[Nysel's Temple] The Dreamlord's Challenge

[Kavala]

Kavala waited, listening, watching letting Nysel's words sink in. She was no fool to barrel into something thinking she knew what someone was going to say. Instead, she realized her own limitations and knew when a God spoke to her, there was something important being gifted through those words. So she studied the scene before her carefully, both her actions and the reactions, and what Nysel had to say. Then she tilted her head in the pose she used to think, and nodded thoughtfully.

"Crescent knew to take the enemy on her terms, in her element, and let them come to her so she could pick where and when to make her kills. But that didn't stop her from studying them in their own element to find out how they thought, moved, and lived. I think of her as someone else, as a different life, but that is not really true for Dreamwalkers is it? That would be a fatal flaw. That is our advantage, this knowing, as Dreamwalkers. We are who we've always been, what's come before and what will come afterwards. It's why we get better the more lives we have and the longer we follow you. I know what she knows because she is me, I just have to translate those lessons to this body and then that makes me all the stronger." Kavala said, then glanced around, as if addressing the whole of the darkness as if it were her Dreamlord who had so far not manifested himself.

"They... more than one. Laying in wait... biding their time. It sounds like hatred and devotion, though to what exactly? Who are they, My Lord? Are they your enemy? Are they mine? No... that's the wrong way to look at it, isnt' it? Your enemies are mine because us Dreamwalkers are your tools and your hands in the mortal realm. I am marked twice by Rak'keli but the longer I make my way through this world, the more I understand that being a healer is who I am but not all that I am. So many would settle for this. But I will not. I am too much Crescent. And I am too much the others. I want to be one that fights and not just sits back and repairs the damage from the battles others have fought. I think you.. and Eyris knew that... groomed that... and still do." She said softly, circling around, her hands trailing the webs reading them like they were Chavi.

"All I need is knowledge. I have discipline and conviction and all of you have given me enough talent to suit. Will you tell me what this is really about? Will you open the door of ignorance so I can see past it into understanding? If you feel I am not ready, then tell me so. And I will train harder and work like never before. But if you think I'm ready, illuminate the issue and I will act in the ways you've taught. Be prepared, study the enemy, know their motivations, and face them in your element. And if you cannot, guard yourself with tools that will still let you hold the advantage in theirs." Kavala said, slowly her Crescent form morphing back into her Konti form and sliding into other shapes she's worn throughout the years Mizahar has existed.

[Phoenix]

A small frown struck discord with the Guardian’s cheery features upon hearing Ronan’s words, the expression lasting barely a tick before it was whisked away behind another smile. The man was determined, she gave him that, but there was a sharp sparkle to her eye that had not been there before.

When Ronan took his first step forward, his face twisted into an expression of utter trepidation, Trelissa tilted the instrument she held so lovingly in her arms, fingers fluttering lightly over the strings so that a sad cascade of notes filled the air, louder than the instrument should have been able to produce; it was a sigh, the sound of disappointment echoing from the strings rather than Temple Guardian’s own mouth but the implication was the same. He had chosen wrong.

The first footfall was obviously the hardest for the man, whose steps seemed to garner confidence as each fell without consequence. Trelissa watched as Ronan, his tattered clothes fluttering fitfully in the breeze that sprung up from the sigh, drew level with where she stood. It wasn’t until his steps would have carried him past her that she acted, the calloused pads of her fingers striking hard against the strings, producing a jarring cacophony of notes.

From nowhere the wind slammed into Ronan’s chest as the angry sound stabbed and dug at his ears; he too would feel the stick warmth dribbling from them as the forceful gust took his feet from him, sending him sailing back a dozen yards to land hard on his rear. “I said…” the Guardian’s voice was still cheery, though a serious edge to her words now that send them slicing through the space between them, “that I cannot let you pass.”

Moving not an inch as she spoke, her instrument still held lightly in her hands, Trelissa watched and waited for Ronan to pick himself back up before continuing. “No amount of muscle or force will get you inside. You cannot walk or climb your way in. It is not Nysel’s way. You are no longer in your own world, Drykas, and your worlds custom of applying force to get what you want will not work here.”

The words were softened with a smile, the young woman seeming hardly more threatening than a butterfly, but the Ronan had already gotten a taste of the power she wielded with the instrument, no- weapon, she held before her. The young man also got the distinct feeling that she had gone rather easy on him as well, a tepid chastisement in hopes of discouraging him from trying again.

Meanwhile, Kavala worked to express her thoughts and intentions with elegance most would find envy in, especially when faced with the vast nothingness that seemed to devour the space around her, save for the web. But that was what Dreamwalkers did, was it not? Finding much out of little, pulling things from the darkness?

“Perhaps, like you, it is not who they are, but what they do. Laying, waiting…” The gods voice sounded closer, almost to the point where Kavala could pinpoint the source within the inky darkness. However, as soon as she thought she knew where her Lord lurked, the voice became completely disjointed once more. “It is not that you aren’t ready, child, but it is rather the weight of such knowledge to be bestowed. If one isn’t ready, they could be crushed beneath the awareness.”

“You speak of tools.” On the web, one of the tiny spiders, newly born by separation of another, scuttled towards the cocooned fly just as its twin intercepted, using its minute form as a barrier between its kin and the meal. “A guardian or a predator? The parts of you that you have discovered, and those you have yet not, have all achieved their goals on different terms. What will be yours? When this knowledge is bestowed upon you, will it change you, who you are, in order to defend or protect?”

Far more straightforward than he had been moments before, Nysel fell silent while they both watched the spiders dance around the captured fly, one trying to search and gain, the others trying to stay and defend, not unlike the different shades of Kavala herself.

[Ronan]

The gust left Ronan catatonic. He had believed in himself so much, and yet... He clambered from the floor, his eyes level with Trelissa again. There would be no other warning. If he went against her words again, he would surely die.

He stood still again, the temple beckoning, calling to him almost. This realm... nothing followed suit. Nothing followed the discourses of his life, and seemed so beyond his understanding.

And yet this realm was the answer. He met her eyes, blinking heavily as realisation struck him. How had he been so foolish? The dreamlord awaited him. The Lord of Dreams. Of course rules didn't apply here. Imagination reined.

Still slightly unsure of his next steps he walked a little way back from the temple entrance. He closed his eyes, pondering, thinking. This needed a different approach, and it scared him. So alien, and so unknown. If he grasped, could he let go?

His face scrunched with effort, painting his surroundings in his mind. The dream. The temple. Trelissa. He began to walk in his minds eye, pushing with all his will to bend the dream. The portal into darkness, illumined and framed. The Dreamlord awaited.

He could see corridors, pathways, footsteps through doors. He could see the Lord himself. A figure cast in shadow. He could hear hollow laughter. He could feel the pinch and pull, the compressing of space around him. The energy became so real he was unsure if it had transcended his imagination. Was he... guiding the dream?

Gingerly, his eyes began to flutter open, to discover if he still stood before the guardian, or if he now graced the sanctum.

[Kavala]

Kavala listened intently. It wasn't that Nysel was speaking in riddles, he was just approaching the situation from all angles at once, rather than offering Kavala a narrow view. She nodded, finding what he said made the most sense to her. But in a way, it also spoke volumes to her about what he wanted from her. She paused, watching the spiders put on their show, and tried to judge which strategy would be most effective - protecting or predation.

But she wasn't long in thinking it over, or formulating her response to his question. "There is no choice for me, My Lord. I wish to be both. Because in life the situations we are faced with day to day are constantly evolving. If you are not flexible in our role within our lives, then we often do not thrive. If I can train myself to be both, then I am far more prepared to assume the role that is required based on the situation we face. I feel like that for us, for the Dreamwalkers, there is no black and white. We dwell in the gray and sometimes it is bright and sometimes it is dark, but far too often it is not as we expect. Thus we need to attempt to expect the unexpected and perhaps not assume things that we have no information on." She replied, looking thoughtful.

"Know thyself. I want to meet all those parts, even if they are dark. In the past I have shown them to others, some of my less prideful things, and the reaction hasn't been so accepting. But it was good that I did so because in experiencing those sorts of small rejections, I know that the only person that will ultimately accept all of me is either yourself or myself or both." Kavala said. "And I don't want secrets buried deep within. I want to light even the dark corners and see what's to see within my soul. I know I won't like all of it. Some of it might even scare me. But I have a drive and a right to know." She added, a little wistfully.

"And I know it will change me. It has too. Who can walk through life unscathed? I can't say I'll be fine with those changes, but I'll do my best. I just... I just don't want The Sanctuary I've built up to be for nothing... or a sign of my paranoia. It has to have a purpose. I cannot look ahead on the chavi and know what will come. But looking behind I know that there's a good chance there will be more... greater danger, threats that need faced. I've listened to the inner calls. I've done what they've asked. I know I'm ready for more. I know I am...." Kavala said, pressing her words onward.

"I feel like, my lord, if I linger here in this time and place and at this place in my life, I will stagnate. I don't want to do that. I know my personality well enough that I need a forward drive... I need goals. And if I do not get them from you, I will formulate my own. I would much rather... much much rather follow your will than my own. And my reasons for that are selfish, and I'll admit that right now. It gets exhausting sometimes following your own lead. Sometimes, when you've been doing that for so long it is refreshing and invigorating to have a purpose granted or given for a greater good than ones own self motivation." Kavala said, then leaned back, resting her hands on her hips. Her stance was light, ready, though her eyes were on the spiders again. And she wondered which one she was, in this scenario. Was she the invader or the protector/predator.

[Phoenix]

Stark white walls loomed proudly over the young man, waiting for his almost fearful hesitation to pass so that he could look fully upon his success. Though sterile and intimidating at first, the alabaster room spoke only of achievement; Trelissa was nowhere to be found nor was there an obvious way in or out of this new space. Even more curious was the light that seemed to come from nowhere, the soft sound of a breeze sighing through the open space and the strange way that, if Ronan looked close enough, the walls seemed to ripple as if they were akin to the long grasses in the Drykas’s homeland that swayed and danced in the wind.

Despite the phantom breeze Ronan found himself in absolute silence, left with only his thoughts in the strange Temple that he had willed himself into. Yes, he had managed to get inside, but now what? Nysel didn’t appear from the thin air with welcoming hugs and a celebration dinner, nor did the eclectic Priestess he had met outside jump from behind him shouting “Surprise!”

No, Ronan still had more to do. The god he sought as a master was fond of tests and he had all but set a blank slate before the young Drykas, with nothing to distract or tempt him. Was it time for Ronan to find out who he was and whose clothes he now wore?

Back in the darkness, neither of the spiders had made progress while Kavala spoke. Any time that one gained the advantage, whether it was on the brink of stealing the fly or driving away the attacker, it was only the barest of ticks before the advantage was gone. Too evenly matched, the tiny spiders scuttled battle seemed fruitless.

Patience held Nysel silent as he listened to his Dreamwalker work through the problem that he had set before her. The depth of her understanding echoed with each word and in the pauses between them. Kavala’s willingness to put herself forward in both her actions and her opinions sent a shiver through the surrounding shadows that the Konti could feel on her skin, the tiny hairs there responding with a ripple of gooseflesh up her arms as if she’d caught a chill. Nysel’s pleasure was tangible.

“Child.” The word was sighed, not with condescension but rather with a heavy weight of endearment. Kavala could feel the weight of it settle around her shoulders like a warm blanket on a cold Winter’s night. Across the web where the spiders played, the shadows seemed to coalesce into the vague shape of a man, the blackness that still lingered around Nysel’s head twitching and flowing into what the Konti woman would recognized, simply know was a smile despite the fact that there was really nothing within the shadow that her gaze could pinpoint as such. “The potential for your growth is nearly blinding. I have to squint should I wish to look upon the details of your face.” Pausing for a chuckle, Nysel continued in the same soft tone, as if he were speaking to a beloved family member- and that Kavala was. “I trust that you could lead while following the letter of my will, that you would put yourself into the darkness of the unknown and be the first to step down the treacherous path of danger. From your words alone, I know the truth of this and much more.”

Stillness fell suddenly, drawing both god and mortal’s eyes down towards the web. The spiders had parted and had faced off across the body of the cocooned fly. As Nysel and Kavala looked on, sixteen legs blurred into motion as the two tiny creature launched at each other and collided mid air, the space around the onlookers echoing with the sharp crack of their meeting.

A single spider fell back atop the web, disfigured and with far too many legs but whole nonetheless and a very obvious demonstration of what Kavala herself had been saying. “A bit dramatic, I suppose.” The god admitted as he watched the newly made spider scuttle towards it’s prey. “But both were different sides of the same coin. I will ask, expect, both of you, Kavala.” Her Lords voice lost the air of banter, gravity adding weight to his words. “I will ask you one more time if you think you are ready for the knowledge that I will bestow upon you, but before that I have one more task.”

Unbidden, the image of Ronan popped into the forefront of Kavala’s mind; not the Drykas man she knew, but the one whose face he had taken upon coming to this place. “I want you to help him find himself. If he can find himself, he will find me and then I will be there for you both.”

And then Kavala too was alone, the vague outline of the god as well as the spider on it’s web melting into her inky surroundings.