Rhistmaege

Begin Anew

Emptiness called, and Dovinicus embraced it wholly.

There was neither time nor space. All concept of mind fell away like a pebble dropped into a vacuous oblivion. He was no longer who he thought he was. He was the oblivion. He was less, but he was more. He was - empty, yet fully whole for the first time. He was All.

Thoughts, images, sounds and emotions raced past him like a spinning wheel. They were not just his images, but of others - some he knew and millions who he did not know. Young, old, male, female. They all seeped into him like a clinging mist. The longer he soaked them in, the more he understood, and the stronger he believed he could be.

He floated on a sea of Rhist. No he was Rhist. He was flow.

Somewhere from within the Nothingness, an itch rose up. A nagging hint of some far off thought scratched its way to the surface.

Nemi.

Dovinicus returned, but not the shell of a boy he once knew as him.

He was flux and flow.

Craeve appeared before him like some twisted, ethereal wraith, ebony blade in hand arcing down. A lifetime passed within each moment the sharp edge dropped down towards Nemi's waiting neck. A thousand visions flowed through unseeing eyes that probed the depth of being.

Dovinicus churned as flame and fury. Venom touched him and a thirst for glory shattered pent up fears. From where he did not know, he emerged with the grace of the Eternal. As if time nearly stood still, he watched from his own eyes and through the distant eyes of an observer.

A sword of orange and one of blue emerged from the empty void, illuminating the darkness he had not known. The two blades moved effortlessly in his hands. Craeve's black strike was parried. Once, twice, a third time. Countless blows seemed to fill a lifetime before he pressed the dark Rhistmaege, sending her backpedaling on her heels. The fierceness in her black eyes died away.

His Venom blade was all snake, striking, biting, recoiling, advancing, snapping down with a ferocity Dovi never felt before. The blue deflected the blows from Craeve, until she dropped all offensive attacks.

He spun, ducked down, reached out. Venom found its mark and Dovi surged with a rage filled bloodlust.

Craeve was down. Blood pooled at her side. Dovi frothed at the mouth. Spittle dripped down his chin. He was no longer human. An animal lineage tracing back to the beginning of time coursed through him and he moved in for the killing blow.

He swung down with Venom and his world exploded once more.

Ruenwall was there, parrying his strike, and catching him across the chest with a hammering blow.

Dovi found himself on the flat of his back. His breath came in ragged, short wheezes. Ruenwall glared over him.

"Dovinicus, you must leave Meregrund," Tuck called weakly into his mind.

"I won't leave you," answered Dovi. "I can beat them. I'm strong."

"No. Come to me now or all is lost," replied Tuck.

Ruenwall reached down towards Dovi. His hand closed around his neck. Just as the pressure became too much to breathe. Ruenwall was swept away.

Hundreds, no maybe thousands of birds, whirled, dove and whipped by Dovinicus. The air was feather and beak and wing.

"Now, Dovinicus, now," called Tuck.

Dovi raced to where Tuck lay and found Nemi kneeling at his side. The old man was covered in blood. More blood than Dovi had ever seen.