A Memory of Light

[Zephyrus]

 22:03  @Kotono          • Nikkolai returns to the tavern. It's become somewhat quieter since the trio left. Calariel is still there, reading her book and left be by the other patrons.
22:05   Nikkolai        › quietly makes his way over to her table once more, taking a seat beside her. "I do apologize for the interruption. I've made sure they're both safe in their beds where they won't cause any more of a ruckus."
22:05   Nikkolai        › shakes his head in exasperation.
22:08  @Kotono          • "They let their will get away from them." Putting her book down, "It was good of you to ensure nothing got out of control."
22:14   Nikkolai        › shrugs. "They've taken care of me a time or two. It is only fair to do the same." He reaches out to tap the book. "What precisely is this book about? It has been at the back of my mind during our entire conversation. Any book that I can't read is bound to drive me crazy."
22:18  @Kotono          • "It is a story that cannot be told to mortal ears, save those of the utmost purity. It is a small fragment of the story of the first creation. It is written in the Words of Creation, are you familiar with them?"
22:24   Nikkolai        › blinks. "Words of Creation? I can't say that I am. It sounds very interesting, though." Nikk leans forward. "How would I go about learning them? I've found that I have a gift for tongues."
22:29  @Kotono          • "You must dedicate yourself to righteousness and study them for a long time. A single Word can augment holy magic and the act of creation, a verse of them can shatter evil." She pauses here, coming scooting closer to Nikkolai. "Should you desire, I can begin teaching them to you. But be warned, should one who does not live to the highest righteousness utter a single Word? Their mind shall shatter forevermore. Should a being of evil utter it, t
22:29  @Kotono          • Their mind shall shatter forevermore. Should a being of evil utter it, they will be un-created, forever destroyed." She pauses in thought, "It is said that if one can speak the entire 7,777 Words of Creation, you can create life itself. Such is it's power."
22:33   Nikkolai        › raises his eyebrows to his hairline. "To have such power at your fingertips. It is truly an awesome thought." He purses his lips, eyeing the book. "Once, I would have said yes without a second thought for the consequences. 'Power is power.' But now, after the many long months I've journeyed, I've come to recognize that perhaps I should not be trusted with such power."
22:36  @Kotono          • "Few should. Fortunately, it is exceedingly hard. After living 45,000 years?" Calariel now very softly smiles to Nikkolai, "I have learned 159 Words. Our lore says that only three can utter the full language now: Zaphkiel, Talisid and Queen Morwel. So fear not too much."
22:40   Nikkolai        • "Short of achieving immortality, I doubt I'd have enough time to learn even word." Nikkolai observes wryly. "Queen Morwel certainly seemed as if she'd know something like that. I felt that she knew me down to my very core when I met her gaze."
22:41  @Kotono          • "Ah!" With a moment of placid surprise, "You have been so honored as to meet the Lady of the Lake?"
22:44   Nikkolai        › nods. "My companions and I met her in Arborea. We were then pursuing one of Knight's siblings, Rogue. I saw many wonderous sights while in her Hall. If ever there was a place I could rest, I would certainly choose the Lady's domicile." Nikkolai casually leans against Calariel. "Well, so long as you were there."
22:53  @Kotono          • "Your words are still sweet as honey," Calariel doesn't push Nikkolai away. Instead she holds him in return, an arm around him. "Rogue and Knight? Their names are most curious, more speaking to what they are than who they are."
22:57   Nikkolai        • "You are correct. Knight and her siblings are not entirely...human. Have you heard of the Deck of Many Things? Knight and her siblings are the manifestation of the Deck. The embodiment, I suppose I should say. They have been torn apart and scattered across the planes. She is on a quest to reunite them."
23:01  @Kotono          • "Ah, truly so?" Calariel smiles then, "I can offer you glad tidings."
23:03   Nikkolai        • "You can?" Nikkolai straightens in Calariel's arms, turning slightly to meet her gaze. "Knight would be most grateful if you could give any word at all."
23:06  @Kotono          • "I have heard stories from another about a great king that has taken hold of a fief in Ysgard in recent times. He is known as The Throne, and none know any of him, save his words can unite all under his banner."
23:10   Nikkolai        • "Ah! Knight will be well pleased to hear of this. Ysgard is actually where all of us first met. Well, excepting the Goliath." Nikkolai pauses. "Tell me, Calariel, what exactly are you doing in Shivra? I've been so distracted by your beauty that it just now occured to me that seeing an Angel in such a place must be rare indeed."
23:11  @Kotono          • "I am traveling," Calariel says, "Seeing the greater planes." She pauses here for some moments, "What of you and your friends?"
23:16   Nikkolai        • "We are merely passing through. After Knight's little...escapade tomorrow, I plan on securing an audience with the Wizard known to be well versed in portal magic. I have business with an old friend of mine in the Prime, my former home." Nikkolai grimaces involuntarily, his thoughts going back to the small object locked in a lead box at the inn.
23:18  @Kotono          • "A burden you carry heavily." Calariel smiles, "Shall we go back to my room and discuss your burden?"
23:21   Nikkolai        › raises an eyebrow, blushing slightly and unsure. "I...yes. I would love to." Nikk rises to his feet and offers Calariel his hand. "Shall we, my lady?"
23:24  @Kotono          • Calariel's inn room is like many others you have seen. It's plain and functional but little else. She sits on the bed there, a faint blue light filling the room from a window outside. The reflected radiance is here as well, dazzling and shimmering in the frigid air. "Sit," Calariel pats the bed besides her.
23:27   Nikkolai        › sits down, nervous and skittish. He is beyond the realm of his knowledge. How a man and a woman court and interact was sadly lacking from his former Master's teaching curriculum. He only knew what little he'd gleaned from his travels across the planes.
23:31  @Kotono          • The angel puts her arm around Nikkolai's shoulders, "Confession is a wonderful panacea for the soul. Speak now, speak on your burdens and the difficulties you carry, heavier than any stone."
23:35   Nikkolai        › blinks, relaxing slightly. This much, he could handle. "To tell of all would take more time than I think you would care to listen. But I will tell you what I can, since I feel that I can trust you without reserve." (More)
23:38   Nikkolai        • "Many years ago, as a young child, I was sold by my parents to a powerful sorceror, who above all else, desired power. Her eventual goal was immortality and Lichdom, though she did not tell me this for many years. She laid spells of binding and servitude upon me, that I might serve her till the end of my days." Nikkolai's face became hard and cold. "I did...many terrible things to survive." (more)
23:40   Nikkolai        • "On the night of my 21st birthday, or what I suppose was my 21st birthday, she performed the ceremony of 'trancension'. After her transformation, I struck in the moments when she was weakest, breaking past her wards and stealing her phylactery. I fled her manor in the city, burning it before I went. And from there, I fled from plane to plane for a year or so, before I met with my companions." (more)
23:42   Nikkolai        • "I had lost the phylactery early in my travels, where it somehow made it's way down to the Abyss. My friends were kind enough to help me fetch it back." Nikk pauses. "I would have been content to run forever, had I not learned that she had found a...new apprentice. Her home is no place for a child. Any child."
23:43   Nikkolai        • "I plan to destroy her utterly and raze her fortress to the ground, salting the earth behind me. I will save the boy and avenge upon her rotting carcass the lost years of my childhood!" Nikkolai says fiercely, flames flickering in the depths of his eyes.
23:49  @Kotono          • Calariel listens to it all, silent as Nikkolai's story becomes fierce at the end. "There is a time when peace must be put aside and the angels need a sharp sword." So in reflection she murmurs this, "Your story heralds a coming of that time. It is good...and when you have put right this abomination, what road shall you walk?"
23:53   Nikkolai        › leans back against the headboard. "I...had not thought that far. To be honest, I do not see myself surviving the confrontation between us. It will come down to us two, of this I am sure. And I do not believe I can match her stroke for stroke. If I can take her with me, it will be the best thing I can do." Nikkolai snorts, idly inspecting the Fey tatoo upon his hand. "Someone's going to be very unhappy when he finds out I've cheated him out of a year of servitude."
23:53   Nikkolai        • "Someone's going to be very unhappy when he finds out I've cheated him out of a year of servitude."
23:54  @Kotono          • "The mark of Lord Balimbomb?" Calariel murmurs, "No, I think that rest will not find you so easily, human."
23:58   Nikkolai        • "Oh? You know him? I would have given him seven years of my life, if only he could rescue the boy for me. He failed, so I only owe him a year. If I live, I will honor the contract. But I do not see how a mere Lord of the Fey can cheat death." Nikkolai drums his fingers on his thigh. "I suppose, if I do live, I wish to learn more of my ancestry. And learn how to live, if you know what I mean."
00:00                   • Day changed to Sunday, June 20th 2010.
00:01  @Kotono          • Calariel chuckles but holds her peace. She leans in, "Let me show you a moment of what it is to live." She comes close to Nikkolai, almost touching face to face, her breath felt on his lips. "Close your eyes."
00:03   Nikkolai        › smiles, thinking he knows what is to come. He closes his eyes and waits, lost in the sweet scent of Calariel so close to him.
00:04  @Kotono          • Her touch isn't anything he can really describe, but it's felt. It's like touching a baby's first laugh, a rainbow's brightest light, the happiness of watching the sun rise after a good night's sleep. Nikkolai barely feels the physical touch, lost in the spiritual. "Look on me now, with your eyes unrestrained."
00:06   Nikkolai        › opens his eyes, awash with what he can only describe as feeling complete and the happiest he has ever been since those dim days of Before Her. Who knew that there was so much *good* in a universe teeming with sorrow and pain?
00:11  @Kotono          • Before you she hovers. Her body is awash in fire, wearing it akin to Knight's armor. Six wings of pure white come from her back, each one's feathers engraved with a single letter of Celestial. In one hand she carries a sword of flame, in the other is an orb of countless eyes, spinning amid each other forever. Her face as bright as the noon sun, obscuring her features. Seven white diamonds orbit her forehead, refracting rays of light from her f
00:12  @Kotono          • Seven white diamonds orbit her forehead, refracting rays of light from her face down to her body, where they burst into flame-armor.
00:15   Nikkolai        › gasps, eyes wide with awe. Inarticulate sounds of wonder struggle to emanante from his throat. A tear spills from his eye and runs slowly down his cheek. He reaches out slowly, desperate to touch her and reaffirm to himself that she's real; desperate that he's merely dreaming that there is something beyond his struggle for survival and the lonely acquisition of power.
00:20  @Kotono          • Calariel reaches out to take Nikkolai's hand, as real as he is. The sword fades from her hand as she does, freeing her to touch him. Her touch makes his blood burn as overwhelming mercy fills his heart, soul and mind. "I am Calariel. The name mortals give to ones of my caste is solar. Do you know of us, Nikkolai?"
00:22   Nikkolai        • roll 1d20+14 Hatbot, be kind?
00:22   Hatbot          › --> "Nikkolai rolls 1d20+14 Hatbot, be kind? and gets 28." [1d20=14]
00:27   Nikkolai        • "I do, my Lady." He bows his head, pressing the back of her hand to his forehead. "If you knew half of the things I've done--I'm unworthy to see you."
00:32  @Kotono          • In answer, Calariel holds up her other hand. In the endless loops and sphere of eyes, each one shows a brief image. Various deeds of Nikkolai's life - the worst of it. Every lie, every cruel act, every vicious word. Yet her other hand holds Nikkolai's cheek, "It doesn't matter if you're unworthy, for tomorrow is always another day. In each day's dawn is the chance to make that day better than the last, to say enough and cast aside the mistakes
00:33  @Kotono          • to say enough and cast aside the mistakes of yesterday." In the eyes you see them - murderers, hate-mongerers, aboinations, tyrants - each in the same position as Nikkolai is right now. Then you see others - saints, paladins, champions, martyrs - in the same. Then at last...you see the common, the baker, the waxmaker, the barrelsmith. "I represent hope. A child's hope resonates within your soul."
00:35   Nikkolai        › squeezes her hand tightly. "Hope? What hope is left to a man who can barely be a man when he couldn't even be a child? Even now, I yearn to kill my old Master not only for the boy's sake, but for my own. How? How do I change!? How do I change what has been beaten and twisted into me?"
0:43   Kotono   "One day at a time. Feel the regret of the past, for regret is the key to change. In change comes atonement and in time, redemption. It is a road that you never stop walking, one that will change you over great time, and yet, faster than you realize." She pulls Nikkolai closer to her, into an embrace. "Live each day a little better than the last, learn from your mistakes...and in the fullness of time, forgive yourself and come to love yourself
00:43   Kotono   .and in the fullness of time, forgive yourself and come to love yourself. As long as you live, there is always hope. Hold onto it as her apprentice holds onto the hope that Nikkolai will come to save him."
00:49   Nikkolai   Tears trickle down Nikkolai's cheeks as he brings to embrace Calariel, aching to be closer to this source of light, love, and warmth. "I--I will try. I'm not sure I know how to let go. But if you will stay with me, I'll try. I promise you, I'll *try*." The last is uttered in a fierce whisper as he buries his face in her golden hair.
00:53   Kotono   Calariel holds Nikkolai. It begins to escape description - raw happiness, a contentment long lost to Nikkolai. Memories of faint things return. His mother, holding him as a mere babe. Finding a moment's peace from the Lady of the Green Kirtle, lost in a book of magic. Laughing with Adail, Mari and the others over something or another. Yet even as this is, "In particular...there is one matter that does raise some curiosity."
00:54   Kotono   "In particular...there is one matter that does raise some curiosity."
00:56      Nikkolai replies, his voice somewhat muffled as he refuses to leave the sanctuary of Calariel's neck. "What do you mean? Ask and I shall gladly answer."
00:57   Kotono   "As the sun rises, so does the moon." Her voice is still kind, "As do the maidens of the moon."
01:07      Nikkolai freezes, hand frozen in the act of reaching up to run his fingers through her hair. "If you are referring to the Moon Maiden of Arborea, I do not deny it. I found her beautiful and became infatuated with her. In order to become her suitor, she bade me change my ways; spread liberty and happiness." Nikkolai hesitantly resumes reaching for her hair. (more)
01:09   Nikkolai   "But now that I have come to know you, I feel something for you that is stronger than what I feel for the Mood Maiden. She is beautiful, it is true. But she has not captured my heart like you have, nor can she hold a candle to the radiance that your smile and your eyes exude. She cannot make me happy like you have."
01:10   Kotono   OOC: Make a diplo check here, Nikkolai
01:10   Kotono   ?
01:10   Nikkolai   roll 1d20+20 Hatbot, I don't care if you eventually kill me but *please* don't let me fail this roll.
01:10      Hatbot --> "Nikkolai rolls 1d20+20 Hatbot, I don't care if you eventually kill me but *please* don't let me fail this roll. and gets 37." [1d20=17]
01:16   Kotono   To all this Calariel listens, and at the very last, smiles and holds Nikkolai tightly. She doesn't answer, but holds him tightly to her. "For these moments, let go of your burden and be close to me."
01:20      Nikkolai wraps his arms around her once more. He feels safe, warm, and happy. Perhaps it was love. Perhaps not. He had faith that Calariel would teach him what love was. "Let nothing else exist except you and I. You are all that matters."
01:23   Kotono   What happens next is transcent, of the flesh and spirit. When it is at last concluded, the two lay against each other under the blankets, "Dear Nikkolai...listen to me."
01:25      Nikkolai twines her hair in his fingers. "Speak, my lady, and your eternal servant will hear you!" Nikkolai grins in a slightly goofy manner, eyes focused intensely on Calariel's eyes.
01:27   Kotono   In those eyes Nikkolai sees the spinning eyes of the sphere once more. In them...Calariel appears on the Prime. You know it immediately as where the lich's abode stood. For a moment she floats there, then it spreads. Pure light and love spreads like a wave from her. Farther away come waves ofd arkness, the ground erupting! Dreadful things you can scarcely look at come screaming out. The skies rend asunder, solar and horrors as bad as they are
01:28   Kotono   The skies rend asunder, solar and horrors as bad as they are good coming forth. In it all comes to an end, leaving behind only the ashes of a funeral pyre. "Since I have been promoted into being a solar, my place is not in the material realms. Were I to come with you in physical form, the end of time would come to your home world."
01:32      Nikkolai pulls back slightly, blinking rapidly as the vision faded from his eyes. "I...don't truly understand, but I will trust your words. Even I would not see an entire world dead just to visit revenge upon an enemy. But when I am finished, when my duty is done...can I be with you? Will you yet travel a little ways with me till we must part?"
01:32   Nikkolai   "One night is not enough."
01:37   Kotono   "When your steps are done, you can be with me," Calariel says, "In the meanwhile, while I cannot be with you in spirit," Two of the seven diamonds from around her forehead come down like shooting stars into the palm of her hand. She takes them, pressing them into Nikkolai's hand. "One of them is for you. My hope for you will shield you as strong as any steel armor." She passes that diamond to Nikkolai, "Place it to your head, like an Ioun ston
01:37   Kotono   She passes that diamond to Nikkolai, "Place it to your head, like an Ioun stone."
01:38      Nikkolai takes a moment to admire the brilliance of the diamond before pressing it firmly against his forehead.
01:40   Kotono   The diamond floats to his forehead, then hovers in orbit! A faint, fiery armor appears around his upper body! "The other...Adail you have seen being wise and being fierce. When you ask of how you can hope to atone, look to him. Give this gemstone to him - it is a gift, for I know full well how much a musteval struggles to find suitable equipment."
01:42   Nikkolai   "My thanks, Calariel. You have given me more than I deserve and more than I thought to look for." He closes his hand gently around the last diamond. "I fear that it will be some time before I can hold you once more. Will you stay with me, at least until the morrow?"
01:44   Kotono   "I will." Calariel holds Nikkolai closer, "Know that you walk alone for this time for another reason: Were I to come with you, my power would trivialize all you do. Your greatest struggles would be of no consequence to me. It would rob your efforts and the efforts of your friends of any meaning."
01:49      Nikkolai snuggles closer to Calariel, placing his chin atop the crown of her head. "I cannot deny that the idea of someone waving a hand and magically making all our of problems disappear is very attractive!" He laughs lightly. "But I feel the truth of your words, my heart, and understand them. What prize would freedom be if it wasn't fought for?"
01:50   Kotono   "Exactly. For now...let us be together, for tomorrow will be a long, hard road."