Subj:	 [ffml] [MW] Role Reversal
Date:	00-08-24 20:42:28 EDT
From:	magus@cyberverse.com (Daniel Polcari)
Reply-to:	ffml@egroups.com
To:	ffml@egroups.com
CC:	RaumKatze2@aol.com

Without thought or purpose, he landed.. E'ris set Granatraeva down amidst a grove of
ancient Ash trees which were probably born as long ago as he was. Satisfied that the
beast was concealed, he powered it down and dismounted..
"The time for you is not now. When at last we go home, you will be my steed..
but for now, we live in a world too small and too young.. So, wait for me."
E'ris put Granatraeva to sleep in the ancient grove and set out on foot...

E'ris travelled for days without rhyme or reason, heading toward something or
other, but nothing he knew of. He passed one village without incident, and the
relative lack of anxiety in its people told him that he was far from the war..
But something was still stirring in them. As for E'ris himself, he had
experienced a change in his motives since returning from the Gate cave..
He no longer sought to conquer among this world, but to grow and change to
be rid of it..

No, perhaps that was not it.. Perhaps he merely hungered for another battle.
He'd felt this way before; bloodlust built up in him like sexual tension at times,
although he had plenty of the latter to fuel his anger as well. He found himself
no longer carrying out idle travel wearing his armor, but rather only the modest
clothing he'd worn that final morning when he strolled out into the Crystal garden
and saw the horizon afire with the gleaming hulls of Guardeyes.. Faster than their
advance came the dead, blackened carpet of cathe drium emerging from within the
capitol.. a plague which tore the very nation of Eyar apart..

The visions left him once again and he continued to travel. None spoke to him
on the road or in town, and he saw no path open to him on the road of the
future. Still, he was filled with a horrible sense of purpose...

The sun set on the tenth day, and E'ris went to sleep.. and dreamed.

-=-=-=-

Kilek's anger had been growing by the minute since he first donned the Drium
Glove E'ris had given him. Kilek was aware of this by now, but he did not care..
Whether it was a curse or a blessing mattered little, as he saw it only as another
asset to protect him from softness in battle. In the week's time since he had
awakened beneath the trees whose growth had come curiously fast, he had gathered
from Moogles he'd defeated that Tampax had not been seen since their unit broke
up south of Doma, that Mog's son, Junior, had defected in a suit of Magitek armor,
and that Mog himself had been slain and replaced by Turan.. Big news, certainly,
but Kilek's coping mechanism had undergone a magnaminous growth. He found that he
did not care about any of this.. He only sought blood. Kilek moved through several
scouting parties during that week, reducing each to a pathetic cadre of wounded and
dead.. Their weakness had always been their trust. Without question, they allowed
Kilek into their ranks, weapons sheathed, and before they could even react he was
murdering them, the glove chiming at each blow.. That chime had become a death-bell
for the moogle army.

Kilek finally realized his plight.. The glove had driven him insane. Not a mind-
robbing insanity, but an insanity which coexisted with his mind and his will,
using them as additional tools. Perhaps E'ris had intended this... but regardless
of the Seeker's intentions, Kilek felt no qualm about killing his own kind. It
made him feel justified.. And he continued his journey onward toward Doma...

-=-=-=-

"Tell me your first thought. Do not think anymore, but rather tell me
what thought has just crossed your mind." The voice asked.

"I am thinking of how I will reach you..." He replied.
    "But before that, I thought of my purpose. And now, I know it..."

"You do, do you? Well, I do admire confidence, however you are
wrong. No more aware of the future than the people of Shadowbrook
were.I don't believe you even know my true face..."

"I cannot fathom the black, disgusting evil of it."

"You cannot? Do you forget the face of your own father, then?
You call me ugly, yet your own parents are no better.. They are
grotesque, lithe, reptilian forms devoid of the softness you call
beauty.."

"Were. My parents are dead."

"So, you remember that day.. Very good. Do you...remember your
god, then?"

"...."

"I did not think so. 'Tis a conflict that precedes you and will
ultimately outlive you..."

"I will not be outlived. I am immortal!"

"Ahem. So you are.. So you are. A blemish on my equation.
Remain mindful, however, E'ris. There is no sure things in this
world anymore.. as I have now shown you twice. You are not beyond
the influence of ones such as me..."

"There is a sure thing. And I do know my purpose."

"Let me guess; you're to..."
                       "...Kill you."

"Kill me. I see. Well, you certainly are one to take the easy
road... So to speak."

"You're.."

"No, no. Do not think, E'ris. Only listen--You have work to
complete in THIS world. Do not trifle with me, and do not go
home. You will not be pleased with the outcome in either case."

"Do not speak down to me.. I am your elder by many.."

"Shhh.. Do not turn this into a question of age. I have defeated
many who are...were, older than I, because they were foolish.
Go and lend your ear to this world. You will take up residence
here.. for a time.. Before you think again, look! Look! The
sun is rising! You must awaken now." 

The voice did not fade, but rather it stopped.. and the light
played upon E'ris' eyelids, bringing him back to consciousness.
He stood once more and stretched; then, setting the road at his
heels, he set out...

-=-=-=-

Off in the distance, a grotesque yet familiar cry echoed between
the trees...

"PIKACHU!!"

+----------------------+
| Daniel Steven Polcari|


Subj:	 [ffml] [MW] Further
Date:	00-08-25 16:13:12 EDT

E'ris no longer walked the path, but instead travelled between the trees
about a quarter-mile from the straight path. Earlier that morning he'd
chanced upon a partially-burned log cabin. Inside, the remains of a
lumberjack and his wife lay, blood around their mouths and strange burns
on their hands and feet. "Contact points," he thought. Death by electricity.
Besides the corpses, he saw no clue as to what caused their death. Electricty
was not in use in this world, and lightning could never have killed with
such precision on even one person, let alone two.

The trek had begun to tire E'ris, as he no longer received the workout
of carrying 350 pounds of armor around with him.. His metabolism had
slowed greatly. At least he had ceased to leave such deep footprints,
however. He elected to travel a greater distance from the path and set
up camp to sleep. In the morning he would get used to wearing his armor
again. He easily gathered enough wood for a fire from the mid-season forest
floor which was now littered with twigs and leaves. After lighting the
fire and eating his dinner, a young feral pig, E'ris went to sleep.
In the night, the strange cry he'd heard often recently was repeated..
"PIKACHU!" ..He tried to ignore it, but he slept poorly.

-=-=-=-

Kilek made blindingly fast progress, cutting across the wilderness
and heading north toward Southvale, which he learned was currently
occupied by the Moogle army. As his approach took him nearer to the
(relatively) civilized world, he began to encounter Moogle patrols
more frequently. Consequently, he also found their work.. Human
villages decimated, their inhabitants slaughtered or kupoed to death.
Kilek no longer felt the Moogle's infamous sex drive, but he did
feel a bloodlust that he'd never known could exist. Out of boredom
he had taken up the habit of fileting the corpses of fellow moogles
he'd slain, removing their skins and drying them. Though he could not
carry them, he left them nearby the bodies with his heraldry written
in blood upon the matted fur: "Altim Kilek." He'd chosen to adopt a
'given' name to further exemplify his departure from the moogle race.
Even his appearance had changed. His muscles had grown and his wings
no longer hung uselessly on his back, but rather they beat like the
tails of excited dogs when he fought. He had stopped venturing to
rivers to wash his enemies' blood out of his fur, as well, leaving
him tinted in a sickly rust-red color.

Kilek continued to travel, when finally he chanced upon a village
whose name he remembered - "Crossland." It would of course be destroyed
and ransacked by now, but he remembered it as having been within a
day's walk of Southvale itself. He did not remember what direction,
however.. Hoping for information, he ventured into the village.
Immediately he saw what he'd hoped for: Moogles inhabited this village.
He made out from a distance the small, white shapes which now appeared
pathetic to him. He saw a dimunitive moogle blacksmith working the human
forge, causing him to appear even smaller. Troupes of moogles were
training, carrying supplies, arriving, and leaving..

Kilek approached at a normal pace, walking directly into the town.
Several moogles approached him with a disturbed expression on their
faces..
  "What the hell happened to you?" One asked as a crowd gathered.
Kilek only took enough time to grin and laugh gutturally. The glove
chimed, and blood trickled dowm Kilek's forehead as his Bobber fell
to the ground with an audible thud. The crowd backed away, but it
was several seconds too late for them to retreat. The glove chimed
again and again.

-=-=-=-

A dream came once again to E'ris, but not a prophesy of the Dark Lord.
He saw visions of the Humans' war with the moogles.. Thin, disconnected
flashes of battle and motion. In more than one of these, he made out
a soldier who stood apart from the other humans. He was easily a match
for several moogles at a time, and he proved this in combat.. In various
visions, he shouted orders to other Soldiers, trained extensively in
camp, and spoke with several important-looking humans. Toward the end of
the dream, he looked up from a battle, as though aware of E'ris' presence..
Facing him, and spoke..
  "The next battle begins in Toroia. This is your cross to bear."

At this, the visions stopped and the morning light awakened E'ris. He
stood up and withdrew his armor from throwspace, then groaned as the
enormous weight came as a surprise. He walked around for a bit to get
used to the feeling again, and prepared to set out.

As he quelled his fire, he noticed something odd.. Next to the boundary
stones he'd placed to contain it, there were small footprints, and several
turds. The pig's carcass had also been roughly picked apart, leaving nothing
for his breakfast.
  "Odd.. Seems as though I had visitors.."
Tyrmagest replied to this statement with an intrigued sound, and the
two-within-one began to walk further on and on.

+----------------------+
| Daniel Steven Polcari|
| magus@cyberverse.com |
|   Nemesis^ on IRC    |
+----------------------+