The Vitalis Chronicles: White Shores (42 page)

“Your mother and father sacrificed so much to make this all possible,” he said to Alisia without looking at her. “They were incredible people, wonderful people.”

“How did you escape?” Alisia asked.

“I don't know,” he said. “They never found the entrance to this place, and after having escaped narrowly a few times before, I didn't dare risk discovery. Khrone's filthy Ghosts were adept killers. I'd never seen anything or anyone work with such efficiency.”

“My mother...”

“Your mother was captured defending a group of young Magi like yourself, ones that the old Guard couldn't hide.” He shook his head. “She could have done so much more good in her lifetime. She was an artist, she made this place with her own hands. One day she saw this peak out here and wanted to see what was happening beyond it. It ate at her to hear the ocean but remain unable to see it.”

He smiled at the memory.

“So, instead of building a path down along the saddle connecting this peak to my home she built this bridge. 'I'm not wasting my time hiking through mountains when all I want is to relax,' she would say. I wasn't going to argue; this place has been a wonderful addition.”

The view from here as the sun set between the peaks to the west made Ardin think of better days. It gave him hope for the days ahead. Lush forests grew on the banks of the inlet, running up the bases of the bordering peaks until they failed to find footholds. He thought he could live and die happy here. Alisia must have been thinking the same thing as she squeezed his hand briefly before letting it drop again.

“You'll be safe here.” The Mage finally turned to them. “I don't have much to offer, but safety is one thing I can give. No one can find this place, or at least no one has. I very much doubt that will change. As for you, Ardin, I gain the sense that you could use some training in your new skills.”

“How did you–”

“I can see right through you, boy, like you saw me the other night. You're carrying great power, greater power than may exist in our world any longer. I suspect only the Demon holds more than is contained within you now.”

Ardin looked down at his chest as if the power Tertian talked about would appear, bursting forth to reveal itself. It didn't. He looked back up, brow furrowed, hands still resting on his chest.

“You still don't believe it.” Tertian smiled again. “But you will. As for you, Alisia, I'm sure there's plenty for you to learn, but Ardin requires a different kind of mentorship than you.”

“That's for sure,” she smiled as she nudged Ardin playfully with her elbow.

Tertian turned to leave. “I'll prepare something for you to eat. Feel free to come back down whenever you're ready.”

He left them standing there; staring out at their own personal sea as they breathed in the fresh air. Alisia put her hand back on Ardin's as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

“Ardin.” She didn't open her eyes as he looked at her. “Whatever happens... wherever you go after this; even if we have to part ways, promise me something.”

“Ok.” He gave her fingers a squeeze as they curled over his knuckles.

“Promise me you'll meet me here again.” She looked over at him now, eyes pleading yet content. “Promise me we can stop running... that we can be free. Just promise me that you'll meet me here.”

He smiled as he put his other hand on hers. “I promise.”

T
HEY SPENT THE
following week in relative silence. Ardin found it refreshing. Tertian busied himself with papers and drawings of mysterious buildings and objects. They were written almost entirely in a rune script that Ardin didn't recognize let alone understand. He would spend a few hours a day testing and training the two, though Ardin often felt Tertian was exploring what he saw in him more than anything. Almost as if to verify that what he had sensed were actually true.

Perhaps he wasn't being fair in his assessment of the Mage though, he reflected at times. He had been nothing but kind to them, and in reality Ardin was learning in leaps and bounds on his own with the little direction Tertian gave.

Alisia began to learn and grow in her abilities as well, though Ardin found the process much easier. He picked things up quickly, the abilities coming back like misplaced memories. It was a strange sensation, but Ardin began to learn to trust his ability to surface skills as he needed them. All that was left was to discover what was already there, a process that required a little imagination and was well aided by Tertian's suggestions.

The halls and rooms that were carved out of the mountain formed a maze, spanning for what felt like miles. There were an endless number of things to explore and discover. Ardin spent a lot of his time digging through the tomes in Tertian's library, reading history and books of philosophy and theology that he had never heard of. In honest moments when no one was around, he spent more time pouring over the maps and illustrations than anything else.

Alisia spent a lot of time wandering the halls, looking for things that might remind her of her mother. Some nights she would go for long walks along the well carved paths that wound along the peaks and the ridges that connected them. She spent more and more time with Ardin, just sitting and watching him read or helping him figure out some new trick to play with the Atmosphere. He was beginning to set up reactionary enchantments, a sort of tripwire effect that would initiate a reaction of some sort.

They weren't exactly reliable, and he nearly burned his eyebrows off a number of times, but he was learning rapidly. Her mother's incredibly vast wealth of knowledge and ability was surfaced more and more easily as he called upon it. He was getting close to surpassing Alisia and she wondered if he wouldn't truly step into the power that the older Magi claimed to have seen in him.

Tertian, for his part, warmed up substantially as well. He seemed to have lowered his guard, shedding defenses put in place long ago to keep prying minds out. They even got him to laugh on occasion, which made Ardin in particular feel rather accomplished. Sort of like getting a grumpy old cat with indigestion to purr in a rainstorm. At least that's how it felt at times.

The rainstorms that did roll through the mountains were magnificent, lasting for hours and assaulting them with a cacophony of rain and thunder. Ardin slept soundly on those nights, in spite of the ear-splitting proximity of the lightning.

Alisia would come spinning and twirling into breakfast on the mornings after those storms. She loved them as much as anyone, and being in the halls felt like being closer to her mother every day. She laughed a lot, and took to singing songs Ardin had never heard before. It warmed his heart to see her like this.

One morning he found a small painting in a room that had been overfilled with books and maps in old boxes. Dusting it off he discovered it was of two Magi, one of which was Charsi. His heart jumped at the sight of her, half from fear he realized. She was as beautiful as he had remembered, but vastly different in countenance. She was smiling, holding the arm of a Mage he could only assume was Cervoix, Alisia's father.

Ardin walked back through the halls looking for Alisia, but she was gone on another one of her walks so he simply left it on her bed and went back to exploring. She found him later that night and ran to him, throwing her arms around him with tears in her eyes.

“Woah!” he said. “Nice to see you too!”

“Thank you, Ardin. Thank you so much.”

“For what?”

“That's the first time I've seen my parents in a long, long time.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I dunno,” she said as she backed away and looked at the painting in her hand. “This place just helps me feel so close to my mother. At least I feel like I know her better now because of it all. Seeing my father only helps make her more real to me.”

Ardin couldn't help but relax in the mountains. Alisia seemed full of hope, of promise. And so did their future. Having Tertian around inspired confidence as well. His ability to push them in their growth and give direction was comforting. Ardin still wished Caspian was around from time to time.

“Ardin,” Tertian came to him one evening when he was reading a particularly thick history on the Titans. “I'd like to talk with you.”

“Did you know that the Titans took on different shapes depending on what they primarily gave care to?”

“Yes, that's true.”

“Some wound up looking like trees, while others looked like whales or eagles! They must have been amazing!”

“Some still exist.” Tertian sat down next to Ardin. “When the world was flooded and reformed, most of them died. It was a way of starting over. But some lived, mostly those living in the deep waters of the ocean. Some that lived deep within the mountains survived as well, stowed away in pockets of air that, if they were lucky, lasted them until the waters receded.”

“Why did they start over?”

“Well, they didn't; the Creator did. The Titans had fallen into war with themselves, and wrought mass destruction on the face of the planet.”

“So why were they wiped out? I mean why them and not us? It seems like a lot worse things have happened since.”

“I don't know, Ardin. Part of it is that we're spiritual beings, while the Titans were not. And who knows what the Creator's plans are in the long run.”

“I guess I just wish I could see one. I wish they were still around.”

“Well if they were still around, you would have seen plenty, and then the mystery and romance would be gone from it all.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Ardin still wished he could see one.

“How are you doing, Ardin? We haven't really talked a lot since you've come here.”

“Yeah, I noticed. I figured you didn't want to for whatever reason.”

“No, it's just that your condition is so strange to me. I wanted to investigate more, and I tend to get lost in things once I set my mind to them.”

“I understand, I can be the same way.”

“Are you adjusting well? I don't fully understand what you must have gone through or where you're at right now. It must have been terrifying to you.”

“Yeah,” he said. “It was, but to be honest Alisia changed all of that.”

“How so?”

“I dunno... I guess having her to look after kept me from thinking about it. It was a kind of comfort.”

“She's a beautiful young woman.”

“Yeah...” She really was.

Ardin closed the book and rested it in his lap. What was he doing? Why hadn't he said anything sooner? He cared about her, he realized. He really cared about her.

“Where will you go next, Ardin? Will you stay here with us or will you find your own way?”

“I don't know where else I would go...”

“Ardin? What are you thinking?”

“I just... it's that I can't imagine leaving, Tertian. I couldn't leave her.”

“Well I would love to continue teaching you. But if you're concerned for her safety, I can assure you that she's quite safe with me.”

“No, it's not that at all. It's... it's that I think I love her.”

“Of cours–”

“No I mean it, I really love her.” He almost wanted to jump off the couch as he said it.

“Well I'm sure th–”

“Sorry Tertian, I've gotta go.” He put the book aside and made for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To tell her!”

He ran outside and along the path as the dusk began to deepen. There weren't many paths up here but there were enough to make it a guess as to which way she went. He took off to the northwest; her favorite path was as good a guess as any. All he knew was he had to find her, to tell her how he felt. He was stupid for not having made the effort sooner.

He hadn't run for more than a few minutes when he spotted her farther on around a bend and across a gorge from where he was at. He almost yelled her name, then he saw him. It was unmistakable. In the distance stood the general he had seen back in the Cave; the man responsible for murdering his family. The one he had sought vengeance on what seemed like a lifetime ago. His shout caught in his throat.

The general was moving slowly among the rocks, safely out of view of Alisia but almost in plain sight to Ardin.
Oh God,
he thought,
don't let this be happening.
He took off sprinting, hoping that he could catch up. The path took a curve to the right along the ridge and down into a broad draw. He kept running as the night began to set in, picking up the path again just before darkness enshrouded it.

His heart raced, pounding in his ears, deafening him to the thunder that started to roll through the mountains. He came to the top of the ridge where the path straightened out. Where was she? He couldn't see much, but he knew she wasn't there. He took off running again, panic rising as he felt time slipping away.

It started to rain as he came to a fork that presented him with two options. One stayed the course on the higher trails, the other began a descent into the valleys below. He hesitated, uncertain of which way to go before finally deciding to stick to the higher trail. He ran through the dark as fast as he dared, forced to slow even more by the torrential rain that began to blind him to the best of its ability.

He swore as he began to cry, hot tears mingling with cold drops of rain as he choked back the wails that he felt building inside him. Where was she? He needed her so badly. He needed her. The thought made the knot in his throat twist and grow.

Suddenly the path came to an end. There was little warning, and had a bolt of lightning not struck somewhere farther on he would have careened off of a cliff and to his death. Sliding to a halt, he felt his chest constrict. He had chosen the wrong path. He had gone the wrong way.

And then he heard it, faint but distinct. His name was cried out and carried on the wind.

Another flash of lightning revealed the source. Alisia was there! Below him near the water, running, tripping, tumbling and sliding to a halt. She picked herself up slowly, he could barely make her out in the darkness before another flash of lightning struck nearby. And he was there. The cloak, the sword, the silver hair. He was right behind her.