Amdirlain’s PoV - Limbo - Monastery of Will’s Hand
Amdirlain caught the fatigue in Elliyna’s sigh and opened her eyes to look over at the elderly Githzérai. “I’ll head back and continue this deconstruction.”
“Know that some nights my old bones need more sleep than others,” replied Elliyna. “Know soon enough I’ll be merely another within the Fortress of Memories, but hopefully that’s years enough in the future that I can see you right.”
The name caught at Amdirlain’s attention and brought a frown to her lips. “You worship an aspect of the Winter Court’s Queen?”
Elliyna jerked upright and fixed Amdirlain with a surprised look. “Know that I’m only a worshipper, so it’s rare to hear other’s names for her. Know that Raven Queen is the name used by the Githzérai who follow her.”
The moment Elliyna named her Amdirlain felt a shift in the air about them, awareness focused on them implicitly invited through the wards. Yet while she could feel the cold kissing across her skin, Elliyna didn’t react in the slightest but continued her explanation.
“As a mind healer, why would I not worship the Lady of Memories? Know that memories hidden in darkness are the key to resolving your present pain.”
“But she’s among an Elven Pantheon, don’t the Githzérai have their own Deities?” enquired Amdirlain and clamped down on her urge to leave.
“Know that if we once did, none survived our forerunners’ time and the Gith’s mental enslavement by the Illithid,” replied Elliyna. “Is my allegiance an issue?”
“I honestly don’t know, but it’s certainly a surprise,” admitted Amdirlain. Her mind whirled at the thought of Mab later learning of what she endured via Elliyna’s Soul, let alone any past lives if they unlocked them.
“Know that I can see from your expression it might be,” sighed Elliyna. “Would you like us to limit our discussion to techniques while you consider it?”
Amdirlain shifted slightly but remained sitting on the stool she’d perched on earlier in the evening. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Know that such won’t be as effective as actively assisting you to explore memories, but discomfort would make the processing of memories harder.”
“How about I help you get to bed?” offered Amdirlain quickly.
A flat look from Elliyna fixed her in place. “Know I’m aware you seek to divert the topic; I’ll manage such in my own time.”
“Good evening to you then, Elliyna,” replied Amdirlain and politely nodded before leaving.
Though the monastery was well lit, every shadow along her route to the dormitory felt more profound, more real than the surrounding stone. Each of them possessed a sheer weight of attention that hadn’t been present when she’d used Týr’s name on the Elemental Plane of Earth. It wasn’t until she stepped into the dormitory that the shadows returned to normal. Though it was unclear the reason for normalcy’s restoration, Amdirlain was glad for it, given that Zenya and Gemiya stood outside her room.
“Novice Zenya, Novice Gemiya, isn’t it close to curfew?” Amdirlain asked when close enough to speak normally.
Gemiya nodded and gave Amdirlain a pleading look. “Know that it is indeed. Might we speak to you briefly?”
“Can it wait until tomorrow?” asked Amdirlain. Mental fatigue and tension from the evening turn set an ache through the back of her skull.
The shoulder bump Gemiya gave Zenya gained her a quick look of frustration before Zenya spoke in her usual soft tone. “Know that I’m not sure if I can sleep without knowing.”
Amdirlain sighed and rubbed her face, but after a moment of futilely trying to rein in her unsettled state, nodded sharply. “What is it you wanted to know?”
“Do the Monk ways you follow provide a means to gain an Affinity?” asked Zenya quickly.
“Zenya, I’m sorry, but what the Monk teachings I follow can do is beside the point. I’m here as a Novice like yourself. I’m sure the council would frown on me teaching without permission.” stated Amdirlain and continued when Zenya went to object. “Do you think a non-Githzérai has ever taught here?”
“Know that I doubt such has ever occurred,” Zenya admitted.
“If you believe the lack of this knowledge is going to keep you awake this evening, it might be best to start meditating to calm yourself,” suggested Amdirlain. “I hope you achieve your dreams but taking that approach could have me asked to leave, which would end my plans and your own.”
“But surely-”
Amdirlain held a hand up, and Zenya stopped immediately. “Patience Zenya, please be patient. I want to help you with an immediate solution, but it’s not something I can solve right this instant. I have a great need for simple meditation at present, so I’ll bid you good luck in getting to sleep.”
The glum expression on Zenya’s face twisted a knife in Amdirlain’s heart, and she removed her vocal cords to stop any promises from slipping out. Patting her shoulder, she stepped past them into her room and sat cross-legged in mid-air. Her position wobbled erratically at first within Telekinesis’ support and made her unsettled state clear. She didn’t look at the girls again, rather closed her eyes and extended her awareness to the Ki’s mist washing through her form. The gentle energies’ movements soothed the anxiety without wrapping her emotions in ice.
The sounds from the other rooms gradually eased away, and finally, her fellow Novices settled off to sleep. The corridor’s shadows thickened mere moments after the final minds around her settled into sleep. With her eyes still closed, it was the unvarying temperature plummeting that drew Amdirlain’s attention. The figure that appeared, didn’t stay within the shadows but stepped quickly out of them, and soft boots brushed the stones.
The woman’s translucent skin allowed ever-shifting symbols held within her flesh to project shadows across walls, and their continual movement made it impossible to determine her features. Like the symbols her features constantly shift—even disappear—to allow the writhing symbols to appear unhindered by form’s constraints. Only a mantle formed of raven feathers draped about her shoulders provided any constant. The ruffling feathers carried strange murmurs of sound and eerie voices that resonated within Amdirlain’s room.
“I had no intention of invoking any of your names again,” whispered Amdirlain.
“I’m aware of the guidance Elliyna is providing you. Perhaps we might come to an arrangement that will speed the process.”
Amdirlain didn’t look away from Mab’s twisting figure, fixing her gaze roughly on where her eyes should be—if she actually had eyes. “While I’ll assume the offer is because of your oh so generous nature, I believe I need to put in the hard yards myself.”
“Aren’t you even interested in hearing my offer?” asked Mab.
Sharply biting her own lip as numbness tried to crawl across her skin, Amdirlain worked to keep her tone polite. “Who are you here as?”
The figure’s lips twisted and moved out of sync with the words that whispered from behind Amdirlain. “Aren’t I allowed to visit an associate of old?”
Amdirlain resisted the temptation to add concealed eyes. “I’m sure you can be here however you wish, yet you didn’t answer the question directly. Good night.”
A wave of darkness shrouded the figure, and their surroundings so completely Amdirlain couldn’t see beyond the door. “How many murderers’ memories are soaking in your mind? How dark do they stain the light you’re trying so desperate to hold on to? Wouldn’t you like to be done with the torments you’ve not earned? I could help you purge all those memories, take those murderers’ memories from you.”
“No, I’m not buying into your bait,” said Amdirlain.
“Do you delight in the unsavoury taste of what others have done?”
Not caring that her hands clenched tight in the fabric of her robes gave her tension away, Amdirlain still spoke in a measured tone. “I was too quick to offer you that aspect of Set’s power previously, since you’re taking me for a fool.”
“Do you consider yourself wise now?” taunted Mab in a tone sharp with mockery.
The taste of blood trickled in her mouth, but Amdirlain didn’t start back from having bitten her tongue. Slowly counting to ten, and then again, before counting to a hundred when the urge to spit angry words at Mab didn’t wane. Only after the bitterness of pain and mocking thoughts ebbed did she trust herself to speak.
“I try not to make the same mistake twice. I already pointed out to Elliyna how I feel about what I’ve done, so I’m dealing with my memories. You do not have permission to touch any of them, ever.”
So many mistakes I need to learn from, but I think I can keep Usd’ghi’s lesson in mind.
“If I leave without an agreement, I’ll not be so quick to come answering you again,” growled Mab.
“I didn’t say your name nor even mention your proper title, so you’re not here at my call,” replied Amdirlain.
“Perhaps not, but I could take my worshipper with me,” said Mab smugly. “Such an old dear, isn’t she? Who knows when her Soul might slip its Mortal coil?”
“You will do what you will do. I’ll not negotiate any other agreement with you,” Amdirlain retorted. “I’m not responsible for her, and certainly not you.”
“Yet you have so many whose Souls are in your care, but you’re here, alone and friendless,” Mab hissed. “I hadn’t expected you’d drop your responsibilities on another and runoff. Planning to buy replacement friends with your nice little tricks?”
“Do you have multiple aspects so someone will agree with you?” asked Amdirlain and gave Mab a tight smile.
“Unlike you, where even the voice in your head hated you? I wonder what Viper might plot without you slowing her down?” teased Mab. “All the things in your life, past and present, that you despised. Did you try to hold on to everything when you cast her out? Did it work? How much slipped through your fingers because you were drowning in these memories? How many lives or Souls will slip through them yet?”
“I never wanted Viper to be my friend. I wanted her gone, and I wanted her constant urging to fuck something to stop,” retorted Amdirlain. “She’s got protections presently. Initially, there was the potential you’d protect her—for all I know you do—but someone certainly stopped her from being summoned by the Sisterhood.”
“They stopped her from being summoned that time,” replied Mab. “You wanted her gone? Well, that is certainly a theme of your friendships. Are you having fun sitting here in a simple cell with so many of your friends about you? How fast did your ‘friends’ leave you alone again? I know you rescued Isa, and she’s not even by your side while you deal with all the pain you ignored. More than some of it, I’m sure, because of her situation.”
Amdirlain ground her teeth, and she replied in a hiss. “Word gets around fast, it seems.”
“I hear everything that occurs in the dark, Amdirlain,” Mab purred.
Pervert.
Mental fatigue gnawed at her self-restraint, and the desire to spit venomous words at Mab clawed within her. Yet Amdirlain just closed her eyes and returned her focus to the Ki’s mist drifting through her flesh. The whispers from Mab’s mantle hissed questions she couldn’t quite make out, only the tone gave their nature away. The silence stretched, and darkness pressed around her, but Amdirlain let the Ki’s mist bring forth memories of a misty morning camping with her family.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Focused on that memory, she still noticed when Mab vanished; the calm natural silence that heralded her departure was a welcome change.
“Ebusuku, I’d appreciate you letting me know if you have any ideas for safely tracking down Viper. I had a visit from the Winter Court’s Queen. Her questions implied Viper is involved in something, though I don’t know if she was baiting a trap, or it merely suits a plan of her own.”
A mere moment after the Message Spell faded away, Ebusuku words came back to her.
“Let me worry about Viper. We’ve got your back. I don’t like loose ends, so I’ve been looking into options already. Take care of yourself, Amdirlain. Give yourself time to heal properly.”
Mentally battered Amdirlain didn’t return to deconstructing memories but allowed her mind time to drift and relax in the Ki’s mists some more. The energy’s timelessness carried her on its tides until the morning chimes.
Ebusuku’s PoV - Duskstone
“Please tell me where she is,” Isa says the moment I let her in the room. Her furrowed brow and tight lips ripe with concern, at least a change from the light-hearted expression she wore last I saw her.
Moving back to the weapon collection I’d laid out on the bed for inspection I carefully moderate my words. “Amdirlain is where she needs to be.”
“Ebusuku, I’d appreciate you letting me know if you have any ideas for safely tracking down Viper. I had a visit from the Winter Court’s Queen. Her questions implied Viper is involved in something, though I don’t know if she was baiting a trap, or it merely suits a plan of her own.”
Amdirlain’s words whispering in my ear have me ignoring Isa and immediately sending a reply.
Isa’s shifting expression makes me wonder what she might have heard within spells that shouldn’t be able to be intercepted.
“I just finished the last scroll,” Isa says, and I caught the tone of regret. “I chewed her out, told her what we’d been through, but she didn’t even say boo about what she’d endured. Please tell me where she is. I need to say I’m sorry for misjudging her in person.”
“You and Ilya survived a lot together and have a bond in that survival. Amdirlain normally keeps her pain hidden away, and it sounds like that was the case in life. Was it not?”
“Yes,” Isa begrudgingly admits.
“Amdirlain asked me to be gentle with you, so I’m only going to say this to you. You’ve read the details, but far more happened between the facts in her tale. While the pair of you were weaving your plans to get yourselves free, she was helping everyone she could along the way. What you do with your existence is your choice, but my choice is to put her wellbeing above your - requests—however much regret you now have.”
“I’m sorry, I messed up. Amdirlain’s situation threw me. I can’t hear her song, and that threw me even further. Yes, I missed what I should have seen. I was mostly outside Hell, but I was there enough to learn that immediately trusting someone at face value is foolish. I can hear so many details in your song: your outrage, those you consider family, an actual family, a lover, care for Amdirlain and not in any priority.”
“And?”
“So I get why you’re doing this,” Isa says and slows her words before she continues. “If you won’t tell me where she is, at least tell me why she’s rushed off.”
“You’re used to her locking things down and focusing on others. Correct?”
“Julia’s inability to look after her own emotional-” Isa stops and blinks. “Her tale mentions nothing about issues. I should have read between the lines and knew she didn’t look after herself. All the stuff she did? How could she not deal with all that as she went along and stay sane?”
“Pure Willpower, locking things in boxes, and focusing on what she needed to do next. After getting you free, and having a clear path for Sidero, she said the feeling was like suddenly being on stilts instead of balancing on a tripod. Without the need to keep going, memories—her own and those she’d absorbed—broke loose. She’s dealing with their impact now, and needs time to heal. I’m trying to buy her all the time I can so she doesn’t feel something needs her attention. You need to not push her.”
“Can we help you buy her that time?” Isa asks, and I take back some thoughts I’d had about her selfishness.
“We? You’re offering Ilya’s help as well?”
“I spoke to her before I came to see you, she’s been studying her grimoires to distract herself. I’m sure she’d help as well.”
“Distract herself from what?”
Isa pulls a face, and I’m almost sure she won’t tell me. “She’s not a fan of being underground, and that’s all I’ll say.”
“As long as it doesn’t hurt Amdirlain or anyone else I’m not worried,” I reply, and get a nod of appreciation. “Do you know any songs that can pull a summoned Demon off the Material Plane?”
“Most of my songs I learnt by duplicating spells, blessings or environmental effects. Then it’s a matter of focusing on applying the music I’ve learnt to the songs I can hear around me. I’ve heard a few dismissal spells and blessings, but I’d have to be near Viper—if that’s who you’re talking about—in order to dismiss them from a Plane.”
“You heard Amdirlain’s message.”
I can’t keep the surprise from my voice, even if her posture shift had hinted at it. The way she smiled when she threw in Viper’s name made it clear she can manage what I thought impossible.
“Yours as well, the Message Spell resonates with its contents. What weren’t you telling Amdirlain?”
“Viper is on the Material Plane, and when I scried her, I saw some banners. Farhad has since identified them as belonging to a city in the Kingdom of Darius. Her physical movements were fast so she might have kept all the levels Amdirlain gained. I can’t easily get onto the Material Plane, and if she’s got class over level one hundred-”
“Lots of people will die, and Amdirlain will blame herself. Can I help? I mean Amdirlain got to the Material Plane, and Ilya and I are both Planetars, not Solars. We both have technically five classes over level one hundred if you count Erinys. I wouldn’t resist if Aggie summoned me the same way she summoned Amdirlain. We might be easier to summon since neither of us has gained levels since we evolved.”
“You’re both independent Celestials…”
Isa interjects the moment I stop to consider the options. “Which means anyone with enough power could summon us, so try not to let our names spread too much,” Isa teases.
“I was more thinking that I’ve met a High Priest of Vergadain—the Dwarven God of Luck.”
“Well, at least they have good taste. Two questions: would you trust them with your name? What’s his help going to cost? Though actually, third question—why not Aggie?”
“Aggie’s no longer near the Gate she used but for the High Priest I mentioned it’s just a matter of going to Stoneheart and summoning you. We’ll have to see what he wants though—he does like to negotiate. He’ll certainly ask for something in return. Keep in mind Vergadain’s champions are often in need of rescue on various planets. If you don’t like the offer, we’ll organise it with Aggie.”
“Let’s go talk to him then,” Isa says.
Storing the weapons I’d been checking takes time, but she waits patiently by the door. The walk through Duskstone’s corridors draws almost as much attention as previous days. I catch Isa’s lips twitch in amusement several times before I ask. “Anything special amusing you?”
“Do you like standing out? I mean because if so, it works, and based on Amdirlain’s description of her initial meeting with you, it sounds like you stood out then.”
“My appearance serves the same purpose now as it did then,” I reply simply.
Isa giggles erratically for a few moments and gets more stares focused directly on her, yet her voice is bright and cheery when she continues. “Here I am. Try and take me so I can kill you. Is that the purpose of your past and current look? When I did the augury the other morning, I drew a lot more cards than normal. One of them was the Queen of Death. You have such fiercely passionate music coming from you, not the grim sound I was expecting from someone that card represents.”
“I wear what I wish to wear, what others make of my appearance isn’t a concern beyond the occasional need to disguise myself.”
The location of the inn on the main concourse isn’t far from the Temple area, and Vergadain’s Temple is the first of them.
The Temple blends in with the wealthier merchant stores that sit on the concourse. A fur clad Novice wearing a chain of silver coins about her neck is haggling with a merchant over the donation expected for a Blessing. When another Novice comes forward to greet us, I give him a smile with enough teeth to prompt him to wave us through. I’ve no intention of spending another hour haggling to get a moment of the High Priest’s time when he invited me to come back.
Beyond the storefront receiving area is a vault door, crawling with runes and wards, the outer energies hiding further layers of traps both magical and mundane. They’d filled the inner Temple with displays of wealth, and I pick out the traps and guardian devices placed around each of them. The pattern around several have shifted from the day before, but I don’t see any sign of them having activated.
Merchant Prince Paqnid is easy to spot at a fancy table near the back of a Hall. His neatly trimmed brown beard braided with thin gold chains, and several loops of chain with gold coins held in jewelled settings sit about his neck. Though he’s laughing, the sound doesn’t carry to us through the surrounding wards until we get within arm’s reach of his guest’s chair. Just as the sound didn’t reach us, his laughter doesn’t get purchase in the agate gaze he has fixed on the Dwarf sitting with their back to the door.
“You’ve got my terms. I’ll let you think about them all you want, but they won’t be changing. I’ve others to speak with now, more worth my time. Good profits to you, Merchant Nardel.”
“Your terms are going to scrap my profit, Priest,” growls Nardel. The Dwarf pushing to his feet almost tips over the polished stone chair. With its stone back falling towards me I stop it and push it against his legs, the startled look in his black gaze making it clear I’d spoiled his fun. Tanned skin flushed with anger matches the colour of his beard, but the gem-set clothing provides little doubt that the High Priest isn’t the only one gouging profits.
“Fancy seeing you again so soon Ebusuku. Why I’m sure it was just the other day we spoke,” booms Paqnid, before bursting into laughter.
“Because it was. Merchant Prince Paqnid, might I introduce you to Isa. Isa, this is Merchant Prince Paqnid, High Priest in Vergadain’s service. Paqnid, we’d like to discuss some terms of service with you,” I say, and note Isa’s sharp smile.
“What sort of service are you after Ebusuku? I would have thought your Lady Amdirlain would speak with Jantar, or one of them more charitable types.”
“Paqnid, I hope you don’t mind me calling you Paqnid? I have one question for you first: are you feeling lucky?” Isa asks sweetly. Flourishing a deck of cards, a flex of her fingers sends the cards cascading between her hands. “I’m sure we can talk while we play.”
“What’s the stakes of the game?” asks Paqnid, his gaze twinkling at the prospect.
“We’ll get to that. Tarot deck, six suits, wild, fine with you?”
Paqnid wrinkles his nose and gives a quick headshake. “I’d prefer blind fool, with a double hidden, if we’re not tossing bones.”
“Blind fool it is but let’s make it a triple hidden. Winner gets to pick the next game after we discuss stakes.”
Even understanding the words, the terms are gibberish, but I’d never been much for games of chance outside battle. Though I catch the wordplay in Isa’s choice of game.
“Now you’re talking, lass,” laughs Paqnid, and looks at the cards Isa’s shuffling in a blur of motion. “Though perhaps we should use my deck.”
“Ebusuku didn’t quite introduce me properly. I’m Priestess Isa,” Isa says, and slaps the deck down on the table between them. Sitting down opposite him, she draws a silver arrow shaped medallion out of her shirt and lets it fall free. “I worship Luck, and games of chance are sacred.”
Paqnid slaps his hands together excitedly and reaches for the cards, only for Isa to put her hand on top. “Shall we say the highest card deals?”
The prince of coins card Paqnid turns up gets a smile until he sees the queen of stars in Isa’s hand.
“I believe I win,” Isa says, and I can’t tell if she’s genuinely surprised or not.
Klipyl’s PoV - South from central Pass
Though the sensations cut off, my insides keep pulsing, making the mewling noises sneaking from my mouth flutter.
“Was that the famous Dread Gaze of the Kytons?” I ask, only once the mewling noises stop fighting their way free from me. “I was really expecting something different from that Power.”
Sidero’s reply draws my attention to the pile of bodies that have grown while I was distracted. “It’s a Power Dominators get called Stimulation, most use it to torment with pain. Separately, Amdirlain and I both found a different use for it. Her tale of taming those Hags was amusing.”
Rising, I look around over dead stacked in neat rows nearby; with them shucked from their shells, the Thri-Kreen corpses make for a fine mess. “Yeah, but when you promised an orgasm, I was hoping for something a bit more—physical.”
“I provided you with some very physical sensations,” answers Sidero. “Count yourself lucky I went with pleasure, considering you must like pain the way you use Celestial blessings.”
Hundreds of additional bodies suddenly appear, extending the height and length of the rows. Glancing about the battlefield, we’d gotten nice and messy, the stretched bloodstains now free of bodies showing its diminished size.
“I can put up with a bit of pain to draw on Amdirlain’s blessings. What are you doing? Why are all the bodies in piles?”
“They’re in piles because I plan to deal with them,” states Sidero firmly. “I’m not leaving them to rot in the sun.”
“That would take forever. Why not just let the scavengers take care of them since you’ve peeled them from their shells?”
“Once stacked, it won’t take long at all to incinerate them en masse.”
“Do we got to?”
“Klipyl-chan you don’t have to do anything, but I’m not leaving them to rot. Their scent is wrong, and I’ll not risk the soldiers to the north. I’ve no memories that make sense of what I’m tasting in the air. While it might be the Illithid’s changes, it could be a disease. Unlikely, given that the soldiers should have died already if the Thri-Kreen carried diseases, but I prefer not leaving things to chance.”
“What’s with the ‘chan’ you added to the end of my name?”
Sidero glances my way with her lips twisting into a smile. “It’s a suffix that indicates you’re a cute child.”
“What!?”
“Your behaviour is erratic. It’s part of life’s natural order that while they learn most species’ young tend to be erratic. Would you prefer your behaviour viewed as part of the natural order, or for me to enforce order on you?” growls Sidero.
Her suddenly stern expression doesn’t shift when I pout at her, and even fluttering my eyelids doesn’t get a reaction. “Talk about reversal. I’m wearing the Dominator’s leather and you’ve got chains on you. Why are you bossing me around?”
“You said you’d follow my orders. You’re here getting stronger and to let me get messages elsewhere quickly if it’s needed.”
“Oh yeah, I did, but I fight as well!” I quickly protest, but Sidero just waves it away.
“You do a reasonable job at that, but you have a lot to learn.”
“If I wanted someone talking down at me, I could have stayed a whore in the Abyss. Plenty of Demons and whatnot there ready to judge me. I figured it wouldn’t be an issue the way you and Amdirlain spoke. Guess I was wrong.”
Sidero freezes with an expression so intense I consider just teleporting away, but she abruptly nods. “You’re right, my apologies. Your battlefield mobility is a useful advantage. Though perhaps we need to discuss tactics so we can fight together effectively.”
“I would prefer to avoid getting speared by your chains,” I agree readily. “Though how do you plan to burn all these bodies?”
Sidero sends a horde of oddly shaped metallic mouths cascading from her hands and the closest that lands near me shows me a surface etched with runes. A loop of them wraps itself around the rows before she motions me back and touches the nearest. White-hot flames erupt from the mouths towards the bodies and the heat consumes them instantly, leaving only blackened baked ground behind.
“Like that,” says Sidero smugly.
“That’s not normal for even magical flames.”
“It wasn’t fire, it was plasma.”
The last word I don’t even recognise, but her tone seems to indicate it explains everything. Its sheer white fury reminds me of tales of some Dragons’ breath weapon.