15th of Xallvar

The thick walls of the keep failed in shutting out the sounds of the anxious guards and soldiers. The demons that poured through the Portal were increasing in both number and strength. With every increase the morale of the soldiers grew thinner.

Two cloaked women quietly strode through the hallway. Their calm grace made it seem like their surroundings didn’t concern them, as if something else required their full attention and they didn’t belong here. The woman in front stopped at a door and opened it, half-turning to face the woman walking behind her. “Goodnight Priestess Dusksinger.” She nodded politely and walked into the room. The priestess returned the nod, closed the door, and locked it. “Goodnight sister Acrona.” The priestess took great care in putting the key away, before making her way to her own room.

Shalisa sighed as she remembered that this room lacked anything even remotely close to a window. She found it highly unsatisfying to pray without seeing the White Lady, the stars or at the very least the night sky. But the night time prayer had been part of her routine for as long as she could remember, and this was hardly a time to abandon it. So she kneeled down in front of the bed and slowly let the beads go through her fingers - as she would have done were she in her room at the Temple.

“Gem of the night sky, Beloved Goddess, Elune.
Hear the words of Your loyal servant, for I seek Your aid.
Forgive me my selfishness, but the task that has come to me requires me to be so. Tonight I dedicate my prayer to merely a few souls.

I pray for the one who seeks to unravel her past. Who sacrifices the privacy of her own mind, traveling a path in a direction unbeknownst to her. I pray her wandering makes her arrive at what she is looking for. But most of all I pray that this path does not put her in harms way, for I do not wish to take this opportunity away from her.

I pray for the one who has lost her way. Who burdens her child with her own troubled past, unknowingly putting her through great ordeals. I pray she achieves her goal. But most of all I pray that she does not put her daughter in harms way, for I dread the consequences of having to intervene.

Lastly I pray for the one guiding these two. Who strives to help both troubled souls, wishing both to be granted peace of mind. I pray that You guide her in this. But… but most of all I pray this be the last thing You ask of her.
Elune, if it is your will, let it be so.”

She ended the prayer with a polite nod before using the bed to push herself up her feet, then stiffly turning so she could sit on it. She rather liked this bed, it didn’t creak as much her own one did. The thought was quickly dismissed though due to it being a supercilious one. Beds were for sleeping, she could sleep just fine in hers and that was all that mattered. She was about to move on to the purpose and use of other items and furniture, but the faint hooting of the owl perching on the desk across the room interrupted her trail of thought.

Ruffled feathers, food left untouched and the slight shivering spoke volumes of the health of the small owl. “How inconvenient” Shalisa made the effort to stand up and walk over to the bird. It looked up to its owner, not sure what to expect of the woman with the blank stare. “You are dying. You know this. Not today, not tonight, maybe not even tomorrow. But soon.” She paused. “Sindel, I hereby relieve you of your duty to me.” The owl hobbled closer, its demeanor making clear that it wanted a pat. She passively observed the plea, before turning her back to it and making her way to the bed.

“OOX-16. Tomorrow, you are to remind me of the following: speak to Acrona’s mother. Dispatch a messenger to the Temple with the request for a new owl-” Her glance wondered to her nightstand. Six vials containing a green liquid were placed on it and some pouches containing various herbs lay scattered around them. “and a stack of dreamfoil. Confirm.”

A mechanical, somewhat muffled voice, from what Shalisa believed to be underneath her bed, was quick to reply. “Speak to Acrona’s mother. Dispatch a messenger to the Temple with the request for a new owl and a stack of dreamfoil. Confirmed. Cluck!” She reached out and took one of the vials from the table, uncorked it, then paused as she was about to drink it. The colour seemed off. She tried to remember if this had been the case with the other potions she had drank here, but failed to remember. She compared it to the others. Reaching the conclusion that they were pretty much identical, she shrugged it off and blamed the lighting.

“One more thing. Due to Sindel’s state of impending death, OOX-16, you are to run audio protocol 6B while I am asleep. Confirm.” “Confirmed, cluck! Initiating audio protocol 6B. Cluck!” Shalisa chugged down the potion and lay down on the bed.

As soon as she swallowed it she knew something was wrong. The taste that it left in her mouth was one she had not experienced before. She desperately tried to cough it up, but it was of no use. The mixture was too potent, and soon its distorted effects took hold of her.

She could feel her strength and consciousness slowly slip away. This in itself was nothing unusual and for a moment Shalisa believed that perhaps nothing was wrong after all. But then she heard the sound, softer than even the faintest of whispers. She rolled on her back and covered her eyes with both arms in a feeble attempt to stop what was about to come. She knew full well that it was useless. Like the nauseating feeling one gets before the stomach throws out its contents, so is there a similar feeling when the mind throws out its memories. Shalisa knew it all too well. She knew too much. She knew exactly what to do to stop it and that there wasn’t enough time to do so.

The sounds slowly grew stronger and more coherent, and images formed to support them. Soon the image of an all too familiar lake had formed itself in her minds eye. A single tear broke through the barrier formed by her closed eyelids, and made it’s way to the pillow as Shalisa had no choice but to watch and listen to the singing child.

5th of Astrahe

She ran. Though brambles and branches tore her skin and she had no idea where she was headed, she ran. Away from the grove… away from the scene. No looking back, no looking forward. “You can’t leave us again!” The angry shout echoed through a non-responding forest. “I never left you.” She wanted to shout these words, let the whole world know. Instead, they never left her mind, not even as a whisper.

The scenery changed. The ancient trees made way to reveal a barren landscape. Waves from a timid sea quietly washed onto a grey, rocky shore where a waning crescent moon took centre stage in the sky. The bleakness of the scene heralded the end of the memories. This was the present, there were no more stories to tell. A great sense of relieve filled her. She glanced over her shoulder, her relieve was short-lived: her past was already catching up to her.

Silvery light found its way to her feet as she ran for the water. Levitating but a few inches above the water’s surface, she continued running in hopes of finding sanctuary. Exhaustion would soon force her to stop. She turned around to see the figures assemble on the beach. They were all there now. Faces she had seen just now and centuries ago, faces she thought she’d never see again.

It was a man with short black hair that stood in front of the crowd. He gave a small nod upon which the figures calmly walked over to her, unhindered by the water. She took a few steps back. The figures accelerated. She wanted to run, but she knew it was useless. Like a pack of hungry wolves they surrounded her, a pack that had not yet gotten the sign to move in for the kill.

There was a long silence in which the figures observed Shalisa while her gaze darted across the crowd. It wasn’t the silence that bothered her. “What do you want?” this was what bothered her. There is always something… a movement of the eye… the slight quirking of a brow… she had learned that there is always something that at the very least hints at a persons intention. There was nothing here. The figures stood around her like badly made statues: realistically made but void of any emotion or life.

Gathering what little courage she had left, she directed her gaze to the tall man standing in front of her. “Well?” the tremble in her voice did harm to the authority with which she had meant it to sound. He did not answer. Normally this would make her slightly annoyed, snap at him and walk away. But not now, not here. It was with uncertainty and mounting fear that she followed his gaze as he cast it downward. Downward to what was now a sea of crimson blood.

She screamed.

She felt the silvery light around her feet disappear.

She fell.

She saw a kind woman with long steel blue hair pull her under.

She woke up.

Breathing heavily, she sat up straight in her bed. The fear she had felt still had its hold on her, she held her trembling hands in front of her to make sure there was no blood. There was no blood, but this was no reassurance. Her hands were alarmingly transparent, and the dark shadows were lashing around them with a ferocity akin to the flames of a large bonfire.

"H-How long have I been like this..?" there was no immediate answer "OOX-16!?" The mechanical voice responded after having processed this new information. "Wakeful state of owner confirmed, terminating audio protocol 6B. Cluck! Error: Unable to process last request, please specify the needed information. Cluck!" Not what she wanted to hear. This unsatisfying response rekindled Shalisa’s fighting spirit, and the shadows raged as if fuelled by it. "Like this! Transparent, surrounded by a large concentration of shadows, embraced by shadows, shadowform..! Any of that specific enough for you?" "Affirmative" "And...? For how long?!" "Subject not in visual range, unable to comply, cluck!"

Shalisa grumbled in annoyance as she got out of bed, got on her knees, and pulled a bag from under her bed. She hurriedly took the small machine out of it, and held it in front of her. "Your audio recording then. How was Sindels night?" "Unable to process request, please specify the needed information." "I thought I made myself quite clear! I refuse to believe it is a complicated request!" "Data available for the following nights: 15th of Xallvar, 16th-" "What?! Nights?" she looked over her shoulder, and only now noticed the corpse of the owl on the floor in front of the desk. It was not how she had planned it to be. Her mind soon alerted her to a more pressing matter; Acrona.

She dropped the chicken to the ground, rushed through the door and ran to the room next to hers. She tried unlocking the door with the key, but noticed it was already unlocked. The door swung open to reveal an empty room. Shalisa turned around as she heard footsteps. "You!" the guard froze in surprise as he looked at the angry woman. "Where is she?" "Uhm... yes...you see..." "Get on with it! Or do I have to pry it from that uninteresting little mind of yours?!" The shadows darkened and the guard gulped. "Right... well... when you didn't wake up that morning... we, uhm... thought we'd at least make sure she got something to eat, you see? You were err... fast asleep, so we got the spare key and entered her room. But she wasn't there. You have to believe me! Please!" The priestess slammed the door, walked back to her room in a fast stride, and slammed her own door equally hard. The guard took a moment to recover from his astonishment, gathered his composure and walked off.

"OOX-16, what day is it?" "Today is the 5th of Astrahe" "She has a head start of almost an entire month?!" she looked up to the ceiling. “Why are you letting this happen? Why?! Is this some lesson? Or a test? Oh I will find those two... I will help them and all this mess had better be for their sake!" no matter how angry she was, something in the very core of her being prevented her from turning her anger towards Elune. Her attention returned to the chicken. "OOX-16, we will start our pursuit at the earliest convenience! Anything unusual on the audio recording? From Acrona’s room perhaps?" "On several occasions, a sound resembling growling has been recorded, cluck!"

“G-growling?” Fear returned all too eagerly. The times that emotions could freely express themselves were rare, so it refused to let an opportunity pass by. “F-from Acrona’s room?” It wasn’t a question, it was a plea for confirmation. A kind of comfort sought when one is unable to see and accept the obvious: of course it wasn’t from Acrona’s room.

“Negative.” Fear nestled deeper, getting more and more comfortable. “Source of the sound: unknown. Location: close proximity to owner. Cluck!” Anger decided it had humoured fear long enough. It tried muscling fear away and claim dominance over Shalisa’s chaotic mind, but was only partly successful. Shalisa screamed repeatedly ‘no’ as she flung the vials one at a time to one of the strong stone walls of the room. Shattered glass covered the otherwise clean floors and the green liquid gave a strange decorative touch to the wall as it slowly rejoined the glass.

The mechanical chicken was, bar the faint sound of it's cogs, silent as it scanned Shalisa's distraught face. "Owner is not herself... cluck." Her eyes widened in shock and then timidly turned to the ground. The flaming shadows returned to their normal size and Shalisa’s form became more tangible. A multitude of thoughts soared through her head as reason and the first signs of self-control returned to her mind. It took Shalisa a few moments to decide which thought to share with the chicken. In a voice that more or less came close to her usual hollow one, though traces of fear and anger still remained, she settled for “I am not your owner.”

The programming of the chicken came to the wise conclusion this was not the moment to dispute this statement and opted to ask for confirmation of orders instead. “Pursuit? Cluck.“ The priestess nodded faintly. “The Dark Portal.”