Eukara Vox
Legendary AdventureGuide!
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Visiting Darkness
by Eukara Vox
The unity behind their gathering around Samak was heartwarming. A fallen comrade, a brave soul... and she drew on their concern as she watched his breathing steady. She looked upon him, her heart heavy knowing that he was willing to give so much to get them home. Everyone of them, such pure hearts, such noble men and women who called her leader, she often thought she didn't deserve them at all.
The portal has never behaved this badly. Eukara broke her vigilant watch over Samak, her eyes lingering on the spot where the portal had spit them out. She could still see the residual magic left behind: a wavering trace of darkness and light. Her watchful gaze returned to Samak. Laying a hand on his chest, Eukara closed her eyes and envisioned an outline of his form, pulling energy into it, gradually making it grow brighter and brighter. In her mind, she placed the outline around him; to those watching, it seemed as if the air rippled around him.
"Rest, Samak, as you have proven yourself noble of heart." She felt the energy outline thrum as she spoke. "Whatever redemption may be given, may it be given abundantly."
Not a second after she whispered her blessing and thanks, a chorus of voices cried out in horror. She looked up, startled and noticed that her assistants were no longer around her. Looking around, she finally found them moving rapidly toward the nearest one of the windows. Pouring in from the outside were dark writhing ribbons of... she didn't know what it was. It was causing enough trouble that her assistants were frantic trying to attend to it.
At first, she didn't understand why there were franticly running around, trying to rid the library of these ribbons, these strips of darkness. She stood up slowly and walked towards them, her eyes on the pulsing creatures as they covered her books. No... not covering her books, devouring them. They wriggled across the floor, desperately seeking out parchment, scrolls, books... anything that had the written word on it within their reach. Slowly, they absorbed the materials, their bodies bulging as they digested everything she, no they, had worked so hard to gather.
It was as if everything moved in slow motion. Gianna, Fleur, Shreder and Xor scrambled across floor, desk, chair and shelf, to fight off the invaders, while Kastio stood and watched. The look on his face was one of horror and pain. He... just stood there and for the life of her, Eukara couldn't fathom why he didn't make a move to help them.
"They are too fast. Gods, they just keep eating!" Gianna screamed in frustration. She halted, attempting to cast a timing spell, and Eukara recognised the signature as one of the time reversal spells, but she failed.
"If we don't stop them, we are going to lose this entire section." Fleur's voice carried underneath everyone's movements and the sounds of the creatures eating, almost as if some growl haunted the very air.
Xor wrung his hands, eyes narrowed. "After all that we've gone through to gather these works... the cataloguing, the restorations, the... painstaking recolouring of illustrations... unbelievable, just unbelievable."
"Unbelievable... such a curious word to use at a time like this." A deep voice resonated through the library. "That word describes so much in life. It describes so much in life - friendships, loss, abandonment, pain... shall I continue?"
Eukara stopped, silent. Searching in vain, as she knew instinctively that she wouldn't see their assailant, her eyes swept the library. Shadows moved, fluttered on the edge of her vision. She closed her eyes once more, trying to pull herself together. It can't be...
"Is that what you want, Eukara? Shall I continue? Perhaps you can enlighten the others as to what unbelievable things you have done to others. This one, such a wonderfully trusting mind..." She felt her eyes stray to Kastio while the others moved uneasily to defend the books. "His mind so preoccupied by your health and his friends that he was easily ensnared. He seems so devoted to his "Dragonfly." Do you think he would still adore you when he knows the truth?"
Eukara spun around, her eyes now looking for any anomaly, anything that seemed out of place in her library. It took seconds for her to divert her attention to Kastio instead. She knew his peril all too well, running to his side. She knelt before him, searching for anything that physically held him within the darkness' bind. Not seeing anything, she placed her hands on each side of his face and turned his eyes to hers. She looked into his eyes and whispered with strength and force. "Fight, Kastio."
"Awww, such affection. I would cry if I were still able. Alas, you stole that from me years ago."
Her assistants paused in their hunt for the dark ribbons and looked at her. Though she didn't see their faces, she felt their dismay and ... curiousity. It burned into her and she heard him laugh. Kastio trembled in her hands as he fought the voice that echoed in his mind. Visions were burned into him, visions of what the darkness professed was the doing of Eukara.
She never broke eye contact, never flinched as he looked at her. All she could do is speak softly. "Imagine something beautiful, Kastio. Something that makes you feel warm, joyful and content. Imagine whatever makes your heart sing and hold onto that thought." She watched his eyes, revealing the fight inside. Then, as a small spark awoke within him, she seized her opportunity. Beneath her hands, a warm light glowed as a bubble began to form around them.
Pinpricks of light appeared and began to elongate into lines, connecting, creating, forming the images in Kastio's mind. Children reading stories, a writer at his desk penning his first novel, old tomes brought into the light of day for the first time - these images, through her magic, were drawn out and animated inside the bubble.
The others worked hard, resuming their battle now that it was evident that Eukara had things under control, beating back the creatures. Shreder dove after books that were rescued, carrying them away to places safer than that corner. Xor grabbed the ribbons with bare hands, wringing them as he carried them to toss out the window. Gianna, her own magic limited but not lost, cast everything she had at them, some withering from accelerated age, others devolving into something akin to babies. And Fleur... Eukara never asked how it was that she succeeded in her own battles, but the ribbons laid listless and dying.
Eukara felt the bubble's integrity begin to fail as something from outside continued to batter it. The power was immense, so immense that she eventually began to weaken. She held on tightly to Kastio until the images he imagined became his salvation. Light returned to his eyes, and she sunk down, weary, before him.
"Where was that, oh mighty successor to Archanius, when I needed it?" The walls shook and the shadows turned. Nothing seemed as it should be. The voice, once soft and taunting, now cursed the light in anger. "Where was that when I needed you?"
Kastio blinked, shivering. He heard the voice that caused him to hurt Eukara, he saw her weakened on the floor and he seethed. Reaching for a jar rarely used, Kastio prepared to open it. A hand alighted on his and he looked up to see Eukara shaking her head.
"You will regret it, Kastio." She took a deep breath and held out her hand, asking for him to help her to her feet.
At once, he stood and took her hand, pulling her gently to her feet. "He... once you know what he is, you will pity him more than want to hurt him."
Kastio looked at her in dismay, for he had not predicted Eukara's actions. As she looked around, her face softened and a tear fell. "Diocletio, enough."
"Enough? ENOUGH?" The very air seemed to hang heavily around them. "How dare you, now guardian of all that is good and wonderful in the creative world. How dare you declare that after what you did to me, that you have the right to tell me when enough is!"
Gianna flew over to Eukara and landed on her shoulder. "What does he speak of, Eukara?"
The Librarian looked at her fairy companion and sighed. "He speaks of the past, of things that were out of our control. Things that are dark, painful and heavy-burdened. He speaks of--"
"How you abandoned me when I needed you most, how you left me to torment and pain so that you could learn to be what you are now. YOU ABANDONED ME!"
Eukara winced as his voice bellowed across the library. "I didn't abandon you!"
"Yes you did..." His voice quieted somewhat, though it sounded as if it had moved.
Kastio inched away from Eukara, making sure that she could stand on her own before seeking out the voice. Pity or not, he was used to hurt Eukara and the others. He was used to destroy all their hard work and loving attention. He was used... His eyes burned, his hands flexed for action. He wanted to punish this abomination for all that he had done to them.
"I didn't even know, Diocletio. I had no idea something had happened to you. I wasn't told."
"Excuses, pathetic excuses. You mean to tell me you want me to believe you, when I know that if you want to know something... that when you feel something tugging at your heart, you can easily access whatever it is in a heartbeat?" A bitter laugh rang out. "Eukara, dearest, I prayed. I begged. I cried out for you and you never came when I needed you."
"I never heard your cry..." Eukara's voice, but a whisper, was still heard above everything else. Kastio winced upon hearing it and hastened his steps.
"LIAR!"
"They told me you died! Archanius told me when I returned from Plane Sigmus that you had been hurt, that you had been ambushed by something no one expected to exist. I was unreachable... even in the ways you know to reach me..." Her eyes, now shining with tears, searched the library desperately for Kastio. She realised that he had left her side and feared for him.
"You could have saved me... they stole everything from me, everything..." An angry sob drifted and settled in her stomach. "Everything, Eukara! They stole my sight, my mind, my... my ability to feel. They left me for dead, a broken mind incapable of anything but basic thought. I was found by the natives of that world... but their rehabilitation left much to be desired. Your magic could have restored me..."
Kastio listened carefully, pacing the rows and spaces of the library. But he was getting close. Whoever this was, he was solely focused on Eukara, forgetting to hide himself. A time or two, Kastio swore he saw a man, only to lose the image seconds later. But each appearance lasted longer.
"I would have, I swear, Diocletio. Someone could have fetched me, forcefully torn me from the world I was settled in. But.. no one did. I wasn't informed about your supposed death until a year had gone by. No one thought to tell me..."
"Did you not feel my death in your heart? We were best friends, sworn blood siblings from early childhood. Surely you felt something?! Anything?"
Kastio stood behind the apparition now and waited. Something tugged at his own heart and he fought it. Pity was not something he could afford, yet Eukara's words to him haunted his soul.
"I felt something, so far away and disconnected from our Plane. It was faint, and I had no way to understand it." Eukara stepped towards the voice, her own cracking beneath the emotions she felt. "I... I didn't know what it was I felt! I had never felt anything like that before, Diocletio! Don't you understand?"
Diocletio spun around, realising Kastio was behind him. He stood in front of the man with jars and looked at him solemnly. His face was a darkened mess, as if something had marred it years and years ago. His eyes, dull grey and set deep in the face, stared out in lifeless haze. His cloak billowed about his body, overly thin.. almost skeletal. And in that moment, he understood what Eukara had said. Kastio couldn't bring himself to do what he had intended.
"This... is what happens when the things of nightmares steal your joy and you are left to repair the damage with those who call on the dead to heal."
Kastio shuddered and reached for a jar. It was tiny and he frowned as he cradled it in his hand. "She said I would pity you, I said I wouldn't. Did you ever get tired of her being right?"
"She was my best friend, so no, I didn't."
Kastio opened the jar and turned away as it pulled in Diocletio. The man screamed, causing Kastio to shed a tear. He couldn't bring himself to kill him, but neither could he allow Diocletio to escape. Once the deed was done, he closed the jar and slid down the wall to the ground.
Gently, Eukara sat next to him, appearing out of nowhere it seemed. She took the jar from his hand and held it, light emanating from her palm and disappearing into the jar. "I could have spared him, Kastio. No one told me... no one even tried..."
Gianna approached cautiously and waited a few seconds before speaking. "We were able to get rid of all those dark ribbons, Eukara. But... I am afraid that we have lost most of that which resided there."
Eukara lifted her head wearily. "Which section, Gianna?"
"One that is supposed to warm the heart and make everyone feel as if the world is perfect and good," Fleur quietly answered.
"Of course, Fleur, where else would Diocletio attack, but a section that he could successfully suck out all the joy, wonder and fun of the lives across our universes." She laid her face in her hands, quietly crying.
Xor joined them and Shreder sat on his shoulder. "Then, we make haste to collect that which he took from us."
They all watched as Eukara cried quietly into her hands, unresponsive. A scroll popped out of the air and fell into Kastio's hand.
To the Book Gatherer Kastio Lelit, from the hand of Alexander Shiveran,
Well met, having not had the pleasure of your acquaintance previously, I can only say that I have heard some bit of you from Eukara, who speaks very highly of you. I regret hearing of the Library's troubles, and hope that they soon shall be a thing of the past. I rejoice to hear that Eukara has been recovered.
I wish there were time, but there is not. Explanations must wait, and I wish all of you the best. Give Eukara my regards, I will write as soon as I am able, I pray it is soon.
Alex Shiveran
Kastio read it several times. The Book Gatherer he bowed his head. Indeed, and I shall gather with more force than this universe can handle. He looked at the tiny jar now back in his hand. As for you, you will one day find yourself back here, but not for a long time. Perhaps by then, sir, you will not be so hasty to punish her again.
< Message edited by Eukara Vox -- 11/16/2010 17:58:17 >
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