View source for Fire of Life, Part 1: Frozen Soul

[[Category:Bardic Merit Awards]][[Category:2004 Bardics]]
By: Flaerian
Posted on: July 30, 2004


"Any word from Aeron?"<br>
Floran looked up from his desk, half annoyed and half pleased to see an
intruder standing in the doorway of his study. The annoyance was pushed away
by the pleasure, however, when his mind caught up with his senses. The young
Tsol'aa woman before him was always a pleasant sight.<br>
"I'm sorry to say no, Tahnya. Although our intelligence team is even more
active then usual," he made a way gesture over a messy pile of letters and even
an odd journal, "I've received no news from Aeron."<br>
Tahnya sighed, and half turned to leave. She paused a moment, and then turned
back. "What're you working on these days, Floran? I haven't seen you outside
of the dormitory areas for a few months now."<br>
"Oh, I'm just trying to keep up with reports," he said offhandedly, before
rubbing his forehead in what he hoped looked like a display of exasperation and
exhaustion.<br>
"Reports? Come on, Floran. You can go through a year's worth of reports in a
day. What've you really been up to?"
Floran grinned at Tahnya, but said nothing.
"Oh come on," she persisted, "I'll find out sooner or later."<br>
"Then it'll be later," Floran said with a chuckle.<br>
"You're just becoming a grumpy old bore," Tahnya said, half believing it as she
walked out.<br>
Floran waited for the door to close behind her before turning back to his desk.
He picked up one of the more recent intelligence reports, and began reading.
Seconds passed, and he threw it down in annoyance – useless dribble was what
most of them were. He stood, and began pacing his study – a relatively small
room, dominated by a bookcase and his desk.<br>
It wouldn't be too bad, Floran thought, if Aeron would communicate with him
once in awhile. Aeron knew what he was doing – he was one of the few other
humans who worked for the Tower, and he certainly had a head on his shoulders.
Even if he hadn't actually heard anything, he would at least have some
theories.<br>
Floran sighed, and picked the report back up.<br>

‘Black cohosh and Kola nut prices continue to grow in the shops of Ashtan, and
many have taken to using a refined form of Gleam to further push back sleep,
which inevitably brings the dreams. Despite many such efforts, more and more
citizens in the Bastion are waking from their slumbers near death.
‘As of yet, there are no reported fatalities in the city attributed to the
frozen slumber, but gleam withdrawal is a common sight on the streets at this
time, as is death from an overdose of the drug.'

Floran continued reading the letter, but the rest was even more in concise then
the bit on the ‘frozen slumber'. The usage of the term annoyed Floran to no
end, yet it was being used more and more frequently by a growing number of
people. It was simply to vague, and people were going to panic unless someone
bothered to actually figure out what was happening.<br>
"Well, that's not my problem," Floran muttered. ‘At least not yet,' he
thought.<br>
"What's not your problem?"<br>
Floran turned from his desk for a second time, this time the annoyance beating
out the pleasure. Before him was a fellow human, and unlike the beautiful
Tahnya, Irgon was quite unsightly. It was more then that, though – he had once
liked this man, despite his appearance.<br>
"What do you want?" Floran snapped.
Irgon's faced twisted into what Floran guessed was meant to be a smile, but the
nature of the gesture was lost to the hellish arrangement of his face. "I know
what you've been up to."<br>
"Really? And I suppose you've come to brag about the fact that while I've been
entrusted with dealing with intelligence you're, what? Scrubbing pots?"<br>
"For your information, I'm in charge of our combat unit," Irgon said, his face
writhing into the lines of what one could theoretically call a grimace.
"Oh really? And who is that made up of? You and…?"<br>
Irgon spat on the floor, and left, the door slamming behind him. Floran sighed
in relief, and once more began pacing his study. He had thought that he had
been discreet – and really, there were only few things that could even possibly
be traced. Regardless, Irgon seemed to think he knew something.
Suddenly fed up with his surroundings, Floran left his study, slamming the door
behind him. He hadn't been out all day, and suddenly he was filled with
energy. The hallways were well lit, and he walked quickly. He passed doors to
his east and west as he walked north, until he reached the end of the hall.
There he reached up, and opened a small trap door.
Moments later Floran was standing outside, on the roof of the tower. The cold
mountain air further invigorated him, and he was filled with an energy he had
not known for some time. Walking to the roof's edge, he was annoyed to
discover that a dense fog blocked his view of the Aalen and beyond – on a clear
day one could see the ocean from the top of the tower.
Sighing, Floran looked down upon the world directly below him. A number of
people were moving about in the courtyard below, and with surprised he saw that
two were even practising with swords. One had the build of a troll, and the
other was definitely a satyr. He watched for a time, two tiny figures with
flashes of steel running between them.

<nowiki>*	*	*</nowiki>

The dining room was nearly empty, as Floran walked in. The few small groups
talking and eating there didn't notice as he walked in, and he made no attempt
to draw their attention to him. He walked briskly into the kitchen.
"Hello, Couke." He said, opening a pot and smelling its contents.
The squat grook cook spun around, and opened his mouth – a stinging comment
about the terrible things that happened to those who touched his food dieing on
his tongue.
"Floran? What're you doing down here?" he said.<br>
"Just getting a bite to eat," he said, ladling the contents of the pot into a
bowl. "Looks great."<br>
Couke's eyes grew to about twice their size in indignation, but before he
could revive the deceased comment, Floran had left to the dining room.
Upon his second entrance to the large chamber, Floran's presence was noticed.
"Hey Floran, Good to see you've descended from the Crypt!"<br>
Floran grinned, and made his way over to the table of the loud satyr, who had
shouted with a large piece of chicken in his mouth. Heads turned towards him,
and a few greeted him as he past.
"Good to see that I'm still not the only one who holds such a twisted
schedule," Floran said, sitting down.<br>
"Were always here," the satyr said with a chuckle.<br>
Floran talked for a time with the satyr, and a few others approached their
table, sitting down and joining the conversation. It was good to be among
friends again, Floran thought. After some time, however, his mind inevitably
drifted back to his study – which had been dubbed his Crypt by most of his
friends.
He talked for a little while longer, the surging energy that had filled him not
long before waning. Eventually he stood, gave some excuses of pressing work to
be done upstairs, and made his way back up to his study.

<nowiki>*	*	*</nowiki>

Days went by, and Floran's reports inevitably began to contain more and more
drivel on the ‘Frozen Slumber'. It was not that he didn't believe something
was happening, it was just that not one of his incompetent intelligence agents
had bothered to probe those who had actually encountered the reputably horrible
phenomenon. Instead, countless letters arrived, reporting the growing prices
of cohosh, kola, and even gleam.
Despite the lack of information that Floran actually wanted, he was able
ascertain that the number of people being affected by the slumber was growing.
As far as he could tell, Sapience's general populace had first taken note of
the slumber in Ashtan. Floran suspected, however, that it had originated
somewhere closer to Thera or the Black Forest, due to some vague, earlier
reports.

‘The Frozen Slumber, as it is now being called on the streets, seems to have
spread to all of the City-States,' one report read. ‘Although it is unknown
how the epidemic is spreading, the Priests have been studying its movement.
‘The Priests say that the ‘slumber' is not moving about through contagion, and
they have deduced that the cause is most likely magical in nature. The most
recent news is that they have begun working closely with the Magi to discover
the slumber's cause.
‘I have taken the liberty of speaking to someone who claims to have been
affected by the slumber. He seemed to be shivering, and despite an almost
constant application of a caloric salve, he could not stop. He said that he
had dreamt of a frozen wasteland, and then had stopped dreaming about it – he
was in the wasteland, and was freezing. Since he has woken up he has been
unable to stop shivering.
‘From what I can gather this was a most mild case – some have very narrowly
escaped a frozen death. Regardless, I shall be returning shortly. We must
begin the project.'

Floran smiled slightly as he began burning the letter. Although it was
unsigned, he knew the writer to be Aeron. Finally, things were beginning to be
set in motion.

<nowiki>*	*	*</nowiki>

"Cohosh?" Floran asked, offering the herb to Tahnya as he chewed one himself.
She shook her head, and Floran shrugged, returning the herb to his rift.
Weeks had passed since he had received the letter from Aeron, and there had
been no further news from him. Floran had long since descended from his study,
impatient and unable to tolerate the steady influx of reports.
The insomnia wasn't helping, either – not long after Aeron's report, someone
in the Tower had woken up shivering, and since then no one wanted to go to
sleep. It was inevitable, however, to rest eventually – the slumber grew worse
with each case.<br>
"You were saying," Tahnya said testily as she cut a piece of mutton, "That you
haven't heard from Aeron in quite some time?"<br>
Floran shook his head, "Not for months. And you asked, I didn't say
anything."<br>
The chatter going on around them was strained – the dining room was full
however, Floran was happy to be among people again. As he ate, he half
listened to Tahnya talk, but he was unable to focus. His mind was elsewhere.
"I've got to go," he said, standing.<br>
Tahnya had a fork halfway to her mouth, and she blinked as he began walking
away. "Wait," she said, but he was gone.<br>
Floran walked hurriedly upwards, stair after stair, floor after floor. He was
on the top floor, storming down the hallway. He reached up for the trapdoor.
"The dead returns to the Crypt?"<br>
Floran turned, and cursed. He clenched his fist, and resisted the urge to
punch Irgon in the face. "What do you want?" he asked.<br>
"Just thought I'd say hello," Irgon said, ignoring the anger that was obvious
in Floran's voice.<br>
"Well say it, and get out of here,"<br>
"Hello. Would you please stand aside now? I'm going up to the roof."<br>
Floran cursed, and pulled the trapdoor open.
Irgon gave his twisted smile. "You'll be joining me, then?"<br>
A thick barrier of cloud covered the sky, but Floran felt better just being in
the open – despite Irgon's presence. He spent a moment clearing his head,
allowing the cool air to blow away his stress before walking to the edge of the
tower, pointedly ignoring Irgon. It took Floran only a moment to focus;
although he had thought it would be much more of a challenge to utilize
abilities he had long ago stopped using.
Floran blinked – his farsight had to be wrong.
"Where are you going?" Ingor asked, his eyes narrowing as Floran opened to
trapdoor back down to the hallway.<br>
"The living aren't confined to the Crypt, Irgon. Just visiting."<br>
Across the hallway, down the stairs, across another hallway, another set of
stairs. Floran picked up speed as he went, almost running flat out by the time
he reached the ground level. He dashed through the foyer, and out into the
courtyard where he looked wildly around.<br>
"Hello, Floran." He spun around to see Aeron dismounting from his horse.

<nowiki>*	*	*</nowiki>

"What, in the names of the Gods, took you so long?"<br>
They were in Floran's study, Aeron sitting on the room's sole chair, Floran
pacing back and forth.
"I got sidetracked in Cyrene, and then in Caer Witrin," Aeron said with a
mocking smile, "It's a nice town. Have you been there before?"<br>
"You know I haven't left the Tower for years. Most of us haven't. What in
the name of the Logos were you doing in Caer Witrin? You know better then to
fool around on the job. Especially when people – when I am waiting for you."<br>
Long days of insomnia caught were rapidly catching up with Floran, and he was
steadily feeling more and more irritable.
"I heard a certain flower there – I wanted to see if it had any connection
with this ‘slumber' that's plaguing Sapience."<br>
"And?"<br>
"Nothing. It wouldn't have added up, anyway."<br>
"I'm happy that you're satisfied," Floran said sarcastically.<br>
Aeron leaned forward, suddenly serious. "I see that you've been dosing
yourself with cohosh. There's no need."<br>
"What, by Sartan's spit, do you mean?"<br>
"I mean that you are immune."<br>
"And why is that?" Floran asked, biting his tongue before uttering some choice
insults.<br>
"You're human, that's why."<br>
Floran blinked. "What?"
"I was in Ashtan when we first got a report of the slumber. It was written
off as a nightmare or a prank. When a few others fell victim, however, I began
paying closer attention. The problem is that people are so bloody uncaring
about race – were so used to living together that you don't really think about
saying ‘this guy is a troll' or whatever when you're just talking.
"I always looked into someone if I had heard that they had been hit by the
slumber, however. And I kept records. Pretty soon I began to notice that
there were just no humans among the list of victims.
"When everyone started emptying shops of cohosh and making the Forestals
richer, I decided to save a sovereign or two, and test my theory."<br>
"And you're not shivering yet. Good sign." Floran said.<br>
"Yeah. So get some sleep. I'm not going to deal with you when you're like
this."<br>
Floran needed no further urging. He walked out, and headed for his room.

<nowiki>*	*	*</nowiki>

"Get out of my kitchen!"<br>
Aeron ducked, narrowly dodging a ladle. "Calm down, Couke! I'm just getting a
bite."<br>
"You want a bite? Wait until I serve a bite! Get out! Out!"<br>
Aeron dodged another flying object. This one, however, shattered and neatly
sliced into his arm.
"Okay, I'm going!" He said, hurrying out of the kitchen.<br>
Aeron looked around the dining room, unnerved by the complete silence. The few
people present were sitting like some sort of Jester contraption about to go
off. Producing a piece of mutton and some fruit from within a pocket of his
shirt, he began eating even while he made his way up to Floran's study.
Aeron was not surprised by the fact that the study was empty, as Floran would
probably be asleep as of yet. As such, Aeron sat down at his friend's desk and
began organizing reports.
"Still a mess," he muttered, wondering at how Floran managed to keep track of
which items had been read.
Disgruntled by the obvious impossibility of organizing the reports, Aeron began
reading them. Most of them, he decided, were useless drivel.
"Why is Floran having these people paid?" he muttered.<br>
For quite awhile Aeron read reports, almost all of them containing information
that he already knew, most of them repeating what most every other report said.
After quite awhile, he came to a report that caught his attention.<br>
"What are you up to, Aeron?"
Aeron spun around, and was relieved to see that it was Floran standing in the
doorway. "Catching up on your reports, it seems."<br>
"You know everything that's on those," Floran said, disgust written plainly on
his face.
"Not everything," Aeron held up the report that he had just found. "This is
new."<br>
Floran took the report, and scanned it quickly. "By the Gods," he swore.
"Its bad – we should get over there." Aeron nodded
"People are dieing, Aeron! This isn't just some joke anymore."<br>
"Not people, Floran. Person. True, it will probably only get worse, but
someone has to do something."<br>
"You're right. Sorry, I guess I'm still kind of tired." Floran scanned the
letter once again. "It seems like everything is beginning in Ashtan. We
should head there first."<br>
"Sounds like a plan. Suit up, and meet me on the roof when you're ready."
As Aeron left, Floran walked over to his bookcase. He began pulling books
down, until he found a small key in the back. He then unlocked a small
compartment on the bottom of his desk.
The sword that fell out was getting old, but it still had some months of
usefulness in it, and the shield was much newer. It was the kitbag that Aeron
grabbed first, however. He opened it, and examined each of the vials within.
Satisfied, he pocketed each vial, grabbed his sword and shield, and headed for
the roof.
"I've been working hard," he told Aeron upon clambering through the trapdoor,
"On making contact with the magi guilds in all of the City-States."<br>
"Any luck, then?" Aeron asked, turning from the view at the edge of the tower.
"Limited with the Warlocks, but were not going to Mhaldor, are we? The
Sorcerers have agreed to assist me at a moment's notice, provided I keep
sending them pearls."<br>
"Does anyone know about you contacting the outside like that?"<br>
"Irgon claims he knows something, but that imbecile will say anything to get
on my nerves. I doubt that he knows anything."<br>
"Right. Ready to break some rules?"<br>
"Always."<br>
Moments later, a portal opened. They stepped through and found themselves in
Ashtan.

<nowiki>*	*	*</nowiki>

Two days spent wandering around Ashtan and the surrounding area gave Floran
and Aeron no new information. Deaths continued to take place, but they were
not discussed – death is not such a difficult thing to deal with, after all.
On the third day, they were wandering through the marsh south of Ashtan.<br>
"I say we head south and check out the Black Forest later on," Aeron was
saying, "We can talk to Seasone, see if she knows anything, and then head down
as far as the Rock."<br>
"What about Thera?" Floran asked.<br>
"I spent some time in Thera a month or so ago. I didn't find anything
particularly interesting, but I guess we should go at some point. After were
done to the south?"<br>
"Sounds good," Floren replied, but then stopped dead in his tracks. He held
up a hand, gesturing for Aeron to stop.<br>
"What?" Aeron whispered after several seconds of silence.<br>
Floran in the direction of the road, "There are three Paladins in that
direction," he whispered. "They're blocking the road to Ashtan."<br>
Aeron nodded. He had encountered several such events similar to this
commotion over the past months – ever since Ashtan began its attempt to summon
the Spawn.
"A few citizens of Ashtan just showed up," Floran said, his brow furrowed in
concentration. "They have a couple of orphans with them."<br>
"I want to go check this out, Floran." Aeron said, and began making his way
to the road. A few moments later, Floran followed.<br>
When they arrived at the road, the Paladins and the Ashtani were in the midst
of battle. It was a short and brutal battle – the Paladins triumphed over the
Ashtani, separating their souls from their bodies with only one loss.<br>
"Come on," Floran whispered to Aeron – they were as of yet unnoticed, and
Floran wanted it to stay that way.<br>
"Wait, look." Aeron was staring wide-eyed at the remaining two Paladins. They
were shivering wildly. One approached the body of his fallen comrade and
gathered it up in his arms. Seconds ticked by, and he adjusted his hold.
Nothing happened.<br>
Suddenly, the air around the still present souls of the dead began hardening
into a white frost. The Paladins backed off, obviously extremely cold. More
frost appeared, and it began hardening into a shell around each soul. Within
seconds, all that remained was disfigured ice sculptures.
All who were both present and alive stood stock-still, shocked by what had
just taken place. Before they could even begin wondering what had happened,
the ice melted. There were no souls beneath the ice.
Seconds ticked by. The two paladins gathered up the orphans and quickly left.
Aeron and Floran simply stood there, amazed.<br>
"It looks like there's more going on then just cold dreams," Floran said.<br>

To be continued.