ORIGIN

A day or two had passed--he wasn't quite sure how long it'd been. But after he'd returned to Cepheus with the rest of the materials, he'd rested, sleeping quietly and, for once, well-rested in the Palace. It seemed the alabaster and cloth there were somewhat immune to the corruptive influence the Sentinel generally had on the earth beneath his feet, so he'd had a very nearly dreamless sleep.

Today--well-rested--he'd set out with the newly-grinded gray dye. Mimosa had set it up, given him a little bottle with the ground up gray berries, and told him to find someone who could cast "Prism." Puzzled, the Sentinel had asked what Prism was; he had never heard of naming magic, before, bar to describe its use or its effects.

Fast forward to today: he was moving through the caves, gradually and methodically on the buoyant flight of ethereal blue wings, while bellowing the following message at the top of his lungs.

"THE SENTINEL REQUIRES RAINBOWS."

He turned, thudding down into the mud with an unpleasant sucking splash that felt as though Cetus itself were trying to swallow him down feet-first.

It took him a beat to locate the speaker: a reptile... an alligator, in fact. He wondered if this were Dragon, for a moment, but... they seemed--younger. "It requires a dye. This is as a payment to another," he explained, approaching Lior. He noted that their jaws looked powerful, their body long--he'd never really inspected an alligator this close-up, before.

He knelt before them, cautious, and held out the small bottle of gray sludge. "The Tailor of Cepheus claims it must have a rainbow pressed into it in order for it to place a rainbow on other things. The Sentinel has asked many, but none know how to create this light. And its magic is-... black." Chaotic. Corrupted. Light was denied to him, as were so many other things.

The Sentinel looked down, reaching into his breastplate; his hand came out with a column of sparkling elbaite in shifting hues of pink, blue, turquoise, green and yellow. Too, he held out a dark green olivine. "It offers either of these in trade, should the creature know how to create rainbows--or the green one, should it know someone who can." He was reluctant to part with the elbaite, but for the dye... he would do so. "They were taken from creatures known as kooru. This--from a blue. This--from a red." He tapped the olivine and elbaite in turn.

It seemed he did not bother with niceties nor formalities: there were no introductions, no pleas, no polite questioning first. Not a "what's your name" or "have you got spare time." He was to the point, at least; there could be no doubt of that.

Had he known Lior to think him concealing things, he'd have elaborated. He was just... direct. He gave what he assumed to be the most necessary information; if the alligator had held further questions he'd have answered them. But to the Sentinel, the whole "I'm trading this dye for a child" thing seemed simply beyond the point.

He needed dye; perhaps this stranger could help. And--yes. It seemed he could.

"It wishes an explanation of Chaos," he surmised, eyeing Lior. "Is this correct?"

He'd agree, of course; but he wanted to know that he was understanding this correctly. "If this is its cost, then the Sentinel agrees." He considered demanding that the magic be cast first, but that seemed unfair--he was an experienced combatant, and he knew that he himself was more likely to be capable of taking his side and then simply fleeing. Lior did not seem... fast. For them to have to cast first, and trust him, well.

For once, his sense of social fair play was strong.

"It is," he began, with a slow and rumbling, rasping monotone, "the magic of Corruption. It is the magic of the Black Spire, and the Altar in the Hole." -Did this sound like interpretive prose yet? "It brings visions of Chaos. Battle. War. It brings great power. It is why the Sentinel always whispers. It is why he is wreathed in shadows." And he was--he, and his halberd, ever-whispering, ever drifting with wisping darkness.

He reached out almost idly, unfurling clawed fingers and grasping for the air.

Almost at once there was a low crack, one of the orb-lights high above reacting to his magic. It did not darken; it flared, flickering and jittering with mad flashes.

This does not normally happen, he thought, having to squint against its brightness. He did his best to incorporate this into his lesson. "...It is chaotic." There, that-... covered it.

"This magic-" ...The light was getting brighter. He paused, and then pushed on. "...touches those caught in its grasp. It-"

It hummed, flaring even more brightly, until it was blinding, cutting through the mists with an intensity it normally never bore. "...turns others to it. Should the creature be caught within its grip. It would change it. It would find itself wreathed in shadows-"

The light, with a sudden second crack, dimmed again.

He had no idea what he'd done, or how.

He did his best to ignore it.

"It may turn water to Oil. It may turn earth to black stone. It may turn flame to black, cold fire, and light to shadow." When magic obeyed, at least. "Yet, the Sentinel does not use magic, as the creature before it does not. The Sentinel fights with weapon, and with claw."

He held the vial out, then. "It will create... rainbows. And then the Sentinel will grant the stone."

That seemed fair.

High above, the dimmed orb-light sputtered one last time.

He waited, watching the rainbow flash dimly across the vial of gray dye he held high. He fell quite still, fascinated, as the light seemed to catch there--the colors settling into the gray, imbuing it with gleaming, prismatic color.

"It is... sufficient," he said, though his tone--such as it was--might be recognizable as pleased. Hunter, he thought, would like this very much.

He tucked away the olivine, offering out the elbaite, as promised. "Should it wish to know more of Chaos. The Chaos Forge of Draco will speak more. Master Vargas..." has better words? He hesitated. How to phrase this...? "...bears more experience."

That would do.

He pushed up, again lifting the new Rainbow Titanium dye to the dim light to examine it. Then he looked to Lior. "Does it require something more." Questions, perhaps, or the like?