The Valleur floated down.
“What is your name?” Torrullin asked.
The man bowed. “I am Anastir.”
Torrullin stared at him. “Dantian’s First Sorcerer on Ardosia was named Anastir.”
“My grandfather, my lord.”
Elianas grinned. “That was some show, my friend.”
“I know a few extra tricks,” Anastir shrugged and smiled. “Thank you.”
Torrullin offered his arm for ritual clasp. “You are now our First Sorcerer and you are also Elder.”
“Thank you, my lord!” Anastir stepped into the clasp.
“We need to add security to the sites,” Elianas murmured. “We must guard against natural disasters and external manipulation.”
“Never do we desire to have happen here what happened on Valaris to the sites when Margus unleashed his doom. I agree,” Torrullin said as he released Anastir.
“I am able to inveigle such security,” the new First Sorcerer offered.
“Excellent. Do it.” Torrullin then called out, “Artorin, are you here?”
“I am!” a voice sounded from amid the watchers.
“Come forth. I charge you with showing Anastir the proverbial Elder ropes.”
“As you will, my lord!” The voice sounded closer.
“That was eloquent,” Elianas laughed. “Elder ropes, I ask.”
Laughing as well, Torrullin stepped into the pond and wandered to the magnificent Kinfire Tree.
The Dome
A MONTH AFTER THE DUEL, Tristan returned to the Dome.
Markedly thinner and with deep scars Halon’s blade had carved into his cheeks, he stood at the console. Other than Belun, the domed space was empty.
The Centuar offered greeting, and waited.
Tristan looked up, around, down, and then leaned against the white dais. “What is the Kaval currently engaged in?”
Belun parked his hugeness on the edge of the marble conference slab. “An outbreak of Linin Pox has scientists scurrying, and Jonas deals with it. That’s the worst one. The others are here and there coping with a few natural calamities. Nothing too strenuous.”
“Good.” Tristan stared at the lights.
“We have a new member.”
“Yes?” Tristan was expressionless.
Belun stood and wandered around to the cabinets behind the giant view screen. Fiddling there, he said, “A Kemir. His name is Alusin.”
“Kemir? What race is that?”
“No idea, but he is human in appearance, although taller … like you.” Belun straightened, holding something. He returned to the dais.
“Is he fitting in?”
“Very well, yes.” The Centuar halted and presented what he had collected to Tristan. “He often visits Akhavar, apparently, and found this.”
Frowning, Tristan stared at his sword in its scabbard. His face stilled even further. “He was there for the duel if he retrieved my sword. It cannot be found otherwise.”
“I do not understand.”
Tristan closed his eyes briefly and reached out. Taking the whole into his hands, he stared at it some more. “I threw it away, Belun, and it was supposed to vanish when the site of duel vanished.” He looked up. “Never mind. I have not the energy to explain. I am glad he brought it, though.” He proceeded to unwrap the twisted belt and then buckled it around his waist. “Remind me to thank him. Alusin, you say?”
“Hmm,” Belun went.
Tristan lifted an eyebrow. “What bothers you about him?”
The Centuar lifted a shoulder. “Nothing. I like him. He might, however, bother you.”
“How so?”
Belun sighed. “I think you will understand when you meet him.”
Tristan frowned again. Placing his hand on his sword’s hilt, he held on. Emotion began to crowd him now. The Dome ever had this effect on him. “Call him in.”
Slowly Belun nodded. “If you insist.”
Together they waited and, not long after, an ogive chimed.
Alusin strode in and came to a halt at the edge of the Gatherers’ Circle when he realised Tristan was in the Dome.
Tristan gazed back at him. “I know you,” he whispered eventually.
“Dreams? Visions?” Alusin murmured, and moved closer.
“Yes.”
Alusin held his arm out for the Valleur clasp. “Likewise,” he said.
Tristan stepped into the greeting, and then jerked the man in closer. “You were there when Halon succumbed.”
“I see you wear your sword. Yes, I was the witness. You were alone. Someone needed to be there.” Alusin drew breath. “I have been alone for a long time. I, too, need a witness.”
Belun rubbed at his cheeks, and did not say a word.
The two men stared at each other, still in ritual clasp.
“One day I hope you will allow me to heal your scars.”
Tristan reared back, released his hold and stepped away. “I need my scars.”
Alusin nodded. “You do in this present, yes.”
“Who are you?” Tristan burst out.
“You already know the answer, Tristan Skyler Valla.”
Tristan sank to his haunches. “It is too soon.”
Alusin hunkered before him. “We have time. We take it one day at a time. Right now we concentrate on being brothers in the Kaval.”
Tristan swallowed. “I can do that.”
Alusin smiled, stood, and held his hand out. “Then let us begin.
As Tristan accepted the helping hand to clamber to his feet, Belun saw in his mind’s eye Elianas doing the same for Torrullin. A helping hand. A brother. And Beloved.
He exhaled explosively as he understood something. “Avaelyn will vanish soon.”
Both men turned to look at him.
The Centuar spread his arms. “All four of you in one realm will lead to chaos. Avaelyn is leaving, isn’t she?”
Tristan squeezed his eyes shut. “Soon, yes.”
Chapter 71
We are Lumin Kindred
~ Valleur Truth ~
Avaelyn
THE TENTH SITE GREW from a chance remark, one Elianas overheard. While in Vinala for seeds, he heard two women discussing the ephemeral nature of cultures.
Isn’t it a shame how a heritage is forgotten, one said, how precious things are lost only to be found millennia later, having lost all meaning.
So true, said the other, and they become artefacts, little monuments to times forgotten, unexplained.
Thus was the Universal Shrine born.
It was a stone labyrinth filled with niches, and every niche received something precious. Tianoman, upon paying a visit, adored the idea of commemorating the cultures of the present and past, and put the word out. Every world seeking to send ambassadors to Akhavar was welcome to make a petition, and requested to bring along a cultural gift.
Soon hundreds and then thousands of documents and gifts arrived on Akhavar. He sent every artefact on to Avaelyn, and gradually the niches filled. Valaris too was represented, in the form of cathron statue carved from onyx, with perfect garnets as its eyes. Torrullin murmured that he always saw the cathron in his imagination possessing green eyes, not red, but was happy with the gift. The cathron indeed represented Valaris, a creature of myth, yet endemic to Valarian culture.
Valleur flocked to the site, amazed by the diversity in the walls and challenged by the maze itself.
Fortunately, Elianas muttered in the aftermath, the damn site was far from their home. This visitor phenomenon was becoming a bit much.
FOUR SITES MORE WOULD complete the fourteen.
Work commenced simultaneously, and many remarked that the Valla seemed in a hurry, as if something needed doing and the sites were now distracting him. Others mentioned how Elianas seemed to smile less.
They were in a hurry. They felt besieged by the many personalities now on their world. How long before visitors starting stopping by at their home to gawk?
Shep Lore’s he
aler’s enclave neared completion and it was astonishingly restful and beautiful. Low stone buildings conformed with the colours surrounding them and magnificent trees threw shade and brought feathered visitors from all over. Bright shrubs and many hued blooms bordered winding paths. Wooden bridges spanned clear streams, which led to a curving lake.
When Torrullin and Elianas saw it, both were awed by the man’s vision. The sick would definitely find healing there.
Between great and leafy trees they chose to erect a small place of worship for those seeking greater inspiration. A path wound from the healer’s facility to it and bright wings soon took up residence as well, to fill the space with beautiful melodies. They called it the Singing Chapel, and dear Shep wept when he saw it.
While the new farmers erected their homes and planted crops, Torrullin and Elianas invited Emperor Teighlar to advise them about stables, horse feed and care, and horses. Never did the man arrive as promptly as he did then.
Teighlar declared the region around the original healer’s facility as excellent horse country. That facility was now a place for relaxation, known as the Listening Post. Its name came from the Valleur who spent time there. All claimed to hear Avaelyn as world from that leafy enclave, often standing quiet just to listen. Music, they claimed, and whispers of appreciation. It became a site sacred; it would now never succumb to time and nature.
Beyond the band of trees behind the Listening Post there were meandering rivers, lush grasslands and benign light and temperature. Teighlar pointed out sites for stables, sites for corrals, tracks for training, and brought his Senlu experts in to aid in establishing horse country.
He was in his element and desired to take Torrullin and Elianas touring throughout the universe in search of the best mounts. Laughing, they denied him, citing their duties as an excuse.
“Well then, I shall find you ten of the best and you may then breed with those,” Teighlar muttered, eyeing them. “Listen up. I am not placing those royal animals in the care of idiots. Send at least ten men to Grinwallin for intensive training before one horse will be allowed to nibble that grass yonder.”
They agreed.
While Teighlar went looking and spending huge amounts of coin, men willing to learn the discipline went to Grinwallin, and Torrullin and Elianas concentrated on finishing the final two sites.
ONE WAS A GROTTO, a cavernous space filled with stalactites and stalagmites. They discovered it accidentally when investigating the mountain ranges for a suitable site for the Lifesource, and marked its location.
It reminded of the Syllvan grotto. In fact, it was an exact replica of the space where the fourteen sentinels of Reaume awaited realm seekers. Perhaps it was no replica.
After glancing wordlessly at each other, they personally erected a rosy beacon pillar before the fourteen ‘seats’ the sentinels usually perched on, akin to a circular pedestal. It ended at waist height and inscribed upon its upper surface there was the magical symbol for Reaume.
Perhaps they hedged their bets in doing so. Maybe it was simply a means to remember.
This site was kept secret and they called it the Sentinel Chamber. There were no witnessed at the infusion ceremony.
THE FINAL SITE TOOK the longest to build.
Work began, in fact, along with the Lifesource, and it was still incomplete.
Here they chose to ignore their directive. Here a site was in full view and it displaced the natural landscape, though every element endemic to Avaelyn formed part of its building blocks.
It was a giant dome, this one earthbound.
Where the grass surrendered to rock and pebble, a mighty circular edifice soared into the heavens. Segmented into fourteen parts as the Dome was, it was of white marble carefully cut from hidden cliffs inland. These were placed with precision to meet at the great keystone in the centre, high off the ground. Of the same glorious marble, the keystone was angled to accept fourteen pillars.
From afar it appeared as an airy domed upper section of a giant’s birdcage. The keystone and the curved pillars were the only solid creations able to throw shade upon the landscape. All else was pure magic. Below, marble foundations created a massive circle as well as an encompassing step up into the magical space. White lines radiated from the foot of the fourteen pillars to meet at a segmented dais directly underneath the keystone. The curved triangles on the floor were paved with various stones from all over Avaelyn. One section had the strange blue rock used for the Kinfire Tree and employed in the Mandala also, another the red quartz from up north, while yet another showcased ochre desert pebbles. Rose quartz adorned another section, and malachite shimmered green hues.
The other elements blew in with the wind, came with the sun and the rain. Time would bring in vegetation and the patina of age, but already this energy creation resonated. It was a place to recharge the body and renew the soul. It was ethereally glorious and as accessible as the earth it rested upon. Elemental. Pure magic.
BELUN FOUND TORRULLIN THERE, preparing himself for the morrow’s infusion ceremony.
The Centuar goggled, his gaze moving in every direction. “It is fantastic,” he whispered. “A Dome for nature. Wow.”
Torrullin smiled. “We finished it two hours ago.”
Belun lowered his gaze. “And that means you have your fourteen sites.”
“After the ceremony tomorrow, yes.”
The Centuar poked at Torrullin’s chest. “You are leaving. This is done, so you and Elianas are leaving Reaume.” He poked again. “I figured it out. No one told me.”
Torrullin moved out of range of that finger. “You must know why.”
“Oh, I understand, my friend, and even see this is your noble purpose, but I am beyond peeved that no one will have an opportunity to say farewell.” The Centuar folded his huge arms across his chest.
Torrullin sat on the rounded marble perimeter step and stretched his legs out. “Protracted farewells will undo me.”
“And your sudden vanishing will undo the rest of us.”
“Tristan knows the Elixir chant.”
“Torrullin, I am not talking about the state of the universe. Damn it, man, we will miss you. Folk will grieve.”
“I have to, Belun,” Torrullin whispered.
The huge humanoid creature sank to his haunches. “Explain it to me, so I may explain it to others later.”
Torrullin drew his legs in and leaned his forearms on his thighs. “Allow me to be a bit esoteric, then.”
Belun nodded and sat properly on the grass.
“We changed how time is measured when we entered and exited the Void. The cyclical nature of past, present and future opened into a linear manner. I now realise this is what allowed Rivalen to come forth. He too was no longer bound by the cycles. That is an aside, however. Suddenly I could no longer see the future, for the future was something entirely unwritten. What was my fate to be? To wander blind along a straight path into a time no one can even imagine at this point? To be there when the Great Contraction commences? To discover said contraction is but a figment of scientific imagination? That there is no end? To go on walking into infinity?”
Belun blinked.
Torrullin gave a smile. “Esoteric, but also the issue. Insanity would find me before infinity does, if that is the fate awaiting me. Elianas will tell you the same. Sentience requires goals, Belun, ideals, something to work towards, but such goals will forever escape us if we simply go on and on. Guess what will happen then?”
“Chaos,” the Centuar murmured. “You will need something to fix and will probably create the problem that needs fixing.”
“Exactly. We do it inadvertently all the time, because we need goals, we have to do something, use our powers or go mad. Soon, though, there will be nothing inadvertent about it. This is not a darak mind-set; it is a facet of boredom. We shall create our distractions in order to function with some kind of purpose.”
Belun nodded.
“And now there is a goal,” Torrullin went on.
“We take Avaelyn into Ariann and there we grow this world in isolation. When we do this, we have renewed purpose, but more than that, this realm is safe from our distractions. Others will step forward to take up the mantles we leave behind.”
“I hear you. I do understand. But, my friend, when this world is all grown and has reached its full potential, what then?”
Torrullin grinned at him and shrugged.
The Centuar smacked his forehead. “Then you return.”
“When enough time has passed, it may come to pass, yes. This is not a future we are now able to foresee, but it does exist.”
Belun grinned. “Hope I live long enough to see it happen.”
Torrullin laughed. “You are indestructible, my friend.”
Then the Centuar was serious. “What happens for the rest of us, time wise? Are we now on an infinite line and that’s it? It makes me think Tristan and Alusin will create those distractions in the future.”
“Alusin?” Torrullin questioned.
Belun shrugged.
“Is he the one, Belun?”
The Centuar simply nodded.
Torrullin smiled sadly. “I pray they have an easier road. But to answer your question. When we leave, time may react contrary to what is now in place, and therein may lay our noblest of purposes. Absence restores measurement. It may also remain on the eternal line, and then our purpose was to leave you all in peace, with your own choices to make. I do not know what will happen. This realm clouds evermore to future sight.”
“Expect the unexpected, therefore,” Belun grinned. “And now I want to say something else. This. I understand how noble purpose is wrapped up in your choice, but, Torrullin, sorry, I do not see it as the one you have aimed at until now.”
Torrullin grimaced.
“Right,” the Centuar stated. “You feel as if something is missing too.”
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 249
