Ray

Ray crouched, letting a circle of glitter form around him as he tried to get a feel of the stalemate going on.

“Agal aavsho to u tamne mare daish” the boy said as Ray felt a burst of emotion emerge from the boy as his telepathic abilities suddenly returned. The Fae’s telepathic strength seemed to vary randomly, very powerful at times and weak at others. Perhaps it had something to do with his own emotions, or it was just the transformation stage.

But it did remind Ray that he might have another ability, telepathy. THe only problem was that he hadn’t used it before.

The boy said something else in his language as the cylindrical object glowed redder. Ray had no idea what it meant, was it going to kill him? Was it some kind of message? Ray could just attack, but if the objects were powerful weapons then he would be dead. For the first time in his life, Ray was unable to communicate with someone. ANd in a deadly situation to boot.

But not for long, Ray focused on the boy’s head, attempting to use telepathy. How did you do it anyway? An almost audible pop sounded in Ray’s head, as if his magic was responding to his intent, and giving him a way to use his power.

A tunnel of sorts appeared, leading inside the boy’s head. Ray entered, finding himself…still in the same room. The ability thankfully didn’t impair his comprehension of the surroundings.

“Why did you attack me?” Ray said, trying to communicate his communication.

The reply was in the form of confusion, a sense of puzzlement that told Ray that the boy was still unable to understand him.

“Su keva mago cho?” then as if he had just realised something he continued, “Aa urga vaparni chalu rakhsho to topo tamne mari nahshe.”

An image of the cylindrical objects releasing a much larger projectile towards a glowing object was transmitted back with the words, giving Ray some hope. The boy’s thoughts were still in the other language, but they could convey images. Now if only he understood what the image was trying to say.

Ray sent back an image of him defending Nora against the boy as he sent out projectiles, trying to convey that he would not leave without her.

The answer was not quite what he expected. An image of the glowing object against Ray, a question mark in between. A question. But Ray had no idea of what the question was. What did he want to ask? Was Ray the glowy object? Why would Ray be glowy- oh. The Fae were energy…what if that was what the guy was seeing? Mana was energy too…did the guy think Ray was an attack?

Ray sent an image of him and fire heading towards the boy with a question mark in between. The image caused an immediate outburst of anger in the boy, confusing Ray even more. Why was he angry now? The cylindrical objects glowed even more as Nor looked between the two of them rapidly, trying to figure out what was going on. Ray almost slapped himself, why didn’t he think of cluing her in?

But he didn’t have the time to wait anymore, the boy had already answered, causing him to focus there.

The image of the boy burning and that of a projectile with a question mark between them appeared, puzzling Ray for a second. Wait, did the guy think that Ray was talking about burning him? Well that explained why the guy was angry.

Ray tried to think of an appropriate response, hmm, what could convey…arrows! An image of a ball descending down the cliff, followed by a red circle which then pointed to Ray’s image…no, even Ray could tell that wasn’t clear.

How the heck could he convey things without a language-wait. A language. Ray could substitute words for images. Hmm, how do you say ‘do you think i was an attack’ in images?

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'Do you' could be told with a question mark. A question mark followed by Ray’s picture and then…he failed. How did he convey the next thing? Hmm, him hurtling down? But that might not be conveyed well either. What should he do?

The boy sent a series of image, that of a ball of energy growing larger and larger as the cylindrical attacked and killed it…followed by an image of some kind of notification, that said something in some language, and then beside it, in Inglish it said, “imminent attack, termination in progress, press key to engage!”

And then an image of the ball of energy surrounded in a red rectangle. Ray let the glitter fall away, returning to normal. So, there was some INglish here, that meant that once upon a time people here spoke Inglish.

But the previous image had given him an idea, an idea that he didn't need anymore cause he already had the answer to his question. Yes, the boy did think of him as a ball of energy. And he better tell that to Nora soon because she looked like she wanted to kill someone.

Ray repeated the process he had done before, only to find that he was unable to make a connection with her. The second he tried to, it felt as if the connection he had with the boy would begin stretching, threatening to break in two. So, he could only establish one connection at a time. Well at least he and Nora spoke the same language.

“Don’t attack, he thought I was an attack!” Ray shouted, regretting the words even as they came out of his mouth, Where did he leave his vocabulary?

“ What?” Nora asked, her shock screeching through Ray’s telepathic senses.

“I, ugh, communicated with him?” Ray answered hesitantly, not sure how he should frame his sentence. For some reason he was having trouble grasping the language.

“I know that Ray, please open your mouth and speak your words.” Nora said.

Ray gulped his face burning red as the boy looked at them, apparently fascinated by their interaction. At least someone was getting some fun out of thi.

“The cave uses some kind of detection system that detected me to be a ball of energy and decided that I was an attack. The boy here” - Ray pointed at the person in question- “ was just reacting.”

“Ok…and you’re just going to believe him? Just like that? Don’t you think he could be lying?” Nora asked, sounding suspicious.

Ray paused, considering his actions, they seemed so natural while he was doing them, but now that he thought about them, they seemed so…off. Why did he even try communicating with the boy in the first place? A few days ago he would have rushed to attack him, but now he’d chosen to communicate instead. Why? What had made him take such an action?

Was it just some odd action? Or did it have something to do with his path Fae of peace? The path did focus on negotiating and not killing without having due reason. Was it actually influencing him?

“...Ray? The cannons are still pointed at you, you know. I would suggest you start caring a bit more.” Nora said, resting her hands at her hips as she stared at him.

“No it’s just…I think we should trust him. I don’t think he’s lying, or that you even can lie in the way we were communicating” Ray said.

“ And you’re willing to bet our lives on this?” Nora asked, still staring at him.

“Well, that’s a hard question to ask.” Ray answered, an idea suddenly occuring to him.

First he sent an image of the INglish lettering, with an arrow pointing to him and Nora speaking, trying to convey that it was teh language that they spoke. Ad after that, an image of the letters, now with an arrow pointing at the boy, with a question mark next to it.

The boy tilted his head for a second, hopefully trying to understand what he was trying to understand what RAy was trying to say.

“Na, mane to nathi aavadtu.” the boy replied before going behind some of the cylindrical objects. Ray tried to follow, only to find them pointing at him. Nora snickered before following, the cylindrical objects barely even noticing her.

“Just stay there little ball of energy, you’re too dangerous to be allowed in.” Nora said as she followed the boy in, daggers levitating in the air, ready to end the poor boy's life.

Ray looked around awkwardly in the room, waiting for them to come back. The room wasn’t quite as threatening now that it was empty and the objects had stopped glowering at him. Hmm, glowering, he liked that definition of what they were doing. Just felt appropriate.

Ray continued his touring, keeping an eye on the objects that travelled along with him But they didn’t seem too interested in shooting him for now, though that might change. Perhaps he could disengage them from here? Ray looked around for a solution, finally setting his eyes on a large box-like table.

The table was smooth to touch, but didnt feel different than any stone Ray had touched before. Perhaps the carvings were a little more uniform than he was used to, but that was still normal among artefacts made with magic.

And then, just because things just had to become more random, the table began glowing.