The stagnant air burned Mila’s lungs. Still, she kept gulping it down to keep her breathing even. Her mind raced as she pushed down on her panic. She weighed her options, and none of them felt good. There was no way out except to rely on the stranger in front of her, who was still prostrating on the ground.
The implications did not please Mila. She doubted he was deferring to the unconscious duo on the ground, which left her. Was the man mistaken about her identity? Probably not. She could feign ignorance, but making herself valuable had its upsides. This world was ruthless in many aspects. She did not know how much time had passed, if any, from the period in her dreams, but the risk of getting killed was there.
With a shake of her head, Mila dismissed the thought of lying. She was not an actor. The chances of fooling someone so strong were slim to begin with, even with a perfect act. She opened her mouth to speak and stopped.
Which language to use?
Mila hesitated. English was the obvious choice. The man had spoken with the assistance of a spell. He did not know she could understand him without it. But it would mean she would have to play a fool, hiding herself and limiting what she could do.
After gritting her teeth, Mila spoke. “Who are you?” The words came out of her mouth smoother than expected. She had made her choice. It was a risk, but she could not be passive in this situation.
The question had an effect. The man trembled and seemingly relaxed. He spoke a garbled mess of a sentence, this time without the assistance of the spell.
“Silinth Overon Ampry?” Mila repeated. She was sure it was his name, and the man affirmed it. But why was his accent so terrible? She could recognise most of the words, but placing them together in a sentence that made sense was taxing. “I must apologise, Sir Ampry. My understanding of the language is insufficient. Please use the spell of the common tongue so that we can converse freely.”
The man stilled. After a moment, Mila felt the mana move and weave. It was a work of a master. Whoever this Silinth was, he was a skilled mage. “It is I who must apologise!” The man spoke again. “My mastery of the old language is lacking. I beg forgiveness for my failing.”
Mila’s mind halted. ‘Old language’ the man had said. Outwardly, she did not show the signs, but her mind was scrambling to figure out what it would mean for her. “Old language, you say? Is that so?”
“Yes, lady- forgive, but I do not know how to address a person of your stature.” The man still refused to rise from his position.
“Mila Kostel. You can call me Mila.”
“Then, Lady Kostel.” The man nodded. “Yes, the words you spoke are old. I hesitate to speak of a precise age, but it’s been many generations. Only a few old texts remain for us to study the way you speak.”
“I see, and do call me simply Mila.” She tried to hide her turbulent emotions. “Then, Sir Ampry, once again, who are you?”
“Of course! I am a follower of the old customs. My ancestors swore to keep the spirit of their people alive through time. We are scattered and few, but for what it is worth - I am the teacher of those left. They call me ‘Instructor Ampry’, and that is my position.”
All Silinth’s words did was add more questions Mila wanted to find answers to. However, one was more pressing than the others. “Why?” The fraze slipped past her lips.
“Pardon?”
“Why did you summon us?”
For the first time, Silinth shuffled and appeared to be uncomfortable.
“That is-” He began and sighed. “A hard question. There is no easy and short answer.”
“Do we lack time?” Mila inquired. “And please, rise. It’s hard to speak without seeing your face.”
“As you wish.” The man agreed to her request. He slowly stood, his figure towering over Mila’s small stature. He was wearing a brown leather gambeson, covering most of him. Over his shoulders was draped a matching cape, and he had black, metal-clad boots on his feet. He had no visible weapons on him, but it did not make him any less dangerous to the trio.
While Silinth was gathering himself, Mila glanced at the prone figures behind her.
“They are fine, just drained of mana, which has led to the loss of consciousness,” Silinth explained.
“It is as you say.” She agreed and studied Silinth’s chiselled face. He looked to be around thirty, but she knew that for a mage of his ability, age was hard to determine by looks. His prominent nose and piercing blue eyes made him imposing. The unkept stubbles made him look wild and dangerous.
Silinth stared at Mila while pondering. After a moment of gathering his thoughts, he began to speak.
“For the start, I had not planned to summon more than a single person. I sought out a specific target, which appears to be you. Those two were,” He paused. “An accident.”
“I find that hard to believe.” Mila had her doubts. “Wouldn’t such a spell be overly specific?”
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“Ah,” Silinth suddenly looked embarrassed and even blushed a little. “I did not use the proper version. My predecessors and I heavily modified the spell work and-” He looked away. “It might have involved latching to others using the proper version, as ours was incomplete.”
“You hijacked the summons made by others to boost your dubious version.” Mila narrowed her eyes. There were thousands of things that could have gone wrong. It was a miracle of unimaginable proportions that he had made it work. It, at least, explained the lack of proper infrastructure in this place. She looked at the surrounding pillars once more. Were they used to intercept the summons?
Silinth coughed in his hand. “Be as it may, I was successful.” There was a hint of pride in his voice. “There were risks, but they paid off.”
“You played with our lives.” Mila accused the man.
“That-” Silinth looked at her. “You are right. And for that, I offer my life in return if the need arises.” He bowed.
Was this his pride speaking? Mila could not tell how genuine Silinth was. Offering your life so freely did not sit well with her. She did not find such an attitude trustworthy.
“To me or us?” She pointed out the obvious.
Silinth appeared to be stumped by the simple question. He looked at the bodies behind her with a torn expression. “I can not answer at this moment. He conceded. “This situation is truly outside of my expectations.”
“Why take risks at all?” Mila could not agree with the man.
“Because it was our last chance,” Silinth revealed. “My people, we-” He bit his lip. “We spent hundreds of years in preparations. Blood, resources and time. We gave it all while our numbers dwindled. The time passed, as did those who ruled these lands. An emperor would claim our homes, and then his empire would wither. A king would take over, only to be assassinated years later. Then, another ruler would come and claim these lands. Many such men and women resided over us. There was one thing common among all of them. They hunted us and those who would show support. And so we hid and ran. Our knowledge vanished, and our history became blurry. I am not the strongest among us, but my knowledge of spells is the greatest. It was left in my hands to find a chance.”
“So you did it because, after your passing, there would be no one who could use this spell?”
“Yes.” Silinth nodded. “I have no successor.”
“But you could find one.”
“Perhaps.” He agreed. “But for two forces to use the summoning of heroes at the same time and aim at the same world-” Silinth looked into Mila’s eyes. “The world where our goal resided in. It was time.” He concluded with surety.
“Time for what? You did not say why you summoned me. What was your goal?”
Silinth opened his mouth before closing it. Mila felt him weaving an intricate spell which made her tense. She would not go down without fighting. If the man attacked her, she would seek to retaliate. No matter how insignificant her strength was.
But nothing happened. The spell completed, and Mila felt mana vanish in the air around them. It did something she could not recognise.
“I apologise if that scared you. The topic is-” Silinth looked around in worry. “Difficult to talk about. The world does not like it.”
Mila looked blankly at the man.
“It’s true,” Silinth stated. “If I said too much, I would alert forces beyond my understanding. They may not interfere directly, but their followers would come to know of us.”
If what Silinth said was true, the world had changed more than Mila could imagine. She could not imagine why or how unless- She opened her mouth and tried to ask a question. A question about something that had haunted her for years.
Before a single sound could escape her mouth, Mila felt dread. The world stilled and waited. In front of her, Silinth started to tremble and struggle to breathe. His eyes bulged as he strived to stop her.
It took all her strength for Mila to stop. She forced her mouth shut and strained herself to think about something else.
A gasp escaped both of them. Mila found herself covered in goosebumps and cold sweat. She did not know what that had been, but she was in no hurry to find out.
“Don’t do that again.” Silinth croaked. “But now you get it.” He was still trembling. “Some things are not meant for our ears. Even knowing them can doom us. And what you tried to bring up. Don’t bring it up to me. Don’t even try to not think about it.”
Mila nodded. “I’ll try.” She did not bring up her dreams. There was no telling what dreaming about it would mean in this world. Would she just die from falling asleep? That would be a sad death.
“Yeah, yeah, do that.” Silinth shuddered. For the next several minutes, he took deep breaths to calm himself. “As I was saying.” He brought up the previous topic. “It’s not something that can be brought up casually. My ancestors swore to fulfil a task. A task of returning something to this world.”
“That is very vague.” Mila pointed out and received a glare.
“I will not repeat your mistake. It was too dangerous.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Mila muttered. It had been scary, yes, but dangerous? She had her doubts.
“We almost died.” Silinth stared in disbelief. “How can you say it wasn’t that bad?”
Mila did not deign to answer. Her instincts told her there was more to it. It may have been dangerous to Silinth, but it did not mean it was the same for her. “So that something is me?” She moved the conversation along.
“I don’t know.”
That was not the answer Mila expected. This man was too flippant about too many things. He had his reasons, and she understood why he did what he did. It didn’t mean she liked it or him. “Right. But you had to use something for guidance?”
Silinth hesitated. “Yes. There is something.” He admitted and pushed his hand under the gambeson. After a moment, he pulled out a small iron locket with a simple woven string. “This has been passed down for generations as the way to locate and identify our goal.” He explained while looking at the simple adornment with admiration. “Despite what it may look, this locket has weathered centuries without decaying or rusting.”
Mila looked at the locket. Something was calling out to her from inside. She could feel the pull, and for a moment, she forgot everything else and stepped forward while reaching out. All she could see was the mysterious jewellery. Her fingers brushed against the cold metal, and she felt a shock travel through her body. It was revitalising and left her breathless.
Silinth nodded and let Mila grab the treasure from his palm. She felt connected, not to the locket, but to what was inside it. She gently caressed the smooth surface, and the locket started to open without any further input.
The gasp of surprise from Silinth surprised Mila. She looked at the happy face of his and furrowed her brows. The locket opened and revealed a small blue stone. The pull grew more powerful, and she had to use all her willpower to not touch it.
“So it is you.” Silinth watched her in awe.
“It opened by itself.” Mila did not understand. “Hardly a proof.”
“No, you don’t understand. Of course not.” He excitedly continued. “All those who have tried to open this locket died gruesome deaths. Many speculated that it was keyed to a specific individual, and now I see it to be true!”
“This was a test.” Mila flatly sumerised. She was feeling quite angry right now. With most of her attention focused on Silinth, she barely registered the stirring behind her. Her eyes bore into the celebrating man.
“Indeed.” Silinth’s eyes grew cold as his attention switched to the duo on the ground. His fingers twitched as if grabbing their necks.
There was no mistaking this look. Mila recognised it. The man was weighing the value of the teens and found it wanting. She found herself stepping into his line of sight. “You will not harm them.” Her words stopped the man. She understood him. Whoever was summoning them did it for unknown reasons.
The talent these teens possessed was dangerous. If allowed to grow, they could upend the world and its order. There was no telling where their allegiances would fall. No matter what, in time, they would become dangerous. People like these were harbingers of bloody wars.
Still, they were innocent. Mila could not let Silinth harm them, even for the greater good. She kept her head high and met his murderous gaze with calm. “Or I will be your opponent.” It was a gamble, but she believed in her newfound worth. She pulled her hands into fists, forgetting the open locket in hand.
A sudden vertigo overtook Mila as her fingers brushed against the blue stone. She swayed as thousands of thoughts invaded her mind. Everything grew dark, and she found herself falling asleep.