The Fort

Zach spent the trip putting in memories inside his band, trying to glimpse at the secrets of the Mind Essence. He knew that it could imitate all other Essence, except that it wasn’t able to have any influence on the real world. Its domain was inside the mind, the brain, or whatever it was that held thoughts of the living things. He was starting to think that it was in fact the soul, as he had learned from Okim—when he answered his question on what he was doing—that some people in this world didn’t even have brains, they weren’t made up of the same types of Essence.

Following that, it occurred to him that thoughts actually came from the soul. It did make sense in a way; his spirits were just souls after all. They didn’t have real bodies, but they could still think. That would mean that he would have to try and figure out the connection between the two before he could make any real progress.

He wasn’t discouraged by this, on the contrary, it made him excited. He had a real avenue of research that could help him understand both the Soul and Mind Essences.

“It is interesting,” Ra’vallim said. “I’ve never delved that deeply into the mind. But I see a lot of it deals with change, from my perspective at least.”

“Change?” Zach remembered that Master of Change was one of Ra’vallim’s titles.

“Yes, change. That was my domain, life and death, winter and spring, all that encompassed change.”

“You never said how you used power on your world.”

Ra’vallim didn’t respond immediately. “It was through study, through understanding of the natural laws. And it was through the power of will.”

It didn’t surprise Zach that what he was hearing made sense to him. All of reality was… Iterations built on Iterations, it was clear to him. This world was built on things that had existed before.

“My first domains were Winter and Spring, the time of birth and the time of slumber. It was… so long ago that I scarcely remember.”

“What could you do with your power? How did it work?”

“You build an inner realm, in your mind, and then you force the world around you to accept it. You give a piece of yourself to give your vision power, and your will makes it so. I don’t know much about what happened when the Framework arrived, I know that the way we used power changed, or was made easier. We did not get to see from the place where our souls were kept, but we spoke with those that came after. All that I know of the Framework is from them.”

“Were you in an afterlife?”

“You can think of it like that, though it wasn’t anything as fine as what you are probably imagining. We were disembodied souls, floating in an endless scape. It was… a blur, with only moments of clarity. Yet, we were still unchanging, in a semi-stasis of some kind.”

Zach was interested in hearing more, wondering just how close his experience was to that of those souls. Time couldn’t be compared, of course, yet he would like to hear Ra’vallim’s thoughts on it. Still, it was a… hard topic to breach, for now at least. So he changed the conversation to something else that he had been interested in.

“Do you know of anyone with the name Ra’azel Equinar?”

“… That name is familiar to me, yes. The question is, how do you know it?”

“I… I believe that I encountered him in the past. I can’t remember it, it happened so long ago. But… he was important enough that I carved his name in my memory. Ra’azel Equinar, yeti, untrustworthy, enemy.”

“I know stories, I did not live at the same time he did. But some of those that arrived after spoke of him. He was hailed as the greatest of our kind, a Runesmith who bound an entire world. I… can’t tell you anything about his power, he lived in the time of the Framework, and I don’t know how that changed things. What I know is that my people eventually turned against him because he wished to defy the Dealmaker. I can’t say that I agree with them, but then again, my perspective was different.”

“Your names, they start the same way. Is that just a coincidence, or?”

“Or is he my descendant?” Ra’vallim asked with mirth in his voice. “No, he is not. Ra is a title of distinction, something that only the greatest of my kind can boast. It is earned by advancing and improving the lives of all of our people through an act, or by giving your life to protect them—in which case the Ra is granted posthumously.”

Zach nodded, that made sense. That meant that Ra’azel had been truly powerful.

“Why don’t we get back to your Essences?” Ra’vallim suggested.

Zach turned his attention back to the band in his hand, and they started discussing Mind Essence, and ideas about its connection to the Essence of Soul.

The Red Forest Territory was, as its name suggested—A red forest. Tall trees covered the landscape, but in the distance he could see a small fort on top of a hill surrounded by red. As they approached, he could see more and more details, like that it was made out of wood. Big logs made up its walls, each as wide as their airship. The tree trunks had to have been giant before they had been felled. Some stone could be seen near the foundation and inside the fort for what looked like to be a small keep.

They had to land outside of the fort, as there wasn’t much room on the inside. Once they landed, Okim led them up to the gate. The wardens standing guard were looking at them warily, but once they came close enough they seemed to recognize them.

“Warden Gardener! Warden Plainrunner!” They exclaimed as they saw them, making Zach tilt his head. Okim had warned them that they were… something like celebrities among the other wardens. “You are back!”

The excited guards stared at them with awestruck expressions, while Okim cleared his throat.

“Send up a runner,” he said to one of them. “They need to speak with the Commander, as soon as possible.”

They looked at him and then saluted. “Yes, Warden.”

As one of them ran ahead, Okim gestured for them to follow inside. Wardens inside stopped what they were doing—most were sparring, while others worked in open workshops that looked like they were everything from tailor shops to small smithies—and stared at them. It seemed like they were indeed famous. Zach took note of the state of most of them. The armor they wore was ragged, and their expressions almost hollow.

“We should use your fame to get things moving a bit,” Okim grinned. A group of wardens stepped up to escort them to the keep. “Go,” Okim said. “I’ll show Hiro around. I am sure that you have a lot to talk about with the Commander.”

Zach and Naha followed them inside and soon enough they were let into a small room occupied by a single person.

Commander Bera was a minotaur, taller and wider than a human, yet somehow she did give a feminine appearance. Her fur was dark, and a pair of glasses hung on the bridge of her snout. As they entered she looked up from a table filled with papers, and immediately looked relieved.

“Wardens,” she greeted them. “I am glad that you are well, and that you have made your way back to us. With no word from you… I’d feared the worst.”

Zach was surprised at the care in her voice. He wasn’t aware that their relationship was that… close. Naha hadn’t said so, though perhaps that was just the sentiment she had toward all of the wardens serving under her. He decided that that had to be it, which immediately raised his opinion of the woman by quite a bit.

“Commander,” Zach said and inclined his head.

She pushed her glasses up her snout and froze for a moment, too fast for most to notice, but not too fast for Zach. She played it off by moving a piece of paper aside and gesturing for them to take a seat.

“I see that you’ve both grown a lot stronger,” she said, her tone changing slightly. Her demeanor becoming a bit more… hesitant. She could tell, somehow, that they were strong. Her glasses? Or just a power? It ultimately didn’t matter.

Naha answered her. “The fight against the Dome Leader had pushed us, and we’ve been… in a few more tough situations since.”

“I see. Well, we are glad to have you back. The Wardens are… struggling. We’ve lost most of our strongest since the fall of the Citadel, since before even.”

“Dead?” Zach asked.

Bera shook her head quickly. “No, no, they just… moved on. Our faction no longer holds the same prestige and influence it once did. Nor can we support them in the way that we used to. They joined those who could offer them more. It gladdens me that the two of you have remained true.”

If he was being honest, it wasn’t because they had thought about it too much. Zach wanted to protect people, and the wardens did that. That they were no longer able to do that was… unfortunate. Perhaps they would’ve left, if they had the time to think about it more seriously.

“Tell me,” Bera started. “What has happened since we spoke last?”

Zach exchanged a look with Naha. They had already agreed on telling her everything, partly because she was the leader of their faction and partly because they were about to ask her to go to war. It only seemed fair.

Naha was the one who told the story, as Zach didn’t remember parts of it.

By the time she finished, Bera’s expression turned softer.

“I am sorry that happened to you,” she told him.

Zach shrugged. “It gave me power, without it, we would’ve all died fighting Hastur.”

“There is often a price, for power such as you now have… Would you be willing to record your screens? For the records? Unless you plan on leaving the factions?” She asked slowly.

Naha had told him that the wardens recorded them for their members. It was supposed to be confidential, with only a few people having access.

“I will give it a bit more time before I decide. I know why I joined your faction, but I don’t remember. I need to make my own mind about it,” Zach paused, then continued. “You can’t read them?”

She shook her head. “I have insight into how powerful you are, which is… very powerful. You are near the top of everyone who had ever been in my presence,” she glanced at Naha. “And you aren’t that far away either.”

“Well,” Naha started slowly. “We are here actually to bring you a message.”

“A message?”

“And a request,” Zach added.

“And who would this message and request be from?”

Zach pulled out an envelope, beautiful painted in red and black, with gold threads falling from the sides. The wax seal was of a three pronged mountain peak. “A message from the Sects,” Zach said, looking at her confused look. It was obvious that she recognized the seal. Slowly, she reached out and took the letter.

Before she could open it, Zach spoke. “They ask that the Wardens join their war.”

She frowned. “A war?” She met his eyes with a frown. “A war on who?”

“The taken.”

Her expression froze and her mouth opened. And then, slowly she opened the letter and started reading.