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Marmar's Field Journal: Entry 3: Soul Searching

By: Marmar

Marmar growled, her face covered in blood as it ran from the slash to her forehead. It was getting harder to see and the planar invaders only grew in number. A wave of fiery raptors, dragonians, and elementals rapidly seared the flesh off her body. It was too much at once. Several blades across her back. Fireballs left and right. Her staff shattered in charcoal. They would not cease until the High Elf was torn apart, limb from flaming limb.

Marmar sighed. She was dead again, and she didn't like it. A Messenger of Vigil floated beside her, her guide back to what remained of her corpse. Normally Marmar would start racing back to her body, but this time she remained still. It was a different world right now. Everything living was gone, and there was no sound beyond the silent absence of life. She began to stroll through the quiet canyons of Shimmersand, non- existent winds filled with sand moving through her form. They were there, but not to her. Or was it that she was not there and the wind was real? It was not like Marmar could feel the warm breeze.

“How strange. I take this travel for granted so many times, but never bothered to ask what it truly was. Why is it I don't go to the soulstream? Why don't I remain dead as Carwin had fallen?”

The Messenger of the Vigil glided beside her as she thought aloud. “You are troubled, Ascended?”

“Indeed I am. What is this realm exactly?”

The Messenger of the Vigil looked ahead, her veiled face always unreadable as she flew next to Marmar. “This is the world of spirits. Not the like of Ember Isle as those are believed to be born from the Nexus of Telera itself.” The winged being explained further. “You have encountered lost souls wandering the land of living correct? Beings unable to separate from some worldly issue that ties them to the living world.”

Marmar nods. “Yes I have. Many widows and despairing victims of horrid rituals who seek vengeance or some sign that it's alright to pass on. So this is the realm they see?”

The Messenger of the Vigil gave the most minute of nods. “The Vigil cannot force them to move on. Each soul must travel to the soul stream of their own accord and there they will find eternal peace. Not even the great evil of the Devourer can claim them.”

Marmar frowned. “And yet he succeeded in pulling that witch Asha from the soulstream no?”

“It was with great power and persistence that he tormented her, but fully returning a soul taken from the soul stream isn't something even Regulos is capable of doing on a consistent basis. For a time, his follower Alsbeth managed this in an unrefined form via a device the Ascended later destroyed for good.”

As they drew closer to the plateau where Marmar had been killed, the High Elf's pace slowed even further. “How do you mean unrefined? I recall the cipher being a tool for plucking and identifying specific souls directly from the soulstream.”

Again the Messenger of the Vigil nods. “That is true, Ascended. However the Soul Cipher did not offer a true second life. Those returned had to be bound to Regulos in order to remain within the realm of the living. You recall the creatures within the River of Souls yes? All of them were once Telerans from different times and eras, all pulled violently from their peace. The control Alsbeth claimed over them was but an illusion of tormented submission. The poor lost souls.”

Marmar hummed, absorbing everything the Messenger had told her. “So why is Carwin still dead?”

“Carwin Mathos of Mathosian was struck down by his brother Aedraxis, who was serving as Regulos' avatar. A direct strike from the Destroyer was too great for the Vigil to mend. His body cannot be returned nor can his soul return to the soulstream's tranquility. It is like the markings now adorning Asha Catari of the Defiants. The touch of a dragon cannot be undone.”

“So is that it, Messenger? We are just warriors until we are hit with something too perplexing to undo?”

“Have faith in the Vigil, Ascended. I can tell you don't believe your existence is merely to fight and die so why do you ask such a question?”

Marmar shrugged. They had arrived at her remains and she could see vaguely into the world of the living around her. A party of other Ascended both Guardian and Defiant had unleashed their fury upon the planar hordes and seemed to be doing a fine job of holding the location. Leaving the Messenger of the Vigil, Marmar leaned down to reunite with her remains. In a bright flash, her body reformed around her soul. First bones, then flesh, then cloth. After a quick sip of ale, Marmar 's hand flared with charged lighting. After the storm of fire thrown her way, the mage thought it fit to drown each and every invader from the Plane of Fire where they stood.