by S. J. Wist
“Where is Nephena’s spirit?” Sybl asked.
“We do not keep it here.”
“He lies! I am here. Search deeper.”
Sybl turned to do just that. After descending some stairs to the lower levels of the Efereal Mountains, she stopped on them to find a wall built directly in front of her.
“It is not safe down here, Sybl. Please, let us return—”
“She has tried to escape already, hasn’t she? That’s why this wall is here.”
“I do not freeze in ice. So they have encased me in this airless tomb! Free me! I have served the Time for my punishment. I have learned my lesson. I will not repeat any actions that will lead me to endure this torment again!”
“She is lying,” Xirel countered.
“But she is behind this wall,” Sybl added, putting one of her hands on it.
“Sybl, please understand. After Damek’s strike, she became mad with rage. To free her now would cause unmeasurable consequences.”
“I can help you. Give you back Moon. Free me and I will give him to you. He waits for your heart to forgive and free him. I will give him to you so you can destroy Damek and avenge me!”
That was enough to make Sybl decide, and she set her other hand on the wall.
“Sybl, please stop!” Xirel pleaded.
“The Caels are no one’s prisoner.” She closed her eyes and focused her thoughts through the wings of the world that made these mountains. Sybl thought back to Aragmoth’s making, when the Great Dragon went from being a black void to becoming the second Aster. She thought about the peaceful world of death within him that he had protected her in for so long. But no peace was meant to last forever.
The stone began to tremble, before it cracked and crumbled to the ground. Xirel vanished from where he had been standing behind her, and Sybl looked into the darkness that the wall revealed. She gathered the courage to step inside, as six eyes looked her way.
“Do not look at me, Asil. I am not beautiful anymore. They have taken my beauty, and I wish to keep my pride.”
“Nephena.” The body of a male-looking lion that was female shifted its paws across the floor. Her goat’s head that grew from just behind her neck and mane grated its teeth. Her tail was that of a snake, possibly an anaconda from its size. The shadows that Nephena hid in did not hide the memory from Sybl of just how immense and terrifying the Mother of all Chimeras still was.
“Asil, I will keep to my word. Take him. Take him and kill Damek. Kill him so we can all stop hiding in shadows. If only for a time.”
Sybl looked down at the floor of the dark chamber, where two light blue eyes looked back at her. The creature stepped into the light that came from behind her. She could see that it was Moon, as tiny as he was when he was given to her for the first time.
“He will show you the way out. Now go. Go before Damek takes my dragons for himself. Go while I make sure my children do not impede your wishes anymore.”
Sybl picked up the tiny fur-covered black serpent in her hands, and Moon coiled around her arm. He absorbed her memories into himself at the pace of her pulse. After several moments, Moon looked back at her with recognition in his eyes, full of memories. Then she looked back at Nephena. “If I kill Damek, he will simply reincarnate. How do I make sure he never returns?”
Nephena walked around in a circle. Then she walked around the opposite way. Finally, she lay down and curled up like a lion, as her goat head and snake tail fidgeted in their psi discussion in and out of the light. If Nephena was crazed, then there was a good chance that her other two heads were not.
“Hino is waiting for his chance to strike him,” the goat’s head spoke.
“Weak. You must poison him, weaken him, break him from the power he takes from Aragmoth. Then strike him. Then all will strike him,” the snake spoke next.
“He’s draining the Great Dragon? How?” Sybl asked.
The goat’s head and snake looked to discuss it amongst themselves again, as the lion head of Nephena sounded as if she was snoring.
“Too many nightmares, too much power,” the goat’s head spoke. “The Aeger is Aragmoth’s defense against the Sentry. It makes the Eminor and Ancients powerful, and solid in existence to defend against enemies.”
“Damek feeds off of the Aeger, the Aeger that is everywhere,” the snake added with a hiss.
“So if I raise the Sylvan Aur, however I do that, he will be cut off from his power source and it will cure the Aeger. But he will also be able to strike against Earth.”
“You complicate so much,” Nephena said with a wide yawn, and her long white teeth shone through the darkness. “Why do you concern yourself with Earth? For the Sentry? For the Awls? You make no sense. Earth is a planet of stupid, soul-filled creatures who do not deserve such a gift. Your humanity has made you stupid. ”
Sybl swallowed her words, in the hopes that it would taste less personal.
“Asil,” the goat’s head said. “Do you have anyone to care for on Earth?”
Sybl thought on it, and then shook her head.
“Is there no family or friends? Children perhaps?”
“Not quite old enough for that, and no, there is no one.”
“Then this is not a complicated decision. All that you value is here, on Aster,” the goat’s head continued.
“Raise the Aur,” the snake said, “and stop the Aeger. If Damek goes for Earth, it will be his own downfall.”
“You were never or will ever be the extent of power that he is. He thinks the Sentry are weak, pitiful even,” the goat added. “He does not know the truth of what awaits him.”
“And what’s that?” Sybl asked.
“Oblivion,” Nephena added. “Only his Creator can completely destroy him. You mended him once, but he remains a creation from Hino. But to stop him, you must heal the Aeger. You must weaken him. You are the only one who can weaken him. Hino waits, and there is no saying how long he will continue to do so.”
“Weaken him, eh?” Sybl looked at Moon on her arm, who listened patiently. “So how do we make you bigger, really fast?”
Moon blinked his light blue eyes, and then returned a single thought to her.
37: CAT'S CRADLE
The Sanctus had become a ghostly silent. Only the psi Threads that matched the thoughts of the Falls crossing their Border vibrated. Kas had no words or thoughts to the matter of his father’s death. His only concern was to keep Kira’s people alive. But even if he could successfully command the True, there would be no saving his mother’s home. It was now nothing more than a deathtrap against their enemies.
“You fear for a temple of stone, when it is the bodies and souls of its people who make it real.”
Kas looked up through the golden spider-like web of the Chamber of Light, as the white Iynx stood in its center. “I need your guidance.”
“You have your soultwin, Kas. You do not need me anymore.”
“I thought I had her, now...”
Gei sat down on his chosen Thread. “No matter how much you both fight, she will come back to you. She will always come back for you when you need her the most.”
“You need to leave with everyone else.”
“This is all that remains of your mother. I will not be leaving it.”
“There will be fire—”
“Kas,” Gei said, interrupting him. “Just what illusion weave would you have me sew to continue to exist on this world? This,” the white cat said as he looked around the webs he had sewn by his memory Threads around the room, “is the only reality I want. I cannot exist as an illusion of what I truly am. And this world has no more need of me.”
“So you will go back to Earth?”
“Solar’s Phoenix is proof that something is not right on Earth. The Sentry should have destroyed a monstrosity like that, but they have not. I wish to find out why, and if there are any further threats that will come. Perhaps I can be of more use there. Your destiny lies not here, but in the Atrum.”
“You mean with my father’s legacy,” Kas replied, bitterly.
“There must always be light and darkness. Only then can the Sylvan Aur rise again and hope to remain up. If you do not take the Atrum, then Damek will, and the light of your soultwin will once again die from the world. Then the madness of the Aeger will completely overtake everything. Balance must be returned before there is no saving Aragmoth, and his nightmares of death consume us all.”
“It will not be a balance if I become the monster my father was.”
“You are your mother’s son, first and foremost. I have faith that you will be strong enough to take the right path when the shadows of your past appear to block your way. Only regret can stop you. But for now, call the darkness that you command. Use it to surround and protect the light I see in your heart, and you will succeed.”
Kas nodded, and then looked at Gei more closely, as he could see the Sentry form of the Iynx. He guessed that Gei had used every last Thread he could to sew the Threads of this room, including his faint illusion weave.
Gei tilted his head to the side, amused by Kas’ reaction. “‘Strange angel’ Serena called me once, yet you don’t so much as have a word for me at all.”
“Angels are depicted in Earth’s Texts as having wings.”
“Very true. I must contemplate where I left mine,” Gei said, before climbing up to the nest of Thread in the center of the room.
Kas, with nothing more to say to him, turned and left the Chamber of Light for the last time.
38: SACRIFICES
Sybl felt like she would freeze to death, as she crossed the ice fields outside of the Efereal Mountains. The painful cold was proof that she was awake now. She followed the only voice she wanted to hear through the constant onslaught of bitter winds. Not Xirel or anyone was able to persuade her to stay put and do nothing.
Sybl understood now why the phelan somnus had their Trial of Somn on these fields, as every odd moment a True would appear over the snow, watching her. After some minutes, they became more in number, and she went in the direction they had come together.
It felt like her legs would freeze stiff before she could reach them, but she had found what they were all gathered around. The massive wolf-like creatures had circled around a huge, black Rift in the snow. On the other side of it was the voice she followed.
The ice around her began to crack, and she stepped back as something was coming up through the Rift. A set of claws appeared, but nowhere near the size she expected. It was Moon’s still-tiny hand.
She carefully went closer to him and pulled him out of the freezing Rift. “I don’t think I understand all of your plan.” Sybl nearly dropped him then, when the True collapsed all at once, creating an earthquake from their sizes.
Moon jumped down from her hands, and onto the first True who seemingly melted in estus energy. That energy he took into himself, before moving onto the next and doing the same. When he was done, all five True had contributed to his dragon-size that he now looked down at her from. “Asil. Will this suffice?”
She looked to where the True were no more, then up to where he towered over her.
“Conquest without sacrifice is meaningless. I understand this now.”
“Moon.”
“Show me where your dreams have told us to go next. There are no more nightmares that can stand in our way.”
Sybl grasped her necklace, as she could feel Cirrus’ psi calling to her.
“My soul has returned to Aster. Is that what you wish? For me to have a soul again? Even after what I did to you?”
“What happened was an accident, and it was partly my fault. I didn’t trust anyone, and in that distrust you simply reacted. I wasn’t fair. You should be forgiving me as much as I should be you.”
Moon set his claws over her, as if feeling for something that evaporated from her body. “So many emotions you hold now. This humanity has made you stronger.” He took his claws back. “When I have retrieved my soul, I will fully understand you. I know that I wish to start at forgiveness, just as you do.” Moon expanded his estus energy and pulled her into his somn. Then he opened a Rift and headed in the direction of his missing soul.
39: TIDES OF THE MOON
Cirrus couldn’t walk anymore, as the heat of the Keol was just too much to withstand. He hadn’t found who opened the Rift, and now it was becoming clear that it was opened to lead him to a slow death.
He sat down, even as the rock under him felt like it would cook the skin under his pants. Cirrus couldn’t give up. Sybl was awake, and she was looking for him despite everything. Even as he knew he had long passed the point of forgiveness. Sybl.
“Cirrus. Cirrus, I’m coming!”
He looked across the Keol as the fire rose and fell in waves, and the winds of ashes and fire burned his eyes. Through it all, he could feel something watching him. He got to his feet, and continued to watch the thick smoke in the distance.
It wasn’t smoke, but something alive. At first he thought it was a phelan or a True, but as it came closer, it looked more and more like a serpent flying through Keol, without wings. When the creature reached him, he couldn’t believe who he looked at. The massive black serpent sat down, then released Sybl from its estus energy.
She ran to him and almost pulled him to the ground with the little strength he had left to stand.
“Sybl…”
She cried and squeezed him harder. “You took too long to pull down the moon for me, so I improvised.”
Cirrus looked up at the black Cael in disbelief. “Where did you find him?”
“It seems my nightmares have a purpose too. Congratulations on passing your Trial of Somn.”
Cirrus couldn’t stop himself from shivering. “Is this why Fate never gave me a normal one like everyone else?” He didn’t get the chance to debate any of it, as the claws of Moon came right at him and pulled him into its somn.
At first it felt like he had been frozen solid from the extreme heat he was in moments before, then his eyes opened as Moon’s awareness moved away to allow his own through. He began to move his feet under him, and tried to get a feel of his new somn. “He’s so heavy. How did Moon fly?” When he looked back, he saw that his soul had given the furred serpent wings. They weaved from estus Threads out of his sides, with the strength to sew themselves to the edge eternity if needed. But they were infused with his aeri. He looked down at his chest and arms, as his black fur pressed against his skin and hardened into the scales of a dragon.
“When you’re big enough to just reach up and pull what you want out of the sky, what’s the point of flying?” Sybl teased.
Cirrus looked up at the red storm clouds overhead, but he knew that realistically, he was but a fraction of the size Moon could take three hundred years ago. Then he focused intently on her as he felt all her thoughts like they were his own.
“They are all against us now,” Sybl said, when their psi’s passed the thoughts on the rest of his kind.
“We will get them back,” Cirrus assured her. “Once we put the sun in its proper place, we will get them all back.” He unsomned and touched Sybl’s face with his hands, before pulling her into a hug.
She didn’t cry anymore, as his scent of lavender was enough to stop her tears. To her, he was the Cirrus she knew, even if his somn was now something else entirely. He let go of her, as Moon pushed his thoughts through Cirrus’ brain like a spear of ice. He had always believed that the Ancients and Eminor had a higher, intelligent consciousness of their own, and Moon was the definite proof.
“What’s wrong?”
Cirrus looked at his hand, then took her right hand and turned it over to look where the Mei to Kas was no longer. He touched her left wrist then, as he let his estus energy weave a new Mei to her, and a glyph of the Aliyr to himself. “I understand what makes this so important now. It keeps the other from doing something dangerous, or really stupid.”
“You sure?” Sybl replied with a smile, as she looked at the new, sparkling
silver Threads on her wrist. “Because I think in our case it makes the odds of either even more likely.”
“Then we will do it all together. Better chances that way.” He smiled and pulled her next to him when she shook her head, letting her warmth melt away the last of his doubts. She relaxed under his touch in turn. Time seemed to stop altogether to give them one moment all to themselves. So he took it and kissed her.
Before she could take a breath away from him, he pulled her into his somn. Cirrus cut his hand with his claws, before setting it down on the fiery surface. The black hole expanded as a Rift out of the Keol. Once he was topside, he turned his focus to the wind’s lure of blood and battle, as a red glow bloodied the sky in the distance.
