Editing Antiva - Bringer of Life (section)

==Arrival and Confluence==

A moment after being told what Lord Aergarnion expected of me, I was blown backwards and appeared in a structure that wasn't any place I recognised. It was fairly large, made of dressed stone, but thankfully there was no roof so I could see the sky above clearly. It did look as though one might have existed once, though, so was this a ruin? There was a raised area to one side with a tall, strong looking woman stood next to an older man that was being dragged away by some pale, pointy-eared figures in armour. I later learned that he had drawn a circle around the woman, "Antinniera", and activated it with his blood to protect her before he was clubbed over the head. He was dragged through what looked like a hole in the world, which then closed behind them leaving no evidence it was ever there.

In the centre of the raised area was a six-pointed gold star with four gems set into the points. Another point was empty, and the final one looked like it had recently held a black stone, but more of the armoured pale figures had surrounded it and now the stone lay in two pieces on the floor. I later learned that their leader had pried the stone free with his sword, but the stone had split and caused an explosion that had thrown him backwards and his friends had taken him through one of the holes in the world to wherever they had come from. Beyond this star was a circle that looked like perfect black glass against the wall, but vertical.

At my own level, on two sides, Saloroc (green burly creatures) were holding back a pack of small, snarling, dog-headed creatures - Kobolds apparently - that seemed eager to get past them. This level was about six feet below the raised area, and connected with stairs at the centre. The stairs were being guarded by four more of the pale-skinned people, who watched warily with weapons ready. Just in front of me was another armoured figure, although he wasn't pale like the others, and the armour looked heavier and was adorned with striking colours of red and yellow. He held an impressively large warhammer, although he did not appear to be immediately expecting a fight. The only side that appeared empty was opposite the raised area, and I could see double doors were closed in the wall at the end.

There were several bodies around where I had appeared, all the dog-like creatures from the looks of it, and behind the rest of their folk were two crude doors, one on each side. I was able to take this in quickly because I had caught my balance and kept my feet, but it was a chaotic mess of sound and confusing sights compared to the calm of Lord Aergarnion's court. Looking back at the raised area, seeking perhaps to find the emissary I was seeking, I saw two worm-like creatures emerge straight out of the stone floor, trying to grab the two parts of the black gemstone. One took a piece in its mouth and disappeared back into the rock, but the other caused a small explosion of light when it tried to take it and withdrew looking slightly charred. The next moment four elemental creatures appeared, one each of Air, Water, Fire, and Earth, arrayed around the star, each near a gem that was still within its proper place.

The garish armoured figure held out his hand as if to help me, but then withdrew it the moment I reached for it, laughed and then took my hand, pulling me fully to my feet. He was slightly shorter than me, and seemed a strange fellow. He introduced himself as "Pieniteh", or "Pi" as he was often called. I, of course, introduced myself as "Aapyaunggaalell Lay", or "AapLay" if he preferred something shorter. He did seem friendly, at least, which was more than the others in the room appeared to be. It had taken a few attempts to find a common language, though, eventually we used the course Common of the human races, although it was not a tongue I had learned to use well.

As we introduced ourselves, the Elemental representatives swatted away the pale-skinned creatures casually and took the gems, one each, and then departed. The Water rolled over the wall nearest them, and the Air (did my father know him?) rose over the same wall. The Earth simply sank into the floor, but the Fire headed towards us. The pale-skinned creatures all departed in the same way the others had, leaving just the four on the lower level, who were just trying to get out of the way of the Fire bearing down on them. I also noticed the Saloroc and Kobolds were shuffling closer to me and Pi, perhaps growing in confidence as people were leaving.

As suddenly as I had arrived, so too did a winged snake, dazzling in colour with blue-green scales growing lighter in hue towards its head, which was almost iridescent green, with orange and yellow wings, darkening towards the flight feathers at the end. They appeared right in front of the female warrior on the raised section, beating their wings to raise their body up. The whole body must have been roughly eight feet long, but some remained curled on the floor.

Antinniera reacted badly, doubling over whilst retching and vomiting in front of the Coatl. Instead of recoiling, though, it uncurled its tail and lifted her up gently until she had recovered slightly. Despite this distraction, I remembered my instructions and took a moment to focus on the air. There was no wind, but the air was strangely in turmoil; there was constant movement, but without direction it never went anywhere and the air could not move freely. I had never seen the like before, and found it uncomfortable.

I noticed that Pi looked confused too, and in fact he didn't seem to know where we were or what was going on. I heard the Coatl, who I would later learn was named "Xlotl", greet the Fire in Elemental Common. This was a tongue I knew well, but the column of Fire rather rudely ignored the greeting and kept moving. I suggested to Pi, in my broken Common, that the Fire seemed to be in a bad mood and that it might be best to avoid him.

I cautiously called out to Xlotl, addressing them as "Lord", hoping that they were the emissary. I informed them that I had sensed the air and found it to be in chaos, and that I should return to Lord Aergarnion. Xlotl seemed to think there was much more to sense than the immediate turmoil, though, and I bowed my head in deference.

Antinniera was still dry heaving, and not able to join the conversation, so I didn't know whether she was following what was going on. Pi, though, had started to speak to the Saloroc, introducing himself again. All he got in return, though, was an instruction to leave at once or he would be the first to die! The last of the pale-skinned creatures departed, again throwing a stone at the floor and stepping through a hole in the world that appeared before it closed after them. That left us in the path of Fire, which had continued straight towards the doors behind us, and the smell of acrid burning became more noticeable as he drew near.

It was then that one of the little dog-faced creatures drew a stubby blade and tried to stab me! Pi was stabbed as well, so at least it wasn't just me. I wondered if I had been impolite, so I tried an apology and introduced myself to the creature. It seemed to just be wild-eyed and drool dripped from its jaws, so I wasn't sure that I was getting through to it.

Pi reacted more violently, turning a bright red colour and swinging his warhammer down onto the one that had stabbed him. There was a sickening crunch, and the thing collapsed into a crumpled mess on the floor. Almost as soon as Pi lifted his warhammer, though, the bits of the body started to come together and reform - what bad air could cause such a thing?!

The Saloroc attacked Pi, his blow clanging loudly against Pi's armour but failing to penetrate the thick metal. A bolt of ice formed in front of Xlotl and streaked into the Saloroc, making him stagger backwards. It was clear that Xlotl wanted us to fight, so I struck at the one that had attacked me, using the air to harden the blow as the way of Kahkohneyinn taught us, and it was knocked unconscious by the force of the air.

I felt the heat as the Fire drew closer still, stepping away as Pi started to smoulder slightly. One of the dog creatures just combusted as it lingered too long, dropping to the floor in agony. I asked Xlotl for his guidance, but I was beginning to suspect that he wasn't the emissary that I was seeking, and he just said that I should defend myself. I struck another of the dog creatures that was attacking me, leaving that unconscious as well, hoping not to kill any if I could avoid it.

Antinniera finally recovered from her sickness and shouted at Xlotl to leave her alone and get out of her circle. I wasn't sure whether she was angry, confused, or both, but she had a stormy temper, so I decided to keep away from her for now. Xlotl gently lowered her to the ground and relaxed his coils to release her, showing no emotion... although I'm not sure how to tell the emotional state of a Coatl.

More immediately of concern, though, was that the body of the doglike creature that had been consumed by fire had melted into the floor, leaving a liquid pool behind. Surely this wasn't supposed to happen? As I stepped around it, Pi was stabbed in the back by the second Saloroc with a longsword! That just wasn't nice. I reached out with my hand and with a flurry managed to focus my mind and give Pi enough energy to recover his feet. He jumped to his feet and cried out: "everybody stop"! For a moment it looked like it might work, but then the Kobolds darted forward again. Instead he started praying to someone called "Lord Admir", but that just disturbed the air even more.

I struck at the Saloroc that had stabbed Pi in the back, the air around my fist blasting into him with some force, but not enough to fell him. Antinniera ran towards us, gripping a long pole with a pointed end and what looked like a axe blade near the top. She was about my height with long, brown hair and piercing green eyes; her skin was tanned, and her shoulders broad and muscular. She wore plain leather armour with a bow across her back and a buckler on one arm. Behind her, Xlotl soared into the combat from the raised platform, using their wings to extend their leap and biting down into a Kobold, picking it up bodily and spitting it back down at the floor. I heard a voice in my mind say: "there is nowhere for their souls to go!", possibly that is why the bodies were changing?

The stone double doors swung open as the Fire reached them, revealing a glimpse of scrubby grassland beyond them. I was still focused on one of the Saloroc, but missed with my next blow and was punished for over-committing with a stab into my side. Pi called out that something was not right - no disagreement there - and then shouted "Boo!" at one of the foe, with no obvious effect. Xlotl bit another, dropping that to the ground as well, as one of the bodies started smouldering before erupting into a cloud of ash and smoke.

I managed to waft the smoke away, dodging backwards, but it seemed to affect some of the Kobolds and Xlotl that were too close to avoid it. I punched the Saloroc attacking Pi again, and this time it was enough to knock him down, clearly out cold. Pi tried another ruse, pointing behind a foe and saying: "what's behind you?" It twitched, but then stabbed him anyway. They didn't seem to be in the mood for entertainment.

Antinniera cut into one with a slow, but powerful, arc of the axe head. Her foe collapsed, blood spurting everywhere, but then the blood started to flow back into the body! I breezed into a gap and struck the other Saloroc, dropping him to the floor unconscious with his companion. Flame erupted from Antinniera's hands, consuming one; as it collapsed, though, ice started to form around it. Was the way the body died important to what happened to it?

Xlotl recovered from the smoke cloud, swooping around to bite another Kobold. When that one dropped it burst into flames! Pi smacked a foe with his warhammer, and the colour drained from its face with the pain. Just then, the one that had frozen exploded and sent shards of ice flying everywhere. Antinniera was caught in the spray, passing out with the pain, so I stepped over to revive her. Xlotl picked her up again when she showed signs of life, but as soon as she was on her feet she ran back towards the raised area.

One of the fallen stood back up, having come back to some semblance of life, and clawed at Pi. The claws scraped off his armour painlessly, though, and Pi muttered some words, holding out his hand and making it flinch backwards. I needed to focus on my own fight, though, as I was struck a glancing blow. There was so much strangeness to witness for Lord Aerganion!

Antinniera was picking things off the floor back where the star was, including the part of the gem left by the worm and the black sword the pale-skinned leader had dropped in the explosion when he gem was split. It seemed to cause her pain even to hold it, so she quickly stowed it within the straps on her back. Xlotl bit another foe, and again the body combusted... speaking of which, the last one that burst into flames had turned into a small elemental Fire creature! Xlotl said to leave that one to him, though, and Pi seemed to have some dominance over his opponent, forcing it back simply with words.

I moved away from those fighting with me, calling on the air itself to defend me. With a thunderous clap the air responded to my movements, flowing down and slamming outwards, knocking the foes back. One was killed, actually for the second time it seemed, and for the first time I saw the air swirling in a clear pattern around it.

Xlotl bit down on the fire creature, ice forming where they connected, and the Fire dissolved into nothing. A second one formed, though, from the other body and Xlotl had to recoil from it. Pi picked up a sword from one of the fallen Saloroc and threw it towards this new threat, somehow managing to spin it perfectly so the blade cut into it, and just like that it was extinguished.

For the first time since the fight started there was calm. I optimistically looked to the air again, hoping that it had improved, but it was still chaotic and lacking focus. The others were introducing themselves, and it was then that I learned all of their names. Xlotl bowed to Pi, which surprised me - apparently he was not human, even though he looked it to us. He hadn't acted much like a human, that was for sure.

Sadly Xlotl was not the emissary, and now I wasn't sure how we were to get back home. I didn't even know where we were! This was supposed to be where all winds started, and life for that matter, but it was in chaos and pretty lifeless. I doubted any wind could find a direction to blow in this air. Antinniera and Pi both served someone called "Lord Admir", although I didn't recognise the name. They were seeking Antiva, the bringer of life. This was apparently a gem, of which Antinniera now had half, but the other half had been carried off by a stone worm.

There were six gems at one point, four were taken by the elementals and one split by the dark elf, but one was missing - Xlotl said that the gem of Death had been taken by Verlon already. Verlon was the Prince of the pale-skinned ones, servant of chaos and death. The order of the gems should have been Air - Life - Water - Earth - Death - Fire in a clockwise direction, but now all were gone.

The stone doors were curious, though, being the only original doors here. They were marked with eight-pointed stars, which made me think what happened to the other two points! I headed back to the centre of the room, where Pi and I had appeared, to investigate. Pi seemed bored already, and went out of the doors to see what was outside. He found scrub that was almost dead, and it was dusty and warm in the sunlight. Antinniera looked behind one of the makeshift doors off to the side, finding a rough living area that the Saloroc and/or Kobolds must have used.

I was right! When I searched the centre of the room, having to get on my hands and knees to do so, I found faint marks where once an eight-pointed star had been embossed. Why had they changed it? Xlotl was near the newer, six-pointed star, which looked much clearer. The old star had been ancient, but this look recent. The new symbology was fairly clear - the elements were marked, and life and death were the same but one was the reverse of the other. Xlotl warned that the black glass circle was trying to draw him in, so the weak-willed should stay away from it.