Post by Kage2020 on Apr 3, 2005 21:50:47 GMT -5
And yet another quick story that was done on request for a project elsehwere, now defunct. Don't blame me for the overt Time Machine imagery here!
I had a dream that was not-a-dream. A vision of the future blurred by the multiplicity of potentials and couched in the form of metaphor. In it I saw both the greatness and travesty that was our past, our heritage, but also the glimmer of hope that is the birth-right of all of the People. Kith and kin regardless of where choice or circumstance would lead them.
Always, though, the future stands upon the events of the past and that is what I dreamt of first…
In the dream I stood on a small rise in a forest which stretched as far as the eye could see. Overhead the moon Eldanesh moved to dance with the fiery heat of Asuryan, though I knew that was not possible. The Maiden and the Hunter appeared briefly, though the Hunter swiftly dropped out of sight. Suddenly Asuryan vanished beneath the horizon and I was plunged into the darkness of night with only the sanguine glow of Eldanesh, the Maiden and the few stars that burned bright enough to be seen lighting the forest. Minutes passed and Asuryan appeared and I followed its track across the sky only to see it disappear beneath the horizon. Day turned into night and again into day in rapid succession until a half-light persisted.
Watching on I saw the forebears of the Eldar moving within the shelter of the trees, their forms flowing as they evolved before my eyes. Soon a settlement blossomed in front of me, small buildings grown within and around the threes themselves and increasing in complexity under the blurred movements of Asuryan. The sky itself changed, nebulous shadows flitted across the sky. The growing settlement changed in aspect, large swathes of trees disappeared in a heartbeat and the People prepared for war. Once again the sky changed as great battles were fought: this was the War in Heaven when the People had been taken to the stars and had battled with the Yngir. Time uncounted past until the flashes of light, almost certainly the titanic explosions of the stars themselves, became less frequent and eventually disappared.
With a settling of the sky once again there was change: the settlement decreased in size and the forest once again grew as the mon’keigh held the People in psychic chains stronger than wraithbone. Then the Eldar were once again free and I witnessed our growth from a preindustrial society all manifested in the small settlement that lay before me. I saw it expand and change form as if made of clay, buildings rising and falling as the unseen architects practised their art. Always the trees remained, as now an integral part of the racial consciousness of the People, a comforting progress in our march to an understanding of the universe. I was fascinated with this vision of our accomplishments, but saddened at the same time; my rapid movement through time did not allow me to see the hand of our gods in our lives, yet I could not doubt their presence with the accomplishments that were made.
Soon the buildings were replaced by floating gardens of almost unparalleled beauty, floating across the pristine landscape that was not tarnished with industrial complexes. To my eyes it was a world in harmony. Over my head shadows appeared in the sky and I knew that these were the Craftworlds, slowly constructed over millennia but which appeared and disappeared in a matter of minutes.
For what seemed like hours to my altered perception the view before me remained remarkably unchanged. Gradual movements could be seen, yes. Perhaps even wars were being fought for some unknown reason, one that was unrecorded in our history, but in the end everything settled to what appeared an almost natural rhythm.
The frenetic dance of Asuryan slowed and I could distinguish between night and day once more, though the Maiden had disappeared and been replaced the green glow of the Hunter. And that night had a disquieting feel to it, replaced briefly with warming blaze of Asuryan, only to be returned into the dark. That disquietening dark that caressed my soul with tendrils of fear and portent of what was to come.
I glanced up at the sky and was horrified by what I saw: the Red moon had inexplicable merged with the Green, Eldanesh with the Hunter. I felt that I knew what this represented and then, as I saw baleful new moon chasing Asuryan, drawing closer even as time continued to pass, I was certain. It was then that the scene before me began to change, far quicker than I had seen before. And those changes… We are told about these things but to truly witness them, or even a shade of them is to require keeping them in chains of wraithbone for the rest of my existance.
The blackness began to rise and I could feel the exodus of some of our People, each of them a shining beacon in the dark.
… I was jarred out of my dream by the bustling around me, the physical press making me uncomfortable. As a race were are not inclined to impersonal contact and, though the situation warranted it, still I was discomforted. Pushed along with the crowd the comforting presence of the hand of Yraneth, my partner for these past centuries. The memory of our betrothing was a memory that I cherished, even through these difficult times. As I got closer to the Webway portal that would take me to the orbitting Craftworld of Solenestra that comforting heat was gone, Yraneth with it. Before I crossed the threshold I saw her pushed towads another portal, one leading to Altansar. Finding myself in the Webway I determined that it was best to head to Solenestra. I could always travel to Altansar once the Craftworlds had left the doomed Eldar homeworlds.
The trip through the Webway was brief and, within a few short minutes I took my first step on the altered wraithbone floor of Solenestra…
I had a dream that was not-a-dream. A vision of the future blurred by the multiplicity of potentials and couched in the form of metaphor. In it I saw both the greatness and travesty that was our past, our heritage, but also the glimmer of hope that is the birth-right of all of the People. Kith and kin regardless of where choice or circumstance would lead them.
Always, though, the future stands upon the events of the past and that is what I dreamt of first…
In the dream I stood on a small rise in a forest which stretched as far as the eye could see. Overhead the moon Eldanesh moved to dance with the fiery heat of Asuryan, though I knew that was not possible. The Maiden and the Hunter appeared briefly, though the Hunter swiftly dropped out of sight. Suddenly Asuryan vanished beneath the horizon and I was plunged into the darkness of night with only the sanguine glow of Eldanesh, the Maiden and the few stars that burned bright enough to be seen lighting the forest. Minutes passed and Asuryan appeared and I followed its track across the sky only to see it disappear beneath the horizon. Day turned into night and again into day in rapid succession until a half-light persisted.
Watching on I saw the forebears of the Eldar moving within the shelter of the trees, their forms flowing as they evolved before my eyes. Soon a settlement blossomed in front of me, small buildings grown within and around the threes themselves and increasing in complexity under the blurred movements of Asuryan. The sky itself changed, nebulous shadows flitted across the sky. The growing settlement changed in aspect, large swathes of trees disappeared in a heartbeat and the People prepared for war. Once again the sky changed as great battles were fought: this was the War in Heaven when the People had been taken to the stars and had battled with the Yngir. Time uncounted past until the flashes of light, almost certainly the titanic explosions of the stars themselves, became less frequent and eventually disappared.
With a settling of the sky once again there was change: the settlement decreased in size and the forest once again grew as the mon’keigh held the People in psychic chains stronger than wraithbone. Then the Eldar were once again free and I witnessed our growth from a preindustrial society all manifested in the small settlement that lay before me. I saw it expand and change form as if made of clay, buildings rising and falling as the unseen architects practised their art. Always the trees remained, as now an integral part of the racial consciousness of the People, a comforting progress in our march to an understanding of the universe. I was fascinated with this vision of our accomplishments, but saddened at the same time; my rapid movement through time did not allow me to see the hand of our gods in our lives, yet I could not doubt their presence with the accomplishments that were made.
Soon the buildings were replaced by floating gardens of almost unparalleled beauty, floating across the pristine landscape that was not tarnished with industrial complexes. To my eyes it was a world in harmony. Over my head shadows appeared in the sky and I knew that these were the Craftworlds, slowly constructed over millennia but which appeared and disappeared in a matter of minutes.
For what seemed like hours to my altered perception the view before me remained remarkably unchanged. Gradual movements could be seen, yes. Perhaps even wars were being fought for some unknown reason, one that was unrecorded in our history, but in the end everything settled to what appeared an almost natural rhythm.
The frenetic dance of Asuryan slowed and I could distinguish between night and day once more, though the Maiden had disappeared and been replaced the green glow of the Hunter. And that night had a disquieting feel to it, replaced briefly with warming blaze of Asuryan, only to be returned into the dark. That disquietening dark that caressed my soul with tendrils of fear and portent of what was to come.
I glanced up at the sky and was horrified by what I saw: the Red moon had inexplicable merged with the Green, Eldanesh with the Hunter. I felt that I knew what this represented and then, as I saw baleful new moon chasing Asuryan, drawing closer even as time continued to pass, I was certain. It was then that the scene before me began to change, far quicker than I had seen before. And those changes… We are told about these things but to truly witness them, or even a shade of them is to require keeping them in chains of wraithbone for the rest of my existance.
The blackness began to rise and I could feel the exodus of some of our People, each of them a shining beacon in the dark.
… I was jarred out of my dream by the bustling around me, the physical press making me uncomfortable. As a race were are not inclined to impersonal contact and, though the situation warranted it, still I was discomforted. Pushed along with the crowd the comforting presence of the hand of Yraneth, my partner for these past centuries. The memory of our betrothing was a memory that I cherished, even through these difficult times. As I got closer to the Webway portal that would take me to the orbitting Craftworld of Solenestra that comforting heat was gone, Yraneth with it. Before I crossed the threshold I saw her pushed towads another portal, one leading to Altansar. Finding myself in the Webway I determined that it was best to head to Solenestra. I could always travel to Altansar once the Craftworlds had left the doomed Eldar homeworlds.
The trip through the Webway was brief and, within a few short minutes I took my first step on the altered wraithbone floor of Solenestra…