Legends of Belariath

Varisanna

Memories or Dreams

She liked the being back in the jungle again. Away from the harsher ground of Belariath and back into the muck that teased against her tail. Her little makeshift militia did not seem to share that sentiment though. Her small army consisted mostly of winged folk who had not taken to kindly to being told they had to march all the way here so as not to reveal their ability to fly. Still she had her ways of persuasion and was sure some only came for that reason as well. The patience had paid off though as now the village was in sight. “Your people having a bonfire or something?” a barbarian would ask one of the few no winged ones she brought along, she did rather like him though a rather brawny sort lacking enough in the brains that she imagined she could tell him his left arm was trying to kill him and he would probably cut it off without another thought. In this case however his observation would be quite astute. There was a large cloud of smoke coming up from the village and it did not all seem to be coming from the same spot.  “I am not sure they did not have fires when I lived there..” she would say back to the barbarian a simple answer to please his mind as her own slowly grew more troubled at what the smoke might really mean.

She would simply have to ignore it for now though her forces had already had far too many delays and she was not sure another “pep talk” would be enough to keep people from simply leaving. Her own wings flaring out to the sides as a single for her flyers to take flight letting a bit of magic slip into her own wings now as she would lift into the air to join them. The flight would be a far shorter one then she had expected though as the increase in height only further revealed the troubling nature of the smoke. The village it seemed had already been laid siege too.  She should have felt glorified to see this to know the village that had haunted her for so many years was no more. But instead she felt robbed deprived of her one chance to get revenge on those that had abused her. Years of plotting of maneuvering all seeming for not now as they would descend into the village at a much more casual pace than the original plan had called for. Moving the barricades aside as the remaining foot soldier would move in to join them. “Do we still get paid?” one of the Chirot would ask in a tone that rather displeased Varisanna. Of course she was not exactly fond of the Chirot speaking the words either. Not one to have been convinced by money she had to find other ways to convince him to join and even now she was still a bit sore from it.  “Not until I am sure everyone is dead.” She replied back coldly moving into the village.

She had another objective to accomplish as well though she had kept this one secret from her forces. In her planning for this strike with Elaine she had seen large black obelisks scattered throughout the village. They had troubled her as despite having lived in the village for many years she never knew what they were for or what they did. In fact she had been quite worried they would have interfered with the attacks though that now became a mute point as clearly the village had already been laid to waste. Still she had to know what they did and so as she approached the closest obelisk she would reach a hand out touching her palm against it as she would use a detect magic spell to try to discern its purpose.

The obelisk would erupt at the touch of magic a booming shockwave running over the village. Vari would feel her mind being ripped asunder as many images came rushing into it. Ones she did not have any memory of though all seeming oddly familiar to her. It would not be into she would hear a bloody shriek from behind her that she would finally come back to her senses. Seeing one of the lovelier of her Torian allies crumpling over as some form of ghost of her people stabbed a spear through her chest.  Many others engaging similar spirits in combat now as the destroyed village suddenly exploded into a frenzy of combat.  “To the air!” she cried out trying to rally her forces. They were not a well trained group though and the sudden ambush of spirits left most in a panic simply fighting to stay alive. Varisanna instead would turn her attentions back to the obelisk it had spawned the creatures so she only hoped its destruction would rid the village of them as well. Her tail swinging about in front of her as she would strike against the obelisk with all her might in a hope to stop the battle before any more lives were lost. It would not break at first and Varisanna would fear her attack just a wasted effort. Slowly though cracks would form and grow and then as if something exploded inside the obelisk it would explode knocking the Vari back as its shards sailed outward. She would feel her mind begin to fade away from her as she struck the ground but not into the darkness like a blow like this usually caused but rather things seemed to become brighter until finally crackling into a bright white light.

The white light would flicker away again and Varisanna would find herself in an odd place. Elaborate decorations adorning the walls. A large cushy bed seeming designed for the Sithian build. It was in many ways what she had always envisioned the higher castes in the cities living in but for some reason she had this feeling that it was her own home instead. It did not seem too real either to Varisanna like some form of dream she was finding herself trapped in.  The door behind her would open a well armored Sithian slipping through “Lady Varisanna it is...” and then just like that things would fade into white again her vision refocusing to where she had been as the plumes of smoke rose up into the air. The barbarian she had brought along standing over her looking down “What do we do now?” he asks the answer seeming obvious as many others were still engaged with the spirits the shattering of that one obelisk not seeming to be enough. “Do what I paid you to do go smash things...” she would say with a hiss as she quickly rose back up. She figured she could have been more descriptive and told him to smash the obelisks but with his lack of intelligence by the time she would have gotten through explaining what an obelisk was it would probably be too late.

The rest of her small force seeming to have gotten a bit wiser or dead for those that did not it seemed. Taking to the air now as the original battle plan would finally come back into play unfortunately the plan had relied on the Sithian still being living and not being spirits that could float up after the attackers but at least it spread the fighting out enough for  Vari to focus her own attacks on the obelisks. The sounds of shattering woods and crumpling tents seeming to suggest her barbarian friend had chosen other targets. As the obelisks seemed to have some connection with the spirit realm Varisanna figured spiritual magic to be a bad idea so instead she would flare out her wings sending a blast of fire out at the next nearest obelisk figuring the distance would keep her from being knocked out again. The spell would work the same as her tail as it struck the obelisk a series of small cracks before another explosion would erupt. Sadly though it seemed the distance was not enough to help her from slipping back into that dream realm.

Back out on solid ground now at least that made things seem a bit more real to Varisanna. Still her clothes were far too posh for her liking and she seemed surrounded by armored guards trying to protect her of all things. It did not seem right to her but like most dreams she felt compelled to go along with it. The guard in the front of the group shouting out “We need to keep moving the temple is no longer safe for the lady.” Vari would take a moment to look around though noting no one looking like a princess, and with the previous vision still etched into her mind and the posh outfit on her form she would come to the logical conclusion that she must be the daughter of the chief. An odd though to cross her mind as this clear seemed a fantasy, but there were far too many clothes on for it to be one of her fantasies. Still like the other dream this one too would fade away into nothing.

Once more she would be brought back into the fray of the battle the number of spirits seeming to dwindle at this point perhaps due to combat or to the destroying of the obelisks Varisanna was unsure. At this point simply finding it a bit odd that none of the spirits had killed her in her incapacitated state. In fact the more she looked about she noted none of the spirits even seemed to pay her mind. A quick conclusion that the spirits were somehow designed to not attack Sithian. A fact she planned to fully abuse as she moved up to the next obelisk striking it quickly with her tail knowing what was to come but knowing she had little other choice. One more the thundering explosion of the stone would send Varisanna back into that odd little dream state.

Varisanna was not even sure she could really call it a dream at this point the images having a familiarity that seemed to root itself somewhere deep inside the Sithians mind.  An odd feeling that perhaps these were memories long lost to her. The armored guard would move down the trail towards what she assumed was the village she was in currently the jungle though perhaps a bit thicker had that similar look to it and the area that the camp was being set up in did seem to fit the proper shape. She did find the large boulders a bit off but could not help notice they were in the same places that the obelisks were now. The leader of the group would pause turning to look to her “The people do not know about this location so you should be safe from the uprising lady Varisanna.” The words spoken with a firm confidence though the soldier speaking them seemed to lack the same confidence in his facial expression. The Sithian found her mind racing with far to man questions. Wanting to know what this uprising was. Why if she was a high caste the village treated her as a pariah. Then there was the oddest sensation of all as she realized she might actually have people concerned about her well-being within the Sithian tribes. Questions that would go unanswered it seemed as once again the dream faded into nothing.

There would be no signs of battle it seemed as the Sithian came to once more though it was not the victorious end Varisanna had imagined her forces laying dead about her the ghostlike Sithian just idly floating in the air around her not seeming to have any other purpose at this point.  Then she would pick up the scent of her kin, not her tribe, no they smelled to clean to be of her tribe. She found herself exhausted, unable to run the dreams seeming to have slowly drained her energy, or perhaps the realization that her forces had been wiped out simply taking whatever fight was left in her, whatever the reason she simply waited to see what was in store.

A conversation would make its way to Varisanna’s ears as the incoming force drew closer “This is silly we already wiped the whole camp out why are we returning.”  A male Sithian though seeming somewhat subordinate another clear sign to Varisanna that the arriving Sithian were not from her village as most men of her village had been rather pompous in nature. A tent near where she was would come crashing down and Varisanna would find herself face to face with the Sithian forces. She would stare at the Sithian force for a long period of time not sure what to say or do. Varisanna began to wonder if perhaps she was simply slipping back into her dream state as the armor the Sithian wore was similar to that of the ones that had been accompanying her. Then something would catch Varisanna off guard, not and attack or a spell but rather a bowing of heads as the forces showed her a sign of respect she was not used to. It would be a long awkward pause Varisanna having no training in how to handle people bowing to her after all. Finally one of the Sithian would rise back up the one she assumed was probably the leader “Lady Varisanna we thought you lost to the savages.” Her clever side said to just play along clearly the thought of her as some high caste and if she was that meant she would not be harmed. But for once curiosity would prevail with the Sithian and she would find herself questioning the title “Why do you refer to me as Lady Varisanna, I am an outcast and a Pataj I do not see where a title comes into that.” The Sithian forces now seemed to be in a bit of shock quickly trying to interrupt her words once they realized what she was saying.  Being warriors they lacked a general eloquence to their words as well as a means to communicate separately but from what Vari could gather from the ramblings it seems they were quite set on her not being of the Pataj. Then the sound of a staff striking into the ground a few times would be felt and she would watch as the Sithian warriors parted and revealed a much older Sithian holding a staff in his hand as he looked to Varisanna.  An odd instinctual feeling running through Varisanna, though having never seen him before, she somehow knew who he was slowly the words would slip from her lips “Father?” The man would nod to her as he drew in closer “Yes Varisanna, it appears there is much to talk about.”

Her father would wave to the guards and they would set about ridding the camp of spirits as he would take a seat motioning for Varisanna to do the same. Slowly the two would work out the truth. It would start with Varisanna telling him of her horrible experiences within the camp and how she had fled from it to travel to foreign lands. Then the father would make her visions seem to make sense explaining how there had been a revolt and how he had sent her out here to be protected by a mage. The name of the mage seeming to be the key element as he was the leader of the cruelty in her village a coincidence that seemed highly suspect to the two.  The obelisks seeming to have been the lock that kept the two worlds apart the father would explain this to her. “He had told me of them a few days before I sent you out here. A set of magical stones that could alter the memories of others nearby he had said it would keep anyone from recognizing you though it seems he had a darker plan for them. It did seem to make a sort of twisted sense to her it explained why she always seemed to be the center of the abuse, why others came and left but she always stayed behind. Still she had anger about it wanting to blame her father but realizing he probably thought she was perfectly safe. There was only one last enemy she could throw her anger on “Did you catch him?” she would say referring to the mage responsible for her tortures. The father would frown shaking his head “No he seemed to have slipped away... I suppose he most have slipped away after you fled fearing you would regain your memories. I have sent my forces out to look for him though if he is in these lands we shall find him.” She could not help but think this was not good enough though, the stones were an unknown magic in the Empire and apparently even more so unknown here which meant there was some third realm in which he got them from and that was where Varisanna figured him to be. Still she had already seen the toll revenge had today as her force lay slain about the camp. The matt of the camp itself seeming resolved as it lay in ruins, its destruction quite adequate to Varisanna. “Come back to the temple with me daughter. You have been through so much it is only fair for you to be spoiled now.” She would think about it for some time the offer indeed tempting but there were still too many unknowns to Varisanna parts of herself she did not understand.  “This is not my home any more father… what happened here even if it was from an illusion changed me I live for sex now.. I have found a home and a love far away from here…” there was a part of her that wanted to stay of course but this was not her land any more. She would have to get to know her father more she supposed but she did not see why that meant she would have to stay. Simply hoping he would understand. This was why she found it so odd when he started laughing at her words, her confused expression seeming quite obvious as one of the soldiers would try to explain it to her.  “Forgive me for saying this Lady Varisanna but you have always been the slut… you and your mother both. She was the greatest seductress the town had even known and her craft seemed to be quickly growing in her daughter as well. She did lack control of it though causing the whole town to go up in arms after she teased one too many people.” It would be Varisanna’s turn to laugh now, a odd sort of laugh mixing together the peace of ridding herself of the past that haunted her, and the joy of finding out she had a hidden one that seemed like it was going to be quite interesting to unravel. Her father finally seeming to come to his senses now as he would speak to her statement. “If you are happy elsewhere then let elsewhere be your home. Just know you are always welcome here.”

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