Microsoft Zone Archive/Player Chronicles/The Talla'Karan Heart

Original Link (now dead) - http://zone.msn.com/asheronscall/ASHEtheheart.asp

The Talla'Karan Heart

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by Shai Ilu

It all began on a dark night, where a dark man waited with a dark purpose out in the Gharu desert. At the sound of a vulture, a shady figure known as Gasim al'Erkan of the Zharalim crawled out of the shadows and stepped into the torch-lit tent.

"You bring good news?" a low voice sneered.

"Yes, master."

"You have it then?"

"Aye. It took me some persuading, but I got it."

"Give it to me!" the sorcerer demanded in a sharp tone.

The assassin hesitated for a moment but handed over the item quickly at the sight of the sorcerer's looming staff, let alone the filthy teeth of his familiar reed shark at his side.

"Ahhhhhh, it will serve me aptly, indeed!"

The assassin watched the item disappear into the sorcerer's robe and swallowed before he spoke again.

"My . . . uh . . . reward, master?"

"Ahhhhh yessssssss, of course. Come, I shall give you your reward."

What happened to Gasim hereafter is not know but it is assumed that his “reward” was rather final.

This item, the Talla'karan heart, powerful luck-charm of Ibriya bint Raglan, who once won the freedom of Lashanda, was now in the hands of a sorcerer who had fallen to the powers of the Shadow Lords. Driven by his insane lust for power, the sorcerer Rachid al-Ighaz agreed to aid the Shadow Lords in their conquest of Dereth. The heart held the key to an empyrean artifact of immense powers. Such an item, Rachid knew, would make him even more powerful and allow him to control some of the shadow forces for his own benefit. He would be the most powerful sorcerer alive. At this, he chuckled briefly and set off into the night.

The plan was simple. To open the charm, he needed a drop of blood from a true heart. He knew of Ibriya and her followers and he knew one of them would do nicely. He sought out the Jaladh and soon found a victim. Shai bint Uhir, a warrior woman of renowned honor, who held the words: "Truth always before the sword," higher than anyone else. He magically lured her away from her tent and trapped her with insidious spells long since forgotten and with a poisoned Olthoi claw he plucked blood from her veins. Once he had what he wanted, he left Shai bint Uhir to her fate within his trap.

Life poured out of her and she would have died for sure had it not been for Ushel al-Farabad, of the line of Zaqim al-Farabad. Master of the arcane arts, he quickly realized that time was of the essence. He managed to dispel the trap and cast healing spells on the pale, lifeless body. Although he healed the physical wounds, the thorn had caused a wound that went deeper than any healing spell. He knew where to take her, though. Just before his healing powers grew too weak to keep her alive much longer, they reached the hermit Eregin al'Jusuf, an exiled Walim, who lived through the Olthoi occupation and learned much about this evil race and their poisons.

How Eregin was able to heal the deadly wound that poisoned Shai bint Uhir's heart remains a secret, or miracle even. However, fully healed from the poison, she never regained her full warrior spirit. Something remained hollow inside of her. A shadow had touched her heart and there was no cure for that. Ushel cared much for her during her time of recovery and after that they traveled together for many years. Many battles they fought side by side and their bond grew stronger over the years. Out of their love one child was born. A son -- as proud as his mother and as witty as his father. He had the gift of magic and was adept in the ways of fighting with any blade or staff. He grew up as a strong warrior and powerful wizard.

On her deathbed, Shai told her son of Rachid al-Ighaz and the lost Talla'karan heart, which was rumored to still be in the sorcerer's possession. Although Rachid had never been heard of or seen for years and no new threats had plagued the land thus far, Shai felt that there was something looming ahead in the shadows . . .

Ilan al-Uhir, her son, joined the Jaladh, just as his mother had done, and devoted his entire life to the search of the true heart of Talla'karan. His search, however, is not chronicled in the history of Gharu, nor is it known to this very day if the heart was ever found, or if Rachid al'Ighaz succeeded in using the heart for his dark purpose. It is as if a huge shadow has washed away any trace of events related to Rachid, Ilan or the Talla'karan thereafter.

So for many years this tale rested unheeded in the vast archives of the Walim and only on recent occasion, when a herald brought news about some sort of Shadow creatures invading the lands of Dereth, did it catch interest. Shai Ilu, a Gharu'ndim sorceress, newly joned with the Walim, and ever since making it very clear that the Walim motto should be: "The words of women bear Truth aloft," stumbled across a withered parchment that told the tale of the Talla'karan heart.

She was intrigued and her heart throbbed as she read the lines; with every word it became clearer to her what her purpose was. When she told her Walim sisters and brothers about her findings, many immediately felt the urge for discussion, planning and making up resolutions. Shai Ilu talked to many, listened to long debates through many star-lit nights, and finally one night, she had just come back from an exploration near Uziz, where she met a fine staff warrior named Kismet, another debate about what had to be done about this Shadow invasion was going on.

Tired of all the debates she took the staff from the nearest brother, and with grim determination, brought it down on the marble floor, demanding to be heard. The silence that followed the staff's thunder echoed in her ears as she slowly began to speak:

"I have been with you for quite some time now and you all know that I appreciate the ways of the Walim, but I must follow my heart, and my heart tells me to go and seek the Talla'karan, for it holds the truth that may be our salvation. I know this is not the Walim way, but it is my way now, and I must follow it. I will leave with the first daylight. Farewell my brothers and sisters, may Yasif ibn Salayyar's spirit watch over you all."

The next day Shai Ilu was gone, wandering the vast lands of Dereth in search of the Talla'Karan heart. Endless days and endless nights she crossed the desert sands until one day she came to a huge construct far out in the hot Gharu sands. Carefully she crept closer to get a better view of the entrance where horrible creatures wrapped in bandages were keeping watch around a spire that spit light of the purest white up into the dim light night. The sounds that came from that construct were not of this world and Ilu's blood ran cold in her veins. Could it be that she at last had found the hiding place of that wretched sorcerer Rachid al-Ighaz? Could it be that suddenly the Talla'Karan heart after all these ages was within reach? Salvation or death -- the answers lay ahead of her . . . but not tonight. Slowly, she crept away from the artifact and set out for Khayyaban to meet with Kismet. There she would find the help she needed.

Meanwhile, far out in the desert, an insidious laughter echoed through the cold starlit night choking every other sound and words uttered in a language long forgotten filled the shadows around the artifact: "Tel'al echron Ra Talla'Karan."

It had begun.

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