The tempo was slower than Evalyn’s heartbeat, making the world whirl around her. If her body wasn’t able to keep itself alive, pumping blood and moving air autonomously, using a song this slow would have killed her. During a hunt it would have regardless, but she wasn’t hunting. She was home.
Her parents and sister lived on the ground floor of a three-story building, each floor its own residence. The Lasials hadn’t been rich, coming from the common farmers of the Kallical region that bordered both Aughal and Threst. The decision to come to the Thormundz had been difficult. Evalyn had been sixteen at the time, her sister seven. Threst had been the obvious choice for their pilgrimage since it was universally viewed as safer and more prosperous.
Emily’s fall had made for a far more terrifying experience than they’d bargained for. A bridge had broken while their convoy passed over it, the region having neglected maintenance due to what they’d sunk into setting up Roost’s Peak. It probably wouldn’t have broken if the entire convoy hadn’t gone across at once, but they had, and Emily was one of those who fell off before catching something or being caught. Her small sister had been carried by a strong breeze away from the primary recovery efforts, hitting the ground limit twice before someone had finally found her.
Even eight years later, she never went farther up than the first floor of any building. The one good thing to come out of the tribulation was the bond it had created between Evalyn and her sister. Emily’s heartbeat always accompanied her as a reminder she was alive, though the bond’s effect was distorted from Investiture of Song. That wasn’t the only benefit, though.
Evalyn hummed the slow tune of the lullaby to her sister. Emily was approaching adulthood and yet still treasured both the singing and the singer. Considering the months of separation they’d endured, it was also the only magic Emily had. All anyone in Eido had, aside from the few bonds that had survived both the explosion of the Unification Temple and the Upswell.
The two weren’t alone in the room. The avianoid who’d gotten his leg bitten off, Karki, as well as a human who’d torn a muscle while chopping down some of the trees on the island rested on cots. Both had the same relaxed expression on their faces as Emily.
While Evalyn could affect others with her music, the effect was dependent on many things. Her bond changed that, as willing individuals could tether themselves to Emily’s emotional state like a one way Empathic Link, strong but temporary. With the absence of any healing power or bond capable of replicating those effects, the best the healers could do was resort to harsher measures. The calm Evalyn could bring her sister, even without Bardic music, had saved many people a lot of pain.
It was a lot to put on Emily, but it helped with the tension between the Commander and Evalyn’s group. Lograve’s theory bordered on insanity, which would be par for the course considering Daniel was involved. From the telepathic updates he was getting closer to a successful ritual, though nothing was certain.
One of the Clerics nodded to her and Evalyn stopped her song. She rarely sang, but Emily was an exception. The two patients awoke, Karki with more work done on his limb and the human with his arm bound in a makeshift cast. After everyone else had left, Emily exited her trance and opened her eyes. “How long was that?”
“Twenty minutes at most,” Evalyn replied while switching to a moderate internal tempo. “Thank you, this helps.”
“You don’t have to say that every time, sis. I know.” She dragged a coat over herself as Evalyn watched. The cold had come as a surprise after having just been in a desert, but winter had been coming to the world as a whole and Eido’s experiences over the last months had kept true to a region within a temperate climate. Or, a world with one. “Any time for more stories of what happened while you were gone? I still don’t think I believe you about that ringcat.”
Evalyn tried not to let remorse color her words. “I wish I could prove it to you.”
“If you get us back from wherever this is, maybe you can. I wouldn’t mind magic working again, even if the monsters get worse.”
“You miss magic? I’m the one with the class.”
“And I’m the one whose room isn’t heated.” Emily smiled as she headed for the door. “Besides, I still haven’t figured out advancement yet. That means I haven’t hit my wall. Maybe I’ll get to level 2 younger than you did.”
“I don’t think Dad would like another Bard in the family.”
“Who said anything about being a Bard?” Emily laughed. “That’s for people who can’t get enough of themselves. I’m going Arcanist so I can blow shit up.”
Evalyn mock searched around the room, knowing her sister wouldn’t have what she was looking for. “You know you have to read to get that class, right?”
“Better than what I’d have to do for yours,” she shot back, the mood remaining light. Evalyn couldn’t imagine anything either could say that would truly get on the other’s nerves. Their bond was too intimate to be broken by something like that.
Evalyn felt Emily’s heartbeat speed up just before opening the door. Her trauma from the event in Threst had manifested in an obvious way, but also in some more minor, odd ones. She’d developed this thing about doors, always getting a little afraid before opening them as if a pit was right behind them. By now Emily could hide this quirk from everyone but her sister.
They shared a look, but neither commented on the moment. Still, Emily’s voice was quieter in the hallway. “We are going back, right?”
“We’ll find a way. My friend is already working on it, and there are people I trust on the other side.” If they’re still alive.
…
Hello, friend. Is there any chance you’ve suddenly gained a translation power? Lograve got the same unintelligible response he did every time he tried this. The duration varied, making him certain the actual speech was different, but it was too hard to pick out common words. Without being able to have direct access to the natives that had come from the vessel, he had as good a chance of communicating with them as with what Tak had become.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
Translating the foreign language may have gone easier if he’d devoted serious time to it, but there was another project he was prioritizing. Contacting Daniel. Not the Earth version, but the one on his world. He’d come to a few conclusions during his time here, some he’d shared with Evalyn, and some he hadn’t. The one he was keeping hidden for now was his suspicion as to Daniel’s biggest secret to date.
Somehow, he was a Spoke. There was no other way to explain the evidence in front of him. Despite being in an area so magically inhibited that a level 5 couldn’t function, his Invisibility and Telepathy were being maintained and it wasn’t costing him his mana. His feature was also stuck at level 4, though there could be another reason for that. Daniel had explained how he could tether his mana to Hunter whenever he activated a prolonged effect in the living impossibility, and this had to have been what was happening here.
Maintaining active powers in four people, not only in magical suppression but across worlds? Only the magic of the gods could explain something like this, and it also resolved what had happened to Eido’s Spoke. Somehow, a copy of a soul from this world had been incarnated into a Spoke as it was in the final stage of unification. No wonder it had exploded. Had this been a random accident, or had the Spiritualists somehow been involved? The Illustrious?
Questions for later. Now, he was attempting to reach back through the mana tethering his power to Octyrrum-Daniel. To that end, he’d kept every single magical item the Artificer had made, since they functioned here as well. They had a mana tether, just like he did. In fact, they could both be considered as part of the same mana flow, with an absurdly long distance between them and the source. It was raising all kinds of difficulties with what he was trying, but at the same time, he was making progress.
Lograve had no doubt he was the first person to try using Ritualism in this way, and he’d even give that arrogant fool of a Commander his socks if he was wrong on that point. What effect he was trying to make he wasn’t sure, since he didn’t know the result of a pattern until he’d used it the first time. He’d awakened what appeared to be a far weaker version of the normal Ritualism, and along with it being more difficult to use, he hadn’t put time into a deep study of the power.
It wasn’t like any book would have information on this. Lograve was currently adjusting the various magical items in front of him, having to precisely adjust their height and angle as well. It gave him a new appreciation for Aquakinesis, since he only had to use his mind to move the mana within his ice constructs. Here, he had to use makeshift stands to prop up the three-dimensional assemblage.
The fact that the Commander of the island was hunting for him meant he also had to pack up and move this every so often. He was invisible, but the items weren’t while outside his direct possession. It was supremely annoying, especially because he couldn’t just explain himself. The hidebound beliefs of his world among the common people rejected any possibility of other societies, and he once again wondered why the gods and the Octyrrum had hidden this truth. Did they not know? That would almost be funny.
Lograve felt his agitation spike as a slight adjustment to one of the ‘winged boots’ caused his internal assessment of the ritual’s viability to plummet. He took in a deep breath and did what he always did to calm himself down. Hello, Commander. Still looking for me?
Arcanist. You try my patience. The human on the other end of the link had a mental voice that rivaled Murdon’s despite only being a human. Commander Marshall was one of the rare Martialists who had managed to evolve his class, depriving Lograve of ammunition from how close the two sounded. I have no time for you unless you wish to finally think of the common good.
Oh, certainly. I’m currently a kilometer north of Eido’s outer limits. You can find me on a hill overlooking the patch of ground that decided to move to the sky back in the Thormundz.
…what’s actually there?
A carefully written review of your hospitality, Lograve admitted, chuckling out loud on his end. The hijinks weren’t endearing himself nearly as much to Marshall as they would if this was he and Murdon meeting for the first time, but between the slightly familiar voice and a need to channel his aggravation and concern, he’d kept it up. I’ve categorized the list this time so it’ll be easier to make improvements. You’ll note quite a few remarks on the demeanor of your waitstaff.
He didn’t get a reply that time. Looks like Marshall could learn something after all. Murdon always had to counterpunch his jabs which just fed the demon in Lograve. No, he wasn’t making a new friend here. Lograve turned his attention back to the sigil, muttering under his breath. “If I can get this to work, it will move the mana within the items and myself. Even with his terrible seventh sense, he shouldn’t be blind to a mana burst coming from himself.”
After that? It was down to the thin hope that Daniel could undo whatever he’d done to bring them here. That he hadn’t already meant they were dealing with another hidden power situation. It had taken Claw Strike being manually used by another for Daniel to realize he had the ability, then he could use it through force of will. If Lograve disrupted the current stable state of the mana tethers, it might do the job. If not, then he’d still have figured out how to trigger another of his suppressed powers, and that might convince the Commander he wasn’t being greedy.
The Arcanist spent the next hour making careful adjustments before he sensed people nearby. The Commander couldn’t trace back the mental communications, but he had enough people to send to random sections of the island in search for him. Sighing, he did his best to memorize his current progress and quickly shoved the array into the bags of holding.
Once on his person, they turned invisible too. While those Blessed who’d survived the blast that destroyed the Unification Temple were the strongest of the Thormundz, even their enhanced attributes couldn’t contest his stealth power alone. Marshall was the only one who outleveled him. He moved closer to the coast this time, about halfway around the island from the metal ship. Looting that had been a temptation, though he had decided to be careful with technology from a society he didn’t understand. The topic of the explosive substance Daniel’s world used to fuel their vessels had come up, and he wasn’t sure if the garish tube was always moments away from giving him more scars.
Settling in as the coming night grew colder, Lograve looked out over the wide ocean. It would be the Pacific or the Atlantic, if he remembered correctly. The others were too close to land or the ice caps of the ball Daniel lived on to fit. It was impressive, either way. The Octyrrum had oceans that spanned multiple regions, but none quite as large as spanning half a world. How did people live that far away from each other without any means of magic to bridge the gap? All they had were these… Wait.
Lograve stood back up, rising out of his musings as his eyes caught something in the distance. Coming roughly from the south was a reflection in the fading sunlight. It was consistent, not from the shifting of water. That it was the only thing his enhanced wisdom could make out meant it was very far away, Still, another vessel was on the way. Would it be more merchants, or a warship looking for those who’d fallen prey to Eido? Did they even know the island was here?
Do I tell Evalyn or Gadriel? Lograve tossed a bag of holding idly in his hand. Not now. Not unless it is coming for us. If it is? He opened the bag, scowling at his various stands and makeshift thread before his forcibly active ability made them disappear. No rest for the weary.