Niall stepped away from L’Mor. “Pain? That doesn’t sound right. What do you mean? I think that I’d rather not actually, if that’s alright.”

“I am here to make you an offer and a gift.” L’Mor said. “Yet the nature of a gift without price is that it is a knife that cuts with both edges.”

L’Mor looked at Niall and those eyes held him once more. “The edge that gives is the simplest. This world is not the world you know, young human. In your world the flows of what you call Spirit, mana, qi or, what you will, are thin and almost unusable. Here, Spirit flows freely and richly, available to all with the will to learn to wield it as they choose. Spirit is absorbed by infants in the wombs of their mothers. They are born with the knowledge of it.

“But, for you, it is different. Without what we are about to do, instead of nurturing you, the Spirit flows will sicken and then kill you. Is a little pain not a worthy price for life? But, young Niall, the choice is yours. Maybe you will be the exception to this and you will prevail over the Spirit sickness when all others have perished.”

Not much of this made sense to Niall, but he focused on the present “So that was the carrot, what’s the stick?”

L’Mor’s eyes seemed to grow darker. “The edge that cuts is that the gift will keep you on the path of your destiny. You have been brought here by The Deathless One. The charge that he has placed on you to return home is the charge that he places on all of your kind. The gift will encourage you should you deviate from that calling.”

“You mean that it’s going to force me to do what that Deathless person wants?”

“No. Your will is your own. You cannot be compelled. Not by him at least. However, if you are not moving towards the solution, the gift will nudge at your mind. Not in a way that will cause you harm or even discomfort, but enough that you know to steer away from disaster.”

“So, what? You and this Deathless One are working together? Everyone keeps talking about him. Who is he?”

L’Mor ignored the questions. “Our time grows short. What is your will, Niall Vendra? Do you want my aid or will you fall back on your own resources?”

Niall thought rapidly. To accept a poisoned chalice like this did not sit well with him. But, it did not feel as if he had a real choice. If the mana was going to kill him, as L’Mor suggested, then he would have to take this nudge as well.

He braced himself. “I will accept your help. Thank you.”

“Then let us proceed.” L’Mor held out his arms and closed his eyes.

The glow from his skin intensified and, as if in reply, specks of light appeared in the gloom of the swamp. As Niall watched, those specks of light grew closer and started to hover around L’Mor. Within a few moments nothing was left visible of L’Mor’s hands and arms. Niall looked at the specks of light closely but could not make out any details.

L’Mor opened his eyes and the stern look had gone from his face. He looked down and a beneficent smile spread across his face. He looked across to Niall, “These are the Fae shards. From these, over centuries, the young of our kind emerge, made up of thousands of these fragments that come together to make one glorious whole.”

“Think of these as our children,” said L’Kye his face reflecting the wonder and softness of his Sovereign. “That is not a perfect analogue but it is close.”

“In order for a new Fae to emerge, these fragments need to pick up experiences from around the world,” L’Mor said.

“The sound of the flood as it washes away a harvest, the smell of a tear from a mother who has lost her child, the taste of fear in the blood of a rabbit as it is taken by a wolf. They appear here and then drift through the world as motes of energy and purity until they are satiated.”

L’Mor turned to Niall. “If one of these shards chooses you and you accept them, they will travel and grow with you. They will reside in you for as long as your wish before returning. In return for your experiences the Fae shard will sit passively inside you. quietly managing and transforming the Spirit around you. Not only will they make it safe for you, but they will turn it into something that you can both use and understand.”

“They will sit inside me? But that means that they will know everything that I know and do. I won’t have any privacy.”

“From me, and from any of my kind, you already have no secrets, Niall Vendra. But, rest assured that it has been thousands of years since one of your race did anything that could interest me. While you are all, of course, individuals, you humans are deeply predictable in your vices and your virtues. However, that does not matter. Whether you accept my gift or not, one from your world is too important to leave untended. You will continue to be monitored, without any interference, whatever you choose.”

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“You can’t do that. That’s not fair.”

“Fair or not is of no matter. I have already decreed it so. Whether this is something that you consent to or not lacks relevance. Your only choice is whether you benefit from the Fae shard that will accompany you or not.”

Niall was about to angrily refuse when L’Kye spoke again. “Niall Vendra, do not make a hasty decision that you will regret. This world is not your world. You will have to change all that you know if you are to survive.”

Niall paused as L’Kye’s echoed what he had already heard from Devon. In this place he did not who to trust. He took a deep breath and made a decision. With calm forced into his voice he said, “I will accept the Fae shard.”

L’Mor smiled and beckoned to Niall with one glowing arm. “Then come, and we will see what shall pass.”

Niall walked towards him and stopped a few feet away. As he stood there, one of the specks of light rose from L’Mor’s hand and floated towards his face. It hovered half way between the two and Niall saw L’Mor’s eyes widen.

“Stop.” L’Mor’s word was spoken out loud. The voice was the same as that in his head, the language unknown yet, somehow, entirely familiar. It was almost a whisper in Niall’s ears but Niall felt the world around him respond to an absolute command. He, L’Kye and all of the Fae shards froze in place. Niall found himself unable to move even an eye. But it was not just them. The winds and clouds paused leaving an absolute silence and stillness. In the midst of this only L’Mor moved.

They glided to the mote of light that had frozen between themselves and Niall. As they approached the light they peered at it closely, their face almost touching it. Without looking they gave a distracted wave and the world, all except for Niall and the glowing Fae shard, were released. As soon as they could move, the other Fae shards fled, their glows gone within moments.

L’Mor continued to look at the individual shard. “This is unusual.” The murmur in Niall’s mind was tinged with gentle perplexity, with an undertone of mild irritation. However, compared to the anger that he had felt from L’Kye before, L’Mor’s minor annoyance was like a sun to a candle. If Niall had been able to move he would have collapsed to his knees.

L’Kye came up to their Sovereign and put a hand on their shoulder. “My lord, you know the consequences if you interfere. There are some things that even you must let pass.”

“L’Kye, you must see what I see. Is it fair to the human if we allow this?” L’Mor did not stop staring at the Fae shard while they spoke.

“Fair, or nor fair, is not the consideration here old friend.” L’Kye gave a small smile as they echoed their ruler’s earlier words. “They have chosen and that decision must be honoured.”

L’Mor sighed, “I know first of my advisors, let us hope that this does not end the way that it may. Let what will be, be.”

They stepped back and Niall found that he could move again. The glowing mote also moved forward and, before Niall could say or do anything, the Fae shard passed into Niall’s forehead.

He felt a moment of a searing pain stab in his brain and then nothing. He looked down to see a glow pass through his body. He felt something in his mind. It was a thought, but not one of his own. More of an impression of curiosity and affection than any words.

“Hello?” Niall thought, feeling rather ridiculous.

“I am Pobble, you are Niall. We are together. We will do…things.” The reply was not exactly in words but a combination of intention and emotion; however, Niall found that he could understand clearly what Pobble intended.

Niall found that he was curiously unbothered by the fact that something had taken residence inside him.

“Of course it is not a problem. Pobble and Niall are one. It is natural. Pobble and Niall, Niall and Pobble. Now Pobble needs to explore. Niall should go to bother grumpy pants Sovereign.”

Niall raised his eyebrows at being dismissed from his own mind as he felt Pobble’s consciousness fade into the background. He looked up to see the two L’Fae looking at him curiously.

“What is their name?” L’Kye asked.

“They are called Pobble, but you said they would be passive. A passenger. Why can I talk to them?”

L’Mor gave another sigh. “Pobble. Of course. This is what I was afraid off. In the past, the fragments that have bonded with humans have been at the start of their journey. They had just emerged with no mind or opinions of their own. They were able to process Spirit to help their host, but otherwise they would just observe.”

“But that’s not the case with Pobble?”

“No. Pobble teeters on the cusp, of the start, of the entry to the process of earning their birthright as a full L’Fae citizen. Within the next century, they would start the millennia long process of meditation to enable their evolution. However, with everything that they have learned so far, a personality begins to form. As it stands, their full ascension will now be delayed until you die. But, whatever they eventually become, they will now be fundamentally shaped by their time with you. It is an unfortunate convergence of events.”

Niall was perversely happy with the outcome. Despite being told that he had a choice in the process, he had felt strong-armed into everything that had happened. If things had not gone the way that the powerful L’Fae wanted, well, he was pleased by it.

“I guess that’s that then. I should be heading back. A pleasure to meet you and all that.” Niall was careful not to let his pleasure show on his face as he spoke.

L’Mor stepped forward and stared into Niall’s eyes. Niall started to experience the sensation of being lost in those eyes again before the feeling was abruptly cut off. Pobble’s presence was back at the forefront of his mind. “Do you want L’Mor to look into our mind, Niall?”

“No thank you.”

“Stay out of this head. Rude L’Mor.” Niall had the strong impression of Pobble wagging a mental finger at L’Mor.

L’Mor blinked and Niall felt the pressure build again, this time immensely harder. L’Mor’s eyes became the centre of his existence. His Alpha and his Omega. As he lost himself in those eyes, so Niall started to lose all sense of who he was.

He tried to fight back but it was as if he were a leaf fighting a storm. At the back of his mind he could feel Pobble. There was a fierce determination there. A desire, a hunger even, but Niall could not hold onto that connection for more than a fleeting second.

Memories disappeared, thoughts became uncatchable. The essential core of his being eroded like sand before the waves. Yet again Niall lost all sense of time. He drifted until all but the last speck of his being floated in an eternal void.