[Solo] The Nosdyn Chronology Chapter 9.

[Nosdyn]

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.