Night Falls

[narym]

Narym, connected to Fallow, chased Dyra down the dark, twisting corridors of her mind. She could see her, just ahead, a small fleeing light, fading as she went.
' Nooo! Dyra, come back!'
A bright light flared ahead, as if a door was opening. The brightness overshadowed Dyra, and rooted Narym to the spot.
Then, as suddenly as it opened, the door closed, leaving her alone in the darkness.
' Dyra!' she cried, ' come back!'
' She is gone,' Fallow stated. ' But not dead. Go back Narym, before you are lost.'
Narym opened her eyes and blinked in the harsh light. Dyras body lay still on the ground. She bowed her head and wept.

[Kane]

After he helped Narym heal Kaden, he stepped back and watched. He was not going to let the wizard kill Dyra, but he didn't want to step in until he knew it was absolutely necessary. When Kaden put Dyra in the cage, he stepped inside with her, to make sure she wasn't too cold.

Then he felt her soul fracture. Kane knew that he couldn't bring Dyra anywhere physically, so he called to her mentally, through the key. He was beyond relieved when she showed up in his mind; wounded, scared, and broken, but still alive. "Hello love," he said, and hugged her.

[Eli]

"Well, then lock this place up and get moving to get someone else," Eli said, starting out the door. "Who is the next target, by the way?"

[Cassiel]

Cassiel followed Eli out the door. She closed the door and kept her hand on the doorknob and whispered a word. She felt more than heard the door lock and knew that no one would be able to get into that room unless they had the counter-spell. "Ugh I'm glad that's over and done with," Cassiel said to Eli. "Now we can go and meet everyone up on the second floor.

The castle was eerily quiet until they turned the corner to get to the stairs. Several guards met them at the bottom, coming from the other direction. "I'm pretty sure Melachem already knows we're here so I'm shifting to do my part." She shifted and pounced on one of the guards, knowing that Eli could take care of himself. When he was taken care of, she turned to the other guard and started fighting him.

[Alledyra]

She didn't know exactly where she was, but Dyra felt safe when she was in Kane's arms. Hugging back as hard as she could, she buried her face in his shoulder, and smiled through tears. "Oh love, I missed you. Where are we?" Kane hadn't commented on Dyra's age, she appeared to be far younger than she was, here....but in a way that made sense. This wasn't all of her fractured soul, only the core essense of it, and he was a god so this was probably alot more common to him than it was to her. She didn't mind, though, instead she hugged him again, and looked around, trying to establish where she was...it felt so familiar, like being home, but she couldn't recognize anything. Spying a mirror tucked away in a corner, Dyra stepped towards it out of curiousity, she felt different, so she wanted to know if she looked different.

One step of hesitation, and then she was before the mirror, and frozen in shock. She DID look different. Her hair had turned a dark blonde, her eyes were crystal clear blue, and her skin tone was even paler than she normally was...she appeared to be in her early teens...almost exactly as she had before she had ever found she had a gift...before she'd ever healed her brother. If someone had seen her twin now, they'd have no problem realizing they were related..."Have I changed so much?" She whispered to herself, one hand going to her face to trace a razor thin scar that lined down her left cheek. On her physical body, no such scar existed...her scars had long since healed...but here, facing her own persona, or the core essense of it, she was again frightened. She followed the scar, tracing it down her neck, and then onto her back...it seemed one continous mark, although she also had a few other scars that she came across as she was trailing the first one.

Turning back towards her reflection, she realized with a start that having blue eyes scared her, too. She was looking at someone who was entirely different than she pictured herself being...someone she had been years ago, but who she thought didn't exist anymore. Fleeing the mirror, she rushed back to Kane, searching for the safety she always felt around him, and whispered, "I don't understand. Who am I now?" Looking up at Kane, Dyra didn't expect a serious answer from him...it was more of a statement about how lost she felt...

[narym]

Fallows insistent voice in her mind brought Narym back to her senses.
' You are needed!'
' Yeah right,' she moaned. ' I messed up! I let Dyra down. I almost got Kaden killed. Who in their right mind would need me!'
' If you are going to waste time on self recrimination, do it later!' he snapped. ' Recite to me rule number nine.'
She remained silent.
' Rule nine!'
' No one is invincible,' she replied softly.
' Correct.' His voice gentled. ' You are needed. Look across the room. A dangerous confrontation is imminent. Get up and take your place by Cassandras side. As you promised.'
Shamed, Narym did as bid. Struggling to get to her feet, she made her way to Cass and drew her sword.

[Kane]

Kane let Dyra explore this new existence for as long as she needed. He knew her physical body was safe with her friends and there was no way any more harm would be done to her mentally. At least, not from outside influences.

Though he knew that Dyra wasn't expecting real answers, he had some for her. He walked over to where she was and kissed her forehead. "Well to keep it simple, right now you are in my mind. For all intents and purposes, your soul is in my body. I know I've been away for a long while, but I've been backwards, forwards and sideways through time to try and figure out how to help you. I've not quite gotten to a solution, but I do know some things. One of the first things I learned was how to take your soul into me without it trying to merge with it. There is no danger of that.

You've changed physically because of your gift. Every part of a person you take changes your appearance ever so slightly, but over time it has changed how you look."

Kane held up a hand mirror for Dyra to look in. "But this is still who you really are. Nothing will ever change that because even though your gift if out of control sometimes, you don't want it to be. Your core soul has been damaged, yes," he said, gesturing to the scars, "but only when you forget who you are."

Kane pulled her down to a soft blue couch and kissed her. "I can't tell you who you are, but I can tell you who you are to me. To me you are a beautiful woman with a wonderful gift. A woman who's been taken advantage of and who has lost her path. A woman I love."

[Alledyra]

Sinking into the soft couch and the kiss, Dyra let the smile that was spreading over her lips glide into place. “I love you too, Kane.” Her voice was softer after the kiss, “So…you’ve been trying to find a way to fix my gift…” Pausing, Dyra looked into Kane’s eyes, speaking with her own how thankful she was that he would do that for her, but afraid to ask if he had brought any hope. It was enough that she could be here like this with him…no matter where they were.

“I just can’t believe how much I’ve changed….I mean….” Dyra paused, thinking, “Did I do any good in the castle? Did we win?” She’d decided to go with the easier questions….rather than the ones that would make her question more about herself. For just a moment, she wanted just to be here, in Kane’s mind, without worry fogging up her thoughts. Curling into Kane’s arms again, she continued, “I remember going into the castle…but everything gets blurred from there…I’m just so glad you’re back. When did you get back?” Snuggling closer to him, Dyra found herself sitting on his lap, smiling brilliantly with blue eyes twinkling in glee, “And what’s the future like? Does it hold good things?”

It was still amazing to her that she had fallen for a god, and more so that he had fallen for her. She’d spent so much time trying not to fall in love, that now it always caught her by surprise, and she kissed Kane more passionately, running her hands through his hair as she watched his eyes with fascination, “I love you.”

[lilyrose]

Everything had been going at a frantic pace and now suddenly all was quiet. Lily looked from one friend to another. Cass was angrily waiting for Melacham to show himself. Kaden was trying to control his ice magic before they all turned to ice sculptures. Fiona was crouching, ready and waiting for action and Narym was anxiously looking at Dyra. There wasn't a sound in the room apart from their breathing. Lily armed her bow and slowly searched the corridor for any sign of the sorceror.
"Where is he?" she said softly, " where did he go?"
She desperately wanted him to show himself, she had a score to settle.
" Show yourself, coward!" she taunted.

[narym]

Narym jumped when Lily shouted, her attention had been on Dyras small, crumpled form on the floor.
" Gods Lily! You frightened me half to death.!"
Her eyes raked the corridor. Where the hell was that thrice-damned sorceror?
She looked back at Lily and caught the angry gleam in her eye. "Spoiling for a fight are we?" she whispered, grinning.
She noticed that all of the group had unconciously formed a circle around Dyras prone form and took comfort in the strength of her friends.

[Cassiel]

After they took care of the guards, Cass and Eli went up the stairs to where everyone else should be. She heard Lily call to who she assumed to be Melacham and figured she'd better announce their presence before she was attacked as she turned the corner. "Lily, it's Cass and Eli on the stairs," Cassiel called out just loud enough for Lily to hear. "Don't anyone attack us." She waited where she was for a reply.

[lilyrose]

Lily grinned back. " You betcha!"
She gripped her bow more firmly and looked down the length of the corridor. " Where do you think Cass and Eli have got to?" she wondered half to herself and started to shiver. " I wish you'd warm it up a bit Kaden," she muttered," it's freezing in here!"
She was so ready for this, she thought. It had been a long time since she had been involved in anything other than keeping a low profile and she had almost forgotten how exhilarating it was!
She shook her hair back over her shoulder and waited impatiently for Melacham to make an appearance.
Just then she heard Cassiel call out and turned her head to see her poke her head carefully around the bend of the corridor with Eli just behind her. " There you are!" she smiled. " Just in time!"

[Cassiel]

Cassiel stepped into the room with Eli behind her. "The king has been taken care of," she grinned. Then she noticed the blood all over the room and covering Kaden. She didn't see Dyra laying on the floor yet.

"Geez, what happened here?" Cassiel asked. "If I didn't know any better I'd think that someone got the better of you Kaden, but you seem to be just fine to me. And why is it so bloody cold?"

[Kaden]

By now, he'd gotten his emotions somewhat back in check, so he cleared his head and reined the cold in some. There was still a slight fog sitting in the room, but it was far less cold than it was a second ago. "Sorry." Kaden said to Lilyrose. "Someone did get the better of me, that's the reason for the cold." He then answered Cassiel. "Narym healed me though."

[narym]

Narym glanced briefly at Cassiel and then continued scanning the room. " It wasn't just me tho," she said very quietly. " There was someone helping me, someone I couldn't see." She felt, rather than saw the wizards eyebrow rise. I'll have to ask him one day how he does that, she thought.
" Long story short, Melacham found Kaden and Merlin and then disappeared. We came along just as Dyra found Kaden and she, or rather whatever is controlling her, attacked Kaden. I helped Kaden, Cassandra went on sorceror alert, Kaden hit back at Dyra, she collapsed, I tried to help her but she disappeared inside her own mind. Now were all on sorceror alert." She looked around briefly. " Um, did I miss anything?"