The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into Souls And Circuses

 The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into Souls And Circuses

      All have been made ready in the time it took to think of it. The arena shares a much smaller physical footprint with a virtual footprint that extends into dimensions that fold over themselves in ways that defy even quantum physics to describe. The end result is a near-endless arena height where each seat appears to be right on the lowest edge level. Everyone gets the best seat in the house.

     The rest of her mates have all come through, even the children, youngest, and oldest are here. They know something momentous is going to happen, just not what. Aleytys however has read the tea leaves and sees the preparations. She knows a precipitous fight is going to happen, but something else, maybe more than one something is going to happen. And the anxious excitement is very contagious.

     "They might as well see this now because it is better they know exactly what happens with their own eyes and senses than listen to what is going to be said without the context of actually witnessing it."

     "I am not arguing the point, you know that."

     "Yes, I do, so what is the point you are trying to make?"

     "You are exposing them to every living being in Creation!"

     "And they are not targets now? This way, all those who see this will know who they are. But they will also know what I will go through to defend them, not just them, but you as well. They would have to gauge the price they would pay to do anything to them and truly know I would have no mercy."

     "You are right, it is just they are still children."

     "I know, they did not ask for this. None of us did, truth be told, but here we are anyway. You know this must happen, as visceral as it is likely to be. Maybe if it can deter even one attempt on them, it will be worth it."

     "You are right, we cannot always have things neat and tidy. Sometimes we have to get dark and bloody, in order that others can have the neat and tidy."

     "All right it is near time. Let us get everyone to their places."

     After everyone is seated, Iriisii and Dettlaff walk out into the arena field. "Time to get this started. Dometrius it is all yours now."

     "Thank you." As he turns to where a virtual camera can see and transmit all that he does and says. "Harken to me, citizens of this the third Creation. And yes, the myths and stories you have heard about and dreamed of are in fact true. But welcome to the first virtual arena battle ever to be broadcast to all the universes of Creation. This will be a 'High Duel', a duel between Gods. And I know many of you feel there are no Gods. But as we are here, now, I cannot explain in any other fashion how this could be done.

     I was given a personal tour, through the 'Hall of Remembrance' being built and added to each day by Shai-Hulu'ud himself. Many of you know nothing of him, many more know him well. If you find yourself wanting to know more about what brought this battle on, then go there and walk through. Experience what has been done there, I promise you will never forget it. But with a 'High Duel', the stakes are nothing less than that the life, soul, memories, all that is the loser will be consumed by the winner. There is no backing down, no backing out. If one does, they are branded a coward and marked as a target for any who wish to hunt them.

     Make no mistake, this will be brutal. Despite the pomp and grandeur of this setting, this is not for entertainment. This is to show you a part of what is out there that you may not have known about. This is about matters of far greater importance than a grudge duel to the death.

     More on this later, for there will be more for you to witness. Events collide into cruxes, and if the Fates do exist, know they will be watching and possibly the fate of all creation, and for certain the direction we go in the future will be decided here today.

     This is an epic battle, for these two have fought before, long ago in the past. The Challenged was losing and his minions grabbed him and ran. The Victor stands here with me, for one more try at him. This time as I have said, this is a 'High Duel', and only one will walk away alive. The Challenged is in his ship among a fleet above this world, soon to be ported down here to face the Challenger one...last...time.

     The Challenged is a Demogorgon! Ah, I see you know of whom I speak, you know of the depredations his kind have committed everywhere they go. But now there is one to stand against them, one that can meet them with fury and power of her own. I give you now, the Challenger, you have heard of her, now meet her in the flesh, Iriisii Dovahkiin!"

     The cheer rolling through from the virtual arena threatens to disperse everything. But she reaches out and absorbs the power within the voices. Above, the ships, they feel the change that is happening.

     "What is happening, the instruments are going crazy!"

     "The main computer is analyzing, the results are...contradictory, this cannot be true."

     "What is not true?"

     "Better to see for yourself Captain, there is a feed we can tap into."

     "Do it, now!"

     They tap into the virtual feed and catch the dialogue of Dometrius as he explains what is about to happen. The blood drains from the faces of every Wraith on the Control Bridge, as the meaning of what is going on settles in. There is muttering going on among the crew. 

     "Shut your traps! Do want 'him' to hear or see you like this, you know what he will do!"

     "Someone has to inform him of this and it will not be me!"

     The rest of the crew quickly agrees and says the same.

     "I will do it from here, maybe by the time he makes it up here, they will port him off."

     The Captain first opens a spy eye in the room the Demogorgon is occupying, what he sees sends tremors up and down his spine. He has seen more than his share of horrific scenes, even participated in some when expected to by Royalty. But what he sees through that spy eye goes beyond anything he has ever seen before. Then he gets a look at the Demogorgon himself and decided he has seen enough. Tough action is now called for, as he shuts down the spy eye. The 'Bridge' crew looked at him expectantly.

     He then eschews using the intercom system and activates the emergency text system. a procedure put in place to issue orders when an enemy can tap into the audio on board the ship. 'Attention all hands, this is the Captain, you are hereby ordered to quietly make your way to the emergency exiting craft and leave the ship. You will be picked up by the closest ship in the fleet. I am ordering all ships to evacuate the area and go wherever you can agree on a destination.

     Do not tarry, gather whatever personnel you can from the emergency craft and go quickly. May the Elders understand the actions I take this day and hold none of you accountable. Captain off.'

     The Captain looks at his 'Bridge' crew who have not moved. "Go, all of you, go now, this is my last order to you." As the 'Bridge' crew gets up and moves for the hatchway, the First Officer looks to the Captain, who answers the unspoken question. "This is my ship, and I live or die aboard her. This is the duty and oath I took when I became Captain. All of you are absolved of your oaths by my word, I accept all repercussions of my action this day. Now go, and pray to the Gods of the Darkness to watch over you." The First Officer nods his head and quickly leaves the Captain alone on the Bridge.

     From the deep shadows a lithe figure arises, something gets the Captain's attention and he turns his head to see the cloaked and shadowed figure standing off to the side. At first, he assumes this is one of the 'Shadows' that the Royal house employs as their troubleshooters, but then he thinks, no, this one is something else entirely.

     He rises up to approach, as he stands before the figure, it pulls back its hood just enough for the Captain to catch its eyes. He reacts to what he sees almost instantly. Dropping to his knees, he bows his head, awaiting judgment from an 'Agent of the Dark Ones'. When no blade or garrote takes his life, he looks up to see the agent looking down at him. Then a low, slithering voice speaks.

     "The Dark Ones have seen your actions today and know as well why you have decided what you did. Ordinarily, you would be dead and your soul would be taken as punishment for your deeds. But they are aware of what is going on in the whole of Creation, and it does not sit well with them that so much deception from others has been directed toward them and to the races that they are responsible for.

     You have followed the suggestions of those even the 'Dark Ones' must answer to and so have passed beyond their ability to judge you. Leave this ship in orbit above this world, and prepare to meet she who will stand against what the Demogorgon has become, for he has passed into 'abomination', and all hands of Dark, as well as Light, will be raised against him. If she below offers you service, accept it, and know you follow the path laid out for you. If she does not, then go where you will, do what you will, and if ever you are needed once more, you will be called.

     A 'door' forms on the 'Bridge', a door that opens, and beyond he sees the scene as he saw when his crew tapped into the information feed coming from below. He sees she who the 'agent' spoke to him about, with her arm outstretched toward him, beckoning him to come through. He then moves quickly even as he hears the screeching of talons digging into the sealed hatch closing the Bridge from the rest of the ship. He steps through the door and into the field below, the risers of the virtual arena rising above him and beyond even his sight. The 'door' he came through is closed and vanishes even as he hears the total cry of rage coming from the other side. He approaches her called Iriisii Dovahkiin, with one he recognizes as a High Vampire standing close by her.

     "The Balance called unto me to bring you here and thus save your life, as you saved the lives of your crew, and thus you have proven your worth as a Captain, though now without a ship."

     "My crew is alive and safely on their way to other places. What was the Demogorgon is still aboard and I care not what happens to him after what I saw."

     "It must have been truly horrific for a Wraith to disown?. "

     "It was, I have seen horrible things before, even participated when ordered to by the Royalty I served, but what I saw earlier, there is no comparison."

     Dettlaff nods his head at the honesty of the Captain's words. He looks to Iriisii and says, 'your call, your choice."

     "Will you take service with me this day, until such time as you either die in battle or I release you?

     "Gladly will I accept service with you, My Goddess."

     "Then so be it, I have need of a Captain for a ship that has come into my service. It was once a 'Battlecruiser' of a noble name, now fallen far from what it once was. I have had the ship refitted and the old crew is waiting on one to lead it into battle once more. I believe that one to be you. You will have time to make the crew yours. I look forward to seeing what you can do with it. Succeed in this, and it will become the flagship of my 'Dark Fleet' and you will be its Admiral."

     She then opens another 'door' onto the plain, at her command the 'door' opens and he sees a behemoth of a Battlecruiser. As he looks over and through the 'door', a memory of something he once caught a glimpse of in an ancient training film explodes in his mind. He turns and looks at Iriisii in astonishment.

     "That cannot be...can it? They were all thought destroyed millennia ago!"

     "This one survived, although its original crew did not. Over time the interfaces were all replaced but the core of it and its weapons still remain. Although the crew on it now does not know what it is that they sail on, you do. You know what it once was and can be again, you can bring it back, resurrect it from the grave of forgetfulness. Let it strike fear once more in the very souls of its enemies. Will you do this in my name? Will you accept and become the Captain of the last of the Imperial Battlecruisers of the Tar-Aiym Fleet?! The most feared ships that ever crossed the spaces of Creation."

     "In your name, this I will do or die in the trying."

     "Then go, Captain, go through that 'door' and lay claim to your new command."

     The Captain then straightens himself, his spine stiff as a ramrod as he walks to the door, even as the scene within shifts to the 'Bridge' of his new 'Command', and the 'Bridge' crew watch as he steps through, walks to the 'Command Chair' and takes full possession of it and the ship around him. The 'door' closes and fades from view.

     Iriisii looks to the spectators, "You have just witnessed the beginning of the formation of my 'Dark Fleet', the fleet that will stand against the forces of absolute evil. You see that I make no distinction between 'Light' and 'Dark', for we stand against absolute Evil and absolute Good. They have abrogated their duties and allowed the Realms of Creation to become unbalanced. And that unchallenged, unchecked, would cause the ultimate destruction of this Creation as it did twice before.

     Now you know my role in this. I am to bring balance back into Creation, to stop the slide into destruction, to stop the one who desires that destruction, who wants all to return to the void that once was, and in which he dwelled. When the time comes that I have defeated his minions and all that is left is him, then I will cast his name out for all to hear and know who the enemy truly is."

     Before she begins the next step, she looks up to where her family sits to remind herself why she is doing this. She sees her mates and her children. Kintyra is holding Sotyoldovah, the baby somehow knowing this is her sister, is consuming all of the attention Kintyra is giving her, along with that of her brothers, Ragnar and Darius, both of who have been studying and training with the Blade Dancers. Aleytys is holding on to Kallekiiraaz, both seeming to feel the dragon heritage they both share, strong in both of them. Iriisii feels the upwelling of emotion as she watches them, happy that they all care for one another, yet sorrowful for what they must witness about the capabilities of their mother.

     She turns back to Dettlaff, "time to let my 'beast' go, although somehow I feel it is time for her to choose her name at last. And although I have no idea what she will choose, I feel it is one of great consequence." Dettlaff nods his head, knowing there is nothing to be said that can change what is about to happen.

     Iriisii pulls herself inward and gives her body over to her 'beast'. As her beast comes forward, Iriisii's body changes, her skin grows darker, her hair grows long and winds into twin braids that hide needle points within. She grows a few more inches in height, and her balance point moves lower. Her fingertips grow long razor-sharp talons, even as the body's muscles realign tighter and deeper. Her eyes, once deep violet, grow to total black, and her fangs slide out and then are retracted. She feels an almost overwhelming need to shout her name, but she has not yet chosen one when Iriisii's dragon soul whispers a name into 'Beast's' ear.

     The name takes hold of her and empowers her like nothing has before. She has never heard it before, but instinctively knows it represents power, the power that she herself reflects. She looks at the spectators that have watched the change come over her with rapt attention. Then she looks upward to the stars and gathers her voice, pulling the Thu'um into it as well, she shouts, "I AM KALI'MAH!" With that pronouncement, swirls of dark clouds form overhead then black lightning bolts strike the ground, one after another, hitting the same spot. Until a column of black lightning stands, and from that column slowly walks an insanely beautiful figure. Her race is unknown, unknowable, indescribable.

     She looks up and outward, seeing everything and somehow not caring that all of Creation is watching. She calls out, her voice like soft silk, but covering a deadly edge, "who calls and lays claim to the name of Kali'mah?"

     "I do!"

     Kali'mah looks to 'Beast' with great interest.

     "Perhaps at last one has come to claim my name that is truly worthy of it. Why do you call out that name and what is the price you are willing to pay to join yourself to the power that is the name of Kali'mah?"

     "I have until now only known the name of 'Beast'. I would be the first of my kind to know a 'name' of my own!" 

     "I see you now, you share the body of one with great power, one who still reaches higher and higher. You came into her as a gift given as the price of shared blood. So be it! You intend to battle what was a Demogorgon but now is something else entirely. An abomination in the sight of all who share the spark of divinity whether 'dark' or 'light'.

     Fight this abomination, defeat it, kill it, take its head as your trophy, your rightful due. And give unto me its heart as a sacrifice and I will give you not only the name you lay claim to but that which you want more than anything else. For if you can do as I ask, you will deserve such a reward."

     "And what reward do I desire more than anything else?"

     The figure smiles, "a body to call your own. A body fit for what you can become, fit to carry the name that is Kali'mah. A name not heard, nor a body seen since the First Creation. For I am but a forgotten dream, a dream that desires to awaken once more. What is your answer, my child? Will you accept my offer?"

     "I do."

     "Then all that is left is for you to face your opponent." The 'dream' of Kali-mah, reaches out a hand and gestures to a spot a short distance away. A dark, vaporous mist forms and swirls from the ground and rises. From the mist that which was once the Demogorgon, now an Abomination, steps forth, looks around, and spots the lithe dark form of 'Beast'. He snarls as foamy saliva drips from his fanged mouth. 'Beast' assumes a low hunter stance, not giving this 'thing' even a chance to claim the role.

     It slowly steps toward her. It wants to leap, slam her to the ground, rip her belly open, bury its mouth in her organs and eat its fill. But to do this, it must not attack carelessly. This opponent is not weak, not fearful, no, this opponent is hungry.

     They circle each other, oblivious to the reactions of the spectators, their whole focus is only on each other. Then the Abomination strikes out just a bit ahead of where she is now. His claws, still bloody from the slaves he ripped apart aboard the ship, can only grab air, as she sidesteps. His body screamed out to her what it intended to do a scant second before he moved.

     She wanted to counter, to draw first blood, but better to wait, lure him into a better position, she is only going to get one chance to rip him up and she needs to make sure it is her best chance. He lunges again, this time she leaps over him, drawing a single talon down his back, opening a line of foul stinking blood from shoulder to hip.

     She almost gags at the smell of his blood, what happened to turn it so bad. Then the answer hits her, Wamphyri! He has taken the leech, and this is the result. If the blood were not so foul, she would have taunted him by licking it from the talon, instead, she flings it to the ground and spits on the spot. His rage escalates as a bellow escapes his mouth. Ah, yes, the leech amplifies his emotions, anger, and rage is my answer for him. Increase his rage, taunt him till he loses control of himself, then he will be mine.

     They keep circling each other, each looking for weakness, for a drop in defense, but finding nothing. Beast has learned great patience from Iriisii and from Darkstar, patience will be the key to unlocking his rage. He moves in spurts, lunges, and leaps. Beast simply moves out of his way, thus using less effort than he does. Then when he makes another lunge, and a foot slides too far out, she sees an opportunity to humiliate him. She slides to his side, down the length of him, reaching out with a taloned hand, she rakes those talons between his legs. Whatever he was wearing for armor is too weak to withstand those talons, so the metal parts, as does the flesh beneath. His howl is truly something to hear as the pain she caused him coupled with the humiliation ramps his rage to a level that causes his eyes to go red.

     Soon she thinks, just a little more. She continues to dodge and wait for an opening. She can almost smell one coming. There it is! She rakes her talons, all of them down his back as she slides over him once more. This time he rears up and screams, and she continues between his legs, slicing into his thighs. She pulls up in front of him and without hesitation shoves both hands, talons outstretched into his gut. Then rips her hands outward and upward, shredding his guts into a rain of blood and tissue.

     She sees the leech still holding to his spine exposed now that there are no organs to hide behind. She reaches in, grabs it, tosses it into the air, and slices it into tiny pieces. She then grits her resolve, shoves his head to one side, lunges, and drives her fangs into his neck. Letting as much of his blood as she can flow out of her mouth and onto the ground, she drinks his mind, memories, abilities, and his soul. Once there is nothing left, she rears back driving one hand up under his ribs, she rips his heart out, then using the other hand cuts his head from his body.  

     Stepping back she raises both hands up into the sky and shouts, "Kali'mah!! Blood and souls for Kali'mah!" The heart in one hand crumbles into ash, and the flesh from the head follows, leaving a clean shining skull.

     "Well done, child! You have proven yourself worthy to carry the name of 'Kali'mah' from this day forward. Soon your reward will be ready for you to claim. I will return to you with it when it is done."

     Kali'mah now slips back into the gestalt awareness that is Iriisii, and Iriisii herself comes back into the fore. Dometrius steps out to address the crowd.

     Now you have seen but one side of her who is Iriisii Dovahkiin. You have seen the fighter, the warrior, the combatant that fights for each and every one of you, defending you against the forces that would utterly destroy you. But now you will see another side of her, a side that many outside of her own family do not see. The side that knows love, knows passion and is willing to do what it takes to care for those under her wings. Will you, Illyria, mate to Iriisii Dovahkiin, please come down.

     I will not go into how the two of you came to know each other, it is enough that you have. That she redeemed your once lost soul and brought you back from where you wandered within your own mind. But you also have an innocent personality that you share your body with. Neither of you asked for what happened, sought it out, but it came looking for you. And cast you both aside as broken tools, uncaring. When what he wanted to do was in fact done, he left you to survive or not on your own.

     But Iriisii gave you both justice against the one who caused you to fall, and now she works to right the situation one more time and gives you both separate bodies, separate lives. I know it is a private matter, but I understand that after Desidarius is placed in her new body, Iriisii intends to ask her to join your family group in marriage?"

     "Yes, she does, we have all talked it over between us. She has never led us astray in something so personal. Each choice she has made has worked out splendidly, and we see no reason why it will not work out this time as well. We are all anxiously awaiting the ceremony to bring her into the family."

     "Uh, please excuse my ignorance of this, but you are all gods and goddesses, how does this work?"

     "Illyria smiles, it is really quite simple. All of us are now wed to each other under the 'Rites of the Mother of the Cosmos'. She has blessed our union both individually and as a group. We will simply ask of her to join Desidarius to us as an equal partner, no one above or below the others."

     "Well, then I see things are almost ready then."

     "One last unrelated item I should mention."

     "Uh, what may I ask will that be?"

     "I would just ask that all present stay for one final ceremony as witnesses to something that will be of great importance to the future. A guest is coming and is close by, she should be here after we are done and she has her own desire to be fulfilled. Again, this has no bearing on what we are about to do now, but it is the final component to a special reunion."

     Aleytys still holding Kallekiiraaz, looks over to her brother Darius. "You are somewhat disturbed by some of what you have seen?"

     "And you are not?"

     "I admit, I have had the benefit of seeing more of what is going on out there. Our mother stands between us and it for a reason, you know I have not always agreed with why she had to be the one. How many nights did I cry myself to sleep longing for her to hold me, comfort me from the nightmares I endured."

     "I know, I heard your cries, sometimes loud, sometimes so soft no one else knew but me."

     "And I know you would sit outside my door, guarding me against the night terrors."

     "Only it did not always work."

     "You still do not know how much your presence helped me deal with it. But hear me now, I was recently hunted by those who still fear the dragons of old."

     "And you have not told anyone? Why?"

     "It is my battle to fight, I must prove myself and not fear them. But rather show that they cannot control me, that I will live regardless of what they say or do. But I digress, they had me backed up against a rock cliff, too many to escape and run from."

     "What did you do?"

     "I did as mother asked us to do in times such as those, I called out to her in the vastness of Aetherius. Darius, she heard me!"

     "WHAT!?"

     "She heard me, she saw what was happening through my eyes and told me what to do."

     "What did she tell you to do?"

     "To slowly back up, while she created a portal behind me, to bring me to her."

     "How do you enter a portal without seeing it?"

     "She directed my steps, then when I was exactly where she wanted me, her hands and the hands of Dettlaff, her Vyrkolos, grabbed me and pulled me through to safety."

     "Wait, you said, 'Vyrkolos, 'mother' has a Vyrkolos?"

     "He is out there in the arena with her."

     "That is Dettlaff?"

     "Yes, it is."

     "But an Aasimar and a Vyrkolos have to be..."

     "Married? Yes, they are."

     "How does Mama Rigmor feel about that?"

     "At first, it was quite rocky as you can imagine, but she has accepted him. In fact, from what I have observed, she loves him just as much as 'mother' does. But what I wanted to tell you about was where they were, and what I saw and experienced while I was with them. I think it would help you to know this, as it has helped me to resolve my feelings."

     "Okay, tell me."

     Aleytys tells him all that she saw, discovered, and heard, even her discussions with Freya, as well as her mother's feelings toward Freya.

     "I could never in my wildest imaginings, it must all be the truth. No one could come up with all of that out of their own mind. Creation is a much stranger place than we have been led to believe."

     "Darius, it is not that we have been led to believe anything. It is our lack of seeing beyond our borders. If we are not willing to see what is out there, we will forever be a prisoner of our own mind's making. You saw what mother did to that 'abomination' out there."

     "I saw her change into something else, I am not sure what happened though."

     "She gained what you saw from Dettlaff, from their blood sharing. This is what happens between an Aasimar and a Vyrkolos. He is climbing the ranks of godhood with her by the effect her blood has on him. And his blood in recompense gives her gifts, abilities, knowledge she lacks."

     "So that 'beast' came from him?"

     "Yes, and has now evolved into something far more. When you get back to the temple, you need to search the Library for anything that may mention this 'Kali'mah'. You will have to look at the more esoteric parts of the 'stacks', for if she only existed in the 'First Creation', there will be next to nothing solid written. Accounts of dreams, prophecies, vision quests, that sort of thing is likely where you will find anything at all. But she is or was real, of that there can be no denying it. You saw as I saw what happened out there.

     "I will look when I get back, rest assured of that. But you haven't told me everything, have you? I can sense when you are holding back."

     "If you say one word of this to anyone else, you will forever be looking over your shoulder for me, or my dragon shadow to fall over you from above!"

     "Okay, I get the point, now give it up!"

     "Mother knows who I am to marry."

     "WHAT?!"

     "Idiot, keep your voice down!"

     "But she has said many times she will not look in the time streams for this."

     "She did not do that. The information came from another source, she was not even looking for it at all. The only reason she said anything to me was that the 'Mother of the Cosmos' told her I needed to know."

     "That must have been a kick in the pants then."

     "It was, let me tell you, it was."

     "Well come on then, surely she gave you a name?"

     "Arioch, Lord of the Courts of Chaos."

     Darius whistles low.

     "You know something of him?"

     "Something, yes, now let me look around a bit."

     Darius looks at all the people here until he spots who he is looking for.

     "Look over there, to the right, the albino in the black armor, with the greatsword that always feels 'hungry' when you get close to it."

     "That is not Arioch, is it?"

     "No, that is Elric of Melnibone."

     "So why did you point him out then?"

     "Give me just a minute and you will see the connection."

     "Elric is not a god, okay. But he is also not 'mortal', either. He shares a 'mantle' with I do not know how many others across the Realms."

     "What 'Mantle' can do that? Accept many holders like that?"

     "The 'Eternal Champion' can. He is one of its 'Aspects'. And Arioch is his 'Patron', at least that is the word I read describing the relationship. Also, Elric is supposed to go with Mother and Dettlaff, when she finds out where Kathea is being held. If what I overheard is right, Kathea and Elric will end up married."

     "Are you sure?"

     "As sure as I can be."

     "This just keeps getting more and more twisted as it goes along."

     "You have that right. Sometimes makes me wonder what is in store for me?"

     "If I ever hear anything I will pass the word to you."

     "Thanks, I think."

     "Well, if you think things are strange now, just wait, it is about to reach a whole new level of 'strange'."

     "That is what I am afraid of."