Alright, I have made this my characters living story and as such I have come to a mile stone in his career. This just happens to be page 2 of his story post as well.. strange. However, I would like to thank all of the people who have allowed Lyon to become what he is today, and given me such an incredible roleplaying experience:
Seva Six-Blade (Seva) - For being an arch enemy of sort and giving character conflict to my PC. A well played character and a good guy outside of the game. BAH! I can see you rolling your eyes Seva!
Arakiel Killthorne (Killthorne) - For inspiring Lyon to take his current path and for providing incredible roleplay along the way. I can honestly say without Arakiel Lyon may have been stuck in his depressed state of mind. Killthorne is a great player and artist. (had to jab that in there somewhere right?)
Arien Killthorne (MizBiz) - For single handedly being the most persistent pain in the ass Lyon had to deal with . Arien was the one and only PC that actually FOUGHT for Lyon's trust and eventually did gain it in full measure. Arien has allowed Lyon a different perspective on others and given strength when he so direly needed it. My thanks to you Mizbiz for the great Roleplay and emotional situations.
Myr (AlmightyTDawg) - The first true companion of Lyon and his pin cushion as well. A great roleplayer when I can bloody well find him! Myr presented a conflict of emotions throughout the begining of Lyon's journey and managed to cause more mental damage than any other PC. Good guy too!
Kiriste Reyek (Andrew) - The PC that started it all. When Lyon met Kiriste and allowed him some insight into what was pure about life it began his trials of redemption. Drew has been awsome with the child birth and the like, even though I want to rip his head off at times . Lyon's salvation and damnation lay with Kiriste. Thank you Drew for a helluva time.
Ahleera (Twiggee) - She was responsible for holding the first confession of Lyon and actually managed to talk him into quiting drugs cold turkey. One of the most emotional PCs I have met, and has managed still to push Lyon to keep going when he was willing as hell to give up. Also managed to keep seva from tearing him apart . Twigs is a friend to me IG and OOC, a great player in all respects.
Gaeden (Ayergo) - One of my favorite religious types. I have known Gaeden longer IC than any other PC listed here. He didn't get the respect he deserved in my stories but I suspect that to change pretty rapidly. I would say more but I don't want to spoil anything, great player, great guy, great Roleplayer, end!
As I have played, I have had the honor of playing under several DMs and I don't wish to insult those that have come before by not listing everyone who has impacted Lyon's life. So thanks to all DMs who have ever touched Lyon on his quest! A special thanks however to:
Virvaldin - For putting up with my server travel between SD and DD, and also my never ending messages in IRC. Virv has been able to spark my imagination at a whim and though my time playing under him is limited, I still veiw him as an inspiration to my character.
Squamatus - This is the DM that is much like darth Vader for me. Been trying to pull Lyon to the dark side time and again, and I love this guy period. I mean honestly what other DM would make a frog be a messenger of hell? That's just friggin WEIRD! Also for his gnoll quest, this guy deserves recognition. Thanks for the fun Squats!
This next thank you I reserved till the last because well..
Twiggee - To most of you this might seem like I am kissing ass, but without a doubt NONE of what has happened to Lyon would have been possible without Twiggee's DMing. She has forced Lyon to struggle both emotionally and physically, tested his faith, tested his companionship, tested his vows. Twiggee has been pushing me as both a Player and a Character to roleplay 100% each time I am involved with her quests andeach time I am on for that matter. Outside the game she has put up with my whinning, my complaining, my arguing, my frustration and my spam! Without a doubt in my mind Lyon would never have changed were it not for the aid of Twiggee's DMing and the inspiration she has breathed into my stories and in my RP. Thank you Twiggee for not letting me retire when I was beyond the point of no return and for making my stay in DD so enjoyable. I am hoping to play under you for another 5 levels RL willing .
In closing, Lyon began as a frustrating PC that I couldn't get my barings on. he has, however, become one of my most beloved PCs along side of Syphon Grimgor. For my part, I hope I have had some sort of impact on other PCs to repay the amazing time I have had and the incredible RP I have been gifted. Thanks to all who have RPed with Lyon.
This is not a final note, more of a reflection. The stories to follow this post will be the second Phase of Lyon's career. I hope the previous stories have been as enjoyable to read as they have been to write. Same rules still apply as I would like to keep this post purely stories, just I thought this needed to be written. Again thanks to all, and enjoy the show...
The pause between my thoughts spoke loudly of my fear. I have known for a long time that this day would come. I have been fearing this day for a long time. The nightmares of my past now flicked before me as I stand awake, but I stand. She was crying horrifying tears. My skin crawled and my heart bled as I stared down the path that was to be my unmaking.
"My life is complete."
Yet there is so much more I wanted to do. I have abused my time here on this plane. I must answer for my crimes. My sins. I must finally face that which I have feared. Face it even if it should end me. For my daughter.. for me.. Gwynrakel.
I still feel you. My muscles flex as I demand to stand tall, but I feel you. In my regrets, in my hopes, in my dreams, in my nightmares... I feel you. My love, my wife, my place of peace. What do you see when you look into my eyes that have felt so many tears? What would you say to me.. would you accept me again.. I do not know anymore. I wish you would speak to me but I am left with only the weeping voice to carve your name into my soul. Gwynrakel.. I love you.. for us.. forever.
My feet begin to stride, though my mind continues to wander. Tyr will have me, but will he be satisfied? I have placed my faith in him, but will he place his faith in me? No, my sins are too great. The cost of my life is too great. He will have me, and I will die for my crimes. I have tried, Tyr. I have placed my sword toward good.. but I cannot heal the past. In my own broken mind, I cannot heal the past. I am coming to you now, father. I am coming..
"Gwynrakel"
My mind again escaped the torments of my visions to face serenity of my love. The graveyard mocked me as fog pressed from the gates, calling to me.. reminding me. I cannot stop myself as I step into a full sprint into the hollow grounds, into the resting place of the dead. I watch as flames leap up from the base of the crypts doorway. Fire.. I touch my left ring finger and throw my weight into the steel gate. I am met with pain as I am thrown back from my destination. I drew steel.
*shrrrk*
The sound of steel against steel. The sound of my brothers forth coming. The sound of failure to reach my goal. The sound of my story. The sound of tears running from my eyes.
<inf>"Let me through.. allow me to see you.."
<inf>"I love you.."
My words.. met by the scream of pain that they caused. Pain of my love, pain of the burden of it.
<inf>"I will find you again..."
I felt the fabric of the air around me settle. I was once again alone. I turned away and continued the path that I must take. The corrupted Alter to Meilikki, I paused again. If this was to be my last passing, Arakiel, your will be done. I approached and drew an arrow from the quiver.. Arakiel's arrow. I sunk the tip deep into the ground beside the rubble. Watch over me brother.
The gates of the glen arose from the distance as my head lowered. I drew closer, but I couldn't turn back. Again I hesitated. A burning sensation ran from my left ring finger and to my spine forcing my eyes to rise, I stepped back. A female woman dressed in red armor I knew too well, a whip whos anger I witnessed.. a whip the figure hooked to her belt. The blood ran from my veins and I shook my head closing my eyes tightly, it was a dream. I opened them to see her still standing, her helmet removed, I gazed upon my love. And for the first time.. I let my blade fall..
The sounds of the greatsword falling from Lyons hand bowed to Gwynrakel's voice,"Do not do this."
Like a thousand voices in my head screaming to obey.. and only one refusing.. my own.
<inf>"I must.."
Her eyes pleading as she shakes her head, "Do not."
I found barely enough breath to speak
<inf>"I have given up everything for this.. please.. I cannot take much more of this."
She closed her eyes in a way that I knew I had wounded her deep.. again. Her visage vanished from me.. and the gates of the Glen loomed over me. I pressed on.
<inf>"Why can't you see why I am doing this?"
I felt her agony, her disagreement through the ring that would never leave my hand. I knew well the lick of flame but coming from that which I held so dear.. i clenched my fist and tried to keep my composure.
<inf>"I cannot be a slave anymore, Gwynrakel.. what would you have me do? Tell me.. what would you have me do?"
I found no reply
<inf>"Then we are both lost.. and I await my final judgment.."
Fear struggled to stay my steps as I spoke the words. I fought.. with everything.
<inf>"I cannot turn back."
My teeth gritted as my steps finally came.
The door parted from it's lock and granted me entry almost without my own will. The pious air of the elderly Paladin denied my breath as I only nodded a greeting.
The paladin looked up and nodded as well but his words would not be still,"Oh yes, hello."
"I was able to locate the shrine, though I could not gain entry."
My voice was cold as my eyes lay on my destination. A doorway. To my judgment. I could hear the muffled sound of the old man speaking but it was too late to hear him.
"I wish to pray.. might I have use of your temple?"
I began to walk, my ears spared his answer in the sorrows that consumed my mind. I knew what he would say. I did not need to hear it. The doorway loomed infront of me screaming in the voice of Gwynrakel not to enter. I knew not else to do. Nor did she.. I drew up what felt like my final breath and ducked into the shrine room. I have been here before. I felt my heart reminded of a past being, a woman that I refused to let surface. I shook it away and strove forward for the altar.
<inf> "See the courage in my action, Gwynrakel.. and know I love you."
I grasped the handle of my life, the handle of my death. I drew my true companion and placed it's tip to the marble floor. My knee slowly followed resting itself on the symbol of Tyr. The symbol I feared yet a symbol I desired. My final breath still rested in my lungs and I used it for the purpose it was meant. I spoke and released my life.
"And so I have come, Tyr. Fear has barred my path and stone has blocked my way. Fear that still holds true in my heart but I refuse to be a slave to it. I have been gifted with my child and blessed with the love of a woman. I am ready, Tyr. I kneel awaiting Judgment."
There was little breath left in me, and I refused to draw another. I tightened my right fist around my blades edge and felt the burning of my loves disaproval. She bite into my ring finger and I fisted my left hand. For you, my last breath will know you.
<inf>"I will not let her from my life."
"Tyr, please.. hear me."
The final whisper of air escaped my corpse as I felt a presense in the shrine with me.. no two beings. Gaeden.. why can I feel you. I felt my mind swirl as the lack of breath devored my thoughts. My skin burned puffing smoke from my armor and laughing at my chosen path. I would not sway.
Blinding light burst before me, surrounding me. It chained my body and washed the flames from my flesh. I felt nothing. I felt freedom. Darkness crept back into my vision and my mind froze in fear. I dragged in again a second final breath. I bowed my head as I was not worthy to look upon the shrines of the triad. Torm. Ilmater. Tyr. Their stones lay before me as blue flames ignited around me. I felt him still, Gaeden, and the silent one. I was at ease but fear asked me why.
I felt tears.. but not my own. I closed my eyes to see the shrine of Ilmater from my companions gaze. I saw it through tears. I opened my eyes and felt the power of his passion. You are a great man Gaeden. I steal a glance up at the shrines but can only bow my head once more as I feel strength return to Gaeden. Strength return to me. I dared to speak.
"I have no right to be placed before the Triad. My sins are too great."
I felt the power in Gaeden's will to stand strong. I looked up and willed myself to kneel strong, tightening my fists on my blades edge. I watched, fear tearing my black heart, as a man took form before the shrine of Ilmater. His body ethereal, and his gaze cast down upon me like that of all my victims past. I felt my breath quicken as my heart rate strove to a gallop, my posture shattered and my gaze fell from him to the symbol of torm just inches from the tip of my blade. I looked up as a light grew into the form of a woman standing before the altar of Torm. I felt death in my spine as her eyes met my own. My body trembled visably, the truth of my fear surfaced and I looked to the shrine of my faith, to the shrine of Tyr for answers.
My body became still and my eyes rained my emotions as my brother appeared before the shrine. Though his eyes drove deep into my soul, I was at ease in his shadow.
Arakiel spoke as if Tyr himself had possessed his voice and on it came the words Lyon awaited,"Are you ready to be Judged Lyon Kross? Given your Life whole?"
I stole strength from his posture and granted it to my own. I nodded looking him in the eyes.
"I am ready, Brother."
Arakiel's voice came swiftly like the introduction to justice's blade,"As a representative on behalf of Tyr, I will give you his judgment. First, however, you will be allowed to confess your sins. If you would like to absolve yourself, then profess them before the Triad."
The words snapped a floodgate behind the walls of my mind and poured my sins and crimes through my mouth and dripped them from my tongue. Too long have I held them inside of me. Too long have they desired to be free of the shadows in my mind.
"I kneel in truth, that I offered my mother as sacrafice to a devil lord. As gift I was damned with the blood of the devil himself. I have murdered. I have stolen. I have bled goodness dry in beregost.. before the temple of lathander. I have tainted the chosen of Tyr and acted against the chosen of Torm. I have worshipped devils out of fear and spoiled the womb of a paladin. I have turned from my brother when he needed me and left him to die. I betrayed my companion in places of war and have allowed injustice where I have walked. I ask for judgment so that I may be at peace. I ask that you do not take pity on me, as I have offered it to none. I ask that you do not take mercy, as I have never shown it to others. My crimes, my sins are too great. I ask only to be judged. I ask only to be judged so that my child may know that I tried."
I felt the echo of Gaeden's knee hitting the floor of the holy room and the stare of my brother through my eyes.
Arakiel drew up,"What about yourself?"
I do not matter.
"My faith is aligned with Tyr. I have taken steps to show him I was true."
I knew not what to say...
Arakiel's words shot through the shrine, "What good is this if you do not believe you tried for yourself?"
I no longer felt comfort in his eyes. I knew his words were true, but I have tried. Those I have cared for died because I try! I begin to tremble but I force words from my lips.. I will not be weak in my hour of judgment.
"I have been trying, brother. I have been trying ever since we met in the springs."
My voice gave way as the final word escaped me. I waited for his reply. I waited...
Killthorne finally spoke,"I know... Tyr knows.."
"Then I have nothing else to ask for Arakiel."
He shook his head, "Your soul."
My soul was already condemed. I only wished it be punished and I be freed of my inpurities
"My life, my soul, my sins are Tyr's to judge."
I felt the bite of my blade as I tightened my fists around it's edge, demanding the pain of my judgment.
His words came, but it was not his voice, hollow, powerful,"My judgment is indeed merciful. The love you spare for a devil that desecrates holy burial grounds is still with you in this shrine. Lyon Kross, my judgment is thus: Your life is your own."
And death turned away
He continued,"As long as you continue to do Tyr's work, I will aid you in your quest for redemption. Your deeds from this day forth will damn you.. or save you, depending on your course. It is not my mercy that saves you Lyon.. it is the mercy you have for yourself. Do you feel this judgment fair?"
I was denied my pain, but I was at ease.
"I place my trust in Tyr. If it is to be his judgment.. then I will not question it."
I watched as Arakiel turned to the messenger of Torm, her mouth opened and blood escaped my palms running free down my sword.
Her hollow voice spoke,"Lyon Kross, your time shall be limited on this plane. When you have attoned for your crimes, the Triad will claim you as our own. Should you fail you will receive no welcome in this house."
I knew my words for the first time and spoke them with pride.
"I will not fail."
Arakiel again shot words into Lyon's weakened body,"So be it. From this day forth you will serve with your own free will. Serve us and be rewarded.. fail us and be condemned."
It was on his final word that I felt Tyr's fist close around my body. I felt magic cross my scars and I closed my eyes. Visions of the just god pointing down at me with his longsword, and motioning toward a gate that I could only feel in my heart. The halls of the traid. I felt my armor shift and felt the blessings course through it's steel. I felt a curse. I felt my blade. I felt my blood free from the touch of the even-handed. I felt it in the back of my mind as my blade drank of my devil kind. I felt the strength of it, I felt the edge grow sharp in my grasp.. I knew this blade was evil. I would not part with it. I opened my eyes to see the spirits begin to disapear. I turned one last time to Arakiel.
He spoke his own words,"Tyr stay yer side, Lyon.."
His voice faded away as his visage returned to Tyr. He had held his vow. My eyes came to my blade, even in the face of it's evil, it was part of me. I knew my words were true as I spoke them to my darkness.
"I will not fail."
The hand of Gaeden came to my shoulder as if rebirthing me into a reality. I felt the reasurance of a broken man, and stood. The heat of my wedding ring ceased to run through my finger. I would not part with it. I clenched my fist and sheathed my death and looked up at the shrine of Tyr.
"Until you come for me. I will live for you, Tyr. For the Triad. I will not fail."
My vision echoed as if response to my words and as the frame of my eyes settled I was again standing infront of the shrine of Tyr. Again standing in the Glen that Arakiel died for, Gaeden at my side. I walked away from his hand on my shoulder and placed my hand on the shrine.
"This day.. Tyr, I had the courage to stand tall in your judgement."
"This day."
I turned as the flames begin to whisper to my scars. I live. I am judged. I am, Lyon Kross.
Last edited by GlassRain on Sat Nov 27, 2004 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Before the shrine of Lathander I bow my head. However, I do not bow my head to him. I bow it to see a band that once held warmth for me. A warmth that has been replaced by a numbing cold that bites vicously in my ring finger. I have felt her presense escape me, felt it grow distant from me, much like the sweet embrace the item once held for my hand. I will not remove it. As the name across it's surface refuses to ignite I will not remove it. Even as I knelt before Tyr and the triad, I would not part with it. I will not part with it even unto the day I am to be released from my mortal prison in the purest of the planes. I will not remove it then. I will not stop feeling her heart even as mine has failed to beat. Gwynrakel, I wish I could have helped you.
The burning sensation that licks at my scars in the presense of the shrine. The release I feel in the fires of my mind. I cannot feel. I only burn. My scars sing my sins against my heated armor, as they hiss thier breaths of smoke. I can feel the flames demanding to escape me, but they are mine. The memories of my devil woman, my fiend, my love are spelt out in the ash that falls from my skin. I feel nothing, not the sadness of her parting. Not the pain of my broken fist of my scorched flesh, not the fear of the unseen foe. I feel only fire, flame, burning, heat, rage. I love this feeling.
Perhaps it was the curse Gwynrakel placed on my skin. Perhaps the ring that she offered me to protect me from fire. Perhaps it is the thoughts of hell that bring her so close to me as I smolder. I beg for the pain as I beg for her memories. The room around me stops to exsist and it is only me. Lyon Kross and the ring of his love. There are no gods in this place. There is no faith, no hope, no redemption, no damnation, only I and Gwynrakel. It is here that I find release. It is here that which matters to me is given life. My mind rolls through the pages of our story, pausing breifly on the smile of your face.. the touch of your hand.. the song in your voice. The ring lay cold as my memory frosts over and I am delivered into the flames of my reality. My eyes open again...
I can feel my eyes burning and the demand that they wish. I have been gifted a blade, an armor, a will. I wish to have the power to weild it. I wish to have the power to strike fear into the evils of our lives. I wish power to release her from her enemies. I demand it. I hunger for it. The need drips from my sanity, sending ripples into the fabric of my exsistance. I can feel my blade in the back of my mind. It calls for me now, calls for me to weild it sharpened edge. My blade asks of me to use it. The rememberance of my sins and of my murders, shock my spine sending my hairs on end as I pictured the evil in my blood. My blood that has granted me so much power and my will that was free to twist it to my own purpose. The bones in my left hand crack as they twist forming a fist. What is the key to unlocking my full potential? What is the key to unlocking my power and slaying the foes that would dare threaten everything I have become, everythign I love?
Rage. My eyes narrow and my lips grin at the thought of the feeling. I felt it's power, I felt its freedom as I could feel nothing else. Gwynrakel pushed me away when I was willing to fight. Asked me to stand aside.. she knows me well, and knows that I will come for her. She knows I will not so easily be turned away. Perhaps it is why she ran. In her selfless act she had made me aware of a feeling I had long locked away. I did not wish to open the chest that held my devil. The bolts made of regret and the box made of sorrow. I had allowed myself to forget the freedom of it's embrace. Now as I remember the feeling well, my tongue is teased with the taste of power. I have dreaded the day that I would finally let the fated words pass from my lips..
"I again.. have use for you."
My voice came like a stone that had finally found the ground of a bottomless pit. I offered it hatred to feast on.
My blood rippled through my skin, boiling below the surface of my scars as I felt hatred course through my veins. "Enemies" she had told me. No name was given to the creature that tore through her armor. A creature that cracked her ribs, a creature that whipped her skin. I can feel it like a beast inside of me, devoring my hatred growing greater as my fists tighten. My gift, my need, my power. Sip from my anger, feast of my strife. The evils of this land will feel my iron fist as I tear their very souls screaming from their ill begotten corpses.
Tyr, I know you are watching me. I know the trust you have placed on my shoulders and the blessings you have gifted in my protection. I will follow your word but my justice will be final. I know of mercy as you have given it unto me. I know redemption as you have lit my path to it. But I cannot allow evil to strive on. The vile creatures that prey on the innocent must be dealt with in a mannor which they can understand. Those who have suffered the darkness must be shown a champion that will not stand aside and allow the laws of man to protect the guilty. I pray that you will see the truth in my actions. I pray that you will forgive me for the murders that I will commit in the name of Justice. I will not bend to the corrupt and will not allow the pure to be victims. My blade will end the lives of the wicked and with their souls I will pave my bridge to your plane. Know my rage, Tyr, and know my will. I will see you when the blood of evil has stopped running and my blade may finally be laid to rest.
To those who hunt my love.. I have but but three words..
Twisting and clashing in the walls of my mind. My own mind. MY MIND! Damnit, she doesn't know me. How could she.. too lost in trying to own me. The only hand she ever extended to me was her own depressed thoughts. She is unstable, too much preasure over the years. So she wishes to kill me? Wishes to kill herself? Wishes to kill our child? She will have to die trying. My eyes are open, and I am watching her.
"You are with us brother"
Our words. You are with me, you are with my daughter. When I felt fear for Raykiena's life, I got angry. I felt my rage behind my eyes begging to be released on that which would harm her. I swore not to fail, Arakiel. I found a control. Another cage forged to save others from me. My thoughts of Raykiena forming the bars.
I hold her now as she looks out across the land, awaiting the sunrise to welcome the day. I lose myself in her smile. I am devoured by her eyes. The problems around me are not on her shoulders. She is innocence and I am her keeper. No, I am her father. A purity born of sin. She wills me to forget my duties and stay by her side.. but she knows I cannot. She knows I will come back to her, told by every kiss I place on her forehead, by every story that I speak to her ears. She knows I cannot stay away.
My duties, the vows I have taken. A smile across my face as I am determined to be a great man to the people of this land. Even if they cannot know me, I will not let them down. I have been given a gift, my blade, my armor, my will to weild them for Tyr. I will not abuse my gift and become like the woman I once knew. Unlike her I will not die and become something evil. Unlike her.. I will die and be reborn, reborn to grace.
Gwynrakel, my wife, my love, I wish you were here. I know the battles you fight, I know you will not allow me to help you.. stubborn.. stubborn like me. I shake away my doubts as I know you will return to me. You will not give up on me, as I will never give up on you. We are the same, we know each other and in knowing.. I am reassured. Return to me soon, Gwynrakel.
Lyon speaks in infernal to the child in his arms:"You will enjoy Gwynrakel, Raykiena. She is like us. She is just as the blood that runs through our veins that no one else can understand. Do not be afraid of this place. Do not ever be afraid. I am your father, I will love you, I will care for you, I will protect you. You will never have to be afraid."
My daughter wiggles her feet her little hands playing with the symbol of Tyr that I gave to her. In some part of me, I knew she understood me. In my words I knew my blade would not rest. I knew the dangers that I would have to face to keep my word to Raykiena. More still I knew I was no longer afraid.
The thought of you, my daughter, is was keeps me in control. I am no longer afraid.
The sun begins to rise and I feel my daughters hand clinging to my finger.
"There is so much I must teach you, Raykiena. Of love, of faith, of hope. Dagger Springs is our home now, and within this place you will learn everything I can teach you." The little girl pulled on Lyon's finger as he spoke looking up at him letting out a sigh. "No, your right.. there will be enough time for that later. Let us just worry about the sunrise." A smile across Lyon's face as he looked into his daughters eyes.
Be nothing more than a child, Raykiena. Smile and laugh and worry about nothing else. I will keep the darkness from our doorstep.
The sun rose and with it light spread out over the whole of Dagger Springs. the light bringing warmth to the heart of a small daughter, wrapped in the arms of her caring father. The world around them stood still, and it was as if Peace herself had taken them into her embrace. Darkness ceased to exsist and there was only two. Two beings for an eternity of a sunrise, an eternity Raykiena and Lyon could call their own.
Today, this hour will be my first reflection perhaps on what has become my twisted morality. What started as a terror in my childhood dreams has forced itself into my life and taken root in my body. However I would not be held down and have climbed the stairs that promised my redemption. How many stairs have been forged from my companions, I cannot count.
I wasted the sands of time without speaking of certain things and have allowed my life to go unrecorded for hopes that I would not be hunted for my confessions. My name is known to few and my story know to fewer though I will not have it placed in words. For my own protection, for my daughters protection, I can't tell them apart anymore.
Aside from my past I am looking now to my future. A daughter, a wife, a home. I am looking to a future where I intend to protect that home and with the companions that I call my own we will drive back the threats of the land. A plan has been set in motion that will take up a great deal of my time. I pray that my daughter will understand why I am away so much.
Lord Morn has holed himself in Dagger Falls and has taken most of the fighting blood with him. For whatever importance it is, I am sure that he has his reasons. I will not judge a man, as other have judged me, when I have not the information at the ready. I am not that blind. My, rather, our intents are much different in reality. With the current threats and the lack of man power to deal with them, our group will put in works the mobilization of the capable men and women that merely visit the Dale lands. A plan that I owe entirely to Myr.
Ambitions are of little use even when set in motion if one does not live the dream. My present is motivated but not enough. I have been absorbed with more personal matters of late that have slowed my progress. On second glance perhaps they are not so personal.
I have opted to train Arakiel's offspring when they are of age to weild blades. Promising children in their own respects but still hold the expectations of their mother over them. There had been some tension between Xavien and myself. He did not know why I was carrying Arakiel's blade, or maybe he just did not enjoy the thought that it was in a strangers possession. I made it clear to him that the blade would pass to him when he is ready. He took well to the news and it seemed to clear the air surrounding our relationship. I hope it lasts.
The village of Dagger Springs has become as much a home as anything to me. I am no ranger or druid and have no true ties to nature, but I am at home. I seem to command enough respect in the village for them to allow me to stay even after my past transgressions. They know little of me but enough so that they call me by name. In time I will finally be strong enough to admit my former life, but for now it would serve little purpose except to cause chaos amung the peaceful inhabitance.
My life has become just a battle. A battle for redemption along with the enemies of my new home. I have thought of placing my blade down before. I thought perhaps I could do it, but instead I again am thrust into the heart of some war that questions my motives and my morality. I lose myself so often as the fight continues, only to open my eyes and stand over another evil that would not turn from their ways. I do not regret the punishment I must weild through my weapon. I cannot deny that I feel a certain kinship to those who I must lay to rest in the name of my new morals, but I cannot let my past hold my actions.
I am in Shadow Dale now, and it seems I was followed. Maybe it is I who have followed, but I know my wife is with me regardless of the answer. My daughter will wait for my return to watch the rising sun and I will again set to my work. How I miss the rising sun in my daughters absense. I am biten deep with the realization that I am away from her and with each passing dawn I grow only colder. I am here for a purpose, though. Arien.
I took a vow to a man that I would protect his family. A family that has since become a part of my own. Arakiel Killthorne trusted my vow and I will not break it even in his leave. His wife, Arien, is a strong woman though I still fear for her. She has locked away her sarrows time and again and they will eventually take hold of her. Until then I will keep by her side in hopes that I can keep her focus on more pressing matters.
Constantly reminded of the lost, my brother. Even now in Shadow Dale I am compelled at to remember his death. All those he left behind speak of him in past tense, as if he is somehow gone. I have swallowed many outbursts that would have cowered most in the presense of these phrases. Arakiel Killthorne is my brother. Bonds of a mans life do not merely disapear once they pass on. Just as his memory, he lives on in the house of the Traid.
There is more that I would say, more that I would speak through this new entry, but it is just a beginning. What will be said and what has been said are seperated by this page.
What does a man learn when he is away from home. A man who has traveled most of his life, searching for that perfect place. A hilltop watching the sun rise over the dale lands. My daughter smiling up at me as the rays of light bath our bodies once again. How I have missed this place.
What does a man learn? He learns that his southern flank is lost to a corrupt lord. Learned of the foolish who die everyday in service of the ill minded. Learn of the loyals who will have no place in doing what is right. A man learns of the darkness that is this world. But I already knew.
My blade was sworn to protect the innocent, to uphold law, to seek truth. I lay down my blade to hold my daughter as I had to walk away. What could they have expected from a Traveler. Lord Ricpeth, leading by his own rules instead of those of the true lord of Shadowdale. War will come to Ricpeth and his people, and many will die as he is not ready. Strangling justice with his iron fist, he is not ready.
A traveler, me, a warrior of a cause. The people do not care for me, I see it in their eyes. They do not know me, I will not let them. No one seems to understand the burdens I carry. The tasks that I must complete, the future that will claim my life in return for deeds done. No I cannot let them know me. A warrior in dark armor, cold and uncarring. The myth they must accept the rumors they must spin.
Evil. A word given to my enemies. A word that is meant to strike fear into hearts of man and woman alike to drive their gaurd down. A word the brave rise like a tide against. I have known this label and still do not understand it.
Paladin. A word given to those of a faith that refuse to stand down in the face of evil. A name that labels the would be heroes of dieties. Champions of a cause, champions of the light. I have broke bread with paladins, I have crossed blades with paladins.
I am Paladin.
Now the task falls to me to ensure Dagger Dale does not fall to the drow knocking on Shadowdale's door. Again I take up my blade. As I have return as a crow with messages of death before the coming storm. Perhaps I am evil, but I am paladin. Tyr watch over my daughter in the coming days.
**Tucked into the crease of the page is a document detailing information about Lord Ricpeth.**
Days go by and travelers come and go and still I remain. Sitting on a cliff overlooking the whole that would be my purpose. Daggersprings stands forever like a monument marking my rebirth. My purpose, it's protection. Plans urge me to move on and move up to better secure this peice of land I have gave my word to watch. I feel it again..
The urge, almost primitive. She roams in my mind through the memories of my past. I have turned away from those memories.. I have. I reassure myself, I have. But still she calls. Alone atop this hill, this cliff, this watch tower, this prison. No, I didn't used to be this.
Dagger springs, a quiet village. A place of peace built for those who desired a second chance. I have been given my second chance. These woods, these waters, these rangers, these druids. This is not the place for me. Home she will forever be, I am not like those who share her with me.
The warrior is knelt on the cliff overlooking the village. A silent silhouette against the night sky. His hand raises an amulet to eye level. His eyes study it with a stern expression, unmoved by the surrounding comotions. Scales balanced on a warhammer.. the sign of Tyr.
I have been given my second chance, a second chance that I must not waste. I have given my word, and will protect these lands, but I will hide no longer. I will take back my place in this world.
My eyes linger on the symbol of my path yet.. I cannot find the words to speak. A prayer to my father who has given me judgment free of pity. What words do I offer that who knows all? I do not wish to burden my lord with useless words. Scripted prayers taken from tomes that no longer hold meaning to those who read them. To speak from the heart, to speak from my heart, what would I say?
The thought of unknowing spreads like poison through my mind.
"No"
My heart speaks strong and loud. I know my faith, I know my strength, I know my heart. It is strong in that it chooses not to speak. It is strong in that what should be said is already known. Tyr knows this as well.. My faith is unbroken. So to him I offer the only words we need share...
I can feel her but I know she is gone. The lifeless body in my arms writes out the truth that I am again alone. She had only wished to protect me. Punished for trying to love.. trying to love me. She is beyond my grasp and I am alone. I have always been alone begging for her to be with me.. forever I don't want to be alone. I have pushed everything and everyone away and now you are gone. I feel my soul escaping through the smoke that emits softly from her burning body. She would have wanted to go like this. Released in the flames.. released in my arms.
I can feel the heat.. the heat of the blood running slowly through my veins asking itself what more reason it has. What more reason do i have to continue to pump my curse through my skin. The symbols on my body scream of my regrets but they are silenced as there is not word to describe my pain. I don't wish to speak. I don't wish to breath. Each time my lungs force me to inhale I only smell her. The fires of her, licking the tears of my face away. I am filled with her essense, I am filled with her love, I am filled with her. I don't know where to go. I want to run..
On my knees as I embrace the fire that is her body. On my knees questioning myself, my actions. I was not strong enough to save her. I was not strong enough to keep this evil from our lives. I was weak. It is now the one I love that must suffer. Made a vow.. made a vow to forever keep her safe, never to give up on her. My skin rejects the fires but I will not let her go. Just as I will never forget.. so will I never heal.
The ring on my finger goes cold as the remains of her body fall to ash through my torched hands. She is gone, and I remain. I shiver as the skin of my body is burned back revieling my insides.. revieling my pain. Let it show, there is nothing left to me. Gwynrakel has been stolen from me... what more is there to me? The charred and blackened skin that I call my own. Who could ever touch it as she has...
Who could ever find beauty in the scars of my body. Who could ever accept me for the sins I have commited. Who could ever love me as perfectly as her. No one, I knew the answers, I didn't want anyone. I wanted her. Gwynrakel, my love, my wife, my heart, my everything. My regret. Why did I let her get close... why did I let her into my life.
There is not emotion in my thoughts only pain. I am numb. Fire, blood, pain, cold.. so cold. I have felt the icey touch of a loveless life as it closes it's undead fingers around me. I can feel the rage behind my eyes and it is hurt as well.. like a wounded dog my rage limps into the recesses of my mind. There is no use for it anymore. I have failed. I cannot feel..
I pull on my armor and strap up my blade..
I don't feel right. There is something missing in my life now. A void in my minds eye that is being filled with my anger.. I have thoughts of a liquid I long turned from.. I head for the tavern. There are no words, nothing to be said. She knows what I would say, and she cannot hear me.. she cannot be here to embrace me to tell me it is alright.. she cannot hear me and I cannot feel her. Why..
I sit with the trials of my life whispering in the smoke that slithers from my tormented corpse. I ring the rim of the stairway back to my former life. I need only let go. I need to let go.. I have been hanging on for so long. Hanging on for my chance that I might live again. Look at where I have been placed. I am alone. I have driven so many away and saved those I could but in the end I am alone. I am dieing.. I am dead, my soul cries but I can only turn away. The mug of ale before me.. let me let go and return to my former life. I wish only rage, I don't want to feel anymore.. I don't want to hurt anymore..
I bring the essense of failure to my lips and turn the mug up but pause as I am struck with a memory. A memory of a child that I have taken from her mother. That I have damned to live with only the love of her father. Her father who is so ready to give up now. How have I so easily forgotten.
I set the mug down and close my eyes. Raykiena is smiling at the coming dawn, she sets me free with that smile. She breaths hope into my blood as it brings warmth back to my veins. She doesn't care if we are alone, she doesn't care as long as I am there to help her through this life. I will be there. I will not forget so easily. I have a daughter.
My pain peals itself from my being and I am released from my sarrow. I can feel you Gwynrakel, and I will never forget you.. I can feel you inside me.. you are with me. I will not forget what you have given me. No other will know me, I cannot let you go. The ring that lies cold on my finger will never come free as I am bound to you. So long as I exsist I will be bound to you. The devils that took you from me.. they will know this bond well. They will know my name and they will fear my coming. I will train I will hunt them I will seek justice for their actions, I will seek revenge for you my love.
I am a Father, I am a Lover, I am a devil, I am a Paladin, I am Lyon Kross and I will not be forgotten.
The warrior exits the tavern, the mug of ale still cold left alone on the table, untouched.
((Guess this sorta tries to explain why lyon vanished, however GR vanished cause his Motherboard fried. Though I am back and hoping to get back into my old RP Nazi habbits. See ya in game))
It's been over a year now.. since I have seen her. I suppose she will have driven the priests mad by now with her demands to send out a search party.
A smile crosses the warriors face.
likely tried to come looking for me herself.. suppose that's my blood taking action. Never the one to sit behind and watch. Can't expect less from my own daughter. My reuniting with her is long over due. I am beginning to feel the weight of my heart day by day, though it is not my place to decide where my blade is needed.
The day I set out on this journey it was for one purpose.. to find a person lost to Raykiena. All my efforts seem to have lead me only to the road home. If Paladin Reyek is still out there somewhere, she wishes not the be found. Though I cannot say my travels have been in vain...
I find myself now, walking the stone halls of the abbey outside Arabel city. A place the abbot deems excessive for a temple.. though I tend to agree. His comments about it's other uses such as the housing of the wounded or homeless during times of war hint at a vast wisdom. I am sure that I will learn much from him in the times to come, but still.. I wonder. In my short time here, he has often retreated to thought. My mind can only guess at the questions he ponders, but a warning in the back of my mind tells me that my presense is perhaps in question. Though I do not believe it to be my faith, but another reason which he has failed to make clear to me. For now, however, I can only wait and further my knowledge of this place.
Comfortable eviorment, this Abbey, though I walk it's halls unable to sleep.. or perhaps unwilling. It has been some time since I have brought myself before a holy place, long enough that I had forgotten the sting of the fire within my skin. The abbot has been kind enough to keep his distance to ease my suffering but I do not find the pain unwelcoming. The memory of the woman I love rekindled in the smoke from my scars. It is perhaps as close I can come to being by her side, now that she is gone from me. And so sleep escapes me allowing me reminisce with the shadows that dance along the temple walls.
Though even with such pleasant thoughts.. there is another clawing from the back of my mind. Another memory resurfaced in the form of Elrien. A mother to a child I knew best as a swelling in her stomach, and wife to a lost husband. My words chosen carefully.. even now I don't fully understand the event surrounding the fathers removal. My concern, however, rests on the shoulders of Elrien and her Faith. It is amusing to me..
The warrior brings a smirk from behind his worried look
That I have traveled so far and through so many missjudgments of my character, that now.. in a past relation I find it hardest to find trust. Though our conversations last for hours, I still feel she is uncomfortable in my presense. Perhaps she is the reason Tyr has barred my passage west with duties to the Abbey.. I cannot say. Still, it is troubling to see her mind in such unrest.
In my time here I have been met with many unanswered questions, but I have only been here a short while. My road to Raykiena is growing longer by the day, but I understood my duties when I took up my oath. She will wait for me.. she will wait until the rivers run dry and all the land consumed.. this much I know of my daughter.. for I would do the same for her.
My chamber door clangs shut ringing a period in my thoughts. Rest will claim me soon and with the dawn comes answers.
"I am on my way, Ray-ray, I am on my way." The warrior unstraps his armor drifting into the calm of the night.
Note: I know this is relatively short but I was at work and had a creative itch. Also the fact that I havn't really played nearly as much as I have wanted to lately this was really all I could muster in keeping true to my character while still trying to get back in the motions. Anyway yeah.. be gentle.
"Divided... Again"
Another dawn arises over the valleys. Another bird chirps the ressurection song of the living. The living rise to another call to purpose. He sits still. The sun lifting spirits and raising plants and animals alike to blossom, chasing away shadows and morbid darkness, but he sits still. Silent and still as if the time had ceased to pass content in staring at the carving resting in his large steel shrouded hands. A finely crafted sculpture of a boy riding a bear.
This is for Arenor..
The day continued to pass, shadows growing longer as they outsretched from the warriors resting place. Resting heavily on the pole of a halberd locked between his shoulder and neck. Fully covered from head to toe in black and white steel, plain as his expressionless visor that hid his thoughts from those who might dare stare too long before continueing on.
What of Elrien..
What of the children..
There is a reason..
Not a good one.
The sun made it's final trip across the rest of the sky sunkissing the land goodnight as it's rival already sat high in the cormyr sky ready to take it's throne and overwatch all those who did not heed the call the morning rooster.
Nine days and it will be ready..
Is there something wrong..
Are the children alright..
undead..
Silent was the coming of the shadows, silent as the lights went out. Whispers as the living fell to sleep. whispers as the warrior rose from his seated position. screams..
Divided against the path I chose, the family I love.. nine more days. This has all happened before.. a test.. or my fate.. will I fail.. again?
Cast long from the towering walls that surround daggerfalls, Shut it out from the rest of the world, from an armored figure admiring it's gates that will not open for him. not today as he passes on down the well beaten trail. He's traveled it before but one more time might kill him.. hoping it might kill him.
Torch light and silence as the night takes a firm grip of the land. Shrouded with questionable shadows and sounds. Another figure, unarmored and moving. Graceful as the wind blows it moves in the opening between two great trees. The suit of armor chances a closer look as he moves without caution, rattling the plates that protect him, hide him. Taking a seat on a stone nearby.
Lost it again..
A dark bottle of substance known by a label torn off by idle finger tips. Pain reliever to some, celebration to others.. a way to forget for few. A solid kiss from the mouth of the container blurrs the soldiers mind to a comfortable point as the elf ends her dance in the clearing. Setting the bottle aside, clapping his hands she turns...
Memories... worse than the hottest flame.. wish to speak.. dry..
She jumps to her feet and grabs at her hip as she approaching the sound of the clapping. A would be hostile action to being spied upon. "Who are you?" one might have thought there was a quiver in the voice.. but one would have thought wrong. She stood her ground.
"You do not remember?"
Can't remember why I'm here.. what was the point. to save someone. People die when I try to save someone. Murderer...
"oh, hello kross." A bottle slid out of veiw. A hand lowered from her hip. "it's dark. hard to tell one dark figure from another." A grin, one that might have encouraged those in her company to do the same.
Cold... can't feel. Fire.. desire the burning now.. but cold..
"What was that?" a reverse nod in the direction of the clearing.
Flames..
"dancing.." she speaks with a smile. They trade words for a time. Armor and elf speaking of gods and company.
A high wind catches through the many branches of the surrounding trees. They sway and moan as though waken from a deep sleep, casting unease over the two.
Pain, so much pain.. but warm..
"I.. " the armor pauses mid thought as he looks down to his left hand clenching it and opening it.
her..
The soldier tries to steady a trembling arm as he looks over his hand. An elf steps back, her expression hardening with narrowed eyes as she surveys the area. Wind ripping through the trees now.. unnatural.. a roll of thunder. "You should go." His voice forward and demanding. "Now." she complies, backing away quickly and leaving toward the city gates.
A time I might have thought myself able to defeat this. A time I might have grabbed my blade and drew it calling out the devils of my past to fight me. Losing this fight. Feel my weakness coursing through my veins, can't draw steel. Little girl playing with her step-brother. Toy swords and little toads. First words and giggles..
Rising from the stone to look around the clearing. A step forward. Death wakens at the crack of a lightning bolt striking the tree not 10 feet from the soldier, clad in steel he stops dead. Deafened and stunned he is motionless.
Feel it. Like a thick cloud.. hard to breath in it, this hate I feel surrounding me... need to breath. Reason to breath
"I know you are here." Tears on the wind as a woman weeps.. his head bows. "What is it you wish of me?"
Painfilled voice of a distant woman, crawling along a high breeze "Don't leave me"
When part of you dies, there is a void that is sealed from the rest of you. A wound that is hidden. Few know the doors to these places in a mans soul. Few with the keys that turn the locks, turn the blade..
He stands defeated shaking his head,"I am still here." A second wind knocks his clean from his feet slamming him into the ground..
stand up kross..
Slow to rise as a dark figure lurks the borders of this nightmare. "You should not be near me right now." A warning coming too late as a bolt of lightning strike beside the elvish girl. A scream.
people only die when they come too close...
The elf takes off in a full sprint toward the city. "She is innocent! Guilty only of answering my questions!" a pause of the mans voice awaiting any sort of response. "SHe is nothing! what fury you have, use it on me!" His voice grows softer,"I have stood beside you in darker times.."
warmth..
The soldier looks to his left hand. Silence. Broken by the desperate screams of a tormented man, distant and forgotten in the night air as the suit of armor crumples to his knees.
Death, how often do we flirt. What crimes I have commited that I did not escape... I am tired of this..
Time passes.
Standing tall, looking up at the looming gates of daggerfalls. The doors clank open as orders are called, a woman steps free of the captivity of the city. Watching only to see her take a guard captive, his words tripping over one another at her smile. She walks toward lyon stopping just away from him. A voice more akin to a melody than speaking, "What have we here?"
No time for this..
"A woman passed this way."
She speaks again, purring a response "A woman?"
"Startled, I would imagine. An elf." Kross speaks in an unbroken tone.
She pulls her hood back, giving way to tempting skin, smiling eyes and seducing lips. "I hardly noticed." A forked tongue might have accompanied a voice this sweet.
....Think kross! Speak!
"I've traveled these roads several times and yet to have crossed paths with your face."
temptress..
She drops her cloak from one of her shoulders, he eyes attentively focused on lyon."I am..." she pauses as a child might while pulling the wings off a captured fly. A smile that could haunt the fantasies of a younger man for months. "newly arrived." He steps closer.
Stronger.. than .. this...
He pulls the cloak back over her shoulder brushing her skin with his armored fingertips. She sinks her talons further into the prisoner with more of her tempting song. "Did you want something?" low and seductive.
"A name."
"Whose?" she controls the music and so she controls the dancer. If he should sway to her beat.
"You toy with me."
Pull it together..
"Did you want to play?" A wicked grin crossing her lips. The suit of armor moves to her side, circling her taking her figure in as though she were a statue and free to be veiwed from any angle before pausing again infront of her.
"Your weapon is a deadly one."
Pushing the cloak from her shoulders moving her hands slowly down her sides over her hips,"But I am unarmed" her eyes grow darker as if amused.
"And to the loser of such a game.." his voice trails with an expected answer.
She toys with her necklace giving the soldier a heated look before speaking,"Must someone lose?"
Losing ground..
His hand reaches closer to her hip, letting it hover just away from her body. "I have known few games that someone does not lose.."
She replies in a low and tempting voice,"But losing can be glorious.."
"There are consequences for loss.." his fingertips touch against her, running up from her hip.
She leans in closer to whisper,"You fear consequences?" Jerking his hand back from her body and clenching his left hand as the ring flares white hot sculding his finger. He shakes his head as she looks at him with an arched brow.
"No.. but you should."
She again starts in with her charms, licking words from her tongue in his direction. "I enjoy them."
Can't breath..
"There are some consequences that are harder to bare than others.." he struggles to speak as she trails a finger down his chestplate with a look in her eye that might provoke the most basic of a mans instinct.
"Another time perhaps then." She slinks away in much the same mannor she had arrived, nameless and seductive. He pulls his helmet free of his head and tosses a glance over his shoulder toward her passing, trying to catch his breath.
A craving, something you need something you desire. Something that you have to have because without it you feel different. I knew a craving once.. an escape from my reality.. I feel that need again.. but no longer a red dust.. but a form of a woman. Something I should not feel.. losing it. damned... Little girl playing with her step-brother. Toy swords and little toads. First words and giggles..
He uncorks a dark colored bottle.
Last edited by GlassRain on Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
Note: This next peice was written by Twiggee. I did not have a hand in any of it's creation though I am posting it with her permission as I thought it was damn worth making public. Again, this is Twiggee's work. Enjoy!
"You dream...."
***The sounds of the village just upon waking reach your ears as you hurry along the path a babe nestled gently in your arms, pausing only to dash into the inn and greet Nina, earning a smile and a small bundle filled with a fragrant breakfast. Out the door you rush with a promise to return soon..."have to hurry...its coming." Urgency fills you as you climb the hill and sink to the soft grass still glistening with dew. Laying the bundle aside, you cradle the child, breath baited, waiting. As if on command, the sun bursts over the treetops in the distance casting its golden warmth along the land, causing the child to wriggle, chortling in excitement. Drawing her near, you close your eyes breathing in her scent, feeling your mind and heart ease with each breath. Contentment such as you have never found before fills you.
The air stirs and a bone deep cold envelopes you. Your eyes flash open to see it is night, the babe is gone. Chest heaving, heart thundering from panic, you scramble to your feet. "Ray Ray?! Ray where are you?!" Turning a glow from the village below catches your gaze, a raging fire engulfing the inn. Nina, bloodied and broken, kneels before it. Tears streaming silently down her anguished face. Dark figures emerge from the smoke and approach her as you break into a run, skidding down the hill in your haste...too far away....you cannot reach her in time. You scream over the roar of the flames. "RUN NINA!! RUN!!" but they are upon her, dragging her away.
Sword drawn you charge but the fog and smoke thicken, obscuring your vision, choking the breath from you. Your eyes burn from the smoke and heat until suddenly you break through....it is day again and the smoke is gone. You stand alone amid ruins, what seems to be little more than crumbling foundations, overgrown and lost, all that is left of your home, Daggersprings. The air stirs, familiar voices whispering on the wind, full of pain and horror. The sword falls from your hand as you bring both up to cover your ears, desparately trying to block the screaming filling your mind.
The voices change as the ground trembles beneath you. Your vision blurs from unshed tears as the scene shifts once more. You stand in a glade, a winged woman in red leather smiling at you, beckoning you forward. Passion flares and your heart swells as you stumble forward only to stop an arm's length away as flames erupt engulfing her form. Her screams rip through your body as you try franticly to take the last steps to her, to save her, but the tall grass has twisted about your legs, chaining you where you stand, arms straining out to her just beyond your reach. You stand helpless to do more than listen as her screams die and she is reduced to ash carried away by the wind.
A pain so intense you feel sundered in two rips through your body as the ground beneath you gives way and you are falling. Fog encloses you, falling still until your feet strike down on stone. The mist parts revealing a Tyrran shrine glowing with inner light, a knight in gleaming armor stands sentry. You look into his eyes and feel the weight of your Tyrran symbol dragging you down, bringing you to your knees as a fresh wave of pain assails your aching heart. "Arakiel," the words are torn from you, "I have failed brother. I cannot do this. I have not the strength." The knight looks down, his eyes sad, raw with disappointment, hold yours captive.
Your head drops on a ragged sigh. When you raise it once more, the knight is gone and the mists swirl once more, darker, ominious. They part as a woman emerges, sleek as a cat with the hungry eyes of a predator. Her voice, smooth as silk, caresses you. "Come with me and I will show you how glorious sweet defeat can be." Saliva pools in your mouth as heat courses through you, a craving you are powerless to deny. Your blood boils as your reach for her like a man famished with a feast laid before him but the mists press closer stealing her away.
"NO!" with this keening wail you spring foward, surging through a thicket into a heated battle being fought in a tree city high in the forest. You are frozen in place, unable to speak or move as you draw in the scene around you. You are surrounded by elves locked in mortal combat with fiends. Your eyes latch onto a tall elven female with streaming black hair fighting desparately as shadows surround her. Bloody talons she barely evades rake at her throat but the move cost her precious moments as a figure in armor, deep as the blackest pits of the abyss, appears behind her, driving a flaming sword into her back, piercing her body as one final scream echoes through the forest.
Twisting the blade before jerking it free, he lets her lifeless form slip to the ground. Crouching, he removes his helm before dipping clawed fingertips into the blood pooling beneath her. Slowly he draws them up to sample and savor as his eyes close on a moan, "Heady...I knew it would be."
Another figure emerges from the darkness, a slim figure encased in armor, face obscured by a horned helm. A husky female voice sounds, "The rest are being dispatched."
The man stands looking toward her, "The Uthgardt?"
"Fought like a demon to protect his welps but we had strength in numbers. The children have been collected and he is dead."
His face turns down, a smirk visible. . "As is their mother." He pauses to lick the last traces of blood from his fingers. "Well done though I expected no less."
The woman dips her helmed head smoothly, "I am my father's daughter." Spinning on her heel, she walks away golden hair trailing down her back. The man watches her go before turning. His eyes bore into yours. Your eyes bore into yours.***
You wake screaming in a ragged room at the Teshford Arms, your hands coated in blood.
Note: Read as though the bolded quotes are spoken as a seductive female voice.
"To fall"
"You did as you chose to do"
Her voice like drywood to the stoic fires of my mind. Choice. A descision made of free will or by force. A path to take when a question arises. Do you turn, do you break, do you stand resistant. I choose that thing, that thing that I...
"...need more than breath?"
Steal words from my lips, strands from my soul, fire from my tongue. You wish to see me as the man I was before. Damn you. Wish to see the creature I embraced before. Damn you. Wish to see me fall...
"...she would rather you suffer."
Feel it, behind my eyes.. fimiliar.. distant..
"...Deny it and everything you are."
Paladin.. the word burns my tongue as I taste copper, feel my saliva pool as I hear it's calling. Like that of a shadow stalking my waking thought it lingers just out of sight, I turn, it flees, but I know it can see.. always watching...
"...Turn your back on what you are."
Clawing...
"...Deny your blood."
Bleeding me...
"...You lock it away so you cannot hear the screams."
So much pain...
"...Caged and bound."
So much.. anger...
"...Silenced and denied."
Can't.. keep..
"...How can you not hear the agony of your blood?"
Deafening...
"...It screams to be free."
Lost...
"...You are a monster."
Pulling and tearing, Frantic hands as it shreds away a skin. Bellowing laughter as it stands in darkness. Flinging what scraps of armor it's hands rips from it's flesh, it's own flesh. He stands looking upward, tossing peices of his cage from the ledge into endless dark until he stands naked. A helmet falls out of sight, a blade sings it's metal song as it spins carelessly into the unknown.
There is a moment, when you stand still. Able to look back over your shoulder at the paths you have taken- the choices you have made and turn again to look forward at what choices you have yet to make at what consequences they will bring. There is a moment then, when there is a realization of the man you have become.
"ARAKIEL!"
I am standing still.
"I AM NOT YOU!"
A hand gripped around a small pendant that lies around the mans neck. A forceful yank snapping the cord.
I have seen my past, those who have died for this, those who have sacraficed for my judgement. I see the choices I made, the lives that were forfiet. I see those who look on at me with the same distrust, the same hate. I see selfish desires, I see a man spiraling upward from blood to achieve something he is not worthy. I see a coward.. I see myself.
"TYR!!!"
Redemption, Judgment, you cannot help me. I hold that sway. I hold this life, you cannot hurt me, you cannot damn me you cannot save me. This I hold for myself. Forgiveness. No, I am a monster. I will masqurade no longer.
The figure pitches the small pendant with all his strength, holding his arms out to each side and looking skyward as he begins to laugh.
A crack of light in the darkness above him.
You will see what I am capable of!
The man sets his jaw as the crack of light swells and the air begins to warm, the skin of his lips and face splits and tears as his eyes look wide eyed skyward, time slows as tears unshed wisp away to mist. His flesh turns to flakes as it is carried downward by an unseen force. Skin slowly painted ash while he sets his stance and looks defiently skyward, flaring muscle and clenching fist and jaw alike.
Silence.
You will not...
In the darkness of the tomb the sky opens wide, giving berth to a pillar of fire. Shot down like an angry fist upon the lone naked figure. The sound of a thousand torches as the man is engulfed, consumed in whole.
Darkness.. I know this place
Rising from a thick pond of ash, the soldier rises, naked and scorched. His skin peeled back across strong muscles. He rises careless of the consequences. "Come to me then." Spoken void of pain, unquivering and unafraid.
A light so bright as it shows past the pulp of a human. A second being, clad in black and silver steel, a greatsword, glowing silver, gripped tight in his hand. "Lyon-"
"Silence!" The charred corpse opens his bare fists and lunges at the armored man.
Let's get this over with..
Gripping hard the face of the mans helmet as the blade peirces his shoulder, A growl as his body again bursts into flames, laughter ensuing.
Blinking his eyes, squinting as the dawning sun pains his eyes, he slowly moves to a seated position. His eyes adjust to the new light as he takes in the graveyard surrounding him, looking down to find himself naked and burned. The figure slowly smiles as he rises, trembling, to his feet. Holding his arms out to either side as he looks up and takes in a deep breath of fresh dale air, "I will dream of fire."
I no longer hear her voice, replaced by the distant crackling of an untamed flame. Free. To consume.
The shadows of the forest grew long. The wind grew cold. Night approached with silence. Doors locked and children slept shivering next to their parents who lay awake in expectation. Fangs and sharp claws, theives may come tonight.
Silence. It was his company in the cold of the cell. Not because there were not gaurds or life outside his door. It was because there was nothing coming from within.
These thoughts... Ale... please...
The cell walls waxed and waned. He shakes his head in anticipation. A subtle dripping sound echoing as a drum played so loud it could not be ignored. A red fluid running down the walls of his cell first as only a small stream, growing to cover the stone walls in cascades of the deepest color blood. The blood that runs from a wound struck far too deep.
Note: If you are involved in plots currently running on DD and wish to find out certain details on your own, please do not continue reading. The next script to follow may be considered Meta by some so I leave it to the players responsibility to exercise their own discretion if they wish to continue or not. Also Ewayne has a post that should be coming up that tells his part of this story "Return to the Sands". I suggest reading them together once his has come up. Without further delay.. enjoy.
"To Kill a Friend"
"I sense Evil in you."
"There is Evil in all of us, Akbar."
"In your case, it is inescapable."
"This is a path I have chosen."
"So now my choice is whether to try to stop you. Or let you be."
"You and I both know that it was never a choice."
I took my blade handle then. There was no hate in my actions. No rage in what must come to pass. No, there was a respect then, when we reached even ground and the shadows of the forest grew longer. There would be no call to help. No pleas of mercy.
Why won't you step aside..
The first swings were held back, ackward. The blade he weilded was not his own. Perhaps his reasons were not either. His greatsword struck ground as I moved about him. He was.. not my foe..
"Choke up, the blade is not your enemy."
"Good advice. If I live to use it."
We both knew how this would end. He faced it without fear. His strength was shown further when my blade split armor and tore into his shoulder. He did not waver.. why won't you step aside..
My blade cut air over his head. I was trying to kill him...
Akbar took the moment to whisper prayers. He knew he could not win. I was the stronger, that much was obvious.. but yet he fought like a demon.
"When you are ready."
A time passed
"I am ready."
I waited as his blade began to glow such a shimmering light. I felt the blows then. Like fire and wrath to my body, I felt that holy sting. My own blood spilt.. I cannot control it.. rising in me it is my curse. Do not judge me for what will happen, it is.. survival.
His blade cut into my shoulder, not once, twice. My blood sang of rage.
"Good!"
My voice was not my own. I was .. losing control. My blade barely clipped his side and in the crimson spray that it invoked... there was a desire. Death.
Our blades trades sparks before I threw him back a few feet following through with the strike. My blade would find nothing in my thoughts. He murmered prayers and lifted his sheild. Too slow.
My blade cracked down on his gaurd just as he lifted it to bare. He rose and kept my sword with his shield as he attempted a strike with his mace.
His wrist flicked and a spray of.. holy water.. what is this. Have I fallen so far? My face burned then like the many fires of Tyr's wrath I cried out with the voice of a thousand dead, lunging back as I turned away. There was a swoop of wind as his mace missed it's mark.
"What are you?"
We changed then.. he changed.
I cried out with rage, my blade sung as it tore a path through gravel and dirt. I was going to kill him. He had to die. NOW!
A shield in place of flesh. I tore it apart and sent the holy man back several feet. He was alive... I shouldered my blade.
He would not stay down. He rose with a banner. A symbol unknown to me. By the gates of abyss themselves! STAND ASIDE! I will end you!
"What acidic liquid did you throw at me?"
I had to know.
"Holy water, Lyon."
He changed..
"And now I am convinced that you must perish this day."
He no longer looked at me with the same eyes. Just another face in the crowd of onlookers waiting for my death. So be it. I rushed him then ready to kill.. too ready.
He met me with a solid strike to the side of my skull.
Elrien stood just a few yards away. The high grass came nearly to her waist. She smiled in that way that made me right again. Home, again. I could hear Raykiena Arenor. Distant but coming fast. Elrien looked over her shoulder once in anticipation then back to me. There was a shudder in her expression, a look of worry.. she reached out to me.
His side was exposed as I blinked away the haze. This must end.
My blade took blood as though it were it's right. Claiming flesh from Akbar's side and sinking deep into his shoulder with the second blow. He collapsed to his knee as the deepest of blood ran down his silvered armor. It is over.. stay down.
"T..teia.."
I kept the blade where it struck, burried deep in his shoulder. His life drained down his chin as he tried to speak.
"I beg you... keep her.. safe.."
He coughed thick black as he attempted to stand. I forced the blade into the wound harder. Stay down... I don't want to kill you.
"There is no.. joy. In this. for you." He looked up to me with those same eyes that I had known before his change. The ones I respected.
"I draw for death. You knew how this would end." My words were final. They were all that needed be said.
"I am content." He spoke with a near smile. Even as blood attempted to drown him.
I told him then.. of my evil, of what he sought so hard to end. Then I asked him to rise. I would not kill him. In this he had become more than someone I respected. He was.. the word so different in my mind.
He rose without my aid. It was how he must. He was too strong to require my hand. I brought bandages from my belt.
Happily ever after... The way a bedtime story ends. No tales of tears, blood, death. No whispers of the real words and the pain within them. I will tell you of it. I will tell you truth, behind the lies, without the red curtain. I will tell you a story...
A life for the life of others. It was the deal. My blade pierced his heart and punched out the opposite side of his chest. He went limp then, eyes closed.
"Be at ease, Holy man.."
My blade began to glow a hue I had begun to understand as I pulled Akbar to my chest. Would that I might have taken your hand in friendship that you might have known how high you had risen in my eyes.
"Be at peace.."
I stood there, holding the corpse of my friend. There was nothing more to say.
. Arien was the one and only PC that actually FOUGHT for Lyon's trust and eventually did gain it in full measure. Arien has allowed Lyon a different perspective on others and given strength when he so direly needed it. My thanks to you Mizbiz for the great Roleplay and emotional situations.
. Lyon's salvation and damnation lay with Kiriste. Thank you Drew for a helluva time.
. Twigs is a friend to me IG and OOC, a great player in all respects.
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