Before the Trial of Rebirth

By: Requa Posted on: May 23, 2010

"I'm not going to let you become an adventurer, Ilya."

Her blue eyes brimming with tears, Ilya gazed imploringly at her father. "But Father! Sheni and Tobias are both going to the Trial of Rebirth tomorrow! They're going to see the world, and do wonderful deeds, and bring fame to our village. Don't you want that for me?" she pleaded.

Athias sighed and rubbed his face wearily with one hand, his stentorian expression softening as he looked at his blue-eyed, golden haired daughter. "Ilya, you're only 18. You've hardly ever set foot out of this village. You haven't seen the things I've seen, the things I know those who call themselves 'adventurers' are capable of doing."

Standing up, he paced slowly around the wooden table, the candlelight flickering as he passed. "They're all the same, these adventurers. They slaughter innocent villagers in the name of getting stronger, and the minute the village begins to heal from the carnage, they come back and do it all over again."

His tone hardened, and Ilya stiffened slightly. "Even those who profess to save the innocents, serve Good, are no better. They only stay away from those that have been fortunate enough to receive the 'innocent' label - if you're not 'innocent' enough for the Church, well then, you're free game. And even then, there are those of the Church that could care less who falls before them if they think they can get away with it!"

Athias's abrupt change in tone startled Ilya, who gazed wide-eyed at her father as he whirled to face her. "Is this really what you want to be a part of, Ilya? Do you want the blood of thousands of innocent villagers on your hands in the name of progress? Is this the price you're willing to pay for fame and glory?" he asked angrily.

Ilya's bottom lip trembled. "I...I..." Unable to meet her father's gaze, she looked down, and found herself unconsciously tracing the light scars on her wrist.

Remembering why she had wanted to become an adventurer, she looked up again, and there was a renewed sense of purposeness in her voice. "Maybe some adventurers are like that, but not all of them are, Father." Ilya held up her wrist, the scars barely visible in the candlelight.

"I may not have seen all of what adventurers are capable of, but I've seen a bit of what they can do. What I could do. If it weren't for adventurers, I'd still be trapped in those..those horrible caves with those awful Gnolls..." Athias flinched as she blinked back tears at the long-suppressed memory.

Gaining courage, she lifted her chin stubbornly. "All I want to do is repay that favour. If someday I can rescue someone else who was just like me, then I'll consider my life's work worth it," she said quietly.

"I'm not a child any more, Father. You say I have never been out of this village..well, then let me go. Let me experience the outside world, for only then can I understand the evils of the world you speak of, and mayhaps even discover good that you have not been privy to."

Athias opened his mouth to speak, but Ilya cut him off. "You can't stop me from going, Father," she said with a note of finality.

Anger and sadness warred within Athias's heart, the conflict clearly written across his face. "Nothing I can say will change your mind, then? Even though you know the cost of becoming one of -them-?"

Ilya took a deep breath, and nodded resolutely. "My mind is set, Father." Her expression softened, and she looked at him pleadingly. "I would not have us part like this...please try to understand."

"No, Ilya." She shrank back at his curt tone even as he strode to the door, throwing it open. Pausing with his hand on the doorknob, a flash of deep sadness crossed his face as he turned to look back at her, suddenly seeming years older. "It is you who does not understand."

As Athias slammed the door shut, the subsequent gust of wind extinguished the candle flame, leaving Ilya sitting alone in the darkness.

Dawn was just breaking as Ilya struggled up the top of a grassy hill in the Sangre Plains, a cool breeze tousling her dark gold locks as it blew past. Finally reaching the top, she paused for a moment to catch her breath, admiring the pink and gold hue of the lightening sky as the solstar gradually spread its rays to all corners of the world.

"Ilya!"

She turned just in time to feel the full-blown impact of a young female Mhun colliding into her at top speed, the force of the collision bowling them both over onto the ground.

Giggling happily, the Mhun threw herself onto Ilya and hugged her so tightly she was gasping for air. "Ilya! I thought you weren't going to make it and I would be stuck alone with Tobias for the whole long trek!" she exclaimed.

A blonde-haired Human appeared over the crest of the hill, a broad grin on his face. "I heard that, Sheni!"

Laughing at her friends' antics, Ilya finally managed to extricate herself from Sheni's grip. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

Out of breath, Sheni threw herself down beside Ilya, sweeping her long, dark braids over her shoulders. "I heard your father didn't want you to go, Ilya. Did he finally say yes then?"

The Tsol'aa looked away, her blue eyes sad. "We didn't really part on the best of terms."

Tobias walked over and gave Ilya a comforting hug, wrapping her up in his strong arms. "Hey, he'll come around sooner or later. I mean, what better way to help the world than to become an adventurer? Certainly staying in Petra and rotting away isn't going to do anyone any good."

Ilya nodded slightly, returning the hug. "Well, let's not ruin this momentous occasion by talking about sad things. After all, we're about to start a journey of a lifetime!"

Picking up her pack, she slung it over her shoulder and looked back at her friends. "Come on. We've got a long way to go if we're going to reach Thera by noon!"

Sheni groaned. "But this grass is so soft and the sky is so pretty and-hey! Hey! Put me down!"

Laughter rang across the plains as a grinning Tobias ran past Ilya, balancing an indignant, struggling Sheni over his shoulder.

For the moment, the world was at their feet.

"So where exactly are we heading, Sheni?"

The young Mhun was poring over a piece of yellowed parchment, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Give me just one second, I can't figure this out with all your yelling!"

Rolling his eyes at Ilya, Tobias sat down next to Sheni and peered over at the map she was holding. "Wow, it looks like someone split mead over Mhaldor and half of Central Wilderness seems to be forever lost to the Sea of Chocolate and Cream."

"Hey, if you don't like my map, don't read it!" said Sheni in an affronted tone as she snatched the map away. "It was the best I could do for fifty sovereigns, and even then Jiayle would only give it to me if I ran all the way to that bar in Ashtan for that special jambalaya she likes so much. It took me a full three hours!"

"We'll take what we can get, Sheni," said Ilya, twisting her hair into a long braid like the Mhun's to keep it out of her face. "Any idea where we are now?"

Sheni traced a long finger over the faded drawings. "It looks like we're just about to leave the plains now, and get onto the road that leads to Ashtan. We don't want to go north to Ashtan, though, we want to keep heading south until we reach Thera. Supposedly..someone will meet us there.." She gazed uncertainly at her two friends, chewing her bottom lip.

"I've heard rumours that an old crone is supposed to meet you there and lead you to the Flame," said Tobias. His green eyes turned thoughtful. "Do you think it'll hurt much, going into the Flame? I burnt my hand once when I was helping Mother with dinner, and it wasn't pretty.."

Ilya rubbed her slender arms nervously, imagining herself being consumed in a fiery inferno. "Well, we won't ever know if we don't get moving." Shielding her eyes from the bright sun, she looked up towards the sky, trying to gauge the time. "It looks like we're three hours short of midday. Come on, we don't have much time."

"What are you doing here, Cesline?! There's too many of them! Go back! Take Ilya somewhere safe!"

"She's fine, she's with Estell! They need me out here, Athias! They don't have enough Magi for a Cataclysm! I'm just going to help imbue the crystals, then I'll go home. I promise!"

"Wait! Cesline, come back!"

Deathsense tingles. Red-flooded vision. So much blood.

An unearthly scream - whose?

His mouth.

His scream.

Bursting through the crowd.

A Tsol'aa's head piked under the Zarathustran Eagle.

Blank staring eyes. Gaping mouth.

Blonde hair streaked blood red.

"CESLINE!!!"

He shot up, gasping, flailing, eyes wide and staring, until he realised that it had just been a nightmare.

The same nightmare he'd been having for ten years.

Tears flooded Athias's dark eyes as he gazed over at the miniature portrait of a beautiful, smiling Tsol'aa standing upon his bedside table.

"Cesline..why didn't you listen to me?"

He picked up the portrait, caressing it gently. "She's gone too, Cesline. She doesn't know..she went to be an adventurer, too. I couldn't stop her..."

He thought of his daughter, trudging her way towards Thera. "She really wants to be an adventurer, the foolish girl. I guess it's in her blood, eh?" he smiled humourlessly.

A gleam caught the corner of his eye, and he looked towards the cupboard in the corner of the room. One door had swung open, and the sunlight streaming in from the window glanced off something with a metallic sheen.

He looked at Cesline's portrait again. "I guess if being an adventurer is her destiny, I can at least make sure she gets there safely, eh?"

The Tsol'aa's smile never changed.

The small party made their way uneventfully through the plains, occasionally sneaking quietly past a grazing buffalo so as not to startle it.

After some time of walking through wide open fields, their feet finally stepped upon hard, well-trodden dirt, and Ilya knew that they had hit the Prelatorian Highway.

"Well, it looks like we're close," said Sheni as she folded up the map and stuffed it in her pack. "All we have to do is follow this south, and it should lead us to Thera."

Turning to Tobias, Ilya noticed that he had a frown on his face. "Something wrong, Tobias?" she asked.

He pondered for a minute. "I just don't like the look of those foggy areas around the path. They look dangerous..and did you notice it actually seems harder to breathe now?"

Sheni inhaled deeply, ending with a splutter and choke as she tried to regain her breath. "I'd know that stench anywhere..those are the infamous bogs around Ashtan. Don't put a foot off the path, or you'll lose your way and either be swallowed up by the bog, or eaten by a bog hound," she warned.

Ilya shivered slightly, then remembered that she had packed some rope before she left home. "I have an idea. We should tie ourselves together so that we all stay in a group and nobody gets lost," she suggested, taking the length of rope out from her pack.

Tobias nodded approvingly as he took one end of the rope and began to wind it around his waist. "Good idea. I'll go last, and Sheni can go first."

"Me?! But why??" Sheni exclaimed. "I don't want to go first into that thing!"

"Sheni, we're about to be adventurers, you can't get cold feet now," Tobias stared at her sternly as he tightened the knot around his waist. "Besides, for one you have the map, and secondly you're the only one who's been anywhere near here before."

"Besides, Sheni, we'll be right behind you," Ilya said soothingly as the Mhun picked up the rope, grumbling under her breath.

"Nothing's going to happen."

The fog thickened with each step they took deeper into the bog, making it very slow going as visibility was reduced to a mere few feet in front of them, and the acrid odour made it increasingly difficult to breathe.

"Can't you go any faster, Sheni?" Tobias coughed. "It's getting harder to breathe back here."

"No, Tobias, I can't go any faster unless you want me to walk straight into the bog," she hissed in response. "It's hard enough feeling the path under you without being rushed, thank you very much!"

"Don't let's fight and just concentrate on getting out of here," said Ilya, looking about herself nervously as she readjusted her grip on her pack. "I don't like this place."

The group travelled further and further into the bog, unaware of the eyes tracking their every move.

"Uh, we may have a problem..."

"Don't joke around, Sheni, this is no time for games."

"No, I'm serious..." the Mhun gulped. "I don't think we're on the path any more...the ground doesn't feel solid at all."

"Okay, that's okay," said Ilya, trying to keep her voice calm. "Let's just backtrack and hopefully we can find-"

"I, uh, don't think backtracking is an option," said Tobias in an unsteady voice.

"Why not?" asked Ilya, trying to peer around him.

"Because I don't think they're going to let us pass."

A low growling began, increasing in volume as shapes moved slowly through the gloom. As the the three youngsters huddled together for comfort and protection, one shape emerged from the fog, dripping chunks of swampland to reveal a skeletal, dog-like animal with an elongated snout and twin rows of sharp yellow teeth. It advanced slowly towards them, growling loudly, and the stench rolling off it was almost unbearable.

"That...is a bog hound," Sheni whispered, terror in her voice. "What are we going to do? We don't know how to fight yet!"

"Maybe we can outrun it," whispered Tobias urgently.

All thoughts of escaping, however, soon vanished when three more bog hounds materialised out of the gloom, cutting off any escape routes.

As the pack advanced, Ilya knew they were doomed. She thought only of her father, and closed her eyes as she prayed to the Gods that one day he would be able to forgive her.

"Ilya!"

Her eyes flew open just in time to see another shape burst through the gloom, startling the bog hounds as it crashed into their midst. The tall figure was humanoid, wearing a suit of rusty but serviceable fullplate armour, and wielding two wicked-looking scimitars. Their saviour's dark hair looked surprisingly familiar...

"Father?!"

Without warning, the bog hounds launched themselves at the party, and even as Ilya, Tobias and Sheni cringed, Athias fended them off by swinging his scimitar in a wide arc, slashing the hounds and wounding two severely.

Unwilling to give up, the hounds attacked again, and Athias threw his body in front of them, acting as a shield between the hounds and the open-mouthed youths as he battled the hounds furiously.

Numerous slashes and jabs later, four bog hounds lay dead at their feet. Athias himself was injured, but not severely, and he coughed apologetically at Ilya as she bandaged his wound with a strip of cloth torn from her skirt.

"Your old man's a little out of practice, I'm afraid, but I suppose I didn't do too badly."

"Thank you for saving our lives, sir," said Sheni shyly, apparently awed by Athias's exertions.

"That was incredible! Where did you learn to do that, sir? Were you once an adventurer?" asked Tobias eagerly.

"Yes, where did you learn to do that?" repeated Ilya as she gazed evenly at her father, who looked away.

"I was once a Runewarden of Ashtan, and your mother was an Ashtani Magi as well. She...she was killed by a raiding party that invaded Ashtan after she left home to help the Ashtani forces spin a Cataclysm," he said quietly, pain in his voice.

"After her death I gave up adventuring and settled down in Petra with you, thinking to keep you safe. But trouble always seems to find you, doesn't it...first getting kidnapped by Gnolls, then trying to get to the Trial and getting attacked by bog hounds.." he smiled wanly.

"That explains so much..." Ilya trailed off, digesting the information. She returned his wan smile. "I'm sorry for arguing with you earlier, Father. But it seems adventuring is in my blood. Even if you would try to keep me safe, trouble would find me anyway. The least I can do is learn how to handle it."

"I know," he said simply. "I came to make sure you had safe passage to Thera."

Sheni and Tobias smiled as Ilya beamed with delight and threw her arms around Athias, who returned the hug enthusiastically, glad to have his daughter safe.

"Here we are then..north of the town of New Thera."

Ilya peered around at the dusty junction, noting the trampled, flattened grass at the edges of the road. "This is it?"

"Doesn't look like much," said Sheni, disappointed. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"It should be..." Tobias said uncertainly.

As they were gazing about themselves, unsure how to proceed, a wizened old crone came tottering up to them, leaning heavily on a staff. "So you are the new meat then?" she cackled, eyeing them up and down in turn.

They stared back at her, momentarily dumbstruck.

"What's the matter?" asked the crone. "Can't you SAY your NAME?"

Ilya turned her head to look at her father, who smiled softly and nodded his head slightly in encouragement.

She turned back to look at the crone, who was waiting expectantly.

"Ilya."

And so it began.