Izia didn’t know what was worse, her skin sticking to her clothes as she marches through the surprisingly humid island or the daggers being stared at her back. Her crafts could alleviate the former, but it would take more than a few spells to get the suspicion off of her. This was nothing new to her, after all she somehow managed to get into Exigal and the other Evokers never gave her a moment's peace. Izia’s shirt catches a snag, tearing right at her shoulder as she comes into contact with an errant branch. She reaches for her sleeve and feverishly pulls at it until it comes off, a feat made easier due to the dozens of cuts she’d suffered along the way. After doing the same to the other sleeve, she sighs in relief as her skin gets some much needed air.
“Hey, if you’re done fixing yourself, can we get a move on?” Zav’s voice sticks into Izia’s ear like a splinter; small but a pain in the ass. If it wasn’t him trying to take the lead on the expedition it was him trying to tell her what to do and where to go. Everything inside of her wants to summon her grimoire and use a highcraft on him, but the knowledge of potential enemies appearing kills the thought.
“If you want to be the boss then pay us the lim and get the waystone, otherwise shut up,” Adelie says. He and Marn had decided to walk in-between Izia and Zav’s group, acting as a buffer she was thankful to have. Maybe they weren’t as upset with her as she thought? It had been a few days since the incident, it’s possible that-
“Oh the minute this little trip is over, my hatchet is gonna take that head off.”
“Threats only work if you have the power to back them up,” Adelie says, “little Blocker.”
Izia sees Zav glowering at Adelie, but Adelie keeps his back to him. Surely that’s just going to make him more upset? Oh, he was doing this on purpose...but why make Zav focus on him? “Oh you idiot, the bounty!” Zav made his intentions very clear; if the expedition is a bust he’ll take the money from here, dead or alive. But if Adelie is trying to keep the heat off, has he really forgiven her? It bothered Izia greatly that she cared so much about his opinion of her, but he was the only person that had shown her kindness. Real kindness, no like the transactional kind she found in Night’s End. She tries to suppress the flooding memories of burning homes, but the night had seared itself into her very soul. A family flayed alive in front of her, their screams growing silent from the fire tearing their throats apart. Any ambitions they held died that night, along with the countless others of Zet Village. The memory strengthened its hold in Izia’s mind. She could almost feel the heat of the black flames dancing their wicked dance in front of her. No. Izia pushes the memory down, utilizing the mind techniques she learned at Exigal, until she’s back in the present.
“Evoker. What does the waystone say?” It surprised Izia to hear Marn speaking, let alone speaking to her. “ Well?”
“Give me a moment,” Izia says as she summons the waystone to her hand. She didn’t want to keep it in her elsespace, but with Zav here she couldn’t put it past him to try to take it from her. The waystone materializes into her hand and glows. “It says west.”
Marn smiles at Adelie, “I told you, pay up.”
Izia looks on as Adelie begins to launch into how he hadn’t actually made a bet when everyone else suddenly stops. Izia knew something must be coming, but what? She didn’t have the training of a Gladius, she couldn’t sense weapons or harmful intent...but crafting? That was something she could detect. Izia quiets her mind and her pupils darken, turning the once lush landscape into a collection of muted grays and blacks. By using athersight, Izia can see the crafting being used based on color emission. Red indicates physical enhancement, dark green are poisons, yellow is healing, and white… “Illusive crafting.” There was a mist of white surrounding the party, only the party. “Everyone! They’re using illusive crafts-”
Marn draws her blade and parries an attack she couldn’t have seen coming. In fact, everyone except for one of Zav’s crew was able to either dodge or parry the ambush; the unlucky Engraver’s neck was punctured by a short dagger, visible due to the blood giving it form. In an instant Marn, Adelie, Zav and the other 4 members close ranks, allowing no one to attack from behind. “Evoker! How many?” Marn asks.
“I can’t tell, there’s too much lingering magic. I’ll have to dispel it first,” Izia says.
An invisible arrow strikes Zav’s hatchet, though not without drawing blood as it glances off his left cheek. “Then hurry up and do it. If I get ugly from these arrows, I’m gonna disappoint a lot of ladies.”
“Don’t blame the arrows for your natural ugliness,” Adelie says, “besides, isn’t the thought of fighting an invisible enemy exciting?” Adelie remains focused on the space in front of him, but a wicked grin creeps across his face. Was he actually enjoying this? Izia looks at Zav and sees a flash of his crooked teeth. Her eyes dart to Marn and though her face remains placid, Izia can see the edges of her lips resisting the urge to let out a smile. “ Izia, you go on ahead,” Adelie says, “I can deal with this.”
Go where? The fight was happening here. All she has to do is dispel the craft and- wait, something wasn’t adding up. Why were only Adelie and the others being targeted? And why would they be using such extreme amounts of ather? Sure, it would make even their weapons invisible, but they could have just engraved their weapons and clothing. “They must have an Evoker somewhere, maintaining the craft from a distance,” Izia thinks to herself. That seemed most likely, but how did Adelie know? Was he just guessing or...no, now wasn’t the time for that. She needs to focus on finding where the Evoker is. Izia concentrates on the dagger jutting from the dead Engraver’s neck. Tracing crafts back to their source is a lot easier when the target is either stationary or surrounded by something that can’t produce ather; fortunately her target met both requirements.
Another volley of arrows ping off the weapons of the party, accompanied by Adelie antagonizing the invisible assailants. He closes his eyes and catches an arrow aimed at his heart, moments before it could fully penetrate. Marn yells at him for doing such a stupid thing and all he can say in reply is “ I just wanted to try something.”
A stream of white mist shoots from the blade and arcs over the trees to the left. “ I’ll be back, try not to get killed.” Izia runs off towards the trees, heedless of any wounds she may suffer traversing the treacherous off beaten path. As the source of the crafting draws closer, a thought crosses her mind. “What if the Evoker wanted me to find them?” It wasn’t a wild idea, especially since they made no effort to conceal the crafting being used. “If that’s true, then they knew I was traveling with a party.” She breaks through a line of trees and enters a grove with completely different vegetation.
The grass is dyed with the cosmos, forming around a flat, sleek structure of unknown origin. It looks to be a mixture of Unamin and Tero design, but older; in fact it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that this structure was the basis for their designs. The large structure seemed to stretch the length of the island. “Wait! There are small symbols on it.” She moves closer, “The entire structure has symbols on it, symbols just like the waystone.” In her fervor, Izia summons the waystone from her elsespace.
“Ah, so you do have it!” A voice rings out from seemingly everywhere around her. Izia looks around, seeing nothing but the faint trail of illusive crafting that leads her here. “Oh relax Izia, it’s just me.” Izia jumps and retreats from where she once stood as the space around it starts to warp. A woman steps from the warped space, dressed in Night’s End garb. Straight, jet black hair rests just above her exposed shoulders. Blue lipstick adorns her angular face, matching the shade of makeup around her eyes. Next to both of her eyes are 3 horizontal black lines, with a perpendicular white line intersecting them; her personal brand.
“Julun, I should have guessed as much,” Izia says, “you never did like to fight on your own.”
“Oh like you’re one to talk, or were those Gladius not under your employ?” Julun encircles Izia, inspecting her. “Looks like you’ve managed to get by with only a few scrapes, I take it that means your crafting has improved some?”
“What do you want Julun?”
“You’ve grown so cold, Izia,” Julun says, still walking around her. “I just want to talk.”
“Talk? You’ve killed one of my party members and the rest of them are pinned down by your invisible army.”
“If one of them died, then I did you a favor. You’re carrying precious cargo, if they’re too weak to protect themselves then they shouldn’t have joined up.”
Izia tries to keep the heat of her blood from reaching her cheeks. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but her own that people died, she never told them how dangerous the assignment truly was.
“Aza’s tears, are you feeling guilty? You are, aren't you?” Julun laughs at Izia, “ I thought after all you’ve done, you’d be better at this by now.” She points to the embroidered NE on her chest. “We drown our weakness in the neverending night,” does any of that ring any bells?
How could it not? That was the first part of their vile oath, an oath Izia had nothing but regret for taking. “If you want to talk, then get rid of the illusive crafting,” Izia says.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Oh come now, I-”
“If you want to talk, then you’ll get rid of the crafting...now.”
Julun takes a step back and makes a face of familiar excitement. “Now that’s the Izia I remember.” Julun exhales and grabs the air as if she were pulling a doorknob. “There it’s done, are you happy now?” She sees the look in Izia’s eyes and immediately continues, “I was sent by Lavius, yes he knows you’ve discovered the location of the Forge, to retrieve the waystone from you and bring you back.”
“Liar. If that were true, then why would there be a bounty on my head?”
“Because I put one out on you.”
Izia summons her grimoire; a black book with a pulsing crimson streak across its cover. Izia’s violet eyes shift to an evening black. “She did this! She made those assassins come for me! “ Julun’s visage melts away in Izia’s eyes, replaced with the imagery of that night in Zet Village.
“Izia, Izia wait!” Julun backs away slowly so as to not make any sudden movements, “ I hired them because I needed to find you. I knew you could handle them, they’re nothing to you. After all, you’ve-”
A rush of black vapor spews from Izia’s closed grimoire.
“I didn’t report back to Lavius. I wanted to come to you first so we could split the power and take Night's End for ourselves! I swear, Izia please!”
The black vapor disappears, along with the grimoire. “I want nothing to do with you, or Night’s End. If you come for me again…” Izia stares at her, letting the implication of her words hang in the air.
Julun was an Evoker by happenstance, not choice. She wasn’t the most gifted at ather manipulation, but she had amazing skill with illusive crafting. “ I swear, you’ll never see me again.”
“Good,” Izia says as she returns to normal. “ How much time until the rest of the guild arrives?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t try to play dumb, Julun. I know you were lying about not reporting back. Lavius isn’t going to blindly trust someone, especially after what I did.”
Julun smiles at Izia, “I’m not. You asked when we’d arrive, but we’ve been here Izia.”
Izia’s blood runs cold, “No, that’s another lie. I only discovered the coordinates to here a month ago and there was no one else in the guild who could do so.” Izia was certain of this, it had been one of the few skills that made her invaluable to Night’s End; her ability to read the words of the Atherials. It didn’t come easy to her, but after a while her brain would just figure out the meaning to the symbols.
“I know, well Lavius knows. Things are different now Izia, he’s different.” Julun regains her air of superiority, “ He knew you’d come here, it’s why he gave you the waystone in the first place.”
“That’s impossible!”
“And yet I’m here, funny how that works.” Julun shrugs, “look, I couldn’t care less if you believe me or not, my job was just to confirm you had the waystone and separate you from your-” Julun cuts herself off, “oops, I almost let it slip out.”
“Julun,” Izia stalks forward, extending her hand to summon her grimoire once more.
“Oh as much as I’d love to do that again, I intend on keeping my word. Bye for now, Izia” Julun’s body disperses into the air like a mist, leaving Izia staring at the structure behind her. What did she mean they were already here? Lavius couldn’t have figured out the symbols, could he have? Either way, now wasn’t the time to sit and think. Izia shakes the thoughts away and runs back to the group.
Izia makes it back to the party and sees Adelie standing over a body. “Adelie! Are you ok? Where is everyone else?” He doesn’t answer as she makes her way to him. She asks him again but he doesn’t respond, so she decides to save it for later. Izia looks at the body; a young man, no older than 20, in Night's End clothing. It isn’t as intricate as the other members, meaning this was most likely a fresh recruit. He wore a sleeveless black vest with a purple hood attached to it. To Izia’s horror, she saw an engraving on the side of man’s face; an insignia of the same designs as Julun’s. “He’s with Night's End’s stealth team, led by the Evoker Julun Madoya.”
Adelie remains motionless as he speaks, “I knew this man. He’s the son of a patron at Ayl’s. I always told Eba that he could join my guild when we got older. And now…” Adelie stops himself, but Izia can feel the anger radiating from his body.
“I don’t think he joined of his own free will,” Izia says, “ that mark on his face has traces of Julun’s crafting. She specializes in illusive crafts, and that brand is used to make people see whatever the crafter wants them to see.”
Adelie keeps his back to Izia. “You’re saying that all of them have this Julun’s brand?”
“Yes, they use it on people they’ve taken and make them do whatever they want.” The memory of black flames starts to bubble up but Izia shoves it back down. “Only the crafter,or an Engraver with equal power to the crafter, can remove it.”
“So is this how your guild operates? They take people from their homes and force them to join?”
Izia doesn’t respond, instead she lets Adelie continue. She couldn’t explain it, but there’s something coming from him, a feeling she can’t put into words.
Zav and Marn return, along with his other crew members. Marn separates from them and walks over to Adelie, but stops by Izia. “It’s clear,” Marn says to Adelie, “ the rest of the archipelago is just vegetation.”
“Then you can help me with this.” Adelie picks up Eba’s body and walks over to the base of a nearby tree. Without saying a word, Marn takes out her sword and begins using it as a makeshift shovel. Adelie places another body by the tree and Marn makes another hole. Izia watches Zav take the body of his fallen crew member and strip his body of weapons. Disgust spreads throughout her body until she sees a flicker of regret in Zav’s eyes. Izia slowly exhales before using wind incantins to assist in the burials.
Night had crept in before they finished putting the 23 bodies to rest, though Zav gave his crew member a traditional Torna send off; he stripped him of all clothing and tossed him into the sea. He didn’t explain the nature of the custom but was adamant that he’d have to do it before nightfall. Marn had gone back to the ship to gather the sleeping supplies, leaving a few members of Zav’s crew, Izia, and Adelie to watch the campsite; which was far enough away from the burial grounds that they couldn’t disturb it by accident. The campfire flames roar as a crew member tosses a log into the fire, making their shadows dance along the rock outcroppings around them.
“You should eat something,” a crewman says as he extends a plate of food , “it’s good stuff.”
“I’m fine,” Izia replies. She really was, she never had much of an appetite and she had certain sensitivities to food prepared on an open flame. She summons a premade meal from her elsespace and takes a bite from it. The crewman shrugs and retracts the plate. “I’ll take one to Adelie though, he hasn’t been back in a while.” She gets up from the ground, dusts herself off, and heads towards the beach.
Izia ducks underneath a low hanging vine and sets foot on the red sands. She used the short walk to the beach to come up with ways to start a conversation. She needed to apologize for her part in what happened. Izia approaches Adelie from the back, but before she can say anything, he speaks.
“I’m gonna destroy Night's End.”
“What? It’s an entire guild, how-”
“It’s not a guild!” Adelie turns to Izia and a wave crashes on the beach. “A guild doesn’t take people and force them to join. It doesn’t mind control them into doing their bidding or send people to their deaths on a whim.”
Izia examines Adelie’s face and sees the hurt in his eyes. A wave of emotion overcomes her and she swears it's coming from him. Intense feelings of guilt and anger seep into her pores, threatening to pull the string on her own pain. “I’m sorry. If I would have told everyone that I was in Night’s End from the beginning, none of this would have happened.”
“You don’t need to apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong. We took the job, we have to expect each assignment to be our last.”
“But I-”
“You put up a job,” Adelie says, “it’s as simple as that. I was upset earlier because I refuse to work with a group that’s been banned, but that’s on me. I should have been more thorough about accepting.”
“Even so, you don’t have to continue. I’ll let you and the others take the ship back. I’ll figure out a way to get to the Forge. To try to fight Night’s End is insane.”
“I’m not gonna fight, I’m gonna annihilate them.” The ripples behind Adelie begin moving in the opposite direction. “ Lavius thinks he can get away with taking people from my village? I’m gonna finish the job that was started 3 years ago.” Izia feels an invisible force pressing against her and the icy feeling of death touches the back of her neck. Something in her elsespace grabs her attention.
“There you are,” Marn says from behind Izia, “I’ve brought the rest of the supplies. What’s going on here?”
“I’ve decided on crushing Night’s End,” Adelie says.
“Just leave that Hodin guy for me, he’s mine to deal with,” Marn replies.
“I want Lavius, but if Hodin gets in my way, I’ll take him out too.” Adelie walks back towards the camp, but stops a step behind Izia. “ I don’t know why you ended up with them, but I can tell you’re not a bad person,” he whispers to her before continuing on. When he and Marn clear the beach, Izia opens her elsespace and summons the waystone. It glows brighter than it ever had before and Izia almost drops it. The waystone returns back to normal after a moment and Izia sends it back into her elsespace.
Izia looks out into the Eversea, watching waves rise and fall in the distance. Even on this moonless night, she could see the shimmering of the prismfish from this distance. Izia closes her eyes and offers a prayer. “Please, Atherial Aza, Goddess of Mercy, answer me in this time of need.” The world goes silent before Izia opens her eyes and sees the visage of a transparent woman, hovering over the Eversea. Her body is completely made of ather and she’s taken the form of a shapely woman with long flowing hair and a kind face.
“I am here,” Aza says. Just the sound of her voice erases any feeling of pain or guilt in Izia’s body. “What is it that you need?”
“Guidance, Goddess Aza. You told me that I would be receiving a great gift the day before I got the waystone. You also told me that I would know what to do with it when the time was right.”
“Yes,” Aza replies, her voice as soft as a Unamin silk. “And you’ve done exactly what you need to do.”
“But my actions have led to the death of others, Goddess.”
“And they shall be blessed in the domain of Kishr,” Aza says. “I cannot stay any longer. Do not doubt the decisions you’ve made and those you’ve yet to. It is imperative you have your party in order to avert the forthcoming disaster.”
“Is the disaster related to Night’s End? Please, what am I supposed to stop?” Aza disappears and the sounds of the crashing waves resumes. Izia kicks the red sand before slumping onto the beach, knees to her face and her arms around her shins. She wouldn’t dare question the will of an Atherial, but why couldn’t the Goddess just tell her exactly why she needed a party? Or how the waystone works? It still held power in it even though they’ve lost members of the party. How was it getting enough ather to react? Izia lays on the beach, looks to the stars, and lets the sounds of the Eversea drown out her thoughts.