[Solo] The Nosdyn Chronology Chapter 9.

(Note: Continues immediately after the events of: Chapter 8 And is part of an ongoing series and ALSO will be considerably longer than the last thread. Contains erotic style content, I don't like getting to vulgar with this stuff but I'm trying to show it in a more romantic type of way. I'll leave the smut style writing to people who are better at it than I am hahah.)

Nosdyn was impressed at how brave Llukai had become...he'd been considerably older at that point. He was standing before N'Jal and her children, and he was not afraid. Nosdyn was looking at Llukai's eyes...he was tired...he'd been running from the past for a very long time. Nosdyn knew that feeling well. As he suspected the one element they had forgotten about would eventually have to be dealt with. Xyllea's cult. Once Llukai was done talking, Nosdyn considered everything he had heard.

He looked N'Jal. "He's speaks the truth."

N'Jal nodded. "How can you be so sure?" She asked, it was an honest question given everything Xyllea herself put them through.

Nosdyn walked up to Llukai. " I know what this man's been through...once I called him my brother." Nosdyn stood in front of Llukai at that point. "You're tired, Llukai, how long have you been running?" He asked of him.

Llukai nodded. "Since the last time I came here to see if I can surrender to you and N'Jal. To try to salvage the situation Xyllea caused...I don't know how things got so horribly wrong."

Nosdyn suddenly realized...

Damn...it's been years...this poor boy's been running for years. He suddenly hugged Llukai at that point.

"Before we go any further here...I want you to know Xyllea is dead...she is at peace...but that only solved one part of the problem." Nosdyn said calmly.

Llukai nodded. "I received word that a Lloth temple had been attacked by an outside element...but I had no idea that had been you."

Nosdyn looked at Llukai, then he looked at N'Jal. "What is your will my master?" He asked of her.

She stood before Lancaster's son at that point. "What do you desire?" N'Jal asked of him.

Llukai didn't even resist at that point, he was a man defeated by that point.

"I...I don't know anymore. I just want to be free from this pain." Right then, Llukai did one the most profound things Nosdyn had seen up until that point. He hugged N'Jal, and he began to cry against her. "I-I'm so tired. I didn't know where else to turn, who else to go to." He felt N'Jal's arms hug him...it was a powerful sort of thing.

Nosdyn watched the whole thing unfold in silence.

Llukai sat next to Nosdyn, once the two had been friends...brothers...

Nosdyn saw a chance there to repair the damage Xyllea had caused them all. He looked at Llukai at that point. "You were very brave to come here, Llukai. I'm sorry about that first night...it was not your time yet." Nosdyn said to the man.

Llukai was cold, he'd been running so long he didn't know how to stop at that point. Llukai nodded. "Nosdyn...I didn't mean to impose on you and your people here. I just...I just didn't know what to do."

"You are certain it's Xyllea's people?" Nosdyn asked of him.

Llukai nodded. "Yes...they have now infiltrated most of Ettermire at this point."

Nosdyn sighed at that point. He remembered the teachings of his father.

Ours is a tribe, a fighting tribe. We are destined to die on the battlefield. "Llukai." Nosdyn suddenly said. "I owe you and your father a great debt. It always was my intention to repay that debt. Join me and my master here."

He said. And he recalled once, Llukai being a boy...being taught lessons from a proud demon of the Tular Plains. As his father had taught him before him. And his father's father...a long line of proud demons had come before Nosdyn. He recalled once, standing before Xyllea herself he'd been teaching those kids...he would never try to sell them anything. Ever. "I want to finish teaching you the ways of my father." Nosdyn said calmly. There was unfinished business between Llukai and Nosdyn...an old debt that had to be paid. He extended his hand to Llukai.

Without hesitation or thought on the matter, Llukai shook his old teacher's hand.

"I want to be taught..I want to learn. When we first met...I was just a boy with a learning deficit." He cried at that point as he looked at the proud demon. "I...I am so sorry for what happened...I did not have the courage to fight for you, to stop what Xyllea had caused. You should have been the one ally I fought for my whole life. Can you...can you ever bring yourself to forgive me?"

"Llukai...your father once told me about that, he said I was the only one who could reach you who could teach you and your friends in the slums. Xyllea stole that from us. I wasn't able to finish what I started with you because of her." Nosdyn sighed at that point. "You are my own family, boy. Once you called me uncle. I am asking you to call me teacher now...your teacher, as it was always meant to be. Let me finish what we started together, so long ago."

"Come, Lilly, father has a way of doing things, of teaching." Tharak told his friend. There was an eagerness in the demon's voice...they'd already all gone through so much together.

Lilly nodded. "I will always be by your side." They quickly moved into the side cavern that had been set up...

***

The cavernous network had not yet been fully explored...there was a network of caves all around them. Nosdyn needed a suitable sized chamber for the next part of it all. About two weeks earlier, they'd come across such a chamber. It had the exact dimensions he needed. It was almost...fate guiding them. Nosdyn and his students, the children of N'Jal, Llukai, and his son, Tharak were all present. Nosdyn had a way of teaching...he could reach people who many others would pass up on. Before him, stood a host of N'Jal's own children...each one of them female. There was Llukai Lancaster, and his son, Tharak arrived a few moments later with his companion, Lilly.

It had been weeks since the initial lessons began.

Nosdyn observed the ferocity in Llukai Lancaster's eyes at that point, he'd been getting taught well at that point. Though he was a dark elf, the boy had accepted Nosdyn's culture, his people. On his own flesh one of the undead woman etched the symbols of house Krotar.. Nosdyn son of Tharak instructed the students there in the martial tactics of his father. They were grasping quickly...Nosdyn approached Llukai son of Lancaster and nodded to the boy. The entire class stopped at that point. "Student, state the precepts of house Krotar."

Llukai did so without hesitation, he'd remembered the teachings of Nosdyn since he was a child...

***

That night...Llukai son of Lancaster sat in a side chamber alone, he needed to think. He'd found friends, a place to call home with his uncle and teacher, Nosdyn. He sighed as he sat there. Things had been so messed up for so long. At that point, he noticed a presence was near, the woman who had marked the symbols of Krotar house on his own body at his request. "You..." He said to her, there was no malice in his voice, he'd just been tired of running for so long. He was tired of the pain he'd felt.

The woman walked up towards him calmly, there was an acceptance of the boy in her eyes. "May I sit with you?" She asked.

Llukai motioned for her to be seated. "Yes...I just needed to think...I've been so very tired."

She sat down next to him, taking her place by his side. She placed her hand around his own hand...it was a very good thing. "You don't have to be alone anymore." She said calmly to him.

"I...I've never had a companion before." Llukai admitted. He looked away with a great pain in his eyes. "I was always just a stupid boy with a learning deficit. No dark elf woman would ever want me." He sighed. Nosdyn was the only one who ever looked at him any different...

"Llukai..." She said his name at that point. "My people won't ever judge you. I see something else in those eyes, understanding and maturity."

Hearing her say that, one of N'Jal's own children had a mysterious effect on the boy. "I cannot offer you much." Llukai said to her calmly. He'd been crying by that point. He suddenly understood what Nosdyn son of Tharak saw in N'Jal and her followers. There was a sincere honesty in their fold.

She nodded. "That will be enough, I just want to help heal your pain and suffering." She promised to Llukai.

Llukai son of Lancaster thought of something a short while later, he'd been thinking on it since the woman first joined him. A way...to somehow make amends for what he'd done to Nosdyn. To begin repairing some of the damage he directly had been responsible for. Before he spoke he made certain, it was what he wanted...the path he was meant to walk on. "Can I.. ask something of you?" Llukai said, there was a sincerity in the boy's voice

The woman nodded and looked in his direction. "Yes...what do you want to talk about?"

He sighed and tried to muster up the courage for the single most selfless act he would ever do in his life. "H-how...do I become like you? A child of N'Jal, I mean? I have to start making some of this right again...I have to repair some of the damage I've caused Nosdyn."

She paused for a long moment at what she was hearing, a part of her was excited by the prospect..but as she'd been taught she would never force undeath on a person without their complete permission. "First...you must be completely certain this is what you want. I am not allowed to transfer the catalyst without someone's own free will." She said. "Then I bite you...a bite is the single most direct way. You will undergo a brief period of tremendous pain when it is over you will be a child of N'Jal for the rest of your life." She was telling him the truth...she would always tell him the truth.

Llukai thought about it for a moment. "I have to make this right somehow. Maybe by submitting completely to you and N'Jal...I can make some of this right." He said carefully. "How do we begin this?"

She stood up at that point and looked at the boy for a moment. "Take off your shirt." She told him, no malice was in her voice...it was simply a woman asking a boy to take off his shirt.

He did so without any sort of hesitation or fear. "I submit myself completely to you." He said to her.

She paused for a moment. She tried to remember the exact position The priestess from Corone had once bitten Nosdyn. She would honour the boy's request and begin the process. "I will try to make this as painless for you as possible." She said.

He shook his head and began to cry for her. "No...do what you must. I am not afraid." He said showing an almost extreme amount of courage and bravery.

A few moments later, it began. She bit him, slowly at first. Llukai, since his time there, had accepted the children of N'Jal. She bit him..after the first few moments he no longer even minded it. He did something to show her how completely he accepted her and her people. "Don't hold back with me. Don't ever hold back...I'm just a stupid boy from Ettermire who caused some of this whole mess." He suddenly placed both of his hands on the back of her head and pulled her closer to him as she bit him, he was enjoying the pain...it somehow served as a counter-agent to all the suffering he had endured all those years.

He acknowledged his pain as he held her closely to him transferring the catalyst into his body. He started moaning in pleasure at that point, in their physical union. Memories...memories of the past surfaced. He recalled his early youth...when he first met Nosdyn son of Tharak. Even back then, he'd always been a stupid boy with a learning deficit...Nosdyn had reached him and accepted him and his father's plight. "Please, mother. Let me do this one thing to make this right." He said out loud as he thought of how many times, in his youth, Nosdyn had stuck his neck out for him and his father...

A short while later it was over...it had actually gone much better than she thought it would. She drank of his blood and flesh, memories of the boy's life were also transferred into her mind...they would have a connection for the rest of their existence. She sat down next to him once the process was over. "Don't fight it Llukai, let the change occur naturally." She explained to him.

He nodded at that point to her, by that part of the whole process he was fully a child of N'Jal. "I just thought of something...I don't even know your name. Things have been so crazy for me for such a long time I never thought to ask you your name until just now."

She listened to the boy, there was a soft smile on her face at that point. "It's okay...Aelldra...my name is Aelldra."

He nodded to her. "Let's just stay here for a while together...me and you, to make amends for some of my own sins of the past." He said to her.

He sat there for a long moment. Thinking about what he'd just done, the single most unselfish thing he had ever done in his life since the time he met Nosdyn on the field of battle and stepped off Ettermire's forces as being a general. Father, mother...be at peace I will make this right...somehow I will make this right. I swear to you both. He held his companion's hand. Ironic, before that point no dark elf woman would even ever look his way...the only woman who had ever given a damn about him...had been a child of N'Jal. He chuckled at the irony of it all a moment. He looked at her for a long moment, there was a beauty there, that somehow became more obvious to him. The dark elf women didn't have that same surreal beauty. "You are the only one woman who has ever even looked at me the way you do." The boy told her the truth.

"It must have been very hard for you." Aelldra responded.

He nodded. "Since I walked away from Ettermire's army...I've been running. I been running for a long time. Perhaps into your arms." He smiled softly. "But even now, as crazy as this all seems it makes sense to me. I see now why Nosdyn would have chosen N'Jal. You and your people won't ever judge any of us...I see now why he stayed. When Ettermire, no when me and Xyllea herself abandoned him. He had nowhere else to go."

Aelldra nodded calmly. "We will figure all these things out together me and you."

***

Meanwhile...

Nosdyn knelt before N'Jal by that point there were at least one hundred of N'Jal's children with them. Things were moving rapidly at that point, as they were meant to be. He telepathically communed with the master. What is your will my master?

Lancaster's son has become one of my children. It was his own choice...his own path he must walk. N'Jal said to Nosdyn.

Nosdyn was a little surprised by that but he nodded, everything would transpire as it was meant to.

You've trained my children, your Son and Llukai very well at this point. Someday...we must confront the cult in Ettermire. N'Jal said to him.

I will do what you ask...we will be prepared for this thing you ask of me. Nosdyn responded.

A thing occurred to Nosdyn at that point. He looked as his master, N'Jal, slept next to him and he kissed her forehead gently. He walked over to the side chamber where his son's lab was. He noticed the lights were always on in the night, and he heard Tharak and his friend, Lilly, speaking quietly to one another about matters he had no knowledge of. He silently over towards his son, and his chosen companion. "Boy, there is a matter me and you must speak about." He said to his son. "Lilly can be be present for this." Nosdyn told his son.

Tharak nodded and they both paused whatever alchemy they were working on at that point. Tharak turned to look at his father. "What is your will, father?" The boy asked.

Nosdyn stood in front of the boy and his companion. "There is a lesson I must teach you both." He said calmly. "This is not martial tactics...or anything of that nature...this is another matter." Something troubled Nosdyn deeply, perhaps it was his age by that point.

Tharak listened to what his father was saying. "Go on." He said.

He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and Lilly's shoulder as well. Something was troubling Nosdyn. "This thing I am going to teach you two...I have kept inside since my father taught me as a boy. It is our legacy, boy. I want to teach you...before it ever becomes too late...the history of our people."

Tharak somehow understood what pained his father so. "Father...Xyllea, mother...she would never let me acknowledge who I was. I will honour your request my father...we will learn all you have to teach us."

Nosdyn knelt before his boy and his chosen companion...there was a something there...a connection between father and son. He closed his eyes at that moment and began to cry before them. "My father, your grandfather...once told me it was our people's destiny to die in battle. Twice now...N'Jal herself has cheated death itself to prevent my own passing before my time. But I know boy, I know my own time is coming and very soon. I want you to know of the long line of proud demons that came before you. What our house, Krotar house stands for." And so...Nosdyn began to speak, in the Haidian tongue to his son..as he'd taught his boy so many years earlier. He knew somehow...his teachings would have been retained by the boy. There was too much demon in his blood...too much honour at stake.

He looked at Lilly and somehow noticed that she understood what he was saying as well. His son had taught her their language, the language of his forefathers. He would speak of their proud lineage and heritage for hours that day, to try to instruct them in the ways of his people. Once, Xyllea had attempted to kill the two demons for who they were...Nosdyn had to prepare in case the same thing ever happened again someday. He had to pass on the knowledge of who his people were...their history and culture. And the knowledge of the horrible thing The Tribunal made him do in his youth...the sins of his past.

He would make sure his son understood what was at stake...what their people stood for. He was trying to be there for his son...trying to be the father that Illsandra herself once said he would have been very good at being.

The entire time, N'Jal watched the event unfold in silence...she somehow knew what Nosdyn feared. And the hour was rapidly upon them...

N'Jal watched her champion quietly, he'd grown considerably older by that time..wiser. She knew, he would have been an elder of his people by that time. Something troubled her champion...but she guessed what it was. He could feel death's shadow on his back. She wrapped her hand around his hand. "What bothers you so my champion?"

"I'm...old." Nosdyn said finally. He didn't want to trouble her with that matter...his people aged differently but he'd been alive for a very long time. He'd fought the demons in his heart for a long time. He accepted the truth of what was going to happen someday. "Father once told me...it is my people's destiny to die in battle."

"You wish to honour your father?" She asked of him.

"One last time my master." He nodded to her. "To honour all he has taught me, all you and your children have taught me. I'm just an old demon at this point...haunted by too many battles." He was being truthful to her, honest and that pain haunted him at that point that knowledge that death was watching his every movement by that time of his life.

She was not sure how she had not seen it up until that point. Somehow, she'd grown complacent of the fact that he'd always been there since that first night he joined her side...so many years ago. It was all catching up to them at that point, looming like a specter. "Eventually, all things wither and die." N'Jal said at that point.

It reminded him of something an old friend...long gone, once told him. "He said the same thing to me once. The old priest from the temple outside of Ettermire." Nosdyn said, remembering the wise old undead priest he'd once called a friend. "I once told Llukai's father I was not afraid to die. I meant that, I always have." He said.

N'Jal was deeply concerned for her champion's well being. She knew what she was prepared to do to keep him alive, to keep him by her side. But she didn't want him to ever hate her for it...

At that point Nosdyn did and said something. He placed his hand on the side of N'Jal's face. "Do not be so troubled by my burdens my master. Walking by your side was the greatest choice I have ever made for myself. I have no regrets...come what may I would die to honour you and your teachings."

N'Jal sat on top of her champion's lap at that point...as they had shared the same bed so many nights since that time. N'Jal placed both of her hands on the side of her champion's face. "Look at me, Nosdyn. Do you...do you remember that night you first came here to join my fold?"

Nosdyn nodded. "It was the greatest choice I ever made."

"Do you remember what I asked of you that night? The commitment you made to me?" N'Jal looked deeply into her champion's eyes, seeing deeply of the things he was struggling with.

"You accepted a lowly exiled demon that night. I swore to you that night I will do everything you ever asked of me." Nosdyn said to her, with the simple and honest way of speaking his feelings he'd always had such trouble doing. Two women of Ettermire, he gave his feelings freely to...both abandoned him but the second one was for far more selfish reasons. He meant what he told her that night, he belonged to her and would do anything for her.

"You have more honour than any man I have ever known Nosdyn son of Tharak. It has been my honour as well to walk alongside you and learn everything you have taught me so far, I have also learned from you." She said that and meant it. "I am going to ask you once more...love me again tonight my champion as you have so freely in the past. I want to help you face whatever challenges you."

It was then...Nosdyn realized something. He told her himself what he realized. "I see you now, my master. I see so clearly what has been in front of me this entire time. Mortals tend to think of my people and you and your followers as evil. I have learned something else in the entire time I have walked by your side. The truth is not simple. You're a rebel. You fight for your own causes, for what you believe in. That night you took in a lowly demon who was rejected by Ettermire herself. You gave me a purpose, a home. I have served you this entire time without ever doubting you once. Whatever you need, you ask of me my master. I will do as you ask, always."

"Make love to me like you did that first night, like you've always done." She said so simply and so plainly.

Nosdyn cried before his goddess. She'd always seen something in the exile...something only she saw...that not even Xyllea or Illsandra herself saw. There was more in Nosdyn, more depth of character than he would ever easily reveal.

He placed his hand on the side of her face gently. "I am yours always. When the time comes and if I fall in battle you can work your magic of death itself on me each and every time. I give myself freely to you."

And they kissed deeply, and would make love to one another the entire night. Nosdyn saw her as she was not as a cold, heartless and evil bitch...Xyllea had been that. N'Jal was something else...there was a rebel in her heart. He was prepared to die for her cause at any point.

Tharak son of Nosdyn was in the alchemy lab with Lilly. They were both writing that night, trying to compile everything they had learned thus far. Primarily of interest to Tharak personally was his father's teachings about their legacy. They had been working on this for many nights.

Lilly looked at Tharak. "We can take breaks when you are tired you know...it is no good to keep pushing yourself so hard." She smiled softly at her mate.

Tharak had not even realized how long it had been since the last time they took a break. He blinked when she spoke and jotted own one more set of notes, he closed his journal and placed it on the bookshelf. He walked over towards Lilly, she sat at the alchemy table. "I'm sorry to have worried you. I needed to be certain my people's culture was never lost. But yes, you're right...it's okay to take breaks." He sat down on the chair next to hers.

"Something troubles your father." Lilly said to him.

Tharak nodded. "I know...I have known for a long time now. He's getting older...by my people's reckoning he'd be over five hundred years old by now." Tharak sighed at that point. "It's been haunting him...for many years now I think."

Lilly placed her hand on the side of her companion's face. "He's scared...probably of his own mortality." She told him.

Tharak nodded. "You told me once...eventually all things wither and die. The teachings of N'Jal yes?"

She nodded. "Yes...the master is also concerned for your father's well being. She won't let anything harm him...not even death itself." She said at that point.

"Her power is considerable." Tharak said to her, admiring the powers N'Jal had mastery over. "But yes, we should rest tonight. I lose track of time sometimes." He said to his companion. "When that happens you have my permission to remind me." He said with a soft smile on his face. "Lilly...you've already taught me so much." He reached forward and kissed her deeply...

The kiss was long and passionate, he'd grown used to having her around. Since the moment they first met...there was something that just felt right to him. He held her close to him as they kissed each other. At some point the kiss ended and he smiled at her running his hand gently through her hair. "You have more beauty than I have ever seen in any other woman." Tharak said to her quietly.

She nodded. "Thank you...in Ettermire it must have been hard with all the dark elves there."

"I never could bring myself to take one as a companion...there were a few who tried. Some who were interested...but after what happened to my father cause of Xyllea, I could never accept a partner like that." He sighed. But kept his eyes locked on her own. "You...are the only woman I have ever loved Lilly." He told her just then. He said it simply and plainly, as his father often spoke. Unlike his father though, he did not have the same difficulty sharing his emotions and feelings. He'd been raised by dark elves...

"Tharak...thank you. I love you as well...since that first night we met and you accepted me." Lilly said in response.

It was interesting hearing that from her. He smiled softly. "Let's go to bed and call it a night, we're both probably a little tired and there are matters to take care of." He told her with a sly wink.

She got his meaning right away, the man she'd slept in the same bed with for all those years. "I will never say no to you." She said and they both went to their bed.

Llukai son of Lancaster looked at his companion, Aelldra. She taught him many things that the children of N'Jal were required to know. He absorbed each lesson she gave him eagerly, without question. Very similarly to how Nosdyn son of Tharak had taught him...it clicked something in his head was accepting the teachings. He sighed at that point hours had gone by since she began to instruct the boy. "At the academy...the instructors do not tolerate failure of any sorts. It hurt you know." He said to her.

"What did?" Aelldra asked.

"The academy took mama from us because of me from me and my father i mean. Because of me...because I was always just a stupid boy from Ettermire." He sighed. "I just want you to know these things so you can understand what it's been like for me. Nosdyn was the only man who ever saw me as a person."

"So that's why..." Aelldra said to him.

"Yes..I failed him. I want to make up for some of the shit I've done here., maybe it's not too late for me." He had a burden in his heart, they had all been deeply affected by Xyllea's sins.

She nodded. "I will help you find your way Llukai son of Lancaster." She stood directly in front of him.

Just then, one of the other students arrived and walked towards Llukai and Aelldra. "Lessons resume tomorrow. Lord Nosdyn wishes you both present for tomorrow's sessions." She said and saluted both of them.

Aelldra spoke. "We will both be there." Then she looked at Llukai. "You will find your destiny. Llukai son of Lancaster."

"I already have." He said calmly to her and kissed her deeply...

***

Llukai son of Lancaster was present as was his companion,, she'd chosen him of all people. A stupid boy from the Ettermire slums, he would always try harder than most folks ever would to make certain she would not regret that choice ever. The students were primarily a body of female undead students...for some reason this group of N'Jal's creations were all female either by choice or by some other reason. Llukai would never understand the mind of a deity anyway. All he did know was he was trying to make up for his own sins of the past...he was trying to correct some of the shit he directly caused Nosdyn. The thought repeated itself in his mind. The one man I should have fought alongside my entire life...

Nosdyn was standing in front of Llukai at that point, all eyes in the class were upon the situation. He saw something in the boy's eyes he'd not seen before that point. Ferocity. There was a fierce, but not tempered warrior hiding in Llukai's soul. Nosdyn nodded to his student. "Center of the floor." Nosdyn ordered.

A moment later, Llukai and one of the more skilled female warriors were facing one another. No hesitation, no questions asked.

Nosdyn saw a quick flash in mind of a time in his life when he'd been the only one who ever gave flying fuck about Llukai and a group of kids form the Ettermire slums. He was determined to make something of that boy...he owed that to Llukai's father.

Nosdyn stood before the two sparring partners with his arms folded across his chest. He would watch every move, every strike either combatant performed, their technique, their form, their posture...everything. He would go over it with them both and made sure when the time comes they could fight against hell itself.

"Begin." Nosdyn ordered.

Father...you would have been proud. Nosdyn often thought of the wise old aristocrat demon who had been his father. He thought of how far he'd come in N'Jal's fold. It had started with a simple resolution, a simple promise. Nosdyn thought back to his own youth, his own martial training at the careful guidance of his father's lessons. Nosdyn was teaching them the same way he'd been taught...to honour the legacy of his people...no...to honour his father. He watched the two students spar against one another in the martial tactics of his father. It was an exotic sort of fighting style, far more brutal than the Akashiman martial tactics ever were. Nosdyn observed, he instructed, he helped them adjust form and technique.

More and more he was seeing it...Llukai had something to prove. He will be great someday Lancaster. Me and you together...we did this together. We made something of the boy. When classes were over for the day Nosdyn stood there deep in thought as he often did, thinking about the day's instructions. Llukai walked up to him with his companion. Nosdyn nodded at both. "You're both doing very well."

Llukai didn't even think to ask or question what Nosdyn thought of the fact he'd joined N'Jal's fold. But he wanted to know if his teacher approved. "Instructor...I needed to ask you something." Llukai said.

Nosdyn looked at the boy calmly. "We're equals, boy. If you ever have something you need to share you talk to me."

Llukai nodded. "I joined with N'Jal...you never said anything. I just wanted to know if you approved or not."

Nosdyn ran his hand through the boy's hair as he used to do often in the past. "Me and you walk different paths, boy. Worry not, your woman will take care of you." He looked towards Aelldra and nodded to her. "You two make a beautiful pairing." Nosdyn said calmly and decided to leave the training center for the night after helping them clean things up.

Aelldra walked over to Llukai. "He admires you, Llukai. He sees you as I do."

Llukai nodded...that ferocity and determination was there in his eyes, Llukai knew someday he would have to prove himself to Nosdyn.

***

Tharak son of Nosdyn sat in deep thought that night. He looked at Lilly at about the second hour and kept looking at her with a soft smile on his face. "Father once told me it is our people's destiny to die on the battlefield." Tharak said to her.

She nodded in response. "Yours is a tribe that fights...maybe against life itself." She said with a smile of her own.

"Perhaps. Father was always more gifted in the martial tactics than I ever was. However I was blessed in other schools, other powers." Tharak said to her. "I have been teaching you know for a long time. You have been teaching me as well. I have made it my own life's work to record the teachings of my father for N'Jal and the other children. So come what may, my people's history would be recorded."

Lilly nodded. "Your father has been doing a brave thing. Teaching us the martial tactics of his own father." She said, accepting the ways of Tharak and his people. "He doesn't want his own father's memory to be lost." Lilly said to Tharak.

Tharak considered what he was hearing. "He's afraid of dying." Tharak had a somewhat serious expression on his face, and he placed his hand gently on her leg. "I think all of us are scared of facing our maker someday."

"He is trying to preserve a great deal of knowledge." Lilly said to him. "We're doing a great work together me and you. It's been an honour watching how far you've come in our fold."

Tharak nodded. "Lilly...thank you too." He said calmly to her, he was glad N'Jal saw fit to pair them together. It was only then he was beginning to understand how the master worked on some level.

Nosdyn sat silently next to N'Jal. He was thinking as he often did, pondering...letting his mind dissect various matters of the week's time period. He looked at N'Jal at that point. "The students are progressing well." Nosdyn said calmly.

"Especially the boy I'd assume, Lancaster's son?" N'Jal asked. "He had the markings of your people engraved on his own flesh...he is quite an admirable boy."

"Yes...there's a war waging in his heart. He fights with the same ferocity now as myself and my son do." Nosdyn paused for a moment. "I have been wondering lately, where does this all lead my master?"

N'Jal thought carefully of how to respond to her champion. "An educated question...but difficult to answer. For a long time, I acted on impulse as well...oft being a free spirit. Before you joined my fold things were decidedly...less organized." She chuckled a moment. "Right now is the calm before the storm." N'Jal said quietly to him.

He nodded. "We've been fighting together for a long time, my master." Nosdyn said to her. "You know by now I would never question you. I just want to know what you're thinking...what happens next?" He asked.

"You know at some point Xyllea's cult will directly oppose us." N'Jal said.

Nosdyn nodded. "I know...I have been considering this too. Perhaps we can at least choose where a battle will take place."

"Would be a direct advantage yes. Why do you fear going to Ettermire?" She asked suddenly.

The question almost caught Nosdyn off guard but he would answer her. "Many will die if we directly engage. I just...don't want to cause needless bloodshed anymore. I've changed my views on warfare at this point. We'd be at a very large disadvantage in Ettermire. Also...there is another element we have to consider."

N'Jal thought about what the old demon was saying. "The Lloth priesthood is what you speak of?"

"Yes...I do not think I can logically fight them directly. Lloth herself...once read my mind, saw my thoughts." He sighed. "Back before Xyllea had completely sold me and my son out." He shook his head. "A battle against Lloth would prove to be fatal for us. Perhaps not you...but for us. Your followers, me, my son, Lancaster's boy."

N'Jal nodded. "We will prepare when the time comes, I will think of something." She said. "But I have always respected your advice and your wisdom, I shall consider what you are telling me very carefully."

***

Him and N'Jal got up a little while later and started to walk around the cavern network for a while together.

Talking about a great many matters...

Nosdyn had deep concern in his heart that he freely admitted to her, a war against Ettermire would prove far too costly. He did not want to loose what him and N'Jal worked so hard to build for so long. He paused a moment and looked at her. He placed his hand on the side of her face. "N'Jal...as you know I do not fear death. For many reasons perhaps, but mainly because of the teachings of my father. It is no longer about what we think about a potential enemy anymore. We have lives depending on us now." Nosdyn said to her very carefully. "We cannot risk losing what matters most."

N'Jal listened to everything that Nosdyn told her. "You've changed Nosdyn. It has been a tremendous pleasure watching you grow. I understand your concern I will honour it. I want to ask you something that I've asked you before but only if it's okay with you." N'Jal said at that point.

"We are speaking freely my master, you can ask me what you need to." Nosdyn told her honestly, matters of the heart and expression had always been difficult for him but he'd come a long way since those days.

She nodded. "Do you remember that night you came here?" N'Jal asked, there was something that was troubling her, a point she was trying to get across. "Do you remember what you promised me?"

Nosdyn nodded. "Yes...I will always remember and I will always honour the promise we made each other that night. This I swear to you."

Time passed...

One night, Nosdyn became aware of the dreaming state he'd encountered at several other points in his life. He had no knowledge of how he ever ended up in those locations he only knew he was in them. Each time, he'd encountered otherworldly entities...other beings friends and loved ones long gone. He no longer felt fear or trepidation in these sorts of other planes...the dreaming state he'd oft called those placed. He looked around, this place was a field of The Tular Plains, long since abandoned.

There, on the twilight of his life...Nosdyn understood why he was seeing that place of all places.

"Do not fear the end." Lancaster, Llukai's father said to him. It would have been the first time he was directly contacted by Lancaster's ghost.

Nosdyn nodded to his friend. "I never have, but something is different now."

"There is more to protect I wager." Lancaster said knowingly.

Nosdyn considered that. "It's...a little more complicated than that my old friend. I feel...it I feel death's shadow on my back now at all times."

"N'Jal won't let go of you...you should know that by now." Lancaster said truthfully. "She loves you too much."

"I am aware...there is another matter. The boy...he's become one of N'Jal's now." He would always tell Lancaster the truth.

"He thinks he owes you a great debt, Nosdyn. I have watched my son for many years now. Not saving you from Xyllea was always one of his greatest regrets, I have come to warn you about this matter. He is going to attempt to sacrifice himself for you." Lancaster said.

Nosdyn, perhaps was his age by then, nodded. He'd considered that as being possible by then. "I am aware of what eats at his heart and soul. What would you have me do, Lancaster?" He asked the old dark elf.

"You must save the boy at all costs. You will have to make a choice very similar to that time you first met Xyllea. On one hand, you'll have the life of an enemy of N'Jal, your master. On the other...you will have Llukai's life. That choice will affect which of you will live and which of you will die."

A flash in his mind of the day he first met Xyllea, he'd risked certain death to save her. "I will do everything in my power to save the boy." Nosdyn said.

"N'Jal...may not approve of this decision. You may have to face her wrath as a result." Lancaster said plainly.

"If she strikes me down over this...it will be all right. I have lived a long time my old friend...I know the end is coming, perhaps for us all." Nosdyn said.

"Nosdyn...take care of the boy I know I do not need to remind you of what is at stake. You have your own son to deal with, but this one selfish thing I ask of you, the boy may not be willing to see reason when the time comes. But save him. Long term, he will become too important to you all." Lancaster said.

Nosdyn nodded. "I will see this done. And Lancaster...be at peace he's become a gifted warrior at this point, me and you made something of him."

Later that night, Nosdyn found himself troubled by what Lancaster's ghost told him. Nosdyn did what he often did when he was troubled by something, he went to go train. The martial tactics of his father's teachings were second nature by that point. Nosdyn had the training chamber to himself that night. He would take full advantage of that fact, he trained harder, worked harder than anyone else there except maybe N'Jal herself. Nosdyn thought carefully to the times of his youth...when his father was training a boy that would one day be the heir to Krotar house. Before The Tribunal ruined everything for them all. Nosdyn was haunted by his memories of the past by that time of his life.

He saw his father before him...but they were memories, not the actual ghost of Tharak himself. His ghost would never again appear before him since that last time. The night of the wedding between him and Xyllea. He sighed at that point and began to recite the precepts his father had taught him since he learned how to talk. He began to cry at that point as he used the wooden training stick against the one of the combat dummies they'd set up. He trained, he pushed himself as hard as he could...he was fighting a battle he knew he was going to loose. One day, death would come claim him. He knew that was unavoidable at that point. Well into the training session, he noticed his priestess was watching him train. He was catching his breath, sweat dripping off his well chiseled form.

The priestess had been his trusted companion the entire time. He smiled at her. "Do you still desire me?" He asked of her. "Even though I'm an old man at this point?"

She smelled his sweat, his natural body order and she smiled softly at him. She walked right front of him and leaned in close to him, to feel his natural warmth. The warmth of his people. "I have always been here for you. Death eventually comes to claim us all...but let us enjoy each other while we are both here." She said to him.

He nodded. "I have never said no to you." He held her in his strong arms. There was a comfort there that was not quite the same as the times he spent with N'Jal. N'Jal was a deity...that was something far different to understand and sometimes even to comprehend. "Thank you for choosing me, in many ways you have also saved me." Nosdyn said to her.

"Me and you have been through a lot together." The priestess said, enjoying his warmth and the smell of his body. "We will face many more challenges together."

But Nosdyn knew....there weren't going to be many more challenges. His time was coming, it was the nature of his people to face battle, to die on the battlefield. He knew what he was prepared to give to N'Jal and her cause. He was not afraid of death. "Let's enjoy each other tonight my love." Nosdyn said to her, that night he wanted to just enjoy his priestess...for perhaps the last time. He knew death watched his every move by that point in his life.

For a long moment, Nosdyn held her in silence in his strong arms. He'd always been physically well built for what he specialized in. Nosdyn held her close, running his hand gently through her long hair. There was an almost ethereal beauty about the children of N'Jal. A beauty only they had, it was almost poetry. As he held her in his arms, he was trying to simply just enjoy the moment itself. Someday, there would be one last trial and tribulation they would all have to face together, Nosdyn suspected he would fall at that battle. Matters of expression, the heart, had always been difficult for Nosdyn to express because of his troubled past.

He held her very close to him and kissed the top of her head gently. "There is a thing...N'Jal's teachings I have been learning them. To help me prepare for what I know is coming." Nosdyn said to her.

She nodded. "You don't have to be afraid...you never do. You know for everything that's happened, she sincerely loves you."

"She has my permission when the time comes...but I don't know if I want to keep fighting at this point." Nosdyn was scared of something else. He was not sure how he could word it, but he wanted someone to know. "Death itself, I have never been afraid of. It is the nature of my people to fall and die in battle. I'm just...tired at this point. I've been fighting for a very long time now." Nosdyn told her.

She listened carefully to what her demon was telling her. "There is not much I can say to you to help you alleviate the suffering you surely must feel right now. But try think of it like this, it's no longer just about you and N'Jal. You have a son now, and Lancaster's boy. Try to look at it from their point of view, what would they do if you fell in battle and everything that could be done to save you was not done? You're too important at this point. N'Jal has been without a champion for a very long time before you."

Nosdyn nodded. "Thank you...sometimes it helps to talk about these things. Illsandra learned very early, that I often had trouble expressing my emotions, I think many men do. But me specifically...I always had trouble."

"Because of what The Tribunal made you do to your own family?" She said, there was actually a really understanding expression on her face.

"There are other factors, but yes because of The Tribunal. It took me a long time to forgive myself, and I hated myself for that." Nosdyn told her. "There is something I want to give you." He removed his father's locket from his pouches and put it around her neck. "N'Jal once told me to give it to someone more worthy than Xyllea ever was. I am choosing to give this to you. The only known visual record of my mother." He clasped the locket around his mate's neck and nodded. "It looks better on you anyway." Nosdyn said with a soft smile.

"It does look good on you, Xelldra." Nosdyn said her name quietly. He'd known her name for many years at that point, but he'd always been used to calling her his priestess. He nodded.

"It retains your warmth." Xelldra said calmly. "Xyllea once wore this did she not?" She asked.

"Yes I took it back from her that night, I made sure." Nosdyn had a pained expression on his face. But it passed quicker than it would have in the past.

Xelldra thought about what she was hearing. "You have come a long way." She said to him. "I will walk alongside you always." She was being honest about that.

He touched the side of her face gently with one of his hands. "Life...is interesting it not? When I was young and more rash, I lost a friend over all of this. She was also a Priestess like you are. She went to the wilderness one night and I never saw her again. She likely took her own life. Those events lead me to come here...to Ettermire and eventually join N'Jal's fold. And eventually find where I belonged, in your arms."

She smiled at that softly. "You've spoken to the master have you not?"

"I have been wondering where this all leads, what happens next. So yes I have spoken to her...the answer was a little troubling but it is okay. I accept I am going to have to fight until I can no longer fight. It is the way of my people." He said to her.

"The way of your father you mean?" She had the soft smile on her face.

He nodded in response. "Yes. I miss him...often. I was forced to do a very terrible thing in my youth because of The Tribunal."

"They saw your father as threat likely." She said.

"Yes...The Tribunal's word is law. I wonder if choosing exile earlier would have been my more optimal route." He said at that point, with a heavy heart.

"Why do you think that, my lord?" She asked.

"They would have lived." And that shadow passed his face once again. His son had that quality of his people too. "I didn't think that I would have been exiled anyway back in those days..but they would have lived."

She understood something deeply about her demon at that point. He'd been troubled by his haunted past for a long time since before joining the master's fold. She continued to just stand there, holding him against her. "Let's just go to bed tonight." She said calmly to him.

He nodded in response and kissed her deeply.

***

"You understand now don't you?" Aelldra asked of him.

Llukai son of Lancaster nodded. "Yes...for the first time in my life things make sense. I don't know...maybe it's the effects of the black blood or something like that. I don't really know, but things make more sense now." An effect of his acceptance of the master's gift.

Aelldra nodded. "You're the first you know...the first one I've ever turned."

Llukai looked at her carefully. "It is an honour." He said calmly, trying to think how Nosdyn would react in such a situation.

She placed her hand on the side of his face. "You don't have to be like your instructor, just be yourself." She said in a very understanding way.

"My whole life...he was all I ever knew. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I've made him suffer because of my failure. Xyllea...we knew me and my father knew. My father was already ailing and close to his own death by that point. I was too scared to back him..." Llukai sighed. "The one man who ever gave a shit about a stupid boy from Ettermire. I owe him...I will always owe him." There was a war being waged for his heart and soul.

She saw the struggle and turmoil in his heart, it excited her. "Such debts are repaid someday. You will be fine Llukai, you've already proven enough. You're a highly skilled warrior by now."

Llukai nodded and hugged his companion close to her. "There is a storm coming." Llukai suddenly said, perhaps hinting at things to come.

Several nights later...

Nosdyn was holding Xelldra in his arms. The smell of their physical union was strong in the air. He was awake at some point that night and became aware that something in the darkness was staring back at him. He became aware, once more, that he was once again that strange dreaming state he'd often found imself in. He stood up after a moment and felt an unfamiliar presence...

Nosdyn's eyes narrowed as he saw someone belonging to Xyllea's cult in the dreaming state with him. Nosdyn kept his face calm and would hear out whatever the man before him had to say, he was a dark elf. He noticed that right away. "What do you want?" Nosdyn asked first.

"I've come to see for myself who was this champion of N'Jal. The one that Xyllea herself hated so much." The man had a sneer on his face as he looked at Nosdyn. "I've come to tell you that we are enemies."

"I am aware." Nosdyn said calmly. "This is the only solution for us then? To become enemies and fight to the death?" Nosdyn's heart felt heavy.

"A champion of N'Jal herself hesitates now?" The man asked, quite similar to how Xyllea herself would have spoken in the end.

"I don't want needless bloodshed at this point if it can be avoided." Nosdyn said truthfully. He was tired of being dragged into needless wars and conflict. "Contrary to what you all may think we are not heartless monsters. Xyllea was."

The man shook his head at that point. "You would do well to not insult our former master."

Nosdyn sighed. "I spent years with Xyllea, in the end she back stabbed me and stole my son from me. I will ask you this, for your allegiance to her...what were you forced to give up? And can you sleep at night?" Nosdyn asked.

The man considered the words he was hearing. "We are still enemies nonetheless. When we meet next prepare to do battle." The man said, and the dreaming state ended.

Nosdyn awoke shortly after with a sigh at all he had just learned...

As he awoke he held Xelldra a little closer in his arms. That feeling, that dread that had been in his heart for some time was ever present. He narrowed his eyes at that point and knew that no more sleep would come. He kissed the top of Xelldra's head for a moment and then gently rose from their bed. He needed time to think, to organize his thoughts. He walked towards an empty side chamber, much of the cavernous network remained unexplored.

He felt N'Jal's presence behind him. "My master." He told her, and turned to face her.

"You encountered their leader tonight did you not?" N'Jal asked.

Nosdyn nodded. "Yes...apparently diplomacy will not work here."

N'Jal thought about what she wa hearing. "They will be our greatest challenge so far my champion...you must gather your strength."

"I know what's at stake." Nosdyn said in response. "There was something...interesting." He said to her.

"What did you see?" N'Jal asked.

"He was afraid. It was not that different from when we fought Xyllea that last time." Nosdyn said. "There is fear...where this fear there will be desperation. Many lives will be lost." Nosdyn explained to her.

N'Jal considered her demon's analysis. "Did he state when a challenge would occur? A confrontation?" She asked.

"No...but I suspect likely soon." Nosdyn had a grim expression on his face.

"You are certain you do not wish to go to Ettermire directly?" N'Jal asked of him.

"I am...Lloth herself would be an outside element we cannot afford to engage." Nosdyn did not want to see any needless suffering because of an extended battle with the cult.

"Then I must prepare another plan." N'Jal suddenly said. "You will be excluded from a direct Ettermire assault."

"My master...?" Nosdyn did not like what he was hearing. "I simply am stating a more optimal route..." Nosdyn tried to get her to understand what he was saying, where he was coming from.

"You will not disobey me!" N'Jal suddenly yelled. Perhaps a little harsher than she meant to. "You will be excluded from Ettermire's direct assault party there will be another plan for you." She said and she walked away silently.

Nosdyn was left there, a growing bitterness for his situation in his heart. Lancaster...I remember what you told me, when it comes time I will save your son and our debt will be fulfilled. You have my word. Nosdyn knew, he was going to be cut out from all planning form there on out...he was being punished for some reason he did not quite understand, or cared to.

He stood there in silence for a long moment.

Thinking on all he had just learned, all that had just occurred. Life itself will be at odds with us always. He thought to himself, he thought of a conversation he had with Xelldra at one point. Maybe early exile would have been a more optimal route...maybe...now I'm not so sure... An hour passed as he stood there. I am going to be excluded now...after all I have given her...maybe it's better this way. Nosdyn stared into the dark chamber for a long time. "I dreamed a dream and now that dream is gone from me." Nosdyn said quietly. N'J al had given him his purpose back, his war back...now he was a chastised soldier. I don't even know why... He stood there for a long moment.

Bitterness and rage swelling in his heart.

At everything, at noone.

He knew after a moment, the gods played with their lives as if they were play things. Little more than children's toys. He realized it at the the setting sun of his long life. Always at odds...father...I could really use some help right now...where has this all gone so wrong? Nosdyn thought to himself as he stood in the empty chamber. He knew he had been fighting a fool's war for a very long time. If this is my fate, I will not be afraid. I owe you that father. I owe my son that. Nosdyn felt a presence in the room with him, his father. He thought he would not see Tharak's ghost ever again...but maybe it was a desperation that called his father back to him.

"Do not lose hope my son." The aristocrat demon said to him.

"She's abandoned me...the fucking whole world has abandoned me." Nosdyn began to cry in front of his father. "What do I do father?"

"My son, listen to me. Ours is a tribe that fights. We are weapons forged on the field of battle, and we die on the field of battle. You chose to walk alongside N'Jal she gave you your war back, your courage and honour. You must honour what Lancaster told you. If you wish to regain what was lost." Tharak said.

"The master may not approve." Nosdyn said quietly to his father. "But I will honour you and Lancaster's wishes. You have my word."

"When the time comes that you must save his son, she might not take kindly to you disobeying an order. She may hurt you...terribly." Tharak said.

Nosdyn nodded. "That has occurred to me as well."

Epilogue-

Many days later...

Nosdyn looked at Llukai son of Lancaster at that point. "You've come a long way, boy." He said with a soft smile. Nosdyn had grown grim at that point, N'Jal herself cut him off from all tactical decisions in the battle for Ettermire. He didn't care he had a different mission anyway, to save Lancaster's son when the time came. "I don't want you to ever feel afraid."

Llukai nodded. "You've taught me so much and I've learned many things from Aelldra directly." He told his teacher.

"We have our own paths to walk and follow, never forget that." Nosdyn looked at Llukai. "I have your back, always." He told the boy.

Llukai nodded. "I know. I am not alone anymore is what is important. I want to prove myself to you Nosdyn."

It was there, the ferocity in his eyes was there. "Remember all I've taught you. You will do well. You will serve the master well." Nosdyn said calmly he was trying to contain the bitterness and rage he felt towards N'Jal at that point. His own demons, his own battles were his own conflict he did not want to drag anyone else into it.

Llukai noticed something had changed with Nosdyn, but he said nothing. He would always respect what the old demon would have to say. "Everything will unfold as it's meant to." Llukai said...

The End.

The Nosdyn Chronology chapter 9.
Reward Judgment

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Nosdyn receives:
2730 EXP
275 Gold

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