Moonlight Relic, Ch 12: A Rift on the Road (Patreon)

In the Hall of the Dwarven Council

“Return to the governor.” The words rumbled out from a circular table that was set up in an expansive stone hall. The hall was as round as the table, with broad pillars that flared at top and bottom to support a roof soaring upward to high arches. Magical crystals in brackets glimmered from the pillars as they cast a soft, amber light on everything in the area.

The messenger hesitated. He had hoped for some information to take back, but it looked like it wasn’t coming. Before he drew the moment out, he bowed low and turned to leave. Behind him, a few more words rang out.

“Tell him that we cannot determine the source of the light and we caution him from investigating too strongly. Like all old stones, the ruins hold their secrets close and do not welcome interference. Many explorers have lost their lives among them.” The words followed the messenger out with a final comment as the door closed.

A band of grey runes shimmered as it sealed the opening, blocking out sound and scrying spells. Inside the chamber, the nine dwarves who made up the Dwarven Council of Highfold exchanged a look. There were five males and four females, and all of them had been appointed by their branch of the clan.

They were powerful in their own right, with affinities for Earth and Ice. Each of them was at the First Evolution and their stocky forms were banded with muscle. Their clothing was similar to each other, with a mix of armor, square bracelets, and rune-embroidered cloaks, but each one had a different color of embroidery and symbol on their chest, marking out their branch. It didn’t take long for them to continue the discussion they’d been holding when the messenger arrived. Now, they just added one more point.

“What we said is true, but is it wise to ignore the governor?” one of the younger dwarves spoke up. “We could have offered aid or promised to look into it.”

“His influence here extends only to taxes on trade within the kingdom,” the eldest dwarf replied, shaking his head firmly. He was the one who had spoken to the messenger. “He needs to remember his place. The decisions of Highfold remain and will always remain with this council. Besides, what is there to tell him? We would only be adding more guesses.”

“It must be related to the Horned Hunter who appeared a week ago,” another dwarf spoke up, her voice holding old authority. “The ruins have never acted like this before, festival or not. Perhaps they are responding to his presence.”

“You think he’s going to settle here? World Spirits do settle down into places of power, from time to time, although no one really understands them. What impact will that have on business?”

“Probably only a good one. World Spirits attract attention, which means more trade, but they rarely interfere in mortal affairs. If he's seen again, we’ll know that he’s settling down.” The oldest dwarf rubbed his beard, letting out a rumbling hum of thought before he continued.

“Legend speaks of these mountains as the home to a mighty power that fell in a cataclysm. Now, a World Spirit walks the peak. We will have to find the Ice Sylphs and ask them what they know. They are a part of this place and have long memories.” The old dwarf clapped his hands together with a sound like a dull thundercrack, making the hall echo with a long, rolling boom, bringing a round of muttered comments to a halt. When it fell silent again, he continued.

“But if a World Spirit has chosen this area as his home, we must formally welcome him to our halls. We will not dishonor ourselves.” He looked into the eyes of every dwarf at the table before he raised his hands and slammed them down onto the table, releasing another resonant crash.

“Send word to your branches. Let all the halls know that the Council of Highmount extends our welcome to the Spirit of the World. It has been ages since we welcomed a spirit, but we have not forgotten. Tell them...” his words rumbled slowly as he began to smile, the expression fierce and proud. “Tell them to sound the drums.”

---

At the Peak of Sun’s Rest

Sam looked to where the green beam was fading away into the distance and grimaced. For a moment, it seemed like the relic was helping him, but then reality hit him. The key to the relic was critical, but the flare had alerted every enemy in the area, including ones he might be hard pressed to deal with.

If there were any Outsiders around who still remembered what the relic was for, there was no doubt they would investigate. He wouldn’t even be surprised if the church or a local army marched into the ruins to find out what was going on. That flare must have been visible for miles.

His desire for a quiet week to work on repairs had just been blown out of the water. With the festival in full swing, everyone would be looking this way. Enemies and bystanders would be mixed together and it would be hard to separate them until they acted. Their motives would be different, from wealth to information, but the chance of an attack on the peak and on the way to or from the sylph village had just increased.

Anyone near this area was going to be suspect.

You have obtained partial command authority over the relic, the Guardian Star interrupted his thoughts. Its voice was normal once more and it sounded pleased with itself. Such a thing has not been seen on Aster Fall for many ages. It is not complete, but you will be able to request more support. Unfortunately, it cannot offer much until the repairs are more established.

Sam grumbled as he considered the most immediate issue. He needed to avoid visitors while continuing his work, and that meant stealth was the best solution. He would have to set up a misdirection ward on the second or third layer, perhaps near the main stairs. That would hopefully keep most adventurers from going any higher. For the first layer, he’d work on the defensive ward he’d been planning for Lenei and Lesat. Hopefully, they would be able to handle themselves if anyone came to visit.

With that work ahead of him, he wouldn’t have time to go back to the sylph village tonight. Healing his aura would have to wait, since both of those things needed to be done yesterday. He rubbed at his forehead, especially at the base of his horns where tension was building, and then he let out a deep breath.

Display a map to the closest repair point. I need to see how well Transfer Aura works at Elite and then I’ll reassess the timeline.

A map of the ruins sprang into his mind, highlighting his position relative to the next area he needed to visit, and then he was gone, flickering across the plateau in quick steps as he headed for the edge.

The three-color shield that marked the edge of the cliff parted around him with a flicker of will. He barely had to think about it. It responded to him with no need for the Guardian Star to transmit the message. Whatever had happened when he received the key, he was more connected to the relic than ever. It was almost like the connection he had with the star.

It is a form of soul bond, the star explained when he asked. Your mind, spirit, or soul, although really a combination of all those and everything that you are, exists as a unique concept within the universe. You are you, and the connections you form to other things expand what you are. The Light of Silvas is a thread that connects you to the relic, so that your unique signature resonates more closely with it, and to a lesser extent with Silvas herself.

You mean the relic can hear my thoughts? Like you?

Yes, to a lesser degree. The bond between you and the relic is not as strong as between you and me.

The answer raised a question in Sam’s mind that he hadn’t thought of for a while, and he decided it was a good time to broach it.

What are you then? Are you alive or an artifact, like the relic? As soon as he asked the question, he held his breath, unsure what the answer would bring. For a long moment, the star was silent, but he could feel the hum of energy from it, as if it were thinking.

I have the same energy signature as you, except there is a small...mark, for lack of a better word, that gives me my own name and purpose. Think of it like a rune. Your unique signature is a rune, and I am a mark that has been added to it.

The ramifications of the answer made Sam furrow his brow, as he came to the most direct conclusion.

If everything in the universe has a unique signature, but you have the same as me, doesn’t that mean...you’re me?

Affirmative. I do not exist separately from you. The answer was comfortable, as if the star had no desire to be anything else. Hearing it made Sam’s alarm die down as well. The mark that forms me was made by a spell construct, similar to your enchantments. It bears some resemblance to the construction of artifact spirits.

What level of skill does it take to be able to alter unique runes like that? His next question sped out of him, even as he considered the ramifications. It sounded like the Astral Guardian had altered his personal signature at some level, and it sounded complex. He wanted to know how to do it.

Roughly the same as it would take to rebuild Aster Fall after a Breaking. Your signature is part of the fundamental laws of the universe. To change it is rewriting those laws.

A memory of the Astral Guardian summoning a rainbow of light that formed into the star returned to Sam’s mind. Perhaps that had been some type of aura. The more he knew about the relic and its use of aura, and the more his class advanced, the more sure he was that aura was part of the underlying laws that the star was talking about.

At any rate, the star continued, drawing his attention back to the present, the reason the relic is more responsive to you is because your signature and its are in contact now. It appears that the three keys to the relic are a part of its signature and it can grant them to the controllers.

The more of them you have, the stronger your connection. That includes the amount of attention it pays to you, the speed of its response, the weight of your wishes compared to its own goals, and more. When you have all three keys, you will be able to influence its primary mission.

As best I can tell from the relic’s core memory, even when the relic was new, the keys were split among a high council of three individuals. No one was allowed to hold all of them at once. This ensured a level of balance in how their wishes influenced the relic. If you succeed in obtaining all three keys, you will have a level of command that has never been seen before.

Whether it will be enough to stop an Outsider invasion is a different question. The star’s words turned more ominous as it concluded.

The meaning of its words spun in Sam’s mind, along with the information that in the most basic sense, the star was a part of him. He was fairly sure that was good news, although he didn’t understand all the ramifications. Was it possible for the star to influence him, or did he influence the star?

The same went for the relic. If he obtained all the keys, the relic’s signature would be closer to his own, which meant influence might flow both ways. He could already feel the weight of its age in the core enchantment, radiating with that sense of life and growing things that came from Silvas. It felt like an ancient mountain looming nearby, ever present but not quite threatening. Not yet. When he had all three keys, how heavy would its presence be? And would increasing his Charisma help, like it did for essence?

He pushed the question out of his mind as he floated down the cliff, landing lightly on a broken spur of rock. This area was similar to the last one, where it looked like a claw had gouged out part of the cliff, but the gash was larger and there was more rubble around, which made the footing awkward. He took a moment to brush it away as he looked at the damage.

At the center of the damage, there was an impact point with a spider web of deep cracks around it. A tangle of broken, dull lines led out from the area, spiraling through the stone nearby. He reached down and picked up a chunk of rock, looking at its oddly smooth and green surface with new curiosity.

Is this greenstone? The material that was mentioned for the Silvas warehouse?

Affirmative, the star replied. It is called that in the memory crystals. It is the primary building material for the relic. Until now, there was no information on its origin or how to create it. That mystery must be contained within the Silvas warehouse. Analysis suggests it is closer to crystal than to stone.

Sam gave the rock a long look as he dropped it to the side. He would have to go and see what that was all about soon, when he found the time. The damage in front of him made his frown deepen as he laid his hands on the wall. His senses sank into the stone, searching for the threads of the relic’s aura.

The silvery energy was usually everywhere, infusing every piece of stone, but here it was dimmer than anywhere he’d ever seen. Whatever damage had been dealt to this point, it had been enough to almost completely scatter it. The claw that had struck it must have been attached to a monster at least a dozen times larger than Elsanar.

His essence poured into the stone as he surrounded the fragments of aura and pulled on them, gathering them to him. They flowed like the slow, deep current of a glacial river beneath his hands, moving steadily in the direction of his will. It was easier than it had been before. That had felt like he was dragging a wagonful of stones one slow step at a time.

With that bit of progress, he split his attention, continuing to pull on the scattered aura at the same time as he pushed onward, searching for the stronger threads that were farther in. Sweat beaded on his brow and ran down his neck as time fell away. Above him, the sun began to slant across the sky, rising swiftly toward midmorning.

---

Forty Miles from Highfold

A dark rent in space appeared with a sharp, ripping sound like cloth tearing. At first, it was just a line in the air, but then it pulled apart in a swirl of sparkling lights that floated away like embers from a campfire. At first glance, they looked like round sparks, and the next it was triangles that glowed with purple borders, followed a moment later by twisted, yellow angles that didn’t exist in nature and that bent around themselves to come out again in the same direction.

Inside the void, nothing could be seen except a bright fog until a man on a horse rode through. Horseshoes clanged on the stone road that wound up through the Western Reaches, heading to Highfold. The rift closed behind him, fusing back together with an eye-twisting curvature that was larger on the inside than the outside. The man was tall, with dark hair pulled back at the temples with silver clasps. He was wearing a long traveling cloak that fell down on the horse’s haunches, giving him a shrouded appearance and making him appear far larger than he was. He had a staff in one hand and a lantern in the other, inside of which there was a dark spark that constantly changed shape as it twisted in on itself and back out.

He tugged on the horse’s reins, making it turn in a circle as he looked around the area to orient himself. When he stopped, he was looking up the road to Highfold, his gaze settling on the peak of Sun’s Rest in the distance. It was the most prominent landmark around and also his destination. When he saw what was in the sky, however, his eyes widened and he jerked back on the reins so suddenly that the horse reared up, its front hooves rising two feet off the ground before they slammed back down again with a dull chime on the stones.

A bright green beam cut through the sky, connecting Sun’s Rest to Silvas. The clouds had moved out of its path, flowing around it to leave the beam clear and distinct. The rider’s eyes widened as a sense of disbelief hit him. He dropped the staff in his hand back into the stirrup cup and his fingers flickered through a series of gestures before he threw an Analysis spell out into the air.

“What is that?” he muttered as he waited for the results. When nothing came back to him, he reached out to the spell to make sure it was working. It was, but there was no reading, as if there were nothing there. “That’s not possible.”

Ideas clashed in his mind, and then the beam suddenly faded away into a clear morning. The moon dropped below the horizon, leaving unanswered questions behind.

“That large of a manifestation must have had a massive mana signature,” he whispered under his breath, although there was no one around to hear. “How could there be nothing?”

He’d traveled as close to Highfold as he could, but that still left him twenty miles away from the edge of the valley. The wards around it prevented him from opening a spatial rift any closer. That wasn’t normal for cities in the Kingdom of Aethra, but the valley where Highfold was located far predated the kingdom. The surprising thing was that the wards still functioned, but he didn’t dare to test them to see if there were gaps. Deviations in spatial transfer usually led to death.

His great aunt had given him very specific orders for this mission, and the thought of disobeying her made him shudder, but the mystery of that green beam was too alluring to let it go. He would find out what was going on, or his name wasn’t Micas Hastern.