Chapter 6 - Abelard - A Helping Hand

The day had been a frenetic one. Corrupted energies, Clockworks, Aberrations, nearly losing Buskin to a mechanical whirlpool of blades. They were alive, but barely, and seemingly by luck alone. It had not been their finest hour. Abelard knew, full well, that if it had not been for the selfless heroics of Buskin’s childhood friend Umfrey, and his unstoppable daughter, Busy, they would have perished in that conveyor belt room. Now night found them, bloodied and beaten, hiding in a supply closet. Around them, what passed for stillness within this Clockwork Cosmotorium. Incessant humming. Whirs, Clicks, and a never ending cacophony of maniacal metallic machinery. Even locked away, safely, within their secured room, the surrounding feeling of menace, purposeful menace, was palpable. And it never went away.

That night, after the others fell asleep and Abelard had the watch, he glared, furiously, at the shadows around him, still unable to bring himself back to center from the trauma of feeling futile and watching these people he has allowed himself to care for be dragged away to seeming certain doom.

"I failed. I was not enough. Not nearly enough. I could have lost it all... AGAIN!"

He stopped just short of throwing his shield against the wall and waking everyone. "I need more.”, he called to the shadows, to his Patron. “There has to be a way to get more! I can’t protect them from this... If I can’t even protect us from this.... How can I ever take on a Giant? How can I ever get my vengeance?"

Within the darkness of the enclosed metal room of the Clockwork Cosmotorium's base, as his companions slept, Abelard wrestled with his shadows. As he remembered the sight of his companions being carried off towards the crystal-grinding pits, Abelard couldn’t help but have his memories triggered of other loved ones perishing around him while he was helpless to act. The fury and anguish welled up in him, to the point where he shook with rage, and screamed, silently, into the night.

And the night answered.

"Oh, small one. We've barely just met, and already you are assking for more? You must forgive me, I forget how quickly your lives flicker by. But I do savor the passion and ambition such deadlines give you. It... reminds me that once I, too, was in a more vivid place. Take this morsel of my power, then. Become accustomed to it. I would not see you burst from too much at once."

Abelard felt a tingling rush like the spattering of icy sleet on his bare skin, as a surge of frigid energy, like cold water, flowed through his veins. Dimly, with senses he did not even know he possessed, Abelard could feel the link, the tether that bound him to his unknown Patron, grow thicker, stronger. The power, pulsing to a heartbeat that was not his own.

"If it is the Giantss you ssseek,” Abelard’s Patron continued, “Then you must come to know your enemy, ssmall one. Their numbers were decimated after the Thousand Year War, and they left their capital in your realms for the sssafety of the Feywild. Some of their kin yet remain behind. And otherss, it seemsss, have returned. Do not discount the bondss you have formed, small one. Indeed, they are all that truly matter. What can the Firbolg sshow you of her kin?"

Abelard nodded in partial understanding. "I, too, feel that the Firbolg, Trillium, is a key... A key to what, I do not know... And she does not remember."

He stared at the massive slumbering blue furred form. "But she has, apparently, sat with the First Ones. Made deals of some sort with them even.... Yet she cannot remember. Cannot remember a thing but the Giant Rune 'Arakab'."

"Hopefully this time in this monstrosity of Gnomish madness will lead to knowledge of how to protect myself from this IX. And then we can make our way towards Mor'lanthir and the giants. We are halfway there already. I will have my vengeance."

Abelard paused, and looked toward the deepest darkest shadows of the night. "You came to me when all was lost. Gave me a chance to save myself. Set me on this path of vengeance, and have given me a taste of the powers you offer. I thank you, and I serve you. There has been much loss here. Loss yet unnoticed. I will be there when the knowledge is given. I will witness the worry becoming truth."

"Be cautious, ssmall one. The First Onesss are not necessarily friendly to your kind. They simply are, and they are content for the consequencess of that to be what they will be. Although I remember some to be charming, in their way, they do not understand tiny thingss like the love or loyalty or lives of individualssss.", the shadows whispered back.

"In that way, perhaps I am more alike to them than I would like think. For is it not the gift of Shadow to suppress feeling? To clear the path for decisions of pure intellect without the burden of empathy for those affected by it? Though I use this for the greater good, even I must fight to remember what that good feels like. This is the service you and my other champions provide, small one. This is my ask of you in return for my gifts."

“Love, fear, joy... I can but dimly recall what thesse feel like. But I recall all too well how they can distract from taking action when action is needed. This is the true power I bequeath to you. The power to act, even when it hurtss. But I must never forget that it hurtsss. I charge you, ssmall one. Do not let me forget what it feelsss like."

The young Warlock nodded to the night, heart refilled anew with purpose. "I will not fail you. I hope, with time, that you will not only see fit to empower me to greater heights, but also to reveal yourself to me more. I would know you." Abelard said, allowing his sincerity to show through. "I will show you great sorrow. But I will also show you great pride and powerful joy. I will fill you with levels of emotion you have not had access to and continue to remind you of the variety of Life!"

"And, at the very least... I will make sure you feel if you lose me!", he finished, his eyes flaring bright before fading back to their regular sunwashed purple. For the first time since the battle above, his eyes lose the inky blackness they had gained during his emotion filled rage.

*

Abelard summoned forth his shadowed Axe as he ruminated on events of the day. One event in particular stood out as worthy of further contemplation. The groups second ‘ambush’ of the conveyor room had not gone well. Not well at all. The party divided. Buskin unconscious. Busy being carried away to the chute of blades. Umfrey out of his mind in rage. Trillium trying to hold back the unending tide of clockwork workers. And Abelard destroying everything in his path, but not fast enough to make it through in time.

And then, suddenly, there was Buskin, somehow awoken from his enforced slumber, and lashing about with magical fury. Buskin said he didn’t know how he had been woken, only that a cold hand had, from the shadows, grasped his throat to choke him, and thereby awaken him from his sleep.

Had it been she? Reaching out into the Physical realm? If so, how much had that cost her? To break through the bonds, even so fleetingly.

Abelard muttered under breath while looking into the shadows of the pact weapon... "I don't know if that was you that was responsible for awakening Buskin or not, my mistress. But, if it was, it was a timely intervention indeed. We owe you for it, and I am one to pay my debts."

"Our pact ssstands, little one," the shadows whisper back so that only Abelard can hear. "Ssstrength is more than weaponss. No matter sssword or axe or arrow, it isss but one, alone. True ssstrength is found together... with those you love. Learn thisss truth. Ussse that sstrength. Before it isss too late for you, asss well."

Abelard turns the axe head to look at his reflection in the blackness of the blade, almost looking as if he, too, was built of shadows... "Yes. I am learning this lesson. For 5 years I dedicated myself to my path and my lone vengeance. But, with these... friends?... at my side, I have learned and accomplished more in five days than in those long 5 years! Thank you, mistress. I heed your words. And I look forward to standing before you soon!", he whispers to his dark wavering reflection.

As the connection is relinquished, Abelard could just barely make out the musing reply. "If you would know more of me, then come visit me, ssmall one. You know where I reside. The shadow does not hide itsself."

***