Score kept vigil over Helaine while Pixel wrapped up the spell. It seemed to him he'd been doing a lot of vigil-keeping over her lately. Feeling slightly drained with the effort of welding muscle fibers together, Score held her head with one hand, and scratched his chin with the other. Maybe he'd keep the stubble. Chicks dig beards, right? He was just about to summon a mirror when a blinding flash shook the castle.
Pixel felt it too: a low rumble starting in the pit of his stomach, moving up through his chest. The force grew warmer as it crept upwards until a bright white heat burned behind his eyeballs. Without quite meaning to, Pixel closed his eyes, and an astounding vision awaited him.
A soft, curved woman stretched her arms out towards him, and she was wearing everything and yet nothing, speaking in every language and yet not moving her mouth, smiling with warmth and yet her face was impassive, stern, her body youthful and round yet her eyes ancient. She was beautiful. She continued smiling for awhile, then pursed her lips. A white pebble appeared in her hand, and she placed it snugly in Pixel's own. He felt the cold roundness of it in his palm, and looked down.
The vision was gone, the stone remained. Pixel looked up to see Score, standing, mouth flapping, holding another white rock. Wordless, Pixel pried open Helaine's fingers, to find yet another.
"What WAS that?" Score finally asked. Pixel shook his head. "Wow." Score rolled the pebble around on his palm. "You know, I think she was pretty. But I can't really remember."
Pixel ignored Score. This was not uncommon. "Whatever it was, all three of us...or at least you and I, saw the same thing. I'd be willing to be Helaine did too. Maybe Oracle knows something about this."
"Mass hallucinations?"
"Or whatever."
Helaine shifted beneath Score's hand. The edges of Elysia were blurring into reality; she would awaken soon. This was satisfactory, because she'd had to share her dream lands with the lovely woman, and this disturbed her. She was supposed to have control over everything here, but this was the second incident-Helaine refused to think about the first-of a surprising nature.
Score let his fingers linger on her chin, long after she was aware enough to support her own head. Her skin was smooth and yielding here, unlike her callused palms and gnarled feet, oh God, her feet! Certainly worse than some troll feet he'd seen. But here, just under her proud chin, there was something soft and feminine, and Score reached with a trembling thumb to touch her neck, between the taut lines of muscle.
Helaine's cold hand closed around his and with one of those moves of hers she managed to both leap from her chair and twist his arm in front of him. It hurt, slightly. "You used knockout gas on me." She made a fist with her free hand, presumably to threaten him. "You should have-" She stopped, and admired her completely mobile hand. "Nice work, Pixel" she interjected. "You, on the other hand," she turned back to Score, "you-"
"Would you mind letting me go? You're hurting my arm."
Helaine relented a little, and released him. "Thanks," she sighed, wrapping her healed arm around Pixel in a friendly hug.
"What?" exclaimed Score in mock outrage, "Why does he get the thanks and I get the fist?"
"Because," she replied, almost sweetly, "I'm sure he did all the work and you merely knocked me unconscious." She paused. "You know, I had the strangest dream..."
"About a woman?"
"With a rock?"
Helaine stared at the other two for a second before comprehending. "Er...yes. I presume I was not alone in my vision?"
"I was going to call up Oracle to see if he knows anything. I got the feeling she was speaking to more than just us." Pixel rubbed his eyes. It was rather like the old days-before they had time to deal with one crisis, another sprang into existence, rather like playing Whack-a-Mole.
Helaine groped about for Score and Pixel in the darkness of her mind. Score was easiest to find; bright, pulsating emerald light, sparking with energy. She linked with him and then Pixel's red warmth and followed his sending call "LIZXOV".
A temperate breeze lifted the hairs on Pixel's neck. He'd forgotten how utterly right it felt for the three of them to be working together. Really, he was quite capable of summoning Oracle by himself, but Helaine's magic completed the unbalanced pairing of Pixel and Score, adding an almost soprano lilt to the weave of the spell.
Oracle ruined the moment appropriately, appearing with a slight 'pop' of air. He was dressed in his trademark black-on-black, with a surprisingly jocular smile lighting his otherwise pale face.
"I take it you got summons too?" He asked briskly, without waiting for the three to explain why they called him.
"Er...summons?" Score queried.
"Yes. The wizarding council is held every hundred years, but usually only a select few are invited. Every thousand years however, they hold the grand circuit. Every wizard, every magical creature, even silly apparitions like myself...all are summoned to appear."
"On whose authority?" Helaine demanded. "I thought we were the rulers of the Diadem. Who is more powerful than us to order such a meeting?"
Oracle looked a little amused. "You think the Diadem is all there is to the universe?"
The Triad reborn exchanged a few confused looks, before Pixel spoke for the three. "Something along those lines."
"Well, remember when I told you that the Diadem didn't effect the way planets were arranged in space?" Oracle waited for the nods of recognition before continuing. "So who exactly do you think created the Diadem?"
"I don't know. Who did?" Helaine had that impatient-horse look about her, shifting from one foot to the other and tossing her hair every which way.
"Well, nobody knows for certain-"
"Gee, that helps us a lot." It was sarcasm, but Score couldn't help feeling a little peeved at Oracle. Then again, how was that abnormal?
"-But, legend says there used to be only one planet, Jewel, with magic-users on it. It is said that the leaders of the planet created the Diadem to exile criminals, but that the outlawed magicians kept finding ways back from the rim worlds, and eventually, their offspring permeated the entirety of the Diadem."
"That would explain a lot." Pixel cut in, his forehead furrowed with puzzling through Oracle's information. "Like why you can't make Portals from the rim worlds, and why you can't leave Jewel unless there is something there to control the power." He paused. "It also explains why all the wizards we have met so far have mostly proven to be scum. They're the direct descendants of murderers and who knows what else."
"Rapists" Helaine hissed, almost to herself.
"So, then, there may be some of the good wizards left...somehow they managed to survive through the reigns of the Triad and Sarman... and that is who we saw in our visions." Pixel beamed.
With a shrug of his thin shoulders, Oracle spread his hands wide and sighed. "I don't know. I only have the knowledge the Triad programmed me to have...anything they didn't know about....which wasn't a lot... I don't know about."
"This wizarding council sounds treacherous." Helaine said, a wicked glint in her eye. "If there are going to be magic-users from the span of the Diadem."
"There are spells in place..." Oracle frowned as he searched his memory for the right words. "Very.... layered... spells. They're placed on the building where the meeting takes place...they've been there forever. I've spent some time in the Hall of the Ancients, and these things crackle with energy. Basically, they force you to check your magic at the door. That's why some magicians refuse to go."
"You don't have to go if you're summoned?"
"Oh, no. Of course not. Generally, it's a good idea to go, just to see who's moving up the ranks. Usually at least one member of the old Triad would go, to watch for potential enemies. Sarman met Traxis there. That's when that started."
"Wait." Pixel was frowning again. "If the Triad used to go to these councils...then how come they don't know who runs them?"
"Nobody officiates. You show up, you sit in your circuit of the Diadem, and whoever wants the floor takes it. It's very interesting, usually."
"When will the next council be?" Helaine asked. She looked... eager. Score realized he missed seeing that hungry anticipation in her eyes... it reminded him of the old days. He smiled.
"Right about..." Oracle fished through the pockets in his vest, eventually finding a watch. He looked at it. "Now."
A bright white portal flickered into life where the kitchen table had been. Instead of seeing the empty blackness they were typically used to, a soft honey light illuminated the gateway.
*****
Hah! I update! Things happen!
*So* proud of myself. But that's not all...
I ALSO (for a happy bit of fluff), wrote silly H/S nonsense: "Mistletoe" check it out.
AND I drew a picture (wow. Not something I normally do) >http://www.geocities.com/bluelemonrising/kiss.gif>
SO! The tally is...
ME: Lots
YOU: Not lots
Come on come on get with the program. If lazy lazy me can do it, so can YOU. While I enjoy writing and (occasionally) drawing, I'd rather read other people's stuff too. Not to be on my high horse and get all whiny and everything, but please?
Aroo!
Chapter 1. Morning
Chapter 2. Changes
Chapter 3. Last Night
Chapter 4. White Monkey
Chapter 5. Searching
Chapter 6. Child
Chapter 7. One Candle
Chapter 8. Crow
Chapter 9. Dorian
Chapter 10. Ordin
Chapter 11. Votrins
Chapter 12. Gone
Chapter 13. Mother
Chapter 14. Mardren
Chapter 15. Scars
Chapter 16. Tears
Chapter 17. Mend
Chapter 18. Summons
Chapter 19. Council
