I was falling down a waterfall. No, I was swimming. I was swimming down it. And in the distance I saw the foam of crashing silver mist. And beyond it, Paradise.
It was perfect!

No! More than perfect.

Secrets unfurled their petals, open and inviting. Serenity fruited on trees that walked. Fluttering fairies whispered my name in happy gossip. A lush world restricted by no horizon beckoned to me, floating as though borne aloft on a cloud of peppermint. Time herself took off her heavy mantle and frolicked under great homily trees, around a fire that never went out and where the drink was forever. It felt like a dream. Like something I’d have to wake up from. Or maybe I could just..

Something else flickered, around the edges of my vision.

‘Trist, I’m scared.’

I turned around to face my sister. She was so young, so naïve. Couldn’t she see?

She looked like a jolly little fairy, happily clutching her huge lilly.

‘Can’t you see, young one? This is our destiny.’

‘But it hurts, Trist.’

‘Just for a little while more my poppet. You trust your brother don’t you?’

She nods quickly and the fae jingles on her ears bobble with her. I give her a tight little smile.

‘You’ve been so brave for me, for everyone. Prince Hylas is proud of you, but not as proud as I am of you.’

It was the smallest of sacrifices, he had said. For the greater good. Life Rampant will Overcome. Cult Vivre Aelfwaer will reshape the world, and end suffering. And he has showed me. He showed both us the path. And the well of dreams that held our gazes. ‘The Evertree’s roots were in peril,’ he said. It was our destiny to save the world.

I kneel in the billowing flowerbed around us, looking into her eyes. There is still some doubt there. But she trusts her brother. I have not led her astray , in all these years since our parents perished and we looked after each other. I have never led her astray. I have never led her astray. I repeat it again and again to myself. It is important to me. It is my mantra.

A curious smell invades the senses. And the slightest echo of footsteps. Footsteps? In a flowerbed?

But it is too late. The feel of slamming into a wet stone wall as I am thrown face-first into it. A finger at my neck. A spasmodic eruption of pure white pain thundered through me. I fell, motionless.

A voice , bubbling through the depths of a dark lake. ‘He’s incapacitated. Move in.’

The clink of armor , sounds that hit my face like raindrops as I stared at the sky. But there was no sky.
My vision swam, but my body drowned. My eyes finally focused on the roof of the cave I was in. Figures shuffled past me as I lay spread eagled on the floor. It was then that I realized I was seeing with my own eyes. This was my true vision. My own eyes! For how long..

For how long have I been dreaming? It feels like only yesterday that we- No..
Oh Vigil, No!

A harrowing cold darkness erupted within me, sucking everything in. My heart felt waterlogged, sinking. Cold realization imploded behind my eyes with crystal clarity, its icy harsh light revealing the evidence of my crimes.
Only yesterday…The memories! Has it been a month? Months?! It cannot have been a year. Please , oh Vigil, please tell me. Please tell me it has not been a year. But the ugly truth grinned at me, its pleasure at my anguish growing as Truth, the ultimate torture wormed its way into me.

Seven Years.

Maybe the blow to my head had dislodged some of the Fae-Dust that I now inhale everyday. Or maybe the dust took some perverse pleasure at my realizations . Because, not unlike some cruel joke the memories were still there. Everyday of the last seven years were preserved in perfect clarity. I could recall everything my dust-addled my mind had done. The blood it had spilled , the rituals it had taken part in.
Bile rose in my throat, but the emptiness of my stomach meant that I could only manage a dry racking cough.
The dream...is gone forever. Oh to see the dream again, to be rid of this pain. To see my sweet sister again. My sweet sister again. At least she is safe now. Prince Hylas himself took her in his care. She always trusted me. I never led her astray. I never led her astray. She was safe from my madness.

‘Trist? Is that you? Trist, I’m scared. It hurts’

Oh Vigil, what have I done.

I crane my neck as much as I can, to the source of the sound. Three figures, Two clad in armor, one in leather wraps. They stand around something, as though bewildered. Scared.

I hear one of them breathe, ‘Oh Vigil Aid us’. Another said,’ How do we stop it?’

I see her now. My sweet sister. She is bound by the stranglevines that sprout from the roof of the cave, bound to the wall behind her like a fly pinned to a board by its wings. What remains of her tattered leathers hang limply off her skeletal frame. She is blind, the scars around her face hinting at the claws with which this was accomplished. Where her arms and legs would be are pulsating masses of fleshy, blighted vine, tapering off into the thick tangle behind her. Ghostly green light seems to float out of weeping sores on the vines , every heaving pulse. She is breathing, hard. Her massive, distended stomach is the size of a small cauldron, and within it, something twists and turns. Patches of light shine through her pallid flesh, the ball-like thing within her restlessly twitching with each pulse.

Through the dim lighting afforded by the rank stink of the fungus infected walls of the cave, I saw a hint of fae-dust on her lips, and nose.

‘Trist? It hurts Trist. It hurts so much. Help me? Please?’

Oh no. Oh no. All these years. Oh Vigil, oh no.

It was all I could do is let out a silent wordless scream, tears running down my face. It was all I could do to hold on to my sanity, as this macabre horror twisted into what remained of me , tearing at me in a bloodthirsty frenzy, as I spasmed against immobile limbs.

Suddenly, as though reaching a decision, the leather clad woman who had incapacitated me moved her knife to my sister’s throat. Her fluid motion matched the Pale sap-like blood flowing down my sister’s throat.

‘Trist,’ she seemed to be whispering in my ear. Her lips didn’t move. ‘ It doesn’t hurt any more. I’m going to go now. I love you.’

The Lifebomb Exploded.

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I swim forever, down a waterfall that goes from forever to never. Am I swimming against the tide or am I being carried by it? Time stands far away, watching impassively as I plunge towards the end for the billionth time. This was the last journey. The final stretch. It has no end. It *is* the end. And It is forever. I am forever. And I am at the end.

I sit on the shore, she stands tall next to me. Her robes billow, there is no breeze.

‘What makes your robe flutter?’

She does not reply.

‘Who are you?’

‘Fate,’ she replies. Her voice is like the bells of doom, of thunder imminent and the rumbling of earth.

It soothes my pain.

‘Where Am I?’

‘The River. The River of Souls.’

A searing thought impales me.

I scream at her, the fury of the ages echoing through my soul like a sonic sledgehammer.

‘WHY?!’

She replies,’ Because you asked.’

Time watched us from the distance, impassive.

A woosh of ether, a crackling of nether. The scene changes.

I am at a workshop. A forge. Fate stands in the middle.

‘What would you like me to craft you?’, she asks.

‘A weapon. Make me a weapon.’

‘Who will the weapon strike at?’

‘The Aelfwar.’

A pause.

She asked me,’ It will require a certain edge. Tell me, in the days of past and memory when life still graced you, How would you have proved and tempered an edged weapon?’

The words slipped out of me, naturally. ‘I would hammer and shape it with might and heat and fire.’

‘Thus shall it be with this. I shall put its mettle to the test and see what emerges from the flames.’

She continued, ‘You will be sent back. But not far enough. Some things are done, and paid for. They cannot be changed.’

‘Now swim, to the light. The weapon will be sent to Meridian. You will find it there. But first, you must survive the end.’

‘What makes your robe flutter?’

'Defiance'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>REFRESH SEARCH PROTOCOL?
Confirm
>>CONFIRMED. REFRESHING SEARCH PROTOCOL
>>FOUND (11) NEW PARAMETERS. INCLUDE? BROWSE? EXCLUDE?
Include
>>LOADING NEW PARAMETERS INTO SECTIONS :
3.BIOSIGNAL AND BODY MATRIX COMPLIANCE
17.EMOTIONAL STABILITY
22.SYLVER SOULFORM ROBUSTNESS CHECKSUM (SSRC)
27.AREA DENSITY AND CONTOUR MAPS
55.CHRONOLOGICAL FAILURE AND PARADOX CHECKS
83.COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS AND SKILL ABSORPTION
112.MOTIVE
>>SEARCH PROTOCOL REFRESHED
>>WARNING: POSSIBLE FACTIONAL DISPUTE (ER 0012)
System.override.svalis69.*****
**OVERRIDDEN**
>>SEARCH COMMENCE?
Confirm
>>INITIALIZING TEMPORAL MOTIVATORS
>>INITIALIZING CHRONODAMPS 1-3
Harpoon.prime
>>HARPOON PRIMED STAGE ALPHA
>>TEMPORAL MOTIVATORS ACTIVE
Gate.open
>>GATEWAY OPENING
**Reminder : clear site of non-essential personnel**
>>HARPOON PRIMED STAGE BETA
>>GATEWAY STABILIZING
Clkcrys.ALL.Init(0)
>>CLOAKING CRYSTALS ALL INITIALIZE
>>GATEWAY STABILIZING
>>CLOAKING CRYSTALS ACTIVE
>>HARPOON PRIMED STAGE GAMMA
>>GATEWAY LOCKED
Harpoon.launch
>>HARPOON LAUNCHED
>>CHRONODAMPS 1-3 ACTIVE
>>SUCCESSFULLY RETRIEVED ONE(1) SOUL(S)
>>SAVE AS?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allo Captain! Hey, you’re looking a bit off there, you alright? New to Meridian are yah Captain? She’s a beauty ain’t she, captain? Best place to find yourself I always say. That is, if that’s youse what is you’re looking for is you, that is. Here next rounds on me.

Ah sorry, didn’t introduce myself. They call me Trax. I’m a weaponsmith. Why’re you lookin at me like that capn? I’m all legal, I swear. I got the bills!

Oh looking for a blade eh? *leans in*
Listen chummer. Guy. Captain. Theres a secret ingredient to weaponsmithin.

Now listen close captain, cause this is where it gets comlplicated-like. ‘s like my dad said. Its not all bout technique or balance or heck it doesn’t even matter what sortta iron you use. The secret to it is that you get your iron see, and you piss it off. You chuck it in a fire and beat it to the hells.

You put it through ragna-friggin-rock and see what comes out. That’s how you make a weapon doc. Its not friggin technomancy. Its not the tools, not the iron , not even the smithy ‘emself doc.
Its rage capn. Rage makes a weapon.
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Fate is a Weaponsmith, but can you pay her price? If not, come to Meridian. Add Traxy to your friends list.
Challenge Fate. Write your Destiny. I will make you a weapon.

[Weaponsmith] LFW