A Free Spirit
Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 11:50 pm
Posted 08/11/06 09:04 (GMT) -- rdjparadis
Dropping the thin red crystal, Shaia still feels empty, neutrel. As the crystals hangs in the air, she wonders to herself at how it works, but it's only a passing thought as she stares at it's spinning. The priestess nearby begins talking, snapping Shaia out of her thoughts. "The crystal acts as the portal to the pocket plane, only a fey'ri can use it." Shaia wonders if she missed something, since she's pretty sure she's elven, but doesn't bother asking about it. "You should meditate and prepare, then when ready you need to concentrate on the crystal and it will take you there." Shaia simply nods and asked for any last minute information, paying only partial attention. After meditation for a short time, she begins the preparations of entering the crystal. She finds it easy to empty her mind, there are no emotions to hinder her.
In no time at all she's opening her eyes to strange surroundings. She didn't move, she didn't enter a gate, her mind left her body and entered the crystal. Back in Bahamut's temple she was still concentrating on the crystal under the priestess' supervision. To her senses, she was in hell. It was hot, extremely hot. Gathering herself, and wondering why she had to gather herself, she started to venture forth from the circle she was in, to see what was beyond the dark sulphurous boulders surrounding her. She was stopped abruptly but a floating ball of light. She watched it curiously as it approached, then started when it spoke. It introduced itself as the Judge, and told her that she must pass a test, the rules of the test, and displayed what it called the map. She studied the map for a long time, committing everything she could see of it to memory. The Judge gave her vague clues as to how to read the map, it wasn't really a map, it was a set of arrows in 4 rows and 6 columns.
Her first attempt at deciphering the map was a failure, she ended up over the lake of lava the Judge warned her failure would lead her to. Moving slowly across the few walkable paths, she had to stop repeatedly to recover from dangerous traps she sprung. During this venture, she noticed a gathering of Abishia on a platform with no path leading to it, she avoided them, looking for anything else she could use. She found something, she hoped it was something. Hope... it had been so long since she knew what that was. Despite her aprehensiveness, she pulled the lever she found, looking around carefully to see if anything changed. After a few moments of nothing, she began to feel her hopes dying, but then she felt odd. Her vision blurred and she could no longer feel the ground. It only lasted a few heartbeats. Her vision cleared and she could feel the ground again. It was still blistering hot, even hotter maybe. Then before she even saw anything, she heard some guttural chanting. She felt the familiar tingle of magic being cast, of gates being opened. She bolted upright and found she was surrounded by Abishai, Erinyes, and Skeletal Warriors. Near panicking in this situation, she cast her own spell, placing herself out of the plane, but still near it. She took some time to gather herself and figure out where she was, while the devils and undead searched fruitlessly for her. She could see them, scuttling exactly where she was a moment ago, it looked as if they were moving through her. She came back to herself shortly, pushing down her fear, and looked around. It seemed as if she were on the lone platform she noticed earlier, the Abishai there must have summoned the Erinyes to their side. She searched about and found no escape, so she only had one choice, to fight for the moment. Summoning her most powerful spell, a planar rift in the shape of a sword that she could move at will, she was able to destroy the Abishai and their minions. Immediately upon their demise, her vision again blurred, and she was disoriented.
When she had her senses again, she was back in the circle she started in, the judge floating nearby. She couldn't quite tell, since it was just a ball of light, but he seemed to disapprove. Her second attempt wasn't any better, she ended up in the same place and went through the same process, only this time, she knew what to expect, knew where the traps should be, and easily avoided the worst of it. Her third attempt went much better. Finally able to decipher the map into something intelligable, she began walking around the area around the circle, stepping into mystical gates at what would seem random to an outside viewer, but were described by the arrows in the map. This took some time, as the map described 12 such gates to go through in the correct order. Once she stepped through the last one, she came to a field... a field she would describe as beautiful if it weren't for a few major flaws. One major flaw was the heat, it was still blistering hot, second, the very air was tinged red, as if blood were flowing constantly throughout the air, and the third flaw in it's beauty was the army of devils roaming about the area.
She carefully made her way across the grass, being carefull to avoid being seen, and searching about for anything suspicious. She was half-way across, she estimated, when she was seen. She was surprised by this because she masked herself with her magics, but the Glabrezu could see through it as if she were standing there normally. It lumbered near to her, but stopped short. Shaia, wondering what it could possibly be doing, cast more magical protections upon herself just in case. This turned out to be the right thing to do, as the Glabrezu began casting it's own spells at her, attempting to take control of her mind. Clutching her protective staff closer to herself, she again summoned her planar rift to fight for her. The Glabrezu wasn't alone though, it was surrounded by 3 strange creatures that she had no name for, they looked like mummified jackals. The rift tore through them easily, but they regenerated each other, so it didn't make any progress, it was a tedious battle, the Glabrezu still trying to break through Shaia's protections. She was very gratefull for her staff, it was the only protection for her mind that survived that encounter. Once she realized that the rift wasn't going to be able to defeat the Jackals, she decided to get involved more directly. She began casting other offensive magics, bring the purity of the sun to bear on the Jackals and the Glabrezu, the Jackals burnt almost immediately under the power, but the Glabrezu wasn't impressed at all, it moved forward, closing in to take Shaia physically. This distressed her, as she knew she was weak physically. She held Ammo's sword tightly, believing in it's power to help in such a time, and rushed forward to meet the devil. It was rather quick, the sword flashed on the Glabrezu's scales, slicing it as if it were butter. Shaia stood triumphant, and confused, over it's split corpse.
She didn't have time to take more than a breath to amaze at her success though, as more Glabrezu and other devils approached, alarmed by the noise. Shaia concealed herself with her magic again and ran to the water she heard nearby, hoping to use it as further concealment. The water itself seemed to conspire against her though, as soon as she touched it, her mind felt odd, as if she were drugged. Her thoughts came slower and slower. She pludged onwards, seeking a safe place to stay for a few minutes while the devils searched the area around the corpses.
She took deep breaths while sitting behind her hiding spot, a small pile of rocks, it was the best she could find. She tried to focus herself, but had much trouble. Her mind was still fogged from the water, and she had another problem, one completely unexpected. She was afraid... she was worried... she was nearly overwhelmed by the feelings, ones that seemed to have avoided her for so long, years perhaps. It was such a bad time to be distracted by them, they were overpowering her weakened state of mind. She eventually dug herself out of her hiding spot, dredging enough courage to scurry forwards slowly, stopping suddenly when she spotted a pair of Cornugons, simply standing there. She looked around, it was the only way to go... they were right on top of the bridge, and she couldn't risk the water again. She clenched her teeth to conceal a growl of frustration. Seemingly without thinking, she summoned her magic again, the rift fought against them. It wasn't easy, the Cornugons were born fighters and hard to hit properly, but they couldn't fight against a rift, they didn't have the power to disrupt it. She crept forward to their corpses, using them to hide as she looked around, her rift still floating nearby. Inching across the bridge... she made it... she felt a flutter of relief run through her, almost enough to drop her right there.
Her relief quickly turned sour in her stomach as she spotted another Cornugon, then another, and another... they were coming to check on their fallen comrades. Shaia ran as quick as she could, trying to hide beyond their sight without going back across the bridge. As she ordered her rift to attack, the Cornugons spotted it and called out. The battle this time was very long. Many Cornugons came, but since they couldn't see Shaia through the magic, it wasn't them that concerned her, it was the 4 Glabrezus. They could see her, and they would fight her, not the rift. She was frozen by fear when they appeared, trudging towards her through the picturesque landscape. She snapped out of it when her rift dissipated though, panick rising in her. She acted on instinct at this point. If you asked her what she did, she couldn't have told you, but she brought out all of her power against the devils, they didn't go down easily, but they did, eventually, go down. When it was over, hiding yet again, scared almost to tears, Shaia sat and waited. She heard nothing, but that didn't stop the fear, it didn't stop the pain from her wounds. After a long stretch of time, seeming longer still in the deathly stillness, she got up and continued, away from the water, away from the corpses.
It was only a short distance away, almost within hearing distance of the last battlefield, where she came across something. It stood out because it was natural. In a place where nothing was natural, all was an aberration of some sort, she found something natural. She walked slowly down the cliff, entranced by the pillar before her. It was glowing, a deep red, not the same red as the surrounding areas, but a beautiful red, and it pulsed with life. Before she came to her sense even she could sense the power, it was old and it felt familiar... elven. She was startled out of her entrancement by the flapping of small wings. She looked around the pillar to find an imp. At least, it looked like an imp, but it didn't act like a regular imp. He introduced himself as Cespenar, claiming the title of butler to Bhaal. Then unclaiming it, after a story of being kicked out. After speaking with Cespenar for a short time, she deemed him friendly, unlike the other devils around, and asked him about the area, the pillar, and how Cespenar came to be there. This story is it's own, but the important points came to be that it was a small pocket plane in the hells, Cespenar was exiled there by the replacement of Bhaal, and the pillar was the source of all power for the plane. Destroying the pillar would mean destroying the plane. Shaia's last question was how to find her friend, giving a description. Cespenar immediately was excited by the question, and said he knew how to get there, but he couldn't, but maybe she could. He told her of a pair of pillars nearby that were for transport, but the only way to activate them would be capture the essence of the Mythal produced by the pillar before them. Shaia had no idea how to capture the essence of magic, so she thought on it while asking Cespenar for everything he's learned of the pillar. They talked, and talked. Cespenar seemed very glad for the company. Shaia was glad for the answers, and the friendliness in an unfriendly place. She finally decided to attempt it. To use a jewel with the power of a sequencer to capture the magic, while she used her known magics to penetrate the pillar's protections. It took her some time to brace herself for the attempt, fully expecting to die in it, she was surprised when she was left standing with the jewel in her outstretched arm, fully charged with the raw power of the Mythal. She couldn't contain herself as she nearly squealed with glee from the success. Restraining herself from hugging Cespenar, she ran to the next pillars, they were only a stone's throw away, she ran up to them and did as Cespenar suggested, walk through them with the power of Mythal.
She looked around confused... nothing happened. She should have teleported, but she was still there, nothing happened. There must be something more to it, there must be, so she studied the pillars themselves. She read the story written on both of them, the story of their creator and what he made them for. It didn't say how to activate them, but did show some hieroglyphics with pictures of a man standing between them, and what seemed to be the mystical power radiating from between his feet. She made another decision she was almost certain would destroy her. She muttered a prayer to prepare, closing her eyes and expecting to see the afterlife when she opened them, she broke the jewel, releasing the magics stored within it. She felt strange, as if she were falling for only a moment. When she had her footing again, her eyes still closed, she noticed something different. It wasn't as hot, and she could hear someone or something moving. Slowly opening her eyes, she suppresses a gasp as she gazes upon Ammo's mother. Fully expecting to be killed out of hand, she frantically begins casting any and all protections she can think of, which weren't many at the time in her state of mind. "What are you doing here?"It bellows. "You don't belong here." Not much more was said, a question, and an obvious answer, then the hostility began. It wasn't a difficult fight. Amazed at it, Shaia concluded that it wasn't real, it was only a projection stored in the pocket plane.
Soon after the battle, teleportation began again. Nearly throwing up from so frequent of disorientation, Shaia now comes to a dark place. Black everywhwere she looks, no more grass, no more water, just black rock everywhere. Curious what other trials await her before she finds Ammo's soul, she wanders forward on unsteady legs. Coming to the edge of a cliff, she squints into the darkness. Her eyes widen slightly when she realizes what she's looking at... a huge dragon, darkly colored, just as was described. She had made it, Ammo's soul was before her. With only a comment of betrayal and a battle roar, Ammo began to fight. It was her realm, she was ruler here. Shaia, full of fear, but also concern for her friend, gathered all of her resources and blasted Ammo with them. Spent from fighting, Shaia continues to swing at Ammo as she lay prone before her, panting from exertion, she's unable to do much with the blade. Ammo is stuck under one of Shaia's spells, but it expires soon. Only moderately weakened, Ammo gets up from this and runs after the fearfull Shaia whose resources are nearly spent. They play this cat and mouse game for some time, both getting tired of it. As she's about to give up, she summons her rift for the last time before collapsing. This time though, the rift connects properly, maybe it was luck, maybe it was fate, but it hurt Ammo badly, bad enough that she fell, unable to continue the fight. It took time for both to catch their breath and gather their wits, but when they did, it was Ammo first, standing to all the draconic height she had in this form, then bowing to Shaia. "You haves defeated mes, from this day forwards, I wills helps as best I cans" Shaia's heart nearly skipped a beat, she knew she could fight no more, she was gratefull it came to an end, and exuberantly excited that she was alive. This is what she felt as she passed out.
Back at the temple, Shaia wakens to the gentle urging of the priestess. Her head hurts severely, and her body aches. She feels good though, strangely enough. She feels... empowered. "You must put it back now, it is hers still" The priestess suggests, indication the still floating red crystal.
Still not quite sure what's happening, Shaia moves to obey, while putting it away the memories of most of her adventure come back to her, and she slows, wondering. "I am in control now..." She gives herself a quiet joy filled celebration for that, wondering still at what she feels.