Our footsteps sounded louder without our conversation to distract from the echoing tunnels of the Jade Cavern. We may have left the well filled with jade stones, but my thoughts concerning the death of the Titans at the hands of the Marbury family wouldn't let me be. It was hard news to hold; I knew that war was necessary and with it came losses, but the Titans were peaceful beings by all accounts. They were gentle giants who were pure of heart. They didn't deserve to die out that way.
"Tell me of your gods, knight," Eldwyn said, breaking the quietude and taking me away from my own thoughts.
"I thought that you only believed in one god," I said.
"That's what I believe, but there are many truths in this world and I'm here to learn them all."
"Fair enough." I took a deep breath and said, "There are twenty-seven of them, but I can tell you about the ones from the beginning of creation. Muros is the god of war and the first to walk the realm. At the beginning of time, he waged war against Cinnai, the god of greed, who wanted the realm all to himself, but Muros couldn't defeat Cinnai's hordes. Their battle lasted for eons and nothing changed until Muros found Isla, the goddess of peace, in the Western Valley. They had a child, Danos the Valiant, who grew up with fire in his heart, but he was raised in Isla's embrace and learned to balance his peacefulness and his fury. With those ideals at his disposal, he outwitted Cinnai and cast him to the northern regions of the Cardoth Kingdom."
"That was a mesmerizing tale," said Eldwyn.
"Danos is my idol," I said, picturing myself as a young boy, acting out his many adventures. "I use him as my source for inspiration. Whenever I feel low, I think of his lightning sword cutting down legions of Cinnai daemons and it brings me to my feet."
"Did Cinnai die?" asked Eldwyn.
"No, gods cannot die. They change form over time. Sentria praises Danos, Stargon praises Muros, and Cordath praises Cinnai in all their greed. All twenty-seven realms have their patron gods. We've tried for centuries to find peace with the family Solice, but they will not fall in line. They are Cinnai reincarnated."
"Keep hope alive, knight. As long as time rolls on, so too does the unexpected hand of fate."
"You're filled to the brim with quotes, relic. Did your master teach you all of them?"
"Most of them, yea," he said with a laugh. "But sometimes they just come to me like a lightning bolt."
That didn't make much sense, but most of his words were like puzzle pieces that didn't fit neatly together.
"Did you—" suddenly, I heard a low rumble, as if the tunnels were inside of a beast whose stomach ached, and the relic and I froze in place. "What was that?" I asked.
"Nothing good," said Eldwyn. "We need to move."
The rumbling grew louder from behind us, and we turned to see the jade crystals falling towards us as the tunnel collapsed in on itself.
"Run!" I grabbed him by his collar to pull him as we ran through the tunnels frantically. We were wild with fear as rocks started to rain on us.
Up ahead, we saw the path crumbling toward us and we turned down another path to escape it. I saw a light up ahead and I pushed myself harder to get to it. I was running low on stamina and the tunnel was closing in on us, but the light beckoned me to forge ahead. Right at the end, we dove out as the tunnel as it closed behind us with one final crash! and we landed on the soft bed of grass.
"We did it." Eldwyn smiled at me and I rolled my eyes.
"Not without great pain." I got up to my feet and pulled Eldwyn up with ease. He was smaller than I was. Lithe, but somehow he didn't seem all that weak. Perhaps it was his magicks or his spirit that curtailed the signs of fragility.
"Look." Eldwyn pointed to his right.
"The Mirror Lake..." I said, enchanted by its glistening glory. In the middle of the meadow was the lake we had been searching for as if preserved in time by the trees that wrapped around the area like a wooden dome. The Mirror Lake had water like metallic glass, sharp and gray, and yellow lilies gathered around it as if they were giving praise to its elegance. I walked towards the shimmering body of magical water, transfixed by its strangeness. At its edge, I turned back to Eldwyn.
"This is your vision, knight," he said, holding his hands behind his back.
I looked at the water and saw my reflection in fragments. It was stunning, but there wasn't anything else happening. No visions or messages and I grew impatient.
"It isn't working," I said to him.
"You must allow time for the unexpected to unfold."
I stared deeper into my reflection. I looked more pale than normal, and my hair had never looked so raggedy. I nearly looked like a wild relic myself. Then, something happened. Like giant hands were grabbing me and holding me in place and I couldn't look away even if I wanted to avoid it. The mirrored water swirled in fractals and I saw images in varying triangular shards that slowly rose up towards me. In them I saw my horse racing through the Western Valley, a black brick tower being built by an invisible force, Cardoth castle burning in flames, a young and beautiful witch reigning from her kingdom in the clouds, and a bejeweled gold crown being placed upon my head.
The hands released me and I fell back, hitting my head against a rock and I blacked out.
I woke up to Eldwyn's face close to mine as he kneeled over me. He had moved me away from the lake and placed what felt like a bundle of leaves under my head as a makeshift pillow. I sat up too fast and felt lightheaded and had to close my eyes again.
"Ow," I said, rubbing the back of my head.
"That looked painful," he said.
"It was." I opened my eyes and exhaled.
"What did you see?"
"I...don't know. I saw my horse in the Western Valley and I saw so much more. A tower, a witch in the clouds, Cardoth Castle aflame...what trickery was this, relic?"
"The Mirror Lake shows you things to come and things to change."
"All I wanted was to find was my horse..."
"Fate has chosen you for something greater. If you've seen all these visions, then you have been chosen for a grand plan. There's an ancient tale of the Oblivion Witch who promises the destruction of all things. Maybe that was her you saw."
Eldwyn stood up and helped me to my feet. I still felt lightheaded and I held onto the relic's shoulder for support.
"...I want to go home." My voice sounded childlike. I was so disoriented that I couldn't feign toughness. "Take me to the Western Valley. That's where I saw my horse. Focus...do whatever you have to to teleport us away. I don't wish to be here any longer." It had all felt too much. Those images danced around in my head at frightening speeds and I couldn't put them together. I just wanted to bathe and rest in my comfortable bed. I never asked for any of this.
"As you wish, knight," said Eldwyn. "To the Western Valley." He took a few steps back and closed his eyes. He started whispering under his breath and his words grew louder as time went on. "Bronte, auk em sawa! Bronte, auk em sawa! Em sawa! Nust alvey! Nust alvey!"
Eldwyn made a large circle with his finger and a portal opened up next to him. It didn't make a sound. It seemed almost normal, like he had just opened a door to another room. As if all the laws I had come to know hadn't been demolished; there was just a new patch in the fabric of time.
"Come, knight. Before it closes."
Together, we crossed the portal's threshold and stepped into a flat wood with decaying trees all around us.
"We made it!" said Eldwyn.
But as I looked all around us and knew that this was not the Western Valley. I've studied the region and I've seen it in map books many times. This was not the beautiful region of Summerland. This was some place else.
"Something is amiss..." I said. The plant life around us rustled in the cold wind. I took out my sword and crouched low in an offensive posture. "Stay on guard."
As soon as this was said, twenty soldiers clad in copper and spiked shoulder guards emerged from the trees on horseback with their spears raised to us. I knew the symbols on their chest all too well: the sandile coin. We were in the northern region of Askeran. They were Cardoth soldiers and we were in dire trouble.