Waiting Slave of Fate

"I'm surprised, you never call on me. Wasn't I always the one to find you?" Ilgor asked while eyeing him like the threat he was.   "My my my, how my lessons stuck well then. You don't need to be on the defensive with me, Priestess. Or should I call you Chief, maybe patricide?" There it was again, that insulting demeanor like he never left. She ignored the jab, setting an empty wine glass in front of him. "Oh? Not going to pour me anything?"   "You are not human. No is whatever you drank in that wagon while you taught me magic, what I would call anything sides turpentine. I imagine like always it will fill with that foul swill you fancy so much." She smiled, though clearly not forgetting the lessons so long ago.   "True." He spoke, as she said, the glass filled itself with a black ichor. "I did want to see how you progressing in your skills. I have been watching from a far. That interesting spirit that clings to you, the fact that you used all three Archon Stones I gave you, as well as sought out many dozen more on your own initiative. Powerful entitles in this mortal world finding their way to you and your people. You have become something of a world figure in such a short period of time, as well as surpassing most of the peerless Casters left in this world."   "Do you have a point to your 'praise'? You never gave my anything like this when I was your student. So, Sorcerer, what do you want, and how did you know about the stones and my 'spirit'?" She asked, the air around her vibrating with dozens of songs yet to be let loosed at him. He could see the clouds without being told rain was on the way.   "Hmm, you are so much more to the point. For one, I know about Vilorlith." He stopped as a massive spear of ice landed just a hairs breadth away from his face, planting itself deeply into the stone wall behind him. "No need for that, really Ilgor. I am no enemy, at least not in the traditional sense." He smiled taking another drink of that blackened swill.   "I don't like that you know her name. I want..."   "I have known her for so much longer than you could possibly imagine. As well as those soldiers from the Elsewhere that you have disguised in your city. I am fully aware of Alnya and Odeza." Ilgor's eyes grew wide with the surprise at hearing that. The Sorcerer stood up, walking over to place his hand on Ilgor's shoulder. "I'm sorry."   She jumped from her chair, confused. "You never apologize for anything. You will tell me what you want." There was no more question in her voice, the command that the Dwarves had forged into her taking front stage.   "I..." He looked away, hesitating for a moment. Then reached up and took his silver mask off, the magnitude of eyes that planted themselves all across his face focused solely on her. "Have business to attend with the Queen. A sin I must repent for, something to return to her."   She was silent for a long moment, even the Sorcerer began to feel uncomfortable. An odd hum filled the building, a power even he had never experienced before. She spoke with a duel voice, two voices joined as one. Like seeing his past laid before him, the horrors he had wrought so long ago. Planet after planet engulfed in darkness, soul after soul taken and warped, that final touch on her that stole the only things she had left of her family. "You will speak no lie to me, Sorcerer." The magic steeped into his being, stitching something between the two. Something even he didn't understand in his vast knowledge.   "What did you do? That magic, that power, it's nothing like the Quartet was capable of, the other Shadows couldn't do this." He chattered out before stopping himself.   "So you really are much older than you led me to believe. And, thank you for all but outright confirming you are a Shadow. Why do you want to see Alnya? Why do you think I would show a Shadow the path the Elsewhere?" The self satisfied grin plastered on her face put him in two minds. Immense pride in being able to teach her, but sheer annoyance at her ability to do something he didn't understand.   "I... told you. I have something to return to her. I don't expect you trust me to show me the way to the Elsewhere despite confirming that you do know the way." He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. Somewhere in his mind he was aware that he needed to tell her only truths, something told him he couldn't lie, but he might be able to leave information out.   "I do. Do you intend to harm in anyway a representative I might call here?" She asked.   "No, the opposite actually." He held his hands out in a disarming motion.   She tapped her chin thinking. Pacing as she worked through senarios, clearly not knowing which Shadow he was, or what his full capabilites were. Though, the fact that she had managed to issue a true command to him was the only reason she was considering it. He could smell the hesitation, the worry, hear her heartbeat increase. Though he couldn't hear her thoughts, he had a very good idea about what she was thinking about.   "Please, Ilgor. I need to speak with her. Not just any representative. I need to speak with her." He tired to sound as honest as possible. He knew their prior history was not helping him.   "Why?" That command pulled at him again.   "Because I want to die. I have erred, done damage I cannot fix. None of us can without the Quartet. We were wrong. Vengeance spent, actions taken, tasked with unachievable heights." He slumped his shoulders, as he let his disguise fade away. The mask and eyes fusing into one, his human form become that of a warped Fae. Small horns sprouting from his skull, a ring of eyes blinking into life in the basket of those head piece appendages. His limbs lengthening into endless tendrils. Indescribable he was, a horror from the depths of minds broken.   "I wasn't expecting that. So this is what you Shadows look like, eldritch abomina.... I'm sorry Mother, you are right." She started, though clearly speaking to someone else halfway through.   "Please, Vilorlith. I know you are here, I just don't know where. Please you have to remember my Father, the source of what we are. I want to become whole again."   There was a feint click as the room was filled with Soldiers wearing full rebreather apparatus. Weapons pointed toward him, only now did he see Ilgor in a new light. That shifting starry night pattern on her skin as that tail whipped around, his eyes went wide. "I thought I had seen the last of..."   "Enough, Ilgor we will discuss this later. What does the Shadow of Balance want." Anlyth spoke in a low growl, filled with the Eons of built up hatred, Syn's blade cutting deep into the Shadow's neck.   He dared not move, though he was a true immortal, his death would still be painful as it had been the many times before this. He couldn't help but laugh darkly, "Ilgor, I think I owe you something. Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name, the one I had chosen for myself, Is Xelex. I am the Great Saint, I am the Horror, I am the Harbinger, I am Mumit, I am what they call me. I am Shadow Balance."   "You'd better have a good reason for walking into an execution chamber." Anlyth said, knuckles turning white around the haft of the blade that had killed him so many times before.   "Enough of this as well, Son. What good would it do to kill him again, it would only alert all the Shadows we are here. While we may be able to down him, we would never stand a chance against the other seven. I think we have to thank Ilgor and Xelex here for keeping our appearance on the Great Tree a secret for the moment." That voice. One he had dreamed of for so long. He out stretched one of his hands despite the blade at his neck nearly sheering through his neck from the effort.   In his palm materialized a crest, an ancient thing. An even older song filled the echo that the Great Mother had sung in the beginning, something he never should have held. Kyln's Song filled his hand, holding it out for Alnya to take. "I am sorry. It was only when it was all said and done did I realize what the Quartet was doing for everything. I did not understand until I had stolen those three from you. Bhal and Azu have the others, I could not handle it all on my own."   Eyes wide, Anlya stood there. Frozen, watched by her children, watched by all. "Why?"