Halflings

Francis and Charley had more in common than they ever knew. For one thing they shared the same heritage of being halflings. Of course this was merely an expression, as no one is really half of anything at all.

But what was really implied and meant by this, was that they were not purely of mortal origin and understanding.

Nor did they have a full comprehension of the magical talents that lay within each of them.

And, separate and in conjunction to this was of course the spirit within - the God spark. This they shared, and no matter what kind their designation was - what costume clothed the spirit in talent and foresight, in intelligence and ego - they were first and foremostly spirits endowed with attributes that belonged, in this case, to both races at the one time.

This did not of itself, solely explain their attraction for one another. If anything it confused them all the more.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

What the Hode Saw

Patten Wilson 

Nets engorged with decaying fish and putrid octopuses slumped on the slippery top deck.

It was clear to Hode that it could not have been hunger that had taken them, but something else. He checked, and fresh water was still casked, as well as the usual ale-ments of mead.

He walked the well-oiled platform amongst the ghostly scene. A crow in a wire cage screeched and clawed the bars as it climbed.

The bird was an ancient form of GPS - were the boat to lose direction they would let it loose and know by its flight path the way back home. Crows seek out food, and the mainland is, as the crow flies.

He heard a voice calling to him in the distance:

“Robin, come back - and tell me Brother what do ye see?”


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

A Ghostly Voyage

Stripped of its masts, and void of its oars, the twenty fathom vessel creaked and groaned upon the rippling dark waters it bobbed upon.

Twelve of the thirteen men appeared to be intoxicated. Hode noticed them flaccid on the deck, barely conversational, seemingly half awake.

Around them was a spray of mist, rancid, with a dubious air to it … a noxious odor, in contrast to the ordinary brine that licks the air sharply.

The thick-necked weed that had captured the boat, floated, covering the entire surface surrounding, stretching for one hundred feet. It appeared dead and gaseous, with bubbles forming around its rubbery mesh.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Record of their Love had Vanished

When Charlotte’s mother had died, Puck would often revisit the moments they shared by stepping back into the akashic … it was like diving into a watery wall that ran sideways - her spectre would be on the other side. She was sitting on their bed in the flat they had in London - she had been waiting for him to return.

He felt like more of a man then - striding into that building, and up into that apartment, into her waiting embrace. She would laugh lightly - genuinely - because she was intoxicated by his presence. He could see himself through her eyes, as it were - as though he was a man - a mortal man.

To look back, and look in, was as though she was speaking to no one. His actual form and the record of their love had vanished from sight. But he still loved to revisit those moments nonetheless.

He felt the shame of it. Had he won her love unfairly. Yes. And, how could she have died on his watch?

And now, did she forget him entirely? This living memory was fraught with something intangible - he made a quick exit back into the present day reminding himself, that she was once again with another now. And, thank the Heavens, Marley was content without him.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

No Akashic Marking

The one thing he could not do, much to his ongoing regret, was visit the times and lives of his own kind.

The Elves could not impress the akashic imprints with their presence. Now and then there might be a light here and there, but no words, no image, of their ever having been there was apparent.

And, in other words, this also meant, that his passage throughout time left no such marking either.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Revisiting the Past

Hode considered an entire boatload of undead to be a particularly significant resurrection to take place.

He reasoned that Murmur’s gift of restoration had something to do with going back in time perhaps … and he wanted to compare the former bodies with those of the new.

The masterly Elvish are quite capable of navigating the Akashic Archives. One could say it was a recreational pastime of sorts, visiting the histories of men throughout the ages.

By this Hode had managed to pick up a firsthand experience of many of those episodes that helped to form the times to follow.

He could not pivot or change the future, by being witness to the past, for it was a living record, plastic to its time, and locked in this animated archive. It was as real as any video, and exact to every detail on its own plane.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Bless the Sick

Once a week Murmur would take a party of the brethren into the township to distribute the latest goods the Vatican had delivered.

This was observed to snub Rome, but being not their intention, the Brotherhood did as they had promised - and lived the frugal sparing life - exchanging the exotic offerings for only simple produce. Most of what they took into the village was onsold by the people, with small incomes now being made from these imported gifts from the Franciscans.

Frequently, on their weekly trips out, villagers would be standing in their doorways waiting - calling for Murmur to come pray for a family member recently deceased, hoping that he could revive them.

More often than not, the miracle would happen.

And it was rarely spoken of thereafter because the townspeople did not want their beloved to have the stigma of being one of the now undead.

Murmur would be called in to bless the ‘sick’, only to find them decomposing on the bed. It seemed to make no difference to the healing however. Time after time there would be a full recovery.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances