My first chat with a god was an interesting, if disappointing, experience.
After our descent into the very bowels of Citadel (I shall never understand how those dwarves can bear to live in such a confined, lifeless place) and our transport, elsewhere, we found ourselves in a field. To call it merely a field, though would be to do it a grave injustice; this field was the apotheosis of fields. And it was not simply the field; everything about this place seemed perfect; the sun, the sky, the clouds...everything in perfect measure and in perfect agreement with all else around it. I likely could have sat in that spot all day, simply admiring the simple beauty of the place, but for the pain and debilitating spate of coughing I was subjected to.
For two perfect days we traveled, over lazily rolling hills, the immaculate day ruined only by the regurgitation of my lungs. Finally, we came our way to a river, and a rather conveniently placed bridge. True to our luck, we found enemies to bar our way. We dispatched them, with some difficulty, as poor Bastian died fighting the guardian. Which is when Jerick showed up.
After healing us of most of our wounds, and Bastian of his slight case of death, he proceeded to answer some of our questions, raise others, and generally act infuriating, in a divine sort of way. I won't go into our farce about destiny; I would simply become infuriated, all over again. He did confirm that Arilyn is a product of the crystal's power and my awesome intelligence, but could not heal her of her wounds, since, being in essence a construct, she is beyond the reach of fate.
He also revealed to us a grave truth: he did not charge us with finding the shards. Which means that, in all probability, it was Threnody or her master who duped us into finding them. Another shocking fact we learned...it is not Yuriel who imprisons Threnody to his will, but rather an angel named Aram, who imprisoned Yuriel in Hell, after falling, himself, from heaven. Now, that we have begun, though, we must see it through, it seems, with Jerick's official blessing. So, he gave us our third shard of the crystal and sent us to our next destination.... |
