Forester

He and his team had been searching for a particular mountain ever since they found daylight. He had split them into two teams to search in different directions. Terra Praeta was a whole world and they sure couldn’t search the whole of it. Thankfully he had been briefed extensively about what to expect.

They had spent days and nights searching but were unable to find it. Every morning when they woke up, they had to track themselves down again and start their search from scratch. It was painful repetitive work, but it was necessary. After searching for over three moons, by his estimation, the repetitiveness of their search became second nature, though boring it still was.

On one faithful day, one of the scouts reported seeing a mountain far in the distance. He had described it as impossibly huge and covering half the world. The sun was setting at the time of the report, so they had a general direction. Everyone cleared their camp as quickly as possible and started a long marathon flight that may last many more moons.

They had been attacked by lots of magic beasts since they stepped foot in Terra Praeta, but magic beasts were things they were used to. With the Sovereign’s aura protecting them, nothing could stand in their way. Except, perhaps, a Sage Realm magic beast.

~~~

Hedon

May the Southern Winds bless the sails of the scouts who brought this great news. They had spotted a mountain from afar. The sheer size of it had thrown Hedon off balance in the air. There was nothing of the sort on the world he came from, and it hit deep down inside that he truly was on another planet. Bracing himself, Hedon gathered the remnants of his team and prepared to make the long journey South, toward the mountain. He hoped to find his grandfather’s treasure there, or even along the way.

He caressed in his hand, a bronze disc that shone in the light of the setting sun. His team had found a few treasures along the way, treasures that could potentially make his clan more powerful, or wealthier. Their Elders would know what best to do with the treasures. This bronze disc was one such treasure, but he wouldn’t be ceding it to his Elders. It was his find, and would be his to do as he pleased.

Hedon had promised himself to deal with the royal cur once and for all. He could no longer underestimate the prowess of the bastard. Maybe this new place might hold more powerful treasures. He needed all the power he could lay his hands on to stand on an even field. True. he couldn’t lie to himself that he was more powerful than Jerome. But he had things the cur didn’t. That was the backing of a Great Clan.

~~~

Selene

Team Itakar had been scouring through the mountain range in the north of Terra Praeta. They found many temples and caves left behind by the ancient Ice Fae, retrieving lost artifacts, resources, and secrets that had long been lost to civilization. These things were preserved in ice, frozen for thousands of years!

Ajax had found one of the most powerful artifacts one could find on an adventure as well. Something that Selene was a bit jealous of, if she was being honest with herself; something that could help him escape danger in the blink of an eye. She had also found some good things for herself for which she was grateful. Perhaps there was something inside these mountains that would help her father stabilize his powers in the Saint Realm, she hoped, gazing around at the network of tunnels around her.

The Ice Fae were a strange race of beings. Their heritage could be seen everywhere in the mountains. Some of what they picked up didn’t even make sense to them. There were strange writings on many walls; strange rooms used for Light knows what, strange contraptions used for pumping water into channels in the walls. There was so much to take in and Selene wanted it all.

~~~

Team Fei had been flying North for many cycles now. They seemed to have their eyes set on something deep in the far North, farther North than the mountain range where team Itakar was adventuring. They stopped from time to time to rest but continued northward without spending much time resting.

There was a prize up North they were gunning for. Something far more powerful than any treasure in the South, it seemed — at least outside the mountain.

Jerome opened his eyes and he felt glowing runes light them up. He felt they made his eyes look like tiny suns shining in the dark. Jerome smiled at the thought. The Guardian had explained to him the difference between scripts and runes. He thought they were just different ways of saying the same thing, or if there were any differences at all, they’d be negligible. How wrong he was. Now he knew that if he tried to scan the runes he could feel in his eyes, he’d probably pop a blood vessel in his brain.

Runes were forces of power. They contained so much power that one look at an ancient rune could scar a man for life. They contained authority.

“No, Xerae. They contain ‘Authority’,” Achilles, the Guardian corrected.

“I feel like I’m missing something here.”

“An ‘Authority’ can be likened to a governing law of the universe — a universal principle if you might; a truth or a decree, because it is a creation of a being of power.”

What?!

“Yes, Xerae. You too will get to a Realm where you will create an Authority. Runes can enforce Authorities. They can strengthen, or bend natural law or forces, depending on what they’re meant for. They need neither bindings nor cores for they are ‘power’ themselves!”

“That’s…” Jerome was awestruck. How was that even possible?! How could a symbol contain something as mysterious as a universal law? Or even do this much? And this Authority thing… A ‘decree’, Achilles had said.

“This is as a result of the beings who created them; beings who were so powerful, whole worlds couldn’t contain their presence.”

“Incredible!” Jerome whispered in awe.

“We call them Celestials — though they may have their own names; monstrosities that could swallow whole worlds.”

“That’s even more incredible!” Jerome exclaimed.

“However, many wielders of essence have had access to these runes throughout history. Many have copied them to the extent very few remember where they came from. The runes of the new age are far less powerful than what they used to be. Many could be considered scripts, even. Even given that they still contain the echoes of the powers they once had, the nuance is lost… But that’s a problem for another time, Xerae.”

Jerome couldn’t get the thought out of his mind though. The wider universe just kept getting more mysterious. He had to force his thoughts away from runes and their creators and focus on the Sprouts he’d been spying on for some time now — the Scions of the Great Houses. He had a very good idea where Team Fei was going. Perhaps he should take Csala there too.

“Do you think they can make it here…the Alvrics and the Royal Sprouts?” he asked.

Achilles snorted. “They wouldn’t know what hit them when they find themselves somewhere else. It will be fun to watch. No one can come near Sanctum. You got here because Mother Nature chose you.” There was mirth in his voice.

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“And Csala?” Jerome asked, his voice quite serious.

“Same reason,” Achilles said, toning down the levity in his voice. “I know what you want to ask but I don’t have all the answers; Mother Nature’s ways are profound and mysterious.”

Jerome scoffed. “Some AI you are,” he said.

“When Ilyrrah created Sanctum, he christened it with all of his powers, creating a symbiosis between Mother Nature and Sanctum in the process.”

“That’s…that’s incredible. I never knew that could be done. I thought only natural things could be given names with power.”

“The Royals already have an idea of what’s here to be claimed,” Achilles said, changing the topic. “The Alvrics have no idea, though. There is a treasure in here, Xerae. An artifact that could change the balance of power in your world.”

Jerome’s eyes widened at the realization of Achilles’ words. He held his breath and waited for the AI to finish.

“That artifact was used to stop the rampage of the ancient Fae. I know the myths spread everywhere about the fall of the Fae, and I tell you, the truth is a lot deeper than what is known. In time you would learn of these truths and even be powerful enough to wield the weapon but for now, you need practice.”

“I guess there is still much about the Fae I don’t know,” Jerome said.

“Too much to learn from one memory stone, Xerae, or even in a few days,” Achilles added.

Jerome cleared his throat and stood up from the floor to stretch. He did a little stretching to help his muscles and got ready for work.

“So I need to craft tools and I need to build an oscillator for my clock,” Jerome said.

“Let’s call it a timekeeper shall we, Xerae? I too wish to see this time…clock… thing — timekeeper sounds better. Though I do not see the use of it.”

Jerome chuckled as he walked slowly toward the wall with the portal. I guess I’d be calling it a ‘void bridge’ from now on, he mused. He had a good grasp of how to use it better now.

“The Fae kept time differently when they ruled Terra Praeta,” Achilles said. “They get these water sprites for their children…called them riverseeds — tiny little creatures that were born in rivers. These sprites carried their own atmosphere with them — an atmosphere of water. The consistency of their breathing through specialized gills created tiny vibrations around their watery atmosphere which the fae used to measure time. Of course, all this was possible only for infant riverseeds.”

“Why is that?” Jerome asked.

“It is said that the riverseed sees the world through a different lens than other species do; like they watch everything from an outsider’s perspective. Nothing phases them when they are young; they have no concept of danger or fear. The more they mature, however, the more they understand the dangers of the world around them, and that some things could hurt them, giving rise to spikes in their heart rates and inconsistencies in their breathing.

“Ironically, riverseeds were gifts for fae children. As the fae children grew up, they grew apart from their pet riverseeds. They were just timekeepers after all. Time was kept quite like it was in your former world. Except that a full rotation of Terra Praeta is forty-eight hours, not twenty-four — twice as much as your previous world.”

“Damn! That…would have been a wonderful story, but I guess the fae ruined it by separating children from lovely pets, huh?” Jerome said. “And the adult fae. Didn’t they need to tell time?”

He fingered a cluster of memory stones hovering in his way and turned back to watch as they floated back to their original positions.

“Their minds were more developed,” Achilles said, “which helped them to track the movement of the planet around the sun and other heavenly bodies in space. Hence, they didn’t usually get lost… emphasis on ‘usually’. And they could keep track of time very precisely if I might add.”

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” Jerome chided the AI. Achilles had said that last part with a bit more reverence.

“What?”

“The apple doth fall very near the tree,” Jerome said with a snort.

“I believe you got that wrong, Xerae.”

“Well, just goes to show that reading my mind won’t make you know everything I know,” Jerome said with a smirk. “Oscillators can be used for many things not just in timekeepers, well majorly keeping time,” he quickly added before Achilles threw a rebuttal at him.

“They work on the principles of oscillation: a periodic fluctuation between two things based on changes in energy. Meaning they could help to calculate speed in relation to time. I’m guessing you can see how useful such a thing will be.”

“I find you more and more interesting, Xerae,” Achilles responded, with respect dripping from his voice.

Jerome chuckled. That was all the praise he’d get from the arrogant AI. He was close to the wall now.

“I think my people copied the Fae in many things.”

“Hmm. You’re only just noticing?”

Sarcasm… right. The smugness was back but Jerome ignored it. “Like the memory crystals.” Which the fae called memory stones. He didn’t need anyone to tell him the different changes that were made.

Memory crystals were perfect orbs cut and smoothed out, or faceted. Well, Jerome had never seen a faceted one before. The point was, humans were more artistic with their designs. The fae were not. Or maybe it was just Achilles. Theirs were just rough gem-like stones that lacked symmetry. Jerome placed his hand on the wall preparing to portal himself to another room.

“You should do it without the wall, Xerae.”

He paused for a moment and exhaled loudly. I can do this, he thought. It was a part of progress to do things without support. He took his hand off the wall and stood there with his eyes closed. The void bridge lit up the ground beneath him, with him at the center and he disappeared in a flash.

Jerome appeared in another chamber and sagged to the ground. “That took a lot out of me,” he said breathlessly.

“Think of it as a muscle you must strengthen, Xerae. It gets better with time.”

The new chamber was filled with different tools on shelves, many of which were new and recognizable. Beakers, flasks, and test tubes graced the walls — some of the containers were also shaped into weird forms. Everything was made out of pristine, clear glass. Glass he hadn’t seen in a long time. In fact, he never saw glass in Vorthe. Not even once.

Did that mean there was no glass in Vorthe? Na… He was just kept away from it — which sounded absurd. It was just glass. Well, it could be really expensive. He couldn’t assume that Vorthe knew nothing of glass. Maybe they even called it a different name.

There were many other contraptions in the room he had no name for, or even a frame of reference. The only recognizable items were the laboratory glassware.

“Did you do this, Achilles?”

“Of course, Xerae. It’s better than starting everything from scratch.”

Jerome looked carefully around again and smiled. The place could be called a standard laboratory. The walls were white instead of the usual dark blue of the other chambers and the giant runes on them shone brighter than they did in all the rooms he’d been in. He walked up to a broad off-white raised dais as high and as broad as an island table on one side of the chamber. He felt that the table was carved from one piece of rock as he ran his index finger across the surface. A golden line of light appeared wherever his finger passed through, making for a beautiful display.

“The light can be used as a form of measurement,” Achilles said. “And also to keep track of progress. The Fae used it to teach their children architecture and tactics for battle when they came of age.”

A memory surfaced in Jerome’s mind and he chuckled. “Lightspire ore…refined and stained.”

“Correct, Xerae.”

“Formed thousands of feet below sea level in the Aion sea,” Jerome said.

“Correct again, Xerae,” Achilles praised.

“So it can be used as a substitute for a precision lathe?”

“That and more. Especially with my guidance. The Fae had no creation like me in their time; not until Ilyrrah created me. So I can be of great help in engineering whatever it is you want to create.”

“Shweet… Kinda like my own Holocom.” He grinned. Though he’d prefer it in a chamber that didn’t remind him of a lab.

“Seriously, Xerae.” Achilles’ voice had an underlying note to it that kinda’ raised red flags in his brain. Best not to take things too far.

“Well, I’ll be depending on you then. Let’s get to work,” Jerome said and closed his eyes. He muttered a spell under his breath and tapped the air in front of him. The air rippled with essence.

“I’ll take it from here, Xerae,” Achilles said and a virtual map made from golden bands of light spread out in the air in front of Jerome. They were going to track down all the quartz crystals they could find around Sanctum.