[Quest] The Stars In His Eyes - The Stars in His Hands

[Gossamer]

Timestamp: Early Summer, 511 AV Location: Wind Reach Purpose: Chemar's Dreamwalking L2 Gnosis Status: Closed As she walked, the Chevena glittered around her. Chemar knew there were Chevi here that longed to be touched, stroked, understood. There was a quality to the strands of light wrapping around her that told her who was alive and who was dead, currently not adding to their chevi. People alive had a glow about their chevi that felt energized and vibrant. People who were not or who were otherwise not actively living had a dullness to their chevi. Chemar had to simply reach out her hands, stroke the strands, and look into the lives of the people who filled the chevena. Yet something held her back. She knew she was asleep and hadn't consciously sought the Chevena or a specific Chevi. And yet she was here as a seeker. There was something disturbing about it too for each strand she touched sang off-key to her as if it were not the right life she sought. The only problem was, she'd had no idea what or whom she sought. It was a dream, ironically enough, of dreamwalking - a skill that only related to dreams so entirely fringely that it borrowed its name from the happening. Dreamwalkers knew too much, felt too much, and could find anything lost. They were feared, misunderstood, and all for a good reason. Dreamwalkers could steal whole lives by wiping away or altering the memories of the past in an individual person. Most never did, but Nysel still marked those perfectly capable of it. His followers comprised of all sorts. Chemar continued to travel. She had no idea what she was looking for. She felt lost and uncertain, knowing only where her own Chevi was and that it was the doorway home. Without a key, looking was useless, even if one knew what they were looking for. So many people had lived. So too had many died. The Chevena was a tangle without a guide and that's what the keys were. And yet, in the back of Chemar's mind, from the other dreams like this, she knew what she should be looking for. There was a scent, a particular celestial fragrance that she wanted to find. But that was not the way of the chevena, and so it was difficult. How did one find a scent? One needed a key. In the real world, sweat broke out on the sleeping woman's forehead and she tossed restlessly even as Chemar in the Chevena turned round and round. "Little Seeker. You search even though you don't know what it is you seek. You know, even though you cannot remember, that it is getting close to their time, don't you? And even as your mortal mind grows confused, your immortal soul knows. Little seeker, you need to reconnect. The answers to what you seek are not within the Chevena, but within your Chavi. I have need of you to find them soon. The world is calmer now. Things are more stable. It is time to bring one of Mizahar's greatest treasures home. Will you help me?" The voice asked, surrounding her, smothering her, warm and cold at once. The scent she'd thought of earlier floated around her and made her heart wrench for something lost, something lost on her watch. She lost her footings, her bearings, and even her sense of self as the ground twisted and the world spun around her. The chevena flexed as its Lord passed, moving away from her, moving onward. The strands blurred for a moment, looking for all the world like stars until her vision cleared and reunited them into the interconnected world that only a Dreamwalker could see. "Hurry, little seeker. Can't you feel the urgency? They will only be blooming for a short time. Already you remember their scent. Is there more? I will not tell you, other than to advice you to seek the answers for yourself. If you wait any longer, they will not be where you finally decide to look." The voice cautioned, then disappeared altogether. There were no answers, just questions, which was something a Dreamwalker learned early on. But she knew her lord's voice. She knew his needs. She had to find something for him, something incredibly important - she knew=- and something the world was ready to know about once more. The thought scared her, but not enough to wake her in the real world or throw her out of the Dream or the Chevena.

[Chemar Tisserand]

The Chevana, her home. A place that filled the dreamer with overpowering warmth while at the same time insinuating a chill that drove straight to her bones, it transformed her into the essence of joy just as it crushed her heart to near breaking. Chemar had never felt as alive in her waking life as she did within the reaching grasp of the Chevana. As the glowing Chevi clung to her, desperately vying for her attention, for her to take notice and tell their stories, she tried as she always did to find some measure of lucidity, just one thing that might act as an anchor. Without a key, her mind grasped unsuccessfully at the countless Chevi, briefly touching upon their stories with the frequency of grains of sand on a beach. Suddenly, she felt a familiar, overwhelming touch, it encompassed her as though she were drowning, filling and surrounding her, wicking away all the tension and confusion her body held. She stopped everything, frozen in the shifting light of the Chevena, to draw an exquisite breath of his clarity. My god. Her arms fell to her sides and she nearly collapsed from the rush of euphoria that filled her. She wanted to speak to him, tell him of the things she'd seen, but the words would not come. They were trapped in her throat by a growing feeling of emptiness... of something lost. As with every aspect of her chosen life, the intangible ecstasy was fleeting and she was cast into a disoriented stupor as his voice sounded all around her. She knew of no person in her waking life that would not feel cheated, tormented even, at the brevity of his taunting touch, but it was what Chemar lived for. It was the reason for closing her eyes and surrendering herself to the tumultuous hold of the Chevena, the possibility of even a moment of that perfect focus. In that moment, she saw everything. But as with the height of the fulfillment she felt, the desolate emptiness that followed was crippling. There was nothing subtle, nor gentle, about this path - her life-, but she craved nothing more than that intensity. The paradox of feeling in and totally out of control all at once was her addiction, it sustained her through everything. That tenuous state was her home, and the finer the line between control and chaos, the more she sought it out. Nysel's words seeped into her thoughts, clinging like honey as a familiar smell filled her senses and she sought out the her own writhing tendril of life. Your Chavi. Your Chavi. Your Chavi. She began scanning the Chevena, waiting eargerly to see that most familiar thread. It called to her like a whisper that could be heard above everything because it sounded inside her like no other Chavi. A tremor crept across her skin as she could feel the pull of her waking life, but she did not submit, merely catching sight of her Chavi to ground herself. There Without remembering the movement she stared at her Chavi, and when she began to extend her hand, it encircled her like a snake coiling around a branch. She had taken a fragment of what was said and sought it out, without any understanding of why she now held her own life in her hands. "That's not enough..." Her voice echoed as it met the countless strands of light, bouncing within her ears until it lost any strength continue, then it simply dissolved into the growing hum that began to bear down on her. Without a key, the Chevi became greedy, knowing that she might choose any one of them and tell their story. Her own thread still in hand, she began to feel smothered, assaulted by the din of the voices the demanded she -see- them, that she acknowledge them. The words spoken to her began to mute amidst the others as she replayed them in her head, trying to keep focus on everything he'd said while searching for some direction. She needed to find the way on her own, somewhere in the tangle of lives that surrounded her was that precious treasure she sought and it was up to her to find it. The seized muscles of her stomach told her that if she failed, all that made her who she was, would be gone, taken from her. That could not happen. There was no way to choose the first place to look; her head was spinning with the brief glimpses of those Chevi she encountered. Surrender. She heard it clear as a bell in her thoughts, as clear as the voice of Nysel, but it was not his voice, it was her own, offering her a direction. Looking back over her life, the most extraordinary experiences she'd had known had all begun with her surrender. The key had always been her own commitment; it was there she would find her way. It was there she would find what she sought. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and relaxed, opening herself to every person, living or dead that demanded her attention. Keeping a hold on her own Chavi, she let them all in and immediately the familiar smell blossomed around her... filling her lungs...now she just needed to find it.

[Gossamer]

The Chavena was like a last undiscovered country untouched by Mizahar yet heavily influencing it. Dreamwalkers accessed the Chavena through meditation and dreams, often translating and manipulating these things at will or at Nysel's request. One of the first lessons a Dreamwalker learns was how to find their own Chavi and walk it. Finding it was never a problem. Looking deep inside oneself and grasping the glowing light at one's center, a Dreamwalker always held the key to their own Chavi and because they burned with their own light - the light their chavi was made out of - the Dreamer could always without fail find their Chavi. Surreal and breathtaking in its beauty, the Chavi flowed throughout the Chavena like never ending always falling strands of glorious rain refracting light and energy back around the Dreamwalker filling an utterly dark void with breathtaking light. Chemar's own Chavi was familiar to her. It glittered with greens and golds struck through with veins of copper and bronze light glittering in a twisting spiral that surrounded her the moment she thought of it and concentrated on her own inner spirit. All she had to do was hold out her hands and gather the light to her and she'd be instantly transferred into her own life and memories walking forward and backwards along the line. Instinctively she knew where the 'now' was on the line of the Chavi and strayed from the future of it which wasn't written yet and still dark with potential. It was the past she was after, a past far in the distance beyond her memory and beyond the life she knew now. Touching the strands, she could briefly step into her life and begin her search. She was searching for something with a sense of urgency. There was something she knew about, something she'd lost, something she'd treasured beyond gold and beyond her own life at one time. Precious. Living. A sense of urgency filled her with the need to look and find what she sought before it was too late. The only problem was she didn't know what she was looking for exactly. The voice of her beloved God had urged her own, in his own way granting her His permission to seek. Whatever she knew about but could not remember was as important to him as it was to her. And time was running out. So she'd have to step into her lives at various places and begin her search. And she'd have to go further back, past her known memories into older deeper memories of the kind that were only stored on her Chavi. She only had to pick a place and begin her search. Chemar had no idea what she'd find at each location, at each step, but being the Dreamwalker she was, she'd know where and when she'd step into in relation to the now which was always the beginning of the Chavi where it attached to the Ukalas. All she needed to do was begin...

[Chemar Tisserand]

Chemar let her hand slide along the delicate filament of her life, fascinated, she splayed her fingers and let it reflect upon her skin as her eyes closed. Wind cut through her hair as she drifted into a life deep within her subconscious. Cold. Fresh. Whistling past her ears with breathtaking speed. She opened her eyes to an endless sky, viewed from a vantage point she could not fathom within her waking life. She was flying...and grasped in her fingers was the lifeless corpse of a small animal, she could feel the tips of her fing- talons as they punctured the tenuous skin and sunk into flesh. The ground was far below, but every detail was crystal clear. A flick of her eyes to the side revealed the mottled wings of a massive bird of prey and she watched as the wind ruffled through each individual feather. The smallest movement affected the aspect of her flight and she tested her skill at flight by making slight shifts in the plane of her wings. An eagle. In a blink of an eye, she was soaring with a sudden and familiar recollection of feeling the cool air on her chest. She knew exactly what she need do to affect her flight. It was magical. Chemar drew her wings against her form and began to plummet toward the ground below. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once, it simply stole her breath away. The path of her fall passed her through the body of a billowing cloud, causing a mist of moisture to collect then evaporate, briefly coating her feathers. When the cloud dispersed she threw her wings open and cut short the wild fall. The stop was so abrupt that her stomach vaulted and she nearly vomited in midair, only the smooth and silent soaring that resulted was enough to quell her reaction. The control was exquisite, offering her freedom and solitude; Chemar had never felt so powerful. The ground was just below her now and she curled the tips of her wings to break her speed. She would aim for a pillar of stone that thrust out of the moss covered ground and land there. As she extended her claws outward to steady her landing she caught sight of a pair of men perched on an outcropping before her. Their tanned and tattooed skin was a perfect blend to camouflage them from her sight. She watched them curiously. What she did not see was the arrows they'd let fly just before she caught sight of them. But soon enough, she felt them. Even as she saw the first thrust into her chest, but there was no avoiding it. At first there was no pain, only disbelief and then it was as though she caught fire, a spike of flame traveling toward her spine carried by the arrow's point. She was knocked back; forced toward the ground by the first shot and then toppled tail over head by a second. A scream emerged from her throat, tearing forth as the screeching sound of a wounded eagle, but it began to change in her ears, the sound of it growing less metallic and more anguished. She was losing her mind, an effect of the pain? That had to be it. The eagle's call had begun to sound human. It couldn't be. Through bleary eyes she looked at the arrows, wishing beyond hope that there was a way for her to pull them out, to relieve the pressure in her chest. Her breath was ragged, raspy and labored, and she writhed on the hard ground, feeling it cut into her...skin. What was happening to her? Her whole body felt affected by those two shafts of wound and metal, making her feel as though she was being exploded. ripped open from the inside out. She his no idea that getting shot would feel this way, and she suddenly mourned any life she had ever taken by arrow. Another scream cut through the air, until the footfalls of the two hunters could be heard. They approached with unneeded caution, they would get not resistance from her. The looks on their faces when they reached her could only be viewed as curious and oddly fearful. Just kill me! She wanted to plead with them, but no words could get past the screams. Even knowing it would not help, she still tried using her wing to dislodge the arrows. But when an excruciating flash of pain tore through her chest she looked down to see a flesh and blood hand. Her confusion was unprecedented, and interrupted by the voice of the first hunter. "I told you. It's human, well...partly." He prodded her naked form with the tip of his bow and she winced . "Been tracking it for weeks now." Kelvic. "Help me."When she spoke, they jumped back, staring in amazement. "Get me out of here..." She no longer spoke to her killers, but to her god...