Another unfamiliar ceiling

[Noa]

KatherineFVD
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(4/2/02 4:57 pm)
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Kat's eyes squinted as they adjusted to the dim light. The granite ceiling of the cave hung low. Where am I? As she started to stand back up, her footing slipped on the polished stone, and she fell back into the fountain. A raspish laugh emenated from beneath the cowl of the robed figure standing against the wall. Judging from the size, he had to be an erudite. Paineel? Again??? What was it with this dark city, anyways? It seemed more often than not 'twas where she awoke... but why? What did this city of Erudite heretics have to do with a Human minstrel?

Kat sighed as she stood up, now able to recognize the small cavern that led to the Warrens. What was it about this place? It seemed more often than not she awoke in this accursed city. She struggled to stop her teeth from chattering... armor might be able to stop claws and swords, but it was no help against water. Of course, the howling wind blasting out of the Hole and tearing through the cavern wasn't of any help either.

She turned to walk towards the garden, and promptly doubled over, her stomach churning. Ugh! Is it not with me? Kat glanced over her shoulder, to see the hilt of the blade barely visible beneath the trickling water. The blade itself was difficult enough to see up close, let alone submerged. As she grasped the pommel, the nausea subsided... as it always did.

It seemed so long ago that she'd first found the blade. "Found"? Nay, that was the wrong word. Gifted? Cursed? There were many words she'd used when talking about the blade, not all of them polite. 'Twas a day much like the present, when she was but an aspiring musician. Qeynos was a fine enough city to grow up in, and though she'd heard rumors of corruption, at the very least it wasn't as omnipresent as Freeport. She'd just finished her lessons with Sollari, and was strolling the beach, collecting seashells to pass the time. That's when she saw her...

At first she thought it a trick of the light. For though she could see the boat off in the distance, she could swear she saw one of the passengers actually running ahead of it. A few moments later proved it to be no trick, lest the sun had gone completely to her head. For as difficult as it was to believe, a half-elven woman was actually walking across the water, skipping from wave to wave as she approached. Silver hair framed a youthful face, and the sunlight sparkled off her blue and gold armor.

"Ahoyyyyy! How's it goin, lass?"

"Ah... uhm... fine, milady. I must say, I've never seen such a marvelous feat before. The members of the League are often seen tearing across the plains, but I've never seen one run so fast they could avoid sinking!"

"What? Oh this? That ain't nothin. You should see me flying about the great divide, bending the wills of giants and turning them against one another. Not to mention the sheer havoc I can wreck upon shardwurms."

Modesty was clearly not one of this woman's strong suits, Kat thought to herself. Though judging by her equipment she wasn't boasting untrue. "Aye, tis amazing, milady. Even were I to sell all my worldly possessions I don't think I could even afford one of those backpacks you carry."

The woman paused for a moment, and then smiled widely. "Here, I happen to have something just for you..." (The way she said it should have seemed unnerving, but Kat was far too naive). The woman reached into one of her bags, almost impossibly deep (her whole arm vanishing into the pack), and pulled out a crystal sword. When looking at the flat of the blade, it seemed almost invisible, though turning it back and forth in her hand refracted the sunlight into colorful sparkles which shone upon the city walls.

"F... for me?" Katherine gasped. The old, beat up mandolin she'd received from her uncle on her 16th birthday had, up to this point, seemed the greatest present she'd ever received.

"Aye, it's for you, lass. Use it well." The woman tossed the blade over to her, as Katerina dove out of the way... she wasn't a good catcher and she'd rather not have to explain how she ended up with a longsword planted in her head.

As she stood up from the warm stand, and lifted the blade from the ground, she was startled to find the woman gone. Only the telltale sparkling of her songs remained, slowly sinking into the water. And there... right there... on a warm, sunny beach... as the gulls flew over the waves singing their songs of the sea and the happy sounds of business echoed out from the gypsy marketplace... was where her nightmare began...

(P.S. apologies to the Evangelion reference, it fit  )

Edited by: KatherineFVD at: 4/2/02 3:59:22 pm