Chosen by the Fates

Adah's Domain

Ashleigh~

We stand at the precipice of eternity. The cliff overlooks an ocean of clouds, and the light of the rising sun as washed away the darkest shadows of the night.

Adah’s world is one of scorched heat, and endless sky.

Sionainn calls out to the four winds. Known by many names in many worlds, Sionainn’s voice sings all of them.

I stretch, my lithe dream form finally feels my own. We are longer bound by the bodies we’ve been keeping for the sake of Aisling’s mind. As Sionainn’s voice sings out, the winds dance about her lithe figure, pulling her silver white hair in a tangle of twisting movements. Cian’s stands taller, a tower of silence and earthen armor.

The ground rumbles, clouds part, and a massive serpentine creature rises from the skies beyond. The creature dances in the same twists and spirals of the winds that play with Sionainn’s shining hair.

Wind walker, you have called, and I have come. The creature’s deep voice echoes through all of our minds. The being’s massive form bows before us.

“Wind dancer, you have come and in doing so honor me.” We follow Sionainn’s lead as she bows in return.

All of us are capable of speaking to the elements. However, each of us is more proficient at specific elements. Of the three of us, Sionainn is the only one of us who has been uniquely capable of calling to the elder magic creatures of the skies.

After the exchange, the creature lifts us in gargantuan claws, carrying us carefully within cupped hands as it rushes through the clouds of the dreaming. A journey across Adah’s deserts which would have taken us untold days within the dreaming, is shortened by the unique abilities of the creature.

I close my eyes, unable to sort the tangle of thoughts within my mind. Delphi wasn’t just corrupted. They seemed sentient of it. Tears burn at my cheeks, the stinging wind ripping them away as we pick up speed. But they loved us. It’s inconceivable. They wouldn’t have chosen…

“We are here.” Sionainn’s gentle voice interrupts my thoughts. Even her features appear pained from our recent revelation about Delphi.

An enormous temple carved from red cliffs rises before us.

The creature carefully sets us down nearby, and with an exchange of bows dissipates into clouds before vanishing as if it had never been before us. The four winds whip around us and then depart, leaving us in the smothering and still heat of a windless desert.

On either side of an entrance that is several stories tall are carved even taller figures. They are a depiction of gods older than even the oldest of worlds. A strange amalgam of symbols traits can be seen from a variety of world myths, however.

“The entrance is unguarded…” Cian’s voice is grim, his stance suddenly alert. He fluidly slides a shield from his back and draws his sword. Then he takes point. Sionainn looks as worried as I feel, taking up a position beside me as we approach.

Just within the darkness of the entrance, are two bodies. Cian scowls, warily keeping watch as Sionainn checks them. She shakes her head, her voice filling our minds as an impression of thoughts. ‘They are dead.’

A hiss escapes Cian’s lips. Killing peaceful beings born and bound within the dreaming is a grave transgression. Let alone murdering a temple guardian. The culprit could be any number of malevolent forces, but I feel my heart and stomach twist in fear at what we may discover ahead.

Cian takes the lead, and we make our way through the temple halls in the dark. All the usual torches and lights have been extinguished. Another bad sign. As Lucids, we can easily shift our vision to see through the dark, but we dare not reveal our presence by producing light.

We come across more bodies, and each time we do something within me grows colder. It is unthinkable to think, but… what if something has happened to Adah?

At the shrine ahead, a single light flickers.

A good sign?

Carefully, we approach. The shrine is filled with the last of the temple guardians, all dead. The light emanates from an angularly cut clear crystal, a beacon shooting straight up and into a night sky beyond.

Adah is nowhere to be found.

I hear an audible sigh of relief from Sionainn. Adah is one of Sionainn’s lovers. I can only imagine her worry.

Sionainn approaches the crystal thoughtfully, then looks up as if noting something about above. Her voice fills our minds, ‘The beacon points to a specific star within the constellations.’

‘We must lay these bodies to rest.’ Cian’s baritone reminds us of the weight of what we’ve found here.

‘We can’t risk whatever did this coming back. We must find Adah. This can be done after…’ Sionainn’s musical tone coaxes.

Cian is already concentrating his energy within the dreaming. Tremors roll through the temple as the sands and bedrock beneath us reorganize. The ground itself rises up, claiming the bodies of the temple guardians.

Sionainn is already at the crystal, waiting patiently for Cian to complete his task. I stand beside her, holding her hand.

When Cian is satisfied, he joins us. The three of us join hands, and I call on my own will. The will of the waters and depth of the night. The beacon’s light fills us, connecting us with the light of the star it points to.

The world around us shifts, leaving us standing before a lone figure surrounded by the light of a thousand stars. Even compared to the darkest features, hers are an ebony to rival the night itself. She turns, midnight eyes growing ever the more shadowed when seeing it is us.

“YOU.” Adah hisses angrily.

“I told you I would have no part in this hunt for the Nightwalker.” Her words are filled with tearful rage, “Yet still you bring the void to my temple. To my kin!” Behind the rage is anguish.

Sionainn rushes forward, throwing her arms around the other woman. Slowly Adah relaxes into the embrace.

“Delphi has been corrupted.” My words cut through the moment tangibly. Adah stiffens, Cian shoots me a glare.

“Enough.” Adah gently pulls back from Sionainn to hold my gaze. “Is Delphi all you care for? What about us?”

Sionainn reaches for her, “Adah, you are the only one who knows what that might mean. Who could help us save them…”

“Delphi is the one who massacred my temple!” Adah’s wrath is directed at all three of us, the energy flowing about her is suffocating.

All we can do is stare, taking in her words.

“Delphi’s mind is their own. They chose to put the guardians, my kin, to death.” Every word is laced with Adah’s raw pain. Each one is a knife would to my heart.

Can we save someone who doesn’t want to be saved?