The Parchment of Truths

My search has lasted for how many years now? I do not remember…

All I know is that I have been searching for her for a very long time, and now, I had her right before my eyes.

There she was, staring right at me, with her white-glowing eyes, as if I have invaded her realm. And an invader I felt, because my rugged clothes, and old weapons gave a sharp contrast, to her gorgeous cave. Like vermin, in the beloved Queen’s chamber. But like any vermin, my intention was never to harm, but rather to search, and live, if only, that is, I would live long enough to tell this story back to my masters.

Without a word, she raised her arm, her eyes ever staring at me, as if they looked not at me, but right into my soul. I thought that this will be the last sight I would ever see, but then, then she slowly lowered her arm to the side of me. Claws as large as my arm, white, pure, and in many ways indescribable, because that was her beauty, a beauty that defied words.

I raised my eyes back to hers and found her smiling, or at least that was what I felt, because a Dravian does not smile like us. Blanca was her name, a white dravian, and one of the eldest of them too. Her past goes way deeper into the years that would make my kin’s long lifetime look short indeed.

I stood still, not daring to speak, but rather looking at her features. A sleek jaw covered with thousands perfectly shaped white scales. On top of her feathered head, four straight horns, like a crown, displaying both menace and serenity at the same time. Her head gave down to a long neck and great wings of white and light grey feathers on her back. She smelled of purity, because that is the only word I could give to the way the air around her felt.

She spoke, in a kind, yet powerful voice.

“Do no longer fear, Deler. I do not usually appreciate visitors, but you, I know your soul. You know the dravians’ manners, and you sacrificed your strength long ago for the chance to speak to me.”

“Great Diviner Blanca…” I said, “Long I have searched for you, and that I lay my eyes on you, is already an accomplishment for me. That enough should be my great reward, but I would never sacrifice my strength. My power faded along with my age.”

“Ah Thelendos, a good balance of respect and pride. A rare thing amongst your kin, among any kin even. Don’t you think I knew of your coming? I did for long years now. An eager young ranger, with such an important mission cannot escape my divination for long.” She paused “You found me when I wanted to be found, and you knew that very well, didn’t you? For a long time now. You also knew that you needed to let your powers go before I give you what you seek. You could have turned back, and yet, you did not.”

We both looked at each other for a moment, and then, she spoke again.

“Ask me Deler, because you have been waiting very long for this moment to happen. Only that way you will know if I’ll give you what you seek or not.”

I looked down to the floor, feeling powerless. She already knew what I was going to ask for, yet for some reason I could not understand, she wanted me to give her that question just the same.

After a moment I looked back to her and started to word the story that has been on my mind since I began this mission. The story that would lead to my question.

“Us, Deleri have discovered a direct line to your kin, the Dravians. Even though there was a lot of speculation, the facts were there. None could have said otherwise. We descend from dravians…” She nodded and then I went on. “Our diviners captured a memory fragment from the link that joins our races, and it showed images of dravians waging war with strange giants. A brutal war, which would end only when one race or the other is extinct. The end of this memory showed that your race was victorious, and the Giants, decimated, had to flee from their own lands, leaving you to bury a city named Arkis.”

I paused and thought about what I was about to say next.

“Great Diviner, the old god’s title was The Fallen of Arkis, a name that carried on in our oldest texts. We believe that the dravians buried the city to hide something of great importance. Something that would help us stop the coming of the prophesised second War of Gods.”

I looked into her white eyes, with a renewed determination and continued, “It is foretold, the second War of the Gods is coming. The Gods will descend to our plain, and they will devastate it yet again! The signs that it is coming, are there. Manipulations, and rumours of demi-gods in the mortal’s plain. The Wardens increased their activity in response to this already. We cannot sit idly anymore!”

The Dravian, looked at me like a teacher would look towards her students, right before a scolding. I calmed my voice again. A Diviner of her calibre would not tolerate being told what to do.

“We seek to stop the second War before it even starts. Great Diviner Blanca, I seek knowledge about the burial of the city, because my masters believe that that ancient place holds the secret of the gods. Would you grant me that knowledge?”

The White Dravian smiled. “There is a lot you and your kin misunderstand, and there is a lot of things, in past and future that no one can change.”

She gave me a sad look that sent a shiver down my spine. Has she foretold my death, or even her own? Of course she did. She would be able to see the future as clear as I am seeing my surrounding right now. Then again, I was not sure of my surroundings myself. At the time, I quickly brushed out that thought.

She went on… “You cannot stop the coming of the Second War because it has already started. Although no devastation happened, there is no turning back, now -”.

My gaze dropped and without realizing, I whispered “Then I have failed my mission…”

Blanca gave me a quick glance and talked sharply. “Your mission was to find me and discover if the war can be prevented! The answer is that it is not possible!” She paused, and then went on with a renewed kind voice, “The prophecies say that the war will start with the capture of the Slayer. The slayer has already been captured, and nothing can change that.”

I nodded thinking of the prophesised Slayer, a fabled mortal, that would rise to power, and kill Gods. I always thought that a mortal killing gods is an impossibility, even though the Prophet of the Second War of Gods said so. But hearing it spoken by Blanca, the Slayer must exist for real. Is he the reason the Gods are acting chaotic once again?

Blanca continued, “I will give you the knowledge to end it. It is important that you pass on this knowledge in the hands of those that will need it, for else, the war will go on until our world is destroyed. Are you ready for the knowledge that I am about to give you, Master Ranger Thelendos?”

I nodded, speechless after what I heard. She nodded back, “Then sit down, you are weary of your travels, and will listen better if resting.”

I silently thanked her for her kindness and sat down. Then she came forward and laid herself next to me, placing her giant arm behind me, so that I could rest my back on it. I hesitated at first, but then decided to accept her offer. Dravians, they can show great rage, but also great affection, in situations when us smaller races would give neither of them. It gives me a smile and a feeling of warmth when I remember it… Right now, I wish that I could feel that warmth again more than ever.

“Long ago,” she said in a calm voice, “… long before my time, there was a race of giants called the Archnals. They cultivated a vast civilization all over Eshtar. Strong and arrogant, they believed that they ruled the lands and skies. Alongside of them existed the Dravians, not civilized as in your sense, but intelligent beyond many, even today. We were… we are… roamers, not builders. Great wielders of magic as it is now a days.

But for them we were nothing more than beasts and because of that we were hunted for flesh and trophies, to be hanged on their huge walls. Even worse, enslaved to be used as work beasts. A great number of dravians where decimated, and we never fought back, not because we were powerless, but because we are solitary creatures.

But then, a Great Red named Vetrosiz, banded all the dravians together and we started to fight back. We started to forge armour, to build defences, and when the archnals were not able to hunt us anymore, we started to attack them!

The war raged for millennia, dravians and archnals alike did not have a long life at that time. Millions died, until we forgot… we forgot the very reason we started this war. In the end though, the dravians closed on the last standing city of the archnals.”

“Arkis…” I interrupted. Everything led to that place.

She nodded, “Yes. The attack was swift! We breached their magical defences, their walls, towers and strange technologies. We attacked their city ruthlessly, slaying every one of them, but then, something strange happened. A bright light, so bright, that it blinded everyone around it. When the light faded, there was not one living to be found. Nothing but corpses, blood, and smoke.

In the centre of the city, there was a single, shattered crystal sphere. Underneath its huge setting was a tablet. It said Karn-Osbentei, the Sphere of Immortality in today’s tongues. It went on to read: This is the Sphere of Immortality. When the glass will shatter and the light will blind you, in the darkest hour, there will come salvation, there will come infinity. Changes imposed, and yet welcome. A great power, at a great risk. With that comes the way to correct to your sins.” She paused, then with an almost sad voice said, “That is how the giants won and lost the war, in the end …”

“They became immortal, they became gods. The same Gods we adore.” I said, piecing up the puzzle.

“All that got caught in the light, became gods.”, she continued, “They gave up this world, only to gain another one. Infinite in power, but like light, cannot exist with nothing to shine on. They too need others, mortals, to follow them and obey them, for them to remain existent. Only one material has power over that Essence, and that is the remains of Karn-Osbentei. Nothing else will allow us mortals to kill a god, Varchos, Temier, or otherwise…”

She stopped and looked upon me. I had thousands of questions, and yet, one was dominant.

“Where can I find these remains, Great Diviner?”

She smiled, as expecting no other question and said, “In our fury, us dravians wanted to harness those shards to use them against our enemy. Reach them in anyway and slay them. But the Elders were wiser than that. They read the Tablet and saw that the time to lay down the arms arrived, because we had a prophecy of our own you know. It said, When the Globe shatters and we will be blinded, objects of chaos will become objects of Balance. One race will teach it, one race will preserve it. Eternal enemies, and yet, enemies with the same aim.

Instead it was decided to bury the city, close it to all but four of the mightiest of dravians that still guard it to this day.”

She paused, looked at me directly in my eyes and then continued, “I do not know where Arkis is. Three shards where stolen though, before the burial was complete. You may know of them as the Dravian Shards…”

I knew of them, yes. Each of them dug out of long time collapsed dravian’s caves. One was found in Shaaran, but the Council claimed it cursed and gave it to Kemeria in exchange for countless goods. Another was found in Valthenia and claimed by the Old Kings as their own artifact of power, with it they taking the right to rule. The last one was found in Jat’ci, the rulers of the nation deciding to create a special order of monks to guard the shard.

“It won’t be an easy task to obtain them, Great Diviner.” I found myself interrupting. “No nation will give up the artifacts, and I am certainly no diplomat nor a warlord that can win the shards.”

She closed her eyes and pointed her head slightly away from me. Something changed, she talked to me, but it seemed something else grasped her attention now, “We all have a destiny Thelendos…” she told, in a slow and calm tone, “…and yours is bigger than handling a Shard. You are the teacher. Another must be the weapon… Now sleep… Rest and dream…”

My eyes started to feel heavy… I felt a warmth that I never felt before and will never feel again. I felt myself falling asleep and I could not help to do otherwise…

“Dream…” was the last word I heard and then, I dreamt…

I dreamt of cities devastated, dead bodies of giants and dravians. An overwhelming stench of blood and charred land… And then a massive valley, and within it a huge city, sieged from every side. Toppled walls and collapsed buildings. Thousands of corpses littered its once glorious streets… The same streets I was now walking. The battle raged between the giants and yet, everyone ignored me, as if I did not exist.

Looking up I noticed something about the mountains. I have been here before, standing in this same location, although everything around me was different, the mountains where not. I did recognize them. This view of the mountains, I have seen it in one place: Draviana, the bastion of the dravian kin. Rarely anyone who is not of their race has been in these lands. I only managed because I snuck into them in my early days of seeking an answer to my question.

Suddenly a loud cracking noise and right after a huge flash of light overcame everything. I covered my eyes and yet the light penetrated, blinding me. In panic, I tried to find a wall to grasp onto. I found one and stuck to it until my vision started to return.

When I looked back to the wall, I found out it was no wall at all. It was a huge white dravian, dying. The armour of the dravian was intricate and powerful. Yet it was pierced at the side by a huge now bent spear. The dravian himself, was fading out, as in disappearing, and small glitters of light floated out of his skin, and into the skies. Gazing around, the same was happening to all the living creatures I could see, injured or not. Confused looks onto their faces, they where not understanding what was happening to them. I looked back at the Dravian, seeing him fade and dissipate.

The creature slowly looked at me and spoke breathlessly in dravianic, and yet I understood him. “I… see you now, small one. I… I do not know your race, nor who you are… Yet I know that you will… meet one of my bloodline. I… know… that I… must tell you that… that this is the search’s end. Here is… what you seek…”. And with that he finally let out a lasting breath, closed his eyes and quickly faded out, leaving empty armour behind.

I woke up slowly, and fully rested. Blanca was nowhere to be found, and I knew deep inside that she left her lair. With words and dreams, she gave me the answers I sought for so long.

With a sigh I started to collect my things, and make haste back to my homeland, the Kingdom of Tren’ana. After all this time I was eager to report the news.

That was not my destiny though. After two days traveling in these cold mountains, I was attacked! Never before I was ambushed, and never before I felt such strength. The attack came out of no-where. All I felt was something, or someone grabbing me by the neck and then a sudden sharp pain into my side. My tefir guide, laid dead, face down into the snow… How could this have happened?

The attacker – or there were more? – ushered some words into my ears while digging his weapons deeper. I will write them here, along with the story I have learned. He said “Kall jernut Archna. Kall locaut Salttenuk!” and then, he left… Disappearing quickly as the attacker appeared…

I am now lying here… Blooded and with cold snow as my last bed… My mission was to learn of a way to stop the war and give back that information to those that need it…

I failed….

I… wish I… could feel her warmth again…