Ch. 15: Overwhelming Power

I woke to a blue haze, and I stood there, looking about me uneasily.

Where am I?

I noticed Dukalis standing off to my side, looking just as confused as I did.

"What's going on?" I asked as I padded up to him. "Where are we?"

He turned to me, looking estranged. "...I think we're in your dreams," He muttered at last. "But that's unusual. Even I never even mastered the art of walking in dreams. That was Lune's godly magic…" Dukalis stared at me for longer, as if he expected me to know the answer. "We must be here due to a higher calling."

I held my breath. "...You don't think it's the gods, do you?"

He shook his head. "I'd know that taste of divinity anywhere. No, either a fellow spirit or another skilled creature brought us here."

I glanced at him. "...You don't think it could be something else? Like your own magic awakening?"

He shrugged, and we continued to stand there, the eerie silence suffocating our speech altogether. The haze stretched off into the distance, and if there was anything beyond the fog then we couldn't see it.

Suddenly I pricked my ears, and a bright light flashed within the thick haze. "Dukalis," I whispered, but he understood.

"Come with me." He murmured, floating off in the direction of the flash, leaving me to follow him warily.

We strode through the fog for what felt like ages, seeing nothing but the same old indigo clogging our vision.

But then I saw a figure amidst the darkness, and my heart leaped. It couldn't be…

Abarin?

There was no mistaking it. I remembered his sleek silver fur, his shining violet eyes, his gentle fatherly face. Before Dukalis could react, I raced out of the fog and bounded towards him.

"DAD!" I yelled, arms stretched out.

But instead of making contact with him, his form floated through me, and I skidded to a stop with a growing shock.

"Dad…?"

I turned back around to face him and finally realized that his form was slightly transparent. Now that I looked at him more closely, he was surrounded by what seemed like a bubble of sorts. It contained its own little world, and my father was surrounded by grass and cloudy skies.

Dukalis floated up beside me. "He's alive."

I shot him a shocked glance. "What's going on? What is this?"

"It looks as if someone has been scrying your father," He replied softly, his voice quivering with a sense of awe. "But how? That's impossible. He's not in Aetryia anymore."

I caught my breath. "...Where is he, then?"

The Sorcerer turned to me, his eyes wide with surprise and amazement. "...I'm afraid I don't truly know, Aven," He murmured. "I trained all my life to become a master of all magic arts, but I've never learned how to scry someone from off the face of the earth. How can this be…?"

I turned back to the bubble containing Abarin and concentrated closely. It looked like he was in a field, holding his hand up against a fierce wind. But off in the distance rose strange, metallic structures, their forms gleaming in the imperfect shattered sun.

"Is this in real time?" I finally asked softly.

Dukalis didn't answer for a while. "...I have no idea. I have no way to tell… not that I have much practice with scrying myself."

My eyes welled up with tears. "Then this could be from years ago. He could have been dead a long time now."

"Don't think like that," Dukalis soothed, resting his wispy tail across my shoulders. "He wouldn't want you to have that mindset, would he?"

My hands trembled as I struggled to keep my composure. "...What I want to know now is… who is scrying him?" I stared wildly at the spirit through blurred vision, clenching my fists. "I need to know. I need to know what's happened to him, and I need to learn how to scry him for myself."

Dukalis' mouth hung open. "You are far too young to learn the art of scrying, Aven!"

"Oh, yeah? And who says?"

"I say so," He growled. "Remember, I'm your teacher. Scrying is extremely draining and dangerous, even if you're only doing it from ten feet away. Imagine how whoever's doing this is able to accomplish it from uncountable leagues away!"

I stared at him wildly, then groaned and turned. "This isn't good," I mumbled, stumbling away from the bubble. "Not good at all." My voice dropped to a whisper, shaking with the effort to even draw it out.

Meanwhile Dukalis began mumbling to himself. "...I agree with you, Aven," He said at last, following me. "This is strange, indeed. The overwhelming power that one would need to scry someone, from that far away… it would make one almost equal to the gods." He scoffed, rubbing his brow. "And to think that even I, who couldn't even master the art of scrying from ten leagues away, was imprisoned for challenging the god's power! Much less someone of this caliber!"

Then he began to laugh hysterically, lifting his blue head to the indigo sky and crowing indignantly. "Oh, Seven Lords! You truly are cruel! The double standards truly multiply under your reign, don't they?! Free me now, if you have allowed someone with such great power to roam the earth! Strike me down and send me to the afterlife, if you will!"

"Calm down!" I stopped him, feeling unnerved from his outburst. "Listen. I have an idea."

"And what is that?" Dukalis sneered with a wild look in his eyes.

"Is it possible to be born with the magic of scrying?" I asked slowly.

He looked like he was about to say no, but then stopped to think. "...There was one aetyr who I gifted scrying to," He murmured. "It was a Black Mane. But I don't remember who exactly received it." But then he looked at me quizzically. "...What are you trying to get at?"

"...Didn't you say that the royal family send Sorcerers to Dragon's Reach to harvest magic from the Consumed?" 

"Yes, of course. That's the whole reason I made you go on this quest- wait a minute…" His eyes widened so that his white pupils were glowing slits. "...You don't think that Prince Illesior is the one doing this?!"

I sighed. "I don't think it's him, specifically. Seeing as he wasn't able to fend off the Spectre back in the Jade Hills, I doubt he's the one holding this much power."

"Unless he was holding it back."

I gasped. "...You don't think he was trying to kill Shefaris, do you?"

For once Dukalis looked like he was totally at a loss for words. His voice came out in a dry whisper, overwhelmed with emotion and coldness.

"...The royal family has always had an agenda to them, Aven… There's always the fair possibility that, if he were truly this cold, he would've sacrificed Shefaris as a new source of power. He could be using her as an alternate form of magic consumption to add to his abilities."

My mouth felt dry, and I looked over his shoulder to stare at the bubble holding Abarin, still on his own personal quest… unless it had already ended for him. "...I don't want to think that he could be this powerful. Or cruel." I reached out my hand to touch my father, but it phased through his transparent form. That adventurous, brave face… I knew I would always be proud of my father, regardless of whatever happened.

"My descendants have always been skilled in the art of deception," Dukalis muttered into my ear. "I'm trying to break free from that trait, but I can never be sure who is the same as I, or who has embraced their cunning wit."

I leaned up against him, breathing heavily. "...What should we do?" I whispered, sweat running down my face and clogging my mane with sticky apprehension.

"...It is up to you, Aven." He said with a sudden conviction. "You're no longer the aetyr you once were. You've moved on from your naivety and childish tendencies. It's time you embraced your new identity."

I looked at him. "Do you trust me, then?"

He nodded. "The gods did one thing right, and that was choosing you as my student. Illesior said it best: You are the pure albino. You are the Anomaly."

I turned back to Abarin's bubble, watching him traverse the mysterious gleaming field. He was so brave, so intelligent… 

Suddenly I knew what I had to do.

"Dukalis, there's something I need to do."

"And what is it?" He asked curiously.

"It's time I told Strubin everything."

He stared at me, his expression unreadable after the shock of the revelation we had uncovered. Finally he nodded.

"...I can't see how it would be helpful, I'm afraid." I held my breath as he replied. "But I trust your intuition."

"You'll help me, right?" I asked him, reaching out to stroke his blue form, grasping his ghostly hand.

He nodded again solemnly. "I'll be by your side, Aven. To the ends of the earth, if so be it."

"To the ends of the earth." I agreed.

Suddenly I felt weird, and as I stretched out my hand it began to flicker.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Dukalis blinked as his form began to fade. "It seems we're being retrieved from this dream space," He replied. "In other words, you're waking up, and I'll be bound to your mind and book once more."

Before I could reply, everything suddenly went dark.

My eyes flew open to find Strubin lying beside me. His sturdy green form was lit in the warm early sunlight filtering through the window in the roof.

"Good morning." He murmured, nuzzling my face.

My face flushed red, but I sat up abruptly, my gaze wild with indignation.

Strubin flinched. "What's wrong?"

I panted and slowly turned to face him. "...I'm sorry, Stru," I replied breathlessly. "There's something I need to tell you, that I should've told you before."

Before he could reply, I grasped his hands firmly. "Promise me that you won't tell anyone. Promise me you'll believe me, no matter how outlandish it'll seem."

He looked dazed, but nodded after a long moment of silence. "I'll always believe you, Av," He murmured, his eyes shining with affection. "And I'll do anything for you, you know that."

I sighed and lowered my head. "...Remember how I said that I'm the new Bookkeeper?" I finally mumbled. He nodded briskly.

"Well, all the magic that comes from the book… it's actually… well, the book is inhabited." I stopped and looked back up at Strubin. His face was unreadable.

I continued after a moment. "There's a spirit that lives in the book. It- well, he is the reason why every other aetyr before me has gone insane. He's tried to interact with everyone before me, but because of his overwhelming magic, it ended up corrupting them and either killed them or turned them into monsters."

Strubin's eyes widened. "I knew that book was cursed!" He said suddenly. "Why would Illesior do this to you? He could've killed you."

"Wait, hold on!" I stopped him. "I'm not finished. Because I have no inborn magic, I was able to successfully awaken the spirit and talk to him. His magic entered me and now I can wield it like it's my own. I'm completely safe, don't worry." I tried to reassure him, but he looked extremely confused and shocked.

"...So there's a spirit lending you his magic?" He whispered. "But that sounds dangerous, Aven. What if he's actually possessing you?"

"He's not!" I snapped. "I'm still sane, for the most part. Remember how I healed you? That was him helping me. Remember how I gave us light in the tunnel? That was him. He's channeling his magic through me and using me as a vessel. We work together. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here on this quest with you. We couldn't have gotten together."

He was quiet for a while, then before I realized what was happening he hugged me. "...I understand," He murmured.

I was shocked. "Y-you do?"

He pulled away and stared into my eyes, nodding. "Of course. I always knew you were special."

I rolled my eyes uncomfortably. "You're just biased." I replied jokingly.

He nuzzled me lovingly. "So what if I am? I love you, Aven," He purred into my ear, "And nothing would ever change that. Not even teaming up with some spirit possessing a book from your job would deter me from wanting to be with you. You're beautiful and amazing. What more could I ask for?"

I was stunned. "...Thanks," I murmured. "I wasn't sure if you would trust me after I told you this. I'm sorry I never told you sooner, but the spirit told me not to tell anyone."

The green aetyr looked at me. "Why's that?"

I shuffled my paws. "...He's scared of the royal family finding out about him," I replied. "He thinks they'll try to extract more magic from him than he can loan, and it'll end up weakening him."

Strubin was quiet for a while. "...Do you know the spirit's name?" He asked.

I nodded. "His name is Dukalis. He's an ancient spirit- he was around before the majority of aetyrim were given magic at birth."

His mouth gaped open. "Wow. That's incredible."

I nodded. "Have you heard of the legends surrounding him?"

He prodded his chin for a moment. "...I was never really a history buff," He replied after shaking his head. "I spent almost all of my time in Gatesborn either tending to the farm or watching my aunt's shop. I didn't have time to read up on stuff like that."

I shrugged. "Neither did I, but my father would tell Arius and I about the history of Aetyria, so that's how I know."

We sat there on the bed for a while, before Strubin cleared his throat again. "Listen Aven, I-"

But then the bedroom door flew open, and the dust cleared to reveal Sophi with her leg lifted up in a mighty kick. "GOOOOOOOOD, MORNING AEEETTTYYYYRRRIIIAAAA!" 

Strubin laughed. "A jolly good morning to you as well, Sophi!"

Behind her, Kirune peeked over her shoulder. "Hurry up and get ready!" He told us. "We're leaving in an hour. We have to get to Xy'Kiln by sunhigh!"

"You got it!" I did a mock salute and both the aetyrim in the doorway laughed.

"Aye, aye, Cap'n!" Sophi joked, returning the gesture. "Come on, Kirune! Breakfast awaits!" With that she turned and raced down the hall, Kirune on her tail.

Strubin turned to me, his eyes shining. "I guess we'd better get to it," He grinned. "Otherwise Sophi might beat us into shape."

I nudged him playfully. "I'd like to see her try!"

As I got up, suddenly he grasped my arm gently.

I turned to face him. "What's wrong?"

"Aven…" His eyes glittered with gratitude. "Thank you for telling me. I greatly appreciate it."

I caught my breath. "You won't tell anyone, right?"

He nodded solemnly. "Cross my heart. Your secret is safe with me."

I pressed my forehead to his in a quick affectionate gesture. "You're the best."

He purred, a deep rumble in his throat. "No, you are."

I slugged his shoulder playfully. "Sly furball! We'll see about that."