Editing Announcements - 2002/07 - Repercussions (section)

== Teaser, Part 1 ==

{{Microsoft Zone
 |  Link = <nowiki>http://zone.msn.com/asheronscall/news/ASHEeventteaser.asp</nowiki>
 |  Date = July 12, 2002
 | Title = Repercussions
 |  Text =
She placed the cloth against his brow. It still burned, the fever having held him now for ten nights and showing no sign of abating. She had never seen him ill, and to look at him now with sunken cheeks and ashen skin brought her near to tears. But she had not cried since she had lost Thorsten, and she was not going to cry now. She was not going to lose Asheron.
<br><br>
When Thorsten died, she had hated Asheron. Hated everything that he was and what he had done to them, allowing them to enter that place without his protection. She had thought him a coward, a nothing, a scared old man who hid in his tower and played at a game of chess in which she and the other Isparians were pawns.
<br><br>
She had pulled herself from that Olthoi hive, tired and broken, one of the few survivors against the True Queen and her armies. She had clawed her way back into the daylight not for herself, but for her son. She had lost everything but the child inside of her.
<br><br>
The Aluvian people, newly freed from their slavery, had flocked to her and named her their Queen. Soon, other pockets of humans crept out of the darkness. New Aluvia grew as Elysa developed into a strong and powerful leader whose command went unquestioned. But her sorrow had continued to weigh heavily upon her.
<br><br>
She had written to her friend, Lania Cartoth, shortly after Thorsten's death. Elysa had continued the correspondence for some time, but the duties of a new Queen restricted her time and the years had kept her parted from her friend. Lania was now dead, slain at the hands of someone, or something--the same someone or something that now commanded the undead in the halls housing Thorsten's armor and axe.
<br><br>
Nuhmudira had disappeared after it was revealed she had sacrificed her loyal Zharalim in a hidden temple beneath her mansion. Sclavus had taken control of the place now, as they had every place that Nuhmudira had once frequented.
<br><br>
Worse, the thing that had been Candeth Martine had become obsessed with Elysa. He was fixated, deviant, and intrusive. She felt betrayed by everyone, everything. Nothing was right. Everything was falling apart around her. But Elysa was made of a far stronger fiber than anyone had ever credited.
<br><br>
Anyone save Asheron.
<br><br>
He had come to her shortly after Thorsten's death, remorseful and sincere. He'd helped her then, helped her to cope. He'd provided assistance in the establishment of Cragstone and in the building of Thorsten's tomb. Asheron had sealed the true resting place of Thorsten's armor and axe with powerful magics, concealing them from the encroaching monsters that eventually overran the underground city that had once been the Isparians' home. He was a rock.
<br><br>
She had despised him so. Yet, in the end, she had found that the only one who understood her isolation was Asheron. He too, was alone. His resolve and his determination had given her the strength to continue, to grow, and to lead. She had left her people once, for some five years, while she studied and learned from Asheron. She had come to know him then, to respect and understand him, and to love him as a friend and kindred soul.
<br><br>
She had never seen him weak. She had seen him fail, but failure was a learning experience, a new way to study a problem. She had never seen him like this, and she feared for him, for everyone. She wrung the cloth she had dipped in water. As she did, the mumbling began again.
}}