Book of Experiences - Act 1

From Reydala

Memories, dreams, visions; the three all held the same meaning for the fabulous paladin. A vision could come to him in his sleep in the form of a dream, a dream could come to him while awake in the form of a memory, and a memory could come in a combination of the three; so it was no surprise that the paladin didn’t care much to sweat the differences between them when he had a vision of the past he held so dear, merely grouping them all as ‘experiences’.

When the 'experiences' flowed through his mind, he fell into a trance and just let the memories read like a story. As he let all sense of reality leave his mind, he felt the experience come to life as if it were a beloved book he had not read in a long time. Part of him questioned why he was so suddenly interested in his experiences. The other part of him knew why. He saw his ideals realized in himself and yet was still defeated; and to him, this meant he needed to search his past and relearn the lessons from his experiences so he could grow as a paladin and as a person. So without question, his mind opened one of the many books of his experiences.

~*~

He was young at the time; he’d say maybe around the age of thirty or thirty one, he recalled immediately. He was working for the Enforcers, whom he had spent about a year searching for after being banished from his family. It had been a simple mission, obviously made for one who had little experience in the act of actual combat. The Enforcers had obtained some information about a lone cultist not too far from some city. It just happened to be coincidence that Aelthir happened to be in the same city at the time, or so he felt at the time. He cared not to recall just what the name of the city had been; presently it was trivial compared to the rest of the information.

After some investigation, Aelthir found himself inside a dark cave located nearly twenty minutes travel by foot from the city. He recalled was disgusted and intrigued with the smell coming from it. It was damp, slightly rotten, and yet thick and sweet to the taste, it was enough to make him want to vomit, and yet continue to smack at his lips to try to get the taste out of his mouth. It was a taste he still could remember to this day and would likely have stored in his experiences for the rest of his life.

In fact, the paladin could feel himself going through the motions, the taste was present in his mouth. His body was reliving the experience as was his mind.

Further in and further in the paladin searched silently. With his shield on his arm and his silver longsword in hand, he thought he was ready for whatever he came across. Although he was slightly surprised as the area became brighter the deeper into the cave he went, he recalled that he was tense, and kept up his guard. His mission was simple, if he found the cultist, he was not to engage the target and return with the results. This was because the Enforcers felt he was not ready yet; in retrospect, it may have been a test to see the paladin’s ideals and worth.

As the paladin reached the deepest part of the cave, he would be visibly shocked at what he saw. The area had been dug out and no longer resembled a cave, but a magus' workshop. In the center of this workshop, a man wearing dark robes was bent on one knee and was focused on his work as he carved runes into the rocky terrain.

Off to one side was a table with various objects on top which looked to him like a group of harmless looking stones. Although Aelthir was not a very perceptive individual, even he guessed that they weren't as harmless as they seemed; especially with the fact they surrounded a thick leather bound tome.

Against the other wall was a single cage with a small child curled up in fear against the bars against the wall. Aelthir's mission was to find the target and report in, but with someone in potential danger, this was not something the paladin could overlook in a million years. No, this was a situation that Aelthir was going to get himself involved in, no matter the consequences that followed; as long as he saved the child that's all that mattered.

After he considered his options quickly, Aelthir cocked his shield arm back and twisted his body along with his arm. He only had one shot at this, so he had to make it count. Without making a sound, Aelthir grit his teeth, twisted his body forward and thrust his arm forward, the shield was then launched at the robed enemy.

With an almost otherworldly sense, the enemy turned around at the last possible moment and deflected the shield away from him with ease, holding his staff high. The deflected shield veered off and crashed into the cage with enough force that the door fell apart from the impact.

Without a moment to lose, the fabulous paladin gave a war cry and charged at the clothed individual. The man merely gave a small chuckle and tapped his staff on the ground. Aelthir was forced to stop his charge as the air condensed around him and made it near impossible to breathe. As the oxygen stopped flowing into his body, he fell to his knees and his vision started to become hazy. The taste in his mouth grew almost unbearably sweet.

As his lungs burned painfully, Aelthir considered if he was going to die. His thoughts then turned to child in danger and he knew his mission was not over. He had to think of something! Some way to break free of this before he died from asphyxiation, but his brain was hazy and unable to concentrate on anything. Frustrated with himself, Aelthir bit down onto his lip hard enough to make it bleed. As the taste of blood mixed with the sweetness though, he felt life return to his body and forced himself back to his feet. Worried that he'd only have a conscious mind for a moment, he forced himself to run at the enemy and filled his lungs with cleaner air.

“CHILD, LEAVE THIS PLACE AND RETURN TO THE CITY! I WILL PROTECT YOU!” the paladin cried out as he cleaved his blade clean through the stave, but was unable to strike the enemy, who had stepped back a few meters quickly, creating some distance. With most of the feeling back in his body, the fabulous paladin charged again at his enemy with grace, speed and power resembling a shooting star that sliced through the night sky, or so it was to him.

The paladin's heroic charge was cut short as a he felt a dagger pierce through his skin. It was an accurate strike to the abdomen, placed just below where his chest plate ended yet above where his leggings began. The blow was a shock to the paladin, but wouldn't compare to the feeling the followed a few words whispered from the cultist that Aelthir could not understand. He screamed out in pain as he felt his organs melt. There was no other word for it.

The cultist gave the dagger a twist, and then shoved the paladin away from him. The paladin stumbled back a few steps and collapsed at the front of the cage. The pain he felt was indescribable, his breath was cut short, his heart was struggling to beat, he was going to die.

Aelthir thought he heard the cultist scream out in anger and glanced around the cave. The child had escaped and Aelthir felt relief as his hearing disappeared. He at least saved the child, he could die without complete regret. He gave a content smile and closed his eyes before his eyesight was stolen from him too.

~*~*Interlude*~*~ Was it a hallucination? A vision? A dream? All Aelthir knew was that when he opened his eyes, everything was bleached white and he felt all alone. At the time, he wondered if this was death felt like, and all that awaited those who failed in their ideals.

A single sound caused Aelthir's ears to twitch and the paladin pivoted his body to face the direction of the source. In front of him was the silhouette of a smiling woman who just looked at him and kept her smile. After a moment, the woman spoke “I’ve been waiting for you, Aelthir. I’ve always been waiting for you and I will always be waiting for you.”

“Who are you, and how do you know my name?” Aelthir asked, confused and mystified all at once by the presence in front of him and Aelthir swore that the woman's smile became even brighter at his questions.

The woman reached over to cup his cheek gently in her hand. Aelthir recalled that the touch was soft and comforting, he'd even go so far as to say it was empowering. "I've waited for the day that you finally talk to me." She whispered to him quietly, he could detect shyness from the woman's voice. "I can't tell you who I am, Aelthir Baequi'via; just know I'm waiting for the day we finally meet. Please don't keep me waiting forever." She concluded her words as she leaned in and kissed the awe-struck paladin.

~*~*Interlude Out*~*~

As the paladin recalled that scene in his mind, his cheeks flared up, but it was nothing as bad as how he reacted back then. No, he recalled his younger self literally having been taken by such surprise that he leaped back to his feet, having been returned to the world of the living. The young man muttered incomprehensible words as he looked around for the woman who had just kissed him. He was obviously flustered with cheeks which were as bright as a sun rod.

A quick glance at the surprised cultist and situation poured back into his mind. Shouldn't he be dead? He should have been, his body had been melting from the inside out, but there was no pain and his body was intact. There was no time to think about this now though, that rune circle had a lot more runes on it compared to when he first arrived and if Aelthir had to guess, the rune the cultist had been carving into the stone was the last one needed for his ritual. So, regardless to what that experience was or may have been, the paladin was granted with a second wind and he could not afford to waste any more of it!

Without a thought, he armed himself with his sword and shield and let instinct take over. For the second time, he twisted his body and prepared to throw the shield again. This time though, he twisted his arm as he threw the shield, which made it spin rapidly toward his enemy.

And just like before, the cultist turned at the last moment and used his broken rod to deflect the projectile into the air behind him. That was the signal for the paladin to charge forward, holding his sword in a defensive manner.

“Trying the same technique? You’ll just lose again!” the cultist laughed loudly and prepared to strike down the paladin with his broken magical weapon. "This time, I will make so that you will never awaken!"

“No, this time, I will be the victor!” Aelthir cried out passionately as he ran past striking distance and pressed his body against his enemy's. Before the enemy had a chance to free himself from Aelthir's distance, the paladin's spinning shield tore into the cultist's back like a saw blade. As the cultist's body arched from the force and pain, his eyes grew wide in realization. He played right into Aelthir's hand and had lost.

In an instant, Aelthir had stepped back and had both of his hands on the hilt of his weapon. Aelthir knew he was in the perfect position and thrust his blade through the body of his enemy.

“Mercy! Mercy! Spare me and I will surrender!” The cultist whispered, reduced to begging. "I will tell you everything I know!”

“There is no mercy for the damned, now you will repent!” Aelthir answered in a furious tone as he cut downward, through the heart of his enemy. The battle was won.

"Beg Holy Triana for mercy, mongrel." He spoke in a defiant tone as he pulled his sword free and sheathed the weapon.

With his mission complete, all he had to do was obtain his shield and report back. Unfortunately by now, his adrenaline rush had all but run dry and he felt like every muscle in his body was on fire. He tried to take a step toward his shield and collapsed to the ground and his vision grew hazy again. "...Just a little rest, then I'll..." He never finished what he was saying as he regretfully, or mercifully passed out.

~*~

Just as fast as Aelthir had lost all sense of reality to read his cherished book, he closed the tome of experiences and left the solitude of his mind. He recalled quickly as he left that when the child returned, it created such a stir that someone had gone and collected Aelthir and brought him back to the city.

He never saw the woman in any future experiences, nor has he met a woman who could be the like the one in his vision. This led him to question if it wasn’t just his mind tricking his body into a second wind so that he wouldn't die; an alternative to some woman actually calling out to him through some weird latent psychic ability or a divine message. Certainly the mind playing tricks on him seemed less insane than any other theory he had, but as it stood though, if such a woman did exist, Aelthir would one day happen across her and go from there. If he did not come across such a woman, it wouldn't bother him. Mystery women aside, Aelthir had to finally come back to reality.