Tag: gods

41. Lucas

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

I frowned as I stepped into the room, blinking against the bright light of day. It was like a jungle, humid and full of plants and the sounds of droning insects and birds. I wondered for a moment if I had passed out and started dreaming, but I felt too present and aware. Everything I was experiencing felt real. I moved forward through the greenery, pushing aside velvety fronds of massive plants, and stepped out into a clearing, at the center of which was a giant skull. I gaped at it openly – it was covered in flowering vines, the delicate lavender and gold blooms swaying in a slight breeze, glittering in the sunlight.

The sight of the skull was so overwhelming that I almost didn’t notice the child sitting atop it, leaning forward with their hands on their knees and smiling at me. I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl, and for a moment I wondered if it even mattered – because it wasn’t a person. It was a god. The child had long hair, trailing down its back and splayed across the skull’s top behind it – I noticed that the hair grew transparent at the end before disappearing, and wondered how far it invisibly stretched. It wore a loose white robe and gold bracelets adorned its arms and ankles. A delicate gold circlet sat on its head. It smiled at me, absently swinging its legs, the ankle bracelets glinting in the light.

“You know, you almost drove me crazy spending all those days giggling in my ear,” I said by way of greeting. The child threw its head back and laughed in delight. After a moment of staring at it aghast, I asked, “Are you even going to talk to me now?”

“Yes, Lucas Kearney. We will talk,” it said, its voice clear as a bell. It jumped down from the skull, landing as gently as a feather.

I stared at the skull in fascination. “I thought you were a life god,” I said.

“I am Nature. Death is as natural as life,” it said, patting the skull gently with one small hand. “Death is the only promise of life,” it added softly.

I looked up at the skull. “What does that belong to?” I asked.

“It was mine.” I looked back down at the child and frowned, attempting to process that information.

It smiled at me expectantly, clearly waiting for me to voice my questions before answering them. “So you’re… dead?”

“I am something beyond life and death now, even if life and death are my domains.”

I shook my head, tired of the cryptic nature of the conversation. “I don’t understand any of this,” I said with a sigh.

“I am here to reveal truths to you, Lucas Kearney the Accountant.”

“Great, an info dump,” I groused. The child’s expression grew stormy for a moment and I grimaced. “I’m sorry, I’ll stop being irreverent. I know there’s a lot I don’t know. I know there’s a lot I need to know.” The child stared at me placidly. I paused for a moment, realizing that I would have to ask questions to get answers, and pondered what things I specifically felt I needed to know. I suddenly worried that I would fail to think of any questions, and hoped that the others had gods that were more forthcoming with their information. “What are the invisible orbs?” I blurted, thinking of the first strange thing that came to mind.

“Ah, well, that… I do not entirely know,” the child said. Something in my expression caused it to chuckle. “It is not our doing, or the doing of anything within our realm. I suspect it is from your world. It feels… alien to us. Unknown. What I can say is that it watches your people closely, and that whatever is on the other side can see what it sees.” I glanced around nervously, uncomfortable at the idea of being watched by some unknown thing. “Do not worry, Lucas Kearney. My power keeps it from this place. You are unobserved for now, but when you leave this chamber, remember that you are watched.”

I nodded slowly. “Speaking of things from my world… why bring us here? Why have the gods not been choosing people from this world to do their bidding?”

“Because what you have been summoned to do is not our bidding.”

I felt a little startled at that, and my head jerked back to stare directly into the eyes of the child. “What the fuck does that mean?”

The child’s expression became somber for a moment, and it hesitated before answering, as though searching for the right words to explain. “The seal was not just for the god ascendant. It was for all the gods.”

I felt a strange surge of anger, feeling like I had been tricked in some way. “Explain. Now. Explain everything. From the beginning.”

“The world I was born to was a wondrous place.”

“Oh, we’re going to that beginning?” The child frowned at me again, and I held my hands up. “I’m sorry. I asked for this. Continue.”

“As I was saying,” the child cleared its throat. “A wondrous place full of magic. Like Shadawn, my people discovered how to ascend.” It paused for a moment, seeing my confused expression, “Shadawn is the name of the god ascendant. Keep up, Lucas Kearney.” I nodded. “A small pantheon of gods might be able to peacefully coexist, but do you know what happens when an entire planet of billions suddenly grasps godlike powers?”

“You nuked yourselves,” I said grimly.

“We destroyed our world. We destroyed each other. Our numbers dwindled, until there was barely a handful of us remaining, and we drifted apart when we realized there was nothing left worth fighting for. I drifted here, attracted to a world of life, where magic existed, and I was joined by some of my kin. Watching the elves in all their power was like watching our own people. We cherished their strengths, but hoped to dilute their abilities so they would not repeat our tragedy.” The child frowned. “We thought we had succeeded by introducing peoples that lacked their gifts, but Shadawn proved to us that there will always be those that wish to ascend.” It stared thoughtfully at the skull, removing its hand from the smooth bone. “Shadawn intended to declare war on us. Do you know what that would have done to the face of this world? To all that live here?”

“I could guess.” I sighed. “The people here were protecting themselves from all of you.”

“Yes. There were those of us that intended to send our champions to destroy Shadawn – he was newly ascended, and had not grasped his powers or found a domain to fuel him. But some of my kin did lack concern for this world and were willing to face him, even knowing the destruction they would cause. I do not blame those that created the seal for doing what they did, though there are those amongst my kin who are very angry still.”

I stared for a long moment into the distance, listening to the ever-present sound of birds and bugs. “So they create the seal, and lock all of you and Shadawn away. The seal weakens every 500 years and they realize they need divine magic to fuel their spell. But we didn’t have divine magic before we came here, and the selection seemed random.”

The child smiled sadly at me. “When you are summoned, the spell pulls you through the seal – and through all the divinity of the nine. The summoned are bathed in our power, and granted our grace. You are not true Chosen, because we did not choose you.”

I felt a little disappointed, but nodded. I think I had hoped that something about me had been special after all, and this was confirmation that I was just Lucas Kearny, the accountant, boring and single and almost 40.

It smiled at me as though it could read my mind, or maybe my disappointment was written all over my face. “Lucas Kearney. You would have displayed power no matter what – but I have chosen to guide and craft your gifts. And that makes you my Chosen.”

I couldn’t maintain eye contact, and found myself staring at the ground, embarrassed. “So, umm… as your Chosen. What do you want me to do? Do you want to be released?”

“Freedom makes no difference to me, not like it does to my kin. This world continues, with or without us. And probably for the better without us.” It paused for a moment. Then the child stepped forward, reaching out a hand. “Lucas Kearney, approach and kneel in supplication.”

I had never been religious and the idea felt awkward, so much so that I stumbled taking my first few steps forward. I paused, wondering how I was supposed to kneel, and settled on leaning forward on one knee, like a knight swearing fealty. I bowed my head and closed my eyes, and wondered what it meant to supplicate. I could hear the god chuckle, as though it were reading my thoughts again, and felt the warmth of its small hand being placed on my head.

“I grant you my gifts, Lucas Kearney. I grant you all my power to use as you see fit in the coming days. Choose what you will. Tear the seal and defeat Shadawn, or allow yourself to be burnt and, with the power of my full grace, create a more permanent seal that will last through the ages. Your life or your death. The choice will be yours.” I shivered a little at the words, spoken so seriously in a lilting child’s voice.

I looked up at it. “Can we defeat Shadawn?”

It frowned. “Shadawn is not weak as he was when he first ascended. He has chosen his domain, and it is fear, and all creatures understand terror.” I felt the hand shift from the top of my head down to my cheek, and stared into its eyes. “But I will grant you a spell that will give you the power to kill him. A spell of death. You must weaken him significantly first, but once that has been done, you need only speak one word.”

“Power Word Kill,” I whispered to myself in awe.

“This is not a game, Lucas Kearney,” the god chided, slapping me very lightly with the hand it held to my cheek. I winced, even though there was no real pain to it.

Then I laughed despite myself. “No, it’s not a game. And I don’t want to die… not unless I really have to.” I paused for a moment. “If we break the seal and fail to kill Shadawn, will he really destroy the world?”

The child nodded solemnly.

I sighed. “Okay, okay. I get it. We can’t let that happen. But we’re going to try to kill him first. Recreating the seal is a backup plan only.” I wasn’t sure if that was the wisest plan, but it was the only way I would be getting out of this alive. The child smiled as I stood up and backed away.

“A word of warning: The death spell is powerful and you will only be able to cast it once while facing Shadawn. Use it wisely.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. And… Well, thanks,” I said awkwardly. “If we come out of this thing all alive and well, is there anything you want me to do for you as your Chosen?”

The child looked thoughtful for a moment. “I hold nothing in reserve for myself. I have given you all my power, without which I will diminish. Far to the north there is a temple where my heart tree stands. Visit it when you are done, and give it back.”

I nodded, then asked teasingly, “But what if I don’t?”

The jungle around me disappeared. I blinked in the sudden darkness. I stood in a plain room, hewn of the stone it was built into. An altar stood before me adorned with the symbol of the skull and the flower, and behind the altar was a statue of an androgynous child with long hair, dressed in a plain robe. “Do not anger me, Lucas Kearney,” the voice said, reverberating in the very stone around me.

I grinned. “I won’t. I promise.” I reached for my power and was surprised to see that the light that surrounded me was no longer the soft golden glow but a deep vibrant green with streaks of black and brown sliding through it like a disturbing miasma. I wondered if this was what it meant to carry the full power of my god. I grew a flower in my palm – the familiar lavender and gold bloom that symbolized the god of Nature, and I placed it on the altar.

As I turned back toward the door, I could hear something of a commotion occurring outside. Stepping out into the front hallway, I could see Raella, Jon and Chase rushing out of the double doors across from me, and Lyre standing near T’Keran’s door, staring wide eyed at the confrontation that was occurring. Looking over toward the statue of Gno at the end of the hall, I could see that Asterollan was glowing vibrantly, so brightly that it hurt to look at him, and he had a fiery blade pointed at Peyton. “You’ve been working with Shadawn!” he was shouting.

“I have not been working with Shadawn! I can’t stop the creep from visiting me in my dreams!” Peyton was shouting back, her tone defensive.

“What the fuck is going on?” I shouted, moving to step between Asterollan and Peyton. I squinted at Asterollan and waved a hand at his sword. “Put that stupid thing away. You’re not hurting her.”

He lowered his sword, but still glared angrily at Peyton. “Cenastrum told me that she has been consorting with our enemy. It’s why she doesn’t use magic. He blocked her abilities as a punishment.”

I paused for a moment in confusion before realizing that it had been a long time since I had seen Peyton use magic. I remembered her rushing in to face the fire giant with nothing but a sword. I turned to look at her. “Is that true?”

“I didn’t know what was blocking my magic. But I promise you, I haven’t been working with Shadawn. He keeps asking me to. He visits me in my dreams and insists he can grant me all sorts of power. But he’s annoying and creepy, and well… I just don’t want to.” Peyton looked annoyed to have to be explaining herself.

I turned back toward Asterollan and shrugged. “Man, I believe her.”

“Of course you would. You’re smitten with her! But don’t let her beauty deceive you!”

“Uuhhhh,” I said, carefully not turning to look at Peyton.

“What’s going on here?” I heard Cassandra say as she stepped out of T’Keran’s room.

“Asterollan’s god is pissy at Peyton and so Asterollan is pissy at Peyton,” I heard Lexie’s voice say from somewhere above us. Frowning, I swiveled my head around and spotted the girl sitting up on top of the All Seeing Eye of Gno. I could spot the glittering eyes of Peter above her on the ceiling, also quietly watching.

“How long have you been up there?” I asked.

Lexie shrugged. “I got out first. Myrapen didn’t have anything more to say to me than hi.”

I sighed and rubbed my fingers against my temples. I could hear Cassandra move forward to stand next to me. “Asterollan,” she said. “I believe Peyton too. Stand down.”

He grimaced. “Cassandra…”

She reached for her magic. I stared in awe at the light that surrounded her, an aura that sparked with energy and electricity. “Oooh, did we all get power ups?” Lexie asked. I glanced up as she lit up as well, and it looked like she was literally on fire. She jumped down, and I could swear that I saw the faintest hint of wings form from the flames, slowing her descent. She looked at me expectantly.

I sighed and reached for my magic, the vibrant green with the drifting brown tendrils drifting through. “I don’t think it would be wise for any of us to fight here, or to fight each other. We need to save our power for Shadawn.” Cassandra dropped her magic, as did Lexie, but I held onto mine, squinting at Asterollan. “Besides, you can compel the truth from us. If you’ve asked her and she’s answered, then you already know what the truth is.”

Asterollan frowned and dropped his hold on his magic. The sword disappeared as well. “Cenastrum told me…”

I dropped my magic and frowned at Cassandra as she said, “He wasn’t lying – she admitted that Shadawn has approached her. But Cenastrum assumed the worst. Or maybe he’s just severe in his judgement… unforgiving.” Asterollan frowned impassively at us for several moments before walking past Raella and back into the library. Cassandra stared after him, a look of concern on her face.

“Sooo… what do you mean Asterollan compels the truth from us?” I asked.

40. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

The next day we woke early to meet with Raella and the others. Raella had questioned the prisoners early in the morning but got no further answers from them, and instead spent most of the day closely attached to Jon Umberling, asking him copious questions about the temple he had found and the information he had uncovered there. The dwarves were in the process of looking for volunteers to go with us on our expedition underground. The danger was great enough that the King wasn’t comfortable ordering soldiers to accompany us. The previous expedition had consisted of a team of scholars, some from the local university and others employed by the royal court, like Jon. They had ventured underground with a team of soldiers to guard them from the dangers there.

Only half the scholars and a handful of the soldiers had returned.

“They’re called Underlings,” Jon said with a shudder.

Greyjon had nodded, his expression grim. “I’ve heard of them. There are some places in the Empire where we can access the subterranean places of this world. We’ve never ventured far – the conventional wisdom when we find such places is to block the exits and place guards to watch them.”

“Underdark,” Peyton said, glancing at Lucas, who nodded as though he understood what she meant perfectly. I raised an eyebrow at their interaction. “What kind of people are these Underlings?”

“People is a stretch, though they are humanoid. We don’t know much about them. They may very well be richly cultured and intelligent, but we’ve never been able to approach them. Any attempts to travel into their domain is met with instant hostility,” Jon explained.

“In the past, the Empire had managed to build and defend a passage directly to the seal. That has likely been swarmed by the Underlings,” Raella said. “I understand promises were made that the passages would be reopened for our return.”

Jon nodded, but grimaced as he spoke. “We haven’t made much progress. For one, our alliance has not been long, and the timeline to achieve such a matter has been… short. Our expedition was mostly intended to be reconnaissance. And so few of us returned… We can make our way safely to the underground temple, but past that will be dangerous. I think our hopes lie in the power of your magical abilities, and perhaps the protection of the gods.”

Raella nodded thoughtfully. “It’s not ideal, but we’ll make it work. I will need all the information you do have on these Underlings and as much as you know about our passage underground.” Peyton and Asterollan stayed with Raella, Greyjon and Zolambi as these matters were discussed, as interested in hearing all the details as they could manage to absorb and to help with strategy.

The rest of us found other ways to pass the time. Chase seemed focused on keeping Lexie preoccupied exploring the Dwarven palace and the surrounding city – they visited several places, trying as many different foods as they could manage, and Lexie cheerfully described everything that evening when she was eating with us. I wasn’t sure what had happened to her in the gardens, or if she was completely okay, but she seemed in better spirits at least.

Lyre and I went to visit the palace gardens to see what they looked like in the light of day. They were quite lovely despite the damage we had caused there and despite it being quite late in the autumn. When we stepped out, we could see Lucas glowing brightly, using his abilities to grow the hedges in the maze and close the circles that Asterollan had blasted through them. An entire troupe of gardeners and palace servants were gathered around, applauding his handiwork. I watched in fascination.  When he was done, he took a seat on a bench, and I went to join him, Lyre trailing along behind me. “That was very helpful of you,” I said.

Lucas shrugged. “It’s the one thing I do. Plants.”

“Plants,” I repeated, amused. He still glowed with the power he continued to grasp, and I watched as some of the nearby plants brightened and bloomed. He didn’t even seem to realize what he was causing.

We were afforded another night of rest in our nice plush rooms. Peyton spent the evening in the stables with her horse – she was quite attached, and we couldn’t bring them underground with us. Lying in bed, the realization that we were going to be traveling underground really hit me and I felt grateful that Lyre and I had spent our day in the gardens. We’d soon be traveling where there was no sunlight and fresh air.

The next day, we were escorted to the nearest mines that led into the mountain, and personally attended by the Dwarven king himself. There was a short ceremony, during which the king lauded the bravery of the soldiers present, all volunteers, a group of 25 brave men and women who were willing to follow us deeper underground than anyone from the surface had been in many hundreds of years. We were also traveling with Jon Umberling, which I found surprising – I hadn’t considered the messy haired bespectacled scholar as a brave man, but this was his second trip into this danger, after the first one hadn’t gone well. I found myself reassessing him a little.

I glanced up at the sky one last time before entering the mines. And then I forced myself not to look back.

We were in the active Dwarven mines for most of that day, and on occasion passed dwarves who were in the process of working to extract some sort of silvery ore I could sometimes spot in the rocks. Everyone was quite relaxed through this part of the journey, as we were in known territory – some of the soldiers even lingered behind to chat with miners they recognized. When we reached the end of the mining shafts, we came to a massive wooden door that blocked the cavern – guards were posted there. The door was so heavy that it required a mechanism to open, and the guards were reluctant to do so until every lingering soldier had caught up. They didn’t want to leave the gate open longer than it had to be, and their nervousness was somewhat infectious. When we did finally pass through, the sound of the massive door shutting behind us seemed to echo with a grim finality.

Half of the soldiers traveled ahead to scout out danger and the other half trailed behind with our supplies – they were intent on keeping us in the middle, where we could be guarded. We carried magical lanterns that held glowing stones to provide light, though sometimes we came across patches of bioluminescent moss that helped light the way as well. Sometimes we came across chambers, and other passages that veered into different directions, but the dwarves all seemed to know the path we should take.

When it was time to camp for the night, we stopped in a narrow passage where any attack would be forced to come from one side or the other. “We should reach the temple by evening tomorrow and be able to take shelter there. It is relatively safe up until the temple, but we should remain alert. Our last excursion was chased nearly back to the mines before the Underlings gave up on us,” Jon Umberling explained, the lens of his glasses flashing in the lights we had. The passages were spacious enough, but I somehow still felt cramped in. I had never considered myself claustrophobic, but I also didn’t spend copious amounts of time in still, dark places underground. It was stifling, and I found myself clutching Lyre’s hand or leaning into him.

The next morning we gathered together and continued on through the passages in the same way we had the previous day. The soldiers were quiet and intent on their duty, grim faced and tense. I found it disturbing, a testament to the danger we could possibly be facing. Most of the rest of us were lost in our own thoughts. It would have been oppressively quiet if it weren’t for Jon’s presence – he was quite happy to chatter away at any question that was asked, and was especially excited to volunteer information that he had learned from his previous trip. “The god of truth and justice shares a name with the star at the center of our galaxy – Cenastrum – or perhaps we named the star after him. It makes one wonder what other things we linguistically centered around the gods, keeping their names safe even as we forgot about them,” Jon was enthusiastically saying to Asterollan. “Still, his symbol is the sun rather than a star. The star symbol is mostly reserved for Sateen, The Morning Star, god of ambition and gold.”

“How many gods are there?” Peyton asked curiously. Even though Raella must have already quizzed Jon on the subject extensively, she still listened intently, her yellow eyes gleaming in the low light.

“Nine gods in all. Besides Cenastrum and Sateen, there is also Myrapen – your goddess, Miss Saint, the Eternal Flame. Gno, the All Knowing; Holtrin, The Ever Changing; Udacha, our Lady of Luck; T’Keran, the Storm; and Koz, the blood god. And then there is the one that I’ve heard blesses you,” Jon tilted his head over at Lucas. “Strangely, or perhaps not very strangely at all, Nature has no name or grand title.”

 I shifted uncomfortably as he said T’Keran’s name, and could swear that I almost felt a soft breeze, even this deep within the underground cavern. I couldn’t decide if I was reassured or spooked. “I don’t suppose you found out the name of the being we’re facing?” I asked.

Jon frowned and shook his head. “I didn’t, unfortunately. But there was a lot of information that we didn’t get through. So much more to study. The temple held a massive library and seemed to be primarily devoted to Gno, but there were rooms with altars devoted to each of the deities. You may all be able to individually commune with your gods there.”

Peyton looked lost in thought as she considered that. We continued with Jon rambling about the different domains and natures of the gods. I was just getting tired of walking when the passage opened into a massive cavern. As we stepped out with our escorts, we found ourselves staring down into a stone ruin. I had expected absolute darkness, but something within the cavern seemed to glow faintly, providing enough visibility to make out the structures within. While many of the smaller buildings that had made up the area had crumbled and given way to time, the larger building of the temple itself still stood tall. A statue of an immense robed figure stood at the gate, its head tilted over a book. The face of the figure was obscured, in part by the low hood but also in part by the giant stone eye that covered the opening of the hood. I realized the eye was providing the light in the cavern.

As we approached, I could see the iris was faceted and glittered faintly. It was some sort of opaque deep red gemstone that reminded me of especially shiny red obsidian. “Well, the Underlings aren’t present, I believe,” Jon said quietly, sounding nervous for the first time. He chuckled lightly. “We’ll make camp inside the temple.”

As we entered, I spotted another statue like the one out front, but smaller – it was situated on the far side of the hallway from us. There were eight doors on one side of the hall, which I realized must lead to the altars that Jon spoke of. On the other side was a massive set of double doors that had been left open previously, through which I could see the remnants of an old library.

Most of the soldiers set up camp in the front hallway and just outside the front doors. Greyjon and Zolambi joined them to provide some magical defenses. Greyjon was probably more at home with the soldiers anyway. Meanwhile, the rest of our party set up camp in the old library. I could see the rotted remains of wooden tables, and wondered how old they were. Had they been well maintained when this temple was a stopping point for the Graces in the past? Or had this library just been allowed to rot for 5000 years?

Some of the books were in remarkably good condition, and I wondered if perhaps there was some magic at work in preserving them. Jon began to lead Raella through the library, and they poked through the more well-preserved tomes, handling them with near reverence. Chase followed, looking mildly intrigued. I was under the impression that they were choosing what books they needed to take back to the surface on their return trip.

Once we were settled in, Lexie wordlessly went to go investigate the doors across the hall. Lyre and I followed her, and the others trailed after us. We stood together in a loose line, surveying the doors, which each had colorful symbols arrayed on them. The symbols were vibrant and held a faint shimmer to them that reminded me of the tether tattoos the elven slaves wore. I recognized the sword in front of the starburst that belonged to Asterollan’s god. And I stared at the lightning bolt in front of the storm cloud, knowing instantly that it belonged to T’Keran.

There was also the flame of Myrapen, and what looked like a pentacle of shimmering gold with a solid black star at its center, and a chalice set in front of crossed axes, and even some more abstract symbols of lines, circles, and squares. Lucas was staring, frowning hard at the door that must have belonged to his god. There was the image of a humanoid skull on it, with flowers vining and blooming over the skull. I frowned, wondering why a nature god would have such a strong image of death as part of her symbol.

The air felt strangely heavy in that moment as we all silently stared at the doors. As if compelled, we moved forward, almost all at the same time. I remember hearing Lyre softly call my name as I stepped away from him, pulling me out of my trance just long enough that I glanced over to see Lexie and Asterollan already passing through their doors, and Lucas just barely hesitating as he pushed his open. I turned to smile reassuringly at Lyre as I pushed the door with the lightning bolt open.

And just before I passed through, I remembered seeing Peyton standing back, looking slightly stricken. And I realized suddenly that she was the one that was dreaming of the god ascendant.

But the compulsion that drove me was too strong, and I stepped through my door.

I had expected a small room, hewn from stone, with an altar and a statue of T’Keran, but I entered absolute stillness. I took several steps forward before I realized just how unnaturally still it was. My breathing sounded too loud in this absence of sound. I saw a distant flash of light and heard and felt the faint rumble of thunder. It was eerily like the calm before a violent storm – I could smell the rain, and feel the humidity thick in the air and heavy in my lungs. The flashes of lightning began to quicken, lighting the darkness around me.

A violent wind swept through and I could hear rain falling, though I didn’t feel any moisture. During a particular bright flash of lightning, I saw the looming form of T’Keran standing before me, her hair shifting in the wind, and felt my breath hitch in my throat. I reached for my magic, and in the soft glow of my power I could see T’Keran, her arms spread as she reveled in the feel of the storm that raged around her.

As I watched, her figure shrunk, until she was a woman roughly of Peyton’s height. She stepped forward, staring at me impassively. I struggled for a moment, trying to figure out what to say or do, before stammering, “Why did you choose me?”

The corner of one of her lips quirked up in a faint smile. “You are different than the others that were summoned. There is a certain degree of chaos to your presence,” she studied me intently, but before I could ask about how I was different, she continued, “And you fell into my corner of the sea. That seemed as good a reason as any.”

I remembered the cursed stretch of sea that I had fallen into, how the sailors had seemed spooked by it. I also remembered what they had said about it. “They said it was cursed because there was no wind or current there. That doesn’t seem very much like you,” I pointed out.

“It’s been calm because we’ve been absent. It will rage once I am free.” There was an almost menacing promise to her words that made me shiver.

“Once you’re free? What do you mean?” For a moment, my mind reeled, grasping at all the possibilities behind her words. And then she explained everything.

38. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

“Run!” Asterollan shouted, and I grabbed Lyre’s hand and ran straight toward the maze. I could hear Asterollan shout something after us, but couldn’t make out what he said. We ran through the darkened hedges at a breakneck pace making several turns before we hit our first dead end. It was here that we paused, attempting to quiet our gasps for breath as we listened for any pursuit.

It was strangely quiet in the maze. Almost too unnaturally quiet. Lyre frowned, the glow surrounding him – he lifted a hand up to the sky, chanting quietly to himself in the elven language. I watched curiously as something in the air above the hedges seemed to glow in response to his gesture, some sort of normally invisible barrier that just barely pushed out like a bubble against his magic. “The maze has been enchanted,” he murmured, his voice barely loud enough for me to hear. “With a barrier of some sort.”

“To do what?” I whispered back, stepping closer to him.

“Some sort of obfuscation.” He was frowning as he allowed the spell to drop. No longer strained against, the barrier disappeared from sight, becoming invisible once more.

“Obfuscating what?” I asked.

“Not entirely sure, but it is muffling sound in the maze. Maybe making it harder to get out once we enter. Or harder to get further in.”

I felt myself go cold as I considered what that could mean. “Have we walked into a trap?” I asked.

“Possibly?” He stared absently for a moment, seeming to consider that, before looking over at me. His expression softened. “Nobody seems to be coming for us though.” I nodded. He was still holding my hand tightly, and gave a squeeze to reassure me. “Remember. I’ll protect you.” I nodded again but said nothing. If they were trying to keep us out, how had we entered the maze in the first place? We backtracked a little, but when we came to the first intersection we paused. “Do we want to try to leave, or to get further in?” Lyre asked.

I frowned, staring up at what I could see of the night sky above the tops of the hedges. “If no one has come for us yet, it might not be a trap. Maybe that king is somewhere further in the maze. Maybe they were trying to keep us out to protect him.”

“And he’d be well protected beyond the maze’s barrier,” Lyre pointed out. I nodded. Sensing my resolution, Lyre sighed. “Okay, let’s try to get through this thing.” We took the opposite path, going further into the maze.

The eerie silence was unsettling. I worried about what was happening to the others – how many soldiers had gone running after them? Would they be okay? I was completely lost in thought as I led the way through the maze, still tightly clutching Lyre’s hand in my own. “How are you doing this?” Lyre asked after a while. I turned to look at him, blinking in confusion. “We haven’t run into a dead end yet. It’s almost like you know where to go.”

I paused and considered that. I realized that in a strange way, I had made every turn with conviction. There hadn’t even been a second thought about running into the maze in the first place. Deep down, I suddenly understood why – I could feel T’Keran’s presence and it guided me voicelessly along my path – the air was alive with something that felt like the energy of a storm, and I could feel the mild prickle of static along the hair of my arms. Feeling a little unnerved at that realization, I shrugged. “I… I don’t know,” I told Lyre. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing in response, and allowed me to continue leading the way.

Soon, I could hear the clinking of armor ahead and the sounds of voices. We slowed as we crept closer. If someone came towards us, it would be impossible to hide, but we had come this far and there wasn’t any turning back. I could hear a voice saying, “They’re making their way into the hedge maze, your Majesty. Not only that, but the barrier at the palace has dropped and they have captured Yasmin.” Chancing a glance around the corner, I could see that the maze opened out into a wide area with a fountain at its center. The silver-haired elf from the ballroom was holding a mirror, through which I could see the image of the man speaking. The king was staring into the mirror thoughtfully, a hand to his chin.

“Then we’ve failed,” he said. His words hung heavily in silence for several moments. I could see the pained expression of the man on the other side of the mirror. “I will leave first. Stay, and make sure none follow. If you find a chance to complete our mission, then do so. But once I am securely on the ship, make haste to retreat. There is no point in more of us dying now. We have failed a god, but perhaps the renewed seal will save us from its wrath.”

The man nodded as the image on the mirror disappeared, replaced with the king’s reflection. He looked troubled. He started to turn to give orders to those present – a small handful of soldiers and the elven mage. I ducked back behind the hedges to stay out of sight. He was telling the mage to stay put, and ordered the soldiers to follow him. I pressed against the wall of the hedge, and pulled Lyre back toward the nearest corner to remain out of sight – it sounded like they were getting closer. As I had guessed, I heard them enter the maze where I had been spying on them moments before.

I peeked around the edge and watched what corner they turned ahead of us. Dropping Lyre’s hand, I hurried forward to peek around that corner, just in time to see the next way they went. I could hear Lyre following behind, but mostly just hoped that he would keep up, because I was too worried about missing the direction they were taking. A few times, I had to guess by sound which way they had gone. As I realized they’d find the exit soon, a strange panic began to engulf me. What was I doing? Should I attack? Should I call out to them so I could speak to them? Throwing caution to the wind, I dashed around the next corner while they were still in sight, and shouted, “Wait!”

The king and the three soldiers with him turned, all looking surprised to see me. “That’s one of the Graces!” one of the soldiers shouted.

“Kill her!” the King commanded. “We might complete our mission yet!”

Well, shit, I chose poorly. Still, it did answer exactly what they were trying to do – they were trying to kill the Graces. I turned on my heel to run and practically smashed my head into Lyre so hard that I saw stars for a moment. “What?” Lyre groaned in confusion, grasping his head.

Hearing the approach of the metal armor, I blindly swept my hand up, feeling the surge of lightning release from my fingers and blast down the narrow path created by the hedges. I heard the screams of the men, and when I turned to look, still rubbing my own head, I could see that they had been electrocuted and the king had disappeared. Apparently electricity and metal armor was not a fun combination.

“The king got away,” I grumbled.

Lyre sighed. “We should go back and make sure the others are okay. It sounded like there were more soldiers.” Nodding, I led the way back through the maze. It wasn’t long before we heard the sounds of shouting and fighting from ahead. It sounded like it was coming from the spacious courtyard at the center of the maze.

I could hear Lexie shout, “I! Can’t! Catch!” just as I stepped out of the maze. The scene unfolded before me almost like it was in slow motion as I took in all the details. On the other side of the space, I could hear men crying out as the branches of the hedge grew out to engulf them, and I could see Lucas glowing, staring at them in concentration. I could see Peyton turn toward us, her eyes wide with surprise. I could see Lexie, with her hands outstretched, and the silver haired mage in front of her, diving forward bodily, her fingers clutching at what must have been her Focus. She glowed as she reached for her magic, and began to chant, her voice taking on the eerie echoey cadence of whatever spell she was preparing to cast.

Asterollan, only a few steps behind the mage, glowed suddenly, his eyes lighting up like beacons – he swung the sword he held in his hand in a downward motion, and a wave of light sliced through the air with his movement, straight into the mage in front of him, an extended blade of white light.

“Wait!” I cried out, waving my hand in an upward motion against Asterollan’s blade of light. I didn’t catch it in time – she cried out in pain as it began to slice into her. But I did keep it from slicing her in two, which I suspected it would have done. Asterollan’s glow dropped, and he turned to frown at me. Lyre rushed forward and grabbed the Focus from her fingers. She was whimpering and had already dropped her hold on magic. I met Asterollan’s unfeeling gaze and shuddered. “Maybe she has information,” I said to him.

He nodded, not questioning my judgment at least. His eyes flitted over me quickly, seeming to assess me, and when he was satisfied, he turned back toward a gaping hole in the hedge. “We should return to the castle,” he said, walking off without waiting to see if we followed. Lexie followed behind him quickly – she looked ashen and shaken and ready to be done with the night.

Lucas stepped forward, casting a healing spell on the mage. He flipped her onto her back, and she swung up at him with her hands, attempting to claw at his face. Lucas cried out and fell back as she did so, caught off guard. Peyton stepped forward, grabbing the other woman by one arm and hauling her up forcibly onto her feet, then twisted her arm deftly behind her back and pushed until the silver haired woman grimaced and gasped in pain. “Come quietly, or I break your arm. Then he heals it, and I break it again,” Peyton said, her voice a soft growl. The silver haired woman’s eyes rolled in terror, taking in her situation, and she gave a brief nod. Peyton grabbed her shoulder and pushed her ahead, following Lexie and Asterollan out of the maze.

Lucas stood up, brushing his pants off as he did so. He nodded to Lyre and me briefly, then wordlessly followed Peyton. This time, Lyre took my hand and led me from the maze. I noticed that Peyton’s hair was disheveled and her dress was nearly in tatters – she was wearing Lucas’s jacket. I hurried just enough to catch up with Lucas. “What happened to you guys?” I asked quietly.

“Got cornered in a cave,” he said simply, not offering any more explanation – very typically Lucas. I sighed.

We met Zolambi and Greyjon at the improvised maze exit, both glowing brightly with magic, surrounded by dwarven guards. Zolambi walked up, glaring suspiciously at Asterollan, before turning his attention to the rest of us. “I’m glad to see you’re all okay,” he said. “We have another slave mage captured at the palace. Raella is interviewing her now, but she seems reluctant to speak.”

“Some slaves are treated better than others, and have a degree of loyalty to their masters. Especially these two… I’ve heard they’re given a lot of personal freedom by the king.” Lyre spoke quietly, just loud enough to answer my question, but he was apparently heard by the silver haired woman, who glared daggers at him and turned her nose up into the air. I studied the tattoos on her face curiously – looping tendrils of tentacles that surrounded her right eye and extended up into her hairline and down along her neck. She was dressed nicer than Lyre and the others had been, and her hair was longer and had been carefully styled. She even seemed to be wearing makeup, now that I was really looking at her. I wondered how pampered her life had been compared to any other slave in the human lands.

As we passed the first soldier that had attacked us, Asterollan tossed the sword he held onto the body. We were escorted back to the castle and through the now empty ball room. The dwarven soldiers led us out through a set of doors underneath where we had initially entered, and down a lushly decorated hallway. I had the sense we were on the side of the castle that was built into the stones of the mountain. There was something about the walls and the space that felt dense in a way. The soldiers stopped outside one door near the end of the hall, and Zolambi swept into the room without hesitation, the rest of us following him.

It was a spacious meeting room of some sort, with a long table and chairs set around it. At the other end of the room, the dwarven king paced, his arms crossed behind his back. Raella and Chase turned to look up at us as we entered – they were standing in front of a chair, where another elven woman with a face tattoo was sitting. Hers was a solid block shaped like a flaming heart, with waves of flame continuing under her black hair and down her neck. Zolambi and Greyjon walked over to join them, as did Asterollan. Lucas walked halfway down the room, but then pulled out a chair and lounged in it. It was made for a dwarf, and it looked child sized and uncomfortable for him. He looked like he regretted it instantly, but was committed at that point. Peyton pushed her prisoner over, and another chair was provided for the silver haired woman, so that she was seated across from her fellow slave.

Chase, glancing over at the rest of us, looked suddenly very concerned. She stepped over to Lexie and placed her hands on her shoulder. “You look awful, Lexie! You’re shivering! Let’s go get you cleaned up.” She glanced up at the rest of us. “All of you should come with me, we’ll go get some food and rest for you back in your rooms.”

I shook my head vigorously, and Peyton spoke up, saying, “I’m staying for this. I want to know why we were attacked. And we have other things to discuss.”

Lexie seemed uncertain about leaving with Chase, seeing how resolved the rest of us were to stay, until Lucas popped back up from the chair, almost tripping over it awkwardly as he did so. “You know, a good hot bath and meal sound wonderful. Let’s get out of here, Lexie.” Peyton smiled warmly at his retreating back as Lexie nodded wordlessly, and Chase led them out of the room.

33. Lucas

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

Returning to the ship was like an easy walk downhill. The oppressive heat had lifted and a cool ocean breeze swept off the waters, though I still felt sticky from sweat. The fires across the island were gone, except for the one at the heart of the temple. There was an altar, back behind where the colossus had faced us, shaped like a stone bowl. A fire burned steadily inside it now. “It’s larger than when I saw it in the past,” Raella had noted before we left. That was the last time any of us had spoken – we were all tired and awe struck, processing what Lexie had told us.

When we reached the place where we had left the boat, Tanert waved at us enthusiastically. “Whatever you lot did, it worked,” he said as I climbed down from the cliff. I was so tired that my foot slipped from the railing. Peyton, having climbed down before me, reached out to steady me, but my weight took us both down instead. “Sorry,” I muttered, standing as quickly as I could and avoiding eye contact.

She chuckled. “It’s fine,” she said, grinning at me in a remarkably disarming way. I reached down to offer her a hand up, and she accepted. We stepped aside to make room for the others to descend.

“What happened?” Dustyn asked curiously as she helped Lexie and Cassandra down from the cliff face.

“The fire god has returned,” Raella said simply. Dustyn exchanged a surprised look with her father. They seemed to want to ask more, but could sense that we weren’t open to answering questions at the moment. It was a quiet ride back to shore.

At the inn, once Cassandra and I had finished a round of healing spells on everyone, Raella immediately suggested a trip to a local bathhouse. “We can soak and get freshened up, and then we can come back to a good meal and discuss what occurred,” she explained. She spoke to the innkeeper about arranging dinner and then led our troop out again, away from the docks this time. I left Peter behind in my room. The bath house was a large building with plenty of foot traffic going in and out. I worried for a moment over whether it would be a shared bath, but there were apparently multiple private rooms, and Raella reserved three – two to be divided by gender, and one solely for herself.

I suspected she wanted to come just for herself but felt it would be rude to not offer the trip to the rest of us.

The room was large, with a bath that looked more like an inset pool, steaming from the heat. The calming sound of trickling water was present throughout the building. Zolambi and Greyjon, apparently more used to places like these, immediately stripped and slipped into the water. Lyre followed, also not particularly bothered. Asterollan and I both paused for a moment. “Is modesty a human thing?” Lyre asked, glancing back to see us. “Cassandra was always quite shy about it too.”

Realizing I was making it more awkward by not joining, I stripped and stepped into the pool, slipping down until just my head was still above water. It smelled of salt, and was instantly relaxing – I sighed in relief. Asterollan appeared to still be hesitating. “I wouldn’t say it’s modesty, necessarily,” he said as he began taking his clothes off. “But I tend to draw more curious looks than I’d like.” I could see that he was covered in scars across his entire body, including a massive twisting of flesh from an old burn across his back.

“Scars are a warrior’s medals,” Greyjon said, “A matter of pride more than shame.”

“Although that might depend on how one earned those medals,” Zolambi added, his tone dark. An uncomfortable silence fell across the room as Zolambi and Asterollan stared at each other, their expressions carefully fixed. I busied myself with using the provided soaps to wash myself, and Greyjon chuckled awkwardly as he did the same. Lyre sighed, taking a deep breath and then dipping under the water completely.

Some of the bath house employees entered, bringing thin robes and towels, and depositing them on the benches near our belongings. Lyre and Zolambi finished quickly, toweling off and leaving the room together. Greyjon leaned back against the edge of the pool, apparently intending to soak for a while. He looked over to Asterollan curiously, but instead of asking any questions, he chuckled again. “That fight was a mess. We were very uncoordinated.”

Asterollan nodded thoughtfully. “You’ve done well with teaching the other outworlder. Peyton.”

I grimaced, dropping so that only my nose stayed above water. Greyjon nodded. “I can’t take full credit. She was already quite skilled before she got here. I worry that she fell back into those skills too immediately though – she didn’t even reach for her magic in the fight.” Considering that, I felt a level of awe rise in me, and a twinge of something like jealousy. Peyton had rushed in to fight a giant and hadn’t once thought to use magic. She was ridiculously brave in a way that I wished I could be.

Asterollan glanced over at me. “You did well too.”

I shrugged. “Plants don’t stand a chance against fire,” I mumbled, briefly popping my head up above the water surface.

“Still,” Greyjon said thoughtfully, “You unbalanced a god.”

A god. I hadn’t even wrapped my head around that fact yet. “Yes,” I said quietly, dipping down again. After several minutes of soaking, the heat of the water was starting to make me dizzy, so I stepped out and toweled off. I wrapped one of the robes around myself and gathered my things, stepping out into the hallway of the bath house. I didn’t immediately see Lyre or Zolambi, so I started walking down the hall, past other rooms and employees that smiled at me warmly as I went.

I found an interior garden that appeared to be open to the sky. It was lit by the moon and by small round crystal lamps crisscrossed along strings that draped from column to column. I stepped out, feeling almost chilly now that I was away from the steaming baths. “Kind of like an old Roman bath. Did you enjoy it?” I heard a voice say.

Looking up, I saw that Cassandra was sitting on a bench, wearing one of the robes. Her hair was wrapped up in her towel. I hadn’t seen her initially, since the space was so dimly lit. I held my clothes in front of me, hoping the robes weren’t too sheer. “It was nice,” I said. “Did Lyre and Zolambi come out this way?”

“Oh, were they already done? I haven’t seen them.” She paused a moment, studying me with her head tilted. “I wonder what the name of the fire god is.”

“We’ll find out later, I’m sure.” I stepped over to a separate bench, facing the one she was sitting at, and settled there.

“Do you know your god’s name yet?”

I frowned. “No. Do you?”

“T’Keran,” she said without hesitation, so straightforward that it caught me off guard. “The goddess of storms.”

“You’re god talked to you too?” I asked, surprised.

She nodded. “She’s been talking to me all along.” Cassandra hesitated a moment, like she wasn’t sure if she should say more. “I think I saw another god. Briefly. It looked like a child, and was walking along the ocean shore one night. Plants grew wherever it set foot.”

I stared at her, remembering the giggling I had been hearing so often. Suddenly I felt significantly less crazy. “You know, I’ve been seeing this figure of light out of the corner of my eyes…”

“That’s Asterollan’s god,” she said. “He mentioned that he’s been seeing him like that too.”

I leaned back, sighing deeply in relief as I closed my eyes. I wasn’t crazy. I wondered if I would really sleep better for that knowledge or not. It was still creepy to consider that there were these powerful beings that were following and watching us, invested in us, giving us our abilities. “I wonder what they want,” I mumbled.

“Maybe Lexie will have the answer to that.”

“Maybe.” We sat in companionable silence until Raella came looking for us.

We were allowed to keep the bath house robes, and walked back to the inn wearing them. I was a little embarrassed by the idea at first until I saw that other patrons of the bath house left in a similar state. We ambled along slowly, enjoying the crisp autumn air. I could hear snatches of conversation here and there among people that we were passing – awe that the smoke had cleared so quickly, that the fires had stopped.

Back at the inn, we pushed tables together and settled down to eat the meal that had been prepared for us. It was a rather subdued dinner, and I noticed that Lexie kept staring into space, twisting her head to stare at the invisible orbs that she had described to us. As we each finished our meals, we sat quietly, expectantly.

Raella had the grace to wait until Lexie finally pushed away her plate before speaking. “So, the fire giant we fought was actually the physical form of the fire god,” Raella said finally, swirling her wine around in her glass. She had stared at the girl through the entire meal, her bright eyes intense as they reflected the light in the room.

Lexie nodded, her eyes finally drawing away from the invisible object she had been staring at. “Yeah. Er… Yes.”

Raella frowned, waiting for Lexie to continue speaking. When that didn’t happen, she asked with some exasperation. “And it… communed with you? Spoke to you? What did it tell you?”

“Oh… a bunch of stuff, but some of it wasn’t quite words. It’s really hard to explain. She was angry.”

“She?” Raella said thoughtfully, intrigued by the concept.

“I think she was a she because I’m a she? I think she’s anything, really.”

“I see. Did she say why she was angry?”

“She was super pissed. Something about… like, betrayal? But that wasn’t what she was telling me. I just felt it, in the background of everything she was telling me,” Lexie stared absently above my right ear, then sighed in frustration. “She said she wanted to stay here, but that she’d grant me all of her powers, and I could choose to use them how I want. And then she said she was going to gift me Sight, because it was important that I See.”

“And now you See these things, around yourself and the other Graces?”

“Yeah. Like these little black shiny orbs just floating in the air around us.” She glanced above herself, and hunched down in her seat like she was uncomfortable with all the attention. “I don’t know what they are though, or why it’s important to see them. I don’t know how long they’ve been there. Maybe they’ve been following us this entire time.”

Raella tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Did she mention anything else? Or did you sense anything else while talking to it?”

“Myrapen,” Lexie said, intoning carefully, in awed reverence. “That’s her name. I got the sense that sometimes she’s known as the Eternal Flame.”

Raella seemed startled to have this information dropped on her. “Myrapen,” she repeated. “In all my years, I have never found a text that names the gods. Myrapen, the Eternal Flame.” For the first time since meeting her, I noticed that she actually looked excited – she was leaning forward in her seat as she spoke. I glanced over at Cassandra, thinking of our earlier conversation, but Cassandra did not seem keen to share her own god’s name with Raella.

I heard a giggle from somewhere in the room.

I glanced at the other Graces to see if they had heard anything also. Cassandra and Peyton had no reaction, and Lexie was too distracted by the invisible orbs sharing the room with us. But I could see Asterollan tilt his head briefly and glance around, a slight frown on his features. I wondered if he had heard it too.

Once it became clear that Lexie didn’t know much more about her god, Raella became invested in figuring out the invisible orbs. Lexie was initially reluctant to touch them, but once we finally coaxed her into trying to catch one, she quickly became frustrated by the fact that it always moved out of her reach. Next, we tried having Asterollan and Greyjon grab it while Lexie shouted directions, but we quickly figured out that each orb moved to evade being touched. “Certainly that means it has actual physicality, but I would like the confirmation,” Raella said, tapping her chin, her brow furrowed.

Some of the shouting drew the attention of the innkeeper, who stepped in to check on us, but after seeing a pair of grown men jump and attempt to catch something he couldn’t see while a young girl shouted directions at them, he stepped quickly back out the door. I think I was the only one that caught sight of him, and I suppressed a grin at how chaotic the scene was to an outsider.

After several moments, Raella said, “Ah, I think I have something for this. Where are one of the orbs?” Lexie gestured over toward me, where I stood off to the side. Raella lit up with the light of magic, and made her own swirling gesture with her hand – a wave of soft glittering light flowed past me. I held up my hands to see the softly glowing motes floating like glitter being held by static in the air around me. I knew it was only insubstantial light, but something about it made my nose itch. I stepped to one side and saw that the glitter followed.

“Oh! Right there!” Lexie shouted in excitement, pointing above my head.

Glancing up, I could see that the glitter had formed a circle in the air above me. I moved my hand up toward it and the glitter in the air shifted, moving toward the ceiling and out of my reach. “Usually this spell only works on things with a conscious will,” Raella said, staring up at the glittering spot in the air.

“So it’s thinking?” Lexie said, her voice jumping up in surprise.

“Or being directed by something that thinks.”

Lexie glanced back down at me thoughtfully and smirked. “Oh, Lucas. You can think too?”

I rolled my eyes. “Funny,” I said. “How long does this last?” I asked Raella.

“Probably about 30 minutes or so.”

I scratched the tip of my nose, a bit frustrated. “Okay.”

Now that we could see where the orb was, capturing it was a bit easier. Chase, this time, provided a spell that held the orb in place so that Greyjon could grab it. Raella thoughtfully ran a hand over it when he handed it to her. “Smooth. You said it appears black and shiny?”

“Yeah,” Lexie nodded, looking intently into the space that occupied Raella’s hands. “It doesn’t hurt to touch it?”

“No, it feels like glass.”

Lexie reached out and poked it. She shivered. “It’s cold. I wonder what it does.”

Raella sighed as it lifted out of her hands. “No way to tell. Keep an eye on them – Myrapen thought it was important, after all. If they do anything unusual, let us know. In the meantime – we resume our journey to Glyss.”

Back in the room I was staying in, Peter trilled in alarm as I entered. He rushed me suddenly, causing me to stumble back against the door. His legs waved around me frantically and I realized he was trying to bat away the glitter that still surrounded the air around me. My choked scream turned into a hysterical laugh, and I patted him on his head. “It’ll wear off,” I promised, pushing him away. He chittered nervously, a low ticking sound that he didn’t stop until the spell finally faded.

29. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

I was having trouble sleeping.

I thought I had been close to reaching a place of safety, but there was still a lot of danger involved. Lucas’s brief conversation still sat with me, but it didn’t worry me the most. I had spent so much time on the run already… if I needed to escape again, it could be done. I had the feeling that Silden and Larina wanted to settle into a normal life of freedom once we reached the Empire, but I knew that Lyre would come with me, especially with how he had reacted to Lucas’s warning. That was a calming thought.

It was everything else that really bothered me. The evil we were meant to seal was still a vague description, hardly any more concrete than what Lyre had told me so long ago when he had guessed I wasn’t from this world. And the scar that I had spotted on Lucas… How had my experience here become so different from theirs? Did it even matter that it was?

But learning about the gods had really clicked things into place and sent my mind buzzing. Raella had pulled me aside at one point, asking about whether I had been hearing voices. It was the chance to come clean and discuss the matter openly, but I hesitated and shook my head. Asterollan, who had been with us as we talked, followed my lead, and did not mention the voice he had been hearing either. Raella warned us that it could be the evil entity that we were needing to seal, and stressed the importance of telling her if we should ever experience something of the sort.

But I knew it wasn’t evil.

Still… Had I been talking to a god this entire time?

In a way, it made sense, but I had never even considered it. The idea of divine beings actually interfering in worldly matters was strange, even a little unsettling. I had never been the religious sort, and back home if anyone had told me they were hearing the voice of God, I would have thought they were crazy.

My mind raced as I lay staring into the fire. Lyre was very close by – he had stayed practically within arms reach since we’d been reunited. It had only been a matter of hours so far, so I wasn’t feeling smothered yet, but I wondered if I would eventually. I half dozed, only to wake and find myself revisiting every moment I had interacted with the voice, straining to recall every detail. I remembered the smell of ozone, the soft breeze that seemed to drift out of nowhere, the power of lightning that seemed to come to me most naturally.

Late into the night, after waking for the umpteenth time, I stood with a sigh and walked over to the pool at the base of the waterfall. I could see that Chase and Zolambi were sitting up, and they watched me curiously, but neither made any move to stop me or talk to me. I splashed some water on my face and stared at my rippling reflection. “Who are you?” I muttered.

I waited a moment in anticipation of an answer. The ripples cleared, the water stilled. All I could hear was the usual sounds of the night – the waterfall and the sound of insects. When nothing happened, I stood, and turned back toward the camp. Fleetingly, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a figure standing behind me in the reflection of the water. I turned around to see if someone had walked up behind me, but I was still very much alone. When I looked back down at the water, there was nothing. I wondered if my mind was playing tricks on me. “At least give me a name,” I said in frustration.

I felt something, gentle as a breeze, brush my hair away from my ear. “T’keran,” it whispered, the quality of the speech more present than before. As I lifted my hand to that ear, my fingers brushed against something that sent a strange tingling sensation along my skin. I turned, startled, to briefly see a smiling figure as it pulled its hand away from me – a woman, overwhelmingly tall and thin, lit silvery-blue like a beacon, hair raising slowly around her. She loomed over me for a moment before disappearing, leaving me blinking against the sudden dark. There remained the lingering scent of ozone.

Looking over at camp, I could see that Zolambi was watching me curiously, not at all alarmed. Like he hadn’t seen her at all. I rubbed the still tingling skin of my hand as I started to walk back to the fire. “T’keran,” I repeated.

I didn’t sleep any easier after that, so I was awake to watch the spider arrive. I first heard something softly hit the ground, a quiet thump. When I opened my eyes to see what it was, I noticed that Lyre was sitting up, his head tilted in amusement. When I followed his gaze, I was shocked to see the spider – it was the size of a dog, and the thump had not sounded that heavy. I sat up quickly, but Lyre held a hand out to me. “It’s his pet,” he said, by way of explanation, as the spider carefully crept up on Lucas’s sleeping form.

“A giant jumping spider?” I said the phrase half as a question, and half in simple awe. It dropped something on Lucas, who stirred and turned to look up at it.

And then I jumped when he screamed. The spider jumped as well, up on top of the highest remaining piece of wall, and the others in camp stirred at the noise, waking. Lucas was mumbling in embarrassment under his breath, turning a bright shade of red, his eyes still wide in barely contained terror. “That’s his pet?” I asked Lyre quietly.

“He named it Peter.” I shook my head, watching as Lucas lifted the dead squirrel that had been dropped on him. He sat up and began to try to coax the spider down from the wall, still looking wildly terrified.

Since everyone was awake now, breakfast was prepared and bedrolls and camping gear stowed away. It was strange being in an actual campsite for once, with plenty of supplies and horses to pack them on. The breakfast, which included a stew made from the squirrel the spider had brought for us, was surprisingly delicious. But since my previous meals had been drier travel rations, I figured anything would have been an improvement. Lyre handed over my bag, with the things I had brought with me from the ship. I was glad that I hadn’t lost it all in my fall into the river. It was also strange being surrounded by so many people. I watched them interacting with each other – Lucas was still wide eyed as he talked the spider into staying nearby, and Lexie, the younger girl was teasing him. She tentatively petted the spider, which leaned into her hand with pleasure at the touch. “Awww, Lucas, he loves pets. You should pet him!” Lucas visibly shuddered in revulsion.

Peyton Hobbs stood nearby, which was very strange to me as well. She was watching the exchange, her head tilted slightly and a faint smile on her face. I stared for a moment – she was tall for a woman, something I had never noticed seeing her on screen before, and ridiculously beautiful even without make up. She glanced up, saw me staring, and smiled politely at me. I smiled back, but quickly glanced around at the others, feeling a little embarrassed to have been caught gaping at her.

Asterollan kept mostly to himself, I noticed. It was probably strange to be amongst elves when you hunted them most of your life. It looked like he had finished his morning ritual, so I walked over to him. I had slept in the cloak overnight, and figured it was now time to return it. He gave me a strange look as I handed it back to him, but took it without complaint, swiftly pulling it around his shoulders. “Thank you for letting me borrow it,” I said.

“Why didn’t you tell the elves about the voice you hear?” he asked, ignoring my thanks.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. He frowned. Feeling the need to explain more, I added, “At first I thought I was crazy. But now… maybe I’m just worried over how Raella would react.” He nodded in understanding. Then after a pause, I blurted out, “I saw her. The goddess that speaks to me. Last night.”

“What?” He stared at me, hard, his eyes searching.

“It was only briefly. She told me her name.”

We stood in silence for a moment, interrupted by Greyjon calling, “We’re packed up. Is everyone ready?”

I turned, thinking that Asterollan didn’t have anything to say, when he asked very low, “What was it? Her name.”

“T’keran,” I answered. He repeated it in a low whisper as we joined the others.

Raella obsessed over the map, marking the location of the temple ruins for a future visit. “It’s a great find for the University,” she said. We traveled directly east, hoping to eventually enter the borders of the Empire and hit a road that wasn’t far from it. Zolambi said that from the road, we could determine how far we were from our next destination, which was a small town called Veinwell.

Traveling with a larger group and horses was slower going. It took us a few days to reach the road and get our bearings. It was a simple paved stone road running north and south. As the others tried to determine our exact location from their map and a nearby mile marker, I stood next to Lyre as he stared down at it. Silden clapped him on the shoulder. “An Empire road,” Silden said. “We’re really here.”

We traveled south along the road. Veinwell was a small town, surrounded by a high stone wall. “Are they afraid of getting attacked out here?” I asked curiously as we stood just outside the gates. There was some hassle as the guards seemed reluctant to let a giant spider in the walls.

“Most cities built walls during the Fracture,” Chase explained. I remembered Lyre describing the Fracture as a massive civil war and nodded. Once Greyjon and Raella argued our way in, we traveled immediately to an inn just inside the town walls, where the group had agreed to meet with someone. He was young – hardly more than a teenager – and had brought their wagon ahead for them from the last town they had stayed at.

Raella secured our rooms for the night and the innkeeper cleared out the other clientele. There was some grumbling as the tavern’s patrons poured out onto the street outside. “All this for us?” I asked, feeling a little guilty.

“They’ve done this every time,” Lexie said, apparently already used to it. We were served a meal – perhaps the most delicious I’d ever had, but I suspected everything was going to taste delicious to me after so many weeks of hard tack, mystery soup, and jerky. As I tore into some bread – soft, warm bread, that I slathered with butter – they discussed the rooming situation for the night.

“They have 6 rooms in all,” Raella said, after taking a sip of her glass of wine.

Zolambi nodded to my friends. “If you three would rather get situated in you new home, I can take you to the organization that handles that for slaves escaping the human lands. They’ll provide lodgings for us for the evening.”

Larina beamed, squeezing Silden’s hand briefly. “We would love that,” she said. She glanced over at Lyre. “Though I don’t think all three of us will be going with you.”

Lyre smiled, half sheepish, half sad. “I’m staying with Cassandra,” he said simply. He placed a hand briefly on my shoulder as he spoke. Despite his previous promise, I realized I must have held some apprehension that he was going to leave me once we reached the Empire, an apprehension I didn’t realize was there until it melted away at his words. Glancing up from my food, I could see Raella’s lips thinned into a false smile.

Zolambi nodded respectfully to Lyre. When the meal came to an end, he prepared to lead Silden and Larina away, and Lyre and I followed them to the wide entrance of the inn. We stood for a moment in companionable silence, and then Larina stepped forward and hugged me. When she pulled back there were tears in her eyes, and despite myself I realized my own tears were starting to well up too. I hugged her again. “I’m so happy for you both,” I said very softly to her. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

Silden wrapped us both in a hug. “Thank you for freeing us,” he said, his voice slightly choking as he spoke. Lyre was standing back a bit, but Silden grabbed his shoulder and pulled him in too. I laughed at our awkward crush of bodies, and finally managed to push away. “Take care of her,” Silden said to Lyre.

Lyre grinned. “And you take care of her,” he said, nodding toward Larina, who blushed as she sidled up next to Silden.

Silden looked down at her, his eyes full of warmth. “Always.”

After a little more well wishing and goodbyes, they finally left, following Zolambi. Lyre and I watched them walk down the street before returning to the main tavern room, where most of the remaining group remained. Raella had retreated to the room she claimed for herself, and Lucas had also retreated to a room with his pet spider, which the innkeeper did not seem happy to have inside. From the way Lucas warily eyed the spider, I had the feeling he wasn’t very happy about it either, but seemed to be trying to make it work. I didn’t see Asterollan either.

As Lyre and I returned, I grabbed the bottle of wine that Raella had left behind and asked the barkeep for a few glasses. Peyton and Greyjon were talking companionably about past skirmishes he had been involved in as a Captain in a place called Kimber, and Chase was turning it into a drinking game at Lexie’s goading. She was taking a sip of her drink every time she suspected he was embellishing his story, and as he caught on, his stories became less believable. It wasn’t long before she was flushed nearly as red as her curls.

Lyre and I listened in, not quite joining the conversation, but laughing at some of Greyjon’s taller tales. I poured some of the wine for us. He looked at it curiously, tilting the glass to examine it. “Do you not like drinking?” I asked.

“I’ve served wine to Wrasker and his guests before. I’ve never had any.” He shrugged and took a long pull from the glass. I watched to see his reaction as he drank most of the cup. Curious, I sipped from my own glass – it was a very sweet red, but the burn of the alcohol was notable. It was strong.

I brushed my fingers on his wrist as he placed the empty cup down on the table. “You might not want to drink that so fast,” I said.

“It’s sweet,” he said, smiling softly at the glass. “Some of the slaves used to make their own liquor, but it was harsh. Bitter.” I felt a little relieved that he had some experience with alcohol at least. He poured another glass.