Role

Chapter 3

As she stepped up to the pedestal and began lowering her hands upon the stone
she felt a trembling. The trembling was not in her hands but it was as if the
pedestal, walls, people, and even the stone began to vibrate. Inch by inch as
the gap closed between her and the stone the vibrations became greater and
greater. There was a great pain in every joint and her bones seemed to ache.
Perspiration began to gather upon Xeneth's brow and he knees were starting to
shake with weakness. Finally, when she had touched the stone she felt and
heard a loud snap. She raised her head and let out a sigh of relief to her
peers and looked around to the different Arch-Magi. It was eerily strange to
see them all perfectly still. Almost too still. As she focused upon the
handmaiden directly in front of her she looked into her eyes and the
handmaiden did not blink for quite some time.

"Well?" said Xeneth "What does it mean?"

As the words left Xeneth's mouth it felt as if there were great pressure upon
her ears and the words sounded muffled. A few moments passed and all lay
silent. It was complete and utter silence like nothing she had ever
experienced. Xeneth looked down to the stone and she was surprised to see
the stone looked almost soft and malleable like a floating liquid sphere. The
places where her hands were felt tension and it was no longer a swirling
black orb but there were all colors and it flickered like a brilliant rainbow
yet it held white and black on opposite sides of the sphere. She would turn
her hands in unison to the left but the cardinal position of the white would
always point in the same direction opposite the black. The stone felt
weightless and she picked it up effortlessly from the sangraal pedestal. She
walked around the room with the floating orb and it appeared as if everyone
was frozen in place, almost as if the second she touched the orb time had
stopped. In fact, that was exactly what happened. Xeneth did not know what to
make of this strange and surreal experience and she began to panic.