Ancient Messenger (HD and Gol)

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara raised up after Golganneth had left the clearing and wondered where he had gone. There was a hint of suspicion forming beneath the craggy brow and Kimara realized that the two of them were going to have to talk more in the morning before Kimara would go any farther with him. Kimara did not like secrets...especially when someone else knew them.

**********

Kimara raised and stretched after the slumber and saw that Golganneth had returned from the night stroll. Not being a heavy sleeper by trade, Kimara had been especially tuned to the leaving of the Earthen. Packing some stuff up after a brief morning meal, Kimara saddled the mule.

However, Kimara turned to look at the Earthen with sad and slightly irritated eyes. "Where did you go last night?" Kimara's voice was level, void of emotion, and direct. Trust was something earned and Kimara was wondering if the Earthen could be trusted.

[Golganneth]

The Earthen waited till Kimara was finished. The elder seemed different somehow towards him. Perhaps he had trouble with a morning mood so Golganneth didn't spend much attention towards it.

Then when Kimara asked where he was last night, Golganneth sighed. Would he tell him? The Vault was sealed with a magic barrier and Kimara seemed to know a thing and two about magic. So if Golganneth told Kimara about the Vault, the elder could gain acces to all the secrets of the Titans locked away there. "I was out...checking something."

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara noted the hesitation in the voice of Golganneth. He was being very cautious and that showed he was keeping something important from Kimara. A frown creased the wrinkled old brow and Kimara realized that one truth would beget another. Sighing, Kimara loosened the tether on the mule and sat down and gestured for Golganneth to do the same.

"We must share our secrets," Kimara began. "Like you, I have some of my own. Believe it or not, they pertain to you and your mission. I believe your mission and your desire to help are real...based on the way you act and the little I know of the Earthen culture. To that end, we must be able to trust one another. That trust is built through the sharing of secrets." Kimara looked up to see if any of it was registering.

Continuining in Titan, Kimara spoke again, "I have not been entirely honest with you. I used to speak Titan, but the language is not spoken much now. I learned it a long, long time ago. Magic helps me to understand it and my memory is retaining it and allowing me to speak it now. Practice has helped. I am one of the few left that remember the language, the Titans, and most of everything else."

"The Titan are not revered by Valear anymore, especially since the rise of the Dwarves on the surface. To some degree, the war between the Earthen and the Dwarves caused a rift in Valear itself and magic began a steady rise to the heights. Some abuse, but most denizens do not even know how to make it work."

"That being said, there is a problem in Valear. It could be tied to the use of magic, but it could be something different. As all living things die, the Titans might not have made Valear to last indefinitely. It might be that the time has come for Valear to pass into the annals of Titan history."

Kimara's gaze was steady on Golganneth as the last thoughts trickled from the cracked lips. Kimara waited and wondered if Golganneth would share his secrets too.

[Golganneth]

Golganneth streaked trough his quartz beard. He already figured that the Titans became unknown to this world, the fact that no one uses their language proves it. Altough it wasn't a disaster it still made the Earthen sad. But the fact that the creators of this world were forgotten also angered him. 'That's how the mortal races repay the Titans for their gifts? By forgetting them?'

"Alright, Kimara. I'll be honest to you to. It would be a disgrace to lie to you after all your help." Golganneth gestured that the elder should sit down. "There is a reason why the Earthen favored to live underground. You see the reason why our cities can't be found is because ,unlike the dwarves their strongholds wich are in a mountain close to the surface, they are thousand of miles underground. Just above the core of this world itself. We use the fire of Valear's core in our forges to create the hardest steels, the sturdiest structures and the mightiest constructs. That core is also Valear's magic core so the fire we use from it is always returned." The Earthen crossed his arms and paused for a moment

"Why do I tell you this? Because if Valear was dyieng because of the titan's will, like you are suspecting, the core would become unstable and the very earth tiself would tore itself appart. We know this because theire already have four Reforgings in the past." Golganneth smiled. "Valear and my kind is much older than you would suspect. Multiply your age by thousand and even then you wouldn't even come close to me." The Earthen sighed thinking back to the very first days. The Earthen have an incredible memory and remember everything in detail. "But the core is diminishing, instead of becoming unstable, so there must be another reason. I to thought the same as you that's why i searched for a Titan Vault. These are places deep undergroubnd where the Titan's treasures are stored. There are even books there written by the Titans themselves by hand! Going back all the way till the very first shaping of the universe."

Golganneth made wide gestures with hus arms, trying to indicate how old these things were. "But even if the entrance is found they are protected by Titan energies and without the proper knownledge unaccesable unless accompagnied by a titan or an Earthen. If Valear was dying because of a new Reforging this barrier would have dimineshed." But a sigh came again and Golganneth streakd trough his beard. "Still i am not sure. And i need to access the greatest Titan Vault of all, called Craftwerk. It is situated underneath an active vulcano but during our absence Valear has changed so much and i think that I'l never find it."

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara listened and recalled that there had been mentions of the Titan vaults in old prophecies deciphered long ago. Some were meant to aid the Earthen in the preservation of Valear, but others were to help the inhabitants of the land to understand why they were created, their purpose in life, etc. The problem was, no one had known how to open them...and the Earthen had been in slumber all those years.

Kimara wondered if maybe the Dwarves had known and been able to open some. Had that been the cause of war among them? Could it account for the diminishing magic instead of the instability? If the Dwarves were Earthen turned mortal, they might indeed retain some of the information from their previous occupation and know how to utilize it. That meant that the Dwarves under Blaze Mountain...or what was probably Craftwerk if Kimara understood correctly, had delved into the vaults and taken what was not their own.

Kimara frowned thoughtfully. That was not going to bode well at all. How could Kimara take the Earthen there to former kin turned betrayers without insulting both sides and making it worse? Worse yet, how could Kimara help save Valear without doing it? This was not going to be a good day.

"I think I might know of the area you seek," Kimara said at long last. "It is a long ways away and I travel slowly due to my advanced age. It will take us a few days." Kimara stood and retrieved the mule, clambering aboard. "As we travel, you can tell me more of the Earthen people...the history, the Vaults, the Dwarves. Maybe there is something in that history that can help."

Kimara kicked the mule and headed out towards Blaze Mountain...not even visible on the horizon yet.

[Golganneth]

A deep sigh came from the Earthen's pertrified lips. Altough Golganneth trusted the elder, it was still against the oath he took. Could he break this and tell Kimara about the Shaping of the world? Altough there a large conflict inside him, Golgannath had no other guide in this strange world so he had to keep Kimara as a friend.

The Earthen frowned deep and looked at the elder sitting on her mule. "I will tell you. But you must know that I have taken an oath that I would never reveal our secrets. But because you are helping me i guess this is a just reward." The Earthen streaked trough his beard before continuing.

"But you must promise me that you won't abuse the knownledge I shall give. Even the smallest creations of the Earthen have enough impact to shake the very foundation of Valear's ecology." Golganneth waited for Kimara's reaction while stepping allong with the mule. "If you understand that then just ask about you want to know and I'll asnwer." Then he placed his right closed fist on his hearth. "On my Earthen honour."

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara reigned in the mule and looked over at the Earthen and smiled warmly. "I would not do anything to harm Valear. In the ages since the Titans and the Earthen, there have been those of the races left behind that have played the role on the surface. Like you, I am a protector of Valear, but I also work to inform and protect its people. Although our lineage differs, our goals are the same in the preservation of this world. You have my word, Earthen."

Kimara prodded the mule and it moved on, walking steadily. Kimara thought for a few minutes and asked at length, "What happened exactly between the Earthen and the race we now know as Dwarves?"

[Golganneth]

The earthen smiled as Kimara vowed to him that she wouldn't do anything to harm this world. Something like that made him feel relieved that were still creatures that tried to preserve all. When Kimara asked him about the dwarven Golganneth didn't knew where to start, as it was one of the darkest annals of his kin's history. "The dwarves and my race." He started. "Were once of the same kind. As you know we fell in a deep slumber, for how long and the cause of it is still a mystery to us." Golganneth streaked trough his beard again.

"At first everything seemed alright. But soon we discovered that a disease was spreading amongst us. We called it the "Curse Of Flesh". Normally we are immune to every kind of disease, we are designed for that but this one was magical and didn't belong in this world." The earthen paused to see if Kimara was still following. Afterall it wasn't for logn yet she relearned to speak Titan. "Those who were infected lost their stone shell and even their abillity to contact with the earth. they had become mortal." Golganneth frowned. "Those were the first dwarves of Valear."

Then Golganneth rubbed his forehead. Phantoms of his past raged trough his mind, images of war, bloodshed and brutal massacre. "Uhm...Yes, where was I?" He asked a bit confused. "Those who were infected also were banished, out of fear they would contaminate the entire populace. They were pushed to the surface. Now up there they found the other races, still young." Again the earthen led his fingers slide trough his quartz like beard.

"But then a most viel thing happened. Those who were now called Dwarves gave the other races secrets of the Titans. Blacksmithing, alchemy and other things the mortal races used for advancement and warfare. My kind found it utmost blasphemy. They asked the dwarves to take the secrets back from the other races. The dwarves refused proclaiming that it didn't matter because the Titans were gone." Golganneth closed his eyes and his fist were clenched with rage. "That was the most revulsing insult ever. My kind was furious and in their rage they decimated the dwarves. We pushed them from our mountainslopes, slayed their and drove them into mortal lands. That was the last contact between Earthen and Dwarves." The rag in Golganneth's eyes calmed down. For a moment though it seemed the ground was shaking but that disappeared again together when the Earthen calmed himself.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara nodded thoughtfully, listening in rapt attention to the story of the Earthen about the history of the Dwarves. Some of it was founded in the legend of the Dwarves, obviously passed down from the first ancestors of the current Dwarf races. The part about a split between the Earthen and the Dwarves because of the Titans was the main part of the legend. But, it was worth noting how the mainstays of current society had been developed....at the hands of the Dwarves. Kimara could see that this would be a troublesome piece of information.

"Well, it would seem that the sleep state and the flesh disease are connected. One preceded the other...and then there was the feud..." Kimara trailed off thoughtfully. "That must mean you had enemies. The disease and the slumber are too precise. Unless the Titans left it behind, there must be an enemy of the Earthen and the Titans that managed to remain hidden until the departure of the Titans. Can you think of any?"