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== Maylin's Dreams ==

Dreams of the First Age: Part 1

*cue dream wibble*

Your feet make no noise on the floor as you walk through the red crystal
corridors of the palace. You don't see the expensive tapestries or the
exquisitely carved statues--not today. After decades of living here, they are
as familiar to you as the back of your hand. Besides, you more important
concerns on your mind. With a flicker of Essence, you shift the color of your
dress to black. That should give him his first clue.

When you reach the foyer, Alaethis is waiting for you.

"Good morning, Rai-chan," he begins. "I-"

You don't even need to use your powers to see what's in his mind. He's been to
talk to her again. With a flick of your wrist, you cut him off. "What I have
told you about speaking to Ruby?"

He blinks, but otherwise makes no sign of his surprise. "It was necessary."

"I think I should know what is necessary," you say, taking a few more steps
towards him. "You agreed when we were married that you would not speak to her
alone. We agreed that we would tell each other when we left on a trip that
took longer than a few days. Did you do either of these? No!"

You reach out and place a hand on his shoulder. "Alaethis...honor is the most
important trait that anyone may possess. If I know that you're willing to lie
about this, how can I trust you? Like those peasants who were hiding their
children when we were passing through their village. They assumed the worst
about us based on no evidence, and lied to our faces when we asked them for the
truth."

"You didn't have to kill them." Alaethis' voice is completely devoid of
emotion.

"Didn't I? They were willing to lie to us--their rightful overlords. If they
were willing to lie even when we were there, what other deeds might they have
been capable of? Perhaps there was a Yozi cult in the town...I will have to
speak to Seventh Son about the matter.

You squeeze suddenly, bringing the force of your strength to bear on his
shoulder. His collarbone snaps like a brittle twig under the pressure. The
muscles around his eyes tighten, but despite the injury, he does not cry
out--the Chosen of Luna are good at mastering pain. "I am most displeased
about this, Alaethis. MOST displeased. We will speak further of this later."

You turn and begin walking away. "I have affairs to attend to now. I will see
you at dinner. Oh, and Alaethis-" You turn back briefly. "Do not attempt to
heal that until the next time I speak with you."

Without waiting for a reply, you walk back through the corridors of the palace
towards your room.

*end dream wibble*

Dreams of the First Age: Part 2

*cue dream wibble*

You lie on your back, staring up at the blue sky. It isn’t cold, for once--the
brief Northern summer has come again, for the few weeks it will last. It
certainly isn’t warm, though, and you are slightly envious of Shining Star who
is curled up against Nine Lives a few feet to your left.

It’s not often that you have time off like this. Your duties usually take up
almost all of your time, but you do not regret them. You enjoy them--the dance
of trade and diplomacy, the single word that can topple an unjust ruler or
raise up a righteous prince, the travelling throughout the bounds of
Creation…the Unconquered Sun made a wise choice when He exalted Ashraielle of
the Black Flower Shenrae.

You can hear the Shining Star saying something to Nine Lives, but the words are
too faint to make out. For someone with such an unremarkable body, she has a
beautiful voice. You’ve caught her looking at you enviously when you attend
official functions, though--you look far better dressed up than she does. It’s
no wonder she always wears those robes. Her figure is better hidden than
displayed.

Dancing Ruby Phoenix is around here somewhere as well--she walked off a few
minutes ago to get some exercise. Dawns…they always have to have a weapon in
their hands, even if it’s just a tree branch. Fighting is overrated. Even
foes as implacable as the Fair Folk can be reasoned with. Despite this, you
know that not every battle can be averted. The heroes of the Primordial
War--the Dagda Mór, Cernunnos, Odhinn, Marduk, Apollo, Kwan Yin, Anansi,
Amaterasu, and all the rest--had testified to the necessity of battle when you
trained under them.

But that is what the Dawn Caste is for. To lead wars. You are a diplomat, and
your job is to prevent the Dawn Caste from being necessary--and when it is, to
make sure everyone is on the right side. Our side.

You smile as you lay on the grass. Life is good.

*end dream wibble*

Dreams of the First Age: Part 3

*cue dream wibble*

"We have a deal, then?" you say.

The two Fair Folk nobles look at each other, their impossibly perfect faces
carefully smoothed into emotionless masks. The taller one's eyebrow twitches,
almost imperceptibly, but it does not escape you. You have trained yourself to
look even for clues as small as that. When they turn back to you, you have
carefully placed a welcoming smile on your face.

The taller noble smiles, revealing a mouth full of brilliantly white, perfectly
even, and razor-sharp teeth. "We have a deal, o Prince of the Earth. I thank
you for allowing my brother and I to abide within the bounds of the Desert of
Fixed Shape."

You nod. "There is one further duty I must ask of you," you say.

The noble raises one delicate eyebrow. "Yes?"

"You must swear an oath not to feed upon any but criminals. You must swear that
you will follow the laws of the Deliberative, and you must swear that you enter
Creation with no ill purpose and no ill intent."

"It is easily done," the noble says with another dazzling smile. For the first
time, the second noble speaks, and the two of them recite, in perfect harmony,
"I swear by the Mother of Change that I will feed only upon the lawbreaker and
the unjust. I swear that I will take the code of the Deliberative as binding
law, and that I come into Creation with only peace and friendship in mind."

That is enough--you know that the Fair Folk cannot break their sworn word. With
another smile, you gesture to the Dragon-Blooded behind you, who power down
their Elemental Lenses. "Welcome to Creation, my lords Arashi and Mask."

*end dream wibble*

Dreams of the First Age: Part 4

*cue dream wibble*

Your anima blazes around you in a meters-tall pillar of incandescent fire. You
pull back the string of Vermillion Glory, giving only enough time for the
whirls
of Essence around you to coalesce into another arrow forged of flame and light
before focusing on it and sending it streaking across the battlefield into the
heart of another one of the Fair Folk.

The others are all around you, somewhere. You can see Shining Star on top of
the hill, her arms outstretched as she chants the Incantation of the Invincible
Army. Her mate paces around her in the shape of a wildcat, and the circle of
bodies around him testifies to the vigor of his defense. Ruby is down in
amongst the enemy army--you only need to follow the hacked limbs and bodies
flying in the air to see exactly where she is, and where Ruby goes, Sun's
Setting is never far behind. Seventh Son is undoubtedly sneaking around the
back to assassinate someone, and Maenin and Hikari would never risk themselves
in open battle.

Your Dragon-Blooded bodyguards are spread out in a half-moon around you,
keeping
watch for any Fair Folk that try to break through. They have already repelled
several attempts on your life--one of the Dragon-Blooded is dead, and two
others were severely wounded and had to limp off the field. They left their
blastlances with the other troops, though, providing a useful means of defense
for you if you exhaust your own stores of Essence.

Suddenly, the ground a few meters in front of you bubbles like boiling water.
The grass begins to get up and walk around, chanting nonsense syllables, as a
miniature rainstorm of tiny fish forms in the air. The Dragon-Blooded look at
it nervously, hoisting their blastlances, but there is nothing to fire at.

Then, like an enormous tentacle, the ground surges up into the sky. It hangs
there for a moment, writhing back and forth, before heading for you like a
speeding hawk...

*end dream wibble*

Dreams of the First Age: Part 5
*cue dream wibble*

The Deliberative. Carved out of the living rock of the Elemental Pole of
Earth,the Solar Deliberative is the heart of Meru, and Meru is the heart of
Creation.

It is your native element.

The assembled Solars in their seats watch you eagerly as you briefly review
your notes. You glance over briefly to see Maenin, wearing the golden torc of
office, standing behind the podium at the head of the room. With a gesture, he
indicates that you should begin.

"Brothers and sisters," you say, your voice filling the chamber. You pause for
a moment to smile at the gathering, and wink at Alaethis, who sits in the
balcony dedicated to the Chosen of Luna. "Assembled Chosen of the Unconquered
Sun, greetings. Maenin-sama has asked me to speak on the dangers posed by the
Fair Folk in the north as I have just returned from a trip to the Court of
Standing Wind. This is only a small portion of the Fair Folk in the north, but
when they act against us, they act in concert, so it is undoubtedly reasonable
to extrapolate their tactics more broadly.

"With that said, I must simply state this. The Fair Folk of the North are
preparing for an invasion. They attempted to hide it behind honeyed words and
denials, but it was obvious in their eyes and in what they did when they
thought I was not looking. They are assembling their legions and preparing for
war. As such, I propose that the subsidies for trade for the far north be
increased by 15% to entrench the stability of Creation in that area."

You pause, as the assembled Solars begin discussing the proposal amongst
themselves. It's days like this you love your job.

*end dream wibble*

Dreams of the First Age: Part 6

*cue dream wibble*

"This is for you," Shining Star says, handing you a package. You quickly open
it up to find an exquisite tiara, nestled carefully amid folds of silk. The
tiara gleams slightly with the gold hue of orichalcum, but some process has
tinted the metal slightly red, just enough to be the perfect contrast to your
hair.

"It's wonderful!" you say as you examine it.

Shining Star smiles. "It's not just decoration, either, Rai-chan. After all
your complaining about the awful weather in the north, I thought you might want
something so that you can fix the problem." At your raised eyebrow, she
continues. "Go on, put it on. You'll see what I mean pretty quickly."

After a moment, you put the tiara on, channelling a little bit of Essence into
it. Immediately, an enormous tapestry unfolds in your mind. You can see every
little cloud and swirl of air in the area around you. Experimentally, you try
added to it.

Shining Star says nothing as you spend several minutes concentrating on the
clouds. She doesn't even comment when thunder starts rolling and the sky
darkens, but when thunder crashes for the third time and the sky opens up with
a waterfall of rain, she says (half-shouting over the thunder), "It's supposed
to be for making the weather better, not worse!"

Your only response is a delighted laugh.

*end dream wibble*

Dreams of the First Age: Part 7

*cue dream wibble*

This is the last straw.

The terrible singing echoes all around you. You can see Ruby’s clothes burst
into flames under the force of the song as you raise your hands to your ears,
trying to block out the noise. The New Year’s ceremony collapses under the
weight of the attack. Who would dare to disturb this ceremony? Who?

The noise is too much, and you can feel your own skin begin to heat up under the
assault. You gather Essence into your limbs and leap through one of the
windows, shattered stained-glass flying out before you in a fan. You remove
your arms from your ears and look outside to see what could possibly have
caused this debacle. Time slows as you fall towards the ground, and gasp in
shock at what you see.

Before you are the massed ranks of the Dragon-Blooded, every last one of them
armed and armoured for war. In the distance, interspersed among troops with
simple jade armor and daiklaves are troops with blastlances, troops in Dragon
Armor, or even troops in warstriders. As you come out of the window, the
Dragon-Blooded nearest to you raise their blades in unison, and then charge
forward.

Quickly you channel Essence again, this time into a more abstract shape. As you
land and stand up, the Essence enhances you, making you seem far taller and
more majestic than you would otherwise be. The nearest Dragon-Blooded fall to
their knees under the sheer force of your willpower.

“YOU DARE TO ATTACK US!” you scream as you crush the skull of the nearest
Dragon-Blooded, sending his body sprawling onto the plaza floor. “YOU DARE!
YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” you yell as a whip of finely-focused Essence
disembowels a group of several others, cutting through their armor like it
didn’t exist.

In the distance, you can see Dragon-Blooded who managed to resist your
supernatural presence begin moving. Many of them raise their arms, and blasts
of flame and lightning and ice streak towards you. You can avoid the majority
of them, but not all, and you are soon bleeding from a myriad of tiny wounds.
The plain white robe that is the standard for the New Year’s ceremony is
half-burned away, and your skin is as hard as adamant, but you only have so
much Essence and what Essence you have is fast being depleted.

After a few minutes of fighting, you realize the simple truth. You cannot win.
There are simply too many of them and too few Solars. If you had your weapons
and armor, it might be a different story, but such things are forbidden at the
New Year’s ceremony. Your skills in the martial arts are good, but they are
simply not enough. Where is Alaethis? He should be able to sense your
distress--why isn’t he coming to defend his mate?

In the whirl of battle, you find yourself next to Maenin, who is also bleeding
slightly. His left arm hands uselessly at his side as his elbow is bent the
wrong direction, but he still manages to keep all the Dragon-Blooded off him.

In the sky, you can see an eagle diving straight down towards you. As you hurl
another Dragon-Blooded back into the mass, you begin to get your hopes up, but
when it gets closer you see that the eagle doesn’t have fangs. It’s not
Alaethis…

Then it changes into a woman.

As soon as Hikari hits the ground, a dozen tentacles tipped with razor-sharp
moonsilver claws explode outwards from her body, impaling the nearest group of
Dragon-Blooded. Hikari shrieks in rage as her body shifts with impossible
speed, the flesh flowing like it was wax in a bonfire. You hear Maenin’s shout
of triumph as he struggles to fight towards her, and you begin to do the same.
Your Essence stores are depleted, and only the effects you’ve been keeping up
are currently working. You need to get out.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see movement directed at you. You turn just
in time to see one of the warstriders in the distance nock a tree-sized arrow
and aim it directly at you before letting fly. As the arrow hurls towards you
and you futilely try to throw yourself aside, a thousand thousand thoughts race
through your mind, none of them truly large enough to get a grip on. Why did
they do this? How did they plan it without anyone knowing? How…

Then the arrow tears through your chest, and you spiral down into darkness.

*end dream wibble*

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Wordman: Script: fix links messed up in conversion

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