The Chronicles of Eberron: Chapter 7

Lia and Durin’s footsteps make a
steady pounding against the dirt road in which they walk. Lia’s yellow cloak
flows gently against her white mantle bearing the marks of her home monastery,
Tashalatora. She reaches down steadily and pats her satchel containing the
artifacts and treasures they received from the temple that almost took their
lives. 
Durin trails a few paces behind
Lia. His thoughts are flooded with regret of why he ever decided to take this
journey with this blasted monk. “Sul could do it, “he mumbles underneath his
breath, just quiet enough not to reach his monk companion’s keen ears. Durin
had been a rival of Sul ever since childhood, for Durin rivaled his adept
ability with his dragonmark. When he heard word that Sul had fallen in battle,
Durin quickly set out to find the cause and place of his death. Then he
discovered that Sul had been traveling with Lia. This gave Durin the perfect
opportunity to prove himself and complete a journey with the strange psionic
character, something his rival could not do, but it has turned out harder than
he expected. However, he has noticed that Lia doesn’t seem to struggle in
almost any fight, her demeanor seems calm, and her combat is fluid and under
control. He thinks that maybe there is more to learn from this journey other
than simply being better than Sul. 
Durin’s thoughts are interrupted as
Lia suddenly stops. “What is it?” Durin asks, with a hint of anxiety. 
“We’re not completely alone.” As
Lia says this, an illusion before them melts away, revealing a battalion of
armed men and a woman with a red symbol representing a drop of blood on her
garments. Durin immediately recognizes the soldiers as from the Emerald Claw. 
“Find it and leave none alive. No
need to be nice” The Emerald claw soldiers raise their crossbows while the
female speaker steps back, fumbling for something in her pocket.
The Emerald Claw soldiers release
the bolts from their crossbows, all aimed at Lia.  However, the monk is not so easily struck
down; she concentrates her psionic energies, her manipulation of them perfect
in every way. Just before the bolts strike her, a tangible force of invisible
armor envelopes her, a power known as inertial armor. Each bolt strike Lia dead
on, but each and every one of them also fail the pierce the psionic barrier.
The bolts fall to the ground broken. The Emerald Claw soldiers stare at Lia in
astonishment, almost like they forgot that they are fighting, but one of them
breaks the moment of pause by unsheathing his longsword, each other soldier in
turn follows his course of action. 
“We don’t ever get a break do we?”
says Durin as he takes out a halberd he found while searching the temple. 
The soldiers all charge Lia and
Durin, brandishing their weapons. Lia responds with a countercharge which she
runs directly through the line of men to the women behind them. The guards,
other than the one Lia plowed through, ignore the monk and lead their assault
on what seems to be the easier target, Durin. 
Lia stands before the strange
women, her psionic armor radiating with energy. “What do you want from us? We
have nothing that concerns you.”
“Don’t play dumb with me, girl. You
possess the three treasures of the temple. They are crucial in our plan that
will unfold, “the woman says with a slight smile. 
“We don’t have any thing of the
kind! And even if we did, there is no way you or your lackeys could take them
from us.” 
“Really now? Your partner seems to
be having trouble with the eleven soldiers you left him to fight on his own. I
better leave you to help him. “The lady pulls a small gem from her pocket, and
on activation, it starts to shimmer. “I will be seeing you around. Maybe.” The
gem shines even brighter and the lady is consumed in a flash of light before
completely disappearing. 
Lia growls to herself and circles
around to help Durin. Durin seems to be holding his own well. Against the eleven
combatants, he keeps his distance with the length of his halberd, and he takes
great caution to not let any of his enemies behind him, for fear of being
flanked. 
“Hey Durin, try and keep your
footing,” Lia warns.
“What are you—“Durin is cut short
as the earth beneath him starts to shake. Lia has planted her foot solidly against
the ground and let out a psionic seismic shock of energy. The purple field
travels through the ground and knocks every one of the unaware guards off their
feet. Durin is barely able to keep his footing, but he quickly takes advantage
of his prone aggressors. He brings his halberd high and plants it into three
consecutive guards who are unable to defend themselves. Lia in turn, stomps on
a guards head, caving it in, and kicks another one’s in. 
The remaining six guards are able
to get to their feet before Lia and Durin can get to them. The guards stand
trembling and two drop their weapons and flee. The other four guards stand
firm, but Lia can see the fear in their faces. 
“I would turn around like your
friends or you will meet the same fate as your comrades, “she says pointing to
a guard with a caved in skull. 
The guards, not able to muster the
courage to fight, break out into a sprint in the opposite direction of the
dangerous duo. 
Lia and Durin relax and the monk’s
psionic armor dissipates. 
“These artifacts are worth more
than they seem. That lady said something about three artifacts. Could all three
of them together unlock some sort of power?” questions Durin. 
“I don’t know, but I doubt that
group is the only ones after these treasures. We must keep our guard up” 
“Very true. Let’s get these
artifacts to Sur’kil for examination as soon as possible.”
The party takes a couple steps
forward and a nagging itch underneath their skin suddenly flares up into a dull burning sensation. Lia looks down at her hand and is overwhelmed by a sudden pulse of light that fades away as quickly as it came. On the back of Lia's hand a dragonmark seems to twist and writhe as its colors catch the light. The shape of the mark is unlike an other dragonmark Lia has seen. Durin gances down at his dragonmark and notices that the lines seem to shift and pulse in a way not seen since the mark first manifested. Though his mark is still recognizable, he is sure that he can see sections within it where its lines and colors have twisted and expanded. 
The fact that Lia has acquired her mark spontaneously does not worry
her as much as having one at all. She is a changeling, a race not part
of the dragonmarked races, and this means that she should not be able to bear a dragonmark. She knows that some great power is the cause of this, one that has
gone against the very laws of existence.