The Twenty-Sixth Entry

I was awake and sleeping. Darkness fell like a dream, numb to anything beyond it. In the deep dream, visions filled it. Faces rolled in the dark, smiles and laughter, death and suffering – all unknown to me. These are memories. But who’s? These couldn’t be mine – names mentioned but carrying no meaning to me.

Voices filled the deep, their chanting familiar to me. Their hymns cascading in melody, but they said nothing. They were waiting.

“What am I?” I asked.

The voices said nothing, their song rising in ferocity and volume.

“I don’t understand.” I said.

Their song turned into wails and unintelligible screaming.

“I don’t understand! What amI?! Am I to bend you?! Break you?! Is that what I must do?! What am I?!” I screamed into the dark.

The voices grew quieter and quieter, until they became a whisper in the deep.

“Seer. Key.” A singular voice whispered closely.

My eyes opened to the weaving surface of the Harrower, its humming close to me. I breathed slowly and scanned my surroundings. I was in the back compartment of the Harrower, which normally sat empty, and inside a cocoon of living metal - it shuttered slowly like blood pulsing through veins. The cocoon titled up as if standing. A soft light poured down upon me, its warmth keeping the cold away.

“You’re awake, my Lord.” Aberus said stepping into the light, his runes shadowed against it.

I began to speak, but he quickly interrupted: “You should not speak, my Lord. You have not recovered fully yet.”

The door leading into the back opened behind Aberus, and A’re stepped inside.

“You’re awake!” A’re excitedly said.

“Yes, but he is still recovering. You should get your rest, my Lord.” Aberus said dismissively.

Heeding Aberus’s advice – I closed my eyes. Regardless, my limbs wouldn’t respond to my commands.

“Is this some kind of medical device?” A’re whispered.

“Yes, but it is meant for light wounds. His injuries are severe, so it is doing little.” Aberus said lowly.

“Then we must take him someplace where he can recover.” A’re said.

“That will be unnecessary. If you take a closer look, you’ll see why.” Aberus said.

I heard A’re’s feet shuffle closer, before stepping back.

“What is that?” A’re asked.

“It is his Excess. It’s healing his wounds.”

“Excess? I think I’ve heard that mentioned before, but I don’t know what it is.” A’re said.

“It is the extension of the soul, it will take many forms, and will perform many tasks – based on the will of the user. From my understanding anyone with a soul may use the Excess however, it is not easily taught.” Aberus said.

“I’m not sure I fully understand what you mean by an extension of the soul, but if something so powerful could be used by anyone – then why is it not more widely used?” A’re asked.

“As I said – it is not easily taught. It requires a teacher capable of teaching it, which has its own implications. To receive the Excess, one must be completely aligned with their soul. That would require you to face yourself, and everything around you. It’s a maddening task, which few survive.” Aberus said.

“Are they all capable of this?” A’re asked.

“No, there are few who capable of recovering to this extent. Immortality is a dream few possess, but physically speaking his lordship is one of the few. As long as his soul remains intact, he will always recover.” Aberus said.

“That’s incredible.” A’re said.

“Although, not entirely of his own is he capable of this.” Aberus whispered.

There was a pause, before Aberus asked: “How is Yulthar?”

“He’s still sitting in the corner. He hasn’t said anything since he woke up.” A’re answered.

“Give him time, the destruction of his home weighs heavily upon him.”

“I don’t think that’s the only thing.” A’re said.

The sound of the doors opening, and closing was the last I heard of them before fading into unconsciousness once again.

I slumbered in a dreamless sleep for some time, conversations carried between moments of wakefulness, and only woke again once I had healed fully.

The pod I had been occupying turned into a table, the back room morphing into a room. Yulthar and A’re still required sleep, thus a double bed had been made – the materials themselves forming and meshing into formation from the Harrower’s hull. Another bed had formed parallel on the other side of the room for whomever needed it.

In the lingering shadows of the light overhead, I stood examining my armor in front of a mirror which sat beside the table. The weeks of hibernation and the previous unsheathed wash of the vacuum of space, had made my limbs sluggish and stiff.

My mask sat upon the table, the face looking up at me, its red hues flush in the light. Looking at the mirror I stared at the glass – the shadows darkening its corners, and knowing that somewhere beyond the armor and its reflection: something was staring back. Yet, I couldn’t see it. All I could see was the mask. Its red visage, however, grew dimmer.

The door behind me opened, and I reached for the mask. It attached in metallic rhythms, the parts collecting and meshing. Yulthar entered, looking over at me for only a moment before sitting and laying down on the lowest bunk.

I walked over to the door once Yulthar had been comfortable in the bed. Yulthar was still quiet and distant. The ceremonial face paint of his time as prophet had been seared onto his features, a side effect of energies that were forced from his body, and a forced reminder of his past and home. A consequence of my actions. A part of me wanted to comfort him, to confront my choice. Yet, I found myself away from this. I destroyed his home.

Before me, however, was an old task. My quest had to continue, if no longer for myself. I found myself no closer to the goal, but perhaps I had been searching too distantly to begin with.

Entering the meditation chamber, Aberus stood idly in the light. As I approached, he began to kneel, but I waved, and he idled again.

“You are anew, my Lord.” Aberus happily said.

“Yes, and anew my quest must begin.” I responded.

I did not sit upon the throne in the middle of the chamber, simply looked at it.

“My Lord, is something bothering you?” Aberus asked.

I looked at Aberus and asked: “I had a vision in my hibernation. There were places, people, names that were not familiar to me. Voices distant and unfamiliar. Then came the familiar ones. Voices that I had heard once, so unimaginable was the pain in their hums and cords. They spoke of The Seer, and another: a key. The fight with the Gol’uthra, Aberus, I wasn’t in control.”

Aberus said nothing, a pause drawing out between us.

“I once asked you what I was, and you placated my thirst. I ask you again, Aberus, what am I?”

Aberus stood silently, and then collapsed to his knees, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry, my Lord. You were not ready, I’m not sure you are still. Yet, I fear time is drawing closer in on us.” Aberus said his voice cracking.

“Not ready for what, Aberus?”

“Far too many things.” Aberus’s voice cracked.

“Aberus,” I said kneeling, “I am asking you not as Dark Lord, but from being to being: if you know something you must tell me.”

“I do not understand much of it myself; it was before even me – before you.” Aberus wheezed.

“What do you mean?”

“I cannot say, its as if something is blocking me from seeing it fully. As Keeper, I have access to the knowledge the Obelisk acquires over the eons. All I can collect is that we have been looking in the wrong direction. We must go closer to the Obelisk. There’s a world we must go to, to find The Seer. But it is close to the Obelisk, oh so very close.” Aberus said his voice contorting.

“Then that is where our road leads.” I said helping Aberus to his feet.

Aberus began to speak, but I cut him off: “You no longer need to address me as Lord, Axiom is just fine,” and extended a hand.

Aberus took the hand, and shook it: “Thank you, Axiom.”

The door to the bridge opened behind Aberus, and A’re stepped through.

“Am I interrupting?” A’re asked.

“We have a new destination. One closer to the Obelisk.” I said.

Aberus walked past A’re and into the bridge to enter in the coordinates.

“Oh, great. Mother always spoke, delicately about the Obelisk.” A’re said unenthused.

The Horrower turned in the void of space inwards toward Obelisk territory. The jump into faster than light searing the black with a pale blue.