What is this place? The thought plagued that deep curiosity within. Did the clan know of this? Was it the truth desired from the explosion? Not elitum, not Oredite, but this…rrin felt the breath of pastness over his skin. The surety that the age he now walked on was beyond what was known.
Beyond the current common era. Brother always said there were three ages before now…Was it in one of them that this place was built? rrin felt the ambience of childhood—the infomania.
It was curiosity that killed Leim! Your curiosity. The voice. He sighed, walked on. Catelyn stumbled on occasion, a curse released at such monts. He told her of the watchouts, but she failed to grasp them. A lack of situational awareness.
How exactly do lowlanders survive for so long? He thought, Must be the casters. Surely without them, their end would have been faster…He quipped in that thought, a brief mont, he knew before the pressure of reality. He stopped, looked to the side.
"What?" Catelyn collided with his back, face-first and damned him.
rrin said, "Can you feel sothing?"
"My face hurts!" She said…
rrin glanced sidely—at her. "Sorry," he said, "But no. Like soone is looking at you."
"Thalnethar"
"What?"
"Fear of the dark depths."
"I'm afraid?" rrin searched, but found no such. Instead, for the witnesses, now that existed. "That's not what I an."
"Mist this, let's just go!"
rrin reined in, walked on. I know I felt sothing…What was that?
They entered the chamber.
Catelyn gasped, a relieved one. She sat now on highstone, cloth drenched, froststone, a glow of weak illumination. "Here is where you woke up?"
rrin stared at the outdoor ford from his previous casting. It was a hole, floored with stones. A strangely unnerving thing. Why though? His eyes locked on the space, watching. That feeling—surely it was not fear.
"So?" Catelyn again.
"Yes, I did," rrin replied.
"I see." She said, "You cast the wind now…A strange addiction for one who is ant to be the veilCounsel."
"Would you rather I turn off the no-light? Perhaps deeper darkness might have saved you."
He heard a tongue click. "I suppose you don't know what this place is?"
"Does it matter?" rrin frowned at the egress into the chamber. Should I block it?
Catelyn said, "Everything matters. Not a single thing does not. The only difference is who to."
"Then I don't know."
"And you can see in the dark." There was mockery in that.
rrin snapped. "Why don't you try seeing yourself? It's easy, just ti and training."
"Why don't you burn?"
rrin startled. Her tone…That spoke not of jokes or mockery. A question. An authentic one…Why don't I burn? Is that a thing of the caster? He asked, "What do you an?"
A sigh. "I heard you often burned white before your witnesses. So obvious release of force that is misinterpreted as a miracle. Brightness regardless. Obviously, you have enough to waste on such shows. Why not now? I need to see. To know where we are. To find safety, I need to see."
This novel's true ho is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
There was a minute of silence. Why didn't I think of that? rrin thought of a coback, saw none, and sighed.
Eventually.
Light spewed out from his body, raying out, burning in that mad luminosity of which the witnesses knew him for. Radiance ca upon the room—the oval chamber.
Catelyn gasped… "This..This.." She moved from the highstone, hurrying in frenetic ways. The walls t her fingers, the stones. Everything. The wood, too. Like a child, one without control over their expressiveness. She turned gleeful. "This is older than the third AGE!" She covered her lips.
Third age? Older than the third age? rrin thought, Does that make it very old or very young?
Catelyn finally found the stele. That half-broken monolith of sleek but rusted stone. On it, she froze. All things received that joy of curiosity, but on this, she paused. "Co closer!" She said,
rrin stared at her…Why should—
"I SAID CO CLOSER!" Command in tone.
rrin obeyed out of necessity and moved. Halfway, she stopped him. In the room's center, he stood, like a lamp, beaming full light to all sides. Catelyn said then, "He was a thing from the unknown heavens—a creature that sowed doubt and deception in the highlords of the Orvalen. He was a malicious breed. The great deceiver. One split by the mighty Shaedoran. Yet he still lingers. There, here. A smile. He lingers. Taka was its divider. With his great wheel, the deceiver was parted. But one remains—" she stopped. "Wait, where's the rest?"
rrin snapped from the bewildering trance…She could read it? Old tongue. The oldest language, and she could read it? "I don't know."
"Mists!" She touched stone. "Was it the explosion that broke it?"
Interest lorded. "What's that?" rrin asked, "Is that a story or sothing?"
Catelyn looked to him. "A book from the past."
"Doesn't look like one."
"To you maybe."
What's that supposed to an?
She continued, eyes tight on stone. "The deciever ca with a different na…The lord of—" A pause, a tongue click. "We have made for ourselves creatures of great might. The winged ones, the dr—" She shrieked… "Mist the flow of ti!"
rrin drew knowledge from the undertones he subtly detected and brief pauses. The stele from rust and age had worn down considerably. Thus, the stories, those things that held importance to Catelyn, were marred. The question was, What were they? And what was this place?
"Creatures of trapped light. Our loremasters wonder now at the chance of their encounter with the greatest rider. Auwale of the Shaedoran. The remnants of our gods. If he were to return, then his worship would be most exalted…" Catelyn paused, studying sothing. "The great deceiver was revealed with a single na, Y—"
A scream tore through the chamber, startling. rrin turned. "Who?"
Again, the scream. A baritone-infused voice that spoke of masculinity than the other. A man. Was it Ron? rrin took to his feet, heard a voice, and stopped.
Catelyn said, focused on the stele. "Wait, don't go. I need the light!"
She needs the light? rrin snapped. "If you aren't coming, I am leaving you to die to whatever is in these depths. See how you read, then."
She scowled and raced towards him. Together, they crossed the outdoor, running into the halls. Sound searching. His radiance, the one source of light that allowed perception. At least for Catelyn.
Their steps padded on the hard, dried earth. Stone kicking off in certain monts. He moved with that ashman thod; swift, silent, precision that called for no excessive motions. Catelyn, on the other hand, did the pure opposite. Where he breathed in slowness, she drowned her throat in it. In quiet steps, she stumbled loudly.
In the mountains, such was treated as a liability and their stoneknife taken from them. A mont, he wondered the lowlander equivalent of a stoneknife. None ca. He fronted a boulder, listening for the sound, Catelyn beside. Bathed in the light. Silent for so reason. An unnerving quality in her usual brashness.
It ca—the scream…An audible shout for help. rrin traced, spurting. Catelyn followed, as best as she could manage. Together, they ran the halls. Past stones, heat-burned chairs—things of such strangeness that their use suggested no information. In all, they ran. To the voice. To that one source that filled his heart with hope.
Often, he was awed at the height—width and thought about it builders. Was it those people, he recalled the stele's words. The orvalen. Who were they? The voice halted his ntation. Left, he saw there a large boulder, 4 ters, pressed against the wall. The ridges bearing signs of an entryway. A mighty enough block of stone.
"Helllppp!" A muffled scream.
rrin stepped back, said, "Move back, please. Hold sothing and move back!"
"Therrees sumtin here!" The voice said, "HELLLPPP!"
Cold wrapped him—the stunning emotion. I must save him! The internal sea rose—a hand grabbed his shoulders. He turned. Catelyn. "What?" He rasped.
"How did that person get in there?"
Father above, what is she talking about? "The explosion! Of course, the explosion. What else?" He felt her an idiot.
Her brows knitted. "Yes, but how then did that boulder cover that wall?" She said, "Look at it." She pointed, "Doesn't that seem old?"
rrin looked to the galith, saw then the tattered marks, the soot dust, and the stone pile placed beneath it. Truthfully, all things pointed at a certain lastiness to the stone….That demanded further procession. Yet—
The scream.
"I don't have ti for that!" He surged and whipped the wind. The collision sound pushed him into the side of a boulder. Reflexes saved Catelyn as he grabbed her, hands on her waist. She covered her ears and declined her head.
The aftermath cleared, dust rising. Quickly, still radiating that imnse light, he coursed the haziness, saw then a staggering figure, slow-moving. In the shadows, a man walked out. Panting, blood flowing over his body. Badly, arms marred, skin cut, like an injured battler.
Reviews
All reviews (0)