2nd of Ymiden, immediately following this.
The Veil.
A long, well-worn path snaked along the landscape towards the volcano, leading straight to a giant gash made in its belly. Though it should have taken a full trial to make the journey, he made it within a handful of steps, though his pace never quickened. It wasn't his doing - time, the laws of reality, they all seemed so different here. Knowing he was within a dream allowed him, for the first time, to really appreciate it; to look back on his past dreams that he could remember and suddenly piece together so many unconnected incidents happening within what could feel like twenty arcs, yet all boiled down to a single night. Would this trip across Emea be remembered in much the same way, when he made it back, he wondered? A beautiful dream, where events and even time itself blurred together endlessly with no sun or moon to direct the passage of time?
Much like everything about the dream, even the volcano was broken and abandoned. Cracks and fissures ran up the insides of the cave, spitting hot steam and rumbling ominously. A few times, the whole cave shook with the sound of grating stone reverberating between the narrow walls, and Nir'wei sunk his claws into the shuddering ground as he waited for it to pass, praying that the spiderweb of cracks in the ceiling didn't send rubble down to bury them all - especially since he'd struggled more than he ever should have to reach this far. At one point he stepped on an uneven piece of rock - and recoiled, stumbling back against Grey as the stone shifted and disappeared from underneath him the moment he tried to settle his weight on it. The ground shook and splintered with an ominous rumble, but held itself together... except for the one empty spot, where that stone had once been. Now it glowed bright orange, revealing a thin river of magma that had eroded the stone directly under them, except for a few thin columns of rock left behind to hold their path. From that moment on, they took every step with the utmost care.
The corridor of rock slanted downwards, towards the root of the volcano, though when they reached it they found something that looked more like a stadium. A single round circle of solid rock, surrounded on all sides by bubbling magma, broken only by a single bridge that allowed them to step onto it. At the far end of the arena, on a throne made of obsidian, sat Faldrun. Bright red hair, cropped short and styled. Clean shaven with a strong jaw. Piercing, proud eyes and a hint of a teasing smile on his lips. Sunk into the stone next to him stood a burning single-edged sword with a large curved crossbar and threads of yellow piercing its glowing red blade, almost as if it were made of magma too. "You've come to kill me with your own hands, as you said you would," he said as Nir'wei approached, slowly rising and spreading his black-nailed hands, "though, it's going to be a little hard with those, isn't it." His eyes roamed Nir'wei and he suddenly became horribly aware of his wolfish form once again. Hard to strangle a man with paws, yes, but not impossible.
Greyhide, Cold, Myrth and Squeak took respective spots to his left and right, Cyshe and Archailist hovering above either shoulder and Vabina as a looming presence behind. No doubt, no thought. They needed to do this to stop the volcano and have a shot of repairing this shattered world. He took the first step, leaping for Faldrun, then ducking low as the Immortal reared from his seat and grabbed for his sword, swinging it for where his head had been moments ago. Instead of pulling back for another attack however, he let go of the sword, letting it spin tip-over-handle from his hand... and boomerang straight for Grey, slamming into his side and knocking the wolf backwards. The spinning blade ricocheted through the three other wolfs in turn and sent them spinning in different directions, ending with a blunt blow to Vabina that knocked her straight up and back until she collided with the wall and nearly dropped straight into the bubbling ring of magma at the edge of the arena. Then the blade spun back straight into his hand, handle-first, and the Immortal sat back down as if nothing had happened. Smiling.
It was an overwhelming show of force, completely wiping him out in less than five seconds. He slumped. Faldrun leaned forwards, his hands gripping the armrests of his throne. "I could give you the power to defeat me, you know. In exchange for a favour." Impotent rage swelled in his chest, just like on that day. Slumped, in the middle of the Rharne Bank before the real thing he couldn't hope to defeat. There was one thing he still had though, even if it wasn't his strength. Hell, even if it wasn't his own life anymore, after what Vri had done to him, he still had one thing left and he wielded it just like any damn sword.
His freedom. "I will never, on my life and everything in it, willingly tie myself to you."
Faldrun laughed. "You see, this is why I was never worried about you," he said while waving with a dismissive hand. "You act as if your stubbornness is a strength, not a weakness. I see it for what it is; a detriment that holds you back from flexibility, adaptability. You are so selfish, such a moral white knight that you would never even consider taking the path to victory because it crossed some arbitrary line in the sand you refuse to cross on principle." His grin showed off disgustingly perfect white teeth. "You wouldn't even take the path to your own survival, because it risked abandoning your poor friends in the process." Suddenly he stood and raised both hands to his sides in a stance of triumph, and the magma surrounding them bubbled and swirled, the volcano beginning another set of tremors, these ones even more violent than the last. Clearly the flameheart Immortal was amplifying them even further, preparing for the next eruption that would sweep the remains of this world away and force him to begin anew. But that wasn't even the forefront of his mind. Words kept spilling, spinning in his skull, sickening things he didn't dare dwell on, but Faldrun would not be stopped in his gloating, nor did Nir'wei possess the strength at that moment to stop him.
"If your dear ally Lynessa hadn't taken that deal, you'd have never got the chance to face me. If you'd taken the deal instead, perhaps I could have saved you from the boat before your untimely death, instead of Vri reviving your useless corpse. You lack the balls to make the tough choices that need to be made, and you'd rather fail, even lose everything, than win and sacrifice something."
It was horrible just how deep those words could sting for his soul, tugging upon past experiences and memories. The times he'd ended up in the middle of a fight and hid in the corner to escape. Times that he'd struggled and fought every waking moment through his rot, for just another week, another day, all the while other people fought to actually save his life and cure him. hey'd put in the real effort. He'd just sat in bed feeling sorry for himself. They'd all fought and sacrificed and taken the wounds as they came. In front of the door, he'd denied time and time again in his mind to accept the offer of the Door, because it would be yet another noose around his neck, even when the rest of the world was locked in their own vices too. He'd sat on his hands. Those were mistakes he couldn't whitewash, even in his dreams - but they were mistakes he could learn from. Never again would he sit and mope. Hell, that was what had gotten him killed in the first place.
But. Given the chance a thousand times to make the so-called 'hard choice' and surrender himself to Faldrun, he'd say no. Every damn time. Not because he wasn't willing to sacrifice, but because he absolutely refused to let himself be manipulated again. Not after Vri. Not after Faldrun. The Door. Thetros. Qylios. The names all rolled so easily from his mind. As long as he had a damn choice in the matter he'd do everything in his power to avoid becoming just another pawn for them all. That was why he would never accept the deal.
He launched himself for Faldrun yet again, but the Immortal sighed in disappointment and didn't even reach for his sword this time - backhanding Nir'wei and sending him spinning back towards the rest of his troupe, colliding with Vabina and coming to a sudden stop. "Would you please stop. You're making quite the fool of yourself." How dare he look so calm and collected. "You're not a mage. Your animals do nothing. Accept it. You can't defeat an Immortal."
"Then I will become something more." Like the pieces of a puzzle, it all clicked. He couldn't win, not the way he'd been going about it, but that didn't mean he couldn't bring an end to this in a different way. "I can't beat an Immortal. Then fine. I'll become one. I'll become you." Something was working within him as he spoke, a thin yet visible tendril of white light spiraling from his chest. Faldrun saw it too and rose from his throne, yet not even his sword could cut the line as it slithered towards him and struck him square in the chest. "I'll take everything from you and use it in ways you've never imagined and always hated. Fire will warm, not burn. Light will nourish, not scald. This volcano will birth new islands teeming with life and brilliance and the name of Faldrun will never be feared again."
When Faldrun's eyes met his, there was the slightest hint of worry stashed away behind their burning glow. "You can't handle it. Accepting my power is accepting me... a voice in the back of your head, another touch on your actions. You'll never be the same person again. If you don't become me in everything but name." His hands seared with an audible sizzle as he grasped the glowing white streak with both fists and grit his teeth. "You won't sacrifice everything that you are to defeat me."
"I won't. Because I am a very cowardly and selfish man. I've hardly ever done anything that wasn't for my own interests as much as anyone else's... and even when the world was at stake, I hesitated to give a single day away. But it means my choices, in the end, have always been my own. My sense of self-identity has never been more clear." The blazing line of light grew thicker and brighter, tugging tight between them both and seeming to drag something from Faldrun - a bright red sphere, from right in the middle of his chest, glossy and swirling with a red miasma in its core. "Thank you for the flames." Siphon activated, something deep within his soul igniting like a bonfire, and the swirling sphere of Faldrun's power burst from the Immortal's body, leaving behind the screaming remains to crumble to its knees, the heat and energy that had once seeped from his form now vanished. His skin turned ashen and grey, those dulled eyes sinking into his skull, and he toppled bonelessly to the floor.
Everything that he once had been poured into Nir'wei. Coursing through his muscles and veins until it felt ready to pour from his lips and skull. The volcano stopped rumbling as he seized a picture of it in his mind and calmed it with a single raised hand - what had once felt impossible, was suddenly so effortless. The city outside slowly reformed, the ashes sweeping up into the sky and dissipating, the buildings lifting and rebuilding themselves from their own ruins, sometimes out of nothing at all - and with a single sweep, it was as if the cracks that had once spiderwebbed across the world sealed shut once more.
That wasn't all, though. He felt... lighter. Even after the power had slowly seeped back out again - even if it was just an imaginary force, he remembered quickly. He felt a little more clean. Pure. Whole. "Time to leave," he told the others, and suddenly, there it was. The way he'd come in. Before, it'd felt as though he was pushing his way 'in', like an entirely new direction of motion had opened up. Now, he somehow looked up and saw a way 'out', no different than walking forward, or up. Nir'wei stepped 'out' and left the Dreamscape, the rest of his animals following, and as he entered the prismatic void of the burned remains of The Veil, he turned to stare back at the tiny soap-bubble that had once been his entire existence. Was this what Idalos looked like too? Oh, right, no time. Reluctantly, he stepped 'out' again, returning to the vast chaos of the Untold.
Entirely unaware of the black shape that followed him.
The Veil.
A long, well-worn path snaked along the landscape towards the volcano, leading straight to a giant gash made in its belly. Though it should have taken a full trial to make the journey, he made it within a handful of steps, though his pace never quickened. It wasn't his doing - time, the laws of reality, they all seemed so different here. Knowing he was within a dream allowed him, for the first time, to really appreciate it; to look back on his past dreams that he could remember and suddenly piece together so many unconnected incidents happening within what could feel like twenty arcs, yet all boiled down to a single night. Would this trip across Emea be remembered in much the same way, when he made it back, he wondered? A beautiful dream, where events and even time itself blurred together endlessly with no sun or moon to direct the passage of time?
Much like everything about the dream, even the volcano was broken and abandoned. Cracks and fissures ran up the insides of the cave, spitting hot steam and rumbling ominously. A few times, the whole cave shook with the sound of grating stone reverberating between the narrow walls, and Nir'wei sunk his claws into the shuddering ground as he waited for it to pass, praying that the spiderweb of cracks in the ceiling didn't send rubble down to bury them all - especially since he'd struggled more than he ever should have to reach this far. At one point he stepped on an uneven piece of rock - and recoiled, stumbling back against Grey as the stone shifted and disappeared from underneath him the moment he tried to settle his weight on it. The ground shook and splintered with an ominous rumble, but held itself together... except for the one empty spot, where that stone had once been. Now it glowed bright orange, revealing a thin river of magma that had eroded the stone directly under them, except for a few thin columns of rock left behind to hold their path. From that moment on, they took every step with the utmost care.
The corridor of rock slanted downwards, towards the root of the volcano, though when they reached it they found something that looked more like a stadium. A single round circle of solid rock, surrounded on all sides by bubbling magma, broken only by a single bridge that allowed them to step onto it. At the far end of the arena, on a throne made of obsidian, sat Faldrun. Bright red hair, cropped short and styled. Clean shaven with a strong jaw. Piercing, proud eyes and a hint of a teasing smile on his lips. Sunk into the stone next to him stood a burning single-edged sword with a large curved crossbar and threads of yellow piercing its glowing red blade, almost as if it were made of magma too. "You've come to kill me with your own hands, as you said you would," he said as Nir'wei approached, slowly rising and spreading his black-nailed hands, "though, it's going to be a little hard with those, isn't it." His eyes roamed Nir'wei and he suddenly became horribly aware of his wolfish form once again. Hard to strangle a man with paws, yes, but not impossible.
Greyhide, Cold, Myrth and Squeak took respective spots to his left and right, Cyshe and Archailist hovering above either shoulder and Vabina as a looming presence behind. No doubt, no thought. They needed to do this to stop the volcano and have a shot of repairing this shattered world. He took the first step, leaping for Faldrun, then ducking low as the Immortal reared from his seat and grabbed for his sword, swinging it for where his head had been moments ago. Instead of pulling back for another attack however, he let go of the sword, letting it spin tip-over-handle from his hand... and boomerang straight for Grey, slamming into his side and knocking the wolf backwards. The spinning blade ricocheted through the three other wolfs in turn and sent them spinning in different directions, ending with a blunt blow to Vabina that knocked her straight up and back until she collided with the wall and nearly dropped straight into the bubbling ring of magma at the edge of the arena. Then the blade spun back straight into his hand, handle-first, and the Immortal sat back down as if nothing had happened. Smiling.
It was an overwhelming show of force, completely wiping him out in less than five seconds. He slumped. Faldrun leaned forwards, his hands gripping the armrests of his throne. "I could give you the power to defeat me, you know. In exchange for a favour." Impotent rage swelled in his chest, just like on that day. Slumped, in the middle of the Rharne Bank before the real thing he couldn't hope to defeat. There was one thing he still had though, even if it wasn't his strength. Hell, even if it wasn't his own life anymore, after what Vri had done to him, he still had one thing left and he wielded it just like any damn sword.
His freedom. "I will never, on my life and everything in it, willingly tie myself to you."
Faldrun laughed. "You see, this is why I was never worried about you," he said while waving with a dismissive hand. "You act as if your stubbornness is a strength, not a weakness. I see it for what it is; a detriment that holds you back from flexibility, adaptability. You are so selfish, such a moral white knight that you would never even consider taking the path to victory because it crossed some arbitrary line in the sand you refuse to cross on principle." His grin showed off disgustingly perfect white teeth. "You wouldn't even take the path to your own survival, because it risked abandoning your poor friends in the process." Suddenly he stood and raised both hands to his sides in a stance of triumph, and the magma surrounding them bubbled and swirled, the volcano beginning another set of tremors, these ones even more violent than the last. Clearly the flameheart Immortal was amplifying them even further, preparing for the next eruption that would sweep the remains of this world away and force him to begin anew. But that wasn't even the forefront of his mind. Words kept spilling, spinning in his skull, sickening things he didn't dare dwell on, but Faldrun would not be stopped in his gloating, nor did Nir'wei possess the strength at that moment to stop him.
"If your dear ally Lynessa hadn't taken that deal, you'd have never got the chance to face me. If you'd taken the deal instead, perhaps I could have saved you from the boat before your untimely death, instead of Vri reviving your useless corpse. You lack the balls to make the tough choices that need to be made, and you'd rather fail, even lose everything, than win and sacrifice something."
It was horrible just how deep those words could sting for his soul, tugging upon past experiences and memories. The times he'd ended up in the middle of a fight and hid in the corner to escape. Times that he'd struggled and fought every waking moment through his rot, for just another week, another day, all the while other people fought to actually save his life and cure him. hey'd put in the real effort. He'd just sat in bed feeling sorry for himself. They'd all fought and sacrificed and taken the wounds as they came. In front of the door, he'd denied time and time again in his mind to accept the offer of the Door, because it would be yet another noose around his neck, even when the rest of the world was locked in their own vices too. He'd sat on his hands. Those were mistakes he couldn't whitewash, even in his dreams - but they were mistakes he could learn from. Never again would he sit and mope. Hell, that was what had gotten him killed in the first place.
But. Given the chance a thousand times to make the so-called 'hard choice' and surrender himself to Faldrun, he'd say no. Every damn time. Not because he wasn't willing to sacrifice, but because he absolutely refused to let himself be manipulated again. Not after Vri. Not after Faldrun. The Door. Thetros. Qylios. The names all rolled so easily from his mind. As long as he had a damn choice in the matter he'd do everything in his power to avoid becoming just another pawn for them all. That was why he would never accept the deal.
He launched himself for Faldrun yet again, but the Immortal sighed in disappointment and didn't even reach for his sword this time - backhanding Nir'wei and sending him spinning back towards the rest of his troupe, colliding with Vabina and coming to a sudden stop. "Would you please stop. You're making quite the fool of yourself." How dare he look so calm and collected. "You're not a mage. Your animals do nothing. Accept it. You can't defeat an Immortal."
"Then I will become something more." Like the pieces of a puzzle, it all clicked. He couldn't win, not the way he'd been going about it, but that didn't mean he couldn't bring an end to this in a different way. "I can't beat an Immortal. Then fine. I'll become one. I'll become you." Something was working within him as he spoke, a thin yet visible tendril of white light spiraling from his chest. Faldrun saw it too and rose from his throne, yet not even his sword could cut the line as it slithered towards him and struck him square in the chest. "I'll take everything from you and use it in ways you've never imagined and always hated. Fire will warm, not burn. Light will nourish, not scald. This volcano will birth new islands teeming with life and brilliance and the name of Faldrun will never be feared again."
When Faldrun's eyes met his, there was the slightest hint of worry stashed away behind their burning glow. "You can't handle it. Accepting my power is accepting me... a voice in the back of your head, another touch on your actions. You'll never be the same person again. If you don't become me in everything but name." His hands seared with an audible sizzle as he grasped the glowing white streak with both fists and grit his teeth. "You won't sacrifice everything that you are to defeat me."
"I won't. Because I am a very cowardly and selfish man. I've hardly ever done anything that wasn't for my own interests as much as anyone else's... and even when the world was at stake, I hesitated to give a single day away. But it means my choices, in the end, have always been my own. My sense of self-identity has never been more clear." The blazing line of light grew thicker and brighter, tugging tight between them both and seeming to drag something from Faldrun - a bright red sphere, from right in the middle of his chest, glossy and swirling with a red miasma in its core. "Thank you for the flames." Siphon activated, something deep within his soul igniting like a bonfire, and the swirling sphere of Faldrun's power burst from the Immortal's body, leaving behind the screaming remains to crumble to its knees, the heat and energy that had once seeped from his form now vanished. His skin turned ashen and grey, those dulled eyes sinking into his skull, and he toppled bonelessly to the floor.
Everything that he once had been poured into Nir'wei. Coursing through his muscles and veins until it felt ready to pour from his lips and skull. The volcano stopped rumbling as he seized a picture of it in his mind and calmed it with a single raised hand - what had once felt impossible, was suddenly so effortless. The city outside slowly reformed, the ashes sweeping up into the sky and dissipating, the buildings lifting and rebuilding themselves from their own ruins, sometimes out of nothing at all - and with a single sweep, it was as if the cracks that had once spiderwebbed across the world sealed shut once more.
That wasn't all, though. He felt... lighter. Even after the power had slowly seeped back out again - even if it was just an imaginary force, he remembered quickly. He felt a little more clean. Pure. Whole. "Time to leave," he told the others, and suddenly, there it was. The way he'd come in. Before, it'd felt as though he was pushing his way 'in', like an entirely new direction of motion had opened up. Now, he somehow looked up and saw a way 'out', no different than walking forward, or up. Nir'wei stepped 'out' and left the Dreamscape, the rest of his animals following, and as he entered the prismatic void of the burned remains of The Veil, he turned to stare back at the tiny soap-bubble that had once been his entire existence. Was this what Idalos looked like too? Oh, right, no time. Reluctantly, he stepped 'out' again, returning to the vast chaos of the Untold.
Entirely unaware of the black shape that followed him.
