Shade of Grey
Chapter 5: We are not Friends

Copyright© 2005 by Oldbie

Interlude
Halls of Judgment

"It was you who either prevented the 'Essence Shock' that should have hit me, as we crashed through the Ethereal Boundary or you caused my recovery?" asked Grey.

"Yes, you were Destined to recover," replied the Voice.

"You also healed most of the heat damage I suffered from the 'Fire Wind?"

"Yes, you were Destined to heal rapidly," replied the Voice with a bemused lilt.

"You also kept me alive, after that mission went bad, and made sure I got to the pickup point?"

"Yes, you were Destined to not be extremely injured, and you were Destined to avoid all the patrols out to prevent your escape," answered the voice with a quite laugh.

"You also dropped Darion right on my lap?"

"Yes, you were Destined to be reunited quickly," the voice quipped with a happy giggle.

"Why?"

"It was Destined to be," laughed The Voice.

"Alright already, I figured out that you're 'Lady Destiny' sometime ago. Could you be a little less sarcastic and a little more specific?" asked Grey

"Very well, 'Fate' arranged for your being, and I was set to oversee your 'Destiny'," replied Lady Destiny, with a new voice that had seduction dripping from it.

"Funny," he replied with a degree of his own brand of sarcasm, "that's like saying 'that you can see fire because of the flame', could you provide some useful detail?"

"No, as your Fate is yet to be determined, I can not provide more detail. What I can say is that you exis, t because you were Fate to do so."


With the end of the spell, the ship slowed, till the natural winds took over moving the ship through the water. Darion watch Bastion as he slumped forward and fall to his left side as he collapsed. He tied off the steering oar and went to the huddled form and stretched him out and rolled him on to his back, while he checked his pulse and breathing making sure he wasn't in shock. Returning to the stern, he untied the oar and brought the ship about so that it was running before the wind.

From her oar bench she watch Bastion's collapse, but before she could finish untying her self, the large man, had already reach his friend and made him comfortable.

'How can someone so big move so gracefully, he almost glided over the deck, no waste motion at all; he is like a dancer', Marella thought to herself. I wonder if he can do magic too, he is a Commando, but he is so obviously a Warrior, and he is wearing armour. Bastion was wearing armour too when he called the fire and when he healed himself. How can he cast spells, dressed in metal and with no Essence Flow... ?"

Going to the cooking station she gathered the remains of the stew in a wooden sailors bowl, and the remaining loaf, she then made her way unsteady to the stern, and managed to arrive with out incident.

"Can you tie off the oar again so you can eat, Lord Karlus? I have stew and loaf if you are interested."

"Thank you milady, you are very kind, but I am not a Lord, I am the third son of a Landholder", replied Darion as he tied off the oar once again. "Though you can call me Squire if you like, I seem to recall being granted that title sometime ago."

"Squire Karlus it is then", said Marella with a smile; "and your friend is he a Lord or of the gentry also?"

"Yes my lady, the Senior Tribune is a Lord, though he was born to the Artisans Class. But he is not my friend, as least not the way you mean it. We are brother soldiers milady, we live in each other skins, we have faced death together and in many respects we are closer that most husbands and wives; but we are not friends", he explained between spoonfuls of stew and bites of bread.

"I understand, what my father calls the companionship of arms, a relationship closer than family; 'forged in common service, tempered in the fires of battle'. I never really understood it till now."

"Yes milady, I think maybe you do, I have seen the fire in your eyes, and I saw the concern too when he passed out. There have been times when I have truly hated him, and still loved him like a brother at the same time. He is a hard man my lady, he does not give with his emotions easily, but I have seen him weep openly after battle."

"How is he able to cast magic when the Essence flows have stopped, Squire Pandarion", Marella suddenly asked?

"I don't know milady, I can't cast magic myself. I have only a vague idea of how it supposed to work under normal circumstances. All I can tell you milady is that he can work magic while in metal armour, and I have seen him cast spells in null zones, during an Essence Storm, even while chained in Mithral. So I am not surprised that he is able to cast magic now", replied Darion with a slight smile.

'What will you Imperial Oaths allow you to tell me of his back ground, family, friends, and prior service?"

"I am Sorry, milady; but not much; I have given the third Imperial Oaths, and it's better if I do not know those sorts of things, I am not even sure that I know his real name. You see my duty is to protect him, and if necessary kill him so that he cannot be captured and put to the 'Question'. The less I know about him, the less I will reveal when I am captured. As for tales of our service together, I am sure you know I am prohibited by the oaths from discussing anything of that nature, not that I am able to, in any case. You, being the daughter of a senior ranking officer must be familiar with the service Geas spells."

"Yes, Squire Pandarion, I certainly am; I have been subjected the second oaths myself since I was a child. It is a pity; several of the ladies have wounds that require healing spells that I am now unable to cast. I was hoping that the Tribune would tell me how he is able to work magic, so that I could tend to them."

"Perhaps I can help milady", tucking the steering oar under his arm, he reaches into his pouch and brings out two small black glass vials. These are potions milady, each has 5 doses of healing; I don't know if they will still work, but you are welcome to them if they do. Also please pass on my complements to those who cooked, it was very good."

Startled, she looked from the two black vials, up to Pandarion's face, back down to the vials, "Oh thank you Squire Pandarion, thank you; these should be fine, potions store the Essence for the spells contained, these will be more than enough to help everyone."

"Then they are yours, keep any portions that remain in case the are needed later", replied Pandarion.


Interlude
Halls of Judgment

"Till this moment I was not even aware that I knew any of this, how is that possible?" asked Grey

"Your Ears Heard The Sounds, And Your Soul, Remembered," responded Zorcamor.

"Interesting, so do you think that you will be able to determine what the Lady Destiny is up to by having me recall my complete life?"

"That Is Not The Purpose, You Must Recall Your Complete Life, So That It May Be Judged; And The Fate Of Your Soul Determined," replied Blind Kos

"But if The Lady has already determined what my souls fate will be, does it not defeat the purpose of having my life judged in the first Place... ?"


"Don't try to reason with the POWERS THAT BE, or point out the errors in their reasoning,

Or the flaws in their arguments; the results are unbelievably painful.

Grey's 4th Law


'I warned you, not to aggravate the Judges, as it would be very painful. It is their nature to JUDGE; they could no more forego the process that you could give up breathing. Besides it is necessary that you recall your life, you need to learn some unpleasant things about yourself, as well as having some ill conceived notions corrected," stated Lady Destiny.

"Like the fact that I am only able to recall this past life, when I should be able to recall all my lives, or the fact that I am or was not completely human, or that my parents were not my real mother and father. Those sorts of unpleasant things, and as for the ill conceived notions; that I am not really as proficient as I thought I was, nor as tough. What with Destiny always stepping in to haul my ass out of the fire." He counted off the various items till he had made a tight fist.

"No, those are the obvious things, that you more than half suspected while you lived; what I am referring to are those unpleasant things that you have always avoided thinking about at all," Destiny replied with some sorrow in her voice.

"I am not really dead, am I? This is my real body, I am even wearing my old boots," asked grey, avoiding the implied suggestion that it was about time he started thinking about the unpleasant.

"Yes you died, I just made use of your old body, instead of creating a Soul Body for you. As you had a contingency on your boots, to return to you if they became too separated, they rejoined you once you were removed from The World Plane."

"Doesn't that break all sorts of rules?"

"Yes, but it was your destiny to be dead with your boot on," she laughed as she faded from his perception.

"Dead with my boots on, her puns are as bad, if not worse than my own," muttered Grey, once again taking up his quill and stabbing it into the ink font he begins to write.


The first time I saw 'Darian, he was in formation in a mud pit that is used to train Legionnaires in coping with Battlefield Magic, he was the simulated leader, about to lead his troops through the barrage field as I and four others would be lobbing Artillery Magic effects across their area. The secret to doing this without harming the troops is timing with most of the spells being nothing more than smoke and flash; with just a few real effects to help keep the troops awake. You cast the spell just as the lead legionnaire is leaving the effect area. As the lead man dashed to the first cover wall I powered up a force 10, 25 Arms radius Pyro-Sphere with a release set for a centre of effect 26 Arms above the ground, centered on the tree stump timed to arrive on target in 18 Ticks. The troops are trained to move out quick on a 1-2 count, to provide spacing. The second troop moves out, 1-2 then the third and so on. It takes 12 Ticks for the squad to clear an area. But in this case the fifth of the his troop, tripped, and twisted her leg, jamming her foot into an exposed root about 10 seconds after I fired the mid-sized Pyro-ball. 'Darian saw her go down, and rush to grab her. As he tried to pick her up in a shoulder hold, her jammed foot refused to give and he fell face first into the mud completely covering her 1-1/2 standard body with his 2 standard one. He was in full armor of course; torso, arms legs and head incased in iron, with just a bit of luck on their part and a whole lot of skill on mine they were barely injured. I quick-cast a semi-solid 10 square foot Frigid Hydro-wall aligned parallel to the horizon, at about 5 Arms above the mud, timing it's arrival to the tick-instant before the Pyro-ball was to set to explode over their position. The result was, they were flooded with nearly scalding hot water falling on them instead of being engulfed in elemental flame. A very nice bit of casting if I do say so myself, there they were in their small puddle of warm liquid mud surrounded by fired hardened clay slabs, instead of ending up carbonized humanoid remains. The section commander called me over to the raised platform she was standing on, as the legions 1st Centurion was running up to the very fortunate mud covered duo.

"That was a very impressive bit of casting Greylanus; I am putting you in for a commendation. I am very impressed indeed," stated the uniformed officer. Her mid-night blue magic auxiliaries uniform was completely unadorned except for the three black pentagrams that designated Centurion rank in the auxiliaries.

"I am sorry, but I request that you do not do that Centurion; I did not do it for the recognition, nor for any other reward. Any attempt to draw this to the attention of anyone up the chain of command will be met with very sever repercussions that I would rather not fall on you. I will make that an order if you prefer," I stated as I pined on my own gold six pentagrams over crossed swords encircled in a ring of fire, that are sometimes used to show rank in The Phoenix Guard.

"You understand, Centurion; I was never here, you never saw me, what happened was that the two casters on the end did the casting; do you understand;" I commanded.

"Yes Sir; I understand; nothing out of the ordinary happened; just some quick thinking on the part of two junior casters on the end of the firing line," answered the Centurion.

I gave her my best 'wish we had more time smile' as I turned and walked a short distance away, and 'Long Stepped' back to the officers barracks area of the training camp.


The next time I saw, 'Darian; was about 4 months later, when the training company was about to receive their Wolves. I guess that I should explain that the wolves are the 'Wolves Head' insignia that each trooper receives when they become a legionnaire. The insignia are Black for junior grade, Silver for mid grade, and Gold for senior grade. He was standing as troop leader with his 'Gold Wolf's Head', in the first section, first rank, of the first century, of the first Cohort; not bad for the middle son of nine children of mid ranking Provincial Bureaucrats. If he had the funds he could have graduated 5th Centurion/black or even higher. But as it is, receiving his Wolf Insignia in the first troop position is sometimes better, merit citations count for a lot more than political connections out on the frontier where he thinks he is headed. So there he was standing not 15 paces from where I was sitting, in the review stands. Straight, tall, still wearing the full armor of the assault legion he thought he was going to join out on the Valencia Frontier. But I had other ideas for him, and the duly authorized orders to pull his ticket. I was wearing the Red, Whites and three Praying Hands insignia of the Chaplain's Core along with the Holy Medallion of ZEXI Goddess of Battle and Honor. She's very popular with the troops especially the newbies as they get hammered with the old Empire/Victory/Honor Ra-Ra-Ra as they under go boot training. I was having an interesting conversation with a fellow Chaplain, whose daughter was out in the field somewhere in the 4th cohort. He was also a Priest of ZEXI, like I said very popular among the troops, though he was in a Conservative sect, while I am with a very liberal one. We continued our discussion of the relative merits of conservative Vs liberal religious practices as the troops marched passed in review. After the legion command group passed, we blessed each other in our Goddesses name, he to join his daughter and I 'Long Steeped' to the training legions command tower. Along the way I removed the façade illusion of the Clergy Uniform and Insignia; carefully removed my Holy Medallion observing the proper ritual, and packed it away in my ever-handy dimensional pocket; and added the six Silver Wolves to my insignia patch. In case you are wondering, yes I am a priest of Zexi, in my line of work it's good to have every edge I can get.

And yes I can hear the question, 'what's it like traveling by 'Long Step', what do you see, how does it feel, what happens if the spell fails'? What's it like, well it's like walking through water, it takes effort, the faster you want to go, and the more resistance there is. One of the practical considerations is that it requires a specially trained horse to travel by 'Long Step'. They have to be trained from the day of their birth, some even go as far as to having the mare give birth there. As for 'What do you see'; well as you enter the 'Long Step' the world around you gets dimmer, and everything takes on a yellowish tint. As you begin to walk things become more orange ahead of you, remains yellow off to the sides and above and below, and green behind you. The faster you travel the more orange and green things become. As you walk, the path of lesser resistance is to not try to push through any real world materials such as walls and the like. It is impossible to pass through anything with it's own 'Aura' such as living beings including plants, or anything magical. These Auras are very visible, and if you accidentally contact one, the 'Long Step' spell could fail depending on the mass you intercept. You can travel in any direction, including up, and most casters usually climb up above the surrounding terrain, just travel to their destination before climbing down again. Birds, insects, and the like do not present much of a problem, mostly because they have almost no mass compared to your average caster, but there is still a risk. As for 'how does it feel'; well like I said before it is a lot like walking through water, there is the resistance, but you do not feel anything rushing past you, like you would walking through a strong wind or a fast current. As a matter of fact, if you are wearing a cloak it will not flap about, it will just hang down as if you were perfectly still. There is no sensation of movement, which can cause some problems with disorientation and motion sickness, your eyes are telling your brain that you are traveling very fast, and your other senses can detect no motion at all. If the spell fails, the minor effects can include dizziness, spatial disorientation, to profound shock to your system including neuro-disruption and death. If you suffer a serious contact or with large massive objects with strong aura's you can be ripped to shreds.

As for what everyone on the world plane sees, there is a faint transparent glow of the casters magical effect as they pass by. I am sure you have seen the magically ionized trails before; you know those faint streaks of colored light; and the faint sizzling sound as they pass.

As I approached the command tower I could see 'Darian pacing back and forth in front of the two guards at the towers entryway. When I emerged from the 'Long Walk' and headed up the walkway to the tower, all three snapped to attention. I told the guards that 'Darian was with me, and as I put my had over the door's entry orb, it flashed green and the door opened.

"After you Troop Leader Pandarian," I said as I gestured him inside. "I am up on the third floor, west door, head on up and I will join you shortly. There are refreshments on the side table, help your self."

"Sir, Yes Sir," he snapped in a load crisp voice. "Third Floor, West Door, Sir, Yes Sir".

With my best 'bemused smile' on my face, and my 'number two twinkle sparkling in my eye'; I watched 'Darion climb the star's, as I approached the OD's desk across the entry hall. I removed my command orders from my belt pouch and presented them to the corporal sitting behind the desk. He took the parchment, unfolded and read the orders. His eyes bugged out a bit, and he stood up at attention and asked me "what are your orders sir".

"Verify the orders, corporal, and then we will talk", I casually suggested.

He picked up the small hammer lying on the desk, and struck the bronze table bell sitting on the right side of the desk, twice. He remained standing at attention while the Centurion; Officer of the day came out of the OD's office. When he saw me, he snapped to attention and saluted. With out a word the Corporal handed the OD the parchment and clearly announced, "Orders to be verified Sir". The Centurion nodded, with a Crisp "Very well Corporal", and a passing salute to me he reentered the office and closed and secured the door.

"At ease, Corporal, you might as well sit down and relax, your Centurion will be awhile", I kindly suggested with a smile.

 
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