A Tower for Learning

[Kala Leukos]

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1st of Frost, Year 122 of Steel
Starfall, Karnor

There was no moon.

No light, but rather darkness visible.

There was no light but the dragonshard lamps. These were not the little wonders of Master Kilvin’s design, but simpler things that offered light and hope, but no protection from the shadows. Thankfully, Kala’s mere presence allowed them all to use their magical defenses, though it became quite important that they stayed together.

Kaus walked beside her, of course. Ceran and Indric flanked them, which was now as natural as breathing. With them was a Siltori magus, Asallon. He had been a friend of Indric’s, then Ceran’s. He had wanted to join the Silver Wings in some capacity—he was silver, if lacking in wings, he joked—and so they had hemmed and hawed until they could discuss it with Kala, as it was clear now after the Warrens, after Atoria, and after Starfall, that when she revealed herself to the wider world, the Silver Wings would become a holy order.

With her permission, they had taken a risk on Asallon, and so far, he had kept his word and her secret. He respected Kala as a mage, respected the power that was growing in her, but hadn’t yet brought himself to worship. She didn’t push, and she didn’t allow anyone to evangelize on her behalf. That Starfall saw her as their patron deity now was unavoidable, but Starfall would always be personal to her, at least until those she knew and loved were gone from this realm.

Both Asallon and Indric were accomplished summoners, and they had spirits wheeling through the air above their heads and the stone beneath their feet, keeping watch at the edges of Kala’s aura. It wasn’t light at the moment, but energy that they could sense, that kept the aether in harmony. She was learning control without needing deep trance.

She didn’t want people coming out of safety to ensure that she was safe.

With a sort of guard set, the boys spoke among themselves a bit.

“I still don’t see why you don’t just open us a portal, Indric,” Asallon said.

“Asa… it disappears in the light of the moons. Who knows how it would react to runic magic? Or if we would walk through and not come out the other side because Kala isn’t there waiting for us? No, we have to sneak up on the tower. Whatever it is.”

“I still vote we fly,” Ceran put in. Asallon, the only one present without wings, grunted.

They walked, feet crunching through snow, or landing more quietly upon stone. In the Astralar Mountains, there was rarely a straight path, but Kaus knew this land better than anyone present. Not only had he walked much of it, but he had flown overhead his entire youth, often looking for the path of least resistance for Kala.

The ruined tower seemed to be getting closer.

“And I wish we could start with the much more welcoming tree…” Ceran glanced toward the one in the west.

“One at a time,” Kaus assured him with a smile. Ceran took a deep breath, steeled himself, and nodded.

Kala kept her eyes on the tower, trying to glean more of the shadows, more of what awaited them as they drew ever nearer.

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[Paragon]

P A R A G O N

The further they walked toward the tower the more impenetrable the darkness seemed to become. The closer they drew, the more it became apparent that the only lights to be found were the ones that they carried with them. Yet the tower itself remained inexplicably visible. A broken spire that jutted out from the bones of the earth. All grew quieter as they walked ever onward. Quiet, except for the sound of footsteps that were not their own. The crunch of snow beneath feet continued steadily. Until another light became visible in the darkness. A lantern being held by a cloaked figure. The figure paused and turned slightly to reveal a woman. Long black hair framed a pale face. Dark violet eyes tinged with a reddish hue stared at the travelers calmly. Her gaze roamed over the group, noting the winged young men, the elf and then settled upon Kala.

“You are far from home, young travelers. Should you not be safe behind the walls of Kalzasi?” The cloak that she wore, even at a cursory glance with Semblance, held strong arcane protections. Golden stitching forming runic patterns lined the edges of the fabric. The woman’s aura itself was masked but there were several objects on her that resonated with heavy aethereal power. Beneath her cloak, scarlet robes could be seen. In the hand that was not carrying her lantern, a staff that was clearly arcane in nature was being carried. A ring as well as an amulet around her neck and around her waist, two pouches that shone with aetheric power. A sorceress, clearly. If her garb was anything to go by, she appeared to be of the Red Robes of the Circle.

[Kala Leukos]

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Kala's own power was circumscribed by her aura, and so they were lucky that Indric was such a good scout he was able to motion for their attention when he heard footsteps.

"What?" Asallon whispered, not having been with the Silver Wings long enough to have learned the handsign they had learned from House Leukos.

Indric rolled his eyes and pointed in the direction from whence came footsteps that weren't theres and, eventually, the light of a lantern. It didn't seem to beat back the shadows the way the illumite lanterns did, though perhaps it did something similar. The Circle mages were creative, and there might be other ways to runeforge a workaround to the magic-nullifying effects of the eclipse.

They stopped at a respectful distance. The woman seemed like a Red Robe, though her wards obfuscated Kala's Vision. Many things were not what they seemed at the best of times, and these were not the best of times. She seemed unsurprised to see a woman with wings, and the revelation of a woman among the Avialae had surely spread through the Circle. Then again, the Master and others had known her and foreseen her coming. Despite the honor Mother Naori had done her, she was far from omniscient.

Well met by moonlight... Kaus thought, rueing the fact that there was no moonlight. And that was what brought them here.

"Well met," Kala said, her voice carrying despite its soft timbre. "'Tis dangerous indeed for all who wander the starless night. We seek the broken tower in the hopes of remedying that."

It was entirely possible this woman was sent by Sahfri to stop her, though that seemed unlikely. She might be some help if she was strong enough to walk the night alone. So far, Kala was unaware of anyone who wanted the eclipse prolonged.

"I am Kala," she added simply. "And these are my companions."

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[Paragon]

P A R A G O N

“Kala.” The woman inclined her head. She seemed to be mentally processing the name before her eyes drifted to the others in the group. Her gazed lingered upon each one as though committing their faces to memory. The woman offered a slight dip.

“Venetia.” Righting herself, she lifted her staff using it to point in their forward direction. “The path to the tower is this way.”

She spoke as though this was not her first visit. Turning, the red-robed woman lifted her lantern and began approaching the broken tower. As she walked, she lifted her lantern higher. Along its surface was inscribed many runic pictographs. The glass of the lantern was opaque making it difficult to discern the source of the light that glimmered brightly inside of it. Several of the pictographs glowed brighter as she raised the lantern higher causing the radius of the light to expand outward. The darkness lingering at the edges was starkly beaten back and along with it, several of the shadowspawn that had been creeping in the pitch black environment. The creatures hissed and scurried away, clambering to get away from the light emit by the lantern that Venetia carried. A marked difference in how they reacted to the light emit by the Lunicite and Dawnstone lamps that many people carried these days.

In short order, they came to the edge of a lake. At the center of the lake there rest an island upon which stood the broken tower that was their destination. The surface of the lake was smooth as glass and in it was reflected the sky but where the sky above them was devoid of any light, within the surface of the lake there twinkled the thousands upon thousands of stars that normally illuminated the night. The tower itself was different in the lake’s glassy reflection. Where the one they could see ahead of them was ruined and decrepit, the tower within the surface of the lake was in pristine condition as though it were well maintained.

“I have yet to determine the proper path toward reaching the tower. Teleportation yields…” She grimaced slightly. “...undesirable results. Likewise, simply walking to the tower ruins reveals nothing. A broken carcass of a building with nothing of note to find. I suspect that whatever needs be found, the answer rests in the lake. The problem is…well…”

Reaching into one of her pouches, Venetia withdrew a moonstone dragonshard. The silvered moonlight shone softly. She extended a hand and tossed the stone toward the lake.

There was no ripple. The moonstone simply fell. And fell. And fell. The stone fell as though it had been tossed not into a lake but into the sky itself and after a period of time…a dark shadow suddenly darted forward and snatched the stone, its light blinking out of existence. The shape of the shadow as hard to discern as it moved and blended with the starry backdrop. Soon it was gone, imperceptible. The great expanse between the edge of the lake and the tower went still again.

"Perhaps, fresh eyes will yield fresh solutions."

[Kala Leukos]

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"Venetia," she repeated back, inclining her head. "Well met."

The others introduced themselves, Kaus with the confidence of the nobleborn, Ceran and Indric with the deference of those born with nothing, and Asallon as if to an equal. He didn't wear the robes of the Circle, but he made his assumptions.

They journeyed on, taking in her observations as they shared theirs. The woman had obviously witnessed more than they had, and her experiment with the stone proved it. There was a strange look in Kala's eyes as she saw the stars reflected in the still waters. She couldn't sense what was going on, even through her Rune. But then, she was discovering the limits of mortal magic. Even as a nascent divine, there were those, like the Master, who were beyond her. She was still a young woman, no matter how powerful, and she knew wisdom would only come with time and experience. But not even a season into her tenure with Nazam's old domain, the stars were taken from her. She could sense them faintly beyond the unnatural dark, and while it seemed to her that all of this was somehow related to Talon—or, rather, to Arcas and His ancient foe—it felt like a personal affront to be torn from something that had become a part of her.

"Perhaps our eyes see the same things, but see different potential," she said softly. If Traversion was twisted and the tower was just a broken edifice, then she would go to her stars.

Her hand spread over the water and she willed it into absolute stillness. The element responded to her, and nothing broke that perfect surface tension, even when she began to walk into the lake.

"My lady—" Ceren interjected as Indric gasped, but Kaus held a hand up to forestall them.

Kaus knew her mind. Kaus knew she would take measured risks if it meant using the gifts of Naori to better the world, no matter what Sahfri might wish.

Her careful footsteps didn't disturb the water. It was terribly cold, but she was fully Avialae now and it bothered her less than it might. She kept her eye trained on the polestar in the lake's reflection, the tower in her peripheral vision.

Let me pass.

And perhaps, the others could follow.

Or she would just end up wet and freezing, but trial and error was the only way they could proceed. Her wings curled around her, conserving warmth, as her platinum hair fanned about her like a crown and she descended below the surface.

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[Paragon]

P A R A G O N

There was a moment’s pause as Kala stood upon the surface of the lake. And then…the surface rippled and Kala was falling. Falling. She was not submerged in water but began falling toward the sky. Or was it the ground? Above her however, the stars shone like jewels in the heavens, calling to her, whispering to her with promises of things seen from bygone ages. The winds whipped around her. She was tumbling out of control toward the sky.

Until she wasn’t.

The world suddenly righted itself and what was down became up and what was up became down. Kala could see the surface of the lake beneath her. It was a pitch black and reflected in its surface were the Silver Wings and Venetia standing on the shoreline, watching her. Venetia was studying her with rapt fascination.

It would only take a mere gathering of her bearings for Kala to right herself in the air, using her flight lessons from Kaus to get a handle on her situation before she plummeted back to the surface of the water.

The tower stood in perfect condition, at least, as perfect as what could be considered perfect in this dark reflection of the world she had left behind. It was a twisted and gnarled thing but fully intact. A spire wrought from black marble that reflected the light of the stars. Tendrils of ghostly black energy rose up in columns at various points around the tower. It jutted upward like a thorn that had split through the skin of the earth. The tower seemed an eldritch thing now that it could be properly viewed. The doorway seemed more a maw into some unknowable beast than into the interior of a building. The clawing whisper of secrets better left unexplored sang to Kala on the edges of her awareness.

And yet…it called to her.

[Kala Leukos]

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The boys watched Kala make the water her portal with various degrees of surprise and concern. Kaus, at least, could still feel their bond traversing that numinous barrier. But then—she was of the numinous now.

"Well..." was all he said. After a beat, he too took control of the water's surface. Kaus was no less a master of the elements than his sister. He began to walk out on the water, followed by his Avialae companions as well as the Siltori. A part of him was eager to prove he was still a match for his twin, though Mother Naori had raised her so high.

In the upside down, Kala looked wide-eyed at them for only a moment before her eyes raised to the stars—her ancient children singing their songs from impossible distances. She would know them again, though not soon enough for her liking. Though she had wicked away the water of the lake, her cheeks remained wet with tears even as she looked fearlessly at the unbroken tower. It certainly didn't look welcoming, but someone needed to solve this problem.

She felt her boys following, and so she flew to the far side of the lake to wait for them. Between the three Avialae men, they could fly Asallon and Venetia to her—assuming they too could cross the watery barrier. If they couldn't, Kala was still going to investigate.

But in the meantime, she stood upon the benighted shore, her senses opened to the tower ahead and the the star song above. Garel bade her learn the tongue of dragons, and she would, but she longed to learn to speak back to those far-distant engines of creation in their own language. Without the shroud of the Eclipse blocking her from them, she could sense them more powerfully, became aware of them more powerfully. They were suns to distant worlds. She felt intuitive understanding of them tickling her consciousness. There was a science to them, and a magic as well. She would learn the science, perhaps, but for now, she reveled in their magic.

Kala called Fire, her element, and it answered—miniature stars, suns, burned above her. She did not fear the darkness, but this unnatural darkness needed to end.

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[Paragon]

P A R A G O N

There was a moment’s pause as each person passed through the surface of the lake. A ping in the back of Kala’s mind brushed over her consciousness as if asking whether or not the people there were to be afforded passage. When she granted passage, as with Kala, each person fell through and tumbled as though they were falling into the starry skies. From Kala’s perspective, it was like each person had been spat out of the lake in a watery geyser. The winged men righted themselves with Asallon in tow. Venetia righted herself, seemingly maneuvering under her own power without assistance. She landed gracefully as though she had done this exact thing a thousand times, smoothing a hand over her robes.

“Interesting.” What was interesting, Venetia did not say. She walked forward, looking ahead at the tower, seemingly unphased by its dark architecture. She eyed the pillars of dark energy winding their way up into the heavens. Her gaze trailed upwards, studying the tower's surface and the surrounding landscape.

“Curious.” She stepped forward, tapping the surface of the lake with her staff. A ripple went outward from where her staff touched. Slowly, one by one, a stone pathway began lifting itself out of the waters to form a path leading up to the tower at the lake's center.

“A tower of whispered night beneath glittering starlight. I heard of one such place when I was a girl.” Undaunted, Venetia began walking forward onto the path.

“Once, there was a Lord of Stars. A divine who witnessed the secrets of the ancient elves Boundless Empire. Did you know that ancient texts say the elves once built kingdoms on other worlds? That Ransera was an empire that stretched across the stars? This ancient deity of night and starlight was the navigator of those distant kingdoms. A chronicler who charted both their course and their history. Stories say that he found something out there among the stars and across the worlds of that ancient empire. Something terrible. Something that destroyed him. It is said that the secrets to traversing the stars died with him, and that was the reason the Boundless Empire came to an end.” Venetia paused and glanced over her shoulder at Kala. Her dark violet eyes twinkled with a dark light for a moment before fading.

“What do you suppose he found?” She left the question to them before turning to continue toward the tower.

Approaching the tower, the doorway was covered in a shimmering veil of complex pictography that glittered with arcane power. Over the archway were three symbols that seemed…incomplete.

“Well then, an Elliador Gate. I don’t suppose any of you are familiar with Luscion’s Theorem of Dissolution?” She looked at the group expectantly.

Examining the symbols above the archway would reveal that they were connected to a much more delicately inscribed pattern of pictography. Indeed, the entire surface of the tower was covered in small etchings upon close inspection. The entire tower seemed connected to a colossal glyph that intersected at the three symbols over the archway.

[Kala Leukos]

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"It certainly is," said Asallon. His Avialae friends had set him down on one of Venetia's stones so he could travel under his own power. He tried not to rush to Kala's side, but he wanted to be close to his Goddess and her aura that permitted him to use those powers he had earned against the shadow creatures. The Siltori Silver Wing had a bit of a scholarly bent, so it certainly was both interesting and curious to him.

Kala didn't turn to look at them as they approached, instead focused on the tower ahead, the stars in the sky. The boys circled above at the edges of her invisible aura, then came to land around Kala, Asallon, and Venetia. They were soldiers and protecting Kala was their purpose.

"The Draegir Nazam," Kala acknowledged, and listened to the mysterious woman recount a story that Kala hadn't heard since childhood. She wasn't Nazam reborn as Talon was Arcas reborn, but she had claimed one of his domains and sometimes she thought she could feel the edges of his memories. Perhaps she would ask the Crystal Lady about that someday. Or perhaps when she came more fully into her power, she would know the memories of the stars and they would tell her of her predecessor.

"We cannot know such things for certain."

Certainly, the minds of the gods were beyond even her and she was one of them.

"I would imagine, my Lady," Asallon put in diffidently, "that it could be akin to the knowledge that a Kthacctar or Outsider might use to break a weak mind. Though, if that were the case... I shudder to think what revelation might break the mind of a God."

"Indeed," Kala replied.

She was already reeling as they approached the tower. She could sense the intricate weave of pictographs rising up the tower, but it was so complex she would have to meditate upon it for quite some time to fully understand it. Her Avialae boys glanced at the women; their magics were largely suited for battle rather than these things. Asallon opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it, deferring to Kala. It was her quest that had led them to a Rift Gate, though Asallon hadn't been there to see it. But that alone made her the closest thing to an expert on Ransera. Most thought them fables. Still, as much as she had gleaned from sembling it as she past through it twice, she hadn't the skill to build one, nor did she fully understand the means by which they functioned.

"That sounds familiar, but I cannot claim to know it. Please, Venetia, enlighten us. Though..." She frowned, then pointed to the symbols over the archway. "These are incomplete. I'm passing familiar with scrivening. I think I might be able to complete them." Of course, she would like to know what was likely to happen—opening the door seemed a likely outcome, but it might also be a magical trap.

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[Paragon]

P A R A G O N

“Lyren teaches us that nothing is uncertain. With every breath, a world is born where what we believe is impossible becomes that which is possible.” At Kala’s mention of the three symbols which appeared to be incomplete, Venetia nodded.

“The Elliador Gate was an array developed in the second century of the Age of Wonders. It has seen sporadic use since that time. Mostly due to the fact that…well…there are very few capable of making one. Among the magical community, it is largely believed that the Elliador Gate is the precursor to the Rune of Negation, the only Cardinal Rune created by mortals. Suffice it to say, the gate’s purpose is a defensive one.” Venetia stepped forward, simply passing through the shimmering lights of the pictographic array that was glowing over the doorway. She leaned in and looked closely at the closed doors that were just beyond it peering closely. She then stepped out of the display of lights and turned back to the group.

“The Elliador Gate invokes the truest meaning of protection. It creates a shield of such impregnable defense that nothing short of the Supreme Ones could pierce its shell.” Venetia gestured to the glowing array of symbols shimmering before the doorway. The symbols shifted and changed in a repeating pattern.

“Luscion’s Theorem of Dissolution suggests that for every invocation of perfect protection, there is an equal and opposite invocation of perfect destruction. Luscion discovered that every Elliador Gate is keyed to a perfect opening under perfect circumstances that must be applied in a perfect manner. To date, he is the only mage recorded to have successfully breached an Elliador Gate. Though…it did take him three hundred years to accomplish the feat.” Venetia shrugged. She smiled at the group.

“The symbols you see repeating there are the parameters for the gate’s opening. Each glyph is a masterwork of Scrivening and presents the series of glyphs that will need to be inscribed upon the locks you see there.” She motioned to the three spaces over the archway.

“The trick will be discovering what the schema need to be inscribed with and in what order. To do that however, we will need to discern the meaning of the glyphs themselves.” She sighed.

“And therein lies the problem. Elliador Gates are notorious for having been written by Scribes who speak in Draconic. As a result, the meaning and mechanisms will only be understood in Draconic. I don’t suppose any of you know a dragon, do you?” Clearly Venetia did not speak nor understand Draconic, or at least not enough to decipher the mechanisms of opening the gate.