The First Land Herald/450-02-07
| Article Number: 99 |
| Dateline: 450-02-07 |
| BESEECHING ELANTHIA TO FIND THE MISSING ADVENTURERS Recently, Dragon's Shadow Waydren Amlir called for Empaths and Rangers to gather in the workshop of Arhat's Tower, where the abductions took place, in an attempt to locate our missing friends. "Rangers have been known to seek a different source of help in times of trouble. We call, and Elanthia itself answers," he said. "That is what we attempt here today. We shall beseech Elanthia to find those that we've lost." He requested that the Empaths link with a Ranger to enhance their Perception abilities. Then, leading the group into the Northeast Wilds, he instructed the Rangers to cast the dragon magic spells Embed the Cycle and River in the Sky. Meanwhile, Aislynn recommended that Empaths cast Mental Focus, Refresh, and Gift of Life. I joined the other Empaths in awakening our Vela'tohr plants to create a thicket, each of us saying aloud, "Life stimulates life. We participate in part." Along with Aislynn, the Empaths who contributed to the thicket included Sukidesu, Melindrha, Karthor, Ezathiel, Allye, Kerennya, Jundara, Malorna, Rejind, Aerhys, Rhainn, and myself. Waydren then bade the Rangers to cut their hands with an edged knife or weapon, drawing blood, and returning it to the earth. They each repeated, "Life is returned. We thank you for your provision." In addition to Waydren, the Rangers participating included Lexxa, Shaylynne, Zersha, Kayena, Hanryu, Lileath, Valynn, Rhainn, Sammee, Rileos, Arcsicsin, Kamisama, Damoone, Sceth, and Kivian. "Our friends were taken from our reach. Brought to places unknown," Waydren said. "Elanthia, you hear every whisper upon the wind. Your wisdom runs deeper than the roots of mountains. We ask of you. Ally. Partner. Friend. Help us now in this hour of need. We give ourselves into your embrace." The Rangers then Beseeched Elanthia to Cradle them, and the ground moaned and shuddered as cracks and small holes began to open on the surface. Vines grew rapidly from the cracks and holes in the ground as the earth continued to moan and howl with a bone-chilling effect. Then like thousands of fingers seeking in the dark, the vines searched out each Ranger and began encasing them in a cocoon. Waydren beseeched Elanthia to reveal each of the missing adventurers, one by one. I, along with all of the other Rangers and Empaths present, suddenly experienced a series of visions. Suddenly, from the familiar grasp within Elanthia's soil, I found something different -- something deeper. As the vines encased my body, I felt the presence of Elanthia as one large collection of living things. With the aid of the Empathic link, I felt as though I had connected with Elanthia itself. My heartbeat slowed, matching the pulse of life covering the planet. Though searching for information on a specific moment in time, I became distinctly aware that Elanthia perceived time on a scale unfamiliar to me, as layers of sediment each sang their own song of epochs and days from before the rise of humanity on this world. My senses reached back to a time when the planet was teeming with wildness. Vibrant, uncontrolled, untamed life was once present there, in that very location. I sensed the rise and fall of countless civilizations there in that very soil. Under the careful watch of a cultivating eye pruning and fertilizing the natural life on the planet, I felt the influence of guardians maintaining the balance between wildness and civilization. Existence, self-contained and free of outside influence, remained in balance such that life could thrive. However, I also sensed that this time was short-lived. I felt a distinct time when these gardeners sustaining the balance could no longer entirely fight off outside influence. As each civilization learned to harness the flowing streams of mana, it crumbled beneath a localized extinction, leaving a bleeding wound where no life could bloom. What was an embrace of wholeness now twisted into a litany of trauma, as unnatural blights spread from festering eruptions long forgotten. I felt the overwhelming loss of Life within each wound, as disease propagated alien, twisted life from outside of the plane in each laceration. As portions of Elanthia have died, outsiders have planted their seed and begun cultivating to expand their own presence through new pathways into existence from elsewhere. As new pathways came to take what was here, lesser guardians attempted to assist the caretakers. They attempted to contain the wounds, and to cultivate life, but their impact was severely limited, as it was dependent on a connection to the outside, as if drawing from a well some distance away to put out a raging fire. The wounds continued to fester and bleed. The primary guardians, who were reliant on the balance of life to continue cultivating, focused on what good they could do, leaving the outsiders to attempt to contain the blights. Within each of these wounds, Elanthia has never recovered. Only unnatural life, blighted and cursed, can thrive in these conditions. They are no longer part of the balance within Elanthia -- and they take more from Elanthia with every iteration. The pain now grew, welling to an unsustainable level, and I found yourself feeling the weight of Arhat's crumbling tower above me. My senses focused on this location, and my connection with Elanthia helped guide the memory of the nature surrounding this tower to the specific point in which my compatriots disappeared. Pushing out the influence of everything outside of this focal point, my senses sharpened. I witnessed the flash that rent many into the Null Prison, and the return of all but five. Curiously, I still felt the influence of their life in that very moment in time and in that very space. All five beings strangely appeared to be there within the vicinity of the Tower -- but entirely out of reach, as if in a space that was not tangible in any meaningful way. Finally, my spatial awareness slowly returned to normal as the link with Elanthia faded. Waydren said, "We called on Elanthia, and she answered. This is something profound and defies simple words. We saw Elanthia reveal to us the true nature of the past. The Gardeners who cared for her long before the Immortals arrived. Interlopers, they failed to heal the wounds that Elanthia bore for to do so would be their own undoing. Soon. Soon we will seek more answers from Elanthia. The bow has been set aside for the staff. May we all walk according to Balance." After the gathering concluded, Liraxes appeared and said that it found the events we had just engaged in seemed conducive to maintaining balance. "The ritual in which you have all engaged appears to be helpful toward that goal. The probability of an acceptable outcome has risen by 0.145 percent," it said. The beseech attempt revealed the ancient Gardeners who once cared for the planet and shed light on the devastating consequences of failing to heal Elanthia's wounds. The ritual not only offered hope for finding the missing five adventurers but also underscored the importance of continued efforts to restore balance. Armed with this newfound knowledge, let us continue to move forward in our quest to unravel the mysteries surrounding wild magic and the path to our missing friends. With resolve, Illiya |
| Real Date: Unknown Date |
| Subject(s): Wild Magic |
| Author(s): Illiya |