually the thunder would reach them, deep low rumbles crackling across the night air. The woman then lowered herself to the earth and bowed her head until forehead kissed grass in a showing of gratitude.

When she stood she finally turned around revealing a surprisingly aged face for how young her voice sounded. Here eyes were piercingly sharp with furrowed brows and her mouth set into a tight frown. It was a case of resting angry hag face. She looked Ghost over and then deepened her frown.  "Those just sound like the excuses of menfolk to find war." The hag shook her head and sighed as she started to walk away relying heavily upon her walking stick. Her departure halted as Ghost introduced himself however. The woman turned to glare at him from over her shoulder. Rather than answer he question she retorted with her own view on power.

"Power is a burden, youngling. The more of it you gather, the more others envy and desire that power. It's always the same. Power is the source of conflict and fools who seek it drag the rest of us along into their petty struggles. The old end up having to bury the young when it should be the other way around. Such a pity."

She spoke with deep anger at first but that sharp edge to her tone softened into sorrow by the end. Clearly this woman had seen her fair share of loss. She then waved at Ghost dismissively and rolled her eyes. "But I'm wasting my breath. You won't listen to an old bag of bones like me. Truly such a pity."  She lamented and shook her head as she started to leave again.

---

Note:

Ghost would listen to the old lady more and more and clean and cleaner. But he could not get what she meant by power is a burden and so he would respond to her in kind. "You say power is a burden. The more of it someone gatherr, the more others envy and desire that power... This is true but the same could be said about love and respect. The same could be said about willpower and hope. Us menfolk as you say are governed by a thing called the Seven Deadly Sins and each of those sins is governed by a thing called power. Better yet one may have the power to seek revenge or a even greater power to not seek it."
He would take a moment as he looked on at her. As she was about to leave he would quickly be to stop her.

"Do you see what I said there? We all have our own viewpoints about the very meaning of that word. But please if there is anything you can teach me about the meaning of the word power. I am always up to learn more and more about that and others things especially when the time calls for it such as now." As he looked on he would be all ears and waiting.

OOC-Ghost is feeling hopeful.

The woman stopped and leaned on her staff as she listened but the deepening frown on her face showed that she was not impressed with Ghost's argument. The hag let out a sigh and slowly began to turn. She made her way over towards Ghost without directly looking at him. "Power takes many forms. Many seek to wield it. But the true nature of power is that it wields people like toys. Even I can be used by power. It often calls out to tempt me. As it tempts all of us." The woman arrived at Ghost's side and reached out slowly and non-threateningly to touch his forehead with a crooked old finger. Her fingertip was ice cold like that of a corpse.

"The currents of power surround us even now. Can you not feel them? Even if you think yourself powerless, you already have all the power you need. If power has blinded you then you need simply cast off your eyes."

Ghost would then feel a pop. No, two pops. One in each eye. Then slowly his vision darkened. Not with the darkness of unconsciousness or sleep. The light of his eyes had been stolen! But by the time he realized this the woman had already taken her hand away. Her footsteps masked by a gust of wind and the rustling of grass. What awaited Ghost now was a life lived in eternal darkness.

Ghost would look on as he was still a bit confused at the old woman's words. "Yes it does take many forms I just explained that very reasoning. But I do agree it takes a strong-wielded person to have power. Because in the wrong hands that person can cause more harm than good." As she said he should cast off his eyes. He would be a bit confused at that very saying. But he would respond best he could to it. " I do not seek power for myself I only seek it to protect what is dear to me. I only seek it to protect this world from the darkness that is to come. I want to stop that very thing. I do not want kids to free up in a world where they think hell is a place called home."

As he looked on she would walk up to him. He did not defend himself because he sensed no ill will toward him. However, after she removed her hand his sight was no more. As Ghost took his glasses off. He would hold his hands and then would say to her. "My sight....my sight what did you do? Better yet how did you even manage to take away my sight? Is this some kind of spell? Old last what is the meaning of this?"
Ghost was now feeling a little disoriented at what just happened.

OOC: Ghost is in shock and is disoriented

"Hmph" Though he couldn't see her face the sound of that contemptuous scoff could paint a picture of her mocking smirk for the minds eye. "I've given you the chance to look past your desire for power." Her voice sounded like it came from the left at first, but then her voice came from the right. It echoed back and forth as she spoke giving the impression that she was circling him. But there were no foot steps on the grass to follow, no sensation of movement around himself at all. "Renounce your ambitions for power, perhaps then you will once more see the night sky. Or perhaps you can tell me a story about yourself. Convince me your need for power is justified!"  The old crone seemed to be spiteful in tone, yet she revealed some hint of softness by offering Ghost a way out.

"I do have a soft spot for a good romance."

"Renounce your ambitions for power, is what you just told me. You are a sucker for romance is what you just told me. Prove to you that my need for power is justified." Ghost would be kneeling on the ground and feeling around. This seems all too familiar to him. But only this time she was not there to help him up. This was because she was no more. He would start to laugh out loud and whatnot. "What's so romantic about watching the love of your life die right in front of you? Would power be needed now if I have had it then? I don't know what is sadder me not having the power to save her. Or me powerless and too afraid of the dark to even save myself me and her life together should have ended there.
As he stood up tall he would put his hands in the sky and start pointing to the stars. So long as that star up there right in the middle the one that was shining the brightest. She will always be the light that guides me. My very own light."

As he said that he would say to the old lady with a sad smile on his face. Do you know where we are standing? We are standing in a place that is dear to me. This is the place where my love Yara met her end and years later I met my fate. You see the war in the witch tribes was at an all-time high. Long story short. Yara sided with the ones who did not want to bring back the Witch King and then there were those who did. "

As he looked on he would then say to her. "Look within my mind and see what I know and you be the judge for yourself."
As he said that he would go on to say. "I was weak back then and feared any darkness that came my way. Yara on the other hand was a very powerful witch and the one who stole my heart just to lose it. The night she die it was a peace treaty between the two sides. Although the dreadful ones lied and attacked Yara and her side when their guards were down. The woman who birthed me lead that attack on Yara and the others and pretty much wiped them out." As he bites his bottom lip out of anger he would ball his fist up as well.

"I knew something was wrong as I and Yara were going to meet here and she was never late. But that day she was and when she came finally after what seemed like forever. She was bloody and bang up pretty badly." As he held his hands out he would then say. "She fell in my arms as I held on to her. She pointed to my heart and then to the sky that very black sky that day and her words would always be with me and them words were."

"So long as the stars in the sky I will guide you and so love as my spirit remains I will always be beside you." My eyes started to go black after she said that and my hearing went with it. I could not eat talk smell feel or do anything. I was imprisoned and chained up for ten years. All because my foolish mother wanted to take away my strength and replace it with the Witch King's. But the joke was on her why you may ask? Because the last thing I saw before I went blind was the love of my life. The last thing I heard before I went deaf was the love of my life. The last thing I was able to feel was the love of my life and the last thing I was able to taste was the sweet love of the love of my life." As he pointed to the old woman he would go on to say. "My mother may have taken my strength so that I couldn't live on it. But I was never living on it too began with. I was and am living off of Yara's love and her will. Her love for me was so strong that she cast a spell on me to live on rather than to save herself she warned me and warmed me." Soon he got really loud and would say.

"SO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR POWER? So that no one could ever go through what I've gone through.  So that nobody has to be forced to do what I was forced to do and that was THINKING HELL IS A PLACE CALLED HOME."

Just as he said that within his mind the Imp would appear only for the moment but then he was gone. Soon he would have a flashback about the day he escaped. That very same day the Witch king's soul was supposed to fuse with his. But when they arrived at his cell the only thing that remain there were his feet. As Ghost bit them off to escape. As he crawled to this very spot where he and the old lady was at now he who looks up at the sky with tears in his eyes as he finally opened them back up. "One of these days I will be free of this place called HELL Yara you and I will be together again just hold on a little longer."

As He snapped back to reality he would say to the old lady. "So to justify my quest for Power and Knowledge well it is simple. This world is going into darkness and it's nearly covered in it as we speak. But so long as I am the star in the BLACK SKY THOSE WHO LOST IN THE WAR OF LIGHT. COULD LOOK TO MY STAR. FOR HOPE BURNS BRIGHT."

There amidst the deep void of darkness Ghost's sight found only an empty canvas of black. But as he spoke it was as though his thoughts could paint upon that canvas a perfect recollection of his past. His weak self wrapped in fear was there contrasted against the powerful Yara. At first it was just still images of people as he remembered them, but as he told his story the black void seemed to come to life with light and color painting the scene of Yara being ambushed by his own mother onto the canvas. It was as if Ghost's sight returned, but only as a bystander there in the moment. The parts he wasn't there to witness played out just as he imagined they would. For a moment it seemed like Ghost held the power of narration over the world at the cost of having become a mere observer.

A grand show of his mother's plot and the Witch King's ascendance played out only to be interjected by the arrival of a younger Ghost on the stage. His power and connections were limited, but potential was there and perhaps most importantly of all...his love. She was there before him again. Perhaps a gift, perhaps punishment. Only Ghost could know how he would take seeing Yara in her final moments once more. Everything else so far he had felt like he was watching play out from afar, but this Yara was walking towards him. Looking at him. When she arrived before him he could touch her, smell her, and hear her voice whisper his name and say that she doesn't blame him. Her eyes were full of love as she gazed at Ghost and touched his face. It all felt so real, so perfect, but it lasted only a moment and then she was gone. Darkness returned. A black void empty of anything but the old woman's strange cackle which sounded like it came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

"Kyikikiki~

She did not speak in response to Ghost's shouting but instead went quiet again leaving Ghost to his thoughts. The power of his control over the world seemed to return as he thought of the imp. It appeared there, not in his minds eye, but in the black void. Then he was there as an observer again, but this time in his own body within the memories. Watching himself chew away at the last bit of sinews before escaping his bonds and crawling away. Whether ghost remembered how long that crawl was to the hilltop was or not it played out at the speed of this thoughts arriving under the stars atop the hill. Only here at the end of the memory, the old woman was standing there with her back turned waiting for him quietly on the hill.

She listened to his final declaration and shook her head letting out a sigh. The old woman turned to Ghost and the world around them shattered as if made of glass. The fragments glittered and sparked as the fell away and seemingly dissolved into nothingness. His "sight" was returned, though it had never been truly stolen in the first place. The old woman turned to look at Ghost with a stern glare that carried both anger and disappointment. The expression was less that of a wise old woman and more so a child on the verge of a tantrum. She then turned away and coughed once before speaking in a solemn voice. "Your words are full of arrogance and overconfidence. Self centered delusions of grandeur. Just look at you, yelling and shouting. Letting your emotions get the better of you. Children like you are easily manipulated and not suited for holding power. You will go on to do terrible things in the name of what you think is justice. While you will be a light for some, for others you will be a cloud of darkness." She turned around again having regained her composure and looked Ghost in the eyes. "I apologize for putting you through something awful. But I still have one more question for you before I go. How old do you think I am? " She then had a complete flip in attitude as she fluttered her eye lashes and posed as if trying to look cute despite her many wrinkles and a particularly large wart. Thought her hair had not a single grey strand, her age really showed in her face.

As she had her turn to yell. She let him have it in the worse way. But she said something too. Ghost that made him laugh a little and laugh he did. "Full of arrogance and overconfidence and self-centered you self-centered. If you believe me as that. Then you truly do not know me." As he fell to his knees and his sight came back. A tear would wipe away from his face. "I may seem delusional because I chose to see through the illusion of this world and that illusion there is no such thing as a perfect being. All these kings candidates and not one showed up for people like me when we needed them the most. You based your judgment based off of an illusion that you created in your mind and I will always be that just an illusion you made. I am magical based you see and one thing I learned in this world. That is not everything is what it appears to be."

As he looked on at her as she did such a pose. He would slowly smile as she asked how old did he think she was? As he looked on at her he would truly be at a loss for words. "As I said before looks can be an illusion. You could be as young as 1 or as old as 1,000 and I would not have a clue. But if I had to guess I would say you are beyond this world's age and time. Almost as if you are not even a magician. I say this because of how powerful your magic trust is. Not many people could out rank dominate me. So tell me before you go. Are you someone from that void in the sky and if so then you are ageless because you are timeless"
As he put his glasses back on he would give a smile.
"By the way may I have your now?"

It was clear that the two would not see eye to eye, both asserting their own opinions without heeding ground to the other. But this did not seem to rouse the strange woman's fury. She seemed to only care about his response to her question of age. The witchblood did not try to flatter her with a fib but instead gave his honest assessment, thinking through the query as though it were a complex problem to be dissected to arrive at the truth. But the expression on her face turned sour when he gave his answer.

The woman deflated from her pose and with a heavy sigh and shake of the head she turned away from Ghost. He asked her name but the old woman merely grunted and hobbled off relying heavily on her walking stick. A strong breeze rolled by and then her figure was carried away by it as if she had been made of sand. The elderly woman was gone and her strange presence gone with it. The grass on the hill churned with the passing wind for a moment and then all was still. Ghost was left alone with his thoughts atop the hill.