Upon a Star, Karyana's Journey, chapter 1, part 1

A Chapter by Sebastien B.

This part could also fit in the prologue, so I may need help with the pacing. This chapter introduces Karyana's foster family, which will have early importance in the story.

Panyus slowly weaved two threads together as she looked on through the crystalline surface of the pond where she sat, her spinning wheel at her side. Keeping her hood up, none would see her state of unease at what had happened.

The moment Lord Medai cast his vanquishing spell upon the horde of undead that stormed him, the very weave that was Citadel began to unravel. Not because of lives lost. It was as if... none of those threads were ever there. As if, in a second, the story of the folk and minds of the magical marvel that was the city of scholars disappeared.

"Reveen..." she uttered, her elderly voice trailing into a sigh.

A loud knock came at the door. A clang of steel against oak. "Enter." she said in a more formal tone.

The one who entered was Xelnos, wearing the same macabre smile as he did before, the one no one had expected. His armor seemed to be glistening, as if he had polished it with the blood of the fallen.

"You are a fool to come back here.", the weaver replied. "Your act of yesternight was seen as treason by Progeny himself."

Trudging over to the elderly Planar, the colossal form raised a fist defiantly. "You know as well as I do that I have done far worse in the past, and that the whelp never backed his threats." He spoke, seemingly confident of his powers. "I am the Aspect of Destruction. Life and death need me, and he knows it!"

Continuing her weave, unimpressed by his boast, she let out a sigh. "What is it you want? And make it quick: I have other matters to tend to, then your break of confidence."

Xelnos kept his sinister sneer. "I wish to see the tapestry of Citadel. I know you keep all accounts of the past, so show me!"

Panyus rose from her stone seat and pointed at the unraveled mess that laid before her. "Is this what you wish to see?" she asked in a tone most people would quote as 'taunting'.

The immense Planar looked at the disheveled work and frowned. "Are you mocking me? This is no tapestry; just a mock-up of broken strings..."

"That is because, to mortals of Demierth... Citadel never existed." she replied before sitting down, continuing her simple weave.

Xelnos looked shocked for a moment. "How could this be possible? Even now, I can still feel Reveen's presence, but..." he uttered before anger covered his almost bestial face. "How dare he!" he bellowed before slamming his fist against one of the stone pillars of the inner garden, leaving a massive indent in the stone surface. "This is a sin to all Creation!"

"You're the wrong person to speak of creation." came a young voice from behind the immense doom-bringer.

Turning around in a slow manner, Xelnos noticed the tiny form of the Childlord. "So, you have come to end me yourself? From what I remember of your laws, Planars cannot battle within the Council's walls." he said, as if taunting Progeny to break his own words.

"You are correct, but also wrong." the childish Planar spoke in a voice that betrayed his wisdom. "I am not here to judge or end you. I merely wish to speak to Panyus."

Making a mock gesture of galantry, he bowed slightly and waved his arms towards Panyus. "Then, by all means, do so." he replied, making a mild laugh as if he was enjoying his own jest.

Progeny walked over to the elderly weaver and spoke. "She has reached sanctuary." he said matter-of-factly, to which Panyus simply nodded. "Then until she is ready, all Planar must stay away from her... except for Asuna herself."

Xelnos frowned, looking silently at the two. "I have asked Oerbus, Planar of Dreams, to allow her to visit the child once every cycle of the Moon..." the Childlord continued, ignoring Xelnos completely. "...until she comes to age."

"And what of-" Panyus was about to ask, but stopped as she glared at the still-quiet Planar.

"He lives on." was all Progeny said before taking his leave. Looking back at Xelnos, he frowned. "And your Aspect will no longer touch him."

Xelnos slowly clenched his fist as rage started to boil. 'Impossible...' he thought before vanishing from the garden in a burst of flame and brimstone.

Panyus looked back at the garden and waved her hands. In a matter of seconds, all that was crushed, broken and burned by the giant's outrage started to mend. The elderly Planar then returned to the weave she was making.

"If he only knew..." she said, before looking at the tapestry. On it was depicted a young man dressed in leather, wielding a two-handed blade; a black-bearded dwarf holding a battle axe in one hand and a large bag in another, a rune crested on his breastplate; another man, dressed in a battle robe befitting the priests of Raemu; and a young woman, over which was three swords, yet she was only wielding one. The woman in question had long pitch-black hair, a
diamond-shaped mark on her forehead and crystalline eyes of an almost unfathomable blue.

---

Xelnos stomped down the stairs to his realm, furiously smashing bodies that were held in chains like wall decorations. "I cannot believe it!" he bellowed, ignoring the screeches and pleas of those he crushed under his immense fists or trampled underfoot. "How can this fool be alive? There was no possible way!"

Crushing cluttered skeletal husks as he trudged over to his throne, he slammed his fist against the make-shift table of broken armor and smashed weapons. "Pison!" he shouted in such a voice that even the demonic servants that knew of his temper feared for their existence.

The fur-caped mercenary appeared in a shiver of shadows, as if his form simply warped into existence. "My Master." he said before bowing. "I bring great news."

The obsidian-armored Planar played the mercenary's game for a moment. "Speak." he said in an irritated tone. "I have little time for your message."

Pison untied a sack from his belt and placed it before him. "I bring you the heart of Medai, Magelord of Citadel."

Xelnos rose from his throne and walked over to the mercenary. "Really, now. And what makes me think you are not toying with me?", he retorted in a mockingly-concerned tone.

Raising his head, the frost-skinned demon made a sneer. "I am not jesting you, my Lord. I brought the death of the old man myself."

The immense, armored Aspect of Destruction walked over to Pison, crushing the sack underfoot, who looked on startled. "My... My lord-" was all that the lower demon had time to say before being picked up by the massive hand of his master.

"Do you truely think I did not know of your plight!" the giant Planar spoke as he raised the mercenary's body up to eye level before smashing it against the throne's armrest. "Two hundred dead... from my army... turned to dust!" he shouted, raising the flailing body up before smashing it against anything and everything in his sight; columns, stairs, bones, walls... "And you couldn't even end his existence!"

Pison hacked and coughed as blood pooled in his mouth. "M-my Lord... I don't... understand!" he gasped.

Xelnos led the battered demon to the nearest wall, where spider-like shadow-forms gripped at the broken form's limbs. "You said you could kill Reveen! Instead of destroying a Planar, you merely destroyed his mortal shell!" he bellowed, slamming his metal-clad fist into the shackled form's chest, making the lowly demon spit out a mouthful of blood. "And because of your mistake, not only will Reveen's spirit be reborn in mortal form... no longer am I allowed to lay a
hand on him!"

Xelnos' fist crushed again and again his lackey's shattered body. "And now... that blasted city vanished from even the eyes of Time! All my plans... ruined by you, miserable insect!"

Pison spat another mouthful of blood, but his body would not let his consciousness fade. "My lord... I will..." was all he could say as his lungs burned by the smoke and heat of the place.

"Oh, you will make it up to me... but first..." the gigantic form said before striding back to his throne. "I think I have a suiting punishment for your failure."

Pison could barely raise his head as broken bodies crawled up and down the walls to his positions. "Mortals speak of you as the slayer of tens of thousands..." he spoke in a tone that made the mercenary fear the worse, while the other demons recognized as macabre delight - the kind that their master had when he developed a new method of torture for them to use, or of him relishing in the symphony of screams of those he punished. "So, I think having
those tens of thousands you slew have their way with you."

It didn't take long for Xelnos to ease into his throne at the sound of his new puppet being broken apart, only to be fixed in the most painful way before another broken soul freed itself of all its pain by ripping Pison's body apart.

"Once you experience the pain you inflicted upon me... you will have another chance." the Planar said in a relieved tone - if such a thing was possible for the one who represented all paths of destruction. "Until I find a use for you... I want you to scream..."

---

Rauz let out an irritated sigh. "What in all magic have I gotten myself into..." he said before looking at the child who was sitting in front of him, looking up with deep blue eyes.

The young alchemist had trouble keeping young Karyana from touching everything, crawling into the worse places and was lucky he actually had her sitting on the make-shift chair he usually sat in to read blueprints or grimoires. In the few days since he came back with her, she had broken at least one of his alembics by knocking it over while he tried desperately to fold a cloth into a diaper, almost broken his nerve - and eardrums - when she was hungry, and
kept pulling at his hair while he was holding him. He finally had to wrap her with a goat fur rug to keep her from moving about.

"Taking care of you is worse than I thought..." he said with a frown, even as the infant played around with a spoon, tapping against the floor with it as if she was playing a drum. "Well... you're a lively one... definitely not a newborn."

Kneeling down, the black-haired aid to the former Magelord picked up the tiny bundle of energy. "I'd be better as a mentor than a teacher." he said, a sigh escaping his lips. "You need parents... best to be ones who can truly care for you."

Walking out of his keep, Rauz kept the child near him to avoid the cold of the morning from making her ill, and walked south towards Ravenhall, the closest city to his dwelling.

Ravenhall earned its name due to the first explorers of Winterwatch finding the said bird in this location. What would normally be an ill omen turned out to be a blessing, as the warmer weather, doubled with a nearby lake and more fertile grounds during the warm seasons aided the first colony to prosper. That, and the fact that the city's founder was named Benir Ravencloud, were the reasons of this colonial city's name.

The city itself had several bustling businesses, as a dwarven forge was found in the vicinity of the colony, ruled by the Kinslayer tribe. Oddly enough, the Kinslayer name was given to these hardy and war-forged dwarves for an intestine war that sprung when the first chieftain, Marek the Elder, was overthrown by his youngest of kin, Sardonyx, after the former had oppressed his tribe and used his influence to wage war against all who dwelled near their settlement.

As Rauz walked into the city, he was soon met by a dwarf dressed in smith's clothes. The boy barely had grown his beard, a sign of age from boy to man, and was covered in a thin layer of soot and sweat from working the forge. "Good morning, sir."

Rauz let out a sigh of relief. "Well met, Onyx." he said, holding the bundled Karyana, who let out a light giggle.

The ebon-haired dwarf cocked an eyebrow. "What do we have here?" he asked, pointing up to the tiny arm that reached up to tap at the alchemist's chin. "Surely not another homunculus..."

Rauz gave the little hand a kiss before bundling it. "No. I-" he tried to say, but stopped. Surely he couldn't tell them that he had found the child last night after Lord Medai had fallen. "Um... well... you see..."

Even as he tried to explain himself, the infant let out a cry. "By my hammer!" Onyx replied, shocked by the childish scream for attention. "That sounds like a real live baby!"

Rauz didn't have time to say a word before a group of commoners - peasants, mostly - approached them. "A child?" one of the farmers spoke. "Rauz, I didn't know you had a bed-wife!" spoke another.

Moments later, Karyana's shout had been silenced by the dozen citizens that came to examine her. "My goodness, she doesn't look like you." said the baker as he let the infant grab his forefinger. Rauz had trouble listening to, and making sense of, everything people said.

The young alchemist had to step back for a moment. "Let me speak, please!" he said, raising his voice. Most of the villagers went quiet before looking at him. "Thank you. The truth is..."

It took him a moment to start speaking as he had to calm the infant girl. "The truth is... A woman from Heathcall came to my steps nights ago." he said, knowing that the small town to the north, a few days to the east of where Citadel once was, would make for a believable lie. "She had been... mortally wounded by a Dun-Elf scout party."

Most of them looked shocked by the idea of a servant of the Underdeep had been spotted in these lands. "She told me, in her dying breath, to take care of this child... but I do not know how.", he continued. "I was hoping one of you could be in good graces as to aid me."

A heavy silence blanketed the city's main gate. It took a moment before one of the guards walked over to him. "Your reputation around here does not aid you." the muscled swordsman said. "Most people see you as an oddball, and now you come with this? I already had to send my wife south to keep her safe. I haven't seen my son Alban in months! He's probably four years old by now."

Rauz shook his head. "I am sorry for you, but I truly-"

"You're one to talk!" said a woman who had examined the baby while the young man was being bombarded by questions. "I've never seen anyone in Heathcall with such eyes. And she looks pale... are you sure she wasn't from the Shroudlake region?"

"And do you even have the coin to pay a family to raise her?" asked one of the landlords, draped in a saber-cat cape and heavy leather clothes. "And what will you do once that child is no longer in your care? Wall yourself back in your keep like a hermit?"

The dozen more questions he was asked only made things even more irritating. "I only wish to help this child. Why won't you see that?" he said, almost pleading.

As Karyana started crying again, most of the citizens looked at him - it felt like they were looking through him. Dropping to one knee, he looked down at the girl. "By Asuna's grace, let me find sanctuary for her..." he prayed.

While Rauz looked down at the child, he felt something press against his arm. Looking up, he saw nothing but the gentle fall of snow as the reflection of the moon danced in the azure sky. His moment of reverie was broken when he heard the trampling sound of hooves on snow, followed by Karyana calming down.

Looking ahead, startled for a moment, he noticed a carriage pulled by two work horses. Stepping off of it were a tall man with dark brown eyes and lighter hair in his early thirties, dressed in worker's clothes; soon followed a woman with golden hair and light green eyes, several seasons younger than her husband - the latter was noticeable by the matching wedding bands, made of polished silver, a tiny sapphire on each. She was dressed in lighter clothes, as if she came from the south, and looked distraught.

"Excuse me." the man said, placing a finger to his bearded chin. "Do you know where we could find the healer?", he asked, his tone worried.

Rauz rose to greet them. "I... I know some healing arts. Can I help you?" he replied, knowing his skills with potions to be more than a white lie.

"You see... my wife, Aylin... we lost our son at childbirth." he said in a heavy tone. "I wish to aid her in his passing, but she hasn't slept in nights."

Rauz looked back at the woman who now clung to her husband's side, her expression sullen. "Eridric, please..." she said, trying not to cry.

The young alchemist looked back at the couple, praising the Planars in a whisper. "Perhaps... we could benefit from one another." he said. "This young one has come to my lap days ago, but I know nothing of keeping child."

The woman hid her surprise as she walked over to him. "C-can I... look at her?", she asked, her lower lip trembling.

Nodding, Rauz delicately handed the infant to Ailyn. "She... she's so beautiful..." was all the woman could say as tears of happiness trickled from her face.

"Would it be alright if you take care of her? I will pay you... and help tutor her, if you want." he said, hoping for the best.

Eridric walked over to Rauz after a quick look at his wife. "By the Great Lords... I haven't seen Aylin this happy since the night of our wedding." he said, emotions choking his words, before placing his heavy hand on Rauz's shoulder. "It would be our honor..."

"Her mother named her Karyana..." the alchemist replied placing his own hand against the taller man's.

"Kary...anna..." Eridric replied, his accent breaking the sounds of each segment of her name. "A fine name for a beautiful child."

Moments later, a soldier walked over to the four. "Alright, good sirs. You might want to move your carriage. You don't want to clutter the road."

Ailyn was craddling the baby as her husband looked to the lawman. "Of course... we... we wished to find this city's temple, so our new daughter would be baptized." he skillfully answered.

"Well... if you follow me, mister...", the soldier asked, grabbing a small piece of soot and a scrap of parchment to take the man's name.

"Desteen. Eridric Desteen." came the man's answer, in a tone proud as any new father would be.

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