Title: In the Names of the True Gods
Author: Kit
Date: December 22, 1999

    All of the bar patrons jumped, startled by a ear-piercing  howl that
ripped from the elementalist's throat.  Audion's fingers lace violently in
to his silken hair, ruffling it in fervent abhorrence.

What had she done...He'd never felt that way...too much, too close.....never
loved, not allowed....emotions were for him to control.  How could he have
let himself be manipulated?

Audion sprinted out the door of the inn, into the welcoming arms of the
chilled night.  Darkness, ice, wind, all that could restore some  semblance
of sanity to his mind.  The void surged up all around him, enveloping his
aura in the chaos of his once steadfast control's breakdown.  Audion kept
running, blue fires and crimson waters exploding in his sight.  The
consciousness had melded with reality, allowing the cruel sting of the voids
tendrils to burn the porcelain limbs.
*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *
    Audion lay shivering next to a stream, the tattered remnants of the
green garments hanging off him like icicles.  He'd been there a few hours.
His dual-coloured eyes stared blankly into the water while flush lips
mouthed the words to the Cleansing chant.  The elementalist raised up to his
knees, now strawberried from his panicked flight from Chosen-induced
intimacy and a futile attempt at escaping the hunger of the aural hole he
harbored.  He disrobed, and stepped into the waist-deep waters, washing
himself of the hysteria, emotion, and the embarrassing breakdown.  He
kneeled in the stream, allowing the less than temperate waters to reach his
chest..
    Could he handle draining the Chosen if it came to it?  The fraction of
power he had taken from the Earth Chosen had aided in sending him off the
edge, so what if he took one entirely?  Still, Teri had presented no other
alternative.  In any case, the earth chosen had little trust or like for
him, which wouldn't make traveling with them any easier.
<Drain her, set her free>
Audion closed his eyes, then his ears to his natural sadism.  Control, and
stoicism above all else.  He had few courses right now.  He didn't have to
touch Stana to drain her, but it would be absolutely necessary in order to
drain her completely as he needed.  But what of the Unicorn?  The syl? It
wouldn't be a guessing game as to who was causing stana's sudden fatigue
once he started.  Audion rose out of the water, draping his hair over his
left shoulder and neck to cover the scars, then dressed.  His looked at the
distance he had covered in his dash, judged it, and used an equal speed to
carry himself back.
He would definitely need to ride a horse tomorrow.