Vahren listened calmly and spoke. “You may assume that. And I don’t blame you. But the Jewel isn’t yours, nor is it Sedayval’s. It belongs to the Shandorians. And I am here to take it back.”
Shera had never been in battle. Her experiences with fights were limited to the occasional spars with other Acolytes during training. But, this was different. The sanctity of the Jewel was being threatened, and it was her duty to prevent this stranger from making his motivations a reality.
The runes on her arms glowed, though not at the same level as Iktai’s. Regardless, Vahren’s body tensed at the sight of them. He tried to reach for a small dagger at his belt loop, but Shera was quick to pull the weapon away from him with her telekinetic powers. He watched impotently as his weapon orbited Shera’s body, channeled by the power of the Jewel coursing through her.
The pulsating power of the Jewel flowed through Shera like an old, but distant friend. She was tempted to let out a burst of energy to knock Vahren unconscious, and report him to the guards.
“You will leave Sedayval immediately, Vahren. There will be no talk of stealing the Jewel from out of our city.”
Vahren placed both his hands up in the air to concede defeat. Still, his face was resolute. “The Jewel of Maan is not what you think it is, Young Acolyte. You easily harness its power, yet you know not its true nature.”
“What do you mean?”
“Please, allow me time to explain. I mean you no harm,” he replied. To prove this, he reached into his scales, which parted to reveal the rippling muscles of his body. Attached to his skin was a small piece of paper, which he removed. It was tied to his skin by a binding magic, which allowed only the owner of the body to remove it – to prevent the letter from falling into the wrong hands. He threw the letter on the table.
The glow on Shera’s arms vanished, and her powers dissipated when she saw her mother’s familiar handwriting on the paper. It was addressed to Godema of Shando. Vahren’s dagger, which had been lazily orbiting Shera, dropped onto the floor in a thud as the telekinesis sustaining its projection was now gone.
“This was written on the 15th day of Yupol 321,” Vahren said.
“Two days before she died…” Shera’s tone was hushed. That was impossible. Towards the final weeks of her life, her mother was too weak to even eat, let alone lift up a quill to pen a letter. Yet, there it was; her handwriting on the paper
Shera looked at the letter, then at Vahren. These were her mother’s last words, and they were written just before she died.
Godema,
I am writing this to you on my deathbed. I hope your anger will be extinguished by the fact that I have not much time left on this earth. First, forgive me for not keeping in touch all these years. If there is one regret I have in this lifetime, it is not writing to you much sooner.
I have had the opportunity of seeing the world. And it is just as I had expected it. The entire western continent to Shando is full of life, magic, opportunity. But nothing would have prepared me for the city of Sedayval.
When I saw it from afar, it looked like an alien piece of rock floating in the sky. As I approached closer, I was greeted by its obsidian underbelly and green upper surface. The Vahana river that flows throughout the continent arcs upwards, defying gravity in an upside-down like waterfall, flowing towards the city in six rivulets.
I was dying to see the Sedayval from inside, but they would never allow outsiders other than merchants in. And just below Sedayval, in a small town of Shan, I met a man by the name of Damas. My earlier plan was to entice him, and beckon him to take me into Sedayval. But then, something unexpected happened. I fell in love with him, and we were married.
Do you remember when we learnt about the Jewel of Maan? Godema, you asked me to travel into the western continent to see if the rumors are true. You wanted to know if the Jewel truly existed.
It is true. And yes, the Jewel of Maan is within Sedayval. And it is true. The Jewel does not belong to the Sedayvalians. It belongs to Shando. We have been living a three-hundred-year-old lie.
I have tried my best to extirpate the Jewel from its cocoon that is Sedayval, but I’m afraid I have failed. This mysterious sickness that has gotten me is no mere coincidence. I fear that I have been poisoned by some important people in Sedayval, who came to know of my true intentions.
With the final fraction of life within me, I pen this letter. Know this my friend, my mentor, my teacher. I love you with all my heart, and I do hope you will forgive me.
I will fly to the afterlife to join the wyer of Dragon Specters. It is there where I will wait for you, and all my friends.
Yours truly,
Irinde Guim
“How do you expect me to believe this?” Shera waved the letter at Vahren.
“Godema is my master, as well as Irinde’s. She trusted Irinde’s judgment of the matter.”
“And so you are sent to take this Jewel back?”
“If what Irinde says is true, then, the Jewel belongs to Shando, and not Sedayval.”
“You are mad, fucking mad!” Shera exclaimed. “The Jewel sustains this city! It has done so for three hundred years. Taking it would mean…”
“That Sedayval would cease to exist,” Vahren completed her sentence. “I know. Godema herself is quite skeptical about taking the Jewel away, if it means killing everyone on this city. But, we have to know… we have to know if the Jewel of Maan is exactly what Irinde claims it to be.”
Shera reread the letter again. Her eyes were no longer perusing the content of the letter, rather just the rise and fall and loop and turn of each word. Her mother was alive in this letter. After she had died, Damas had insisted on throwing away her clothes, with only her jewel and portrait being the last traces
of her existence in the house.
“My mother was killed then?” Shera said.
Vahren nodded. “It would appear so. If she was poking her nose into the business surrounding the Jewel of Maan, she might have ruffled a few feathers.”
Shera gulped. Suddenly the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death did not seem so mysterious anymore.
“There is more. This came with her letter,” Vahren said. He fished a small, flat, almost triangular object the size of a guitar pick. It had an azure blue glow of the sky. Its identity needed no explanation the moment Shera touched the translucent piece.
It was a fragment of the Jewel of Maan. Her mother had found its exact location before she died.
Chapter 6: Confrontation
The news of the Shando delegate choosing Shera to be his host spread all over Sedayval. People craned their necks when they walked past Shera’s home, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious stranger from the Eastern region of the world.
Shera was troubled by Vahren’s revelation. She had no one to turn to but Hazpo. The next day, when Vahren had gone for a walk around Sedayval, she ran over to her mentor’s home, and knocked on the door with urgency.
“Mercy on Maan, Shera,” Hazpo admonished when she opened the door to see the breathless Young Acolyte. “Whatever is the matter?”
Pushing Hazpo into her home, Shera told the older woman all that had happened the night before; Vahren’s visit, his purpose, and the contents of her mother’s letter. Hazpo listened intently without interrupting Shera.
“Mercy on Maan, this is dangerous! This man wants to steal the Jewel of Maan from us! He must be stopped!” Hazpo exclaimed.
Shera nodded. Though she felt a semblance of emotions for the tall, dark man, there was nothing she could do about it. Vahren wanted to tear apart the very existence of Sedayval and steal an artifact her goddess had placed on earth. As a Young Acolyte to Maan, her sworn duty was to the protection of the Jewel.
“We need to inform Iktai immediately.” Hazpo limped towards her cupboard.
“What, like right now?”
“Of course, you silly girl! She needs to know of this!”
Shera hesitated. “I don’t think Iktai would want
to see me.”
“Nonsense! This is more important than your squabble with her the other day,” Hazpo waved her arms impatiently, beckoning for Shera to join her at the corner of the room. There was teleportation tile on the floor, inscribed with the Runic Symbol for transport.
Hazpo muttered under her breath, and her arms glowed its familiar bluish-green hue. She bent over and pressed her palm against the tile, which received her powers. There was a long, ethereal sigh emanating from the now glowing tiles. The whole living area was now bathed in the same light that came from Hazpo’s arms and the transport tiles.
“After you,” she said, and beckoned at Shera.
The Young Acolyte had no choice but to concede. Taking a deep breath, she stepped on the tiles. An odd sensation pulled at every surface of her body as she was teleported.
When Shera opened her eyes, she was not in Hazpo’s comfortable, quaint home anymore. She was in a large hall with many paintings of Queen Vahana I, II, III and IV on the left, and the four High Priestesses preceding Iktai on the right walls. They were in the High Priestess’s home. Another faint pop echoed to her right, and Hazpo materialized out of thin air.
As her body solidified, the woman shook her head and gave out a shudder. “Mercy to Maan, I can never get used to teleportation!”
At the end of the empty hall of marble was a door. Hazpo, without missing a beat, rushed towards the door, urging Shera to follow in her wake. Upon reaching the plain blue door, Hazpo gave it a small knock.
“Come in,” Iktai said from within.
Upon hearing Iktai’s voice, unpleasant memories began coursing through Shera once more. She relived the moments in the Prayer Hall when the High Priestess had shamed her in front of the other Priestesses and Young Acolytes. Hazpo, not letting the younger woman gather her thoughts, pushed at the door and admitted the duo into Iktai’s office.
Iktai was sitting on an armchair with her legs on an ottoman. There was a grandeur in her office that was rather unbecoming of a High Priestess, though Shera kept her opinion to herself. Mysterious objects floated around the ceiling, and a large window towards the right wall revealed the view of Sedayval.
“Hazpo and ah… Shera,” Iktai said, looking at her visitors. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
Hazpo and Shera stood in front of the High Priestess and bowed deeply. Iktai reciprocated with a nod of her head and asked them to sit on chairs she materialized out of thin air. Shera sat and looked at her clasped hands. She could feel the High Priestess’s eyes boring deep into her. Hazpo took charge and began speaking.
“As you may have heard, Your Excellency, the Shando delegate decided to stay over in Young Acolyte Shera’s home.”
“So I have heard,” Iktai said lazily, her foot shaking on the ottoman. “What about it then?”
“The young man told Shera some incredibly distressing news. And she felt that you needed to know about it.”
Seeing that Shera refused to speak, Hazpo gave her a gentle nudge. Timidly, Shera looked up at the High Priestess whose gaze still had not left her person. She proceeded to inform Iktai of Vahren’s motivation for coming to Sedayval.
The High Priestess merely listened with passive nods. She was unperturbed by the news.
“And he also brought a letter my mother mailed just two days before she died.”
This caught Iktai’s attention. Leaning forward and placing her feet on the floor, she asked sharply, “Letter? What letter?”
Shera reached for the letter in her pocket and handed it to the High Priestess who snatched the letter abruptly. The Young Acolylte looked at Hazpo. They were both surprised by the sudden change in Iktai’s demeanor.
Iktai read the letter, her tired eyes snaking and trailing along the lines of the letter. Her lips moved silently, mouthing out several words in the most minute but audible tone. When she was done, the letter in her hand began glowing, first in a bright brown color. Shera could see the outline of the words in the letter before the whole paper burst into flames, settling as embers and ashes on Iktai’s floor.
She gave out a scream of protest, the letter being the proof of Irinde’s last words on this earth.
“Why did you do that for?” Shera cried out, standing from her chair.
“Shera, please!” Hazpo exclaimed, pulling at her arm. “Your excellency, I am so sorry for her behavior. She is still affected by her mother’s death…”
Shera wrenched her arm away from Hazpo’s grip and looked at the High Priestess. “That was my mother’s letter! You had no right to do it!”
“Sit down, you stupid girl,” Iktai snapped. “Are you so quick to believe a word of a stranger? A Shandorianian at that? He is obviously lying!”
“That letter was not a lie. I recognize my mother’s writing from anywhere, and the letter was attached with this,” Shera said, fishing out something Vahren had given her. It was the small, flattened sapphire jewel piece that glowed.
“Where did you get that?” Iktai asked, her voice trembling slightly.
Shera held on to the blue jeweled piece. It glimmered in the room. Hazpo was confused as was Shera. Iktai seemed to be angry, but they could not ascertain why.
“It came with my mother’s letter… This was what Vahren sent to me.”
“That bitch. The audacity of that bitch! How… how did she manage to get into the Heart of Sedayval? There is no way she could have reached the Jewel!”
“The heart of Sedayval?” Hazpo asked in hushed tones, her eyes widening. “You mean to say, that Shera is holding a piece of the Jewel of Maan?”
Nothing would have prepared Shera for what happened next. The High Priestess pointed at Hazpo with her index finger. A sharp beam of light came from the tip of her finger, piercing Hazpo’s chest.
The Priestess let out a surprised ‘Oh!’ as the concentrated light tore through her chest. Blood and flesh spattered on the wall behind her, marring the blue walls with red, black and congealed pieces of yellow. She was dead even before she reached the floor.
Shera screamed and took two steps back. She could not believe what was happening. The High Priestess had just murdered one of her own Priestesses.
“I can’t have any witnesses,” Iktai said with a pant. Eyes bulging, she seemed to be talking to the now deceased Hazpo. “If anyone found out about the Jewel, we would all cease to exist.”
As if just suddenly realizing Shera’s existence in the room, Iktai extended a hand out to Shera. “Give me the fragment of that jewel.”
Shera knew that resistance was futile. Holding back the tears, she could not believe what was happening. This was the High Priestess, the one who was supposed to protect the sanctity of Maan – and she had just destroyed that notion by murdering one of her Priestesses. The fragment of the jewel scratched against the surface of her skin.
“I can easily wrench it out of your cold, dead hands,” Iktai said, her arms beginning to glow. But Shera was ready. She knew she was no match for Iktai, but she would put up a fight even if it was futile.
There was a loud snap in the air as a thunderous beam of light shot from Iktai’s finger again.
Shera dropped to the ground to her left. The beam from Iktai’s hand hit the wall behind her in a lugubrious blast, with bits and pieces of marble hitting her head.
As she fell to the ground, Shera carved at the air, her own hands gleaming. It was one of the symbols she had mastered, ‘Mist.’ She often used this symbol to help in the Sedayval crops when the oranges and apples required a colder milieu to bear its fruits comfortably.
Instantly, the High Priestess’s room was plunged into a thick blanket of wet air. She heard the High Priestess curse out. Shera took advantage of the smokescreen to get up and move towards the door. She avoided another blue beam of light, which hit the floor where she’d lain just two seconds ago. The mist thickened and the room seemed to solidify in a thick patina of impenetrable whiteness.
“You bitch! After I get that fragment, I will kill you, just like I
did your mother!” Iktai screamed.
Shera’s heart stopped at the remark. She was already at the door. An immense feeling of rage enveloped her, and she was tempted to stay back and fight. But, she was reminded of her mother’s constant words. Gingerly, she opened the door and was immediately plunged into the empty hallway. The teleportation tile still glowed, the remnants of Hazpo’s earlier magic still coursing through it. Without wasting any time, Shera ran towards the tile.
Behind her, she could hear Iktai’s door open once more. The High Priestess screamed at Shera’s retreating figure, shooting out random magical pulses, hoping that it would find contact with the Young Acolyte.
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