"Oreanna DeAdaline, as you are called by the races, you have been summoned."
Anna stared in apprehension at the sight her eyes presented.
"Why me? Why have I, a nomad, drifter, been called to a council of the heavens?
I am but a penniless mortal, cursed by an unknown deed to walk Krynn without death."
The old man spoke up, his voice quite loud for one in such years. Anna had to
remind herself that it was a god she listened to, not a bent old man. He spoke sincerely
and earnestly.
"No curse has brought you forth through the centuries, child, but a blessing. You,
wanderer, with slave and outcast, will save man from his greed." Anna stood dumbfounded
for a moment, allowing the words to be absorbed. Then she shook her head in disbelief.
"This is but a bizarre dream," she muttered quietly, "brought on by lack of food
and sleep. I must surly be going mad to have created such a vision." She turned to leave,
but the mystic fog once again drove her back to the stone.
"You may not leave until the truth has been spoken." said Gilean. "You are unique
in Krynn, for your age has allowed you to endure past the Cataclysm, into the Age of
Darkness. You continue to hold your faith in we, the creators of Krynn. Thus, you must
know that you are held in our favor."
Anna was now truly perplexed. "As said before, I am but a mere mortal. What, but
my faith, has brought you to gaze upon me?"
Takhisis slowly walked forward to meet Anna eye to eye. "Surly you must now know
that you are no common mortal. You are no warrior-mage, yet you yield sword and staff.
You live, when even the elves must die. You hold no alliance to the conclave of wizards,
and yet we grant you great magic." Her lip curled into an icy sneer.
"We favor you, because you, are one of our greatest creations."
Ki blinked in the morning sunlight. She was leaning her back against a broad tree and studying her maps. "None of these seem right." She shook her head in confusion. She was positive that the slab of rock had indeed been white. She peered over the maps again until her gaze fell to the island of Sancrist. "Whitestone, huh? This may be just what I'm looking for." she said with a smile. The morning breeze whipped her gold auburn hair about her, as she fastened the catch of her forest green robe. It too, swirled in the morning whisper as she balanced the pack on her shoulders and was off. She was hard to notice, her green robe blending in with the surrounding woodlands. She stopped once to adjust her pack and check on her herb supplies. Seeing them short she scowled. "I'll just have to purchase some when I reach a shop." With that she grasped her staff and started off again. She left the woods around mid-morning, entering a small village along her way. Children dashed out of her path, wives put aside their laundry, and townsmen watched in curious silence. A traveler was not an amazing event. Many walked the roads, day and night. What brought their sight to her was not her appearance. Though her gown and clothes were not in exceptional condition, she had managed to keep them in rather good shape. No, what brought the eyes of the populace to the young woman was her air of dignity, a proud, regal bearing that brought her respect from all watching. At first glace, many thought her to be a wandering hunter, eating what she could catch. Strapped across her back was a fine bow and a quiver of arrows to confirm their thoughts. But as she passed the tavern, the laughing men inside were quickly silenced. The wind had blown aside her robe to reveal an assortment of daggers in her sash and a fine iron sword strapped to her side. Then the story began that she was a mercenary, selling her sword. Many believed this also, until one man saw the runes of power carved on her walking staff. Then they knew her to be a mage. The town was abuzz in mere minutes. Moments after the discovery, she vanished from public view, stepping into the town herbist's shop. The man brought her what she requested and then quickly left. The men said later that his face had been a pasty white color and he was not able to speak. Ki left town minutes later.
Ursella sat bolted upright, sweat glistening off her forehead in the cool moonlight. Lunitari's red radiance cast a horrid glow to her already colorless face. Her lips were ashen and her hands shook. She desperately tried to banish the dream from her mind, to drive away the unbelievable. It would not leave her, but clung to her thoughts more fiercely, plaguing her until she was forced to remember it. And then the words came back to her. "Ursella Smorgasbord, as you were named by your minotaur masters, heed the call of the gods. You slave, with outcast and wanderer, will save man from his bloodlust." So had been the cold message of Takhisis, Goddess of Evil and Darkness. Ursella had listened, with all her heart. She had heard the quest and welcomed it. There was no fear. The fear of failure, of pain, of death. "No, not death." Ursella thought bitterly, her lips curling into a sneer of resentment and uncaring that she had learned to wear long ago. "Death would be welcome compared these endless centuries of submissive servitude to those, those.......creatures. Praise be to Paladine, Gilean, and Takhisis, makers of the world, for the freedom and revenge of an ages old slave." Ursella lay back down on the straw mat that had been so "graciously" given to her to sleep on.