Voices

Posting from Descent'...

I'm not sure why I'm down here right now. Or even awake at this hour.

The Descent. The great passage from the surface to D'ni (or D'ni to the surface, depending on your origin). The great undertaking, halted at its final moment. I didn't really come back for any particular reason. It seems that, sometimes, the call beckons, and I must heed it. I have no direction. Not sure if I really need one.

I miss the life that we had down here. As before, it still breathes, but only barely. The sparse few that keep a flickering candle burning in the darkness. But that is the light that shines most brightly...or so they say.

I feel like I should do something, but I don't know what. The cavern calls. D'ni calls. I come, I leave...only to return again.

To my knowledge, the DRC have not visited in years. I'm sure they've moved on with their lives. The Bahro are quiet. I don't know if they've decided the dwindling numbers of explorers warranted an end to their conflict or if they've just moved it on to somewhere else. And it's anyone's guess where the 'desert bird' is or what she's doing.

That leaves us. The few. The quiet few. One might shout, and a reply may come...or perhaps just an echo.

What use is there for a reporter if there is nothing to report? No one to report to?

What use is there for a voice if no one is there to hear it?

I thought I might make a new report for The Cavern Today, but maybe that is no longer my calling. At least for now. If not that, though, then why does the cavern call me back time and again?

There are people here, but they seem distant and closed off. I find it difficult to connect.

And it feels lonely here without my friends.

I still stay in touch with some on the surface, of course...but we don't journey down here together much anymore.

I don't know if I can even count the faces. It seems like there were so many. So many that I could not even name them all...but now so few.

I recall the stories of this place. D'ni. Ti'ana. Gehn. Atrus. Yeesha. And even ours. The DRC. The history of the restoration itself. So much history. So many echoes. Is that the destiny of this place? To be the eternal home of echoes from distant shouts in the darkness? Is that the destiny of anyone who dares add their own shouts, lured in by its promises of something grand beyond imagining? Is that all the call really is? Some false beckoning, as the sirens' call, designed only to lure those who don't know better into its gaping maw?

No. I can't think like that. I've seen too much good happen here. Despite all the disaster that's happened here, it's only left for us to learn. There is magic in this place. A wonderment beyond anything else I've ever known. Something intangible, almost surreal, yet more real than any other experience I've ever had.

That's what happens when things really come alive here. You feel the life within you, and it's uplifting and fulfilling and so striking that it'll take your breath away if you let it. That's just the nature of this place. The Cavern. The Ages. D'ni.

New Start. That's what it meant to them. That's what it was for me, too. A lot of folks, I'm sure. I was at my darkest when I found D'ni, and it--and a very important friend I met along the way--helped me find new purpose, new meaning, and a new drive. It was not just something I longed for. It was something I needed.

Perhaps that's what I've been missing. It's not about bringing things back again. It's not about restoration. It's about renewal. It's not about bringing back the old, but creating something new. I've been so eager to apply that message to everything else, my desire to relive that magic made me forget the very message that brought it to me in the first place. Ironic, I suppose.

Creating something new. A new sound. A new voice? Who knows?

Where the Sun is Always Shining...

Posting from Minkata...

Y'know, I was complaining about the cold at home earlier today, and I realized that I'd almost forgotten I could come back to the Cavern where the temperature is pretty much the same year-round. And, of course, I can visit places like Minkata where it's nice and toasty. Dusty or not, I can't complain about being able to just lie down in the sun and warm up my bones after having to drive through the snow not ten minutes before.

It's so quiet here...but I still don't know what I'd do without this place.

Posting from the surface...

I don't know what compelled me to check this blog for updates.  I'm glad I did, however, since both it and the cavern seem to have new life.

My old KI no longer works, or else it just needs to be recharged and no one knows how to do it.  I had to dust off my battered, dog-eared Relto and link back down to Gahreesen for a new one.  And then I finally went back to the cavern after five long years.

Seeing D'ni has always been bittersweet for me.  The beauty of the alien city, carved out of the living rock surrounding it, is always stunning no matter how many times you've seen it.  But it's sad as well, when you remember the destruction that took place there.  However.. this time, it was something different.  That same haunting beauty was still there, but it seemed like something was missing.

I wandered around for a while, watching the tiny flickering lights of other explorers in the distance.  Ghosts of old memories surrounded me at every step.  The desolation and destruction in Ae'Gura is still there after two hundred years, and I'm beginning to wonder if the city will ever truly thrive again.  We'll never be able to go back and undo what happened, but we can try to repair some of the damage from the past. 

However, the question of whether we should rebuild is going to keep me up all night morning.

Posting from The Cavern Today's 'Hood...

Okay, I think I finally got this thing working right.

I haven't been visiting the cavern much lately. I think that's time to change.

There's still life down here. It's sparse and spread thin, but it's here. There's a lot of names I don't recognize...and not very many that I do.

The 'next generation,' I suppose.

There are things in motion. Little things, for now, but if we could get that old drive going again...

Maybe it's time to start a call of our own. Maybe it's time to open up D'ni for ourselves. Discover and explore new ages.

Maybe even write some of our own.

This reporter has some planning to do.

Still Here, Too

Posting from error...

vid, good to hear from ya! At first, I thought my KI was acting up...I tried to keep these things tied in to the feed, but you were always better at tweaking the these than me. Guess you should know this reporter is still out and about, as well. The cavern is pretty quiet, though. There's a bit of life here and there; it's not all gone, but there's certainly a lot less action than when I was actively field reporting for TCT.

Although apparently I need to work on this delay between when a post is made and when it actually informs me of that.

Well anyhow, I'm still around. Usually getting lost in Minkata or reflecting in the cool air of the Great Shaft...and occasionally I'll take a stroll through Delin. Love the smell of the air there, you know.

Until next time, this is Dalken Starbyne, saying goodnight.

Against All Reason...

Posting from the surface...

Four years. It's been over four years since I've tried to do this. To post from a KI. To post from a blog that hasn't seen life in four years. Who would have known that it still works? Or that I could even remember how? This is my fourth KI. Three of the damned things have stopped working over the years, who knew that D'ni tech was so disposable?

...wait, four devices in... eight-ish years? Nevermind, that's better than most cellular telephones.

Why am I posting? I don't know. I guess I do. But maybe not? A certain D'ni related discussion came up recently, brought up some old memories. Against my better judgement, I decided to skim some of the old posts, and read the comments. There's too many people that I haven't seen or heard from in years.

...if anyone still reads this, I'm still here. If you need me... you know how to find me.

Confusion

Posting from Relto...

Wow...we really need to get better about keeping this updated. vid, that means you too!

A lot...and I mean a LOT...has happened since the last update here...jeez...

There's the loss of Willow "Wheely" Engberg, and Rosette Taylor. The poor girls.

...A memorial was put up in the Kahlo Pub for them...now it's a general memorial for all those from the Cavern who've been lost.

Mr. Engberg himself ran off down into the Descent, presumably looking for Dr. Watson...I say, good luck to him...

The Negilahn predator turned out to be the Bahro...well, some of them. It's kinda complicated, but suffice to say, some of them ended up attacking Sharper, while others saved him.

Bahro activity has shot through the ceiling...Bahro have been seen all over the City and in the 'hoods...rumors are running around about a Bahro civil war...Phil's returned, and says that the Bahro are indeed free, and that they're split into "good" and "evil" factions...whatever that means. Phil also mentioned that "he" was coming. That's gotten everyone speculating as to who "he" is, of course.

A Bahro visited my Relto on the 4th...that was, well...how do I put it?

Confusing, to say the least. Didn't help that the guy didn't even understand English, and that I don't speak Bahro. Still, a couple questions were answered...sort of. A lot more were brought up, though.

I hope he comes back.

On an unrelated note, I just started my seinor year of high school. Last year of torture before I move on to what I'm sure will be even more torture! Yay for college! ...Well, at least I have moving to Spokane to look forward to. And after college, I'll apply at Cyan...and everything will be totally awesome. Well, almost everything, anyway.

Well...I don't think I forgot anything there...I'll try to remember to update more often...and you too, vid!

~Dalken