The time spent at Pierre's manor couldn't have gone too quickly. While Pierre played the role of the gracious host, and seemed inclined to break open some wine from the stores to put himself in an even more happy mood (and Autumn-Storm was not one to decline a chance to share a taste), little hints in his discourse gave Alptraum the indication that he was most certainly not a family man. He fashions himself a "forward-thinking" man, thinking himself quite enlightened for seeing Savanites as something other than smart beasts, but even while he stresses his own virtues here, it has become evident that the manor was not originally his own. What happened to the original tenants is unclear, but it would seem that the ownership did not go without some manner of resistance.
Despite Alptraum's stated intent that "we" would be leaving, Pierre repeatedly spoke as if he expect it would be Alptraum that was leaving, and seemed certain Autumn-Storm would be staying behind. Autumn-Storm, for her part, just smiled and ear-wiggled, and seemed content to play along. In the end, Alptraum once again got a room to himself for the night – a room, though, that apparently had been carefully picked over for any easily filchable items, lest Alptraum think of filling his pockets while no one is looking.
When the morning came to be departing, it was Autumn-Storm that had awakened first, slipping into Alptraum's room, and bidding him quietly to wake, without bothering to start a light. It's still dark outside, with no clear indication of just what hour of the morning it is … only that Alptraum is pretty certain that it's not still evening of the previous day.
Alptraum slips quietly out of bed and grabs his shirt. Quickly, he pulls it on, then his vest and cloak. "What's going on?" he signs to the Savanite, "Traveling in darkness isn't safe."
In the dim Procession-light, Autumn-Storm's hands can be faintly seen, as she signs, "No, but it is time to go. He would not have me to leave with you, but I must. Let us go early so there is no trouble. He will be sleeping late."
"Why would he keep you here?" Alptraum asks in sign. He then quickly goes about gathering his things. Within a few minutes, he has everything gathered and is fitting his cloak on.
"He likes me," Autumn-Storm signs. "The feeling is not mutual. Never fear. Wherever I go, I shall always have a bit of him with me. At least until I sell it in the next town."
By the bulges in Autumn-Storm's pouches, it would seem that perhaps she has had better luck finding small filchables than Alptraum.
Alptraum almost asks for clarification, then realizes what she means. "I see," he signs instead. He double-checks to make sure he's got his meager possessions, then signs, "All right. Let'sgo."
Autumn-Storm nods … and opens up the window.
"/After you," Alptraum signs and moves over to the window.
With practiced moves, Autumn-Storm clambers out of the window and makes her way down some clinging vines that make the scaling that much easier, then drops lightly the short remaining distance to the ground.
Alptraum watches the Savanite make her way down. Once she's clear, on the off chance he falls, he follows after her. Fortunately for him, the vines make it fairly easy to scale down the wall. Within a minute, he too is on the ground. "Out the way I came in. It was clear enough when I came here a few days ago," he signs, then drops low to help mask his movements in case the poodle happens to wake up while they make their way out.
The way out of the grounds is tense, every move calculated to make as little noise as possible, but neither Alptraum nor Autumn-Storm make any missteps, and soon they are back on the road again, safely beyond the turn at the bridge. Autumn-Storm seeks out one of the recently abandoned houses – whose previous owners were evicted by the monster – and motions Alptraum toward it, once she's checked to make sure that all is clear inside. It is still very cold outside, and whatever time it is, the sunrise isn't a while in coming.
The Eeee nods to the Savanite and steps inside, trusting her judgment. He breaths a soft sigh of relief to be out of the cold night air and hopefully safe. He sets his crossbow down and against the wall. He then sits down and wraps his cloak tightly around his form. "Thanks for saving me from being shot and deciding to come," he says to Autumn-Storm.
Autumn-Storm goes about the cottage some more, ponders the stove as if tempted to start a fire, but then seems to think the better of it, and just grabs some bundles of ragged blankets and throws some on Alptraum, some on herself, and huddles beside him. She nods, signing in small motions with her hands barely free of the blankets, "Come sunrise, we move on, yes?"
The Eeee willingly accepts the blankets and wraps up even further. He then signs in reply as best he can, "Yes. We move on early morning. I'm going to take a quick look for the crossbow bolts, then back to the road. I hope we've not totally lost the trail. Do you know what time it roughly is? I'm wondering if we should try and sleep, or just stay up."
Autumn-Storm digs around in her pouches, then pulls out an enameled egg with a glassy lens on it. She holds it up to a beam of Procession-light leaking through a window, gazing at its surface. "Not sure. How does this work?" she signs.
The dial has numbers ranging from 1 to 24, though every other number is accompanied by smaller numbers going in groups of 5, going around in a circle, and two little arrows pointing off. Next to the "2" is a little 5, next to the "4" is a little 10, and so forth, though where the 24 should have a "60", instead it has a "0". By Alptraum's best estimate in his groggy state of mind, it's either the second hour of the morning, or else it's the twentieth. He's pretty sure it's not the latter, so maybe that means it's the second hour. He doesn't know, however, whether the first hour starts at midnight, according to this clock.
Alptraum cranes his neck a bit so he can see what she's holding. "Beat me to it," he comments with a grin. "I was going to try to swipe a few things. I think that's a Chronotopian egg. I've heard of them, but never seen one. It numbers one through twenty-four. I think it says it's the second hour of the morning. But, I don't know if the think starts the first hour at the traditional midnight. If it does, well, then we probably have four or five hours to rest," he tries to explain. "We probably should try to sleep. We'll need the rest so we can travel long hours tomorrow and hope to gain ground."
Autumn-Storm nods, and wraps the egg back up in a cloth and tucks it into her pouch. Then, as if looking just a little bit guilty, she pulls it back out and passes it over to Alptraum.
Alptraum takes the egg, then grins. "I'll hold it for you, but it's actually yours now. I'll try and figure out more of how it works tomorrow so we can make use of it," Alptraum explains.
Autumn-Storm nods, then bundles herself up in her blankets, settling down against the wall.
"Let'stry to get a few hours of sleep. We've got a long road ahead, I think," he says, yawning. The Eeee then leans heavily against the wall beside Autumn-Storm. "Goodnight, he signs, letting his eyes flutter closed.
Alptraum manages to get a much easier time of sleeping, ironically enough, in that broken cabin than in the nice, comfortable bed in Pierre's manor. In the morning, when he goes out searching for bolts, it seems that fate smiles on him just a little. Not only does he recover his lost bolt in the woods, and the bolt in the river, but he manages to find a third bolt … one of those that the chevalier must have launched at the beast during the fight, and left behind rather than to search around for it in the night! Certainly crossbow bolts can be purchased along the way, but these silver-tipped bolts are bound to be hard to come by. (One might also be wise not to flash them around too readily, either.)
They then manage to press on. And so begins a long journey across Sylvania, as the weather gets progressively cooler. The snow continues to fall, and stops melting away with the rising sun. No, it stays, and piles up more thickly. Gone are the occasional wagons passing by the way. Instead, it seems that most travelers have a mind to stay indoors, in one of the various villages along the way – but Alptraum has been able to still get tips that his quarry is still ahead of him. There was one time some seedy-looking fellow tried to give him directions to take him down the wrong path, but he was able to find someone else who gave him a more plausible story. It would seem that the sorcerer has sometimes taken to paying a villager here or there to feed a lie to anyone who might come asking for him – and sometimes they actually care enough to carry up their end of the bargain.
When Landing Eve comes, by now, Alptraum knows that he's going to have trouble sleeping. Sure enough, the Korv pirate pops up, battering against the windows of the cottage that the two travelers managed to persuade the owners of to let them take shelter in against the snow. His dreams were again of the Sea of Souls, once again empty, and the same for the realm of Sunala. If anything more noteworthy happened in his dream, he didn't recall the details come the morning.
The next disturbing dream came 15 days before the New Year, if Alptraum has been keeping track of the time properly.
In it he dreamt of a city … a city in the mountains, with a few features that seemed to be borrowed from the realm of Sunala – a temple like the one from his dream. He seemed but a phantom, a mere observer of events, without any way of interacting with them.
Atop the temple, he witnessed an exchange – There was a young Eeee girl, with tan fur, fair of feature, with silky flowing hair, and richly appointed trappings, with strange markings on her fur, reminding him somewhat of the angel he saw in Paradise. Flanking her were two infant Lapis on altars – and before her was a young woman Lapi, accompanied by a red-scaled Naga in the sort of robes Alptraum has come to associate with wizards.
The details have faded, but the girl atop the temple demanded that the Lapi sacrifice the Naga, while the two infants watched. Instead, the girl plunged the dagger into her own heart. The tan-furred girl shouted in outrage, and then the whole dream world seemed to fall apart. This was some sort of surprise … but the whole exchange struck him as a sort of stage play … the sort of thing that might be played out with puppets by Hexen and his family in a little wooden stage, with the script so well-rehearsed that the youngest children knew them by heart.
The nights after that are hardly anything in comparison. More of concern is the winter trek. The winter is getting worse, and Autumn-Storm is obviously not as well adapted to the Sylvanian winters as Alptraum is. She is, for all he's heard, like any other Savanite, a creature of the open plains or the warm muggy jungles of the Nagai Empire – not the frigid stormy lands of Nordika.
Their progress each day is significantly less, and even more of a worry is that, next night, they might not find some suitable place to stay, be it a cave, ruin, or a friendly farmer's cottage.
New Year's Eve is one of those really accursed nights, when it seems they simply can't find anything suitable at all, save for a hollow along the way, digging a makeshift shelter out of a bank of snow, and huddling together in bundles for warmth.
And, of course, sleep doesn't come easily. The Korv ghost appears again, but is dispelled with some annoyance when Autumn-Storm makes several impolite gestures at him, then slaps him across the face. A puff of dust, and he's gone.
But Alptraum's dreams are utterly bizarre. He sees a great city, and a host of spirits rising from a hole that has been torn in the middle of this city, situated in the shadow of a range of mountains.
There is an airship passing over the city, which seems to be the object of a great hunt, as wild beasts bay and howl, hungry for blood, and flying insects and mounts join the spirits as they rush after this fleeing craft. Another airship joins, and a battle breaks out. Again, Alptraum is only an observer, though it seems he is swept along with all these angry spirits – they seem almost devoid of form, as the Sea of Souls had been emptied out to form this flood.
And he watches as he sees a scene play out on the deck of an airship, as the battle seems to be played out. He sees a high-born poodle warrioress who bears the markings of an agent of the Rephidim Temple. He sees an Eeee in robes of brown, with eyes that glow an eerie green. He sees a strange creature that is something like a winged Jupani – looking terribly out of place, as if he wandered into this dream by accident. He sees the white and golden creature he saw in Paradise, the one with the horn upon her head, standing apart from the others. He sees a tall and severe-looking Eeee woman with regal bearing, with a host of soldiers at her side. And before them all is a Rhian in the uniform of a captain, wounded and defeated. The bat in the brown robes and the armored poodle woman go to him, pronouncing some terrible curse upon him, and Alptraum watches as the Sea of Souls seems to empty itself into him.
The spray of this spiritual wave hits him only glancing, and he gets just a sense of what horrors are pouring into this horse's mind. These are memories of death – memories of death by a means Alptraum cannot fathom. They all share in common, people who lived in this city, and then, suddenly, their world fell apart. The sky filled with stars, the air sucked away, blood vessels burst, lungs emptied, mouths opened to scream, but no sounds came forth. One after another, these strange, alien experiences poured into this horse … leaving him a gibbering idiot at the end, reliving these memories, again and again. He sees another creature – demon or avenging angel, who can tell? – a light-furred Eeee warrioress in armor of leather and chitin, carrying a great double-headed axe in one hand (a weapon that should be held in two, but she wields it like a toy), and a strange unwieldy instrument in the other: a balance with a blade instead of a base.
She smiles, and looks satisfied. And Alptraum awakens, shivering and shaking from more than just the cold.
Alptraum shivers violently, the sensations and glimpse of the souls' experiences still fresh in his mind. It takes him some time to slowly sit up and compose himself. He then reaches over to Autumn-Storm and places his hand on her shoulder to wake her. "Wake up, it's morning," he says. "Looks like the snow's stopped. I think the next town we find, we stop at and rest for awhile."
Autumn-Storm jerks and shivers, unsteadily looking up to Alptraum and nodding slowly.
"I'm also suggest we might want to sleep closer together at night if we get stuck outside again," Alptraum says slowly. "Conserve body heat. I know you're not used to this sort of weather." He then hmms, "Would you like me to try and find breakfast for us while you try to warm and wake up?"
** I, not I'm :)
Autumn-Storm nods, as she clumsily extracts herself from the hole, seeming very much as if she's sorely tempted to crawl back into it again.
"See if you can start a fire and I'll find us something to eat," Alptraum says, then heads off into the nearby woods in search of food.
It takes some searching about, but Alptraum eventually finds a hen's nest. The eggs would do for Autumn-Storm, to be sure, and the hen, well … that provides Alptraum with a nice little snack that should tide him over at least for breakfast, though he could definitely do with another one. However, while he's walking along to find a better place to take flight again to wing back, he finds some stone ruins that he hadn't noticed before by air – some building a distance away from the main road, its grounds well-encroached by tangles. By its construction it looks like it may have once been a church … and it seems that there are several grave stones here, though in such horrible disarray that it seems every single grave in the cemetery has been torn up what must have been ages ago.
Alptraum pauses and hrms. "That's curious," he mutters, "I wonder what that is. And I bet Autumn-Storm might like a place to actually warm up out of this nasty weather." He makes note of where the ruins are, then hurries back to fetch Autumn-Storm and bring her to the ruins and hopefully out of weather.
It doesn't take much coaxing to get Autumn-Storm to go with Alptraum in search of shelter, but she seems somewhat disappointed when it's just some old ruin, and not an inn with a roaring hearth. (Not that Alptraum promised such a thing, of course.) Nonetheless, it does offer some shelter from the elements, at least should the wind pick up again (which it inevitably will). It's a church, though a very small one, and the pews – if there ever were any – are long gone, leaving only the stonework to remain. The windows are hollow openings, devoid of any stained glass or polished horn or any other material save for the occasional branch probing its way through, or a nest for a wild bird.
Alptraum takes some time to start a small fire in the center of the church to help warm up. He then offers the eggs to Autumn-Storm. "Found these for you," he says. "Why don't you warm up and I'm going to look around." With that, he starts looking around the church for any carvings that might indicate what sort of church it was.
It seems that the church was one much like those to be found across most of Sylvania, with the stylized representation of the four-pointed Star at the head, and repeated on various surfaces, symbolizing the Creator, who is not shown in any corporeal form. Somewhat less stylized are statues depicting the various Saints, of varied species – of course, those of Sylvanian common species being given a certain degree more realism than those of species exotic to these lands. But of special note perhaps are the angels, every last one of them an Eeee. Prime among them is a smiling beauty, and though the facial features are different and the attire is certainly far more conservative, Alptraum can tell that it's meant to be Inala. An inscription says as much: "Inala: Angel of Happiness".
Perhaps a bit surprising, though, is when Alptraum finds a statue of another "angel' – this one of Sunala. Here, she is billed as "Sunala: Angel of Death". It doesn't amend this, saying "Fallen angel," let alone, "Demon."
"Heh, I recognize her," Traum comments dryly, remembering the look she gave him in a dream. "Happiness, right." He shrugs softly and turns to focus on the statue of Sunala. He can't resist the urge and reaches out and touches figure of Sunala.
"Are you so familiar with Her as to touch Her image casually?" comes a female voice from the shadows.
Alptraum jumps and turns toward the voice, blinking. "I've seen her in dreams," he answers. "Sorry. I didn't mean a wrong by it. Curiosity."
From the shadows steps forth a woman with black fur and bleach white hair, adorned in heavy robes of black, with a high and tight collar, and an outer cape sheltering her wings. She looks back at Alptraum with crystal blue eyes. Alptraum should have heard her breathing, standing there, if she was so close. But here she is, coming out of the shadows, as if this were all just a dream, or she an apparition. "So, you have come," she says.
Hanging around her neck is a pendant … just like Alptraum's.
Alptraum steps back and inhales, his silvery eyes locking on this stranger. His ears flick nervously and he asks, "Who are you? What do you mean I have come?" He shifts his weight uncomfortably then asks, "And why couldn't I hear you there? I should have heard you breathing."
The woman's mouth becomes a thin smile. "No, you shouldn't have. Tell me, what is your name now?"
"Alptraum bar Reisender," Alptraum responds without thinking. He then blinks and asks, "What do you mean by my name now?"
"You really have no idea, do you?" the woman says, "But I should not be rude. My name is Nekara. Do tell me – how much have you managed to learn on your own?"
Alptraum shakes his head. "I'm just from a gypsy tribe down south of here. They adopted me a long time ago," he replies. "I know that I bear a resemblance to Sunala, and I know that a song I've always remembered is really a prayer for the dead. Odd, that I remember it like a lullaby. I've had some weird dreams … met a little Eeee that looked much like me, even had silvery eyes. After I fought past some wraiths, that is. There was even that dream that I was in Sunala's arms, like a child. But I don't understand why I've had these dreams or who the people are." He then reaches down and pulls out the pendant tucked under his shirt and adds, "Or why I was wearing this when the tribe found me."
Nekara nods, smiling faintly when she sees the pendant, but she quickly sobers. "That woman with you – do you trust her?"
In the moment of silence, Alptraum can hear the sound of snoring from Autumn-Storm's place across the church, past some toppled statues, by the fire.
"She's been trustworthy on this journey so far. She's a bit strange, but she's had a hard life. I should know, after seeing part of it through her eyes. I try not to judge her too harshly. Life out here is hard," Alptraum says. "Why?"
"It is always good to know who to trust," Nekara says, looking past Alptraum. "It is a dangerous world." She looks back to him. "That is why you were sent so far away. But it is time to bring you back … because you are my brother."
Alptraum looks literally dumbfounded. "I'm … huh … what?" he stammers. "I'm … how can I be. Um, I'm a vampire. Are you… ?" he blurts asking, "Who am I?!?"
The insides of Nekara's ears whiten. "What … what are you saying? What do you mean … that you're a … vampire?"
Alptraum steps back and curses inwardly. "Shouldn't have said anything," he thinks to himself, shaking his head slowly. After a time, he reaches up and pulls one lip back to reveal a fang. "I have to live off blood," he says softly. He then quickly says, "I think I should go."
Nekara's breath comes quickly, and she leans over to support herself against a column. "You … no. You can't go. I … I just have to think. Just give me a moment to … to sort this all out."
"Autumn-Storm knows. My tribe back home knows. I can't help what I am," Alptraum says softly. "I hunt in the forest. I've never harmed a person. I won't harm one." His head hangs and he mutters, "I often wished I were normal. Even tried a few times to eat like everyone else when I was a kid. Always got massively ill. Lasted for days. I've just had to accept it."
Nekara is quiet while Alptraum talks, and then nods slowly. "So … that must be … why they sent you away. You are a Bardiphath. But … your family needs you. We need you. Terrible things have happened to us in Babel."
Alptraum raises a hand and asks, "Bardiphath? What's that? What family? What's Babel?"
Nekara says, "A Bardiphath is … a son of Diphath. She is the one we say is the mother of all who drink blood. It is only a label, and you will hear it again, but it does not change anything. Your family lives in Babel. It is a city, far away, across the Stygian Sea. Our family … the women are Yodhsunala – Daughters of Sunala – priestesses. You dreamed of Sunala, because your mother was a priestess."
Alptraum blinks at this information. "You … you knew my mother?" he asks, wings flicking quietly.
"Yes," Nekara says, then blinks. "Of course I did. But … she died when I was very young … not long after you were sent away. I … I didn't even know about you until just recently. Everything has changed there. The old order is falling apart. Everyone is fighting just to survive, let alone to cling onto any of the old traditions, anything that makes us Eeee." A touch of bitterness creeps into her voice. "Heretics try to reshape who we are, try to find a 'new vision' … but … " She sighs. "I … I shouldn't bother you with that. It's not your duty to get wrapped up in … in … theology."
"Then what is my duty?" Alptraum asks, confused and curious. "And how did you learn of me?"
"Our family has suffered many losses," Nekara says, "and most of those who sent you away here are dead. They hoped to preserve you from a danger long ago, but all that seems so unimportant now. If you come with me, yes, there will be dangers, but you are no longer a helpless infant. Prophesy runs strong in our family, but it usually only runs through the women. If you have been touched by the dreams, then perhaps you are gifted as well. Maybe you have a special role from Sunala, to help us, before Babel crumbles away to ruin."
"Do you know what my name was before I was sent away?" Alptraum asks, glancing back toward where Autumn is sleeping. "I'm already trying to do something here," he explains, "An amulet of dreams was stolen and I'm trying to recover it."
Nekara opens her mouth, then closes it again. "To be honest, no I do not know what your name was, or if you even had one at all. It was all I could do to even find you here. It was only by Sunala Herself that I received a vision to know that you would come here. It was a matter of destiny. One way or another, you would eventually come here. It was only a matter of when. I have been waiting here for some time." She pauses, mulling over his words. "An amulet of dreams, you say?"
"Yes. It's what started my journey up here," Traum explains, motioning towards Autumn-Storm. "She was hired to steal it, and did. Only she got a knife in her gut for the trouble. I saved her … " he fidgets and pauses. "When I caught her soul as it fell toward the Sea of Souls. I was suddenly where she lay dying. When I woke, I remembered where I saw her and flew there. I found her just in time to save her. I volunteered to find the true thief to protect my tribe. The Sheriff didn't like them, me least of all. The amulet had the power to affect dreams, so I thought maybe it was causing all the ones I've been having." He shrugs, then asks, "You were really sent here to find me? How would we get back to this place you speak of?"
"Wait," Nekara says. "Just wait a moment. You're telling me … you … you actually stopped her from going to the Sea of Souls?"
"Yeah, I did. Not sure how," Alptraum admits.
Nekara shakes her head. "I think … I will need to spend a lot of time in prayer and meditation to make sense of all this. But … to answer your question, there is a town not too far from here, though the winter will make the journey hard. We can take a riverboat from there, and reach a port city, where we can find a ship to take us away. From there … well, suffice it to say, we'll be taking many modes of transportation, and ultimately, it will be an airship journey across the ocean to Babel."
"I've been able to find individuals within the Sea as well. Not sure how. I just have to concentrate on them and they come to me," Alptraum then says. "That may be where the Khatta with the dream pendant is headed. He's been going this way. I would like Autumn-Storm to come with us, if she is willing. I think she'd like to get someplace warmer. I hope Babel is warmer."
"Well … it will be … by the time we get there," Nekara says. "It will not be a short journey. We will be going a third of the way around the entire world."
"I'll have to see if Autumn-Storm would want to go, then," Alptraum replies. "It might provide insight into the pendant we're searching for if nothing else," he then adds and walks closer to the other Eeee. He peers close, trying to make sure he's not dreaming this. That she is real.
Nekara's brow furrows, as she cocks her head to one side, looking right back at Alptraum. She seems real enough. And he can hear her breathing now.
Alptraum grins sheepishly. "Sorry, with all the dreams I've had, I wanted to make sure you were real," he explains. "I've always hoped to find another like me. And now … well … here you stand."
Nekara's expression looks unstable, but she manages a nervous-looking smile. "Well, here you are. So … I suppose it's off to Babel, then. Don't worry – I know the way."
"Something wrong?" Alptraum inquires.
Nekara's gaze wavers, and she ends up at Alptraum's chest rather than his eyes. "I'm … I'm very happy to see you … but … there's … there's a lot of … stigma attached … to … being a Bardiphath. It will take some … getting used to." Her gaze flickers back up again. "Please forgive me."
"Well, you would have found out eventually. I tried to hide it from Autumn-Storm, but it didn't last long. I'm harmless," Alptraum replies and smiles. "And it's okay. Believe me, I'm used to being looked at or treated … differently because of what I am."
Nekara nods. "Well … let us meet your friend, then. If we'll be traveling together, we may as well get acquainted."
Alptraum nods. "All right. I'll wake her and introduce you two. She might be a bit jumpy," Alptraum says. He then steps away and starts back toward Autumn-Storm. He pauses mid-way and looks back. "A family? I have a family?" he thinks to himself, still amazed by it all. That will certainly take some getting used to. Shrugging, he resumes walking to Autumn-Storm and once he reaches her, he kneels down and gently touches her shoulder. "Autumn-Storm," he says quietly, "I have someone I'd like you to meet. This is Nekara, my sister."
