Legends of Belariath
Cera
Cera's Air Mage Story
Cera awoke with a start from her trance, trying to catch her breath some and not wake her love from his trance as well, attempting to curl against him a bit more beneath the protection of his strong leathery wing that was draped over her smaller, yet very shaply, nude form.
The images from her vision still very vivid in her mind as she layed there. She had been flying, which at first seemed quite natural to her being a Chirot after all, the breeze warm against her body as she flew through the heated summer day and into the night. The scene in her mind had shifted as she came upon a mountain clearing, the voices seeming at first to call her in her head though soon she realized they were not in her head but on the winds themselves, drawing her to this clearing. Again the scene shifted and she was standing in front of her parents, both had been dead since she was a small child, and she had been raised by her grandparents, but still it seemed so very real to her. Their bodies seemed to glow with the same light as the full moon above them all, and again their voice came from all directions it seemed to her, carried on the very winds whirling around her body and tugging lightly at her hair and clothes and as they spoke, heat lightening flashing behind them. It wasn't long before there was a terrible storm raging or so it seemed, between that and the voices that seemed to revibrate in her ears like the thunder itself, prehaps it was some magic brought back by them from the Great Kingdom she thought at first but as it grew painfully loud, she had awoke suddenly from her trance and realized immediatly that it had been a very important vision.
Strangely however she knew what she must do now and very carefully slide out from beside her mate and dressed, leaving no more then a note for him stating she would return as soon as she was able to, that she had something she needed to do, and adding quickly that it was a vision she needed to respond to, knowing somehow he would understand. That done, she grabbed her little black backpack from the chest he had bought her and headed out before he could wake and possibly stop her. No more then a last quick glance was given to his magnificent form as he layed peacefully in his trance and a very soft whisper in their own tounge, "I love you.. never forget that, Dakiras.", then she turned and headed out and up into the still dark skies, lead only by gut feelings and the vision still haunting her.
She flew for as long as she could, taking only small breaks to rest before starting out again, not quite sure where she was being lead but knowing she indeed must go, those voices still seeming to call to her. She even questioned them herself several times, thinking maybe she was just losing her mind only to remember the rest of what she saw and try to put more distance behind her as quickly as she could to reach her unknown destiny.
Her heart seemed to jump as she finally made it to the location she had been guided to, it seemed to have taken forever to get here yet now that she saw it none of that mattered. She quickly landed in the clearing high on the mountain side, flight seeming to be the only way to get here as it was surrounded on all sides by the mountain itself, yet it was a fairly large clearing with trees and a small pond. She still wasn't to clear on why she was here but she knew it had to be very important to be guided in the way she was. The sun was still high in the sky and after looking around for a while she went to rest under one of the trees, still finding no clues as to what all this might mean.
Several hours passed and day turned into night, still nothing seemed unusual or hinted at why she was here and with a heavy sigh she was just about to go into a trace when she heard crying, the sound soft at first as she got up to go search for the source. When she finally noticed the woman by the pond not far away she went to investigate, wondering how the woman had even got here. When the woman turned around however, Cera's mouth dropped, there was no denying what the woman was, the face of the woman staring back at her was horrible at best with beady eyes, her face old and sunken, her hair a wild snarled mess but worst of all was when she opened her mouth. The shrill wailing shriek of the banshee loud enough to drop cera to her knees, her hands at once covering her sensative ears, yet even that wasn't enough and soon the wailing was the last thing she heard as darkness wrapped its arms around her and pulled her into a trance.
When she awoke from her trance her head ached but what she noticed just after that, even before her eyes opened and she sat up, was the smell of death surrounding her, a smell she remembered from her childhood and her stomach knotted. She forced her eyes open as she sat up, the stench and the sight that met her eyes enough to make her wretch. Slowly she got to her feet, looking around at the bodies of so many of her kind, men, women, and even children in various stages of decomposition or so it appeared, an entire Chirot village wiped out from the way things looked. She searched the homes, shops and even through the streets looking for any surviors or even any clue as to what might have done this since from the looks of things it was a battle that lasted several days at least, yet she found neither.
The longer she searched for answers or hints as to what happened here the more her past came back in flashes. The visions of her own village looking much like this as her grandparents pulled her out of the hiding spot her mother had locked her in under the floor of their home mixed with the voices in her head. She heard her grandparents, the words of wisdom from her love, Dakiras, so many voices and memories it seemed whirled around in her head as she wandered around the remains of the village. Not only did the voices seem to come from inside her head but outside as well, carried on the winds , everything from what seemed like soft whispers as they caressed her ears to mumbles she could not even make out.
She couldn't help but add to that mix her own questions, wondering why she was here, what if she had go here sooner, could she have helped or would she be laying there among them, and most of all what did this all mean, why did the vision lead her there and how did she get here from that mountain clearing she had been in. She was raised to understand that all of those here would have gone on to the Great Kingdom to fight at Sheara's side and help restore their rightful place in that existance but it still was a devastating sight to know yet another of their villages was gone, after all wasn't it their duty to strive for the betterment of their race as well.
Nothing seemed real, everything seemed to hit her at once, the rage, the pain, the confusion, the voices in her ears and in her head, the visions before her and flashing through her memory, all of it spun through head so fast, she just wanted it to all stop. She covered her ears as she grabbed the sides of her head, stumbling towards the exit of the village she screeched out at the top of her lungs, dropping to her knees only to throw her arms wide open up towards the still dark skies, looking up at it as the deep purples and blues in those dark ebony depths of her eyes seemed to flash. A storm seemed to be coming over the mountain, mirroring the look in those eyes of hers, the winds whipping around her causing her robe to cling to her petite form and lifting her hair up wildly around her head even as she knelt there.
She screamed but a single word in her native tongue, 'Why?!', as she let that strange mixed fury loose, not even realizing at first she was doing it. Her eyes however went wide as she saw the bright blueish-purple flash come from her own delicate little hands, the bolt of lightening flying from them and heading straight up into the dark clouds overhead as Sheara herself seemed to answer with the clap of thunder that followed. More startled then scared she scurried back up to her feet, her eyes still a bit wide as she looked at her hands, wondering just where that one came from yet when she tried again she could not repeat it and as the storm traveled on past where she was standing she realized just how tired she was yet she didn't want to stay here.
She just wanted to go home, to think about what all of this might mean, something felt as if it had changed within her yet she still could not put her finger on it. She knew she needed to talk to Dakiras and she wanted nothing more then to end this craziness of the past few days and be safe and secure in his arms once more, with that thought in the forefront of her mind she spread her wings and took to the air, so very weary yet somehow she got that feeling from inside her again, as if the winds themselves were helping to guide her to her love, to the only real home she had now, and maybe to the answers she needed.