Not Dead Yet - Chapter 1
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New Years Eve
The foundations had been dug.
The Eternal Matthew Clevell, a middle-aged-looking man, with fairly long white hair and a strong face, raised a hand with two 100 Dralcan coins high into the air for the anxious crowd to see.
"Ddon vemeit drresst rrin, viddon vidd vertorrtss ddonvidd." ("Alive we stand to honor, the law of death remembered, our fathers' lasting traditions."). Then, without flinching an eyebrow, the white dragon scales floated off his hand a few feet into the air. Spinning slowly, they reflected the mid-after-high light of the two Roia which were almost aligned (the white Merroi almost encircled in front of the golden Verroi). The crowd stood in silent anticipation as the first Dralcan coin floated towards the newly finished hole in the ground which would serve as the foundation for the Majaria side of the new bridge to be built across the Maj Aurio. The second coin floated a few feet higher, and zipped across the water for the city of Tridd, in Tridroal, on the the continent of Doëlêl; Majaria being the most escuusorial (southern) nation of Vunñar. It left a glittering blue and gold tail in its wake, as it passed over dozens of rocky islands, and around the very old, and severely damaged, city-bridge which once joined the two continents with over four million inhabitants. On the other shore, the coin would find a similarly dug hole and an eagerly waiting crowd watching The Eternal’s image shimmering on the empty stage as if a cloud; but for those in Tridd, The Eternal Matthew Clevell, in his blue robes with eagle pauldrons, was only in their minds.
"Ddon vemert rrinviess avun vidd vemer rrinonert avun kædd vemertt tor!" (Now we pay for the soil past we took for future we build!) As the coins came to rest in the deepest point of the holes, a glistening geyser of blue, green, red and gold light erupted from them as the crowds cheered the payment.
A middle aged Caition, with orange and white stripped fur, a fancy blue jacket with many golden tassels, and a long tail equally decorated, looking over to the poorly dressed Hobb he'd been talking at during the speech, and shaking his head, "EMC is such a show off."
"I think its great, I like the special effects and lights; I thought, as a cat, you'd like 'em, too." The Hobbot finally had enough of this cat's complaining throughout the ceremony.
"Hhhhhisssss!" And with ruffled fur, the humanoid cat ran off to his store, Shiny Things, and straight to the back room, to his ball of blue and gold string which pulsed with light every time it was touched.
The Eternal Matthew Clevell, now finished with his speech and magic-play, was walking amongst the people celebrating the beginning of the bridge project, and the end of the year 3884. This was an especially large celebration as it marked 1500 years of relative world-wide peace, and also the rare night when Kaalru, the Alru of Chaos, is full on the same night in which Vialru, the Alru of Law, and Onalru, the Alru of Good, are also full--Pualru, the Alru of Evil, is always in opposition to Onalru, and though high in the sky during the day, alone, was nearly invisible between the world and the aligning Roia. The coincidence of this alignment with the new year, and the 1500 years since the end of the Great Kaatyclyzm, hundreds of thousands of people, of all many races had gathered to the largest cities from far and wide over the Avel, and across the Auriese. It was a real treat for the children of the Human, Hobb and various chyas (part-animal: many Caitian and Wulvien varieties, and several Aviene) when the Gnomes of Oblogon came into Majaria with the new year's airships. Some with giant balloons, some held in the air with their Variable Rate Repulsion Rotary Magnetic Motors. The rare Pyrite was this new year's trim.
"It was good to hear some of the old language, my young friend." A grovelled deep voice caught The Eternal Matthew's ear. The man who looked to be no more than mid-60s, for a humon, turned his head to the voice he recognized. and with a smile, he said to the very venerable Valswyn (or elf in the common tongue) with long grey hair and wrinkled grin, "Viddonek rt ddon, ddon rt viddon." ("Long have I lived, life I remember")
The old Valswyn began to laugh as the two embraced each other after their 45 year absence. "How old are you, now?" the elf asked.
"Old enough to have known the old days, young enough to still remember."
"You speak in too many riddles for my old mind; and you never give a complete answer."
"I told you what you needed to know, when you needed to know it. That's the way it's always been, that's the way it will always be. I thought after 312 years, 14 months, 23 days, 3 hours, 87 minutes, and some odd seconds, you would have learned that."
"No doubt about your memory; has it really been that long since I became your student?"
"Longer; I was teaching you before you were studying me." The elf could see the memories of untold generations flowing through the eyes of his much older teacher. The Eternal smiled, turned and continued down the row of tables, scratching the beak of a Chyas-tangu youth hiding in his mother’s feathers as the whirling motors of the Majestic Pelican roared as the massive vessel sailed overhead.
The day carried on in the busy city square along the shoreline. Children of the various races ran free in the streets, playing together, eating treats from the various vendors, playing in carnival games--everything from bag-toss, and chicken-toss (toss a live chicken through a hoop), to fishing games, and ball games. A game of Lawn Darts had to be broken up after a few of the children lined up on the lawn, as the target point values, were impaled by the large darts; a few powerful healers were rushed to the scene to resurrect and heal the children, and a squad of Onal Knights (warriors dedicated to the Onalru, dressed in armor of white steel from the Brin mines) were set out to search for the manipulator who had convinced the children to participate in the often deadly game (a problem which has been spreading through the Avel).
A series of chocobo races were taking place in town--starting at the main entrance to the Majaria Academy (one of the many Academies Matthew Clevell oversaw), down the low hill, and around the city's Alru Stone (standing nearly 35 feet high, with a 10 foot diameter, this white stone with ancient runes which glow blue under a full Onalru, it is far from the most impressive Alru Stone on the AUAK, but certainly not the least). The race continued down to the shoreline to the site of the new bridge, where the payment ceremony had taken place earlier.
All across the AUAK, every village and city on the Avel, mountains and plains, every Kayav city floating high in the air, even in many of the cities of the Uun and in the depths of the Auriese, celebrations were taking place.
This was a rare time in which the Alrann and Roal sat with the other races; their subtle glowing skin, and bright and shiny attire clashing with the duller colorings of the other cultures. The Kaarln performed incredible feats of aerial acrobatics, their dazzling wings fluttering and twisting in beautifully graceful dives, twists and climbs. A few of the local Twin Keys Historians were hosting a trivia booth.
As evening approached, those gifted in Life-magic created vast feasts for all in attendance. No one who lived in a city, and was able to make it to one of the celebrations, went without more food than they could handle. The smaller towns, which did not have magic users, spent days preparing feasts to ensure all were fed for the celebration. Some of the stranger feasts and festivities were happening among the tribes of the various Wildlings--those who lived in the wilderness, off the land, hunting, eating wild plants, and sometimes each other, and wearing animal skins. On at least one bbq in a deep forest on the continent of Drajh, was a 31 foot long red dragon; scales piled in a corner of camp, guarded while a small Hhorq counted.
"Matthew!" An angry voice shouted from down an aisle of tables. EMC turned towards the voice.
It was a large man, in a long, blue sailor's coat that looked to have been a bit torn recently. "You Eternal son of a biscuit eater! You owe me a new ship for that mission you sent me on! Not only did that scum board it, I had to take my ship to that island, it left without me in the storm, and then was destroyed! Never again!" The shipless captain was furious.
"I am sorry; how did you get here?" Matthew replied with more calm than was hoped for from the Captain.
"We rebuilt the gate tower, which took time;" the captain was much calmer in his voice but the anger in his eyes still burned.
"Then I gated to that hallway....the guards were not happy to see me, and then walking past a thousand men who have been waiting decades for a fight."
"And those you were escorting?"
"Presumed dead; my whole crew, all dead." The anger started becoming noticeable again, but with a touch of devastating loss hidden.
"They are not; not all of them. They were picked up and brought into Inneadello, and have been heading this way. I am sorry to say that your---" Matthew broke off as he searched the Cpt's mind, and changed what he was going to say, "--cargo was unrecoverable."
"You should be, that was a good ship, and expensive crate." The captain had lost more than cargo, but he didn't remember that he lost what he had lost, or that he'd ever had it. This bothered Matthew.
"Sit, eat, the food is good. The laws of existence are what they are, may the chaos of your existence be beneficial." The Eternal knew the past could not be changed, but the future could be better.
The captain glared at Matthew for a moment, but sat down to eat while vaguely gesturing three fingers towards him to return the parting well-wishes.
Chapter 1 will be continued....
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | TBC
