31 day of the Month of Blood
Dark Elf Sanctuary and Tavern
I was feeling rather scrambled as I rushed about in the tavern. What with the nightmares and the lack of sleep, and the visions and illusions... and voices... It was enough to make anyone feel a little crazy- and I was almost out of my mind. Deliberately not looking at my hands, I penned a quick note that slanted uphill and was messy, since I wasn't looking at the paper and my hands were shaking.
'Went to find brother near Barton. Be back soon.'
I dropped the note down the hole to Duo's Dungeon, not quite sure why, and feld the tavern, trying to escape the visions, unsucessfully. My cloak flew from my shoulders as I ran, and landed in the middle of the tavern floor. I didn't dare to turn and get it, as the feral vampire was leaning over it smirking.
- - -
I slowed automatically as I reached the battlefield, memories resurfacing as I crossed the barren land that was almost deviod of life. I took slow steps, looking around wondering. A rock interrupted my step, and I tripped, falling to the hard reddish earth.... on top of something. The white thing under her hands seemed to absorb the blood I saw on my hands. I pushed myself up slowly, taking in the object, then shreiked and pushed myself back from it. the 'thing' was an elfen skeleton, perfectly intact- a child's skeleton. A long 3-pronged dagger stuck out of the ground where the boy's throat had been. A dry sob exited my being as I realized that this was what was left of Kyto. "No..." I said softly, "No..."
"Yes", the vicious vision of Trent said loudly behind me, "Yes. This is what happened because you left him so long, forgot him..." I did not respond to or acknowledge him in any way.
There was a shimmer of magic in the air all around me and six forms appeared in a loose circle formation around me. I tensed and stared in horror as the form directly in front of me, a male with many piercings. "Shaelin... no way..." I breathed.
They stared at me emotionlessly, their eyes exact mirrors of my 'true' ones, my pure black eyes. Slowly the forms advanced until they were a foot away from me on all sides, their broad shoulders almost touching. The male who had been in front of me grinned at my obvious discomfort, showing pointed teeth.
"Come now, Tetua. You must have known that we would eventually find you. I have to admit, this is a rather good disguise. We've been searching for you for such a long time, how did you manage to keep it up constantly?" He frowned at my confused look. He tossed a pill at me, for who knows what, but the wind caught it and blew it astray, and it clinked off my metal leg. Understanding flooded his features and he suddenly kneeled, one arm crossed over his chest, as do knights who were swearing aligance. The male next to him stared incredulously.
"Dyami, what are you doing?!" he exclaimed. Looking around the group, I noticed that they all were male, all wearing the same long cloak of misty gray that shimmered and flowed like watered silk. A two-inch collar embroidered the top of the cloak, hugging their necks and were fastened with a diamond-shaped sapphire with silver settings. Wings protruded from their backs, somewhat butterfly-like, but thinner and longer with beautiful, dizzying patterns that differed in size, complexity and color by Shaelin.
"Lady Seimian," Dyami breathed, and the increduality was turned to shock around the group. Hurriedly they knelt as Dyami had. The man who had questioned Dyami introduced himself as Indigo. And around the circle it went- Eeryris seemed to be the leader of the group.
"Come now, we know who you are," Zeypher admonished, "So why don't you take off that silly disguise? I mean, really. No one will recognize you like that."
I stared dumbly at him.
Lady? Disguise? Tetua? PRINCESS?!
With my weakened mental state, it was just too much for me to comprehend. I knew enough of Shaelin from my mother's journals to know that 'lady' and 'princess' shared similar if not identical quarters. Dyami pulled me to her feet and bound her limbs, and turned me around so that I faced Eeryris. Eeryris walked forward solemnly, pulling an ornate tiara of woven vines, set with an emerald in the front and two smaller sapphires on each side from a velvet bag.
A feeling of foreboding filled me as the tiara came into view. I paniced, tugging against my bonds, but I was no match for Dyami's brute stregnth.
'HELP!' I called out desperately with my mind as the tiara was lowered over my head. As the cool metal touched my skin, I was on the ground, clutching my head in agony. My eyes were squeezed shut, but you could see them slimming in some places and widening in others behind the lids until they resembled a Shaelin's, and they were black once again... permanently. Likewise, my ears changed to match Dyami's and his 'brothers'. My teeth sharpened to lethal points, biting holes in my lip. My back arched as icy blue-green electricity arced along my body. Eeryris nodded to Indigo to take her, since the transformation was almost done. When he took the doubled over changing elf into his arms, I was still- unconcious. The group of seven faded into oblivion.
All that remained as proof of my previous presence there were one set of footprints near the body, a sparkling teardrop on Kyto's femur, which would soon evaporate, and my metal leg laying cocked next to the skeleton.
((Click here to view a couple pictures of the Shaelin... There are three in my Photobucket album. I apologise for the graniness of the images, my scanner is broken, so I had to take pictures of it with my digital camera....))
