Past Memories:Glayce is born as the first daughter of the Lightstorm pavilion, her father being the current Ankal. A few minutes after her a twin brother was born and named Gelyen. They grew up running through the endless grasslands, feeling the wind caressing their hair and touching the warm bodies of the Drykas Striders. While her brother was quiet and thoughtful, Glayce possessed an amazing amount of curiosity and energy. After her sixth birthday her father announces that he wants to talk with her …
Six-year-old Glayce eagerly sat down in front of her father Makas to find out what he had in mind for that morning. They had enough meat for a few days, there were no important repairing tasks waiting for her and her brother was practicing with his spear. So why had her father, who always was so busy, called her to sit with him?
Makas was quiet for a while, but then he looked the girl in the eye and spoke: “You know that as the Ankal I am the most skilled Webber of our clan. You are my eldest child, so I will teach you the art of walking and weaving a Web. I think you are now old enough to learn the basics.”
While he spoke, the girl’s eyes lit up more and more. She – learning how to weave Webs? Learning more about Drivankali, as it was called by the elders, that magic discipline that tracked back to the first Drykas? To her that was incredible, like a sweet dream or a fairy tale come true.
Her beam told Makas that his daughter would be an obedient pupil. “Let’s start, then”, he announced – and the next moment Glayce found her conscience ripped from the material world and flowing up to the Ukalas.
Or so she thought until she realized that she – or some immaterial, light part of her – was ascending what looked like a path of light heading towards the sky. Staring at the colors in awe, she was taken past vivid oranges and yellows, through crimson and purple and azure, dragged under light turquoise and grassy greens. The sight was so beautiful that she didn’t even ask how that could happen, where the colors came from and where she was taken. Surrounded by breathtakingly beautiful rainbow colors she just watched.
And then she saw a junction in the path of light coming closer. When reaching it, however, she realized that she had just become part of something bigger, something stretching farther into the distance than her eyes could see, farther than her ears could hear. Perhaps even farther than a Strider could gallop in one day, she wondered. The distance was beyond her child-like imagination.
Then she heard her father’s voice in her head. Strangely she wasn’t confused at all, but experienced that as a natural occurrence. He spoke: “This is the Web, the legacy of our ancestors, created by Aran Drivankali, the first Webber.”
And suddenly everything went black and cold and Glayce found herself back in her own body.
After that first experience of the Web, Glayce sucks in everything her father teaches her about the Web, how to enter it and how to weave small Webs of her own. To her, the world of the colorful threads is a fascinating and breathtaking game she can play whenever she feels like it. With the energy and greed of a young child she proves to be a quick learner. Lessons continue, though at random hours and often pausing for several days, until Glayce becomes twelve and something happens …
Relief washed over her like soft summer rain when she eventually spotted the white top of her pavilions tent. Her whole body ached and with dragging her half-conscious brother with her, she could barely walk anymore. Her legs screamed, but she forced the last steps out of them and flung herself to the ground in front of the tent entrance.
Her mother, having heard noises, appeared and let out a high-pitched scream. “What happened?” she anxiously asked while hurrying to her children’s side and inspecting them.
Glayce whispered: “Calm down, mum. We were attacked by a glassbeak, but Gelyen hit it with the spear … I could land two or three arrows … I think it ran away. I’m fine …”
“Fine?!” Anya echoed, trying not to freak out. Then she started to examine her unconscious son. There was a lot of blood on both of her children. Suddenly she let out a choking sob – and then went very, very quiet.
Glayce tried not to guess what her mother had seen or felt, but she couldn’t help having a creepy foreboding.
The next few hours were nothing more but a haze of noises, blurred images and shock. At some time she heard her mother sob and cry. Then her father calmly said: “He’s dead.” His voice trembled with emotion. Her siblings always seemed to do work in close proximity to her bed. Later she felt bandages being removed from her left hand and the strange surprise of something that was missing.
When Glayce eventually woke up to full consciousness, the emotional mess had been cleaned and the pieces picked up. Her parents had burned Gelyen’s corpse and sent the ashes flying with Zulrav. The pavilion had gone back to daily chores, hunting and repairing things and making leather.
When going outside to practice her Webbing skill, she experienced the sensation and pleasure of being embraced by sheer magic, although it felt different that time. From that moment on that feeling should become an irresistible addiction to her.
For the next few months Glayce only keeps herself from depression because she can walk the breathtaking colors of the Web. Her skill improves tremendously during that time, but so does her tiredness and exhaustion because the time spans she spends in the Web become bigger and bigger. One day her father calls her for a talk. She feels that there is something wrong …
“Come, take a seat”, her father said and gestured towards the chair at the small table used for family discussions. While he filled a bowl with fresh water and placed it in front of her, the other members of the family came in, taking their seats round the table. Her mother and even her two younger brothers looked very serious.
As always, Makas sat down at the one end of the table – this time Glayce was sitting at the opposite end. After looking each and everyone in the eye, the patriarch started to speak. “Gelyen’s death has been hard for all of us … It
is very hard to continue with a normal life when something terrifying like that has happened. I thought we managed to recover quite well … until I started noticing changes in your behavior, Glayce.”
The girl’s grey eyes didn’t move and looked completely empty. She simply waited for what was to come, as if it was easier to bear it this way.
“You can tell us everything, dear”, her mother said softly.
Makas nodded and continued: “I know that I’ve told you about the dangers of staying in the Web too long.
Overextension. Do you remember?”
Glayce nodded, still with empty orbs.
“What I want to say is that we are worried about you, Glayce! You can really tell us if we did something wrong. You can speak about Gelyen and you can even scream and cry and whatever you like if that makes it easier for you. We fully understand you! Please remember that!” Their faces were pleading her to talk to them, to just say something, anything. Glayce remained silent. “We are your family. We listen to what you have to say. It doesn’t matter whether you or I or Anan has made the mistake. We certainly understand you if you just tell us what’s wrong.”
Anan grinned sheepishly, but nodded.
Her mother went over and hugged Glayce who still didn’t say a word. She felt nothing. Her mother’s sweet voice whispered in her hair: “Please, stop practicing Webbing … It’s doing you no good. Please stop, Glayce.”
The meeting ended without a real solution, but nobody felt like forcing something out of Glayce. Eventually her father sighed and rose from his chair. “Please be aware that if you continue like that, you cannot become the next Ankal of this pavilion.” Then he left to look after the horses.
Glayce keeps avoiding Gelyen at discussions. While she does follow the advice of her family and uses her magic abilities not that often anymore, she still can’t fully stop visiting the Web. The pull is too strong, although she learns to control it to a certain degree. When nobody is watching, she still enjoys the pleasure of walking the beautiful infinity of glowing threads. During this time she also bonds with a Drykas Strider called Teval. Their bond comforts and soothes her, but cannot keep her from the unhealthy lifestyle she leads. Although she now is the most active hunter of the pavilion, she feels unwanted and useless around her family. She has been meant to be the next Ankal – and from one second to another she has become nothing. She can’t stand the atmosphere anymore. After becoming twenty she takes her yvas and a pair of filled saddlebags, mounts Teval and disappears into the vast wilderness of the Sea of Grass.
by Glayce Lightstorm on May 6th, 2010, 9:37 pm 