Pathway

Chang Chang reentered the library just as a piercing scream filled the air. The cry of pain and anguish ripped from Gallazza's throat. He stood up on his knees, his back to the fire, arms raised in supplication. He appeared to be staring at—or through—Chang Chang. Beside him, the Lochal watched the yaomo with an impassive expression. When Chang Chang came into the room, she looked up.

"He is in the grip of The Phantom Black Tome," 

She explained which sent a chill through Chang Chang.

"It's driving him mad. I warned him what the outcome could be. Whether he comes back or not is up to him."

Gallazza's anguished expression as he reached out to clasp the empty air pulled at Chang Chang's heart. She took an involuntary step toward the yaomo.

"Can he hear me?" 

Chang Chang asked the Lochal before turning towards the yaomo. 

"Gallaxza, can you look at me?"

"He won't regard you. His mind—"

The dwarven spirit was saying before stopping midway. Just then, Chang Chang stepped closer—too close. Gallazza swung toward her and snatched her by the wrists. Chang Chang gasped and tried to pull away, but the yaomo, small as he was, appeared to be stronger. He yanked her down until she, too, was on her knees, at eye level with him.

"Tell me why." 

Gallazza said. He paused for a second before continuing. 

"Beloved maiden, high demon—. Tell me who I am!"

Gallazza, it's me—Chang Chang." 

Chang Chang's wrists ached where he held her and she quickly circulated a portion of blood energy to it. They'd be bruised later. Behind her, she heard the clank of armor and weapons bursting free from their scabbards. The guards were coming. 

"Wait! He doesnt kmow what he's doing."

Chang Chang shouted as they flanked Gallazza and pressed their blade tips against his throat. 

"Our orders were clear. If he harms you, he dies."

Said the guard closest to Chang Chang. Satisfaction gleamed in his eyes. He's been waiting for this, Chang Chang realized, maybe praying for it, for Gallazza to give him a reason to cut him down.

"He's done nothing yet. Let him be."

Gallazza, for his part, ignored the deadly steel pressed against his throat. His entire being focused on Chang Chang's face. What did he see when he looked at her? Love and hate warred on his features. Was he seeing another yaomo, a woman he'd once loved? It didn't fit with what she knew of the race or of Gallaza himself. The yaomo trusted no one, loved nothing so deeply, except perhaps their utmost demon queen. Their faith in Arkhat was the driving force behind their ecistence.

"Hear me, Gallazza," 

Chang Chang said. She bit her lip, hesitating. Did she dare try to reach him? If something didn't happen soon, it was clear the guards would act. Chang Chang had no love for Gallazza, but she also had no desire to see him slaughtered right in front of her. Or maybe you're just afraid he'll die before you're able to fulfill king Laggarma's request, a small, spiteful voice inside her whispered. Steeling herself, Chang Chang leaned closer to the yaomo, she whispered. 

"Hear your divine, Gallazza." 

Gallazza sucked in a breath. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Chang Chang didn't know whether he'd heard her or if the hallucination still trapped him. The dwarves exchanged tense glances, and the Lochal looked on with something that might have been approval in her fathomless eyes.

"Gallazza, you must free yourself from this." 

Chang Chang said. 

"It's not real. Your divine calls you. Come back."

"I have killed for you—in your name, always," 

Gallazza sobbed. Chang Chang quelled a wave of revulsion. The sight of a crying yaomo was not pleasant to the eyes.

"But all I want … I want—"

"To know yourself. Yes. It's all right. Come back now. Come back."

Gallazza uttered a choked, inarticulate cry and pulled Icelin against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her. Dwarven sword tips hovered in the air next to Chang Chang's head, but the guards seemed at a loss as to what to do. They'd clearly never expected this reaction. They weren't the only ones, Chang Chang thought. She crouched awkwardly on the floor as Gallazza held on to her.

.

"He seeks the truth of his own identity. But it is that very identity that Lolth requires him to sacrifice. Will he choose his goddess or himself?" 

The Lochal murmured. She raised her hands, and The Black Tome appeared between them. The onyx crystal in the center of the cover winked in the firelight.

Chang Chang didn't have time to wonder at the meaning of the Lochal's pronouncement. A change swept over Gallazza's body all at once. His muscles went rigid, and his sobs cut off abruptly. He's come out of his hallucination. The thought passed through Chang Chang's mind an instant before Gallazza shoved her violently away from him. She landed on her backside on the rug. The cushion softened the impact, but was dazed by the impact.

.

She might have been nonplussed, but Gallazza was a wreck. Chest heaving, he tried to scramble away—from Chang Vhang, from the dwarves, or from his hallucination, Chang Chang couldn't be sure, but he had nowhere to run. The fire blazed hot at his back. Dwarven weapons pressed in on him right and left. In the end he simply crouched in their midst like a trapped beast, hatred and defiance radiating from his tear-stained face.

Chang Chang rose slowly to her feet. She turned away from the scene and went to the long table. She laid her hands on its surface and breathed in and out to clear her head. She stared at the guard's.

"We won't be needing you now. You have my thanks, but please, return to your places."

"Alright, but we'll need to tell the king what happened here." 

One if the guards told his partner as they sheathed their weapons.

"No need." 

Said a voice from across the room.

Chang Chang looked up sharply to see the king standing in the doorway. Laggarma stared at them all, his face a stone mask, unreadable. Chang Chang wondered how much of the scene he had witnessed.

"Are you all right?" 

The king asked, gazing at Chang Chang.

"I'm fine." 

King Laggarma nodded curtly and backed out of the doorway.

He's going to leave, Chang Chang thought. The king of Myria would retreat to his cavern to do … what? Hide from the world and ignore the war that descended upon them all? His people were dying. Ju Feng was … Something snapped inside Chang Chang making her yell in anger.

"Why!" 

King Laggarma froze in the doorway. Dead silence took over the room, broken only by the shifting logs in the fireplace.

"Why do you retreat? Do you know how many folk are counting on you? Do you care? Where is the king of Iltkazar? What happened to him?"

King Laggarma stared at her. For an instant, his expression distorted, offering a glimpse of pain that smote Chang Chang's heart. But before she could speak, the king turned and left the room, closing the door softly behind him. It was the last reaction she'd expected. The guards obviously thought so as well, for they exchanged uneasy glances as they returned to their posts by the door.

The Lochal glided up to Chang Chang. The young blood thought for a moment the dwarf woman was going to touch her, but she did not. She placed The Phantom Black Tome carefully on the table and glanced at Chang Chang. 

"You've seen now what this can do. Will you use it to seek your answers?"

Tearing her thoughts away from the king, Chang Chang glanced at the tome. The cover and spine were beautiful, the supple black leather and the gem nesting within. There was nothing threatening about that cover, but Chang Chang knew better. For some reason, she was terribly weary. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep for a long time.

"What will I gain from that book? Will I discover truths I didn't want to face? I've already done that. Will I find the answer to what I'm seeking? I thought I wanted the Arcane Script Sphere, that Mystra or whatever piece of her is left in the artifact, was the answer, but it's not." 

Chang Chang looked at the Lochal and felt a pain pierce her as she added. 

"It's not."

"What is it you want?" 

The dwarf woman asked gently.

"I want to stop. Ju Feng is missing, maybe dead. All he wanted was to find a cure for my bloodscar. I told him I would get the Arcane Script Sphere, but I don't want it anymore." 

Chang Chang closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. 

"How can I worry about one life when an entire city stands on the brink of destruction? So much of my life has been taken up with that godsdamned bloodscar, and I'm tired of it! Whether I die tomorrow or live another thousand years, I don't want to give another breath or thought to that bloodscar. I want to put that part of my life away and start anew. Yet, Ju Feng—" 

She still remembered the prophecy clearly. About the fate of the universe depending on her decision. If she died, wouldnt that be the end of the prophecy. Many people would die too. She felt like every word she spoke was a betrayal of creation itself. Yet, at the moment, an entire city of old civilization would die if care was not taken.

"Am I a terrible person for wanting that?"

"I can't answer your question."

The Lochal lifted her hand and let it hover over the tome. The book disappeared, sent back to whatever high, hidden shelf from which she'd pulled it. She smiled approvingly at Chang Chang. 

"You have wisdom beyond that of many your age and older. It will serve you well." 

Her voice and form faded, and Chang Chang was alone in the room, with only Gallazza and the guards. Chang Chang straightened. She had to leave. There was nothing left in this library for her, except … she turned to Gallazza, but the yaomo stood with his back to her, staring at the fire. He was never more dangerous than he was right now, Chang Chang thought. She couldn't approach him, even with the guards standing watch. She'd invaded the most private spaces of his mind, places king Laggarma had not even seen. He might want to kill her now as much as he wanted to kill the king.