I woke to the clatter of hooves and the rhythmic, bouncy clomp of a stallion's gait beneath me. A steady canter. I peeled my eyes open to be blinded by the force of a full noontide sun. Once the brilliance faded; the realm ahead coalesced into delicate pinks, fiery oranges, serene purples, and sun-kissed yellows, each blossom vying for attention. A tempo of a thumping heart pulsed in my ear. My hand lifted to meet with a muscle-bound chest. My eyes flew up to see an angular jaw. Velar glanced down at me and smirked.
"You slept from night to noon." A hint of heat in his eyes. "You were clearly comfortable."
I yanked my head from his chest. Still sideways, I snatched the leather reins, and I forcibly brought the stallion to a stop. I climbed off and I walked away, trying to gather my bearings. My deductions were futile, since I had never left Cliffreach. I've only ventured as far as peripheral territories on sabbaticals.
I walked on the edge of the dirt road. A fragrant breeze caressed the meadow, immersed with the invigorating scent of freshly bloomed wild roses with the earthy aroma of dew-kissed grass, steeped in the vibrant tapestry of nature's bounty.
Wherever I was, I was far from home.
Velar spurred the stallion ahead so it could trot alongside me.
"Get on the horse."
"I don't make it a habit to ride with mass-murderers."
"A mass murderer that won your mother's seal of approval," he said, as if it was a casual credible counter.
I went on as if he wasn't there.
He steered the stallion to impede my path abruptly. I halted, glaring up at him.
"We don't have time for this," he said, his voice devoid of play. "You don't have time for this."
"I don't know what this is," I hollered back. My anger flared. "You slaughtered people I knew. You took me from my mother—"
"To safeguard you so you can safeguard us all," he barked back with equal contempt. "You ask all the questions except for the only one that matters. And that is why? Why has all this happened? Why was I summoned and why did I have to kill all those people?"
I kept silent, meaning for him to expound.
He swung his leg over and smoothly slipped off. He twisted the reins around his hand to keep the stallion posted at his side. Velar drew in a weighty breath, and his eyes went in all directions except for my own, as if he too, were trying to make sense of it all.
"Long ago," he began in a ridiculing tone as if he was regaling a child. "An infant was taken to a parish and delivered into the arms of the Mother Superior. For the child's safety, she bore the brunt of public scrutiny that she was with child, fathered by a passing tradesman or whatever fib she sold to the gullible masses."
A single story that unraveled the seams of my life, undoing the very fabric of what I believed and who I was. I thought the reason she was so stringent was to prevent me from repeating her blunders and stumbling down the path she had found herself on. She was true to her faith, but she allowed the stain on her repute in order to protect me, so no one would question my origins.
"Your father and I brought you here together."
My eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets. "My fa–fa," I stammered like a fool.
"The cosmic conjunction. This phenomenon that occurs every few hundred years is one of the rarest astronomical events. The planetary alignment, and the next alignment of all the celestial realms, has been said to have already transpired."
Confusion yanked my brows. "How does this concern me?"
"The alignment is a bridge, a conduit between all realms, all thresholds that anything can pass through unhindered. Including the dark forces of the union wielded by Murvis."
Something nameless sapped my spirit. Murvis was the name given to a faceless foe. An amorphous enemy that surpassed the peril of ten thousand armies. It was neither a weapon nor a warband, neither soldier nor shadow. The malignant force was like a venom that poisoned one against the other; it controlled the minds of people, generals, kings, lowborn, or nobility, courting only chaos and inflicting catastrophic devastation.
The only way that Murvis could possess a soul was if it was already corrupted; a heart that harbored resentment or was embittered by envy. Wickedness was a seed borne in man and Murvis knew how to cultivate it and make people do unthinkable things. Balance was a law that cannot be transgressed and if the scales of one tipped to darker impulses. His soul was Murvis's own and ripe for the taking. Murvis single-handedly engineered the realm's ruin by instigating the Great Realm War in the First Age that caused the fracturing that nearly ripped the realm apart. Had it not been for the Sagetai, one in each age thereafter. Murvis would have succeeded.
"Murvis seeks the Sagus. Do you know what that is?"
"The seven tokens of ten."
"Which earned their name after the divergence," Velar elaborated. "The predecessors, Sajatai after Sajatai, suffered hopeless battles trying to contain Murvis because it could not be destroyed, such as light and darkness. Each is condemned to co-exist with the other. Beholden to the cosmic order. Unable to be destroyed, only subdued. To weaken it further, one Sajatai advised that the Sagus must be dismantled, and each province would claim a token for safekeeping. Your father's counsel proved sound."
My mind swept up, caught in the cyclone of clamoring thoughts.
If my father was the Sajatai… that meant…
My eyes glided up as my body sunk to my haunches, my legs unable to keep me standing.
"He knew the provinces would be safe at least until the next alignment," Velar said, looking at me the same way he did when we first met only a night ago; a reverential look reserved for divinities. "Which is why an infant was delivered to a parish. And an enchanted door with a horn was concealed, and only meant to reveal itself when the time was near. My sole duty in this lifetime is to safeguard you and help you retrieve all seven tokens of ten before Murvis does."
I hung my head. The literal weight of the world dropped upon my shoulders; a heft I feared I was unfit to bear. Never once were there inklings dribbled out to foreshadow such a fate. I was raised as an apprentice to a Mother Superior, who was taught to pray tirelessly and serve wholeheartedly. My mind could not comprehend the magnitude of this providence foisted upon me.
I was the help. Not a hero.
"You mistake me for another," I whispered shakily.
"I beg of you, do not wallow in denial," he said jadedly. "The fate of the realm rests in your calloused hands, and it simply cannot spare you the time to thwart your internal crises."
I sprouted to my feet, meeting his steely-eyed glare in kind. "The Sajatai is a being imbued with god-like powers, a legend amidst mere mortals. Whereas my only gifting is making it to morning prayers after I snuck out the night before to go to the tavern. I am no one's savior. I've never even trained—"
"All that mattered was that you were safe," he said with firm finality. "Why do you think all those people you knew tried to kill you?"
An epiphany struck me like a whack to the head.
He nodded pointedly, watching the realization take hold of my face. "The alignment is already upon us, and the gap is widening. The more it does, the more his power increases and his reach expands. If you fail to restore the Sagus, much more than the humble few of those you love will perish."
Velar mounted back on the horse. "There is no time for a rousing speech to rally your courage. You know the stakes, and you cannot begin to fathom the peril. Murvis already knew where you were. As his power increases, so does your own. So, you can stay here and stew on the fact that you are unworthy and incapable. Or you can honor the legacy of the last Sajatai and all before him by striving to maintain the peace they perished for. All your best requires is for you to try. We all need you to try."
He extended his hand to me expectantly. I looked up at him, my jaw ticking.
I grabbed his forearm, and he swung me up onto the stallion, so I was behind him on horseback.
"Do you have a heading?"
"Where we go, we sail not against wind and tide. Where we go, we will need an airship."
~
In the saddlebag my mother prepared, along with a change of clothes, there was a sack purse that came with glad tidings. We were able to buy safe passage to Aetherveil aboard a merchant vessel transporting imported goods. A fee that cost my head's weight in silver, but can anyone put a price on salvation? The only peculiarity was that it was one of the last few airships granted entry. From the seventh rise of the sun, Aetherveil would have closed their airdocks to all.
No foreigners in and no denizens out.
If we were seabound, we would need to succumb to the scant mercy of the sea. Ascending to the upper atmosphere of Aetherveil's domain presented a different challenge. Velar and I loitered in the gallery, an outdoor balcony bulging from the nose of the ship.
The air was so crisp I could feel it crackling in my lungs. Not cold, but fresh. Floating in the breach between the heavens and the earth. The world below dissolved, and we were wrapped in the embrace of the aether. Its breaths winnowed through my hair, stroking my face and expelling my worries for even just a moment. The entire vessel tilted upwards as if tugged by the nose and we were heading right towards the veil of clouds with blades of flaming orange lancing through its torso. The tip of the ship pierced through, emerging from the billowing clouds as it broke through the surface of the ocean of sunset-soaked vapor.
Aetherveil.
The books and tales did not begin to quantify its majesty. The floating city was rumored to be where heathen gods explored its splendor at their leisure. In Aetherveil, the air hummed with untamed power. Aeromancy was what kept this world above the world afloat. Aeromancers were the ones that resided there and protected their haven in the sky. Aeromancers could navigate the currents, shaping gusts and breezes to their will. They rode the winds, guided ships, summoned storms, or could bring down vessels with a zephyr. The manipulation of air allowed them to soar through the skies and harness the unseen energy that surrounded us all.
Once the vessel was granted access to the airdocks. We came aboard the platform, and we made our way towards the current-cured city with the aerodome in our sights. That was where the Air Abbess governed the affairs of Aetherveil.
As we approached, glorious silhouettes emerged, and the city's towering pearlescent spires transcended the heavens. Erected from a harmony of luminescent marble, shimmering glass, and enchanted metals, the city exuded a magical radiance that danced across its surfaces, reflecting the ever-evolving hues. There was only one alarming abnormality; there was not a single soul in the city.
"Is it always this… empty?" I asked.
"No," Velar said grimly. A touch of dread in his tone. "Something is awry."
Despite the enigma behind the vacancy, I could not help but admire my surroundings. A masterpiece of architectural magnificence was suspended in the infinite skies—towering above the mortal plane, a jewel bedecked with soaring splendour.
"Just so we are on the same frequency," I said, my gaze heavenward, catching only glimpses of flying objects leaving ripples in the wisps of orange-tinted white. "You think the monarch of this domain will simply hand over a token? Not only a relic of the past but a catalyst of the future—the cause of which if the Almighty would deign to spare us one."
"Nothing worth doing is ever simply done."
We crossed bridges adorned with delicate filigree, glistening arcs arched gracefully over wide canals, where cascades of iridescent water flowed in a gentle symphony. The aerodome was a glimmering mirage, an edifice made of sparkling glass and gilded edges topped with a ginormous glass dome. And heavily fortified by soldiery uniformed in white and cream. We came to the gilt gate that was manned by a score of soldiers that opened it as we approached. White-tattooed combatants traded terse nods with Velar, clearly familiar with him. One of them thawed away. His platinum white hair was identical to his uniform.
"Kaia," Velar greeted with a rare smile filled with warmth.
They clasped hands in a quick greeting. Kaia's loam-gray eyes fell on me instantly.
"You always said the next time you returned; it would be at the side of the Sajatai."
The twitch of his muscles was enough to have me pleading for him to not go down on his knees. Instead, he bowed his head deeply, his face to the ground.
"An honor."
"One that must be earned," Velar remarked. "I see Aetherveil has been put under lockdown."
"A mandate has been sent to all the provinces. Tradesmen and merchants alike were sanctioned to deliver final exports."
"Only the eight rulers can permit such an invocation. What has happened to merit it?"
Kaia shrugged rigidly. "Details not divulged to us, neither simple men nor military. All I know is that I have been assigned to your crusade to assist you and the Sagetai."
"Our time in Aetherveil will be short."
Kaia's eyes darted to mine coyly. "I will have the Sajatai's suit of armor delivered to the captain."
Velar clapped a hand on his shoulder as he passed him. I followed, sharing a secret smile with Kaia.
"I take it you have been here before?"
"What do you think I have been doing for these past decades?" He said with unprovoked aggression snarled around his tone. "Before you and after you, I circulated the provinces to ensure the security of the Sagus that each token was closely guarded. There is only one domain I was denied entry to because they claimed I had no purpose without the Sajatai. I have come to know the names of rulers, and they know mine. All so I could one day bring you before them all."
Releasing a scant scoff, I said, "How fortune favors me."
Velar wheeled on me so hot that I even flinched back.
"It is time you began to take this seriously." His voice was hushed but lashed with hostility. "Too many souls have been sundered from this earth for you not to. Every life you see whether they come to know of it or not. You are the author of their destiny, and if you fail. You punctuate every story regardless of whether it was ending or if it had just begun. Understand?"
Scolded like a child, I merely submitted a nod.
He turned and led the way across the courtyard with a lonesome monument constructed in the shape of the Sajatai's symbol. The giant gold-flecked doors swept aside to welcome us in with no hand or mechanism to haul the heft. The guards paid us no attention, as if they foresaw our advent. We were received by handmaidens who took us to an opulent bathhouse. We were made to bathe so we could be cleansed before we entered the audience of Her Holiness. They changed me into a full white attire with a high-collared tunic, tight at the forearms and ankles. Velar was the only one clad in black, but he wore no top garment. For the first time, I saw the curved daggers like short swords tattooed on his back, occupying the entire space of either shoulder blade. The hilts were aimed at the ridge of his shoulders and the tips pointed to his hipline.