| Later….
Tarin-Gazin, “mad” dwarf of Wallants, chuckles at the latest antics
he had witnessed on the road with his pet barrister and his two captives.
He didn’t care one whit about the discomfort that the Amazonian princess,
Astra, was going through, nor did he care about the fool Fred. The young
knight and his ax had a date in the future, and Tarin was glad to keep
it.
Still, the part about the six foot plus woman’s skin turning a darker
color was funny! Just the mere memory of it, after this whole affair was
over and he’d regained a touch of the wealth that the damn dragons had
stolen from his people.
Then perhaps my Clan will let me back in….. a distant part of
his mind piped in, unwanted.
Tarin tossed his head, shoving that part back into the silence. Heartbreaking
curses from birth were the LAST thing Tarin wanted to think about. He instead
thought of the gold and jewels of the Hoard he’d gain…..
Just then, the curse that was his Bane…..the touch of magic within him
that made him a pariah of his own people, decided to reach out and…..Touch
somebody. Somebody just like him, but not like him!
It would prove to be the FINAL straw that snapped whatever semblance
of sanity the dwarf had left…..
Tarin froze as he felt the familiar foggy haze come upon him.
”No!” the dwarf whispered hoarsely, gripping his ax tightly as if to
ward the approaching Vision away. “By the gods, no……..”
It did no good, it never did. The Vision was upon him, stronger than
ever!
In his Vision, he saw…..himself looking wild eyed and angry…..spittle
flying from his bearded mouth!
Visions of Tarin’s past deed flashed before him and his….twin, and
the twin grew even more enraged!
”What in the Name of the Forge are you DOING?!” his twin screamed,
seeming to rock back and forth as if….unseen hands were shaking him. “By
all that’s HOLY! What are you doing invoking Turoc-Kith, the black mage?!
Are you MAD> And what in the name of the dwarven gods do you think that
a forced CONTRACT will keep YOUR Rifts and the other lawyer in line?!”
”It keeps the sheep in line,” Tarin says smugly, dismissing his twin.
“If the fools thing that Turoc will……” Tarin stops in anger when his twin
sniffs and interrupts.
”I was just as foolish as you,” his mirror image said quietly. “I
did the same thing, and earned a knife in the back for it! Only the quick
actions of my FRIEND Rifts saved me from bleeding to death!”
”RIFTS…..a HUMAN, your FRIEND?!” Tarin exploded, racial sensibilities
offended to the quick. “That man would knife his own mother if their was
a piece of silver involved, given half a chance. Next you’ll tell me you’ve
made friends with that damn elf, Grailing whatever, you damn fool……”
Apparently this image has sunken so low that he needs to consort
with non-People to feel like a real Dwarf! Tarin laughed to himself.
”NO I’m not a FOOL!” sceams his twin, lunging (but somehow held in
check) at Tarin. “YOU ARE!!”
Now, dwarves find are able to tolerate some behavior and insults
like it was nothing. Being called a fool in THIS context was NOT one of
them. Tarin was beginning to see red, and his dwarven blood was beginning
to percolate within his veins!
HOW…..DARE HE!! Tarin screams to himself, suddenly wishing
he had access to his ax in this Vision.
”I’m no longer a fool nor mad,” the Tarin image said smugly. “By
he Forege I swore NEVER to invoke that damn mage again……nor use those same
damnfool tactics of forced contracts!! Not worth the paper written on it….it
is! No wonder the others killed you with the Crystallic. Rifts was right…..you
DID have it coming!”
Visions of yet another dwarf that looked like Tarin Gazin danced
in front of the “real” Tarin, freezing the dwarf in his mental tracks.
Somehow, the scenes had an especially potent effect on the half mad dwarf.
He saw the demifoxes that would turn out to be Fred and Astra, instead
of giving a cock and bull story about how the dragon’s gem was some type
of new drink on the night of their first night out of Walants, do something
different. The male demifox, Fred, instead of letting the fact that there
was such a thing called the Crystallic with them…..ATTACKS Tarin! The fox
lands a good bite on the startled images hands, and then gets batted aside
by the enraged dwarf. The dwarf takes a few staggering steps, ax ready,
and then falls over…..dead. The demifox looks on, startled. A few drops
of blood drip from Fred’s furry hand, because he gripped it so tightly
(while willing the curse of lycanthropy to flower within the dwarf to activate
through the Crystallic)….
Tarin’s mirror image, the one that had originally been speaking to
him, comes back looking a little abashed. Tarin hardly registers it, for
he’s too busy gasping and gurgling in shock to say anything.
Seeing one’s self die hits many people many different ways, even
analogs. Tarin wasn’t taking his “death” too well….. Fact was, he was about
to snap!
”Oh, wrong Tarin-Gazin…..sorry!” the image apologized.
Sorry?! Tarin’s mind giggled suddenly. You show THIS and
you’re SORRY?!
In the grip of Visions, emotions are more intense, images shown harder
hitting. Truths undeniable….
The rest of his mirror images talk is only half heard by Tarin. He
half hears how Rifts doesn’t know how to use the Crystallic….something
about how silly Astra looks all black skinned…..and the fact about the
fizzy ale HE and the former demifoxes drank!
Something about having drank part of the Crystallic, they could assume
any form could now be assumed!
Tarin, a dwarf who belonged to a Clan who spat upon magic, and spat
upon him because of his Magical Vision…..began to shake in horror and rage.
Through no fault of his own, he now was even MORE magical than ever?!
With a mere thought, he could change into a human, a elf, a DRAGON?! He’d
become like the legendary Changling, but instead able to control his form
instead of others doing so?! He….was no longer a dwarf….technically? In
the eyes of his clan…..
This was too much for Tarin…..his mind snapped and screamed for a good
ten minutes in agony….well after the Vision had passed.
Rifts and the others looked in dread as Tarin turned back to them finally.
There wasn’t even a TRACE of sanity in the dwarf’s eyes. He had been muttering
and shouting at somebody not there before, but now…..
”We are going to…..fix a few annoying ones,” Tarin giggled. “How I hate
him….Nothing else matters…..he’s going to die…...”
A dim part of the shattered dwarf silently was in awe. It was absolutely
true! Not even the lure of the dead Dragon’s hoard mattered to Tarin any
more! Tarin no longer saw himself as a dwarf, but as some type of freak
who only LOOKED like a dwarf…..and this freak was going to go out and kill
the person who had shattered his illusions……
Thus, the dwarf swore to do what those in legend do upon seeing their
doppleganger. Having seen it, they can’t stand to see what they saw, and
must destroy it (and vice versa) because each is an affront to the other.
Now, this is usually the case….in fact in one mirror universe…..many analogs
are getting along like family…..but this isn’t the case for Tarin……
And the way to do this…..from snatches of images from his still dwarven
twin…….
”Give us the Crystallic!” Tarin said to Rifts. “We need it to go to
him….so we can reward him…..with the ax……”
<And perhaps you non-People also, since you look like those other
demifox murderers…..and that “friend” of that other dwarf…..> Tarin giggles
to himself. <All in good time…..>
-
 This fine moment of madness
brought to you by the Crystallic…..which trouble seems to center around
ever since a certain war broke out…..on another mirror world…..
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