EverShadow: Yay! The next chapyter!! I'm so glad!!
Tiger of Blackness: So far you haven't been flamed.
EverShadow: Indeed…no flames please!!! My fragile personality and self-esteem can't handle any hurtful words. Tiger has already lowered my self-confidence down to a lowly negative 399…
Tiger of Blackness: One of my proudest moments.
EverShadow: Sniff…on with the show.
What Secrets Lie
Astarael had never been much of a social person but around friends such as these, she felt more comfortable than ever. Years had past, physical and mental scars had been inflicted. All of them had grown since they set out to calm the world infested with the Dead. Such joy they had before the Parting, such naïve thoughts about being the "heroes" and all of that. Yet now they had all experienced the truth of Death and the gates. She thought back to when she younger, happier, safer. Out of all of them, she had been the one to suffer the most besides Orannis.
"Astarael, what happened on your journey?" Kibeth asked.
"Nothing that you haven't experienced. I walked almost into the Ninth Gate while trying to send a Mordicant through that gate. Too much temptation was there and I nearly fell prey to it." She replied. There was a long silence until Ranna, unsure of herself, broke the silence.
"Was it right to send ourselves into such danger? Did we do the right thing? We have sent many Dead through the Ninth Gate but there are still more. Did we make a difference?" Belgaer patted her gently on the shoulder.
"We did all we could to help this world." Mosrael replied. "We'll have to try again until we bring peace to the world."
"We'll die before then." Astarael said. "The Dead will keep appearing and we won't be around to stop them. They'll kill us." There was a long silence. Ranna looked outside and suddenly gave a small cry of surprise.
"Hey, look at this!" She hissed and they all crowded around the window. "Isn't that Saraneth and Orannis?"
"I don't know who else that could be." Kibeth said sarcastically. They tried to listen closely at what the two were conversing about. I really don't see what the point of all of this is, Astarael said. It's none of our business. Mosrael's long blond hair covered most of their vision and they had to push it out of the way to see the two. Astarael looked through her wise black eyes, seeing the pain that ran across Saraneth's face in a brief moment. Saraneth walked away to the far corner of the island.
"Well that was interesting." Ranna said.
"More like boring," Kibeth replied. "We didn't hear anything and nothing happened between the two."
"I always did sense some sort of connection between the too." Mosrael said calmly while smoothing out Belgaer's messy brown hair.
"Will you leave me alone?" Belgaer whined slightly while moving away. "So what if I have messy hair?" Outside, they heard a thud and found that Yrael had woken up and accidentally walked into a tree branch, still in a daze. He rubbed his head angrily and cursed at the tree. Everyone looked at him and laughed. Even the broken window with the bloodstains were forgotten…a mistake that would not be easy on them…
"Say, aren't you hungry?" Ranna asked everyone. "I could cook something up." Astarael didn't laugh though she would have liked to. Ranna wasn't the best cook around and she would rather walk into Death willingly than eat something the Sleeper made. She was sure that whatever Ranna made would send all of them through the Ninth Gate in no time at all. Everyone around her laughed nervously.
"I'd better do the cooking." Belgaer said while getting up calmly. Ranna gave a sigh and patted her own head.
"Is my cooking that bad?" She asked jokingly.
"It would most likely send us through a fairly painful death." Kibeth sighed and placed her hand on Ranna's shoulder. Astarael gave a brief, almost forced smile at them and resumed her own thoughts. No matter how she tried to act happy, everyone could always see through her façade. However, they knew it would make her even unhappier by mentioning it so everyone chose to ignore it and Astarael was grateful. Outside, they heard a loud splash and looked out to see Yrael dripping wet with a flopping fish in his mouth. Kibeth walked over to the window and opened it.
"Yrael! You'd better cook that thing before you eat it!" She yelled. However, he merely grinned mischievously and bit down with his razor sharp teeth. Kibeth sank back onto the couch and gave an exasperated sigh. "He never listens! Do you have any idea how hard those bloodstains are to get out of his clothes?!"
"He's your cousin, Kibeth. Besides, let him do what he wants. He's got to enjoy life as much as possible before we all cross into Death forever." Mosrael said. Everyone went silent. The only sound that they heard was the pinging of the water boiling in the kitchen. Astarael broke the silence.
"I have been thinking." Ranna looked at her companion. Since when was Astarael not thinking? "We can only stay in this world for so long. Why don't we combine our powers to create a bloodline destined to put the dead to rest?" More silence until Ranna, now excited by the new idea, spoke up.
"That's a great idea! Let's do that." She exclaimed.
"One bloodline won't do. If one bloodline had all the power, they'd become corrupt. We must evenly divide the power so that one person will not have all the power. Combined perhaps they would have enough but not without one." Dyrim said.
"I get to do a royal bloodline!" Ranna shouted now overexcited. "Please?"
"Go ahead. But royal bloodlines are hard to create. I'll help you." Dyrim said.
"We need a race that will do exactly as we have done. Someone who will keep the dead down." Astarael said.
"But how? We can't give that one person all our powers!" Mosrael argued.
"Exactly. We must put it in a different form, lower in power but yet powerful enough to bind the dead." She replied. There was silence in the room for a few seconds. Then, Belgaer spoke up.
"How about bells?"
"Bells?" Everyone repeated.
"Yes, I am fond of bells and they all have a unique tone. But we have to have instructions on how to ring them. No one but the chosen ones can ring them." He suggested.
"Interesting idea, Belgaer. I will handle that and the making of this bloodline. I think it will be a bloodline of necromancers…only…different." Astarael thought for a while. "Abhorsens. They will lay the dead to rest."
"I will create a bloodline of people who will see into the future." Mosrael said. It was always Mosrael who wanted to see the future. Her optimism was astounding. "And I will think of what to call them."
"I will create a bloodline who can create items of great power and magic. They will be inventors, builders of some sort." Belgaer said. "I will infuse them with my knowledge." Everyone turned to Kibeth, the only one in the room who hadn't thought of anything.
"I…I don't know what I want to create. You've taken all the good ideas…" She replied. "I think I'll need some time."
"What about Saraneth, Yrael and Orannis?" Belgaer asked.
"Yrael is far too young to take part in such a dangerous task. After all, if something goes wrong, it could cost us our lives or we could accidentally bind ourselves." Astarael said. "And Orannis is too powerful. I have seen directly into his eyes. He has eyes filled with hatred and he is no longer as trustworthy as he was before." Ranna fidgeted uncomfortably at her words. She knew Orannis had changed but he was still their friend, right? She looked to the others to see what they thought of Astarael's words. She was shocked to find that the look on their faces agreed with the horrible thought.
Tiger of Blackness: *Snores*
EverShadow: It wasn't that boring was it?
Tiger of Blackness: *Snores* Did you say something?
EverShadow: ARGH! Nevermind! You're too lazy to think about anything else but food and sleep!
Tiger of Blackness: Hey…hunting's not easy work! Prey doesn't just come to you and say "Eat me!"
Muffin: Eat me!
Tiger of Blackness: Gladly! *Chomp*
EverShadow: O.O EverShadow signing off.