Sagiro
Rodent of Uncertain Parentage
I imagine that, now that I’m done, a few readers will want to go back and read the entire thing from the beginning, to experience the tale with greater continuity. I think I will start a new thread, where readers can talk about the Story Hour generally, commenting as they re-read (or read the first time). I’ll try to check it regularly, to answer questions anyone has about the whole experience.
Also: now that I’m done writing the story hour, it’s time to return to my books! I have finished my second revision of my first novel, and now will get to work on the 3rd iteration of editing, as well as starting a first draft of the second book. Having finished the first one (titled “The Ventifact Colossus,”), it’s time to start on the second one, which I’ll probably title “The Crosser’s Maze.” I’ll keep you up-to-date on my progress. After all, I’m hoping some of you might buy the novels when I eventually release them.
Thanks, readers, for all of your time, encouragement and support! I never would have finished this story without you. And special thanks of course to StevenAC, for whose wonderful compilations I will always be in debt.
-Dorian Hart
a.k.a. Sagiro
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 396
One Last Circle To Come Full
Belshikun looks upon Dranko’s hovering soul, which he can see just as well as any of the survivors. “Well done,” he says. “Well done. I don’t know what’s going to become of you; I’m not the one in charge. But you have served the Gods well.”
“I’ll find my way,” says Dranko. He still holds Morningstar’s hand.
“Can you return the Shield and the Spear to Naslund?” asks Aravis. “That’s where they belong.”
“The Spear belongs in Naslund,” Belshikun agrees. “The Ward of Drosh as well. And I will take Ell’s Will. Morningstar, someday, in the far future, someone who aspires to your greatness will pick it up, and do their best to honor your Goddess. Aravis, you should keep the Bulwark of Leantha. It will serve you well.”
To all assembled, he says, “I have one more job for you. One more journey for you to make. Will you make it?”
All in the Company, living and dead, agree.
Belshikun turns to Aravis. “Your ally in the Crosser’s Maze stuck his nose in one too many places that he shouldn’t have, and has been imprisoned by an old Keeper. You should rescue him, because in less than two days’ time the Maze will collapse and be no more. All the Keepers, and those foolish enough to inhabit the Maze over the centuries, will vanish along with it. You have two days, but you won’t need them. This is an easy task, but you will be glad of it. When you are done, those of you still alive will find yourselves back here. You will not be able to cross Yulan’s Barrier, but I do not know if that will always be the case. Your destinies are your own. All of you may journey, spirits and living mortals alike. When your service is finished, the dead may move on. Perhaps you will bring them back someday, perhaps not. Certainly all of the dead here have earned honored places in the heavens.”
“I don’t want them to be gone yet,” says Ernie.
After a long silence, Aravis speaks. “No sense in waiting."
“Your benefactor is a prisoner of an old keeper named Esheq. By persuasion, coercion or violence, do what you must.”
The entire Company finds themselves in the Crosser’s Maze again. They are floating in its vast starfield, an echo of the multiverse. Aravis knows where to go. With a small effort of will he translates himself and his friends across great spans of reality to where Esheq makes his home. The old Keeper lives in a huge red metal pyramid with no obvious way in our out.
“We’ve had a very, very long day,” Aravis calls out. “We suggest you come out and make this easier for us.”
A voice sounds all around them. “Who’s there? Who is that?”
“Aravis.”
“Never heard of him.”
“He wants to do this the hard way,” says Grey Wolf.
“You have someone imprisoned,” says Aravis. “I want him.”
“I have lots of people imprisoned.”
“Then I want them all.”
“No. Why should I?” Esheq’s voice is petulant, annoyed.
“Because we killed a God today, and we’re still not out of spells,” says Ernie.
In the center of one of the pyramid’s sides, a small hatch flips open. A white-haired old fellow pokes his head out. Dranko leans over and licks the red metal.
“Stop that!” shouts Esheq. “Don’t lick my house! What’s wrong with you? And how did you rabble find me?”
“I am Aravis.”
“Why should I care about that?”
Aravis sighs. “Are you going to make this easy, or are we going to have to take your prisoners by force?”
“You can’t get in,” says Esheq.
“Oh, really.”
Dranko activates his sash, turns invisible, and starts to climb the wall of the pyramid, up toward the hatch.
“I see you there! You expect that to fool a Keeper? You haven’t been the in the Maze very long, have you…” He leans out a little more. “…Miss Charagan? You have more facial hair than I’d expect. Aravis, you’ve brought me a freak show.”
Aravis teleports up to him.
“Hm. Okay, you can teleport.”
Aravis then turns into a beholder, and shines his Anti-magic ray; Dranko lashes Esheq’s arm with his whip before he can close the hatch again, and starts to pull the old man out.
The whip vanishes. “I was a keeper of the Maze, you know,” says Esheq crossly. “What, you’d think I’d be a pushover? Now get off my pyramid before I turn you into something unpleasant.”
Aravis turns and returns the whip to Dranko. “I was also a Keeper of the Maze,” says Aravis.
“Fine, fine. Who do you want again?”
“I want everyone you have imprisoned.”
“No. That’s a ridiculous bargain. But if you swear upon the Maze to go away afterward, I’ll let you look through the cells and take one person out.”
Dranko again lashes Esheq’s arm, and this time yanks him all the way out. Aravis immediately polymorphs him into a garter snake.
“You could have been nice about it,” says Dranko.
Esheq turns into a cobra and tries to bite Dranko’s arm, but Dranko has the snake by the neck. The cobra then vanishes, and the hatch slams closed.
Enough is enough. Esheq is good, but no match for Aravis. Aravis exerts his will and removes the door altogether, along with a large section of the pyramid. Esheq is revealed, cringing.
“Fine, fine, fine! The cells are that way.” The old man points.
“Show me the way,” says Aravis.
The interior of the pyramid is a series of tilted, angled hallways, but gravity works in an Escherian fashion such that the floor always feels like it’s down. Esheq leads the Company to a long corridor with fifteen cell doors. “These are it. I have sixteen prisoners at the moment; got two in one cell.”
“Why do you keep prisoners?” asks Dranko.
“Because they trespassed. And they might be useful someday.”
Morningstar casts detect thoughts. Aravis augments it. Esheq isn’t lying.
Aravis removes the doors to all the cells with a simple thought. “Now,” he says sternly to Esheq, “I suggest you leave.”
“Do what you want!” Esheq throws up his arms. He has figured out how badly he is outclassed.
Aravis teleports all the prisoners out of the pyramid, where they float in the void. There are indeed sixteen. Some are extremely alien-looking, some are no more than coherent thoughts. A few are even stranger. But one, the Company knows very well.
It’s Abernathy. He is sleeping, snoring evenly.
Ernie wakes him with a gentle nudge. “Abernathy? Sorry to interrupt your nap, sir…”
Abernathy’s eyes pop open. “Ernest! So nice to see you again!”
“We killed the Adversary,” says Ernie.
“I’m so pleased!”
Morningstar is confused. “We thought you were dead…”
“Morningstar my dear, I am dead. You were present when I passed away, I recall.”
The Company looks at the old wizard expectantly.
“I was following your exploits quite closely you know, after I passed on. You can do that from the afterlife. I had an interest in how things would turn out. And just look at you!”
“How’d you end up in the Maze?” asks Dranko.
Abernathy gets that old gleam in his eye. “Ah! The Maze has a strange relationship to the Universe. When I was watching you, and saw you go into it, I petitioned certain higher powers to be allowed to pay you a quick visit. There’s some overlap between the afterlife and the Maze. I’m still not certainly exactly how that works.”
“You visited us in the Maze?” asks Flicker. “When was that?”
“You were about to fight some large battle the next day, and I thought you could use a comfortable place to stay, so I popped in, and figured out how things worked, and tried to rebuild the Greenhouse as best I could. A little sanctuary to rest in. I wasn’t very good at it. Solomea had to help me. Nice old chap, when he was sane. But when you had moved on from there, I couldn’t figure out how to get out! The Maze is very confusing, you know.”
“Yes, I know,” says Aravis, smiling.
“So I spent some time trying to contact you,” Abernathy continues. “Occasionally I could catch glimpses of you in the real world. I saw that that rascally Parthol Runecarver was after you, and tried to send you warnings. Did you get them?”
“Yes, we did.”
“It was hard to get anything specific through, but I did try to leave an impression that a powerful and dangerous wizard was coming for you. Once you cleverly left a little piece of yourself in the Maze, it became much easier. I could just talk to you directly.”
“That was very helpful,” says Aravis.
“So I roamed about the Maze, trying to find anything, bits of the past, present and future than might be useful to you. Then I would sit down and have a pleasant chat with the bit of you you left behind. He’s a lot like you, but very single minded. I did eventually figure out how to return to the afterlife, but once I had worked that out, there didn’t seem any hurry. So I kept on helping you, until one day I had an inkling that this bozo might know something, but he was wily in his way. I was lurking around, thinking he might have some old memories from his time as Keeper that might be relevant, but he caught me and popped me in a cell. I was good at escaping from things before they caught me, but I wasn’t much good after I was caught. And now, here I am. It was nice of you to rescue me.”
The Company spends some time telling the old wizard all about their adventures, and he listens raptly. His favorite bit is hearing that Dranko and Morningstar were married. When he hears about Dranko’s interactions with the Cleaners, he shudders.
“Ah yes. Terrible place. I sent Aravis one vision from near the Far Realms and swore I’d never go back there.”
He sighs, then smiles broadly. “Would you like to make a quick trip to the Endless Shore? I really ought to get back there, but I don’t see a reason you couldn’t be my guests for a little while. Spend a day or two on the beach.”
They happily agree. To the few other prisoners still lurking around, Aravis gives warning that the Maze will soon cease to be, and they should leave it if they can. Aravis would like to send out a more general broadcast, but even with his advanced powers in the Maze, he’s not that strong.
But he knows someone who is. Before going to the Endless Shore, he takes the group on a quick side-trip to visit King Vhadish XXIII.
“Ah, Aravis!” exclaims Vhadish when they arrive.
“I owe you a service,” says Aravis. “And my service is to tell you, if you don’t already know, that…”
“Yes, I know. You wrecked it. Careless, but not very surprising.”
“I’m sorry,” says Aravis. “I am, after all, just a shadow of what you are.”
Vhadish inclines his head in agreement. Aravis requests that Vhadish let as many Maze denizens as possible know that their home will soon be collapsing.
“Your goals are noble, young Aravis, and I will do as you request. You were… a respectable pupil in most regards.”
Vhadish vanishes. With no errands left, Abernathy leads them on a circuitous route, arriving at last on the Endless Shore, the Heaven of the Sea God Brechen. A pristine beach of pure white sand stretches as far as the eye can see, and in their ears is the steady sound of rolling blue waves making landfall.
“You’re not really here,” says Abernathy. "This is the Maze’s reflection of the Endless Shore. But I am here, and that is sufficient, since we’re all here together. You can stay as long as the Maze survives, and then you’ll return to your bodies, or move onto the afterlife. I suppose you might end up stuck down there forever… but forever is a long time.”
Abernathy reaches out a finger, and in the changeable sea he traces the word “forever.” It is quickly erased, as are all things written upon water.
“After all,” says Abernathy. “Nothing in this life is certain. The future, least of all.”
/*/
And that is nearly the end, but there is one final postscript to the story of Abernathy’s Company. While the others bask in the glorious warm sunshine, Abernathy speaks briefly to Kibi, alone.
"Kibi, now you are Abernia, and to you, all times are the same. The ordering of events is no longer any impediment to your actions or understanding. Before you become one with all the world and lose your focus, you need to find me, years ago, and speak to me a list of names. Don’t forget, Kibilhathur. Whisper them to me. I will hear them. I will hear them.”
…The End.
Also: now that I’m done writing the story hour, it’s time to return to my books! I have finished my second revision of my first novel, and now will get to work on the 3rd iteration of editing, as well as starting a first draft of the second book. Having finished the first one (titled “The Ventifact Colossus,”), it’s time to start on the second one, which I’ll probably title “The Crosser’s Maze.” I’ll keep you up-to-date on my progress. After all, I’m hoping some of you might buy the novels when I eventually release them.
Thanks, readers, for all of your time, encouragement and support! I never would have finished this story without you. And special thanks of course to StevenAC, for whose wonderful compilations I will always be in debt.
-Dorian Hart
a.k.a. Sagiro
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 396
One Last Circle To Come Full
Belshikun looks upon Dranko’s hovering soul, which he can see just as well as any of the survivors. “Well done,” he says. “Well done. I don’t know what’s going to become of you; I’m not the one in charge. But you have served the Gods well.”
“I’ll find my way,” says Dranko. He still holds Morningstar’s hand.
“Can you return the Shield and the Spear to Naslund?” asks Aravis. “That’s where they belong.”
“The Spear belongs in Naslund,” Belshikun agrees. “The Ward of Drosh as well. And I will take Ell’s Will. Morningstar, someday, in the far future, someone who aspires to your greatness will pick it up, and do their best to honor your Goddess. Aravis, you should keep the Bulwark of Leantha. It will serve you well.”
To all assembled, he says, “I have one more job for you. One more journey for you to make. Will you make it?”
All in the Company, living and dead, agree.
Belshikun turns to Aravis. “Your ally in the Crosser’s Maze stuck his nose in one too many places that he shouldn’t have, and has been imprisoned by an old Keeper. You should rescue him, because in less than two days’ time the Maze will collapse and be no more. All the Keepers, and those foolish enough to inhabit the Maze over the centuries, will vanish along with it. You have two days, but you won’t need them. This is an easy task, but you will be glad of it. When you are done, those of you still alive will find yourselves back here. You will not be able to cross Yulan’s Barrier, but I do not know if that will always be the case. Your destinies are your own. All of you may journey, spirits and living mortals alike. When your service is finished, the dead may move on. Perhaps you will bring them back someday, perhaps not. Certainly all of the dead here have earned honored places in the heavens.”
“I don’t want them to be gone yet,” says Ernie.
After a long silence, Aravis speaks. “No sense in waiting."
“Your benefactor is a prisoner of an old keeper named Esheq. By persuasion, coercion or violence, do what you must.”
The entire Company finds themselves in the Crosser’s Maze again. They are floating in its vast starfield, an echo of the multiverse. Aravis knows where to go. With a small effort of will he translates himself and his friends across great spans of reality to where Esheq makes his home. The old Keeper lives in a huge red metal pyramid with no obvious way in our out.
“We’ve had a very, very long day,” Aravis calls out. “We suggest you come out and make this easier for us.”
A voice sounds all around them. “Who’s there? Who is that?”
“Aravis.”
“Never heard of him.”
“He wants to do this the hard way,” says Grey Wolf.
“You have someone imprisoned,” says Aravis. “I want him.”
“I have lots of people imprisoned.”
“Then I want them all.”
“No. Why should I?” Esheq’s voice is petulant, annoyed.
“Because we killed a God today, and we’re still not out of spells,” says Ernie.
In the center of one of the pyramid’s sides, a small hatch flips open. A white-haired old fellow pokes his head out. Dranko leans over and licks the red metal.
“Stop that!” shouts Esheq. “Don’t lick my house! What’s wrong with you? And how did you rabble find me?”
“I am Aravis.”
“Why should I care about that?”
Aravis sighs. “Are you going to make this easy, or are we going to have to take your prisoners by force?”
“You can’t get in,” says Esheq.
“Oh, really.”
Dranko activates his sash, turns invisible, and starts to climb the wall of the pyramid, up toward the hatch.
“I see you there! You expect that to fool a Keeper? You haven’t been the in the Maze very long, have you…” He leans out a little more. “…Miss Charagan? You have more facial hair than I’d expect. Aravis, you’ve brought me a freak show.”
Aravis teleports up to him.
“Hm. Okay, you can teleport.”
Aravis then turns into a beholder, and shines his Anti-magic ray; Dranko lashes Esheq’s arm with his whip before he can close the hatch again, and starts to pull the old man out.
The whip vanishes. “I was a keeper of the Maze, you know,” says Esheq crossly. “What, you’d think I’d be a pushover? Now get off my pyramid before I turn you into something unpleasant.”
Aravis turns and returns the whip to Dranko. “I was also a Keeper of the Maze,” says Aravis.
“Fine, fine. Who do you want again?”
“I want everyone you have imprisoned.”
“No. That’s a ridiculous bargain. But if you swear upon the Maze to go away afterward, I’ll let you look through the cells and take one person out.”
Dranko again lashes Esheq’s arm, and this time yanks him all the way out. Aravis immediately polymorphs him into a garter snake.
“You could have been nice about it,” says Dranko.
Esheq turns into a cobra and tries to bite Dranko’s arm, but Dranko has the snake by the neck. The cobra then vanishes, and the hatch slams closed.
Enough is enough. Esheq is good, but no match for Aravis. Aravis exerts his will and removes the door altogether, along with a large section of the pyramid. Esheq is revealed, cringing.
“Fine, fine, fine! The cells are that way.” The old man points.
“Show me the way,” says Aravis.
The interior of the pyramid is a series of tilted, angled hallways, but gravity works in an Escherian fashion such that the floor always feels like it’s down. Esheq leads the Company to a long corridor with fifteen cell doors. “These are it. I have sixteen prisoners at the moment; got two in one cell.”
“Why do you keep prisoners?” asks Dranko.
“Because they trespassed. And they might be useful someday.”
Morningstar casts detect thoughts. Aravis augments it. Esheq isn’t lying.
Aravis removes the doors to all the cells with a simple thought. “Now,” he says sternly to Esheq, “I suggest you leave.”
“Do what you want!” Esheq throws up his arms. He has figured out how badly he is outclassed.
Aravis teleports all the prisoners out of the pyramid, where they float in the void. There are indeed sixteen. Some are extremely alien-looking, some are no more than coherent thoughts. A few are even stranger. But one, the Company knows very well.
It’s Abernathy. He is sleeping, snoring evenly.
Ernie wakes him with a gentle nudge. “Abernathy? Sorry to interrupt your nap, sir…”
Abernathy’s eyes pop open. “Ernest! So nice to see you again!”
“We killed the Adversary,” says Ernie.
“I’m so pleased!”
Morningstar is confused. “We thought you were dead…”
“Morningstar my dear, I am dead. You were present when I passed away, I recall.”
The Company looks at the old wizard expectantly.
“I was following your exploits quite closely you know, after I passed on. You can do that from the afterlife. I had an interest in how things would turn out. And just look at you!”
“How’d you end up in the Maze?” asks Dranko.
Abernathy gets that old gleam in his eye. “Ah! The Maze has a strange relationship to the Universe. When I was watching you, and saw you go into it, I petitioned certain higher powers to be allowed to pay you a quick visit. There’s some overlap between the afterlife and the Maze. I’m still not certainly exactly how that works.”
“You visited us in the Maze?” asks Flicker. “When was that?”
“You were about to fight some large battle the next day, and I thought you could use a comfortable place to stay, so I popped in, and figured out how things worked, and tried to rebuild the Greenhouse as best I could. A little sanctuary to rest in. I wasn’t very good at it. Solomea had to help me. Nice old chap, when he was sane. But when you had moved on from there, I couldn’t figure out how to get out! The Maze is very confusing, you know.”
“Yes, I know,” says Aravis, smiling.
“So I spent some time trying to contact you,” Abernathy continues. “Occasionally I could catch glimpses of you in the real world. I saw that that rascally Parthol Runecarver was after you, and tried to send you warnings. Did you get them?”
“Yes, we did.”
“It was hard to get anything specific through, but I did try to leave an impression that a powerful and dangerous wizard was coming for you. Once you cleverly left a little piece of yourself in the Maze, it became much easier. I could just talk to you directly.”
“That was very helpful,” says Aravis.
“So I roamed about the Maze, trying to find anything, bits of the past, present and future than might be useful to you. Then I would sit down and have a pleasant chat with the bit of you you left behind. He’s a lot like you, but very single minded. I did eventually figure out how to return to the afterlife, but once I had worked that out, there didn’t seem any hurry. So I kept on helping you, until one day I had an inkling that this bozo might know something, but he was wily in his way. I was lurking around, thinking he might have some old memories from his time as Keeper that might be relevant, but he caught me and popped me in a cell. I was good at escaping from things before they caught me, but I wasn’t much good after I was caught. And now, here I am. It was nice of you to rescue me.”
The Company spends some time telling the old wizard all about their adventures, and he listens raptly. His favorite bit is hearing that Dranko and Morningstar were married. When he hears about Dranko’s interactions with the Cleaners, he shudders.
“Ah yes. Terrible place. I sent Aravis one vision from near the Far Realms and swore I’d never go back there.”
He sighs, then smiles broadly. “Would you like to make a quick trip to the Endless Shore? I really ought to get back there, but I don’t see a reason you couldn’t be my guests for a little while. Spend a day or two on the beach.”
They happily agree. To the few other prisoners still lurking around, Aravis gives warning that the Maze will soon cease to be, and they should leave it if they can. Aravis would like to send out a more general broadcast, but even with his advanced powers in the Maze, he’s not that strong.
But he knows someone who is. Before going to the Endless Shore, he takes the group on a quick side-trip to visit King Vhadish XXIII.
“Ah, Aravis!” exclaims Vhadish when they arrive.
“I owe you a service,” says Aravis. “And my service is to tell you, if you don’t already know, that…”
“Yes, I know. You wrecked it. Careless, but not very surprising.”
“I’m sorry,” says Aravis. “I am, after all, just a shadow of what you are.”
Vhadish inclines his head in agreement. Aravis requests that Vhadish let as many Maze denizens as possible know that their home will soon be collapsing.
“Your goals are noble, young Aravis, and I will do as you request. You were… a respectable pupil in most regards.”
Vhadish vanishes. With no errands left, Abernathy leads them on a circuitous route, arriving at last on the Endless Shore, the Heaven of the Sea God Brechen. A pristine beach of pure white sand stretches as far as the eye can see, and in their ears is the steady sound of rolling blue waves making landfall.
“You’re not really here,” says Abernathy. "This is the Maze’s reflection of the Endless Shore. But I am here, and that is sufficient, since we’re all here together. You can stay as long as the Maze survives, and then you’ll return to your bodies, or move onto the afterlife. I suppose you might end up stuck down there forever… but forever is a long time.”
Abernathy reaches out a finger, and in the changeable sea he traces the word “forever.” It is quickly erased, as are all things written upon water.
“After all,” says Abernathy. “Nothing in this life is certain. The future, least of all.”
/*/
And that is nearly the end, but there is one final postscript to the story of Abernathy’s Company. While the others bask in the glorious warm sunshine, Abernathy speaks briefly to Kibi, alone.
"Kibi, now you are Abernia, and to you, all times are the same. The ordering of events is no longer any impediment to your actions or understanding. Before you become one with all the world and lose your focus, you need to find me, years ago, and speak to me a list of names. Don’t forget, Kibilhathur. Whisper them to me. I will hear them. I will hear them.”
…The End.
