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    TWENTY-SEVEN


    <h2 style="text-transform: uppercase">SARIEN</h2>


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    With his father’s assistance, Sarien opened a gateway to Nexus, back to the chamber where they were kept before. Nothing had stopped them from entering the world, and whatever blocked their powers last time wasn’t active now.


    “The library isn’t far from here,” Ein said.


    Kax opened the door and peeked out. “You don’t know where it is?”


    “Not much of a reader and never spent much time in Nexus.”


    Kax carefully closed the doors again as footsteps sounded in the corridor outside.


    “How are we supposed to find the library without being discovered? Or find whatever books we need?” Sarien asked. They were running out of time and he couldn’t waste any more reading through hundreds of books in search of a way to defeat Wyndemir. “I wish Viv was still with us.”


    “Who?” Both Ein and Kax asked.


    “Someone I met in Malac. She was able to create illusions to hide our identities. She didn’t make it.”


    “I’m sorry, son. Times like these always leave behind too many casualties.”


    Kax opened the door again and disappeared into the corridor.


    “Kax,” Sarien hissed, hurrying after.


    Kax returned, hauling someone with him by sheer force. He threw a figure in white robes and mask to the floor. Whoever it was grunted and made as if to stand, but Kax’s arm grew into a long blade and pressed it into the figure’s neck.


    Ein pulled off the mask, revealing a young man. “Y-you’re him,” he stuttered in surprise.


    “That’s right, I’m the legendary hero, Ein,” Sarien’s father said.


    The young man pointed at Sarien. “The Prime flow!”


    “The what?” Sarien asked.


    “His eyes aren’t purple,” Kax said.


    The young man shook his head. “I’m not one of them. Well, I am, but not like that. Just a Wayfarer. Well, training to be one, I mean.”


    “You’re a student?” Kax asked, picking up the mask. “Then why are you wearing this getup?”


    “All of us wear them. See the mask? No lines or nothing.”


    On closer inspection, neither mask nor robe were adorned with the intricate patterns found on those worn by council members.


    “Are there other students nearby?” Kax asked.


    He nodded eagerly. “Sure!” Then his eyes widened. “Wait! You’re not going to hurt them, are you?” His eyes widened even further. “You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”


    Ein stood and winced, pressing his hand to his side with a grunt. “Not if we can help it, lad.”


    “Are you well, father?”


    He waved Sarien off, refocusing on their captive. “We won’t hurt you. You’re going to help us, see?”


    “Help you?”


    “Help us,” Kax repeated, grinning widely.


    Releasing the boy to find and bring back a few friends was risky, but it worked. Three Wayfarer students stood shaking in their boots before them. Two young men and one very short young woman.


    “You’re wearing something under those robes, right?” Ein asked.


    They nodded anxiously.


    “Take them off.”


    Sarien, Ein, and Kax put on their robes and masks leaving the students standing in their underclothes.


    “What are your names?”


    “Hel,” the young lad answered.


    “Freja,” the female student added.


    The third student tilted his head up so he could look down his nose at Sarien and spoke with in a shrill and nasal voice. “My name is Afonso Chrizenta e La Syd.”


    Hel and Freja both cringed at their fellow student’s imperious tone.


    “Hel, Freja, and Chris. Do you three agree with what the Council is doing?”


    “No one asked our opinion on the matter,” Chris said with that same airy voice.


    Sarien removed the mask from his face. “Well, I’m asking you now. You will not be harmed no matter what you say, but I need your answers.”


    “What is this about?” Kax asked impatiently.


    “Give me a moment,” Sarien said, returning his gaze to the students. “Well?”


    Hel swallowed hard several times. “Yes. Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”


    Freja shook her head violently enough for her hair to fall across her face. “No. A Prime cannot be trusted to act rationally, the Prime of Chaos least of all.”


    Chris’ answer was straightforward. “I agree with her, of course. Furthermore, overthrowing the Gatekeepers, our overseers, and the rightful upper echelon of Nexus must not be condoned or accepted.”


    “Are no students under the corruption of the Prime of Chaos?” Sarien asked, satisfied with their answers.


    “None,” Hel answered. They appeared a little more at ease now when no violence seemed forthcoming.


    “Most Wayfarers have not been blessed, as the Council calls it, with that horrible priest’s touch,” Freja said.


    “Qieza,” Sarien said.


    “We three, along with many others, aim to oppose the Council, Qieza, and the Prime of Chaos himself. For us to have any chance at all, we’re going to need Wayfarers on our side. As many as we can gather.”


    Chris looked baffled. “How will you accomplish this without garnering the attention of the Council?”


    “You,” Sarien emphasized, “start with the other students, then expand your reach to those you can trust. I’m sure you must have many connections, Afonso Chrizenta e La Syd,” Sarien said.


    Chris straightened. “Of course.”


    Freja’s eyes glittered. “We’ll do our best.”


    Sarien gave them instructions to gather as many allies they could find and wait for his word. Before they were done, he showed them his gray flame and had them summon their wayfaring. He drained a little of their power to show them what he intended.


    Once his friends left, Hel started fidgeting. “What about me?”


    Sarien embraced the wayfaring and opened a gateway, careful not to disturb the barrier. He pushed Hel through and closed it, then turned to Kax and his father, satisfied with a job well done.


    “Where did you send the boy?” Ein asked.


    “Deidra.”


    “Poor lad.”


    “Do you really think the students will help us?” Kax asked.


    “Was this your plan all along?” Ein wondered.


    “No. We need the Wayfarers with us and this might be the way to go about it. It’ll give us a better chance than before.”


    Kax laughed. “Not the scared little pyromancer we picked up at the tower anymore, eh?”


    He hadn’t thought about it. “Suppose not. Don’t think any of us are the same anymore.” Sarien knew that Kax understood this more than anyone else.


    “You’re probably right about that. So, are we finally ready to go now?” Kax walked over to the door, then stopped and turned. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever been excited about going to a library.”


    <div>


    * * *


    An aging man sat at a wide wooden desk polished to a shine, right by the entrance to the library. He scrutinized each of them as they entered and glanced around the huge chamber. Shelves filling the room brimmed with books of all shapes and sizes. Stairs led to higher levels that overlooked the main chamber.


    Deeper into the room, a narrow passage led to another massive chamber. From where Sarien stood, it was filled with more books.


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    “Masks in the library?” the man behind the desk asked. He wore neither robe nor mask.


    Sarien looked around at the other patrons. Several browsed the shelves while small groups sat in rows along tables down the center of the room. No one wore masks except for them.


    “It’s not against the rules,” Ein said.


    The librarian eyed him before waving them on and resuming his close examination of the book laid out before him. With a cursory glance, Sarien made out the illustration of a regretfully familiar creature.


    “Isn’t that a luison?” Kax asked.


    The man’s head jerked up. “You know of luisons? They’re my area of study at the moment. Regrettably, very little is documented as they are exceptionally rare. A handful still live and only on the most remote of worlds.”


    “Sure,” Kax said, shrugging. “I’ve seen a few. Fought against them. A friend of ours was bitten. Nasty critters, those.”


    The old man’s eyes widened, and he hurried to scribble the notes down on a loose piece of paper. He stopped abruptly, sighing. “You’re making a fool out of me. Students coming face to face with a luison? Preposterous!”


    “That is the truth of it,” Sarien said.


    “Then tell me this. What happened to your friend?”


    Kax leaned in close and whispered, “We amputated her arm where she was bitten. Another one wasn’t so lucky and pretty much turned into mush.”


    The librarian gasped. “You have met them! You need to tell me everything right now. Come with me! I’m Lillen, by the way.”


    Ein grabbed Lillen’s wrist before he could walk off. “We’re looking for some answers of our own.”


    “Of course, you are. You’re in the library.”


    “How about you give us some answers, and we’ll return the favor?”


    Lillen sulked. “Fine! What are you looking for?”


    A group of Wayfarers, all robed and masked, entered the library and walked past without glancing in their direction. They chatted about some sort of event, but Sarien didn’t catch the details.


    Once they’d passed, Ein spoke again. “Anything and everything on the Primes, more specifically the Prime of Chaos, and how he was bound.”


    Lillen raised a finger. “Primes are to be regarded as not on the gender spectrum. They are ‘it’ never ‘he’ or ‘she’. Also, those texts are all restricted, what little we have. Meaning, not for students.”


    “Please. It’s important,” Sarien said.


    Kax nodded. “It’s for an assignment.”


    “No student would ever be tasked with such an assignment.” He narrowed his eyes. “This is highly unusual. Who are you? Really?”


    Ein stepped in close. “What do you think will happen to your precious books? Chaos will not be kept at bay by these stone walls. Your Council is slowly being turned into monsters. How long until all the students join them? Even if this place survives, what is the worth of a book if there is no one to read them?”


    The old man drooped forward. “You’re not wrong. The thought keeps me up at night.”


    Lillen hesitated, then beckoned Sarien, Kax, and Ein to follow. He led them to a backroom stacked with ledgers. Many appeared ancient. On a small desk crammed into the corner, a book lay open. Its cream-colored pages were filled with miniscule lettering in a neat hand.


    “The texts you’re looking for are not here, of course,” Lillen said, hunched over the desk, running his finger over lines of text.


    “What do you mean?” Sarien asked.


    “Like I told you, those texts are restricted and, as such, cannot be found in the main library.” He kept searching in the ledger, and then found what he was looking for. “Aha! Here it is. Checked out by Alenna Ty.”


    “Alenna Ty?” Sarien asked.


    Lillen straightened and rubbed his lower back. “One of the members on the Council, I’m afraid.”


    Ein let loose a string of profanities under his breath.


    “What?” Kax asked.


    Ein grumbled, “I thought that was her. The council member who was a little too interested in history.”


    “The old lady?”


    “That’s her,” Lillen said.


    “Old ladies like me,” Kax said.


    Ein shook his head. “This old lady likes no one. We’ll have to take care around her.”


    Lillen stepped back, bumping into the desk and toppling a stack of older ledgers. “You’re going to approach a member of the council?”


    “Of course,” Sarien said. He turned to his father. “Do you know where to find her?”


    “I do.”


    The three of them made to leave, but Lillen called out. “Hold on, now!”


    They all turned back to see the old man standing with a notebook and pencil at the ready. “You still have to give me your account of the luisons!”


    <div>


    * * *


    After a painfully long discourse about their experience with the luisons, they were finally released from Lillen’s fervent interest.


    No one questioned them on the way out. It appeared that their disguise worked, perhaps a little too well when they encountered townsfolk who eyed them with interest, fear, or disgust.


    “They’re staring,” Sarien said, following in his father’s footsteps.


    Ein answered, his words muffled on account of his mask. “Wayfarer students rarely leave the grounds. Can’t imagine that having changed much since the Council took over. Mistrust must be festering everywhere.”


    “That’s good. It might mean more Wayfarers willing to fight on our side.”


    “It might.”


    Alenna’s residence wasn’t far and from the light spilling out through the windows, the old woman was home.


    “Do we knock?” Kax asked.


    Ein knocked.


    The wooden door was thin and rickety, hanging askew from the frame. It was a rectangular, one-story building built with wood and then painted white. The paint looked fresh, but that was the only aspect of the house that looked new. Sarien thought it was strange to see a council member live in such poor conditions.


    Someone grumbled inside and stamped to the door, throwing it open. “What do you students want?” the crone barked. Even her patterned mask looked shoddy, like she hadn’t fastened it correctly.


    Before either Sarien or Ein could speak, Kax jumped in. “The librarian told us you have some books we’re looking for. For a project.”


    Her eyes filled with suspicion before she snorted. “Those bastards are always pestering me about returning books.” She turned and headed inside, not waiting for them to follow. “What are you looking for, then? History of Nexus? Plants, ants, and everything in between?”


    Sarien stepped inside and was surprised by how neat it was compared to the building’s exterior. Books lined every wall and papers were stacked high in piles on every surface, but it looked deliberate.


    A faint, putrid scent hung in the air. Burning incense masked some of the stench. Plants fought with the books for space, standing in pots or hanging from the ceiling. They were vibrantly green, dewy as if they’d just been watered.


    Sarien frowned when he caught a quick movement in the kitchen. But when he turned to look, he only saw a wide-leafed vine clinging to the doorframe.


    “We need the Wyndemir books,” Kax said, before adding quickly, “Please and thank you.”


    Sarien groaned silently. By calling the Prime of Chaos by its rhinn name was revealing too much.


    Despite the obvious misstep, Alenna nodded to herself and began searching her stacks. An inviting fragrance drifted in through the kitchen. Freshly baked bread and something else. A stew, perhaps?


    Sarien breathed in deep, feeling the tension loosen. It was nice to take a moment to relax.


    Neither Ein nor Kax moved to help her look for the books, but Sarien fought off the drowsiness and prepared to ask if Alenna needed help to search. Only, his lips wouldn’t move.


    When he tried to touch his lips, he found that his arm was paralyzed. The scent of baking bread began to overwhelm him.


    Horrified, Sarien grabbed for his gray flame only to find an emptiness inside him. Not a speck of power could be found.


    All Sarien could do was stare helplessly at Alenna’s back as she moved books from one pile to the other, the same books he’d already seen her move before.


    Everything dimmed, grew hazy, then disappeared. Alenna stood facing them, her arms crossed and her eyes intense behind her mask. The scent of bread was replaced by the stink of rotting meat. Its source stood before them, ominous despite her short stature.


    “So, you decided it would be a fantastic idea to step into my domain and try robbing me blind, did you? Do you even know the value of these texts you ask for?” She shuddered. “Just the thought of your grubby hands on them is enough to make me want to cry.”


    She walked up to Sarien and tore off his mask, then Kax’s, and finally Ein’s. When she moved close to him, her stench made his eyes water. If he possessed the ability to gag, he would have.


    Having removed their masks, she stepped back again, eyeing them each in turn.


    “I’ll have to do something about the librarians when we’re done here. Can’t believe they’d share such sensitive information freely. Where is their integrity?”


    Alenna waved her hand nonchalantly in the air. “You may speak.”


    “Let me go, you old crone!” Kax yelled. He jolted his head violently as if trying to free himself.


    “You don’t want to do this, Alenna,” Ein said, his voice gentle.


    “I don’t?”


    “There is such a thing as going too far.”


    The old woman scoffed. “Not in the quest for knowledge. What do I care about my appearance? So, what if I smell like spoiled meat and have to keep a cloth on me to keep oozing pus from staining my robes? Can’t you see that it is all worth it? Every sacrifice I have made will be worth it in the end. It’s the chance to study a Prime!”


    “You’re saying your own objective is to research the Prime of Chaos?” Sarien asked.


    She turned her attention to him. “My purpose is the pursuit of all knowledge, child. Your link to the one you call Wyndemir is something I will study with utmost dedication and fervor. Make no mistake.”


    “My link with Wyndemir?”


    Alenna rolled her eyes. “The Prime of Order has gone without a chosen since time before time. I find it unlikely for her to have influenced your,” she sneered, “transformation.”


    “Order?” Sarien asked.


    “Have you taught him nothing, Ein?”


    “We haven’t had much time.”


    Alenna removed her mask. Her swollen brow furrowed and rotting lips pressed into a thin line. The woman was far gone in her corruption. One of the worst Sarien had seen.


    “I’m not here to educate you on the histories, boy. Your past and future are interlocked with the Prime of Chaos. Your own power, the gray flame, a blessing borne from Chaos. A tempting subject to study, don’t you think?”


    “Have you learned much about Wyndemir?” Sarien asked.


    “No one knows more than me.”


    Fighting against the invisible restraints did little good. Without his power, there was no escape. Still, he didn’t feel threatened by Alenna. He didn’t know why precisely, but her obsession with obtaining knowledge made it appear that she cared of little else. If he distracted her long enough, perhaps his father or Kax would find a way to free themselves. Furthermore, Alenna may be in possession the information they sought.


    “Then couldn’t you tell me about the corruption?”


    Alenna ran her tongue across her lips. “I don’t know.”


    “You don’t know?”


    She removed her white gloves before holding up both hands, fingers splayed. She was missing two fingers from her left hand, one from her right. “The Prime flow of Chaos is the representation of chance, risk, unpredictability, and choice. Deformities can be a part of that, naturally, but not to this extent. Not in all subjects. My understanding of this is limited, obviously, and none of our ancient texts describe the Prime’s touch as a harbinger of mutating flesh.”


    “You’re saying that people transforming into monsters is not Wyndemir’s doing?” Kax asked.


    “I’m saying that I do not yet possess all the pieces of the puzzle needed to understand this malady.”


    “But you accept it as a consequence of your submission to chaos?” Ein asked.


    “For now.”


    “Why does he look like a giant man?” Sarien asked.


    “The same reason your power manifests as a flame, boy.”


    “What do you mean?”


    “You all see him as a man because you expect a god to look like one. Chaos and its Prime is neither man nor woman, but many things take the shape we expect them to.”


    “Do you truly believe that there is a danger in which you will need the Prime’s blessing to withstand?” Sarien’s father asked.


    “There are things beyond the borders of this realm that the Wayfarers and Slayers are ill-equipped to deal with. We know very little, so we prepare for the worst.” Some color returned to Alenna’s cheeks as she spoke, or rather lectured.


    “Then let me help you instead,” Sarien pleaded. He threw himself against the restraints, but he might as well had tried to move a mountain.


    Alenna laughed. “You think a Prime flow is enough to make a difference? The Council welcomes you into our ranks, Sarien, but you will be one amongst equals. No more, no less.”


    “You said I can make a difference,” Sarien insisted.


    “You cannot understand without seeing,” Alenna said. She inspected her hand, turning it around so she could get a closer look on the stumps where her pinky and ring-finger used to be. “I’ll give you a treat today.”


    With those words, she closed the distance to Sarien and pressed her putrid palm against his face. Sarien wanted to scream, but his mind was already elsewhere.