Hours after Darnath and Gentil had given Jackary the box he had asked for, the Mage snuck into his newly appointed room at Flynn's estate. He sat on the bed and stared at the familiar carvings, the engraving that he had done himself so many ages ago it seemed. There the box sat on the bed before him and yet all he could do was stare.

Blue fire... The Orc said he saw blue fire...

With a deep, cautious inhale, fingers reached forward from their curious caress along the wood and began to flick the bindings to unlock the intricate design, pushing the lid open ever so slowly. Within the dark room that Jack sat in, the light source that came from the opening container was nearly blinding. The item inside, however...

It stole Jack's very breath.

His heart skipped a beat when eyes began to adjust to the sight of something so dear, so precious to him that he could barely function. Beating within the box was indeed the blue flame that everyone had spoken of; the warmth radiated around the male as each flicker of his own rapidly sped up heartbeat seemed to follow the rhythm of the object in the box.

"Why...?" He questioned under his breath while tears began to form. "Why did you throw it away...?" As Jack spoke to what seemed like no one in particular, hands cupped the glimmering light, hoisting the warm sphere from it's resting spot. He struggled to breathe once it was within his touch... His grasp... It was right there.

"Why did you put it in a box.... Where did you go...?" He tried to reason with logic as the half of his soul that he had given to his previous mate sat there within his palms, still beating and still very much alive. He'd been filled with doubt for days and now that he had Kaarasu's half of him returned, something inside of him began to crack and break, shattering into nothing more than broken pieces.

"You would have never been so careless... Never so cruel, no matter what anyone said... Why, Kar.... Why would you ever just leave like this...? Were you keeping it safe for me? Were you taken away or did you leave on your own..?" Jack swallowed hard, not even bothering to hold back his frown or tears that had already started to drip down his cheeks. Guilt saturated his entire being.

Perhaps Jackary should have closed the door completely as he softly sobbed and leaned in, holding a gift that had meant the world to his own species to give. His Raven was gone and it was something that he could never get back. Not in this world. He didn't care if anyone watched him do it, he didn't care that there could have been spies feasting their gaze on the Magister's wounded secret.

With choked back noises of pain, Jack finally brought the flame closer to himself and then up to his mouth. To swallow such a thing was excruciating, he nearly choked on it. So.... He thought, this is why we only give it once...

When the two halves rejoined deep within his body, he allowed his hand to hover over his glowing chest, the scene that radiated within him was enough to light up his entire form within the darkness, pulsing with his fickle heart. His chokes struggled further and airways restricted while his body was finally repairing itself, rejecting the part of the Magister that was simply no more.

What began to bellow from his parted lips had been a mist of white essence and with each passing second, the more he breathed and choked out, the more it began to form into a sphere of white flames. When all was said and done, tear-filled eyes came face to face with the last of Jackary's innocence hovering in front of him. The dimmed light struggled to stay alive.

"I understand.... What I have to do to assure that you do not succumb to such a dark fate... Tainted as I am... You are still pure.... Hang in there..." Through sniffles and struggling limbs, crashing noises came from Jack's room while he tried to assure he had everything. His rune-laced tome that served as a diary was flipped open, pages flicked until they revealed the correct page he desired.

Other items clanked as they were spread onto the bed. Runestones, a vial of glowing sand, a raven's feather and other such trinkets started to litter the cleaned sheets. "Just a bit longer..." He murmured and with a cautious, graceful wave of his hand, he summoned the white essence to the center of the collection.

Eyes gazed over the sketches and words on the paper until he flicked to the next page, his shaken hands nearly ripped part of the page on accident. "... H-Here...." Uncorking the vial of shimmering sands, it was littered into a runic pattern, flawless in design to match that on the page.

"The Sands of Time to control the fate..."

Runestones of each element were put into place, instantly lighting up when the smooth pebbles made contact with the granules.

"Each element summoned to bind the gate..."

The Raven's feather was settled against the center of the forming rune symbol, hardly even caring if the lights had begun to flicker in the house from the powerful arcane that was surrounding his room.

"A Raven's feather on winds doth roam..."

As the incantation rendered a swirling vortex to finally open up such a powerful gate, the magic and effort alone lit up the dragon's eyes in a wild emerald glow. It took everything he had to finally escort the last of the white purity of his own body to coil around the feather that had succumbed to vertically hover within the center.

"With final memory... Take thee home."

The sounds of the portal howled through the room, muffled by surprisingly thin walls. He watched while the feather soak in the white glimmer before it turned as snowy as an owl's, pure as the first Winter's day. Within the vortex of the Sands of Time, Jackary swallowed hard when the items he had held onto long enough and for so long finally faded into the nothingness, vanishing inside the portal Jack had spent years on with research. Such a grand design had been meant to take Jackary from the world he was now stuck in. It was his final ticket to where he had once desired to go.

When the lights of the portal started to fade, it left the Mage with an empty feeling deep within himself. He sat there, staring at the mess of runes and sand that were all burned and black. All of his conjuring, all of his spell collecting and research... It was true. It had been a one-time deal. For the life of him.... He couldn't remember why he had just made a mess on the bed.

Through the threads of fate and time, a snowy raven's feather flickered around the portal, retracing each and every step the Mage ever took to get him to where he was. Each fight, each spell cast, each visit to the Spirit Healer and soon, the feather pulled away from Jackary's timeline and latched onto something or someone else's. The feather was going home to the winds it belonged to.

Upon it... Jackary's memories and now lost innocence.

To save himself and those around him, he had saved a dying part of his inner being. He was now whole again and he had hoped that whatever the purpose of the spell he had just conjured was worked... For everyone's sake. Fingers reached up to rub at his eyes firmly, wanting to wave away the strange stinging.

Within the warm bellows of the lava-ridden caves and through the steam that they produced each passing moment that a snowflake drifted too far into the warm ravine had sat a silhouette of someone the world once knew far differently. Bare feet had been firmly patting themselves on the blackened ground while the Magister stayed sitting upon the very edge of the molten river through the Garrison, watching the glistening heat source. Arms had wrapped around his legs in which toned biceps flexed to pull his limbs closer, just enough to rest his chin atop them.

"You look like you haven't a friend in the world," came a deep voice, however the emerald-tipped ears of the Mage only flicked from it, recognizing the scent of who lingered far before any sound had been made.

"That bad?" Jack let out a faint joke, his gaze lifted to a strangely darkened corner to watch the lurking creature that had taken a position there.

"Worse, really." Darkness swirled from it's hiding place in which each step forward solidified the tainted mist into a small rogue, arms had already folded across his well decorated chest. "How long are you going to hide in my Garrison, Jack?"

The Mage throught over the question, hardly seeming put off by it, for no malice or disappointment came from either tone. "I would assume that the moment you got sick of anyone here in your sanctuary, you'd kick them out" was all he could reply with, even if jaded hues lifted to finally meet an even gaze with Lokitan. "Does it bother yo---"

"Not really," Loki cut his cousin off as each boot took a step forward, pivoting on the heels once he was close enough to ease himself down. The dark-haired male had been dwarfed by the blonde next to him in size alone, however both of their visions finally turned to the lava in front of them.

They hadn't even spoken since their last fight.

The tension grew in the air within their silence, both held their breath as if waiting for the other to say something first, but it was finally Lokitan who closed his single eye, exhaling his words.

"I'm sorry.... About what I said." He began, draping his leather-clad arms over bent knees to take in the warmth around them. "I was out of line. I know you've stuck by me since the beginning and never questioned my commands or actions. I should have been more sympathetic about you losing your Soulsworn."

Jack blinked at the words, eyes slightly widened as he watched his Prince give out a humble apology, the act alone caused his ears to slowly lower in surprise but more so he was waiting for the reprocussions. Loki didn't hand out words like that for just any reason.

Lokitan hadn't even looked to see if his cousin was paying attention or not, he only drew in another breath to continue his thoughts. "It was incalled for and I shouldn't have told you to get over it. I know I didn't when I lost mine... I took us away from people you had made friends with to come through a portal... And reunite with my own. I saw your notes, Jack... I know that you've been studying portals and time travel again, just like I did."

A hitched breath drew itself in through Jack's nose as lips pursed tightly to keep the lower tier from trembling. Soon the Battle Mage's vision was off of the man's face back back in front of him again, even if his eyes had begun to slowly glisten from gathering tears. "I..."

The dark, tiny figure inhaled deeply while he finally lifted his crimson gaze to the male at his side, the seriousness of the topic and the pain through his words apparent, even as he held himself together. It was the one question he had and for days, Loki had pined for the answer. He needed to know.

"... Are you going to do it?"

Unaware that the words had finally released a set of warm tears, Jackary stared quietly to the shorter male, a look of guilt washed over his face as lips frowned, biting down harder to keep themselves closed. What was he to say? His heart ached and even through their bound marks, they could feel each other's pain and sympathy, but most of all, they could feel one another's fear.

When no answer was given, Lokitan's ears drooped, silently begging to know for the answer. He'd been inwardly thankful that between his bangs and the mask on his face, it had hidden away the facial expression, but there was no hiding how he felt upon the inside about it. "Are you...?"

"I... I don't know!" Jack quipped out, his voice squeaked in near failure.

"I don't know... I don't even know where he is..."

The words drew Loki's mind further into knowing that his only blood family he had left, the only person who had brought him to Azeroth, was thinking about going off to find something. To find someone else who had become more important than the Rogue's own selfish desires. Both soon turned back to look at the lava while they could feel each other's heartache, the lump in each of their throats of not knowing what to say. "If you did...? If you knew which ones to activate...? Would you go find him...?"

"I'd ask wouldn't you, but we both already know what you did to come back to yours..." Jack replied with a soft sniffle, ignoring the tears that had by now begun to freely steam down his face.

Lokitan drew in a slow breath and held it, willing the tears within his own vision not to fall. There was a time and place for that and this moment had not been that time. "I'm sorry I've dragged you around Jack. Thrown you to the wolves, yelled at you, fought with you... I'm sorry I killed your wife and I'm sorry that she did horrible things to you. I'm sorry Kaarasu left... I..."

"Loki..." Jack tried to hushhis younger family, having wanted to give words of comfort but his own voice failed him. Not only that, but he had struggled to keep his own inner faith.

"I've done nothing but drag you away from the people you love. It's been selfish and it would be selfish to beg you to stay here with me. I... I know we're both not going to make it through this war." Lokitan confessed openly which pushed a few drops of saline from the corners of his eyes that he tightly closed. "I know we're going to die. I want you to be able to spend the last of your days being happy and with the one person who had managed to capture your broken heart again."

Jack was quick to advert his gaze in which his palm lifted to press firmly under his eyes, annoyed at the amount of tears that had blurred his vision. He had wanted to come back with a retort, but he found himself at a loss for words.

"You deserve... To for once in your life finally be happy with your mate." the Rogue's words were soft and under his breath as his head hung low, black claws for his hands moved to push through the short locks of hair on the back of his head. "To finally know the taste of love.... and if I... If I can help..."

The words faded into the silence once more while both sat quietly, unable to lift their tear-filled vision back at each other, for they both knew what they were thinking. Jack's eyes eased closed to finally surrender their fading will to stay open and face the world any longer. "If this is our last breaths on Azeroth..." Jackary managed within the frozen air around them. ".. Wouldn't it be best if I stayed with my family instead...?"

No verbal reply was given, for not even the leader of Chaoti knew the answers anymore. Fear had forced him to succumb to silence, doubt and sadness filled his heart that beat in time with his cousin's own shattered soul. How could he have ever asked the man to stay when it was so obvious that the Mage was hurting? He couldn't, for he had already asked too much of him.

For once, neither of them had an answer for one another and in their solitude, all that Lokitan could do was flop into the direction of his older cousin and moved to rest his head on the male's shoulder. Jack glanced at the action, not bothered by the weight of the small figure curled against him. He allowed his head to tilt down, pressing his nose into the messy locks of blue and black hair to nuzzle through the tresses.. A soft noise escaped Jackary's throat, a gentle humming from a song he used to sing so long ago as if doing such would relax the Shadow's heart and ease the ache pulsing within. Little to his surprise, it had begun to work.

It's been a long time since I've opened this old tome. Even now, nothing is the same. The attack on the Portal forced me to realize that I cannot live in the past forever. It has dawned on me, clear as day...

I am dying.

Immortality is nothing without a Soulsworn's company. Kaarasu has since been lost in the chaos of time, I fear he's fallen into a malfunctioned portal. I've been studying them in desperation to find him.... I have not succeeded. My heart grows weary, tired. My soul that lay rest in the locket around his neck is gone and I can feel it slipping further and further away. A void of which I cannot control.

I would be lying if I said I did not miss his company. I have not tasted such pain and loss since Zaera's death. Each day that passes, I've come to accept more and more that what fate has given me. He is gone. I am alone.

With the Dark Portal ruined and the time continuum of this world in peril, I can feel myself and the other Chaoti slipping from this realm. As time is altered, those of which were effected by certain events are dying out. I, too, and disappearing. The thought is depressing and I dare not whisper such things to those around me. Instead I will smile and watch over those I have come to guard.

That is what the Guardians of Chaoti do. after all. We speak of no pain, no torment. We only give our lives and skill to those that need us most until our last breath is taken away. That is something I must remind myself of, once more. For this, I have stepped up and taken training again. I will require the use of my scythe, for this war is one for our survival.

looks good!

femmjp replied to your post: The theme has been updated any feedbac...

Looks great!

its even funnier because 90% of the people on here that make white people jokes ARE white and just make them to look cool

burn the school