Please be aware that this is a bit of a draft!



Chapter:1

Awakening


Darkness. The only sound was breathing, his own breathing. Slowly shapes began to form but they were snatched away as he fell back into unconciousness.

Pain now. Dull and throbbing. He was no longer lay on his back but now face down on a dusty flat surface. He heard a faint noise like thunder. He tried to get up and...

... he was standing now. Looking at someone, a woman. He could not find a name for her. Then he spoke it. Aliant. But it was not him speaking. He was there in his body, a prisoner of the mind. The words made no sense to him. They were mixed up and garbled seemingly spoken from miles away. She smiled at something and he felt his heart soar. He loved this woman. Then he had the blade in his hand. He saw it slice into her back. He wanted to stop it to change it. But he could not, all he could do was stare in mute horror as his laughter echoed across..

He awoke again. Covered in sweat. But now he was leaning on some form of altar. Everything he saw was in stark relief. There was light coming from somewhere but he could not place it. He saw some form of torch. He began looking for something to light it. Suddenly it flared into life, now all he could see was white. He walked foward but tripped over something on the floor. He landed face down and just lay there, waiting. Slowly he could begin to see the room again, but there were no colours. He turned to see what he had tripped over, it was a skeleton.

He examined it carefully. It was fully decomposed with no sign of any flesh or hair and the clothes on it had long since turned to dust. Suddenly he was aware of his own nakedness. He looked about for something to cover himself with. The room was large and pillars acted as support for the roof. Inbetween the pillars were large empty alcoves. There was one door at the oppisite end of the room. The altar was long, flat and unadorned. Behind it was some sort of clear glass like a window. It was covered in intricate designs and runes. He walked towards it and noticed that it shimmered in the light like a billowing tapestry.

He reached out to touch it and suddenly it dissappeared. Behind was clothing and weaponry. Suddenly he felt a blinding pain and he collasped onto the ground...

... he was smiling as he finished the speech. He felt so happy and everyone else certainly looked so. Hundreds upon thousands of people cheering his name and feeling great joy. He raised his hand and changed his expression to something more somber. Slowly a silence fell.
"Today is a day for us to rejoice in our freedom. But it is also a day to remember those who can not rejoice with us. All of you have lost someone, if not in the fight for our freedom then in the millions of pointless battles and wars before it. We have been fighting for longer than we can remember, since the dawn of the first mortal we have been warring in the names of the Gods, and they in the name of Chaos and Order. But no more. Some of us, myself included, have fought through what many refer to as Hell to get to this day. We have defied Gods and fought battles against armies that outnubered us twenty to one. But after so long fighting we have earned a freedom for all to enjoy. We remember those who gave their lives for this and in their memory we will keep fighting. We will fight for our freedom. We will fight for the freedom of our children. We will fight for the freedom of all. We will right the wrongs of the past and make a bright future. We will prevail."
The roar was deafening. As he walked away he smiled, he now knew they would do..

... he was on the floor again. He sighed to himself, This is getting annoying.

He stood up and leaned against the altar. He stayed there for a moment gathering his thoughts. He began to think back as far as he could. But everything was fuzzy, it was hard to describe. Suddenly something would become clear but when he tried to grasp it and discern its nature it would slip away like a dream.

He sighed once again and shook his head, this was getting him nowhere. He looked at the door thinking, If I want answers I have to leave here.

He shivered suddenly and smiled. First I need clothes. He walked over to the assortment of gear before him. Some of it seemed familiar while others seemed alien. He got dressed quickly. He had an undershirt of tough brown cloth and over it he wore what could only be described as a ragged collection of leather and chain bound into a single piece of armour that looked nothing like armour at all. But then a thought crossed his mind, Better to be the unseen dagger than the expected axe. Someone had said that to him, but he could not remember who. His leggings were a light, loose and durable leather with a second cloth pants that was worn inside and was considerably tighter.

Next came boots. These were of impressive quality. They were also a perfect fit and did not ride high enough to obsruct his movement in any way. There were two gaunlets that fit perfectly and while being mostly made of a medium strenght leather they had bands of a strong black metal that was surprisingly flexable. A final piece of armour was a single heavy plate bracer wraped in leather straps. He examined it for a second before almost instinctively placing it on his left arm.

As he began to arm himself he paused to consider his weaponry. He had three swords. One was a servicable short sword made of steel with no obvious embellishments. The next one was a long sword with a design that spread from the hilt upwards. Finally he came to a long dagger that was of an entirely different quality. It was almost flawless both in balance and design. It was not as short as the first nor as long as the second and it curved upwards at the end. It had no hilt and the grip seemed designed for his hand alone. The metal was also of greater quality. While the blade itself was thinner he could see that it was far stronger than the pervious two.

He found a belt with two scabbards, once he had it on him he placed the short sword on his right side and the long sword on his left. There was also a back scabbard that was slung over the right shoulder and clasped with the belt. He placed the final blade into that.

Next came an assortment of knives. They were of varying size but all were perfectly balanced and obviously designed to be thrown. Without thought he secreted them about his person. Some in obvious places and others hidden but easily accessable.

Now that he was fully attired he paused for a moment to study himself. He suddenly realised he must look fairly ridiculous. He was thin to the point of illness but still maintained some strenght. However he must look pretty comical, a thin man with wild hair wearing armour that looked as though a child had tossed it together.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When he opened them again he saw something he must have missed. It was a silver necklace with a small red stone dangling from it. As he reached for it a woman in battle garb appeared infront of him. He leapt back and prepared to draw his sword when something caused him to pause, I know this woman. As he studied her futher he saw that she was transparent, an illusion.

She was tall without being imposing and had a strange alien beauty. She was wearing thick chainmail and had a large fully circular serrated blade in her right hand and a small shield on her left arm. He waited for her to do something but she was motionless.

"Who are you?" he asked. His voice sounded strange, surprisingly deep and a bit thick. She reacted with a slight turn of her head. Then she spoke.

"I am placing this here in the event that you awake from your slumber. We failed. Defilarian is dead and Esir is in ruins. You sacrificed yourself for our cause twice already, you gave your life twice so that we may suceed. But in vain, as we have ultimately failed. I know it is hard to ask of you to put your third chance at life in risk by continuing the battle but we must. I do not know when you will get this message, or even if you will be the one to recieve it. But I beseech you to complete what we started you are the only hope for all of us."

She turned around to talk to someone else. "Yes I know."
A moment passed. "How far away are they?"
He did not hear the reply and she tuned back to her original facing.

"I have little else to say beyond what I have already said but incase this should fall into the wrong hands I say the next in Kyrean. Kas'mare josl eis Marnouin, sak tere meth. This message will only play once but keep the stone with you, it has several complex charms and enchantments that will undoubtedly help you."

She faded away until the now silent tomb seemed even more empty than before. He walked over and picked up the necklace. As he put it on he shook his head. That message raised more questions than it answered. He turned to leave and....

... was standing in some sort of town square. It was bright and cold. Probably somewhere near winter season wise. Something was odd however. Then he realised he was in control. He was younger here. He could not tell how he knew, he simply knew. He had a sword in one hand and a long dagger in the other, the long dagger he recognised as the one he had found in his tomb. He was wearing chainmail and it was splattered with blood. He walked forward and a group if soilders saluted him. One of them spoke up.
"Couldn't 'ave done it without ya Captain, saved our asses again"
"Just make sure all of you remember that next time it comes to buying drink"

The soilders walked away laughing. Where did that response come from?. Suddenly he knew where he was, Marnouin! Another man came up to him.
"So Paxen I see you are enjoying another happy victory"
"I see you are sucessfully drunk in record time as usual, sometimes I wonder why you got General. The way you drink we are lucky you are sober enough not to get us all killed."
He stopped in his tracks, So this is a memory I control but I am not in total control of?.

"Come on man there are about 30,000 of them after fortifying a ridge in the mountains to the north, rumor has it that they have a Gate up there to. So that 30,000 could quickly become 300,000. I want you to take a look at it and see how you think we should proceed."

Suddenly he was standing over a map, the General pointed to something. A name. Jaiso. He raised his head and....

... was back in the tomb. At least this time he was still standing. He would have to get that under control and soon. What is Jaiso, a continent or a country?

As he considered this he moved to the door.