The Crystal Warrior

by Lori Hyrup

  Aria took her first bite of the thin slice of roast and savored its salty, juicy flavor. She did not recall anything tasting so good. Her body craved more, and she gave in to its desires. Aria spread the butter on her bread and dipped it into the juice of her roast. She sank her teeth into the bread, allowing the juice and butter to mingle on her tongue. Every bite she took exploded with sensation.

  Kharra watched her. It was not exactly unnerving, but the woman seemed observant about everything.

  “That was an amazing display last night,” Zephyron said, bringing Aria’s thoughts away from the food. “I’ve been a fighter for a long time, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone move as fast as you did.”

  Aria finished her bite and swallowed. “I’ve had many years of practice.”

  “So have I.”

  Aria stopped her hand before the fork reached her mouth and looked at him. The undercurrent of his tone conveyed something she could not quite place. She continued with her bite.

  Zephyron continued. “You wish to know about us, and rightly so. I believe your instincts are correct. Our mission may be related to what is going on here, though I do not think we specifically are bringing the problem to you. It would have arisen whether we showed up or not.

  “What and who we are is a bit complicated.”

  Aria gave him a level look and, with her kruusta-disciplined voice, said, “Complicated or not, I need to know.”

  Zephyron nodded. “Kharra is confident we can trust you, but you need to be careful with the information we give you. Based on my observations, I’m not certain other people in your land are ready to accept what I am about to tell you. We are also not without enemies, some of whom may be in this land. If they are here, we don’t want to alert them to our presence.”

  Aria nodded.

  “Good. I’m going to have to jump around a bit in order to convey the more important bits; otherwise, we could be here for weeks giving you a history lesson. Tell me if I lose you.

  “First off, the thing you refer to as the gray mist is a barrier of sorts created by powerful mystical energy. The barrier surrounds Tanoria. Tanoria, however, is actually just one land mass in a much more massive world. There is so much more beyond the gray mist.”

  Aria could not help but ogle at him. Theorizing fantastical possibilities was one thing. Having them expressed as fact was quite another. “How is that even possible?”

  Zephyron shook his head. “As to the how, all I know is that it was created by a very powerful being using rare mystical powers. Your land has been isolated and hidden from other lands for centuries. The people of this land have never been able to leave not because someone forced them to remain but because that is what they were taught. The Guardians contributed to the myth long ago. Over the centuries, some people have left, but once they moved outside the boundary, they found themselves unable to return. That only served to reinforce the myth.”

  Aria’s eyebrow twitched. Using Guardians, a religious reference, as part of the story lost some of the credibility in her eyes. Still, the idea of other lands beyond the gray mist intrigued her. Aria nodded again. “Leave where? How?”

  “Across the ocean, by ship.”

  “Interesting,” she said. “We were always taught that the ocean made a ring about Tanoria. There are various myths about what happens to the people who sail into the gray mist. The most prevailing of those myths are that people sail off the edge of the world, are taken to the land of the dead, or are stuck in the mist for eternity in a state of limbo. Only a handful of my missions have ever required me to be on a ship, so thoughts of the gray mist rarely cross my mind.”

  “Well, there is no edge to the world,” Kharra said as she held up both hands facing one another, fingers and thumbs curved as if she held a large round fruit. “The world is round, a giant sphere filled with many oceans and land masses.”

  “So,” said Aria with more than a hint of skepticism creeping into her voice, “what is the name of this bigger world?”

  “Mattekan,” both Kharra and Zephyron responded at the same time.

  Aria’s lips twitched upward. Though part of her wanted to dispute their story, the other part of her saw how these two acted, how they fought, and how they talked. They came from no place she had ever known. As someone who knew Tanoria better than almost anyone else still living, Aria did not doubt they came from somewhere else, perhaps another land as they said. Just the possibility of the existence of places beyond Tanoria fascinated the kruusta.

  Zephyron washed down his food with his tea and continued. “Mattekan is not just the world. It is also a living entity, what I believe you call the Great Consciousness. It is more ancient than anything else in this world, possibly in any world. It may even be older than Isor, but our records don’t go back far enough to know for certain. Our information comes from impressions left to us by Mattekan.

  “Now, the soil we stand on is not living but rather a protective layer Mattekan built up over billions of years. Beneath the ground crystal veins crisscross the entire world, some thick and strong, some fine and fragile. They are all connected. What you call shards are physical parts of that network, of Mattekan.

  “Mattekan has neither eyes nor ears nor a mouth like you and me, but it can see and feel and communicate. Many species of animals instinctively react to Mattekan’s needs, but this is not so with humans. Only a small fraction of humans have been born with the ability to hear Mattekan. Fewer still can understand it. As a result of their inability to understand, humans sometimes bring harm to the entity without realizing they do so.”

  Kharra finished the last of her meal and continued the story. “For example, the land I grew up in, Marimon, is a place where people mine the crystal veins because they discovered the crystals to be an effective power source. Even if the vein it came from has been completely severed from the rest of Mattekan’s structure, the crystal pieces will still provide power.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Aria said, louder than she intended. She glanced around the room but relaxed when she realized they were the only ones still there. “Cutting a shard that deep is a grave offense here. The only thing resembling an exception is when a kruusta receives his or her crystal, which is done with the blessing of the Great Consciousness.” She glanced around to be certain no one was staring. The bubble of anger returned.

  Kharra nodded in understanding. “The people there couldn’t hear Mattekan even though it tried to get them to stop. To protect itself, Mattekan created an impassible mountain range out at the sea, cutting Marimon off from the rest of the world so those people could not spread their practice elsewhere. Within the entire Marimon region, Mattekan is dead. Still, the people there happily mine the massive amount of remaining crystal.”

  Zephyron continued. “Though Kharra grew up in Marimon, she and I are both from a different land called Aerous. I am a Guardian, and part of my responsibility is to keep such a thing from happening elsewhere.”

  Aria nearly choked on her vegetables. She forced herself to swallow and looked up. “You’re a what?”

  “A Guardian. Do your people know of Guardians?”

  Aria raised both eyebrows. “Guardian? As in one of the gods of old?”

  Zephyron chuckled. “Hardly a god but, yes, I am a Guardian. I was once human like you or Kharra, but I was called by Mattekan to be one of its protectors. That is how Guardians come to be.”

  Aria took her last bite and scrunched her brow in thought. She believed in the Great Consciousness and the shards because both were tangible to her, but not Guardians. She had never believed in them. The only information anyone had about them came from children’s bedtime stories and myths passed down through the generations intended to teach people about the morality of life.

  At last Aria said, “Forgive me if I have a little difficulty believing you’re a Guardian.” She emptied her mug of tea and wiped her mouth.

  “Understandable,” Zephyron replied.

  With everyo
ne finished eating, all three of them stood. Dara hurried over to ask if they wanted anything else. Aria declined and informed their host that now that the village was safe, they needed to be on their way. They still had a lot of ground to cover before they reached their destination. The woman asked for them to wait. She disappeared and returned a moment later with a large pack in her hands filled with a variety of foodstuffs—meats, cheeses, breads, even packets of tea leaves so they could brew more tea along the way. All three thanked Dara and headed out.

  Aria shaded her eyes as they exited from the Raven’s Roost. Isor’s radiant light smiled down from the sun’s zenith, and the cloudless sky and light breeze indicated a warm and pleasant day, a wonderful day for traveling. The villagers worked hard at repairing their homes and businesses, yet each of them stopped to wave as the three travelers departed. Aria bid farewell to Ian and thanked him for their meal. He in turn gave her an open invitation to return any time. This had been a different experience in her dealings with people, and Aria appreciated the offer.

  At their camp Xierex snorted and stomped, a display of annoyance at being left behind, but it was all a show. By the look of the nearby vegetation, he had enjoyed spending the morning browsing on the flowering trees of the surrounding area. Aria smiled and gave him an affectionate rub. His crystalline horns spun and swirled with colors as the light filtered through them. She pulled a biscuit from the pack given to her by Dara and handed it to the zegu. He accepted the peace offering and quieted, earning a laugh from both Kharra and Zephyron.

  Aria took extra time to strap down their gear on the back of Xierex’s saddle, half distracted by all the questions popping into her head. The massive bluish zegu stood with patience but attempted to play with her hair each time she walked past him. She scratched his chin in response. Over her shoulder she caught Zephyron’s gaze with one eye and asked, “So last night, the cat, what was that? I mean, that was you, right? I wasn’t imagining it?”

  “Yes, that was me,” he said with a grin. He grinned a lot Aria noted.

  “Is that a Guardian thing? Assuming I believe what you say about being a Guardian.” Aria tied down the last of the gear and turned to face her two companions. They were ready to go as well. Aria took the lead and picked the direction. The other two followed.

  Zephyron shook his head. “Actually, no. That was one of two abilities I had prior to being called.”

  Aria responded, “I’ve never known of people having such abilities.”

  “Not surprising. As I mentioned earlier, there are only a small percentage of humans who can hear Mattekan. Those people are imbued with tiny amounts of its immense power, which manifests into different abilities. The types of abilities vary, with similar abilities tending to run in family lines.

  “For thousands of years, people of Aerous embraced those with abilities. We call the power used to draw on those abilities leyoen. Those without abilities we call couren, meaning deaf: deaf to Mattekan’s voice. Over time, different leyoen families went their separate ways, forming numerous tribes. The tribes became known for the type of leyoen they wielded. The Alaswani, for example, were the People of Fire, and their dominant leyoen abilities were fire-related. Not everyone born to those families was born with leyoen. In fact most born were couren, but still, the people of the tribes embraced and honored those who manifested leyoen even if their abilities were weak and seemingly insignificant.

  “My people were the Duani, the People of the Twin Souls. When young people of the Duani come of age, they seek the wilds and sit in prayer. They open themselves up so their twin soul, if they have one, may find them. The twin soul is an animal spirit that seeks to be joined for a higher purpose. If a person is chosen by a twin soul, the spirit of the person and the spirit of the animal become one. From that point on, they may take on the form of either the person or the animal. Those who are chosen are called saoul.

  “Most, but not all, twin souls are wolves. I was different. Not only was I fortunate enough to have been chosen, but I was chosen by a tigron, the cat form you saw. Tigron are rare, mystical creatures.”

  “Hm,” Aria said, digesting the information. “Can you change your form at any time?” she asked.

  “I can,” he said in response.

  “And you can carry a rider?”

  “Yes.”

  Aria thought for a moment. “I understand now why you didn’t need horses. So then why are we walking? We would make much better time if we rode.”

  “We could, though conversing would be more difficult, at least initially,” he explained.

  Aria nodded in understanding. While he could follow a conversation in his tigron form, he would not be able to speak.

  Zephyron added, “Kharra has the ability to facilitate that, though I’m not certain you’re ready just yet.”

  “Ready for what?” Aria asked, glancing at Kharra, who walked on the opposite side of Zephyron.

  “She’ll be fine,” Kharra said, “but I think I’ll explain it to her first.”

  The conversation continued as they traveled, and Aria repeatedly found herself amazed by what she learned. Kharra’s people had been called the Zumai, the People of the Spirit. According to Kharra, the Zumai had the widest variety of abilities of any of the tribes. Born with several of her tribe’s abilities, Kharra considered herself both fortunate and unusual. One of her abilities she called mind seeking, the ability to both know the thoughts of another and to project her thoughts to that person. With sudden realization Aria recalled witnessing Kharra use the ability the night before, when they tried to get into the Raven’s Roost. Aria had heard Kharra ask to be allowed to open the door, but Kharra’s lips had not moved. Zephyron also had mind seeking, but according to him, the ability was weak compared to Kharra’s. He explained that it was his main mode of communication while in his tigron form.

  With the mind-seeking explanation out of the way, Zephyron transformed. It happened so fast Aria just had time to register that it had occurred before she was greeted by the grinning face of a massive white cat. His lips did not move, yet when he looked at her, she knew he was grinning. Xierex’s eyes went wide, and he tried to rear. Aria held his reins steady, but he continued to tug away.

  Kharra approached the zegu. Aria warned her to stay back, but she insisted she would be fine. Kharra placed one hand on his nose and another on his chin. He flinched once and then calmed, lowering his head until it was eye level with the dark-haired woman.

  “He’s okay,” Kharra announced. “He thought the cat ate Zephyron and wanted to eat us. He now understands the tigron is also Zephyron.”

  “He understood all that?”

  Kharra nodded. “He is very intelligent, much smarter than a horse.”

  With Xierex calmed, Aria looked at Zephyron. He stood as tall as Xierex, who himself was taller than a draft horse. Zephyron’s feline form had a sleek, muscular body with thick, strong legs. His fur was a brilliant white with a thick snowy mane crowning his head and neck. Aria realized she was staring and shook herself. “My mind is having trouble seeing that as you. It just doesn’t seem possible.”

  6

  PEOPLE OF THE CRYSTAL

  Both Aria and Kharra mounted up, and Aria allowed Xierex to set the pace. He was eager to run, and Zephyron had no issues keeping up. While riding, Kharra introduced Aria to mind seeking.

  As you can see, mind seeking can be advantageous while on the move, said Kharra’s “voice.” The kruusta found the sensation a little disconcerting at first, hearing a voice in her head as clear as if someone was talking to her.

  “Are you able to read my thoughts?” Aria asked over the thudding of Xierex’s hooves.

  I can if I choose, but out of principle, I don’t go into a person’s mind without good reason. However, I can receive thoughts that are projected at me without reading thoughts that may be more personal.

  “I assume that requires another person who has your ability?” Aria asked with a glance out of the corner of her eye. />
  She caught Kharra’s shake of the head. Not at all. Anyone who can think can learn to project thoughts. The only thing that’s a little different is that you have to open up your mind so that the thoughts are released. Those who don’t have the ability tend to close their minds if their voices aren’t involved.

  “I see.” In some ways, the concept reminded Aria of how she communed with the shards. She thought of what she would say next but did not voice it. Are you able to receive this?

  Kharra’s eyes widened in surprise, and she nodded with a smile. I did. You’re a natural. I know others who spent weeks before they were able to do it reliably without using their voices.

  Aria allowed herself a faint smile. What about Zephyron? Is he hearing this conversation?

  Kharra shook her head. Not yet. His strongest talents are not in mind seeking. He does have the ability, and he could send thoughts to you with it. However, it’s not strong enough to receive thoughts from those without any ability at all. Mind seeking is one of my stronger talents. Not only can I receive thoughts from those without the ability, but I can act as a conduit between people of different levels of talent.

  Aha! came a distinctly masculine voice in Aria’s head. At least you did not scare her away.

  Oh hush, you! said Kharra as she swatted at the top of his head.

  Zephyron’s mental voice made a distinct chuckle.

  Aria appraised their banter. Part of her longed to have had even one individual in her life with whom she could have been so casual.

  Time passed swiftly as the trio carried on their mental conversation. Aria assaulted her companions with a barrage of questions as she fought to understand the foreign concepts they introduced. To their credit they answered everything with patience and understanding. If she was going to be with them for several weeks and facing dangers she knew they did not fully appreciate, then she wanted to know as much about them as possible.