Leaving the fortress behind, he passed over an island where a familiar city stood — mighty Kaerleon. The Cannias Mountains were a blur, then he hurtled out to the open sea and beyond. He sailed over an expanse of water so great he could hardly fathom it, stretching from one horizon to the next. He drifted over the waters and beyond to another side of the world, with towering forests and spacious plains. He beheld strange and wondrous creatures and people, all who appeared for only a moment, then vanished in a blur.
A solitary figure sat with her legs dipped in the water of a riverbank. Rhanu slowly drifted down and dropped lightly in front of her.
Autumn leaves drifted by, though he could not see the trees that released them. The foliage around them was green and flowering, the sky an ocean of darkness with stars shimmering between every ripple. The woman turned to regard him.
Her skin was the color of sandstone. A crowning headpiece of ornamented gold with positioned steeples sat atop of her long inky hair. Her face was painted in ceremonial fashion, highlighting her high cheekbones, full lips and dark eyes that gazed with the weight of ages.
"Welcome, Rhanu." She spoke in honeyed tones, handling a ceremonially painted fan in one hand with great dexterity. Her silken garments were colored in bright shades of gold and purple, heavily decorated with golden links and medallions that jingled with every graceful move. "I am Raakhi, the previous wielder of Titien." Titien hung from her neck instead of Rhanu's, the orb pulsing in shades of crimson.
"I do not understand," Rhanu said. "Are you dead? Do I address your spirit?"
She levitated from the water, drifting around him without touching the ground. "I am no spirit. I am the collected memories of one who has passed beyond your world. Left within the fusorb are the recollections of myself and my uses of Titien, which I pass on to you."
Rhanu unconsciously reached for the fusorb, but it no longer hung from his neck. The orb pulsed from where it dangled against Raakhi's chest. Rhanu frowned in concentration. "What exactly is Titien?"
Raakhi hovered in front of him. "Titien is a fusorb tied to the physical attributes. It will fuel your body, making you stronger and faster. Its eye will capture different forms, and your body will alter to take on those shapes."
Dark memories flashed across Rhanu's mind. He shivered.
"I'm not sure I want to—"
Raakhi's upraised hand cut him off. "It is not a question of want. It is a question of control. You were only partially bonded to the fusorb, using it blindly in times of great stress. I will guide you in its proper use."
"Who am I so that you would pass this on to me?"
Her face was expressionless. "You are the one who gained possession of the Geod."
Rhanu frowned. "That's all there is to it? What if it fell into the wrong hands? What if someone evil had found it first?"
Raakhi gazed at him serenely. "No one is evil. Just as no one is good. There are only one's actions and the repercussions that follow."
Rhanu felt heat rise within his chest. "I have seen the face of evil. People who build dynasties on the broken bodies of those they enslaved. Would you aid them as well? Knowing what their intentions are?"
Raakhi floated in front of him with her legs folded underneath her. The back of her palms rested on her knees with her thumb and first finger touching. Her eyes closed.
"Possession of a fusorb is not a sanction for inconsequential actions. The very nature of the fusorbs is to reflect the personality of the bearer. Benevolent actions result in a wider range of use. Malevolent uses restrict it severely, often so that it cripples the wielder over time."
Rhanu slowly nodded. "That is a wise failsafe."
"The engineers of the fusorbs took much into account. If you are to accept that responsibility, I must now bond my stored consciousness to your own."
Rhanu hesitated. "And if I refuse?"
"Then the Geod must be passed to another. And whatever actions they take with its use will fall back on you for shrinking back when you had the chance to claim it yourself."
Rhanu considered. There were others more worthy than he was, that was quite certain. Ayna, perhaps…?
He found himself shaking his head. It was his burden. His responsibility. He had paid too high a cost to gain it.
"Very well. I accept this honor."
Raakhi removed Titien from her neck and held it out to him. "Take it then. And may your use of it be in wisdom and benevolence."
Rhanu looked down. Titien hung around his neck as it always had. It flashed blindingly. Fiery threads sprang from the orb, materializing into a mesh that settled upon him, searing into his flesh. He expected agony, but the quivers were almost gentle in spite of the sensation of heat tattooing his skin like liquid flame.
He gasped as an overflowing surge of memories flooded across his mind. His Inner mind awakened; a sucking whirlpool that pulled the entire world in its maw. Titien shimmered like the sun on his chest. Rhanu lived and loved and died a thousand times. Kingdoms rose, filled to bursting with countless throngs, and fell empty as forsaken tombs. Buildings of glittering glass stretched to the sky; metallic constructions larger then dragons flew across the clouds. Jungles, deserts, forests, mountains; all flew across the vision of his mind's eye as swiftly as lightning flashes. A million voices whispered, joined by millions more, the languages of the world spoke to his mind, and he understood them all. The means to the Disciplines unveiled, their secrets exposed through bygone ages and the minds of those who mastered them.
Rhanu opened his ancient eyes.
THE GLYPHS STILL FLARED on his flesh when he awakened, but they quickly faded into his skin as if never there. The first sight he beheld was Ayna. Her eyes glowed brightly, and the relieved smile on her face was the most welcome sight he could hope for. She looked at him questioningly.
"Do not worry, Amisi. I am still myself." Raakhi's memories were there, but they lay under the surface of his own, waiting for the need to unearth them.
Ayna wiped his brow with a damp cloth. "You had us worried, Ludari."
He slowly sat up. "Why? How long have I been under?"
"Longer than expected. It is nearly dawn."
Rhanu shook his head. "It seemed only moments to me."
"That is the way of Everfell. The important thing is that you returned, have bonded with Titien." Her voice was almost a whisper as she gazed at the others. "The circle is complete. A Sage has been reborn."
The Sha nodded in agreement. Rhanu noted something new in their eyes when they gazed at him.
Awe.
Interlude: Rodell
Rodell Pariot stood with General Oren on the east tower wall, overlooking the throngs streaming into Kaerleon. The General was not a tall man, but he was wide across the chest and shoulders, and still appeared powerful despite the gray that had laid siege and conquered his receding hair. His clean-shaven face was broad and stern, creased by a life of service in the army of the king — a life of pride and grief, triumph and tragedy. He still wore his cuirass, burnished and decorated with the badge of the Crown.
Oren was the Archduke of Leodia as well, but that title meant much less to him.
A regiment of the Imperial Guard trotted through the main avenue as the crowds respectfully opened a way to let them pass. Resplendent in their blue and black surcoats and shining from their mail to their blue crested helmets, they moved in perfect unison, halberds resting on their shoulders. Oren nodded in satisfaction as he surveyed them.
With the king's death, the city almost erupted in chaos as the people rioted and the nobles schemed against each other for position. But both rioters and nobles put their differences aside with the Imperial Guard in full force. A state of martial law was established, with Oren in the unwanted position of stewardship. He had no patience for the nobles and little sympathy for the masses milling in the streets complaining of lack of food and increased taxes. Yet he was forced to name himself the Steward of Leodia until a king was crowned.