1981 - Part II Dream--04/19/81
Shadows mask a misty path - mist from rubble settling to ground. Adoraco Lief lies about me in ruin, the balconies and battlements shattered. I move from the safe space I had found sandwiched in the area beneath twin pillars at angles. There is a bloody wound on my arm and a wrenching pain on my thigh. I shake my hair and pieces of plaster fleck away. I reach my feet and reach out for Breane - contact. "Where are you, Shardow?" She is alright; I straighten up, the knowledge refreshing me. All of Adoraco Lief had tumbled down. I move through the debris and meet Breane and Ceirus at what had been the entrance. "Are you alright?" come from Ceirus. I nod, already working to slow the bloodflow in one part of my form and channeling it to another. "What of Roderick?" she asks again. Breane is ministering, deft hands, to my thigh. "Aradi was ascendant - the result of a gem lost by Kazijilian - a metallic gem - he attacked, then went into the mirror at the behest of one Cinemgra." Breane's hands go taut at the name - Ceirus does not note it. I ask about Cymynal and Jarane. "They were in the garden - they shouted to us as we were joining them, and Cymynal projected a cone of protection about us." Says Ceirus. "What is this, what is it?" she continues. I have to respond - her eyes lock mine. "I have only a theory - that with each advance we make, with each bit of information or puzzle part we acquire, we cause a type of flaring, a signal to an even more developed state of existence - and then those powers confront us." I sink back, resting my arm. "It happened with Hellmann, then with Atara and Angra, with Kraft and Kerlan, with the Middlemasters and Ketain, Kazijilian, now - who knows?" I am angry and frustrated. Ceirus stands, walks unsteadily to a gazebo near the fountain - mourning for those dead, I know. Breane looks at me. "And what is it of Cinemgra that you already know?" "That there was a Cinemgra of legend, who once ruled the Sarinth." "What?" My mind flashes instantly to Morgan, and by extension, to Gideon and things unresolved. "She called me O Silimilon." "Cinemgra?" - from Breane. "No - Adia, and Cinemgra said she was hers and Reynor's mentor." "Oh," and after reflection, "OH--" Cymynal and Jarane come to us. "Our father is with the enemy?" I shake my head. "I don't know." They expect more than that. "I suspect that we are facing at least three levels of enemies at the same time - and where Aradi fits I don't know." "Shardow!" comes from Ceirus. There is a shimmering near the gazebo - appearing there is Jedric, his form coated with soot and reeking. "Out!" he cries, breaking off as he sees us - then collapses. We crowd about him as sunset and an eerie light envelops us as the dream ends.
Dream--04/20/81
I try to recall the last time peace ruled and cannot - empty ideals, a rift of universes. Brooding, I tell myself, and note that truth for further reflection. We are all in the gazebo. Cymynal sleeps now, Jarane sitting cross-legged and levitating near her. Ceirus stands looking at the ruins of Adoraco Lief, while Breane sings softly as she attempts to heal Jedric. He is muttering, still in some sort of shock - a hand on my own. "I must find him." It is Ceirus; I nod. "He's no longer in control, the demon lives, thru some means I have no way of divining," I say. "Where does the mirror lead?" she asks. I shake my head. "To worlds born or dying, I suppose. Kazijilian came from it, returned thru it. Any excursion would be frought with danger." It is her turn to be silent. I pull forth a deck of cards, Tarot-like, but with different images: beasts, forces, light, dark, time, space - and spread them in an el on the floor. "What do you see?" "Loss and gain - trade off's of higher natures - justice masked as cruelty." "Shardow!" from Breane, urgently. Jedric is sitting up; he has reverted to human form - I wonder why. "Because it pleases me," comes his voice, softly but aware. We go to sit by him, Cymynal awaking from her sleep, Jarane cloaking himself in black. There is a thunderclap high above us, a flareburst of light, and a figure silhouetted against, between two high suns - Danielle, plummeting. Jarane reacts first, his dark cape billowing, catching the air. I am right behind him. "She is over a mile up," he says, and instantly I shift the space, providing a series of air cushions for her to hit and bounce from. Jarane constructs a bridge of light arcing into the sky, and on the next to last cushion before ground, sweeps next to her. He catches her; her face is bloody, one hand has been mangled, dangling broken. As Jarane sweeps his light bridge towards the ground, a crackling laughter is heard. "A riddle O Silimilon - when is an enemy least visible?" from a booming voice. And amazingly the light bridge dissipates in streamers and Jarane and Danielle fall the remaining 20 or 30 feet to earth. The suns go dark, in negative image, and suddenly there stands in mid-air before me Aradi. "Shardow, no!" as Breane interrupts the blast I was preparing. The demon seems disoriented and shouts, "Jarane," as he sees the bodies below. "Roderick?" I call out. "Yes!" and he plummets to his son. I land beside him as Ceirus and the others arrive. "How?" "I am keeping him in bounds by drawing on the Dragon." He kneels by Jarane and Danielle. "But your form?" "Will return." "I don't understand," comes from Ceirus. A smile creases demon features, making the effect a horror show mask. "Great irony - Engl Hurat is what I call the Dragon - no mere demon can subjugate him/me for long." He laughs, and his features melt a bit more - not wholly Roderick, nor wholly demon. We all await explanations from Jedric and Roderick, and Breane attends to our wounded as the dream ends.
Dream--04/21/81
"In a far away land in a universe left behind long ago, an Earthself had touched Creation and remanded it to a series of formulae." The voice is Engl Hurat's. "He called it, poetically, the Eye of Creation, for where he looked there was form and whosoever his glance touched sought beyond." Breane hums, her melodies an apt background. "Nothing is created or destroyed, only transformed to differing states of matter - so, to, with individuals." He picks at an ember from the fire. "There are more elements than five." "How did you draw the Dragon force to you?" He laughs, "Dragon force - how inadequate; listen, it is a being-force, a becoming-force. Aradi yet lives and always will - it is this with all things - even as their forms and names alter." A start from Ceirus - "Then Ceycirie -" "No, beloved, she was absorbed by Moodoom and fed back through you - her threat is ended by that primal sword." I walk nearer to this being, my brother on several planes and a stranger on this one. "What triggered it?" "The gem - also a primal thing; it absorbed Roderick and fed him back through Aradi." He walks to the edge of the gazebo; his horns are intangible but present over his form, hair dark, eyes a mist of beige and fire. Jarane and Danielle are asleep, Cymynal conversing with Jedric and Breane. Hurat turns back. "Your riddles disturb me - any ideas?" I shake my head. "It was as I've said - Danielle appeared accompanied by thunder." "From where?" I spread my hands, "Unknown." "And Jedric?" "I am here, ask me," comes his voice. Hurat stands, somehow more regal than before. "So?" "I met defeat in the Crystal." He produces a device from one of the pockets of his garb. Breane, nearby, gasps, "The ONON Lens!!" Jedric nods. "He took me by surprise and had set it to obliterate me as rapidly as aging can occur - in that attempt, he was mistaken." Ceirus asks, "How did you escape?" "With her aid," pointing to Danielle, "and the price she paid was dear. Hurat says, "So Kazijilian used…" "Kazijilian?" from Jedric. "T'was not him - it was Morgan!" Hurat's eyes open wide and we are all in varying degrees of surprise as the dream ends.
Dream--04/29/81
A triple row of mountains in the background, twin suns rising, the third still low on the horizon. We prepare to leave this land - and Adoraco Lief. Cymynal, Jarane, Ceirus, Roderick (Hurat), Danielle, Jedric, Breane and myself - ranged in rough circle, and Hurat whips the wind to fury. I am focusing us to a tunnel of safespace as we travel to the land of the Sarinth. Adia once more vanished, and nightwinds shriek as we lift into limbo, the circle rotating slightly. I watch Breane protecting us all. We shift universes once move and stand on uneven sands - transfer point Aliana-Beveth - their blood colour seems even more rich than before. Here we cloak ourselves appropriately, hooded robes of dark colour, browns and greys and greens. Hurat uses the ONON Lens on each of us, as Ceirus masks its effects on any permanent basis. Our forms shimmer, then alter. Danielle's and Breane's hair grows light, almost white, with darker skin than before. Jarane is aged to match Cymynal and an irony is that the stump of his arm is longer. Ceirus' hair is totally white, mine goes to speckled gray and the beard is back, full. Hurat changes to an all gray hair and he gives himself a hunched back - and Jedric, in human form, is left the youngest appearing. The process takes but seconds - and once more the winds rise, and we sparkle thru into the land of the Sarinth. There is a massive valley with inhabitants far below working the fields, a small village with rounded adobe like dwellings, and another at the far end of the valley, only the spires of some of its buildings visible. Roderick and I mask us as travelers, almost gypsies, traveling together. The similarity of Jarane and Cymynal to Ceirus and Roderick lends weight to that - and the final touch is a large barrel-shaped vehicle drawn by two creatures, part wildebeast, part horse. Ceirus questions this: "How is it you know these creatures?" "Dear, I don't know them, but the spell I conjured transmutes to whatever environment we face." We go to the near village - like many others scattered throughout realities - there is a bazaar, with rich fabrics and tapestries being sold. Off to the side, a man sells jewelry, rubies, sapphires, diamonds (but blue in color) and emeralds. Ceirus immediately goes to him - and begins bartering for a multifaceted bracelet. We watch her with some amusement, and the native finally settles for three six inch swatches of her hair, which he begins to braid about an ornately engraved sceptre. Danielle sights a blind sculptor, Breane a flute-player, and wander off. Hurat and I walk to an outdoor café-like area wherein kegs of some refreshment waft a sweet, spicy odor into the air. As we sit there, an old bookseller comes along. Hurat barters a sliver of granite for one and pages thru it; its binding is faded. "Look," he exclaims. On one of the pages is a woman with red skin and silver hair, Cinemgra. She stands, her right hand outstretched in a warding off gesture, in a group of six others - one of them is Morgan, and in a double image above his head, phantom-like, is Estebast. The legend below reads: "Obijincia C'Milic," and then names Adia, Reyner, Majka, Cerridu, Thule and Cinemgra. Roderick starts; "The third and fourth and fifth ones are names of spells used by dimensional magicians." We turn at a sharp outcry - on a knoll overlooking the village stands Naome Kazijilian. We go to join the others moving towards him as the dream ends.
Dream--04/30/81
A quote from a book read long ago: "The armies of the night shelter against crystal starlight," and as we rush towards the others, the light seems to go out around us; a somber twilight. In the distance, Kazijilian begins hostilities. He wafts Cymynal into the air and as she begins to contact her arc, he brings two stones the size of fists together against her temples - the "thwock!" they make sends Ceirus to fury. "How DARE you!" she screams at him, and her hands send slivers of hardlight at him like knives. He parries, shifts and reappears directly above her. He drops with full weight and knees on her chest, strikes her in the face - unconscious. "You! You're pretty good at handling defensive maneuvers - Try this!" comes from Jarane - a rippling wave of energy - hot, hot - rolls over Kazijilian. His clothes are burned, burning, then restore as he counters the spell and laughs. By now, Roderick beside me in Hurat form again erupts - and throws the ONON Lens at Kazijilian; it strikes him, activated fully. The shock stops him for a moment - his hair bleaches, bleaches and falls out. The baldness calls to my mind the image of Hellmann. He whirls at the attack and chants: "Cyclida, cemarce, reminoche; banish this one, be he lost." Hurat's image is contorted, contested, broken, as the demon Aradi emerges. "Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha!" and his fire is directed at Breane and Danielle; bluegreen, it covers them completely. In my mind, my contact with Breane remains, but faint - they have fallen. Jedric, in crystal form, confronts Kazijilian, two born together in cosmic longshot - and the demon Aradi turns to me. I purse my lips and try a new tack, creating duplicates of myself from moments past and future to surround him. By now, all pretense has ceased - our forms are normal. He shatters my duplicates and homes in on me. Behind me, Ceirus awakens and lurches to her feet. I see her eyes; they are white within white, as tho another force inhabited her. "You must set me free!" I am nonplussed - it is not her voice; it is not Ceycirie's, nor Anatana's. "Shardow, now!" With a feeling of déjà vu, I begin setting up certain timed factors even as Aradi charges me again. Out of the blue flames, Breane appears, her hair streaming, smoke curling about its edges. What process I'd begun, she begins to flesh, her hands weaving space to form. Aradi charges - this time I suspend him in ethereal envelops, each more difficult to extricate from - high above us, Jedric and Kazijilian clash. "Hurry, he is still weak from Morgan's attack!" comes from Breane. I complete the structure of fire and earth and Breane the air and water equations. Ceirus stands, unconscious, but those white-in-white eyes keeping her upright. An eerie goosebumps series is over me. Aradi breaks thru the last envelope. "Freeze him," from Breane, and I channel as much Time energy towards the demon as I possess - it catches him in mid-stride. Breane positions Ceirus in the center of the three of us. "Your power must remain here, at this vertex - now go." I open my eyes wide; "But.." "You are the only one of us who would not be annihilated instantly - now go!" her voice barks at me. I leave my flux of energy at the high vertex of the triangle and move within - that eerie voice comes from Ceirus again: "She is still too new in this form to utilize me properly - and we are within levels of existence where the untrained use could bode ill for all." A certain knowledge of this floods me. I am ghostly here, phantom, within the triangle. I drift above Ceirus, then, sure, I plunge my left hand within her form and slowly, slowly draw forth Moodoom. As its point clears her head, her features shift, flow into Anatana. "Shardow, what?" she says. "I cannot speak now - bring the demon within and take his place. She does so. "Now reverse your steps," comes from Breane. I step fully into my energies once more. "Now contract the triangle" - and the three of us fold space in on itself, enveloping Aradi. "Leave him here for now." I look at Breane. "I know, my love, I know," she says, and crumples to the earth, unconscious. I feel the singing of this odd device, power flowing and turn to aid Jedric high above as the dream ends.
Dream--05/01/81
The sword spoke and engineered its resurrection, and I am taken aback by that knowledge - even as I soar to battle Kazijilian. Far below, Breane and Anatana have begun, slowly, to contain the demon Aradi until the natural flow of force brings Roderick again. Cymynal is unconscious, as is Danielle. Jarane is going to aid the others. Above me on a shelf of solid space, Jedric wards off blows from the duplicate of Solomon Kraft, and above him a whirling sound like all the winds of hell were waiting to sweep him in - an abyss, maelstrom. I blur Time slightly, only enough to mask my entry. I emerge behind Kazijilian, but he is aware. "Keep it away!" he motions at my blade, Moodoom, in my hand - a riveting black in colour, changed from when it first came free from Ceirus' soul. Reaching again to my other-dimensional sword, I now hold two - Moodoom to attack and (strange - I get impressions of a name that means "return") the other to defend. Kazijilian steps back. Jedric is in near collapse. "Shardow - the plane!" and our foe sweeps it away. I hurl the blade and it expands to a porous net , catching Jedric in its safety. I stride, while solidifying Time to allow me to walk on air, towards Kazijilian. His red sword is charged; he sweeps it at me. "You are a living demon, damn you!" his words. At the moment his blade is opposite me, I strike - but simultaneously, a discharge from his blade sends me hurtling backward. It is only as I regain sensory input and begin to fall that I see the crimson blade and Kazijilian's hand and wrist fall past me. He is screaming and folds in two - then folds further and further. Moodoom pulses in my hand, and I land. The others are watching me strangely, warily as the dream ends.
Dream--06/02/81
A grim and savage grey swirls about us - a limbo fog descended from nowhere and only the pinpricks of metal shining reveals that we have simply stepped into a greywash of senses. Beside me, her hand on my arm, is Breane. As matters clear, I can see the others, Jarane seated in mid-air by Cymynal, Jedric motionless, facing away, Danielle and Anatana opposite each other, facing to Roderick, who is phasing once more into Hurat. Jedric turns back, his form once more crystalline; on his belt, he wears Kazijilian's crimson blade. "Is he dead at last?" comes from Cymynal. He shakes his head. "A wound not mortal can but incite both his caution and his revenge." He lifts his arms and chants in a language indescribable - the fog lifts. We are still in the land of the Sarinth. All signs of struggle have faded away; it is night - two moons the colour of liquid fire rise very quickly. Either this planet is very small or those moons are very close. Again Roderick weaves spells of concealment about us, and under the rich ebonblue sky we begin to move toward the adobe village. By one hundred paces we can detect a shifting - Jedric says, "Beware," and on the second syllable a curtain of darkness falls. We are separated. There is the sound of wind, then nothing - then, timelessness. I reach for Breane - blankness - no, a spark, but nothing more. "You learned despite all obstacles, O Silimilon." The voice, masculine, is familiar - Reyner's. "Show yourself!" I call out harshly - but an element of unease tinges my voice. "Your impatience shows, young one - and costs you greatly. Only Moodoom's intervention prevented your demise (referring to the whole group) - and only then because of your accursed affinity for that blade." The darkness lefts - before stands a man older than the picture seen before. His hair is gray and receding. He stands slightly shorter than Breane, the top of his head even with my jaw. We are in a bubble some ten meters across - it glows an iridescent crimson. "What is the blade?" my voice is hollow. "Its own secret," comes the cryptic reply, "forged by creation's violence and birthed by a dozen suns." "Can you simplify?" my voice reeks sarcastically. "Oh-ho! - for one of such grim demeanor, to have you joke is truly a delight, pupil." "When was I your pupil?" His hands are bent with age, I realize, and put Moodoom back in the sheath, sensing no threat from this man. "Before your memory can trace it," he chuckles. "Answers strewn before you, lacking only a Key clue to bring all into focus." There is an intake of air. "Allow me to introduce my son -" another burst of laughter, "or should I say, my daughter?" and blinking into this tiny arena are both Morgan and Estebast; they merge into one being, and I realize I am in for the battle of my life as I feel Estebast's energies attempting to subjugate my own Time-sense as the battle begins and the dream ends.
Dream--06/15/81
Tumbling from out of space - I hit the earth rolling. Behind me, I sense Estebast phasing too. I wheel and shift again, touching the sands of Aliana-Beveth, then strobing away, skipping across worlds and phasing away from this odd being. I had burst the bubble Reyner had constructed, and Estebast had been at me. I had frozen Time for less than a heartbeat and framed my direction of flight at the same time. I reach my destination - a lush greenery abounds - tall, tall trees with huge leafy protuberances. The sky is blue with pink clouds. I hear a hissing sound coming from all about. This is a world I've known, but it escapes naming. Moodoom is in my hand and pulsing. I am dressed oddly in Danzane's garb, then upon pause, I realize that it possibly is appropriate. I have maybe seconds before Estebast will lock onto this place's lumina, and I construct a short note for Roderick, encapsule it, and send it off thru Time as I sense Estebast coming in. I plunge off into the underbrush and suddenly there are snakes, mechanized and snapping. I swing Moodoom in a full circle and several heads and tails drop to the earth - the rain of snakes stops, and the lush greenery seems all the more encompassing due to the sudden silence. I move through the glade and suddenly there are riders, dark beings on pale beasts. I freeze, statue-like, as they thunder past less than fifteen yards away. I turn and Estebast is there. "Your ending, O Silimilon, twister of dreams and demons," and her Time sense is upon me, buffeting me in waves of constant pain. I take Moodoom and hold it before me, cleaving her power. "Damn you," she/he curses as Morgan is ascendant. Somehow Moodoom has brought about her transformation. Morgan is no match for me and knows it - he blips away, and simultaneously a form stands before me - Abel Kantley. He is gaunt, and lurches into my arms. "You!" he says. "The night.." and he passes out. I reach out for Breane - no contact. Then, slowly, I pick up traces of her searching for me. I lock into the trace and there's a response - and then she is there. "Shardow!" and she comes into my arms. My garb, as Danzane, is gone. "Where are we?" she 'paths to me. I smile, half laughing, really. "We are in Dilalevida." She's non-plussed. "I brought the rest through," she says - and the rest of our group - Hurat and Anatana, Cymynal and Jarane, Jedric, Danielle. I mutter to her, "I wish you had not." Hurat, shading into Roderick, comes over to me. And as he does so, my encapsuled message appears eye-high in front of him. "What is this?" he says. "An educated guess," I respond. Danielle comes to us - she is newly healed and she reaches her hand to mine. I look at her only. "You do not belong here," I say - the words are pitched in anger. "What do you mean?" she says. "You darken your soul with lies!" and she steps back. "You saved Jedric - so that he could not defeat Morgan - and it was not Morgan's energies that harmed you, but Jedric's own." Danielle's face is white. "Why should I do that?" "You always seek power to supplement your own - what did Estebast promise?" "… Freedom from Hurat's interference," and she lunges at him, a silver knife in her hand. "No!" comes from Anatana - but I had prepared for this moment: my power hurtles her knife into the past, and it reappears in my hand. Roderick looks at me. "That was what your warning was?" I nod. "Just in case my plot to escape Estebast had failed." He nods in assent and we begin to discuss Danielle's fate as the dream ends.
Dream--06/16/81
A flat plateau stretches out before us - Roderick and I have come to a land we've seen before, long, long ago, when a mesa alive with flame threatened to consume us - before Kraft, even before Hellmann. Roderick materializes a vehicle and we clamber in. I ask why. "Because this place draws on energies of beings to sustain illusion - your old love saved us once, and Breane's counterpart at that time riddled your existence." We had left Danielle with the others, with both Jedric and Jarane in co-control. Kantley, wounded, delirious, was being healed by Breane and Anatana. Once more these flames arise - an eerie sunset glow washes about us. "I know this land," I say and another memory piece clicks into the puzzle. Roderick's hand on my arm: "Try to expand your knowledge of it." I close my eyes - an image of Reyner is there, still teaching, before he stole my memory - "..your focus should always be apart from your feelings - the one subtracts from the other - watch!!" and he had used a staff with a burning candle at each end to create a burst of light all about us, manipulating the miliseconds of flame so that now became all. I tell Roderick of this. "Hmm… a teacher of Time magick." I think back on the Obijincia C'Milic. "There must be a tie with the Middlemasters," and Roderick nods. "But a linkage we've overlooked." Grey clouds drift overhead - we talk of Moragn-Estebast and he remarks on her power being the stronger. "Who was your father, if Reyner was theirs?" he asks. "We're talking of different lines of parenthood - if Hellmann and Danielle were our parents." I stop. The roiling flames sweep into the sky; beyond them, I had glimpsed a figure. Roderick slaps his fist into his palm. "We're getting close - I know it!" I nod. "What happened to you before you came to Anatana and I in Europa?" - a blank stare - the being from the flames takes form. Her body is of the stars and space itself; her eyes are bright lights. "Who?" I stand at Roderick's words - the eyes shoot forth beams and dissipates our vehicle. We jump to the side and the mesa gives beneath our weight. "Roderick!" I shout, and he disappears beneath the surface. I channel a full-force Time burst at the rock, eroding it before my eyes - in a pocket of air fifteen feet below Roderick looks at me - "It took you long enough." The figure we see even more clearly, as if a negative bagan to develop before our eyes. She sparkles with energies. "Damn you brother, for this hell you've consigned me to," and the voice is Beveth's. "What is this?" from Roderick - but it is a far, far different Beveth. "I will ride you to your grave, by your forfeit," and she strikes again. I shift us slightly, and the airburst passes thru us. I begin setting up conditions to depart, when suddenly an intake of air accompanies the arrival of Morgan. His face is demonic fury. "You've meddled too long - now dwell in darkness!" and all goes dark. Against this backdrop, "Beveth" moves with impunity; a strike hurls Roderick against a stone - he counters with a massive wind. "Come," he shouts above the din. We target away from this place, but the "doors" (dimension) do not give. We whirl, and I bring light from the past to illumine our setting. We stand opposite Beveth, and now, Estebast. Playing for time, I say "At least, tell me why." "None before you ever refused to join Obijincia C'Milic - the refusal forced us to restructure your realities." - all this from Estebast. "Who is Beveth?" comes from Roderick. "When Reyner stole O'Silimilon's memories, it broke forever the link that held her to him, as I am held to Morgan - but the trace memories remained and fleshed due to O'Silimilon's natural powers. He was born into your s'jodin (word meaning a frame of existence) but carried his twin with him. When he ingested her essence, the process began wherein your sphere of existence could threaten our own. Your group must be destroyed or the Obijincia C'Milic can no longer fulfill its task." "Which is?" "Why, exactly what its name means - The Eternity Wheel." And with that, the brief truce erupts into fury as the dream ends.