One night turned into several as the caravan made their way along the route that the cultists indicated. Soon Teyva began to see the first hints of snowfall, patches here and there on the side of the road that grew ever larger as they moved further north. At some point, the others in the carriage began to bundle up in whatever coats or blankets that were available. Teyva, for her part, felt nothing from the cold. It was a little unnerving to say the least. Half-way through the fifth day following the Cultist’s guidance she could see the snow beginning to build up on the side of the road. Large flakes fell from the sky and landed on the bundled up mounted soldiers who passed the carriage by. The collars that the horses were wearing had begun to glow with a faint red light as well.

“Those collars keep the horses warm?” Teyva asked.

Azrael nodded, “Right, the soldiers are wearing them too but right now warm clothing is good enough for the moment.”

“Do they have a limited charge or something?” Sari chimed in.

“Not quite, to be honest, the warming collars can be a bit uncomfortable under a gambeson and armor so it’s best for the soldiers to use them when the cold becomes too much for cloth, wool, and steel to protect them,” Azrael said.

“The Akurai knights seem to be handling the environment a bit better,” Paraklytus pointed out, gesturing out of the opposite window from where Teyva had been looking. A pair of blue eyed knights trotted past wrapped only in heavy cloaks. “Perhaps another sign of their divine heritage?” He asked, his voice a bit teasing.

Teyva crossed her arms and resisted the urge to grunt when Paraklytus put a bit more pressure on the mana connection between them. She glanced up at the Lich who pretended not to notice and rolled her eyes, leaning back and crossing her legs. Azrael looked between the two of them and frowned, “Is he… are you two wrestling with your mana right now?”

Teyva stretched her arms, “Have been for a few days now.”

“Why?” She asked, incredulous.

“Training,” Teyva said, surreptitiously glancing at Sari. She didn’t trust Sari enough yet to elaborate further on what she was doing so openly. She switched over to the group chat among her companions instead.

Perry is helping me build immunity to mental and spiritual effects.

Right, [Adaptable], that’s how you got the death magic immunity. Azrael confirmed.

Teyva cast her gaze over to Conrad who was listening in, You know, technically [Adaptable] is a human ability.

Conrad looked out the window with a snort, That’s news to me.

Teyva frowned, she should have suspected that folk who didn’t possess an outsider’s journal wouldn’t know about the inherent abilities of their race. Still, it was surprising to hear. She leaned back a bit and took a breath, pushing against Paraklytus’ presence a little before letting him try to push into her aura again. It had become almost habit at this point, barely noticeable. Even so, the ongoing pressure had produced some results. She pulled up her resistances to double-check her progress.

RESISTANCES

Death Magic

Grand

Nullifies all incoming death magic.

Poison

Capable

Reduces poison damage by 10%

Spiritual

Threshold

Reduces spiritual effects by 25%

Mental

Threshold

Reduces mental effects by 25%

It had risen to Threshold just about a day ago, she wondered if maybe she should ask Perry to increase the pressure a little. Crossing her legs she let out a sigh and glanced out the window again, the snowfall was increasing and the incline of their path had gradually risen. She turned to Azrael, “Are we in the Wastes?”

“Noticed?” Azrael said with a small smirk, “Yes. When the carriage began going up the incline we’d officially entered the territory of the Elves.”

Teyva whistled, “Took us more than a week, I had no idea Orum was so huge.”

“You do understand we are on an isolated continent, yes?” Sari pointed out, giving Teyva a suspicious look.

“Really? How much more is out there?” Teyva asked. Sari’s eyes widened and she glanced over at Azrael. Azrael shrugged at her and rested her chin on her knuckles, staring out at the snow while she squeezed Elat’s hand. The big orc leaned over her and peered out into the all-white beauty of it all with her.

“I’m not quite sure how you don’t know this,” Sari said, looking her up and down, “We are on the continent of Agar in Orum, it is in the northern portion of the Marese Sea. I learned from the human scholars in Katal that Agar is about four thousand kilometers wide. The Balthin Green Sea takes up a full quarter of its area between east and west Agar. The wildlands, northlands and southern badlands make up for half of the total area of the continent with the last quarter being the eastern territory belonging to the humans.”

Teyva whistled, “So why don’t the humans try to snatch up more territory?”

“The Green Sea is a significant barrier, even though the night terrors of that place have dwindled as of late there are centuries of fear and failures to settle that have essentially created a hard border around the territory the humans dwell in,” Sari pointed out. Across from her, Conrad shifted his weight and crossed his arms.

“What about the rest of the world?” Teyva asked, “Are there kingdoms out there?”

“Hundreds of territories belonging to various races, humans mostly,” Sari began, “That said, Katal is the oldest human kingdom in the world and historically speaking all other kingdoms across the globe are in some way descended from it. It even possesses colonies on a few of the nearest continents.”

Teyva glanced at Paraklytus who rubbed his chin, “On that point, I’ve been meaning to ask you. What exactly happened, in the end?”

“You might have to be more specific, majesty,” Paraklytus said even though it was obvious he knew what she was asking.

“The fall of the Labyrinthians,” She pressed and glanced over at Sari who suddenly looked very interested.

“Labyrinthians?” She asked.

“I’m not an Azar, neither is Perry here, and the Akurai weren’t always called Akurai,” Teyva said flatly.

Sari’s eyes bulged and she reached into her bag to pull out a blank notebook before turning to Paraklytus who had eased a bit into his seat and sighed, “It is not a story I enjoy telling.”

“Figure we gotta know eventually,” Azrael chimed in.

Conrad sat up from his gloomy slouch, “Agreed. You mentioned that the cycle did not occur during your time. Perhaps your story may give us some clues.”

Paraklytus chuckled bitterly, “I think it may end up being patently obvious, rather than clues. Though I do not know exactly what forces came into play that created the cycle in the first place.”

All those in the carriage stared at Paraklytus intently and the lich let out a sigh, “Very well. In the one hundred and twenty years of Teyva Rani’s rule, the last queen of the Labyrinthians had demonstrated nothing but distaste for the new-people who she governed alongside the Labyrinthians.”

“New-people?” Sari asked.

“I’ve got this one,” Teyva said, cutting in, “At some point in their history the Labyrinthians created races using their own traits as servants, each for a particular purpose was what I’m guessing. The Orcs, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Azar are all offspring of the Labyrinthians.”

Sari gaped openly, “Those races are siblings?”

“Pretty much,” Teyva said with a shrug before nodding to Paraklytus.

“The birth of the new-people predated Teyva Rani, and her predecessor, and their predecessor. By the time Rani had taken the throne, the new-people were less slaves and more a group of vassalized people. Among them the Azar were remarkably skilled engineers and weavers of magic. They also took to the use of the Aspects better than any of the other races. Some of my people called them ‘Little Labyrinthians’,” Paraklytus continued, “Rani found the comparison to be especially offensive. The majority of her disdain for the new-people was aimed at the Azar.”

Azrael swallowed and looked at Teyva who closed her eyes and continued to listen.

“Nearing the end of the first century of her rule, Rani became obsessed with immortality and gravitated toward the study of the soul. She began to perform horrendous experiments on living subjects, particularly Azar who were as I said, most closely related to the Labyrinthians. She became so obsessed that eventually she began to consume living souls in order to test the bounds of her mortality,” Paraklytus continued, “For a time she only used those who had been sent to serve her directly, but her hungers went out of control. She began to demand living tributes from the Azar.”

Elat visibly shuddered across from Teyva and he turned his focus to little Stella who was sleeping soundly in his arms. Teyva cleared her throat and leaned forward, gripping her hands together tightly as Paraklytus continued his story, “Rani was not without her own favorites among the new-people. She very nearly doted on the humans who she saw as having far more potential than a race she thought of as a knock-off of her own people. As a result, the humans were quite loyal to her as things began to fall apart between her and the Azar.”

Teyva nodded, “I see where this is going.”

“Yes, eventually the Azar tired of their abuse. They wanted to pave their own way. They picked from among their people a King to follow and Rani flew into a rage. By this point, Batel and I had retreated to the University you call Nulakam,” Paraklytus muttered, “The garrison, the scholars, and their children retreated as far as we could into the University, sealing ourselves inside when the Azar turned on the Labyrinthians,” The lich shook his head, “Through my scrying I watched as the humans prepared for war at the behest of Rani. The elves rebelled next and joined hands with the azar. The dwarves slaughtered their own garrison and receded into the mountains. Then the orcs threw off their own shackles and sided with the azar as well.”

Paraklytus fell silent for a moment, “I experienced my little-death in the process of becoming a lich as the war continued above. The humans and remaining labyrinthians wreaking bloody havoc upon the Azar. At some point I theorize that the humans turned on the Labyrinthians who remained and Rani’s death followed,” Paraklytus leaned back and looked to the ceiling of the carriage. He reached up and gently stroked one of the hanging mockeries. “The Labyrinthians went extinct.”

Teyva rolled her jaw, “So the first versus the last,” She muttered. “I don’t think the humans turned on the Labyrinthians.”

Paraklytus glanced at her, “No?”

“No, I think they were still loyal until the end. What is the cycle but a punishment for the Azar for turning on Rani?” Teyva said grimly, “The humans were rewarded for their loyalty.”

“Horrible,” Azrael shuddered, “What kind of mind would think up something like that?”

“Explain this ‘cycle’ you keep mentioning,” Sari cut in, feverishly writing in her notebook. Conrad scoffed and glanced over at Teyva who scratched her neck. She exchanged looks with him and Azrael. Finally she just let out a sigh and rubbed her face.

“So every time the Azar crown a King, the humans get a Hero. Like clockwork. The instant one is crowned a hero appears in Katal and then the humans all rally around the hero, declare war on the Azar, and come over to kill their king and knock them back to square one,” Teyva said, “It’s gotta be in their own recorded history somewhere.”

Sari raised a dubious eyebrow, “Summon a hero? That sounds a bit farfetched.”

“I’d agree with you if I wasn’t that person,” Teyva said flatly, “I’m not from Orum.”

Sari went slack-jawed, she looked over at Elat and Azrael who shrugged and nodded. She looked to Conrad who huffed and scratched at his beard. She looked back at Teyva, “Not from Orum. Not of this world.”

“Yep, last thing I remember in my past life is dying of a heart attack and bam! Here I am, new body, no idea what’s going on, naked as the day I was born,” Teyva said, “Turns out King Thrake had intercepted my summoning to avoid a war with the humans.”

Sari held her head and stared at her notes. “I…”

“It gets better. The summoned hero requires a vessel. Usually a corpse, apparently. Guess whose bones I got?” She asked with a bit of mirth.

“Given your amusement, I will have to posit that it’s this Teyva Rani. Seeing as you share the same given name,” Sari said darkly, “Which would make you a pure-blooded Labyrinthian.”

“And now you’re pretty much up to date,” Teyva said and let out a sigh, patting Perry’s arm, “Thank you for telling us all that, it clears a lot up.”

Paraklytus nodded quietly, drawing inward a bit after having relived such a terrible history. She’d noticed that he hadn’t brought up his relationship with Rani which was probably for the best. She turned to Sari and was about to ask for her thoughts on all of it when Batel knocked on the window of the carriage. The carriage began to slow down and Teyva willed the doors open with a thought.

“Yes, Captain?” Teyva asked.

“The cultists say we’ve arrived,” He said with an inclination of his head.

Teyva clapped her hands together, glad to have a reason to break the gloomy atmosphere, “Great! Have the caravan form a ring and we’ll discuss how to move forward from here.”

“As you wish, majesty,” Batel nodded and pulled away, riding past the carriage and toward the head of the pack.

Teyva turned to the others with a smile, “So, who wants to come with me?”