Elfborn: The Quest

Unexpected Encounter

The world twisted into a blur of color and sound, sending shards of icy cold slashing through Lash's body. He threw his head back in agony, closing his eyes against the whirling colors.

"Dead," he heard his own voice croak and, eyelids fluttering, he stirred as he felt himself slowly awake. Awake to a body filled with pain, aching and sharp. As if his entire body had gone to sleep, only to be reawakened to revitalized circulation and life. Except the pain was several magnitudes greater. It was that pain which dragged him from his last refuge of unconsciousness.

Groaning hoarsely, unable to scream with his voice gripped by the pain, the young man slowly curled up into a ball, his senses overwhelmed with the fire that burned in every nerve. Even his mind was consumed; thoughts were seared away and conscious desire evaporating before the fiery agony that ate him, centimetre by centimetre, until he was completely mad.

And then, like the tide ebbs before it overcomes the shore, the pain was easing away, letting Lash's senses recover and his mind become his once again. Shuddering as his muscles spasmed in release, he carefully reopened his eyes. And immediately found himself unable to focus.

'Blood and ashes!' he thought darkly. 'Is this my payment for not wanting to come back? Coming back and being crippled and blind??'

It was indeed a grim pondering. Yet, even as he made it, he somehow knew the pain and the blindness weren't permanent. In fact, as his mind swirled with what the elven ghost had poured into it, he found himself pushing aside his maudlin considerations and focusing on how this death was not an obstacle to overcome, or a barrier to accomplishment. Rather, it was an opportunity to move more definitively against their enemies, the Fire Lords.

As far as Astor and his Dark Companions were concerned, he was dead. Along with whoever followed him off that boat into the cold waters of the Hybernus. If any did. Without the Dark Companions actively hunting for him, he could more easily find his path in this great plan the ghost mentioned. And once he was on that path, then he could truly begin to work towards defeating the Fire Lords and preventing a new War of Domination!

As he considered that, Lash felt not only the pain finally disappear but his vision clearing. With strength returning to his limbs and his sight clear enough to make out his surroundings, he found himself consumed with the desire to discover where the hell he actually was!

Pushing aside his thoughts even as he stayed in a curled up ball, he slowly moved his head to let his eyes scan over the chamber he now found himself in. And to no surprise, it was a duplicate of the chamber he had awoken in to see the army of the dead and to speak to the elven ghost. Except this one was completely devoid of any other person or apparition.

It wasn't big, as rooms go, looking to be some sort of secondary chamber in what was possibly a high roofed tent of some sort. Besides the plain table he was lying on, there was a four-legged stool that sat nearby, within easy reach of the table. There was also some sort of bag that sat on top of the stool. There was no other furniture.

The way into the chamber seemed to be a slit door leading in from the outside. Opposite that was another slit that likely led deeper deeper into the tent. Even as he squinted, Lash could discern the watery light slipping past the outer door, telling him that it was overcast and sometime close to mid-afternoon. Other than that, it did little to assist the light coming from the solitary lamp hanging from a hook on the center ceiling beam, which functioned to keep the roof up.

The cursory reconnoiter didn't tell him much more than that. But it confirmed he was, at least, alone. Which meant he could now move without anybody overtly observing. Gathering his strength, Lash carefully uncurled before sitting up and letting his legs hang off the table. His skin still felt tender from the effects of the pain that had ravaged him and every movement sent a stab of fire into him. But, all things considered, that pain was much more manageable than the pain which had nearly stolen his sanity just moments before. As long as he took it easy, it should be okay.