“We should be safe, for the time being,” I said, pointing towards the door. “Someone has been living here, though. Complete with their own museum room and personal entrance to the mine.” I looked at Val and raised an eyebrow.
Her jaw clenched slightly as she shook her head. “I am unaware of any operations taking place beneath Shadowmine other than mining.” Her answer came just as calmly as before, but it seemed to bother her more severely as we stood within the proof that such a place existed. “This construction is old military, from when Kaldan was first formed as a nation, but I have never heard or read of its existence.”
“That’s likely by design,” I muttered. Motioning to the door, I waited for Val to make the first move. “Well? Shall we find out what Virram wanted to keep hidden?” After a brief pause, she nodded and made for the door. Lia and I fell in behind her and followed into the living space, closing the door behind us.
The construction of the room was the same seamless marble as the large chamber from which we entered, but where the latter had been entirely empty, our current surroundings were lavishly decorated with massive paintings, tapestries, and overstuffed bookshelves. Most of the iconography in the artwork was foreign to me, but the repeated symbol and color palette of the Unity Church was apparent in most of the pieces.
“This is so...weird,” Lia said under her breath as she ran a finger along a low table. “How is all of this space so perfect after everything that’s happened? You’d think the monsters would have come through here first.”
“If I had to guess, I’d say that whoever was living here knows a lot more about those things than we do,” I said, browsing the titles of a row of books on a nearby shelf. “They were clearly brought here with some sort of purpose. Anybody who could do that probably knew a way to survive down here with them, and that would definitely involve keeping them out of the living quarters.”
“We need to make a coordinated sweep of this entire structure,” Val said, interrupting our theorycrafting. “There must be an explanation down here somewhere.”
“Let’s start with the study,” I suggested, having already found a pile of handwritten notes and open journals through my Detection. “Through that door, over there.” Val accepted the information without question and proceeded through the indicated door with Lia and me close behind. The study was mostly barren compared to the entry; the marble walls were empty of decoration, and the bookshelves were filled only with simple leatherbound notebooks titled with seemingly random strings of letters and numbers. Two and a half cases were filled with these identical tomes, while another three stood empty beside them. A single desk sat against the left wall covered with maps, stray papers, a box of unmarked journals, and a large book bound in white leather.
“Look at these journals; they’re ancient!” Lia mused, gingerly pulling the first book from the top shelf. The leather binding audibly creaked as she opened the front cover. “The first journal of Ergram Lax, Yorian Circle Shadebinder,” she dictated. She cocked an eyebrow and looked up from the book. “Never heard of him.”
Val stiffened and turned to address Lia. “Did you say...Shadebinder?” she asked in an ominous whisper.
“Umm...yeah. Shadebinder,” Lia answered. She spun the book in her hands and offered it out to Val. “That’s what it says.”
Val recoiled from the book as if it were aflame. “Lia, put that down, immediately.” She took another step back and looked around the room again, suddenly seeing the space in a new light. “We should not be here.”
“Val, what’s going on?” I asked. Alarm bells blared in my head as I watched her fearful reaction, and my stomach twisted as my imagination began to fill in the gaps. “Who was Ergram Lax?”
She shook her head. “I do not know of Ergram Lax, but I know of Shadebinders. They were a group of occult sorcerers who performed perverted experiments on the dead—dangerous heretics who were purged from the Unity Cathedral long ago, in the time of legends. There have been no Shadebinders in Kaldan for generations.”
“According to…?” I trailed off, already fearing the answer.
“The King, and his Council, and the Yorian Cathedral,” she answered. “According to everything I have ever known.” Her eyes bounced wildly around the room. “Lux, if there has been a new order of Shadebinders established with Kaldan, we are in far more danger than I could have feared. They hold powers greater than anything a normal human can ever hope to achieve.”
“Hold on, Val,” I said, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. “This all sounds like superstition to me. Whatever happened down here, we stopped it. Whether it was a Shadebinder, or something else, it doesn’t matter. We stopped it, and after we find who caused this mess, we’ll stop them, too. Permanently.”
A tear streamed down her face as she turned to look at me. “Virram,” she whispered. “It is Virram. There is no other way.”
My jaw fell open as I stood, at a loss for words. “I, uhm...Val, I believe you, but...are you sure?”
“Yes,” she answered firmly. “If a power as great as the Shadebinders had come to his notice, Virram would have chased it without end.” Her head shook back and forth, knocking fresh tears loose from her olive eyes. “It would explain...many things. Meetings which even I was unallowed to attend. Resources allocated to unnecessary projects. Undisclosed travels with undisclosed diplomats, attended by only Councilor Gullen.” Her hand shot up and gripped my arm, squeezing it painfully tight with her heavy gauntlet. “Lux, I have allowed this to happen. I followed his orders without question. I very well could have—”
“No!” Lia yelled, hugging Val from the side. “Stop it, Val! This isn’t your fault. If Virram really caused all of this, it’s his fault, not yours! You didn’t do any of this. You’ve always done what you thought was just, because you’re a good person.” Val seemed stunned by the gesture, staring down at Lia in awe. With painstaking slowness, she reached her arms down and returned the embrace, resting her chin on Lia’s head as tears continued to flow.
“You’re here, Valandra,” I said quietly. “After everything Virram put you through, you’re still right here, saving the world from his plans. You’re not at fault for this; you’re the hero.”
She sniffed loudly and straightened her posture, lifting Lia a few inches off the ground in the process. “Thank you, Lia, Lux.” She dropped Lia and looked away, taking a moment to wipe her face. When she turned back, her expression had returned to its natural blank slate. “We need to search this room for every piece of evidence tying King Yorrell to the Shadebinders. I will not allow that man to sit on the Golden Throne a moment longer, should this prove true.”
“Now, that’s the spirit!” I grinned, clapping her on the back. “That’s an effort I can get behind. I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but I fucking hate that guy.” Val let out a brief, delicate laugh, then graced me with a familiar smile. “Alright, evidence. We may want to split up for this: the room beyond here is some sort of trophy hall, which, depending on the contents, could be exactly what we’re looking for. If you start looking in there, I’ll help Lia with the books in here.” She nodded and crossed the study, carefully opening the door to the next room and scanning the empty space before entering.
Lia grabbed my hand and twined her fingers between mine. That went well.
Sure. We just told her some evil cult is coming back to ruin her country and shattered her entire worldview at the same time. I let out a heavy sigh and stared up at the ceiling. Though, I guess it really did go well, all things considered.
She laughed. You did a good thing, helping her like that.
I wish that wasn’t always so hard to do. Giving her hand a light squeeze, I walked to the bookshelves and pulled a volume out at random. “I’ll start over here.” I thumbed the journal open and flicked through the pages, looking for any particularly eye-catching passages or illustrations. Most of the images spread throughout the book were simple sketches of the Unity crest, though each had a minor alteration
from the one I had become familiar with over the course of my travels: some had an eighth colored wedge around the outside of the circle, while others had intricate patterns drawn on the center white circle or were missing the central disc entirely. “This one just looks like boring religious studies.”
“Oh, Lux, look at this!” Lia called out, hefting the ponderous white tome from the desk. “This is the personal journal of whoever was living here. The last entry was...only two weeks ago!” She paced slowly across the room as she read, revealing a multitude of colored ribbons that dangled from various points in the book. “Oh, let’s see. This one...wow.”
“What is it?” I asked, pulling another random journal from the shelf in front of me. Based on the name and entry number on the title page, I was able to puzzle out the labeling system that organized the series: a start date, the author’s initials, the number of journals that author had filled at the time of writing, a letter to indicate a multi-journal study, and a final number representing the journal’s place in the entire series. This collection has been consistently updated for centuries.
“More than one person has written in here,” she answered, tugging on one of the ribbons. “The first page is dated from over five hundred years ago!” She tabbed through the book, examining the entry dates of each section. “Okay, here’s the start of the most recent owner’s section.” She cleared her throat and began to narrate the passage, speaking loud enough for Val to hear in the next room.
“‘Today begins the most exciting adventure of my life. I, Horace Odwell, have been named the next Shadebinder of the Yorian Circle by none other than…’” she trailed off, her eyes quickly flicking up to mine with a flash of worry. “‘...The new king, Virram Yorrell himself. It is the greatest of honors to once again bring the wisdom of the Shadebinders into the service of the Golden Throne after being rebuffed so long. The young king is truly wise beyond his years.” The sound of Val’s boots against the marble halted abruptly in the adjacent room, but started again after a moment’s pause. “It may be weeks before I begin my own official studies in these hallowed halls; the sum knowledge of every Kaldanic Shadebinder is stored within the journals only a few feet from where I sit, and I will not rest until I have consumed every bit of it. Someday, perhaps, my successor will read my own writings with the same fervor.’”
I poked my head into the next room. “Val, what were you planning to do with the evidence of Virram’s involvement in all of this?”
“Bring it to the Unity Cathedral. Working with such heretics would be grounds enough for removal from the throne, but should we find direct evidence of his involvement with the Serathid plot, it would be enough to try him for grand treason.” Her hand ran across a small placard on the case next to her. “Lux, what do you make of this?”
Lia followed me into the trophy room as I moved to Val’s side. The case in question held a small bronze coin coated in green patina, its etchings too worn to make out. A familiar series of numbers and letters marked the metal nameplate on the side of the glass case. “I think this label corresponds to a journal on that set of shelves,” I said, pointing over my shoulder. “This must be a collection of artifacts important to their experiments.”
“A single coin, though? What importance could this have?” she mused. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked out over the sea of display cases. “None of these hold power similar to what caused the Serathid invasion, correct?”
I rescanned the room with a quick pulse of mana, then nodded. “Right. None of these things look particularly special to me.”
“Good.” Val continued to pace through the rows of glass cases, peering into each one as she passed by, and I moved in the opposite direction doing the same. The array of objects I passed was baffling: a rusted half-helm, a collection of pages covered in a foreign language, a broken segment of discolored bone, and a perfectly preserved apple. None of the artifacts looked out of the ordinary or seemed to relate in any way aside from their physical proximity within the trophy room.
“Guys, listen to this!” Lia called out from her spot halfway across the room, having meandered about the cases as she read. “‘King Yorrell has provided me with a most curious artifact: an ornate skull, expertly crafted from some sort of dyed glass. While it is beautiful to behold, I am more intrigued by what I sense within it. My fingers tingle as I handle it even now; could it truly be a conduit for Shade essence?’”
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Shade essence...the void between worlds. That means these Shadebinders are just...people like me? I swallowed hard against an uncomfortable lump in my throat. Lia paused in her dictation and looked at me in concern as she felt my discomfort, but I nodded for her to continue. Read it. We need to know.
“‘Further tests will be required to fully understand this gift. The King has been less than forthcoming in his explanation for where he acquired the piece, simply saying it was “found.” Truly a mystery, my young master.’” She looked up from the page. “This was written four months ago.”
“It is true, then,” Val said through clenched teeth. “Virram was the catalyst for this invasion. He was the cause of the innocent lives we lost.”
“There’s more in the next entry, from a month later,” Lia added. “‘King Yorrell has bestowed upon me another gift, though this time, it is no mere bauble or curious artifact. This gift came in the form of a simple message: “You shall soon find proof that a fresh acolyte walks among us.” Such an intriguing riddle! I had hardly spent the time to consider what my King could mean when the promised proof arrived at my doorstep, right alongside my usual supply of rations and testing materials. It was the cadaver of a Yorian city guard, apparently killed—’”
Lia cut herself off with a hand clamped over her mouth, but I had already read the words through her eyes. Read it.
Lux, Val doesn’t need to know—
Read it, Lia. I felt a headache form between my eyes as my hands balled into tight fists against my legs. I’m done with hiding things.
Lia continued reading, her voice trembling. “‘It was the cadaver of a Yorian city guard, apparently killed by an escaping prisoner from the dungeons. The guard, once named Jack, had been killed by a single, self-inflicted cut across his throat. A rather boring affair under normal circumstances, but these are no normal circumstances. This man has Shadelines! Beautiful black marks, originating from the center of his chest. I have barely earned my own Shadelines after years of research and practice, yet some unknown prisoner was able to leave such marks from what appears to be a single point of contact! Incredible! King Yorrell has assured me that the man will be found and collected so that I may soon speak with him. I just pray that Master Gullen’s abilities have not grown weak with disuse before their meeting.’”
I stood stock-still as I fought down my rage. I wasn’t just a prisoner to be dealt with, I was some sort of experiment to them. Everything that’s happened to me, and to Lia, and Val, and everybody else...it’s been in the name of some project. It’s been Virram at every turn. Sacrificing life after life, just so...what? They could watch me? So they could see my power?
“Lux,” Val asked softly, “what do you know of this?” She turned and leaned her elbows on the display case behind me, watching me carefully.
“Nothing!” I snapped, hurt by the accusation I felt in the question. “I don’t know what the fuck any of this is talking about, with Shadebinders and essences.” I spun towards her and jabbed a finger in her direction. “This is all on the shoulders of your King! Your King, and you.”
“Lux, you know that’s not true!” Lia cried from across the room, jogging towards us. “Val had nothing to do with this, and you know it!”
“Do I? Every time I think I finally have this figured out, there’s another layer of shit hidden underneath!” I poked Val roughly in the chest. “So, was it all a lie? Is this where I find out you were leading me here to Shadowmine this whole time? That you’re in on this whole plot after all?”
“I swear to you, I have no knowledge of this place or of Virram’s plans,” she answered calmly. “I am not accusing you of anything, Lux. We have all been pawns in Virram’s game. But there are many things you have yet to tell me.”
“I’m not hiding anything!” I shouted in her face. “I only found out about this fucking cult when we found the journals, so how could I know anything about it?!”
She took a step back and held up her hands in a slow, calming motion. “I just want to understand. You knew how to stop the Serathids, and you control powers I have never seen. Is this somehow related to the Shade—”
“I DON’T KNOW!” I bellowed, slamming my fist on the display case between us. There was a sharp pain in my hand as the glass shattered, and I looked down to find rivulets of blood dripping from my fingers onto an old shortsword amidst the broken glass.
A wave of golden energy swarmed around me as Lia hugged me tightly from behind. “Lux, please! Don’t let your anger take control again. We’re safe here, there’s no danger!”
Her words fell on deaf ears. The entire world froze in place around me as I reached down to pluck the rusted blade from the cabinet. No. This is...no. No. I wiped a splatter of blood from the base of the sword and held it up to my eye. My blacksmith’s stamp. And Ashedown’s, too. The sigil I had practiced a thousand times adorned the metal just above the hilt, immediately adjacent to a similar symbol I had seen on the forge’s sign every day for five years. This is the first sword I ever forged. My body went completely numb as I stared at the impossible blade. This is from Alderea.
Restart Again: Volume 3 Page 50