XI.

Memories

23rd of Hammerache, 4E156

Before The Rejoining

Silver-armored Faunia Vleren came out of a dark dungeon cell and let the shimmering guards clasp the steel door shut behind her.

She let out an exasperated sigh as she stepped to the opposite wall and leaned back to rest against it. The guards lining the hall every ten feet or so stood unbudging in her presence, like oppressive, stone-faced statues in the dark.

"Vleren." A pair of glowing amber eyes appeared some feet away.

"Akvum, sir." She raised to attention. "What brings you all the way down here?"

"Can't blame an old cat for being curious about what goes on within his own fortress." the giant, hulking azar—a seven-foot pale-furred humanoid donned in gold-trimmed Hunter plate and leather bandoliers emerged from the shadows.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't mean to presume—"

"At ease, Vleren. Loosen up a bit, we're all brothers in… brothers and sisters in arms." His maw came up into the facsimile of a welcoming smile.

She stood firm. "I like to keep a sense of dignity, sir."

Akvum chuckled awkwardly, "So, what do you think about the boy?"

"You want my thoughts on Cedric, sir?"

He nodded.

"Well…" She reached into a round container strapped to her leg and withdrew a scroll before handing it to him. "He's dangerous—if his stories are to be believed. Iefyr and his crew think him to be telling the truth, as well. The wounds sustained by our Casvians tell of impossible injuries. Even the ones that survived have a habit of dying partway through their recovery."

Akvum skimmed the scroll and returned it to her. "You're quite organized. Are you suggesting his execution?"

"Yes, sir. Cedric Castelbre is a lowlife vagabond who provides nothing to Caloria, and his death would not cause a stir in any of the settlements. Meanwhile, his continued living has… a potential to cause a lot of harm—if the stories he tells are true. Though I suspect he’s just some deranged cultist… nothing more than a moondust addict with a psychological break, and a bit too much magick at his disposal."

“Big words. Freiya’kara does teach well.” Akvum smiled. "What of his value to us?"

"That is his value to us. Unless you meant something else?"

"Hmph… nevermind. I just wondered if you had seen a potential that myself or Vyncis may have missed."

"No, sir."

He nodded. "Very well, Vleren. Pray return to your chamber for now. You've earned yourself a rest."

With a firm salute and a click of her boot, she marched back down the dim, candlelit corridor she had arrived from. Once she had ventured out of earshot, a hiss came from just over Akvum's shoulder:

"She won't be informing the mainland, then."

"I harbor doubts that she's even aware it exists. We keep Kasian unaware so long as his power remains within our control." he answered

"Forever, then, once Tirrowin concludes the work on Axys Amar."

Akvum nodded.

"And with it," the shadow behind him continued, "may Kylinstrom see the light evermore."

Then I was right…

Cedric Castelbre sat in his cell, hands restrained by steel manacles behind the back of his flimsy chair, and his messy hair slacked over his eyes, down to his unkempt beard.

The mainland is real. Llestren'vatis wasn't lying to me.

His mind flashed back to when he had stolen the life away from the white dragon, a single heavy thrust from his broken sword was all too much for the fast fading creature.

And in that brief instant, their minds communed. More than they had done between himself and Serkukan—to a level of communication only dreamed of by the cults who followed Lunus. And the white dragon Llestren'vatis spilled unto him forbidden knowledge of the world, ranging from mortal to ethereal, from Caloria to Etheria.

This morbid, dying island is not the last home of man. There is another. The one he called Calamon.

Yes, indeed, Llestren'vatis had shown him that, in particular; a large and peculiar landmass, far unlike the solitary Kylinstrom of their small world. In the center of it was that city, the city shaped like a giant stone flower, which pulsated with a life unlike any other place alive.

"And Calamon is where she lies." his hoarse voice echoed back from the walls.

But there is no way from Kylinstrom.

And this will be the place that I die.

The light that had broken the sky still shone down. The light of the rift beyond their world. The rift that so many had supposed should be dark, a black sprawling space where nothing exists save nightmares and dread.

A black-robed figure ventured over the snowy precipice that led to the sundered spruce forests of Freiya. In the distance stood those glistening, pearlescent pyramids forged of ethereal ice. Those villages encompassed beneath frigid dragon's breath and spite...

He reached to the leather belt that rounded his robes, and plucked free one of many vials that lay there.

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Just as it reached his lips, he choked. Blood drooled from the corner of his mouth.

And a blade built of violet magic and ashen steel forced itself through his chest.

Once the blade pulled free, he slumped over. Though, only briefly, as he quickly stood himself back out of the snow, and gasped as the hole in his chest had vanished, leaving only a mark a few shades darker than his light skintone.

"That hurts, you bitch…" he swore at the figure behind him.

"Though, it confirms my theory." Her seductive tenor gave hint of a smile.

"I did not expect you to make the venture to this offworld. Is there aught of import in this universe?"

"Come, Jirtu, you know full well the machinations at play here. The Relistar? Dyosius? Need I spell it out for you?"

"Please do. I fail to see what you could want such pitiful toys for. Haven't you already control over the most powerful artefacts in your world?"

"Auctdos Munor? All seven, indeed. But the Relistar—"

"The Relistar is dead." Jirtu snickered, "Destroyed by a man."

How badly I wish it could have been me… The satisfaction must have been palpable.

He cast a glance at Rykaedi.

So long have you tailed me, but had I done the same as Cedric…

His fingers brushed the pointed dagger at his waist. He swallowed a lump in his throat.

Gods, how did that feel?

"And just what are you thinking about?" Rykaedi's face turned into an unpracticed pout.

"Nothing… What I said is true. Algirak and Serkukan brawled here, and eventually… Algirak lost. Whatever happened from there is uncertain, but by the merit that our universe continues to exist, I would warrant that Dyosius has fallen into the hands of men."

"Then we should be wont to retrieve it."

"And I wish you luck in finding it—" He froze when he returned his gaze to her, though not from his own lack of words. Her hands were raised before him, fingers dangling and swaying like individual pendulums. Her eyes shone a vibrant blue.

"I won't need luck. You know where it is."

"Y…" He stumbled over resistance. Then his arms went limp and his gaze became emotionless. "Yes, master."

"Excellent. Then let us depart at once."

And now what, they'll shave my head and brainwash me, enslave me to be as mentally absent as any of the droning companions beneath them?

And the truth of a mainland will vanish with my body.

A strong force struck his back.

"Move, Castelbre." Faunia Vleren commanded from behind him.

"I still don't believe you've told me where you're taking me."

"Were it my choice, it'd be to your execution."

"That's... less of an answer and more of a threat."

Llestren'vatis needed me to go to Calamon. I shouldn't disappoint.

The bronze guards ahead pushed open the towering oak doors, lending the light from the great chamber beyond into their unimpressive stone hall.

He turned back to her before he entered. "Why is it that you want to kill me, exactly? Or are you just following your sick religion?"

Faunia's eyebrow twitched. "You harbor forbidden knowledge."

"Even as Akvum and Vyncis harbor the same knowledge, you'd pick my death over theirs?"

"Their bearing of that knowledge is the burden they carry. It's the sacrifice they make for the good of the people."

Cedric scoffed, "What good? The information they've withheld from you could save an innumerable amount of people. It could potentially end every conflict we've ever faced here."

She grabbed the back of his dirty hair and pulled it hard. She hissed in his ear, "This sorcerer's babble will get you nowhere."

"I can barely cast a single damn spell, now let go of me!" He shook himself free.

And if they've already thoroughly checked my body, which I'm sure they have, the tattoos marring my upper arms and torso should be more than enough proof of that. It's further wonder that I haven't been executed after that alone. I'm verifiably Sylvet, yet here I walk amongst Hunters.

He continued through the door.

It was then that Faunia pulled him back slightly, and unlocked the manacles constricting him.

Cedric rubbed the redness out of his wrists. "What's going on?"

"Go." Faunia said through grit teeth.

He turned back toward the chamber again. It was a marble-walled chamber like the rest of Azar'kara, with a brilliantly glowing crystals lining the walls. Three doors converged into the center of the room, where there was a round bronze platform, with pillars, gears and chains leading up through a hole in the ceiling.

Upon the platform were seven others. Seven faces he did not recognize.

Cedric admired it silently for a moment. Then he mocked, "So this contraption is where all the world's taxes go. I don't suppose stairs might be more affordable?"

"As if you pay taxes."

"Fair point. We're going up for something?"

"A training exercise."

"In Siln?" He looked solemnly to the group already on the platform. "They're all new recruits, that much is obvious. Their brainwashing hasn't even kicked in yet."

She glared.

"You're sending them to their deaths."

"Akvum will be there. He'll keep them safe."

"O-ho, I'd like to meet this man, then. I know not one Hunter who could defend a pack of infants through that forest."

"Then you're just about to meet one. Step onto the platform."

He mockingly saluted. "Roger that, captain."

Faunia's expression laid bare the effort it took not to lash out at him as they stepped beside the group, onto the metal plate.

So many years I spent like that. Loathing those who I disagreed with, which was damn near the entire population. But a Hunter cannot see reason. Not so long as Kasian's roots still entangle their mind. Unless she was made to see that which broke me from my own trance: the ends of the universe, the splitting of the sky, and the fragility of my life. If only I could show her…

He remembered Tirolith.

She could show that. She could supplant the memory into Faunia's mind, show her what I've been through… all of it, even. Show her why this facade of strength is pointless…

The floor began to move beneath them. He could soon feel the pressure as they ascended toward the shinning light above.

"I never caught your name?" asked a girl from beside him.

He didn't turn. He only stared forward at the blank stone wall.

"His name is Cedric." Faunia stated.

The girl said, "It's nice to meet you, Cedric. I look forward to training with you—"

"Marisol. No more." Faunia ordered.

"Sorry, ma'am."