A Touch of the Eldritch
Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 12:26 am
.
88 Searing 121
One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.
The hum of the bees as they hunkered down for the evening was a calming thing. He put his hand on the trunk of the Living Grave, as Destyn had named the tree that housed Flower, and murmured something that wasn't words, but a comforting sound. He hoped that if Flower dreamed, it was tree dreams and smelled of honey. With a sigh, he walked barefoot back into his little house. The sprites whizzed about, doing their business they required so little aether and had become much like beloved pets over the months of their compacts. He even brought them treats sometimes, such as the dust that accumulated at the bottom of the things that held Jacun's dragonshards for sale. The detritus didn't have enough power for any mage to bother with, but the sprites treated it like candy.
He even got the sense that the little biome he had created with their help was somewhat self-sustaining, that the energy put into it was shared among those who lived there. Sivan was their master, but they were free to depart at the end of each season when he renegotiated the contracts that allowed them to stay here. The hive considered him just a strange, overlarge bee with more autonomy than the rest. The spirits that loved the garden brought new life into everything. And his sprites were industrious, happy to work now that they recognized there were benefits beyond mere aether to be had.
Khal kept everything temperate. Zin kept the water running and clean. Nut kept the air fresh. Geb plugged the holes in the old place. Together they kept the humidity nice and balmy, and the earth fertile in the garden. He wondered what it would look like when winter struck. The branches of the tree might keep the worst of the snow at bay, or Khal might just decide that there would be no snow in the garden. Sivan rather thought he would have to glower in the hearth about it, then slowly heat the garden up so the snow wouldn't stick. But the earth needed time to be fallow, as well. They would find equilibrium. That was what they did.
Geb especially had made itself at home. To fill in the chinks in the stone, it had slowly dissolved some of the old flagstones in the garden to reveal the earth for planting, and reshaped it to make the house more secure. It had also been excavating below the little cottage, mindful of the plumbing, and was using that earth to build higher. For now, the place had a small root cellar, and the ceiling was much higher than it had been when he moved in. Eventually, it would be high enough that Geb might build a new ceiling and there would be a second floor. It was slow going and the property wasn't large, but it was possible that one day, Sivan would have a veritable wizard's tower with basement levels to match.
He laughed. Nut whirled past, teasing his hair.
It might have been his imagination, but it seemed as though his little sprites were getting stronger. Perhaps he was too liberal with his treats. He fixed himself a light meal and ate on his feet. Despite his time in the garden, his mind was racing in different directions. The bees, the elementals, matters belonging to Master Jacun's shop—he was still mulling over the ramifications of what he had helped create for Siorey Val'Maranthy. The man must have been a half-elf like him, though Siorey took after his human parentage. All the same, the name demanded a certain respect from him, which he bridled at this far from Sol'Valen.
Perhaps some things were merely too deep to uproot.
After washing up, he pulled the sheet off of IX and examined it. There was no change, of course, and he murmured something to it akin to the sound he had made for Flower before replacing the sheet. Perhaps Sivan was just boring and people fell into comas when they spent too much time with him. He sighed. Perhaps next season he would have more time to devote to artificing, to try to suss out the problem. There just weren't enough productive hours in the day, and so much of his best thinking were focused on alchemy, even though he was starting to wonder if runeforging wouldn't have been a better path. But there were certainly excellent uses for alchemy, and he supposed he might pick up some runeforging whenever Torin had his forge set up and they worked on projects together as they had imagined over drinks.
It never hurt to know more, though knowledge was only the first step to wisdom.
He opened the trapdoor he had installed once Geb ate away at enough of the floor to require one. Thankfully, he had been able to communicate the need for steps leading down into it. Below the surface, it was cool. Geb had gotten a bit territorial about it with Khal. This was Geb's project. But it allowed Zin and Nut to help with the air down there when it remembered that Sivan was rather particular about how he wanted the climate. But it worked out well as a root cellar, thus cool, and mostly dry. He had some bottles of wine down here in case Torin came over or something. The subject of fermentation hadn't come up with Destyn, so he didn't know if his other friend would imbibe but he was prepared all the same.
It felt a little bit like a different world down here: Geb's domain. He supposed it would make a good place to reach into the earth plane if he needed to contract something a bit more powerful than his little friend. It wouldn't feel so alien an environment to an earth elemental, fashioned as it was by one of its own kind.
Khal flitted down, huddling close to Sivan. It only wanted to provide light and see the place, and Geb didn't chase it out, so there would be peace yet in the household.
Knowledge is the first step to wisdom, he thought.
Perhaps, Exael allowed.
I just want to look, he thought, and Exael could read the rest.
Do as thou wilt, it replied, sometimes conforming to older, more archaic speech patterns. It hadn't spoken to mortals in a long time, but then it's concept of time was different as well. I cannot follow you. Not like this. Not until we are bonded.
I messed that up.
Yes, it replied, not one to sugarcoat things. But I can remain thus until you can perform the Sacrament properly.
Sivan nodded as if Exael could see. Perhaps it could; its perceptions were strange to him. He scrived a quick circle into the dirt. There were many he knew, but this one, in particular, would allow him to reach his consciousness into the aetherium in order to palaver on their terms rather than summon halfway into this realm to negotiate.
"Geb." The sprite raced around the circle, fixing it into the earth. The scrivening would hold as long as it was paying attention. Sivan stepped carefully into the circle and sat down, legs crossed. The earth down here felt different between his toes. He knew there were moles and other voles down around here, though few ventured too far under the flagstones of the city. There weren't safe places to come up. With his luck, Geb would let them in.
He didn't know the creature's name, but he knew its species, which was close enough to get him in the right area.
"Taberu," he said as he poured aether through his rune. Reality distorted and everything was light. And then everything was dark. And then he was somewhere that had no proper concept for either, really.
But he saw one, the eldritch floating jellyfish with a humanoid skull within its translucent flesh. There were others, much farther off, though distance didn't seem to mean exactly what it did on his home plane. Nothing did, really. This was a place of chaos. Its eye sockets flashed with purple light when he appeared.
What? Who? sounded in his mind. It was a bit more communicative than his sprites, but not by much.
Sivan, he thought. It did not recognize his name, which was not surprising given how little he had communicated with eldritch spirits. But if he wanted to maintain his abilities as a generalist when he did bond with a celestial aidolon, it would help to have some contacts in this sphere. A minor spirit was a good place to start. Taberu.
Taberu, it agreed. The purple shifted to green and then back to purple, although less.
It took quite some time in that place that might have been outside of time for him to learn to communicate with it more effectively. It had some words or concepts that translated as words when it pushed into his mind. The colors seemed to reflect its emotions, though he wasn't sure if that were true. Or perhaps its emotions were just alien to him and would only make sense in time. He found it difficult to keep its attention, as though everything he knew from other spirits didn't actually apply. But, in the end, it did seem willing to work for food, as it were.
He managed to communicate the terms of a gilded summons, which it agreed to, eyes flashing green.
He also managed to get a name out of it. Its true name was incomprehensible to him, but it would answer, he was fairly sure, to Taberarenai. By that point, he couldn't think of another trick to hold its attention, so he let it drift away. Looking around, his mind shuddered at the wrongness of this place, and he pulled himself back into his body, letting his rune go silent.
Hours had passed and all his little sprites were floating outside his circle with some concern. He made a point of laughing because the simple creatures had learned that it tended to be a sign that all was well. Brightening, they flurried about as he stood, stretched, and climbed back up the stairs. He was going to need a cup of something soothing and perhaps a bit of reading to bring his mind back to reality. Otherwise, he was going to have strange dreams.