The door at the end of the corridor held even more qi than the one we’d just come through. It opened with only a bit of scratching and groaning, though I could see that most of it functioned mechanically. Once it started opening, water poured through the door into the next room. I sighed and quickly put up a qi barrier to keep it in the corridor. Should have done that earlier. At least the door behind us had closed again, so there would be no new water coming in here.
Carefully, I took down the barrier for an instant, guided myself and Al through, then put it back up. I shook myself out and looked around. It felt great to be back on dry land. Well, on a wet floor, but still. I took another look at the door, then heaved it back into place so I could take down my qi barrier.
I looked around the room we found ourselves in. There was a lot of dust, and a few pieces of furniture lay broken on the ground, but all in all it was in much better condition than the rest of this place. This was probably the air the room had been sealed with, but I still kept our breathing techniques going. Better to be safe than sorry, and who knew what gases might have been released here somewhere.
“It’s good to be able to talk again,” Al said. His voice sounded a bit muffled coming through the screen of darkness qi, but I could hear him well enough.
“It is. How are you holding up?”
“Fine.” He looked around the room and smiled. “Let’s see what we can find here.”
I did a careful sweep with my qi senses, but didn’t notice any qi presences here. The room we were now in must have been a sitting room or something, and two doors led out from it. I picked the one on the left, which opened into a narrow corridor with two small chambers connected to it. Perhaps storage rooms or something, but they were completely empty now.
When we came back, I noticed Al shiver a little. We need to hurry up. I sighed and conjured a small ball of light to illuminate our surroundings. There were remnants of paint on the walls and a few chairs that stood out more sharply, but the room didn’t look much different to my eyes. I gathered some more light qi and sent it to hover around Al, changing the wavelength it emitted until it reached the infrared spectrum. He smiled gratefully as his wet clothing started to dry. My own was still soaked, but I didn’t care to waste the qi on it.
Still keeping close to Al and keeping my technique going, I walked to the second door. This one had a lock, but swung inward when I tried the handle. The room beyond it looked like a living room, with a few armchairs and a low table, all in remarkably good condition. A few ‘windows’ were carved into the wall, but the formations behind them were empty of qi. There were two other doors, though my qi senses told me they both led to only one more room each, and one of them was clearly locked, with qi still present in the locking mechanism.
My attention was drawn to an alcove in the wall. A few holes showed where pictures might have hung, and there was a small pedestal growing out of the wall. A small crescent moon icon, the greenish colors indicating rusted bronze, stood in the center, along with a few equally rusty plaques on the wall. I wasn’t quite sure what those meant. The one to the left was a circle with some stuff around it and what looked like a tail, maybe a meteor? The others were harder to identify. A few incense candles lay toppled over on the surface. Probably a house shrine or something.
Following an impulse, I checked the candle and chose the most intact one, on the left side of the shrine. I set it alight with a pulse of qi. It burned with a small flame, and I felt something stirring in the qi of the room. I took a step back.
The space beside the shrine flickered for a moment, and then a familiar figure stepped out of the air. They looked around and cracked their knuckles. ‘It has been a long time since I’ve seen anyone here …’
“Mior?” I blinked and shot a glance at Al, who was stepping closer to me cautiously. “Did someone give offerings to you here?”
The spirit shrugged. ‘To me, Rijoko, and a few others who were popular here at the time, especially for sailors. But it is good to see you, Inaris. Though I’m not sure taking your little brother on an exploration like this is a wise idea.’
Al took another step forward and bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, honored spirit.”
‘Nevermind that,’ I interjected, ‘I wasn’t planning on this. We need to talk.’
Mior clasped their hands behind their back, standing up straighter. ‘About the attack on you. Yes. I apologize for not anticipating that. I assured your Mother you would not be attacked by spirits.’
‘Wait, when did you talk to Mother?’
‘Some time ago.’ The spirit flicked their hand dismissively. ‘You should know, there is an unwritten agreement among us. Greater Spirits should not attack each other’s presence in the mortal world. Especially not their children. If someone were to break this, the others could unite against them in retaliation.’
‘Is that why the Pioneer hasn’t tried to kill me directly?’ I asked, feeling something click into place. ‘Like that time he came to taunt me when I tried to unlock my bloodline.’
Mior nodded. ‘In essence. Even the affair with the poisoning was pushing it. Unfortunately, Jideia’s position is strong right now, and the others don’t want to fight him. Perhaps that is why he felt sure of himself enough for this attempt.’
‘But that was pretty direct.’ I frowned, then felt a chill down my spine as I considered more carefully. ‘Although, I suppose they never attacked or tried to harm me directly. Just kidnapped Al … Though they did injure me.’
“Let me guess, I’m not covered by this agreement,” Al put in sourly.
‘Indeed. Kidnapping your little brother in order to get to you would bend these rules a lot, but not outright break them. After all, he is just a mortal, unaffiliated with any of us.’
I sighed. ‘And I suppose I was technically the first one to attack one of these spirits. So they could probably say this is my fault.’ I shook my head. ‘You could have at least warned me that they might attack my mind via my dreams.’
Mior frowned and looked at me more closely. ‘You are in something of a unique situation, Little Light. Rijoko’s bloodline gives you power over dreams, but it also opens your mind to them in a way that contains a hidden edge. We assumed that the training you had would be enough to protect you, together with your connection to him. I did not realize the extent of the damage your so-called ‘soul journey’ might have caused.’
I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling a little nauseous. “I did forget everything I might have been taught about mental defenses here,” I said quietly. “Though I must have retained some of the subconscious stuff. Although, mixing episodic memories of another world with subconscious parts of my life here? I can see how that might be a problem … Is that what the Pioneer meant by saying my mind was damaged?”
Al laid a hand on my arm. “Hey, your mind is perfectly fine. I may have more memories of my life here, but I can tell my basic personality didn’t change much. It has to be the same for you. Besides, people forget things all the time, right?”
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I looked to Mior, who shrugged. ‘Yes and no. Without a clearer picture of what happened, I’m unlikely to be much help. It seems clear your mind is somewhat vulnerable, although how much this has to do with some more esoteric aspects of the soul journey is debatable. For now, don’t go to sleep until we know more.’
I grimaced. ‘Can you help me?’
Mior sighed. ‘Perhaps. I could teach both of you some things about defending your mind. But this is not the place. Though perhaps the Sea Queen has left some clues to your soul journeys.’
I nodded and looked around. “Well, since we’re here, let’s explore a bit.”
We turned back to exploring the rest of this suite. The spirit tagged along, with their hands vanishing into the folds of their wispy robe and their feet not leaving any impression in the water covering the floor. I could see this being the inner sanctum of this castle. One of the rooms was mostly empty, only a few stone furnishings that I supposed might be desks left. The other one was guarded by a locked door.
Although the lock still had some qi left, I managed to smother it with a judicious application of darkness affinity qi, long enough for me to pick the lock. It turns out the ability to literally grow picks to order from your fingertips is the most useful thing about shapeshifting. Who knew? Probably a good thing I don’t need to resort to thievery.
I carefully undid my modifications and pushed open the door, emerging into what had to be an office. Its contents were the most well-preserved among the rooms I’d seen so far. The main desk was fashioned out of some dark, obviously robust wood, with several drawers built into it. The paintings on the walls were a bit faded but still pretty clear. Judging from the style, probably religious motifs. Or local myths.
“Hey, this is still readable!” Al had approached the desk and was rifling through its drawers. He held up a stack of what looked like parchment, yellowed with age. The ink was still clearly legible, showing a flowing handwriting using letters that looked only vaguely familiar to me. Like a related version of Common’s alphabet, but not the same.
“That might be more useful if we knew how to read it,” I commented. “Mior, care to help out?”
‘I never did learn to read all the various writings humans developed,’ the spirit said, somehow managing to sound as if they were talking down their nose. ‘I only went to the effort of learning for a few exceptions, and this certainly isn’t one of them.’
I shrugged and put the pages into my storage ring. We could find someone who was able to read them later. It wasn’t like there were no historians in this world, and I had more than enough pull to make it happen. For now, I continued looking around. But just as I made to turn away, I stopped, feeling my gaze drawn to something on the desk. There was a little hint of disturbance in my qi senses. I felt around the desk until I found a catch, and carefully pried it open to reveal a compartment beneath the upper plate. There was a large crystal sitting there, apparently filled with qi.
I pushed my sleeve over my hand before I took it out and looked more closely. The qi matrix in the crystal was intricate, clearly marking it as an information storage device. I hadn’t had much experience with those, but I could see that the formation matrix was a little degraded. It should still be salvageable, though. I wonder what this holds?
I straightened up and turned to Al and Mior, who were watching curiously. Could it be dangerous? I don’t think so. But it may have valuable information and I can’t ask one of them to do it. “Here goes.”
I touched the storage device and focused on my qi, sending a little bit of it out into the container. Something stirred there for a long moment. It almost seemed like whatever enchantment it held was analyzing my qi, or perhaps just struggling to get going.
Then the onslaught started. I winced as information appeared in my mind like someone had shoved it inside wrapped in burning coals. The knowledge felt both spiky and blurred. I tried to ignore the pain and discomfort and focus on the content, but it was hard. A few parts were in a language I didn’t understand, while others were conveyed as concepts and images. But those felt distorted, with chunks missing.
It stopped, and I bent over and heaved. Only a bit of spit came out. I straightened up, wiping my mouth, distantly glad I didn’t vomit. But most of my mind was still occupied trying to make sense of the stored information and rough transfer.
“Well, damn,” I said a moment later, trying to collect myself. “Whatever I may have imagined about Inera, this wasn’t it.”
Al looked at me with wide eyes, an excited smile spreading over his face. “What did you learn? Was that her diary or something?”
I looked at the storage crystal in my hands. Accessing it seemed to have made things worse. The qi felt a bit uneven now, the matrix more obviously corrupted. I wouldn’t want to try reading it again.
“Could be,” I answered. “It could also have been a message she left for her successor.” I frowned in thought. Some of the impressions seemed like that, but I wasn’t sure. “I don’t know, but it had some really interesting information. She really was the first Leri to go on a soul journey, though it wasn’t by choice or anything.”
“Really? How did that happen?”
“Well, she didn’t see it as a good thing. From the impression I get, it was a curse. Like an actual curse.” I turned to look at Mior. “I get the impression that there is … something in a wider universe. Or multiverse, maybe. Higher beings beyond the Greater Spirits?”
Mior sighed and nodded, eyebrows drawn downward. ‘Yes. We don’t know much about that, but there is something beyond this world, and a power beyond qi. There are a few beings who travel between worlds. They are little more than shadows even to us spirits. None of us understand the workings of connecting worlds, perhaps no one can. Don’t try; it is beyond your understanding, and you will never make sense of it.’ They tilted their head. ‘So you ancestor was noticed by one of them?’
I nodded, looking down at the crystal. ‘Yes. A woman, maybe? That’s an impression, but I’m really not sure.’ I shook my head. ‘This is definitely hereditary, or carried by qi signature or something. It may have been watered down in time, with people retaining more of their original memories. Or not. But it’s a premeditated, intentional mechanic.’
“I’m not sure if that’s cool or scary,” Al muttered.
I shook my head. “Well, that’s all we’re going to find here. Let’s go. There’s a back way out from the other room.”
We quickly gathered everything that might be of value before leaving the room. I barely saw our surroundings, still reeling a bit from the information transfer. There was something else tickling at the edge of my mind, but I couldn’t pin it down. When we reached the other room, I took aside a seemingly random piece of scattered furniture and then used the hidden lever. I needed to put a lot of strength into it, and the lever creaked alarmingly, but finally a door built into the back wall swung open, revealing a cave-like tunnel.
I’d just stepped through it, feeling for the crystal in a pocket of my robe, when I stopped. I felt like someone just hit me over the head with a lightbulb. “Spirits, I’m an idiot.”
Al stopped and looked back, while Mior crossed their arms and raised an eyebrow. ‘Are we supposed to contradict you here?’
I shook my head, not bothering with banter. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. Qi can store information, right? Like that crystal.”
“Yes, and?” Al shifted his weight to the other foot, tugging on his robe.
“And I had a perfect memory before my soul journey! Like other people here. Something that only works on Aran. Obviously, that’s because of qi. The way it seeps into everyone. Since everyone cultivates here. Or maybe it would just do that on its own. Anyway, it’s clear that qi acts as some sort of external storage, or extending the memory network in the brains of some people.” I tapped my fingers, frowning in thought. “Maybe one needs to have sufficient cognitive capability, or ‘processing power’, to make that work.”
I blinked and finally started walking again, watching the other two’s surprised expressions. Al looked like he was deep in thought, while Mior seemed less affected by this, more amused at my behavior.
“That means,” I mused, “I may be able to get my memories back. At least, there’s a chance they’re still there, somewhere. Maybe they’re overwritten, or maybe access to them was just … shifted.”
‘I couldn’t help you with that, Little Light,’ Mior finally said. ‘This is a different level. But your conclusion seems well-reasoned.’
I nodded absently, still trying to come to grips with my epiphany. It probably influenced quite a few other things I’d been confused by before. “Do you think that has an influence on my apparent vulnerability? I know I forgot stuff, and there may be holes or … seams or whatever … in my mind that makes it easier to target. But maybe there’s an effect of this stuff that has to do with soul journeys.”
Mior nodded. ‘That could very well be.’
Al sighed. “This is all very interesting, but are you sure we’re going the right way here?”
I looked around, absentmindedly ending our breathing techniques, which we shouldn’t need anymore. We were still in a tunnel-like cave, which had just started curving upwards. We’d already passed one branching in the tunnel and I could see another up ahead. But I had some vague impressions of this path from the stored information I’d gotten. “This should be right.”
We fell silent and continued walking.