Merrin trembled, felt the unnerving heat from the orb above. Orange. Golden. Just there, raying out with that maddening intensity. How was that possible? How could something so small produce so much heat? He reached for it, found nothing but the empty air below the clear blue sky. Blue skies... Another startling thing. Yet, there it was... The orb.
Was that the sun? He thought. Why is it golden? Shouldn't it be white... like the lambs? He looked down, tore out abruptly from the reverie. Something had replaced the awe: sudden fear... There was no blue shine anywhere on him.
No froststone! And the sun above roared with that calidity... He should be burning. He wasn't. Sweat trickled down his cheeks, dripping onto the earth. No steam. It vanished. But no steam. Again, the recursive question.
How was that possible?
And more so... Beyond the point he stood, there was an endless spread of earth. Mountains in the distance, hills, inklings of clear blue flowing over the earth. No ocular enhancement, but he knew. There lay rivers... Not black. But blue.
How?
He whirled, saw something in the distance. A hill, divided by a vast chasm; beneath was a tiding of waters. More fluid. More clear blue. Such a collection of hues seemed alien, beckoning a need to hoard it. Only I should see such things...
A shake of the head, and such thoughts vanished. Everyone should see this...
Ah, what has Enor been robbed of?
Falling knee-ward, a gasp escaped his lungs, overwhelming. So much was here. So much potential. What had caused the change? What had taken this from Enor? He noted next, a budding flora peaking out of the earth. A strange thing of circular leaves, a ring of gold within the white petals. Not a single red, or that stiffness the Eastorian flora had to starve off the heat. It was clear, beautiful, and, oh, the smell.
A whiff permeated the nose—sweet and pure. Such pureness... This foliage had no need to store the chill within... No need to fear the rising heat. The smell told of it. Water. Rainwater stirred in the distance. The flora was always in a state of verdure.
How was the world ever like this?
How was this taken? How did anyone allow the darkness?
"Now what in Oravien's name are you doing down there?"
Startled. "What?" He swerved, saw then, a woman... no, not a woman. Or was she? Tall, yes, she was tall. Slender, dressed in a dark brown coat, stiff, rigid with an oval collar that hid half her face. Across the chest, a bold dark belt was wrapped around it. And below it, the coat was split into two halves, revealing a darker pair of trousers. Furthermore, his mentation took in the data... a red scarf was wrapped around her neck.
"Who?"
She, as he chose to regard her, bore a greyish skin, white-silver hair, flowing down to the back. Eyes... a complete set of total black. No whites. Just black. Eerily to beyond. And her ears... Lords, they were long and pointy.
brightCrown?
She chuckled. "How marvelous to see a Caster forget... I guess the impossible does happen..."
"I know you?"
"Observables..." She muttered.
Enavro!
No, not her... Looks like her. But isn't. Who is she?
The lady stepped close, and Merrin felt a sudden wariness to the light. Such brightness revealed too much, causing a sense of nakedness within the Ashman self. The lady, on the other hand, smiled, reveled in it, said, "Well, I am sure to indulge... Greetings, Alurian, I am, Este, a scientist of the highest fa'n."
My name is Alurian.
"My dear, what a face you make." She laughed. "But you cannot keep making it... It's a waste of time, and I have work to do... My Great Experiment must happen, you see. It awaits."
Great Experiment?
"So please, stand. The Spear of Heaven nears." She offered a hand. Merrin gripped it, sensed the immense strength hidden within their spindly nature. A moment, and he was reared off the earth, nearly stumbling.
Who? He quelled the bubbling question and said, "Where?"
"There." She pointed behind him, at the chasm of flowing water. He turned; there—at the end of the cliff on the other side of the chasm—was that familiar tower. Now, white—sun-bleached, its form stretching into the white clouded skies. Over it formed a bulging surface of snaked lines—circling the spire. He knew the reason for the familiarity: Orvane had one in her stone city.
Inspired by this, no doubt.
He pondered: she called it the Spear of Heaven, didn't she? Is that where the Aelmiren were built? A curiosity for how a race is built passed through his awareness, fitting into the many things, urging within the body.
"How are we getting across?" There was a slight stupidity in the question, he sensed. Este, contrastingly, laughed.
"Now what's an interesting joke?" she said. "I never knew you as one to make jokes. What a question that was: how would Casters cross a chasm?"
"I'm happy to entertain."
"That is why I picked you to become my Attendant," she said. "You play the role of the muse so expertly."
"Wonderful."
"Wonderful, yes," she replied softly, before turning to the side. Notably, they stood now at the edge of the chasm, the sounds of surging waters prevalent within the perceiving mind. Oddly calming, like the drops of the ever-rain.
Amazing.
However, there was another... A thing that boomed with unnerving memories. Above, gravitating towards the ground, was a black ship. Always, those things bore that alien quality. But there it was... A narrow dark ship. Like a box. No windows, just a curved shape of utter blackness, leveling towards the earth.
Black ships.
The Orvalen had them? He thought. Or did humans get it from them?
A humming soon filled the air as the ship breathed out a gust of dirt off the earth. The brief wave of wind fluttered his hair. White, also, he noticed. Truly, Orvalen. So was the skin with that greyish quality.
Regardless.
The ship sent a tremble through the earth, the light of the distant sun beaming off its sleek surface. From the side, a door, black, side to the side, opened a hatch that admitted two figures, more following from behind. None was in that brown coat worn by Este; the others wore black... Like he did.
Were they also Attendants?
Este came up to the side, said, "Don't worry about them... You are the sole chosen Attendant."
"Makes me feel better."
"Ah." She chuckled and moved towards them. Many they were, carrying out boxes and things from the ship. The black ship. Tools, objects floating unsupported from the earth.
Similar to what the sister had done to me...
More memories.
Why was I sent into this dream? Couldn't I choose the one to enter, or did Orvane do something? Tamper with the symbols, somehow? But she chose this, nonetheless... To show me something. And in the meantime, she would be stuck in the Selunn plague.
He hoped, at least. Who knew what the whiteMother was capable of?
A voice pierced into the daze, a soft contralto. Este. He ran to her.
"Yes."
He stood before the ship, dauntingly close. Oh, the memories. Leim's death, the tithe that had to be collected by Valor. The sudden slavery. Abrupt but chosen. Those days, and the things that came of them.
The thoughts were readily suppressed, eyes drifting down at the box carried by Este, her pervasive dark eyes locked on him. "I know I said you are the sole Attendant," she said, "but do try to play your role."
"Couldn't we have just landed on the other end? Make it easier?"
She regarded him. "I suppose you would know nothing of the Anti-field."
He shook his head.
"That, you see, is what made me a Scientist of the Highest Fa'n," she said. "Very few Kandorians are allowed to leave Elmaran. Only those who have achieved great innovations. Like I did." Pointing at the red scarf. "They are granted a Spear of Heaven outside the city."
"A Spear of Heaven?"
"Yes..." She dumped the box on him, heavy. "You see, there are many."
"And I suppose you made the Anti-field."
"Perceptive!" A warm smile, before turning to the handling Attendants, regarding them. She said, "There's a bridge outside the Spear of Heaven; we will cross it to get to it. Do not attempt to Cast during the journey... Certain measures are in place. I can't have any of you turning into Talemirs or experiencing discord along the way."
Wait... Merrin frowned. Can all of them cast? And suddenly, he noticed the trait shared among these Attendants. All of them. Both the men and the women all had white hair. Not a single strand of black.
The whiteness of one's hair corresponds to the level of force containment... And all of them bore the wholeness of that hue.
He shuddered.
What kind of people are these?
Este turned after giving the order. "Once we arrive and settle... You will dance for me, and I will show you what I have planned."