Waking Nightmares

[Malkate Rose Sedi]

There was darkness everywhere. It wasn’t an element of Darkness parse, as much as it was simply the place devoid of anything that resembled anything else besides that darkness. Though there was definitely another something there that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was a presence but it wasn’t exactly sentient, more like a pulsing thing that perhaps at one point could have been touched by other that left some kind of imprint. Her eyebrows drew together as she stared out into the darkness. Only in dreams however, did she realize that she wasn’t clothed, and her fear washed into her like some young girl always dreaming of standing before the Arch Magus’s again. Her eyes closed as she realized she was dreaming and started to control it – even as the small little shield she’d picked up pulsed and started to work with her mind.

Her mind started to shift in that blackness and awareness moved to her, it took shape slowly. It slowly formed an image of the Inn, only instead of being an inn particularly it showed it a bit modified. She stood there, and she was confused as she looked around the dojo absently – no one was present at the moment, it was simply her. The weapons were higher, marked on the walls but she knew something was different about both place and her. Her hands reached out and she stared down at the pale, perfect flesh that didn’t wither with age and a sigh of relief flooded through her. Immortality could be a burden, but one got used to life after a certain point, and though she wasn’t vain, she wasn’t keen on the idea of looking like some wrinkled old lady either.

She moved into the house part of the Inn, the actual part that held rooms she once rented out and blinked. This part of the house was modified, what was once an almost living room area with a modified area that was a reception it was now a perfect house. The living room was more arranged to fit the furniture that had once almost haphazardly been placed, and a fireplace opened in a warm reception. It had more of a feel of home now than a singular place that she stayed because she couldn’t stand the familiar sights that reminded her of what she’d somehow lost. Malachite stared at her oddly from his place before the warming fire, his fae-ears perked up. She stared at him crossly, wanting to know where he’d been after all this time – after he’d disappeared after knowing that the Captain would receive care but she stopped.

Above the fireplace her Staff was mantled, encased in an almost crystal substance as if to protect it. The quartz on the top was half cracked open, and the others were abundant with stored spells and energy but they had a staleness to them that represented that she’d not renewed them or even drawn upon them for quite awhile. Her footsteps carried her towards the crystal and she ran her fingers along it, softly as if afraid somehow it might shatter at the touch, drawing her fingers away as a flutter in her stomach brought her to awareness. Shock rode her face, naked upon it as her hand fluttered downwards and her heart seemingly halted in her chest – or at least she felt so. The fluttering continued as tears leaked down her cheeks, the small presence of life making itself known within her.

Within the world as the Arc of Dreams glowed, the tears streaked openly down her face, dampening the cloth below her head. Her fingers twitched, though just as soon as they did they stilled once more as she fell back seemingly, into a restful sleep.

The dream shifted suddenly, startlingly, and her body jerked as her mind went to it’s other desire – besides the actual resolution to the conflict between her and Lasius, her mind went more to the ideas of what exactly happened to him after her meeting with Darken where the cold Twin turned his back upon her. Her mind went reeling through those unwanted memories, bringing that torment to life on a scale entirely different than her torment previously. The storm that raged overhead, she found herself a ghostly out line to the world as she stared at the events that unfolded before her. The storm as the body died. The resurrection using the Arc of Life, enough that she closed her eyes almost not wanting to see more but the Arc was persistent, she’d wanted to know and it was showing her. It was easy enough for awhile, for the sake of survival, to believe that the events that transpired between her and Lasius had all simply been a giant nightmare that lasted too long – this reality was exactly that.

She watched the seclusion as if pages in a book as he studied, watched his second Death at the very hands of Daegan. Her rage was mollified only by the fact he’d asked for it – as his rebirth into a god. She watched the seclusion of the others, she watched the creation of Lomes… with more than a little awe. She watched the possession of the daughter who then resurrected Darken from his demise that she had not seen, and she scowled. The transportation of all those people, the reason the race so dwindled, and her eyes widened. Xada… why… why did he do it? Even as she felt her mind pulled again Malkate’s fingers twitched in reality, and she sat up, still half in her sleep and fumbled for the Arc of Dreams, tossing it off her person as hard as she could as a scream ripped itself out of her throat.

Her body started shaking and she pulled her knee’s to her chest, tears streaming unheeded down her cheeks again, her body shaking slightly but she was silent. There were no sobs, no giant wracks of emotion, just the cold unsettling reality of memories relived haunting her again.

[Lasius]

Lasius was snoring when the Arc of Dreams smacked him in the right cheek knocking him clean off the chair. Malkate's sharp scream followed and cleared whatever little daze of sleep there had been remaining in his mind. He struggled to his feet slightly dizzy from the impact of the small shield like object, and noticed he was naked once more. He started cursing, his eyes were half closed, his head was throbbing he was exhausted and he still couldn't get a decent set of clothes on his body for more than half an hour.

Silently he moved across the room and straightened the blankets over Malkate, making sure she was resting as comfortably as he could, then moved the Lomes to do the same. After he had ensured the two ladies were decently tucked in he set about searching the room for something decent to wear. Daegan was a smaller build than him and most of his clothing simply wouldn't fit, however he came across a sleep robe that would do the job of keeping him covered. Despite the fact that it was deep aqua with black trim, it was still more decent than his current state.

He decided that sleep was probably more needed than anything else at this point so he moved over to the bed and carefully crawled in between the two ladies, besides he was already amused at the reactions well rather Malkate's reaction as Lomes was too predictable to have much fun with. He fluffed up a pillow and slipped under the blankets crossing his arms behind his head and closed his eyes letting sleep consume him once more.

His dreams were frightful filled with horrors of the demise of the Sedian race and most of it blaming him for their downfall, but he tried his best to push the dreams to the side and get what semblance of restful sleep he could manage till the girls woke up and they could get to planning something. He didn't hear the Raging storm outside anymore, and wondered what had become of Daegan. He was certain the man could take care of himself but the idea of him loosing his mind possessing the kind of power he did was disturbing. Last thing they needed was more Sedian deaths.

[Raeghan]

The paving stones under Daegan’s fallen body rumbled softly. She had followed her father from the Dryad Woods where her healing form had been struck down. Raeghan waited in the Earth within the City of Shadows as the manifested rage of Daegan in thunderstorm form. The monsoon like waters soaked into her soil and flushed away the impurities of her flesh. The burns she sustained when the Arc of Fire failed being cleansed and renewed.

Once again the paving stones shuddered as tiny roots began to sprout from the cracks of soil. Steadily they grew as Daegan lay still, the slow moving plants stretching towards the two abandoned Arcs that lay at either side of the Sage. Like lattice ivy, the roots snaked delicately around the Arc of Earth.

There was a popping sound in the air, and without warning the paving stones near Daegan exploded upward as Raeghan burst from the soil. She glared down at her father as she gripped the Arc of Earth tightly, feeling the familiar strength that filled her body. Her glare was cut short by a brief shriek, her gaze falling to the Arc of Fire and the roots that were burning away as they touched the faintly burning blade.

She sneered at the Arc, and with her free hand motioned with her hand as if she was calling the Arc like a dog. The ground beneath the burning blade shuddered and opened up as Raeghan moved to step over Daegan’s body. She watched as the Arc was swallowed into the depths of the soil as if it were sinking in quicksand. And, as soon as the Arc had vanished, she too melted into the earth, leaving Daegan alone once more.

Moments later the former lands of Tre Betal shuddered and began to shake violently as the steadily cooling volcanic wastelands surged to life once more. The pools of lava and rivers of magma that had started to harden began to boil and churn once more, the air becoming super heated. Then, as to be expected, a massive plume of fire shot into the heavens, liquid fire beginning to rain down from above.

The Arc of Fire had returned home.

[Daegan]

Daegan lay motionless, his mind straying from time and thought. The world whirled over his head, but the Sage was lost in thought. He was lost in reality as the images of his dreams and pictures of his daughters flashed through his mind. The shadows screamed at Daegan to awaken, but the words fell deaf on the Sage’s ears. But the infernal white light was still present around his body, like some wretched aura that would not fade.

Then there was a bright flash. An azure bolt of lightning crackled across the seemingly clear skies as the winds began to shift. Daegan’s eyes flashed open as he gasped for air, the haze of dreams falling away from him. Instantly the Sage was on his feet, his eyes darting around as if unaware of what was going on.

He flexed his right hand, feeling the surge of power as lightning shot up his entire arm, dancing along his shoulder blades much like the Soul Fire did. The aqua ring around Daegan’s eyes burned softly as he listened in vain for the words of the shadows. He hissed silently to himself, cursing once more the Sage of Darkness and damning him to an eternity of peril and torment.

A pang of terror swept through his spine as for a brief second he once more felt the sensation of his Element. His eyes shot upwards as the Soul Fire erupted over his shoulders, dancing with the tiny arcs azure lightning bolting over his body. He could feel the shadows, some sort of unnatural presence that pulsated; the vexing woman that had overtaken his War Room.

His right arm shot into the air as he his slid shut. The air around him seemed to shudder and explode as Daegan forced his will through the Arc of Shadows. The murky element in turn seemed to burst outwards as the feeling of Daegan’s rage surged through the shadow. It erupted violently in the War Room, like the very discharges on the surface of the sun. The raging inferno of Daegan’s supremacy of the shadow manifest for the intruder to feel and experience.

The clouds over the City of Shadows had been gathering as Daegan forced the energy of the shadows into the War Room. The Arcs of Lightning and Shadows were combined, and forcing his will through the combined Bracer on his right forearm resulted almost in the harnessing of both elements. Subconsciously, this is what Daegan was anticipating. He had only borrowed the twin Arcs from his once more volcanic daughter, using the power the primal weapons infused him with to observe the lands of the Sedi.

He had watched Tarthia. Studied the defenses and surroundings. The ravishing Undead and the cruel mistress that governed them. He watched as they fed upon all that was living, and then turned on one another. The mindless carnage that had befallen the land of Eternal Night. In part, Daegan was thrilled with the events, holding a special place in his heart of hearts for all things Sitherack had touched.

Thunder boomed in the distance as Daegan shuddered slightly. His eyes rose higher, moving away from the Tower to the dark clouds that had appeared above him. As far as the eye could see, dark storm clouds gathered, stretching outwards from the Cyrida up towards the Land of Eternal Night and towards Tarthia. Once again Daegan shuddered as thunder exploded above the Tower of Shadows, a brilliant flash of azure lightning overtaking his form. In its wake, the bolt left nothing but a charred spot on the paving stones it had struck, Daegan’s form vanishing completely. The only thing remaining was the words lurking within the shadows. The voice of there Sage almost pleading for help in the unraveling web of hatred that had become his mind.

“Lasius…”

(Continued in Tarthia)