I placed my hand on the slab, shifting a few times before properly aligning my fingers along the outline. A prompt screen opened in front of the guard, and he tapped through a few options. The scanning crystal glowed dimly and a gentle warmth soaked my palm, lasting for a few seconds before abruptly cutting off.
I heard a loud beep, and the guard’s screen turned light red. He took one look at it and immediately froze.
Did I do something wrong? I looked at the crystal, and then back at the guard. “What happened?”
“Your Ga’em record.” He looked at me. “It doesn’t exist.”
***
CHAPTER SEVEN
“My Ga’em record is missing?” I frowned. “What does that even mean?”
“I-I’m not sure.” The guard’s gaze shifted between me and the red screen.
“Maybe it’s a problem with your scanning crystal?”
He shook his head. “We used it just a few minutes ago when another traveler came by and we had no issues.”
“Ugh.”
“You’re going to have to come with me, sir.”
I stepped back, and my eyebrows rose. “Where?”
“The Langsdale security headquarters.” He pointed to a small protrusion in the wall, a tower about four stories tall and large enough to house maybe three rooms on each level. “It’s standard procedure to take outsiders there in case of any confusions or complications.”
“Do complications happen often?”
He paused. “I’ve been at this post for a little less than a decade, and you’re the first person I’ll have to take up there.”
Well, that definitely isn’t promising. I sighed.
“Come along.” The guard walked by my side and led me to the tower. The other guards around us looked over but didn’t pay any close attention. We walked up to the sole door in the tall structure, and the guard opened it. It creaked, and a dark staircase revealed itself on the other side.
He held it open. “After you.”
I gave him a nod and entered, tentatively stepping on the stone steps and hoisting myself up the tower. The inner walls were smooth, with the scent of dust baked within them. My nostrils were stuffy from the dry and murky air, and I occasionally breathed with my mouth instead. We’d climbed about three flights of stairs when the guard tugged on my arm and stopped me.
“In here.” He pointed to the door on the side and opened it. I headed in and was immediately welcomed by the sound of lively chatter.
Small tables and chairs stood all around the room, with groups of people at each one. Cramped stone cubicles sat at the far side, lined up against the wall.
“What have we got here, soldier?”
A young lady in a blue cloak walked up to us, a grin on her lips. Her long hair flowed down her back, its shade a tad darker than the oak-brown staff she held in her hand. She wore a smile on her fair-skinned face, and her eyes radiated beautifully with their leaf-green colors.
“Captain Viola.” The guard bowed. “Just found an odd case when I was on duty tonight.”
She looked at me, and an eyebrow rose. “What seems to be the problem?”
“It’s this young man’s Ga’em record,” he said. “It’s…uhhh…missing.”
Her eyes widened. “Say again?”
“His Ga’em record seems to be missing, Captain,” he said, his voice firmer.
“And you used the scanning crystal to check, correct?”
“Yes,” he said. “The scanning crystal said this man’s Ga’em record doesn’t exist.”
The lady’s eyes shone. She leaned into my ear. “You,” she whispered. “You have the Resurrection ability, don’t you?”
My eyes widened. “How do you know that?” I gasped.
“This is amazing.” Her eyes were glowing now. “You’re coming with me.”
I blinked. “Wait, wha—”
“Frey!” the lady turned around and yelled. A man in a hooded tunic of gray shuffled through the tables, scrambling toward us. He had leather gloves on his hands and a long sword sheathed on his back. A warrior of some kind for sure.
“Captain, what’s going on?” the guard asked.
“I’m taking custody of this man.” She looked at me. “What’s your name?”
“Z-Zoran,” I said.
“Well, Zoran, I hope you like horses.”
“What?”
The next thing I knew, the lady had grabbed me by the wrist and was dragging me down the tower staircase. The hooded man she’d called Frey was right behind us, descending the steps silently behind us.
“Miss, what’s this about?” I asked.
“Later,” she said as we headed down.
Is this lady a threat to me? I wondered.
We exited the tower from the lower entrance, and Viola headed around to the back. Two horses stood there, tied to a peg stuck in the ground. She undid the ropes for both horses, letting Frey take one, and then leading hers to the gate. I followed her close, not wanting to be left alone.
“Captain!” The guards saluted as she walked to the pedestal with the crystal tablet. She placed her hand on it just as one of the guards walked over. A beep emanated from the tablet, and a screen opened in front of the guard.
“Your identity has been verified, Captain,” he said. The doors to the city silently slid open.
Huh. I frowned. I’d figured doors that big would make some more noise.
“Thank you,” Viola said and hopped onto her horse. She looked at me. “Climb on.”
I blinked. “Don’t I need to have myself scanned in order to enter the city?”
“Not if you are traveling with someone like me,” she chuckled.
What does that mean? I wondered.
“Anyway, come on. We should get going.” She patted the space behind her. I nodded and half-jumped, half-sprawled onto the horse, nearly falling off as I climbed on.
Viola grabbed my arm and hoisted me up. “I take it you’ve never climbed on a horse before?” she laughed.
“I don’t think so,” I said quietly and steadied myself. A whoosh came from behind me and I turned around to see Frey jump gracefully onto his steed.
He clearly knows how to mount a horse, I thought.
Viola pulled on the reins and the horse moved forward. She led it into the city, and the hooded man followed us close behind.
All of this is happening because my Ga’em record is missing, I realized. I wondered what could possibly explain what had happened back there with the crystal slab. It felt quite ironic, actually. I’d come to Langsdale hoping to get answers, and the first thing that’d happened just raised a ton of new questions, all of which probably had answers that were nearly impossible to find.
“Oh yeah.” Viola fished into the inner pockets of her coat for something. “Here you go.” She pulled out a piece of red velvety cloth and pressed it into my palm. “Make sure you keep that with you all the time. It’s very useful.”
I cocked my head. “Thanks?” I said, gazing at what she had given me. I unfolded the velvet and revealed a symbol embroidered in the middle—the rising form of the morning sun.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
“It better be.” She grinned. “Pretty sure we paid quite a bit to have someone design that for us.”
DING!
You have found a new item.
Seal of the Lumina Knights!
This seal validates the holder as an ally of the Lumina Knights faction. Don’t lose it. Would you like to transfer the items to your ‘Item Inventory?’
Yes
No
I blinked. “Wait, you’re from the Lumina Knights?” I asked. That sounds familiar. My eyes narrowed. “Isn’t that a part of the Alliance of Light?”
“Indeed, we are,” she said.
Wow, I thought, and I hit Yes on my Ga’em prompt. The cloth glowed a dull white and then dissolved away into nothing.
There were two major Alliances that I knew of—the Alliance of Light, and
the Dark Alliance. The Alliance of Light was very organized, followed a strict ethical code, and was nurturing to all. The Dark Alliance was more chaotic and believed that strength and power held the loudest voices, that a peaceful way of life was not possible in what they said was a broken world. The Kingdom of Aingard was the stronghold for the Alliance of Light, while the Dargonian Empire, a regime to the south of Aingard, was the main base for the Dark Alliance.
I remembered that the Alliances were hostile to each other, but I couldn’t recall how hostile exactly. I wasn’t too worried, though. The Alignment section in my Ga’em menu showed I was neutral, which meant I was part of neither Alliance, and thus it’d be hard for me to get caught up in the crossfire of their fights.
Viola kept the horse to the side of the roads as we rode through the streets of Langsdale. I glanced around the city as we traveled, noticing the different kinds of people that walked by. A lot of them stared at me, their faces and expressions twisting as they gazed at my form.
“You’ll get quite a bit of attention here,” Viola said. “It’s not every day that we see someone with silver hair and silver eyes.”
“Oh,” I said. Are my features that exotic? I wondered.
“Also,” she said, “I know dragging you away without explanation is quite confusing, but I assure you, everything will be explained in a short while. You just have to wait.”
“I understand,” I said. It’s not like I have a choice, I thought. I’d just have to play nice until I found out what was going on here.
Captain Viola, I thought. That’s what the guards had called her. How strong is she? I wondered. I stared at the back of the lady’s head and my Analyze skill did the rest.
DING!
Name
Viola
Race
Human
Level
19
Whoa. I blinked. I’d expected her to be high-leveled, but this was strong! Wait, can she see that I summoned this screen? I froze. And then I remembered the Analyze skill’s new trait allowed it to stay hidden for five seconds after generation. I quickly closed the screen in front of me so the time limit didn’t pass.
I should test this more, I thought and turned around, looking back at the hooded man and concentrating on his head.
DING!
Name
Frey
Race
Human
Level
45
He’s quite strong too, I thought. I looked at him, waiting to see if he reacted in any way to the screen, but he didn’t. He can’t see it either, I realized. I quickly closed the screen, with a wide grin on my face.
“What’s wrong?” Viola asked.
Uh-oh. My hands turned clammy. Think of something. Anything. I looked at her. “Frey doesn’t talk much, does he?” I asked.
“Never spoken a word before,” she chuckled. “The only reason I even know his name is because he wrote it out for me.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “Wait, so it isn’t that he doesn’t know the language?”
“He knows the language. It’s just that he doesn’t open his mouth to speak it,” she said. “He keeps to himself. I’ve honestly never even seen what he looks like under that hood.”
“Odd.”
“Don’t worry,” she chuckled. “He’s a mysterious person, but he’s the most reliable one I know.”
“That’s nice,” I said. It’s still odd, though, I thought.
We rode for about half an hour more before a large structure entered our vision—the citadel of the Lumina Knights’ headquarters. A grilled gate stood embedded in the wall, its iron bars curling and weaving into beautiful patterns. It trembled as we neared it, slowly lifting up, allowing us to pass.
The soldiers at the gate saluted as we rode past them. “Captain!”
Everybody knows her, I thought.
My eyes shifted to the buildings inside the enclosure. There were a series of towers around me, with shorter and taller ones scattered unevenly across the place. Almost all of them were built with sharp corners and straight lines.
Viola rode a little further and pulled up beside the entrance of one of the larger towers.
She jumped off. “Follow me.” The pitch of her voice rose.
Okay, what is going on here? I wondered as I followed her down. Just what was getting her so excited? Was all of this because I had the Resurrection ability? Or was it because my Ga’em record was missing?
I slowly walked after her. Can I really trust this woman?
We walked into the tower, through the wooden doors that had been left wide open, and into the room on the other side. A red carpet lay over the floor and extended deeper inside. I slowly treaded forward, picking up speed only when Viola went ahead of me at a faster pace.
She turned around. “Why are you walking like a snail?” She gripped my hand and dragged me away. I caught sight of Frey behind us, and the hooded man slowly made his way forward.
I honestly don’t know what kind of path the Lumina Knights’ captain took me through after that. We headed into a lot of different corridors and climbed a few staircases before finally stopping in front of a thick wooden door.
Viola opened it without knocking and headed in, taking me along with her. A burst of dry air flew into my face, and the scent of dust and paint rushed up my nostrils. The room inside was much less grand than I had imagined. It was made of grayish stone, and crude cuts were still seen on the unpolished walls. Books and parchments lay around the place, collecting dust and cobwebs.
A man sat at the sole desk in the room, his age much older than the chair he was sitting on. He wore white robes and had a beard of gray that was longer than his hair.
“Ah, Viola,” he said. “What brings you here?”
“Raffyr, sorry about coming here on such short notice,” Viola said. “But I found something of great interest to us.”
“Yes?”
“Him.” She pointed to me.
He rubbed his chin. “This man?” he asked.
“A man with a Resurrection ability and no traceable Ga’em record.”
The old man’s eyes widened. “Amazing!”
I chuckled. He’s just like Viola was when she found out I had that ability.
“Where did you find him?” he asked.
“He just walked up to the city gates, actually,” she said.
He looked at me. “Where are you from, young man?” he asked.
Uh-oh. I froze up. I could either come up with a lie or tell them the truth. Which one’s better for me? I wondered.
“I’m not from these parts,” I said, my voice a whisper.
“I see, I see,” the old man said.
“Raffyr, if the scriptures we studied were true…,” Viola said.
“Indeed. This is amazing!”
“Can you perform the test now?”
“Most certainly.” The old man ran to a chest in the corner of the room. He clicked it open and rummaged inside.
I leaned closer to Viola. “What’s going on?” I whispered.
“You’ll know in a bit.” She smiled.
“Ah, found it!” Raffyr exclaimed. He pulled out a clear gemstone, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.
“What is that? I asked.
“A lightstone,” Viola said.
“A lightstone?” I asked.
The old man shuffled to me. “Hold out your hand.”
I did as he asked, uncurling my fingers, and he placed the gemstone in my palm. “Hold it firmly,” he said. “Don’t let it go no matter what.”
I gripped it and felt the gem’s cold touch under my skin. What’s supposed to happen now? I wondered. My shoulders quivered. Was this really okay?
Suddenly, my fingers tingled, as if lightning was coursing through my nerves. The gemstone glowed, its surface radiating a bright white light. Heat surged from it, slowly pouring itself into the air around me, threatening to scald my skin.
What’s going on? My hand shook, but I
held tightly on to the clear stone, afraid to let it go. The gem quickly turned a faint red, and its heat increased along with the shade. A wild hum resonated through the walls, growing sharper by the moment.
And then it all stopped.
A thundering crack sounded, sending tremors through the room, and the gem shattered to pieces. The shards flew around the room, but dissolved into the air before it even hit the floor.
I stood there, my face blank. What the hell was that? I blinked.
“Amazing,” Raffyr whispered. “It is true.”
I froze. “What?”
He looked at me. “Ever since the world was born, there has been only one race that could shatter a lightstone with just their touch.”
My eyes widened, and my heart thumped, like a wild drum trapped in my chest.
“Zoran.” The old man smiled. “You are an Eternal.”
***
CHAPTER EIGHT
“An Eternal,” I told myself for probably the fourth time, and for the fourth time straight, I had no clue what that meant.
“Indeed, young one.” Priest Raffyr stood in front of me, his eyes looking right into mine.
“It’s normal for you to feel confused about this, Zoran,” Viola said from the corner of the room, with Frey standing quietly beside her.
“What even is an Eternal?” I mumbled.
The old man chuckled. “A race as old as time itself,” he said, a noble tone springing into his voice. “They were believed to have been created during the birth of our very world, and were beings of power that lived through all of reality—immortal and timeless. They were like gods!”
“An Eternal is a race like a human is?” I asked. “So there are people who are Eternals, the same way there are people who are humans?”
Viola shook her head. “Unlike normal races, the Eternals are basically nonexistent,” she said. “They all vanished a long time ago, without a word, and without a trace.”
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 7
