B.T.V. -- Session 08 Epilogue: Dragons Call

Tribesmen Triumphant Axewing and Asher Xi had flown back to the battlefield from the wreckage of the skyship, but the former made a stop northwest of the conflict, where he was relatively isolated. There, he summoned the Chaerin Cinquecayda, his old ally and fellow servant of the Dragon of Light Abramha. Axewing momentarily saw an image of the formidable Chaerin as he had known him, but then that became material, and looked very different. Cinq wore the fringed boots reminiscent of Chaerin, but looked much more human that he had, sporting numerous scarlet tattoos on his bare upper body. He carried a punch knife in each hand, and his head was shaved clean on one side, and on the other were rough, stringy braids of shoulder-length hair.

“What have you done?” Cinq demanded. “What world is this?” Axewing explained, “I world fashioned of Time and Shadow, called Axildusk. It is a time before the Cadavivva.” Cinq appears confused. “This is why we were positioned on Miranse. It was the World of Conflict.” “That battle was doomed. The Dragons have given us another chance.” Cinq said, “Abrahma placed my brothers on Miranse. Now they can no longer do this.” Axewing pointed out that all the Dragons had agreed that the conflict would shift to Axildusk, as it had been recreated by Time and Shadow. “I cannot sense him,” Cinq said of Abramha. “I feel younger, in a form I thought I had outgrown.” “There is a cost for coming here,” Axewing said, shifting his cape to show the lack of his left arm. “I know it is a lot to ask you, given you are newly delivered.” He explained he was engaged in a battle that pitted Tribesmen, the Leonaedes and the Brunya along with a handful of Amberish knights, against units of the Banners Lord Peloi, who had fielded a mix of Dragon and Dzur warriors. Some of the friendly troops had been dispersed during confrontations between units, Axewing continued, and he asked Cinq to collect those lost soldiers and reform them, to use in the coming second phase of the battle. Cinq began walking toward the battlefield while Axewing took to the air on Defiant to return to the battleground proper. A Leonaedes unit to the northwest engages a single Dragon enemy, but is repulsed. But then another Leonaedes group on the western flank engaged another single Dragon unit and eliminated it. Two Leonaedes units, led by the Delve Dagnyr Perildar, were repulsed by a single Dragon unit, but retreated in good order and took strategic spots to guard against a counterattack. A unit led by the Leonaedes leader Arruth then fiercely engaged a Dragon unit in the centre of the battlefield, forcing it to retreat some distance to the south. Axewing, with four units of Leonaedes, then attacked a Dzur unit and a Dragon unit, obliterating both in a critical victory for the Tribesman side. Deverane of the Order of the Unicorn, with his fellow knights and two units of Brunya, then engaged a Dragon unit, scattering those warriors. The remaining Dragon units regroup and counterattack on the western flank, with mixed results, none of them faithful to the Tribesman cause, though Dagnyr and units around him must retreat further, albeit again in good order. Axewing and his forces then eliminated two Dragon groups on the south side of the battlefield. A group of Amber knights is surrounded, but fights off three units and advances southward. Dagnyr, moving swiftly as only one of the Olo Feradir can upon the battlefield, shifted his flag to one of the western flank units, and eliminated an isolated Dragon unit that threatened from the north the main concentration of Tribal units. Asher Zi, with another group of Amberish knights, an Amberish cavalry group and Leonaedes then assault and eliminate two Dragon units. Axewing, with two group of Leonaedes, attack a Dragon unit adjoining the two that had just been destroyed, and eliminate it. The results of this series of engagements left just two Dzur units on the field, north of the Shahasan collective that had been the target of the initial attack by Peloi’s units. The Amberish cavalry, joined by Axewing on the fly, proves its worth by circling around in the woods to cut off those two enemy units as they retreated to the south. Only the horsemen could move fast enough to do so, but they are outnumbered and, after engaging, are forced to retreat to the southwest. The Dzur units, predictably for the fierce warrior house, attempted to surround and destroy the cavalry, but instead the knights turn the tables on the attackers and destroy them. Meanwhile, from the west comes a unit of Shahasans found by Cinq, who appears to be leading the group. Then the leaders of the Tribal side of the conflict realize that Dragon and Dzur archer units have left the collection of Shahasan buildings to the south and are advancing, reaching a stable and taking up positions around it. Asher, leading an Amberish unit, and Arruth with his Leonaedes attack two of the Dragon units in front of the stables, but are forced back. Axewing and the Amberish cavalry attack two units of Dzurs within the stables. The latter, perhaps unused to defensive actions, retreated pell-mell, but then regrouped some distance away. They return and, in league with allies, eliminate the Amberish cavalry, and Axewing is forced to retreat. The Dzurs re-occupy the stables. At about this time, Asher feels a growing psychic contact trying to reach him, and opens his mind to find a Dzur, seemingly one of the warriors from the stables, looking grim-faced. “You are the one that attended the ceremonies,” the Dzur opened, referring to the gathering of the Dragons at the palace in Adhrilanka as they started the process of choosing an heir for the Imperial throne. “That is correct,” Asher replied. The Dzur sought terms to end the conflict, and Zi offered that any remaining warriors from Peloi’s units could withdraw, retaining their weapons and personal belongings. The Dzur found that agreeable, and Asher did not want to inflect more casualties on the Tribal side. Most of the units involved from that side had been novices to the battlefield, and he wished to preserve their veteran experience for future conflicts. The Dzur then inquired about the skyship that had been brought down. “I consider that to be a prize of war,” Zi replied. The Dzur asked about retrieving certain items from the ship and asked how high a price would be exacted for that. Without knowing what those objects might be—or even bodies of the fallen who could then be revived—suggested short truce while he consulted his advisors, and the Dzur agreed. Cinq, who Asher did not know but, given the propensity for strangers showing up and seeming to be allies, made no effort to cut off, suggested the enemies must be told to leave the stables. Axewing then insisted that Asher contact Elric for his advice, saying that the battle fought that day had been in the Melnibonean’s cause, and he should have the ultimate decision. Zi was reluctant to do so, feeling that, having just contacted the Dragon prince hours earlier about the Chamber of the Leonaedes, did not want to be perceived as constantly turning to the Draegeran for advice, given that a goal was to raise humanity out of its oppressed condition. However, Asher had to admit that Axewing had known Elric far longer, and was much more experienced in general, so he acquiesced. Zi found establishing the mental link with Elric difficult at first, but then found himself in contact very strongly indeed, so much so he heard the Melnibonean making his farewell to an unknown other. “Then we will speak again in an hour,” Elric was concluding, and Asher heard what sounded like the found sounds of seagulls crying out. The prince then turned his attention to Asher, who told him what had occurred, trying to keep out of his narrative any on his reluctance to follow Axewing’s advice about the Melnibonean. “We, you have won this battle, Zi,” Elric observed. He told Asher to decide himself the disposition of the skyship. But the Melnibonean was not finished. Instead, he began to speak to the human of other things, including the Shrouds, which were the great representation of the Astra. Asher had trouble understanding at first, but came to realize that Astra was an elemental force (he wished he could find a better word than “force”), just as air was the element connected to humans, earth for the Veer and water for the Vastness. While not human, he continued, Chaerin were a great representation of humanity and its guardians, as the Jelicus were to the Veer. Asher asked about Ghilong, who obviously as the Dragon of the East Wind was connected to air, and Elric confirmed that. Ghilong was an exception, in that he was not a Melnibonean dragon, the latter destructive by nature, the Melnibonean continued. But Ghilong was not one of the Noble Thoughts. “The Noble Thoughts are beyond my control,” Elric noted, as was Ghilong. Then, as if struck by a realization, he continued, “I sense in fact there is something of the dragon we are speaking of physically near you.” That bore investigation, he advised Asher. Elric, resuming the momentarily interrupted subject of discussion, said the Shrouds were to the Outremere, which included Axewing, as the Chaerin were to men, but the Jenoine had taken the Shrouds for themselves, and perhaps only a handful remained. Elric then noted the Rakshasas, represented on Axildusk by the Shahasans, were connected to fire or, more properly, Faere, and their guardians were the Diabolical. The Duskens were a group onto themselves, the Melnibonean continued, and included all those native to Axildusk, including him. Axildusk’s element was Aerthera, he said, and both he and the Jenoine were connected to it. The Jenoine, he noted, were the equivalent for Duskens as the Shrouds were to the Outremere. Asher found that confusing but accepted what he was told. Asked about the Cadavviva, Elric called them the Undyne, and Asher pointed out that some Enlyveners of Axildusk had taken to animating the corpses of the dead. The prince agreed that the Enlyveners would no doubt play a critical role in the creating of the Undyne. Asher pointed out one of his goals was to have any possible connection between the ghost plague on Axildusk to the coming of the Cadavviva investigated, and Elric agreed that such questions must be answered. Not far away, Cinq continued to talk to Axewing. The Chaerin, noting the Shahasans were a struggling people, said he was drawn to them and their cause. “They are primitives, which is appealing. They are more elemental.” Axewing, pointing to the history of Axildusk, said he was uncertain if by aiding Shahasans he would be helping the creations of a Lored or some deviant constructs. Cinq admitted Axildusk “is contaminating the elemental world.” Elsewhere, he pointed out, each element had a world of its own, which Axewing might remember from his earlier lessons. Then, seizing the immortal by the shoulders, Cinq pulled him slightly closer. “This that you wear, it must have some significance, the gift of Typhon,” Cinq commented about Axewing’s strange armour. “It is not a thing of the elements.” “I am a simple barbarian at heart. Am I to understand these creations of the cosmic fabric?” “This armour is connected to what you are beyond. It is the doing of the Dragon, and the element that favours those from beyond. “It is good I am here to help you.” Cinq continued, “The Doctors can be trusted more than the Tieflings and the Cossacks in the field of unreality. You are one-sixth of the Obsidian.” Axildusk, in turn, was maintained by the Perdams the Alchemists and the Corsairs, the Chaerin said, who served the reality of the world. Axewing offered, “I think we all know the fate of this world and we are here to change it.” “The armour is most important, critically important,” Cinq replied, then, after noting Astra was the element connected to the Outremere, asked if any of the other five members of the Obsidian had reached out to Axewing yet. Axewing answered that he had heard of only one Sybermane, who was in distress and threatened. Asher, having finished his communication with Elric, becomes aware of his surroundings again, and hears a mention of the Shrouds. He informs Axewing of the fate the Shrouds had suffered, being taken by the Jenoine, the guardians of Duskens. Inquiring about Axewing’s new companion, Cinq introduces himself by name and race. Cinq then asked about ghostlight, and Asher summoned a charge to his hand, so that the Chaerin might see it. “It is more of the ghosts than the light,” Cinq observed. “Why do you use it?” Asher tries to explain his background as a Ghostwalker, but that fails to satisfy the Chaerin. “You are like a scorpion,” Cinq observes. “You would be a man like a scorpion. You use it because you were born to it.” Perhaps, said the Chaerin, that was why Axewing and Asher travelled together. “Each of you is distinctly different from humanity. Your reality is not his reality,” and in fact those realities might oppose each other. Axewing insisted that at this time and in this place, he and Asher were aligned in a battle against a distinct enemy. “That allows us to speak for each other. We are allies on this.” However, Zi is not so certain that Cinq is incorrect, but makes no comment, deciding to think more upon the subject. “But not equivalents,” Cinq was saying to Axewing. “You must keep in mind you are not equivalents. You are committed to making unreal the course of this world.” The conversation continued, and Cinq mentioned that Tieflings were the experts of crime, while the Pernams were the same for the sainted. Six such groups existing, he continued, one for each of the Obsidian. Much must be come to grips with in the coming future, Cinq stated. “Perhaps this is the reason for friends beyond the bounds of what is usually acceptable.” Turning to Dr. Fate, he told Axewing, “It is not you that should be bowing to him. You are his superior.” “I do not need such accolades,” Axewing protested. “He has not served you,” Cinq countered. “They have the power to come to you. They are not unknowledgeable.” They should not be involved themselves in Axildusk without telling Axewing, as an Obsidian, what they were up to, the Chaerin continued. He urged the immortal to find the other principals of Outremere and speak to them. As the conversation continues, Asher mentions Vaxxus as being the enemy of all on Axildusk, and that his mother was a Syphon, a simulacrum created through the power of the Mule. “I understand what it is to face your Syphon,” Axewing allowed. “Lord Carmine. I faced him on Logresse. I destroyed it.” “This is a greater thing than I thought possible,” Cinq remarked. If Axewing reached out to the others of the Obsidian, he must ensure they are not Syphons who have replaced the originals. “Perhaps it is good you have not south them before this. You will need help. The Doctors, you must tell them.” Asher sees a Draegeran walking that way, who turns out to be the Dzur he had been in psychic communication with. “We lose the light,” he observes to Zi. Asher takes the opportunity to inform him that the cost of each object retrieved from the skyship would be 50,000 Imperials. The Dzur blinked, but did not object. He promised the delivery of 250,000 Imperials. “Normally I would wish some form of guarantee, but you are a Dzur,” Asher commented. The Dzur acknowledged the truth of that, then added, “It is interesting what you have done here.” “You must give up your banners,” Axewing interjected. The Dzur objects, pointing to the terms of the cessation of hostilities, but Zi in turn says he had promised only that the Dzur warriors would retain their personal property. “Are the banners your personal property?” he asked, and the Dzur grimaced slightly, giving an answer. “You will want the Empress’s standard, then?” “I will deliver it to the Empress,” Zi vowed. Then, the Dzur turned toward the knights of the Order of the Unicorn. “These unicorn shields, where are they from?” Deverane of the Order answered, “The Eastern Kingdoms. You will come to learn more of us.” “The use of horses is most unusual, but they are a thing of men,” the Dzur said. “What kingdom are you from? I have not heard of you before. Why is that?” “I am the Zi of humanity,” Asher answered. “I have only recently assumed my role.” That seemed to satisfy the Dzur, who mentioned he would leave the banners and the standard within the stables. He asked where the ransom for the objects from the skyship was to be sent. “To me, in care of Prince Elric of e’L’nibone,” Asher replied. After the Dzur departed, Asher and Axewing entered the stables, and to their surprise found a Yendi inside, dressed mostly in green. He would summon to his hand first one spear and then another, but he showed no hostility. He would introduce himself in time as Millyan.

“I have been told to await here for one dressed similarly to myself,” he told Axewing, glancing at Asher. Then he inspected the immortal’s axe. “A fine weapon. I have some good ones myself. Perhaps you would honour me one day with a fight?” Axewing demurred. “My days of dueling are behind me. If we meet, it will be an unpleasant experience.” “I understand,” Millyan accepted, then turns and approaches Zi. A moment later, Axewing hears a sound of movement from behind him, despite having seen no others inside this part of the stable, and the immortal countered by sweeping the flat of his weapon behind him. But instead of striking someone, he felt the spike at the end of his weapon grabbed, as if by a hand. Millyan, as this happens, has reached Asher and introduces himself, saying he had the banners left behind for the victors. “I did not see you upon the field,” Zi observes. Millyan said he had been in the stables before the Dragons and Dzurs had arrived there. “The stables was not always here,” he added. “It was an accident. The stables was in a Skyland.” Zi, suspicious but not irritated, observes the stable seems in good condition for having fallen from a skyland. Millyan suggested that was because of some condition upon the stables, which had fallen along with a small bit of land it sat. upon. Zi mentions that the stable appeared to not be for goats, and that horses were the purview of humans, not Draegerans. The Yendi admitted the truth of that but no more, and Asher if the Yendi allowed himself to be caught in mistruths so that he could conceal as he chose a deeper secret. They walked together to the back of the stables, which were substantial in size, to collect the banners. Axewing, meanwhile, is in a shoving match with his invisible opponent. He cannot free his blade, but he sees two furrows appear on the stables’ straw-strewn floor as the other is pushed backward. He then pulled the blade toward him quickly and attempts to give the boot to his adversary, but misses, though he is adroit enough to avoid misbalancing himself and falling. He hears as sound between the sound of a hissing snake and a roaring, and then a figure clad in intricate red armour appears before him, her face enclosed in an ornate helm.

She stands six-and-a-half feet tall, and introduces herself as the Red Khakhan. “I do not know this title.” “You will come to know it, and hate it. It would be wisdom to do this,” and she adds she adheres to the truth in all things. “I am not always wise,” Axewing countered. Asher sees the banners leaning against the wall, but also the figure of an armoured woman standing nearby. The armour seems too large for her relatively slight form. She holds a heavy shield upon her left side. “This is Shuutak,” Millyan introduces. Asher feels like he should be expecting an ambush, but for some reason doesn’t.

“A pleasure to meet you,” he tells the woman. “We will see,” she replied in a deep, masculine voice. Asher hid his surprise. This was not the strangest occurrence for him in recent days. “The dragon changes its skin,” Millyan observes. “You have come for the standard,” Shuutak acknowledges, offering Asher the shield. Zi accepts it for the moment, but allows it’s bottom edge to sit upon the floor. “The banners are here,” Millyan remarked. “I can carry them for you.” Asher, feeling as if the two are somehow becoming more companions for his, agreed readily. They were interesting. Millyan wears the banners crossed on his back, their tips standing above his head. “We will accompany you,” Shuutak said, confirmed Zi’s thoughts. “It would be wise to accept,” Millyan remarks, and Zi agrees. “I would be honoured by your company.” Asher then asked about the bodies of Brunya strewn around the stables. One close to him appeared to have simply fallen asleep, but no longer lived. “Horse thieves,” Shuutak commented. “Not to ride,” Milliyan explained. “To eat.” Then Asher spots a pair of boots projected from a prone figure, most of which he cannot see, hidden by a stall wall. He approaches and sees a Draegeran woman, with tattoos running down at least one arm, unusual for one of her kind but not unknown. Near her were two longish knives. Millyan assured Zi she had been dead too long to revivify. “Her weapons used to be formidable,” Shuutak lamented. “Now they are quiet and empty.” Millyan, referring to Shuutak’s ongoing change, said, “Some call it a curse.” “That’s because you’re not a Jhegalla,” Shuutak answers, and sudden Zi understood. That House was known for transformation and endurance. The Red Khakhan observed to Axewing, “Your armour is most intriguing. How did you come by it?” “What is your relationship with the Draegerans we have bested?” Axewing demanded instead of offering an explanation. “They are my chattel,” the Khakhan replied drily. “I am not Draegeran.” “Then you are their servant?” “Am I garbed like a servant? I am here for the Zi.” At that moment, Asher returned with his two new companions. “A pleasure to meet you,” Zi tells the red-clad figure. “I am the Red Khakhan,” she stated. “We are powerful entities that interfere in those who have lives.” She, too, served Ghilong, she assured Zi. Then, seeing Shuutak, she exclaimed, “Oh, my. What has happened to you?” “I am changing. It was the stress of meeting you.” “I, however, am unchanged,” Millyan offered. Turning back to Zi, the Khakhan explained, “Ours is a unique circumstance, made real by your choice to become the Zi. We might not have existed.” A Khakhan of any colour could be trusted, she assured Asher. Were it not for him, their place would have been taken in Tuan Zi’s world by the Mowgli. “Because I represent truth, I will show you what I am,” she stated, then began to grow in size, her arms held above her. Her hands lifted the roof off the stables as she continued, and eventually, after reaching a height of perhaps 25 feet, she set it aside on the ground outside the structure. “You see? I am Vast, and necessity brings me,” she declared. “I speak the truth. You have need of what we are. Each of the races must be saved.” Asher, who already had the weight of humanity upon his shoulders, felt his burden increased markedly, but accepted that. “This one,” the Vast continued, gesturing to Axewing, “has chosen to assist you, and so have my kind. You will save us and the Veer and the Rakshasas and the Outremere, all that are Dusken. In another place and time where the Mowgli would have served you, you were all things to all men." “Here it must be different. Here you must save the Dusken, save the races, and Dragons willing, you shall.” “This is a role I am willing to undertake,” Asher vowed. She warned of a threat from one Zi had yet to meet, the Dragon of Monstrousity, which he took to mean a Noble Thought. For now, she added, she would provide to Zi the Draegerans who accompanied her., who would work with Asher, “strange as it might seem.” Her Vast were hunted by Veer and humans alike, she continued, and Asher believed she must mean the Leviathans who provided the ghostlight that protected and motivated much of the empire. “You must save my race as best you can, as time allows,” she said. “You will need what they can provide.” When it came to the Rakshasans, the Violet Khakhan assist Zi, and the Black Khakhan with the Outremere. The Gold Khakhan would help him understand the Duskens. She announced her plan to depart, but offered first to give Zi direction in what he might do next, and Asher accepted. “I will hear what you have to say.” “This city of the air, Scythe, travels to its southernmost path, nearest to one that stands against your desire. In the town of Jhi, he holds the secret to Ghilong’s vulnerability. If you find the Heart of the Dragon, you will free his powers and awaken the dragons.” Both Asher and Axewing hear a distant screaming of reptiles, which the latter recognized as being Melnibonean, coming from the sea. “They already stir,” the Khakhan confirmed. Jhi, she noted, “Is also the homeland of the Shahasans.” Then, nodding in Cinq’s direction outside, she added, “He might lead these troops to raise the spirits of these people, but there are other tribes.” Axewing starts to object, calling the dragons, “Creatures of destruction,” but then he is caught by a psychic contact, and sees Dr. Doom.

“I must speak with you about what is going on,” Doom proclaimed, leading Axewing off. “The dragons are a great risk indeed, but what the Red Khakhan offers means you no harm. “Your prince of Melnibone, there is no destiny he will survive, but he might still be saved. The Red Khakhan offers you a great power, which might be useful to you if Elric should be slain. Do you understand?” Axewing answered that he saw the sense in helping the Vast, but didn’t want to release the Melnibonean dragons of destruction “except as a last resort.” “Perhaps the second last resort, dear boy” Doom said., “and only if your prince falls.” “This is a problem without solution,” Axewing declared. Ghilong, Dr. Doom said, could control the other dragons, but only if he in turn was controlled. Whoever had his heart controlled that dragon. “I will not interfere again,” the Doctor stated. “You will call me, or we will not meet again.” Meanwhile, the Red Khakhan, returning to her previous statute, observed to Asher, “A most dangerous one, this Doctor. He threatens all of existence." “Serve truth and you will please me. Look to see me no more.” She turned and became invisible. As everyone in the stables rejoined each other, Shuutak asked if Zi might see if their dead friend Ondoava could be revivified, and Millyan admitted to lying about how long she had been dead.