My sister is trapped by Lucky. We might need to take out Chronos before we get to her. The next time we go to Chronos needs to be the last. We must destroy it or we will never be able to. I need time to prepare for whatever is coming next, but I must be quick in order to save my sister. I think I'll go to the Library. There I will have the time I need to prepare.
After leaving with Virgil, he gave me more information about how the universe works. Then he told me his plan to stop things like Razgriz from showing up again. I hope the plan doesn't destroy the universe in the process, but we'll see. In the meantime, we went to Chronos to save Talwyn and Gerard. We asked Lises, Schala and Garrick to help.
Once there, we split up. Virgil and Schala went one way to get Dagonet (hopefully we can still help him), while Lises, Garrick, my self and Anna Lee (she just showed up) went for Talwyn and Gerard. After fighting many constructs that became stronger as we went on, we managed to get our prize and went back to the Tardis to meet up with Virgil and Schala.
They weren't there, and Anna Lee said they were in trouble, so we went to rescue them. When we got to the room they were in, we saw their bodies lying there with a small eagle pearched above them. It seemed like entering the room would do the same to us, so we tried to get them out. Before we succeded, they woke up and destoyed the eagle. Virgil grabbed Dagonet and we all left in the Tardis.
I decided to check on Corwin as the shadow of a blood familiar. He's doing fine. I then went to find Lesis to hide in his shadow, because it seems like he's usually where the important stuff happens. It's a good thing I did too, he was about to head out to find Renee with Schala, so I tagged along. We found ourselves at a family reunion at the Rajaways with Terridus, Jubei, Stephen and Renee and Bridgette. Everyone was suspicious of Bridgette, and when Lises grabed her with his huge hands, I switched over to her shadow so I could follow where she went. Terridus left for Tenebrae, and nearly everyone else followed suit in their own way.
Bridgette Trumped just outside of Tenebrae and walked/sailed to the Kaleidoscope. Terridus was already there runing tests before trying to fix Renee. Jubei Lises and Shala came soon after... just as Bridgette was about to stab Renee. We all pulled together to stop her at the same time, which caused some confusion and a seriosly hurt Bridgette. Terridus had some technitians take Bridgette and Renee to separate side rooms to take care of them. He then offered to use his machine to check for the Eagle's taint for anyone who wanted it. I said sure, but it hadn't been calibrated for a shapeshifter before, s it'll take much longer.
Everyone but Schala left (for some reason or other), and it was just the two of us guarding Renee. Garrick showed up to talk to Schala about a deal made with Lucky. I had a feeling a fight would break out, but it never happened, and Garrick went his own way. I sent a shade after him just in case.
I wanted to talk to Lises because I knew I could help him save Virgil. When I found him, he asked me to help him save Virgil... that was easy convincing. The team was Lises, Anna Lee, Schala and myself. Then Schala decided to back out, and by 'back out' I mean go brain dead after trying to contact the phychie of someone who partially doesn't exist. Lises also tried to get Stephen on board, but he declined.
We rode on the fastest bicycle ever to get out of amber so Anna Lee could trump-of-desire us to Virgil. We arived on the back of Chronos as Virgil was watching a nearby shadow get consumed by... nothing? I don't know. Lises and Anna Lee tried talking to Virgil to get him to reject the Eagle, but since the Eagle was in control, that didn't go over so well. We then started fighting: Lises gained hulk hands somehow, Virgil (with Linebreaker) was teleporting around, and I was trying to grab him with my Shades.
Virgil told Chronos to turn off my shape shifting and I turned into a shadow. He teleported behind Lises to stab him in the back, but Lises grabed him and used Trump defence as Anna Lee teleported to him and entered his mind. Chronos started to barrel roll, but I grabed everyone and anchored them to Chronos. Then Lises followed Anna Lee into Virgil's mind, leaving me the only one actually able to move...
...Until two Gerards came out of a hatch and started walking towards us. Still holding on to the other Amberites, I unanchored everyone and started crawling away from them on long tentacles. It seemed to be working. I was able to avoid the Gerards and buy the others the time they need. Then the Gigatron 9000 came out and started aiming at my cousins. This was starting to get tough, I grabed onto the Gigatron, and I had to make sure it's rail guns weren't pointing at my cousins while still evading the Gerards.
Fortunately, it didn't take too long after that for whatever Lises and Anna Lee were doing to work, and they came out of Virgil's mind. We promptly walked to another shadow and headed for Amber. When we got there, Virgil walked the patern, and (hopefully) got fixed.
I arrived at the Rajaways and was welcomed by Stephen, the Lord Protector of House Raja. We talked and got caught up with each other. I found out the results of the war... that Oberon and Rajani were missing and presumed dead. The next war will be different. I'm not going to be useless, even if I'm lead into the far reaches of shadow, I won't be left out.
I stayed for a while, but there wasn't much for me there. I asked Stephen if I could borrow one of his ships to get back home. He was kind enough to lend me one. Now I'm off to Amber. It'll still be a long trip, but it would be much longer without the ship.
Without the ability to hellride, my journey back to Amber would take a long time. I decided to stop by House Raja, which would be much closer, and as far as I could tell, I'm still on good terms with Rajani... if she's still alive.
The funny thing about walking through shadow the slow way; you see more of it. Soon after I left the edge of reality, where not much existed, I found a shadow where light had never existed at all. All that was there was darkness, and I found an eery comfort there. I felt more at home there than in Amber. No imminent wars, no selfish cousins, no betrayal... just darkness. It felt like a part of me... so I embraced it. I have things that I must do... promises to keep, but I'll come back someday.
I thought I'd learn a lot from Samax Rex. Unfortunately, he talks almost as cryptically as Dworkin did. Nevertheless, I figured if I spent enough time with the guy I might get some insignt. It's not like I have anything else to do. So that's what I did. I spent ten years with the guy. He taught me many things about reality and it's foundations... and how fragile it all really is.
Stephen and I set sail for an unknown destination. He told me if I kept the ship steady she would stay on course, and he retreated to his cabin to translate a book that would tell us where we were going. He came out a few times to adjust the heading slightly, but nothing major. At one point a man in a hooded robe appeared on board, who I later realized was a copy of Dworkin. He mentioned something about the book... I didn't know what he meant, but apparently it gave Stephen a big enough clue to find our destination.
We arrived at shore, though it was more like the water was no longer a thing this far out in shadow. All that could be seen was red sand everywhere. We left the ship and found some birdlike creatures to ride, though it took several hours to find them... there was a lot of sand. We continued onwards until we reached the end of reality. Even the endless red sand ended, and there was nothing beyond.
Sitting at the edge, and staring into nothingness, was a man named Samax Rax. He is a master in the ways of the Logrus and is a wise and contemplative man. He knew that the Eagle was the one that killed Dworkin, a being of equal import as the Unicorn and the Serpent. Stephen wasn't completely satisfied with the answer, and decided to depart for shadow once more. He suggested I learn what I could from Rax. I told Stephen that without his hellriding I would have no way to get back in time for the war, which is when he told me that the war has already ended.
At this point, I don't care about what happens in Amber. I'm constantly being lied to and left out of important things that are happening. If no one wants to tell me that a massive attack on the castle has started until it has already ended, they obviously don't need my help with anything. I'll stay here and learn what I can from Rax.
It's been about four days since I started reading the names on the wall of the Rock. I knew it would take a while, but if feels like I barely scratched the surface. I guess I shouldn't expect to do it in one sitting. I even payed Renee a visit. She didn't respond, as expected... it makes me sad.
Stephen stopped by, which didn't surprise me, and he started a conversation. Turns out Dworkin was killed at the feast and he's following a lead on the murderer. Why the hell didn't anyone tell me that Dworkin died? It's been FOUR DAYS! I was at the castle when it happened and spent the night there. For some reason, no one thought "There's someone here strong enough to kill Dworkin, we should warn everyone." Well, Stephen is going off into shadow to find the killer. Even though he admits that he doesn't know where he's going, I'm going with him. Him not knowing is actually more incentive to go. If he lands in trouble that he can't handle, maybe the two of us can.
This morning was more eventful than the feast. Rajani decided to show up for breakfast and make demands at Oberon. Apologizing for what happened to Renee, restoring Rennee to her former glory, and handing over Elmdor to her. He didn't want anything to do with that and opted to go to war instead. Now to do some reading...
The food at the feast was good, as usual, but more importantly the family was together once again. There wasn't as much tension as the last time we were all together. Of course, we were all fighting each other then, but I still expected more ill feelings to arise. There was a few raised voices and a flipped table, but that was it. I expected some type of fight to go down. Maybe a fist fight or a clash of swords... I guess eight years was long enough to cool off for most of them. The biggest surprise was meeting the new members of the family. I was the youngest for forty years. Now there's Anna Lee, Dream, Lilu, Winter, and now Mom's pregnant too... maybe I'll stick around for a few years to get to know them.
Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:42 am
