Wake Up the Mountain

"We've got the power,
We are divine.
We have the guts to follow the sign,
Extracting tensions from sources unknown
We are the ones to cover the throne."
--Helloween; Power




The snows had brought in the cold a long time ago for him. Although the skies were clear and the ground was relatively devoid of such snows, Renne walked along the docks and across the lands he knew so well fairly covered every inch in layers of fur. It was cold like this he couldn't tolerate. It was cold like this he despised, reflecting the cold of the world he found himself in.

A breath of wind howled across his cloth-covered face. He heard the sea give a low roar, splashing water onto the frozen dock. He faced the roar of the sea. Above him, the stars shone, indifferent to all that was below them. Around him, the cold quiet of pre-dawn set the stage for his overactive mind. Within him, he felt a pull he hadn't felt in a while. It was a pull he knew well, since before Rhy'Din.

Before Rhy'Din. Before understanding what Humans were. Before knowing what demons were and before his heart had been hardened.

He faced the sea. He faced the wind. He faced the urge that rose within him.

Before Rhy'Din.

Wake Up the Mountain
A Matter of Trust

"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
--Charles Spurgeon




"How did I do this?"

Questions. He liked questions normally, unless they dealt with things he knew were taboo. He sat before the statue he had erected as the ocean wind began to pick up in intensity. Wind threaded through his hair. Spray dampened his face.
Renne walked back in his past, back to the days of Silver. Of Pendrell. Of the kingdom called Evegren. Of the time before he knew definitely what a Human was. It was an age when he knew he could hide his face, protect himself from the sneers and fearful cries of Humans too spoiled to think that anything other than themselves lived. He could shadow about with little notice or care. And he could be accepted, at least on the same level as other sentient life forms.

"How did I do this?"

Walk backwards. Two-thousand-one. Two thousand. Walk backwards. Not human. Manipulate. Hide the face from the fearful. Deceive the deceivers. He walked further back. Nineteen-ninety-nine.

Go back.

Six-two-one-four. The fire world. Warm here. Few people. Solitude.

Go back.

Three-nine-five... No more time. No date. No sentient life. Warm planet. Animal life. Survival.

Go forward.

Nineteen-ninety-nine. Here. Stop. Listen. Touch. How did the face change? Not magic. Strands, threading. Weave the strands. Heart-complex, already gone. Survive. Reveal not the law.

As a heavy rain began to fall, pelting down on him, the sea began to roar. Thunder rumbled in the distance and gusts of wind sent the water freezing in midair. He barely noted the cold for once as it burned his skin to the point of numbness.
The night darkened. The storm grew more violent.

Before him, his statue became a conduit. A silvery web formed in the open carvings of stone, forming into an almost liquid quicksilver of what Renne knew as Time itself. The thing before him roared and seemed to reach out, grasping for his face.
Renne let it come and reflexively held his breath.

The storm calmed.
The night darkened before the dawn.
And Renne stood up.

Exhausted, he leaned on his marble relic and managed a smile out to the indifferent horizon. The face he now wore was not the elongated face of his true appearance.

It was something humanoid yet not and he smiled.