Ori stood amidst the wreckage of his earlier massacre. His plan had been to backtrack and find a cave to crawl into for the night, but in the open cavern, the size of several football pitches, boulders, stalagmites, dust, ash, and the smouldering remains of bodies littered the ground. He cast Purifying Light and the blood coating his Nike Air Max trainers and reconstituted jeans disappeared, restoring their appearance while the odd fragments of bodies within arm's reach disappeared in the cleansing light.
All the while, an impassive, intense, burning-eyed gaze stared at him as if he were the most interesting thing in the universe. He spun around, ostensibly to search for nooks or crannies he could hide in, but with Split Mind came the downside of having spare brain capacity as he could now work out just how many times he’d need to cast Purifying Light to clear this place of the bloody remains of his one-sided harvest.
“Any ideas?” Ori asked, almost out of a British sense of inclusion and politeness. He turned towards her, his gaze matching her own.
Instead of speaking, she broke eye contact and searched the ground. He followed her as she moved, crouching to pick up likely loot and void storage rings or similar artefacts. Ori silently cursed his absentmindedness. Though in all honesty, he was too tired and not in the right mind to be sifting through corpses right now and a part of him thanked her for saving him the trouble.
It was as if she had a mental map of all the treasure. With no wasted travel, she darted between spots around the cave, her small, lithe form, twitchy and less graceful than an elf but no less enigmatic with her vivid fuchsia-coloured braids, long, diaphanous dragonfly wings that shimmered in the torchlight, and the oversized great-sword that sat diagonally on her back.
He realised he was the one staring now as he followed her around the cavern to a cave leading away from any of the paths he’d taken before. While he was following, Split Mind actively worked to search for traps and enchantments. When he found one, Ruenne’del had already stopped, her posture expectant, as his glyph-drawing spell; Lesser Echo Print once again proved invaluable in its ability to quickly and safely spoil and break enchantments.
Beyond the second enchantment, Ori dealt with was a locked door, easily managed by a blade from his Array. Within the room was what seemed to be a meat locker, dark and dry with hanging carcasses from creatures too large to be simple sheep or cows.
They walked slowly and carefully through the eerie room, nerves and senses on high alert as they searched for activity, occupants and surprises. In the silence, Split Mind worked out the merits of taking some meat for later versus the potential pitfalls of eating creatures of unknown nature. Meanwhile, pressing issues such as whether he could trust the pink-haired... what, fairy? Half-Celestial? To keep watch while he slept played over in the other corners of his mind.
“Do you reckon we’ll be safe here?” Ori asked.
“Yes, I reckon so,” Rue replied evenly, her taciturn replies seeming more a part of her overall nature than her attitude towards him, or at least he hoped so. Ori groaned as he sat down, the day’s spellcasting causing his eyes to cross and blur—the exhaustion he’d been warding off on sheer momentum now caught up with him.
“I’m not sure how long I can stay awake,” he admitted. She continued to stare at him, no reaction or sign of judgment visible in her gaze. She held his eyes for several breaths longer before joining him on the floor, their backs against the wall and facing the single entrance behind the still, hanging, butchered pieces of meat. He silently scoffed, ‘Not the worst place I’ve taken a woman on a date,’ Ori supposed.
“So… Ruenne’del, can I call you Rue?”
She continued to stare at him, and if it weren’t for the slightest crease between her brows, Ori might have considered his question unheard or ignored.
“You may.”
“Wonderful.” Ori exhaled in a grateful sigh. “So, Rue, would you like to tell me something about yourself?”
“No, I would not.”
“Oh. Okay then.” Ori sighed.
Silence stretched in the musky storeroom. It was not a comfortable one. Just as he was about to attempt to ride the night out in this most awkward of silences, she spoke.
“Why do you have the blessings of the wild fae?” she asked. Ori frowned. While he was keen to get some dialogue going, he detested uneven exchanges. He chuckled as he thought back to his first days with Harriet before a spike of longing caused his smile to turn rueful.
“Don’t tell me, are you some kind of royal or noble?” Ori said, his laughter redoubling as she flinched. “Haha, I knew it!”
“So what? My father would have told you.”
“He didn’t. Such a royal thing to do, to ask more than they give,” Ori said, his laughter dying down in the cool, dry storeroom as Rue looked away, annoyed.
“You really didn’t know?”
“Don’t know what?” Ori asked.
“Who… I am?”
Ori shrugged. “I wanted to, still want to.”
“I’ve already said I would not,” Rue said, her scratchy voice smaller and less reticent.
“Why?” Ori pressed.
“Because you refuse to be divined,” she said without elaboration, leaving Ori to work out the relationship between the two statements.
“Seriously? I mean, there’s a massive difference between telling me things I’d probably find out anyway versus sharing my Page of Fate with a stranger. Are you telling me you’d share yours freely with anyone who’d ask?”
“No, of course not.” She frowned.
“Exactly, it’s mad,” Ori concluded. “Besides, while I can imagine why you might find me a person of interest, it doesn’t answer the question of why or how you were searching for me.”
“I didn’t know what I was seeking,” she said.
“Really?”
“Really. It… doesn’t work that way,” she continued.
“What does?”
“I’m a seer, but I’m also a seeker.”
“Is that, like, a class or something?”
“Something. I can seek things.”
“Like treasure?”
“Like treasure,” she confirmed. Ori exhaled an exhausted sigh, then nodded in understanding.
“Alright.”
“Alright?” Rue asked, her gaze hardening. “So you know why I sought you?”
“Maybe? I can guess though.”
“Tell me.”
“No way,” Ori frowned.
“What is the price for knowing?” she asked, her lips a thin line, fists clenched and shaking.
“If the cost is my life in your hands, you tell me what the price would be?” Ori said, shaking his head. “No, this isn’t about price. We don’t know or trust each other, and that’s not just something you can buy.”
“I’m a seer. I see, yet I am blind around you.”
Ori simply waited, unwilling to break whatever spell had prompted her into speaking.
“I have lived a life, every moment knowing what comes next. And now I do not know what to do,” Ruenne’del continued, her voice drawing down to a whisper as Ori sat up wide awake. “Mayhaps it be a gift, to not know? I mean, isn’t this how everyone else feels? Fearful and… free?”
Ori grunted, nodding his head in affirmation, while unsure of what to say next.
“Precognition must be a hell of a drug,” he finally settled upon.
“You see it as an… opioid addiction?” She said, frowning.
Ori shrugged. “You tell me? Isn’t it addictive? Don’t you have withdrawals?”
“I… How do you deal with not knowing? The fear?” Rue asked.
Ori shrugged. “I mean, hope. Knowing what you want and hoping that you can achieve it. Beyond that, we’re all different people at the end of the day; some prefer routine or predictability, knowing what the next day brings.”
“And you?”
“If fate stands between me and hope, it’ll get stepped on.” Ori yawned. “I seriously need a nap. I’ve placed enchantments to warn of anyone or anything approaching outside, but if you could keep an eye out, I’ll keep watch after.” Ori said, his eyes already drifting closed.
Before he slept, he turned his thoughts towards his familiars, first attempting to contact them telepathically across the distances he had travelled. He could sense something, and had he more focus and energy, he might have attempted to have a two or three-way conversation over their usual silent telepathic method. Instead, Ori cast Whisper and spoke into the spell.
‘I’ve found Ruenne’del. We’re safe, but a cave-in blocks my way back via the path I used to travel here. The Galroga and apparently several Sovereigns block the direct path around. Will reach you all again when my cooldowns are back up. Going to have a nap, reach me in the dreaming if there’s anything you need from me.’
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An alluring woman with flowing brown hair and pointed ears danced barefoot through the night garden. It was an exotic dance whose swirl of Grace pulled at the shadows, cloaking the dancer in ribbons of night and mystery. The luminescent scene of neon shapes and teal lights sat under the backdrop of a gas giant and its ring system that loomed large in the sky, the soft blue light ensuring little was truly lost to the shadows. Ori stood as an observer to it all, watching a woman lost in a dream she wouldn’t remember, a dream of peace, movement, freedom, and joy. He smiled, his thoughts leaning towards leaving her be, her lack of lucidity edging him towards passive observation and no interference.
Suddenly, Poppy’s dance stopped and she blinked. “Oh, there you are,” she said happily, flouncing over to Ori in a way that he couldn’t help but beam in response. They hugged each other in a crushing embrace, her arms trembling with emotions hidden beneath her smile.
“It’s alright, I’m here,” Ori said, rubbing circles on her smooth back through her backless boho dress. He marvelled at how her lithe, graceful, and deceptively powerful form felt in his arms, despite this being in the dreaming. Intense eyes met him as she pulled back from the hug, her intentions clear. Ori’s groin stirred, subconsciously pressing towards her, an urgent need to be closer. She shivered, then sighed, pulling away from him.
“Harriet told me you might visit me in my dreams, so she spellcrafted something to keep me present, something lucid if I held on to the notion strongly enough,” Poppy said.
Ori tried to mask his disappointment, reminding himself how awkward it might be if any of their intimate actions spilled over into the waking. “Well, I’m here,” Ori smiled. “And I’m glad we actually get to talk this time.”
“I’m sure you are,” Poppy’s sly smile called him out for the liar he absolutely was. She darted in for a quick kiss, one that lingered and almost turned into something more before she broke off, gasping, a need in her eyes that humbled, flattered, and excited Ori all at once.
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“It’s only been days for me, and I already miss you so much. I can’t imagine—”
“Enough. It was good for us, this separation,” she cut in, her tone brusque.
“Oh, yeah?” Ori asked. She sat on the grass, her hands playing with the hem of her dress. Ori joined her.
“It gave me lots of time to see, like, really see other couples, how relationships that work, well, work, and why so many turn sour. I…”
Ori frowned, unsure of where this was going as he waited.
“I fear we may have grown to resent each other if we had been free to continue as we had.”
“Can’t see that ever happening, Poppy. What made you think that way?”
“You see, we’d both placed each other on pedestals. By the time you’d left, I had been hanging off your arms. Were it not for my business with Harriet, I’m not sure how I would have pulled myself away from you.”
“And that would have been fine. Just to have your presence close—”
“Would have been bad for the both of us. We still needed to grow, become ourselves.” Poppy grinned. “And become more worldly.”
“Oh? And tell me, what worldly things have you discovered, or was the other night a preview of all you’ve learned?” Ori said, leaning towards her to grasp her hand, his thumb rubbing circles over her own.
“Not all I’ve learned.” Poppy rolled her eyes in feigned irritation and tittered. “The sex-addled minds of human men, it’s a mystery you ever accomplish anything with an innuendo or insinuation just a thought away.”
“High Human,” Ori smirked.
“Oh, yes, that… just a minor trifle, I’m sure. No doubt that only increases the frequency of lewd thoughts, given how most evolutions tend to intensify racial traits.” Poppy matched his expression before falling over to giggle, Ori joining her. “Show me.”
“My Page of Fates?” Ori asked. Poppy nodded.
For a long while, she was lost in the legends of his accolades, likely reading line for line the details of every ability and class. Her expressions fluctuated between wonder, confusion, awe, astonishment, before settling on horror.
“Ori, this curse! A divine… from the god you killed, spirits, I can scarcely believe it. Anyway, what are you going to do about it?”
“I’ve got a plan. Don’t worry about it, I’ll handle it.” She slapped him on his chest hard enough to sting. “Hey! What’s that for?”
“I need you to take it seriously, do not become complacent, not now,” Poppy said, her floaty joy evaporating, revealing the intense severity underneath.
Ori nodded. “Yeah, I promise.”
“Now, start from the beginning. I want to know everything, especially what it was like in the Library.”
Ori did so, recounting his time in the dream and the eventful few days since the final trial.
“So, you’re telling me, you have another woman wrapped around your arms in the waking as you woo me with your heroic deeds in my dreams?”
“She’s only sitting against the same wall, last I checked. Out of arm’s reach,” Ori added as he pulled Poppy into his arms as they lay on the grass. She looked up at him, her expression unconvinced as she played with the tips of his afro.
“Uhuh, and how long will it stay that way?”
“Come off it, don’t think she’s interested in me. Besides, I have about as much rizz as a potato.”
"Well, remember the promise you made to me," Poppy said.
"Which one? The one where I claim you—"
"The other one."
"You really want me to... to tell you about my experiences with other women?"
"I do," she said, moving one of his hands beneath her dress to the slick, wet mess between her thighs. She curled into him and almost lost herself. "Spirits, I'll go crazy remembering this dream." She jolted as if shocked by electricity and pulled his hand away.
"You okay?"
"You, lover, shall have no problem wooing this fae princess should you desire her, I'm sure."
"And if I don't?"
Poppy scoffed as if the very idea of Ori not desiring someone was ridiculous. "Then, you figure out a price, despite how distasteful the idea might be. Whether it's loyalty, a bargain, or some other arrangement. Your boons are lifelong, so should the bargain seem like to you," Poppy tapped her lips in contemplation. "Harriet is better at this stuff than I am."
"You know I value your point of view precisely because..." Ori tickled her feet with his toes. "You have your feet on the ground."
"Hardly," she scoffed.
Ori shrugged. "What's life been like recently? Harriet filled me in on most of it. Anything new since her last dreaming? You said it was weeks for her, right?" Ori said, his mind sliding over the twisted, unintuitive temporal nature of dreams and dreamwalkings.
"Society is wild with rumour, fear, and speculation about High Humanity. Just the idea of it has driven some influential nobles to madness, while many at court know not how to respond. Worse, as they've received no word from any of the human civilisations, who I'm sure are no doubt trying to find you and replicate your accomplishment, many fear war. Mention High Human to any of the Briar Queens and see them sweat. I do fear what such a change might force Rufus to do. With our preparations, he'll die if he comes at us directly, but we have many soft targets to guard.
"Oh, you know she sent a team after you, to find your prison in Twilight? Remember those assassins we captured and put under geas?"
Ori nodded.
"Well, they're the rescue party. The last I heard, they've had no success finding your location in the expanse of mountains."
"What are their numbers?" Ori wondered.
"A squad of two dozen Sovereign Rankers with support."
Ori whistled in appreciation and sighed. "They would’ve been handy about now. There’s a Galroga blocking my way back to the celestials and who knows what is further above us. The Wardens are all Sovereign Rankers, seven of them, but I’ve killed two, so it’s only really the possibility of the Galroga and Overseer that we have to worry about."
"Overseer?" Poppy asked.
"Yeah, don’t know much about what that might be. Either way, if I can break everyone out, maybe our numbers would be enough to overwhelm the guards." Ori sighed. "I wish I could just do what you do, and dance away from all this rubbish."
"So do I," Poppy giggled. "But you know it’s never so simple."
"Yeah," Ori said, his mind turning, remembering a conversation on classes he had some time before with Freya, "but still, what if I could learn to Void Dance?" He wondered, seeing the brand-new spell in his Page of Fates, hoping his broken class trait allowed the transference of abilities in the dreaming.
"It’s not so simple as just casting the spell, Ori. I hope you don’t Void Walk without my guidance in the waking."
"Then teach me."
"Teach you? You have no idea of the deprivations of which you ask."
"Then teach me. Show me how to dance with you, to listen, and step in time with your song," Ori asked earnestly.
Poppy kissed him, then sprang up from the ground, her dainty hands lifting him easily to his feet.
"Alright. If you’re sure."
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"There has to be a better way, Sera," a faded Ori murmured as he sat on the lip of a crater overlooking a mirror-like lake. Within the dreamscape, he held a fishing rod, the line causing tiny ripples on the liquid silver, making the reflected stars bob and weave. Beside him sat another dream splinter of himself. Intending to dreamwalk into Harriet’s dream, Ori was disappointed to find that her last dream, the one they’d had together, was still the only one he could easily access. Instead, he positioned both splinters around the lake to search for more fragments of Lady Seraphine’s soul.
Upon arriving at the crater, Ori was surprised to discover that the gaping hole leading to the mysterious void of souls was now a lake. The realm felt closer as if fewer steps were required to delve inside, and part of the veil covering the expanse had lifted. While a splinter of Ori learned to Void Dance with Poppy, his remaining splinters sat on the rim of the moon crater, fishing for fragments of Seraphine’s soul at a rate substantially faster than in his previous dream—one fragment a night.
With the end of the dream fast approaching, Ori stared at the fifteen tiny lights of soul, shimmering as if they were the rarest and most valuable things in all creation. It was a light purely of Ori’s imagining, one that filled him with warmth and purpose.
His line twitched.
With careful eagerness, Ori reeled the line in, and after long seconds, a new shining fragment joined the rest on the shore next to Seraphine’s Beacon. As he did this, Ori schemed. He considered methods of extending this fishing metaphor to trawl vast swathes of the Ethereal sea for soul fragments. He also considered alternatives, such as diving into the sea and the risks that endeavour might entail. Beyond that, he worried about the future. Could he fix her soul back together? And if he could, then what? Could he bring her back to life?
"Don’t suppose you’d be interested in being the matriarch of High Humanity, would you, Sera?" Ori pondered aloud. His Split Mind drifted towards thoughts of combat and tactics. He now had an idea of how to defeat the Galroga, but he was unsure he’d last long enough to pull it off. For now, avoidance and reuniting with the celestials were the best steps forward. "I wonder what you’d think of Harriet and Poppy?" Ori chuckled. "And Lysara and Freya. I can’t wait until you meet the gang, though I know I’m going to get it in the neck about how you weren’t there to protect me from all the girls clamouring for my attention."
His thoughts drifted to more pressing matters. "I wonder, what should I do about Ruenne’del? Part of me reckons that if I wake up in one piece, I should probably let her in on some of my secrets. Though I’m not sure which ones, as I don’t really know what she needs from me. It’s just that this whole song and dance, withholding secrets before trusting each other is tedious, but—what if I get it wrong and trust the wrong one?" Ori sighed, casting his line back into the ethereal lake.
"Ori?" Freya said, sliding into his dream.
"Oh, hi, what’s up?" Ori said, turning to face his familiar. She appeared in her sprite form, a ball of pink and blue lights that looked almost like a butterfly if you squinted. That she was here was of mild concern, drawing his attention away from his fishing.
"One of the celestials has an earth affinity and related class. They’ll reopen the pass that collapsed soon."
"Oh, that’s great news. I should be awake soon. We’ll stay nearby and wait for you to come. How’s the jailbreak going?"
"There are hundreds of celestials, Ori. Most are Greater rankers. We’ve had a few we’ve unfortunately had to put down due to madness, soul damage, and a Fallen. Under Jhacrisite’s leadership, we’ve secured the lower Reaches."
"Alright, well, I have a plan for dealing with the Galroga, though I might need assistance."
"Ori, be mindful of showing the true extent of your abilities. Even to the celestials, and doubly so once we evacuate the middle Reaches. Hide your cosmic affinities, your domain, and your Aethermancy as much as you can."
Ori groaned in realisation. "Yeah, they’d link Aethermancy with the High Human, wouldn’t they?"
"I already think Jhacrisite and those who know of who freed him believe you to be the High Human."
"Fuck’s sake. Alright. Well, I guess I’ll see you and Lysara soon." Ori said as the dream ended.
Ori groaned as he awoke to a splitting headache. The main cause of the pain was the disconnect in time and experience between the splinter that had dreamwalked into Poppy’s dream and the others that had fished for fragments of Seraphine’s soul. It had felt like a month or more had passed in the void. Ori’s admiration and fascination with his soul bonded deepened, especially as Ori came to terms with the risk and skill she displayed, navigating the perilous void with every step.
In those few moments as he transitioned from sleep to full wakefulness, Ori reviewed his lessons on void dancing: how, while normal spells were complete upon casting, all travel spells required further steps by the caster to complete. For void dancing, it was how each step through the void required dozens of imaginary steps within real void spaces, each with a rhythm Ori couldn’t quite yet understand. He remembered how Poppy revealed more and more of the void to him, its chaotic, howling nature less a stranger to him than most, though no less terrifying. He came to grips with the fact that the void had no real analogous, physics-based representation in his mind; and that trying to use metaphors like oceans or space was harmful, and he’d need to build understanding from the ground up.
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"You wake," Ruenne’del stated. She stood several paces away, finding a better spot to keep watch over the entrance.
"Yeah, looks like it," Ori grunted as he stood and dusted himself off. He cast Purifying Light in a vain attempt to look presentable. Drool, dirt, and grime disappeared from him as the celestial-aspected light faded. All the while, the woman with impossibly vivid hair continued to stare at him, her tiny frame oddly imposing with her folded arms, intense eyes, and the oversized sword strapped to her back. He sighed as he came to a decision. In many ways, sleeping and therefore lowering his guard to someone he had just met had been a test on his part. He had countermeasures, including his Dreamwalker’s Lesser Aegis, which she likely didn’t know about yet, but it had been a dangerous show of trust. One he had to acknowledge.
"You’re not the first to have sought my aid. I don’t know what it is that you need from me, but I’m prepared to help if you decide you need what I can provide," he said, turning to look at her, his eyes hard, the aetheric light of Vision of the Progenitor turning his irises a soft grey in the gloom of the cellar. He sent her the details of his accolade named by Harriet.
Accolade: "Bondweaver"
Type: Unique, Significant, Merged, Evolving, Titled, Ability, Trait, Class, Entity
Legend: As named by Harriet, Anoriel Thalionwen Luinilthar, "Bondweaver" is a unique, titled accolade bestowed by the Library of Fates for exceptional demonstrations of soul crafting and the weaving of soul bonds…
He watched her carefully, noticing her eyes darting across words only she could see. Her mouth parted as her breathing became increasingly exaggerated, and her already pale face turned white.
“You okay?”
She swallowed several times as if to moisten a dry mouth, then simply nodded. Ori handed her the flagon of water, she gulped, a stream of it spilling from her mouth.
“You are in Taurna’diem with a High Elf?” she asked eventually, some of her stoicism returning as she reviewed what she had just read.
“Two elves.”
“And you have a wild fae as a familiar?”
“And a lesser elemental,” Ori confirmed.
“Do you only help those who become your lovers or servants?” she asked with an edge to her voice.
Ori sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know yet. My familiars are more my mentors and partners than anything else. Meanwhile, I’m not even sure if I’m open to having any more lovers.” He meant it, which seemed to take the wind out of her sails. “So, yeah, whatever you decide, I guess, and then we’ll go on from there.”
“What I need isn’t that complicated. It’s just…” Her voice trailed off as she looked away, frowning harder than he’d seen her do before.
“Is it because I’m shrouded? You can’t see my future?”
She shrugged. “I made peace with an early death long ago, so fate delivering me another path will take some getting used to.”
“Oh,” Ori said. “Are you sick? Is it healing you need?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s just… No, I’m not ready to talk about it.” She sighed, and Ori’s heart twisted as her scratchy voice cracked and a painfully sorrowful expression breached her normally intense, neutral demeanour. It was like a switch had been flipped within him, one only Split Mind made him vaguely aware of, as Ruenne’del turned from a potential liability to someone he now needed to save.
“It’s alright, whenever you’re ready…” He shook his head, pushing down his thoughts and feelings as he considered Freya’s message from the dreaming. “In the meantime, they’re going to open the nearest path from the other side. Let’s go.”