Jake’s POV
We were in a burned down building, made of stone and charred wood. Twisted metal poles were scattered about, half-melted from whatever spells or fire destroyed the place. As soon as we reappeared, the others flew over and encircled us, holding planks and scraps of leather with runes on them.
“Bring the sedative.” The Captain ordered, looking to Nine, who flew away, then came back a minute or so later dragging a wooden bowl, with a pink liquid sloshing around inside, across the ground with his beak; with great effort.
“Want some help?” I asked.
“Yes, please.” He said, panting and wheezing. Lieutenant Datahu and Fourteen tied up the prisoners, and I carried the bowl for Nine.
“Drink it.” The Captain ordered them.
“You think I’d drink a sedative? Let you scratch around inside my soul? You drink it.” The Sargeant said, turning his head away, and ruffling this feathers.
Captain Gigoales was cold. Ice cold. He didn’t react, didn’t shout or scream. Didn’t even think twice about it. He just turned to the subordinate and made a simple declaration. “We only need one of you to drink this. By force or otherwise. The other is useless.” His voice was even, sterile of tone, hatred, or anything that might give away what he was thinking. “I do not keep useless things alive.” The Captain looked at me, then the bowl I was holding, and motioned with his head for me to set it down in front of them. The subordinate looked at the sloshing goopy pink stuff in the bowl, to me, then to his rebellious Sargeant, and finally to the Captain. Quietly, he lowered his head, and began to drink.
“Skiddler.” The Sargeant spat.
“Lauric, kill him.” Captain Gigoales said. Lauric glanced over surprised, then fluttered next to the captive.
“Wait, what?” I asked, stunned.
“You don’t–” The Sargeant started to say, but was cut off. Something you need to know about Neame. They look like a cross between Blue Macaws and people. They have vaguely human shapes, but with feathers, wings instead of arms, and most importantly for what happened next, large talons on their bird-like feet. Well, large for their bodies I suppose. When Suma or any other are perching on my shoulder, the worst the claws usually do is poke me, or break the skin. But to another Neame… Lauric place the three large talons to the Sargeant’s feathered neck, and pressed hard enough for blood to start trickling. “ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! Indra’s eyes… I’ll drink it.” The Sargeant leaned his head down, and began to drink.
“Skiddler.” Lauric said, mocking him.
“Enough, Lauric. At ease.” The Captain said. Lauric spread his wings, and flew back to the twisted metal perch he’d been resting on earlier next to Suma.
They were a fair distance away, but I could faintly hear the two of them talking. Suma asked if Lauric would have actually done it, and Lauric just nodded his head. Through our connection, I could feel Suma’s discomfort and fear. Not of Lauric, not exactly. But something I couldn’t quite place.
Turning my attention back to the prisoners, I noticed the bowl was nearly emptied, not that it was very full to begin with. “Now what, Captain?” I asked and kneeled down next to him, half sitting on my own leg.
“When the sedative takes effect, it will last several hours. Enough time to perform a memory delve, and find information about V?lundra.” The Captain turned his head to me, looking up. “Sentinel, you and Lauric will go into their minds during the delve, while myself and Lieutenant Datahu cast the spell on you both.”
My eye crooked. “Me? Why?”
“We need someone mentally strong enough to pry out the information from their minds.
Yourself and Lauric are our best choices.” He said.
“I get Lauric, but seriously… me?”
“Your mind is strong. Your own master could not even force you under her command with the Rite of Dominance.”
“Uhhh.”
“You know?” Suma asked, sounding as shocked as I probably looked.
“You two do not hide it particularly well.” Lieutenant Datahu remarked. “It is easily the most well-known secret on base.”
“Plus, you didn’t go insane when you lost your hand, so that’s something!” Nine added, perched a few meters away on a burnt up wooden beam.
“There is also the matter of your soul.” The Captain added, ignoring the others.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You have had a portion of another soul inside of you for as long as we have known one another. Yet, not once have you shown any symptoms. Except for when you would occasionally
hallucinate, but that has not happened in a while.”
“Any normal Neame not skilled in Soul-Magic would have lost their minds, or had their personality changed so dramatically that they would effectively be a different mind altogether. But you? You cannot even use Soul-Magic, and still you have not changed in the slightest.” Lieutenant Datahu added.
“Exactly, Lieutenant. Which is why you, Sentinel, will be the one to perform the delve.”
“I… thank you, Captain.” I said, and agreed.
It was another hour before the sedative took effect, and the Neame were unconscious. We untied the Neame and moved the runes away, then the Captain and Lieutenant began the spell. Lauric and I laid next to the prisoners, as a Magic circle formed around us, and a second under our heads; mine obviously being much larger than his. Lauric went into the Sargeant, and I went into the subordinate.
As the spell began, my mind felt foggy, like after just waking up from sleep. Nothing felt real, but distorted and stretched, like pulled taffy. Images passed in my mind, warped memories. Suddenly, my whole body was under water, or that’s what it felt like. Everything went cold, fluid, and a little unreal. This was different from when I looked through Zachariah’s or Deyja’s memories. But I could think clearly enough and knew why I was here.
“V?lundra.” I said, focusing on information I wanted. The images slowed down, and took shape. Became more solid, more real. Unfortunately, the first thing I saw was a dead Neame.
Lichtenburg marks etched all over her body, and smoke rising from different feathers, some of which were still smoldering. Her beak was cracked, part of it missing and exposing burnt black flesh. One eye hanging from its socket. If I’d had a mouth in this void on memory, I would have thrown up. Instead, the memory kept going.
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“You…” The voice of the Sargeant said, as the point of view turned away from the dead body, and I saw him. Von-Pac, my old friend from basic training, looking worse for wear. He was covered in blood, and missing one of the talons on his left claw-foot thing. He was being held down by a familiar, his wings spread out and pinned down by its paw and snout. “I heard you have training with Healing-Magic. That right?”
“Yes.” He said, clearly in pain.
“Good. Then heal yourself.” The Sargeant said, and the familiar released his wings, but kept his mouth close to Von-Pac’s head. Von-Pac healed his claw, then the familiar quickly pinned his wings closed with its mouth.
“AHH!” He cried out. My stomach dropped watching this. All I wanted to do was end the memory, but I needed to see what happened.
“Easy there. We don’t want him dead… yet. Say, that Neame over there called you Von-Pac earlier. Are you a noble? What am I saying, you were a diplomate for the Kingdom of Ambos. An ambassador, even! Of course you’re a noble. I’ve never met a noble before.” The Sargeant said, and gave a fake mocking bow.
“Who are you? Did the–”
“You know, I’d heard that Ambos was secretly supporting one side in the island’s little power struggle. Guess that was true. Wanna tell me which one Ambos had their seed sacks on?” Von-Pac stayed silent. “Oh well. We will get all the information we want, later.” The Sargent turned to face me, or rather, his subordinate. “You, go let the master know we found a healer, with plenty of secrets.”
Seconds later, the memory stretched and warped, then was overwritten with new distorted memories, all playing at once.
“Von-Pac…” I said, shocked.
“Jake.” A voice said, echoing in my mind. A cold chill ran down my spine. For a moment, I thought it was Deyja’s voice. Suddenly, all the warped memories faded away, leaving me in blank white space. “Jake.” The voice repeated.
“Datahu?” I asked, looking around.
“No.” It said.
“Deyja?” A lump formed in my, nonexistent at the moment, throat. If my hands were visible, and I wasn’t just a floating consciousness in a void, they would have been clammy.
“Thankfully not.” The voice said. A moment later, there stood a big, burly man; wearing chainmail, furs, and leathers. On his hip were two axes, and a wooden shield hung from a strap over his shoulder.
“Zachariah?” I asked, confused.
“It’s been a while, little vikingr.”
“How is this happening?” I asked, confused. There he was, right in front of me. Not made of fire, not half dragon, not even blurry. Just… there, floating in a void, moving like he was standing on solid ground that didn’t exist.
“I overwrote the spell that is connecting you and this feyling.”
“But how?”
“This will be the last time we ever speak, young Jake.” He said, putting his hand on my shoulder. That’s when I noticed, I had a body. Every time I’ve looked through his or Deyja’s memories, I’ve just been watching through their eyes, but now, I’m not. “I’m burning up what is left of my soul inside yours, so we do not have much time.”
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“Because you’ve given up.”
“Given up?”
“On your hunt, on your revenge.”
“Deyja…”
“That is not his name anymore, but yes.”
“Why do you care?” I pulled away from his hand, suddenly feeling very defensive.
“Because I’m dying, and when that happens, he will be free.”
“WHAT?”
“In less than one month, I will be dead, the crack between the Aether and this world will open, and the dragon will step out. And when that happens, this whole world will be destroyed. Unless you stop him.”
“NO no no no, back up.” I began, talking quickly and in shock. “What? You’re dying, there’s a crack in the world, and Deyja is coming back?”
“Jake, when that happens, you have to kill him, no matter what it costs you.”
“STOP, just stop! I was done, free. I’d accepted the fact that I was never getting home, and now…”
“The Norns rarely smile for the wants of men, and they do hate loose threads.” He chuckled to himself, and I was immediately overcome with a desire to punch him as hard as I could.
“Why are you laughing?! You just said you’re dying, and the world was going to end!”
“Not if you slay the dragon.”
“I can barely hold my own against Neame, and you want me to fight the most deadly monster the world has ever seen?”
“Hardly,” he scoffed, “he was outclassed by quite a few dragons. Like Nidh?gg, and Fafnir.”
“You’re missing the point!”
“No, you are little virkinr. He is not some all powerful monster, nor is he unstoppable. You can sly him.”
“Well, how did you do it? How did you beat him?”
“I didn’t.”
“What, but I thought–”
“You think if I’d beaten him, I’d be trapped in the Aether with him, dying? Instead of going to Valhalla?”
“Then, what–”
“I trapped him and myself, and I’ve been using magic to keep him there this whole time. It wasn’t on purpose, but that’s what happened. Like I said, the Norns do not smile often.” He shook his head, and sat down. To me, it looked like he was floating on a non-existent chair.
“What changed?”
“When he took you from your body, and left the Aether, I was left alone there.” He looked pained, and took a steading breath. “The Aether is not a gentle thing. It exists in a realm that is a chaotic storm. Any Aether, what you call mana, that enters this storm that is not in line with its own nature, is… remade.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That is fine. When I am gone, my memories will remain, and you can learn everything you want to know from them.” He looked down at his hand, as it began to fade away. “Okay, it’s almost time. You have to kill the dragon. Swear to me that you will.”
“I… I can’t. I don’t have what it takes.”
“You killed those Neame, when you were surrounded and fighting on the Island of Sangu, did you not? You have what it take, virkingr!”
“I am not a viking!” I yelled, half of his arm was gone now, like smoke drifting away. No blood poured from his wound, no bone poked out; just a hollow shell hiding a deep darkness.
“No, but you have the soul of one. Damaged though it may be, it still cried out for revenge.”
“Damaged? And who’s fault is that?! You and Deyja both forced yourselves into my mind!” I yelled, then a sickening thought came across my mine. “Wait, is he still inside me too? With you gone, what will–”
“He took the portion of his soul from your when he took your body. But it was not us that damaged your soul. It was you master, Suma.”
“Suma… what?”
“When you first met. Remember? How she tried to force you to become her servant? I have some experience with that myself, so I know how it feels. He looked down at his shoulder, which was starting to disappear, and reached out his good arm suddenly, forcing it through my chest like a ghost passing through a wall. I seized up, frozen, unable to move. Like fire, pain spread through my whole body, eating me alive! I tried to scream, but could only manage to gasp and grunt, struggling to even breathe through the pain. “So long as you are bound to your master’s soul, your will shall bend to hers. In your words, she has… I think you say… reprogrammed you.” As he pulled his hand free, I collapsed, breathless, to the nonexistent ground. “She wanted a familiar, one who was perfect in her eyes. That’s what that Rite of Dominance does. It replaces the familiar’s desires with that of the master’s. While she was not able to finish the rite, that does not mean it had no effect.”
I looked up to him, panting, the pain not gone, but dulled, “… she wouldn’t.”
“With what little knowledge of the ley remains in this era, I doubt she even knows what the spell does, beyond allowing a master to control a familiar. Either way…” both of his legs were gone now, and he was a floating torso with one arm. “It’s time, Jake.”
“What did you do to me?”
“Prepared you for this.” He said, and flung what was left of himself at me. I put my hand up to block him, but his whole body passed right through them. The moment his head touched mine, the pain returned, but worse. If last time was fire all over my body, this was lightning, focused and pure. Every kind of pain you can imagine hit me all at once. There were boulders on my limbs, crushing them. Needles in my eyes, digging into my brain. Every inch of my skin was being pulled apart, flayed like fish, and stitched back together.
“Jake!” Suma yelled, drowned out by my own screams.
“AHAHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” I yelled, curled up in the fetal position and dripping sweat. The pain was gone now, but the memory lingered on my tingling skin.
“Jake, are you okay? What is wrong?” Suma asked, one of her wings was bent in an unnatural direction, clearly broken. The Neame that I’d been connected to was lying still a few feet away, right where he’d been earlier when the delve started.
“What happened?” I asked, my hands clenched into fists so tight my knuckles turned white. A trickle of red blood fell from my swollen right wrist. It hurt, but nothing like the pain before.
“You just started screaming, and flailed around wildly.” Lieutenant Datahu said.
“Suma, are you alright?” I asked.
“I will be fine.” She said, and began to cast a healing spell on herself. Her bone pulled itself back into place with a sudden and sickening crack. Suma winced, and stretched her wing out slowly to test it.
“I’m sorry.” I said, wiping the sweat from my head with my left hand. “Wait… my hand!” I shouted.
“It grew back while you were screaming.” Captain Gigoales said.
“It was disgusting.” Nine added, looking more green than blue for a moment.
“Jake, what happened?” Suma asked.
“I… I don’t know where to start.”
