A Shadows Tear Final part

There is a little Sun Tzu in all of us.
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Tynerion
Professional Farmer
Professional Farmer
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Joined: Thu Jan 30, 2003 2:40 am
Location: South Carolina

A Shadows Tear Final part

Post by Tynerion » Tue Aug 19, 2003 4:45 pm

Seems like posts can only be so long.. :) So here's the rest of the story..


CHAPTER EIGHT

As daylight approached the deep woods, an owl sitting in a tree next to an outcropping of rocks prepared itself for a long nap. Preening itself, as it was apt to do before slumber, it was interrupted by sounds coming through the woods. Turning its head to see what had disturbed the silence of the forest, it watched with interest as a man and a shadow child; hand in hand, walked through the leaves into the entrance of a cave. Even as the owls great-great grandfather had watched a similar, albeit different procession many years before.

Once in the dungeon, Stray lit up his torch and noticed that Little-Bit had gone ahead of him. She had gone as far as she could go without losing sight of him and seemed to be beckoning him to hurry.

“I’m coming—I’m coming!” he called out to her. He was in no hurry to face any more shadows that might have replaced the ones he had killed earlier, but he moved to follow his guide anyway. As he made his way through the familiar hallways however, all he saw was emptiness. Nothing impeded his way to the final chamber. When he entered the final room, the shadow girl was already back at her place by the wall decorated with carvings, pointing again at something she had wanted him to see at the first time he met her.

“All right wee one, let’s see what we got here.” He said, moving up to the wall and moving his torch so that he could see more clearly. There on the wall, directly in the center—was a gap. It was a fairly shallow hole, but now that Stray saw it up close, he saw that it was exactly in the shape of the stone he carried. Even down to the dowel looking protrusion on the top right hand side.

Excitement started to get the best of Stray as he realized that the item he carried might actually be some sort of key that would open the way to the next chamber where he knew the altar stood. It was no wonder he never saw this wall in his visions. It had been open during that time and closed afterwards. Fumbling through his pack, he brought out the stone and unwrapped it. Carefully holding the stone in his hands, he lined it up with the hole in the wall; placing it within.

As he removed his hand, he began to wonder if anything would happen and that his trip back would be for naught. He looked at Little-Bit who had stopped pointing and just stared at where he had placed the stone. “Is that it? Is that all ya wanted? All ya wanted was the wall fixed?” Thought Stray, when he heard a “click”. Stray looked back at the wall and saw a blue line of light forming on the edge of the stone he had placed. Like a snake, the light followed the outline of the stone until it had made its way back to its origin and then doubled in intensity.

Rumblings began under Strays feet and he moved back a few steps uncertain as to whether the wall might fall directly on him. Instead, it began to drop into the floor. Slowly but surely the wall became shorter and shorter; opening for the first time in ages—the second half of the room. A gust of stale air met Strays lungs and he choked down a sneeze brought on by all the dust the falling wall had kicked up.

Once the wall had disappeared seamlessly into the floor, he watched as the shadow child walked into the darkness of the second half of the room where the light from his torch would not reach. Drawing a deep breath, he mustered his courage and followed after her. The altar he had seen in his visions now took the shape of reality and also brought back the flooding images of the evil that had taken place here. As he looked at the altar, he saw two items sitting upon it. One, a raggedy old doll that had been darkened by time and dust. The other, a dark green stone. It was THE stone! The vicious gem that the shadow Spike had used to make humans into shadows! Though covered with dust, Stray could see that within its heart still flickered an evil green flame that yearned to gorge itself on another soul. As he approached it, it began to brighten as if the presence of a human heart awakened it. All that Stray wanted to do was to destroy it. He wanted it gone and began to un-strap his axe from his side until he caught movement out of corner of his eye and he stopped cold. A shadow had entered the room.

Moving his torch to see what the shadow was doing, he saw that it was not the only one. There were more—many more. As he watched, other shadows came as well. Like a stream of blackness and in total silence, different shapes and sizes of shadows filed into the room, taking their place in a ring around him and the altar. They did not come close to Stray; nor did they move to attack him. They watched him, much like Little-Bit had watched him; with empty eyes devoid of expression. He looked for Little-Bit to see what had happened to her, but could not place her amongst the throng that now surrounded him.

As panic started to set in, he heard a soft whisper of a voice. With no discernable timber, he could not tell whether it was a male or a female voice, but it called his name. “Ssstraaaaaaay.—unbind usssss.”

“What? Who—what are you?” he said, his voice wavering.

“The ssstone… Unbind ussssss.” Came the voice again.

Stray then saw many of the larger shadows pointing at the green stone on the altar and realization hit. They did not want to hurt him; in fact, they needed him. These were the ones that had been changed into shadows through the power of this stone; and they wanted him to “unbind” them from it. Perhaps the magic that made them this way kept them from directly affecting the stone themselves. Perhaps that is why they needed Stray, and used the little girl shadow to reach out to him. It made sense; but there was still a question as to how he could help them.

“How do I unbind you? I am no mage! This is a job for Asheron—not an old gimp Axer!” he replied to their callings.

A whisper surrounded him once more—louder than before. “Desssstroy!” it pleaded.

“Gladly.” Replied Stray as a smile came over his face and he went to finally release the axe from his side. Moving up to the altar, he brought his axe above his head and brought it smashing down upon the green crystal.

For as long as he lived, the events that followed were burned into Strays mind and he never forgot them. As his axe fell on the stone and split it asunder, a great thunderous explosion filled the room causing him to be thrown to the floor. At the same time, a light so bright issued forth that he was blinded and could not make out any form. For a while, he felt that he was dead. Not the kind of death that always ended up with him standing by a lifestone, but a true—final end to his life. But the light soon faded, and he was still in the room sitting on the floor where he had fell. His axe lay in pieces on the floor next to him and his torch had gone out from the blast of magic that had come from the destruction of the stone. He tried to move, but his body and his mind were yet too stunned to respond to his will. In darkness he sat, waiting to recover his wits—wondering what had happened. Suddenly, another light filled the room. This time though, the light was soft—in a most beautiful way. Looking around, he saw the source. Angels—no—people surrounded him where the shadows once stood. Each one was surrounded by an aura that seemed to glow with pure goodness. And all the people were smiling at him; the only non-glowing being in the room. Stray moved to stand up and fell over again in a heap on the floor. His legs would not work yet. His strength had gone.

“Be still my dear Dayen.” Came a beautiful voice from behind him. “You have taken the brunt of a great magic upon yourself by coming against the shadow stone. Be still and you will recover soon enough.”

Stray turned his head to see who spoke to him and gasped when he recognized the shining visage of the woman who he once had seen shacked to the wall nearby. He wanted to speak, but the woman continued. “We are those that have been imprisoned by the evil you have destroyed this day. Dayen, we can but thank you, for none of us could act against the power that held us for so long. Long have we awaited someone who could act in our stead and free us from an eternity of darkness.”

“But—“ Stray managed to speak. “But why, if it owned you—could you—“

“Could we have planned such a thing?” the woman interrupted. “You are right sweet Dayen. If you had met me instead of my daughter, I would have tried to kill you. Any of us would. But of all that the shadows turned to their evil purpose, Lyneaone did not respond completely when they placed the stone in her breast. Whether it was her pure childish innocence that protected her, or whether there was another beneficial hand involved, I do not know. We left her by the keystone hoping for a time such as this when she might meet a person that could help—that would help.”

The woman moved closer to Stray and knelt by his side. “We took a great risk, not knowing how anyone would respond to a non threatening shadow child.” She went on. “Many would have killed her on sight I am certain. But you didn’t Dayen—and I bless your soul for it.”

Stray just nodded his head. He didn’t know whether to feel good about himself or feel guilty that if circumstances had been just a little different at the beginning, that he would have made a quick job of—
What was her name?—Lyneaone. Pushing himself up into a sitting position once more, he looked up into the beatific face of the red headed apparition before him. “May I—see her?” he asked while looking around at the throng of light-beings around him. The woman smiled as if to say; “Of course!”; turned around away from Stray and beckoned to the crowd. As he watched, those who stood in one corner of the room parted and a little angelic girl with red curly hair and a smile that melted his heart walked up to where Stray sat.

“Hello Little-Bit—um, Lyneaone. I’m glad your ok.” Was all that Stray could think of to say. He wanted to hug her, but feared that her now ethereal form would not allow it.

In response, Lyneaone bent over and kissed Stray on the cheek. Stray did not feel it as he would a real kiss. It was more like the feeling of a cool breeze that passes for only a second; but it was the sweetest kiss he had ever experienced. And with the kiss, the light that surrounded him began to diminish. As a candle is snuffed out at bedtime, those that he had saved began to fade into the darkness. Where they went, he could not tell; another world perhaps—a world beyond the lifestones.

Finally, only one remained. It was Lyneaone, and as she began her crossing to whatever awaited her purest of souls, he heard her sing to him; a verse that brought stray full circle to his long forgotten mothers arms and to all that was good in the world.

“For my arms, my eyes, my fingers, my heart..”
“Shall ‘ere be with thee, ‘til all ends draw nigh.”






EPILOGUE

There are many accounts told of Dayen Stoutstaff and his miraculous change from a spiteful; angry old man; to one who loved children and never missed an opportunity to make them smile. Some say he had gone crazy; some said that shadows had somehow made him sick. Even some thought that perhaps Asheron himself had cast a spell upon him to soften up his heart. But Stray would never give credence to any of them and would only shake his head and smile if asked. He turned his cottage and land into a farm and never again went exploring for the Arcanum. His reasons for this were two-fold. Firstly, neither he nor the Arcanum could trust each other after his incident with the shadows. He felt sure that they knew what the object that they sent him for truly was; and for what their plans were for such an evil thing, he could not imagine. It was better off destroyed. As for the second reason, Stray found that he could not be away from his home for an extended period of time. Especially after he had adopted a certain young boy with a gimped leg name Kane and made him his son. It was said at that time, if one walked by the cottage in the evening when the work was done, that you could actually hear Old Man Stray singing to the boy—a lullaby that few knew and could remember. But it would warm you as you passed, and regardless of the pains going on in your life, for a moment, you would feel safe—and loved.

Lo Ki
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Post by Lo Ki » Tue Sep 02, 2003 1:37 am

Great job! I loved it! :D
Lo Ki Level 80 sword
Brion Level 46 spear
Ahn Lo Level 49 four school mage
K'tellen Level 52 trade mule

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