Even under dire pressure, those who have been choosen to lead must stand fast. For if they fall, so then does the whole of the Four Winds. -- From the Hamtillizan Prophecy he rain fell from the sky in a steady pour, creating a seemingly impenetrable curtain of water. The sun had set an hour past. The rain had taken small village by surprise. The sky had been clear, as the last rays of the sun had finally fallen over the horizon. "Tis an omen," said the old man in the corner of the tavern. "The rain. Tis an omen and a bad one too." "What are you talking about, old man?" A younger man shouted from across the room. "The rain, it is. The rain will bring all of the Black God's Doom on us, tis eve. Tis eve for sure." "Shut that hole of yours, old man!" The younger man shouted. "We need none of your nonsense, this eve. Or any other for that fact." The old man just sat in his corner and grumbled to himself, inaudible. The lightning flashed outside. He nodded to himself. He knew what was coming. He had lived the last time this rain had fallen. He was not surprised that it would fall again in his lifetime. He would not make it through this one he knew, but he would sit here and die like his grandfather had then. "Pah!" The old man whispered to himself. "Let the young one listen not. It will be good for him to learn a thing or two about listening to his father's father and his friends. Tis be the night that he will learn. Tis is." The old man just looked up and motioned the waitress over to him and asked for another glass of mead before he pushed his chair back and lean it against the wall as another clap of thunder filled the small tavern. He knew what was coming and he was not afraid of it. It had scared him once in his life and he was not going to let that happen again. He sighed. He was not sure that he was that keen on the idea after all, but what else was he supposed to do? He looked out he window, nearly covered in with the rain that fell outside. He pulled out his pipe and gosishe and began to pack the leaf into the pipe. Taking a stick out of the box next to the table he lit the pipe and his chair back against the wall again. He pulled on his pipe and the rain came down. The scream was barely heard over the next clap of thunder. The men in the tavern jumped out of their chairs and stood looking at the door. Then another scream came and they were out the door on the run. Their yells were head not long after. The old man just sat where he was and let the screaming continue. There was nothing he could do. He knew that the monster on the other side of that door was looking for him, but he also knew that even if he did go and give himself the thing, which ever of the Spawn it was, would just kill all of the others too and there was nothing he could do about it. He sighed again. He did not know any of these people. They were not his people, and even if they were then there would be nothing left of them by morning. So, he sat and waited. He sat and took another pull of his pipe. The thing came crashing through the door a second later. It knew what it was looking for. The old man. Its red gaze scanned the room and took him in through its huge black eyes. It saw what no other living thing could see. It saw the light that he carried inside him. It turned its great slimy, snake-like body towards the old man, leaving a streak of green ooze in its wake. The woman's face that it held on its head mad the thing all that more grotesque. The old man began to shiver. He knew that there was nothing that he could do to save himself. He also knew that his death would be a painful one. Very painful, if he remembered how the Ouilandz killed its prey. "Are you ready to die, Keeper of Water?" The thing asked in an oozing voice. It sounded as like oil being poured over rocks. "Are you ready to give me what is mine by right?" "Ye will no sooner get the Stone even if I was willing to hand it to ye. Ye know that." The old man said to the creature in front of him. "If you kill me then it will go back to the Watchers and then all will be lost to you." "Not this time, Keeper. We have found a way to keep the Stones out of the hands of the Watchers. We will have what is ours, again." "I am afraid that you are mistaken." The old man was not trying to by him time and he was not getting any. Even as they spoke the creature was advancing on him and he was holding his ground. Running would only make the Ouilandz angrier then it already was. Angry was not a word that the old man would have used to describe what the creature must feel. He, the old man, held inside him the fabled Stone of Water. The creature in front of him was the evil that had tried to keep it out of the Watchers' hands. Evil that was bent on one thing. The destruction of all life in the water and the world. It would not stop until it had the Stone of Water again. "Give me what is mine!" The creature shrieked as it picked up the old man and hurled him across the tavern. The old man it the far wall and slid down it. The slime from the creature's hands began to burn into his sides where the Ouilandz had touched him. The old man screamed as it ate into flesh and deeper. "You will give me what is mine." The Ouilandz whispered evilly as it quickly slithered over to him again and placed its hand on the old man's head. The scream that filled the tavern was one of extreme pain and torture. The slime covered the old man's head and flowed into his eyes. The pain seared all other thoughts from the old man's mind. The pain was all that he could think about, feel, and see. The pain was all that he had left to hold on to and, even though he knew that he would die, his own will to survive would not allow him to die until his mind said he was dead. The creature said something that he could not hear through the pain and its hand clutched his head harder and he could feel the other hand against his stomach. The pain did not seem to increase. The old man could not feel the pain anymore. He could not feel anything but weightlessness. The creature laughed as it feel the life drain from the old man. It was sure that he would give up the stone and it could destroy the world. It was laughing so hard that it almost missed the spirit that was leaving the old man's body. By the time that it saw the spirit it was too late. It howled as the spirit slipped again and again through its fingers, the Ouilandz's slime not effecting the soul at all. In the very center of the soul was the prize that the Ouilandz sought and it could not pull that from the retreating spirit either. It howled again as the old man's spirit lifted through the rafters of the tavern and up through the rain. The old man's began to take on a soft halo of blue. Slowly, four other souls lifted into the night, each surrounded by its own halo of its own color. The old man's soul counted the colors and the souls that rose with his. Red, Green, Lavender, and White were all present. The Guhls did not miss any of them this time. They had missed him and Fire last time. But the others had had visited the Watchers and their charges given to others. The Keeper of Water looked out over the ground of where his body lay. The entire village was in flames. The Ouilandz was still taking souls, though those did not rise. The Keeper of Water turned his gaze to the heavens. He knew what he was looking for. This was the last thing that he would do for the Watchers. This was the last, and most crucial part. If he missed the window that would take him to the Watchers then the Stone of Water would go back to the ocean where it was found, and the Ouilandz would know it and would be back to the ocean to retrieve it before the Watchers knew anything about it. The thing would still win. "How are you, Water, old friend?" The Keeper of Fire spoke. He was no closer than he had been before but this was a link that they had always shared. "Dead, Fire. As is Earth, Air, and Spirit." The Keeper of Water chuckled dryly. "I am sorry for all of this, you three youngsters." He said to the others. "Think nothing of it, Water." The Keeper of Spirit said. "We knew the risks when we accepted the Stones in the first place. I was not expecting them to attack this soon though. Life is life and death is death. I only hope that I am called on again in my next life, if I am needed." The girl was a young one. No older than twenty, but she spoke like a true Keeper. She must have worked hard to keep her Stone out of the hands of those who were after it. She might still be alive had not Drake came for her himself. The Keeper of Air was also a young girl. This one of only sixteen or so. It was a shame that the Watchers had chosen her. The Keeper of Water had known it the second she had accepted the Stone. She was only fourteen then. The Keeper of Earth looked sullen but as he looked down at his middle at the small knot of glowing green and smiled to himself. He knew that he had done what he was supposed to do. The Stone of Earth was safe for now. The young man looked heavenward and pointed. "I see it. Above you, Air." The deep baritone was becoming of the man. "I see it too." Air returned. Her high lilt told Water that she was from the mountains in the north. "Thank you, Earth." The Keeper's eyes had all locked on the window. A glowing square in the sky above them, the five colors bordering it. Water soared to it and through. Everything went dark. * * * ake, our Children. You are not permitted rest before your next cycle just yet." The Keeper of Water awoke floating in air. The other Keepers were coming to again as well they floated around a circle of light. Inside the light stood five people. Three were women and two men. They talked in unison and the melody was almost painful in its beauty. "You all have done well in your Quest. We are most pleased. But there is yet one task that all of you must do. We have to ask you to be reborn now." The Keepers looked at them as if they had asked them to go into oblivion instead of rebirth. "But what of rest?" Water asked. "I have not been rested in a long time, Watchers of Life. I need rest." "We know that what we ask of you is difficult. We give reasons if you are willing to hear." The Watchers waited until they had the accent of all the Keepers. "The Chosen have been born. That is why Gildeu, galicc of Fire, Mortfulge, tricoveff of Earth, Ouilandz, Ouilandz of Water, Frennd, avis of Air, and Drake, worme of Spirit all came for you tonight. The Chosen were born and you were not to die." "How are we to go back?" Spirit inquired. "As children? If we go back now it will be with all of the memories that we now hold, including the memory of death." "We know this, dear Spirit." The Watchers all looked at her. "We only ask. You may refuse as you may have done in the past choices. We only work the will of the Guardians. We do not force others to. Force is the evil that we are fighting." The keepers looked around at each other. This was not a choice any one of them would make alone. They knew that if one went they all would. That was the pact that was made long ago between them. One does it, all do it. Water looked at Spirit. She was young but she would be the one to choose for them. That had been the way in life and the others did not seem to think that it should change in death either. Spirit looked at all of them in turn. She knew what she would do. She was almost as sure as to what the others would do in her place. "I will protect the Stone with the very life I breathe. Now and into death I swear this." She said at last. "I am sure that my task was not finished upon my death until I was told that it was. At this point I have not been told that it was. I will go." "I will go." Earth answered quickly. "I will go." Water said with fatigue in his voice. "I will go." Air chimed in, her lilt shaky. "I will go." Fire said. "I wish all of you well in your keeping." "This is your new task," the Watchers said. "You will be reborn when we have finished giving you your instructions. From the moment that you are able you must seek out the Chosen and give them the Stones. Be careful. There are those who do not wish the Stones to be given to the Chosen. Choose wisely when you give the stone. Give it to the wrong person and we will be seeing you again with out the stone to give to another this time. Do you accept your tasks?" The Keeper of Water spoke the word yes and all went dark. His last thought was, "I will remember all of this. I am not supposed to, but I will. I will know the second that I am born again." Dark filled his world. He was unsure how long it stayed dark. He was not even aware that time was passing at all. He only knew the darkness and the warmth. The warmth that was his mother's womb. He knew that. Then light filled his vision and he wailed. And he remembered. And in remembering he heard the sound of a heavy rain and he knew where he was reborn to. Then he heard the crash and knew all too well. He only hoped that his childhood innocence would keep him alive this time long enough to get his new task done. ^_^ TBC ^_^