collab 11: of Chaos and of Law

Deronn Soulwind and Elvidia Whiteblade plodded through the forest without a word.  They both felt equally snuffed that their leader had been so stubborn as to not heed their wisdom, but both were resigned to carry out the noble duty that had been left to them.  If they didn’t do it, who would?
Deronn had been to Kronrich; he knew the beauty of the place.  It was by no means on par with the massive cities of ages past.  There were no miles of solid adamantine, nor halls made of naught but marble but, by Light, it was beautiful.
Beautiful in the way that a sunrise over an eastward lake was beautiful: simplicity incarnate.  The halls were ornate, the walls full and perfect.  Each person was pleasant and the landscape nothing short of marvelous.
Such beauty was at risk and they two were the only ones who could help prevent its imminent demise.  Thus they continued, their steps resigned but hurried as well.  They crushed through the forest moving north, always north.  A day and more separated them from the magical gate that had been erected by Archimedes that long day ago.
If they were to march directly to the city it would take well over a month, but Archimedes had bypassed that tribulation long ago.  He had erected a gate at the very northernmost point of Thorn Forest right on the banks of the Sia’fali river, intersecting a road that stretched from Maiden’s Cross to the mountain city of Kalenvale.  
That magical gate transported all who stepped through it to the mountains just a few miles south of Kronrich and slightly south of Lethrin.  If they could reach that gate they might be able to warn Kronrich in time for them to mount an effective defense.
The two paladins couldn’t possibly know that the army in question was headed by the same Archimedes who created the gate.  In fact, he had created it with this in mind.
Istaere and Taorn’s minions were but a couple miles away from the threshold.
There was nothing, absolutely nothing, they could do to stop them.
Darkness encroached.
* * *
Terrien rose slowly, stretching his weary muscles from two days of sleep.  Looking around he spotted Ferithar quickly, his friend was talking to an elf quietly away from the general camp, Terrien walked over to se what they discussed.
“Hail, Ferithar, what is it that you two speak of?”
The elf started and turned about, enraged, “you fool!  Can you but wait a single minute?  Must you bother me every second of the day?”
Terrien backed up a step, surprised by his volatile friend’s reaction, “I wanted only to hear of the news you were discussing. Can you forgive me my curiosity?”
Ferithar’s face fell, and he looked ashamed, “my sincere apologies friend, it is just that this entire situation is hopeless.  The army is everywhere; it is amazing they have not spotted us yet.  We will have no passage to the Fey Caverns, scouts have just reported that the entire place is encircled by orcs; they seem to be protecting it.  But how could they know?  The knowledge is only held by a select few elves, no orc would be able to find the place, let alone have the tactics to guard it.”
Terrien nodded sympathetically as his friend spoke.  It was a trying time.  The ranger wanted to do something, he could tell, but there was nothing to do, nothing that wouldn’t result in death.  Terrien nodded thanks as the elf Ferithar had been talking to slipped away quietly, “we have to do something Ferithar, anything.”
Ferithar lost his visage of calmness, “I know!” he yelled, “Do you think I haven’t thought of that?  While you slept lazily, and did nothing, do you think me as worthless as you?”
Terrien recoiled, hurt again, “friend, be calm, it is not I who has wronged you.”
Ferithar showed great self-mastery as he once again had the grace to look sorry for himself, “my apologies again my friend.  It is simply that… the scouts… they found Lucia’s body.”
“Your lover?”
“Yes, and that of my mother, and brother Juan.  I am the only one left of my bloodline and have lost the one who would bear my children.”
Terrien laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder, who turned away, “there will be another Ferithar, fear not.”
“Terrien, she was with child when she died.  She had a life inside of her as they plunged their spears into her gut.  They killed her, and my child with her.”
Terrien could not begin to fathom how his friend felt, the very horror of his situation began to impart itself to him, and he felt sadness grip his heart.
“Come, let us walk.” He said, leading his friend away from the awfulness of his thoughts.
They walked through the camp and quietly discussed how best to make their way to the Fey Caverns.  Thought they both thought it impossible it helped just to talk of it.  
Ferithar felt his unelven nature setting in.  He felt dutiful, bound to his call.  Most elves did as they pleased, guided by that which they saw in their heart.  They were guided by the creativity and freedom of Chaos.  Not Ferithar.  He felt the call of Law, the rigid adherence, the duty, the honour.  Alain had given him this quest, to seek out the Stronghold of the Fey, and he would not let him down, no mater how impossible the task seemed.  Also he felt the sorrow fade away to a corner of his heart, to be remembered in time.  He would focus entirely upon this quest and then he’d have time to cry for those lost when he was done.
No matter how impossible it seemed, it would be done, he’d see to it.
Terrien could almost track the thoughts on his friends face as it went from sorrowful to questioning, and finally to a steel-like resolution.  He knew what was coming, and knew that there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“We must go on our own.”
Terrien sighed, “I know, but we must find help, we can’t do it by ourselves.”
Suddenly, a voice echoed form the woods, “help with something, eh?  What can we do for ya?”
The two friends looked together.  There was nothing.  Terrien drew his sword and muttered a quick invocation.  Light sprung from the blade, lighting the trees about them.  Still he could see nothing.
Laughter.
“We think you need help on a sneaky mission, maybe something about getting past some orcs?  I don’t know if either of you could manage that on your own.”
“Where are you?  Show yourself!” Terrien challenged.
“Or what?  You’ll yell impotently?  He he, methinks our big friends are really in trouble.”
Terrien swung his sword at the trees, “you might be invisible, but I can still hit you!”
There was a squeak from the trees and then a little bit of unsteady laughter, “you should be nicer to your friends! Mean big people.”
Terrien stood back, but did not sheath his blade, “then give me cause to be your friend, friends do not hide from each other.”
“Well, you make a good case, but these elves can’t see me, oh no.  Come with me, through the forest now.”
Terrien laughed, “you expect us to walk into a dark forest without knowing where you are?  You will become visible here, or we shall walk away.”
A sigh, “very well, if you insist.”
There was a gasp of air and fog billowed forth, seemingly from nowhere.  After a few moments the fog passed, revealing two diminutive figures.
“Halflings!” Ferithar said.
“Shh!” the one on the right commanded.
“We’re sneaky.” said the other.
The one on the right wore a cape of midnight black satin and held a small oaken staff; the other wore light leather armour.  They both wore black masks that covered only the area around their eyes.
“Who are you two?” Terrien asked, suppressing a chuckle, it was obvious these two took themselves very seriously.
With a great flourish the warrior drew a slight rapier and spun about as the wizard twirled his staff.  The warrior leapt as the wizard kneeled down, flipping over his companion’s shoulder and landing in front of him, “I an Hidalgo, the finest duelist in these lands.” He said, “and I am Marius, the grand wizard. We are the leaders of the great Halfling group: the Ten Masks!” Said the other.
With great and uncontrollable laughter Terrien began to applaud, “excellent Ferithar, we have found ourselves two professional sneaks.  How is it, my diminutive friend, that I have never heard of your Mercenary Company before, surely ten halflings in one place do not go unnoticed for long?”
Marius’s eyes were downcast, “well… there are actually only two of us.”
“In a team called Ten Masks?”
“Yes, a bit of a misnomer I suppose.”
Terrien laughed, “Well sounds good to me, pack up your things halflings, we could use the extra blades!”
The one called Marius waggled a finger, “ah, ah, ah, the deal is not settled yet, we have not discussed our… payment.”
Terrien’s laughter died in his throat, “payment?”
Hidalgo chuckled quietly, “why of course!  Ya didn’t think ya’d be getting away free of charge did ya?”
Ferithar’s eyes narrowed, “thieves, you’re nothing but thieves and hired blades.”
Marius drew his hand across his face dramatically, “I am so wounded! We are not thieves!  Come now!  What say you?”
Terrien looked to Ferithar, one eyebrow raised, “I think we could use a hand.”
Ferithar sighed, “very well, what is your price, I will meet it.”
Marius grinned, “oho!  You’ve not bargained much have you?” The wizard-apparent paused momentarily, “A thousand gold pieces.”
Ferithar’s mouth fell open, “a thousand?”
Marius shrugged, “a man needs to make a living.”
Terrien put a hand on his friends shoulder, he was doing that a lot lately, “we will find all that and more within the Caverns, fear not the price.”
Marius lifted an eyebrow, “is it settled then?”
Ferithar sighed, “we need to get past some orcs, can you help us?”
The two halflings ginned, “of course.”
* * *
Elvidia and Deronn continued their march for almost an hour when from behind them they heard a twig snap, they both turned as one, drawing their longswords.  
The forest was silent and nothing was there.
Someone dropped behind them, his feet made not a whisper of sound, despite the fact that he had just fallen twenty feet.
“You are far from home paladins.” Said an iron hard voice, devoid of emotion.
The paladins spun again, swords in high guard.  The man before them sighed, “put your blades away, if I wanted you dead I would have killed you already.”
Neither of the paladins responded, the man sighed again.  He wore extravagant brown leather armour and his hands rested calmly on twin blades, still sheathed.  He was not tall, but he had a warrior’s stance and the two paladins knew instinctively that they were outmatched.  It was probably those eyes, pure blue, glowing blue.  The two paladins lowered their blades.
Veritas knew he had to be cautious here; he had felt Archimedes scrying earlier and had no way of knowing if he was watching now.  He looked questioningly to Pharyx behind the paladins, who was cloaked in invisibility, and sent his thoughts to him, we are safe?  The psuedodragon nodded and sent telepathic assurances back at him, no scrying spell shall penetrate my wards. Veritas trusted his companion’s words and nodded.
“You go to warn Kronrich of the impending invasion.”
The paladins looked shocked, “how did you know?” Elvidia ventured slowly.
Veritas scoffed slightly, “I know many things, everything, some might say.  I wish to warn you from that course.  The army has already reached Archimedes’s gate and is even now approaching to lay waste to the city.  You can do nothing.”
The paladins looked shocked, again.  They had failed.  Kronrich was lost.
Veritas brushed his long raven hair of his eyes, “you are not failures yet.  There is nothing to be done for Kronrich, but you must go there anyways.  You must seek Draylen Winterwood.  He is known as Danen nowadays, but when you meet him, call him by his real name.  You must do this.  It may be in the midst of the battle, but he must be told.  When you talk to him tell him that he must flee, that he needs to resurrect the Phoenix Blades.  The Foe has been awakened- do not interrupt me! – and the head is not the same.  A friend once is now an enemy.  Tell him this, if nothing else, Archimedes is not who he seems.”
Veritas was not an enemy of Archimedes, specifically, he was a devoted general, but he would not be a general forever.  Archimedes would have to die sooner or later; it would just make it easier to dethrone him if he faced some complications along the way.  Certainly there was already discontent, but Archimedes ruled the other generals with an iron fist.  No one had the means or the power to defy him, except Veritas.
In truth Veritas knew he did not have the ability to take on Archimedes and win either, the archmage would obliterate him with a single flick if he ever found out of his treachery, but the wizard wouldn’t expect the takeover if he was stabbed in the back.  Still, Veritas needed the old man to set up the apocalypse.  Veritas was no master of tactics; he just wanted an utter lack of command once it came.  An evil rule was still a rule, and Chaos could not survive in an environment wherein one person had power.
He just had to wait until the creature was brought to life again.  Then he would strike.
Veritas stopped momentarily, thinking this over; it occurred to him that he hadn’t thought his plan through much.  He looked to the paladins and sighed, he’d made another mistake.  He sighed as he drew his blades, another mess to clean up.  Having Chaos bred into your soul unfortunately meant having a poor train of thought, which in turn led to a lot of irrational impulsive decisions.  Veritas just made sure he always cleaned up the mess, like he was doing now.
The paladins looked behind them, thinking their apparent ally had spotted a foe.  Deronn realized the trickery quickly though and looked back just in time to parry a lightning-fast sword slash down low and duck another high. He called out for Elvidia and she turned as well.  Howling to her god she charged the Shadowborn and slashed at his head.
With dexterity that exceeded human conception he twisted his neck back, avoiding the slash by inches.  He spun away, kicking Deronn’s blade to keep him at bay.  He came right back, parrying both paladins weapons and running past them.  He spun quickly and swept a foot across the ground, tripping Deronn to the ground.  Without even looking he retracted his left hand blade, cutting between the helm and the pauldron, severing his throat.  Elvidia cried out and swung her sword at him again.  He caught it in an x style parry and twisted to the side, elbowing her wrist and dislodging the blade from her grasp.  He rolled around her and stabbed both blades into the small of her back.
She cried out in agony but held there, suspended by his twin swords that curved inside her, piercing and shredding her lungs.  Slowly he stepped back and she fell forward.  She saw the earth rushing up to meet her, and then she knew only blackness.
Veritas shook his head as he wiped his blades clean.   A small fluttering of wings announced the presence of Pharyx.  The tiny dragon landed gracefully on his shoulder, coiling about his neck, that was foolish, he communicated telepathically.
Veritas sighed, “I know.  I became unsure of myself.  I am not ready Pharyx.  For now we must stick to the shadows.  Archimedes will rule a little longer.”
You know that this is not what this is about, you have it in you, you just need to realize it.  What does your namesake mean Veritas?
“Spare me the lecture Pharyx, you know I care little for the ways of good-wiled creatures.  I am not Truth, I do not mirror my name.  The elves did not understand what I truly am.  Chaos guides my hand.  Truth has no place in the realm of anarchy.  We shall rule that anarchy Pharyx, you, my only true friend.  Come, let us go.  Taorn will begin to suspect the reason for our departure.”
* * *
Sanj’s eyes opened slowly.  One eye opened, actually.  The other was swollen shut.
The emotionless depression continued to grasp her and it allowed her to take in her surroundings without fear or irrational action.
She was in a dark cave.  It was many feet high, too dark at the roof to see.  The area around her was lit by small mushrooms that cast a bright green glow and yellowish moss that covered the walls and shed a slight illumination.
Her possessions were still on her body, her rapier at one hip and her small dagger belted to the other.  Still, she had no idea how much control over her movement she truly had and truly she did not care to find out.
Too much.  The thought echoed in her mind.  Too much everything.  Everything was gone, everyone was dead.  Her family, her friends.  In the blink of an eye, all purpose had been removed from her life.  She did not understand anything and thus could find no justification to continue struggling.  She wanted to die.
This realization startled her.  She wanted to die.  Life had fallen so far, so fast.  A single tear leaked out of her eye.  Well, at least she could do that.
She had lived the length of her adulthood completely certain of what was to be expected of her, certain of her responsibilities, now she had nothing.  Nothing.  Everything that had mattered so much now amounted to nothing.  
It seemed a recurring theme to her: everything was nothing.  All these years she had spent doing things for a reason had been swept away, everything she had built up was now nothing.
Before she could be completely lost in this web of despair a figure entered her cavern.  The being was completely composed of Shadow, one of the ones that had incapacitated her.  An odd sensation gripped her: rage.  She wanted vengeance.  This made no sense to her, she was not a vengeful person, but this feeling was stronger than she had ever known.  She tried to rise impulsively, but her muscles would not respond to her call.
Slowly two more Shadows shuffled into the room.  She had no idea where they were, where they were taking her or why they had stopped moving; she could come up with no logical reason on her own.  All she understood was that they had wronged her… they had killed her family.  She knew that they were somehow involved.  Her mind needed no justification to believe this.  A faint red light budded on her chest.
Again she tried to move, more cautiously this time, and succeeded at lifting one arm, slowly.  She couldn’t make it too obvious though, the shadows had to remain unaware if she was to manage her plan.
The Shadows moved about for a long time, doing nothing, it seemed.  She felt like she was awaking from an agonizingly long sleep, but just as from a long sleep, she was recovering.  She could move most of her body, and after a few minutes of experimentation she reached one hand down to her scabbard and began to slowly pull forth the rapier housed there.
All thought had flown; she leapt to her feet with a yell and charged at the shadows.  Her gait was untrained and ungraceful, but she kept her feet.  As her sword sliced through the air, to be met by a shining silver sword, the red light began to stir greater under her shirt.
She leapt back from the slash of a greatsword, noting curiously that her opponent struck with the flat of its blade.  She grinned horribly. Thinking about how delightful it would be to kill this creature.  To tear the life from it.  To shred and obliterate it.
The light intensified.
Curious she looked down quickly.  The pendant upon her shirt was glowing brightly, and small red tendrils extended from her chest.  They flowed about her slowly, melding with her arms.
She ducked instinctively and twirled, avoiding two more strikes and then riposted feebly, feeling the tremendous strength of her enemies.  She was outnumbered and out fought, her impulsivity would cost her.  Possibly with her life.
Something was happening to her.  The pendant seemed to be lending her speed and strength.  She felt her rage take a much more firm grasp on her heart.  Her blade swung back and forth, somehow with enough strength to parry the strike of the greatswords and she leapt forward, past the shadows, trying to put some space in between her and her adversaries.
Normally she was cool and collected in a duel, but rarely did she face three opponents simultaneously, and never did she face opponents who could jump over a wall.  Though she did not understand all of the Shadow’s abilities she knew she’d have to be a bit unorthodox.
She yelled and charged again, speeding towards them.  Suddenly she stopped and rolled forward, ducking under the slash of two blades and coming to her feet in time to parry the third.  She felt stronger than a giant as she spun and plunged her sword into her adversary’s stomach.  
Time stood still.  She felt something break within her.  Blue light came out from the essence of herself, from her skin and began to coil about the red.  Her rage was suddenly pacified and she felt at ease, but she realized that, whatever it was, it was not finished.
Everything around her literally stood still, it was as if she was locked in a struggle outside of time itself.  One tendril of red seemed to recoil, like a snake before it strikes, and then it plunged into her chest.  
Agony.  
She could not describe the pain she felt, it was intense, burning, like a sword blow across every bone in her body.  Burning, stabbing, cutting… impotent.  That was it.  Her injury filled her with rage.
Even though it hurt more than she could describe she could not express it, and she was trapped within an inexpressible shell.  Hatred burned at her heart and dared her to unleash it.  She felt the strength too; she knew she could obliterate anyone with that rage.  And that rage was not entirely a bad thing, she rationalized, she’d be able to avenge the death of her family and her friends.
The blue tendrils wrapped about the red, tearing it away and plunging in its place.  She felt peace, instantaneous and absolute.  Law governed her.  Something greater than herself.  She once again knew purpose and knew that she’d be able to find that same strength in Law as she had found in Chaos, without the pain.  Slowly the light began to fade from the ruby pendant and time resumed.
The Shadow stumbled back; shocked that it had actually felt the blow.  It, he, looked down and saw something remarkable: he had hands.  The blade protruded from a now elven stomach and blood seeped out around a light cloth shirt.  The sword fell from his hands.
He looked to Sanj with dark eyes.  Sanj realized he was quite attractive with his angular face and dark, tanned skin.  Odd how such a thing could occur to someone in the midst of battle Sanj mused.  
She looked at the Sin Elf and he mouthed two words: thank you.  Then he fell to the earth.
Peace was on her face and she slid the blade quickly out of his gut and spun to face her two opponents.
They stood motionless in shock.
Slowly they both dropped their weapons and prostrated themselves before her.  She did not question this, quickly stabbing down twice and severing their spines instantly.  They, like their fallen comrade, resumed their natural form.
Both were women, and both were unspeakably beautiful.  Sanj felt a tear slide down her face as she realized the injustice that was here.  Such a long life with no purpose.  To dwell in eternal slavery.  Nothing was worth such pain.
Suddenly and without warning a blue light began to slide out from her body, almost like a mist.  Her peace evaporated and she recalled all the pain of her family’s loss and that of her friends.  Her eyes rolled into her head and she fell backwards.
When she managed to stand she could remember nothing of the past fight, or of the hate and the peace that she had found within herself.  She was so lost.
She slowly sunk to her knees, sobbing.
So lost.