The Temple of Crossroads

[Ronan]

Timestamp: 73rd of Fall, 512 AV When Ronan left Riverfall, the day waned quickly enough, solid riding across the grasses carrying them. When darkness came to the land, and he settled down to sleep, he almost immediately fell into the dream realm. That impossible place, unpredictable, guided by the chaos of thought and abandon. He stood before a great temple, almost Lhavitian in appearance - though he had never been to Lhavit - with apple blossom leaves floating all around, falling wistfully amidst the backdrop of a pink shaded sky. He walked towards it, gazing in awe. The stonework was crisscrossed in patterns. Glyphs? Or some sort of other symbol? Swirls, and leafs, and flowers, all carved into the solid surface. Something drew him across the threshold, and so he entered into darkness. All the light in this world died immediately, and he was plunged into black. He blinked, looking around. At first, nothing, but his eyes slowly began to adjust and he thought he could make out eyes. Amber, yellow. Watching from the inky fringes of whatever place he had stepped into. There was a sound too. He had to strain to hear it. Ticking. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. His heart pounded, and he thought he could taste blood. That familiar, metallic sensation on the back of his tongue. The world swelled around him. And then, a light. A pair of eyes seemed to drift like mist, and slowly become a ball of golden light that hovered about the room. It illumined dark stone walls, and something beneath his feet. Tick. Tock. He suddenly realised he was standing on a giant clock. The hands moved so methodically, as if there were a purpose to all of this madness. Tick. Tock. They kept going, the sound increasing as if to drown Ronan's mind. His hands went to his head instinctively, before silence fell. It was as fearful as a sudden bang. Vacuous silence. Nothingness. He turned again, pulled to a corner of the room. The light illuminated a figure who stepped from the shadows. Scaled skin glistened. Snow white hair, like the apple blossoms outside. Kavala.

[Kavala]

The Konti didn't seem to see Ronan standing there watching. She instead seemed to be locked in her own world, a world that stretched out around her separate from his own. Ronan had never seen Kavala in her armor, but in that moment she wore hers. Black, soaking in the light rather than reflecting it, the night leather clung to her body like a second skin, reinforcing her form and heavily reinforced in places the Konti would be vulnerable in battle. She shifted, her body echoing with the sound of stretching leather as she stepped forward and crouched down, assassin-like, seemingly seeing something in the distance far above her. The motion was both graceful and deadly at the same time. A weapons harness encircled her body over the armor, a brace of throwing daggers hugging her chest. Two sets of tamo daggers graced each forearm, and she wore a crossbow and a sheath of bolts at her back. Kavala drew one set of Tamo daggers, separated them, and stared at their blades. "You will never leave me, will you?" She whispered to them, the light in the room glinting off their long stiletto like blades and refracting off her face. "And for that I love you more than life itself." The Konti whispered, though the sound carried across the room to Ronan as clearly as if she were shouting at him from where she was crouched. The Konti bent her head and kissed first one blade then the other. Her lips came back bloody but she sighed in pleasure. "Show me how much you love me..." She said, closing her eyes and tipping her head back. The daggers slipped in her hands, faster than Ronan's eyes could track, as she reversed them in her grip. Then crossing her arms over her chest, she cut herself on either forearm just below where their sheaths were. Blood trickled down her iridescent scales as the Konti sighed in pleasure. "Thank you... thank you for bringing me such joy...." She whispered to them with her eyes closed, her head still tilted back as if she were worshiping some unseen sun.

[Ronan]

Ronan listened to her words with a dull sense of ire and confusion. Who was she talking to? The gloom was impenetrable, he couldn't see anything but that which the ball of light chose to illumine. He heard her words. Lustful. An envy rose in him like bright green flame. And that thought became reality, the fire burning around him in a halo of furious colour. Then suddenly the light spilled over her, and he saw the daggers clasped in her hands, and the blood. "No! Kavala!" He went to move, but his feet were trapped to the clock surface. The long, reaching arms of time continued to tick, tock, turning inexorably. His face was one of pitched fear, seeing Kavala revel in her own pain, revel in the blood of her self harm. He wanted to grab her, but he couldn't move. Memories came to him. She had spoken of the pleasure of her pain. She had been a woman in captivity for so long, tormented by her shackles, but at the same time, a part of her mind learned to live with them. Still, the dream continued to torment Ronan. Another voice came from across the room. He turned his head, his feet still firmly trapped to the ground. The clock did not stop. Was it getting faster? The light spilled from Kavala, keeping the glistening crimson visible, but jumping to the other voice. It was a female voice like no other. Rich, and splendid, so full of depth. The light did not fully reveal her, but he could see the sparkle of gemstones, and those eyes that promised so much from the womb of the earth. "My.. my Goddess," he whispered. But still Kavala bled. And still the clock ticked.

[Kavala]

The Goddess glittered as if tiny speckles of starlight rippled across her deep earthen skin. It was pyrite, Ronan would recognize, clinging to her as if the crystals grew there themselves. Semele had a way of moving, a way of speaking, that reminded him of stone slipping against stone utterly inhuman. She smiled and softly whispered his name and he felt a thousand years old, eroded by weather, but still stoic and teaming with life. She gestured and the dreamstone in his palm began to expand as if it bled, but the swirling color began to encase him, turning his very flesh to stone. He felt his mortality slipping away and immortality settling in. The stone was so incredibly long lived. And as he transformed from flesh to stone, he could feel a sudden connection with the land around him. He could feel huge rivers of energy flowing through Semele's body. Her heartbeat infused him and he lost his mortal view entirely. The Goddess smiled. "Such is my world, Ronan. You can come join me, taste even a bit of this, and live long and as a part of something greater than you ever could as a mortal. But transformation, though it comes without bidding, holds responsibility. To come to my world you would have to leave your other world behind. You would have to leave her behind..." Semele said. Kavala's form was still bathed in an unnatural light and she was sliding her face against one of her tamo blades, leaving thin bloody scratches in her cheek as she purred reassuringly to it. "And them..." Semele said, gesturing in another direction. Light played down in the darkness, stolen from where Kavala had been illuminated. It shown down on Sama'el, sitting before a large new pavilion. Mealla was there and so too was Leto and Denen. They all looked up and smiled a greeting at Ronan, all save Mealla who looked like she was torn between throwing something at him or getting up and leaving. "What do you need from each of us, Ronan? And what do we need from you?" Semele asked, her voice so slow, so patient, as she filled his stone mind with words.

[Ronan]

The dreamstone swam. Colour enveloped him, and then it grew, the stone spreading outwards, petrifying flesh. He watched in mottled horror as rock encased him. No. It didn't encase him. He became rock. He felt every stone, every stoic, solid foundation. He felt it all. He felt their strength. But it was not just the rock. Time felt different now. The clock on the temple floor slowed to a grinding halt. There were not finite days ticking away, there were not mortal worries filling his head. Instead, time was slow and infinite, and he thought in ages, not in bells. He thought of epochs past, and epochs to come, all of which the stone would stand and watch. He snapped from this trance state as Semele spoke again, and ushered towards Kavala. Bleeding, possessed Kavala. And yet the Konti still held so much light. She was the light of the here and now. Semele held the light of promise, and the light of the future. He couldn't deny the love, but Semele offered a choice. And then the light turned to others. A family, watching, waiting, all troubled by their own pasts but brought together in tranquility. His heart swelled, eyes in stone watching them all. Every one of them. His Goddess, his family, Kavala. Stone heart grinded with stoic pulses. "My Lady... you give me hope. You give me purposes, as a warrior of the earth. You give me a divinity inside my heart. But Kavala. Kavala gives me a love I never knew I could feel. A twisted and torn love that whatever happens I can't deny. And my family give me belonging. They give me duty and pride." He turned slowly, looking at them all. "But all of you make me Drykas. All those qualities. Drykas, not stone." As he spoke those last words, the rock shattered. Time slipped away, falling as sand between his fingers. He was Ronan Sunsinger again, man and Drykas. He faced Semele, breath shaking as the clock began to tick once again. "I know not what I give to you all. I am but a man. A simple, Drykas man."

[Kavala]

The Goddess watched thoughtfully. "There is a power in prayer. Faith fuels the divine. The more you look to me, the stronger I get. That is your gift to me." Semele said, her voice like the very backbone of the world - mountains - rising up from the sea. "But what about the others. You are so focused on what they give you? What do you give them truly?" She asked gesturing first to his family and then to Kavala. The scene changed. His family fed from the meat he had hunted, enjoyed the security he provided, and benefited from the labor he engaged in. And they well and truly enjoyed his company. It was obvious from the scenes that flashed by, the pavilion illuminated out of the darkness and the whole of the Sunsingers together. "Tell me.. what do you give them?" She asked again, as if wanting it from his own words and his own perspective. Kavala became illuminated again. It showed her laughing, working at The Sanctuary. She ran and fetched for the Sunsingers, playing the perfect host when they were around, her face animated and lighthearted. It also showed what she was like when they left, especially him, with the inherent sadness and exhaustion allowed to show, pushed forward because she felt no need to hide anything from her family that lived there full time. The scene showed her alone or curled up with her son at night, sometimes her eyes wet, and sometimes her eyes vacant. The scenes flashed through her healing, slowly getting over him, and finding reasons to move forward. She would slowly laugh again, eat more, and come out of her depression. Things would be okay finally until the Sunsingers came again. "Tell me.. what do you give her?" The goddess asked. The room swam again. "Show me... show me what you want for all of them." The Goddess demanded, painting the canvas of the dream black and handing him all the colors of the rainbow to fill it up with again.

[Ronan]

Semele's words rang deep. Prayer was the fuel of faith... did every whisper, every unspoken word to his Goddess, provide her with the power and energy of her followers? It was an impossible thought, and yet it also explained so much. The Gods and Goddesses held so much power. If no one believed in them, would they simply be mortals, bound by mortal law and limit? Suddenly, they were in a temple no more. The Sunsingers milled about him, as if he were a wraith and not truly there. They fed on the meat of animals he had hunted. They laughed and drank and revelled in each others company. The fire spread warmth through their bones. But it was not just fire. The light of the Sunsinger name illuminated them all. Faces which he knew and loved, people he truly cared for. He understood, and responded to his Goddess' words. "I give them unconditional love and labour. I give them hope and my friendship." The scene changed again, his heart jolting as he watched Kavala hostess in merriment. But the light dimmed as the Sunsingers left her Sanctuary of stone. She curled up with Tasi. She cried and moped, and it took a while for happiness to creep back into her step. The residents saw it all. Ronan swallowed, finding it difficult to watch. "I... I give her my love, but I also give her my sorrow. I give her it all. My whole spectrum of emotions, and then I take it away from her again. I... I'm not sure." All turned to blackness. Except Semele. She held out hands of gemstone that glistened and shimmered, and in her palms was a ball of light. So many colours swirled beneath its surface. Tentatively, Ronan reached out to take it. It was absorbed into his hands, each finger becoming a paintbrush with which to sweep away the darkness. Guided by his intent, he breathed and turned back to the black void. He closed his eyes, thinking on what he wanted. What he truly wanted. What he saw when he closed his eyes and thought only of hope and love. His fingers moved briskly, the dreamstone glowing as his desires manifested before him. Semele only watched. Unblinking stone. The stone did not judge, it only asked for answers and integrity. He opened his eyes again, looking out at Endrykas. It was bountiful. There were more Drykas than there had ever been. He walked slowly into the tent before him. The Sunsinger Pavilion. The family were sitting around and laughing. Sama'el was taken with happiness, and his hand touched Mealla's. A fair haired child peeked his head out from behind a seat. Other children ran round the tent laughing and playing. Other women sat at the seats, and other men too, faces he did not recognise but knew in his heart were Sunsingers too. The horses poked their heads in, snorting and tails swishing. The Web pulsated brilliantly at full strength. He closed his eyes again, basking in the transitory moment. Then he turned to face the blackness that still lived behind him. Kavala. Beautiful, lovely Kavala. He swirled the light again, the darkness his canvass. The colour of his dreams painted the picture before him. He saw himself, sat with Kavala in the Sanctuary Within. He opened a letter from Sama'el, and Kavala read too. His arms were round her. Their eyes told him everything he needed to know. She was happy. Genuinely happy. It was simple, but he saw the words of the letter. He was still with the Watch, but stationed in Riverfall, keeping in contact with his family. Were these truly his hopes? Were they so different from what he knew now? He gasped as everything folded back into emptiness, only Semele stood there. He could hear the clock ticking but he could not see it. When could he leave this place?

[Kavala]

When Semele's eyes scanned what Ronan had painted, she shook her head. Her frown was reflected in her arms as she raised them and gestured at each scene simultaneously. They changed, both of them, though one turned more dark by far than the other. Kavala stood up in Ronan's dream, picked up her son in her arms, and just simply walked away leaving him where he'd been sitting, reading a letter. Her whole visage was one of rejection and self preservation. "You are loosing her, despite the picture you paint. No one, not even someone in love, will reasonably put up with something that causes them pain. Nor will someone who is truly in love keep causing that person pain. So that picture you paint is an idealistic viewpoint, Ronan. It cannot be real, not as things stand. I need my followers to understand what they can change and what they can't change and make strong choices - correct choices." She added. Then she gestured to the Sunsinger Pavilion. The children vanished altogether. Mealla stared daggers into Sama'el's back rather than holding his hand, and the only people left were Leto, Denen, and Ronan. Sam sat worried at the fire, his face thin and haggard. The scene panned out until it showed the Sea of Grass littered with cairn stones marking graves. There were thousands of them. Horses ran free, no one tending their herds. Pavilions still stood on the grass, but most were empty and shredded by the winds constant blowing. Fires raged on the long grass unchecked and devastating. "This is the reality of what is to come. Disease rides a dead soulless horse. Love gained is love lost. Family made will be family broken. You cannot be a dreamer forever, Ronan. You must understand what the future holds and that your ideals will raise you high and drop you low. If you are to survive this, you should make changes." The Goddess said, her words holding a finality to them. "What Ronan... what will you do?" She asked, as if she had asked and was still asking until he gave the right answer.

[Ronan]

Ronan swallowed as the picture faded, and Kavala got up to leave. Then what could he do? What could he truly do other than to let her go completely? He felt sick. "I know... I know it's idealistic, but I can't help myself." The scene returned to the Sunsingers, and Ronan could only watch in horror as the Drykas turned on one another, and he saw the cairn stones littering the grass. So many dead. And fire too, ravaging the dry swathes of grass with no one dutiful enough to attend to it. His hands went to his face, eyes wide in terror. Was this the end of the Drykas? Were they too die in pestilence and fire? Semele pressed him but he was lost, traumatised by what he had just seen. So many had spoken of the end of Endrykas, but he had never truly considered it. Not visually. Not like that. Not with men and women and children dying around him in the chaos brought about by negligence. Blinded by tears he turned back to his Goddess. Still she remained stoic, and he knew in his heart he must have the qualities she had chosen him for. He had to. This couldn't happen, it just couldn't. "I must let Kavala go, and I must devote myself to the Drykas. We must actively seek a way to... to stop this." The words stuck, almost impossible to get out. But he knew they rang true. He knew if he did not do as he said, death lay on the horizon.

[Kavala]

Ronan was mistaken in his thoughts. The Drykas didn't turn on one another. They never had and never would. It was just that the simple idealistic pastoral scene he had envisioned never came to be because of the conflict and dangers on the grass. They were the same dangers that were always there. When he cried and hung his head, Semele reached out and grabbed his chin, forced his head up, and stared into his eyes. "Show no weakness. You must be as strong as the stone around you. Tears will solve nothing. Nor will giving up that which you love and depend on. Self sacrificing will do nothing but alienate an potential resource. Why would you do that when I've just shown you that disease and fire will haunt the Drykas? Do you think you can do everything alone, Ronan? Do you think thats the way we intended the Drykas to live?" Semele shook her head, angry now, frustrated that he missed so much, that he was so centered on what he had to sacrifice instead of what he could give to others. "You know what Martyrs do? The fertilize the ground and fertilize people's imaginations. They don't ever live to do real and true good. When I say the Drykas need to change, I mean it. They are going to need help far and wide if they are going to survive. Do you know how many of your people still live after Ivak's release? Not many. And many more will fall. It has been foretold and foreseen. Your people are destined to be destroyed and born again stronger. They are not suited for this new world using old ways. It can't keep working. It just can't. You are going to have to explore new ways, venture forth into new avenues you've never been involved in before. You will have to innovate and not remain stoic and stubborn and self sacrificing." Semele said, then paused, letting Ronan response. She knew one thing though. As Kavala walked away, Ronan let a piece of the Drykas and a piece of their strength walk away with her. Rejected by her own people, by her own love. It was no wonder the Konti healer never looked back.