Corillis (flashback)~

The two boys weaved in and out of the evergreen grove, laughing as they chased each other through the fields. Corilis heard the rustling of the grass behind him suddenly cease, and turned around to find that Stian had stopped in his tracks.

"What, tired already?" Corilis asked with a smirk.

"I heard mother calling."

Corilis listened, and indeed he heard the faint sound of his mother's sweet voice drifting on the breeze. 

"Last one there's an old worm!" Corilis hollered suddenly, before dashing off and ramming his younger brother playfully with a passing shoulder.

"Hey, no fair!" Stian whined, but Corilis was already halfway to the village.

Audhild Asterlon sat in a chair, working on a tapestry. Her husband Hans was finishing bargaining negotiations with a passing trade vessel, and distributing various imported goods to a small crowd of peasants that surrounded him and the pilot. He had not much to give in return. The village was already poor, and the crops were not good this year. But they had been let off with a warning. This time, at least. 

"So what did you want?" Corilis asked his mother excitedly, running up to her chair. "Are we having soup for dinner?"

"Not quite," Audhild said with a knowing smile, not taking her eyes off her work. 

"Ah, Corilis! The man of the hour!" Hans had finished talking with the pilot and strode over to his son. He was holding something, a small package, in his strong hands. "I have something for you."

Corilis's eyes lit up. "But- my birthday's not for a month!" he cried in delight.

Hans knelt down and held out the package. "I know."

Corilis looked from Hans to the package and back again several times, not sure if he should take it. Finally, he gave into his curiosity, snatching it out of his father's hands and hurridley unwrapping it. In hid hands lay a chocolate-brown scabbard, inscribed with text of an ancient language.

"Wow!" said Corilis. "...What is it?" 

"You have to take it out of its scabbard, my boy. Here-"

Hans gripped the scabbard and slid it off, revealing a silver blade that glinted in the sun and a hilt that was carved to appear as if a serpent was wrapped around it.

"Noventian steel," the man said. "Mined from the iron of Wildersky. Now you can protect us." Corilis' eyes got wide for a few moments, and he then showered his father with 'thank you's. Hans grinned warmly and ruffled the boy's midnight hair.

Corilis swung the dagger around, almost a shortsword in his small arms. "Yeah!" he yelled. "I'm a warrior!" the boy then proceeded to scamper down the road, swinging the dagger around whilst eliciting disgruntled yelps from passing villagers, then deciding to chase his brother with it, who had just now caught up with him.

"Hans!" Audhild chided. "He's going to get someone hurt!"

"Let the boy have his fun," Hans replied with a chuckle. "Who knows, he might learn a thing or two."

Corilis (present)~ 

The funeral was nothing special.

Hyeweathre, some of the Masters, and a student or two said a few words about Galligan, what he had done for them, how they had met him. I watched from a distance, leaning on my crutch. At one point, Terrence was asked to say a few words. He declined. I was not asked. The whole thing seemed insincere, almost a sham. Well, how could it not? So few people knew the truth about the man.

Then there was drinking. More drinking. The very thing they had been doing last night. It seemed utterly disrespectful, as if people had already forgotten about him. And to make things even worse, the Noventians, who had still not left, joined in. Who would've thought? The very people who had driven Galligan to his death, present at his funeral?

I didn't say around for any longer than was needed to show my respect. As I was heading back to my room in Castle Amberdew, Hyeweathre stopped me.

"There you are," she said. She sounded rushed. "So, did you decide yet?"

"Decide...?" I responded wearily.

Hyewathre rolled her eyes impatiently. "The Heart! Its new home! It needs a new home, I thought I told you that!"

"That you did."

"Well, then perhaps I was not terribly clear about it. You see, Asterlon, the Heart alone is not enough to bond itself with its master. It needs a vessel to bridge the gap between the two entities. Something the master is already attatched to, emotionally. It is like the soil. If a flower is removed from its soil, it will be able to survive for a short time. But if it does not find more soil, it will die. Galligan had his cane, and now you must offer something."

"So the Heart is a flower."

"Don't get smart with me. Have you decided or not?"

My eyes automatically traveled to the scabbard on my hip. I certainly had an... emotional attatchment to the dagger, so it seemed to meet the Heart's requirements. I supposed that embellishing it with a small gem would not be the end of the world.

The dean saw me glance at it. "Your weapon." 

I nodded.

"Well, we're going to need a blacksmith for that. Melt it down, set it in the handle."

"Melt it?"

"Why, of course. The Heart has been melted down and reshaped countless times."

Well, that explained why it was so smooth. But it still seemed a bit wrong, to melt and reshape such an ancient and arcane thing. I had to remind myself that I was its master, not the other way around. 

"So. A blacksmith. Any good ones near here?" I asked half-heartedly, although I knew the answer was no. Melee weapons had never been Spark's specialty.

The dean shookn her head. "Not in Spark, no. But I know a place." 

I wouldn't normally double-post, but since I already had these ideas in my head, and it's been a couple of days, I might as well. Also, I hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

~~~ 

Corilis~

"With the way things are looking, we should be able to repair a good half-dozen Noventian ships," Hyeweathre said as we walked. "If we can finally get that good-for-nothing Lieutanent Amadeo to leave, it will be more than enough for him and the remaining soldiers. In the meantime, I've sent a messanger to Jetsam to alert the Reavers it is safe to return. Once they arrive I will see you safely onto one of their ships."

"M-me?" I stumbled over my words as I simultaneously stumbeld over a rock and almost dropped my crutches.

Hyeweathre peered at me with mild distaste. "Yes. You. That blacksmith I mentioned... lives in Jetsam. Goes by the name of Omen. He usually forges bullet shells and blaster parts, but I'm sure he'd be willing to accept a more... archaic assignment. For the right price, of course. If Terrence agrees to escort you, it would be rather convinient for everyone."

I hadn't really considered yet the implications of leaving Spark, the city that had been my home for so many years. I half considered bailing, but that was stupid. There was nowhere to run. I'd have to leave the ground one way or another, and if it wasn't going to be in shameful escape, it was going to be for my responsibility. The responsibility I didn't particularly want, but had all the same.

"If all goes as scheduled, the Reavers should be here tommorow morning," Hyeweathre told me as we stopped outside the medical ward. "I'll leave you alone for now. Give you some time to rest. Prepare. But don't get too comfortable. You won't be here much longer, after all."

"What about my leg?" I asked as she walked away.

The dean turned around. "The Heart will not wait for a human bone to heal." 

I hobbled into the castle, going extra slowly to look at the walls, the arches, the stained-glass windows. I had passed by them so many times, but only now, when I was about to part ways with them for who knows how long, did I notice their beauty.

I came to my room and opened the door. For a moment, my stomach dropped in panic when I did not see the Heart on my nightstand, where I had left it. The moment passed when I found it on the floor in front of the doorjam. Strange. It must have rollen off the nightstand somehow. As I reached down to pick it up, my hand faltered when I remembered what had happened the last time I had touched it.

If I'm gonna do this thing I can't be afraid of a rock. No fear.

I took a deep breath and picked it up, and suddenly I was back at the dark lake.

I felt myself there. I felt my own presence. But when i looked at my hands I found that I had no hands, nor any part of my previously existing body. I was just there. And then the spectre by the lake turned around at me and looked at me with its empty, shadowy face and unblinking eyes of cold, scintillating light.

I was not scared this time. The vision did not waver and I did not run.

The figure spoke.

Come clossser, skydweller.

The voice was clearly feminine, sounding like that of a middle aged woman's. But at the same time it didn't, sounding warped and twisted and not of this era.

Who are you? I heard myself ask.

I am the world.

What is your name?

Something far too old for you to know. Something far more terrible than you can imagine.

What do you want from me?

I want from you the same thing I've wanted from every fool who has ever wielded this miserable pebble. They would never lisssten... they died before they got anywhere. But you... you are different. You are young. You are strong. Your mind is unclouded. You can be the one to finally avenge me.

Who do you want revenge on?

My brothersss.

What did your brothers do to you?

They locked me up. Locked me up because they were scared of me. But it didn't work.

Didn't work.

Didn't work.

The clock went tick tock and everything went up and up and it was too late.

I felt the figure's presence move closer to me.

The old clock still ticks, skydweller. And when it reaches midnight your petty kingdoms will meet their fate in the eyes of the gods. And I will be

there

among

them.

And then I was back in my bedroom. 

Ok, I think we need to get all (or most) of the characters in Spark onto one ship just so we can have them be in the same place and interact with each other. Also, @Danie, forget what I said about Iesha's dad being the person who saved young Corilis' life, I just had a much better idea of who that should be.

~~~

Corilis~

The next morning, my leg was better.

No, I don't mean "it felt better", I mean it was completely healed. I discovered this when I accidently dropped my knife onto my shin (hilt-side down, thankfully), and it only hurt a little bit. I removed my cast and stared dumbfoundedly at my unblemished skin. I knew that magic had been used, but still, how could a broken bone heal this fast?

My old clothes, patched up, were folded at the foot of my bed. I quickly changed into them, and then, still a bit haltingly, grabbed the Heart which rested once again on my nightstand. This time, nothing happened when I touched it. Also strange. But I didn't have time to ponder over these things. I put the stone into my pocket and headed out.

The deathly post-battle silence of the last couple days was gone, now replaced by the steady hum of airship engines. The Reaver ships, well, the ones that had escaped the pulse in time, were back, and were sharing the docks with a few repaired Noventian ships. It looked a bit funny, the two armies that had recently been blasting each other to kingdom come, now parked side by side.

I made my way down the hill, my boots crunching through a thin layer of fresh snow. Nearing the docks, I approached a group of Noventian soldiers, wrapped in skins and clearly not used to the cold. Except for one, that is. The Lietenant himself. As I neared him, he looked down at me with a sinister, almost forboding smile that sent shivers down my spine. I hurried past him.

Dean Hyeweathre was standing by the docks, and did a double take when she saw me striding briskly toward her.  "Your leg!" she exclaimed. She wasn't easily surprised.

"Yeah," I said. "It just... kind of got better." I looked around, surprised to see the docks crowded with people, and many, most of them peasants, boarding the Reaver ships, I think it was best not to let the Noventians know that these very ships were probably still planning to invade their city.

"What're all these people doing?" I asked.

"The Reavers agreed to take as many people to Jetsam as their ships could hold. Some have family there, and want to show them they're not dead. Some are what I suppose we would call refugees at this point. And some are just scared. Want to get away from where they think the conflict is." The Dean looked toward me, eyeing me up and down. The only items I had on me were my dagger and the Heart.

"Is this all your taking?" she asked.

"I've got nothing else left to lose," I responded dryly. "Nothing but my home and the clothes on my back."

"Well, let's be thankful you're only losing one of those things," she said jokingly. I remained stone-faced.

"Asterlon, listen," Hyeweathre said, more gently. "I know I've been rough on you these years, especially considering you never attended the school. But I just want you to know that there are many things we would not have been able to achieve were it not for your skills. You may not have been a student, but you're a very decent citizen of Spark."

"Thanks," I said, my words coming out as insincere. In actuality, I really appreicated the compliment, and almost teared up. "And... you're a very decent Dean."

"That's Headmistress to you."

"Whaaat? Since when?"

"Since last night. The council of Masters decided I was the most fit for the position."

"Wow. Congratulations."

"Thank you." Hyeweathre actually smiled, an even rarer sight than solar esclipses and gryphons flying at dawn. "Now you should probably take advantage of this time. Not every keeper of the Heart has an oppurtunity to say goodbye to his friends, you know." 

I took her advice, going around town and saying my farewells to any people I cared about. There were a lot of them. I was a bit of a celebrity here, even before the whole Heart business. Then, I saw someone, wearing a large, face-obscuring hood, leaning against a house. I cocked my head to the side to get a look at their face, and saw that it was the man I had helped up the mountain the other night. Orson, I think he was called. I walked up to him.

"Hey, Orson."

He jumped when he heard his name, clealry not expecting recognition. But when he saw it was me, he relaxed a little. "Uh... hi."

"So, where will you be going?"

"I... don't really have anywhere to go. My, uh, village got..." he trailed off.

I considered this. "Well... why don't you come with me?"

@Doctor Who, is okay with you if Evelyn and Eliza join the Reavers?