Welcome to Gaia! ::

A velvety, powerful voice called a name into the softly shaded forest clearing.

“Fallon Markel Malikov.”

A man emerged from a dark corner and kneeled before the voice’s owner, a woman who was seated in a knobby throne of branches that seemed to have bent into the throne shape of their own free will. The man was worn, tired, and his looked was at least ten years out of date. Considering that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d owned something new, let alone ventured into the city on his own time, it wasn’t surprising. He didn’t look up, but replied with a simple, “Yes?”

She sat with a posture that was too perfect and said, “We have found the heir.”

The man’s smile was too grim to even be a smile. “Let me guess,” he said, tilting his head down just enough that his old, fraying top hat shielded his eyes, “you’re sending me.” Despite what he’d said, there was no guess in his tone. He’d been at this game too long not to know what the woman before him would do.

Nevertheless, she chuckled and responded, “But of course. After all, this is what I’ve needed you for all along. And who knows? Maybe you’ll find who you’re looking for, too.”

He turned his face up and narrowed his eyes at her for a quick second. “Knowing you, it’s doubtful,” he said as he stood and turned away in one fluid motion.

However, he hadn’t gotten far when the woman grinned slyly and said, “Oh, Fallon, I almost forgot.”

He looked back and scowled. “What?”

The woman lifted a cane with ornately carved details in its handle from the ground beside her and tossed it to him. He caught it deftly, but the moment it touched his hand, his left leg suddenly gave out, and he crumpled to the ground in pain.

With a derisive sneer, the woman purred, “Be yourself.”