Upon a Star, Karyana's Journey, chapter 4

What is worse than losing a child? Losing it twice in the same day...

Rauz was choking on his words. It had as much to do with the fact that his ordeal, laid to waste by the ethereal force of Pison's dark spirit, had now come to a tragic end, as to the fact that Eredric was holding him by the collar of his robes, pressed against the shattered wall of his former master's tower.

"What in all Planars have you done?" the father of what was Karyana - and now was two little girls of the same age, yet so different from the former, and of each other, as light and day - rested in two separate beds, placed apart from one another. "You took my daughter from me!"

The artificer tried to speak, but the man's powerful hands were making it hard to do anything except gasp for air. "Let me... explain..." he wheezed before the farmer threw him to the ground, the battering of thunder rolling in the churning skies.

"I... I tried to protect them..." the young man spoke, rubbing his throat. "One moment, I was getting rid of an intruder... the next..."

"I don't care what you did!" Eredric shouted. "What happened to Karyana? And what are those two girls doing here?"

Even Rauz didn't know what to answer. He had only seen the dreadful contraption used once, and it was to purge a geist from a possessed man. That attempt has ended in a quite the horrid sight; he could still remember the screams of the broken cathar as the object separated the haunting spirit from the victim's mind.

He had to think. Even though his memory of what happened while he was possessed were cloudy, there were some fragments that he needed to piece together.

"The shattered wall... a split ray..." the alchemist tried to piece together.

Eredric lifted the man off the ground and shook him hard, sending coins and trinkets flying. "Enough rambling! Give me a straight answer! Now!"

Rauz struggled against the man's grip. "A... A demon attacked the tower! I swear it!" he spoke, hoping his lie was convincing enough. "I can still... remember some moments."

The farmer sat the man against the broken wall, as he looked down. Although the rain had washed away the burn marks on the ground, the deep indentations in the ground, not to mention the smashed wards and burned ground, were solid clues that something immense, wielding incredible power, appeared near the tower, walked a few immense strides and smashed a gigantic hole in the stone wall.

"That doesn't explain why Karyana's missing..." he retorted.

Rauz shook his head. "Just... hear me out." he spoke, still shaking from the past few minutes of rage he experienced through the stronger man's arms and fists. "I could see what happened... whatever took control of me tried to destroy her by spliting Karyana's soul from her body... using the same machine that my mentor used to catch haunts and banish geists. Only... when the demon struck the tower... the energy ray emitted by the machine somehow forked, and instead of destroying her... it somehow divided her."

Eredric looked at the two girls with defeat. "My little girl... can't you do anything for them?" he spoke, anger replaced by sadness and building despair.

"It would take an extraordinary amount of Mana to even restart the machine..." Rauz said, before looking at the smoldering mechanisms and broken coil automaton. "And I doubt there are any artificers in Frostreach that can fix this..."

The farmer felt his knees give as tears formed and streamed from his eyes. "She's... gone, then..." he spoke, his hands covering his face. "By all Planars, why give her to us only to tear her away so soon?"

As Rauz looked away, ashamed of everything that had happened, his eyes trailed to the beds. "She's not gone... not entirely." he said, before looking back at the girl's father. "There has to be more to this..."

Walking over to the children, the alchemist examined them with uneasy nerves. "Karyana... are you there? Please... wake up." he spoke, his lips trembling.

The first to awake was the brown-haired child. Opening her dark-brown eyes, she looked sleepily at the two. "Mister... Wauz?" she said, wiping her eyes. "Time for class alweady?"

The alchemist noticed something in the girl's voice - a slight lisp that wasn't there before. "Karyana?" he asked the girl, before the father spoke.

"Please... tell me my girl is still alive..." he spoke, his hands no longer on his face, but his tears still flowing.

The young girl blinked and stretched. As she did, both the alchemist and the farmer could see the diamond-like mark on her forehead. "Ka-i-na?" she answered back. "Is that my name?"

Both men were shocked by the girl's question. "Rauz, tell me... what is wrong with her?" Eredric asked, dreading the answer he knew would come.

"Is seems her memories are fragmented." he replied. "She remembers me, but she called me 'Mister', rather than teacher, so I think her mind might have remembered-"

Before she could reply, the other girl woke up in a start. "Wha-!" she said after a primal shout, as if she had woken from a nightmare. "Daddy!"

Eredric rushed towards the blonde child and looked in her emerald eyes. "Karyana! Please tell me you're alright!" he almost shouted after wiping the trickles of sweat and tears from his face.

"Y-yeah... I'm alright, dad." she replied, her voice quickly changing, as well as her facial expression. From being scared, she now looked as if she didn't want any help. "You don't have to shout all the time!"

The farmer looked back at Rauz. "What happened to her? I don't remember shouting-"

The blonde girl got up on her bed and looked at her father. "You always end up shouting! For once, I wish you would stop it!"

The young brunette looked at her 'sister'. "You don't have to yell... it's not nice."

Looking back at Kaina, the blond girl's reply was immediate. "Oh, shut up!" was all she said, pointing her tiny index at the girl, who was now huddling on herself, her arms wrapped around her legs, eyes closed. Before anyone could react, the little girl's finger lit like a match, a magical flame causing the brown-eyed girl's bed sheets to catch fire.

Eredric barely had enough time to pull Kaina from the burning bed while the artificer grabbed the blond girl's arms and held them behind her. "That's enough from you, you little witch!" he shouted.

As she struggled for a moment, she noticed her golden hair falling over her eyes, surprise appearing on her face for a moment. "Huh? How come I have Mommy's hair?" she replied, her tone still sounding rebellious, though more childish than Kaina's meek, yet mature voice.

"Extinguish those flames, first, and then I'll answer." Rauz answered. In his mind, he was hoping some of Karyana's studies were still somewhere in both girls' minds.

Closing her eyes, the girl took a deep breath, then made a cold whoosh as she blew the flames out with icy air. This shocked Rauz, as he not only did he know teach Karyana that, but he never even saw her execute such a feat. The surprised caused him to release her grip on the girl who jumped off her bed and ran downstairs.

"Kary, wait!" Eredric spoke, still muddled from what he saw.

"It's Lauri, now!" she shouted from down the stairs. "Lo-ree-nee-yah!" she replied, spelling her name, one syllable as the time.

Eredric looked back at Rauz. "What does she mean?"

"Laurinya..." Rauz answered. "That's a combination of three elvish words... Laur is of the Forest Elf tongue, and is a crude translation of 'gold'. Inya is of the Silver Elf tongue and means 'hair'... while 'Oryni' is a crude translation of 'mistress' or 'sorceress' in Sky Elf tongue. How is it she knows all this, I wonder..."

"Gold-haired witch?" the older man replied. "Why would she call herself that? And why is she so... wild?"

It finally dawned on the alchemist. "I think I know..." he said, sitting back down, looking at Eredric who was now holding Kaina on his lap, the young girl trembling from the cold winds blowing inside. "The forked beam struck her mind and her heart. Normally, to expunge a soul, the machine would only strike the victim's mind. By targeting both mind and heart, it must have pulled emotions as well. I would guess that Laurinya would be the recipient, while Kaina
would be the purged form."

"You're not making any sense..." Eredric replied.

"What I'm saying is that Karyana's impulses and desires were left behind while her needs and obligations were released." the younger of the two added.

Kaina looked back at the two men. "Daddy, how did she blow the candles?" she asked, her tone less about wanting an answer than curiosity itself.

"Why don't you try?" he replied. "Just close your eyes, think of something really cold, take a big breath... and blow."

The young girl tried, but as she blew, the air wasn't as icy as it was meant to be. In fact, it was merely warm, like a normal person's breath.

"Try again." Rauz added, examining the girl. As much as she tried again and again, nothing happened. "I see... it sees her magical essence is still with-"

Laurinya's voice came aloud from the front door. A scream, followed by shouted words. "Get away from me!" she shouted, and soon came more screams, but those of men, and the sound and smell of burnt leather.

"Oh, no! Lauri!" Eredric shouted before handing the young Kaina to Rauz. "Daddy's coming!"

Rauz looked back at Kaina who was now clinging onto him. "This couldn't have come at a worse time..." he said before rushing downstairs.

---

Laurinya was struggling against ethereal shackles, her lips bound by magical silence. The two initiates of Majicka were looking worse for wear as their robes were charred black, one of them even shivered after the girl had blown frozen air in the man's face.

As Rauz rushed down the stairs, holding the scared Kaina like a life-sized porcelain doll, he was shocked to find that there was a third person among the initiates of the Order. A bald man wearing a monocle and a velvet coif, holding an ebony cane, clothes blotched by dirt, rain and ash.

"Vokram? You again?" he shouted. "What are you-"

"Don't take me for a fool, Rauz Fellheath!" the older mage replied, pointing his cane at the alchemist, as if he was threatening him with a sword. "First, you refuse my council, then force your opinions onto the girl, and then have her throw me away like some flea-bitten bed-roll!"

"What? But I-" the young tried to say before a bolt of energy struck at his vocal chords, silencing the words before he could utter them.

"And here I come, backed by the Order, to take that girl back to Heirmarch, so she can be taught the proper use of magic, and what do I find?" Vokram asked, his face now red with anger. "Your tower half-destroyed, your wards all shattered, and this wild-child running amok! Did you even noticed that she broke three alembics, your distillery set, and... who in the Planar's name is she, of all things?"

Eredric placed himself in front of Laurinya as if a human shield. "These two girls are what's left of my Karyana!" he shouted, looking ready to pounce the old man. "Where was your Order when the demons attacked this place? This man..."

The farmer pointed at Rauz who was struggling against binding spells fired at him by the two initiates. "This man was possessed, yet he still fought to protect her! But you, all you have done so far is try to take my girl from me! I won't let you-"

A blast of electricity shot from Vakrom's staff, knocking the fatherly figure against the nearby work table, smashing it and the scattered vials and philters that were on it. "You have no choice." the elderly wizard spoke. "Rauz Fellheath, by the power invested in me by the Order, I hereby remove your rights and status as alchemist and mage. Your tower will be ceased by the Order and you will be thrown in Wizardbane Prison as a traitor to the Order."

"No!" Rauz barely had time to remove the spell that hushed him and shout before the three mages cast a coordinated spell. Eredric only could look as the first man he befriended in this forsaken place vanished in a pillar of ethereal energy, leaving Kaina to drop to the ground like a rag-doll.

"As for you, Eredric Desteen, I suggest you take this child and raise her away from the ways of Mana." Vokram added. "We will take this wild-heart with us. Perhaps, in a dozen years or so, she will be made into a proper woman... and a more fitting sorceress."

Kaina slowly got up. "No... I won't..." she spoke timidly, though a fire was slowly building within her. She felt the need to protect her sister... even if it had only been moments since they were 'born'. Even if the blond-haired child had yelled at her and almost burned her alive.

The old mage looked at the girl. "I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't quite hear you." he spoke, leaning down to look the girl in the eye.

The young girl grabbed onto the old man's cane and pulled at it with all her might. "I won't let you hurt her!" she shouted, which surprised the bound girl. Using all the strength she could muster, the girl ripped the cane out of the man's hand and turned towards Laurinya. "I don't care if you hurt me, but you won't take her away!" she continued, grabbing the cane in both hands.

Eredric got up and looked at Kaina. "Give me back that cane!" the old mage said, but it was the farmer who pulled it out of the brown-haired girl's hands.

"You don't look so tough without this!" he said before snapping the cane on his knee, as if he had broken a piece of timber twig.

Laurinya barely had to relish in her freedom as the wards broke off of her before Eredric and Kaina grabbed her. 

"Come on! We have to go!" Kaina shouted, yanking at her sister's arm, the blond girl not moving an inch. Before she could push her emerald-eyed sister away from the old man, the mature sister felt a quick rush of energy from out of her sister's delicate arm into her more robust one.

Laurinya turned towards her sister and looked at her, teary-eyed. "You don't get it..." she said, her tone sullen. "They'll just coming for me over and over. If I go now, at least I won't hurt them too bad."

Kaina shook her head. "But... what about Mom? and Dad? and... and me?" she said, tears coming from her eyes. She could tell that Laurinya was lying about the last part. As they were now, both sisters wouldn't be able to fight back against three experienced mages.

"Stop worrying so much!" the blond girl replied. "I'll see you every night. And I really hope you grow up soon! I can't stand a worry-wort!"

Vokram and the two initiates started to cast the teleportation anew as Laurinya stepped away from what she knew as her family. "I'll see you again, count on it!" was all she had time to say before she, along with the three mages, vanished in thin air.

Kaina cried painful tears as she hugged her father, who looked up to the sky.

"If there's justice in this world..." he uttered, "...then I hope the Order will pay for taking her from us... even if I have to die for it!"

---

Back at Watercreek, the Kinslayer forge was busy as usual with melting iron and tempering steel. A series of clanging cowbells echoed at someone entered the shop.

Onyx looked up from his forge and noticed a tall man with almost elven features walk in, wearing elaborately-etched armor, a master-crafted sword hanging on his left hip. The man had silvery hair cut short and a well-kept beard, but while he looked in his twilight years, he stood strong and proud like the finest of captains.

"Welcome to our humble forge." Onyx spoke, dropping a horseshoe in a vat of water, thick smoke pouring out. "How may I help you?"

The man looked at the different weapons and armor that hung around the shop. "You must be quite the craftsman to have forged such armor." he spoke with a voice filled with such authority, it made Onyx wonder if the soldier was not a high-ranked officer, like a Field Commander or even a Praetor.

"Well, sir... I do have to take up the forge with my father, Sardonyx-" the dwarf spoke with some hesitance.

"I have an order for four very special blades." the tall soldier spoke. "I expect them to be of pristine quality, rune-forged, and-"

Sardonyx rose from his seat, the aging dwarf still holding strong, though over a hundred years old - more or less the equivalent of half that age in human life. "Shouldn't you be looking for the forges of Graybridge, instead? There hasn't been a Rune Forger in these parts for over a hundred years!"

The officer looked at the elderly man. "The Thread-weaver told me I would find one here... and she has yet to have spoken wrong."

Sardonyx looked at his son. "I haven't heard of such rubbish before..." he said, before examining the younger dwarf's hammer. "Where did you get this?"

Onyx looked back at the tool. "Um... I found it in that old chest you kept in the back... remember when you handed me that key to fix?"

The old dwarf let out a sigh. How could he forget? That was his great-grandfather's heirloom. Old Hetrix Ironweaver had been known for his miraculous creations and powerful weapons. He had been a legend among dwarves... but no one could ever wield his hammer after he had passed away. The tool looked like a load-stone to anyone who didn't know how to use a forge, and even there, the greatest weapon-smiths needed extraordinary strength simply to wield it...

"You've been using that hammer... for how long?" the elderly dwarf asked his son.

"Since... last year? I've been only using it for my own projects, I swear!" Onyx replied defensively.

The commander examined one of the swords that hung from the rack. The weapon was huge: a sword fit for the strength of a half-giant, perhaps. "Is that one of your projects?"

Onyx looked shocked for a moment and nodded weakly. His shock was added to Sardonyx's surprise as the commander pressed his hand against the flat part of the blade, a series of runes appearing as his hand trailed down it. "It must have taken a lot of sweat and blood to make this." he said.

The younger dwarf's face turned white, as if he had seen a ghost. He actually had cut himself against the weapon's mold and had wiped the trickle of blood with an old cloth. "Are you saying-" Onyx tried to say.

"It seems you have the blood of a Rune Forger." the commander spoke before picking up the sword. As he did, the blade turned from a dull-grey to a pristine silver as the runes glowed crimson. The blade's hilt turned almost alabaster in the commander's hand. Both dwarves felt their jaws drop as the man put the sword away with one hand, as if the blade was as light as a feather in his hand.

---

From outside the window, Alban gawked speechlessly at the display of strength the aged commander had done. It had been a Yearly Festival event before: whoever could pull that sword the farther out of the ground won. It was known as the 'Mightsword Contest'.

As he listened to the order the commander was telling the dwarves, who seemed as startled as he was, something grew in the boy's heart.

"I want that sword..." he said to himself as he looked at the wooden practice one he used to play 'Hold the Keep' with his friends. "Someday, I swear I'll be strong enough to use that sword! And when that happens, I'm gonna be the strongest man ever!"

---

The Weeping Moon shone that night as Lady Asuna turned her face away from the world to cry. As she did, Raemu appeared in her garden, still wearing the guise of the aged soldier.

"I never wished her to come to harm..." the alabaster-skinned Planar spoke. "Now, they will both suffer... because of me."

Raemu shook his head. "Progeny knew this would happen." he replied. "And I will make sure that all of them will be ready."

The white dancer looked at the aged knight. "I... I don't understand."

"It will take ten years before the blades of the Rune Forger arrive in the proper hands." he explained, looking through her looking glass. In its reflection, he saw both dwarves working tirelessly on weapon molds, the older of the two shoveling coal in the boiler. "The golden witch will wield a shard of the night, while the child of the wood will wield a shard of the sun, and as one, night and day will create an eclipse."

The silver-skinned Planar gazed into the lawbringer's eyes. "The words of the Childlord?" she asked.

Raemu shook his head before putting on his helmet. "My gift and promise... to the Creation of Fate."

Author's Note

Any and all edits, reviews, comments and views will be welcome. Please leave constructive comments.