Upon a Star: Karyana's Journey: Chapter 21

A relentless enemy forces Karyana and Sayeth into a desperate fight for survival.

Chapter 21

Sayeth walked over to Karyana as the black-haired girl looked back at the lake's surface. "Were you even listening, lackey?" the dark-skinned elf shouted. "I've been yelling at you at least three times for you to hurry up!"

Eyes shifted from crystalline blue to emerald green as the young woman turned about, looking at the she-elf with a stern expression. "I told you before, I'm not your lackey!" she retorted. "And I have a name!"

The elf shrugged, folded her arms and gazed at the young woman. "You look better when you're not angry." she noted with some mild interest in the girl's sudden rebellious tone. "So, let me guess: your eyes show who your condition, am I right?"

Eyes shifted back to blue. "Huh? Oh, um… I suppose so." Karyana replied.

Sayeth walked over to her, then examined the young woman's relaxed face. "See? I'm sure your parents praised Prolectae when you were born." she commented, running a finger against her lackey's right cheek. Looking into her eyes, the Dun-elf noticed the eye color shift to brown.

Kaina moved back, feeling nervous at how close the silver-haired woman was. "W-what are y-you doing?" she stammered, her feet precariously close to the edge.

Sayeth laughed for a moment as she noticed her 'pet' having trouble with her balance. "Tell you what. I'll tell you my name and you tell me the name you want to be called. If you don't want me to call you lackey, at least I can boss you around with your real name!"

In the young woman's mind, the voices still caused her turmoil. While Laurinya was shouting that she should be the one to take all actions, Kaina meekly tried to defend her point that she and the golden-haired witch were not supposed to even be 'alive'. Karyana tried to make sense of both girls talking, but ended up closing her eyes and shaking her head.

Sayeth frowned, then placed her hands on her hips. "You don't want me to know? If that's the case, I can keep calling you lackey, and there won't be any-"

"Karyana!" the young woman shouted.

"Say what?" the dark-elf said, cocking an eyebrow.

The young woman's eyes opened, revealing a more colorful blue, like polished cobalt. "My… my name… that's my name… Karyana…" she said, trying hard to make Laurinya and Kaina's voices stop quarrelling in her mind.

Sayeth grabbed the young woman's arm and pulled her away from the shore and extremely close to her dark skin. "See? That wasn't so hard."

'Harder than you'd know…' the dark-haired young woman thought as she quickly moved her hand to her captive's, trying to remove the lock she had on her arm. "Just what are you… why did you-"

"Sayeth." the dark elf replied, her name vocalized the same way as the word 'scythe'. "So now, we both know each other's names. Now, you mind telling me how a fine lass like yourself appeared out of the blue, right in the middle of Dyurth, without me knowing you were there?"

Karyana turned away for a moment, unable to look at her in the eye. "I was… scared, and I, um… I ran away…"

Sayeth raised one hand to touch the young woman's shoulder. "You're a cast-away, too?" she asked, which caused Karyana to look at her with a puzzled expression. "Just… sit down, and listen. I don't like talking about myself, so count yourself lucky that I'll say what I want to say."

While the young woman sat down, Sayeth turned around and kneeled close to her. "First off, you're not off the hook with me. You help me out, and I do the same. I don't kill you, and I expect you to keep… whatever you fight with… away from me, got it?"

Again, the voices sprung in her head, which caused Karyana to flinch as she pressed her left palm against her forehead, gritting at the voices. While Laurinya had no intention of playing ball, Kaina just wanted to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed, and even asked for their host to stay away from the drow.

In the end, Karyana didn't listen to either of them. It wasn't that Sayeth was scary �" in fact, she was -, but there was something else that made her feel like the she-elf would stick to her words. Namely, the fact that, even now that they were outside of Dyurth and away from its manaweave-breaking influence, she didn't find a reason to stick a knife in her. Even Laurinya, who had more than enough reasons and moments to show off her spellcasting abilities simply to free herself from the dark elf's clutches, had decided not to.

"Alright… If you promise, then I'll help." she replied, causing the she-elf to make a knowing grin, almost like a cat would at the sight of a rat's head popping out of a hole in the wall.

"Good. Now, stay still, shut up, and just listen." Sayeth replied, trudging on her knees over to her still-uneasy 'comrade' before catching a long lock of hair that fell close to the young woman's ear. "I can tell you're still wet behind the ears when it comes to adventures, so you're definitely not from around here. I can teach you enough for you to survive, but in exchange, I want you to do something for me."

"What would that be?" Karyana asked, finding the elf's hands to be more delicate than she thought, even as the she-elf was braiding her hair.

"I did ask you to shut up, so stop asking!" the Dun-elf retorted, making Karyana stiffen as a chill went up her spine. "Now, just listen. I'm from the Chi'us tribe." The tribe's name resonated as 'Key-iss' in the young woman's ears. "First tribe to be hit by that damn curse legends said came from the Scriber. That was thirteen elven generations ago, and don't ask how long that makes in human years! Even the shamans don't know that."

Laurinya left a harsh mental comment in Karyana's mind about the tribe name. Chi'us, in duntongue �" the language of the cavern-dwellers �" meant 'betrayed'. The very word made the black-haired lass sigh, which the dun-elf didn't notice as she removed her hands from the incomplete band, grabbed one of her dagger's band straps and cut it loose. "I've been living for far longer than you have been. Probably two lifespans worth what you'll ever live. Only, I've been stuck in that blasted tribe for longer than I ever should, since I was the only woman who was worthwhile in the pack…"

Karyana cocked an eyebrow, but stayed quiet. "Living longer doesn't mean living better. Most males were just impossible to live with. "I got bored with men a long time ago. They're dumb, they're smelly, and their sense of humor is worse than a zombie's."

The comment made the young woman stiffle a giggle, even though the image was somewhat gruesome, which made Sayeth relax her tone. "I did a little experimenting, and found out that I was more of a girl's girl, if you know what I mean."

The last comment caused all three aspects to undergo different emotions. While Laurinya thought of Sayeth with disgust, Kaina was shocked at the comment. Karyana, however, was intrigued, curiosity getting the better of her. "Can I… Can I ask you something?" she timidly said.

Sayeth's hands were busy tieing one of the leather straps around the top end of the braid. "I asked you not to talk, but… yeah, why not. What is it?"

"Why are you here?" the young woman asked, turning her head slightly.

"Same reason as you. I ran." the dark-skinned elf replied. "Couldn't handle how the tribe was treating me, especially after they learned I wasn't interested in a mate, so I took the first mission to leave that rat's nest and never looked back. At least, the first mission didn't go that well."

Sayeth decided to keep the fact that she slaughtered her own scout troops just to be able to live on her own. "The tribe wasn't gonna let me go, so after a bunch of knucklehead adventurers came and beat up the group I nested with…"

Laurinya added another grave comment, which caused Karyana to flinch. The golden-haired sorceress was the reason the group of mercenary cut-throats Sayeth stayed with was slaughtered.

Sayeth waited for a moment before speaking as she removed another empty knife strap from her belt and jabbed her knife in the ground, before tying the strap down on the lower end of the braid, making it look like a tassel made of human hair. "I got sent back to my tribelands thanks to a teleportation spell that went wrong. After that, it was another mission, and that one, well, I knew it was just going to be another slaughter, so after the party climbed up Starfall, and our… client… killed one of the men like that…"

While the Dun-elf snapped her fingers and looked back at the braid, Laurinya and Kaina were bickering amongst themselves, which was giving Karyana a headache. "I just thought: 'I'm sick of this. I'm not dying because some crazy-faced mercenary wants me to…', and I ended up back here."

Minutes passed as Karyana contemplated the dark-skinned woman's story. Even though both of her other aspects were telling her that Sayeth was a lunatic, a dangerous woman, and maybe even an assassin, and that she was just buttering her with half-truths and questionable stories, the blue-eyed youngling felt something else, especially as she ran her hand along the braid she now had.

"So, what are you running from? You looked like someone tried to have his way with you." the she-elf asked as she holstered the unsheathed knife in her now partially-empty belt.

"I was… I was scared. I-I mean, I… I woke up in a cold place, surrounded by people I didn't know, and I was dressed in those… um… those rags." Karyana replied, thinking back to how frightened she was when she woke up.

"Sounds to me like you were in a big mess, too." Sayeth said, raising herself to a standing position only to wipe the grass off her greaves. "I almost thought a lass like you would be running from-"

"Me." came a grim, almost macabre voice from behind the two women.


"So, Medy is it?" Onyx asked as he hammered away on the silver and platinum filigree, hoping to shape it as finely as possible. Sure, some of his crafts had him work on small objects like nails, spikes and even some cutlery, but creating a piece of art was something a bit less in his line of craft. "How about you tell us where you are from?"

Demyan was busy trying to weave the filigree with as much precision as he could, using as little mana as possible to keep the dwarf and the ranger from noticing. To him, making a careful weave of such metal was like threading a needle. "Well… Citadel is a fortified city, beyond Frostreach. The manaweave in this area is quite rich, if I may say so. However, the city itself is difficult to find, as the routes are not exactly easy to travel."

Alban cocked an eyebrow, glancing at what he thought was a mere servant boy. "Then how is it that such a city survives? Food must be scarce, not to mention the cold and the creatures of ice in Frostreach."

The young man shook his head, being careful not to lose focus on the detailed weave. "I said it was beyond Frostreach. Citadel is actually blessed with warm climate, and the manaweave provides very fertile grounds. I actually worked my youth as a farmer-hand before the Magelord chose me as a paige."

Alban scratched his head. How is it that such a city exists? The Militia Academia had a very wide range of maps and scores of books on regions and terrain, but he had never heard of the name, nor of a land beyond Frostreach. "The Magelord?" the ranger asked, finding the title rather boastful.

"Actually… it's Viceroy Hale that rules Citadel, as the previous Magelord died some time ago." Demyan replied, stretching the truth as much as he could, just like the metal he was working on. "My tasks were, well… like a servant should: laundry, getting food, fetching supplies, remembering him where he put his trinkets…"

Onyx held his sides as he was hit by a bout of laughter from the last comment. "It sounds like your Magelord was growing senile in his old age."

Demyan looked back at the smithy with a wry smile. "He died to protect Citadel from a necromancer's march on the city. I don't see what the jest is about." he noted flatly, sounding almost too serious.

The dwarf wiped his brow, then looked back at his other project. The blade had to be completely reshaped, as the weapon was too cumbersome to wield properly, but at least the hilt, guard and pommel were salvageable. The questionable weapon has a curved edge, similar to a scimitar, but the weight distribution was uneven: too thick at the base and too thin at the tip. Hammering it down was hard, and keeping the strangely-intricate manaweave around it from breaking, which would have caused the weapon to be utterly useless, was harder still.

"Master dwarf… what exactly is that sword?" Demyan asked. "It looks… unusual."

Alban thought for a moment, then answered before Onyx could. "We found it at Starfall. It was trapped in a block of crystal… or at least, some rock that had been heated so much, it had turned to glass." he replied, hoping the white lie was good enough.

"I see. Well, it must be quite special to have been sealed in such a way." the young man replied.

'You have no idea.' Onyx thought as he examined the white-hot blade. "The metal is… I've never seen its equal before." he commented. "It's like it doesn't hold its own shape. And the manaweave is so complex, it feels like trying to brush off imperfections off a master artist's greatest portrait."

Demyan cocked an eyebrow, which didn't show under his mask. "Perhaps, I could examine it? My master did grant me some of his knowledge in manaweaving." he asked, stepping away from his half-finished part.

Onyx stepped away from the forge, dipped the blade in water to cool it down, then walked over to his part of the circlet. The young man flailed his arms in front of him to fan the steam, then looked down at the weapon's blade.

To an unskilled eye, mana strands are invisible. Even to someone who has dabbled in magic, the weave of an object is never the same as that of a similar object. Two cups may look perfectly identical, but the weave would be different in some way, revealing details that the normal senses were have great trouble seeing. To the young man's eyes, the threads could be seen simply by concentrating on the object hard enough, as long as he wore his mask. Manipulating them could be as easy as twisting a hair between two fingers, or as precise as threading a needle, or even as refined as plucking the strings of a lyre.

The manaweave he was seeing was quite the challenge, however: it felt like myriads of clashing elements were interwoven together; short and long threads, some representing ice while others represented fire, and some many variants that it was almost giving him a headache. "It's… a very chaotic pattern. It's almost like the heat of the Shimmering Fields and the cold of Frostreach have been woven in this."

Alban found the metaphor rather suspicious. "How do you know of the desert heat? You don't look like you travelled much in your life."

Demyan made a polite bow. "My apologies. My Master used a very unique artefact to delve into different places. I was not allowed to use it."

Alban stretched for a moment. "I'll leave you two to work. I think I'll go look for something to eat." he said, not in the mood to continue the conversation.

As the ranger left, the young Magelord took a moment to examine the weave. 'It just needs a stronger weave to balance the conflicting forces…' he pondered, before coming up with a solution.

Looking at the coat he had discarded to work, he walked over to it and examined it, finding what he needed all over the garment. Hair. Not his own, but that of Chime, which had been so jumpy today that he had leapt into the boy's arms, leaving strands of fur on the travel clothes. 'Conflicting forces… inside a single form… it has to be her!' he concluded, as he examined the fur. 'Her manaweave is still part of Chime… this should work!'

The image of Karyana in his last dream… he could still feel the two 'sisters' inside of her. His mind raced with the fact that the solution to her severed mind was in his grasp. All it would take was to extract her manaweave from Chime's fur, add it to the sword's pattern and to the circlet's, but for that, he would need some time to do it without being seen.

"Master dwarf, there's a missing strand in the blade's manaweave." Demyan replied, hastily pressing the tiny bits of fur into the hot metal, singing his gloves.

"What?" Onyx retorted. "Well, nothing I can't-" he started answering until he noticed that the servant boy had burnt his finger, the heat having seered through the gloved he had worn. "Bah. Can't you be more careful? You don't want to add your own weave in the weapon, or else no one else will ever use it!"

Looking down at the burning bits of hair, then back at his burnt digit, Demyan made a grimace, even though he could see the weave slowly changing. 'It's working… now, I just need to complete the circlet.' he thought, even as he dumped his hand in the bucket of water, which was almost empty.

"Your master must have the patience of the mountains, because you're clumsier than a goblin!" Onyx retorted. "Go fill the bucket with water, and get some ointment on that burn. You still have to finish your end of the job, and I'm not in the mood to do my apprentice's job!"

Demyan picked up the bucket with his free hand and walked away from the forge, smiling through the throbbing pain from his burn.


Sayeth turned to look at Pison, gripping a set of throwing knives in her right hand, and her dagger with her left. "What in the Underdeep are you doing here?" she asked, already taking a battle stance, while Karyana looked both confused and worried.

"S-Sayeth… who or… what is that?" the young woman asked, taking a few steps away from the dark-skinned elf and the demon-like stranger.

"You remember I told you about some crazy-faced mercenary?" Sayeth answered, keeping an eye on her opponent. "That's the one."

Pison took out his whip and unrolled it by cracking it in mid-air. "Such crude words." he replied in a mock aristocratic tone before looking at Karyana. "Hmm… you remind me of someone."
Sayeth quickly looked at the black-haired girl. "Stay back, and let me handle this." She said, before throwing her knives in a brisk arm movement.

The first blade lodged itself in the gruesome mercenary's right shoulder, while the second bounced off the crude chest-guard he wore. To the dark-elf's surprise, the last blade was actually caught by the mercenary's deformed hand �" if caught was the right word, as the blade was lodged in the middle of his palm, the hilt sticking out.

Pison shook his head, looking dissapointed �" if such a look was possible on his demonic traits. "Too hasty, and far too predictable." he commented before pulling the blade out of his hand with his serrated fangs, spitting it out before pulling the second object from his shoulder. "I was right all along. You cave-elves are nothing but blood offerings."

Sayeth pulled out another dagger from her belt, but before she could take a step to charge, insulted by the creature's gaul, the mercenary lashed out with his sinew-and-leather whip. The piercing caltrops, wedged in the tip of the weapon, knocked the she-elf's right dagger out of her hand and left a deep slice mark in her arm.

"Now, then. It looks like the formal introductions are done on your part." he replied mockingly, looking back towards Karyana, who looked on with panic as Sayeth clutched her arm. "Allow me to present myself. My name is Pison. Someone… very important asked me to get rid of you."

The young woman was too scared to properly ask, but the demonic rogue cocked an eyebrow as she stammered. "Are you trying to ask me who that is?" he questionned her, to which she replied with a quick nod. "I can't tell you. All you need to know is that you were sentenced to die, and that I will be your executionner."

Before Pison could bring his hand to his sword, Sayeth had rushed in, charging at the mercenary will all her grace and rage before plunging her dagger in his chest, inches above where the heart was… or should have been, for the strike made no blood spill out, even when she twisted the blade around and yanked it out in a half-crescent twist of her arm.

Sayeth almost dropped her blade as she examined the gaping wound she had just dealt to the horrifying assassin slowly close itself. "Wh-what in the Underdeep are you?" she asked, before quickly plunging the blade again into his abdomen, trying to hit the lungs.

Pison simply unsheathed his scimitar, the blade as jagged as the thorns of a rose's stem, and pointed it towards the she-elf's neck. "Insect." was all he said before flicking his wrist.

The she-elf barely had time to dodge the sword slice, which ended up only cutting a lock of her already short hair. Taking in the momentum, Sayeth back-flipped, connecting her reinforced leather boot with the creature's chin, which only knocked him back a few steps.

Quickly turning to Karyana, the she-elf shouted. "Don't just stand there! Run!" just as Pison recovered and cracked his whip at the she-elf's side, the spiked protrusions leaving a heavy gash in the hardened leather of her armor, a trickle of blood staining her hemp shirt underneath.

Karyana was too terrified to do anything. In her mind, her thoughts were growing frantic. Kaina wanted to help Sayeth, but feared that, without weapons, it would only lead to a premature death. Laurinya didn't care about the she-elf at all and screamed to be in control so she could turn both of them into smoldering carcasses. The young woman was still paralysed with fear, even as Pison lashed away with his whip, cuts and lesions appearing on Sayeth's body at every strike.

Sayeth was trying to think through the pain. Slicing the whip would be the best way to disarm the demonic assassin, but catching it would be downright impossible without any protection. Her gauntlets were barely enough to keep her arms from being lascerated, and her armor wasn't fairing much better. If she got close, it would stop one problem, but added another: the sword. He could easily push her daggers away, which would leave her back in range of his grisly whip. Taking a moment between dodging and receiving lashes, she came up with a solution. Not the best one, but it was the only one she could think of.

The dark-skinned woman grabbed one of the throwing knives that was on the ground, which exposed her back to another series of lashes, then threw it as quickly as she could. However, the pain was causing her aim to falter, and the blade flew too wide, wedging itself in the tree Karyana was standing next to, a foot from her face.

Pison turned his head to look at the trajectory of the dagger, only to feel a dagger being wedged in his neck. Grimacing, he thrust his scimitar forward, but the blade was meant for defense and slashing, so the strike was sloppy enough for Sayeth to dodge by grabbing his arm and yanking hard, twisting his wrist with all her might to make him drop his sword.

The effort didn't pay off as she expected; though the mercenary dropped his weapon, the forearm smash that came next wasn't what she anticipated, and left her reeling for half a second, which was long enough for him to bull-rush her, connecting his fist with her chest, sending her flying to the ground a good ten feet away.

"Don't you get it?" Pison said as he unwedged the blade for his neck, the wound taking more time to close, but still with no blood coming out. "I've suffered death hundreds of times over. There's nothing that I have that the Underdeep has no stolen from me."

Pison continued his approach, stopping only to kick the she-elf, her body rolling with the blows. "But you… you're nothing but a coward. You should have died for your tribe as Xelnos saw it fit! He does not suffer a rebel's fate, and neither will I!"

The repeated blows was causing Sayeth to cough blood as she was kicked about like a stone on the road.

"Stop it!" Karyana screamed, the horror of seeing her unlikely comrade being beaten to the brink waking her for her torpor.

Pison slowly turned away from the broken she-elf, looking over the shoulder at the barely-breathing woman. "I'll finish you off later." he commented as he stepped away from her.

Sayeth felt like her entire body was dislocated, and she had trouble bringing air to her lungs. "I won't… let you…" she could barely say as she tried to catch his boot by the ankle, only for Pison to turn back to look at his first prey, stepping on her wrist to dislodge the broken appendage.

The dark-elf's cry of pain awoke something in Karyana's mind as her focus was steeled by three things: first, someone was hurt �" possibly dying �" because of her; second, that person was the first one who was nice to her ever since she was brought back to existence. Third, Pison had to die, or else she would.

Karyana quickly yanked the throwing knife from the tree in an instinctual response, then quickly threw it in the direction of the mercenary. While the mercenary looked on as the blade sliced through air, he didn't notice how her efforts in throwing the weapon caused the weapon's manaweave to shift.

The impact was as sudden as it was devastating, as Pison felt something he thought had been robbed from him by the endless torture of the Underdeep: pain. While he tried to block the blade like he did with the previous ones Sayeth had thrown, this one not only ripped through his open palm, but carved itself a path through his arm faster than any arrow could go, exploding out of his shoulder blade. The sudden realization of the strike caused Pison to wail in a long, demonic bellow of pain.

Karyana looked surprised at the mercenary, visibly startled. "How… how did that?" she said, though the question was actually spoken not to her opponent, but to herself.

In her mind, she looked at the two other aspects of herself with the same shock. "Did you… did you do that?" she asked Laurinya, who looked confused by the very question.

"I've never thrown a knife before, and from what I remember, there is no spell that can shift the manaweave of an object so quickly." the golden-haired sorceress answered.

The black-haired young woman looked back at Kaina, who was as startled. "Um… I don't know how to throw a knife…" she replied meekly.

Karyana looked at her hands with sudden realization. "Did I… did I do that?" she asked herself.
The answer quickly came as Pison's whip lash around the young woman's neck, much to her and the wounded she-elf's shock. "Kary…ana!" Sayeth tried to shout, coughing and heaving.

The mercenary's eyes widened. "Karyana? Kary… oh, yes! Now, I remember." he said, his sword arm hanging limp on his side. "I knew you looked familiar."

The young woman tried to pull the twisted chord of sinew and flesh away from her throat, groaning at how hard it was to move, especially with the wedged caltrops threatening to rip her pipes open.

"So… you're the one Xelnos fears so much." the mercenary commented. "The chosen child of the White Maiden, blessed by the Planars, then sent to earth to live as a mortal. Hmph…"

Pison walked over to Karyana, even as her eyes shifted to emerald. "It's too bad I didn't just end your life when I had the chance." he added, lifting her up by the neck with his one good arm before transporting her over the pond. "Well, then… it's time I finish what I started… ten years ago!"

The sudden realization of his words struck Laurinya, Kaina and Karyana like a sword throught the heart.

"He attacked us… but that means…" the meek ranger spoke first.

"He tried to kill us before?" the black-haired woman added.

"He's the one who tore all of us apart!" Laurinya concluded. "He must've-"

The loud splash of water, and the hard impact of her back against the surface caused the young woman as much shock as the conclusion of the sorceress' words, which echoed in her mind.

He was the one who attacked Master Rauz.

Karyana closed her eyes, even as her three aspects focused on one thing: survival. In her mind, something pieced itself together: she didn't want to die… and if what she did to the knife she could to do the whip…

Relying on pure instinct, Karyana gripped the twisted rope and concentrated for a moment. 'I won't die here… no one will die here… no one, but him!' she thought, steeling her determination as the whip quickly dematerialized, clearing the path for her lungs to give her the much-needed air she needed to surface.


Pison looked back at his arm. "Impossible…" he said to himself, unable to move any muscle in it. "There's nothing mortal left in me… yet she dealt me… pain?"

Pulling against the whip with his free hand, he yanked as hard as he could. "Forget drowning, insolent whelp. I'll snap your neck!" he shouted.

The only thing that sprung out of the whip's end was a shortened edge, as if the crop had been sliced off. "That foolish urchin… no matter, she won't live to-"

The mercenary's words fell short as he looked on at something immense rise from the water. As the surface parted, a large sphere, like a boulder-sized bubble, rose from the pond, Karyana's drenched form inside.

"How is that possible? You should have drowned!" was all he could say, fear slowly creeping in his mind as he noticed Karyana's face shift into a grim, almost vengeful sneer, her eyes shifting as brown, emerald green and cobalt blue appeared all at once.

"Pison… you tried to kill my teacher…" she commented, her voice resonating like three speaking as one.

Before Pison could react, a vortex formed in front of the bubble, like a circular gateway opening. While the bubble held the vengeant girl aloft, she raised her arms, palms open, towards the swirling energy, which fired a beam of spiralling force that ripped Pison's broken arm away from his body, the appendage burnt to cinders by the sheer force of the blast.

Pison grit his teeth from the pain, then brought his whip around to lash at the portal in a desperate attempt to deflect the building blast. "You attacked my friend…" she added, her tone now louder and angrier, as the energy surged out.

The blast snaked around the whip. The mercenary couldn't fathom how such powerful manaweave was possible as his other arm was ripped asunder, causing him to collapse to his knees, wailing in agony.

"You ruined my life!" Karyana shouted, the bubble around her bursting as the portal moved on its own towards the crippled demon.

Pison sneered, then laughed maniacally. "You forget… Xelnos will never cease! He will send me to destroy you until your soul is but another bauble in his collectionà As long as you live, you'll never be safe!"

The young woman ignored the mercenary's threats, closed her eyes and raised her hands, just as the vortex solidified over the broken rogue's body. "Eternal light, ever true and undefiled… grant this wanton sinner before thee the majesty of thy judgment!" she invoked, raised her voice from prayer to command at the last few words.

The blast of energy, as pure and undefiled as her words conjured it to be, decimated Pison in a matter of moments as his screaming form was soon vaporized.

As Karyana opened her eyes, an almost etheral blue tainted her irises. Taking little time to recover she rushed towards Sayeth, who barely held breath.

"Heh… never thought I'd be saved… urgh… by a wizard." the she-elf struggled to say.

The young woman looked down at her crippled comrade. "Sayeth, no… no, please, don't die…"

Sayeth grinned. "Heh… can't promise you that… just glad I'm finally… free…" was all she could say before her eyes closed.

Karyana felt tears stream from her face as the mark on her forehead reappeared, now sporting four tiny, arrow-shaped cuts between the lines of the diamond shape, making it look like the tribal form of a sun.

"Sayeth!" Karyana shouted, lifting the broken form of her friend to a shifty sitting position, holding the limp body in her arms. "Please! I don't want to be alone! No…"

A long moment passed as Karyana cried, her flow of tears glistening as it fell from her face onto the she-elf's body. As the young woman pleaded in broken whispers, a tiny hand touched her shoulder.

"Let me help." she heard in the voice of a young boy. Turning her head away from Sayeth's limp form, she noticed her locutor was a golden-haired boy, dressed in a simple white tunic, deep blue eyes gazing at her, then at the elf.

"Wh-who are you?" Karyana meekly said as she let the boy place his hands on the woman's dark skin.

"Her time is not over… but her body is dying." he noted, dodging the black-haired youngling's question. "If I save her, will you do something for me?"

Karyana wiped her face with her sleeve. "Anything… I don't want her to die because of me…"

Progeny smiled. "Sleep." was all Karyana heard before her consciousness faded as he delicately placed both unconscious women next to one another. "When you wake, you will be home. Until I call you… be safe, fate-shaper."

Author's Note

Any and all comment, review, critique and feedback will be accepted.