Shimmering on the cave wall was a glowing painting, seemingly painted with strokes of magical light. The lights were moving as they told their story, looping endlessly.

This particular painting depicts a bird with a broken wing. It is struggling in a small section of grass, which is blowing gently in a breeze. Trying to lift its wing, it fails multiple times. A pale colored centaur-like creature enters the painting and kneels, picking up the tiny bird in the palms of its hands. The small bird is covered for a moment, then the centaur reaches toward the sparsely clouded sky, revealing the bird. The bird flies away toward the sun.

The painting goes dark, then the lights begin again, the strokes appearing as if they are being painted again for the first time. The story continues to play like this, over and over.

Zeno Ages had passed, with time almost standing still. For but a single day of his life, the day of his birth, Zeno had witnessed the splendor of the light. Such beauty was not meant to last though, or so the newly emerged bat had thought at the time. Days would give way to full cycles as he had dwelled within the darkness, growing ever stronger with the dream of one day ascending to the dead stars themselves to try to find what had caused them to go out. The day of his triumph, however, had been filled with defeat. After training his stamina for so long and finally flying to the top of Orion he had found naught but cluster upon cluster of crystals, with no visible way to even start to diagnose their failure. This had been a difficult time of Zeno's life, one that tested the limits of his ability to accept hardship. He had held on for so long the hope that bringing back the lights beauty was something he might be able to at least contribute to in some small way. Instead he was face to face with the truth that his influence over the world was just as small has his diminutive body suggested. Finding himself on the border between stoicism and nihilism, Zeno bid farewell to the room of forgotten stars and made a new home in a place where sounds of beauty were as plentiful as sights had been on the day of his birth. In this way he grew to his full adult size, still strong from his days of endlessly flying around but no longer as active as he had once been. Most of his days were spent resting upon a stone outcropping listening to the water flow by, deep within his own mind where he could create all manner of imagery to go with the sounds. On this day, however, something very different happened. While deep within his own thoughts a flash of brilliance shook Zeno to his very core. His first thought was that a predator had managed to capture him and this cacophony of light was his last glimpse of the world. There was no pain though, and as soon as the light blindness passed he saw before him a type of beauty had given up on ever seeing again. Sparkling streams of water snaked along in every direction, accentuated by lush vegetation growing wherever it could thrive, and a massive cascade of water in the corner of his vision, falling from heights unseen. A full minute passed, heart nearly stopped, breaths coming short and shallow as though he were afraid that too large a noise would break the illusion. This was no fantasy though; this was as real as the sounds of crashing water that had provided comfort to the bat in his time of distress. Finally Zeno dared to move, flittering down from his perch onto the damp ground near the stream and watching as light danced upon the ripples. For just a brief time the breathtaking sense of wonder came back to his mind and he was young again. Hours passed as Zeno wordlessly flew from one location to the other, forgoing even the minor rumblings of his stomach as he dared not pause his exploration lest his sense of wonder be lost again. Eventually, though, he came upon an odd phenomena: a section of rock lit by a light of completely different nature, telling a story though the use of static images. "A bird?" he asked the empty air, his small voice feeling almost foreign on his tongue, "On its own power it finds failure, yet with the aid of another freedom is obtained?" Was it a story to teach a moral, or simply a tale of inspiration? Beyond that who had created the story in the first place? Had it been in this room all this time and was simply unseen due to the conditions? So many questions... was there any way to even start to find the answers? Know yourself "Before you try to influence others" Tags:

His idle slumber was not just to sleep. He was searching the surface for a mind, a voice; but it had been difficult to reach. The phoenix was still encased in its own ice deep at the bottom of the lagoon, where it had gone dormant. Icy branches had formed protectively around it, first out of emotion he could not control. The tree atop his jagged encasing occasionally formed another bare, sharp branch the longer his body slept. Yet, his quest to reach out to the being he longed to speak with was still ongoing.

-

Crouched at the base of the lagoon was the robed figure that had been traveling to visit these sections of the cave. It was staring curiously into the deep depths of the lagoon, sensing the presence of the ice phoenix below. Its parent had created a ward long ago with the help of this great ancient, an item this creature still looked after in its workshop. Why had this great being imprisoned itself? It couldn't see the phoenix, but it could sense the turquoise of Pisces.

-

Tenzin became aware of the of child that was reading him. His mind fluttered awake, and he read back: magnetite. He processed the information, but he did not know this version. Indeed, it was a child. Tenzin knew the parent. "You are far from home," he noted, reaching into the mind of the child. The vision came back to him, and a familiarity struck him. The mask was the same. Of course.

-

It was surprised to hear a voice within its head. It began to run its hands through its fur, suddenly nervous. It didn't know how to do that, could it reply in the same way? "There is so much life here," it tried, the language of the ancients being that which its parent taught it. "These quadrants have woken after the shake. I came to see," said the figure, tilting its head at the water's constantly moving surface.

-

"Yes," the phoenix confirmed. "You are not the magnetite I know, but you wear its mask. You are indeed its child. Has something happened?" he inquired, sensing a sudden change on the surface. The question made an impact, though not a large one. He waited quietly for a response.

-

Its hands stopped moving through its fur. Instead, it now clutched handfuls of the fur tightly. It reached down with one hand, dipping its fingertips into the cold water, sensing the branches of the tree-like structure below. It formed flowers along the branches as it thought, which iced over instantly. It did this as an idle gesture, wondering what to say. "All magic," it began, coming across the middle of the structure with its mind's eye. There, it gained a vision of the phoenix wrapped tightly in its own wings. It didn't get to finish its sentence, now lost in thought as it continued to create the ice flowers.

-

"Ah," he said finally, after he assumed the child was not going to finish the rest of what it was saying; but Tenzin knew the rest. He followed the flowers the child was creating, icing over them to preserve them. It was quite the gesture, and it brought a faux-life to his emotionally-driven tree. A silly thing, really. "Thank you," he said after some time, when the tree was fully 'bloomed.'

-

"You can fly again," the child said, drying its hand on its robe. "It hears you." With that, it turned away from the lagoon and went to paint a story on the wall. Their link broke. The child had flashing, remaining images of ruby and turquoise shattering. It hadn't experienced a bond such as that breaking, but it was saddened by what the phoenix had shared with it. As it painted its story, it cried behind its mask.

-

Tenzin was silent, thinking about what the child had said. It hears you. He had not been reaching out in vain, then? How did the child know this? Did the child speak with it? His mind entered a slumber again, and he could only hope he would be answered himself.

Lore unlocked!

@Zeno has observed the painting, specifically mentioning that with the help of the centaur, the bird has gained freedom. (You may now have Zeno seek out the NPC and ask it about the painting!)

Zeno The small bat sat there studying the picture for what seemed like ages. No matter how many times it faded from view and repeated it always stayed the same; going from defeat to triumph, or perhaps self-reliance to allowing another to help, or perhaps as his first impression had been from imprisonment in his own condition to freedom. Whatever the artist's original intent might have been it was beautifully rendered and deeply thought provoking just as any great work of art should be. He could not spare the time to spend his entire day there, however. With the return of the lights there was much to explore. Had the stars appeared back in his birthplace? Were there grand views to be had in the other rooms he had passed on his way here? With thoughts and speculations flowing like the the streams of Pisces Zeno turned around and hopped into the air. Before he had flown too far, however a figure caught Zeno's eye. At first he had thought the shadows were playing strangely, it didn't look like any kind of creature he recognized, but after slowing down for a second it became apparent that this was indeed another living being. Curiosity weighted on the bat's mind as he veered toward a stone a short distance away from the behemoth creature. Was it a resident of this room he had not yet encountered? If so perhaps it knew things about the landscape from before the lights had gone out. Then again at this point it was uncertain if it was even capable of speech. "Greetings." he called out casually as he passed by overhead in route toward the stone, saying nothing more even as he landed and focused gaze on it to try to discern a reaction. Know yourself "Before you try to influence others" Tags: @Game Master CJ