23. The Cold

It is cold, bitterly cold; the frenzied wind, its constant companion, carrying with it an occasional howl from the native denizens of this foreboding place. All is as I remember it so many years ago.

So many years ago. Stalking these crags again drags out the memories so carefully locked away so many years ago. So many years ago, yet the suffering and satisfaction are as fresh as the tracks I follow before me.

Here, in the unlikeliest of places, on the path of the foulest of creatures, is where I discovered the purest of human feelings. She was like the moonlight of the winter solstice, offering the only light in one of my darkest moments. She came to me when I needed her the most. Joy and pain, I found my truest love in one the greatest challenges of my life.

She illuminated the path needed to hunt down my seemingly intractable foe. The hunt was long, but the battle was short. Several flickers of Cuelendar and the protection of love’s grace, and my quest was fulfilled. I had now proven myself worthy of my profession’s greatest honours. I was now an Illuminati.

But victory was not without its costs. For just as I extinguished this scourge that plagued Oerth, I extinguished her from me. She completed her task too, and when she did, she was gone. Pain and joy.

I put away Cuelendar, its task complete.

Twelve months later, Makaus was born and delivered unto my care. A love was lost, but it was reborn. Glancing down upon Cuelendar, I knew it was only a matter of time before pain would join joy again in matrimony.

So many years ago. A different quest now, perhaps the greatest quest ever undertaken by an Illuminati. For I knew that if the Second Son were to be found among these crags that he was close to completing his task. For no other way would the Old One allow such an enemy to walk so close to the heart of the Old One’s power without impunity. And no other way would such an enemy reveal his hand. I had to act before all was lost.

I glance up in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her ephemeral silhouette. I could use her strength now, her love. But so many lives have been lived and lost between then and now. It has been too many years ago.