Born in the Flame

Chapter 31

A few weeks at the Night Spire passed before I had known it. It has been months since I was home. I told my family where I was and where I'd be going in my letter, but I did not tell them why or how I got here, nor that I was in the constant company of the gods. I think my mother's heart would melt if that were to happen. If she knew what happened to lead me here, my family would feel endless guilt for sending me away.

It was their faith in me that sent me on this journey, and I didn't want them to doubt it. So, I spent my time with Chither. He taught me how to strengthen my bond to death's meadow, he affectionately named the between. He explained it is like a train stop before you depart for either paradise or Azolon; Mird being the conductor of the morbid metaphor. In turn, I was able to reach Reeyar in a waking state. It would take time, but I could speak with him after meditating and focusing on his spirit.

From dawn till dusk, I spent time with Chither and Gabris. The two were inseparable. Gabris often acted as a guard and guide for the blind god during the day, and a ferocious sea serpent at night. When I looked out my bedroom window at night, I'd often see the dark shadow of him and the fins that breached his spine. His form was one he shares with Chither. The two serpents, forever entwined in time.

Since I was able to reach Reeyar without having to dream, I found myself dreaming. Some nights, they were nightmares of what I have endured. Not all my nightmares were of the things that happened on my journey, but instead, the things that happened long ago, or of things that could have been. Yet, in between those nights of terrors, I had pleasant or nonsensical dreams anyone would have.

Uzlos was a frequent topic in my sleeping mind. Whether that be the nightmares of him dying or worse, the pleasant ones where nothing in the world mattered, or ones that made no sense at all, he was there. It was rare not to see him in my mind, but even rarer to see him in the day. I spent my time with Chither and didn't find myself having time for much else.

"There's been something on your mind, Elwin." Chither stated. "You've read over the same page for me twice. What's troubling you?"

"I'm worried." It was true. I was worried about the rising numbers of dark mages. My mind was plagued by the idea that I was wasting time learning a gift that might, in fact, only be of use to me and me alone.

"Would you like me to check on something for you?" He asked gently. Chither would not tell me exactly what my family was doing, he felt that would be an invasion of their privacy. He would tell that to everyone who asked him for his sight. I knew he was asking to look at my family, but I was worried more about everything else.

"Can you check on my father?" I asked, "He's not what I'm worried about, but I would like assurance he's okay."

Behind the blindfold he wore, a deep blue light swirled behind it. Chither's face relaxed, and he smiled as the light swirled.

"He is doing fine." He said after the light dimmed, "Now what is truly troubling you?"

"I'm worried that this gift will only help me in the end. I speak to Reeyar, but I feel like it only helps me." I sighed, "I'm worried about the task my companions and I set out on."

"I can understand how this feels, but your gift has more to offer than just talking to those who share the gift." He started to say, "What we will be practicing now is reading the web."

"Reading the webs?"

"It is a valuable, and powerful gift. I assume you recall the spiders in the between along with the silks?" He asked. It was true, I do remember the wind carrying bits of spider-silk strands and the spiders near Mird.

"His spiders are all over the world, weaving their webs. In those webs, they tell the stories of everything they bear witness to and give Mird those same webs when they pass on. He reads them to cast judgment on the mortals." He told me.