[Ialari's Dominion] The First Piece

[Ialari Pythone]

30th Day of Fall, 519

Ialari awoke from one of the many nightmares that had plagued her for so many years. She never remembered what happened in those tortured dreams; all she knew was the feelings afterwards. Fear, anger, sadness, they were but some of the many emotions she experienced every time she woke from sleep. Because of this, she attempted to avoid sleep as much as possible which often left her, in her waking moments, confused, exhausted and unable to function at her best. Realizing that her conscious mind would not allow her to sleep well, Ialari resorted to ingesting a variety of poisons. Her hope was that the poisons would affect not only her body but also her mind in a way that would allow for peaceful sleep even if there were some side effects. The last poison she tried, Bloodroot, consisted of a red, odorless syrup brewed from a number of roots she’d harvested from the jungle surrounding the cave housing the physical side of her Dominion.

Bloodroot required contact with damaged flesh in order to function so, she cut her arm and rubbed the poison into the wound. It took a few moments to take effect but eventually she began to feel the confusion and physical weakness that was common with that poison.

While the poison worked to break down her resistance to sleep, it had little effect on preventing her nightmares. Thus, when she finally awoke, the tortured feelings that followed were the same as every other time she woke from a terrible sleep.

“Rise and shine, my dear.” Came the familiar voice that she was never able to be rid of. The ghost of Berliotz, or at least the echo of the man that was responsible for setting her on the path she now followed, was always present in her Dominion. Although not a true ghost as far as the recognized race of creatures was concerned, Berliotz was a collection of the ancient wizard’s memories, experiences, feelings and thoughts left over after he’d possessed Ialari so many years ago. Her Dominion had given that echo form through its bond with her; manifesting her own thoughts combined with those of the dead wizard; something of a manifestation of her own thoughts woven with those of the wizard before his centuries of existing as a true ghost.

Wiping her hand across her face, Ialari allowed herself to pull from sleep and embrace the waking reality that she knew. Before sitting up, she stretched out and felt the grass beneath her. She was in her Dominion, a space claimed within the Ukalas through an ancient, long lost magic. The Dominion took the form of a vast subterranean cavern. Its ceiling split with a series of fissures that allowed light, from an unknown source, to filter down to the cavern floor. The rocky floor was covered in grass and moss with a handful of trees. Through her skill with shaping the Dominion, Ialari had created a small pond along with encouraging the growth of grass and trees. She’d introduced a number of insects as well as rodents and birds into the space; carefully developing a unique ecosystem within the otherworldly space.

Also, there were her snakes, Arith and Reth, two creatures created from her own blood. Years ago she discovered a strange property to her blood that allowed for the creation of snakes from similarly shaped inanimate objects. By smearing her blood upon a rope, broom handle or other similar form, she was able to create life in the form of a snake. The two snakes she’d created shared a bond with her not unlike that created through the use of Izentor, the Gnosis of Izurdin.

Upon awaking, Ialari found Arith and Reth laying on her as a pillar of light shined down from the roof of the cavern high above.

[Ialari Pythone]

Hearing the voice of Berliotz never ceased to fill Ialari with scorn. She never was able to come to terms with having the wizard with her at all times. Even when she was not in her Dominion, he was always with her. His voice spoke to her yet had no answers to her questions, at least not to questions she already knew the answer to even if she didn’t want to accept it.

Gently she moved Arith and Reth into the grass and sat up. She’d been spending more and more time in her Dominion and had gradually lost track of how much time she was actually there. Had it been days? Years? Time was rather loose in the Ukalas and keeping track of it was quite difficult.

Finally, she answered the “ghost”, “For once, could you just go away? Even if for a few bells?”

She was answered by a hollow chuckle. “How many times have we been over this? You and I are one. It is the price you pay for reforging my soul.
Remember, you chose to do so. You chose the consequences that followed. Be thankful that what was left was the better part of what I was and not what I became.”

Ialari sighed heavily, “A small consolation to be sure.”

Rising to her feet, Ialari stretched her arms outward and proceeded to extend her legs and twist her body in ways that loosened the tight muscles. It was to be a day that she’d held off for years. This would be the day that she took the first step toward the answer to all of her questions.

Looking first to the large pool of water; illuminated with the soft light of the pillar shining down from above, she turned to the darker part of her Dominion; to the Tree of Death. On the edge of the invisible border of the space claimed by Ialari, was a forest. Forefront on the edge of this forest was a massive, gnarled, dead tree. From the tree hung several bodies. Those bodies, despite the rot and decay that constantly consumed them; their bulging eyes and blackened skin, they all held the same visage, that of Ialari. The tree held at least fifty bodies, all isur, with no effort.

The lower branches held corpses that were near perfect matches to Ialari’s appearance. There was one with a crushed skull wearing the clothes she currently wore. The ones further up the tree looked older, more mature versions of her. There was one with daggers protruding from its chest while wearing the robes of a student of the Silver Tower in Pitrius City. There was another that appeared to have drowned while another looked to be mutated by magic. Another appeared to have been sliced up by someone with surgical knowledge. At the top of the tree, a single figure was perched. It was formed of black stone covered in silver veins.

For years, Ialari had been unable to get close to the tree. The Dominion Scrolls, gifted to her by Izurdin, had spoke of limits to the magic that was Dominion; one could look but not touch. The tree had been there since the beginning, taunting her with a mystery that, if unraveled, would provide her with the answer to her greatest question, Why?

Why did she feel so different, so alone and empty? Why did she feel so incomplete and why did she see and experience things so differently than anyone else she’d ever known?

“Is it finally time for you to take that next step?” The shade of Berliotz asked.

Ialari glanced over her shoulder to the old man draped in red robes and said, “You already know the answer you old bastard.”

The shade chuckled again.

[Ialari Pythone]

Dressed in little more than a black silk loincloth and a few bits of jewelry made from shells and bones, Ialari took a few steps toward the tree. She’d been avoiding this moment for years. She knew that her soul had been shattered long ago; the pieces gathered upon the tree before her. She didn’t know who or what was responsible or why it happened but she knew that the only way to find those answers was to take those pieces and reforge them within herself just like she had done with Berliotz those many years ago.

Step by step she approached the tree until she was standing just a few yards away. She wasn’t sure how to proceed from there however. It wasn’t like there were formal instructions on what to do. She wasn’t even certain that what she believed was true. It was not exactly something one easily accepted; your soul was shattered and the life you once lived was destroyed while the life you now live is but a shadow of what once was.

So, Ialari stood and waited. She didn’t have to wait too long. There was movement on one of the lowest branches of the great tree. One of the bodies; one that looked very much like Ialari did years ago, dressed in simple black traveling robes, began to swing lightly. Suddenly, the robe that wrapped around its neck snapped and the body fell to the ground with a hollow thud.

Ialari staggered back a step and watched as the fallen corpse slowly collected itself and stood. As it rose, Ialari noticed that it appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be unblemished and almost lively. Its flesh was had the light blue pallor of a living isur and while it moved rather stiffly, it seemed all too alive and real save for closed eyes. The corpse staggered softly toward Ialari; its arms resting at its sides and its head drooped slightly.

Ialari fought the urge to turn and run. Seeing herself staggering toward her reminded her of something she thought she saw in one of her nightmares yet she couldn’t quite remember it in detail. The corpse continued to approach until it was within a few feet of Ialari. It’s drooped head slowly raised with its closed eyes and slightly open mouth. A bit of blood trickled from its mouth as it opened its eyes. Instead of eyes however, there were only empty sockets. Without warning, the corpse grabbed a hold of Ialari’s shoulders.

The two figures, one a dark mirror of the other, were surrounded by a flash of light.

Ialari struggled against the grip of her corpse twin only to find her strength disappear. Blinded by the flash of light and unable to fight back, she reluctantly gave up and allowed what would come.

[Ialari Pythone]

Ialari blinked several times as her vision returned. A familiar set of sights, sounds and feelings washed over her. When her vision cleared, she could see that she was no longer in her Dominion. She was in a city…Nyka. It was the city where her life changed forever; the city where her path toward Dominion had begun. There was a late afternoon breeze that carried a chill that brushed across Ialari’s face as she stood outside of a building.

She felt a bit sick and lightheaded following her encounter with the splintered, maddened ghost of the ancient wizard, Amir Berliotz. There weren’t many people around and those that were present took little more than casual notice of Ialari. With Ialari was Shalla, the ghost of a woman who served as a secretary of sorts to the wizards of Sahova. Ialari had spared Shalla’s “life” as a nuit in return for her service in finding Berliotz and discovering the secret the mad wizard took to his death.

The two traveled the maze of Nykan alleys until they arrived at a nondescript two-story building. Ialari felt herself moving, reacting and speaking as she had before but without any conscious control. It was as if she was reliving a memory with no ability to act outside of what had already happened.

Shalla spoke, her words just as Ialari remembered from so many years ago, "According to local gossip, the owner was murdered half a season ago right here in his home by some burglar. A merchant, I think. The heirs can't take possession until the monks get around to 'purifying' the building with some rite or another. It's also locked."

Shalla slipped a ghostly hand through the door and seemed to apply some spiritual pressure. Ialari heard a click. "Was." Beyond the door a sizable antechamber was laid out for them to see. It seemed to be a typical upper class home, slightly dusty but well-furnished. A dining hall and a kitchen downstairs, three bedrooms upstairs. The master bedroom occupied half the floor, the two smaller bedrooms were connected by a door. Lively colors as to be expected of a Nykan.

Again, it was just as Ialari remembered. She knew what would happen next. The feeling that she could grasp it all; all of the magic, knowledge and power was within her grasp. It was a feeling that was followed by the curse of slowness and the inability to make sense of any of it. It was the feeling she felt in nearly every waking moment.

Shalla had explored the structure and returned to report her findings to Ialari. She remembered the uncertainty she felt at being able to use the magic she’d been gifted to do anything. The idea of “dominating” a room seemed so foreign back then.

In practice though, as she would eventually learn, the process was not so difficult. Straight lines must be quite straight, the curves - especially near the corners - were to be the right degree of curviness. The straight lines were to intersect at given angles and none other; and after a set number of intersections they were to cease abruptly. Each pattern wasn't too complex on its own, but the sum across a large space was another matter. And if the floor was hard enough, you had to dominate the ceiling too.

[Ialari Pythone]

Just as before, Ialari got to work and set to disposing of the furniture in the chosen room. Tsmall chandelier was a goner, as well. Ialari found a wooden ladder that barely held her weight. Other than that, standing on top of other furniture was really the only option. Shopping for supplies was way too dangerous at this point - even Shalla never left the house for long, and only to check on the neighboring streets. Were Berliotz to discover them now, it would be the end. Thankfully, they came across chalk, charcoal and paint and brushes in the house, thus ensuring the Isur could actually complete the task.

As she readied herself for the actual Domination, all she had left in terms of food was just a couple waterskins and some stale bread. There was no time for sleep no matter how badly she might have needed some. It took her two days just to absorb enough theory to attempt the thing. It was at dawn on the third day that she finally felt ready to begin working on the real thing.

"No-one mourned me when I died," Shalla told her during a break, "no-one even knew. I was just a secret experiment. I just... vanished. One day I was there, the next day they just removed all proof I'd ever existed. I can tell you no-one mourned Berliotz, either. Or Qiao. Mashaen had a family, but he neglected them badly to work on his backstabbing little golem daughter. They didn't forgive him, even though he accepted the post on Sahova to protect them. Tears do not fall easily for those who involve themselves in magic. How many would mourn you, Ialari Pythone?"

Shalla’s words hit Ialari harder than they had the first time. Who would mourn her once she was gone? Shalla had died so long ago and to those who knew her, she’d simply vanished with no proof she ever lived. Ialari thought back to Lector Qiao, the Archmage Mashaen and even Berliotz himself. They all once had lives; they had families and people who once cared for them. They gave it up for magic just as Ialari had given up everything she was for Dominion. Shalla…the time granted to her by Dira was nearly up. Ten years. Ialari made a mental note to catch back up with the ghost and address the ticking clock as it were.

Ialari watched through eyes that were hers but not hers as she proceeded with the process of dominating the room. The process, at its most basic, was literally just chalk lines on the walls. There was no way to know that it would work in the end, and if it did not, the user was left utterly clueless as to the reason why. Standing in a room that should have been magical but remained a jumble of chalk lines - and looking like a complete fool, no doubt.

She fondly remembered how the Dominion Scrolls mentioned that there was some tolerance with the layout, but that mistakes would end up reducing a Dominion's total size. Hence why beginners were limited in the space they could fold; the accumulation of tiny mistakes limited the output of the entire design. Of course, years later, Ialari would find that avoiding those mistakes to begin with wasn’t nearly as difficult as it was in those early days.

[Ialari Pythone]

Ialari followed along with the memory with no small amount of fondness as well as sadness. It was a sadness created by the knowledge that her life at that point was about to change. It wasn’t that she regretted the change but that she missed the feelings she had before then. They weren’t pleasant feelings but they did serve to fill the void that would follow.

Ialari had once embraced hatred. Not just a normal, passive hatred like so many mortals had. It wasn’t a hatred of certain foods or certain behaviors. It was a hatred of humanity and everything that made it what it was. Ialari hated humans for their selfishness, greed, ignorance, brutality and capacity for so many other horrific things. She wanted to see the entire human race erased from existence. It is that hatred that once filled the void within her. It gave her purpose even if she wasn’t really sure why it existed to begin with.

Two days passed as Ialari prepared the room to be dominated. With her supplies long exhausted, Ialari was done tracing the lines. She had drawn the floor last, and making her way back from the far wall to the entrance so as not to step on her own lines. Any corrections would quickly turn into a nightmare if she was forced to walk back in and disturb large sections of her work.

Four days, and only six hours of sleep in all. Back then such a thing was rare. Years later Ialari would kill for six hours of solid, peaceful sleep.

Shalla emerged from the floor behind her just as she was giving it the final inspection. "Well, that sure is... something," she said, watching the finished thing. The entire room was slightly mesmerizing to look at. "We don't have much time. There's a man in the market who keeps bumping into people and asking them questions. He doesn't look quite... right but he's dressed like a monk and they try to be helpful to him. He's getting close. We may not have another day in here."

Ialari remembered this well or at least the feeling. She remembered the feeling of dread at hearing of the man staggering about the city. It was the ghost of Berliotz possessing one of the city dwellers. The wizard would stop it nothing to find her; to steal the secrets of Dominion from her. He had given his life and shattered his soul to possess the magic only for the gods to give it to Ialari. She’d learned of the existence of Dominion from Berliotz’s fractured ghost and even reforged his soul within her own body to possess such magic. Her sacrifices had led the gods to grant her the lost magic. Yet, Berliotz, his mind and soul broken, could never accept that he was not the one chosen.

[Ialari Pythone]

With the physical process of Dominion theoretically completed, Ialari now had to pronounce an Oath and vouch for her dominion to assert her own will upon the fabric of the universe. Finally, she had to reach a state of deep concentration that - if she'd done her homework right, and if the scrolls were truthful - might allow her to get a glimpse of the Ukalas. A far more fearsome place than any dead Morpher like Berliotz, no matter how powerful.

Ialari recited her oath and infused it with memories from her childhood and thoughts of all she'd sacrificed on her path to power. The room accepted it all without a sound, seemingly uncaring. But once something was done in the world, there was no taking it back. It had happened, and the thread of causality only moved forward. Ialari then forced herself to relax on focus on more metaphysical thoughts. It wasn't easy, what with an overpowered psychopath out there looking for you and getting ever closer. Shalla watched attentively, but made no noise whatsoever and might as well not have been there. Her ghostly features gave no indication as to whether she believed, wondered, doubted, or despaired.

The memory filled Ialari with the rare sensation of joy. So many years had passed since she’d claimed her Dominion. So much had happened since then and she’d learned so much. Yet, despite all that she’d experienced, that first time was the most special.

Ialari heard Shalla say something about the lines on the wall pulsing. It was barely noticeable, but the complex drawing had seemed to glow softly for an instant. Then it did it again, with more impetus this time. Like a slow heartbeat, steadily accelerating. It started to discharge static electricity with each tiny blast of power. The air started smelling like it does at the outset of a lightning storm. Light poured down the lines, filling them like blood vessels. The reaction seemed self-sustaining and swiftly accelerating to a point of no return. Forked beams of energy flashed through the room, making sounds like whips being cracked.

Ialari felt a crackling thrill course through her body as she remembered what came next.

Then there was a single, overpowering blast of blinding light that poured out of the door. And when the light subsided, Ialari was standing on the threshold to somewhere else. If it could even be called a place. Stretching out in front of the Isur was a twilight landscape under a blossoming carpet of unknown stars. Forest-covered hills gently rolling in the distance, grass swaying in the breeze, a thin silver mist embracing it all. Black shapes swam across the skies and the very ground seemed to subtly shift when you weren't looking at it. Ialari's Dominion had connected with what looked to be the edge of a deciduous wood at the base of the hills.

And so it had begun. Ialari had claimed her first Dominion. She was filled with a renewed feeling of focus and direction that had been slowly fading in the years after.

Of course, there was also the tree. Try as she might, she could not turn her gaze from it as she was still only reliving a memory. Even though it felt like a memory though, there were subtle differences that, for the most part, Ialari ignored or didn’t remember in enough detail to notice. Yes, it was a memory, but it wasn’t her memory, at least not the same version of her.

[Ialari Pythone]

Just as Ialari turned and crossed the threshold that led her back to Nyka, a heavy crashing sound was heard in the house. Downstairs, the door was easily ripped off its frame and flung across the room. Ialari had no need to see what was going on; the atmosphere changed suddenly, and she felt like she was in the Aperture again, back with the maddened ghost of Amir Berliotz, though the madness in the air carried a sickly sweet scent, like something gone bad. An angry ghost was like a force field radiating its own twisted vision of the world for others to feel. It was strangely cold. Amir Berliotz's insanity slapped Ialari across the cheek well before a moan rose from the living room downstairs.

"Tick, tock... tick, tock... time's running out... daddy's coming home... belt's already in his hand... you been naughty again haven't you?"

The voice was somewhere in between a human's and Berliotz's ghostly one. It seemed to be getting closer. The staircase creaked as something took the first step up.

Ialari was immediately consumed with fear. It was a fear that she hadn’t remembered feeling. It was nearly overpowering. Definitely not like before.

Creak. Creak. Creak. Shalla whispered. "He seems to be coming apart at the seams. Maybe being denied Dominion did that to him? Or too many contradictions in his personality..."

And with the final growl, the door of Ialari's room came down in a shower of splinters, revealing a dark silhouette of something barely human.

Despite trying to do what she had done before, Ialari found herself doing anything but that. The memory that she thought she was reliving was quickly transforming into something far different. She was consumed by fear. It was as if she was standing on one side of a window, slamming her fists against the glass and shouting at the person on the other side; imploring them to act yet having them not hear her.

The figure stepped out into the dim light of the room, still dressed as a monk of Nyka... at least on the surface. It was barefooted, the skin now ashen and marred with wriggling grave worms. Amir Berliotz hadn't recovered at all - on the contrary, his condition had been worsening steadily. If his soul had split upon death as a coping mechanism of sorts, then no matter how badly he might have wanted to be reunited, it would only result in disaster. The monk's hood fell back on his shoulders, revealing a deformed head in which bloodshot human eyes were floating freely. The mouth was circular and leaked vile fluids on the floor below. Instead of a nose, a mere opening into the head. His cheekbones had pierced the skin like blades. Bugs had nested in what was left of his hair.

[Ialari Pythone]

At the sight of the cowering Ialari, Berliotz’s hunger for her exploded. He grew a snout and fangs. A dead hand dropped to the floor, only to be replaced by a lump of muddy, liquid meat. His eyes took in Ialari's fearful figure and the scroll tube in her hand. He seemed to remember both things very well, for he howled then. Every window in the house was shattered

Berliotz had lost it completely. "Give me Dominion give me Dominion give me give me give me give me..." He moved a step towards her, and as he did his body began to bloat. His torso swelled first, as if suddenly filled with gas. Then his limbs followed suit, looking like someone were pumping air into him. There was no finesse about this, just an immense display of instinctual magic. The animal reflex of looking as large as possible in front of an enemy. Only, he was taking it to the horrid extreme of unlimited growth.

"Give me give me give me!" He howled at Ialari. Once his height reached eight feet, he bumped into the ceiling, his clothes torn and discarded - his nudity consisted of countless folds of decaying fat with the occasional green-rotted bone jutting from the meat. He fell to his knees from the sheer lack of space. He took a clumsy swing Ialari with a tray-sized slab of flesh that had once been a hand, barely missing her huddled form.

Berliotz's massive, screaming bulk was already pressing against two walls and would soon crush Ialari against the opposite corner of the room as well. The ceiling creaked under the pressure of his growth, debris and sawdust raining all over. The otherworldly light of the Ukalas streamed into the mansion, drawing Berliotz's attention. "Give me give me give me..." he raged, basically unable to move under his own weight.

Although barely able to move his body, Berliotz was still able to move his arms. With Shalla unable to act against the growing behemoth, Berliotz reached out and grabbed a hold of the fear-paralyzed Ialari in his massive, bloated hand. Screaming against what she knew was wrong, Ialari was unable to get her body to respond. All that she’d gone through, all that she’d sacrificed to gain Dominion was about to be…

Berliotz squeezed his decay-engorged hand around Ialari. Despite the isur’s dense flesh and near unbreakable bones, the maddened wizard popped her. Ialari’s bones cracked and splintered. Her thick flesh remained intact but her eyes popped from their sockets and her fluids poured from the open holes.
That is how the first piece of Ialari’s soul had met its end.

With a single blink followed by several more, Ialari’s vision was greeted with the sight of her Dominion. The corpse that had fallen from the tree was gone and its place on the tree, empty.

Ialari staggered back away from the tree and collapsed against the large statue of a coiled snake that sat in the center of the Dominion. As horrific as the experience she just had was, there was something else. As she struggled to separate herself from the experiences of the piece of her soul and her own current existence, she also felt the slightest tickle of understanding beginning to creep into her mind.

That piece of her soul, living the same life as she had up until that point where she’d been granted Dominion, had collapsed under her own fear. She was unable to handle the pressure of the gods, the magic and the danger of Berliotz.

“Well, did you find any answers?” Came the ever-present voice.
Ialari jumped a bit at the sound before realizing it was just the shade of Berliotz and not the real monster.

“No, but I did find the path.”