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[color=darkgray]L i f e  h a s  m a n y  p a t h s ,  a n d  a l l  l e a d  t o  t h e  E n d.[/color]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/fxrPiFa.png[/img][/center]

The first thought that crossed Dormeria's mind was, surprisingly, based on what Atroa must have thought of her legacy to address her as he did. She was no stranger to individuals quaking in her presence, or to sycophants hanging upon her every syllable, but she had expected another reaction entirely from a member of the Order of the Skyward Eye. She had elevated them in the Atronanian empire, she had forced the Imperial Court to give them enough land to continue their work for as long as truth needed to be found, and she had defended them from attack as their order came into its own so long ago. How long could it have been that her efforts to preserve the Order had been lost from even historians? Ten thousand years? Twenty? Thirty?

[color=#9172EC]"How long has passed since the height of the Atronanian empire? How long has it been since I died...?"[/color] Dormeria asked, slowly still, but with much less rasping than her previous attempts at articulate speech.

[color=Orange]"Just over forty-eight thousand years, Herald."[/color]

The number was staggering. It hit the Herald hard, and she almost physically recoiled from the length of time that she had missed. It was a good sign that the Order had survived at all, and it brought the first smile she had had in a very, very long time to her face to think that such a worthy cause had survived for so long. Before, she might have thought that it was their time to move on from this world, their debt to Orthus paid, but then she had another thought that had never really occurred to her until that crystallising moment - Orthus was dead. The void had consumed him, and now he had no sway over the mortal world. If he had not wanted her to save its embers from dwindling to ashes, why [i]had[/i] she been brought back from her rest?

She realised then that she could not answer Atroa's question. She did not know why she had been brought back, and she could not simply ask a dead god for his opinion on the matter. It made her uncomfortable, being so unsure of her purpose, as her resurrection had displaced all of her firmly held beliefs on what life was about - she had known with such certainty that she had had a single purpose, and once that purpose had been fulfilled her life no longer had value. If she had been returned, that was not the case, and she once again had a purpose to fulfil - but unlike her previous life, she did not have her god's guidance to assist her. This time, her purpose was something she had to find, to earn - not to simply know.

[color=#9172EC]"I... I think I was brought back to ensure that worthy lives continue to be lived."[/color] Dormeria replied, not having the heart to tell Atroa what had happened to Orthus, if he did not already know. In time, she could bear to tell him, but even without the aid of Silaxes she knew that the man had a truly worthy soul. She had seen true worth before, and to one practiced in noticing it it was impossible to escape - she knew unquestioningly that he deserved to be the Grand Exemplar, even if by his own admission the Order was dying. Whatever had taken Orthus and killed him would undoubtedly come for Ansus at some point in the future - it could be tomorrow, or in a year, or in ten thousand years, but it [i]would[/i] come. She felt a renewed vigor and purpose in stopping whatever it was that had killed the Gods from consuming the life of Ansus and breaking the great cycle, and even if only wishful thinking, that knowledge empowered her.

[color=#9172EC]"The Order of the Skyward Eye has always been worthy - always - and that is why it has survived for almost fifty thousand years. I may not know why I have returned, Atroa, but I will not stand by and allow such nobility to be quashed. We will take back the Ivory Towers, and we will restore order to a dying world. Perhaps you can dispel any myths lingering in your mind as we do so."[/color]

[color=Orange]"We?"[/color] Atroa asked, a little taken aback at Dormeria's request. It was an honour, to be sure, but he was a scholar - not a fighter. Still, he had heard the tales of Ukenagasu's power and he could feel the waves of arcane energy emanating from it even as one not attuned to magic. If Dormeria lent her power, he would assist her - if only for the fact she was the greatest historial find anyone in the Order had ever come across.

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It did not take Dormeria long to regain her physical bearings when her sense of purpose returned to her. With Atroa's assistance, the pair climbed to the top of the ravine in which her graveyard had rested and looked out across Ansus proper. Dormeria's face was one of confusion, of faded longing, and Atroa's one of fierce determination that the land needed to be saved from the ills that plagued it. With a wave of her hand, Dormeria dug her potent magic through the earth and brought the skeletons and putrid flesh of two horses up from the ground. Living horses had the unfortunate capacity of requiring sustenance and feeling fear - take their minds away and reanimate only the flesh, and obedience is all but hardwired into them.

Atroa immediately gagged at the scent, but with another burst of energy from Dormeria immediately felt better about the situation. She had hoped to avoid the inevitable wretching and profuse vomiting that usually occured when those not attuned to necromancy first smelled the rot, but as the awful sound and then rush of liquid escaped Atroa's mouth, she knew she had been too late. 

[color=#9172EC]"Recover quickly - we are riding for Callixus."[/color]

[color=Orange]"... We tried to stand our ground, you know? The brazier had been fed for years, since the very beginning, but one day in the middle of a ceremony it just..."[/color] Atroa began, trailing off somewhere into the recesses of his mind as he thought about it. Perhaps he felt guilty, or perhaps he did not have the strength to tell her of the massacre that had no-doubt transpired. Whatever it was he felt, she left him in peace. Her resurrection had been a lot for her to believe - never mind a historian that had no-doubt studied her life and and her purpose.