The same sensation held for other races and beings.
I sensed men, dragons, dryads, and others all around, but somehow we never managed to encounter one another, as if we all existed in separate worlds.
For all I knew of Il’aen, we might actually have.
Perhaps I strode in ignorance across gleaming dimensions utterly blind, misinformed, and ill at ease.
Perhaps in time, this ignorance would become understanding.
But I did not have the time to resolve Il’alen’s mysteries.
Nor did I delve into the knowledge of others within me who might have helped resolve these sentiments.
Sensing my mood, Alric remained silent.
Regardless, walking through the lambent byways of Il’alen was beyond disconcerting.
I strolled through one of the largest intact cities on Uërth all alone.
No matter how grand or enlightening, Il’alen was no place for mortals.
Or me.
All this is not to say Il’alen is not an amazing place.
It was just not for me.
I am certain Alric could have brought me around, but I did not let him.
My mood was as heavy as Il’alen was light.
Perhaps the city itself forced this dour introspection upon me, a dichotomy intended to firm up my place in the world and my desire to protect it.
The place certainly had presence.
Who is to say it did not have sentience?
I did my best to relax and let the rigors of normalcy not bother me.
Mayhap I was just ill at ease being in a zone of safety after having been on edge for so long.
After all this time, being relaxed and taking in Il’alen’s wonders without fear of demonic attack or impending death felt abnormal, and my spirit rebelled against the need to be prepared and on guard.
I began to breathe deeper and more fully then, settling into the place as much as my self.
I was here and I would make the most of it.
So I breathed.
And gradually returned to normalcy.
Or at least what passed for it in my skewed inner dimensions.
I cannot do justice to the byways and paths Aerilon guided me through to reach the Yaera Leyalia.
Il’alen was as much of the Light as it was made from the Light.
We crossed shimmering bridges made of dew-spun sunlight spanning gorges separated by the steam of surging waterfalls, the air filled with the breath of respiring trees and the thrum of rushing water. We wove through branches as wide as boulevards shaded by leaves richer and more vibrant than all the gems in a dragon’s horde, the bark of fey Valdueren glowing beneath our feet with the constant, enlivening surety of the moon at its zenith and the sun nourishing the land in the fullness of spring. We passed fountains and gardens spun from the phantasms of angelic visions, my eyes watering and unable to fully take in their glory as my mind filled in what details it could.
After a time that seemed like lifetimes but that must have been only minutes, we reached the sunlit glade of the Yaera Leyalia.
The mighty boles of Valdueren threw my sense of scale off immediately.
The trees were so massive that they made the glade and its occupants appear small.
Glimmering with myriad hues of reflected light, the trees’ bark scintillated and danced in coruscating patterns of energy. There was life here in such depth and vibrancy that my heart raced in response, quickening in eagerness to share in the woods’ vitality.
Within the trees’ shade, if shade it could rightly be called when it was actually illumination, a sidhe host drilled and prepared, or at least that was what I guessed they did, for I understood little of their actions.
As miraculous as the sidhe were, as profoundly immense as the Valdueren were, neither were what drew my gaze as I looked upon the forest clearing.
If sidhe radiated Light, if the Valdueren caught and refracted Light in all its forms and varieties, the yaera’l within were Light.
Light danced and frolicked within the glade of a quality and refinement that appeared untouched and unsullied by the vagaries and travails of our universe. Sunlight appeared old, worn, and sullied in comparison to the living luminosity that cavorted through the branches and boles with all the eagerness and excitement of a newborn puppy.
I was speechless.
Thankfully, no one was asking me to talk.
Sidhe took off and landed regularly, swallowed within the heart of these lambent entities.
One moment a sidhe would be standing in ready expectation on the soft forest loam, gazing intently at some invisible horizon, and the next a swirling halo of Light would engulf her and she would be gone.
How the sidhe held on, what they held on to, how they stayed inside, I had no idea.
But they did.
The yaera’l that came and went were varied in form and aspect.
Some appeared to be highly ordered geometric expressions of energy, shaped by subtle mathematics and laws far beyond my ken. Others were luminous expressions of joy and ebullience that filled the woods with Light. Still others had no discernible form, existing as mere suggestions, the greater part of their presence elsewhere or unrealized.
All were beings of true power and majesty.
And I was supposed to ride on or, more accurately, in one.
I swallowed deeply and reconsidered walking to Kerraboer.
Before I could exercise my better judgment, Aerilon’s words filled my mind. “Come. Let us meet the Yaera Leyalia.”
Having little choice, I followed more than somewhat reluctantly.
Light rushed and swirled through and around me in a warm haze, a golden glow clouding my vision and overwhelming my senses with mingled feelings of dynamism, power, intelligence, and general positivity. My skin and insides tingled with sensations akin to the charge of static electricity but my hairs did not stand on end and there was no sudden release of charge when I touched an object.
I had the impression that new dimensions of possibility opened before me, glimpses refracted through lenses of light.
Whether these visions hinted at origins or potentialities, I could not yet say.
This was, I supposed, the greeting of a yaera’l.
I think I much preferred this welcome to the typical greeting of a demon.
Of course, just about anything was preferable to meeting with a demon, but as far as contacts with the supernatural went, encountering the yaera’l was an unexpected pleasure.
“Greeting, Saedeus of Silvaeron. I am Ueryan.” The regal sidhe that stepped out confidently from the shade of a nearby Valdueren bowed gracefully as his words coalesced within my mind as gently as dew upon a cool spring morn. Belying his words, he blazed with power and efficacy like the newly risen sun.
As Ueryan’s words faded, images, sensations, and feelings I could not understand or encompass washed over me.
I was gazing upon universes of living suns, radiance interpenetrating and interconnecting superimposed yet distinct entities of many luminous hues and aspects.
If demons emerged from an endless pit of hellish Darkness, perhaps this was the merest glimpse into its opposite.
The faintest whisper followed these images of realms of Light, one I strained to pick up and decipher but that, for all its subtlety, I knew was real. “…loel…”
This was the yaera’l.
Other thought-impressions and emotionscapes followed that were beyond me.
I appreciated the pauses and spaces incorporated into its name.
Although I might not fully understand the yaera’l’s naming conventions, I could certainly relate to the vast open expanses, abiding peace, and beauty that gave it birth.
I bowed respectfully, my mind still and open.
“Well met, Ueryan and …loel....
“The pleasure of your meeting is mine.”
“The pleasure of our journey will be ours.” Ueryan nodded formally in reply.
Sensing much more
to come, I would need to get past Ueryan’s formality if I were to retain my sanity.
Quickly.
“I will be your guide to fair Kerraboer.”
Granted the speed with which the yaera’l and sidhe appeared and disappeared from the clearing, I imagined that I would not be with Ueryan for very long.
Which meant that I could afford to be patient.
This once.
“Thank you, honorable Ueryan and gracious …loel… for offering to aid me on my journey.”
After pausing for a moment, I added with more confidence than I felt, “How exactly will this work?”
“You have nothing to fear, Saedeus. You will be enveloped securely within …loel’s… radiance. Before you are aware we have departed, we will be in Kerraboer and our journey will be at an end.”
That, at least, sounded promising.
My main concern was, as always, that even the easiest tasks became difficult in my presence.
“Is there anything I must do in preparation?”
“You need only tell us when you are ready to depart.
“We will take you whenever you give the word.”
If only everyone were so accommodating.
The sidhe were so kind, I almost thought they were trying to get rid of me.
Given my past experience, this sentiment would not be entirely unexpected.
However, in the case of the sidhe, I knew the feeling was genuine.
The sidhe risked themselves the world over fighting demonic incursions. With the help of the yaera’l they made many journeys to Kerraboer and other bastions of resistance, adding their strength and wisdom to the Light’s cause against Darkness.
I would not belittle their efforts or their offer.
Much.
Which, since they occupied my head as readily as Alric, I knew they already knew.
Remind me never to play cards with the sidhe.
Or Alric, for that matter.
Having little need for aught else and mostly because I never managed to think of another question to ask them to materialize, I replied, “I am ready when you are.”
With a surge of light and the briefest instant of disorientation, I was gone.
I should have asked to say goodbye to Aerilon.
To Fair Kerraboer
I was enclosed in a mantle of living Light.
The cocoon of vital force cradled me gently, conforming to me like a second skin. A galaxy of layered, swirling lights filled my vision, distracting me from the violent acceleration that I anticipated but never felt.
I could not see Ueryan although I sensed his presence as another facet of light within the prismatic jewel that was the interior of the yaera’l.
I could get used to this.
Until it was gone.
A cataclysmic wave of mephitic power tore through me, shredding the nacreous glory of …loel… in a writhing mass of raw destruction.
Falling, I saw a gigantic, tremulous mass of fell demonic energies surging around Ueryan and …loel.... Within this torrent, incandescent power flashed like lightning strikes in a summer storm as the sidhe and yaera’l fought back against the demonic aggressor.
I quickly lost track of both Ueryan and …loel… as I tumbled head over heels from the sky.
Leaving the infernal trap for my impending demise.
“Shift, Saedeus! Shift!”
Alric’s words cut through my stupor as the ground fast approached in alternating kaleidoscopic flashes of open blue sky and bare brown earth.
Emptying myself as Alric had shown me, I expanded outward and shifted.
The world warped and transitioned, my mind broadening and expanding as my sense of self expanded.
I pushed myself forward, attempting to stay my headlong rush toward the ground with a controlled, arcing descent.
The world became absolutely dark.
Laughter rang out within, filling my mind with rolling waves of sound.
“Yes?”
“Your descent was not quite gradual enough.”
My awareness snapped back to my body.
I became corporeal once more.
And that was how, in mere moments, I managed to get myself buried in the earth beneath a field of battle as angelic beings fought for their survival with vile agents of Chaos.
I had avoided one trap only to create another.
I had to be the most skilled Empyrean Knight in all the realms.
At least I did not faint.
But the day was not yet done.
What had befallen Ueryan and …loel…?
Had the demon and its trap consumed them?
Had they escaped and returned to Il’alen?
Had they continued on to Kerraboer?
Were they looking for me even now, risking further demonic attack on my behalf?
Had they summoned reinforcements?
Was the sky currently ablaze with their retribution?
To answer these questions, if answer them I could, I first needed to escape from my present predicament.
“Gather yourself and shift again.
“You will be able to sense the way out.”
I sighed, doing my best to relax.
I was, it seemed, destined for success.
I let my sense of self flow outward. My mind unfurled and with it, my body.
Feeling the natural movements of energy around me and the increase in demonic taint toward Uërth’s surface, I surged upward into the light of day.
I had succeeded in putting myself much farther underground than I would have guessed.
I was, without question, good at being bad.
I could see no sign of either Ueryan and …loel... or the demon that had been assailing them. For that matter, I could not see Doeren Muer either.
“Kerraboer is very near, Saedeus.”
In the brief moment I had been wrapped inside …loel… I had traveled nearly half a continent.
Which also explained the trap that had ensnared us and the seething horde of demons charging across the barren landscape toward me.
The Plains of D’rith Sinae
Loer’allon came alive in my hands.
Her dance became my own.
Wreathed in Light, becoming Light, I scythed through the advancing wall of demons in a cloud of ichor, entrails, and fell arcana.
I was a fog the demons could not touch.
I was a blade the demons could not counter.
I was a doom the demons could not avoid.
Every demon’s fall added fuel to my assault. I did not let the foul demonic essences screaming, tearing, and threatening to rend me apart become me as I once had.
These fallen parasitic souls were a catalyst, the means to greater, more efficient action. Their foul essences neither tainted my own nor became part of me.
Though the avalanche of their iniquity and profane cognizance tried to force its way in, I let their knowledge and experience burn away with their obscene bodies in a conflagration of power that cleansed their stigma from Uërth entirely.
When Loer’allon finally stilled, her blaze softening in the battle’s aftermath, and all the demons were no more, only a scorched and pitted battlefield remained.
Sadly, of Ueryan and …loel… there was no sign.
Of course, this was not the end.
There was no end to demons on the Plains of D’rith Sinae.
I just enjoyed a brief respite from their insidious incursion.
Moths to a flame, more would come.
So I ran.
Bravely.
And without hesitation.
For flight is often the better part of valor.
Aided by my Sigil Shield, I ran much faster than was humanly possible.
I ran phased into ethereality.
I ran that I would not have to fight more.
For now.
“Adjust your heading slightly to the east.”
Alric provided guidance when my mind wandered, when the haze of combat
took me from myself, offering a means of return to the fullness of the present.
I was glad to have him, for without his help my mistakes and oversights would be dire indeed.
I was already good enough at making things difficult for myself.
I did not need any extra help.
Alric’s words were my cure.
So I listened.
And was thankful.
As I sprinted across the blasted plains, Loer’allon danced freely and often, her blade cutting in silent finality, her Light an antidote to the hellspawn that assailed us.
Lost in the throes of combat, I was but a witness to her silent majesty, the hand that lifted her torch high that she might shed light on the abandoned plains and cleanse the unholy abominations from the xeric steppes they sought to claim.
We were but small lights in a well of Darkness.
Except Lucius.
He offered no light at all.
He merely slept.
Soundly.
And in my pocket.
For him there were no demons.
Yet.
The Dust Beneath My Boots
After my last misadventure, I made an important discovery.
I proudly awarded myself the Saedeus Mark of Unbravery—heretofore referred to as SMU—for its conception and execution.
Ever thankful and appreciative of my mistakes and shortcomings, I now had an almost surefire way to avoid infernal traps.
I could run underground.
Or, more accurately, remaining incorporeal, I could flow beneath the desiccated landscape as easily as I could over it.
Of course, I missed the beautiful sights and sounds of the steppes while doing this…
Ravaged corpses.
The worn-out husks of abandoned and destroyed towns and villages.
Terrible magics lying across the region in a noxious pall.
Demons gathering like vultures on the hunt looking for prey.
All the usual points of interest of a joyous romp through the countryside.
Sadly, I had business to attend to.
Soul Stealer: Legacy of the Blade Page 16