Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Firani healer smiled pleasantly at Kekeovonnai, her tail twitching slightly as she looked him over. “Of course I know of you, Kekeovonnai, son of Samael and Oblivion. Your fathers are well known... well, Samael at least. He is a fine explorer and powerful khehorian – and clearly, since you're so young and coming to me, you must have inherited at least some of his power. He did his ritual with me, you know, so it isn't a surprise that you should come to me for yours...”

“Yes, yes, I know you were the one that did his ritual!” the black-hided khehora said, barely able to keep still with his excitement. It had taken much research and trouble and effort to find her clan, and more effort still to gain an audience and convince the elders her clan that he was ready to be a khehorian. “I've heard so many stories about you! It is such an honor to meet you in person!”

“Thank you.” she beamed at him, “So. Your ritual. I have to ask... Why? You are so young, with much of your life ahead of you. Most of our kinsfolk wait until they are older and more experienced before they attempt it...” she squinted at him with her bright, sulfur-yellow eyes, “It is dangerous, you know.” she said, a little patronizingly, as if he might not have known this, “Khehora have died attempting the ritual.”

“I know, I know.” he said dismissively, “But I must be a khehorian, as soon as possible!” His need was urgent and he hoped she understood.

“Why? What are your reasons, child?” she asked, “You are asking me to let you take a massive risk, and you are asking to do it with haste. I don't want to risk your life unnecessarily. You are a teacher, after all, and our kind cannot lose your valuable knowledge and potential and...” she smiled at him, “your enthusiasm.”

He hoped she understood. “Oh! But it's just that, you see!” he explained, his words hasty, tumbling out over themselves in his enthusiasm to explain, “I want to teach, that's what I do, but I've been teaching Orakoi this whole time! I was thinking, though- I was thinking, what if I taught the Magescians instead? Oh my, I could teach them so much about the world, about us!” his eyes were bright and eager, his optimism apparent, “They raid our nests and treat us like beasts now, but what if they knew about us – really knew about us? Then we could be on a level with the Dovaa, right? We could pick our sides in their war, or not at all, and we wouldn't have to worry about bonding and kidnapping and raids...” He frowned, “I mean, it's double sided too! I so badly want to learn about them, and that's hard to do when... well... both are hard to do when...” he lifted up his paws gingerly, almost sheepishly, to show the distinct lack of a truly opposable thumb.

“You would give them information about us?” she said, surprised, “And you don't think they will use it against us?”

“Yes. Well. I think giving them information is a better idea than just fighting them. Or hiding from them. Don't think I don't know how bad things get – raids, murder, stolen eggs... Magescians can do some awful things, can't they? But nothing will change if we don't change it, right?”

Anodyne listened, nodding. “Well... Hmm. You know, of course, that I approached them with an alliance and they misinterpreted... or perhaps they simply chose an interpretation... of my words. To them, we are tools or weapons, less than pets, sacrifices to their causes - which are not ours, teacher, be sure you know that.” she signed, “I don't think that, we can ever have an alliance as equals... However...” A distant look came into her eyes, resigned and sad. “I want my people – all of my people – to be safe and to be treated with respect, as people. I do not want to be at war, nor do I want to be involved in a war, and certainly one not of our own making. I still believe that peace can be brokered and that we can convince the Magescians to leave us alone...” her gaze turned on him, as intense and firey as before. “I also believe that good ideas, no matter how unlikely they sound, are worth a try. I agree with your reasons, and they are as good a reason as any to attempt the ritual... However.” she raised a claw, “I will only consent if you promise this: You teach the Magescians about us, and you will in turn teach us about the Magescians. It is an exchange of information. Whether they end up as allies, enemies, or mere rivals, we must learn about each other if we are to survive in this world. I...” she frowned at him now, searching his face for something “I know that you owe many loyalties – some of blood – to the Orderites and their nation. Family and friends are important, as any khehora knows, but the question remains: will you take their side? In their war?” She murmured softly, “Will you choose them over us?”

“I don't understand.” he said, blinking hopefully, “I just want people to know things. I am an teacher; I educate the young, I influence their minds. That is what I do. I want to stop ignorance... I don't know anything about sides?”

Anodyne sighed. “Fair enough. You are young, but you are a good person at heart, so I shall trust your judgment in light of your innovative idea. With a khehorian form, you can teach and learn from the Magescians more effectively, and your status will make khehora listen to you. I approve of your motives.” Her spectral wings glowed suddenly, distinct despite the brightness of the day. “One final question then; Do you believe you are capable of surviving the ritual? I understand your need to perform this ritual as soon as possible, but do you feel that you are actually, really, truly ready. Take your time. Assess yourself.” she said softly, “I would hate to lose you to haste.”

Kekeovonnai obligingly thought, but he did not have to think very far. He could feel the Gaili tear's energy inside him; the eternal rumbling of Magesc's core sang in his soul, an infinity of time and pressure and powerful patience. He had that power, longing to be freed. He had dragon orbs. Most of all, though, he had the mindset. “Yes.” he said, “I'm ready.”

Anodyne nodded, her expression pleasantly unreadable. “Well. If you think so.” she said, turning and beckoning him to follow her, “Then let us proceed.”

Anodyne led the dazed Khehora into her village, touching him gently when it was time for him to emerge from his daze. He blinked – before him was a beautiful, well-appointed tent made of leather, covered with glowing sigils and runes. It was stitched together by a careful hand, and smelled of sweet herbs. Just a whiff of it sent his mind pleasantly drifting, and he smiled.

“This, Kekeovonnai, is the dreaming tent. Not all khehora are permitted – or require - a dream journey before their ritual, but I think that you are one of those that should embark on one.” she opened the flap of the tent, and Keke could see that it was dark and musty inside.

“What do I need to do?” he asked, lulled by the smells within. They were lovely – what were they?

“Enter, and dream.” she said, “And emerge only when you are ready.”

“Oh. All right.” he entered, still in a haze, and she closed the flap behind him. The scent was overpowering here, but not in a bad way, and he felt his mind fog pleasantly with it. The darkness around him seemed to lift, and he felt himself drift away, into somewhere indescribable...

~~~

He was dreaming, but it was like no dream Keke had ever experienced before. He felt lighter than air, drifting amidst knowledge unfathomable. It was beautiful, and he tried to grasp some of it with his claws.

”It cannot be grasped, traveller. It is ethereal. It's beauty is only meant to be viewed, not known.”

A flurry of colors assaulted his vision, and Keke suddenly found himself thrust out of the formless everything to find himself face to face with... a khehorian. She was dressed in a dress more elegant than any Xenosa had ever worn. Her scales were bright, like the moon, and her eyes shifted colors as she tilted her head and offered a daintily clawed hand to him.

”I am Selista. Welcome to my dream – it is rare for a traveller to enter my realm so soon after they enter this place. I wonder, then, if you can answer my question.”

“A question?” She was so beautiful and clearly knowledgable, but the fact that she might have a question didn't seem odd at all. “Well, I am a teacher by trade, I'll be happy to try!”

”I appreciate that.” she said, smiling, ”For my questions, and for your answers, I will grant you a celestial dragon soul, containing some of the power of the king of dragons, and my many ancestors. But perhaps, you have a question of your own first? Do you know where you are, traveller-teacher?”

“Actually yes!” he said, cheerfully, “I do! I'm in some sort of dream realm, connected to the collective memory of the khehora!” he grinned, mischeviously, “Some of that knowledge was grabbable, you know!”

Selista laughed in surprise, a bell like sound that had the uncanny sense of being sparingly rare. ”Indeed!” she said, ”You are correct. Very well, then, only my questions remain.” she beckoned and, as Keke attempted to follow, he found himself again formless and adrift, but now above what was, defintiely, a place.

It was a place, an island in a vast ocean that faded into a twinkling nothingless. Starless and sun-less, it still had day and night, wind and rain. A city rose from its soil, spired and beautiful, and within the tallest spire, a despairing god turned his face from the world he had created as his sisters tore it apart...

”Question 1. What do you see before you?”

Kekeovonnai had no idea at first, but then realization dawned. “Ohhh, thats the Celestial plane, isn't it? Do you know, that's one of the few areas – besides Aisko – that I haven't gone? One day, I hope I can travel there, though I'll have to find a dovaa to guide me!”

”Correct. That is the Celestial plane, the land of the Dovaa.” said the celestial spirit, ”Built as an isolated refuge, so that the creator's people could restore the world. Second question...”

She still had form – he could see her, sitting on a cloud next to him, shimmering in the false day of the Plane. ”What do you think of the Dovaa?”

“What do I think? Oh, hmm. I think they're interesting? Is that what you mean?”

”Go on.”

“Well, they're powerful! They have a lot of magic, and they can even transform into dragons – or so I've heard! I think that they might be the easiest people to convince out of raiding and bonding and all that unpleasantness because of our shared kinship...” he hesitated, “Or the hardest, if they think that their heritage is better than ours – god given and all. Hmm... But overall, I like them.”

”Hmmm...” her rumble was exquisite and discrete. “Question 3. What is their greatest downfall in your eyes?”

“Oh, that's easy! Their isolation! They need to leave their plane and see the world, and I suppose they can, but there is so much to learn in Magesc. Any who stay on their plane miss so much... it's sad, really, it's sad...”

”I see.” a nod. Question 4, you have already answered, but please. Humor me. Do you see yourself fighting the Dovaa? Do you see yourself fighting for them? Which is it? Why?

“That's a multi part quesiton!” he said, laughing, “But I don't see myself fighting at all. That's not my place! I'm a teacher, a scholar, not a fighter. Their war isn't really mine, because mine is fought with books and knowledge, and my enemy is ignorance!”

Selista laughed again. ”A worthy foe!” she said, her smile lingering even after the clear tones of her laugh faded away, ”Hmm.” She was silent for a moment, and Keke took the oppurtunity to observe the plane below him. This was the first time he had seen it, and it was fascinating how the Dovaa could go about their daily lives in a place so removed from reality.

”One final question, and then I must, regretfully, release you into the dream again.” she said. Her shifting eyes were serious, arresting his attention.

“All right.” he said, waiting. He could tell this question would be different from the others, and somehow, it made him nervous.

”Kekeovonnai...” he did not question how she knew his name, ”What will you do when the light begins to fade into darkness, and the heavens begin to fall?”

Suddenly, he had a physical form. The plane was gone, and instead he was in a domed room of rainbow-shimmering opal.

”What will you do” she repeated, ”When the light begins to fade into darkness, and the heavens begin to fall?”

“I...” He didn't know. But that was not an answer he could give to her, he knew that with the certainty of a dream. “I would... hope that I had uncovered most of the secrets of the world by then. I would say all, but there is no way to know everything. I certainly wouldn't want everything to... um... fade with me still ignorant, or with others still ignorant.”

Selista looked at him for a quiet, inquiring moment. ”Thank you.” she said finally. She, and the room, began to fade into a chaotic miasma of thought and impression, ”You have been most fascinating company, Kekeovonnai. I return you now to the Dream, and I hope that, by some rare chance, you find your way to me again. Good luck on your journey...” she said, her voice becoming lost in the threads of dream, ”And remember your answers here. One day, you may need them.”

And with that, she was gone, and Keke again drifted in that sea of infinite knowledge... alone.

”Hey, you. Are you bored yet of all this intellectual s**t?” the voice came suddenly from the dream void, and suddenly Kekeovonnai was on a beach, his claws sinking into fine-grained sand. There was no surf on this beach, only finer sand that moved as if it was water, cloaked in a glowing, yellow mist that crackled and sparked as it blew to an unfelt wind. ”Coming up with escapes for stupid pissy light spirits, answering dumb questions like 'what happens when the light fades into darkness?'” A gold-scaled khehorian, slim with a runner's build, walked out of the mist, looking at Kekeovonnai cockily. ”How about when my boredom becomes so great that it swallows any possible interest I might have, am I right? You know what I'd like to ask Seli, if she ever comes off her ******** high cloud? Why can't she just ask different questions – it's always the same ones, every ******** time. She's got a short term memory problem or something...” the khehorian shook his head, ”Anyway, you and I, we're going to have some fun. Some real fun. None of those questions and runes s**t. Fun.” he smirked cockily, ”Ya like racing?”

Keke was staring at the khehorian, amazed. “Hmm?” he said, breaking free of his thoughts, “Oh, yes! I used to race my sister all the time, quite fun!”

”Yeah?” the khehorian seemed pleasantly surprised, ”Well, we're gonna race. The rules are, you gotta catch me otherwise you ain't leaving. But, see, I'm the spirit of lightning, so I go pretty ******** fast.” He leered, ”You think you can catch me, groundy?”

Keke thought for a moment, and then smiled, crouching in readiness. “I think so.” he said.

”Haha! Sure you will.” cackled the spirit, ”Tell you what, I'll even go easy on you. Gaili aren't so good at this kind of thing, are they?” he snickered, ”Nah, nevermind, I'll just go normal on you.” he tensed, the air crackling around him. ”Ready?” the mist cleared, revealing a vast expanse of the sand. ”Set?” Keke grinned, preparing for a run. ”Go!” The spirit streaked off into the expanse, and Keke followed, his feet moving quickly on the shifting sand. The sand, however, obeyed his will, remaining solid enough beneath his feet. His sense of the ground he ran on was in full working order, and his ability to run – fast and true – was not diminished by the dream. He gained on the spirit, feet pounding into sand.

”Holy s**t!” exclaimed the spirit, bright yellow eyes wide with surprise – Keke had been underestimated. He put on a burst of speed, but it was too late – Keke blocked him with a wall of sand and pounced, tackling the khehora to the ground.

”Hey... hey! That's cheating!” squalled the khehorian.

“Well, then.” said Keke, “You should have specified it in the rules!” He sat on the Khehorian, purring as they sank into the sand. “I win! What do I get?”

The Khehorian grumbled and muttered. ”Fine.” he said finally, ”Have your ******** orb. But if you find my dream again...” the scene faded into the dream nothing. ”I'll show you just how fast I can go.”

“A threat?” Keke chuckled as the sense of the angry lightning spirit's voice faded away, “Ah well, some people are just sore losers.” he said, as he awaited the next stage of the dream...

And suddenly, he was somewhere else, somewhere that blazed with heat and light. Grateful for the light after the darkness, Keke panted in the heat, feeling dry and tired and thirsty. He watched as a fire-red khehora walked up to the light spirit.

”Aiya, sweetness! It's so rare to see you in my realm! Such a treat!” they embraced, the light spirit – Aiya – weeping into the other khehorian's hair.

”Oh Fyre... Why can't I win... Why can't I win, even once...”

”Oh, Aiya...” the Fire spirit – Keke had to assume that much – stroked Aiya's back. ”Honey, you can't win because Durk is an a*****e and a sore loser. It's going to be okay, sweetie,” she said, ”But maybe you should stay with me for a little while...” and with that, Fyre turned to Keke. ”Which brings me to you, buddy. You've got to get out of the dream, huh? Wake up and all that? Well first, you gotta get out of my dream, and that means showing me what you've got. Just a sec...” She sat Aiya gently down and put a wooly blanket over her golden shoulders. ”There we go.”

“All right, so how do I wake up? I don't want to cause her any more distress...”

”Oh wow, you're a sweetie, aren't ya? Nah, don't worry. She's used to distress.” she said, ”You, though... how do you like my infernal realm? Distracting and hot, huh? To get out, you have to show off your most powerful magic to me. Impress me. Otherwise you're stuck with us, and that's not going to be too fun.” she winked playfully at him, ”Or it might. Who knows. Anyway, show me and Aiya here something spectacular...”

”Can't you just... push him... out of the dream?” whispered Aiya, ”He needs to wake up...”

”Aiya, you know theres rules. He's got to show his stuff, otherwise he ain;t leaving. Besides...” she grinned, leaning back against a glowing stone, ”Didn't you hear Fallon cursing his tail off? This one doesn't mind a little showing off, do you?” she smirked, ”Do you?”

“Not at all!” said Keke, shifting from foot to foot to keep the burn from seeping through his scales, “I'd be happy to show you my powers! I'm very proud of them.”

”Less telling, more showing!” Fyre catcalled, ”Get on with it!”

“Very well.” Keke concentrated, sweat beading on his face and scales from the scorching heat of the flames. His breath burned his throat with the emberous heat, and movement was a chore... but he would show off his powers. It wouldn't even be that hard.

He called all the sand – black and made of crushed obsidian in this case – to him and, with pure force of will, bound it into a massive shard of glass. But he didn't solidify it yet: he forced it to remain amorphous, easy enough with the heat, and cracked his eye open against the drying heat. He studied the khehorian for a moment, before he shoved at the massive chunk of volcanic glass. It shaped itself to his will, and he opened his eyes to behold his work. There, before him, was a castle-like tower of glass, detailed as if it had been constructed from mortar and stone, a small khehorian figure standing atop it with a sword. He had, in a flight of fancy, shaped vein-like vines along it's walls, and windows, and even a single bird, perched on the top.

”Well, s**t.” Fyre breathed, nodding, ”Well that's certainly ******** impressive. Yeah. You pass.” she said, admiring the statue for a moment, before approaching him, ”You pass...” she set her hands on him for a moment, ”With flying colors.” she shoved him, hard, and everything went, suddenly, black.

Keke realized he was awake after a few moments. He wondered how long he had he been dreaming and realized that he couldn't tell. Time seemed to, only just then, be returning to its proper place. He opened his eyes and saw, around him, five glowing objects that he could have sworn had not been there when he had entered. He shrugged, gathering them up into the now bulging pouch he wore on his neck, and poked his head out of the tent flap.

It was the dead of night. He blinked at the darkness, surprised at the suddenness of its fall and a little afraid of it after his dream. Had he not, after all, just finished fleeing it?

“Oh! You've finished!” A Khehora stirred from a rock. Keke thought it might be Anodyne – the khehora on the rock had her patterns, and a similar cast to her features. Yes. Of course. he thought, a little dazed, The Khehorian form is just another form, neither supplanting or destroying the previous form...

“Yes.” he said, “What's next?”

“Well...” she paused for a moment, “The transformation, of course. Do you still want to do this, after seeing the Dream and some of the powers beyond it?”

Keke frowned at her, puzzled. At first, he knew, she had asked because he was young and inexperienced. But now, why was she asking? He had passed through trials in that tent, and the magic within him rumbled more furiously than before. He had been tested, and he was ready for the ritual and its dangers. “Of course.” he said, a little snippily. After all, he had just woken up.

“All right, then.” she said, smiling at him tolerantly. It seemed she was used to such behavior in a dreamer. “This way.” Kekeovonnai followed, embarrassed at his outburst. Soon, before him, was another tent, also enchanted.

“Is this... it?” he breathed, awed despite it's modest fabric.

“It is. Within, you will find the power inside yourself and become something greater than you once were...” she said cryptically, “Something different, but not to be feared. Not by our own kind, anyway...” she looked at him wistfully, “Not you, I hope.”

“Not me. I'm not particularly scary...” Keke looked at the tent with a strange sort of hunger. The energies inside called to him, and he wanted them. “Can I go in?”

“Yes.” she said, “Bring your dragon orbs, and set them about you. And then meditate, as I had you do at the spring. You will draw the energy to you... and then...” she stared at him intently, “And then we shall see.”

The inside of the tent was dark and damp, but there was a sense of a great and massive power. It was waiting, in a very familiar way, and Keke recognized it as kin to the power that had lurked inside of him since the inspection of the Gaili Tear. It was ancient, almost primordial in it's simplicity and power. It waited to be called upon and used, and it had waited since time immemorial. It watched him, in such a way as only those powers can watch.

And it waited.

Kekeovonnai knew what it was waiting for. He began to set out his dragon orbs one by one, placing each in it's own place in the tent. After the tenth orb was placed, Keke realized that, without intending it, he was placing them in a repeating circle, with each ring about the equivalent of the ring beneath multiplied by itself. The center was just big enough for him to sit, and he paused to marvel at the unintentional perfection of it before placing the rest of the orbs.

Finally, he sat among them, watching them glimmer with their internal. ethereal light. The dragon souls, like the powers around and inside of him, longed to break free. They, too, wanted to return to the world they had been forced to leave.

Well, he thought, it was time to let them.

He closed his eyes and meditated, as he had been told, focusing in on his reason for being here, his desire to learn. He could feel the magic stirring around him, swirling to touch him with tendrils of power, even as the power within him awoke to meet it. It built and built like a storm until, in a final, sudden break like a bolt of lightning, the two powers met, and united.

Kekeovonnai felt as though he was in the middle of that blast, surrounded by what he felt had to be the very first truth;

When Abronaxus had made Magesc, the element of Earth had been the first element formed. It had been followed by the others, but it was always the anchoring element of all creation: without the Earth, the ground, the stone... there would be nothing. All would fall apart without that solid force. All would cease to exist without that stability.

Power rushed into him, and then explosively out of him, and the pain that it brought in its wake was unbearable. But then, suddenly, it receded into an unpleasant numbness. Keke opened his eyes to see – or feel, he wasn't entirely sure – magic swirling around him like a thunderstorm. It was, he realized with a start, like being on the inside of a dragon's orb.

The maelstrom of energy tore at him and sought to unmake him, and he almost let it, almost wanted it to, as it teased at his flesh with amazing and awesome knowledge. If he let it do as it pleased with him, he could know everything. But then he remembered – if he destroyed himself to learn, there would be nothing left to teach.

He could not teach if he didn't exist.

With that realization, the swirling energies turned back inward. They wrapped him in a choking embrace and absorbed into his skin like oil, seeping between his scales, through his muscles, and into his bones. It felt as if he was a geode. The magic was the crystal – an invader, a colonizer, creating something beautiful within something otherwise dull.

The movements of the energies calmed and bit by bit he felt it solidify around him. It was like a chrysalis, what the worms of the forest used to become butterflies, and he rested for a moment in its comfort. For the moment, he felt warm and safe, his inner magic quiet for the first time in months.

Kekeovonnai thought he must have slept, because he knew he awoke. He lazily stirred, and – it felt – he emerged from the confines of the magic into a wholly new world. Of course, it was still the tent and it was still him in it, but he was... changed.

Kekeovonnai stood, shakily, onto lean legs that extended beneath him instead of behind him. He reeled with the wonderful feelings of natural power within him. He flared his spectral wings and whirled his newfound arms as he caught his balance. Finally, he had enough control to stagger to the light of the doorway.

He was giddy; he knew so much and was so much, now. He even felt as though he was a part of that ancient power. And, also, it was a part of him. It lay, comfortably and patiently, within him like a dormant volcano, awaiting his will.

He opened the doorway with a wide grin and stepped out into the light.

He couldn't wait to tell everyone about this.