Eleanon paused a few steps inside the fortress. From outside, Hairekeep was a massive structure that soared high into the sky…but once inside the door it looked far smaller.
As if it was the interior of a different building entirely.
The space was very small (given the vast expanse of the exterior), almost intimate. There was a floor some fifteen paces square, and walls of golden glass, intricately carved, that rose in a pyramid shape to a point high above them.
“It is beautiful,” Eleanon said. Then, remembering what he’d seen when he, Inardle, and Bingaleal had used the dark spire, “It is the heart of DarkGlass Mountain.”
“Yes,” said Bingaleal, “it is a representation of the Infinity Chamber which powers DarkGlass Mountain and connects it to Infinity. And here, as in the Infinity Chamber,” he nodded to the shadows at the back of the chamber, “is the One.”
Eleanon tensed, but rapidly relaxed as he felt no threat from the figure which emerged from the darkness.
It was the size and representation of a man, save that his flesh appeared to be made of green glass. In the depths of his chest revolved a golden pyramid.
“You are the One,” said Eleanon, and gave an elegant bow of his head.
“I am,” said the One. “I am the One and I am Infinity. We spoke some weeks ago, when first I emerged into flesh.” The One smiled, his teeth curiously transparent behind his glass lips. “Have you come to take final communion in the One? Have you come to learn what the ancient Magi forgot to teach the Lealfast?”
“Perhaps,” Eleanon said, and the One laughed, a pleasant, rolling sound.
“And so also Bingaleal hesitated,” the One said. “Until I showed him this.”
He made a movement with his hand, and the back wall of the Infinity Chamber vanished. Eleanon found himself staring over a landscape of incredible beauty and power—a vast plain of emerald water, from which rose a magical citadel of such loveliness and power that he felt his knees weaken with need.
“Elcho Falling,” said the One. “Your home, once I have done with it.”
Eleanon stared, his knees growing even weaker. He could see birdmen and women flying about the citadel, and sense their joy and power.
They were Lealfast, not Icarii.
And they were whole. Not half of this and half of that, but whole and glorying in that wholeness.
They are at One with themselves, the One spoke inside Eleanon’s mind.
Yes, Eleanon whispered.
This was not a future in which either the Skraelings or the Icarii had any place.
Moreover, Eleanon could sense truth in the vision. It was not a trick, not a sorcery constructed to fool him, but it was truth, and it was his future and the future of the Lealfast.
“You can do this,” said Eleanon. “You would give this to us?”
“Yes, and yes,” said the One. “I have no use for Elcho Falling save to remove any threat it harbors toward me.”
“What threat?” Eleanon said.
“It and its lord seek to subdivide me,” said the One, and now Eleanon could hear hate and anger in the One’s voice.
“You want us to deliver to you Elcho Falling and Maximilian Persimius,” said Eleanon.
“Yes,” said the One. “I have cursed Maximilian Persimius, but you can be a more powerful friend to me than that curse can ever be. You will be my door into the citadel.”
“I will be your key,” Eleanon said softly.
“My key. Yes,” said the One.
“Maximilian thinks we are loyal to him,” said Eleanon.
The One smiled.
Eleanon locked eyes with Bingaleal, then took a deep breath, addressing the One. “I will put this to the Lealfast Nation,” he said, “but they will agree. They know that Maximilian is weak and cannot deliver to us that which we desire more than anything.”
“Wholeness,” said the One. “Completeness. Your own dignity and destiny. Oneness.”
“Yes,” Eleanon said, and the One had to bite back his smile. The Lealfast would be as malleable as Ravenna, and as had once been the Magi. “You may take this vision to your Nation with my blessing,” said the One, “and as my promise to you.”
Eleanon felt a peacefulness infuse his soul—and a certainty that he’d previously been denied.
It was hope, he realized. Destiny, even.
Once again he made his elegant bow to the One. “Thank you,” he said.