The Wrong Min

[Minalan]

An eternity spent, in the realms of the shadow.

At some point, the days lost meaning. Years? Decades?

Here in the void's ever-twilight, there is neither night nor day. Not dead. Not alive. Nothing.

Here I've had time to think. To remember, people and places. The Emerald Trading Company. The ZOG Cabal. The many mistakes I've made. Bitter disappointments.

Attempting to destroy the world was a foolish endeavor. In the end, it got me where I am now. Trapped. Nowhere. At best, I succeeded in bending time to a breaking point, but it snapped back. Violently. The energy expended was...pointless. The results? Interesting at best, but it attracted too much attention. The wrong sort of it. *Everybody* noticed, it was hard not to. Harvested crops were back in the field. Built homes were now empty lots and raw materials. The entire shard lost twelve days of time, and the explosion eventually threw me *here*. Months later, the resonant shockwave caught up with my time and reality.

I knew it was coming, but in the end I was unable to stop it. uo.com/2012/12/17/atlantic-rollback/

A hand reached out to touch mine. Sensation. Cold fingers. Soft. A lovely face. Here. For me? Why? I've no real friends. Certainly none that would risk their lives in this dread place. Not even Elerius. He's dead now. Sacrificed by the Cabal.

I took the lifeline offered. Perhaps I could have saved the girl who came for me, but why? I knew that *I* could escape, and that was sufficient for my purposes.

I found myself in a laboratory. Darkened. Silent. All apparently belonging to me, but not. This was a different shard. From the notes the other "me" had been gone for some time, from the descriptions, he had gone to the under-verse. That was a stupid mistake, one that he likely paid for with his life. The denizens there do not suffer any trespass lightly, indeed even their names are jealously guarded.

The other "me" was a middling mage at best. Fortunately enough, like myself he kept meticulous journals. He was one who had never truly tasted power; never lusted for it as I have. It never completed him as it did me. He seemed more worried about forming councils, making allies, and sating his base desires with some gypsy wench.

I looked about, and decided. The laboratory. It was barely adequate for my needs, but it would suffice. I began to study 'my' works, to understand more of the world in which I have been thrust. The people. The histories. The confidences. Successes. Failures. Of an interesting note, Faeryl is here, the Ansata Knight I once knew. I need to take care that she doesn't recognize who I am. Or remember all that I had done.

[Minalan]

"I worry about you,

You're so distant.

You called me Aingeal.

This obsession of yours,

All of these frequent and mysterious trips,

Trying to learn what is only known to the gods."

With a tear-streaked face, she guessed at my intentions, carefully feeling at the sharp, hidden edges of my ambitions. There was a danger in keeping her so close here, and seeing her brings memories from another world and time.

She had moved on, and eventually died with the name of another lover on her lips. I saw it happen, and felt nothing but cold detachment - as if it happened to another. Why then, do the embers of what was long ago still stir?

A price too high? A chance to start over? Or another distraction to abandon in the flames of determination? For once, I do not have the answer.

[Minalan]

Knowledge, applied in just the right way, is more potent than any spell.

The last of the undead melted under my magic, demons retreated from the fire and lightning, and a stone colossus trampled their remains into the dirt. Still feeling the euphoria of so much magic expended, I limped into her chambers, both weakened and dizzy. But triumphant.

The grey skinned sorceress watched impassively, as if the display did not impress her in the least. I had not intended it to, but for a short time I did get lost in the spellcraft. After a few minutes she curtly spelled out her demand, "You finally have what you *promised*?"

I held out the small elixir, containing a smoky red mixture that seemed to churn and boil in the light. I remembered what it took to produce: Weeks of careful study, hunting down each reagent. Days of heating, stirring, and careful titration, weaving the spell into the mixture. Hours spent with the whining and inane master alchemist. "Indeed Victoria. And at a *considerable* personal cost."

The sorceress showed only the briefest emotion, the slight upturn of one side of her mouth as the took the small vial. I could see the anticipation in her eyes, feel the embers of hope rising within her chest. But hope is nothing more than the denial of reality, the carrot dragged before the donkey to keep it plodding endlessly forward. We both knew that there is no remedy for her tragic curse, and what I offered was but a small relief from her eternal misery here in the darkness. A kinder person would have just given it to her, but I know better. She had something that I needed as well, the sorceress gestured to the book on her pedestal. "Ten minutes, mage."

I practically fell over myself reaching it, the pages turned, and I let the knowledge flow into me as quickly as I could read, which happens to be freakishly fast. I devoured page after page, until exactly nine minutes and forty one seconds passed, when the words in the book turned to gibberish. No matter. I had what I came for: Insight

[Minalan]

"Behold, the scrolls of Shilaxrinar, the High Broodmother"

It took everything in me not to collapse with exhaustion as I held out the scrolls, all I could manage was to stifle a dry hacking cough. The isle of Athenaeum taxed my strength and magic to the limit, the void daemons jealously guarded the shattered ruins of the greatest library ever built, the very pinnacle of gargl civilization. What I offered to this exile gargl was a priceless relic of their proud, distant past.

The exile towered over me by nearly half a meter. His deep purple flesh, long fangs, and sharpened horns were offset by elegant dark-grey robes woven with fine gold thread. Ornate jeweled rings sparkled on each his fingers, and enormous earrings of black obsidian dangled from his ears. His dress marked him as a higher caste, either a wise one or a Mage before he was forced out of society.

His wings twitched, unfurling and folding again quickly. Gargl do not have the same body language as humans or elves. Their wings express context and emotions, much as our facial expressions do. This exile was anxious with anticipation, he bowed once politely, mimicking our gesture of respect. "U don-te vas-tri-ve, Ort-Lem Minalan"

There's a reason I'm here, the outcast gargl are masters of the blackest magics, and their familiarity with the void that looms over their homeland is great as Sosarians and their seas. "Then you have what I require?"

He simply nodded, and held out the palm-sized black orb in his purple claw. It pulsed with dark magic, tingling against my flesh as I took hold of it, raising the hair along my arms. We made the exchange, and I left quickly on the wings of a spell. The abyssal gargl do not suffer visitors for long, especially those which they have no further use.

I had what I came for.

[alia]

Walking for hours as the moon grew high in the sky guiding her way beneath its waxing light. Alia reached her destination in the center of four ancient trees planted some would say by the Gods themselves, Oak, Ash, Hazel and Apple.

Removing all constraints and carefully placing the small pouch on the ground Alia removed the belladonna elixir pouring onto the crown of her head letting it drip into her eyes and stream slowly down her features to her lips. Once the bitter taste reached her tongue she Inhaled deeply. The cool grass beneath her bare feet seem to reach out to hold her in place, exhaling slowly her ribs protruded and her abdomen convexed expelling any air left within her lungs. Welding to the power that was but forgotten; rooting herself to the most ground, a serene look came over her face, with eyes dilated and slitted; she pulled at the drawstring of the crimson skirt tied at her waist allowing it to blossom around her feet. The hem barring any to approach as it protected her in current state. Giving into the very force that pulse through every living thing; forced to her knees.

Hypnotically she took the small painted stones from the pouch allowing them to trickle from her fingertips. Sitting back on her heels, the barrier of the fabric was no match for the wanton urge of the power passing through her now to the very roots of the sacred trees.

“Placed in my mouth
Poured through my hairs
Drained to my lap
Both mouth and hands washed and prepared
I am enveloped for you”

The stones trembled as her body convulsed. The words flowed forth:

“Show me what I desire
Engulf me with the knowledge I crave”

Alia found herself on all four; Her back arched:

“Divine Mother, I plead"

The waking world evaporated to the veiled.

Her naked form contorted within the safety of the skirt’s protective space; she could see him as he sees himself.
As he knew her.
Another place. Another world. Another HER. With tattoos along her bottom lip with small markings creating a permanent circlet.
She watched them like hungry crows watch a farmer plant the first seeds of spring.
Minalan.
The thread that bound her to her former self was broken. Lost was that body, but the soul found a new home. Parallel worlds in a different time; to the one they found themselves tied to now.
Only SHE was tied too. The man she had vowed to be consort too was lost beyond what the Gods would allow her to see; but before her was the man she was once called wife.

Once she was called Aingeal.

[alia]

Validation.

He stood wearily from the stone bench encapsulated by the high hedge of the Maze. Alia found it ironic how it Mirrored the garden at their home. His eyes were fixed on her. Aila was motionless as if being approached by a wounded animal, knowing at any moment he could strike out, she faced him. Minalan’s eyes never broke from hers, as he removed his gloves, reaching out to cradle her face his fingers running into her hair, holding her head against his palm.

No words.

A multitude of visions filled her head.
Her lungs ached for air.

*Dancing before her eyes a mirage of their tangled lives two souls somehow bound to the other.*

Alia felt as if she was floating; her eyes dilated, engrossed in what she saw:

*Before her a sullen,dark being stood over Elerius’ lifeless form. An oblation. Then the scene became a blur like rain running down a pane of glass.*

This was not something that was foreign to her or new. Something awakened that was buried in her psyche.

A look of recognition, lust, and devotion made his complexion ruddy, “How... I love you Aingeal….”

*the words echoed as a vision of Minalan’s form warped and nullified lost in the maddening nothingness she could feel the air throb; barely a sound touching her ear. She met his gaze: He for her, as he screamed in agony, “Alia” he spurted at her. His body at the breaking point of being torn in two, Alia ran towards him, but he was always just out of reach. Then nothing. She felt them; there just out of sight they waited for their moment creatures fleshed in time itself. They waited to torture him. a panic grew within her, a physical feeling of trying to stand upright crossing a raging river*

Minalan pulled his hand back hiding it within the sleeve of his robe. A cough rattled from him. “Take the Elixir, my heart, it will ease your discomfort….” Minalan shook his head cutting her short swiping at her hand, “Its the damage of the Void, there is nothing to remove that.” Wiping his mouth with a cloth he leaned heavily on the staff, favoring a maimed leg. Physically now ….. Now was it apparent he was as he said, not the one. Only a form of the fool she loves that both men craved knowledge,they were convinced was contained in the Void.

Violated.
The panic climbed up through her. Alia’s mind race of their life since his return; how it was as if a glamour was over her when he returned. She saw only him. But now. she was violated, by an imposter sharing her bed. Playing the part.
Alia’s legs immediately refused to obey her and buckled. The energy depleted from her. “Stand” was the word that echoed inside her head.
She looked at him with the eyes of her people, why they did not wish for her to be coupled to him. She found the last of her resolve, giving him a leveled look, “Your soul has been fractured like the immoral gem” Alia stuttered out.
He grew colder. Withdrawn. Foreign. “A part of you is the same Man, as he is a part of who you are….”

Barking at her, “The Minalan you know is lost within the void.” He looked at her, “The young woman, the one sent for him, was mistaken and showed me the way.” A part of me recognizes you, but I am not the one you know.” a smug look grew on his face, “but, you have suspected all along, yet shared your confidences with no one. I can see why he loves you as he does.”

Minalan purposely created distance between them, turning back, looking at her; he murmured, “How I.. HE loves you and his child.”
the hardened look returned as if the glamour he tried to portray was over.
“The man kept meticulous notes, study them, learn the name of his mentor, and then wait for his return. He will find his daughter” --- and with that, he was gone.

Immersed still under the power of the vision; the nothingness trailed her, hushed as the night, dancing between the trees. It melted into darkness until it blended disappearing against the backdrop of nothingness.

Maniacal laughter.

The nothingness knew she was unprotected. That primal power that was rarely tapped, pining to be released freely seeped from her own essence. Alia swayed like the tops of the trees. Left in her current state her own wards not prepared. The light dare not penetrate the nothingness either out of fear or reverence, but it remains,neglected
Something mirrored all her actions, the nothingness clinging to her, as though surveying and admiring her.
An immaculate outline of Alia shape, an echo of prior movements, a lifetime companion, it shadows me.
Is this where he existed now. As she was now the living reminder of all that was promised....