Beyond the Void

Chapter 67, Single truth

of Shattering 407 part II - In Ironcourt, the Ravencrest Emperor and his Six Pillars are betrayed and overthrown by the Ravencrest branch family of Ebonveil. Within a year all those Iordurians spared of the divine wrath awakened of their own free will, creating another foothold for the Shadow. These newborn demons are barely held at bay by the Empire.

An excerpt from the diary of Pia...

SIL'VAR

Four moons and three tens since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

"Ambassador Sil'var. You're still here?" Irad'vael was standing in the open doorway. Sil'var raised his gaze from the countless documents littering her desk. "You look tired. Were you not supposed to head back to Falls under the Sun?"

"No. Not yet. Maybe. I mean, I don't know." Her sight blurred, and she rubbed her eyes. "They sent here me as auxiliary help. I will not get a reassignment soon. The downsides of choosing the job of a soldier. I have been helping out with whatever I can, here."

"Odd. Do not take this the wrong way, but I have not seen you at all. Have you even left this office? The embassy. There is much more to this city. You can still visit the sights. Thankfully, the unrest is centred in the old town." Irad'vael was frowning.

"A few times, maybe." She lied. Most of her free time was spent scouting Narris' Citadel and its surroundings. She needed to be familiar with escape routes and hiding places. Already she knew a big part of the city as if it were home.

"The humans make me nervous. They are like ants. Always scurrying about. That nervousness emanates around them into everything they do. Always thinking they have to do something today when they have tomorrow. I don't like to be around them for long." She lowered her gaze back onto the documents on her desk. She did not want to look in those deep verdant eyes. The embassy head made her nervous.

"If you would believe Joa'na, you are making up excuses to stay here so you can carry out your secret assignments given by the High Magister himself." The embassy head chuckled.

Sil'var forced a small laugh in response to the jovial chuckle. "She is another I cannot understand."

"She is a beryl one. The seas and its shades are in their blood. Restless and unpredictable. It is her nature. We are all Alyar but a little different."

"I have only known Alyar. We should all be the same. Isn't it unnatural? I mean, peculiar. These rumours and gossip. Alyar are not such beings." Slowly, she raised her gaze at the embassy head again.

"If we were truly one, then we would be a construct. Like the sunshards. Apart, yet one. Do not take the gossip too seriously. I am sure it is only magnified by these unconventional circumstances. We are far from Falls Under the Sun. And the Mark of the Other One has blossomed, the Alyar's first venture behind our borders in thousands of years, the unrest in the human empire." Irad'vael reassured her.

"But still. What are your thoughts, Irad'vael? The Alyar should be singular. Of one mind. There should not be the idea that there are beryl ones or verdant ones nor brilliant. Only Alyar. And this rift. That we are even receiving news of it. I cannot bring myself to believe it is magnified by distance or the extraordinary events. It is a small wonder that the other races are not paying more attention to it. We have never known war, never discord." Something flickered in those deep green eyes. The embassy head had a mocking grin on his face.