Neophyte World Builder

LEVOS

The memories came swiftly. Fragmented, intense, filled with the terror of the moment.

Ground shaking. Screams. His pack tearing away as someone tried to grab him.

Falling.

More screams.

Ylena reaching for his hand.

A desperate gamble using his Eruption to slow them at the last moment.

Ice cold water roaring around him.

Ylena’s hand torn from his grip.

Water in the lungs.

Terror.

Darkness.

Levos woke with a choking gasp, coughing in reflex. The expected sputter of water from his lungs didn’t happen, nor did the shivering he expected. He was warm… though not comfortable, as the ache in his muscles told him.

“It shouldn’t hurt this time,” a gentle feminine voice said from beside him. “We really do need to stop meeting like this. I’m sure there are easier ways of getting my attention.”

Looking to his side, Levos blinked his eyes clear. Some part of him registered the hastily-raised dome of a shelter built with magic, and the Lumen spells shedding their soft glow over the area. It was a small dome, with a single door out and one opening for ventilation, and room for only two mats on the ground for rest.

Most of his attention went to the beautiful Aravel beside him. She wasn’t conventionally pretty in the modern sense… her cheeks a touch too pronounced, her eyes too large to match the modern conventions. Yet somehow Levos was struck by an instant affection, one that sent him into a spiral of confusion. He’d never been one to gape at pretty girls before.

The woman didn’t seem surprised, if her musical chuckle was anything to go by. She tapped him on the nose and dipped her ears, then raised her arm to show the multicolored bracelet around her wrist. A lifebinding bracelet… an ancient custom, but one still practiced by some. She was taken, and wanted him to know it.

“Keep looking at me like that, and our mutual friend may get jealous,” she teased, ears wiggling in good humor. “I take it you’re not in too much pain, Sir Levos?”

Levos tilted his ears down and rubbed at his eyes. “I… ache all over, but it’s nothing worse than working myself too hard,” he answered with a mumble. “What happened? Where am I?”

He jerked upright so quickly his head cracked on the curve of the dome, sending him back down with a loud thud. He blinked the spots out of his vision and clapped a hand to the bruised forehead, ignoring the woman’s wince. “Ylena! Was there a younger elf with me? My friends must be—”

“Shhh,” came the reassuring reply. A soothing tingle ran through his head as the woman touched him lightly on the temple. Healing magic of some kind, easing the pain of the bruise he’d just given himself. He relaxed with a deep breath.

“Ylena is safe, she is in another shelter,” she reassured. “We found your friend Ynot as well, but it was badly hurt and our healing does not work as well on their kind. She wanted to try to help it. It sounds like she is quite fond of it. Your rooken friend was here earlier, he followed the flood down to our camp, but he is exploring the area right now with our own scouts.”

A thought came to him. She’d called him Sir Levos, a title that Ylena sometimes gave him. He didn’t understand the nuance of it, only that it marked some kind of respect or importance in her culture, so he’d never argued. He’d never heard it anywhere else, which meant this woman was either from Ylena’s kingdom or had spoken to her. Since Ylena’s people were all Calen and this was clearly an Aravel… he was betting on the latter.

“Where am I?” he asked again. This time he sat up more slowly, taking in the artificially-formed structure and its flimsy nature. It was quality work, just not built to last… whomever had put it up had done so well, and it should last a few days before it started breaking down. A good builder could make it more permanent, he reasoned, though he wasn’t an expert.

“Our camp,” the woman replied. She rose from her kneeling position and stepped to the entrance, offering her hand to Levos. “You may have heard of us. Many call us the Doomsayers, or the Endseekers. Our real name is Those of the New Beginning. We’ve been traveling about for octades trying to warn people that some difficult times are coming.”

Levos flinched, his ears and tail dipping even as he took the offered hand. “I… have heard of you. They also call you the Cult of New Beginnings. They say you’re one of the groups who want to bring down the Empire and return us to a more… uh… natural state.”

Once again her laughter rolled out, playful and light. If she took offense, the woman didn’t show it. Her tail beckoned him to step out into the light, where he found it to be almost the middle of the day, and several other shelters—most a fair bit larger than his own—dotted the slope overlooking a raging river. Everything was recent, including the riverbank… this area had been torn through by the shake, ripping apart the geography.

“I suppose we are a cult,” she continued with that same teasing tone. “It’s not quite right to say we want to bring down the Empire. Our warning says that unless they are prepared, the Empire will fall and elves will need to build themselves up again. It isn’t a desire, it’s a warning. I don’t linger in the Empire often myself, but I’m sure some of my past lives have been perfectly happy there.”

He’d traveled over a good portion of the world in his years… Levos was also an Aravel, and he had been around for octades already, plus his three previous lives. The language was a little too reassuring for his comfort, even if something inside him kept telling him that this woman was trustworthy. Trying to justify the cult’s movement as harmless or helpful wasn’t a strange thing to do.

“You don’t believe me?” she asked with her ears lifting in amusement. “We gain nothing from this. If the Empire listens to us, they can preserve themselves. If the people don’t… well, we’re prepared for that as well. You’ve seen the shakes get more common, you know something is wrong. You just don’t know the cause yet.”

Levos snorted. “And you do, I suppose?” He’d seen this before. People who claimed to have all the answers, who drew others to them. Then they used them and cast them aside. It wasn’t common among elves, but it wasn’t unknown.

Another laugh, and she tilted one ear down. “Actually I do, but there’s not much we can do about it. Your friend Ylena is prepared, at least. Relax, I don’t want anything from you… if anything, you still have a favor to call in from a previous life. Not with me, but you might want to consider it soon… you’ve been sitting on it since before the Age of Silence.”

The casual way she said it made Levos dip both ears in worry. He didn’t even know her name, and she kept disarming everything he said. She didn’t push him as he took in the sights, watching a mixture of elves, rooken, and underfoot shuffling about, as if preparing to move. They had Ylena and Ynot here somewhere, so he had to be careful.

“I suppose you’re going to suggest we travel together or spread the word?” he asked, probing for what she wanted. It was common for elves to help out those in trouble, but he’d heard too much about the cult to take it as just a friendly rescue. Even rescuers without an ulterior motive often expected gratitude.

The woman sighed, her tail giving a half-annoyed flick. “I don’t need anything from you. If anything, I expect you’ll rush off somewhere else. Ynot probably has some grand destination in mind… it always does. You should go with them, and let us do our own thing. If I really wanted to send the message to everyone, I do have ways, but there are rules about how this works.”

Levos narrowed his eyes. “It always does? You’ve met Ynot before?” He thought back to a few moments ago. “And you said we had to stop meeting like this. Have we met in a previous life? I’m not remembering you… and I only have three lives, the memories shouldn’t have decayed that much. Just who are you?”

“Never in a way I remember, but my lover has,” she answered, tapping the bracelet again. “She knows it very well. You and I met a long, long time ago… I’m sure you don’t remember, it’s not in a way that memories are passed down. I pulled you from a river as you were drowning, and you gave me that same look you gave me earlier. If I believed in fate, I’d call it that.”

The woman turned, ears lifting up. “You can call me Reyth. Yes, same name as the one you probably know from myth. It’s a long story and not important right now. All you need to know is your companions are safe, and we’ll point you to the nearest intact Way. I only wanted to remind you that you have a favor from the System, and this might be a good time to use it. Not now exactly, but soon… so you should think about what you want.”

Ears tilting down, Levos tensed up warily. Not every Reythist cult was dangerous, but one whose leader actually claimed to be Reyth, or even just took the name, was something he didn’t want a part of. Her easy banter really did seem to be offering a helpful bit of guidance, but Reythists that were genuinely helpful and selfless were much rarer than the myth would suggest.

“A favor from the System?” he asked incredulously. “The System doesn’t offer favors, just achievements. I’m sure I don’t have anything like that.” He tried to bring up any such menu with a firm thought.

He stared quietly at his own notification. “Akasha?” he asked, looking over at the woman who claimed to be Reyth. “I don’t understand.”

Finally, Reyth gave an exasperated sigh instead of a laugh. “You don’t have to understand… and did she leave her name in there again? I suppose that’s fine, it’s her choice, but I keep telling her not to. Try not to spread that name around, please.”

Levos twitched his tail. Reyth’s casual attitude was unnerving, but his instincts were pretty good about who to trust. Despite a number of problems that his logic told him were things to be wary about… she did seem familiar, and in a good way.

“What kind of favor can I ask for?”

Reyth’s ears raised in a friendly gesture of pleasure. “I’m not sure what the limits are. Your friend Ynot can’t be bound… you’ve probably noticed that. Don’t expect something nearly that powerful, even I’m not sure what it did to deserve that.”

“It’s a long story!” another voice interrupted. Another elf girl—one who looked surprisingly young—grabbed hold of Reyth’s arm after dashing over. “It’s also not a story you could really understand! Just try to think of something nice and heroic, okay? You’re going to the Dawnwall, right? I don’t think Ynot will want a shortcut, but if you want to take your favor soon, maybe something that will help with that.”

A rare achievement flashed through his eyes, and Levos stared at the newcomer. This was getting to be ridiculous. Was he perhaps in the Dream? He’d never Dreamwalked before, but he’d heard stories. This was getting too strange for him.

Very well. He would test how far this went.

“Fine. I have a favor to ask.”