Chapter 14

Irnoc

The Redstone Stairwell was smoothly polished, so much so that light seemed to dance across the wall from the sparkly placed light globes. It wound down in a tight spiral, sinking deeply into the rock of the cliff.

After what felt like a candle mark following Lord Yazid down the endless staircase, my legs aching from all the steps, we finally came to the bottom. The stairs ended abruptly and opened out into a hallway leading deeper into the cliff. I had to pause for a moment as the world seemed to spin around me, those stairs were tightly spiraled. Yazid paused to let me regain my bearings then lead me down the hall.

At the end of the hall was a large iron banded wooden door. Yazid took out a large bronze key and unlocked the door. The door opened to a small chamber with a table, a man in robes sitting and eating some bread, cheese and olives. He stood as soon as the door was open and bowed to Yazid, hastily brushing crumbs from his beard. When he rose from his brow, he looked at Yazid, and at a nod from the lord, he walked over to the far wall. On that wall was a strange pattern of inlaid metals and gemstones forming an intricate arch.

The man closed his eyes and bowed his head. I could feel the building of power making the room vibrate. The energy building felt somehow fluid and cool against my skin. The pressure from the power built in the room until it reached a breaking point, there was a small flash of indigo light between his cupped hands, revealing a foot long fish swimming in circles through the air. It was a vibrant gold color that shifted in hues when the light glinted off of its scales. It had long flowing fins with the gold radiating out to their tips where it faded to translucency. The man and the fish made eye contact and the fish swam to the arch, flowing along its contours, the fins rippling and gently brushing the pattern. Each time it passed a gem, the gem began to glow. I could feel the power radiating from this fish and flowing into the gems and from them throughout the metal inlays.

Once all the gems glowed with power, the fish made once circle around the other man’s head and vanished in another flash of light. Even as the fish disappeared, the glow from the gems flowed along all the inlayed metal patterns until the entire arch glowed. The glow then began to spiral inwards to the center of the arch until the inside glowed a bright white. The glow seemed to bow inward and a point of darkness appeared at its center, as the glow bowed further the spot grew until it was no longer a dot of darkness, but another room where solid stone was a moment ago.

Yazid nodded at the Caller and gestured at the arch, “after you my fine young friend”

I looked at the arch again, it still contained a good bit of power, but I could feel it slowly draining away. It would not stay open forever. I took a deep breath and walked through, Yazid following closely behind.

On the other side of the portal was another underground chamber. This other room was much larger, it had a high vaulting ceiling and the stone was drastically different. The stone was dark with tiny flecks that glittered in the light cast by the several light globes attached to the walls. In the center of the room was a large clear crystalline pyramid. It looked like it was grown straight out of the stone floor, and on closer inspection looked to be hollow.

“Magnificent isn’t it” Yazid said, making me jump. I was too engrossed in the new environment; I forgot he was here with me.

“Um, yes it is. What is this place?” I asked as I tried to slow my heart rate.

“This is the God Forge. In this chamber, the most secure and stable location in Hierium, seismically and magically. It is here that you will aid me in taking down the power of the temples and return the power to where it belongs, and stop their tyranny and assassination policies if you are blessed with the ability to Call, but lack the inclination to serve in the temples ” Yazid intoned

My mind went back to the day the priests came to my home, killed my parents and destroyed my home; and for the first time in a long time I recalled that little stone figure that huddled with me. I used to think I had imagined it, until I learned about Calling, but perhaps my mother or father was a Caller. Maybe that is why the priests killed them. I fixed my eyes on Yazid as he continued.

“There are many Callers who do not wish to be under the rule of the temples, but fear for their lives should they disobey. Our order has given sanctuary to these disaffected Callers and given them purpose and leads to their own freedom.” Yazid continued. “It is here that we will create the ultimate tool to overthrow the temples. What is the greatest obstacle we face in taking down the temples Irnoc” he asked.

I thought for a moment then ventured a guess “All the Callers they have serving them?”

“True to a point, but we are gaining more supporters all the time, numbers alone won’t stop us. Any other ideas my boy?”

I thought long and hard about the answer to his question, it couldn’t be man power or wealth, the nobles could probably pull together an army fairly quickly, and they had vast fortunes at their fingertips. “I’m not sure” I said finally.

“It’s the Gods. Any individual caller can be overcome or taken out by other means, but there is once force the temples can call upon when things are at their most dire. The gods themselves. No group of callers can overcome this momentous gap in available power. The temples can call the Gods and crush us and there isn’t a thing we can do about it right now. That is why our most brilliant and innovative callers and engineers managed to design the Gods Forge. With this we can forge our own god to combat the temple Gods.”

I gaped in astonishment at his statement. Creating their own god, it seemed ludicrous and impossible. I shook my head and asked “how is such a thing possible?”

“It has taken several years to create and fine tune the design, but the end result is this” Yazid gestured to the hollow crystal pyramid, as my eyes followed I then noticed the circles of inlaid metal on the floor next to the pyramid. Complex runes and sigils followed every line and contour, connecting the circles to the pyramid. I may have started learning about runes and sigils used in Calling, but the complexity of this design left me confused and unable to parse out their meanings.

“Within these two pentacles, the elemental servants of the gods are called. The moment they are called into existence, their power activates the runes and their power is channeled through the lines within each star to the outside lines of the circles and gets funneled into the pyramid. Both elementals power collects inside the pyramid, condensing into a new creature with almost as much power as each elemental had separately but in one body.” Yazid said with pride. “There is some power loss when just using elementals from the same godly plane, but we discovered that when the elementals of different planes are combined in the right order, the power the new creature gets is magnitudes greater than both the elementals combined.”

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“Is this what you need me for? My access to the other god’s realms?” I asked

“While your aid in calling and forging these elementals into a new being would be useful, we have disaffected callers from each of the temples in our ranks already. No, in order to control our newly forged god, a caller with an affinity for each plane that went into its forging must be used. And even with those who have dual affinities, we would still require at least 3 callers to control one such creature. That leaves their control somewhat imprecise. You my boy, you have the ability within yourself to be able to control our newly forged god on your own. You would have fine control over its powers and can use it to greatest effect in taking down the temples.”

I thought about my parents, about the last seven years I struggled to survive, the beatings I took while learning to break in and steal from others, being sold into slavery when I finally got caught. The priests, who were so determined to kill my parents when one or the other didn’t want to live as a slave to the temples, it was their fault. They left e for dead, sentenced to live alone and fend for myself, never to hear my father’s kind words, my mother’s warm embrace again. All because they wanted absolute control over everyone. I felt my face flush in anger, my heart pounding in my ears, all those years of living in fear of the priests turning into anger. “I’m in; tell me what I can do to bring those bastards down.”

“I was hoping you would say that” Yazid replied. He looked over at the caller who opened up the portal for us; I was so distracted I didn’t even realize he followed us through. I cursed myself internally for not paying attention, sloppiness like that can get you a knife in your back, I knew better. “Send in Adam and Jordan would you please”

He bowed silently and turned to the wall, the inlayed archway was on that wall too. He called the fish like elemental again and quickly had the portal open again. this time the moment it was open two men in gold colored robes strode in and bowed to Yazid then said “milord, are you ready for the demonstration?”

“Yes thank you for attending, please show Irnoc the process we use”

“As you wish milord” both men strode towards the Gods Forge. One at each circle on opposite sides of the pyramid. They both knelt on one knee, hands placed on the outer ring of the circles, and Called. I could feel the vibration in the air as they reached through to Selena’s Celestial realm. A swirled of golden smoke spiraled through the circle, coalescing into two very similar figures. They were each about a foot tall, manlike in appearance except for avian heads and large (for their size) wings attached at their shoulder blades.

The moment they solidified at the exact center of the circles, the runes began to glow in a golden light. They looked down at their feet, then their heads swiveled to look at their Callers, I could see pain, confusion and betrayal in their eyes as they stared at their masters. They opened their beaks to shriek, but no sound escaped from the circles edge.

Golden light streamed out of them, looking like a blend of gas and liquid. It collected in the lines and flowed through like water in a riverbed. It collected in the outer ring of the circles like Yazid said and began flowing along more lines attached to the corners of the pyramid and it started to fill with swirling golden gas.

I could see the Sprites, their faces twisted in agony, their forms becoming less distinct as their essence was drained away, diminishing in size and detail. I could feel an echo of their pain and betrayal, they knew they were dying, everything that made them what they were being drawn out of them forever. My heart ached at the sight, the terrible rage I felt at the temples being replaced with horror at the sight before me. I felt wetness on my face, I reached up and felt tears streaming from my eyes and running down my cheeks.

It only took a few minutes, sprites didn’t have a lot of power I knew, and they were the weakest rank of servants to the Gods. When the forms of the sprites were gone and the last bit of power flowed into the pyramid, I could see the golden gas condensing into a new form. It was vaguely humanoid, almost twice the size of the sprites that died to make it, but its form wasn’t set like the ones that were used to make it. Its shape kept flowing ad shifting, twisting and doubling over, trying to form wings one moment, then collapsing into a pulsating sphere the next.

I looked at Yazid to ask him how they could do such a terrible thing to these elementals, I saw his eyes locked on the pyramid, pride and greed filling his eyes as he saw another small step in his plans. I could feel menace radiating from him as he stared at the newly forged creature. I couldn’t say anything to him now, I knew men like this. If I tried to stop him or argue, I would be killed. Anything in his way would be destroyed. I swallowed hard and quickly wiped my face on my sleeve. I couldn’t go through with this, but I couldn’t stay at the temples either, not with knowing that they killed my parents now. I know where Cat is now, I can go rescue her and get away from all of this. I know enough about my abilities to get by and survive and even get stronger. I can’t let myself be drawn into this Mad plan, there had to be another way. I quickly composed myself before Yazid turned to look at me.

“I know it’s unnerving to watch at first, but you must remember, sprites like these are barely smarter than animals. They can’t think like we can, and it’s for the greater good. Their sacrifice will allow freedom for you and your fellow callers, and bring our country back to the way it was before.” Yazid told me in a comforting tone, I didn’t take any comfort from it, but I nodded anyways. I let my eyes droop a little.

“You look exhausted Irnoc. It’s still a bit early, but you’ve had a hard day. Why don’t you go back to the temple and get some rest. We will talk more soon.” He smiled at me.

“thank you sir, you are right. I feel exhausted from everything. I think I will get some rest. I look forward to aiding you in knocking down the temples, and being truly free once more.” I hoped he didn’t notice that I was lying through my teeth, and accepted it at face value. I learned well how to control my expression when dealing with the ruthless and backstabbing rats on the street.

Yazid gave me a smile and gestured to the gate keeper. He opened the portal once more and Yazid led me back to the chamber under his palace. I was in a nervous sweat the entire way back up the winding stairs and into his office.

Yazid took his seat behind his desk once again and said “rest well Irnoc and study hard. Our plan will take some time before it reaches fruition, so you have time to learn and master your abilities. You will need to be very skilled in order to aid us as much as I know you can. We have had some setbacks to our plan as we worked out the best way to succeed, but now that we have the process figured out, we should be ready to topple the tyranny of the temples in three short years. We will continue to tutor you in the different specialties your ability gives you access to. Learn hard and fast what the temple teaches, using the enemies skills and knowledge against them is a time honored tactic. I know you will do well.”

I bowed low and said “thank you again for the special training so I can have full use of my ability as a Caller. I will study hard and master these arts.” I allowed myself to stagger a bit when rising from the bow. “My apologies Yazid, I think I really must rest, and thank you”

“Yes, you may leave, the carriage is waiting for you outside and the driver already knows to return you to the Temple directly.” Yazid said with a wave of his hand.

I bowed once more, and left his office and walked back to the entrance I was shown. Shit, I thought, if the driver takes me directly to the temple I will have to sneak out of the temple tonight after everybody is asleep, and get past the priests guards and the mundane guards as well. The mundane guards will be easy enough, but the priests with their totems Called, will be much harder. With a deep sigh I set to planning how to break out rather than breaking in on the bumpy ride back to the temple.