by Greg Curtis
But now he had a portal casting. He could travel to any other connected portal in the blink of an eye – and that included the grand portal at the Temple. It had saved him an enormous amount of travelling. Before he'd picked up the portal enchantment, each trip to the Heartfire Temple had taken him a week or more there and back. And of course there had been the unnerving journey along the mystic road through the endless forest. More than that though, he would have had to spend days travelling to and from Hale Bay, the town where he bought his pearls from. He would never have to make that trip again either. Now it was the work of seconds to go from his home to Hale Bay to buy his pearls when he needed to. Or to the grand portal on the terrace of the Heartfire Temple..
Chy took a deep breath to steady himself, activated the portal with a thought, then stepped onto it. A heartbeat later he stepped out onto the terrace of the Heartfire Temple, fifty leagues south and another full days travel along a mystical pathway from where he had been.
But that was fifty leagues south in the real world just to reach the entrance to the road that led to the Temple. And then there was a further days travel along a road that snaked through the mystical forest world of Prima and many others. He was certain that the road had no actual dimensions that matched up with those of Althern or anywhere else. It couldn't when it seemed to run between worlds. When you would take a few steps and suddenly see an entirely different world to the left and right. That was disturbing. And some of the worlds he saw as the road passed through them, were more so. He was so glad he would never have to travel along that road again!
The temple itself was in a different world again – Prima. A world of endless forest and one single active volcano – at least as far as anyone could tell him. No one had ever explored it as far as he knew.
But he suspected that Prima, like all of the other worlds out there, ran parallel to his world. Which meant that if Prima was the same size as Althern and spun much the same way, and if the Temple was three hours ahead of him, it was a thousand leagues east of his home. And he had crossed that distance in the blink of an eye.
It was hard to understand how that worked exactly. The magic of dimension that he had, allowed him to see the portals, to make the connections between different places in both worlds, but not to really understand them. He would need to sit a few more times on the snake throne to understand that. What was clear was that this was not Althern. If it was, where he would be standing would be Mount Landridge and he would be not far from the city of Pearlman, as far as he could tell. Both of them were in the realm of Eastmarsh – a place he had never been to and only knew from books. A place he didn't really want to go to. Eastmarsh and Ruttland were not on friendly terms.
Of course if he had been there, he wouldn't have been looking at a confused looking dwarf, who was rubbing his head and walking unsteadily towards the grand portal. Clearly he'd received his blessing.
“Greetings.” He nodded at the dwarf before taking a few unsteady steps off it. The dwarf grunted something at him in return. Chy wasn't sure what. The translation spell couldn't make sense of mumbling. But it didn't sound friendly.
As always, once he arrived on the terrace he stood for a moment to steady himself. Portalling was always disorienting. Maybe it wouldn't be if he'd mastered more of the magic of dimension. But for the moment it always left him unsteady. Then, when he was ready, he headed a little way further from the portal and walked over to the edge of the terrace to look around. Meanwhile the dwarf grunted something else at him – Chy thought he'd called him a witling – took his place on the portal and vanished.
For a moment he wanted to take in the view and to wonder yet again, how it wasn't his property and the surrounding trees and farmlands that were in front of him. Every time he did this, that caught him by surprise. How could you go from staring at your front yard, take one step and suddenly be staring at a vast expanse of forest running all the way back to the horizon? Or for that matter be standing on the edge of a volcano with a huge fall just a few paces away? But it was a magnificent view.
The terrace was carved into the side of a volcano, at least a thousand paces above an endless forest of magic and wonder – and danger. And for as far as the eye could see there were trees. It was a carpet of green, stretching out to the horizon, which was part of why they called it the endless forest. But it was never a place where anyone would want to go.
In the old days, before he'd learned his portal spell, he'd had to travel along the road, the end of which he could just make out winding its way up around the side of the volcano. On the other end it vanished into the endless forest. But the road didn't actually run through the forest. He wasn't sure what it ran through, only that it wound its way between worlds somehow. And that when he was walking it, there was no direction. No north or south. You just walked it, following the path it laid out for your feet and hoped that the road knew where you were going.
Every time he'd travelled it, he'd found himself dreading the journey. Because on both sides of the road was death and chaos. Lands that seemed to change with every step you took. Magic that ran wild and deadly. Creatures that were even wilder. And, so he understood from others who walked it, true spell-casters. The ancients. People who had learned their magic before humans had even walked the world. People who didn't like humans. Or any mortals. And people who likely saw those walking along the road and waited for them to make a mistake and step off it. Those who were foolish enough to do so, didn't come back.
He knew that somehow the road snaked between worlds. Not just between this one – Prima which he suspected was simply a translation of primal – and Althern, but between others as well. But he didn't know how it did that exactly or what all those other worlds were. Some of them he was sure were the worlds of others who travelled to the Temple. But others he feared, were worlds that belonged to far more alien peoples. Beings he couldn't even begin to understand.
It was very disturbing walking it. The longest day's travel imaginable. Because the land on both sides of the road was never constant. You got used to it in time. You learned how to walk it, to always keep your eyes on the road and try not to look around too much. But you never really understood it.
Most of all you learned that there was only one rule when travelling the road – never step off it! Never stray from it. That was the only safety. If you did the chances were that you would never be seen again – and that didn't necessarily mean you would die. You might not be that lucky. There were worse fates than death – and most of them awaited anyone foolish enough to enter the forest. Of course since so few ever came back from the endless forest, most of what was in it was speculation and imaginings. Wild imaginings.
Luckily, he no longer had to travel it. He could portal here and then away, safely avoiding the danger. That had made a huge difference to him. Now if only he could find a way to absorb the Heartfire without suffering, his life would be perfect.
Eventually he remembered that he had come here for a reason, and it wasn't to stare out over an endless forest filled with mythical creatures. So he turned away from the view to stare at the Temple behind him. The Temple to unknown gods and goddesses. Or to the Heartfire, which the sylph claimed had nothing to do with the divine. But then they didn't believe in any gods.
It didn't look like a temple. But then he wasn't even sure that it was one. The guardians just called it that because they didn't know what it actually was and it seemed the most likely answer. He wasn't even sure it was a a place of worship to a goddess or a god or anything else for that matter. The guardians were copper elves, and they seemed to assume that every oddity was related to one or another of their divinities. Their Ladies and Gentlemen. But they hadn't built the Temple. It was older than them.
What it really looked like was a giant mine entrance if he was honest. Except a fancy one. This entrance stood as high and as wide as ten men. And on all sides it was bounded by massive stone columns and beams. They were carved of course. But not with writing and
nor with images. Instead what was carved into them was something in between. Writing made of small, simple and very strange pictures.
He didn't know what they said or depicted. No one did. Not even the guardians of the Temple – at least so he'd been told. It was too old for that. And even the ancient tongue they had been magically taught couldn't translate the writing. They might call the tongue Ancient, but the Temple was even older. Maybe some of the ancient people that supposedly dwelt within the forest below could understand it. But certainly no mortal could. The one thing he did understand though, was that the rock and the writing on it was old. Worn smooth by the passage of time. And he had to wonder, just how many thousands of years did it take for granite to be worn down simply by the wind and the rain? Longer than humans had been alive he guessed. Longer than any of the mortal races probably.
The other thing he knew, was that this place was home to magic. Powerful magic. They called this place the Heartfire because that was what magic was. It was the fire that burned within the heart of casters. And here, in front of the massive opening that led into the temple he could feel it. He knew the fire that burned at its heart, as it in turn burned in his.
Other people, normal people, wouldn't understand magic. They couldn't feel it. They thought of it as spells and wizards and endless tomes of casting and rituals. They looked for staffs and wands and black cats. But that stuff was stories. So were the darker tales of sacrifices and communion with demons. But magic was none of those things. It was the fire in the heart and the soul. Fire at the heart of the universe. It didn't need words or gestures or runes to be cast. Just a thought and the will.
Of course most people – at least humans – didn't even believe that magic existed. And even those who suspected it did, just called it an arcane mystery, and studied it through the prisms of science and logic. Naturally, neither of those disciplines leant them any actual insight. Nor did their bastard child, technology.
For once it seemed, that he wouldn't have to wait for his blessing. He checked the great stone benches in front of the entrance as he walked and saw that they were empty. That was good in a way. He wouldn't have to sit and wait nervously. But it also meant he wouldn't have anyone to talk to as he waited, and that he would miss.
Usually when he came he had to sit with others and wait his turn, and he liked that. Mostly they got to talking. People liked to talk to him. A lot of the other worshippers found him a curiosity – one of the few humans they'd ever seen. Naturally as much as they found him curious, he found them the same. He had sat and talked with dwarves and gnomes, sylph and sprites, elves and giants, and so many others. All of them so unlike humans, and unlike one another. All of them from their own worlds. And yet all of them brought here and bound together by one thing. They all had the gift. And they were happy to talk about it. And about many other things. Often they had long and involved conversations.
Of course all of them really sat and talked for one reason above all others – to avoid thinking about what lay ahead. Still he enjoyed those conversations. And he'd learned a lot from them. But not today it seemed. The benches were empty and the Temple was running on time. So he walked past them to the entrance.
In front of the entrance he was met by one of the guardians, Elodie.
Chy smiled. He was glad to see the copper elf. She was one of the more friendly of the guardians. Or at least she smiled occasionally and there was a warmth in her words. The other guardians didn't smile. But then neither did other elves. Whether they were wood elves, high elves or sun elves, they were all just too serious. And if he was honest, she was easy on a man's eyes too.
As always she was dressed in her robes. All the guardians wore them. White robes with a couple of thick green stripes running down them, and the whole thing tied together at the waist with a sash. It was a simple garb, but for some reason it looked elegant on her. And the bronze lantern she had tied to her sash added a touch of the mysterious. She'd never used it. Never lit it in his memory. So what was it for? But he supposed there was no point in asking.
“Well met, Chy Waine Martin,” she greeted him formally. “You have returned to take a seat and receive the blessing of the Heartfire once more?”
“I have,” he agreed. He naturally said nothing about his doubts. She wouldn't want to hear them. So he tried to make light of the situation instead.
“You know, the old place is looking a little grubby. There's sand and ash everywhere and smoke rising into the sky. You could have done a little bit of work with a mop and some soap while I've been away!”
“You have brought your offering?” She ignored his attempt at humour as usual.
He sighed. “You know, one day Myless Elodie Mae you're going to smile at my jokes! Maybe even laugh! But yes I brought my offering.” Chy reached to his belt and his coin purse and started counting out the price. But of course despite the fact that he carried the offering in his coin purse the price was never coin. The guardians cared nothing for coins. Nothing for gold or silver. Instead their price was pearls. He didn't know why. Maybe it was what passed for coin in their land.
Oddly the other elves he'd met here while he'd been waiting for his blessing, didn't know either. Not even the other copper elves. He'd asked and they'd told him a lot about their worlds. But nothing about pearls. They liked them, but they liked gold and silver just as much while their coin was ebony and ivory – except for the wood elves who seemed to prefer chips of bone. But then they weren't guardians. Not even the other copper elves who visited.
The odd thing was that the offering was different for everyone. He paid five perfect pearls each time. But others offered different things. He had no idea who decided what everyone should offer, or how they made the determination. It was just another of the many mysteries of the Temple.
Chy handed Elodie five perfect pearls, all of them slightly coloured. It was an exorbitant price. They had cost him half a dozen full gold pieces and he'd had to travel to Hale Bay to buy them, over a hundred leagues west from his home – though thankfully he could portal there these days. And that was actually cheap. In Seabourne, the only city where he could buy the pearls, the price was double what it was in Hale Bay. Still it was the price. The first time a caster visited the temple, the seat was free. Probably because no one knew until they finally took a seat whether they would be granted any of the fire. And because it could kill them if they weren't prepared. But after that, the price was five pearls. Five perfect pearls. Every six months.
It was a fortune – and not a small one. When he added it all up, he'd visited the Temple probably thirty times, which meant that he'd handed over one hundred and fifty pearls to the guardians. That was enough to buy a very expensive home in Stonely. A mansion in truth. And maybe have a few servants as well.
Elodie took the pearls and placed them in the small wooden box she carried for that purpose and then announced that the price had been paid. She always said that even when there was no one around to hear her. So did the others. It was a ritual. There were several guardians who greeted people at the temple and escorted them in, and they all went through exactly the same rigmarole, word for word. Even when the two of them were alone on the terrace.
Then of course she started on the rest of it, telling him of what would happen when he took his seat, something he knew only too well. So he ignored what she said – he could practically have recited it himself – and simply studied her as he usually did.
She was a copper elf. All the guardians were copper elves. Though of course everyone knew there were no elves, copper or otherwise, so they couldn't be that. But still that was what the magic of the ancient tongue named her as. And she looked exactly like the descriptions the tales gave of elves. Tall, straight, thin and with pointed ears and well tanned skin that glowed a little in the sun.
Of course what none of the tales said about elves, was that they were serious to the point of dull. Some tales talked about elves as being almost childlike and playful. Others about them be
ing dangerous, filled with dark magic and mischief. Many called them frightening. And most tales spoke about them being people of the deep woods, at home in the trees. But she was none of those things. She was as sombre and serious as a pall bearer – which was why he always felt the need to make her laugh. But she didn't scare him and he couldn't imagine her having the slightest amount of mischief in her heart. Or, he sometimes feared, joy.
As for her clothes, she was as always dressed in her formal guardian robes. They were elegant he supposed, but they clearly weren't the sorts of clothes you wore if you were out in the woods. But what did he know about fashion? He was dressed in rough, heavy leggings and a thick cotton vest as if he had just come out of the fields. But compared to the giants in their loin cloths and furs, he was actually fairly well dressed.
“So, everything's good at home?” He enquired when she finished and turned to lead him into the temple. He tried again to get a response that wasn't official. He always asked an impertinent question or two of the guardians. And of course he never got an answer. The guardians weren't here to chat. Only to guide the worshippers into the temple and to show them to their seats on whatever throne. Naturally he got no answer this time either. But that didn't stop him trying. Maybe because he was nervous.
