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[Bailos]

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Sitting up in his desk, King Talon Skyfire pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes for moment giving them some much needed rest. He leaned back in his chair and set down the small stack of papers he was organizing giving a knowing glance to the candle on the corner of his ornate, desk. The King sighed softly and smiled to himself that "just a glance at the papers" before bed turned in to scouring documents for the life of almost a full candle. He shut his eyes for but a moment to give his sore pupils a brief reprieve but that was enough for his heavy eyelids to drop their iron curtain.

Despite being in dire need of respite, Talon's slumber was eventful. He awoke within his dream to see himself on the shores of a lake. It was a very calm and comfortably warm summer's night just as dusk neared. The sun was below the tree line but painted a beautiful red and orange backdrop over the nearby forest. Talon could feel the grass between his fingers. He looked down and he was sitting on the edge of a bank in a loose, cotton shirt with his pant legs rolled up and his feet dangling in the water below. The grass was just becoming dewey with the night air but the water was still warm on the tired soles of his feet. He ran his hands through the grass and smiled, relaxing his weight and running his feet through the water slowly now. If only all dreams could be so pleasant...

His eyes moved up from the grass and looked out over the lake. Water bugs and other insects danced on the surface of the water, skimming for food and for fun, whatever it is such insects do. A pleasant and almost expected calm was firmly in control of the serene setting. Talon glanced out over the mirror-like water and admired the muted reflection of the sunset as a handful of ducks slowly made their rounds across the water. What's this? A ripple arches from the middle of the lake towards the dreaming King. From the middle of the lake, a small boat slowly drifts towards the bank.

As it grows nearer, Talon makes note of one man alone in his small craft. The boat itself would barely qualify as a rowboat but the man sits firmly in the middle with one paddle, gently steering and propelling it forward. Both the boat and the oar break the calm of the water's surface only long enough to accomplish their goal before restoring order to the quiet scene. When close enough to evaluate, Talon shifts forward and turns his expression of serenity to one of guarded curiosity. The lone man appears to be middle aged and well built with a darker complection. He is wearing a white, cotton shirt and gray pants tucked into black, shin-high boots. The only tell-tale facial feature is a short goatee of strawberry-blonde hair that is well groomed and closely cropped and a distinct lack of hair anywhere else save for the eyebrows.. This is enough for Talon to recognize the man as an old friend, Bailos. While the two have been less than best-of-friends for the last decade, this was a Bailos from a simpler time before him. When the King and his ideals were fresh and new, and Sanctus was but a fledgling town defended by hopes, dreams and duty.

The boat glided harmlessly to the shorely where Bailos tied it to a nearby short-dock and stepped off, leaving the oar behind. He slowly stepped down the dock, his boots treading very deliberately on the aged wood before stopping near Talon and sitting down on the bank along side him. Without words, Bailos lifted up his leg and removed one boot and set it behind him. Then, the other boot. He carefully reached down and pulled his socks off, one then the other, and placed them inside of one of the boots. Then he rolled up his pant legs and allowed his feet to gingerly, yet anxiously slip into the cool lake water next to Talon.

[[Talon's speech is in blue, Bailos is in Red]]

"It has been a long time, old friend."

"I believe it has been. But I am not sure which friend you come to me as. The honorable and duty bound man who stood by me, to protect honest people from the ravages of greedy and tyranny. Or if you come to me as the squelchier of life and the oppressor of the weak. The stealer of my throne and crown."

Looking to Talon and then shifting his gaze down to the water, Bailos replies as he begins to swish his feet through the lake, "You always try to side yourself. To clearly pit yourself against something. Your animal need to prove your strength. I always respected your vigor and tenacity, King Skyfire. Today I come to you as neither. "

"As long as wickedness and trechery of you and your ilk continues, I will gladly pit myself against any foe."

"Well said, good King. But at about this point you have to about be wondering why it is you would need dream me up to say -that-. No offense intended but I am hardly moved by your speech. Not to mention why you would conceive me in this state, and in this setting. Why not picture me clothed in all my finery and on top of a mountain of skulls with all my wicked servants at my beck and call for you to slay? That sounds like a fine dream for a King!"

Talon looked up from the water and out to the horizon before turning to back to Bailos. "No, I appear this way because I'd assume that with such a heavy burden as an entire kingdom on your shoulders you would naturally drift to the most relaxing place possible. I will commend you on your choice, this is lovely."

"I just closed my eyes for a moment to rest them and...", Talon's reply was interrupted.

"And what? You just drifted off accidentally? I know. I've lived your life, Talon. I've sat in your throne, I've run your city, I've been a citizen. Hell, I've even legitimately voted. I know things about you...I can know *more* things about you. I've tasted your family's bloodline, good King, and I want more." Then Bailos pushed himself off the embankment and landed on his feet in the first few shallow feet of the lake. He turned around and looked a Talon, whom was still sitting on the bank. "I am the thorn in the foot, I am the blur in the sight. I am the worm in the root, I am the thief in the night. I am the rat in the wall, the leper that leers at the gate. I am the ghost in the hall, the herald of horror and hate."

As Bailos began his chant, Talon's vision was drawn down to the water which had now become scummy and foul. The peaceful, clear waters were now stagnant, polluted and murky. Talon was able to suppress his initial reaction to vomit from the putrid smell but he was unable to pull himself or his sight away from Bailos who continued his chant.

"I am the rust on the corn, I am the smut on wheat. Laughing man's labor to scorn, weaving a web at his feet."

While in the throes of his chant, Bailos begins to step backwards, slowly, deeper into the water. The slime and filth of the lake gather around Bailos and begin to creep up him as he wades deeper. Bailos fixes his gaze on Talon.

"I am the canker and mildew and blight, danger and death and decay. The rot of the rain by night, the blast of the sun by day. I warp and wither with drought and work in the swamp's foul yeast. I bring the black plague from the south and leprosy from the east."

Stepping back further still into the water, the formerly tranquil waters begin to bubble and gurgle with blight and murky and tendrils of blackness poke through the surface of the water all around Bailos.

'I am the shrill cold spirit that chills the darkness you feel after dark. I am the chaos that tears stars apart."

Bailos is now standing waist high in the polluted quagmire with his hands at his sides, partially submerged. More black tendrils appear from the murk and appears to be supporting the bloated corpses of several people in various stages of decomposition. They are all dressed in funeral gowns in various poses. Among them is Zarlox, Sadira, Saidhe, Cyrus, James M'Real and his former wife, Shantel.

"You cannot escape me."

In front of Bailos and slightly to the right emerges another black tendril supporting the bloated corpse of Talon's daughter.

"You cannot defeat me."

In front of Bailos and slightly to the left emerges a final black tendril holding the bloated, corpsed likeness of Talon himself, dressed in his ceremonial armor.

"You can only embrace me."

And with his final words, Bailos begins to step backwards until he submerges beneath the putrid lake and the tentacles of blackness soon withdraw from sight and the whole scene begins to fade. Talon is shot back to consciousness still sitting in his chair, in a cold sweat.

Not all dreams bring peace.