The journey was several days long; most of it spent in silence, as he'd take their camping time to read books from his pack that seemed to be devoid of anything but them. Dark circles began to form under Sharmin's eyes, as she was too scared to sleep properly at night, afraid that he would gut her if she let her guard down. She continued to push herself onward, despite her exhaustion, praying that they'd reach Gludio soon.
It was evening of the fourth day when they finally passed through the gates. The guards posted at the entrance eyed them warily, but said nothing.
"Well, we've arrived. Now if you'll excuse me I must deliver something." He said, bowing slightly to her and then walking away. Sharmin followed at a distance, and ducked behind the corner of a house to watch where he went. Vlad spoke to a Dark Elf stationed outside of the Dark Elf Guild for a moment before disappearing inside. Sharmin then bolted towards the church at the other end of town. Once inside, she approached the first Magister she saw and requested, quite breathless, for anyone representing the Ivory Tower.
"I am the representative of the Ivory Tower here, what seems to be the matter my child?" the head Bishop said, waddling out of a back room with a Priestess. He was a plump, aged man with a bitter looking face. Behind both he and the Priestess, a good-looking older man with gray speckled brown hair exited the room and shut the door. He paused as he saw Sharmin, his eyes widening.
"Please, you must help me." Sharmin pleaded, taking a step towards the Bishop. The Bishop took a step backwards from her, as she was still covered with blood from the now-healed arrow wound and the Bugbear. She was also dirty and grimy from days of travel, giving her a wild, barbaric appearance.
"We offer no Sanctuary for murderers, please be gone with you." The Bishop said, backing up another step.
"No, you don't understand, I'm not a murderer. The man who killed the headmaster of Einhovant's on Talking Island four years ago is in this very town! He's in the Dark Elves guild at this very moment, please believe me!" Sharmin tried again, shaking.
"Killed the headmaster of Einhovant's? What rubbish are you speaking girl?" the Bishop stated icily. Sharmin's eyes widened. "The headmaster is alive and well! I just took a sabbatical out to Talking Island and spoke with him myself, and he is no more dead than you or I."
"What are you saying? Four years ago I saw the former headmaster die! He was run through by a Gladiator who is in this very village now!" Sharmin stated, her voice high. Several parishioners ushered their children out, giving her frightened glances.
"Young lady." The Bishop said sternly, glaring down at her, "As a representative of the Ivory Tower I am required to memorize the faces and bounties of all whom the Ivory Tower releases warnings for. There have been no humans, nothing, wanted for the murder of an Einhovant's Headmaster, ever. I'm sure I would clearly remember a dastardly deed such as that, if it had been done." He turned away, casting another angry glance over his shoulder. "I'll have you not come in here, in the presence of our holy Einhasad, looking as if you came from a massacre, should you enter here again. You've frightened good people with this display I hope you realize. Go rest child, you're obviously delirious from your travels." Sharmin watched him mournfully as he waddled back towards the brown-haired man, who still stared at Sharmin with wide eyes. Sharmin inhaled a shaky breath, trying to swallow against the sob that threatened to come out. She turned slowly and made her way out of the church, and towards the inn. After a bath and forcing some bread and cheese into her stomach, Sharmin rented a room and collapsed onto the bed where she fell asleep the instant her head hit the pillows.
She awoke, within a dream, lying across the lap of a bronze-skinned man. She was wearing a thin, red orange dress that shimmered as if made of flames, and through the fabric she could feel that his skin was hot. He gazed down at her with an almost fatherly expression, cradling her head as if she were a child. She gazed into his eyes, which were red as the deepest flame, his hair black like charred wood and wrapped into tight dreadlocks that hung down past his shoulders. His face was wide and his jaw strong and squared. His appearance reminded her of an Orc, only more beautiful. He helped her sit, and she folded her legs underneath her to rest on her knees. The dream-area she was in was devoid of anything except a thick gray smoke. They regarded one another for quite some time, as if sizing each other up.
"You are in danger." He finally said. His voice had a crackling undertone, like that of fire. Sharmin tilted her head curiously.
"In danger? You mean that Gladiator?" she questioned. The man shook his head slightly, not taking his eyes off of her face.
"No. You are in danger from something far more dangerous than a half breed." He replied. Sharmin's eyebrows twitched slightly. Half-breed?
She watched as the man stood slowly. He wore nothing but a simple brown loincloth around his midsection. His arms were laced and decorated with beads and teeth and strange tribal tattoos. He moved as if he were accustomed to wearing much heavier garments. She stood as he held a hand out to her, and took it without question. He began leading her through the smoke, which slowly rolled away to reveal the landscape of Aden. She stumbled, as she suddenly realized she was standing high up in the air, on nothing. The hot-skinned man held her hand firmly, pulling her back up straight. She glanced at him a moment before turning and looking out over the land. They were so high in the air that the trees looked to be specks below them, and she could clearly see the peaks of the highest mountains. The sun was just rising, casting a pink glow over everything. Such a beautiful sight… she thought, the gods must see this every day. It was then that slow realization came over her, and she turned back to look at the man again. He gazed at her wisely and nodded, knowing her thought.
"You're…a god…" she breathed in disbelief. She had notion to release his hand, but she feared that she would surely tumble to the ground if she did.
"Yes, I am." He said, his voice deep. They began walking, Sharmin feeling solid ground beneath her bare feet even though there was no ground there. "I am saddened to say that you will not vividly remember this dream as you wake, as is the penalty for us lesser gods contacting the mortal world, but your unconscious will remember enough to guide you from here on." They passed through a fast moving cloud, and Sharmin shielded herself from it. This god spoke intelligently, but his voice faltered, as if he were again, unaccustomed to speaking so gently. When they emerged from the cloud, they stood in a large stone room; green glowing veins criss-crossing through the cracks in the walls and pulsing with light. With wide eyes she searched the room in awe, everything was larger than she'd ever seen in a room before. Strange beasts that looked familiar yet did not roamed freely in this room, growling and whining. Some had blocks attacked to their heads, others looked as if they were suspended in a state of decay, still living, but yet dead.
"Where are we?" she asked fearfully. A half decayed bear ran at her and she winced and shut her eyes, waiting for it to attack. She opened them in surprise as the beast passed through her and paused at the other end of the room.
"Many years ago my mother went on a rampage to destroy foolish beings who had dared to challenge her powers of creation." He led her through an archway and out onto a bridge leading into another stone room. "These pitiful creatures called upon the protection of my father to save them from her wrath. Through careful reasoning, he convinced her to leave them here, in these caves, where they have grown insane, and their lust for fooling with the balance of life leaving them sad shadows of what they once were." He paused in front of a monster that seemed to be just a torso, its arms and head covered with the strange blocks she had seen attached to some of the beasts. It pulled itself along, holding a heavy club in its hand. Strange stones floated around the block on its head, suspended in mid-air by magic. "There are few of the original ones left now, they hide deep within these caves. Their own children, these pitiful creatures you see before you, will not even venture that far, afraid of their madness. It is sad, really, how my mother took pleasure in watching this great race fall, but it is even sadder that these beings sought to toy with the balance of things initially."
"Are these giants?" Sharmin asked with wide eyes. The god did not answer her, but instead led her into another room. The scenery changed now, and she found herself climbing a stairway of what appeared to be a tower. Two giant statues stood on either side of the stairway as pillars, their poses showing how they held up the floor above them. Sharmin glanced about herself again in awe. What was this god trying to tell her?
"Years later, the creation-children of my siblings and myself found their own ways in the world after the rule of their lords had ended. One race in particular was ashamed of the god who had created them, for the god himself was ashamed at his creation, as it did not exceed the others. They turned their back on him as he had to them, and changed history in the favor that it was my mother who created them. She found favor in this, as she could use this weaker race as her own army against my sister, whom had gained her eternal wrath." The stairs split at the top and he led her around to one side. Wind blew over her, and Sharmin found the walls had broken away up here, leaving the stairs exposed to the air. He paused in front of a set of massive doors and stared at them with an unreadable expression before continuing his tale. "She sent the favorite of her own creation-children to help them wage war against the forces favoring my sister, to show them how pleased she was with their denial of their original creator, thinking they could pull themselves from the dishonor in which they were created and prove to be useful after all." He led her through the door then, Sharmin was amazed at how she passed through it as easily as water passes through paper.
Breath caught in Sharmin's throat as what looked to be a large statue clutching a spear lodged into his midsection met her eyes. The statue looked almost like a man, but more like a demon, its mouth frozen open in a silent shout. Tall angels stood nearby the statue, unmoving, guarding it.
"This favoring was lost when the king of these creations sealed her favored daughter into the darkness with the ones she had sent her to fight, lost in the dark for all eternity and unable to return to her mother's grace." The god continued, leading her towards the statue. The angels shifted as they approached, as if they could sense their presence. "Mother did not fully become disgusted with these creations until one king, many years later, sought eternal life and built this tower to make his demands to her, himself. Disgusted that the spawn created by my father, her husband, made from the cast-off leftovers from her children's creations had dared to enter her palace, she banished him to this tower, to remain for all eternity. She then turned her back on all humans, listening to their prayers with scorn and finding true favor with few, using the humans as her own personal toys when she grew bored." He said calmly, looking at the sealed king. He then turned to her, his red eyes staring deeply into her dusty blue.
"Since then my siblings have joined in this on their own, turning those living in this world into their playthings, forming a game, a competition to see who can influence the lives of mortals the most and change the pass of time the greatest." His grip on her hand tightened as he visibly struggled to control his temper, and Sharmin began to feel afraid of him. "I have lost too many of my own creation-children to this foolish game, my siblings toy with each mortal as if it were their right. There is no honor in this game, only foolish pleasure. My family grows as weak-willed as those mortals, only intent on pleasing themselves and letting life around them slowly fall to pieces." His voice began to take on a growling edge, and Sharmin began to shiver.
"Why are you telling me this?" she whispered, pulling against the grip he held on her hand. Tiny tears fell from her eyes. Gran Kain, the very god of destruction himself, had created humans, her kind? They were that despicable? It couldn't be true! That couldn't be what he was telling her!
"Right now you are the thorn that is preventing their game from advancing. My sister has taken drastic steps to remove you from this world so her game would continue. Loosing your sister, the spider who poisoned you, even loosing your soul to the Scavenger were all intricate patterns she had forcefully woven into the fabric of your life. I have protected you as much as I can without calling attention to myself, but there is only so much I can do. You have within you the spirit of the dying fire, my gift to my father when he insisted on creating beings in his own image." He paused and raised her hand to his chest, placing it directly over his heart. Sharmin cried out and winced, trying to pull away, as it felt as if he had placed her hand in the heart of a flame. "At first glance a dying fire is dishonorable, but if you add good tinder to it, it can grow, and regain life. With careful tending, it can soon become the roaring flame that will consume anything in its path." He stated, staring at her evenly and holding her hand firmly at his chest despite her pained whimpers and insistent pulls. "This is my gift to you, a renewed spark to the dying flame. Use it to renew the dying flame placed in all you bond with, and create an impenetrable force that not even Shilien can undo."
Finally unable to stand the pain any longer, Sharmin cried out and gave a mighty tug to her arm. She stumbled away from him and collapsed. She grabbed hold of the first thing she could reach to balance herself, her hands closing around the stone-covered spear lodged into the former emperor's midsection. Jolts similar to electricity surged through her, and in an instant she saw images of hundreds upon thousands of lives that had been toyed with by the gods. A spear suddenly sliced through her own stomach and she looked down at it in disbelief, her hands wrapping around it. The platform of the tower washed away and replaced itself with a room similar to that of the caves she had been in. Behind her, a giant orb pulsated in the middle of the room, casting everything in a green glow. Choking on her own blood, she followed the length of the spear to its owner; a tall, bare-chested man wearing a white robe over his hips and a large golden helmet over his head. He had two snow-white wings upon his back that shifted as he drew the spear towards himself. Sharmin had no choice but to follow with it, and watched, paralyzed, as he placed one foot on her midsection to hold her steady as he slowly withdrew the spear from her. She stared at him for a moment as he turned away from her before crumpling to the ground.