The path of Quilyn - Leisa Margreve

[Dezza]

Events proceed. I feel strange. The last eight years have been spent underground. My new mother and father, my hidden brothers and sisters. Much as I was hidden to them. I do not wear the mask now. But I wish I did sometimes. The security of anonymity.

Now I exist in the world. I prefer to be separate. I see things through eyes as if they are not my own. A hovering perspective. Is this real? Sometimes it does not feel so. Trained as I am to blend into my surroundings. To fade from view. I find I cannot do so properly here. The place is foreign, strange. I need time to adjust.

I met one of those who walks the night path. A Halfling called Dogboy. Strange are the names we give ourselves to hide from the world. Anonimity.

I have been taught to hide emotion, to not let it cloud my judgment. This world is full of emotion. It is a weakness. Quilyn teaches us that to kill you must be cold, merciless. If you allow mercy you can never walk the path of Quilyn again. To be killed by one such as I is an honor. To kill a mark is an honor. To kill someone who is not a mark weakens the strength of the code.

I may be about to weaken my strength in the code. Quilyn does not teach what to do when one leaves you to die. I do not want to lose strength in the code. But I cannot allow this one to live after causing me to fall. Can I?

Virtue Kessen is my mark. No, that's wrong. Virtue Kessen's life is held in my hands now. He will not see or hear the blade that will cross his throat. But he will have the chance to plead for his life. I do not want to weaken my code. Is it emotion that causes me to want revenge? Revenge is best served cold' emotionless. Quilyn teaches that revenge is for the one who buys your services not for the user of the code. Am I wrong then? I must look into his eyes, Virtue's. For only then will I be able to tell for sure.

A priest of some sort asked me the other day if I believed in fate. They were surprised when I said no. We are the moment. The past is lost. The future unknown. We can only know now. We act in the now. Fate is a fools fancy. We act and then we will live or die by those actions. The strong survive and the weak fall. There is nothing else.

[Dezza]

It is done. I have made a deal that will protect my code. One of the last things Virtue said to me before he left me to die at the hands of that barbarian G'ork was to seek out a mage called Alandric. He felt that he could provide me resources to begin my journeys and go about my tasks more effectively.

I found and negotiated with this man. I could tell he was one not to brook argument with but also not likely to pry into anyone elses business but his own. He had my immediate respect. He asked few questions but negotiated hard.

I sold myself, my services and what gold I had acquired to date as the price for several items that will aid me greatly. I did wonder that he would refuse to negotiate if I revealed that one of the first things I would undertake to do with the items he supplied me would be to confront Virtue and likely slit his throat for abandoning me to the barbarians wrath. I am not easily suprised but I was when he seemed to have little care what I did to the man and did not seek to sway me from my path.

It was that which gave me pause. Did I really want to break with the code before I had even truly developed my skills. Did I want to have Mother or Father come after me for dishonouring Quilyn so early in my life. I realised in truth the honour which I held in the code, honour of the Mother and the Father. I would not slay Virtue for revenge. It is not the code.

There was however never anything stopping one from putting skills into practice against monsters or mindless creatures. Thus when this man Alandric invited me to begin to repay my debt by travelling to a place called the Dragon Isles. I accepted. I learnt much. I will practice more. I will adhere to the code.

[Dezza]

There are numerous bounties to claim in this land it seems. I have enough work for the moment and enough opportunities to travel into regions where I can develop my skills on other lesser creatures.

Some are unworthy to be touched by my blades but as Father always said, in practise those killed are beneath the code. When you accept a mission and your prey is clear then you are within the code no matter who or what the target is. It is within that frame of execution that you must live and serve Quilyn. For only through its path can you achieve perfection.

Daily I practise interacting with those who know nothing of the path I follow. I mimic their emotions, their turns of phrase, there very actions in living. With time I will be able to copy them perfectly and keep the mask that hides who I am well in place.

[Dezza]

I don't begrudge the eight years I was kept within the caverns under Hurm. I knew that we, the followers of Quilyn were to be submitted to an extremely strict training schedule and would be kept aside for whatever purpose the Mother or Hris saw fit. In this way we were protected from unhealthy influences and could keep our spirit entirely focused at what was to be our code. The fact that we were chosen to be followers was considered to be a mission and I felt honoured. I was no one before, nothing. The Mother and Hris gave me purpose.

I accepted the intensive and specialised training. At a point about halfway through my training I noted that I began to receive special treatment. I was better served and thus was an example to some of the others. I was told there was a need for this. I showed promise, I worked hard, I did not complain and by rewarding me it became another factor of motivation for others.
 
We were never given nor allowed to consume any substances in quantities more than was necessary to acquire a taste for them. Excess was weakness and it could affect the strict discipline under the code of keeping ones spirit eternally prepared. We were constantly told how the code is our religion, our purpose and the highest goal we could achieve in life. We were also taught that after fulfilling a mission under the code if we were slain we were to rejoice for in it eternal paradise would be achieved.

I believe in this and in all things I have been told. I have faith in the Quilyn and the path of the Code. I will serve it with honour until the Mother or Hris tell me it is time to enter the final stages of my training.

[Dezza]

I remember the first time I was taken to my cell. My neck itched from the feel of the unfamiliar hood we all had to wear. It was something I would become used to, something familiar and comforting. The Mother spent a few moments with me telling me how if I was considered worthy by the code I would receive hidden power and timeless wisdom which would enable me to become as important in life as some of the teachers.

Later I was told that each year I spent there was a year of initiation. There were eight such levels of initiation. The Ninth level was that of mastery and something only approached when called for by the Mother and then only if you had shown such spiritual oneness with the code and Quilyn that you were ready in mind and soul.

In the first year of initiation my mind was filled with information and learning, I was educated and also told many things about the world.  I was taught especially to doubt all religious and political organisations, to doubt conventional ideas. If was made clear to me that everything I had learnt to that point in time contained elements of falsity. I learnt to believe that all except the code was prejudiced and open to challenge. I looked to my teachers for the truth, I looked to the Code to hold me firm and I developed in my very soul the essence of what it was to follow Quilyn.  

In this learning I hungered for the words imparted to me from the teachers in all things they were and ever are the only possible source of the proper interpretation of facts.

Towards the end of my first year I began to see more of what the teachers were opening our minds to. The formal knowledge they imparted was merely a cloak for hidden, inner and powerful truth. The secret of which would be imparted when they felt I was ready to receive it.

At the culmination of the year my brothers and sisters and I were called into the great cavern. We stood in rows of 6 four ranks deep. Dressed in the clothes we wore day in and day out; the dark woollen tunics and hoes and the soft silk and cotton hoods that kept our faces hidden from each other.

Here the Mother, Hris and our six teachers called each of us to choose one of them to which we would swear allegiance to for the rest of our lives. Such allegiance sworn under the code could only be broken by death. Myself and one of my brothers were the only ones to choose the Mother. Some felt she was too harsh in her training but harshness was nothing to me I saw and understood her lessons more so than the other teachers. I chose her. I swore on the Code my allegiance to the Mother.

Thus ended our first year of initiation.

[Dezza]

My second year of initiation was made up of physical and mental strengthening. My brother whom I do not know but from his pale grey eyes, softly spoken voice and lithe muscular frame and I were instructed by the Mother or another teacher called Joama. Joama was responsible for much of our physical training and the Mother for our mental training.
 
Mothers lessons were deep and probing. She questioned our learning to date; she instilled in us the belief of Quilyn and its many rules and intricacies. We were taught to believe that approval cannot be won by observing the prescriptions of Quilyn, unless the inner doctrine, of which we are mere symbols, where received from the Mother to whom its guardianship has been entrusted and to whom we; my brother Dillan and I, had sworn allegiance under the code.
 
We learnt to accept her thoughts and words without question, challenging only when she told us to challenge. At times we might falter, questions racing in our minds and we would speak when not bidden. We learnt quickly that to challenge when unasked by the Mother was to receive swift punishment. The Code is a way of life, the Code is your life. The Mother was in essence our link to the Quilyn and we had to honor her, without her we were nothing.

At times between the mental strain and the physical activities we were forced to undergo we would almost break. In these times my brother Dillan and I sought strength from each other. If I saw him falter, it gave me strength that I could continue and as I faltered it gave him strength. To know you can push past physical and mental barriers over another is a motivator to continue.

There was a time that we spent moments together our hoods still in place to conceal our identities as our bodies entwined to sate lust born from such trying and exhausting activities. There became acts of sheer release more than anything heartfelt, neither of us spoke of them nor thought anything more of them beyond a need to be filled.

The Mother allowed it to occur and in fact it was a more common thing than I realised I found out later. Joama explained to us when she caught us one day that the more attuned you are and the more physically fit you are the more the body and mind demand such moments of release. We would learn to control such urges later in our training but for now it was acceptable when required.

At the end of the year once again we were brought together with our other brothers and sisters to stand in ranks before the twelve assembled teachers and the Mother and Father.
 
Those who had passed were called forward. When my name was called I fought the desire to feel elation as I had been taught. Strong emotion was an imbalancer. It clouded judgement.

There were some left behind. They would complete the second year of initiation again. The rest of us were separated from them, given slightly better cells, a slightly higher level or living than we to date had been allowed. This was a motivator to those left behind we were told.

[Dezza]

In the third year we came to know the knowledge of the physical world. How to use various plants for uses as simple as flavour in cooking or to mask a poison, how to mix mineral compounds to form substances that could ignite and burn and to create acids as well.
 
My brother and I were mainly instructed in such things in the physical world by the Father, Hris. His extensive knowledge poured into us until we felt we would burst. Our minds were pushed the hardest they had ever been. Should we fail to remember something we have previously been told of there was serious repercussions. It was in this year that I first felt that my life was going to end before I had achieved oneness with Quilyn and I would become a lost soul.

Father had finished a particularly difficult lesson on the relativity of matter in the observable universe and asked me a question about the manifestations of energy. I was tired and lost focus and could not answer his question. Without a word he stepped towards me taking from his pocket a leaden sap. The blows came fast and hard and I soon collapsed into consciousness as he with calm dead eyes completed his punishment.  

I awoke several days later having come out of my coma to see Father sitting beside my cot. I had suffered no broken bones but had severe bruising, a concussion and a humiliating lesson which my brother had watched without raising a hand to help me. I was proud of his strength and thankful to the father for my lesson. My lapse in concentration could mean the difference between success or failure on the path of Quilyn.


The Mother also continued her instruction on the nature of Quilyn to us. We learnt about the nature and number of the teachers. That the number of teachers represented the sacred number of the world, the number twelve is a reflection of the significance in the spiritual and material worlds and they represent this. The Mother and the other teachers are known as the Sect of Twelve.
 
The Mother took great care informing us that while we had given her our unswerving allegiance we would soon have to choose five other teachers that we would serve in subsequent order should the Mother fall or move onto paradise through death under the Quilyn. Those five we were to successively assume to be our new teacher as if they had taken the role of the Mother, in all respects. Those we did not select were to be regarded as any other person we would meet in our lives. They are persons devoid of spiritual knowledge and unworthy of reverence.

By the end of the third year we came forth once more, my brothers and sisters before the twelve teachers which included Mother and Father. When called upon to choose I chose the Father, he had shown me the path and brought me back to it and I respected him for that. I also chose Jurn for her quiet and patient physical training, Lordran for his skills in close combat which I much preferred over the distance weapon training. I also chose Mograf a hulking brute of a man whose knowledge of intimidation and mental strength had given me new insights into the depths of my own self. Finally I chose Elquirlyn a dark elf steeped in the lore of Quilyn who rivalled the mother in her own knowledge. He had come with the mother from the underdark where she had trained in Quilyn many years ago and aided her in setting up the order deep beneath Hurm. His secret knowledge was deep and vast and it was him that gave her such a good grasp of the sacred language of Quilyn. The tongue of the dark elves.

Once our choices were made we were separated again. My brother and I stayed together but others were taken to other caverns. Our schedules were re-arranged so that we did not see those teachers we had not selected. They were nothing to us now. Our reliance on them had ended.

[Dezza]

Our fourth year was the heaviest year of our learning. The spiritual path of the Quilyn and our place in the multiverse. Day in and day out we sat through lecture after lecture and intoned the words of the Quilyn. The Quilyn is more than life, more than the gods, more than good or evil it is more than magic and more than time itself. Nothing can greater that the code we follow.

Each of my six teachers took turns at instructing me in the spiritual aspect of their fields. The Mother instructed my brother and I in the doctrine of the twelve prophetic periods. The times through which the world has progressed since its creation in terms of spiritual philosophy. This was compounded by studies in the nature of Quilyn, the code and the unique positions of the Sect of Twelve in each enclave.

Overall the mother explained that there were never more than and never less than twelve enclaves. If an enclave was destroyed then the nearest Sect of Twelve would select six more teachers to take a place in their own sect and six of the original enclave's teachers would select six more from their best full initiates to take with them to form a new sect of twelve.

Ancient prophecies in the original dark elf enclaves say that should an enclave fail to be replaced within thirty periods of rest then the remaining will fall and the 'souls of the neophytes would be cast into the most terrible regions of multiverse there to suffer from an eternity of exclusion from the code'.  The prophecies explain in detail the fate to meet a follower of Quilyn and the readings caus even the best amongst the Sects of the Twelve to shiver in abject horror at the thought of it.

Through this training we were also taught the details of each god from the pantheon that watched over our world, inducted into their teachings, and shown the falsities of their beliefs. The only gods that could be relied on in some moderate form were the ones who imparted the laws of Quilyn upon the dark elves so long ago, the Mother of Darkness, Baraeon Ca'Duz and Az'atta before she fell from grace. There is also some level of allowance made for Aragen for the knowledge that is available to all from his followers.

The final lesson that we are taught until we live it in every part of our being is that striving for the purest form of Quilyn is our ultimate esoteric goal and one which will grant us eternal paradise. The hard journey, the sacrifice, the striving for perfection through body and mind is our sole purpose and only chance to achieve this.

At the end of this year I was called forth alone to stand before my six teachers, each of my brothers and sisters underwent the same process. In my case the Mother stepped forward and intoned the rite of spiritual enlightenment;

'Through the code our paths are brought to absolute perfection.
Through the code our lives are brought to ultimate fulfillment.
Through control and discipline our thoughts are purified.
Through Quilyn our deeds become the measure by which honour is allocated. Through honour to Quilyn we ascend beyond the mortal boundaries to the realms of paradise.'

These words I repeated, imprinted on my mind these words can never be forgotten, they are part of the fibre of my being, engraved on my soul.

I was then asked to select the number by which my fifth year would be judged. I felt a momentary distraction by confusion but my mind had grown much sharper over this last year and instinctively I called forth the number of the twelve. Thus in the name of the Twelve I was sent forth to begin my fifth year. The year of the science of numbers was to begin.

[Dezza]

My fifth year.

In all the realms, all the nations, all the layers of the multiverse there is only one true language, the language of numbers. Never had I entertained the vast potential locked within a simple figure before being introduced to the purpose of numbers. I found my mind quick and agile from the learning it had been forced to adapt to, the language of numbers came easily to me. That was until halfway through the year before we came to the science of Quilyn.

The path of the code has many forms but in all those forms it contains one constant and that is the relationship of numbers. The Science of Quilyn endeavoured to teach us that relationship. Trying to combine numbers to an ideal as all consuming and powerful as the code was the most challenging part of my training that year. At first I failed to grasp the relationship between numbers and non physical presence and allowed doubt to enter my mind. A thought that was anathema in the code. There cannot be doubt in the code for in doubting the code I would fail in Quilyn. Quilyn is absolute truth, the purest form of truth that exists in the multiverse and that is proven in the numbers and the science.

Theoretically, in both the real and unreal, the existing and the absent Quilyn comes to one number. The perfect number that is the centre of all. The number 12. Hence there are twelve enclaves of Quilyn at any one time; there are always twelve teachers in each sect, our calendar revolves around twelve cycles of passing with 3 sets of twelve days per passing.
 
It is said that the original twelve disciples of Quilyn were formed in a sacred alignment of twelve worlds known to the vastness of the multiverse, that their birth coincided with this alignment and that they came together in the twelfth year of their birth from twelve separate families of the dark elves at the calling of the gods of the dark ones.

These twelve were instructed in the nature and code of the Quilyn; of its transcendent authority and power over all things in the known multiverse. Then they were given the prophecies that had been given to the gods by something more ancient and all powerful than could possibly be contained within any plane, layer, world or dimension within the known and unknown multiverse.

The gods then reached into the bodies of each of the twelve and removed their hearts so that they could never be led astray from the path they had chosen. The twelve then sought eleven others each and so became the twelve enclaves of Quilyn.

I had learned that the Mother had been within one of these enclaves within the Underdark and when another sect was wiped out in a dark elf war she was selected to begin a new sect. The first outside the race of the dark elves to be granted such an honour. The Mother had thus founded her enclave deep beneath the city of Hurm where we were now the Twelfth sect of the twelve, the first to exist outside the realms of the dark elf society from which such perfection had evolved. A factor that I was later to discover that also could be said to have made us to be the most vulnerable.
 
At the end of the year I as brought before my six chosen teachers to intone the learning's of the numbers, the science of the Quilyn. As the last words left my lips my clothes were torn roughly from my body, all except my hood which remained to conceal my true face from my brothers and sisters.  I stood there my mortal flesh revealed to those around me, I sought not to cover my indecency for I had no thought for it. It was mortal flesh, if it pleased or displeased did not concern me, I was more than that. I knew the code, I knew the Quilyn, I was part of that transcendence.

For long moments I stood before them fully revealed until Elquirlyn came forward with a long dark robe of coarse black fibres that scratched my skin as he pulled it over my shoulders and left it fall about me. In the pure tongue of the dark elves he recited;

"Enter the Sixth year of your passage, the half of the full sacredness of the Quilyn. Enter clothed in defiled flesh and blood. Such is the passage of the flesh to the transcendent that will be your sixth."

A hard whip lashed the backs of my lower legs where the robe did not cover, within my hood I winced but I did not call out. I felt the blood trickle down my heels. Thus I was led away to a cell that was to be my home for the next year.

[Dezza]

This year proved a challenging one. A year of mental and physical strengthening; of training in ancient methods of calming the mind, cleansing thought. My training this year pushed every one of my senses to breaking point and beyond. The thorough mental and physical preparation and conditioning took its toll on some but as the Father indicated over and over again was if we cannot adapt or prepare for the unknown then how could we survive if it came upon us. My teachers Jurn, Lordran and Mograf constantly repeated to me that we need to be able to react with innate instinct to any situation we find ourselves within, if not there will be a good chance that we will fail in our mission and thus shame ourselves under the code. Their methods would be considered harsh by most and extreme by others but it was necessary to become the code and serve Quilyn faithfully.

Some of the things we had to endure involved spending weeks at a time in small dark confined spaces with only ritual words and sayings to aid keep us sane and focused. To slow our breathing to the point where our hearts would barely flutter, to hold our breath under water or in the presence of gases for long periods, to find calm amidst cacophony, to fast for long periods or suffer from deprivation of water. So many things we were subjected to, to further threaten and push or upper limits, to find our capacity to serve the code.

The hardest lesson of them all was the isolation of pain. We were subjected to regular beatings with staves, lead saps or in hand to hand combat all in the effort to force us to push pain from our minds. In many once they reach a certain level of pain their senses and body shuts down unable to handle the physical stress, we have to learn how to operate beyond those boundaries. Pain only affects the physical body, we can overcome it, our minds are what drives our body, we do not let our body control our minds.

In learning there was very little except repeated lessons from the Mother that we are above the laws that are placed on those who dwell without the code. The code is our law, our canon and all that matters. Its transcendental omnipotent presence was more important than any moral, law or belief held by any outside the code. We were the ultimate holders of Quilyn. Its physical embodiment, constantly we must strive to fulfil our ultimate destiny so that we may attain paradise within Quilyn.

I survived this year. The last vestiges of emotion controlled, pain overridden, and my body mine to command. At the end of the year, when as custom dictates I stood before my teachers I said nothing and showed no recognition as the Mother stood before me and praised me for the first time in six years with the words 'You show promise Leisa, Quilyn surely guided my selection of you'. I did not respond, to do so would be seen as arrogance; I had learnt well. Still, deep within me there was a small piece that was my allowance, my piece of emotion. And in that moment I knew I would willingly sacrifice my life for the fulfilment of the code should it be so required.

As the culmination of the year I stood alone surrounded by my teachers, each took turns to question me on things I had learnt over the last six years. This was the text I had to face to go any further and they seemed satisfied with my answers. Then before them all a ceremonial dagger was brought forth and each cut a circle imposed over an upright equilateral triangle  into the thumb on their right hand and pressed it to my forehead in turn. Then I had to do the same to each of them.

When done Elquirlyn intoned the sacred words of ritual passing and they withdrew form the room leaving me with dark comfortable robes which I was to wear in my seventh year.

[Dezza]

Seventh Year
In this my seventh year my mind was opened to reading the signs in the world, signs placed there by the power of the all consuming and all knowing multiverse. The interpretation of such signs and their use as a tool for knowing became my sole responsibility. I leant about both natural signs such as when night crawlers seek solace on the roof of a cavern there will soon be creatures passing through the area. They sense the tremor in the rock floor and seek shelter naturally, that ducks flying out of formation over a course of water indicates something they see as a threat has disturbed their planned landing place. Any one of these natural occurrences can be harnessed to observe changes in the physical world and thus used in finding our mark. They are provided by the multiverse for followers of Quilyn and those who can read the signs can always be prepared and always know that the ultimate power that is the Quilyn, that governs all things.

Occult learning's of both the world beneath and the land and skies above, all exists from the power of the multiverse. A follower of the path of Quilyn is steeped in arcane and divine knowledge of the past, present and with full enlightenment we hope to see the future as well. In this year I finally understood the level of knowledge my teachers possessed, I began to realise with insight that comes from adherence to the code that I too could possess such knowledge and in essence I come to realise what I would forever seek on the path. It finally became clear to me as well my connection to each of my teachers, my connection to the code and ultimately to the path of Quilyn. In this spiritual enlightenment I begin to see the path. I begin to see Quilyn.  Everything is connected in some way or another. To seek a mark we must see the microcosms of the multiverse and seek to remove that person from that final perfection. In essence we serve the Quilyn, by demonstrating our enlightenment and understanding of it we attain a higher order self and are closer to perfection within the multiverse.

There are so many strands that our feeble human minds can never see fully what we are to achieve, only through death on the path of Quilyn will we finally be inducted into the ultimate mystery and perfection of the Multiverse.

At the end of the seventh year my very soul was humbled by the power of that which I had been selected to follow and as I gathered before my teachers they laid their hands on my head, covered as always with my cloth hood. I was forced to kneel as they intoned in the tongue of the first disciples the ritual acceptance of the completion of this year.

"Taken from the fabric of abandonment, formed of earth and blood, this empty vessel has been filled with the purest forms of power and risen to have revealed unto them the nature of the code and the path of Quilyn.
By the purity of the belief of the first disciples, by the transcendence of the Multiverse, by the code and by the path they are deemed possessed of such knowledge that they exist above mortal men and enter the realm of those who see the path for what it is.

Let no earthly force weaken them, no divine influence deter them, no arcane ritual bind them, they are Quilyn, theirs is the revelation of perfection, they are...."

With that the Mother withdrew my hood and for the first time in seven years, except when bathing and such was done in strictest privacy, since I had donned the hood when I stood with my many brothers and sisters I was revealed. Each of the teachers removed their hoods as well and we gazed on each other for the first time. Only the Mother and the Father had I ever seen before, seven years ago in the orphanage.

In some ways I felt more defiled than the revelation of my body in my sixth year. This was in essence the true me being unveiled and at once I became aware that now I had to trust these people as they had to trust me. I had never trusted anyone in my life but here I began to realise the honour in what had just occurred. I would never betray them, to betray them was to betray the code and they trusted me to hold to the code. The responsibility was yet another revelation of the power of the multiverse and for the first time in as many years as I can remember I wept silent tears.

It was not emotion that caused me to weep thus for I had learnt to control that some time ago it was the overwhelming sense of responsibility and honour placed in me by these six people, an honour I would never betray.
The mother stood before me and bid me to rise before wiping away my silent tears; she then kissed me on my forehead and marked my cheeks with sacred oil. In turn each of the teachers came forth and performed the same action and when done they stood aside allowing me to step through a door where I would undergo my eighth year.  

Once through I replaced my hood, I was now able to remove it whenever I was alone or with one of the teachers alone. I still could not be seen amongst any others without it for no one should know my true identity except my chosen teachers.

I looked forward to what awaited me next.

[Dezza]

Already in my time have I engaged in weapons drills and taught weaknesses in armour, shields, magical wards and such. Taught always to think that no matter how difficult it seemed there was always a way. To a follower that believed in the Quilyn they would see the strands of the multiverse that they could alter and affect. Never had I realised the depth of honour there was in killing a designated foe. In this year this revelation came to my mind and a higher level of understanding of the code and its place on the path became mine.

This was the year of the laws of the code, what we could do, what we could not do, what was part of the code and what was beneath it. For example it was beneath the code to slay creatures that had not been marked and I could derive no honour from it. It was allowed to be done of course for how else could the adherent keep their skills honed and see the more mundane workings of the multiverse in action, but it was done outside the code and thus no honour was attributed to it. Once I accepted a target then it came under the realm of the Quilyn and my actions would be judged by the multiverse. It was here when honour was earned. The more worthy the foe the more honour was ascribed to the action. Failure was not a loss of honour as long as I had done all that I possibly could to achieve my mark. Failure in such circumstances would remind me that I have yet to strive for a more deeper understanding of Quilyn. If however I failed because I did not act in full capability then this was to be seen as a failure of the path and the code and I would be forced to end my life and seek redemption from the accursed realm where the multiverse tested all its servants.

By the end of the year there was nothing but vision of the code, adherence to the path and service to Quilyn. Death was my gift, my honour. There could be no emotion for emotion was weakness. Failure to serve Quilyn was to live without the multiverse, a fate worse than any death imaginable and to be avoided at all costs. I was the one who lived within the multiverse, my eyes, the ones that could see the path. There was only I and there was the multiverse.

At the end of that year I stood before my teachers; unhooded, disrobed, but garbed in the power of the knowledge of the code and the path of Quilyn. This was all I was. I was no longer a part of anything resembling the realities that others outside the code existed within. I was a disciple of Quilyn.

The Mother stepped forward and lay clothes of fine dark weave before me. The father stepped forward and laid a pair of short blades over the clothes. In turn each of my Chosen stepped before me and left gifts. Jurn, who had driven my physical development lay a bag full of items used for drills, Lordran, a set of leather gloves and a short bow with a full quiver; Mograf, the hulking brute of a man left a bag of small deadly implements and finally Elquirlyn, the dark elf teacher steeped in the lore of Quilyn who was the only one I knew that rivalled the mother in her own knowledge. Elquirlyn left a pouch containing several vials of potent poisons and some antidotes as well, her skills with such materials unrivalled by any in the sect.

Once all gifts had been presented I was escorted to a place I only vaguely remembered in the underground complex that had been my home for eight years. At times we went outside and trained in the countryside or in various locations. The only time I had used this passage before had been when the mother first brought me to the enclave. We walked in silence after I dressed and concealed my weapons and equipment I had been given. After ascending for some time we entered a large basement where a number of guards, who to my observations looked extremely proficient, stood around the room.
We stopped and waited as heavy iron bolts were drawn back from the iron reinforced door. The Mother turned to me and spoke.

"Remove your hood." She paused while I did so. "Your eighth year is complete. You walk the path of Quilyn and are ready to be tested. You have one year in which to learn about the world, travel, learn, engage in it but do not be lured by it for in reality it does not exist but is only the fabric of the multiverse. Remember your training and return here in exactly one year by the astrological time. If you do so you will enter the final year of your training."
She handed me a plain leather carrying bag which was already packed. "Within are basic things you will need to begin, including some coins. You control your destiny now."
 
Then she intoned the code of Quilyn as a blessing and with her all my teachers,

"Through the code our paths are brought to absolute perfection. Through the code our lives are brought to ultimate fulfilment. Through control and discipline our thoughts are purified. Through Quilyn our deeds become the measure by which honour is allocated. Through honour to Quilyn we ascend beyond the mortal boundaries to the realms of paradise."

The door swung wide and I stepped forth.

[Dezza]

The time has come.. the deadline nears quickly. Soon the moons shall rise in the exact conjuction on which I was told to return. Should I fail to meet this deadline and be waiting when the doors are opened once more then it will be as if I never existed. I would be forced to become an exile in the world or succumb to the will of the multiverse.

I can return with my head held high as I have honoured Quilyn as I was trained and called on to do. As well as this I have made my first official kill which fulfils both the code and the nature of Quilyn. It was a clean and honourable kill.

Hired by a family in Kartherian I have been bid to work with a select group formed for a delicate task. Into this group came a priestess of Mist called Muireann by the others within the core group. Knowing the nature of the goddess she served I immediately was apprehensive due to the delicate nature of our mission. The group voted and agreed to allow her to journey with us and to shae the bounty offered by the Alinni family. I continued to watch her thinking she may very well cause the mission to be jeapordised.

It was not long before her chaotic nature revealed itself, after several deaths amidst the party, several arguments things came to a head when the priestess decided to attack our groups main warrior by suprise. With this priestess in our party our mission would surely fail. Under the auspice of the code I took action to protect the mission. As she gloated over her kill I moved in striking swiftly from magical darkness to aid my attack. My challenge took her by suprise and as she tried to protect herself I struck again and again from darkness. Each time she tried to cast her magics I struck until eventually she tried to back away and protect herself. I did as I was bid by the code and by Quilyn. I did not falter in my attack until the target was eliminated. For her it was an honourable death at the hands of one trained in the Quilyn. for myself it was an increase in my own honour under the code that will be accorded to me when I return to my teachers for the final part of my training. it also means our mission can continue and subterfuge and guile can still be utilised.

[Dezza]

The time was upon me; I had arrived in Hurm the night before by ship from Leringard and waited in an inn nearby. Now I stood in the basement of the library and waited. To my right above my head is a grill through which I can see the alignment of stars in the night sky with which I had made my return.

Calmness comes, my breath slow and even, my pulse calm and steady. I hear the clicks of the locks and then the bolts being drawn back. A section of old books swings towards me and lit torchlight greets me.

Black cloaked and hooded figures are gathered beyond. It is the time of the Chosen. When my teachers come to gather me for my final training and final acceptance. I am the 'Returned'.

I step within, everything is taken from me and left by the entrance. Once again I don the hood of anonymity and the black robes of humility. No words are spoken. I am the Returned. Not many survive the training, enter the world and choose to return. For me there is nothing else but the code. Nothing but the Quilyn. I will serve the All and Nothing.
 
My year is spent in deep meditation, discussions of philosophy, distinct enlightened thought and ritual ceremonies. Through the enlightened path I ascend to a higher plan of transcendance. I see my place in the All and Nothing, that I am honoured such to be given the power to take from it that which the code and Quilyn decided must be taken. I finally realise what I had known in my soul for so long. I am the hand of Quilyn, I was..I am...the assassin.

In the final reckoning my deeds under the eyes of Quilyn are made known, the priestess of Mist, Muirean; the ambassadors of the Selene family of Kartherian and the other bounties I had claimed in my time on the surface.

Honour is gained in the eyes of my teachers. I am a student no more and can be called upon to enter the ranks of the Teachers at any time. Till then I return to the surface and carry out my destiny.

I am the hand of Quilyn. I am...the Assassin.

[Dezza]

Many years now I have walked amongst the races that litter the surface, learning their ways, observing their strengths and weaknesses, dealing in lives, blood and death. Such is always the path of Quilyn. I was once asked if I believed in fate and I said no, we live in the moment but now I have come to realise that within the code I am truly the hand of fate for those marked for death. It is by my hand that their life shall end, their fate is sealed.

In my dealings I have found that some would try to own my skills, to use them on a more permanent level. I have thought long and hard on this matter, the Mother and Father mentioned long ago that as our skills become know this aspect will appear before us. There is no answer to this under the Quilyn. In this it is one of the true questions each and every adherant to the Code must face, and answer.

I wonder what my answer will be.

[Dezza]

Lives and blood have departed this realm by my hand for many years now. Always I have adhered to the principles of Quilyn and now I find myself through all my experiences looking toward the future. I dare not look to far for that it seen as arrogance under the Path. We are the here and now, we are finality we are the Quilyn. People live and die by our judgements.

Someone asked me the other day if all I do is hunt what do I want to achieve in this life. I told them that I wish to achieve paradise and as such could only do so by attaining much honour during my time serving the Path. Of course without the knowledge that I have the person was quick to impose her thinking and belief systems on my own. All of which I could easily discount but for one particular thought. Under the Pathwe are allowed a small pocket of whats called oneness, it is at our core and part of who we are, a token personality or emotion state that we can nurture. In the past its found that adherants who had everything of themself stamped out of them in training became nothing more than mindless automatons unable to think for themselves beyond what the training gave them which limited adaptability and reasoning and many other things. So each adherant was allowed this pocket of 'oneness' in their being which made them far more suitable and stable for training and the strict codes of the Path.

I am permitted to feed my Oneness but never to let it grow so great that the emotions contained within it begin to drive my adherance to the Code. But I think of what I would do with it. To serve the Code fully I need more than what I have, Elquirlyn was a grand master at mixing poisons and brews, if there was something I could allow to call enjoyment it was in working with her in their creation. In my work I need ways of nuetralising those who use magic, this might be an opportunity to pursue perfection under the Quilyn and earn honour as well as nurture my Oneness at the same time.

[Dezza]

Goals and attainment. Arrogance is beaten out of an adherant early in their training in the Code. Recently I have begun to follow my own path under the Code. Deriving inspiration from my teacher Elquirlyn I have followed her path, finding a peace and satisfaction allowed to me through my pursuits. It was not long before I reached the peaks that surfacers knew of poisons and their uses and yet I felt there was so much more that they had lost.

I approached one whom I felt might guide me on the path and he generously offered to sponsor a wider pursuit. Therefore I hired people who I had a measure of trust for and had the necessary qualities I required for my undertaking.

In setting our from Dalanthar in my mind the mission was clear. To sweep the Sinister Forest looking for new breeds on hitherto unseen spiders and if unsuccessful to delve into the old abandoned temple to Ca'duz. Surely there I could find lost secrets relating to spiders and the uses of their venom. Neither was necessary in essence. As we pushed through old paths of the forest we came across a being. In hindsight I firmly believe in the strings of fate that the All and Nothng weaves for us to find and follow or lose and abandon. Thus we were drawn together.

A creature of great knowledge and power it very presence demanded life. So I gave it, well one of my party did, but it was necessary to the goal, and he was well paid for the sacrifice. In return the creature promised knowledge of the sort I sought. We were shown a path that led to a deeper and wlder part of the forest where a spider hitherto unknown on the surface dwelt. A spider one would not willingly seek out every other day without great planning and preparation. I was told of the cultivation methods and we proceeded.

For the first time I can recall in my life I felt a deep sense of satisfaction, it was an indulgence I knew but one I held for a short time before forcing it back so that I did not let the emotion overcome my judgment. With the prize in hand we left the place where its juveniles threatened to overwhelm us and returned once mor to the glade where we had met the creature. Promises and agreements have been made. Some have yet to be fulfilled. for now I am content to study the gland I have discovered, measurements are first, size, weight, dimensions, notes of the surface tensions, carrying capacity and the like.
{What follows is extensive drawings and notes taken about the gland and its dimensions including some sketches of the spider and the gland.}

[Dezza]

My training continues, when I am not taking a Mark then anything in between must be training to ensure I do not lose my edge, that I am always ready. Such has occured this day. Travelling the desert on Dreger the group I had accompanied emerged from the caverns of silver to find a force arranged on the desert. A patrol of some sort dressed in armour I did not recognise. Without any sort of recognizance the party dealt with the patrol and moved on. My initial thoughts were they were part of a larger force that would come for us once they found their patrol dead on the desert sands. My thoughts were confirmed soon enough when we came upon another patrol near the topaz caves. This time I make sure to scout ahead ot check numbers nd intentions. My observations were confirmed by a party member that they were Dragon Stealers or Cult members.

I studied the fear on the faces of those present in the light of that information. Fear creates weakness and I saw a great deal in their faces. I gave them the facts of the enemy arragement and saw that in doing so it alleviated their fear and they moved into action. I allowed them to deal with the enemy while I sought to ensure there were no more of them and try to ascertain their original path. It became apparent to me they were looking for something. Given their background I suspected I knew what that was.

After the battle I informed the others of my suspicions, the Dragon Stealers were seeking the dragon that dwelt deep in the caves below us. The party decided to try and warn the Dragon and we moved inside. I hesitated at the motivations of the group, many wanted to kill everything in the caves to seek the Dragon but I remembered Mogrufs words to me from my training that you do not earn honour in meeting a master by slaying his dogs. Therefore no blood spilled by my blades as I moved through the complex. While he others slew with abandon.

Reaching the access point to the Dragons lair I found the wards and seals gone, while I contemplated the area many of the party charged through and I soon heard the sounds of combat beyond. Approaching cautiously I saw one had already fallen and many of the others were falling back in disarray at an onslaught of the Dragons forces. As I arrived in the midst of the battle, still yet hidden the mage in our group slew by great magic the protector of the Dragon, then they fled. I do not know what compelled me to act but there was no honour in how such a fierce and honourable creature had been slain so I restored life to her and informed her of what was occuring. I get the impression that she respected my actions. She informed me her master would get my message and that we should leave. I did so at her command leaving the others who had shown little regard for honour to their fates.

[Dezza]

After extensive testing and retracing my steps through my notes I can only have concluded that somewhere I have missed an element in the extraction and preparation of the poison that we reclaimed from the unsual spider. I meditated on the answer for some time going back over events in my mind, I checked all my tools for anything that may have racted with the agents I used and thus affect the poison. I am sure that it is something small, something I have overlooked, something I can overcome if given the opportunity.

The creature must have some means of observing my actions or sensing my thoughts. I was in the house carefully storing the glands of various spiders I had collected when it appeared and asked how my research was progressing. I explained the entire process I followed and my observations and reflections on the failure of the experiment. It was in imparting such knowledge that a clear thought entered my mind as to why the experiment failed and when the creature told me that I had failed on one point I instantly knew what it was. Light.
When I said as much the creature bared its teeth which I suspected was a smile and granted me another chance to harvest the creatures poison. This time I will be fully prepared.

[Dezza]

What follows are several recorded pages of sketches and notes clearly outlining two new spider types, the Arach Natar and the Dryad Spider.

I have encountered perhaps the most dangerous spider I have ever come across before. Its aura has the ability to clouds ones mind and bring negative emotions to the surface with devestating effect. In our attempt to locate and claim the venom of the spider we very nearly succeeded in eliminating each other. There are few times that I have lost control of my emotions in my life, this was one of the worst and I would have lost honour had not everyone else been affected also. I am currently studying the spider and its venom intently to see if there is a way to avoid the mind affect and ultimately how I can generate the poison I need without destroying the venom. I am taking every precaution I can.