"Eternium"

{Note from the Author:  This is a shorter "intro piece" to Ieh'son's Master at the Blue Phoenix Monastery.  Yirshen will be the focus of my upcoming NaNoWriMo challenge (website HERE), and everyone is welcome to follow along!  I'll try to post regular updates to my twitter account as well: https://twitter.com/eblufenix . For now, enjoy!}

"I wish I could say that I knew him well," Ieh'son started, but then the tired King looked up and noticed him staring off into the distance.  Saishi was standing near the edge of a cliff, overlooking a small part of his camp.  He was exhausted from the day's news and events, and it showed in his slumped shoulders and glazed eyes.  Ieh'son was sitting, legs dangled over the cliff, hands absently brushing the parched grass.  From the bottom of his mind, Ieh'son wondered why there had not been rains in months, especially during the wet season.





Not bothering to turn his gaze in Ieh'son direction, Saishi half shrugged with visible effort.

"I'm not sure anyone alive knows him,"  The monk turned his head and looked at Saishi with his blue, penetrating eyes.  Many of the soldiers in the encampment had reservations about the young man, but most of those concerns had been directed towards his abilities.  Although slight in build, the warrior monk had incredible strength and agility, easily besting opponents that outmatched him in size and weight.  Saishi knew his style as as a Monk, but he fought with such ferocity, he would almost expect him a Master.  But it was those eyes that caught him off guard.  His eyes conveyed a sense of knowing that could not come from such a young man, barely escaping childhood.

"An interesting way to phrase it, Daan," Ieh'son replied, a glitter of interest caught in his eyes.  Saishi winced at the the formal word for King.  It was a polite, but authoritative gesture, meant to convey that Ieh'son's alliance with Saishi was most likely temporary.  The King looked again at the large encampment below, and took a long time before continuing.

"Urael," his mouth stopped at the mention of his dead friend's name, but he willed his body forward, "knew him well.  He would often talk at length about their friendship, but I soon learned that any real secrets were hidden below the friendly banter."  Saishi kicked a clog of dirt down the hill, watching it roll across the green grass and crumble under the friction of it's own motion.  "Yirshen, some believe, was born near the beginning of the Second Age."  That got the warrior's attention.  With precise and controlled speed, Ieh'son lept up and stared directly into the King's eyes.  Saishi swore he could almost see snow within them.

"That would mean he was there for," Saishi cut him off with a curt nod.

"The building of the Library, and the Sundering as well."  Ieh'son shivered as though an unpleasant thought had overtaken him.  His next words were distant, almost as if speaking to himself.

"My Master, an Immortal?  How could he attain such power?"  Saishi smiled sadly as he noticed a messenger clamoring up the hill toward him.

"My Scholars can show you all the old texts on him, Monk," the King said, "We should arrive at the capitol within a day's march."