04-26-2017, 04:25 PM
His request of her gripped her heart to painful stone. She did not know what it was that he gave over, but if the Regus needed its secrets revealed, she had the power to give him that gift. Reveal as much or as little of it as she deigned.
Illarion left them alone, something that irked Valeriya to hear someone else order him away. But the challenge before her stoked fires of curiosity within. She accepted the parchment, sat and sprawled it across her knees.
The gift of the Eye was not something she could control completely, although she would never admit such a weakness. That was where the burnt oil aided her senses, but the key was relaxation. She had to quiet her mind, empty her physical eyes of their work, and expand her senses. The world was so much larger than any of the Khylsty knew, and she had only a glimpse of it, but it was enough to toy with her obsessions. She practiced often, her entire life, as such was her purpose.
Time passed, but like all moments in the Below, it was fluid and vague. She was quiet of mind and voice. Soon, blurry images arose around her, like spikes rising out of the ground. These spikes were not of stone, though. Nor were they white as teeth. They were brown, topped with a color rarely seen in the Below, but prominent in the Pits - green. The brown spikes split into dozens of smaller ones, ever-splitting, smaller and smaller, as they grasped toward the blue expanse Above.
"I see brown pillars crowned in green,"
she spoke quietly, of a mind separated from its body. "A clearing opens up."
She went on to describe as though she walked it herself.
At its center, she gasped, both of soul and of body. She saw Regus, as he was now, but stronger, more vibrant, cloaked with strange robes reminiscent of Rasputin's portrait, and in its hands held a shining blade. The head of an enemy was severed and a crown fell to his feet. He knelt and took it up, but did not place it upon his head. Instead, he held it aloft like an offering to the divine.
The vision collapsed and she blinked, finding the face of the current and present Regus before her. How much to tell him? "This is the place of your victory. It is there you will win your war."
She smiled and returned the parchment to its owner. "You must take me with you."
Illarion left them alone, something that irked Valeriya to hear someone else order him away. But the challenge before her stoked fires of curiosity within. She accepted the parchment, sat and sprawled it across her knees.
The gift of the Eye was not something she could control completely, although she would never admit such a weakness. That was where the burnt oil aided her senses, but the key was relaxation. She had to quiet her mind, empty her physical eyes of their work, and expand her senses. The world was so much larger than any of the Khylsty knew, and she had only a glimpse of it, but it was enough to toy with her obsessions. She practiced often, her entire life, as such was her purpose.
Time passed, but like all moments in the Below, it was fluid and vague. She was quiet of mind and voice. Soon, blurry images arose around her, like spikes rising out of the ground. These spikes were not of stone, though. Nor were they white as teeth. They were brown, topped with a color rarely seen in the Below, but prominent in the Pits - green. The brown spikes split into dozens of smaller ones, ever-splitting, smaller and smaller, as they grasped toward the blue expanse Above.
"I see brown pillars crowned in green,"
she spoke quietly, of a mind separated from its body. "A clearing opens up."
She went on to describe as though she walked it herself.
At its center, she gasped, both of soul and of body. She saw Regus, as he was now, but stronger, more vibrant, cloaked with strange robes reminiscent of Rasputin's portrait, and in its hands held a shining blade. The head of an enemy was severed and a crown fell to his feet. He knelt and took it up, but did not place it upon his head. Instead, he held it aloft like an offering to the divine.
The vision collapsed and she blinked, finding the face of the current and present Regus before her. How much to tell him? "This is the place of your victory. It is there you will win your war."
She smiled and returned the parchment to its owner. "You must take me with you."
The Eye of the Khylsty