Act II, Part II: The Guide

By Antuul Dralosi, Lost Soul

I once again find myself waking up with my head in the pool of water that turns to dust, but this death was a different death. I didn’t make it to the Fortress, but I got close. It wasn’t the storm that got me even though I felt the grit inside of it ripping my exposed flesh; it was those things above. I only saw it for a moment before everything went black again, but it was a massive creature like those old stories about dragons, but it wasn’t a dragon—it was something else. Whatever it was, it was faster than anything I’d ever seen and bigger as well. I’m not even angry about it getting me, I’m just irritated that I was so close to getting something to drink and here I am again in this damned cave. This cave that mocks me with every pool of water that turns to dust when I try to dust. I’m so thirsty. I just want something to drink, but that fortress is my best bet of finding something—there has to be at least one bottle of Quab in there somewhere, there just has to be.

The storm is starting to calm as much as I think it will, but there’s something out there and it’s waiting for me. I can hear its talons clicking against the hard stone ground out there as it paces back and forth. I need a weapon or really anything I can use to defend myself. Maybe there’s a rock? A stick? Something?

Nope. Nothing, there’s nothing in this damn cave I can use to protect myself, so I guess I’ll grab a handful of dust and hope that I can blind whatever it is out there. That’ll be my best chance. I’ll be back shortly, either because I killed it or because I’m waking up in that damn pool again. Here’s to hoping I kill it; I’m not dying again, at least not until I get something to drink.

* * *

I’m not dead, but that thing—that woman—or whatever it was—it just left me more confused than I was before. I’ve never seen anything like it—or her—or whatever I should call it. She was this woman with these bat wings instead of arms and a long, scorpion-esque tail. I can’t really describe it, but it doesn’t matter what she looked like. She told me she was sent to talk to me, to guide me, I guess. She called herself Ustavia and told me that if and only if I learned to see through the Geometries of Oblivion could I truly begin the long road to the next life, but I don’t understand. I can’t understand. See through the Geometries of Oblivion? I’m not some mage or something; the only reason I can even read is because Bravora taught me when we were kids and now I’m suddenly supposed to know how to identify some spatial relationships about things I don’t understand? It doesn’t make sense. It can’t be right. This isn’t what was supposed to happen after I died; I was supposed to stay in that Emptiness I think, but something pulled me out of it and I don’t know why. What reason could some god or daedra or whatever you want to call it have to keep me around after I died? I just don’t get it and now I’m supposed to see through some hidden layers to a place I didn’t even know existed until what feels like a few hours ago? It just doesn’t make sense.

Nothing here makes sense, but I’m trapped here. I’m trapped in this hell and I don’t know how to get out unless I somehow learn Planar Geometry or something like that, but I don’t know how the hell I’m going to pull that off in this cave. You know what? Forget it. That thing—Ustavia—she doesn’t know me. The storm’s dying down enough that maybe I can actually reach the Fortress this time. I’m going to go for it. I’ll write more once I get there.

* * *

Once again, I found myself waking up in the pool of water-dust, but this time I was not alone. Ustavia was sitting across from me with a disapproving frown across her indigo lips. She said nothing as I composed myself after the shock of yet again having been devoured by those things in the sky, but still, I could feel her annoyed judgment on me just as I felt the Council’s judgment in those chambers. She wasn’t amused that I had tried to make a run for it again and that much was obvious, but it still didn’t explain why she cared so much. I did ask her though and she gave me a curt response that raised more questions than it answered: “Because Master Dralosi, the Lady has need of you.” I inquired further, but she would answer no more on the topic.

We sat together in silence for a few minutes. A part of me enjoyed having the company of another person or daedra or whatever it is she is, even if just for a few minutes, but she told me that this would last time we spoke until I chose to see. I don’t know what she expects me to see, but she told me that it will be in this cave that I find the Fortress and in the Fortress that my journey will truly begin. I don’t know what she expects me to find in this cave. It’s not very deep. There’s not a lot I think I can really discern from it to be honest, but she says that the first step lies in balancing what is within and what is without. I just wish I knew what that meant, but she seemed confident that I would figure it out—eventually.

So, I guess now is a good time to start. I’m going to think about this, maybe try that meditation thing that Shakes used to talk about. Who knows, maybe that’s what I need right now. Maybe I just need to clear my mind and trust that things will work out. Maybe.

I’ll write more later, but for now, I need to think. I have a lot to think about.

-Antuul Dralosi, Lost Soul