"I think I have seen a true Exalted Being, they may truly exist. Was it the Harbinger of Death or someone, or something, else? It was made of green smoke and observed me as I was trying to find the solution to the imbalance within the Divine Source. Perhaps I am not the only one who has noticed. Are they the one who caused this imperfection, or perhaps they are trying to solve it?" - Great Vizier, Private Journal, Entry 45, Notes Lost in Time
***
18th September, 211 A.D.
Vistania, Seer's Covenant
After she woke, Anna spent the day on the balcony, watching the sky draining of colour as dusk approached. First the pale gold, then rose, then the deep violet of evening swallowing the towers of Vistania. The city lights shimmered into life, one by one. From this height, even the noise of streets felt distant, muffled by the wind.
Vistania is a large city, a living labyrinth of wood bridges and wooden domes, following along the great Mnenis river.
Ezra had given Anna Auric Balsam after the incident, a liquid golden as sunlight. It was a miraculous creation of healers aligned with the Aspect of Restoration. It sealed her wounds in a heartbeat, though it left the body exhausted and the burning pain within her veins lingered. Pillar won't be happy, a single vial cost a more than Medan earned in a year.
Her thoughts flickered, restless, filled with questions but starved of answers.
First, the blue haired girl. Anna didn't understand it, but something inside her pulled toward the girl. A pressure, almost physical, telling her she must reach her, save her. She couldn't get it out of her head.
Then there was the garden. The vast, beautiful almost heavenly garden she walked through. She opened the guide and looked for the information about Soulscapes. They are also known as Domains and they could grow in size with one's control of lumina. Compared to her own, it was like comparing a house to a city. She was merely playing at a child's level.
And then she saw the glowing white pin shaped like a shattered crown. A Blademaster. That would make him exceptionally skilled in both his lumina and the blade. What a truly dangerous combination.
If a Blademaster lives within the Death Veil, it could even tempt Medan. He had been trying to reach the peak of armed arts, born to compete, to test himself, to prove that no blade could match his.
As she replayed the vision in her mind, something dawned on her. Each flower in that garden was a memory, some past, some future. That is how her ability works. Seers were not prophets in the truest sense. They didn't foresee, they could live through the memories of future. In the vast Universe of Time, anything could be altered, anything except what had already passed beyond the horizon, into the immutable past.
But one question haunted her most. How did I return to my body?
She should have had to retrace her path to her own Soulscape. Yet when she was losing consciousness, she had felt ... an embrace. Warm. Protective. Someone, or something, carried her back.
Who was it?
Why did it help me?
How did it find my Soulscape and get inside?
The thought chilled her. Her Soulscape was supposed to be impenetrable, sealed by her will.
She didn't think she was reckless enough, to leave it unsealed. That would mean that being was able to get inside her head, maybe even without her noticing.
Cold sweat ran down her back. If someone could step inside her Soulscape unseen, then nothing, no memory, no thought, was truly her own.
She closed her eyes and entered her Soulscape. Her room in the Jade Tower appeared, every object was a memory, some bright and living, others faint as ghosts.
She thoroughly inspected it, but found nothing abnormal. Everything seemed properly sealed. To not even find a trace of intrusion, that would mean the being is exceptional.
So many questions. No answers.
She watched the sun sink beyond the horizon, two moons revealed themselves. Both of them were stark white. The cold night breeze ruffled her long hair.
Ezra joined her on the balcony. "I always admired the view from the Tower," she said softly.
Anna raised her hand, measuring the city with her palm. "It's ... majestic. The city looks small from up here."
"Ezra," she said after a pause, "don't tell Medan about the injuries. I can already imagine the scolding that would follow."
"If you wish to. But promise me you'll be more careful."
"Where is he anyway? I thought he would come by now."
"I went looking for him after you nearly died," Ezra replied. "The guards said he went into the city."
Before Anna could wonder why, the door opened and Medan stood there. He looked exhausted, older somehow, as if time itself had caught up to him.
"You are still awake?" he asked, as he sat at their table. Ezra offered him tea and he gladly accepted.
"I'm unable to rest, my mind wanders," she said, her voice filled with fatigue. "Did you find it?"
"Yes." He reached into his coat and produced a thin blue book. The cover was faded, water stained. "The diary. It's damaged, but ... it confirms the place you described. The Death Veil, west of here."
A strange heaviness settled over her. She had been chasing answers, yet now that one was in reach, she wasn't sure she was ready to hold it.
Her pulse quickened. The truth felt closer, almost within her grasp. She took the diary, quickly reading the brittle pages. But her disappointment was immeasurable. Only a few sentences remained.
"So now we know, where our path leads." Anna teased him slightly.
"It is just a wasteland."
"She is there," Anna whispered, almost to herself. Her knuckles turned white as she clenched the armrests.
Surprisingly, Ezra broke the silence. "Even if the place exists and it is where you want to go to, how can you go, Anna? You can barely walk. You've never even ridden a horse."
"She is right," Medan said. "You look exhausted. And if you leave now, you may die."
"And staying here?" Anna snapped, anger rising. "Reading books while others suffer? Living like a bird in a gilded cage?"
Her voice cracked. She stopped for a moment, trying to calm herself down.
"What if I'm the only one who can help her," she whispered.