LadyMara
Loyal Servant of Altera
Oops, didn't know it was THAT long... 
Hope you enjoy reading this wall of text
Name:
Semaira (pronounced Sémai-è-r-á and the closest translation is Mirror) Lageviãin (pronounced Lageví-ai-ìn) – Noldor (formerly August)
Nickname/Alias:
Lady Mara or just Mara
Age:
21
Gender:
Female
Race:
Human (sort of)
Height:
1.65m
Weight:
You’re asking a girl about her weight?? (about 50kg)
Hair:
Long dark blond/brown hair, but not entirely straight.
Eyes:
Very blue eyes, light around the pupil, darker on the edges, with a slit pupil, like a cat. When you look too long at her eyes, the only thing you see is yourself staring into emptiness.
Skin:
Normal, maybe a bit pale.
Identifying Marks:
Her eyes, beware of drowning!
Appearance:
Mara is rather small, she usually wears a grey/black clothing (makes you hard to see at night). Sometimes she’s seen wearing a blue or purple dress matching her eyes.
Strengths:
Mara is smart, curious and absolutely not afraid of heights. She can fight, but rather runs (most thieves are cowards), which means she can run very fast.
Weaknesses and fears:
Mara is rather shy and doesn’t know what to say half of the time. Sometimes she has her brave moments, but most of the time not. When she feels comfortable in a conversation or with a person, she’ll talk more. And sometime her curiosity is a weakness as well, when she finds out more than is healthy.
But most of all is she afraid of zombies (and endermen since she’s on Altera).
Religion and cults:
In her homeland she worshiped the Lord of Fate, but he has no powers on Altera. She has not found a new religion yet.
Profession:Former thief, now builder/gather for the Heavens’ Reach builders guild
Backstory:
My name is Semaira Lageviãin, which just means that I am Semaira from Lageviã, the big port city at the Eastern Sea of my birth country. Since my birth I’ve been a member of the Cat, my clan and the Thieves Guild.
I guess this asks for an explanation. The people in my birth country are born in clans. We all have a big tattoo on our back of our totem. We are born with this mark. Beside this mark, every clan has a “talent”, sometimes positive, like an affinity for magic, ruling or prophecy, and sometimes negative, like thieving, spying or even dark magic.
The Cat is a thieves clan, we are born to steal.
I started as a pickpocket, running through the crowd on the many marketplaces in town en over the docks with my friends. We just saw it as a funny game. Sometimes we made a competition who had the most things stolen at the end of the day. And sometimes we dared each other to steal from the cityguards or the High Questioner’s men. I ended up in jail on time. I had to be freed by my father. After that, teasing guards was over for a long time.
But later he said that we all have to learn. “Better end up in jail when you’re young and looking innocent, then over a few years and they want to lock you up forever.” I took that to heart, and it never happened again.
Later I learned all other tricks, picking locks, opening doors and windows, not being seen in the dark, climbing roofs, which are known as the Thieves Highway, and many more usefull things.
Soon it was obvious I was good at stealing. This was probably just me, but my friends always said I was lucky with my kind of cat, a Siamese. They said Siamese cats are smarter and more curious than other cats. I’m not sure if it’s true. I only know I owe my blue eyes and slightly pointed ears to this. And it’s true that I’m curious.
Anyway, I’m wandering off my story as usual.
When I was about twelve years old, my magical powers awoke. That practically meant I had enough power to light a candle. But better, I finally could use my eyes to see in the dark, like a real cat. That made the sneaking around at night much easier.
In those days, thins were a great adventure, but no longer a game. It was my job. And when you’re raised as a thief, it never occurs to you it’s wrong to steal.
Fights with the Merchants Guild, the Duke’s guards and the servants of the High Questioner were common those days.
That was when I was fifteen and for the first time went into the dungeons of the Questioners, but not because I was caught, I was there to free others, like my father had freed me once.
Then I suddenly started to wonder, why are there dungeons? But after the kick of freeing my fellow thieves, I banned that question to the back of my mind.
It took a while, before it occurred to me again that perhaps the things I considered normal, were wrong. It was the day I did something I regret still and hate myself for, but I’m also proud of doing that, cause it was the right thing to do.
My brother, a Black Cat, and assassin, had been acting strange for weeks. I just thought it was because of his last mission, which almost ended up wrongly. His victim had almost killed him instead.
I observed him since that day, seeing things that made me feel there was something not right,
not right at all. The first thing I noticed was his new dagger, made of black steel with strange blue gems. I had seen a lot of different gems by that day, but these ones were new to me. The blue seemed to live, shifting color and stirring. Suddenly I remembered what it was, it was frozen life energy. But I didn’t dare to ask him where he got it.
The second thing I noticed was that the dagger didn’t affect him. It should have affected him. I had once touched a dagger like his. It made me feel faint and I almost lost consciousness after a while holding it. Those daggers pull the life-energy out of you, until you there’s nothing left of you but ashes. Only Elves, because they were created by Dragons, Nightnimfs, because they are half demons, and dark magicians can hold them without being killed within a short time.
But he held the dagger, without being hurt at all….
That night he asked me to come with him on a mission. We had to get into a storage in the harbor and steal some particular things. Near midnight we went into the city. I followed my brother over the rooftops. I still watched him very careful.
“You’re silent, little one.” he said suddenly. I almost fell of the roof, he had not called me “little one” for years!
“There’s nothing to talk about.” I said. “I rather not betray myself with senseless chatter.”
“As you wish.” He jumped of the roof and ran into an alley. I easily followed him. He stopped in front of a large storagebuilding.
“Here we are, now the only thing left is to open this lock, find the stuff and get out of here.” he said, almost to himself. He placed his hand on the lock. A bright, blue and black flame burst from his hand and almost melted the lock. I looked at him in horror. What I saw… Without hesitation a took the molten lock from the remains of the door, it wasn’t hot strangely enough, and started to run.
I heard him yell after me, but I kept running. He did not follow me, I heard no footsteps in the streets.
Before I knew it, I had crossed half the city and was standing in front of the Questioners Building. I did not hesitated, something that surprises me still, and entered.
“What do you want?” a guard asked me.
“I need to speak to the High Questioner.” I said softly.
The guard looked at me and almost started to laugh. “Why would a girl like you want to talk to the High Questioner?”
“I want to report a dark magician.”
“Well, not my problem, upstairs, two guards in front of the door, can’t miss it.”
I went upstairs and found the door. The guards let me enter without questioning.
“A Cat? In the middle of the night?” The man behind the desk looked up. His face was covered by a black mask.
“I…. I want to report a dark magician.” I whispered. All my courage left me in an instant. I placed the lock on his desk. “He destroyed a door in an instant and the lock was molten.”
The High Questioner took the lock. “It feels cold, but it’s molten not long ago.” he murmured. “What did you see him use? I need to know it exactly.”
“I saw a black and blue flame coming from his hand.”
“The Flame…” he whispered. “He can use the Flame, the second power of the Underworld. Any idea who he is? Where he is? Does he carry weapons?”
“Semaira, what are you doing here?” A familiar voice made me look up. The Guildmaster was sitting on the base of the window. “You are not supposed to be out tonight.”
“She came rushing in, to report someone, Ravan.” The High Questioner said.
“Who?” The Guildmaster looked at me.
“My brother.” I whispered. “He has a dagger with frozen life.”
“You are here to betray your brother and fellow thief?” The High Questioner asked.
“He’s no longer her brother or her fellow thief if he has indeed sold his soul to the Darkness.” Ravan said. “You know our rules, Zarn. I’ll make sure he ends up in your dungeon.” He disappeared through the window.
“You are here to betray your own brother. Do you know the punishment for wielding the Flame?”
“Death.” I answered. I had signed my brother’s death sentence.
“Indeed. If Ravan brings him in, I’ll execute him tomorrow. There’s no room for dark magic in our lands, by the Laws of the Dragon Throne. But the problem is, that you’re dangerous as well. You know my name and the name of your Guildmaster.”
“I knew his name already. I know his clan, that he’s a Vampire and that he serves the Lady of Death and the Lord of Fate. I also knew that you’re a Nightnimf, and you can use the Shadow. I saw you using it once, when I was here to free some others.”
“You’re very smart, and curious, I think.” The High Questioners said. “It will get you in trouble, mark my words.” I only nodded.
Next day my brother was executed. I did not attend. I did not want to see the look in his eyes just before he met his end, I did not want him to see me, knowing it was me who betrayed him. Later my father said that the High Questioner had been kind, giving him a swift death.
After that my life changed a bit. I was no longer a thief for Ravan, but for Zarn. I came in the service of the High Questioner.
It was him who send me on my first mission for the king.
It was just before my eighteenth birthday, I went for the first time to one of the other cities of my homeland, Therã, the library city. I had to steal a book.
By that time I was considered a master thief. I could get in where-ever I wanted and also get out (probably the more important part). So I got my stuff and went to the Portal House and took the portal to Therã.
Therã was a surprisingly different city. Where Lageviã was busy and crowded, Therã was empty and silent, you could hear the wind play with the leaves that started to fall. I went straight to the library, which covered almost the whole city.
After some basic exploring I took a room in an inn and waited for night to come. I was warned for the guards of the library, Basilisks, who can turn you to stone with one look. And the worst thing about them was, they’re no giant snakes, they’re humans with blindfolds.
I got passed a few of them and entered the caverns of the library. My investigations let me to the darker parts of the caves. Sometimes I could not enter a room, it was warded and protected with heavy shields. Finally, when I began to despair I was lost, I found the room with the book. It was placed on a standard, in the middle of the room. I took a close look, the writings were strange, it was no Elvish. I looked around for clues, but found none, only more books in the strange writings.
I sat down against the wall to think. Why would the king, who ordered to build this library, ask a thief to steal a book?
Suddenly a thought came, it was Demonic! The book was written in Demonic! In a wave of panic I had never felt before, I took the book from the standard, stuffed it in my bag, and started to run. I ran through the caverns, and in my hurry, I made too much noise.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. “No one leaves the library with a book.” a hissing voice said. A Basilisk. “I will.” I said, trying to keep my voice stable.
“Who are you, when you think you can do that?” the man said. He let go of my shoulder. A blindfold fell on the ground.
I closed my eyes tightly and turned around. “I am Semaira.” I said.
“Why don’t you open your eyes?” The man asked.
“I am Semaira, I am Mirror.” I repeated. My name means mirror, and because of that, my eyes are even more strange than the eyes of a normal cat. Names have more power than you would expect.
“Leave.” the man said. “And never come back again, Mirror.” I turned around and opened my eyes. I walked down the hill, towards the Portal House, I went to Helainã, our capital.
Of course I was surprised the mission had been so easy, almost too easy. I took the book from my bag and looked at the strange markings.
“So you made it.”
“Hello, Ravan.” I said, and looked up. “I think I had permission to take the book. The Basilisks let me go as soon as they heard my name.”
“You were caught?”
“You were born in that city, but the library was freaking me out, all those dark caverns with strange glows form magic. Shadows creeping around you, the wind howling through it. No wonder I was caught.”
“And they just let you go? I bet Zarn is behind that. But let’s go to the king, you can’t make him wait.” I nodded and clutched the book tightly to my chest.
We walked through the empty city. I began to wonder about the book again. Before I knew it, Ravan was directing me towards the throne.
I bowed deep and handed the book over to the king.
“Thank you.” I looked up in surprise, his voice was way more pleasant than I had expected. I looked right into his dark blue eyes, eyes like a dragons. “You must be wondering why I asked you to steal this for me. I could have studied the book in Therã, but I wanted to compare it with some other writings I’ve here. By my own rules, I couldn’t take it from the city.” He smiled at me. “I had never thought I would regret my own rules, after a hundred years. Thanks, Semaira of Lageviã.” Suddenly his eyes where piercing into mine.
“I see a darkness in your future, I’m sorry, but I don’t think you will be among the living for long.” His voice sounded sad and old.
I froze, but asked. “How long is for long? Is it for humans or for Elves?”
“Clever, but I can’t tell you the answer. I think it’s in between.”
I was dismissed and Ravan brought me home. I was going to die. The king had predicted it himself, and everyone knows the Elders of the Elves can see into the future. I did not tell anyone. I just went on with my life, stealing, spying and helping Zarn and the king, seeing the rest of my land by traveling around. That was my life until a war started in the city.
The merchants decided to kill every single Cat in the city and they had help from dark magicians. We fought back. I was still a Cat after all, although not a real member of the Guild anymore, since my brother was executed.
We found out about the necromancers when I and some friends were looting the corpses of killed merchants and cityguards. I was taking the rings of a merchants from his fingers, when suddenly his hand clasped around my arm. His eyes went open again. I looked in those empty, death eyes. I took my dagger and tried to separate his head from his body. I heard screams, I saw a friend being killed by a zombie, it just tore his head of…
I reached out with my mind, a trick I had learned from Zarn, telepathy. I reached for his mind. –ZOMBIES!!- I yelled at him. A sleepy thought came back. –It’s the middle of the… WHAT?!- Within a second, well, it felt it was just a second later, I saw a dark figure almost dance over the square.
I almost forgot about the zombie I was fighting till it bit me in my arm. I leashed out with my dagger, it cut his face in half, but only the skin.
The zombies seemed to win the fight, but we were saved by the Black Order, I guess Zarn warned them after I woke him up. They killed all the zombies and tracked down the necromancers. I had never been so glad of seeing a Nightnimf.
“It isn’t over yet.” Zarn said softly. He had killed the zombie I was fighting. “There are still necromancers in the city. Be careful, please.”
Of course I was careful, but I was still curious. I use to think this was what the king predicted.
During a nightly marauding expedition ordered by Ravan, I accidently disturbed a dark magician who was summoning some demons. And instead of running away, I kept looking. I just wanted to know what he was doing. I’m not afraid of demons, not at all, but since that fight, I am afraid of zombies.
And guess what, the Lord of Fate was very kind to me that night…
But the case was, the magician spotted me and send his demons after me...My curiosity had gotten me into trouble again. You know what the problem with demons is, of course, you can’t fight them without magical weapons or you’ve to be a Nightnimf or Elf. So the only option was to run and hope for a miracle, Zarn wasn’t there to save me this time, or sunrise, if I would make it till sunrise.
The fastest way to safety, however, was by crossing the graveyard and one of those stupid demons decided to take a corpse as his host. (If demons have a gender…). So I wasn’t only chased by an angry magician, but also by his demons and a zombie.
After reaching the city one of the demons almost caught up with me and I decided to run to the Portal House. By the time I reached it, I was really panicking because of that stupid zombie, who was pretty fast. I took the first portal at my left hand, the fast travel portal, and said, stupid as I was, my destination; “Somewhere safe”. And that’s how I ended up in Altera.
I think this was my predicted death. I still hope everyone I left behind did not mourn for me too long. Ravan and Zarn will probably think I was killed by the demon and eaten. My parents will accept their explanation. But the king will know someone used the portal that night, and that the magic was heavily disturbed.
But anyway, I ended up on Altera.
The first thing I felt when I woke up, the travel had knocked me unconscious, was that my magical powers were all gone. I can’t even light a candle anymore. I will miss my perfect night vision.
Secondly, the urge to steal, was gone. It meant only one thing to me, there was no way back home. So I decided to make the best of it and started to wander around.
Soon I found a huge city in the mountains called Heaven’s Reach. I was welcomed there by the community and found a place to life. I got myself a job as gatherer for the Builders Guild.
I went traveling for a while and found out about the endermen. When I came back, the old mayor was gone and Neorey August was in charge of the city. I met Kvothe again (I had met him before when he welcomed me to the city), well actually I ran into him and knocked him almost of his feet… and fell in love with him. I will marry him one day, I think.
My old life is really over now, a new world lies ahead.
Hope you enjoy reading this wall of textName:
Semaira (pronounced Sémai-è-r-á and the closest translation is Mirror) Lageviãin (pronounced Lageví-ai-ìn) – Noldor (formerly August)
Nickname/Alias:
Lady Mara or just Mara
Age:
21
Gender:
Female
Race:
Human (sort of)
Height:
1.65m
Weight:
You’re asking a girl about her weight?? (about 50kg)
Hair:
Long dark blond/brown hair, but not entirely straight.
Eyes:
Very blue eyes, light around the pupil, darker on the edges, with a slit pupil, like a cat. When you look too long at her eyes, the only thing you see is yourself staring into emptiness.
Skin:
Normal, maybe a bit pale.
Identifying Marks:
Her eyes, beware of drowning!
Appearance:
Mara is rather small, she usually wears a grey/black clothing (makes you hard to see at night). Sometimes she’s seen wearing a blue or purple dress matching her eyes.
Strengths:
Mara is smart, curious and absolutely not afraid of heights. She can fight, but rather runs (most thieves are cowards), which means she can run very fast.
Weaknesses and fears:
Mara is rather shy and doesn’t know what to say half of the time. Sometimes she has her brave moments, but most of the time not. When she feels comfortable in a conversation or with a person, she’ll talk more. And sometime her curiosity is a weakness as well, when she finds out more than is healthy.
But most of all is she afraid of zombies (and endermen since she’s on Altera).
Religion and cults:
In her homeland she worshiped the Lord of Fate, but he has no powers on Altera. She has not found a new religion yet.
Profession:Former thief, now builder/gather for the Heavens’ Reach builders guild
Backstory:
My name is Semaira Lageviãin, which just means that I am Semaira from Lageviã, the big port city at the Eastern Sea of my birth country. Since my birth I’ve been a member of the Cat, my clan and the Thieves Guild.
I guess this asks for an explanation. The people in my birth country are born in clans. We all have a big tattoo on our back of our totem. We are born with this mark. Beside this mark, every clan has a “talent”, sometimes positive, like an affinity for magic, ruling or prophecy, and sometimes negative, like thieving, spying or even dark magic.
The Cat is a thieves clan, we are born to steal.
I started as a pickpocket, running through the crowd on the many marketplaces in town en over the docks with my friends. We just saw it as a funny game. Sometimes we made a competition who had the most things stolen at the end of the day. And sometimes we dared each other to steal from the cityguards or the High Questioner’s men. I ended up in jail on time. I had to be freed by my father. After that, teasing guards was over for a long time.
But later he said that we all have to learn. “Better end up in jail when you’re young and looking innocent, then over a few years and they want to lock you up forever.” I took that to heart, and it never happened again.
Later I learned all other tricks, picking locks, opening doors and windows, not being seen in the dark, climbing roofs, which are known as the Thieves Highway, and many more usefull things.
Soon it was obvious I was good at stealing. This was probably just me, but my friends always said I was lucky with my kind of cat, a Siamese. They said Siamese cats are smarter and more curious than other cats. I’m not sure if it’s true. I only know I owe my blue eyes and slightly pointed ears to this. And it’s true that I’m curious.
Anyway, I’m wandering off my story as usual.
When I was about twelve years old, my magical powers awoke. That practically meant I had enough power to light a candle. But better, I finally could use my eyes to see in the dark, like a real cat. That made the sneaking around at night much easier.
In those days, thins were a great adventure, but no longer a game. It was my job. And when you’re raised as a thief, it never occurs to you it’s wrong to steal.
Fights with the Merchants Guild, the Duke’s guards and the servants of the High Questioner were common those days.
That was when I was fifteen and for the first time went into the dungeons of the Questioners, but not because I was caught, I was there to free others, like my father had freed me once.
Then I suddenly started to wonder, why are there dungeons? But after the kick of freeing my fellow thieves, I banned that question to the back of my mind.
It took a while, before it occurred to me again that perhaps the things I considered normal, were wrong. It was the day I did something I regret still and hate myself for, but I’m also proud of doing that, cause it was the right thing to do.
My brother, a Black Cat, and assassin, had been acting strange for weeks. I just thought it was because of his last mission, which almost ended up wrongly. His victim had almost killed him instead.
I observed him since that day, seeing things that made me feel there was something not right,
not right at all. The first thing I noticed was his new dagger, made of black steel with strange blue gems. I had seen a lot of different gems by that day, but these ones were new to me. The blue seemed to live, shifting color and stirring. Suddenly I remembered what it was, it was frozen life energy. But I didn’t dare to ask him where he got it.
The second thing I noticed was that the dagger didn’t affect him. It should have affected him. I had once touched a dagger like his. It made me feel faint and I almost lost consciousness after a while holding it. Those daggers pull the life-energy out of you, until you there’s nothing left of you but ashes. Only Elves, because they were created by Dragons, Nightnimfs, because they are half demons, and dark magicians can hold them without being killed within a short time.
But he held the dagger, without being hurt at all….
That night he asked me to come with him on a mission. We had to get into a storage in the harbor and steal some particular things. Near midnight we went into the city. I followed my brother over the rooftops. I still watched him very careful.
“You’re silent, little one.” he said suddenly. I almost fell of the roof, he had not called me “little one” for years!
“There’s nothing to talk about.” I said. “I rather not betray myself with senseless chatter.”
“As you wish.” He jumped of the roof and ran into an alley. I easily followed him. He stopped in front of a large storagebuilding.
“Here we are, now the only thing left is to open this lock, find the stuff and get out of here.” he said, almost to himself. He placed his hand on the lock. A bright, blue and black flame burst from his hand and almost melted the lock. I looked at him in horror. What I saw… Without hesitation a took the molten lock from the remains of the door, it wasn’t hot strangely enough, and started to run.
I heard him yell after me, but I kept running. He did not follow me, I heard no footsteps in the streets.
Before I knew it, I had crossed half the city and was standing in front of the Questioners Building. I did not hesitated, something that surprises me still, and entered.
“What do you want?” a guard asked me.
“I need to speak to the High Questioner.” I said softly.
The guard looked at me and almost started to laugh. “Why would a girl like you want to talk to the High Questioner?”
“I want to report a dark magician.”
“Well, not my problem, upstairs, two guards in front of the door, can’t miss it.”
I went upstairs and found the door. The guards let me enter without questioning.
“A Cat? In the middle of the night?” The man behind the desk looked up. His face was covered by a black mask.
“I…. I want to report a dark magician.” I whispered. All my courage left me in an instant. I placed the lock on his desk. “He destroyed a door in an instant and the lock was molten.”
The High Questioner took the lock. “It feels cold, but it’s molten not long ago.” he murmured. “What did you see him use? I need to know it exactly.”
“I saw a black and blue flame coming from his hand.”
“The Flame…” he whispered. “He can use the Flame, the second power of the Underworld. Any idea who he is? Where he is? Does he carry weapons?”
“Semaira, what are you doing here?” A familiar voice made me look up. The Guildmaster was sitting on the base of the window. “You are not supposed to be out tonight.”
“She came rushing in, to report someone, Ravan.” The High Questioner said.
“Who?” The Guildmaster looked at me.
“My brother.” I whispered. “He has a dagger with frozen life.”
“You are here to betray your brother and fellow thief?” The High Questioner asked.
“He’s no longer her brother or her fellow thief if he has indeed sold his soul to the Darkness.” Ravan said. “You know our rules, Zarn. I’ll make sure he ends up in your dungeon.” He disappeared through the window.
“You are here to betray your own brother. Do you know the punishment for wielding the Flame?”
“Death.” I answered. I had signed my brother’s death sentence.
“Indeed. If Ravan brings him in, I’ll execute him tomorrow. There’s no room for dark magic in our lands, by the Laws of the Dragon Throne. But the problem is, that you’re dangerous as well. You know my name and the name of your Guildmaster.”
“I knew his name already. I know his clan, that he’s a Vampire and that he serves the Lady of Death and the Lord of Fate. I also knew that you’re a Nightnimf, and you can use the Shadow. I saw you using it once, when I was here to free some others.”
“You’re very smart, and curious, I think.” The High Questioners said. “It will get you in trouble, mark my words.” I only nodded.
Next day my brother was executed. I did not attend. I did not want to see the look in his eyes just before he met his end, I did not want him to see me, knowing it was me who betrayed him. Later my father said that the High Questioner had been kind, giving him a swift death.
After that my life changed a bit. I was no longer a thief for Ravan, but for Zarn. I came in the service of the High Questioner.
It was him who send me on my first mission for the king.
It was just before my eighteenth birthday, I went for the first time to one of the other cities of my homeland, Therã, the library city. I had to steal a book.
By that time I was considered a master thief. I could get in where-ever I wanted and also get out (probably the more important part). So I got my stuff and went to the Portal House and took the portal to Therã.
Therã was a surprisingly different city. Where Lageviã was busy and crowded, Therã was empty and silent, you could hear the wind play with the leaves that started to fall. I went straight to the library, which covered almost the whole city.
After some basic exploring I took a room in an inn and waited for night to come. I was warned for the guards of the library, Basilisks, who can turn you to stone with one look. And the worst thing about them was, they’re no giant snakes, they’re humans with blindfolds.
I got passed a few of them and entered the caverns of the library. My investigations let me to the darker parts of the caves. Sometimes I could not enter a room, it was warded and protected with heavy shields. Finally, when I began to despair I was lost, I found the room with the book. It was placed on a standard, in the middle of the room. I took a close look, the writings were strange, it was no Elvish. I looked around for clues, but found none, only more books in the strange writings.
I sat down against the wall to think. Why would the king, who ordered to build this library, ask a thief to steal a book?
Suddenly a thought came, it was Demonic! The book was written in Demonic! In a wave of panic I had never felt before, I took the book from the standard, stuffed it in my bag, and started to run. I ran through the caverns, and in my hurry, I made too much noise.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. “No one leaves the library with a book.” a hissing voice said. A Basilisk. “I will.” I said, trying to keep my voice stable.
“Who are you, when you think you can do that?” the man said. He let go of my shoulder. A blindfold fell on the ground.
I closed my eyes tightly and turned around. “I am Semaira.” I said.
“Why don’t you open your eyes?” The man asked.
“I am Semaira, I am Mirror.” I repeated. My name means mirror, and because of that, my eyes are even more strange than the eyes of a normal cat. Names have more power than you would expect.
“Leave.” the man said. “And never come back again, Mirror.” I turned around and opened my eyes. I walked down the hill, towards the Portal House, I went to Helainã, our capital.
Of course I was surprised the mission had been so easy, almost too easy. I took the book from my bag and looked at the strange markings.
“So you made it.”
“Hello, Ravan.” I said, and looked up. “I think I had permission to take the book. The Basilisks let me go as soon as they heard my name.”
“You were caught?”
“You were born in that city, but the library was freaking me out, all those dark caverns with strange glows form magic. Shadows creeping around you, the wind howling through it. No wonder I was caught.”
“And they just let you go? I bet Zarn is behind that. But let’s go to the king, you can’t make him wait.” I nodded and clutched the book tightly to my chest.
We walked through the empty city. I began to wonder about the book again. Before I knew it, Ravan was directing me towards the throne.
I bowed deep and handed the book over to the king.
“Thank you.” I looked up in surprise, his voice was way more pleasant than I had expected. I looked right into his dark blue eyes, eyes like a dragons. “You must be wondering why I asked you to steal this for me. I could have studied the book in Therã, but I wanted to compare it with some other writings I’ve here. By my own rules, I couldn’t take it from the city.” He smiled at me. “I had never thought I would regret my own rules, after a hundred years. Thanks, Semaira of Lageviã.” Suddenly his eyes where piercing into mine.
“I see a darkness in your future, I’m sorry, but I don’t think you will be among the living for long.” His voice sounded sad and old.
I froze, but asked. “How long is for long? Is it for humans or for Elves?”
“Clever, but I can’t tell you the answer. I think it’s in between.”
I was dismissed and Ravan brought me home. I was going to die. The king had predicted it himself, and everyone knows the Elders of the Elves can see into the future. I did not tell anyone. I just went on with my life, stealing, spying and helping Zarn and the king, seeing the rest of my land by traveling around. That was my life until a war started in the city.
The merchants decided to kill every single Cat in the city and they had help from dark magicians. We fought back. I was still a Cat after all, although not a real member of the Guild anymore, since my brother was executed.
We found out about the necromancers when I and some friends were looting the corpses of killed merchants and cityguards. I was taking the rings of a merchants from his fingers, when suddenly his hand clasped around my arm. His eyes went open again. I looked in those empty, death eyes. I took my dagger and tried to separate his head from his body. I heard screams, I saw a friend being killed by a zombie, it just tore his head of…
I reached out with my mind, a trick I had learned from Zarn, telepathy. I reached for his mind. –ZOMBIES!!- I yelled at him. A sleepy thought came back. –It’s the middle of the… WHAT?!- Within a second, well, it felt it was just a second later, I saw a dark figure almost dance over the square.
I almost forgot about the zombie I was fighting till it bit me in my arm. I leashed out with my dagger, it cut his face in half, but only the skin.
The zombies seemed to win the fight, but we were saved by the Black Order, I guess Zarn warned them after I woke him up. They killed all the zombies and tracked down the necromancers. I had never been so glad of seeing a Nightnimf.
“It isn’t over yet.” Zarn said softly. He had killed the zombie I was fighting. “There are still necromancers in the city. Be careful, please.”
Of course I was careful, but I was still curious. I use to think this was what the king predicted.
During a nightly marauding expedition ordered by Ravan, I accidently disturbed a dark magician who was summoning some demons. And instead of running away, I kept looking. I just wanted to know what he was doing. I’m not afraid of demons, not at all, but since that fight, I am afraid of zombies.
And guess what, the Lord of Fate was very kind to me that night…
But the case was, the magician spotted me and send his demons after me...My curiosity had gotten me into trouble again. You know what the problem with demons is, of course, you can’t fight them without magical weapons or you’ve to be a Nightnimf or Elf. So the only option was to run and hope for a miracle, Zarn wasn’t there to save me this time, or sunrise, if I would make it till sunrise.
The fastest way to safety, however, was by crossing the graveyard and one of those stupid demons decided to take a corpse as his host. (If demons have a gender…). So I wasn’t only chased by an angry magician, but also by his demons and a zombie.
After reaching the city one of the demons almost caught up with me and I decided to run to the Portal House. By the time I reached it, I was really panicking because of that stupid zombie, who was pretty fast. I took the first portal at my left hand, the fast travel portal, and said, stupid as I was, my destination; “Somewhere safe”. And that’s how I ended up in Altera.
I think this was my predicted death. I still hope everyone I left behind did not mourn for me too long. Ravan and Zarn will probably think I was killed by the demon and eaten. My parents will accept their explanation. But the king will know someone used the portal that night, and that the magic was heavily disturbed.
But anyway, I ended up on Altera.
The first thing I felt when I woke up, the travel had knocked me unconscious, was that my magical powers were all gone. I can’t even light a candle anymore. I will miss my perfect night vision.
Secondly, the urge to steal, was gone. It meant only one thing to me, there was no way back home. So I decided to make the best of it and started to wander around.
Soon I found a huge city in the mountains called Heaven’s Reach. I was welcomed there by the community and found a place to life. I got myself a job as gatherer for the Builders Guild.
I went traveling for a while and found out about the endermen. When I came back, the old mayor was gone and Neorey August was in charge of the city. I met Kvothe again (I had met him before when he welcomed me to the city), well actually I ran into him and knocked him almost of his feet… and fell in love with him. I will marry him one day, I think.
My old life is really over now, a new world lies ahead.
