PhalonLaelethKaren
Laeleth moved quickly into the tavern and closed the door behind her. She then wiped some of the rain from her face and attempted to squeeze a measure of it from her hair. It was times like these she was glad that the style for males was to wear it short; for she knew her original body would have had a lot more trouble getting it dry. The storm was truly raging outside. First the clouds had moved in, dark and ominous. But since she was travelling on a road and didn’t think there were too many human establishments around, she hadn’t let it worry her to much. When the rain started drizzling down, she hadn’t worried. She’d slept in worse. Then it began pouring down a little harder. And the thunder started. She’d had to start considering shelter at that point. Then it had started driving down like it had a grudge against her, or something to prove. With visibility reduced to poor at best and the ground quickly becoming too wet to run, she had started marching as quickly as she could, looking for some place to weather the storm. When she had spotted the vague lights from the windows of the tavern she had just entered, she considered it a stroke of pure luck and sent her thanks to the Unconquered Sun.
So here she was, soaking wet and dripping all over the entrance. She took stock of the place she had entered. There was the tavern owner behind the bar, washing a glass with a rag that almost looked clean. He was a stocky man that looked to be in his late forties. He was balding and a little overweight, but looked like he could take care of himself. He spared Laeleth a glance and then looked back over towards the tables. Following his glance, Laeleth spotted what had him concerned.
Aside from a few unremarkable men and a couple of women sitting in pairs or threes, there weren’t too many others in the tavern. Of course, that mattered a little less when a few people were willing to cause trouble. Four beefish men in ragged uniforms that she didn’t recognise were harassing the barmaid. From her looks, Laeleth guessed she was related to the owner. Laeleth spared the owner another glance as a concerned look crossed his features. And sighed. The troubles of a soft heart. Not to mention she knew how much it had bothered her when men had jeered at her. Not that that had happened for well over a millennia now, but she still hadn’t liked it. She squelched her way towards the bar as she began to pick up on the conversation between the thugs and the poor barmaid. She noticed the other patrons looking into their drinks or at the wall, pretending not to be involved. Mortals had no sense of justice.
“C’mon girly, surely we deserve a bit of entertainment with the food?” one of the thugs with a particularly ugly scar running over the left side of his face was saying. “T’aint that good to begin with, so look at it kinda like compensation.”
“No, let me go!” the girl protested, trying to tug her wrist from his grasp. She didn’t look more than about seventeen.
“Or what?” one of scar-face’s companions leered. “You’ll scream?” Laeleth had reached the bar by now. She dropped her sodden orihalcom reinforced buff jacket on the bar, and shifted her scabbarded sword into her grip.
“Watch that for me barkeep, It’s valuable. And pour me an ale.” The tavern owner looked up at her, surprised, as she marched off towards the mercenaries. The rather clichéd conversation continued, and Laeleth fought the urge to roll her eyes.
“We promise to show you a good time if you stop squirming so much… Or you can keep squirming. That’s fun too.” The animal look on scar-face’s features revolted Laeleth even from this distance. She could tell the girl was fighting the urge to scream. Scar-face’s flunkies were looking on, amused by the spectacle. Laeleth stopped just over a swords reach away from the group.
“Let her go.” She said, interrupting Scar-face as he opened his mouth for what would no doubt have been another witty commentary. He looked over at her, the displeasure evident on his features. He looked her up and down. Then he sneered.
“That sword isn’t going to scare anyone, blind man. Leave now and I won’t even hurt you.” Laeleth smirked at his words.
“I won’t need to draw my sword, Scar-face.” A look of rage passed the man’s features at the title. She heard the movement before she saw it as one of his companions drew a dagger from his coat and threw it straight for her face. She caught it between her fingers mere inches from her face, then threw it down into the floorboards, where it quivered a moment before lying still. “And I’m not blind.” Many who saw her milky white eyes made that mistake.
“Get him Hale!” Scar-face yelled. The man who was obviously Hale rose from his seat and charged at Laeleth. Sighing at his clumsy movements, she simply dodged his inept blow and with an economy of movement brought the scabbarded end of her sword up and around, straight into his jaw. There was a crunch that was easily audible to her as Hale flew back several feet and crashed to the ground, unconscious and with a broken jaw. The other three looked on stunned for a second. Scar-face was the first to recover.
“Rush him lads!” He yelled as he threw the girl to the floor. Laeleth calmed her face as she took up a stance, preparing for their attack. She had to admit that they weren’t too bad, for mortals. They were awfully slow to her perception, not to mention far too loud to her sensitive hearing, but they had some skill. She, however, had more. Dodging around the first to reach her she quickly tripped him from behind and sent him sprawling as she manoeuvred to face the second one. She leant back as he swung with each of his punches before swinging her sword around in a move that distracted him long enough for her fist to connect with his chest. He fell back winded for a second as Scar-face moved in. Unable to move between the furniture too well due to its spacing, he reached her and then grabbed her, pinning her arms to her sides.
She almost gagged at the awful alcoholic stench of his breath as he smiled his victory. His smile quickly changed to one of shock as she easily broke his grip by flexing her arms. He may have been bigger than her, and look like he had more muscle mass, but she was still stronger. His confused look quickly turned to one of pain as she rammed the hilt of her sword into his solar plexus and finished with a well placed kick to the crotch. His eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to the floor. The other two were back on their feet and moving to face her again, but looked unsure now with their leader down. She decided to use this opportunity to avoid further combat. She would prefer not to kill them after all.
She drew her sword with a smooth motion, and it rang clearly through the air as it cleared its scabbard. Faced with a bared blade, the two thugs stopped dead in their tracks, eyes fixed on its tip. They had weapons of their own at their hips, but they had already seen what she could do with a sheathed blade. And didn’t care to test their fates against its sharp edge.
“Take your two fallen companions, and go. Don’t come back.” Thunder cracked outside, as if to emphasize her point. One of them seemed to gather enough courage to protest.
“But the storm…” he tried.
Laeleth schooled her features into her best impassive mask.
“Do I look like I care?”
At this they moved for their fallen companions, Scar-face still groaning on the ground and Hale lying unconscious in a heap.
“Oh, and watch out for Hale. His jaw is broken.” The man dragging Hale looked up, and nodded before hastening his way to the door. The two men hauled their companions out into the rain. Fortunately for them, the rain had degraded from solid water to a heavy downpour. The door closed behind them with a solid thud. Laeleth sighed, sheathed her blade and turned around. The patrons seemed to be pretending that nothing had happened at all. The poor waitress was still lying on the ground. Laeleth walked over to her, and offered to help her up. The waitress blushed slightly as she accepted the offered hand. Laeleth cursed inwardly. She hated it when girls were attracted to her. Sure, she supposed she was pretty good looking, but she still didn’t want to form any close relationships. Certainly not with another woman.
“Thank you kind sir. If you hadn’t stopped those brutes, I don’t know what I would have done.” She smiled shyly at Laeleth as she got to her feet. Laeleth fought the urge to groan. This was one of the biggest drawbacks to heroism in her opinion. Perhaps if she was actually a man rather than just in the body of one, she would be able to appreciate such attention more. Outwardly, she smiled in a fashion that she hoped was reassuring without being encouraging. She nodded to the woman then went back to the bar to retrieve her soaked coat. As she got there, she looked at the tavern owner and raised an eyebrow in query as he looked on, stunned.
“My ale, barkeep?” she said as she picked up her coat. The owner seemed to snap out of a trance at her words.
“Yes sir, right away sir.” He quickly filled up what looked like a cleaner mug and handed it over to her.
“How much?” she asked.
“On the house. Thanks to you for saving my daughter.” Laeleth nodded her gratitude. She then strolled over to a free table near the fireplace. Taking up a chair, she positioned it closer to the fire and draped her coat over the back so it would dry. She then stood next to it to try and dry herself off. Her little bout of exercise had done little more than keep her warm, after all. She heard the waitress whispering to the owner at the bar behind her back. She always felt a little guilty when her hearing allowed her to eavesdrop like this, but she couldn’t really help it, could she?
“He is kind of cute father…” the waitress started. Laeleth fought very hard to keep from blushing, even though no-one could see her face.
“Oh no, don’t start this again. I admit, his sort is better than those ruffians, but you know those wandering hero types. It wouldn’t last and you’d only slow him down and get him in trouble.”
“Come on father! I’m nineteen! I’m old enough to make my own choices.” Laeleth was a little shocked. The girl did look a bit younger than that.
“Yeah, but could he provide for you like I do? How do you know he’ll look after you? And not to be mean, but he didn’t seem to be all that interested in you.” Laeleth felt relieved that at least someone had picked up on that. She could practically hear the girl start to pout.
“Fine then, I’ll just go wash dishes or something. Honestly father, you have no sense of the romantic.” Laeleth heard her storm off to another part of the tavern.
“Why do I have to put up with her romantic musings?” the owner said to himself after she left. “I almost wish some handsome knight would come and whisk her off her feet…” Laeleth suppressed a chuckle at the concern of a man for his daughter. She really shouldn’t laugh. After a little while, she decided her front was dry enough for now, walked over to her table and retrieved her ale then walked back to in front of the fire to drink it while her back dried. She settled for observing the bar while she waited to dry off. Nobody left here seemed to really stick out. The owner did nod his thanks to her once again when their eyes met. When she felt dry enough she grabbed the chair with her coat draped over it, dragged it back to her table and sat down. When she finished her drink and had been sitting there quietly for a few minutes the owner approached.
“Anything else I can get you sir?” he queried.
“No, thank you. But I would like a room for the night. I will pay.” She said the last like a statement. The owner opened his mouth to protest, looked at her face, and then thought better of it.
“As you say sir. A single bit for the night.” Laeleth reached into her purse, extracted the jade and paid the man. He bowed briefly and then left her alone again. Sometimes she did find herself with a need for human companionship. She would prefer the company of a fellow Exalted to that of a mortal. Not that mortals were any less vibrant or passionate than Exalted. They just didn’t live that long. And with her own distressing habit to die on occasion and miss decades or centuries before she woke again, lasting relationships were hard to find. And she did, after all, try to hide her true identity from those few Exalted she did meet. She didn’t want their pity if they should remember her. And while she could have tried to make some friends with Dragon-blooded over the years… Well that kind of spoke for itself, didn’t it? She sighed. Perhaps it was her curse to be lonely.
“You look awfully depressed there, traveller.” The voice had come from the seat opposite hers. After suppressing the urge to jump out of her skin, Laeleth looked over. There was a woman sitting there. She hadn’t been there a moment before and Laeleth hadn’t heard her approach. Or sit down. She resisted the rising urge to either bolt or attack. Clearly this person just wanted to talk, for now.
“And you are awfully quiet. I didn’t see you when I came in. No-one else has entered after me, and no-one has come from elsewhere in the tavern. This leads me to the assumption that you were here all along.”
“Mmm. Skilled, handsome and intelligent. I like you already.” Laeleth resisted the urge to glare at the woman.
“I also presume this means you are a Dragon-blooded? What would one of your kind want with me?”
“Oh dear, wrong on that count. But maybe on purpose, hmm? But I know what you are, Solar.” Laeleth had been dreading those words. But at least she knew that the woman across from her was possibly a Celestial. Maybe Night Caste… Laeleth gave her an appraising look. The woman sighed. “I’ll cut to the chase. I’m a Sidereal.”
Laeleth was a little surprised. Sidereals had always been so mysterious. She wasn’t ready to take this woman’s word at face value right now, and kept her opinion subject to change.
“So you say. What do you want with me?”
“I recognise your style. I haven’t seen someone fight with that exact style for thousands of years now.” Laeleth was surprised. Evidently this woman had been around for a while. Thoughts of being discovered surfaced, but she calmed herself. She had to let this play out while letting as little slip as possible. “How much do you remember, Solar?”
“Enough to let me survive.” Laeleth knew she had to guard her answers carefully.
“And how long have you been Exalted?” Laeleth narrowed her eyes suspiciously. The woman gave her an exasperated look. “If you prefer, I can merely scream ‘Anathema’ to this room and let it develop from there.” Laeleth sighed resignedly.
“Twenty years.” That at least was almost true. She had woken up this time twenty years ago.
“And you can remember how much?” Laeleth gave her a look that showed her she was resigned to this questioning. “Some places. Some faces. How to fight.”
“Your caste?”
“Dawn.”
“I thought as much. You know, if we’re going to have a conversation, you should participate a bit more.”
“Fine. What’s your name, Sidereal?” The woman smiled.
“That’s better. It’s Karen. Yours?”
“Laeth.”
“Is that your real or remembered name?” Laeleth just glared at her. “Ok, ok, I get it. Laeth it is. Well Laeth, I have a proposal for you. I need some help, and you seem to have the abilities I’ll need. Help me out and I’ll help you out in return.”
“How so? Forgive me for asking but I’m wondering how you can possibly know what I want.”
“I don’t mean now. We can establish a relationship. Owe each other favours. You know, that sort of thing.”
“How do I know you’ll keep in touch? I can’t remember some Sidereals I know I’ve met. Sort of. On the other hand, I can’t remember some of the other people I’ve ‘met’.” So she was lying. “But I do remember your kind is tricky.” That much at least was true.
“Oh, I’m a very fair person. Besides, I daresay keeping up our relationship will be very… beneficial to me anyway.” Truthfully, Karen was a little concerned. She was having a little trouble reading this man’s destiny. Laeleth thought about it for a little while. True, she had no guarantee that this woman could be trusted, but she did feel something from her that said she could be. That, and hadn’t she just been lamenting about the fact she had no lasting relationships?
“Alright. I’ll go along for now.” Karen looked pleased.
“We leave in the morning. The storm will have stopped by then.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
Karen just stared at her.
“Oh. Yeah.” Laeleth said. Damn Sidereals and their prophetic abilities.
It may not have been raining in the morning as they set out, but boy was it ever wet. Laeleth trudged along depressedly as her boots squelched into the muddy river that was the path. Karen seemed far too cheerful for this.
“Oh come on, Laeth. Look a little less glum, can you?”
“Why should I? I’m with some crazy prophet, going to do who knows what in a place that’s probably horribly dangerous, and on top of all that it’s wet and miserable.”
“But at least it’s not raining, eh?” Laeleth could already tell not much would dampen her enthusiasm. If this much water couldn’t do it, nothing could.
“Could you at least tell me what we’re going to do?” Karen looked around to make sure no-one was near. Since she hadn’t heard anyone following them or approaching them, Laeleth could have told her it was safe. But perhaps Karen just wanted to increase the air of conspiracy.
“There’s a group of Undead guarding an artefact I want to retrieve. Since I can’t sneak past them or fight them, I needed some help. Lucky for me, I found you. You can handle a couple of Undead, right?”
“Not a problem.” Killing Undead was her specialty after all…
“It’s all settled then! If we’re going to do it anyway, we might as well enjoy ourselves.” Laeleth was starting to regret lamenting the fact that she had felt lonely.
When the sun started to go down, Karen called them to a halt.
“We should make camp soon.”
“Why?” Laeleth asked. “It’s not like we can’t travel on a bit more. How close are we anyway?”
“Too close. That’s the problem.”
“How could that possibly be a problem?”
“The area is a Shadowland. Do you really want to be going into one of those at night?” Laeleth put on a look as if she were considering it. Karen’s face took on an expression of obvious disbelief. “Hey, don’t give me any of that.” Laeleth just grinned at her.
“There’s a stream over this way. We should camp near it.” Laeleth said, pointing towards where she heard the sound of water flowing. Karen looked a little sceptical.
“How do you know? That’s off the trail in the wrong direction.”
“I have very good hearing.” And with that she started marching off in the direction of the stream. Karen stood there in disbelief for a second.
“Hey! Wait for me!” she yelled, hurrying to catch up.
“See?” Laeleth said, pointing to the running water. “A stream.” It was almost completely dark by now, and Laeleth quickly spotted a place to sleep under a large tree and unrolled her sleeping bag under it.
“How did you hear it from all the way back there?” Karen said, setting up near her.
“Like I said. VERY good hearing.” Laeleth grinned. Karen pouted. “I’m going to make some stew for dinner, and then we can go to sleep.” So saying, she got some dried meat and vegetables out of her backpack, got a pot which she filled with water from the stream and gathered some wood for a fire. She noted that Karen didn’t even try to help.
“Not an outdoors person then Karen?” by the time she had the stew cooking, it was completely dark.
“Oh heavens no. I can’t cook if I try. I swear I could burn water.” Laeleth chuckled. “And I hate sleeping outdoors. All the insects and the noise and the wind…”
“It’s not so bad. I find it quite relaxing.”
“Well, you probably aren’t used to the comforts of civilization like I am then. Believe me, if I had been able to send someone else to do this I would have.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“Trade secret. Suffice to say I did have to go, despite my inclinations to send someone in my place.”
“Well Miss Civilization, dinner is served. Eat up and then get to bed.” They ate in relative silence. Laeleth cleaned up afterwards and wandered over to her sleeping bag. Karen was already in hers. She rolled over to look at Laeleth as she stripped down to her undershirt and pants. A grin went over Karen’s face.
“Say Laeth, I don’t suppose you’d care to… you know?” Even as dark as it was now, Laeleth was sure Karen could make out her glare with perfect clarity. Karen put on a look of pure innocence. “That would be a no then?” Laeleth just shook her head in amusement and slipped into her sleeping bag.
“Goodnight, Karen.”
They set off as the sun was just cresting the hill. The trip seemed to mostly consist of Karen asking questions, and Laeleth finding creative ways to not really answer them. After a while, the trees started looking a little more sickly, and a depressing mood started to permeate the air. Karen became a little quieter and Laeleth felt less inclined to answer her questions at all. Finally they topped a rise. Below them, at the bottom of the incline, there lay the mouth to a cave. As dark and depressing as the mood was outside, it looked even worse in there.
“Let me guess.” Laeleth started. “It’s in there.”
“Right in one guess.” Karen answered. Laeleth sighed.
“What’s guarding it and what does it look like?”
“Um, I think it was about twenty zombies…”
“Twenty? By myself?”
“Look, I’m sure you can do it, right? They’re just zombies. There’s ghosts and other stuff at night.” Laeleth glared at her. “You can do it right?”
“Twenty zombies? In a confined space? They don’t stand a chance.”
“See? So what’s your problem?”
“The artefact?”
“Oh, you’ll know it when you see it. Easily recognisable.”
“I take it you aren’t going to help me?”
“Oh, I can hold my own in a fight, but I’m not really all that good. I daresay I would just get in your way.” Karen smiled cheerfully.
“Wait here then.” Laeleth said, and drew Scion of Light from Elsewhere.
“Oooh.” Karen whistled. “Nice sword.”
“Daiklave. Grand daiklave in fact. You should know that.”
“You men and your toys. A sword is a sword is a sword.” Laeleth glared at her again.
“Scion of Light is not a toy. Now if you’ll excuse me, we have to go kill some zombies.” With that Laeleth started down the hill. Karen stood at the top of the hill, watching him go. She knew she had heard of that sword before, but couldn’t recall who its owner had been. Well, she had a little time to think about it as she watched Laeth head into the cave.
As Laeleth entered the cave, she cast Corona of Radiance about herself. Not only would it be very useful in the upcoming fight, it also helped her see in the poorly illuminated cave, although she was relying mostly on her ears. Which was a good thing since she never saw the first zombie. It lunged at her from its position hidden among the rotting roots and debris that made up the walls of the cave. Of course, she clearly heard it bursting forth behind her, although she was sure it wouldn’t seem quite so loud to others, so she was already in mid-swing when it extricated itself from its ambush point. The slow witted creature stood no chance, and Scion of Light carved its doom through the air. Neatly bisected, its torso hit the floor before the motes of essence that trailed her swing began to peter out. At least now she knew what to expect.
She encountered several more pitiful creatures in such a manner, dispatching them as easily as the first, before she finally caught sight of a glow coming from around the corner. Eager to be out of the damp, musty smelling cave Laeleth hurried towards it, Scion of Light heralding her advance. She rounded the corner and saw what she had obviously come for. Hovering half a foot above an eroded stone pedestal was an orb that glowed with a soft blue light. It was about the size of her head, and had a metal band running around its middle with intricate traceries carved into it. She had no idea what it was, but she knew this had to be what she was after. Of course, the fifteen zombies standing between her and the orb seemed intent to stop her from reaching it. She decided that Scion of Light would have to talk to them about how they treated their guests.
She struck three down with Iron Raptor Technique as they shambled towards her, and then waded into them, swinging Scion of Light about her, as they started to swarm her. Staying just inside the mouth of the tunnel that had led to this room limited the numbers that could reach her at one time, and the patterns that Scion of Light carved through the air made sure that the only thing that actually reached her was pieces. It was the work of mere moments to carve the Undead to pieces, and she hadn’t even broken a sweat by the end. As she sliced the last zombie into quivering pieces, she strode forward to retrieve the orb. As she reached out, a thought crossed her mind. Too easy. And as her hand clamped down on the orb, only her instincts and training saved her as she leapt backwards, barely avoiding the two lashes that had traced through the air she had occupied just moments before. She was glad of the little light in the cave, for the thing that was now lurching from the depths of the cave was surely hideous. It whipped more lashes through the air towards her. Dodging some and deflecting others with Scion of Light held in one hand while she held the orb under her other arm, Laeleth knew she could not beat this thing in such a confined space. So, desperately parrying the hideously barbed lashes that struck at her, she fell back towards the entrance of the cave.
When Karen caught site of the glow from deeper within the cave, she gave herself a satisfied smile. Destiny had guided her true once more, and surely her champion would be bringing the orb back to her now. It wasn’t until she saw Laeth fly backwards from the cave entrance surrounded by a shower of earth and rocks that she realised he was pursued. He skilfully deflected the barded appendages that flailed at him from the cave entrance as he fell back. She could see his caste mark burning on his forehead, and she realised he must be tapping into his reserves now. It was eerie the way he made no sound as he fought. She would have expected cries of anger or perhaps pain as a lashing tentacle caught him across the side. But he made no sound as he fought on. He glanced towards her.
“Take it!” He yelled, as he threw the orb towards her and shifted to a two handed stance. As she caught the orb her attention was brought back to the fight before her as the creature attached to the lashes hauled itself into the sunlight with a terrible screech. She found herself fighting to hold on to her last meal as she caught sight of the monstrosity before her. It looked as if it had been stitched together using the half rotten corpses of a dozen different animals. She could even make out a human body part attached to its quivering mass here and there. And then the smell hit her. It was awful, like the air of a swamp choked with bodies instead of weeds. The effects of the sight and smell of it made her drop to her knees, feeling dizzy. But when she looked up, Laeth was still fighting. She gained newfound respect for him.
His face seemed carved into an expressionless mask as he manoeuvred his way amongst the lashes that struck out at him. He seemed to be pressing his attack now that he was in a more open area, and unencumbered by the orb. She watched as he flipped backwards over one lash, casting his daiklave at the creature as he did. He spun on his hand as he leapt sideways to avoid the next stroke as his daiklave severed a few lashes from the beast, spinning to the side of a third as the daiklave returned to his hand. He moved with such a sense of purpose that he merely seemed to flow around the attacks of his enemy as if he knew in advance where the blows of his foe would land. She watched as he fought on, deflecting lashes and striking at the beast to sever them, and thought how much his movements reminded her of a dance. There was grace and style to every move he made, and he didn’t seem to fight his opponent as much as he danced with them, the elegance of his movements far outweighing the clumsiness of his partner as it beat at the ground around him.
Finally the last of the horrible lashes fell to the ground before the beast. It screeched and charged at him. He flowed to one side as if he had had expected this, the nimbus of his anima starting to become visible as he leapt sideways along the beast, sundering it along its side as he leapt its length. And his face never lost its expression of calm concentration. Motes of essence danced in the wake of his blow, and the beast screeched. It spun on him and lashed out with its forelimbs. Laeth amazingly stood his ground, and Karen watched as a blade the size of its wielder moved with a speed and grace that was only possible in the hands of a Celestial Exalted. Each limb struck at him, and was in turn cast aside. All but the last, which struck him squarely in the chest. He didn’t even grunt in pain as the force of the blow made him slide backwards, his feet carving furrows in the dirt. Karen even caught the spurt of blood the wound drew from his chest as he flew backwards.
But then the movement flowed into a leap as Laeth somersaulted forward, turning in the air like an acrobat as if he had planned for that blow to land all along. His anima coalesced and a winged figure burst into glorious existence around him as he landed on the creatures back and plunged his massive blade into its back up to the hilt. The beast screamed. His movements then carried him gracefully from its back and to the ground as he gestured forth with his left hand, the angel mimicking his movements as his blade flew from the beasts back and to his hand. He gripped it and charged back in as the beast screamed again, black ichor pouring from its wound in a steady flow. It turned slowly and clumsily to meet him. He merely danced around its feeble strikes as he cut it again and again, the angel copying his movements and each blow draining more of its unlife. Eventually the beast gave one final, ear-splitting screech and collapsed, rapidly decomposing.
The screech actually caused Laeth to grimace in pain, the first expression Karen had seen on him since he had emerged from the cave. She remembered what he had said about sensitive hearing. That screech had hurt her ears; she could only imagine how much it had hurt him. He drove the end of his daiklave into the ground and leant against it, panting now for breath, as his anima hovered over him. There was something a little odd about his anima, and Karen approached him, orb held safely in her arms, to see if he was ok.
“You alright? It looked like it got you pretty good there.” She asked.
“I’ll be fine.” He replied, panting. “I heal quickly, even for us.” He seemed to catch his breath then, and stood back up, drawing his daiklave from the earth as he turned towards her, his anima turning with him. It was then she realised what it was about his angel that was bothering her. It was female. And then, as she got a good look at its face, things seemed to click in her head. The strange fighting style, the daiklave Scion of Light, a certain lilt to his voice… And above all, the face of the angel. It was a face she recognised. She was good with faces after all. Not someone who she had known personally, but she had been to some of her concerts. She had had the most beautiful voice. And what with story about the tragedy involving her lover, the haunting melody of her songs… It had never left her even after all these years. She had been quite a fan of her performances. Not to mention the subtle yet reverent awe the other Solars seemed to have for her. She seemed inexplicably long lived, even for a Solar, and Karen remembered some of the Solars she had met referring to Laeleth with awe in their voice which they normally reserved only for the Celestial Incarna. She had her face on painting and statues in many cities of the First Age. And now she stared at that face once more as it hovered above this enigmatic man, glowing with unearthly radiance. And she stared in awe.
“Laeleth…” the name escaped her mouth almost unbidden. She practically felt the anger that rolled off the man at the mention of that name. As she turned her attention to his face, she saw a quick succession of emotions pass across them. Anger, then annoyance. And for the briefest moment, fear.
“Never call me that.” his voice was quiet, and carried over the distance between them by the threat implicit in his words. He gestured, and Scion of Light disappeared once more. For once in her long life, Karen was lost for words. She hadn’t expected anything like this. He was made all the more imposing by the glorious angel that hovered over him, its aspect mimicking his anger. It was a terrible sight to see, and Karen felt terror begin to seep into her bones at the terrible aspect of this deadly avenger that stood before her.
“By the gods…” she whispered. A thought occurred to her. This man fought with her style, and she now realised he spoke with her accent. Her eyes widened with the realisation. She gathered the courage to ask him a question. “How much do you remember?” Though it took all the will she could muster, she looked him straight in the eyes as she said it. It was only because of this that she caught the flash of intense pain that flared behind his strange, moon-pale eyes before being covered with a look of impassiveness and timelessness that she knew all too well from seeing in her own eyes every time she looked inn a mirror. He seemed to flare up for a second, and she was sure he intended to strike her. But then, all of a sudden, the fight seemed to leave him. He slumped forward a little, and seemed to deflate. The angel lost its terrible aspect, and seemed to almost curl around him protectively. He looked up at her with haunted eyes.
“Everything. I remember everything.” Karen was stunned. A Solar with complete memories of the First Age? What was she to do?
“What about your life before your exaltation?”
“You mean this body? I woke up in it. There was no other person. I am and have always been me.” The implications were staggering. Karen had never heard of something like this before. She was still a little stunned by it all.
“How long?”
“This time? About twenty years now.” This time? What did that mean?
“What do you mean this time?” Karen was catching on to the fact that he seemed to be readily answering her questions now, and felt she should press her advantage while she could.
“I have reincarnated again and again since my death during the Great Uprising.”
“How many times?” This she had heard of before, but Laeth’s circumstances seemed a little different.
“About ten.”
“So you remember all that? The Contagion? The founding of the Realm?”
“Sort of. My memories of my original life are my clearest. Memories of my other incarnations are sometimes fuzzy, but get clearer the longer I survive. I remember enough through it all. And I have gaps between incarnations where I lost time before I was born again.”
“How much time?”
“All up, about five hundred years as close as I can tell. It was about two hundred years before my first reincarnation, and the time between my death and reincarnation has gradually shortened each time since then.” Karen continued to ask questions, most of which got answered, eventually getting a better picture of this enigmatic figure that stood before her. They moved off as they talked, agreeing that it would be best to leave the Shadowland before it got dark. And as they walked and talked Laeth became a little more relaxed. And Karen got a little more confused. He talked like a woman, and he carried himself like a woman, or at least he did now that he seemed to accept that she knew about him. She even gathered from their conversation that he seemed to think of himself as a female. This was confusing her gender pronouns immensely, so she decided to ask him about it.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, but you look like a guy, and when we met you walked and talked like a man, but now you’re acting like… well, like a woman.” Laeth blushed and looked embarrassed. It was an amazingly feminine gesture coming from a man. Karen felt herself getting even more confused.
“I never really stopped thinking of myself as a woman. I even made a conscious decision early on to at least refer to myself as female inside my own head. Despite the new body, I’m still who I was in the First Age. My memories of that time are clearer, and I definitely spent more time in my original body than I have in this one so far. It gets really embarrassing at times.”
“Oh? Care to give a specific example?” Karen knew she shouldn’t tease, but she just couldn’t resist. But Laeth, or Laeleth, whichever he or she was, just gave her a pointed look.
“Like when women ask to sleep with me.” Karen thought about this for a second. Then she felt herself blush from head to toe. The fact that Laeleth smiled smugly at her didn’t help her embarrassment one bit.
“Oh. Um. I’m sorry. Oh dear. This is very awkward.”
“Forget about it. It gets confusing if you try and think about it too much. Trust me, I’ve practically had to become an expert at not thinking about it.”
“So, what should I call you then?” Laeleth sighed.
“Well, I wouldn’t actually mind being called by my actual name. It’s been so long since anyone has. But remember that if we’re ever in public together, it’s Laeth.” Karen decided that this was acceptable.
“Ok, Laeleth.” She did see him flinch a little, but at least he smiled afterwards. Realising the train of her own thoughts, Karen shook herself. “Yeah, this is confusing.”
“Hey, I have to live with it everyday. How do you think I feel?” they both laughed. They talked long into the night. Karen learned about the tragic tale that was Laeleth’s life since the defeat of the Great Enemy, and she was moved. She kept crying and sniffling, and decided that she was becoming a little emotional about this whole thing. She knew that she couldn’t tell the others about Laeleth. One thing that was clear to her was that Laeleth had some sort of destiny to fulfil, and her strange and difficult to read aura only seemed to confirm that. But she could definitely be useful to Karen’s own plans. Besides, she already felt as if they were friends. And friends help each other out. So she decided. She had to leave in the morning to take the orb back home, but she would definitely stay in touch with Laeleth. It promised to be an adventure.
For her own part, Laeleth felt a sense of relief at finally being able to tell her story to someone. Most of it anyway. Ul’shar, whatever he called himself these days, was her burden. And her Burden alone. But her isolation had gnawed at her over the years. Even when she had been amongst her own kind for the brief times that she had, she couldn’t tell them about her circumstances. Not that any of them really seemed to remember the First Age anyway. It had felt good to talk to someone about it. She knew that Karen felt sorry for her, and really wished she didn’t. She didn’t need the pity of others. But having one friend who knew her story wasn’t that bad. At least now she thought she knew why the Unconquered Sun had sent her out to this gods-forsaken area of the Scavenger Lands. In the morning, when she and Karen parted ways, she resolved to get as far away from these bloody woods as possible. Perhaps she would go to the north again. She wouldn’t have to go through too many forests or rainstorms there.
Wow, it's too bad that this was last updated in March of 2005. I felt the need to bump it =) ~ BrigandRansom , who loves the Random Page button =)
And I'm glad you did... Good stuff, tis.
-- Darloth
