The Change

The dying light of the setting sun flared blood red, reflecting off the massing ominous clouds of the oncoming storm. The night's onset put me at ease; the sun of the day had been unconventionally hot and bright, even for the middle days of summer which lay upon the lands. The brightness of the day had seemed to pierce me, forcing me to retreat to the deepest, darkest parts of the forest, hidden away in a cave were no light penetrated. I remembered many similar days from long ago, but never had the light affected me in such a way.

The night now allowed me the peace of mind to once again ponder the occurrences of the last several months. Tatianna passing me over for Ganat, Ganat! My designs for converting a vampire. My attempts to find someone, anyone, who could heal a simple wound. This last one brought doubt to the back of my mind, or rather, the side of my neck, a nagging brought me worry. Worry was something I had once left behind, but it now crept slowly over me like fog rolling over the silent moors. It pricked me with icy fingers and filled me with dread. A simple wound, two perfect circles cutting through my weathered neck, yet they would not heal. It was these persistent reminders of that night not so long ago, that now filled me with worry.

The question filled my mind, spinning and turning in the gales of my ideas. My thoughts wrestled with the problem, but always came back to the slight burn in my neck with no answers.

A rustling of leaves in the tree just outside the cave snapped me out of my concentration. Looking out of the end of the cave, two orbs of yellow stared back at me in the knowing gaze of a barn owl. It peered down at me, cocking its head first to one side then the other, finishing with a soft, hoot.

Smiling up at the bird, I watched the thoughtful gaze of the great bird for some time, glad to have a companion of the forest with me, though admittedly, a bit annoyed at it breaking my concentration. It continued to gaze at me as I fell back into my thoughts on the wounds. I had tried many things, but surely not all. Perhaps where I had failed...

Looking up to the bird, I saw only the two yellow globes staring back at me. It had interrupted my thoughts only to HOOT. What was wrong with this bird? How could I think about how little I knew of the healing arts with this silly bird hooting? How little time I had spent at such things. Only rudimentary skills such as bandage had I ever truly mastered. Surely someone with more knowledge, someone had to have more know...

My head whipped up, eyes shooting fire, glaring at the annoying thing. The wise eyes only looked at me, seemingly waiting for me to do something, waiting for me to understand. My mind was icy; never had the forest creatures gotten on my nerves such. Why would it come only to haunt me with its thought breaking hoots...

My hands moved slightly, a ball of flame erupting around the bird. It charred and sizzled, flaring brightly in the dark forest. As quickly as the fire began, it stopped, the charred corpse falling with a thud near the entrance to the cave.

Snickering softly, I prepared, stood, and began weaving a portal. Stupid bird, that would teach it to interrupt me and my thoughts. Elves knew their way around healing. Tatianna owed me much. She would heal the wound. She would do as I told her.

The night sky glimmered and sparkled with the ever-present light of its faint stars. I arrived just outside the clearing, looking in upon the tranquil scene of the nighttime meadow silently waiting for morning. However this scene glowed a bit more than normal, for in the center of the clearing sat The Goddess of the Stars, staring up at her glittering friends, almost as if she were searching the stars for answers.

I moved from the edge of the woods into the shadows of the trees, watching Tatianna look up not seeming to notice my at all. Her aura pulsed softly in the clearing, causing the plants to turn and sway with its rhythm, almost as if dancing to the sounds of her light. The pulsing only mimicked the beating in my head, the pounding of hammer on anvil, or did it cause it?

"Barset, I have been waiting for you," she whispered as she leveled her gaze at me.

"You have a question for me I believe? Something about my ancestry and heritage. Perhaps I can help you Barset, if you would allow it."

My eyes glared, fire burning behind them. She waiting for me. How could she know that I sought her for the elven knowledge of healing. Surely she was up to something. She must have spies watching me. I receded deeper into the shadows of the trees hoping to not give away my anger for perhaps she could help...

"What can you offer me? You have already taken from me what was rightfully mine! The Dawnbringers, I put everything into them. They were mine! I should be their deity."

"Come now my old friend, that is not what you came to discuss. Let me see that neck of yours," Tatianna said as she began moving her hands in arcane gestures of Magik.

I could see her pulling the light from the stars, molding it, manipulating it into a source of healing beyond anything I had seen before. I could feel its restorative power, feel its blessing, feel the love and caring she put into it. All of these things I could feel, and all of them burned me. They cut me like lashes on the prisoner at the gallows, burned me like the breath of the great dragons, seared my like hot oil poured over my skin. As she neared completion, my mind told me only one thing. Her spell would be my end. I began to gather the darkness around me. I tugged it from the deepest parts of the forest, I grasped at it in all the shadows of the night, I yanked it from all the hatred and despair that was in the world, and manipulated it into a shield of pure darkness. Tatianna cast her spell of healing towards me and as she did so, I threw up my dark energy shield.

The collision of the two opposing Magiks erupted in flash which was both blinding bright and blindingly dark. The forest fluxed into darkness, then to light, and reverberated between the two polar opposites for many seconds. When the flashes had stopped, Tatianna stood in the middle of the clearing, head bowed, a tear rolling down her cheek.

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