[Severed Divinity] 80. The Prototypes

“Allezin, do you know where the prototypes are?” Isen asked.

Both men did a double take. “Don’t you know?” Allezin asked.

Isen shrugged. “I’m just walking.”

“Then keep walking,” the warrior said, his voice incredulous.

“How about you, Welco? Did you scout the way?”

“My scouting efforts are still ongoing,” Welco replied evasively.

Isen looked between the two of them. “What would you do without me?” He shook his head and set off into the dim corridor.

Isen tried not to be too intimidated by the present company—and the fact that they seemed to think he had all the answers. Maybe he’d overdone things, selling Welco on the mission. The mage had agreed, though, so Isen didn’t regret hamming it up.

He wasn’t concerned with finding the room with Lumina’s legacy. The opportunity was so thick around him he swore he could almost taste it.

Finally, they came to the end of a twist of corridors and descended a small staircase, going down only a half level. At the bottom was a door glowing with white radiance. Door 129.

Isen gestured to Allezin, and the warrior moved to the front, withdrawing the cosmovault. As it came near, the door slid open and retreated into the wall.

Beyond lay a marvelous workshop, brightly lit and filled with tables and custom designed apparatuses. Isen even saw a row of pill furnaces butting up against one of the walls. He’d never asked the queen if she knew alchemy, but it made sense that she would.

There was a section of the workshop separated from the rest by a shimmering barrier. Isen walked toward it as though entranced. Before he stepped over the line, Allezin held him back.

“You have no idea if it’s safe,” the warrior protested. “Don’t just wander around a divine mage’s workshop!”

Isen turned to stare at the helmet. “Did the queen tell you to be cautious once we arrived here?”

“No,” Allezin said, obviously exasperated, “but it should go without saying. Lumina is a starfire mage—the aspect is highly destructive, as you’ve seen first hand.”

“Then by all means, go ahead,” Isen said, gesturing to the shimmering divide.

Allezin released his hold and stepped across. Nothing happened.

Isen followed. He heard the dim echo of Welco’s steps behind him, though the mage was keeping a healthy distance.

The space on the other side was a mess, like someone had ransacked it. Papers, measurement instruments, and various broken baubles lay in disarray.

They were all unnecessary details.

Isen walked with intention toward one of the greatest sources of opportunity he’d ever felt, dwarfed only by the Compass of Legacy, whose opportunity siren song had called to him from far away.

Whatever this opportunity was, its potency was such that he suspected it would help him immediately. It didn’t quite make sense to Isen given what he knew about Lumina’s legacy. Wasn’t it only supposed to be useful when he reached tier four?

He bent down and reached under a fallen book case, propping it up with his shoulder.

Then, he felt it. His hand wrapped around a smooth, metallic ball. When he revealed it to the light, he marveled at its appearance. It looked like a bottled galaxy.

“You found one,” Allezin said, evidently recognizing its appearance. “Give it here.”

“As per my agreement with the queen, I get one of these,” Isen said, his hand closing around the orb.

“One that will be useful to you,” Allezin pointed out. “You have no idea if that’s a prototype for a cultivator of your level.”

But Isen did know—he knew that this singular item was what he needed.

If he gave it to Allezin, it was possible that it would be his in the end, but what if Lumina insisted on giving him a different one? He wouldn’t have leverage to force her to give him this, specific, prototype.

The only way to ensure he got what he desired was to act now.

Better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

“Isen...” Allezin removed his helmet for the first time that night. He looked deeply concerned. “What are you doing?”

“Either I have all the answers, or I don’t,” Isen said blithely. “Either you trust me, or you don’t.” Before Allezin could digest the statement, he drew the marble up to his face, pressing it into his forehead. His shock mirrored Allezin’s as the swirling sphere sank into his head as though incorporeal.

Isen buckled, hands cradling his head as agony erupted behind his eyes. Tears welled and spilled over, tracing the contours of his cheeks.

Moments later, the pain faded, leaving him with a heavy sense of vertigo. Allezin was shaking him, calling his name. Welco was there, too, trying to push a pill past Isen’s clenched teeth.

“I’m fine,” Isen said, leaning back. “It worked.” He could feel a faint sensation in his head, though he wasn’t sure what it was. It almost felt like there was now something new within him, something dormant.

Welco’s hand retracted. He looked as though he’d been slapped.

Allezin’s expression was unsightly. “Why are you so reckless? You don’t even know if it worked! You didn’t design it—the queen did.”

Isen didn’t like his patronizing tone. “That’s for me and the queen to worry about, later.”

“Bold words, for a child.”

Isen sneered. “Unhand me, and let’s finish the task we came here for.” He faced Welco. “You look like you have something to say.”

“Are you a child?” the mage asked, his characteristic smile nowhere in sight.

“I’m thirteen, maybe fourteen,” Isen snapped. “Child is debatable.” He stood, forcefully prying Allezin’s fingers from his clothes. “Can we finish what we came for?” His voice was weak. “It’s been a long night.”

“I can’t tell if he’s trying to manipulate us,” Welco murmured, “trying to suddenly act his age.”

Isen got down on the floor. Now that he knew what the prototypes were supposed to look like, he could search for the others. They didn’t call to the sixth sense, so he had no supernatural help. The only thing he felt now was an urging to depart, one growing stronger by the moment.

“Welco,” Isen called out, “this is the perfect task for shadow puppets. Please stop standing there like dead weight.”

“There he goes again, acting like a clan elder, bossing a tier three around,” Welco said mournfully, but he did jump into action, his shadow constructs filling the space.

“Does Lumina know about this side of you?” Allezin asked. Now that Welco had joined the hunt, he stood and leaned on the shaft of his extended spear. “Is this yet another secret she kept from me?”

“She’ll only know if you tell her,” Isen replied. He got off his knees and held out an orb, this one with a muddier internal consistency. He walked to the warrior and placed the marble in his hand, manually pressing the man’s fingers around it. Allezin just stared down at him expressionlessly.

“You can tell her,” Isen said, “or for once, you can keep a secret of your own.”

Isen exited the shimmering barrier, emerging into the main room.

***

“Isen!” Allezin called as the boy left through the shimmering barrier. The warrior frowned. “Can he hear me?”

Allezin glanced at Welco, who was also staring at the threshold, his arms crossed over his chest while his shadows trawled the queen’s prototypes.

“He didn’t react,” Welco said. “Guess this area is soundproofed.”

They both looked at each other, sharing an awkward silence.

“Are you as confused as I am?” Allezin finally asked.

“That should be my line,” Welco retorted. “You’re the one who brought him here.”

“The queen told me to,” Allezin bit back. “She said Isen was necessary to bring you over to our side. Seems like she was right. Or he was right—Isen probably convinced her. Why else would Lumina think to include him?”

Welco raised his eyebrows and flashed a disdainful smile. “Because she knows he’s more than a lost human boy.”

Allezin gritted his teeth, but didn’t respond.

Welco shrugged his shoulders. “What’s hilarious, looking back, is that I thought you might have masterminded this entire thing and sent him to my clan.”

“Masterminded what? You’re the one that asked for him. Insisted upon it, in fact.”

“Oh, you just so happened to bring a shadow aspect prodigy to Eldrassin’s premier shadow mage?”

“Prodigy?” Allezin exhaled sharply. “It’s just a coincidence.”

Welco’s smile bordered on a grimace. “What if Isen planned all of this from the beginning?”

“That’s impossible.”

“Exactly!” the mage cried. “Impossible! But think about it. Think back to when you met him.”

Allezin’s brow furrowed. “As far as I know, he escaped from a forbidden zone and made his way to Shevenar the very day the drayavin attacked. His arrival coincided with—” He paused. The queen’s return. “—my decision to evacuate Shevenar and head toward Eldrassin City. He never asked to come with me, not once—not when I first encountered your shadow puppets in the ruined town, and not when I saw you again in the city.

“Thinking back on my time with him, Isen listened, learned, and obeyed. He helped. He was well-behaved and, while he had peculiarities, like his ability to see your shadows, they were... Nothing like what I observed tonight.”

“How did he find me?” Welco interjected. “How did he find the workshop, the prototypes? How did he even know how to use them? I had no idea you were supposed to... You know, push them into your head.” The mage groaned. “I just can’t believe I offered him a direct discipleship. I fell for his act hook, line, and sinker.”

“Did he decline?”

“No. He said he needed to think about it. The reason now seems obvious—he never planned to accept. I don’t know if I can believe anything he told me. Does he really have a tier three master who entered a forbidden zone? Sounds awfully convenient.”

“It’s funny you say that,” Allezin said. “Isen truly is a novice in cultivating. You’ve seen his shadow cloak, I’m sure. His other combat skills are also wanting. He’s never been formally trained.”

Allezin strode over to the pile of orbs. Welco’s shadows hadn’t found any new ones in the past fifteen seconds, so the warrior was happy to bring their mission to a close. He gingerly placed the spheres into a waist pouch, then turned toward the barrier.

“Whatever the truth may be, Isen’s working with us—with the queen. He wants to save Eldrassin. He’s not our enemy.”

Without waiting for Welco’s response, Allezin stepped past the glimmering curtain and into the main room.