Letters to Celestial

Aellian Lerissa recovers from a bitter defeat and rebuilds his life with a crippled mind and body, sending letters to his beloved, of whom he has lost track of.

[aellian]

Dearest Celestial,

The taint left behind by the accursed argons is sickening. And so is the world.

The Valkyon Federation is in shambles. The three main cities have divided into factions and the unity that kept us closely-knit in the face of the alien mostrosities has fallen apart. Everyone’s gone crazy due to these fissures that appeared in space after they took down the Queen. There’s substance in there called Noctenium, dangerous but powerful. Dubious. I have yet to get a hold of a sample, but I’d bet some gold on how it’s some sort of remains left by the Nexus infiltrations.

And Valkyon is as good as disbanded, now that Kaiator, Allemantheia and Velika are at war to get their greedy hands on this Noctenium.

All my life I have been a soldier of the Federation and for the Federation. It is now all but gone.

I’ve been working ever more closely with Thanatyr, now that we found out we studied under the same teacher as youngsters. Master Hellius was quite the arcanist, a sorry loss, one more among the many this war took from us.

We’re researching the taint the argons left behind. Not only on the land but also on our bodies. My wounds took a lot of cyasma, and whatever it is - blood, energy, food - my body doesn’t like it.

We’re trying to find a way of turning things around, to make the taint and the pollution work in our favor. We’re also studying some... subjects and materials I should not refer in letter, should this fall into the wrong hands. 

We are going to step out of the Mysterium, we’re even thinking of... creating an organisation, to deal with these studies away from prying eyes. A place to gather together likeminded people.

We’re delving into darkness here... but anything goes, as long as we reach our conclusions.

As always, I hope somehow this letter reaches you and well.

Yours truly,

Aellian.

[aellian]

Dearest Celestial,

I dreamed of you.

Of your caramel skin sitting under the warm sunlight, and rosy locks dancing to the wind. I kissed your shoulder and it made you smile.

Even if for but a moment, I felt happiness again.

In the end, though, I had to wake up.

Wherever are you?

Always yours,

Aellian.

[aellian]

[aellian]

Letter #3

Dearest Celestial,

Every day I long to see you, you are always on my mind. At this point I’m unsure if these letters reach you, but I can’t simply give up on you.

I’ve begun regaining my memories through intense nightmares, endless nights of sweat, fever and panaceas.

The unguents offer some numbness to the pain and the drugs cloud the mind but I cannot rely on them forever. I need to focus. And to tolerate sobriety, I’ve been keeping busy with the Mysterium. Somehow the parts of my memory pertaining to arcane knowledge remain intact. If at least the same could be said about my body. I’m currently stuck to the lectures and to the company of arcanists and theoreticians, since I can no longer carry myself into the battlefield.

My right leg barely holds under the weight of my step, my lungs need a constant supply of potions and pills and my soul… that one I can’t do much to help it so I hide it under a stoic front, that’s what a soldier does.

I’m crippled. I could  say I’d rather have died but I refuse the thought. I know you wouldn’t want to hear that. You would scold me and with your usual sass, and you would be right. Only the weak give up.

I used to say a dauntless soldier never dies, he lives on even after he departs this world. But what of the soldier that is defeated but lingers still?

This war left a trail of destroyed lives and oblivion in its wake. It wasn’t only me. We’ve all lost something, someone. You too.

Now I should add: a dauntless soldier never surrenders.

The Mysterium may still prove invaluable to my recovery, I refuse to be the retired soldier wounded in battle.

One of the high elves, Thanatyr, led me to a promising lead I wish to explore. We’re gathering people left alone and crippled by the argons. People who lost their place, who lost their family, who lost everything.

I’ll find a cure. I will heal. At the same time I’ll keep looking for you. Next time we meet, I want to be able to walk up to you with a sure step.

Until the day we meet again.

Aellian.

[aellian]

Letter #2

Dearest Celestial,

It's been long since I last saw you, too long, and I must admit the memory of your face seems to escape my grasp every time I try to recall it, ever more so as time goes by.

I was a fool, disappearing from you and everyone, blinded by a fruitless vendetta, condemned to fail from the start. 

I survived, but I did not succeed and my comrades were doomed to a worse fate, though I wonder if death is that bad a company as people claim it to be. Whatever else could have been saved was lost just as well.

I hear someone else took the Queen down, it's too late for regrets now.

Even the Valkyon Federation disbanded, and the people turned against each other, nation against nation.

The world I awoke to couldn't be more upside down, and I am left with nothing to return to, except you. But you... I don't know what has become of you.

I like to believe you don't want me to find you, that you found someone else, that you're happy in some other place or that you just don't want to see me anymore after my absence. I'd rather have any of that than know some misfortune has befallen you. But fates are cruel, and I begin to fear the worst.

I write this unsure of what to say, of what to do with it. I'll send it to the  last place I knew you were at, in hopes it somehow reaches you.

Fates be damned, I don't wish to die before I see your face one more time or catch winds of your whereabouts.

Meanwhile, I live my days without purpose.

I decided to go back to Allemantheia, in an attempt to relive the days of old vigorous idiocy and find whatever has become of my youth, see if the arcane studies lead me to some kind of answer, any would do. 

If this reaches you, know I'll be in the Mysterium. An old elf by the name Hellius will know of me.

I won't let go of your memory, no matter how many times my mind is broken and made a blank sheet of paper. My love for you will never fade as long as this crippled body breathes.

Know this, I'm yours only... and for you only will I keep living.

Till the day we meet again, alive or not.

Aellian.

[aellian]

Letter #1

Dearest Celestial, I woke up in a strange new world and I’m not quite sure what to make of it yet. My memory has been broken and shattered in tiny fragments once again, and I’m struggling to connect the pieces and make any sense of it. The only thing that remains relatively intact is the memory of you, of your touch and your voice. Your love. But your face has been escaping my mind’s eye the more I try to recall it, as if a mirror of water stands between us. I wronged you, I wronged everyone that cared for me by pursuing a meaningless endeavor that ended in naught but utter failure. Forgive me. I hope to see you soon, once more. I’ve begun walking again, when I fully recover I’ll leave Tria and I will look for you.

With love, and hoping this message finds you well. Aellian.

(image credit)

[aellian]

"I never meant to be acclaimed, to be received with a parade and bath in gifts of glory and fame. All I wanted was revenge, raw and true... to strike down and destroy my enemies at their core. To grant my family's memory the closure and justice long due and deserved." - Aellian