A Prophecy of Tainted Silver Ch. 04

After several minutes of travel by foot, she reached her destination, a small, single story tavern, lively with music. She entered and was immediately hit with the smell of smoke. The wide room was filled with the haze of pipe smoke as a full house watched a woman in fancy dress robes play an elaborate stringed instrument. She finished the movement, and the room filled with polite applause, with Aylala joining in, as she moved on to the next. Even in the dimly lit room, she quickly found who she was seeking. She walked over to a lone man sitting at a table. A few inches shorter than her, yet still long and skinny, his black and white fur and feathers illuminated by candle light. He was one of the many smoking from a pipe, and he wore a happy, lazy expression.

Exactly how I remember him Aylala thought.

She removed her hood as she sat down next to him, though he continued to watch the performer. Even still, he handed her his pipe to smoke from.

"You arrived sooner than I thought," he said in a deceptively deep voice, "The port was no trouble I presume?"

Aylala exhaled smoke through her nostrils. "If I were a superstitious woman, I'd say it was too easy to enter the city. And in any case, Uzuzan, I'm afraid I must be petty."

"Hm?"

"I haven't seen you in over a decade, and you couldn't even look at me when I sat down?"

Uzuzan turned and chuckled, looking at her with faded, red eyes. "I shared my pipe with you, didn't I?" he said smoothly, before holding out his hand. "Speaking of which..."

Aylala smiled as she handed it back. "Is everything ready for tonight?"

Uzuzan turned back to the stage as he continued to smoke. "Yes," he answered, "Though I must admit, your instructions seemed sparse. You'll need to be careful if we're relying on your magic. The Labyrinth will be sensitive to it."

"Don't worry," Aylala said as she watched the performer, "I'm counting on it."

He looked at her again, yet his expression fell. "If you plan on putting us in unnecessary danger-"

"Uzuzan, there's no need to worry. I know the risk you're taking by helping me."

That gave Uzuzan pause. "Forgive me for my outburst, I didn't mean to accuse."

Aylala chuckled. "I appreciate your 'outbursts.' They're smooth and subtle, like roasted honey."

He laughed and coughed as he turned back to the stage. He handed his pipe back to Aylala as they remained silent for the rest of the performance. The soft, dulcet tones of the strings filled her mind as she and Uzuzan traveled along the rapidly emptying streets. Above them, the golden rays transformed into a cool blue, imitating the night sky for the underground city. As they crossed the city, Aylala used the magic of her cloak for both herself and Uzuzan, avoiding guards and other prying eyes.

Soon they made it to port on the opposite side of the city, where Uzuzan's own skiff had been docked. With simple illusionary magic they were off down the river, going further underground. Aylala took the momentary respite to relax her mind, staring up at the dark, rocky ceiling littered with glowing sprites of dust. Uzuzan admired her from the wheel, and smiled.

"You know, there was another performance later in the night," he explained, "We could have stayed, had a lovely night-"

"Ending with me in your bed?" she finished, smirking back. "When I found you in that tavern enjoying that performance, I had assumed you matured, Uzuzan."

He walked away from the wheel after he steadied the skiff. "A temporary distraction. Even when I traveled the Grey Labyrinth, you were one of my friends." He came in close enough to kiss. "And one of the few I've known very intimately."

Aylala stepped back, placing a hand on his chest. "I'll admit, it was nice, but it was so long ago. I... the world has changed. More than you know."

She turned to look back into the nightly water, allowing Uzuzan to respond. "Perhaps. And I know you only came here to visit the Labyrinth with my help. I won't hold that against you." He joined her in looking over the side of the skiff. "But I won't apologize for being nostalgic of our time together. After all, it was a long time for me too."

Aylala turned back to her old friend as sincerity dripped from his voice. There were few things she regretted leaving when she crossed Phyylis' borders, and he was one of them. She went in for a hug as the well of Holy magic ignited within her. It warmed them both, a manifestation of the memory of their love.

Uzuzan leaned into the hug. "I may be ignorant of much outside Phyylis," he said, "But your capacity for this... magic, it's amazing."

Aylala released him, newly empowered. "Hopefully, it'll be enough."

"Don't worry. You are."

Uzuzan returned to the wheel and directed the skiff through the winding, underground river, carefully choosing as it forked at several points. As they traveled deeper and deeper, Aylala entered a meditative state, closing her eyes and standing stiff and straight as she channeled magic through her body. In doing so, she felt a growing, oppressive weight on her shoulders. Not Corruption, but something even more ancient and powerful. In her mind's eye, she saw a massive creature of black smoke rise up in front of her, taking the vague form of a crawling human. She, however, would not flinch, even as the echoing voices in her ears grew louder and louder.

You will not silence me, Aylala thought, speaking directly to the ancient creature, who continued to watch her for several seconds. Eventually, it crawled forward, towering above Aylala, putting a mangled claw up to her chest, and shoving it into her chest.

Her eyes snapped open and she clutched at her chest, gasping for breath. Uzuzan was about to step away from the wheel to help her, but she turned and shook her head.

"No," she wheezed, "I'm fine. We're almost there anyway." After a moment of hesitation, he nodded and continued to steer the ship for several more minutes until slowing down near the wall of the underground river. They anchored on a small, rocky shore, allowing Uzuzan to walk away from the wheel and support Aylala as she stepped off the ship.

"Be warned," Uzuzan said, "The walk from here won't be an easy one." 

"It won't be a bother, dear friend," she responded with a smile before using a simple spell to create a ball of light. They began to walk into a crack in the rocky wall, which was just big enough for them to walk through one at a time. After squeezing through the rock for a few minutes they exited into a larger walkway, consisting of a narrow path over a drop. They made their way along the path, slowly and carefully, extending a short walk into a grueling hike. Aylala had summoned her staff in her hand, allowing her to use it as walking support as the oppressive magic tightened its grip on Aylala.

Even still, they soldiered on, and, after squeezing through another tight tunnel, they pushed through to end at a rocky cliff. Before them was the great Grey Labyrinth, an immense, expansive maze that stretched past the horizon. Like the port town, it was beneath a dizzyingly high cave ceiling which formed an artificial sky, though the light of this sky was provided by a distant, writhing ball of magical energy, a sun that pulsated like a beating heart. Without even entering the labyrinth, Aylala already began to feel faint and dizzy, causing the image of the labyrinth to waver like an mirage, and the whispers in her mind grew more numerous. 

Uzuzan looked over to Aylala as she struggled to stay on her feet, and went to support her, but for a second time she stopped him. She began to walk down the deep slope towards the labyrinth.

"Aylala!" he said as he followed. "Please, heed my advice when I say that you must be quick."

"The Labyrinth will not silence me," she said as she began to lose her voice. "The fate of the world rests on it."

"It's not just the Labyrinth. The Scholars will know an outsider has entered the Labyrinth and find us. Whatever you are trying to do, you won't have much time to do it. Please, Aylala." To convince her, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. That only caused her to stop and look at him for a fleeting moment before continuing down the slope. 

Reaching the bottom of the slope, they stood before one of the massive stone walls of the labyrinth, inscribed with ancient scripts of long forgotten languages. Aylala stopped to look up at it, and she chuckled as she realized she felt a small pang of nostalgia, though it quickly faded behind the growing volume of voices.  

She stopped inches before the wall, which, oddly, radiated warmth.  Behind her, Uzuzan gripped at his robes in anticipation. Steel-willed, she stood up straight, propping herself on her staff, and reached out to touch the wall.

In an instant, the voices in her head disappeared.

From her hand, waves formed in the stone as if she had thrown a pebble into a still pond. Aylala smiled knowingly as she watched the walls sink into themselves. Like a whirlpool, the hole in the wall grew and grew, until the other side was revealed. Eventually, the hole grew wide enough that the Aylala could walk through, at which point it stopped, though waves still rippled through the stone.

Uzuzan breathed again. "For a moment, I didn't think it would recognize you."

Aylala turned to face her old friend. "No owlith ever really leaves Phyylis. Especially a Scholar."

With a deep breath she walked through the circular doorway into the Labyrinth. When she entered, she looked back to see Uzuzan staying behind, smiled, and waved. She saw a glimpse of him waving back as the wall reformed itself. 

Now in the labyrinth, she looked high above her at the towering stone walls.  Like on the outside, ancient scripts were etched into the stone. Walking across to the opposite wall, she placed her hand over one line and watched as the lettering shifted, reacting to her touch. She closed her eyes, and, in her mind, once again saw the shadowy creature before her. In reality, she spoke the language of the script, but in her mind, she asked it a simple question:

"I seek your truth."

A deep rumble in the stone walls shook her as if a shockwave had passed through the whole Labyrinth. When she opened her eyes again, she no longer stood in front of a wall, but instead stood at an intersection. She took a deep breath in an attempt to steady her heartbeat. The ever-shifting nature of this place sent a sensation through her that she had not felt in a long time. Very few have successfully become a Scholar of the Labyrinth, making her invaluable to the House of Sorisancta, while also amplifying the betrayal of her leaving.

But now was not the time to reminisce, as Aylala began to walk forward, even deeper into the labyrinth. She took several turns and ignored several others, knowing exactly where to go. It seemed as though the Labyrinth answered her request, as it even directed her away from the few Scholars that also walked the stony halls. It gave her relief, but she knew that a response like this from the Labyrinth was foreboding in the very least.

Eventually, she reached a dead end, but as she walked up to it and read some of the script, she knew she had arrived at her destination. She waved her staff out of her hand and placed both of them onto the wall. Using the tips of her talons, she drew a sigil into the wall, appearing as the Eye of Oblivion. When it finished, the etching faded from the wall, which began to ripple like earlier. She stood back as this time, the wall deformed, as if a hand pinched it and pulled outward. The outstretched wall formed a spindly arm and hand. 

More of the wall would deform as the shadowy creature from her mind would take shape in the stone. In this form it would look a little more human, even as it stood dozens feet above her. She looked up to the creature's approximation of head, without a mouth or eyes, but with pointed ears like a nymphling.  

It would hear her she knew.

"Shadow of the Labyrinth," she recited out loud, "I know not your name, nor your face, but I stand before you, humble and meek, and ask that you would be merciful and share your wisdom."

The creature didn't react for several moments, but she never doubted its power. In its presence she felt as though she was only a few pounds heavy, and fought off a disturbingly comforting wave of fatigue. She could fight off the need to lay down and sleep due to her experience, but for anyone else, they would succumb to their weariness, which would be a fatal mistake in the Labyrinth.

Finally, the creature's head turned downward to face her, and she heard its voice in her head.

You belong, not in this place, daughter of Rothdd. 

Its voice constantly changed in pitch, switching from that of a child, to an elder, to a youth, and back to a child again. This was a creature beyond time.

You flee from truth. You flee from obligation.

Aylala dared to speak back. "Shadow of the Labyrinth, it matters not the meager laws of a kingdom I no longer serve. I'm here for something bigger than that. The fate of this world is uncertain, and I desire to make it clear once more."

You speak of Fate, a wicked web that ensnares all. You dabble in power beyond renown, beyond worlds and kingdoms.

"It doesn't matter!" she said, surprising herself with her own anger. "I must know about the Eye of Oblivion!"

Again a pause. She took this chance to calm herself, and reminded herself that this was always a gamble. Such a creature had no reason to help her, even as a former Scholar, but she would not fail the House. Minutes later, instead of speaking, it raised one of its large, stony hands above her, poised to crush her head, but it instead remained still as it spoke again.

You have seen it, the child of fate. 

"Yes," she responded, "I've seen the prophecy."

No. You know of a child, crowned by fire. You know of a child, anointed in blood.

Aylala watched the creature carefully. "I already know them?" she asked.  

The mind of a child of fate shatters at the feet of the Asii and Sai. The mind of a child which knows not the destruction it shall wrought. 

Aylala was scanning her mind for someone, something by that description, but it was too vague. As she thought, she felt as the voices from before began to return. 

Her eyes widened in shock, as she knew that the other Scholars had found her. They were evoking the Labyrinth's defense mechanism. She knew she only had time for one more question.

"How do I stop them from destroying everything?" she asked, desperate. The voices grew louder, and she suddenly felt sapped of energy, and fell to her knees. She struggled to even keep her eyes open, but she listened as the creature spoke into her mind for a final time.

A balance so delicate as to be tipped by a child. A balance so delicate that all but the child may see it. Trust in the mind of a child. Trust in the mind of which knows not its own destruction.

With the last of her energy she looked up, and saw as the creature's hand fell, enveloping her form.

She felt as though months passed as she's surrounded by darkness, but somewhere, in the distance, she heard an echoing voice, and she knew she was alive. 

She pried her eyes open, and saw that she was looking up to see Uzuzan's faded red eyes.

"Aylala!" he cried, his voice slowly coming into focus. "Aylala, please, wake up!"

With her eyes now opened, she turned to see the wall that she entered the Labyrinth from through blurry eyes. Slowly turning back, she brought her hand to Uzuzan's, which was placed on her chest, and clutched it for dear life.

"Aylala?!" 

"We need to leave," she said with a tiny voice. "They know we're here."