The Legend of Traax ( Part I )

[loth]

Traax Sharpenblade :  Laanx\'s highest servant

Traax sharpenblade... Oh, now you\'re talking of him, I can remember quite a lot about him. Who was he ? Well... part of his job could be explained by his name.... He was Laanx\'s hight Sacrificer... Why ? How ? Well, young fellow, I guess it is a quite long story...
   
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The Crystal was shining over Yliakum. Traax stretched his arms and grunted. Another day of work, another day of hard labour... And the temple was not even built yet. Traax was bored. He had been sent by his parents, priests of Laanx, to follow the Xacha. Sent to Yliakum by parents worshipping a godness he had never seen, and ruled by stupid humanoids under the domination of the fanatic Galeran... World could not be worse.
Traax got up and decided to head straight for the building site. Passing before the other tents, he noticed much agitation in the camp, wich was normally quite and peaceful. During the night, Laanx\'s standards had been left and could now be seen far away from the camp. Traax wondered where could all this agitation come from. He decided to pass by the \"tavern\", a big word for a small brown tent. As he pushed the small piece of cloth wich was standing as a door, he recognized the inimitable smell of the Darkberries liqueur, mixed to the exhalation of decaying gazebo\'s meat, a very fashionable meal that Traax had always found disgusting.
A fast look at the tables confirmed his toughts : the barkeeper, Nurly \"LiqueurTank\" Libster was already there. He went to the bar and asked for some flower-flavoured water. Going straight to the point, he asked Nurly : \"What\'s all this about ? I mean, the standards, the murmurs... It\'s the first time I see the camp so animated !\" Nurly, with his loud and friendly voice, very loud for a Xacha, replied :
\"Laanx\'s coming tomorow to see the state of the building site... Galeran\'s very excited, and has ordered that the camp and building site should look as clean as possible... I guess it is not the only reason. Rumors are saying that Laanx should choose among us some of her future servants...
And nearly all of my fellows will try to be chosen by Laanx... They don\'t know what they\'ll have to suffer if they\'re chosen by the masqued godness...\" \"What do you mean by suffer ?\" asked the young lad. \"Having to work in here isn\'t a suffering anymore ?\" Nurly looked the young lemur in the eyes and said this :\"You don\'t know what suffering is. Now go, you\'ve some work left at the building site\". Traax turned back and went out without a word. He knew most Xachas didn\'t considered him as egal but priviliged because a was lemur, but Nurly had gone too far...
\"Didn\'t know what pain was\" ? He had surely suffered more pain that all those devoted idiots.
Grumbling, he walked to the building site, preparing himself for another day of \"unpainful\" labour...
   
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[loth]

While Traax was working, in some dark corridor of the Stone Labyrinths, a dark-skined lemur was talking to Traax\'s father, Laanx\'s hight priest Veron...
\"So, Veron, you think he is ready by now ?\" \"My Lord, I\'m sure he is\"  respectfully replied Veron.
\"Well, in this case... I\'ll be there tomorow. Anything else to ask me ?\"
\"No my Lord, I\'m fine. May the success be with you...\"
\"Ever doubted of me ?\" As he smiled, the lemur began to disappear in the fog of the Labyrinths...
No more than a minute latter, Veron, left alone said \"And may the success be with you my son...\"
   
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In the camp, the atmosphere was unuasally hot. Two hours latter, Galeran had ordered the nightworkers to go back in their tent and was now inspecting the camp. Anxious, Traax was waiting in the tavern, drinking some Darkberries Liqueur. A good-looking Xacha smiled at him. Her name was Elya, and she was about his age. He just couldn\'t bear her, but for reasons unknown of Traax, she seemed to be in love with him. He replied by smiling and thought \"she\'s so stupid...\"...
At this moment, Laanx\'s unfinished temple bells began to ring. The biggest bell, proudly called \"tempest\" by it\'s creator was ringing at an inimaginable speed...
As a shadow was appearing in the camp, magic fires began to illuminate the darkest corners of the cave... Then, a lightning bolt blinded everybody in the camp for a few seconds... In the middle of the camp, where a pentacle had been drawed, a dark-skined lemur was standing. Another lightning bolt, and Galeran appeared, kneeling before the cryptic lemur...
\"Stand up Galeran...\" said the lemur, with a high-pitched but calm voice.
Galeran stoud up and said :
\"My Lord, I am glad to show you Yliakum\'s Laanx Camp and future temple...\"
\"You\'ve done good work\" and the lemur began to move forward to the crowd wich had gathered around the pentacle. Traax was among the crowd, just like all the camp\'s occupants...
The dark-skined lemur pointed his arm at Traax and said \"You ! Come to me now !\"
Traax, intrigated by all those events replied :
\"Who are you anyway ? you don\'t think I\'m going to obey the first fool I see just because he his a friend of Galeran\'s, do you ?\"
\"A long time ago I used to be called Laanx... You really lack respect for your godness... Maybe your parents gave up your education a bit early... ?\"