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Revelations of Hidden TruthsThey are not human. I don't know the reason why A firefly is not a candle, Not a flower in my eye. And so a rose is not a rose By that of any other name. Things remain Unexplained. Deep within the halls of the Fallen tower sits a young woman at a desk, books surround her but do not envelop her. She is studious not only of the books but of her entire surroundings. She watches all, even and especially when she isn't looking… "You there." She says, breaking the heavy silence that has long enshrouded the room. "Spirit… Lost soul… What do you want here?" A corner of the room shimmers and a silver light slowly takes form. A tall man, dressed in ancient but elegant clothes stands with his head bowed, just barely leaning upon a cane. He raises his eyes to the young woman who is now looking at him. "I come, Ravenna, to tell a tale." "You… I know you. Who were you in life, spirit?" He smiles and shakes his head gingerly. "No, dear witch, you knew me not in life. You have known me in past though. Back at the School." Ravenna looks him over again and thinks for a moment then nods solemnly. "Ah, yes. I remember now, you are the one who appointed himself Raven's Keeper. As you probably well know she has another now…" "Yes. I know. That is why I do not have much time. I must release this tale which I have collected so long. It is you who have the most right to know." "Proceed then, please." "I shall begin as I have meant to since I began… "The mortal coil, it is a fragile shell holding but a mere sliver of light fantastic: The immortal soul. What happens then, when by some freak fault of nature, the two become fused? This, my friends, is what we have called a 'messenger' for eons. Angels, the perfect melding of soul and ethereal flesh, created before man, before souls, before this world... or the next. They are perfect, and yet they fall. Lucifer fell. Many fell with him. Why then, can a soul not fall? Not while in the flesh, in the flesh we are not guided by our soul alone, other forces work in accordance and against it. I speak of after the death and ascension, no matter how long that could take. The story I am about to relate deals with one such case. Mind you, it is merely speculation upon my part, but it is what I feel is truth. The original soul still remains nameless to history, she was a mere girl looking for love. In a terrible and twisted scene torn from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet she found her love... He was promptly forced to flee the country because of such... and she killed herself. The murder of ones self. An escape, but at what cost? Her pitiful and lost soul was forced to wander the world she wished to leave behind for five hundred years... until she was Redeemed. On the eve of her redemption, as the light flowed down and picked the still so young soul from the grimy earth, gilded on wings of gossamer, there stood a lone mortal with the power to strike her down. Although neither she, nor the mortal girl for that matter, knew this. No one is sure how the little spirit speaker found out the name of the girl's soul. No one is even sure of the spirit speaker's true name. The only thing that is certain that just before the girl's soul was truly borne into heaven itself that the spirit speaker called her forth. Technically still a lost soul she was bound to the call. Yet in her ascension she supposedly could not be moved. This was her folly and her fall: She did not resist the summons. All spirits, no matter how lost or mindless, have the innate ability to resist any necromantic summons... She did not even try. The resulting backlash and sundering of the Veil (The ethereal boundary that parts the physical and spiritual plains) caused a catastrophic explosion of spiritual and necromantic energies. The Result? Two souls: fused into one. One body: bound by two souls. Now neither soul, nor mortal, nor angel she was. As a newborn babe her mind was a blank slate, holding only the most necessary knowledge. She remained this way for some time, a state of pure 'neutrality'. Learning things over time but nothing ever leading her down any certain path that would skew the pure balance she held. Until He came. He pauses slightly, as if catching his breath, or trying to remember some elusive detail. Only for a moment though… "Some years after the incident she was snatched up into a world of pure white. No up, no Down, just white. It scared her, but not quite as much as what was about to happen. Suddenly, before her appeared a 'tribunal' of things not nearly human. With them was a man in a long coat, with hair black as hers and eyes a color she had never seen before. He spoke with the 'tribunal' in a tongue she had no hope of understanding but she knew they were making reference to her. Midway through their conversation the man waved his hand and a sphere of silver appeared, in which a boy lay. She knew him not, and never would. Seku [Alzhir, Jahn, Kir'ajh, Balak, Oreb, he has had many names...] Grishum had traded her 'life' for that of a young mage by the name of John Stone. Now she was to be his apprentice... If he could turn her to his side of the 'spectrum'. The Council was always difficult like that, they would allow you to do something but there was always a catch to it. Despite all odds in the end the girl ended up with Grishum. It had been a fierce battle for the Dark Master but he had been victorious. Even this was not without it's cost, she was still a neutral point: Neither good nor evil, chaos or order. A battle had been won, but the war was far from over. In the hopes that it would finally 'turn' her soul Grishum taught the poor girl his most powerful and darkest magics. This, in and of itself took five years. I think that it was about this time that they came to this gem. Yes, it was. It was also about this time that the black roots of the magic she had learned finally took hold of one of her two souls… I'm still unsure of which. It was a time of changing. The girl underwent a transition of horrid account. Hidden emotions, long dead thoughts, and the foul magics themselves rose and boiled anew within the tormented girls mind. The corrupted soul vying for dominance. It was a time of revelation for Grishum as he saw what he had taught her released without any control: Pure Chaos. He contained her outbursts with his own powerful magic, when he could… Even so some of her spasms escaped, the original destruction of the Stragus Mae School of Higher Learning can be attributed to this. All of this merely lasting a month, at most. At the end, she finally collapsed in an unconscious heap, her twin souls taking the final battle out of this world and into their own. Before she was sedated, however, she let loose one final surge of magical energies in the form of a summoning portal. From this portal came the Demon Stabil, a truly vile creature who stands for nothing but chaos… and yet oozes with an aura of order. A true paradox. 'The stability of Chaos.' That is her motto… albeit you already know this. You know the Demon. It was A year ago you arrived, wasn't it? A year ago that Angel finally, truly recovered." There is a slight, awkward silence. "My story is over, this is all I have to relate. I had wished to go on until Angel finally faced her destiny… but this cannot be." "Yes, a mere year ago that I came to this planet in search of something. As too I no doubt Grishum did as well. I must ask, what did happen during the time of Raven's Unconsciousness?" "I am unsure. I get the feeling that in the end, neither won. So she remains only Half Darkened for all of her experiences…" The ghost shakes his head and turns his eyes to the ground. "It has been a long journey." "Why is it you needed to tell me this? A shadow looms over you, I can feel it. What does this shadow imply?" "Oblivion, my dear. Dispersion into nothingness. The Void. Protector long ago met with the Tempest and now too my time has come." He sighs heavily, but with no relief. "You see, ever since she… well, Was… Angel has been a natural Part in the Curtain between this world and that which I call Limbo. That was why the poor girl had so many problems on the eve of the Full Moon: It shone through that hole and acted as a beacon to all the lost souls. With time this rend has slowly closed itself… Reality protecting itself from that which should not be, I do suppose. Now, Limbo is reclaiming it's victims." "I see, your link to this world is being cut short. You have lived so long in this world that you have become accustom to it, and when you are reclaimed…" "I will no longer exist." "How long do you have?" "Hours perhaps, minutes most likely… nay even, mere moments. I can feel it now, pulling on me… the threads of my being becoming undone. Yes… It is time." He winces but makes no sound as he gives in, he slowly begins to vanish. "There is one thing I must relate yet to you before I am gone completely…" "Speak." "Grishum… Grishum is rebuilding the Covenant." And with that Friend, as he had been known, was no more. And Ravenna was left alone to ponder these truths brought to light and rekindled from memories past… |
