Free Shadowrun - Earthdawn - Lliferock by Jak Koke Page A

feeling stifled by the close humidity of the jungle. He remembered the story of how Jibn’s Horror had nearly destroyed Tepuis Garen. What if the same thing had happened here? What if Ohin Yeenar made a pact with a Horror to stay alive?
    But he had come too far to allow such doubts to stop him.
    “I come,” he said, then stepped through the arched entryway into the temple.
    The last vestiges of the chill left Pabl as he passed through the high archway, bracketed by giant quartz columns. Ohin Yeenar stood at the far side of the temple, next to a window which gave a view of the muddy river beyond. The room was crowded with stone chairs and relics, chipped statues and huge, broken frescos of a time gone by. Pabl was sure it had been an impressive sight long ago.
    Ohin’s skin was frosty white, and he stooped, his back bent at an odd angle. He looked feeble to Pabl, as though he could die at any moment. “Come here,” he said. “I can’t see you.”
    Pabl stared at Ohin as he approached, walking carefully around the chairs and old ceramics which littered the temple floor. Ohin reminded Pabl of an old human or dwarf which had lived passed his usefulness, but who was still alive, burdening others because the horror of dying was worse than the idea of wasting away. Ohin was unnaturally old for an obsidiman. Elders and liferocks always joined in the Final Merging before the Elder grew senile or decrepit. That was how it should be; Ohin Yeenar was an aberration.
    “Let me see you,” Ohin said, reaching in Pabl’s direction.
    Pabl wondered what he meant by that. There was plenty of This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock 
    62
    

Jak Koke
    light in here. Then, looking more closely, Pabl became aware of an anomaly. Wrinkled and severely cracked skin shadowed thick eyes the color of milk. Ohin’s eyes had clouded over with time.
    “You are blind,” Pabl said, suppressing a frisson. “How can you see me?”
    “I can see your astral pattern,” he said. “And from that I can tell much. You have some skill with magic. You are eager and brave.”
    “How —”
    “I have been blind longer than you have lived. I have learned to hone my other senses. I see that you are not yet Named. It is primarily because of this that I have allowed you to approach.”
    “Because I’m not Named?”
    Ohin nodded. “It is unlikely I can destroy your identity, because yours is not fully developed.”
    Pabl felt a chill. “What do you mean?”
    “Perhaps it is a curse, but I tend to have a profound effect on those who meet me.”
    Pabl didn’t doubt that. “Will you answer a few questions for me?”
    Ohin grimaced. “Let me taste your water, then we shall share the Dreaming together.”
    Pabl drew back suddenly. “Self-Dreaming with you?”
    Ohin lurched away from the window, coming toward him in a swaying stagger. “I am close to dying,” he said. “The pain of my loss, Othellium . . .” He stumbled to his knees then, cry-ing out in pain and putting his head in his hands.
    Pabl stood a few feet away, unsure what to do.
    Ohin looked up at him, his hideously unnatural cataracts swimming in a paste of loose skin. “I am sorry. Forgive me.
    Will you share your water with me? I would offer mine in exchange, but it has gone foul, I’m afraid.”
    This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock 
    63
    

Jak Koke
    Pabl unclasped his backpack and set it on the floor. He opened it and removed a large silver flagon of riflev water. “I hope this container is suitable for I have no other.”
    Ohin took the water from him. “Please sit, Pabl Evr of Tepuis Garen. I do not bite.” He drank from the flagon.
    Pabl sat hesitantly next to his backpack and waited for Ohin to finish.
    The ancient one savored the water, taking a long, slow draught. He drew it out and gave a great gasp of satisfaction when he was finished. “Ahh, that was magnificent,” he said and handed