The Search for Kathea, A Leap Into Genocide

      The Search for Kathea, A Leap Into Genocide

     Iriisii, Dettlaff, and Iriisii's 'War' mount begin the process of merging into one, just what they will become, remains to be seen. The process itself and those engaging in it determine what they become, be it something from the far past, the future, even something from a parallel reality. This time it is from this reality's far distant past. Something truly disturbing is coming to be once more, but this task, killing all life in this world. Even for the best of reasons is still a horrible thing, and requires something equally horrible to accomplish it.

     "Look they are somehow merging, becoming something, but what?"

     "I was concerned about us surviving this battle after seeing what they did against the city.

Now, I know we are in deep, only the most powerful can do what they are doing. And judging from what I am seeing, it is a great pity they could not be turned."

     "Why would you want to turn them? Look at them!"

     "I know, but what Wamphyri they would make! Where could they lead us? How much could we experience with ones like these at the front? It would be a whole new existence! Now about to be gone, wiped from reality", looking up at the Fortress and its island floating in the sky. "I wonder if he is watching, if so let that which is about to happen to serve as his warning, for they will be coming for him next."

     "BY ALL THE NETHER GODS OF THE ABYSS! WHAT IS THAT?!"

     "It does not matter what it is, it is here and so are we. If the only songs sung of this battle are in the deepest bowels of the Abyss then so be it! WAMPHYRI, WE RIDE!"

     As the being that was once Iriisii, her War mount, and Dettlaff, see the Wamphyri leaders going to their 'flyers', they stretch themselves into their newfound body, explore its capabilities, reading what it is within its deepest core, and store this within their memories. From the deepest of those memories come scenes of an epic battle where the last of these was defeated and for a while at least, peace reigned in their Reality.

     "Why this beast? What does this mean about us that we can bring such as this back?"

     "It means that we share both light and dark within us, that we can use whatever we require of both to do what we must. Genocide is one of the darkest things, some call it 'Evil', but is it truly 'Evil' to cleanse this Reality of the Wamphyri? I say with clear eyes, it is 'intent' that rules whether an action or a being is Good or Evil. We do not do this for pleasure, glory, gold, or all the other reasons heroes and villains tell themselves they are acting as they do.

     We have a simple overriding reason for what we do this day, to save the uncounted lives that would be lost and damned if we fail. It is not noble, mighty, or any of those other delusional ideas that we do this. It is because it is necessary."

     'I see that you have learned what it was, that I thought, as I planned my actions to force the rebuilding of Mundus. Yet you showed me even then there were other paths that I could have taken.'

     "Perhaps there are, but if so, I cannot see them now to know if they are better. We must always accept and deal with what we know, at the time we must act. Otherwise, nothing would ever be accomplished, and the future dies without ever, blooming."

     'I accept your premise. And so battles are fought, and War never ends. War and Peace, neither ever gains the upper hand other the other, all have their time in the sun with the other ever waiting in the wings to take its place. So it must be, you have taught me well this day. Had I succeeded in my plans, war, battles, fighting would still have eventually come, I see that now. And you know it deep inside yourself, even after you reach the pinnacle. There will still be War waiting to tear down what you have built.'

     "That is how our Reality was built, the only way to ensure it keeps growing, never becoming stagnant. For War is a tool of Chaos, and Chaos is 'change' at its core. And change is needed to feed life. Maybe the Gray Paths can find other ways to make our Reality work. Perhaps that is why it exists, to try something different. But the Wamphyri are a failed path and so they must fall to the wayside, yet never be forgotten so that this path never again be trodden."

     The merge is complete. What stands outside the city waiting for the Wamphyri Elders was at one time the very definition of horror. It stands twenty feet tall, for now, standing on two legs, capable of going down on four. Its skin has characteristics similar to dragons, but the similarity ends there, for it is tougher than a dragon's heart scales. Its head is a writhing mass of venomous serpents, with eyes of total black buried behind those serpents.

     In fact, it is those eyes that are the weapon that is feared the most, for the legends of the medusa, basilisk, and others capable of turning flesh to stone had their beginnings with this beast. But the eyes of this beast can do more than turn flesh to stone, it can draw the soul of its prey into itself through them and devour it. It can absorb all magical attacks and channel that energy through those eyes.

     And those serpents can spit corrosive venom very accurately, venom for which now no antivenin exists. Its claws are tipped with bone spikes that can rip through the toughest armor and shred it. All of its teeth are like daggers, but with a double row on top and bottom. Its tail is long and dexterous, tipped with a bone spike, it can be used to curl around a victim and impale them from behind.

     But perhaps most deadly is its mind, its instincts honed to needle sharpness, this beast has access to weapons unimaginable to what it used before it became extinct. To think what it can do with those weapons now, thank all the Gods in this Reality, that once this battle is over this beast will pass as well.

     "They come. The time has come to sound the death knell of the Wamphyri, destroy them utterly. The death of these Elders will grab all other Wamphyri on this world and drag them down as well."

     As the 'fliers' with the Elders mounted come into range, the 'Beast' that is Iriisii lets loose, a primal scream that causes the very air to take a charge of power. This power is from a time before Dovahzul came to be quantified, its Rotmulag identified and formulated into words. It is power at its most raw expression, but it is still deadly and destructive even so.

     The fliers are hit hard as they try to keep their balance in the turbulence of the advanced wave. When the main wave hits, they fail to stay airborne, some of the Elders even feel their mounts come apart and disintegrate into ash under them. Those are able to morph their bodies into something that can glide down to the ground. They reach the ground, only to feel the thundering footsteps of 'Iriisii' bearing down on them, most barely able to keep their footing and move out of her way, as she targets the ones still on the ground.

     She reaches the first and it sees only the shadow of her clawed foot as it comes down and crushes it totally into a slimy paste, body, and leech, it does not even have time to scream. The next does have time to scream its last as it follows its brother into death. At that time more Wamphyri come from the lands just beyond the city, 'Iriisii' answers this with another scream, this one reaching into the depths of sound below normal hearing.

     The skies answer her call with the rapid roiling of dark, power-laden clouds, blotting out the wan dusk of sunlight. Then a blast of lightning drops down to the ground, but it does not flash out, but instead begins to walk. More drop and walk toward the Wamphyri, as a walking bolt engulfs one and it becomes ash in an instant. More are turned to ash, and the survivors quit the field, unable to deal with an enemy that cannot be attacked.

     But then the survivors stop, fold over, cringe, and cry out in deep pain as the power reacts to the toxic mist, causing the survivors to mutate and morph. They become something totally different than what they were. Some form into a variant of a wolf, huge dire wolves, yet they know fear and begin running. Others take other forms, phase beasts, armored scorpions, large furless bats. And the Wamphyri fliers that survived and landed, grow into large leathery bags of gas, lowering thin tentacles as they rise into the turbulent air.

     An unfortunate wolf brushes against a few of the tentacles, they wrap around the wolf as he howls in pain. He is drawn up to the gas bag, being digested as he rises. Once the gas bag is done, the bones it cannot digest are allowed to drop back down to the ground, and it goes in search of another meal.

     The waters of the streams become a leaden gray, the fish swimming in them mutating into horrible masses of teeth and fins. As one of the scorpions is lured to the water's edge by a movement just under the surface, a long snout filled with teeth jumps from the water and latches on to the scorpion's head dragging it slowly back to the edge of the water. It almost escapes until a tentacle whose suckered underside exposes the claws within each round mound of flesh, latches onto the scorpion's body, and drags it into the waiting feeding frenzy turning the water into a churning, bloody whirlpool.

     Aleytys and Freya watch the events unfold with equal parts awe, dismay, horror, sometimes not understanding what is happening or why.

     "How can this be? What has my mother become? Freya?"

     "I do not know either, this is something no one I have ever dealt with has spoken of, not Hermaeus Mora, Mehrunes Dagon, not even Molag Bal. I have never seen or heard of what this is. Ask the 'Judgment Seat'."

     "There is no name recorded for what it is. It is perhaps older than time itself."

     "How can anything be older than 'time'?"

     "When it comes from a place where 'time' as we know it holds no sway."

     "Correct. It was somehow either brought or dropped into the Reality that you share with the events shown."

     "Wait! This we are seeing is from the far past? But I saw Kathea!"

     "This is the 'Gray Paths', time here is not viewed or experienced in the same way you see or experience it."

     "Explain please."

     "In your Reality, you see and experience it as linear, like unto a river flowing. In fact, that is exactly how 'Iriisii' sees it when she looks into the streams. But here in the 'Gray Paths', she saw it as floating islands cast adrift into space. Some circling others, circling still others, in a complex dance. Each island represents a segment of time, connected to the others through the 'dance' itself. Thus one who sees in this fashion can be in one segment while seeing and effecting change in another.

     Both are equally true within the construct of your reality, it is how you view it that determines how you interact with it. This is the premise behind how she has been able to do seemingly impossible things. Constructing bridges between the past viewed within memory or dreams with that same past in Reality, and actions in one affecting the other, just as she has done here, and the one within the Fortress she must face."

     "You mean 'he' that has Kathea can do the same thing Iriisii can do with 'time'?"

     "Not to the same extent, his understanding is not as deep as hers is, this is where she has the advantage, and why he wishes to possess and understand her. To learn what she knows and how she does it. This must be kept from him at all costs, even though she is his greatest nemesis, should he find a way to bring her to his side, all that exists, in all Realities, in all pasts and futures, will be theirs to command."

     Aleytys turns to Freya, "I do not know what is between you and my mother, truthfully, I do not want to know. But this must take precedence over anything else until it is resolved. This goes far above any petty differences."

     "Due to my nature, and as much as it pains me to admit it, you are correct in your assessment. Literally, everything hangs on how this plays out. As a Daedra, I seek power and authority over others in my own way, but if this goes wrong...if this goes wrong, everything is gone. I would not even have the hope of escaping this by dying and reconstituting back in Oblivion, for it would follow me even there eventually. No, I will put aside my differences with your mother, at least until this is decided. Afterward, I will decide my future based on what comes then."

     "It is agreed then, but what happened to change the Wamphyri into...whatever they are now?"

     "Did you see the lightning bolts walk? I have heard of this, they are energy elementals and the energy they emit is known to cause severe mutations. The Wamphyri were already able to morph and shift change their bodies because of the leech living within them. The mutating energy was quickened by this, and the toxic mist was added to this mix. Well, you see what resulted."

     "Wait! Look! The fortress is lowering back down to the ground. It is landing where the hole was when it first lifted. Does 'he' plan on coming out?"

     "No, see! Watch the walls around the fortress. They seem to be growing taller! Yes! Whatever he is doing is causing the walls to extend upward. I would say he intends to stay in the fortress and needed to bring it down for some reason. By making the walls higher, he increases the security they provide. We will have to see what your mother intends, to draw him out, or come back another time."

     They watch as 'Iriisii' separates back into herself, her 'War' mount, and Dettlaff, who seems a bit dazed at what occurred. Iriisii gets him on her 'War' mount and leads them as she opens a portal. Aleytys and Freya both look around for the portal to show, and then it opens about ten feet away. As Iriisii leads her mount with Dettlaff through, Aleytys hurries to the mount and helps Dettlaff come down on his feet, then placing an arm over her shoulder, she walks him to a chair to allow him to relax and get his senses back.

     Iriisii is leading her 'War' mount over out of the way and keeping an eye on Freya as well.

     "Your daughter and I have talked a bit while watching the events unfold. We have agreed that all other matters between us must be set aside until this issue with 'him' is resolved. There is too much at stake to take a single chance that anything between us could cause 'him' to succeed."

     Iriisii stops and thinks over what Freya has said. 'While Freya is Daedra to her core, she does realize what could happen and what it would mean to her own survival. She will abide by what she has said until this is settled. Then the two of you can settle your own issues however you may.'

     "All right, I will take you at your word. But cross me on this, and what life you have until you suffer true death, will make the suffering experienced in the deep Abyss, seem paltry to what I will put you through."

     Freya shudders just a bit before nodding her head in agreement.

     "Mother, what happened down there? Why did everything go sideways?"

     "I truly do not know, but I will be thinking about it. There was influence from somewhere, where or from whom, I have no idea. But I do think it has some bearing on future events. I will be returning but in the time we consider to be our 'present'. For now, we still must make sense of what is going on here in the 'Gray Paths'."

     "I spoke a bit to the 'Judgment Seat' while watching you, he said you were in the far past. When I asked how that could be, since we all saw Kathea as well, he explained to Freya and me. What he said may help you as well."

     "What did he say?"

     "Simply that 'time' is not a fixed construct. It exists yes, we feel its effects as we live, yes, but how it is viewed can be variable. You have seen it as a river that you describe as streams joining into that river. But what you saw when you first arrived, the islands floating and circling each other, that too is a viable representation of 'time'. That particular view explains how you have done some of the things you have done with 'time' that others can not understand how you have accomplished. Going into very old memories, changing events within them, and having those changes manifest in reality. The 'bridging' you spoke of, that is possible by viewing 'time' as it exists here in the 'Gray Paths'."

     "That does make sense to me. Some of the things I have spoken of and listened to from the 'Quantum Lords' mirror what you have just said. They spoke of how all forms of reality can be changed simply by the act of observing it if it is done within the proper scale."

     "Scale, what do you mean?"

     "You have to look within, that is as close as I can come to it. Take this stone, for instance, it seems solid to you, your sight, touch, all of your senses tell you it is solid. Yet if you look deeply enough within it, you will begin to see its smallest parts and more importantly, the spaces between those parts. When you can see just a single one of those parts, simply by observing it, you can change its properties, how it behaves, reacts. Watch this."

     Iriisii takes the stone back from Aleytys, places it on the table, and using her deep sight, delves down into it. When she reaches the point where she can look at it from the quantum state, she starts with a single part. Visualizing it separating from its brothers and flying off. This starts a chain reaction as all of the others begins doing the same.

     Back in the macrostate, Aleytys sees the stone begin to crumble until it is now powder instead of a solid stone. When Iriisii once more returns to the macrostate, Aleytys looks at her dumbfounded. "You can do this?"

     "Yes, but it is something not to be done lightly. Total and complete control must be exercised or there would be no stopping it. I do not do this in battles, or other situations, because of the complete attention that it requires. Also, a clear end goal must be kept in mind for the entire process or the results could be beyond catastrophic."

     "Listen to her carefully, young one, she speaks true. It is also one of the fundamental forces of Creation, of how it all came into being seemingly from the nothing of the void. It is how it starts, there is much more to how it can be used to create everything from a simple stone to a complete Reality. Once you know how all that you wish to create works in harmony with itself, then it becomes possible.

     Your mother is on the path to this place of being. Perhaps it will also be open to you as well, one day in the future, should you wish to pursue it."

     Both of them turn quickly to see who spoke. It is then they see a tall hooded figure walk out of the shadowy mists into view.

     "And you are?"

     "You may refer to me as, Aloi."

     "May I ask as to why you are here, with us."

     "I came to assist you in the elevation of my 'son'. Since you are also his mate and helped him begin this journey, you are also family."

     "Your...son? You were the one who touched his forebears long ago, causing them to become as they are now!"

     "Yes, it was I who did this, although I had no inkling that the action I took would change them in the way that it did. As the Gods of Eld did to your forebears to save the lives of your people, so too did I do the same for my adherents. Their history no longer recounts what happened that this action was needed to take place to save them.

     They were already well on the 'Gray Path' by then, and the one you seek found them and attempted to conquer them. They resisted 'his' efforts so well that 'he' gave up and instead swore to destroy them if 'he' could not have them. He created and released a plague upon them, a plague you know as the Wamphyrie."

     "But why?"

     "He felt if he could not possess them as they are, he would change them into a form he could possess. They fought, hard and valiantly, many times their greatest warriors sacrificing themselves to allow those weaker to escape. But as they fell, they became what they fought and swelled 'his' ranks.

     The last of them gathered upon the one place denied to those who fell, the Temple Mountain."

     "I...know of that place, my mother told me of it when I was but a boy. My father took me there before I was forced to leave, I do not remember what happened."

     "It was there, that the Oracles pronounced your Destiny, of who you could become, of what you might do, should certain events unfold, as they indeed have. When the last of your people gathered and prayed, they did so unceasingly for days with no response."

     "Did you not hear them?"

     "Yes, I did, but I could not help them without going to them in my physical form. And I could not open the path from my side, only they could do that."

     "A sacrifice of blood! I remember now, a sacrifice of blood had to be given to show the depth of their need, the power contained within such a sacrifice would work to open a door by which you could come through."

     "Yes, such is true and still is. I did not make that requirement, it had been in existence long before I ascended."

     "Wait, you did not come into being as a God? You ascended from mortality to Godhood?"

     "Yes, that process works no matter what path you follow. And so, each who survived, from the youngest to the oldest, shed a small part of their blood in sacrifice and it was poured into the 'Everlasting Chalice'. Once done, their prayers opened the 'Gray Gate' and I was allowed to go through. I did as only I could do, shed my own blood into the chalice and gave it back to them to drink of it.

     It changed them, to this day, I believe it was the 'Chalice' itself that determined what would happen. These 'Artifacts' have come into a life and mind of their own, thankfully there are only a few that exist. As I said, they changed into the form they hold today, the change in their blood and bodies became proof against the leeches' invasion. They could not gain entrance into their bodies, and the few that managed it, died quickly, consumed by the blood that coursed through them now.

     The fighting was still terrible, but another change the 'Chalice' made came forth, the 'Beast'. This gave them what they needed to survive and win against the Wamphyri. For their 'bite' was now toxic to the leech within, and over time the Wamphyrie fell, never to rise again on that world.

     When it was apparent 'he' had lost a second time, he gathered what remained of his Wamphyri and left. The world you just came from was where he landed upon. It was also inhabited, but they had no defenses against 'his' Wamphyri, and so they became as you saw them. And now you have come and denied 'him' his army, this being the second time."

     "What do you think he is going to do now?"

     "He has already begun by spreading the Wamphyri plague among your enemies, using agents posing as traders in exotic goods. He hopes it will spread quickly and begin to draw more and more of your attention away from dealing with what you call the 'Ravenous Darkness'."

     "What could he possibly want with that thing. From what I have learned of it, there is no way he could control it, and it would possibly turn on him, for what purpose I can not imagine. Of course!! The prison I intend to build for it could also be used against 'him', and might actually be capable of holding 'him'. If I am kept busy with other things, he can work to circumvent my building and testing one."

     "You are indeed as quick as we suspected. It honors me to call you, daughter. But we do need to assist my 'son' with the process you began in him with the 'Catalyst'. He needs to become aware of his 'future' and his choices for one as you did. We will act for him as the 'Kel' acted for you. For he must choose first between a future alone or one with you, if he then chooses among those with you, that you both can agree upon. Where this will lead, I have no idea. I simply know that it must be done this way."

     "I believe the 'Oracles' told this to you?"

     "Yes, they did. Not the living ones, but the ones who have passed from mortality, the 'Oracles of the Soul'. Only in the most important and critical of matters do they speak, and I have never seen them wrong. They speak of you very favorably, of you and my 'son', they say this process must be performed for the greatest of the possible futures to have a strong chance to become reality."

     "I do not know how much belief to put into what 'Oracles' say, not knowing where their visions come from. But I do agree, the ritual must be completed for Dettlaff to have a chance to become what he may become. I certainly will not deny him that chance, even if it parts us, for I want what is best for him, regardless."

     "Then let us begin."

     Iriisii and Aloi go to Dettlaff, each on one side of him. As they touch him, their minds are transported outside, back to what Iriisii first saw when she entered the 'Gray Paths'. Now, she can see even deeper into the complex dance the islands are engaged in. And she begins to see the pattern inside it, moreover, how each and every 'island' can be touched by any other one, thus any moment in time is accessible from any other moment in time.

     "You see the 'dance' my daughter, its light shines forth from your eyes. Share with Dettlaff, what you see, that he knows as well and can begin the task of sorting.          

     "Dettlaff, my love, can you see with your mind's eye, the relationship between moments that I see?"

     "Yes, it becomes clearer as you speak. What is it that I must look for?"

     "That is for you to decide, cast your mind's net out there, thinking of what kind of future you want, not just nearby in time but far out after all we are working toward is done."

     As he does as Iriisii bids him and begins to see lines touching, holding onto specific islands, once he has several, Iriisii shows him how to go to each one and see what is in each path if he takes that one.

     Slowly he decides on each one, casting them aside. Most are nothing special, a few show him heights he has never dreamed of reaching, others show him failing and falling, either to ignominy or true death.

     "Do not worry, we will help you see how to go through them more quickly, for now, you need to see how they are different from each other. Then we will look at common threads among those you cast away, you will be able to pick only those threads you have not experienced, letting the others go."

     It does go more quickly, even as it did for her under the guidance of the Kel, and when she helped Rigmor go through hers. Then he has hold of only a few of the ones showing his singular Destiny alone. Then they tackle the ones where Iriisii and the others are involved as well as himself. These need more scrutiny to determine if they are appropriate to consider or not.

Some of them even draw blushes from her at some of the things they show, but they do find ways to separate them and so begin to bring the sheer numbers down.

     Then he holds one in each hand, one alone, one not. And he looks to Iriisii, for advice.

     "I am a strong component in the one you hold in your right hand. I cannot offer unbiased advice on it, and I will not offer anything on the other. This must be your decision and yours alone. I will be satisfied with either as long as it is what you want. Take as much time as you need to consider which one is right for you. I will wait."

     He keeps looking and comparing both together, to see where the points are that differentiate them from each other, looking to see where it is that the two go so far apart and why, what decision had to be made, what happened that either broke them apart or caused them to come together even more strongly. There it is, the defining moment, the key he needs to unlock. He watches everything unfold, doing his best to understand what happened, why did it happen, what were his choices, why did he choose either way, and the consequences of that choice.

     Then he looks ahead, down each path, looking to see what his life will be like on either one. He still can not decide, because of the decision of crux, when he decides which way to go, that causes these two paths to separate. He does not understand why the event that becomes the crux happens, he sees and understands the outcome of it. But he fails to see how it comes about, and why it happens when he felt he was making the right decision only to find himself alone.

     "Aloi, you need to go into that crux with him. Let him experience both sides, and then maybe clarity will come to him. I am too close to it for me to be objective. And I do not want to sway him to either one."

     "I understand. Come my 'son', let us enter in as observers and see closer what transpires."