Ascended

She was floating, bathed in a preternaturally bright light. There were no shadows--nothing really, besides the light. She blinked several times, trying to clear her vision; but it not not seem to matter whether her eyes were open or closed. She waved her hand in front of her face, then looked down at the rest of her body. It seemed that she was the source of the light, at least one of the sources. Strange, she didn't remember shining before. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember much of anything. She became aware of a sound around her. Had it always been there? As she focused on the sound, she realized it was a voice. And it seemed to be saying something. She felt that what was being said should be important to her, but she could not bring herself to care what it was. She felt a breeze on her face. The breeze was punctuated by a gentle rhythmic "whoosh-whoosh." The voice became more insistent.

"Th Th Th-Thooyah-ah ah," the voice echoed both before and after the actual word. She knew that she should understand the word. It seemed of vital importance, though she could not discern why. "Th-Th-Thuja."

"Y-Y-Yes," she responded. Her own voice sounded strange, with the same reverse echo, as if her thought was semi-audible before she spoke. Thuja, she realized, was her own name.

"Thuja, you have been chosen."

Thuja perceived now that she was standing, perhaps on a stone surface, and a figure hovered before her, a woman in white, wearing a crown, kept aloft by enormous wings which caused the breeze around Thuja. The power flowed around her with the air. It was the winged figure who spoke.

"Thuja, you have Ascended called by the Gods of the Vigil from the soul stream to defend Telara in her time of greatest need. Aedraxis the King has betrayed Telara to Regulos the Devourer. You have been called and endowed with power to defeat Regulos."

Remembering the pain now, Thuja looked again at her body. She had been slain. The forces supporting Zareph the prince had defeated King Aedraxis, his brother. Thuja had been part of the legion led by Carwin the bastard, half brother to the King and supporter of his other brother Zareph. Something terrible had happened, as Aedraxis, in defeat, had unleashed foul majicks upon the opposing troops at Thedeor Fields.

Thuja, confused, said to the Messenger of the Vigil, "But I am but one soldier, and not devout."

"You have been given the power to defeat Regulos. You will have assistance: Allies, both at your side, and guiding your blade."

The light had dimmed and Thuja found herself in the Cathedral of Ardenburgh, still close to the battlefield. The Messenger was still there.

"Go now, Paragon. Join the other Ascended. Your Soul is great. You will be triumphant."

The cacophony of a distant battle reached her ears. Thuja turned and saw a figure standing on the balcony of the Cathedral, silhouetted against the aubergine and tangerine sky. Zareph. She joined him there. The prince stared across the valley in shock and disbelief.

"By the Vigil!" breathed the prince. "Aedraxis, what have you done?"

Thuja followed his gaze. In the distance, the sky gaped open like a bruised and festering wound. A rift in the very fabric of reality yawned open like a maw, set to devour the landscape below. A foul darkness spread over the ground where the rebels, including Thuja herself, had fallen.

Thuja peered down at the distant battle. She had a duty to perform. Aedraxis had betrayed his people, and all of Telara. Her jaw clenched and her gaze hardened. There would be a reckoning.

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