[12:31:52] Cyanotron version 5.0 [12:31:52] Assessment recent events. [12:31:53] Objective 2: Reach Doma, successful. Objective 3: Assess Doman Welfare, successful. [12:31:54] Show assessment. [12:31:56] The people of Doma are enduring a somewhat tyrannical reign under Emperor Wang X. In outer regions, they are starving. [12:31:58] Establish New Mission objective: Terminate Emperor Wang X. [13:31:59] New Mission objective established. Uncompleted Missions are now: Priority 1. Avenge Doman humiliation by Avariel. Priority 2. Terminate Emperor Wang X. [13:32:00] Sensory alert. Target sighted at 20 metres, 32 centimetres, 6 mllimetres, 90° away. Target identified as Nighthawk. [13:32:02] Command issued. Move towards Target. * * * * * * * * Larathia sighed as the crowd milled about. "So now what?" asked Aelis-Re. "I guess we wait..." she growled. The crowd slowly dispersed. Murmers of intrigue began to run through the pockets of populace. "What the devil is doing on?" muttered Aelis-Re. "It's almost as if..." "I think our wait is over..." cut in Larathia. "Look." Walking towards them rather angrily was a large mechanical creature. Humanoid, stood about 6'4 and had a face that caused chills to run down Larathia's spine. "Aelis-Re..." she uttered. The mechanoid Cyan stopped about five feet away from them and drew a long nodachi. "Thou hast disgraced the people of Doma. Such acts shalt not go unavenged." Larathia was about ready to draw her bow when a nudge from behind caused her to drop to a knee. Cyan looked at her oddly. "Very well. I shalt do the same that thou didst to me." "Cyan thinks she's surrendered her life. Greeeat..." thought Aelis-Re to himself. "Lord Cyan, I-" Ignoring her, Cyan stepped forward and raised his sword to behead her. Larathia flinched. He brought the blade down. It was stopped by a second blade. It was a weird looking blade, well, the hilt anyway. The hilt looked like your average colt magnum. It was connected to Nighthawk's apparant companion. "Lord Cyan.." he said through clentched teeth. "Perhaps you would listen to what the lady has to say." Cyan blinked and then finally nodded. He backed away. "Speak." Larathia bit her lip, and finally uttered; "Lord Cyan. It was wrong for me to murder you as I did... my heart fills with sorrow for you loss; I beg forgiveness." Cyan stood there, silent. The market was silent enough that you could hear the wind howling in the distance. "I offer a service of atonement, Lord Cyan." Cyan continued to remain silent. It seemed like hours before he finally spoke. "Thou commited thy crime out of thy impatience, the inability to contain oneself in rage." Both of them looked up. Larathia already didn't like the sound of this. "Ye lacks simple discipline. Now rise." Larathia stood up. "Shouldst thou truely desire atonement, thou shalt do the following. Mine line, during their reign, established a cavern in the eastern mountains to test those for ascention to the nobility. Thou shalt go there, alone, and return an item. I shall be watching." With that, Cyan sheathed his sword and walked off into the crowd. LArathia blinked. "It appears our good friend Cyan understands you better than you thought..." muttered Aelis-Re. "Cavern..?" uttered Larathia... -- The eternal lord of darkness... From: "Larathia" To: ; Subject: [ffml] [HD] The beginning of atonement Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 6:57 PM "Shouldst thou truely desire atonement, thou shalt do the following. Mine line, during their reign, established a cavern in the eastern mountains to test those for ascention to the nobility. Thou shalt go there, alone, and return an item. I shall be watching." With that, Cyan sheathed his sword and walked off into the crowd. Larathia blinked. "It appears our good friend Cyan understands you better than you thought..." muttered Aelis-Re. "Cavern..?" uttered Larathia... "Cavern," confirmed her mate. "Come on, it's not like you've never been underground before." He sheathed the Zephyr and got back on the Bear. "I can probably go with you as far as the cavern entrance." He rummaged in the saddlebags and pulled out the laptop, booting it up and running through its maps. "Yes, there's a cavern marked on here." He glanced up, noted that Nighthawk was still staring after the retreating king. "Nighthawk, get moving. I want to get this fucking atonement thing of yours over with, so we can get on with finding the avariel we're supposed to be guarding and get *off* this godforsaken mudball." "He's not human any more," murmured Nighthawk. "I am in service to an undead." she shivered. "Trust me, love - no cavern could be as bad as staying by that creature's side. Couldn't you feel the unlife in him?" "No," snapped Scott. "Human at the moment, remember? Which is ten times better than clone or moogle, I can tell you. So come *on*, turkey. Let's get the show on the road." Her mate's unending pragmatism finally got through; Nighthawk nodded and launched herself skyward, as Scott gunned the Bear's engine and they were off. It didn't stop her occasionally glancing back the way Cyan had gone, worried. * * * * * * * * When they reached the cavern on Aelis-Re's map, she revised her worries. Like all avariel she had a fear of enclosed spaces, particularly underground ones. Her wings closed as tightly to her back as they could. Aelis simply unpacked his sleeping bag. "I'll stay here," he said flatly. "Cyan said you go in alone. I'll make sure nobody follows you in, but this is *your* atonement, not mine." Larathia nodded. It was indeed her atonement. If she went against Cyan's orders, not only would that be abrogating her agreement to serve, it would dig her a deeper hole with her deity than she was already in. She would have to atone for oathbreaking as well as honorless conduct. No, it was best just to nerve herself and get it over with. She put away her longbow and quiver, and drew her black glass sword. Arrows and archery and flight would do her no good here. Even her wind magic would be mostly negated - and out of Aerdrie's favor, she had no priestly spells to use either. She held out one gloved hand to Aelis. "Until we meet again," she said, and it did not hide her nervousness. Aelis took her hand, gave it a gentle squeeze - quiet affection. "Until we meet again," he replied, then got back to his work in setting up a camp. Larathia turned her back on the sunlight, and set foot into darkness. Larathia Larathia's wings practically tried to bury themselves in her back as she entered the cave. The moment the sky was no longer over her head, the fear began. Fear of the darkness. Fear of the tons of earth only a few feet over her head, that might at any moment come crashing down on her. Fear of being buried alive. Fear of losing the sky forever. Mere fear of failure practically had to take a number. At first that was all she had to contend with - her own, unreasoning, racial fears of underground darkness and enclosed spaces. It was a pretty big 'all', but one she had had centuries to come to terms with. It didn't help that she'd mostly come to terms with it by avoiding underground, enclosed spaces though. She clenched her hands around the hilt of her sword until her knuckles were white, and stepped quickly. She didn't have her Lady's protection now - she *had* to get in and get out quickly, or the claustrophobia could drive her permanently insane. She sniffed as she walked along the passageway. The air reeked of smoke and brimstone. She shivered. Oh, *shit*. Cyan had neglected to mention a narrow stone bridge over a river of lava, now hadn't he? Probably meant to test a noble's possible fear of heights, but in her case it wasn't falling but *fire* she had to fear. If she fell...even her magical protection from fire might not be strong enough to protect her from actually touching lava. The second great fear of her race - the power of fire to turn feathers to cinders, bones to ash. Looking down at the fiery river, she heard again the screams of her flights as they got caught in the middle of a massive fireworks display, brilliant colors dripping sparks that sent wings aflame, spiraling down to earth... And there wasn't enough free space above the bridge for her to fly! She must walk the bridge and hope not to fall, for if she used her wings there was always the chance a rising spark might get caught in them. If anything, the thought pressed her wings even closer to her body as she stepped gingerly across the stone bridge. She had the agility for such a stunt, she was avariel after all, but the sight of bright consequence below and the memory of the souls who had died to fire under her command weren't making the trip any easier. Ah, across. Larathia was close to hugging the stone wall in gratitude for getting across. She moved quickly through the caverns. The low ceiling was getting to her and she'd have to cross the lava pit again on the way back and *where the hell was that artifact*? There! That had to be it. People didn't stick brightmetal swords in crystal stones on a golden dais in the middle of fucking nowhere just for kicks. It had to be what she'd come for. Oh, yeah. There were giants made of clay on either side of the dais. This had to be what she'd come for, all right. A quickly muttered spell told her the giants were magical. Very magical. Golems, in fact. And she could just bet what would activate them. She eyed the sword nervously. Oh well, she'd come this far - and it really was a case of succeed or die... Keeping a firm grip on her own enchanted sword, she pulled the one in the crystal free. What *was* it with this world and sticking perfectly good swords in rocks, anyway? The clay giants creaked and cracked and began to move for her. She jammed the new sword in her belts and began to twirl her black-glass blade. *This* blade, she knew could handle the magic that protected golems. It was just a matter of overcoming her fear of the cave, and for that matter her fear of giants... That clicked something in her. It was too much - for the item to be in a cave, past a river of fire, guarded by giants - it was as though the entire cave knew her worst fears and was playing on them. So on some level, this could not be real. It *had* to be illusion. Only one way to test. Nerving herself - and knowing she'd feel like the worst kind of dead fool if she were wrong - she sheathed her sword and waited for the golem's fist to break her back. The blow never came. Larathia opened her eyes to find only the dais had been real. Turning around, she saw sunlight from the cave's entrance around a bend in the tunnel. She broke the world's record for the five hundred yard sprint, and cheerfully bowled Aelis-Re out of his sleeping bag. "Hey, what the-" he grumbled, rubbing his head where it had hit the ground. He stared at her. "You're mighty cheerful." "I got it!" she panted, and pulled the sword - carefully - from her looped belts. "I got it! Now all I have to do is deliver this to Cyan and the Lady will forgive me!" "Right, right," grumbled Aelis-Re, giving up on his nap. "I don't suppose you noticed the time?" he asked, indicating that the moon had set and it was hours until sunrise. "We must get back to Cyan," said Larathia firmly. "I must complete my atonement so we can be on with our search!" "Fine," sighed Aelis-Re, packing up his little camp. "Get hooked up and we'll see if I'm awake enough to drive, all right?" Fifteen minutes later they were underway, following the Lady's guidance to Cyan. Larathia Larathia and Aelis-Re found Cyan standing in a clearing. The cheerfulness in Larathia tattered out in a second as she looked at his form. He stood there, silently. "Hast thou succeeded?" he asked. She drew the sword and offered it to him. He in turn took it and examined it. After a few seconds, he nodded and handed it back. "Thou art forgiven. Now go." Larathia blink. That was it? Although she had endured her worst fears, he let it go at that... Even if he was... undead, something bothered her. She had to ask him. "Cyan." she finally blurted out. "Yes?" "Why are you so easily forgiving?" she asked slowly, regretting her choice of words even as she said them. "Why art thou so easily to ask for such?" he asked. "Thy 'crime' was against me, not my people. It was a charge from warrior to warrior, therefore, I choose to look upon thee and treat thee as a warrior as I would in turn expect." Larathia nodded. For someone who was an abomination of the living, he certainly had a grasp on things... "Now, as a warrior..." he said. "I must ask thee something. I am alive for a purpose. I am not certain of the nature of this purpose, but I am aware that it involves an area known as Sanctuary...." Silence. "I cannot be allowed to reach there. Already I hath struck out against innocents in this basic quest. With my living regrets purged, I shall soon lose mine identity. Cyan V, the last King of Doma is not worthy of being a murderer." Larathia blinked. She had just gone about righting the first slaying of this man, and now he himself was asking to slay him again? "Please, Nighthawk. Take thy bow and send me back to Valhalla, where I belong." Aelis-Re walked off. Larathia silently pulled out her longbow, cocked an arrow and aimed. "Goodbye, Lord Cyan." she uttered as she let it fly. He crumbled to the ground in a heap, a look of peace on his face as a rose sprouted from his forehead. Nighthawk turned away, already scolding herself. Yet something inside her made her cringe. This ordeal was not over yet. (your go, Lara) -- The eternal lord of darkness... ...Suddenly, Aelis-Re was hit by a truck! And at the lease expected time, too! Luckily, he was wearing his anti-truck-collision pendant so he was fine. The end. =+-----------------------+= = =- = Daniel Steven Polcari =-- = magus@cyberverse.com =--- = Nemmers33 on AIM =-- = =- =+-----------------------+= Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it. For sale: Iraqi army AK-47. Never fired, dropped once. Why do the people who know the least talk the loudest? Guns don't kill people-- Bullets do. I don't think there's much money to be had as a bankruptcy attorney. Save a tree - Kill a Beaver =+-----------------------------------+= ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Small business owners... 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