Lord Cymryn visibly straightened his shoulders, then gestured towards Senkovar. “We are here in support of World Shaman Senkovar’s mission. He-”
“Not you, Imperial.” The man who nearly had to be a priest nearly spat the last word. “The cities have accepted your coin and no longer listen to the Eight, but some of us know your tricks. You are not the important one here; he is.” He pointed at Serenity as he spoke.
It was no surprise that the priest in white recognized Lord Cymryn as an Imperial; the clothes he wore were classic Imperial attire. Serenity knew that was deliberate; within a couple of days of his arrival on Earth, Cymryn dressed like a resident. Even when he arrived, his clothing was that of an ordinary unaffiliated mercenary or delver. He hadn’t tried to hide his affiliation but he also didn’t broadcast it. He’d worn the styles of the Empire when he was on Berinath and again when they arrived at Eitchen.
What was a surprise was that Cymryn had clearly expected his affiliation to be helpful, not harmful. He ought to know the local situation.
Serenity watched Cymryn wince and amended his opinion of the matter. Maybe Cymryn did know the local situation and also knew that the nearest city accepted the authority (or at least coin) of the Empire. That was probably a good reason to emphasize the connection. It was simply bad luck that the followers of the Eight found them instead; as far as Serenity could tell, they didn’t control the nexus.
Only it didn’t feel like it was just bad luck, not when the Eight singled out Serenity. It felt more like they knew something about him. Whether they could sense what he was or simply noticed someone talking to Eitchen, they knew something. They had to.
Serenity’s eyes narrowed. “Who are the Eight and what do they want with us?”
The priest’s frown deepened for a moment, then he suddenly laughed. His expression settled on an amused grin. “That’s almost exactly what they want me to ask you. Why don’t we trade, tell me what you want and I’ll tell you what we want.”
Serenity shrugged internally. That seemed reasonable. He didn’t really want to try to fight his way out of the compound; they might well be able to, but it was unlikely that they’d be able to do the search Senkovar wanted to perform if they were being harassed. More than that, Serenity suspected that the city might interfere as much as a dungeon; after all, there had to be a reason Senkovar specified no dungeon yet didn’t have them start at a city nexus.
Where should he start? Serenity knew Cymryn had started with Senkovar’s status, but starting the same way as someone the priest clearly despised didn’t seem like a good idea. The priest also didn’t seem to value the rank “World Shaman,” so mentioning it probably wouldn’t help. He’d just have to wing it.
“I’m Serenity; as for why we’re here, well, something called World Eaters has been attacking planets and we want to try to stop them. We think this is the next target, so we want to know if they’re here yet or not.” Serenity paused uncomfortably. He didn’t know if admitting the truth would make him seem realistic or opportunistic; either way, it was true. “We’d like to protect Eitchen if we can, but that’s not why we’re here. My home planet’s later on the projected path of the World Eaters and they won’t just temporarily damage her; another injury could make her break apart. I need to stop them from getting to her, which means I need to know more and Eitchen is a good place to look.”
The priest stared at Serenity for a long moment, then finally shook his head slightly. “That wasn’t what I expected you to say. Even less did I expect you to speak the truth and have it be so strange. Well then, I suppose I should answer your question in return. I am Speaker Hulvex. The Eight are a fragment of the first eight who grew beyond Eitchen; they can never return but they left behind fragments of their spirits and powers to aid us. Outsiders call them gods, but we know they are not; they are a legacy, not a lord.”
Serenity blinked at the juxtaposition of the words; for a moment, he wondered if Eitchen was named for the Eight. It was a meaningless thought but it would certainly be no sillier than other planetary names.
“Samvi’s Legacy saw you and worried, so I sent Marshal Rhot to find you. Does that answer your questions?” Speaker Hulvex stood there with an intense look Serenity couldn’t decipher on his face while Serenity digested the fact that he’d been both right and wrong. The speaker wasn’t a priest, at least not exactly, but it sounded like he held essentially the same role.
Rissa set her hand on Serenity’s arm and mentally hissed at him, :Say yes, you big lunk!:
A smile crossed Serenity’s face at Rissa’s insult. He could feel the fond yet slightly exasperated emotions behind her word choice. “Most of them. One more question: what’s next? Can we go back to the nexus and finish what we were doing?”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
The smile on Speaker Hulvex’s face wavered for a moment before he solidified it again. “Please let me offer you a meal first. It will give me time to assemble a proper guard.”
Serenity frowned. That sounded like more of a production than he thought was needed. “Why would we need guards?”
The smile dropped off Speaker Hulvex’s face. “Samvi’s Legacy saw you. Who knows what the powers in the city saw? Some would be deflected by your alliance with the Empire,” his voice filled temporarily with venom again, “but others would not; even those who pretend to be cowed would work in the shadows for an advantage.”
“Why do you care?” Serenity couldn’t believe this was simply out of the goodness of the speaker’s heart. Sending a group of guards to protect and possibly die for a stranger simply wasn’t something you’d do for no reason. The most likely thing that sprang to Serenity’s mind was that they were there to watch him, but that didn’t seem to make sense, not when Samvi could apparently already see what Serenity did.
The speaker looked down, almost as if he were ashamed of something or thinking about lying. He seemed to think for a moment before he looked back up at Serenity. “I’ll show you after the meal.”
He certainly was interested in having them eat that meal. Serenity wished he’d thought to bring Blaze; without the healer, he couldn’t easily test if things were toxic for Rissa.
Rissa punched Serenity’s arm. :You’re not thinking again. I’m an oracle, I know before I eat something that would make me sick.:
She must have heard his thoughts. He really needed to control his worries better. She was right, though; she was probably safer here than he was. That thought was reassuring.
When they actually got to the meal, which was in a nearby building, Serenity found that there was no need to worry. It was clear the speaker hadn’t taken the time to arrange a special meal. Serenity wasn’t certain how many were actually served because some people left and others arrived while they were there, more like a cafeteria where no one had to pay for anything than like a formal meal.
Speaker Hulvex left shortly after they arrived, then returned a few minutes later and hurriedly ate a sandwich. When he finished, he looked around the group of four then directed his attention to Serenity. “I’d prefer if only you came with me.”
Serenity raised his eyebrows. One of these days he’d master raising them one at a time. “Is it something secret?” He hadn’t made any promises of secrecy and he didn’t really want to.
The Speaker shook his head. “The fine details, yes, but not anything you will see. None of the true secrets are visible. It’s simply that we don’t like inviting outsiders in to see the Eight. Not these days, at least.”
Serenity wondered why he was being shown, then. Presumably it had something to do with the way they’d detected his arrival on the planet. He glanced over at Rissa; her slight nod told Serenity that she didn’t feel anything from Speaker Hulvex that meant Serenity shouldn’t go. “Okay. Now?”
Serenity vaguely noticed Lord Cymryn opening his mouth, but when Senkovar put a hand on the Imperial’s shoulder, Serenity figured it was handled. In any case, Lord Cymryn didn’t say anything until Serenity and Speaker Hulvex were out of the cafeteria.
Speaker Hulvex led Serenity back to the octagonal gothic cathedral and then to a side corridor near the room they’d met in that led to a set of stairs. They clearly weren’t meant for the public; unlike the rest of the building Serenity had seen, they were simple and unadorned. There wasn’t even a handrail, though that didn’t necessarily mean anything. They were also narrow, barely wide enough for two people to pass each other if they were headed in opposite directions.
The stairs let out onto a stone landing with two doors, one straight ahead and one to the right. Speaker Hulvex led Serenity through the one to the right. It let onto a short unfinished stone corridor that opened into a small cave that looked like it started life as a natural cave or maybe just a hollow in the rock; while the floor was evened out by gravel and sand, the ceiling varied in height from about seven feet to at least fifteen and probably twenty in places.
There were probably a lot of cave features that Serenity missed, but they weren’t important because two steps into the cave, he felt it: a dungeon was nearby. He still didn’t feel a nexus, but that was not a complete requirement for a dungeon; as far as he could tell, not being on a nexus mostly limited what they could do and how large they could grow. A large dungeon that lost its nexus was in trouble but a small dungeon that never had one could manage without it for a very long time; it simply wouldn’t be able to grow.
Speaker Hulvex led Serenity straight to the source of the feeling: a place where the stone floor was revealed. It had been carved into an octagon with each point hollowed out to hold a sphere that Serenity immediately recognized as being a dungeon core.
Eight dungeon cores.
Serenity looked up at Speaker Hulvex. He wasn’t sure if he was confused or horrified. “This is the Eight?”
Speaker Hulvex nodded; he seemed happy Serenity made the connection. Serenity wasn’t sure why; it was blatantly obvious. “Yes, this is the physical container for the power of the Eight. Immiki made it as a way to hold memories and power before they left, as a gift to the descendants they couldn’t take with them. It took decades, decades where they all waited for her to finish. The spell itself is a masterpiece we’ve never been able to decipher, but the histories say that the true masterpiece was the soul-containers. It took most of the time, even though she based them on something she found; none of the histories say what that something was.”