The ‘Unique Chamber’ mentioned by Rhuvenia turned out to be rather unspectacular at first glance.

At not much larger than Eve’s house, it was a downright midget compared to stonehornish structures, and nowhere near as weird-looking as some of the buildings – Spheres – she’d encountered since entering the Shrine or the Pocket Dimension.

“This is it?” Kumil asked, looking around in confusion. “You sure this is the place?”

The plain austere room was devoid of any furniture or structure, except for an ornate densely-inscribed inverted bowl at the exact center of the circular room.

Aisha gave a firm nod that showed not a hint of hesitation. She’d been claiming for the past quarter bell that there was a huge concentration of Space essence somewhere in the vicinity. That was good enough for Eve. They’d gotten lost twice while looking for the ‘Fourth Door’. Third time’s the charm.

“Thought there would be a Portal somewhere in here,” she said after a quick inspection of the room.

“Perhaps there is. Let’s investigate some more,” Arjun said, approaching the odd bowl, which was barely large enough to fit all five of them inside. That is if they could force an opening at all. There was no door in sight. What was there by the shitloads were sigils embossed onto the metallic surface. Arjun was practically drooling over them while squinting, brushing, sometimes even caressing them like lovers.

Whatever floats his boat. Eve gave a shrug and followed. At least nothing was trying to eat, kill or maim them, which was a considerable improvement over the last three or four places they’d ended up in. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she’d just met one of the First Disciples, figures whose deeds quite literally were the stuff of Legends. James even knew her name from the Lore. She didn’t, which was no surprise; Lore was banned in Aiminia, after all. Arjun didn’t either, which was definitely odd.

After an exploratory walk around the circular base that was a mere ten feet across, Arjun placed his palms on the curved surface, clearly hoping to decipher the mystery of the room from the composition of the hemisphere, the centerpiece of the chamber.

Eve took a deep breath, edging away from the walking question-mark.

“Don’t go rushing into things you barely understand,” added the Cleric from beside Arjun, mirroring her thoughts. “Let me, at least, go over the sigils in detail first. We need to make a copy anyway, for posterity’s sake.”

“Yeah,” Kumil said. “Doubt if we can get inside this place ever again. Even if we somehow manage to find the Jukatis-blasted entrance.”

Both palms still on the metallic dark-green surface glowing soft blue, Arjun gave a sheepish smile. Glancing over his shoulders, he informed the rest of them, “Reflex action. Besides, I don’t think it’s act…” That’s as far as he got before his head snapped forward.

“Oh,” he said.

In the next blink, three things occurred in quick succession, instantly putting Eve on high alert.

Opening up a recently closed Portal was extremely tricky. One had to be highly sensitive to the fabric of Space. Mainak did not believe he could have reopened the Portal if they had waited even a few more blinks. Hence, the urgency. But after arriving at a shadowy alley that ended at the back wall of a tanner’s place, Mainak immediately began regretting his haste as the stomach-churning odor nearly made him lose his breakfast.

Regaining his composure, he glanced around, noting a human girl, no more than eight, giving both of them a fearful peek from behind the broken window of the house across the alley. Mainak’s tentative smile put her at ease.

Turning to his superior, who had regained some greenish hue back into his cheeks, he asked, “Should we split up?”

“No. This may all still be a ruse to lure us into another trap. Never again will I make the mistake of underestimating our enemies. They are more resourceful than I had anticipated.”

“What about the last Enfolder?”

“Even though he was not the one who had opened the Portal himself, I might still be able to trace the lingering Space essence near him.”

“How long will you be able to do that?” Mainak himself would struggle to track someone in this manner after less than a quarter bell.

“Half a bell, if we are lucky.”

And so, a game of cat and mouse began.

Jeevanil, confident in his own abilities, unerringly led Mainak to another quiet corner, in the central part of the city near the Plaza that held the Teleportation Hub. Mainak even fancied he glimpsed a man whose signature hinted at him being an Enfolder, but lost him in the crowd before either of them could open up a Portal.

How did I get myself into this mess? Ray asked himself for the hundredth time as he fled through the dingy alleyways of Edelis.

He had let his pride and hatred get the better of him, forgetting one of the clauses of the Tenets.

As the eighth Tenet states: Detachment brings forth the desired result. Attachment ensures that the desire is there to begin with. Key, as always, is to find the right balance, since attachment to baser emotions could, and often would, jeopardize the result – as was the case here.

“Pardon me,” he said in his rough accent, something that had taken him half a decade to cultivate properly. Slipping past the street vendor and the man he was haggling with, Ray continued at a brisk pace, faster than walking, but not fast enough to attract too much attention. After hastily putting on a rough homespun brown cloak over his shirt from the hidden cache which had been tucked into the corner where an apparently blind beggar was singing an old folk-song, Ray took full advantage of his intimate knowledge of the backstreets of the ancient sister-city, hoping, praying, that the cursed Maestros weren’t proficient in this regard as well.

The older man had been more than a match for even two of them together. The element of surprise had almost been enough, rendering the younger Ranger frozen in struggle for a few blinks, long enough to finish the job. Or it should’ve been, but for that aberration of Reality. He growled internally, keeping a pleasant expression on his face.

Now, all the Enfolders of the Order that had been active inside Arunia were but a memory. All but him.

He’d known all along this would be a risky gambit, and had debated with himself if he should prioritize the larger mission, and excuse himself. He’d almost contacted Medilam to do just that. But no. His hatred of the aditarus, along with misplaced self-belief had landed him in this predicament where his lifelong mission was at risk.

All he needed to do now was reach the Portal Plaza before they did. After that, escape was all but assured, though there was still a small chance of discovery. The Rangers hadn’t seen his face, but might’ve glimpsed his back. Only years of experience and discipline kept him from rushing headlong into the Uni. Remembering to keep his gait altered, he racked his brain trying on different contingency plans to see which one was most likely to yield the desired result. The Sigrid-blasted Rangers were sure to make inquiries regarding the staff and faculty’s whereabouts. He needed an alibi, from someone beyond reproach, at least when it came to certain aspects of life.

Then, he remembered a particular pleasure house that he didn’t have cause to visit in the past couple of months. Having come to a decision, as the Portal Plaza came into view, he turned left, heading deeper into Edelis.

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A man gets lonely from time to time. And due to his work, people already seem to be laboring under the impression he frequented that place. Not indulging their false beliefs might raise too many eyebrows. But the biggest reason behind the decision was that her word was bond, and as a result, contradictory as it might sound, she would be able to provide him with an ironclad alibi.

And so, having safely crossed the outskirts of the Portal Plaza, Ray headed for the North Bridge, and across it, into the Narrows – to Madame Cornier’s Pleasure Palace.

From what he knew of Rangers, it wouldn’t be their first guess, though it might be the fourth. But by then, he’d be long gone.

“Always a step ahead,” Mainak said as they navigated the narrow dirty side-streets that seem to have never been blessed with the touch of Manipulation. In some parts of Jivanpur the Clerics provided much-needed cleaning services, as well as repairing or even rebuilding the crumbling sewage infrastructure that dated back to the days of Emperor Jenkins. Of course, the parts they frequented were often the parts that needed it the least – Merchant Place and Market Quarter, where the wealthy and the influential had their opulent residences.

“He is familiar with the city,” Jeevanil replied.

Mainak gave a small nod. Frustrating as it was, all was not lost. Every clue they gathered about this nameless Enfolder would help them narrow the search.

“In another thirty feet the dampening field comes into full effect. We will not be able to Teleport. At least, not reliably.” Jeevanil said, hastening his steps.

“I must thank you for saving my life back there.”

Due to all the excitement and exertion, Mainak was breathing heavily, feeling more alive than he had ever felt before in his life. One cherishes life most after nearly dying, as his father used to say.

“As must I. Without your aid at the tail end of the fight, I would surely be dead,” said Jeevanil, sounding strangely disappointed. At himself, Mainak reasoned.

The unknown male human Enfolder, a being that should not even exist, proved to be extremely agile, and before long, he was outpacing them with ease. He crossed the North Bridge spanning Telis, the river that the humans considered sacred due to its role in the creation process, and entered the north of Jivanpur. Short bursts of Teleportation by Jeevanil, covering ten feet or so, enabled them to follow the lone surviving attacker, even after his change of disguise. Mainak himself right now could not even open up a Portal larger than a coin.

“Can you Shield him?” A gasping Mainak asked, pointing to the man three hundred feet in front of them, visible through the densely packed crowd of the Northern Avenue. Despite its absurd width, something both Edelis and Jivanpur were famed for, the haphazardly constructed buildings that adorned the middle of the road and the staggering number of people out on the streets meant it was hard not to get jostled by complete strangers while walking. It also meant they could not get a clear look at the man.

“Too far away. Dampening field is too strong.”

Mainak nodded. Inside the city Shield, even ten feet was an accomplishment.

Eventually, they lost track of their prey as he entered the Narrows, a vast network of slums in the northern part of Jivanpur. The University had its own dampening shield, which was much stronger than the one encompassing the city, and the northern part of said field covered a tiny portion of the Narrows, precisely where their elusive quarry had vanished into.

“Very familiar indeed. Not just with the city, but also the University.”

The first of the three was a noise.

A clicking noise. Then, using an incredibly complex essence-construct, a tube-shaped portion of the bowl disengaged from the very top and floated upward, to about a foot above the surface. Thereafter, the whole curved outer surface got sucked into the tube like some giant beast was furling its wings. In the process, this revealed the interior which explained Arjun’s excitement.

Ahead, at the center of the floor was an object that was either a torture-device or an Earth Cleric’s wet dream. A couple of foot-shaped depressions complete with vague outlines of the Sole Chakra invited – no, screamed – for Eve to rest her legs on them, promising relief beyond measure. Another two inverted, small, mount-shaped instruments placed on top of a waist-high stone column were doing the same to her Palm Chakras. The whole thing – column, the mounts, and the portion of the floor with the depression – was made up of an unusually glossy clay-like substance that refused to be identified, at least from a distance. And she was never going to touch that Om-cursed device, no matter how much her Heart desired it.

“What do you suppose that does?” Eve asked, though she already had an inkling what the far-reaching tendrils of earth, fire, metal, and water essences that radiated outward from the device did.

“Material Manipulation,” said the awestruck Engineer.

“Also fire,” Arjun added from the side, eyes shining.

“Also fire,” agreed Kumil, “but on a scale that beggars belief. The tendrils span as far as my senses can reach, which right now appears to be ten times longer than I can usually sense! Can’t identify all the essences inside the tendrils though,” he said, looking downward. “The unknown ones are increasing both receptivity and transference. Never seen anything like it.”

“Yup,” Arjun grinned. “I think I might be able to cause a small tremor back at the inn we’d stayed earlier.” After a stern glance from James, he quickly added, “A tiny tremor. Barely felt.” Then, his eyes chanced upon an object on the other side of the floor. “Interesting. Wonder what that does,” he said pointing toward a small raised dais made of stone.

“Avoid triggering anything else before dinner today,” Eve said, reluctantly following behind Kumil after Aisha indicated with her hands that the dais was the source of the Space essence she’d sensed earlier. “Or at least, trigger us out of this shithole.”

“Will do,” Arjun shouted back, right palm already on the dais.

“What do you sense?” asked James, visibly upset with Arjun’s antics.

Interestingly, the Cleric hadn’t yet done anything to curtail her new friend’s impulses. Not a cautious bone in his lanky body. Which had its upsides. Meant Eve didn’t have to trigger any booby-traps herself. Also, despite his impulsive nature, Arjun hadn’t triggered anything especially deadly so far. In fact, he seemed to possess damned good instincts.

Suspiciously good instincts.

“Well,” began Arjun with a disappointed frown, which swiftly turned into one of elation when, all of a sudden, a huge sphere, depicting their world Sindria as seen from a great distance above the surface of the planet, sprang into existence just over the dais, rotating slowly, counter-clockwise.

Eve passed her hands through the miniature planet but didn’t encounter anything material. “World made of light,” she whispered.

The western continent, Anantika, could be seen in great topographical detail. The massive lake in the north just below the Sheetal Mountains, in the southern part of Maha Aranya, which was the home of the aditarus. Further south, Lake Yar, Loha Mountains and the Savannah, home of the sparse population of Horse Nomads. As the sphere rotated, the densely-populated eastern continent of Gaia came into view. Looking at the Kailash Mountains, Arjun noticed a green dot.

“Isn’t that where we are now?”

“Seems so.” James gave a nod. The encounter with the Nagas had shaken him to the core. In their limited time together, Eve had never seen him so agitated. But, a pinch of agitation was healthy in life. Seasoning, if you will, Shillang style. The man was a lump of dough before, so this will be a good experience for him. Being cautious was one thing. Being cold as a crypt-keeper was quite another.

“There are four more dots. All blue. One in northern Arunia, one I think is in Ridmanya, beside the lake, and one in the southern plains, not too far from Aimingar,” Eve said.

“The last one is near Jivanpur. Isn’t it? And this blue has a tinge of green in it,” Arjun said, pointing to the dot made of light with his finger.

As his right index finger crossed the greenish-blue speck of light, the dot rapidly increased in brightness and size, and in the next blink, a dark-green ball enveloped them all.

An all-too familiar sensation of shivering, followed by one of rushing, swept over Eve. It was followed by an exhilarating sense of falling, and then, before she could utter a full sentence in anger, the whole world turned a brilliant white.

“I hate Portaaaaaa…”

“Well, at least this saved us the trouble of wondering whether there indeed were spies at the University. We now have his general description. He is male, and of medium height and stature.”

Mainak slumped down on a bench beside the front gate. Before him spread the Guild Plaza, holding the original headquarters of all four guilds. Nowadays, of course, each had relocated their central offices and archives to different parts of the city, or in the case of Artificers, a different city altogether. Aimingar. The appearance of two tall full-blooded aditarus in snow-white cloaks had created quite a stir earlier.

Jeevanil gave a tired smile. “You tend to view life in an interesting light. That pretty much describes half the male population of the city.”

“An optimistic light dispels even the darkest of shadows.”

The climb up the half-mile high University Hill had been arduous, since Jeevanil wanted to ‘get the lay of the land’, as he put it. The sweltering sunny day had not helped matters. Mainak took out a monogrammed silk handkerchief and wiped the perspiration off his face. He really hated warm humid weather, even more so than icy cold climes, which was saying something.

Thinking back on the events of the past morning, Mainak could not help but frown.

His entire world-view had crumbled in the span of a heartbeat. It was a glorious feeling, one he was careful to hide, portraying only puzzlement through his furrowed brows. It was easy enough to accomplish since he had never been more puzzled in his life.

Looking at this, the most novel of expressions on Mainak’s usually cheerful visage, Jeevanil climbed to his feet, though not without some effort. “All your queries will be answered once we meet Principal Hamilton. Even as we speak, I have a feeling he is hastening to meet us.”

As Mainak, still stiff from the long run and subsequent walk, gingerly got up to follow Jeevanil, the old Ranger suddenly whirled around, eyes frantically searching the southern horizon where the distant snow-capped peaks of the Kailash were just about visible on this clear Monsoon morning.

“What is it?” asked Mainak, eyes and essence senses alert.

“Something unForeseen.”