Post by Learned Hand on Apr 21, 2008 18:52:03 GMT
I would like to share with you my dreams:
Dream One
A few nights after Fox gets back you find your sleep is more than usually troubled by dreams. Unpleasant dreams, you dream of Gods and Demons, the powers warring for control of your soul. You dream of losing yourself, of letting a monster awaken inside your chest. The dreams are confused and unclear, and too much of what you saw is difficult to remember when you finally awake.
But something stays with you. A scene so clear it could have happened yesterday.
You're in a large open space. It sways slightly, and you realise it must be a ship at sea. As you look up from your own feet you smile into the face of the woman standing opposite you. She is tall and statuesque, broudly bearing the trappings of the Unconquered Sun.
"So you'd face me with my one of my own swords, a dangerous choice," She smiles at you, it is warm and friendly.
You bring the daiklave you are holding up to the enguard postition and realise that it is the one you recently exchanged with Ferric.
"Your brother has been teaching me well." You reply, with another smile of your own, and you glance to your left to the slighty shorter man standing there. Watching both of you closely. "And he will be the judge of how I do today."
The eyes of the woman in front of you suddenly flash with an unexpected jolt of emotion though you cannot tell what. And as she draws another Daiklave from the depths of Elsewhere, she says
"Well let us begin then, and see what the upstart can show"
And she is on you like a flash. The thrust and parry of the combat is familiar, but there is an intensity you weren't expecting. You are clearly outmatched and yet you are managing to hold off the woman's onslaught. As the duel intensifies you notice the circle on her forhead, and the small radiating lines, glow ever brighter, and you feel your own anima shine out from your body in turn.
You do your best, but it is not to long before you are undone. A piece of cunning trickery trips you up and she flicks the daiklave away from you catching it herself as her own weapon shimmers into non-existence again. She holds the daiklave to your throat,
"Don't let me see you touching my weapon again", she smiles as she says it, but her eyes are joyless. And you're no longer quite sure of whether this is a game. She stalks away, and you turn to her brother, searching for his approval at least. But that is all you remember.
You awake, with beads of sweat on your forehead. It is still dark outside, but your bedroom is illuminated by a gentle glow from your forehead.
Dream Two
Since the trip to the Wyld your dreams have been strangely quiet. You feel as if your mind has been trying to grasp hold of some idea that has constantly slipped through you fingers. You wake up each morning feeling unsettled and unsatsified, yet you are pragmatic enough to shrug it off, knowing that whatever it is will come to you when the time is right.
The night after the interrogation of Slavion Ysa the feeling is as strong as ever. You feel as though your mind is being pressed by some great weight, and that you will break through or be crushed. You try to wake up but can’t, and yet suddenly the weight lifts and you plunge into a vision, that feels so similar to your last dream. The setting this time is different. You’re in a large luscious bedroom, beautifully decorated with expensive, comfortable furniture scattered around. But in the centre of the room, where the furniturehas been pushed back to make space a sturdy iron chair has a Dragon Blood manacled to it. The manacles glow with arcane sigils.
“It’s useless to use charms Adratza” says the other man in the room “You know very well the manacles will prevent it. Merynna’s husband helped design them.”
You look at the man next to you, yet even in the dream you find it hard to focus on him. Your mind seems to have trouble holding on to the image. You can’t summon a name, and you know he is an Exalt of some type, but the nature of his gifts also eludes you. You turn back to the Dragon Blood on the chair.
“You’re going to tell us everything Adratza. Where you got the copy of the Broken Winged Crane, which Demon you have sold yourself too and the names of your fellow conspirators.”
The interrogation begins, and the story behind this scene slowly reveals itself. Adrataza was a trusted lieutenant and aide, he had been working with you for many years on various projects. You trusted him completely. And yet he had betrayed you to the Yozis. Grasping for ever greater power. You and the other man proceed to strip away the mental defenses of the Terrestrial. The process is brutal and unflinching, your own breaking of Slavion earlier in the day merely a pale reflection of the suffering you now proceed to inflict on this former subordinate. It takes a couple of hours, but in the end he is nothing more than the broken shell of a sentient creature. You’ve removed everything that made him a person, leaving him an automaton, useful for nothing more than answering your questions. The person you inhabit in the dream does all this calmly, without even a flicker of hesitation and yet the watcher that is Kairos longs to turn away.
Finally you get to, and you open one of the windows in the room and step out onto the balcony. You see a magnificent sity stretching as far as the eye can see. The building you are in would be the most glorious in any city in creation and yet it doesn’t even stand out in this gargantuan city. You see streets paved with precious metals and golden flowing canals running between buildings. The sky is criss-crossing with people flying in countless different methods of transportation.
The other man turns to you and says “Was that really necessary Merynna? I think there might have been better ways to get the information.” You open your mouth to reply, but the dream has already begun to fade. And the one thing you manage to hold onto is the complete absence of information on the unknown exalt that helped you in your task.
Dream One
A few nights after Fox gets back you find your sleep is more than usually troubled by dreams. Unpleasant dreams, you dream of Gods and Demons, the powers warring for control of your soul. You dream of losing yourself, of letting a monster awaken inside your chest. The dreams are confused and unclear, and too much of what you saw is difficult to remember when you finally awake.
But something stays with you. A scene so clear it could have happened yesterday.
You're in a large open space. It sways slightly, and you realise it must be a ship at sea. As you look up from your own feet you smile into the face of the woman standing opposite you. She is tall and statuesque, broudly bearing the trappings of the Unconquered Sun.
"So you'd face me with my one of my own swords, a dangerous choice," She smiles at you, it is warm and friendly.
You bring the daiklave you are holding up to the enguard postition and realise that it is the one you recently exchanged with Ferric.
"Your brother has been teaching me well." You reply, with another smile of your own, and you glance to your left to the slighty shorter man standing there. Watching both of you closely. "And he will be the judge of how I do today."
The eyes of the woman in front of you suddenly flash with an unexpected jolt of emotion though you cannot tell what. And as she draws another Daiklave from the depths of Elsewhere, she says
"Well let us begin then, and see what the upstart can show"
And she is on you like a flash. The thrust and parry of the combat is familiar, but there is an intensity you weren't expecting. You are clearly outmatched and yet you are managing to hold off the woman's onslaught. As the duel intensifies you notice the circle on her forhead, and the small radiating lines, glow ever brighter, and you feel your own anima shine out from your body in turn.
You do your best, but it is not to long before you are undone. A piece of cunning trickery trips you up and she flicks the daiklave away from you catching it herself as her own weapon shimmers into non-existence again. She holds the daiklave to your throat,
"Don't let me see you touching my weapon again", she smiles as she says it, but her eyes are joyless. And you're no longer quite sure of whether this is a game. She stalks away, and you turn to her brother, searching for his approval at least. But that is all you remember.
You awake, with beads of sweat on your forehead. It is still dark outside, but your bedroom is illuminated by a gentle glow from your forehead.
Dream Two
Since the trip to the Wyld your dreams have been strangely quiet. You feel as if your mind has been trying to grasp hold of some idea that has constantly slipped through you fingers. You wake up each morning feeling unsettled and unsatsified, yet you are pragmatic enough to shrug it off, knowing that whatever it is will come to you when the time is right.
The night after the interrogation of Slavion Ysa the feeling is as strong as ever. You feel as though your mind is being pressed by some great weight, and that you will break through or be crushed. You try to wake up but can’t, and yet suddenly the weight lifts and you plunge into a vision, that feels so similar to your last dream. The setting this time is different. You’re in a large luscious bedroom, beautifully decorated with expensive, comfortable furniture scattered around. But in the centre of the room, where the furniturehas been pushed back to make space a sturdy iron chair has a Dragon Blood manacled to it. The manacles glow with arcane sigils.
“It’s useless to use charms Adratza” says the other man in the room “You know very well the manacles will prevent it. Merynna’s husband helped design them.”
You look at the man next to you, yet even in the dream you find it hard to focus on him. Your mind seems to have trouble holding on to the image. You can’t summon a name, and you know he is an Exalt of some type, but the nature of his gifts also eludes you. You turn back to the Dragon Blood on the chair.
“You’re going to tell us everything Adratza. Where you got the copy of the Broken Winged Crane, which Demon you have sold yourself too and the names of your fellow conspirators.”
The interrogation begins, and the story behind this scene slowly reveals itself. Adrataza was a trusted lieutenant and aide, he had been working with you for many years on various projects. You trusted him completely. And yet he had betrayed you to the Yozis. Grasping for ever greater power. You and the other man proceed to strip away the mental defenses of the Terrestrial. The process is brutal and unflinching, your own breaking of Slavion earlier in the day merely a pale reflection of the suffering you now proceed to inflict on this former subordinate. It takes a couple of hours, but in the end he is nothing more than the broken shell of a sentient creature. You’ve removed everything that made him a person, leaving him an automaton, useful for nothing more than answering your questions. The person you inhabit in the dream does all this calmly, without even a flicker of hesitation and yet the watcher that is Kairos longs to turn away.
Finally you get to, and you open one of the windows in the room and step out onto the balcony. You see a magnificent sity stretching as far as the eye can see. The building you are in would be the most glorious in any city in creation and yet it doesn’t even stand out in this gargantuan city. You see streets paved with precious metals and golden flowing canals running between buildings. The sky is criss-crossing with people flying in countless different methods of transportation.
The other man turns to you and says “Was that really necessary Merynna? I think there might have been better ways to get the information.” You open your mouth to reply, but the dream has already begun to fade. And the one thing you manage to hold onto is the complete absence of information on the unknown exalt that helped you in your task.
