The End... But a new Beginning - Final Chapter

The corpse of Mason, decayed and lifeless, washes ashore in Vector territory.  Vectorian soldiers pick up what's left of his body and take it to their clan hall.  When they arrive they drop the corpse inthe middle of their clan hall and yell, "Grab the drinks boys and girls it's time to celebrate!  We have delivered what is left of the Tripower leader!"  The guards begin to dance around the corpse spitting and pouring their beers on it.  The celebration echoes through their clan hall.  Xeptimus enters the room and sees everyone cheering and dancing.  One of the guards hand Xeptimus a beer.  Xeptimus stabs the guard to death and drinks the beer, "Have some respect people!  Even though he was an enemy he was the leader of Tripower.  Don't you fools know I could have killed him while he was here?!"  Xeptimus picks up the corpse and walks away.  The celebration has suddenly turned into a room of confusion.  Xeptimus places Mason's remains in front of their healer.  The healer chants a few words and a few wounds close but no life enters the body.  The healer sighs.  Xeptimus takes Mason's body and puts it in an empty chamber and closes the door.  As Xeptimus locks the door a hand pushes him in the back, "I see you have tried to bring him back to life."  Klaus says,"I was invisible and saw you take him to the healer."  Xeptimus draws his sword but before he can strike Klaus disappears.  A voice says,"Relax brother, I just want to know why?"  Xeptimus answers, "He is our enemy but he was a great person in the battlefield.  What is left of Tripower if he is gone?  We all know that they are rebuilding their ranks and I hate to say this but I believe Mason can join our battle and make a difference against our enemies or whom ever stands in our way."  Klaus appears out of thin air and says, "Grab what is left of Mason and let's take a walk."  Xeptimus picks up Mason's body.  Klaus snaps his fingers and chants a few words and suddenly a gate appears in the room.  "After you."  Klaus says as he motions Xeptimus to enter the gate.  Xeptimus enters the gate and disappears and soon after, Klaus follows and the gate closes.  They appear atop of one of the highest mountains in Vector.  Klaus looks over the mountain edge and notices sharp rocks and says, "This is perfect.  Put his body by the edge and back away.  Give me a few moments while I work my magic."  Xeptimus places the body of Mason where Klaus stands and backs away.  Klaus kneels over Mason's body and opens his wings.  He chants many words and bright multi-colored lights suddenly appear around Klaus.  Xeptimus tries to see what is happening but the lights are far too bright.  Klaus yells some words and suddenly the lights disappear.  Klaus closes his wings, stands and claps the dust off his hands.  Klaus kicks the body of Mason over the edge.  "What!!!"  Yells Xeptimus as he runs toward the edge.  Klaus raises his hand to stop Xeptimus from coming too close to the edge and says, "Wait brother and stand back."  Suddenly a streak of yellow rises from the mountain base and heads towards the sun.  Like a bolt of lightning coming from the heavens, the streak crashes in front of them causing a huge dust cloud making Klaus and Xeptimus shield their eyes.  When the dust clears there is a figure in the center of a meteor size hole in the ground.  Klaus nods to Xeptimus and Xeptimus moves toward the figure.  The figure is surrounded by mirror like shields.  The shields move away from its body and then retract to its back.  "It's Mason!!!"  Xeptimus exclaims.  Mason stands up and stretches.  He looks completely different.  His body looks like a human but metal shiny wings extend from his back.  They move around as if they are one with Mason.  Mason's black hair is gone and replaced with bright blonde hair that stops to his chin.  His eyes are as bright as a bolt of lightning.  He flaps his metal wings and starts to walk towards Klaus and Xeptimus.  Xeptimus begins to draw his sword but for some reason stops.  Mason puts his hand on Xeptimus' shoulder and nods.  He then walks towards Klaus and does the same but says, "Thank you.  We are now friends."  Mason starts to flap his wings and his body lifts from the ground.  He waves to both of them and slowly fades out of existence.  Klaus looks over to Xeptimus and notices that his mouth is wide open in amazement. Xeptimus turns to Klaus and asks, "What the hell just happened?!"  Klaus answers, "I created the best thing that could happen to us." 

The End... But a new Beginning - Part 3

Mason wakes up covered in his own blood but alive.  He looks around and notices that the graveyard near by looks to be the one next to his home.  He tries to stand and but his legs are too weak.  He sees a dead rabbit near by and crawls to its corpse.  He drinks the blood but spits it out immediately.  Mason shakes his head in disgust and screams, "What have they done to me!"  In the distance a passerby hears him scream and runs to town and alerts the guards.  The guards pick up the broken body of Mason and deliver him to Tripower hall.  Mason is rushed to the healer, Finora and his wounds disappear.  When he wakes up, he slowly gets up and starts to walk his clan hall.  He noticed that the clan hall is silent.  The only noise he hears are the chefs cooking and the guards chatting about the barmaids.  No other clan mates in sight.  He realizes how much Tripower has changed over the moons.  Mason walks towards the guards and asks, "Why was there no one from our clan out to find me?"  The guards just shrug their shoulders and go about their conversation of the barmaids.  Mason shakes his head and heads toward the main entrance.  When he steps foot outside the clan door he is hit in the back of the neck with a blunt object and falls to his knees.  He turns around and noticed that it is his own guards!  The guards pick him up and say, "They have weakened you and we have orders to kill you.  You are of no use to Tripower."  The guards repeatedly stab Mason with their swords, leaving his body in a pile of his own blood.  "He's dead.  No pulse, no breathing and no use for us.  Let's finish the job and dispose of his body."  One of the guard say.  They pick up Mason's corpse and drag it to the highest cliff of Torregiano and throw it into he deep sea. 

To Be Continued.....

The End... But a new Beginning - Part 2

Mason wakes up in a dark empty room.  "Hello?"  He yells but only echoes follow.  He paces around the room and grins.  He mutters some words to himself and tries to open a gate to his home town but nothing happens....  He tries again and again but only failure follows.  Out of frustration he throws himself against the cold stoney wall.  "Tough to escape with no powers."  A voice says.  Mason replies, "Who speaks and why cannot I see in the dark or cast my spells to escape?!"  Xeptimus appears from nothing in front of Mason.  Mason grabs Xeptimus and bites his neck.  Xeptimus laughs and throws Mason across the dark room.  "You cannot even break the flesh boy!  You are powerless here, remember!  You are not even a lich anymore but just a weak puny human."  Xeptimus says while laughing.  Xeptimus picks up the groggy Mason and drags him out of the dark room.  "Wake up boy!"  Xeptimus yells as he slaps Mason across the face.  "Do you know I am the leader of Tripower!?"  Mason yells.  Xeptimus grins and turns away from Mason and raises his hands,"My fellow clan mates.  Here before us is one of the leaders of Tripower."  The room fills with light revealing that the room is filled with Vector soldiers.  Mason tries to escape but he is securely chained to the floor.  "You are a fool Mason.  Do you not understand you have be They have blinded you by the fact that they are superior to all other clans.  Vector has stayed silent too long and now it is time to show the realm that we are back and stronger than ever!"  Xeptimus exclaims.  Mason replies back, "That isn't true!  I will be back and have your head hung on our clan wall!"  Xeptimus bashes Mason knocking him unconscious...... 
 
To Be Continued.......

Stuck in the Middle with Two

In the intervening time that followed the announcements to the children, young and  adult, that their parents were  going to  be living together, Sanria  split her time between  Colin and Gilean.  Neither had questions about the other, but there  always seemed just a hint of competitiveness in Colin, and  overflowing care from Gilean; each  seemed to  be seeking his  place in this  strange new relationship.  They hadn't even moved in together.

Already Sanria was exhausted.  They  were vastly  different from one another, and she had to  adapt daily to their  particular  nuances and behaviors.  In  a way, it was going to be nice to  have everyone under the same roof.  They would all be  in proximity much of the time, making the smattering of  desperation at full days apart vanish.  But how would the small gestures of affection be handled between two men who just recently were ready  to fight?  If she hugged Colin in front of Gilean, or kissed Gilean on the cheek with Colin  nearby... did she just give no affection at all and leave both wondering if they'd done something wrong?

There was no right answer.  Not yet. And what about her time to herself? Her work  in the castle that she sometimes  found herself doing at home, where would  that now fall?  She'd  tried to have a  day to herself, but Gilean  balked.  He  didn't want to be  alone on what was supposed to be their time.  She gave in easily and spent her time as agreed.

Though many may have thought the situation ideal, Sanria was finding herself worried, anxious, and concerned.  Such an  arrangement was not just sex and love - it was care and  patience and effort.  More effort by far than  just a single  marriage.  It  was as if  Sanria could see into the future, and had revealed before her the fact that her time was no longer just her own, nor was  her body, nor her  feelings.  She was struck with the realization that she had bitten off far more than she could chew.

Current Character Description - Raistlin

Wrapped in a mass of grey cloaks, a frail and sickly man stands before you.  His flesh is pale and gaunt, but his grip is firm around a staff that stands taller than him.. with a small gem at its pinnacle.

A glance at his face would show a man whose age is magically extended beyond the natural limits..  But his eyes, glowing in the faintest of light, are those of golden hourglasses.

Weird but Cool

Matinus sat in his room and looked over his books. He had to decide which ones to take, which ones would fit into his suitcase and still leave room for clothes. Not that he had many anyway. He was excited anyway and not because his family was moving to the place where Orn lived, but because he could see, for the first time on his parents face, that they really loved each other.

It was weird for him, feeling things other people felt. He didn't know he could do it, he didn't know why, but the longer he sat with someone, if he looked at them, he could feel some of what they felt. Today, while Sanria and Gilean sat in front of him, telling him that they were going to be halfway married to Colin (a fact that made him ask Gilean if he was marrying Colin - an emphatic no there - whew), all of a sudden, they weren't nervous anymore. All of a sudden, they were in love... like, really in love.

He watched them look at each other and smile and hold hands and felt it like a piece of fabric on his skin- whisper thin and light, then wrapping around him warmly. They said they loved each other before. He knew they kinda meant it, but this was different. Matinus didn't know what changed, or even why, but this time it was real.

He paused in his packing to sigh as Nioma came into his room for the seventeenth time to say they were moving. 'I know, Nioma. Go pack.' It was a little tiring, feeling  her crazy energy each time she came tornadoing into his  room. She left and Matinus could think again, and his  smile came back unbidden.  He didn't know what it would mean to have a dad, a kinda dad, Orn as his real big brother right there for him to talk to any time he wanted, Mirin there whenever he wanted to be around her, to be an uncle, to be an adventurer in the woods, by a water fall, by a stream, in a cavern... but he did know that his family was going to be together... and that was the best part of the whole thing.

Excerpts

Excerpts from Vorcet's notes regarding the Shadow Temples

the 20th of Kythorn 1280
I have spent several days inspecting the ruins of the temple on the floating island along with a few other people.  We have determined that the pillars move and this is the key to something within the temple Everything points to this.  A single spirit flits around the ruins, taunting us with his constant movement.  The small child at the entrance tells us very little, but am convinced that they know far more than they have let on.

the 29th of Kythorn 1280
We were correct about the pillars.  The new version of the temple we were transported to is bustling with activity.  A sect of monks inhabits the grounds.  The monks act as protectors, guarding the temple from the creatures that live in the surrounding area.  We have taken up training with the monk in an attempt to learn more about these temples.

the 3rd of Flamerule 1280
The training has been rigorous and incredibly physical.  The spirits in the temple act as a test for the endurance of the soon to be monk.  We have not managed to catch one yet, but believe we are close.

the 10th of Flamerule 1280Through careful questioning of the other monks we have figured out what is required to take our next step in unraveling the puzzle that is the temples. We now know that the temples act as a gateway to all manner of realms, but most importantly the Shadow Realms.  The place that Lord Shadow brought his floating city during Karsus' Folly.

the 21st of Flamerule 1280
I have returned home to the castle to contemplate all I have learned of the temples.  In order to progress we need to find the head Nexus Monk to learn the secrets of transversal to the shadow realms.  The third version of the temple grounds houses the shackled spirit of Karsus himself.  Forever imprisoned for his folly.  I wonder what we could learn from him if he were not completely mad.