by Kyle West
“You lasted longer than I would have guessed. Your Sightform is...most impressive. In fact, I can’t imagine many being able to stand up to it.”
Even you almost didn’t, I wanted to say, but thought better of it. Though dueling was mostly skill, there was some luck involved. I had been fighting my best, and Tellor had been fighting below his abilities. Intentionally, perhaps, or had his Dragonform drained him far more than he had expected?
“I believed before, but now I have all the proof I will ever need,” Tellor said. “No one your age should be able to do what you have done. Even Anna at your age probably couldn’t have done the same, proving that you still have the skill of her late years. You have her knowledge buried within your mind, in a place you can’t reach consciously. Battletrance draws it out. Perhaps you have not reached her full potential yet, but every time you fight and practice...more of it rises to the fore.”
Tellor was right. Certainly, when I fought like that, so deeply immersed in Silence, I wasn’t even aware of my own thoughts. Everything just came naturally, flowing from instinct. Even as I fought, my mind was several moves ahead.
I feebly tried to take hold of Silence, to enter the trance once again, but my fatigue was too great. I felt my vision darken and my skin grow clammy, before I fell again to the ground.
“You need food, water, and rest,” Tellor said. “Let me help you up.”
I waited just a moment longer before offering him my arm. He pulled me up, and as I blinked, I was surprised to see Quietus there at the edge of the field, watching with her glowing white eyes. How long had she been standing there? I was too tired to even reach out my mind to connect with hers, but I got the sense she understood my fatigue. I’d only had a few opportunities to speak to her since arriving here – often, she was out on some errand or other. She called it dragon business, whatever that was, but I suspected that it had something to do with the growing numbers of Mindless to the south.
Tellor and I walked away from the field and back toward the grove, where we found Elder Isandru cooking some fish over a fire. As usual, Isa wasn’t there, and there was no sign of Shara. Isa probably hadn’t eaten anything today, meaning it was up to me to bring her some food again.
For now, though, I had to focus on myself. I waited for the fish to cook, eating some fruit in the meantime. Once the fish was done, I took twice as much as I normally would have, eating it quickly. Isandru watched, his bushy gray eyebrows raised in mild surprise.
“I trust your training went well?”
I paused mid bite. “I suppose so.”
“It goes well,” Tellor said. “I am glad now that I decided to trust you when I joined you in your search, Isandru. If these are her abilities now...then I cannot imagine what they will be like in the years to come.”
“We don’t have years,” I said. “We have two at most.”
Silence descended on the conversation.
Once I finished, I looked at Isandru, who was watching the lowering flames. “There’s something we need to talk about. I haven’t really brought it up yet...but with Shara getting better, I think it’s time we all sat down together to discuss our next move.”
Isandru gave a nod. “I agree.”
“More than that,” I continued, “there’s also the matter of your history.”
This time, Isandru didn’t nod. The Elder Prophet had always been elusive about his past. Previously, it had been because he didn’t want to touch on the topic of his sister, who he believed to be lost...a loss for which he blamed himself. Even after I told him about what I had learned from the Hyperfold, he still had trouble letting go of that guilt, to the point where he had lied about who Mia actually was.
Two weeks after the Hyperfold, I still didn’t know the whole truth.
“I need to know, Elder Isandru. It’s important. I know she’s your sister. I know she’s probably dead by now...but I still need to know everything that happened, just so the picture is clear.”
“Tonight, then,” Isandru said. “That will give me time to prepare my thoughts.”
I could hardly believe he had agreed. I needed to know what part of the Hyperfold actually followed history and how much of it had been manufactured. Isandru was the missing link, the only person alive who had lived during the time of Hyperborea. He was the only one capable of giving us the whole story
“Thank you,” I said.
It grew quiet after that, so I made a plate for Isa and went in search of her, walking from the grove toward the cave where everyone slept.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE WALK WASN’T LONG, MAYBE five minutes, taking me through stands of fruit trees growing by placid ponds and babbling brooks running through fields of glowing xen.
The cave itself opened up into the Hollow’s easternmost hill. It went deep enough to where it was dim, the only light coming from the xen covering almost every part of its interior. The cave sloped downward until I reached its end, where Isaru lay with eyes closed. As expected, Isa knelt beside him, peering into his face for any sign of movement.
She didn’t even hear me approach. “Isa?”
She jumped, quickly turning around to look at me. Even in the cave’s dimness, I could see her cheeks flush.
“You haven’t been staring like that at him since I last left you here, have you?”
Her face grew even more crimson. “Of course not. I actually went outside a few minutes ago. I just got back.”
I had my doubts about that, but didn’t contradict her.
She just now noticed the food I carried. “I’m not hungry.”
“I don’t care,” I said. “You’re eating. We’ll be leaving eventually, and I don’t want you too weak to even draw your bow.”
“I’m fine,” Isa said. “But I’ll eat.”
She grabbed the plate and started to pick at her food.
“Have you seen Shara?”
“I think she’s meditating,” Isa said.
It was something both Isandru and I had encouraged her to do, as it was the only thing that brought her relief from the Aether cravings. Watching her go through the withdrawals was terrible. Isandru was training her to seek Silence, finding that she had a minor potential to connect to the Xenofold – if that connection was nurtured. Unfortunately, Aether had fried a lot of that potential. I still held onto her Aether, and so far, it hadn’t been necessary to give it to her.
The meditation meant Shara was away for much of the day. Even if it was hard for her, she was determined not to go back to her addiction.
It would pass, though. It had to.
“We need to talk,” I said, plopping myself down right next to her.
“Go ahead,” she said.
“Isandru is going to tell us his full story tonight,” I said. “Even if he hedges, I mean to get the entire thing out of him. You need to be there, and so does Shara.”
She, at last, looked at me, surprised that I wasn’t going to lecture her about Isaru for once. “Do you think he’s actually going to tell the truth?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It won’t be easy for him with how much I know now. Maybe he’s been cooking something up for the last two weeks, but I don’t think so.”
She nodded. “All right. I’ll be there.”
“We’re also going to be deciding where to go next,” I said. “I’m beginning to think it’s time to reveal myself to the world. Only, I don’t know how to go about doing that. Not yet, anyway.”
“Are you ready for that, Shanti?”
“Do I have any choice?”
We both went quiet. I looked down at Isaru. Only the shallow rising and falling of his chest gave any indication that he was alive.
I still felt like I had failed him.
Isa, too, was looking at him.
“He’ll come back,” I said. “The Elder Dragons will be able to heal him. We just need to be patient.”
Isa nodded. I realized the words were more for myself than her.
“I hope so.
”
“There’s still us,” I said. “Me, you, Shara, Isandru, and Tellor. Assuming Shara is well enough...we’ll go then.”
Aether withdrawals had the capacity to kill, and most addicts had to take it in some quantity for the rest of their lives. Isandru was such an addict. He had been using it so long that his body couldn’t live without the drug and his daily meditations. He believed, however, that Shara hadn’t been using it long enough to necessitate smaller doses for the rest of her life.
“At least she’s back,” Isa said.
“There’s that,” I agreed.
“This...seems impossible, doesn’t it?”
“We have the Elders. That counts for a lot.”
“How will they fit in?” Isa asked. “I mean...you’re Anna reborn. Are they supposed to follow you, or are they still the Elders?”
That was something I hadn’t thought of. It was certainly...complicated.
“I’m not sure, but the one thing I do know is that we’re a team. They know a lot, more than either of us. We’ll be deferring to them most of the time, if I had to guess. All the same...that doesn’t mean we blindly follow them. I know things, too. And so do you, for that matter, and so does Shara. The Seeker’s Code says not to blindly follow tradition. Anna had to have written those words for a reason.”
“It’s a bit ironic that the Seekers are sticklers for tradition.” Isa paused thoughtfully. “Well, where do you think we’re going next?”
“We still need more information. I know the basics of Anna’s life before the Ragnarok War, thanks to Quietus. Soon, I will know much of what Isandru knows – not just about his life, but about Hyperborea and everything leading up to the present. I still don’t know much about Anna’s life after the war. I know she was instrumental in founding the city of Colonia, along with Samuel and the others who fought alongside her. I know she founded the Seekers as a way to preserve her warning for the future – that warning became known as her Prophecy. I think the Priests, at some point, were once Seekers themselves. The order split toward the end of Hyperborea’s time. Elder Marius led them, and it is they who guarded the Prophecy. When I get my hands on it, I’ll know exactly what Anna knew. We’ll know how to stop Xenofall, or at least how to fight against it.”
“You sound very sure it’s with the Priests.”
“You’re right in that it might not be. We’ll try Brevia next if that’s the case, I suppose. They might have something in the Archives there.”
“They’d have to let us in, first.”
“I still don’t know how we’re going to deal with the Mindless,” I said. “The only thing we can do is somehow restore the Sea of Creation.”
“If the Hyperfold was destroyed while you guys were in there, it might already be being restored.”
“We still don’t know if it actually was,” I said. “And we can’t find out until we get a look at it.”
“Which we can’t do because of the Mindless.”
I nodded. “Quietus says it’s too dangerous to get close to Hyperborea now. I have a feeling that it was always dangerous. Shal just wanted us to get close so we could enter the Hyperfold.”
What Isa said made sense, though. If there was nothing to suck the Sea dry, then that would give it a chance to refill.
“That raises a whole other question,” I said. “You know how the Xenofold can somehow exist outside of time, right? Well, the Hyperfold most likely works in the same way. If it’s destroyed, that means anyone who’s still inside would be affected. They would cease to exist. Mia never left the Hyperfold, Isa. It’s either that, or she exited at a different point of time, future or past. If it’s in the past...she’s probably dead now. If it’s the future...then we’re still waiting, but we only have two years to do so, given what we know is going to happen. But if the Hyperfold is gone now...then she would be, too, along with everyone else that’s still inside. Maybe they are nothing more than memories, but from what I’ve seen, they are still people. Their bodies are gone, but their minds exist. And at least with Isandru, it’s possible for someone to exit it.”
“The draining of the Sea is what’s causing the reversions, though,” Isa said. “If we have to choose between this world and a world that’s already been lost...isn’t that choice clear?” Isa looked to me for an answer, and when I didn’t have one, she let out a heavy sigh. “I guess not.”
“Obviously, Rakhim is bad news,” I said. “He controls the Hyperfold, assuming it still exists. He also said that I was the link between the Hyperfold and the real world. If that’s true...that means that, through me, he might be able to affect things more directly.”
“How, though?” Isa asked. “Have you noticed anything different about yourself?”
“Not really. I just don’t understand anything. It’s all just so...overwhelming.”
I kicked a small rock, watching it skate along the cavern floor.
I looked at Isaru, as if looking at him would wake him. He always seemed to have a different angle that I would have never considered. I wondered if he could hear us, or if he was completely unconscious. Isa often spoke to him as if he were still awake.
The sound of footsteps interrupted our speculation, causing us both to turn toward the cave’s entrance, where Shara stood in her Hunter’s leathers. Even if she was no longer loyal to the group, the reinforced leather armor would still be useful if we ever got into a rough spot.
She looked at us for a moment before sitting beside us cross-legged. She eyed Isa’s half-eaten plate.
“You going to finish that?”
“It’s yours,” Isa said, not meeting Shara’s eyes.
Before I could disapprove, Shara grabbed it and began chowing down. I couldn’t help but notice the tension in Isa’s voice. Even if she knew Shara was different now, she still couldn’t get over the fact that Shara had tried to kill her on their first meeting.
I supposed no one could fault Isa for still being a little cold.
Shara, however, was nonplussed.
“We were just talking about our next move,” I said. “We’re probably heading back to the Sphere to talk to the Priests. That’s where I think the Prophecy will be.”
Shara nodded. “You don’t actually plan on giving that to Valance, do you? He never intended to keep the deal, you know.”
Shara had told me that before. I was a bit annoyed at her thinking I had forgotten. “Of course not. He still has my parents, though I could at least act like I’m giving him the Prophecy, whether we find it or not. Unless you have a better idea to get them back?”
“I do, now that you mention it. Just offer to make his Elekai problem go away.”
“Am I missing something? What problem?”
Shara swallowed the last of the food. She had eaten the same amount as Isa in one tenth of the time. “Isa said war is in the air between the Covenant and the Elekai, right? Even before the incident with Isaru going missing, tensions were high. If we produce Isaru, that removes Taris’s reason for war. The Covenant can’t afford another war right now. Even if they ‘won’ against the Novans, they are still gasping for breath and are easy prey for the next enemy that happens along. That enemy, in the Covenant’s eyes, are the Elekai tribes, heightened all the more by what’s happened recently.”
“You mean you want to threaten war to get my parents back? You have to be joking.”
“It’s a good idea,” Shara said. “So many died in the Novan War that there are probably only ten thousand men who can lift a spear in all Colonian lands, and trust me, they wouldn’t fight willingly. That’s ten thousand men who would do anything rather than fight another bloody war. Put yourself in the Grand Pontifex’s boots right now. How would you react if you thought an Elekai army was waiting on the border, ready to kick you while you were down?”
I tried to imagine the situation, even if Shara was only being rhetorical. “What are you proposing, then?”
“Diplomacy,” Shara said. “We go to King Taris and make a proposi
tion. I let him know just how weak the Covenant is – after all, I was in the Hunters, so I would know these things firsthand. I tell him how much he stands to gain if he demands tribute from the Covenant. Knowing King Taris, he would love the opportunity to press his advantage, most likely without losing a single life in the process. For our bit, we throw in your parents as part of the deal.”
It was an unorthodox idea, or at least something I would have never thought of. “Valance wouldn’t be part of any of these decisions?”
“Maybe, but ultimately the Pontifex calls the shots. If your parents are part of the deal, and the Pontifex agrees to it, then there isn’t anything Valance can do about it.”
“Taris will get on board,” Shara said. “That man likes power. The only thing I’m worried about is that he’s already thought about doing this and so we won’t be able to make our own demands. He’s raided the Covenant before, though there’s never been anything like a war between us. Not in the last twenty years or so.”
“Taris would get what, gold?”
Shara nodded. “I know that’s not as valuable in Elekai lands, but the Eastern Kingdoms use it as currency. And it’s not as if it’s without value in the Red Wild.”
It was true that gold served as a currency between most tribes and nations, even if ichor beads were the preferred currency.
“Taris has more than enough reason to go to war,” Isa said. “He can easily say he’s demanding reparations for the Covenant persecuting and killing the Elekai for decades, even once he realizes his son isn’t being held by them. Colonia before the war was much stronger than the Annajen kingdom. Now the Annajen have the upper hand if it ever came to a fight.”
“I just doubt this can be done without bloodshed,” I said. “And I doubt Pontifex Valan will care about a few burned towns and villages if they actually call our bluff.”
“The mere threat should be enough,” Shara said. “You’re right, though. If they call the bluff, that’s when Taris has to make good.”
“Declare war, you mean.”
“Maybe not so far as that, but the Covenant at this point would be powerless to keep their eastern border secure. Taris would be able to raid with impunity.”
