Mythic: [Everlight Part 5]

A final question remains

The gravity of her own revelation was not lost on Zura.

Her muscles froze her in place as Dagran and Avanessa continued to marvel at the sight before them.

Avanessa was breathless, shaking her head with a grin that could rival the width of the Ashborne Mountains themselves. “I… I always wondered what the story would be like — who the adventurers that found the forges would be, how their legend would go… I always hoped I’d live to tell it, but I never imagined…” She looked around. “I mean — we’re… we’re not adventurers.”

Dagran laughed. “Aren’t we? We left home on a quest to save your people, fought a nightbeast, hiked to a holy site and then the top of the mountain—”

“—Flew down to escape danger, navigated the Night without torches, walked on top of the Black River, found the stone monument, delved into this cave—”

“—found the forge. Found Everlight.” Dagran nodded to himself. “If not adventurers, I don’t know what that would make us.”

Avanessa reached out her hand, carefully touching the Everlight. She laughed incredulously, bringing her other hand to cup it in her grasp, though it didn’t move at her touch. “It doesn’t burn. Just like the stories always said…” Her hands retracted, looking around. “I never expected to find… I mean — if anyone found the forge, I expected it would be a ruin! Archeologically and culturally significant without a doubt, but not… this.”

As Avanessa’s eyes soared over every aspect of the forge, they finally landed on Zura. The smile faded. “Zura? …is everything alright? You look a little…”

“No one can know.”

Her words sucked all the stagnant air out of the room, Dagran turning to look at her too.

“…What?”

“No one,” she repeated slowly, firmly. “Can know.”

Avanessa blinked at her for a solid few seconds, squinting like she was trying to tell if Zura was joking. “W—Why? This is the most important discovery since fire! Everlight—”

“Exactly,” Zura said, gesturing all around them. “Everlight. But look where it is.” She pointed towards the mote of Sunlight, then back to the raised circle in the center of the room. “This isn’t the forge. That is.”

Dagran frowned. “I don’t see where you’re going with this, Zura.”

Avanessa stepped back, looking between the two locations before taking in the entirety of the structure. “…I do. It’s… dragon bones. That’s the only reason this place is still standing.”

“Think about it — these bones, the skeletons we saw earlier. The dragonforged items.” Zura was no storyteller, but the facts of the matter were clear to her. She stood tall, presenting her case. “The Myth of Everlight is wrong. Or… it wasn’t the whole truth. The mortal races came with dragonforged weapons and armor and they took this forge by force. Or… they tried to.”

She glanced back at the many skeletons littering the ground.

“I can’t say how it happened, not exactly. But what I see here tells me people came with violent intent, and met a violent end in turn. They managed to fell one of the dragons, but many mortals were killed in the process. Whether any survived to report to the outside world… who knows. But the dragons saw that we knew we could kill them, and they panicked. They destroyed the forges, destroyed the Known World as our ancestors knew it. Carved canyons out of mountains to try to rid the evidence of what had happened. Cursed Everlight.”

Dagran frowned, but seemed to be on the same page with putting all these pieces together. “Then how is this mote still here? Wouldn’t it have been cursed along with the rest of the Everlight? Turned to fire?”

Zura pointed out the physiology of the creature they were standing within, drawing her gaze across the ribs in the walls and ceiling. “Look where it’s placed in the skeleton.” She tapped her sternum. “Central. The dragons must have cursed all the Everlight except their own aspect of creation. The Everlight within them. THAT is why they were so stingy with these items. Dragonforged items are infused with Everlight. They were terrified that if they gave too much of it to the mortals, they wouldn’t be able to protect themselves.”

“…And they were right, to some extent,” Avanessa murmured. “To a creature so long lived, mortality must be a terrifying thought.”

Dagran’s features had grown dark. “And they knew that if we found out killing a dragon yielded Everlight, we wouldn’t stop until there were no dragons left.”

A long silence followed, the sinking realization settling into their bones the way it had with Zura before.

“No one can know,” she repeated softly. “If this gets out…”

She let her voice trail, but Avanessa’s lips pursed into a tight frown, shaking her head. “I — This isn’t right. How long has this been buried? How many things had to fall into place at the exact right time for us to find it?”

“Fortune and coincidence aren’t excuses for putting people at risk,” Zura growled.

Avanessa was quick on the retort. “And neither is fear an excuse to hide the truth. People deserve to know, Zura.”

“Think about where we are right now.” She gestured widely with her free hand, the other still holding her flaming sword. The purple light it cast was beginning to become abrasive in comparison to the gentle, impartial glow of Everlight beside them. “We are on the border of So’litore and Duurmanshor, and right next to an ancestral Bandalari holy site. What happens if all three nations try to claim the rights to it?”

“The Godborn would throw in with the Solitoreans, no doubt.” Dagran mused. “I imagine there is little they wouldn’t do for Everlight, being a gift from their goddess. Especially to keep it out of the Bandalari’s hands.”

Zura took it one step further. “There isn’t a nation in the Known World that wouldn’t go to war over Everlight.”

This corner of the world had known tenuous, fragile peace for several decades now. There was no doubt in Zura’s mind that knowledge like this getting out would upset that delicate balance.

Avanessa frowned deeper, curling her fingers. “Well — look at us! Two Bandalari and a human. We get along pretty well, I think. We’re proof that people can work together, and maybe as the ones who found it, people will listen when we ask them to work together. Make this neutral territory in the Known World. It’s— I mean, it’s Everlight. It shouldn’t belong to any one nation!”

“I agree with you. But I don’t know if everyone will see it that way. Plus — you’re wanderfolk, not Godborn. You can’t speak for all humans any more than we can speak for all Bandalari.”

“We can…” Avanessa began to pace, thinking. “—We can make a council or something! A big group of people from all over to make sure everyone is represented fairly.”

Zura pondered this for a few seconds, letting it sink in. It wasn’t the worst plan, but… “And what if we can only get Bandoska and So’litore to support us? What if Duurmanshor decides they want it for themselves?”

“They won’t.” Dagran stepped in. “If we can convince Bandoska and the Godborn, we’ll set a precedent for peace.”

“That’s a big if.”

“Maybe. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a try.” Avanessa gestured to Zura. “You said your people — the Solitorean Bandalari — believed in balance, right? The Godborn are closely tied to their Lady of the Light. You said a lot more Bandalari are partial to the Divine Beast of the Night. Wouldn’t working together help fulfill that balance?”

It wouldn’t be that easy. Generations of tension between their nations wouldn’t be solved with a wave of their fingers. Still, Zura paced back and forth, mulling this over. Finally she threw a hand to the side, pressing on to a larger point in the argument. “Alright. Fine. Say we’re somehow able to establish this council and things don’t come to the point of war. What then?”

“With the guidance of a council, we could usher in a new age of dragonforged items. Weapons to kill nightbeasts — armor to protect us. Compasses that can always find home — ships that can fly! Well. I suppose they wouldn’t be ‘dragon’forged, but—”

“That’s not what I meant, Avanessa.” Zura clarified. “What happens when the dragons find out we have this? It might take a while for the news to reach the edges of the Known World, but not forever. What happens when they find out we have Everlight — and not only that, we’re both aware of the fact that it can kill dragons to get Everlight, AND are making our own items with it?”

Avanessa fell silent at this, pursing her lips. “Well—”

“We’ve seen the aftermath of what happened last time they knew we had the power to kill them. Do you think they wouldn’t do it again?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Would you see the world torn asunder for the truth? When the Sun Goddess gave them Everlight, she imparted the ability of creation and destruction on a scale we will never possess. And those monsters—”

“That’s just it, Zura!” Avanessa snapped. “Okay, maybe the dragons’ fear wasn’t misplaced in the past — we did kill one of them, but they were still more powerful than we could ever be even with the dragonforged weapons! We killed one of them, they slaughtered who knows how many people — Their paranoia drove them outside the Known World.”

“And how is that better?!”

“Zura.” Dagran chided her sharply. “It’s worth hearing her out.”

Mazzurak grit her teeth, looking between the two.

“The Myth of Everlight isn’t wrong.” Avanessa said, standing her ground. “It may not have been entirely accurate, or maybe the real story got lost somewhere along the way, but it isn’t wrong. It’s a cautionary tale against greed, and that fact stands no matter which way you know the story. Either way, mortals tried to steal Everlight for ourselves, and brought ruin to the world.”

Dagran stepped up. “What she’s saying, Zura, is that we can learn from our ancestors’ mistakes. We can convince everyone that Everlight isn’t something to war over.”

“So you’re on her side now?”

“I’m not on anyone’s side, Zura.”

“STOP saying my name like that!”

“It’s like the story said.” Avanessa continued, throwing her arms with vigor and impassioned emphasis. “Dragons weren’t always horrible beasts — they can be reasoned with. We can show them that we’ve learned, and that we can work together—”

“So now she intends to invite our demise!

“I think we can TALK to them that’s a—”

“NO.” The sharp cut of Zura’s response was enough to silence the entire room, her grip tightening on the hilt of her weapon.

It was a motion that was not lost on Dagran or even Avanessa, and the three of them shared a moment then, staring at each other and Zura’s sword.

Dagran was a proficient spellcaster and an excellent Bastion, but he lacked the knack for combat that had become second nature to Zura after so many years of study. Even if he hadn’t, he had exhausted much of his capabilities earlier, helping Avanessa’s people. The fact of the matter was that he was an old Bandalari, and he was slowing down.

Avanessa meanwhile had not a weapon to her name to defend herself if it came to such a thing.

Sword withstanding, the ankle-deep water all around them was more than enough for any wavebreaker worth their salt to use to devastating effectiveness.

This knowledge struck them all in the span of the same few seconds; Zura possessed the skill and means to exercise it, if she so chose. If she was willing to kill to protect her nation and world from the truth, there wasn’t much chance the other two stood to stop her.

Avanessa’s eyes widened, her breath visibly catching as her eyes flit between Zura and the flames weaving across the metal of her sword. Her whole body went rigid, locked into place to wait and see what would happen. The changes in Dagran were subtler, but belied the fact that his mind was in the same place as the human’s. Slight shifts, slow movements, readying himself to leap to Avanessa’s defense.

“Zura,” he said slowly, trying to catch her gaze, weighing the gravity of each syllable on his tongue.

If she was willing, she could ensure the safety of her nation and the Known World. It would not be an easy sacrifice, not by any stretch of the imagination, but there were few nobler causes to kill for.

It wasn’t off her mind that no matter what her own feelings were about telling the world the truth, so long as any of them knew the secret, it could be revealed.

Part of her wondered for the skeletons at what remained of the entrance. How many were old bones, killed in the fight that slew the dragon? Were any of them newer? Adventurers, seekers who had found this cavern and faced a similar dilemma?

Was she the first presented with the option to kill her friends to preserve the sanctity of this secret?

Would she take their lives to save perhaps hundreds of thousands? Could she bear the weight of that secret alone?

If she was willing, she had the option.

…but… she wasn’t.

Had the Zura that had woken up that morning been here, it might have been no question. To protect her people? She would do it.

But the version of her that stood there now had been to the peaks and depths of the world with these people. She had faced down a nightbeast — twice — and lived to tell the tale only thanks to their help. They had protected her. She had protected them.

Friends was the word. A pesky thing, but no less potent.

She could not raise her sword against Dagran or Avanessa. Not even for this. Mazzurak closed her eyes, pushing the tension out of her muscles and loosening her grip on her sword. She took a long, slow breath before looking between the two.

“…I’m… sorry. I just… I need everyone here to understand the gravity of this. I’m…” She hesitated, but finally admitted, “I’m scared. What we decide could change the course of history. For better or for worse. Even if there’s a chance it all goes well, how much greater is the chance that we doom the world? How much greater is the chance that I’ll watch my people burn?”

Neither Dagran nor Avanessa had an answer for her. Perhaps no one in the Known World could have answered that question.

There came a low, grinding rumble from deep within the earth as the rocks in the tunnel shifted once again — the effect slowly but surely rippling up the length of the collapsed passageway.

“…we should get back to the surface,” Dagran said finally. “Whatever our decision, it won’t matter if we get trapped down here.”

The others agreed.

They sloshed slowly back through the ankle-deep water, each taking a second to behold the Everlight once more before they entered into the long entrance tunnel. Once again, the light from Zura’s sword was all that kept them going.

White-gold dragonforged items glinted in the water around them, but they didn’t pick them up. As much as any of them considered it, the way back would not be easy, and trying to take anything more than what they already had would only make it more difficult.

Besides. This was, amongst so many other things, a grave. It didn’t feel right to move them from their resting place.

It was a quiet and tedious trek back up the tunnel. The rocks were slick, and the view climbing up was unfamiliar from these angles. They made do only with each other’s help, giving a leg up and a hand back down in turns to ensure that everyone made progress at roughly the same rate.

At the top, Zura cast her spell and they stepped out into open air once again, walking atop the Black River.

The stone monument stood just as it had at the river’s edge, overgrown but easy enough to pick out now that they knew it was there.

They all took a look behind them, into the darkness of the tunnels once more. Between the instability of the rocks in the tunnels, and the weight of the rock and earth above it, a simple spell could effectively seal this sacred place off from the world for another millennium at the very least. Whether by flood or collapse, it would not be difficult.

It was a thought that crossed all of their minds, though no one acted on it.

Instead, they followed the river. When the ravine widened out, Zura once again let the magic on her sword fade to lessen the risk of being spotted by nightbeasts. They navigated in darkness, staying the course of the river knowing that it would eventually find its way to the coast.

The stars seemed brighter than they had been earlier that Night, as though just the knowledge of Everlight’s existence had reinvigorated the skies.

Eventually, they rounded a bend and could see lights in the distance — the Southern Bridge to Bandoska, and the wanderfolk encampment. The familiar odor of pitchmud mixed with herbs drifted along the wind towards them, along with the sounds of music and laughter.

As civilization drew closer on the horizon, Zura couldn’t help but look at Avanessa. The human storyteller could not have disguised her troubled frown for all the coin in the Known World. It cut itself deeply upon her features as she mulled over the decision they all had before them.

Zura could only imagine that her own face bore similar weight. Dagran’s too. She caught his gaze briefly, but he only gave her shoulder a gentle pat before looking away again. She honestly couldn’t say what his final decision was or was going to be, only that he was glad they had all made it out of there alive.

So was she.

“…Avanessa,” Zura said slowly as the lights grew closer. “You said the Myth of Everlight was a cautionary tale, right?”

“A warning.” She nodded. “Whether accurate or not, that still stands for anyone who will heed it.”

Zura nodded in tandem, her brow furrowed. They finally were able to step back onto the road, beginning to cover the final stretch between them and the encampment.

“With everything we’ve seen… all the possibilities we’ve covered… if we told everyone… if we told them everything we’d found, showed them where it is, revealed the truth about Everlight to the world...”

The three of them exchanged glances, but no one’s answer was clear cut anymore. Still, after a day of discovery, there was only one final question left to answer, and an honor like that deserved to be spoken.

“…do you think they’d listen?”

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