8 Awakening

His entire body burned! It was fire and ice, heaven and hell! Alistair couldn't believe how painful such a small drought of Moonglow was as it burned it's way into his body. In the instant he brought it to his lips and had his first taste of it, he was on the floor rolling in agony. He could feel the liquid coursing through his veins. If anyone were to chance upon him in this moment they would see that indeed his veins were lit up with a blue glow brighter than the basin next to him.

Yet in this moment of pain and agony came extreme clarity, he was able to for just a moment see a glimpse of the future and a small piece of his own past. After the clarity came an even more intense agony. His entire being felt as if he was on fire and with his body seeking someplace cool desperately, he climbed into the basin and dropped into the Moonglow. The moment he dropped into the Moonglow the fire in his body stopped burning and the pain melted away. Alistair opened his eyes and found himself among the stars looking out over the world he lived. Surprisingly he could breath, but wasn't he in the Moonglow? Or perhaps he was in his own mind?

Far out among the stars he could see an angry cloud of purple, roiling and seething in anger or what felt like anger. Purple bolts of lightning streaked across it's body and it was expanding, swallowing up the planets in it's wake. Farther out still on the opposite side of the was a pulsing cloud of green, flowers and plants entwining it, like an embrace more than a constriction. He could feel overwhelming peace and harmony, and it shared it's feelings with him. Looking back out into the world he could see it was on fire. The many continents that dotted its landscape were burning. Willing himself closer, he saw a great host of armies clashing with each other, the ground was painted red in the slaughter. In the center of the field of carnage, he could see a bearded man holding aloft a strange sort of sword. It was green and plants intertwined around the hilt, of which a purple translucent gem embedded at the center was shining. The blade itself was a work of art, many runic symbols were scrawled and inscribed up and down the length of the blade, some were freshly marked and others looked centuries old.

The bearded man made a gesture and lightning rained down upon the opposing army. Looking closer he could see that the other army barely wore any armor and only carried the crudest of weapons into battle. Their eyes glowed a strange purple and they fought with the ferocity of ten men each. Suddenly he was pulled away from his vision and instead found himself in his home village, but it wasn't as he remembered at all. This village was vibrant and the people smiled and greeted each other. He could only tell that it was his home because at the center of the town was a statue made of marble, it looked brand new here, but it depicted the kingdom's two greatest heroes who came to them in their time of need.

"Excuse me," Alistair tried to interact with a guard at the entrance to the village, but the guard paid no mind and continued to have conversation with his fellow. Alistair thought it was weird that there was a guard here, because the last guard in his village died a few years before he was born. Alistair tried to touch his sleeve, but his hand passed right through.

"What?" Alistair was confused, people do not pass through people. He tried to reach out for the guard and passed straight through him, stumbling onto the ground. Except when he hit the ground expecting the dirt to soften the blow, the pain did not come. He got up and there was no dirt on him. He then realized that although the guard was talking to his pal, he could not hear what they were talking about. Any attempt to read their lips was also a failure, for whatever reason when he tried to, their faces and mouths were blurred.

Alistair decided to continue on through the village entrance, and as he was walking he tried to enter a home, only to find he could not open any of the doors. Walking throughout the village he also found he could not enter any of the shops or see what is in them. By the time he made it to the smithy the day seemed to have turned toward evening and then it suddenly darkened. High in the sky a large rock was blotting out the sun and the more he stared at it, the closer it became. It came so close and grew so large that Alistair screamed having thought that he was going to die, crushed by a giant rock. Then it passed over his head. Following it with his eyes, he saw that it was making a beeline for the nearby forest.

"That's the Forest of Scales..." Alistair hurried after it, disappearing into the trees leaving behind the frightened villagers silently screaming in terror in their own little world. He rushed past the trees, before stopping in the same clearing that he started his journey in. Looking around he beheld that it did not look the same at all. There was no silver glow, nor were there any purple mushrooms or strange creatures about. In fact, he noticed that he could see light filtering in through the trees.

"Where am I?" He wondered. He should have taken the Woodsman's advice not to eat or drink anything strange. He slowly moved forward and as he did so, his chest tightened and his heart started pounding. The more he moved the greater it got. The ground shook below his feet as the meteor struck, but he did not notice it. Every step he took was fire and pain, he could barely breath at all.

"It is forbidden young one, every child must make a journey their own." A voice echoed in his ears, it sounded bittersweet? Sad? Melancholy? All he knew is it made him feel grief for this person.

"TAKE NOT ONE STEP FURTHER, IT IS FORBIDDEN," thundered a different voice this time. It was aggression, conquest, courage. He felt all of these and maybe also, a loneliness greater than he ever felt before.

"But why? Why is it forbidden? What is it you don't want me to see?" Alistair questioned these ghost voices even as he moved forward. A blinding flash of light, he was getting closer. If only he could get beyond the copse of trees just ahead, he could finally see what is making him feel all these feelings. Just as he was about to pass the tress into another clearing he heard another voice. Gentle, persuasive, authoritative. It made him feel the way he felt when he was looking at the green cloud among the stars. At peace and in harmony.

"Go back child, it is not yet time for your destiny to reveal itself. Though the way home may be dangerous now, we will give you something with which to protect yourself. Go back, this is not your place, nor your time yet." As if they were magic words, Alistair crumpled to the forest floor and everything faded to black.