Dear readers – if you'd like a look at what the gedwey garjzla (eragon's sword) the other interesting change to his persona mentioned in this chapter, go to the blog that there is a link to on my profile page, and go into the picture album labeled eragon stuff. Feel free to comment on my blog, though their isn't anything to it besides my picture albums.
The Vault of Souls
Outside of the timeless void, it would have taken Sa'Rigon a hundred years to learn all the secrets their teachers showed them. But within the vault, more than that amount of time passed in the passing of several hours. They learned the greatest and most complex spells. They obtained a keener control over Their nonverbal magic skills, as well as their flight abilities, and the dragon half of Sa'rigon obtained such mastery of the ancient language that, by saying the ancient word for dragon magic, draconic spells could be used much quicker, also allowing for them to change the alignment of their chosen element, which they found far more apt as lightning than fire. More than that, they learned battle strategy from brom, additional sword techniques from Eragon and tornac, and balance and dexterity from glenwing and faolin. Carsaib taught them to summon lesser spirits – ones that could be controlled, such as a spirit that could heal for them while they attacked an opponent, and how to filter their strength so that it did not drain them as much, and they learned the art of self-changing magic from evandar, who was a master of it, so that they could disguise their spirit as that of an animal, or temporarily increase their strength or speed with it. (being dragon-rider, or even dragon and rider, they carried innately draconic traits, which were too deep to be changed with magic, so the physical changes they rough upon themself only lasted a minute or so.)
Then it came time for the dragon-rider to complete their training. Eragon who was the first rider said "I give you now the true secret of the gedwey ignasia. The true power of the riders. In death, we no longer possess the power necessary to pass on the great secret, but with the combined power of three riders, and so many others, we may succeed. I lay all my hopes for a brighter future on your heads. I know you will not intentionally fail me. Separate into the two beings you must be to leave this place." With a blink of thought, sa'rigon was eragon and saphira once more. "hold out your hand, eragon. What I give you now is the last will of the grey folk. It is the power of the vault of souls. When most people die, they slip into the void outside, and wander to the end of time. However, several of those of the three races are called "wyrdawe" or the fatebound, and come here to tend to the one who will give free will a new birth. That one, is you. When you rtake the power I give you, you shall be a true rider. However, sending the power across the void that comes will require all the might of the vault, and it will collapse once you have left. I suggest you say your goodbyes before I transfer the magic."
Eragon the first rider put down his hand, and allowed the eragon who is unbound by fate say his last goodbye. He went to each in turn. Carsaib thanked him once again for releasing him, tornac begged him to help murtagh, and he swore he would, glenwing smiled and shook hands with him, brom mussed up his hair, and then shook hands with him, he and oromis bowed to each other, and garrow hugged him one last time. When it came time to bid farewell to evandar and faolin, faolin took him aside, and said "you now hold within you the hundred years of wisdom that would make you a young man among the elves. Arya, whom you know as well as I, cares for you, and has feelings for you… as she once did me." At last, eragon understood. "she will never forget you. I know your heart will always belong with hers." He said in the ancient tongue, speaking only the truth. Faolin cupped his hands, and opened them. In his palm, stood a tiny obsidian flower. "I know, but you are now wise enough, and she can have no objections, and neither do I. You are a rider. It is the greatest honor to be had, to be loved by a rider. Notice I say love, and not infatuation, for I know your heart, and I know hers. She does not love you, though her heart may say otherwise, but in short ado, she shall come to see what her heart already knows. With this, my blessing, I give you my last gift for her. Go with it, shur'tugal." Eragon felt elation build in his heart. He turned to evandar. "you need not hear my blessing. I have seen your deeds, your honor, and the love you give those you care for. You have had my blessing since the day you decided to save my daughter's life simply because it was the right thing to do." The tall elf smiled now, and extended his hand in the human gesture of a handshake. "good luck to you, Argetlam."
Finally, he turned to the rider who bore his name before him. "thank you for your tutelage, eragon ebrithil. I pray only that I do not fail you." The eldest of the rider's put a hand on the younger one's shoulder. "eragon finariel. I have watched you for the longest time. I know you will do what is right. I have no doubt in my mind that if there is anyone who can restore balance, it is you. Hold out your hand, now." The younger of the two eragons took two steps back, and held out his right hand, exposing the Gedwey Ignasia. The elder rider held out his gedwey ignasia, as every other person in the vault held out their dominant hand to him. A flash of light emitted from his hand, and a blue-white serpentine dragon flew out of the silver light. It hovered in the air for a moment, before flashing around between the others in the vault. It passed through the hands of oromis and brom first, then evandar, then faolin and glenwing, carsaib, and finally tornac. The dragon, now a bright bluish white dragon, surrounded by an aura of dark blue fire. It lay suspended in the air a foot away from the young eragon's hand, before flying at lightning speed into the gedwey ignasia in young eragon's palm. Eragon felt a searing pain run up his arm, to his elbow, as a flash the same color as the dragon came out of his palm, and wrapped itself around his arm. Another blinding flash, and there on his arm, was a large serpentine dragon tattoo, that encircled his entire arm up to the elbow. "that is the true might of the shur'tugal. Go with it, and use it well. It is Eszpiin, the great god dragon, for which the spine is named. As great as all alagaesia, he is the one true immortal, and never dies – only sleeps. His last known sleeping place is your home land, the spine. It is said that those mountains are his great spiked back rising up from his earthly slumber. I have no more time to tell of the legend. You must go, before the vault collapses, and the void envelopes you. Go, eragon! Atra esterni one thelduin." May good fortune rule over you. The younger eragon was amazed at the show of respect he was just given. When the other person performs the first part of a greeting or goodbye, it is a sign of the speaker's subordination to the one to whom he speaks. "Mor'ranr lifa unin hjarta onr," peace live in your heart, he responded, and the elder rider responded to that in kind; "un du evarinya ono varda." And the stars watch over you. The older rider smiled his last goodbye, and eragon and saphira were pulled back through the twisting nether, into the world where they first entered the void.
They stepped through, as the world rematerialized around them, to see selena kneeling on the ground, whispering a plea for her son's safe return in the ancient language. Eragon said, his voice filled with a new wisdom, "you need'nt pray for me, mother. I have returned." She turned and looked at him, her eyes attempting to pierce his soul. Are you just another hallucination of a deranged mother's mind, or are you my son?" he held his arms out for her, and she embraced him. "I feared you would never return…" she looked up into his eyes. He appeared at least a year older than when he had left. "you have aged." "by the standards of a century to an elf, yes. I have aged, and perhaps, even grown wiser." There was a long silence between them, and then she said "move quickly. It took us nearly an hour to reach the void, and you've but a few minutes to save arya." "have I been gone so long? What chance do I have to save her. I've only enough of the grey folk's magic to free murtagh from his vows. I cannot break his spell over her and still have a chance to free him… or perhaps, I can!" saphira, come quickly! I shall need your magic as well as my own for this.
As saphira appeared overhead, he leapt twenty feet in the air, and landed on her back. In a blink, they were gone, teleported out and away.
When eragon and saphira arrived at their destination, the darkness that surrounded them was immediate. They could not see, hear, or communicate. This was an evil darkness. Out of the nothingness, came a voice. It said "so, you've come to surrender after all, eh, little brother?" eragon said nothing. When the darkness cleared a bit, he could tell they were in some kind of glass-domed room, with a sky so dark little could be seen behind the smog. Uru'baen. Capital city of hell on earth. Said saphira.
"tell me one thing, murtagh," said eragon. "if there was a chance for you to fight galbatorix, and be on the side of freedom once again, would you?" there was a long silence, as murtagh pondered his brother's statement. "yes." He said simply. "then I ask only that you hold still."said eragon, and unleashed the magic of the grey folk on all of the vows murtagh had spoken to galbatorix, breaking them. When the power ebbed away, eragon said "you are free, brother. Now the only binds that hold you are those of your ties to morzan, and the evil you have chosen to surround yourself in." murtagh took a step forward, and embraced his brother. "thank you, eragon. Thank you." He cried onto eragon's shoulder for what seemed like hours. Finally, murtagh looked down at his younger brother. The evil malice was gone from his eyes, and only a look of conviction remained where the malice once was. "I will relinquish my hold on arya, and then, together, you, I, saphira, and thorn, we will defeat galbatorix, and restore balance to the races three." "then I suggest that we leave this place, and go meet our mother."
As the two riders left the dark city, eragon explained about selena, and how she was bound to follow fate, and had no choice about abandoning murtagh to his father. In spite of the anger eragon thought murtagh would hold towards their mother, murtagh seemed to understand perfectly, and held no grudge. When asked why, he simply said "I know what it is to hold the clay that is fate in your hands, and be unable to shape it." While the two brothers spoke, the two dragons acquainted themselves with each other. When they reached farthen dur, they were close enough to the void marsh for eragon to teleport the four of them through the mountain barrier of Du Felvarden. When they landed on the other side, arya leapt up and drew her sword. "eragon!" what trickery is this? You ride with a Wyrdfell? The forsworn who attempted to murder your brother?" "the brother who I never knew I had, who has been saved from the evil that enshrouded his being. Look in your heart and mind, ad you will know what I say is true." There was a silence. "you have aged, eragon elda. Aged and grown wise." As she said this, a figure crested the hill on which they stood. "he has opened the vault of souls, and learned for over a century from the greatest riders of all time." Selena looked from one son, to the other, and guilt rose in her heart, as bile in her throat. "murtagh, my son… I am sorry, and though I know you can never forgive me for what I've done, but at least you can know that your mother still lives, or, if you so choose, you may know that you were the one to kill her." Murtagh drew Zar'roc, and flung it to the ground. He ran to selena, and embraced her, as eragon had hours earlier. "forgive me, mother. I have done… horrible things." "forgiven, my son. It is only you who can make up for the pain of regret on your conscience."
While all this was going, on, arya eyed murtagh warily for some trickery. Eragon stepped up beside her. "he has been redeemed. When I used the magic of the grey folk to break galbatorix's vows, I saw into his soul and I know the ancient words that represent his soul. He is misguided, and his heart will take time to restore the noble part of him that was lost to galbatorix's torture, but he is on the first step down the right path." Eragon suddenly remembered something. He rummaged through his pocket, and found what he sought. "the vault of souls was the place where the fatebound dead go, to await the return of the true shur'tugal." He pulled down his sleeve, revealing the true gedwey ignasia. "this is the might of the dragon riders. Within the vault, I was trained by the first rider, and by multiple riders and representatives of the three races in balance. One of those representatives… he wanted me to give you this." He held out his hand, the tiny obsidian morning glory resting in his palm. He watched as tears rose in arya's eyes. "know that his heart will always belong to you." He was quite surprised when she embraced him, and figured it would be an unwanted gesture for him to hold her back. When she composed herself, the thanked him, and took the flower, a smile on her face so glorious it rivaled a sunrise. For the sake of seeing the smile remain there, eragon said "also, your father says hi." Her eyes widened, and it took a while for her to speak. Finally, she said in the ancient language, "thank you eragon… I am forever in you debt… for healing my soul."