City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

Time for the next hundred tons off my back. Enjoy!
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Chapter Eleven: Heartache and Suffering

There is one place in all of UnderDark to avoid at all costs. A tall mountain, known to the locals as 'Ebon Spire', actually may rise above the shell of darkness. Many mages attempted to climb the stairway carved into it's base including an entire segment of the Xalthian army. It's said their bodies rained down for days...
-The Chronicles of UnderDark vol 5
-Unknown

"The quickest way to get going is to split the preparation." For a moment Layla chewed her hair, trying to figure out who would be the best at doing what. Her eyes strayed to Ceddon and she had a sudden idea. "Ceddon, can you go explain the situation to the Elders for me? Otherwise I'll never be able to show my face in the village again, as rude as I've been keeping strangers from the Surface from them."

A sardonic grin accompanied Ceddon's raised eyebrow. "Oh that'll go over well. I suppose I'll just glide on over there and say 'I'm sorry for the delay but we've been detained resurrecting a dead...something...and plotting to slay the Gods. Now we're off to find the Sphere of Magic and Darkness, wish us luck'...yeah that'll go over real well."

Callix snorted and tried to cover it up by pawing her floor. Layla narrowed her eyes, hands on hips. "Well then smart guy, what are you going to do?"

Ceddon stretched, settling back on the fur throws. "I've already done my part. I informed the Scavangers about the Cabodise when I took my little leave earlier. I figure by now you're the richest woman in this town Layla...that's plenty of credit to buy supplies with."

Layla knew her mouth was hanging open like a Howler but she couldn't help it. After a flustered moment she recovered her poise and turned away from the smirking Gallaen. Asalia and Darith were deep in conversation when Layla's gaze landed on them. Clearing her throat a few times got their attention. "Darith...do you think you could plan a three-day trek. Provisions and such?"

Darith sighed. "Under normal circumstances, easily. But Layla...you're asking me to plan blind. I don't know the terrain we're crossing, the dangers we might encounter, where we might resupply in case of emergency...You need to work with me, give me some time." Layla winced at his words, time was the one essential they didn't have. She turned around to face Fallon, to ask for more time, only to find he'd gone.

"I'm sorry Darith. If you go into my room you'll find maps and charts on the shelves. We're headed towards a place called 'Ebon Spire' you'll find it well marked on all the maps as well as the tunnel exits from this village. There are also maps of the tunnels surrounding the village. The dangers, well most of them, are marked clearly. I'm going to take Asalia with me while I grab some basic supplies and I'll check with you when we get back. Hopefully I'll be able to better aid you then."

Darith gave her a quick nod and briskly strode off in the direction of Layla's chambers. "Asalia...wait a moment. I'll get you some clothes you can wear." She walked into her chambers just in time to find Darith unrolling and studying the first map with a puzzled expression. She put a hand on his shoulder, causing his muscles to jump, the only reaction of surprise he allowed to show. "I'm sorry to put all this on you."

He sighed again. "I'm sorry too...especially since I can't read this writing." Layla bit her lip, ready to cry in frustration. Why couldn't anything work for her? Darith's apologetic smile didn't do much to sooth her splintered nerves.

"Isn't there some way you could translate? A spell or something?"

"I'm not a mage Layla. Even if I've got the power to do that," He glanced at his false wings. "I wouldn't know how to use it."

Layla took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was rushing and she never saw things clearly when she was rushed. All she needed was to clear her head and the answer would come. As her breathing steadied and her heart stopped pounding, a face flashed before her eyes. "Ceddon. He can translate them." Grabbing some clothing she was sure would fit Asalia, Layla dashed back out into the other room to find the Gallaeni and the girl in heated conversation.

"But I'm sure he's got feelings..."

"Trust me princess, I lived with him for twenty-eight years. Fallon's got about as much emotion as a rock when it comes to others. As long as nobody steps on his wing tips, he doesn't give a damn. Face it sister, you've got about as much chance with ..."

Layla clapped her hands sharply making both their heads whip around. "I'm sure this discussion would yeild interesting theories on our mysterious companion but I, for one, don't really want to risk his wrath by screwing up our time table. I'm sure that would constitute stepping on his wing tips, as you put it Ceddon. And I don't think any of us really want to have him angery at us."

A shiver passed through Ceddon, his expression darkening. "Oh no," he said softly. "That would be the last thing we did." For a moment there was silence as Layla handed Asalia her clothing before turning to Ceddon.

"I want you to help Darith with the maps, he needs a translator."

Ceddon gave her a mocking bow. "I thought you'd never ask." Half way to the hanging that seperated her chambers from the rest of her house, Ceddon stopped and looked back. "I suppose you'll also want me to tell him more about those dangers we might be facing? I'm rather well read on the subject of this realm, Fallon did some serious studies before we crossed over. I think he was suspecting it."

Layla turned to Asalia when Ceddon poked his head back through the chamber flap for one last word. "I wonder what could have given him that idea." He winked and Layla blushed, he couldn't have been with Fallon then...could he? Layla wasn't going to put it past him to have been lurking around...Fallon certainly hadn't told him. Had he?

She pondered the question a bit more while she waited for Asalia to dress. The girl came back a few moments later and Layla was struck by how much she now resembled her Gallaeni heritage. "When I met you you seemed...human."

Asalia grimaced. "When I met you...I was..." Leading the way Layla found herself lost in thought again. Why was all this happening now? And why did it have to happen so fast? As they crossed one of the suspension bridges toward an armory Layla had frequented, she found her hands were shaking. She quickly clenched them, hoping the girl hadn't seen.

"What's wrong Layla?" Damn her but she had sharp eyes. Still, Layla could hardly tell Asalia, a girl she hardly knew, the secret that had haunted her for too many years to count. That was the real reason she detested the haste Fallon's time table had forced on her. She was going to have to tell them the truth before they finished their journey.

"Just a chill. I'm not used to dealing with resurrected heros from my cultural past and the fact everything I believed good and decent in this world was really just a sham created to cover a hideous truth." Asalia fell silent and Layla mentally flogged herself for being so harsh on the girl. It was hard to remember she really was young, barely a woman if a woman at all...."How are you doing?"

The girl sniffed and offered her a wan smile as they entered the shop. "Well I'm coping with the fact I can make dreams come true at the expense of my life and that nobody is who I think they are, myself included...I suppose I'm doing fine under the circumstances." Wrapping an arm around Asalia's fragile shoulders Layla laughed. At least the girl had some spunk.
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I'm still going...

[Kalanna Rai]

Next...
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Chapter Eleven: Heartache and Suffering pt 2

Darith rubbed his temples for the hundreth time as he stared at the tangled maze of twisted lines of ink that marked the tunnels around the village. "Are you sure that's what they meant when they said 'Clannskyregen'?"

Ceddon banged his forehead against the wall, fists raised above his head. "Yes. I'm very sure." He turned to face Darith, eyes like diamonds boring into Darith's dark green ones. "Look...if you don't want my help for some reason just say so, I'm a reasonable man. But don't insult my intelligence just to try and drive me away. It's not fair to either of us for you to keep after me like this though."

For a moment Darith just stared at Ceddon looking at him, really looking, for the first time. Ceddon wasn't anything like Fallon, well aside from the Gallaeni generalities and a trace that was left over here and there...like the intense stare. He looked twenty-eight, although at the moment he was haggard and seemed much older. Darith sighed and rubbed his eyes. Darith wondered when his birthday had been...

"I'm sorry Ceddon. It's not you it's...alright it's you. I do value your help it's just..." The Gallaeni sat down heavily next to him.

"It's the stigma of Fallon isn't it? You look at me and keep expecting him, for better or worse. You keep expecting him because you know he's knowledge will be exact and you're expecting mine to be flawed. You keep expecting him because he's the one you're familiar with and I'm not. I'm sorry for that Darith, I'd have liked to have been there. I'd have liked a family, friends, life experiance. I just had something more important to do."

Darith kept his eyes fixed on the maps infront of him, eyes on the words that Ceddon had changed from gibberish into legible Terrinian. He didn't want to looke at the white winged being sitting next to him because he didn't want to confront the pain behind those words. "I've been an ass Ceddon...I'm sorry."

"Don't be." The bitter laugh that escaped after that wasn't directed at Darith but rather at Ceddon himself. The Gallaen continued in the same self-depriciating tone. "It's not your fault that Mr. Perfect is just that. It's not your fault for the hero-worship for him that if you say you don't have, you're lying."

"But it doesn't change the fact that you're my brother and that You have emotions I've been walking all over. I suppose in that way I'm used to Fallon and my, our, Father." He turned to look at Ceddon who's face was hidden by a shimmering sheet of white hair. "I suppose if I'm going to work with you, I should get to know you. It's only fair, I made that attempt with Fallon."

Ceddon turned his head a bit, one eye peering through that long hair in a very Fallon-esq way. "I know. I was there. I was there for all of it, even the battle for your mind in the non-world. You don't know how nervous I was, how tense Fallon was. I was sure he'd end up killing you..."

Darith looked at Ceddon in shock. "You were nervous? Why?"

Ceddon shrugged, a wing roll that sent his feathers hissing across the floor. "I didn't want to lose my brother before I had a chance to know him. Call me funny but I'm kinda soft like that..." Silence filled the room for a few moments before Ceddon spoke again. "Ready to tackle those maps and think of some logistics?"

Darith snorted. "It's certainly better than talking about uncomfortable subjects."

"Amen to that brother...now I suggest a passage here, through the Sarkan Gate." Darith looked at the route Ceddon was tracing and mentally mapped the distance according to the map scale.

"It might be the safest but it's also the longest route. It'd take us three days just to get there." He studied the map again, fingers walking several routes, some very short but overly dangerous, others longer and less frought with peril. "There doesn't seem to be a right option."

"There rarely is Darith. Perfection is..." He stopped short and Darith knew why. Most people said perfection was impossible. Most people hadn't seen Fallon. "Perfection is rarer than true love. I seriously doubt you'd find the perfect route to the Ebon Spire if you had ten years to study these maps. You're just going to have to do what every commander ends up doing sooner or later...pick the route you think is best for the job and hope those under your command can win their way through the opposition."

"That's what I'd hoped to avoid." He turned to Ceddon with a crooked smile. "I've no doubts about your combat ability..."

Ceddon interrupted him. "And you shouldn't have doubts about the others either. The four of you were handling the Cabodise neatly before I came along. Compared to that, most of these things will be a cakewalk."

For a moment the brothers stared at each other before Darith sighed, shoulders sagging. "But Asalia...she wasn't doing so well during or after that battle. She's not...not a violent person Ceddon."

"You don't think I realize that? Hello I might not have lived my life to the fullest but I'm not blind and deaf. I can see the difference between someone like Layla and someone like Asalia. That girl's a lamb...she's gonna be innocent right up until something rips that innocence away or until she dies."

"That's what I'm worried about!" Darith didn't realize he'd gripped Ceddon's shoulders until the Gallaeni sent him skidding back across the room, slamming into the wall. As they stood there facing each other, Darith realized they were the same height. He was used to looking up to Fallon but he could stare Ceddon square in the eye. As he did so now he realized the mistake he'd made. "I'm sorry Ceddon but she's all I have. I've watched her grow since I was four and she was a pink babe in my mother's arms."

His throat closed up on him and he cleared it nosily. "I'm sorry to get all emotional on you but she really means everything to me. I've watched out for her at court, panicked over her every time she woke up in the morning, catered to her every whim although it's not like I had much of a choice on that one...And now with my home, family, and future turned to so much dust she really is everything I've got."

Darith watched Ceddon's jaw work, noted the tiny movement of his head that sent all that hair rippling like a liquid blizzard back across his face. That was definetly a Fallon-trick that had been ingrained in him. "I could point out she's not quite everything...I'm still here for all that's worth."

For a moment Darith didn't know how he was supposed to answer that. Fallon hadn't ever offered anything to Darith, and yet Ceddon wasn't Fallon and Darith had to remember that. Similarities they might have yes, but Darith was beginning to notice far more similarities between Ceddon and himself. It was then that he made a deliberate choice...when he and Ceddon stood together next in battle...it would be as brothers.

Walking back over to the map he tapped it sharply. "You knew the route to the Sarkan Gate was the longest so why did you pick it?" Ceddon flashed him a smile complete with wagging eyebrows before pointing to a few marks on the map.

"Looks like there's a couple of short cuts that'll get us there in a little under a day if we're all mounted..."
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If you havn't guessed this is another mushy chappy. Just work with me...

[Kalanna Rai]

This might be the last part I post tonight...we'll see...
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Chapter Eleven: Heartache and Suffering pt 3

Asalia watched with slight satisfaction as Darith's eyes widened and Ceddon bit his lips to hide a smile. "It's wonderful isn't it? And practical too right?" The Ryker hide armor Layla had seen her outfitted with was like a second skin, and it flattered her with it's deep sapphire blue hue, streaked with dark iris purple. Layla had a matching set, although her's was dark ebony.

Ceddon gave her a long whistle. "You look nice indeed and Ryker hide isn't just stylish...it's got a natural ability to absorb magic and is the equivilant strength of plate steel." He looked at Darith with a half laugh. "You are going to freeze your ass off tin man...and all for no reason."

Asalia laughed as Darith groaned, enjoying the look on her brother's face for a moment before thrusting a box forward. "This is for you." She giggled a bit at the profound relife in his eyes when he pulled free a set for himself. "It might not be perfectly sized, you weren't exactly with us..."

Ceddon, who was busy taking his own set out of another box Layla handed to him, flicked a wing. "Don't worry...I'll resize if it doesn't fit."

Asalia chuckled again. "I thought you said it absorbed magic."

Ceddon snorted. "I also shared my existance with Fallon, give me some credit." Asalia shrugged, she couldn't argue with that. Instead, as the boys shrugged into their armor which was white in Ceddon's case and chocolate brown in Darith's, she busied herself unpacking something else they'd bought from the armorer.

"Now this is rare. Apparently it was brought back by Scavengers who stumbled upon a tomb in some crumbling tunnels. Layla thought you needed a weapon Ceddon since your last one turned out to belong to Fallon." She slowly held the blade aloft and watched as the runes along it's length caught fire.

Ceddon's wings twitched. "I don't belive it...I really don't." He took the blade with a delicate touch. "If we have time, I'd like to see that tomb."

Layla peered at the blade. "Why? I can tell it's enchanted but what's so special about this blade or where it came from." Ceddon shot Layla a look Asalia couldn't begin to interperate.

"Because if I'm right, and I probably am, this is the blade of Balmural Uthender...the lost blade Varathax." He ran his fingers lightly down the edge. "One way to find out for sure..." He lightly knicked his finger on the edge and Layla watched a thin smear of scarlet marr the shimmering silver surface. Yet the note that sang out from the blade was pure, sweet, and protective. Ceddon's whole face lit up. "I'm right...this is the lost blade of the Althurian Magus's...my birthright..."

For a moment Asalia felt a pang for the loss of her home, the scattered dust that was Castle Byrith and all her inhabitants. Then Layla's brisk words made her shiver for a completely different reason. "Well Darith, have you figured anything out? We need to get moving, plan or no."

Darith unrolled the map that he'd been holding onto, flipping it around so that he could point a route out to Layla. Asalia crowded close, feeling a surge of pride as she watched her brother in his element. "Ceddon and I have concluded that the Sarkan Gate is the closest to Ebon Spire and also the least used. We'll be unmolested going through it and most of the tunnels leading to it. The only places we might encounter problems are here," he pointed to a small wavy line marked 'Bridge of Sorrows'. "And here." This was a small set of bumps marked, 'Low Mounds'.

Layla whistled. "Those are some obsticles you've picked but...it's a short route and safe for the most part...What about rations?"

"We'll need three days minimum of trail food for ourselves. There are a couple of grazing areas marked along our path, here and here," again he tapped a couple of spikey looking marks. "We should be able to feed the mounts there."

Callix, who'd been gazing quietly over Ceddon's shoulder, piped up. "I can find fodder anytime so don't worry about that. Water too. Just focus on yourselves." Asalia grinned at the kession who winked back at her. She knew he was capable and was glad that wherever she ended up going, he'd be going as well.

Darith sucked in a breath and continued on. "So I'm guess whatever passes for trail bread with you folks, dried foodstuffs if you've got them, jerky..." Asalia nodded, and rummaged in their sacks of goods.

"I thought that's what you'd ask for so I helped Layla buy some of it." She tossed several large packs of jerky, dried assorted fruits she didn't dare try and pronounce the names of, some wedges of oddly colored cheese, and large rounds of bread. "I wasn't sure how much we'd need...is this enough." Asalia knew she'd overbought because Darith's eyebrows were lost somewhere in his hairline...and when had he started growing a beard. Or was that only shadow on his jaw?

Ceddon chuckled. "Enough, and how. We're going to be so stuffed when we get there that we might just roll over the opposition." Asalia laughed at that, a tinkling sound like glass chimes, along with Darith and Ceddon. Layla, she noticed, shivered and twitched a bit. She actually looked grimmer, and slightly sick, not even a spark of humor showing on her face.

Asalia reached out for her shoulder. "What's wrong?" Layla flinched like she'd been struck before shaking her head and putting that 'will of iorn' look back on her face.

"Nothing, just worried about our start." Asalia could understand that and grinned, completely missing the look that Ceddon and Darith shared and the way Callix flicked back his ears.

"Well I'll start packing. Callix, where are those bags?" The kession switched his tail, ears perking up and eyes shining.

"This way, I'll help if you want." She dodged around Ceddon and gave the kession a hearty pat on the flank. Of course she wanted his help, why would he think anything different? She lifted what she could, watching as Callix neatly manuvered his horn through the carry straps of several of the bags of goods, grabbing other's in his teeth. Together they wandered into the stables, lugging their respective loads.

Dropping his on the floor, Callix arched his neck several times. Bobbing his head up and down, shaking his mane, and snorting. "Gah, if ever I felt like a mule..." Asalia chuckled at the mental image of Callix hooked up to a plow, large blinkers over his eyes. Quietly she doled out dried fruits to Stormwing and Neverstar while Callix snorted at her, pawing his foot and saying, "What?"

"Nothing, just thought of something to cheer myself up. Now let's get packing." Slowly, with the Kession's help, they sorted the remaining food and water, they hadn't eaten everything Fallon had packed, and the magical items out into seperate bags before loading Asalia's purchases. She was amazed as she watched them vanish into the four remaining bags easily. "Well, that's one food bag each don't you think? And the magic bag for Ceddon since he's the only one who'll get any use out of it."

Callix swished his tail. "I don't know about that. Layla knows magic, even if she doesn't use it. Being a Gallaeni raised in a world like this, I'm sure she knows a trick or two...but you're right. Magic isn't an everyday thing around here. I'm surprised that that Dark-thingy hasn't already come after us considering the power Fallon unleashed...unless, of course, that explains itself."

"I think you're right about that Callix. Not even that...Dark...want's to deal with Fallon. Let's hope some of that is still clinging to us. I have a feeling we're going to need all the help we can get..." The kession looked at her with those eyes of liquid night and his bass voice was amazingly low when he spoke.

"Don't jinx us Asalia. You're a LifeHeart remember? If you truely believe that, you'll make it happen."
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Well, you will have to wait for tomorrow....

[Kalanna Rai]

Right here's the last of it for you.
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Chapter Eleven: Heartache and Suffering pt 4

Ceddon double checked the fit as he readjusted Callix's harness straps once again. "You sure that's comfortable?" The kession stretched his wings a bit and shook himself. Pawing the ground a bit, he snorted and bumped Ceddon with his massive wing.

"Nothing pinches, you know how to do this, why are you getting yourself all worked up?" Ceddon swung up onto the kession's back, rolling shoulders and wings to make sure his magical adjustments to his armor were just right. He gipped the pommel of his sword once again, feeling the living warmth of the pommel stone against his palm. The kession snorted again. "Nothing to do with Layla riding pillon is it?"

"Nothing at all, you lecherous beast. I plan to use every moment I'm stuck on your back with her to wring everything she knows out of that stubborn head of hers. Now move, Darith and Asalia are waiting." Ceddon blocked out Callix's grumbling about 'unfulfilled desires' as the kession manuvered them from the small shed next to the tunnel mouth. Layla stood there, quiver of Vazin bone arrows on her back, a bow made from a single black horn of some unknown animal in her hand.

"About time." She huffed as Ceddon slung her up on Callix's back behind him. Her bow settled into a special hook on the harness provided just for that purpose, and her arms wrapped around Ceddon's waist. He twitched his long wings so that they flowed back along the kession's sides, sheilding Layla from view. Callix's wings folded close to his sides, clamping down over Ceddon's and Layla's legs.

Ceddon turned to gaze at her, sharp grin in place. "So sorry to put you out m'lady. Shall I fetch you a drink and some snacks to sooth your temper." Callix snorted, his equine laugh barely disguised, as Ceddon gave him the soft wing-flick that sent him moving up alongside Neverstar and Stormwing.

Darith twisted in his saddle to meet Ceddon's eyes. "The horses are nervous and I doubt it's realistic to think that Callix can keep contact with them at all times. You wouldn't happen to have any Nightmare hair to twist into their manes?" Ceddon laughed.

"Is that what Fallon told you he was using? What a liar." Reaching into the 'magic bag' that was clipped to the harness just infront of him, Ceddon pulled free a small pinch powder. Spitting into it, he rubbed his fingertips together and reached out to draw runes on both the horses' foreheads. "Well that will take care of them. Shall we get moving?"

Darith blinked a few times. "But he didn't put anything on our foreheads...he braided it into our hair."

Ceddon chuckled. "Well naturally since it was hair..." quickly adding "But it was his hair," at Darith's dark look. Quietly the young man shook his head and unrolled the map. Consulting it for a bit, he put his heels to Neverstar's flank and started off into the darkness, Asalia behind him. Ceddon didn't need to motion for Callix to take up the rear, the kession knew his job.

Ceddon had suggested that they put Asalia between them where they could protect her in case of an attack by something. Darith had quickly agreed and when Layla warned most of the tunnel dwellers were ambush preditors, Darith had also suggested that Ceddon ride at the end rather than take point. Layla, securely seated behind Ceddon, indeed her locked arms were trying to squeeze him in half, was twisted around watching behind them.

Slowly they progressed into the tunnel, watching as the luminous rock gave way to rocks that shed no light, leaving them in darkness as complete as anything they'd found on the Surface. One plesant change for the better, Ceddon thought, was the fact that there was no bone chilling wind down here. Only a slightly damp smell, like that found in tombs where things moldered undesturbed.

They hadn't gone too far when a pinprick of light surprised them. A torch lit and left by some other traveler on this lonely stretch of tunnel. Darith stopped to glance at the map in it's inviting circle. "Well, this is a well-traveled path. I'm surprised there arn't more of them."

Layla's voice was small and quiet. "There should be. This tunnel is never to be left in darkness lest the Dark sneak up on us. I wonder why this torch was left?" Ceddon squinted around, trying to summon his darkvision on the edge of the torch's circle of light.

"I don't know but if Darith's figured out where to go next I think that's the best idea. Not debating the illuminating capabilities of random torches." An arm was removed so that it's elbow might be used against his side. He twitched a wing, connecting with her shoulder in a shove that told Layla that Ceddon wasn't about to tolorate abuse. Otherwise she'd take his ignorance for acceptance and he didn't think he could go the whole distance with Layla elbowing him in the side without doing something painful to her.

They pressed on, their pace swift and ground-eating, tunnels passing in a maze of dark and light patches as more torches were found. Although few and far-between they were welcome in Ceddon's eyes since they brought a reprive from the endless fear that oozed from Asalia. The girl was gripping both staff and reings in hands that had to be white-kunckled under their gauntlets. Her head suddenly snapped around, her frightened eyes meeting Ceddon's. He gave her a cocky smile, one that said 'I can handel anything' to her.

She gave him a breif, tiny smile in return before turning around and resuming her endless worrying. Layla's grip was becoming tighter with every passing moment and Ceddon wondered if he really would become the first person hugged to death. "Callix, I want you to mind your own buisness while I talk to our spare passenger back here."

The kession flicked his ears. "So let me get this straight. I'm supposed to ignore whatever conversation you're about to have with Layla...despite the fact both of you are on my back. Despite the fact my hearing is keen enough to hear a bug sneeze ten yards away? Despite the fact I'm terribly interested in whatever it is you're wanting to keep secret? Did I miss anything?"

Ceddon grinned as one of Callix's massive eyes fixed on him. "Nope, I think you've covered it. Would you like some help being deaf? I'm sure I've got a spell somewhere." The kession's head abruptly swung back around to stare straight ahead.

"Did you say something Ceddon?" The kession let out a long sigh as Ceddon's hand inched away from the magic bag. Ceddon gave Callix a pat on his massive shoulder before turning in his saddle to face Layla.

"Now, Priestess, I'd like to know why you flinched when Fallon mentioned this little expidition...and why he said you knew an easy way to get the Sphere..." Layla was clearly taken aback by his words and he gave a dark chuckle. "Didn't think I noticed? What is it with you people thinking I'm deaf, blind, and stupid? How about crippled? Do you think I'm crippled to because you might as well."

She opened her mouth and shut it a couple of times before turning resolutely away from him. "You said it, not I...and I'm not going to tell some insensitive, concited, vain creature like you. You wouldn't understand what I've gone through. You..."

Ceddon finally lost his temper. "Listen to me you little chit. I didn't give up twenty-eight years of my life just so that, when I finally get a chance to live it, everyone spits on me. I will never, ever, escape Fallon's shadow. It doesn't matter how hard I try, I don't think I'll ever be judged on my own merits." Layla turned back around to him and stared at him for a long moment. "Shall I commission a portrait?"

"No...it's just...well...maybe you do understand."

"I can't understand if I don't know the tale." He watched her bite her lip, a tremor running through her entire form, making her pale skin seem as fragile as porcelin. "It's alright. I won't tell the others until you're ready to tell them." Her hands suddenly gripped the one of his that was braced between them and Ceddon placed his other hand over the top of them, hoping to inspire trust.

Her voice was hesitating and soft when she spoke. "The Sphere, the cause of this world's pain and suffering, is controlled by a single, evil mage. He steals the power the Dark brings him, all the magic of this world, and uses it to try and become something he's always wanted to be...a Pureblood."

Ceddon suddenly knew and his grip tightened on her hands. "Layla..."

"He's my brother Ceddon...my twin brother!"
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How will Ceddon react?
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There, now even Lily can't accuse me of trying to lead you folks around. Hope you liked.

[Lilith]

*Smiles* Loved it Rai. Absolutely.... enticing. I believe that Ceddon would react cooly and of course try to get information about this mage from her.

I wonder... is this 'wannabe Pureblood' the same one who controlled Darith at the begining of the story? *evil grin* :cool: ;)

[Kalanna Rai]

Any other suggestions out there?

[dinranwen]

I have to agree with Lilth...as I seem to running short on Idearium lately.

[Kalanna Rai]

Then I suppose putting up a poll is about as useful as kicking a dead horse...

Gimme a day or so to formulate another chapter, unless somebody has a surprise opinion to contribute...