Warlock Waters

[ActualHumanBean]

Warlock Waters
ActualHumanBean x Ozouko

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Mihael (Miha)
19
Average height with chestnut coloured eyes and hair. Olive skin tone.
Mihael came to the city in search of his little sister. Six months ago his sister vanished before his eyes in a strange cyclone of water. In that moment it was like she had never lived at all. He lived on a small floating island just large enough for his family's house, a plot of farm land and a small sky boat. Ships came by every other week and his family often traded for other resources. To say he had little contact with the outside world would still be a lie. He basically had none. Still as his parents pretended his sister had never lived he hopped on the first ship that came by and jumped off in one of the largest cities – Merida.
In the city is where Mihael's eyes were truly opened. His parents had educated him and his sister but he never imagined a city was like Merida. Bustling and filled with people eager to bury you for another coin Mihael found himself mixed with the wrong crowd. A scavenging operation that sold their goods to those of more than dishonest reputations. Despite his naivete Mihael was not stupid. He knew he needed this job in order to get closer to finding his sister. He heard the rumours. His sister was not the only girl to go missing and yet despite this no one was willing to do anything to recover any part of their stolen loved ones. So Mihael had to fund his own way.
Mihael, unlike his lost sister, has no magical power whatsoever. This puts him in the majority of the population. If he had any magic he would have been able to do other jobs than the unsavory one he was saddled with.
Merida is a big city and through the gossip chain he heard that there were a few others, equally as poor, or at the very least not wealthy, looking for ways to find their missing girls. They met up in a seedy bar not far from where his scavenging job base of operations is.


Name: Artemis Mills (Art for short)
age: 38

Artemis was born and raised in Merida. His childhood was nothing but ordinary as he went to school as his parents worked. Being the very intelligent person that he is, Artemus went to the University and completed his education at the top of his class to become an Alchemist. Also during this time he met a girl named Karin who was attending the university as well. After graduating the two got married and moved in together. Artemis opened his own Alchemic shop and mostly focused on making fuel that he would sell to the travelers or merchants to power their mechanical form of transportation. Soon after, a company hired him to develop an explosive substance that was more predictable and easier to use. He still worked from his own shop but his focus shifted from developing fuels to developing explosives. As his focus shifted so did his clientele. He now had different construction companies buying large amounts of explosives and thus brought a lot of money to him. Although he and Karin became quite wealthy they never showed it. They didn't move to a bigger house and never became stuck up. They remained grounded and level headed. Life was good for the two of them. Until Karin disappeared. Artemis spent an incredible amount of money trying to find his beloved wife. He hired private investigators told the police and even consulted some fortune tellers but all to no avail. He even went to the mob and paid them handsomely but they too gave him no information. That's when he heard the rumors of other women and girls disappearing in the area. Artemis was willing to do anything to get his wife back but he knew he wouldn't be able to do it alone so he started talking to other who had lost their loved ones and was given a mixed response. He always told them that if they wanted to get in tough with him to go the his local pub and tell the bartender to set up a meeting. Even though Artemis is now in his late thirties he still has the burning desire to rescue his wife. This drive has forced him to change from the man he use to be. With the loss of his wife it was as if he lost his happiness as well. It became extremily rare for him to smile and he came very serious. He started training knowing that he would need to be in his best physical condition. His white skin became tight around the new muscles and his hair showed signs of gray. He also continued his work and increased his fortune knowing that one day he would have enough to pay for a group to follow him into the tower. The loss of his wife had hardened him, never bitter, but always focused on saving her. ​

 

[ActualHumanBean]

Merida had once been a beautiful city. Now only the shadow of that beauty remained. Every space of the floating island was devoted to the square white stone houses. They clung to the edges even as the earth slowly crumbled beneath them. Merida was overpopulated. Narrow clay brick streets weaved throughout the island city in circles with roads breaking between them. They all lead to the giant and strange tower that was in the heart of the island city. The top of the tower had been broken long ago and its base went all the way down to the ocean far beneath the floating island. It was made of a strange crystal and to all the denizens of Merida it was an impenetrable pretty centerpiece. However the warlocks of olde once lived inside that tower was beyond them. Truth be told, they cared little. The time of the warlocks was so long ago that only a a few souls cared to remember the past. Historians and those hoping to further the magical domain. The lost arts of magic. The magic that kept the floating ships in the sky and the magic that helped facilitate the current lifestyle people enjoyed.

"And so the warlocks changed the surface of our world for the worse. They destroyed continents and made countless islands, both floating and sea bound, to suit their whims. They created monsters and destroyed mother nature -" An old preacher was standing on the corner screaming his regular drivel to the disinterested masses. Mihael was one of them. He had heard the preacher's tale too many times already. The stiffing heat of the afternoon was making Mihael sweat and the crowded streets were not helping.

Normally at this time he was resting in the underground sanctuary of the scavenging operation he was working with. Him and near everyone else were not normally out on the streets at this time. Something was up and as Mihael finally pulled himself from the thick of the crowd he saw where everyone was headed. To the shipyard. The merchant ships were late and everyone did need their water. It was a strange thing to live amongst the clouds. In a sky city there were no wells.

This part of the city was crumbling and poor. Even the colour of the white brick looked faded here. Mihael was looking for a local bar. The public house that he was told to go to search for a man. An alchemist. His wife went missing in the same manner as his sister. A cyclone of water appeared and as if they were never there they vanished.

Alchemists were as respected as magic users in Merida. Those who could use water magic could replenish the floating properties present in the old wooden ships and alchemist were managing to create items that people believed could only be made with magic. They were wrong. Mihael cared little for the feud between alchemists and magic users. The fact that society might not need to cling to remnants of the warlock civilization in order to survive mattered less to Mihael than it should have. He only cared for finding his sister and all other facts did not matter to him.

Mihael spotted the entrance to the subterranean pub. Two men were trying to transport a large tank of water. Inside was a mermaid. This was a common sight. Catching mermaids to sell was an embraced sport. It was all too common to see a mermaid in a tank decorating spaces. It was a sign of wealth and it appeared this pub was becoming wealthy. Mihael had never seen a mermaid up close prior to coming to Merida and he still found himself starring wen he saw one.

He pulled his eyes away and forced himself to walk down the steps and into the pub. It was empty save for a few filled seats. Mihael cleared his throat and stepped towards the bartender. "Don't normally see such wet behind the ears type like you come round here." The bartender spoke when he glanced up and saw Mihael. "No problem here. Long as you got the coin boy I got the drink. Whaddya get ya?"

Mihael was used to being reminded that he looked young. He was nineteen but people often treated him as if he was fifteen. His new co-workers told him they were surprised at his age. It was irritating at first but now Mihael just breezed through it. "I'm here to set up a meeting. A man named Artemis. He's looking for people to go near the tower of water." When Mihael spoke the words about the tower the bartender shuffled and seemed to go pale. They were not talking about the crystalline tower in the center of Merida of course but the strange cyclone of water that had appeared a little more than six months ago, and with it so did the disappearances. It never moved and sailors gave it wide berth. No one had approached it. People said it was an ancient warlock curse. Mihael was used to this reaction too. "How do I set up a meeting?" He asked again.