"We who sit in Darkness salute you
We who know death revere you
You are the source of Life in Death
We wrap our souls in your embrace, forevermore"

Chant of Cleansing
Canticle of the Night-Mare
Chap. VII, v:4-6

Osric never forgave Oberon for the disgrace of his retroactive annulment of the marriage to Cymnea. The site of Faiella will still bring his flesh to fire, the long slow fire of the dead. His only surcease was the fierce bright joy of the Pattern of Fire, fourth and most difficult to access of the Elemental Patterns of Amber. He would wait for the sun to set over the sea, casting it's long reflection on the wave to create the Way of Fire, the path to the Bright Pattern.

But Oberon was not pleased with the wrath of his children and chose to make examples of them. When the Moonriders first rose, long before Benedict was old enough to lift a blade, much less the performance he would later show against them, Oberon sent his children to hold Helmwind Way against them. He sent them in with too few men, with too little support.

They held it anyway. Finndo fell first, leading the attack against the invaders. Osric was nearly the last, holding the entrance to the way itself. In his hour of desperation he reached out to the Bright Pattern he had loved like he never could any woman and wove it about him and sword and shield. It sustained him till the task was completed and then he passed, the pulsing light of Shalimalizar, the Reflection of the Jewel of Judgment in Fire fading as his heart slowed. Once, twice and no more.

They recovered his body, but the Jewel was never found.

"Sometimes, when we are alone, I remember that which was, when thy light was one with the sun and the world was spread beneath us. . . . Doust thou miss the light? Doust thou brood in darkness as do I, sick with the scent of death in my belly and the light of life forever withheld from my heart?"

The Jewel traveled with Osric to the Realm of the Bright Pattern, drawn halfway into death as it drew him halfway back to life. For many years he had too much to do conquering this new realm and the Feeble Ring of Bones it cast to concern himself with much else. But once his reign was consolidated he had time to sit, and think, and remember. Eventually, after much time and many great works, the Jewel Shalimalizar was recovered and with it the gateway to the world of the living.

The eventual goal is simple, Osric must take the Jewel of Judgment and walk the Bright Pattern while one of his most trusted walks the Amber (Earth) Pattern with Shalimalizar. At that point the Death Curse will be traded from the Bright Pattern to the Amber Pattern and Amber's dominance laid at the feet of Osric.