To my American (and Mexican) readers– there's a total solar eclipse coming next month. If it is within your power, get to the line of totality. You won't regret it.
Saylor's answer, it turned out, was "no." So upon their return to Ataraxia, Ingressus promptly tracked Matt down for the job instead.
"Maybe?" Matt answered. "I know what the route was we took to find the slimes, but I don't remember exactly what part of the caves your resonance was in."
"I can handle that," Ingressus told him. "Just get me close."
Galleous was deep in a book when Ingressus returned to the forge, barely even glancing up until Ingressus spoke.
"Galleous. I found it."
He had Galleous's attention after that. Ingressus explained his answer– his theory, he shouldn't get his hopes up too quickly… But he'd thought and rethought it on the way back at Ataraxia, from every angle he could and grilling Nirani for more information on the converters. It made sense, the information all lined up. All he needed was confirmation.
"Oh…" Galleous said, when Ingressus finished explaining. "That seems so… simple."
"I know," Ingressus said. "But it would explain why there was only ever one set of Primes… why they corrupt so badly…"
He drummed his fingers on the back of a chair. "But it also means that we were responsible for the Silencing…"
"Not knowingly," Galleous pointed out. "If your clan then was anything like you are now, I'm sure you wouldn't have done it on purpose."
"I know," Ingressus said. "But odds are that someone will try to use that against us during negotiations."
There was a moment of quiet, and then Galleous spoke again. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"I'll need to confirm this theory before I do anything else," Ingressus said. "I'm going back to the mines when today's shift is done to find the resonance there again. After that I'll need to talk with Aegus about how to contact the rest of the Masters and begin the negotiations."
That would be a whole new challenge… Ingressus knew diplomacy was not one of his strengths. He'd thought plenty about what terms he should lay out– what would have to be insisted on, what could be compromised on, what the other Masters might say to argue that his clan was too dangerous or didn't deserve to return. He knew what was to be said. But how to say it in a way that would avoid antagonizing the other Masters– that would be the challenge.
"I assume you're planning to test it like you did that other resonance?" Galleous asked him. "I'm sure you'll need more than your Protosongs for that."
He stood up, gesturing for Ingressus to follow. Galleous crouched at the chest in his room and unlocked it, opening the lid to reveal the Songs he used for training his students. One by one he handed them to Ingressus– his Mobilileap and Protepoint, then after contemplating the Aggressium Songs for a second, passed over his Aggrobeam in favor of the Aggroshock confiscated all those years ago.
Ingressus took the Aggroshock with a wry smile. "I'll test with the expendable one first."
"Appreciated."
Galleous sat back and held out his hand. A green glow shimmered around his fingers and then his Supporoform condensed in his palm, its bubbling aura simmering in Ingressus's mind like boiling water. Galleous held it out and Ingressus took it, holding the Song carefully in his hands.
The Supporium Song was part of Ingressus's mental picture of Galleous. Its bubbles of light as he worked at the forge, its soft, simmering hum sounding in Ingressus's mind in quieter moments. It wasn't the first time Galleous had let him borrow the Supporium Song for his studies. And Songs weren't exactly delicate. But Ingressus had always handled the Supporoform with a little more care than the others.
Ingressus looked up at Galleous. "Do you want to come with me?" he offered. "You've helped me so much with this, it's only right that you should get to be there now."
Galleous nodded in acceptance. "Of course. I'd be honored."
Unlike all those years ago, no one needed to wait until the dead of night to sneak off to the mines. Matt was twenty-five by now, had completed his apprenticeship and was now considered responsible enough to keep an eye on others around the mining yards. Galleous and Ingressus met him at the ravine as the rest of the miners were leaving for the day, and Matt led them to the minecarts.
"Forgive the mess," Matt told them. "We hit a big vein of coal the other day. Just… pick a cart that isn't too dirty, I guess."
Ingressus obeyed, brushing some black dust from a minecart. He hesitated before climbing in, gazing at the deep ravine gouging into the mountainside.
Galleous knew that expression. The combination of anticipation and apprehension, hope and guardedness, uncertainty lingering behind it all– it was the look Ingressus had when he was trying not to get his hopes up. He had seemed so certain despite himself in the forge earlier, so convinced that he finally had what he needed to save the Voltaris from exile. Galleous knew how much the years of uncertainty had weighed on him, knew how much he yearned to see his clan again. Success here would mean everything to him, while failure would snatch it away again.
Galleous rested a hand on Ingressus's shoulder. The Voltaris's gaze snapped away from the mines, looking at Galleous instead. Galleous didn't say anything, just gave a small smile and squeezed his shoulder.
"You two ready?" Matt called to them.
Ingressus looked back at their guide. "Ready."
Matt pulled another minecart over to the two of them. "I'm almost sure we've explored past your resonance already, so we shouldn't see many monsters besides a few spiders. Still, keep your eyes and ears open. Standard rule of caving."
The tunnels were well-lit with lanterns and redstone lamps as the trio walked through the caves at the bottom of the ravine. True to Matt's word, they saw nothing except the occasional bat, and a spider chittering quietly to itself in an alcove. The spider ignored them and they did the same, leaving the arachnid to its business as they walked on.
"You all went a lot further back then than I thought you did," Galleous observed as the trek went on.
"We were young and stupid," Matt admitted. "We've all had better ideas."
"Exactly how long did you spend wandering around unexplored caves?"
"They began at that sinkhole back there," Ingressus said, gesturing behind them.
Galleous looked between the two boys. "In that case, I'm glad I didn't know about that adventure until it was over."
Matt led them up a set of stairs bolted to the rock, leading into a smaller offshoot tunnel. Galleous began to feel the emptiness as they walked, the silence-beyond-silence, the nothing-that-should-be-something hanging in the air. It was as though some primal part of him remembered what had once been, and now could only see its loss.
His voice was low as he spoke. "Is this it?"
Ingressus shook his head, red eyes gazing down the tunnel. "Not yet."
Not yet?
"How much worse does it get?"
Ingressus glanced at him. "It is the Prime resonance. It's at least as strong as they are."
Galleous felt like he was walking into a graveyard as the cave opened up. His steps slowed abruptly as the feeling of death surrounded him, the memory of what once was manifesting only as the knowledge that it was no more. He barely heard Ingressus quietly telling Matt that they had arrived, so oppressive was the silence of the resonance.
"Songs…" he managed, the word itself sounding so out of place in this location so devoid of their power. It was so wrong, the silence deafening and smothering. Ingressus's Mobilium Song felt brighter and louder by contrast to the emptiness, and if its tune was a true sound he was sure it would be echoing across the cavern.
"I'd forgotten how bad it was," Ingressus said quietly.
Galleous shivered in response, wrapping his arms around himself. He remembered the Primes, their hypnotic spell and overwhelming power, Thalleous's darkened eyes as the powerful tunes sang in his mind and through his veins. They're angry, he had said.
Was this why? Did the Primes know what their disappearance had caused? Did they resent being taken from where they were meant to be? Did their rage burn against the Voltaris for their curiosity, their presumptuousness, their audacity to reach for a power like this? Did the Primes' fury weaponize itself, its wielders against the banished clan in eternal retribution for their actions, even after the crime had been forgotten and recompense was so far out of their reach?
"We… we were never meant to use them."
Ingressus understood what Galleous meant. "Yeah… Our bad."
Galleous's laugh was involuntary, yet still felt forced.
Ingressus looked down, summoning the Aggroshock to his hand. Its jagged static flickered like a torch in the emptiness, its aura driving a small fraction of the death away. Ingressus stepped to the center of the cave and carefully set the Song in Aggressium's place.
There was a moment of nothing. Ingressus brought out the Protepoint but then the resonance stirred. The Aggroshock flickered as its red tune spread across the cavern and then—
Galleous could only relate what came next to a starving animal. The resonance fell on the Song, its desperate hunger crying out for relief. Ingressus staggered back and Galleous retreated as the Song unformed before their very eyes, its shell vaporizing and its flickering light dispersing like a shockwave. The Song's core shone a bright white like a lone star before it too blinked out of existence. The Aggressium energy coursed outwards through the earth around them, fading away as it passed beyond the range Galleous's senses could detect.
Stillness closed around them again, the stifling emptiness pressing down once more. Yet the memory of the Song lingered, as though the energy granted was a drop of sustenance just enough to remind those present of what the resonance had once been. It had been awakened, revived if only the smallest bit by the scrap of Song power. Galleous had the image of an animal too starved and weakened to move, staring pleadingly at the rescuer that had taken pity on its saddened state. Galleous glanced up at Ingressus, standing against the far wall with the Protepoint forgotten in his hand as he stared at where the Song had been.
Matt's voice broke the silence. "So… was that supposed to happen?"
"It worked."
Ingressus looked up at Galleous, eyes gleaming with excitement and victory and hope. "It worked. No other resonance has done a thing to a fully formed Song. This is it." He stared at the center of the resonance again, as though to make sure the Song wouldn't reappear. "Finally. Finally, this is it…"
Galleous was smiling. "Six hundred years, so many Ardoni looking for answers… and you found it. You did it, Ingressus."
Every emotion was painted clear as day across Ingressus's face, such a contrast to his usual calm and closed demeanor. His hand shook and he pressed it to his head, running his fingers through his hair to keep it steady. If he hadn't been leaning against the cave wall, Galleous thought he might've collapsed.
"I did it…" he whispered.
Galleous walked over to him and rested a hand on his shoulder, looking into red eyes bright with relief and anticipation. Galleous looked back with pride. Ingressus had done the impossible, had defied every scrap of bad odds and every doubting and disparaging voice to get here now, poised to become the restorer of the Songs and his clan. Ingressus put his hand over Galleous's, his smile as of one in shock as he slumped back against the stone.
Matt stepped forward from the tunnel they'd come from, looking over the resonance. Galleous knew this had to seem strange to him– Humans couldn't sense Song energy like Ardoni could, he wouldn't have felt any of what he and Ingressus had.
Matt's words confirmed Galleous's thoughts. "I admit, I don't know what just happened… But you're clearly happy, so, congratulations. I'm glad this worked. Whatever it was."
Ingressus straightened again, his energy rushing back as he looked at his friend. "This is where the resonances died. This one is so much stronger than the others, but it's not because we're so close to the Heart of Ardonia– this was where the Prime Songs formed. They were the power source for all the other resonances in Ardonia."
His gaze sobered slightly as he looked back at where the Primes had once rested. "My ancestors must've taken them for study without knowing what would happen. The resonances went quiet, and over the years Ardoni started to notice that Songs weren't growing anymore. The realization coincided with our exile, or the wars leading up to it, and the blame was placed on us…"
He gestured to the resonance. "But that just proved they aren't dead for good. The tune lines are still there, just empty. Which means that they can be revived, and I can use that to bring my clan home, and end the war for good." He looked back at Galleous. "No more death, no more raids… Songs, no more Primes! All of it gone, all of it over for good!"
Ingressus didn't cry easily. With all he had been through he tended to shrug off everyday griefs or pains, reserving tears for the deep losses and frustrations rooted in the brokenness of the Ardoni and the injustices the Voltaris faced. But here in the Prime resonance, surrounded by the magic-death, the place it had all begun and the place where it could finally end, Ingressus pressed the heel of his hand to his eye, wiping away a tear of overwhelming relief that had finally been allowed to fall.
"Void eternal… it's almost over."
They left the mines behind again, walking back to Ataraxia under the twilight sky. Matt led the way with a lantern and Galleous kept close behind him, keeping an eye out for the early-rising undead. Ingressus brought up the rear, a third of his attention on watching for danger, a third running through all that needed to happen now, and a third still processing the fact that the long search was really, truly over. It had been– Songs, seven years since he'd begun this search, seven years of reading and thinking and chasing down every lead he could find and afford to seek out. It was his one idea, his one plan to get his clan to safety and now he had finally done it. He was so much closer to getting his people home, getting them out of the mountains and fulfilling his promise. He knew dealing with the other Masters would be a whole new challenge but the high of the long-awaited success was still running through him. Victory, peace, safety and restoration felt so close, like a bright star hovering just a few steps away, just beyond his fingertips.
He would need to contact Aegus, and send word back to the Voltaris. Aegus had suggested they meet to discuss terms for peace in person, yes, he would accept, and make plans for how to contact the rest of the council as soon as he could. They didn't even need to come up with a compromise over the Primes now, that would no longer be an issue once the resonances were restored. That would be the most major obstacle out of the way…
A splash from a nearby lake caught his attention. He turned to look, scanning the water in the gathering dusk. He had encountered a drowned zombie once before but the spreading ripples were too small for anything that size. But another thought struck him, calling back to an older question, one he'd long stopped bothering to wonder about. He stopped on the pathway, then turned and slid down the small embankment to the shoreline. Matt and Galleous heard him stop and turned in time to see Ingressus standing at the water's edge, staring out over the lake. The surface was rippling in the faint breeze, sending shards of darkness across the reflected sky.
"This is why you brought me here, isn't it?" Ingressus called, his voice echoing faintly back from the distant trees. "I shouldn't have drifted this far. I shouldn't have survived that long in the ocean. You brought me here, didn't you? The Heart's magic was damaged, and you wanted me to fix it."
There was a disturbance in the lake. Something dark and spiky emerged from the water, drifting there as it gazed at Ingressus with a single large eye. Ingressus and the Guardian stared at each other for a long moment, neither of them moving.
The Guardians had never cared about the politics or conflicts of Ardonia's other species. Whether it was tensions with the Nether or rebellions against Crown Peak, from the beginning of recorded history the Guardians had always remained distant and uninvolved. They shouldn't have had any stake in the fate of a lost Voltaris child, or the Master of an exiled clan. But a member of a clan who'd broken an entire strain of magic– they might've.
His hand twitched, grasping at the memory of Voltar. "This is why you did it."
With a quiet ripple, the Guardian submerged again and disappeared.
The response was hardly any different from the other times he'd sought out the aquatic beings for answers. Yet Ingressus still felt like the question was as good as answered. They must've taken Voltar to keep him here, to deprive him of a reason to return to Northwind.
He heard footsteps behind him, and looked back to see Galleous joining him on the sandy shore. The Sendaris looked out at the water where the Guardian had been, a look of realization on his face.
"I was always surprised by how you'd avoided infection back then," he said. "But if the Guardians wanted you here… maybe they were the ones to prevent it."
"You came here from the Barrier Mountains, didn't you?" Matt recalled, standing on the edge of the embankment. "To be honest, I'd never really considered just how far away that place is. But now that you say it– you think the Guardians brought you all this way?"
"I can't think of any other explanation," Ingressus said. "There are so many other places that I could've washed up in before reaching Ataraxia. And I don't even know how long I spent in the ocean, with open wounds. Yet I didn't bleed out, my blood didn't attract any sea predators, I didn't freeze… I shouldn't have made it here, in more ways than one."
"Well," Matt said. "For the record, I think we're all glad you did."
Ingressus chuckled. "I don't know– Selarin might've been able to do without it."
"Eh, maybe. But he doesn't count."
The rest of the walk was uneventful. The sky was fully dark by the time they returned to Ataraxia, but the only mob they encountered was a spider that saw the flames of Ingressus's sword and decided to find something else to challenge. Apparently they, like the frostbiters of Northwind before them, had learned to fear the enchanted blade.
"I think this calls for a celebration meal," Galleous observed when they returned to the forge. "What do you want?"
"I'm always down for those honey bars you make," Ingressus told him. "But… there's something I want to do first. Something I want to show you."
Galleous looked at him curiously. "What is it?"
Ingressus nodded outside again. "Come with me."
Galleous followed Ingressus outside, then made the connection when Ingressus led him to the yard above the cave.
"Your memorial?" he realized.
Ingressus just nodded. He reached into the leaves and pushed a stone aside, letting a branch spring up and reveal a gap leading through the shrubbery. A faint red glow could be seen through the leaves from here, the only indication that there was anything to be found.
Galleous had always known about the memorial Ingressus had made. He had helped Ingressus find some of the stones all those years ago, had given him the tools to carve out the patterns and had comforted Ingressus when the task left him overwhelmed with grief. But out of respect he had never set foot in the hiding place in the bushes, leaving it as a private sanctuary for Ingressus alone. But now on Ingressus's invitation Galleous followed him through the gap, emerging into the clearing and looking around at the glowing stones. Shade-loving flowers grew between them, nestled among the stones with their petals closed with the onset of night. Ingressus was already sitting in the center of the clearing, Voltar resting on the ground, and Galleous quietly knelt beside him.
Ingressus spoke to the stones first. "This is Galleous. He's the one I told you about– the Ardoni who saved me. I thought it was time he got to meet you."
The breeze rustled the branches as though in response. Galleous looked somberly over the ring of stones, taking in the patterns of scarlet, ruby, and crimson surrounding them. His gaze fell on Dominus and Lyrinia's markers, resting side by side at the head of the clearing.
"You raised an incredible son," he murmured. "I'm forever grateful to have had him in my life."
Ingressus shifted closer to Galleous, feeling the Sendaris's warmth in the air. How odd it was, that he had come to feel just the same about the ocean-blue markings beside him as he had the red hues and patterns of the Ardoni in his camp. His child self would never have believed that such a thing could ever happen, yet it was true. There was no blood shared but that didn't matter– he loved Galleous like family.
"He took care of me all this time," Ingressus said. "He kept me safe, gave me a home, taught me so much… even if I can still barely forge a shovel."
He heard Galleous chuckle quietly, and cracked a smile. "It's been fourteen years. Seven since I started looking for a way to get our clan home. Galleous has been helping me all the way, and now… it's finally over. I found it. I know how to fix the resonances. We'll be home soon… and what happened to us will never happen again. I hope… I hope you'll be able to see it from where you are."
Galleous gently put an arm around Ingressus, rubbing his back in comfort. Ingressus leaned against him, breathing deep as he let the emotion ebb and flow. Galleous said nothing, just sat with him and held him in quiet comfort as the leaves around them waved in the night breeze, and the gravestones cast a wash of red over the clearing. It was quiet, but it wasn't a dead silence like the resonance they'd left behind. Ingressus could hear the leaves rustling, the chirping of crickets in the night, Galleous's steady breathing and his own. He let the sounds surround him, let the living world ease the sting from the sorrow in his heart. Though so many were gone his clan still endured, still remained to be saved. And soon they would make it home.
"I never knew what they would think of this," Ingressus whispered finally. He felt the motion as Galleous turned to look down at him, where Ingressus was leaning against his shoulder.
"I often wondered if they'd approve of what I was trying to do," he went on. "Whether they would want me to stay here, or go back to Northwind. I didn't really have much to base any guess on. I didn't know what to think."
Galleous gave him a gentle squeeze. "I think they'd be very proud of you. Like I am."
(3989 words)
To anyone wondering– all Matt saw was the Song flicker and then poof away. Yes, it seemed very anticlimactic to him.
LULANI059, give yourself a big pat on the back, my friend, you figured this out ages ago. You were the first reader ever to work it out, so I bestow upon thee ultimate bragging rights.