Prologue I

"A bold young man, and a worthy enemy."

Players involved: Shrike, Lokar

Return to Ascension Isle: Legacy

The clone's first memories are a liquid dream, flowing and indistinct, and with a feverish nightmare quality. A woman's face glancing through milky glass at her, cold blue eyes, ". . .only need the one. . ." Then heat, terrible heat, boiling her skin, so hot she desperately used. . . something. . . Cool air, being carried through dark passages, someone shaking her gently, insistently, and a young man's frightened voice, "-need you to do it again, Highness, or we're both dead!-" - something again. . . A bed of foam soft like floating, an itch all over her skin, but unable to move or see. A woman's voice ". . .must keep her safe, but not here." The young man again, from closer, right beside you, "But her Highness will keep us safe once she wakes." The woman sounds sad, "No, she is an anointed vessel of our Divine Majesty, but she is not Chosen. Not yet. We must protect her until she is. Now she needs to rest and heal." A hiss, a soothing rush of anesthetic, and then dreamless sleep.

A lost clone of the Chosen Zadkiel wakes after a long healing sleep, to find herself in the drab Emerald Castle of house Emeraldine. Given the name Chrysanth de Caritas, and the identity of a distant blood relation from the Auraden homeland, she is now in the care of one Lily Emeraldine, heir to her house and part-time philanthropist. Despite her belief that the world is coming to an end, Lily, a doctor in training, remains determined to do right by those in her care and has turned the grounds of her house into a soup kitchen and hostel for the downtrodden. The sight of this unexpected mercy awakens strange memories in Chrysanth;

A woman's voice her mind, a conversation on many layers, using pure Enochian. <<You are chasing shadows, cousin. Dangerous shadows. We decided long ago to forgo the chance of paradise for the surety of security.>>

"And achieved neither." Chrysanth mumbles, frozen in the present.

Are those her own thoughts now? <<But what if we were wrong, what if the Library has seen something we cannot. We are not infallible, Liah, you should know this more than any other. . .>>

As they tour the grounds, two forces are speeding towards Emerald House. The first is Jonas Flavius, a war hero of the fallen Republic, now private citizen and concerned uncle at large. The second is the Lord General Marianne Saint-Just and her Crusader guards, in pursuit of a fugitive. Lily's joy at the arrival of a favoured relative quickly turns to fear as the ruthless military ruler of the Coreve Occupation Zone descends in her bug-like gunship, followed by Lily's cousin, the young Cornet officer Loran Clementine. Chrysanth realizes that this young man, Loran, is one of the voices from her waking dream. The Crusaders begin to search the compound, as, fearing herself the target, Chrysanth quietly blends into the background.

"Lord General," Jonas says, "This is a surprise."

She notes him immediately. "For me as well, Cordinal Flavius." She uses his old military rank. The one he doesn't have anymore.

"Just Jonas Flavius now Lord General." He says with a disarming smile.

"A shame." The Lord General says. "But then the War is over, isn't it."

But the clone is not the Lord General's prey today. Finding Pravel Hexum, a young elven runaway from district 6, the Lord General demands Loran execute the prisoner on the spot. Loran refuses the illegal order, and Marianne executes the elf herself with Loran's heirloom Arclave. She then dismisses the defiant Cornet in apparent disgust, but is prevented from taking further action by the determined verbal intervention of Jonas Flavius.

"Cornet Loran." She says coldly. "I have no use for a sword that cannot be drawn." She hands him the sword back, blade first.

As the Lord General flys away, she leaves Loran behind, locking eyes with Jonas in an unspoken challenge to battle. The young Cornet is saved from a potential angry mob, as Jonas Flavius gives an impassioned oratory over the body of poor Pavel Hexum, promising better days ahead. The quartet retire back to the Emerald Castle, wondering at what the Lord General's true purpose was.

"You all saw what took place. This boy bears no guilt." Jonas says, standing between the mob and Loran. "This boy bear you no ill will, if anything he was one of few who was willing to help. Remember that not all humans are like the Lord Commander."