Chapter 229. Factional Gathering

Eyes closed, I sense the souls around me, each tethered to my ethereal body by a slender thread of energy. It feels like holding onto a bunch of slow-moving balloons. A thread of ethereal energy strings them all together like a pearl necklace, so that they move together, bobbing like a gentle wave.

“Ian,” Crystal transmits, interrupting my meditation.

I turn and behold the fish, lounging on her side and revealing her pale belly to the pink coil of phosphorescent light above. The rolling yellow grass of the savannah covers the landscape like a carpet, half-obscuring her body.

“Karanos wants to see you,” she continues.

I stretch my arms over my head. “Is it already time for our next trip?”

“He wishes to speak to you about something else–not the lost quadrant.”

After the initial expedition with Karanos, Maria and I trained within a dilated plane for a month before setting out again on our own. We returned from that second trip a week ago. We came back earlier than planned because we found an interesting artifact, and if we kept exploring and died, it might have been lost.

We’d only been on our fifth plane when we spotted it–a string of glass pearls on a clear thread, washed up on the beach. That plane was another empty cityscape, though instead of the city extending vertically into the sky on raised platforms, this city had stretched over water, hovering fifty feet above the waves. We nearly missed the bracelet, tangled as it was in the seaweed. But we were at the right place at the right time.

However, just because an artifact appears rare, or difficult to find, doesn’t make it valuable. With Karanos’ help, we found that the bracelet helps to reoxygenate blood in an oxygen deficient environment. It’s disappointingly simple, and while I’m wearing it now, it’s not particularly useful since I can imitate its effects with my practice.

We learned an important lesson: we should’ve forged ahead until we found something more obviously remarkable...something to help defeat Achemiss.

I get up and give Crystal a small rub on her Death energy shoulder. I lay down next to her on a bed of supple grass, my forehead brushing up against her smooth scales. She’s too wide around to hug, but I can at least lay close to her.

After a minute of peaceful lounging, Crystal gets up and heads back, setting our pace. She’s been getting faster in my absence by drilling sprints and running long-distance treks.

We return to the clearing we’ve turned into a large camp. On this dry, sunny stretch of plains, we’ve set up a big tarp to block out the sun and keep cool. Beneath that are three large, square tents. With the tarp overhead, the thin-walled rooms are uncovered. Within we each have a small bed, acquired by Karanos in Shurvan, the city with the planar crane that tore a path straight to Suncloud’s Perennial Palace.

While Karanos doesn’t have a fancy cabin with a full kitchen like Messeras, he does have a portable bathroom stall, a small chamber complete with self-cleaning toilet, shower, and sink. Karanos generally keeps to a spartan lifestyle–the bathroom might be the most luxurious possession I’ve seen him withdraw from a storage ring.

To my chagrin, I’m the most un-used to living so simply. Back in the loop, I woke up refreshed every time I died, so I never remained in a prolonged unclean state. On the lightless plane, I was uncomfortable without running water or a proper bedroll, but I could roughly clean myself with my practice, stripping away layers of dead skin and effacing bacteria from my teeth and gums. Back then, fear of Karanos dulled my discomfort.

But I’ve been following Karanos for a couple months now, and in that time I’ve realized that living in a tent isn’t my preference. Sure, between the three of us, the perimeter stays relatively bug-and-animal-free, and the tarp keeps us dry if there’s ever rain, but I’d love a good excuse to return to a proper town or city. When I asked Maria for her opinion, she said that while living like this isn’t her first choice, she prefers it to living in her palace, the Cuna.

Karanos is under the main canvas tarp, sitting in a wooden chair and sipping from a water flask.

“This plane is rather hot in even the shade,” he remarks. “You’d think the sun would have less power here.”

“It’s not a real sun,” I say. “It’s a coil. Doesn’t make the same kind of ultraviolet energy that leaves a burn.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You realize you’re telling that to the Light practitioner, right?”

“Yep.”

He snorts and turns away, his eyes locking on Sah, the dragon curled up on itself like a snake. “It’s not even hot enough for the dragon. Ridiculous.”

“What do you mean?”

Karanos flicks his fingers and the rock under Sah illuminates and crackles. Sah’s tail swishes and coils tighter around his body. “Frost dragons are odd creatures that are most comfortable at the extremes. You should take Sah with you on your next trip.”

I frown. “It’ll be dangerous.”

“Just look at him. He’s not the most powerful of creatures, but you’ll be hard-pressed to kill him by accident. You can ride him around the void and it’ll be far faster.”

“That reminds me why I’m here in the first place–did you need me to do something?”

He narrows his eyes slightly. “There’s something we need to attend: a gathering of my faction.”

I blink, stunned. “I’m still not sure whether your faction wants me dead or not. I killed Ari, and helped Achemiss, even if accidentally.”

He gives me a bitter look. “That’s why you need to go–accompanied by me. The gathering serves two purposes. First, I have a contact who might better understand the properties of the reality-warping dagger you found. Second, you can start building a network of connections in Eternity. While you will be returning to your home world to kill Achemiss and restore order, Eternity is where you’ll be spending the rest of your days. To neglect setting the foundation for your future here is a rash mistake.”

“How long will the trip take?”

“Two weeks.”

A smile spreads across my face. The lost quadrant supposedly contains other ascendants, but I still haven’t encountered anyone new. “And what of the others, will they too be coming?”

Karanos’ gaze is inscrutable. “That is why I wanted to speak with you first. I don’t think it is wise to bring Maria.”

“Because she’s a lich?”

He sighs. “A master necromancer accompanied by his pretty lich makes for a rather poor first impression, Ian.”

“So I should just leave her here?”

“You can bring her. I’m not your parent. I’m simply advising you against it.”

“...Right. You’re treating her like she has no agency, Karanos.”

“Does she?” he asks. “She is your creation, whether you like it or not. Can she really deny you anything?”

“Of course she can.”

“Only because you let her.”

I open my mouth for a rebuttal, only to close it when no defense comes to mind.

Karanos sighs. “That may seem harsh, but it’s true. Regardless, I do advise you to bring Sah. Our destination requires rather extensive void travel toward the end–it keeps things rather private and exclusive. Sah will be an asset in that environment.”

“I assume Crystal will be staying behind again.”

The corner of the ascendant’s mouth curls up. “I happen to possess an artifact that can keep her safe in the void,” he admits.

I rub the bridge of my nose and groan. “I understand why you didn’t let me use such a cheat and forced me to find my own methods to survive the void, but damn. You realize that you’re asking me to leave Maria behind, alone?”

“You think she can’t handle solitude?”

I roll my eyes. I have the fullest confidence that Maria can stay by herself for two weeks, but I know that I’d want to come if I were her. “I’m going to talk to Maria and ask what she wants to do.”

—

Maria’s gaze is severe as she contemplates what I’ve just told her about Karanos’ gathering. Cayeun’s azure circlet hangs overhead, making her expressions seem more human.

“Do you want to come?”

“What I want and what needs to happen are two different things. I hesitate to do anything against Karanos’ judgment.” Over our bond, I sense her frustration.

I smile thinly. “If there were really no choice, he would have said you weren’t allowed to come at all.”

She smiles back, but the gesture doesn’t reach her eyes. “I want to come, Ian, but mostly because of you.” She reaches out and entwines her fingers with mine. “That’s not a good enough reason.”

“I was planning to bring you,” I say.

Her eyes snap up. “Why?”

“Multiple reasons. First, I trust your judgment and your political acumen. Karanos probably knows his way around the political watering hole, but he’s always stuck me as more of a cold, martial scholar. For you, being with people is effortless.”

She raises an eyebrow. “That’s only one reason.”

“The second reason is that while I trust Karanos, this is his faction. If for some reason the organization wants me dead for my role in killing Ari, or even for something like my necromancy, I don’t think he’ll be able to help me.”

“Do you think it would come to that?”

“No,” I admit. “But when push comes to shove, I’d rather have someone by my side that I know I can count on.”

“Multiple implies more than two reasons,” Maria murmurs, smiling coyly.

I roll my eyes. “And third...” Squeezing her hand, I pull her close enough to smell her floral breath. “I’ll miss you. I know on an intellectual level that we’re in the honeymoon stage of our relationship, and that my attachment to you is the product of hormones in my body. If I wanted to, I think I could probably reset my chemistry to be cold and hard, just as you could remove your circlet and invite in numbness. But why would I end something that feels good?”

She gives me a crooked grin. “Because hormones affect your judgment?”

I lower my voice and try to keep my heart from beating too quickly. “That’s not a good enough reason.”

She laughs. “Using my own words against me. I’m wounded.”

I lean forward and kiss her on her forehead. “I’ll let Karanos know.”

“You’re sure?” she asks, her expression falling again.

“Y’jeni Maria,”  I tease. “How many more reasons do you need?”

—

“Coniferous forest,” Karanos says flatly, his hands clasped behind his back.

We’ve been traveling for four days. We haven’t been constantly piercing through the veil, thankfully; Karanos has used this as another opportunity to train me and Maria, so we go a bit slower. The focus this time has been on sensing the types of planes that exist at any point of the veil, even when it’s strong and difficult to tear.

Unsurprisingly, it’s very difficult to sense anything about a plane where the veil is thick, but we’ve made decent progress. Recognizing our competitive natures, Karanos has made it into something of a game: the first to sense a certain type of plane correctly wins.

I take in a deep breath and narrow my eyes, internalizing ascendant energy in my arms. It almost feels like trying to channel static through my veins.

Maria also holds her arms and head out in front, like she’s a hound sniffing for prey.

Meanwhile, Crystal is giving Sah emotional support, rubbing the dragon’s side with a synthetic paw. Sah still hates traveling between planes, but Crystal has been helping him to desensitize.

Coniferous forest, I repeat in my mind. In the beginning, Karanos kept things simpler, limiting his requests to descriptors like “hot” or “wet.” As Maria and I gained more success, he increased the difficulty, making his descriptions more specific.

I envision grand evergreen trees stretching endlessly across a mountainous landscape. The energy in my right hand crackles slightly more than in the left, so I turn to the side and walk forward.

Maria rotates my way. She jolts, then walks forward rapidly, as though she’s honed in on a trail. Not to be left behind, I proceed forward as well, the static building up in both arms now that my quarry is straight ahead.

The veil is too thick here to make a big tear, but I can still make a thin incision. Just as I’m about to swipe out, Maria snaps her foot forward, poking a small hole that reveals a snowy landscape with a few conifers. It’s not a forest.

Hah.

Maria sighs, but her expression remains composed.

“Good attempt,” Karanos comments. “As always, be wary of near matches. Dunai, it’s your move.”

He always says to be wary, but it’s easier said than done. I have a newfound appreciation for how Karanos leapt from snowy plane to snowy plane in rapid succession when first escorting me to the edge of Eternity. He made it seem elementary, as he does most things involving the veil.

“It really does feel like this is the right plane, though,” I protest. “Is there something subtle I’m missing?”

Karanos walks over and places his arms out in front of him. “You only started to feel the energy react when you were very close to the plane. That’s the surest sign of a near match. An exact match would respond earlier.”

“But it’s still dependent on the veil’s thickness. A perfect match where the veil is thick might not respond until you’re close, isn’t that right?”

He smiles coldly. “You’ll gain an intuition for the difference if you practice enough. I’m not giving you anything too difficult to find on your own.”

Maria and I share a knowing look.

“He is not wrong,” Crystal says. “Have you ever tried to read a language adapted for touch?”

Like what?

“Raised bumps embossed on signs, for instance.”

A few times, I think back.

“Could you tell apart the bumps?”

No. It just felt like rubbing my finger against something ambiguously bumpy.

“Karanos is like a person skilled in reading those bumps as words,” Crystal concludes. “You are still puzzling through telling bumps apart. You are on different levels.”

Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Crystal.

“You say that the gulf between you and Karanos is obvious, yet still compare yourself to him. You are insecure in your talent, Ian. Do not be. Your benchmarks for success are outrageous.”

What is that supposed to mean?

“You should spend more time with other young ascendants to get a better sense of where you stand.”

Maria’s been keeping pace with me when it comes to using ascendant energy, and she isn’t even an ascendant. With all due respect Crystal, I’m the only young ascendant you’ve spent time with.

“Do you think so little of Maria, just because she came here unnaturally?”

I freeze. She is strong, especially when it comes to creating arrays, but...

“Her array knocked Karanos unconscious and kept him under her control, forcing him to create a return beacon at great personal cost. Do you think he killed her by accident? No–he felt threatened.”

Crystal doesn’t say anything more. Taking in a deep breath, I try to find the conifer forest plane anew, deliberately ignoring the static attraction of the close match.

Are you well, Ian? Maria asks.

Why?

I can sense your irritation.

What? A fear rises in my stomach. I turn toward her in alarm.

It’s gone, she says.

Has this happened before?

Very rarely. Since my resurrection, I’ve hardly ever felt anything from you. You close yourself off well, even when we’re together.

I rub my eyes, exhaustion suddenly overcoming me. I close myself off especially when we’re together. There is a fear in me that her love is only present to satisfy my own, shaped by my own desires. I don’t think it’s true–Maria was interested in me long before I made her a lich–but fears don’t need to be rational.

Sorry to make you worry, I say. I think I’m more agitated now that we’re nearly at Karanos’ event.

“Dunai, are you just going to stand there?”

“Just collecting my thoughts,” I holler back, gritting my teeth. With a sigh, I release the ascendant energy, blue energy licking across my arms like flames. Breathing in, energy forms anew on my skin, then sinks inward, surrounding my bones

Conifer forest, I think. Endless evergreens.

Closing my eyes, I stride forward until the energy responds, jolting faintly in my left arm. It feels the same as the sensation before, but like Crystal said, I lack the skill and experience to actually tell one sensation from another as Karanos does.

This time fortune favors me: when I slit the plane, I see gently sloping hills covered in an evergreen forest.

Karanos claps his hands once. “Good work. This is the last plane before we’ll be traveling through the void. We’ll take the rest of the day off to rest and prepare, then leave first thing tomorrow.”

[ thanks for reading! cover for book 4 has been completed! i added the art as an attachment on this post. it's also on discord. ]