You suddenly feel a pain of great loss hit your heart, and really do not understand where it comes from.
Suddenly you stop what you are doing, as the faces of Sidney and Hera cloud your vision.
In your daydream, you hear them speak in unison...
"Greetings, Fellow Dreamers....We are afraid we have some terrible news to relate to you. Something terrible has happened to our Lady Deliena, and we wish to relate the story so that you may never forget her or what she has done for us all."
"It all started just a few short weeks ago..... Lady Deliena came to us and told us of a force trying to change Prophecy here in Terris. The force was from another dimension, even another time period, and entered the lands through our Dreams..... The name attached to this force was Rellevart. Deliena told us that the force was searching for a point in history that it could emerge and take over Terris. A weak point that it could take advantage of. Knowing that this was a breach of prophecy, Deliena Dreamtravelled back in time to meet Rellevart and put a stop to it's nonsense. Deliena thought it just a minor problem and decided to handle it alone, forcing us to stay back. She also didn't want to risk any altering of history or prophecy so her opinion was that the less people that went, the safer things would be. No one knew the extent of Rellevart's power."
"Rellevart emerged in a time long past....and took the form of a gigantic, hideous beast. It came thru the dreams and nightmares of people in an attempt to gain a foothold into the lands. It knew that perception is more real than reality to most people and that if people had the perception and believed what they were seeing was real, then it would gain a true and solid form in the lands with nothing in that time period to stop it."
"Deliena confronted the beast in the Dreamworld before it had a chance to take on the solid form of reality. A terrible clash ensued as dreams and nightmares warped themselves into instruments of battle to be hurled at one another. The fever of the battle pitched higher and higher as each sought to overcome the other in the nightmarish sorties. Deliena had no way to imagine the powers of the beast that dreamed itself in front of her."
"The more solid it became in this world, the more power it seemed to wield. They fought for days....all in the Dreaming world....and each attack and counter became more vicious than the last. Deliena had underestimated the power of the force that she faced...but that force had also underestimated Deliena....Thinking her some trivial insect...to be overcome easily. That mistake would prove to be costly....but it would be costly on both sides."
"Deliena knew that she could not destroy what was not truely substantial. She could only fend it off, or push it away...but never truely destroy it. However, those battles were also weakening Rellevart, because it took much of it's power to combat Deliena. Deliena allowed Rellevart to become more and more solid on this plane but slowly..and in a weakened state. She had to wait for the right time.....when it was more solid than insubstantial......before she made her final move."
"She would send us reports of her progress when she had moments of rest. She was the only one who could Dreamtravel so we could not get there to help her....and she could not chance coming back to get us as it would leave an opening unguarded for Rellevart to come to full existence. Deliena knew that if that happened, none would be strong enough in that era to stop him and Dreamtravelling too many people back had it's own perilous dangers. So, she did what she could. She stayed and fought by herself. (Remember....that to ask for help in that era may have altered history and prophecy...so she could not do so.)"
"On the eighth day of battle, Deliena got her opportunity to strike and destroy Rellevart. On the eighth day it became more solid and had it's first full grasp of reality. Deliena knew she had to strike now before it could grow any stronger or all would be lost. She faced her threat with the courage and confidence of a hundred queens. Rellevart looked down upon her with little more than contempt. It knew it at last had a foothold in reality and knew it's powers were growing by the moment. It saw no chance to be stopped now. It gave a scalding laugh and uttered these words. ""I am what you have never seen.....The power of powers, the being of beings....I will take what will be and mold it to me....The future as you knew it will never be...""
"In it's arrogance, it turned it's back on Deliena to start it's onslaught on the world.....Feeling as though it were omnipotent. It was then that Deliena struck with a fury. She summoned the Orb of Prophecy and with lightning speed and the precision of the greatest archer, she hurled the Orb at Rellevart striking it in the left temple. It lodged itself a solid two feet into the creature's skull. With absolute shock and utter hatred, it whirled on Deliena forcing the full brunt of it's might upon her and slamming her to the ground. All the while, Deliena uttered the incantations that would allow the Orb to do it's work....never losing her concentration. She loosed the balance of her chanting into the Orb not really knowing what to expect but knowing it was a risk she had to take.....for the Temple...for the Realm......"
"What happened next is almost indescribable. A multi-array of colors exploded from Rellevart's skull...from every orifice. The Orb projected image after image into Rellevart's mind....Faster and more intense as each image passed. The scenes were of Prophecies long past and Prophecies not yet lived...Faster and faster each scene flew by....Harder and harder each scene slammed into it's mind with the force of exploding stars... Waves from the concussions could be felt by Deliena...keeping her sprawled to the ground. A blood-curdling scream ripped through Rellevart's throat as the realization of what was happening struck home. The flashes of light grew more intense by the moment....like a giant strobe. The air was as dense and thick as tar as the pressure in Rellevart's mind grew. Everything seemed to be cascading in on itself...dreams, reality, prophecies, nightmares. Everything had the appearance of slowly being sucking into Rellevart's mind."
"Every concussion knocked the the breath from Deliena's lungs. She tried frantically to scramble to a safe place but there was no safe place in sight....Her movements seemed a vain attempt to crawl inches where she needed to run miles. She cast a Dragon Shards spell and a Magic Armor spell upon herself for what little benefit they offered. She was slowly being crushed by the magnitude of what was happening around her. She knew she could not leave because she had to see what was to happen. But she also knew that if she stayed, it would most likely mean her death. Lightning like flashes exploded around her.....the roar was deafening...Then in the next instant, all went silent...."
"The shock of the silence held her paralyzed for a second...but only a second. The concussions had torn open the ground and she glanced at the crack and then at Rellevart's form of a face. There was the look of utter horror and confusion painted on it's barely discernable features. A knowing of what was about to happen. Deliena cast one final spell and with the last of her energy, Deliena dove into the rift in the ground and sharply fell about 10 feet before slamming into the thick root of some long dead tree. She clung there for dear life and stared in shock at what was happening above her." She shielded herself from falling debris but the light alone nearly blinded her. She starred in awe at what she was witnessing, wondering how she had managed to survive this long."
"Rellevart's mind writhed in pain and then all was silent. A huge pressure was massed in it's head...boiling....ready to erupt. At that instant Rellevart knew it had made a mistake about this Deliena creature...and it knew what that was about to cost it. It's eyes had been burned from from it's physical skull but it's senses picked up movement off to it's left. It's mind's eye saw the shadow of something as it plunged down a rift in the ground. ""Deliena.... Good....That would destroy her too!"" Rellevart thought as satisfaction crossed it's mind. A slight smile crossed it's charred lips and the effort left them oozing with a liquidy substance. Then all thought and existence ceased in the next instant as Rellevart erupted like a supernova."
"Everything was nothing and nothing was everything....all in an instant. The explosion washed across the ground wiping out everything in it's path and then struck a magical wall....the last spell Deliena had cast before she leapt into the rift. The magical wall absorbed the brunt of the explosion and forced what it couldn't absorb into the world of Dreams. The backblast swept back across the land as the last of it was absorbed by the magical barrier and then all was silent once more."
"When the silence fell once more, Deliena, weakened and battered, climbed out of the crack. A chill washed over her at what she witnessed now. A huge fissure spanned it's way across the dome barrier she had constructed. But, the fissure was not in the barrier itself....it was a rip in the fabric between reality and dreams...in prophecy and time. Dread washed over her as the enormity of what had happened finally struck her. She had saved the Temple and saved the Realm....but in doing so she had damaged something she was not sure she could fix.....And knew that if it could be fixed, it would take an eternity to so. Not to mention what other incredible dangers this fissure now poses."
"With no one to help her mend the rip...and not daring to ever leave the fissure unattended before it is fixed, Deliena settled herself into the task of starting to reconstruct what she knew may never be patched. She contracted herself to be the Guardian of the Fissure and promised to defend it with her very existence."
::::::: You see Hera sobbing....With a tear in his eye, Sidney speaks the last of what is to be said....:::::::::
"She managed to send us back the story of which we just related to you and also said that it may come to pass that she never returns to us. She says that her messages will be few and far between as all of her energy will be put into repairing the damage. She asked us to close the Temple for that time, until her return, as exploring Dreams too indepth may be perilous with the rift. She sends all her love and devotion to you all and hopes that someday the rift is repaired and we can all be a Temple again."
With tears in their eyes, Sidney and Hera close the Temple doors and magically seal them shut. Each gives you a hug and reminds you that we will ALWAYS be family.........
With that, you awaken as the daydream disperses.
