13-34. An Invitation Refused
“I think you already know my answer.”
“I didn’t even ask the question.”
Benedict sighed, then shook his head without looking up from his notes. “I don’t need to be a seer to know what you’re going to ask,” he stated. “Also, it’s very rude to just climb onto someone’s balcony. You could have just knocked on the door.”
“Do they knock on doors here?” Elijah asked, settling into the chair next to the one Benedict occupied. The balcony overlooked a pitiful attempt at a park in the center of Dravkein. The plants looked nice enough, and they filled the air with all the appropriate scents. But to Elijah, they felt even more hollow than the crops populating the fields surrounding the town.
“What?”
“Knocking. Is it a universal thing? I’ve noticed that there are a few details like that. Characteristics that run through every civilization. But let me tell you – handshakes definitely aren’t one of those,” Elijah admitted.
“I never liked shaking hands. It’s a stupid, outdated custom, and it’s unhygienic.”
“That you feel that way is not in the least bit surprising.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” Elijah said. “So?”
“So, what?”
“Do you want to come to Druhmor with me?” Elijah asked. He truly didn’t expect Benedict to say yes, but he hoped all the same. Traveling alone was draining in a way that wasn’t always obvious – at least until he returned to civilization and spoke to other people. Only then did he realize just how exhausting solitude could be.
“Did you already ask Zek?”
“Uh…”
“You did, didn’t you?”
“Maybe.”
“So, I’m your second choice?”
“Something like that.”
In reality, Elijah had already asked Zek, as well as a couple of the other most powerful hunters in Dravkein. The eldest hunter had refused, citing a responsibility to his people. And the others were far too wary of Elijah to go anywhere with him. Perhaps he could stay in Dravkein for a few months and change that, but despite the nervous anticipation twisting him into knots, he knew he couldn’t afford to sit still
There was no more time constraint weighing down on him. Earth’s fate had already been decided, and without his input. But even then, he simply couldn’t stomach the idea of delaying his journey. If it took ten years or a hundred, he would find a way back to his home planet, and he refused to waste time on other endeavors. He needed to remain focused on the task at hand.
And that task required him to go to the most toxic place on Gorveth.
“Like I already said, you know my answer,” Benedict said, finally closing his notebook and setting it aside. Elijah didn’t miss that it was filled with esoteric glyphs he didn’t recognize.
“Experimenting?”
Benedict shrugged. “There’s so much about glyphs and runes we don’t understand,” he acknowledged. “So much power there. If I can modify a few bits and pieces, I can reach deeper into the other dimensions and coax more powerful creatures into my net.”
“How does that work, exactly?” Elijah asked. “Are you literally taking beings from other dimensions? Do they have thoughts and feelings? Are they sapient?”
“I don’t know. I think…I think, at this level, they’re more like the creatures populating towers and Primal Realms,” he said. “You know, like living copies. They’re real, but they’re also not. Some of the guides I read back on Earth suggested that higher level summoners bind real creatures.”
“How, though?”
“Soul contracts,” Benedict answered. “I’m not certain how it works. I couldn’t afford those guides, especially when I’m not sure that’s the route my evolution will take.”
“Interesting.”
“It is,” Benedict said. “But you didn’t come here to talk about summoners. Or glyphs. I don’t even think you came here expecting me to come with you.”
Elijah shrugged. “Maybe not,” he admitted. “How are you doing?”
“Fine,” Benedict replied, his response more reflexive than genuine. He sighed. “Better than fine. I feel…I don’t know.” He leaned back, then ran a hand through his long hair. “Have you ever felt like you belonged?”
“Outside of my grove? Not really.”
That much was true. Elijah had never been as antisocial as someone like Benedict. He’d had friends. A girlfriend. A life in Hawaii. But for all of that, he’d ever been a bit of an outsider. That had changed when he’d met Nerthus and built his grove. Meeting Sadie had been another step towards finding his place in the world, though thinking of her brought with it a significant degree of pain.
Was she still alive? Had she found herself stranded on an excised Earth, where she was forced to watch everyone else slowly consumed by the power of the abyss? She wouldn’t go down easily. She was strong enough to delay the inevitable for a while. But just like everyone else, she would eventually fall under its influence.
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Elijah shook his head, but before he could continue his response, Benedict said, “They accept me here. I don’t know why, but they don’t care that I’m odd. They don’t try to bully one another. Instead, they coexist in harmony.”
That wasn’t entirely true. Despite its outward appearance, Dravkein had been victimized by the same caste system that had infected Ithalon. It wasn’t as overt, and the lines dividing its people weren’t as firm. But in the end, the mutated farmers didn’t mix with the less-corrupted men and women who populated the more central areas of the town.
They didn’t ostracize the lower class. But that was probably only true so long as everyone stayed in their places. Otherwise, things might get ugly.
Of course, Benedict probably didn’t see that. Nor did he understand that the acceptance he felt was at least partially contingent on his unblemished appearance. Elijah didn’t have the heart to point out the society’s imperfections, though. If partial blindness to the culture’s ills gave the man some measure of peace, who was Elijah to stand in the way?
“That’s good, man. I’m happy for you,” Elijah said. For as long as he’d known Benedict, the man had been broken. He still was, but some of those wounds had begun to mend. “I really didn’t expect you to come with me.”
“I know. I’m sorry to meet those expectations.”
Elijah shrugged. “Honestly, the real reason I came to see you is because I need help,” he said. It wasn’t entirely true. He’d hoped that he was wrong about Benedict’s desire to stay in Dravkein. But there existed another purpose for the meeting. He summoned his notebook from the Arcane Loop and went on, “I’ve been studying glyphs and runic circles lately, but I think I’ve hit a wall. I was wondering if you might help me fill in some of the gaps in my understanding.”
“You were taking notes all this time?”
As he nodded, Elijah answered, “I was. Just here and there, from what I could glean from your conversations with Hu Shui. I expanded a little based on some things I learned from Nerthus. Did you know that his methods are strikingly similar to yours?”
“Who’s Nerthus?”
“Oh. Right. You’ve never been to my grove. He’s a spryggent. One of my best friends, too. Kind of like a brother. And he takes care of the island,” Elijah explained, almost off-handedly.
“What’s a spryggent?” Benedict asked before Elijah could continue.
“Tree-man,” Elijah answered. “But that’s not important. What’s important is that he grows the plants in such a way as to mimic ritual circles. I can’t really remember all the patterns – last time I was there, I barely understood that kind of thing – but it serves to concentrate the ambient ethera and native vitality on the island.
“My point is that I took what I could remember and incorporated it into some of the things you and Hu Shui learned inside the Labyrinth of Mad Gods,” Elijah went on. He held up the notebook. “It’s all here, too. I’m just not sure how to keep going. I understand a lot more than I used to, but…I guess I’ve hit a wall. So, I decided to come to the expert for a little help.”
“I’m no expert, Elijah.”
“More than me.”
“That’s true.”
“So?”
“So, what?”
“Will you help me? I want to leave within the next couple of days,” Elijah revealed. He’d already commissioned a bunch of new meals from the town’s Cooks, but it would take some time for his order to be filled. Elijah wanted to use that time to continue learning about ritual circles and other magical constructs.
Part of him hoped that it might one day be helpful, but mostly, he just found the study interesting and a perfect distraction from his other endeavors. To him, it was like combining chemistry and art, with a foundation of complex mathematics. He possessed no great talent for it, but that was kind of the point. The struggle to put it into context he could understand was a satisfying journey.
“Let me see what you have.”
Elijah handed his own notebook over, and Benedict’s reaction was not encouraging. Even as he read the very first page, a scowl of disapproval spread across his face, and it only deepened with every passing moment. He flipped through the pages quickly, his eyes darting back and forth as he rapidly digested the information Elijah had worked so hard to compile.
In all, it only took him fifteen minutes to read it all. During that time, Elijah forced himself to ignore Benedict’s growing displeasure. Instead, he distracted himself by focusing on the park where a dozen or so natives enjoyed the hollow mockery of nature.
No. It wasn’t a mockery.
A tribute, perhaps. An image created by people who’d never experienced the real thing and had no idea what their creation was missing. Like an echo of an idea half understood.
“Your handwriting is terrible,” Benedict finally said, closing the book with finality.
“It’s not that bad.”
“I spend most of my time deciphering glyphs, and I could barely read it.”
“But you could read it,” Elijah pointed out. “That has to count for something. What did you think?”
“I think your understanding of ritual circles is childish and barely cohesive.”
“Ouch. Tell me how you really feel.”
“I am,” Benedict replied, not really getting the joke. Or if he did, he didn’t acknowledge it. “However, there are some interesting ideas in here. Like the section on recursive glyphs? Your perspective is so different that it may very well open a new avenue for my own research.”
“Nice. I thought I was going in the wrong direction there.”
“You were.”
“But you said –”
“I said that your perspective gave me new ideas. The execution on your part was so wrong that if you put your conclusions into practice, you may very well cause a rift in time and space. And that’s if it worked at all. Which it wouldn’t.”
“Damn.”
Elijah had been proud of his progress, so finding out that he’d been barking up the entirely wrong tree was a bit of a blow to his ego. He quickly pushed that aside and asked, “So, what do I need to do? Can you help me?”
Benedict shook his head. “I really shouldn’t. You understand just enough to truly get into trouble, and you have sufficient power to transform simple mistakes into real catastrophes.”
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Death, for one.”
“I’m pretty hard to kill.”
“I’m aware. But I wasn’t just talking about you. I was talking about everything on this planet.”
“Oh. Yeah. That would probably be bad.”
Benedict rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “I will put some study materials together for you,” he said. “Just so I can be assured you won’t destroy the world by accident.”
“Awesome,” Elijah replied with a grin. “For what it’s worth, I’ll do everything I can not to blow up the world.”
“I don’t find that statement very encouraging.”
“It’ll be fine,” Elijah assured him, reaching out to grip his shoulder. Benedict flinched at the contact, but for once, he didn’t pull away. “How long?”
“A few days. A week at most,” Benedict answered.
“And you’re sure you won’t come with me?”
Benedict glanced back toward his home, where Jasai’i rested. “I’m sure.”
“Fair enough,” Elijah said, pushing himself to his feet. “I’ll be back in a few days.”
Then, without further conversation, he leaped from the balcony, bounded off of Cloud Step, and transformed into the Shape of the Sky. He was flying away from the city within a few moments.
For all that he liked Dravkein, he found the town distracting, and to the point where it interfered with his attempts at cultivation. It was a bit of a conundrum. He valued company, but he also found it difficult to endure for longer than a couple of days.
As he landed and reverted to his human form, he mumbled, “I guess it’s the hermit life for me. At least for now.”