As I travelled along with the pulse, I felt a power I had never felt before. It devoured me, consumed me. Never before had I felt so insignificant. I eventually ended up in an unknown village across the ocean, witnessing the birth of a seemingly normal boy who took all this power in. Back in Eresath, I made my decision. I had to find this boy.

They spent the remainder of the day resting in their assigned rooms and wandering about in the gardens. In the bright sunlight, the lines of power that held the seals protecting the green scenery were barely visible. But they were there, connected with the taen rock below the city as they had been for centuries upon centuries.

Eager as always, Yara and Faye had only rested a little before the urge to explore this wondrous building and its gardens had grown too strong. As they walked beneath the giant makran trees, Yara’s thoughts wandered off to the meeting with the Conclave some hours earlier.

A lot of what they had told them was open to interpretation, but there was no point in denying the truth. She, as well as her three friends, were connected to Ralph for whatever reason. The Wisers of Dadendam had seen them, noticing the dormant power in Samos, Eder and her. Could she really become powerful? She hadn’t desired to be, she had only wanted to leave Ters. And once Ralph had come along, she had done just that.

And with Ralph had come Samos. Even after all this time, none of them knew much about him. Who was he really? Where de he come from? Questions he couldn’t even answer himself all things considered. He had wanted to find a remedy for his amnesia in Eresath, but perhaps Dadendam could provide solace. The city did seem to be a lot older than the Order, how many centuries of research could be found here that never saw the outside world?

“Yara?”

Faye’s voice came out of nowhere, breaking Yara’s line of thought. They had reached the end of the garden, she noticed with a start. The roofs of Dadendam were spread out before them, glinting in the midday sun.

“What is it?”

“Do you think we should stay here?” Her voice seemed contemplating on something.

She shrugged. “I don’t really know to be honest. I don’t think neither of us could have thought this is where our journey would take us. For now though, I feel like we should remain here for a while. Get some rest, clear our minds, train…”

Faye nodded in agreement, but Yara could tell there was something else on her mind.

“What’s wrong, Faye? You seem worried.”

She gave a heavy sigh. “There’s just… so much that’ happening and I can’t help but feel so insignificant in all of it. And my parents, even if I didn’t tell them the exact situation, they will have deduced from the rumours what the situation at Eresath is. Do they still think I’m sailing that way? They’ll be awaiting news from me no doubt.”

With a stab of guilt, Yara realized she hadn’t thought of her parents nearly as much as she should have these past two months.

“It’s a lot,” she admitted, “and in truth I’m not sure what my role in this story is either. But I think that man from the Conclave, Aram, explained it well. We forge our own paths, make our own decisions and live with the consequences, either for good or for bad.”

Faye gave a small nod and moved to sit on a bench placed underneath the shadow of a makran tree. Yara instead moved towards the tree. She had heard Samos and Eder talk of their sword hilts that were made out of this type of wood. It supposedly drew on their power if not controlled properly and allowed them for better Enhancement.

With a soft touch, she lay her palm on the trees trunk. Its base was wider than that of any tree she had ever seen, one could hollow it out and make a small house inside with room to spare. The moment she made contact, a pleasant warmth spread through her body. Enjoying the feeling, she closed her eyes and before she knew it her consciousness was sucked into the lines of power circling the tree.

She became power, a feeling she was beginning to grow accustomed to, and raced along the lines of power downwards into the city. She moved into the ground, coming out on the other end not soon after. For a moment, she lingered in the air between the city and the ground below before being pulled towards the taen rock in its centre.

The ground changed, the rock disappearing as it become covered with dirt, rocks and sand. Only its tip remained visible above ground. Hundreds of men and women stood in a giant circle, the taen in its centre. Beyond the circle stood thousands of other. At the yelling of a command, white lines of power burst out from every single person making up the circle. Over a hundred seals sprang to life and found their way to the taen rock before being redistributed in all directions.

The ground began to rumble, fissures appearing just beyond the circle of Sealers. The people beyond scrambled back in a hurry. Slowly but surely, the ground began to elevate and rose into the sky, the circle atop of it. As a gap was created between the ground and the floating part, the taen rock became visible to the naked eye, lines of power reaching upwards from it towards the island above it.

Two thousand feet the island rose before eventually halting and coming to a rest. The people below, who had been looking on frightened, began to cheer and celebrate.

With a sudden snap Yara found herself back in the garden, hand still resting on the makran trunk. Dizziness filled her, but the stomach-lurching feel she had first experienced in Sandos didn’t surface this time. The creation of Dadendam, she thought to herself. This was the second time she had seen things that weren’t there anymore. What was going on?

“Are you alright, Yara?” Faye’s concerned voice resounded from behind her.

She rubbed her forehead and moved to join Faye on the bench. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think the exhaustion is catching up with me.”

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the pleasant midday sun and talking of their homes. For a while, the worries of the world were none of their concern.

The sun had traversed the better part of the sky by the time they were approached by a servant. He spoke in a broken accent, clearly not used to talking the language of outlanders.

“Mistress Ehli of the Conclave wishes for you to share your evening meal with her,” he said slowly, carefully calculating his intonations and pronunciation. “She understands if you wish to be alone to rest.”

Yara and Faye shared one quick look, confirming each other’s thoughts. They wouldn’t let a chance to ask questions slip by. They stood up eagerly and followed the servant through the gardens into the building. Instead of taking the elivet up towards the meeting room though, they walked down the spiral staircase towards the floor just below the garden. He guided them through a door and into the strangest room Yara had ever seen.

It was as long as the gardens above them, dozens of shelves aligning the walls filled to the brim with books, small taen rocks, plants, jars… From the ceiling, thick roots crept downwards dangling like long, lean fingers reaching for the stone basins below them that were filled with earth. Spherical lights floating mid-air bathed the room in a dim light, giving of an eerie vibe.

At one of the basins, a woman Yara recognized from the Conclave was cutting off a part of the roots with a pair of secateurs. As they approached, she turned towards them with a smile, her face covered in spots of dirt.

“Welcome in the Eulim,” she greeted the two jovially, giving them a warm embrace. They returned the hugs hesitantly, surprised by the amity this woman put on display. “Oh, we have so much to talk about! Come, join me.”

She led them to a table where platters of hot food stood waiting for them.

“I barely go up to the Conclave anymore but for important meetings,” she began as she invited them to eat. “I much rather spent my days here, studying and doing research. Tifara told me you are Soannin?”

The word jerked at Yara’s memory. “You mean Dovra’Sha?”

“The ones with two Talents, yes,” she confirmed with a smile. “Both Healer and Sealer, correct?”

Yara and Faye both nodded and the woman began to beam. “I am called Ehli, the Sealer of the Conclave. I’ve been wanting to work with outlanders for a long time now, I am glad to have the two of you here.”

“The Sealer of the Conclave?” Faye inquired. “You mean you’re the only one?”

“Nobody explained?” she asked and they both shook their heads. “It’s quite simple really. Each Talent has a representative in the Conclave, the other six are without any. It’s a prerequisite to become elected in the first place, Soannin or Sooarom can thus never be elected.”

“Isn’t that unfair?” Yara pondered.

Ehli shrugged. “The Soannin and Sooarom, rare as they are, have plenty of things to do as it is. Plus they’ll always have a listening ear at the Conclave if they have suggestions to make.”

They nodded in understanding. “What kind of work is it you want to do with us?” Faye asked.

“As I understand it, you outlanders have only very limited access to taen, correct? I think we could learn a lot if the two of you, who know very little of the uses of taen, would start using it in your sealing and healing without prior knowledge. Who knows, you might just do something different than we have been doing it for centuries just because you don’t know what to do in the first place.

“And not only that. There are so many resources here besides taen you outlanders have probably never even heard of. Why not study for your own sake? Grow stronger, explore your powers and discover what you are worth.” She gestured around her. “And if this is not the perfect place to do just that, I don’t know what is.”

Yara had to admit, the prospect of being able to spend time in this room filled with knowledge did seem like an opportune chance to become stronger. Before Vorna, she had felt confident in her capabilities, certain she could overcome any hardship using her seals. Yet now, that confidence had diminished greatly. They had relied on Samos basically the entire trip to Dadendam. It was time she stepped up as well.

“When do we start?” Her voice was steady and purposeful.

Ehli regarded her with an expecting tingle in her eyes. “I would have us start at this very moment, but I think it would be best for the two of you to take a full night’s sleep first. No need to collapse from exhaustion.”

¥

High above Dadendam, Aram sat contemplating before the window overlooking the land beneath. Twenty-three years had passed since Ethel had betrayed them and left the city. Today is the day the world will change. The words still resounded as clearly in his ears today as the day he had heard him.

“What did you know?” he whispered to himself. Something had triggered Ethel to do as he did, Aram refused to believe those forty years had all been a lie.

And now, the moment they learned of Ethel’s siege on Eresath, four Soannin whose paths were intertwined with that of another Sooarom had found their way to Dadendam.

Aram did not believe in destiny, sixty-five years as Wiser had proven that people are never destined for anything. They simply choose their own path and end up where they do as the result of their own decisions.

But at times like these, where everything seemed to come together, he had to admit he began to doubt his beliefs. The four of them had huge potential, there was no denying that. He only hoped they would make the right decisions when the need arose.