A chill ran down Vir’s spine. One so cold it froze his body in place.
That voice. Strangely lodic, containing tones no natural being could ever achieve. That slight inflection of her tone.
No. It couldn’t be. He’d imagined it.
Vir finally mustered the will to turn his body. Where just monts ago, it’d bristled with energy, now it felt like stone, and moving it was like wading through a thick, soupy ocean.
When he finally beheld the figure that stood not a dozen paces away, Vir’s mind went blank.
Ashani smiled gently at Vir, as she so often had, all those years ago. She wore her white dress, and wielded her white rod, looking every bit the goddess Vir rembered her to be.
“How?” Vir breathed, too softly for anyone other than a deity to hear.
“‘Tis not so surprising, is it?” Ashani asked with a wry smile. “I believe I used a similar thod to find you when we first t?”
Vir blinked. Only then did he notice the shimring oval through which Ashani spoke. An Ash Gate—one created by her. Ashani hadn’t escaped Mahādi. She’d simply used her power, the sa as always. And yet…
“I don’t understand,” Vir said. “How are you awake? How did you know I would be here? The chances of stumbling upon are…”
“Infinitesimal,” Ashani chuckled. “Thankfully, Janak’s ho has several useful features. One of which being an alarm system of sorts. It notifies when events of interest occur. Be it Ash Beasts who wander too near the ho, or if the wolves need attending, or if my only living friend happened to wander by.”
“Wait,” Vir said. “Does that an you were snooping on Cirayus and after we left you?”
Ashani shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. I’ve been in hibernation to recover my energy after your daring escape. Even if I weren’t, Janak’s monitoring system can only see so far, and I can only establish gates to locations I’ve previously opened. With you moving through the Ash, I’m afraid communication would have been impossible.”
“Which ans you’ve opened a Gate to this spot before. And it ans I’m close to the Mahādi Realm. Whatever that ans.”
How spatial proximity worked with a realm that didn’t exist in the sa plane as the rest of the world, Vir could scarcely understand.
“Indeed,” Ashani replied. “Our furry friend must have recognized the area. I sotis let them out of Mahādi to play. A change of scenery, if you will. Though,” she added, “I must admit I did not expect you to happen upon here.”
That explains why Shan beca so energetic all of a sudden, Vir thought. It wasn’t just the influx of prana.
Still, it did strike Vir as awfully convenient that he should stumble upon an Ash Tear that happened to lead here. The chances were, to use Ashani’s own word, infinitesimal.
Vir shelved the thought.
“I can’t believe it,” Vir said, shaking his head. “I was going to scour the realm to find you. To think you found instead…”
Ashani’s smile grew, and there was sothing there that Vir couldn’t place. “Fate works in mysterious ways, after all.”
“Seems so,” Vir said. “I’m coming through.”
“I admit I would love your company, though I do not wish to impose. Please do not alter your plans for my sake.”
Vir gave her a wry smile. “Seriously, Ashani? I shouldn’t alter my plans for a literal living goddess? The only living being from the Age of Gods? Right. Sorry, Ashani, I have to go walk Shan. Would you mind waiting?”
“Of course!” Ashani said, and Vir couldn’t be sure whether she was being sincere or pulling his leg. The smirk that crept onto her face, however, proved it was the latter.
“You’re pretty good for a goddess who’s been cooped up for millennia.”
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“Why, thank you,” Ashani said. She was positively glowing, and why wouldn’t she be? In all those years, Vir was the only one she’d ever conversed with. The only one she’d ever called a friend.
Just wait until I show you what I can do now…
Shan finally returned, and the mont he spotted Ashani, he Leaped, bounding through the Ash Gate to jump into Ashani’s arms.
She caught him and swung around, laughing rrily as the wolf licked her face again and again.
Vir was both overjoyed at their reunion… and a little sad that, despite the recent progress their relationship had seen, the wolf had never been that affectionate towards him. He’d gotten a single lick. Ashani had a half dozen.
The feeling vanished when he saw how happy the two were together.
Vir took a mont to appreciate the sight, then stepped through the Ash Gate. Into Mahādi, where the lightning storms raged eternally and the dark spires pierced the clouds.
He looked off into the distance, to the core of the city. The place Janak’s avatar had told him to venture to. When he was ready.
Am I ready, Janak?
Vir touched his cuirass, inside which was the piece of paper on which he’d jotted down the locations of the primordial chambers.
He honestly couldn’t say if he was. He didn’t feel ready. Thankfully, he didn’t need to be. With his ability to stabilize Ash Tears, and Ashani’s ability to create Gates, Mahādi was no longer the unreachable place it had always been. He could co and go as he wished.
And he would. He’d take his ti and explore every nook and cranny of this vast city. He’d unravel its secrets, and he’d uncover his destiny. But that was for later.
There was sothing far more important that must be done first.
Catching up with an old and dear friend.
Vir followed Ashani back to Janak’s ho, retracing familiar steps, and reacquainting himself with the neighborhood of black towers he’d lived among during his ti here.
“Jog your mory?” Ashani asked, seeing him gaze at the various buildings.
“Very much so,” Vir replied. “My ti here felt so short, but I actually spent over a month.”
“While you learned to refill my prana core, yes,” Ashani said.
“How is your energy?” Vir asked, suddenly worrying she might have run low. That she’d sought him out to prevent her body from shutting down.
“Fine!” she replied. “With my current rate of consumption, I should last for another few millennia.”
Vir laughed.
Ashani gave him a quizzical look. “Did I say sothing amusing?”
“Oh, no. Just that I was stupid to worry. I’ve… I’ve missed you, Ashani,” Vir said as a deluge of emotions drowned him.
“As have I, Vir. Though I admit, for , it is as though I saw you only days ago. The amount of ti I’ve been active these past years has been quite minimal.”
“I suppose that’s a good way to prevent loneliness,” Vir replied. “I’ve regretted leaving you behind ever since that day, you know? I hated that I was powerless to resist. That it’d be so long before I could return.”
“It’s not so bad, really. ‘Tis a quiet life, most tis. Punctuated by spots of excitent. I find it quite pleasant, actually.”
Vir stopped walking. “No, you don’t,” he said softly.
Ashani halted as well. “No, I suppose I don’t,” she admitted. “But we make the best of what we have, don’t we?” she said with a small smile. That it contained no hint of sadness or regret only made Vir want to tell her more.
That he had the power to save her. That she could co back with him.
Except, he couldn’t. Because while Vir had stabilized Ash Tears, he had no idea if his power allowed Ashani to walk through her gates. Vir didn’t understand Imperium long-forgotten magic, which was as ancient as it was advanced.
He didn’t dare plant the idea in her head until he’d confird the ability for himself. To get her hopes up, only to betray them… He couldn’t do that. Not to a cherished friend.
“He must have missed them,” Vir said, watching Shan bolt away with his brothers and sisters, who’d sward him the mont they’d neared Janak’s ho.
“He had you,” Ashani replied. “And he knew he’d be reunited. If not now, eventually.”
“He couldn’t have known that when he followed after ,” Vir said. “For all he knew, he’d never see you again. If you’d told this morning that I’d be in Mahādi in the afternoon, I’d have called you a liar.” ”
“And yet, here you are.”
“Here we are,” Vir admitted, still reeling from the sequence of events that had led him here.
“Sotis, all that matters is a person’s character. Good people shift reality. Of that, I am certain,” Ashani said. It sounded to Vir as though she was talking about soone specific, but he couldn’t be sure.
“I’m afraid little has changed since you last saw the place,” Ashani said, leading him inside.
Vir chuckled. “I’d be more surprised if it had, with you being in hibernation. In fact, isn’t this place exactly the sa as it was millennia ago?”
The abode was exactly as Vir rembered it, with a small living space, Ashani’s bedchambers, and stairs that led down to Janak’s basent lab. Vir definitely wanted to inspect that more thoroughly later.
“Other than a few small things—anities for the wolves when we need to shelter in here—yes,” Ashani replied.
“It’s so strange,” Vir said. “It’s like walking back through ti to the Age of Gods, while simultaneously jumping forward in advancent.”
Once more, Vir was reminded of the unfathomable heights the Pri Imperium had reached, and once more, he wished for the world to regain it, however far off that dream might be.
“I imagine it must be quite the novel experience for you. For , it’s all I’ve ever known. Will… Will you be here long?” Ashani asked, glancing at him briefly before looking down at the ground.
“As long as you’d like, Ashani,” Vir replied. “I have to return to the Demon Realm in a few hours, but with how much slower ti flows here, I imagine I have a couple of weeks, at the very least.”
“Excellent news!” Ashani said, clapping her hands together. “Then let us change locations. We have so much to catch up on. Where have you been? What friends have you made along the way? Tell everything.”
Vir couldn’t help but chuckle. “You know? I feel like we’ve had this conversation before. Back when I first arrived.”
“We did. And what I learned has amazed ever since.”
“Don’t worry,” Vir said with a soft smile. “I’ll tell you as much as you want to know. Just bring so warm water, first? Quite a bit of it, if you don’t mind.”
He prepared himself for a monologue… And braced for a very sore throat.
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