The sword laid to rest

[Luke Pendragon]

Another day traveling through Pherae, another day exploring one of the more peaceful territories of Lycia. Despite the troubling news he had heard not so long ago Luke was still venturing through Lycia with not much of a care nor anything truly bothering his mind. Of course there were a few things on his mind like the wellbeing of those he cares about but that was to be expected when one was so far away from home. If he dwelled on those thoughts for too long there was the possibility that he'd become so homesick that he'd just go back home and that would be a huge step back in his journey.

It wasn't like he had much to tell if he went back now. There was no grand tell of adventure, he had saved no one, fought no great enemy or monster. All he had done was trek through Lycia, and nothing eventful happened so far which was a bit disappointing. There were a few things here and there that were a bit interesting but nothing mind blowing like the tales Luke's father would tell. That's what Luke wanted, something like that so that people would look forward to whenever he came back.

Though it seemed that Luke's eventless journey was about to take quite the turn. The path that the boy was walking on came to an abrupt stop when the road was covered in debris from a landslide. It was a bit of an annoyance but nothing that Luke couldn't get around. He examined the area, trying to figure where the landslide started from. It was then that he noticed something odd, something towards the top of large pile of debris. A bit hard to make out but it looked like a door but what would that be doing up there.

Curious, Luke began to climb up over rocks and dirt to reach what happened to be a door. It was like he was climbing a mountain and at the top was a treasure chest. Once he reached what looked like a door, which was a long climb mind you, he took a minute not only to compose himself but examine what he thought was a door. While it did look like a door it looked to be something much more than that, and something quite old by the looks of it. Whatever it was really, it looked beyond Luke's knowledge.

There was writing on it, writing in a language that Luke did not understand at all. The writing on it looked like magic symbols or runes which was interesting. Not only did it look old and magical to Luke it also looked quite fragile and whoever made this entrance went through a lot to make sure no one found it if it was covered under all that land. Luke honestly felt like he should leave it alone but his curiosity and drive for adventure got the best of him and he began to move the door. He did it carefully as he didn't want to risk the chance of damaging it any more than it already was.

Looking into the exposed entrance to what Luke figured was a tomb, the boy noticed a chilling feeling he was getting from staring into it. Whatever was inside this tomb had been here for quite some time that was for sure. Luke didn't know what was on the inside of this thing so it was best to keep his guard up. Though seeing how old he figured the place was he doubt there was anything in here besides whatever was left behind. And so the boy began to venture deep into the tomb.

[Luke Pendragon]

As Luke ventured deeper into the tomb, with the only light at the moment coming from the opening where the door once laid, he tried to examine the walls for any sort of writing similar to the ones on the wall. It was a bit difficult to make out but Luke could see some sort of symbols and scripture on the walls. Whatever this was it was still beyond Luke's comprehension so all he could do was gawk and stare without knowing what it was that he was actually 'reading'. It was a bothersome situation but it was something that could not be helped.

After getting a bit closer to what he figured was the end to his long descent he noticed the temperature dropping. Now this was something that definitely warranted some attention as it was dropping much faster than Luke was expecting it to. He stopped venturing deeper when he heard a crunching noise and felt something being crushed under his greaves. When he looked down he expected to see a rock or something that he had accidentally stepped on but it was something completely different and not what he expected. This tomb had started to become stranger the longer he was in it.

Luke had, instead of stepping on gravel or something, stepped on ice. This was certainly not something Luke thought he would find down here. Despite his worries he began to venture deeper, the crunching of ice beneath his feet the only thing breaking any silence. As he got further he noticed he could see his breath and it was becoming much colder. There was definitely something strange going on here and possibly magical. If Luke was walking into some kind of mage trap he had to be on his guard so this tomb wouldn't become his.

It wasn't long until Luke came to another door that he figured lead to the main room of the tomb. Luke was hesitant for a second but he began to move the door out of the way so he can further explore. The door was a bit heavier than the last but he managed to move it out of the way, being greeted by a powerful gust of icy wind. After it passed, and Luke made sure that none of his body froze over a bit, Luke made his way into the newly accessible room and ready to face whatever was in there.

Luke was a bit surprised to see that not only was the room empty, as in no traps or anything, it looked well preserved. Oh and you couldn't forget the fact that there was ICE everywhere! Whatever happened in here must have happened a long time ago judging by the state of the room but why was everything covered in ice? Who's tomb was this and how did it end up like this? Luke began to look around, trying to figure out how the tomb came to this way besides the obvious excuse of it being the result of some magic.

[Deleted]

Strange dreams plagued her sleep, fitful apparitions of forgotten pasts and futures yet to come; visions, delusions, truths and lies entwined in a chaotic panorama of reality and fantasy that were one and the same. Through them all the dream-self traveled, sometimes striding across blasted wastelands as the grim conquerer, sometimes choking on her own blood as she died, sometimes a helpless ghost who could but watch as tragedy and triumph unfolded without her.

And threaded through it all was a sense of sadness, of loss. Her sleep was peaceful, but there was no peace for her; no matter the dream or vision, always there was more to come. A sleep that was restful to the body, but not the mind. And yet - compared to reality, it was. After so long waking before, being entombed within the confines of her own mind was itself a blessing, a relief that could no longer feed any new horrors into her consciousness. Her dreams were not all good, but they were dreams, rather than the waking nightmare that had consumed so much of her life and Elibe with it.

A gasping breath awoke her. Her own. Or perhaps it was merely the herald of her waking, rather than the cause. Lidith lay unmoving for a moment, trying to marshall what little she could of her mental faculties, but the fog of sleep hung heavy over her after so long detached from reality. It was... empty. The magic in the air... there were little more than traces, most of it drowned in magic all too familier to her to be mistaken for anything natural. What- why was the air so wrong? It was barely even air, mere... sustenance. Like a bland gruel, devoid of texture and taste alike, compared to soup fit for a king's table. The sensation was so alien that the dragon literally could not even think of a fitting simile.

But there was no pain, nothing save the tightness in her lungs as her body rebelled against the alien atmosphere. Was she still in Elibe? If so, what manner of madness was this? Joints as ancient as the stony slab she lay upon creaked, rusty after countless years of misuse, as she slowly sat up, blearily trying to take in the details of her chambers. Something was wrong, terribly so, but her mind seemed as dulled as her body, every conscious thought an uphill struggle as the interminable engine of planning and observation that was her consciousness struggled to stay afloat through the morass that was reality.

[Luke Pendragon]

Luke didn't know what to think was the tomb that he was currently in. Strange writings, ice everywhere, this place spelt magic and ancient all over the place. Still, there was something about it that didn't feel exactly old, the ice seemed relatively new. Well newish compared to the rest of the tomb which was obviously way before Luke's time. He wondered who had built this and what for, or maybe who for. Perhaps a powerful sage that once lived a long time ago or maybe some kind of important figure that was placed in this special tomb to preserve the body?

After looking around for a bit longer Luke came to something that completely shocked him. There was a woman lying on a stone lab and strangely enough Luke felt as if he had no idea what he just stumbled upon. Just looking at her confused Luke as there was no way that this was just some average woman. Who was she?, why was she buried all the way down here and was she the cause of all this ice? No that didn't seem all that possible but this was magic that Luke was dealing with, he understood magic as much as he understood why his brother once tried to wrestle a wyvern.

She appeared to be peacefully resting but something about the way she looked made Luke feel that she had been through a lot before her end and she was laid to rest. The young lad didn't feel right staring at someone on a slab so he decided to looked around a bit more. The ice didn't help Luke's investigation and the boy was pretty much going to move on from here as it appeared that he couldn't go any further. Plus, he didn't feel alright about being in someone's tomb.

There was a sound that completely broke the silence of the room, a sound that made Luke's heart skip a beat. He slowly turned around, feeling colder than he had ever since he walked into this room. Now Luke didn't know much about magic but he was pretty sure that it couldn't bring people back from the dead, at least he hoped it couldn't. But what was he looking at exactly? Did the cold get to his head and now he was hallucinating or was this actually happening right now? No, he wasn't hallucinating this was actually happening.

Somehow this woman was now sitting up and looking around. Luke wasn't sure what to do in this situation, it wasn't often that you came across something like this. What would be the explanation for this though? Some kind of magic spell? She didn't look like any sort of monster that he had heard about. There was something about her that Luke couldn't exactly figure, it would hit him like a truck later though when he found out. All he could do now really was blankly stare at her, like a deer in the headlights. Though when he did decide to do something he tried to make himself appear as non-threatening as possible, which wasn't exactly hard as he didn't even think about harming this woman. He would be willing to assist her but Luke had to figure where this was going first.

[EXIT THREAD]