Something had definitely changed about him. He was still as loving around her but ... there was a darker edge now to his eyes when he looked elsewhere.

He'd spent time throughout the day poring over tomes to bring back to her place, but he wouldn't bring all he'd found simply because... he was hesitant to use Pathfinder. It called to him, seeming... eager. Too eager, perhaps.

He spent the remainder of the day trucking back and forth between her shop, careful not to disrupt business each time and taking time in each return to breeze through and even finding her busy, perhaps saying nothing but brushing his hand across hers, semi lacing his fingers and tickling the tips of them across her palm; the one thing that could generate a more light hearted demeanor from him in his journeying.

Her shop, Teas & Tomes, and the Mage House at Bristle Crios made the circuit he followed throughout the day, cursing to himself at the amount of texts he was at a loss to understand, especially by that one which was apparently written in a familiar hand... his. But a totally foreign language.

As the days forays grew longer, he was becoming all the more disgruntled at the hour it seemed he might return to her that they may speak ... and perhaps, and hopefully, share the comfort of each others arms.

The one tome that he did leave open and study between his comings and goings was penned by one Atticus Kiergaard D'Arcstorm, and was possessed of a night blue binding with a strange rune on the cover which at times was reminiscent of the runes denoted subsurface of his Myriae.

He cursed himself silently, the desire to draw on Pathfinder becoming even more as he realized how long he was taking ... the day to day runaround causing his usual ability to appear from one place to another to grind to almost a halt. And beware those who were interrupting him today, as without her presence, his patience grew thin.

On the Nature of Hosts and Realities

This could be hard to follow for the lay people, but nevertheless, I shall attempt it.

For each different choice that can be made from the origin of time unto the very moment we stand in, there is a different existence. Simple enough in eloquence perhaps, but complex beyond reason in fact.

If that is not hard enough, picture if you will, in each of those infinite realities a common thread existing through half of them ? and that is a true approximation, as you?ll see. Those common threads are the lives of the Hosts. Imagine if you will, your own life?s thread ? in half the possible realities you exist in some fashion, and in half you don?t.

This I grant is a grand oversimplification, but due to the large numbers involved, I would rather relay something correct in concept, and incorrect in figures, than the opposite.

I digress ? through each reality there are certain threads which are, and please understand that I hesitate to use the word for it may very well be incorrect, pre-ordained to serve as Hosts. Although I am in fact a Host myself, being joined to Bluefire, I can grant no other insight as to how a Host may be chosen as the knowledge must be Found, sought after if you will, and I have not yet breached a level of completeness to prior musings, before turning down that particular path?

Suffice to say, as I understand it; as I am a Host to Bluefire in this reality, so have all other realities been the same ? that is to say, all ? and it nauseates me to refer to them as such, but, duplicates of me across the multiverse have also been Host to Bluefire. Or at least, there were no other Hosts which Bluefire could bond to. Each Host & Myriad have a unique bond ? unique as the abilities and insight into self that each of them grants.


A Note on Myraic Functions

After thorough self experiment and study, I can safely say that in fact Myriae have at least three distinct goals, which may also be called functions:

1. The promotion of the affinity to which each Myriad is uniquely tuned, that is to say, for example, that Bluefire is tuned to Artifice ? and even now I can see it?s light powering behind the eyes of the Shining Hosts. For Justice, it may be a weapon of singular might, or other tool to achieve that end; Nox perhaps enhances Darkness or grants abilities most normally associated to beings of the Night ? there is no perfect answer to me in these last theories because again, the relationship between each Host and Myriad ? and Emissary ? is unique.

2. As a receptacle for an Emissary. This may sound perhaps more threatening than it is, as I have been able to refine my own definition of an Emissary ? or Dragon, as they are sometimes being called now in the Alluvian parlance ? as this: the essence of some primordial ideal or design, made manifest through the Myriad as a physical avatar of itself, and the will and self awareness of the Host who in some way must exemplify those traits.

3. As a repository for the memories and emotions, to at least some degree, of previous Hosts. This concept is perhaps a bit trickier than most, as I am of some certainty that a fair number of Myriae have never been Hosted; while all Myriae have Hosts throughout all realities, it is not necessarily true that all were joined. Those that were on some level enjoy at least a vague sense of? d?j? vu at times, which seems to strongly depend upon the strength of personality of their former self who was acting as a Host. Yes, I grant you this is convoluted, but sound.



As a final note to this particular area, I must stress that any mention of ?Dragon? that I have made, or will in future make refers to Dragons in the Alluvian sense; that is to say that Dragons exist as the pinnacle of existence in terms of potential of power, knowledge, and wisdom. This term is at times used synonymously with Emissary, I realize, and can be confusing ? Dragon is a term more often used once the Emissary has entered the Host. Coupled with the fact that apparently other worlds term Dragon describes what we on Alluvius term as Wyrms ? essentially intelligent, by times large, flying reptiles who possess heightened arcane abilities innately.