"Tarphus! Today is the day for your awakening!" An older man walked out into a large clearing; he bowed respectfully before entering this hallowed place.
He could hear the occupants' giggling nearby, which is one of the reasons he hated coming here. "The borrrrriiiing one is here." a high-pitched voice almost screamed in his ear; pixies the man thought they were tiny, around six to eight centimeters tall. Half that wide... broad for their size, the beady little eyes trail on the old man.
He then looked up and spoke, "Young Master Tarphus, where is he? It is his awakening, and since this is an important day, I would suggest that you lead me to him." So, the man waves his cane towards the flying bugs. They chitter away from him until he brings out a small jar with a mischievous grin; the fairies look at the pot with a need in their eyes.
"This goes to whoever guides me to the young master." The pixies were beside themselves. Some just flew off; others tried to talk their fellows out of this foolery, but a few looking at the jar with such hunger the older man knew he would have a taker. So, he approached one of the insects, a smaller one, and crouched down so he could look it into its beady compound eyes.
"Hello, little one." The old man smiled, though it did not reach his eyes. "Would you like to guide me to my master? I could guarantee you that this small jar of honey will be all yours." the pixies nodded, eyes locked on the jar. It landed on his shoulder and started pointing a path. The older man liked his guide, and he did not talk. This gave him time to think about the horrid state of affairs that plagued the town, kidnappings, the bakery burned down, how Sir Kimmilt got murdered in his own house.
The horrid rumors spread about his master. The grip he had on his cane tightened as he remembered the brutal torture scene he witnessed with the master's wife all across the room, with sigils burnt into her flesh. These events caused him to pause the young master's awakening to find a secure place for the ritual; thankfully, the Duke allowed them to postpone the whole celebration.
His master, Lord Cullivan, a kind fool, allowed his fellows the opportunity to send their brats to the ritual and even some merchants. He chuckled at the thought of those foppish meritless fools strutting into his master's domain. The pixie cued in on his joy and raised an eye stock; he then commented, "Sir Cullivan has given his blessing to have the noble brats awaken." He tried to ignore the horrid way it cleaned those damn eyes.
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It took several minutes before he could hear the laughter of his charge; he gritted his teeth. The fairies were here, he could tell by the otherworldly laughter that joined the young master's. Then, he finally handed the jar to the pixie as he saw his master and ignored that it struggled to open the jar.
The boy was significant in his height and girth, though the older man knew how he trained and gained muscles under all that fat. The boy had Blonde Hair with speckles of deep green; his eyes held such hope, it was that spark that caused the older man to pause. He hated his job as much as he hated this forest; it was such a painful reminder every time came here.
He knocked on a nearby tree to catch the boy's attention. "Young Master, as much as I am reluctant to come here, I must take you to the awakening ceremony. You know that this is not something you can ignore." The Tarphus smiled, saying, "Understood, master Udera." Then, Tarphus bowed to a large female sitting at around two and a half meters tall, "Another time, mother?"
As this was happening, something strange started to occur in the town of Cullivan; the stench of this alleyway usually would only be that of piss and drugs. Instead, however, the horrid smell of copper was profuse in the air.
A black-robed man chuckled as he left the alleyway wiping the blood off of his hands; he looked around with a beaming smile. He then turned toward the alleyway and whispered, "Y̷̤̲̓͋̏͛Ó̵̙̘̤̾̈́̀Ụ̷̭̘̍R̴̥̪̬̀ ̶͇̎͂̐M̵̛̹̦̤͚͘A̸̮͇̺̒̈́͗S̷̭͙͕̊͂͜T̸̰̹́͊Ẽ̷͔̞͝R̵̨̅̅̔͝ ̷̢͌͝C̸͎̐͝A̴̝̹͊̃̄̂Ľ̴̡̛͚͜L̶̨͔̺̰̏̾̿S̷̟͈̤̪̑́̉,̵̘̱̃̿̅̍ ̸̤̈́Y̸̠̓̀͛O̸̦͈͎̾̄̌̂Ù̵̻̐͂̌ ̸̮̮̳͐W̷̥̊̀̉͝Ǐ̶̥̬̳̘̊͐Ľ̵͍̒͒L̷͓̺̦͆̈͂͒ ̶̺͚̐A̷̝̘̗̟̐N̸̢̍̐͆̒S̵̛̟̱͉͔̅W̵̬̓̔̇Ē̵̹̈R̷̪̹͐͂̚.̶̢̞͔̈́" a blue light grows, and flashes as tiny blob rolls out of a small fist-sized crack, in reality. The man waved his hand before something else could come out of there.
"Good, Hythane take the form of a Blue Jay; they are popular here." The blob wriggled and writhed, twisting its form until it looked like an albino blue jay, but it had glowing blue eyes instead of pink. The man nodded, then spoke.
"The changer has given me sight, and I will use it to allow his armies this town… if you do as I say, you will become a proper lesser demon, not some sludge that the master produces as a by-product of his area, so what say you, will you light the pyres?"
The bird nodded as its head twisted 480 degrees in a fluid motion, there would be a sound of bones cracking, and blood would spray if this were an ordinary bird. So, the man lifted the creature, and it took off towards its next destination. "Ah, now I must lay the groundwork and protect it to keep the golden one from interfering. Hahaha, he is so busy with that galaxy of his. That I might be spared and blessed by the powers."