Even Gartels were not completely beyond his influence. He had been working with their leader for nearly a century now, which had given him periodical access to Sobiadin's Organization. These people were powerful, expendable, and loyal if only because they say Sobiadin as their only way to rejoin the living. Their name was similar to Revenants, in the Algerothian tongue. The walking dead. Mannerisms, lack of odor, lack of aura, and most importantly the general lifelessness in their eyes gave them away as abnormal.
Sieg had become privy to information revolving around one of the more discontent Gartels. Feires, who for the lack of difficult-enough work to stay his boredom had given in to Sieg's requests for a meeting and made a deal with him. Despite his every brainwashed thought to the contrary, Sieg had discovered how to make Feires whole again. And he had been promised Restoration in exchange for surrendering his power after he was made mortal. The deal was made, the sorcerer all-too ecstatic about having discovered the secret behind his intolerance to the element of fire, which he had attempted to absorb before.
He needed a more raw source soul to process the power. In the past, he had absorbed those whom had trained all their lives to quell the destructive force of the ability to create and manipulate fire, and it proved to be too much for him to hope to steal. Little did Feires know that it was not so simple as offering up his power, to relinquish it to the ancient shapeshifter known as Sieg Warheight. It would cost him his life, and so much more than he had lost when he'd become Gartel. There would be no coming back from this.
--
Ten days before the Collector arrives.
The trip had been short. Once the pair had found Sobiadin busy, Feires had slipped into the mortal world and sought Sieg out, based on the directions he had been given. A gaudy aircraft loomed over top the forest, a sure sign of Sieg's early arrival. He exploded soundlessly between the ageless trunks of Darkwood, phasing in and out of their world as he went along. His was as fiery and animated as a 'personality' in the Organization could be. He had become adept at emulating the expressions and inflections of the humans, and the facade he took on was one of a strong-willed warrior; all flash and flare.
He did not like the idea of dealing with Sieg, his kind had advised against it. But the personality he had chosen, the emotions he had allowed to enslave him so that he might remain sane urged him on, toward life, toward a body of his own. And Sieg was the way, of this much he was certain. Even though getting back at Sobiadin was the driving force behind his actions now, he respected his superior's analysis of the human. Sieg had a way with strange forces, knew instinctually how to do things that ought not to have been possible.
When he arrived in the clearing, he forgot himself. The facade melted, and where there should have been confusion, there was only the blank stare. The hollowness of a Gartel.
" What is this? "
Sieg turned, slowly. He had smelled the blackness that the portals had given off, expected the boy's arrival. " This way, child. I have found your brother, just as promised! "
His eyes were the only difference. The teen standing in the clearing with Sieg was identical to Feires save for a slight distinction in complexion, and their hair. They even wore it in the same swept-back style, medium length that reached the shoulders and stopped. But the boy's locks were a brilliant white-gold, in direct contrast to Feires' crimson locks.
" Feires! When Sieg found me a few weeks ago and told me I had a twin, I could scarcely believe it. Welcome, welcome. My name is Zander, and this... "
Beautiful.
" ..is my bride to be, Andrea. "
The boy's eyes squinted shut with the shape of his grin, collapsing his face as he crushed her into him playfully. She was a gorgeous youth, full of vibrant life and squealing in the arms of her beloved, but she shied away from making eye contact with Feires directly. It was surreal, to behold himself this way. It was as though someone had thrown bleach on a mirror-image of himself. Even his green eyes, dark and menacing normally, were perfectly matched to Zander. There was the fleck, from Feires' injury, obtained after his joining of the Gartels. So much that he would never understand.
Feires flinched as Sieg strolled past him, speaking loudly, boisterously as he left the couple to their machinations. They would not hear the last whisper he left Feires with. Never understand when he came at them with steel and fire. Feires would share this feeling afterward, when he reported to Sieg as a fleeting soul, extinguished immediately after becoming whole once more.
" Well, I'll leave you to get acquainted! Their family would like to meet you as well, it seems.
...make it quick. Take a moment to compose yourself...and come and see me on The Unyielding. Then you are free. "
