Adelia - The Void

I had the book in hand. The power I could feel from the pages beneath my fingertips was incredible! So tempting just to leaf through and link... I could be gone from this. Hidden. New adventures. But what of my friends? Could I really abandon them like that?

No. More important things were at stake. Besides, if He were to find this book, maybe I wouldn't be as free as I'd hoped after all. Only one answer to this.

The Bahro reset our positions once more and I handed the book to Esto, feeling the book's power fade from my grasp. I turned to Laroon's open hands as he held the book open to me. I hesitated before linking through. His eyes were difficult to read. Perhaps we've grown apart; this time in separation has done ill to our relationship. But it wasn't the time for rekindling. I placed my hand on his relto book.

I was waiting by his bench for him to return, glancing across the fog of clouds surrounding the island of relto. A deep breath.  I stood up and walked back to the hut.  Laroon linked in and handed the book to me.  Still hesitating.  Maybe I was imagining it.  No.  I was certain something was wrong but before I could say anything he was gone.

The book felt different.  The pages would not turn.  Sealed.  I moved my hand relto out and linked away.  I closed my eyes as I passed through the link.  I opened my eyes expecting to see Relto.  I saw nothing.  No light.  No ground beneath my feet.  No stars.  I heard the sound of a link.  Then many links.  I saw nothing, but I heard the screams.  I heard Him and I heard the bahro.  Soon it was done and the book was taken.  A bahro linked me away just as cries of a new sort began in that empty place.

After the link I opened my eyes and saw the golden arch and the harbor of D'ni.  I saw my friends - Esto, Pantaleon, Laroon, and Midnight Sun.  None of us expected to be here.  Questions were on everyone's faces and soon a bahro linked in beside us.  He bowed low, thanking us, before stretching up as tall as he could before letting out a final cry and linking out.  I had a lot to explain.

Adelia - The Broken Chain pt. 2

I had lost awareness of how much time had passed but I assumed it was something in the neighborhood of several hours.  The pain in my leg had become a dull ache.  Every breath became more difficult.  There was a stabbing in my lungs as I fought for a breath of fresh air.  Keeping my eyes open was nearly impossible.  I managed to call "Help!' but it came out as nothing more than a futile whimper.  I laid my head down against the cold stone, ready for the end; ready to embrace death.  My heartbeat slowed and I was lost to the darkness.  My consciousness began to slip away. 

A figure appeared beside me although I would have never known it but for the faintest brush of another presence in that tiny space.  The figure was glancing over my failing body, consumed with a sense of urgency.  A limb hovered over me as if inspecting my condition, followed by a sound which I had never heard before, but felt entirely familiar to me; a soft, comforting warble.  I lifted my head to try and make out the shape, but whomever was there was obscured in shadow save a startling pair of crystalline eyes.  I reclined against the rubble and made myself as comfortable as I could manage. With a curious frenzy of whirs and deep-throated purring noises, the figure touched my shoulder.  Slowly, my wrist started to glow.  ...…...... I looked down and saw my KI was lighting up!  A spark of hope lit up my eyes and I looked back to thank the figure, but it was gone.  I fell unconscious again.

The next thing I remember was the waking up to the soft touch of silk under my fingertips, a blanket cast over me and the heavy smell of various herbs permeating the air.  The Hall of Healers.

JP was sitting across from me, awestruck...a few moments passed before any words were said.   "You were rescued by a Bahro, Miss Adelia?!" he shouted, I quietly hushed him.

"I don't want it going around."

"Why not?" he asked, "thats the coolest thing ever!" he laughed.  Truth was, I agreed with him, but I was still on edge by the whole incident; I wasn't entirely sure of the repercussions of having an encounter with a Bahro. "Oh! That reminds me!" said Pantaleon, "I need your help!  Can you walk?" I nodded hesitantly.  I wasn't sure where he was taking me, but he shared with me what had happened in my absence: how Esto had gone to solve a mystery but when he came back, the Esto he knew was gone.

"I was able to track him down in Bevin..." he sighed.

"Where is he now?" I asked.

"Now?" Pantaleon replied, "now he's sleeping," there was a sigh of relief.  Just then, we walked through the door of the little apartment where Pantaleon had been keeping Esto.  It was quaint, with a desk off in the corner, a few lit candles and a minty smell in the air.  Esto was sound asleep in a carved alcove on the opposite side of the room.  His arms were bandaged and his hair disheveled.  This was a far cry from his usually composed and put-together manner; it was difficult to see him like this.

"What do you need me to do?" I asked, turning to him. 

"I need you to watch over him," Pantaleon replied, "I need to find out how this happened, but I can’t just leave him here alone.  Maybe if you’re around…”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Recently, Esto's become very..." Pantaleon paused, his voice lowering, "...dangerous."  Indeed, it was hard for me to believe that my best friend could be thought of as dangerous.   He looked so peaceful in his sleep.  “Maybe if you’re around things will change.”

"Alright," I agreed.  "I'll watch over him."  Pantaleon's face lit up.  That night, we shared supper and managed to have a few laughs before Pantaleon departed to solve the mystery of what happened to our dear, beloved friend.

Adelia - The Broken Chain pt. 1

Another day in the cavern, I thought as I reclined in my chair.  I looked out over the lake scanning the surface out beyond Kerath’s Arch.  I was idly thumbing through my journals, scrutinizing past entries, when my oh-so-normal day was quickly interrupted.

"Adelia! Adelia!" I peered out from the shadows of the tent where I had been lounging and I saw Pantaleon dashing across the plaza.  I would never forget his face.  "Adelia! You're back! Where have you been?!"  Laughing, I put out my arms to stop him from crashing into me.  I waited until he was catching his breath so I could manage to get a word in.

"I was a little... delayed."

"I heard you were in a cave in!"  There was no hiding the frown on my face.  Obviously there was no fooling Pantaleon, his eyes were already looking at my leg which was still bandaged up.

"I suppose there's no keeping secrets in this city." I sighed, sitting back down.

"What happened, Adelia?" Pantaleon asked in a low, shocked whisper.  I dipped my head, cringing; trying to remember.  Thinking about the accident made my leg throb.  I decided I would share my journal entry of the event with him.

All-consuming darkness was all I was able to feel to the point of suffocation.  My wits came back to me.  A prison.  I was in a rocky prison.  I felt as though I was barring the door to my soul while the reaper himself was trying to take me down that path to which there was no return.  The fear and anxiety were more chilling than the harshest winter, making every hair on my body rigid and on edge

The faint light of the lake algae could not make its way down the tunnel to where my team and I had been trapped.  I was surrounded by a prism of stones - huge boulders that were only inches away from crushing my body.  The belly of the beast.  My body trembled as those words floated across my mind.  The jagged edges surrounding me resembled the mouth of some ravenous beast. 

I heard mournful voices calling out for those lost and separated by the cave in.  No prayer on this planet is strong enough to wipe that sound from my memory.  I wanted to rip my heart out, hoping and praying to God that it would end soon.  My name was the next called among us who had fallen prey to the shaky ramparts of the tunnel, and the others that were taken by the cave in, no answer was returned.  I was terribly afraid of the dark but I still had a grasp on my sanity.  I was able to manage to laugh at myself: someone afraid of dark and enclosed spaces coming down into a cave.  I felt a hot, sticky thread weave down the side of my face.  I reached up and touched my forehead.  Straining my eyes was just enough to make out what it was and the in shock of the amount of blood on my fingers I fell into unconsciousness.

I'm not sure how much time passed but when I woke all had an eerie calm.  No wailing; no sound of rocks collapsing; no names were being called.  I managed to arch my neck enough to get my bearings.  I tried to twist my body around and without realizing it, my leg brushed up against the boulder it was pinned under.  My leg was lifeless. In that moment there were no words in human or in D'ni that could have described the pain that shot through my body.  My lips parted in a voiceless scream as I collapsed, my leg still helplessly pinned.  I tried to keep my eyes open; the tears rimming the corners of my eyes were mixing with the heavy dust that saturated the air.  Hopelessness started to take me.  Was this the end for me?  Was the rest of my team dead?  Did they forget about me?  Will they come back for me?