The Order of the Seven Seals

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He stood, motionless, gazing at what looked like fireflies twinkling in the night sky. This wasn’t the first time he’d found himself here, hoping to find answers to the one lifelong question we must all ask ourselves: Who am I? Azael had traveled the seven worlds and back, having trekked to what felt like the very ends of time only to find nothing. It was a curious thing, struggling to find his place in the universe, failing to make his mark on the world(s).

Looking down into the canyon below, he dropped from the cliff above, descending onto the earth beneath the shadow of the mountain. Embracing the sudden rush of wind ruffling his feathers, he stretched out his wings, catching the air before he began to soar towards the gorge up ahead. Winding through the narrow chasm and coming out on the other side, he scaled up the mountainside, wings brushing up against the leaves of the trees. Crossing his shadow over the face of the water, he hovered above a wide-open field, wings beating against the grass as he slowly touched the ground.

It was everything but silent, the sound of the crickets chirping and the chorus of frogs singing in the nearby river. He simply laid there, sprawled out in the grass, a subtle sigh parting his lips. Atrulyn was the gem of the universe, Azael’s own little slice of paradise. The birds gliding overhead, it was only then he noticed everything had just stopped; time coming to a screeching halt. All the land had gone quiet in an instant except for the soft echo of footsteps that crept ever closer.

“That’s not going to work.” As if a thousand voices had whispered all at once, he drew his blade before a blinding light pierced the darkness, knocking him back. Peering through the halo, he could just barely make out the silhouette of a figure towering over him, and a hand reaching out. Resisting his hesitation, he grabbed it, pulling himself to his feet. “You’ve been waiting a long time, Azael.” It knew his name? Rubbing the corners of his eyes, he still couldn’t see passed the burning radiance that resonated before him. “Who… are you?”

“You know who I am, Azael. The Finite Realm is in peril. It is time the Archites return, and that you finally learn the truth behind your destiny.” Dissolving into fine grains of sand that shimmered in the moons reflection, his voice yet lingered, echoing in the stilled sound of silence. “…Time is running out.” A pillar of light splitting the sky in thunderous applause, Azael jolted from his reverie as if awaken from a dream. “Idros…!” If he hadn’t known better, the world was just the same as he’d left it, his vision nothing more than a fantasy.

Aesthetically, nothing had changed, other than the overwhelming surge of enlightenment that washed over him like a tidal wave. The Archites had been dead for more than a thousand years, and continued to live on only in memory, surviving in the people’s myths and legends. It was through their sacrifice(s) that Uldrik was imprisoned within the Infinite Spectrum, leaving The Order behind to guard the secrets of the Seven Seals. Prophecy spoke that in the Finite Realm’s finest hour, new heroes would be chosen to defend it. But was it even probable that Azael himself was to stand amongst these champions?

A great evil stirred on the horizon, and Azael only pondered further in wonderment of what could cause such impending calamity. Minutes slowly turned to hours as he sat there, his sword buried deep in the earth, his fingers curled around the hilt of his blade as he watched the sun start to rise up over the mountains. With the sun on his face, and a breeze at his back, he only smiled, wincing as he lay back only to find an all too familiar face staring back at him.

“So you found me after all boy…” Azael had regarded Auroriianos as a stranger for much of his life after having been taken in by The Order. Auro’s father, Elder Arteimos, had found Azael abandoned on the streets of Ridic when he was only nine years old. Arteimos had a fondness for Azael that he never had for Auroriianos; training Azael harder and pushing him further than he ever had anyone else before (teaching him the art of discipline and value of honor). While Arteimos was a great teacher, he was a poor father, and Azael only had himself to blame. Burdened by the sting of guilt, when Azael was only seventeen he began to grow protective over the boy, and they’d been inseparable ever since.

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...in the Hall of Silence

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There was an eerie silence that befell the sacred hall as the elders gathered, stirred by a great disturbance that had shook the Finite Realm. Great evil loomed, one that High Elder Erobus could neither sense nor foresee. All of their efforts in learning the identities of the Archites had failed, and he knew that the fateful day he hoped would never come was before them. Uldrik had been sealed within the bounds of the Infinite Spectrum for more than a millennia, but only now could the elders begin to feel his presence beginning to yet again make itself known across the seven worlds.

"The Archites have yet to reveal themselves, and I fear Uldrik's prophecy may be coming to pass." Erobus taking his seat at the head of all tables, only Elder Nicolai remained standing, fingers tracing the length of his staff as he began to pace. "Why now? You said it yourself, without the Archites... his prophecy is hollow; nothing more than words from a heathen tyrant who believes himself a god." As the elders looked to one another, Elder Shialla rolled her eyes, shoving back her chair as she snapped at Nicolai.

"For more than a thousand years Uldrik has rotted away in his lonely prison. But have you forgotten? His Generals are still out there, waiting for us to make only one wrong move so they can be the end to all of us. This is just what they want us to think. With no Archites, Uldrik is no more a threat today than he has been any other day for that matter in the last thousand years." Elder Arteimos was the only one who continued to sit calmly in his seat, fingers arced along his jaw as he listened on with utter disinterest.

"Who are we to say the Archites aren't out there? We think of ourselves so highly that we believe we'll be the ones to find them. There are powers to be that are greater than either of us; powers that are far beyond our grasp of understanding. If we are to-." Suddenly the walls began to crack, and the lights grew dim; time came to a crashing halt, and the building started to crumble around them. A shadow had cast itself beneath them, and the might of Idros towered over them with all the powers of creation at his back.



Turning back the hands of time, the hall was left standing much like it had been before, but Idros words yet lingered in their hearts. The Archites return was now the inevitable, and all that stood between balance and chaos.

On the Planet Niatollus, On the Outskirts of DaSiangiiao, Upon the Slopes of Erradia

“97. 98. 99. 100...,” Auro’s voice echoed as he performed push up after push up on the Slopes of Erradia in Niatollus. The Slopes of Erradia were beautiful beyond imagine. It overlooked the entire valley, as well as the castle, which glistened against the beams of the sun’s rays. The castle was carved in beautiful stone and placed as a beacon of authority to all within Niatollus. There was much that could be said about the castle, the beauty of it, the sheer size of it, and the expensive jewels needed to make it, but what couldn’t be said was what happened on the inside. The palace life was a secret one. None really knew what the Queen, her daughter and their subjects did during the day. The Queen would occasionally come out and greet those who waited at the gate, and then the Princess would scurry about from one place to another within the grounds of the castle, all a symbol of wealth and power.

“110, 111, 112, 113,” Auro kept counting and with each exhalation of breath, he was that much closer to the body he wanted. There was nothing wrong with his current body, but he felt he needed something more, something to give him the upper edge. He finished off at 120 and moved on to sit ups, pumping them out one by one, exhaling when he was supposed to and inhaling on queue. After completing a set of sixty, he moved on to some sparing, though it really wasn’t sparing as he didn’t have a partner to do it with, still he had carved wooden dummies to fill the role. Auroriianos closed his eyes and exhaled, his shirtless upper body glistening due to the sweat that was beading up from the workout. He clasped his hands together and felt the surge of mana flow from his feet into his hands, and as his hands separated an orb of intense black appeared. Without a word the orb broke into two, one on each of his hands. A bead of sweat dropped from his brow and as it fell, Auroriianos readied himself. When the sweat hit the grass, Auro dashed forward with such quickness it was hard to see if he had hit the dummies or not. The orbs faded and as Auroriianos turned around, the dummies crumbled and fell to the ground before bursting into flames.

The dry wood burned for a few moments, Auroriianos watching the flames as he thought about Erobus and his father. He thought of Azael and his mother, he even thought of his sister. She was a fragile girl, one who he cared for deeply, one who he’d protect with his life. She loved him as much as he loved her, and whenever he visited she’d be the first out, but they didn’t know he was home. He hadn’t told any of them he was home, in fact he was here without even so much a word to the Order or Erobus, but he knew the old man had eyes everywhere and would find him if need arose. As the flames licked at the wood, Auro turned his attention to a rather old looking monument, a bit of wall left from an attempt at sealing it within. The thoughts of his father angered him. The man was indeed a poor excuse for a father and Auro resented him because of it. He lifted his hands and began to speak. "A change is at hand, with this wall turn to dust, its utter destruction is an absolute must!" At the end of his sentence he released two streams of power that struck the wall with so much force, it was completely obliterated. Shards of stone shot in all directions and Auro watched with an emotionless face as it occurred before him.

There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere. Everything seemed to stand still, all the noise of life seemed to vanish and the sky seemed to twist and move in a strange pattern, none that Auro had ever seen. The wind that had been blowing had creased and the grass seemed to blow in limbo along with the trees. Nothing moved, everything was very still, and Auro was the only thing that moved. He looked around and raised an eyebrow. Something was very strange.

As if to cause him more headaches on figuring out what was going on, a beam of light spit the now darkening sky and shined directly on him. Wherever he moved, the light followed and it came to a point that Auro was starting to freak out and prepared for the worst. Two orbs of arcane energy appeared in his hands and as he was getting ready to fire them into the sky towards the source of the light, he heard a voice, a very strange voice. This voice sounded as if several people were trying to speak at one time.

“There is no need for that Auroriianos.”

Auroriianos glanced around, whirling on his toes as he tried to find the source of the voice. As he did so, he noticed a shape forming out of the light and it was so bright that he couldn’t look straight at it. He turned his head and tossed the orbs in the direction he thought it was coming from. There was an explosion, but Auro couldn’t see if he had hit the form or not.

“I must say you’ve grown into quite the young man,” the voice spoke again, and this time a figure was behind the voice. Auro looked at the figure and nearly collapsed, but he quickly knelt down and bowed.

“I beg forgiveness,” Auro stated as he continued to bow, “I did not know who you were. I had heard stories, but I didn’t believe you actually existed.”

“Well, young one, it would seem that I do in fact exist. I created all you see here, everything, and now I need your help in protecting it.”

“My help? Why me?,” Auro asked in confusion. This was the great god Idros, and he was telling him he needed his help in protecting the realm.

“Why not you? You contain the spark of the Archite young one, you are a protector and it is time you reach that goal of yours. Isn’t it your goal to become the greatest Arcane Warrior ever to exist? Now is your chance.”

“But, I have so many questions, I.....,”

“Those will have to wait Auroriianos. Your time is now, go and protect that which you love.”

Idros vanished instantly after, leaving Auroriianos looking dumbfounded as if he had no clue what had just happened. Had what just happened actually happened? He was confused beyond belief, but he was certain the god Idros had just made contact with him. He couldn’t wait to tell Azael what he had just experienced. Grabbing his shirt, he looked over at the castle and realized everything was moving again, and the clouds and sky were back to normal.

“I will,” he said before a portal opened up in front of him. It would lead him to Atrulyn where he hoped Azael was. The last he heard from the old man he was in this location. Auro appeared on the outskirts of whatever the name of the city Azael frequented. He saw the male laying in the grass as he always did, for some odd reason. Why had his father taken so much time to train him, instead of his own child? Azael had been the big brother Auro had always wanted. Though he was protective, he still was more of a brother than a friend. It was also because of Azael that Auro didn’t talk to his father much at all. The occasional training his father provided was met with stiff rebellion and his father often times simply avoided the issue at hand. Erobus was the one who truly trained Auro, wanting him to reach his fullest potential, gifting him with items that could be seen as forbidden. He sighed, for all that Azael had taken, he had also given and he couldn’t be happier. He was proud of Azael, and he was going to get his father alone to talk to him when the time was right. As he walked onto the field, Azael spoke, acknowledging his “younger brother.” Auroriianos smiled and knelt down so that he was somewhat eye level with Azael.

“You’re never gonna believe this old man,” Auroriianos began as the two stood fully to their feet.

Xi stood, staring into the eyes of Vul, a good friend of his that Xi often spared with. Each held a firm grasp on their wooden training swords as they circled each other. Now he is not my friend. Now he is who I must spar. Xi thought as Vul rushed him on two legs. Xi dropped to all fours, shooting between the legs of Vul and throwing his tail. With his tail in the air, Vul tumbled slightly, barely getting his shield up in time to block Xi's strike.

Vul then struck Xi in the chest. Reacting without forethought, Xi slammed his now lowered head straight into Vul, causing the two to crash into the walls of the wooden arena. Xi's head rung as he felt the vibration of the crash rippling through his scales, producing a ring that the wrenn referred to as the "Battle Ring."

Being further from the wall, Xi was the first of the two to recover, going for a strike with his sword. Vul slumped down, driving forward with his shield. Reacting to being charged at, Xi rolled out from the shield charge's way, bolting after Vul with his sword out to his side. This caught Vul off guard as Xi struck him with the flat side of the sword, knocking his friend to the ground.

"Good fight." Spoke Xi, reaching his hand out to help Vul back up. "I never get a bad fight outa you." Replied Vul, taking Xi's hand as he pulled himself up. "May your scales shine, hatch-brother." Both of the wrenn spoke with smack of their tails on the ground before walking off to their own places.

Xi headed back to his home among the tree. It was a simple three room bark building with only one window per room. Xi was more than happy to have this nice of a house without even having mated yet. He had the building set up with the kitchen being the room that you enter into it at, with the bedroom entrance to the right, and his collection to the left.

Walking into the kitchen, Xi closed and locked the door, as was normal before he went to clean off his mementos. He put his training sword onto the wall, taking down his regular short-sword and placing it in his hip sheath. Xi then opened the door to see a scaleless, fur-less creature holding Xi's favorite geode of his collection. The creature, with outstanding ability on two feet, leapt out the window. Xi shot out after it, sprinting on all fours across the branch and down the leaves.

The creature then made a jump onto land that Xi knew he couldn't do, however, Xi jumped off the leaves and dived into the small river that followed the root that the creature was running on. Xi followed it, gliding through the water and quickly gaining on the creature before it reached ground that Xi couldn't swim along. The wrenn then launched himself out of the water after the thieving creature.

Xi chased the creature through the dirt portion, only about a mile in length, of the ground of Vianthorus. This creature fled to an abandoned swarm's tree. A tree that stood as a reminder to the wrenn that the winged ones could launch another crusade at any time. The creature then shot through a door, Xi following suit.

Xi stood on two legs with great surprise. He was in a hall unlike any that he had ever seen before. Xi took a deep breath in through his mouth, tasting the cool, calm air that remained rather scentless. He could hear small sounds and feel the clashing of swords in the distance.



Xi lay in the center of a forest on the world of Terronia. This was one of his favorite places in the seven worlds to be, as the forests reminded him of the swarm that he could not yet return to. Terronia also had the upside of a lack of empyreans, the beings he had once called winged people.

To Xi's side, a river flowed gently, the vibrations from the water's movement sounding extremely calming through the dirt. The trees created enough shade for Xi to be at the perfect relaxing temperature, and the subtle sound of animals scurrying through the trees.

Xi sat up. It was time to practice again. He crossed his legs and left his tail straight, acting to help balance Xi in an upright position. Xi closed one hand into a fist, grabbing it with the other as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. His unnaturally metallic shine grew to that of looking like he was made of freshly polished metal. Around him, the grass began to slowly grow, almost three inches, a few buds on the trees became leaves, and several flowers came to an early bloom.

Xi constantly practiced his botanokinesis, seeing it as being useless in combat. He wanted it to be useful in combat, more than any of the abilities that the order had trained him in. This, however, was not something that Xi wanted to rush. He had learned that magic is something to take in moderation and with great care, a lesson he had learned when he nearly knocked himself out throwing lightning bolts at a training dummy a week, or so, ago.

Xi opened his eyes, peeking around at the changes, feeling the longer grass, taking in a mouthful of air and smelling the freshly bloomed flowers. Xi then when to shout in happiness, his tongue flailing out of his mouth. He pushed it back into his mouth with his hand, taking a deep sigh at knowing what he did. Oh well, he would just have to say away from those who he communed with.

I'm gettin hungry. Xi thought. His head bolted around as his hands had their palms pressed to the ground. He could feel several squirrels, but none were on the ground... yet. Then one bolted down a tree, chasing after a nut that had fallen. Xi began to become more again as the squirrel floated into the air, slowly drifting towards him. The squirrel, after a minute or so, was now in Xi's grasp, who promptly stabbed the claw on his pointer finger into the head of the squirrel, quickly killing the small mammal. With it now dead, Xi swallowed his meal whole.

As Xi noticed that the sound from the river no longer traversing through the dirt, he became distracted by the color of some of the fresh blooms. Then by the feel of foot steps. Then the bright light. Then the reflection from the light of his scales showing on the trees.

"Focus and speak." Came a loud voice from the being as it watched Xi. Hearing this voice, Xi turned to the being before him, going to say something as his tongue shot sideways out of his mouth. The figure then did what seemed like a wave to Xi, who could feel his ability to focus return to him.

"Listen, young Archite. The time for you to show your greatest abilities is coming soon. You will be faced with a foe the likes that you have never seen before. I need you to aid those who protect all my creations." Idros spoke as Xi finally understood what was speaking to him. "I will." Xi replied smacking his tail off the ground. When his tail had reached back to its normal position, Xi could feel the sound of the water again.

Tiny screeches rang like along with the approaching noon. The insects were alive and had been shouting out their praises in the deepest nooks of the forest where only the smallest of creatures could enter. As she walked and heard the singing, the songs reminded her of the old memories of herself as a foxling, deeply entranced with the mysteries of where the songs had been coming from.

She searched and searched until the days ended to no avail until the very moment when her mother informed her that these insects were as tiny as specks of dust and could not be seen. Looking up to her Mystra asked why they were so small to which her mother gently intoned, "They're small so that no beasts may find and swallow them. If they were swallowed then their songs couldn't be heard."

At that moment she realized that the insects would forever remain a mystery and the only evidence she would have of their existence was in their songs. Even now fully grown, her strong ears listenend to the slight distancing of reverbs and the subtle changes in the number of halts after each screech. This signaled the change in song where the insects would abruptly either quicken their bellows or gradually slow them down. No matter what they had been singing about, the song of the insects always gave her a feeling of clarity and peace.

Evidently enough, it wasn't just the songs of these creatures that paved the way to her never ending curiosity. Walking along the grassy path she decided to plot herself down next to her favorite tree, her tail coming around her knees to form a nest. It was said to be one of the oldest throughout all of Terronia and she had fallen in love with it's heavily serrated edges and oddly twisting branches. It was also one of the largest trees and one could even see it's head brushing out of the forest top from miles away.

Sitting there she could always feel is it's energy pouring into her almost as if it had been welcoming her each time she came for a visit. It was the same tree that offered it's leaves for shelter during the mightiest downpour she had ever experienced. Grazing her finger along the trunk she could still remember herself laying there as child, cold and frightened unable to fathom what had transpired only moments ago. Thinking about that terrible night she could almost feel the blade penetrate her abdomen yet again and with it the painful cries of her kin being slaughtered. The scar still so fresh to this day remains hidden under a dark red sash tied around her waist.

Nothing would hurt an innocent child more then to have those who they loved taken from them, and just as quick as lightning comes and goes, so were her parents lives stolen in less then an instant. Suddenly as if her senses had fallen and she thought she could see the form of someone else, she raised her hand in attempt to grasp something, a strong shoulder or a friendly hand as it were. Something in her mind told her someone was there. The winds howled as a cool breeze winged her palm and she felt the horrible realization of being, yet again, abandoned by another...

Watch for splinters, a voice suddenly whispered. The insects became silent.

Mystra quickly reeled her hand and jolted at the thought of the tree actually speaking to her. Checking to see that she hadn't accidentally gotten a splinter she quickly began to survey the tree, for what she didn't know but be any sign of it having suddenly come to life.

"Do not fear me foxling," the voice said it's voice echoing through the forest, "I've come to seek your aid."

Anxiously she raised herself, her large ears began to twitch as if meaning to brush off a coat of snow that had just fallen. Her eyes watched the old tree in heightened alertness. Her tongue remained lodged behind the bars of her teeth and with it she lost the ability to speak.

"Trouble speaking I presume?, " the mysterious voice intoned, "perhaps turning around and seeing me would help, though my dear, I'm not sure if talking to a tree would prove of much use."

As if to become entranced by what the voice had told her Mystra slowly began to turn herself. Slowly but surely, her pupils sharpened as the sphere of light came into her face. First it grazed her cheeks, than her nose, her eyes and finally her lips.

"Do not be afraid. I've come to tell you that the world you love is in absolute peril. It's in dire need of your protection."
Having said this Mystra found herself still as if time had frozen her. Bewildered and confused, there was nothing she could say.

"Do not worry foxling, for I have faith in you. In time you will achieve your true power and with it the strength to guard all things in existence."

Suddenly a loud bang thundered in to her ears. As if it were a warning shot Mystra quickly summoned a ball of fire ready to defend herself. The flames churned granting a dark silhouette on the side of her face, the embers gleamed on her fangs no longer hidden. It was a few seconds before she realized it was only a pair of rambunctious forest oxen locking horns with each other. Heart still pacing, Mystra found herself at trouble with catching her breath. Why the animals had been fighting held no interest to Mystra. It was simply natural for the animals in the wild to often come to a sudden disagreement.

Turning herself around she realized that the light had gone. Her sharp eyes looked towards the sky at the hope of seeing it just before it disappeared. With the flame in her hand gone now she probed the sky, the oxen still at war behind her. She sensed it was gone for good but couldn't help to sniff the air hoping to find any lingering traces.

Pollen, berries, dew and ofcourse the animals were all that she could smell. Yet again something in her life had transpired in the blink of an eye. Only this time the sky was clear with the light of day and her kin weren't being slaughtered. The plant life wasn't stained with blood and she wasn't huddled under a tree frightened for her life. It was somewhat amusing to her but she found herself wanting to find this light, to reveal what it was and what kind of secrets it was holding from her.

To call Elekitel a place was wrong. To call it a people was wrong. To call it a title was wrong. Elekitel was an organism. It existed on both the physical and mental plane. Elekitel was a mind and it knew everything that occurred with in it. A mind consisting of millions of minds could keep tabs on absolutely everything. But, Elekitel was rather monotonous, like a clock. Every day, it did the same thing. Farming, mining, manufacturing, gathering, sleeping, eating, breeding, growing. But Elekitel rarely complained, for it had no room to complain. Elekitel may have always been unsatisfied, but its emotions couldn't get in its way of its true goal. Elekitel thought about it every day; I must become supreme. I must contemplate the nature of all of existance to become omniscient. I must conquer every single square Yojana to become omnipresent. I must upgrade myself with new weapons to become omnipotent. My will must be absolute and to do that, I must destroy all those whom oppose me.

But, it was on this one particular day that Elekitel brought its attention toward a single existence, one whom was slightly different. She always was different. Diana may have been nearly identical to the rest of Elekitel in nearly every way, except for the fact that she was the last surviving existence of Elekitel to have lived on the surface. She was Elekitel's only memory of better life; better food, better housing, better life. But she also carried horrible memories with her that Elekitel wished to forget, memories of fire, of light, of poison. Diana was deemed unfit for producing children, so even at the age of 25, she has had no children, unlike the rest of the women of her age whom likely would be producing their third of fourth child. Elekitel once considered ridding of her, a blighted existence, but feeling stopped her. Elekitel often ignored its feelings, but somehow, it felt immoral to rid of even one of its existences, even if it lost hundreds every week.

Diana had suddenly experienced something huge and important and Elekitel realized it had to listen. Suddenly, Elekitel understood everything.

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Diana grunted as she hit the floor. She was groggy with sleep and her arms and knees were sore from breaking her fall. She heard the bed mechanism behind her groan as it fell back into place. The room was pitch black with the exception of dimly lit beads that were lined up in grid patterns along the entire room to mark where the floor was, but it was filled with sounds. Vnamen didn't have the best hearing, so they mostly ignored it, but the very soft sounds were hardly mute, hardly disturbing either. The sounds of the breaths and snoring of countless amounts of Vnamens could be heard, along with the ticking of their own bed mechanisms.

The Section B sleeping chamber was designed just as all the others were, great big rooms filled with specialized bed mechanisms, elevated cots with no pillows or bedsheets and worn down after years of use. Below the cot was a mechanism of a bunch of gears and springs. Upon lying on the mattress, the pressure would activate the gear mechanism, causing the bed to rotate extremely slowly, until it made a full rotation in six hours. Once it made the rotation and the release mechanism was knocked away, the spring would rotate the mattress into a standing position and drop the Vnamen out of the bed, waking them from sleep and resetting the whole mechanism.

Diana wiped the grogginess from her eyes when she got up. She could hear the thoughts of a few others in the room whom had woken up at the same time as her as well as the random faint patterns of the dreaming. Dreaming is all about reflecting upon the past and predicting the future, so even while sleeping, the Vnamens of Elekitel were assisting their nation. Slowly and quietly, she made her way through the sleeping chamber, falling the dimly lit blue dots to prevent herself from bumping into any of the beds, and made her way to the exit.

After retrieving her personal female dressings from her locker (in an absolutely huge room consisting of many lockers), She made her way through the long dark narrow hallways toward the Pit. The halls were hot and musty and dark with the exception of the gas lights of which hung from the ceiling and the Glowworms of which inched around on the walls. They weren't very heavily populated in the area around the sleeping chamber, likely due to workers grabbing them on their way out toward the Mines or the Pumping Station. No hall was complete with a bunch of pipes lining its sides, carrying all kinds of resources. Each one was crawling with Pipe Sniffers, spider-esques with antenna that checked the pipes for even the smallest of leaks and patched them up with a temporary bright green silk which would be obvious to any repairman. Pipe Sniffers weren't the only things crowded in the halls. Diana continually passed by other workers on their way to their own destinations. They payed each other very little mind, but they could hear everything that was on each others minds.

Eventually, Diana made it to a much larger chamber, the Pit. It was a great big gap that was several meters across, as long as a great big Steam Engine. Other sections had Pits just like it. An unfathomable amount of distance up were the closed silo doors. When open, they flooded the upper levels of the Pit with light, but Diana was too far down for it to be too visible. Occasionally the huge cargo elevator in the center would carry huge train cars from the depths or big loads of coal and stone, or uprooted trees dropped from the surface to be processed, or occasionally, the giant War-Bears. On the far side of the pit were the various communal elevators that brought workers back up from the depths, but on the near side were but large chrome poles just off the edge of the balconies of which had no railings. Diana looked around the pit for a second to look for a specific person. Standing right next to the edge of the pit a few meters away with his hands behind his back was another person in a repairman's wear, sporting goggles and some sort of metal harness. A small monkey-esque creature chattered away on its shoulder, chewing on feed in its fist. Diana nodded to man and he nodded back. Her thoughts were easily conveyed to him. Diana reached for it with both arms and brought it close to her chest while releasing her feet from the ground, and instantly, she was shot down the length of the pole by gravity.

Many tens of hundreds of floors and balconies passed through her vision as she plummeted toward the ground. The length of the pole continued to shoot upward out of her grasp as well. The skirt of Diana's dress also shot upward, catching the air coming up from below, but Diana payed it no mind. Her heartrate only increased slightly. Diana was used to the rush of gravity when travelling down the poles. It was the quickest and most efficient way to move down, as opposed to waiting for one of the elevators, which would have to already be moving down for her to board it. As long as she kept a firm grip around the cold metal pole, she wouldn't plummet to her death. Her view on everything may have become blurry, but she could tell exactly what floor she was passing by as the Pit Guards saw her pass by. Their job was to convey where she was to her and when she was to tighten her grip on the pole to slow down when she made it to her destination. Of course, her destination was at the very bottom at the Section B Terminal, so even though there was no chance of her missing her stop, if she didn't slow down, gravity would halt her forever. The Pit Guards also dealt with any issues involving the pit such as repairing the elevators or assisting in moving cargo. Both them and their preformed assistants had the freedom of moving in both directions on the poles and could relay information on which poles were unavailable.

Diana also was reminded from them that it was the day of Fire, on the week of Air. On Air-Fire, Diana used to go down to the Preformation Chamber to operate one of the huge lenses used to see things on the microscopic level, the only way to be able to see the base forms of all living things. It usually took at least a few hundred people to preform an operation or experiment, taking between one and three people to operate each lens, a person to look though the lenses and an entire team at the bottom to preform the operations. The lens chamber itself was about 90 meters in height, but nowhere near as high as the Pit. Only the Vnamens could accomplish the exact precision needed to operate the huge device, as they could synchronize their actions. just as the Pit Guards did. The entire team at the bottom could see through the eyes of the seer at the top, and the Seer could adjust the lenses through the operators. The team at the bottom used a bunch of hands to operate a few tools of which were required to work with the base forms, along with the four elements. Manipulation of the base forms was very difficult and despite the fact that Elekitel literally crawled with preformed creatures, everything about it was still experimental. It usually took tens of hundreds of hours to complete a single creature and Elekitel worked around the clock, but the tiniest of mistakes would require an entire do-over, and that was counting on the fact that the design was functional in the first place. Changing the blueprints of Idros was very extremely difficult and creating new ones was unthinkable as of presently. Elekitel, however, was in the process of designing a new Multiscope that would consist of over 200 lenses, along with tools that could work with even more precision.

Diana had wanted to put her effort into designing the new Multiscope, but her duty on the day of Air-Fire was to train in the magical arts. It was ever since the Order had seeked her out personally. 'Personally' was a foreign concept to Diana, as it was to many Vnamens, but the Order did recruit her. Elekitel was honored, but ever since then, Diana felt different. Diana was used to being considered slightly different, but only in experience. Yet, because of this, she sometimes thought slightly deviantly. Now, she still had the mind of Elekitel, but she began to make comparisons. She compared herself to Elekitel and contemplated the nature of her own existence. She recognized that while she was part of a collective, she really had her own will and her own body. This was a thought she hadn't had since she was a child, when Elekitel was much different. When Elekitel lived on the surface...

Diana knew very little about magic, but as she contemplated the nature of the mind and the nature between the difference of the mind and the physical world, she had realized that the physical world took on only one shape while the mind was spontaneous and constantly transforming and could create something from nothing, such as a lie or delusion. She began to accept that the physical world was reality, yet the physical and mental worlds were equally existent. Indeed, Vnamens were a race connected by mind, but these minds were boundlessly connected to the physical plane, as they observe it. A mind could not kill another mind, but a person can physically kill another. A mind could only use up energy, but it could not feed itself. A mind could create, but its creations would do it no good until they are created on the physical plane. The mental and physical worlds were connected, but the mind only received information about the world through sense, while physics were only influenced by the mind through action. Diana realized that if she could manipulate that connection, she could become very powerful. To control the mind's perception of reality, cutting it off from one of it's connections, would render any thought-based creature helpless.

Thus, Diana learned to create illusions. She could fool the individual, but unfortunately, her power had little effect on the hivemind. Because the hivemind consisted of a multitude of single minds, it was able to adapt easily, and it could easily separate truth from lie, so it could tell if either the single mind or the majority of minds were correct. Diana thought she'd be able to trick larger amounts of people with more power, but she had very little Mana to work with. Because the Vnamens of Samallia had such a high population, the Order had given them limits on their allowed Mana usage so they wouldn't put all seven worlds into unbalance. Every nation was allowed plenty of Mana for everybody, but because Elekitel used so much Mana for growing its specialized crops with little nutrients, plus the immense amount of Mana needed to produce preformed creatures on large scales (producing a single one took up enough Mana to blow up a house) Vnamens had little Mana individually with the exception of the Mana that is broadcasted throughout the caves, using a special arcane process of focusing and distributing, that was essential for supporting their Telepathy (and they didn't need much).

Diana was spacing out, thinking about how she could improve on her magic, but then came back to her senses. She felt as if she'd been dropping for a while, but the Pit Guard's hadn't notified her to ease up yet. In fact, they weren't telling her anything. Were they not on duty? The world was moving too fast for her to catch any sort of glimpse at their bright red and blue clothing. She couldn't even hear the previous Pit Guards in her head. She couldn't hear the thoughts of anything, as if she were completely alone. For one of the few times in her life, Diana felt truly alone, not to mention plummeting to what could have been her death. Diana looked around in helplessness, when the one hand that was holding on slipped from her sweat. Adrenaline shot through Diana as she used her legs, of which were curled around the pole, to pull herself back toward the pole and began to embrace it with her entire body as tightly as possible. The friction burned against her thighs, her chest, her fingers and her cheek, but her speed was slowing very quickly, until she practically stopped. Diana continued to hang on, panicked thoughts playing out in her head, calling out to whomever in her emotion-based mental cry, but there was no response. Her eyes were closed as she held on for dear life, and although the sweat held her up, Diana was gradually continually to slip down slowly. Although, one thing she began to realize was there was actually a very loud thought in her head that she hardly recognized, but she was too panicked to realize it was her own.

Calm yourself, a voice in her head spoke. It was more than a voice, it was a fully developed thought, as the Vnamens would communicate with, but this concept, this thought seemed as if it was thought by not just an entire collective of a nation, but a collective of collectives, an absolutely vast and overpowering conscience of absolutely great insight. Perhaps the former collective of Samallia sounded something like it, but Diana would have had no way of knowing. However, Diana couldn't help but submit to the greater conscience, as was her instinct, and her thoughts became calm. Nonetheless, she still held onto the pole for her dear life, her eyes shut tightly, oblivious to the world.

Diana, you have a duty you must uphold. Diana didn't have time to comprehend the concept before her mind was flooded with ideas and concepts. The presence was that of Idros, and as a mere mortal, Diana found herself completely unable to begin to decipher the workings of such a great mind. Telepathy may have been the connection of minds, but Diana's mind was merely too simple to handle that of Idros. Idros did flood her mind with ideas, however. Concepts of the Archites and the Order flooded her mind. Diana's recruitment into the Order was a memory that appeared in her head, but so was the vision of seven great silhouettes, the most prominent being that of a woman whom wielded a bow whom couldn't have been anything but a Vnamen. Diana had no idea exactly how she looked, but she just merely knew she was Vnamen. A very brief concept appeared in her mind of the idea of conflict and a very dark presence allied with lesser, yet still great presences. The concept of danger, however, was very present, and somehow Diana just knew it was of a large scale, involving things beyond her current understanding. Vnamens communicated in their thoughts less through words and more through concepts and emotions of which were indescribable through words. Yet, Diana understood exactly what Idros was telling her. She was chosen as one of the Archites and it was her duty, not to her nation, not to her species, not even to herself, but to the creator and all of creation to protect it from impending danger. Conscription? That idea was a fact of Diana's life, so it probably easier for her to accept a duty forced upon her, but the fact that it was upon solely her and a few? As opposed to the collective effort of a mass? Diana had hardly enough time to truly process what that would implicate.

You may have faced many hardships up until now, visions of fire and war came to mind, But I, the creator, have made my choice, and it is you, a single, unique, existence, that shall defend all of creation from those whom seek to destroy and imitate. The dangerous presence came to mind, but frighteningly, it wasn't the only thing, It is not only out of my will, but I see that your actions shall be for the good of your own kind as well. The concept of the great collective came to mind and so did the memory of Diana's childhood on the surface.

Diana was about to consider all the ideas and ask questions, but the great conscience Idros paused her with his overwhelming will. Calm yourself, and open your eyes. Everything went quiet for a second, but Diana could feel the great existence leave her. Diana slowly became aware of the pole again, but also became away of the weight on her feet and her bottom. She had reached the bottom. slowly, the non-stop thoughts flowed back into her head as she reconnected with the great collective. When she opened her eyes, she saw the great brightly lit terminal, consisting of many lines of tracks of which ended at the cargo elevator at her right. There were about hundreds of Vnamens walking up and down and standing along the sides of the tracks, waiting for the trains to transport them to various part of the lower complex.

Diana began to replay everything that happened in her mind and contemplated everything Idros had put in her head. Suddenly, the terminal grew silent as the crowd of white, red and blue all stopped what they were doing to look at her. Diana wasn't used to being in the center of attention, no Vnamen could possibly have been. But Diana's thoughts weren't her own anymore. They all simply understood what Diana had experienced, as if the memories were their own. The gradually, the collective turned its attention toward Diana. Diana's name was suddenly on nearly everybody's mind.

Suddenly, Elekitel understood everything.

---

---

The Elders were left shaken in the wake of Idros; Erobus especially daunted by his presence. There was a great sense of worry and concern in the old man’s eyes as he sat, tugging on his long white beard. Just as distraught as Erobus, the remaining three Elders only gravely looked to one another, seeking answers to questions they were all too afraid to ask. “Find them.” Erobus croaked, rising up from the table hunched over, his features contorted as the room quickly went dark around him.

“The Archites are out there, right now, and we have not a moment to spare. There are a great and many unfortunate things in our future, and they may be all that stand in the way.” The hall echoing with the sound of Erobus’s staff clinking off the floor below, Elder Nicolai, always the first to retaliate, abruptly lashed out in frustration. “And how do you suppose we do that? Even our reach has its limits old man.”

Closing his eyes, Erobus swiftly succumbed to meditation, whispering incantations under his breath and losing himself in the process. An eerie silence followed before Erobus finally collapsed, breaking the trance. Elder Arteimos and Shialla both rushing to his side, Erobus desperately clung to them, struggling to find the right words. “Lalia… Diana… Ahulaani, Biasinge… Xi.” Gazing at Arteimos, “Auroiianos… Azael. Scour the seven worlds if you must, but bring them to me!”

---

---

You could hear the sound of the dragons roar triumphing over the grandeur of the City of Ridic, the crown jewel of the Empyrean Empire. Tucked in the heart of the Cirid Mountains and surrounded by lush green rolling hills and dark blue waters, there was a serene and almost soothing silence about Ridic unlike the likes you’d find anywhere else. There were no crowded streets or any of the usual hustle and bustle found in most other cities; only peace, prosperity, and a calming air of security.

The Knights of Erais, the highest privileged order in all of Atrulyn, guarded every gate, and manned every corner and street in Ridic. They held the keys to every door, and embodied everything that was good and just about the Empyrean. Upholding order and justice, they protected the cultural heritage of Ridic, ensuring a strong sense of community amongst its citizens. Azael had strived his entire life to be like them and only now did he finally realize that destiny had bigger plans in store.

Standing on a bridge overlooking the city and watching the rush of water that cascaded over the rocks into the river below, he sighed in reluctance as he looked over at Auroiianos. “Only now do I see how short life is. But a memory that lasts no longer than the length of a breath. This is the moment that will define the rest of our lives.” Pausing, “what do we do now?” Azael only wished he knew what he was meant to do. There were seven of them out there, humanities last shining star of hope.

"I get it," Auroriianos stated with a sigh, "it is so hard to find a place to start, and then it’s even harder to get on the right track. My goal of becoming the greatest is something that will require consistency," Auroriianos stated before a messenger walked up to them, Auroriianos giving the man a nasty look. He knew this messenger, someone his father had close associations with.

“Sir Azael, Lord Auroiianos. I am here on behalf of Headmaster Erobus who has ordered your immediate presence. If you would accompany me…” An envoy, sent by The Order. Did they already know? Could it be possible that Erobus had already uncovered the identities of all the Archites? It hardly came as a surprise considering he was by far the most powerful Magi alive; his knowledge of the arcane arts eclipsing that of any known to come before him. “What is this concerning, messenger?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know sir. But I was told to inform you that it was urgent.” Before Azael could say another word, Auroiianos quickly cut in. "Then what use are you messenger? Inform them of our imminent arrival.” There were secret tunnels hidden underneath the bridge, amidst the rocks and behind the waterfall. The only way to get there was to fly, and even then, you’d find yourself in a long dark corridor that stretched on for miles, full of dead ends and little to no chance of escape for those who didn’t already know their way.

That was where the Spirtual Barrier on Atrulyn rested. Diving off the bridge and extending his wings, he stopped just above the surface of the river, his wings beating against the water and causing it to ripple. “I’ll see you on the other side, Auro.” Bending the space around him to form a small barrier to keep him from getting wet, he thrust himself headfirst into the rushing torrent, reemerging on the other side unscathed.

The darkness was unsettling at best to Azael, as was the long walk to his destination. It was too narrow to fly in the cavern, and powerful incantations had been cast to null most magic. Normally this would discourage any who happened across the caves, warding off the faint of heart. There had to be silence as Azael paced, counting each of his steps very particularly. After long there was a light that could just barely be made out resonating up ahead.

In an enormous chamber, the Spirtual Barrier appeared as a large cluster of lights, small specks that floated freely around the room. Many might dismiss such as being insignificant, but Azael knew this was the birthplace of creation. Inside the cluster was a revolving vortex, and for those who could harness it, a portal that connected the seven worlds. The Order specifically had found further use of its mysteries though, a bridge between the worlds and to the Hall of Silence.

Nobody knew the actual location to the Hall of Silence, only that it was a part of a separate dimension in space that had been created sometime during the reign of the original Archites. As Azael stepped into the spiraling flow of raw energy, he disappeared, his body quickly pulled through space at speeds faster than that of light. By the time he could blink, he’d already been standing in the Hall of Silence, and it didn’t take long for other members of The Order to begin gathering around him.

“Sir Azael! Elder Arteimos has asked for you to meet him in his chambers.” Another petty messenger. One thing with The Order was that there was always middle men doing the Elders work for them. “He has asked that you also bring along Auroiianos.” Funny that the messenger wasn’t given any further instruction in concerns towards Auroiianos being Arteimos’s son. The relationship between a father and his son was truly a confusing one.

Xi had been spending the past quarter hour trying to clear his head. He had started out by practicing his blade fighting moves, only to find himself too focused to think of the meaning of Idros's words. From there, he flung himself into the water, swimming upstream as he meditated the words that the god had spoken to him. "A foe the likes you have never seen before." The words spoken to him. They had a meaning, one that Xi took to be vary disturbing. He had fought many creatures that would make other warriors cower in fear, but something the likes he had never seen before. Something about that. It was wrong, just wrong. This had to be what was disturbing Xi.

As Xi continued to swim, he had spotted something, something shiny. He bolted over to it, as if the current of the water was to his back, not pushing against him. Stabbing his toes into the dirt, Xi planted himself on the floor of the river, digging up the shiny object. When he pulled it out, Xi examined it. It was something made of a high quality of silver, and definitely foreign to Terronia. It was a wine glass, four spikes sticking out from the top of the holding point. On the bottom, rather than having a flat disk of metal, it was shaped like that of a root. As Xi looked closer, he could also see several different styles of writing carved into the cup.

Emerging at the edge of the river, Xi held the new treasure in his hands. Setting it down next to a tree, he looked around, finding several fallen branches. Using his claws, Xi turned the wood to a cloth-like fiber, making a sack and a rag out of it, soaking them in the river several times during their construction. When he was done making the sack and cloth, Xi walked back over to his most recent treasure, polishing it with the new rag.

"The time for you to show your greatest abilities is coming soon." It rang through Xi's head like a bell in a tower. He wondered just how great his abilities would become, still polishing the silver wine glass. Xi couldn't help but think that he was like the treasure in his hands, stuck in the bottom of the river, grimy and with little shine, but waiting for a strip of destiny to take him out of the water and polish him to a shine. Xi examined the treasure again, looking for dull spots. He couldn't read any of the writings that were on it, not that he thought they would actually mean anything.

Xi could feel it. One of the creatures he came to know as 'humans' was approaching. He could feel the footsteps, still slightly off in the distance. Xi quickly shoved his newest treasure in the freshly made bag, drawing his sword shortly after. He then took a big mouthful of air, tasting the unfamiliar scent. It smelt and tasted of must and age, but still youthful and ready. This contradictory being could be intending anything. With his experiences as a hunt, Xi never showed himself to a potential enemy.

Xi shot up the tree he had been leaning on, using his claws to swiftly dig into the hard bark. His arms then propelled him up, ending him on a mid-level branch that kept Xi out of sight while giving him a decent view of the ground. The human then came out from the trees, looking around. "Hunter Xi?" The man spoke, as Xi focused on the symbol on the man's chest. It was that of the Order.

Running down the tree the same way he had gone up, Xi stood on the ground. He made sure that he was on only his legs, as humans tended to misinterpret what a wrenn on all fours meant. "What is it the Order seeks of me?" Xi spoke, startling the human at first. The man then turned around, looking at Xi before saying "Headmaster Erobus has ordered that you go to him immediately." Xi then looked at the man, asking "Would you mind openning the way?"

The portal opened in front of the man, a magic that Xi was not trained in. Without a word, the wrenn entered the portal, arriving at the Hall of Silence. Right then, as soon as his eyes had opened, there was a winged man. Empyreans the rest of the worlds called them. Creatures that the wrenn remember differently than the rest, and ones that always freaked Xi out.

As with every time he ran into an empyrean, Xi rolled backwards into a corner, drawing his sword and raising his shield in a defensive stance. Only those who ran into him often knew that this was how Xi responded to fear, where others might think that his actions appear more hateful. Xi, however, dared not to make a peep in the presence of a winged man.

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.

Diana sat upon the cold iron table which reflected the bright light of the Glowworms in the small room. The bright yet soft bio-luminescent light that came off of them was soothing as it brightly illuminated her bare body, whereas the cold iron table was not. Around her, she was surrounded by tools of all kinds either brightly glistening and hanging on walls or crawling around in jars on the shelves without making a sound. There were about seven Vnamen, including herself, in the room, continuing their examination of her.

For the past ten minutes, Diana had been through an intense physical examination, of which she herself was heading. They examined absolutely every single inch of her body, taking all kinds of measurements, taking samples from her, preforming sensory and motor tests. Not an inch of her skin wasn't examined as she had it pinched all over as part of an examination. It had been a much more advanced health examination, as the examination was not just to determine her general health, but to also determine anything special about her.

Well, other than she looked like she came from the grave. Her face may have looked untouched, but her arms and fingers were covered in scabs, her legs were covered in scars and her feet were covered in sores, but those were a given when it came to working like a Vnamen. Yet, all over her back all the way down to the waist, from the left shoulder to the back of her right elbow and right up her neck, the her skin was pinkish-colored and consisted of a variety of textures, from wrinkly to bumpy to shiny. The pain had left Diana a long time ago, but the memories were still there. Memories of a burning that caused her (and those in the room with her) to flinch in pain.

Besides her scars, however, Diana and the others were unable to decide on what physical trait would cause Idros to speak to her and chose her. After all, her physical classification was only in the B-600s, which was nothing special except for the fact that she wasn't very strong, and had moderate athleticism, yet she was old and experienced. Her rank was also viable for conscription at advanced ages. Most Vnamens become soldiers at young ages, but depending on age and physical rank, they could be assigned to other duties , and because Diana was so old, she was assigned to the workforce while still being viable as a soldier in times of urgency (about half of all members had a similar rank with different age requirements). In fact, she was halfway through her expected lifespan already, and only 15% of the Vnamens of Elekitel made it to that age, and almost half had been around since the pre-expansion times. She was by no means the oldest, of course, and there were only a few about her age. Diana was the only surface-worker left, however. Despite the title, however, only one of her duties allowed her on the surface; star-mapping.

Diana sat staring into space while the others doing the medical examination on her stood around the table, staring at her. All of they're minds were nearly identical as they all contemplated what their next course of action would entail. Other than the irregularities of her skin, she close to being identical to any other Vnamen. All the females in the room looked extremely similar with the exception of the length of their hair and that Diana's was untied for the duration of the examination. All of her systems seemed to be working fine; sensory, motor, circulatory, digestive and even her reproductive system checked out alright. Still, Diana was still decided unfit for producing offspring due to unusual circumstances. Yet they couldn't decide exactly what trait could possibly make Diana, a single existence, or rather, a tiny part of a greater existence, viable for conscription to fate. Perhaps they were all worried about the same thing; she's not good enough. Diana thought this too. After all, Vnamens only believed in power in the collective effort or the rationality in the insight of many. A single person seemed too incomplete. To the Vnamens, Idros himself wasn't a single entity, but a collective of infinite rational minds in a single being. Ancient Vnamen artwork illustrated him being a man with many faces and many limbs, as if he had the intelligence and ability of more than a single being. Diana even felt that his presence was not of one entity, but of a collective so vast it was uncomprehensible for her. So, for him to entrust seven single beings with the duty to protect all of creation seemed unbelievable, especially because six of them came from other races of which consisted of much lesser and more primitive beings of whose minds were not developed enough to connect to others and by a result, they all lived with different opinions and inevitably got into conflicts with each other, even within kin, coworkers and family and clearly out of their independence, they had much less insight and less ability to work together to accomplish great feats like the Vnamen did.

A thought appeared among them that perhaps that was why Idros had chosen seven Archites as seven may have been enough to invoke a cooperative effort effective enough to accomplish things. After all, Vnamens worked in groups with no less than seven people, there were even seven people working on Diana's examination, including Diana herself. Of course, for the Archites to have accomplished the feats they were fabled to have accomplished, they'd still had to have been extraordinary beings, and a single being couldn't possibly have been anything beyond ordinary. A consideration appeared among them that the library should have been consulted and a Psycho-Fly should be sent to the Librarian on duty. Diana stood to be clothed as a few of the others at the exact same moment went to fetch her new clothing. However, Diana heard a familiar buzzing.

A tiny bug, hardly noticeable, buzzed around hesitantly. It may have appeared to be a mosquito at first, but in truth, it was a Psycho-Fly. They had the ability to carry very important messages throughout the caves, but only had one use each. Diana stood still as the mosquito-esque buzzed around the room, looking for a specific pheromone, that of Diana's blood. It buzzed around her head a few times, the annoying high-pitched buzz growing louder for brief moments as it passed by her ears, until it landed on her neck. It was barely noticeable when it bit into her, but slowly, her mind was flooded over by foreign thoughts.

Apparently, a foreign Vnamen had arrived on the territory of Elekitel whom apparently had been sent by the Order and was sent to find a Vnamen of Elekitel named Diana. He was not a part of the Order, nor was he part of any nation. He was exiled by an enemy nation out of independent thoughts of which conflicted the ideals of the nation, unpatriotism. It was considered one of the absolute worst crimes among the Vnamen, far worse than murder or disruption. Some nations charge exile, but others like Elekitel charged execution. In most nations, however, it was excusable for children. Which was more merciful was up for debate. This particular Vnamen, however, managed to live in the Nether-Zone, about 2 square Yojana in area where the Spirit Boundary is located (thought it's exact location isn't recorded). It was the Order that decided that this area was to be neutral territory for all Vnamen as refugees often came to this area in search of refuge from genocide and were desperate enough to travel to one of the more primitive worlds. Also, it was a place where creatures from other worlds would arrive in and be relatively safe from warfare, as opposed to possibly being killed as soon as they came through the portal. Elekitel usually ignored other species, but some nations didn't discriminate. Every nation did seek out to dominate every single inch of Samallia, but most had no particular interest in this single area of land until every other corner had been conquered. Vnamens had no interest in any world but their own anyway.

At least, not yet.

Diana's memories of the surface, for the most part, were much more pleasant than what she was experiencing then. First of all was the absolute relentless light than blinded her. Many days, she would look up the Pit on the rare occasion that the silo doors opened and light would flood down for many levels, and she would be blinded by the light that poured in, though she didn't dislike it. It was brighter than any gas light that hung, any Glowworm that crawled, any furnace that burned. She didn't know exactly what she felt about it, she never thought about it. Did the light represent hope? Nostalgia? Entrapment? Fear? She couldn't tell. She just felt something pleasant about the light that poured in from above, a piece of an alien environment in her home. Or maybe it was a piece of home in an alien environment.

Yet, here, she was bathed in the light, and it was more light than she could handle. Even when squinting, her eyes burned, so she kept her eyes closed and had to cover them with her arm. She could not see a thing, but nonetheless, she walked along with the formation. six escorts walked ahead of her and six were behind her, all wearing the same red and blue military uniform, all with blue berets with red crosses and together, they all walked in an H-shaped formation across the courtyard with Diana in the very center. Many of them were much shorter than her, younger too, men and women between ages of 13 and 20. It was through their eyes that Diana could see.

For example, she could see herself and the formal clothing she was granted for the occasion. Whenever she had any business that had to do with the Order, she'd wear this dress of which more clearly displaced the colors of her nation than any others. Half red and half blue with white dots connecting like constellations in the star maps Diana recorded which represented the connection between them all and a bright red cross on the blue cap which had an even older meaning. The difference in nations didn't seem to matter to creatures beyond Samallia, probably because most of them had singular empires that dominated their planets, but Elekitel wished to spread its name out anyway, to depict itself as the most favorable nation. Also, considering Elekitel, like any other nation, planned to become the dominant empire of Samallia anyway, it seemed only fitting that she, as a representative of Samallia, would be wearing the colors and symbols of Samallia.

She could also see everything around her, one of the many surface emplacements of Elekitel, this one being Section-B Main, which sat right over the Section-B Pit and was encased completely in many layers of concrete walls and watchtowers where soldiers were posted and where the Falzers nested, large falcon-esques with deadly eyesight and scarlet feathers which were as strong as iron and talons which could shred through the same material, and they flew at blindingly quick speeds. In the courtyard around them, many workers were tending to a lot of the larger beasts, the giant Elswine, big boar-esques with long tusks that pointed straight forward and the ability to smell things that are even a mile underground, and the Qirin, a cross between a horse and a dragon with red and blue scales and curled horns that was famed for its speed, strength and bravery (and terrible smelling excrement).

She didn't see any of the Great Bears though, one of the most famous combat creatures of all for their sheer size, creatures larger than dragons that were known to be the most aggressive creature in all of Samallia, possibly most aggressive of all seven realms. They come in all colors, be it white, black or brown, and all wear armor of shining iron and are able to destroy nearly anything be it forts, warships, freight trains, cities or anything Elekitel pleases. They can be deployed on both land and on some waters (wherever Krakens couldn't be deployed due to the water being too shallow) and they can smell man and machine from about a Yojana away. Nearly all cowered from the forces of the Great Bears. It was rumored that they could even kill dragons, even the winged ones that existed in worlds beyond Samallia, being able to pull it from the air. They must have been kept at larger surface emplacements like in Sections A and D, but they certainly didn't fit underground, most having lived their entire lives on the surface. Diana, like anybody else, never feared the Bears. It was only late during her time in the military that she ever got to see them in action, but she knew what they were capable of, even on their own. On their own, they could do great things because they were big and strong, unlike the Vnamens. Yet, they were still dumb animals, so they obviously couldn't accomplish things without the direction of the Vnamens, the true greater power. Though, on her own, Diana wondered if she'd still be any smarter than the Bears. Only once she'd been without them, the first time she went to the Hall of Silence, and it was only briefly, but it was a very confusing situation. Now, she was to go there again.

The formation continued through the courtyard, workers and soldiers parting to make way, yelling orders at their various fabrications. Diana's escorts were shouting too, not at the people of course, but at the animals. Diana, too, was shouting. The words were very incomprehensible, being a very simple language meant only to be yelled at fabricated creatures, whom may have not understood it all the time. The trick wasn't in what was said, but how it was said, and usually, that was by shouting. The telepathy between the Vnamens also consisted more of quality than of content, quite unlike the spoken language the primitive races used, of which was extremely complicated and left a lot of room for misunderstanding. Diana was still learning it, as she had been required to be able to communicate with other races and her telepathy was of a lower tier. Vnamens in Samallia, whom focused little on magic, rarely even had enhanced forms of telepathy. What they had was good enough for them.

Diana's group approached another which was in a line formation ahead of them, each holding a different piece of equipment. Her escorts stopped, but Diana approached them, with her eyes covered still. One by one, they handed her various forms of equipment; a pair of surface goggles, (which Diana put on immediately that allowed her to see and left her arms free,) a belt with a knife sheath, a pistol holster and a few pockets, a silver-colored pocketwatch (which had the various constellation markings that were on her clothing along with the cross) that also contained a compass within it, (which theoretically would work on other planets,) an ivory knife which fit in the belt's sheath and a crossbow of which was about as small as a pistol with a bow that could be folded up so the weapon could be holstered. She was also given about twenty of the wooden iron-tipped bolts which were small enough to fit in her ammunition pocket. Diana examined the crossbow, seeing that it was already loaded with a single bolt. She was quite confident that she'd be able to fire it accurately. She'd used a variety of different projectile weapons before and her accuracy was top notch, at least when she was around her allies. Being able to see through the eyes of her allies, she had multiple angles of view, not to mention she had the accuracy of not one person, but many whom were thinking about taking the shot, as if she were part of a greater body. It wasn't Diana who made a shot, it was her entire squadron. Diana wondered if she would still be as accurate on her own, especially considering she hadn't fired a weapon in years.

The weapon was only for self-defense anyway, in case they were attacked on the way to the Spirit Barrier, but she was unlikely to be attacked once she was at the Hall of Silence. Only, Diana wasn't sure how long she'd be there for. It all depended on what the Headmaster Erobus wanted of her.

Once Diana was prepared, the group whom supplied her stepped aside and her escorts returned to either side of her. They moved toward one of the enormous gates of the innermost wall which was opened for them already. The formation continued through the various sections, going through the minor barriers of each square-section and through the major walls of which encased around the whole emplacement, where the Pit was located. Eventually, they arrived at one of the outermost sections, where other young soldiers were waiting, armed with rifles, along with a much older Vnamen, older than Diana even, whom wore grey robes. White hair covered his head, just as it did any other Vnamen. One of the soldiers was dealing with some sort of long-eared creature, of which Diana didn't recognize as a fabrication, meaning it was a natural creature. A mule perhaps.

Behind them was some sort of bronze archway, simply standing on its own, with many strange characters engraved on it. Attached to its sides were cylindrical crystals of some kind. On her own, Diana could tell it was some sort of Mana-powered device. Though, she was already receiving the thoughts of all the others. The older man was the hermit whom was sent by the Order, and he had the ability to open portals using magic, only it required quite a bit of Mana. The crystals were heavily enriched with Mana and could be found underground. Other worlds may have made use of these for a lot of their magical technologies, but Elekitel used them for much more important purposes, mostly for growing their food with very few nutrients available (which only the parasite implanted in their stomachs could turn into something usable for their bodies). The matter, however, seemed very urgent, as she could tell from the hermit's thoughts.

The hermit was clearly much different than the rest of them. His thought were the most identifiable among the group because he was the most different, a minor, yet differing opinion, and instinctually, thought they didn't show it, they all either despised him or feared him. Even Diana saw him as somewhat of a threat, yet a minor one because there were obviously more people on her side of the opinion. It wasn't any less difficult to tell what he was thinking. He was rethinking the memory of being contacted by the Order to find Diana and even about some of the ride there. He thought about when they were setting up the portal and how inefficient magically they were, but his thoughts were tense as he was thinking about death for some reason.

Wordless exchanges took place between the whole group and the hermit and the soldiers dispersed with the exception of two whom stayed on either side of the hermit and together, the three turned around. Diana's escorts stood in a horizontal line in front of her. Everybody, including Diana but with the exception of the hermit, stood still like statues. The hermit was whispering something, incantations of some sort which Diana could barely hear. Those who spoke verbally needed strong ears to listen, but Vnamens did not, yet they were not completely deaf. The hermit waved his hands as light in the archway began to bend, shifting into what appeared to be a light blue fluid-like surface of which emanated light phosphorescently. With a few slightly more audible incantations, the color solidified as an ocean blue.

As soon as he was finished, however, the thought of death entered his head again. Diana wondered about that, yet her wondering didn't go unnoticed. The hermit thought about what being shot by the soldiers would be like. One of the soldiers told her that the hermit would be executed as an enemy on their land, despite being neutral. Diana understood completely, however. Nations didn't truly matter to the Vnamens, only thoughts mattered. If ones thoughts did not match your own and those of everybody else, they hindered the great collective and even had the capability to infect more with their ideas, even if you were unwilling to be. This hermit may have done nothing but good, assisting refugees and doing tasks for the Order, yet once he was out of the protected land, anyone opinion could do what they saw fit.

Diana then wondered exactly why he decided to do it anyway. It would have been easy for him to refuse the Order, they could have sent one of their own people, probably not a Vnamen, to find her if it would have cost him his safety. The hermits thoughts went back to receiving the request, when he learned of the Archites, and they even went back to his own former nation, the terrible memories of war, being exiled of deviant thought, meeting other Vnamens whom sought neutrality or safety and his decision to stay in Samallia to help them. What exactly he was trying to say, Diana couldn't tell, but somehow, he just knew that he'd be doing the right thing. He also knew that the portal wouldn't stay open for long. He was grabbed by the two soldiers and moved out of the way (though, he moved willingly as there was no way the young soldiers could overpower the 30+ man) and Diana's escorts dispersed to either side. Diana hesitated. Thoughts were put into her mind about how to get to the Spiritual Barrier from the other end of the portal and how to activate the portal when she returned. Thoughts of urgency and duty were thought all around and the hermit even stopped thinking about death, but he did think about peace.

Diana took a deep breath. Often, Diana did so to be able to tell who she was as her thoughts often got mixed in with others, which was part of being part of the collective. It was like she was trying to mentally prepare herself for jumping into cold water, so instead of taking it slowly, she dived right in, running straight through.

The envoy the Order had sent annoyed Auroriianos, even the messenger’s voice irritated him. The pent up frustration he had towards his father was only beginning to cause dangerous thoughts. It was dangerous for any Archonian to withhold emotions. It would only lead to an explosive outburst that could harm those around, but Auroriianos held so much in and sometimes he felt as if he would explode, in a literal sense of the word. Nonetheless, Auroriianos stood there as the messenger scurried off to deliver the message Auro had given. Erobus knew they would come, he also knew they would help find the other “chosen ones” as Auro was definitely sure that Idros didn’t just visit him or Azael, there just had to be others, and the legend of the Archites burned fresh in his mind. He had been deep in thought when he realized that Azael was talking to him. The male had clearly lost whatever fabric of mental stability he had left by jumping over the edge of the bridge, but with a flap of his wings he was now hovering. Archonians could fly naturally, but Auro always admired Azael’s wings. They were beautiful appendages to which Azael utilized masterfully.

“Indeed,” Auro replied as he too jumped over the edge before shooting like a bullet through the cascading water. When he emerged on the other side, he saw Azael and shook his head. “You’re getting slow old man,” he mocked as he landed beside the male. Their walk was a quiet one, and Auro could tell that Azael did not like the dark, though it was perfectly normal for Auro. He used his senses to feel around the darkness and pinpoint certain things, yet even still there would be an occasional pebble or something that would try to trip him up. Upon reaching the swirling vortex of power, Auro watched Azael with intrigued eyes. This was the link between the worlds. This was how the Order and those who knew of it, transitioned from world to world. Of course there were other ways of traveling to distant worlds. Technology had advanced on other worlds and as such those worlds had shared their technology. Even still, magic was there to assist in providing a bridge to travel amongst one another. There was absolutely no reason for anyone to ever not visit one of the seven worlds within the Finite Realm.

Azael stepped in first, and Auro smiled. The power that resonated from the vortex was amazing. It beckoned to him to walk in and he gave into its will. Before he realized what was happening, he was in the Hall of Silence. He was standing but a few inches away from Azael and he had made it in time to hear the messenger tell Azael that Arteimos wanted to speak with them both. It was also at this time that another entered the Hall.

“Messenger, do make sure that they go before the Elders please,” Auroriianos stated as he pointed to the clearly fear filled Wrenn that was crouched a distance away with its weapon drawn, “I trust the others will be arriving soon if you’ve done your job right.” He was right, as he sensed more arriving in the hall. He smiled slightly at the idea of meeting new creatures, new warriors of the light, Archites of the Order.

Though his words were spoken softly, the tiny echoes turned in to loud reverberations that flowed like a river in to her ears. In her mind his voice glowed and slowly the words formed an image of a gentle being that had been gifted with a natural calmness. On the world of Terronia one learns how to perceive another's personality strictly on their first words and already Mystra could tell that this strange man posed no threat to her.

As Mystra neared the Wrenn the odor became stronger. With just a whiff Mystra was taken aback from the alluring glow of the man and her senses became drenched in an aroma of such unpleasantness that her face twisted in disgust. The members of the Hall heard her as she let out a shrewd noise of displeasure, like the sort of sound a child makes when he's tasted something horrible. Her head bowed in embarrassment, she began to have a feeling that a strong sense of smell could be a curse. With the way her ears had been twitching one might assume they were animals trying to escape from her hair, which was in fact quite thick.

Mystra quickly regained her poise brushing off the worried expressions of those around her. Though the Hall was familiar, being around these faces was still strange to her. Unless she thought of the Elders, it was difficult for her to have faith in any of them. Being around this group she felt slightly uneasy, though it was partially her home away from home she still avoided making any friends and solely focused on strengthening her abilities. This part of her personality made her seem cold an approachable which was hardly her intention but with her past and her inability to speak candidly with others it was difficult for her to harmonize with those around her.

She watched as the man with the gentle voice neared the Wrenn hardly threatened by it's aggressive stance. The sword still pointed at the wing man, Mystra continued to watch as to would happen next. Mystra stared at his feathers closely forming wings drawn in as if to not accidentally knock someone over. Though Mystra's seen the Empyreans gliding through the sky she had never once had the fortune of being so close to one until now. She gazed curiously until the moment she withdrew herself in an attempt to not garner his interest.

Closer now, they could see Mystra standing just behind them.

Xi had been focusing on Azael, not knowing or caring who he really was. All he knew was that the winged people brought only horror's to Vianthorus, he had never really bothered to get close to any of them. The ancient carvings of the dead swarms show of reason-less attacks on their trees by the winged people, with only extermination in mind. What the wrenn didn't know was just how much the winged people changed.

As Xi had been holding his stance, many had been walking around. Most went ignored, but Xi kept track of those who moved around his sides and close to him in any direction. He had even managed to ignore the sharp, unpleasant sound that Mystra made.

During his focus, Xi noted a messenger talking to the winged man, and the man who came in with the winged man. They didn't seem to be dangerous to Xi specifically, but they worked with the winged man, so they could easily have been predators or prey. Then the man with the winged man told the messenger something that Xi couldn't decipher over the sounds of the hall. That was when the messenger began to move towards Xi, who just kept staring.

As he got closer, Xi held his stance, not loosening a single muscle. The messenger kept getting closer, becoming more and more of a possible threat. When he had gotten within a few feet, Xi let out a distinct sound. A deep sound. A sound that he used his whole body to insure how deep it was. A sound that could be felt within a small area around the wrenn. Their form of a territorial announcement.

The messenger, not expecting it what-so-ever, fell onto his back after a short stumbling in reverse. After a moment to compile himself, he stood up again, taking a moment to thing. It was obvious that Xi didn't want to budge, but the messenger didn't know why. Why would he have taken to cornering himself and drawing blade in the Hall of Silence? What purpose could it serve? Was it just some animistic reaction that kept some people doubting how much wrenn weren't beasts?

Deciding that the only way to calm the wrenn down was to get close, the messenger started nearing Xi once again. This time, however, he approached slightly off from center, closer to the shield that Xi was holding. It would give him more time to react if the wrenn decided to attack, and would hopefully be taken as a sign that he is not trying to attack.

Xi on the other hand, kept his eyes on Azael, but still followed the vibrations from the messenger. He knew exactly where the man was, and where he was going. Taking another step back, Xi's tail touched the was. He was now truly in the corner. He was fearful, and, because of fear, slightly aggressive. This man that was approaching him was unarmed, as far as Xi could tell. He knew what the man was sent to do, calm him down. Still, he was standing his ground.

The messenger reached Xi without getting attacked. That was good. He then stood for a second, wondering how he would calm down the wrenn. "What's wrong?" The messenger asked, getting no response. He then followed Xi's gaze, seeing Azael. Something about him must have set Xi off. The messenger looked at the wrenn, saying "You better get used to him. I have a feeling you will be working with him for a while." This got a reaction.

Xi came to when the messenger said "Get used to him." Something about that phrase shot through Xi's mind like an arrow through the sky. He slowly loosened. The winged man had yet to attack, or even pay attention, to Xi. Slowly he sheathed his sword, his gaze still fixed on Azael. The messenger then spoke again, this time saying "The elders wish for your presence."

The Hall of Silence wasn't named such without a reason. There may have been places that were even more silent, yet this was one place that Diana wasn't ever used to. The Order's domain. Diana remembered her first time coming here, how absolutely confused she was. There were no thoughts to guide her except her own. She would watch what seemed like intelligent people, yet being unable to tell what they were thinking, they were much too unpredictable and Diana couldn't keep in sync. Diana payed more attention to the relative silence in her head than that of her other senses.

Diana wasn't sure how long it took her to go through the portal to the other side, and had not realized when she had become aware of herself or her surroundings, not unlike dreaming, when you cannot tell when you become aware of yourself or not. Diana merely stood in place, as still as a statue as she listened to that one loud thought in the emptiness of her head, that of her own. It was peculiar, her own little thought wandering in all kinds of directions and very freely. When she was part of the collective, her thoughts were much more focused as most of her thoughts weren't even hers, they were everybody's. When everybody shared a thought, they could focus. Yet, when all alone, Diana's thoughts seemed to be wandering quickly, from the Order, to Idros, to Elekitel, to the Hermit, to the war, to the refugees, to other planets, to other species and to herself. It certainly wasn't what she was used to, but she was somewhat prepared for it this time.

Though, as she stood completely still and silently, she was aware of other presences in the room. She hadn't noticed them at first for she could not hear them thinking, but they were in plain view in front of her and were making quite a bit of noise as well. It took Diana a while to recognize them, but she could certainly tell that none of them were Vnamens.

The most apparent one had to have been the Empyrean, at least from behind, the wings being obvious. Very peculiar that they were the only race of which Idros gifted with the power of flight, something of which the Vnamens couldn't accomplish themselves. Falzers were the largest creatures that Elekitel has fabricated and they still were smaller than Vnamens. It was merely impossible to get anything heavier than a Falzer into the air, of which had almost entirely hallow bodies. Of course, Elekitel never did dare mess with the base form of a Vnamen, for something that isn't quite Vnamen would be different in mind and may not have thought the same way as Elekitel, if tampering hadn't destroyed it's telepathic or other magical capabilities. Perhaps Idros had not gifted the Vnamens with wings for such mass would inhibit their vast mental capabilities and more energy would be donated to the wings than the mind and the their minds were one of Idros's greatest gifts to the Vnamen. Though if Vnamens could fly, Diana figured, maybe they wouldn't have to live in caves.

The second most apparent creature had to have been the Wrenn, which Diana had mistaken for a fabricated creature of a sort. Being unable to detect their thoughts, Diana had a little bit of trouble believing each of the creatures were intelligent, merely speaking with each other and moving with the unconscious spontaneity of an insect. The Wrenn seemed the most animalistic, however. Diana only knew of them as savage and highly primitive creatures of which banded together in rather small colonies merely to survive. However, primitive they may have been, they had some rather good physical qualities of which Vnamens could only accomplish in their fabrications. Diana wondered if a Wrenn would make a good replacement for a fabricated creature in combat, assuming they were the least bit intelligent than one. What Idros hoped to capture in their design, Diana didn't know, but the Creator's ways were mysterious.

Although, there was another creature that looked like some sort of fabrication between a person and a mammal of some sort. The bright orange hair was very unusual, as it was on the Empyrean. Diana used to not believe that pigment could be stored within hair. This pseudo-person, however, had many traits of which seemed to fit some sort of mammal of which Diana wouldn't have been able to identify on her own. She must have been a Mounirian, of which were a cross between a man and a fox. Diana hadn't really seen a fox before, but she didn't have a hard time believing that this creature looked like one. Diana didn't see her as any less of an animal than the Wrenn, however. Foxes were supposedly clever, yet she couldn't tell if this one really was or not. The Creator seemed to have a tendency to create intelligent creatures of which shared traits with natural ones, or perhaps the latter was created in the image of the former. If such was the case, Diana wondered exactly what creature Vnamens shared traits with. She assumed it had to have been Bees, creatures of which worked diligently and acted together as a collective hivemind and had the capability to create great things. Diana had been involved with studying and fabricated the base form of these creatures and she knew that she saw some genius in the small little creatures, some of herself.

The fourth of the most apparent creatures did have white hair, but Diana didn't mistaken him for a Vnamen for a second. The only way he could have been a Vnamen is if he was a corpse. Diana wasn't able to identify exactly what he was, many races took on the vision of the Creator, the Vnamens probably being the most perfect example of the Creator's vision. This creature was not any of the other creatures, nor was he a Vnamen, so he had to have been a Human. She wasn't sure exactly what a Sanguel looked like, nor an Archonian. From Diana's knowledge, she knew that the Archonians were beings of pure arcana, but she wasn't entirely sure what form such a being would take on, if it took on a form at all, and if such a form really was intelligent. Humans, however, were a race that, although were lesser than Vnamens in every way, were probably much smarter and more advanced creatures than any of the others, with one exception; un-synchronicity.

Even from what little Diana could understand of what was going on, she could tell that all these different creatures were out of sync with each other, needing to create verbal noise just to understand what is happening beyond their own perception or what another is thinking. The four creatures weren't even standing in a proper formation and needed to look around or at each other to understand their situation. They were confused, they probably thought differently too. Not having the Vnamen's gift was what was sure to disrupt the societies of all other creatures. Each creature could only think independently, and their minds wandered just as Diana's was now. They end up consciously or unconsciously do things that others don't expect, potentially leading to disorder and harm. Even through learning how to speak in a spoken language, Diana could tell that the verbal language was limited and didn't allow her to transfer her thoughts correctly between herself and another person without there being corruption in the data due to misinterpretation. Plus, if every single creature thought independently and came up with their own opinion, no matter how slight the difference was, surely such would result in conflicts, and not the large ones the Vnamens ended up in, but ones that occurred between singular people, people of which have worked, or at least attempted to work together for a large portion of their lives end up being unable to cooperate at times. If two people had conflicting goals, just as nations did, they'd fight each other just as nations did, thus resulting in all kinds of disruptions all the kind of which lowered the efficiency of which they could preform tasks immensely, lacking that efficiency of which the Vnamens knew were essential. Surely, if this were to occur between the Archites, they would be unable to heed to the wishes of the Creator, whom of which would frown upon them.

Diana herself had no idea as to what was happening. Unable to hear their thoughts and unable to tell if they were hearing hers (although, she knew that they probably couldn't) she knew that she had to resort to verbal language to speak to them, the same way she would to an animal, only instead she would be using a different language, Universal Standard. With a deep inhale, such as she would when she was about to shout orders at a great big Elswine, she prepared to speak her mind.

"ATTENTION!" she shouted curtly, as if she were a drill instructor, "OUR-" she cleared her throat as she reminded herself the difference between singular and plural in relation to people, which she had difficulty with, "My label is Diana of Elekitel, the great unifier of Samallia! The Creator has connected with myself, and myself only, and has labeled me an Archite!" She paused between sentences and paced herself to make sure she had every important detail, but only important details and not speak a long string of everything on her mind, "I was summoned here by the Headmaster, whom of which is seeking the Archites! Each of you will identify yourselves and allow me in his presence!"

---

The Hall of Silence, an understatement surely as whispers began to echo from every corner of the great hall. Words could not express the grandeur of the hall itself. With its massive vaulted ceilings and illustrious gardens, dark starry skies overhead reflected off the surrounding waters that appeared to cascade off the very edge of the universe itself. There was no end to the majestic nature of the hall, nor the many mysteries that were riddled inside every wall and chamber. No expense was spared in its winding gold stairways or the art and décor that came from every walk of life across all the seven worlds.

In the annals of history, the Empyrean had been marred by a dark and troubling past, from a time when Uldrik had spread his influence across Atrulyn. At war with Vianthorus and the Wrenn who inhabited it, the Empyrean had long made their presence known amongst the primitive and indigenous species. Fortunately civil war ended up breaking out between the Empyreans, effectively ending the campaign in Vianthorus (but not the horrifying memory of the wrath they had already unleashed upon the Wrenn).

Not even the Empyrean were free from sin, or a past they had long tried to forget. The unyielding gaze from the Wrenn was an unsettling one in which Azael attempted to ignore. He was a defender of the peace, protector of the weak, and would not be intimidated in the slightest. His people had committed many mistakes, but in generations he had no control over. “Best sheath your sword, Wrenn.” Hand hesitantly hovering over the hilt of his blade, he was quickly sidetracked by the ‘unifier of Samallia.’

A unique race, one in which not even Azael completely understood. Although he’d spent some time in each of the worlds, the Vnamen came across as rather inaccessible, a technologically advanced race of humanoids whose civilization was unlike that you’d find anywhere else. Not to mention communication didn’t seem to be their strong suit. “I am Azael, an Empyrean from the planet Atrulyn, Knight of The Order, Requiem of Time…” Distractions seemed rather prevalent as Azael had already quickly come across another.

Ahulanni, who lingered close behind him… Terronia, a planet he’d spent almost more time on than his own. The dark red sash tied around her waist catching his eye, he turned, facing her as their eyes caught briefly. Did she notice him? That had been so long ago. And he had tried so hard to distance himself from the past. Was she called on to be an Archite too? So many destinies, fated to be intertwined in the battles that were sure to come. Azael had always yearned to know the truth behind his future, but he never expected this.

As the two great doors in the hall opened, High Elder Erobus crept out, his cane clanking off the floor as he stood before the gathering. “Archites, I see most of you have already arrived… but not all of you. There are dark days ahead of us, and by the grace of Idros, you have all been given great responsibility in the days to come. But please, please… I beckon you into my chambers. There is much to be discussed.” While Azael intently focused on Erobus, his mind couldn’t resist wandering. First it was the Wrenn, then the Vnamen… Ahulanni… and least he forget, Elder Arteimos who he’d still yet to see. Needless to say, he didn’t look forward to the encounter between Auro and his father.

Xi had not realized when Azael came over to him, not over 'The Unifier of Samallia’ roared over everyone else. From this Xi shrunk away in pain as his scales rippled with her obnoxious sounds. Unlike when he recoiled in fear, Xi was now recoiling in sensory pain. That was a flaw with hearing with your entire body, having a sensitivity to direction and volume. Wrenn were no more capable of hearing at distance than most humans, but their full body of sound sensitive scales gave them greater abilities at noting volume, pitch, tone, distance, and direction of any sound they could hear.

Knowing that he was not allowed to strike at other members of the Order, no matter how much of a threat that they presented themselves as with their voice, Xi responded with a deep call, letting it grow deeper as it bounced around in his body. Among the wrenn, a call like that was a call to tell another to quiet themselves.

Before Xi could recover the concept that the loud one was simply that, loud, the great Elder Erobus stepped out from the great doors. Even though Xi had not been facing him, the vibrations that Xi could feel through his feet told of the three legs that Erobus used to walk, something few others did. Besides, compared to the others who walked on three legs, Elder Erobus had a unique rhythm to the way he walked.

Then Elder Erobus spoke, speaking of the archites, summoning them to his chambers. Dropping from his upright stance, Xi moved with a grace that few creatures could maintain in both upright and four-legged movement. His hands and feet moved across the flat hall, carrying him at a hastened walk to the quiet of Erobus's chambers. He ignored the others for now, he would learn who they were when he was guaranteed they would not speak loud enough to cause the full body pains that yelling causes.

Upon reaching the Elder, Xi stood up and looked the aged man in the eyes. He spoke, the words taking their time to form and coming out with mild struggle, "Hello... Elder Eroobus."

Erobus.. The highest of the Elders stood confidently carrying a presence that reflected the images of sages who's vast knowledge of the universe went by unchallenged. The threads of his robe covered his body in a dark fabric that laid gently on the old man's shoulders. The designing of the robe, with it's dark tones and placements of obsidian armor made Mystra wonder if he was really a holy man, pious to the Order and upholding the balance of the universe, or a mage versed in the arts of darkness and witchery who's true choice of faction (being either good or evil) was always in question.

The latter was, most likely, false. However, there's none who can question a being, who's lived for far longer than Mystra, who's power lied in the ascertaining of knowledge in various forms of magic. His eyes mentioned to Mystra stories that went beyond those told to her from when she was younger, a timid foxling who's depth lacked any suffering and pain that others were so unfortunate to bear. On that fateful when she was younger, both suffering and pain crept up from the darkest tales she'd heard as a child and churned in to a sea of living misery who's depths repeatedly drowned her.

Quickly, Mystra tried to shake off that unpleasant nightmare. Memory, the intangible knife that crept up and poked it's sharp blade never seemed to show any mercy to Mystra. The night that tore away her childhood and together with the deafening roar of thunder and the haunting cries of her kin melded in to an unending cacophony of horrible terror. Attempting to stride pass her memories and the road of her own doubt Mystra leapt out from the well of her mind and back to the present.

The Vnamen she'd heard not too long ago was still there raising her chin proudly for everyone to see. Mystra saw how she spoke, her rowdy expressions already painting a smug image in her mind.For Mystra she thought of how true it was for the mind to form in to words one's thoughts, but to the Vnamen words appeared to be more like the rain of a monsoon, hard and non stopping.

Thankfully the Vnamen that now came to be known as Diana did in fact stop speaking, atleast long enough for Azael to greet her. In contrary to Diana's willful speech, Xi found it hard to grasp his own words in front of Erobus. Unlike his threatening size as well as troublesome odor, Mystra thought of him as modest and gentle. Perhaps it was her kind that taught her that even beasts, as mighty and fearsome as they come, all have a gentler side often hidden from the world's eye.

After Xi greeted Erobus the room became quiet, except for the soft crackings of torches.

Diana's attention turned to the Empyrean whom spoke first, although she didn't look directly at him. “I am Azael, an Empyrean from the planet Atrulyn, Knight of The Order, Requiem of Time…” Diana examined his words, picking them out from his rather different accent (which probably didn't sound as ridiculous as Diana's). His existence was Azael, which seemed to mean his name was Azael as most speakers would understand. Indeed, he was an Empyrean and it came as no surprise that he came from Atrulyn. Knight of the Order confused her a bit, but she realized that he wasn't talking about Atrulyn as a whole (like how Diana was referring to Elekitel when she titled it the 'unifier of Samallia') but about himself. Diana knew she had to get used to how self-centered creatures thought of themselves and how they spoke. Knight was a term for a servant, so he must had been referring to how he, himself, worked for the Order. Requiem of Time, however, was most confusing. She was quite unfamiliar with what a requiem was, but she was sure it had to do with some form of ceremony involving one's death. Elekitel had no such things as ceremonies and the dead were unimportant to them. The terms Requiem and Time, however, seemed of no relation to each other to the extent of Diana's knowledge of the spoken language. Perhaps she was missing something because she was unfamiliar with something in Empyrean culture that made the two words relevant or Diana was merely still a novice at speaking.

Though, as she expected questions she thought of to be answered for her, no answers came. Once again, the grim reminder came to her that she was absolutely alone. There was no great collective for her to be a part of, nothing to feed her answers, nothing to feed her own thoughts to. While she spoke so highly of Elekitel or of her own species, there was nothing she could say about herself. No Vnamen ever concerned themselves about themselves. Many Vnamens hardly even knew which body was theirs or which mind was their own, they were merely a single great mind with many bodies. Alone, however, Diana felt severely incomplete.

Her troubled thinking, however, was interrupted when the Headmaster entered the room. It was unmistakable. Diana had seen him before in the minds of others, plus she'd witnessed him once before. Diana couldn't tell exactly what race he was part of, he could of been Human or even Vnamen. In some ways, it would surprise her if he was a Vnamen and in some ways it wouldn't. Yet, despite him being a great man, Diana decided there was no way he was a Vnamen, simply because he was a great man.

Diana, however, respected a great man. He was one of great insight and knowledge and was head of the Order, an organization blessed by the Creator and the Vnamens were the most gracious of the Creator's gifts. After all, the Creator gave the Vnamens their ability and it was the creator that filled their world with resources, prime for use as the Creator intended. To not make use of the Creator's gifts was a sin. The Order as well was a gift of the Creator's will, even if it was men that created it. After all, the Order was created from the will of the Archites whom were chosen by the will of Idros. Of course, once again, the Archites were chosen by the will of Idros and Diana, not Elekitel, was chosen by his will. From the Headmasters words, it seemed these other creatures in her presence were chosen by the will of Idros as well.

Although, unlike them, the Headmaster's presence demanded respect. Diana went completely silent from that point on. After all, not only was she in the presence of the Headmaster, but of the Archites as well. To have spoken to them was rude on her part, yet she still had a difficult time seeing any of them as truly great, like the Headmaster was.

Irritated by the sheer stupidity of the other races gathered, Auro stood silently as he watched the foolish girl yell out. Clearly she knew not how to use her inside voice. He would’ve shunned her and chastised her for her stupidity if Master Erobus hadn’t walked into the room. There was silence when the man of authority walked in. Auro could only scan the room as he took in the features and body language of everyone within the Hall of Silence. Not every day was he like this. His relationship with his father had reached an all-time high. He hadn’t spoken to Azael about what had occurred yesterday. Auro stood there for a moment reminiscing on what had happened and how close he had come to hurting his father.

Yesterday, Early in the Morning

“I’m tired of you treating me like some child, I’m 19 years old dad, and I deserve to be treated with respect.”

“Respect is earned son, not given freely.”

“Or perhaps Respect is taken.”

“You dare challenge your father in this manner?”

“Why not, you’ve been no father to me. Azael might as well have been your son, that’s the only person you devoted 19 years to.”

“I instructed you Auror......”

“You lied to me,” Auroriianos interrupted, “all this time, you taught him the secrets. All this time you taught him advanced techniques, neglecting your own son, your own flesh and blood and for what? Am I not ideal enough for you Arteimos? Am I not a warrior? What am I to you?” Do you even see me?”

“Yes I see you Auroriianos, I see you every second of my life. I know I’ve not been what a father should, and for that I am sorry.”

“Oh the great Arteimos apologizes, that’s one for the record.”

Arteimos’s face stiffened and he turned from his son.

“I will not fight you in your state Auroriianos. You’re drunk and you’re unstable.”

“FUCK YOU!” Auroriianos yelled as his form seemed to glow slightly, “All those years, those wasted years, and I don’t even know who you are.”

“Auror....”

“GET OUT OF HERE!”

An orb of arcane energy shot forth, Arteimos just barely dodging it.

“That is an advanced technique, how did you....” Arteimos was cut off again as another orb, this one bigger, shot towards him with unbelievable speed. He dodged it and rolled to the side, looking at Auroriianos who stood as defiant as a wall to progress.

“Auroriianos, listen to me,” Arteimos beckoned, “I am your father, and I know I’ve not been there the way a father should have. I implore you to reconsider your actions.”

“Implore this....,” Auroriianos stated as electricity sparked between his finger tips and shot out in various directions. Arteimos put up a forcefield and watched as the electricity struck the barrier.

“Auroriianos, I love you, you are my son, my flesh and blood, and this is not you. I did what I did to make you stronger Auroriianos. I did what I did to show you independence. You are strong, but you lack self-control...”

“I’ve heard enough from you,” Auroriianos stated as he unleashed a barrage of hellish orbs that rocketed towards Arteimos with intent on injuring the elder. Arteimos dodged them with ease, all but one, for as Arteimos dodged them, another came from behind him and struck him in the middle of his back, sending him toppling to the ground. He quickly rolled to his feet and felt the pain seethe through his body. When he went to move, he felt another pain shift into his arm and he realized all too late what was going on.

“That is old magic, who taught you that?” Arteimos stated breaking the spell that held him in place, “who taught you this type of magic?”

Auroriianos said nothing; he simply began to hover, his hair flowing with the increase in his power. The sting of the orb that hit him reminded Arteimos that his son was not playing games.

“I WILL NOT FIGHT YOU AURORIIANOS!” Arteimos stated once more as Auroriianos hovered there for a moment before landing and turning his back on his father.

“You are dead to me...”

That was all Auroriianos said before he vanished. Arteimos watched his son with an injured heart, not physically but emotionally. His only son had turned his back on him, had attacked him and had left him. This must’ve been how Auroriianos felt in regards to his negligence. Arteimos, for the first time in a very long time, felt a tear fall from his eye and fall from his face unto the floor. He had lost his son, his own flesh and blood, there was no way to fix it, and even if there was Auroriianos wouldn’t listen to him.

Hall of Silence, Meeting with Elder Erobus

Auro walked into the room with the other gathered Archites in training. He was silent, much more than usual. Normally he was active, talking, laughing and playing jokes, but today he was silent, he looked to be going through a lot emotionally and it showed in his features. Erobus took note of this and knew of the fight between Auro and Arteimos. His heart ached for the young man, but he knew why his father had did what he had done, it was to make Auro stronger, more independent and less reliant on his father, but there were other ways to accomplish this. Arteimos would have to fight for his son now more than ever.

Auro noticed Erobus looking at him and immediately he looked away paying no attention to the others in the room.