Lakshmi boldly covered for my idiot boyfriend. “We are happy to accept this quest you present us, we shall complete it in good faith as proof of our sincerity!”
Lakshmi gave me a quick glance and a thumbs up. This at least, was proceeding according to plan…
My head hurt with the revelation that the sylvani had stolen the Arcanum! And apparently not just one, but several?! And they kept referring to some ancient sin?!
What in the world is going on here?! I thought wildly.
The queen smiled sadly and said “But you have asked, and our sins have come to roost. You may rise. Come. I will show you the object of your quest, and explain.
The royal guard Caeldrim voiced a wordless protest, but the queen held up her hand imperiously. “Enough, Caeldrim. I have spoken. The child, the Avatar. She is what the prophecy foretold. Her companions have a soul to match hers, regardless of their strange backgrounds. I will hear no more of this.”
The queen turned to us and beckoned again. “Come.” She said, and strode into the halls behind the throne. We traded glances with each other, and I shrugged. Lakshmi shrugged in return. “When royalty ask, it’s a command.” She said with a wry smile. “We’d better hop to if we don’t want to miss out.”
We hurried after the queen, the royal guard falling into position behind us leaving behind the grand throne room buzzing with conversation, rumor, and speculation.
“I believe I will begin at the start of all this. Our original sin.” Said the queen. “You may believe that was choosing to fight against the System, but you would be wrong. We remain confident that the Alliance was in the right, the abomination of the System should never have been wrought. Our sin was in our hubris, that we understood the deep magics without ever studying them. When they announced their grand discovery, my great-great-grandmother sat on the throne.”
We turned left, and then right, descending down a ramp into the depths of the tree.
“They had discovered the soul, they said. When they announced their plan to build an engine to infuse power to the soul, we knew we had to act. Others joined our Alliance for the same reason. They said their System would not harm the soul, that it could not be used in that fashion. But my ancestor saw the truth. Anything that would link with the soul could use the soul as fuel. Whether they knew it or not, they had built an engine powered by souls. Trapped in an endless wheel of reincarnation, dying to spin the gears of a machine that existed in unreality.”
I felt my blood run cold as pieces suddenly fell into place. Deacon is using the war to power the church’s Arcanum. That’s why he’s fueling the war. He’s got his own Arcanum.
I shuddered in horror. The idea was beyond abhorrent. It could only make sense if you didn’t even view this reality as real. Truly, the shadow of myself had ascended to a master villain if he would start a war to fuel his plans to crack the System! A shadow that was empowered by the first Arcanum itself! The irony was so thick it gagged me.
I missed the queen’s next words, my thoughts stumbling from the horror of my realization.
I jolted back to the conversation with Eshaan asking “Wait, so… you stole Arcanum? I thought they were fragments of reality? How do you steal reality?”
We started to descend another staircase. The Queen paused to wave a hand over a small globe, which lit up and hovered near her shoulder, spreading light like a torch. She beckoned to us, and then descended deeper into the wooden labyrinth that spread out around us.
“Your understanding is slightly askew. The Arcana are not reality, they are reflections of reality. Facets of reality, used to intermediate between true reality and the souls that it linked with. My ancestor’s intention was to cripple the System, prevent it from activation. And so we did not steal an Arcanum, we stole three.”
My eyes grew wide as she conveyed this world splintering information in a casual, matter of fact way.
She grimaced and then added “Well. Two and a half.” She shook her head sadly. “We succeeded and failed all at once. We had failed to understand that the System was already active. We crippled the system, and in doing so condemned untold numbers of souls to an eternal half-life, dragged behind us in the Wake.”
She sighed and turned to me, her face in half shadow from the globe. “And so, Avatar. We find ourselves faced with our sin. We knew the System would enact a recovery protocol. We did not realize how long it would take. And now you are here to relieve us of our burden. And we must trust that you will take up our cause instead of the Systems.”
She stepped forward and placed her hand on my chest. “We must ask you to restore the System so that you can shut it down. Release the souls of the world, trapped in the water wheel of unreality.”
I staggered, feeling a massive weight of guilt and disbelief pressing on me.
“But… but how?!” I stammered. “How can you…?! How can I?!”
The queen shook her head. “I have wondered for a long time if the prophecy would be accurate, what I might say when the Avatar came to me. If she would be what was claimed.” She smiled and patted me lightly on the head.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“I do not know that you will, child. I simply have faith. Whatever forces the System used to create you, to ensoul you, it ensured that you will understand my plea, understand the ancient imbalance, the ancient sin that we must atone for. I can see it in your eyes.”
She smiled tolerantly at my gape mouthed shock. “No, don’t look at me like that. You likely think yourself very worldly and mature, but I can see the purity that shines from your soul.” She turned and gestured to the others. “From all of your souls. You will do this for us. You will rectify our sins. You will succeed where our ancestors failed. You will destroy the System, so that the souls of this world will be freed.”
Soriya spoke up. “I’d like to hear more about this ‘and a half’ bit. How do you steal half an Arcanum?”
The queen sighed heavily. “By failing.” She turned and pressed her hand against a nearby wall. The wall slowly morphed open, revealing a mingled green and gold light which pulsed and flickered from within, bathing the corridor in rippling colors.
“Come and see.” She said, gesturing to the door. She stepped through into the wash of flickering light.
Not having any better idea, and feeling rather like the plot was just leading me on-
What a familiar feeling. The plot is going where I want to go, and in we go. I thought.
-I stepped into the glowing doorway after the buxom elven queen.
My vision cleared to see a now familiar Ancient machine of some sort, all bronze metal covered with intricate clockwork machinery. What wasn’t familiar was the equally intricate living wood woven into the gears and cogs of the machinery. The golden green light pulsed and flickered from the machinery in what I could only describe as a weak way, and I could suddenly hear a familiar voice calling out to me.
Come to that, it sounds like Forge did, just before I picked him up. I thought.
I looked at the queen questioningly. She nodded. “This is the half an arcanum. We stole it before it was properly activated. We thought this would be a better approach.” She looked down at the ground, her lips curved in a sad frown. “We were so wrong. We have lived our entire lives hearing its cries. We kept it… alive, for lack of a better term.” She said, gesturing at the living wood woven through the machinery.
I reached up and laid a hand on the Ancient machine. The pulse and throb of an Arcanum filled my mind as I did. It hurt. I knew it, I could feel it. This was unlike Forge, this Arcanum was wounded. Tears welled in my eyes and trickled down my cheeks.
I gasped, and spun to face the queen. “This… this is why the war ended, isn’t it!” I demanded, overcome with the revelation.
The queen nodded mutely, then gestured to the arcanum. “And now it is your turn. Do… whatever it is that an Avatar does.” She said.
I nodded, and turned back to the Arcanum. “It’s ok. I’m here. I… your summoner is here.” I said.
I had never really been aware of the process of… of bonding with an Arcana before. It simply… happened. This time it did not ‘simply happen’.
It was slow, and it felt like I was reaching out a hand down a deep well that I couldn’t see the bottom of. A flickering faint light of gold and green flashed in and out of my awareness, and then something caught in my mental hand, and a weak childlike voice spoke in my head.
The voice was so weak, I could barely hear it. But in my head, the voices of the other arcanum spoke, introducing themselves one by one, and finally, I introduced myself.
I am Lilyanna of Breezewood. I thought quietly. Or at least I tried to think quietly. Welcome.
I opened my eyes, surprised to realize that I’d closed them. The softly ticking, glowing, and humming machine in front of me had ceased. The woven branches pulsed softly with their own inner light, but the machine no longer drew the light into itself. I turned to the queen, and was shocked to see a brilliant smile on her face, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“At last.” She whispered. “It’s gone. The horrible whispering pain is gone!” She said, then shouted happily “Our curse is ended!” She flung her arms around me, pulling me into a surprise hug. “Thank you! Thank you, Thank you, a thousand blessings on you!”
I staggered, feeling very strange indeed. The weak half voice in my head… Oak? It had called itself? I would have to try to speak with it later. Maybe the other Arcanum will bother to actually answer a question for once! I thought peevishly.
The mingled voices of the Arcanum answered in my head “No, we do not think we will.”
A spark of genuine irritation flared in my heart and I almost growled.
I was startled when Soriya said with a touch of asperity “Now that the depressing info dump and quest drop is over, can we please address the leviathan in the room?”
The queen released me, and looked over at Soriya. “The leviathan? I do not believe I’m familiar with this saying.”
I saw Daniyel and Camaxtli trying out the words silently.
Soriya gave her a cheeky grin. “Well, we are from over the ocean after all!” She clapped her hands. “So. Two other Arcanum! And… how many are there in total? And where are the ones you stole? A map and directions would be lovely!”
The queen frowned in confusion, a look of visible irritation flickering over her face. She looked between me and Soriya as though trying to decide something. Finally, she answered hesitantly. “How do you not know this? There are 9 Arcanum, of course. The Arcanum of Frost lies to the north, on the island of Bekent, guarded by the mountain passes and the beastkin tribes that live there.”
A part of me perked up. Beastkin? Catgirls?! Are we going to get to meet catgirls?! I thought happily. I suddenly glanced over at Eshaan and frowned. He’d better not get any ideas! I thought, before I could stop myself. Oh good Lily, yes, very accurate. The jealous girlfriend, lets avoid this, if at all possible. He’s… he’s going to look. He looked at the sylvani. I thought with a sour taste in my mouth.
I took a deep breath to clear my mind as the queen went on.
“In the middle of the continent, in the Canyon of Stars, the nomads of Achomawi guard the Arcanum of Sky.”
Lakshmi spoke up. “This is all well and good and all, but our airship is quite a distance away, and out of fuel besides! Were you planning on giving us a lift?!” She said.
Surprisingly tart, for a princess speaking with a queen. I thought idly.
The queen laughed openly. “Of course not, child! You are here to free us from our curse! You have freed us from the Whispers of Sin! You will have the use of our fastest scout ship! Much faster than your poorly crafted skyship!”
I expected the guard captain to bristle at that, or at least complain, but he was silent. When I looked over at him in surprise, I could see that he was smiling faintly, and his eyes were suspiciously bright.
Dear spirits above, did they… did they all hear that pain? All the time?! I almost forgive him for his incredibly foul attitude! Sylvani arrogance… just the Weight of Sin?