Two days ago Ellyana, myself and our dear friend Lucy went to the trainer at Milltown to receive our new levels. Quite apart from the satisfaction you feel in achieving a level, it felt an extra reward to hear the world crier call our names, one after the other.
I had been training almost continually in the darkly beautiful N'rolav forest for two days to earn the level. The three of us held a small celebration, then I rested for a while.
I awoke before my love, and decided on a glowie hunt on midnight beach. After some time, Ellyana joined me, and then the competition was on! We both patrolled the beach hunting for the sharks that infest those waters, hoping that each kill would give us a prized crystal.
After a long quest on midnight, we went to the machine under the wall, then on to Branishor to sell what we had plundered on the beach.
We returned to Dundee to attend the final of the Valorian Idol. What a wonderful event that has been, the competition brought out the best in all who took part.
I must have picked up a wound during these last few days of intensive traing and farming, for I found after the Valorian Idol I was almost unable to move without severe discomfort, and it was only with difficulty that I walked to where Ellyana and I now rest.
No sooner had I lay down on the lush grass than I fell into a deep sleep. I fought it at first, memories of those previous dark, troubling dreams and trials returning to me. But then it became apparent that this was no nightmare ...
In this dream, Ellyana and I stood in our high place, looking out over the lands, watching the unicorns at their play. And then two of the magnificent creatures approached, and made it clear that, this once, they would permit us to ride upon them. And what mounts these creatures make. Their grace and speed were breathtaking.
We rode across the lands - the beaches, the grim mountains, the forests of soaring trees - all the places where Ellyana and I had faced the dark following shadows which have now been banished from our lives. And where the unicorns stopped, they spread an aura of peace and calm, their magic cleansing our lives, stilling our fears, as they offered the gift of a new dawn of peace and hope.
Within the dream I felt the power of the creatures healing all hurts, and I know when I awake I shall be cured of my wounds. And I shall recall the images I saw, and the feelings they brought to me, and I know I shall wonder - was this but a dream?

The N'rolav forest may not be everybody's idea of an ideal place to rest. But the place has a wild, savage attraction and after training there for some time, Ellyana and I settled under one of the soaring trees for a well-earned rest. I was careful, though, to make sure that my blades were close to hand, should we be disturbed by one of the creatures that inhabit the place.
I awoke while my love still slept. Ellyana sleeps peacefuly these days, the dark dreams and terrors of the night having been banished. There was a slight smile on her face. The breath caught in my throat as I looked on the face of this wonderful, beautiful woman who has captured my heart.
Moving silently so as not to disturb my love, I trained for a while, returning frequently to the spot where she lay, making sure her peace and safety were not threatened. Each time I returned, I could not fight the urge to stroke or kiss her cheek, or to just sit for a while, gazing at her face as she slept.
I fought the forest creatures for quite some time, and progressed well toward the next level, then decided to rest again for a while. I returned to the place where Ellyana slept. She stirred slightly, and from her dreaming she smiled and murmured my name, and my heart soared. Oh, my Ocean Princess! What I did to steal your heart, what I do to keep it - these things I do not know for sure. But I swear I will keep doing them.

Yesterday I was called away from training to visit a friend who had been taken ill. The clerics and healers had done what they could, what this friend needed was someone to just be there, to sit and talk, a familiar face and voice to which there might be a response. And, fortunately, those familiar voices and faces worked, pulling the friend out of the malady to which she had succumbed.
I returned to carry on training, to find messenger birds looking for me.
There is a saying which goes 'The friend of my friend is my friend' and the truth of this was proved to me on my return. Matt and Bella had tracked down a green guardian, and contacted Ellyana. While their messenger birds were scouring the lands for me, the three kept the guardian prisoner, wearing it down with their attacks. As soon as their messages reached me, I hurried to the spot where they had cornered the creature for so many marcs.
This was the first green guardian I had faced, and it had been so damaged that I killed it with a few strokes of my blades. And as it fell, it gave up its treasure - a dull ancient green crystal. I was jubilant but dumbfounded. Adventurers have faced countless guardians without finding that treasured crystal, and yet I found one on the body of the first one I had slain.
Matt and Bella I have met only infrequently, yet they were willing to give up so much of their time, abandoning their own pursuits, to help me. And always and forever, there is my beloved Ellyana who spends as much of her time watching out for items I might need as she does on her own training.
Matt, Bella, you have shown true friendship by your deeds. I hope to be able to repay you in some way in the future. And Ellyana, as ever, you are my shining light in these dark times, and I love you more than I can say.

I've been sitting in this beautiful place while Ellyana sleeps at my side. I've tried to rest, but there is too much going on in my mind for me to sleep.
Ellyana is safe. The figures from her dark past are destroyed and can no longer cast their shadows over us. But the cost ...
She told me of her only friend in her homeland, a boy called Tam. It was he who helped Ellyana escape. He told her that he would destroy those evil ones, and she would receive a sign when this was done. That sign came yesterday, a parchment delivered to her in the most miraculous manner. Tam is dead, and so, it appears are those who would harm her.
I thought long and hard about this matter. Tam has delivered Ellyana from her demons, and has saved our future together. There is a debt there, one that I can never repay. But I know that Tam will be watching over Ellyana from wherever he is now, and I swear to him that I too will watch over Ellyana, to love and cherish her.
I can only imagine the life he must have lived for, as far as I can tell from what Ellyana has told me, ten or twelve years with those people. No not people, more demons in human form. Every day he must have been in torment, not knowing if Ellyana lived or not, while trying to keep himself alive and laying his plans.
We held a memorial for Tam, just the two of us. We said a few words, then said goodbye to him. So if you happened to be passing along the lake path yesterday, and wondered why the two of us stood by the lake skipping soul stones across its glittering surface, now you know the reason.
Tam fulfilled his vow, though it cost him his life. He can rest with peace, and honour, content in the knowledge that he will be remembered, and loved. I guess that in the scheme of things that is the best any of us can hope for.

Ellyana and I levelled together at the Milltown trainer. The Town Crier called our names one after the other.

Have you ever played pass-the-parcel? Try it with sets of armour sometime. Our dear friend Lucy Gray offered to go to Killican for the new armour I can now use, while I collected Ellyana's new armour from its safe storage. Then we met back up, and the fun began. Lucy tried to pass my new armour to me, but I was still wearing my old armour and carrying Ellyana's new armour. So she had to wait while I passed Ellyan's over, then I took mine from Lucy. I'm still not too sure where Ellyana's old armour ended up!

I slept for a while, and in my dream the unicorns appeared once more, running and playing, a wondrous sight. And in their midst the laughing figure of a young man who smiled on Ellyana and greeted me - Tam, safe in the knowledge that his sacrifice had ensured that all can now be well for the two of us.

Tam - I thank you. Requiescat in pace

It's been a busy couple of days. My love and I wanted to level at the same time, bur two days ago she needed a lot less experience than I did to attain the next level. It took a lot of hard, grinding training, but I managed to get 68% in a day and a half. What an effort that was!
I'd just reached the point where I could level, and Ellyana had been fighting in the forest, when we both collapsed exhausted under the soaring trees of the verthedge forest. We talked about where we needed to go to find a traner, and where we could get the armour we would now be able to use, and realised we were too tired to go for it right then. So we rested where we were, under the verthedge trees.
I'd run into three brown crystal guardians in a row while battling under the trees. Those three cost me a lot of health potions, but as I stood over the body of the first, I saw that he had dropped a long-sought-after dull ancient brown crystal.
Previously in the day, Ellyana had somehow once again got herself completely lost on leaving Branishor, and rather than entering verthedge she somehow ended up in the grasslands around Fartown. Worse, for a while she was in the hunting preserve. But then she sent her messenger bird to tell me she had found a beautiful spot - the ocean shoreline south of Fartown. And when I told her it was the place I hoped we would hold our bonding ceremony, a smile lit her face, and her emerald eyes shone like the sun.
I must rise now from where I have been resting. We will go to the trainer, then get our new armour.
But something seems to be amiss with Ellyana. I must find her now. I hope she has had no more of those dreams ...

It's said that if you love someone, then rather than keeping them tightly held to you, there comes a point when you should let go. If that person loves you, they will remain with you. And if they leave you never to return, then they never were truly yours.
I was faced with that choice last evening. There was something coming between us, and my love felt that she was endangering me by staying in the lands, and she should return to her home, though that return could well cost Ellyana her life.
I tried to reason with her, I pleaded with her not to go. I tried to show her that she belonged in these lands. At one point I even considered tying her in a sack to stop her leaving. I must have appeared to be very selfish, not wanting her to leave, but what I was trying to tell her was that thought her actions might have saved my life, that life would have been worthless without her. And worse, I knew that she felt what she intended was for the best - not for her, but for me. For weeks my heart has been breaking, knowing that some day I could find she had gone from the lands, from me ...
Yesterday I told her I could do no more to convince her she should stay, that she should do what she must, and that I would not stand in her way. Though every fibre of my being screamed in protest I turned away and left here sobbing on the sands.
I returned a short while later, and she told me she had decided not to leave the lands. And my heart soared, feeling lighter than it had for such a long time. And yet still there is a tinge of sadness. Does she think I tricked her? - I've told her often enough that nothing is straightforward when you deal with a rogue. But I could thing of nothing else to say, to do, to show her how I felt.
I hope we can work this thing out, and rid ourselves of the one cloud in our sky. And in the meantime, I hope she can forgive me.

I slept for a time and in my dreams there came a vision of what might come to pass. A couple walked along a sandy beach, arm-in-arm, while behind them the waves roared and crashed to the shore, and in the sparkling white foam I could just make out the magnificent forms of the unicorns as they watched over the lovers. The pace of the couple became more purposeful as they both raised one hand. From her ring and from his blade shot out a blast of energy that seared into two shadowy figures that approached, diminishing their forms and their powers until they were reduced to nothing. Then the couple smiled at each other and kissed, knowing that which threatened them was vanquished.

Do you remember the wind in your hair?
Beyond the wastes the unicorns played.
They lifted their heads and called;
That wind which caressed you so gently
brought their blessing and their wish
That we should join them in their peace.
Do you remember? - and if you remember, then stay.

Do you remember the wind-tossed waves?
Drops of water that sparkled and shone
but not so much as your eyes.
A picture drawn in the sand.
A garland of sea-weed adorned with shells
I made for your hair, the birth of the Ocean Princess.
Do you remember? - and if you remember, then stay.

Do you remember a moonlit lake?
Stones skipped and danced across its face
And a glorious smile lit yours.
Ripples danced and played in the moonlight, as did we.
Do you remember? - and if you remember, then stay.

Don't forget the love and the laughter
or the friends you would leave behind.
Don't forget that these lands still need you
'til we reach a happier time.
Don't forget the hopes, the dreams we see
Don't forget your place is here beside me.

Do you remember these things? And a thousand more
- times of joy or times of quiet.
The beaches and rivers, the towers, the gardens
Where love shone brighter than the sun, moon or stars.

Do you remember? - and if you remember, then stay.

Held in darkness. writhing in agony, I am screaming. Not screaming from pain, or because I am lost, but to make my love hear me somehow. 'Ellyana! Don't give up now. I think I am close to you. Please, just hold on for a while. I'm finding my way back, love.'
I've been struggling in this place, trying to follow the path of light that shines out in the darkness. I've been trying to get back for - well, a second perhaps, an eternity maybe, I have no way of knowing.
But I make for that light, moving somehow through this darkness. I know the light means that she is watching over me somehow.
Since those taunting voices ceased their attempts to persuade to leave my love, there had been no sound here. But I've been hearing voices for what may be a short time. Ellyana's voice certainly, calling to me, pleading with me to come out of this dark hell in which I've been trapped. I wish I could let her know that I am fighting to return to the waking world, to be by her side.
Other voices have impinged on my senses. Fir and Molly, Skyls, other friends trying to convince Ellyana that I am returning. They are right, love. I'm breaking free of this imprisonment.
The voices and the sounds of the lands are becoming clearer. I must be close now - so close to you my love. Hold on for just a short while longer, Ellyana.

We've all had times when sleep has been a plunge into darkness. At first, what took me these last few days was one of those times - but then it changed, distorted, becoming some other dark, evil torment.

The first trial

At first there was darkness. No sound, no colour, no feeling. Then it seemed I was taken to a doorway leading out of that dark place. The doorway opened. Beyond, in a great hall I saw old friends who, for whatever reason, had left the lands of their own volition. These friends - ah, so many familiar faces - called to me. They told me of the place they now were, a place of peace, no regrets, no pain, no eternal warring, and they called me to join them. I shook my head. Far off in that darkness, in another direction I saw a light, a ring of brilliant light shining through that profound darkness, as if it were a beacon showing me the way back.
A voice spoke, a cold emotionless voice. Even in my incorporeal state, it felt as if the blood froze in my veins. I had heard that voice before in disturbing dreams, though I have spoken very little of them. At the sound of that voice, the light I attempted to follow dimmed ...
'Look at them, Pallas. Their trials are over. They are at peace, content in the knowledge their struggles are at an end.'
I looked on the faces of my old comrades. I turned my face toward the light which waxed and waned, struggling still to guide me home to the lands and my love.
'You could join them, Pallas. Why fight any longer? Why twist and turn in a war that will never end for you? Is there anything there that is worth the unending struggle, the continual threat of injury or death?'
And I turned my back on the promised peace of my long-gone friends and looked in the direction of the distant flickering light.
'Oh yes,' I replied. 'worth the pain and the injuries and more.' I reached out toward the light and whispered 'I am coming, Ellyana my love. How or when I do not know but I will return to your side.'
At my words the darkness in which I floated exploded into flame and pain.

I awoke, for a brief moment, long enough to send a messenger bird to my love. All I sent was that something was amiss, that I seemed unable to stay awake for any period of time. And then the blackness took me once more ...

The second trial

Again I floated within that endless darkness, and again I was drawn to a doorway which opened before me. I saw those who had left the lands not of their own choosing, but taken by some evil. They twisted and screamed in torment. Some of them called a warning to me, to do anything, to give up anything - or everything - to avoid their fate.
'Would you then, join these?' That same voice spoke again. And still I saw that far-off shining light, my guide, my salvation, and I knew I was watched over in some way by she who is the dearest to me.
'No, I will not. You will never take me from her, or she from me.'
And again as I reached out toward Ellyana and called her name the darkness exploded.

Once more I awoke for a brief moment, still racked with the heat and agony of that exploded darkness. I fumbled for a water-bottle but lacked the strength to hold it and it fell from my hands even as I fell back into blackness ...

The third trial

In the darkness now, the two doorways are open.
'Choose your fate, Pallas.' The cold voice came again. 'Peace or pain - ease or anguish. You must choose now.'
'No,' I replied. 'There is another way.'
I somehow launched myself toward the light of love, which in reply flared up in a dazzling burst of triumph. Then I was brought to a halt as the speaker assaulted me with some power which I could not comprehend. I struggled in agony even as I tried once more to find a way to the light.
'You are stubborn, Pallas.' For the first time, there was some emotion in that voice - curiosity, and, perhaps even the first glimmering of self-doubt. 'What is in you that lets you believe you can stand against me?'
'You answer your own question,' I replied. 'Belief, yes, that is what tells me you will not win. And belief gives strength to me, and to Ellyana.'
Again I moved to the light, though every moment, every movement, was an eternity of pain.
'Is she worth it, Pallas?' Another voice this time, questioning, mocking.
'Yes,' I cried out 'all this. Worth anything and everything.'
'Time may tell,' came the response. 'time, or death.'
I continued toward the light, twisting in agony, as mocking laughter sounded all around me.
'Ellyana' I whispered, as in that dark place I fell into nothingness .

I live for the sun
Because it means fun
Pretty girls with their guys
Such a love you can't buy ..

We've spent the last couple of days hunting sharks. Not because we particularly dislike sharks, you understand, but because we've been on a quest to see how many glowing crystals we can find.

***Pallas smiles as he writes in his journal***

And we have a running bet. Whichever of us finds a glowing crystal wins a kiss from the other. Ellyana said that it is a bet I can not lose. I laughed as I explained to her that nothing is straightforward when you deal with a rogue.

I've just read my love's journal. Should I be ashamed to admit that what I saw there brought a tear to my eye? I think not. And any who think otherwise, all I can say to them is that they have never felt the ecstasy of a love that overwhelms one's entire life.

What I read reminded me of something I had heard once, long ago, a man speaking to his lady of how life will be when the one cloud in the otherwise perfect sky of their love is gone.

When the white eagle of the North is flying overhead
The browns, reds and golds of autumn lie in the gutter, dead.
Remember then, that summer birds with wings of fire flaying
Came to witness springs new hope, born of leaves decaying.
Just as new life will come from death, love will come at leisure.
Love of love, love of life and giving without measure
Gives in return a wonderous yearn of a promise almost seen.
Live hand-in-hand and together we'll stand on the threshold of a dream.

And also, I thought of this

I'm looking for someone to change my life.
I'm looking for a miracle in my life.

Until I found you, my love, I did not even know how long I had been searching for you. But now I know that you, Ellyana, are my miracle - and I thank the gods for bringing us together.

***Pallas closes the journal, a smile on his face as he thinks of the Ocean Princess***