Dream Fragment - To Heaven Chained (III)
Days came.
Days went.
She studied, she ate, she studied, and she slept.
Then she woke, and began again.
How long had it been, since a mystery had challenged her thus? Had consumed her focus so utterly, for so long, without revealing itself to her?
What a marvelous and novel thing it was, to be challenged. To be forced to work. Athame found that she liked it.
One Year Later
"There's something missing, father. I don't... I don't know what it is, but the designs aren't complete! They're clearly meant to interact with something, at the point where it all converges, but..." She ran a hand through her dark hair. "I can only guess at what it is. Perhaps it was meant to work with Aradia's Nature in some way...? I see some signs that it is meant to connect to the soul itself, but there are other signs that point to an artifact. Yet, even... even when I infuse the room with my Nature, I can divine no more. I'm at a loss, father. I'm sorry."
Her father had said nothing during her confession, simply allowing her to explain her failure to him. When she was finished, he hummed for a moment. "You can progress no further?"
"I'll continue my research, of course. But... I've made no progress in these last days." She turned her face from him, so he wouldn't see her bitter tears. "I'm sorry."
He sighed, slumping in his chair, before nodding and pushing to his feet. "Very well, Athame. Come. Perhaps... perhaps it is time, now."
"Time?"
"There is another room that you have yet to see."
He led her down, this time. Down into the very deepest depths of the Tower, level with the city without – and further down still, into the bowels of the mountain where she did not even realize the Tower extended. At the lowest point was a great door, engraved with runes the likes of which she'd never seen. Her father touched upon it and whispered to himself, and, as though recognizing him, faded into nothing to let them pass into a chamber of glittering lights.
A chamber filled with pedestals, upon which rested many objects. A sword, here, and a mage-light there. A series of daggers, each of slightly different makes. A folded cloth of deepest black, seeming so soft that she could almost feel it with her gaze. A fine, golden crown, one that she'd never seen her father wear.
"Father...? What is this?"
"This is the reliquary of Ciel. Where, once, Omen and Aradia laid their many gifts to rest... and, since, many have hidden away what is too precious or dangerous to see the light of the city above. It is kept secret from most, except for those who need that knowledge."
She blinked at him, immediately catching the thread of his thoughts. "So... you believe that the key to the Tower's secret might lay here?"
He turned, nodding to her. "Yes. And you must decipher that secret, Athame."
She frowned. "Why? Father, I... I enjoy studying the Tower, but... if it has gone unknown for so long, why is it so critical?"
He gazed at her, deep in thought. Then... he sighed, and suddenly seemed so much older. "What I am to tell you must never leave this room, my daughter." When she nodded, he looked up - as though staring through the rock above them, into the city. "The wonders of Ciel... are not infinite. Nor did they exist, in the oldest days. When Omen and Aradia built the city, it was built without Bridges, without the eternal stars that burn within the mountain. Each had to light their own way, by flame or by magic. To leave was to march, to push yourself and those with you." He looked down at her, and she felt a heavy weight settling into her stomach.
"No... you think that the Tower is the key to those? But why would it matter, unless..." She choked.
"My brilliant daughter," her father said as he shook his head. "Yes. The Bridges are failing. In the outer reaches, the guards report their... inconsistencies. With each year that passes, they grow more frequent. The stars in the mountain – from the top of the Tower, if you watch closely, you can see them flickering. Whatever beating heart Omen and Aradia forged to fuel the city is dying, Athame. That fire must be recaptured, rekindled, lest we lose all that makes us great. My efforts have come to nothing, but research has never been my strength. Not like you, my daughter."
She felt the weight settle on her shoulders, as though the city and Tower above her pressed down with every passing moment. Every one of the people that look up at the Tower... every single one of them, depends on this. Depends on... on me.
She licked her lips, setting her shoulders. "I am to have access to this reliquary, then?"
He nodded. "Whatever you need, my daughter. Be careful. Those things that sleep here are dangerous. Some were long ago banished from the city because of it. But... the puzzle of the Tower must be solved. I will teach you the path to this place, and with your nature... entrust our future to you."
"I won't fail, father. No... King Wicker, I swear to you that I will save Ciel."
He smiled at her, and she could see both her father and the king of Ciel in that smile. "I believe you, Mistress of the Tower."