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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7620582" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>We're coming up fast on the end of the story (10 more posts after this one). This arc will be concluded, but I couldn't resist ending on a cliffhanger. I could have easily continued into Book 12, but it's been over two years already since I started writing this story and it's time to move on to other stuff.</p><p></p><p>But first, another cliffhanger...</p><p></p><p>* * * </p><p></p><p>Chapter 307</p><p></p><p>When Bredan first stirred back into consciousness he didn’t remember where he was or how he’d come to be lying on the floor. But then memory of his encounter with the intelligence that resided within the Libram came crashing back in with the force of a physical blow. He tried to ignore the stabbing pains that shot through his head as he pushed himself up to look around.</p><p></p><p>The light was different, dimmer than before, but it was still enough to clearly make out the familiar outlines of the chamber. But he immediately noticed that something else had changed. The slab that had blocked the exit at the top of the stairs was gone, replaced by a shimmering field of energy that gave off a very faint glow. It hurt his eyes to look at it too long, so he quickly turned away to look for his companions.</p><p></p><p>He immediately saw Kavek, lying unconscious just a few paces away to his right. There was something odd that he couldn’t quite place at first. The way the sailor had fallen he was facing toward the wall, but there was something strange about the shape of his head, and the skin that was just visible between his hair and the collar of his coat was distinctly reddish in the dull light, as if he’d experienced a sudden and intense sunburn.</p><p></p><p>Bredan began to pull himself up to take a closer look, but was interrupted by Kalasien’s voice behind him. “Bredan. Are you all right?”</p><p></p><p>There was a strange tension in the man’s voice that drew Bredan’s attention to him. The Arreshian agent had already gotten back to his feet, but as their eyes met Bredan thought he saw something in the other man’s stare. It might have been anger, an intensity that seemed so incongruous that he blinked and shook his head to clear it. When he looked up again the other man’s face was back to its usual neutral, controlled expression.</p><p></p><p>Kavek groaned and Bredan turned back to him. Kalasien was further away, but he moved so quickly that he beat the warrior to the fallen sailor. “Kavek,” he said, bending over him so that Bredan couldn’t see either man’s face. “Kavek, you were unconscious.” As the other man groaned, Kalasien helped him up.</p><p></p><p>By the time that the agent had gotten the sailor to his feet he was more or less awake. He looked like he felt about the same as Bredan, but there was nothing unusual about his appearance, and his skin color had returned to the same dusky tan they’d all earned over the course of the sea voyage and their stay thus far under the hot sun of Weltarin. Bredan dismissed what he’d seen earlier as a trick of the light or his own addled senses, but he couldn’t shake that initial look that he’d caught from Kalasien.</p><p></p><p>“What…” Kavek said. “What happened?”</p><p></p><p>“Take it easy,” Bredan told him. “Whatever that was, it took something out of us.”</p><p></p><p>“I saw,” Kavek said. “I saw… all of it.” He stared at Bredan as if he’d never seen him before.</p><p></p><p>“Something’s coming,” Kalasien said.</p><p></p><p>The three men separated—Kavek wavered for a moment, but he was able to remain upright—and faced the gap at the top of the stairs. Bredan felt a moment’s twinge at Kalasien being behind him—what <em>had</em> that look been about?—but his attention was quickly focused on the figure coming down the steps toward them.</p><p></p><p>They couldn’t see it clearly through the glowing barrier, just a vague man-shaped shadow that slowly descended the ancient stairs. When it reached the field, it passed through with just a slight frisson of distorted light. Some instinct told Bredan that the barrier would not let them pass so easily. He remembered the book’s last words to him and assumed that this was the guardian it had referenced.</p><p></p><p>His first clear look at the thing caused his heart to leap in his chest. One glance was enough to tell that whatever it was, it was no longer one of the living. It was tall, almost seven feet from the bottom of its feet to the top of its head, but its flesh was desiccated and brown, stretched tight over bones that were occasionally visible where the leathery skin had parted. Its eyes were black sunken sockets within which tiny red points were visible, like flickers of torchlight reflected within a deep pool. It was clad in what might have once been finery, but which now hung in tattered scraps from its body. Bredan’s gaze was drawn to its chest, where it wore a broad pectoral of silvery metal that was clearly imprinted with the sigil that the tabaxi matriarch had shown them, the same sigil he bore upon his blade.</p><p></p><p>He summoned his sword back into his grasp.</p><p></p><p>The undead entity spoke. Its lips did not move, and whatever husks it had left for lungs clearly could no longer manipulate air, but each of them heard it as a soft whisper hissed directly into their minds.</p><p></p><p><em>I am the last of the Mai’i,</em> it said. “I accepted the charge to be bound to this place and serve beyond death. To guard the Eldarithi Libranum, both to keep it safe and to keep the world safe from it.”</p><p></p><p>“You didn’t do such a good job of it,” Kalasien said.</p><p></p><p>Bredan shot the agent a warning look before turning his attention back to the guardian. Careful to keep his sword low, he said, “We’re not here to fight.”</p><p></p><p>The entity shifted its empty stare toward Kalasien. “I failed once before. The Libranum escaped my grasp. But now it has returned, and I have once more been awakened from my eternal slumber to stand vigil.”</p><p></p><p>“I was invited here,” Bredan said. “The book called me here.”</p><p></p><p>“I do not serve the book,” the guardian said. “My charge is from those who created it, those who bear responsibility for the power it contains.”</p><p></p><p>“There’s no disagreement,” Bredan said. “I too want to keep the book protected. It reached out to me, not the other way around. I didn’t want to be chosen. But there is a real threat. There are those who seek to use its power for evil ends.”</p><p></p><p>“Good, evil, those are words without meaning to one such as I. I know what the book has asked of you. It cannot be permitted.”</p><p></p><p>“I haven’t agreed to what it wants,” Bredan said. “The book is somewhere above, I assume? I just want to get out of here. Let me pass, or show me another way to the surface. I have friends above, let me rejoin them. You can accompany me, ensure that I do not mess with the book along the way.”</p><p></p><p>“Your friends already face the upper guardian. Even if they survive, they cannot be allowed to leave this place. Knowledge of the book must die with you.”</p><p></p><p>“If you kill us, others will come!” Bredan said. “Damn it, just listen to me! This doesn’t have to be this way. I don’t want to fight you.”</p><p></p><p>“What you want is irrelevant,” the guardian said. It took another step down, dust falling from its withered body as it shifted its weight on the stairs.</p><p></p><p>Bredan stepped forward to meet it, but before he could reach the stairs the guardian’s eyes flashed and the warrior felt a surge of necromantic power erupt through his body. He screamed as the full potency of its <em>harm</em> spell tore through him, pulverizing bits of flesh and tissue to ash that fell in flecks from him as he stumbled back and dropped to one knee, as if in supplication to the ancient being that stood over them, implacable in its judgment.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 7620582, member: 143"] We're coming up fast on the end of the story (10 more posts after this one). This arc will be concluded, but I couldn't resist ending on a cliffhanger. I could have easily continued into Book 12, but it's been over two years already since I started writing this story and it's time to move on to other stuff. But first, another cliffhanger... * * * Chapter 307 When Bredan first stirred back into consciousness he didn’t remember where he was or how he’d come to be lying on the floor. But then memory of his encounter with the intelligence that resided within the Libram came crashing back in with the force of a physical blow. He tried to ignore the stabbing pains that shot through his head as he pushed himself up to look around. The light was different, dimmer than before, but it was still enough to clearly make out the familiar outlines of the chamber. But he immediately noticed that something else had changed. The slab that had blocked the exit at the top of the stairs was gone, replaced by a shimmering field of energy that gave off a very faint glow. It hurt his eyes to look at it too long, so he quickly turned away to look for his companions. He immediately saw Kavek, lying unconscious just a few paces away to his right. There was something odd that he couldn’t quite place at first. The way the sailor had fallen he was facing toward the wall, but there was something strange about the shape of his head, and the skin that was just visible between his hair and the collar of his coat was distinctly reddish in the dull light, as if he’d experienced a sudden and intense sunburn. Bredan began to pull himself up to take a closer look, but was interrupted by Kalasien’s voice behind him. “Bredan. Are you all right?” There was a strange tension in the man’s voice that drew Bredan’s attention to him. The Arreshian agent had already gotten back to his feet, but as their eyes met Bredan thought he saw something in the other man’s stare. It might have been anger, an intensity that seemed so incongruous that he blinked and shook his head to clear it. When he looked up again the other man’s face was back to its usual neutral, controlled expression. Kavek groaned and Bredan turned back to him. Kalasien was further away, but he moved so quickly that he beat the warrior to the fallen sailor. “Kavek,” he said, bending over him so that Bredan couldn’t see either man’s face. “Kavek, you were unconscious.” As the other man groaned, Kalasien helped him up. By the time that the agent had gotten the sailor to his feet he was more or less awake. He looked like he felt about the same as Bredan, but there was nothing unusual about his appearance, and his skin color had returned to the same dusky tan they’d all earned over the course of the sea voyage and their stay thus far under the hot sun of Weltarin. Bredan dismissed what he’d seen earlier as a trick of the light or his own addled senses, but he couldn’t shake that initial look that he’d caught from Kalasien. “What…” Kavek said. “What happened?” “Take it easy,” Bredan told him. “Whatever that was, it took something out of us.” “I saw,” Kavek said. “I saw… all of it.” He stared at Bredan as if he’d never seen him before. “Something’s coming,” Kalasien said. The three men separated—Kavek wavered for a moment, but he was able to remain upright—and faced the gap at the top of the stairs. Bredan felt a moment’s twinge at Kalasien being behind him—what [i]had[/i] that look been about?—but his attention was quickly focused on the figure coming down the steps toward them. They couldn’t see it clearly through the glowing barrier, just a vague man-shaped shadow that slowly descended the ancient stairs. When it reached the field, it passed through with just a slight frisson of distorted light. Some instinct told Bredan that the barrier would not let them pass so easily. He remembered the book’s last words to him and assumed that this was the guardian it had referenced. His first clear look at the thing caused his heart to leap in his chest. One glance was enough to tell that whatever it was, it was no longer one of the living. It was tall, almost seven feet from the bottom of its feet to the top of its head, but its flesh was desiccated and brown, stretched tight over bones that were occasionally visible where the leathery skin had parted. Its eyes were black sunken sockets within which tiny red points were visible, like flickers of torchlight reflected within a deep pool. It was clad in what might have once been finery, but which now hung in tattered scraps from its body. Bredan’s gaze was drawn to its chest, where it wore a broad pectoral of silvery metal that was clearly imprinted with the sigil that the tabaxi matriarch had shown them, the same sigil he bore upon his blade. He summoned his sword back into his grasp. The undead entity spoke. Its lips did not move, and whatever husks it had left for lungs clearly could no longer manipulate air, but each of them heard it as a soft whisper hissed directly into their minds. [i]I am the last of the Mai’i,[/i] it said. “I accepted the charge to be bound to this place and serve beyond death. To guard the Eldarithi Libranum, both to keep it safe and to keep the world safe from it.” “You didn’t do such a good job of it,” Kalasien said. Bredan shot the agent a warning look before turning his attention back to the guardian. Careful to keep his sword low, he said, “We’re not here to fight.” The entity shifted its empty stare toward Kalasien. “I failed once before. The Libranum escaped my grasp. But now it has returned, and I have once more been awakened from my eternal slumber to stand vigil.” “I was invited here,” Bredan said. “The book called me here.” “I do not serve the book,” the guardian said. “My charge is from those who created it, those who bear responsibility for the power it contains.” “There’s no disagreement,” Bredan said. “I too want to keep the book protected. It reached out to me, not the other way around. I didn’t want to be chosen. But there is a real threat. There are those who seek to use its power for evil ends.” “Good, evil, those are words without meaning to one such as I. I know what the book has asked of you. It cannot be permitted.” “I haven’t agreed to what it wants,” Bredan said. “The book is somewhere above, I assume? I just want to get out of here. Let me pass, or show me another way to the surface. I have friends above, let me rejoin them. You can accompany me, ensure that I do not mess with the book along the way.” “Your friends already face the upper guardian. Even if they survive, they cannot be allowed to leave this place. Knowledge of the book must die with you.” “If you kill us, others will come!” Bredan said. “Damn it, just listen to me! This doesn’t have to be this way. I don’t want to fight you.” “What you want is irrelevant,” the guardian said. It took another step down, dust falling from its withered body as it shifted its weight on the stairs. Bredan stepped forward to meet it, but before he could reach the stairs the guardian’s eyes flashed and the warrior felt a surge of necromantic power erupt through his body. He screamed as the full potency of its [i]harm[/i] spell tore through him, pulverizing bits of flesh and tissue to ash that fell in flecks from him as he stumbled back and dropped to one knee, as if in supplication to the ancient being that stood over them, implacable in its judgment. [/QUOTE]
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