Day 7

Valaré Valai fired up Aegis Field to the best of his abilities. The defensive field was invisible at his level, but he’d seen powerhouses manifest a shimmering coating around their bodies.

“It will not help you, lesser Arcani,” said a rasping voice.

Valaré Valai's focus shattered and he had to rely on his hearing and smell in the total darkness.

“Who are you?” he asked. “And what do you mean by a lesser Arcani?”

Points of light appeared in cascades, giving the corridor an outline and revealing the owner of the voice. Whatever it was, it was not a human. At the first, Valaré Valai believed it to be a tree then he realized that he wasn’t staring at branches but antlers.

No matter how hard Valaré tried to understand the entity standing in front of him, the comprehension slipped out of his grip. Valaré was no stranger to secrets of the realm but none came close to this. What was this thing?

It had a humanoid shape, but instead of skin, it possessed knots of roots and bark. Whatever its hands were, it had them hidden in the darkness as much as its feet.

“Who are you?” Valaré Valai repeated his question.

Hearing it again, the creature seemed to gather its attention on Valaré. Its emotions, if it possessed any, were impossible to glean.

“Upon seeing me in my true form, you still ask who I am, not what I am. I appreciate that. Not many lesser and greater Arcani had the mental strength to do so.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Valaré said, knowing that showing fear or hesitation might be dangerous.

“I didn’t,” it agreed.

“You called me a lesser Arcani.” Valaré decided to try from the other angle. “What does it mean?”

A dry chuckle escaped its alien mouth.

“So your kind has already forgotten its origin.”

“What origin?”

The entity didn’t reply.

“Are you one of the Awakened Spirits?”

“I wonder, are they still around?”

This was going nowhere. The creature didn’t seem keen on answering any questions. Valaré knew he was being toyed with.

“I’ll tell you if you answer one of my questions.”

“Speak, lesser Arcani. One question. One answer.”

“Fine,” Valaré replied, projecting a relaxed attitude. “The Awakened Spirit disappeared centuries ago when the Aael Empire has conquered the world. To most people, they’re legends and myths. My family has a bit more insight into the inner workings of the world and knows a thing or two. Now, my question. How can I get out of here?”

“Are you not curious who am I? Don’t you wish to know what are Arcani? Aren’t you going to ask about this place? Who built it and why? So many questions.”

Valaré didn’t know what kind of alien mind existed in that alien skull, but if it believed that a cheap trap like this could work on Valaré, then it’d be sorely disappointed.

“My question stands.”

“Unusual. Strange. Disappointing.”

“You sound like you’re trying to provoke me.” Valaré made sure to not make it a question. The thing played with him. It sought to goad him into another one so his current question could be voided. It clearly didn’t expect this.

“Provocation is beneath me, lesser Arcani,” its voice hardened.

Valaré’s muscles tautened.

“So are good manners,” Valaré said, fighting an urge to give in to emotions. Only by staying calm, he had a chance to leave this place alive.

“Commendable attitude,” the thing said. “But my strength on is on par with a mid-level, pure Arcani. Not many of the pure ones left after the war. Such a waste.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Why are you here?” as the thing asked, roots exploded from every corner of the corridor and snaked around Valaré’s limbs before he could react. His Royalblood reflexes should’ve never allowed this. Suddenly, the corridor was carpeted by hundreds of roots, they writhed like snakes. “Who sent you?”

Valaré kept his cool despite the hammering heart in his chest. The roots looked ordinary, but his limbs couldn’t budge them. He was powerless like a fly in a spider’s web. He opened his mouth to answer as there was no point in stalling when pain tore his consciousness away.

*

He didn’t wake up and yet he was awake. His body didn’t respond when he tried to move his hands and feet.

“It was a close call,” a voice said. It came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. “My servant was about to tear you apart. I stopped him before your body was irrevocably damaged. It does not mean you did not suffer minor injuries. Nothing time cannot heal.”

Valaré wanted to speak back but found that he didn’t know how to do so.

“Right.”

Suddenly, the ability to speak burned itself in Valaré’s mind.

“Am I dead?”

“I told you that you are not.”

“Then where am I?”

“Unimportant,” the voice said. “We have other matters to discuss… if you desire to escape this place, that is.”

Valaré would’ve laughed if he could at the poor attempt at manipulation… All of sudden, his thoughts were blown away as if a tempest hit them. An omnipotent presence bloomed inside his head.

“Do not make assumptions, mortal,” the voice sounded soft and hard at the same time. It gave Valaré vertigo. “I am not your father, I will not suffer disrespect.”

When the presence withdrew, Valaré’s ephemeral body collapsed in the darkness. At first, he thought he returned to the corridor. Then another ephemeral outline of a person appeared near him.

“There was a time when I killed your kind non-discriminatorily. It seems time has a way of changing… us.” No details could be gleaned from the shining outline when Valaré looked up. “I am not exactly happy with how the things turned out. I am sure Shadespirit would have been disappointed…”

The man glanced at Valaré, his eyes brightened.

“I tend to ramble. Solitude eventually gets to everyone.” The light in his eyes faded away and he seemed distracted for a moment. “Let’s discuss the matter at hand, shall we?”

“Why not,” Valaré replied, trying to keep his mind from unraveling itself. Someone had had to use potent alchemy on him to conjure such visions. The easiest way was to go with it. He did so, hoping his mental state would endure.

“You were sent on a path to save another man. I am looking for the sender.”

“I must disappoint you.” Valaré stood up and stared at his hands and arms. They were lines of light, nothing else. “She’s mad and greedy. Nothing interesting there.”

“Tenoch-Ling is only a messenger. She, like others, only carried messages that brought you this far. I want you to find the person who gave the message to the man everyone in Cape Town knows as Charcot. Do it and I will satiate your curiosity about the origin of your kind, at least on this planet.”

“I don’t think asking her would solve the problem, right?”

Only silence responded.

“How can I find that person then?”

“My intervention will prompt his reaction. He will seek to ascertain that his plans were not derailed, so make sure to stay near the one that calls himself Giliad. I cannot say when it will happen, but it certainly will. In the ruins of Anand, you will find a device, a green marble orb. It will not be given freely and there is nothing you will have to offer in return. You will need to steal it. Upon meeting the sender, with the orb in your hands, speak these words…”

A burning sensation engraved unknown words in Valaré’s mind. He didn’t know the language and even thinking about them was an ordeal. Whatever the being did to him, was beyond Valaré’s comprehension.

“Do not try to use them now. It will not do any good here. And of course, you have no orb with you to make the spell work.” Spell?

It had to be a dream, or nightmare. Spells didn’t exist. Valaré had seen insane results of alchemy, read about legendary feats of the Awakened Spirits, and known of volatile nature of spilled Royalbloods’ blood. Spells were good for drunken stories.

“Do not trouble yourself with such matters. They will only harm a small mind of yours. Spells are not native to this world. Now, it is time to save the man you were sent to save. You better be fast, he is about to die. Ah, and one more thing, it goes without saying that you are forbidden from telling anyone about this meeting, otherwise, the toxins injected into your organism will make a quick work of you.”

A strange, spatial map burned itself in Valaré’s mind. The darkness changed and he immediately knew to be back in the corridor. The tree-like creature was gone. A sense of urgency exploded inside him and with it, the shortest way to the surface made itself apparent.

Right, Giliad needed his help.