Following the tense encounter with Merilos in the Hall of Fire, Calidis led the company to her home for rest and careful consideration of what little they knew of the situation in Rivendell, and the death of Xanir some weeks past.
After Xanderian’s visions of her brother Xanir’s death indicated he had been attacked in Imlad Gelair, Merilos’ mention of Imlad Gelair was impossible to ignore.
A few hours rest, and most of the group went to investigate what answers could be found in Imlad Gelair while Xandilif and Finchley remained in Calidis’s haven investigating a different issue.
Calidis sighed and moved down the path towards the hidden doorway into Imlad Gelair. Behind her, Nethrida and Ryn, Eduwiges, Addiela and lastly Xanderian moved with surprising silence. "A word of caution, it would go ill for you should you speak of this place to others outside of here..."
Xanderian nodded and gestured towards the door, mostly hidden in the rock face, taking the lead. A momentary glance between her and Calidis betrayed the fact both felt something seemed…wrong. This did little to calm the others.
'I....I am not sure what to expect....or how my former visions may pertain to reality....' Rian smiled softly, looking at each in turn as the passed through the door. 'I am comforted to have you all here, however...'
Just inside the doorway, as the other checked their equipment and the brooches Calidis had given them indicating they were retainers of her House, Xanderian stared from a shadowed alcove towards the falls across the way. 'As a girl I would often seek out this view...this place. I found the sense of age and deep power comforting. Today…I am not sure I find them as soothing.'
With a sigh, Xanderian set off again, following the path deeper into the cliffside, the others followed, being eyed warily by the occasional sentry,
Addiela kept to the back, looking over her shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed while Nethrida was imitating all of the dignitaries she had seen and guarded in her service. Silent, stoic and standing with an upright posture.
The group paused to admire the view from the center of the bridge, or so it would seem. Both Addie and Eduwiges were really looking back to see if the guards were watching them. Looking down into the depths, the group could almost hear a soft, scratching sound...as if something moved far below. Ryn looked to Nethrida nervously and moved well away from the edge of the bridge.
Xanderian began to move again, half seeing her previous vision. 'I...I saw this bridge, I felt it...Xanir hooded, dragged across it...his captors utterly silent...' She turned back, her eyes seeming to glow in the darkness as the others moved across the bridge to follow.
Calidis took Xanderian's hand and squeezed lightly….and then for most of the party, the world seemed to change and tumble….and fall apart.
For Addiela of Rohan, she was crossing another bridge, in Edoras...but a subdued, darkened Edoras...black banners draped over the Golden Hall heralding the death of the King...artisans hard at work on a new fountain depicting the noble friend of Rohan, Saruman the Wise. Her mother demanded she hurry, as her husband must not be kept waiting as unruly children ran about her feet.
For Nethrida, Warrior of Gondor, she was crossing another bridge through clouds and smoke, the howls of fell creatures filled the air. Arrows whizzed all around her....as she reached to draw her blade...but then saw it already on the ground, broken near the hilt...with a sinking feeling she realized she was in Fornost..and she had come here to die.
For Eduwiges of Faldham, she was crossing another bridge..lingering as below her she watched her beloved father, in consultation with two unsavory men, they laughed together...a pouch changed hands....and she watched her father selling the arms he was supposed to safeguard to the enemies of Rohan, leaving their home as prey to the man who laughed with him, their foe called the Viper. Her father….a traitor.
For Carneryn of Angmar, she was crossing another bridge...ahead and behind her a long line of men in blood red robes walked, speaking in low tones...around her throat, a heavy iron collar, the collar of a slave of Carn Dum.'
For Calidis, Daughter of Eregion, she was crossing another bridge, looking down into a silent valley. In the distance, trees burned in utter silence....a long column of orcs marching below her. The ground at her feet ran with blood as she stumbled through the sack of Ost-in-Edhil again, utterly alone.
The five would seem to stagger between worlds, one moment in Imlad Gelair, the next in a hellscape that would seem to await them…the harder they would struggle to hold on to reality, the more ephemeral it would seem, until they could barely tell dream from nightmare…or life from death. Yet always ahead of them, they would see Xanderian like a talisman of hope, her back to them as she walked the path…finally stepping across another, mist covered bridge into a central plaza.
Xanderian raised her voice as the mist would grow thicker around her feet. “This..is this is where Xanir, my brother was blinded...where he was tortured...where he died…where we slew him..."
She slowly turned to face her comrades as everything around them seemed to shatter like mirrors, horror flowing over them like the fear and blood of their nightmares. Before them, Xanderian raised her arms upward, her face covered by a silver, featureless mask....
A roar, the sound of smashing stone, the scent of acrid death all around them…and suddenly they were in the open air, before the door of the hidden refuge they had just battled through. They looked at one another, confused, stunned as Xanderian gestured towards the door, her pale eyes bright in the sunlight. “Imlad Gelair is just beyond....”
The sense of panic would pass quickly...as if something was calming them...but the images remained....strange, horribly dream like....what might have been...what could have been. Visions of another past, a different future.
For Xanderian, they had never entered Imlad Gelair and stood still before the door, however for the others, they had been cast into a strange delusion that caused them all to decide to return to Calidis’ haven to regroup, and try to understand what had happened.
As they entered the comfortable mansion, Calidis moved across the room to get herself a glass of wine. Looking down at her palm, she saw small half-moon wounds her own nails had cut into her flesh as she clenched her fists…the visions had been so real. ignoring her hand for now.
Nethrida took a deep breath and exhaled. "That will... Keep me up at night... No doubt of that...” Eduwiges simply nodded in agreement and collapsed on one of the low couches, her face in her hands.
Carneryn moved a hand to her face as a tear slid down her face into her hand "I-I... W-What was...".
Nethrida watched Ryn, and put a hand on her shoulder 'And... How much of it was real..'
Eduwiges slammed her fist on the table angrily. “NONE of it was real..I do not believe any of it..I will not believe any of it!”
Xan just started at the ruin of her companions, stunned and filled with a feeling of guilt. “Perhaps it would be wise to know what occurred...for me...it was as if we arrived, and you all collapsed.'
Calidis drained the rest of her glass of wine and then turned. "... As we entered, or thought we entered, Imlad Gelair, you spoke of visions. What you saw of Xanir's murder... You retraced his steps or it appeared to us that you did. And yet, near the end of it... You were not as you are now. But that moment was so fleeting..."
'In that moment....what was I?' Rian stared, frozen by the thought of it.
Calidis met her gaze, 'What were you? Not yourself... There was a mask.'
Nethrida nodded, 'I... I think I saw it too…the mask.....I saw you past... The orcs...'
'Orcs?' Xan moved to embrace Nethrida, holding her close.
Nethrida nodded slowly against her shoulder, struggling for composure. "T...They were the ones... That killed me...."
Addiela leaned against the wall, not looking at anyone…her mind clearly elsewhere
Calidis poured her second glass of wine. "I am unsure if this was a mere scare tactic or something meant to drive us away from that place….either way it seemed to work. It felt entirely real and yet... We know what is reality here. We know the choices we've made. So why should we be shown things that have not and cannot come to pass?... Not a trick of the mind, no. But perhaps a trick of something else?"'
Xanderian shook her head. 'A trick of something else? Has the very nature of Imladris degraded to such a point that such visions can bedevil us here,....and why did I not suffer with you?'
Nethrida looked up at the others, 'Maybe... It's trying to separate us?'
Carneryn nodded. "I-If that is the goal we can not let it come to pass..."
'Xanderian.. though I wish I could say that they were only mere visions, I do not fully trust that to be the matter.” Addie moved away from the wall, her eyes serious as she approached her friend. “However, I also feel I would be a fool to think such way. To think that we can so easily be here or another time is madness.. and yet.. it could be. Even saying such makes me feel insane. It was not a dream or reflection at all, it was a…reality. I did not see myself, I WAS myself as I assume by listening that the others were as well...not like the tricks played by Mans and his ring Sindya. More like the memories of Calidis when we were taken there by her pendant Hastaina.” Addie shook her head. “Just saying these things make me sound mad…
Calidis looked up suddenly, '... Someone is outside.' She opened the door a crack and peered out. She watched for a moment and then sighed. "It is Selunae. She waits at the head of the walk. Shall I admit her or send her away?"
'Admit her....we cannot hide here forever'. Xanderian sounded confident, but she slipped Heartbreaker back onto her back just in case.
Calidis stayed very still for a moment before nodding once and lifted her hand. The sapphires in her bracelet seemed to glimmer and burn brightly. About the walls of the house, one could hear a strange but not unpleasant hum. The wards were adjusted to allow for the scholar’s entry... as well as strengthened in some way.
Calidis opened the door and waved Selunae in, clearly looking uncomfortable but not overly so.
Selunae glanced behind her..and slipped in...glancing at each of the company in turn...then sighed and held a bottle out to Calidis. "Here..it is a blend of Mirovir and other herbs...it will ease the dislocation...The Lord Elrond felt the ripples....the...spasms I suppose.'
Selunae looked at Xanderian. “It seems with your coming...they have intensified as he feared...'
Carneryn raiseed a brow "W-What?"
The red haired scholar glanced at Ryn..."Now that you all are here, the interaction is more violent...it had been more a simple...sliding. This seemed to have been far more extreme'
Calidis stared, '... So you admit freely that this has been going on for quite some time?'
Nethrida took half a step forward to place herself slightly in front of Ryn as a protective move.
Selunar nodded reluctantly. “A few months...at first it was barely noticeable...now it affects more and more..'
Carneryn looked even more confused "Y-You mean what we just experienced?"
Calidis sighed and steped away from the table, fixing her black stare upon Selunae. "And what is being done? Is Lord Elrond attempting to at least try to find what has caused it?"
Selunae nodded..."It seems to be a by-product, an after effect...of the coming of the Masked and their gaining of followers here and now...The Lord Elrond hopes that after this..event, he may now stop the disruptions at least...but it will require locking some things in place.'
Addiela tried to make sense of all this, and didn’t like the sound of that. 'Locking what in place?'
“Certain...paradoxes....' Selunae looked uncomfortable. ”I know I must say more...but please...do not share this knowledge elsewhere...it could prove...dangerous. Some months past, whispers began concerning The Masked....a political movement that seeks to resist the end of the age...They feel that the first born should remain...that this world is ours by right, and we were created to rule it.”
Calidis furrowed her brows and thought of Merilos. "That is a thing that can never be... unless decreed otherwise in another reality?"
Selunae nodded. “So it has always been believed. Their Mistress has found a way to weaken the hold of the three, to...compromise our people, and the sanctity of Imladris and Lorien. Her whispers have found willing ears amongst our people...and gained dark allies who also do not wish to see the dominion of men as was ordained in the song of the Valar. She grows stronger...but hopefully with what occurred today, the nature of the rifts in time can be eased by the Lord Elrond'
Calidis nodded, glancing at Xanderian, who was watching the scholar with a mix of horror and wonder. 'And who is this mistress of The Masked? Does she have no name? Are there any among those who reside here who could do such a thing? Or has she come from outside of this Valley?'
'She is the one who chose...she has come backwards and has found a way to choose both options at once...' Selunae stared at Calidis. “Is it not clear to you, Daughter of Eregion?
Calidis shook her head slowly as Selunae stepped back to see the full company at once for a moment.
Selunae looked at Xanderian, her eyes seeking some awareness…finally whispering. “The Mistress of the Masked....is Xanderian yet to be.”
