Caleb jerked awake as the door to his cell swung open. He wiped the drool from his mouth as two of the silk soldiers stepped inside, glancing to each other warily before looking to him. He wiped the drool from his mouth and backed away slightly, but the soldiers raised their hands in a display of peace. Then one stepped forward, and gently undid his restraints.
Caleb looked at the man confused, before looking to the other soldier who simply offered a polite nod, then gestured to the still open exit. Caleb stood slowly, then looked between both of them as he started forwards and stepped outside.
Another person stood waiting; this man dressed in different much darker silk attire, in the style of a singular robe. He looked somewhat like a priest. The man smiled as Caleb walked up to him then bowed politely.
[The Lady is very sorry for her ignorance, Mr deity]
“Uh… wait what?”
[She apologises for any harm caused by her or her people]
“Wait, I don’t- I’m confused”
[That’s ok. All will be explained. Now, if you’d please follow me to the Lady’s meeting chamber Mr deity, the others are already waiting]
“Um, ok?”
The robed man nodded politely then turned and began to walk away. Caleb followed behind the man, glancing back to the soldiers behind who closed the door to the cell, then rushed away. He frowned, then turned back to follow the man.
He had no idea what was going on, but couldn’t he just, run away right now? Probably not, and if he did, where would he go? Or was that just what they wanted him to think? Or maybe they wanted him to run off so they’d have a n excuse to execute him if he did.
That seemed a bit far-fetched, but why had they suddenly changed their tune? It’s only been…wait, how long had he been out?
“Tutorial check” he whispered.
[Tutorial objective: Survive]
[Time left: 32 hrs 21 mins 56 secs]
He stared at the screens in surprise. He’d been asleep for five and a half hours nearly. Whatever had messed with his head had definitely taken a lot out of him. And the run from the scorpion too.
He continued following the man as they made their way through the corridors. They were nice, the edges where the wall meet the ceiling and floor inscribed with beautifully intricate patterns. The lights were different than in the cells too, softer, richer in warmth.
The corridors were quite long as well. He definitely hadn’t seen any building this big. Were they underground? That made a lot of sense for a desert like this actually.
As they continued through the building, he noticed other people inside, sparing glances at him and whispering. He caught small snippets of there whispers and heard one word repeated over and over.
Deity.
He couldn’t understand it. It seemed less and less like a ploy the more workers he caught whispering about it. But then did they actually think he was a deity? That just seemed insane. He hadn’t done anything besides sit in a cell. Had it been one of the others?
Had they said something that’d been misinterpreted? Or somehow pulled off some incredible magic out of nowhere? It was impossible for him to know and he was afraid to ask questions and ruin things if this was a plan.
Guess I just follow this guy and pray then.
They turned a corner and went up some steps. They reached the top and entered a long, even fancier looking hall with a silk carpet underfoot. At the far end of the hall, a large set of double wooden doors engraved with the same strange markings he’d seen everywhere stood.
Two of the soldiers stood outside, glancing to each other, before looking to him and the robed man warily.
[Reverend Wsikztho. Mr deity] one of the men nodded, offering a polite bow to the Reverend then to him. The other man bowed too and then together they opened the doors. The first thing that Caleb noticed was the light.
He flinched away from it, confused at the cool air that blew over him along with the harsh, daylight of the desert that beat upon him again. But it didn’t feel hot, simply warm. The next thing he noticed was the smell. It wasn’t a bad scent, just a strong one. It smelt like sage and lavender yet different somehow, both sweeter and more savoury in the wrong ways.
[Caleb!] a familiar voice said. As his eyes adjusted he dropped his arm, and looked around the room. The room was large and circular, with a ring of tinted glass around the ceiling that let light stream in from above.
The walls were lined with bookshelves and stacked high with scrolls. In the centre of the room sat Kana and an older lady dressed in all black. They sat at a large table made of stone and metal, the metallic parts sanded down perfectly, and the
“Hey, Kana” Caleb mumbled, glancing to the old woman. “Uh… hello. What’s going on?”
[Have a seat first young one] the older lady said, smiling warmly at him as she gesture to a seat. He nodded, and took the seat across from Kana, who looked to him excitedly before sipping on her tea.
[Would you like tea too?]
“Yes please” he nodded politely. The woman gestured for the man to go get it, and the man retreated into a side door by the main entrance Caleb hadn’t even noticed. He looked back from the door to the woman and then to Kana.
“So…?”
[You were right Caleb. These people are here to help us] Kana said. He frowned and looked back to the older woman.
“Wait you know about the tutorial?” he said, turning to the lady. She nodded politely, his eyes widened. He hadn’t expected to be right, but it was good. Really good actually. “If you don’t mind me asking what do you know about… everything? About what brought us here?”
[We’ll wait for your partners to arrive. For now, please drink]
He jumped slightly as the robed man from before set tea down in front of him and smiled warmly. He hadn’t heard the man’s footsteps at all.
Must be some weird magic. he thought. Cool. Freaky but cool.
“Thank you” he said, to the man, then to the old lady before taking a sip. The tea tasted like a mixture of extremely diluted honey water. There was barely any flavour, but he wasn’t going to complain. Water was water and he was pretty thirsty.
He downed half the drink then set it down as the large wooden doors opened again.
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A robed woman stepped inside this time, with Sierra in tow, who flinched at the light then looked at them confused. He frowned at the robed woman who seemed unaffected by the change in light. The guy who’d led him inside hadn’t flinched at the change in light either.
[Sierra! Come, sit] Kana said excited. Sierra glanced between them confused, and clearly on edge but made her way forwards and took her seat next to Kana. She looked across the table to Caleb, acknowledging him, then looked to the older woman. Caleb frowned as he watched her. In the brighter light it was clear she’d been crying. He felt a pang of pity.
“What’s happening? Why’re the guards suddenly so friendly?” Sierra said, looking between the two of them.
[Don’t worry, Mrs Nessaiea is going to explain once Ryan shows up]
Sierra looked to the old lady and gave a small nod of recognition.
[Tea?] Nessaiea asked.
“Ok” Sierra nodded, still wary. Her guide disappeared into the side door too, her movements completely soundless. She appeared only a few seconds later and set the tea down in front of Sierra before stepping back to the very edge of the room, back to the bookcase.
He glanced behind him, and the robed man who’d. He looked back to the old lady, who still smiled at him warmly, then to the others. Sierra was still wary, and Kana was less cheery now, having picked up on the others’ demeanour.
The situation made him feel slightly uneasy. It was just plain weird. Or maybe he was just looking too deeply into things?
The doors opened again and a robed man walked in, followed by Ryan, who shielded his eyes from the light. When he removed his arm, Caleb winced. Ryan had a dried cut on the side of his face and a black eye.
[Oh dear. Are you alright young one] Nessaiea said as he entered
Ryan nodded as he looked to the others, clearly nervous.
[I’m sorry our watchmen were so tough] Nessaiea said. [Please sit. Adnrqio, get him some tea, and a towel to clean his face]
Ryan stepped forward slowly, limping slightly, before taking a seat next to Caleb. He glanced around the room quickly, looking over all the scrolls before looking to the others.
[You okay?] Kana asked. Ryan nodded again, still not saying anything.
[Okay. Now that we’re all here, firstly I would like to apologise on behalf of the Lady. She has newly become our leader after her father succumbed to the rot and she can be overly aggressive at times. I apologise] Nessaiea said. [She will be joining us later to apologise in person if that’s ok with you, but for now, I’ve told her to remain away from you lest we anger you]
“Anger us?” Sierra said confused. “I don’t understand. Why do you care if you anger us?”
[Apologies, the ancient texts are sometimes fanciful and very vague. I was unsure of it at first, but it appears your unaware of the intricacies of your own situation. Is this correct?]
“Yeah” Ryan said curtly. Caleb frowned. He’d taken his silence for nerves, but the boy wasn’t nervous, he was angry.
[Again, I apologise on behalf of the Lady and any of our people who’ve caused you harm]
“Mhm” Ryan said, folding his arms as his guide set the tea down in front of him.
“Ryan stop” Sierra said. “We don’t know these people and they could probably kill us very easily”
Ryan frowned but nodded, leaning back in his chair.
[Again, we would never dream of harming you, let alone killing you] Nessaiea said, her expression growing somewhat fretful.
Is she scared of us? Caleb thought. Or maybe she’s worried about what we think of them?
He didn’t understand.
“Sorry, we don’t mean to worry you or anything, we understand you won’t harm us” he said as the others looked to him. “Can you just explain things to us? Please”
[Of course. But there’s no need to use such formal language with me young one] the older woman replied.
“Oh. Sorry” he said, confused. He hadn’t used any formal language. It must’ve been a translation error or something similar.
[Alright. To properly explain things I must first understand your situation. When did you first appear here?] the old woman asked.
“A few hours ago?” Sierra said. “It’s hard to tell”
Nessaiea nodded, before speaking again.
[And when did were sent here, did the arbiters speak to you?]
[Arbiters? Do they speak on glowing screens] Kana asked.
[I do not know. But if it was a form of communication completely foreign to you, then that aligns with the rest of your situation]
“I’m confused, when you say situation what exactly do you mean?” Sierra said.
[Right. I mean your planet’s… circumstances? If you’ve never encountered the arbiters before, then it’s likely that your planet is a new and you are the first generation of ones.]
[Ones?] Kana said. Nessaiea nodded before looking to the confused looks on everyone’s faces.
[Ah. It appears however you’re communicating with me, there’s some sort of misunderstanding. Is demi-god better? Deities? Or chosen?]
“Chosen?” Caleb said. “I guess that seems less confusing than one and a bit less holy then deities, or demi-gods. We’re definitely not holy. We’re just people”
Nessaiea looked to him with a small smile.
[Just people don’t tend to have connections to the arbiters]
“So the screens are rare then?” Sierra said.
[Oh yes, very. Our people had them a long long time ago, but after the Great mistake, we fell out of favour with the arbiters. We’ve existed for a while as we are now, waiting for you]
“For us?” Ryan said.
[Yes. For chosen within the tutorial. Well, most have forgotten. They know the wider ideas, and general sentiment, but not the intricacies of the way. If they had they would not have attacked you]
[Wait, you’ve been waiting this? For how long?] Kana said.
[Roughly two thousand years]
Everyone in the table stared at her in shock.
“W-what?” Sierra said. “Why?”
[To regain favour with the arbiters. Chosen are the favoured of the arbiters, and if we gain your favour we become one step closer to them. If they look upon us and deem us worthy, we will have chosen]
“Wait, so your trying to the them to… give you a trial?” Caleb said.
[Yes]
“And helping us gets you that?” Ryan said.
[Not necessarily, but it brings us a lot closer. If we do well maybe, but even that might not be enough, Either way, this moment will be of great significance in the ages to come]
“So our appearance is, what… of great religious importance?” Ryan said.
[Yes. Your appearance has given us hope of a return to the heavens. And it’s really spooked the non-believers] Nessaiea said with a small chuckle.
Caleb leaned back in his chair uncertain. He hadn’t exactly gotten as much clarity as he liked, but all he knew is that the
[Why’re are the arbiters so powerful Mrs Nessaiea?]
[Magic. They provide entire planets with chosen who can use their great magics]
“So we have magic?”
[I believe so. Since you’re still in your tutorial it is slightly different. I’ll have to refer to the ancient texts again]
The room went silent as they tried to process what she was saying. Magic. It sounded insane. But given the fact he was currently sitting on a different planet after having being teleported twice, it didn’t sound as
But the idea of him having magic? That was throwing him a little. How did the magic even work anyway? Did you get one of the armband things, or that strange glowing armour, or something else? He had no point of
He paused. What had Nessaiea said? Since they were in the tutorial it was slightly different. He frowned, trying to remember the . The memory of the messages came to him easier than most, almost as if his brain had been waiting for him to try to remember. Then he felt a rush of energy, a presence grow in his head just like with the tutorial message, and a screen appeared in front of him.
[Reward: access to your record. Progression to the first phase]
“The record?” Caleb mumbled. Nessaiea gasped along with the other guides in the room, and the message disappeared as he turned to look at her. Her eyes were wide and she stared at him, before she turned to the others.
[Wsikztho, Illioma, Adnrqio, Nephritioa the Imprim, Loktot, Akaidon, and… Umprim texts. Quickly, quickly!] the older woman said standing. The guides moved quickly, without sound as they summoned ladders from within armbands hidden under their robes and then scaled up the
“What’s happening?” Sierra said, leaping out of her chair.
[It’s ok] Nessaiea said, looking back to them
“D-did I say something?” Caleb said, breaking out into a nervous sweat.
[The record] the older woman said. [It’s a word I recognise from the texts. I did not understand it’s meaning completely, but if you speak of it in the same sentence as magic then…]
She trailed off, sinking deep into thought. The guides returned from the shelves, the ladders disappearing into glowing sparks of gold as they landed on the floor, then made their way to the old woman.
They set the scrolls against the table and opened them up, Nessaiea parsing through them as the group muttered to each other.
Caleb glanced to the others, who all looked uncertain. Kana still sat in her seat intrigued, Sierra looked to Kana then to the older woman, and Ryan eyed the door. Caleb made eye contact with Ryan and shook his head, before looking back to Nessaiea.
[Ah… “To see is to understand. To know is to be. To record is to exist”] Nessaiea muttered. [It’s not merely Lokot’s saying of the ancient text’s importance. Language changes! Lokot was in the… 13th age. He means to exist in the magical sense. To be magical. ‘To know is to be or exist and to record or have record is to be magical!’]
The old woman looked to the other reverends with a glee as the group laughed together. The four teens simply stared at the group, then too each other confused. As the laughter died down
[You four really are young ones. This record you speak of is proof. If even I was not aware, then yes, you absolutely must be. I apologise for even holding doubts]
Suddenly a screen appeared in front of Caleb’s face and from the sudden gasps of the others, in front of their faces too. Caleb read the message quickly and felt his heart sink.
[Tutorial Alert: Your location – The southern Endagon Caves – is currently under attack]
“Oh shit” Ryan muttered.