Continued from
Bis Interimitur Qui Suis Armis Perit"Jeru? I thought ye\'d remember me as Jarek. A pity, but I suppose I\'ll off and forgive ye." Surprised, the lich took his hand off of Rozenn\'s shoulder. It was the moment Jeru had been hoping for. Within seconds, his hand was tightly grasping Rozenn\'s. In his other hand, a small silver orb flashed a brilliant blue. Jeru saw the panic in the lich\'s eyes, and flashed his teeth in a grin as the ground dropped from below them.
Several of the undead had grabbed hold of Jeru when he activated the device, but they were easily shaken off as the magic shrouded them and lifted them free of the host of ghouls. The lich had been too slow to take hold of Rozenn again, but Jeru still wasn\'t sure how much he could trust her. He couldn\'t lead her back to Cyric if all she was going to do was kill him. Or kill Jeru before he could even try to make that journey.
It had been a brash plan to begin with, and now he really had to consider the next step. The magic was leading them through what he hoped was a place known only to him. He had, after all, burned the ancient tome after reading it. If he had planned this right, then he had the only relic that could access the portals, and thus, the only means of getting to and from Darashen. Jeru just hoped the residents were as good natured as the book led him to believe.
Jeru couldn\'t see anything, and wasn\'t sure they were moving anymore, but he could hear his heartbeat, and beyond that, Rozenn\'s. She was still there, and the magic hadn\'t killed them. He closed his eyes tightly at the thought of it. Just incase the spell did collapse, he wanted to imagine a more preferable death. However, as soon as he closed his eyes, he was assailed with images he couldn\'t possibly have come up with on his own.
Purple-skinned elves peered at him, prodding at him with sticks. No, not sticks... crystals? White eyes stared into his own, which was a rather confusing thought, or... image? Considering his eyes were closed. Almost warily, Jeru opened his eyes again, and the images went black. The book hadn\'t said anything about this. In fact, it hadn\'t described the people either. Were these the fabled Vedal\'t?
Closing his eyes again, he \'looked\' around for Rozenn. She was close, but from this angle he couldn\'t see what she was doing. So he looked back at the purple-skinned elves. "Rozenn, if ye haven\'t already, close yer durned eyes."
"You don\'t have to close your eyes. It\'s a matter of seeing without looking. Only our young are faced with such trials. You do not seem so young. You seem wizened and gray."
Jeru was surprised he could understand them, but regardless of the situation, he took offense to being called old. "Ye show me a gray hair and I swear I\'ll off and cut it out here and now ye\' durned... what are ye, anyway? Who are ye?"
"I am Z\'ertuu. I am of the Vedal\'t of Darashen. You are masters Jarek Red Dragon of Haulsten and Rozenn D\'Tagen of Mercena. We are honored to receive you, but still baffled as to your conflict of sight. Is it unusual in your lands to see without seeing? To us, there is never sight with seeing. We locked away the ability of sight with seeing. The crystals now prevent it. The eyes are simply not efficient at seeing all things. Eyes do not sense auras, or emotions. Thoughts and other things are also secreted away from eyes. With my eyes, I would not have known that you were Jarek and Rozenn."
Seeing Jarek\'s indignation, the Vedal\'t continued. "I have not read your thoughts. Your names are simply close to you. Like auras, simple truths always hover near the people who govern them. The name I plucked from your aura, Jarek, was one of many. You are many names and many things, but that name seemed more prominent. A bright star amidst a clouded sky. I known this must unsettle you. If you are not familiar with these ways, they seem... intrusive. But please, it\'s been some time since anyone has used the portals. How have you both fared?"
"Fine, by my reckoning. How bout\' ye Rozenn? Still kicking?" Jeru, in spite of the Vedal\'t, continued to think of himself as Jeru.
