Chapter 14

“Following Kalex’s death? Elder Viv, how could you know that? Have you been to Diat?” Vivian nodded. “Yes child, I’m originally from there. The Lumen called me a Daughter of Diat. Every Axiom that is born here is called a son or daughter of their respective home worlds and during my time with them, I never knew of another who originated from Diat. The time after Kalex’s death is a troublesome story and he needs to be ready before I explain it.”

Kalex sat ramrod straight as Vivian spoke. “Thank you for not rushing into things about my demise. It was traumatic in more ways than one. It’s only been a few days since those events and the memories are still very fresh.” Vivian cocked back. “Only a few days? You look as old as Lyla. Not to mention the Days of Many just started and the Lumen should appear soon to take the new Axiom.”

Lyla raised her hand. “Elder Viv, the Days of Many started the same time Kalex came to Enternia, but instead of the bright sun that never went away, there was only darkness and dim daylight after he was born.” Vivian held her chin. “Then it’s as I feared, the Days of Many didn’t go as planned. Then how is there light now? It’s been said that if the birth on the Days of Many failed, there would be darkness for a month instead of light.”

Lyla spoke up. “That was Kalex’s doing. He kept breaking the fragments at the eclipse test until they had him touch a giant one. It flew into the sky and became like a second sun and everyone there called him an Axiom. The Overlord was there too, but we fooled him and got away.” Lyla said smugly.

Vivian looked at Kalex. “This is even worse than I feared, Young Kalex. I knew you had a penchant for mischief, but this is a lot. Not only is the Overlord involved, but the Lumen have a name for people in your situation. They refer to them as a Broken Axiom, one who was unanointed in their power upon birth.”

A blinking translucent black rock flew out of Kalex’s robe pocket and hovered in front of Kalex’s face. “New designation acquired. Your status has been updated Mr. Wounder.” Lex moved over to a startled Vivian. “Pleased to see you again after all these years, Elder.” Kalex mirrored Vivian’s expression.

“Lex, you’ve met her before? And years? You’ve only been around for a few days!” Lex blinked rapidly. “Yes Mr. Wounder, I, and in turn, you have met the Elder many times before. As to the timeframe, after parsing the logs between my shutdown and my reintegration, it has been deduced that a little over one hundred years have passed since the events that caused your death on Diat.”

It was Vivian’s turn to speak up. She raised her hand. “What is that and why does it say it knows me? Kalex, what have you made?” Kalex rubbed the back of his head bashfully. “Since you’re from Diat, you know more than I thought you would. This is Lex. When I came to this world, my body was horribly scarred and I couldn’t speak to anyone because I only spoke the language of Wounder and general Beerian, so I made a translator." Kalex said with a smirk.

"Little did I know, that when I made it, a scar peeled off of me and became intertwined with the rock I used to make the translator. That scar ended up being my Lexidex. I think I fed it a lot more presence than I should have though. As you can see, it’s massively verbose for a secondary brain.”

Vivian became quiet for a moment then regarded Lex. “Lex, It’s good to see you again. Can you link to my Lexidex?” Lex blinked enthusiastically. “Of course, Elder. This will take a few moments.” Kalex spoke immediately after Lex finished. “Wait. Does that mean you were a Seer as well?” Vivian nodded. “Yes, young Kalex. I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet. Lex was not referring to me as Elder Viv, It was referring to the title I held on Diat.”

“You can’t be.” Kalex brought his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. “If you were Elder Tora, I would have an ion blade in my stomach again.” Lyla moved to sit in front of Kalex slightly so as to be a barrier between him and Vivian.

“It’s true Kalex, my name when I was born here became Vivian and I never used my name from Diat. It caused too many painful memories that I couldn’t bear. You don’t need to forgive me for what I did to you, but please listen to my story before you make up your mind.”

Kalex shook his head not wanting to hear another word from the Elder. He had trusted her for so long. He had been sure she would never bring harm to him, but she was the one who tricked him and brought his life to an end. He would stay here for Lyla’s sake, but once they were done, Kalex was going to move as far away from this place as he could.

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“I remember this mood. He won’t listen to a word I say until he cools down. Lyla dear, How about I tell you about our name.” Lyla didn’t take her eyes off Kalex. “He looks uncomfortable but he hasn’t teleported yet, so I’ll listen.” Vivian’s eyebrows shot up at the word ‘teleport’ but instead of asking for elaboration, she just took a sip from her cup, and started.

“As I said before, I was born here as an Axiom and shortly after an Axiom is born, a Lumen comes and takes the child to a higher world. I was fraught with grief after my arrival and was ultimately not able to raise my power and was sent back to Enternia." The Elder huffed.

"After wandering through many cities and the wide wilds, I found this place. It seemed to be remote enough and had a high enough energy reserve to continue harnessing my skills to survive the rest of my days. After my 20th moon, I met a man in the newly built town of Fulrog. He was kind and willing to create a life with me out here. After a few years, we had a son who we named Kal. After my years of fighting the crippling misery I felt at my last interaction with the Wounder Seer, I could only choose a name that honored him." Elder Viv looked over at Kalex with fondness.

"My husband and I coddled that boy and our power fell by the wayside. A few months after Kal turned 12, my husband was brutally killed by a roving group of bandits. I couldn’t take the loss and began my training anew in order for a travesty like that to never happen to me again. Kal grew up here until he couldn’t stand me anymore, which was understandable. I was so fearful of losing him as I did his father, I never let him out of my sight until he was 22 moons old." Dabbing her eyes with a cloth, she continued.

"I had trained to the point where I could spread my presence to cover the entire Realm of Seeds and could keep an eye on him and help if he ever needed. About 10 years after he left, Kal came back with a bundle to show me. I had become a grandmother. That wonderful boy’s name was Luka, your father. Kal passed away when your father was a boy and Luka found that he had no direction. When the Consolidation occurred, He found his way to me and spent most of his time here and met another roamer named Tanya. They spent years roaming the wilds until one day, your mother came back here and looked ready to pop. That was the night you were born, dear." Lyla's eyes glistened as she listened to the Elder's story.

"Your parents needed to focus on getting stronger, as their need for the luxuries society brought was the strongest lure. They had never known anything else before the Consolidation. Because of this, they left you in my care. For some reason, you always wanted to go out into the wilds with your parents, so after your second moon, I didn’t hold you back and let you do as you wished. I kept an eye on you of course and never let trouble befall you, but you had a path you wished to walk and I wasn’t going to stand in your way. I am very glad you never wavered from that path, you’ve become the kindest of my family and I feel like if I had intervened, I may have become a crutch that slowed the cultivation of your power. I didn’t want the same thing that happened to your father to happen to you.” Before Lyla could respond, Lex gave off a pure white light and spoke.

“Synchronization complete. Elder, your Lexidex is fully functional. Although it will take its original form as a mental construct, I have added similar functionality to my ability to view the status of yourself and others.”

Vivian gave Lex a small bow. “Thank you, Lex.” She suddenly started to stare at a translucent golden panel that only she could see. “This. This is amazing. Totally unnatural, but astounding nonetheless. Lex, What does all of this mean?”

Lex rapidly blinked. “Implanting status information now. I apologize for any lingering headaches.” Vivian winced and looked over to Lyla. “You’re so strong, dear. How on Enternia did you get Diat’s Bounty?”

Lyla looked back to a closed-up Kalex. “Kalex gave it to me. I got hurt and he healed me. After we got the ability to see our statuses, it was there.” Vivian laid her hands on her lap in concentration. “He must’ve imparted a bit of his presence to you. A little like the way he probably made Lex here.” Kalex finally looked up and unwrapped his arms from around his legs.

“I remember doing that,” Kalex said meekly. “I wrapped her in my presence and tried to do what she had done for me when we first met.” Vivian snapped out of her musings. “Lyla is only familiar with energy healing, or as Lex named it, myst. If you tried to do what she does, I think you may have given her a part of your myst, and thus, shored up her defenses and made her myst more potent.” Lex flew into Kalex’s palm. “That is precisely what took place. During the healing process, Lyla was able to take on a certain amount of myst, and unconsciously integrated it into her myst network through her core.”

Kalex let his legs fall over the chair he was sitting in. “I’m just happy that the process of healing her didn’t end up being a detriment.” Lyla laid a hand on Kalex’s shoulder. Vivian made to reply, but a very low rumble stopped the conversation in its tracks.

“Lyla, Kalex, follow me. They’ll arrive any moment and we can’t be here when they do.” Getting up and following Vivian out the door, Lyla asked the question on both Kalex’s mind and hers. “Who’ll arrive?” As they ran into the forest surrounding the outpost, Vivian looked back at the duo for a brief moment. “The Lumen.”