An Untimely Awakening

[black shadow]

Closed to MatthewKuch

[matthewkuch]

Note: Koli has given us his permission to use his character as an NPC. This can be confirmed by PM if necessary.

Gavner stared blankly into the distance as the surrounding landscape blew past him in nothing but a blur of monotonous color. Even if there was much of a landscape which he could look at, and even if his eyes could focus on the environment as he was passing it at such insane speeds, he wasn't paying attention anyway. No, something far more serious was on the vampire's mind. He was "flitting," as people called it, across the ocean between Corone and Raiaera. Flitting was a term used when vampires ran at such an insanely fast speed, that the world seemed to fly past them.

As soon as he had heard of Black Shadow's fate, the vampire dropped all of his affairs to investigate. Gavner had been on an assassination mission for the Ixian Knights; their organization was now a dead one, but what was left of the remaining leaders had sent the vampire on a mission to assassinate one of the viceroys of Radasanth, Athenry Sergio, as a last ditch effort to make an impact on Corone. That was when the carrier pigeon came.

Gavner had sneaked into the courtyard behind the viceroy's mansion, ready to be in and out in less than ten minutes when he received a note from Koli, a close friend of Gavner and Black Shadow's. It read in the most beautiful handwriting:

Gavner,

I am afraid that I have terrible news. It is in regards to Black Shadow. Please come to the monastery on the Eastern outskirts rural to Eluriand immediately.

Godspeed.

Koli.

Without a second thought to Athenry, the Ixian Knights, Radasanth or Corone, Gavner turned and left the city. It was only an hour after dusk, and Gavner had a long journey.

A million things were going through his mind all at once, and such was also the case all the way to Eluriand. Deep down, Gavner knew what had happened. The worst had finally come to pass, but Gavner wasn't willing to accept it. No, the vampire kept telling himself, that is impossible! Black Shadow cannot be dead! All of the odds in the world are always stacked against him, and yet he still emerges- regardless of the circumstances. Confusion and chaos ravaged the creature of the night's soul, as the farther he traveled, the further into despair he fell, as an overall dawning of the gravity of his best friend's end descended upon him. A grim, cruel realization was softly, and insidiously creeping up on him, but Gavner would not accept it. The moment that he accepted it, the vampire knew that he would not be able to handle it.

The world began to slow down as Gavner reached the strip of land that lead into the snow covered grasslands outside of Eluriand. Suddenly, the world around him stopped speeding by, and Gavner had reduced his speed to a dead sprint. Instantly, he felt the fatigue of one thousand journeys all at once, as he had been flitting for hours without stop. The vampire fell to the ground and rolled painfully to a stop, coming to rest in a bitterly cold bed of snow. He looked behind him and saw a streak of fire where the heat of his speed had melted the snow and set the grass underneath ablaze; he must have been traveling around mach 2.

Gavner forced himself to his feet and began to stagger under the weight of his own body; he was so exhausted, and in despair at this point- a sinking feeling in his chest had descended to his stomach and now he was beyond the point of looking on the bright side of anything. Looking around, the vampire gained his bearings by using the city of Eluriand in the distance. He turned east and began the trek through the snowy wasteland. Dawn was approaching, and the creature of the night would soon be unwelcome outdoors.

[matthewkuch]

"Koli!" Gavner said, bursting through the door of the monk's dormitory. The monk stood up from his bed, staring at the vampire.

"Xzcunge," The creature of the night cursed, bending over to put his hands on his knees while panting, "Why do you have so many stairs?"

Koli was a tall man with a round face and pure white irises. He was garbed in a white robe with the same colored shawl. A large red tattoo of a cross branded his face, the vertical beam coming down the center of his forehead, down the brige of his nose, onto his upper lip and ending on the bottom of his chin. The horizontal beam of the cross stretched from cheekbone to cheekbone. A somber man, Koli rarely spoke a word.

"What happened?" Gavner said loudly, forcing himself to stand up. The exhausted vampire gasped and clutched a stitch in his side, but remained upright.

Koli sympathetically looked at his friend, before turning away, back to his bed.

"Koli, what are you doing?" Gavner almost yelled, "You said something about Black Shadow. What ha-"

Just then, the priest turned around, holding the most beautiful weapon that Gavner had ever set eyes upon. A beautiful ebony black bow with four lovely, tightly woven strings- one of majestic silver, another of slow white, the third a rich gold in color, and the last one deep red- rested in the monk's hands. The center of the bow curved in where Black Shadow would have held the bow, and every inch of it seemed to be teeming with power. It was cracted from Liviol Nihon Redwood, and by normal draw could shoot arrows at a velocity of just under the speed of sound; however, if the strings were plucked as the arrow was fired, enchantments would overcome the arrows as they shot. This was the deadliest weapon known to existence [OOC: This discludes the weapons in the vault].

It was a weapon that Gavner knew all too well.

This was the exact Bladesinger Bow that Gavner had gave to Black Shadow as a gift for a new phenomenon introduced to him called "Christmas."

Gavner was speechless for a moment. "Koli, I.." he said, his voice cutting off. The vampire looked up at the monk, who was looking at Gavner kindly. "What happened?" Koli continued to stare, unblinking, at Gavner. "Koli, why don't you answer me?" Gavner said, his voice rising as well as his temper. The priest continued to look at the vampire, analyzing his words, and his every action.

"How can you be so calm?" Gavner shouted, beginning to panic in Koli's silence, "You-"

Just then, the priest reached out and touched Gavner's hand, sending him literally into a memory of the priest's. Gavner gasped as he was drawn deep into the monk's mind, and into a scene of the past.

[matthewkuch]

Koli looked fondly out over the familiar landscape, trying to see beyond the horizon of the crisp, cool autumn day. Winter was coming soon, as it would be upon the monastery in a few days. The monk was coaxing all of the flowers into hibernation so they would not be killed by the harsh temperatures. Koli was basking in the sun, enjoying the blue skies when in the distance, he saw a caravan coming from the city of Eluriand. Naturally, the monastery was eager to welcome travelers, but when the convoy reached the priest's home, Koli noticed that a dear friend of his was among the other travelers- who were all warriors. It was Black Shadow!

Koli had known the dark archer ever since an escapade in Dheathain, in a union where he, Black Shadow, Gavner, and another friend of theirs named Drake, all met and embarked on a quest together. Now whenever they referred to it in passing, they called it "the gathering," in jest. The monk walked up to his friend, who did not notice him at the time, as he was busy tending to the animals, and quietly waited for the archer to give the monk his attention. When Black Shadow did notice Koli, a his eyes widened, and the two friends embraced.

Koli! Black Shadow exclaimed in sign language. It has been too long my friend!

Koli smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He pointed to the monastery and looked back at the archer questioningly.

No thank you, Black Shadow signed back, We are simply stopping before making the trek out to the subrurals. We are on a quest to eliminate a dragon.

The caravan ended up asking the monastery for water and other provisions before traveling out, and Koli labored for the next two hours refilling their stores with the rest of the monks. When they were finished, Koli approached Black Shadow and embraced him. He then raised his eyebrows and gave his friend a look.

Yes, of course I will be careful, Black Shadow replied, in sign language. It was very nice seeing you!

Koli smiled and waved at his friend before the caravan started off and ventured into the wilderness.

It did not seem like long at all before the next few days of work were completed, and the monastery was ready for winter. Koli was meditating out in the now frigid afternoon air, embracing all the living world around him, when he noticed a man running on the road towards the monastery from the subrurals. Half of him looked to be charred black, and as he drew closer, he appeared to be sporting first and second degree burns. Koli walked to the gate of the monastery to intercept him.

"Help, please!" The man shouted from the distance, "Help!"

Koli motioned for the man to stop at the gate, but the traveler kept on running. When he reached the gate, he still did not slow down, and Koli had to stop him. The priest intercepted the man and used his martial arts techniques to put him on the ground in one swift motion. Looking into the man's panicked grey eyes, Koli used his Eyes of a Hero, and the man suddenly became calm and stopped struggling as he looked upon the priest's now emerald green irises. Koli picked up the man in his arms and began to carry him into the monastery.

"The dragon," he mumbled. Koli stopped dead in his tracks. The monk looked down at the traveler, his eyes now wide with dire curiosity. "Zack Blaze struck it down, and I was the only other who survived."

[matthewkuch]

Koli continued jogging down the road, yet fatigue did not descend upon him; he never tired while running- as long as he was connected with the Eternal Tap, his mature and extremely well trained body would virtually never tire. The monk soon came to the peak of a ridge which overlooked a tall, yet rather narrow pass between two cliffs. The valley and the foot of the cliff had been laid waste to. There was rubble and destroyed wagons, as well as weapons and remnants of carcasses and carrion scattered throughout the landscape. To the right of the pass was an enormous carcass of what appeared to be what remained of a skinned dragon. In the very center of the road leading to the pass was a massive scorched spot on the ground.

Koli ran down into the valley, and made his way to the scorched land. The priest walked into the center of the area, observing the now barren land. In the cold evening light, he saw a glint of something metallic among the ashes. As Koli bent down to pick it up, he observed as the first snowflake of the Ascending Winter fell to the ground. Koli brushed the ashes off of the object and revealed a long arrow shaft with three fletchings. He picked it up and noticed the familiar black tip of a diamond arrow, and observed the metal on the end of the shaft. Bending over once more, Gavner began to search through the ashes and revealed a familiar quiver of arrows. The priest continued to search through the ashes until his hand found a familiar shaft of a bow. Koli pulled it up out of the ashes, to reveal the beautiful bladesinger bow, to his horror.

"No!" Gavner shouted, pulling away from Koli's touch. "No this cannot be happening! He cannot be gone!"

Koli reached for Gavner once more, but the vampire bared his sharp, black teeth and hissed hysterically at his friend- the creature of the night's glowing red irises now blazing furiously.

"This is your fault!" He shouted furiously, "Why did you not stop him?" Gavner's vision began to fade out as his ebony black blood began to leak into his eyes. His tearducts had been gouged out during vampire general training, and from then on he wept blood whenever in a rage of emotion.

Koli stared back, blankly, at the vampire. "WHY!?

Gavner picked up an end table that held one of the few possessions that Koli had in his life and threw it at the monk, which, even though it was hurled at a speed of over thirty miles per hour, the monk dodged effortlessly with a sidestep, and it smashed on the stone wall behind him. Splinters shattered in every direction, and Gavner's anger boiled. "I hate you!"

The vampire took a step forward and raised his fist to the priest. All of his despair, all of his grief, all of his lamenting had turned into pure rage at this instant- it was almost as if he knew nothing else, and there was no past present, or future, just rage. Rage was all that ever was, and rage was all that ever would be; and Gavner was ready to use this rage to punish whatever was responsible for fostering it.

Koli continued to stare directly back into Gavner's eyes with his pure white irises. Gavner hated him- he hated Koli so much.

But just as Gavner was going to attack his friend, he saw out of the corner of his eye a dark figure, weakly leaning on the frame of the passage to the next room for support. The vampire's eyes instantly darted over to see, to his own disbelief, Black Shadow, standing before his very eyes.

"Gavner," Koli said in a strong, unheard of voice, "If you had just let me finish the memory..."

The room was spinning, and a sense of complete numbness descended upon Gavner. He had no idea what to think. Was any of this real? The shell-shocked vampire fell to his knees and looked at the ground. What had just happened?

[black shadow]

Do Not Archive, working on this still