p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Despite nightfall, Sanctum never fell asleep. The Hall of Artisans was alight with work and life. Lights from glass windows streamed into the night and the constant hum of song and voices drifted through the air on light winds, dancing with petals and skyfish alike in the currents. Everything felt so carefree, so gentle, soft and light. So safe and so easy./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"It was all just an illusion. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Julius strode through the entrance of the Great Library like a wraith. Tall, powerful, purposeful . . . /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"And frightening. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia stood at her tome in the front hall, cataloguing and archiving. A few other librarians were about as well, covering the night shift, plus a few lower ranked Daevas who were up late studying. Julius felt further life deeper within as more of his staff continued to work. The library was a place of knowledge, and knowledge was never declined or withheld from any who sought it. The library was one of the various places in Sanctum which never slept. Seldom were there visitors at this time of night, but there was still always activity. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia glanced up, sighting Julius and a smile of greeting graced her face./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Her smile faltered. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Julius? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on Teminon? You're fully armoured still," she asked, puzzled. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Julius's eyes flickered across everyone in the hall, before touching the minds of those in the lower levels, and returned his gaze to her. He did not return her smile./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia." His voice was cold. It was distant. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Her expression changed, turning worried and wary./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"The Great Library will sleep tonight. Go home." His voice echoed through the chamber, its cool and ethereal quality bearing far greater weight than any shout could ever possess. It passed through walls and floors and ceilings alike, touching the minds of all those within the confines of the library./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia blinked. "Julius, is everything alright?" Her voice was laced with concern, but Julius did not miss the sudden pounding of her heart and the tightness of unease in her chest. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Do not enter again until dawn," Julius said, cutting short any questions which may have come his way. "This applies to all of you." His command was telepathic to all who were inside. "Sleep tonight. Resume you tasks come morning."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Silent compliance answered him, as he felt everyone put down what they were doing, and began to leave the library. They all left swiftly, but without haste, leaving Fuchsia as the last to exit. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"She approached him tentatively. "Julius . . . what is going on?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Julius stared down at her and allowed a flicker of his glow to glitter in his eyes briefly. Fuchsia's eyes widened and he saw her face pale./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"You must trust me, Fuchsia," he said quietly. "There is nothing to fear, but I must have the library this night. You will tell no one of my being here." The final utterance he murmured with final command. The Aether was infused within his voice, between the words, woven into their meaning which sat within her mind./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia did not move, as if frozen. Then, she swallowed, and brought her gaze down instantly and bowed her head. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Yes, Lord Atherton," she said hoarsely, and exited behind him. Julius listened to her footsteps until they had passed the great doors, which she pulled shut behind her. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"He sighed, her shoulders sinking slightly. He closed his eyes and pressed a hand against them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI am sorry, Fuchsia/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;", he thought grimly of his best scholar. /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBut no one can no of what I will do here tonight. Not even the Seraphim Lords./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Bera's expression was still fresh in his memory. He could still feel the lingering touch of her power from Keep Atherton. Power which he had not felt from her in over eight hundred years. Power which he had vowed to keep sealed and hidden for as long as he lived. Power which he could not allow to return to Atreia./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI know what fate awaits you at the end of this path, Bera, and I will do everything in my power to save you from it./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius lowered his hand and his expression smoothed and his shoulders straightened. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He opened his eyes. He saw with Aion's Eyes. The tapestry of Aether sprawled out before him. It was a world of light, of lines and endless possibilities. It was the sight of existence, of matter and anti-matter. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It was a world which had been given shape and laws by Aion, it was a tapestry which He had woven. However, there were three others who could also weave it and change it. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius began to walk. As he walked, in the physical plane, certain pages, scrolls, parchments, words and phrases and paragraphs, all began to fade away, like green dust which glowed like glitter, its shine caught in the soft light of the library, before disappearing forever. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius walked the corridors, delving deeper and deeper into the library. The dust followed him where he went, puffed out of life in rooms he never even touched, and sighed away into the darkness where he had no need to touch. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Aion's Eyes saw all. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"And Julius decided what was to be undone, to be unravelled from the tapestry forever. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"All and any remaining references to them, to The Weavers, was extinguished that night. Bera's search for answers would stop here. Not even the Seraphim Lords would be able to give her the answers to what she sought. The only one who had all the answers was Julius himself./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He would not shed light on them, despite his love for her. She may plead, she may beg, and she may weep./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emOne day you will understand,/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" Julius thought silently, though not without a stab of grief. Such an image was heartbreaking./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He continued down, down into the deepest levels of the library – to the Ancient Library. Here, Aether was strongest, humming from the artefacts which remained behind locked doors. He passed them one by one, recalling each one as he left them behind. Not because he was a scholar of study himself, but because these were all artefacts from his own time, and while even the greatest of minds puzzled over how to activate many or to understand their purpose, Julius – and the Empyrean Lords – were the only ones left alive to remember how to use them. They /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emhad/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" used them, long ago, in the millennial war, in the thousand years leading up to the Cataclysm itself, against the Balaur./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Oh how times had been different back then. There was no Elysea nor Asmodae. They were all one people, one race and one nation. The Tower was still standing, there was no such thing as the Abyss, and all twelve Empyrean Lords fought together against the Dragon Lords and the Balaur. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Now, the planet was split, Lord Israphel and Lady Siel were both dead, and the Empyrean Lords – where once they had all loved each other as brothers and sisters in arms – now despised each other. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Great friends had been lost./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Israphel's betrayal had cost them everything. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The emotions still lingered in Julius's heart. But eight hundred years had dampened their ferocity to a cold flame. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius came to a stop outside one unmarked door. Insignificance in its appearance, many would have mistaken it as a door to a broomstick cupboard. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emwas/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" a broomstick cupboard. But behind the wall, a hidden chamber lay. Julius pulled apart the strings of stone and rock and passed through into the hidden chamber. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"In the physical realm, there was no light here. The chamber possessed the deepest darkness which even Asmodae did not cultivate. The chamber's air was heavy and still, stagnant with age and silence. The dust of Aether which was the air, hung, suspended in space like a million stars within frozen time. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It stirred like water as Julius moved through it, still a place of green light to his sight. The shining outline of a table stood in the centre, the Aether of wood sturdy in its design and law, yet still flowing along its grains, outlining the finest patterns of the layers of wood itself. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"A book lay on the table, and Julius picked it up. It was a journal of sorts to him, not his original which had been destroyed in the Cataclysm, but was one he began just over a hundred years ago. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He flicked through the pages, his heart heavy with both fondness, and sadness over its contents, for it documented everything of his life again starting a century ago. In particular, it was about Bera. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He still wrote in his original tongue. Nowadays it was called Ancient Atreian. But to him, it was the mother-tongue of the world, and one which he still remembered as clear as day. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"'span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emEven as a baby, Bera shows her ability to see and sense the tapestry of Aether. She watches the lines keenly and can even touch and hold them. Sometimes when she is awake during the night, her eyes glow with our reflective Aion's Sight. Had she been born in the last Age with me, such abilities would not have to be hidden. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBut here and now, I cannot afford her to begin Weaving with infant-like care, especially in front of Sophie and Yohan. If they notice, then so will the Seraphim Lords. Certainly while she is so young and defenceless, Bera must remain invisible to their gaze./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emTherefore Sudryl to help me seal her abilities for now. He hopes and intends on allowing her abilities to fully awaken later in the future when the time is upon us. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emHowever, he does not know of my intentions. I may currently be in the body of a boy once again, but my power has not waned./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="right"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em3/em/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emrd/em/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em Age; Year 694'/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"'span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBera's abilities finally awoke last night. Her heartbreak and confusion over her mother's madness and Yohan finally showing his true colours caused her to rip the Weave and open a gate into the Abyss. The Balaur came through took Sophie and Yohan by surprise. Despite being Purebloods themselves, even powerful Daeva can fall to the unsuspecting blade. Perhaps I should have saved them, but my anger was too great, and still is. Sophie maybe I could have saved, for she truly did love Sudryl, to the point of madness, yet it also meant she loved Bera, for which I cannot fault. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emIt is for the best. Sudryl loved only one, and that was Thalia. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emOnce Sophie and Yohan were dispatched by the Balaur, I killed the Balaur myself and sealed the rip. Unfortunately, it was not long before Ariel and the others found out. I feel disgusted with myself, but I accepted their aid in sweeping the deaths of two Purebloods beneath the carpet. They did me a favour, I will admit, but in doing so I have had to reveal myself, and Bera. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emIt was a great shock to all five of them, to see Bera and myself again. They believed we had died in the Cataclysm. Certainly for myself it had come close. As for Bera however, I still do not fully understand for her true time is here and now. She was born here, she lived here, before she somehow came to us seven hundred years ago. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI am getting off track. Bera's Weaving abilities have woken, it seems, but she is too young to understand them, nor do I want her to understand. While I have yet to full discover how she was with us during the Millennium War, there were many things I learnt from her while she was with us. She is Aion's Key. And her role in the prophecy will be fulfilled if she comes into her powers. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI already lost her once. I will not . . . I CANNOT lose her again. I simply can't . . . /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emTherefore I have sealed her memories of how she opened the gate. And I will continue to do so until I can find a way to fulfil the prophecy without her./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="right"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em3/em/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emrd/em/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em Age; Year 702'/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"'span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emThe Alliance brought Bera back to Heiron late this afternoon. She was unconscious, yet unharmed, which baffled the others for they described her as being heavily wounded when they had collected her. They put it down to her apothecary skills which allowed her to endure for so long in combat. Alas I know it was the Weave which had healed her wounds./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI also know what happened at the Divine Fortress. Luckily none of the survivors saw exactly what had transpired at the turning point of the battle. However, they did describe Bera having wielded a great power which sent the Balaur retreating through the ranks. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emThere was great joy upon the victory, yet also great grief from the losses. The majority of survivors appear to be simply drained of emotion, having fluctuated between believing they were defeated and about to die, to sudden unexplained victory and survival./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emCedric however, did not survive, which does bring sadness to my heart. He was a good fighter, and a good man. Bera will feel his death keenly. The two had been friends for decades, and despite being of different Legions, the pair worked very well together on missions and in battles. I could even say they worked well enough and bantered together as much as our own friends of my Legion. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI do not look forward to giving her this news. She was most likely there when he died, but she will not remember it, nor will she remember how she Wove the Aether and extinguished the Balaur army like a breath over a candle flame.'/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="right"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em3/em/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emrd/em/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em Age; Year 789'/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="right" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius briefly read through a few more passages. In just the one hundred years which had passed since Bera had been born, so many things had occurred. There were worrying thoughts and memories within these pages, sorrow and anger, but also joy and passages which made him smile with amusement from the hilarity at the time. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"In the end, he closed the book. Even the muffled clap of the pages thumping shut was loud in the stillness of the chamber. Once the sound dissipated, his sigh/span/span/span span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"was the last./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He held his journal up to level with his eyes, and there, he unravelled the pages and the words which were written upon the paper. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Shimmering green dust puffed into the air, the journal becoming nothing more than a memory, a memory which only Julius would remember. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emForgive me, Bera, but your search ends here. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius remained where he was for a long time. The dust began to fall still around him, suspended in the air, a solitary and silent planetarium it could have been to his eyes. Except, he did not want to see, for all he saw in that dust were his memories which he could not share. Within that dust, within the green glow of lines which surrounded him in its glorious power, was a reminder of how alone he felt. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emYou are Aion's Vessel, Julius. To bear the power of Aion, is to be alone."/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Sudryl had said those words to him such a long time ago. Almost two thousand years ago now. Julius had both loved and hated those words, in the same way he both loved and hated Sudryl, for truer words had never been spoken before. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"But then Bera had come, and Julius's loneliness had been pushed back. She was the other bearer, the only one in the entire world who understood him, who could stand beside him as an equal./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He could not go back to a time when she did not exist. He could not go back to a time when he was alone again. He could not lose her. The fear was too great. His fists shook, a tremble in the darkness which was his only sign of the fear which was always so close to paralysing him. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It took great control for him to bring that fear back under control, to ease the clenching of his fist to relax his fingers, and to smooth the frown which had creased his brow./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Bera was still here. His fears for now were still just possible futures which may or may not come to pass. They were futures he had to ensure would never come to pass. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Therefore he teleported out from the chamber, though simultaneously released the Library back to Fuchsia and public access. Julius returned to his manor in Oriel and materialised in Bera's room. The lines of Aether were strong here, and all congregated around Bera as a great source which she both absorbed and projected out. In the same way Empyrean Lords bore the presence of Aether in their auras, Bera was no different, even if she did not realise. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius stood by the bed where she lay. The sleeping spell he cast upon her still held, much to his relief. He gently slipped off the dagger she had strapped to her lower leg and using the Aether, he reverted her clothing back to her night garments and placed her current ones into the draws which she had originally brought them out from. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He then pulled the duvet up to her shoulders and sat on the edge of the bed, his shoulders sagging. He took one of her hands in his own. How small her hands were compared to his. It was hard to imagine that such small and delicate hands could so deftly take life away and wield power equivalent to his and Sudryl's. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Yet at the same time, those small hands also reminded him of the little girl he had chosen to grow up with, the girl he had played with in the trees and on the swings, taught and read to, as well as disciplined on equally countless occasions. They reminded him of a little girl who laughed without holding anything back, a girl who threw tantrums and a girl who showed fear and – or – courage, all at the wrong times. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"She was no different now, except for the fact she now wore the body of a woman, and her emotions had far greater control as opposed to her youth. She was infinitely more intelligent now as well. Sharper and observant. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emPerhaps not in all things, /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"he then thought with a faint smile. /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emAffairs of the heart seem to elude you still. You have yet to realise my own heart for you, when you have realised your own for me. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He exhaled heavily. Maybe it was for the best. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Never change, Bera," he whispered./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He moved his other hand out to hover over her eyes, when he paused. It was what he had done every time. He was always sealing her memories, to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. It had been manageable back then. Her aura was not as great, nor had she made the connection between her ability to see the Weave and to Weave it. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Now, the tapestry cocooned her, as it did him. Julius could not touch her memories anymore. They were hers to keep. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"His fingers curled into a fist, but a loose one as he brought his hand back to his lap. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It was why he erased the knowledge from the library, why he brought her back here and put her belongings away. The only thing Julius could do now was to try and trick her into believing it had all been a dream. But Bera was clever. Even if she would never find what she read in the Library again or retrace her steps to Keep Atherton, she would piece it all together. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius's jaw clenched. The best thing he could do now was to distract her, to keep her away from her own thoughts./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"You will return to the Abyss tomorrow, Bera," he said quietly. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emThis time, I will have a duty for you. If you wish to help me as much as you wish you could, then I will have you help me save Atreia. But my way. Not Aion's will. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He leant down and kissed her softly on the cheek, resisting his desire to kiss her on the lips. She thought he could not remember when she had kissed him and put him to sleep. However, Julius did remember. He remembered everything. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius cupped her face. There was so much she did not know. And there was so much he wished and fought to keep hidden. Yet his selfish heart did want her to know one thing. He wanted her to know how much he felt for her. He wanted so much to tell her, to show her. He wanted to kiss her, to feel the softness of her lips on his, to embrace her as more than just friend or family. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"However, he could not. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"With great effort, Julius pulled himself away. With one last gaze at Bera, he teleported back to Teminon Landing, where he wrote the mission she would undertake to pull her away from Elysea. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="center"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"* * * * */span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="center" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I awoke to the sound of birdsong. It drifted in through the open window and between the curtains, where sunlight streamed down the slitted gaps in between the material. The air was sweet with the scent of pollen from the flowers outside in the garden. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"How did I end up back here?/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Sitting up abruptly, I cast a quick glance around my bedroom. It was definitely my bedroom and I was still in my shift. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBut . . . but I thought I had gone to Keep Atherton/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;", I thought, suddenly confused and wary. I recalled being unable to sleep, then walking through Oriel, following the lines of green light to the Keep, where I wove the Aether into flowers, bent the bars of a gate and – /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"And opened a rift into the Abyss . . ." I whispered, feeling my body turn cold. Something had come through the rift, something beyond my powers as a Daeva, something as powerful as an Empyrean or Dragon Lord. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Then it had all gone black. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"How did I make it back home? Did I even leave in the first place?/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I threw my duvet off and dashed to my cupboards. The clothes I thought I had worn last night were as neatly folded as I had left them. My dagger was locked away safely in another, as if I had never clipped it to my leg in the first place. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"My heart pounded in my chest which had suddenly grown tight. Had it just been a nightmare? A bad dream?/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"But yesterday I had been in the library, researching. I found something, a reference to the Weaver. I could /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emWeave/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"! I did it, in the night just gone!/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Yet it did not explain how I was comfortably back in my own bed, sprawled out as if I had slept like a log. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I quickly changed, a panicked question coming to my mind which had to be answered. There /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emwas/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" a way to tell if last night had all been a dream or reality. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The flower, and the Abyss gate./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Once changed and tidy, I left the manor, with Keep Atherton at the foremost in my mind. If that really had been a gate which I had opened, then that meant there was a path directly into the heart of Elysea. Our very safety was compromised, and it was my fault. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"That was how Sophie and Yohan died. I opened the gate as a child. The Balaur came through and killed them. I had not seen it all completely due to closed eyes for the most part, but I heard the shouts of shock as the Balaur rushed through. Sophie was the first to die, her madness having rendered her prowess as Pureblood to naught more than a lame infant. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Yohan on the other hand, fought. But he too had been taken by surprise. He would not have understood what had happened, and the death of his wife would have only added to the terrible shock which resultantly took his life. I could still hear it, the bellows of the Balaur, the splatter of blood across the walls, Sophie's screams and Yohan's shouts. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Then silence. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"When I had opened my eyes again, just by a fraction, Julius stood alone in the room in front with his back to me. Balaur, Sophie and Yohan were dead. The Gate was closed. Blood covered everything, including Julius. He had seemed much taller and older at that moment in time, as if he were the same age and appearance as he was now. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"How was that even possible? Julius was only in his mid-teenhood at the time./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Doubt crept into my mind. Did my returning memory have flaws? Because what I recalled seeing did not match the logic nor facts of numbers. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I came across the patch of grass across the bridge where the single chrysanthemum grew. I had grown another, a second, just next to it, using the same source of Aether from the roots to grow a twin. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"However, the second chrysanthemum was not there. I stood, staring down at the lone flower, wondering where on Atreia was the other. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBut . . . I /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"know/span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em I made another one,/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" I thought with conviction. I remembered doing it, and I could still do it again. Although, I did not, certainly not in broad daylight. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"A frown creased my brow as I began to wonder and worry the authenticity of my memory. I had an entire lifetime after all of odd and forgotten memories. I could not be certain anymore as to whether one was true memory, or simply a dream. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I dragged my gaze up from the chrysanthemum and glanced about me. Oriel was filled with sunlight and activity. Birds sang merrily, streams bubbled happily, children played in the courtyards and business men and women shouted their wares and prices from the squares. Daevas walked along the paths, enjoying the stroll through the graceful neighbourhood. Some walked alone, some walked arm in arm. Some were in silent thought, while others chattered with vigour./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The world was right here – and yet I felt completely disconnected from it. The world of multiple colours and physical, material things were merged with the eternal emerald glow of the matrix which connected everything. Though faint, I could still see it. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I pulled myself away from the flower and walked the quiet roads towards Keep Atherton. My heart pounded within my chest, dreading the thought of the Abyss Gate lying within my old home, and in the very heart of Elysea's safest land of Oriel. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"My eyes darted to every shadow, nook and cranny, expecting to see one of the Balaur lurking within the shade. I half expected to see blood splattered on the pavings, or across the trunks of trees and across the pristine white of other Daeva's fences. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Nothing. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"In the end however, the fear, the anticipation and the dread became too much. Breaking into a run, I dashed up the last road to the Keep. Slipping into my combat self, I scouted the front gate before climbing over the wall and quickly slinking up the path between the rose bushes. Glancing up, I spied the windows, expecting to see a flaming arrow shoot from one of those gaping voids. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Each window was dark however, including the one wherein it had all gone wrong. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I entered the Keep, letting its cool shadow fall over me. Silently and swiftly, I climbed the stairs and glided down hallways. My chest grew ever tighter, my hearing painfully acute, and my breath increasingly sharp. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I stopped by the final wall, next to the mangled door-frame. My heart felt like it was ready to burst from my chest. My palms were clammy and sweaty. Even before Tiamat, I had never felt such fear and dread. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Through the beating of my heart, I strained to listen for any sound, for the gutteral tongue of the Balauric language, or for the eerily echoed voice of the Abyss Gate. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"However, there was nothing. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The tension became too much, and so, going into invisible stealth mode, I turned into the room, sliding into my stance, Aether ready at the fingertips to imbued into the blade which I carried. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The room was empty. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It was exactly as I had remembered it. It had not changed since we had moved out from the Keep and into Julius's manor. The room remained mangled and twisted, glass over the floor, dust settled over surfaces, and leaves over the ground from where they had blown in through the cracked windows. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"There were no Balaur. There was no Abyss Gate. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I blinked, partially in astonishment, and partially with dumbfounded confusion. Furniture was still twisted, nothing had moved. There had been no sign of disturbed glass or leaves from the window where I was sure I had last been conscious. The Aether felt as odd as it always had./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Stiffly, I came out of my low stance, and stood in the middle of the room, staring all around me. I was both relieved, and yet mortified simultaneously. Relieved because there was no Abyss Gate and therefore no doorway into Elysea which could have threatened our safety. But also mortified because I was sure I had pulled the tapestry apart and opened a Gate into the Abyss. I was certain I had been here last night. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"But where was the evidence? /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Had it all been a bad dream after all?/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"My breath came out as a hiss between my clenched teeth. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emNo,/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" I thought/span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em. It couldn't have been a dream though. Because I can still see the lines. I know how to use them now!/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I pressed my hands against my eyes, forcing them shut. But I could still see the tapestry, even behind my closed eye lids. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I'm so confused," I breathed. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"It was all just an illusion. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Julius strode through the entrance of the Great Library like a wraith. Tall, powerful, purposeful . . . /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"And frightening. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia stood at her tome in the front hall, cataloguing and archiving. A few other librarians were about as well, covering the night shift, plus a few lower ranked Daevas who were up late studying. Julius felt further life deeper within as more of his staff continued to work. The library was a place of knowledge, and knowledge was never declined or withheld from any who sought it. The library was one of the various places in Sanctum which never slept. Seldom were there visitors at this time of night, but there was still always activity. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia glanced up, sighting Julius and a smile of greeting graced her face./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Her smile faltered. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Julius? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on Teminon? You're fully armoured still," she asked, puzzled. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Julius's eyes flickered across everyone in the hall, before touching the minds of those in the lower levels, and returned his gaze to her. He did not return her smile./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia." His voice was cold. It was distant. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Her expression changed, turning worried and wary./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"The Great Library will sleep tonight. Go home." His voice echoed through the chamber, its cool and ethereal quality bearing far greater weight than any shout could ever possess. It passed through walls and floors and ceilings alike, touching the minds of all those within the confines of the library./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia blinked. "Julius, is everything alright?" Her voice was laced with concern, but Julius did not miss the sudden pounding of her heart and the tightness of unease in her chest. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Do not enter again until dawn," Julius said, cutting short any questions which may have come his way. "This applies to all of you." His command was telepathic to all who were inside. "Sleep tonight. Resume you tasks come morning."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Silent compliance answered him, as he felt everyone put down what they were doing, and began to leave the library. They all left swiftly, but without haste, leaving Fuchsia as the last to exit. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"She approached him tentatively. "Julius . . . what is going on?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Julius stared down at her and allowed a flicker of his glow to glitter in his eyes briefly. Fuchsia's eyes widened and he saw her face pale./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"You must trust me, Fuchsia," he said quietly. "There is nothing to fear, but I must have the library this night. You will tell no one of my being here." The final utterance he murmured with final command. The Aether was infused within his voice, between the words, woven into their meaning which sat within her mind./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Fuchsia did not move, as if frozen. Then, she swallowed, and brought her gaze down instantly and bowed her head. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"Yes, Lord Atherton," she said hoarsely, and exited behind him. Julius listened to her footsteps until they had passed the great doors, which she pulled shut behind her. /span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"He sighed, her shoulders sinking slightly. He closed his eyes and pressed a hand against them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI am sorry, Fuchsia/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;", he thought grimly of his best scholar. /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBut no one can no of what I will do here tonight. Not even the Seraphim Lords./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Bera's expression was still fresh in his memory. He could still feel the lingering touch of her power from Keep Atherton. Power which he had not felt from her in over eight hundred years. Power which he had vowed to keep sealed and hidden for as long as he lived. Power which he could not allow to return to Atreia./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI know what fate awaits you at the end of this path, Bera, and I will do everything in my power to save you from it./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius lowered his hand and his expression smoothed and his shoulders straightened. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He opened his eyes. He saw with Aion's Eyes. The tapestry of Aether sprawled out before him. It was a world of light, of lines and endless possibilities. It was the sight of existence, of matter and anti-matter. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It was a world which had been given shape and laws by Aion, it was a tapestry which He had woven. However, there were three others who could also weave it and change it. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius began to walk. As he walked, in the physical plane, certain pages, scrolls, parchments, words and phrases and paragraphs, all began to fade away, like green dust which glowed like glitter, its shine caught in the soft light of the library, before disappearing forever. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius walked the corridors, delving deeper and deeper into the library. The dust followed him where he went, puffed out of life in rooms he never even touched, and sighed away into the darkness where he had no need to touch. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Aion's Eyes saw all. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"And Julius decided what was to be undone, to be unravelled from the tapestry forever. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"All and any remaining references to them, to The Weavers, was extinguished that night. Bera's search for answers would stop here. Not even the Seraphim Lords would be able to give her the answers to what she sought. The only one who had all the answers was Julius himself./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He would not shed light on them, despite his love for her. She may plead, she may beg, and she may weep./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emOne day you will understand,/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" Julius thought silently, though not without a stab of grief. Such an image was heartbreaking./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He continued down, down into the deepest levels of the library – to the Ancient Library. Here, Aether was strongest, humming from the artefacts which remained behind locked doors. He passed them one by one, recalling each one as he left them behind. Not because he was a scholar of study himself, but because these were all artefacts from his own time, and while even the greatest of minds puzzled over how to activate many or to understand their purpose, Julius – and the Empyrean Lords – were the only ones left alive to remember how to use them. They /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emhad/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" used them, long ago, in the millennial war, in the thousand years leading up to the Cataclysm itself, against the Balaur./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Oh how times had been different back then. There was no Elysea nor Asmodae. They were all one people, one race and one nation. The Tower was still standing, there was no such thing as the Abyss, and all twelve Empyrean Lords fought together against the Dragon Lords and the Balaur. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Now, the planet was split, Lord Israphel and Lady Siel were both dead, and the Empyrean Lords – where once they had all loved each other as brothers and sisters in arms – now despised each other. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Great friends had been lost./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Israphel's betrayal had cost them everything. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The emotions still lingered in Julius's heart. But eight hundred years had dampened their ferocity to a cold flame. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius came to a stop outside one unmarked door. Insignificance in its appearance, many would have mistaken it as a door to a broomstick cupboard. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emwas/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" a broomstick cupboard. But behind the wall, a hidden chamber lay. Julius pulled apart the strings of stone and rock and passed through into the hidden chamber. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"In the physical realm, there was no light here. The chamber possessed the deepest darkness which even Asmodae did not cultivate. The chamber's air was heavy and still, stagnant with age and silence. The dust of Aether which was the air, hung, suspended in space like a million stars within frozen time. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It stirred like water as Julius moved through it, still a place of green light to his sight. The shining outline of a table stood in the centre, the Aether of wood sturdy in its design and law, yet still flowing along its grains, outlining the finest patterns of the layers of wood itself. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"A book lay on the table, and Julius picked it up. It was a journal of sorts to him, not his original which had been destroyed in the Cataclysm, but was one he began just over a hundred years ago. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He flicked through the pages, his heart heavy with both fondness, and sadness over its contents, for it documented everything of his life again starting a century ago. In particular, it was about Bera. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He still wrote in his original tongue. Nowadays it was called Ancient Atreian. But to him, it was the mother-tongue of the world, and one which he still remembered as clear as day. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"'span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emEven as a baby, Bera shows her ability to see and sense the tapestry of Aether. She watches the lines keenly and can even touch and hold them. Sometimes when she is awake during the night, her eyes glow with our reflective Aion's Sight. Had she been born in the last Age with me, such abilities would not have to be hidden. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBut here and now, I cannot afford her to begin Weaving with infant-like care, especially in front of Sophie and Yohan. If they notice, then so will the Seraphim Lords. Certainly while she is so young and defenceless, Bera must remain invisible to their gaze./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emTherefore Sudryl to help me seal her abilities for now. He hopes and intends on allowing her abilities to fully awaken later in the future when the time is upon us. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emHowever, he does not know of my intentions. I may currently be in the body of a boy once again, but my power has not waned./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="right"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em3/em/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emrd/em/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em Age; Year 694'/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"'span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBera's abilities finally awoke last night. Her heartbreak and confusion over her mother's madness and Yohan finally showing his true colours caused her to rip the Weave and open a gate into the Abyss. The Balaur came through took Sophie and Yohan by surprise. Despite being Purebloods themselves, even powerful Daeva can fall to the unsuspecting blade. Perhaps I should have saved them, but my anger was too great, and still is. Sophie maybe I could have saved, for she truly did love Sudryl, to the point of madness, yet it also meant she loved Bera, for which I cannot fault. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emIt is for the best. Sudryl loved only one, and that was Thalia. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emOnce Sophie and Yohan were dispatched by the Balaur, I killed the Balaur myself and sealed the rip. Unfortunately, it was not long before Ariel and the others found out. I feel disgusted with myself, but I accepted their aid in sweeping the deaths of two Purebloods beneath the carpet. They did me a favour, I will admit, but in doing so I have had to reveal myself, and Bera. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emIt was a great shock to all five of them, to see Bera and myself again. They believed we had died in the Cataclysm. Certainly for myself it had come close. As for Bera however, I still do not fully understand for her true time is here and now. She was born here, she lived here, before she somehow came to us seven hundred years ago. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI am getting off track. Bera's Weaving abilities have woken, it seems, but she is too young to understand them, nor do I want her to understand. While I have yet to full discover how she was with us during the Millennium War, there were many things I learnt from her while she was with us. She is Aion's Key. And her role in the prophecy will be fulfilled if she comes into her powers. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI already lost her once. I will not . . . I CANNOT lose her again. I simply can't . . . /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emTherefore I have sealed her memories of how she opened the gate. And I will continue to do so until I can find a way to fulfil the prophecy without her./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="right"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em3/em/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emrd/em/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em Age; Year 702'/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"'span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emThe Alliance brought Bera back to Heiron late this afternoon. She was unconscious, yet unharmed, which baffled the others for they described her as being heavily wounded when they had collected her. They put it down to her apothecary skills which allowed her to endure for so long in combat. Alas I know it was the Weave which had healed her wounds./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI also know what happened at the Divine Fortress. Luckily none of the survivors saw exactly what had transpired at the turning point of the battle. However, they did describe Bera having wielded a great power which sent the Balaur retreating through the ranks. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emThere was great joy upon the victory, yet also great grief from the losses. The majority of survivors appear to be simply drained of emotion, having fluctuated between believing they were defeated and about to die, to sudden unexplained victory and survival./em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emCedric however, did not survive, which does bring sadness to my heart. He was a good fighter, and a good man. Bera will feel his death keenly. The two had been friends for decades, and despite being of different Legions, the pair worked very well together on missions and in battles. I could even say they worked well enough and bantered together as much as our own friends of my Legion. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emI do not look forward to giving her this news. She was most likely there when he died, but she will not remember it, nor will she remember how she Wove the Aether and extinguished the Balaur army like a breath over a candle flame.'/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="right"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em3/em/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emrd/em/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em Age; Year 789'/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="right" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius briefly read through a few more passages. In just the one hundred years which had passed since Bera had been born, so many things had occurred. There were worrying thoughts and memories within these pages, sorrow and anger, but also joy and passages which made him smile with amusement from the hilarity at the time. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"In the end, he closed the book. Even the muffled clap of the pages thumping shut was loud in the stillness of the chamber. Once the sound dissipated, his sigh/span/span/span span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"was the last./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He held his journal up to level with his eyes, and there, he unravelled the pages and the words which were written upon the paper. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Shimmering green dust puffed into the air, the journal becoming nothing more than a memory, a memory which only Julius would remember. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emForgive me, Bera, but your search ends here. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius remained where he was for a long time. The dust began to fall still around him, suspended in the air, a solitary and silent planetarium it could have been to his eyes. Except, he did not want to see, for all he saw in that dust were his memories which he could not share. Within that dust, within the green glow of lines which surrounded him in its glorious power, was a reminder of how alone he felt. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emYou are Aion's Vessel, Julius. To bear the power of Aion, is to be alone."/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Sudryl had said those words to him such a long time ago. Almost two thousand years ago now. Julius had both loved and hated those words, in the same way he both loved and hated Sudryl, for truer words had never been spoken before. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"But then Bera had come, and Julius's loneliness had been pushed back. She was the other bearer, the only one in the entire world who understood him, who could stand beside him as an equal./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He could not go back to a time when she did not exist. He could not go back to a time when he was alone again. He could not lose her. The fear was too great. His fists shook, a tremble in the darkness which was his only sign of the fear which was always so close to paralysing him. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It took great control for him to bring that fear back under control, to ease the clenching of his fist to relax his fingers, and to smooth the frown which had creased his brow./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Bera was still here. His fears for now were still just possible futures which may or may not come to pass. They were futures he had to ensure would never come to pass. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Therefore he teleported out from the chamber, though simultaneously released the Library back to Fuchsia and public access. Julius returned to his manor in Oriel and materialised in Bera's room. The lines of Aether were strong here, and all congregated around Bera as a great source which she both absorbed and projected out. In the same way Empyrean Lords bore the presence of Aether in their auras, Bera was no different, even if she did not realise. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius stood by the bed where she lay. The sleeping spell he cast upon her still held, much to his relief. He gently slipped off the dagger she had strapped to her lower leg and using the Aether, he reverted her clothing back to her night garments and placed her current ones into the draws which she had originally brought them out from. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He then pulled the duvet up to her shoulders and sat on the edge of the bed, his shoulders sagging. He took one of her hands in his own. How small her hands were compared to his. It was hard to imagine that such small and delicate hands could so deftly take life away and wield power equivalent to his and Sudryl's. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Yet at the same time, those small hands also reminded him of the little girl he had chosen to grow up with, the girl he had played with in the trees and on the swings, taught and read to, as well as disciplined on equally countless occasions. They reminded him of a little girl who laughed without holding anything back, a girl who threw tantrums and a girl who showed fear and – or – courage, all at the wrong times. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"She was no different now, except for the fact she now wore the body of a woman, and her emotions had far greater control as opposed to her youth. She was infinitely more intelligent now as well. Sharper and observant. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emPerhaps not in all things, /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"he then thought with a faint smile. /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emAffairs of the heart seem to elude you still. You have yet to realise my own heart for you, when you have realised your own for me. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He exhaled heavily. Maybe it was for the best. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Never change, Bera," he whispered./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He moved his other hand out to hover over her eyes, when he paused. It was what he had done every time. He was always sealing her memories, to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. It had been manageable back then. Her aura was not as great, nor had she made the connection between her ability to see the Weave and to Weave it. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Now, the tapestry cocooned her, as it did him. Julius could not touch her memories anymore. They were hers to keep. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"His fingers curled into a fist, but a loose one as he brought his hand back to his lap. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It was why he erased the knowledge from the library, why he brought her back here and put her belongings away. The only thing Julius could do now was to try and trick her into believing it had all been a dream. But Bera was clever. Even if she would never find what she read in the Library again or retrace her steps to Keep Atherton, she would piece it all together. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius's jaw clenched. The best thing he could do now was to distract her, to keep her away from her own thoughts./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"You will return to the Abyss tomorrow, Bera," he said quietly. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emThis time, I will have a duty for you. If you wish to help me as much as you wish you could, then I will have you help me save Atreia. But my way. Not Aion's will. /em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"He leant down and kissed her softly on the cheek, resisting his desire to kiss her on the lips. She thought he could not remember when she had kissed him and put him to sleep. However, Julius did remember. He remembered everything. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Julius cupped her face. There was so much she did not know. And there was so much he wished and fought to keep hidden. Yet his selfish heart did want her to know one thing. He wanted her to know how much he felt for her. He wanted so much to tell her, to show her. He wanted to kiss her, to feel the softness of her lips on his, to embrace her as more than just friend or family. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"However, he could not. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"With great effort, Julius pulled himself away. With one last gaze at Bera, he teleported back to Teminon Landing, where he wrote the mission she would undertake to pull her away from Elysea. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="center"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"* * * * */span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="center" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I awoke to the sound of birdsong. It drifted in through the open window and between the curtains, where sunlight streamed down the slitted gaps in between the material. The air was sweet with the scent of pollen from the flowers outside in the garden. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"How did I end up back here?/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Sitting up abruptly, I cast a quick glance around my bedroom. It was definitely my bedroom and I was still in my shift. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBut . . . but I thought I had gone to Keep Atherton/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;", I thought, suddenly confused and wary. I recalled being unable to sleep, then walking through Oriel, following the lines of green light to the Keep, where I wove the Aether into flowers, bent the bars of a gate and – /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"And opened a rift into the Abyss . . ." I whispered, feeling my body turn cold. Something had come through the rift, something beyond my powers as a Daeva, something as powerful as an Empyrean or Dragon Lord. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Then it had all gone black. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"How did I make it back home? Did I even leave in the first place?/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I threw my duvet off and dashed to my cupboards. The clothes I thought I had worn last night were as neatly folded as I had left them. My dagger was locked away safely in another, as if I had never clipped it to my leg in the first place. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"My heart pounded in my chest which had suddenly grown tight. Had it just been a nightmare? A bad dream?/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"But yesterday I had been in the library, researching. I found something, a reference to the Weaver. I could /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emWeave/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"! I did it, in the night just gone!/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Yet it did not explain how I was comfortably back in my own bed, sprawled out as if I had slept like a log. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I quickly changed, a panicked question coming to my mind which had to be answered. There /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emwas/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" a way to tell if last night had all been a dream or reality. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The flower, and the Abyss gate./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Once changed and tidy, I left the manor, with Keep Atherton at the foremost in my mind. If that really had been a gate which I had opened, then that meant there was a path directly into the heart of Elysea. Our very safety was compromised, and it was my fault. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"That was how Sophie and Yohan died. I opened the gate as a child. The Balaur came through and killed them. I had not seen it all completely due to closed eyes for the most part, but I heard the shouts of shock as the Balaur rushed through. Sophie was the first to die, her madness having rendered her prowess as Pureblood to naught more than a lame infant. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Yohan on the other hand, fought. But he too had been taken by surprise. He would not have understood what had happened, and the death of his wife would have only added to the terrible shock which resultantly took his life. I could still hear it, the bellows of the Balaur, the splatter of blood across the walls, Sophie's screams and Yohan's shouts. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Then silence. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"When I had opened my eyes again, just by a fraction, Julius stood alone in the room in front with his back to me. Balaur, Sophie and Yohan were dead. The Gate was closed. Blood covered everything, including Julius. He had seemed much taller and older at that moment in time, as if he were the same age and appearance as he was now. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"How was that even possible? Julius was only in his mid-teenhood at the time./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Doubt crept into my mind. Did my returning memory have flaws? Because what I recalled seeing did not match the logic nor facts of numbers. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I came across the patch of grass across the bridge where the single chrysanthemum grew. I had grown another, a second, just next to it, using the same source of Aether from the roots to grow a twin. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"However, the second chrysanthemum was not there. I stood, staring down at the lone flower, wondering where on Atreia was the other. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emBut . . . I /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"know/span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em I made another one,/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" I thought with conviction. I remembered doing it, and I could still do it again. Although, I did not, certainly not in broad daylight. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"A frown creased my brow as I began to wonder and worry the authenticity of my memory. I had an entire lifetime after all of odd and forgotten memories. I could not be certain anymore as to whether one was true memory, or simply a dream. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I dragged my gaze up from the chrysanthemum and glanced about me. Oriel was filled with sunlight and activity. Birds sang merrily, streams bubbled happily, children played in the courtyards and business men and women shouted their wares and prices from the squares. Daevas walked along the paths, enjoying the stroll through the graceful neighbourhood. Some walked alone, some walked arm in arm. Some were in silent thought, while others chattered with vigour./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The world was right here – and yet I felt completely disconnected from it. The world of multiple colours and physical, material things were merged with the eternal emerald glow of the matrix which connected everything. Though faint, I could still see it. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I pulled myself away from the flower and walked the quiet roads towards Keep Atherton. My heart pounded within my chest, dreading the thought of the Abyss Gate lying within my old home, and in the very heart of Elysea's safest land of Oriel. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"My eyes darted to every shadow, nook and cranny, expecting to see one of the Balaur lurking within the shade. I half expected to see blood splattered on the pavings, or across the trunks of trees and across the pristine white of other Daeva's fences. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Nothing. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"In the end however, the fear, the anticipation and the dread became too much. Breaking into a run, I dashed up the last road to the Keep. Slipping into my combat self, I scouted the front gate before climbing over the wall and quickly slinking up the path between the rose bushes. Glancing up, I spied the windows, expecting to see a flaming arrow shoot from one of those gaping voids. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Each window was dark however, including the one wherein it had all gone wrong. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I entered the Keep, letting its cool shadow fall over me. Silently and swiftly, I climbed the stairs and glided down hallways. My chest grew ever tighter, my hearing painfully acute, and my breath increasingly sharp. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I stopped by the final wall, next to the mangled door-frame. My heart felt like it was ready to burst from my chest. My palms were clammy and sweaty. Even before Tiamat, I had never felt such fear and dread. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Through the beating of my heart, I strained to listen for any sound, for the gutteral tongue of the Balauric language, or for the eerily echoed voice of the Abyss Gate. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"However, there was nothing. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The tension became too much, and so, going into invisible stealth mode, I turned into the room, sliding into my stance, Aether ready at the fingertips to imbued into the blade which I carried. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"The room was empty. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"It was exactly as I had remembered it. It had not changed since we had moved out from the Keep and into Julius's manor. The room remained mangled and twisted, glass over the floor, dust settled over surfaces, and leaves over the ground from where they had blown in through the cracked windows. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"There were no Balaur. There was no Abyss Gate. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I blinked, partially in astonishment, and partially with dumbfounded confusion. Furniture was still twisted, nothing had moved. There had been no sign of disturbed glass or leaves from the window where I was sure I had last been conscious. The Aether felt as odd as it always had./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Stiffly, I came out of my low stance, and stood in the middle of the room, staring all around me. I was both relieved, and yet mortified simultaneously. Relieved because there was no Abyss Gate and therefore no doorway into Elysea which could have threatened our safety. But also mortified because I was sure I had pulled the tapestry apart and opened a Gate into the Abyss. I was certain I had been here last night. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"But where was the evidence? /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"Had it all been a bad dream after all?/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"My breath came out as a hiss between my clenched teeth. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"emNo,/em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;" I thought/span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"em. It couldn't have been a dream though. Because I can still see the lines. I know how to use them now!/em/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I pressed my hands against my eyes, forcing them shut. But I could still see the tapestry, even behind my closed eye lids. /span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="justify""span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"I'm so confused," I breathed. /span/span/span/p