Centuries before Silterra existed, Karthians and Ingstadians fled their lands and entered an underground tunnel. They traveled underneath for years before finding themselves in modern day Silterra. They settled here and fended off monster nests. Eventually they became the nation Silterra after their goddess of magic. They specialized in magic as they needed it for the monstrous hordes. Once they settled, they barred off the tunnels and established a corps of Mage Blades to delve down there and eradicate pesky nests.

  The tradition died off in the last hundred years. No more need of it as the nobles decided to permanently seal the caverns so they wouldn’t have to deal with it. The start of the loss of quality mages. With no proper way to train and vet combat mages, Silterra ran off of the fumes of its previous glories. The fewer quality mages along with the Triscourge set Silterran mages back compared to the world.

  These are the tunnels you traverse. The ones that will lead down a safer path to the surface.

  Ayden grunted in response as he carried an unconscious Cara. “Will it be fast enough for her?” asked Ayden.

  It’s the fastest. I can’t heal for you.

  “Okay,” said Ayden through gritting teeth,.”

  You’ll find it easier if you carry her over your shoulders instead.

  Ayden obliged and the transition was difficult but it was easier. It displaced the weight better. He pushed onward.

  “What was Xavos doing?” asked Ayden.

  Using me to further his goals. They were not to side with Dire, but to pretend, and use them.

  “What was his goal?”

  Find an ancient artifact.

  “And the Dires wanted it too?”

  Yes.

  “Why did he need you?” asked Ayden.

  I hold the histories of almost every major written event from the forging of he Line of Maristor to about a hundred years ago.

  Ayden ran the numbers in his head. “That’s almost-”

  Over six hundred years of history… All factual. All validated by celestial beings.

  “Fates… Fates! That’s why she wanted me to have you. You are a treasure trove,” Ayden almost laughed, but wanted to save his breath. He started to feel fatigue catch up and he had no more Green left to enhance himself.

  Who? Describe her to me.

  “A flute player. Sounds northern like you. Red hair, green eyes, and blue traveling robes.”

  Silk groaned. You met Dana.

  “You know her?”

  She is a Fate, said Silk.

  Ayden stopped in his tracks. “What?”

  Keep moving, Ayden.

  Ayden obeyed. “How? What?”

  Keep up, Ayden. She is a Fate and she was manipulating you to set things in motion.

  “What things are in motion?”

  I doubt even she knows. Silk sighed. I’ll keep it simple. Fates are like children playing with toys. We are those toys. Only we make choices. It makes things interesting for them. There used to be a time where they could weave our lives, but they have given that power up to watch our chaos unfold.

  “So she doesn’t just control me, right?”

  No, that would take the fun out of it for them. If they know how the story ends… what’s the point? Instead, they all nudge it in a way to push the events and watch it unfold. She told you about me because she wanted you to get involved. She knew if the cult leader’s student he raised to be a pawn in his schemes came knocking, it would CHANGE things.

  “So in a way…”

  You are who you are, Ayden.

  That was what Dana had written to him. Had she known? Was this a game? Was Silk in on it?

  Ayden, just know, this is what they do. There have been wars started because she let slip information that should have stayed hidden. There have been families split for whispers in the wind. It’s not magic. It never has been. It’s always been words.

  “She knew what I would do. She read me like a book. If she knows me that well then I might as well be controlled.”

  She knows nothing, Silk said. But too much at the same time. It doesn’t take away your agency. You are who you are goes both ways. Not just that you’re predictable, but that you’re unique.

  “But I didn’t work for that information. She told me about it!” cried Ayden.

  You never chose anything. You simply played the cards life dealt you.

  Ayden sighed and wanted to sink to the floor and sleep. Cara was dying and he could stop it. If he pushed a little more. Struggled harder… He continued in silence. Xavos was a Dire Mage. Dana was a Fate. He was played.

  Ayden had Silk, however. That changed things. If he could make it out of here alive with Cara, his life WOULD change.

  ****

  He saw the rising sun through a slit in the ceiling. They reached a manhole! He’d detached from reality and had found himself lost in the last hour of agonizing step after step. Finally, a reprieve. He yelled through the manhole for someone to hear. Nobody.

  “This is not how I die,” cried Ayden. “Just because I can’t climb through some stupid hole.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Do you have any magic left?

  “Barely a sliver. I haven’t had any rest.”

  “Neither have I,” said Xavos’s voice from behind him.

  Ayden set Cara down, and winced as her head clipped the side of the tunnel wall. Ayden held his fists up, and put on his most determined mask. In reality, a part of him had given up now that his mentor was here.

  Xavos’s gaze landed on Cara’s body. “So that’s why I caught up to you,” he chuckled. “Silverstone. A name that meant something in the glory days. I suppose she has potential. If not for her upbringing, she may have been a worthy student.”

  “Upbringing?” asked Ayden. “You didn’t choose her because she hates Dire? Everyone hates Dire.”

  “Everyone says they hate Dire so that way people like her don’t come knocking on their door like the White Jewel Inquisition.” He scoffed. “People are stupid, but I expected better of you.”

  “You’ve told me nothing,” shouted Ayden. “You trained me, cared for me, healed me, and now you get angry when I’ve formed my own thoughts?”

  “You’re upset,” said Xavos. He looked haggard from the fight with Carnin. Perhaps he too was depleted of magic. It was Ayden’s only hope.

  “Of course, I’m upset, you old bastard! Everything I was proud of was a lie!”

  “Your skills? Your power? A lie? Really, Ayden, you think you haven’t accomplished anything?”

  Ayden felt a lump in his throat. He wanted to cry as those words were what he wanted to hear from Xavos after all this time. Why did it have to be like this?

  “Just give me the book and we can fix this,” said Xavos.

  Ayden shook his head. “I’m not backing down.”

  Xavos clicked his tongue. “People end up ruining everything.”

  “You’re a people too, idiot,” snapped Ayden.

  Xavos charged him and Ayden knew his mentor had no magic left. It turned into a brawl. Only, Xavos still served as a soldier all those decades ago.

  He first fist clocked Ayden across he jaw. The second clipped him the other way. He almost passed out there. He used the wall to keep himself standing. Another punch knocked the wind out of his lungs and broke a rib. He doubled over, clawing at his mentor’s clothes to stop himself from falling over. Xavos drove a knee into Ayden’s nose. Then his chest. Then again in his stomach.

  Ayden collapsed and spat blood. He saw a tooth clatter out and rivulates of crimson poured out of his face.

  Silk was yelling something in his head, but he couldn’t focus on it. Xavos grabbed Ayden by the scruff of his neck and slammed him against a wall. He started frisking him for the book. When he found it he screamed and pounded Ayden’s face with his other hand.

  Ayden started to lose his vision. He realized it was from the blood that pour into it. When he rubbed it away, he realized Xavos dragged him by the ankle. Ayden let a cough out and his ears popped and he could hear again.

  “It’s over. All I worked for. And now you’ve bonded with the book and she’s probably told you everything.”

  I haven’t. Silk’s voice sounded in his head. You have attuned with me, Ayden. But I haven’t given you the name of what he searches for. She paused. The Holler of Souls. He can’t get his hands on it, Ayden. I’ve delayed it as long as I could, but he has ways of prying information. You have to do something. You have to fight back.

  How could he?

  He’s taking you down again. Cara’s going to die here alone. He’ll reattune with me and kill you. Please, Ayden.

  Ayden decided to channel. He let out a stream of fire and felt his arm snap. Xavos lurched forward, his back charred and smoking, a scream ripping free from his throat. He let Ayden go. Ayden channeled again at Xavos’s ankles. Another rib snapped and he felt something wet inside of him. Internal bleeding. Immense pain doubled him over and he realized he was dying. As Xavos recovered from his burns, Ayden tackled him and snatched the book from his sleeve.

  For good measure, Ayden grabbed his mentor’s hair and slammed his head into the floor several times. Ayden started to crawl toward Cara and the manhole.

  Ayden, you’re dying.

  Ayden wanted to say he knew, but couldn’t get the words out. What now? He had Silk, but no way to get out of here.

  Suddenly the manhole snapped open and a rope fell down.

  A woman rappled down it and gasped when she saw Cara. She looked familiar. When she turned to see Ayden, he knew why. Lady Galeria. Vellis’s mother.

  Vellis slid down next and judging by the mother and daughter’s night attire, they’d just awoken. They were under Lady Galeria’s estate! When Vellis saw him and Cara, her jaw dropped. She ran over to him and helped Ayden to his feet.

  Ayden felt Green Magic coursing through him and the pain made him wish he was dead.

  Tears streamed down Vellis’s face as she held Ayden down, and kept his head from thrashing into the cavern floor. Galeria healed Cara, so Ayden had the weight lift off his shoulders. Political rival or not, she wouldn’t let a good Silterran mage die like this. If anything, it’d boost her image.

  “What are you doing here?” Vellis said, holding Ayden’s head in her lap.

  “Dire Mages,” rasped Ayden. “Under the city. Large cavernous systems. Old traveling tunnels of the first Silterrans.”

  Vellis looked around and stared in disbelief. “This is under our home. How did we not know?”

  “Enchanted stone,” said Ayden. “Sealed off and resealed by the Dires to remain hidden.”

  “How did you end up here?” asked Vellis.

  Ayden didn’t answer, and she took it as a sign that Ayden needed legitimate rest instead of anything Green could provide. Sometimes sleep was all the body needed. However, Ayden didn’t want to tell the Silterrans all of the details. So many things could incriminate him.

  His mentor was a Dire Mage… A Fate had recruited him to find a powerful relic they would just take away. So he let himself rest in her arms.

  She kissed him and pushed his blood matted hair out of his face. “This is some impression you’ve given my mother,” she said, glancing over at Lady Galeria who watched with judging eyes. Cara sat up and looked around, gathering her surroundings.

  “Lady Cara,” said Galeria. “Interesting to see you dressed like this, poisoned like this, in a sewer of all places.”

  “It’s mage business,” said Cara. “If you’d partake in the city’s real problems, perhaps you’d bear more marks of war.” She stood and smoothed her clothes. “But thank you for saving my life.”

  “If not for all the shouting and screaming at the break of dawn…” Galeria scoffed and looked around. “To think I knew the layout of my own home. Vellis, you wanted a basement, did you not?” She chuckled. “Your brothers and sisters are sure to be excited. Room for everyone!”

  “There’s Dires down here,” said Cara. “Have been for some time now.”

  “And how is it you are here?” asked Galeria.

  “I’ve been busy.”

  “So it seems,” said Galeria. “Guards! We’re coming up!”

  One by one, they helped the four of them back up. Ayden looked over to see if Xavos was there. The man was gone and understandably so. He was out there, alive and angry. Ayden knew his life was sure to change in more ways than he realized.

  When they were back up in the large gardens of Galeria’s estates, the noblewoman gave Ayden an appraising look. She reminded Ayden of a hawk. Ayden tried to stand straight, but the pain all over his body from the remaining effects of healing still wore him down. Vellis was a competent healer, but she missed a few spots. There were just too many wounds.

  “You’re courting my daughter,” said Galeria.

  Cara didn’t react. It was as if she already knew.

  Vellis blushed and looked away. “We were going to have dinner, mother,” said Vellis. “Remember?”

  “Yes,” she said. “How long has it been happening?”

  “Three months,” Vellis said at the same time as Ayden blurted “one year.”

  “Ah,” said Galeria, amused. “Quite an impression, young man.”

  Ayden averted his eyes.

  Cara started to leave, but Galeria called after her. “Lady Cara, if you please, would you have morning tea with us?’

  Cara’s shoulders slumped. “Fine…”

  “How wonderful!” piped the noblewoman. “And Ayden, I would LOVE to know more about you. We only met during the trials a year ago.”

  Vellis looked like the embarrassment of the whole ordeal was killing her. “Mother, we have dinner plans with you, remember?”

  “So add breakfast and lunch to the itinerary. I did save everyone’s life.” She marched away, expecting them to follow.