(ooc: Jihon, please post soon, or I'll have to God-mod you in order to keep things moving along. I want to wrap this up.)

Soul Reaver looks at Clutchfiend. He hesitates, but then nods slighty.

"Although I would have welcomed your presence on Dynaria or wherever we are going, it is not required. Still, I am very sorry to see you go."

(ooc: I hope I'm not making the wrong assumptions here Jihon, but I'm moving this along now. Clutch, if you want Clutchfiend to leave before this is done, then that's still possible, since it took us half an hour to arrive here... though I'd like it if Clutch was with us. )

Soul Reaver gives a small smile as Jihon carries his wife off. He watches Yue leave, apparently following Keseno's trail, but Soul Reaver stays put. Most likely, Keseno wishes some time to himself right now.

Stavarus, in the meantime, walks over to his weapons, which are lying on the floor nearby. He picks them up, examining them and the remains of the leather straps attached to them. Gesturing, he invokes the Rune that will cause the straps to gradually repair themselves.

Jihon's glittering ship cuts at great speed through the emptiness of space, a firey tail burning behind it. It nears a world of emerald fields and sapphire seas - a world much like the memories still living in Soul Reaver's own mind of his own lost homeland.

Soul Reaver looks out the glass portholes that face the world of Dynaria, a pang of homesickness welling deep inside him. Despite all the millenia, the simple, impossible wish to return home still has not left him.

Stavarus sits nearby, bent over as if in meditation, his eyes closed.

Jihon's ship enters the atmosphere of the planet above an uninhabited part of Dynaria. Like a shooting star, it burns through the clouds before slowing and eventually landing near a rocky shore. The massive ship shakes slightly as it lands.

Stavarus looks up as several doors open towards an airlock. A set of steps slide down from the metal until they touch the ground. Quietly, Stavarus breathes to himself,

"I am glad... this metal craft makes me feel uneasy..."

Soul Reaver walks towards the airlock. Stavarus watches him for a moment, but then seems to make up his mind about something. He too rises, and heads towards the doorway.

As he is about to reach the exit, Stavarus places his hand on Soul Reaver's shoulder to attract his attention, then turns to the others.

"I would request that you all be present for a moment when Rhavin and I leave this ship... I wish to speak to all of you."

Soul Reaver raises and eyebrow, but then walks outside into the fresh sunlight.

(ooc: I'll assume that pretty much everyone is outside when this occurrs.)

Soul Reaver exits the ship, setting foot on Dynaria's rich, soft, grassy soil. Above, the sun shines brightly amongst a blue sky and brilliant white clouds. To the south, a thick forest covers the lower slopes of the cliff the companions are standing on. To the North, the cliff ends in a sheer drop down to the deep blue ocean. Waves can be heard crashing onto the rocks far below, and the cries of seagulls are faintly audible.

Soul Reaver walks silently and ceremoniously towards a patch of dusty, bare earth nearby. Stavarus watches him, and once he realises what he is doing, places his weapons on the ground and bows his head in quiet reverence.

Soul Reaver kneels down beside the patch of earth, picking up some of the fine grains in his hand. He extends his left hand forward - the companions notice that it is balled into a fist, and is glimmering slightly. Gently, he opens his hands, and with something resembling a sigh, the souls of Blackrends imprisoned Warp Travellers are released once more.

Keeping his eyes on the horizon, Soul Reaver allows the earth in his hands to gently sift between his fingers. The dust is picked up and dispersed by the wind as Soul Reaver solemnly recites some words...

"Through the trials of laughter, joy, and love,
And fire, steel and tears,
Guide our kinsmen to their rest
Forever quell their fears.

Now on the back of Death's great steed,
Beyond all this you ride
May you pass beyond the Shadowlands,
And reach the Other Side"

As he speaks, the souls of the dead fade peacefully away to their deserved rest beyond the cares of Mortal men.

Soul Reaver bows his head once, then turns back to the companions.

"I had to see their souls off on their final journey to the Other Side. They have suffered for millenia. The peace of death, whatever it may bring, is all they now wished for."

Stavarus raises his head, and speaks.

"I too have something I must say..."

Soul Reaver grows silent. Stavarus speaks, his eyes looking down as he speaks.

"I... wish to ask for forgiveness.

Ever since my life was returned to me... I lived with only the burning desire for vengeance. I sought only to wipe out evil, never realising the evil within me that was driving me forward.

I was blind. I believed there was only one way for me to know peace again - through vengeance and my final death. I did not see the suffering that I was inflicting on the world around me.

Back at his fortress, Blackrend echoed my fears - that I was nothing but what he made me, what circumstance had forced me to become.

In the end, however, he was wrong. I was wrong. And I see the truth now. We are nothing more than what we forge ourselves to be through our own will."

Soul Reaver nods quietly, slowly.

"I now see the crimes of my past. And I now intend to atone for them.

Though Khora may be dead, the Dark Legion still exist in the Mortal Plane. My past sins still haunt the lives of many. And other great evils constantly threaten the people of the Mortal Plane.

I will use what I have become in order to protect the mortal plane. Perhaps, in time, I will redeem myself."

Stavarus looks straight at the companions.

"I ask for your forgiveness for the indifference I have shown towards you all in the past, and for almost leading you to your destruction. I have seen first-hand the valor and courage in your hearts, and your spirits shine brightly.

However... I now intend to leave to search for my own retribution. Perhaps in time we will meet again. But for now, I need to find this path on my own."

Soul Reaver lowers his eyes. Stavarus looks directly at him.

"Rhavin, do you still have the Staff of Ashara? If you trust me with it, I will seek to seal the weapon away somewhere safe... I fear to think what its power would do in the wrong hands."

Soul Reaver looks up, and for a moment he does not move. However, eventually, he reaches into his Infinity Pouch, and draws the Staff of Ashara from it, and holds the glittering device in his hands. He glances at his companions.

"I have felt its touch... there are few weapons so soullessly indifferent to the destruction that they can wreak. I think giving it up is the correct thing to do."

Carefully, he gives the Staff to Stavarus. Then, he reaches into the air, and a grey travelling cloak appears in his hands. He also hands it to Stavarus.

"And take this with my blessing."

Stavarus bows slightly after taking the cloak from Soul Reaver's hands. He then clasps Soul Reaver's gauntlet tightly in his own taloned hand in thanks.

"My thanks, old friend. You have allowed me the chance to find out who I was meant to be. We will meet again, Rhavin. I promise."

With that, Stavarus picks up his weapons, and slings them over his shoulder with a grunt. He drapes the cloak over his strange Daemonic form, and after a final, respectful bow, leaning on the Staff of Ashara, turns away from the companions.

Drawing a rune in the air, the reality before Stavarus distends into a Warp Gate, and Stavarus heads into it and towards his own destiny...

(ooc: Any final words to Stavarus should be said now. He probably won't reply... sort of like the final words as he's walking away. He's already said his lot, after all. And yeah, I really think the Staff is rather a dangerous, not to mention unbalancing, device...)