1Chapter 1: The Desolate
The fog seemingly dripped from Rya's cloak as she walked through the swampy forestry of the Desolate of Maiya. Her spine would've tingled with an unsettling aura had it not been for her nature, her clan. The trees, draping her in darkness, cried tears of Spawnya Moss that bled icy black ooze that felt of glass shards and looked of slime.
"Ah, Maiya," Rya said to herself, yet to no one in particular, "how I long to walk beneath your Rowans and feel not this vile substance crawl beneath my cloak but a soft glitter soothe my veins. How I long to lay looking up into your canopies and see small civilizations and the woodland creatures scampering about their vigorous lives. To feel the warm sun as the fabled human can would be so enlivening as to make me feel the woman again and not this creature I profess my desires to you as." She kept her face upturned to the sky she could not see for the moss and darkness that thrived within the Desolate, slinking about in search of a weak mind in which to plunge itself.
Her woes went unheard, echoing through the mid-day gloom of the Desolate. Her soft slippers barely grazed the ground with her light step, and it was well to her advantage, as one could never tell in the Desolate where there was ground and where there was nothing. Creatures of this grotesque habitat jumped from rock to rock, avoiding the holes that littered the bog-like ground, holes where one would fall everlastingly.
She walked quickly, always in the direction of the faint glow of light strangled by the Spawnya Moss, always in the direction of her instinct to get home to the village of Taibar'r'.
She could sense the gates, feel them on the tips of her mind. Her thoughts of home had begun as a small stream leading her back, but they had erupted suddenly into a cascading waterfall of raging waters, a torrent of emotion driving her. Rya keep her cloak pulled close to her slim body as she traced the path her mind had made for her.
The chill in the air seemed to increase the more time she spent following her internal map through the Desolate, and the hours seemed mere seconds in the wide expanse of the world she knew. Her toes and fingers would have tingled had she been as she once was. Sometimes she longed for her life back, for the power to end the eternal suffering she herself had caused. Rya's only regret in life had been that one act, that trivial act of self-interest that had changed her life, oh her timeless existence, forever.
A cold shiver ran over her body, and she could feel a presence upon her shoulder and neck, the Notherworld. Rya remembered clearly the first time she had seen the Sisters' Lights, the gates to the Notherworld, reflecting off of the secluded isle of Maiya. Under the guidance of Aulghra Rya had learned how to transport her mind from her village of Taibar'r' to the distant shores of the Shard, the domain ten leagues from the shores of Maiya. She had used this powerful gift to continue her studies of the universe with Aulghra while maintaining life in Taibar'r'. Through Aulghra Rya had learned that the Sisters' Lights were the gateway to the Notherworld, the place of evil.
Rya looked quickly about herself, nearly squinting in the fog, and reminisced on her exultant times with Aulghra, who had been a mother to her.
"Your history?" Aulghra had exclaimed, her voice full of curiosity. "You want to know about your history?"
Rya, at a jovial age of nine, nodded vehemently. Her eyes were wide with wonder and inquiry as Aulghra began to spin a tale of Rya's people.
"The great suns rejoiced with flares of fire the day your people emerged from the dark, endless holes of he Desolate to make their journey to the great mountains of Maiya as every creature does. Their bodies, void as yet of souls, traveled emotionless through the black fog that even now blankets the Desolate, ever intent upon reaching the life giving mountains, the cliffs of the womb, to rejoin their souls and becomes complete.
"Their journey was long and hard, yet through the mists of Maiya they plunged forth. Until, at last, they reached the Gates of Maiya. Through them the ErKai, your ancestors, traveled with more haste than ever before. The urge to reach their homeland and complete themselves drove them to journey day and night. At last, in the hour when the nine suns align at dawn, the ErKai found what they had been so zealously searching out. A great roar of laughter arose from these small creatures as souls from every part of the mysterious village they had come upon soared to their bodies. In an instant the soulless ErKai became true creatures of this world." Aulghra seemed very proud of herself for being able to describe Rya's history to her.
"So, who built the village?" Rya queried.
"Taibar'r'?" Aulghra asked, and then proceeded with an explanation at the nod of Rya's head. "The souls, my dear. The ErKai are small and therefore slower than most creatures that even survive the Desolate. In their wait, the souls, living except for the need for a body in which to rest, made the city with the help of the ErKai's destined magick skills."
Rya smiled softly, her innocent face alight with joy, her cheeks faintly brushed with the literal sparkle of true happiness. Suddenly, she brought herself back from her fond memories of Aulghra and her schooling. She made the smile upon her lips disappear quickly, and she continued on her journey at an even more grueling pace, her mood ruined by the reminiscence of what she had once been, a carefree ErKai. That life was gone now; Rya must concentrate on the present and the near future, and although it was impossible for her life to hang in the balance, she feared that her past could.
~Pronunciation Key~
Maiya (My-yuh) Rya (Rye- yuh) Spawnya Moss (Spawn-ya Moss) Notherworld (Netherworld with an 'ah' sound replacing the 'e' between ) Aulghra (ALL- gruh) ErKai (AIR-k-eye) Taibar'r' (Tai [as in Tai food] - bar)