Astral Threads, Ch 35: Visions of the Seal (Patreon)

The way through the tunnels took two hours. It went around in a curving descent as they descended into the earth and then it swept up again, until they were nearly on the same level as Runekeld, but the area where the seers had their hall was far quieter than the city.

From the impressions in Crystal Focus, there were very few people who lived here. It was only quartz and other mineral deposits arching around a cavern that was about a quarter mile across. The most noticeable feature was a spring of pure water that poured out into a crystal clear subterranean basin, next to which the seers had their hall.

The water was tinged with a light yellow hue from a flow of Earth mana that passed nearby, which was no doubt why they had chosen the spot. For Earthen Seers like Krana, it probably amplified their spells. A vein of topazes had sprung into existence near the mana flow and gave form to gems in a range of colors, from golden yellow to soft blue and even a warm red.

Knowing the dwarves, they could probably sense the gems in the earth, which made this quite a luxurious spot for them to relax.

The hall itself was modest by dwarven standards, at least for an important building, but it was ornately decorated with carvings on the walls. It was three stories tall and curved along the bank of the lake for two hundred feet. Arches opened from the interior onto the side facing the water and a row of pillars in front of them created a gallery along the shore where the inhabitants could walk and reflect.

Of all the dwarven buildings he’d seen so far, this one was the most peaceful. The water sparkled with its own light and the subtle hum of the nearby Earth mana filled the cavern. The seers had been lucky to find it and luckier to make this place from it, although with their class, perhaps that had been easier than it would be for most.

“Elder Utala is waiting for you at the edge of the lake,” Esana said as she gestured toward the gallery that led to the shore. Despite her relationship to the seer, she seemed more comfortable referring to her by her title. It said something of how distantly she knew her. “She asked to speak with you and Krana alone. I will be here when you are done to accompany you on the way back.”

“Thank you,” Sam gave her a smile. Of all the councilors, Krana’s mother had been the most helpful by far. Knowing her daughter, perhaps that shouldn’t have been a surprise. She had the same generosity of spirit. He wondered if her grandmother would be the same.

He headed toward the gallery with Krana by his side and walked between the row of pillars that marked the entrance. The lake was to his left with the faint trace of Earth mana in it shimmering in the water. He wasn’t sure if it was visible to everyone, but to him it made the entire cavern glow. The gems nearby sparkled even more intensely in his awareness here, like a painting of subterranean wonders in the dark.

It made him think of how beauty was different, depending on where you were in the world. To the dwarves, perhaps this was as beautiful as a snowy mountain peak in the sunrise was to the ice sylphs. Next to him, Krana was looking around with a smile and seemed relaxed.

At the end of the gallery, there was a platform that stretched over the lake like a dock. On the edge, with her bare feet dangling down by the water, there was an elderly dwarf in a light blue robe, which looked almost like a shawl wrapped around her. Her hair was a waterfall of white down her back and her shoulders were thinner than any dwarf he’d seen so far.

“Elder Utala?” he asked as he stopped about ten feet away. It looked like she was meditating, or at least staring off into space. Krana stopped next to him, but she was too polite to interrupt.

“What do you think of that?” The words came from a thin but strong voice, and the elder didn’t turn her head. She just raised her hand and pointed out to the center of the lake. “Take a look. You too, granddaughter.”

Sam stepped forward to the edge of the platform and looked out to where the seer was pointing. The flow of Earth mana warped there, pouring upward into a spell structure like a reverse waterfall. The elder or the other seers had tapped into the power in the lake to create an enchantment here, creating something like a scrying mirror. It was a permanent spell sustained by the mana and the lake, although they probably had to tend to it now and then.

To his mana-attuned eyes, it looked like a spray of water droplets and runes captured in the middle of falling upward, and he studied the pattern for a moment before he followed the lines to the center, where the seer wanted him to look. The center of the enchantment was a translucent sphere of water. As he looked into it, images began to appear as they warped into a vision of somewhere else.

It was a vast darkness that stretched endlessly into space. Pinpoints of light flared in the distance, but the area was barren and empty, a place where no one had reason to come. Only streaks of light marked the passing of time, but it was a place that Sam knew very well, the part of the Void where the Nexus had formed. He’d seen a similar vision in his dreams many times, one with far more detail than this.

A moment later, however, the vision changed, diverging from what he was familiar with. Instead of a vast slab of rock where the Nexus eventually cut through reality as it appeared, followed by the meeting between the Outsiders and the Astrals, an image of Aster Fall appeared instead, spinning in space as a complete blue and purple sphere.

If he hadn’t known better, he would have assumed it came into existence like that, somehow instantly, as the handiwork of the gods. Instead, he felt keenly a sense of skipped time. He knew the First Contact meeting had taken place and that the rock had been shaped into something like a world. Eventually, the World Core had been created to manage the flow of energy and that rock became part of the earthen layer around it, creating the foundation for where they all lived now.

The vision continued at its own pace, however, as the new Aster Fall spun, her silver clouds and blue oceans bubbling with mana, until eventually a translucent barrier took shape around her. The vision zoomed in until the entire field of vision was filled with the world and that barrier.

It was clearly the World Seal, although he knew for a fact that it didn’t look like that. It didn’t exist in anything as simple as a bubble around the world. Instead, it was woven through the fabric of their dimension. This was some version of the truth that was easier to understand.

Around the edges of the seal, splotches of pale white, yellow, grey, and a corrupted green began to appear, like rot on a leaf. Those had to be Outsider invasions that were harming the seal, or perhaps damage to it, but the vision had skipped over the entire history of the First War and how the seal was formed in the first place. He’d known the World Core limited some information on history unless you paid Marks to find out after proving your faithfulness, especially of the most sensitive topics, but this was much too abbreviated.

Was this all that Seers saw of history?

He frowned as he studied it. It wasn’t clear if the World Core was influencing the vision or if it was something that Elder Utala had created on her own, but without more information, people could easily get the wrong idea about what had happened.

The vision warped, even as a turmoil of emotions rolled through him. He was still expecting to see the devastation of the First War, but instead, an image of his father appeared. It wasn’t Jeric’s current appearance, but rather the older, more pot-bellied version of him from before they’d gone down into the tunnels below the Abyssinian Plains. His face was grey and he looked sick, and the last time that Sam had seen him like that....

It sent his mind flashing back to when his father had nearly died, right before Sam yelled at the World Law and the Guardian intervened. He’d been foolish and had run out to fight the gnomes with a scroll he’d made, thinking that he could do everything, and his father had come to rescue him.

The vision of Jeric disappeared, replaced by one of Sam, except it wasn’t him. A much darker version of himself was standing in a breach in the seal, tearing the now-silver barrier apart with his claws. He was taller, at least thirty feet if the Outsiders around him were any indication, and his skin was shadowy ebon like the depths of the void itself except for tiny red scales like a drake’s at the joints and across his shoulders.

His horns were curled back like a ram’s instead of the lunar crescents he had currently, and thicker at the base where they met his skull. They were pitch black except for red lines that shot along them like veins and there were ruby points at the tip, as if they’d been dipped in blood or flames. His eyes were serpent-like, with sinister vertical pupils on a field of living flames instead of his calmer blue.

It was a true demonic version of himself.

This was what he might have been if he had been thrown into the seal and survived. The very air around him seemed to radiate malice and his expression was a vicious snarl. There was no mercy there, only hatred. There was also a feeling of age to him, as if he’d been somewhere for a long time, perhaps a century or more.

As he watched, he seized the edges of the seal he’d just broken past and tore them apart, peeling back the layers for a horde of Outsiders to rush through. As he stepped through himself, a world of dark ruby flames accompanied him.

He was supposed to have died if he were trapped in the World Seal. The Guardian had said it was no different than a death sentence. It looked like he’d managed after all, and not in a good way. There was no doubt of the power he had, but it seemed he’d become just another Outsider bent on destruction and chaos, perhaps in the name of vengeance.

If his father had died in those tunnels and he’d been thrown into the seal just for yelling at the World Law...he might have decided the world wasn’t worth saving and turned into that.

The vision dissolved, twisting out of its path, and Sam in something closer to his current form appeared. It looked like him from a few months ago, although some details were strangely obscured. Three quarters of his body were nothing but a silver blur and it was impossible to make out his features even though he knew they were there. His horns, talons, and eyes were a wash of light that removed any distinguishing marks and even the color of his skin was blurred away. Only his height was obvious, since he was standing next to Krana. If he hadn’t known it was him, he would have thought it was some tall human or maybe a short giant.

The two of them were fighting in the mountains against wyverns. The scene was clearly modified from the original, since he remembered that moment. In the real version, there had been more of them there, including his father, Lenei, and Lesat. They had been clearing out some of the wyverns that threatened the younger ice drakes. This was some simplified version.

This was the protection that the World Core offered, it seemed. Even a Seer couldn’t pinpoint exactly who he was or what was going on. At best, one might catch a few images of him that were hard to understand.

The vision dissolved and the seal appeared again, a shimmering translucent barrier that was whole, but the splotches of corrosive rot on it were worse than ever. With that, the vision shattered, returning to swirling water, but only for a moment before the image of his father appeared again, aged face and all. The enchantment fell still as Utala’s sharp voice sounded in his ears.

“Did you know that ‘Utala’ means ‘forewarning’ in an old dialect?,” she said, her voice like crackling paper. “It’s been forgotten by most dwarves, but I’ve lived for longer than this city has flourished. Until a year or so ago, the only thing I saw was the World Seal crumbling in a state of slow decay, pieces falling by the wayside as invasions crashed through and weakened it.

“For thousands of years, it never changed. It was a forewarning of what would happen on the current path. I could only tell that eventually, it would fail. I never saw a way to change it and so I rarely spoke about it. It’s one reason I came to live here and built this place. I wanted to keep looking for another route. And then about a year ago, these visions appeared, and especially him.” Her thin arm stretched up to point at Jeric.

“We have that man to thank for changing this future. Somehow. I can tell he’s connected to you, but not anything more. Now, here you are as an Honored Smith of a legendary race, your hand granting gifts to my people, instead of appearing as that demon of destruction. I can’t tell when or how it happened, but that man changed the course of things for the better.”

Sam looked down at the seer beside him and then back to the image of his father with a frown. Clearly, she didn’t have all the information. She didn’t seem to know that his father was alive and well in the relic. To him, the visions spoke of two paths: what would have happened to him in the seal if his father had died and the other that was closer to what was happening now.

“I have lived some of these events, Elder,” he said eventually, “but the visions are half true at best. Too much has been obscured. Why show them to me?”

“Visions are one level of reality, but they are not what’s really there,” Utala agreed, “especially when it concerns a legendary race. That is why Foretelling is so difficult and why Seers don’t just take over the world. I know you came for information on a different matter, but I have lived with these visions for long enough that I wanted to see what you made of them.” She looked up at him, her features fine and wrinkled. Her eyes were the shade of golden topaz, the same as the mana in the water. She reached out to pat his hand, as if he were her grandson.

“I have the feeling we should be most grateful to not see the other version of you, Honored Smith, and I hope that by sharing this, it is more likely for it to never appear. Perhaps it will mean something different to you than it does to me.”

“It’s a warning of what could be, or really of what could have been, had things been different.” Sam gave a thoughtful grumble in response. “As for the second version, it’s what happened, including the hunt with Krana, but it’s not very accurate.” He didn’t mention his father, since some secrets were meant to be kept, and the seer didn’t ask.

“I’ve heard of my many-times-great granddaughter’s vision of you,” she said with a pleased smile as she looked at Krana. “You are defending the world against the Breach. That is a vision I have never been blessed with, and I am glad to hear of it. Perhaps my efforts to cultivate improved classes for my descendants has finally paid off. In my youth, we were still working on the alignment of Earth for our people. My First Evolution class was as a Topaz Seer, since we were combining Earth mana and gemstones into them.” She fell silent, her thoughts apparently traveling back into the past, and then she waved her hand as she let it all go.

“At any rate, tell me...what is it you need? I have only seen that one partial image of you, and it is not for lack of trying. Everything else is blocked from my sight. I think I only saw it because of my connection to Krana.”

Her words made Sam realize two important things that he should have considered before. One, his opponents likely had Seers, and he should have thought about what they could see of him and his activities. Two, he probably needed to thank the World Core for blocking their vision.

It was already clear that the protection wasn’t perfect, since perhaps they could track him through the events around him even if they couldn’t see him directly, but it was much better than nothing. That was probably how the bellisagi had found him, if it wasn’t a mana trail from the relic.

“I came to find out why the Harbinger of War rang in Highfold,” he said simply, “and why so many Flaws are appearing there. I have my guesses, but not the broader picture.”

“Ahh. Perhaps I can help with that.” Elder Utala nodded and then she raised her hand to point at the spiral of water again. “Look there.”

As he looked toward the enchantment, the vision changed again, swirling through a chaos of colors until an aerial view of Highfold appeared. It was a bright spot in a sea of obscured white-blue that looked like ice crystals on glass. None of the valley was visible except for the city.

“The ice sylphs’ wards prevent prying into their valley,” Utala explained, “but the city is not guarded in the same way.”

The vision zoomed in on the Harbinger of War at the height of the Ice Palace. Then the sun spun in reverse as the days rolled back to the moment it rang. Utala seemed to need no help finding the right point in time. The vision moved as fluidly as a river until it settled on an image of the seven bells that made up the Harbinger on the tallest tower.

At first, the bells were still, glinting in the sunlight. Then they suddenly moved, swaying under some force as if they’d been struck by an invisible hammer. A ripple of clear energy swelled outward from and passed over the city in a wave, stretching out into the distance of the valley.

Elder Utala’s eyes glimmered with Earth mana and the vision changed again, the enchantment spinning as water droplets were flung away from it. The Harbinger disappeared as it was replaced by a green light stretching into the sky. It was blurry and difficult to make out, but it shot upward like an arrow from a mountain peak. To Sam, there was no mistaking what that was.

The Light of Silvas.

It had been released from the relic when he touched the control plateau, after the fight with the Blood Elemental where he’d called on the moon. In this vision, however, the beam of light didn’t extend to the moon itself. Instead, it spread outward like a cloud, flooding out across the mountains in a wave similar to the one that had just come from the Harbinger.

The image changed again as a vision of the World Seal around Aster Fall reappeared. The green Light of Silvas was like a soothing balm that poured into the barrier, bringing a sense of life and peace to the places it touched. One of the blotches of rot that was nearby, a glaring red this time, boiled as it slammed against the green, as if it were angered by its presence.

Then the image froze, all of the colors clearly displayed as the World Seal shimmered around Aster Fall. It looked like an artist’s palette, or a canvas that some madman had hurled paint onto, trying to cover every part at random. Foreign energies swirled in a riot of invasions, filling more than three quarters of the globe.

Some areas of the world had less and others more, but the colors overlapped in places, merging into a mottled, acidic grey that felt like the antithesis of life. A sense of threat radiated from those places, more palpable than in the others. In one particular spot, the activity was particularly intense. The red that had been angered by the green light was boiling around the edges and other colors were surging toward the location as well, all of them merging together into an ugly dark splotch.

He somehow knew that it was directly above Highfold.

And then the vision spun away, shattering as it returned to a spray of water. Elder Utala let out a hacking cough as she leaned to the side, her face pale and somehow more frail than before. Automatically, Sam reached out to help her, his hand supporting her shoulder before she could fall. She leaned against him, coughing again.

He could feel how frail her aura was, and without really thinking about it, he sent a wave of Aura Regeneration toward her. He didn’t understand her aura enough to be very precise, but it should support general health and vitality. He also pulled out a healing scroll and started to activate it, but the elder pushed his hand away. After a moment, her color began to improve again and she stopped coughing.

“That’s all I can show you, but hopefully it’s enough,” she said between coughs. It was clear that the vision had cost her something. “I’ve been watching the seal for a long time. Now, other places sensitive to trouble are beginning to recognize what’s coming, I imagine, like your bell. If I were you, I’d be careful about returning to Highfold. It looks like it’s going to be quite the rough spot soon.”

“Flaws have been increasing around it,” Sam said grimly as he considered what he’d just seen. “You think they’ll continue like that?”

“Of course.” The elder coughed again as she swatted at his hand, this time as a reprimand for asking a foolish question. “Something stirred the Outsiders up. They know a threat when they see one, or at least their true leaders do. That green light seems to have aggravated them. However it is they create Flaws, they’re pushing hard to get to it.”

Sam nodded. The elder’s vision added some information to what he’d suspected. He’d known the Flaws were increasing, but not that they were directly linked to the Light of Silvas. He’d only guessed at that. It looked like they really were responding to what he’d done. It also meant there was something intelligent on the other side and it didn’t like the relic.

If that red color was related to the Demon of Sundered Blood or its lieutenants, it was no surprise that it had been stirred up by the battle with the Blood Elemental or the movement of Silvas, which was the strongest ward against it.

The combination of Outsider efforts was also important. The red hadn’t been alone. There had been other colors merging into it, which meant multiple forces were arrayed against him. He would have to prepare the relic and find a way to protect the valley too. Otherwise, the battles would threaten the villagers.

Most important, however, was the knowledge that the Outsiders knew what was going on in Aster Fall, at least to some extent, and that they could control the Flaws. It turned them from a random encounter into something more sinister.

“It’s called a Dimensional Convergence,” Utala said between coughs, although she was already looking better. The dwarven constitution wasn’t for show, even at her age, and perhaps Sam’s attempt to help had actually done something. She pointed at the enchantment where the image had been. “When Flaws come together like that, overlapping each other, it’s a sign of a pending invasion, or at least a lot of trouble. Flaws appear, Outsiders break free from their prisons, and monster hordes are unleashed.

“Most of the time, this is where the legends come from about Outsiders invading, the wars that can shatter a kingdom and wipe cities from the face of the earth. Little information survives a Breaking, so stories are built up from these instead. Whatever has happened near Highfold, it is shortly going to be a very dangerous place to live. No doubt that is why the Harbinger rang.”

“When?” Sam’s question was low and fierce. “And why couldn’t the seers there find it when they looked?”

“It is hard to see the larger picture when you are at the center of it.” Elder Utala shook her head. “Don’t blame them. One reason I created this cavern was to find the right vantage point where the flows of mana come together. It helps me to see clearly.

“As for when this will happen, all you can do is pay attention to the intensity of the Flaws. They will build in strength. When that levels off and they start to change, and when more than one type of Outsider comes through the same Flaw, that is when you will know. A few years...perhaps more.” She paused, shaking her head as she took a deep breath and hacked for a moment.

“But Highfold will only be one of the first places to see this type of convergence,” she added, her tone serious. “As you announced at the gates, the seal is reaching its breaking point. This will happen in many places soon, wherever the Outsiders focus their attention. You have seen how the rot is spreading.” She lifted her hand to point at where the image of the seal had been.

“Now, I know you brought a friend with you as well and that you have much to do,” she said between coughs as she looked over at Krana, “but I have to give you one last piece of advice. It would be in your interests and theirs if you left Krana and Ayala here in Runekeld for a while.

“There is much that I can teach Krana now that she has reached the First Evolution and she has the skills to see. Ayala will also be safer here in the city. Her father presents no real difficulty to us and you will have time to find a path to success for her, without worrying about who is following you.”

Sam froze as he looked toward Krana. Her words addressed a point that he had known subconsciously, but he hadn’t brought himself to say it yet. It was true that the city would be safer for the two of them. There was little that would get past the gates and the dwarves guarding everything. That would give him a chance to meet the bellisagi alone, when he only had to protect himself. With the Star of Life in his vest, he even had an idea of exactly where to deal with them.

Still, he hesitated. There was no doubt that the elder could teach Krana, but he couldn’t make that decision for her, or for Ayala...although he suspected Ayala would be happy enough to stay.

There was another advantage to it as well, since it would let him handle a few things without getting the attention of the Cabal, who were no doubt watching Helimar. If he got involved with her father too quickly and they came to see what was going on, he would be in over his head. Despite that, he wasn’t going to leave Krana or Ayala here unless that was what they wanted, even if all the dwarven legions tried to stand in his way.

They were able to make up their own minds and if they wanted to come with him, he’d find a way to break them out and keep them safe.

Krana was frowning, her arms folded across her chest as she looked at her great grandmother. Her thoughts were as clear as day. She was thinking about her promise to accompany him. Her expression went through a storm of changes before it finally settled on a flat stare out into the distance, to where the enchantment was sparkling above the lake.

“I suppose it would give you a chance to deal with the bellisagi,” she said at last. “They’re a danger to Ayala and me, even with the Sky Guard for protection. This would let you take all the golems, so in that way, at least, I’d be helping to protect you like I promised. I wasn’t much use in the last fight and neither was Ayala.”

She tapped her foot on the stones of the platform, giving rise to a dull echo as she looked at Elder Utala again. The elder said nothing, neither encouragement nor rebuttal. She just looked across the lake with a faint smile, not interfering in the decision. Apparently, she wouldn’t stop her if she wanted to leave.

“And I suppose it’s true that there’s a lot I could learn here,” Krana admitted with a grimace. “This place is a wonder for Earthen Seers and the practice would be worth quite a bit of experience, so I might start to catch up with you. I’ve spent more time fighting than focusing on the other parts of my class, and this could correct that.” Still, she shook her head and folded her arms more firmly as she looked at Sam.

“Even so, I don’t like it. Who’s going to keep an eye on you?” she grumbled plaintively. “You’re going to get distracted by a piece of grass and spend two weeks staring at it while you forget to eat.”

Sam chuckled, since she was just complaining now. He could tell she'd made up her mind to stay. The bellisagi were the key, since didn’t want to be an obstacle when he was fighting them. Hopefully, she could take advantage of the time here and when they met back up, she'd be much stronger.

“Let’s head to the caverns then,” he said as he bowed to her and Elder Utala. “Gathering auras for the relic has become more important than ever. After that, I’ll see if the bellisagi are still trying to find me.”

And whether they enjoyed the Storm Plains. He had a feeling that something interesting was going to happen when he took the Star of Life back there and they wouldn’t like it one bit.