Este led him past a floating box, deeper into the lab, nearing the center-placed monolith. Letters and words running across the surface of its form. Strange and marvelous.
"I suppose you have a full grasp of the Language."
He recalled Enavro's words: Indeed, the Orvalen treated casting as a language. He nodded.
She said, "Picture it. An invisible wall, but with functions."
A hard thing to randomly imagine. Merrin quibbed.
She frowned.
She heard.
"Pay attention." She said, "This is what it is. A wall. Invisible, but with functions...What do you think would be the first symbol incorporated for its creation?"
Invisibility and an actual wall
"A stone wall?"
What?
"You heard me," Este moved to a corner, tapped her feet twice on the floor, and slowly, rising like a fountain, a black liquid surged out, solidifying into the shape of a throne. No, not that. More of a high-backed seat. Black, glossy. Emanating a visual sense of coldness.
She repeated, taking a seat. "What kind of wall would it be?"
Merrin, still enamored by the occurrence, paused for a moment, allowing the forced calmness to flow through his body.
None
"Why?"
Because what we want isn't the wall itself. Not its surface or form, but the function.
"Which is?"
Defence!
"Yes!" She jerked the small cube. "That's what we need. Defence. The symbol of protection. Of course, this symbol isn't inherent to the wall or bastion. Even a combatant can generate such symbols during a valiant last stand." She scoffed. "What gloried drama...Humans are such primitive creatures."
That we are.
She continued. "The defence symbol is innately a symbol with no physical form. It can be described and felt, but not visually seen. At least by the naked eye. Making it naturally invisible." The box split open, and gleaming stones, strings, and oddities filled the insides. She tinkered.
Somehow, he knew of the likelihood of unseen casting.
Este added. "The next necessary symbol is the invisibility. You might wonder what the point of invisibility is when the defence symbol is intrinsically unseen...That is because of the latter casting. The anti-field, you see, bears numerous more symbols within it. From the deactivation of the coming ships. The countermeasure of reducing impact in the face of an unstoppable force. Because, mind you, the anti-field is not omnipotent. As with all things, enough force can destroy it. A true scientist searches out means to counter that weakness."
Merrin repeated the foot tapping action, saw the slow rising of the dark water. Its fluidity condensing into the form of a seat. High-backed. He sat, facing Este, and said, "What about a symbol that devours the excess force until it is endurable by the field?"
"EXACTLY!" This she shouted into the open. "That's a mind you have...That's exactly what is required."
Merrin smiled: I am Learning.
Soon, Este had returned to her work, fiddling with the boxes, him, alone in a corner, observing. There was pondering to be done anyway, thoughts bouncing from one idea to another. Chaotic. He leaned against the dark chair, cold, allowing its natural thermality to send shivers. His eyes closed, enjoying the silence and calmness of the lab....Outside that, the thing called the Anti-field echoed with a certain relevance in his mind.
What application 'that' can have...
According to Este, the Field was a combination of invisibility, defence, the absorbing force, and a passive disruption of the unseen world with targeted bursts of force. Groundbreaking. He had never thought of that. Who knew that by focusing force towards one's casting, it can be temporarily tousled. This acted exceptionally well against the sky ships, whose entire systems, as she called them, were force and symbolically powered. Thus, in the presence of an anti-field, its symbols and force are expelled.
Of course, this act required an overwhelming force for constant success, requiring, hence, more symbols and means to contain them...The negative outcome is the constant loss of force and generated heat. Immense heat based on her words.
Merrin took in a breath. Cold. The chill, he realized then, served a crucial role. Prudent. Without them, the systems overheated. Without them, there will be an undeniable failure in function. As for the relevance he saw:
What if I made a smaller version of it?
He recalled Enavro's words: A better barrier indeed was a needed thing. And this anti-field, for a stroke of luck, made the creation a possibility. Of course, outside the acquired knowledge, actual testing and experimentation could only be done in reality.
There was only waiting.
Merrin stood and sauntered into the deeper parts of the labs. The sides were hidden in dense darkness. Este had made no remark on their danger. Must be safe then. Onwards. Past the monolith of rounding words, he stepped calmly over the grounds of trailing silver rings, taking in the chill and silence of it all. Occasionally, he found himself edging towards the deeper darkness.
Typical.
Even in a Dream, he still played the role of the veilCounsel...Or was it the Ashman?
Ah, who could tell?
From time to time, he recalled the already acquired data from the mouthing Attendants. Many words: Oravien, Taka, Auwale. These were the confirmed Shaedoran, who, for some reason, had decreed the safety of humanity from genocide.
Why?
Often, the more powerful race enjoyed the sovereign authority. Not cruelty, just the way of the world. And truthfully, Merrin suddenly stumbled into a vast part of the chamber. Almost like a world. Above, mountain-sized orbs hovered, some orbiting another in slow motion.
Without a doubt, the Orvalen are the superior species.
Above, he still observed the colossal spheres. Black, glossy, some of them bearing silver or gold rings around. Circling, these rings would twirl within each other around the spheres, endless in their trails. For the totality of the globe, his ocular powers could make little detail for its complete vastness. But he knew, somehow, he knew, the orbs were almost endless.
He was like an ant amidst their size. A dark dot wandering through the darkness, orbs of darkness, mountainous right above him.
Merrin continued, wondering: What Ashman, if they ever existed, could sit here and maintain the tranquility?
He chuckled.
God is the beginning and the end...The Almighty--Mantra from the Church of the song.
Ivory felt drowned, stiffening a need to clamour with glorious intensity. Clothes rounded her form, bodies, handmaiden, seldom handmen, the reason as obvious as it gets. They dressed her. Here, in a chamber that expanded with that immensity familiar in the ever-growing castle. The walls were gray stonewalled, odd for valor, with a spiral bulge running around and extending into the room. There, light pierced down, casting a white radiance over the floor.
They swarmed her, both arms reared towards the sky, almost in a posture of defeat. Mother must never see it. But it had to be done. Like ants, they circled her, fitting, expelling, tending, and tailoring garments in that frenetic pace. A hint of moss in the air explained the frantic motion.
What a thing. Laughable to think the women of Valor would ingest moss for my cloth fitting…
She wondered briefly about the origin of this act, or was it, as many things are, purely the outcome of chance and situation? One bumped into her, Ivory stumbling two steps ahead. A pause took the space, eerily.
"Continue." She said, and they did. The hive of women carrying out the sole task that now lorded over their existence.
Make Ivory of Valor a gem worthy of Coronation. A failure that could cost their lives. Today, as it were, was the predertimed date. Today, she is officially identified as the Heir to Valor. Men, lords, Merchants, and Highnesses would seek unity, alliance.
Or a puppet they can control…Ivory thought, indifferent to the teeming bodies around. All clean, of course. Above, situated in hidden hatches and points, countless Excubitors and Casters observed the moment. Wide-eyed. Rarely, yes, but any number of enemies could bribe a wanting maid to jab a poison needle in the highHeir. No one would know the culprit.
Would that happen now?
Likely.
Ivory sensed enemies within the confines of Valor rather than outside it. There was the matter of the brightCrown No'el and his companions. Whoever they were. Enemies, no doubt. Invisible, unknown, but enemies. A leech that nipped at her heels. Suddenly, a white wrap was tightened around her waist, a muffled groan escaping her lips.
A mistake.
She frowned, thought at least. Did anyone see that?
Maybe not the Handmaidens, but surely the Casters…The Excubitors with those strange rings of theirs. Ever watchful with eyes trapped within helms of silver and metal.
Back to the topic.
The matter of enemies plagued the internal thoughts. That and the thing about Kabel. Yet, he had not abandoned his faith for her. The internal pride saw that as an easy choice. Her over God.
But Kabel didn't.
What would convince a man who had lived years with a singular belief to abandon said faith? Nothing could.
She exhaled with the locking of the wrap behind her.
If only I could use a silverAssurer