Fatima's Diary

reflections for the lost

52. Trust Nothing

Our fey guide met us just within the confines of the demonic black dome that had caught Lyrenn like a dice under a child's shell game. I watched him wink at us all, but it was to me only he shared a secret smile. He explained that Arawn abandoned his possession of Muldavious right as we were to slay his host. It was to Lyrenn that he fled, and where he completely dominated a comparatively weak-willed Baraven, the last of the Abrantier blood.

Tolmadrin's words echoed in my mind, describing in his slow drawl the monsters that stumbled and roared from the black dome that had stolen Lyrenn, how when they were slain by his guardsmen, they ceased being monsters and became their fellow citizens. His battle to contain the twisted townsfolk without slaying them was slowly losing. Now we knew who was responsible for this black magical shell around Lyrenn, and the horrible twisting of its townsfolk. We were to hunt and destroy a false god.

As our fey guide Patrick closed his interview with us, within the grey swirling mists he shared a secret smile with me alone, he spoke the same words he once relayed to me over a year ago, "Beware your senses, trust nothing at all; reality is thin fabric, and here it is thinnest of all. Beware, beware, beware, trust only that you are certain is real, and only then if you are really sure." If I wasn't sure he was fey, I would almost trust our little guide.

His words would come to save me an hour into the city. Through the mists we traveled and fought, smiting Red Cap and Boggart, sprite and spriggan. It was in the streets that I almost left the Mortal World. What was once cobblestone became sandy water, and down, down, down and through I sank. I could feel the murky grit soak and fill my lungs, and all thought of training left me. My muscles cried out for perfect breath, and I tried to claw my way back to the street level, but my boots, my beautiful wings, even my clothes conspired against me and snagged and weighed on me. Deeper I sank into blackness as my mind struggled for perfect breath. I found a black place within my mind; a corner where stillness reigned. I looked at myself in the still pool and I saw a perfect reflection of me. It spoke words of warning, heard somewhere before, trust nothing at all; reality is a thin fabric, and here it is thinnest of all...