Post by HsiangYu on Jul 4, 2006 16:15:20 GMT -5
“Thus was the revelation of your weal and your woe, and as for what was to follow, at least I can record that for you, my old friend, so that one day your story may be complete.”
~ Arktivilist, Arch magi of Evim Solis, author of The Post history of the World, keeper of the Key of Time, High Seat of the Solisean Parliament.
The people of my homeland say that fate casts no shadow. This anti-prognostic motto had formed the basis of my life’s work, my every accomplishment in matters both political and arcane. I had cheated death, only to discover that I had in turn been tricked by fate. It is no small wonder then that my endeavours, just like your own, were not enough to prevent our doom. Nor does it lack in irony that one who believed firmly in destiny undid the world.
When that end came we were alone. That was our greatest fear. There was no one left to fight, no one left to fight for. I knew that fear well.
I stood with you there, Nu Chan, as you knelt in the blood that made the soil of his grave mud, so thick that blood was. We had seen death so often in those last few years I doubted you even noticed it.
The baby you had lost, the parenting you had built, all was destroyed, shattered and left without even the dignity of memory. There would be no songs to remember the deeds done or the sacrifices made. From now on there would be only silence, saved for your cries.
I alone heard you cry. You wept the tears that I could no longer. Until the very end you had believed in our own ability to give the world a better platter to rest upon, as had I. How foolish we were Nu Chan, and how naïve.
I read aloud the inscription on his tombstone, “Lu Bing Zhao.” His epitaph reads, “Where now is the cunning gentlemen? Where goes the enlightened revolutionary? How passes the loving husband? Look ye to the Cosmet, for his passing Aevon is a brighter place.”
You let fall your last tear, as it hit the ground it was hastily swallowed up by the blood. With that tear fell also the cruel realization; hope was gone, burned away by the same forces that had destroyed the world. Like a weight had fallen on you tenfold more than what you could carry, you collapsed. Your face was buried in the blood soaked earth. I found myself yearning for a gently laid coffin of my own.
It was then that the demon came to claim his prize, strapped by the red cloth of the blood soaked earth, he stood with pride, and unlike me and you. He was happy, destined and prolonged in the ever-lasting night of today's events. Had he not been so fortunate in his own duel would have Lu Bing Zhao lost.
That was the question we all considered, but even if Lu Bing Zhao could have won, evidentially, he hadn't.
“Enough of this!” commanded the voice as fearsome as the scene around us, an order that was difficult even for me not to obey. I looked toward the voice and saw that very warrior. He calmly strode toward us, wearing the skin of the red warrior he had stolen. “Enough, there is no longer any reason to fight.”
“Sometimes the reason is in the battle, not in the outcome,” I reminded him, as much to verify my own determination as to defy his words.
“We will not stop until you or we are dead,” Nu Chan boldly claimed. Concentrating all of our power, we hit Baalice with an attack far more intense than what we had used on his petty minions. For several moments nothing could be seen. Only that of a spark glistening with the sheathing of three blades, and stood beyond, was but one arm, holding the two with such ease.
It defied all reason. I even shook my head in frustrated resignation.
“You know I cannot die by measures such as this,” Baalice told us quietly.
With our final battle fought, you fell to the ground before our victorious foe. Try as you might, this time the tears would not come. In the end, like me you were denied even that. I knelt beside you and placed a sympathizing hand on your shoulder. I doubt that you found it much comfort.
The Warrior stood by, and looked for a while pensively at the grave. “You believe that had Lu Bing Zhao lived, none of this would have come to pass?” he asked curiously. He waited for a reply, but we did not deign to. “He could save you Nu Chan,” Baalice mused, “but he could not even save himself.”
“Do not say that!” She warned. Despite the foregone futility of such action I too considered another attack.
“Such is the truth even if you choose not to believe it,” our nemesis said coldly. He seemed less certain as he paused for a moment, but then he gained resolve. He spoke louder as he addressed you directly, “Perhaps though, you believe you could have saved him, Nu Chan?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, raising her head to meet her curiosity.
“If you think I call the destruction of the Lu Clan a victory, or the destruction of your beloved a goal, then you are wrong. After all without a world to undo I am without purpose,” Baalice explained.
“How awful for you Baalice,” I mocked, “but what does that have to do with her possibly saving Lu Bing Zhao?”
“Lu Bing is dead, but he has a child that you do not know, his name is Xun, Lu Xun. My ideal was to actually destroy him, but as he's still young, I see no reason why he'd be a threat to one of my power,” he said, his tone somehow reassuring.
Hope and suspicion made for a peculiar kind of alchemy in me. I asked tentatively, “You give him life, to repay the death of the man you just killed?”
“I might,” the Warrior admitted, “but you must understand there will be a price.” That was certainly no surprise to either of us.
Apparently undaunted, Nu Chan asked, “What price?”
Baalice lowered his demonic gaze upon Nu Chan and continued, “If I do this, then Wu will gain a formidable warrior, and the changes of history can change, I cannot promise you its victory, but it'd certainly assist in Wu's expeditions against the other kingdoms.” Baalice swept his hand outward, indicating the utter devastation of the plains they stood on. After pausing for a moment, he continued, “Let me warn you though, I do not know how the events will unfold, all I can tell you, is that Lu Xun is in a city, not all that far away from here, if you rally, I'm sure he'll come to your assistance.”
She nodded, and then slyly smiled and said, “You have yet to name the price of this generosity.”
He became grim and answered in turn, “The price is this, if Lu Xun is to live, then one of you are to die."
~ Arktivilist, Arch magi of Evim Solis, author of The Post history of the World, keeper of the Key of Time, High Seat of the Solisean Parliament.
The people of my homeland say that fate casts no shadow. This anti-prognostic motto had formed the basis of my life’s work, my every accomplishment in matters both political and arcane. I had cheated death, only to discover that I had in turn been tricked by fate. It is no small wonder then that my endeavours, just like your own, were not enough to prevent our doom. Nor does it lack in irony that one who believed firmly in destiny undid the world.
When that end came we were alone. That was our greatest fear. There was no one left to fight, no one left to fight for. I knew that fear well.
I stood with you there, Nu Chan, as you knelt in the blood that made the soil of his grave mud, so thick that blood was. We had seen death so often in those last few years I doubted you even noticed it.
The baby you had lost, the parenting you had built, all was destroyed, shattered and left without even the dignity of memory. There would be no songs to remember the deeds done or the sacrifices made. From now on there would be only silence, saved for your cries.
I alone heard you cry. You wept the tears that I could no longer. Until the very end you had believed in our own ability to give the world a better platter to rest upon, as had I. How foolish we were Nu Chan, and how naïve.
I read aloud the inscription on his tombstone, “Lu Bing Zhao.” His epitaph reads, “Where now is the cunning gentlemen? Where goes the enlightened revolutionary? How passes the loving husband? Look ye to the Cosmet, for his passing Aevon is a brighter place.”
You let fall your last tear, as it hit the ground it was hastily swallowed up by the blood. With that tear fell also the cruel realization; hope was gone, burned away by the same forces that had destroyed the world. Like a weight had fallen on you tenfold more than what you could carry, you collapsed. Your face was buried in the blood soaked earth. I found myself yearning for a gently laid coffin of my own.
It was then that the demon came to claim his prize, strapped by the red cloth of the blood soaked earth, he stood with pride, and unlike me and you. He was happy, destined and prolonged in the ever-lasting night of today's events. Had he not been so fortunate in his own duel would have Lu Bing Zhao lost.
That was the question we all considered, but even if Lu Bing Zhao could have won, evidentially, he hadn't.
“Enough of this!” commanded the voice as fearsome as the scene around us, an order that was difficult even for me not to obey. I looked toward the voice and saw that very warrior. He calmly strode toward us, wearing the skin of the red warrior he had stolen. “Enough, there is no longer any reason to fight.”
“Sometimes the reason is in the battle, not in the outcome,” I reminded him, as much to verify my own determination as to defy his words.
“We will not stop until you or we are dead,” Nu Chan boldly claimed. Concentrating all of our power, we hit Baalice with an attack far more intense than what we had used on his petty minions. For several moments nothing could be seen. Only that of a spark glistening with the sheathing of three blades, and stood beyond, was but one arm, holding the two with such ease.
It defied all reason. I even shook my head in frustrated resignation.
“You know I cannot die by measures such as this,” Baalice told us quietly.
With our final battle fought, you fell to the ground before our victorious foe. Try as you might, this time the tears would not come. In the end, like me you were denied even that. I knelt beside you and placed a sympathizing hand on your shoulder. I doubt that you found it much comfort.
The Warrior stood by, and looked for a while pensively at the grave. “You believe that had Lu Bing Zhao lived, none of this would have come to pass?” he asked curiously. He waited for a reply, but we did not deign to. “He could save you Nu Chan,” Baalice mused, “but he could not even save himself.”
“Do not say that!” She warned. Despite the foregone futility of such action I too considered another attack.
“Such is the truth even if you choose not to believe it,” our nemesis said coldly. He seemed less certain as he paused for a moment, but then he gained resolve. He spoke louder as he addressed you directly, “Perhaps though, you believe you could have saved him, Nu Chan?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, raising her head to meet her curiosity.
“If you think I call the destruction of the Lu Clan a victory, or the destruction of your beloved a goal, then you are wrong. After all without a world to undo I am without purpose,” Baalice explained.
“How awful for you Baalice,” I mocked, “but what does that have to do with her possibly saving Lu Bing Zhao?”
“Lu Bing is dead, but he has a child that you do not know, his name is Xun, Lu Xun. My ideal was to actually destroy him, but as he's still young, I see no reason why he'd be a threat to one of my power,” he said, his tone somehow reassuring.
Hope and suspicion made for a peculiar kind of alchemy in me. I asked tentatively, “You give him life, to repay the death of the man you just killed?”
“I might,” the Warrior admitted, “but you must understand there will be a price.” That was certainly no surprise to either of us.
Apparently undaunted, Nu Chan asked, “What price?”
Baalice lowered his demonic gaze upon Nu Chan and continued, “If I do this, then Wu will gain a formidable warrior, and the changes of history can change, I cannot promise you its victory, but it'd certainly assist in Wu's expeditions against the other kingdoms.” Baalice swept his hand outward, indicating the utter devastation of the plains they stood on. After pausing for a moment, he continued, “Let me warn you though, I do not know how the events will unfold, all I can tell you, is that Lu Xun is in a city, not all that far away from here, if you rally, I'm sure he'll come to your assistance.”
She nodded, and then slyly smiled and said, “You have yet to name the price of this generosity.”
He became grim and answered in turn, “The price is this, if Lu Xun is to live, then one of you are to die."