Chapter 28 - A Man of Dreams
Adam barely dared to breathe in his effort to stay as quiet as possible. Craning his neck, he didn’t want to miss a thing about the conversation on the balcony above them.
It was hard to look away from Agatha the Red, although he wasn’t sure why. Back when he’d fought together with her during the War of the Prophet, he hadn’t relished the sound of her laugh. Now, there was something captivating in the way she moved her shoulders, in the subtle grace of her fingers as they moved over the parapet. Somehow, Caine failed to notice the twinkle in her slanted eyes when she looked at him.
The hint of a smile played on her lips. “Still convinced the Prophet uses an unknown Invocation of Novaseering to do it, aren’t you?” she asked.
Caine blinked and looked up from the Pure army. “Ehm…” He slightly shifted his legs and tapped his helmet. Adam knew the man and although Caine hid it well, he was definitely nervous. In fact, more so than Adam had seen him in a long time. “Well, what else can it be?” Caine smiled with a hint of his old bravado. “Everyone knows the Pure practice Novaseering, although they don’t learn it through Aves. And at its core, behind the traditions and dogmas around Novaseering, all applications of Oquira are based on control and rational order.” He pointed towards the Pure army. “I’ve never seen anyone controlling others so perfectly as the Prophet.”
Agatha smiled with unspoken questions in her eyes.
Caine blushed. “Oh, I mean, ahem, you control your subjects as well! Just not as, err, dictatorial—"
“Don’t worry, I know what you mean,” she said with a hint of amusement.
Adam smiled with grim satisfaction. What’s wrong? Lost all your fake confidence? How sad.
Agatha looked over the Pure army. “The Pure use Novaseering indeed, but I don’t believe that’s how the Prophet controls people’s minds. When someone has joined, it’s like their entire personality is deleted. They’re reduced to nothing but a cog in his machine. Novaseering concerns control, yes, but it’s control over Oquira. Research has never found an Invocation within Novaseering that influenced the minds of others.”
“But the mind can be tricked,” Caine argued. “With illusions or other methods to disturb the signals given to us by our senses.”
“Indeed, but how come Novaseers can’t trace this Invocation’s flow of Oquira? While it is powerful and complex enough to control and affect so many people at the same time?”
Caine was silent for a moment. Adam grinned to see Caine’s hands shift a bit in discomfort. Oh yes, lecture that boy, please! I could watch this all day.
“It doesn’t seem like Instinct to me either,” Agatha continued. “The Pure seem devoid of emotion with those empty smiles, instead of harnessing the power of their different emotions. Nor do I see animalistic aspects or signs the Ancestor is involved somehow. Some have theorized the Pure to be similar to schools of fish, or swarms of insects. However, even individual animals within those show more signs of free will. Plus, we’ve confirmed the Prophet is a Novaseer, and no person or creature can use both Novaseering and Instinct anyway.”
A cold shiver ran down Adam’s spine. Vague, unfamiliar memories came up, things he was sure he had forgotten. Yet somehow, he knew they were true. Instinct was the true name for the sorcery enabled by the left heart. The Forbidden Arts was just the name the Starwing Order used to describe it, which had become more and more common after Zachalynn had taken over. Instinct was named after the collective memory of all creatures who had lived before, to which all living beings had a differing amount of access. To practice Instinct was to open yourself to this memory, and with that to the insight of endless animals on how to live, survive, and fight. It opened the door to many Invocations that were powered, and linked to each other, by emotions.
“What intrigues me is the secret research Adam is performing on artefacts from ancient cultures,” Agatha continued. “He claims that both Novaseering and Instinct originate from a common forebearer.”
Adam blinked a couple of times. Oliver and Emily turned to him with raised eyebrows. “I don’t know what they’re talking about!” Adam quickly gestured in sign language.
“So that’s what he’s been doing, huh? Tsk-tsk,” Caine said. “I thought he had more important things going on than joining the long, sad line of people who’ve claimed Novaseering and Instinct are connected somehow.”
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Agatha smiled. “I figured you’d say that. Adam takes his secrecy seriously indeed if he hasn’t told you. Apparently, he found proof of a missing link between the two types of sorcery: a third form which predates them both by millennia. He says there are artefacts from an ancient civilization which still practised this third form before it became forgotten. According to him, the connection between the three types of sorcery is depicted as a V-like shape in their hieroglyphs.” With her finger, she drew a V in the air. “This third and oldest type of sorcery would form the lowest point. Based on it, both Novaseering and Instinct have supposedly evolved, which form the two upper points of the V.”
A third form of sorcery… Could that be true? Blurry impressions of his chamber at Ziecherhein’s Menhir League resurfaced in his consciousness. Research notes littered his desk and were hung all over the walls.
Caine frowned, his mind clearly racing. “If that’s true, that’s… ground-breaking! I can’t imagine the Starwing Order being happy about it, though… Zachalynn and the higher-ups are whispering about nonsense like ‘heresy’ and ‘Forbidden Arts’ more and more these days.”
Agatha laughed warmly, a sound Adam could get used to. “Many people within the Starwing Order are stuck in the past. They’re blind to new insights and believe nothing but their dusty books, while the world is alive and constantly changing. There’s nothing wrong with the religion which worships Aves though. It gives people peace, hope, and a certain wisdom. Yet, this giant organization called the Starwing Order uses religion as an excuse to gain power. They use Novaseering, their followers, and taxes to grow filthy rich. Take Zachalynn for example, a true rising star within the Starwing Order. But ugh, hear how she looks down on Instinct, or anyone who isn’t part of the Order.” Agatha shook her head. “That hypocrite preaches ‘empathy.’ However, true empathy includes caring about people you disagree with. And true insight requires being open to new knowledge, to be able to challenge what you’ve learned so far.” She gestured towards the Pure. “When faced with a phenomenon that can’t be explained with all the knowledge you have so far, it’s time to look further.”
Caine nodded. “I admit, the Starwing Order has disappointed me more than once. This third type of sorcery sounds interesting though… Let’s assume that’s indeed how Prophet created the Pure. What if we could figure out how their Invocations work and apply them for a good purpose?” Caine stared at the Pure with a curious twinkle in his eyes. “What if we could use their removal of pain for the sick? What if we could apply the Pure’s feeling of happiness, but keep free will intact? What if we could influence the minds of people on a large scale, but use it to remove mental illnesses and unhappiness?”
Down below, the Pure’s massive battering ram pounded the gate with deep booms that reverberated through the fortress. Further away, the cavalry’s charge had begun. Zachalynn rode at the head of the heavily armoured moose cavalry which thundered over the mountain pass. The tall, bald woman proudly wore her uniform of the Talons of Aves and raised her lance.
Caine laid his hands on the parapet and sighed. “Such unnecessary bloodshed… so many people will lose their lives right here. But maybe, with this new type of sorcery, we could prevent wars like this from happening!” He looked at her warmly. “Maybe we could use it to make this world a better place.” Caine tenderly laid a hand on the small of Agatha’s back. Stepping back, she sternly swiped his hand away.
“Not here, not now,” Agatha breathed.
Adam gaped. To see Caine’s hand on the small of Agatha’s back reminded him of how Caine had done the same to Catherine, back in his house. Adam gritted his teeth as he sourly remembered Caine’s bragging stories about women he had slept with. How many hearts have you broken? How many lives have you destroyed, you piece of filth?
Shortly after, a knight in plate armour entered the balcony. “Agatha, Caine, the general is requesting your presence immediately! It concerns strategic deliberations.” Agatha and Caine nodded and walked back into the tower. Four heavily armoured knights stepped onto the balcony and took guarding positions.
Adam followed Emily and Oliver towards a lower platform to avoid being heard by the guards. She and Oliver whispered a heated discussion about what they just heard, and how they had probably missed their chance to get Caine.
Adam was filled with a blank numbness. After the revelations, he stared blankly in front of him, unable to process what Oliver and Emily talked about. Part of his mind raced about all he had just heard about instinct, the third type of sorcery, his ‘research,’ and Caine’s vision. However, as the grim realization of the implications dawned to him, another part of him couldn’t deal with all of it anymore.
Adam gazed at the young version of himself, who fought with the strange blood-red haze Invocation around him. I was so sure I hadn’t used Forbidden Ar—I mean, Instinct before Ziecherhein. Yet here I see how I used to fight. Emily was adamant I used to practice Instinct; she and Oliver don’t seem surprised at all to see how I fought. It seems I’ve seen that mysterious warrior before after all. There are all these revelations, things I had forgotten like the memories from Schultora and Osaehin, but when I do remember them, I’m sure they are true.
“Hello? Adam?” Oliver waved his hand before Adam’s face, Adam blinked a few times. “Ah, glad you’re still around. Why didn’t you tell us about that third form of sorcery? That could be what the Shepherd and the giant were using!”
Adam was lost for words when the inevitable conclusion hit him. Maybe he already knew it for a while but didn’t want to admit it to himself. To say it out loud felt definitive, final, as if he would sign the contract of his doom. He ran his fingers through his hair, desperately wondering what parts of his life he’d lost, in which ways he had been manipulated, and if he’d caused any harm.
Adam swallowed despite his dry throat, wondering if his friends would ever trust him again. “I… didn’t remember,” Adam said softly. “I should have realized sooner, but my memory doesn’t work as it should.” He closed his eyes and shivered. “I have been Tainted.”