Chapter: 202R - Rane (Patreon)

Author's note:
I don't intend for this chapter (202R) to "count" as the Patreon bonus chapter this month, partially because I'm not sure if this bit of world-building/background to Tala's situation should go to the RR readers (eventually).

_________________________________________________________________________

Rane struggled as he pulled himself up to the wide, flat peak, gasping.

The gray light of dawn was just barely beginning to color the eastern horizon.

He didn’t allow himself to flop to the ground, however. He had found his goal at last.

Six…mountains…

He’d climbed six mountains, and found each peak empty.

Now, however, he looked down on a naked man, sprawled in the snow.

His skin was whiter than the fluffy powder in which he lay and his aura was hard to see to Rane’s mage-sight, though what he could see was decidedly violet.

Finally, a sovereign.

Rane had been questing for months, ever since word had reached him of Tala’s disappearance.

He’d known she was still alive. Even though others had slowly lost hope, he never did.

Now, finally, he was here alone.

“Boy. Why do you keep chasing me?”

Rane froze. “Chasing you, sir?”

“I’ve had to move five times as you got close, and I’m tired of it. What does a body have to do to prove that I want to be alone?” The man was staring straight up at the empty sky above. His voice had a heaviness to it, like a load of snow falling from an entire tree at once. It was something beyond sound. There was simply that quality of silent, cold, waiting at the core of it.

“I’ve come to ask for your aid.”

“That much is obvious.”

Rane hesitated. “I need help.”

“I don’t care.”

“I’ll leave you alone?”

The man was silent. “What do you request? What do you offer?”

“I will leave, never come back, and never tell anyone where I found you.”

“THAT you found me.”

“That I found you.”

“Go on.”

“I request a boon.”

The man snorted. “Just for buggering off? Not likely.”

“Three questions and a minor boon.” That wasn’t ideal, because a minor boon was non-binding, but it should still be something of worth.

“A single question, and a very minor boon.”

Rane hesitated again. What does very minor mean? He wasn’t foolish enough to ask. That would qualify as a question. He’ll tell me if my ask is too much. “Agreed.”

The man sighed and sat up.

His hair was as white as his skin, and his eyes were pitch black, no difference discernible between the various parts that Rane was used to seeing.

After a long moment, he grunted. “Go on. I may have eternity, but I don’t want to spend it with you.”

Rane cleared his throat. He’d been ready for something like this. “Where, exactly, is the human Mage, named Tala, whom I am seeking: mind, body and soul?”

“Been thinking on that question a while, have you?” He grunted. “Well asked, I suppose, especially since it has three answers, any of which would have satisfied a lesser question.” The sovereign eyed Rane.

Rane didn’t react. Three separate answers isn’t good… She should be all together.

“Tala, the consciousness, only exists within her records within the human Archive, which I cannot access.” There was some irritation in that.

Rane closed his eyes. No. Then…she’s gone.

“Tala, the soul is half in the next world and half with her body.”

Not dead? Rane frowned in confusion. He was also very glad that he hadn’t asked a simpler question.

“Tala’s body, that you are seeking…” The older man cleared his throat meaningfully, and Rane blushed.

That wasn’t why he was still searching. He knew what it was like to be on his own, and he wouldn’t leave a friend to that fate if he could help it. He wouldn't lose anyone, if he could help it. Not again.

Not that he would be correcting a sovereign on the issue.

“...is in the city of Platoiri, some eight hundred and twelve miles south of Namfast. She is currently sleeping in her bedroom, within the local hold of the House of Blood.”

Rane didn’t understand that at all. How can her mind not be with her body…sleeping. He almost struck himself in the forehead. Our minds are not our own when sleeping. That must be why.

He shook his head at another way his question could have backfired without proper planning.

Resolved, he nodded to himself. “My boon-”

“Minor boon.” The sovereign corrected.

“My minor boon. I would like you to bring her back to a human city, any not within the forest.”

The man snorted. “No. Even if such an act, by itself, was within the bounds of a minor boon, the repercussions from such a removal would certainly force that request to fall outside what I am willing to give.”

“But I’ll leave faster.”

“Don’t push me, child.”

Suddenly, it was as if the entire world vanished.

Rane seemingly floated within a vast nothingness, the only thing with him were the sovereign’s eyes, somehow blacker than the void.

In that instant, Rane knew that this creature had a singular goal. He wished to wait, in peace, until the heat-death of the universe.

Rane had no idea how he knew this, but it was as clear as the magic flowing through his Bound body.

The Mage couldn’t even fathom the scale of that desire, let alone the actuality of it.

Then, he was back on the mountaintop, clutching his cloak around himself against a soul-deep chill, despite the warming artifacts he’d brought for the climbs.

“Now. You seem to be struggling to breach into Fused. I can tip you over with ease. That would not conflict with my desires, or strain me in the slightest.”

Rane shook his head. “I want her back.”

The sovereign cocked an eyebrow. “I won’t bring her back.”

“Give her an avenue of safety.”

“No, no body is ever truly safe.”

“Ensure she’ll get free, eventually.”

“You really aren’t understanding how this works.”

“Can you give her a chance? Even a small one?”

The white head cocked to one side, seemingly considering. “Hmmm…That might actually be interesting. I do so love how probability tickles when it’s shifting.” He held up a finger, glaring at Rane. “Not like an earthquake, mind you. Just little shifts. They’re pleasant.”

Probability… tickles? Rane swallowed, but couldn’t find it in himself to speak.

“Are you sure you don’t want a nudge into Fused?”

He nodded.

“Fine.” The man flopped backwards, back into the snow.

Rane waited for something to happen.

After a long moment, the sovereign sighed. “You can go now.”

Rane found his voice, then. “But… you didn’t do anything.”

The man nodded sagely. “If that’s what you believe, then it seems like you wasted a trip, and your minor boon, boy. She’s going to get a chance, soon enough.”

“What? What does that mean?”

“No follow-up questions.”

And with that, Rane found himself standing at the base of the mountain.