5th Day of Winter, 520 AV
Relaxing in the shallow pool of water near the center of her Dominion, Ialari reveled in the cool water as it helped to sooth the wounds she’d suffered during the otherworldly attack from the tear in the Ukalas that, thanks to her normal bad luck, opened in her Dominion several days prior. The bruising was getting better although her twisted ankle was taking a bit longer. As she soaked in the water, her thoughts strangely drifted to one of the last times she’d felt so sore. It was years ago during her journey toward finding Dominion. Of course, back then she couldn’t imagine what was in store for her when she tracked down the broken soul of the mad wizard, Amir Berliotz, former Master of the Seven Robes. That encounter started it all. By using her body to reforge his shattered soul, Berliotz became coherent enough to share with her the knowledge he’d scavenged regarding Dominion. Though spiritually repaired, Berliotz was still a ghost and a rather insane one at that. After sharing his knowledge with her, he watched as the god, Izurdin presented Ialari with all of the secrets of the lost magic. If not for the help of her friend Shalla, Ialari would have never escaped that first encounter with Berliotz and would not have gone on to eventually defeat him. She never would have discovered the Tree of Death and learned that it was the key to her learning why her own soul had been shattered.
“Shalla…” Ialari whispered to herself as she thought of her old friend.
They had met in Sahova following Ialari’s saving of the island’s nuit from the Priestess of Sagallius, the Citadel’s former Supervisor Golem, Drainira. The meeting had not been pleasant to start. As a guest of Sahova, Ialari had fallen in with Master Quio, a nuit of terrible brutality and ambition. He sought to weed out any remaining nuit who may have something to do with Drainira’s coup. He used Ialari to torture the rebel nuit and glean any information from them that she could. He also used her to rid him of potential enemies even if they had nothing to do with the coup. Shalla was one of those enemies. Like most everyone else on the island, Shalla was a nuit though had once been human centuries ago. She’d allied with Archmage Mashaen, a political rival of Quio. During Ialari’s interrogation of Shalla, the nuit revealed what she believed to be the existence of a long lost, powerful magic. She offered to trade the knowledge if Ialari would spare her.
Agreeing, Ialari freed Shalla and the two set out for the city of Nyka, the last known whereabouts of the mad wizard, Berliotz. Shalla saved Ialari’s life but lost her own in the process. Shalla became a ghost. Following her success at defeating Berliotz, Ialari delivered him to Dira. In exchange for her success, Dira marked her and presented her with the Tree of Death. For her own role in defeating the wizard, Shalla was granted extended time on Mizahar, safe from being hunted by Dira’s faithful. Shalla and Ialari returned to Sahova where the isur remained for a time before realizing that her status as one of the living comingling with the undead would likely not turn out well for her in the end. So, she left Sahova while Shalla remained as Ialari’s eyes and ears in the Citadel.
It was a few years later that Ialari learned that Shalla had left Sahova for the eastern shore of Syliras. Things in Sahova were getting to heated and Qiao was beginning to suspect that Shalla was still around and hadn’t been killed like Ialari had told him. She went in search of The Retreat, the spot where Ialari had anchored her Dominion upon its creation.
Ialari hadn’t been to The Retreat in quite some time. She’d left it under the protection of a Zith of all things, Va’al. She’d been potential prey for him and his hunting party. After a terrible fight and no small amount of pain to herself, Ialari killed the hunting party save for Va’al. Instead of killing him, she castrated him and nearly killed him. Before she was about to bring down the final blow, she noticed a strange mark on the creature and later learned it to be a mark of Nikali, Goddess of Slaves. Seeing it as a sign, she nursed the zith back to health before he pledged his loyalty to her. She tasked him to watch over The Retreat in her absence. When she’d received word of Shalla’s journey there, she informed Va’al and tried to explain who would eventually be coming. He had trouble understanding at first but after an exhaustive effort to get him to realize the reality of it all, he finally got it…at least in part. Ialari hoped that Shalla would be able to fill in the gaps.
That had been a few years ago now and Ialari had lost track of time so often that she cursed herself for not having returned to The Retreat sooner. She was now planning her return to Syka but her thoughts having drifted to Shalla, she decided to delay the return to the tropical paradise a bit longer.
With a groan of pain, she stood, stretched and made her way out of the pool. She then proceeded to gather a few items and get ready to leave her Dominion. Donning her robes, strapping on her dagger as well as Stormslinger, she packed a few more odds and ends into her pack. When she was ready, she walked with a bit of a limp to the nearby wall of the great cavern that housed her Dominion. She ran her hand over the cool stone where the shape of a door had been etched upon the surface. Tracing an invisible pattern in the center of the door, she willed it to open. The stone rippled and faded, revealing a completely different place.
From her side of the door, Ialari could see at least three structures. They were covered in plantlife to the point that only their general shape gave any indication that they were actually artificial. They were relatively small and looked more like the remains of structures rather than anything remotely close to whole buildings; perhaps leftover walls or something similar. There was even a broken, overgrown in most places, road of sorts that Ialari could barely make out stretching out nearby. They were all located in a clearing and she could hear the sounds of the ocean not far off. There was a small firepit just yard or two away in front of the doorway. From her vantage point, she couldn’t see much else other than the surrounding forest. Wasting no more time, she stepped through the door, leaving the great cavern of her Dominion and stepping into the forest clearing.
Ialari was immediately surrounded by the sounds of the coastal forest. Seagulls, with their annoying cries, pierced the air while other birds threw in their own variety of songs. The smell of the ocean, although still some distance away, tickled the air as she took several deep breaths. She looked around for Va’al but could not find him. It was daytime so he was likely off somewhere sleeping. Then she heard a familiar voice.
“Ialari?” A femine voice asked with a bit of surprise and hesitation.
Ialari turned to see a figure flicker into existence but a few feet away. It was a woman with neatly kept black hair held in a tail. She had dark eyes and pale skin. She was of average human height although still taller than Ialari and was dressed in a simple grey robe. Her form flickered a few times and there was something a little off, noticeable only to a trained eye. Ialari of course recognized the woman immediately.
“Shalla, it’s been too long.” Ialari said with a bit of an apologetic tone.
The two women, one living, one dead, moved to embrace each other.
Word Count - 1,342
