THE KEEPERS RISE

Chapter 14 - Bay for Blood - Part 3

*Remember to click the play button to listen to the soundtrack as you read!*

As soon as Velda woke up, she knew that she had been asleep for a very, very long time. It struck her that the last time she'd had a full night's rest was back on the Stargazer on Khar'tohan. She flipped onto her back and lazily stretched her arms up. Her Powerstone's glow pierced the bedroom's dim lighting for a few moments before a magical mechanism detected motion and the lights switched on.

Caught off-guard, Velda shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness and sat up, remembering to check her mental barriers like Konte Lin had taught her in preparation for another uncertain day. While she devoted more focus to her mind, she noticed something strange: though she could sense a couple of constant auras nearby, there were far fewer than there had been the night before. Still too sleepy to contemplate anything much, Velda assumed that some of the Keepers had gone to the hangar early.

Cha was sitting cross-legged beside her bed, apparently deep in thought. Good morning, Keeper, it said, tilting its head up at her.

How do you know that it's morning? Velda joked. We're in space.

Would you rather that I say goodnight? Cha responded lightheartedly. The vaya slowly stood up and the individual pieces of its body spread apart slightly.

Velda shrugged. I guess not. When Cha entered her stone again, she asked it, Why don't you just stay out here?

Cha seemed to be a little embarrassed. Perhaps you will not believe me, Keeper, but it is rather comfortable inside of your Powerstone. When I am outside it, I must feed off of its energy reserves to avoid phasing back into the Spirit Realm. That appears to not be an issue when I am here.

The stone glows no matter whether you're in it, you know. Maybe it can just give you energy by itself right now? Cha expressed pensive agreement while Velda smirked to herself at the idea of a vaya 'eating'.

She ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to get the biggest knots out, and her Powerstone's light shone through the strands, projecting green stripes onto the white walls. Then she got to her feet, got dressed, and tentatively walked out into the hallway. There was a feeling of early morning on the ship, and no Keepers or Light officers were in sight. Velda did the only thing she could think of, approaching Will'ym's door and knocking on it gently.

Will'ym had never managed to fall asleep. He told himself that it was because he was accustomed to more regular cycles of light and darkness, but Velda's concerns still tossed and turned in his head. After lying awake for a few more hours, he'd frustratedly taken out his dagger and begun to sharpen it with his magic, as he often did when he needed time to think. Velda found him still looking over it when the door opened. "Oh," he started. "Hi. Are you feeling better?"

Velda nodded, and he fumbled to slide the dagger into its sheath, which he'd already strapped back on, but as he did so, she caught one more glimpse of the runes on the blade and was reminded of how similar the top one was to the top rune on her sword. She took it out, and after pausing to check that they really were the same, asked, "What are the runes on your dagger for?"

Will'ym swallowed and took it back out, balancing the handle in an open palm. "The bottom one increases agility, and the center one lets the dagger absorb magical energy," he explained, though he knew that she only had one of the runes in mind.

"What about the top one?"

Will'ym sighed. "It's for riftwalking."

"What's that?" Velda said, eyes widening.