1980 - Part II Dream--03/12/80
On Caliro, silver mountains shine in moonlight. I stand on a floating balcony, thinking of Aliana-Beveth and of conflict. "War chimes toll," goes the refrain in my mind, "war times grow." Breane is beside me then. 'Thinner,' my mind says. "War does that," her response. I look into her eyes that I had forgotten. "Roderick prepares," she says. I answer her quietly. Below us, in the room of nine mirrors, the ceremony takes place, "to rid us of demons," said Jedric. I touch Breane on the arm and she blips us into the chamber. Ceycirie, Danielle, Bartholomew, Jedric and Aliana await. Roderick-Aradi stands in a black and crimson robe, his features half demon, half normal - it is as if they are superimposed on each other, but Roderick's mind controls. "What are you doing?" comes from Bartholomew. "I am going to reduce Aradi in me," from Roderick. The last moon rises and bathes our chamber. A stray cat creature wanders in, then out again. Roderick stands before the Mirror, activating it. Instantly it blazes to life, the first four panes showing Aradi's demonic forms, the second four showing Aphael, Gregory, Orwan and one other, a slim man with silver hair - from Jedric comes a startled gasp: "Dwan." The Roderick speaks: "Of memory forged and forces bound, we two were one - of magistrations and confusion, let now that bond slip away." A numbing quality comes over Aradi's side of the Mirror and the end two, who'd been only shadows, swirl away into nothing; in their place are symbols, a crescent cross and a ragged sword. Roderick slumps as the spell ends, then straightens abruptly. His eyes have a sharper quality than before. "Shardow," comes his voice in my mind, "we must talk." I nod and all others depart. "For a time after this, I will be at much greater strength than before - but I will lose certain faculties. You must lead - for now." His voice in my head is clear and sharp. I nod assent. Suddenly there is a commotion outchambers. We rush there and there is Ketain. He has swept all aside and holds Ceycirie, unconscious, at his side. Jedric has confronted him, his emerald blade flashing. Jedric scores first, a cut above Ketain's eye. Breane in my mind, "Quickly, quickly." In one corner of my mind, I see Aliana racing in. Jedric parries Ketain's sword, kicks it away. Ketain, reacting quickly, draws out Moodoom from Ceycirie's sheath. Jedric, on the follow through, has left his left side exposed. Ketain brings Moodoom about and I reach my mind to the sword, slowing, slowing its progress. Ketain roars laughter abd causes a diversion, blasting the floor beneath me. Instantly, I shift "up" in Time, but that instant costs. Ketain swings Moodoom without impediment, but Aliana steps into his swing. The blade cuts here, blood bursts forth and the sword disappears - to reappear an instant later in my hand, my daughter's blood creasing it. Ketain vanishes, taking Ceycirie with him. Aliana is down, Jedric bent over her - I am there. "Father, it is as I've said - now I join Lei." She is gone. Roderick, Breane, Bartholomew and Danielle surround Jedric and me. Our force is weaker by one - and I look around, wondering the next victim of insanity as the dream ends.
Dream--03/13/80
A Dragon's day, grey and distant. I have borne Aliana here, alone. The red sands are cold beneath the sunless sky. Aliana is wrapped in blue. I am in greys and blues with a black cape. There is the beginning of a storm tossing the waves far off shore. I take her form high and out to sea; suspended in mid-air, my mind has conflicting emotions. I allow myself to feel the passage of Time and my thoughts match Time, memory on free rein. I kiss Aliana on the cheek and, binding the ends of the cloak together, I release her into the sea. Once more on the shore, I walk. I feel Breane's presence then. "You have been -- a long time." My mind is slightly amused by her last words. I turn to her. "I do not want this to continue." "We need time -- each of us." It is funny; I am never certain if I hear Breane's words or if they are 'pathed. "Well?" "We await you." I turn from the sea - and wave into the air - speckles of that sphere are all that remain as we shift to Caliro. All are ready. Roderick, Jedric, Danielle and Bartholomew. I am in the midst of decision. "Danielle, I want you on Tyweyr - send Magdalen here." She departs without a word. Breane stands beside Roderick, who seems detached. Jedric is aloof; this is a time I envy him - that option is not afforded me. A shift in the moment and Magdalen is spacing in. "The fall of eagles, Shardow - one at a time, in battle fallen." Her words unnerve all. "That's enough," I say. "You seek my brother by olden ways he is outside of - " "What do you know of his plans, mother?" comes from Breane. I frown at her acknowledgement of her mother's duality - and wonder at that. "I know he seeks the point of greatest surprise - that he is as honorable in defeat as he is gloating in triumph." "Shardow," comes from Breane, and a breathtaking heartbeat later appears Ketain with Ceycirie. "Like now," comes from Magdalen. "Let me break your reverie," and he points his hands at Ceycirie - blacklight erupts, and she screams. We can see a "separation of souls" occur; the light side is contained by Ketain in a mystic field. The he and that part of Ceycirie vanish - we face the darksoul of Ceycirie, and instantly I feel that dark presence dueling me from within for control of Moodoom. Her words come externally tho. "I am the Dark Phoenix, arisen - I bring you dreams of death." Instantly, dark glitters of light shoot toward us. I deflect some but not all. Roderick and I are left; behind us Bartholomew screams - and I feel a sudden wrench. Moodoom has been wrested from me. Ceycirie's dark presence wields it toward us as the dream ends.
Dream--03/15/80
Ceycirie's dark presence dominates the scene. Roderick and I are barely able to defend. More than that, through Moodoom, the dark soul is draining me of energies; I feel as a lens through which great energies are focused, and the ebony blade is somehow a Key. Roderick is sluggish, not thinking clearly, and the great sword crackles as the dark force wields it. I motion to Roderick: "I need power - all you've got." He nods, and he stands, a beacon of Light. I draw upon the well of his soul and channel disruptive energies at the dark presence. Nothing seems to happen, but after a few moments, I can sense a returning control of Moodoom. Breane has regained consciousness and she is assaulting the dark being. Our three-pronged attack is working. Suddenly, Ketain's image blinks in and departs. Roderick stands poised for a shattering blow at Ceycirie's dark presence - energies jump from his fingertips. There is a crackling in the air, he focuses on the dark being - and his powers banish her. She becomes opaque in dark colours; then, in a series of blips, perpendiculates into the fabric of existence. "Is she.." "She's not harmed, but that part of her wanders bodiless now." Roderick calls forth a meshed screen - on it are several "Lanterns." He picks one and chants, "Tho all of Time can yet be held in jars of Light enraptured, I bid origins and mystic realms be opened." He then sets down in trance; the lantern he picked three-dimensionalizes and shows scenes of Ceycirie as a young girl in Caliro. Ceycirie is the prime aspect of the Anatana being, tho for too long a time, Ceycirie and Anatana waged a battle for which would be most prime. Ceycirie walks along a shadowy brrok, with odd brush overhanging. We see her enter a cave and pass through two antechambers. In the third is an altar, and above it, in a niche formed in mid-air is Moodoom. She tried to take it down, fails. Then she chants under her breath and her form alters into Anatana, Gala, Peirsis, Reythan and back through. When she next touches the blade, it comes to her as if a part of her - but what she is unaware of is that that action has split her soul. Moodoom is a symbiotic weapon. All of this comes to us in bursts of clarity. Jedric murmurs, "The last Siren - a living sword," and the dream ends.
Dream--03/16/80
We sit at the end of a pool, in a relaxed state. On Caliro, time passes more slowly. There is Roderick, Breane, Danielle, Bartholomew, Jedric, Magdalen-Corolis and myself. Jedric flips pebbles into the water; I ask of his life. "I am the crossover - the balancer - more than that would lock us in Time." I shake my head. Roderick is more in control of himself - the slight wavering in energy emanating from him that was there before has subsided to an occasional flicker. He is questioning Magdalen. "How is it that your brother may be thwarted?" "By paths led through dream's end, at the beckon of fantasy; let you now know that your senses will be in thrall to his - he is master of ruse and guise." "But can you direct us?" Magdalen stands. "If you open your third eye, you will then detect his falsenesses - but greater perception brings greater danger." Breane has moved to a point opposite her. "Why do you chose no side in this?" "I've my own to consider," she smiles. "Look - " and she gestures, sweeping Time before us to show several robed figures about a round table. The light from flickering candles illumine faces. "These are the Middlemasters." The first face is Ketain's, cool and confident, competent. Then is Gideon, a demonic glint of madness enforcing his countenance. The third figure is Morgan, tender fury, a total telepath and the master soldier - called Mindbreaker. The fourth figure startles us all - in a garb of mesh and mail, black hair, red eyes and total feminine command, stands Ceycirie-Ceri. Shock sets in and dissipates the scene before any others are shown. "How is this possible?" comes from Roderick. "Her potential has always been thus - she stands forever poised between enlightenment and waste, between chastity and harlotry." Breane motions to me. "That is not all truth - think, Shardow, Gideon is Kraft, as Morgan to Kerlan as Ketain to Kenet - therefore, there must be that direct link to Adrionna Keep." I follow that speculation until blind alleys are once more reached. Roderick stands, anger limning his aura. "Are you saying that she is a Middlemaster?" "Yes," comes from Magdalen, "and she is betrothed oout of millenia to Rejc Ketain - the price of countenanced existence, paid through Kerlan's unknowing commitment." Jedric yells, "You lie!" His motion is halted abruptly by Magdalen - her voice is ice and chill. "Know you mortal, I do not lie - Ceri rejected Rejc and he swore to have her through all eternity." Roderick challenges once more, "But why does she not resist?" "What makes you think she hasn't? - Ketain has unlocked her private dark soul and has made it his - your task is profound." "You sound like you want your brother defeated." Comes from Breane. "My concern is that of mother to daughter - Corolis is your mother - I am Ceycirie's." A renewed state of shock fills us as the dream ends.
Dream--03/20/80
The scene is dusk, but with bright neon flashes everywhere that slit darkness into a bizarre twilight. Breane is to my left. We are dressed out in some futuristic western outfits; we have come to McKissip to seek part of Jedric's past. The world is an outpost, one of the "rallying planets" used to repel danger. We walk into a "saloon" - thats not what it was in the cowboy or gangster sense, but it was what it was. Inside at a table, feeling very pent in by these material trappings, I sipped at bliss with Breane. "Easy money!" comes a shout by the door - a being of Draco entered, his greyfur shot through with bleachsilver. He rolled his eyes at us, oddly reptilian. "Easiest money on McKissip!" he yelled again. As he ended, Roderick blinked into the scene. Unfortunately, everyone saw him - and began to eye us suspiciously. Paranoid was doing last chance dance in my mind. The Draconian lumbered to our table, lifting himself to over seven feet in height. Roderick, ignoring danger, spoke: "Why did the two of you leave in the night?" "To seek Jedric's mystique." From Roderick, a puzzled look, the beginning of "Huh?" and the Draconian lifted him bodily out of the booth. Roderick, angry but stunned, shouts. We hear the sound of a rib cracking and Roderick's scream - as he screams, he launches himself out of the frame, leaving Breane and I to face the giant. I smash a chair against his shoulder; the giant swings one hand-paw and rattles me against a pillar. He comes at me and I use my powers, only in this shift they've changed. A purple within gold force stabs from my eyes and strikes the Draconian. He struggles, then slowly, slowly sinks to the floor. As he does, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror; my hair is red, my form thin. Over my right shoulder is a black quiver of ebony arrows. I whistle almost without knowing it and a red falcon, blood, lands on my shoulder hitch. It is named, of course, Blackie, and I know the sense of humor to be Ras'. I was wondering when you'd get around to "visit" Shardow.' - a soulself seen but once before in such close proximity. Outside of us, the crowd is angry but fearful. "Look - t'is him" "Ras" "Demon's pawn" "Her- hair black as Ceri's" - my mind picked up, subduing Ras. "Breane - did you?" "Yes." We move to the door. "N' y'know, where Ras goes walks the Watcher." We move down the street, avoiding gazes and questions. Suddenly, from Breane, "There is one behind us." "You've pierced part of the veil, Father," comes from Jedric. "I have been known on this world before - known as Lendoric the Watcher." Breane and I prepare to blip out with him back to Caliro as the dream ends.
Dream--04/05/80
Breane sits by candlelight, her chamber soft browns and blues, with pillows scattered about. I walk into her space and find her eyes with my own. "What is it you've not told us?" my question hangs in our minds. She cups her hands about mine and the warmth is welcome. "What Roderick is doing is wrong - it is one more step that will only draw my people into this." I nod. "That cannot be avoided if it is done," referring to the destruction of the iris. "They will place me with you - I do not know if.." she breaks off, torn between her people and he friends. We walk to her balcony. The city/place Amaka glows brilliant blue; wisps of bridges drift across, sparking a memory. "Breane, could Jedric's Earth be reached from here?" She looks puzzled, then nods. She flashes us to a gigantic arena. On its floor is a huge structure, shaped like a sphere with ever increasing pinpoints of light on its edges. "This is.." she searches for words, "A three-dimensional map of all existence. As new existences are formed," she points to the pinpricks of light around the perimeter, "they are "mapped" here." She shifts us into the pattern and points to "our" existence. "These lines are where we've traveled," and I trace with her to Earth's existence and the myriad divergences from that. - here is Jedric's Earth; it had split off and "evolved" in mid-April of the year 1950. I take us there; there is a whiting-out effect, and Breane says, "Time moves much faster here - recall that." - and I slow us. We tumble into Jedric's Earth near when-where we had been before - only now Baltimore was in flames. "Llewes!" comes a mind voice in deep shock. Breanes? I turn and she is there: "Beveth!" my mind shouts. "No," from Breane - and the being erupts into light and vanishes. "Why did you call me Llewes?" I demand of Breane. She shakes her head. "It was not me - it was her - but Shardow," and there is a note of bewilderment, "I was in her mind briefly - she is the real Beveth!" My mind reels and I walk to the innersea's edge, gazing into firelit skies as the dream ends.
Dream--04/22/80
Breane sits, her back to me, washing her hair in the inner sea of Baltimore. A shadow - a bird flits across the sea. She turns to me. "You are more puzzled?" I nod. All element's of Ketain's "prophecy" (more than that? - plan?) have entered the equation of this struggle. She replaces her armor, then her garment. I allow myself a moment to look at her. Unbidden, my mind sought her future, our - her candle of life - a son - a being already sentient, in the spark of mental oneness between us; he will be a telepath and empath. "You are peeking, sir," comes from Breane, picking up even my elaborate masks. I sweep her up and blip us to Amaka. The scene there is distinctly contrasting. Magdalen-Corolis, Roderick, Jedric, Bartholomew and Danielle surround Morgan. He is spreadeagled, hands, eyes bound in energies. "What occurs here?" I speak. "An execution," comes from Danielle, voice like ice. My eyes flare - Roderick is silent. Danielle dominates this scene. "What now, my mother, more intrigue?" my voice is sarcasm. "You wanted an end to this - very well." She confers with Magdalen-Corolis. "Where is Cymynal?" I inquire. Roderick - "I sent her to Tyweyr, with old friends." Why is Magdalen is control HERE?" "Corolis - receded of her own free choice 'til this is resolved." Danielle is before us. "All existences turn upon themselves - folding back til it is whole - individuals end." We nod. "We," she motions to Magdalen, "felt the present situation to be preferable, even with the Middlemasters." She turns away, walks to a piece of statuary with the inscription "Ordos Lengren" on it. "We engineered existences to bringing here - the focal point where chaotic law and willed law diverge. Destroy the iris and you destroy our plans." I am puzzled - in Roderick's mind, I pick up triumph. He moves to the iris and his hands build and glow. Breane is in my mind - I block her vigorously enough that her response is pain. Danielle stands - behind her Magdalen has the trace of a glimmer of a smile in her eyes/mouth/soul. I shout to Roderick to stop - his energies overwhelm my voice. I hurl myself at him and knock him to one side as his energies began their work - they die. He is convulsed with anger. Instantly, white light suffuses the scene. "How could you know?" roars Gideon, his voice a mad trumpet, high-pitched and cajoling. "How?" he pulses at me. I parry, shifting his attack back in Time. My eyes grate as I concentrate on driving his energies back. Danielle is in my mind "You knew!" gratitude surging. Gideon is rabid, rapidly trying to stop his own attack from being folded back through Time's warp to his present - he fails. I reach the exit point and allow his power to rage at himself. His protective shells falters, and he falls, unconscious. As he does so, a momentary flicker of being exits the frame. "That was," from Jedric, "Auralane," from Breane. Roderick stands, hands on hips, staring. I turn and smile. "Our mother would never execute another." His eyes open wide. "So the Middlemasters are not so cohesive a group," comes from Breane. "We place Morgan and Gideon in stasis, reinforced by Time. "A nice piece of work," comes from Roderick. Only Magdalen is silent and I catch her eyes with mine, promising no mercy and see fear responding in hers as the dream ends.
Dream--06/06/80
I am somewhere outside my body, seeking. I came to my personal space and found the doorway and its iron grillwork shattered in two pieces. I am "taking" a movie of it to replay at my leisure. My room is done in brown leather, a deep navy blue rug and framed pictures of different aspects of myself hang on the walls in ebony frames. There are candles on each piece of furniture, and a large rounded couch that is from another world. As I turn to return to this plane, a being robed and hooded (cowled) appears and points a weapon at me - a projectile weapon. He depresses the stud and it erupts at me. I am struck in the chest, but a part of me says, "No - it is feint." I feign unconsciousness; the being fades into the ether. Instantly a woman appears. She has silver where her eyes should be and long blue hair. Her complexion is the colour of bamboo. I sit up; my garment has been shredded by the blast. "Who are you?" I demand. Her "voice" is a trilling, but I am able to translate. "I am Adia, of the talking spheres." She trills that there were six spheres scattered throughout existence, each binding the energies of primal forces; these spheres he was carrying when another being, the one who attacked me, had waylaid her. She had cached them in my sanctuary because of the child within. I say, "There is no child here." She points - behind me - I turn, and there is a young boy of eleven or twelve there, dressed in purples and greens. He wears a ring on a chain about his neck. "Who?" his voice chills - it is mine. "I am Shardow of Srour," and there is a bizarre cast to the lighting in the room as tho we were integrating ourselves as the dream ends.
Dream--07/10/80
Death hung over us all like an evening star - my memory fades. Roderick, before me, chanting in an ancient tongue, his eyes closed: "Nehea cha vox shacol," over and over. He stands hooded in black, his hands glowing. Wind sweeps through us. To Roderick's side stands Anatana, garbed in silver and red. On her head is a helmet in the shape of a falcon; the face plate leaves all but a heart-shaped portion of her face shielded - but I see her tears. We are on Tyweyr. Behind the three of us, down the hill, await Breane, Danielle and Jedric. Breane is I my mind, "Are you well?" A tug of a smile, then, "I am angry and sad - as you knew." She is downcast. Danielle is haughty, tall, splendid - her eyes like shimmering coals - and Jedric has taken a more human form for this. Roderick steps away and chants in our native tongue: "He was born into adversity - he died of treachery." He pasues, steps away, and there is an electric current shock that runs through me. There is a tombstone, shimmering silver - and Bartholomew's name and visage are engraved upon it. We had returned to find Tyweyr a crumbled ruin. In dust we had found Bartholomew's remains, skeletal, his hair white, his face aged to an impossible degree. His fingers were broken and his mouth opened in death scream. I had turned away, and Breane had come to me, her hands covering my face and drawing me close. Cymynal was not found - now, burial. "Shardow, we need you to -" "I know." My voice is alien to me. I sit cross and reach my mind out, twisting and shifting, finding the pattern of Time and bringing it home. Before us, the air gets fuzzy at the edges and I can see Light restructuring. Bartholomew sits with Cymynal at a repast. She is in her early teens, impossibly - but we knew that Time ran differently. Silver goblets and plates are on the table. Cymynal is also a double of Anatana - long red hair, sharp features, but she has a brooding aspect to her eyes. She says, When will my brother be here?" and Bartholomew laughs. "when he completes his hunt." Then, suddenly, wind sweeps through, and with gale force, hurls anything not weighed down into walls - at the doorway, stands Solomon Kraft II. Bartholomew is on his feet instantly, his power bansheeing through the air. Kraft laughs and forces the power back upon Barth. Cymynal is not reacting - in shock? - and Barth falls to his knees. "A queen - a queen," speaks Kraft, looking at Cymynal. "Who are you?" comes from barth. "Your ending," and launches a bubble of force at Bartholomew. Cymynal deflects it with light from her eyes and Kraft is staggered. But she is too young, too inexperienced to maintain it for long. Kraft draws a device from his tunic. --Behind me, in real Time, Breane gasps -- He sets it in mid-air and we can see waves radiating out from it. The first effect is on the silver, which tarnishes, crumples, melts into dust. Barth instantly draws upon a net to shield, but knows it is a delay only. He is being affected - lines appear crinkley around his eyes and mouth and his hair bleaches to white. He holds on and deflects part to Cymynal - Kraft shouts out - and we can "hear" Barth's words 'pathed to her. The aging effect strikes her at the same time, changing her to a young woman; she is briefly naked, and Barth's words: "Your power is near full - away before it passes its zenith," and he nudges her out of this frame. Her look is terror, but accepting. Kraft is raging: "HOW DARE YOU!?" and he somehow accents the power, and leaves trying to follow her. The device, left unchecked, rages through all Tyweyr. We see Barth age and die, and the image ends with our return. "All right," says Roderick. "Did anyone pick up anything?" Breane stands, her head down: "That device is called an ONON Lens - it alters Time to suit one's will. I thought - my father said - that it could only exist when wielded by a god." We are staring. "It was a fantasy thing, to tell little ones." We stare at Bartholomew's tomb, recognizing that reality as the dream ends.
Dream--07/11/80
We sit surrounding a brazier - Breane, Roderick, Anatana, Danielle, Jedric and myself. There is meat roasting over the fire, meat from a byrd of this place. Roderick's hands heat the brazier. There is death in this place - Tyweyr and its universe is dying. The ONON Lens device, turned on at the moment it was, locked into the rapid aging of the frame of reality of Tyweyr. Now all hurtles into the limbo that tore Bartholomew from us, and so Roderick's hands heat us as we move toward that limbo. "It is as if someone pulled a drain plug," I murmur, and Breane, across from me, nods. Roderick's visage is thoughtful and grim. We had not come upon Jarane's remains, and conclude that his "hunt" was on another plane. Cymynal has not been found. Danielle seems least affected by this. She is in a maroon robe with silver chains belting it at her waist. Even Jedric, sensing our sorrow, remains in human form, looking oddly like a combination of Anatana, Roderick and myself. Anatana is, and my mind rebels at the concept, full of hatred and eager to seek Kraft II. Her mind and presence at this moment are merciless, and the shadow of the Ceycirie part of her, deeply submerged, is felt. Breane 'paths: "We cannot long remain here," and Roderick breaks is, "We stay until the crossing point - that point just before existence is no more." Danielle barks out, "He holds us where he wishes," - words! - "and picks us off at leisure; our best chance is to remain together." Her words are pitched at me - I smile at her in amusement. "You cannot bind me to that," I speak - and all others are in shock, save Jedric. "I must seek out the borning universe - for t'is there answers lie," says Jedric. I nod and indicate that I will go, as well. Breane slips her hand into mine and our apartness is evident. "Then part ye well," comes from Roderick, hurt, but concealing much. Anatana is angry and hurt - "You abandon us now, to Kraft's fury," and as she thinks of Cymynal, "and leave our children (and Jarane) at his mercy?" Jedric steps to her and his human face departs - faceted prisms in planes approximating a face glitter in the brazier's light. "There is but one place where Kraft can't harm them, and they will be there." Roderick's eyes open. "The new universe?" I nod. Danielle is questioning, "Then why separate?" "To cast a line of movement from that one to this," and Jedric stops. We stand, and Jedric and Breane and I mesh powers in a gale of magicks, and as we depart that place Danielle's face was rapt with secrecy as the dream ends.