<b><span style="font-size: 18px">DIARAH</span></b><br/><br/>"Very well then... let us put that conviction to the test."<br/><br/>The elderly nobleman's smirk faded as he raised one hand and clenched into a fist. The temperature in the room seemed to drop drastically as the veins on the back of his hand pulsed and writhed, the air growing distorted around his fist. The scent of copper and rot filled the air as sparks of darkness flittered across his knuckles, growing in intensity untill a lattice of purple-black lightning seemed to be pulsing around his hand. Pressure seemed to build in the air, as if a storm was brewing between the four walls, then with a surge that was felt more than heard the pressure inverted, imploding towards Mathia's hand, the lightning flicking through his fingers into the palm of his hand. Breathing a small sigh he opened his palm, extending it towards Diarah. His breathing had become ragged and uneven, his skin seeming more grey and aged than it had a moment before, as if the casting had taken more out of him than mere magical reserves.<br/><br/>"Accept then the master's blessing. Share in his power and pledge your being to his cause, but woe to you if you betray him, for his wrath is as implacable and inescapable as death itself."<br/><br/>His voice was rythmic but hollow with fatigue as he intoned the words, like a prayer. Or a ceremony. A small flux of pure blackness seemed to hower about an inch above his extended palm, a whirl of shredded shadows, twisting and flowing around and into itself constantly. Its movements were strangely hypnotic and compelling, drawing the eye and making one reluctant to look away, as if some dark secret of the universe, some hidden secret of creation's end had been given form and visage, willing to share its meaning if one would but look and see. It was soundless and scentless, in truth its appearance led one to the thought that it was not so much shadow, as a complete and utter abscense of light, a nothingness that sucked in and consumed all that touched in the space where it was. The entropic nature of the thing was obvious, it hung about it like a palpable aura, and yet there was something enticing about it, a glimmer of potence at its core, a dark elevation for those willing to pay the price.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>