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I blink the water out of my eyes, but only darkness greets me. After a century without heat or light, my eyes have simply forgotten how to see. I have not forgotten, however. I reach down into the reservoir of spiritual energy unlocked during my time in the void, pushing my aura outward into my surroundings, crying out to the essence of everything around me. A seagull, gliding somewhere high above, is first to respond. Then the stringy grass that pushes up from the sand before me, followed by the fish in the water I have left. The rocks, the waves, the wooden structure protruding into the ocean a hundred feet away; energies flow threw them all, and all their energies flow into me, answering my call in the darkness. The distant pier glistens like a knife, moonlight cast on splashes of seawater flicker on the surface like candles in a church. I cannot see it, but I know it to be so. I try to step forward and nearly lose my balance, not only because of the frailty of my legs, but because of an uneven tilt to the sand that I had not noticed. This new way of seeing will take time to adjust to, much as my new body will take time to train back to some semblance of its former strength. I remember the moonlight, and realize that I must be on the surface world. The world where forbidden magic spreads like wildfire through the hands of mortal mages, threatening to consume them as it did my sister, to draw them into a spiral of damnation at the hands of a demonic tutor. I remember the abyss, the two human lifetimes I lost because of such a sorceress's mistake. I remember why I have returned.... I strike out toward the nearest collection of sentient spirit energy that I feel echoing into the darkness of the night. I do not know the name of the city. This was never my world, and even if it had been, a hundred years have passed. My name has no doubt been forgotten, my first chance at life less than a footnote in the Book of Ages. Irrelevant. Illiriel died long ago; emerging from the abyss was not my rebirth, it was my reincarnation. I am Shadowsong now. For some reason I do not feel the need to question how I know this, or how I came to this place, or anything else. I am content to ride the wind of fate wherever it takes me, even as it guides me cold, naked, and alone into the heart of some alien place. Traces of demonic magic linger in the air of this place. They are faint, but more than enough to remind me why I have come. Why I have been given a second chance in this world. At last, the time has come… for revenge… |
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