Shadowbound

by Gage Lee

  It was clear that Ylor and Reesa had little use for Baylo, and the feeling was mutual. And, while I preferred Baylo’s straight-shooting style over Ylor’s condescension and Reesa’s wheedling, her plan would keep us here a lot longer than I wanted. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice the emerald warrior’s life for an express ticket home, but I also wasn’t going to sacrifice months of my time to make her feel better.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t afford to waste time working on anything that won’t get my sister and me home.”

  “Your choice,” Baylo said with a shrug. “Monitor knows where to find me when you get a look at what you’re really up against.”

  With that, the warrior flipped a hank of hair out of her eyes and sauntered off toward an exit on the west side of the hall. Ylor and Reesa both visibly relaxed once the green-skinned fighter had left, confirming my suspicions that they really did not care for her at all.

  “Excellent choice,” Reesa said. “With the generator back online, we’ll have lights and heat again. That will let me work much more quickly and comfortably.”

  “Months,” Ylor muttered.

  “I know the generator is important,” I said to Reesa. “But that won’t be my first priority.”

  “But...I...of course. My words were not convincing enough.” She lowered her head. “I will leave you in peace, then. If you change your mind, please send Monitor to fetch me.”

  I supposed expecting the Tribunal’s members to handle rejection gracefully was a bit of wishful thinking. In their eyes, I’d just told them that I had no interest in their ideas or helping them. I was lucky Baylo hadn’t punched me right in the mouth. Now that I had two of them mad at me, I crossed my fingers that the third member would be more reasonable.

  “I knew you would make the right choice.” Ylor’s voice oozed with condescension. “Now, let us seal our compact.”

  The eldwyr glided up to me and extended a coal-black hand tipped with long, pointed nails the color of fresh snow.

  “Take my hand, Kai Evers,” Ylor said in a solemn voice, “and agree to work with me to restore the might of the Silent Council.”

  >>>A new bonded task, “Rise of the Silent Council,” is now available. Do you accept?<<<

  Well, I hadn’t expected that. It reminded me of the quest prompts I’d seen in video games. While I wasn’t sure I wanted to be bonded with Ylor, I didn’t see any other options. I’d made a choice, and it was time to see it through.

  “I will accept your task,” I said to Ylor.

  Our hands met, and the warm golden glow of ghostlight surrounded us for just a moment. The light danced in Ylor’s pale-gray eyes like flames. His smile faded to a thin line, and I wondered if I’d just made a deal with the devil.

  >>>The bonded task “Rise of the Silent Council” is active.

  The bonded tasks “Soulforged Army” and “Sutras Unleashed” are currently blocked.

  Your Silent Council faction rating has increased by one.

  Your Iron Quill Cognate faction rating has decreased by one.

  Your Band of the Shadow Fist faction rating has decreased by two.

  Current task rewards: Unknown

  Current task failure penalties: Thirteen lunar cycles of bonded servitude to the Silent Council.<<<

  Chapter Five

  THE BLAST OF INFORMATION was a lot to absorb all at once. The various factions obviously referred to the groups the members of the Tribunal belonged to, but I had no idea how raising or lowering our faction rating would affect my stay here at the Ghostlight Academy. If it was like the games I’d played, decreasing a faction rating too far could end up with its members hating my guts. I really did not want to be on Baylo’s “kill on sight” side.

  I needed to get to the bottom of this before it bit me in the butt. I considered asking Ylor to explain it, then decided against it. The eldwyr had his own agenda and might lie to me to further his own ends. No, I’d have to figure this out on my own.

  Ylor released his grip on me with a faint frown. He folded his hands into the voluminous arms of his robes and offered me a shallow bow. I decided, then and there, to work my tail off to finish this bonded task as soon as possible. The less time I spent in this guy’s debt, the better.

  “Come with me,” he said. “And bring your sister. I cannot afford for you to waste time fretting over what she is doing or what might have happened to her.”

  Biz heard Ylor’s words and stomped over to us. She stabbed a finger up at the tall man’s face.

  “You may have tricked my brother, but not me,” she snarled. “We’ll help you, but we aren’t stupid. If you start stringing us along, I’ll—”

  “I have no interest in lying to either of you,” Ylor said. “But we have much work to do, and little time to complete it. Baylo is not a liar either. Threats are gathering at the Ghostlight Academy’s borders.”

  Ylor turned away from us and glided toward a door on the right side of the hall. He opened the heavy wooden barrier with a wave of his hand and exited without waiting for us to catch up.

  “I don’t trust this guy,” Biz whispered to me.

  “I noticed.” I chuckled to hide my discomfort. The guy had pulled a fast one on me, and I didn’t want Biz to know how badly I’d messed up. I wasn’t sure how long a lunar cycle was here, but that was a month back in California. Failure was not an option. “Look, they need us as much as we need them. We’ll fix a few things, and then we’re out of here.”

  “Okay, bro,” Biz muttered, “but this one’s on you if it goes sideways.”

  She didn’t have to remind me about that. Being a big brother meant that something was always on me. I’d failed my sister once, and the guilt still gnawed at me. I couldn’t fail again.

  We chased after Ylor and caught him vanishing around a corner at the end of the hall. We picked up the pace and followed him into an outdoor garden that had seen much better days. Black weeds with oily flowers and inch-long thorns had taken over the flowerbeds along the garden’s perimeter. Blades of purple grass jutted from between the stones of the walkway, while splintered tree stumps squatted in the corner wearing crowns of milk-white mushrooms. The wan light from the purple sky made everything look worn and washed out, like old clothes that had been bleached one too many times.

  The garden might once have been a peaceful place. Now it stank of rot and looked depressing.

  Ylor didn’t seem to notice, though. He took deep breaths as he made his way up to the stone platform at the garden’s heart. When he turned back to face Biz and me, the eldwyr even had a faint smile on his face. If anything, he seemed to enjoy the squalor.

  “What is this place?” Biz asked.

  “This was the Garden of Meditation,” Ylor replied. “Circulating ghostlight here was much easier and quicker than elsewhere. As you can see, now it is a wreck. Restoring it would be a boon to us all.”

  “Do we have to clean up this mess to repair your chapel?” I asked pointedly.

  “No,” Ylor said. “The Chapel of Containment is beneath us. It’s easiest to access the subbasement from here, however.”

  He gestured toward a square set of stones in the center of the platform. They were all a darker shade of gray than those that surrounded them, and there was a noticeable gap between the stones that made up the square and their neighbors.

  “Let’s get on with it, then.” I was tired of talking. It was time to get something done. “We don’t want to stay here any longer than necessary.”

  Ylor’s smile twisted into a smirk. He shook his head, and his long hair rustled against his robes with a sound like windblown leaves skittering across the ground.

  “I forgot how impatient humans can be,” he said. “Especially the children. My apologies. It has been too long since one of your kind has graced our halls. I merely thought to educate you on the uses of the power at your disposal. If you would allow me a moment to instruct you on the interface and the network, I believe the enlightenment I provide would be
of great use to you during your time here.”

  “Great,” Biz said. “I have no idea what any of that means. Explain it like we’re five-year-olds.”

  “Of course,” Ylor said with a condescending nod toward my sister. Biz’s eyes darkened, and I wanted to warn the eldwyr he was making a very big mistake. “The network is a means of communication and creation. It is a web of interconnected spirits, ghostlight seams, and discorporate minds dedicated to the preservation of the many worlds. When connected to it, mortals can manipulate the flow of ghostlight and use that energy to repair or rebuild certain parts of their world. The interface allows mortals to connect to the Klithotik network.”

  “You mean the Akashik network.” I said the words I’d heard from the voice in my head before I could stop myself.

  “I knew you had the interface,” the eldwyr said slyly. “Yes, of course I meant Akashik network, but you couldn’t know that unless Narsk had transferred the interface to you. No more games, it only wastes our time. May I examine your core more closely to identify its form?”

  On the one hand, I didn’t trust Ylor even a little. On the other hand, I knew nothing about the interface, and fumbling around with a voice in my head seemed like a good way to make the situation worse. If he could explain how it worked, then I could use it however I needed.

  “Fine,” I said. “But if I catch you doing anything to me, our deal is done.”

  “Our deal,” Ylor said, “will be done when the chapel is cleansed, and not before. But I have no wish to harm you.”

  Without warning, the eldwyr extended a hand in my direction and unleashed a spark of ghostlight. The golden light struck me in the solar plexus and vanished through my skin. I flinched, but Ylor kept his word. There was no pain, just a sense of attention like the hairs raising on the back of my neck.

  “Find what you’re looking for?” Biz asked sarcastically.

  “Oh, yes,” Ylor said. He looked like a cat who’d just found an open can of tuna within reach. “It appears your interface has not fully integrated into your mind. I suppose the transfer was hasty. I could complete the fusion for you. It is a simple process.”

  There was something worrying about admitting that I did, in fact, have some weird thing stuck in my head courtesy of Narsk Alaush. It made everything seem very real, and I knew, somehow, that accepting Ylor’s offer of help would open a Pandora’s box I couldn’t close.

  “I don’t think I want you poking around in my head.” I shrugged. “I seem to be getting along just fine the way I am.”

  “Yes, for the moment.” The eldwyr crossed his arms over his chest. “But if the fusion is incomplete, you do not have access to the full power of the interface. Allow me to repair it, and your tasks will be much simpler.”

  That was interesting. If I didn’t let the eldwyr fix the stupid voice, I’d be useless to Ylor. He wouldn’t want to keep me around for thirteen lunar cycles without the interface. He’d let us go, and Biz and I could find another way home.

  As soon as I activated the interface, though, I was in this to the end, whenever and whatever that might be. If it would make me stronger it might also help me get out of here faster.

  Biz took my hand and gave my fingers a squeeze. She didn’t have to say anything to tell me that she was with me, no matter what happened.

  “Do it,” I said. “Before I change my mind.”

  The spark of Ylor’s energy swirled through my core. It felt like the butterflies I’d gotten at the amusement park when the tower ride dropped. A sharp snap echoed through my thoughts, followed by a buzz of power that reminded me of the transformers on the telephone poles behind our apartment building.

  >>>Interface fusion complete.

  Akashik network connection in progress...

  Open node found. Connecting...

  Connection complete.

  Ghostlight reserves are empty.

  Build menus are now available.

  Calibrating ranking system...values from least to greatest are as follows: abysmal, feeble, inferior, weakened, flawed, neutral, good, enhanced, excellent, superior, amazing, superior, astounding, incredible, phenomenal, flawless.

  Calibrating damage categories...values from least to greatest are as follows: insignificant, minor, moderate, serious, critical, mortal.

  Access to basic services, classrooms, laboratory facilities, and level-one shadow vaults granted.<<<

  “There we go,” Ylor said. “Bear in mind that I am not an engineer, so my advice can only be of so much use here. There should be menus available to you. Thinking about them will provide you with more options. Do you see anything related to chapels or a temple?”

  “Are you seeing things?” Biz asked me quietly. “Because I’m not.”

  “Yeah,” I responded to my sister. “And, no. I heard basic services, classrooms, laboratory facilities, and level-one shadow vaults. None of those sound like temples or chapels to me.”

  “Try classrooms,” Ylor said. “I am not sure how they classify the chapels, but we do sometimes teach cryptwards there.”

  The interface hadn’t given me any direction on how to access it, so I hoped it worked by thought. In my mind’s eye, all the options were lined up like the menus in the games that Biz and I played when the treatments left her too sick to do much besides lie in bed and stare at the TV. I imagined reaching out and tapping the classrooms option.

  >>>The following first-level classroom restorations are available. Each restoration will require an investment of three hundred ghostlight blades.

  Ghostlight Circulation

  Martial Arts

  SutraInscription

  Artifactory

  Alchemy

  Binding

  Core Strengthening<<<

  All of that sounded extremely interesting, though none of it sounded like what Ylor was looking for.

  I recited the list to Ylor. His frown deepened every time I said a word that wasn’t “chapel.”

  “Try laboratory facilities,” Ylor said. “It has to be one of those.”

  My thoughts turned to that option, and the voice rattled off a new list.

  >>>The following first-level laboratory facility restorations are available. Each restoration will require an investment of five hundred ghostlight blades.

  Artifact Manufacture

  Alchemy Laboratory

  Binding Circle

  Sutra Studio

  Ghostlight Focus

  Strength Dojo<<<

  “Interesting,” Ylor said when I told him the options and their costs. “It must be under Binding Circle. That is not entirely accurate, but I suppose we have to work our way up to the chapel.”

  I selected that option without waiting for Ylor to tell me what to do. The voice came back, short and sweet:

  >>>The construction cost of a first-level binding circle is five hundred ghostlight blades.

  The available ghostlight reserve is zero ghostlight blades.<<<

  “What’s a ghostlight blade?” I asked Ylor. “And how do I get five hundred of them to create a first-level binding circle?”

  “It is a type of currency,” the eldwyr explained, looking surprised at the question. “Cultivators can manifest their ghostlight into blades, like this.”

  He produced what looked like a key ring from the left arm of his robes. It held a number of long, thin rectangles with pointed tips. The telltale golden light of ghostlight sparked from within each of them, casting firefly reflections around the garden.

  There was something captivating about that light. It wasn’t just pretty to look at. It triggered a gnawing hunger within me. I wanted that ring of blades.

  To eat them.

  “Put it away,” Biz said in a tight, hard voice. “We get it, you’re rich.”

  “Sadly, not rich enough,” the eldwyr grumbled. “It is a pity, but I am sure you will have no trouble handling this simple mission on your own.”

  “Let’s get this over with,” I sighed. “What do we do?”r />
  “It is very simple.” Ylor stepped away from the stone square in the middle of the platform and gestured for Biz and me to step onto it. “The lift will take you down to the Chapel of Containment, which you can then purify. I took great pains to preserve this area during the splintering, so we will not need to pay for the restoration once you have completed the task. When the chapel is cleansed, I can summon allies to help us gather more ghostlight and continue with your work here at the Academy.”

  “Just give us some blades from that fat stash of yours,” Biz countered. “Then we won’t have to go down into what we all know is a dark and scary basement.”

  “That is impossible,” Ylor said as the ring vanished into his sleeve. “This ghostlight is already dedicated to the preservation of this splinter, as Reesa explained.”

  “Sure,” Biz grumbled. “I totally believe you.”

  “Good.” Ylor ignored the sarcasm and pointed at the lift. “Now, please step onto the lift so we may begin.”

  Biz and I exchanged glances. I shrugged, then stepped onto the square of darker stones. It vibrated under my feet, like an amusement park loading platform just before the roller coaster arrived.

  “What do we do when we get down there?” I asked as Biz joined me.

  “Scatter this around the chapel.” A small white bag dropped out of Ylor’s sleeves and into his hand. A candle with an unwavering silver flame appeared in his other hand. “And light it with this when you have emptied the bag. It is important that you cover as much of the circle as possible before ignition.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Biz said. And then she muttered, “That’s how I know it’s a lie.”

  I took the sack and candle from Ylor, and he gave me a thin, sharp smile in return.

  “Shout up to me when you have finished, and I will call the lift up.” The square began to descend with alarming suddenness. “Good luck.”

  Biz grabbed my hand as our lift shot down into the earth. Stone walls flashed past us, lit only by the silver flame from the candle. I caught glimpses of engravings on the walls, along with irregular lines that pulsed gold and black. We passed one floor so quickly I didn’t really get a look at it before we were once again surrounded by stone.