Kianne's Journal - Archive

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[4/23/2004]

When I walked into the Keep, I discovered that Starfire, in disguise, had just left.

Earlier, Andrella had heard back from our two "spies," who had determined that blackrock cube was being held by some creature called "the unforgiven" deep within the tunnels of Buccaneer's Den. The entrance to those tunnels was apparently a tightly-held secret. The contact we needed was a druid in Yew, the man named Maharba who, rumor told, had a woman companion who was white as snow, spooky like a ghost.

Given that information, we figured it wouldn't be difficult to find this druid (figures it's a druid...). However, Andrella and I would immediately be recognized, and we weren't sure we wanted word to get back to Batlin yet that we were hunting down the cube. So, we had sent Lita and Starfire again.

And that had been the purpose of Starfire's circumvent trip to the Keep.

Starfire had provided Andrella with a rune, a rune she and Lita had obtained from Maharba. They assured us that the man was still alive, although they could be less sure about whether the rune would work as advertised. As Starfire had apparently said, they had done their best to get the promise from Maharba that the rune would go to the right location, but there were no guarantees and no returns.

I chuckled.

With the rune in hand, Andrella rounded up three of her knights in training that were available, and I opened a moongate using the Orb of the Moons.

We did indeed end up on the isle of Buccaneer's Den, a few steps away from two small holes burrowing deep into the ground. With Andrella next to me, I walked carefully over and gazed into the depths. At least whoever had dug the holes had provided ladders.

Cautiously we climbed down into the darkness, knights first. I cast a Light spell so that we wouldn't need to carry torches, and we paused in the room in which we found ourselves to get our bearings.

Almost immediately we were attacked by a couple of gargoyles and Beholders, those nasty cousins to the Gazers. At first I thought nothing of it, more worried about winning the battle without losses, although I shouldn't have been, since Andrella's knights were quite skilled and held their own handily.

We regrouped and started down the only hallway offered us. More gargoyles attacked, and finally it dawned to me to ask, "Why are gargoyles attacking us?" Andrella just shook her head in confusion. We tried a couple of times to converse with the gargoyles, but they either could not or refused to understand our words. The only time they spoke was to call for help in their own Gargish language.

We worked our way through the tunnels; the first time we encountered trouble was with the dragon. I don't know what kind of dragon it was, but it was extremely powerful. When the first knight went down, I knew it was bad.

Immediately I pulled out the Stone of Compassion where I keep it stored in my belt pouch for easy access. Activating its magic, almost ignoring the head-rush swell of sensations that always swamps me when I do it, I shifted my glowing yellow bow to aim its healing arrows at the knights. But I wasn't fast enough. The second went down almost immediately, and I couldn't even see the third in all of the chaos.

The only ally I could pick out was Andrella, so I fired at her instead, over and over, feeling my strength sap from me with every shot. I hadn't realized that it takes something out of me to fire these arrows, just like using Elemental magic... I didn't focus on it, fumbling to pull out a mana refresh potion, hoping it would help. And it did, although if I kept up this rate, I would be losing energy almost faster than I could replenish it.

When the dragon fell, I allowed the enchantment to slip from my bow, using normal arrows to help Andrella mop up the rest of the enemies.

When silence returned, she and I were the only ones standing.

I waited for the knights' ghosts to appear, but nothing happened. Stunned, I looked around. Could the knights not be raised? While I watched blindly, Andrella removed her helmet and stood solemnly. "You all fought bravely. Thank you."

I ran my fist over my eyes, my leather gloves soaking up the tears. How could they have all fallen in one short battle?

But then one of the knights weakly lifted her hand. That was why there were no ghosts--they were still alive! Quickly Andrella and I helped them out from the pile of monster corpses. Two of the knights were so badly wounded that even magic could not help them. We bound their injuries as best as we could. The third knight, Davita I think her name was, positioned herself between the other two, helping them stand. I hadn't really gotten to know the knights well; after all, their job was to train, not socialize with me, and I had stayed mostly out of the way of the training, though sometimes I watched from afar. Still, I was suddenly stuck by the realization that it had almost been too late.

"Can you get back to the Keep safely?" Andrella asked her. I considered making a gate, but it would be dangerous, as any of the evil denizens here could simply jump through and immediately find themselves in front of the Keep.

Davita nodded. "Yes, we will manage. Please continue your journey."

We thanked the knights for their bravery, and watched as the three began the slow journey back the way we had come, the two wounded leaning heavily on Davita in the middle. Part of me wanted to go help them, but the way had been cleared of enemies, at least, and if we retreated now, we would lose all of the progress we had made, thus annulling the knights' sacrifice.

When they were gone, I glanced at Andrella. There was still the matter that we had been reduced to a party of two. If we ran into another one of those dragons, I doubted our chances of survival. But we wouldn't know until we tried.

We pressed on, fighting more gargoyles, although I found myself frowning at what seemed like senseless violence. At one point, while she was going through the belongings of one of the fallen foes, Andrella blinked and held out a hand. "What is this?"

The object was a small sphere, like crystallized stone, but I wasn't sure of the material. Even before I took it into my hand I recognized its potency. "This is infused with the power of Lightning!" I gasped.

"Wow, really?" Andrella responded. "It looked odd."

I nodded and rolled it in my hand thoughtfully. "I wonder how we could use this..."

"That will be interesting to find out," Andrella agreed. "But I'm not going with you to talk to Nystul."

I laughed.

We continued on with little incident until the point when a gargoyle managed to summon the aid of two Beholders at the same time. And I discovered suddenly that two Beholders was one too many...particularly when there's a gargoyle or three thrown into the mix as well.

Even Andrella was unable to hold them all off single-handedly, and I wasn't able to do much to aid her. I tried backing away from the fight to fire healing arrows at her, but not only did that leave her trying to take them all on at once, but I found my strength depleting far faster than potions could remedy.

"Can't keep up!" I gasped out at her finally, finding the simple task of even drawing the bowstring to be almost too much to accomplish. She didn't respond in words, but almost as if we were reading each other's minds, she split away from the group, trying to separate them, divide them so that we could take them down in smaller numbers.

I was right behind her as she ducked around a corner and sprinted up a sloped passage much like an underground hill. But I got perhaps halfway up the hill and felt as though I'd just run into a wall. All of my strength was spent, and I could go no further. I silently screamed at my legs to move, but taking a step was beyond them; it was all I could do not to simply fall over.

Behind me, the group of foes came in for the kill...

As soon as Andrella realized I wasn't going to make it, she sprinted back down the hill, snatching me up and carrying me away from the jaws of death just in time. Our enemies chased after; I regained my feet and was able to run along with Andrella, finding it was easier on level ground. She fell back, keeping herself between me and our pursuers. We were nearing another corner when one of the gargoyles caught up enough to graze Andrella with a stroke of his sword. It was then that I realized she was far too injured, probably from when she'd come to my rescue.

I'm not entirely sure how we made it, but Andrella slashed back, driving the gargoyle away from her, while I quaffed another potion for emergency strength and then desperately fired a healing arrow at her. I was deathly afraid it would arrive too late, but somehow, perhaps through will alone, she remained on her feet. I used a few more arrows, until I was at the threshold of exhaustion, then switched to regular shots which did not drain my energy.

The tide of the battle really turned when the first Beholder was felled. After that, we were able to fend off the rest of our attackers and finally dwindle their numbers down to nothing.

"Phew," I huffed when the hallway was clear once more. I collapsed against a wall, holding my bow lax as I ran a hand across my forehead. "Couldn't...keep up the healing. Sorry." I gave her a concerned look. "Are you all right?"

She was just putting the finishing touches on a bandage. Instead of answering directly, she smiled at me. "You did awesome!"

I gave her a weak chuckle. "No, you did."

"No! You did!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

We took a short break to rest up and recover. "That was nuts," Andrella chuckled. "I wasn't sure we'd make it."

I hadn't been sure either. There had been at least once when I was sure I was going to die, and another time when I thought for sure that she would. But, somehow, we had survived, although only by our skin.

"Guess I'm still not up to par," I sighed.

"You're doing fantastic," Andrella responded. "You'll be good as new really soon."

I nodded, hoping she was right. "Well, we're still here, which is what is important," I chuckled ruefully.

She nodded and got to her feet. "Ready?"

"Aye, let's do it."

And we pressed on.

That was really the last large opposition that we faced. It wasn't long before we found our way to an empty room with stair-like ledges, a few torches on the walls, and a couple of chests. I walked deeper into the room, thinking perhaps there might be a passage at the top of the stairs, although I couldn't see one from here.

An ominous boom sounded behind us.

Andrella and I spun around to find that a wall had closed behind us, blocking off the entrance to the room. We both ran back to where the door had been, pressing and shoving against the bricks, but the new wall stood firm.

"Well, we sure walked into that," I commented, disgusted. Stepping back, I sighed and turned to move back for the stairs. They might serve as our only exit now, unless we wanted to use the Orb and start over from the beginning.

"Well, well," a voice suddenly spoke up from nowhere. We looked around in surprise. "To be the Avatar has come to find me."

Andrella and I looked at each other in surprise, immediately thinking the same thing. "That sounds like a gargoyle!" she commented in a hushed voice.

I spun about, running my eyes around the room. "Who are you?" I called out.

The voice sounded nearby, but I couldn't pinpoint its location. "To be the druid who was right. So be it then, if this is the prophecy."

"Prophecy?" I repeated with dread, not liking the sound of the word druid either.

But the voice did not answer. "To be the death I will fight!"

A sudden movement in the corner nearest to me caught my eye, and I whirled around. I was just in time to see a flash of a rusty blade aimed straight at my neck, but then Andrella was shoving me out of the way. She ducked the attack and brought her own sword around; I could tell from the grunt that she'd caught him right in the rib cage. With an expert spin, she twisted herself around and used her swords to fling the gargoyle in a half circle around her, vaulting him to the center of the room.

He landed with a thud on his back, wings spread wide. Now that he was out of the shadows and into the torchlight, Andrella and I gasped when we suddenly recognized him.

"Gratagmalem!?"

We knelt by him as he gasped for a breath, the wind knocked out of him, and pushed himself up. "You...still carry the Gargish blades..."

Andrella nodded. "Aye, I do. With pride I might add."

I frowned at the strange turn of events. Was Gratagmalem the unforgiven we were after? "Gratagmalem, what's going on?"

But again, he didn't answer. "To ask for one more chance...to fight you. To ask for Lash's blade to be in my hand..."

I stared at him. Andrella pursed her lips. "If it is what you wish... But it will not be a fair fight if you are wounded."

As if to counter her words, he shoved himself to his feet, and the two of us stood as well, backing away a respectful distance.

"You...aren't talking about that same prophecy,¹ are you?" I demanded, almost wanting to scream.

Andrella chimed in, "Can you please explain what's going on?"

"Draxinusom has sentenced me to die here," he responded finally. "To be unforgiven of my choices to band with the Minax. I am at my last minutes. To wish to die fighting with Lash's blade." He held out his hand expectantly.

Andrella handed him one of her twin swords. "Though I do not agree or fully understand, I will do as you wish."

"Wait!" I protested. "That is the past now. You don't need to do this!"

Gratagmalem tossed down his rusty blade and held Lash's sword with firm confidence. "To know of the evil you bring. And to know, my king thinks I am a liar of these things."

"What evil!?" Andrella and I about blurted out at once.

"The comet of destruction, your spell to end this realm of man."

I stared at him. "Comet?" The comet that Gorjez was watching? What did that have to do anything? A comet that changes colors...? Wait a minute...

"The immortal Avatar, bringer of the end." He practically spat the words.

I felt like this conversation was spiraling out of control. "But... Gratagmalem," I sputtered, "I haven't the power to bring a comet! Even if I wanted, and I don't!"

"None can see the truth of your evil, but Batlin will reveal you. To be known, he will stop you."

I smacked my forehead. Suddenly it was all too clear who was feeding Gratagmalem these lies. What a...

"The Avatar is not bringing destruction upon us," Andrella informed him firmly while I tried to think of the best way to prove it.

Gratagmalem turned to face her. "And you are her aid, golden knight. I know of your lies."

"Just a second here!" I cut in. "Didn't you hear me? It's not our doing."

The gargoyle fixed me with his piercing gaze. "Are you not the singer of Elemental magic? To know you have lied to me before..."

"Singer..?" I felt like a fish out of water. I wasn't used to being struck dumb quite this many times in a single conversation.

Gratagmalem took advantage of my lost tongue to continue, "And to know that Draxinusom thinks of me what I think of you."

"When have I lied?" I snapped in a challenge, focusing on that part for now, feeling it was the most critical.

"To have sworn to be the Avatar," he responded simply.

Andrella broke in then, "So you are saying that Batlin, who worships Elemental gods, or so he claims, has told you that the Avatar is the singer of the Elementals??"

He clarified slightly, "She is the thief of the Elements."

"Thief?" I repeated. I was completely confused now.

"To have brought their anger on all of this world."

"They are only angry because they know she will stop their evil," Andrella argued patiently.

"The druid has spoken with me of this."

"They are twisting you around, Gratagmalem."

Gratagmalem stared at her. "Why will you lie to me even at my end? Have you no honor?"

Andrella sighed. "I had hoped that with our last meeting I showed you my honor. And now you say these things as though our discussion before meant nothing."

"Let me die, knowing the truth," Gratagmalem urged. "To die in peace, even if all think I lied."

But Andrella responded firmly, "I do not think you are lying. I think you are confused." Him and me also. "I think you have been given the wrong information."

"You've been lied to," I agreed flatly.

"Why then would a druid offer me forgiveness only to lie?" Gratagmalem demanded.

"Because he wanted something in return?" I suggested.

"We gave you forgiveness on our last meeting," Andrella reminded him. "We gave it to you. For free. No strings attached."

Silently Gratagmalem pondered that. "You did forgive me..." he agreed quietly. Then, in a stronger voice, "Why would you forgive me when even the king Draxinusom did not?"

"Because we understood your plight," Andrella replied. "You have been made a victim. You didn't know you were doing the wrong thing."

"But we can make things right again," I agreed. "Dying here does nothing toward that end."

He hesitated. "And yet again, you come to be the ones to tell me I have believed the lie of man."

Andrella grimaced. "Unfortunately not all men are honorable."

Gratagmalem dropped his head. I almost held my breath, hoping he would believe us, although still furiously wondering what proof we could offer, to cement our claims.

"To be why?" Gratagmalem seemed stricken. "Why did Batlin bring me lies of forgiveness?"

"He wanted you to stop us from doing good," Andrella answered.

I nodded. "And that required trust first." I paused, then added, "We're not sure what Batlin is up to yet. But we're trying to find out."

Gratagmalem provided one answer. "He has promised to revolt the people against you, Avatar." I grimaced. Wonderful. But that wasn't the worst of it. "And to bring a Guardian here to destroy you."

I started. "Batlin said that!?" I gasped out before I could think. That tears it! Andrella gave me a look as if she was expecting steam to start pouring from my ears.

Gratagmalem held out a hand, a small ebony object resting therein shrunken even more by the size of his palm. "He speaks to him with this..."

"The cube!" I almost growled out.

"To be a gift from long ago, Minax, my master. To be never given away. Not even for forgiveness."

"It must be destroyed," Andrella and I urged at the same time.

"No," he started to protest.

Andrella pointed out, "The Guardian can use that against us. And you."

Gratagmalem looked at her. "The Guardian is not evil."

I about fell over. Oh, man, is he on the wrong side of the boat.

"He has told me of his visions for this land..." the gargoyle was going on, but I interrupted him.

"He only makes himself looks that way!" I protested, throwing up my hands. "He needs the cooperation of people here, to help him enter this land and conquer it."

"The Guardian has proof of his power and mercy," Gratagmalem argued.

I about choked. "Proof of his mercy?"

The gargoyle nodded. "He has conquered the realm of the dread lord Soth."

"That's not mercy," I scoffed.

"To have defeated the bringer of so much pain."

"Only because Soth was in his way." I shook my head. "There are lots of innocent people on that land..."

"And the Krynn now is peaceful," Gratagmalem declared.

"Have you seen Krynn?" Andrella countered sharply. "Did it look peaceful to you? Or do you just take his word?"

Gratagmalem appeared taken aback, and for a moment it seemed he didn't know how to reply. "It is another lie?" he asked finally.

I nodded vehemently. "The Guardian does nothing but lie. Twists everything, tricks and deceptions."

Gratagmalem was silent. "To be wise of Draxinusom to call me foolish."

I felt bad for him. Andrella said gently. "No, you are not foolish. You have been misguided."

"I did not believe my own king," Gratagmalem argued. "I believed all these others."

"You were trying to give some inside information to your king that would save the world," Andrella reminded him. "I feel that is courageous. Though the sources you used sadly took advantage of your concerns."

I agreed. "Your heart was in the right place."

But he shook his head. "To have been fooled too many times. And what now? What if I am being fooled by you?" I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him to trust only himself if he couldn't bring himself to trust us, but he overrode me. "It does not matter anymore. My time is passed."

"It doesn't have to be, does it?" Andrella asked. "Can't you still right your wrongs?"

"Can Navien of Trailwind right his wrongs?" Gratagmalem shot back at her. "For releasing the Soth?"

Andrella sighed a little. "He tried to. He was forgiven by us."

"From the man king?" the gargoyle pressed.

Andrella and I glanced at each other, realizing at the same time that we had never spoken to Lord British on the topic. We weren't sure what he thought on the matter.

"Navien may have left before his time had come," Andrella said finally. "Please, don't make that same mistake."

But Gratagmalem was firm. "Let me pass, then I will no longer have to think of my mistakes."

"Do you think that is fair?" Andrella returned sharply. "Or just?"

Gratagmalem lifted his blade. "Draw your sword against me. May good prevail."

"Wait--" I tried to urge, but he was already swinging at her. Andrella and I both leaped out of the way, in opposite directions. She pulled out her sword but did not counterattack, instead dancing just outside of his reach. "While your gargoyle friends think you betrayed them? Gratagmalem, wait. Listen to me."

He pursued her relentlessly, until she couldn't keep away from him and was forced to parry his blows. "The Gargish blades will not lie to us," he declared as he did so. "Who wins is the victor of good, of balance and control."

Andrella ducked a blow, then turned the next swipe aside with her blade. "Gratagmalem, listen to me. You can still change things. You can fix this."

I had to jump out of their way several times. I did not want to come to the aid of either side for it would dishonor Gratagmalem. The only thing I could think of to put a stop to this was the Paralyze spell. I remembered the words of power--having been on the receiving end of the spell far too often--but what were the reagents? With a silent curse at myself, I quickly dug out my spellbook and began frantically flipping pages.

"You have brought the truth to me," Gratagmalem countered. "It only made it worse to know the truth."

"You're being ridiculous!" Andrella let out, exasperated. He was attacking her with the full intent to land killing blows, leaving her at a disadvantage since she was trying not to hurt him. She finally lashed out with a sweeping slash to get him to back off. I watched, frozen, as the sword opened a gash across his abdomen. He hadn't dodged it. Was he so intent on killing her that he wasn't even going to try to avoid her blows?

Or...did he really want to die so much?

Gratagmalem let out a gurgling gasp and collapsed. He had been wounded before the fight had even started, from when Andrella had flipped him over her shoulder, and even before then, I don't think he had been fully whole. She hadn't meant to land a final blow, but he had almost walked straight into it.

"To be known I have fought to the end..."

Andrella sighed heavily. Silently, I walked up to her and began bandaging the wounds where Gratagmalem's sword had caught her.

She looked at the floor. "I just wanted... I had hoped I could..."

"I know," I responded quietly. "I wanted to as well. Couldn't get a Paralyze off though... I'm sorry."

Finally Andrella walked slowly over to Gratagmalem where he was lying at the edge of death. "I wish you would have let me do something for you," she told him. "But it was your wish and I will honor that, though it saddens me." Her eyes closed briefly. "Farewell, Gratagmalem."

Faintly, a weak voice managed to make it from his chest. "The truth... To have died knowing it for once..."

Andrella lowered her head. "You are forgiven."

We stood silently as Gratagmalem quietly passed away.

After some time we shifted with heavy hearts and tentatively tried to decide what to do next. "We could try to dig a grave using our swords..." I mused sadly.

"Let's take him to Draxinusom?" Andrella suggested, turning the sentence into a question.

"Can we carry him, you think?"

"He's big," she agreed. "But toss off a moongate and we'll carry him. He needs to be with his gargoyle brethren. Maybe Draxinusom would understand if we told him about this. And maybe he would have some honor left, and be forgiven by his people."

I nodded slowly, then knelt down by the body, hating myself for having to do it, but knowing it was necessary. "The cube, first."

As gently as I could, I retrieved the blackrock cube from Gratagmalem. We also discovered that he had been carrying more of the odd stones. Another Lightning one, plus a couple of Fire.

I got to my feet, the cube in my hand. It trembled slightly, and I glanced down at it. Perhaps it would have the same function here,² but perhaps not; and at any rate, we would not have need of it where we were going at the moment. I used a bag of holding to store it away in my bank box, not sure where else to put it at the moment.

Then I opened a moongate to Terfin using the Orb, and Andrella and I carefully lifted Gratagmalem between us and carried him through.

---

[4/29/2004] (same entry)

The gargoyles started to greet us with friendly tones, but their voices quickly died off when they realized who we were carrying in our arms. Andrella and I found ourselves standing in a semi-circle of stony silence, the gargoyles gazing at us in confusion.

"Avatar. Andrella. What is to be the meaning of this?" Draxinusom appeared, the circle parting to allow him to walk through to us.

"Can we set him down, then explain?" I found myself tossing to Andrella wryly.

Andrella shifted in response, and gently we laid Gratagmalem on the grass. When I straightened up, I took a breath, suddenly unsure as to how to explain. Draxinusom was watching us in confusion, but at least I saw no malice in his expression.

"We have brought him here, to give him a chance to be laid with his people." I dropped my head to gaze sadly at Gratagmalem, my last words coming out in a murmur. "It was...all a misunderstanding..."

"To be his choice to leave his brethren." Draxinusom spoke in a cold but even voice. "Why now is he to be here?"

"Because," I pleaded, "though he may have left you physically, he still cared about his people."

Andrella chimed in, "He made a choice with the wrong information. He was being tricked and lied to and only wanted to help his brethren, thinking maybe you didn't have the inside information he had."

I nodded in agreement. "Though it is ultimately your decision, of course, but we thought we would offer the chance for him to be buried here."

"What is this you are speaking of? To be dead and buried away from the land he deserted." Although he did not actually move, I got the impression Draxinusom was basically turning his back on us and, more accurately, on Gratagmalem. It saddened me, because Gratagmalem was now dead, and there was nothing that animosity would accomplish.

"Kianne and I told him the truth and he was very upset with himself," Andrella pointed out. "He knew, in the end, how awful his betrayal was."

"To be what truth he knew? That is the world will be destroyed by the Avatar?" For a moment my heart jumped, but then I realized that there was a tone of scoffing in Draxinusom's voice.

But Andrella was nevertheless quick to retort, "The Avatar is not going to destroy the world."

I gazed at Draxinusom when I realized that he was not blaming me. "Do you know anything about that? About the comet?"

He looked at me. "To know I doubted Gratagmalem's words, but to be disturbed to learn you condoned the daemon masses."

I blinked. "Daemon masses?"

"And to learn Andrella was raising an army to rise against us. This was to be a lie to my ears."

"No, I am not raising an army against you," Andrella confirmed. "I am raising an army to fight the Gold Knight and his mockery of knights."

"Daemons?" I repeated, feeling like a broken record.

"The Daemon Masses. It was told that you allowed Niltab access to the people's souls."

Now I was definitely feeling like a fish out of water. "Nil..tab?" It's funny, the name struck me a strange, but I never realized why until later, when I wrote it down. Seeing the letters is when my brain jumped and instantly shuffled them around. But, that came later...

"To be told by Gratagmalem these things. To know he is a liar and his words brought foul feelings against him."

I scratched my head. "Well, he was being lied to, but..."

Andrella interrupted, "Okay, look, I'm getting confused here. You're saying that...Niltab...is saying these things?"

"To be Gratagmalem who brought these words against you and the Avatar. But to know he followed daemons."

"Yes, and we talked to him ourselves, just moments ago," Andrella agreed. "Listen. Gratagmalem was confused. He thought that by helping Minax he would save his race, this world. However, he didn't realize that he was being lied to. Now this stuff you bring up about how we are against you... Do you think we would be here if we felt ill will toward you or your people? We came here in peace, but if there is some confusion, then please, let's discuss it."

"There's lots of confusion on my side at least..." I muttered under my breath.

"To not think it was my words," Draxinusom assured us. "Gratagmalem said these things about you. To be why he is not welcome here. Alive or dead, to be a dishonor to his race for listening to daemons and Minax."

"Aye, that part is understood," Andrella agreed. "We spoke to him and he discovered that he was tricked. But when he found out the truth, he couldn't face you again, he was ashamed. He fought me, with Lash's blade, in order to gain my forgiveness. I forgave him. I can understand that he was gullible and too eager to help."

Draxinusom pointed out, "But to know that he wanted us--all of us in Terfin--to destroy you and the Avatar. To crush your Keep. It was I who denied his request. Does this not anger you of him?"

"Your strength saved us, I will agree to that," Andrella responded, and I let her talk, since she was already doing so. "Your beliefs were strong. But Gratagmalem's weren't." She shook her head. "The point is that he knew the truth, in his last breaths, he understood what happened. He didn't ask to be brought here; he didn't even want to live anymore."

"And you knew Gratagmalem was to have felt hatred to you?"

"I believe that miscommunications are best dealt with head on." She shrugged. "He was confused and we talked to him."

"And given who was feeding him the lies, I can understand it," I commented. "And forgive him for it, for his heart was still in the right place."

"Then he died knowing the truth?" Draxinusom wanted to be sure. "Did he accept this truth?"

We nodded.

"And you are asking that he be forgiven by us? Forgiven for his hatred of you and the Avatar?"

Again, we nodded. "He was not the true enemy here."

Draxinusom considered us for a moment; then, abruptly, he lifted his head and stated in a loud voice, for all of the gargoyles to hear, "To be a request only the Avatar and her strongest ally would want!" He looked around at the gathered masses. "They bring to us the body of Gratagmalem, to be forgiven and his soul rested among us. His hatred to the Avatar and the High Knight is forgiven by the two who he harbored these feelings to."

Andrella and I smiled and nodded our agreement.

"To be forgiven by them, is to be forgiven by us," Draxinusom decided firmly. He turned and kneeled before Gratagmalem's body, gently crossing the dead gargoyle's arms and whispering blessings in his own tongue.

Andrella and I stood by silently while Draxinusom summoned some of his High Gargs to carry the body away. Finally, the king turned to us. "To be thankful you have returned his soul to rest in peace."

"Aye, thank you, Draxinusom. We didn't feel he deserved the death he chose for himself. A dark dungeon is not a place of rest." Andrella turned her head to look after where the body had been carried away. "I think he will rest with great pride now, being home again."

Draxinusom followed her gaze. "To be a choice I did not wish he made."

There was a moment of silence.

Finally I took a breath, reluctantly speaking up. "Can you, please, tell us what you know of these daemons and such?"

Draxinusom turned back to face us and nodded his great head. "The daemons. Allied with Minax they were to be a force against all in this land. Their power was great, ruled by the mighty Niltab and his twisted brothers. To have fought a war of grand proportion against the elves of Dawn." And I found myself taken aback again. I didn't remember anyone having mentioned this. Then again, as reclusive as the elves are, I suppose it comes as no surprise.

Draxinusom shook his head slightly. "The daemons are to be in guise of the druids."

"Druids!" I let out with a gasp.

"The shells of bodies possessed," he confirmed. "They cannot take true form in your world. To be only their souls powered by the daemons."

I stared at him. "Are...the druids still there? Or have the daemons killed them to possess them?"

"To be alive, but only those foolish enough to believe the lies and sell their souls. To be their souls are ripped from their body."

Sell their souls? I grimaced.

"They come from the soul chambers," the gargoyle commented. "A dungeon locked deep beneath Britannia. Locked deep within the ruins of time. The keys are held by the elves. The blades of the moon lock the daemon's true forms and powers."

"Blades of the moon?"

"Trammel and Felucca, the twin blades."

"The moonblades." Andrella nodded her head. "I remember those beauties."

I did as well.

Draxinusom shifted. "It was heard that you condoned the masses."

I felt horribly sheepish. "Well, we were trying to figure out what was going on..."

"To be the masses where the daemons lie. Luring others to believe them and trust them. To open their hearts and have their souls be taken."

I shot a quick, pained thought in Andrella's direction, consisting of only one word: "Sami!"

Andrella cringed, then slapped the palms of her hands together, as if squashing any horrible possibilities like bugs. "Okay, this can be fixed... We can change this."

I nodded wholeheartedly. "If they are not in their true forms," I mused thoughtfully, "they will probably be easier to defeat, shouldn't they? Or are they creatures who can only be bested in their true forms...?"

"If their shells are destroyed, the daemons will possess the closest being with a weak heart."

Ouch. "And if no one is around?" I suggested weakly.

Draxinusom only shrugged. "The elves know much more then the words of my."

"Then it's off to Dawn?" Andrella asked.

I nodded. "Thank you, Draxinusom. You had the key we needed to the puzzle."

"To have wondered why you allowed such actions. But to have trusted you were doing what you must."

"We were trying to find out what was going on. It's just gone too far now." I shook my head in disgust. "Now that we know better what we are up against, we'll figure out a way to put a stop to it."

"With the best of luck we wish you. Our aid is to be yours at your call."

We thanked him again, then I took out the Orb and opened a moongate.

---

[4/30/2004] (same entry)

When we arrived at Dawn, I found myself heading reflexively for Iolo's tent. "Iolo... While we're here, let's say hello to him too... I should have visited earlier..."

Andrella followed me without argument. We found Iolo and Gwenno together at the tent.

"Well, look what we have here!" Iolo grinned. "How was your nine day nap?" He gave me a wink and a poke.

I laughed sheepishly. "Yes, and here I am, not even sure what day of the week it is..."

"Oh, you'll get used to it, us old folks take long naps," Iolo teased.

Andrella laughed. I ran a hand through my hair. "I should have come when it was just a social call..."

"You know Kianne...always business," Andrella grinned.

Iolo quipped, "Oh, I knew you weren't here for more spam."

Andrella laughed harder. "Though she ate that fairly quick."

"Well, I was hungry..." I protested, but I didn't think there was any way out of this one.

Iolo gestured at the grass. "What's on your mind? Have a seat! Have a seat!"

I chuckled. "Well, we should probably be looking for Lord Erimani. Although, tell me, Iolo, have you heard about the daemons? The ones the elves were fighting once? Maybe still are..."

Iolo glanced around, then leaned closer. "They don't talk much about the daemons here," he whispered. I nodded slightly, having expected that. "A lot of elves died in those days," he reflected. "As a matter of fact, I heard that some elves even joined the daemons." He shook his head. "The battle was never won. The elves finally had to lock the daemons away. They were too strong."

I considered that. "Well, the daemons are back now..."

Iolo looked curious. "Is that so? I thought they could only travel Britannia as haunting spirits. Sure, some still wander around Hythloth, but the Daemon Lords were all locked away."

I sighed. "Seems they've figured out how to possess people. Including a certain bunch of good-for-nothing druids who...oh, never mind." I decided I best stop before I said something I regretted.

Iolo glanced at Gwenno. "Druids?"

I gave him a wry look. "Remember our good old friend Batlin? Seems he's a bit different here."

Iolo considered that. "Shamino did mention him, but I was hoping he was harmless this time around..."

I sighed again. "I was hoping so as well, but seems like he joined up with something even worse than the Guardian maybe, this time around..."

"Don't tell me, he was possessed?"

"Sounds like it." I nodded slowly. "One of the daemons apparently was named Niltab..." I let the name trail off significantly, while holding up the parchment where I had written it down. So obvious, on paper...

Iolo shook his head. "That shouldn't surprise me. Batlin was always looking for more then just Virtues."

"But to sell your soul...!" I let out.

"They have a hard time being virtuous. So they look for meanings to their lives outside the virtues."

"And doom themselves along with the rest of the land..." I grumbled.

"Well, that's why you are here. To show them the Avatar and the Virtues live on!" Iolo beamed.

I managed only a faint smile. "And here I was joining the stupid Following..." I smacked myself on the forehead. "Stupid, stupid... I have to find a way to undo this now..."

"Maybe it won't be so hard," Andrella encouraged me. "We just have to start promoting the Virtues full strength. Denounce the Following." She tilted her head. "Of course, that will anger some people..."

"It's not that," I reminded her. "It'll tip our hand too."

"But we will have to be prepared for that," she reasoned. "We say that we've done some 'soul searching' of our own. It's not entirely false." Andrella grinned. I groaned at the joke.

"You know, come to think of it," I spoke up suddenly, "what do the Elemental Lords have to do with all of this then...?"

Andrella shrugged. "Maybe the daemons want to possess their bodies?"

"Oh, the plot thickens," Iolo commented brightly.

"But I guess the first thing we need to do is get them in their Trueforms," I decided. "Since they apparently can't be destroyed the way they are."

Andrella nodded. "Or, find a way to trick them into their Trueforms while we free the Avatar of the Following," she grinned.

I made a half chuckle, half groan.

"The daemons can't attain true forms while they are locked away," Gwenno spoke up from where she had been listening quietly.

I blinked. "Well, that would be strange--free them to destroy them?"

"Oh, you should discuss that with Erimani," Iolo encouraged us. "I'm sure he would discuss it with you."

I was glad to hear he would be willing to discuss it. Iolo and Gwenno walked with us to his log cabin. Luckily, the king of the elves, Erimani, was in residence. In fact, his wife, Anniosha, was there as well. I had never met the queen. Introductions and greetings were made.

Finally, Iolo got down to business. "Lord Erimani, Kianne would like to speak to you regarding the ancient daemons."

I nodded. "Forgive me for having to bring it up. But any information you could offer on Niltab would be helpful."

Erimani glanced to his wife, who looked at him with worry. "I had pondered the best moment to speak to you about this myself," he said finally, which at the time took me by surprise, although later I understood.

I waited, allowing Erimani to get to it in his own way. He paused to glance at Andrella, and, as what seemed like a total aside, commented, "Andrella, your skill with blades is phenomenal."

Then he turned back to me. "You see," he spoke in a serious tone, "Niltab was locked away generations ago. His powers were beyond our ability to defeat. And we waited for the Avatar to come. Hoping, perhaps one day, Niltab would fall at the Avatar's hand."

I stared at him in mute surprise. Although I did not speak the words out loud, I found myself thinking perhaps they overestimate my abilities. But then, maybe he didn't mean me. Maybe he meant Michael, who was, after all, able to figure out the Tome of Stars and all...

"Yet," he continued as I remained speechless, "I pondered a great dilemma as I saw you were master of the bow."

I felt an eyebrow climbing. Uh, is this a problem?

"I wondered, if we made the right choices, binding Niltab with the moonblades." He shrugged slightly. "The blades, the keys to Niltab's prison."

I was completely confused, and a little mortified, feeling I'd somehow let them down without even trying. "I, uh, I'm not all that bad with a sword," I tried to encourage him, although my words weren't exactly convincing.

"She can hold her own quite well with a sword," Andrella agreed with more conviction.

"The only way to defeat such a daemon would require more than great skill." Erimani shook his head for a moment, then asked suddenly, "Why do you now feel it is time to face Niltab? What has made you come to this conclusion?"

That was easy enough to answer. "We have learned that apparently the daemons are here, in spirit, possessing the bodies of those who...offer their souls to them." I grimaced, still taken aback by the very thought. "They are trying to gather followers, more humans to..." I trailed off, unwilling to speak the words out loud.

Erimani looked grim, but unsurprised. "As it has been."

Has been? My heart cried that we had not known. "For a while now," I added, "we have been looking into a man named Batlin." I didn't think I needed to elaborate.

"Batlin..." Erimani repeated the name, then glanced at his wife again.

I nodded slowly. "It's just...until know, I had no idea..." I shook my head.

Erimani glanced back up at me. "This Batlin, is he a druid?"

I nodded again. "Plus, he may be associated with the Guardian." I shook my head at myself. "That is what we have been looking into for some time."

Erimani straightened up. "Then it appears the seal is weakening. For Batlin is not only a possessed soul. He is the Niltab himself."

I blinked. "Are you saying the daemon in human form, without possessing a human?"

"I am saying, Niltab was born into Batlin."

"I knew I didn't like that man..." Andrella mumbled.

Erimani continued, "And yet, his power would be linked directly to his soul stone."

"His soul stone?" I repeated.

"In the depths of Hythloth, locked away is the chamber of souls. If he has been born out the seal, then it is only a matter of time until he collects enough soul strength to break the seal...and release his daemons."

"So we need to defeat him before then..." I murmured thoughtfully.

"It is a matter that can no longer be hidden. But there is one daemon even greater the Niltab," Erimani warned us. "One who protects him. His guard."

"Who?" we asked instantly.

"The daemon Abraham. He guards the soul stones."

"Abra..." I didn't even bother to finish the name. I grumbled for a minute, then asked, "And where is Elizabeth?"³

Erimani shook his head. "I am not familiar with that name." I gave a sidelong glance to Iolo. "But Abraham is much different," the elven lord explained. "His body can only be destroyed by killing the one he possesses. And if the daemon's seal is weak, then he could possess anyone..."

"But still," I reasoned, "fighting a human form could be easier than fighting a daemon, wouldn't it?"

"Do not underestimate the power of the daemon shells, regardless. Their physical form may be weak, but they grant an unholy power to their body. Plus, a daemon's soul can only be destroyed by a moonblade."

I nodded slowly in understanding. "The human he is possessing... Is he also named Abraham?"

"Unlikely."

I agreed. "Then how do we find him...?"

"That is truly the dilemma. But he would not stray far from his master."

Probably one of the other druids, Andrella and I decided. Maybe even the Maharba that we'd been hearing about. For that matter, there was also talk about a freaky woman with Maharba. Maybe that woman is Elizabeth in this world?

Erimani pointed out, "And even if you can defeat Abraham, the perilous journey to the soul chamber would be incredibly dangerous. Beyond the seal, the daemons have fortified, gaining strength in their generations of imprisonment."

We'd find a way because we had to, I was thinking. But I didn't speak out loud.

Erimani sighed a little. "And the most difficult part will be wielding the moonblades..."

"That is the difficult part?" I couldn't help but ask in a somewhat incredulous voice. He's talking about going through Hythloth and defeating daemons, and he says wielding a sword is the most difficult part?

"They were crafted with the magic of wisps. Their magic is unique, and can never be duplicated. The blades can never cross each other, nor can they be carried by any magical means. Only natural moongates."

Ho boy. Well, that might be a problem. That would make the Orb of the Moon useless...

"So we must break the seal to stop the daemons?" I asked, to be sure.

"First, you must find Abraham's possessed body. Otherwise, you will never make it to soul chamber. The daemon Abraham would stop you."

I pondered, briefly, if maybe that would be easier--after all, then he would come to us, and we wouldn't have to figure out who he is.

"But," Erimani finished, "if you defeat his possessed form, then perhaps you have a chance to break the seal." He looked at us. "But remember: the shell can only be destroyed by a moonblade."

I glanced toward the back of the room, where the twin blades for Trammel and Felucca rest. "Might we obtain one for Andrella? We would be willing to pay for it or whatever is required."

Erimani looked at her. "There is no doubt that you have the skill to wield the blade... But do you have the discipline? To travel by no means magical. It would alter the magic of the blade."

Andrella nodded. "Aye, I will do what it takes in order to vanquish these daemons."

Erimani shifted his gaze back to me. "And both blades are needed to unlock the seal."

And they can't cross. That means Andrella can't carry them both at once. So we were back at this. "I may not be an expert, but I know how to wield a sword, at least," I agreed. "Or we could find another for this task, but I am willing to do it."

"It is just the extreme discipline required to care for one," Erimani pointed out.

"With all due respect, I am a knight. I know discipline quite well." Andrella smiled.

Erimani gave us a few more examples. The blades can be placed into our bank boxes or left behind in our houses (for a moment I was a little worried we would not be able to even put them down). But we would not be able to retrieve them via a bag of holding. We would need to actually visit the bank to put one into or take one out of our bank chest.

So this would make travel much more difficult, as we would need to go everywhere on foot, relying only on the natural moongates, or the permanent ones made by Nystul, apparently. Luckily, Erimani assured us that our magic carpet would be acceptable. That will come in handy, at least. We won't need to procure a ship. We could use the carpet to cross the water to reach the various islands.

We agreed and promised him we would follow his instructions.

The elven lord nodded, satisfied. "The blades must first touch each shrine in order to open the secret chamber to the seal. We made every precaution to assure the seal would only be disturbed by the Avatar. I have no doubt you will be able to pass the riddles of the Avatar set up long ago to challenge any who would break the seal."

I was a little surprised to hear this. After all, the elven people have always been reclusive, so much so that I did not even realize that elves lived on Britannia until only recently. So the fact that they would put such trust in the Avatar of the human race impressed me.

"I understand," I nodded.

Erimani shook his head briefly. "And yet, we did not imagine that the Niltab would be born into Batlin, right under our noses..."

"I had no idea either, and we've been dealing with him for some time." I sighed.

"I know the blades must be used, but are you both ready for them?" he asked us, and we nodded. We may as well get started.

Then a thought struck me. "But until we know Abraham's identity..."

"I would not recommend confronting Abraham without the blade," Erimani warned us. "His shell will no doubt be powerful." We nodded. "And the more souls the daemons take, the more powerful they will become. That is how they began their reign of destruction."

I winced.

"We hope to put a stop to that as soon as possible," I assured him.

Erimani nodded. "They use the powers of the Elements. You must learn their weaknesses."

I stared at him. "The daemons do?"

He nodded. "I will be happy to advise you in that aspect."

My thoughts were elsewhere. "It begins to make more sense. Batlin has been teaching the Elements, or pretending to."

The elven lord glanced at his wife with worry. "They use a perverse power of the Elements. Not the natural gift, as we elves use."

And which do I use? I wasn't sure, and I didn't think now was a good time to bring it up. "But they are not Elementals?" I asked, just to be sure.

He shook his head. "The daemons are not. Though they do serve the Elemental Lords. Our enemies."

I stared at him in surprise again. "They do? Pagan's?"

Again, Erimani nodded. "The Lords are truly only blasphemous beings using the powers of the Elements like thieves." He glowered at just the mere thought.

Thieves... I glanced at the floor. Gratagmalem had called me a thief. Thief of the Elements. Was what I did truly so wrong?

Iolo leaned closer to me. "Now is probably not a good time to bring this up," he whispered in my ear, "But Dupré told me you were an Elementalist?"

I nodded, wincing. "I once was..." I murmured back. But I got the distinct feeling it might be a bad idea to tell that to the elves. If they truly despised the use of the Elements...

That reminded me of something else, and I quickly changed the subject. "Speaking of which, do you know of these objects we found on the gargoyles?" I pulled out one of the stones we had discovered, holding it out to him. "They are Elemental, but I've not seen one before."

Unfortunately this topic wasn't much better than the previous. Erimani took a deep breath, clearly trying to reign in his emotions. "Those are the Materia of the Pagans," he spoke in a carefully controlled voice. "The enclosed and imprisoned powers of the Elements."

I was startled. "Imprisoned?"

"They should be freed," Erimani declared instead of answering directly.

I certainly wasn't about to cross him, even if it could have been in our advantage to make use of the odd Materia. I looked down at the crystallized stone in my palm, thinking that it was a shame I had never gotten a chance to try using its powers, but that's the way it happens sometimes. "How do we free them?"

Erimani explained, "Since they are the form of only the raw stolen power, only a weapon can absorb the power and release it."

I blinked, a bit taken aback. "A weapon...?"

He nodded. "The daemons use them on their blades. If you have the ability to do so,I would suggest you do the same."

"And this frees them?" I asked, wondering if I was hearing him correctly. He was actually encouraging us to use them?

Erimani nodded again. "In the only way possible."

I resisted the urge to rub my hands. This warranted looking into. "We have Fire and Lightning," I commented. "Do we know if Abraham is weak against either?" I smiled wryly.

"I wish I had such knowledge." Erimani gave a small sigh. "I apologize, I do not know."

"It is all right," I assured him, tucking the Materia away. We would find out.

"Then you are ready to carry the moonblades?" Erimani asked. We nodded.

Anniosha stood, and together she and her husband walked back to the display at the rear of the room. They regarded the blades with sentiment for a moment, then slowly lifted them and carried them back across the room.

Anniosha held her blade silently while Erimani stepped forward. "I fear for your people," he confessed. "The elves are no longer able to challenge the daemons. And for this I apologize for all of us."

"The Avatar will do what she has always done," Andrella assured him. "Protect this world from harm."

With help, I wanted to add, but Erimani was already speaking. "Your world is now in danger, a power I cannot help but feel is part our fault that it still exists."

"It is nothing we blame you for," I assured him.

He glanced down at the moonblades. "May these blades serve you well, and represent the aid of the elves."

"Thank you," Andrella and I spoke as one.

Erimani reached out and took Andrella's hand, placing the handle of the blood-red sword into her grip. "The blade of Felucca. The dark side of the moon hides its greatest powers."

Andrella stepped back, looking at the sword with awe.

Erimani then retrieved the cyan blade from his wife, and repeated the process with me. "The blade of Trammel, the healing light of the night. May it aid your people."

"Thank you," we said again, and we bowed slightly.

Erimani nodded, his face proud, but full of worry and concern for us.

We bade him farewell and left the cabin then. Iolo broke his silence once we were walking outside. "Well, I never imagined. They talked about those blades a lot."

I was still holding the blade with reverence. It was one of the most finely crafted swords I had ever seen anywhere. On a second thought, I transferred the blade to my left hand, wondering guiltily if my right was still burned by Arcadion.

And that reminded me of the serpent king. So that is why he had reacted in that way to the name Batlin. How much better it would have been if he had merely told us! I shook my head slightly in wonder at it all. Each of us had known a small piece of the puzzle, but it was only now coming together. Gratagmalem and Draxinusom had known about the druids and of Batlin, but not of the daemons. And the elves hadn't realized the daemons were gathering in power, and hadn't made the connection to Batlin. And we were busy focusing on Batlin and the Following, thinking he had something to do with the Guardian. And all this time...

"Oh, I forgot to ask, when is the moongate that leads from Dawn to Britannia?" I gave a sheepish chuckle, wondering how long we would be stuck here, since we couldn't use the Orb. What planning!

But luckily for us, the gate was due soon. Iolo joined us as we stood at the location where the moongate would open, and we chatted about the old days.

Finally the gate from Dawn opened, and we gave a fond farewell to Iolo. Andrella and I soon found ourselves in that clearing south of Trinsic, where Shamino had camped at one time. We worked our way on foot north, to Trinsic, the nearest moongate. Also, the Shadow Keep wasn't that far away, on an island just off of Trinsic.

I told Andrella there was something I needed to do, something I'd been wanting to do since we'd spoken to Gratagmalem. But it required traveling to Moonglow. We decided to use the moongate to Moonglow, then drop off our swords at the Moonglow bank so that we would be able to run our errands quickly. Then we would pick them up again and begin our quest.

On the way we encountered a few orcs. Nothing dangerous, but it did give us a chance to try out our moonblades. Andrella discovered that hers offered a magical attack that could deal damage to a creature at long range. Mine, on the other hand, healed its target with its embedded spell.

"Light and Dark..." I murmured. I glanced at her. "Be careful of Dark, but I know you will be fine." I smiled.

"There is dark, and then there's downright evil," she winked, and I laughed.

"Exactly," I agreed.

Arriving at Moonglow, we visited the bank, then, sans the beautiful moonblades, we walked to the teleporters within the village square. I thought I knew which tile I wanted, but I ended up in the Lycaeum. Oops. But that reminded me of something else. "Andrella," I spoke up as she was starting for the teleportation tile back to the city. "While we're here, why don't we find Sami, and tell her to stay away from the druids." It was somewhat of a question, but spoken as a statement.

She agreed, and we searched the Lycaeum. I almost thought we weren't going to find her (I had lost track of what time of day it was). But finally we stumbled across her at the back of one of the libraries.

"Hi!" Sami greeted us brightly. "How are you!?"

I let out a breath of relief. "Better. How are you?"

"Great!"

"Good. Sami, I, uh..."

"I've been studying the Following and I have been really good! I'm learning a lot!" Sami gushed. I ran a hand nervously through my hair. How to say this?

"Look!" she went on, digging into her pockets. "Batlin gave me these!" She was holding two more of the Materia, an Ice and an Earth based one this time. "Quake 7 and Ice 6!"

"Figures," I grumbled. "Sami..."

"It's for studying!" Sami grinned. "Well, for helping too. Batlin needed some books from the underground library. So I got them!"

She looked so happy, so proud, that I winced at the pain in my heart. "Sami, I was thinking. Maybe you shouldn't go to any more of the masses."

Sami blinked, realizing something was amiss. "What's wrong?"

I took a deep breath. "Well... We think there's something...underhanded going on." I didn't want to tell her about the daemons. I didn't want to frighten her needlessly. "So it would be safer if you stayed away from them," I explained. "I'm sorry, I got you into it..."

Sami looked at us worriedly. "From Batlin?"

I nodded, and Andrella contributed, "We've had several trusted sources tell us things."

"You know, I thought something was strange with that lady with him!" Sami let out.

"Lady?"

"Vevilia, the white druid. She scares me." Sami shuddered.

Andrella and I exchanged glances. This must be the woman we had heard about that was with Maharba.

"Keep away from all of them, it is the safest thing," I urged her. "We're looking into it now."

Sami nodded slightly, biting her lip. "Here!" she said suddenly, thrusting the Materia at us. "You can have it."

We accepted them without argument, merely thanking her for them. We now have a complete set of the four main Elements, I note abstractly, which is something I like to see. But that wasn't the focus of our concentration at the moment. "Sami, have you noticed anyone else hanging around Batlin?" Andrella asked. "Like a lot of the time?"

Sami considered that. "Not really. Well, Barney." She giggled at the private joke between us regarding his name.

I blinked. "Barney hangs out with Batlin?"

"Well, he wants to, but Batlin keeps avoiding him." Sami laughed. "Batlin gets annoyed real easy. I heard, Mahbara beat Barney up." She scratched her head. "Maharba?" she tried correcting herself, still not sure on the pronunciation.

This was more of the answer I was expecting. "Is he with Batlin a lot?"

"Yeah, him and Vevilia. Maharba is scary-looking but he's nice. He's huge for a druid."

I glanced at Andrella again. Personally, I think we may have found our starting place. "Sami, thank you, but I don't want you to be in danger."

"Okay!" she agreed brightly. "I'm so glad you told me!" I am too. "I didn't want to tell you, but they scared me."

"I'm really sorry for getting you into all of this," I apologized again. "I didn't realize..."

"It's okay!" Sami never seemed to run out of enthusiasm.

"Now we need to stop the masses," Andrella smirked.

"Oh, you want to stop them?" Sami asked, her eyes round. "The Headmaster was threatened by Maharba. If Headmaster canceled a mass...well Maharba said bad things happens to those who stand in the way of the Elements."

Ack.

"Well, maybe we won't go the direct route then," Andrella chuckled. "But we'll find a way to stop them without getting anyone hurt."

"Well, they were nice to me, just so you know," Sami said consideringly. "But I had bad feelings sometimes around them. You know what I heard? I don't know if it's true, because Lindsey tells lies sometimes...but she said Vevilia eats people."

Yuck. I made a face. I think Andrella was too, but probably a slightly different one than mine.

"You can avoid them now," I smiled. "Please do so."

"I'll try, but what if they call for me?" she asked.

"Don't be there to receive the call." I chuckled. "Be busy, or something."

"Okay!" she agreed with a grin. "I can be busy!"

We nodded, smiling. "And if they hold another mass here, just make sure you're not around."

"I will!" Sami agreed. "Thanks!"

"Just be careful, Sami," Andrella urged. "And please stay safe."

I nodded. "Aye, I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you somehow."

"I think it calls for another adventure," Andrella grinned, and Sami, of course, enthusiastically agreed. Just as long as it's a safe adventure. I don't want to see Sami hurt...

After parting with Sami, we worked our way to what had been my original destination: the telescope. Gorjez was there, as usual, standing before the lens. I walked straight up to him. "Gorjez. Gorjez!" I called, clapping my hands.

He turned around to greet us, but I was growing too anxious to bother with pleasantries. "Gorjez, please. I need to see the comet."

Ever since Gratagmalem had mentioned it, I had gotten a very bad feeling about that comet, and it was something I was now desperate to look into.

The sage blinked at me. "Oh? Well..."

"I promise I won't hurt the telescope," I threw in for good measure.

He scratched his head. "Well, actually, I am studying something else right now. A comet's not important or anything; you can't mess up my settings."

"It's very important!" I urged. "Can't you write them down or something?"

Andrella wandered deliberately over toward the lever on the telescope. It was the same lever that she had, on another occasion, tried to pull, just out of curiosity. Gorjez had nearly gone into a fit that time. Apparently, pulling that lever led to bad things happening. So, naturally, once he noticed what she was doing now, Gorjez immediately snapped nervously, "Andrella! Why don't you come over here?"

"You can turn your wheels a little can't you?" she suggested innocently. "Let Kianne get a look at the comet?" She took another step toward the lever.

"Wait!" Gorjez abandoned me and ran over to her. "Wait!"

"That lever sure looks interesting..." she teased him.

I didn't know whether to laugh or...well, laugh. "That's blackmail!" I giggled weakly to her privately.

Gorjez was no idiot. "Okay," he agreed. "Let me write some things down. Come here."

I said nothing as Gorjez began scribbling notes down on some parchment, looking over at Andrella every three seconds to make sure she hadn't wandered off toward that lever. "There we go," he said finally, and he began to readjust the telescope.

"I owe you one," I whispered to Andrella.

Gorjez finally recalibrated the telescope and peered through its lens. "Oh my..." he breathed. "Oh, this is unexpected..."

"Wow, that's an interesting-looking lever over there," Andrella spoke up loudly.

"Wait!" Gorjez protested, spinning around to face her. He nearly bumped his elbow into a deer, which docilely ate the map that was sitting on his desk and wandered off as if it was somebody's pet.

"Hey!" he yelped. "Shoo! Shoo!" Gorjez brushed off his robe. Apparently the map hadn't been a critical one, either that or he hadn't yet noticed it was missing. "Well, anyway, this is extraordinary."

"What?" I demanded, short on patience.

"In four years we are going to have an eclipse that lasts for fourteen minutes!" Gorjez raised his hands. "Fourteen minutes!"

I blinked. "Not the comet?"

"I'm getting bored," Andrella warned. "I flip levers when I'm bored."

"Oh, the comet," Gorjez remembered, and turned back to the telescope. "You sure you want to see the comet?"

"Yes!" I let out in exasperation.

Gorjez was spinning gears again. "I had a delightful conversation a few days ago," he chattered. "With a druid who asked what I thought about that comet."

I shot a look at Andrella.

"He was delighted when I told him it was not important. And he told me about this rather interesting conglomeration of constellations, which has kept me busy studying it since."

Andrella returned my look. "Keeping him distracted!" she hissed at me, and I nodded in grim agreement. It was becoming ever more clear that the druids, or should I say, the daemons didn't want us noticing anything significant about that comet.

"It will take years to identify all the stars there!" Gorjez lamented. "Certainly not enough time to look at any old comets. But since we have a lever-happy swordswoman..." He paused to glare over his shoulder. Andrella smiled at him sweetly.

"There," he said finally, with a sigh. "Well, there it is..."

Then he went still. "What the... There must be some mistake..."

"What?" I asked again.

"Let Kianne see," Andrella agreed.

Gorjez acted as if didn't hear, adjusting the lens carefully. "Well, it appears to have altered its direction..."

I felt my sense of foreboding increase.

Suddenly he turned around. "Andrella! Did you touch the levers!?"

"No!" she insisted.

Gorjez looked at me. "I didn't see her touch anything," I assured him.

"Hmm..." he started, but Andrella cut him off.

"The deer!" she cried, pointing.

That same deer had somehow climbed onto the platform on which the telescope sat. We all made panic noises and hurried over, trying to figure out how to get the deer off it without hurting the telescope. "Here deer!" I cooed, waving some tall grass at it enticingly. "Nice deer!"

Gorjez stomped his foot. "That stupid deer has been hanging around ever since that druid left!"

I glanced sidelong at him, then returned my attention to the deer. It was making its way toward me, placid. "Good deer." Without looking her way, I shot a thought at Andrella. "Kill it when it's out of his sight. I'll bet the druids planted it."

She nodded in agreement, and as soon as we had the deer off the telescope, we poked and prodded it away into the trees. "Gorjez, let's check on the comet," I suggested while Andrella pulled out her Gargoyle swords.

The two of us retraced our steps. "Did the deer hurt the telescope?" I asked anxiously.

Gorjez did a brief check. "No, actually." Phew.

The sage went back to the lens where he made some adjustments. "There we go."

"May I see?" I asked anxiously. "Please!"

"Sure, sure," he finally agreed, stepping back. "Take a look."

With bated breath I positioned myself before the lens, holding my hands clasped in front of me so that I wouldn't accidentally bang into the telescope. Making sure not to touch it, I leaned forward until I could see into the lens.

The comet was wildly flashing, looking much like the last time I had seen it. I wasn't deterred, instead focusing as hard as I could on the colors.

I realized I had forgotten to breathe when I had to take a breath to ask out loud, "Can you zoom in on it?"

Gorjez adjusted some things. "Is that better?"

I barely heard him, my entire concentration focused on the comet. I struggled to pick out each of the unique specific colors. At first glance it appeared to be simply flashing at random, but then I realized that there were only four colors in evidence: brown, red, white, and blue.

The white puzzled me for a moment, for that would mean Light, and why would I be seeing that? But then I remembered that Lightning sometimes manifests as white, and of course, Earth is often brown...

"Earth... Fire... Lightning... Water..." I didn't realize I had murmured the words out loud until after they had been spoken. Even then, I'm not sure that Gorjez had understood me. I think he said something in response, but the voice only struck my ears and did not reach my mind. The colors of the comet seemed to be engulfing my view. Perhaps I shouldn't have asked him to zoom in on it. But I couldn't seem to tear my gaze away.

Maybe it was just the angle of the view, but the comet appeared to be heading in our direction.

The colors swam in my vision, followed abruptly by darkness. The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back on the ground, with Andrella kneeling over me. "Kianne!" And I realized I'd fainted.

"Four... coming..." I found myself murmuring, then I blinked as I looked up into her worried face. Suddenly it dawned on me that she was probably afraid I had relapsed into the coma again. "I'm...I'm okay," I assured her, pushing myself up.

"What? What!?" Gorjez wanted to know, trying to get in front of the telescope so that he could see for himself. He trod on one of my ankles doing so, and I yelped and pulled away, climbing to my feet.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, between my eyes. "I was...afraid of this..."

Andrella held my arm in a comforting way. "What happened?" she asked in a low voice. But I didn't want to tell her with Gorjez there to hear.

"Is something wrong?" Gorjez asked.

I shook myself out of the revere. "Nothing," I found myself saying. "It's...nothing." Liar! my mind screamed at myself. But how could I tell him that death might well be literally falling from the sky? "Thank you, Gorjez."

He seemed put off. "If I didn't know better, I would say that thing is heading straight for us."

I gave him a dry look. "Funny, isn't it?"

"But it's just the way the light is hitting that gear. It's perfectly normal."

"Sure it is," Andrella muttered, catching on, I think, to what I had seen. The two of us started walking away from the telescope by silent agreement. We were done here.

"I think that's what the druid was worried about... Hey!" Gorjez spun about to face us. "You are just walking off!"

I was feeling too tired to get into it. Maybe I was relapsing after all. "I do appreciate it, thanks. But we've got to go now."

Gorjez apparently decided not to argue. "Well, I do have to get back to those constellations..."

For a moment, I almost told him not to bother, that it was the comet that he should be keeping an eye on. But what if that got him into trouble? Clearly the daemons were trying their best to steer him away from it. If he got stubborn on them about it...

"Thank you for your time," Andrella said, as if reading my thoughts, and I silently formed a moongate back to the Keep.

Stonily I walked from the moongate to the keep, planning to tell Andrella everything once we were sitting down inside. However, as soon as I went through the door I realized someone else was already seated at the table.

Kilmas. I really didn't want to deal with Kilmas right now. I turned around and walked right back out the door, much to Andrella's surprise, I think.

I sat down on the steps outside, my mind still reeling from the comet for some reason. Unfortunately for me, however, the heavy metal door opened again a moment later. "Hey," Kilmas said, standing over me. "I need that hourglass."

"Why?" I asked, not in the mood to elaborate on the question. Obviously, I knew what he wanted the hourglass for, but what would he need to talk to the Time Lord about?

But I lifted my head and realized Andrella was standing there, leaning against the door jam with a sigh. "Can we come inside please?"

Reluctantly, I got up and walked inside, sitting down at the table. Kilmas held his hand out to me expectantly.

"The hourglass isn't enchanted," I told him, too tired to argue. "We'd have to do that first. But what's on your mind?"

He shrugged. "I have been reading, and I think I know what my destiny is."

"Really?" I asked, but he was still speaking.

"But I don't like it," Kilmas finished. "So I decided I'm not going to do it."

Now this was a new one. "What is it?" we asked him.

"I can't tell you," he replied. "It's in the future."

We went back and forth on that one for a while; I was too drained to really concentrate much on the words. But then he said something that stuck in my memory. "Why should I worry about this stuff?" Kilmas demanded. "Why do I care what about all these Avatar journals?"

I scratched my head. "How many are there?"

"Lots." Kilmas shrugged as if it was no big deal. "You're in there too."

Now I was completely confused. "Me? But I haven't written in it!"

"You're writing a journal now, aren't you? All Avatars write this stuff."

"Well, sure, but I'm not writing in the Tome of Stars!"

"All Avatars' journals are in here," Kilmas repeated. "So, yes, you did. Or are."

I stared at him.

Kilmas let out a breath and opened the Tome. "Here, let me see." He began flipping pages. "Let's see... Part the first... All about the ettin. And here, the part where you offed Minax... And yes. The part where you said Kilmas is a handful!!" He slammed the book shut and glared at me with fiery eyes.

Andrella burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" Kilmas whined like a little kid.

"Oh, yes, it is," she snickered.

Silently I stood up. "Never mind. I'll go get the hourglass enchanted." I turned and walked out of the Keep, hearing silence manifest behind me. "I don't want to know my future..."

---

[5/7/2004] (same entry)

Andrella caught up to me just as I was reaching the steps that lead up into the castle proper. Turns out she'd run out of the keep and jumped through my moongate right before it closed.

I turned to face her, blinking in surprise.

"You weren't really going to leave me there, were you?" she teased me as she came to a stop next to me.

I chuckled. "Sorry about that. I just had to get out of there."

"I understand. Kilmas is a little much sometimes."

I glanced away from her, focusing on nothing. "I think I know what he meant though..."

"About the Tome?" she queried astutely.

I nodded. "It sounds as if he's saying that the journals get added to the tome sometime in the future. So I guess someday someone's going to find mine and add it in." I shrugged. "But Kilmas can read it now, somehow, because it's the language of time I guess..."

Andrella nodded in agreement. "That makes sense."

I sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't be writing a journal."

"Why would you say that?" she demanded, and absently I wondered if I'd ever even told her that I was writing one to begin with. I found I couldn't remember.

"I was thinking at first that maybe, someday, someone might find it helpful. Like we found Michael's writings useful, but..." I had to laugh at myself sheepishly. "Well, it's Kilmas reading it!"

Andrella considered that seriously. "Is there really anything in there that shouldn't be heard?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing really personal. Just...what has been happening to us. Notes, and things. Mostly I am writing it for my own memory." I chuckled.

"I would think it's something to be proud of," Andrella said, surprising me.

"It's a journal," I pointed out, laughing.

"It marks your accomplishments as the Avatar..." she began.

"And lots of your accomplishments too," I interjected with a grin.

She nodded. "We've been through a lot, and accomplished a lot. And, yes, sometimes there are things we all must admit to, like defeat or trickery. But it's so much better to read that than read how it was resolved or changed."

I pondered her words. "It's not easy to write about what goes wrong though."

"I agree with that. But the aftermath becomes so much more after reading that. I think the mistakes made make you more of a person. Someone others can relate to. You're not some superhero that is invulnerable to everything." She giggled, and I outright laughed.

"No, definitely not that," I snickered.

"Others can feel more of a connection to the Avatar after reading her thoughts and feelings during turmoil and celebration," Andrella finished, smiling.

I considered it. "Well, if it helps, I'll keep writing it."

"I think it will help you, if nothing else," she agreed.

"Kilmas ought to know everything that is going to happen though," I pointed out, scratching my head. "Which is kind of scary to think about." Then I frowned. "Although maybe it would help if we asked Kilmas to tell us of the other journals. Or even what's in the future of my own..."

"But do you really want to know the future?" Andrella asked me quietly.

I shook my head vigorously. "No. But it is a potential source of knowledge. We could ask him how all of this turns out. Who Abraham is. Whether we win or lose." I chuckled slightly.

Andrella shifted. "I'd rather do what I feel doing at the time, and then see how it pans out."

I was silent for a moment before the obvious question dawned on me. "Wait a second. Kilmas only said 'I think I know my destiny.' If he could read the future journal, why wouldn't he know? Why only 'think'?"

"Maybe the pieces of the journal are coming clear to him slowly?" Andrella suggested. "Like he can read parts and then the rest is still faded out?"

It made sense.

I finally looked at the doors into the castle, changing the subject. "While we're here, we could tell Lord British about what we've learned."

"Let's go see him," she agreed.

We shelved that discussion and entered the castle, walking straight for the throne room. But the throne was empty. Not that this is uncommon. Andrella and I smirked at each other and turned back to explore the castle looking for the king. Lord British has never minded before.

But as we were walking out, I heard one of the guards call after us. "Avatar, Andrella." We retraced our route, and the guard added, "Are you looking for Lord British?"

When we gave him the affirmative, he added, "I will inform you he and Lord Dupré are away on business for the day."

Bummer. "Is Nystul around?" I asked, remembering our original reason for being here.

The guard nodded. "Lord Nystul is here. I can lead you to his chamber."

He took us down the hall to a room in the far corner, where Nystul had the doors barred. "Lord Nystul?" the guard called through the door.

"I'm busy!" Nystul's voice sounded muffled through the heavy metal of the door.

Andrella and I snickered.

"M'lord, you have visitors," the guard tried again.

"I'm busy!!" Nystul snapped impatiently.

"It is the Avatar and Lady Andrella."

"Oh." Nystul sounded like he'd suddenly come to a halt. "One second!" And then there was a sudden flurry of motion, followed by the sound of glass breaking.

We glanced at the guard.

The guard shrugged, looking as if he was used to this. "He will be with you in a moment."

"Thank you," we said to him, and he went off to return to his duties.

Nystul opened the door a few moments later. Andrella went through first, but stopped so suddenly I almost walked into her. As I came around her, I realized why she was startled. Nystul's skin had shifted into the most bizarre of colors, as if he had bathed his face and hands in red and blue paint.

"Nystul... Are you feeling well?" Andrella asked.

"I am fine, and you?" he responded brightly.

"You, uh, don't look...um...normal?" It was one of the few times I think I've seen Andrella sputter.

"What!?" Nystul returned. "Is that why you came to see me? To make fun of my nose!?"

"Well, no. It's not your nose I'm afraid," Andrella snickered.

"Look at your hands," I suggested helpfully.

"High and mighty," Nystul grumbled, "just because you wake up on the..." He broke off when he raised his hands to do as I'd suggested. "Oh," he said upon noting their color. "Oh, this is nothing."

He turned quickly without giving us a chance to respond and began rapidly hiding some bottles. He wasn't fast enough, though, for me to miss catching their labels. Apparently, Nystul was busy concocting more of his unique skin cream.

"So, anyway," he said, turning back to us. "What brings you to this neck of the woods so early in the morning?"

Morning? I found myself absently wondering what time it was. "We were needing the hourglass enchanted again." I pulled it out and handed it to him.

"Already!?"

"Aye, afraid so..."

Nystul eyed me. "I haven't been exactly stocking up on reagents if you know I am saying..."

I sighed and dug out my pouch of reagents. "How many do you need?" I handed him the bag. "I have more in the bank."

"The bank!" he echoed as he poked into the pouch. "Be careful! Someone at the bank has the black cube!"

I blinked. "Oops. That would be me," I chuckled sheepishly.

"You!?" Nystul stared at me.

I nodded. "I stuck it in my bank box. It was the only place I could put it for the time being."

"What the heck are you thinking!?" he wailed. "Do you want the Guardian knowing how much money everyone has!?"

I looked at him for a moment. "I...uh...don't think he cares..."

"That's safer then him knowing what the Avatar is doing, right?" Andrella pointed out.

Nystul dug into a chest nearby. "I had this made for just this reason..."

"Anyway," I added reasonably, "we're going to destroy it soon enough."

Nystul spun back around. "No! It's the last one!"

I blinked again. "Huh?" was all I could manage.

"We might need it," the mage commented.

"For what!?" Andrella demanded.

"For what?" Nystul repeated in disbelief. "For what?? For what!?"

"We don't need to talk to the Guardian," Andrella and I said at almost the same time.

Nystul whirled around and suddenly pulled something out of the chest, thrusting it into my hands. "Then why did British have this made for you!?"

It was a small metal box, nicely crafted out of mytheril.

"It blocks the black cube from transmitting," Nystul told us proudly. "I told him it would."

I scratched my head. "Well, we could put it in there... But I was thinking, that hammer destroys blackrock, so..."

"Well, whatever, just get it out of the bank!"

Andrella smirked as she handed me her bag of holding. I retrieved the blackrock cube and placed it inside of the mytheril box, closing the lid securely. Then for good measure I put the whole thing back into the bank again.

"There," I said. "Now, the reagents... How many do you need?"

Nystul looked at me blankly. "For what?"

"The hourglass," I told him. "That you're holding."

He looked down at his hand as if it belonged to somebody else. "Oh, yes. Here you go." Nystul held it out to me.

"No, no, it needs to be enchanted," I reminded him. Andrella snickered quietly.

"Ohh." He took it back. "Well, I haven't exactly been stocking up on reagents if you know what I mean."

I found eyes rolling back in my head. It's involuntary, and almost guaranteed when dealing with Nystul. "How many?" I asked a third time.

"Around a hundred of each," he responded, and I seem to recall that's what he asked for last time, so at least he's being consistent in that regard.

"I don't remember how many I had." I held out my hand. "Here, give me my bag back, so I can put a hundred of each in there."

"I thought you wanted me to enchant the hourglass?" Nystul protested.

I put a lot of effort into being patient. "I do. But it's easier to count them if I have them all together."

"Fine." Nystul pulled out the pouch and handed it back to me.

I busied myself at my bank box, opening my stashed stores of reagents that I keep in the bank, and also the drawstring bag that Nystul had handed me, so that I could see them both at once. But as soon as I started counting I realized something was amiss. The bag Nystul had handed me contained at least 200 of each reagent, some piles more.

For a moment I stared at it, then suddenly I thrust the bag back at him. "Hey! You gave me the wrong bag! You have more than enough here!"

Nystul looked inside the bag. "Wow! You can afford all of these!?"

I nearly fell over.

"I knew you had more!" Nystul grumbled, as if to himself. "Now to enchant this thing..."

He wandered off to one of the tables, and I just shook my head and explained to Andrella in quiet tones what had happened.

"Let's hope he does a better job than with the skin cream," I chuckled in a low voice as we waited for Nystul to finish. Andrella covered a snicker.

Suddenly a burst of lightning-like energy struck Nystul out of nowhere, startling Andrella and I, although Nystul himself didn't seem fazed at all. A moment later the mage turned back to us, his face black with smoke. "Here you go!"

I was so busy staring I almost didn't realize he was holding the hourglass out to me. After a moment I took it, realizing it was in fact enchanted. "Are...you okay?"

"Never felt better!"

I shook my head. "Well, thanks for the help."

"Well, as lovely as this visit was... I'm busy!"

"Sheesh," Andrella chuckled as we walked out.

Nystul's voice floated out behind us. "What is this all over my hands..?"

We made our leave, walking out of the castle thoughtfully. At this point we decided to find out what time it was, and I was startled to discover it was eight o'clock in the morning. I guess we were in the tunnels fighting gargoyles most of the night, but it sure didn't feel like it. I decided I didn't want to throw off my sleeping schedule by going to bed now, and Andrella agreed, so we pressed on.

We returned to the keep, where Kilmas was waiting expectantly. "What took you so long?" he demanded.

"It's Nystul. What do you expect?" I chuckled.

"Give me the hourglass," Kilmas demanded.

"Excuse me?" Andrella glared at him. "Give you?"

"I can use it just fine," I smirked.

Kilmas explained with a superior tone, "I need to talk to Hawkwind alone."

"No, you don't," I chuckled. "We need to hear this too."

"I thought you didn't want to know about dying."

I glanced at him, then walked over and sat down at the table. "So, your destiny involves me dying?" I asked steadily.

"You need to sit down and be quiet," Andrella snapped at Kilmas. Grumbling, he finally acquiesced.

"Let me talk," he demanded as I took out the hourglass.

"You be quiet, Kilmas," Andrella countered. "Kianne will talk."

I remained silent. I knew Kilmas would talk whether we wanted him to or not, and at any rate, he was the one who really needed the guidance here.

I set the hourglass on the table, holding it lightly with both hands. Without saying anything to the others, I activated it and waited for the Time Lord's voice.

It came as expected. "Our time begins. Greetings Avatar."

And, as expected, I got all of two words into my return greetings before Kilmas gushed forth, "Hawkwind, it's me, Kilmas Valence. We need to talk about this destiny thing, buddy."

"And greetings Kilmas." The Time Lord sounded amused.

"I read the tome," Kilmas explained. "And I don't think its funny what you tricked me to do."

I raised an eyebrow. "Tricked you?"

"Kilmas, you should know the future is always uncertain. As the past can never be changed, only your actions now, in the present, can change the course of your destiny."

I listened thoughtfully. So what he reads isn't set into stone...

"I read the tome, Hawkwind," Kilmas repeated indignantly. I let him talk. He was pretty much cutting straight to the matter anyway.

"You read what will be. The future can change. It is in the hands you and the Avatar and Andrella."

"Oh?" Kilmas seemed to consider that. "Well then. I don't want to help anymore. I don't want to do this."

I fell onto the table.

"What?" Andrella shot a look at him, then glanced back at the hourglass, apparently figuring she'd get more answers out of the Time Lord than Kilmas. "What is he talking about?"

"Kilmas, I don't have much time, I'm sorry." The Time Lord's words made me grimace as I remembered Mondain hot on his trail. If only there was something we could do to help him. "Please," the voice continued, "let Kianne and Andrella show you the path of the Virtues." Idly, I wondered what that has to do with anything. "Open your heart and allow fate to guide you."

Fate. Have I mentioned I hate fate?

"I am sure they will lead you to a wonderful destiny."

I think he meant us. I'm not so sure we'll lead Kilmas into a wonderful anything, but then again, if the Time Lord thinks so, I trust his judgment on these matters more than my own.

"Avatar, please show Kilmas the path of Virtues."

It was appearing to be an increasingly large challenge, but there is always a chance. "I'll do my best," was the best I could offer.

"And Andrella, please show him the way of the Valence Knights."

Knights. Oh ho, this will be interesting.

"I will do my best," Andrella grinned.

"I don't want to be here," Kilmas complained. "I want to go."

I looked at him. "Kilmas, whatever destiny you read, we can change, right?"

The Time Lord answered for me. "I am sure Kilmas is mistaken. The path must change. And only together can you change it."

The path must change. He didn't say could, I noted. He didn't say should. He said must.

Suddenly I understood what this is all about. Like the Ages of Armageddon. There is some future, or some potential future, that we have to avert. Prevent. Change, if you will, although since it hasn't really happened it, it can't said to be changed, I suppose.

And that's why the Time Lord has been getting involved. It wasn't just by accident or by coincidence. This is really his business, his concern. But while he deals with the future, only we can do something about it.

While I was lost in my own thoughts, Andrella was commenting, "You know, Kilmas, if you would work with us a little more, this wouldn't be a bad experience for you."

"She is right, you cannot do it alone." My head lifted at the Time Lord's voice. "And our time has ended for now."

"Thank you for the guidance," I told him as we bade him farewell.

I tucked the hourglass safely away. Kilmas had his head buried on his arms on the table, and he groaned. I felt a sudden sympathy for him, so I reached out to gently touch his shoulder.

"Kilmas, it's all right. Did you hear what he said? Not only can the future change, but it must. So whatever you read about your destiny isn't true."

He lifted his head. "Well, we can only change the present, right?"

I nodded. "But that's how we change the future."

"I don't want to read anymore. Andrella can learn to read the stupid book." He got to his feet suddenly and thrust out his arms toward her, the Tome of Stars in one hand and the Staff of Time in the other.

She took a step backward. "I can't hold that, Kilmas..."

Immediately I walked over. "Here. I'll carry it."

He handed me the two items without argument. "I don't want it. You have to do it," he added, looking over his shoulder to address Andrella. "I don't want to risk my life for these people here. They mean nothing to me. They are your friends, not mine."

Andrella glared at him. "People aren't worth saving? I don't know most of them, Kilmas, but I do know that they are human beings that have lives and families. That's all I need to know."

He just shrugged.

Andrella sighed. "Kilmas, whether we like to admit it or not, we are family. We are blood. And I'm asking you...as your blood, to help us."

"And I'm supposed to use my powers to save everyone?" he asked haughtily.

"If not that, then to help us," I suggested. "Come to the shrines with us."

It wasn't really my idea. Andrella had come up with it first, but after thinking on it, I had to agree it was probably a good idea.

Kilmas glanced back at me. "The only reason I would help you, Kianne, is because Hawkwind asked me to."

I gave a little shrug. "Then do it because he asked you to."

"You're just like all the other Avatars though," he scoffed. "After you're done here, you'll forget all about the Virtues and go home, while me and Andrella--we don't have a home to go to."

"How can you say that?" Andrella demanded in surprise. "You don't know Kianne well enough to make comments like that to her."

"We don't forget the Virtues," I chimed in, including all of the Avatars because I was sure they are like me in that respect. The path we have taken is not easily forgotten.

"I know the other Avatars' notes have a lot of dreams. But where are they now?" Kilmas shrugged in disdain. "Not here. Sure, they save Britannia few times and become heroes, and legends, and then they walk away, grow too old...never want to come back."

I'd tried to get a few words in edgewise, but Kilmas just kept talking as if he couldn't hear a thing I said. I found myself involuntarily thinking of Michael. He'd known they were calling for him and he'd refused to come. Then I shook my head. I wasn't Michael! Although, Kilmas had probably read of him...

"I think Britannia is more in Kianne's heart than any other Avatar that has ever been," Andrella was able to say once Kilmas ran out of steam and trailed off.

"Yeah, for a few years."

"Everyone has his time..." I murmured.

"But after two hundred years?"

"Two hundred? It's happened." I chuckled. I'd come back to Britannia once to find that two hundred years had passed...

Kilmas finally shrugged again. "We'll see. The future is uncertain."

I glanced at him. Was he trying to say that he'd read about me abandoning Britannia, going home and never being heard from again? But hadn't he said earlier that I died? Which was it?

Ayla handily interrupted when she walked in and Kilmas asked her for just about everything she was wearing. After we boxed his ears, I crossed my arms and leaned against the table. "So, are you coming with us?" I asked the both of them. "We're visiting the shrines. And we have to go on foot."

Ayla agreed immediately. I drew forth my map. "We can start with the nearest..."

"How many are there?" Kilmas wanted to know.

"Eight aboveground, eight underground." It was funny; earlier, Andrella and I had discussed that, having a slight disagreement on which shrines Erimani had meant. I'd just naturally assumed he was talking about the normal aboveground shrines. Andrella had thought he meant the underground ones. After some thought, I decided it's possible he was referring to both. After all, the moonblade of Light would probably appreciate the aboveground shrines, but the underground ones are better suited for the blade of Dark.

"Underground, yech," I tacked on, engrossed with the map as I plotted a good route. "Walking to those won't be fun. But we can do aboveground for now, and the others later."

"Well," Kilmas decided, "I don't have to go to all of them. And I won't go to any underground."

"It's up to you," I told him, "but you could help. You are very good with magic."

"I'm through with this land's magic. It's all messed up."

I raised an eyebrow at him over my map. "Oh?"

"Sucking energy right out of you..."

"Kilmas, why must you always be so difficult?" Andrella sighed.

"I'm not difficult," he protested. "I'm changing the future."

Oh ho. I decided that response warranted further thought, but not right now.

"You never want to be helpful," Andrella grumbled. "Just bossy and rude."

"Bossy and rude? Look who's talking."

Andrella stomped closer to him, going almost nose-to-nose, and blocking him against the wall so that he had no escape route. "Uh oh," I chuckled.

Kilmas gulped. "Joke..."

"Stop it!" she snapped. "Stop the jokes. Stop the lies. You better get serious real quick, or I'll make you get serious. And that's not going to be fun for you."

"Aye, you are to be a knight, Kilmas," I chuckled, most of my attention still on the map. The nearest shrine to us was Spirituality, so if we started from there...no, that would be too awkward. Best to start with the other side of the map, Sacrifice, and go eastward.

"Hey, you know what? Nothing in the tome said I was a knight," he pointed out suddenly, as if inspiration had struck.

I shrugged. "So? Change the future." I looked up briefly to give him a grin.

Kilmas nodded in agreement. "Not a bad idea..."

Andrella crossed her arms. "If you want me to teach you, then straighten up. I don't see that you have the discipline to be a knight. When I see some change in you, then we'll see about training."

I straightened up then and slapped my map closed, taking charge. "For starters, we will travel to the shrines. On foot. Starting with Vesper. We can begin with Sacrifice and work our way around the continent."

"Sacrifice!?" Kilmas repeated in disgust. "What kind of a virtue is sacrifice?"

It would appear we have a way to go. But I was happy as long as he was asking questions.

We took a moongate to Vesper, then visited the bank and withdrew our moonblades. Thus properly armed, the group of four of us set out across the countryside.

We walked on foot going over. Kilmas jumped at shadows and fretted at every wild animal we saw. We did encounter a couple of dire wolves, but we took them out before Kilmas had to confront them. Otherwise, the trip was uneventful.

Kilmas showed us his Haste spell, which worked much as I remembered from way back. However, it was, of course, Time magic, which Andrella and I kept trying to tell him not to use. He apparently doesn't get it, however.

Finally, we reached the shrine. It was still glowing, just as we had left it last time. "Ah, here it is," I smiled, and walked over to stand before it. On impulse I kneeled on one knee and held the moonblade out before me, vertically, with the blade's point resting on the ground and my hands on the hilt.

Andrella came up beside me and mirrored my position.

I closed my eyes to chant the mantra and meditate. I wasn't actually sure if the shrine would speak to us or not, as they only do so when they feel the need to, but it wouldn't hurt to meditate. Yet, sure enough, the voice came.

"Welcome, Avatar."

Distantly, I heard Kilmas speak up in surprise, but I was tuning out everything around me, as I usually do when I meditate. Andrella commented to me later that she'd given him a stern look to shut up.

The shrine nevertheless continued. "Your quest to undo the Daemon Seal will require a great sacrifice. A sacrifice of not a material item, but far deeper within yourself."

At the time, I did not really ponder the words, just soaking them up where they embedded themselves in my memory. Now, I can't help but wonder what the shrine could have been referring to. What could I give up within myself? My mind did jump quickly to one possible answer, probably still fixated on it even after all this time: my immortality. But how could I give it up twice? I still need to destroy the Gem of Immortality...

"May the Virtues guide you underground."

So we did need to visit the underground shrines as well. It was nice to have confirmation. Getting a sense of dismissal, I opened my eyes and got to my feet, reaching out to touch the blade of my sword to the ankh. Andrella did the same. Our moonblades glowed briefly before returning to their usual luster.

The two of us stepped away from the shrine. "One down," I smiled.

Kilmas looked at me. "Can I try it?"

I was surprised, but encouraged. "Sure, if you'd like." I stepped aside to allow him access. After all, the shrines do not exist only for the Avatar. Anyone who wishes may approach them.

Kilmas walked over to stand before the shrine and tried to chant the way I had. I coached him a little on his pronunciation of the mantra. "Close your eyes and meditate on CAH. That's it. CAH. More of an 'ah' sound. Take a breath and relax."

"Shhh..." he complained finally.

I fell silent as he repeated the mantra correctly this time. Smiling, I stepped back and waited quietly.

The shrine responded after a moment. "You are not yet worthy of Sacrifice's blessings."

Kilmas turned back to us with a huff. "Did you hear that!?"

"In time, Kilmas," I smiled gently at him. "You have a road to travel."

"What does it want to be worthy? And what do you get for it?"

I countered his questions with one of my own. "Do you want to be worthy?"

"If it's good. And easy."

"Nothing worth it is easy," I reminded him.

Kilmas shrugged. "So I have to sacrifice a lamb or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that. It's giving of your time and your skills. And items, sometimes, but it depends on the situation." And your life, sometimes, but I didn't mention that.

"To who?"

"Depends on the situation. You are giving of your time and skills right now," I pointed out to him.

"Am I worthy then?"

"In time. It is a journey, not a single act. Take it one day at a time."

"One day at a time..." he repeated slowly. "If your notes were true, I don't have too long."

I blinked, then shook my head. "Well, they aren't," I reminded him stubbornly. "We're changing it, remember?"

"Yeah, well, you are trying to break a daemon seal right?" he asked. I nodded. "You did that in the future."

At least that part is good to know. "Some things may stay the same," I stated. "But overall, there will be differences."

"So some things will stay the same..."

"And some will change," Andrella agreed.

"Great. Well, I hope a lot changes, if you know I mean."

I hope so as well...

We made the return trip on the magic carpet. After some thought we decided that since it was nearing evening, we would revisit Vesper, replace our moonblades in the bank, and then hit the sack and start out again tomorrow. And since we could travel by moongate when we weren't carrying the swords, there was no need to rent a room at the inn--we'd just return to the Shadow Keep and sleep in our own beds.

I remember the days when I had no access to such easy transportation...

Right before we went our separate ways at the keep, I paused on impulse and stopped Kilmas with a word. "Kilmas."

He came to a halt on the steps to his room to look back at me.

My back was to him, but I glanced over my shoulder. "Did you read of Armageddon?"

His only response was a shudder.

I gave him a grim smile before I went on my way. "That's what we're changing."

"Well...I hope you do."

We will. We definitely will.

As I write this, I realize, with everything that happened, I forgot to tell Andrella about the comet. Oh well, she's probably asleep by now, and I don't want to disturb her. I'll tell her in the morning.

---

¹ In Ultima 6, the Gargoyles believe a false prophecy which says that the Avatar must be sacrificed or their race will perish.

² In Ultima 7, the small blackrock cube has a magical property which forces anyone in its vicinity to always tell the truth.

³ Abraham and Elizabeth are two of Batlin's top allies in Ultima 7.

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