Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 168-169 (Patreon)

Ch. 168 - Nothing Ever Happens

Leo regarded the cake as he would an enemy while everyone else sang him happy birthday, but he tried not to let it show on his face. After all, despite their differences, the other children had gone to such efforts to make this, and even though they didn’t see eye to eye most of the time, it was still a nice gesture. 

It was just too bad that the cake itself was pretty awful. It wasn’t their fault, of course. There was no sugar here and little in the way of sweetness to be found in Sanctuary. He only had the dimmest memories of what sugar tasted like from when he was very young, but he knew that it wasn’t carrot or cream. This cake was a mockery of sweetness, but he was determined to enjoy it all the same, if only because it meant that another year had passed. 

Still, when they finished, he blew out the candle and smiled, thanking them all for remembering. The truth was that he didn’t even know if this was his birthday. It almost certainly wasn’t. Half of them had been too young to remember that sort of thing when they’d been rescued by Brother Farbaer and Jordan so long ago. 

Leo didn’t even remember the boat they’d been rescued on, but some of the older kids did. They’d told him that one minute, they’d been sailing north with a man called Markez. One second, they’d been looking for a place that still had light somewhere upriver, and the next, the Templar had appeared carrying a child to battle a rotting dragon. It had apparently been a terrifying sight.

The description had been thrilling, but Leo would never know why Brother Farbaer was carrying him that day in the same way that he’d never know his birthday. One day last spring, someone had simply decided that everyone who didn’t know their birthday should get one, so they set about picking one out for everyone and then marking them on a calendar they’d carved into a nearby liveoak so they remembered to celebrate them when the time came. 

Not having a birthday had never been a concern of Leo's. At least, not until they came to this ageless place. Now that he never got any older he was pleased to have one, so he could at least keep track of all the growing up he was losing out on. 

This candle theoretically made him what? Fourteen? How different was fourteen than eleven for the third time? 

He wasn’t sure, but he imagined that given the choice, he would prefer to be aging. Maybe old men like Jordan were glad to stay the same age forever. As far as Leo was concerned, being thirty was already like living with one foot in the grave. He wanted to live, though, and when every day was the same, that bordered on the impossible. 

That was why they needed something to mark time. The harvests helped, but really, that was it. Each day was distinct, but given that the weather was never too hot now, and the magic protected them from ever being too cold, it was hard to say what time of year it was on any given day. 

So, they made their own holidays now, tracking the passage of time with birthdays and holy days to keep things moving in something that resembled a life. Slowly but surely, the shreds and pieces they knew about Siddrim’s worship blended together and became a new sort of religion to them, and though they didn’t share it with the adults, they enjoyed it. 

As he contemplated this, small slices of cake topped with whipped frosting were cut and handed out to everyone. Even Jordan woke up from his nap long enough to join them, though that put a damper on the mood as a whole. The conversations that followed weren’t anything that they hadn’t had a dozen times before, giving Leo all the time in the world to study the man. 

On the surface, he was still just as warm and helpful as he’d always been, but the darkness that had spread through him like a cancer had practically taken his eyes now, and not even his polite questions or wide smile could convince most of the children to talk to him any longer than they had to. 

The part lingered longer than it might have because no one could say the things they really wanted to say until Jordan finally left to visit Tax in his tower, but that was normal, too. They were caught in an eternal loop so completely that even birthdays and made-up holidays were quickly taking on a strange inertia of their own. 

“I Just feel like we're living the same day over and over,” Sam sighed when Jordan was finally gone. He’d said the same thing not so long ago, but he’d been every bit as right then as he was now. Almost everyone agreed with that at this point. 

Even Cynara confessed that she was tired of winning all the time. “I’d trade a hundred victories for an actual challenge,” she said dismissively. Rin and Tara weren’t too happy to hear that since they were the ones she always beat, but even they were forced to agree on this. It was hard to get better when you could only fight the same people, and your body insisted on never growing up. 

The only one that didn’t agree with that, of course, was Toman. Out of all of them, he was the only one whose world had changed. Well, him and Leo. They’d swapped places. Now, instead of being strong compared to at least Leo, he was the weakest of all because he lost every bout the two of them had now. 

Everyone said it was because Leo worked hard and was getting better, but that was only because they didn’t know he was cheating. They had no idea what he could see, and he was determined to keep it that way. Hell, he was determined to rise to the top, though he didn’t really know if that was even possible. He was working through Will and Rin’s fighting style now, and he even beat them sometimes, but even with his ability to see blows and parries coming, it only offset so much of the deficit he had in strength and reach. Everything else would have to be made up for by understanding his opponent and their weaknesses. 

Nothing different than normal happened for the rest of the day, and indeed, he expected nothing too different to happen in any of the days that followed. He didn’t expect that would change next week or next month. Then, he was woken up in the middle of the night. 

It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but the last time hadn’t been since Jordan had told them of Sister Annise’s departure, and the children had met to discuss the fact that they’d been lied to. This time, as he woke to Jenna’s face and a finger pressed against his lips, he wasn’t sure what to expect. Instead, he got dressed as quietly as he could and then went outside to join everyone else at the tree where the group had these rare midnight talks. 

It was chilly but no worse than normal, and Leo wrapped himself tightly in his cloak before he sat down on the grass and waited for everyone else. He didn’t have to wait long before Cynara was up and standing in front of them, with her pretty blonde hair visible even in the thin moonlight. 

“I know you’re all wondering what we’re doing here,” she said finally. “I’ll come right out with it. I think we need to leave sooner rather than later, honestly?”

“What?” one boy cried out. 

“What happened?” another boy said. 

“It’s nothing new, of course,” she continued. “There was no accident or emergency; it’s just that every time I… and many of you look at Jordan or the other mage he is with, I see a growing darkness. Brother Farbaer didn’t trust mages, and frankly, I don’t either. I think the sooner we are rid of them, the better.”

What followed was a quiet but spirited debate. Most of them could see a growing darkness in the mage’s soul, but even though some didn’t, all of them argued about what exactly it was that it meant. Was it this place? Was it that book? 

“What if he means to do us harm?” Toman cried out, clearly on the side of Cynara. 

“I don’t think he means to hurt us,” she said, “But tainting us with his shadows would be almost as bad. If what sister Annise said was true, then we are the last bearers of the Templar’s light. We need to preserve that.”

“But how?” Reggie asked. “There is only darkness beyond the veil that protects us. To leave is to die.”

“So they say,” Rin said, but it was without conviction. No one seriously doubted that the darkness had been defeated in the time they’d been here. They’d all felt Brother Farbaer’s passing, and no one seriously thought that the darkness that was devouring the world could be defeated without him. 

After all, how could darkness ever be pushed back without light? Though he prayed that a new light had risen up in some far-off land, Leo, like everyone else he’d talked to, had the sick certainty that they were in. They were twelve tiny flames that stood against the end of the world, and trapped as they were in a place where they could never grow up, they’d probably never be strong enough to do so. 

In the end, they held a vote, but less than half of the children thought they should try to leave. Leo said almost nothing the entire time, and it was only when he was prodded to give an opinion after the vote that he said, “It doesn’t matter if we try to escape or not because it’s impossible. You need to be able to work with spells and magecraft, and all that we have is the light.”

Neither the vote nor the words of her peers were enough to stop Cynara and those who agreed with her. They announced that they were going to try anyway, but by morning, Leo woke to find them once again in their own beds. 

He never doubted that outcome. While he secretly believed that he could escape this strange prison, he was also sure that no one else could. The light had started to brighten in a few of his friends; at least, he was pretty sure it had. It was normal to wax and wane, but the darkness of the world outside had only grown worse, and baring a sign from the gods or a visit from the ghost of the Templar, he knew that their place was not out there. They were sparks that might one day rekindle a fire or flickering candle flames at best, but they were not a bonfire, and they could not hold back the night.

Ch. 169 - All Just a Game

Taz moved the ivory bishop carved into the shape of a high priest of Siddrim across the board with thoughtless ease and took a pawn with it. The move had been expected by Jordan, but it was still a painful one and moved him solidly back to the defensive. 

The bishop had a distinct enough face that Jordan had long suspected that it, along with every other piece on the board, was meant to be someone specific, though he lacked the history to even begin to guess, and if he asked Taz, then he would only be assigned more reading in an endless search to find answers that weren’t there. 

Jordan had no interested in being given any extra reading, with his eyes being in the state they were in. Instead, he removed the spectacles that Taz had found for him among his seemingly endless trove of objects and peculiarities that were tucked away in his tower and cleaned them while he considered the board and the situation they were in.

It wasn’t just the bishops, of course. Every piece on the board, white and black, was carved in such a detailed way that they were almost certainly modeled on someone. While the white pieces were hard to figure out, the black pieces were less so. White was carved in such a way that they were mortals, but black - they were obviously carved in the shape of the gods. The black king was Siddrim, and the black queen was Lunaris; that much was very clear. One of the rooks was probably the dwarven All-father and one of the knights was Niama, mistress of the wild places. The others were more difficult. 

He was fairly certain that one of the bishops that Taz had already taken was Istiniss, mistress of sea and storms, and that the pawns were various small gods, but even if Jordan had the eyes to study those fine details, he simply didn’t study the gods closely enough to make educated guesses for each piece. He didn’t need to, though. It was clear to him merely from the theme of the board that Taz considered him to be at war with the heavens on some level. That every friendly game of chess they played was another exercise in subjugating the divine was no surprise to Jordan after all this time. 

“Ready to concede already?” Taz asked with a crooked smile. 

“What? No,” Jordan answered quickly, as he reached forward and moved the All-Father out of danger while using it to put pressure on Taz’s undefended knight. “I was just considering my options.”

It was a fine move, but it was a delaying tactic at best. Jordan was fairly sure that, just like most of the other games they played, he’d already lost this one; he just didn’t see how yet. That was ironic because even though he felt like he was always a step behind in these games, thanks to the book of Ways, he felt like he was a step ahead in every other way.

He knew that the children were looking for a way out of sanctuary but that they wouldn’t find one for a long time to come. He knew that Taz was looking to harvest their light, even if the man hadn’t come right out and said it yet. Jordan even knew how it was he would stop him when that horrible day finally came. Not that he ever would have thought of it, of course. Not on his own.

Such things were enough to make him wonder if the book was so much predicting the future as it was dictating those events into existence. After all, Jordan would never have dreamed that the Archmage’s weakness was his strongest point, the spell that kept them all safe, but after reading through what he would do on the appointed day more than once, he could find no fault with the logic. 

Now, the hardest part was keeping the look of distaste off his face whenever he had to spend too much time with the man. It wasn’t easy, but then, there was nothing else to do while they were all trapped here together besides learn and play games. 

“Are you quite sure that the youngest one of your little group hasn’t changed recently?” Taz asked as a series of exchanges were made, and the game inched toward checkmate. “He hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary recently?”

“Leo?” Jordan asked, pretending to think. “No. He’s still the same serious little boy he’s always been. I think he’s getting frustrated with being perpetually the smallest since none of us are getting older, but—”

“And the light?” Taz interrupted. “Have you not noticed the light intensifying? What do you suppose the cause of that is?”

“Intensifying?” Jordan feigned ignorance. The book had the same thing, but it wasn’t anything that was visible to the naked eye, and since he knew Taz watched all of them, the last thing he wanted to do was cast a spell that might clarify things. “His eyes are no brighter than any of the other children. In fact, I think that in terms of brightness, Toman and Rin might—”

“Check,” Taz interrupted before standing up and walking to his telescope. “Come here. There’s something I want you to see.”

Jordan couldn’t help but notice that the lens was already tilted down toward the beach, even if the Children would have finished their little tourney hours ago. Slowly, the Archmage pointed the long brass tube toward the village of Sanctuary and then moved aside. After he adjusted a couple of lenses, he said, “Tell me, what do you see?”

Jordan bent to the eyepiece and took a long look at the small town. He was still impressed how Taz could make objects hundreds of yards away seem like they were only a few feet away, but every book on optics that the man had shared with him had gone over his head. Jordan might have some talent with magic, but this was entirely beyond him. 

Still, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to see, though, and he just started listing what he saw. Old man, Marley was bringing in some produce from the fields with Cynara’s help, the blacksmith was pounding away on something small, and a few people were sitting in the shade on the east side of the market talking. 

“Nothing seems out of place, does it?” Jordan asked finally. 

“Not with the lens,” Taz agreed before he pulled out the clear lens that had been at the focal point and replaced it with a smoked one that looked like the mage had mixed glass with obsidian or something. “But now that you’ve seen what you’re looking at, try again with this.”

Jordan looked down at the village square again. This time, everything was hazy but unchanged. It was like a pall had been cast over the town, which made sense considering how muddled the new lens was. He was about to say as much when he noticed Cynara walking back into view. That was when he saw the light around her. She was largely a featureless silhouette like everyone else, but the light that was normally confined to her eyes coruscated around her like an aura now. 

“She’s glowing,” he breathed. 

“She is,” Taz agreed. “They all are. Now, see if you can find little Leo.”

“But how will I be able to tell anyone apart with this lens. They—” Jordan started to protest. 

Taz cut him off, though. “You’ll see. Trust me on this one.”

As Jordan looked, Taz started lecturing him on the optical properties of alchemically treated glass, but Jordan wasn’t really listening. Instead, he was panning around the village, looking through the fields and the beaches in search of all the children. 

They were not hard to find. Though he would have a hard time guessing who was who, each of them stood out like little stars against the darker world. Some of them shone brighter than others, and while some children glowed with a golden light, others were closer to silver or even white.  

Jordan almost gave up on his search and pulled away from the scope. It was only then that he found what he was looking for. This time, he didn’t have to feign surprise. Leo had just come up the path from the beach, and as soon as he walked into view, he appeared like a pillar of flame. 

“What in the…” he gasped. He didn’t need to fake his surprise this time. The book had told him that the lad was growing stronger, but not like this, and Jordan was entirely taken aback by it. 

Some of the other children’s glows had flickering flames at their edges, but they were nothing like this. Even if Jordan still had the perfect eyes he’d been gifted until recently, he would have trouble seeing the outline of the boy amid the glow. As it was, he was a smear of darkness surrounded by a bonfire, and Jordan could only look for a moment before the light hurt his eyes, and he had to glance away. Still, that moment was enough to send his mind racing. 

“See, I told you,” Taz said smugly as Jordan stood and backed away. “The boy is changing. Trust me. I’ve kept detailed logs of him and all the others. A year ago, he wasn’t like that, and two years ago, he wasn’t anything special. Now though…”

“Please don’t tell me you intend to harm them,” Jordan protested. “For heaven’s sake, Tazuranth, they’re kids.”

“No one is hurting anyone,” the mage assured Jordan, even though Jordan knew what the other man was planning and that he was lying through his teeth. “This is merely a mystery I wish to explore. In the face of the darkness, the heavens have great need of such light, and if we could find a way to harvest it…”

Jordan tuned out the lecture as he looked out the window with his naked eyes for the boy. After a minute of searching, he finally found the distant boy who appeared no different than ever, at least from here. 

Taz often ranted about the nature of stars and how they protected the world from outer darkness. According to him, the greatest threat to the world at large was not the darkness sweeping across it. It wasn’t even the broken sun or the dimming moon: it was the state of the stars. 

According to him, they were fewer and number and dimmer than they’d been in centuries. Jordan had no idea if that was true, but the idea of trying to harvest the children’s light to use it to fix that problem seemed to be a fool's errand, and the Book of Ways had already given Jordan some insight into how that experiment would end if it was allowed to proceed. 

For now, he pushed that out of his mind, though, and instead focused on staying calm as the Archmage talked about big ideas concerning light and constellations. While Jordan might agree that the devils of the void needed to be kept back, as far from the world as possible, he was not prepared to do so at the cost of his wards’ lives.