Avarice Desperation Valley

The Players of the Game

The inky black waters lapped at the alabaster marble, its milky beauty set starkly against the dark brooding rock. The sky above held no shining pinpoints of stars, it was just one continuous sheet of black velvet. There was no moon or sun here just a continuum of vaguely emanating tungsten light that radiated from the abundance of phosphorescent fungi, all bluish in hue. The predominant element in this twilight world water; ever hungry with the slow passage of time, set in silent determination to consume all. For many eons this insular world remained free of change and strife, its inhabitants grown listless and uncaring with the passing of centuries.

However its parallel world of humankind ruled by fire had suffered many upheavals in its long and violent history. For centuries they had sat, these self absorbed narcissistic beings, rarely bothering to even glimpse those above. Though at times their interest was piqued enough that with the correct magics they might go and sow the seeds of mischief amongst humankind. Humans, delicate, savage, unpredictable and their lives lived in but a fleeting moment. To the inhabitants of this dark, slow progressive world, humans could be naught more than mere trifles, or prove deliciously fascinating for a time. Many of their number had at intervals toyed with them with impunity and great joy.

A statuesque woman walked down the ivory colonnade in the diffuse steely light in this world that never saw the sunlight’s caress, or the change of seasons. With barely a sound to make anyone aware of her passing. All that could be distinguished was the subtle hiss of her ebon silk robes as she glided through what would seem to most human eyes a monochromatic world. Her skin was the palest white, and so delicate if one was to stop and look, and not be captivated by her beauty they would clearly see the blue of her veins beneath her perfect skin. Her blue black hair was glossy and straight cascading over her back, its length so great it almost kissed the ground. Her long neck was adorned with multitudes of indescribable stones of no earthly persuasion, embedded in a black metal.

“May I walk with you?” A resonant voice inquired. She simply inclined her head toward the source of the voice in answer, aristocratic elegance in her every move that did not veil her power of seduction. An equally beautiful man dressed in close fitting black garments with a simple silver diadem adorning his dark tresses emerged from the shadows to walk by her side.

“You cheated Sheharizade.” He accused. She smiled and looked demurely at him from the corner of her eye. “No matter.” He continued. “I sense we have been somewhat lax with our charges. Perhaps we should have interfered earlier?”
“Quite possibly.” She purred. “So you forgive me?”
“How could I not?”
“I am most glad as I must defer to you my King. It is not in my nature to disappoint.” Her sensuous lips curved in a salacious smile, yet she made no gesture of sub ordinance.
“There are two more left to discover the truth of who they are.”
“Yesssss.” She said with relish, her dark eyes so very much alive with mischief. “Though you forget the chosen of he who was banished?”

Her male companion sighed. “Ah my beautiful Sheharizade I do not believe he has any bearing on our current concerns. That matter of the exiled Valefor and his progeny was dealt with many years ago.” He paused and she did also, he touched her lightly on the arm. “You do not understand the importance of this my dear Sheharizade, this is no longer a game. Humankind may be to you as inconsequential as ants, but they have with their violent pastimes begun to shatter the fabric of our beloved Nethrizil. Even here you can see the damage quite plainly.” His fine brow furrowed with concern as he cast his dark eyes to the inky waters, noting they had risen markedly in a very short space of time. “This threatens our world as never before.”

The beautiful woman waved his words aside flippantly with a gesture of her long ivory hand adorned with jewels of jet. “You are afraid my son will win are you not? You merely jest at the humans power?”
“Sadly I do not.” Her male companion sighed. “This is not about your beloved son Sheharizade. He should never have been raised here, he alone remembers and knows who we are.” The beautiful, dark woman pulled herself up to her full height stepping back, her usually serene visage impassioned.
“You are the only one Xonereth who spurns me for it, why will you not let it go? Yes, you rule here, you are the appointed King and defer to you I must, but my child brought light and hope in the few short years he remained here. There has not been a living child born to us in years! All this power we have, and yet this simple thing is denied us.” Her usual impassive beauty giving way to black tears that stained her white cheeks.

“Do not let it consume you. Sentimentality is for weaklings!’ He retorted strongly. “We will soon take care of that Sheharizade, the chosen shall return to us and we shall grow vital again.” He hissed, his white features hard as stone, his eyes radiating blackness as he stared at her. Graceful and proud of carriage as she was she shrunk from him. “Perhaps if you had noticed the fertility of humankind does not fare much better?”
“They did it to themselves.” She scoffed.
“That may be true, but their actions are beginning to affect us also. Powerful as we are, we can no longer afford to shelter behind our arrogance.”

*****

Selene stood in the high vaulted cavern her strong voice intoning the words in a tongue none living of this earth could interpret. The carvings cleft in the white stone glowed and pulsated with her utterance. She took one measured step at a time toward the still pool as she recited the words of power, her eyes closed. She stopped, her petite toes touching the cold water’s edge and dived beneath its surface shattering its reflective qualities.

Through the portal of gunmetal blue the jet black equine thundered, its great hooves striking sparks of blue from the shining black stone, full mane and tail flying wild. Sheharizade and Xonereth paused in their heated exchange, as the magnificent beast closed the gap toward the two who stood aesthetic and ageless.

Thus interrupted by the strident approach of clattering hooves they turned and stood, appearing as beautiful marble statues clad in black. The ebon horse approached with great speed, the mare’s blue black coat shone even in the absence of light. Feathered hooves sliding on the white marble of the colonnade. To ease its wildly careening passage on the slippery marble path the horse shimmered before the watchers eyes, and in the passage of a few fleeting seconds its transformation was complete. The heavy hoof falls became a light tapping of claws, and in a few short seconds the powerful horse had now become a shaggy ebon dog.

“Ah Selene, you bring us news?” The hound stopped abruptly at the man’s feet and just as swiftly donned her human form. She stood clad in only her long snake like tresses before them, but she seemed to not care. The act of transformation demanded such nakedness, and as with all nature’s creations she was at one with herself. Devoid of human shame. Though beautiful by human standards Selene paled into insignificance in the company of the two tall beings who stood side by side on the colonnade, appraising her with their dark eyes. She curtsied deeply inclining her head in a gesture of respect and awe. She was their servant, their channel through the portal of this world, their eyes to a place they could not traverse without peril, or significant cost.

Selene did not answer in words, she merely closed her dark eyes, for her mind and the things she witnessed above were to these superior beings as the open pages of a book. She shared all, the blight, destruction, the hate and despair that raged unabated above, no longer benign, but out of control. The proud Sheharizade and Xonereth communed with their lycropanthic messenger in silence, the exchange brief. The two usually very indifferent beings looked at one another sharply. Xonereth inclined his crowned head in the vaguest gesture of dismissal to his messenger, and in the blink of an eye Selene had retreated into the umbral dark.

“As you can see my dear Sheharizade, it is indeed as I feared... Much worse than we had previously thought.” She merely nodded, her face betraying little sentiment as he took her slender white hand in his. “Come. We can no longer afford to merely sit and watch idly by as we have done for centuries. Short lived and fragile humans might be, but most accomplished at the art of self destruction nonetheless.”

She gazed at him but did not respond, her earlier playfulness quite gone. Was it sadness or resignation that crossed her vastly unreadable features? One could not tell. “They have no concept of that which they do.” He sighed wistfully. The two turned in silent unison, departing in an almost inaudible rustle of velvet and silk, to vanish from sight at the head of the shadowed, milky colonnade.