by Marc Mulero
“Oh?”
“Yes, oh. How did Seren get the Ostara esper? That’s what I don’t understand. His parents perished, right? And I don’t see it on his finger here,” he pointed, “in this sculpture. So, who gave it to him? You? That’s impossible, isn’t it? Because you’re still alive and giving a living esper means that life too must be given. Or taken, in this case.”
“Taken?” Ram was aghast. “You think I would welcome a murderer into the UnderSpire?”
Eres narrowed his eyes, thinking back to the cave where Seren and Agden had deliberated, where they almost came to blows in what very much looked like this place. “You know I’ve seen this place before in Gushda,” he shook his head, “no. I’m not playing into this again. Answer me, Ramillion, how did Seren Night obtain the Ostara esper?”
“How did you obtain yours?”
“I inherited it from my fata.” He sounded annoyed, knowing that Ram was pretending not to know.
“Well, so happens that that’s how Seren obtained his.”
“But his family passed already, like you said.”
“True.” Ram rubbed his chin. “It’s also true that his family had no esper in their possession.”
“Then how?”
“Let me pose a different question.” Ram got closer. “What will you do when you pass?”
Eres was taken aback. He was a Dawn. No children to pass it down to, no legacy to uphold. Not in his future. Not ever. “I…”
“Will bequeath it to someone you think worthy,” Ram finished for him.
“So someone sacrificed themself to bequeath it?”
“I don’t condone suicide here either, Eres. We celebrate life in the UnderSpire.” He considered him, smiling happily as if thinking of some cherished memory. “A Dawn, like you, declared vis esper to be bequeathed to Seren before perishing in the Silent War.”
Eres’ head nearly exploded. He knew he shouldn’t have asked this man, because now he had even more questions and couldn’t make sense of any of it. “But Seren started the Silent War. Are you saying in some roundabout way that Seren forced this Dawn to give it to him by killing vim?”
Ram hooted and began to stand back up. “Seren may very well finish the Silent War, but he certainly did not start it.
“Well now. I’ve answered your question, and then some.” He dusted himself. “Now you answer one of mine.”
Eres couldn’t be more baffled or annoyed at this point, but Ramillion wasn’t lying. He did answer what was asked of him, even if it wasn’t with the depth Eres was hoping for.
“Hmm,” Eres grunted.
Ram suddenly got giddy. “Want to see something neat?”
“No.”
He then deflated, folding forward like a stringless puppet, arms exaggeratedly slumped, trying to evoke a smile, something.
“You’re not going to move until I say yes, are you?”
Ram shook his head.
Eres’ frustration was obvious. “Sure, Ram, I want to see something… neat.”
Ramillion was animated with happiness, eccentrically, but somehow aware of all of it, like he was still acting in some grand play. “Hold out your hands.”
Eres sighed and did as he was told, uninterested, arms loose.
“Good. Now look around at this sculpture, its vastness. How it envelopes the entire room to give the impression that this boy is living within the eye of a storm.”
“He was,” Eres corrected, then shuddered when Ram’s tiny hands grabbed hold of his wrists. “What th- ow!” He pulled back to shake them cool. “What was that? What did you do? Why were your hands so hot?”
“Sorcery, my boy, or… ‘The dead magic,’ as you westerners like to call it. Unlike Reach, which pulls from everything around us, Sorcery comes from within. And you, sir, have fire.” Ramillion ignited his hands on cue, and then bolstered the flame to illuminate the sculpture.
Eres stood stunned.
“What’s so neat about porum gel is what the light of fire can do to it, and what’s so neat about Mudry’s works, is that he’s keen to it, builds it in, colors everything without us even noticing it.”
The scene suddenly came to life – not actually – but it did appear as though a young Seren was shivering in place, life breathed into his features even more so. His skin tone was exactly as he remembered in the Scarred Lands – nuances the same. It wasn’t possible to make up. And the winds around them were now black, not blue, as he imagined Okabin would look. It was like they were living this memory with him - an eye into Gushda.
“Incredible.”
“Me or Mudry?”
“A-all of it, I guess.”
“Oh, that reaction… I live for it.” Ram combined the flames in each of his hands into one, balancing it like he would a ball on his finger, before whipping it to a sconce hanging nearby. “We have much time to perfect our ventures down here, so you can imagine the pride when we get to unveil them unto outsiders. Ah, novelty comes but once.” He rounded Eres, fingers locked behind his back. “Guard comes down, ideas may now enter. Flow. I’ve disarmed you, my boy, and you don’t even know it.”
“You expect me to defy you next – to disagree.”
“Ahhh, you’re catching on. Or! Maybe, just maybe… I anticipated you would say that too.”
“Now you’re just being arrogant.”
“Perhaps.”
“So why, don’t you tell me what you want of me then.”
“Oh, easy. I want you to remember this instant. It is our first, and there is something you must understand, something that will eat at me until I say it, which will prevent us from laughing together until it begins to sink in.”
“And what’s that?”
Ramillion stopped in place, right in front of Eres, smile gone. “There are things you must learn in stages, in the timeline prescribed based on milestones in your training. It’s on my direction, my timeline. So, when you are availed of ignorance, you can blame no one but me.” His iridescent eyes turned strangely dark. “Is that understood? Not Masarian Bo, not Wukaldred, not your father or your ooma. You blame me.”
Eres appeared to be confused. “What in Mustae are you talking about?”
“Acknowledge the words and the rest will come, my boy.”
Eres considered this strange Kujin for a good while – looking him up and down, noticing the shift in tone, in body language. There was no joke here. This is what he wanted, after all. Some serious answers.
If this is the key in, fine. He curtly nodded.
“Wonderous!” Ramillion sent a cool trail of frost from his fingertip to extinguish the flame. “Phew. Now we can move on.”
Chapter 30
The First Laugh
The next day Eres woke up a little less irritable. The muscles in his neck loosened, heaviness behind his eyes lifted, and his sleep was only broken twice. With everything that was running through his mind, he considered that a win.
Then his dreams came back to haunt him. Loneliness, his ooma, fata. Death… death everywhere. He remembered awakening once in a shiver, and again later from the sound of his own voice.
Turns out there was a lot still to be processed.
With endless adventures back-to-back things may have been moving a bit too fast, so much so that all of his demons were bursting through his subconscious. He needed to slow it down, to understand that it wasn’t all bad. Sure, maybe it was a fantasy to think he would open his eyes to see Ilfrid’s shider, those morning rays of Ingora’s three suns heating his face. Not today. Instead, he was surrounded by fossilized ice. Scary for a second, but it was fine. Everything was fine.
The day after he awoke a little calmer. More comfort. It helped that Kyta was a talented cook too. She put all of her caring nature into her breakfasts. Dagos-style, firepit roasted quelin and torpa eggs. If this was Eres’ last morning, it would’ve been okay after a meal like that.
He grunted with pleasure. Yes, he thought. Every mouthful was an explosion of flavor, a perfectly seas
oned splash of yolk when he bit down. This was how everyone should wake up.
He shimmied his bottom from side to side to get comfortable atop the furry white plants that apparently could grow in such an environment. Why did these people choose to sit here?
After taking a gulp, he looked up to Kyta, who refused to take a bite until Eres commented on her cooking, and Mudry who was already almost done eating.
Nope, not ready to talk, he decided, and instead stuck another fork of greatness into his mouth.
“Well… what do you think?” Kyta asked.
Eres stopped chewing. “Er… well, I’d like to know if worms or some other insects are going to crawl up my crack when I’m not looking.”
Mudry and Kyta looked at each other and giggled. Eres wanted to, too. They all knew it. But still, it wasn’t time. He still had reserves, even though they were easing…
“I meant my cooking!”
“Dawns has crack?”
Eres shrugged. “It’s gotta come out somewhere, right?”
Later they ventured around the UnderSpire, where his tour guides pointed out interesting shops of Sorcery-made trinkets - harmless decoration with flames frozen within them, or trapped electricity.
“I want one.” Eres’ amber eyes reflected the glimmer as he spun it in his fingers.
“Tell you what. You complete your Skrol training, return to us in one piece, and become ordained by Ram, and I’ll buy you an Ozet, kay?”
“No, me buy.” Mudry shoved Kyta.
“I think you’ve both done enough for me already.” Eres blinked hard to tear himself away from the entrapped lightning. “Thanks for the offer, though.”
“Is off with head if no accept gift in UnderSpire, Eres. Off with head!”
Eres smiled but said nothing and gently handed the Ozet back to the shopkeeper.
Kyta then grabbed Eres’ wrist to drag him out.
Eres thought back to when Ramillion clutched his wrist and wondered - Could she be a Sorceress in training?
“Is time, Kyta?!”
She just looked back and nodded. Her expression appeared so innocent that Eres didn’t even pry further. Maybe it was just a cultural thing?
Mudry rubbed his hands together feverishly. “Love cave. So warm.”
“Uhhh, why are we going to a ‘love cave’?”
Kyta burst out laughing. “No, silly, Mudry loves the cave. It’s not a love cave.”
“Hmm, okay…”
They rounded a few corners before Kyta pushed Eres into his quarters and shut the icicle door.
“Change into your swim trunks, get a towel, and come!” her muffled voice came through.
“Uhh. I didn’t think I was going on a vacation. I don’t have any.”
“We bought for you. Check drawer in closet. I put there,” Mudry shouted louder than he had to.
“What about you guys?” Eres shouted back.
“Already wearing.”
Eres smiled to himself. This was exciting – a new experience. A warm cave, here, in the midst of the Verglas Sphere? What dream had he fallen into? It felt as though he’d withdrawn into his esper and was spat out somewhere else on the other side. That’s how foreign this was.
He slid open the drawer to see trunks, flip flops and a nicely folded towel waiting for him, and then kicked off his shoes and began to change.
Ooma, if you could see me now. I feel like I’m walking in Fata’s footsteps. He was welcomed here too. Imagine me, the Dawn living in books stuck on a chair, now where no one in the world would dare to go. This is the beginning to upholding his legacy, Ooma. This is what he wanted…
But what about what you want?
Eres denied the question, and didn’t even realize how big he was smiling when he opened the door up again.
“Ready?” Kyta asked.
“Ready.”
Down they went, back around the same corners until they found themselves in the center square once more, past the same shop where Eres had eyed the Ozets hanging in the window and away from commotion. It was a dark path, similar to the one that held Mudry’s sculpture… but this one was shorter, murkier… blue ice turning to red gradually, as if imbued with some sorcerer’s touch. Soon spiderweb cracks in the deep porum encased ice expanded and glowed.
The space solicited silence, but Eres could hear bubbling in the distance. Boiling water?
Kyta pushed past drapes, looking back with a grin. “Here we are.”
Eres had been distracted for some time now, what with all of these new elements, new friends, teachers. It’d been a weird few days for sure, and that kept him spinning, but something else entirely happened the moment he entered this cave. Serenity - it prompted a longing, or an urge rather, for him to look back and ask Windel how cool this was, or give Ohndee a habitual nooch.
“Oh,” he realized. “It can’t be, can it?” His gaze lowered to the floor to avoid Mudry’s, to wallow for a moment before ridding himself free of pity once more.
Live in the now, he told himself.
“Look.” Mudry spun Eres by the shoulders.
There rested four massive natural springs that looked like unevenly carved clay bowls – reddish brown and streaked in tie dye fashion. Thick mist wafted around harmlessly.
“It’s amazing, Mudry.” Eres sniffed in the air. “Scented? Oh wow.” He was thrown instantly back to his days in Dolseir, speaking lowly to himself. “It’s the same plant extract that Ooma used before bedtime.”
Is this where she got it from? Another gift from Fata?
He then glanced at Kyta to ask the question, but her attention was elsewhere.
“Who are-” Eres began to ask before spotting gear on the floor next to their tub, spears propped neatly on their sides. Soldiers. It was obvious. Off-duty, pleasantly relaxing soldiers. A male and a female Dagos, both with arms spread like they were suns bathing.
Yes, he thought. That looks nice. Let’s do that…
Just looking at them made him feel a bit lethargic. Not in a bad way, but in a ‘nothing else matters right now’ sort of way.
“Ever been in a hot spring before?” Kyta asked as she crossed her arms and pulled her shirt over her head.
He stalled for a second, realizing for the first time that even though Kyta was way older… she was cute, attractive even. But Dagos weren’t his cup of tea. Next, he looked up to Mudry, whose bulbous belly was rounder than he’d imagined – less flab and more bloat.
“Nope, but I’m ready. I’ve had hot baths before. How different can it be?” He kicked off his flip flops and was already climbing the four clay steps two at a time.
“Eres!” she whispered loudly so as not to disrupt anyone.
Too late.
Splash.
“Ahh!” He screamed and fumbled out of the scorching waters. His bare feet slapped against clay, drops that flung off of him sizzling all around.
The soldiers shook with laughter, and shortly after, Mudry’s boisterous voice joined them.
“No see is bubbling? Ah, ah, so funny, Eres. Ah.”
Kyta held a hand over her face to hide her giggles. “I tried to warn you. You have to get used to it first. It’s not like ripping off a band-aid. Follow me.”
She tiptoed in, testing the water, and then eased herself in slowly, eyes closed, letting the immense heat numb her body. “Ah,” she sighed, then shimmied away from the steps to let Mudry in.
Eres bit his lip, waved with shame at the soldiers to say sorry, and tried again.
“Ohh,” he moaned, eyes closed, following Kyta’s lead by slowly lowering himself in. “This is… nice.”
His legs instantly felt like rubber, and as he inched his down, his belly sucked in to escape from being boiled, ribs showing. The bubbling heat consumed him. Every inch deeper felt like he was being stung all over, but instead of pain… it was relief, numbness in the best way.
It didn’t take long, maybe a minute, before every blink made it harder to reopen his eyes; his lids were growin
g heavy. Sleep. His body was more relaxed than in his bed back in Ooma’s hut.
Bubbles bounced over the surface like fleas, making him twitch as they sizzled against his shoulders.
“Mmm.”
He thought of Ohndee again - he couldn’t help it, the better times with her anyway, not the inexorable end that had befallen them. This would’ve been the perfect couple’s retreat had they made it. It was secluded, relaxing, awe-inspiring. Everything they would’ve needed.
Then in place of her, came who he really wanted beside him - Windel. Always Windel.
Just a dream.
“Ever have a boyfriend, Kyta?”
She looked at him blankly for a moment.
“Er… or girlfriend?”
Mudry laughed, his big belly making waves. “If want to ask out, ask when me no here. Not very romantic.”
“I’m just getting to know you guys!” He defended himself. “Feels so nice and comfortable in here… like I can say anything.”
“Yes, a few,” Kyta answered a little lethargically, maybe even with a hint of sadness.
Mudry put a friendly hand on her shoulder.
“Was it something I said?”
More silence. Some hesitation.
“You couldn’t know, obviously, but Harv was slain on a hunting mission two hundred miles out from the UnderSpire. He… he was the best of them. Four years… hard years, because he was a top-notch knight, always in demand, always wanting to lead the raid. Greatness, it seems, is not meant to last.”
“So sorry to hear.” Eres’ frown deepened. “M-Mudry?” he dared to ask.
“No. Once maybe, but only cause girl wanted information from Gushda. No like me. No one like me. Belly too big probably.”
Eres felt a pang in his chest. To see such a fun-loving guy speak like this was heart wrenching.
“What about you?” Kyta spared him from more guilt.
He swirled the streaky spring liquid with his finger, making a spiral that looked a little bit like when he retreated into his esper. “You’re in good company,” he finally said, looking up to see curious faces, “because I had a girlfriend once too, Mudry. At least that’s what it felt like. We were both Dawns, so maybe it doesn’t count to you guys, b-”
