Wha…what's this! A second update? Could it be! Oh praise the Goddess it is!
So, this chapter is pretty Eldan-centric (Eldan fans rejoice! But not too much 'cause this chapter's not so good for the little albino) Oh, and this entire chapter is a flashback, it will become apparent why in the next chapter. So, with out further ado…the chapter…
Crimson Stained Shards of Memory
Across the Barrens of Time
'Sitting behind caging glass,
Watching you watch me,
And hating not you, but myself for it,
I hate being a delicate shard of glass,
Slitting my own skin,
Unable to stop it,
And I hate myself for it'— 'My Fault' That Which is Dead
.:I:.
Eldan loved sleep, he craved it. For him, the world of slumber was the only freedom from his own caged world. Dreams brought to him that which he could not experience in the physical world. Simple things of beauty he was barred from like sitting in the sun; he'd never once in his life felt rays of the summer on his troubled skin. He was too delicate, too frail for such simple things in the material universe, but in the realm of sleep, he was free to do what he wished and he craved that freedom.
So the young albino was none too pleased when—for what ever reason—sleep eluded him well into the night until it the moon was past its peak in the sky and morning approached. Though it was not uncommon for sleep to avoid him, it didn't make him any less aggravated when he lay awake in the middle of the night unable to escape from his shell of a body. This was such a night. After several hours of restless sleeplessness, Eldan left his room with silent footfalls to wander the empty halls of the manor, hoping to occupy his mind with something before the day began.
Eldan also loved the night. The Lady of the Moon was far kinder to him then the sun. He loved the manor at night, it was far more peaceful and serene at this time of night. Starlight filtered in through smoky glass windows, bathing the cold, soulless stone in a warm, ethereal silver glow. The normally sterile, lifeless halls were metamorphosis into a serene sanctuary of peace for and clam for Eldan; a place to escape from the fear he faced every morning when he was viciously ripped from his protected world of slumber. Rounding a corner, Eldan paused for a moment and stared down the large silver-washed hall, suddenly transfixed by a feeling he really couldn't explain. His body told him to be alarmed, that this was not a normal feeling, but the sensation was so convivial he really couldn't bring himself to be troubled by it, yet his mind told him not to be entirely entrusting with this bizarre impression. It was almost if something were attempting to appear friendly, but not particularly achieving this. Quickly, he shook off this sensation and folded his thin white hands into his silver robe and strode down the hall, settling onto a wooden bench that was laid against the wall under a heavy cloth tapestry.
Reclining onto the low wooden bench, the healer closed his pink eyes and rested his white head against the wall and allowed his mind to wander. Having the time to let his mind rove uninterruptedly was a rare pleasure for the albino and he drifted to a leave of half-consciousness. Allowing the rays of moonlight to relax his body, Eldan inhaled the cool night air and left his mind to roam. His body was physically exhausted and screamed for rest, but try as he might, sleep would not come. In the distraught purgatory between sleep and consciousness Eldan didn't even notice another person enter his proximity.
"Why do you wander, healer?" a sweet, velvet voice reached Eldan's ears.
The healer snapped his eyes open with a jolt and immediately spotted a dark slender figure leaning against the wall just down the hall with piercing, almost glowing, eyes staring right at him. The figure rose and crossed through the moonlight towards him. Even in the dim light, Eldan recognized her as Countess Yelvain who had only arrived that afternoon, and a dart of confusion struck his mind. What would she being doing wandering the halls at this hour of the night.
"Why do you wander, healer, in the dead of night," she repeated. "Do you too seek solace among the stars?"
"I couldn't sleep." Eldan felt bizarrely blamed for something, as if he needed to explain himself to this woman.
Lady Yelvain caught the healers tense tone and laughed softly, "No need to fear me, healer. I am foreign to this land. I have no grounds on which to judge you. You need not be so nervous." She moved and sat beside him.
Eldan noted how different she looked from that afternoon. Her hair was free and fell in thick locks around her waist and there was a smile upon her lips, but the same, cold smear beneath her eyes was very apparent to the healer and it made him tense. He did not feel right staring at her and fixed his pink eyes onto the floor.
There was silent for a moment, then the woman's voice infected his ears with a sweet bitterness, "You are very beautiful in the moonlight, healer."
Eldan felt his cheeks flame and he slouched forward, keeping his eyes firmly glued to the floor. Fidgeting, he pushed stray strands of hair behind his ear, not remembering the marring bruise on his jawline that had not yet healed. Lady Yelvain visible stiffened and reached out in curiosity, placing two fingers under Eldan's chin. Eldan, realizing what he'd just revealed, jolted visibly and quickly released his long hair and let it cascade down his face.
"May I get you anything, my Lady?"
"Why are you so sickly and pale, healer?"
Eldan's white skin flushed with blood, he couldn't bring himself to say anything and continued to stare at the ground.
When she received no answer Yelvain's tone darkened, "I asked you a question, healer."
Eldan remained silent a lit longer trying to put together something to say, then he spoke, "It is not known. I have no colour and no strength. The sun blinds me. Most think me of me as evil, or some form of oversight of the Goddess."
"You keep away from the sun? How can you live without the sun?" The question was not compassionate, but scrutinizing and cold.
"The sun pains me, I really can't say it saddens me, I have dwelt in shadows all my life, I really can't miss something if I never had it in the first place. I must lose something in order to gain. Is that not the most basic law of nature: one cannot gain anything without offering something up in return. And I cannot offer anything, so I have nothing to loose."
"Do you always speak of yourself in such lowly terms, as a mere object of the universe?"
"Am I nothing but?"
"So your religion draws no borders between humans and beasts?"
"No, I suppose we do not. We to do not impose anything divisions, nothing past the natural borders of species. After all"—Eldan placed a palm at the base of his neck—"am I not part of those beasts? When my life ends, my body is left behind and is destined to do nothing but rot into the soil. Then that soil will grow plants. Those plants will feed animals, which I, in turn will eat for food. An all encompassing in part of a great, cycling flow of energy that not one of its components is aware of. Alone, these different components are stagnant, but the culmination of these parts creates the universe. Without one, the others will fall. So, I suppose, I cannot see these borders you suggest lies between us."
Lady Yelvain was silent for a moment, harshly studying the healer with dark eyes. Not finding whatever she was looking for in the albino, she sighed and reclined against the tapestry hanging on the wall behind her, "Well said healer. I can see the passion for you faith."
"Should not everyone have a passion for what they believe?"
"To harbor such a strong passion for that which cannot be proven as fact, does it not seem foolish to you?"
Eldan stared at Lady Yelvain, pale eyes widened in shock and confusion. Returning the albino's stare with an unforgiving, but somehow not a completely hostile, gaze, the Lady went on, "You're a man of logic and science. How can one prove you religion—any religion—has any grounds at all?"
"Religion cannot not be proven as something material, it is something you must believe."
Lady Yelvain laughed harsh. "Ha! Believe? Believe in what?" The woman closed her eyes, "Believe that if you pray hard enough, polish the altar enough times, that some divine being will alight from the sky and all will be saved? I'm sorry, but I do not see the point in believing in something you can't even be sure exists. I would much rather pursue my own endeavors and not tie my life down to the will and worship of some all-powerful being that cannot see the difference between a wolf and a human."
Eldan was stung by the words, but he did his best not let it show, "But, Lady, do you not have your own religion? You're the daughter of an Ottoman Count, do you not follow your native religion?"
"I humor my father and his company, nothing more. I can sing and praise and worship, but if I do not believe in the faith these prayers go to, I do not feel guilt."
"You feel no guilt for forsaking your creator? Do you not fear for your soul once you die?" Eldan could not put this woman's logic together in his mind. Surely she could not believe in only the material, that nothing existed beyond what was tangible and what was visible.
The Countess slit an eye open to stare at Eldan, "You misunderstand healer. I have not forsaken my creator, there is no creator."
The statement was sudden, like a slap to Eldan.
The Lady went on, "My body is a composition of earthly materials. When I die, my body will rot and feed the grass, as you said. It is a cycle, but it is not one controlled by anything divine, it manages itself. People take the universe for granted simply because it works so well without any intervention on their part. People cannot stand the fact that the whole grand world works around them without their help. That it was working before they were on this earth and it work long after they've left. So the first people thought, 'Things do not always work well for me, yet the world stays intact in perfect cycle and balance. There must be something else pulling strings from somewhere unseen.' And that is where the theory of God was first born."
Lady Yelvain glanced and the young healer, then rose, "Morning is coming, I am returning to my room. Goodnight, healer."
And with nothing more, the Countess slipped down the hall, disappearing around the corner, leaving Eldan horribly cold inside.
Can we say 'short'! Again, everyone, I'm sorry for the utter lack of story happening. Things have been rather hectic, but I have not abandoned the story! Stuff will happen, you just wait! I promise, promise, PROMISE, that the next update will kick this updates ass.
Peace out my man…till next time.
