Chapter II

Beyond Aion’s Reach

Daith leaned against the frame of the door listening absentmindedly to rain as water rolled across the roof.  There was a gnawing empty feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn’t shake.  One that had nothing to do with a lack of a good meal, he stared at the heavy sheets of rain that picked up the soft glow from the Tower of Eternity and formed the light into almost rainbow like patterns.  Why did he feel like this?  Was it the peace accord that was only a few hours away?  What was it that bayed at him like hungry Togs?  He felt a gentle touch on his arm, it startled him.

A soft smile crept across the youthful face of the Strawberry blond, Risea.  “You’re drifting again Daith.”

Daith scratched the back of his head. “I suppose I was.” He grinned sheepishly.

“You should really come in.  It’s getting chilly.”  Risea smiled, turning to head back to the circle of Legion officers that sat around the crackling fire, speaking quietly among themselves.  He looked back at the drifting banks of rain and sighed.  He was just being paranoid.  What happened tomorrow would be for the best.  How could it not?  So much death had been sown even in the short time he had been a Daeva. Was it really so worrisome that the thought of peace could be achieved through deliberation?

Giving the rain one last glance he moved inside, closing the officer barracks door quietly.

He listened to the conversations as he came to the edge of his bed and sat, pulling a box from beneath it.  Removing the lid he pulled out a immaculate leather bound journal.  He stared at the symbol on its front.  It was his families Crest.  The massive book had been a gift to him from his mother.  An entire decade, had passed since she had given this to him as a parting gift when he left for training as a Daeva.  Not a single page had been turned in it since; no ink had ever graced its pages.  Regardless he used it to remind himself of his home and family when he felt like he was at a crossroads. Daith’s mind had began to wonder again when the timber of the conversation the others were having suddenly veered higher.

“It’s not right!” came Sakei’s strong even voice.  Her eyes where even more livid then the words she spoke. “We should be honoring the lost by avenging them.”

“That sounds about right for one of Asphel’s cronies.” was Risea’s response.

“Cronies?” Rayna mimed.  “Just because Asphel and the others happen to be right in their assumption about a Balaur, doesn’t make those that trust that judgment, cronies.  I think more for myself then your berry colored little head ever has Risypoo.”

Daith grimaced.  This place was beginning to sound like the hall within the tower when Israphel first made his views clear.

“Enough.  This is not the time or place for this.” Eidolon spoke, his voice grave.  “You know well enough that pointless naming was not the reason I called this meeting.  An I ask that you respect each other in view of this apparent division, just as you always have.  I’ve called you here as members of Elysium, not of your different legions to discuss what we will bring back to our own legions and fellow members of Elysium.”

Much like being a Daeva, Daith had not been a member of Elysium long.  Elysium its self was nothing as vast as the different legions that made up the armies of the Daeva.  It was a small group of likeminded individuals that believe in seeing past the banners, and different Empyrean Lords and Lady’s they might follow, So several individuals among the Legions decided to form a small group who believed in bonds that transcended things as trivial and petty as words and names. Eidolon was chief among them and aptly was the Leader of Elysium.

Despite what the Daeva looked like to humans and perhaps even the Balaur, they were not all as uniformed as one might be lead to believe, divisions within the ranks where common, but with a singular goal.  They all worked seamlessly together.  Now even that unity was being threatened.  Elysium itself was being pulled into the conflict.  This meeting of Officers and a few subordinates was to help close any rifts that might have formed from within and hopefully get others to agree that even this was not enough to pull what they had formed apart.

“Still Eidolon, do you really think this is right?” Asked Sakei.

“This isn’t about right and wrong.  This is about unity.” Eidolon said, rubbing his temple.

“You’re being terribly quiet over there Daithy.” piped Rayna, suddenly interjecting.

Daith sighed. Just like Rayna to drag him kicking into a conversation he wasn’t ready to tackle.

“I don’t feel, it’s the right moment for me to comment.  I have only been among you for a few months now.  It is not my place to say anything.”

Eidolon smiled.  “I asked for you here Daith, just like any of the others here, because I know your voice carries weight with those you have been placed in command of regardless of their number.  This was not a meeting called based on seniority within Elysium or even age.  It was called to deal with vision.  You are young but you are talented.  Do not be afraid to voice your opinion here.”

Daith nodded.

 “Oh goody, you finally get permission to use that back bone you have Daithy.”

Daith grumbled. “Thank you Rayna, for your loving embellishment.”

“Well since you have been called out, what is your feeling Daith.” asked Sakei.  Fantastic, Rayna had spurred Sakei into calling him out as well.  Sakei was Daith’s superior with the Legions of Ariel.  She looked at him quizzical, her eye daring him to speak.

“Truth is I do not know what I feel in this mater.  If this works will it really mean the fighting is over?  Can there really be peace that does not come with bloodshed?  It’s an enticing thought.”

“So you agree with Lady Ariel?”

“I didn’t say that.”  Daith sighed. “It’s just if we can achieve it, maybe it is worth the risk.  Even if we did, I’m not so naive to think the fighting will really stop over night.  I’m sure this thought has accrued to all of us.  We will have to watch the Balaur.”

“So you want to forget all the blood that has been shed fighting the Balaur, all the humans who have been killed?” grinned Rayna.

“Again I didn’t say anything like that.  Nothing should be forgotten.  In all honesty I do not care what the decision is.  I’m more concerned with how this will affect the foundations of the Daeva.”

“Thank you for bringing that up Daith.” Eidonon chimed.  “I have a few Idea’s as far as that is concerned.”

Daith was relieved, and he figured Eidonon knew it as well.  Silently Daith thanked the leader for his stepping into move the attention off of him.  He still felt the gnawing in his gut, and talking about it situation wasn’t helping it.  His attention returned to his untouched journal and thoughts of the Mother he missed.  Somewhere high above him on the Northern plains of Atreia he was sure she was sleeping soundly.  He continued to listen to Eidonon and the others converse among themselves.  As much as he felt he needed to listen his head simply wasn’t in it.  He knew Sakei would be furies with him tomorrow, but he didn’t care at the moment.  He knew how to handle her wrath.  He wanted to dream of his home and his family for now.  Eventually he drifted to sleep, the hum of the conversation in the background as his lullaby.

The morning was brisk, an seemed unseasonably cold to Daith, as he walked down the rows of Daeva, who all stood at attention.  Every Legion the Empyrean lords had to offer was in attendance.  Each one lined up behind there respected Lords, and Ladies.  Daithin had never seen a larger gathering of Daeva in his life.  Even the two guardians of the Tower, Lady Siel, an Lord Israphel where with them.  They stood at the middle of the large avenue one at each end of the vast door way that lead in to the Tower of Eternity.  The avenue had been defined by the many different legions.

Finally Daith found Sakei, she was unusually quiet, only nodding at him as he stepped into line at her side.  Pulling off his helm, Daith looked up into the sky.  High above him clouds drifted over the burnt scared pieces of land that the aetheric field had not been able to protect.  He traced the lines of broken roads down to the north end of the Tower.  He and the great legions of the Daeva, now stood on the pulsing skin of the Tower at its very center.  He could see both from one side of the tower to the other.  Craning his head, he looked to the northern end of the tower, marking the lake on which his family had built their home.  He smiled.

It was the click and the sudden rushing sound that gave him pause.  The Aetheric field had been lowered.  Blue currents of aether drifted and pulled in to the great tower.  Slowly great black shapes appeared at either base of the great tower.  The Five Dragon Lords approached. They strode calmly threw the villages and settlements even more calmly as they passed through the avenues of legions.  Daith watched as Seil and Israphel bowed to the titanic beasts.  The Dragon Lords where vast by comparison to the others Dragons he had seen.  There massive maws could scoop up several dozens of humans and still have room to spare, and yet even as they tread on the skin of Aion, they made no move of aggression, no hostel measures.  Siel and Israphel, lead the Five Dragon Lords into the heart of the Tower, the other Empyrean Lords, and Ladies, followed behind.  The legions and their commanders where left to wonder at the happenings of the proceedings.  Hours seemed to pass for Daith as the legions continued to stand at attention. 

It was the visceral roar of one of the great Dragons dying that marked the end of the summit.  Suddenly the ground beneath the legionary’s feet began to shake; cracks along the rock began to heavy and spread.  The legions as trained as they where were suddenly racked with panic.  People and Daeva alike scattered in all direction as great pieces of the tower began to heavy upwards, and brake away.

Daith took to the air on shimmering wings, as a massive claw ripped through the skin of the tower.  Fiery breath following after it, from the sky he saw it all happen.  The Dragons where ripping the great tower apart from the inside.  Their great mass tearing through the stone and aether like it did not exist at all.  He felt the summons in his mind as Lady Ariel and her attending, where ordered my Guardian Siel to head to the Southern bass of the tower.  All around him other Daeva took flight following after Ariel’s luminous form as she rocked toward the base of the tower.  Not sure what to do he hesitated, that is when he caught sight of Asphel and the others heading to the North.

As he turned to follow after Ariel and his legions he saw Sakei, and several others he knew rocket past him following after Lord Asphels Legions.  He did not stop to think about it.  He reacted, he recalled his wings.  Allowing the gravity between Atreias hallow sphere do his work for him, Daith fell to the south.  What he witnessed as he fell he could barely comprehend.  The tower was shattering.  Great stone fragments where coming off like they had no substance at all.  It was horrifying.  In a matter of moment the entire world he had known was being splintered and fragmented.

Suddenly it dawned on Daith.  The ten empyrean lords where failing.  Atreia was coming apart at the seams, and nothing they could do would stop it.  He called on his wings again as the Southern reaches grew closer.  The south was not where he needed to be.  He had to get to his family, his mother.  Nothing else mattered.  If he was to die, he would die with those he loved, orders be damned, Empyrean Lords be damned.  He would live his last moments with his family or not at all.

His wings extended but at the speed he fell he could barely maneuver.  He screamed as he pulled himself from his freefall.  His wings threatened to shear off his back with every beat as he forced control over his fall.  He managed to gain power over them back, but he felt as though he was dragging a great weight as he raised heading to the North.  He pushed ahead dodging past great stones and chunks of the massive tower.  They gleamed in blue green light as they fell to the earth below. 

Rushing past another falling stone, he saw something that dwarfed his senses, threatening to cripple his mind completely.  Not just the tower was beginning to fragment.  The outer shell of the Atreia was beginning to mirror the great rent that had now traveled through the entirety of the towers center.  Atreia was latterly being ripped in two.  Vast fissures had opened across the equator of the world.  He watched as stones chunks of the tower fell toward those braking fissure, slamming sides that had begun to pull away, causing even greater damage. Entire continents of Atreia where ripped out into the void.

He had just barely made it back to the center of what was left of the tower.  Massive hunks still pulled way falling toward the south. For the first time the great heart of Aion was exposed, Daith was almost blinded by it.  Two brilliant lights of pure white light circled around it.  For the breifist of moments th lights took on a human former.  Then suddenly the two lights broke apart.  White aether ripped in all directions from where the two lights had once been.    Daith threw up his hands in front of his face and pushed upwards hoping to make it to the North.  He was consumed by the wave of light.