This update's going to be a big longish - my apologies for that, but there's really no good dividing point to break it up.
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Zanka was the first to return to Petgrana, spending an additional week in Great Forks under the tutelage of Pearlescent Lotus Whispers. When she returned she continued practicing, though her progress was limited due to the lack of a sparring partner of sufficient skill. She therefore ended up spending the majority of her time in the ice house, as summer was quickly reaching its peak and the heat was nearly unbearable to the Northerner. She did spend some time in the company of Sunlight Pierces the Canopy, but chose not to renew their physical relationship; the forest god, for his part, expressed that he was available to her should she change her mind, but did not seem particularly surprised or bothered by her change of heart.
Ayama and Kaliel returned a month after Zanka, and two months after they had set off East. After exchanging tales of their experiences, the three Solars quickly settled into a routine; mornings found Ayama and Kaliel in meditation, as the Zenith guided the Dawn in techniques to strengthen his bond with the Unconquered Sun and his control over his Essence. Afternoons were devoted to attending to the needs of the town and assisting Rutendo in training the citizens in self-defense. In the early evening, after the sun had set and the air had cooled a little, Zanka sparred with Ayama. At all times, of course, they awaited the return of the fourth member of their circle.
Days became weeks. Early summer became mid-summer. The month of Resplendent Fire ended, and Descending Fire fell upon them. No one spoke of it, but the message in the glances they gave each other in passing was clear; Calibration would fall upon them soon, and Ghost was nowhere to be seen.
It was midway through Resplendent Fire, almost four months since he had departed, when Resplendent Ghost of Midnight walked through the gates of Petgrana. It was late in the afternoon, and the skies above were dark and gray as a summer thunderstorm threatened to break overhead. He carried a large bundle across his back, and the clothing he wore was different; similar in style to what he had worn when he left, but of a slightly better quality. But when Ayama, Zanka, and Kaliel came out to greet him, they could all see the greatest difference of all.
Ghost was not smiling.
“You look well,” Ayama said, looking him over. “I assume you have met with some fortune in your travels?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Forgive my late return, but I chose to take a more circuitous route back here. There were matters I needed to attend to in many places throughout the East, and it is not good to try and fence all of your goods in one location.”
“I take it that you made good use of my map, then?” Zanka asked.
Ghost looked at her for a moment, and then closed his eyes. He turned to Ayama as they opened again. “We must talk. Your home is most private.”
“Of course,” Ayama said. “I believe that my son has concluded his drills for the afternoon. He can join us in a few…”
“No.”
Ayama, already walking toward her house, turned around again to regard the Dagger of Heaven. “I am sorry?”
“My words are not for his ears. Only the three of you.”
Ayama frowned. “I do not keep secrets from my son.”
Ghost walked past her, heading for Ayama’s house. “You have not heard what it is I have to say.”
۞
They sat around Ayama’s table, kneeling on soft cushions. Ayama had brought food and cool drinks, which had been consumed in silence. Outside, the storm was within minutes of breaking, and in the stillness inside they could all hear clearly the wind rushing through the trees, punctuated by the occasional flash of lightning and crack of thunder. Now they waited for Ghost to speak.
“First,” he said at last, standing up, “I have gifts for you.” He crossed to where he had set down his bundle, and unwrapped it. Even in the dim light of the house, the glow reflected off the orichalcum filled the room.
“I had the good fortune of finding a manse that belonged to my previous incarnation,” he explained as he worked. “It had lain undisturbed since before the Shogunate. It was there that I found these items, which had been left for our future incarnations – us – for use in restoring Creation’s glory. They were left by my mate, a Lunar named Revealing Whispers.”
Ghost turned and laid a golden blade on the table, nearly five feet in length, with the hilt facing Kaliel. The weapon was built with simple, straight lines, without ornamentation or a single unnecessary detail.
“This daiklave had no name that I could determine,” he said. “A Twilight Solar named Lear, who I met during my expedition to Denandsor, tells me that the design of the weapon is unusual, as most weapons of the First Age were crafted as works of art as much as implements of war. He suspects it was built in great haste with only functionality in mind, though it is of no lesser quality for it. I have chosen to call it Principle of Severity. This seems most appropriate in your hands, Kaliel. I know you bear a weapon already, and if you find your tetsubo more suited to your style of combat, I will take no offense.”
He then withdrew a golden set of bracers from his bundle, along with a foot-long bamboo tube, which was painted red on one end and blue on the other. “These are known as hearthstone bracers,” he said. “Their main purpose is to bear a manse’s hearthstone, granting the owner of the manse its powers.” Ghost pulled back his sleeves, revealing a matching set of bracers on his forearms, though his bore an egg-sized golden sphere mounted on the back of his left forearm. “Even without a hearthstone, however, the bracers will enhance the wearer’s ability to avoid your enemies’ attacks, and to strike them back with great power.”
“The bamboo is an artifact known as Harmony of Purpose. It provides a variety of functions; it can be used as a flute, as a breathing tube underwater, and can protect you from the effects of poisons in the air or water. It can be used in battle as a baton, or extended to become a staff. It can also be used as a blowgun, and draws upon one’s Essence to create darts which bear poison; the blue end produces a sleeping draught, the red a deadly venom. Finally, the item itself masks its own aura, making its nature as an item of power nearly impossible to discern to those with the ability of Essence sight.”
Ghost looked at Ayama and Zanka. “In truth, each of these items would have benefit to both of you. In my opinion, the bracers would suit Zanka more, as I hold hope that if she were able to hit harder, she might actually stop avoiding battles. I leave it to you to make your choice.”
Zanka ignored the slight, instead exchanging a look with Ayama, a silent agreement that the disposition of these two artifacts was a matter for another time.
“There is also this.” Ghost laid a large shuriken on the table, about a foot across. “I found two of these weapons, which are known as typhoon wheels; a matched pair known as the Eyes of Mars. I have already claimed the Left Eye of Mars; this is the Right Eye. I would have claimed both, but I find that I have already had to devote a significant portion of my Essence to empower the artifacts I have. Perhaps one day, should my command of Essence improve, I will claim this; until then, if someone else wishes to make use of it, you may.”
“Given your success, Ghost,” Kaliel asked, “it seems that a more thorough exploration of Denandsor is called for.”
“Not yet,” Ghost warned. “I was extremely fortunate; I came across my manse very quickly during my first venture into the city. The curse that surrounds that city is both intense and unrelenting. Although I have learned that Solars are more resistant to the curse’s effects than other beings, it still took everything I had to remain inside the walls for less than three hours. Another moment and it would have broken me. The only thing that kept me from fleeing long before that was my desire that Creation knows that Resplendent Ghost of Midnight successfully entered the cursed city of Denandsor and returned with wonders. Had it not been so important to me, I would not have made it past the gate. No, Kaliel, we are not ready yet. For now, these gifts will have to do.”
“Your gifts are appreciated, Ghost,” Ayama said, “but they do not explain your melancholy.”
“I was able to retrieve one additional item from the vault in my manse,” Ghost said. He opened the satchel at his side, and withdrew a large book, bound in black leather. The book was secured with a gold-plated clasp, with no apparent way to unfasten it, other than a small circle imprinted in the gold. Ghost withdrew an orichalcum signet ring from a pocket, slipping it on and then pressing the signet into the indentation. The claps sprang open, and Ghost pocketed the ring.
“I should caution you not to try open this yourselves,” Ghost said. “It is enchanted to obliterate all the writing if anyone other than myself tries to unlock it.”
“What does the book contain?” Zanka asked.
“It is a journal,” he replied. “My journal. Or rather, that of my previous incarnation, Evanescent Shadow. It is an accounting of a period of roughly five hundred years prior to the Usurpation, when the Dragon-Bloods rose up and overthrew the Solars.”
“Five hundred years?” Kaliel asked incredulously. His wonder stemmed not only from disbelief that one book could contain so much information, but the realization that the Terrestrial Exalts usually did not live past three hundred, and even the eldest of Dragon-Bloods rarely surpassed five hundred years.
Ghost held up his hand to silence the questions already forming on the lips of the others. “The journal was a gift, given to Evanescent Shadow by her Zenith circle-mate, Queen Amyana, who I believe was your former incarnation,” he nodded at Ayama. “The occasion was a celebration of the twelve hundredth anniversary of Evanescent Shadow’s Exaltation. The comment made in the first entry is amusement at the fact that Amyana would even consider 1,200 years notable, given that she herself had lived for well over three thousand.”
Thunder rumbled outside as the four Solars absorbed the implications of that fact. “My reading has led me to believe that all of you had been alive since the war against the Primordials, if not earlier, though it is apparently difficult to know much for certain about what may have occurred during that war. I appear to be the only one who had more than one incarnation; my first was a man from Hollow, who was assassinated during a period of upheaval; after he died, my Exaltation passed to a young woman from Rathess, who took up his duties.”
“You were a woman?” Zanka asked.
“Why should the Exaltation choose one gender over another?” Ayama asked.
“You were once Queen Amyana, as I have said before,” Ghost said to Ayama. “She ruled a vast artificial floating city in the West, and had entered into a political marriage with another Solar, an admiral named Arkadi. There is some allusion in the journal that she spent a great amount of time with Arkadi’s Lunar mate, Leviathan, and suspicions it was not all for political reasons. She was described as a very compassionate woman.”
He turned to Kaliel. “You were once Invincible Shield of Faith, a great Southern general and a skilled warstrider pilot. The journal notes that he was responsible for many advances in warstrider technology, and that his personal craft was powered by some device known as a ‘reality engine’, which quite literally made him as invincible as his name suggests.”
“You, Zanka, were once Minka Uluru, the Alabaster Sentinel. She ruled a large city far to the North named Yarchei, in a part of Creation that I am not certain still exists. She apparently was opposed to some sort of military exercise the Solar Deliberative approved called Operation Wyldhand, which was held in the lands where her city was found. The journal speak of the land being changed, though it is not specific, and to how the Alabaster Sentinel and her Lunar mate Shim Kith withdrew from the Deliberative in protest and became increasingly isolated in Yarchei; then, about two hundred years after this Operation Wyldhand, the entire city apparently vanished, and its ruler was never seen again.”
“Finally, I can confirm that the Twilight of our circle was Kal Bax. It seems that we saw little of him, however, as he was focused on his research, particularly in the field of manse construction. There is mention of him working on some new type of manse just prior to the Usurpation.”
“Does the journal mention how we were defeated?” Kaliel asked. “If I was invincible, then it would seem illogical that I would have died.”
“There is nothing to indicate what happened during the Usurpation. It must have been a quick, decisive uprising, which was unusually well-planned and well-hidden from us by the Terrestrials. The final entry in the journal speaks only of going to meet a contact.”
“I find myself disturbed by some of the implications of what you have learned,” Ayama said, “but it is not enough to explain why you are so troubled, Ghost.”
The Nightbringer sighed heavily, and sat down at the table, head cradled in his hands. “The journal goes in to great detail about the various interests and projects that Evanescent Shadow had, as well as those of her circle-mates and a great number of other Solars. The things they describe doing, the theories they expound upon, the powers they wielded… they defy my very ability to even imagine them, let alone comprehend them. And early in the book, my reaction is purely of awe. As the centuries pass, however, the feats described remain just as awesome , if not more so, but…” He paused for a moment, struggling to find the words he needed. Finally, he flipped open the book to a page near the end, and slid the book over to Ayama.
She perused the book carefully. The pages were impossibly thin, thinner than the hair of a newborn child, yet seemed more durable than even fine silk. The writing inside was in an archaic form of Old Tongue, densely written, yet had not faded in the slightest. She chose a paragraph at random, and read aloud.
“It says, ‘The Deliberative has approved my proposal, and have selected the city of Tamar-Kas as the test site. Initial estimates by Twilight engineers estimate the implosion of the reality engine will cover a two hundred mile radius, which will easily cover the city and environs. Projections indicate that 94% of the populace will undergo immediate and tactically significant Wyld mutation; of those only 27% will prove instantly fatal, and an additional 34% will develop incapacitating mutations. This will still provide us with a viably mutated population of over 8.7 million. Initial plans are to leave the test site undisturbed for a period of five years in order to observe patterns of expansion, prior to implementing second phase. This should prove to be an excellent training exercise for our legions in suppression of Wyld-tainted regions.’”
Ayama paused, and then flipped over the page. “‘My Circle has just returned from our retreat to Malfeas; even Kal Bax came, though of course Minka never even responded to our messenger spirits. I must remember to send something to Bright Shattered Ice in appreciation for the invitation. I cannot remember when I last enjoyed myself so thoroughly.’” She turned a few more pages, though clearly she did not relish doing so. “‘I assisted Gold-Shadowed Arrow with his interrogation of Bara-Thun, a Zenith accused of infernalism. Of course, out of respect for a fellow Solar, we chose to forego the usual procedures of physical disfigurement or exposure of the mind to Wyld energies, in favor of more indirect methods of persuasion. Unfortunately, forcing him to witness the repeated violation of his Lunar mate and his most loyal Terrestrial retainers proved to have little effect – I so dislike putting such effort into the task only to have it fail. Gold-Shadowed Arrow suggests that tomorrow we break the will of Bara-Thun’s mate and compel her to perform the interrogation. I am in agreement, and am anxious to see the results.’”
“Was this woman insane?” Zanka cried out.
“She writes as though the things she describes are not at all unusual or extreme,” Ghost said sadly. “If it were her and her alone, then I would expect that the other Solars would have discovered it and slain her. But Evanescent Shadow describes the activities of other Solars as well, and they are just as horrific, if not more so.”
“I cannot believe it,” Kaliel said.
Ghost turned to the Dawn. “At one point Invincible Shield of Faith was experimenting to see if he could harness the power created by the separation of the hun and po souls of a mortal at the moment of death, and channel that into his warstrider – literally making himself more powerful the more people he killed. He never concluded the experiment, but I leave it to your imagination how he tested his theories.”
“Look upon it this way,” Ayama said, closing the book and pushing it away from her slowly, “What if all of the things that have been said by the Dragon-Bloods about the ‘Anathema’ are not a total fabrication? What if there is a grain of truth to the horror stories they tell? What if in some crazed, decadent past, we created the very ammunition they use against us now? I do not want to believe it, but the logic is there.”
“I do not like to think that I am capable of such things,” Ghost said miserably.
“Evanescent Shadow was capable of such things,” Ayama said. “That does not mean that Resplendent Ghost of Midnight is.”
“I want to believe that, and I can tell you that today I know I am nothing like how she was at the end. But at the beginning, she was not so different from me in her outlook on the world we live in. And many of the projects she ended up pursuing, the ones that became horrors, were ones that she had resumed from her previous incarnation.”
“But if we measure our lives in terms of millennia,” Zanka said, “then there is no way to predict how you might think and act so far in the future.”
“That is exactly my point!” Ghost shouted. “What if this slide into madness is inevitable? I cannot even begin to understand how a mind that ancient would work! Unconquered Sun help me, I started practicing necromancy because I thought it was ‘an intriguing development on sorcerous theory’!”
“Not you, she,” Ayama corrected.
“I think that what disturbs me the most,” Ghost said, “is that even as horrific as these things are, they are still…”
“Fascinating,” Zanka concluded.
“This is all well and good,” Kaliel said. “But it does not change what we have today. What we are today. What we can do today. Obviously, as insane as our previous incarnations may have been, the Dragon-Bloods are doing no better. What is that much different between slaughtering millions as a military training exercise, and manipulating nations to war against each other simply so they cannot rise up against the Realm? At least the Solars had the power to repair the damage they caused if they wished. We have been Chosen by the Unconquered Sun; we have an obligation to return Creation to what it once was. No one is ever reincarnated in the same way twice; but even if we return to what we were then, it is better than what we have today!”
Kaliel slammed his open hand down on the table. The house shook as thunder crashed outside.
“I hear your words, Kaliel,” Ghost said, “and I wish to believe them. I may be able to do that, given time. But my sense of my self has been shaken, and I will need time to see how that affects me. Things which once seemed important to me I now question; things I once dismissed as irrelevant now hold my attention.”
“Do you think the Unconquered Sun would have Chosen you if your were not capable?”
“The question is, capable of what?”
“Of being the best.”
Zanka moved around the table and sat next to Ghost, resting her hand on his arm. “Think of this journal not as a horoscope that predicts your future, but as a signpost warning you of the dangers that lay ahead. I suspect that there was no one in Creation who ever came to Evanescent Shadow to warn her of what she might become.”
Ghost said nothing for a while. Then he chuckled. “If it is any consolation to you, there is no indication that I ever had sexual relations with any of my Circle-mates, though I cannot vouch for the activities of my first incarnation.”
It was a needed moment of levity, and everyone chuckled, though perhaps for just a moment too long.
“I did also get a chance to see my Lunar mate, Revealing Whispers,” Ghost said, “or at least a projected image of him. It was he who left these items for us in the manse, and laid the protections so they would not be disturbed. He was… very handsome.”
“I would hope so,” Zanka said. “I cannot imagine living for millennia looking ugly.”
“You may rest easy then, Zanka,” Ghost said. “Nothing I read hinted at any noticeable signs of aging among the Solars or Lunars, until they reached nearly the end of their natural lifespans.”
Ayama, who had risen from the table after reading from the journal and was now pacing a slow circuit around the room, now paused. “I am confused by one thing. You have made mention of ‘Lunar mates’ more than once. Yet you say I was married to a Solar, and possibly involved with that Solar’s mate. The nature of the relationship eludes me.”
“From what I can infer,” Ghost said, “Each of the three hundred Lunars was bonded to one of the three hundred Solars in Creation. This was a mystical, spiritual bond, a sort of compulsion to seek the one you were bonded with. However, it did not seem to necessarily influence the nature of how any particular mated pair related. Many seem to have acted much as you would expect ‘mates’ to be; they were devoted to each other and developed genuine love. Others had relationships that were more like close friends than lovers; it seems that my relationship with Revealing Whispers was like this. We worked well together, and occasionally shared a bed, but both pursued other partners. Some Solar and Lunar pairs even despised each other, and only came together when it was absolutely necessary. As for you, it seems that while Queen Amyana was friendly enough with her bonded mate Red Coral Manta, they had no romantic chemistry. Arkadi, on the other hand, had been happily married to his Lunar mate, until she was killed and reincarnated into the man called Leviathan . Arkadi was apparently not inclined to homosexual relationships, and while he still served as Leviathan’s mentor, there was no romance. Amyana and Arkadi were certainly not described as unhappy with one another, but it was clear that she spent far more time with Leviathan than with her Solar husband. Evanescent Shadow had definite opinions about what transpired between Amyana and Leviathan, but nothing is certain.” Ghost turned to Kaliel and Zanka. “I know less about your Lunar mates, simply because those relationships were less interesting to Evanescent Shadow and thus were infrequently mentioned in the journal. The Alabaster Sentinel’s mate Shim Kith apparently helped her rule her city, while Invincible Shield of Faith’s Lunar mate Walks on Water worked with him on warstrider advances.”
“Did the journal ever mention a kind of Solar from the Night Caste whose caste mark was formed from a bleeding bruise?” Kaliel asked.
“No, there was nothing like that.”
“Any mention of Invincible Shield of Faith working closely with or being involved with one of the Iron Wolves?”
Ghost shook his head. “Of course, by our nature, if there was something a Nightbringer was doing that they did not want known, it would not be known. Why do you ask?”
Kaliel frowned. He felt the injuries inflicted by Nine Wounds Laughing burn slightly, a not entirely unpleasant sensation. “That is a subject for tomorrow, perhaps.”
“There is another thing I must warn you all about,” Ghost said. “As you may imagine, each of us developed our share of enemies. Some of those enemies are gods, who are still around to this very day, and may well recognize us in our new incarnations. Back then, we were clearly superior to the gods of both Yu-Shan and Creation, save for possibly the Incarnae themselves. Now, however, they may have the upper hand, as well as the advantage of us being unaware of their intentions. The possibility is strong that we could end up facing enemies who oppose us based on events from three thousand years ago.”
“We face that now,” Kaliel said. “The Wyld Hunt pursues us as a continuation of their betrayal thirteen hundred years ago.”
“But we are aware the Wyld Hunt exists, and their intentions,” Ghost argued. “We may not even know who all our enemies are.”
“We may not know who is in the Wyld Hunt,” Kaliel retorted. “I am still not convinced that your tutor, Pearl, is not affiliated with them.”
“That is preposterous,” Ghost said. “She has done nothing to suggest that.”
“She led us to Lenn at the moment of his Exaltation,” Kaliel said. “She has shown up in many places we are going, as though able to track our movements. She is now training Zanka in a form of martial arts I had never heard of before, and it is known that the Immaculate Order practices many styles.”
“The Wyld Hunt exists to destroy Anathema,” Ghost snapped. “Why would she train Zanka if she wants us dead? The Hunt does not engage in elaborate games with the Anathema toward some grand goal; they kill us as soon as they can. If Pearl was with the Hunt, she would have cut my throat the day I Exalted, when I knew nothing of what was going on.”
“There is still more to her than I like,” Kaliel grumbled. “She should not be able to predict events the way she does.”
“To my knowledge,” Ayama interrupted, “the ability to predict the future with such accuracy through various divinatory methods is extremely difficult, but not impossible. But it does us little good to speculate on Pearl’s nature based on this alleged ability she possesses. She could be a Dragon-Blooded astrologer working for the Wyld Hunt. She could also be a God-Blood, or even a full god. She could be a Lunar or even a Solar. She could be a demon of some sort. She could be exactly what she appears, but have powerful allies.”
“The point is, this argument has no purpose,” Zanka said. “It is obvious that we will see Pearl again, likely soon. We can ask questions of her then if we wish, though she could well refuse to answer or even refuse our company, and I would very much like to complete my training.”
“Since the conversation has turned to the subject of allies and enemies,” Ayama said, “perhaps we should share our own recent travels with Ghost, so he will know what we have learned.”
They spent the next hour giving Ghost the stories about the journey to the East, the Sea of Dead Vines, and their encounters with Standing Oak, Nine Wounds Laughing, and the necromantic warstrider. Zanka shared her own story of the journey with Ramba, her performances at the temples of the Unconquered Sun and Talespinner, and her training with Pearlescent Lotus Whispers in the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan style. Kaliel again voiced his misgivings about Pearl; Ayama tried to refute him logically, but he was unconvinced.
“I am an old soldier,” he said. “Old soldiers are paranoid.”
“And you are going to get a lot older,” Zanka chided.
Ayama paused. “That is an interesting point,” she said. “Our preconceived notions of the effects of age are going to be radically altered.”
“I will probably not have to worry about training a successor to the Knights,” Kaliel mused. But then he grew somber. “But I will have to train someone to take Brusk’s place when he dies.”
“You will outlive your sisters,” Ayama pointed out. “And their children.” Her face slowly paled. “And their children’s children. I will outlive my son.”
Ghost nodded sadly. This was a conclusion he had reached some weeks ago. It was the primary reason that he had not wanted Rutendo present.
“I am going to go for a walk,” Ayama said. She opened the door, and walked outside. Moments later, the rains came.
۞
Ayama did not return that night. The rest of the circle, with much to ponder, went their separate ways as well. The storm spent its fury in the night, and thus the skies were clear by the time the first hints of dawn appeared. Kaliel was already outside, with Principle of Severity in his hand. He was beginning to take a few swings with the weapon, trying to decide whether or not he preferred the smaller, lighter weapon to his tetsubo.
His routine was interrupted by the sound of a throat clearing. He turned to see Ayama watching him.
“Should you not be meditating?” she asked.
“I woke early, and thought that I…”
“I will not have you waste three months of effort,” Ayama chided. “Come, we can greet the sunrise from the eastern wall. I feel you are very close to an epiphany.”
Kaliel noted that Ayama was wearing her traveling clothes, with a pack on her back. “You are leaving,” he observed.
“Yes, after our meditation is concluded.”
“Give us an hour and we can be ready to join you.”
“No, my friend,” Ayama said with a sad smile. “This time I must walk alone. I have questions which require a period of solitude to address.”
“When will you return?”
“I will not return to Petgrana, at least not immediately. It has been good to be home, but I left because I know I am needed in other parts of Creation. And I can already see the signs that the village has begun to turn to me to lead them, which I must discourage lest they become dependent upon my presence.”
“I understand,” Kaliel said, “where, then, shall we meet?”
“I will go to the city of Lynnisbrook at the conclusion of my journey. You may await me there.”
They spent the next two hours meditating as the sun rose over the horizon, after which Ayama proclaimed that she felt Kaliel was within days of achieving enlightenment, and that he would be able to complete the journey without her… if he kept up with his meditation. Ayama jumped down from the wall and walked to the temple of Sunlight Pierces the Canopy. Two hours later, she emerged from the temple, and began to make her way toward the western gate, saying farewell to the villagers who came to greet her. She then walked out of the gate, heading north into the forest, toward the river.
After walking for half an hour, Ayama looked ahead and saw Ghost perched in the branches ahead. He jumped down, landing on the ground before her. He held a set of hearthstone bracers in one hand, and Harmony of Purpose in the other.
“You forgot something,” Ghost said. “Choose.”
“Zanka appears to have an interest in both of these items,” Ayama said. “She may have them both.”
Ghost’s brow wrinkled in frustration. “No, she may not. I did not offer both items to her, I offered one to each of you. You must choose one of the items I brought back before you leave.”
“Very well,” Ayama sighed. She looked at the items in Ghost’s hand. “When I left my home yesterday, I noticed that there was one item still left in your bundle. What was that?”
“This?” Ghost pulled a small orichalcum amulet from his pocket. “This is nothing. A hearthstone amulet. It is useless without a hearthstone mounted in it.”
“I will choose that,” Ayama said.
“But…”
“You said I had to choose one item. I have done so. May I have it, please?”
Scowling, Ghost dropped the amulet in Ayama’s outstretched palm. “I know better than to argue with you when you are like this.”
“When I am like what?”
“Like yourself.”
“But of course, Ghost. I cannot be anything but how I am.”
Ayama was well out of earshot before Ghost replied quietly, “And that is the unfortunate part of it.”
۞
Ayama sipped from her waterskin and got to her feet. It was searingly bright but surprisingly cold atop the plinth that was the center of Skybreak. She had walked to this small, remote valley northwest of Petgrana, and had spent the past few days slowly climbing the steep slope, having neither eaten nor drank throughout the journey. When she had arrived at the pinnacle, she had constructed a crude shelter from loose stones and the bundle of branches she had hauled up with her. The next morning, she had begun her supplication to the Unconquered Sun, asking him to provide her with guidance. She was now on her third day on Skybreak’s peak.
She had asked nicely for a few hours before her voice had given out. Now she had worked up the necessary righteous indignation for some demanding. If the two days prior were any indication, she had a few hours of that to look forward to. Just as she raised her fist and drew in a deep breath to begin she was poked in the back. Yelping in surprise, she spun.
The being that stood behind her was human in shape, though made entirely of slowly coruscating light in seven subtle shades. His form was garbed in light folded around him like garments. He stood, arm outstretched, finger extended. He had poked her in the back.
“Can I help you?”
The being, Ayama strongly suspected it was a god, boldly stepped into her personal space and began examining her closely. When it spoke, the timbre of its voice identified it as nominally male. “Very nice! Certainly the sense of self must be intact to address an unknown but obviously formidable entity so.” He grabbed Ayama’s hand and began to turn it over, examining the lines in her palm, peering at her fingernails. Ayama tried to draw back her hand but the god’s grip was steadfast.
She frowned. “Excuse me Elder, but is there something I might help you with? A question you desire answered? Anything? Can you at least give me a name that I might call you?”
The god caught the Solar’s chin in his hand and began peering intently into her eyes, even going so far as to peel back her eyelid. “Hmm? Oh, you may call me Lytek. Tell me, Divine Gift to End Suffering, what do you remember of your life before you were also the mortal called Ayama?”
Ayama grimaced but was unwilling to assault the god in order to stop his poking and prodding. As with other inexplicable beings of great power, namely her own grandmother, she found it likely that the best way to stop the examination would be to satisfy the deity’s curiosity.
“I… to be honest I remember very little. A great deal of swimming I think. By myself and with others, though I cannot place who they are. I remember flashes as though they were armored, but that’s… outlandish to say the least. The clearest memory I have is of a throne rising from the sea… or perhaps it was in the sea. It is clearest but not terribly clear. Why do you ask, Lytek?”
“Oh! Hmmm. Quite scoured then. Very little residue.” He grabbed her braid and tugged it hard, dropping Ayama to her knees and peering into her ear of all places.
Growling, Ayama drew a small knife from her belt and slashed viciously. She sprang to her feet leaving Lytek holding three feet of her braided hair. “Enough.”
Unperturbed, the god examined the braid in his hand. “So now that you have become the being who is both Ayama and the Divine Gift do you note a difference in your experiences of Creation?”
Ayama replaced her knife and began playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the god as she tried to avoid being within his arm’s reach, and he pursued her with a distant but determined expression on his face. “Have you experienced others bearing Exaltations?”
Pacing backward and watching over her shoulder so as to not fall off the mountaintop, Ayama answered without thinking. “Of course, my Circle.”
Lytek nearly clapped his hands in delight. “Oh, that is excellent. Most excellent. Now do stop dodging me and stand still. I am nearly done with you.” He produced a device of lenses, gems and prisms and began to adjust it with various dials. “I cannot take accurate measurements with you dancing about like that.”
The Lawgiver settled in place, satisfied that she was more than an arm’s reach from the god. She peered at the device in fascination as Lytek studied her, her hands itching to handle the strange artifact. He grunted and chortled softly to himself.
“Ah yes, most satisfactory. Most satisfactory.”
Somehow Ayama in her fascination with the god’s device had allowed him to get close again, though she would have sworn that he had not moved towards her while he had taken his measurements. Perhaps, she wondered, the instrument had done that for him? She didn’t dodge in time to avoid the god’s free hand as it grasped her shoulder. “No wriggling. Just a little memory graft and I am done with you.”
“Memory graft??” The Solar tensed, ready to twist away and take her chances with a fall rather than remain at the poking prodding mercy of the god.
The device disappeared from Lytek’s hand and a sliver of crystal appeared. Without preamble he thrust it at Ayama’s face. She felt the point score her forehead where the center of her caste-mark was and then…
She stood at the head of an army, brilliant daylight searing an acidic sea threatening to overwhelm her and the forces massed behind her. She cried out in righteous fury and felt the Essence she was channeling touched by the Essence of an immense deific force. She brandished her fist and felt the light of the Unconquered Sun himself flow from her to sear the acidic sea. Her voice rose to a crescendo though she hadn’t realized she was speaking. “And by His glorious light…
…be consumed!” Ayama’s shout was lost in the wind as she came back to the here-and-now. She was once more atop the plinth of stone that was Skybreak, and she was alone. She took a moment to gather her wits, and began the long climb down.
