MASTER COPY

Chapter 1 – Graven and the Masks

Four masks interlocked in dreadful stare
Observation changing all before
Entangled weave of gazes entwined
To make all, that once was not,
Now there

Four masks caged in pained haunt
To build, To burn, To act, To plan
A raging storm with no end or halt
The vortex spiral of dreamland

Four masks making haste to plan all fate
Fighting for a secure place in the abyss
Longing to fill a thirst they cannot sate
Creating chaos in darkened mist


Blazing alight in the summer night a shard descends from the sky guided by the hand of fate. As sure as the shard is falling so too are many eyes upon it. Curious eyes seeking an explanation of the events of this as of yet, untold night. And so the shard falls as a burning beacon to the tent of a man amongst three other dwellings. All are awake and gaze in marvel as it burns through the tent and into the screams of the man within.

A man erupts from the tent screaming and holding his hand over his now searing eye. All attention is now on the screaming man, and no longer on the smoking hole in the tent. Standing awestruck by the scene before them three men gathered around the campfire and are slow to act as their friend runs frantic. Finally one of them shakes off the trance and moves to help his friend.

"Graven what the hell is wrong!"

"My eye! My eye is burning. By the hells it burns! Water! I need water!"

The older man opens his canteen as he pulls his friend to the ground. Pooring the entire contents of the vessel into Graven's smoking eye. The sizzle of the water evaporating is tangible as the heat from the shard cauterizes the wound where his eye once was. Slowly the smoke from the shard becomes steam and ultimately the water drips cool upon his face, and over the smooth metallic surface that has replaced his eye. Graven then drifts into unconsciousness...

Suddenly he is a bird soaring on muscular guided wings over a sea of subtle bliss. An ocean of mercurial primordial essence, the essence of all things in existence, he somehow knows. Deep within he feels a sorrow and deeper still a fear. The waters below grant him peace and yet he knows peace is no longer what he needs, nor wants. Soaring low near the gentle waves of the rolling silver sea the serenity begins to make him physically ill. Subtly upon the horizon an island is visible, centered by a large monolith. He is now filled with a renewed hope and the fear within begins to peak over the surface of his mind.

Arriving at the island he flies high only to perch upon the monolith. Sitting around the obelisk are four masks in cardinal directions to his perch. Each mask has a plaque beneath it. His eyes settle upon the first mask he sees. The mask of Order.

[Picture of Crow on Obelisk]

The skin of the mask is a labyrinth of lines parallel and perpendicular with a decadent visor over the eyes, forehead, and around the top of the nose. An orb adorns the forehead center of the mask and from which a radial pattern emerges with sections devoted to several rectangular emeralds and gems. The forehead gem is a solid black sphere from which a spine of gems follows the forehead in a contouring arc. His eyes fall to the plaque below.

[Picture of Order]

The Mask of Order: Keeper and Sentinel of the Spire. First of the two motivations it is responsible for all of the organized action to be set forth upon time. It holds all forms and actions deliberate for the goal of control and predictability. The voice of caution dwelling on fear of the unknown, but also as a positive force instilling purpose and guidance. From this need to guide it will obsessively seek out and quantify all variables, a savage desperate will set forth to seer. Encapsulating all that seems predictable for the guise of future sight. The idealistic catalogue of all action and events are locked inside of Order, filed away for all time. With fathomed charts and graphs of probability, it will long forever for the solace found in prophecy, but will not find it. Though a slave to linear time, it will gain affluence and influence through this esoteric education.

With the last word read the eyes blaze and Graven is ripped suddenly and forcibly from the dream.

"Graven! Graven! Are you alright?"

Graven awakens to being slapped lightly by the old man.

"Graven wake up damn you."

"I'm here. I'm here. I'm awake."

"Of course you're here what happened."

"I...I..."

Graven pauses as if trying to remember.

"I was asleep dreaming and I awoke to...to an intense pain in my left eye"

Suddenly all eyes turn to see the burning hole in the tent.

"What? Why are you all looking at the tent?"

Timidly, Aidan, one of Graven's friends begins to speak.

"Your tent...we watched a star fall from the sky only to hit your tent...and then you started screaming..."

"My eye. How is this possible. What is wrong with my eye."

The old man, Taeran, now speaks.

"Your eye is...it's gone Graven. Replaced by this," he says while tapping the metallic piece revealing itself where Graven's eye once was."

"That's impossible. My eye isn't gone. I can see you all perfectly. Better then perfectly."

"The lake. Come with me to the lake," said Taeran.

Aidan, Taeran and Graven make their way to the waterside. Graven walks forward and stands before the water, looking into the mirrored reflection of the moon above. Slowly he moves his head above the rippled mirror and sees himself staring back.

A five foot, nine inch muscular Etherian looked back at him. The race of Etherians were average size for a bipedal species with ashen skin and etherial veins lining the surface of their skin. The ether burning in their veins, also known as filament or current, was synonamous with the purpose that allowed them to prosper. For without some purpose in their existence the ether would fade to pink before death. Etherians of divine current were known to have cobalt blue ether in their veins but this was just presumed a myth.

Graven's eyes fall upon his face and the solid opaque sphere where his eye once was. Standing up abruptly and taken aback Graven runs his hand over his face to the metallic orb in his socket. His fingers touch the now cool metal and he falls once more into darkness.

After this near collapse into the river Taeran calls back to the other men for help to carry Graven to Iboga, the medicine man, of the village. It is night and the medicine man resides just outside the perimeter of the village where he plies his wares as magician and judge to the tribe.

"Corrin get a stretcher made and grab supplies for the trek to Iboga's; and Corrin, he pauses for a moment, get my bow."

"Taeran, what do you need the bow for?"

"We must hurry, just grab the bow."

A stretcher is made from the discarded limbs of the forest strong and secure to carry Graven from the center of the village to the medicine man's domain in the event that he is unconsious the whole way. Twenty minutes go by and the crew is now ready to depart for the journey. The path is littered with light from the constellations and a near full moon. The men begin with an unconcious Graven placed carefully upon the makeshift stretcher. Graven finds himself in vision once more.

Again through the eyes of the crow as if no time at all had passed in this ethereal place, he is compelled to look to the next mask encircling the monolith.

[Description of Forge]

[Picture of Forge]

The Mask of Forge: The Sword of Creation and Temperance. The furnace of all matter and energy, Forge takes the most basic of forms and expands upon them. Striving toward the perfection of stability and sparking the spire’s cultivation in the expanse of the abyss. It is the one force in existence that provokes the endurance of being and resists the hindering spurn of degradation. The vehemence of the Mask of Forge stokes the flames of existence to boil the molten thread that will be woven into the fabric of all things. It matters not the nature of a new idea or form. All corporeal or fleeting in nature are viciously torn into reality from nothingness then encouraged, cultured, and honed as equal components in its smelter.

The eyes blaze of the mask once more. Graven finds himself on his back, looking at the stars, and feeling very dizzy. As if the burden of all creation is now upon his shoulders. He looks around to see his friends carrying him by stretcher.

"What is going on? Why am I on a stretcher?"

"We are going to see Iboga, you are in dire need of help young man," said Taeran.

The younger Aidan speaks.

"We were worried about you Graven, you keep fainting. Ever since the falling star you have been babbling in your sleep and passing out. You keep screaming about some mask while twisting and turning."

With that comment Graven resigns himself to the trip. Curious himself to what may be wrong and what is going on with his strange visions, not to mention the shard that took his eye. Many minutes pass before Graven notices two eyes alight in the darkness, seemingly malevolent in shape and intent. Before he can say anything he is once again in the realm of silver shores and darkness Graven finds himself atop the obelisk. This time he is compelled to look upon the mask of Entropy.

[Description of Entropy]

[Picture of Entropy]

Entropy: Consolidator and Restrictor of the spire’s mass of form. For every item or idea made real a passive but enduring trial is in place to test its very nature. Either metaphorically or literally, all in the spire is subject to the forces of decay and resistance. It is responsible for evolution in the reverse, set forth to destroy that which is temporal or limited. Entropy is the vigor of simplification. Where opposing energies cultivate and complicate, Entropy compels all things toward the tranquillity of the mercurial sea. Envision creation as a mountain stretching far and vast. Entropy is the instigator of the avalanche that breaks loose all destabilized elements.

Upon waking Graven shakes off the disorientation and finds himself facing into the darkness.

"Eyes! I saw eyes in the dark before I fainted! Something is following us."

"I know. It's been following us since we entered Iboga's dominion. This area is his and it is unwise to trespass without reason.

"We shouldn't have come Professor Taeran. Mystery or no mystery I just assume face a burning eye as the maw of an Etherbeast," said Aidan, obviously trembling.

"Nonsense child, if the beast should attack simply hold your position and remain still. Do not let breath escape your lips and the creature shall lose interest and pass."

"That's reassuring," said Aidan with mock enthusiasm.

The trek didn't take much longer before finally reaching the tent of Iboga Dhastrum, the magician of Graven's tribe., before they could even see silouhette of the faith healer.

"You come at a dark time this night. The 4 stars are in alignment and their dark light has cast shadow on all lit by other stellar bodies."

"We came to seek your wisdom shaman."

This was the first time Graven had ever seen the medicine man. He was a short man, abnormally short, and walked with a cane. The ether in his veins burnt a low-light purple, and his ashen skin was abnormally taut for a man his age. Rumour had found the mysticant to be well over 1300 years old, an anomally to be sure among the 3-400 hundred year average of his people. The etherforms. His eyes were of dark purple and burned with the light of twig aflame.

"You were lucky to reach me at all. You know well not to travel at this hour."

"Something has happened mysticant, a meteor has fallen from the sky striking young Graven here."

"Oh? What is this? Where did it strike you?" suddenly the magician's interest piqued.

"My eye sir, my left eye."

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. A shard of Fracture's chain! How in heaven's grasp did it find you?"

"I don't know sir, it...it hit my tent and took my eye."

"No, no, no young one, it did not take from you, but has given thee."

"Given 'thee' what?" Graven was obviously skeptical and was losing interest in taking the medicine man seriously.

"Sight. The most precious of sights given to any life form. Runesight."

"Let me touch it, I must touch it, just one touch."

"No don't do that." Taeran and Graven spoke in Unison.

The mysticant tapped the shard lightly with his finger and once again Graven laid victim to slumber and visions. This time the mask known as Fracture faces him and he is filled with fear. The shattered, cracked visage stares into his very soul. It's drought addled skin covered by adornments sweeping across the nose, eyes, over the ears, and forehead. Random gems and shapes cover the chaotic facade with everything from scales to lines of pearl, to the crown of amalgamated gems and stone.

Fracture: The Evader of the Maze and the Prism of Impulsive Action.” Fracture is instantaneous and unpredictable action. It is the small crack in the glass that cascades throughout the ventana, racing in fervor toward variant beauty. With abstraction the tempest of the cosmos is made volatile. Unpredictability exists in any moment of Order’s weakness, or Fracture’s strength. Purpose is nowhere to be found and made in a moment unaffected by the need to create, destroy, or accomplish. Instinct is responsible for beauty in the universe. It gives flame its erratic nature, causes errant and unpredictable action, and brings forth individuality to all entities and objects. Fracture is the voice of wisdom in the Quadra of Masks, for it knows no future. It embraces the unpredictable aspect of every moment and feeds upon it. It is the heart of the unknown, denying form but embracing potential.

The eyes of fracture flare into life and Graven fears his crowish form will be taken in...Suddenly he wakes to the image of the old man Taeran sitting observant in an opposing chair and the mysticant poking his ribs hard with cane.

"What in the blazes! Stop that! Stop poking me."

"I must know what you saw. I must know it now. I must."

"If you 'must' know I suppose I can enlighten you, but don't ever poke me with that cane again."
"Settled! Now please begin."

"First I was gliding through the air where there was none, adrift above a sea of silver. I was a crow, a crow of blackest shadow that made all light stray. I..then flew to an island, an island so distant so as to never reach it and with a thought I was circling above an obelisk center to the island. Before I knew it I was perched atop it being scrutinized by 4 masks...I..I remember their names."

"Speak young man, what were the names. I would hear them slip your tongue before I make any presumption."

"Forge."

"Correct, the creator and consolidator of all things."

"Order."

"The organizer and keeper"

"Entropy."

"The wind blown sand of limtation."

Suddenly Graven hesitated and was visibly shaken.

"Spit it out young man, you know whom calls last."

"Fracture."

"The chaos and prism of all things."

"I don't understand. What does this all mean?" said Taeran.

"Graven has been struck by a shard of Fracture's chain."

"A what?" Taeran and Graven spoke in unison.

The mysticant took a deep breath and sat down.

"Before time was time there was the crow. A being of eternity and divinity. It flew aloft the ocean of primordial essence. The very fabric of everything we know to exist. And so the crow was alone, adrift above it's sea of solitude. Without forethought parts of it's being were made manifest to represent it's facets, it's four personalities, it's four sides. These took the form of four masks, each to represent a seperate will.

The four masks were not merely inanimate sculpture but embodied with the essence of the creator itself. So the crow bound them to his will, and this will was made manifest by four chains. One chain for one mask and all center to a black obelisk. Though the creator was alone, it was still unsettled by these four parts of himself and so it was an eternity before he considered their release. An eternity of solitude, loneliness, and boredom. So in dark ritual it is said he pecked the obelisk before chanting a spell to unwrap reality.

The 4 masks twisted their chains, and became alight with the power of creation. The obelisk shattered forming a vacuum which pulled the solemn silver sea, the shadow crow, and the masks themselves by their chains into the vortex spire that we now call time itself. The steel chain of Forge, the iron chain of Order, the rusted chain of Entropy and the shattered chain of Fracture. For when all 4 chains were pulled Fracture alone broke free.

Now each era is ruled by the dominant chain of one mask at a time, and all eras are influenced and wrought by the chaos of Fracture. As the chains are pulled through time so too is history made. All that is written, is being written, or will be written are products of the four masks vying for power, leaving creation in their wake."

"So what does this have to do with me?" asked the Graven, now more confused then ever.

"And why did it strike Graven, surely it wasn't by chance that a meteor fromt he sky should land in the socket of a etherform of no consequence...No offense Graven."

"None taken"

"It was not by chance it struck Graven but for what purpose and by what means I do not know. I can however tell you about chaos-sight."

"The what?" Taeran and Graven spoke in unison once more.

"This is not the first time this has happened but it is not in recorded history the last time it chanced this planet.The chaosgift or chaos-sight as it is called is something not unknown to our people. It is held secret for the power it carries but one child in one-thousand is born with the ability to see the runes of creation, the very writing of the Masks themselves."

"Writing?" asked Graven.

"Runes dear boy. The runes are in everything. Every rock, every plant, every animal, every etherform in existence holds the runes of creation itself."

"So how do I read this writing, and what is the point?"

"The point is power young one."

"Power?"

With that Iboga traced a line in the air before him and it alit in purple flame, the same purple of his etherblood. A second or two passed and a small rock formed before him and dropped to the ground.

"Wow a rock!" Graven spoke with obvious sarcasm, Taeran obviously feigning wonder."

"This is just a touch of the written runes and no more can I show you. Spoken runes however are another matter entirely..."

With that Iboga began a chant of some language foreign and ethereal. This time the runes flared to life once more, this time brighter and more intense. A rock burst into creation, vibrated with intensity, then shattered spreading rubble all over Taeran and Graven, somehow missing Iboga.

"What the hells! Was that really necessary?"

"I'm an old man here, that almost took out my eye," complained Taeran.

"Think of it this way young Graven, written is the adjective and noun, spoken is all the previous with a verb. However this is all I can show you or tell you. The rest you must find on your own, and you must move immediately. The chaos-benders are banished until they can learn to control their power and sight."

"Banished?" asked Taeran. "He's just a young man. He will stand no chance in the wild."

"What about my family? My father? My mother? My sister?"

"This imperative supercedes your family, you will leave at once, this very night!" Suddenly Iboga's ether veins are glowing bright dark purple with his eyes blazing.

"Very well old man. I will leave."

"You don't have to Graven, I can speak to the elder. He will," spoke Taeran before being interrupted.

"No. I suppose this is something I must do for myself. If indeed this is where the shard is leading me then I suppose my feet possess little choice then to follow."

Resigned to Graven's decision Taeran says, "Very well, if he must leave I will at the least guide him to the wilderness edge."

"You may travel with him to the border of the frontier but no further, this is something he must do himself."

"I understand." Spoke Taeran.

And so the two left the tent, more confused now then ever before they arrived. Taeran spent most of the time together teaching Graven everything he knew about the wilds, their Etherbeasts, and their Etherforms. He taught him how to keep his current strong and alight in dark times. How belief was always more powerful then reality. The others seemed to pay about as much attention as they always did, that being they were more intent to drift off in daydream or pick at each other. A pause in the chatter late one night revealed the utter silence of their surroundings. Two eyes pierced them from the darkness.

"Hold very still everyone, don't breathe," spoke Taeran

Graven and Taeran stand very still while Corrin struggles frantically to notch an arrow in Taeran's bow. The etherbeast pounces from the dark mauling Corrin and tearing out his throat. Aidan trembles as the dire beast begins to eat Corrin while still he twitches on the ground. Aidan can take no more and flees. He makes it as far as the light threshold of the torch on the ground before his screams are heard out in the dark.

Taeran whispers while the beast is in the dark upon Aidan. "Do not breathe Graven."

Moments later Graven can feel swatting at his foot, and the pointed edge of some tooth or claw hoping to prod him into exodus so to run him down. He didn't move. He didn't breathe, but his eyes did wander in the direction of his foot. A large creature riddled with fur and contoured by manastreams of glowing fire red. It's teeth grazing the skin of Graven's bare foot, it turned and sniffed the air, seemingly content with it's inspection. Taeran and Graven sat there many minutes with stifled breath as the creature turned, grabbed the leg of the mauled and dead Corrin before dragging him into the dark. As the creature left Graven watched with new sight as a flicker of something hinted at some form within the beast. Looking into the very essense of it's being he saw...he began to see...something, but before it became tangible in his mind so did it fade.

"We best leave before it comes back Graven," whispered Taeran. Something dark drew the Etherbeast for any other night it would have noted our presence and passed without incident.

"We can't just leave them here Taeran. These were my friends."

"There is nothing we can do for them now Graven. Their filament failed and so too did their lives. Best we leave to avoid the same.

Quickly the two grabbed what remained of the slaughter that could be useful, including the bow fallen now from where Corrin had stood. The next few days proved uneventful and a week later they reached the edge of the wilds.

"I guess this is where we part young one. I have taught you all I could in such a short time, hopefully it will guide you to a better fate then the others."

"I don't know what to say Taeran, you saved my life. I will remember you till my end my mentor, my friend."

With that the two go their seperate ways. Taeran heads back home to confront the elders about the exiles while Taeran seeks his destiny.

* * * * * *
Two days later on the hike home Taeran falls unconscious, seemingly by some malicious intent, and is taken prisoner by Iboga.












Chapter 2 – The Cave of Hollow Intentions



And so Graven trekked into the wilds, a conglomeration of rugged mountains, boulders and briars. Food and water were not issues for etherforms so he found little trouble surviving the heat, or the dire cold of night. Etherforms existed simply from the idea of purpose. So long as a being possessed the will to grow and evolve it did so. It was only when it's reason for being ceased that the filament or current in it's veins extinguished and it became mortal and subject to the passage of time.

The more Graven walked and the more he dreamed, the more he finally came to terms with his plight, and in finding that new purpose so too did his sight evolve. Soon his new vision allowed him to see the rune patterns in rocks, plants, and even the life of the wilds. Continually he tried to replicate the patterns as Iboga had done but to no effect. Not even a modicum of success accompanied his efforts.

While he walked Graven heard something strange, a harmonic pulsing resonation not unlike music. Following this sound he comes upon a cave lined with crystals, like a cracked open geode. This elaborate structure possessed crystals pulsing independent of each other to the resonance within the cave. Upon closer examination the individual crystals possessed runic forms. Only with the clear nature of the crystals he was able to discern that the runes were not two-dimensional inscriptions as he had observed but elaborate constructions encompassing a three dimensional and intricate shape.
With this discovery Graven decides to make camp in the crystal cave.

And so he began to practice, with renewed fervor, the shapes inherent in the crystals. The crystals proved too intricate for him to complete a rune sequence and so he thought about the rock Iboga had summoned. Using the hard nails inherent in etherforms Graven found the nearest rock. Turning the rock he noticed the edges of runes on each face and so he began to carve into the stone itself in an effort to excavate the rune within.

[Insert Picture of excavation]

Hours he toiled chipping away at the rock and eventually the rune began to reveal itself. It took days before he finally chiseled away all the unneccesary gravel. Eventually the rune lay bare before him. Tracing the rune with his finger it alit before him until finally the rock reformed before him.
For two years he continued with this process with rocks of all shapes, size, and textures before finally learning an alphabet of shapes and strokes.

As the time wore on so did Graven's temperament. Often he would find himself babbling or talking to himself or Taeran, who had long since left for the village. Time was taking it's toll upon Graven and the loneliness inherent in his task was taxing his composure. On occasion Etherbeasts would show their face and Graven, remembering the lessons of Taeran regarding their sight depending on movement, would become a statue. He would stand stoic against the scrutizing breath of the creatures. Sometimes he would have to sit still with baited breath hours at a time before left at peace to study. As if these beasts weren't enough to contend with always there were the masks tormenting him in dreams. Restless dreams bringing no reprieve other then the solace of physical rest, always his mind was at work. His entire life seemed but a ceaseless daydream.

Another lonely day passed by as he carved before he heard a noise emanating from beyond a bend in the cave. Moving to examine the cause Graven edged around the side of the cave to see that someone had been watching him for sometime. He cringed as a reflexive posture caused him to retreat for a moment in fear as to what or who was observing his runic testing ground.

Siren spoke softly, "I will not harm you."

"Who are you and why are you here watching me? How long have you been here?" Graven replied a bit defensive.

Siren was dressed in a body length trench coat that dripped with calcified, blackened scales, perfect in there precision they danced like the faces of a storm projecting fractals upon the chrystalne interior of the cave. It was obvious she was not an Etherform as he was, her skin was smooth and pale tan and she was tall and seemingly lithe.

"My name is Siren. I am merely a passer by on the plains nearby and heard the cave songs. I heard the music and it lead me to you. I have been drawn here by the harp and the lyre embedded in this earthen glass temple. Do you come here to worship?" stated Siren calmly.

Suddenly a voice begins to echo in Graven's head. "Don't trust her." He is startled and looks around as if confused. He pauses a moment before finally answering.

"I worship nothing and no one. I am alone. Long have I lost my will for the hunt or for temples carved in stone, other than the one you see here before you." Graven held his arms out wide." There is only one entrance to this cave how did you get in?, Graven demanded with authority because he had surveyed every crevice of the cave for near two years now.

Siren observes Graven's twitching behavior, "Are you haunted by some vision or voice? You search the cave as if it speaks to you."

Again the voice resonates within him, "She has come to kill you, to take your power."

With his constant twitching Siren is noticeably offput, and now it is obvious he is scrutinizing her with some foreknowledge she did not expect.

"Enough distraction creature, what are you?"

"I came by way of the night air. I travel in silent darkness and you see me now only because I have allowed you to see me, but Graven this is not the first time you have arrested your gaze upon me. In dreams our eyes have met. You have breathed your passions to me in the deepest of your night terrors. I am your dark vision mirrored back at you.", Siren's voice trailed off and became hypnotizing but somewhere deep within her trepidation spread.

"I have not fallen yet to my madness, I will not fall to yours cloaked villain. Leave here at once." The cave echoed in acoustic perfection and shook with force.

It was not like Siren to feel fear but for some reason when Graven spoke she felt compelled to obey his wishes, despite her intentions. "Does the one who is banished also wish to place me in exile?

At that moment Siren with her left hand caused the roof of the cave to open up to a dark star absent sky. The four masks that Graven had originally seen and explained to Iboga appeared and descended into the space surrounding him. Immediately she seized the oppurtunity to take up the shard of Fracture from his eye but again she was assailed with trepidation and reverance and could not bring herself to take it.

He viewed each mask in awe and walked slowly around each one reading again their plaques and eyeing the obelisk and crow. Then in an instance everything melted away from his vision as he regained consciousness.

Siren jumped back startled by his rapid recovery and quickly faded from sight.

"Damned visions." he blurted out upon waking. Graven looked around but Siren was nowhere to be found. He wondered whether he was dreaming again but she had seemed so vivid. Maybe he had fallen to the madness afterall. His mind wrote off the encounter and soon things were back to 'normal.'

Day followed night as time passed away. Weeks followed days and months followed weeks which eventually dissolved into years. Graven kept time in the beginning of his exile but soon lost track. Vision and reality blurred continuously dissolving boundaries but to Siren time was irrelevant,
a mere variable in an equation long since solved. Only moments had passed from the retreating of the four masks in the cave with Graven, but several years had been added to Graven's character as she was many visions removed from him now.

This time Siren took a new approach to assuaging Graven. This time he would see her not as foe but friend. Again she stood before him but this time not recognized as Siren but as Aidan, Graven's etherian brother.

"That is not your friend, he has long since left this world. Don't listen to it" The voice in his head again rang out and this time he screamed.

"Leave my mind wicked bird there is not enough room for you among my other hallucinations. Now back to the matter at hand, Aidan is it you brother?", said Graven with a glad heart. "But wait...Aidan I saw you die. Your carcass was carried into the wilds near Iboga's...alas another crag dream come to torment me are you?" said Graven in despair when he realized his lucid state. If anyone must visit me in purgatory I would have it as none other than you dear Aidan. Come let us sit. Let's drink and eat. "

While drinking and eating were not required for Etherforms to live, they did indulge in drink and food for recreation. Graven used the original canteen he brought to get some of the water dripping from the back of the cave along with the mushrooms growing nearby. Graven grew to the farthest lonely point in himself realizing that if he did not interact with his visions then he would interact with no one. So he played along thinking that he may be delaying his inevitable madness by a few choice days.

The two men sat in the geode cave and talked of simple things as they enjoyed the drink, laughter and kind words.

"Graven what brings you to this cave and why have you stayed so long?"

"I was exiled years ago. A threat to our kind. I always found myself buried in the fringes of our tribal society. I spent most of my time with Taeran learning all I could about life, always scared to lose my current and fade into the ether. Now I am brought to this place. I have come to bear the burden of this...chaos-sight."

"Why do you not roam as you once did? Why so long in one place with no wife, no stability, no home. Why have you not sought out the other exiles?"

"Other exiles?" This is the first Graven ever heard of other exiles being alive and in the wilds.

"Yes the others. Why have you not joined them? It has been five years Graven. "

"I know nothing of time. I know only of purpose. I know of no others because when I get to far away from the crystals my ether fades and if it fades too intensely then I perish. So I remain here tethered to these rocks until death or time frees me. My filament must be fulfilled prior to freedom Aidan. As it is with all purpose. This is how our people chose lands to roam and mates to wed and fields to plant and letters of the law. This is how we chose war over silence. The current is our faithful master and servant. It admonishes us when we stray and punishes us when we kill improperly and though it may beckon us to insanity sometimes, it must be respected and adhered to with dire passions. As some are tied to fate we are driven merciless often to the very heels of oblivion by an unsated mistress. This is purpose in our lives as Ethereals. There is no other way."

"Have you discovered her here: Purpose? Have you found your current here in these light trapping walls?"

"No I have not and it drives me hells to the brink."

"Siren feeling satisfaction at lowering Graven's psychological walls moves her agenda forward by getting the information she came for."

"Graven tell me what have you learned here in this place? What have the spirits taught you?"

"Aidan I can not make out reality from vision, past from future, lie from truth. Ever since the night my eye was impaled by this blasted metal I have been cursed."

"Nevertheless surely you have learned something about the shard and the reason it found you."

"Nothing. In fact nothing has been near as muddled in all my life as the purpose of this blasted eye.
Blatantly it taunts me with some haunting reason. It beckons me with allure of some secret, some epithany, and yet all I have to show for it is some rocks." He looks down at his nails worn now to the nub from carving years on end. Then kicks the nearest rock making his foot throb. So provoked is Graven that he suddenly grabs at the eye and tries to pull it from it's socket."

Silently Siren, in the guise of Aidan, watches intently at the scene unraveling before her. The cave begins to shake. A humming noise is now emanating from outside the cave and suddenly Graven is torn from his tantrum. Running to find the source of the noise beyond the cave's threshold. So too does Siren follow, just as curious as to the humming as Graven.

Exiting the cave the two are aware that the humming has gotten louder and now has started to buzz. In the distance the two are aware of three small spherical shapes heading toward them. Siren stands curious using a telescopic lens to scan the three rapidly approaching shapes before realizing danger.

"Run you idiot! Run now!" the voice in his head now more a will of compulsion then an echo.

Without thinking Graven begins to run as if his life were in jeapordy. Indeed it was. Seconds after Graven began to run Siren followed. It was too late. The buzzing became a high pitched squeel before ultimately exploding in range of Siren, the gust and shards threw her to the ground. Graven stops after a brief sprint before turning around panting.

"Don't stop you fool! Run!"

Just then amidst the smoke and rubble two spheres emerge and begin their pursuit of Graven. Urgently Graven turns about and begins to run for his life once more. He is gaining distance but still the spheres tempt to close the distance. An hour passes and Graven is near to passing out but still the voice compells him forward toward the forest in the distance. Finally reaching the forest the Etherian finds refuge hiding in the bowels of roten tree nearby. The second he falls into the tree he is assailed with all manner of many legged intrusions upon his ashen skin.With all desperation he struggles to get the bugs off of himself to no avail.

"Shut up and hold still!"

Abruptly Graven finds himself unable to move. The tiny legs proding his skin searching for food or a burrow. Again the humming returns with Graven standing unceremoniously statuesque among the bugs and the foulness of the rotten tree. After many minutes the humming has faded and now he finds himself able to move. Swatting madly and stomping he exits the tree before falling to the ground and catching his breath. Without warning the humming begins again. The time for running had passed.

"Quickly you primate, the runes. Look at it's runes."

Looking at the sphere Graven quickly responds by recognizing the runes on the surface of the sphere as parts of the earthen alphabet he learned in the cave. Intently he focuses while making the rune sequence in the air before him. The first time he fails. The second sequence stops the sphere mere feet before it would have triggered, killing aidan whether filament faded or not.

"Now get back and hum the resonation from the cave."

Thinking back vividly he can recall the humming from the cave and as the reverberation echoed from his lips so to did a rune alight on the bomb before him.

"Now run!"

The sphere begins to vibrate then to shake and spin violently before causing a huge explosion of blue flame and wind, the effect of which leaves a large crater in the surface of the forest as we as felling a number of trees. The force of the explosion knocked Graven off his feet.

"There, now that that is settled let's get down to business," again the voice spoke.

"What is going on? Has madness finally taken me?"

"Don't be so meladramatic, you're not insane, that is you are no more insane then any others in the mortal coil."

"Who are you?"

"You know me simply by the facet in your eye, but I am all eternity. I am the will of Fracture. The touch of chaos."

"Yes I remember Iboga's tale. I remember how he called you the shattered chain of Fracture."

"Good, that will save us some time then. Already I have imparted all the knowledge you need in order to stave off the fool's onslaught of people who would steal your life to have me."

"Knowledge? What knowledge?"

"Through visions of the shadow crow and the masks have you been marked. By observation have you been touched by my hand, and the hand of all influence. For while the Masks see through you, so to do you see through them, and in time this gift will mark you as an instrument of fate."

"Instrument of fate? I can barely keep consciousness at my will, much less face some convoluted since of destiny."

"Yes, well that is a necessary consequence of our binding, but that is at an end now. Now you will sleep for the first time in these many years Graven, for we have much work to do."

"No wait I have questions...." In the middle of speaking Graven is taken for the first time in ages to dreams of his own; his family, his people, his mentor."

And so Graven slept. So deep was his slumber that it endured for twenty-seven days before ultimately he awoke to a dark sun ringed with light.

"I...I feel like myself again. The madness, the voices, the nightmares. They're gone."

"Your mind has purged the sickness of the four, for the four have found your gift warranted."

"So all these years have been a test...A test of my fortitude."

"Yes and they have deemed me as your keeper and protector. I am known as Axis."

"Why me? Why was I chosen? What makes me so special?"

"Fracture works in mysterious ways Graven, there is no way to no it's will."

"When I saw the mask of Fracture in the nightmare I was overwhelmed with fear and yet I knew not why."

"When you took the form of the crow you took in an infintesimal part of the creator himself, a being of omnipotence and divinity. With that came the one thing that he feared in all the universe, chaos. Before Fracture was released the Shadow Crow knew all, and controlled all. Once Fracture was given life all that changed. Chaos and randomness, imperfection littered the universe and so the maker's vision was clouded."

"I understand but...I no longer feel that fear. Something has changed since we entered the forest..since I rested."

"You have come as nearly as close to the maker is as allowed by a mortal, already has it touched your very essence."Axis scrutinizes his left arm to find the ether in his veins a light shade of purple, now very much like Iboga himself.

"What is this? What is happening to me?"

"When your race has touched the planes of creation they are forever changed. Some are born with this sight and in turn are struck deranged by things they cannot hope to understand. You have overcome your madness and the very essence of your being has become tainted by the journey. The violet blood now running through your veins is the evidence of this milestone."

"So all the exiles have been struck by this madness...we must find them."

"If that is your choice, so be it. Though they may not be as receptive as you hope."

* * * * * *

There Siren laid upon the ground bloodied and bruised with bones shattered and crushed. Purposefully she moves to the pad on her left arm before pushing six buttons; year, month, date, hour, minute, second. Several moments later her body flickers then fades from the time of the explosion.










































Chapter 3 – The Exiled



Deep underground many years into the future, and in the laboratory of Dr. Artemis Fleinburg a light began to flicker in the emergency medical chamber. Turning his head to witness, the light goes from flicker to blinding before fading. As his eyes adjust back to the levels of the lab he sees Siren, his hired partner, bloodied and bruised.

"Siren!" Running to the medical capsule where nanomachines are already in the process of medical procedures to restore her.

"Apparently I wasn't as...prepared as I would have liked."

"You have to be more careful." said Artemis while glancing at the medical scan of Siren. "One more broken bone and it is unlikely you could even have manipulated the the temporal pad to return here."

"Somehow he manipulated me doctor... I...I can't explain it," said Siren with labored breath.

"That is enough talk Siren. Rest. There will be time for discussion when you are awake and rejuvenated."

Artemis hands her a lazinge shaped like a five pointed star. Siren swallows the star with little effort in compliance.

"V..V..Very well then doctor." Siren stammered before fainting.

Several hours pass as Artemis with surgical focus repairs the gynoid assassin that he has come to know and love as Siren Coratania. Working in tandem with the nanosuretical machines Artemis laces his artistic prowess into her broken body. Siren, the first of her kind to enter into the Holoverse, the universe from which all Artificial Inteligence resides, has been working for Artemis sometime.

* * * * * *


Graven conjured a sharp edged stone and,using a vine, attached it to a long branch.

"Alot of good that's going to do you against anything lurking here."

"If I can't be prepared the least I can do is present the illusion of it." Graven said, laughing for the first time in a long time.

"Suit yourself, I am sure whatever animal kills you will be incredibly inconvenienced by the wound you give it as it's eating you alive."

Again he laughed, half-heartedly this time. His laughter, the crunching leaves and snapping twigs drowning out any noises from the forest. Graven had been in an etherforest once before when he was younger with his father, but that time seemed ages ago and now he found himself an infant in an unforgiving and ominous territory.

Three days passed in the forest without incident until Graven stumbled upon a clearing centered by a gargantuan tree. The tree stood over ten stories high with a massive sphere of vines taking the place of the normal blood red leavs from a normal etherean tree. Like every other tree in an forest were veins of glowing red ether running all along the dark blue bark tree, the lifeblood of all things Ether dependent. As if this sphere were not odd enough the vines moved. The entire tree was in a perpetual state of transition. Always there were vines being tied and untied, tangled and untangled.

"I think this is an interesting place to make base camp Axis. It's certainly the most intriguing thing we've seen so far and the area seems safe enough."

"It's a fragment of Forge itself...the force of creation. This is not possible. It is the era of Order, of purpose. It is not time for this to be here and yet there it stands. Alas this is the work of my forebearer Fracture. Forge's chain is not supposed to be in play for a millenia and the chain is supposed to be the strongest of the three... Unbreakable... If this is here it means that Forge's chain has been compromised. I agree this is the place to make base camp. I must investigate."

"What does all this mean?"

"Nevermind that. This is my ordeal. Set up camp."

Over the next several days Graven used a combination of stonecalling, the art of crafting stones from runic signs, and branches to make a rough shelter at the base of the Sphere tree. Each day Axis would try to teach him how to listen to the forest, to feel it's lifeforce, it's vibrations. Learning came slow to Graven and even the humblest of life runes were nearly impossible to learn without killing the beasts themselves or disecting the plantlife, both of which Graven refused to do.

"It will take an eternity if you keep refusing to get your hands dirty."

"I can't help it, I feel some connection to these lifeforms. Something deep inside I cannot deny."

"You don't listen and yet you can hear...perhaps there will be no need for carnage after all, though it will take a few more years." Axis found himself humbled by the speed at which Graven's instincts were adapting, far beyond his own comprehension.

"A few more years?...I'm not sure whether to be insulted or honored by that comment."
"Let's just say that you possess instincts beyond what I expected, perhaps that was why you were chosen. Don't let it go to your head, you still have ages to go, life is not some stone to be cast about."

Months go by as Axis begins to teach Graven how to extrapolate the three dimensional alphabet from what only reveals two dimensions using the call of each animal or the arcs of each plant. The level of intricacy involved far transcends the rocks, slabs, crystals and boulders of the cave and Graven finds himself offput and frustrated by his slow progress.

"What was that you said about me being 'beyond expectations,' and yet here I toil day by day with little to show for it. At least with the stones I could study without them hiding or panicking by my mere presence. Every day is a constant pursuit. I can't focus like this."

"Kill one. Rip the life from it's ether and you will find the pursuit much less...chaotic."

As if for the first time Graven considers Axis's proposal."No...No...Taeran taught me that life was to be respected, something cherished, not merely an empty vessel to be cracked open."

"Then I expect your complaining to wane and your patience to procreate."

For the moment the two were so busy bickering between each other they didn't notice the adolescent playing in the stream before them. Suddenly quiet, Graven scrutinized the child who was seemingly unaware of his presence. The child played in the stream as if lost in some daydream and so carefully and with trepidation graven approached.

"Young one...young one." He beckoned but got no response and so began to close the distance between them.

"You there...young one...etherhil (the name for adolescent's in Gravens tribe)," Graven continued to call softly until he was upon the child. Finally he reached out and touched the child on the shoulder.

The child exploded into action, running at high speed in a manner more feral than bipedal before stopping on a branch. Turning around to look Graven dead in the eyes she turned once more and ran doggedly into the forest. Graven paused.

"Don't just stand there, after her!"

As if prodded by Axis's call Graven sprints in pursuit. Graven finds a hard time dodging the branches and roots but the child seems to have no time weaving over and through the surrounding plant life. The pursuit ensues for many minutes before finally Graven trips upon the root of a large tree and into the clearing ahead, hitting his head on a fallen branch. The child stops and just before Graven succombs to darkness he sees three more forms approaching with the child sitting calmly in the background scrutinizing the fallen etherian.

Once again Graven is ripped from reality and into darkness. This time things are different. All things are in motion. The four masks have transcending their plaques and are now floating in orbit around the obelisk center to the four. Suddenly a voice tears the silence.

"My children you were born not of my will but of my heart and so it is bittersweet that I set you free. Here I stand ready to unshackle creation, set loose abrasion, set forth purpose and release chaos. The solemn silent silver sea will no longer swallow eternity and a new delineated universe will rage forth upon the hub of time.

With each word a crack forms on the obelisk and is alit by the following. Soon the entire obelisk is alight with cracking spitting forth blazing light and fire.

"Though bound by time you will loose your wills upon all creation and chains will be the instrument of your influence. Forge your chain of steel shall never falter. Order your chain of iron will give all purpose. Entropy your rusted chain shall wittle the weakness from creation. Fracture your chain will shatter and you shall endure no reign over the sovereignty of time. You alone will play fate to all ages, denying all written futures."

As each chain is mentioned so to are the links set ablaze with the will of the creator. Finally Fractures chain shatters in cataclysmic seizure. The four masks eight eyes burn bright assaulting Graven's eyes awakening him once more to reality. Graven is startled that upon waking the four masks place themselves on the four forms, one on each etherian, standing over him.

"Greetings Graven, it has been a long time my friend."

Blinking and clearing his eyes with his palms Graven is confronted by a friendly, familiar face.

"Abnagn is that you?"

"None other friend."

"But how...all these long years we thought you were dead."

"Not dead but exiled by Iboga."

"That's impossible I remember...I remember back to the days in lecture. Taeran mentioned how you had at one time been his best student, but one day just vanished. He spoke of you often."

"Those days are long passed and near forgotten for I fear I will never return home, and so I am Abnagn no longer. We have no names here for their ability to communicate has faded or never existed to begin with."

"We must get them speaking Graven, there is too much to be learned...to be lost," said Axis in the silence of Graven's thoughts.

At this point Graven finds himself surveying the four before him. There are two Etherhils, one child and Abnagn, who seems to be in his 80th year (an adult man in terms of etherian age). The feral child is the one he chased through the forest who seems mentally adrift on another plane and appears to be no older then 20 (a preteen in etherial age). The female adolescent is tattoo'd with a rainbow of exotic colors and shapes and at that very moment was kneeling down drawing in the dirt. The other adolescent is smoothing a rough splintered branch into sleek perfection, the purpose of which is lost on Graven.

"How long have you all been here?"

"I was banished in the year 347 N."

"That would make 80, you have been in exile 40 years. How have you survived?"

"One day at a time. I have a deep respect for this forest and through time I have earned it's respect as well. She is my protector, my guide but 40 years...I can scarcely believe it. All this time from my family...lost. I...I..."

"What about the others? You were banished before they even were born it seems," said Graven, sensing the tension and rapidly changing the subject."

"The young one arrived before he could even speak(typically etherians were slow to learn to speak, often learning to hunt and forage to keep their filament strong enough to survive their younger years). I recently found the two siblings.I do not doubt that had I not found the three they would be long dead. There are many dangers in the forest."

"I am sure you have seen your share of trials. For now you all must come with me, there you will find a stone shelter to call home. It will protect you from the elements."

"Stone? There is no stone in the forest."

"It's a long story and a tale for another time friend. For now it is getting dark and I ask that you spend not another night alone in these shadowed woods."

Resigned yet hopeful to find shelter Agnagn and the others begin their journey to the large shelter at the base of the sphere tree. To aid in the journey and to help restore their sense of identiy he decides to name all four after the masks he saw upon their face at their meeting. Agnagn becomes Adahn after Order. The feral child becomes Syrka after Fracture. He names the male sibling Veyn after Entropy and the female Gaia after Forge.

Adahn communicates to the three that it will be safe to travel with Graven to the stone shelter through a series of chantlike grunts and whistling noises that Graven thought for sure he could not emulate. This established Adahn as interpreter for the journey. The trip to the sphered tree would take (7)days but they were all adept at wilderness survival so minimal training and organization would need to be conveyed in order for a safe passage to take place.

Adahn organized the group instructing them all to gather a few provisions that might be needed for the hike. Veyn always carried his small tools of destruction with him were ever he went; a small hatchet, a crude sling shot for hunting, and a sharp stick for taking the life of small animals he would trap and kill for food. Syrka was a disorganized sort of character that seemed hells bent on distraction of the others. He seemed as if their was always something else on his mind like his mind was in some far away place and he didn't want you to know what he was thinking. Syrka tended to stray from the group whenever possible but never far. He would always be reigned in by Adahn. The vitals and victuals in he pack were unknown to the rest of the group due to his secretive yet unintelligent nature. He will be dangerous when evolution finally chooses to take him.

Adahn was of course the second leader and translator between Graven and the other three. His natural organizational talents and insights into language made him indispensible to Graven. In his pack were common sense items such as food, his weapon, and a few rocks that he would finger occasionally that would allow him to collect his thoughts. Adahn was spartan, simple in his appearance and his mannerisms yet deep and likable. His pleasant nature made him a good match for friendship.

Gaia was most outstandingly odd and quite brilliant in her behaviors. She incessantly created art of all kinds where ever her eyes and fingers landed. She placed into her makeshift satchel sticks of medium and small sizes, small bits of clay, powders of various scent, speckles of glitter like residue, and all manner of plant materials that were always discombobulated and rearranged to appear as if they were new life forms. Her ingenuity seemed limitless and her pack was very heavy and inconvienient but she insisted. Gaia carried no food and no weapon. Adahn explained to Graven that her beloved plants would save her if she ever was in the position that she needed to be saved. Adahn and his pleasant nature could not bring himself to tell her how foolish it was to not protect herself and took this on as his charge. Gaia would babble on about how she could see life and wanted to put it together, build things, and see how it all worked together in unison. Things that were not alive frightened her. She shunned Inanimate objects and death hence she precribed her diet to be strictly vegetarian. Anything resembling the metallic caused her to go into a wild unexplainable panic.

This had already been shown evident because of Graven and Axis. The eye caused her to go into hiding in fright as soon as she was able after their first encounter. The Metal Eye pricked her as she would come near to speaking to Adahn later. Gaia, as well as the other three could not speak verbally, but of the other three she was the closest to that ability. Her non verbals were usually easy to understand and Graven tried to cipher her dance as much of it as he could due to his own attraction and intrigue. For Graven Gaia not only held a casual curiosity, but also a heathy bit of attractive mystique.

As they had begun their journey Adahn began to explain the various traits and histories to Graven as they walked through the woods. Gaia, Veyn, and Syrka followed safely behind them. Gaia for fear of the metal eye remained in the rear.

"Graven, how many days journey is it to the stone shelter?", asked Adahn as they walked through the thick green jungle.

"From here we are near seven days journey as flows the force of the river. There is a straighter path but we may run the risk of getting lost. I am not willing to take that chance just to save time, besides in this time perhaps you can teach me of yourself and your strange family."

At this point Axis had become silent and still to the point Graven had taken an uncomfortable notice. He tapped on his eye as if to awaken him from a nap.

Axis spoke, "I am here. Did you think you would rid yourself of me that easily? No my friend I am everpresent. I simply rest when I am able and feel safe in my surroundings. I feel as if I am among old friends. Like I have known these people for eons yet they were only just born yesterday. However I will tell you that the seeker Siren lurks in the air somewhere not far from here. She stalks you over great distance. She is a cheetah and you are a gazelle. You are her natural prey and one out of nineteen times she will catch you and she will kill you and take you as her prize back to her lair so be warned and be on guard even when I feel safe. "

"How many exiles do you suppose there are Axis?", asked Graven soberly.

"That is a question better suited for your translator.", said Axis.

"Are you certain they can all be trusted?", asked Graven in earnest.

"They can be trusted with your very life...and Graven"

"...yes Axis..."

"....yes Gaia can also be trusted with your heart. There will in truth come a time when her heart will become large as her destiny.", spoke Axis softly as his voice trailed off as if he were walking away into the distance

Graven again began to engage Adahn in conversation about the group and how the came to be with one another.

"Adahn tell me of the exiles. They are so young. What society fears its youth so that it curses them to the wilds to assimilate or die? Whose current does it serve to sacrifice the very essence of purpose? Is Iboga alone responsible for this?", Graven felt anger rising inside his core.

"Iboga alone banishes now but it has not always been so. Only the seers are banished, exiled. All save Iboga who some say is a seer himself. The one seer who can not be banished. The sanctioned seer of the state and his coveted book, 'Of Sight and Chaos'. In this book he lists the names of all of the exiles past, present, and future. It is closely guarded, it's whereabouts are known to few, and are sworn on an oath of death and murder. Two things I want no part of."

"I can't say I blame you though you have to wonder at the motive of our elders to sanction such behavior."

"It is through fear they act, not reasoning but I have no doubt they have reason to fear. Iboga's powers are as malevolent as they are mysterious. But enough talk, let's find a place to set up camp."

The two muscular etherian shadows continued to walk with gravity into the thick woods as it grew darker and less welcoming. With the last remnants of the day the misfits set up a makeshift camp near the river bank. Each chose a place that suited their disposition and need for safety. Graven placed himself where he could quickly defend everyone at a moments notice. The group ended the night around the campfire with a bit of smoke from one of the plants Gaia had formed into a dancing man and threw into the fire as she told a story with her body and hands. As Gaia danced the dance of fire the ether in her veins glowed a blue-violet almost pure cobalt blue near unheard of in Etherians, especially those her age. She entranced us with her eyes and her silent innocent story. She lulled us to serenity with her hypnotic mystique and after the fire dreams fade a restful sleep falls over the camp.

The moon that night blanched our dreams with her purity. It twisted the cosmos into a dancing planetarium of symphonic joy that, upon waking, united the group. So much so as to disuade any questions of distrust or loyalty. Gaia's fire dance was common magic in an uncommon world of darkness, red shadows and seers. Innocence found in a place where one would be least likely to find innocence.

The day cuts open the night sky and Syrka is the first to awaken after Graven and Axis. The group gathers their packs and make ready to leave for the stone shelter. Adahn instructing the others guided instructions with gesture. Graven hears Axis speaking to his thoughts.

"Look there, Gaia is the last to crack her eyes open to the world. Her inner life must be more vivid, real, and pleasant to her than the harsh reality of exile but still she endures. Her spirit and joy of nature would never allow you to see into any sorrow. Creation combats all types of malice Graven. The imagination will win the war. It never dies. It grows into a sphered plant with roots and wings and plants itself into immortality."

"You really have it all figured out don't you Axis? One would think you can see the future," said Graven in silent cognition.

"Not so much see as feel and I see through the same eyes you do. It is my place to see things through your perspective. To mirror your fervor and reflect your heart. I am becoming a part of your being. What effects you so to effects me."

Taking note of Graven's distraction Adahn approaches and taps him on the shoulder. As if catching him unaware Graven jumps, startled.

"I apologize friend, I meant not to break you from your meditation but it is time to leave."

"R..Right you are. I'm sorry I drifted. Alot on my mind these days."

"I understand, let's get moving."

Again and at a measured pace the group makes for the stone shelter at the base of the sphere tree.

When the group left Syrka with some erratic intent, strayed from the group. Having seen some broken fragments of volcanic glass just several feet of the camp site trail, he wished to gather a bundle of it for his pack for later use. Apparently he wished to keep it secret. Adahn begins to give an account to Graven of the group...

"Graven did you sleep well?". Adahn said with bit of a groggy voice.

"Yes, aside from a few strange dreams I slept fine. The Sphere tree continues to be the recurring focus of my night visions."

"I am certain if there is any meaning that it will come to you in the proper time. Let me fill you in on the conditions of our motley band. There a few things I think you need to know that pertain to the potential safety of the overall group.

"Of course Adahn, I am open to any commentary you may have."

Gaia poses no threat but may be somewhat fatigued and disoriented during the day as she was up most of the evening drinking her herbal concoctions and whirling around and around in circles paying homage to some moon goddess. Again nothing threatening there just may be some distraction with her today. Veyn is his normal abrasive self, and is apparently well rested. What I am most concerned about, but not too alarmed by yet, is Syrka. He has not returned from a small solo adventure he cast for himself earlier this morning before dawn. I watched him as he left the path. He is not at all graceful or stealthy yet possesess a pretense for forming grandiose, gestural recountings of his own tales. He probably saw a dead bird he wanted to collect or perhaps a toad or some such thing and will return, again I do not believe it is cause for alarm. Will you travel at a slower pace until our secretive wanderer returns?", Adahn petitioned Graven.

"Of course Adahn...Of course...", Graven replied. "Adahn, is he always like this?"

"For as long as I have known him he has always wandered. He strikes me as silent freedom. Freedom for the sake of freedom itself. Not freedom born out of some great idea or some great oppression but freedom because there is no other alternative and no opposite for him. He has never known a cage, no limits to his actions. He has never seen the necessity to see beyond good and evil because to him polarity itself does not exist nor does color or shape...only fractals. Thats why he cracks everything. He leaves these fractures all over the place."

Adahn's monologue continued, Graven genuinely curious about his new companions. "Graven all seers by their very nature practice boundary dissolution. They literally and metaphorically dissolve boundaries of all kinds everywhere they go. Containers of all sorts can not contain them. Societies can not house them. Buildings can not wall them in. Traditions they see as pointless. Abstract concepts, inventions, novelty, random happenstance, and imagination, these are the ingredients of a seer. These are the things that landed all of us outside of the same village and these are the same things that landed Syrka outside of our rag-tag brigade. Thanks for waiting for him and feigning movement forward to save face of a true seer and brother you are." and Adahn fell silen after these words.

It was not long after there conversation that Syka rejoined the group in the rear seemingly unnoticed and all was well for a time. Having examined and learned all he could about the others Graven sought to sort out Veyn.

Veyn was the paranoid of the group. Always fidgeting, always searching. At all times he possessed a nervous twitch from which he would polish rocks or hone sticks or bite his nails, of which Etherians possessed rock hard almost talon-like. More than once a bird in the brush would cause him to spasm out latching onto Adahn for protection. It was almost as if he had a sixth sense. Always seemingly able to predict danger and reacting to it beforehand, and so it was danger came and found Veyn nervously crouching behind.

It happened one day from the shelter. The group encounters a large river of magma. The river belches molten rock and spews forth heat so intense as to cause the group to jump back.

"Now what?" says Adahn in a nonjudgmental tone.

Graven seems startled and dismayed, "this wasn't here the last time. There must have been an eruption in the mountain bordering the forest valley."

Graven thought for just a moment before deciding on a course of action, but before he could enact it a resounding roar shook the ground. A beast many times the size of Graven placed one stone-weighted foot outside the molten river, then the other before dragging it's massive bulk from the molten river. It was a scaled, hulking four-legged creature and as it pulled it's body from the river a long spiked tale emerged. The beasts snorts at Graven and he remains totally motionless, hoping against hope that no movement will provoke no reaction.

The beast charged at Graven with accelerating speed so he fled. As he ran he began to gesture and a large stone wall materialized behind him. Stopping to ascertain the situation the beast rams the wall to powder. Stumbling it turns to scrutinize Graven once more before charging. The ether veins on the surface of the creature began to glow with the heat of the lava it slept in and again the creature charged. Running through the forest at his top speed Graven once again begins to gesture. Once more the beasts path is overcome by a massive wall. This one bigger then the previous one, yet again the beast bashes the wall with his head. The wall disentegrates and the beast is not the least deterred this time. Graven grabs onto a large tree and begins to climb. The beast charges, ramming the tree. The overwhelming tremor knocking Graven within range of the creature to reach up and snatch the life from him.

Suddenly the beast is overwhelmed by a net of vines. The large vines pin the creature to the ground and for many moments the anchor holds. Springing into violent action the beast snaps at Graven. Losing his footing he begins to fall into the waiting maw of the abyss. Again Graven begins to chant and this time a large crystal spawns atop the beast before driving it's weight into the creatures pinned body. It ceases to strike again.

Graven falls from the tree onto the chest of the overturned beast. All is silent but the deep resonate breathing of the creature as his face lies upon it's massive rib cage. Slowly the breathing begins to diminish as Graven can feel it's life breath evacuating. The magmabeast breathes it's last breath. Never before had he felt something so powerful, something so filled with life and presence. He swore from that moment on he would never take another life.

"Graven! Graven! Are you ok?" Shouted Adahn from behind a nearby tree. Syrka was already up another tree and proceeded to climb down while Veyn was slower to emerge and only popped his head out several moments later.

"I...I think so. The beast is no more. Where did those vines come from?" said Graven.

"I'm not sure," said Adahn coming out from behind his tree.

They both paused looking to the others before Gaia runs up and throws a hug upon Graven. Moments later, as if she finally remembers the eye, she recoils and makes some gestures toward Adahn.

Adahn translated. "Apparently, she says, she couldn't simply watch you die. The forest would not allow it. So she called upon it for aid, and aid it did."

"Manipulating the intricacies of life itself is no small task." Said Graven with newfound respect for Gaia.

Adahn translated for Gaia once more. "She said she didn't manipulate...she asked and in return the forest answered the call."

Graven looked more befuddled then ever for this adolescent had mastered something he had spent months trying to achieve.

"Regardless of how you did this Gaia I thank you for my life."

Gaia looked as if she were about to speak, then simply just bowed in gratitude.

Syrka finally climbed down from the tree and grabbed a stick. He proceeded to prod the creature, presumably to make sure it was dead. All the while Veyn slowly but surely moved toward the group, as if the creature would once again burst into action killing them all.

"It's best we get moving, we don't know if it was the only one of it's kind in the area and we are ill-prepared to face another," said Adahn

"Agreed." At that Graven approacahes the lava stream and starts to gesture. A large stone slab forms above the magma before slamming into it's surface, displacing a large area. The group quickly transverses the slab to the other side before gathering their wits and resuming their trek back toward the shelter. Several uneventful days later the group arrives at the sphere shaped tree and Graven's stone-called shelter.






















Chapter 4 – The Gaiasphere



That night the five slept in Graven's stone hut. Small as it was.

"When you said you had shelter, I didn't picture it quite so...quaint," said Adahn struggling to find room for a palate to sleep on amongst the others.

"Tomorrow will find this hut with added space I assure you, do not worry. Tonight will be the first and last you struggle to find peace in rest in my domain."

And so the night passed with five Etherians cramped into a room for one, and yet they were safe. Safer then any of them had been in a long time. The night passed uneventfully.

The next day Graven woke the others with the sun, the amount that made it to the forest floor anyway. Slowly the four clambered awake and out of their uncomfortable makeshift cots, finally finding their way outside.

"Today my friends we work," said Graven with Adahn almost reluctant to translate in his exhausted state. No one really slept that first night. "We have many preparations to accomplish this day and tonight we celebrate, for it is the Festival of the Night Wanderer."

Adahn spoke, "so it is, I had almost forgotten. We must prepare. It is not something to let fade from memory."

The day started with Graven conjuring the stone walls needed for new rooms, all summoned into their rightful place with unerring accuracy. It took several hours for Graven to complete the walls, before he started on the roofs. He had nearly perfected his craft with stone after all these long years. If ever a door was needed he simply etched the appropriate rune onto the slabs surface and a rectangular hole would erase the stone from reality, the same on smaller scale for windows.

Adahn instructs the others with their particular jobs, all suited to their individual talents. It was Veyns job to hone branches smooth to make doors for all the holes Graven had created. Syrka's job was to decorate the home itself with whatever pieces he could find in the forest, in this Gaia assisted as well. Gaia's primary job was to create a garden all along the outside edge of the hut, a job which she took much pleasure in, enlisting Syrka at times to help break up the rough ground into dirt suitable for small plants.

Adahn played the role he did best, that of the supervisor. Giving Graven the ideas for different rooms they may need as well as the overall architecture of the house. He even talked Graven into making a second story, complete with a stone staircase.

The intricate interplay of each individual lasted the better part of the day until ultimately dusk took the clearing. Syrka started a bonfire with Adahn's careful instruction, while the others finished up their work. Finally Graven called to the group.

"Look upon it and rejoice my friends, your new home." They all gathered round the outside of the hut, examining the work of their companions. Syrka had volcanic glass arranged in patterns all along the wall of the hut, while the doors were near smooth perfection by the nervous hand of Veyn.
Gaia's garden was complete as well in it's infant phase and it was occupied by many different species of plants, many of which Graven did not even recognize.
"Something is missing...Don't get me wrong everyone did a fine job but something just isn't there." It feels...cold."

They all looked upon the hut in agreement. None of them sure what to do, especially after being tired from the long day of work. Many minutes passed and no resolution presented itself. Then Gaia stood up and began to gesture and call. In seconds ivy and etherial flowers began to cover the stone roofs before climbing down the walls, somehow careful not to overwhelm Syrka's glass patterns. It was then they knew their new home was complete and all at once their shoulders relaxed as if some great weight was lifted.

Gathering around the campfire with gleeful expressions and light steps the companions found their seats and visibly relaxed.

"Our task this day is done my friends, not unlike our ancestors of long ago. Graven and I have discussed it and have decided that today we celebrate day one of a new calendar, symbolizing our union in peace together after our long and isolated exile." Then there was jumping and applause from everyone, including Graven and Adahn. For the first time in a long time there was open laughter among the group. "And on this, the Festival of the Night Wanderers, we celebrate what brought our people together on that similar winter night so long ago." Again there was applause and rejoicing. "The night begins with the recanting of the Tale of the Lost," said Adahn in mysterious tone.

"And so the people of Ahmpyrr wandered, lost and without purpose or heart. Small groups or couples dotted the landscape and a solemn shroud overcame them. Beasts plagued them threatening their very lives." Adahn makes a scary shadow upon the ground while exaggerating the struggle of the wanderers. "The children themselves were born still, their etherial current never taking hold. All was lost in the name of isolation and self-sufficientcy."

"So it was that the wanderers began to find each other, Small groups of two or three coming together to find their purpose, to light their filament once more." At this moment Graven's eyes fall upon Gaia's, to find her eyes finding his in the flickered heat of the blazing fire. "They looked into each other and the sight comforted them and with each new heart their ether brightened." And as he spoke the ether did alight, not just of those in the story but of those present, especially those in the veins of Graven and Gaia. "The first village was formed, the first home, the first community, the first semblance of safety for any of them. It is even said that in the bastion of love that many found their true purpose and were alit with pure cobalt, forever finding their place in heaven, the first to ever find their soul and live eternally."

As Adahn ceased talking Graven and Gaia suddenly seem aware that they are staring at each other, and both nonchalantly turn their gaze to Adahn who is resuming his story.

"And for those whose ether transcended our plane a monument was erected, the Star of Etherial Light. Standing two stories high the crystalline star possessed four prominent spikes with a large sphere at the center symbolizing the 4 who transcended and the primary community leader who brought them together."

"Stop right there Adahn, I have an idea." With that Graven thought for a few moments then began to gesture. Several moments later a rough imitation of the star itself was created, only several inches small but made to relative scale. "Gaia get me some small vines please." With that he began to gesture again, and again, before finally completing one small crystalline star for each of them present. Taking the vines from Gaia he found himself trembling as her hand grazed his. Calmly trying to remain composed he invited each Etherian before him to kneel and take a vow.

Syrka was the first to come, always eager for some new shining relic. "Do you solemnly swear to uphold the heart of our community, to preserve the lives of your brothers and sister in commune, and for each day to be an oppurtunity to make those lives surrounding you better." Syrka looked confused and looked to Adahn for clarity. Adahn translated but Syrka seemed more interested in the item than the promise. He took the star and ran into the hut. At this they all shared a laugh before coming to Graven for their individual stars. Graven took the vow from each.

When it was Gaia's turn he looked into her eyes and recited the vow as he did before. With her looking back at him he found it hard to breathe much less recite the words, and yet he somehow endured. His hand touched hers once more as he handed her the crystal necklace, giving him chills up his spine.

Finally Graven kneeled before all three remaining at the campfire. "I solemnly swear to uphold the heart of our community, to preserve the lives of my brothers and sister in commune, and for each day to be an oppurtunity to make those lives surrounding me better."

"With that my friends I wish you all a good night. It has been a long day and there have been many hardships endured by us all." They all bowed before Graven and made preparations to return to their newly created rooms at the base of the Spherical tree. Gaia had a sly smile. Adahn watched with pride as his community settled for the night before dousing the bonfire.

That night Graven could not open or close his eyes without seeing Gaias blue-violet spheres looking back at him. Her eyes pierced into everything he had been through, saw into his every solemn pain, and brought a warmth to his heart he never felt possible. An hour or so passed and Graven was no closer to sleep before a shadow from the starlight entered his room. He sat up startled to see Gaia's naked silouhette before him. Her silent steps shaking him to his core and as she closed upon him and he trembled before her touch. As he stared into her eyes her lips touched his and her arms embraced him. Slowly she fell upon him and the night faded into passionate shadows against the moonlight.

That morning awoke to find no regrets in Graven or in Gaia. Graven stirred from the light shining through the window portal and pulled himself from his cot. Gaia had long left his bed before the sun had risen and yet he still felt her beside him, as if she always had been. He stepped outside stretching to find his small community already a beehive of activity. Adahn seemed to be etching some designs into the dirt on the ground, while Veyn and Syrka seemed to be playing some kind of game with alot of movement and gesture. And then there was Gaia just to his right working in the garden, she looked up and made eye contact with him before blushing and shying away back to her work.

Walking past Gaia with more then a casual glance Graven walks over and kneels beside Adahn.

"So what is this design for?"

"I was thinking of building a school. A place where we could put the others to study in subjects such as speaking, writing, math and rune symbols."

"That is a great idea, I will get to putting the walls in place right now."

"Wait, I had something special in mind."

"Oh, and what exactly is that?"said Graven genuinely curious.
"There." Said Adahn pointing at the sphere in the tree.

"But the vines are entangled into some mass of feral foliage. Always is it moving, adapting, changing. How could we possibly hope to affect it."

"I have been talking to Gaia and she has some ideas, I think you would be more comfortable working with her then I." Though he was looking down at the schematic it was clear that Adahn had a smile on his face while he said this. Graven was more then a little embarassed.

"About that...I feel I should explain.."

"There is nothing to explain Graven, you are two consenting adults who are very fond of each other, and we are not so blind you know."












[What takes place below is the end of chapter 4 or possibly the beginning of chapter 5.]

The runebomb's remnants lay scattered all about the Gaiasphere clearing. Unlikely as it was that any telling signs remained to explain the runebombs origin, Graven still instructed the others to gather the pieces and place them upon the stone table. Several hours passed before it seemed like all the pieces had been gathered. It was not so difficult since there were no natural stone deposits in the forest. Graven and Axis worked several days together on the runebomb before finally finding a gestural ritual to restore the bomb to an inactive state. So determined were they to find the perpetrator of Gaia's demise that Graven took no rest and tolerated no distraction, even from the others.

After three days had passed Graven enacted the ritual. It happened to be in the depth of the night that he finally completed his mental preparations and so in the pale red glow of the midnight forest he began to gesture and chant. All the shattered pieces of runebomb began to glow with cobalt blue light before slowly rising into the air before him. Violently all the pieces began to vibrate in midair and for a moment Graven feared the worst. Ultimately all the stones slammed themselves one at a time into the largest fragment. In moments a ballet insued where the largest fragment began to spin sucking in the surrounding rubble, even the rock that was powdered by the explosion came. A shard even followed from the grave of Gaia. This in particular stung Graven but still he maintained his focus. Finally the completed runebomb sat before him on the stone table.

"It is done. Let's get to the bottom of this foul business and be done with it. How do I know who sent it."

"You can't...but I can. Every rune pattern possesses a signature unique to the person who scribed it. I would not know had I not seen it before...twice before"

"Seen before? Who do we know who would commit this atrocity? We have done nothing, offended no one, minded ourselves and our being and merely existed."

"The signature is that of...Iboga."

"Iboga...impossible...He exiled us, we are no threat to him"

"That isn't all..."

"What could be worse then this?"

"This isn't the first time I have seen this rune. The first time was upon the Etherbeast that slaughtered your friends Aidan and Corrin. I believe Taeran was one of the intended targets."

"Taeran? Of all people to consider a threat why Taeran? How could you not have told me this before!"

"Consider that the other two and yourself were inconsequential compared to that of an elder of Taeran's respect and that Taeran is the only other Etherian alive to know about me, the shard of Fracture...and I wasn't sure until now...I could only suspect. Now I am certain."

"You could have trusted me to decide that for myself! It's been years since we left Taeran, it's unlikely Iboga has let him live this long with such knowledge. There will come a time where I will call on you to answer me with the trust of a friend and on that day I will tear you asunder from the socket if you not give me the answer I seek. We must find Taeran, and if he is no longer with us we must deal with the perpetrator. The time for reckoning has come."

Axis went silent.

Graven leaves the Gaiasphere clearing and embarks upon a hike to his home to settle things with Iboga. Seizing the oppurtunity Siren steps through the chronoton-scryer and retrieves the inactive rune bomb. She places a beacon upon the bomb and it is transported back to Fleinburg's laboratory in it's inert state. After the teleportation is complete Siren stalks after Graven.

It would take several weeks to reach Graven's old village and home but he left immediately with no preparation or word. The ether in his veins now blue-violet with the filament of his action. The others awoke the next morning to find an empty bed where he usually slept.

Using what he knew about tracking Adahn ascertains that Graven left in a hurry to the west...and that he was being followed by footprints he did not recognize. Doing his best to explain the situation to the others he gets his pack together and organized before heading west after Graven. The others are short to follow.

[Insert this after the death of Gaia]

Back in the lab Siren watches the scene unfold through the eyes of the chronoton-scryer, a device meant to screen her targets in time. Siren stands awestruck as the namesake of the Gaiasphere herself is struck down and the look upon Graven's face as she is. Siren never cared much for Gaians but something was profound about this moment. It was symbolic of life defeating death, of light over darkness, for it was known that when Gaia died her essence became one with the Gaiasphere, the symbol of an era and the creation of everything she ever knew that was not an instrument of destruction.


Chapter 5 – Iboga's Reckoning