Arc 1
Epilogue
Epilogue
Sightless Vetius frowned as he probed the crystal jade exterior at the apex of the Shining Palace. Like everywhere else on the exterior of the palace, the Crystal Jade here was still warm to the touch. The crystal fought against his efforts to influence it. A Stray Thought, still alive and healthy. One that still held a connection.
That connection would be the key here, he knew. The key to hacking his way into the magic. The key to changing it and all others with ties to it. However, such a feat could not be done as is. Not while the Stray Thought’s idea resisted outside influence.
“Any luck?” Prince Al’likar asked. Vetius exhaled and shook his head. A gesture the blind prince was able to notice through the eyes of the guide that stood beside him.
As Vetius knew he would, the prince had become more accepting of Vetius since their chat in the prince’s room. The Prince now understood the gravity of the situation.
If the Being won this power struggle... If the Being became whole... then he would leave this world. And seeing that this world’s magic was tied to the power, then the magic would likely go with. With out the power, the world would be thrown into chaos.
There was much in this world that could not exist without the power. Creatures, plants, entire bits of geography! The loss of the power would be devastating to the world. And so, the Being could not be allowed to win.
Furthermore, there was the Prince’s Adept abilities. Vetius suspected that this, more than anything were among the Prince’s highest reasons for coming to accept Vetius and the Clan. For while the Prince was technically blind, he was also a Sight Adept. The combination of those two attributes lead to some interesting results.
Prince Al’likar could see the world, but not through his own eyes. Instead he could see the world through the eyes of others. This had led him to developing some interesting fears in life. Fears of his being alone. Fears of his own blindness. A blindness that came from no one else being nearby.
In addition to his unique adept abilities, Al’likar’s condition led to some more useful possibilities. The kind of possibilities that had made Vetius so interested in the young prince.
The Young Prince pursed his lips. “So then,” He started, “how do we proceed?”
For a while, Sightless Vetius said nothing. He turned his sightless gaze in the prince’s direction, more for gesture than for anything else.
“We’ll need one of the artifacts.” Vetius said.
“Artifacts?”
“Stray Thoughts from long ago.” Vetius said knowing full well the comment had no meaning to the blind prince.
“And where do we find these artifacts?” Al’likar said hesitantly.
“We don’t.” Vetius said. “If the clan looks, it will be noticed.”
"But-"
“The Hekkru-Natjier is looking into it.” He said uneasily. “And from what I hear, it sounds like he may have a lead.”
The prince furrowed his brow, not understanding.
“And who is this Hekkru-Natjier?”
Sightless Vetius stared out into the distance, to where he suspect the visage of city would be.
He didn’t answer the young prince. Instead he let the Insight wash over him. With it, he fruitlessly searched for the artifacts yet again.
That connection would be the key here, he knew. The key to hacking his way into the magic. The key to changing it and all others with ties to it. However, such a feat could not be done as is. Not while the Stray Thought’s idea resisted outside influence.
“Any luck?” Prince Al’likar asked. Vetius exhaled and shook his head. A gesture the blind prince was able to notice through the eyes of the guide that stood beside him.
As Vetius knew he would, the prince had become more accepting of Vetius since their chat in the prince’s room. The Prince now understood the gravity of the situation.
If the Being won this power struggle... If the Being became whole... then he would leave this world. And seeing that this world’s magic was tied to the power, then the magic would likely go with. With out the power, the world would be thrown into chaos.
There was much in this world that could not exist without the power. Creatures, plants, entire bits of geography! The loss of the power would be devastating to the world. And so, the Being could not be allowed to win.
Furthermore, there was the Prince’s Adept abilities. Vetius suspected that this, more than anything were among the Prince’s highest reasons for coming to accept Vetius and the Clan. For while the Prince was technically blind, he was also a Sight Adept. The combination of those two attributes lead to some interesting results.
Prince Al’likar could see the world, but not through his own eyes. Instead he could see the world through the eyes of others. This had led him to developing some interesting fears in life. Fears of his being alone. Fears of his own blindness. A blindness that came from no one else being nearby.
In addition to his unique adept abilities, Al’likar’s condition led to some more useful possibilities. The kind of possibilities that had made Vetius so interested in the young prince.
The Young Prince pursed his lips. “So then,” He started, “how do we proceed?”
For a while, Sightless Vetius said nothing. He turned his sightless gaze in the prince’s direction, more for gesture than for anything else.
“We’ll need one of the artifacts.” Vetius said.
“Artifacts?”
“Stray Thoughts from long ago.” Vetius said knowing full well the comment had no meaning to the blind prince.
“And where do we find these artifacts?” Al’likar said hesitantly.
“We don’t.” Vetius said. “If the clan looks, it will be noticed.”
"But-"
“The Hekkru-Natjier is looking into it.” He said uneasily. “And from what I hear, it sounds like he may have a lead.”
The prince furrowed his brow, not understanding.
“And who is this Hekkru-Natjier?”
Sightless Vetius stared out into the distance, to where he suspect the visage of city would be.
He didn’t answer the young prince. Instead he let the Insight wash over him. With it, he fruitlessly searched for the artifacts yet again.
The Seed let out a final roar as Val and his fellow Pactmakers ripped out its final heart. The Seed, and its monstrous tendrils, fell limply to ground.
“CUT OFF THAT FUCKING MONSTER’S STEM!” Talley roared, tears of anger and grief flowing down her cheeks.
The Seed had just killed her lover, Haithen. Smashed him to bits before her eyes. Pieces of the Haithen still coated her. It was a trauma not likely to go away anytime soon, if ever.
Val struggled forward but faltered. The gaping wound at his side sapping him of strength.
“Senses! The hearts! I think they’re healing!” Nia cried in horror.
Nia herself, hadn’t faired much better than the rest of them. She hadn’t been able to get up after having been tossed, by a tendril, against a wall. Val worried that the creature might have paralyzed the woman, and that was not malady touch healers could easily heal.
Val struggled to rise, but he was too weak.
Whoosh! A woman dashed past him like the wind. Pulling out a curved blade, she hacked at the Seed's stem.
“Breath…” Val breathed out. Breath it was the name -or perhaps title- that the odd woman, with the strange foreign accent, had given them. She had sought the Pactmakers out a few days after the Distortion broke out in the small city of Kalor. A Fishing City on the south-eastern coast of the Nation of Sight.
The woman and her loyal followers seemed to have strange knowledge of the cult. She knew how to hide from the Cult. How to avoid the Insight, and a few techniques to fight back against the Sightless.
Furthermore, she seemed to have no connection to the Being. And yet she knew of him. Knew of his Unspoken Pact. Told them of what he would take from them if they died. The Being… He had fooled them! Lied to them! He had thrown them into this suicide mission, a mission none of them had wanted any part it.
Without Breath and her people. They would have never made it this far. Never have found the Seed’s location. Never have even gotten to the Seed. She and her people had sacrificed for them. And here she was right now, in the nick of time, helping them again.
Breath hacked away at the stem. Once. Twice. Three times. With the fourth strike, she had finally cut the stem clean off and salted the stump.
The Seed died. The world around them seemed to pulse. The Distortion slowly fading away.
Val blinked. After so long of living in the Distortion, he had forgotten what normal looked like. He looked to the dead Seed and gasped. The Seed… Its corpse had turned into Shadow Metal!
Breath collapsed into a sitting position and exhaled. Val could almost feel the woman’s exhaustion.
“It’s done.” She said.
Time stopped. Everyone, except Val and his remaining Pactmakers, froze in place.
“My, my.” Said the Being materializing out of thin air. “I wasn’t sure if you all would actually pull it off.” He said with a smile.
“You bastard.” Talley growled dangerously
“Yes, yes, me. Mr. Bastard” The Being said, looking at Talley with a knowing smile. “But instead of Bastard, how about we try the name-” The Being looked Talley in her eyes, letting his words linger for just a second, “-Haithen.”
Talley screamed in rage. Angered by Haithen taking her deceased lover’s name. Tossing the remains of her lover’s upper half to the side. She rushed at Haithen. Blade in hand.
Haithen snapped his fingers. Disappearing and reappearing beside Breath’s frozen body.
He frowned as if confused. “Hmmm… Perhaps that one might have been too soon...” He said more to himself than to the others.
“YOU THINK?!” Talley raged.
Haithen looked up at Talley. His gaze expressionless.
“Trickster of Tricksters.” An accented voice said beside Haithen.
Haithen blinked twice. His brow furrowing in confusion. He turned hesitantly to the woman beside him. Breath.
Her likeness blurred and unblurred. A strange crystal fell to the ground and vanished. Breath’s appearance had changed. Her black hair turned silver. Her tan skin changed to an orangish-tan hue.
Haithen’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Nashep-Natjier…” Haithen said, sounding almost in awe.
Breath raised her hand before Haithen and clenched it into a fist. It looked almost as if she were grabbing the fabric of reality itself.
“Begone.” She spoke.
The world shattered. Time rushed back in on itself.
When Val opened his eyes, the world returned to normal, but the Being was gone.
Talley collapsed to her hands and knee. “That bastard…” She whispered. “He took his name.”
Breath rose to her feet and looked to Talley, confused. Then, the realization set in.
“Who died?” She asked in her strange accented voice.
Val looked at her hesitantly. The woman he had known as Breath had changed in appearance entirely. And while he knew her voice, he couldn’t place her ethnicity.
“What are you?” Val asked, as Breath’s followers started shuffling into the room.
Val’s breath was slow and heavy. His body weak from blood loss. The world at times spinning.
Breath frowned at the response. Slowly she approached Val. Kneeling, to get a good look at his wound. Her expression turned hard and sorrowful.
Val smiled weakly. “It’s not so bad.” He said.
Breath gave him a flat stare.
“Nothing that your healers can’t heal right?” He’s said nodding off to Breath’s followers.
“I’m sorry, Val.” Breath said somberly.
“Sorry?” Val asked, a hint of worry creeping in his voice. “Sorry for what?”
“I’m sorry… for this.”
Breath’s hand dove into Val’s belly, causing him to gasp. He gasped not in pain, no, there was no pain. Instead he felt something different. Something he couldn’t describe. I was like Breath had dove into Val’s very being and began ripping out bits of him piece by piece.
“I can’t let him have you Val.” Were the last words he heard her say as the world began to fade. “I can’t let him have any of you.”
Breath exhaled as Valley, the last of the three pactmakers, died in her arms.
No. There used to be four pactmakers... perhaps more... Breath reminded herself.
She failed Talley. She failed all of them.
She let the woman’s corpse fall to the floor, and looked at the strange crystal held in her hand. Talley’s legacy. Now nothing more than a Stray Thought. The crystal had a strange look to it, with a mirror like sheen. But when you looked into it, it did not show one’s reflection. Rather it contained a world within. With glimpses of experiences, thoughts and emotions springing forth here and there.
Breath had succeeded in cutting out the bonds to the Being from each of the pactmakers. Even succeeded in rescuing their legacy. But what she seemed unable to do, was to do so without killing them.
Sighing, Breath shattered the fragile crystal in her hands and released Talley’s legacy back into the world.
“Another loss, Nashep-Natjier?” Dak-qam, One of her followers asked. He was of her Sqarwn-Enx, those bond for life.
Breath, The Nashep-Natjier -God’s Breath-, nodded solemnly.
“I can cut away his bond,” The Nashep-Natjier said in her native language, “but I can’t save them.”
“Then we do what must be done.” Dak-qam said. “We kill them all.”
“Kill all the pactmakers?”
Dak-qam nodded.
Nashep-Natjier sighed and shook her head. “We can’t beat him that way.” She said. “For every pact we end, he’ll make another.”
The Nashep-Natjier looked to Dak-qam. “And we can’t possibly find them all.”
“We kill them all. It is the best way.” Dak-qam repeated.
The Nashep-Natjier pursed her lips and rose to her feet.
“Come.” The Nashep-Natjier said. “It is time for us to go.“
Dak-qam nodded in agreement. Their job in this town was done, and furthermore she had revealed herself to The Being and firmly drew her line in the sand.
There would be more Pactmakers to find elsewhere. More bonds for her to break. The Being, he did not deserve the power he held. No one person would ever deserve the power he held.
It was her responsibility to break him. Her responsibility to break all of them.
“CUT OFF THAT FUCKING MONSTER’S STEM!” Talley roared, tears of anger and grief flowing down her cheeks.
The Seed had just killed her lover, Haithen. Smashed him to bits before her eyes. Pieces of the Haithen still coated her. It was a trauma not likely to go away anytime soon, if ever.
Val struggled forward but faltered. The gaping wound at his side sapping him of strength.
“Senses! The hearts! I think they’re healing!” Nia cried in horror.
Nia herself, hadn’t faired much better than the rest of them. She hadn’t been able to get up after having been tossed, by a tendril, against a wall. Val worried that the creature might have paralyzed the woman, and that was not malady touch healers could easily heal.
Val struggled to rise, but he was too weak.
Whoosh! A woman dashed past him like the wind. Pulling out a curved blade, she hacked at the Seed's stem.
“Breath…” Val breathed out. Breath it was the name -or perhaps title- that the odd woman, with the strange foreign accent, had given them. She had sought the Pactmakers out a few days after the Distortion broke out in the small city of Kalor. A Fishing City on the south-eastern coast of the Nation of Sight.
The woman and her loyal followers seemed to have strange knowledge of the cult. She knew how to hide from the Cult. How to avoid the Insight, and a few techniques to fight back against the Sightless.
Furthermore, she seemed to have no connection to the Being. And yet she knew of him. Knew of his Unspoken Pact. Told them of what he would take from them if they died. The Being… He had fooled them! Lied to them! He had thrown them into this suicide mission, a mission none of them had wanted any part it.
Without Breath and her people. They would have never made it this far. Never have found the Seed’s location. Never have even gotten to the Seed. She and her people had sacrificed for them. And here she was right now, in the nick of time, helping them again.
Breath hacked away at the stem. Once. Twice. Three times. With the fourth strike, she had finally cut the stem clean off and salted the stump.
The Seed died. The world around them seemed to pulse. The Distortion slowly fading away.
Val blinked. After so long of living in the Distortion, he had forgotten what normal looked like. He looked to the dead Seed and gasped. The Seed… Its corpse had turned into Shadow Metal!
Breath collapsed into a sitting position and exhaled. Val could almost feel the woman’s exhaustion.
“It’s done.” She said.
Time stopped. Everyone, except Val and his remaining Pactmakers, froze in place.
“My, my.” Said the Being materializing out of thin air. “I wasn’t sure if you all would actually pull it off.” He said with a smile.
“You bastard.” Talley growled dangerously
“Yes, yes, me. Mr. Bastard” The Being said, looking at Talley with a knowing smile. “But instead of Bastard, how about we try the name-” The Being looked Talley in her eyes, letting his words linger for just a second, “-Haithen.”
Talley screamed in rage. Angered by Haithen taking her deceased lover’s name. Tossing the remains of her lover’s upper half to the side. She rushed at Haithen. Blade in hand.
Haithen snapped his fingers. Disappearing and reappearing beside Breath’s frozen body.
He frowned as if confused. “Hmmm… Perhaps that one might have been too soon...” He said more to himself than to the others.
“YOU THINK?!” Talley raged.
Haithen looked up at Talley. His gaze expressionless.
“Trickster of Tricksters.” An accented voice said beside Haithen.
Haithen blinked twice. His brow furrowing in confusion. He turned hesitantly to the woman beside him. Breath.
Her likeness blurred and unblurred. A strange crystal fell to the ground and vanished. Breath’s appearance had changed. Her black hair turned silver. Her tan skin changed to an orangish-tan hue.
Haithen’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Nashep-Natjier…” Haithen said, sounding almost in awe.
Breath raised her hand before Haithen and clenched it into a fist. It looked almost as if she were grabbing the fabric of reality itself.
“Begone.” She spoke.
The world shattered. Time rushed back in on itself.
When Val opened his eyes, the world returned to normal, but the Being was gone.
Talley collapsed to her hands and knee. “That bastard…” She whispered. “He took his name.”
Breath rose to her feet and looked to Talley, confused. Then, the realization set in.
“Who died?” She asked in her strange accented voice.
Val looked at her hesitantly. The woman he had known as Breath had changed in appearance entirely. And while he knew her voice, he couldn’t place her ethnicity.
“What are you?” Val asked, as Breath’s followers started shuffling into the room.
Val’s breath was slow and heavy. His body weak from blood loss. The world at times spinning.
Breath frowned at the response. Slowly she approached Val. Kneeling, to get a good look at his wound. Her expression turned hard and sorrowful.
Val smiled weakly. “It’s not so bad.” He said.
Breath gave him a flat stare.
“Nothing that your healers can’t heal right?” He’s said nodding off to Breath’s followers.
“I’m sorry, Val.” Breath said somberly.
“Sorry?” Val asked, a hint of worry creeping in his voice. “Sorry for what?”
“I’m sorry… for this.”
Breath’s hand dove into Val’s belly, causing him to gasp. He gasped not in pain, no, there was no pain. Instead he felt something different. Something he couldn’t describe. I was like Breath had dove into Val’s very being and began ripping out bits of him piece by piece.
“I can’t let him have you Val.” Were the last words he heard her say as the world began to fade. “I can’t let him have any of you.”
Breath exhaled as Valley, the last of the three pactmakers, died in her arms.
No. There used to be four pactmakers... perhaps more... Breath reminded herself.
She failed Talley. She failed all of them.
She let the woman’s corpse fall to the floor, and looked at the strange crystal held in her hand. Talley’s legacy. Now nothing more than a Stray Thought. The crystal had a strange look to it, with a mirror like sheen. But when you looked into it, it did not show one’s reflection. Rather it contained a world within. With glimpses of experiences, thoughts and emotions springing forth here and there.
Breath had succeeded in cutting out the bonds to the Being from each of the pactmakers. Even succeeded in rescuing their legacy. But what she seemed unable to do, was to do so without killing them.
Sighing, Breath shattered the fragile crystal in her hands and released Talley’s legacy back into the world.
“Another loss, Nashep-Natjier?” Dak-qam, One of her followers asked. He was of her Sqarwn-Enx, those bond for life.
Breath, The Nashep-Natjier -God’s Breath-, nodded solemnly.
“I can cut away his bond,” The Nashep-Natjier said in her native language, “but I can’t save them.”
“Then we do what must be done.” Dak-qam said. “We kill them all.”
“Kill all the pactmakers?”
Dak-qam nodded.
Nashep-Natjier sighed and shook her head. “We can’t beat him that way.” She said. “For every pact we end, he’ll make another.”
The Nashep-Natjier looked to Dak-qam. “And we can’t possibly find them all.”
“We kill them all. It is the best way.” Dak-qam repeated.
The Nashep-Natjier pursed her lips and rose to her feet.
“Come.” The Nashep-Natjier said. “It is time for us to go.“
Dak-qam nodded in agreement. Their job in this town was done, and furthermore she had revealed herself to The Being and firmly drew her line in the sand.
There would be more Pactmakers to find elsewhere. More bonds for her to break. The Being, he did not deserve the power he held. No one person would ever deserve the power he held.
It was her responsibility to break him. Her responsibility to break all of them.
End of Arc 1