-
A few nights later...
Tharak and Lilly had been working on the Weapon for days at that point...completely non-stop. He took no breaks, his father had ordered this very thing of him. The weapon his mother used to so profoundly hurt him and his father. Suddenly, he realized what the fucking thing was. He slammed it on the table in disgust at that point. "It's...Eluriand in origin." He didn't know how he had not seen it up until that point. "The grooves, the indications are all there. I had not seen the marks up until just now." The final piece of he puzzle had come together for them...Xyllea had contacts in Raiaera herself...the nation of their enemy.
He was tired by that point...but this one work he would complete because his Father had ordered it be so. He looked at Lilly at that point. "The cult is from Eluriand...mother sold her own people out. Do you want to help me finish this work?" He asked of her.
Lilly nodded. "Yes I will always be by your side."
"I must tell father, and the master about this...this changes everything now." For the first actual time since his own exile, Tharak son of Nosdyn was extremely angry at everything they'd both been through because of Xyllea. It was no longer a matter of what she did to two proud demons. She'd betrayed Ettermire...she was a traitor.
***
"Father." He told Nosdyn. N'Jal heard his call too.
N'Jal and Nosdyn got up immediately at that point.
"What is it my son?" Nosdyn asked of the boy.
"I've learned what the weapon is..where it comes from. This may not be easy to hear." Tharak said to his father.
"Go on boy tell us what you and your friend learned." Nosdyn said.
"I didn't realize it at first because I'd been looking at the thing wrong. It's from fucking Eluriand Father. We were set up from the beginning." Tharak sighed, he would never lie to his father...there was too much demon in his blood.
Nosdyn thought about what he was hearing. He thought long and hard. "The cult is from Eluriand as well." Nosdyn said at that point. He had a very serious expression on his face. "Are you and your friend able to make a defense against this Weapon for us?"
Tharak nodded to his father. "That will take a bit of time...but I think me and Lilly together...we can do what you ask of us."
"Go boy, see this work done." Nosdyn sighed at that point.
N'Jal walked over to her champion. "You see them now...as I do." She said quietly to him, telling him the truth of the matter as she always had.
He nodded to her. "Yes, I now see."
-
Later that night...
Tharak was tired. He wanted to continue the work for him and his father's sake but he needed to rest...too much had happened. The weapon is from...Eluriand. So is their cult... He thought as he laid in the bed for moment. A moment later, his companion, Lilly slid into the bed as well. Strangely..he did not even mind it. He wrapped his arm around his friend and pulled her close to him.
"Your skin is very warm to the touch." Lilly said calmly.
Tharak nodded. "I think father has that too...some quality of our people." He softly kissed his friend's forehead. "Thank you." He said to her calmly. "You've already taught me so much." The boy was honest, he had a lot of the same mannerisms and characteristics of his father.
Lilly smiled profoundly at that. "You have much to teach as well. Do you mind...if I join you in your bed every night?" She asked that one thing of him, there was no malice or fear in the question..she was asking for his permission.
Tharak found the gesture very kind. Somehow, The children of N'Jal deeply understood the terrible thing that Xyllea had done to him and his father. Tharak thought of something at that point and spoke to her in Haidian, as he'd learned so many years ago from his father. "Only if that is your truest wish." He said to her.
Somehow, Lilly got his meaning, she was not repulsed by the Haidian tongue or afraid of it. She simply accepted it as being a part of their culture. She somehow knew what the boy had told her. "My deepest desire." She said back to him in the common-tongue.
Tharak smiled at her. In that mad world they all lived in...Lilly, a child of N'Jal would be his truest friend. She would never judge him or be afraid of who and what he was. "Let's rest for a while we've both earned it."
And together, for the first of many nights to come...they slept in the same bed.
-
Meanwhile...
Nosdyn son of Tharak had a profound thing happen to him that night. For the first time in many years...he slept. N'Jal was sleeping next to him, his chosen goddess and his priestess was with him too. The burden Xyllea had put in his heart was lifted because of the battle with her. He didn't have to hold on to that guilt and that regret in his heart for her. He slept peacefully...
The next moment he became aware of something. He'd awoken in some sort a place quite similar to that time that he met N'Jal that one night. The night he nearly died for Xyllea. He walked forward into the mist and fog, not afraid. He wasn't sure what he'd find there. A short moment later, it was Illsandra's ghost. He'd only seen her ghost one other time prior to that moment. His heart felt heavy at that point, but he would be strong. He nodded to his former mate, there was a respect there for the ghost. "Illsandra..." Nosdyn son of Tharak said.
"You've already been through so much." She said to him. "There is a danger looming in front of you. It is not N'Jal or her children...those allies you can trust always." Illsandra said profoundly. "I've come to warn you." She said. "Xyllea...has returned to Ettermire and now strengthens her cult's influence in the shadows."
Nosdyn sighed. "I don't want to fight her any longer." He admitted the truth of that to her. He'd given himself so freely to Illsandra and eventually Xyllea. "What would you have me do?"
"As your son suspected, the weapon is from Eluriand. It is being mass produced now. This will all come to a junction point very soon for all of you. Nosdyn...Xyllea gave you what I could not...do not carry hate in your heart for her. She gave you your son...what I could not." There was a pain on Illsandra's face.
Nosdyn listened very carefully to what she was saying. "Illsandra...I have missed you...but I will do this thing you ask of me and my Son. To honour you."
"Nosdyn...be at peace the choices I had to make...were mine alone. There is more for you to protect now...more at stake. Xyllea...you can still save her." Illsandra said calmly. "Remember everything I have told you tonight."
Nosdyn nodded. "I swear it will be done. I pledge my honour on it." Nosdyn said.
"This is my final wish to you Nosdyn. Try to reach her, to save her if you can. For the sake of your son." With that the dreaming state faded.
-
The next day...
Nosdyn awoke, his priestess was in his arms. He held her close to him. He noticed N'Jal was standing before him, she'd been watching him sleep. He nodded towards the master.
"You slept peacefully did you not?" N'Jal asked of her champion.
He nodded. "For the first time in a very long time." He thought about something just then. "We must speak my master. A matter is...looming before us now." He told her truthfully, he would not keep secrets from the master.
"I will be waiting in the meditation room for you." N'Jal said.
***
A short time later, Nosdyn was in deep meditation before the master. They were communing telepathically with one another. Illsandra's specter contacted me last night my master. For the second time. He would keep no secrets from her.
N'Jal looked at her champion listening to what she said to him. What was revealed? She asked.
Xyllea returned to Ettermire that night...her cult grows in influence. We have to confront her one last time for my son's sake. There is more my master. Illsandra was convinced I can still reach Xyllea...bring her to our side. Nosdyn would always tell the master the truth.
N'Jal thought for a long moment. There is more at stake now. It's about his safety and well being now too. The day that event occurs, I will also be by your side. I will grant you the power to confront her and do what it is you must do.
-
Epilogue...
A month later...
Tharak and Lilly discovered the properties of the relic...how it worked. How it fully worked...the magic itself was not directly linked to high elf culture. It was from another source all together, Tharak and Lilly analyzed the source of it...the information was troubling. But they were able to fashion a defense against the weapon. In a short time, Tharak and Lilly manufacture the bracelets they would all wear that would contain the relics themselves in them. It was a simple enough procedure for their two brilliant minds. By that point, the followers of N'Jal all wore the device that Tharak and Lilly made.
Tharak looked at his father, explaining how it worked. "It enhances pain...all at once. That's the reason it knocks people out. You are trained to handle pain different than most...but even with that advantage...it still could affect you. I was wrong on one matter...the cult itself is not high elf...it is from something else in Eluriand. They can no longer hurt us now." Tharak said to his father.
To test the device that his son and Lilly had manufactured for him, Nosdyn activated it to it's highest level. He closed his eyes for a moment. The pain was intense...but as his son had promised it did not knock him out anymore. It had a different sort of effect on him...one they were all not prepared for. Nosdyn...became accustomed to the pain. He began to enjoy it. "This thing...will always hurt us...but we can develop our resistances to it." Nosdyn said at that point. "She can no longer hurt us."
N'Jal was present, as she always would be. She observed father and son. Then, the sign she noticed that one day. These two proud demons...would serve her far more profoundly than any other race on Althanas ever could. It was always as it had meant to be...
Nosdyn looked at N'Jal. "We must prepare for the final confrontation. It must not take place in Ettermire itself." He said displaying his profound knowledge of military tactics. "Going directly to Ettermire would be a tactical disadvantage."
N'Jal nodded. "I will scrye and put scouts on her. We will find a suitable location for the final battle to take place." N'Jal observed father and son...how far they've grown...
-End-
(This time I DO have one small spoil request)
Aegis Bracelet of Defense-Tharak and Lilly have fashioned for N'Jal and her followers a bracelet, with the markings of N'Jal on it. Nosdyn and Tharak both wear such bracelets, with the relic from Eluriand built into it. The bracelet, augments pain ten-fold. The purpose of this bracelet is to develop the resistance of pain for the wearer. It will not make the wearer IMMUNE to pain..but able to function through it. For Nosdyn directly, it has had an interesting side effect...it has started to make Nosdyn enjoy pain on an almost masochistic level. (Will be part of an ability set I'm going for at level 6+ but for now I would like this item as a spoil, thank you.)
-
The Nosdyn Chronology chapter 7.
Reward Judgment
Rewards:
Nosdyn receives:
1950 EXP
200 Gold
All rewards added.
