In a funeral service in Republican Square in Port Kaeir, Osric Basiluddin is buried with great honour at the foot of the Great Stairs which lead up in the Halls of State in the Republican Palace. His body is buried in a specially excavated grave (later to be covered by a marble mausoleum), using soil from the four Dominions, having been previously annointed in public with water from the rivers of the four Dominions. To the shock of the packed Square, his body is rejected twice by the soil, his body pushed back up out of the grave by some unseen force. An old shaman from the hills, part of the group of shamans that had gathered to help the Grandmaster Avin Nightwalker officiate over the funeral, falls into a trance. His eyes glowing green, points at Basiluddin and declares, "This son of the Lady shall be buried only in one place, and by only one person", at which he points at Avin Nightwalker. "You, Avin Nightwalker, shall carry this body of this son of the Lady to the fields outside Her City, and sshall then accompany him to where She wills. Thereafter, you shall do service for the Lady, and She shall do service for you." Seconds after the shaman had uttered the last word, the green glow disappeared from his eyes, and he collapsed, taking on a deathly pallour. Avin Nightwalker, after pausing a moment in uncertainty, walked over and picked up Basiluddin's body. Carrying his body, light from age, he turned and walked towards the Great Gate on the eastern edge of the city. Silently, the crowds parted for him, none daring to follow. ---- Half an hour later, a tired Avin reached the fields beyond the city. Even as he had walked through the Warren, the sprawling shantytown outside the city that the poor and the emigrants called home, word of the events in the Square had circulated. From Republican Square through the Great Gate and then through the Warren, crowds had lined his way, paying a silent homage to the great man who's body he carried in his arms, and to the man granted this most strange and eerie of honours. He now walked alone though, the crowds daring not to follow him into the farmland beyond. After a while, Avan stopped and carefully lay Basiluddin's body down on the ground. He half knew what lay in store for him, for some discussion had been held already regarding an agreement between the Millati church and the Lady, but still, even though he was a man of faith, magick and science, a sense of doom had fallen over him. An abnormal compulsion came over him, and he lay down next to Basiluddin and closed his eyes. Before he knew what was happening, he felt the soil beneath him give way, as if turned to water. Darkness came, and he felt a cool sensation rush over him, much like that of diving deep into a flowing river. An eternity seemed to pass, as the sensation continued. Soon the feeling became cooler, as if he had entered an older deeper section of the soil. And then the rushing stopped. He felt himself slowly move upwards, and soon the first hint of light reappeared through his eyelids. Moments later he could feel firm ground beneath him, and opening his eyes, he realised he was in a forest glade at the centre of a massive forested mountain valley. Next to him lay Basiluddin's body, exactly as he had laid him in the field outside of Port Kaeir. In front of him though was a deep spring, fed by small waterfall that trickled off the rock wall above it. The spring flowed into a small stream that disappeared into the forested valley below him. All around him though, he could feel a powerful presence. An old presence. Something he had felt before, but never this intently. It was almost overpowering, this feeling of ancient oldness and....... compassion, under which lay unimaginable wisdom and power. Something came over him, not quite words, not quite images, but a feeling that told him he should prepare Basiluddin for his burial. Unclothed, he should be taken into the centre of the spring and released. A question flitted across Avin's mind, "his sword, the Doublecrowned sword?" Again a feeling came across him, telling him in a manner that he could almost hear, almost imagine saying, "No, the sword is yours now. Forever yours." Avan wasn't quite sure he liked that response, but he unbuckled Basiluddin's sword and laid it aside. He then undressed Basiluddin, and carried his body into the spring, where he released it. Returning to the shore, he slowly watched the body sink beneath the water, before it disappeared into a body impossibly deep and seemingly glowingly slightly green. As he watched, a series of feeling came over him. He realised he was in the centre of Celtehar, in the centre of the Green Cult, called by the natives the "the Heart". A place only the seniormost shamans of the Green Lady ever visited. This place had been visited by the Lady's shamans for thousands of years, and it was here that they came to pay their respects to Her and commune with her on the matters of greatest importance. A simple enough looking place he though, as he looked around, but then power and spirituality had nothing to do with looks, something he had realised long ago. Then he realised why he was here. It came like an intense avalanche of feeling, unlike the previous instances. A series of images and understandings that told him. He would get his agreement with the Lady. The Millati church would reign almost supreme in Kaeir, for none of the faithful would believe in a religion that was not in harmony with the Lady's plans. And the Lady would grant him the means to make reality the binding magicks that the Brotherhood had been researching and experimenting on. A magick that would give the Brotherhood the means to fully carry out their mandate. But....... He would pay a price. And it was at this moment that he fell to his knees, tears coming to his eyes, as he realised the doom that awaited him. He had no choice but to agree, for the Brotherhood of the Night had been founded on the principle of willingly taking on the burdens of others, so that they would not have to deal with the nightmares that lay in the dark awaiting them. He thought of the countless tragic lovesongs that had been composed since the Brotherhood's foundation, telling of maidens who had lost their loves to the Brotherhood, of young souls grown old after resigning themselves to their fate, and of acceptance of the need for someone to deal with what none wished to think about. Avin was not married, but now he thought he would never be. For the fate that awaited him, and it was a fate he knew he could not honourably refuse, was this. The price he would pay would be death. In return for the agreement with the Lady, he would never truly die. His soul would be bonded to to the Lady's, and he would be reborn endlessly until the end of Time. He would become an instrument of the Lady, still himself, yet able to carry out the Lady's Plan in a way Her shamans never could. He would not only be able to channel Her power to achieve Her aims, but be able to wield it consciously, placing enormous power at his disposal. He would still be the Grandmaster, and forever more would he be, but he would be the Lady's personal representative on Celandra, responsible to and loyal to both Her and the Brotherhood. But it would be endless aeons before he knew the afterlife, before He Who Is One would judge him for his actions and reward him thus. He would be born an old man endless times, never to live a mortal life in the true sense of the phrase, ever again. Every time he died, the Lady would take his soul in Her arms until a suitable rebirth could be found. Every time. And so, at that, Avin stood up and undressed himself. Taking up the Doublecrowned sword, he pulled it, and, dropping the scabard, dove deeply into the spring. ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
