Nalaea Elan'thiannae the Dweller of the Wilds

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Role

Chapter 7

Nalaea sat at the edge of a cliff high in the mountain pass connecting the
Ar'atouldain to the plains of Tir Talith. The River Nanthor was a silver
ribbon glinting in the early afternoon sun far below. In the other direction,
and even more distant, The Fortress of Light could be seen from between the
mountain peaks, looking majestic, impenetrable, timeless. She tried to focus
her mind; a difficult task for her at the best of times. And these were not
the best of times.

Above Nalaea's head, a great hawk soared and circled on an updraft that blew
Nalaea's hair back from her face. She reached out with her spirit-self, and
the hawk came to her, perching briefly on her outstretched arm. She felt the
creature's spirit connect with her own, and then it was off again. It circled,
its sharp eyes ever watchful, its wings ever ready to fold in for the dive,
and its claws ever ready to strike. She envied the hawk, a perfect instrument
to hunt its chosen prey. So unlike her, with her many failures stacked high on
her very soul.

"Yes, but the mice and rabbits do not fight back," said-thought Ardreth as he
materialized beside her in the form of a great, lumbering bear. It was a form
he had taken more often now that Nalaea had accepted the storm into her heart
fully.

Nalaea sighed, continuing to gaze out over the bright landscape. Many years
prior, when she had first been inducted as a Squire of the Holy Brigade, The
Prophet, Grysaor, had expressed to her his greatest fears for the Fortress:
that too many Shields wish to be Swords, and too many Swords are dull. She had
grown to feel like one of those dull swords he spoke of. She discussed this
with him, and he had eased her mind a bit regarding her own contributions.
Lyeeth, that enigmatic personality of The Eternal Star, had also given her
words of encouragement. But her mood remained dark.

"It is not too late. You know that," Ardreth's voice in her head. "You could
leave the battle, start a family. You are barely a middle-aged elf."

Nalaea turned to look into Ardreth's eyes. Nalaea, who had never known the
touch of a lover, whose entire life had been focused on diminishing the
darkness. She saw that Ardreth knew, as she knew herself, that there was only
one way her life's path would end, and it was not in a peaceful family home.
Success or failure mattered not.

"Come," Nalaea said. "Let us resume the hunt."

Role

Chapter 6

The sun was beginning to set, as Nalaea looked out over the cliff's edge. The
clouds were all colors of red and purple, reflecting in the choppy waves of
the Dragon Sea below and beyond it the great and vast Aryth Ocean. The sound
of crashing waves was almost deafening, for just beyond the cliff a howling
storm raged. Nalaea stood in a pocket of calm, gazing into the swirling winds
and battering rains before her. The reddish light faded to black within that
swirling mass, alluding only to chaos and destruction.

Ardreth appeared by her side in the form of an agile mountain goat. Nalaea
placed her spirit-mirror hand upon his head, and they stepped together into
the storm.

Once past the edge of the swirling winds, Nalaea was immediately swept off her
feet. The power was immense. She was pulled, thrashing into the darkness.
Water beat a stinging staccato on her face and exposed arms. Her clothing was
torn, while hailstones pinged off of her armor. Nalaea let go of the golden
sword that she held in her hand, and it was immediately taken by the gales. A
stroke of lightning pealed through the air only feet from her, the resulting
thunder deafening her and leaving a smell of burnt ozone in its wake.

She saw the spirits gather around her as her body was battered in the
darkness, Ardreth at their center. The spirits looked upon her with fierce
eyes, lightning dancing within. Her body careened off the cliff wall as the
winds brought her around again, rattling her very bones. Nalaea closed her
eyes, and felt a deep trance overtake her.

When she opened her eyes again, it was morning. She lay soaking and shivering
on the rocks below the cliff, the storm raging now some way in the distance.
Her clothing was destroyed, her body was bruised... but she felt changed in a
way. She had surrendered to the full fury of the storm, and had come out the
other side. That fury was now inside her as well. If anyone had been there to
see her aside from the spirits, they would have seen lightning crackling in
her strange, violet eyes.

Role

Chapter 5

Nalaea stepped swiftly through the sparse forest, making not a sound,
following the trail of a rabbit. It was a moonless night, and a vast expanse
of stars stretched from horizon to horizon. The veil was very thin, and Nalaea
could almost see it, rippling just beneath the surface, crackling with energy.
Ardreth followed at her heels in the form of a fox, glowing with an eldritch
light visible only to Nalaea's senses.

"I have a thought on the nature of the storm," Ardreth said-thought to Nalaea
as she stalked quickly through the tall grasses.

"I am listening," Nalaea responded, as she drew her spear back. The rabbit
twitched its whiskers, nibbling some kind of root only feet away, its ears
rotating this way and that. The spear sailed through the air, skewering the
creature. Nalaea watched as the small beast's spirit drifted up and away,
hopping through the air as its energy dissipated back into nature. She bowed
her head reverently, thanking the spirit for the sacrifice of its flesh for
hers.

"You always wish to embody the storm," Ardreth said-thought as Nalaea began to
skin and clean the carcass. "And that is well, and that is good. You are
becoming a force, striking like lightning, bringing force like the tornado."

"Yes," said Nalaea, unconsciously wiping a streak of blood across her cheek as
she brushed away a stray lock of hair that had gotten in her eyes.

"But maybe to truly comprehend the storm, it is not enough to embody it,"
Ardreth continued. "Perhaps one must be taken by the storm to truly know the
storm. To be helpless to it, to fall even. To be one."

Nalaea did not respond. She knew from experience that Ardreth was good with
questions and riddles, but rarely with answers. But it was a good question
this time, one she would have to consider. What would it mean to her to be
taken by the storm?

Role

Chapter 4

When Nalaea was a child, she'd had a difficult time discerning the difference
between what existed on the spiritual plane and what was in the physical. To
her, it was all the same reality. Working with various mentors, she had
eventually learned to tell the difference, and to some degree had limited the
extent to which the spiritual plane was prevalent, focusing more on the
physical.

Now, as her spiritual power had grown, that line was growing fuzzy once more.
More than animal spirits were presenting themselves to her. Spirits came with
questions. Spirits came with advice. Dark spirits whispered dark suggestions.
Nalaea was having difficulty keeping her focus once more.

As she quieted her mind one day, attempting to meditate on stillness, a clear
voice cut through the muted background mish-mash of spirits. It was a voice
she had not heard since her childhood, one she thought perhaps had been an
imaginary friend. She had named this voice (or it had named itself, she could
not recall) Ardreth.

"Hello again, Nalaea," Ardreth said.

"A... Ardreth? I thought you had left me, or perhaps that I imagined you."

Ardreth laughed, a melodic sound like the tinkle of ice crystals. "I have
always been with you, Nalaea. I am your spirit guardian. You only stopped
having the ability to see me when you focused your mind too much on the
physical. That is not who you are. You are one with both worlds, and I will be
here to help you navigate what that means. I will take many forms, but you
have grown in power sufficient to see me again despite your best efforts."

With that, the spiritual energy near her pulsated, then joined together to
form a spectral wolf. The wolf lay down by Nalaea's side. She reached down and
felt its fur, not with her physical body with with her spiritual mirror-self.
She felt safe.

Role

Chapter 3

Nalaea sat in the middle of a small grove of trees, her eyes closed. She put
out a mental question to the spirits, "What is the nature of the storm?"

Moments passed, and the whispers of the spirits around her swirled and ebbed,
until one voice finally coalesced from the din. "Destruction! Yes! Kill them!
Kill them all!" A dark spirit. Nalaea mentally shoved it away before its icy
tendrils could work its way into her soul. She had grown accustomed to their
chattering. She deepened her trance.

"Tearing down is the pathway for true growth," came a calmer whisper. "The
storm is part of the great cycle... a lightning strike, fire, burning away of
deadfall... the forest grows stronger."

"Yes.. yess... the cycle.." the spirits danced and swirled.

Nalaea opened her eyes. The answer was much in line with her own thinking, so
much so that she often wondered if the spirits just echoed back her own
thoughts. The storm clouds gathered above her, lightning danced, and the first
drops of rain fell upon her cheeks. Her contemplation of the storm had brought
the storm to her, as usual.

She loved the storm, reveled in it. While others might find cacophonous
thunder, the smell of burnt ozone, and the cold dash of rain a nuisance, it
allowed Nalaea to focus the part of herself that lived in the physical in a
way that nothing else did. And she felt a true kinship to the spirits who
traversed the storm, who shared her own love of it. She saw herself as the
storm, in a way, one who seeks to destroy but not out of hatred or anger, but
to lay a foundation of positive growth.

Still, Nalaea felt there was much she did not understand. Perhaps it was time
to seek out the Lord of Storms himself, Lord Ergush, to study in earnest what
it truly means to be a part of the Storm.

Role

Chapter 2

Nalaea did indeed, with time, learn to connect more to the physical realm. She
also learned how others did not see into the spiritual realm as she did. While
she still seemed a bit vague and disconnected to those firmly rooted in the
physical, she lost most of her awkwardness. All the same, her parents
relocated to Evermoon Hollow, where the Wood Elves looked upon Nalaea as less
of a curiosity and more of a treasure. They would often come to her to speak
of the spirit world, and nature spirits in particular, nurturing that part of
her and making her feel accepted.

As Nalaea grew, she came into contact with many different types of people. She
learned that spirits, like people, can be filled with darkness as well as
light. The darkness was something Nalaea felt rather than saw or touched. It
was like being blind, and suddenly and unexpectedly immersing one's hand in
icy waters. The experience unsettled her each time. In fact, she hated it. The
spirits she communed with were innocent or even benevolent. These others she
could not see felt like they wanted to harm.

Over time, this feeling grew into a need to destroy these evil spirits, and to
learn more about the world both spiritual and physical. Nalaea's parents did
not want her to go, for they felt their daughter was fragile, stunted, unable
to fend for herself. But that is the lot of parents of all races, no matter if
their child is normal or unique. And so Nalaea departed to make a life for
herself, guided by the spirits, the animals, and her desire to extinguish
those cold, unseen energies that proliferate the lands.

Role

Chapter 1

Rallientha knew that today was the day she would welcome her new daughter into
the world. Just as she knew that she would have a daughter and not a son. How?
She did not know, exactly. But she had felt connected to this child in a way
she could not explain, almost as if the child was speaking to her somehow in
the womb.

And it was so. A healthy baby girl was born, bleating its beautiful first cry
into the universe. As the midwife placed the baby in her mother's arms,
Rallientha gasped. The little girl looked up at her calmly with huge,
violet-colored eyes. Meeting those eyes, the mother felt as though she was
looking into the depths of some mysterious hidden realm.

They christened the child Nalaea'elan'thiannae. As the child grew, her
strange, calm demeanor continued. Her parents would find the child staring off
into the trees, as if transfixed by something they could not see. And the girl
was a natural with animals. Birds would fly down from the trees to land on her
small hands, the child's bright, violet eyes seeming to somehow communicate
with the beasts silently.

Concerned, Nalaea's parents took her to the druids, who examined and observed
the child thoroughly.

"This child is special," the head druid told them. "She is a very rare soul. I
have never seen anyone like this one in my long life, but there are stories of
those like her. The tales say that part of her soul resides within the plane
of spirit. In a way, this child lives between the physical and spiritual,
equally rooted in each. And yet equally disconnected as well. She may learn in
time to be able to focus the part of her that lives in the physical to be in
the here and now, but her true nature will always be to live in-between.

"The stories further tell that elves such as Nalaea will find a natural
affinity with the animal kingdom. Animals have a natural sense of the
spiritual realm. And souls such as Nalaea will have a natural connection to
animals as a result."

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