Andarin: The Mountains: The end of days;

This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.
The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.:
The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save Us!'...:

...and I'll look down, and whisper, 'No'"
It was for the last time that they walked. Knight and his family, watching as their home, the one they had fought so hard for, crumbled around them. The pain was most tangible in Knight, for these were the lands he had walked since their dawn....His thoughts are a flashback of times of his dear friend Kale and his Hawthorne. It seemed so long ago now. It was much like a sandstorm then, dust and debris clouding their eyes, Skylar's earth fighting it's hardest to shield them. They moved as one unit; fire oracle, pale daughter, and dark son. Nicodemus smiles ironically. He had known this day would come, and it was a rather sad sort of smile that is there, taunting the broken promise he had made to all of them.

“I won’t let you get hurt…” He sighs. “I won’t let anyone ….”

But his voice trails, because somehow he knows that he will fail once again. Somehow he knows that he couldn’t save them all….

When he looks to Skylar again there are tears welling in his eyes, because he sees them that he cherished so much in these years upon the Element. And he sees them writhing in pain…some devoured whole. Nieve, Skylar and Formaldehyde, his beloved daughter and her beloved, Tristan and Decemburary, his newly found son and his too young grand-child. His unspoken thoughts probe him.....Starweaver... It was all so sudden, and the thought of losing them when things had just begun to get better….it broke him.

But soon Skylar turned her face to him, her ever-present smile suddenly so grim upon her hauntingly beautiful face. He quells his tears, because he knows he cannot show her this side, this weakness. He knows that strong is the only choice that the stallion holds now. For his children, for Hawthorne who whispered soothing words into his ears even now, for Andarin.

"The time is now."

The words of his son startle him, and Knight watches as Tristan approaches. Tristan never spoke.

"Father....we don't have much time...."

Nicodemus nods after a while, while the storm of dust and haze howl with the strong gusts of winds. Andraste is above him, and the phoenix croons, her console that she would always be with him. Keir chatters as well, peering from between his ears, ready to do what must be done. With little hesitation then, the once-warrior, our own dear Knight, propels himself forwards, running with his flames to push him forwards....to find them. However many were left, Nicodemus finds them, his flames the beacon of hope and safety. Unspoken, you might find in that flash of flames that passed you a promise.....a promise that he would always keep you safe. If only you followed him.

KNIGHT
**NICODEMUS**

Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us.

FIRE III LIGHTNING III

Emissary of Andarin, Phoenixsong, Iriase, and Kaikua'ana

Picture and HTML Copyright to Romance 2009