Siliwen hung onto the chain with all her might, perhaps. one might say. with strength beyond her own, but whatever it was, she did just that. "You, will pay for the atrocities you have wrought on others." She gritted out needing to express what she had held back before.

When the ring touched the foul rubious shard it flares white. The shard flares deep lurid glowing red even brighter than before. Siliwen could not let go. She would not let go as the clean clear white Light fared to brilliance. Had she a hand to shield her eyes she would have instinctively but she couldn't.

A two antagonistic forces clashed, the colors of ghastly lurid red and blinding brilliant white fought for supremacy. Siliwen was a witness to it all. She urge the Light on, willing it with ever iota of her being. The Read and white light coruscated wildly shifting back and forth between red dominance and then white,, back a forth they went, Siliwen's spirits rose and fell with the shift fto white and then to red. Finally the brilliant white light began to overwhelm the red and Siliwen took heart. Her spirits raise the whiter it got. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light filling the cavern and then total darkness reigned and Silence.

Billy was exhuasted but his friends urged him on. Together they crawled to the feet of the beast and Siliwen's magic fought that of the beast. Even in this battle of magic Billy could sense that his strength was being tapped to help his companion; as usual magic needed help from the flesh. "Hurry for I do not have much strength left." he managed to gasp out as he fought to tap his final reserve hoping it would be enough.

(OOC: To clarify.. no actions could be taken by anyone as there was nothing they could do.. no frame of reference.. see more below for explanation)

… darkness descended…

The entire group was plunged into darkness… utter and complete… they saw nothing.. heard nothing.. felt nothing… it was as if they had no bodies with which to see or hear or fell… only their last thoughts seemed to weigh upon them… after what seemed like an eternity.. they heard a single note… music? .. no.. just a single note.. indescribable yet lovely… the note hung in the air like an echo.. but it did not die.. it just hung there…

.. then slowly the note changed pitch and a light began to grow… slowly.. at first they thought maybe there were imagining things.. there was nothing out there in the void.. but no.. it was a faint pinpoint of light.. and it grew.. they became fixated on that pinpoint.. that note of music.. and it grew in brilliant intensity.. shining the purest white… and they felt drawn towards it.. they couldn’t resist.. they fell towards it…

As they grew nearer it grew and grew and they seemed to speed towards it.. rushing headlong.. unable to stop.. with what? .. they still felt no limbs.. nothing.. just their mind… hurtling towards they light they would have screamed.. if only they had a mouth with which to do so… they were flung into the light and the void was gone…

Suddenly they were back in the cavern where they had battled the beast.. only.. they seemed to float above it.. and looking down they saw the struggle that had seemed so distant to them.. was that them?.. they didn’t know.. but they watched as Siliwen clung tenaciously to the red stone.. battling the Beast for control.. they saw the gem explode.. but this time they weren’t plunged into darkness…

They watched as the all of the bodies below.. including the party.. fell to the ground from the force of the blast.. the Beast was gone.. his body vaporized by the explosion… the Shelnaks and Rock Dwellers fell as if hit by a shockwave.. their own bodies they could not see… it was as if they too were vaporized… suddenly their awareness was flying upwards through the rock of the mountain.. they flew out into the sunlight.. it was morning now.. they had lost all track of time beneath the ground.. upwards they went and below them .. south of the mountains they saw the vast army of the Dark One.. before it a smaller army stood waiting .. ready to engage it.. humans in armor.. some on horseback.. bravely waited to face a foe mightier than themselves.. the party could see that the small army had no chance against such a mighty foe.. they were outnumbered at least 20 to 1… yet they stood ready to defend their homeland…

When suddenly.. a great wave of power flashed out of the mountain and spread across the plains.. the struck the Army of the Dark One.. and where it hit.. they creatures fell.. the vast host was devastated in an instant… the wave continued on and struck the small foe of humans… and nothing happened.. the smaller army looked about them in shock.. they were alive.. and their enemy had been destroyed.. all in the blink of an eye…. The humans stood for a moment stunned then they raised their weapons and cheered.. utter defeat had been turned to Victory!

The party continued to rise into the air and soon the visage below them was lost in the mist as they ascended above the clouds… their ascent slowed and they hung in the clouds.. sunlight shined down on them .. then a soft feminine voice spoke to them….

“You have done well ..” it said appraisingly, the voice coming from all about them, “.. you have done what others before you were unable to do… you were brought here from another world to battle a great evil.. and you succeeded.. risking your own lives for those you didn’t even know.. it shows courage and compassion for others… your Gods will be pleased.”

“When it was determined that outsiders must be brought here to deal with this evil.. we.. the Gods of this Domain.. consulted others outside our sphere… the Gods of your worlds chose you.. because of your determination and faithfulness .. and because you fit our requirements as well… they chose wisely!”

“Your bodies sustained heavy damage in the conflict and they are dying..” the voice said with a note of sadness, “however.. it is not beyond our ability to repair them.. so all of you will live… now a decision must be made.. do you wish to return to your own world… or remain here on this one? The choice is yours!”

The air went silent and only the sound of a faint wind could be heard as the warm sun seemed to penetrate their souls as they floated among the clouds.


(Ok.. your post… chose wisely.. I will post again sometime next week.)

Can our bodyless selves communicate mentally with each other?

(Yes.. you will find out.. if you try that you can communicate with each other.. and you can actually see each other and you appear normal though no damage can be seen upon you... and you appear to be floating among the clouds.)

Billy tried to send his mind, what little of it there was, out to contact the others. "Well anyone have any thoughts on the choice at hand?" After a moment he added "I for one find this world a bit more intersting than the one I came from and I think we make quite a good team. I will be staying."

He waited for the others to answer if they could but his mind was all but made up.

"I know what I leave behind, but I know Corellon is here, and there are Elves here. I find myself tied to seeing that this world continues to stay free of Evil."

"I am drawn to the idea of staying."

Siliwen was torn. All she knew an loved before her arrival here was at home. It was home, her family, and friends that drew her strongly. This was not her world, and beyond Billy and Alea her friends still living she knew so few.

Purpose had driven her on. The need to complete the quest they had been brought her to do. It was now done and in the back of her mind was always the hope to go home. Her memories tugged on her heart strings.

In this non corporal state Siliwen was free of her damaged body and the physical tiredness was not not affecting her but the tiredness of spirit was. In the aftermath of all all that had happened to them compressed in such a short time her spirit had not recovered. She felt that if she could just stop having to move and make decision and just lie to lay down somewhere alone

Billy was the first to speak, though it was not really speaking as usually. She listened as he said he wanted to stay here. Siliwen might never have known of Billy except for the circumstances that had brought them all together. She felt the pang of the parting.

Certainly Alea would want to go home as she did. Then Alea spoke up and said exactly the opposite. She too indicated she would stay in this world. Siliwen felt like she would break apart. The trials they had faced and won through together had made each of them an important part of her life, and their choice to stay here tore her heart in two.

If emotion and tears could be hear in her words, then her friends would hear her pain. "I thought you would all want to go home. It is all that I have dreamed of since the beginning of all this, and whenever I had a chance to hope and dream for myself.

"Why here? Why not go home so our family and friends do not always wonder what happened to us. We can still work together, anywhere we go."

The voice is silent as they 'discuss' their options of staying or going. All they 'hear' is a faint breeze that they can 'feel' despite the fact that they have no corporeal forms.

(OOC: Ok.. continue to post as until final decisions have been made.. the 'voice' will with hold any response.)

Siliwen was torn, her only two remaining companions through this long quest had chosen to stay. Her spirits sank. What would it be like to be separated after their success here. they to stay and she to return home?

Home, family friends, all that she had known for years. To stay here would mean to be parted from them forever.

This was no reward for what they had done. It tore her apart.

"Why don't you want to go home."

Alea felt the pain in Siliwen’s words. “Siliwen, I have had the same feelings as you many times in the past weeks, since Corellon sent us here. At first I silently rage and wondered why all this was happening to us. Bit by bit I accepted the reasoning that Corellon had called us for a purpose, then we learned from the Mage just what we were here for. After that all I wanted to do was finish quickly so I could go back to my world, back to my people and family, my forests, and my home.”

“Up until the fight, even through it, at the very last desperate stand we made as the gem shattered, had I been given the option to go home then and there I would have taken it. So many things flew through my mind as the darkness enveloped me. I thought of all the things I had not yet done, like continue to serve Corellon, improve my fighting skills, and improve my skill with the harp, paint and write poetry, and there were things I had wanted to do while on this world, to find out about our people here and their reclusiveness.”

“It may sound strange, but at the moment when we were given the choice to stay or go, I thought of the first time I left home. The pang of leaving family and friends and the forests I knew was difficult, but then there was a greater world open before me. Many of those who leave home never return, because they find something beyond that part of their life to fill the void. I will miss my family and friends, my home and my world, but I have the almost contented feeling that Corellon’s choice in sending me here was more that to just to take care of one problem. So when it came to the moment of choice I had no qualms in saying I wanted to stay, even though I will miss my family and friends. Maybe it was easier to me to say stay because I have put my trust in Corellon and her has answered me.” Alea thought of the glowing of her arrows and knew that Corellon had indeed answered her prayers.

She paused and looked to her friend. “I understand your pain, and I will miss you if you choose to go home.”

Alea lapses into her more familiar silent self, after delivering the longest speech she had given since coming here.

Siliwen listened careful but Alea words did not lessen her anxiety over the choice she had to make. thoughts pro and con flooded her mind. and whirled about She had trouble taking it all in and sorting though her feelings and desires. They had been pushed for so long that she was tired. Tired and wanting to go home. What for, refuge? if she was not so exhausted perhaps the choice would be clearer, now it was muddied terribly in the aftermath of that had happened. Her body was dying, the voice had said yet the voice promised them they could make a choice home or here. Home beckoned strongly but so did friendship.

"This is not fair." she wailed withing herself. They had done what others had not. They had saved this world and their own.

I just don't know, I can't decide. My brain is awhirl. I am so tired and I have dreamed about going home. Yet you are both very special to me." Siliwen says sadly Without you I would never have been able to do this,"

To the voice she calls out. "If I choose stay will I ever be able to return to my own world? If my family could only be told= what happened to me, it would be easier. Surely there is some way the Gods who were involved could inform them. Would they do such a thing?"

While she waited for an answer hoping for an anwser, she thought about those who had been lost. Riddle, Thron of their original group, the Dwarves, the Shona, Bin in particular. She wondered if any had survived of the Shona. She owed them a great debt. She also needed to tell thr dwarves of how their warriors had died. Only she could tell their story down to the last of them.

The voice returned and Siliwen could here the compassion and understanding of her plight in it's tone.

"Yes, a message to your family or anyone else you wished to tell, could be arranged. If you decide to stay."

Again it fell silent, letting them 'talk' and decide their future.

Well she had asked and she was answered with what she wanted as an answer, or did she. Did it make a difference.

Siliwen thought carefully, the choice was not easy to make Only those words helped a bit. She had set out in the world with Joriel because she had been ready to, so she had thought. Unfortunate circumstance lead to his death when he had stayed to fight the bandits and sent her on. That lost she had had no had time to deal with yet. Billy and Alea were her very close friends, bonded by ties of mutual respect that she had never had before for any outside her family and close friends and never for a non-elf. But there is was she had now added them to her circle of close friends.

The balance scale hung weighted with the two choices she had been given. It tip one way and then another, finally it came to rest at least in her own mine. No, the choice was not easy but one must be taken. To go or to stay.

"I choose........," Siliwen paused second guessing herself, "to stay. If my parents will be told what happened here and to Joriel, my mentor. He should be honored and the names of all my friends here that their families will know as well."

"Tell my father what has happened here and that I am staying. He will understand." With no more to say Billy simply waited for whatever came next.