Ch: 174 Let Your Soul Glow
“It seems to have been in place for an extended period… without further investigation I cannot speculate further.” Amicus said firmly, in the dukes’ expansive sitting room.
The chamber was packed with august persons, duchess Sheng, dukes Holoman, Rummel, Mubarak, Countess Habibi and a number of others were all around, listening closely. The barons, earls and lesser nobles were doing their best to make an impression and climb socially, rather than really paying attention.
“Before any such undertaking I will insist on a picked team to support me in my work. Lord Ali, master Khan, journeyman Lubu from Port Clement will all be on my list.” The old mage spoke with confidence and seemed excited by the prospect.
“Not Tawny’s band of characters? I’d think they would be at the top of any such list.” Julius called out with a grin. “I recommend them!”
“The Sparrowhawks, The Fist and Ginger Dreadnought are all well suited to dealing with monsters and the restless dead. This however, will be a detailed and complex magical investigation…” Amicus shook his head in frustration. “That boy and his companions are too unpredictable. This will be a delicate operation, I’m going to be picking a lock, not bashing down a door.”
“My boy Rolf says he is a dab hand with locks too…” Belen said with a smirk. Amicus mostly ignored Leopold’s wisecrack, favoring him with a weak smile.
“The shades and wights roaming the swamps between Rummel and Shiraz are not zombies or ghosts.” The skinny wizard smiled and nodded to the gathered nobles, revealing his desperate need to lecture an audience of students.
“They are dreams, cast into the world by an entity of profound power, who may, or may not be aware of the problem, or may be a victim of some misdeed or accident. It could also be that we will face a malign entity from beyond. Adding in a chaotic element, particularly the ‘mad wizard’ you are all agog over, would be very risky.”
He ran his eyes over the crowd slowly, unfurling a little of his Pedant’s Tutelage gift and letting it embrace the lords and ladies. “I have recently completed Contract with Marduk, the lost god of Knowledge, lately returned to the realms of man. He has granted me certain insights and some access to deeper secrets which may reveal the truth of this…”
He grinned happily. “If all else fails, we can always hurl that boy at it and see what happens.”
The audience was rapt now, a few were even taking notes… ‘This new gift is impressive…’ He thought, while winding the lords deeper into his voice and aura.
“I hear a few of you question the value of granting literacy to our orphans… let’s discuss that as a class, shall we?”
#
“It’s quiet today…” Gary remarked, looking out over the still and still soggy garden, glowing wetly under watery sunshine. It was moist out, even the steam from the baths drooped languidly in the humid air.
“All the ladies are at a big meeting at the palace… super secret stuff.” Becky murmured, lounging on a deck chair in the bikini she’d demanded he make, after seeing Shai’s.
“Off topic, Becks… you guys always swam naked before right? So why all the interest in swimwear? Jennah is here, going over my sketches and Shai’s swimsuit like they were treasure maps.” He grumbled quietly.
“You guys rode around town leading a herd of horses in the rain, dressed like that…” Becky complained. “On a rainy day, people do two things, look out the windows and gossip. Guess what they saw and gossipped about.”
“Oh…” Gary mumbled.
“Shai is kind of a style setter in the commons, so there was a lot of interest, especially with summer coming. Jennah modeled her version for a few of the ladies this morning in the taproom, guess who’s branching out into ‘swimwear’?” Becky asked with glee. That’s why I wanted to get in on the trend early.” Smugness came off in waves from the awful girl, as she lounged in the sun, in a bikini of bright scarlet with yellow ties.
“Nobody’s asked about my shorts…” Gary complained, which Becky ignored in favor of a light nap.
“Gary…” Angie said, face buried in a cushion, on the other chaise lounge. She was face down with her top untied, while she lectured him. “Your shorts are ludicrous and slightly crass; I think you know that. These ‘bikini’ things are delightfully sassy and sexy, however.” She said, while re-tying her top, this was going to require her full attention…
“Are your outbursts of outrageous behavior a coping mechanism, related to your strange condition and childhood?” She rolled over to sun the front side, while continuing to analyze the poor fool.
“I spoke with lady Thirp at length last night, she has concerns about your mental health and social adaptation.”
“Teenage bikini girl psychologist is where I draw the line. I’m going down to the workshop, to make something not even slightly sexy… gotta clear my head!” He grumbled as he stalked off, spangled shorts glinting in the sunshine.
#
Gary was sitting at the workbench, braiding a long plait of horsehair, donated by Annie; a thick, shiny lock from her own luscious, flowing mane. The wide, complex, braid of delicately knotted hair slowly took shape, as he strung beads and ornaments in its structure. Two perfect white pearls gleamed brilliantly, set on either side of an iridescent and intricately carved, black and green pearl the size of a large pea. A few discs and beads of mangrove wood gleamed pale ivory in the surprisingly intricate piece. A silver buckle revealed the construct to be a collar for a large pet, or something of the sort.
“So what is it?” The girls asked in chorus as the song ended. They were sitting behind him watching and listening as he sang his silly song about an octopus's garden.
“Ghaa!” He shouted, bobbling his creation between his hands in startlement. When he turned around, the girls had thrown robes over themselves, clingy, nearly transparent numbers no doubt conjured by Becky. They were having a tea party with the kids and Dannyl; all of whom seemed to be highly amused by his reaction.
“How long have you goons been back there?” He asked, glaring at the little ones in particular.
“We came down when you did ‘Under Tha Sea’!” Amy chirped happily.
“We’ve been down a while… Like you said, it’s quiet out.” Angie said calmly. “Exactly how many songs about drowning or being under water do you know?”
“Oh, a fair few…” He mumbled happily, still toying with his creation. Gary printed the description and passed it over with a smile.
The Diver’s Pearl, enchanted collar. Spiritual enchantment. Rank: Iron.
Quality: Rare.
Effect: Amphibiosity
This enchanted choker allows the wearer to ‘breathe’ underwater for a limited time. For a low ongoing mana and stamina cost, the wearer will exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide through their skin. The wearer should refrain from attempting to breathe normally underwater without training.
Effect: The Life Aquatic
If the wearer can master their natural breathing impulse and learn to cycle water through their lungs, ongoing mana and stamina cost will be reduced to very low.
“That’s… crazy, Gary.” Becky mumbled softly. “Your gift changed too, this reads more like a person writing. Before it was all broken and weird.”
“Yeah, I’m trying to pull myself together a little more. It’s a process. Come on, I’m gonna try this out at the pier. Esperanza’s back in town, I always wanted to swim with Falco in the river!”
Shai came jingling up with even more pep in her step than usual; she joined the procession headed to the pier and hugged up to Gary with a naughty giggle.
“I hae just helped Jennah tae begin her new line… Ye shall enjoy the benefits as well, boy of mine!” She cooed happily.
“I guess it was a productive meeting?” He asked mildly, while making obvious attempts to peer down her top.
She swatted him away with a giggle that made his toes tingle. “Naughty boys dinnae get rewards… Do we go to visit Esperanza?” She asked, finally realizing that they were on the move.
“Ranza’s in the craft ward trading, we’re going to visit Falco and try a new toy. That water breathing enchantment I’ve been working on.” He said with a cheery wink.
While they walked, he put a wide canvas belt around his hips, it held pouches with iron ingots totaling nearly ten pounds. He buckled a dark collar ornamented with beads and pearls around his throat, shucked down to his silly shorts and slipped into the water with an excited and chittering Falco.
The surface closed over him and a cool, fizzy sensation percolated over his skin as the device took effect. A swim bar appeared in his vision, showing his current depth, temperature and oxygen saturation. The bar hovered at ninety nine percent as his mana and stamina ticked along at the same level. It felt like he was just a taking a little slice off his regeneration rate.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
It took a few seconds for him to land on the soft, silty bottom. The cold, clear depths and the sparkling sunlight ten yards above were enchanting. A few fish schooled among the grasses and water weeds down on the bottom. He took a single step and the world immediately became a clouded morass of impenetrable darkness.
‘Oh, right…’ He thought, in some disappointment.
#
Falco was having fun, at least. He swam and jumped to entertain the kids, while keeping an eye on the lunatic landwalker down below. After a few minutes, when the boy didn’t come up, Falco dove to check on the poor thing.
He was struggling along, barely floating and paddling around in wonder, just above a cloud of disturbed silt. ‘Are you well? You treemonkeys don’t usually thrive down here…’ He sang to the goofy boy. Gary was mute down here of course, but he gave the traditional monkey thumbs up that meant all was well.
#
Gary Pocketed! a few weights and fiddled around to find neutral buoyancy so he could get above the silt. He was still no great swimmer, but paddling around under the surface was pretty cool. A few brave souls like Dannyl and Wilford had taken to deep diving in his pool, but this felt different. As he swam around more confidently, it took a little more mana and stamina to keep him going. Still well below his regeneration rate.
He did a few subaquatic thumbnail calculations and guessed Shai could use his toy for a half hour safely… A baseline human at normal rank, less than five minutes before the theoretical person would run out of mana and stamina.
‘Not an earthshaking innovation…’ He mumbled internally. Satisfied with his experiment, he Pocketed! his weights one by one and rose to the surface. He dragged himself up on the pier and sprawled out to dry.
“Mlgblupbephsyhh!” He spewed river all over the deck when he dropped his enchantment and his lungs tried to get back to work.
A few uncomfortable minutes later he sat back up and grinned weakly. “Well, that worked… gotta remember to clear the lungs before trying to breathe again.” He coughed. “Anybody else wanna try?”
“Nahh, I’m good…” Becky had looked excited and eager, until the retching and coughing started. “Suddenly, it seems less fun.”
Even Dannyl was not feeling adventurous. “Hmph… well, more water breathing for me then.”
#
Khan had a lot of administrative work to do, it was not his strong suit. Fortunately, things had been largely quiet around the region lately, if one discounted the weirdness. He had a scant dozen requests and monster reports outstanding; there were a couple he fancied for himself and Luna. One should keep sharp, hanging out with those kids could dull a man’s edge… not his, some other man’s.
He finished setting up the notice board, made his last few assignments and headed off home.
He could still taste that feeling, of being home. Annie’s heightened senses and magical sensitivities echoed in his mind, he could feel her warm presence in his breast, guiding him home, over the familiar streets.
Wheatford was shiny and clean, even more than usual, still damp from the rain. A fog was rising, smelling of sun warmed earth and green growing things and something more.
Annie felt it too, a profound upwelling of a potent force, not exactly magical, something else. He rushed home sensing that was the epicenter of whatever was going on.
#
Becky heard a soft knock at the door just around sundown, at the private entrance. She slid the peep hole for a look and found no one; she shut the little hatch and a moment later the knock came again. Three sharp, firm raps, low down on the door. She pulled the heavy teak and bronze panel back into its slot with a heave…
“Rocky?” Her voice raised in surprise.
“I can’t answer to that, Becky… it’s a metaphysical thing. Not having a name is part of who I am.” The little man of clay, grass and small stones stood confidently in his pebbleshoes on the threshold. He doffed his fungus tricorn and shrugged his polypore epaulets at her.
“Are you going to invite me in?”
“Oh, sorry, please come in… Gary and Shai are… I don’t know where they are.” She stammered, caught completely flat footed by his sudden appearance.
“Oh that’s fine, I came to see Axio, part of him has been lingering here. I think he’s moldering in a damp corner of your medicinal moss and fungus beds.”
“We have moss and fungus beds?” Becky took a deep breath and sighed. “You have a standing invitation, welcome unnamed entity.”
“Oh, that is awkward. Very well, as long as we understand, rocky… It is not a name, but you may gain my attention by saying it.” He rumbled and grumbled, but Becky decided he sounded pretty ok with the compromise.
#
Amicus Fawn was in the private bath at The boy’s inn, luxuriating in the hot water and conversing with a dryad of the plum grove and an elder ent that was extraordinary, even by his kind’s standards.
“You were a confidante of the boy’s predecessor? Interesting, would you tell us about him?” Axio asked, in his slightly high and squeaky voice. He sounded for all the world, like two mushroom stems rubbing together.
“Zygnos… I suppose he does have a part to play in this. His legacy is a big part of our current… Predicament? Opportunity? Crisis? Renaissance?” He shrugged helplessly at the ancient fungus.
“I met Zygnos, when I was but a sprout of thirty and he, a dewy young lad of twenty seven…” Amicus began with a salacious smile.
“I slung my long, luscious curls, glistening with the rare emollients and conditioners old Muktar brewed up just for me. Most considered alchemy little more than a craft, ignoring the subtleties and excellent hair treatments that the art could encompass.” Amicus intoned, with a breathless intensity.
“The object of my sultry display was a delicious young almond eyed man with deep olive skin and a piercing dark gaze…” Axio coughed expressively, when the little ones came bouncing into the bath.
“Is it story time?” Amy demanded, fixing Amicus with a stare, she had an almost supernatural sense for stories she should not be listening to…
“I was just telling the tale of how I met Zygnos, he was Gary’s… predecessor is as good a word as we have, though there are subtle... Never mind, Once upon a time, when I was a young mage freshly into the college, wet behind the ears and possessing shining curls that…” The glib old mage spent a good amount of time describing the splendid hairdo of his younger days.
“Is there a story here or is this an attempt to sell hair products?” Maple asked with a wry smile.
Amicus coughed awkwardly and resumed his tale, with fewer digressions into hairstyles.
“There in the quad I met the most extraordinary young man, only a year or two younger than I was at the time. He was small and slender with almond eyes and a swooping crest of hair that…” Maple tapped her iron hard fingers on the stones of the curb gently.
“Really, his remarkable pompadour was what began our friendship. He admired my ‘Jerry Curl’ as he called it… I never did find out who ‘Jerry’ was…”
Amicus smiled, his dark, shining face lost in fond remembrance.
“I met him a few weeks after he got here, when Naiomi and Otho discovered he was literate and rather good with numbers, that opened some doors for a grown man foundling. They arranged an identity, a new, non fecal name, gave him a job doing the accounts and ledgers for the temples of Joy and Healer and a backstory to cover his mysterious origins. He made a life for himself and enrolled himself in the college, with Naiomi’s sponsorship to further his education and learn about this world.”
The old mage sipped his tea and sighed. “Dang Tran Duong, who we came to know as Zygnos Matteus, due to an unfortunate intersection of his name and the local language… Became a skilled and puissant mage, by any measure. I remain startled to this day, by some of the insights and discoveries he made.” His smile widened at those long forgotten memories.
“I was introduced to him by Naiomi, in an attempt to use my gift for speech and conversation to interrogate his mysterious origin out of the poor fellow. Secrets I kept… until today. Zygnos was, like Gary, a man lost in time, space and the limitless void. He crashed to earth near here for reasons none can explain.”
“Oh, that was my fault.” A small mannikin of clay, grass and stones said mildly, standing in the doorway to the baths.
“Rocky!” All the kids shouted in unison, joy filling their voices.
“Children, hello again, sorry to interrupt, but you did say ‘reasons none can explain’ I couldn’t resist that.” The spirit in a body of earth and soil said, with a quartz pebble grin.
“A few turnings of the seasons ago, one of those wretched undead ziggurat things paused for a moment and tried to summon a… well little ears are listening, let’s say it was something nasty and leave it at that… Shai would be very cross with me…”
He slipped into the bath with a sigh.
“In any case I broke the creature’s ritual, which brought that druid boy into this world as it unwound. Since only one being can occupy a rent in the fabric of the void, the wretched thing detonated in a very satisfying way, leaving a moist newborn lying there.”
“You didn’t help him?” Amy asked in disapproval.
“I have little to do with mortals of any kind, for weal or woe, sweet Amy. This is the first time I have ever taken physical form of my own volition and only Shai has ever called me from my grotto with her music and dance.” He shrugged.
“Unless something catches my attention, you are as far beneath my notice as any worm or beetle crawling over my stones… no offense.”
“Don’t be a butt rocky.” Amy said firmly.
“I don’t have a butt, Amy. In any case, I came to speak with Axio, on a matter of mutual concern, but I find this tale enlightening, do go on, young mortal.” He said to Amicus, on the sound of stones settling in for a good long wait.
“Amicus Fawn, this entity is without a name, please meet the spirit of these stoney hills and valleys.” Axio said mildly.
“rocky.” He said softly, with the sound of a pebble rolling in a stream. “It’s not my name… but ok.”
Maple let out a giggle of pure, sweet delight and sighed. “So many wonders…. A group of young druids, others who are like druids though born of flesh, a dryad and two elder spirits of the land and soil all floating in a bath together… you should really be taking notes, young mage.”
“That will not be an issue, the god Knowledge has been generous to this old man.” He giggled softly to himself. “I am recording a mental transcript of this gathering even as we sit here… now, where did I leave my tale…? Perhaps I should use this delightful mental gift to relate the story as he told it to me..” The old man sighed and closed his eyes with a melancholy smile.
“Beginnings tell us as much as endings do, I find.”
#
Another late night working in uncle Deng’s pho restaurant was coming to an end and Dang was exhausted. Accounting class at the community college started in six hours… Dang had been doing the books for uncle Deng’s shop since he was twelve, now getting a certification in the field would open doors that had always been closed to a kid from little Saigon with an exotic name. He flopped down in the only cool spot in the steamy shop for a break and a bit of study. He wedged his trusty screwdriver in the freezer lock for ‘safety’ and sat down on a bucket of frozen chicken feet for a read.
He never heard the screwdriver slip out of the mechanism, and was lost in ‘Principles of Cost Accounting’ while the heavy door clicked shut…
Dang Tran Duong remembered little of the following hours, he didn’t even know when he slipped unconscious, curled up among the beef bones.
He woke in a sunny meadow, naked, confused and covered with sticky, fast evaporating ooze, a shallow crater in the soil embraced his curled and naked form. He sat up and found himself surrounded by the blasted remnants of some strange picnic… at least it smelled that way.
The air was sweet and clean, under the choking pall of burnt, rotten meat that clung to the once pleasant meadow. Lines in chalk and what looked like salt were scrawled all over the little glade, along with burnt out candles, small piles of unidentifiable objects and a light scattering of decayed flesh.
The epicenter of the strange scene was a low mound of cloth draped… something near his crater. He half crawled out of the shallow hole and made his unsteady way to the odd pile. When he twitched the reeking cloth away, all he found was a small pile of decaying human hands.
“Fuck fuck fuck!” He shouted in rage and horror. “I’m braindead and being fed through tubes… that’s it!” He ran off into his hallucination, naked and angry.
He ran until he fell, exhausted to the forest loam and slept for an unknowable length of time. He woke and started shambling through the nightmare forest that seemed to stretch forever in every direction.
Sunset revealed the lights of a town on a low hillside not too far away, so he began his long, harrowing stumble through the terrible dark forest, which turned out to be a managed forest, surrounding a very pleasant walled city.
He dashed out of the orchard and past a number of small stalls and carts pelting for the gate and safety… Right until he bumped face first into an armored gate guard with a stout cudgel.
Dang came to, in the temple of Healer, even more confused than before. How can you get beat up and knocked out cold in a hallucination?
“Hello, young man, My name is Naiomi, head priestess of this temple to Dana, healer of wounds and balm in man’s troubles… would you like to tell me what could cause a stranger to charge the city gates, alone and completely nude?”
The beautiful, mature woman said with a smile that felt warm and very wise. She settled her golden robes and perched on a stool beside the hard bed and crisp sheets he was sprawled in.
“This is the weirdest hallucination…” He muttered. Feeling his head and face where the guy with the club had whacked him.
“Guard Klimt is very skilled, he left no serious injuries in subduing you… it was very foolish for an unContracted man to attack a copper rank guardsman, certainly in these times.” She said with some displeasure.
“Perhaps you should start with your name.”
He groaned and sat up, feeling… better. “Dang Tran Duong.” He answered. “Where is this place, where am I?”
The woman just glared at him furiously. “If that is some joke or obscenity where you come from, it is in very poor taste. I asked for your name.”
“I told you, my name is Dang Tran Duong.” He grumbled. “My friends call me Z, cause that’s my ride, the only candy apple red 350 Z in… oh… shit…”
The fog began to clear as he spoke to this woman, he could feel his mouth moving through the familiar syllables of his name and then suddenly switch gears. With his fingers to his lips he spoke again.
“I’m not speaking english… not at all… neither are you…”
“I’m going to leave you alone for a few minutes to gather your thoughts, young man. When I return please try to make sense.” The woman stood and exited silently, moving with a flowing, dance-like grace that was just as foreign as the language he had found himself speaking.
“Aww man… am I dead?” He wondered.
#