It stared defiantly, out at the windswept, desolate, once-lush wasteland-his masterpiece- and at the seven figures surrounding him. Seven. The Seven. For a moment, it felt regret, but a snarling beast inside him faced it down. No. No. It stood only for itself now. It laughed out loud.
"And you think you shall defeat me? Fools, the lot of you! We should have stayed together! As the Nine, we could have been powerful! But you…" It laughed again. "Sad, scrawny remains of a once-great band. I shall crush you, each and every one, pitiful things that you are. And Yrael!" Its voice swelled to huge proportions, booming across the red-and-gray-clouded sky. None of the Seven budged. "Where is our brother now? Hiding! Hah! The coward! He shall go too!" Power coursed through it. With a great shout, it sent fire sweeping over the Seven.
The fire disappeared into a gold mist.
Puzzled, it tried again, with the same results. Panic began to set in. They were invincible.
"It is you who went wrong," said Mosrael. "Had you but stayed with us, you could have been truly great. Now, alone…you are nothing."
"I am sorry," said a voice behind him. It turned. "Had you not chosen as you did, we could help you. But you've gone too far." She stepped forwards. "I am Astarael, and I stand against you." A glowing symbol flared slowly in front of her.
"I am Saraneth, and I stand against you." He moved forwards. His mark burst into being defiantly.
"I am Belgaer, and I stand against you." His mark was slower, but just as bright.
It blinked. It could not believe what it was seeing. It, the Ninth Bright Shiner, soon to be bound and broken. The next voice filtered through its brain, a light, musical voice. "I am Dyrim, and I stand against you." He did not see her symbol. He did not need to.
"I am Kibeth," the next said. "As I will, so do I now. I stand against you." No one questioned her odd statement.
Mosrael…
Ranna…
"Brothers, sisters," came the broken whisper. "Why do you do this to me?"
Ranna began to sing, a high, sweet, impossibly sustained note. She was followed by Mosrael, then Kibeth, and so on. The voices wove together in the air, forming a bright silver mist which lengthened and spread over Orannis. They sang on and on until he was completely covered. Astarael stepped forwards once again and arced her hand down in a cutting motion. The mist, now a silver sphere, split. Astarael looked at the rest. "Shall we, my friends?" Her voice carried a weariness that they had not heard before. They nodded as one and moved towards the pit, pushing the hemispheres until they fell in. The Seven stood around it, in a circle. Astarael stepped forth one last time.
"I am Astarael, and under bone I bind you." Crooking one hand as if to cast a spell, she drew lines in the air, crossing them until it became a net. She blew a mark off her hand onto the net, which began to glow.
"I am Saraneth, and under oak I bind you." His net was already formed; he simply drew the mark on it.
"I am Belgaer, and under ash I bind you."
"I am Dyrim, and under rowan I bind you…"
Kibeth sighed before drawing her symbol lightly on the air. "I am Kibeth, and under lead I bind you.
"I am Mosrael, and under gold I bind you."
"I am Ranna, and under silver I bind you."
The pit now shimmered under a multitude of spell-nets. The Seven spoke together.
"As the Charter stands, so do we now. We are the Seven, and we stand against you for all time to come."
They moved away. All, that is, except Dyrim. She stood staring sadly at the small mound that covered the silver hemispheres. "Orannis, my comrade, my friend," she whispered. "What made you choose? What made you turn away from the Charter?"
And deep under the earth, it replied, Power.
She wept quietly for it. Never to know the feeling of harmony and peace that the Charter brought. Never again to see the light.
After a moment, she squared her shoulders and walked away. She sang.
"I'll sing you a song of the long ago-
Seven shine the shiners, oh!
What did the Seven do way back when?
Why, they wove the Charter then!
Five for the warp, beginning to end.
Two for the woof, to make and mend.
That's the Seven, but what of the Nine-
What of the two who chose not to shine?
The Eighth did hide, hide all away,
But the Seven caught him and made him pay-"
She stopped. What on earth was she singing? It wasn't coming from her, that was certain. She shrugged.
"But the Seven caught him and made him pay.
The Ninth was strong and fought with might,
But lone Orannis was put out of the light,
Broken in two and buried under hill,
Forever to lie there, wishing us ill."
Grinning, she ran to catch up with the rest and began her song again. Kibeth joined in, and soon they were all singing, stepping jauntily down the narrow dirt road, Orannis and Yrael and their cares forgotten. For now.
AN: Hello to anyone reading this for the first time, and hello again to those who've seen it before. As you might have noticed, I changed this chapter a little, by request of whoever it was that reviewed. I'd forgotten that Orannis was referred to as "it," and now that I think about it, and Charter knows I've taken long enough, it makes more sense. So thank you, reviewer, and thank you to everyone else:
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