"So how does it work?" They were all sat together in a secluded area of the underground complex, for the moment apart from the Avii survivors, albeit separated only by the makeshift walls of the large tent that had been erected for receiving Tarn. Stefan found it contradictory that such a scientifically advanced society would still be susceptible to such overt cult of personality, based on little more than a display of power. It was in keeping with how they'd kept Aera at the pinnacle of the Aviar spire and had constructed their entire society around her, but being able to pivot so instantly to this boy that they barely knew, based only on the tenuous notion of some form of psychic inheritance--
Not for the first time in recent months, Stefan Vortal, soldier of Bruckin and expert navigator, felt entirely lost. There was some comfort in knowing he was hardly alone in that regard - Tranton stood with his arms crossed, leaning on one of the central tent supports; Kirya lay off to one side on a thin mattress, still quiet and groggy from whatever she'd experienced; Fenris sat to close attention but had been uncharacteristically quiet since Aviar's fall. Tarn sat cross-legged on the sunken floor, which was layered with cushions that had somehow survived the city's destruction, having eschewed the grandiose chair that had been carried in by four locals.
"I'm still learning," Tarn said to him. "It feels like something I've known my whole life, but at the same time is entirely new and confusing. I have some of Aera's memories, but they're out of order and confused with my own."
"That sounds horrendous," Tranton said. "I'm presuming this isn't how it was supposed to happen?"
Tarn smiled ruefully and shrugged. "Again, I'm not sure what exactly was meant to happen. But everything was rushed, panicked. She was expecting to be more in control, I think."
"My understanding of it," Fenris said quietly, "having debated this extensively with teachers and students prior to the incident, is that it is meant to be a pure, clean, willing transfer. Aera transferred her powers and consciousness from body to body over the centuries, thus enduring. It was considered a great honour to be the one chosen to share that power."
"That was a lie," Tarn said harshly, surprising himself. "I mean, I don't think there was much sharing to be had. Each time Aera took over, the other person disappeared. They were shut away."
"Voluntary or not, sounds like a bad deal," Tranton muttered.
"It's not what I wanted," Tarn said, smiling in the direction of the explorer. "So I put her away instead."
Stefan raised his hand. "Has she always chosen a female inheritor? Or can 'Aera' be male or female?"
Tarn frowned, as if thinking back to a time long forgotten. "Male and female have little meaning to her," he said. "It was just a convenient way to present herself to us."
There was a soft moan as Kirya propped herself up on one elbow. "They've both been doing this forever," she said. "Kraisa as well. That's how this has been going on for so long. The timeline never made sense - now it does."
Hatch looked excited in spite of herself. "So your mother - the woman you thought was your mother - started life as someone else?" Stefan wince at her abruptness.
Shrugging with some pain, Kirya sighed. "Seems likely, doesn't it?"
Tranton swore and turned away from the group, walking towards the tent's entrance. "And I thought all of this was bad enough before things started happening inside people's heads."
"One aspect to consider," Fenris said, "is that the Avii people are likely expecting some kind of continuation. They will be expecting you to be Aera, not Tarn. Until we know more, we should maintain that pretense."
Pinching his nose between thumb and forefinger, Tranton whistled. "This is not going to go well."
"The power you've inherited," Hatch asked Tarn, "what exactly is it? What can you do with it?"
"Other than turning on the lights," Tranton said, his usual sardonic smirk firmly in place.
"I'm not sure yet," Tarn said. "It seems to ebb and flow, as if it's being drained and replenished all the time. The teachers back in the spire spoke about techniques but I don't think even they understood what was really happening. I can see it all around." He waved his hand in front of his face. "It's spilling out of me like a cloud. I'd seen traces of it before, near Kirya, and around the creatures on the mountains. I think Kraisa was using the power to control living things."
"Can you do that?" Tranton asked.
"I wouldn't want to."
Tranton cocked his head to one side. "That's not what I asked."
"This cloud is what powers the discs? And kept Aviar afloat?" Stefan found it hard to believe in something he couldn't see with his own eyes, or hear, or touch, but perhaps it was best thought of like magnetic north - detectable with the right equipment, but otherwise invisible to humans. There were theories that some birds could discern direction using natural abilities; perhaps Tarn's enhanced perception of this 'power' operated in a similar fashion.
"Yes," Tarn said. "And that's not all." He pointed at Tranton, at the hilt which hung on a belt hook. "Your weapon, Tranton uses the same power. The blade is not concealed within the hilt, not exactly The blade forms each time you activate it, constructed by the cloud of energy, and dissolves when you deactivate it."
Obligingly, Tranton unclipped the hilt and activated the blade, which telescope out to its full length. "It looks like it's a series of connected plates," he said, "but its strength and speed never made sense - and there's no visible mechanisms on the blade itself."
Tarn nodded. "That device is self-powered, because it is so simple, but it follows the same principles." He shook his head violently, as if trying to shake something out of his ear. "My words sound funny," he said, embarrassed. "Since Aera got in my head I know more, and can talk about things I couldn't have imagined before. Yet it feels like I've known about them my whole life." He took a deep breath. "I have a headache."
"Where does this substance come from?" Hatch asked, ever the scholar.
Frowning, Tarn was silent for half a minute, as if summoning distant knowledge. "It comes from the valley. Something happened here a long time ago, which started everything. Some kind of collision, or explosion - I don't understand my own memories. It brought it here, buried it beneath the ground. Some of it went into the atmosphere. Lagonians call it 'Source'." He looked up, bright eyes, as if suddenly connecting the dots. "That's why Kraisa and Aera have always fought over the valley; that's why Kraisa has been mining and digging everywhere."
"This material isn't just a fuel source, like we use it back home," Stefan said. "It just happens to burn nicely."
"what happens when you run out of this stuff? How much do you even have?" Tranton looked like he couldn't decide whether to be more disturbed by the existence of such powers, or the possibility that Tarn might still lose them.
"I don't know," Tarn said. "I seem to be able to replenish it over time. Maybe that's something Aera can do? It's not immediate, though - just keeping the lights on in here I can feel is having a drain."
Stefan glanced over at Galisai, silent and observing from the sidelines. She returned his gaze and raised her eyebrows.
"The question now," Fenris said, "is what we do next."
Tranton strode back towards the group. "In that case, let me make a suggestion. We leave, now. Go out the back door. Tarn can make a distraction by flickering some lights on and off somewhere else. We get out of here, and get as far from Lagonia and olds god and magic powers as possible. Loop around the mountains somehow, get back to the Headland, take a ship across the sea. Live the rest of our days somewhere south in Safast, where people aren't crazy."
There was a poised silence, as they each considered the attractiveness of Tranton's proposal. Tarn spoke first. "Fenris, what do you think?"
The old man looked down at the floor. "It...is not my place to say." He raised his head and locked eyes with Tarn. "I have said enough; too much, certainly. Look where it has brought us."
The god in the body of a boy looked to Stefan, then Hatch, then Galisai. "And you, Galisai?"
She smiled - Galisai could always manage a smile, no matter the situation - and moved closer, placing a hand on Tarn's shoulder. "We will support and aid you in whatever decision you make," she said, "but our path will always be back towards the valley and Bruckin. If there is to be no help to be found here, then we'll return nevertheless and add three bodies to the army."
Putting a hand to his forehead, Tarn grimaced. "I have conflicting ideas in my head," he said. "I know what she'd want to do. But I also have my own thoughts."
"That happens to all of us," Tranton said. "Decisions still have to be made."
"We're so far from the valley," Tarn said. "It's hard to remember what it's like, or why it matters. I was only there for a few weeks, really. Even Aera hadn't been to the valley for centuries. It feels so distant."
Movement caught all of their attention as Kirya got to her feet, unsteady, holding on to a thick tent support as she rose up. "I'll tell you why we're going back," she said. "Kraisa was in my head. Has always been in my head. Now, thanks to Tarn, she's gone, and I find myself thinking more clearly than ever. She made me do terrible things. She's deceived all of us - and everyone in Lagonia. Kraisa has to be stopped and I want to be the one to stop her - but I can't do it alone."
Stefan shifted his position where he sat, and threw a smile towards Galisai, who had a twinkle in her eye. Neither of them had expected the princess to argue for a return, after what had happened.
"The three of us are with you, Princess Kirya," Galisai said, her hand on her sword.
"Returning will be dangerous," Fenris said, glancing towards Tarn. "And our first attempt to find an old god did not end well. But if that is what you wish, I will be there."
Tranton sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot. Let's go and interfere with history, again."
It was Tarn's turn to stand. "I have much practising to do."
As they dispersed from the tent, Stefan walked alongside Galisai. "You really think we can make a difference?"
She nodded. "We've always made a difference, Stefan. Now we've got them as well."
