Despite all that had happened and the green star falling from the sky, the streets of Tristan were eerily silent. It was almost like a ghost town. The closer they got to the city walls, the more damage they began to find, with the force of the impact bringing roof tiles down into the streets and shattering windows.
‘Do you think they’ve all gone to have a look?’ Emily asked, guiding her horse alongside Lewis’.
‘I hope not,’ he said. ‘The last thing we need is a lot of people nearby. It’s anyone’s guess what we’re going to find when we get to wherever it landed, whatever it is. Any thoughts, Edward?’ He raised his voice, directing the question behind him to the member of The Dawn he had asked to join them.
‘Well, there are many theories when it comes to prophecies, particularly this one. Many people believe in signs or signals from higher beings. Sometimes it’s subtle, and other times it's not. For example, a young couple may be looking for a house only to find that the current owners have already decorated a room with the name of their child.’
‘For Seer Precursors and yourself, it seems, it is far more obvious with the visions you are given. Even after centuries of study, no one is entirely sure how it works; sometimes only one Seer Precursor receives the vision, sometimes multiple, as was the case tonight.’
‘So, potentially, there are other Seer Precursors out there who could have seen what we saw?’ Captain Caldwell asked slowly, his hand adjusting the hilt of his sword as he rode.
‘It’s certainly possible. Excluding Russell, there hasn’t been a Seer Precursor at the tower in centuries now, although he wasn’t a real Seer Precursor.’
‘Edward, is it possible to manipulate visions or create false ones?’ Lewis asked, noticing Captain Caldwell seemingly more on edge than he had been a few minutes before. ‘Could we be walking into an ambush?’
‘That’s my concern as well,’ Captain Caldwell said, his eyes scanning the dark alleyways. ‘We’ve already had Lewis snatched in the forest once, and with the coronation, if people weren’t aware you were back in the city, they will be now.’
‘For someone to simultaneously target three Seer Precursors and Lewis, if it is possible, they would have to be extremely powerful. That goes without mentioning that Lillian has only been with us for perhaps an hour or two at the most, so it would have to be someone who knew about her. I would say it’s unlikely. It's best to keep on guard though; Seer Precursors are the most unknown of all Precursors because there have been so few of them, although we seem to have gathered several now somehow.’
‘We’ll have to be careful,’ Captain Caldwell said, his attention now fully focused on their surroundings. ‘Is there any way we can do some research into whether the visions could be manipulated?’
‘Any of the texts that we had at the tower were destroyed when it collapsed. It’s possible there might be some research locked away in the Vaults of Oria. Other than that, it would have to be here or in the ruins of Arcadia, but there’s a good chance that it could have been destroyed either with the city or by the elements in the years since,’ Edward said.
‘Do you know of anything in Tristan, Thomas?’ Lewis asked. ‘We’re not on very good terms with the Orian Empire right now, probably even less so after the emperor and his son spend the rest of the night in the infirmary.’
‘I can have a dig around in the old archives and see if there is something, but nothing comes to mind. Perhaps Sebastian had something tucked away.’
Before they could continue their conversation, the sound of shouts and hurried voices broke the silence. Rounding the corner, they found the street obstructed, with dozens of people scurrying over the rubble of a fallen building. The sound of the approaching horses alerted those closest to them. What Lewis wasn’t expecting were the looks they received.
‘We don’t need your help!’ A man who looked to be in his late sixties snapped ‘Nothing but disasters when you’re around.’ There was a loud murmur of agreement amongst the others, with half of them turning back to picking over the rubble.
‘We’ll get some guards down to help in case people are trapped,’ Captain Caldwell said.
‘Fuck off,’ the man called back, without turning to face them.
‘You go on with the others, Lewis,’ Captain Caldwell said quietly. ‘I’ll get a couple of the patrols to come help with this and catch up to you.’
‘Do what you can,’ Lewis said. ‘We’ll be careful.’ With a nod, Captain Caldwell turned his attention towards the people picking over the rubble, flagging down a passing patrol. ‘Let’s get going; we can cut down the alleyway and get to the gates that way.’
As they rode through the dark streets, Lewis’ mind began to wander back to the brief exchange with the man. Was it just frustration or something to be worried about? Anthony may have done a lot of damage to relations beyond the borders of the kingdom, but he had never asked about how things in the city had been. With his recovery in Fir Forest and then being captured by The Dusk, he had hardly spent any time in the city, let alone leading it.
Before he got much beyond those thoughts of public opinion, they returned to the main road leading out of the city to find a throng of people and the gates shut. At the head of the crowd, a pair of young, nervous-looking guards were calling to anyone who might listen that they needed to wait. The crowd seemed to be ignoring their pleas and jostling to get to the gates, although when they got close enough, they seemed unwilling to actually take their chance to open the gates. Lewis glanced at Thomas questioningly.
Thomas caught his eye and winked before easing his horse gently forward. 'Attention!' he called to the crowd; his voice seemingly amplified. Whether it was another ability of his or just his presence, Lewis wasn't sure. Either way, it turned the noisy rabble silent in an instant.
'At this time, it has been deemed unsafe to exit the city pending an investigation into the events of this evening. If you have a home, please return to it immediately. Those of you who wish to travel but have nowhere to stay should wait in an orderly fashion to the left of the gate, and the city guard will assist you in finding accommodation until the investigation is complete. You will be notified as soon as anything changes.'
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Lewis watched as, under Thomas' gaze, not a single word was uttered by the crowd as they began to disperse, save for a handful who moved to the side. Even in his time training with the guard, he had never seen any of his superiors command a group that well. Before they could begin to move towards the gate, the sound of a horse trotting down the cobbled street filled the now silent street, with Captain Caldwell joining them in front of the gate. 'Any luck with the rescue?' Lewis asked, his eyes following Thomas as he dismounted, exchanging a few words with the two guards who had been manning the gate.
'They reluctantly accepted help from a passing patrol,' he said. 'They were less reluctant when they managed to free a young boy who had been trapped in the rubble. I've sent a couple of scouts to fetch extra guards and have them go street by street in case others need help.'
'Thanks,' Lewis said. 'Hopefully we've managed to get away as lightly as possible.' Even as he said it, he found it hard to imagine everyone being safe if the destruction was on a similar scale elsewhere in the city.
'Let's go,' Thomas called. Climbing back into the saddle of his horse, he gestured for them to follow as the guards opened the gates for them. In silence, they rode out of the city, the gates clunking shut behind them again.
Beyond the city walls, the impact was clear. It couldn’t have landed more than a mile from the city, not all that far from the reservoirs where Lewis and Emily had first escaped from the city. It felt like a lifetime ago now. He pondered all that had happened since that day as they trotted down the road, the dark horizon painted green, the fire from the impact still raging.
‘Do we know if there are any guards or anyone out here already?’ Lewis asked.
‘A half dozen from the perimeter patrol who saw the impact headed out on foot to secure the site, but they can’t be more than five minutes or so ahead of us,’ Captain Caldwell replied. ‘They were told not to get too close and to just observe and wait for instructions.’
'At least we're not completely alone out here,' Emily said, giving Lewis a sideways glance as she appeared beside him. He could see the concern on her face as they got closer to the edge of the forest, the emerald glow dominating the dark sky now.
Lewis had no idea what he had been expecting. For hundreds of feet around the impact, trees had been flattened and lay like a box of splintered matches that had been upended. Pockets of green flame were scattered among the trees, burning at the broken brushwood. It was what sat at the centre of the crater that drew his attention.
Reflecting the light of the burning fires sat a huge metallic structure close to twenty feet from side to side, not quite spherical, made up of interlocking triangular pieces. Not too far away, a small group stood on edge, watching the guards who had come ahead of them. 'What in the world is that?' Emily muttered, voicing the thoughts of all of them as they gathered around.
'Your guess is as good as mine,' Thomas said as he made his way to the edge of the crater to look down on the structure. 'Very carefully,' he added, looking at Lewis as he moved forward.
Lewis had only gotten a couple of steps down the side of the crater, flanked by Thomas and Captain Caldwell, when a loud hiss broke the otherwise almost silent night. Dark green smoke billowed skyward from the structure as something metallic clanked like turning gears. The three of them froze. There was light coming from within the structure.
As the smoke began to clear, it revealed that two of the triangular panels had slid apart. With a dull white light from within, the shadow of a figure moved weakly, stumbling forward and out of the structure. A man, impossibly old and dressed in nothing but rags, coughed heavily.
'Koen?' Lillian whispered, seeming to appear between Lewis and Thomas out of thin air.
Lewis and Thomas exchanged glances in front of her. 'You know who this is?' they asked in unison.
'He's older, so much older, but I think so. Koen was Arden's squire,' she said before moving forward. 'Koen? Is that you?'
The man's head snapped around, his cloudy eyes locking on to Lillian for a moment before they moved across to Lewis. 'Reclaimer,' a croaky voice whispered. 'Reclaimer,' he said again, his lips not moving.
'Who's the Reclaimer?' Lewis asked, stepping alongside Lillian.
She looked at him curiously. 'What? No one said anything?'
'He said Reclaimer,' Lewis said, glancing at the others behind him.
'No, he didn't,' Emily said, Thomas and Captain Caldwell both shaking their heads.
'Reclaimer.'
'There. Didn't you hear it?'
'Lewis, be careful,' Thomas said warningly as the man took another shaky step forward, his eyes intent on Lewis.
The closer he got, the harder it was to believe how old he looked. His hair had long since fallen out, and his skin was flaky and deep with wrinkles. 'Who is the Reclaimer?' Lewis asked again, watching carefully as the man's hand twitched and his right arm lifted to his chest.
'You. You are the Reclaimer,' he said, this time his thin lips did move. 'You will be the one to lead them. To bring them back and take what is rightfully yours.'
'I've taken the throne and my place,' Lewis said. His eyes flicked to the man's hand; it was like the skin was made of ash. For a moment, he was sure it was a trick of the light, but he thought he saw the same green as the fire beneath the ashy skin like a web.
'You must take your true place, Reclaimer. This time his lips remained unmoving. 'This is not it.'
With a wince, the man took his ashen hand and placed it on his bare torso. Lewis watched as it melded with his flesh, the fingers sinking into his chest. Lewis looked around at the others in horror, hoping someone knew what to do, but was met only by shock and open mouths as he reached into his chest up to the wrist.
The ash began to spread from the hand across his torso; the green light Lewis had seen before was no longer a trick of the light, as it seemed to be growing within him. 'Reclaim,' he coughed as the ash engulfed him, his other hand crumbling to dust as he pulled the one from within his chest, the hilt of a sword grasped between his flaking fingers. Coughing more and more, the green light within him began to grow brighter as his body crumbled before them.
A whisper of 'Reclaimer’ was left on the wind as the ash scattered, the sword he had pulled from his body clattering to the floor. The six of them exchanged glances, none of them sure what they had just witnessed; the other guards looked on from a distance, aghast.
The clatter of the sword hung in the air for what could have been an hour, all of them stunned to silence, staring at where the man had stood. Thomas was the first to shift, taking a deep exhale from just behind Lewis. 'You should get back to the city, Lewis,' he said. 'We'll get this cleared away to somewhere that we can inspect it properly.'
'How are you going to move it?' Lewis asked. It looked far too big for any number of men to move, and they only had half a dozen here now.
'I think I can help with that,' Edward said, clearing his throat. He had been so quiet that Lewis had forgotten he was there. 'Do you have somewhere we can move it to?'
'I have a couple of ideas,' Thomas said. 'Captain Caldwell, can you spare those six? I think it would be a good idea to keep this secure for the time being. The less people know about what we found, the better, at least until we understand what this is.'
Captain Caldwell looked to Lewis. 'Let Thomas take charge of this one; help him however you can. Everything we've seen stays between us and Arthur for now.' He looked down at the sword before him. For a second, he swore he saw a flicker of emerald light within it and heard the whisper of that word again: 'Reclaimer'. Was he imagining it, he wondered as he rubbed his temples, the headache from earlier still furious. Crouching down, he reached out for the hilt of the sword.
The moment the tip of his finger touched the metal, the headache erupted, far worse than it had been earlier, as if his skull were alight with white hot fire about to split open.
Instinctively, he screwed his eyes shut, but rather than darkness, all he could see was a raging emerald inferno with dark shapes moving in the blinding light. A chorus of shouts and screams filled his head, the shapes swooping around him and buffeting him somehow despite their incorporeal forms. And then there was darkness. Nothing but darkness and silence.