Character Journal
What We Find Within
Shutterstock Credit - Liu zishan
As the old gods stir and the light begins to fade from Krynn's skies, Jallarzi finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew. Her forgotten past, the strange pull of Mishakal, and the mysteries waiting beneath the mountain all point towards an uncomfortable truth: perhaps the greatest mysteries are not those buried beneath the earth, but those buried within ourselves.
As the last glowing wisps of moonlight fade away, Jallarzi’s mind races.
By the Gods, it is true. The storyteller’s tale, the visions, the constellations vanishing from the night sky… The old Gods are returning to Krynn. Mishakal, the ancient goddess of healing from old wives’ tales. She must be the one whose pull I have felt these past few months - the one who placed that strange dagger in my path and caused it to glow just as it seems the light is leaving our world… my world.
My, how quickly things are changing. Change. What a funny little word for someone’s entire being metamorphosing so completely that they no longer recognise themselves in the mirror. I nearly lost every memory of who I was before the change. Did I always have bronze skin and glowing eyes? I do not believe so. But what did I look like before? I can no longer recall.
Of course, change is not always bad. I remember that my former self revelled in combat and bloodshed. I can no longer wield a sword as I once did, but I have known far more peace since I threw that sword into the waves - a final farewell not only to the steel, but to the hand that once wielded it.
And that peculiar flying cat, Rafferty… His name sounds like that of an old friend. Perhaps even a lover. Yet I cannot attach a face to it. It is all lost to the waves now. Surely he, too, was sent by Mishakal? After all, it is well known that, like healing, companionship is a precious gift from the Gods.
There is no telling how this will end. We are descending deeper into the mountain, toward the place where an ancient evil has lain dormant for millennia. What will we find in the bowels of the mountain? And - Jallarzi startles at the thought, though she does not know why - what will we find within ourselves?