The Kingdom of Light

Br'nard had staggered as the Dragon lost its form, but he had gone past the point of pain and was determind to finish the Mage now that he appeared to be weakend.

Upon seeing the Lord of the White Tower begin to rise into the air, his unconsious captives alongside him, his leg a bloodied, mangled mess, the Barbarian charged one last time, it seemed the end was finaly drawing near...

And then the blue fire came, crackling from the maged fingertips it lanced across the space between them, almost too fast for the eye to follow, and struck home!
Sappire tendrils of energy plunged into the Warriors flesh before exploding with the intenstiy and heat of a dying star.

The Nova tore through the surrounding buildings, shattering glass and stone alike, setting houses aflame and cobbles craking and melting in the heat as the torrents of rain water that had so recently drenched them, boiled and steamed, sending up a great mist to hang above the stricken town like a great death shroud.

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Br'nard Even'star opend his eyes...
And sat up, the world around him seemed disstorted somehow, its colour dulled, its landmarks disstorted and distant... Yet the pain was gone.

The Warrior got slowly to his feet and looked down at himself... He appeared to be fully healed, not only that, he felt young again, young and strong, more alive than he had done in years!

And then he caught sight of it, his own body, laying sprawled in a spreading pool of crimson amidst on the mud and ruin, its features scorched and blackend almost beyond recognition...

Realisation dawned...
"Oh... Right."
Even in life, he had never been a man for great speeches.

The Barbarian tilted his head and looked up, in contrast with the drab, grey world around him, the sky was ablaze!
Great swirling patterns of light flew by overhead, dancing amidst the stars and planets as if the whole universe had opend up above him...

And there it was, the Rainbow that had appeared so faint on the mortal side now cut through the sky like some mighty bridge of many beautiful and blazing colours, it swept down through the heavens and almost appeared to come to a stop at his feet, like some great causeway of the Gods!

"Brifrost,"
He named it a second time, is voice quiet with hushed awe.

And upon this great causeway between the worlds, he saw the rider, galloping down the shining roadway on a great steed of purest white, drawing closer by the second.

As the Rider drew closer, he saw it was a woman, tall, proud and stunningly beautiful, her long golden hair braided and flying, she wore a breastplate of burnished fire and a great, gilded winged helmet.
There was no mistaking her, a Valkyrie, a Warrior of the gods!
Sent to carry the souls of those slain in battle to the great Halls of Valhalla!

Reaching the foot of the causeway, the woman dissmounted and came towards him, she appeared almost to float above the earth as she approached, her eyes like burning stars.

"Did I die a worthy death..?"
Br'nard asked, almost fearing the answer...

But the Girl smiled,
"You lived a worthy life."
Slowly, she reached up and removed her Helm, locks of golden hair tumbled down over her face.

Br'nard's eyes grew wide in recognition,
"Kalsha?!"
He breathed, almost in dissbelief.

She smiled anew,
"I've waited for you,"
She breathed, eyes moist,
"Its been so long..."

Blinking back tears of his own, Br'nard strode forward, Kalsha Even'star did the same and there beneath the open Hevens, after twenty long years of waiting,
Man and wife embraced once more in the burning light of the Brifrost...

Elenie shivered as Safir spoke cold words. Questions? What Questions? Elenie stood up and walked a bit closer to Safir. She looked at him ready to answer anything to protect her friends. She felt her arm as it cracked. She grit her teeth as a shock of pain ran down her arm. Elenie looked down at her body. She lost her hooded robe. So her ears were popping out and her elven outfit made her cold. All she was wearing was a skirt made out of spiritual matter and green vines. Her top was just a bikini made with the same things. Her stomach was bare which let a breeze run across it. She started to get goosebumps. She crossed her arms and let them warm her cold body. Her hair slightly covered her back since it was so long but it was still cold.

Silence. Safir's eyes narrowed the tiniest bit. "Well. Then we'll start with the only cooperative one then." His eyes flashed to Alyss, then Alphonse and Elenie. "Just let me remind you that your weapons are useless here. I can sense you trying to transform," he said with a smirk, his words guided at Alyss.
The dark-skinned girl crossed her arms in a gesture to begin.

"I'd like to know if you were born with your .. gifts, shall we say. If not, then where you developed them.. or why..?" He raised a brow. Not all magicians, gifted warriors or archers were always born with that power. In his studies, he had found that they sometimes developed them at a young age after exposure to magic.
Alyss took a while before answering.

"I was born with them," she said harshly.
"Are you positive?"
She only stared. He shook his head. "If you don't answer by yourself, I promise you, I have other methods."
She still kept quiet. "Fine then. Why are you rebelling against the Queen, Allandria?"
He reached out an arm and ropes sprung from nowhere, fastening themselves around her throat. They set tightly.

"I'd like a reply this time. Perhaps one of your friends could help you answer."

Elenie's eyes widened. She ran over to Alyss . She tried to remove the ropes but they wouldn't budge. She panicked," Listen Safir if you let her go I will talk as well and answer your questions!" Elenie frowned and hoped Alyss wasn't choking to bad. Elenie wanted to hurt Safir. She needed to pick out her words well when she had to answer the questions. She had to think and not make a bad move.

One of Safir's eyebrows raised slightly, signaling for the elf to begin speaking. "Look how nicely that works out.." with a murmur the ropes released and Alyss panted, glaring furiously at the mage, but still quiet.
Her binds evaporated off her neck.

"You are an archer, correct, elf? I saw you take down the ur-wolves. Why would a little elf venture so far away from her home?"

His eyes wandered back to the girl who had just awoken. He had not seen her fight .. so what was she? Surely not a mere human, she must have powers of some sort. And the alchemist. A petty alchemist. He just had the brains in the group, it seemed.

Elenie looked as the ropes ventured away from Alyss' neck. She looked back to the man and felt furious at his questions," What do you think!? You should know why! I have no family! I'm the last of my tribe because of your evil queen!" Elenie quickly covered her mouth. She let her anger get to her words. Hopefully Safir won't react. She chose the wrong words like always. That's how Elenie acted when she was angry. If she got to angry she would lose all control so she had to stay calm.

Alphonse hated this situation. Elenie was letting emotions get the better of her, which wouldn't end well if it came to blows. Their leader, Alyss, had upset the mage to an extent where he had bound her. Alphonse had to act now. He swallowed a dosage of a suggestion drug. He approached the space between Elenie and Safir and, without showing his intentions, whispered in mangled Elven to Elenie, "Just play along." Without stopping, he chuckled. "You will have to forgive the Elf, milord, but it is has been poorly misinformed." He turned to Elenie, "It seems you haven't seen through the lie yet. It seemed that the drug worked swimmingly. Well, no point in hiding it. I lied about the witch killing your tribe." Pulling actual fact from his family history, he began to spin his tale.

"You see, you poor poor elf, my Family has been at odds with your kind for generations. In order to build on some of the more fertile land, my family had to expel some of you out. Now, knowing the threat of your kind's potent arrows, my family enlisted corrupted druids to attack." He walked to a corner of the room, his eyes still focus on Elenie. "When we met, I was trolling around for anyone who would join me in answering the bounty on the Witch. When I saw the Elven archer, she had told me that her village was attacked and she was seeking the perpetrators. I only had to hint of the rumors of a supposedly malignant witch of the woods to insinuate her clan's attackers." Thanks to the suggestion drug, he had believed every word he had said, just in case the mage would try to discern the truth from his mind.

Safir turned his eyes on the alchemist as he stepped forward to speak. The elf had lost her temper and it was apparent she was refraining. And her friend, this man, was telling her the truth..? Safir could not tell. He ignored it. The elf would not be allowed to lash out after this information again.

But he had also noticed that the alchemist had just injested something. He didn't like that.
"Hold your tongue, elf. Insulting the Queen will do you no good, especially here." He spoke with a dark tone, not openly revealing his irritation. Safir then addressed the rest of the party. "I'm not getting answers out of any of you.." he shook his head in mock disappointment and felt his anger slip away quietly. "Perhaps I won't, but the Queen can. She's requested that she speak with all of you. I shall not keep her waiting."

Of course not with them grasping their weapons, so they could kill him and be done with it. Keeping the weight off of his leg, he casted a complex spell that dealt with the mind - the desired affect was their "guests" following him passively. The spell should make their mind desire to follow him without harming themselves or him. The mage took a step back to see what would happen.

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Alyss looked in shock at Alphonse. Was he..really? It made sense if he was, and even more so if he wasn't. But then it wasn't her business to interfere with another's family. She rubbed her neck, growing angry. Tension was high, and if she and her friends didn't comply then.. the mage could kill them all. And she was the only weaponless one.
"I didn't agree to see your Queen, I-" .. she stopped and thought. She'd better. Or they would all get hurt. It just made sense to go.. it was safer anyways.. they could run.. no. Running would only make him mad. They should just follow.. she took a step toward Safir, her eyes round.

Elenie felt anger bottle up inside her as Alphonse told unbelievable lies. If that was the truth she would punch Alphonse straight in the nose. Not caring about anyone else around her. After the idiot stopped talking she shot her head to focus on Safir. We had to speak to the queen? Elenie felt like going with Safir. Joining him and talking to the Queen. She had no clue why. She wanted to truthfully run away and not even see the queen. Yet she really wanted to at the same time. Her eyes widened as Alyss joined Safir. Alyss was the last person Elenie would think to go up to Safir. Soon after she took her first step towards Safir and others followed until she was by Safir and Alyss ready to see the Queen.

Alphonse could tell how angry Elenie was. It was understandable; he had tried to completely butcher her reputation and her reasons for revenge. Although after the mage was done speaking, he noticed that Elenie grew two heads, and that the walls were suddenly made of gelatin. Every step Alyss was taking, non-descript flowers seemed to start springing up. His stethoscope had developed speech and started singing shanties. The mage was suddenly a banana with a rainbow colored peel. Alphonse's eyes dilated, and he felt the strangest urge to giggle. Feeling very hungry, he followed the suddenly banana-like mage through what appeared to be a the gaping maw of a turtle. Strange... This didn't happen during testing. Alphonse was only highly suggestive when he consumed the suggestion drug during testing. The only time he saw strange things under the influence of his suggestion drug was under magical hypnosis. Of course! There's something magical affecting my mind. Oh well. Lead on Mr.Banana! He tried to say. However, all that came out of his mouth was gibberish. He stumbled forward, tripped, and said semi-coherently,"Holy Cow, Mr. Banana! " He began giggling uncontrollably, and followed the others.