Connection

[Aazarah]

She shrugged, "I didnt even believe it could exist. Let alone on this planet. I`m going on absolute instinct here, sorry."

Without a word they split up - still within eyesight of the other, and began to search for any signs of life in the horror of what surrounded them. There wasnt a single sign of life in all the plants that she moved past, it was if the Earth Witch could feel the seedlings struggle to move through the thick black soil and dust - just gasping for a breath of fresh air.

The pair continued this way for a good two hours before she found something to go on. Unfortunately it looked like that something would once again employ a Connection, and the rolling waves of her stomach were begging her not to perform it.

Right before her stood a tree, barely emitting energy lines of life from within its blackened trunk. Someone here had left a message for another Earth Mage with whatsoever Magic they had managed to channel left in their body. She searched the tree trunk for the tell-tale signature and was almost relieved to find it was not her brothers. This Magical message would have taken the last of the weavers life.

" Kaden.. I can try to find some answers here", her voice cracked from lack of use.

[Kaden]

Standing in front of a weathered door, Kaden touched his fingers to it and pushed. Before even moving, the wood made a shrill creak from the pressure on the hinges. It'd been ages since they were in use. His attention turned at Aazarah's voice, and he headed over to her.

He found her near a tree, appearing to be dead. Looking around, Kaden saw nothing that jumped out at him. Confused, he asked. "Find answers where?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth though, he figured out what she was planning. "Wait. No way. Not here, Aazarah. Not in this town. You've got no idea what'll happen to you!"

[Aazarah]

She wasn`t going to deny that. "We`ve been looking for two hours and this is the first chance we`ve had, Kaden. I have to at least give it a go..." she pulled back the leaves to show him the hastely marked signature on the tree trunk. "Someone left a message, and it doesnt look that long ago...."

Before he could say another word she knealt by the tree and began to breathe deeply, weaving her way through the layers of the old, thick trunk - she could feel the desperation of the mage leading her further and further into the core of the living wood. She pushed through the discomfort, knowing this wouldnt take her long and felt the energy of the unknown female become hers.

Kaden. His face hit her hard with confusion in the midst of the vision. She had come back to the time when the wizard last came here, that much she could manage to grasp.

The place was already destroyed and gone, long ago. The woman followed the wizard through the maze of trees, her heart jumping into her throat. Questions flowed through her conciousness, and for once she was unsure of where hers ended and the other womans began.

She knows him.The realisation sat like a weight on the edge of her Connection, begging her to show the wizard.

Wrenching herself from the vision she grabbed Kadens hand quickly, "Who is this?"

Together they became the vision again and Aazarah realised it must have been even stranger for the wizard to watch himself be followed, let alone from a time in his past.

She became aware of a rippling feeling through her entire body as she ran and saw in wonder, before her, wolf paws hit the ground as she pursued . 'We are a shapeshifter' she spoke aloud more for herself than Kaden.

The wolf ran to him, she could feel something strong resonating from within her towards the wizard. Respect, and trust... the wolfs emotions surrounded her as if they were her own. Longing.... Love. Unconditional love.

The emotional shock registered through her body in seconds and she found herself pulling from the Connection to free her stomach contents. Recovering from the event she looked to Kaden, before her eyes fell back to the signature on the tree. Jaira

[Kaden]

As soon as Kaden saw the name on the tree, he froze. He hadn't expected to see that name again, much less see her as Aazarah pulled him into the vision with her. It didn't take more than a second for the ice wizard to recognize what moment this was. He'd traveled back in time. At the moment in question, he eventually figured out she was following him, but he hadn't realized for just how long.

When he was pulled from the connection, he didn't even register Aazarah vomiting. His mind was still in its own state of shock from being so abruptly re-introduced to the woman that had come into his life like a whirlwind and turned everything upside down, including his emotions. "Jaira." He whispered, pressing his fingers gingerly against the signature on the tree. "What on earth would you have to do with all this?"

[Aazarah]

Aazarah knew that things were about to get a whole lot worse in their present situation. There was very little hope the shapeshifter had survived the magic weaving of the tree, and this was something she was going to find hard to say to the man before her. Clearly, there was some deep history there.

She decided to take the easiest track course of conversation that came to mind in her nauseas state, "Did you know she was there?".

[Kaden]

"I...No. Well, not at first." Kaden answered, voice low, still in emotional shock at what he witnessed. "I realized it after a while, but seeing this now...She was following me for a lot longer than I noticed." Thoughts were swirling around his mind now; a common side effect of thinking about Jaira. Where was she now? How was she? Did she still think of him?

But one thought stuck out. "Does she have something to do with what happened here?"

[Aazarah]

Aazarah ran a hand through her hair in thought, assessing what she had seen and the reaction she was now watching infront of her. As much as she might not want to do it, she knew there was only one way to get to the truth. Putting it off wasnt going to make it any easier.

"Let me see...", the earth witch took a deep breath and sent her full concentration back into the thick trunk of the tree. The visions gave away immediately. But something this time was very different - and all the more wrong.

The first thing she felt was hate - searing hate that sank deep into her very skin. Anger followed quickly next. The darkness was all around her and it felt way too good. Not only was it around her, but all within her.

In a sickening moment she realised the hate was directed at an injured wolf, bleeding on the ground before her. It took only a second longer to understand exactly who this wolf was. The thing she was living through was laughing, a horrible and deep gutteral laugh as it approached Jaira; and suddenly, Aazarah was glad she had not bought the wizard in with her on this Connection. The wolfs body was being twisted and played with by some unrecognisable force she felt with such strength it was as if it came from herself.

"Where is the wizard?", it spat.

Aazarah fought the darkness that swirled around her, her mind spinning with dizziness. She worked harder to focus, gritting her teeth as she bought the wolf to focus again. Jaira squirmed, panting hard as the pool of blood surrounding her grew in size at an alarming rate.

"What did he see?", a gut-wrenching 'crack' met the dark magic she felt let loose from her hand. The wolf howled in pain and turned away.

The earth witch`s whole being screamed for the assailant to stop. The mixture of its hate and her own sickness was unbearable. The creature floated closer, and Aazarah saw for the first time fear in the werewolfs eyes.

"Then you die". Her subconcious escaped the scene too late to miss the surge of dark magic that left her body and flew towards the wolf.

And then she was back with Kaden.

[Kaden]

She had went back in without him. He saw that much. And Kaden wasn't entirely sure he wanted to go back in. He didn't know what he would find. At the time the vision was happening, when he finally turned to look for her, he saw nothing. She wasn't there. So for all this time, he chalked it up to his overactive imagination. Now he sees it wasn't; she WAS following him. So what happened to her?

It was quite obvious when Aazarah came out of the second connection. The feeling of disgust coming off of her was almost tangible.

"What happened Aazarah?"

[Aazarah]

She felt herself stare dumbly at the wizard a very long time before she actually spoke.

"The demons, were here. From the stadium", her mind was still putting the bits of the story together. "I watched the scene through their eyes... ".

Aazarah reached down to the wolfs etched name in the wood, pulling further at the weeds from the base around it until she found what she had known she would. "The Symbol of Mayste", she looked to Kaden.

"Jaira wasnt the only one who left a message in this tree.. in fact I dont think she would even gave been conciously capable of it. The demons dark magic left its memory indent in the tree. But, as for your friend. ...Kaden, I think this is a Death Weaving."

She held his gaze sympathetically, "That would mean Jairas death sealed her memory to this tree."

[Kaden]

"Her..." The words trailed from his mouth like an errant breath, an exhale he couldn't keep in. He didn't want to finish the thought, because there was an irrational idea in his head that saying it would make it so. As if it weren't already. His eyes glazed over momentarily. "Her death?" Kaden asked, though it wasn't really a question. He knew the answer the moment Aazarah said Death Weaving.

A phantom ache threatened to permeate his entire body. His glazed eyes went glassy, then shimmering with tears that he wouldn't let fall. "She's dead." He said again, moreso to himself this time. Closing his eyes for a second, he shook his head. They had an objective. "I'm sorry. This just - It came out of nowhere. Do we know anything of these demons? Or this...symbol of Mayste? Can it lead to its creator?" Kaden asked. Now he had an third motivation besides curiousity and altruism.

[Aazarah]

She nodded slowly, taking his first question first. "I can follow the imprint... but I have to be honest, Kaden, right now Im not sure if I can even bring myself to. The energy that those beings emit is sickening." Aazarah hated saying it, she knew she was being selfish. One glance at her rings showed just how much she had been drawing on their power alone - they were near depleted.

She sat back on her hunches, "They definately feel like the demons we saw on Opora. I`m beginning to believe that Nyk was right on the mark coming here. I can just feel it, the weapon was used here....", her gaze moved back to the wizards, "They were looking for you, you know, in that last vision. They seemed to think you might have seen something".

[Kaden]

"Is that why they killed Jaira? They wanted to her to spill what I'd seen?" Kaden asked, getting angrier by the second. The temperature in the area began to drop. Even though the wizard couldn't physically feel it, he could feel it, mentally.

He didn't press her on the issue of following the pulse of the symbol, because he could imagine how uncomfortable it would be. Just thinking about the look on her face when she exited the last connection, Kaden was wary of her doing any more. "The thing is though, I haven't seen anything that could help here. At least not consciously."

[Aazarah]

The temperature dropped considerably and Aazarah shifted uncomfortably despite her best efforts not to. The energy building was too powerful not to channel into what she was planning.

She took his hand and placed it over the werewolves scribbled name, speaking softly. "You`ve been inside her magic weaving before, see if you can follow it Kaden, maybe you will see something that I have missed. I owe you payment, let me teach you how to Connect as part of it".

[Kaden]

"You can teach me that?" Kaden asked in surprise. At first he was under the impression that one had to be an earth mage to perform a connection. But all his life, he had proven to have a strange aptitude for learning other magic styles. He'd possessed fire, light and darkness before, but he always went back to his original. Maybe there was some earth talent inside him as well.

So he nodded. "I'd love that. What do I have to do?"

[Aazarah]

"As an Ice Wizard, you will already have a feel for the mineral element. An earth mineral is often only an atom off its brother or sisters chemical structure - so all I believe you will have to do is... stretch ... your understanding of the ice particle and you will fall upon something that resides in this tree."

She stood back from the scene, giving him space to perform the Connection, "Are you ready?"