When the Revelation Comes

By: Aereon Posted on: March 31, 2008

I turned in sleep's embrace, struggling to escape its grip. The maddening laughter grew broader, turning into a dissonant chorus of noise. Images appeared before me: there was an angel, a white-haired angel turned away from me. Her soul was white, but her visage was twisted. There was a betrayal, an apostasy, and then a void. A black, bottomless void that I sunk into. Abruptly, colored lights, spinning, images of the world that were somehow twisted, altered...

A sudden shriek shocked me into consciousness, and, bewildered, I glanced at my location. Above me, the twisted visage of Euterpe gleamed at me, a daegger poised at her lips, as if to silence my scream. Discordant, screeching chirps filled the canopy above me; colors, bright and pulsating, caused my stomach to churn. I inhaled, closed my eyes, and began to silently pray.

Unwillingly, the afterglow of the dream shuddered into reality. The deluge of colors faded into happy shades of pink and yellow; the birds above quieted, chirping lightly amongst themselves. And Euterpe, flute at her lips, hid a smile behind her soft eyes. I exhaled slowly, my head still reeling from the nightmare. It had been occurring for some months now, but, ever since my birthday in Sarapin, its vividness had grown dramatically.

It was early Daedalan, 476 AF, and the talk in Cyrene buzzed with the recent Chaotic events. The rifts in the Ithmia and Mojave were reported being the same, but they seemed to be effecting the surrounding life. I knew that these dreams, whatever they were, were somehow connected to these happenings. I had been dreading it; afraid to know what was beyond them. "Maybe," I thought, "if I just see these things, find this reckless energy, I will be free from the corrupting force..." I decided to find the rift in the Mojave for myself. From Euterpe's garden in Cyrene, I returned to the comfort of my grove on the edge of the Aalen Forest. Channeling the four elements, I summoned fourth some basic defenses to protect me from what I might encounter in the Mojave desert and beyond. With the summoned the strength of the Viridian to strengthen my body, I began to feel healthier, and my thinking became clearer. I knew that these defenses wouldn't do much good against the savage power of Chaos. "It warps all it touches..." I murmured, "spitting out mutated things fools call Creation. I'll find my curse: I'll fight it. But... what if it... twists me?" I headed back towards Cyrene and the subsequent desert, crossing Lake Muurn with the help of my water weird. Reluctantly gliding across the water, I stopped near the beach, watching the icy winds disrupt the shore's composure. Glancing to the southwest, I pondered the haunting notion. "Is this right?" I asked myself. I let out a cold sigh and thought. The setting sun, Mithraea's own, spilled a somber, but beautiful, hue to the lake. Pinks, yellows, reds, blues... splashing together in perfect harmony. They were the colors of peace and concord, a time far away and long forgotten. Then, in the lake, a soft splash! The colors disrupted briefly by a fish, their ripples spreading outward before vanishing where the eye could no longer see. Although disturbed, the lake quickly composed itself, and its colors shimmered right, in mellowness, once more. And so I thought to myself, "Chaos impacts everything in Creation by constantly warping it... But, through Order, can Chaos be thwarted and reversed..." I finally understood why I would go. I could never doubt the power of Creation to restore itself. I headed straight for the desert; nothing would stop me.

The Vashnar mountains to the south and west cast a long, cold shadow across the desert before me. In the dim light, a wild spectacle of lights shown far in the distance. No true distinction could be made, and I continued through the stony outer Mojave. As the sun's final rays disappeared beyond the mountains, the wintry temperature began to fall rapidly. Aside from my own crunching steps, an occasional rock would pop, causing me to jump in fear of a rogue snake. But, then, a hum... emanating somewhere. I stopped and listened closely. Aside from the crackling rocks, there was an offbeat tune, a hum unnatural to anything I'd heard. Its deep resonation called from some dunes to the northeast, and ascending them, I saw the rift in the distance. I approached, entirely entranced by the lights, with no regard of my surroundings. The song, soft at first, grew into complex harmonies. Such a beautiful tune, these chords against each other, echoing into eternity. A dull roar jolted me back into my senses. A mother monitor lizard was just before me, guarding her nest the best she could. Blood seeped from open woods, and I assumed a hyena had attacked her. However, I soon realized that this was no attack. Though it was dark, I could see her limbs were mutilated stumps that constantly bled. Bone protruded through parts of her back; she was in constant pain. Scarcely able to defend her eggs and herself, she would never survive the night. "Such a merciless, blind force..." I thought to myself, a quiet sting in my eye. The light caught my attention again. It was closer and brighter, taunting me to its cause. I descended into a ravine towards it, but, as I ascended, the light was suddenly gone. The black night chilled me with an eerie breeze, Ourania's rising moon obscured by clouds. I staggered helplessly towards the light's original location. Suddenly, a queer scent permeated the air, some sort of fruit, but not the common pomegranate. I walked slower, trying to distinguish what it was. As the breeze faded, and cloud cover pushed off, the moon illuminated what I hadn't seen.

A massive, white marble pyramid was bathed in pure moonlight before me, blocking the light from the rift a short distance beyond it. Confused, I stumbled backwards, its inviting, sandless steps haunting me. I stopped. "No!" I shouted to myself, "I shall to encounter this, too; I can overcome all through faith!" I began to murmur a short, simple prayer, "O, Lady Tarah, guide me with Your steady hand, that Harmony and Compassion might find a way, through creation, to keep me safe in this blight." I hesitantly stepped onto the first steps of the pyramid, rubies and emeralds sparkling wildly in the moonlight. After a few more shaky steps, the pyramid evened off to a short tier. Here, a dismal void, a black, circular hole had been cut into the tier. Living, warm air flowed from this hole with the unmistakable smell of fresh apples. The smell intoxicated me, and a dreamy state masked my senses. A quiet conversation grew in my ears. Soft chuckling, talking, the clanking of glasses... all beneath the immortal, low pitched hum. The void brightened, there was an image... a group of people, sitting calmly in a living room, sipping champagne and having hors d'oeuvres. "It's a dinner party." I thought, "I must be late! I do hope Monty brought his cheese..." I walked in, smiling. "Sorry I'm la-"

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In a sick blackness, I spun in all directions, but none. I plummeted, hitting a world of experience at every new level. The soft chatter of the party turned into that of hundreds, in every imaginable language; the sound was unbearable. Strange images, and shapes appeared; grass took roots, formed fields, spread, and died. I could hear the earth groan. A mountain was pushed up from the ground, but then eroded into nothing but cobbles. The sounds of a distant ocean roared near in my brain. So primal! Suddenly, the chatter roared into screams, and blinding, flashing lights that made a rainbow seem bland gouged into my eyes. At the peak of this confusion, I lost consciousness...

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I woke up, ill and stiff, the suffocating scent of old apples upon me. My eyesight was skewed, blurred from the afterglow of the tremendous lights. I could make out portals all around me, many to locations that seemed so bizarre I hoped that my eyes had failed me. I was confused by this room, but, luckily, one of the forest portals looked like the Ithmia. I stumbled for it. As I fell through, I caught a glimpse of a seed. It hung in midair in the center of the room, the only thing I could see with perfect clarity. I landed in a dark forest, realizing it must still be night. I returned to what I assumed was my grove, and fell into a deep, restorative sleep.

I woke up in Xorani form, lying in a stranger's grove in the Northern Ithmia. I glanced around at my limbs, my eyes seeing sharply. I felt so rejuvenated, I knew I must have slept for several days. A few sunbeams broke through the branches overhead. It was dawn. I felt so alive, having faced what plagued me so. In my sleep, my dreams were, for the first time in months, peaceful. With this new lifeblood racing through me, I set out on a new mission, heading over to Forest Watch to deal with the zombie lord, who plagued the area with his evil. I channeled the four elements, strengthened my skin like bark, and called upon the Viridian to wreathe myself with powerful vines. I cast an aerial to get over the fortress' broken gate, calling down to the dryad Kalishah with a promise that her brethren will someway be restored. I landed outside a hidden entrance and, upon entering, was immediately assaulted by two evil buckawns. Battle with these beasts, as always, was sharp and quick, their dirks piercing into my flesh. My thorny vines thwarted them, though, and my spirit soared with righteousness. I made my way, finally, to the throne room of the Forest Watch fortress. The zombie lord cackled, ready to do battle before a quick flash of light stopped us. We both gazed to the wide window in the east, the sun shining merrily. But then, rising above the sun, a another flash of rainbow light and a visage. Eris, the Goddess of Chaos Herself floated in the sky, a fell shape below her. I panicked, shouting, "Impossible, She was trapped!" In an instant, She plunged her hand into this figure and it began to fade. She, writhing in an ecstasy of Chaotic light, smiled in a way that sickened me. Her power was so great, I could feel it in my chest as She grew to an immense size before vanishing into the sky.

Shocked, I dashed from Forest Watch and into the Ithmia where I could return to my grove. I sat in anomie. A buzz came in my head; the talk in Cyrene was persistent and evident. The seal had been broken and left with a bottomless well. Answers were just freshly coming out, but I couldn't understand them. The true revelation had just begun, as, too, did my true nightmare.