Merrin felt robbed; that was the only word to describe this feeling. The sensation of nothingness--the link, the power that fueled him, powered him within this world was just...Gone.
How was that possible?
The world was dimming--the connection, the sense of self. All of it was gone. Slipping off his fingers. Odd, perhaps, but right here, there was a single phrase that sang in his head. Accept it, it said. Accept the destiny.
He could see it, the skies of his world, the trees, the mountains, the seas, all of it was fading, growing a rather solemn dimness. In that tenebrosity was another thing—the true skies of the Greyworld. The darkened clouds, the gray heavens, all of it was imposing in this reality.
She was unmaking his work.
Merrin gritted. She shouldn't be able to do this! He screamed the words internally. I AM THE EL'SHADIE, NOT HER. ME! THIS IS MY RIGHT. He echoed externally. "THIS PLACE IS MINE!"
And just then, something surged through the world. A chaos. Merrin felt that lingering connection again, except that despite the words he had screamed, this did not happen from his actions. It was something else. Almost as though the power had chosen to return to him. If that made sense, but it was the only thing that did.
What did that mean?
Merrin floated still in the dreaming, yes, the Dreaming, the dimming had stopped, the fading away of his precious world. All of it was halted. His eyes lowered, locking on the small child, or girl, who stood in his gardens. She was stunned; he could see it. In her face, in the sense of confusion that flowed in her eyes.
She, too, was bewildered by what had just happened.
Merrin seized the opportunity, rearing his arm, ready to call on the Ardents again. Previously, when she attained momentarily control of the dreaming, she had vanished them. Not destroyed, no, he could still sense them...They were just...gone.
Now he would summon them again!
"Come to m-"
"Please wait." The girl waved from the ground. Gone now was the face of power -that gaze or absoluteness she once occupied. This was slight confusion. But regardless, she was still a problem. He could not allow her existence.
It would hurt to do it, but he would live.
She waved again. "No, I'm quite serious, you see... wait."
Merrin frowned, although confident that she could not see through the blinding light around his face. "Would you have waited?"
"Probably not." She said, "But what exactly was that just now?"
One could hardly guess this was the previous girl now. She seemed more...docile. But more importantly, she too did not know what had happened. That was quite problematic.
One problem at a time. He calmed, hand still reared up.
She sighed. "This place isn't normal at all."
"You praised it, didn't you?" He said, "Mark that as the exceptionality of my creation."
"No." She cocked her head. "You couldn't have built this."
Now the frown went deeper.
"It's quite obvious, really." She added. "Whoever built this could easily destroy me with a thought. And that's not you."
A cold flooded Merrin's body. How? Why?
Why hadn't he thought of it? The question. Who was it that built the grey world? Impossible, the reasons were right there; from the words of the bird, to the many encounters ever since. The grey world was in something called the cognitive scape, built, but not by him. What he did know was that every El'Shadie before him had it; from wanton to whoever else there was.
Could there be something like the first El'Shadie?
He drowned the questions and said, "I could be testing you." Let's try this.
She chuckled, waving dismissively. "You don't know much about casting, do you?" A stupid grin curled on her face. "You see, whoever had built this would almost surely be far beyond the power of a saint, as such, they would have the highest of symbolic familiarity, meaning even my own symbols might have a hard time wanting to attack them."
"The orders do not allow for such." He knew that much. The orders acted as a seal on one's prowess; wild casting was impossible as only certain symbols had familiarity with the caster.
She smiled. "And that's why I say you couldn't have built this." She glanced at the playing Rapture, ever lost in whatever it was she had done to him, and added. "It's obvious you are a veilCounsel, but whoever did this must have used wild casting. And considering the symbols here, I can almost certainly call them a god."
Merrin trembled now, the light around his features dimming for a moment. "A god?"
"Reminds me of a secret tale from the third age." She continued. "Of the four kings, specifically Molketh."
Merrin knew that name! The bird had said it.
"He built the godrends using a great wild power. Wild casting of the highest levels, which was odd considering he was most likely a veilCounsel too. Perhaps." She looked around. "Perhaps he was the one who built this."
Merrin clenched his fist. "So what exactly would you do now?"
She maintained a moment of silence. "Stick around for a bit."
"I cannot allow that." Merrin corrected immediately. "How can I allow a thief in my home?"
Her eyes lowered for a moment, almost sad-looking. "If it's about your secrets, I don't care about that. It's just that this happens to be more interesting than what I was doing. I mean, killing a highness is fun and all, but it's remarkably boring."
What does that mean?
"So just allow me to come here." She said, "I won't even try to take this place, although I doubt I can. Maybe it has some kind of defense against such things."
A defense? Merrin shelved the thought.
"So, just about it. And of course, I can be quite useful, even teach you stuff, even do stuff, as long as it's not boring, you see."
Merrin narrowed his gaze, seeking data from the things he had already observed from this woman. "You belong to a different organization, I suppose."
"Yes." She nodded, very childlike. "We call ourselves the pained martyr sect. Or at least, they do, I'm joining yours now."
What?
"You have more interesting things here, more than them, and I like things that way."
"So one day you can steal from me."
She threw her arms up. "There are way easier ways to do this, you know. I could have captured you, it would have been ridiculously easy, or even simply tracked and found the real you, then tortured you, broken your mind enough to tell me what I want, or simply do something more unique...I could become you."
Merrin froze.
She smiled. "But I won't. As long as you allow me this." There was coldness in those last words. A threat. Merrin frowned. This was a whole different situation than he was used to. Someone threatening him to allowing them to work. It could almost be seen as a joke, except he couldn't laugh. Not now. Not in front of her.
That would ruin the current image.
Merrin glanced at the first denizen of the Dreaming, Rapture, and said, "Would you change him back?"
"Not exactly possible." She replied. "You see, I wasn't exactly expecting to keep him alive." She shrugged. "So his mind is very much scrambled; he only knows his North. In fact, his going back to reality would be meaningless since he's essentially a child now."
Merrin sighed. "And like that, I offer the plague to this one." That was the only option. He would trap this man in an eternal dream, just like the fallen had nearly done. But that was better, wasn't it? To forever dream of what you love, of what you want.
It has to be better.
He shifted his eyes to the intruder and said, "I will destroy you one day, know that."
"Don't be human." She grinned. "Casters survive because they stop pretending emotions matter more than utility. You are useful and so am I, no point in being some... predictable."
He looked away and sensed the connection between him and the princess of Valor.
At the very least, she would have what you asked for. An organization to help her outside the might of her clan. And even more, the so-called helper was one that had brought harm to her clan. Ah, he sensed this now: This would be problematic.
Merrin glanced at the child one last time. "You are about to be quite useful."
Now, personally, Merrin internalized the words that he had heard today. Molketh, whom the bird had mentioned, was one of the four kings of the last age? That was enough to lock him down. To know, with true surety, that this world once belonged to such a being.
Of course, the Ashmen cared little for the kings of the lowlander people, but he had heard enough. Everyone had heard of the Kings and their rebellion. Although most of the world did not truly know who it was they rebelled against.
But I do, he realized. Molketh fought against the orvalen!
{ Author Note: I think this is probably the moment I've been waiting for; for Merrin to finally begin questioning the things around him. To ask the right things, to seek, to ponder, to discover. I'm quite excited for this; this first Act of this volume is already shaping into something very nice. Hope you enjoy it, and as always, I stare at my notifications praying to the almighty for a comment.}