Storyteller didn’t falter, merely arching an imperious eyebrow at the accusation. “And what would have you think that we’re not who we claim to be?”
Alyssia regarded the man with fierce eyes, her back and shoulders rigid. “Well you see Sir Toren, my full name is Alyssia Dennan. I’m the eldest scion of the Dennan family.”
Once more, Storyteller didn’t flinch. “Are you now? And what would such a noble figure as yourself be doing in a remote lumber village?”
“I’m asking the questions right now,” Alyssia snapped.
Cadence wasn’t sure exactly who the Dennan family were, but she knew enough to pick up the context. Surnames were rare in the heartlands, where most commoners simply identified with their village. Her bearing and the emphasis on her surname told Cadence that this woman must’ve been an aristocrat, likely from the nearest bastion city, Elliven.
“You told Bernard you were a Knight-Gallant of the Argent Order, but I know every knight in Elliven, be they Argent or Emerald, at least by name. ‘Toren Cifel’ is not one of them.”
Something about the way Alyssia said the name made Cadence squint, and she rolled her eyes as she suddenly understood the name. Did he really just use an anagram as his alias?
“Have I or my squire done ought to imply we are anything less than we appear to be?” Storyteller asked calmly.
“It doesn’t matter,” Alyssia replied. “If you are lying, and lying to assume the identity of a knight at that, you cannot be trusted, skilled as you may be.”
“Ah, another excellent point. Did it not occur to you that, were I this foul villain you claim I am, that it would be unwise to so accuse me, alone, when you know full well the difference in our levels?”
Alyssia frowned. “You wouldn’t harm me, not when Bernard is expecting us back together. To say nothing of a certain genuine knight-gallant who would take exception, were anything to befall me.”
Storyteller’s face suddenly brightened at the girl’s claim. His manner relaxed as his eyes suddenly flicked back to brown, and his mouth split into a lazy grin. “A knight like Adeline Argent, correct?”
Alyssia blinked, disconcerted at the sudden change in Storyteller’s demeanor. “Possibly, yes.”
“So Adeline sent you here, did she? Interesting…” Storyteller held up his hands in a gesture of harmlessness. “Allow me to clarify then.”
The man promptly reached into one of his travel pouches, and lightly tossed a small, glittering object to Alyssia.
The young woman caught it easily, and held it up to inspect. It was a silver badge, embossed with a complex design and engraved with the name “Toren Cifel.”
“It’s genuine,” Storyteller reassured her. “You’re right of course, Toren Cifel hasn’t been to Elliven in quite some time, but I am indeed a knight-gallant, and I promise you that should you ask Adeline about me, she’ll recognize the name. I saw her, actually, a couple months back.”
Alyssia’s face held a healthy amount of skepticism, but she offered him back his badge. “Is that so?”
“It is. As it so happens, I asked her to drop by Elliven. There was a trial duel, on the first day of spring, that I asked her to bear witness to.”
Cadence didn’t understand the reference, but Alyssia’s eyes went wide, and she drew in a sharp breath.
“Who are you?” This time, the question held none of her earlier suspicion. She sounded more awed than anything else.
Storyteller grinned. “Here, today, I’m Sir Toren Cifel. Other times, in other places, I may be someone else, but Kellister needs Sir Toren Cifel right now. Fair enough?”
Alyssia seemed to suppress a shiver, and Cadence couldn’t shake the impression that it was only a noble’s lifetime of self-control that kept her unease from showing outwardly. But the older girl nodded. “Fair enough,” she confirmed.
She turned to continue their walk into the woods, Storyteller close behind, and Cadence complained, “Is anyone going to tell me what just happened?”
#
“There it is.”
The three were crouched behind a fallen tree, looking in on what the residents of Kellister called the Carin Glade. From what Cadence could gather, the place held a similar reputation to the barrens outside Felisen, but it was significantly closer to town, having taken them less than an hour to reach it. And like the barrens, something about the glade set Cadence on edge.
It took her a few minutes to place it. At a glance, it seemed like the Cairn Glade was little different from any other clearing that happened to open up in a forest. The most obviously disconcerting feature were its titular cairns, a handful of stacked rock towers of various sizes, ranging from only a couple feet high to taller than Cadence. Only upon further study did the other unnatural features show themselves.
A light coating of forest detritus covered the floor of the glade in brown leaves and broken twigs, but grass and weeds didn’t push through anywhere. There were no bushes, not even the resilient brambles common throughout the heartlands. In fact, nothing living grew in the clearing. Even the stacked rocks lacked any moss. Those stones themselves were odd, too. Most of the stone in the area was a simple light gray, judging by the bricks used in Kellister’s buildings. But these stones were an odd shade of blue, threaded with black veins.
All of it was enough that Cadence slowly realized that “unnatural” wasn’t quite correct. The glade was otherworldly. It was wrong. It belonged in a different forest, in a different place. Maybe even in a different world.
[Gift of the Wanderer] experienced gained
Experience: 39%
Really? Even more? Apparently her gift agreed with her assessment of the place, based on the notable bit of experience it earned her.
“Now what?” Cadence asked, her voice a hushed whisper.
Both of the older gifted shot her an unhappy look, then turned back to the glade without a word. Cadence rolled her eyes.
They sat behind that fallen log for what felt like twenty minutes before Storyteller suddenly stirred. “There. Both of you, get ready.”
Cadence had sat down a while back, leaning against the log and distracting herself by examining the raidblade she had taken, but now she came to her feet, crouched again. The Carin Glade looked the same, but Cadence could tell something had changed. There was a sense in the air, a thickening, like she was pushed up against a thick curtain, barely able to make out the event occurring on the farside. It felt like a moonless night and unknown threat, stalking the woods. It was frightening and oppressive and malevolent.
Cadence shivered, and without thinking, she activated her Soul Surge. Though she had mostly practiced using the ability to boost her physical attributes, Storyteller had encouraged to spend some time each day they were walking with one of her mental attributes boosted, so that she could adjust to the different mindsets they caused. This time, she boosted her will. Though she still had a hard time understanding the meanings of the various mental attributes, she knew that will governed her mental fortitude and emotional strength. Suddenly, the stirring in the magic felt less dominant, and her shivers stopped.
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Storyteller gave her a brief look, and she suspected he knew what she just did, but he didn’t comment. Next to him, Alyssia was shivering, only slightly more in control that Cadence had been without her boost. The older girl’s gifts must’ve neglected to boost her mental attributes.
“What’s happening?” Cadence asked in a whisper.
Storyteller squinted as he stared forward, and she noticed that his eyes had turned the ominous yellow shade she associated with his most knowledgeable persona. “They’re crossing over.”
“I’ve never seen it happen before,” Alyssia said quietly, clearly fighting to control her body’s reaction to the malicious magic in the air.
The sense of building energy seemed to reach a peak, and Cadence’s eyes widened as she noticed a stone simply appear atop one of the cairns, the precarious stone tower not even wobbling. Otherwise, there was no indication of their world briefly crossing over with the place known only to them as the Chained World. There was no flash of light, no sound, not even a shifting of shadows, as the shifting magic hit a crescendo, and then abruptly returned to normal. Just a new stone at the top of one of the cairns, where there wasn’t one before–and a pair of outsiders, two more furry gnolls, that stepped out from around the two largest cairns, as if they had been there the whole time.
“Go!” Storyteller commanded, his voice a harsh whisper, and Cadence found herself moving even as Alyssia burst from her hiding place.
The older girl didn’t hesitate to pull her sickle clear, lunging at one of the gnolls while it was still disoriented, but Cadence paused. She had already wasted her Soul Surge on an attribute that wouldn’t help her in battle. Instead, she used her other combat ability
[Gift Reflection] - Active, Soul - Copy one gift ability from a nearby target. Gift abilities operate at Novice level regardless of the target’s level. Abilities from certain gifts cannot be copied. This ability has a one hour cool down, but the copied ability is retained until it is used again.
The most significant problem with her Gift Reflection was that it was dependent on what gifts her allies had that she could copy. And since Cadence had only a vague idea of what gifts Alyssia had, she had no control over what ability she copied. Storyteller reassured her that, as she leveled up, her augment would provide a way around this problem, but at Novice level, it was of little use.
[Gift Divination] - Wanderer, Echo - Active, Utility, Soul - Learn the gifts possessed by a target. Can only be used on targets your level or lower.
Still, in the end, Cadence couldn’t argue the result.
[Gift of Earth] reflected
[Stone Toss] - Active, Attack - Control a stone as a projectile attack. Attack may fail based on the weight of the stone. Lesser quintessence cost (converted to lesser stamina and focus cost).
Cadence turned to the nearest medium-sized cairn and lifted a hand even as instinctive understanding of her reflected ability filled her mind. One of the larger stones, nearly the size of her head, lifted into the air, and she directed it with a sharp motion and an act of will made simple by her Soul Surge. It struck the gnoll Alyssia hadn’t yet reached in the stomach, causing it to double over as the breath was knocked from its lungs. That meant that the second stone she sent flying struck it in the head, sending the outsider sprawling on the ground.
With a sharp smile, Cadence turned her attention on one of the larger cairns. The largest stone in the tower didn’t budge, apparently too large for her Novice level copied ability, but she quickly found another, about halfway up, that she was able to move, and as it launched into the air, the precarious tower toppled, collapsing on top of the downed gnoll.
[Gift of the Echo] experienced gained
Experience: 25%
Across the glade, Alyssia blinked in surprise, looking from the buried gnoll to Cadence. She had already cut down her target, but the noble was clearly confused by Cadence’s use of a gift she hadn’t displayed previously.
“Good.” Storyteller emerged from their hiding place before Alyssia could ask any questions. His eyes were still yellow, brilliant in the glade, and he was carrying a staff Cadence had never seen before.
At first glance, it was a simple wooden rod little better than a walking stick. It lacked any ornamentation or embellishments. It barely even seemed to be sanded. But at the same time, it was so much more than a simple stick. The air seemed to shimmer imperceptibly around it, and trying to look at it too closely caused Cadence’s eyes to lose focus. It had a sense of depth surrounding it that defied description, and Cadence felt sure that she could only perceive even that much because of her boosted will.
“Get behind the log,” Storyteller ordered them. Cadence and Alyssia shared a look, but his tone brooked no dissent, and they quickly obeyed. From their safe perch, they watched Storyteller plant his staff. For the second time in minutes, the two shivered as the ambient magic around them began to react to phenomena beyond their understanding.
The same magic as before was still there, as domineering and cruel as ever, but this time, it was intertwined with something else. Something unyielding, a vastness of adamant will that pushed back against the magic of the Chained World. The conflicted source felt like summer sunshine and winter’s first frost. It smelled of ozone and made Cadence’s muscles twitch. The oppressive magic grew as it conflicted with the other source of magic, but that force of obdurate will refuted it and drove it back.
Neither girl could speak as they watched what could only be called a battle between Storyteller and the magic of the Chained World. There was, once again, no visual display of the confrontation, just a man and a staff standing in the middle of a clearing. But Cadence could feel the very edges of the forces at play in the Cairn Glade, and she had no doubts about what she was watching. Somehow, Storyteller was pushing back the magic of the Chained World, separating it from the Realm.
Then the turbulent magic stilled, and the Cairn Glade was gone. In its place was a clearing like any other. A few bushes stood out of the plush grass carpeting the glade, and the closest thing to a cairn was an old boulder leaning to one side.
Storyteller sagged in place, and his staff was abruptly gone. For a few moments, the only sound in the glade was his heavy breathing as he slowly caught his breath. Then he stood, and looked at the log that Cadence and Alyssia were crouched behind. “Well. That’s that.”
#
“What did you just do?” Cadence asked breathlessly, hustling to keep up with Storyteller’s long strides as they headed back towards Kellister. Alyssia was fast-walking next to her, staying quiet, her face troubled.
Cadence expected one of Storyteller’s usual evasions, but he surprised her. “What the villagers called the Cairn Glade was a thin place–a place where the border between our world and another had begun to wear out. Not so different from the barrens near Felisen. I fixed it.”
Cadence froze for a moment, shocked at the sudden information. So she hadn't imagined the similarities between the two afterall. She had to jog to catch back up, as Storyteller didn’t stop moving.
By the time she made it back to the pair, Alyssia was already asking, “How did you do that? I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Storyteller waved a hand. “It’s complicated, and would require you to understand things you’re still many levels away from catching glimpses of. Suffice it to say I’ve picked up some tricks over the years, and I had some help.”
“That staff?” Cadence guessed.
“Among other things, but yes. The staff you saw is something of an oddity. It’s an object that is more closely tied to this world than most things, which makes it quite useful in tying a space back to where it belongs.”
“It had a… depth to it. Like it was more real than everything around it.”
“An accurate enough description.” The corner of Storyteller’s mouth quirked up, but he remained facing forward. “I’m surprised you noticed.”
“I didn’t see anything like that about it. I could just tell it was powerful,” Alyssia admitted.
Cadence thought back to the day she had met Storyteller. She had passed out near the climax of his fight with the ogre, and when she awoke, she was outside of the barrens, sitting with him. She had assumed that was the case, at least. But now, after the display today, she considered that he had likely banished the barrens in the same way he did the Cairn Glade, and she could only be thankful no similar raid would befall her home.
“That’s two spots like these, so close to each other. They can’t be that common, right?” Cadence asked.
“I’ve certainly never heard of them,” Alyssia pointed out.
“Oh, you have,” Storyteller explained, never letting up on his brisk stride. “Magically, they’re no different from the Wastes, just on a significantly smaller scale.”
That stunned Alyssia in the same way his earlier answers had shocked Cadence, and this time the noble girl had to catch up. “But that’s… that’s not possible!”
Cadence could hear the eye roll in Storyteller’s answer. “I find nobles love the idea of things being ‘impossible.’ We’re talking about magic, Alyssia, anything is possible.” He seemed troubled as he added, “Some things are extremely unlikely, however.”
“Why is this happening then?”
“An excellent question as always, Cadence. And yet another I completely lack an answer to.”
They continued walking in silence for a few minutes, both girls pondering that, before Alyssia asked, “Why are you telling us all of this? This is… a lot of information. Extremely important information.”
Storyteller kept walking for another minute, as if considering his answer before he finally responded. “Perhaps because at some point, lying becomes more natural than telling the truth, and that’s not a habit I want to indulge. Perhaps because you two saw something you can’t begin to understand, and I feel you’re owed some answers. Perhaps because I think it would be a benefit for there to be at least one noble in that shining city of schemes who knows what’s actually happening in the Realm.” Storyteller sighed. “At the end of the day, perhaps it is easiest to say that I’m telling you all of this because I want to, and I need no better reason. Any other questions?”
There was an awkward moment, before Cadence cautiously ventured, “Why are we rushing like this? Is there going to be another attack?”
Storyteller turned to look at her, his face puzzled. “Of course not.” He pointed upwards, and Cadence noticed for the first time how dark the sky had gotten. Not so much because of the rapid approach of evening as thanks to the deepening gray clouds overhead. “There’s going to be a storm.”