[hr][center][s]888888888888[/s] [color=BC8F8F][b]Aeoch of the Eternal[/b][/color] In the Heel of the Western Realm [s]888888888888[/s][/center][hr] In the open atrium grounds of the Palace of Kadesh-Caro, several dozen peoples made merry in celebration of the bonding of the young Quarrymaster Feldis and his new bride Baerike, the daughter of the local priest. Kadesh-Caro had graciously opened the atrium for the celebration to be held, and the bride's family had seen fit to supply the gathering with fermented drink. The groom had presented a ritual gift of three amphoras, as well as a copper coffer bearing cuneiform and jade figurines, and now came the traditional presentation of gifts from family and friends to the new bonded pair as they sat in union before everyone who was assembled. With many parties having approached the two to present their gifts, with great murmuring and apprehension the line of guests parted, and a pall of dread fell upon the gathering as the figure known as Aeoch strode amidst the gathering and approached the wedded couple. Before either party could speak, Kadesh-Caro himself rose from his place of honor and rebuked the intruder. The ruler of the settlement was clad in splendor, with pristine white robes, a headdress of copper, and bearing a ceremonial collar symbolizing his authority. "Stand fast, Eternal. Your schemes and troubling of the families of the wed are well-known by all who are assembled here today. If you have ill to wish upon this union, begone or suffer the bludgeons of my guard." Aeoch, who wore but a plain gown of gray and a vest over a bared chest, with plain and unassuming features, replied. "Although it is no secret that in my furtherance of my distant master's aims I have made many and frequent attempts to deter and prevent this union, I have come not to dissent but to pay homage. Although it be contrary to mine own purposes, the day of this joining is still a blessed day, for these two remarkable beings have found eternal joy and measure in each others' embrace. There is no further purpose in opposing such a union, nor in cursing it, and so there is no sense to pursue anything other than its celebration. I come here this evening with the intent to present a gift upon the groom, if it would so please him and if none in this gathering would object." "Do you come bearing your gift seeking forgiveness?" Baerike's father, a priest of the ancient and passed Primordials, ask with suspicion. "No. Even in light of the circumstances, I acted as I did precisely as I intended to, and would do it all again if I bore the need." Aeoch spoke with an open voice that carried easily over the crowd. "The gift I bear is presented not in the hopes of reconciliation, but merely as assurance that my deeds were borne out of duty alone and not from animosity. If they elect not to forgive me that is permissible, but absent animus they truly deserve to live without fear of possible retribution from myself or my master for their defiance of his wishes." Aeoch's words greatly assuaged the crowd and the tension that had been brewing amongst them - there was even a smattering of impressed clapping amongst some of them, struck by the graciousness of the man and his humility in the face of those who had successfully opposed him and his efforts. "But I will not force my gift upon the union if it and my presence are not desired." Aeoch continued as he turned from Kadesh-Caro back towards the wedded couple. "Feldis, Quarrymaster, will you tolerate my presence and my tidings?" "Although your trespasses against us are many Aeoch, as a man of business and affair myself, I can understand how you may have enacted such unpleasant things in pursuit of your duty alone." The young groom said. "If my mate Baerike can bring herself to accept your presence, than we would be pleased to accept your gift." "I do not believe I can forgive you for all you have perpetrated against us, Eternal." Baerike admonished Aeoch sternly. "But the sentiment of desiring to deter future animosity and allaying our fear of possible retribution is a compassionate one, and I see no reason not to accept." "My thanks, young mistress." Aeoch nodded cordially to Baerike before addressing the crowd at large. "As many of you doubtlessly know, Feldis here was offered eternal youth and immortality by my master, the Sorcerous Master Aurochylys, in exchange for his vow of service and fidelity. A vow which he could not take so long as he intended to wed Baerike, for her father had sworn that he and his issue were to never take avowal of my master. My master is not one to curry favor - he desires that the worthy be graced with the time and vigor to perform great deeds unhindered by time and frailty, and sees unity under his providence as a worthy means of facilitating that end. It sits ill with me to threaten and withhold the grace of timelessness from one so clearly capable, and so I offer now the gift of everlasting life and youth to Feldis." "Just like that?" The priest asked incredulously amidst raised cheers from the assembled crowd. "Just like that!" Aeoch affirmed with a nod. "What must Baerike and I do to attain just a state?" Feldis asked eagerly. "It is already done." Aeoch replied, his tone irreverent and conversational. "What? Just now?" "Well, in truth, several moments before I even arrived." Aeoch remarked contritely. "So it is just as well you are satisfied to have accepted it. You shall not suffer the passage of years upon your body from this day on." "Oh Baerike, this is so wonderful!" Feldis exclaimed as he turned to join hands with his bride, now positively beaming with unexpected fervor. "To know we shall never again be parted, joined as one for all ti-" "Not her." Aeoch interjected abruptly. "Just you." A heavy silence struck upon the assembled party like the passage of distant thunder. "I thought you said you intended to gift our union -" "I specified you particularly, [i]boy[/i]." Aeoch interrupted to clarify. "But - but Baerike shall wither and grow old as I remain as I am!" Feldis cried. "That is a most cursed affliction! However am I to stand besides my love as an equal with youth eternal if she will eventually pass from this world without me?" "It is not my business to dictate how you should lead your life, nor in what manner you should watch your mate die." Aeoch delivered with the contemptuous air of a serpent. "Eternal! You have abused the hospitality of this union and of me!" Bellowed Kadesh-Caro. "I care not that you cannot know death! I will have you seized in bindings and entombed for this offense!" Aeoch could do naught but shrug as Kadesh-Caro's armsmen came and seized upon him. "Do as you must. Come 'morn I will be gone from this place." His very word proved two - for as Kadesh-Caro's armsmen came the next day to seize upon him from the cell where they had left him, they discovered he had gone. Some distance away, Aeoch walked, barefooted, to meet with his attendants, all Immortals themselves, who had awaited and anticipated his need for a departure in haste and had set out in advance, in expectation that he would catch up with them. "It is done." Aeoch declared as he exchanged salutes with his aide. "The Quarrymaster has been graced with life everlasting." "Truly? And our Master is upholding his being?" The aide asked curiously. "Without the Quarrymaster having avowed his service, what purpose is there in such a thing?" "It is merely the appearance of our Master's grace. I have left behind a servant to watch over their family. Whensoever the Quarrymaster's bride passes from this world, a moon thereafter his grace shall abate - and he will perish. The Master's grace is given solely so the fool may suffer under the burden of his preconceived eternity without his love." "...Our Master seems a mite capricious." The aide ventured after a moment's hesitation. "That he does." Aeoch admittedly freely. "So too, as I have heard in legend, were the gods of old." [hr][center][s]888888888888[/s] [color=BC8F8F][b]Regalion of the Deathless[/b][/color] Traveling North [s]888888888888[/s][/center][hr] The dark of the night was broken by a great bonfire in the midst of the plains, serving as host to a fellowship of twelve warriors - who had settled to eat, drink, and to maintain their kit - for their arms and armor were such as had rarely been seen in this corner of the world. Adorned in cuirasses of bronze that gleamed with a sickly luster in the firelight, with blades and spears edged much the same, the worth of the warriors' armaments exceeded that of an entire settlement. With how openly they bore their wear and blades, not even bothering to conceal them with cloak or garb and having piled high the bonfire they rested before, they would have made a most tempting target for any raiding party of the steppes. Yet they traveled openly and brazenly, ensuring all were aware of their passage with neither fear nor apology. For their fellowship of twelve all bore a grace unmatched in common men and women. They were Immortals blessed by the sorcerer Aurochylys - and they would never die. "...and he had a red scraggly beard." One of the Immortals finished recounting to the others. "...So not a one of us met with the same lot amongst the Eternals." Another mused. "So when did Ayrochylys bless each of us? Is he omniscient? Can he see afar with his mind's eye as mere men such as ourselves can scarce conceive?" "If he could, what need would he even have no attendants? No, I personally suspect he never saw any of us - but that he has some method, some magic, that he can pass to the Eternals for them to work on us and others." "Well none of us are Eternals." Piped up another. "So how are we to spread Providence to the peoples of these lands? We've our mighty armaments to be sure, and with the gift of life given by our master we are sure to seize victory and overcome all adversity - but how are we to convey our honors to him, and his tidings unto new champions?" "Our Master is a power of many means." The members of the fellowship turned to look on at their Twelfth member as he spoke, the man known to them as Regalion. Regalion was a man of intensity and frankly terrifying immensity - he stood eight feet tall, and his body bristled with thick cords of muscle. In the long dark of the shadows cast by the bonfire, he sat and patiently oiled his greatbow - a monstrous weapon with oddly curved ends, which no normal man and indeed, many of the Immortals themselves, could not have ever hoped to so much as hold properly, much less draw. Secured in the ground by his side was the long, metal-capped pole which bore the standard of Aurochylys, and resting at his feet was a quiver of throwing-spears so thick around it could have carried a corpse wrapped in a burial shroud. But where the other members of the fellowship carried with them packs of provisions and sustenance, and measures of cloth for erecting makeshift shelter, the giant of a man carried neither food nor drink, nor any form of respite beyond his own oversized armor and cloth - for Regalion had not been graced merely with eternal youth, but with true defiance of oblivion itself. He was the First of the Deathless, and required neither sustenance nor shelter, and bore fear of no thing in the whole of the world. "Unlike the lot of you, I have met with our master. I have not spoken with him, for I was only in his presence but a moment - but as the First of the Deathless, he has entrusted me with great duty and peerage. A means of informing him of our travels and of the worthy we might encounter has been entrusted to me - and where we go, Aurochylys will assuage the worth of all who stand before us." "We did speak of this matter briefly before our departure of the Onris vale. What is our purpose in distant lands as we travel forth?" One of the Immortal queried Regalion. "We shall assay the lands in the stead of Aurochylys. He will determine the worth of all we see. The worthy, we shall support and curry favor with. The unworthy, we shall sweep aside to be forgotten by the tides of history, swallowed whole by death like kidling preykind." "What, just the twelve of us?" One of the Immortals scoffed. "No offense to you of course, bold Regalion, for I doubt any man save our master is your equal - but we are not numerous enough nor so skilled in the arts of battle that we may lay waste to entire settlements. How do you propose we so impress upon the realms our master's aims?" "In the manner of champions." Regalion answered simply. "I do not bear for you answers to how we might overcome any and all opposition. Only that whatever opposition we face, it shall be our duty to overcome - with prowess to be sung about for a thousand years of glory." He paused, and then added. "Of course, our master shall likely press to add additional manpower to our fellowship, which shall never be unwelcome and will be most helpful in the spread of his Providence." "Of course - one imagines that shall have to be done if only so there is always one amongst us who speaks the local language." Ruminated one of the Immortals in response. "But let us not question further or doubt our intentions, brothers. For our aims are clear. To spread our Master's Providence to the twenty-six corners of creation, and to do so in glory and with great valor!" This was met by a hearty cheer from the remainder of the fellowship, who then turned to more mundane topics. In the far-off distance, a keen-eyed scout noted them, their numbers, their bearings, and their weapons - and then fled to report their findings.