[Severed Divinity] 101. The Compass of Legacy

It felt like an eternity for them to descend the Lift of Legacy and land on the Compass’ roof. Despite the gravity of the situation, the tier threes paused, transfixed by the ethereal golden lake.

“Clan Head Corasin, with me,” Isen said, pointing down.

Isen dropped off the curved roof and landed before the mighty steps, taking in the Compass’ grandeur anew. Yura, Emerai, and Allezin followed, while Welco split off into a full puppet, its eyeless head swiveling to take in the view.

“It’s styled like Eldrassin,” Welco murmured. “Like a dark temple to gods from a forgotten era.”

Isen figured Welco was waxing poetic, but it was uncanny how close he’d come to the mark.

“Emerai, you’ve never heard of this place?” Isen asked. He figured Dray might know of this entrance to the depths, given its proximity to the border between the Anarchate and the Elven Lands.

She considered for a moment. “I have heard tales of a dark land where the rivers run gold. I don’t know anything more than that.”

“Where are we going?” Allezin asked, his spear fully extended and held at the ready. “Inside?”

“No— It’s... hard to explain, since I don’t really understand, but if you enter, you’ll likely be ensnared in a trial of sorts. This place trapped my master, a tier three.”

“You escaped what a tier three couldn’t?” Yura cut in.

“Apparently,” Isen snapped. “And the queen did, too. Like me, she entered and returned, receiving this place’s...” Isen struggled to describe what it meant to be a bearer of Legacy. “Blessing.”

“... A blessing?” Emerai said softly, her gaze contemplative.

“We really don’t have time to discuss this,” Isen said. “We need to bring the queen inside.”

“And since you just said that none of us should enter, that means you need to bring her inside, Isen. You could do anything to her within, if we really can’t follow.”

Isen was surprised such words left Allezin’s mouth.

“In all my years, I’ve never met someone so opaque in their capabilities and motivations as you, Isen,” Allezin continued.

Yura frowned. “Are you saying he cannot be trusted, now, when we’ve come all this way?”

“Quiet, Corasin,” he said. “Your skepticism is aggravating.”

Yura snorted, clearly affronted.

Allezin walked forward, standing just in front of Isen. “What you’re asking for demands more trust than any tier two deserves,” he said. “And despite all the hiccups and problems we’ve faced, I trust you, regardless.”

“Allezin—” Yura began, but Allezin’s killing intent spilled out, silencing their words.

“I don’t trust your ability. I don’t trust your skills. I don’t even trust your intelligence, hindered as it is by your experience—or lack thereof.” He reached out and placed a hand on Isen’s shoulder. “How could I forget the circumstances of our meeting, and the night that started everything, that led us here? It’s impossible not to put two and two together, Isen. You brought her back, and now you say you can restore her.” He squeezed. “Go.”

Isen blinked rapidly, then nodded. As he turned to face Yura Corasin, he noticed Emerai’s eyes darting between himself and the others. Isen wondered how much she understood.

To their Credit, Yura was already unfastening Lumina, even though their expression remained cold. “You’re saying that this tier two worked the miracle?”

Allezin cocked his head. “I believe so.”

Soon, Yura cradled the queen’s stolen body across their chest. They pinned Isen with a probing stare. “If she dies, I’m holding you accountable.”

Isen didn’t grace the assertion with a response. He held out his hands, and Yura passed the queen off. Isen held her in a princess carry and turned toward the entrance, the enigmatic archway through which he and Ros had passed.

Isen stopped at the entrance, the tier threes at his back. He felt the achingly close song of Ros, proving that his unofficial master really was here. Originally, before becoming a bearer, the room beyond the threshold looked like a dim, indistinct room, devoid of ambient energy. Now he saw an empty room, like an old storage area. It appeared unchanged from when he’d escaped the Compass.

“What do you all see when you look at the archway, and gaze into the space beyond?

Yura Corasin tilted their chin down. “Not much—it’s very dark.” They formed a ball of fire and cast it at the arch. “It disappeared,” they said, frowning. “Definitely an illusion.”

Isen cocked his head. He’d actually been able to see the fire crash into the wall. He’d even heard it implode. It seemed to everyone who wasn’t a bearer, the space beyond was completely cloaked.

Allezin’s eyes glowed blue, visible from within his helmet. “I can’t see anything of interest.” He brought his spear forward, sending it across the threshold. “It also disappears.” He scraped it on the floor. “I can’t feel any tactile feedback from the weapon. I just can't lower it further. It could be a floor getting in the way or a magic barrier, there’s no way to definitively tell.”

“There’s no air currents coming from beyond,” Emerai spoke. “If I weren’t staring at the opening, I’d say we were facing a solid wall.”

“Magic that can confound the senses of a tier three, in a place like this...” Yura muttered, trailing off. “Dangerous.”

Isen cradled the queen’s form gently in his hands. Her lips were moving weakly, as though she were trying to say something. Her skin was clammy, her brow lined with sweat.

“If you’re going in, you’ll need something to carry the fire,” Yura added.

Isen had been planning to just have Yura stand outside the arch, but it did seem possible that the fire would need to enter the Compass along with the queen for any hope of resurrection. It was, after all, the queen’s divine spark.

Isen shrugged off the ruined pack on his back—the contents had been destroyed, including the pill manual, so he didn’t even know why he’d bothered to carry it along. Stubbornness, maybe. He laid his bow and Druinala’s sword down next to it. Finally, he withdrew the Shard of Erasmus’s frayed sheath. Isen’s belt was so frayed, he’d been holding it up with a hooked thumb, even while holding Lumina.

He squeezed the blade between his chest and the queen, where he’d oriented her into a one-armed carry, and tore off the useless belt. Then, he tugged the ragged headband free, the one Talis had given him to conceal his ears. Among all his flammable belongings, it somehow seemed to be in the best condition. Unlike the unwieldy backpack, or the long belt, it draped only a foot over his gloved fingers.

It would have to do. He held it up expectantly.

Yura’s mouth cracked open, the turquoise ember backlighting their teeth before bursting forth and sinking into Isen’s cloth. The flames saturated it, stopping just short of Isen’s fingers.

Isen looked behind him. Everyone was staring. Even Welco’s puppet was obviously angled in his direction.

“Welco, how long until the tier fours reach this place?”

“Maybe two minutes.”

Isen sighed. “Okay.” And with that, he strode across the archway.

Mira’s body was warm through his cloth armor, feverish. Her spark burned hot, sending a wave of heat over his hand. He walked through the room, hoping for any kind of inspiration. He’d looked inside before, trying to find a way back into the Compass of Legacy, to no avail.

There must be something here. He focused on the pounding sensation of Ros’s heart. He walked along the wall until he found the spot where he felt closest to Ros. His foot bumped into the wall. He’d expected to feel solid stone, but it felt... oddly bouncy.

He pushed harder, even infused his leg with shadow energy. No change. On a whim, he unfurled his aura, stretching it up over his leg. This time, when he pushed, his foot sank into the wall. He could even feel empty air on the other side.

His heart thrummed in excitement. He urged his aura to cover himself, the energy only barely plentiful enough to coat him in a paper-thin layer.

But it was enough. He jutted his head forward, passing through the wall. On the other side, he beheld the library, the one he’d seen before, after assuming Legacy’s burden and becoming a bearer.

He was back in the Compass of Legacy.

Elated, he tried to walk forward, only for his chest and shoulder to jolt him back.

The queen, he thought. He could cover his body in his aura, but that didn’t extend to his passenger.

His heart raced faster, the tier fours’ imminent arrival making it hard to think straight. He needed to breathe.

What I need to do is simple, he thought. I just need to cover Lumina in my aura, too.

Recalling Welco and Emerai’s guidance, he stretched his aura out, sliding it over his skin and onto Lumina, maintaining the skin-to-skin contact. He began to pant, an intense, aching pain assailing him, like he was stretching his new aura to the breaking point.

The flaming cloth burned slowly, but it was still burning up the head band—and was already encroaching on his fingers. The Femera clan’s gloves were evidently flame retardant, but he didn’t know how long they’d hold out.

He breathed in, but the ambient energy was missing. Grimacing, he poked his head back into the Compass’s main chamber. It was as he remembered it, cavernous, with no ceiling visible, just ambient light from a chandelier too far above to see. Six floors spanned the atrium, each sticking close to the sides, leaving the room’s center barren. He caught a glimpse of the massive divine mural as well, its bronzed, white-haired figure as imperious as Isen remembered. He could have sworn it was looking at him.

Isen breathed again and pulled back. Energy flowed into him and he cycled it, tracing the energy through his meridians. It flowed like eddies in a river. He contrasted it to the stillness of his aura. Every aura he’d seen so far had been full of motion.

Don’t just cling to me, Isen rebuked it, as though the aura could understand him. Move.

Nothing happened, save for a few limpid waves. To calm his frantic nerves, he focused on the connection to Ros, the beating song that linked them through blood. It was so strong here that if Isen focused, it roared in his ears. Isen had listened to a seashell once, the exotic curiosity peddled by merchants passing through Goldbounty. The bloodsong was like that mixed with a bass drum.

Perhaps that’s what I’m doing wrong, Isen realized. I can’t just tell the aura to move. It needs something to move to.

It needs to dance.

And miraculously, as the thought crossed Isen’s mind, it did. It vibrated, rippling and unstable. But that made it much more flexible, allowing Isen to slide it over the rest of the queen’s host. He couldn’t stretch his aura over his entire body and the queen, so he covered her first along with his torso, pushing through. He painstakingly redirected the aura to the rest of him until his entire body was through.

His aura retreated inside him, beyond spent.

Now what?

A sudden, pounding missive nearly sent him to his knees.

Lumina Eldrassin’s severed spark has returned to the Compass.

Initializing Rekindling.