The Blood of Vampire: Chapter 21 - The Obsidian Compass
Jatex stood on the peak of the Crystal Spire, utterly inert. The Gem of Frozen Tears was fused to his palm, radiating its crushing power of Stillness. His Shadow-Blood Weave was a crystal sculpture—perfect, pure, and terrifyingly silent. The Thirst was gone, but so was the ability to feel, to mourn, or to fight. He was the perfect, emotionless Vaelanar vessel.
Ryn reached the summit, panting, and found him less a person and more an ice statue.
"Jatex?" she called, touching his arm. It was cold as quartz. "Say something! Scream! Siphon something, anything!"
No response. The Gem had done its job: it had imposed absolute, spiritual Order on his chaotic core.
Ryn realized the immediate danger. If Kael or Vorlag's troops arrived now, Jatex would be incapable of even defending himself. He was a priceless artifact—and an easy target.
She frantically searched the pedestal where the Gem had rested. There, carved into the crystal base, was a geomantic riddle:
The place of Truth lies where the silent waters reflect the sky's sorrow.
To find the Light, seek the Chalice held by the first breath of the Progenitor's Echo.
Ryn didn't understand the spiritual metaphors, but she understood one thing: she had to move Jatex. She needed a plan to move an eight-foot-tall, emotionally catatonic Vaelanar down a sheer cliff face.
She noticed the residual energy from Jatex's Stillness—a cold, inert aura of perfect spiritual neutrality. Ryn, the technician, saw a way to harness the Order.
She took her salvaged wire and began weaving a makeshift harness. As she worked, she realized the Gem's Stillness was pointing Jatex in a direction, like a cosmic needle. His face, rigid and frozen, was aimed directly west, toward the great interior Mirror Lakes.
"Fine," Ryn whispered, harnessing herself to his silent, immovable body. "If you're an Obsidian Compass, I'll be the one to drag your needle where it needs to go."
She found a way to use the Gem's pervasive aura of Order to stabilize her ropes, making the descent mathematically perfect. Ryn took the first step, pulling the silent vessel off the edge. Her faith was not in his power, but in her own knowledge—and the promise that Aeliana's will was still guiding the boy, even if his heart was frozen.