She paced back and forth across the marble floor, her thick heels making loud, echoing thuds on the hard surface as she moved with agitation. The regal yet somewhat worn looking dress she wore swirled each time that the Highborne elf reached the end of the space in which she was pacing and settled again as she turned and paced back in the other direction.
Average in height with long, flowing purple hair, Binestra Nightwind was exactly what one would picture if someone said the word Highborne. Bedecked in expensive jewelry and carrying an array of magical artifacts and gems on her person, she looked like the perfect example of an expert sorceress.
Looks could be deceiving of course.
The nervous Highborne jumped as the door to the study in which she paced suddenly burst open, another elf entering and slamming the wooden barrier shut behind her. Binestra gasped, hurrying over to the other elf and laying her hands upon the door next to the newcomer, both of them half chanting, half singing the words to wards and spells to keep the portal sealed. After a moment the wood began to glimmer with magic, sealing the chamber and those beyond off from the rest of Eldre'Thalas.
With a sigh, Binestra turned and leaned heavily against the door, looking the other elf over critically. She turned, an almost identical gaze rising to meet Binestra's questioning stare, the two faces remarkably similar. It made sense of course, as Arozniel was Binestra's sister and closest friend. Beyond their facial features, Arozniel shared Binestra's long purple hair as well as her habit of wearing nice clothing and jewels.
After taking a moment to compose herself, Arozniel smiled and nodded, reaching down to a pouch at her belt and pulling out a key. The object looked mundane, but to the two spellcasters it was quite obviously imbued with arcane energies. Both of them stared down at it in wonder, as if unable to believe it was in their possession.
"You've done it, sister!" Binestra said with a smile.
"Of course, you didn't think I would let them stop me, did you? Really now, have some more confidence in me," Arozniel replied somewhat smugly. "The question is whether or not our plan will work."
"It will work, it has to," Binestra replied. "I've prepared the portal stone. All we need to do is use the key and we'll be gone from this place before the Master notices it has gone missing."
Arozniel nodded, stepping away from the temporarily sealed door, her own heels making loud echoing noises as she proceeded further into the lavish room. The holdings of House Nightwind had fallen on troubled times over the years as the ruins of Eldre'Thalas became ever more dangerous and filled with beasts, but the inner chambers held by the two sisters still consisted of several rooms outfitted with the best luxuries the two could salvage from what was once a proud city. Even so, both of them looked about the place with distaste as they took what would likely be their last look at the room for some time.
"Let us proceed then. The Master said that we were forbidden from using the key, and if he discovers us before we've finished we will never have another opportunity. As it is, he'll severely punish those who were supposed to be guarding the artifact," Arozniel said, bringing the key out and holding it over the portal stone sitting atop a small pedestal in the room.
Binestra nodded, hurrying from her place at the wooden barrier and over to where her sister waited, both of the Highborne looking down at the portal stone and portal key with greedy eyes. The object represented freedom from the strict lessons in magic they were forced to endure, freedom from a slowly crumbling city and lives spent toiling to make amends for things that their ancestors had done and which the two had no part in. It mattered little to them what the outside world would make of them, only that they would be able to start anew, to grow their power as they saw fit.
To rebuild the glory that once was House Nightwind.
Eagerly both Highborne reached out, placing their hands on the portal stone as Arozniel brought the key down and inserted it in a slot atop the stone. The powerful magic object was reserved for use by only the best trained amongst their instructor's students, and not for the two rather ambitious young women to touch and use as they wished.
With an almost identical smirk, the two Highborne chanted, their spells activating the key and the portal stone. In a flash of light, a portal opened beside the table where they stood, its shape deforming for a moment before it stabilized. A moment later, pounding could be heard at the door as the other apprentices tried to stop them. It would take hours for them to breach the wards that the two had placed in preparation for their departure however.
With the portal stable, Arozniel removed the key from the stone, slipping the powerful object back into her pouch. Binestra walked across the room, picking up a small bag that she strapped along her back and then bending down to pick up two staves. With a smile she handed one to her sister, and the two walked casually towards the portal.
Even as the shouts and banging grew in intensity against the sealed door behind them, the violet-haired Highborne both stepped into the glowing portal. Magic flashed and the portal rippled, sending them far from Eldre'Thalas and the rigid life they had been living, freeing them to do as they pleased.
A moment later the portal flickered one more time and collapsed, leaving the room silent and still, in stark contrast to what the portal had just unleashed on the world.
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