The Becoming

[Raistlin Ambros]

The hollow echoes of distant steps on linoleum floors fled down the corridors for the vastness of the Imperial Palace of Aerugo. At such a time of night, the palace was desolate and still, haunted only by the shadowy visitant that strode towards the inner sanctums of the regal edifice. Pale skin and a stoic gaze of blood red peered from above the high collar of a crimson cape that trailed behind him like a silent spectre, along with long jet black hair.
In the dead of night, the Crimson General of Aerugo had returned from oblivion, where none had heard from him for months.
No guard in the palace that night had dared to stop him, for they knew who he was. None asked him where he had been, for they knew it was not their business. Raistlin Ambros had only one person to speak to that night: The Empress of Aerugo herself.

Outside the throne room, a pair of stiff guards eyed Raistlin wearily from their posts by the entrance. The doors were close shut, the Empress was not on her thone, surrounded by officials, and she was not receiving visitors. Not even the main commander of Aerugo's military was allowed in the private quarters of the Empress without her own consent.
"Inform Empress Kagura that I seek counsel with her" said the dark man, his voice cold and sharp. The guard paused, as to wonder if he had anything aught saying, and then instead nodded in response before heaving the twin doors open and vanishing behind them to find Yuuko. Though she was probably not in the throne room, Raistlin assumed she was in the inner sanctum, which acted as the Empress's private area of the palace; as her own dominion in which her various rooms, nearly adjacent to the throne room, lie.
The nightly visitor remained silent, in the company of the remaining guard, patiently awaiting response.

He had only informed Yuuko that he was leaving for an extended period months ago, before he vanished. At the time he was sickly, his body was withering. He had struggled with the grim effects of his alkahestry, which had finally taken its toll on his cells. Raistlin had decided to take a pilgrimage to the Great Desert, to the ruins of Xerxes, and farther into Xing to conduct his research and search for solution to mend his corrupted his body. The answer had come to him in flesh and life. The lives of others were to sustain his immortal body, to prolong his existence on this earth as he used his sinful craft. Now, with the clarified understanding of the sustenance that must feed his life, he had returned to Aerugo, in perfect condition, and prepared to divulge the fruit of his treacherous labours. For through his own ambitions, he had come across that which he could not make use of himself, but Yuuko could utilize for the Empire. Such was his payment in their union, so that she would continue to fund his personal research.

[Csilla Angelis]

{BUMP}