Andarin: The Mountains: Sterling;

“This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.
The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.:
The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save Us!'...:

...and I'll look down, and whisper, 'No'"

Fear was something that Nicodemus was accustomed to. Not feeling it, mind you, because it was rare that someone could truly be accustomed to such a thing. No, Nicodemus was accustomed to others feeling fear, and not simply for anything, but for him. He felt it in the way that his fire lunged for others, and yet at the simple bend of his mind would lap at them like a playful kitten. And yet this stranger didn’t fear him, at least, his element didn’t. If anything there was a gust of power, because this stranger that he happened to stumble upon was water. The stallion halted, though fear did not grasp him, only an awareness and heightened sense of things.

He cautiously moves closer, his fire bending away from the stranger with bravado. But Nicodemus does not falter, a smile curling around his lips almost feline. He chuckles. The flames, as though in response to the curiosity of the water, leap suddenly, a harsh sound emitting, like that whoosh that came when the stove lit itself. But still, Nicodemus just smiles, saying nothing. Doing nothing.

He was a rather peculiar sort of guy.

“Ni’Srilan, eh? The desert.” Another chuckle. And at the mention of wolf, his smile widens all the more, ears prick in alertness. “That I am.”

A long pause. “I am Nicodemus. You are?”

SEER

**NICODEMUS**

Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us.