The moons
light spilled gently onto the polished stone table at which Sister
Myste sat. In front of her she places a single candle and sits back a
moment in silence. Reaching forward she strikes a flint and lights the
wick deftly, it splutters briefly, and then settles into a sturdy
flame, unmoving in the still air.
As instructed
by the learned Bushi Kulthesu she casts her mind back to many battles
past.
Images of
blood and fury, of deaths.. so many deaths.. the fort.. the causeway..
the lighthouse.. the pass.. the caves.. the scenes spin but the story
is the same, the dead lie bleeding as Myste stands above them
collecting the spoils.
Then she
remembers times when she has fallen, cowering beneath the creatures
standing above her, and for a moment they are all there. She goes
through them all, naming them as her Bushi had requested, seeing their
faces in her mind as each, when named, deliver a blow.
Rats, Giant Rats, Rogues, Thieves, Bandit leaders, Orcs, Kobolds,
Trolls, Giant Spiders Orc Shamans, Orc priests, Orc swordsmans, Viper
spirits, Wolfs, Skeletons, Ghouls, Wraiths Bak-tar the bloodys, Bears,
Boars, Dark Trolls, Tunnel Hulks, Deep Ones, Stun Jellys Splinter
Beasts, Squids, Slaver beasts, Flame bats, Eye Demons, Air Elementals
Earth Elementals, Water Elementals, Fire Elementals, Hob goblins,
Mouthers, Tentacles Flame Demons, Goblins, Ice Dragons, Fire Dragons,
Banrog Demons, Imps, Crocodiles Tattoed Lizard mans, Weak Hob Goblins,
Sick Goblins, Beaten Kobolds, Snotler swordsmans Snotler shamans,
Snotler champions, Strangle vines, Ghostly captains, Cobras, Wild dogs
Troll elders, Troll Champions, Female Trolls, Ogre guards, Cyclops,
Yetis, White bears Frost beasts, Frost giants, Ice Trolls, Ice Demons,
Strangle vines, Animated Poison Ivys Deadly thorns, Storm furys, Sewer
assassins, Giant toads, Troll witch doctors, Black Ants Sewer thugs,
Sewer captains, Hydras, Hydra spawns, Star Guards, Star Sorcerers, Star
Beasts Small vale dragons, Giant evil vultures, Giant vultures, Man
Beasts, Tower guards, Black panthers Beasts, Giant Scorpions, Snakes,
Flat head turtles, Water pixies, Tunnel snakes, Troll Shamaness Troll
King's Guards, Ice Troll Shamans, Descendant of Galamgars, Electric
Eels, Jellyfishs Fresh Water Octopus, Black Rogues,Skeletal Archers,
Thief Captains, Young ogres, Ogresss, Ogre heros Ogre Shamans, Blood
Loathers, Shadow of the hills, Disfigured Lizard mans, Hideous
Monstrositys Two-headed vipers, Blood speckled Crocs, Rock giants, Rock
Trolls, Rock demons, Rock giant slavers Rock giant females, Rock giant
sculptors, Rock giant fighters, Baldies, Dynamic Infernos Raging
firestorms, Weakest slaver guards, Weak slaver guards, Slaver trappers,
Slaver Guards Slaver Netters, Slaver Guard "Mage Bane"s, Slaver guard
"Blade bane"s, Cutpurses, Renegade sprites, Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal
Necromancers
The candle
lies in a pool of wax, flicking slightly as its last is given to the
world. In its fading fire Myste reflects on the meditation she has gone
through and forms a poem, as is her way, to seek for meaning...
In memory of those who died
We weep and walk away.
Tears run into swollen streams.
No trace of us remains.
Even those who grieve are
gone,
And those that grieve who grieve,
And those whose lives are ravaged by
A frantic urge to be,
And those who wander
silently
Among the empty rooms:
Immortality is theirs,
Though they must vanish, too.
We bear astonished witness
to
The passage of the soul.
No bridge exists that can connect
Our passion to the whole.
And once we look, and once
again
And let it dwell upon
And know that we cannot undo
That which we have done
Myste raises
her hand above the dying flame, pauses for a second, nods slightly and
brings her hand down to extinguish it.
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