Champions and Chance (Velerean)

[Fidelis Meridius]

TImestamp: Middle of the Darkening, 12th brightening, 2nd Cycle of Immanis, Winter Era XV PF

The suns of Telath had made their journey's across the sky and the darkening was well upon the Prime Province as sleep had finally come to Fidelis. Silently he lay betweens the sheets of the bed that centered the Wolf's chambers. On this darkening the door that connected the Dark Knight to his Thorn had been closed without reason. But it was nothing aside from the simple fact that the Jorelite wished to rest undisturbed.

With a few blinks, his emerald orbs showed signs of fatigue as they hesitated to repon. Finally the warm of the back of his eye-lids had taken over, and he quickly drifted to sleep...

~<>~<>~<>~

Running. A lone pair ran through forests of darkness. There was just enough moonlight breaking the canopy to given an occasion glint off armor and swords. The only sound that excited was the heavy breathing of the two figures as they frantically moved through the dense woods.

They were fleeing something...

Breathing uncontrollably, Fidelis found himself to be one of these men. He was near the point of fainting in exhaustion as hand and blade alike quickly brushed branches aside. One boot hit in front of another as he legs began to feel like they were jelly; they could have given out at any time, yet they still propelled him forward.

"Not again"

The dream accelerated itself.

Suddenly the pair were back to back in a small clearing. Fear gripped them both as skeleton after skeleton charged out the blackness without any signs of slowing. One after another they came from all directions as the warrior's cut them down.

"Maximus!"

The dream flashed forward more.

They were surrounded and overwhelmed. The horde had come upon the Aslanites like flies on a corspe. They blanketed the forest as they continued to move upon their prey mindlessly. Panic and confusion set in upon the cousins as they defended themselves with every ounce of their beging.

"NO..."

Forward once more.

The blades of grass stretched for miles as the forest sat towering behind them. The moon's light danced acrossed the plains and one man held other in the clearing; blood trailed behind them. Dropping to his knees, he dropped the other's lifeless body. He had been gut fatal along the torso... by the very blade the other warrior still possessed. His chest fell and rose beyond the control of the man as he fell over in exhuastion and agony. He laid there for some time, waiting for death. If more were to come he would not try to stop them this time. His lips muttered a pray that was nearly inaudible. Tears escaped his eyes as he begean to smash his pommell into the dirt. Rage was taking control.

As he rose to his knees, he gritted his teeth as he muffled a roar of agony that turned his face intensely red. Letting go of the blade, he grasped several tresses of his hair on both sides, pulling them backwards as his frustration built. In an instant, everything had vanished as he knew it.

"NOOOO!" He finally roared as he dropped his arms to his side. But in an instant the warrior dream burst into horrifying flames in which he burned near instantly.

Flickering his eyes, Fidelis looked around himself. He found nothing. There was only an intense white light from every direction. Squinting, the Jorelite held his hand before his face. It seemed he was there in human form, but in truth he was still dreaming... but where was he? What was this void that he found himself in?

[Veleraen]

Betrayal.

The utmost devastation one could suffer and even though Fidelis had fought valiantly, in the end, beliefs and religion were erased. Memories and thoughts of what were once thought to be true were no more and in their stead, new fires were lit, a new saviour had been found. Aslan no longer lingered in the wolf's heart. Instead it was filled with the darkness had encompassed him in his time of need.

Gripped in the intense rumble of battle, his heart paced but it soon slowed as a bright light burned into his eyes. Shielding them, Fidelis stared blankly into the well of intense serenity, embracing only those that accepted it. The wolf was not one of those men, he had fought the light since that fateful darkening in the forest. The darkening when his god betrayed him had made him turn over a new leaf and now there he stood, face to face to which he had opposed, everything he had once believed surrounded him.

Silence enveloped the wolf, as he looked on, waiting for something to happen, waiting for something to evolve; be conceived from his imagination. Several moments passed where he was left alone with his thoughts but as he let the light seep into his vision, he could feel all of bright rays fading and drawing to one single source. His feet and body were uplifted, as he could feel the ground shift below him and as the light gathered above him in one single ball, a cold breeze hit his face.

The Wolf of Jorel soon found himself alone, a familiar state for the warrior who tended to slay many for no reason at all, leaving him in solitude. The breeze picked up and a mix of grey and blue swirled above him as the horizon and sky formed. The breeze got more intense and soon the tinge of snow was encapsulated in his hands as he felt huge mounds of snow covered rock erupt about him. Mountains formed around the figure of the wolf and suddenly stopped, giving Fidelis an amazing view atop a mountain range, snow-tipped peaks carrying on for miles around. Where he was, well, it could have been many places, Arium, Centripax, it was to be held within the dreamer's eyes to make sense of such places.

The sun that once surrounded him was now focused in the sky, shining brightly, allowing a spectacular view. There was still nothing but a quiet hymn to the rugged beauty of the scenery. As he looked around, a shadow passed over head, two spread wings floated high, passing over the rays of the sun in the sky. The figure swooped in amazing grace down towards Fidelis and a hint of golden feathers could be seen in its descent. It was an enormous bird of prey, a good fifteen feet wing span adorned the majestic bird as it swooped down and grabbed hold of a rock outcropping just above Fidelis upon the mountain peak. Sharp talons accompanied lithe but streamline features as the creature looked with curiousity at Fidelis. It's eyes scanned his figure and looked him over, its black iris flickering with each blink of its lids.

It gave a tremendous screech and rotated itself on the rock face, its tongue sending a horrendous shiver down Fidelis's spine as it realized who he was. It jumped down, spread its wings and grabbed hold of Fidelis's shoulders and launched itself into the air.

A deep but faint voice echoed about in his mind as the advancing winds hit his figure, his body dangling, his mind hoping to hang on.

"You....were once like me...Once a follower of the Son..."

The birds talons suddenly let go and Fidelis plummeted, and fell, his soul screaming for redemption.

[Fidelis Meridius]

The dream proceeded through the raging battle in just a matter of seconds, overwhelming Fidelis with the intensity and panic that he felt a lifetime ago. Finally at his breaking point, the warrior snapped as he let out an agonizing cry into the night.

As his lungs thrust the air forth from his lungs, the sound fell silent as a flash of white absorbed everything. Slumping towards the ground, Fidelis shielded his eyes from its intensity. The peace and warmth that it radiated was painful to the man after what he had just experienced. He remembered vividly what it meant to be filled to the brim with hate... overflowing with malice. It possessed him, twisted him, and everything that he once enjoyed in life had become to painful to bare. He had to destroy it all... and destroy it all he did.

The light slowly faded to but a dot on clear sky of endless blue as the Jorelite returned to his feet to inspect the landscape about him. But just as his emerald eyes began to investigate, snow began to fall, and he found himself upon a great mountain range.

It was much like several places on Telath he had already been.

[i]"What is this?"[/b]

Quickly the warrior's attention turned back towards the sky as something's silhouette crossed directly over him. Turning on his heels, the Wolf of Jorel looked up to find the great eagle perched above him. Fidelis said nothing as it watched over him. He simply returned a blank stare as he wondered the meaning of this bird's arrival.

Suddenly it burst forth from the rock towards its prey. Caught off guard the warrior swung a fist violently at the bird, but his attempt to defend himself was futile as the bird sunk its talons into his shoulders. Then within the blink of an eye, the pair was off into the distant sky.

Fidelis struggled as the eagle violently tugged the man across the sky... then there was a voice. "The Son? If you follow the Hypocrite, then I am nothing like you!" The human screamed just as the bird dropped him from it's grasp. Cursing as he fell, his sense's raced with anxiety as he fell towards the earth.

"What do you want from me!?!" Fidelis challenged his host as he continued to tumble from the sky.

[Veleraen]

The sharp clutches that Fidelis had been confined in released him to fall to his own demise. The Wolf of Jorel screamed to the heavens, defying all statements, defying all words given to him. Air rushed by him as he plummeted through clouds and mist. The fall felt like it was never going to end, as if he had entered a well of souls where nothing could escape, where nothing existed except him and his thoughts.

"To deny the truth would be to deny yourself. The shadows have clouded your mind...Hate. It has poisoned you beyond salvation." The voice boomed almost, coming from all around him, deep and full and filled with resentment but not anger per se. It was almost as if he was being judged but by who? Ioannes? Aslan himself?

The light from above became shrouded as he fell through more and more grey sky before he broke through the cloud barrier and nothing but barren rock was below him. It was a reddish brown and he could see it approach ever so quickly. Fidelis's figure flailed and swung itself about through the rushing air but he could not do anything but pray to his aeternian god to spare him the fate of meeting an untimely demise.

Fidelis landed feet first into the hard, barren rock but instead of dying, the rock and dirt around him exploded, making a fairly sizable crater beneath him as air and rock was forced outwards in an large explosion. His legs felt like lead and as he landed, he could feel his hands and feet bleeding, oozing like the hate that he always generated through his words and actions. Fidelis however found himself still able to walk, still able to move. He was not dead. Had his god saved him? Had the lord of chaos given him a second chance to fight again?

Heat radiated off the land around him and he found that it was nothing but a barren rocky plain, however, there was something at his feet now that he was able to look. Graves, many of them, freshly dug and buried, no markers, no tombstones accompanying these hallowed graves. In front of him, an empty grave sat there in silence.

Heatwaves filled the air and the horizon all around him, no more mountains, no more scenic vantage points. The sky was a shifting mass of colours, a halycon of colours, blue, green, red, gold...It was almost as if the heavens had erupted into a battle for supremacy, unable to decide who was to rule and who was to obey.

His shoulders suddenly became heavy like the weight of the world was bringing Fidelis down, as if there were a hundred men standing atop the jorelite with every intention of bringing him to his knees. Fidelis was strong however and he would not bow and he found himself barely able to keep standing as he stood amidst the debris and destruction.

"You have hid behind your lies, you have denied your soul the truth. Do you not feel the shame of all of your sins?" The deep voice whispered as the heat ripped at him, the burden deepening. The sky suddenly shifted and clouds started to swirl as a maelstrom started to form above Fidelis and the crack of lightning signaled an arrival. Mist started to conjure itself and funneled itself down to the ground from the heavens as Fidelis soon found himself surrounded by it.

Lightning split the skies again and hit the ground again and Fidelis saw a figure drop from the blurry heavens. It got closer and closer, he saw it, an enormous frame, no wings accompanying this fleeting shadow. It plummeted to the ground and impacted directly across from him on the other side of the grave. Earth fragments flew everywhere as dirt and rock blew outwards with tremendous force, several bits scraping at Fidelis's skin. A cloud of dust surrounded the impact site but after a few moments, just like Fidelis had, a figure arose from the chaos and that voice, it rose with it.

"Do you feel what I now feel, wolf?" Laboured breathing with heavy breaths sent more dust particles outwards.

It took a step forward, the enormous frame of the shadow emerging into the maelstrom stricken landscape, a foot the size of a small boulder bordering on the grave. Another foot now and the glimmer of steel and the sound of it impacting rock followed as the head of a massive weapon settled in the grave itself.

A face emerged from the shadows, a massively scarred face, lines of battle running down across the left eye and down from the right to the cheek showed themselves. The titan's eyes were still closed but they flickered open as they stared down at Fidelis, judging him where he stood. Bending downward slightly, the deep blue eyes never moved, never waivered.

"Do you feel it now?"

[Fidelis Meridius]

Falling for eternity. It was a tormenting feeling as the Wolf of Jorel fell through cloud after cloud. Twisting and tumbling, the warrior struggled as every second passed. He would not give in to this, his soul would not falter, and his heart would not relent or forget. He would fall forever if he had to, and eons later he would remain unchanged. He would still refuse to show any sign of weakness, he would not break.

"Hate!?" The warrior chuckled as the wind thrashed his hair and garmets violently about his body. "There is no hate left within me! It is with a steady hand that I will bring vengeance upon you and all your kind!"

As the drop continued, Fidelis soon found the land below fast approaching. He was helpless to prevent himself from crashing to the ground, but there was no place for fear within him anymore. Instead he continued to rebuke what was offered to him. This was their mind games, and he refused to let them win.

At the moment all hope seemed lost, Fidelis' body steadied itself as he slammed into the rocks below with the force of a meteorite. All around him, rocks scorched through the air as they evacuated the crater... He had survived.

Rising from a bent over position, emerald eyes danced quickly from left to right as the warrior hoped to get mental hold on his surroundings. But as he tried to stand, he felt it increasingly difficult. Gritting his teeth, Fidelis' features swelled and his skin's tone increased in redness. He fought the force with every ounce of strength he could muster.

"Sinned? All I have ever done is stayed true to my beliefs. Only once my vengeance has been served... Only once the wrong has been righted will I stay my blades. This world will be liberated from the oppression of your lords! Order only breeds habit and stagnation, it is choking our world from true freedom." Fidelis argued as he watched the great figure drop from the skies.

As the explosion of impact settled, the Jorelite found himself staring at the origin of the voice. "You... You are his newest lapdog?" The swordsman reached to his sides to produce his blades. "I can feel it, and I will take it from you. I will take everything from you. All your selfless devotion will be in vain. And only once you have nothing left, only once you feel nothing but hate and despair will you die!" Fidelis stared down the massive figure without fear. The being was a sentinel of muscle that towered above him, but even the tallest trees could fall with the sharpest of saws.

[Veleraen]

The storm above them started to churn and a violent wind whipped around both their forms, dust and rock swirling and cutting at their skin but neither moved, neither of them budged.

Fidelis's words spat themselves through the howling wind, words lined with disgust and malice as he had every intention of bringing the titan to his knees soon enough. His statements went unchallenged if only for a moment as the enormous figure of the warrior standing across from him shifted only slightly and its eyes lifted to the heavens, his hand casually gripping the shaft of the monstrous halberd that had made the grave its home.

"You cannot take from that which has no end." The steel eyes of the Titan looked down at Fidelis with indifference and then slowly but surely took two steps back into his crater, his form now surrounded again by the severe dust cloud that had encompassed him not moments before. The steel head of the weapon dragged itself from the rocky grave, fragments of soil falling in as the head created its own soiled path.

Lightning cracked again and struck the ground inside the grave, sending up a spray of rock and chunks of debris. The sound was deafening as Fidelis stood there, blades ready. The weight was still there, heat now emanating from all around him, burning at his skin; at his soul.

"Hate and despair only corrupts those who accept it into their hearts. I have seen that World. I will not be dishonoured by it." The weapon head rose, a bright light shining, nearly blinding Fidelis as the wind became more intense. Another lightning strike hit the ground as the steel head came crashing down into the rocky edge of the grave itself. A fissure formed, cracking the grave in half and it spread up towards Fidelis as the wolf of Jorel found himself falling forwards and down into the earthen grave below.

"You shall not succeed as long I as I am here to stop you." The voice boomed and the grave opened up wider as Fidelis fell inwards, the bottom of it opening up into a big gaping well of darkness, sending Fidelis back from where he came.

Iron will had been defied, challenges issued.

It had begun.

[Fidelis Meridius]

Raw energy surged around the warrior as he faced the giant demon before him. He confronted the Jorelite without fear. In fact, the beast was trying to strike fear into the very heart of the Dark Knight. But neither would budge as they faced off.

Then suddenly the Aslanite brought his mighty weapon striking the earth, causing it to splinter from beneath the swordsmen. As the abyss spread, the warrior tried to evade plunging even further, but his attempts were futile as he found himself tumbling into darkness once again.

"And you will fail! To come stand against me is to die!" Fidelis rebuked as he tumbled further, now the crack in Telath too far to see.

~~~~~~

In a sudden jolt, Fidelis sprung forth from his matress. It was as if it caught his fall. Small spots of presperation emanated from his forehead as he calmed himself. "It was only a dream..."

Laying his head back upon the pillow, the Jorelite closed his eyes, and comforted himself. He knew his war raging and fighting was all for one single purpose: For the forgiveness of the one he could not protect, and if anyone wanted to stand in the way of such things, then they would find more pain then their hearts could handle. He would rip any courage from their soul, with each slash he would fill them with fear, and in all their horror he would cut them down... For he was Fidelis Meridius, the Wolf of Jorel and slayer of honor.