Crystal Keepers

by Brandon Mull

  Your silence is unbecoming, Nazeem roared. I hereby revoke your token. Who will apprehend—

  The carved rose in Cole’s hand shattered, and he could no longer hear Nazeem. The face still glared down from the flames, but that rumbling voice in his head was gone. The lost connection made the face seem more distant.

  More robed figures moved to cover the exit. Cole pretended to look around for the traitor like all the other robed people. He knew Nazeem was still speaking, probably giving orders to capture him. The sensation of his power straining toward the Founding Stone redoubled. Cole had to lean away to avoid stumbling toward it.

  Come, a gentle voice seemed to suggest. Not Nazeem’s voice. This one he felt more than heard, almost as if it rose from his own power.

  Cole had no options. Any second one of his enemies would figure out which person to grab. Since his power seemed attracted to the stone, Cole decided to head that way.

  Running would draw attention, so Cole walked forward, weaving between the people in his way. The Founding Stone wasn’t too far off. Most of the others were fanning out. They expected him to flee. Maybe Nazeem was telling them to cut off all escape. Nobody seemed concerned about guarding the stone.

  The closer he got to the Founding Stone, the clearer the pull became. The robed figures covered their ears, and Cole could see that the face was yelling, but he heard nothing.

  Three or four steps from the Founding Stone, Owandell lunged at Cole, his eyes enraged. Cole faked left, sprang right, ducked Owandell’s grasping hands, and dove to the stone, pressing both hands against the smooth surface, heedless of the green flames.

  CHAPTER

  28

  FOUNDING STONE

  Suddenly Cole was alone with Nazeem. No longer a disembodied face veiled in flame, Nazeem looked human, and very displeased. Indistinct grayness surrounded them. Cole didn’t understand where they were. He could still feel his hands against the stone, his power flowing freely into the huge block, so why didn’t he see the block, or the other robed figures? All he saw was the dreamlike image of Nazeem gazing at him. This had to be in his mind.

  You! Nazeem accused, darkening and shrinking, withdrawing as if falling, his voice no longer as commanding. The intruder!

  That’s right, Cole responded mentally, his confidence surging as Nazeem’s influence dwindled. Me!

  The vision of Nazeem vanished, and Cole could see again. His hands remained against the warm surface of the Founding Stone. The green flames had disappeared. The entire block gleamed an intense white.

  Cole could still feel his power coursing into the stone, though not as vigorously as at first. Looking around, he found that all of the other green flames in the room were extinguished as well. The robed figures maintained motionless poses, bathed in the Founding Stone’s white glare. Owandell was closest, his face distorted into a grimace, one hand outstretched. Despite his awkward posture, he stayed unnaturally still. He also looked somewhat transparent.

  “Why did time stop?” Cole muttered to himself.

  Nobody answered.

  Beneath his palms, the Founding Stone thrummed with energy. Cole could clearly sense the shapecrafted barriers inside of himself, shadowy contrasts to the vibrant clarity of his power. Those obstructions didn’t matter right now. His shaping energy flowed through them, hardly disturbed, like a flash flood gushing through a chain-link fence.

  He had a deep suspicion that as soon as he released the stone, everything would return to normal. For some reason, his contact with the Founding Stone had paused everyone. No. That wasn’t quite right. Nothing had happened to them. He had temporarily passed outside the reach of time. Cole couldn’t explain how he knew that was true, but he felt certain.

  Surveying the room, Cole realized that all the robed people were semitransparent. Wait, not just the people—the walls, too. He focused on the walls and ceiling, trying to peer through the stone. One wall seemed to conceal an indistinct chamber beyond, and Cole strained to make it out.

  As he intensified his effort, the wall drew nearer. Or was he moving toward it? No, his hands remained on the Founding Stone. His vision had somehow disconnected from his body and journeyed across the room.

  Experimenting with his detached vision, Cole found he could glide anywhere he chose, moving freely around the room, high or low. The sensation of motion without moving gave him vertigo, and Cole steadied himself against the block. After some time swooping around the area, Cole fixed his vision on himself kneeling beside the Founding Stone, palms against it. He could see the shaping energy inside his translucent body, cloudlike and churning, along with the dark tangles of the shapecrafted barriers.

  Shifting his attention to Owandell, Cole could perceive his energy as well. It was darker, motionless, and had less shapecrafted snarls. Studying the others, he recognized different degrees of shaping energy inside all of the robed figures.

  Cole noticed the deformed archway to the stairs and wondered how far his vision could roam. He coasted through the archway, glanced back at himself beside the Founding Stone, then started up the stairs. No torches lit the stairway, leaving it very dim, but he could still see enough detail to proceed, as if his vision carried a faint inherent light.

  With a small effort of will, Cole found that he could go as fast as he wanted, so before long he reached the top. The heavy door was closed and slightly transparent. Cole pushed through it without any trouble and found himself in the room at the base of the tower. He saw the woman who had held her palm to his chest, her energy sparkling inside of her.

  Pressing ahead, Cole exited the tower and moved through the halls of the castle, occasionally passing Enforcers, then regular guardsmen. He knew where he wanted to go. After several wrong turns, he located the door to Harmony’s tower and ghosted through it.

  He rushed from one room to another in the tower. He found the queen’s servant Sophie asleep in bed, but the other rooms were empty, including what had to be Harmony’s bedroom. He wondered where she could be. Would he have to search the rest of the castle?

  Then he remembered the balcony.

  He flew up the stairs and through the door, and sure enough, there she stood, gazing up at the stars, her shaping energy bright within her. Cole hovered in front of her face. She was as motionless as everyone else. He called out to her, but the sound came from his mouth back in the room beneath Owandell’s tower.

  Cole eased in closer, until her face filled his view. He willed her to speak to him. He needed help!

  Her expression didn’t twitch. She was no livelier than a statue. Was there a way to snap her out of it?

  Moving closer still, Cole’s vision entered her head, and suddenly her energy filled his view, swirling and pulsing, no longer static. A strong sense of her presence enveloped him.

  Is that you, Cole? he heard in his mind.

  It’s me! he replied excitedly.

  I hear you. I can’t move. How are you doing this?

  I’m not sure. I’m touching the Founding Stone.

  What? Her tone became distressed. Are you alone?

  Not exactly. Do you know about Nazeem?

  Excuse me?

  Nazeem. Some scary guy from the Fallen Temple.

  I don’t know what you’re talking about.

  He’s Owandell’s boss. They have a plan to take over the Outskirts. Nazeem has been imprisoned for a long time, but it sounds like he’s about to get free. He was here tonight, kind of, using the Founding Stone as a communicator. He knew I was a spy. They were about to catch me. My power wanted me to go to the Founding Stone, so I did. When I touched the stone, Nazeem went away, and everybody else froze, as if time stopped. You were frozen too, until we started talking.

  The patterns of Harmony’s energy became agitated for a moment. I still can’t move. My body remains frozen. Somehow you freed my mind. This is incredible, Cole. Legend has it tha
t the Founding Stone once wielded great power, but nobody has been able to use it in ages. Your ability must have revitalized it somehow.

  Oh! You’re right! That fits. It’s what my ability does. But what now? I’m afraid if I let go of the stone, Owandell will capture me.

  You’re currently touching it?

  Yes.

  And the others are still immobile?

  I can’t see. My vision is with you. But I guess they’re still frozen, because they’re not grabbing me. Plus, you still can’t move.

  How did you get to me? Harmony wondered.

  It was like my sight could fly around all of a sudden. I feel like I’m looking out of floating eyes. Except they can go through stuff like doors and people. I flew from under Owandell’s tower to here.

  How did you get past the protections on my tower?

  I don’t know. I didn’t run into any.

  Must be the Founding Stone.

  Cole only wanted the stone’s power to do one thing. Can I use it to escape somehow?

  Maybe. Some powerful Wayminders can send their sight on missions. The most powerful can cross space to bring their bodies to the location of their sight.

  Perfect! How can I do it?

  That I cannot explain. You must learn from trial and error. See if the stone makes it possible.

  Gritting his teeth, Cole willed his body to teleport to where his vision was. Nothing happened.

  I’m trying, Cole told her. It isn’t working.

  As I understand it, you’ve never sent your sight roaming before?

  No.

  Then keep trying. Who knows what you’re capable of with the stone boosting your abilities?

  Pressing both hands more firmly against the stone, Cole reached for his own power, and visualized his body joining up with his sight. He backed his vision away from Harmony, once again seeing her face instead of the graceful pyrotechnics of her energy. Then he pushed with all his will.

  His vision shattered into dizzying perspectives. He was rising and sinking, zooming north, west, east, and south, seeing all directions at once from multiple simultaneous vantages. In a kaleidoscopic overload he saw mountaintops and oceans, slumbering villages and busy insects, roots growing in the earth and stars in the sky.

  For one explosive moment Cole seemed to glimpse everything. But it was far too much to absorb, and his endless viewpoints collapsed, frantically returning to the Founding Stone from all directions.

  And then it was over.

  Cole still knelt with both hands against the stone. He was aware of that much. Except now he was surrounded by whiteness. Before him stood an elderly man in an elegant maroon robe with gold trim. The stranger had white hair and a friendly face.

  “There you are,” the man said warmly. “I’ve been trying to aid you. I wondered if you would find me.”

  “This feels like we’re really talking,” Cole said.

  “I thought it might seem more natural to you,” the man said. “I realize how new most of this feels. It must be disorienting. Do you understand who I am?”

  “The Founding Stone?”

  “Good try. Close. I’ll take it as a compliment. I’m a reflection of Dandalus, one of the original architects of this world. His chief task was to oversee the creation of the Founding Stone, and he put some of himself into it. I’m like a semblance, or a figment.”

  “Where are we?” Cole asked.

  “Your body is where it’s been since you touched the stone,” Dandalus said. “But your mind is now with me.”

  Cole looked around. “Lots of white.”

  “I quite like it,” Dandalus said. “For a long season I dreamed in the darkness.”

  “Can you help me get out of here?” Cole asked.

  “I believe so. It would only be right. After all, you aided me. The stone was being abused by lawless shaping. The intrusion aroused me from a long slumber. I knew your power could help, so I called out to you as best I could. Once you lent me your energy, I was able to reject Nazeem and bring you out of the timestream.”

  “I was seeing all over the castle. Like my eyes were traveling without me.”

  “I helped free your sight. I wanted you to look into the Founding Stone, so you could find me. Instead you searched everywhere else! I could feel you wandering, and sensed your conversation with the queen. For a moment you saw as the stone sees. It shares a connection with all the material of this world. Your mind rejected the vision and your sight returned here. Welcome.”

  “How can I escape?” Cole asked.

  Dandalus scrunched his brow. “It has to be quick. Once you stop feeding me your energy, I’ll slip back into my slumber. And without my help, you won’t be able to access your power.”

  “Can you fix what Morgassa did to me?” Cole asked. “She used shapecraft to keep me from my power.”

  “Shapecraft,” Dandalus grumbled in disdain. “Not much craft to it. Raw shaping, I call it. Shaping without context. Too much of it will mean the end of all we organized.”

  “Can you repair the damage?” Cole asked.

  “I wish I could. Unfortunately, what was done to you doesn’t pertain to the order established by the Founding Stone. Even fortified by your power, altering what was done to you is beyond my ability. I can help your power sidestep the blockades, but only while I’m active.”

  “How can you sleep?” Cole asked. “Don’t you hold the Outskirts together?”

  Dandalus laughed. “No, my boy. That would be far too much power to concentrate in one place. This stone set the pattern for this world, and maintains a unique connection to all the material that follows the pattern, but it doesn’t sustain this world. The Founding Stone would not be easy to unmake, or to move for that matter, but the pattern is already firmly established. If the Founding Stone were destroyed, this world would persist.”

  “What about Nazeem?” Cole asked. “Can you tell me anything about him?”

  “Very little,” Dandalus said. “I just met him. He is shrouded in lawless shaping. He was reaching out to us from a place in Necronum that is also cloaked in what you call shapecraft. I assume he’s at the Fallen Temple they spoke about, but I can’t spy on his domain.”

  “How do I fight lawless shaping?” Cole asked.

  “That falls outside my understanding,” Dandalus apologized. “I labored to bring order to the shaping here. This stone symbolizes that effort.”

  “You’re connected to this whole world?” Cole asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Can you help me find people?”

  “Our present contact leaves your mind open to me. I can see some of the people you wish to locate. Jenna. Constance. Some of your other friends.”

  “I came here from Outside with a bunch of kidnapped children.”

  “Nobody is native to this world,” Dandalus said. “Some are born here, but trace their lines back far enough, and all come from Outside.”

  “Can you find my friends?”

  “This is a big world,” Dandalus said. “It would take some searching. You glimpsed how it feels to see it all at once. I can’t apprehend much that way either. I could explore a little at a time. So could you.”

  “Send my sight out again?” Cole asked.

  “Yes,” Dandalus said. “But your power isn’t endless. This partnership could last a few hours, but eventually you won’t be able to continue powering the stone without rest.”

  “Once that happens, Owandell will get me,” Cole said.

  “You will return to the timestream, yes,” Dandalus said.

  Cole sighed. “That probably isn’t enough time.”

  “Do you know where to look?” Dandalus asked. “Our chances would improve if you can narrow down the search.”

  “That’s the problem,” Cole said. “I have no idea where to start.”


  Dandalus nodded. “Then perhaps the best I can do is help you get away. I should be able to send you anywhere in this world.”

  “Should?” Cole asked. “You’re not sure?”

  “Not entirely,” Dandalus admitted. “If it works, I can send you across the kingdom as easily as across the room. It’s a manipulation of space, similar to the opening of a way. Once you break contact with the stone, it will stop functioning. But the transfer is as close to instantaneous as it gets. I expect success.”

  “Can you send me home to my world?” Cole asked.

  “I’m sorry, but no. The Founding Stone has no influence there.”

  Cole weighed his options. After how angry he had made Owandell, it would be smart to go as far from Junction as possible. He could skip the trains and return to Old Zeropolis. But he would lack the key piece of information he came here for—Constance’s location.

  “Can you send me to Queen Harmony?” Cole asked. “Where I just was?”

  “On the balcony?” Dandalus verified.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s no harder to send you farther,” Dandalus said. “Surely you know of more distant options.”

  “I need information from Harmony,” Cole said.

  “As you wish,” Dandalus said. “If I fail, the effort will break contact with the stone without sending you anywhere. Hurry and touch it again and I’ll pull you back out of the timestream.”

  “Okay,” Cole said.

  “Focus on the place you want me to send you,” Dandalus said. “Visualize it. Reach out for it with your mind. I’ll do the rest.”

  “Wait,” Cole said. “One more question.”

  “I know it. I see your mind. You hope there is a way for you to get home from this world they now call the Outskirts.”

  “They can open ways,” Cole said. “But I want to get home and stay there. I want my family to remember me.”

  “Those who come here are not meant to return. It wasn’t anything we framers established—it was part of the nature of this place from the beginning. In theory, any aspect of this world can be reshaped. But I don’t know how you would accomplish it. I believe it would be impossible without using lawless shaping, which in turn could jeopardize this world’s stability. My advice would be to settle for living here.”