Snippet #2539191

Along the shore Mystra gently crossed her legs atop of a group of large rocks protruding from the ocean floor. She pondered the event in the forest that caused her senses to be encased in stone. In that moment she could barely speak, the mere presence of the light gripping her firmly. The light that spoke to her mentioned that she was needed, for what she couldn't possibly say.

The waves crashed along the banks splashing against her calves when a voice suddenly spoke from behind.

"Madam, I'm not sure if the rocks are safe."

Again, another voice unfamiliar to her, only this time the voice was mundane and a tad humdrum. Hardly bearing the power to surprise her.

"Madam, I beg of you a few words."

It was a man, evidently. Without looking she could sense the man was young and oddly a bit frightened.

"What is it?," Mystra asked as the waves continued to soak her legs.

"Forgive me for troubling you, madam, but Lord Erobus requests your presence."

A sudden shock ran through her nerves. Erobus, the name echoing in her mind with such force that it seemed to rattle the man's voice. Unsurprisingly, the strange man had been clinging to the rocks in hope that the waves wouldn't hurl him into the sea.

"Pardon me, madam. My deepest fear lay in the waters."

She questioned his words. The thought of a powerful being like Erobus asking to see her was hardly an event in her daily agenda.

"Erobus. That's what you said," she replied unaffected by the man cringing.

"Yes, madam."

"Why does he want to see me?"

"It's urgent. Pardon myself, I beg of you. Such things aren't told to lowly messengers."

Something urgent, she thought.

"If you would please, other members have already gone to the Hall of Silence."

Slowly she began to raise herself. Her legs stretched atop the rock placing her feet on it's rough edges. There she stood facing the man, his face amazed as she stood perfectly poised. She looked at the man's awkward expression and could see that he was a simple messenger. Behind the front of his eyes Mystra could see the messenger knew nothing.

"Fine," she intoned,"I will go."

The messenger thanked her. With the way he had been holding it, the messenger seemed to be an odd extension of the rock. Gracefully, Mystra leaped along the rocks and pass the messenger. His face foretold of a man who hadn't seen enough oceans.






It was still some time before she could see the tops of the water banks from where the rapids poured over the Falls. She mused at the stories her father told her of the Falls once being a giant looming over the forests. From time to time the forest folk would come out of their homes to drink from the lake that swallowed the rapids. Less then a mile away, she could hear the faint sounds of rushing water and with each second she came closer the sound grew louder.

With great speed she leapt through the forest, her body twisting through the trees like a stream quickly changing paths, all the while the words of the messenger forming a home in her thoughts. Her leapts were swift and quiet, however the animals keen senses alerted them of the fox's movements. Pedals leapt into the air but Mystra's flare to move quickly lead her to disappear before they could touch the ground.

The waterbed in sight she quickly slowed her pace, seconds only before her toes came over the lake. Mystra's body was suddenly bathed in the timbering roars of the enormous Naginta Falls. The waters crash into the lake with such great force that it seemed no life could sustain it's power.

Mystra never dared to challenge the strength of the Naginta Falls. The dozens of times she had come here she would find herself awestruck at the sheer will power that this structure in nature presented, but also how even with it's sheer size that it never presented even the slightest hint of danger. To the Mounirian, with it's capsizing force it was a symbol of strength, as well as being able to flow accordingly without presenting danger.

Looking down in to the lake, her brown eyes gleamed at her reflection shown brightly in the water illuminated by the sun. Her expression stern, she began to wonder about the light that came to her in the Forest of Songs, the insects screeches echoing distantly. Slowly, the words came to her.

"I've come to tell you that the world you is in peril. It's in dire need of your protection."

The words repeated in Mystra's mind with amazing clarity. She began to wonder if she had mistakenly inhaled a toxin that caused her to see things that weren't real - things that were real only in the depths of her mind. An oddity in itself, the light at least presented no real threat to her.

She gazed upon her reflection rippling in the lake. Softly, her body now at rest, she began to question the words in her memory.

The world in danger?..

Mystra closely contemplated the degree of the words still echoing in her mind. They told of someone being chosen to guard the well being of the world. However important this role was, a dark cloud of impending doubt began to form in her mind.

She began to fear for herself not being able to overcome the feeling of uncertainty now taking shape inside. These feelings echoed from the terrible night she had experienced when her parents were snatched from her. It was a feeling of fear of her enemies as wells as insecurity in her own weakness of not being able to protect those she loved. Having these fears ensnare her as a child, she found a way to guard her emotions against others and as long as she upheld that emotional armor then nothing would be able to turn her again into the fearful child that she was so long ago.

Minutes passed and Mystra was frozen in thought, her body barely moving from the waterbed. Her instincts quickly took a hold of her and she began to make her way along the edge of the lake bed, towards the crushing roar of the Falls. The more she came closer to the rush the more she realized that the only sound she could hear was of the rapids crashing into the lake, only a few steps away from where she walked.

Slowly she crept behind the Falls. The wide gap of a cave opened itself to her and after a moments hesitation, she went in like a rabbit willingly plunging itself in to the jaws of a snake . As if she hadn't need to think, her body responded in summoning a ball of fire in her left hand. Slowly she entered into an easy stride, the gleam of the flame lighting the way as her feet crept along the damp stone floor.

It wasn't long before the flame in her hand gave illumination to what appeared to be the end of the cave. Mystra's stride came to a halt as she surveyed the large wall of stone before her. She had entered the mouth and was now in the esophagus, the moment waited for when the stomach would swallow her.

This part of Terronia was ancient and was well guarded by the Falls amazing power. Now in front of the door she could feel a strong energy surging behind. Her ears twitched as if they were being tickled by a feather.

Mystra closed her eyes and allowed her senses to absorb the cave's gentle solitude. Slowly her mind began to retrieve the words that the Mounirian elders taught her during her rites ceremony just before she was accepted by the Order. In a gentle tone, her lips parted the words.

"Ikean nu walla."

As if the words themselves had an ancient energy, as she spoke her body began to feel lighter as if gravity was slowly releasing it's grasp. As she opened her eyes she saw dozens of tiny bright tentacles extending from the stone wall. They circled her, each tentacle's warm energy just grazing her skin.

She knew what would happen next. She braced herself as they began to wrap around her body and immediately pull her in. Her body remained passive but as she shot through the pipe of cosmic energy she knew that in reality she was traveling hundreds of miles in what appeared to be only seconds.

Mystra pierced through the end of the portal and her body twirled in the air before landing on soft grass. Her ears picked up the soft ruffling of feathers and the low snarling of a reptilian creature. Raising her head she saw two beings, one with wings and broad shoulders and the other with green scales and eyes that held the fierceness of a hunter.

Raising herself a slightly pungent odor trickled into her nose. She quickly shook her head trying to thwart it's odd smell. It didn't exactly smell terrible but she found herself disinterested in whatever could be causing it. There were too many bodies to locate it's origin.

Finally she decided to make her move. Moving her legs she walked herself pass a group of people talking when suddenly she saw a the reptilian creature wielding a shield and a sword pointed at a man with wings. She stayed quiet and watched as the event unfold.