AC2:Announcements - 2003/09 - Resurgence
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September Episode: "Resurgence"
Leaning heavily on her staff, Ciandra hobbled out from the orrery's shelter into the driving rain. The rain was red, almost the color of blood, while the clouds that raced across the sky were a deep maroon. From those clouds, violet lightning occasionally stabbed the ground, and the peals of thunder that followed sounded like deep, ominous laughter. She had seen skies like this before, long ago. She had hoped never to see them again.
The first time she'd seen such storms had been about a decade after the defeat of the One Olthoi Queen. The Gelidites, undead refugees of the Dericost nobility, had discovered an enormous crystalline shard and cast magics on it, using it as part of their scheme to freeze the world. The Gelidites were unaware that this shard was a piece of the Crystalline Array, a construct designed to trap Bael'Zharon and keep him confined in a pocket of portalspace. Their tampering set in motion a sequence of events that eventually resulted in Bael'Zharon's release from 3,000 years of captivity. It had been perhaps humanity's darkest hour since coming to these lands. Only the most unusual alliance between Lord Asheron, the Virindi, the Dericost Undead and the humans was able to defeat Bael'Zharon. And while that alliance may have destroyed Bael'Zharon's mortal form, his intellect survived and passed into a dark, nebulous realm. As he fell into the dark abyss, Bael'Zharon's last words, proclaiming that the world would never be rid of him, had resounded throughout the land.
Those words proved true. After his long imprisonment, Bael'Zharon was not so ready to accept confinement again. Decades after his defeat, the inner sea of Dereth began to bubble and froth. From this seething cauldron, a bolt of absolute darkness shot up into the sky, struck and shattered the moon Rez'arel, and destroyed the town of Yaraq. Ciandra ordered Arcanum scouts to explore the hissing crater left by the event, but none returned. Soon, rolling clouds of black mist oozed up from the crater, horribly twisting whatever they touched, fusing stone and flesh, plant and animal. At the forefront of those clouds rose a great winged creature. Bael'Zharon had returned.
The world had changed much since it had last seen the Hopeslayer, and Ciandra had lived through all those changes. The Empyrean Shrines discovered by Nuhmudira had become her life's work, and Ciandra's manipulation of the magics contained in those gems had gifted, or cursed her, with her long life. Even Ciandra herself had trouble remembering how old she was. Her life had been rich, filled with both joy and pain. She had seen the Kingdoms born, seen them declare war on each other, and finally witnessed their uneasy peace. She'd seen that peace give birth to a golden age. Now that golden age had been shattered by Bael'Zharon.
As the aging scholar stood there in the rain, an Arcanum student bounded up the orrery stairs. As he approached, she extended her rain-shielding spell around the breathless young man.
Pausing only a moment to gasp for air, the student choked out, "Xarabydun has fallen."
Although Ciandra had expected this news, that expectation could not lessen its sting. She had helped found the Arcanum's first outpost at Xarabydun, and seen that outpost grow into a thriving academy. The years she spent in research there made it her home. Now it was gone.
"How many escaped?" she asked, as she wove spells to heal the student's wounds and restore his strength.
"Not many, Magess," he replied, shaking his head. "There were some defenses. The Order sent a few Warding Golems to protect us, and the Dominion sent the last of their augmented Tuskers to defend their followers in the city, but it wasn't nearly enough. The Shadow Kingdoms sent nothing, but that isn't surprising. Those who survived the attack fled to Khayyaban, but it won't be long before that city falls as well."
"I see. It seems this won't be like the last time that Bael'Zharon walked our lands. This island, this world, will be forever altered by the coming conflict. There is now only one task left for me to complete." She turned back towards the shelter of the orrery, and slowly made her way toward the portal that stood at its center. Pausing there, she turned to the student. "Come with me."
Obligingly, he stepped into the portal. As he materialized in the chamber where Ciandra waited, the student gasped in surprise. "Blessed Mothers!"
Ciandra stood a few feet to his side and smiled, her face a complex web of wrinkles. "Your first visit?"
The student merely nodded. Ciandra continued, "You know Lord Asheron once said that nothing prevented us from gaining powers and abilities similar to those possessed by his people. Yet no matter how we study or train, we seem unable to reach those heights. My own studies indicate that we do have limitations…but they aren't physical." She tapped her forehead, "They are mental. It seems our minds have deeply set rules regarding what is and isn't possible, and breaking those rules without some sort of outside influence is extremely difficult."
Looking at the Shrine that stood in the center of the chamber, she sighed, "I had hoped this Shrine would be the means to transcend those limitations. Everything I know says it should be, but there is something missing. The gems I've created for the Shrine to imprint on our minds don't seem to contain the right..." she paused, struggling to describe it. "I suppose 'patterns' would be the best word."
Ciandra ran her hand along the surface of the Shrine and sighed again. To the student it seemed as if she leaned even more heavily on her staff. After a moment, she said, "After so very long, I think it is finally time for me to leave this world. But before I am gone, the Shrine must be hidden; it cannot fall into the Enemy's hands. And to do this I will need your help…" She smiled as she trailed off. "I just realized I don't know your name."
"It is Elmarc, Magess."
"Elmarc, help me with this last task," she said, looking intently at him. "Help me work the magics that must hide the Shrine until it can once again be used by our people. If that time ever comes."
The wards had been cast, and just prior to the final sealing of the Shrine, Ciandra had forced Elmarc to leave. Two were needed to start the magics, but one could complete them, and there was no need for the young man to die.
Now she walked again around the Shrine, running her hand along it one last time. As she did so, she smiled wistfully, remembering Lord Asheron's words to her so long ago, when he had come to view the rediscovered Empyrean Shrines. It was one of the few times he hadn't seemed burdened by the weight of the world. He'd smiled at her and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if your discoveries here have begun a process that will open your bodies and minds to greater knowledge and ability." She had always expected to see that process through to its conclusion, and watch humanity and the other civilized races transcend their limitations. She felt a pang of sadness as she realized she no longer had the option. If only she could have found the right patterns to imbue into the gems. At least, she thought, she'd done her best to ensure that if anyone survived the present conflict, the Shrine would be theirs.
As Ciandra sat down on the chamber floor and prepared to write her final message to that future generation, she thought that perhaps, just perhaps, they would finish the work that she'd begun. And that wasn't such a bad thought at all.
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