The Astral Pathway: Iorn

[Guest]

Some scholars have speculated that there is no such thing as instantaneous travel. Since spellweavers of all kinds have sometimes suffered from amnesia after performing long-distance magickal journeys, and others have claimed to have had visions while traveling, they instead believe that some realm must exist where these travelers go, where there is no true distance, only time and something else. However, these scholars were rarely magicians or priests, and none of them had actually consciously made a magickal journey, and other magicians who had, just smiled knowingly and said nothing.
Possibly, the scholars would have been very surprised to learn that their theory wasn’t far from the truth.

This was the Astral Pathway. It was a place you visited mostly in dreams, or if you were a shaman and drank something with lots of interesting mushrooms in it; it was a place where spirits, gods, sprites and fae lived when they weren’t bugging mortals in Tazlure’s Reality. The Pathway had no rules, no set form of its own. Instead, it was a reflection: it shaped itself to the dreams of all who lived on Tazlure, and to whatever came near to it. Some children went here and saw mountains of candy (unless they were dwarves, in which case it looked like a gold mine. Dwarves start early). Others met with a den of boogeymen. But mostly you came there, had a few weird, but revealing and soothing experiences, and left.
The one constant thing that could be said about the Astral Pathway, however, was that it contained an essence of yourself. No-one ever came here without coming face to face with themselves. And sometimes, if you were really smart, you actually learned something.

Iorn arrived in what appeared to be an overgrown path through a thick forest. It wasn’t really a scary forest – not the spider-infested cannibal kind – and somehow, he knew that Ashari was waiting at the end, and that he had all the time in the world. He just had to get to the other end of the grassy path, something someone had named, silly enough, the Citadel.
A stupid thought. Who, after all, would build a Citadel in such a thick forest?

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn was still in the same pose as he had when he was holding Ashari in the cabin of the ship. But now..there was no Ashari, no fire and no cabin. There was only the coin left in the palm of his hand. Iorn hadn't felt the magic power in it before and he wasn't feeling any now, but somehow he was sure that it was just a regular coin now.

Looking around him he noticed his surroundings were quite green. He was on a path through a thick forest. On the other side of that path Ashari awaited in the Citadel. Strange..How do I know she's there, how do I know the Citadel is there?...yet..I do know.. The adhiel wondered what it is that he could do in this place, outside the boundaries of time. Who could he encounter? Or was he all alone? One thing was for sure..Ashari wasn't here. Somehow that made quite a difference in Iorn's mind. It made him feel darker. There was nothing keeping him on the side of the light now. A small grin appeared on his face. As he started walking on the path, deeper into the forest, there was only one thought in his mind...This forest isn't dark enough..

[Guest]

Deeper into the forest Iorn went. Around him, the trees grew higher, their trunks bare but their tops full of some sort of dark voliage, and of creatures living there which made vague sounds of life. Iorn could place nothing, but when the forest grew darker to his mind's liking, it somehow purred.
After a while, there was a small path that strayed from the overgrown one. Squinting, Iorn could make out a faint light in the distance, in the direction of the path. It looked like a campfire of sorts, and when the wind died down completely for a few seconds, a faint trace of music reached his ears from the small path, too.
Ahead of him, the main, semi-overgrown path just continued in the darkness.

[Iorn Thalas]

Without doubting even for a flicker, Iorn turned away from the main path. He would find his way back later. He had to see what was at the campfire. Tightening the grip on his sword a slightly wicked grin appeared on his face as he fastened his pace.

[Guest]

Iorn turned into the new path, heading towards the campfire. As he closed on it, he could make out a lone figure sitting at the campfire. Sometimes light would reflect off something metallic he was holding in his hand, and to his lips; presumably, it was a steel flute of sorts.
But then, there was a cracking of twigs, and a couple of figures stepped out of the forest onto his path, and in Iorn's way.
When their faces became clear, the adhiel could make out a couple of familiarities. The faces, and the bodies, were mockeries of old enemies Iorn had known in King's Court: political adversaries, irritating courtiers, the occasional nemesis or two. There were five in total, a twisted Demetrion among them. All of them carried axes - which was rediculous, since Iorn knew that none of them ever used axes, and two of them probably hadn't touched anything sharp before in their lives, if you didn't count cutlery.
One thing was clear, though: their weapons were massively stained with blood, and the intent of murder shone in their eyes. The adhiel was in for some trouble.

[Iorn Thalas]

It was humorous, no almost pitiful to see these old adversaries holding large axes. It made Iorn wonder where all the blood had came from. Maybe a large animal died of age and they managed to hit it with their axes?

Still, they were coming for him, obviously wanting him dead. IF they want death..then death they shall have..
Heaving his sword Iorn lunged forward with rage in his eyes. He had waited long for this..too long. He would slay them all. Or die trying.

[Guest]

One by one, they fell to his sword. They were bloody, ugly deaths; Iorn could sense vigor, delight in the kill rising within him every time one of them went down. They fought impossibly clumsily yet with grim, maniacal determination, making any other option but killing impossible. The last one to fall was Demetrion, his arrogant smirk slowly washing off his face. When the last body fell...
... it was as though they had never been there. Iorn's blade was soaked with blood nonetheless.

Farther odd, the sole man at the campfire has stopped playing his flute. The adhiel could distinctly hear him laughing, a scornful laugh but also a mirthful one, born of joy and appreciation. It rang through the forest, and even sounded a little familiar to Iorn. He could not, however, place it.
The now cleared path awaited, and the campfire seemed as inviting as ever. Around him, the forest was coming to a hush: a night's hush, a silence filled with sound.

[Iorn Thalas]

The killing felt good. It felt as if the rage that had been deeply buried in the back of his mind finally had been set free. After he had slain them all, nothing remained, but the dripping blood on his sword. The Adhiel chuckled as he watched the blood drip off of the blade.

Then he noticed the man at the campfire again. The sound of his laughter filled the air. that voice...it almost seems like I've heard it before.. Eventhough the adhiel didn't know exactly if he knew this man or not, he had to meet him, talk to him. This man was different from all the other puppets he had just killed.

He walked up to the campfire in a calm, but steady pace. No attacking post this time. As he approached he tried to get a closer look at the man. "Who are you?" Iorn spoke the words in a soft tone, somehow feeling that that would be enough for the man to hear them.

[Guest]

His appearance was, for lack of a better word, fiendish. A devilish smile played on lips that were set in a pale face, above dully gray - almost unnatural gray - eyes. His hair, short was spikey and black, and two small horns protruded from just above the hair-line. His clothing hid most of the features of his body, so Iorn was unable to tell if he was slim or just muscular in a wiry way. Black with red accents seemed to be the tone of his clothing, which was a traveler's garb, but also clearly meant for stealth. It felt as if he could just slip back a few steps and disappear; yet somehow, at the same time, it was clear he was relishing something, and he wasn't about to leave.
Iorn recougnized him after the first few seconds, or at least, recougnized some traces. Although he had rarely seen the face of the demon that plagued him so in King's Court, this man reminded him of that entity. But the man standing here now was more like the merry, harmless cousin of the original beast; and the flute was a very different instrument from the mental stress that the demon had thought to made Iorn yield with.
Just then, before all of this had truly sunk in, the man spojke.
"Fancy, indeed, meeting you here. I thought we were done, you know. I know I was. But maybe we're not done yet, you and I?"
Again, that devilish grin, a promise of malicious glee.
"So, what brought you here, eh?"
It could have occurred to Iorn at this point that this memory of an image in his head was speaking to him like an equal, or almost so. What had happened to that superior air?

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn was surprised to see the demon here. At first he was frozen in fear, but he soon realized something was different. He didn't feel the demon inside of him anymore and the tone of his voice was different.

It was like returning to the village where you grew up and finding that all the bullies that had been making your life miserable when you were young had now grown up to be nothing more but peasants, while you were king.

Iorn felt like the demon couldn't hurt him anymore, so he suck his sword into the ground and causally leaned on it, laughing cheerfully. "I'm just passing through, my friend. But I have time to chat with you a bit. How have you been?"

[Guest]

The horned man threw up his hands in a dramatic gesture that encompassed their surroundings.
"Just passing through!" he barked with laughter. "You have entered upon this hidden place, where each and every dreaming thing in Tazlure stores its nightly hallucinations, and here you are, just passing through." He chuckled. "Really, I wonder how a man like you ended up in so high a position. One you'd still be in, by the way, had you listened to me. Then again, something in the air tells me that you were glad to quit the place, regardless of circumstance, right?"
The man's gaze shifted to the fire. "I've been good, by the way. I'm not exactly sure what happened - first this ignorant Baedo doing more harm than good for any of us, and I thought it'd be back to the Many Hells with me for certain. Yet here I am, dressed ridiculously like one of your fauns - or was it that false god, Pan? - with actually bloody horns in my head, speaking to you. Go figure."
His tone was sarcastic, but somewhere, Iorn's ear, heightened to speech patterns through his many dealings with political creatures, could detect some relief - the very fact that this man was orating here, now, and not being unsufferably hostile, seemed to indicate that he was actually glad to have someone to speak to.
"So, anyway," he continued lightly, "nice show back there. You were really getting into it, which I liked. Almost surprised me you didn't lick the blood off your blade, but then again, you never were the overtly melodramatic type, now were you?"

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn noticed how quick the demon, or whatever he was now, judged that Iorn had no clue of what he was doing here. In truth, Iorn really had no idea how he got here. But the demon couldn't know that for sure. The adhiel could just have said it casually. He had to make a note of this. Knowing the demon underestimated him could prove useful one day.

"Mmm..yes I liked that pretend-fight as well. although, the real deal would have been so much better." The adhiel grinned. "I must say, I do miss our little conversations sometimes. Although I think I like this situation more. You and me, sitting at a campfire, being able to look each other in the face."

Looking into the fire, Iorn gestured. "So..what's for dinner? I'm starving.."

[Guest]

As Iorn looked into the fire, he noticed the flames dancing in intricate pattern. It was a hypnotizing sight, andn it drew his attention like a moth drawn to a flame. There was something else about it, too, something he couldn't quite make out.... were those images he saw flickering among the tongues of these flames?
Before he could examine this further, the man started talking.
"For dinner?"
There was a throaty chuckle.
"My pride, Iorn, among other things. Although I suppose it couldn't hurt if we had an actual bite out of something here."
He looked off into the dark forest around the small clearing. "By the way, this would be a lot easier if we had a name for me."
As he looked, a deer came wandering into their circle. Even without much knowledge of animals or nature it wasn't hard to realize that it was an odd thing to do; deer were easily frightened, and the chance of one wandering towards a campfire with moving beings around it were about the same as a meteority hitting the inner sanctum of the regent in King's Court.
... come to think of it, the chances were slightly less than that, since powerful mages might at some point decide to have a meteor crash down on the palace (or, at any rate, they might try to throw something meteor-shaped onto its general vicinity), whilst very few magicians would ever compel a deer towards a campfire, unless they were both at the campfire and extremely hungry. But still, the affair would be pretty messy compared to conjuring up, say, a feast, and wizards, strong-willed though they were, rarely took the messy road if they could avoid it (unless they were very sick men, of course). And so the chances were slim indeed.

[Iorn Thalas]

Things were moving at a fast pace. Iorn hadn't begun to think about the images he thought he had seen in the fire, or the demon was speaking about his name. Indeed..I have never known his name..

But as the adhiel open his mouth to ask for his name a deer walked into the circle. Now things were really getting confusing. Being in a place where all dreams resided, he could handle that. Walking into his old enemies who try to kill him? piece of cake Walking into the demon that had once posessed him, no problem. Seeing images in campfires? what else is new? But all that together AND having a deer walk in when someone is speaking of dinner...that is just too much. Iorn couldn't help but to look surprised anymore. He had managed to keep his cool with the demon, but now he was utterly surprised. Not being able to keep his gaze away from the dear he stuttered. "Did..did you do that?"

[Guest]

The horned man glanced sideways at Iorn. By now, the adhiel had concluded out that his companion was a reflection of the demon that had until recently enforced its way on Iorn in a most unpleasant way; yet, it was very striking how human he looked; almost like what you'd imagine if you thought of a cross between a man and an imp. He didn't look at all deadly or even completely serious.
"Yes, I did. So much to learn, Iorn; I wonder sometimes that you've survived all of it, that you've actually come this far."

He took a knife and, without flinching (or without the deer flinching or running away, which at this point seemed hardly surprising) killed the deer. The swipe was deadly, but wasn't instantly fatal. What it most definitely was, however, was a direct hit on the major artery, and a steady stream of steaming blood spurted from the deer's neck. It looked faintly disconcerted, but didn't react as common sense would dictate for a wounded animal. In fact, it remained standing, just like it was. The blood spurted into the fire, creating an oddly tasty scent of - roast meat? - as thick vapours rose from the flames.

"So," the man said, cleaning his knife and coming back to sit in his previous position, "Come up with a name yet? Or, for that matter, a reason for your being here?"

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn grinned, no longer trying to keep up appearances. "Yes, I wonder the same thing most of the times."

Iorn didn't feel any emotion while he watched the deer being killed. He did however get more hungry as the smell of roast meat reached his nose.
"Hmm.. your name...Willem? And why I'm here? For the entertainment of the gods?"

[Guest]

The man winced as Iorn named him.
"Willem?" he said, pronouncing the name with a definite distaste. Then sighing, he added: "You're a fine guy for vengeance, Iorn. I'll give you that much."
Willem went back to carving up the deer. As he did so, the horned man seemed to cause the blood to intentionally spurt into the fire, creating more of the roast-smell as it evaporated. Then, he put a large chunk of meat on one stick, and then another on a second, and handed that second to Iorn.
"We may be roommates now, but I'm not going to cook for you."
And with that, Willem thrust his piece of meat into the fire to roast it, and mentioned for Iorn to do the same.

While they were waiting for the meat to get properly done - which in the man's taste seemed to be charred - he mentioned a few things about the Pathway to Iorn.
"You know," he said, "I always imaged your representation of this place would be some sort of burning hell. Or better yet, the kind of dungeon with spikes and the occasional eyeball hanging from the wall. Do you realize that the Astral Pathway actually represents itself based on stuff that's in the observer's head? Especially now that I'm in here, I would have thought the place would be an effigy of nightmares. Are you growing soft?"
It was - well, in fact it was the closest thing you could get to a playful jab between two persons who, not too long ago, had been in fierce struggle over the control of Iorn's actual physique.
"And of course," Willem continued, scorn creeping into his voice, "you're supposed to have some sort of great insight here, too. You'll probably see things in the fire or something, or maybe representations of certain visions will come walking up to you out of the forest. Who knows!"
Willem gave Iorn a playful - well, malignantly playful - nudge and waited for some sort of reaction.

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn thought about putting the meat into the fire, but the more he thought about it, the more he thought it would be nice to really be able to surprise this...Willem.

So instead of holding the meat into the fire, he held it in front of his mouth and took a big bite out of the raw meat. Chewing on it, the blood smeared over his mouth, Iorn went on with the conversation.

"I always thought there would be a lot of naked girls here, or girls wearing only towels or something. " He chuckled. "Heh, if only you wore a towel Willem. "

Iorn then looked into the fire trying to see anything. He decided to concentrate on seeing Willem in a towel. Oh, come on gods..just give me that pleasure! This place shapes itself to my imagination right, shape the damn towel!

[Guest]

After a few moments, Willem tactfully cleared his throat.
"Look, I appreciate the irony, but no. I can only guess that right now you're trying to imagine me in a jester's outfit or possibly in a woman's nightgown, or something of similar childishness, but it's not going to happen. These things are... symbolic," he said, letting the final word reverbrate with irony.

He glanced over at Iorn, grinning at the sight of blood smeared around his mouth.
"Very nice," he said with a devilish flourish. "I guess there is something of a beast in you, after all."
He returned his attention to his own chunk, still roasting in the fire.
"Look, as much as I appreciate being out here and out of your head, I have this odd preference of spending my time on actual, physical soil. You should concentrate on finishing this journey through the pathway, not physical jokes, amusing as they can be to the mentally retarted. It's always about the lesson, although if you ask me, I'd say forget it. There are few things that can't be handled by a liberal shedding of blood."

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn sighed as his final attempt of at least be able to mock Willem back a bit failed. "Look, Willem. Obviously I don't have a clue what this place is and what I should be doing here. And also, obviously you are as stuck to me as I am stuck to you. Somehow the ending of our tale together has not yet been written. So as much fun as this was, I am going to leave you here for now. I need to go elsewhere indeed."

Iorn threw the rest of his meat into the fire and walked off into the direction of the Citadel and didn't look back. He waved one last time to Willlem. "Be seeing you."