Timbrelle sprinted past Adna, picking up as much speed as possible to clear the illusory door they’d entered through. Bracing herself for the gelatinous forcefield, she hit the wall and passed through it at Mach speed. To her surprise and panic, the resistance was nothing more than a breeze as she hurtled into the first floor ballroom.

She narrowly missed a pillar in the still pulsating light of the dance floor, destabilizing her center of gravity. A force of armed men and an opposing group of black-robed aurors squared off directly in her path.

“I have no idea what you could mean! What medium could you possibly-“ the angry man from the basement started.

Her bare feet failed to find purchase on the floor and left muddy streaks from where she began sliding to where she ran headlong into the large, masked fellow. This drove the sapphire into her belly causing her to squawk as she ricocheted off his substantial middle. His sentence was cut short as they both careened to the floor. She curled her body around the sapphire and thudded to a painful stop.

“What is this disrespect?” He raged at Timbrelle, smacking the hands of his people away as he got to his feet. His off-kilter mask and popped buttons detracted from his indignation. “Is Nerrus such a coward that you would resort to sneak attacks?”

Adna’s hands lifted Timbrelle by the armpits and dragged her into the crowd of aurors. A tourmaline auror knelt with them, wrapping them in the pink aura. Timbrelle could feel her fingers healing. She held them up to find that the damage had been more serious than she thought. Two fingers healed over without nails.

“The medium! They found it!” A hooded figure called, pointing at the gem gushing blue aura into the room.

Whispers quickly evolved to rubies, sapphires and amethyst glaring out of the dark hoods. This group of aurors was far larger than her meager congregation. There must have been thirty infuriated aurors, bordering on ballistic. A robed person who had taken up guard in front of them began to change. In a pool of yellow light they rose to the height of a bear. No… while technically the truth, it was much more surprising. A full, six-legged bear proceeded to tear free of the robe. It roared at the security personnel who looked appropriately terrified, though it did not budge from its place in front of Timbrelle and Adna.

A voice Timbrelle recognized as Fede’s spoke out next. “Have you evacuated the tower?” He asked, cold and emotionless.

“Yes sir.” A cloaked Davian answered with a smile to his voice.

“Good.” Fede turned to leave, an arm out to escort Timbrelle. “Have it done before day break. Take note of their identities for when we report them missing. The rest to me.”

The bulk of aurors filtered out behind Fede but the ruby aurors stayed suspiciously in place. This included the tall, wiry frame of what could only be Morto, whose ruby-clad arms seethed with thinly restrained power through the threads of his robe.

Davian held his hands out, palms facing each other. A multitude of rubies rained from his palm into the other hand. Each auror made some variation on the same move. It resulted in an abundance of rubies in every ruby-bonded auror’s hands.

The auror on the far right of the formation let out a bestial howl and threw a ruby at the wall. The resulting explosion was nigh deafening and shook the room. Petals from the ceiling flower came unsealed and bowed limply over the masked Capri security. The act was a dam breaking as they moved with inhuman speed to meet the security personnel. She could “taste” their fury in their auras—an experience both natural and disorienting. Timbrelle realized in an instant that this was the “soul shadow” Fede had mentioned in his tour of the temple. She could brush the surface of their souls through the aura.

Fede pulled her by the arm just as the aurors reached the security. The image of an arm being ripped off and flung into the air burnt into her mind. The sound cut off as she passed the doorway outside.

“They will be fine, child. Every ruby auror dreams of the day when the head priest calls for wanton destruction.” Fede soothed. “Why do you think so many of them heeded my call?”

“Where did you get a bear?” She blurted out.

“You didn’t recognize her? She’ll be disappointed.” He replied cryptically.

Fede turned to the crowd of aurors. “Tourmaline, tend to the ruby aurors when they return. Diamond, you will be in charge of collecting stray aurora gems in the rubble after the ruby aurors finish. Amethyst, begin tracking down patrons who still need their memories cleaned. Sapphire, maintain the illusion field. Citrine, aid where necessary. Emerald, am I forgetting anything?”

The emerald-bonded Loren spoke up. “A delegate should be sent to the palace to inform the king.”

The group erupted into laughter.

“You’re always such a jokester.” An unfamiliar voice said to Loren.

Timbrelle looked to Adna’s impenetrable hood, baffled. “Is… is Loren the funny guy?”

“Maybe he’s funny by aristocratic standards.” Adna whispered back with a shrug.

That made more sense.

All at once Timbrelle remembered her promise from earlier in the night. “Excuse me, High Priest. Can I ask you for a favor? I know it’s a bad time I just really need a writ of provenance soonish.”

“For… the medium?” He asked, lost.

Timbrelle laughed, “No! I found a bunch of ruby aurora stones. I need to sell one.”

“You found them?” His voice low but unreadable. “Where?”

“The Dorark. I-“ Timbrelle’s throat closed with a flash from Fede’s amethyst. She stood there stunned, a kitten scruffed by its mother.

“Let me get you back to the temple, my child. I must hear your report as the night transpired.” Fede said, leading her away from the group, past the six-legged bear to a nearby carriage. He called out a couple more orders and bid his farewells with a false cheer to his demeanor.

When he dropped control she snarled quietly, “What the hell was that?”

He held the door to the carriage open and said only. “Aurora stones are not simply found. I must return to the temple immediately to find out—never mind, let’s speak of this in my office.”

Timbrelle’s anger fizzled out at his tone. So, something was horribly wrong. Nerrus’s High Priest was… panicking.

Adna caught up, muscled between them and hopped right into the carriage to claim a seat. She sprawled across one side and said, “I’m so tired, guys. I’m going to take this bench, ok?”

She was asleep immediately.

***

“These are the only rubies you retain?” Fede appraised her meager collection with flinty eyes.

“I ate one.” She confessed. “And gave one to house Daliega to pay off a debt.”

“What debt could you possibly incur that an aurora gem was appropriate payment?” He asked, somewhat incredulous.

“I ate the orange gem from your letter.” She began talking faster at his disappointed expression. “I maybe should have told you, but I thought I could handle it with aristocratic etiquette. Also, you aren’t at the temple everyday and I don’t know how to contact you. …Adna thought it was ok.“

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

On cue, the woman stretched out on a pew in the adjoining room ripped a snore that echoed through the temple.

“It is not inexcusable. You are young and we have such an abundance of stones in the temple. I can understand your desensitization to their true value.” He said.

“That’s very generous of you to say.” She shifted her weight in the deliciously comfortable chair. It facilitated lounging, as it was a Papa Bear chair—much too big. She would not complain to Fede that her feet did touch the floor because she hoped he still hadn’t noticed.

He inspected the rubies, using a wicked looking letter opener. “They were in a pouch, you say?”

“On a pile of bloody clothes.” She added hesitantly. “I assumed they had been killed by the forest. But I’ve never seen them do something so…”

He waited for her to finish the sentence. A grim look of resignation took hold as she considered the wording.

“Messy.”

The word landed like a blow to Fede. He closed his eyes and steepled his fingers. “I expected as much. Though, it does not make it any less difficult to hear. Aurora stones are not found, dear child, they are harvested from the dead—our dead. The things people will do to our corpses… It is the true reason we maintain our anonymity. Not some misplaced guilt in our master.” he sighed. “You did not find a body?”

“I figured that the trees use them. Nothing macabre, I think. Just burying them where they needed. I guess I don’t know for certain.” She ended rather lamely. “The only remains I found were ancient skeletons.”

“And your friend? Diadna?” He spat the word with a note of disgust.

“Hey, Fede, I know you dislike her but that’s too much. She is my family.” She stated coldly.

Fede’s look of surprise faded into a warm smile. “In full candor, I’ve grown fond of her the way a shepherd cares for his sheepdog. She has proven she will keep the lamb safe.”

“Well, that’s kind of a cute thing to sa—shit. Am I the lamb?”

Fede ignored the question. “I merely take umbrage with her namesake. ‘Diadna’ is a raging bitch.”

Timbrelle choked on her tea.

“She reigns over Florenta the way Our God once held Nerr. Her worshippers see physical prowess as a means to ascension. Indeed, their nation is known for competitions of strength and stamina. They are holding the Taschik this winter in Florenta, I believe. Perhaps your sheepdog would enjoy the event—that or the Tryptus in Tellcentra. I will arrange something.” He pulled out a piece of paper, wrote on it and then dunked it straight into the candelabra fire. It puffed into smoke almost immediately.

Timbrelle gave him a curious look.

“It is a reminder slip. At the prescribed time it will reform and fall to my desk. Now. Please tell me, what does the ruby you ate do? I can use the ability to narrow down the auror who was killed.” He patted the personnel files to his left. “They’re all recorded as a sort of inventory for the temple. When you die, the congregation will extract them over the course of a weeklong ceremony.”

Timbrelle felt sick. “I ate a ruby pulled from a corpse?”

He laughed. “Countless corpses. It had doubtless been recycled many times previous. Is this worse than eating Our God’s eye?”

“You had to remind me. I’m not just a cannibal I’m a… a… necrobutcher!”

“You are nowhere near the level of a ‘Necrobutcher’. Foul beasts. If you start wearing the skin of your conquests, then I might consider it. For now, stop getting distracted and tell me: what is the ruby capable of?”

She blinked at him. “It does something specific? Oh! Is this the ‘impression’ Loren talked about? Well then. That’s easy. It doesn’t do a damn thing.”

The impression on an aurora gem controls the effect of the stone upon the body. Rubies could be impressed with any number of physical enhancement. Morto’s hand gems had likely been impressed with a basic strength enhancement to allow him to cut the roots he’d shown her. Loren mentioned an “immobility” impression in Morto’s ability set which would explain how he was able to keep Tuna bound in a bear hug when they left the temple for Capri.

“It does nothing, you say? If that were the case, your compulsion to eat it would not have manifested. If it did nothing, it would have been but a simple ruby.” He adopted a look of contemplation. “Child, if you truly cannot connect to the jewels you’ve consumed, something may genuinely be amiss in you. Have you heard of the Preservatory?”

“Yes! I met an Unmade and he invited me.” She said, feeling an odd satisfaction at having known about a topic when asked.

“You didn’t go? I would have thought it your highest priority.” He puzzled.

“Because I had a divine mission in Yost Proper! Nerrus said find the medium so I have been swamped trying to study. Then I take a break and go to a sexy party—low and behold, there it is!” She objected.

“This makes more sense. What was your deadline for the task?” He asked.

“Deadline? I don’t think there was one. Not one that he mentioned.” A panic took over. There had been a deadline? Was it possible the interface hadn’t relayed the time limit? Could it be she’d completed the task too late? What if—

“Then that means it was a lifelong divine mission!” Fede burst into uproarious laughter, even banging the desk with his fist. “How long ago did He assign you this task?”

“Eleven… maybe twelve days ago?” She answered in shock.

Fede clutched his stomach and bent over the desk. “Child. Do you realize you could receive ascension for this?"

“Timbrelle’s getting promoted so soon?” A bleary eyed Adna asked from the door. She made her way to the second chair and flopped over the arm to lounge in it. “Do I get a participation trophy?”

“Good use of the term.” She said to Adna before continuing at Fede. “You mean I could have done it whenever? Is Nerrus going to yank back all his jewels now?”

“Our God would never steal from you.” He brushed away a tear. “Good gods. Where did He find you? I’ve never met someone so sincerely disoriented.”

“I had my entire life to find the Medium? I haven’t slept in a full, Gregorian week. I’ve been going out of my mind for days!” She cried. “I’m liable to start spiraling if I don’t get a nap right away.”

Adna flipped off her heel and petted the floundering woman with a foot as blackened and grimy as the rest of them.

A tsunami of purple aura assailed the room. In a flurry, Timbrelle felt her hand karate chop Adna’s foot away.

“Oh dear. That wasn’t intended for you at all, my dear. I meant only to confirm the claim that I have no power over our friend here. But no matter the power exerted, the command should not have translated to yourself…” he said thoughtfully. “Ever the mystery, our Timbrelle.”

“Speaking of which.” Adna sat up in the chair. “She owes me some secrets. I’ve been really good about waiting.”

“First, I must hear the entirety of your escapades. That jewel has been missing for centuries, its retrieval will be the stuff of legends. Loren will be along to hear it the instant his obligations are handled. Of this I am convinced.” He said.

“I’ll go shower. Don’t let him know about the naked acrobats.” Adna reminded her.

The High Priest dropped his head in his hands.