Ed and Kyra returned a minute later, a metal tray floating in front of them, laden with five ceramic bowls, filled to the brim with a delicious-smelling stew. Grant’s stomach rumbled at the smell.
“Thanks a bunch, I’m surprisingly hungry considering I’ve only been here a few hours,” he said, accepting a bowl from the tray with a polite smile.
“You are very welcome,” Ed said, looking at him curiously.
Grant returned the look steadily and quietly said “Breaking down and feeling miserable won’t accomplish much. I miss my friends and family, but for now I’m choosing to focus on the fact that I’m in a literal magical world. There are worse fates.”
Ed looked at him for a few seconds longer before giving him a sharp nod. “There are indeed,” he said grimly, “but there are also better ones.” He turned to his bowl.
The three of them sat, eating their stew in comfortable silence for a few moments, and Grant let the aroma and magnificent taste wash away the last simmering vestiges of his anger.
“The other bowls are for the other council members you mentioned, I assume?” he asked, nodding at the two bowls remaining on the floating tray.
“Indeed,” Ed answered, reaching into his coat pocket and withdrawing a gold pocket watch. He studied it for a second before returning it. “They should be here shortly.”
They continued eating, savouring their meals, until a few minutes later when a nearby door slammed shut, causing Grant to jump slightly, though the other two showed no reaction. The door into the room swung open, revealing two new arrivals.
The first was an Asian woman, standing under five feet with a petite frame. Her long black hair was dyed with streaks of different shades of blues and reds, framing a delicate looking face, though her nose had clearly been broken some time in the past and healed badly. She was dressed casually compared to the other outfits Grant had seen since his arrival, in denim shorts, a plain white t-shirt and strappy sandals. Two long, curved scimitars, almost touching the floor, hung from her waist, also rather plain looking compared to the weapons Grant had seen so far, or even Ed’s cane.
The other was a short black man, only a few inches taller than his companion. His body, however, was as far from petite as could be. He was the stockiest man Grant had ever seen, almost as wide as he was tall. The top of his head was shaved smooth, but he had a magnificent, bushy black beard that must have been a foot long. He was bare-chested but wore some kind of blue, shimmering, silk-like material as trousers. They seemed to billow in the wind entirely of their own accord, and for a second Grant felt like he could almost see clouds moving deep within the fabric. His left hand clasped a quarterstaff that was tipped on each end with a small blue crystal.
“Greetings,” the woman said, bowing slightly to Grant with her hands clasped before entering, “I am Suriya Wattana. This is my fellow council member and friend, Bukola Afolayan.”
The man tilted his head, studying Grant for a moment, before snorting and crossing the room. Grabbing one of the bowls, he collapsed into one of the armchairs and began loudly slurping up the food within.
“Oh yes, that reminds me,” Ed said, placing his bowl aside and standing, “I didn’t finish introducing myself or welcoming you earlier. Edward Porter, at your service.” He tipped his hat at Grant. “As I said, welcome to Sanctuary and the ranks of the Forsaken. Anything you need over the next few days to make your transition as smooth as possible, simply ask myself or my fellow council members and we will endeavour to assist you in any way possible.” He lay back on his sofa.
“We will indeed assist however we can, but I understand that we have been called here to address some abnormalities with your arrival?” Suriya said questioningly, looking at Ed.
Ed nodded. “Yes, there were some irregularities. Kyra, if you would?”
Kyra stood up and began to describe to the council what had happened after Grant’s arrival, beginning with him already being present when she had arrived at the arena, to him lacking the typical ability to ignore the temperature that she had expected, and detailing the gryphon attack. The three elders sat forward intently when she told them that at least one of the gryphons had been intent on slaying him despite Kyra being the danger to them, and Bukola in particular seemed interested, setting aside his meal and frowning thoughtfully. When Kyra reached the moment that she had inspected him to confirm that he had a Source, Grant could noticeably see the three councillors relax slightly, as though their greatest concern had been alleviated.
I guess shapeshifters are a big problem around here, he noted to himself.
When Kyra had finished speaking and retook her seat, there was silence for a few moments while the elders exchanged glances, then Suriya stood and leaned over to whisper in Ed’s ear for a minute. Ed nodded at her, and she sat back down.
“Well, that is certainly the most exciting welcome to our world I can remember hearing about,” Ed remarked, absentmindedly drumming his fingers on the cushion next to him, “and I have a few ideas as to what may be happening - though none of my ideas are of particular comfort, I must say.”
Bukola spoke for the first time, his voice surprisingly high-pitched for what his body type would imply. “The gryphon attack is concerning, but most likely unrelated to the other occurrences. It may simply be that we have been making an allowance for their territory, when instead we should be reminding them to fear us. I will go there tomorrow, and I will have a pointed conversation with their king. They will bother us no longer.”
Ed and Suriya rolled their eyes slightly.
“Do as you wish,” Suriya sighed, “but please try not to kill any more of them. Relations with the centaurs are already teetering on the edge, and slaughtering another tribe of amalgams will hardly help matters.”
Bukola grinned maliciously. “No deaths, but I will remind them of the folly of attacking one of our number. In detail”
Ed waved a hand, dismissing the matter. “Very well, we will consider that mystery solved for now, unless their king reveals information to Bukola tomorrow. The matter of the early arrival and lack of abilities, however, are more pressing. Thanks to Kyra we know that he is indeed one of us and not an amorphism-” Suriya and Bukola shuddered in disgust at this, “-but the fact remains that something is different. I have my own theory, but I would be interested to know what your thoughts are.”
Suriya and Bukola exchanged glances, and Suriya turned to study Grant again. Her eyes began to glow softly, like Kyra’s had before.
“I suspect that my theory is the same as yours, Edward. That he is not the replacement for Jorgen, but for someone else.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Bukola and Ed nodded in agreement.
“I concur,” Ed said, waving a hand and sending all the empty bowls and the tray soaring out of the room, “which I find both reassuring and troubling. I’m relieved that our numbers may begin to recover, but the idea of new arrivals having difficulties with their abilities is troubling.”
“Actually, Ed,” Kyra interrupted, “once I checked his Source and unblocked it, he seemed to be perfectly normal. He even tried channelling it at one point, although he ran out of power almost immediately.”
“That is good news,” Ed acknowledged, “but I will wait to see what Fyodor uncovers tomorrow before I relax.”
Grant sat forward, head buzzing with the onslaught of new information. He tried to commit the unknown words he had heard to memory - Amalgam? Amorphism? - but he had too many questions to just sit quietly anymore.
“Ok, so now that you’re happy I’m not a threat or anything, can anyone fill me in on what you’re talking about?” he asked, his frustration and burning curiosity leaking out. “You called me a replacement for someone? What does that mean? Did one of you bring me here to replace someone who died? And this guy,” he gestured at Bukola, “seems pretty eager to engage in some casual torture and you all seem fine with that! Just how fucked up is this place?”
He was breathing hard now, glaring at the group around him. Bukola slowly rose from his chair and walked to stand in front of Grant, his hand grasping his staff so hard the knuckles paled. His eyes began to burn red.
“Do not dare judge me, you pup,” he said softly, staring into Grant’s eyes. “I have lost friends I have known for centuries to beasts like those, and I will gladly punish them for their transgressions, past, present, and future. This world is not a paradise. You will not find peace here. You will find only pain, and trials beyond your imagining. The monstrosities that reside here will not make allowances for your soft heart. They will tear it from your chest and devour it before your eyes.” He stared at Grant a moment longer, until Grant averted his eyes, his mouth dry. The air around Bukola seemed to thrum with power, and something in Grant knew that antagonising him further was not a good idea. Bukola returned to his seat, calm once more.
An awkward silence hung in the air, until Suriya broke it. “Do not pay Bukola too much heed,” she said, glancing fondly at him, “he has a tendency to overstate things. Plenty of us lead happy, peaceful lives here, much as we would on Earth. Although some of us,” she inclined her head slightly towards Bukola, “have a different world view, you are perfectly safe here - if you wish to be.”
Grant swallowed. “Ummm, yeah. Yeah, safe sounds good to me.”
“As for your other questions,” Ed said as though nothing had happened, “Yes, you are a replacement, although that doesn’t quite mean what you think.” He held up his palm, and his eyes began to glow as a bright ball of fire flickered to life in his hand. “As you know, those of us here have certain abilities, thanks to what we call a Source. Each of us shares some abilities in common - we are all far stronger than mortals, we live longer, can survive almost anywhere, and are far harder to harm. But we all have unique abilities as well. I can control all that is found on or under the earth - metal, rock, sand, gems. Suriya here can manipulate water and ice, and Bukola has strength and speed far beyond even what the rest of us can bring to bear. And Kyra can imbue objects with her will and manipulate them how she pleases.”
Grant looked at Kyra, thinking back to the various ways he had seen her use the ribbons that hung around her, then to all the items he had seen moving of their own accord in Ed’s house. Wait, he thought suddenly, but how… Oh. I guess glass is made of sand, actually. And the clay bowls too, really.
Ed continued, “Our Source is what allows us to perform these feats. However, despite our power, the beings that roam these worlds can challenge even us. All the monsters you have heard stories of, all the great beasts from tales of old, all of them exist behind the doors we move through. And so, sadly, sometimes we lose someone. Whatever our Sources are, evidently they do not simply stand by idly. When one of us departs, their Source seeks out someone new from the outside world and draws them here, and chooses them as its new host. We don’t know how or why, but they do. A few weeks ago, we lost a friend named Jorgen to a hydra. Earlier this morning, an enchantment we established many years ago alerted us that a Source had begun the process of drawing in a new host, a process which usually takes several days. So Kyra was dispatched to guide whoever appeared to their new home. Luckily she did so with great speed, else you may have stepped through one of the other doors around the arena and been lost to us.”
Grant was following along intently, and a detail stood out to him. “Sorry, you mentioned abilities and super strength and stuff, which I’m totally down with, but… did you just say enchantment?”
Suriya nodded. “Yes,” she said, “one aspect of our powers that Ed skimmed over. In a way similar to how Kyra can impose her will on any object, those of us with enough power can also perform, for lack of a better word, spells. We simply invoke our Source and will a change upon the environment. Like the shielding spell Kyra cast upon you earlier - she simply willed you to be immune to the elements. A minor enchantment, but nonetheless very impressive for one her age.” She smiled proudly at Kyra, who blushed deeply in response.
Grant shook his head slightly, trying to keep up with the deluge of information. “Okay, so I arrived earlier than usual. And you think that’s why I didn’t have powers at first?”
Ed sighed. “Sadly, no. If only it was that simple.” He took a deep breath, and Grant saw the others in the room grow somber at the forthcoming topic. “It seems that something has changed. Some years ago, we lost three of our number on a scouting mission. But, until you, no new arrivals have replaced them and taken up their source. We have remained diminished.”
Grant processed this news for a moment, then suddenly remembered what Kyra had said about the houses he had noticed were deteriorating. “So that’s why those houses I saw were falling apart? They’re somehow linked to the people who built them?”
Ed nodded. “Yes. Each of us used our abilities to construct our homes, and something about the nature of our powers helped guide us as we did so. Without exception, every replacement for a fallen member has found their previous accommodations next to ideal. In fact, the decay of those houses has provided us with an entirely new avenue of approach when it comes to those of us who study our powers.” He gestured toward Suriya as he said this, and she inclined her head in acknowledgement.
“This is true,” she said. “We never before considered how closely our dwellings were linked to our Source. If we did not learn this with such suffering I would be overjoyed by the implications.”
“So…” Grant said, frowning in thought, “you think that… I’m a replacement for one of the people who died years ago? That’s your theory?”
“It is one of them,” Ed said, nodding approvingly. “I believe that something happened on their mission, something that somehow affected the ability of their Source to recover its power and seek out a new host. We have often discussed the possibilities and implications behind their lack of replacement, and your odd lack of power could give a hint as to the solution. And, maybe, greater understanding of our situation as a whole.” He stood, raising a hand and grasping his cane as the door swung open at his command. “However, I may be wrong. There is another option which we will discuss if I am proven incorrect. We will find out soon enough - I will inform Fyodor of some of the issues around your arrival, and I will suggest to him that your training tomorrow does not simply consist of learning to use your basic powers, but more specifically, determining which Source you possess. If he is able to discover which Source you have, that will, whichever Source it turns out to be, provide us with more answers. For now, I suggest you explore the town a little. Kyra can take you to get clothes and food. For now, you will live in Jorgen’s house, as it has not yet started to fall apart like the others. Now, if you will excuse us, we councillors have other matters of import to discuss.”
Kyra rose and started to walk towards the door, and after a second Grant followed her.
“Thanks,” he said, looking at the three councillors, “for explaining everything. I… well, if I had to be transported magically to a new world full of monsters, this is about as good a welcome as I could wish for. Thanks.”
The corner of Ed’s mouth twitched into a near-smile once more as he inclined his head to Grant. Suriya smiled warmly at him, and Bukola merely grunted in response.
Grant and Kyra began to walk down the hallway once more as the door swung shut behind them, leaving the centuries-old sorcerers to their discussion.