Chapter 14: The Fuse and the Eye

Leshac taking care to not directly touch it took up the eye out of the helmet. Then, it was a simple matter of leaving what was once Shiverclaw and was once Crimsoneye Lodge.

The minotaur hunter, Yale As’Berrolg still fought valiantly against the hunters of the crimson eye, and as he had taken them by surprise, their defeat was a matter of time, doubly so since Leshac was taking the eye away.

Leshac did not even pause to watch the battle, but, unnoticed, left them all behind.

He had his doubts about handing the eye over to Liohk Balreah, but they were not strong enough to stop him from doing so. That, and Leshac knew of no way of disposing of the eye, and didn’t at all want to be exposed to it for any great length of time. It was after all exactly the kind of thing that would corrupt with its mere presence.

Relief and fear in is heart, Leshac passed like a ghost through the Lathinles – Dramay Wilds, leaving Sool Valley far behind.

* * * * *

Liohk Balreah was up to his waist in a fathomless and oppressively serene onyx pool. Around that pool was a ring of cobalt liquid that raged and foamed, twisting with many chaotic currents. There was yet another ring around this ring, this was a ring of some gently rippling milky substance, it was actually hard to tell if it was liquid or just a solid that was unnervingly rippling.

Framing all this was a mess of intersecting bronze-like barriers, like the petals of roses.

If roses were made from metal and had closed eyes on the inside of the petals.

Within both of the rings were a number of crystal pillars, each of varying heights, though all of the same width. These pillars were composed of sharp angles and four sides, though the top of the pillars were bowls. All of the pillars were blue, apart from those in the cobalt ring, those ones were red, and shuddered slightly as if some great force was bearing down and around them.

Turquoise mist roiled about in these bowls, bathing ethereal white eyes that floated in the mist.

The pillars sailed about the pool and its rings, never leaving a ring they belonged in or crashing into each other, though at times it seemed the pillars would dearly love to do so, especially the red ones, they moved with a manic vigour.

Above this was a cloud of lightning, silent and unmoving. There was no sign of the forces that kept the mass of power in place.

Unmistakably this was a ritual, and one for a very powerful spell. A ritual, or as the knowledgeable knew, a sham of a show to create resonance in the flows of magic to produce patterns. A ritual of itself has no power, though many can be made from a collection of spells.

Most commonly the ritual agitates the flows into recalling past events (thus their patterns) or into connections. For example, to cast a spell to turn a city into a sea of flames, one might make sculptures with furnaces in them and place them around the outskirts of the city, and might deceive the inhabitants into holding festivals of flame when the suns Ollan and Vlahros are at their height, then during a day of sweltering heat one might send golems of straw set on fire to run through the streets. Really that would be fairly villainous though.

It is always easier to do what has been done before, this is a rule that is usually true when it comes to magic in Kigan.

A ritual can be considered a fuse and the flow of magic the explosives. Naturally it isn’t something that is fully understood, and many mages devote themselves exclusively to the study of rituals, to see what does affect the flows and what doesn’t.

Some of course just come the conclusion that the flow of magic has a will of its own, some even worship the flow.

The Aryaith of Truth is dead, who can know what is true?

Whatever the case, if a powerful mage uses a ritual, the results will be far more dramatic then anything they could do with just their own power.

Liohk Balreah was the Magus of Eyes, an exemplar of magic connected to the concept and reality of eyes.

Born without eyes, yet so few are those that can escape his gaze in Kigan.

He knew Leshac succeeded. He had been watching after all. Thus, he had been able to set up the ritual in advance.

He floated up out of the onyx pool, not leaving a ripple and a robe wove itself around him as he arose, a robe of silk from another dimension. It was not a powerful artefact, but it was by far one of the rarest things he had. A robe of visions spun from an eye.

That was how it had been described to Liohk, when an old… friend had given it to him.

Everything was in place, Liohk just had to light the fuse.

For that… he needed the eye.

“You know, this all seems a bit elaborate for what I want” A woman’s voice pierced the air.

In the darkness around the ritual, there was an indistinct shape sitting on something or another, most likely something valuable that Liohk didn’t want sat on. This shape was quite small, and looked remarkably like a cat in a dress wearing a floppy brimmed pointy hat that flickered.

A weak smile passed over Liohk’s face.

“There is a rather dangerous existence in there, Wod I’d rather not tangle with such a foul being that nobody can remember the existence of.” he replied.

“You know better than to call me that” Wod said flatly.

“Sorry Ira, but I felt I had to do it at least once, since this is such a troublesome request” Liohk explained untruthfully, looking utterly unrepentant.

Ira snuffed.

“Yes, so troublesome” she said, unconvinced.

There was a whisper of Radiance.

“Ah, so good of you to come Leshac, oh and Quil too, it is a pleasure to see you again!” Liohk said.

“Is there ever a point that you don’t see us?” Quil questioned.

“Probably not” Liohk Balreah shrugged.

Leshac looked over the ritual, wariness growing and he made his choice.

“Balreah, I’m not handing this over until you tell me what you are going to do with this”

Balreah, in turn turned his eyeless face to regard Leshac’s obscured face.

The Magus of Eyes smiled.