The Great Pandemonium: Nobilitas Obligat

Part VI. Revenant (cont.)

Part VI. Revenant (cont.)

The spirit reached across and pressed his hand against Drystan's body and suddenly he was very aware of every single broken bone and gaping hole that plagued it. Excruciating pain alone threatened to snuff out whatever remained of his life, but he focused instead on the images rolling through his mind that were decidedly not his own in an effort to ignore the pain that he was somehow certain would not last for much longer.

He could see the City when it was alive and it was magnificent. Warmth flooded every corner of every building and crevasse there was, a light and comfortable spring air that never changed. Things went on about the City just as they did any other, but people were using magic freely and walked the streets without the suspicious gazes from anyone else. There was, however, the occasional sharp reprimand to a young one for doing something like lighting a fire too close to cloth or wood. Pairs of people clad in identical armor strolled through the streets and were greeted respectfully by those whom they passed. No two pairs were the same, but somehow he knew there were dozens of these people all throughout the City.

Guardians. Their title came easily, though not from his own thoughts. Always two, bound beyond death, to stand before the Gate. Antenox is just a shadow of what they were when the ash-in-born first came down from Imbrusil's branches.

The square where he lay shed its frozen skin and came alive once again, the fountain at its center bubbling merrily as frothy crystalline blue water cascaded downwards from an intricately tiled spout. All around there were market stalls selling silks that shimmered like waterfalls, crystal baubles that hummed ethereal melodies when they were rolled about in one's hand, breads and meats that smelled so delicious his stomach seemed to complain about the hole in it that was keeping it from being filled with the taste of the memories.

A beautiful song caught his attention and he found he could turn his head to look at where it was coming from. An Enkiri woman, clad in a simple pale green dress that accentuated the vine-like emerald markings that flowed over her entire body, skipped towards him with her arms outstretched. Her hair was straight and pale brown, brushing the heels of her bare feet as she walked. She sang in words he did not know but which filled him with such happiness that he knew there were tears in his eyes.

Easnadh. I had loved many before her... but no one after. Her songs could give life to the words imprisoned within books. Drystan felt sorrow overwhelm him as the vision of the warm square faded back away into the reality of what it was. The last thing to vanish into the snow was the Enkiri's face, her gray-green eyes smiling up at him. When Tou-Rinna spoke of the plan to stop them I forced her to leave with her people. I lied to her when I said I would follow; I knew we were all going to die here.

The pain in his body faded away as he lay staring up at the branches above him where Eral slowly spun large and blue in the sky. He could move his arms and legs but somehow he knew that they was no longer entirely his. An odd power lurked within him, something not quite like magic, but something that let him sense it as though he were one of those who could use it. It was like an alternate sight, an extra sense beyond what he could touch, or hear, or smell.

'Tis interesting to have flesh again, I'll give you that, Drystan Nighttyr. Arathron's voice chuckled in his mind.

Drystan sat upright and marveled at his nearly-repaired body. The holes were gone and his bones were mended, but he was still blind out of his left eye. He could feel Arathron's reassurance that eventually that too would right itself. Apparently all the energy he had been using to maintain his own outward illusion as well as anchor Drystan's spirit to his body had been redirected into healing his wounds to the point where he could get back on his feet and be useful.