City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

And here is you new chapter. Enjoy!
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Chapter Eight: Wisdom in Dreams pt 1

The people of UnderDark are a strange and fickle people. Inhabiting the honeycomb maze of underground tunnels, some natural others hand carved, that they call Below, these people have been both a help and hinderance to Terrinian mages. They typically have black or ebon grey skin and shaved heads, since hair is a rare commodity and source of useful fiber for them. Still the richer members of their society possess either white, silver, or light grey hair. White irised eyes complete their surreal appearence. They, like the rest of the world, possess little or no natural magic.
-The Chronicles of UnderDark vol. 5
-Unknown

Layla stopped the party just before they rounded the last corner and entered the small village of Vi'Keel. "You should feel privilaged. You are the first outsiders to come to this village since the last of the pale skins vanished over fifteen hundred years ago. I know that the Elders will want to see you but I also know that you must be very tired." She shot a glance at Darith as she said these last words.

The young man leaned heavily against the side of the dark equine, his eyes sunken in shadowed sockets. He looked, and smelled, like a man who'd, well, rolled in Cabodise innards and not bathed in a week. He gave her a weak smile. "There's no need to delay your visit. I wouldn't want to offend anyone." Asalia chuckled.

"Brother you are an offense to the eyes and the nose. I'm sure that these Elders wouldn't begrudge you a few hours' rest and a long bath. Think of it this way...if Father had summoned you would you dare appear before him looking like you do now." The effect of her words, and the mention of this absent Father, worked a remarkable change on the young man who held up a weary hand.

"Alright, alright. We can all do with a little rest I'm sure, and a little freshening up. It wouldn't hurt to work out what we're going to say either." Layla turned sharp eyes on the Gallaen youth as he chuckled from his position at the group's rear.

"I'm not going with you, sad to say. I have other important things that need attending too." With a low bow and sweep of his wings he turned to go. Layla put a hand on his arm.

"Can you at least accompany us the rest of the way, spare a few more hours of your time. There are so many questions I'd like to ask you." He looked at her archly for a moment before a grinning.

"Anything for a lovely lady. After you." Layla inclined her head to him and retook her position at the group's head.

"I'll take you back to my home, which is on the other side of the village. I'll ask you to say nothing and keep your heads down please. You're about to become the very center of attention." Motioning them to follow her she rounded that last corner with them and grinned as their gasps echoed forward from behind her.

The village of Vi'Keel was one of the jewels of Below, though not overly large it was, without a doubt, the most beautiful of all the settlements. The tunnel opened into the massive cave that was the Central District, smaller caves leading off to the mansions of the extremely wealthy. The whole of the cave was made from the same pale green-white stone that gave off a faint glow.

A river poured from a crack high in the wall, sliding off of a jut of rock worn into a chute by years of the river's steady progress. The river obviously flowed through phosporescent rocks because the waters glowed with silvery blue light as they poured down the terraced rock face. Feyrlume moss grew everywhere, even on the massive twisted pillars of rock that connected ceiling to floor in the massive cavern.

Bridges made of strange materials polished to high gloss and covered with amazing carvings spanned from their side of the cavern to the other. They tied into many of the others making a floating webwork of suspended pathways. Moss hung from them in luminous veils, trailing streamers of light that tossed back the darkness that should have, but didn't, cling to the corners of the vaulted chamber.

Shadows worked their way through this scene of brilliant ambiance, the dark skinned people that lived in this shimmering alabaster beauty. Some carried parcels, others had worked their way to the massive lake of luminous waters that covered half the massive caverns floor. Trees, amazingly, dotted the terraced walls of the caverns, people walking under them. Some held baskets and picked strange fruits from the spreading branches.

"Follow me. My home is up there." She pointed to a small arched opening near the chute that the river flung itself off of. A set of stairs, barely visible in the distance, ran up toward it.

"It's beautiful." Layla turned and smiled at Asalia, noting the way the light shone in her blue eyes, sparkling back like the reflection of a glow stone in the deep waters.

"Thank you." They navigated the bridges with no difficultly, no questions asked as tired minds overwhelmed by the sheer magnificence of the place struggled to take in all the vistas. The natives respectfully got out of Layla's way, knowing who she was even as bundled up and unrecognizable as her form was. Whispers ran rampant behind her.

She was worried when they reached the stairs but needn't have been. Even as tired as they were, Darith, Asalia, and Callix were more than capable of moving up the stairs. For once Layla had never been happier to see the carved archway of her home with it's door cover of painted Saldiskir hide. Or her paradise plants with their soft pink leaves and tiny yellow blossoms that grew in twining twists next to her doors.

Sweeping the hanging aside she led them into her home, even Callix. She turned to the kession. "You can stay over there. That used to be my kession's stable." She didn't say any more and nobody asked. Callix merely bobbed his head and walked that way, talons clicking on her floor of crackle-glazed tiles. "Ceddon, kindly wait over there while I show Darith and Asalia the spare rooms and bathing facilities." Ceddon flopped onto the mound of furs and pillows she indicated.

She had two spare rooms, a luxury afforded her by her status within the community, and gave one to each of her guests. "I ask only that you clean yourselves up before you touch much. The bathing room is between these two, the water is piped up from the hotsprings below. There are house robes hanging within." Ushering them inside she travled down the hallway to disrobe herself.

Returning to the outer room she saw Ceddon staring at a painting depicting the Legacy Blade. "Beautiful isn't it?" The painting was a deep red background, the blade prominant in the foreground as if floating there. Ceddon grunted.

"Yes it is." Something about his manner and tone made her look at him. His eyes were tight, his shoulders stiff in the manner of someone faced with something offensive. "Although I think there is something missing from the painting."

"What?"

"The one who weilds it." Layla stared at him with worried eyes.

"It's just a painting, an artist's ideal of part of our lost heritage." Ceddon chuckled.

"I'm not displeased with the fact you have it, or the fact that you're interested in our ancient past." It dawned on her then.

"You're angery that they'd immortalize the weapon and not Faelyon himself?" She shivered. "A blade is one thing. The God's will understand if you use the blade as inspiration for paint and prose. But I think you'd find yourself struck down if you so much as contemplated such an undertaking concerning Him."

For a moment there was tense silence then it broke as Ceddon turned and resettled himself on the furs. "Now you said you had questions?" More than willing to shrug off the dangerous subject Layla took a seat across from him and launched into a less forbidden conversation.
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Right, more will soon come.

[Guest]

Quote: "Although I think there is something missing from the painting."

Wow... :D I like this part. interesting. though noone has actiolly thought about that type of subject in my tail.

can't wait to see what is up next. o-)

[Kalanna Rai]

Glad you're enjoying Shades but try not to post between chappy sections. It gets confusing to read that way. Sorry about the time gap, I was called away. Enjoy
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Chapter Eight: Wisdom in Dreams pt 2

Darith was exhausted. Normally he'd have shooed Asalia from the room but the truth was he'd never have gotten out of his armor without her. She grunted, struggling with the straps on his curiass. "This is heavy." Once unbuckled it clanged to the tiles, too heavy for Asalia to hold on her own.

"Tell me about it. Oh my shoulders will never be the same." For a moment Darith set about stripping off the rest of his armor at a feverish rate until he froze, greaves partly unbuckled, realizing that Asalia was still standing behind him. He must have flushed everywhere. Clearing his throat he glanced over his shoulder. "Ah, uh, I can finish by myself." Asalia flushed.

"Sorry...I'll wait outside until you're done." She slipped back out the wall hanging leaving Darith to disrobe and bathe on his own. He decided that, after trudging across a frozen landscape, fighting massive beasts, and being sunk up to his chest in solid ground...this bath was heaven.

Once finished he slipped into a dark blue robe that hung from a peg carved like a leaping fish on the wall. He wrapped his armor up in his soiled cloak and packed it out past a paitently waiting Asalia. "It's all yours little sister. Good night."

"Good night Darith, your room is on the right." Brushing into the indicated room he dropped his armor in a pile and collapsed onto the pile of soft furs with a deep groan. He was asleep in minutes.

He found himself in a very strange place...a place from his nightmares. "The Non World." He was back in the place where he'd fought Fallon, fought against the Xalthian mage who'd been controlling him like a puppet. He whirled around, wondering how and why he'd ended up here. A shadow caught his attention from the corner of his eye and, whirling, he turned to face the dark spot.

"Fallon?" Darith couldn't believe his eyes. It had to be Fallon...but it was a perfect Fallon without flaw or blemish. His dark black coat hung from his perfect form in utter stillness. His dark bangs swept over his face, shadowing most of his features, but Darith didn't need to see them to realize how perfect they'd become. Fallon's violet eyes bored into him through slits in his hair.

Two long black wings extended back to frame his entire form, the gold bands framing the ebon black primary color light light framing utter darkness. His power seemed less stated than last time they'd been here...but that didn't mean it wasn't there. It was simply overwhelmed by the sense of Fallon himself. The aura that his elder brother projected fell over Darith like a curtain of death. The sense that he was nothing in comparison painfully stated with every breath Darith took.

"Hello Darith. Have I frightened you?" His heart slammed wildly as Fallon's voice echoed against his phsyche. A voice like a rod of iorn, firm and unyeilding, by nature not necessity. "I don't intend to I assure you."

Darith's throat worked vainly for several seconds before he could finally muster a semblance of speech. "What happened to you? What have you become?" Fallon didn't seem to move but the distance between them became zero in less than a heartbeat. Darith realized his half brother had gained another inch or so of height as well as degressing in age until it was hard to believe he was any older than Darith himself.

His hands gripped Darith's wrists and, as Darith looked down for the first time, he saw the heavy black cuffs that encircled them, felt the pain as they seared into his flesh. Fallon's steely finger tips caught the edges and, with a snap, the cuffs fell away into his hands. Darith looked back up and was instantly paralyzed by those intense violet eyes.

"These cuffs burn with the essence of fire." As Darith watched the cuffs seemed to melt in Fallon's hands, becoming drops of black shadow that vanished in the pure white feild around them. "But such an all-consuming fire fails quickly and is washed away by the rain of revelation." Darith reached out to catch Fallon's hand...and found himself holding only an ebon feather edged in gold.

Coming suddenly awake he found himself holding the feather he'd picked up from amoung the Cabodise earlier. Silence ruled in the room and, as he stilled his rapid breathing, he repeated Fallon's words to himself. "Fire fails." He placed the feather back in his belt pouch, wondering just why Fallon had given it to him and feeling a lightness of existance he'd never felt before. He knew without being told that his Curse was gone.

He felt like shouting it to the whole world but, instead, found tears silently running down his face. Sobs shook his massive form as he hugged himself tightly. He felt shamed, slightly, at weeping like a child...something he hadn't done since he'd been five. But he couldn't help it. The most significant thing in his life to date had just happened...and his last link to the past had just been severed.

"I'm not the boy I was." Three days ago he would have called himself a man and not known why the guards laughed behind his back. Now he shook his head at what a fool he had been. He could call himself a man now, certianly he'd earned that much, but look at what it had cost him. His home, much of his family, his world, and the Curse that had kept him captive.

"Is that really what it cost? All that had to be sacrificed to satisfy the curse of one long dead mage? I cannot accept that, there must be other reasons." He looked at the Windaggers, which hadn't even come off for bathing but seemed no worse for the water. "Why have you Chosen me?" He was rather surprised when they answered.

'Because he asked us to. We are your sheild when he cannot defend you, we are your talons when he cannot champion you. We are your companions when he is not there. We will become extensions of yourself, in time. But for now we are the wind and the rain and we are yours.' Darith stared in shock. There was no doubt in his mind who 'he' was. These things had been in Fallon's bag, they must be acting on Fallon's orders.

Their reasons had been stated but why, why, did Fallon want to give him such a gift? And what did they mean by becoming 'extensions of yourself in time'? Would they grow into his skin, or would he be able to sense things through them? Or did it just mean that they wouldn't be able to speak to him anymore. "Can you talk to me all the time?" The Windaggers remained silent. "Are you aware of the world around you?" Again nothing. They'd gone back to being ordinary blades.

Sitting on the edge of his bed of furs Darith clenched his fingers in his hair, putting pressure on his skull. Why did all his answers only lead to more questions? Slowly he exhaled, letting his frustrations go as the Weaponsmaster had long ago taught him. Like hands reaching up from a vast ocean, sleep caught him in it's gossamer touch and pulled him back into her warm embrace. This time he had no strange dreams...only untroubled ones at long last.
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More coming.

[Kalanna Rai]

And more...
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Chapter Eight: Wisdom in Dreams pt 3

Asalia sank into the blissfully warm waters with a small squeak. Scrubbing herself until her skin was new and pink she wrapped herself in the white house robe hanging from a carved wall hook, using a few thin crystal rods, she didn't know what they were really used for, to skewere her wet hair into a knot ontop of her head. Bundling her filthy clothes in her cloak, she padded back into her room, peeking in on Darith to find him snoring like a baby.

She smiled, creeping across the hall, and left her clothes on one side of the door. Being more curious than tired, she took a single fur from her bed and wrapped it around herself, not trusting the house robe to be as modest as she wanted, and walked back into the front room. There she found Layla and Ceddon engrossed in discussion that seemed to center around the best way to break the news to the elders. Not wanting to seem rude or nosey, she studied the carvings and paintings that decorated the room.

It seemed Layla was a fan of the arts from the collection of beautiful works that lay or hung all over the room. One piece caught her attention and held it. A blade, long, thin, and possessing deadly elegance seemed to leap out at her. Her eyes felt compelled to examin the curves. She reached out with slender fingers to touch it, fully expecting the blade to cut her. "Ah...you appriciate art as well?" She jumped when Layla's voice echoed in her ear.

"It's beautiful."

"It's the Legacy Blade." Asalia looked at her quizzically.

"Pardon my asking...but what's that?" Asalia didn't miss the look that Layla shot Ceddon. "If it's something you'd rather not talk about." Ceddon cleared his throat standing.

"She'd rather not talk about it because she's bound to serve a god. Talking about it for her boarders on heracy since the Legacy Blade is the weapon of Faelyon who's..."

"Hush." She turned to Asalia. "Nobody's ever actually seen the Legacy Blade. It vanished long, long ago."

"Then how do you know it exists." Layla got a faraway look in her eyes.

"Because a description of it has been passed down generation to generation." Slowly, in perfect counterpoint to one another, Ceddon and Layla began.

'A blade as black as innocence slain,
Edges keen as vengeful fury.
Nine Traitors named upon the flat,
Runes etched in broken honor.
The double edge deeply wounds all,
Save one hand upon the hilt.
With liquid form and changeling mein,
Doth hide itself from the Fool.
Only the eyes marked by the tip,
Shall see the Truth the only One.'

Asalia shuddered as the finished, looking from the painted sword to Layla and Ceddon before looking back. "What dose it mean, it sounds more like a prophecy." Layla looked stricken and Ceddon began to laugh darkly before calming enough to explain.

"It is really. Long ago the Gallaeni were led by a God called Faelyon Gallae. If you listen to the doctrines of the Divine Nine, you'll see they all have him painted as a dark, troubled figure. In our traditional legends, our folk and bedtime stories though, he's painted as our patron and protector...and as the one True god. Perhaps we should sit before continuing this."

Asalia allowed Ceddon to give her a seat on the couch, Layla muttering something about bringing the 'Curse of Elonia' upon herself for such blasphemous conversation. "Comfortable?" Asalia nodded, snuggling deeper into her fur. "Good, I'll continue."

"Good or evil Faelyon was destroyed by the Gods. His powers were split into six spheres." He ticked these off on his long white fingers. "The first was the sphere of Lifeforce and Light. The second the sphere of Earth and Body. The third the sphere of Fire and Heart. The forth the sphere of Mind and Water. The fifth the sphere of Will and Wind. And lastly the sixth the sphere of Magic and Darkness." A sudden understanding leaped into Asalia's mind.

"UnderDark! The world is this way because...no." Both Ceddon and Layla nodded, confirming her fears. "But then we..."

"That is a tale for later and not mine to tell Asalia. You wanted to hear about the Legacy Blade, I'm sure Layla can explain the spheres far better than I can." Clamping her mouth shut Asalia returned her attention to Ceddon's earlier tale.

"The Nine thought that Faelyon was no more but they'd forgotten entirely the burnished blade he'd always carried. The moment his blood touched it the blade changed forever, from the graceful silver impliment of Rightousness, into the black blade of Vengance. The names of the Nine appeared as blood red runes, etched deeply into the blade, never fading. it was then that the Prophecy was first heard."

"What is the Prophecy?" Ceddon shook his head.

"I don't know. I've never heard it entirely. I know the part about the blade and the part about the return but I know nothing about the rest." Asalia turned to Layla who shook her head.

"My Father told it to my brother and I. My brother believed it and look where that has gotten him." Asalia hadn't known Layla had a brother and, judging from the bitter tone in Layla's voice, wasn't sure she wanted to meet him. Something terrible must have come between them when they were much younger. Something that had forever torn them apart.

For a moment Asalia contemplated life without Darith and shuddered as a chill raced down her spine. Inconcievable. Darith was her rock, her sheild, her whole world now. She knew he'd do anything for her and she felt much the same way about him. She felt nothing but pity for Layla that the priestess could never share such a deep bond of love and trust with her own brother. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. He chose his own path and serves his own masters. At least he bears no Black Wings." Black Wings...Asalia thought of Fallon then. He'd become a Gallaeni when he died hadn't he? But he wings weren't fully black, they had those golden edges. Still she had to ask the question.

"What's wrong with black wings?" Ceddon stood with a snort while Layla looked like someone had shoved a needle into her eye.

"Lovely talk ladies but I must be going. Good luck explaining that Layla." Before either of them could so much as wave, Ceddon was gone. Slowly, as if each word were a hot coal or a horrible creature, Layla began to explain to Asalia.

"Gallaeni have served gods since Faelyon's fall. It's a way of keeping our powers, or longevity, intact. As you know there are nine gods, each arranged in a Triad according to alignment. The High Triad are the good gods, the light gods. The High Triad is made up of Vathos, Elonia, and Wyle. They represent Salvation, Truth, and Redemption.

The Even Triad are the nutral gods, the faded gods. The Even Triad is made up of Ulren, Xain, and Eil. They represent Healing, Charity, and Knowledge. They are not as good as the High Triad, but they are not so evil as the third and last Triad. The Savage Triad are the evil gods, the gods of darkness. The Savage Triad is made up of Prima, Isul, and Tamz. They represent Void, Damnation, and Distruction.

A Gallaeni is marked by the God or Gods they serve. Serving the a god of the High Triad or the High Triad itself will give you white wings, the sign of innocence and virtue. Serving the Even Triad will give you blue wings, the sign of balance and serenity. Serving the Savage Triad will give you red wings, the sign of war and brutality. These colors we can deal with." She shuddered, the next few words drawn out of her at great cost. Asalia believed the only reason Layla told her at all was so Asalia would know what to be wary of.

"But Black Wings...it's only a legend, caught up in the Prophecy. Although legend tells us there were Gallaeni with black wings before Faelyon's fall it's only the Prophecy that outlines them in understandable terms. Legends mark them as outsiders, Gallaeni charged with keeping order within the ranks, Hunters if you will, Faelyon's Knights.

The Prophecy...I'll spare you the prose. The Black Wings serve no Gods, they are law unto themselves. Their only purpose is the distruction of the Traitors, the reunion of the spheres. The Black Wings shall deal death from both hands, shall spread plauge with both wings. And yet it is confusing because intermixed are passages claming that the Black Wings shall be the 'Final Sheild' and the 'First Warrior'. Improper translations and embellishments on the tale no doubt. No...Black Wings are evil...nothing more than pure evil spawned in antithesis of the Gods."

She stood abruptly. "I can tell you no more Asalia du'Maldon. I can only say that should you encounter such a creature that you must pray to the High Trian for your salvation." She left then, leaving Asalia cold and shaking.

"Oh Fallon...what kind of monster are you?"
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Almost finished now.

[Kalanna Rai]

Finally the end of the chappy! Enjoy!
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Chapter Eight: Wisdom in Dreams pt 4

Ceddon crossed over into spirit space to find Fallon waiting with his arms crossed easily over his chest. He smirked at his other half and shook his snowy mane. "I did it." Fallon stared at him.

"Did you now..." Ceddon's smirk faltered before being replaced by an irritated scowl. He flopped down on a patch of nothing that conformed to hold him in the air, casually sprawled like a sultan on silken cusions.

"Look I'm not you, I don't do perfect. I got little miss britches-in-a-bunch to loosen up a little and talk about a few things, not nearly enough to make any connections though. However," Ceddon looked slyly at Fallon now. "I think that little golden haired beauty of yours was bright enough to connect a few dots. I can only hope that that priestess tells her the truth about Black Wings."

Fallon turned to him with cold eyes, his aura bearing down so hard Ceddon wanted to curl up and die. "How did that topic come up?" Ceddon tried to get Fallon to back off the pressure but it was like trying to convince a mountain to move because it was spoiling your view.

"Layla mentioned something about her brother not having black wings and Asalia wanted to know what was wrong with them." The pressure ceased as Fallon turned his back toward Ceddon, an oath slipping between his lips. Ceddon's mouth dropped open, eyebrows vanishing into his hairline. Did the almighty mask of the most high Fallon just slip? Or was it his imagination. "Calm down...it's not the end of the world."

The tension was back along Fallon's jaw as a single violet eye captured the whole of Ceddon's attention. "It just might be Ceddon. Asalia is a LifeHeart." Ceddon felt his heart stop, well not really but it missed several beats. His mouth went dry and he swollowed vainly.

"Holy Shit...no wonder you..."His words faded off into empty space, now Fallon's actions with the girl made sense. Fallon twitched an eyebrow at him.

"What? Did you think I loved her Ceddon? Surely you, of all creatures, would know better." Fallon turned again, heading for the edge of the space. Ceddon swore to himself.

"Hey where are you going?"

"I've got to see someone. I'll clean up your mess when I return." As Fallon vanished Ceddon stood and paced over to the nearest wall. Banging his head against with force several times he cursed his stupidity.

"Dammit just when I think I've got him figured out he does something like this to me. If that damn priestess manages to convince the girl Fallon really is a monster...we're in deep shit."
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Fallon polietly requested entrance into the spirit-space before him, waiting just outside it's thick walls. Soon enough an entrance appeared, allowing him into the garden within. It was a lovely place who's amazing beauty was waisted upon the young man who's countenance never changed. His amazing eyes never once straied from the path his feet trod, his ungodly beauty eclipsing the garden's own and rendering it moot. Beauty would never dazzel Fallon's jaded eyes.

Yet it was worth mentioning since it represented a lifetime of labor and love for the garden's sole occupant. The paths were smooth white sand, carefully raked. The edges were marked with smooth black and white pebbles, giving way to grass greener than emeralds and softer than the down of a gosling. Black barked cherry trees grew in an orchard of color, pink blossoms scattered on a soft jasmine scented breeze. Vines of bluebell ivy grew around the dark trunks, their silver green and deep blue stark contrast to the trees themselves.

Reaching the spiraling path's center, Fallon came to a pavilion of watertile. Two chairs of silk and wood sat under an awning of silk the color of twilight. A pond, it's waters the blue-silver of moonlight lay at the heart of the garden just at the pavilion's egde. Lotus blossoms and lily's of all description grew at it's edges, turning the surface into a floating garden.

In one of the two chairs a young man in green silk sat, a black staff leaned against his chair. Without looking he greeted Fallon. "You came. I was worried you would not." Fallon walked onto the watertile and gracefully sat in the other seat. Both men stared straight ahead, neither looking at one another.

"Why did you summon me? Why not your Grandson?" Slowly the man in the seat next to him turned to study Fallon's face.

"You look stronger than you have in years...stronger than when I first met you in fact. Why is that?" Fallon turned to look at the man who'd called him here. Though he was young, a man in the prime of his life, his eyes were very old. They were the eyes of the Grand Magus of Althur.

"Wyvril, why did you call for me?" Wyvril sighed and returned his gaze ahead of him. Fallon did not relax an inch.

"I remember when Illiaya and I lost our child, we thought it was the end of our hopes, the end of our nations. Then she, the Gallaen woman, arrived with a Gallaen babe in her arms, telling us to take this girl and call her our own because hers was a great and terrible destiny. She was to be the mother of the double-headed dragon. She handed to Illiaya the babe and to me she handed a long thin bundel with the warning I was never to touch it, that the babe would know when the time was right and the blade's weilder would step forward.

Illiaya and I knew nothing of the riddles the woman spoke but we were glad enough of a child. We named her Abullia and she was the joy of our lives. We watched her grow, watched her laugh and cry. Nursed her hurts and fought her fears. We loved her so deeply she commanded our souls, she was our everything.

Then she came to us one day and told us she was with child. We were both dismayed and overjoyed. Dismayed because she was not married and refused to tell us of the father save that he too was a Gallaeni, overjoyed because we were to become grandparents. Then Abullia went and involved herself in the scandal with Belart du'Maldon...luckily Illiaya died of the fever before that." The man paused for a moment staring into the distance.

"I fail to see what this has to do with me now." Fallon watched a fish swim out from under the lotus leaves, it's fluttering tail listlessly churning the water.

"Then she bore a healthy son, a beautiful son with raven hair and violet eyes that looked little enough like her but was the most handsome creature any of us had ever seen. It was that night I cast it's fortune and took it upon myself to secure the babe's spirit agains those who would hex him. You can imagine my surprise when I entered that space to set the inner wards.

I expected to find an infant spirit and in all fairness I did find one...in your arms. A little pale thing that looked nothing like the living babe that nursed at Abullia's brest. This was the spirit that should have been born. And yet you...you looked as you do now save that you were..."

"Diminished." Wyvril nodded.

"Diminished, yes. I remember the way you looked at me, that intense gaze you turned upon me with all that exhaustion you could not hide. I could see the wounds upon your soul, something had worked you over, something hadn't been kind. Your wings were in tatters, your coat ragged, and yet you were calm, your power faultless. I gave the care of my Grandson to you, knowing that what I taugh you, you would teach him, what you knew he would learn.

But it was hard for me...all those years to watch the babe my daughter bore become the physical flesh of a spirit I knew nothing of. Don't think I didn't try to discern you, I searched every book in the Great Library for a 'Fallon'. And there was nothing, nothing at all. So I watched you grow, heard you call me Grandfather, and I summoned Ceddon, the true son of my daughter, to meet me here. I know you have kept him safe, you have made his flesh stronger than he could ever have, but I still want to know more about you. I want to know why you are growing strong while everyone else seems to grow weaker."

"Ceddon grows stronger."

"Only because you do. It's chaos and turmoil here Fallon. The disappearence of the Castle and all within it have sparked a war that is tearing Terrinia apart. Everyone points their finger at you and, by extention, me and I cannot deny it because I don't know your strength." Fallon turned to the desperate Wyvril.

"I am an interloaper in you life Wyvril and you have been good to me. I will answer to the best of my abilities any question you pose me. Keep in mind I am still not in posession of everything that I am and that you will only be able to ask this one question." Fallon watched the Magus's face grow grim and grave.

What question would he ask?---------------------------


Well there you go finally. I hope you enjoy this chappy and lets see those ideas.

[Guest]

Quote: in you life I believe it's 'your life'

M so he may only ask one question I've got a few here. *opens up idearuim bottle*

I should ask, What is my perpose in this land of darkness.
Why are you telling me this?
Where is the war and how can i stop it?
Does she live?
Must i trak alone or can i take my friends with?
Who should i be weary of?

Wait yes here it is... Why have you come to this place?
Before I dei and turn to the darkness please stop the war from reaching a hold of this world?

I've got more... lets see. I'll stop right there.

[Lilith]

Amazing! Okay it took me let's see.. this morning from 3:30 to 7 am and then 2pm this afternoon to almost 5pm. An intricate tale by any means. I say, let him ask something along the lines of "how do you expect to end this war" or "what is your purpose in all of this?"

[Kalanna Rai]

Anyone else want to toss in their two cents worth before I come back in a couple hours and put up the poll?

[Kalanna Rai]

Polls up...vote.

[Polokin]

Voted (Please let this one win). I hate your clues :shock:

[Lilith]

I sympathize, Polokin. I am hooked to Underdark and all she gave me was the same damn hint she gave you! Anyhoot, I say Who is Fallon b/c, i wanna know, damnit!

[dinranwen]

I am sorry I missed this one Dragoness. :( But for what's it's worth you just made things twenty times more interesty, and got me thinking on so many levels my head is spinning.

[Kalanna Rai]

[insert evil laughter here] One more day...I should have the new chappy up tomorrow or the next day.

And one last thing...becareful what you wish for....

[Kalanna Rai]

Well all you Info-maniacs look to the next chappy for some of your Fallon headache relife...