Day 14 of Midwinter, Sunset

At Sea, Well of Wisdom

Annwn

I traveled like a rocket through the water behind Nechtan. I had started to ask the Cupbearer of Lir if there was a way we could keep Fern’s Shell of Promise dry while we were traveling, but he had only let me get out a syllable before glancing down at the shell, grunting, and magically propelling me after him. I’ll give him credit though, he must have either recognized the shell or knew what I was going to say because I was as dry as a Methodist hootenanny.

I couldn’t really tell the direction we were traveling. Several times I felt gravity shift directions. The water where we were traveling was as dark as the blackest night. Thankfully, my Night Vision boon allowed me to see just how fast we were traveling, and because of that I only felt mildly carsick… or is it seasick in this case?

The landscape of the sea was fascinating. I tried to imagine what it would look like if it were totally drained of water. There were hills and mountains, valleys, and huge, dark crevasses. It was as mysterious as any place above sea level that I could ever remember seeing, and I was seeing it at super speed. There were fish and huge creatures that could only be from Aquaman’s worst nightmares, but they left us completely alone. I also thought I saw the faint outline of a female mirroring our nautical path in the water. It had to be the other Cup Bearer, Connla, I thought. We traveled like this for 20-30 minutes, and I had no problems breathing or fighting against the waves or currents.

After a particularly scary giant invertebrate passed by, I shifted my focus to a glowing light in the distance. As we got closer, I realized we were approaching an open underwater area that had a similar sheen to that of the Deep Realm. I popped out into breathable air inside of a vast room where the walls were either nonexistent or invisible. All I could see around me were vertical plains of water running from the floor to the ceiling.

Nechtan didn’t come in with me but simply flung me. I stumbled to a stop on a mostly flat sea floor. Thankfully, it was dry inside the space, but it was a little disconcerting being surrounded by massive walls of water. As I looked around and felt the Well of Wisdom loom over and around me, I wondered if this was what Moses felt like when he parted the Red Sea.

There wasn’t a soul in the enormous room with me. I turned to wave in the direction Nechtan, Connla, and I had come from, but when I looked into the water I realized it was opaque. There was no semi-translucent water layer covering up an aquatic landscape. Instead, there was a dark wall of undulating liquid that appeared to give off a faint glow. Looking around, I could see the same scene play out around the entire room.

“Hello?” I yelled into the airplane-hanger-sized room. There was no answer. I began to walk around the perimeter of the room, eyeing intently the various colors emanating from the water. When I looked more closely I could see the vaguest outlines of shapes moving inside of the water… or were they actually inside of the water?

I focused harder and realized the various colors seemed to represent different scenes, and inside those scenes were different people and different landscapes. There must have been hundreds. This was a portal room, I realized, only the portals in question had no discernible borders. There were no wardrobes in this room, no Stargate, just an unseen transition from one portal to another on the surface of the vertical water. I did a double take in the direction of one scene when I realized the people and objects inside had changed from what had been there mere seconds before.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

That scene in particular drew my attention, and I began to walk toward it. I could see darkness inside, but it was a different darkness than that of the underwater landscape. Inside the darkness were glowing points of light representing magic. I could see a variety of colors, illuminated by my racial ability that allowed such arcane identification. There were silvers and coppers, and even a few golds. Someday I needed to figure out what each of these colors meant.

All these thoughts passed through my mind, as they often did, while I willingly wandered into danger. I realized too late that I was passing through the portal, into the dark room, as my whole leg disappeared into the space. The inertia of my motion carried the rest of me forward.

Upon standing fully in the dark room, I found the brightness level comfortable, like the inside of Isengard from the Peter Jackson movies. The dark stone walls and polished stone floor gave both the acoustics and visuals a vault-like vibe.

The room reminded me of the treasure room in Gorias, though this room was coated in a thick layer of dust. There were fewer gems and currency caches in this vault. Instead, sparse displays of weapons and a single suit of armor hung on the wall. The smooth floors were covered in dirty area rugs. Strange, almost holographic lights pulsed along the ceiling. A brazier flared to life in front of the armor as I stepped closer.

Now that I was close, I realized calling it a suit of armor was a little generous. It appeared to have a shoulder guard set attached to a significant-looking belt by crossing leather straps. Ornate golden metal plates connected to the straps in the sternum and lower abdomen areas. This was armor meant to protect the wearer from killing blows, but nothing more. To either side of the armor were gauntlets. Activating my Advanced Identification skill, I could feel my Battlesmith domain knowledge feeding the boon information.

Seolán Neimhe

This Neartór Disc Armor once belonged to the Sky God, Taranis. Its name means “Heaven’s Channel.” Originally designed to focus the raw fury of thunder and lightning, the disc armor amplifies the wielder's ability to attract and harness the weave.

Before the description of the item had even finished, I had taken it off of the wall and affixed the belt to my waist. The rest of the pieces went on easily enough, and once I was completely adorned in the Sky God’s armor, I felt a slight hum throughout my body. I caught a yellow glow emanating from the abdominal disc and watched as a solitary spark arced to the right gauntlet. The amount of energy that I could draw on from my Control Energy boon had just doubled. It was as if the very weave was drawn to me. Instinctively, I reached for the nearest sword and lifted it into the air. Then I mouthed the words, “I have the power!” Eat your heart out, He-Man.

The technicolor holographic lights that flashed on the ceiling began to elongate and stretch in my direction. It gave the room an odd hue, reminding me of the sky before a tornado. The brazier on the floor of the chamber began to flare in my direction, only the fire was not true fire. This was clearly a magical light source, and it was almost like the magic felt compelled to get closer to me.

“I see you’ve found Eiocha’s hidden armory.” The voice came from behind me, near where I had entered the room. I turned to see a gray-haired man garbed in a tattered blue robe standing near the portal. “Be careful with that, lad. You could suck this room dry of magic, and then where would we be? You would pop like a ripe fruit.”

I didn’t need to ask if this man was Lir. Not only did every part of him scream God of the Sea, but I was having a hard time untangling myself from the various points of energy trying to attach itself to me.

“How do I turn it off? I asked. I was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed by the seemingly unending energy assault.

The man chuckled, and that instantly irritated me. I clenched my teeth together and tried my best to get a handle on the sheer amount of ambient energy trying to force itself into me. My eyes closed on instinct and I exhaled.

“Interesting,” I heard Lir say. “Not all can wield the personal effects of the Síorláidir.”

And with the utterance of that word, Síorláidir, I lost all concentration. My eyes flicked open to look at the man, and the brightness of the weave almost blinded me. The energy began to bombard my body, leaving me a limp, helpless vessel for unrelenting magic.