The Celestial Forge
By: Schin Ka'Tharos
CHAPTER 23
(Part 4)
“My intentions are not nefarious towards you and your brother. This tower and my past is complicated. Complicated and wrapped up in my family, what little I have. I aim to protect them at all costs. I fear that there are many powerful enemies working against us but as of now I’m unable to fully understand all of the dynamics and machinations at play. My confidence is growing that the two of you are not among those who wish ill against those I love. Much is unclear to me, but I will reveal more to you as our bond grows.” I stood then and gathered up the tea set. “Everything I have said since you have awoken has been the truth. I have spoken two oaths now to attest to it. I do not know the future of our paths and where they may lead, but I do hope we can be allied together and depend upon each other going forward.”
My head still throbbed from our fight earlier. And my flowlines ached. The small drop of Lesser Thousand Hands of Healing I had put in the tea seemed to be taking the edge off but I had underestimated how taxing the sparring would be and had not anticipated having to speak the oath of truth so soon. I was depleted. I had spent the last few months preparing for when Ciara had woken and the last few days had been draining in every facet.
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“I will take my leave, for now. I am weary. I need to recover from our little sparring session and I can tell you still need to reconcile some more from the trial.” I said this over my shoulder as I began to walk over to the spiral staircase. “ Tomorrow, we discuss our current situation and formulate a plan. Oh and I’ll also explain this, but I’m too tired at the moment.”
With that, I opened the door to the basement with a flick of my will through the Voids Eye, and I dropped through the floor. I dragged myself to my bed in front of the massive engraved gate and collapsed.
Next Chapter...
Chapter 24
BONUS
SIG or Sigstones
I once ran into a man in Parleya who was adamant that sigstones were named after an ancient ancestor of his named Sig who, he claimed, first discovered the stones' unique uses. He claimed that Sig eventually teleported to another plane of existence after becoming an Ascended but believed Sig would return to take control of all sigstones and rule the land once more.
Some variation of this tale is a surprisingly persistent myth that I still hear whispers of from time to time in that region to this day. It is, of course, nonsense. I have it on very good authority (which I’ve corroborated with texts in the Severed Skies Libraries) that the name was derived from its use as an acronym for the original naming convention of “space inverting gem”. Eventually it simply became referred to as SIG or sigstone and the roots of its meaning faded over the thousands of years.