SunRider

[16] For the Cult

—Circa 5,122 E.E. (Economic Era-The 17th Era): Stones roll down Mount Pluhm and a voice growls out across the night air, heard for kilometers around "Myza-baen! I curse your passage out of this world! May your travel to the next life be choked by the tail you have cut from my body! I curse you!" The voice was never heard again and no more rocks ever rolled down the mountain. Brave explorers who've summited the top of Pluhm have never found the source of the voice, but did come across the skeleton of a two-headed man.—

The ancient tomes told her much. Methods of extracting information from the strongest of warriors, the languages of shadows, stories of demons circling the dark between the stars and beneath the trenches of the earth. Glorious dark knowledge—forbidden to her, but not for long. Soon, she would be privy to all the temple's secrets. For now, she would have to disobey orders and read more than she was supposed to.

     Wahala flipped another page in the skin-bound book. Whether it was human skin or animal, she didn't care. She was too engrossed in the words written by a long-dead Queen who'd traveled into the Land of Light for knowledge many centuries ago. In the Queen's travels, she'd found a dead Star-Child. The corpse had told a story of war, but the details of the Queen and the events of the time were not discussed. The priestess had surgically removed the Star-Child's bracer and experimented on it. Wahala read a passage.

     Scraping the remaining flesh from the device only confirmed my theory: the bracer biologically altered the body, changing the subject into something altogether not human.

     Notations:

     >Segments of the bones in the left arm have meshed with the device. I believe the longer one wears the bracer, the stronger the fusion. The first few months, it only clings. But as the months turn to years, bone and metal merge as one.

     >In addition, bone material shows more of a glossy nature instead of porous. Speculation: flexibility? Bone tensile strength? A unique ability?

     >All signs point to the bracer giving the wearer powers different to what we know as natural or magical: otherworldly.

     >Upon using forbidden necromantic spells and performing acts of ritualism, I have effectively created a crack on the bracer. The effort has nearly killed me. I am now in recuperation. I fear there is not enough gold in all the Kingdom of Rot to fix me.

     Wahala flipped the page, but the writing only guessed at the dead Star-Child's possible powers. There were no more references made as to how the Queen had damaged the bracer—neither was there any more information on the ancient generation of Star-Children that'd long ago been chosen. How had they died out? How had they been erased from history?

     "No!" Wahala hissed, turning more pages. She was unable to find any more clues. Marking the spot, she set down the book and swept her arms across the thick study desk; tossing quills, papers, books, and artifacts across the temple's library floor. Three days back and still no answer. She stood and paced, fuming. There was a way to destroy the bracers; some form of spell or some dark art. It had to be within the prohibited books. The library door opened and Salastine stepped inside. Wahala nearly threw a book at him but stopped herself.

     "I apologize." the man said with a bow. "I didn't mean to intrude upon your studies, my leader."

     Wahala waved a hand, her thoughts unshared. Her mind was so preoccupied with Star-Children it took her a while to realize Salastine was still waiting. "What is it?" she asked.

     "We're ready for you."

     Wahala froze as a mixture of emotions ran through her, coursing inside her skin like maggots feasting on flesh. Fear and excitement battled for dominance. It was time. "Lead me." she stated. Salastine handed her a torch, bowed, and opened the door, disappearing into a dark stone hallway. She followed, her boots clacking on the hard floor, dust tickling her nose.