The cool and roughly hewn stone of the wall felt soothing against Leiros’ back as pressed up against it. He began to pinch at the bridge of his nose in a desperate attempt to stave off the pain pounding away within his skull. The stresses of keeping his mental defenses up and orchestrated during his meeting with Master Gwain were taking their toll on him.

If there was one form of the Haeth arts that he excelled in, it was that of complicated and defensive uses of telepathy. He absolutely refused to use such abilities offensively to peer into other people’s minds as it went against his own morality and the dictates he knew the founder of his Order had set down almost a millennia ago. Despite his focus and skill, the amount of energy he had to expend for the slightest interplay with others who didn’t restrain themselves in such a way was very high.

He knew full well when he had been informed by one of the brothers studying under Gwain, that he wanted a meeting in his office, he would be under mental interrogation from the first moment. He knew as well, from having to deal with other members of the Order that he would have to create fake layers of emotions and thoughts to feed to Gwain. He would have to protect the vast majority of his mind while leaving some little grottoes of half-hidden thoughts to serve as red herrings. Having to split his mind in such a way was taking its toll on his sanity.

The teaching that Toulam had given him over the years of being his student were pivotal in Leiros being able to protect himself so well. He didn’t just need to defend himself blindly, but he had such a heightened sense of empathy that he could drink up ambient emotions of people around him. This let him use skills of understanding people’s intentions to cater those defenses to each person that might peer into his mind. The nature of his empathic observations were not as intrusive or as piercing as most applications of telepathy. He only picked up what people willingly or inadvertently broadcast about themselves. He then used his own intuition and understanding to piece together who they were and how they operated.

More than the moral dilemma of possessing the abilities to look into others minds and the ethical rules set down by Vhaltenesh in his wisdom, it ultimately fell to Leiros’ fear of using his abilities. Where most of those individuals who would later become oracles uncovered their abilities during their adolescence or during an event of severe stress later in their lives, Leiros had been born with most of his abilities intact. His life had been fraught with alienation and abuse for his strange ability to drink people’s emotions, experience their memories, and his outbursts of telekinetic energy while growing up. As such, he did all he could to restrain his abilities for purely defensive arts while focusing entirely on his more mundane skills of observation, intuition, and academia.

Naturally, he took solace in books more than he did in people around him. People were complicated and often overwhelmed him with the emotional information they broadcast all the time. People were messy with their emotions, they were contrived with the complexes they created in themselves to avoid memories they buried, and they were needlessly fixated on only their own existences. Books, however, were clear and plain, focusing almost entirely on the subject at hand. The authors only wrote down what was absolutely relevant and those few particularities of character that bled through the writing were subdued. The stories and epics set down by the skaldts were pure with subtle intention and a focus on deeds over thoughts. The words and recollections of the dead were hallowed with meaning far more than those of the living.

Leiros took in a long breath of chilled air while letting the fingers he had upon the bridge of his nose flow over his face to rub at the side of his skull. He let the false psyche he had created for Gwain’s satisfaction fall away. He imagined the floating metallic construction he had created slowly crumbling and melting away as it fell back into a sea of liquid mercury inside of his soul. Once the last pieces had finally returned to the sea of his soul, he created a glowing halo of light that lit him from within. He focused on that light and increased its brilliance until he could cover himself with a protective shield against any further telepathic contact.

“Master Leiros.” The words were in a soft and feminine voice that echoed slightly in the long and darkened hallways of the mesa sanctum.

Leiros lifted his head to see who called him by name and saw a young woman of dusky features walking toward him. From what he could see by the flickering light of oil lamps hanging from the ceiling, the young woman wore over-sized gray robes like most of the other oracles. He couldn’t see anything on her that denoted station in the low light. He could see that she had long dark hair, warm brown eyes, and held a sheepish smile on her face.

“We don’t usually see you on this floor. It’s good to see you.” The woman closed to a distance of a few feet away and gave a slight bow with her head. “I see you probably talked with Master Gwain. I hope he didn’t make you feel too uncomfortable.” The young woman smiled more broadly and crossed her arms over her chest, hiding her arms beneath long and heavy sleeves.

Leiros looked from the young woman’s eyes and then to the doorway he had just slammed a moment earlier a few feet away from him. He gave a stifled sigh and adjusted his eyes beneath a long blink. He turned his gaze back to the woman and adjusted his features with a fake sense amusement.

“Not too uncomfortable.” Despite the fake emotion on his face, the words he spoke fell out flatly. His mental defenses roared to life all the more as he noticed the young woman watching his face intently. He prepared himself for another mental onslaught. “Hopefully he doesn’t give you any grief.”

“Only the grief that I deserve.” The young woman giggled to herself to try and cover up the waves of fear that she began to broadcast. “It is good to see you, Master Leiros.” She emphasized her last statement and then began to send out waves of positive energy towards him. Little bubbles of thoughts and feelings began to break over Leiros of past positive memories between the both of them.

Leiros took a moment to run through the memories in his face and try to piece together where he had run into the young woman before. Flashes tore through his mind as he quickly ran through the palace of his mind, searching through the many alcoves and recesses he might have stored her face. As quickly as he began to search, he was able to recall when he had seen her before, which is one of the many thankful gifts he had been born with, having a near eidetic memory.

“It is good to see you again, Sister Kalyna.” Leiros called up a fake smile that strained at the unused muscles of his face. “Thank you for your company over a meal a year ago. Were you able to answer that quandary you mentioned to me?” Leiros paused, looking up for a second, making it look like he was recalling information. “I believe you were wondering if an augury you gave to young Guardian Knight might have influenced his actions to give up his own free will. Was it not a situation of the Ullthosian Paradox?”

“I completely forgot that.” Kalyna’s eyebrows shot up with incredulity at Leiros’ memory as she had obviously forgotten the minutiae of their interaction. A smile still spread across her lips and she gave another laugh. “What I remember, you gave me a lot of insight into that augury. I don’t know what happened after that, though.” She lifted one of her hands up and let her sleeves fall away to reveal an exposed hand. She lightly pressed her right index finger to her lips and then recoiled the finger back to her hand quickly. “I do remember how generous you were with your time and spending those hours with me.”

Leiros fought against the emotions that began to well up in him. He could feel the attraction towards him that Kalyna had. She was clinging to a built-up illusion of a memory that did not entirely correspond to Leiros’ own memory. In the time since their interaction, she had thought often on that brief time shared fondly. She thought that there was some rapport between them and she wanted to follow that into a relationship. He focused the frustration and anger he had towards her into a single clenched fist hidden beneath the sleeve of his robe at his side.

“I’m glad the ideas and companionship I could give to you was worthwhile to you.” Leiros felt his fingernails digging into the flesh of his palm as his face curled and twitched to give the slightest hint of a smile. He tried to emphasize the last elements of his statement, hoping that Kalyna would take the insinuation that it might not be worthwhile to him. He didn’t see her features change, and the feelings emanating from her were still reaching a fevered pitch, so obviously she was blind to his insinuations.

“I apologize for the impertinence, but what brings you to Master Gwain’s office?” The look on Kalyna’s face turned to a twinge of concern and then back to her smile. She thought she was being sneaky by distracting Leiros with a question while taking a few shuffling steps closer to him.

“Gwain informed me that I would be taking over the duties of Master Olkva while he’s away.” Leiros could feel the pain burning up from his clenched fist and let the pressure on his tendons fall away, relaxing his fingers for a moment. He kept his eyes trained on Kalyna’s reaction to his words to see if a flash of recognition would overtake her features. He wanted to see through her emotions if she was involved in Gwain’s large plots. Perhaps the emotions she was sending to him were part of some elaborate plot by Gwain and Illena.

“Oh, that’s odd.” Kalyna scrunched up her face and a blush of red shone from her heavily tanned cheeks. “I thought you were the Master of Lore and were Grandmaster Toulam’s personal assistant.” She ruminated for a moment as her eyes flickered upward and to the right; recalling memories. “You also report directly to Master Illena for duties, right? Surely, she would be the one to inform you of that. Why in the world would my Master have to tell you anything.” She gave another giggle and clutched her right hand to her face as if trying to hold it in. “Technically, Master Gwain is below your station.”

Leiros openly rolled his eyes at Kalyna’s statement, letting his guard down for a moment. He could feel the honesty coming from her when she spoke those words. Technically, she was correct, however, due to his age, the recent appointment to his station, and the responses from the other Masters of the Order it wasn’t nearly that simple.

Although Leiros had managed to earn the respect of the initiates beneath him through his honest actions, and he had a flawless reputation for diligence within the Order, none of that meant a thing. He was not a part of some secretive clique who held the real power and he didn’t have any skeletons hidden in his closet that those with power could use to keep him under control. He was learning quickly that all of the work he had done to earn his place was worthless because the real source of power in the Order was based on the entire opposite of merit.

A wave of concern hit Leiros square in the chest and knocked him out of his internal ruminations. Kalyna was beginning to wonder if she offended him and was recoiling into herself. Worry and embarrassment soon followed her concern as she began to beat herself up emotionally for her statement. Leiros didn’t want her to fret in insecurity, and the waves of unrestrained emotions were getting too much for him.

“I guess I still have to earn my place. After all, if Gwain has information, it’s my job to know it, right?” Leiros tried to carefully pick his words to be self-effacing and present a question to Kalyna to knock her out of her insecurity. “I guess, Master Illena rather talk to Gwain than myself.” He gave a half-hearted chuckle that was more a lame serious of breaths than a laugh.

“I don’t know why Master Illena has it out for you so much.” Kalyna extended her left hand toward Leiros to put it on his shoulder but pulled her hand away quickly. She didn’t know if she was able to touch him due to their social distance and his title. She wanted to make physical contact with him but the trepidation whirling in her emotions won out. “The other Initiates have noticed how she treats you. It must be exhausting to constantly jump through the hoops she and the Grandmaster give to you. I know you do a lot to keep the Order running.”

The words were sickly sympathetic and not entirely true, which made Leiros want to cringe as he heard them. He didn’t think that his duties were too much, and despite the resentment between Illena and himself, he enjoyed the challenges she gave him. He wasn’t one to hide from a challenge or new way to prove himself. If the feelings that Kalyna was now expressing were indeed representative of the other Initiates of the Order, they were given too much slack in their duties. If they had time to gossip about the newest appointed Master and feel bad for him for having to do his job, their priorities might need to be refocused back to how they could benefit each other instead.

“So, when do you take over Master Olkva’s duties?” Kalyna jumped in to change the subject when she noticed that Leiros wasn’t taking the bait of sympathy. She took a step back and watched Leiros’ features intently. She cocked her head to the side, trying to show off her desire to know more about him.

“Today, at Noon.” Leiros lifted his head up and furrowed the space between his eyebrows. “Not a lot of notice, I have to admit.” He forgot to make another strained smile and let his features remain cold and stone-like.

“Oh?” Kalyna paused and pulled back her head slightly with a look of confusion and incredulousness. “Surely you must be mistaken, or more likely Gwain was mistaken.” She waited for Leiros to focus on her and show is interest in what she was about to say. “It’s almost a full hour past Noonday. If you were to start your lesson then, you’re already late.”

Leiros clenched both fists openly in response to her words this time. Anger tore through his mind and he didn’t restrain it. That conniving worm, Gwain, had left him waiting for two hours in his office before he finally arrived to interrogate him. He wanted Leiros to be late for his first and most important lesson to the young Initiates. This would give Gwain and Illena ammunition to say that he indeed had neglected his duties.

“I guess I best let you go so you can get back to Auhl Keignfel Stohll.” Kalyna sheepishly bowed once more to Leiros. “That’s all the more strange that Master Gwain would be the one to tell you this. The last time I saw Master Illena, she was back at Stohll.” Kalyna pointed off into the darkness of the hallway as if she could point out the far other Mesa almost a mile away. “I know your quarters and offices are over there with Toulam’s. Why you would be sent all the way here to be late for your first lesson…” Her words trailed off.

Leiros knew exactly why he was sent all this way and why Illena had been dodging him all morning. Since Toulam had been gone for the last three days, dealing with very personal business, Illena had been orchestrating events to make him look like a fool. She had been undermining Toulam’s wishes, making Leiros’ life a living hell, and no doubt collaborating with those other Masters sympathetic to her usurpation of the Order.

“I guess I best take my leave. Thank you, again, for your companionship and conversation.” Leiros tilted his head slightly to Kalyna who beamed at him.

She nodded deeper and ran off down the hallway to whatever destination she sought. She gave one more large burst of positive emotions which began to dissipate slightly as she left. Sadly, her fondness for Leiros had only grown due to their talking. Her seeing how Gwain had treated him, and his apparent recklessness toward his duties only seemed to make her more enthralled, which puzzled Leiros greatly. Perhaps it was the exposure of his viewed weakness that made her respect him more, or she was drawn to men that let her down in some way.

Leiros shook her emotions and presence from his mind vigorously until he could try once more to forget she existed. He wasn’t interested in her to be perfectly honest. He wasn’t really interested in anyone as all of the women he had come across were too plain with their emotions. It was hard to make a proper connection with someone or be surprised about their interest in you when you could feel their emotions so keenly.

He was of a far too rational of mind to get swept up in romances and crushes. Although he could appreciate the individual beauty and complexity that many of the women of the Order had, none of them seemed able to knock him from his mind as well pull on his heartstrings. When one came into contact with so many people with the same emotions and viewpoints in their heads, most people became nothing more than predictable background noise and it was precisely this omnipresent noise that bothered Leiros so much.

Leiros turned away from Kalyna as she continued to run down the hall. He began to walk in the opposite direction while trying to figure out the best course of action to get back to the Stohll Mesa. He was already near the top of the Little Buetha Mesa and it would involve climbing down numerous levels to get to the underground passages that led back to Stohll. Such a method of travel — being the most commonly used by the oracles of the Order — would take hours. It would not be right to make the students wait that long.

Leiros made his way to a fork in the hallway carved from the very rock of the Buetha Mesa and looked from side to side. He resolved the best way to get back to Stohll and ran headlong to the right. He would avoid the passages back, and instead reach the summit of the Mesa. He was only two floors away as it was.

As he tore down the hallway in a full sprint, he narrowly pushed to the side to avoid an older Initiate carrying a stack of books and grimoires. As he passed, the older man had to catch himself and steady the stack of books he carried against his chest, up to his chin. The older man barked out a few obscenities and was lost as Leiros turned another corner.

A dozen feet ahead the hallway broke into a flight of stairs upward. Leiros leaped at the bottom step and pulled himself up by grabbing the iron railings anchored into the stone. He took the steps three at a time, pulling himself up faster and faster until he got to the next floor. The stairs opened to another set of hallways, but he turned hard to his left and jumped over the next flight of stairs.

Despite being in decent shape from his many exercises and physical challenges that he put himself through, Leiros still managed to get winded as he made his way to a heavy iron doorway at the top of the stairs. He strained as he pulled on the rope handle that was wound through the door. He struggled to catch his breath for a moment and then was overwhelmed by the torrent of air that blew through the opened doorway.

The warm, dry, and sand-strewn air of the Jolash Plateau greeted him as he stepped through the threshold and secured the door behind himself. He turned around and began to climb up a wooden ladder up to the summit of the Little Buetha Mesa. The heat of the twin suns above was harsh on his skin as he took his first step on the exposed rock.

Leiros quickly lifted the hood of his robes and secured them by pulling taut some of his cloth belts around to his frame. The harsh light and whipping winds of the Jolash Plateau were far more than his fair skin could handle. He took a few steps forward and focused his narrowed gaze upon the skies above.

He began to pull loose some cloth scarves around the neck of his robes and upon spying a tiny dot playing among a group of clouds far to the east, he focused his mental energies into a blast. He gave an ear-piercing whistle between his tongue, teeth, and lips. Along with this auditory call, he let loose his mental energies to summon that far-away dot to him. The telepathic blast was profound and caused him a moment of dizziness.

Once more taking control of his senses, he began to wrap the scarves around his face. He kept one loop around his forehead, and another around his nose and mouth. He fidgeted with the fabric to keep it taut and tie it near the back of his neck. He kept only a small slit revealed for his eyes and then pulled some leather belts from his sleeves to tie around his neck and to secure around his hands like makeshift gloves.

Once he was bundled up, he took a few more steps onto the higher rock of the summit. He looked to his left and could see immense size of Auhl Keignfel Stohll. That great mesa, his home and the primary headquarters of his order stood like a giant, silent sentinel against the whipping sands that scoured the Jolash Plateau far below. Stohll rose almost a thousand feet higher than the mesa he currently stood upon. Several other mesas rose up from the rocky plateau, but most were farther away than this edifice of rock no more than a mile from where he stood.

Leiros turned his head to notice a shadow that was cast over the summit. He looked up to see a great black and gold bird flap its wings several times as it lowered itself onto a large outcropping of rock nearby. From head to talon, the bird was twice the size of Leiros and the wingspan it held was slightly more than thirty feet to a wing. Once the bird’s talons took hold of the rock, it folded its immense wings in and lowered its head down to Leiros’ level.

Gathering spoiled? The bird beamed the words straight into Leiros’ mind. The feeling was less like a conversation and more like a wave of images, emotions, and a calming sense of oneness between his mind and the bird’s.

“The meeting went well enough.” Leiros talked openly to the bird and lifted a hand to scratch some feathers near the back of its head. “I think we are to be betrayed soon enough, though.” Leiros took a step up on the rock to get closer.

I was playing with the clouds. The bird turned its head to look up to the nearby building clouds further across the plateau. Much power is building. It will storm soon. The clouds may weep. The bird turned its head back to Leiros and looked him in the eye. Immense orbs of orange jade seemed to be on fire from within.

“I’ll take note of that, Qathalla.” Leiros turned to look over to the nearby towering mesa and pointed to it with his left hand. “I need you to fly me over there. When we get there, I need you to stay with me, is that alright?” He continued to scratch at the bird’s head with his right hand.

Of course. The bird nuzzled into Leiros’ arm and pressed its large beak against his chest. Qathalla closed its eyes for a moment and then continued to speak with thoughts. I saw other Authrocs over there. A gathering. Many young oracles are standing around looking lost.

“I have to go over there and teach them how to handle their Authrocs. I need you to stay with me, I will need to fly with you later on.” Leiros gave two pats with his leathered hand on the authroc’s neck. Qathalla lowered one of its wings and allowed Leiros to climb up easily.

Once Leiros was secured to the back of the great bird, laying into a leather harness that was strapped across the bird’s chest, he gave one more pat. He whistled softly and the authroc’s wings unfurled and began to pound air against the ground in a flurry. Within moments Qathalla had risen into the air and then darted downward into a dive with outstretched wings. A few feet from the surface of the ground, the bird pulled up and soared with great speed toward the summit of the other mesa.

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