Zalan lay wide awake on the cot in the guild of Journey House. His mind was racing with thoughts of loss and despair. Laying almost entirely still, he wiggled his fingers several times, feeling naked. Power should have been tingling through his arms, begging to be thrown. But it was gone. Taken. He had lost his Elemental Lightning Power. Stolen away by Morloch the Manipulator on the Island of Remains. He felt hollow and dark without the power coursing through him. His movements were so subtle, that his friend and guide, Rep, didn’t notice when he awoke.

It wasn’t until Rep looked over him to see how he was healing that he saw Zalan was fully conscious. Rep first looked happy to see Zalan’s eyes open, but realized quickly that they would not look at him.

“How are you feeling?” Rep asked, relief on his face at the lack of wounds on his friend.

Zalan said nothing, continuing to move his fingers in a jitter. Rep’s eyebrows furled.

“Zalan?” Rep said.

Zalan didn’t even look his way. Rep bit his lip. He knew that Zalan was out of sorts after the confrontation with Morloch, but he didn’t know the extent of Zalan’s state.

“Do you feel better? Does anything hurt?” Rep asked.

Zalan finally looked his way, a slight distance in his stare. Rep saw the deep bags under his eyes. The sunken look on his face. He may have been physically healed, but his mind was still at odds with itself. Rep felt that he was partly to blame. He could have stopped Morloch, if only he were stronger. If only he tried a little harder.

“Tell me about Madam Hikma,” Zalan demanded, an edge in his voice.

“At least tell me how you feel,” Rep grumbled.

“Awful. I can’t stop feeling like I’m missing something. Like I forgot my name. Or better yet, like my brain was pulled through my nose and I’ll never feel right again. That’s how I feel. You happy now?” Zalan snapped.

“No.”

Zalan’s sunken eyes closed and he breathed out loudly.

“Tell me about Madam Hikma. You said there was something special about her that you would share when I woke up. Or was that just a lie to get me to do the Healing Rest?” Zalan said, his eyes reopening to gauge Rep’s face.

“I have never lied to you,” Rep said firmly.

“Then tell me why we should keep trusting that woman after she led us to two different deadly traps. First, to the Castle Docrun and an Elemental Dragon. Then to Morloch.”

“She warned us about both the dragon and Morloch,” Rep pointed out.

“But not that it was an Elemental Dragon! It was supposed to be an easier fight! You know we weren’t prepared for it!” Zalan snapped.

Rep pursed his lips and nodded. Zalan stared at him impatiently.

“Well?” Zalan asked.

“Fine, I will tell you. But it is a secret she does not want being spread. Can you keep this information to yourself?” Rep asked.

Zalan nodded quickly, ready to challenge whatever the explanation was. He didn’t think there was anything that would make him feel better about Madam Hikma sending him to have his power stolen away.

“This is serious, Zalan. I need to hear you say it aloud. Say you will keep this to yourself,” Rep said.

“Yeah, fine, I’ll keep it a secret,” Zalan said flippantly.

Rep eyed him warily, breathing deeply. Zalan sat up slightly, waiting for his explanation.

“Rep, seriously, just tell me,” Zalan said impatiently.

Rep bit his lip hesitantly and didn’t open his mouth. Silently, he stood and went to another cot. Zalan watched him in confusion. Kneeling down, Rep moved under the bed and dragged open the storage compartment. Zalan felt it was out of character for Rep. He knew which cot was Rep’s, but he was clearly rifling through someone else’s belongings. Rep finally pulled out what he was searching for and looked it over. Zalan’s eyes widened in surprise. It was an Artifact called the Heart of Purity.

The Heart of Purity was made of transparent glass, easy to see through like a glass cup. But Zalan recalled it would begin to grow dark at the center if the holder told any lies. Gripping the Artifact tightly, Rep made his way back to Zalan. He held out the Artifact.

“Say you will not share the information while holding this,” Rep said.

Zalan stared at it, a little uncomfortable. The fact Rep pulled it out from Heron’s compartment meant he was serious. Rep normally wasn’t one to do things without permission. There was something important to tell.

“Can this Artifact see the future as well? How would it know if I’m lying?” Zalan asked.

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“The Artifact only reads your intention. It will not be able to see whether you would change your mind years later. But it can see whether you are speaking honestly for now,” Rep answered.

Zalan swallowed and nodded. Rep placed the Artifact in his hand. Zalan looked it over, suddenly feeling a pit in his stomach atop of all his other emotions. He didn’t want to be a liar.

“I won’t tell anyone about Madam Hikma’s secret,” Zalan said.

His hand trembled as he and Rep both looked at the Artifact. It didn’t show any sign of darkness. Rep sighed in relief and took it back. Gripping the Artifact tightly, he sat in the cot across from Zalan.

“Madam Hikma is seen as a savant by many people, near and far away. She sometimes has answers to things that are inexplicably difficult to know. People assume she has a wealth of knowledge based on experience and deduction, but that is far from the whole truth,” Rep explained.

Zalan recalled that Madam Hikma had somehow guessed that Zalan was from another world. No one else made that connection in his time in the realm. She did seem like some sort of clairvoyant at the time. Nevertheless, Zalan took a glance at the Heart of Purity to make sure Rep was being honest. It showed no changes.

“Madam Hikma has an Artifact to assist in seeing things about people and their path in life. The Guidance Gem, one of the rarest Artifacts in the realm. The more she knows about someone, the clearer her vision of understanding. She does not quite know things, but she has an inspiration of what things might be. She can surmise things like the Monsters of the Mindscape and knowing where to lead you, even without ever having visited any of these locations, herself,” Rep continued.

Zalan couldn’t help but take another look at the Heart of Purity to confirm. Madam Hikma had been getting assistance from an Artifact the whole time.

“So, she’s a fraud?” Zalan asked, suddenly feeling vindicated in his disdain for her.

“I would not say that,” Rep shook his head. “She never claimed to have any answers. The one whose council is sought, is trusted. She only wishes to assist others, and utilizes an Artifact to do so.”

“Yeah, but people would probably just use the Artifact if they knew that it existed, right?” Zalan said.

Rep nodded solemnly.

“People donate to Madam Hikma out of respect, but others would hold valuable information behind more expensive prices if they had such power. Her graciousness helps so many. Even those that can not afford it can get answers,” Rep said.

“So, that’s why I can’t tell anyone about this? I assume because people would want to steal it from her?” Zalan said.

“And they would have to kill her to take it,” Rep added.

Zalan’s eyebrows descended an inch.

“Why?”

“The Artifact is a part of her. It has made itself one with her head,” Rep pointed to the right end of his cranium.

Zalan blinked a few times. First he thought Rep was making a strange joke, but the Heart of Purity was still clear in his hand. Then, Zalan thought he must be exaggerating in some way. A miscommunication between their worlds.

“How is it in her head, exactly?” Zalan asked.

“Her right eye has been entirely replaced by the Artifact. Whatever she did upon activating it, the Artifact took the form of her eye. The Guidance Gem is what gives the eye its altered color from the other eye,” Rep said.

Zalan continued to stare in disbelief. He always thought that Madam Hikma’s two different colored eyes were a little uncanny, but he never imagined it was in any way artificial.

“So you mean her eye is literally the Artifact? It’s not like a metaphor?” Zalan clarified.

“Indeed. Her right eye is the Guidance Gem,” Rep said.

“But… What about degrading? Don’t Artifacts get used up over time and turn into ashes? Won’t that make her lose an eye or something?” Zalan asked, concerned.

“Indeed,” Rep sighed. “Madam Hikma’s entire body is degrading at an incredibly accelerated rate because of her physical alteration. Her life force is being fed into the Artifact by her continued use of it.”

“What does that mean?”

“How old do you think she is?”

Zalan considered his memories of her for a moment.

“I don’t know, like eighty years old?” Zalan offered.

“She is no older than forty. Perhaps her late thirties,” Rep said.

This time Zalan was almost certain Rep was lying. He had seen the wrinkles on her face, and the way she slouched as she walked slowly. The times she grunted when she stood or sat down. But the Heart of Purity remained pure. Zalan’s eyes bulged in shock and horror.

“She’s dying,” Zalan breathed. “She’s killing herself to keep the charade up. Why would she do that?”

“It is not a charade when she does not lie to the people,” Rep reminded him.

“Yeah, but like… Is she gonna take it out of her face before she… I don’t know, turns to dust or something?” Zalan said, appalled at the idea.

“I do not know her intention.”

“She didn’t tell you when she told you about the Artifact in her face?” Zalan asked, curious why she would stop short of revealing everything.

“She did not tell me about the Guidance Gem at all. I read about it in a tome of many legendary Artifacts. It took me a very long time to read through, it was this thick,” Rep said, making a shape that, to Zalan, looked like a fairly thin book. Then he remembered that Rep’s reading speed was one of the slowest he’d ever seen before. “The Guidance Gem was said to be able to take the form of a limb upon activation. Madam Hikma’s knowledge seemed beyond her experiences, and I wished to ask her about it. And when I confronted her about it, she hid nothing from me. In fact, it seemed like she was relieved that someone else knew of her secret.”

Zalan lay back down on his cot, feeling absolutely baffled. Madam Hikma was dying and it might only be he and Rep that knew about it. Maybe Sholou, Madam Hikma’s assistant, but even she might be in the dark. It made Zalan feel even more terrible. He wished he’d known before. It might have made him understand the circumstances that Madam Hikma put him through.

With the Guidance Gem, she was able to see that he came from a world otherwise unheard of in this realm. It was possible that she knew what was best for his future or escaping the realm as well. And if she only got tiny visions of inspiration, it would make sense that she didn’t predict the consequences of Zalan following her advice. Still, he could only remember the pain. Terrible outcomes did not make up for her potentially good intentions.

“Now that you know,” Rep said, standing up straight. “Will you come with me and see her? We can ask her to find you another way out of this realm. We will get you home.”

Zalan looked him in the eyes, a serious energy on his face.

“No. I don’t care anymore,” Zalan said.