Of Steel and Soul

[DoS Archive]

Date: 10/23/97 12:00 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: Duke UzieI


The night was late, the candles of the manor room had burned low and the fire was but an angry pile of coals, spitting and arguing amongst themselves as flames do in a language mortals forgot ages ago in the mists of creation. Adonai had fallen into a deep slumber after the match of the eve. Tired to his very sinew he had taken his one true angel in his arms and had fallen asleep even as her words fell on his ears. " I love you Adonai, I believe in you...." She had said, her words wafting into his mind as it entered sleep, the silk of her voice melding into echos and fractals of its true tones as images rushes into his dreamstate. Once again he saw the image......torchlight flickering across the grass of the ring, a crowd, faces, some familiar, some gone from his memory, the wind of the Battlefield playing through his hair and his smile fresh, as was he, upon the realm.....his standard new and fluttering in the wind as he strode into the ring to face his friend in the first challenge he had made. Adonai saluted, grasping the hilt of his ancient blade BlightBlade, the rush of the experience inflaming his senses as he slashed a salute to Baron Ajaybird, the wind changed quickly and Adonai heard in his mind the echoing fractal of his love's voice and as he looked AJ became Jeffery, and then Jeffery became Daegarth, the fires of the torches and the bonfires around the ring leapt into the sky, filling the night with hellish amber light and the murmur of the crowd became angry, a sussuration of negativity and accusation. Adonai looked on, frozen as the phantom duelist in front of him shook its head, sheathed its blade, and turned on its heel, stepping out of the ring and leaving the Battlefield. A frown crossed Adonai's visage, he lowered the blade and called out to the duelist to return and fight, to honor the commitment of steel and soul, but the phantom still walked away, out into the trees of the field, dissapearing. Adonai turned to the crowd and his frown deepened, as one by one, group by group they turned away also, fading into the night and soon he stood alone upon the field. King of No One, in his Realm of Entropy. The wind keened ever higher, the words of his love and the noise of the crowd melding and swirling about him, as the flames of the fires caught onto the ring and set the field ablaze about him, the flames roaring and curling up his body, the screams detonating from his chest and up through his throat as the fire caught into him and ripped through his immortal flesh, his arms jerking upwards uncontrollably as lightning crashed down, like the fist of God, striking his blade and blowing the entire field into oblivion. Adonai jerked awake, coming up from the bed in a quick motion and into the low, gentle light of the near burned out candles. He calmed his breathing and looked over to the angel at his side in the massive sleigh bed in the manor suite, finding her still peacefully dreaming, he gently rose from the bed and stepped over to the mirror on her wall. He looked deeply at himself, the hard lines of his face and set of his shoulders, eventually looking into his own eyes, falling into that semi trance that one so easily falls into as they reach into their own soul and pull out whats there. If only, for a moment....to see what's inside. He nodded to himself slowly, the meaning of the dream coming clear to him as he looked inside himself and put together the pieces of what he had seen and the feelings he had had. There was much work to be done......Adonai thought, as the last of the candle went out behind him, leaving him and the mirror in darkness......only the debates and philosophies of the embers in the fireplace to break the still of the night around him.

[DoS Archive]

Date: 10/23/97 3:18 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: CygnetSera


Stirring in the early morning hours before the sun even kissed the horizon, Cygnet felt the place beside her to find it warm but vacant. With barely a sound, she turned, rising up on her elbows beneath the soft down feather bed, her gaze focusing on Adonai standing before the large looking glass near her armoire.

He looked formidable, the fragmented flicker from the remaining candle and fire light dancing in and out of the shadows of his massive aspect. His skin caught the soft hues of yellows and reds, beads of sweat glistening as the light reflected off his tensed body.

She just watched him as he stood before the mirror confronting the demons deep inside his psyche. She knew him well enough to know that his dance with the devil was just beginning. And she would be there when he needed her... she would always be there just for him.

The candle puffed out leaving a tendril of swirling smoke as the last bit of wick burned to black specks on the melted wax. Cygnet tempered her desires with a soft sigh that was lost to his ears for the popping and crackle of the fire's last breath. She lay back into the airy valleys of the down quilt. The place beside was no longer warm as she drifted into a sleepy dream.