Tale of Eldramir

As Ezekiel slowly returned to consciousness, he couldn’t help but groan as he immediately closed his eyes after opening them. Although the inside of the wagon was fairly dim, and it appeared that it was night out, the little light that was there was enough to feel like it was blinding.

“Don’t try to get up just yet. You’re still suffering from soul strain. You’ll probably have a headache for a few more hours at least.” A familiar voice that Ezekiel could barely place gently spoke from beside him. “If you can drink this. It’ll help after it kicks in.”

Ezekiel grunted in confirmation, and a hand tilted his head so he could more easily take a sip from a cup that was placed in front of him. Taking a few sips, Ezekiel felt a cool and soothing sensation travel down his throat. As it settled in his stomach, the feeling spread through the rest of his body. Eventually reaching his head, which immediately felt better.

Slowly opening his eyes, he managed to get a sense of his surroundings. His vision swam for a moment, but quickly came into focus. Turning to the side, Ezekiel saw that it was Cinder who was sitting next to him. A part of him had expected Fiana to be the one watching over him but figured that she must still be nearby.

“Thank you.” Ezekiel weakly whispered. “How long?”

“You’ve been unconscious for about a day. But, considering our healers said you’d be out for at least three, you seem to be doing incredibly well.” Cinder said. “Don’t suppose you know why you’re up so fast? It would greatly help if we could replicate it more easily in others.”

Ezekiel closed his eyes in consideration. He figured that it wouldn’t hurt to tell her. But it’d definitely disappoint her, as he knew it wasn’t replicable.

“Experience. It’s happened before.” Ezekiel said. “I’ve been told my soul is at Legendary Rank as well. So, that definitely helped. The fact that I was fresh from a Tier up probably contributed as well.”

“Oh... I’m both sorry, and jealous.” Cinder said. “I’ve been trying to break through to Tier three for a year now. Must’ve been easier for you thanks to the stronger soul, huh?”

“A stronger soul means that there’s more soul to search for your Chakras. So, it’s actually harder to Tier up. Takes longer.” Ezekiel explained. His head was clearing up more and more. “Really, I just got lucky. Having a Spirit that can top up your mana so you can continue searching without having to manually accumulate it to the peak all over again also helps.”

Thinking back, Ezekiel realized that he was incredibly lucky, as it had only taken one attempt to open his third Chakra. Something that wasn’t unheard of but was still rare all the same. He could only hope that his next Tier up would be so lucky, but a part of him severely doubted that.

“That funny sword?” Cinder asked. “That’s your Spirit, right?”

“Their name is Shine. And they are incredibly important to me, so I would appreciate it if you could tell me where they are.” Ezekiel said, now aware enough to realize that Shine wasn’t within arm’s reach. Something that very rarely, if ever, tended to happen.

Reaching out to his bond, he winced in pain at the movement of his soul. But all he got were feelings of calm reassurance of being okay. As well as a rejection and feelings of annoyance and frustration directed towards him. Knowing that Shine was likely upset with him, Ezekiel leaned back and closed his eyes once again.

Shine didn’t want to talk to him right now, and he couldn’t be upset with them for this. He had made a poor decision, to help a friend, but ultimately for someone Shine couldn’t care less for. Their main priority was keeping Ezekiel safe. The fear that his Spirit must’ve felt as he was literally blown up after sending his consciousness into another person must’ve been terrifying.

“They’re with Scholar Fiana right now. She was busy interrogating them the last I saw.” Cinder said. “I think that Fiana wanted to talk with you as well, but she’s busy placating the guards.”

Ezekiel turned to look at her in confusion. What had happened when he was unconscious?

Cinder explained to him that there were mixed feelings regarding their care for Riley. The healers had given her the minimum amount of treatment necessary to keep her alive. But they were still debating how best to keep her secure.

While she was in no condition to use her mana, there were some who were wary of the risks of leaving a potential cultist unshackled. Especially after Shine had told them about what had transpired with Riley’s group.

A number of the Guards wanted to re-shackle her, just in case she woke up. But the Scholars, and the Life and Death Mages, all agreed that it would be a bad idea to do so. Her soul was too weak to handle the strain of being so strongly restricted.

Others also just wanted to kill her. The only dead cultist was a good cultist, in their eyes.

“I see. I assume that Shine has explained our part of the story?” Ezekiel asked.

“Yes, for the most part. There were parts that they couldn’t explain. Like what happened when you went diving into that girl’s soul.” Cinder said. “You do know that doing something like that is reserved for Life and Death Mages for a reason, right?”

“Well, it worked, so I’d say I made the right choice.” Ezekiel said. “The other option was to let one of my friends die in front of me, or worse, kill her with my own hands. For now, she’s alive, and hopefully free from the Cult of Light’s brainwashing.”

Cinder just stared at Ezekiel, uncomfortable with how the conversation had turned. The fact that he was casually mentioning brainwashing was something that simply exacerbated that feeling.

“Where are we going, and how far out are we?” Ezekiel asked after the silence began to stretch on. “I had left most of the directions to the Red Stone Guild, but I doubt that they want to see me right now.”

Cinder perked up at the change in topic. Going into detail about how the Red Stone Guild didn’t have many hard feelings. They had a contract, and as far as things had gone, given the change in threat level, he was well within his contract’s stipulations to leave when he did. The fact that he removed a peak Adept from the battlefield had actually been in his favor.

As for their destination. They were now well within the Church of Ten’s territory and were currently headed directly north. There was a small village that they were going to be stopping at tomorrow, before they continued onwards. Then, there was one more town that they needed to stop at, just a few days further past. After which, it was a straight shot to Zime, where they would look for passage to make their way through the Fjorya.

“I see.” Ezekiel said. His mind raced with plans and worries. The biggest of which was what the Scholars from Sanafalls were going to do with him. As far as he knew, Scarlet was still trying to get him back into the Archipelago. Too worried about his potential for her to be willing to let him go into a warzone.

Though, Ezekiel had to be fair to her. Ever since Carrian died, she had taken it upon herself to be his main point of contact with the Church. As well as supported him out of her own pocket when he was starting out on his own after leaving the Church.

He couldn’t help but feel concerned for what direction the future would take him. But for now, he was still tired, and as the conversation died down, he slowly fell asleep once again.

----------

When he next woke up, Ezekiel found that he had recovered enough to not need whatever medicine had been fed to him previously. This was fantastic, because it meant that he was able to actually get up and take a look at what was going on around him.

He was surprised to find that he had been stripped bare while he was recovering. As far as he knew, his body hadn’t suffered any particularly debilitating injuries. Further inspection of the bandages that covered the majority of his body revealed that they were enchanted and were covering up some sort of paste that seemed to be seeping into him. He thought he recognized it as a nutrient jelly. Used on patients that couldn’t eat anything due to being in a coma. But he hadn’t been out for that long, had he?

Gingerly moving to the end of the wagon, Ezekiel peeked out of a small hole in the tarp that acted as the entrance. He saw the familiar faces of Fiana, George, and Marc. The latter of which surprised him, as he wasn’t aware that Marc cared so much. But as he thought about it, he realized that the man was likely there since Fiana had come.

Sighing to himself, he decided to step out of the wagon, gently lifting the tarp flap and wincing as the setting sunlight got him right in the face.

“Ezekiel!” Fiana exclaimed when she saw him trying to step out of the wagon. “Stop! You shouldn’t be trying to do anything stressful just yet.”

Ezekiel’s face scrunched up in frustration and annoyance as Fiana started fretting over him. He nearly fell over as he avoided her hands. She was trying to force him back into the wagon.

“Do I need to run?” Ezekiel asked. “I’m sorry, but I can’t imagine you'd be here if you weren’t after me. So, please tell me if I need to run.”

All three of the Scholars looked hurt and insulted. They had kind of hoped for a happy reunion. Especially after all they’d been through to get to him. But clearly Ezekiel wasn’t expecting much from them at the moment.

“We’re here to help you. Our original orders were to bring you back. But luckily, clearer minds changed our orders. As such, we’re only here to help you get to the Empire.” Fiana explained. “We even got some assistance from an acquaintance of yours. Cinder. She had to go discuss some things with our guards, but she should be back soon. Now, please, get back in the wagon. You’re still too hurt to be moving freely right now.”

Fiana tried to pick Ezekiel up to get him into the wagon, but he just waved her off and stepped out onto the ground. Standing next to the wagon, he placed his hands on it to steady himself before looking at his friends.

“It’s my soul that got strained, not my body. So long as I don’t use my magic, I’ll be fine.” He said. “Besides, I can’t have been out for that long, right? Cinder said that I was barely out for a day when I spoke to her.”

“That was almost three days ago. We were actually just about to head out for Zime.” Fiana said. “You should go back and rest. There’s little you can do right now. We need to get going if we want to make it in time. Besides, sleeping will help your soul to recover faster.”

Ezekiel was shocked to hear that he had been unconscious for three more days. He hadn’t thought that his talk with Cinder would’ve been so draining. But as he looked over his bandages again, a thought occurred to him.

“Did you sedate me?” He asked, taking a big sniff of the stuff beneath his bandages. “You did, didn’t you.”

He could just barely make out the scent of the standard medical sedatives and relaxants that the Church’s Life Mages were trained to use. It wasn’t something that he would’ve noticed on just a cursory glance. But over the years, Ezekiel had managed to familiarize himself with a lot of the Church’s standard practices. In particular, the ones that he wouldn’t have cared about when he was younger.

George shifted back and forth on his feet as he avoided Ezekiel’s accusatory glare. It seemed like George had begun to lose some of his boisterousness during his time in the desert. That, or Ezekiel’s status as a fellow Adept added some intensity to his glare. Even without the use of mana.

“... You can’t deny that, from a medical standpoint, keeping a patient who’s suffering from soul strain, and other direct damage to his soul, is the right thing to do.” George mumbled out. He still refused to look Ezekiel in the eyes. But Fiana stared defiantly at him, as did Marc, who looked somewhat annoyed at Ezekiel’s behavior.

“It would also give you more time to do what you wish to, to my patient while I’m unable to do anything about it.” Ezekiel grounded out. “So, tell me, where is Riley?”

The level of fury and vitriol in Ezekiel’s voice surprised even himself. But it was the looks on his friend’s faces that made him take a step back. Fiana and George looked upset at his accusation, and Marc appeared incredibly insulted. There were no guilty looks or avoiding his eyes in shame. He knew right away that things hadn’t gone in the direction he had thought they had. But that didn’t mean that things were going well either.

“I’m surprised you’re not asking about Shine. Shouldn’t they be your first priority?” Fiana asked, subtly trying to change the subject.

I can sense that they’re attached to your hip, and just because they aren’t talking to me, doesn’t mean I can’t still sense their passive emotions. They are fine. Incredibly pissed off at me, but generally fine.” Ezekiel stated, much to Fiana’s embarrassment. “Now, don’t change the subject. Where is Riley?”

Fiana sighed in frustration but knew that Ezekiel wasn’t going to back down. That was something that had started happening more and more as he got older. He was still mostly logical in the face of adversity, but just like when he dove headfirst into the Desolate Lands back at the Temple of the Void in Morncrest, when it came to his friends, he didn’t step away until he knew things were okay.

“She’s in another wagon. That one.” Fiana said as she pointed at the wagon next to the one Ezekiel stepped out of. “But, unlike you, she hasn’t woken up since you did whatever it was you did to her. But George had been taking care of her, and her Spirit, as best he can. The help from the Sunny Merchant group has also aided in her recovery. But it’s like her soul was seared. Which is surprising, since she’s a Flame Mage.”

This was the thing that Fiana was most concerned about. She knew how badly Ezekiel had wanted to save his old friend from Shine’s story. As such, she was incredibly nervous about how he would react to Riley’s condition. She didn’t think he needed the additional stress right now. Especially if he started blaming himself for what had happened.

Ezekiel allowed himself to relax and took a seat on the steps leading up into the wagon. For now, he was happy to know that Riley wasn’t much worse off than he had expected. Though there was one last thing he needed to double check.

“Her soul’s not cracked? And there wasn’t any foreign mana inside her?” Ezekiel asked. “I need to know, or it doesn’t matter if she wakes up or not.”

George, stepping forward with his chest puffed out as he started to explain. His previous nervousness was now completely gone, and for Ezekiel, it was somewhat comforting to see him back to his old self.

“Ah! Yes, with mine and one of the Death Mage’s help, we managed to fully diagnose your friend’s soul.” George said. “Her soul shows no signs of cracking or splitting. Similarly, there was none of the more traditional damages that come from mana rampancy. As Shine explained, it was one of your fears.”

Ezekiel couldn’t help but sigh in relief. He had been incredibly concerned that his actions would have made Riley’s soul explode. Or otherwise suffer from rampant mana scarring.

“However, it seems like whatever it was you did caused her soul to suffer some kind of damage that we’ve never seen before.” George said, and Ezekiel’s heart sank. “The searing is something that we’ve never seen before, and it’s as if some of her soul had been burned away. I don’t suppose you know what did this?”

Ezekiel looked to Fiana for a moment, confused, as he knew that Fiana would’ve known, since Shine should’ve told her what he had been trying to do. Fiana just shrugged, subtly implying that this was something that she thought was best kept a secret for now, but it was up to him to decide what to do.

Turning back to George, who noticed the exchange, and had raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Marc also noticed, and he looked like he wanted to speak up. Fiana’s glare kept him silent.

“The Cult of Light wanted to use her against me. So, they did something to her. I’ve been studying Life and Death Magic for a while now. As you know, since you got me most of my materials.” George nodded in understanding. “So, when I found out that my Void Magic can nullify magical effects up to my own Tier, I tried to undo whatever it was they did. Unfortunately, it only partially worked. I couldn’t clear all of it out. So, I tried to supercharge her own soul and mana in order to give her the power to fight it off on her own. It seems like it only mostly worked as intended.”

George looked ecstatic at Ezekiel’s words, as he took it to be another discovery that he had contributed to. Being one of the Life Mages that Ezekiel went to for assistance when it came to his healing knowledge.

“Amazing! I had no idea that the Void could do such a thing.” George exclaimed. “Do you think that the Void could be used in other spiritual applications? I mean, the number of things that I could begin studying would be enormous. Oh! Did Shine have any effect on what you were doing? We need to know if the presence of a Void Spirit could have-”

“George!” Fiana nearly shouted. “That’s enough. We can talk about this later.”

George looked back to Fiana, about to get into an argument, but upon seeing a group of people returning, he fell silent. Instead, a look of anger spread across his face. Neither Marc nor Fiana looked happy to see these people either.

Behind the leader of the group, a young woman that Ezekiel recognized as Cinder was following with her head hanging low. She looked guilty and upset as she got closer. Like the world had been ripped out from under her feet. The others looked somewhat smug and relieved.

Given their matching uniforms, Ezekiel could only assume that this was a merchant group, as they didn’t wear any Guild sashes. This meant that things were about to turn into a business transaction. One that likely wouldn’t turn out in their favor.

Ezekiel was starting to regret having woken up at this point.

----------

It turned out that Ezekiel was right. Apparently, the guards that had been sent with Cinder had reached the end of the agreement regarding her protection. Specifically, since they had been forced to protect a person suspected of being a Cultist, their contract was in conflict with their standing orders. As such, they were permitted to refuse to continue working for Cinder.

Their employment was essentially a farewell gift from her mother. The woman who had tried her best to help her daughter when her husband had wanted to kick Cinder out of their family. That also meant that, technically, Cinder couldn’t renegotiate their contract. Only a member of the Sunny Merchant House could negotiate for the services of their guards. As there wasn’t one here right now, the guards needed to follow protocol, and return to the closest Sunny Merchant’s base of operations.

As it just so happened, the town they were in was the location of said base. Something that Cinder hadn’t realized until they got closer, as they had changed directions after leaving the previous village. They were currently much further east, and nowhere near as north, as the town that they were originally meant to head to actually was.

Apparently, Cinder had gone to try and negotiate a new contract, to get them the rest of the way to Zime. But that wasn’t going to work out. The Sunny Merchant House had blacklisted Cinder from making any deals with them.

The only way she could get back in their good graces was to rejoin the family and accept a marriage contract with the heir of another merchant group. A man with four wives already, and who was nearly double Cinder’s age. Apparently, Cinder’s father was perfectly fine with causing his daughter to suffer for her continued disobedience. Otherwise, he had totally written her off, fully expecting her to cave.

“You’re not going back there.” Ezekiel said after getting the full story from Cinder. After the Sunny merchants had reclaimed their stuff, the quintet had headed to an inn, where they had booked several rooms. Riley was currently sleeping in one room with Shine, who still didn’t want to talk with Ezekiel, but was willing to watch over Riley, just in case.

The rest of the party was sitting at a large corner table, eating some food and having some drinks as they discussed what they needed to do next. Currently, Cinder was contemplating going back to her family. But no one at the table was willing to let her do that.

“Why would you even think that that was a good idea? If you go back, then all you’re doing is spitting on the goodwill that was extended to you for all that you’ve done so far.” George said, a spoonful of stew halfway to his mouth. “We’ll just contract a different merchant group to take us the rest of the way. It’s just a week or so in the desert, right?”

“For the most part, yes. But the problem is that, due to the war, and the close proximity to the border between Cult and Church forces. Most of the merchant groups have left the town or are only holding a minimum presence at the moment.” Cinder explained. “As such, it would be almost impossible to hire a caravan to escort you to Zime at this point. The only one with expendable forces right now is the Sunny Merchant House.”

Things were not looking good for the group right now. If they had enough money, then they could hire some additional forces from the Hunter mercenaries that were looking for work from the Church. But at the moment, it seemed like there wasn’t much that they could do.

Given the number of refugees that were also making their way to the Fjorya mountains, that meant that the closer they got to Zime and the northern border, the more likely it was that they would run into bandits and other unscrupulous forces.

“Look, we have time to figure something out. Will the guards from your merchant house be leaving anytime soon?” Ezekiel asked. Inder shook her head, no. “Then we can spend some time in the town and look for alternatives. To be honest, given the number of us right now, I’m tempted to spend some money to do something drastic.”

Fiana looked concerned, and ready to tell him off, as was Cinder. George looked curious, and Marc looked ambivalent. Ezekiel decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to explain right now.

“Once we finish and reconvene in our room, I’ll tell you then.” Ezekiel said.

“Why can’t you tell us now?” George asked. Taking a big gulp and finishing off his meal.

“Because we’ve had a tail since those merchant guards took the wagons back.” Ezekiel said as he pointed to a pair of people that had been staring at them since they had entered the inn. They quickly diverted their attention away, but it was too late. The rest of the people at his table noticed them, and Cinder looked particularly pissed off.

“I think we’re all finished eating. So, let’s head upstairs to talk.” Fiana said.

Looking at the table, everyone had indeed finished their meals. It was only George, who had nearly twice as many dishes in front of him, that they were waiting for. As he had just finished, the group headed upstairs. Locking the door as they piled into the room that Riley was recovering in.

Sensing that their tails weren’t following them, but noticing the presence of two small beings nearby, Ezekiel knew that they were still being tailed. So, knowing that things weren’t going to go well for them if they were overheard, Ezekiel took out a handful of small devices from his Void Pouch.

Cinder wasn’t sure what they were, but the Scholars in the room recognized them as privacy artifacts. Clearly these were handmade as well. None of them recognized the make of them. So, they assumed that they must’ve been originals created by Ezekiel.

Placing one device in each of the eight corners of the room, they suddenly felt a brief sensation of being underwater. Then after a moment, the feeling disappeared. But as they looked around, they noticed that the entire room seemed to be covered in a translucent oil slick.

“There, that should be good enough.” Ezekiel said. “Now, what do you all think about contacting some Legendaries?”

Cinder and the Scholars all looked at him as if he had lost his mind. In the back of his head, Ezekiel could also sense disbelief and confusion from Shine, who was resting across Riley and Celia’s sleeping bodies. A large part of him was quite entertained by the looks he’d received. But a much larger part just hoped that they didn’t shoot his idea down right away.