Renagade

Part 12

In the tunnels and halls, there had been no time, and between the two of them, they could not have calculated how long they had been underground. Even the dull light seemed like a beacon in the dark. As they continued, the ground began to steepen, and the air turned colder. Chauncy's eyes began to water as his face seemed to be stung by a thousand ice crystals, but still he continued. As he walked, he watched Eveyln...she seemed different after meeting The Architect, almost like she had known him before and he had done something against her. Impossible sure, but still the gnawing feeling persisted.

As they climbed, the cracks in the ceiling grew bigger and the light brighter, soon small layers of snow crunched beneath their feet. They were near the surface and still the wind sighed and whined through the caverns. The walls grew less decorated and the columns crumbled the farther they went. Surely it had been a beautiful place, but the wind and the elements had taken their toll on the beautiful craftsmanship. If only his clan had seen these ruins, perhaps they could have saved them. A brief wash of sadness covered him. He still mourned the beauty of the lost history of his people. They had been a rich culture with deep beliefs, but as the humans grew in number and human kings had risen to power, the power of the elves disappeared.

The Matron of their clan had told him stories of their people, and had fostered his great love of storytelling. As the other elven children learned the arts of survival or combat, he learned the stories of their people and he learned to walk in the dream world. When he slept, he could visit the memories of the long dead ancestors and speak with them. Not an elf in a thousand centuries had that gift, to revisit the founders of history, and yet he could. That is how he had found The Mother.

He replayed the memory in his head as they walked. It was in a cold and snowy wood, much like it was now, save there were dark trees and no columns, but The Mother appeared to him in The Wood. Often he had traversed The Wood. It had always been the place where the old Elvish kings and queens had frequented, but upon this moment there had only sat a woman swathed in the darkest of purple and her face as pale as snow. She was death incarnate and ever so beautiful. She regarded him with stories so ancient that even the players in them had been gone from the veil for millennia...and it was there that he had first fallen in love with her.

Though he would never tell Evelyn, it was The Mother that had brought him to her. She had located her, sequestered in that horrific dungeon, tortured and mangled and then healed again and made to forget. It was The Mother that had gifted her with the power to join him in the Dream world and it was The Mother that had brought her back from Darkness time and time again as they had rescued her. Though he loved Eveyln with every fibre of his being, it was The Mother that had created them to work in harmony together.

Before them, the light called to them. Entirely and then all at once, walked out of the tunnel, their feet sinking into deep snow. The tunnel hidden between two large boulders, covered with snow. Anyone looking for the entrance would have never found it, concealed so. They stood on the edge of a massive evergreen forest and to their right, Breakman's Point gleamed in the distance across a flat and unprotected landscape. They would cross and walk up the mountain, and their their army would be...but in the distance, dark columns of smoke billowed into the air. They did not need to reach the Point to know what had happened.

"Evelyn..." Chauncy whispered, a lump forming in his throat.

"We go on," and she stepped forward into the drift. As the sun beat down on them, struggled in the snow.

Every limb was frozen and stiff and still they pressed on. The dull sun tried to force itself out of the clouds, but could not. The wind seemed to tear it's icy claws into them, unbidden and still they continued on. Eveyln was angry as she went, and that was the only emotion she could feel. Her body was freezing, but inside she boiled with intensity. She prayed to whomever was listening that it couldn't be true...but in her heart of hearts she knew her army was destroyed.