The Attempt

Closing her eyes, she stepped into the shimmering burgundy portal. Almost instantaneously, Melyanna was looking upon the sturdy brick walls of the Silver Arrow. Waves of dread struck her as she looked around at the desolation that had stricken her beloved forest. The trees had lost their leaves and were slowly dying, as were the animals, their bodies decaying where they had fallen. Shaking herself out of her daze, Melyanna tried to focus on what she had felt pulling her to this place once again.

A sudden chill in the air heralded the arrival of Khalin's spirit. Uma, this is what had brought her back, she thought to herself. "Khalin..." she did not know why, but she suddenly had to try to bring his spirit back to the realm of the living. Flipping through her spellbook, she slowly chanted the words that would, she hoped, restore Khalin's spirit. The first attempt failed, as did second in front of the tavern.

"Perhaps tis the corruption in the land that stops the spell" she murmured to Khalin's spirit. Though she couldn't speak with the spirits, she soon had Khalin's spirit following her, past the angry orc, to the Shrine. Surely this holy place would restore him. With a blessing from Talanithus, Mely chanted the words of power. Success! Khalin weakly sat up.

Her elation, mixed with a sudden bout of nausea, at seeing her friend standing before her was short lived. "The pain" he groaned, doubling over. Talanithus rushed to support one arm, as Mely, the nausea subsiding, tried to reach his other. Before her startled gaze, Khalin took one last gasping breath and fell back. His spirit once again stood before them.

What happened next was nothing more than haze and bits of words floating past her stunned stupor. Quickly, she excused herself, the urge to be alone almost overwhelming her...