Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: hibschmn@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Johann Allen Hibschman)
Subject: [JOI] A meeting of evils in a dark wood
Message-ID: <1993May16.232231.11735@Princeton.EDU>
Date: Sun, 16 May 1993 23:22:31 GMT


	Quaeros looked on disapprovingly as Laurenth nullified the
toxins in Elanon's body, but he couldn`t bring himself to interfere.
At least the stone she'd used had shattered in the process; there was
some loss to compensate the healing.  Elanon was weak, however, and
his body could not permit much travel.  Hopefully, none of the demons
had revealed their position to their masters, for the company was
forced to wait until Elanon had recovered; he was the only one who
truly knew where they were going.

	Quaeros spent the whole day in contemplation and prayer.
Occasionally he felt Aleric staring at him, but he ignored it.  Aleric
still had not forgiven him for refusing to combat the poison as it
coursed through Elanon's body; Quaeros was glad he hadn't tried to
speed the poison, giving Elanon a quick death.  Aleric would never
have understood.  So now Elanon sat and suffered from the damage the
poison had already wrought while the others bustled about keeping watch,
tending Elanon, scouting the terrain.  None of it truly mattered.
There was too much else to think of.

	Night came quickly, and with night came the dreams.  Quaeros
caught a glimpse of a flat, featureless grey plain and was filled with
a sense of mingled forboding and anticipation.  He was waiting for
something, waiting for something as eagerly as he'd ever anticipated
anything before.  Then a doorway appeared directly in front of him, a
fine doorframe crafted of some dark, glossy wood.  The door opened
onto nothing, its wooden beams framing a rectangle of pale blue
emptiness which defied the eye, refusing to come into focus.  A faint
wind rose, blowing into the doorway.  Then the wind began to increase,
blowing harder and harder until finally he was caught in the rush and
pulled through the door.

	He awoke with a start.  Something had happened; he did not
know what, but it was there.  It was as if a gong had rung somewhere
deep in the essence of his being announcing the end of the world.  The
campsite around him was still and silent.  It was Kyar's watch, and
Quaeros could barely make out his form sitting off to the edge of the
clearing.  It was then that the calling came, the need to leave this
place, to go into the darkness of the surrounding forest.  They must
not know he was leaving, something deep in his mind whispered.  This
was private; they would not understand.

	Quaeros made the required gestures and felt a cloak of silence
settle across his shoulders.  He arose and walked away from the camp,
sticks snapping silently under his tread.  /Into the forest, it it
time, come, this way/ whispered the voice in his soul, and he
followed.  He knew the way, and the moonlight made travel easy.  It
was not long before he came upon the clearing where the other waited
for him.  In the light, a figure stood, tall and noble, but this was
not the source of the call.  Another figure stood in the shadows of
the trees beyond, large and winged, and this was the being to whom
Quaeros was drawn.  He turned to walk across the clearing.

	"Stop," commanded the being in the clearing, moving to stand
in front of Quaeros.  "Hold your ground."

	Quaeros blinked and shook his head as he recognized the voice
which had spoken to his mind over the course of his journey.  "You.
Why must you always torment me?"

	"All I've done was tell you some of the truths about yourself.
You still don't belong with those buffoons you travel with."

	"No!  You've done nothing but lie to me all along.  You
finally gave yourself away when you tried to make me doubt my lord
Ronkel.  I know better, I know my faith is strong.  I don't know why
you tried to fool me with your pseudo-religious arguments, but you
demons are true deceivers and pride yourselves in your lies.  Now get
out of my way and let me pass!"

	"I would not lie to you, my friend.  All that I have told you
is true, except for my questioning of your faith, which was for your
own good.  Admit that the prayer and contemplation you have gone
through have restored you to your god's favor.  The healing of those
sailors would have festered in your mind; you would have grown farther
and farther away from your god as doubt slowly grew upon your mind.  I
forced you to examine your act and renew your faith.  It was all for
your own good."

	"Yes, but..."

	"Hear me out!  A temporary rift has formed from my world into
yours.  Or rather, between your two worlds.  You felt the connection,
now you feel the call in your heart, for I have brought the other half
of your very soul and being to you through the gate.  You want to go
to him, do you not?  You want to go to yourself.  It must have been
truly painful, passing through life as only half a complete person.
It was, I know it.  I watched your counterpart stumble through the
Abyss, unlike all the others there.  I took care of him, took care
of you, almost as if he were my very son, as you almost are.  Go now,
go to him.  I release you, but beware, for I know not what shall
happen when you meet.  The time has come for the final trial of my
handiwork."  And he stepped back, giving Quaeros free passage,
and gestured briefly.

	Drachnes stirred as the magical bindings fell away from his
body.  He stretched his wings and gazed into the clearing before him.
Kalakchik stood in the grasses, talking with a small figure which met
the description of the "elves" of this plane.  He felt a yearning, an
uncontrollable need to go to this creature.  Folding his wings behind
his back, he stalked out to greet the stranger.

	As the creature on the other side of the clearing walked
towards him, Quaeros approached it in turn.  He stopped a few feet in
front of it and stood, feeling the tug at the center of his soul.  He
reached out to it, and it reached out to him.  As he touched its hand,
he felt a numbing fire course down his arm, filling his very being
with strange painless burning.  His mind grew diffuse and expanded as
the energies binding him together began to unravel.

	Kalackchik watched the two constructs, one in demon form, the
other in elf form, approach each other and touch.  Their bodies
dissolved into a wind of raw energy which wound together, forming a
glowing vortex which spiraled twenty feet into the air.  It was truly
fascinating, a sight he had never expected, but such were the joys of
experimentation.  The discovery of the unknown.  Too bad he had had
only that one chance to try out his theories, but this trial was
developing beyond his expectations.  The vortex was shrinking now,
funnelling energy back down into solid form.  Suddenly, the vortex was
gone, and the body of the elven aspect, Quaeros, lay in the center of
the clearing.  Fascinating.  Apparently the body of the plane where
the joining took place was dominant.  That fit.  It was only too bad
he had not thought of bringing them together in a neutral plane, but
he probably would never have had the opportunity.  Now the only
question was whether the construct had retained its sanity.

	When Quaeros opened his eyes he was staring at the star-filled
sky above him.  The stars amazed him, for there were no stars in the
Abyss, and his amazement amazed him, for he had never been in the
Abyss.  Two sets of memories twisted about each other, each trying to
comprehend the other.  He felt whole, complete.  All though his lives,
he had been different from all of the others around him, but now he
had found himself.  He looked curiously down at his body, the body of
his Quaeros-memory, for half of him had never seen it before.  He
curled his fingers, watching his hand move.  He arose from the ground
and stood to face Kalakchik, his mentor/tormentor, who stared at him
with open interest.

	"I am whole, friend Kalakchik.  You have brought me together,
and I thank you for it."

	"It is good to hear you speak, friend Drachnes.  Or are you now
Quaeros?  Which part of your mind is dominant?"

	"Both.  So call me Quaeros, for that is who I am here."

	"You have seen the truth at last.  Will you now join me in the
destruction of those mortals with whom you have been traveling?  It
will be good to have you at my side when I take my appointed place in
the hierarchy."

	"No."

	"You refuse me?  I thought you to be my friend, Drachnes."

	"Drachnes is your friend, so I am your friend, but these
mortals you so casually condemn are the friends of Quaeros, and are
thus also my friends.  Do not force me to decide between you, at least
not yet."

	"Very well, although I am sure that you will soon see the
matter as I do.  You are much more my kin than theirs.  However, we
now seem to be at cross-purposes, for your companions represent a risk
to me."

	"I will go back to them and watch them.  Elanon is sorely
wounded, so they will not be interfering in anything for quite some
time.  I will even report their actions to you, on the condition that
no further action be taken against them for now.  Perhaps I can lead
them out of this conflict, or perhaps I will have decided on a course
of action by the time they are ready to travel once more."

	"I give you my word that they will come to no harm, as long as
you report their actions to me weekly.  I am also curious as to what
the exact effects of the joining are.  Simply call, and I will hear
you.  I will shortly be drawn back to my own plane, as the barriers
between that plane and this reassert themselves, but you, a native of
both, will remain as my agent.  Be true to me and I will reward you
greatly."

	"Farewell.  I must return."  Quaeros bowed slightly to
Kalakckik and walked back towards the camp.  The night noises filled
him with wonder, for they were new and strange and beautiful.  The
pleasure of finding a thing both familiar and novel sustained him as
he traveled through the wood, watching the play of the moonlight on
the forest floor.  The camp was not far, and he waved to Kyar as he
returned.  Kyar watched him suspiciously as crept back to his bedroll
and bowed his head in prayer.  Perhaps Ronkel could help settle the
mass of confusion which was his mind; Quaeros had taken much solace in
his dark deity before, so perhaps it could help now.  Unfortunately,
he could not focus his yet-divided mind, so he finally gave up and
went to sleep, trusting that the long stay in camp would give him time
to adjust to his new perspective.



[ADMIN: Well, this is probably the last post in the JOI thread for
quite some time, unless the few participants who still have net access
want to run short excursions while everyone else is away.  Would
anyone still around email me?  Maybe we can get something going.]


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Johann Hibschman                 |  When in trouble, or in doubt,
hibschmn@phoenix.princeton.edu   |  Run in circles, scream and shout.
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