The Celestial Forge

By: Schin Ka'Tharos

CHAPTER 15

(Part 2)

I could feel the Tower. It's presence extended out of me like a phantom limb. As a function of the VoidsEye I had bonded, I just knew where the Tower was. It called to me.

The first leg of our trip went fairly smooth. I poured what little essence I could spare into the Skiff but most of my contribution was from my natural flame. By their nature, eternal flames are fundamentally inexhaustible. It is the Forgers willpower that becomes depleted. Not the Flame. Controlling my natural flame for the previous days manna assimilation had left me drained but I managed to control and impart some of its energy for almost an hour.

I was drained of mind , body and soul. It took what little focus I had left to navigate us in the right direction. The Skiff noticeably slowed as Adeon resumed providing all of the energy for propulsion and he bore the burden for the remainder of the trip.

From there the trip to the tower took longer than I had originally anticipated. There we're a few factors that lead to this.

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First, the tower itself.

Many years ago while I was passing through Parlea I heard a story from one of their Magus of the Medica regarding a patient who had suffered severe brain damage. The patient could no longer recognize the existence of the entire left side of their body or left side oriented space around them. To the patient's brain and perception those parts did not exist. They were simply unable to attend to any stimuli from that side and space.

This is akin to my tower and its domain. It blinds anyone's senses to its reality. It causes attention to slide away and on to other spaces surrounding it making it nigh impossible to notice or engage with. Like a complete sensory blindspot, one's senses cannot attend to it or its surrounding land.

Also, the tower and its domain distorts space itself. Its distance and location is partially relative. Like a leaf floating on the surface of a pond its coordinates are fluid within a larger space. In my fight with the Jackal I had been sent flying from the tower, but I should not have been sent miles and miles away. The distance we had to travel on the Skiff was significantly farther than I had originally figured.

Second, a few of the Waste’s nighttime inhabitants were inhospitable.

The darkness coupled with the treacherous terrain would have proven difficult if not for Ciara's role in guiding us. As her brother powered and piloted the craft at its helm, she sat at its front as his navigator. Despite my general depleted state I made every effort to remain highly observant of the Siblings and took a keen interest in what she was doing.

She sat on both knees in a quasi meditative state, eyes opened but unfocused, burning blue as she Forged. She held both hands up palms out as if she were pushing on an invisible box. In a trance like voice she would call out to Adeon, warning of any obstacles or course changes needed. Only through careful attention was I able to notice thin almost imperceptible strands of celestial essence shooting out from her in various directions. I was starting to understand why they were in the Seekers Guild.

It must have been this spell-forging technique that alerted her to the brood of Abyssal Worms.

Next Chapter...

Chapter 15: (Part 3)