Loom or Spear (Fanfic)

Tel'aran'rhiod and Portal Worlds
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Damon
"The Shadow Rising"
Posts: 195
Joined: January 25th, 2017, 5:14 pm

Loom or Spear (Fanfic)

Post by Damon » March 16th, 2017, 3:22 am

Olin 

Olin slept along with the other Soldiers in the dormitory, his roommates absence once again a reminder that the discipline and teachings of the Tower were digested by each student as their own nature dictated. 

But while the others slept and dreamt of chores, sweethearts or glory; Olin Dreamed .

This was different from his forays to Tel'aran'rhiod, for he had not left his own dream tonight in an effort to rest. He was unsure how he knew the difference, only that he did not exercise any control over the dream that unfolded before him tonight. But this dream had a weight to it, as if it demanded he remember and pay attention to it's warning. 

Once again Olin watched as the land below him became wretched and twisted, drained of all vibrancy. Chasms spewed vile gases into the air, and silent wreckage was all that stood of villages. The homes were made in a style unlike anything he had ever seen, but he could not see much details or his attention was drawn to the clashing sound of battle.

As he stood upon a tower made from the bleached out trees and twisted deadfall, Olin was able to see the developing battle below him. 

Giant ants, their carapaces gleaming in the early morning light marched upon the ground in silent ranks that seemed unending. They made no sound, and no matter what the land threw before them they simple overwhelmed it in a tide of pincers and carnage. 

Men charged against them, the champions of the borderland and the elite fighting men of the Grey Tower but even these fighters could not hold off the relentless phalanx for long. Olin tried to scream orders, but each man fought as a champion, a solitary island of courage and skill that ultimately had to fall, and his orders died under the screams and chaos. I don't know what to do, I don't know how to stop this, Olin cursed in his mind. In this dream, Ashaman and Aes Sedai appeared next, their lightning and fire crushing the ants in droves. But unknown to them, Olin could see rot and corruption eroding the ground the chancellery stood upon, until soon Myrddraal had them hemmed in by walls of corpses and crumbling earth.

Turning around, Olin went to call for the reserves when he was suddenly faced with an ornate set of wooden doors. The golden inlay was stylized in an ornate lion, and Olin noticed he was dressed in fine clothing, a gold capped walking stick held in his off hand as he was ushered into the ballroom. 

All around the room couples swarmed in a twirl of finery, while his sharp eyes spotted others enjoying wine and each other's company in the alcoves and balconies. He felt stiff and awkward, unsure as to what the dream was alluding to, but he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. Looking around, he noticed the dress and pins of others from the Grey Tower around the room. As he watched each of the Aes Sedai or Ashaman paired with noblemen and women, earnestly conversing in corners, or cajoling as the individual conversations required. As he climbed the gilded stairs to the balcony over looking the finery, he realized he was seeing more than a ball.

Each Grey Tower delegate began to glow with a shimmering blue or grey aura, their conversations spreading out an ever growing web of shining strands. Each conversation seemed to bind the room together, and as he watched, the web spread as others began to take up the cause. Sudden pools of darkness drew his eye, and he hissed as he saw auras of greed, corruption begun to erode the web. Under the chandelier, the dancers began to spin faster and faster, but still the web could not be spun fast enough to keep the corrosion at bay. And as Olin watched frozen in the manner of a dream, he could see masks peeling back to reveal Myrddraal and others who bore a stain bone deep. Darkfriends hissed Olin in his mind as he saw the creatures striking down ally after ally. Slowly they began to isolate the Grey Tower delegates, but before Olin could aid them the dream shifted once more.

Olin now stood upon a teetering tower of rotten wood, the bitter wind making it sway and creak in the desolation. Before him stood two shining objects of gold, and he hesitated before approaching them. As he watched, he could see the one was a loom, it's wood gilded with gold and blue sapphires. It spun a silver thread that seemed to stretch far into the distance and he knew it was tied to a network of eyes and ears. The second object was a spear, it was also gilded in gold but instead bore emeralds, their color so dark it seemed to drink the light. It radiated strength and command, and he could hear the echoes of war horns and battle near it.

As he stepped forward, the tower suddenly split , each object becoming isolated on a twisted spur of bone bleached wood. Olin knew without stepping that only one spur would bear his weight...

Olin awoke with a burning need to record the dream, terrified that it would fade before he could remember it fully. Caring not for the restriction, he channeled a thread of fire and lit a small candle beside his bed. By the candlelight, he recorded not only the dream, but the meaning he knew lay beneath the symbolism.

"Green or Blue Ajah, neither is enough right now but they are the bulwarks against the Shadow," muttered Olin as he tried to recall everything. "I have to choose, and who in the Light knows what the price of my choice will be, but it's knives and blood down either path," Olin whispered as he wrote in his journal, weariness threatening to overcome him as he recalled the feeling of ceaseless struggle his dream had imparted. But he also knew that he had felt the iron strength in the Grey Tower as well, and that none would shirk the duty.
"Every man is the hero of his own song," Tad Williams.

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