Ellyne ascended the long, gradual hill and stepped foot onto the plateau, her boots finding the orderly stones that paved the surface. Each footstep echoed, startling her at first. She knew this place—this was where she communed with the Teranyne over two years ago.
She was alone, left with only her thoughts and questions. So many questions.
“Why am I back here?” she asked herself. Why do my dreams keep bringing me back to this place?”
She understood the significance of it all. Here, atop this hill, she’d changed the world. She’d changed everything. At the same time, she’d destroyed everything. She was unaware of the consequences at the time, but she was reminded of them all too frequently as of late.
It was indeed the same place, but it was distorted somehow. The same, but not the same. A fog had descended, obscuring her vision beyond a few feet. The stones beneath her boots were dingy and crumbling. She felt the air’s chill with each breath she took, yet it seemed stale.
But the most important change, of course, was the absence of the Teranyne. Flocia’s source was gone. The pleasant sound of the ever-flowing column of energy was replaced by utter silence. The small dais that once contained the multicolored pillar was decayed and empty.
This place felt dead, barren, and sullen—as if a plague of corruption had taken hold.
“Hello?” Ellyne called, hearing her voice echo several times before it faded. “Why am I here? What kind of dream is this? Am I dead? I was really hoping for a more pleasant afterlife—somewhere with a beach, perhaps.”
She laughed at first but then considered she quite possibly could have died. Marik sounded very sure of himself and, while he was one who often wished her dead, he had no clear reason to lie.
At least, not in this case.
Something about this place, despite its dark turn, felt welcoming and safe—almost as if it were home. Ellyne couldn’t explain it, especially since the only time she’d physically been here she and Nicole were locked in a deadly fight with Marik, Kithrak mages, and countless grika.
“So why am I back here in a dream? There must be a significance or meaning of some sort but I’m not seeing any clues.”
A low susurrus of voices responded, whispering words in a language Ellyne had never spoken, but recognized. It was the language many mages spoke when they cast spells and, while she’d never understood it before, it was clear as day to her now.
“A dream … this is not,” the voices replied. “A prison, this was. Now, freedom. Through the reckoning … unity.”
“What … what are you talking about? Who are you?”
“I’m Nicole, silly!”
Ellyne opened her eyes. She was in the same spot where she’d fallen, and Nicole was next to her, tears in her eyes and the biggest, goofy grin plastered across her face. “I’m so happy you’re all right! I thought you’d died and, while Marik didn’t seem to be broken up about it, I was afraid.”
The girl squeezed her tightly and Ellyne winced, preparing for the pain of her wounds to hit her all at once beneath Nicole’s hug.
“Nicole, be careful,” she instinctively warned but the pain never came. To her surprise, she felt fine.
“She was literally staring at you for several hours, waiting for you to wake up,” Marik snickered. “It’s a bit creepy if you ask me.”
Nicole frowned and glared at Marik. “Genius over there thought you were dead, but I insisted you weren’t, and I was right!” The girl stuck her tongue out at Marik who appeared unconcerned.
“That’s not entirely true,” Marik replied, standing and dusting himself off. “I was merely hoping you were dead. There is a distinct difference.”
“Charming as always,” Ellyne sneered, slowly standing. She inspected herself. Parts of her jacket, tank top, and pants were shredded and crusted with blood, but the wounds beneath had vanished. She felt no pain and saw no scars-- no reminder of their existence. “How long was I out?”
“Only a couple of hours,” Nicole insisted, also getting up and still grinning like a fool.
“How … did someone manage to cast healing magic on me? Why am I okay?”
“I tried but healing magic is probably my worst talent. But I did try. It just… you know, didn’t work on you. You sucked the magic up into you instead—like you always do. So, I bandaged you up as best I could and treated your cuts so they wouldn’t get infected.”
Ellyne felt the faint tingle within her, confirming what Nicole had said. The thought of even having her life saved by magic revolted her and, though she was thankful to Nicole for trying, she almost would’ve rather been left to die rather than be healed by magic.
“So, nobody knows? I’m just inexplicably fine with no injuries?”
Neither Nicole nor Marik offered an explanation, and both looked disappointed about that fact. They all shared an awkward silence while Ellyne tried to process everything.
“You’re just that difficult to figure out,” Marik noted. “At least, in this particular sense.”
“Hey,” she finally said, “where’s Mack?”
“Oh, he left,” Nicole replied. “He said he had a few things to attend to. I think he also thought you were going to die.”
“I think we all did,” Ellyne added.
“Anyway, he said he’d be back.”
Ellyne wished there was at least a window to look out in case danger approached. “I don’t trust him,” she sighed.
“That’s no surprise to me,” Marik chuckled, “you don’t trust anyone.”
“With good reason,” Ellyne snarled. “You guys have been in the know, right? So why is it we’ve never heard of the Free People until now?”
“Part of a resistance force is secrecy,” Marik replied. “I doubt they have a marketing department to advertise their existence. I get the feeling they’re a relatively recent development.”
She knew Marik was right and she wanted to smack him for it. Her frustration was mounting. There were too many questions and no answers. There was also the dream she’d just had.
“What are we supposed to do now?” she asked. “We made it to the safe house. What’s the next step?”
Marik wiped his index finger on the wall, inspecting it for something. “I assume Mack will connect us with the Free People and we can decide from there. At least, that’s what I would suggest. We should be an integral part of the Free People.”
“In the meantime,” Nicole interrupted, “you have GOT to tell me how you did that!”
“Did what?”
“When you were fighting the patrol, how you did it.”
“Nicole, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ellyne laughed uneasily, having a small idea to what Nicole referred.
“During the fight you … you moved faster than anything I’ve ever seen. You punched your fist through a bot and dodged bullets!”
Ellyne recalled the punch and just how good it felt to level a bot with her fist—she’d done it once before. But the rest didn’t make any sense. “I did? I mean, I guess whatever I was doing was me somehow channeling stored flocia from absorbing magic. As always, I have zero idea how I did it.”
“See,” Nicole continued, “that’s what I thought at first, but this was different. You were bathed in some kind of light!”
“I was?”
“Personally,” Marik interjected, “I think she’s hallucinating. I saw no mystical light. Sounds like bullshit to me.”
Ellyne could almost taste the jealousy in Marik’s voice. It must’ve burned him to not have the same magical prowess as Nicole and now, she herself was exhibiting magical behavior beyond his comprehension.
“It’s true!” Nicole insisted. “Ellyne, it was radiant and beautiful!”
“Well, I guess there’s yet another question to add to my growing list—right behind how the hell am I actually alive?”
“You’re not gonna like the answer.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? What, you’ll explain later?”
Nicole fidgeted a minute, obviously trying to formulate a response but thinking carefully about her words. “So … I’m not really sure. There actually isn’t an answer.”
Ellyne inspected the many spots where the grika had torn into her. The rips in her clothing were still there, but the wounds had vanished. “Right. Because of course there’s not. Why should I be surprised?”
Nicole hovered around Ellyne a moment before she grabbed her in yet another bearhug.
“And there it is. You’re truly a very huggy person, you know that?”
Ellyne felt she should return the hug, but her arms were pinned in the embrace so, instead, she simply rode it out until the girl eventually released her.
Nicole dried her eyes on her black shirt, sniffed, and giggled. “I’m sorry, Ellyne, but I just don’t know. We argued about what to do for you and when we were through, you’d already improved. It was like magic—”
“Except that would be impossible. We know how that turns out.”
“Right,” Nicole agreed. “Like I said, I’m not the greatest at using healing magic but I also didn’t want my spell backfiring or exploding or whatever. I tried a couple times, and nothing happened.”
“Yes,” Marik chuckled sarcastically, “nobody would want that … how terrible it would be.”
“Why do we keep him around again?” Ellyne asked, throwing a mean look the man’s way. “Is he, like, a pet or something? Because I’d much rather have a dog. They’re at least cute. But, I guess, at least Marik doesn’t shed. Wait, do you shed, Marik?”
Nicole couldn’t contain her laughter while Marik remained unamused, but said nothing and adjusted his purple robes, probably pretending to be concerned with a tear or stain on them.
Ellyne felt only a minor tingling sensation within her. Whatever power she’d stored in her was exhausted during the fight. She found it difficult to admit it was a reassuring feeling, having such power to command even if she still wasn’t adept at using it.
Such power came with a price, however. Sometimes it was the guilt of senseless destruction and death, and other times it was simply disdain for having used something related to magic.
It was, however, always exhausting. She wondered if the exhaustion was normal but then recalled that really nothing about it was normal.
“Okay, well, I guess there’s no sense dwelling on my miraculous recovery if there are no actual explanations.” There was no window in this room, and she badly wanted to look outside and see if anyone was waiting for them. Just how secure was this safe house? “So, what’s our next step?”
Mack slipped inside and shut the door behind him. “You’re awake!” he exclaimed. “Excellent! I went ahead and got some more medical supplies and whatever food I could find.” He briefly looked down at the armload of stuff he held before dumping it on the ground for everyone to peruse.
“Thank you, Mack,” Ellyne said, kneeling to sift through the various things he brought. She was willing to trust him for now, but she kept him in close observation. “I’ll just take this bag of chips.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, leaning against a wall. “I really wasn’t sure any of the medical stuff would be useful, given the severity of your wounds, but I see you don’t need them anyway which, I must say, is impressive.”
“Yeah,” Nicole laughed, inspecting a packet of crackers before tearing it open. “Ellyne does some pretty amazing things sometimes.”
“Oh, I know,” Mack replied. “We’ve heard many stories about the mage breaker, and I still can’t believe I’m standing in the same room with you. I don’t know how you’ve survived but I’m very glad you did. And what you did to that patrol was just … it was fantastic.”
“Dumb luck I suspect,” she responded. Such attention was awkward, and she would have preferred not to be the center of it. It was quite a contrast to the way she’d felt, once upon a time, when the legendary golden gunslinger led her soldiers heroically into battle against the Ilserate. She’d been much younger then, and much more naïve.
“Seems to be the theme most of the time,” she continued, shoving a handful of chips in her mouth. “I’m pretty good at the dumb luck thing,”
“Well, either way, you certainly handed that patrol their asses. I’ve never seen anything like it! I’d pay good money to see something like that again. Not that I have many tiks to spend on it.”
Marik sauntered over to the pile on the floor and used his foot to sift through it. Finally satisfied with what he saw, he picked up a packet of chewy fruit snacks and tore it open, retreating to lean against a wall to eat them.
“So, now that we’re at the safe house, what’s the plan?” Ellyne asked, finding a bag of beef jerky and devouring it. She couldn’t remember ever being this hungry.
“Well,” Mack sighed, “I suppose we need to consult the Oracle. Hopefully he’ll know what to do and we can—”
“Wait a minute,” Ellyne interrupted, nearly choking on the beef jerky, “what Oracle? What is this mystical bullshit? I’ve never heard of any oracle.”
“I understand your skepticism, given your aversion to magic. There are a great many things even we mages don’t understand. The Oracle has helped the Free People in our fight, and I am one hundred percent certain he would love to meet you.”
“Sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me,” Ellyne scoffed, emptying the bag of beef jerky into her mouth. “Prophecies, oracles, and the like. Nicole, what do you know about this guy?”
“Uh, nothing really,” the girl stammered through a mouth full of crackers. She waited to swallow before continuing, holding up her index finger to tell Ellyne to be patient. “I’ve heard him mentioned once or twice in conversations but, beyond that, nothing.”
“The Oracle,” Mack continued, “is known only to the Free People. We keep him a closely guarded secret and speak of him to no one. In fact, we barely mention him when in our own company. Many of the Free People don’t know he exists because it’s safer that way in case we’re captured.”
“Okay,” Ellyne interrupted, “but has anyone ever actually met this guy?”
Mack paused a moment, which told Ellyne all she needed to know. “I’m really not sure,” he finally said. “I know I haven’t.”
“So, then, how do we know where he is or how to contact him?” Ellyne scoffed. “Or how do we even know he’s real?”
“He’s requested to see you,” Mack replied.
“This is getting pretty deep,” Ellyne laughed, “but whatever. At least you have a plan so let’s do whatever it is you’re suggesting instead of sitting in a boring room with that toad.”
She pointed to Marik who wasn’t paying attention.
Mack smiled. “Excellent! He’s waiting for us. But, first, let’s see if magic works well enough to get there! I don’t suppose you could … somehow make magic function properly again for now, could you?”
“It doesn’t work like that.”
He walked to the wall opposite the door and waved his hand. A small holographic panel appeared, fading in and out of view until it finally stabilized. He tapped a button and, shortly after, a glimmering portal opened in front of him. “Well, that was tougher than it should’ve been, but success nonetheless.”
“Is that thing safe?” Ellyne asked. “It’s not going to wink out as we’re walking through it and chop us all in half?”
“I doubt that will happen,” Mack chuckled, “but, then, I make no guarantees.”
“You’re a real confidence booster, Mack.”
“After you,” he said, motioning for them to proceed. “We probably shouldn’t keep the Oracle waiting.”