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[Martin Willow]

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Martin Willow's vision cleared quickly as he arrived before the Shrine of Spirituality, his rune delievering him at the foot of its steps. The bouncing starbursts of light silently glowed around the shrine, casting it in an awe-inspiring light. Martin smiled at the lightshow briefly, but moved on around the shrine to attend to the reason he was in Spiritwood.

Sitting in an elevated garden behind the shrine was Lady Savhanna, the Mayor of Spiritwood. She spotted him and waved him over, motioning to the bench beside her. Ascending the steps into the garden, the various brightly colored plants gave the garden a pleasing and invigorating atmosphere, but at the same time relaxed Martin has he passed.

Taking the seat next to Savhanna, Martin bowed his head slightly.
"I thank ye for meeting with me today. I'll get right to the point, as today is a busy day for me and, I assume, for ye as well."

Savhanna gave him a curt nod.

"As you have undoubtedly heard, I am working to revive the Sages of the HoA...." Martin continued.

"I have heard rumors, yes," Savhanna replied.

Martin nodded. "I am working with the Holy Church of the Virtues, and have been drafting a list of those who have shown potential to serve the various Virtues well. Myself and a few others decided, that the only person we felt could do justice to Spirituality, was you."

Martin searched Savhanna's face for her reaction. She smiled just a bit.
"That is indeed a high honor and I am flattered that you thought of me."

Martin chuckled. "Is that a yes, Savhanna?"

"Well, what will the position require of me?"

Martin explained to her what a Sage would be asked to do. Their promotion and protection of the Virtues, as well as the requirement of bringing a personal touch and interrupratation to their patron Virtue.

Savhanna nodded again. "I've already started teaching Isk's children a bit about Spirituality, among other things.

Martin flinched mentally at the mention of the Magnate and Humanis, but kept it off his face, and simply nodded absently.

Martin stood then. "I thank ye for this meeting. Unfortunately, other duties require my time today." Martin bowed his head. "Walk in Honor."

"Safe journey, Martin." Savhanna replied.

Martin then stepped to the edge of the meditative garden, gestured with his hands and murmured the words "Kal Ort Por", vanishing from the spot and appearing in Trinsic instantly. Exiting the bank, Martin walked over to Molly, who had been waiting for him, and kissed her gently on the cheek.

“Waiting long, love?” he asked.

“Long enough.” She replied, but she grinned and winked at him.

They spoke quietly for a time, and soon the third and final member of their group arrived. Wearing a purple robe, he rode up to them and dismounted his nightmare, bowing his head as he reached the ground.

“Greetings Martin, Molly.” Kain Elderan said, holding his nightmare’s reins in his right hand, as he removed his robe with his left, in a futile attempt to escape the humid Trinsic air.

“Hail Kain,” Martin replied, noticing Kain’s discomfort and grinning a bit. “Trinsic’s weather not agreeing with you?”

Kain only grinned.

Martin continued. “Well, we’re all here, so we should get moving. I wanted us to visit a building on Ice Island that thankfully was not damaged when most of Wintermoor fell.”

Producing a magic gate with the words “Vas Rel Por”, Martin, Molly, and Kain stepped through, and were stuck immediately with a drastic change in temperature. A cold wind and flakes of snow whipped around them, and all three quickly put the robes they had so quickly discarded in Trinsic back over their bodies. Before them stood a squat building, of no remarkable design, on its door sign the faded symbol of the Heralds of the Awakening could be made out.

The trio walked inside, the dust covering the furniture a clear sign that the building had not been inhabited in some time. Except that there was a dustless path through the benches across the room. The benches still sat lined up facing a grand table, itself littered with various books, some still open with pages turned to, as thought the reader had abandoned the book in mid-read.

Martin turned to the other two. “There should be books here that have recorded the history of the HoA. If the Sages are to return, these books will help greatly.”

Glancing over the books on the table, however, revealed them to be of little import, at least to Martin’s eyes. Searching the room with his eyes, Martin spotted a door set back into the wall. A backroom, perhaps? The dustless trail from the front door led to this backroom, as well.

Entering the room, Martin at first thought he had found what he sought, on a grand scale. The room was full of bookshelves, floor to ceiling shelves. Martin smiled, and then frowned. The shelves were empty! The room was noticeably lacking in any signs of having been ignored. In fact, there was no dust to be seen. Approaching each of the shelves in turn, Martin found some empty, others filled with worthless trinkets. All of the lore, the history that must have been here…looted!

As Molly and Kain looked around with equal despair, Martin slammed his fist against the nearest shelf. As he exhaled his anger, a book fell from the top of the shelf to land squarely on his head.

“OW! What the…” Martin yelled, looking up just in time to receive the first book’s counterpart directly in the face. Swearing and recovering the books from the floor as he at once nursed his injured nose, his even more injured pride, and avoided the amused looks from Kain and Molly, Martin flipped through one, more mentally cursing gravity than actually reading, until he noticed who the journal entries were signed by.

“This…this is Aleph’s journal!” He said, in shock.

Reading more carefully now, the journal seemed to summarize many days of Aleph attempting to tend to Azrielle, who, by the journal’s accounts, was stricken by an illness of some kind. The journal ended abruptly, and Martin handed it along to Molly to read, himself deeply disturbed by what the writings could mean. The second book contained random notes jotted down, and if not for the signature of Aleph at the beginning, Martin would have condemned the writings to be of a mad man.

As Molly read the book, tears formed in her eyes, and Kain’s reaction was nearly identical to Martin’s. The journal clearly detailed that some evil had befallen Aleph and Azrielle. What had happened? And where had the rest of the books gone?


( http://www.atlanticcommunityboard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=39025#39025 )
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Grand Paladin of THG