Lion's Heart: The First Face ~Aldym

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 11:31 am

Aldym finished off the fish, then looked up at the man,

"How's about you tell me the path to follow and how I get past them?"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 9:57 pm

"And what good would that make?" The man flexed his fingers. "I could tell you, but you don't know the island, it wouldn't mean anything to you. What's a hill next another. I could tell you how to pass those things, but how would you know when to pass and when to stand from just the way the light shines."

"These aren't things just told, they're things you need to learn. So, why are you in such a rush. I can understand that being stuck here for a yahrens isn't that inviting, but if you do, you may live and gain that power. Isn't that what you're after?"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 9:45 am

Aldym nodded slowly,

"Aye friend, I see your point. I'll wait."

He finished off the fish and looked at his host slightly askance,

"So what's your story then old one?"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 4:27 pm

"My story." The man stood up and limped to the shelves. "Nothing special. Used to be a sailor, had a family in a beatiful wife and newborn son. Wanted to earn a little extra and agreed to go on a trade ship trying a new and dangerous route. Guess it's pretty obvious what happened and here I was, one of the wet ones." He took a manuscript from the shelf and returned to where he had just been sitting.

"However somewhere a fortune smiled upon me and I stumbled across this shack. I always thought this was the old signal keeper's when the kingdom remembered that it had this island. That's about it, except of the fifty eight yahren's of pretty much sitting here." He opened the manuscript, looking at it as he continued to speak. "And you? I don't think those without the desire are invited here, so why do you want this power so bad?"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 1:08 pm

Aldym raised an eyerow and pondered his naswer silently for some time before stirring to answer,

"I've always taken every opportunity presented to me, where I come from you need an adge or you get trampled underfoot. Coming here, I just fell into it in a way."

The Dortman fell silent, brooding to himself in the corner.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:32 pm

The man looked at Aldym, then started reading the manuscript, leaving Aldym to the silence only interrupted by the great sounds once in a while. A scream no mortal mouth could have produced. A ripping sound which almost felit like the island being torn in half. A thud which would have crushed one of the walls of the Citadel. It was hard to say how long it lasted, then suddenly the man closed the script with a thud.

"Alright. I think we're ready." The man nodded towards a cloak by the other wall. "You better take that one, it's cold outside and even if you're not wet, those clothes you got aren't going to give that much protection. The winds are up and I don't think they're going to quiet down for a while."

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:53 pm

Aldym nodded and took the cloak, making sure his rapier was loose in it's sheath before stepping out into the biting winds. He stood silently and waited for his host to move - he would have to shout to be heard over these winds and wasn't keen on letting whatever those things that had been battling earlier know he was around.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:09 pm

The man followed quickly out, stopping in front of the door and staring at the sky. His beard was like a flag pulled by the wind, but he didn't seem to mind. Finally he looked at Aldym and pulled him closer.

"Follow me exactly. When I stop, you stop. When I jump, you jump. And when we go by the coast, no matter how small it may seem, but if you even think you saw something strange, move away and shout for me. Understood?" The man didn't wait for answer, but started to move towards the heart of the island.

The wind was still as cold as it had been before, but beneath the cloak it was like the warmth of the hut had been imprisoned. A great wave crashed on the coast near and Aldym could feel the cool water splash on his face from here. A roar accompinied a crash that shook the ground so hard that Aldym almost stumbled down. The old man didn't seem to even notice, just pressing ahead.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 10:59 am

Aldym nodded wordlessly and followed hs aged guide through the winds, trying his best to ignore the howling and roaring of the.....things that the darkness hid from him. He watched carefully - wary of any sign that they might be nearing the waterline.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 8:11 pm

The man moved with certainty, only at moments pausing to glance over his shoulder to see that Aldym was still following him. The path was slippery, something Aldym learned several times as he had to rush to stay with the man.

The sounds of the things never went away, instead they seemed to grow stronger as they continued on. At times Aldym could have sworn of having seen something at the skyline, something great burning. Other times, dark figures, largest things he had ever seen dominated the nightsky, great silhouttes moving with elegance and power.

The ground shook again and the man turned, not continuing towards the mainland anymore, instead starting to slowly descend down a frozen cliff towards the coast. The salty air was stronger here than it had been by the hut. A light reflected on the surface, the waves crashing on the ice covering the beach. The man dropped down to an ice plate, then started walking much slower than before, glancing at the sea constantly.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:32 pm

Aldym copied the old man and dropped onto the ice sheet. With difficulty he tore his eyes away from the monstrous sight inland and watched the sea through the darkness, his hand reaching again to rest on the hilt of his rapier.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 8:50 pm

The sea almost seemed maleovant. Watching it was easy to believe all those who spoke of the sea as an evil being, bent on swallowing all who dared to travel it. Nothing could be seen from beneath it's surface, only a blackness which spread out to infinity. Neverending waves crashed on the ice, which in turn showed no intention to surrender their onslaught. It was as if the ice covering the coast was in a never-ending war with the ocean surrounding the island.

Another bellowing cry carried from the island, a shriek which would have broken glass. The man looked up, then back at the ocean, stopping for a moment. The wind was merciless, sensation had already left Aldym's face behind. Finally the man continued onward, carefully leaping across an opening between two rafts. As Aldym neared the opening, there was a moment where he imagined waves crashing on something even before they reached the ice, but it was only a briefest of notions, not something he could be certain of.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:51 pm

Aldym was not fool enough to ignore his guide' instructions and backed lanwards ever so slightly, pointing in the direction of the anomoly,

"Hai, I think I saw something out to sea!"

He loosened the rapier in it's sheath and readied himself for anything - promising himself that if the rewards for this were not worth it he would personally destroy the creature in the sewers in the most painful and permanent way possible.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:03 pm

The man had time to look towards Aldym before the black figure was all that remained of the world. It thrust from beneath the surface, crashing on the ice float not that from Aldym. Like someone had just thrust meat in a bag, it was shapeless and under different circumstances might even have appeared to be a comical sight. This was not one of those moments.

It's head, or at least Aldym thought that it was it's head, turned towards him and even in the darkness the black orbs could be seen staring at him. A screeching sound escaped it's mouth, something very much like dragging too long nails across a plate.

The ice plate had risen slightly because of the creature, having cracked behind Aldym. The other end of it was steadily disappearing in to the sea, with the creature starting to push itself like a giant worm towards Aldym.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 10:07 am

Aldym wasn't fool enough to let this creature dictae everything, he turned and ran towards where the ice had cracked - dropping off the edged onto the more solid ice and spinning on his heel. Drawing his rapier he backed further inland, waiting for the shapeless monstrosity to come for him again.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 11:20 am

Aldym wasn't even completely turned around when there was a crash next to him before he felt cold sea water on his skin. The creature was nowhere to be seen and the ice raft from which he had just escaped was still slowly succumbing beneath the surface. The man was on the other side of the rift, shouting something, but the wind was too strong for Aldym to make out what.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 4:15 pm

Aldym kept his blade out, warily skirting the gap in the ice sheet as he headed towards the old man - ready to run through anything that made a sudden move toward him. Well, I must assume that hideous thing was a Selkie - I do hope all these trails aren't so damn awkward.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:26 pm

Most of the ice plate was already gone, with only a thin slice remaining between the gap and the cliff wall no more than two paces wide and at least five paces long. There were no great cracks running along it nor were there any fault lines visible. Waves lapped over it constantly and a few small pools of water could be sighted.

"- ba-. R-" The wind was still blowing as hard as ever, Aldym could only make out parts of what the man was shouting over the gap and swinging his hand towards Aldym. "G-" There was a great shriek from within the island and the earth shook once more, this time so hard that Aldym lost his step, falling down and realizing his face was only a thread away from the cold surface.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:48 pm

Aldym swore as he regained his feet, then put his back to the cliff and made his way as fast as he dared along the thin strip of ice - watching the sea carefully as he did. He glanced at the man once, wondering what danger he'd be lead into next.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 2:24 pm

The cliff was cold, as everything seemed to be on this island, and it didn't take long for Aldym to scratch himself on a jagged edge of the cliff. The wind didn't seem to be willing to easen up even for a flicker, with parts of his face feeling like it was on ice.

"No, go-" The man's voice was at last audible after a briefest pause in the wind, but Aldym never heard the end of the phrase as the world beneath him pushed up.

It was difficult to grasp that he was truly flying for those few thoughts that it took for him to hit the surface and through it, sinking in to the freezing water. It was almost impossible to see anything there, not that one gave such things much thought when feeling approaching panic from both the cold and the lack of air.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 4:31 pm

Aldym winced as he hit the water with a resounding smack, quickly submerging under the chill waves. He spiralled n the empty water for an eternity or a brief second - he could not tell. Beneath the waves all sense of time and space left the Dortman, he could not even tell if he sank further still or was floating skywards. All that he knew was the blinding salty sting on his eyes, the burning pain in his lungs and the feel of ice crystals forming on his skin. Then his eyes opened with a flash,

Ice without, ice within.

The slowly spiralling con-artist focused, the pain breaking his concentration once, twice before he managed it - the breathing exercises in his books were worthless now, but he found that the sharp knifing pain focused his mind to a razor's edge. He stared blankly into the aquatic darkness, his eyes would have seen nothing even had there been light in Aldym's submerged and icy world - they were looking somewhere else. He saw again the flitting wraiths that populated his minds eye, and he drifted amongst them silently - their misty, insubstantial forms twisted around him in the freezing depths like frolicking dolphins in the fairy tails of lost sailors.

He saw his mother's scolding face, plastered in rouge and lipstick to hide the bruises, before she turned and flounced off to greet the brutish, drunken crewman at the door. He saw the faces of a hundred and more men, of sea and land both, who had passed through that door - perhaps his father's face was one of those, somehow Aldym knew that should evoke some emotion but his cold heart beat it's stead tempo regardless. Then Evylin's face swirled before him; smiling happily, crying, laughing at the rain and lying in peaceful sleep under the bright moon in the forgotten loft of a Dort townhouse. Then finally the heart-broken sobs and tears as she left - her heart broken by a man who never existed. And still Aldym's heart kept up it's dispassionate thud, uncaring of the laughing, howling, crying spectres that swirled around him in the freezing murk.

And Aldym carried on his silent, motionless drift through the veil of half-formed memories of people he had met, and people he had created. He carried on reaching for what the ghosts that dwelt in his mind concealed behind their beguiling, incorporeal grimaces. He felt it more than anything, flickering thoughts made of cold-fire that burned their mark into his mind,

Ice without, ice within. You're drowning Ice without, ice within. You're drowning on a fool's errand. Ice without, ice within. All that talent, all that potential - and you had to get drowned by an oversized seal with an attitude problem. Ice without, ice within. Can't talk your way out of this one can you? Ice without, ice within. So are you going to resign yourself to a lonely death, or get yourself in gear? Ice without, ice within.

Aldym recognised the voice as his own, cold and dispassionate but not without emotion. There was something there, something in the tone of voice, the way the letters scrawled themselves onto his consciousness. It was, he realised, an echo of the anger he felt - the disdain he felt for the weak and those unwilling to help themselves, and a burning cold but directionless hatred for the situation he was in, helpless for the first time. He reached out with his mind, and seized the cold shard of ice that was his soul, the diamond-hard shard of energy that chilled him to the roots in a way the freezing water outside him never could.

Ice without, ice within.

He grasped the shard of frozen anger and hatred tightly, and then looked outside himself, at the weave that made up the world around him - the complex strands of raw energy swirled in a jumble he could not hope to make sense of. For a moment dispair hit, then Aldym smiled thinly to the uncaring water - he didn't need to make sense of it all. He focused on the water around him, the other strands fading mostly, but still bright where they merged with the swirling pattern of threads that was the water. Aldym took a mental breath, then focused himself downward, channelling the numbing, angry, hateful power that surged out of the icicle that spun slowly in front of his mind's eye. He guided the power, letting it flow into the weave of the water beneath him and exert it's influence - the threads that span and spiralled in front of Aldym's salt-sore eyes slowled slightly, coming closer together and he allowed himself and inward smile as he waited for the water beneath him to freeze and carry him up to the surface. It was a gamble he knew, even if this wasn't a deathbed hallucination he had no idea if he had manipulated the threads properly. But then Aldym had always been a gambler, even if he was used to stacking the odds in his favour.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 2:23 pm

There was no more sensation on Aldym's skin. Not that he wasn't cold, far from it, it was just that he couldn't feel the sea anymore. No air, no chance to breath, but still Aldym channeled the energy out, in to the darkness for which he was sinking in to. His body grew even weaker as he forced the strands beneath him, and it soon was a struggle to keep his eyes open. Suddenly, there was something there, but he could not tell what or how he even knew. Just, simply put, something had changed.

He didn't realize that he had stopped sinking until the darkness went away, replaced by twilight. Grasping for air, it took a moment for his eyes to make certain he was back on the surface, on a barely floating disk of ice. There was no sight of the thing that had attacked him, nor of the man who had been his guide. Simply him, floating a distance away from the shore, still freezing death even if having escaped drowning.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:33 am

For at least a burn Aldym could do nothing but laugh, the exhultation of having survived yet again filling his viens with adrenaline. He stopped, then looked around soberly before starting to paddle his raft towards the mainland with his hands. Upon making landfall he looked around for any sign of the beast, or of his guide and then drew his cloak tight around him and trudged off in the direction of the old man's hut.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 1:39 pm

It hurt each time Aldym's hand touched the water. The cold was almost overbearing, with staying awake being as great a struggle as any. The cloak might have felt warm, but the clothes beneath it had been soaked with ice cold sea water. No matter how he tried, he could not stop shaking. The wind did little to help the situation.

As the ice disk closed the landfall, with the iceshore being only an arm away, Aldym felt the float to shake lightly, even beneath his own motion.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 6:54 pm

The Dortman was too cold and too numb to bother frowning, he simply leapt for the shoreline - attempting to land on the frost-hardened land rolling, both to avoid doing himself a damage and to minimise the risk of being dumped back underwater.