Awakenings

by C. D. Espeseth

  Branson shook his head back and forth as if he were chewing on something particularly unpalatable. “Well, you’ve gone and done it now, haven’t you? I guess you’ve decided we’re trusting him.” Branson looked at Jonah with resigned acceptance. “All right, here.” Branson rummaged through his pack and pulled out an unremarkable bundle of cloth. He unwound the tightly wrapped cloth to reveal an alabaster knife of such pure white it seemed to glow from within.

  “Isn’t it meant to be a spear? That’s a knife, a dagger to be more specific,” Fin said in confusion.

  Jonah didn’t answer and grabbed the hilt of the long leaf-shaped blade. He touched the hidden button on its hilt and Fin gasped as the shaft of the spear telescoped out from the base of the hilt, clicking into place as it reached full extension.

  “Ah, now it’s a spear, very fancy.” Fin nodded as if he should have guessed. “I don’t suppose I have a choice in the whole needing my blood thing?”

  “You’ve just been entrusted with one of the Empire’s most well-guarded secrets by the grand duke. A secret which would almost certainly mean your immediate death back in Eura, and you want to reconsider?” Branson grimaced at the big man.

  “So, it’s a no then?” Fin nodded to Jonah to continue. “You could have just said no.”

  “Oh, shut it, sit down across from me and give me your finger,” Jonah said as he folded his legs under him and sat on the ground. He touched the hidden button once again retracting the shaft back into the blade. Fin held out his hand, and Jonah swatted it away. “Not your trigger finger, you might need that. I thought spies were meant to be smart?”

  “I’m a little flustered, all right,” Fin answered with a huff and held out the small finger on his left hand. “This is kind of a big deal, right?”

  “It’s a ritual I’ve only done once before, with the Dokan before me, Tokama Hashi. The blade takes the memories of those it slays as well, but the transference of knowledge is never as complete when compared to this ritual,” Jonah explained calmly. “Let that side of the blade cut your finger, do not press too hard mind as its edge is razor sharp. I will do the same on the other side of the blade.”

  Fin’s calm had finally been shaken as his hand trembled slightly as he put his finger to the edge of the blade. “Oh, that’s a very odd–” Fin cut off as he gasped when Jonah’s finger was cut by the other side of the blade.

  They both grimaced in pain as an uncomfortable pressure seemed to crawl through their veins in unison. Their eyes closed at the same time, and behind their lids, their eyes danced back and forth in a frenzy, and their heads began to wobble involuntarily.

  Finally, they drew in deep breaths and pulled their hands away from the white blade of the spear.

  “Empress save me, that was ...” Fin trailed off, searching for the words.

  “Uncomfortable, yes,” Jonah said, wiping a spot of blood from his nose. He pointed at Fin’s nose as he too had a small trickle flowing down onto his lip.

  Fin closed his eyes, squinting at the headache Jonah knew he must be feeling, as his head throbbed as well. When Fin finally opened his eyes, they held tears of sorrow. “Jonah, I’m so sorry. Branson told me, but I never imagined how horrible it truly was.” Fin leaned forward and pulled Jonah into an embrace before either he or Branson had a chance to move. “I saw it all. What Ilene did. Gods, I felt it, Jonah.” Fin pulled himself back holding Jonah by the shoulders. “How can you take it? That pain?”

  “I can’t really.” Jonah shrugged. “It has broken me once already, yet still I hold it like a dagger digging through towards my heart. I can only hope to do some good before it finishes me off,” Jonah said, baring his soul, for it was futile to try and hide anything just now. Fin knew his mind like no one else ever could at that instant, and any attempt at deflection was useless. “Now,” he said slapping his thighs getting to his feet and pulling Fin up with him, “let’s get back to camp, get some food and drink, and then try to befriend the people who live here. All right?”

  Fin nodded not trying to hide the tears or look of respect he wore for Jonah. He clapped Jonah on the shoulder one more time and agreed, “All right.”

  “Well, that was not a fun thing to watch. It looked very unnatural,” Branson commented as he took the once again knife-sized spear.

  “Don’t think you’re getting off easy either, Branson. I need you to go through the ritual, too. But not tonight. I can’t quite take another session of that just yet.”

  “Well, shit,” Branson swore. “What is it you think you can learn from me that I haven’t already taught you?”

  Jonah shrugged. “You hold Clan Delegoth’s knowledge within you, just as Fin held his clan’s knowledge within him. We have shared that between us rather than one bloodline hoarding the information for themselves. It is one of but many changes we will need to make my old friend. Don’t worry, you only have to do it once.”

  Branson nodded but looked somewhat haunted by the prospect, but soon they were back in camp and set to work trying to learn as much as they could about these people and beginning to build the foundations of a new way of life for Eura.

  21 - A Breakthrough

  Curiosity is a key human trait which I believe must be central to finding our way back to the Tiden Raika.

  I’m not sure why I believe this so much, but if our curiosity must be purged for us to live in harmony, is there any point to such an existence?

  - Journal of Robert Mannford Day 003 Year 00 - Entry 3

  Thannis

  Professor Attridge’s Laboratory, The Academy, New Toeron, Bauffin

  The dark stone walls were slick with moisture from condensation. The enormous forge down the hall made the damp and cold winter air feel more like the climate of a jungle with the radiating heat. The dark glossy surfaces reminded Thannis of cobblestones soaked in blood, and it made him thirsty.

  He patted the satchel holding the collection of marvellous santsi globes which he had taken with him on his latest foray in the city. The globes still felt warm with the siphoned energies of the four girls he had taken at once. I should be satiated for a while, this is no time to get greedy, he thought to himself. Possibilities were presenting themselves, which he could never have imagined before, and he now had to maintain a very precarious balance between his cravings and his plans for the future. Discipline, he told himself, that is what will make it work, discipline and careful planning.

  Thannis made his way past the great storerooms full of the special blend of sand used for santsi globes. The sand was imported all the way from Santsi Bay and master artisans crowded around the lit furnaces. Yes, New Toeron was perched to become the centre of industry, full of world-changing potential, and he was one of only a few who were beginning to see it, yet none saw the whole picture as he did. No, the future he saw was wondrous and would rip apart the old world they had lived in for so long. The future would be glorious, and it would be his.

  Thannis took a moment to admire the dozens of santsi makers hard at work.

  “Only the best will do,” the professor had said. “We work on the edge of comprehension and have no room for second best.” Thannis smiled as he agreed with the professor’s ethos entirely.

  The dance between the artisans and the santsi forges was almost hypnotic. The glowing glass was dipped in liquid metal while the artisan siphoned into the mixture with incredible precision, artificially cooling the metal to just the right temperature so that it would coat the glass sphere with a thin, conductive film. Thannis wondered idly what the covellite percentage was in this blend of sand. Thannis had tried his hand at this type of siphoning a few weeks ago, but he didn’t have the control which these masters had.

  In another life, Thannis could have seen himself spending hours upon hours harnessing and refining the special blends of sands used and exerting the razor-sharp control needed to hold the conductive metals at just the right temperature. The joy a master must feel when he holds the cooling glass in his hands, knowing throu
gh his efforts that he had created a marvel that even the Jendar themselves had not invented. Through their skill, siphoned energy could be stored within the smooth round surfaces, waiting for the right person to call it forth from its glass prison.

  These masters were excellent at what they did, yet Thannis needed the process to be faster. He needed more santsi, a lot more, and needed them faster. The new prodigy he had employed at the Artificium had found something in the Jendar histories called a production line in which people specialised at a very small part of the overall production of an object. The author of the history, now thousands of years dead, had spoken of the dramatic increase in productivity, and it left Thannis hopeful. They weren’t there yet, but he was arranging the pieces he needed. There was just so much that had been lost, so much complexity which needed to be regained, and so little time.

  A snippet of conversation about hiring more people caught his attention and reminded him he would have to have the talk with his father soon, a conversation which needed to be carefully navigated. So far, his funds had not yet been cut off, but they would be if he did not present his plans soon. His father was probably curious more than anything, and Thannis would make sure he kept that curiosity peaked.

  Thannis waited to watch the gelatinous orb at the end of the blowing stick twirl as the artisan spun it meticulously in the air, before finally placing it on the cooling rack to settle. Another vessel was ready for the primal life energy only he could give it. Thannis sighed in contented satisfaction idly wondering what sort of person he would taste as he pulled their essence through himself and into the new globe. The thought aroused him as he moved into the labyrinth of passageways within the Research Wing, wandering purposefully until he found himself in front of the now all too familiar wooden door of Professor Attridge’s laboratory.

  Ah, he thought to himself, how long have I been here now that I can navigate this maze without even thinking? Thannis had almost grown fond of the cosy routine he had built up with his cousin and the eccentric Professor Attridge. It was almost a shame he would eventually have to kill them.

  As if his thoughts had summoned him, his cousin Dennis rushed over to him as soon as he entered. “There you are. The professor has been asking after you for hours, I think you’ll be quite interested in what we’ve found. I believe we’ve cracked your conundrum.”

  Now that would be quite a step forward if true. Thannis nodded. “Lead on, lead on. Let’s see it then.”

  They came to one of the large benches at the back of the laboratory. Several large glass vats containing a turquoise liquid dominated the workbench. A large central beaker was also filled with the strange liquid, but two of the new santsi were submerged within it. Both shone brightly, and to Thannis’s surprise, he could see sparks snapping back and forth between the globes. “Are they reinforcing each other?” Thannis asked in wonder.

  “There you are, Lady take me, you are a hard one to keep in one place,” Professor Attridge growled at him. “And yes, it would appear they are. I need your abilities to check thoroughly, however. We could have moved on if not waiting for you.”

  “Believe me, professor, the wait is worth it, I now have teams of people scouring the Jendar relics for any information on the work we are doing here. Not to mention dozens of other projects that I’m sure a mind like yours will find interesting. There will be enough work, professor. I guarantee it.” Thannis laughed to himself at the old man’s bluntness. It was almost refreshing. “I’m here now, so what have you discovered?”

  “I wish I could claim all the credit for this, but it was your idea which pointed me in the right direction.” The professor looked somewhat forlorn at the admission.

  “Please sir, I do not wish any credit, but I fail to see how I had anything to do with this.” Thannis was genuinely perplexed as he looked at the strange, slightly gelatinous looking liquid in the large beaker. There it was again! A spark shot through the liquid between the globes.

  “Nonsense. It was your idea about the alternating suns.” The professor popped down off his stool and scampered over to the shelves to retrieve the device which had inspired Thannis.

  “There was one flaw in the idea, as you pointed out – the metal connection points, just here.” The old fingers traced a line down from a tiny glass sphere on the end of one of the many poles radiating out from a central larger santsi like the spokes of a wheel. “As you know the alternating suns are used to train siphoners here at the academy to gain control of directing energy. The student would practise pulling the energy from one sphere and directing it to another specified sphere, but always there is a fixed amount of energy within the device, and eventually, there would always be a loss.”

  Thannis recited the relevant part of the earlier conversation, “ Yes, it was the particular type of metal being used. Even if that were gold, it would have a resistance which the siphoner needs to overcome, and yet, even when overcome, there is always a loss of energy during the transfer through the effort, lost to the metal itself.”

  “Yes, yes, that’s it.” The professor was properly animated now. “Yes, that is a particularly difficult flaw to overcome, however, something Harold Spierling has been working within some of his new siphoning suits – covellite and other crystalline mixtures to be precise – got me thinking and jogged my memory. Dennis, the book.” Professor Attridge waved at Dennis impatiently.

  Dennis ran over to retrieve an open book from another of the workbenches.

  “Give it here, Dennis.” Professor Attridge took the book, flipped it open to a marked page and pointed at the diagram on it. “This was drawn by a Chronicler from something they discovered in one of the Jendar cities. You brought it to us a few days ago. You see, metals have too many rules, energy can flow through them only in certain ways, regimented directions and transfers. But there are liquids which can also conduct, many of them far more efficiently than the metal we usually associate with conduits. So, I started experimenting with conductive liquids and have been refining my mixture for days now until I came up with this. Given the correct acidity of the liquid medium, and an initial charge, the santsi you’ve provided will then sustain an energy transference indefinitely between all of the globes submersed within the liquid medium.”

  Thannis leaned in closer and watched the sparks of energy racing back and forth in beautiful intricacy between the submerged santsi globes. It was then he noticed two metal wires running into the vat on either side. He followed the wires to a small contraption behind the beaker. “What’s this?”

  “Ah yes, I almost forgot about that little contraption Chronicler Rutherford and I made. When you turn the crank, the air between the discs smells as if it is about to rain after a warm summer’s day. I needed it to induce a small initial charge to start the energy transference cycle as neither Dennis or I can siphon. Go on, give it a try.” The professor pointed Thannis towards the strange little machine.

  Thannis took hold of the wooden hand and began to turn the crank. The two wheels with metal strips started to whir in opposite directions, and oddly the wind from the spinning wheels did smell of rain. But that wasn’t what held his attention. A line of what could only be called lightning began to connect the two santsi within the mixture to the metal strips on either side of the globes. The liquid started to dance as if it was alive, and Thannis could feel the charge of it, compelling him to take a taste of it. He siphoned some of the energy and felt immediately connected to the vat of liquid.

  His eyes opened in amazement.

  It was as if he were suddenly connected to a vast chasm of potential, a well of power somehow greater even than the two massive santsi within the vat.

  “What is it?” Dennis had his notebook out and a quill hovering over the page. More and more sparks began to snap through the liquid until the entire vat began to glow brighter.

  “It’s more …” Thannis hesitated, trying to search and feel the extent of these new depths. “It’s more, somehow … greater than even both of the
globes, and you’re right, there is no resistance, only that of the wires here. Incredible ...” Thannis trailed off again as a thought came to him.

  He stopped siphoning and reached into his satchel, pulling out the globes one at a time and giving them to Dennis. “Place these into the vat.”

  “I–” Dennis looked to Professor Attridge.

  “Do it!” Thannis commanded, somewhat shocked at his own urgency.

  “As he says.” Professor Attridge shooed Dennis forward. “I think I know where this is going.”

  Dennis carefully placed the first three in the vat and waited as Thannis still held the fourth.

  Thannis watched as the sparks still held within the gelatinous liquid now flitted between all five globes suspended inside the large vat. As he watched, Thannis could swear he heard something calling to him. Was it a song? A voice?

  Thannis began to siphon from the air around him, pushing it into the globe as he pushed the last globe and then his hand into the beaker.

  “What are you-!” the professor screamed.

  But Thannis heard nothing after his skin touched the medium.

  His body became rapture.

  He was vaguely aware of the professor and his cousin yelling at him, but it was as if they were behind a wall.

  Thannis’s spine shook with the bliss coursing through him. His skin pulsed, his loins throbbed, and the energy filled him, utterly and completely. He wanted to join with the radiant depth of absolute euphoria, to let it become him. Let it define him. All he had to do was give in. Yet there was a barrier holding him back. Thannis felt it as if through a dream. He pulled away from the alien force and drifted back into the energy, into complete bliss.