Though once they grow up, the afreets become fiery beings, incapable of touching anything but other afreets, before then they carry a skin of rough dark rock, and nothing but hot air underneath them, hence they make ideal household helpers. Once I had dressed as casually as the law decreed I could, I made my way to the door and dismissed the afreet. All night now the screaming and screeching had gone on, finding gaps through windows, or even finding an open window or two to pass through, but now that I had some of my magical equipment on, I simply blocked out the noise with a simple incantation. None in the household challenged my presence, or my destination, mainly due to the fact that so few were left awake in the household at all, save for the guards at the door who simply nodded to me in quiet understanding, one of them cleaning out his ear with his little finger and grinning at the other. Outside the building it was as quiet as a night in a city could be, but the wind was not gone and the my robes billowed freely away from the oncoming storm. Once out of the city, the wind had no barrier and blew as freely as ever and the sand was swirled up into the air, but the High Magus took no notice, instead he tried to find the source of this, it was not yet the stormy season, and none of the Council of Seers had foreseen any storm, yet here was one of the worst he had ever faced. Worst of all, it was as yet only sun set, at this rate by night time this thing could bowl away a small child. As he walked aimlessly around the city walls he thought he felt something, a spell uttered nearby, or his name spoken not too far away, then the sand behind him burst upwards and took the shape of a man. His red shoulder pads and use of the sand traveler ability confirmed him to be a Desert Strider, an elite among the Walkers, yet he was not with any group. He spoke in a tired yet important tone of voice, something about a “great rift” in the sky and a vessel of some sort. I put my hand on his shoulder and told him to carry this information to the High Seer of the Southern Dunes, and then hurried back into the city. Flinging the doors open startled the guards no doubt, but I was in a hurry now, this sort of happening was very serious indeed, and the fact that the desert walker had taken half a day while traveling through the sand meant this thing had long since happened, and not too far from here either. Climbing up a short staircase I walked onto a small platform inside the ritual room of the home. Drawing out several precious gems from my robe, I placed them inside slight indentations in a stone tablet. They formed an oval shape, with the oval being slightly indented as well, like a bowl. This kind of ritual was only every done for extremely rare occasions, such as a gathering of the councils – no longer a necessary action since the councils are mostly required for times of war, otherwise each Great Walker or High Magus may rule their land in accordance to the King’s laws and their own sense – but for now, it was to bear a message to someone not so often disturbed, the King of the Alin himself. I steadied my nerves and began the incantation, pouring a jar of sand into the bowl and then using fire magics to transmute it into glass, not the rough, crude glass used by Walkers when signaling one another, but pure glass, used only by the inner circles of the government. When the incantation was complete I waited patiently for a moment, then once the glass had cooled a little I began the second incantation. Slowly, like a snake charmer’s snake, the glass rose up from the bowl, it then stretched and bent around my body, an egg like bubble around me, it then sealed shut and I uttered the final incantation. With a sudden jolt, the egg zoomed towards the center of the platform and down into a deep well. From there everything was a mass of dark shadows and light bouncing off old stone walls. Arrival was swift, as the glass eggs were made for, and I found the King addressing a Walker Captain. Once he was done I stepped forwards and bowed. He was obviously surprised to see me not in complete ceremonial gear for such a meeting and I immediately regretted my haste, but time was of the essence. We speak in Alin of course, not like this language, but I will try to explain as best I can the conversation that passed: “My lord, I have news from the Walkers, some dark entity is entering this world.” With that I took my leave, though I opted to rest in a nearby house of a Seer rather than return to my home, there was not great wind here or sand storm, and the Seer was a friend of mine, not to mention I still required answers to the strange events that had passed. okay well i'm thinking of tying this up with the main story now, so some of you may be able to guess at what is comeing next hope you like it! (though i realise the pace is a bit slower than chapter 1 :S ) [This message has been edited by storm legion (edited 05-22-2006 @ 10:33 PM).]
"The coming of the Storm"
Harsh were the winds in the palace that night, they shrieked and wailed as though from beyond the grave, it was a night to end all nights.
Yet another rasping blast came from down the corridor, as though something were blowing wind with endless breath at the palace. Often The High Magus rose up from his highly ornate sleeping quarters pondering on whether the runes of floatation and restriction placed upon the building were strong enough to hold it in place against such an onslaught, brushing the thought from his head he stuck his head inside a well stuffed pillow and thought of other things to keep his mind from the noise. No luck, the wind had sent a servant screaming just outside his room, he heard the clatter of a tray and the shattering of ceramics and knew it was worse than it had sounded. Realizing trying to sleep tonight - or at least at this hour – was too much to ask of a man, he threw off the large quilt and rose out of his canopy bed. There was no point in traveling fully laden with runes and ceremonial clothing or anything, yet the law decreed that the High Magus must never appear out of his uniform in public, he was only allowed loose garments at his own private home or residence. With a sigh he snapped a finger while stifling a yawn. A mere moment later a rather small and wiry afreet was floating beside him, he was young, still earning his place in society before joining the Royal Fire Afreets, and as such he was always eager, overzealous or worse, but right now he was also yawning openly.
“High Magus Oro’Khar, you are sure to believe this?”
“Out at my home, a great storm as yet uncalled by the Seers has come, if not by the dark entity then where could it have come from?”
“So what do you propose?”
This caught me out, I had come here seeking some answers, not to answer questions myself, but I knew what had to be done none-the-less, “I propose… I propose that we send out a search party, the Walker who told me of this said that shards of it flew off in all directions, perhaps one of them landed within our borders, perhaps we can retrieve it and study it and learn of its origin.”
“So be it… hmmm… who could we send though? You may wish to accompany the party but I doubt you’ve had much sleep tonight Magus”
I pondered a bit on this question, keeping my eyes still so as not to show the many signs of fatigue that were plaguing over my body, “We could ask for the Genie, Sawu to go, he has proven himself as an adept in both the magical arts and the artificer arts, if anyone can figure out what sort of power or purpose these shards represent it will be him.”
“A fine choice, yes Sawu shall go, we shall send some of the Walkers with him, some who saw this ‘dark entity’ who may know where the shards of the sky fell.”
“As you wish my lord”
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