Aspect Of Water

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Rayman wondered why he felt so wretched and miserable. Everything was black. He was asleep, but his thoughts penetrated his sleep anyway. It wasn't restful…it was even restless. He opened his eyes and found himself standing upright below the starry sky with the crescent moon shining down on him from high up in the heavens. He gazed up at it for a second before looking about him.

Rayman stood at the edge of a cliff. He knew instantly that this was a dream. He looked down cautiously and saw the sheer drop; higher then Rayman would have believed possible.

An immense feeling of déjà vu took him as he looked down the precipice. He couldn't see the bottom, but immense clouds were beneath him.

He turned around and nearly fell off the cliff. There was somebody behind him, somebody who he didn't recognise…

He took an involuntary step backwards and slipped off the edge. His eyes widened. He tried to use his hair as a helicopter to slow his descent, but it didn't work.

I'm going to crash! This time I really am going to crash…I wonder what it feels like. Rayman thought. But no. I'll wake before I reach the bottom. But as ever, his doubt grew as he fell ever closer. He shut his eyes, and prepared for the crash. He knew it was a dream but still his fear grew.

The sound of rushing water suddenly filled his ears, and before he had a chance to take a breath he was in the water. His lungs burned, his eyes opened and widened, filled with water, and he splashed to reach the top.

When he finally broke the surface, his lungs burning, his eyes stinging, he was surprised to see that he was at the very edge of the cliff. It was as though he had not fallen at all.

He raised himself out of the water, and found that his clothes were not wet – neither was his face or any other part of his body. He turned warily back to the water. He pushed a hand into it and raised it out. Dry.

'Magic water,' said a voice. He felt as though it aught to be dreamy, but it was clear as the cold sea's waves. Rayman turned quickly and almost fell again, but caught himself in time.

In front of him stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her bare arms seemed to reflect the moonlight. She had long wavy blue hair, and a mouth that looked as though it was quick to laugh, and slow to frown. Her skin had a strange bluish tinge, but naturally so, and her face was proud and noble. It seemed as though he was looking upon a queen, and felt he should bow down. She wore a necklace, a silver chain that ended in a crescent moon. Her startling eyes shone, bright sapphires gleaming in the sunlight, deep blue jewels of many shades. Light seemed to shine about them. She had full red lips, and small pearly white teeth.

She wore a blue garment, with a deep purple scarf that hung over her right shoulder on both sides. it waved gently in the wind, but didn't fall off.

'Thanks…' Rayman stuttered. 'Who are you?'

'You're welcome.' She smiled at him. 'My name is Éréandé. I suppose you would call me the aspect of water. You have seen me before, but not alive and walking. Think back to the Cave Of Jades.'

He thought back to the Cave of Jades, and his thoughts fell immediately onto Flaréoné. He tried again and his mind alighted onto the picture.

She nodded thoughtfully as she noticed the change in Rayman's expression. 'I am not wearing all that jewellery this time.' She frowned. 'I don't like that picture…or jewellery…Except perhaps this,' she rubbed the moon. 'Come. This is not a good place to await whatever would befall us.' She turned and began to walk away. Rayman walked besides her matching her pace.

'You got into my dream the same way as Flaréoné?'

'Ah, he has already tested you? Good, that will make it so much simpler. Yes, it is one of the few things we did the same.'

'Ah. So you came for the same reason?'

She smiled. 'Did I come to you, or did you come to me?'

Rayman walked quietly for a moment. 'You're more alike to Flaréoné then you think.'

She smiled softly. When she smiled, it looked like the light of the moon and the stars had come to dwell in her mouth, and as her lips parted, her pearly white teeth stood out like stars in the dark. 'Perhaps. But we must not stay here. I'll tell you when we get inside.'

'The Palace of Fire?'

'No.' she said. They climbed the last ridge, and she pointed. 'The Palace of Ice. And water, but there's not very much of that.'

'Ah. I should have known.' Rayman grinned. She smiled, but said nothing until they were at the door. A huge door of ice; interlocking and imposing standing tall and proud before him. Icicles wove around the huge door. He looked up and saw a few windows, gaps in the ice, though icicles dripping down from the top.

She placed a hand on the door, and it gleamed for a while, water dripping around it and onto the floor. Then the glowing light disappeared and everything was still. Suddenly it opened.

She stepped inside and turned. 'Come.' She said, and turned. The cold struck Rayman immediately like a thousand stinging needles all at once. And immediately the wind that had been blowing outside stopped; Rayman hadn't noticed it was there before that.

They passed through many doors and arches. The Palace seemed to be much larger then what it had seemed like from the outside. Rayman stared all around him at the empty walls which, though made from ice, seemed to have a life of their own. He looked up at the ceiling and saw that there were many beautiful chandeliers constructed of ice, with water where the fire should be. But they gave off no light, for the light came from outside: every few steps there was a gap in the ceiling where light penetrated. Small snowflakes fell through these gaps and landed at Rayman's feet.

Stalactite hung down from the ceiling interwoven with icicles, and other frozen items that struck Rayman as being magical even though there was nothing to even suggest that they were. They shined and glinted with a bright light and seemed more to be like jewels. Veins of ice formed inside the semi-transparent walls, giving the whole thing an eerie living effect.

All these seemed to be forming a huge magical pattern which interwove and interlocked, doubling back and forward again, overlapping itself, until it was so complicated that it was a wonder in itself. Although there seemed to be no light, the whole thing glowed blue.

They entered another room, larger then the rest. The ceiling was very high up, but the stalactites were very long and reached very near Éréandé's head. Some, however, stopped very high up, but reflected the glowing blue with such intensity that they looked like stars, and the palace seemed to open up into the sky. But there was no gap in the ceiling, and the light was indeed magical, the glow of water rather then natural light. Blue and green shone across the room, reflected many times, leaving the room bright. The light even seemed natural and white, and room made of real walls, not ice. As far as Rayman could see there was no gap in the walls or the floor; no flaw in the design of this magnificent structure. And no snow fell inside it.

In the middle of the room was what looked to Rayman like a tall pillar; a little taller then he was. Éréandé walked immediately to this pillar. She cupped her hands and dipped her hands into it…it was then that Rayman realised that it was not a pillar at all, but rather a basin.

'What is this room?' He asked her.

'Just that. A room.' She replied, her hands still in the basin, her back still to Rayman.

'This…palace seems larger from the inside then out. How is that possible?'

'Magic.' She smiled.

'Who…who created it?'

'I did,'

She withdrew her dripping hands from the basin before Rayman could ask another question. Using her hands as a cup she walked to Rayman, and knelt near him, careful not to spill a drop.

'Drink this.' She said, offering her hands.

'What is it?' Rayman asked.

'My way of giving you my power. Drink!' Rayman dipped his own hands into her larger ones and took some water. He drank it, and it fell down his throat as though it had been burning and it was a cool lake of pure, clear water. His hands had taken but a little water, but it seemed to Rayman as though he had drunken his fill and more. He closed his eyes in an effort to enjoy this miraculous water more.

When the water was finally drunk and he finally opened his eyes, Rayman saw that the water which had been in Éréandé's hand had become ice. She turned back to the basin and dropped it in with a slight splash. Something emerged from the top of the basin, and grew until it filled almost the entire room. It looked like a frozen statue of a huge creature, with nine heads which turned away in different directions, ending in snake-like heads.

Suddenly, Rayman felt dizzy. He felt as though he was going to be sick. He stumbled backwards, and even before he had realised that she had moved, Éréandé had grabbed him.

'The powers are already taking effect!' She paused. 'My power was constructed in this way like a poison. Thankfully for you, this is a dream, so the poisonous effects will last here and here only. But I must make this quick before you awake…'

Although her own words suggested that she be quick, she turned back toward the base of the pillar and paused for a few seconds as though gathering herself together. She turned back toward Rayman and sighed.

'First I will tell you how to…learn…how to use your powers. They are much like Flaréoné's. For example, his fireball is the equivalent of my ice ball which – when used correctly and with enough strength – can be used to freeze an enemy.'

'Like the fire-pillars you likely learned to construct with Flaréoné, you can make both ice and water pillars. The ice ones, alas, are unmovable, but they cause great obstacles in your enemy's path. The water serves to cloud your enemy's vision and to confuse him.'

'Shields you can make too, Icy Armour, which is most like to mail, and is very…resistant. It is also very strong, and light too, and it doesn't get you wet. The Watery Armour is merely a wall of water that surrounds you; it nullifies most Fiery Attacks, but is quite weak against anything else. However, you can make this stronger by adding what you would call a magical element to it. You can make it very bright, or else you can make anything that goes through it melt, rather like acid would. However, you would need practice to make either of these as well as the many others which I have no time to name, and no time to explain. You could combine them, but that would take a lot more practice.'

'You can also create Projectiles of Ice. These shards are very effective against a large crowd of enemies. There are two main ways to make them. The first is to make them come out of your hands. I need not explain how you would do that, because you will know at the time you need it. The second type you can make come out of the clouds and the sky. Like a blizzard.' As she showed him these attacks and powers, she demonstrated them herself.

'Alas, I have no time to speak more to you about your powers, the rest you must discover for yourself. Now, I must tell you what is most urgent…and although you wont understand it, I beg you to listen and then to relay my message to Flaréoné.' Rayman, who had spent this time listening intently to what Éréandé said, nodded slowly, as he tried to take in everything she said.

'Tell him: Oranu is behind this. Tell him he has persuaded…corrupted Polokus to…help him, and has imprisoned me.'

'Corrupted Polokus?' Rayman said, shaking his head, and trying to ignore the 'poison' that was running through his veins. It was taking a great effect.

'Yes…' Éréandé seemed to muse within herself for a moment.

'I do not know how, but even so it is clear that Polokus is acting of his own accord. Either that, or he is possessed in the same way as Oranu…'

'It won't be long before he overpowers me too. Tell him that Oranu is not working on his own accord, tell him that I think he has become…possessed. I have no other way of describing it. He has become cold…like a ruthless killer; I have never seen him like this before!' She paused, and bit her lip.

'Tell Flaréoné also that I am sorry for the prison. I had no choice, Oranu was too strong! He knows all the ways in which he can overpower us all, and that it won't be long before Flaréoné, too, is captured. Tell him that he mustn't be caught. Tell him the circle must not be complete!'

'Tell him to run…to keep with you…and hide! Tell him that Oranu…or the person who is controlling him…has his spies everywhere and his war machines too. Tell him to take the quickest way to Bascalite, and to lay low there. Rayman, you have no chance against Oranu…against all of us…you must go into hiding too!' She opened her mouth to say more, but Rayman interrupted angrily.

'He killed...he killed Ly!' He shouted, struggling not to choke on his words. His head was starting to ache, and his mind was becoming fast cloudy. 'Do you expect me to just take that lying down?' He struggled not to lose himself to his rage. 'Do you think that I will allow this to pass? Let him kill me, let him do what he likes...but if I do nothing, I will not be able to live with it.'

Éréandé waited for him to calm down. Rayman was taking deep breaths, but he was thinking.

'Very well. I will go to where my doom may take me, but I will go alone. Flaréoné will lead the others to Bascalite, but I will go alone…to find Oranu and make him pay! At the very least I will challenge him.'

'Rayman, listen. The might of Polokus Flaréoné and me combined are not enough to take on what Oranu has become. He always was more powerful then us, but always the most peace-loving.'

'Rayman, he was the last person I expected to betray us! But as I do not believe it is he who is behind his actions! I believe he has become…controlled…in some way. I don't know how, but the more I think of it, the more likely it becomes.'

'Please Rayman, don't risk your life for the sake of revenge!' She sighed. 'Do what you believe is right. I cannot stop you. I merely ask you to take my advice!' But even as she spoke she saw that Rayman was beyond listening. Even now his fists were clenched and his teeth tight.

'And besides…you can't get here – to the place that Oranu dwells – without him wanting you to get there. This, all of it, is a different dimensional plain, almost. It doesn't exist on the planet on which you dwell…we were barely able to get you here without alerting him…' She added in a whisper, as a final effort, almost to herself

Rayman looked into her eyes, and opened his mouth to retort, but he was interrupted.

Suddenly, as though a wall had been lifted, or a window opened, the sound of a wind entered the room. Although there was none in the room, the wind seemed to be outside it. It banged angrily on the door, seeking a way in. Rayman and Éréandé both looked at the door, one with fear, both with apprehension.

Éréandé stood up suddenly, and quickly, she raised Rayman to his feet. She led him to the far end of the room, conjuring something with her hands as she ran. She stopped suddenly, not far from the wall, and turned back in the same moment. Rayman almost crashed into her. His reflexes were becoming slow…

'Quickly!' she whispered. 'Drink this!' She handed him a green liquid in a golden goblet. Rayman took it but he did not drink. She stood in front of him, protecting him from all view from outside.

'Why?'

'Just drink it! It will wake you up and lift you from this place. You must not be caught. Hurry, drink!' She pushed the goblet into his mouth, and before he knew it Rayman had taken a large gulp.

The goblet fell from his hands onto the floor, and Rayman collapsed with it. He fell onto the floor, and although he tried to lift himself, he could not.

The green liquid fell all over the floor and quickly turned to ice, similar to the ice that Rayman had regarded as magical. He lay in an uncomfortable position, and it seemed to him as though he was twitching, but he was laying still.

The last thing he saw was the door flying open, and a creature behind it. The same, evil creature of that almost-forgotten dream so long ago…

Then darkness overtook him.