It had literally been months since he made any attempt at contacting his previous residence, the Villa in Mystra Amor. Verial had left the Villa with some final parting words to his mother. When the letter he received from King Alerion arrived addressed to his name, Verial did not show her the content. The only other person who ever read it was Calamaya, and mostly because she snatched the parchment out of his hands quicker than a thief.

Though Verial was wary of ever setting foot in Aleris namely because Alerion had mentioned Oneiro, he still went to this newfound land. Verial himself felt he needed a sort of breath of fresh air so to speak. Many things were going on and he needed to clear his head; the land of Mystra always seemed in turmoil and it wasn't helping. However, somehow some part of his being hoped that Aleris would not bring him anymore added trouble.

The last time he had been in Aleris, Maiwen had left with the suddenly returning Geno. Some protective and unwilling fire lashed out at the situation, but this was only inside of Verial and on the outside he just let his sister go with the man he so dearly despised. Really, Verial had no right to tell Maiwen he thought Geno was a low-life piece of shit... But that was done with, and although Maiwen promised she wouldn't stay far from the rest of her family, she had made her choice. Maiwen's lessons with Verial were promptly over and it had given him another reason to leave.

Awkwardness also had settled in with his once, short lived traveling companion, Dalharil Do'Urden, the drow. Letting his feelings slip up for once, he ended up in some half passionate embrace with her by a fire one evening before he realized he was doing the wrong thing. She had left, her thoughts troubled and probably feeling slightly violated or used. Verial didn't know which, but he needed to get away from that also.

Not like leaving with Calamaya had helped him keep up those so delicately designed walls within his soul...

Verial could also understand where his mother was coming from... Living at the Villa had seemed to overwhelm her spirit with nurturing and caring. There were so many people to look after and Verial was always running into someone on some occasion. He needed a place to breathe desperately and he was able to find that to a certain extent here in Aleris.

But here he was, leaning over a piece of parchment paper, quill in hand and writing a note by candlelight addressed to the Villa at Mystra Amor. Calamaya was sleeping in the other room, but he needed to finish this and get the letter out before turning in himself.

---

Dear Mother,

It's time for me to explain to you where I've gone off to. I know I left on such short notice and did not give much reason as to why I was going. But I know you, so you've either figured out why I left or don't mind that I have, as long as I'm alive. I'm still breathing.

Before I left, I received a letter from a man named King Alerion from the realm of Aleris. I wasn't sure why a king was writing to me until I read the words "Oneiro-Zoe." It has come to my attention that Aleris is somehow connected to Oneiro by a gate or portal, if you will. He had requested an audience with me, though I have yet to gotten a chance to meet him.

I am ever hesitant. This place is foreign, yet feels so familiar. Perhaps it is because Oneiro is so close, but I fear what King Alerion wants. I'm not afraid to admit it, honestly. Oneiro has been dead for years and suddenly I am haunted by its ghost because of this man. I'm going to go through with meeting him, but I don't know how much longer I will be waiting. I am still not totally sure how he found out I was the fallen king of Oneiro... I wish he hadn't.

With that said, I was hoping you would come visit me. You, Kyrian, and whoever else would like to accompany you. I miss you and Kyrian the most... I've already spoken to one of the men in charge of travel affairs here at the Aleris' Palace and they've agreed to send word to one of their ships at Mystra's docks. Should you decide to come, they will take you to here.

Either way if you do or do not come to Aleris, Calamaya has been with me and she's making sure I don't continue to be so nervous... and pessimistic. You would be proud of her.

Hope to see you at some point.

With Love,
Verial

---

A short walk led him out of his room in Aleris' Palace and into a room on one of the top most floors. There small windows were open, letting in the cool breeze of an approaching winter. On perches sat ravens that ruffled their feathers and cawed indignantly at Verial as he headed in, each one hoping they wouldn't be picked to deliver the letter in this weather.

Verial walked to one of the birds and held up the parchment. The bird blinked its amber eyes, seemed to take notice of the address on the letter, and then nodded. Verial rolled the letter into a small scroll and tied it to the bird's leg with a ribbon. After the final knot was fastened, the bird took off. From the window Verial watched as the bird became a speck in the distance, hoping it would make it alright.

When the bird was completely gone, Verial stretched his arms and let out a yawn. He was finally tired and so, returned to his room to be with Calamaya in sleep.

True that it had been a while since she had heard word or laid eyes upon her eldest son. The adventurous boy she raised was now a man and no different, as he could never stay fixed in one place. It was as if the air became stale after a while and her odd-eyed child needed fresh to breathe.

Some time had passed, only a few short years. She was alright with her grown children being apart from her, but surely not a moment went by without her missing them. Each one had to make their own way, and those ways often led far from her watchful eyes and guiding hands.

Her youngest son Mythras was nearly three now and to her astonishment Verial's young lad had began to age once again. She could not determine when or how long the growth spurt would last, but was only relieved that it had happened. Kyrian appeared to be a boy of eight years old or so now with his monochrome feathered wings now full and sturdy. Joshua's baby daughter Rook was growing like a weed, not far behind her uncle Myth. Itarilde; being the fae child that she was did not grow as other little girls, but she could fly circles around her beloved pal Kyrian.

The day Verial's winged messenger arrived, the raven flapped impatient wings and squawked loudly for attention until someone answered its cries. It happened to be curious Kyrian to open the back door and see the raven perched on the wood bin. The raven eyed the boy, taking notice how the little person looked like a tinier version of Verial and hopped down upon the boy's shoulder.

Of course young Ky thought his new found raven friend was the cat's meow and carefully walked back into the house to show the next grown-up he came across. The raven needed no one to announce himself as he suddenly flapped, flipped, and swooped off Kyrian's shoulder and onto the kitchen table and helped himself happily to a well deserved crust of bread.

The small commotion drew Sorvynia into her kitchen where upon seeing the raven she immediately noticed the attached scroll. While the raven was feeding his beak she carefully detached the letter much to the relief of the bird and thanked him for his services by allowing him to eat till his gut was content.

The first thing she recognized was the hand writing, and she called out excitedly to anyone who was in ear shot, "Verial has sent a letter!"

Post originally by Character_Joshua DeepSinger

The news of a letter from Verial reached him when Ita came flying through the house calling out to everyone about it. Ita and Kyrian raced each other to reach Sorvynia to go and hear it. He finished dressing Rook and picked his daughter up and then made his way downstairs as well. Rook was dressed in a warm fleece sweater and a pair of doeskin pants he'd made for her. Her dainty feet were covered in soft doeskin boots lined with rabbits fur. Once at the bottom of the stairs, he let her go so she could join the other kids. The last couple of years had been very hard on him, but he pulled through them with the help of his family, and especially his beloved Sabolin.

Noir hadn't showed up for a couple years, but thanks to the mirror that Valentina had given him, he had been able to keep an eye on his real children. His heart was still torn, and he knew it would never heal unless he could get to hold his twins. There would be an ache within his heart and there was no way to mend it. Even with all the comfort Lin and his family provided, he knew that the ache would be there every moment. He didn't even know his twins names, and he longed to name them.

Rook had never met Verial, and he wondered what Verial would think of the fact he now had a daughter. He hadn't seen Verial in some time, nor Angelus either. He missed them both. He still wanted nothing to do with that damned Cyclops! So often he'd been tempted to do some kind of mischief, but now that he had Rook to raise, he'd been forced to grow up rather quickly. Still...he was a young man and he needed some fun in his life. Maybe he would take Lin dancing or something soon.

"Morning, gram`ma!" piped up Rook upon entering the kitchen, smiling. Her ebony hair had been pulled up into pigtails and decorated with pretty ribbons laced through the twin braids, tied at the ends. "Whatcha got?" she asked.

Coming upon Sorvy, he smiled and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "Morning, Ma." Hugging her, he then broke away to get himself a mug of coffee and then helped his siblings and daughter get their drinks. Kyrian and Ita asked for some mixed fruit juice and he decided to try giving Rook some as well. He knew she needed blood, but being that she was tainted like him, she seemed able to tolerate human food. "Let's all sit down and wait for Pa, then I bet we'll hear the news." Not only did he set a glass of juice before Rook, but also a glass of blood and goats milk mixed. "There you go sweetheart." he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. He took a moment to hug the other kids and helped them fix their plates.

"I think Lin is still sleeping. I'll let her sleep a little while longer." Finally sat down once all the kids had their food and drinks, then he looked to Sorvy. "I believe I hear Pa coming. Would you something to drink?" he asked, settling himself in his seat by Rook, who was in her booster chair which he had made. Looking around the table, he wondered if they would ever need a larger dining room table. Picking his mug up, he took a sip of his coffee, wondering what news Verial could have sent. There was one addition to the table this morning and he was surprised who had shown up. He smiled and offered their guest a wave, for he knew the woman and had missed her. "Morning. Long time no see."

Halfway back to the room he was staying in at Aleris' Palace, Verial shrugged off some of the sleep that was plaguing him. It was either insomnia or some random spurt of determination that led a new idea into the already many thoughts swirling inside his head. In the darkness of the dimly candle lit hallways, Verial searched for an answer as to why he had not gone to find King Alerion yet himself. Well, why not? he asked himself. The king had summoned Verial here and all he was doing was waiting for another man who may have well as been a ghost. It may have been late already, but Verial was going to find out some answers as to where the king was.

Throughout the newspapers, whispers, and rumors of the townsfolk of Aleris, many had wondered what happened to their King. Had the goddesses destroyed the one man, their brother, who held them from killing each other? Was he off on some secret mission? Was his absence due to something relating with the gates that connected this seemingly mysterious land of Aleris?

Well, if no one else could answer any of this, Verial was going to figure something out tonight one way or another. What type of man was King Alerion? Was he hiding himself so well that Verial would not be able to even sense the slightest presence? No more stalling, Verial told himself shaking his head. Let's go.

It's good to see you taking some initiative, his dragon soul spoke quietly from within Verial. I was almost starting to think it was getting rather boring around here.

Well, Verial replied, we're about to either get thrown out of the castle for snooping around or get some answers. Let's see what we can find...

Verial made a turn from the archway he was standing underneath and walked back down the hallway. He had spent a few months in Aleris by now to know the royal quarters were help high up inside the castle and at the north end of the castle. However, Verial was not sure which rooms King Alerion would have frequented. The only thing he could go by was that he was once a king himself so he had some inkling of where a leader figure would retreat to for privacy.

The most obvious start would be his bedroom. When Verial climbed the hallway to his destination, there were no servants lingering about. This led him to believe mostly everyone staying in this side of the castle was asleep already. At the end of the hall were two oak double doors, their thick layers surrounded by the cold stone walls of the castle. Leaning against this door, Verial let his elven side do the work here. As he listened intently, Verial could pick up no audible sound coming from within the room; no talking, no movement, no breathing. Only the recognizable sound of wind fluttering underneath the silken curtains.

As it seemed like a safe idea for now, Verial turned the knobs to the doors, somewhat surprised to find they were left unlocked. Perhaps the man did not intend to come back at all and left it that way. Verial stepped into room, which may have been the size of his mother's entire house back at the Villa. Above the main floor of the room, was half a floor shaped into a semi circle balcony that held the King's bed. On the lower section of the room were all of his personal things like a desk littered with paperwork, the most ornate plush couch Verial had ever seen, and even an ebony piano that glittered in the darkness of the room.

Verial began his search for some sign that life had been within this room in the last few days or weeks. Verial checked the desk and shuffled through some of the papers finding no letters received recently since he had came to Aleris. The ink was dry on the quill the king wrote with and the spare parchment in the drawer had been untouched.

The closets held no answers, because the man still had so much clothing that Verial could not tell if he had taken anything at all. Verial walked up to the balcony in the upper half of the room where the king's bed was and leaned over to look. No sign of disturbed blankets or no imprint that a body had been laying on the mattress. Not even a hair on the pillow. Either some one was really good at cleaning up, or the king had not been here in a very long time.

After another good hour, and by his surprise he had not been disturbed, Verial had found not sign or trace of King Alerion's mark. Moving on to other rooms, the King's Study also left no clues as well as the Royal Armory. Verial had even tried moving some of the books and searching around the corners of the marble floor tiles for some sort of secret passage.

Pausing outside the door of the Royal Armory, Verial closed his eyes for a moment and thought back to his days when he served as king in Oneiro. For days he would have stayed in his study when he needed privacy, but searching the King's Study showed him no answers. Then again, maybe Alerion was not like him at all and Verial had assumed too much. Maybe the man liked to dwell in the darkest reaches of the castle instead?

Stepping out of the hallway, Verial started his descent down towards the cellars of the castle. Back in Oneiro, not many had frequented the cellars of the castle, except his nephew Tehran and Verial still had his guesses as to what he was doing down there. Verial passed the Imperial Hall which a few people and servants were roaming about. Off in the corner two old men played a game of chess and a young man and woman talked next to a window.

Verial passed through the kitchens to get to the hallway where his trip down to the cellar would begin. Following a path past the kitchen, Verial headed down a set of steps that twisted around for what seemed like approximately ten floors or so. Meeting the bottom of the steps finally, Verial turned his attention to a candle in its holder hanging from the hallway. Verial took the candle holder and walked further into the reaches of the cellar.

Passing many unknown boxes stacked on top of each other and old armor rusting away in corners, Verial at last reached the end of the room where another door was partially hidden in the corner. Holding his candle up somewhat, Verial reached for the knob but this one would not budge. Leaning his pointed ear against the door, Verial was about to let himself be content that his journey down here was for naught, when he heard it. An audible shuffle from within the door. Some one or something was in there.

Post originally by Character_Tehran

Tehran had grown much in strength since the goddess of Dark, Calypso, decided to set the madman free from his confines of jail. No longer a walking corpse, having maggots crawl in recesses, he almost looked normal. He had much healing to do, but his mind was as sharp as ever and physical strength almost at peak. It was not easy for him to regain his wit and prowess, having to hunt the smallest of game to learning how to do simple spells all over again. Once Tehran had passed the learning curve, the rate to which he absorbed things rose exponentially.

That was precisely what he was doing in the confines of the deepest recesses of Aleris's palace. Studying was his passion, to gain any knowledge that could best his opponent and would go to any measure in order to acquire it. With his feet propped up on the table, Tehran would throw a glance to the man lying dismembered on the floor and a frown would mar his features at the sight. “If only that guard would have cooperated, I might have left him alive. But alas, his sole duty in life was to protect the ancient magics. Now I have this mess to clean up.” One of Tehran's characteristics was procrastination over things that he did not deem as important, so he left the corpse there as he continued his studies despite his vampiric instincts begging him to quench his thirst. It was after a few days that this desire plus the repulsive smell clouded his mind to the point where he could not soak in anymore information. With an elongated sigh from his pale lips, Tehran muttered to himself, “And so clean-up begins.”

When Tehran gave in to his vampiric nature, he becomes a completely different person until that hunger is satiated. Normally a cool and calculating person, Tehran was ravenous as he began to lap up the pool of blood – draining the corpse until every speck of blood was coursing through Tehran. This was a rather large man and his blood was most delectable and filling. After this tasty meal was over with, Tehran assumed his normal self and stared down upon the man's face; frozen into a horrified state. This only prompted a smirk to appear on his lips, pleased with the idea that even a giant of a man could not have a honorable death around him.

Now came the part that Tehran did not find as fulfilling, for he was no cannibal by nature. It was done only as needed, in order to keep living his life full of secrecy until he felt it was ready to assume his natural form. During his many months of study, he came across a tome that taught him how to shape shift. Drinking their blood would unfortunately not be enough, instead the spell required to eat a part of their brain in order to assume their mannerisms and personality. And so the ritual began with a slice of the knife. He kept his golden eyes squeezed shut as he muttered the ritual to himself until it was completed.

As if fortune was on his side, Tehran completed the ritual as he heard a set of footsteps enter the room next to him. “Perhaps this one will comply with my demands, the stash is simply getting overwhelming.” With a small incantation spoken underneath his breath, the half-vampire began to feel his limbs shift until the likeness between him and the corpse on the floor was uncanny. “Perfect, just perfect. Everything is falling into place.” A few tugs were given, and soon the man's parts were stuffed into the closet behind him just as everyone else had been. Before he went to go greet the person on the other side of the door, another spell was cast over the closet to keep the smell out. After all, Tehran didn't want the visitor to be suspicious.