Chapter Three
Caldren just stared. Fifteen years of searching. Scouring books, tracking obscure clues—and now, here he was, standing on the precipice of his journey’s end. And he was terrified. After almost a month of searching this area he was now sitting across the fire from a being made of light was telling him she can teach him about magic. He wondered if this was a dream and he would awake soon to the cold hard ground at his campsite to resume his fruitless searching. He had so many questions they all raced around his mind and he had trouble deciding which one to ask. Imogen was sitting there and had resumed her humming seeming not to care as the silence stretched on.
“Why did you wait so long to come here? I’ve been searching for almost a month!” was the question that won. Caldren winced, of all the questions that he had about magic and the fundamental powers of the universe, that was the question that got asked first? He started to ask a different question when Imogen cut him off and answered him “I told you that it is hard for me to understand the flow of time but in the resonance time works completely differently. I’m not sure the mechanism of it as far as I can tell it’s random and part of the chaos of raw magic. When I activated the failsafe I was unsure how long I should stay in the resonance. How long would they search? There was no guidance I was given so I thought perhaps a year would be the safest. I couldn’t leave as the raw magic would rip me apart once I left the safety of the library so I was alone for such a long time. When I initiated the return I came back to a place completely empty of life and a reminder of what was lost. You see, scholar, even though I’m not human anymore I still have emotions and feelings I’m still the orphan girl who laid dying and made a choice”
She stopped, and Caldren’s eyes widened as a pearlescent tear traced down her cheek, streaking with pale light. He was fascinated by this and had so many followup questions for her but she held up her hand indicating she just needed a moment, then she continued
“I was now without a purpose. No one came seeking knowledge and there were no guides anymore to show people the way, so I faced an eternity alone” she lowered her voice to a whisper and continued “Scholar, I even searched for a way to end the magic that sustains me but I could find nothing” her shining eyes rose to mine and he felt her loneliness. He was taken back to that dark tunnel where he cried in the dark, alone. He wanted to give her a hug but wasn’t sure that was possible with her being an incorporeal being.
“I was alone for a long time when at last I felt some people entering the vale. I sought them out and watched them. Maybe they were seekers of knowledge and I could once again have a purpose. However, these men bore arms and the insignia of the empire and I could almost feel their ill intent. So I remained hidden to keep the knowledge from them and returned to my library to resume my solitary vigil.
“How did you hide from them? You’re made of light – wouldn’t you be spotted almost immediately?” Caldren asked curiosity making him interrupt her story. She grinned at him and suddenly vanished. Caldren swung his head around trying to find her but she seemed completely gone. Suddenly her voice came from the spot she as sitting at “Now do you see how I was able to hide?” Caldren nodded and she slowly faded back into view. She continued her story “For many years these men came however as time wore on they came less and less and it seemed like they had given up and assumed the library was completely gone. Recently, however, a small group of men arrived wearing plain traveling clothes and carrying no blades. They were searching with a purpose as if they knew what to look for. They seemed to want to hide who they were but I could tell they were the emperor’s men. They came very close to finding a way in, scholar and I had no way to arm the defenses of the school as that requires actual real hands.” She held up her glowing hands and smile ruefully. “If these men were to gain entrance they would have access to the greatest store of knowledge in the world. Normally entrance to the library was meted out by the keepers who ensure requests were within the guidelines and the library was guarded by the clockwork archivists so this never was an issue in the past but now they lie dormant and there are no keepers left and I fear the knowledge these men are seeking”
Caldren took a long drink of his water then out of habit offered it to her realizing too late what he was doing. She laughed and that broke some of the tension that was building when she was telling her story. She gave him an appraising look then resumed speaking “I was unsure what to do – they were getting closer and I felt it was only a matter of time before they discovered a way in. Shortly after they left I felt another person enter the vale I thought that odd as there was usually some time between their visits so that’s when I found you. I didn’t reveal myself to you until now scholar because I needed to be sure and to be honest, I’m still not entirely sure of your intent.” She gave him a pointed look that reminded him that he evaded her questions on why he was seeking Temerith. “However I find I’m out of time and options and this conversation has been somewhat illuminating” Caldren couldn’t help but giggle a little bit and she rolled her eyes at him and continued “I need someone in the library to help me prevent these men from gaining access. Someone who can operate the defenses of the school and in the worst case, help defend it.
“Defend it? I’m not sure you noticed but I’m no warrior. I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help if armed men break in and try to storm the library” Caldren winced a bit as he remember his cowardice as the seekers grabbed his mother and he ran away, leaving her to them. The Lucent was offering him a resolution to his years long search but he wasn’t sure he could hold up his end of this bargain. “Also, please call me Caldren – there’s no need to be so formal”
“I don’t need a warrior, Caldren. That’s not how things were done in Temerith. The guards patrolled the town, not the library. The library… it was defended with power.”
Caldren stilled. Was she offering to teach him magic? Is the impossible promise he made to his mother actually one he could keep? He spoke up hesitantly daring to hope “Are you saying you can teach me to harness this power?”
“Yes and no Caldren” she replied “I am not a teacher and the blood of all who could teach you have stained the blades of the imperial seekers. However I have access to their knowledge and methods and I think between the two of us was can possibly make it work. Understand this is very dangerous. This power is one of pure chaos and you will struggle to control it. It will fight you and if you lose control it will burn you out from the inside leaving behind ash and destruction. This risk is even higher as most are trained from childhood how to harness this power and have years to learn the right way. However, we do not have that luxury of time”
Caldren’s eyes went very wide at this. Suddenly the desire to learn magic was secondary to his desire to stay alive and not be burned to ash. He also has the warning in his mind from that imperial officer that if he tried to take up this power they would hunt him down relentlessly. He wrung his hands as he considered this information. He had no idea that the old magic was such a dangerous thing. Did his mother know when she sent him to seek it out? Was that why the seekers came for her? Thinking of her bolstered his nerves and he decided that he should at least follow this journey to the end. One he was in Temerith and understood more he could make a better decision. He asked Imogen what she needed him to do.
She noticed his nervous bearing and told him “Be calm, I am not asking you to perform anything too dangerous or draw in so much power that you are in true danger. Most of what I need required but a trickle of power to activate defenses that are already in place. The first thing we should do is close the ways. They were open when the library was attacked and remain open which means that if these imperial men should find the path there is nothing to stop them from entering. The other important task is repairing the archivists. I do not know how but during the attack the imperial seekers somehow disabled them and our protectors stood silent as we were cut down.”
Those tasks didn’t sound overly dangerous to Caldren. She needed him to perform tasks she couldn’t and was willing to teach him how to draw power which was what he wanted. It seemed like a fair trade but he felt like there were some things that perhaps she wasn’t sharing. He had a thought and asked her “Why don’t you just do the same thing you did last time? If these men find the path and break in just bring he library back into the..” He struggled to remember the name. “The resonance” she supplied.
“Why is it called that?” He asked
“Because the resonance exists in the same space as the world we are in right now. The power overlays everything, invisible and harmless in this world because the power is dampened but cross the veil and that power is amplified greatly. Over eons of time that power has become a maelstrom as it builds upon itself. That is why it is so dangerous Caldren, when you try to draw the magic you become a conduit and that raw power is pulled into this world through you.”
“I’m still not sure how that is dangerous – you opened the door to this place, can’t you shut it and cut off the power?”
She shook her head “It isn’t that simple. The power is constantly pushing against the veil with unimaginable force. Most mages only draw a trickle of power through what amounts to a pinhole and even that power is more than enough to perform most tasks. However there some who seek to pull in vast amount of power for great works and others..” she grimaced as she finished the statement “others drew in great power to bring death and destruction”
“Ash mages” Caldren breathed. He had read the stories of these mages calling down fire from the heavens and wiping out entire armies. He had always thought them legend as the very idea of that level of power seemed impossible.
“Yes, Scholar. These men were trained to be living weapons—years of study and discipline, reduced to nothing by the whims of lesser men.” She shook her head. “They would open a vast conduit, pulling in as much power as their bodies could withstand, unleashing devastation. But the power was never meant to be wielded like that. In the end, it always consumed them. That is why they were called Ash Mages, Caldren—because when the magic was finished with them, that was all that remained.
He had spent years searching for magic, longing for it. But now that it was within reach, the idea of channeling raw chaos through his body—power that could leave him nothing but ash—made him feel sick. Had his mother known this when she made him promise? Had she wanted this for him?
Caldren shifted closer to the fire as the cold settled in. He looked over at Imogen sitting simply on a log and wondered how she did that. She wasn’t here physically so was she floating? He shook his head to clear it out and tried to connect all the dots. She came to him because she needed his help. The officer’s men were getting close to discovering the entrance and she feared what they would do once they did. She obviously had no love for the empire after what they did and was desperate to keep them out. She couldn’t do it herself and needed someone to help. She couldn’t leave Aethervale so appearing to him and asking his help was the only option she had. The question is whether he trusted her to be telling him the truth. She answered all his questions so far and he didn’t get a sense she was trying to trick him but his life had taught him to be very careful when it came to trusting people
He wondered why she was telling him everything he wanted to know when he was struck with an idea. “You’re bound to answer any question I ask, aren’t you?’”
She leaned in speaking urgently “Yes! Do you see now, Scholar? The risk I take in trusting you? Do you understand what is at stake?”