Blinding white… then nothing. A void where warmth should have been. Slowly, the whiteness darkened, shapes grew shadowy and tall; one distinct form distinguished itself from all the blurred edges.
"We meet once again, Herald Vanyel." It was the Shadow Lover, unchanged, beautiful and ageless eyes as full of sympathy and sorrow as ever.
"But this time there won't be a choice," He found himself replying, regret and slight bitterness in his tone. Stefen…
"There is always a choice, Herald."
It all came rushing back, then, in a mess of images. Vanyel blinked, twice, then gathered his surroundings. Huh. He spoke true. I am in the Forest of Sorrows. He threw out a quick Mindcall. :Yfandes?:
:Here, Van.: A horse-shape form began to glow between two trees not far from him, then solidified into an achingly familiar shape. Whickering, she trotted over to where he lay prone and nudged him.
:Are you going to lay there like a dead man all day?:
He looked down to where the grass poked through his hand. :I wouldn't exactly call us alive, would you?: Nevertheless, he picked himself up from the ground, trying to ignore the strange feeling of weightlessness. :Thank the gods you're here, love.:
Her Mindvoice softened. :I'll never leave you, Van. You know that.:
Smiling, he touched her ghostly form, expecting his hand to pass straight through. It didn't, though; something like an electric spark raced through him at the contact between energies. She started, surprised, and looked at him. :I didn't think we'd be able to feel anything.:
:Huh.: He replied, his thoughts taking a slightly darker turn. We just can't feel anything living…
Yfandes caught the tail end of his thought and sent him a wave of sympathy. :Stefen will be fine, Chosen. Give him a chance to live, and prove his worth. He's very resilient, I'm sure he'll pick himself up from this loss, awful as it may be.:
Vanyel made a noncommittal noise. He wasn't so sure that even Stefen, resilient as he may be, would be able to stand the pain of a broken lifebond. He knew that feeling all too well. Sighing, he shut his eyes and relaxed his hold on the energies around him. Immediately, he felt his form begin to split into a thousand tiny bits of light, spreading into the forest around him, his consciousness slipping away from the mortal realm.
The Shadow Lover's words came back to him: You will be mostly formless in the realm of the living; only an extreme focus of your magic and energies will bring you into a visible shape. Otherwise, your energies will disperse and your consciousness will return to the twilight realm of the Havens.
He was there, now, and Yfandes too; he felt her shape beside him as the formless blankness began to shift into a small, green village. A cottage came into view, a lovely stone cottage with a rose garden in front, the type of house he'd always dreamed of having. Chuckling, he felt the last bit of melancholy recede and, with Yfandes whickering happily beside him, he fairly ran to the house. I dreamed this place! He thought, almost wildly, opening the door to find the same simple wood furnishings he'd imagined during those times at Haven when exhaustion and stress weighed so heavily upon his soul. This is the rest 'Fandes and I have earned.
When he lay down upon the large, upholstered bed, he felt that he had finally come home.