“What are they even doing down there?” he asked, clasping the necklace behind his head. “That’s the most boring play I’ve ever seen. You can’t even hear the actors.”
Lileth raised an eyebrow and gave him a wry smile. “Let’s see how you feel after the show.” Without warning, she hopped sideways off the ledge.
Cole swore, looking for a safer way down. The drop was about twice as tall as he was. During Roth’s training he sometimes jumped from greater heights, though with varying success. Steeling himself, he lowered himself with his hands before dropping. He landed roughly, rolling into a complete stranger.
“I’m so sorry!” Cole blurted, scrambling to his feet.
The woman appeared not to have noticed, however. She ignored him, looking at the air in front of her, groping at nothing.
“This way, fumble feet,” Lileth chided, leading him to a set of pillows close to the stage.
Cole plopped himself onto the pillow, looking up at the actors. The sporadic lights and noises around him were interesting enough, but at this point he had seen enough magic that he knew this would not entertain him for long. He still couldn’t hear the actors, despite them being close enough to touch. He didn’t want to be rude however, so he sat politely in mock interest and tried to mimic the reactions of the people around him.
“Does this not interest you? Should we retire back to our rooms and shut ourselves away for the night?” Lileth asked with a look of suppressed amusement. There was something she wasn’t telling him.
“No! Please, this is great. I’ve never seen a show like this before.” Cole chose his next words carefully, dropping his voice to a gentle whisper: “I’m just not sure what exactly the show is supposed to be. I might be missing a cypher or something, I still can’t understand a word these guys are saying.”
Unable to contain herself any longer, Lileth buckled over with a belly laugh. Cole’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. Seeing the chagrin painted over his face only seemed to make her laugh even harder. Cole felt himself suddenly captivated by her genuine, unrestrained joy. He didn’t mind being the butt of the joke as long as he made her happy.
Her mirth settled to a simmer as she reached behind Cole’s neck and unhooked the necklace. As soon as he heard the clasp click open, he knew something was wrong. His stomach dropped as if he were falling from a great height. He was no longer in the theater, but on a ship in the middle of a rolling ocean. He squinted as a blazing sun warmed his bare chest.
“Captain, the Galdebrean dogs are nearly on us!” Cole shouted to Captain Rustin from the crow’s nest.
“Right you are Master Borneo!” Rustin hollered across the deck as he pocketed his looking glass. “All right boys, just like we planned. Limp the lines and let some slack in the sails. Prepare to surrender yourselves to the mercy and grace of our Queen’s navy. Don’t you fret now! They’d be as generous a bunch as I ever saw!”
Laughter echoed across the deck as the crew set themselves to sabotaging their own ship. Borneo cut a few guide lines, leaving only a sliver of the rope intact. His heart quickened with anticipation. He loved a good bucket-shuffle.
Cole shut his eyes and held his breath, just as he did when trying to wake himself from a dream. He felt the pillow under him as his wandering hand found Lileth’s. When he opened his eyes he was back on the ship, seeing the world through the eyes of a man called Borneo. He closed his eyes again, gripping Lileth’s fingers. She squeezed his hand, letting him know he was safe. He opened his eyes again, joining his crew upon the Painted Star.
It was as if Cole were at the movies, though he was living the experience instead of watching it. He guessed they were on Aeneria, though the magic they used was unrefined and crude. They didn’t have the traditional three schools, though Cole did recognize when someone used Wisdom to age and weaken the lines for the rudder. Another crew member was clearly adept with Rage, displaying strength and tenacity that Roth would be proud of. Holding tightly to Lileth, Cole immersed himself in Borneo’s vision.
The Galdebrean navy approached their ship in a marvelous triple-masted leviathan. There was no way they could outstrip a ship of this caliber, but that was the whole point of the bucket-shuffle. After a feigned heist at the Brineport Trading Company, the crew of the Painted Star fled on their tired old vessel, leaving a breadcrumb trail of jettisoned cargo. The leviathan docked alongside the Painted Star and Rustin’s crew surrendered to the Galdebrean navy. Once safely below deck in the brig, Rustin’s crew broke their bonds with magic, which the citizens of Galdebreah were not yet privy to.
The majority of the Galdebrean crew was now on the Painted Star, taking inventory of the stolen cargo. They were exemplary sailors. They didn’t pocket a single trinket or bauble, even when no one was looking. With only a few lumps and tossed sailors, Captain Rustin’s crew commandeered the leviathan. Without the aid of magic, the Galdebrean sailors didn’t stand a chance. Captain Rustin was an honest man, especially when it came to dishonest work. Their would-be captors were generally unharmed and left with the crippled remnants of the Painted Star, which was stocked with a week’s worth of provisions. The navy would have no trouble limping back to the Galdebrean shore.
With their newly acquired and immensely expensive vessel, the pirates made for Gambit Cove. With such a treasure they would be welcomed as royalty, and partake in wanton debauchery for the rest of the cycle at the very least.
After a hot meal from the galley, Borneo took his spot in the tallest crow’s nest, which to his delight was outfitted with a padded floor. Angling away from the sun, the leviathan aimed for the inky skies and eternal night of Aeneria’s Dark Side.
An odd feeling roused Cole from Borneo’s tale. He felt a pressure on his arm that didn’t correlate with what he was doing in the crow’s nest. He closed his eyes and felt Lileth’s hand on him.
“This is a good stopping point. We should go,” she said, snapping Cole’s necklace on for him.
“But we’re just getting to the good part!” Cole exclaimed. “I want to see what Gambit Cove is like. The boys made it sound so…alive…” His voice trailed off. By ‘alive’ he of course was talking about the gratuitous revelry, wine, and women.
Lileth’s eyebrows disappeared in the locks of her raven hair. “Alive you say? Stay here if you like and see what Gambit’s Cove has to offer, or come with me and see what else The Sill has to offer. We’ve been here for several hours already and Pastori’s sun will be rising soon. A sunrise is quite a sight to behold on Aeneria, especially with the return of the soul flies.”
“Several hours!” Cole gasped. As if to accentuate her point, Cole’s stomach roared with hunger. “Lead the way then, so long as the way brings us by a few more of those vendors.”
“Of course.” She rose from her pillow with a fluid motion and leapt the height of the wall in a single bound.
Cole stood at the bottom of the wall, judging the height. It seemed much taller from down here. Refusing to ask for help, Cole decided to try using magic to make the leap. He was still hopeless with Rage, so there would be no help there. There was certainly no way to Passion himself up a wall. It would have to be Wisdom. He toyed with the idea of using air to push him, just as he’d created a current of water about him in the lagoon, but he didn’t trust the air to hold him. His recent weight loss gave him another idea, however. The idea was simple and he could trust it. Imagining the planet’s gravity pulling him not just towards the ground, but to every speck of matter about him, he committed his focus to those connections. He willed gravity itself to ignore him, creating a rule for the universe to follow. Cradling his rule with every ounce of his conviction, Cole jumped.
The speed at which he ascended surprised him. When the ledge flew past his chest he dropped his focus and felt gravity’s grip once more. He grappled his way onto the platform, realizing with giddy pride he had just consciously used Wisdom for the first time.
“I worried you were on your way to Gambit’s Cove.” Lileth’s
wry smile greeted him as he finished scaling the ledge.
“Did you see? I just used Wisdom to get up that wall!” Cole beamed, peeking over the edge. “No one helped me this time!”
She gave him an appraising nod. “I saw. It was…cute. Before long we’ll be shooing you off the tallest of tables.”
“Don’t laugh! This is a big deal for me! I swear once I figure this stuff out I’ll have you flying up in the trees,” Cole jabbed in mock-offense. He elbowed her and ran ahead, though he had no idea where they were going.
“Why wait? Let’s see what you’ve learned so far,” she jeered, catching up to him within a few strides.
“Ha! That would be hilarious. I don’t even want to know what you’d do to me if we squared off. I saw how you fought the Domina. You were terrifying.” He slowed, looking up at her with open adoration. “Who were you in the show? Were you Seive?”
“I was the captain of the Galdebrean ship.” Lileth grinned sheepishly, turning away. “You don’t get to choose your role in the show.”
Cole laughed. “Sorry for cracking you over the head. But in all fairness your crew should have given up by then. Half of you were in the water at that point.”
Lileth shrugged. “What can I say, Captain Harmoy was a stubborn man.”
His curiosity quickened with his stride. “So what exactly did we experience back there? The arts district is supposed to be full of people who use Passion, but that felt like it was more than just Passion. I was really there, like someone was messing with my mind.”
Lileth took his hand and wove them through a crowd, taking them farther from the district’s center. “We have our three schools of magic as you well know, but there are ways of combining them. What we just experienced was a blending of Wisdom and Passion. The visions were real memories from real people. The actors on stage orchestrate and refine the temporal impressions of those involved in the event. Their magic crafts a dreamscape for us to see and feel in our minds and in our hearts. Followers of Wisdom perfected the art long ago, but it was the Followers of Passion that saw the potential beauty in it.”
“That stuff really happened?” Cole fell silent for a moment, mouth agape as he took it all in. “I… I miss them. My friends on the Painted Star. Are these people still alive?”
“No, they are from a different age,” Lileth said.
Cole deflated somewhat, feeling as if his crew had just died. “Then how did their memories get to the stage? Were they passed down through storytellers or something?”
“Pirates care little for others, including their children.” Lileth flicked at a paper statue, spinning it on its string. “No, the memories were passed down through books infused with Wisdom. The books in your room have memories and magic embedded in their pages. Not only through the ink but within the words themselves. I could show you how to feel through them, but it is one of those things that are best discovered on one’s own.”
Cole resisted the urge to run back to his room and peruse his books with magic. “I thought I felt a little something while reading them. Now that I know what it’s like, I’ll watch out for it. I can’t wait to dive back into them.”
Lileth smirked sideways at him. “I thought you were enjoying our time together. We can turn in if you are ready to retire.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-” Cole sighed as her wolfish grin cut him short. “I need to do a better job of recognizing your humor. You’re so serious all the time it’s almost impossible to tell when you’re joking.”
“Me, serious?” she said, a hint of sarcasm apparent this time. “Come to think of it I may have been told that before. Don’t go spoiling my reputation.” She slapped Cole’s shoulder with the back of her fingers. It hurt, but he didn’t let her see it. “Do you feel up for a little run? Assuming you can keep up with me, that is.”
“Please, I can keep up with you giants no problem. Humans are quick little creatures.” He averted his eyes, remembering he was supposed to be an Underkin.
“Human you say? We Aenerians have some human in us as well you know,” she said offhandedly.
“That can’t be right, can it? I mean you generally look like us but no human has ever come close to your size- hey wait for me!” Cole cried out as Lileth took off at a full sprint.
Cole ran as fast as he could, but Lileth disappeared almost immediately. It felt good to stretch his legs, however. His muscles may not have been augmented with Rage, but his training with Roth had improved his flexibility and strength. Running for his life from time to time had also paid dividends. Between the pounding steps of his feet he tried to encourage his Wisdom to lessen the effect of gravity on his body. It worked only sporadically, however, and threw him off balance more than anything. But the sense of accomplishment was too satisfying to pass up. He flew around a corner and approached the edge of the Arts District, but Lileth was nowhere to be found. Cole wilted, wondering if she really expected him to keep up.
“Don’t stop now!” Lileth cried as she somehow came from behind him, passing him with a gust of wind. She slowed her pace enough for him to run just behind her.
She led him up a solitary tree, sprinting up a spiral ramp to the top. Lileth graciously slowed to a walk as Cole’s dizzied panting nearly caused a return of his fried deka seeds. The tree swayed excitedly despite the windless evening. The walkway narrowed as they climbed, forcing them to walk slower and closer. The branches thinned as the tree’s architecture yielded to a more hand-crafted look. Carvings of tiny moons and stars embellished a polished handrail that led to a structure very similar to a crow’s nest at the very top.
“Is this to your liking, Master Borneo?” Lileth asked.
“Very much so, Captain Harmoy. Help me up will you?” Cole raised his hands up like a child as Lileth’s strong hands wrapped around his chest, gently lifting him up into the center opening of the crow’s nest.
The view was breathtaking. Their tree was tall enough to grant them views of the toothy mountains and shimmering oceans beyond the walls of The Sill. Oberon was radiant as ever, throwing its ever-changing hues over the land like passing clouds. A pinkish glow tinged half of the horizon, teasing the imminent arrival of a rising star. On the darker horizon loomed a sliver of a greenish planet swirled with snow-white clouds. Cole could make out individual rivers of soul flies returning to the local planet, their dust trailing off to Oberon.
“Pastori?” Cole asked.
“The one and only,” Lileth said, her voice soft and dreamy.
“It’s so green.” Cole turned his head, looking from the impending sunrise to the local planet, trying to wrap his mind around the sheer concept of what he was seeing. Something dark below the moon caught his eye. “What’s that below Oberon?”
“I’ll show you.” Lileth brought her fingers together, faint emerald sparks jumping between them and solidifying into a crystalline cylinder. She handed the device to Cole. “Look through the smaller end, and be gentle so you do not bend the light overmuch.”
Cole brought the weightless object to his eyes. He squinted and focused until he saw what looked like a tiered wedding cake as dark as space.
“That is Oberon Temple,” Lileth explained, twisting and adjusting the tip of the telescope. “The leaders of our race live there. They are called the Celestial Council. One Wisdom Walker for each of the local planets. It is where our knowledge is collected and combed through. The Celestial Council holds court and deliberates over the greater issues that plague Aeneria. All of the Aeneria’s sovereignties heed the word of the Council. From what I’ve heard, your arrival has roused the Council into contention.”
“Because I broke the barrier,” Cole said, voice darkening.
“That, as well as a couple other flouted rules. Your arrival brought the return of the soul flies, granting strength to Oberon as well as our enemies. You Traveled when it has been, and still remains, impossible for others.” She held Cole’s eyes with an iron gaze. “You are an anomaly, Cole. I felt it in you when I
woke you from death’s slumber. There is something very different about you, and I’ve yet to figure out if it is for good or something else.”
Cole pulled his eyes away, looking out to the rivers of soul flies. “All of that stuff was accidental. I had no idea what I was doing. Things just happen around me and I have no say in it. But sometimes I have help,” he added, wishing he hadn’t said the last sentence.
“What do you mean by that? Who has been helping you?” Her hand pressed on his back.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” Cole said, shying away.
Lileth’s face softened, however it was clear that she was worried. “Very well then. Should you ever need someone to speak to, I am here.”
Silence fell heavy between them, leaving Cole feeling very much alone once again. Even with all the magic and fantastic things happening on Aeneria, he wished he was back home. Back in his ghetto-trash, Tree Street apartment with what was left of his family. Lileth pointed over the wooden railing, drawing his attention to the sunrise.
“It is starting.” Lileth whispered, “Look close and see how the light falls upon the peak of Oberon Temple. When that happens we will leave the house of Pastori and enter Allias.”
“Will we feel anything?” Cole asked, putting the looking-crystal up to his eye again. He felt a sudden sadness, as though the passing of Pastori brought him one step farther from Earth.
“Not a thing. We are not truly here in the first place, and neither will we physically enter Allias’s realm.” Her eyes snapped wide as she pointed once more. “There, the temple. Do you see the light?”
With the aid of Lileth’s magic lens, Cole saw a faint beam of light fall from Pastori’s rising star. Cole held his breath as the beam fell steadily towards the peak of Oberon Temple. Lileth took the lens from his hand just as the beam touched, which was a good thing. As the beam struck the temple, a brilliant light exploded from the summit, outshining Oberon and even the rising star. As quickly as the light flared, it was gone, leaving the world in supreme darkness. Every single star had vanished, as well as lights from The Sill below. Oberon was a dim ghost, barely visible against the impossible void. Cole couldn’t see his own nose. It was darkness as he had never experienced.
Saving The Dark Side: Book 1: The Devotion Page 31