1 Soul Bound
1.2 Taking Control
1.2.2 An Awakening Epiphany
1.2.2.4 Three is the key
On the other side of the hex they were back in Torello, on the isle of Libri. Only it wasn’t the same Torello. This one didn’t have a city. The river was the same, the mountain to the north was the same, but instead of streets and buildings there were rolling grass plains. The only structures visible were some wooden huts, the tall pinkish crystal tower of light they’d seen back in the Zoo, the hex they’d just come through, and far away she thought she could see another star portal, though whether it was 5 or 6 pointed Kafana couldn’t tell.
Mycroft’s thin angular figure was standing nearby, looking at a series of wooden walls, water jumps, suspended hoops and other obstacles laid out in a circular course about 150 meters in diameter. He waved them over.
Mycroft called loudly towards a nearby building: “Ready for cerebri trial, attempt three.”
To them he added: “Stand back and watch. Hopefully this time he’ll make it all the way around.”
Three grim-hound puppies piled out of the building and lolloped onto the course, bronze collars around their necks flashing in the sunlight. They had shaggy coats the colour of damp charcoal, were nearly a meter high at the shoulder, and each had a single large orange eye in the centre of its forehead.
Alderney: “Those are puppies?”
Mycroft: “Oh yes, born about 6 months ago. Johannes says that Queen Azura originally bred them from Carpathian shepherds dogs. Adult grim-hounds can reach the size of ponies and have a gaze attack you wouldn’t want to get hit by, but they’re very intelligent, which makes them ideal for this experiment.”
The puppies got past the first few obstacles easily enough, keeping balance on a rolling log and springing high into the air to scramble over the wall. They slowed down as they came to the swinging hoop.
Mycroft: “This is the one he gets stuck on. Poor depth perception.”
The puppies spread out, with two wide to either side while the third waited until the timing was right then launched itself nose first through the hoop, legs tight into the body. The process was repeated twice more until all three were through.
Tomsk: “That’s not three creatures, is it?”
“No. Verdre is a cerebus. An example of a cerebri, a thought creature. Good, isn’t he?” chimed in an unexpected voice from behind them.
Johannes had a ruddy complexion, a strong jaw and a high forehead, though he still had plenty of thick curly dark hair. Kafana thought he looked to be in his thirties, but judging by his bent nose and the way he moved, she suspected he hadn’t always been a mage.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Wellington: “Yes, very successful I would say. How soon after birth did you link them into a gestalt with those collars?”
Johannes: “Seven days, so before the bodies first opened their eye. Right from the start Verdre has viewed the world through three eyes. Dyads are easy, but Verdre here is my first successful Triad.”
Alderney: {I wonder, if we used your scroll of taming upon him, whether he’d count as one soul bound item or three?}
Bulgaria: {Given they live on this plain, Alderney, I doubt they’ve been toilet trained. And what would you do once their gaze attack developed and everyone around you ran in fear?}
Mycroft: “Let me introduce you. Alderney, you asked yesterday about transferring enchantments. Doctor Johannes, Grand Master Light, is the man who taught me about it, though I’ve not managed more than a trivial example in practice. He is a good healer and seer, a high master at taming, and the best theoretician of Runic magic in Torello.”
Bulgaria: “On our part, we are but a humble group of adventurers seeking enlightenment. We know far too little about taming and gestalts. And I believe Tomsk has a sword which Wellington designed the runic patterns for, that Doctor Johannes might like to see.”
Tomsk produced his sword and Johannes looked at it through a prism, while Verdre struggled and failed, again and again, to press a recessed button with his nose that was just a bit too high for him to reach by standing on his hind legs.
Johannes delivered his verdict upon the sword: “Interesting turn of phrase, this ‘chance of critical success when enchanting’. It tells us something about the process by which items go to the state of having an enchantment from the state of lacking. Let us essay together the process of converting a state of lacking knowledge into a state of illumination.”
Kafana quietly drew back and took out her violin. While Johannes lectured in the background about the fall of the Hellenic Empire and how Hypatia had given her life to save the contents of the Library of Knossos from Seth’s armies, Kafana used stealth performance to cast a learning buff upon everyone. She realised that she’d included Verdre in her targeting when he stood one body on top of the other two and successfully pressed the button. Ooops! She should probably feel guilty for messing up the experiment, but instead she secretly rooted for the puppy. She played an agility buff, just for Verdre, then turned back to paying attention to Johannes who was still droning on.
Johannes: “...and so we know that the Hellenes considered the spirit to consist of three aspects: the receptive epithymia, which looks inwards at how we wish things to be; the active thymoeides, which looking outward sees that things are not as wished, and wills change; and the central logistikon, which seeks workable solutions to this tension.”
Tomsk: {Yin, Yang and Wuji}
Bulgaria: {Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis}
Alderney: {Heart, Will and Mind}
Bungo: {That quote doesn’t sound quite right. I’d ask what I’m missing, but I’ll be with you soon and you’re obviously busy. Put it on The Burrow?}
Bulgaria answered with a brief {Sure.} before Kafana had a chance to put into words the relief she felt at hearing Bungo’s voice, and to pick a tangential question that was welcoming but also an opportunity to gently signal how much or little he had actually recovered, that he could easily take or choose to pass on. She gave up, wishing the in-game chat channel were able to carry more than just their voices. Bulgaria’s reply, which despite its length had been packed with strong emotion, would just have to do until she saw the tall galoot in person.