Through waves and mist she saw what she correctly assumed to be the distant past. Karsh's past. He'd been King for less than three months. Her heart skipped a few beats, she saw Karsh actually smile for a second in the vision. She saw something else, a memory of his future bride. Arselen's throat caught, there was a certain undefinable resemblence... it was his betrothed. And his betrothed, the ambassador to Durvan and a noblewoman of high standing, was late coming to the assembly. She saw a look of some concern on several faces. She saw Karsh sitting on that dark stone throne and a page running in with a message. Shouts. Confusion. Karsh stormed towards the doors, his cloak snapping in his wake, moving people out of his way with a mere gesture. Things shifted. She caught snippets of what was said, or thought. Durvan had been a friendly nation to the south. Or had been. Apparently, Karsh's betrothed had been imprisoned there for some reason. And Karsh had been summoned. And he rode alone in a straight line like a bolt of black across the plains between. A black storm following him the whole way...
Then she saw something that froze her heart.
The Five Cities were prepared for war against Karsh and his army. But there wasn't an army to fight. Just him. Through the long distance between him and his goal, he saw his betrothed. And an animalistic growl escaped from him.
"You came, I knew you would. See what they did to me. Avenge me, my love." felt more than heard. And the scene was horrible. The woman was chained on the parapet and had been cruelly used by everyone, young and old, in Durvan. Not one was innocent. And she gave up her life after speaking in thought, her spirit fleeing her body. A heart wrenching cry came from Karsh.
The world came apart. Then the carnage bagan. Karsh swept the army of Durvan aside as if they were mere toys. Flames and shadow shot from the ground, engulfing whole legions. The sky darkened ominously the whole time. He won through to the gates of the citidel. He stopped and pulled the spark of life from an especially evil criminal with just a twitch of his finger. Then charged up the stairs to the parapet. Where he grabbed the body of his betrothed, held her close with his head bowed. Held her head to his chest as tears flowed....
.....And all of Durvan became a desert waste in a second as Karsh's gutteral scream rose above the din. Thousands of miles and lives snuffed in a blink. An unbearably bright light and flash of flame and sound. The ground quaking in a catacalysmic rolling and twisting as the sky went blacker than the deepest shadows.
The King's Army caught up with him later, as he walked out of the pall holding the lifeless body of his betrothed.
"I could have healed her hurts.. but I couldn't heal her spirit. And I didn't just destroy the five cities. I destroyed them all." the look in his face told her all she needed to know.
The destruction of one nation was already on his conscience. He didn't need two more. And all because the King of Durvan fell into fealty with the Archon.
Her hand tingled in an odd fashion after Karsh let go... and he melted into the background shadows and from sight to atone for his actions... alone.
Adrenaline keeps me in the game..... You don't feel the pain. -Adrenaline, TripleX soundtrack.
Karsh was sitting on his balcony again. Just as he was doing not five months past. He was in a melancholy mood, which was dangerous, since he lost some of his control on his 'gift' and things he was thinking tended to become reality. As Abilene mentioned to him as she walked up behind him, slightly singed. A butterfly flitted by and disappeared. And just as suddenly, a clump of flowers landed on her ghostly head before returning to nothing.
"You really have to be careful with that, a dragon popped into being around the corner from here, blasted me with flame, and took off howling." smoke drifted from her ghostly form to punctuate the statement. Karsh didn't even notice. His face lit by an eerily moving blueish ghostlight. His hand was outstretched in front of his face, a small image dancing in his palm. Abilene peered closer at it...
She saw two figures dancing in the great hall, almost as clear as it would have been had it been real. Only the fact that she saw Karsh's fingers on the other side of the dancers told her that it was an illusion, a memory made visible. She noticed an uncanny resemblance between the figure in his hand, and the face of the Queen. And chills ran down her spine.
Could ghosts get chills? Shrugging the thought off, she again looked, and noticed that Karsh's betrothed did indeed look alot like the Queen. Privately, she pried a name out of his head. Or tried to.
"Her name was Arsivath. Means the same as Arselen." Karsh's voice intoned in her head. He didn't move. His gaze was fixed on the dance. Suddenly, the figures stopped. And Karsh took a finger and stirred the image like a drink, the figures twirling about each other at first, then melting into each other before he closed his hand on the chaotic ball the image became. Slowly, he stretched, and sighed.