Zalia waited patiently at the castle gates as the messenger that was posted there ran off to inform General Faian of her arrival. She tapped her finger repetitively on the side of her leg as she stood, trying to be understanding of the precaution. It was entirely fair, as they couldn’t exactly allow just anyone to walk around the castle grounds, nor should they allow looser safety precautions when it came to specific people.
She felt a brief bit of annoyance as the guard there requested that she cut open her palm to prove she wasn’t a shapechanger, but pushed through that feeling with logic once more. Of course they should check.
The messenger returned a few minutes later to tell Zalia that Faian was in a meeting but would be available within the next half hour. She was fine with waiting a little longer as the guard finally let her through to wander the gardens there.
There was an intriguing mystery around the garden in the castle that Zalia always tried to figure out when she was here. Most of the garden was well kept and tended, obviously looked after. However, there was a patch of plants that were dead and even when reinvigorated by her magic, would soon die once more without constant tending.
It was the place where the Thousand-eyed one had once rested.
No matter what anyone tried, that piece of land always died soon after being healed or replanted. It was a mystery, though one that only occupied her mind when she was in the capital. Thinking about it, she wondered if Nateysta would be able to remove the tiny slice of permanent corruption now that he was back. Her train of thought trundled onwards towards the God-trap, a giant contraption made of hundreds of spinning rings that had the power to trap an Ascendant being.
When she had returned to Endaria from the adventure that had given her the item, she had wanted to find someone to give it to who could work on repairing the thing. It had escaped her mind for a few weeks and when she had pulled it out of her storage after that, she had found it already repaired. She hadn’t taken into account the self-repairing features of Heirloom items. Sure, it was a constructed Heirloom, not a normal one, but it held the same properties all the same.
The only problem she had now was in figuring out how to use the damn thing.
She hadn’t been able to bond to it so far but knew it could take years for that kind of thing to happen. At the very least, she knew it had to be used in a location that was significant to the Ascendant you were trying to trap. If Nateysta hadn’t already gone through the trouble of spending years creating a prison for the particular Ascendant that had created this dead zone in the castle, she might have considered using it here. Assuming the area of dead life was significant to the Thousand-eyed one at all and not just some after-effect of its existence.
Time flew by as Zalia wandered the gardens and a secretary came to retrieve her, leading her through the castle and towards Faian’s office.
The castle had received some major interior relaying, with its function as a space for a council of twenty-two rather than a monarchy of one requiring a much different layout.
When Zalia entered Faian’s office, she had to admire the efficiency with which the space was used. The two file cabinets were within easy reach of the desk, a spare quill and inkwell as well as a stack of sheet paper available on its top. The desk was off to the side, with a comfortable but straight-backed chair sitting in front of it. Most of the rest of the space was taken up by a series of more reclined cushioned chairs around a low wide table with a spinning centre.
There was also a small glass showcase cabinet holding various military medals belonging to Faian, the majority of them granted by the king that Faian had served as General, King Horum. His son, King Alistair had been the last king of Endaria and the one that had almost seen to its end. In a way, he had seen to its end, as Endaria was no longer a kingdom but a nation free.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
General Faian was in her office, sitting in one of the more comfortable seats around the low table, sipping a cup of tea. She dismissed the secretary with a smile and a wave, then gestured for Zalia to be seated.
“Tea?”
Zalia nodded her assent and Faian poured out a cup of tea from a teapot for her. Zalia took it with a murmured thanks, taking a small sip. It was minty with a slightly sweet taste that reminded her of honey. Strange, she hadn’t ever seen a bee in Endaria.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Faian asked.
Zalia took one more sip, savouring the taste. She might not need to eat or drink but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be pleasurable. Might as well get straight to business.
“The Astar. I’m worried about what they might be doing. Ember discovered a new type of demon and with the Astar having been so silent after the invasion, I fear they might be involved in this.”
Faian leaned forwards, not immediately dismissing Zalia’s fears. A good start.
“I see, and has there been any further evidence of Astar involvement other than your suspicions?”
Zalia shook her head.
Faian put down her teacup with a sigh, looking thoughtful.
“I believe something does need to be done about the Astar Zalia, even if it is just to get an explanation. I agree with your suspicions about them, but I can’t allow a strike against them until we have confirmation of their interference with Endaria. Yes, they did capture and torture you and yes, you have confirmed them to be working with the demons through that experience but… what if that was just a splinter group of the Astar as a more varied people?”
Zalia thought about it, had already thought about that very thing. She knew all that, yet couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen. Something was going to happen and she didn’t know what to do to stop it.
“Look, I’m not asking for you to send the army to attack them. All I want is for you to look further into it and… well, just be careful.“
Faian nodded in agreement.
They spoke a little more in detail about what exactly Faian would do. She agreed to convince the civilian council seated to send a Morning’s Shade group to investigate the new demon as they were much better suited to such a task than the military was. Additionally, she was working on anti-teleportation for the capital as well. Zalia couldn’t perform a ritual that large but Faian was convinced that her people would be able to incorporate it into the city’s existing magical defenses.
When all was said and done, Zalia activated the Silver rank ability of Mobility and vanished from the capital.
She appeared moments later, just outside the city limits of Nature’s Reclaim. The anti-teleportation appeared to be working just fine.
While her mind was on teleportation, her thoughts turned to the idea she’d had back in the capital. When mixed with Bitterbalm, Frozen Time gave the Space element to a ritual. Zalia had used it for the very anti-teleportation that had just stopped her from appearing in the middle of her home and instead outside the city gates.
Well, what if she could set up more portals?
The idea was perhaps an absurd one but the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to try. It would require the two plants she had just listed, as well as Manifest for its element of Physical Manifestation of course. Those three in combination should combine to create a ritual that would create a physical manifestation in a space. It was easy enough to alter the ritual so it would create a physical manifestation in a space of a person. What she couldn’t figure out was how to set the destination.
All of the rituals she had used up to this point had a very specific target area with the target area being the very same area that the ritual encompassed. It was easy enough to have the ritual target a person by having them simply stand in it, what she couldn’t figure out was how to get it to send that person to somewhere far, far away.
She was still stuck in those thoughts when she arrived back at home, finding Ember standing there waiting for her, arms crossed and an expression of annoyance on her face. Uh oh.