It had been weeks since the two left on a blind quest for some evil that
the Goddess had sent them on. Yet there were no signs of disturbances in
any place that they had been on. Kel was starting to get bored while
Alanna was already there. Desperate to find anything that might be of use
to them, Alanna led them to a quiet village where it appeared that they had
little word from the world outside.
Kel looked vigilantly at the villagers, hoping to find something when she bumped into an old woman.
"Grandmother, are you all right?" she asked in concern, helping her up.
Instead of a gentle smile of an elderly, there was a dark shadow over her face. Her eyes went unfocused and she uttered, "The great ones will fall as the darkness grows." Her eyes focused again, and she smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry dear, what was that?"
Kel, her face drawn white, mumbled something and helped her up. She watched her go as Alanna joined her.
"What happened?" she demanded to know.
"She said the great ones will fall as the darkness grows. What do you suppose that means?"
"I don't know but it seems as though our adventure begins here. Why don't we settled in at that inn over there." Alanna jerked her head towards a decent-looking inn called the Dreamer's Keep.
Kel smirked at the name. "Dreamer's Keep?"
"As long as they have decent food, warm water, soap, and bedding, I don't care what the name is."
8 Kel went down into the pub before Alanna, who was scrying on a rose-colored mirror to look for her husband. No one to look for at home, Kel thought to herself, ignoring the nagging feeling that Neal and Raoul would probably be anxious to hear from her.
She sat far from the crowd, who were currently gathered around the center of the fireplace to listen to a bard sing a tale about dragons and gods. She sipped on her ale and observed quietly.
"Quiet lad, aren't you," a man commented as he sat next to her.
She grinned widely at the man's honest mistake and faced him head-on. "I'm only being observant."
The man stared at her for a moment and then broke into a grin. "A lady knight! An honest mistake lass. Didn't mean to insult you or anything. I haven't seen a woman knight before today. What a sight for sore eyes."
Kel quickly looked over him. The man was in his mid-twenties and in tiptop shape. He had his midnight black hair loosely tied behind his head which revealed a cleanly shaven face marked with a deep scar across his right cheek. Unlike the peasant attire of the common folks in the pub, the man was dressed in a leather jerkin, ermine vest, and a simple tunic. He walked unarmed. His emerald eyes glittered with amusement. "You're a Shang," she accused him.
"A Shang doesn't always meet a lady warrior," he replied.
"But Shangs have women who learn combat," she objected.
"But they fight differently than from a knight. My name is Nighteyes," and he offered a callous hand.
"A wolf," she commented as she shook his hand firmly to assert that she knew how to fight.
"Why have you come adventuring in a sleepy town like this?" he asked as he looked at the crowd that danced merrily to the songs.
"We were... compelled," and she said no more. She didn't want to tell the stranger too much about their adventure lest he hinder their progress somehow.
Alanna chose to barge in at that moment, her skin tinged with red from a hot water bath. "It feels so nice to be clean again!" she exclaimed loudly.
Kel waved an arm at Alanna to indicate where she was. Alanna looked curiously at the Shang warrior while she sat next to Kel.
"Ah, the Lioness. It's a real pleasure to meet you. I am called Nighteyes," and he again offered his hand.
Alanna grinned at the young man's easy-going nature and shook his hand firmly. "A wolfed Shang. It's been a while since I've met a Shang warrior. The pleasure is mine."
Alanna struck an animated conversation with the Shang. Kel's mind drifted towards the common crowd and spotted a lone person, cloaked in black, sitting a bit farther from the crowd. He or she raised the cup towards her direction to beckon her. Kel obliged and joined the mysterious stranger.
"You sit apart from the crowd and your friends," the person commented, in a strong baritone voice.
"And did you feel it necessary that I needed company?" Kel asked.
She heard the man chuckle. "I am the White Prophet. You are Keladry of Mindelan. You search for something you do not know, is that correct?"
Kel gaped at the man.
He removed his hood and cloak to reveal a pale man with white hair adorned in white everything. His eyes were the only parts of him that were not white; they were red. He smiled wearily.
"I am the White Prophet. I looked far and wide to search for a... 'Hero' as you might call it. Or heroine in this situation."
Kel looked at him in surprise. "Heroine? You must be stuck in some fairy tale man. That kind of talk belongs to something from the legends."
The mysterious stranger smiled. "Perhaps we are about to make a legend. In this case, we seem to have two heroines. You and Alanna," as he nodded his head towards Alanna, "Although I did not envision two females who would play a crucial part..." he drifted off uncertainly.
Kel had other things in mind. Me, a heroine? Could this be a chance to prove myself worthy of my shield? Will I also have a chance to be a part in the legends?
Alanna approached the two contemplative figures. "Made two friends in one day. You've proved yourself to be a very social person already."
Kel snapped out of her reverie and remembered her manners. "Lady Alanna, meet..."
"You may call me Tyrael."
"Pleased to meet you, Tyrael," Alanna said warmly, refusing to stare at the pale white stranger rudely.
"Like-wise Lioness. I've always dreamed of meeting the infamous Female Champion with a raging temper that matches the redness of her locks," and he smiled.
Alanna blushed and held her tongue to disprove his point.
Nighteyes looked at the man suspiciously.
"No need to be wary of me Shang of the Wolf. I'm not the enemy you seek. Perhaps your journey with the 'ladies' may lead you to whom you seek for."
Nighteyes' eyes widen in surprise. "How did you-"
"Save your questions for later. For now, it shall remain a secret," he smiled clandestinely and went up the stairs.
Nighteyes sat down hard where Tyrael had sat originally. "What a weird man."
"Weird but harmless," Kel reassured him.
"For now."
8 Kel remained sitting where she sat when she met the White Prophet. Alanna and Nighteyes had left way earlier, declaring that they needed to sleep and get rested for the next day. Kel, on the other hand, could not sleep; she was bothered by the way everything was unfolding before her. She stared at the dimming candlelight and her fingers mindlessly thumped repeatedly on the wooden table. Something big was happening, yet she couldn't understand what. The prophetic message from the old lady she had bumped into still irked her. The great ones will fall as the darkness grows... If only she could understand what that meant...
"Can't sleep, can you?" Nighteyes remarked as he joined her in the candlelight.
"What about you? You seem wide awake," Kel shot back.
"Wolves are nocturnal by nature," as he shot her a wolfish smile.
Kel rolled her eyes and stared off into space.
"With you young 'uns jabbing away like women gossiping by the laundry pool, I'll never be able to get my beauty sleep," Alanna complained as she thumped down the stairs, rubbing her eyes miserably.
"Beauty sleep? You're too manly to be worried about your beauty," Kel joked.
"My my, is that the first joke you cracked on this old lady? Well aren't you starting to feel comfortable around this legendary figure."
Kel smiled wearily.
"Is that prophesy getting to you?" Alanna asked in a serious tone as she joined them on the table.
She nodded as she grabbed a piece of cooling wax from the fading candle and began to roll it into a ball.
"Well let's think logically. What did this old lady say?" Nighteyes asked.
Wolf-logic, Kel smiled to herself. "She said the great ones will fall as the darkness grows."
"Can we give her much credit to be saying this prophesy?"
"Considering that we've had no headway," Alanna spoke up, "I'd say this was the first clue we came up against besides what the Great Mother Goddess said. And! We were complaining about how we needed clues about our quest right before the old woman started talking."
"I don't know whether to consider the prophesy credible or fallible from that logic..." He paused. "Supposing that the prophesy was true, who would be considered the great ones?"
"Well that's easy. The gods and goddesses," Kel piped up.
"But aren't they infallible?" Nighteyes debated.
"Actually..." Alanna began. "There was a prophesy about the downfall of the gods and goddesses. Numair mentioned something about that and we nearly had that prophesy fulfilled during the Great Stormwing War."
"You mean the one about Orzone and Daine?" Kel asked curiously.
"Exactly. If that prophesy is about to happen again..."
"That would mean that Chaos is going to start something again." Nighteyes concluded.
"Nothing is ever that simple," a voice remarked amusedly from a dark corner. Tyrael emerged from the darkness in a white robe, his hair still radiating from the dim light the candlelight provided.
"What do you mean?" Alanna charged.
"Could it be that the word Chaos mean the what of chaos and not imply the who?"
"Not the who but the what?" Nighteyes asked.
"He means that the prophesy might not be talking about Chaos the Goddess but chaos in general. The fear and the terror..." Kel said softly.
"That means we will have to search for something more than just be satisfied with the old woman's prophesy..." Alanna said tiredly. "Well, enough of thinking for the day then. I'm off to bed and I suggest all of you do too. Otherwise you people will cause racket and I won't be able to sleep. If I'm not able to sleep, then you people will suffer the consequences of my irate mood in the morning."
Everyone cleared off at that moment for bed as Alanna chuckled bemusedly.
Kel looked vigilantly at the villagers, hoping to find something when she bumped into an old woman.
"Grandmother, are you all right?" she asked in concern, helping her up.
Instead of a gentle smile of an elderly, there was a dark shadow over her face. Her eyes went unfocused and she uttered, "The great ones will fall as the darkness grows." Her eyes focused again, and she smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry dear, what was that?"
Kel, her face drawn white, mumbled something and helped her up. She watched her go as Alanna joined her.
"What happened?" she demanded to know.
"She said the great ones will fall as the darkness grows. What do you suppose that means?"
"I don't know but it seems as though our adventure begins here. Why don't we settled in at that inn over there." Alanna jerked her head towards a decent-looking inn called the Dreamer's Keep.
Kel smirked at the name. "Dreamer's Keep?"
"As long as they have decent food, warm water, soap, and bedding, I don't care what the name is."
8 Kel went down into the pub before Alanna, who was scrying on a rose-colored mirror to look for her husband. No one to look for at home, Kel thought to herself, ignoring the nagging feeling that Neal and Raoul would probably be anxious to hear from her.
She sat far from the crowd, who were currently gathered around the center of the fireplace to listen to a bard sing a tale about dragons and gods. She sipped on her ale and observed quietly.
"Quiet lad, aren't you," a man commented as he sat next to her.
She grinned widely at the man's honest mistake and faced him head-on. "I'm only being observant."
The man stared at her for a moment and then broke into a grin. "A lady knight! An honest mistake lass. Didn't mean to insult you or anything. I haven't seen a woman knight before today. What a sight for sore eyes."
Kel quickly looked over him. The man was in his mid-twenties and in tiptop shape. He had his midnight black hair loosely tied behind his head which revealed a cleanly shaven face marked with a deep scar across his right cheek. Unlike the peasant attire of the common folks in the pub, the man was dressed in a leather jerkin, ermine vest, and a simple tunic. He walked unarmed. His emerald eyes glittered with amusement. "You're a Shang," she accused him.
"A Shang doesn't always meet a lady warrior," he replied.
"But Shangs have women who learn combat," she objected.
"But they fight differently than from a knight. My name is Nighteyes," and he offered a callous hand.
"A wolf," she commented as she shook his hand firmly to assert that she knew how to fight.
"Why have you come adventuring in a sleepy town like this?" he asked as he looked at the crowd that danced merrily to the songs.
"We were... compelled," and she said no more. She didn't want to tell the stranger too much about their adventure lest he hinder their progress somehow.
Alanna chose to barge in at that moment, her skin tinged with red from a hot water bath. "It feels so nice to be clean again!" she exclaimed loudly.
Kel waved an arm at Alanna to indicate where she was. Alanna looked curiously at the Shang warrior while she sat next to Kel.
"Ah, the Lioness. It's a real pleasure to meet you. I am called Nighteyes," and he again offered his hand.
Alanna grinned at the young man's easy-going nature and shook his hand firmly. "A wolfed Shang. It's been a while since I've met a Shang warrior. The pleasure is mine."
Alanna struck an animated conversation with the Shang. Kel's mind drifted towards the common crowd and spotted a lone person, cloaked in black, sitting a bit farther from the crowd. He or she raised the cup towards her direction to beckon her. Kel obliged and joined the mysterious stranger.
"You sit apart from the crowd and your friends," the person commented, in a strong baritone voice.
"And did you feel it necessary that I needed company?" Kel asked.
She heard the man chuckle. "I am the White Prophet. You are Keladry of Mindelan. You search for something you do not know, is that correct?"
Kel gaped at the man.
He removed his hood and cloak to reveal a pale man with white hair adorned in white everything. His eyes were the only parts of him that were not white; they were red. He smiled wearily.
"I am the White Prophet. I looked far and wide to search for a... 'Hero' as you might call it. Or heroine in this situation."
Kel looked at him in surprise. "Heroine? You must be stuck in some fairy tale man. That kind of talk belongs to something from the legends."
The mysterious stranger smiled. "Perhaps we are about to make a legend. In this case, we seem to have two heroines. You and Alanna," as he nodded his head towards Alanna, "Although I did not envision two females who would play a crucial part..." he drifted off uncertainly.
Kel had other things in mind. Me, a heroine? Could this be a chance to prove myself worthy of my shield? Will I also have a chance to be a part in the legends?
Alanna approached the two contemplative figures. "Made two friends in one day. You've proved yourself to be a very social person already."
Kel snapped out of her reverie and remembered her manners. "Lady Alanna, meet..."
"You may call me Tyrael."
"Pleased to meet you, Tyrael," Alanna said warmly, refusing to stare at the pale white stranger rudely.
"Like-wise Lioness. I've always dreamed of meeting the infamous Female Champion with a raging temper that matches the redness of her locks," and he smiled.
Alanna blushed and held her tongue to disprove his point.
Nighteyes looked at the man suspiciously.
"No need to be wary of me Shang of the Wolf. I'm not the enemy you seek. Perhaps your journey with the 'ladies' may lead you to whom you seek for."
Nighteyes' eyes widen in surprise. "How did you-"
"Save your questions for later. For now, it shall remain a secret," he smiled clandestinely and went up the stairs.
Nighteyes sat down hard where Tyrael had sat originally. "What a weird man."
"Weird but harmless," Kel reassured him.
"For now."
8 Kel remained sitting where she sat when she met the White Prophet. Alanna and Nighteyes had left way earlier, declaring that they needed to sleep and get rested for the next day. Kel, on the other hand, could not sleep; she was bothered by the way everything was unfolding before her. She stared at the dimming candlelight and her fingers mindlessly thumped repeatedly on the wooden table. Something big was happening, yet she couldn't understand what. The prophetic message from the old lady she had bumped into still irked her. The great ones will fall as the darkness grows... If only she could understand what that meant...
"Can't sleep, can you?" Nighteyes remarked as he joined her in the candlelight.
"What about you? You seem wide awake," Kel shot back.
"Wolves are nocturnal by nature," as he shot her a wolfish smile.
Kel rolled her eyes and stared off into space.
"With you young 'uns jabbing away like women gossiping by the laundry pool, I'll never be able to get my beauty sleep," Alanna complained as she thumped down the stairs, rubbing her eyes miserably.
"Beauty sleep? You're too manly to be worried about your beauty," Kel joked.
"My my, is that the first joke you cracked on this old lady? Well aren't you starting to feel comfortable around this legendary figure."
Kel smiled wearily.
"Is that prophesy getting to you?" Alanna asked in a serious tone as she joined them on the table.
She nodded as she grabbed a piece of cooling wax from the fading candle and began to roll it into a ball.
"Well let's think logically. What did this old lady say?" Nighteyes asked.
Wolf-logic, Kel smiled to herself. "She said the great ones will fall as the darkness grows."
"Can we give her much credit to be saying this prophesy?"
"Considering that we've had no headway," Alanna spoke up, "I'd say this was the first clue we came up against besides what the Great Mother Goddess said. And! We were complaining about how we needed clues about our quest right before the old woman started talking."
"I don't know whether to consider the prophesy credible or fallible from that logic..." He paused. "Supposing that the prophesy was true, who would be considered the great ones?"
"Well that's easy. The gods and goddesses," Kel piped up.
"But aren't they infallible?" Nighteyes debated.
"Actually..." Alanna began. "There was a prophesy about the downfall of the gods and goddesses. Numair mentioned something about that and we nearly had that prophesy fulfilled during the Great Stormwing War."
"You mean the one about Orzone and Daine?" Kel asked curiously.
"Exactly. If that prophesy is about to happen again..."
"That would mean that Chaos is going to start something again." Nighteyes concluded.
"Nothing is ever that simple," a voice remarked amusedly from a dark corner. Tyrael emerged from the darkness in a white robe, his hair still radiating from the dim light the candlelight provided.
"What do you mean?" Alanna charged.
"Could it be that the word Chaos mean the what of chaos and not imply the who?"
"Not the who but the what?" Nighteyes asked.
"He means that the prophesy might not be talking about Chaos the Goddess but chaos in general. The fear and the terror..." Kel said softly.
"That means we will have to search for something more than just be satisfied with the old woman's prophesy..." Alanna said tiredly. "Well, enough of thinking for the day then. I'm off to bed and I suggest all of you do too. Otherwise you people will cause racket and I won't be able to sleep. If I'm not able to sleep, then you people will suffer the consequences of my irate mood in the morning."
Everyone cleared off at that moment for bed as Alanna chuckled bemusedly.