Chapter Six: Donovan's Dreamscape

Donovan felt a soft breeze blow through and against his mahogany fur, as he slowly awoke from what felt like the biggest hangover he'd ever encountered.

"Oh, Balan's realm..." he moaned. sighing as he sat up slowly. "That...is the biggest headache I've had since I partook in that Weemuskhan's moot in Fortress-upon-Blackrock. Ugh..."

The marten slowly stood. Pacing himself as he walked, he managed to work his way to the doorway where he braced himself against the doorjam and looked beyond the scope of its raw-hewn wooden frame.

The sight...was not what Donovan was expecting, as he saw a landscape of rolling green hills that led to the faces of stony cliffs which jutted upward in the distance. Atop those cliffs, the marten then saw a familiar sight of ancient pine forests. The ancient woods, which then were laced with a pale mist that looked akin to playful spirits dancing about freely.

Donovan blinked unbelieving at this sight. "No..." he whispered. "This is...this can't be...I...I remember I was in Donneystone Parish. How am I..."

"Home?"

Donovan turned sharply as a vaguely familiar, but still never forgotten voice, interrupted his self-doubting thoughts. His eyes widened as he saw the person who spoke was a marten with blue eyes like his own. Her blonde hair, braided and down to her waist, was laced with flowers and stone beads that had been painted in an array of colors. Donovan remembered each one. How he used to help paint them, and how these memories which were flooding back, included his love of that same lilac scent, which this marten was wearing now.

Donovan had to wipe tears from his eye, as he went running up to hug this female marten. "Mother," he exclaimed. "How? I...I don't understand. I don't...I...I thought you were..."

"Deceased?"

Patience Dashraft, Donovan's mother, smiled in that same way she always had. "Mmm...walk with me," she urged Donovan, as the right corner of her mouth lifted with all the softness and delicacy of a down feather. "I would say we have much to talk about," she stated. "If only for the matter, that time is not on our side."

"Time is not..."

"...on our side, yes." Patience reiterated, as she walked with Donovan down the old paths of their island home. "The Originator. Balan, as he is called on the mainland, and all his compatriots and children, have been watching what is going on this day in the land of Mintara. They know what is being planned. They know of Dylan's actions, and what force she has awakened, by reviving the magic of the ancient pacts used by her ermine predecessors."

Patience paused, a fierce wind blowing through her hair, as dark clouds and flashes of purple lightning filled the sky behind her. "Donovan..." she said urgently and firmly. "What Dylan intends to do...it is not only bigoted and insane. The powers which are awakening, which are fed every time she uses her ancestors magic..."

Patience shook her head. "There will be no stopping it, if it fully awakens," she said grimly. "The fool girl has no idea what ancient powers she's messing with. Nor what will happen, if she continues unchecked."

Donovan stepped forward and stood next to his mother. "So how do we keep that from happening?" he asked as he watched the gathering storm at her side. "How do we ensure that this power, whatever it is, doesn't get unleashed due to her unchecked behavior?"

Patience nodded for her son to follow her as she headed back down the hill. "You must learn the history of our people," she stated calmly, as she and her son continued to walk down the paths of their island home. The winds, which blew through the long blonde hair of the elder marten, only seemed to become more erratic and violent as she continued with, "I refer not to the histories that you learned as a youth. The histories of how after this land was afforded to us by Balan, the first families begat a line of descendants, and so on and so forth, until it comes down to the lines of those who are alive today..." Patience paused and shook her head.

"No..." she replied. "You must learn a very specific portion of our history, my son. A portion which few ever talk about and which to many, is a fragment useful only in regard to the study of myths and legends. They...do not take this matter with the same seriousness that I ask you to take it, Donovan. It is important you understand not only about this fragment of our history, but also embracing the lessons which come from it...it is the only way, to defeat Dylan before she unleashes that-which-ought-to-remain-buried. Do you understand?"

Donovan nodded. "I understand, Mother," he replied solemnly. "I may not know entirely what is going on. But, I trust you, and what you say. Where do I go, to learn this buried history? This fragment which our people will not speak of, but which is so essential to foiling Dylan and to denying this dark evil its return?"

Patience sighed as she continued to walk up the road with her son. "We're almost there," was all that she would reply, as they neared the evergreen forest which Donovan had spotted from a distance when he'd first awoke.

"Here," Patience declared, as she stopped at the entrance of the woods. "This...is where I go no further. From this point on, you must continue on your own, if you are to fully comprehend that which it takes to defeat Dylan and those she has allied herself with."

"What!? But...I...I thought...you mean you come back just to guide me to this place, and then you leave again? Just like that?"

Patience shook her head. "No..." she whispered solemnly. "No, not 'just like that,'" she replied consoling, as she leaned in to hug her son. She, then, in a soft but instructive voice, stated, "Donovan, my son. Listen to me. Do not think it brings me any great pleasure to leave you again. Do not think for one second it brought me pleasure the first time. To have to leave the physical world through passing, and to have to watch you and your sister grow up, of whom I am both so proud of, from such a great distance...I feel great joy and great pain, in every moment of my existence. No...I leave because the road you are about to set foot on is not mine, child. It never was. It simply was meant to guide you there and to be a comfort so you would have the courage to set foot on this path, known as the path of the Deicide. A Chosen Champion of Balan's light, who has hailed from our family twelve times over, they have always answered the call when it was given to them. They voluntarily walked into the face of unspeakable darkness for the sake of others. Even and especially, when they knew quite well the sacrifices that might be asked of them. Selfless. Charitable. Self-sacrificing. These are the qualities of the Deicide, my son. The Infinite Ones, Balan and Compatriots...they have decided you are to be the thirteenth Deicide."

"Me!?"

Patience nodded. "I admit, I was surprised as well," she murmured. A peal of thunder then caused her to look over her shoulder for a moment, as it seemed the storm in the distance was growing larger and more ferocious.

Patience again shook her head, as she turned her attention back to Donovan. "I knew after my passing," she continued, "that because the Deicide has always come from Dashraft blood, that one of my children would carry on the lineage. The infinite ones, even made it clear, that they were keeping an eye on both of you, and that it was a unique situation, because while in the beginning Valorisa was their favored, they said you began to show promise after you embarked from Jutfaang and found a name for yourself, on the Mintaran mainland."

"So...why did they choose me then, over my sister?"

Patience shrugged. "They say that things changed," she replied. "That they still have plans for her. Big plans. That in fact, she is still intended to play a very intricate role in this whole ordeal. However, that is not for me or you to know at the moment. All I was instructed, was that I was to be a source of comfort as I prepare you for taking on the mantle of the Deicide."

"Okay..." Donovan shrugged and shivered, as if shaking off all his anxiety. "So...what can I expect in this place then? Do you know?"

Patience slowly shook her head. "I just know the experience is different for every Deicide. Some face puzzles that baffle the mind. Some face great obstacle courses that tax even the most athletic of individuals. Some...face trials which test the spirit itself."

"And which do you think mine will be?"

Patience started to say something, but then closed her mouth and pressed her lips tightly together just before any words were uttered.

Donovan gulped. "Right..." he said, understanding the meaning of this, as he began to cautiously proceed deeper into the woods. "Got to figure this out for myself, right? Okay. This should be fun..."