This is my first fanfic, so please 'scuse any bloody obvious mistakes. I'd
really appreciate any reviews but please, please, please don't crucify me!
Ok, now the disclaimer: I am not responsible for any of these characters, especially not for they get up to in there time off. Nor am I responsible for neon pink leg warmers. Thank the gods! And now to the good bit (I hope!)
He stalked through the Stone with hideous intent. The power of saidin coursed through his veins, the turmoil of the inner battle played out around him, with dyer consequence.
As he moved, drapes caught fire and flared hot enough to burn the stone beneath, vases exploded causing shards to hurtle through the air to graze his face. Once he passed, the damage was undone. The hangings returned now red where they were once blue. Shattered tables were made whole this time accompanied by six chairs, now one, now four.
The only thing real in this place was the cuts on his skin from the violently propelled shards of glass and crystal.
Tel'aran'rhiod.
He did not realise he walked the world of dreams, nor did he realise the damage his presence caused. All his attention was focused on the internal struggle to control saidin. It was worse. Much worse.
"Light cursed fool!" he muttered. Whether directed at himself or at the maniacal laughter only he could hear, he did not know.
As he rounded a corner a flash of blue caught his eye, but was gone before he could focus on it. He followed. Anything was better than the laughter inside his skull. He caught another glimpse, this time it was accompanied by waves of dark hair.
Rand jerked to a halt. The shock of what he thought he had seen lost him the void and saidin. The recognition was of a woman he had thought long gone.
Sanity gleamed in his eyes. "It can't be!" quiet as a breath he whispered it, hoping that speaking the words would not negate the possibility.
Another mad cackle in his mine and a voice he knew as well as his own spoke through him, " If I am dead, and I am here, why not her? Why not ALL of them? Why don't you keep moving, fool, and see if Ba'alzamon is waiting around the next corner too!"
The laughter that followed set Rand's teeth on edge.
He hurried forward, preparing for the possibility that Lews Therin was right.
As he rounded the corridor he saw the woman moving off in the distance. He broke into the ground-eating stride his kind was known for.
Closer this time as she turned again, and in his haste Rand ran. Turning the corner he stopped once more, this time because he had forgotten where he was.
Callandor shone. It's presence filled the cavernous room that housed it.
His eyes moved slowly, and he saw her there, bathed in the light of the power-wrought blade.
He called her name, but the fear of banishing the illusion thickened his tongue. He swallowed, breathed and tried again.
"Moiraine".
No response from the figure at the sword, but still she stood there. He took a tentative step forward and his hope carried him across the intervening space. He stopped at the edge of the pool of light.
"Moiraine" he said again. She turned towards his voice. She was just as he remembered her from the journey out of the Aiel Waste. Before she had died.
Her face an Aes Sedai mask, unrevealing to most, but in the time he had spent with her he had learned to read the minute changes in it. The tiny line between her brows marked irritation at being disturbed, as well as confusion at the identity of the intruder. He took another step, revealing himself in the light.
Her eyes widened a moment as if she were surprised to see him, and then her lips tightened again and she turned her face to the sword once more.
"You were lucky not to fall into the trap of that thing" nodding towards Callandor.
"Moiraine, how… what are you doing here? I thought you had .."
"Died?" Her voice was cool and regal with an echo of Cairhein. "Yes. I…We did. I awoke here."
"Here?" The confusion was plain on his face. "Here, Rand" she continued, "where souls are bound until the Wheel spins them out once more"
"But, I thought this was" He stopped, seeing her scathing glance towards him.
"You do not think, Rand. That is the cause of all your troubles, I suspect." She looked away once more. "This is the World of Dreams. Tel'aran'rhiod.
"Then I am not in Tear?"
"No Rand. This is simply a reflection. That is not even Callandor. Your body lies in a clearing near Shadar Logath, with your head cradled in the lap of Cadsuane Sedai."
"Then I am dead or dying." His voice quavered as fear battled with desire.
"No, not yet anyway."
"Then why am I here?" Now relief and disappointment warred.
"You don't remember?" the surprise in her voice almost visible on her face.
"I was" concentration furrowed his brow, "I was channelling, so much power. Too much! The Dark One's taint." He glanced towards Moiraine as she arched a brow, "I cleansed saidin!"
She turned to face him now. "Oh yes, my Lord Dragon" scorn dripped from her voice now "You removed the taint from saidin. But did you ever stop to think where you might have moved it TO!"
The Aes Sedai face was lost now as fury contorted her fine face "Open yourself to saidin, Rand! Open yourself to the truth!"
It took a second attempt to form the void in his shock. As he seized the flow of power he felt the awful truth. "Oh Light! What have I done!" he cried
Along with the power flowing through his body he could feel it now. What had contaminated the male half of the True Source for over three thousand years, the Dark One's taint, was now contained within him. He felt it like a living entity. A parasite on his very soul, that would be unleashed within him and all about him when he tried to touch saidin.
Ok, now the disclaimer: I am not responsible for any of these characters, especially not for they get up to in there time off. Nor am I responsible for neon pink leg warmers. Thank the gods! And now to the good bit (I hope!)
He stalked through the Stone with hideous intent. The power of saidin coursed through his veins, the turmoil of the inner battle played out around him, with dyer consequence.
As he moved, drapes caught fire and flared hot enough to burn the stone beneath, vases exploded causing shards to hurtle through the air to graze his face. Once he passed, the damage was undone. The hangings returned now red where they were once blue. Shattered tables were made whole this time accompanied by six chairs, now one, now four.
The only thing real in this place was the cuts on his skin from the violently propelled shards of glass and crystal.
Tel'aran'rhiod.
He did not realise he walked the world of dreams, nor did he realise the damage his presence caused. All his attention was focused on the internal struggle to control saidin. It was worse. Much worse.
"Light cursed fool!" he muttered. Whether directed at himself or at the maniacal laughter only he could hear, he did not know.
As he rounded a corner a flash of blue caught his eye, but was gone before he could focus on it. He followed. Anything was better than the laughter inside his skull. He caught another glimpse, this time it was accompanied by waves of dark hair.
Rand jerked to a halt. The shock of what he thought he had seen lost him the void and saidin. The recognition was of a woman he had thought long gone.
Sanity gleamed in his eyes. "It can't be!" quiet as a breath he whispered it, hoping that speaking the words would not negate the possibility.
Another mad cackle in his mine and a voice he knew as well as his own spoke through him, " If I am dead, and I am here, why not her? Why not ALL of them? Why don't you keep moving, fool, and see if Ba'alzamon is waiting around the next corner too!"
The laughter that followed set Rand's teeth on edge.
He hurried forward, preparing for the possibility that Lews Therin was right.
As he rounded the corridor he saw the woman moving off in the distance. He broke into the ground-eating stride his kind was known for.
Closer this time as she turned again, and in his haste Rand ran. Turning the corner he stopped once more, this time because he had forgotten where he was.
Callandor shone. It's presence filled the cavernous room that housed it.
His eyes moved slowly, and he saw her there, bathed in the light of the power-wrought blade.
He called her name, but the fear of banishing the illusion thickened his tongue. He swallowed, breathed and tried again.
"Moiraine".
No response from the figure at the sword, but still she stood there. He took a tentative step forward and his hope carried him across the intervening space. He stopped at the edge of the pool of light.
"Moiraine" he said again. She turned towards his voice. She was just as he remembered her from the journey out of the Aiel Waste. Before she had died.
Her face an Aes Sedai mask, unrevealing to most, but in the time he had spent with her he had learned to read the minute changes in it. The tiny line between her brows marked irritation at being disturbed, as well as confusion at the identity of the intruder. He took another step, revealing himself in the light.
Her eyes widened a moment as if she were surprised to see him, and then her lips tightened again and she turned her face to the sword once more.
"You were lucky not to fall into the trap of that thing" nodding towards Callandor.
"Moiraine, how… what are you doing here? I thought you had .."
"Died?" Her voice was cool and regal with an echo of Cairhein. "Yes. I…We did. I awoke here."
"Here?" The confusion was plain on his face. "Here, Rand" she continued, "where souls are bound until the Wheel spins them out once more"
"But, I thought this was" He stopped, seeing her scathing glance towards him.
"You do not think, Rand. That is the cause of all your troubles, I suspect." She looked away once more. "This is the World of Dreams. Tel'aran'rhiod.
"Then I am not in Tear?"
"No Rand. This is simply a reflection. That is not even Callandor. Your body lies in a clearing near Shadar Logath, with your head cradled in the lap of Cadsuane Sedai."
"Then I am dead or dying." His voice quavered as fear battled with desire.
"No, not yet anyway."
"Then why am I here?" Now relief and disappointment warred.
"You don't remember?" the surprise in her voice almost visible on her face.
"I was" concentration furrowed his brow, "I was channelling, so much power. Too much! The Dark One's taint." He glanced towards Moiraine as she arched a brow, "I cleansed saidin!"
She turned to face him now. "Oh yes, my Lord Dragon" scorn dripped from her voice now "You removed the taint from saidin. But did you ever stop to think where you might have moved it TO!"
The Aes Sedai face was lost now as fury contorted her fine face "Open yourself to saidin, Rand! Open yourself to the truth!"
It took a second attempt to form the void in his shock. As he seized the flow of power he felt the awful truth. "Oh Light! What have I done!" he cried
Along with the power flowing through his body he could feel it now. What had contaminated the male half of the True Source for over three thousand years, the Dark One's taint, was now contained within him. He felt it like a living entity. A parasite on his very soul, that would be unleashed within him and all about him when he tried to touch saidin.