[Solo] The Nosdyn Chronology Chapter 7.

(Continues about a month after the ending events of: Pains and is part of an on-going attempt to Chronicle my character's life. Once again, for you guys who are reading my shit, it is very humbling to know someone likes my stuff that much. Thank You! I'll keep knocking these out for you guys who like my work. Note: Will contain erotica. You've been warned. :P )

N'Jal looked at the two demons before her. She nodded to them. Father and son...there was some sort of a sign there, something she was not seeing. But she knew...some day everything that bitch, Xyllea had done to these proud and honorable demons...they would have to make her pay for it. She knew. And that day was rapidly coming. Someday...they would hold her accountable.

She listened as father and son spoke. She somehow understood...they had not seen each other for years...there was a lot to talk about a lot to catch up on.

He could not believe his son was standing before them. As an equal...what he'd longed for since the boy was born. Nosdyn's heart was heavy knowing that Xyllea had done the same thing to him. Something was starting to add up. "The thing they did to you...was it a weapon?" Nosdyn had to know.

Tharak tried to explain it to him. "It was...something similar to what they used on you...what Xyllea herself used on you before you awoke in that jail. But not the same kind...the one used on me was newer, more dangerous. Father...I had to escape on my own...I didn't have Llukai to help me." That pain was in his eyes again.

Nosdyn knew that pain...it was very similar to what he'd gone through...the hell he'd gone through as well. "You kept your honour." Nosdyn was proud of his son...for what the boy must have been through. "Seventeen now?" Nosdyn said the boy's age. Back on the Tular Plains...he'd already gone through his first rites from The Tribunal. He was just glad, he'd been allowed this one moment of respite and comfort after all that had happened. After all they'd been through because of her. "Did you ever take one of them as your mate?" Nosdyn asked quietly. There was no malice or anything like that in his voice...only a simple curiosity. He'd just been so very glad to have seen his son one last time.

Tharak looked at his father, and looked away. "Never. Because of what mother did to you...I could never partake of one. Though there were a few who tried...I rejected them each time." Tharak had never had a companion.

"Rest now boy, tomorrow we will talk about your place in the fold here...with our master's approval." Nosdyn said calmly to the boy.

Tharak nodded, and for the first time since his exile, he slept peacefully.

Nosdyn watched his son sleep for a moment, he admired that for the boy. Sleep was a mistress that Nosdyn never knew. He walked over to N'Jal who patiently waited for him. "It was Xyllea." He told his master.

N'Jal nodded. "That marks twice now." N'Jal had been keeping track where it came to her champion. "Nosdyn...we're going to have to confront her someday." She said to her champion.

He nodded in agreement. "I know my master. It is no longer about us now...she hurt my son now too." Nosdyn sighed at that point. "If things had gone different...cause of the boy...maybe..." He sighed. He was too confused at that point to think logically.

She placed her hand on her champion's face. "Because of who she is...what she meant to you once...it will be a difficult thing. I will not ask this lightly of you my champion. But now things are moving beyond us." N'Jal looked at Tharak at that point and back to his Father. "Teach him. Show him my ways, I will assist where I can...but I have a feeling this will work better with you teaching him. The women I made for you...are for you...there will be a different plan for him when he is ready." N'Jal said honestly.

Nosdyn nodded. "When the time comes...and we face her...I want you by our side. We can only defeat her together, as a family."

N'Jal nodded. "I agree with you there Nosdyn."

The next day...

As Nosdyn had suspected...that fierce intelligence shined in his son. Two proud people's bloodlines coursed through his body. Nosdyn quickly noticed the boy had a vast understanding of the arcane arts. The N'Jal symbols he taught him...he somehow knew what they all meant, instinctively, without hesitation. It was a pleasure watching the boy.

There was one lesson he had to teach the boy though...he had approval from N'Jal herself. It was a rite of passage for his race. Tharak would have to make his own weapon...to become a man of his people. Nosdyn taught the boy the process carefully...the rest he would have to figure out on his own. It was an art unique to demons. A lost art...an almost form of relicry. And even that...Tharak fiercely consumed the knowledge his father gave him. Somehow, almost as if on impulse or instinct, the boy understood what Nosdyn was teaching him. As an inherited memory almost. When that day's lessons were over, Nosdyn looked at his boy. "You understand well so far. The weapon I was telling you about you must make for yourself. As I have, as my father before me had. As all other demons who followed that tradition have. You must complete this rite of passage." Nosdyn said calmly, there was on pressure or anything like that in his voice, in his teachings. He was instructing the boy in the same way he'd taught Llukai Lancaster so many years ago.

"It will be done father, I swear it." Tharak said. He'd been given his first true mission as a servant of N'Jal.

Nosdyn ran his hand through his boy's hair at that point. "It is good to see you again my son. I've longed for this moment. Longed for being able to teach you the ways of my father."

Tharak looked at his father at that point...he saw the shadow that haunted his father's eyes. He was beginning to understand how deeply Xyllea, his mother had betrayed them all. "There is something else father. It is about the weapon mother has been using on us."

Nosdyn listened at that point. "Go on ."

Tharak, displaying his fierce knowledge of how such things worked...somehow understood the nature of the weapon. "It's not Ettermire in origin. dark elves themselves do not manufacture it directly...it's from somewhere else. I have no knowledge of where yet though. Father...it's getting delivered to them from someplace. I think it's part of a cult or something like that."

Nosdyn just then realized what he'd suspected since the day he'd undergone rite of purification, with that bitch goddess' Lloth and her people. The thought occurred to him once more...I've been set up...Xyllea set us up. Knowing Lloth would never accept us, something is adding up. He knew right then he was on the verge of unraveling a piece of the larger puzzle, but he stopped it right then...it was not the time to try to solve the mystery of who Xyllea was really working for at that point. But someday...the matter would be solved. "Tharak." Nosdyn began to say softly. "We will discuss these matters another time. For now...let's take the rest of the night off."

Tharak nodded, he would need time to make the weapon of his people anyway...to become a man of his people and take his place by his father's side.

That night...

Tharak, as he'd learned entirely on his own the arts of relicy and arcane matters...in a side cavern he made himself a small lab. Following the teachings of his father, he began constructing his own weapon. Well into the work, he'd noticed a presence in the room with him and paused what he was doing. He was not afraid of N'Jal's servants...his father had sided with them. Tharak spoke to the one who was in the chamber with him. "Do not be afraid." Tharak said to the undead woman.

The servant of N'Jal stepped out of the shadows and walked towards Tharak's table. There was an eager curiosity there of the boy, an understanding. "Relicry." She bit her lower lip shyly, the girl said softly, clearly a magi herself.

Tharak raised his eyebrow. "You...you understand us?" He asked of her. And somehow, right then...he understood why Nosdyn had sided with N'Jal. N'Jal and her followers would never judge him and his kind...ever. Tharak stood up and grabbed a chair for her. "I can teach you...as I have learned." He said to her calmly.

The girl sat down next to Tharak. "Your eyes...have a fierce glow." She said to the boy.

For the first time, since Tharak's own exile...he had found a companion who would understand him and his desire to learn. His desire to study deeply the arcane arts. "What is your name?" Tharak son of Nosdyn asked of her.

"Lilly." She said calmly and nodded.

And that's how it began...as one of N'Jal's own children befriended Nosdyn's son. They talked for hours into the night...teaching each other many things...

"So in your teachings you use this technique over that one? Why?" Tharak wanted to know...he deeply admired Lilly's proficiency and understanding. She had a vastly different approach from how he'd learned.

Lilly, showed him rather than explained it verbally. "That's why."

It somehow clicked in his head as she showed him the different approach...it was a little more efficient. More well put together. Tharak nodded towards her, he suspected she would learn from him as much as he'd learned from her. "You don't have to be shy with me Lilly." Tharak suddenly said. "I know why my Father is here, why he has accepted the Master's ways. You will never judge me and my kind." He said to her in a very profound way. "I was exiled by Xyllea as he was." That same, pained expression haunted Tharak's face...and likely would for the rest of his days.

Lilly touched the side of Tharak's face. "You are in pain, son of Nosdyn. We will help you heal. In time."

***

"There you are." Nosdyn said well into the early morning hours of the next day. Nosdyn was impressed at the boy's prowess, his skill. He'd set up his own lab entirely on his own. Nosdyn noticed Lilly there...she was one of the newer ones N'Jal made. Right then, Nosdyn understood the teachings of N'Jal more profoundly. "They are interesting are they, not?" He asked of his son in regards to Lilly.

Tharak looked at his father and nodded. "She is incredibly intelligent." There was an admiration there for Lilly.

Nosdyn nodded. "When you are done here come to the main hall. There is a matter me and the master have to discuss with you." Nosdyn said to his son.

"We will be there father." Tharak looked at Lilly at that point. He understood on some level...she would always be by his side. There was an almost purity in that knowledge that was exactly opposite of how the children of Ettermire did things. He had already developed a profound respect for N'Jal and her children.

A short while later...

Lilly stood by Tharak's side...she always would. Tharak looked at her and nodded, they all now stood before N'Jal.

N'Jal was going to speak they all went silent at that point. "There is a grave matter we must all discuss." N'Jal said. "Xyllea...now plots to move against us." She had discovered that through her divination and scrying.

Tharak looked at N'Jal. "The last time I spoke to her...she said she was going to wipe the taint off Althanas." Tharak initially thought it meant him and his father...but from what he knew of N'Jal and her followers at that point...it was likely all of them. "I think she plans to exterminate us."

N'Jal thought very carefully about what she was hearing from the boy. She looked at him. "You've now been caught up in this."

Tharak nodded. "My mother has been sick for a long time. Since what she did to father." Tharak spoke of his own initiative and accord at that point. "My mother must be stopped. She now has now become a threat to Ettermire herself." Tharak said profoundly.

Nosdyn looked at his son at that point and nodded. He knew what he was hearing was truth, but he remained silent while N'Jal and he spoke.

"Xyllea...once came here herself." N'Jal looked at Nosdyn at that point. "I do not think her intents were to beg for my champions forgiveness at all. I think her intents was to know the location of this place."

Nosdyn nodded...but still remained silent. The end-game was coming together. All pieces of the puzzle were starting to slowly fall in place.

Tharak kept his eyes on N'Jal...he was unafraid of the master. By that point he deeply admired her. "I don't think we have a lot of time." He told N'Jal at that point.

N'Jal agreed. "We must begin to prepare immediately. Tharak...Lilly was she to your acceptance?" She suddenly asked.

Tharak was a little confused...but he did not question it...he would never question the master. "I did. And thank you for the gift, N'Jal. I have much to learn from her and I am hoping she learns from me as well." Tharak noticed it at that point, Lilly quietly held his hand. He did not mind.

Later that day...

Nosdyn sat in deep meditation...N'Jal was in front of her champion. They were communicating with one another completely telepathically. It will be a very hard thing for me to do my master...but I will do as you command.

This will be our greatest challenge, Nosdyn. You've become my most proficient acolyte. Your son will do well too. N'Jal said.

Nosdyn nodded at that point. My master...I am afraid, because of the boy...I am afraid she will do horrible things that day.

She nodded to him. It is okay to be afraid...given everything that she has done to you and now your son. But what will come to pass...must be so. Xyllea must pay. She said profoundly.

Nosdyn, by then would do as she asked of him. For myself and my son's sake I will do as you command my master.

***

"You're afraid." Lilly told Tharak.

The boy nodded to his friend. "Yes...I have never been so afraid in my life, she is going to attempt to kill us all."

Lilly said something interesting at that point. "Let me help you build you the weapon of your people."

Tharak looked at her with a sincerely surprised expression. He hugged his friend at that point. "Me and you together, we will do this thing together."

A few days later...

Together Lilly and Tharak forged the weapon of his people. Using the technique his father had taught him. On the day the weapon was completed, Tharak looked at Lilly with a happy expression. "We did this together Lilly. Me and you...this is our victory."

"Turn it on." She said quietly to the boy.

The weapon itself, was different than the one Nosdyn had built for himself...but it would serve the same purpose. It would bring justice to their broken world. He held his breath and activated the mechanism. A moment later, a glowing yellow blade did appear. It made a soft humming sound that somehow reflected the boy's personality. Tharak looked at Lilly and nodded.

Nosdyn arrived in the chamber and smiled profoundly at what he saw. The boy had constructed his own weapon...he was a man of their people now. "Boy. You've done well., my father would be proud of you." He said to his son.

Tharak shut his weapon off, and attached it to his belt. "Father...I want to be there to fight against her...against Xyllea. You don't have to deal with this alone."

"Father once told me...it is our people's destiny to die on the battlefield." Nosdyn continued. "It would be an honour to fight alongside you my son. Come what may...we will fight as warrior-poets." Nosdyn nodded to his son and decided to give his son some privacy with his friend, Lilly. There were mattes he needed to discuss with N'Jal.

Just then, Tharak looked at his friend, Lilly. "You've already shown me so much." He suddenly and profoundly kissed his friend deeply....she did not resist and kissed him back in equal admiration and hunger.

That night...

Nosdyn was with N'Jal at that point, they were sleeping together in their bed. He never slept. But she had, she was sleeping peacefully. His priestess was sleeping next to him as well as were the other undead. He sighed at some point that night. Xyllea...is going to attempt to kill us all now...I regret ever coming back to Ettermire... He stood up at that point, and gathered his gear. He had too much troubling his mind at that point. Plus something was telling him he needed to go outside for a little fresh air anyway.

Nosdyn stepped out...it was night the stars always had a profound effect on him. He looked up at that point letting his mind wander. As he'd suspected it would have happened he sensed several presences ahead. He sighed. The hour was upon them. He telepathically warned his master, N'Jal. It has begun...gather our warriors. Nosdyn knew she was out there on the field. He could sense her. "You will opt into cowardice, and hide at this point, Xyllea?" Nosdyn called out to her.

Xyllea did appear a few moments later.

Nosdyn saw it, the locket she wore...the one that did not belong to her. He would be certain to take that back from her that night. "N'Jal told me you weren't really hear to beg for forgiveness that day." He sighed.

Xyllea looked at him. "You didn't even suspect?"

Nosdyn looked at her at that point. "I'm not a monster like you are, Xyllea." Nosdyn told her the truth. "You've harmed our son now."

Xyllea paused for a moment. "You know then...I take it he came here as well?"

Nosdyn nodded. "He's joined with N'Jal as well." Nosdyn paused for a moment. Something didn't sit well...there was something else going on that he was not seeing. Each time a disaster occurred that Xyllea caused...there were other circumstances, other factors. His mind was trying to see what else was being planned against them...

"Now you hesitate?" Xyllea asked of him.

Nosdyn sighed. "No...I feel pity for you Xyllea." He stood aside. N'Jal stepped forward, as did their son. And a host of undead warriors and magi, all female. "We have prepared for your arrival, Xyllea. What will you be willing to give up for your crusade against us?" Nosdyn asked of her. "I know what I have given up. But the real question is...what will you give up?"

N'Jal spoke to Nosdyn and gave him the command, mentally. The hour is upon us now.

Nosdyn activated his weapon at that point, without hesitation.

Just then, Tharak Son of Nosdyn stood by his father and activated his own weapon. "Mother...you've grown sick and confused. We are going to stop you." It was not a threat, it was a promise.

Nosdyn looked back to his master, N'Jal. I must do this, I must confront her. He told her. And he slowly began to march towards Xyllea, by himself. His eyes were narrowed, he never once removed his eyes from her he would confront her. He would hold her responsible for the hell she put him and his son through...all on the account of what he was. Who his race was. He was attacked by Xyllea herself at that point. He'd seen that psionic bolt, fully charged, kill most men. Nosdyn was not most men. He was trained for endurance and at that point he would put his training to the test. The blast, he barely felt it by that point in his training. It did do something else though...he thought of the first day he ever met Xyllea. The day he risked certain death to save her...without need for reward without any selfish intentions. He'd stuck his neck out to save a lowly apprentice who'd been abandoned by her guild. As the memory repeated itself over and over, he began to cry. He was getting closer to her position, at that point he shut his weapon off and placed it back on it's belt. He kept his eyes on her. "Again!" He ordered her, no malice in his voice. "Hit me again!"

Nosdyn was now in front of the woman who he would have once called his wife. She was attacking him with the intent to kill him and his son. On the simple, selfish reason they were demons. The second attack was also with the same intent to kill. It was not working for her...he'd been too well trained at that point. Somehow, Nosdyn knew there would be no third attack. He was now standing directly in front of her. He'd been crying the entire time he faced her. Where did this all go so horribly wrong? Nosdyn thought to himself as he looked at her. There was no hatred or malice in his eyes...only a profound sort of pity and understanding. "Since the first day I met you, Xyllea, I risked certain death for you time and time again. I kept trying to make myself a better man because of you. You hurt me Xyllea, you now have hurt our son. You have something that you are no longer worthy of wearing, and I want it back." He did, as he swore he would and snatched his father's locket right off her neck. He kept the locket in his hand. He'd been crying the entire time he faced her.

He kept his eyes on Xyllea, he wanted her to...something...he was not sure what he was expecting. He saw the conflict and desperation in her eyes. "You did this Xyllea, you caused all of this...say something!" He yelled at her.


He was sincerely feeling the pain and anguish of everything the coward woman before him had caused.

It was then, Nosdyn understood. The profound truth of it all...Xyllea would not speak to him she could not acknowledge the simple truth of what she'd done. He watched her stare at him for a long time, then...one final act of cowardice...she turned and fled from him. Nosdyn stood there for a long time, as N'Jal and her children killed the others that Xyllea had brought with her to be slaughtered. Nosdyn felt a profound sort of peace at that point. It had all come around full circle for him. "She...ran." Nosdyn could not believe things had gotten so far downhill. He sighed and felt heavy.

For the last time in his life...he'd saved a lowly apprentice without selfish intent or want of reward...it was simply the right thing to do. She ran as a result that last time. The champion of N'Jal had spared her...it would be something she would have to live with the rest of her life.

At that moment, he noticed Tharak and his friend Lilly standing next to him. Tharak looked at his father, the boy had somehow a deep understanding of what had just occurred...what his people stood for. "That was the single most brave thing I have ever seen in my life father. You could have killed her...and been well within your rights to." Tharak said calmly.

Nosdyn nodded. "I had to see for myself...how far she'd fallen."

At that point, his priestess walked up to him with an all-too familiar object in her hand. "The weapon you and your son have described. A few of her companions had this on them. What would you have us do with this thing?" She asked quietly.

"Their intent was to use that thing on us." Nosdyn sighed. Once, their union would have healed their two great people. He kept looking in the direction she had run off to. "Goodbye Xyllea."

He thought of something at that point as he looked at his priestess. "Destroying that thing...won't be enough they will keep hurting us with it. We have to find out exactly what that fucking thing is...where it comes from. And learn to defend ourselves from it." He turned to look at his son. "Tharak, you have to do this for us. I have no knowledge of relicry. Once, I was told there was a difference between book smarts, and battle field smarts." Nosdyn would be at peace with himself from then on.

Tharak nodded to his father. "Me and Lilly...we will do that together." He said.

The priestess looked at Nosdyn as the others returned home. "I will be waiting for you my lord...when you return home we have matters to take care of." She looked at Nosyn with a profound lust in her eyes for him.

Nosdyn nodded. "I just need to think for a little while." He watched her return to the cave.

N'Jal walked up to him at that point...she'd quietly observed her champion the entire time. "It must have been a very difficult thing for you to do." N'Jal said to him.

He nodded towards the master. "It was...to see the truth so plainly...to understand why this has all happened to us." He sighed, he at least knew the truth at that point but the pain was still in his heart...just not the same as before.

"The locket...may I see it?" N'Jal asked quietly of her champion.

He almost forgot he had it in his hand the entire time. He looked at her and nodded. He opened it and showed her the only known record of a certain female demon. "My mother." He said to her calmly.

"Give the locket to someone more worthy of it." N'Jal said to her champion. "Let's go home it has been a difficult day for all of us."

Later that night...

Lilly watched her friend working on the relic. There was a skill there...a profound understanding. She noticed something just then, and placed her hand on his hand for a moment. "Try this way." She suddenly told him and showed him, rather than verbally explained it to him.

Something made sense to Tharak watching his friend do the technique the exact opposite way, he'd been handling it. He nodded to his friend. "I'm just a little tired is all..it's been a really hard day."

Lilly nodded with profound understanding at the boy. "Your Father did a very brave thing today."

He nodded. "Mother would not let me acknowledge who I was...my Father's side of the family. She was afraid of me." That same haunted shadow, passed across the boy's face for a moment.

Lilly noticed that as the other time it had occurred. She would be strong for her friend, her companion. "What Xyllea did to you must have been very hard for you."

"I could not fight back because of this Weapon. They didn't even let me fight back." The profound pain and agony that Xyllea had caused those proud Demons was apparent at that point.

Lilly understood..theirs was a tribe who would fight until their very end. It was in their nature to...she learned something of the boy at that point. What his people stood for, the honour they so profoundly held in their teachings. "We will figure out what this thing is together. I swear to you. Tharak Son of Nosdyn."

***

Nosdyn sat there in deep thought. It's over. He thought to himself over and over. He wasn't sure why...but the fact that the truth of Xyllea's purposes affected him on a very deep and personal level. He sat next to N'Jal at that point. There would be no lessons, or teachings that night. Nosdyn knew he had already proven enough to his Master.

"You are troubled." N'Jal said to him.

"Yes...it was cowardice." Nosdyn said right then. "Her whole motivation was she was afraid of who I was...what my people represented. I'm not sure...I will ever completely understand this thing she did to us."

"My Champion." N'Jal began. "From the first day you arrived at Ettermire...you accepted their ways. Their culture...so profoundly out of respect for what they believed in their way of life." N'Jal paused at that point. "They did not extend the same courtesy to you and your son. Now you are both scarred because of The Sons of Ettermire. It is a burden you will always carry."

Nosdyn nodded. "N'Jal...for what it's worth. Thank you for all you have shown me...all you will continue to show me and my son. You've have given us a place to belong where The World of Mortals have forsaken us."

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.