The Awakening

[Alhana]

Deep in the under-realm the soulless begin to stir.  Woken from there sleep by voices of the living nearby.
Names are whispered through the darkness...

\"Hagarath, Riquir, Rilar, Gatuna, Satayne, Lidrae, Aluna, Zorbels...\"

The last name being heard the clearest.  A sleepy smile spreads across a pale face.  An eyelid opens slowly and slightly.
A cold and yet caring voice whispers to a single tormented mind...

\"Come to me my child, Let me take you away from this pain.\"

A single voice replies
\"Alhana where are you, I shall come!.  I .....need you .....stop ...the pain...please...I will come!\".

The unseen cold voice replies softly
For now, I live in you my child.  Rest easy my dear, for your time is not now....

The living voices fade away and all is quiet once more.

[zorbels]

Zorbels turn pale white and starts to shake and whispers \"It\'s not possible, I thought you were gone!\" Zorbels ears ring with the silence that follows after her sentance......

[Alhana]

The air is still and all is silent within the under-realm\'s ancient library.  One by one the burning candles flicker and suddenly extinguishes, the temperature drops rapidly. A rising whining sound spreads throughout the under-realm turning into a hellish echoing scream.  A black swirling mass of smoke and shadows appears, and after a few minutes it begins to take on the form of a female diaboli with the blackest hair and oily skin.  The screams stop suddenly and then silence.

Her head is bowed, the eyes are shut with a grin appearing across her face.

She whispers to the shadows \"Infectum Animus\".

The shadows begin to stir and moments later many ghostly forms appear around her.  There eyes dim at first and then brightening, burning red with the hatred of there own existence.

\"Lure them too me...\" she says without emotion, \"I must feed\".

One of the ghostly figures steps forward, bows slightly and speaks in a hollow voice \"My queen, a soul approaches.\"

The lady raises her hand in a dismissive gesture.  The figures bows and fade with a groan.

 Fading from sight the lady waits.

A young looking female diaboli with red hair runs into the library weeping.  She stumbles and falls. Before her is a large stone archway with an inner wall lit in a dim red glow.  The inner wall bears an image of a grinning skull upon it.

The young diaboli suddenly stops crying. She notices how cold it is, and then becomes aware of another presence nearby.

\"Who\'s there?\" she says in a curious tone.  

No one answers.  

She stands and wipes her eyes.  It is then she hears a whispered reply that makes her start and shiver.

\"Come... Come to me...\"

\"Who are you?\" the young diaboli asks now feeling fear creeping up her spine.

\"I will Take this pain away from you...\" the whisper now even closer, \"Give me your pain and I will give you what you desire....\"

\"You will make me that which I so desire? How is this possible? Do you know of me?\" the young diaboli now wanting to know how this voice knows her thoughts.

Then within the archway appears a dark figure appears, her eyes still closed and an emotionless expression.  She softly replies \"Yes.\"

The young diaboli jumps at the sudden appearance and steps backwards.  Looking closer she suddenly recognises the face. \"No!...You are the enemy!... you took everything away from me!\".

\"Am I your enemy? Look around you my dear... tell me what you see\".

The young diboli looks around and notices nothing apart from how cold and quiet it is.

\"I see nothing\" the young diaboli replies.

The dark figure smiles \"My point exactly...I am here in your time of need\"

\"Come with me\" the dark figure opens her arms \"Take your mothers place at my side\".

The young diaboli take several steps backwards while shaking her head.

\"No... I... How...\" she stumbles on her words in shock at the words she hears.

\"I knew your mother well my dear, as I am sure I will you\" The dark figure now smirking.

\"I am not my mother!\" Aluna shouts, angered at this proposal.

The dark figure still smirking \"Ah... but you are.  The same blood and lust for power flows through your veins\".

Aluna now walking backwards and shaking her head \"No!... No!\".  Aluna turns and runs off.  She still hears the words of the dark figure in hear mind.  \"I wait... when you are ready, you will seek me\".

Moments later and once more all is silent.

The dark figure fades slowly, the temperature warms candles reignite.  One word is spoken in a whisper \"Setill...\"

[Bebel]

In a dream, a voice calls \" come, come to me\".  The images follow one another in his head, battles which make rages, blood, shout, suffering and darkness...  strangely for him these screams are a soft music which attracts it.  After a long trip through many world, he landed at Yialkum.  The voice became stronger increasingly in his head, he felt it, he felt the force of the evil which started to be born in this world of order and civility.  He was ready to serve \"this force\", devoted forever with darkness.  The Evil in this low world has a new ally...Setill is waiting for orders

[zorbels]

Zorbels lays down with Satayne for the night overcome by the events that had taken place. She thinks to herself....\"I know Aluna is hiding something. I know she has seen Alhana, I can smell it on her. Why won\'t she tell me!\" Zorbels looks at Satayne with tired eyes and wants to sleep but is afraid to for two reason. She has already had two assassination attempt\'s on her head this very night from Alhana\'s minions, and secondly she knows once she sleeps the images and bad dreams she will have. Zorbels can no longer fight the sleep that washes over her and slips into a darkness of dreams.

Zorbels hears Alhana\'a voice in her dreams. \"Rest child, you will need it,\" then Zorbels\'s mind fills with images, terrible images that could break a weak mind. She tosses and turns in her sleep restless. Zorbels mumbles, \"No I cannot, let me....go.....the...the.....pain.\" Satayne wakes and looks at Zorbels with worry, he shakes Zorbels pleading her to wake from this terrible dream. Zorbels wakes startled and speaks really fast. \"It is time and she has come,\" Zorbels looks into the distance at the dark clouds that roll over Hydlaa. \"Talad I prey to the, let us over come this darkness\" Zorbels whispers and falls back into a dark sleep.

[ou8i8uo]

Satayne\'s body, tense with adrenaline finally starts to rest as he lies there with Zorbels in his arms.
While she dozes off to an uneasy sleep, Satayne\'s mind races with the events of the past few days. \"I won\'t let her take you from me\" he mutters under pursed lips.
His thought race back to the day in the Arena and guilt overcomes him once more. Her scream echoes in his mind. Could she actually do It? Self doubt rears it\'s head and it has the face of Alhana.
A new resolve is born within Satayne, one that, if he should fail, would claim his soul as well.

[Alhana]

Fragments of the soul

Alhana stands at the southern gates in the chill of the night.  She speaks in a whisper more to herself that anyone else.

\"I do this for both of us.  I will not watch your life become a misery because of me and I cannot bare this torrment any longer\".

Not looking back she picks up her few things and walks through the gates into the cold night beyond.

\"I hate the cold\".


Deep in the underrealm,  the skulled alcove in the great library fades from an already dim pulsing red to darkness.  The whispers of the soulless fade untill they cease.

[zorbels]

Zrobels knows she cannot stop Alhana and she has mixed feelings about her leaving. As she watches Alhana walk way Zorbels thinks, \"I hated you when you were evil and now I stand here with sorrow and feel like I am losing myself. So many thoughts and memories ...... and this bond.\" Zorbels slowly turns not being able to bare watching Alhana walk away and whispers to herself, \"Take care my sister and I hope that in time our paths will cross again.\" Zorbels heads to the temple not looking back with tears welling in her eyes........

*The whispers of the soulless fade in Zorbels mind until she can hear them no more.*

[Alhana]

Alhana lays upon the ground, her breaths short and rapid, as life seeps from her body.  Confused she tries to remember the rapid events.

The light of day was fading...
She had stopped to admire a single colourful flower...
A sound from behind... The sensation of water...
Dizzy... falling... falling...

Thoughts of her friends flash through her dimming mind.

A soft and comforting voice speaks to her from the void...
\"Rest now my dear, your journey is over.  Welcome home\".

All goes dark as the crystal disappears behind the distant mountains.


[P.S: Get well soon Zorbels, I know how you feel.  The same happened to me couple of years ago twice in a row.]


27/12/05

The silence within the Underealm is ended with a distant rumbling sound emanating from the great library.

Within the great library itself the the ground shakes with a deafening sound.  A sudden cracking sound is heard coming from the the now empty unlit alcove at the back of the great library.  The wall at the back of the alcove splits wide with a crunch releasing a long burst of air followed by the screams of a thousand souls wailing louder and louder to a deafening pitch.  Then suddenly all stops following a deathly silence.

A whisper carrys far into the living realm to a distant resting mind many lands away.  Two words are harshly spoken \"Alhana... Awaken!\".


31/12/05

Ok, the RP story can now be found here Infectum Animus Website As I can no longer be bothered to keep updating it in both areas.