Phalomir held Jharmeen closely, hearing the words of the Eyes but keeping his own closed for the moment.

“My love,” he said quietly. The words sang from his lips, sprouting first from his very soul. “There is no power that can compare with what I feel at this moment. I should have seen it before. I am offered hope, friendship, and love. This moment could last forever as far as…”

He realized that the moment could indeed last forever. He sighed and positioned his legs so he could stand, then did so, still cradling Jharmeen.

“Jharmeen,” he said, his lips close to her ear. “How much do you know of what has transpired here?”

He pulled back his head a little to look into her eyes.

“I believe we should find Aelvedaar.”

--------------------

"Fight, Galen!" he reiterated. "We still control our destiny here...you still control yours! And I am here to face it all with you, and that is not going to change, not by my choice anyway."

He paused, wondering if this was in fact what was causing her such terror...

...for he was certain that was indeed what it was. But that got him to thinking.

Now he did momentarily turn away from Galen to look towards Phalomir and Graysith. "That's it isn't it? It's not about all the little things around us controlling us...it's about us choosing to be a part of all those things and to effect them as well."

Quieting a moment at that, he arched an eyebrow in question, then turned back to Galen, his ears waiting for an answer, but all of his other senses still keenly trained on her.

--------------------

But I was shaken just one time too often... and that shaking was what brought me from the Abyss toward which I had been traveling and back to that mundane little place we call reality.

Came back to it I did, and with a vengeance. I hate being shaken, hate it with a passion, almost as much as I hate helmet-hair.

And so I burst forth from that edge of madness and into full and conscious awareness swinging for all I was worth.

One flailing hand struck the tuk'ata, which surprise, surprise, yelped.

The other hand contacted solidly with Terrin's face.

"NO!" I yelled, jerking back, stumbling, then gaining my feet and drawing myself shakily upright.

"There is no choosing, don't you see? Don't you understand what is going on?

"She should."

I pointed toward the quiet pair of Jedi, who cast a few pointed glances between themselves.

"They are always speaking of having a destiny; this is our destiny, and we can't change the way things go!

"What in Hell's Seven Circles else could that-- that Thing mean by the rules being broken, and paradigms being changed?"

I dropped into heaving silence, my hands now fisting at my sides, great sobbing breaths jerking in and out of my body.

--------------------

Something which they had shared together, unbeknownst to the other, that day in the cave on K'eel Doba....

"Yes," she said simply, softly.

"I have seen this too. It is frightening."

Then, with no more ado, and with all the time in the universe to tell of it, she began to relate her experience on Dagobah, leaving out nothing, sparing no one whatever pain the telling of it might bring.

--------------------

He paused, his look turning impossibly blacker. "I really need a drink..."

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On pure instinct, Terrin reached a hand for his jawline, the other reaching behind him as he then pulled himself to a standing postion and listened. The words he was hearing didn't offer anyone here much hope...

...but being someone who likes to have some say in just where things are going, he wasn't quite ready to give in yet...

...and he shot a stern look at Jasyn upon his last comment. He didn't entirely disagree with him, however, and on more than one count.

"There's gotta be more," Terrin then spoke up, looking to Graysith. "Why would we be here if there wasn't? You saw it yourself, and yet you are here, and you said yourself you would not accept the smaller things that the Dark Lords and Wicked tried to offer you. So then does everything just simply boil down to us all merely accepting we have a destiny, regardless of whether we like it or not?"

Even as he spoke these final words he took a step in closer to Galen, wrapping an arm about her...

..and wondering just why the Powers that Be thought it was so important that they see this.

[ 12-30-2004 04:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"But, my ally, you are mistaken," she said softly, her arms wrapping about herself and gripping tightly. Her shining eyes widened, as though fear were tickling within their depths. Blinking, she thrust it from her and went on.

"What the Dark Lords all offered was far from small; indeed, it is what all beings are offered, the path along which they might travel, following that with what my Adept considers to be free will.

"These two offerings are simple, and quite disparate:

"Love, and Power."

She paused then, closing her eyes as the years she had traveled since that fateful encounter in the cave flashed across her brain. She shivered without knowing it; nevertheless, her hand shot out when Phalomir reached for her, concerned.

Gently rebuffed, he backed off; she drew in a great breath and opened her eyes.

"We choose to follow one path or another. Love or Power; the two are mutually exclusive, when one truly thinks of it. But conscious, free will ceases there."

Another pause. A pained look crossed her visage, and the Glyph flared in protest.

"Don't you see? We are not mere individuals existing in the Grand Scheme, but rather are inherent portions of it. Did you not hear what was told to us just now?

"We are It. Part and parcel, a manifestation if you will. Bits and pieces as the Game goes on, toward what end, I do not know.

"But in compensation for the fact that Life is expressed through us, we are given individual awareness, and a choice which all of us do make in that life.

"We think it is our life only, but truly it is not...."

She stopped and moved to Galen, took her by her shoulders and stared her straight in the eye.

"It is frightening, those who have this insight go mad or remove themselves from all that is. How awful to know the smallness of one, but yet how grand to realize how intricately we are all woven together...."

She let her hands drop then, and turned to face the others before finally lifting her face to stare directly into those obstinately silent, gigantic orbs.

[ 12-30-2004 07:39 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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“So, Jharmeen…. Is that what has happened to us here? Are we now excluded from the rest of the universe? When Mr. Eyeballs here says there is no time, what? Does that mean time has stopped? But why? All that time back there I could here this guy talking, while he blowing us all around, so I can only assume he was talking to all of us at once. What I heard was an answer of ‘yes’ when I asked if we had to use the life-blood, and I meant the All, to stop those would break the rules. Or something like that. So is that it? But if that’s the case…”

He turned to face the Eye again.

“DOES that mean time has stopped? And if so, for who?”

--------------------

It had already stated what was necessary to state; all pertinent information was given. To offer more would be to challenge long-held paradigms, those set down in manners utterly unfathomable to the tiny motes who tried to understand.

...or at least she thought she was beginning...

...to understand.

"There is no Time," she stated, repeating the Being's words. "All we can deal with is what is Here and Now, and we have to make a choice, be it Love or be it Power. One does not coexist with the other, for in order to gain true Power, one will eventually bypass all Love they may have, and vise versa. If one chooses Love, they will eventually give up Power in order to save that which they Love."

Pausing at that, Shayla sent a meaningful look Jharmeen's direction. Then she continued.

"I can't speak for anyone else here, but I for one know that for me it is not Power, and I know that choice has affected much more than just myself. But now that this choice has been made and accepted..."

She trailed, pursing her lips, thinking as something continued to dangle just outside of her reach, "Wait a minute. Love and Power cannot coexist together, and one must choose one path or the other. It is impossible for these two things to coexist," she repeated, letting her thoughts turn about in her head, "And any attempt to make them coexist would break the natural order. Perhaps we have, at some point, all tried to do just so, and in the doing have taken part in breaking That Which Is. At any rate, I know that at some point I have..."

[ 12-30-2004 08:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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Panthar sighed.

“I take it from its silence that I’m either right or wrong, depending. I choose… right. Now, choices aside, if you recall there are things that broke the natural order. I still say that Eyes here had told us that there is something immediate that needs to be corrected, and there are also things that have the potential to break the natural order and we need to deal with those too. But for now, we need to figure out what fixes the immediate problem so we can end the current turn or whatever and get the game moving again. If I’m right, which would be incredible, what is it that broke the natural order?”

He looked sidelong to Galen, a sudden frown on his face.

“Um, forgive me for this but…”

He turned back to direct his question to the Eyes.

“Did bringing Terrin back from the dead break the natural order?”

--------------------

"Yes... and point."

--------------------

"That Which is Broken must be broken no longer."

The Eyes blinked, and when they opened they appeared a touch brighter, the silvery streaks in them flashing like lightning arcing across a summer's sky.

...then paused suddenly, her own words bringing a particular situation to mind, a particular situation which existed right at this moment. Her eyes widened a bit. "Wait a minute," she then spoke up, casting her gaze first to the Eyes, then Jharmeen and finally Phalomir. Then she uttered one word. Or rather, one name. "Thoran..."

[ 12-30-2004 09:52 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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Phalomir shook his head.

“But think, how could Roan have had Terrin in the first place? What IS the Darker Realms? How did Terrin’s spirit get there? What is the bigger picture? Does anyone have knowledge of this?”

--------------------

Shuddered to recall how I had given myself to rescue him... a mere shade, though I didn't know it at the time.

"I don't know about any Grand Scheme... unless that's this Game our buddy here keeps talking about."

I tossed my head skyward, glowering at the eyes, which in turn seemed to glower back at me. I ignored the look as best I could, and went on.

"But I do know that there seemed to be no time passage in that Dark Place, the Dark Realm, or whatever you call it. Maybe it's just another part of all that is; didn't our pal here say there is no time?"

I fell silent with that, chewing on my lip, trying my best to appear belligerently thoughtful while in reality the army of goose feeties were running rampant from the nape of my neck clear down to the base of my spine.

Another thought struck.

Inspiration, one might add....

"Hey, Red, remember what I was telling you? About entropy and things? Well... could that be the natural order this dude is talking about? I mean, all things die, even the universe will some day; Terrin was brought back from the dead--"

I stopped a moment, casting an apologetic and extremely grateful look his way.

"Could that be what this thing means? Just the mere reanimation of his body?

"Well... that didn't take place in the Dark Realms; that took place here.

"How?"

--------------------

...but it was at that. And he'd been placed back in it by...

"Thoran, somehow," he answered Galen. "Gods only know how he did it, though...

...that is, unless we ask him about it."

--------------------

“Allright, look, all I did was a little trick I learned in my profession. But let’s back up a minute, shall we? Is our friend here is upset that we brought Terrin’s body back to life, or that we brought him here with us in the first place? Panthar’s question didn’t really distinguish, so hey, here’s a novel idea, let’s not assume, and let’s ask.”

Terrin’s face brightened as it regarded the eyes.

“Let’s clarify, shall we? Was the breakage of the natural order caused directly by the re-animation of this body?”

--------------------

Focus then pinpointed Shayla, going back to an interjection she had made earlier.

"And what was done must be done no longer.

"Point."

“What was done, folks? What was the thing we can trace back to? Travelling to the Darker Realms in the first place?”

“All right, great one, That Which Is, Which Is Us, HOW do we ensure that which is broken is broken no longer? Do we stop all travel to the Darker Realms?”

--------------------

"So we must use the Life's Blood to make certain that reanimation of an inanimate body cannot happen again."

She turned to Jharmeen. "That can be done, can it not?"

--------------------

Then--

"That Place is of No-Time; that place is in harmony with All That is.

"This is Our Place of Places, where Our slumber has been disturbed; what has been broken can not be broken again."

It then turned its attention to Shayla.

"The Life's-Blood must be used, that which is broken must be broken no longer."

"I am not certain what this great being means," she finally said, giving it a reverent look. For if she had learned anything at all during her self-imposed exile on Dagobah, it was what this Thing represented, and who and what she was to it.

As well as it to her.

"It is no mean feat; bringing the dead back to life is something not even Aelvedaar can achieve, even with his great knowledge of the All."

She paused a moment, suddenly embarrassed, a vague feeling of disquiet descending down upon her for no apparent reason. Something about being dead....

She shook off the strange feeling, and went on.

"How can we prevent something from occurring, when indeed it is something that no one should have the ability to achieve in the first place?

"How indeed was this deed done? Was it by using magicks greater than even the All...

"...or did something assist along the way? Is it not this Thoran alone who accomplished this, but something other, something about this place?"

A sudden non sequiteur struck, and she turned to Phalomir.

The only Sith among them.

"Why did your people leave this place?" she asked softly.

--------------------

Phalomir stepped closer.

“Are you perhaps suggesting that it is this place, either the temple or the area where we found Terrin’s body, that it provided the powers needed to animate the body? I do not believe Thoran would have that power, I have shared a mind with him, I believe I know his limitations. He has the ability to transfer spirits, such as I have done, and that is all.”

[ 12-31-2004 12:01 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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