From The Last Valley

The Collegae Of Planar Studies

Famaniel got up before dawn and left the girl beside her sleeping. She kissed the girl’s temples and watched her eyes twitch a little. Possibly she was dreaming of last nights joys.

Famaniel got up, got dressed and left two pieces of gold for the girl on the bedside. Hopefully Mara would be willing to join her again later.

Downstairs in the tavern, Lathia was up and behind her counter already, and Famaniel wondered if she ever slept at all. She handed a few coins to the fat woman, and told her she had been summoning Mara, in case Lathia was missing the girl. Lathia just smiled, and said nothing.

The morning air was cold and biting, but the sun would soon rise high enough to chase away the shadows that lay over the alleys of the Circle, warming up the place. She went on foot towards the main plaza. Only few people where actually outside so early, and she went undisturbed. Near the crossroads to the main plaza, a group of men blocked her way. They were obviously on their way home from a long night out, and drunk.

“Hey little girl!” The largest one called. “Up so, so late?”

Famaniel rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood for arguing with drunk blokes.

“Step out of my way!” She commanded.

The men laughed. “Or what, sweetie?”

A lightning bolt shot from nowhere, hitting the ground beneath the tall man. All three of them jumped as if the bolt had hit them.

“Bloody hell, lady!” The second man, a bald guy with a neck like a bull bellowed. “It was just a folly. No need to kill us!”

The taller man, who had realized that the lightning had only nearly missed his manly parts, grabbed the bald one by the sleeves and dragged him away.

Famaniel continued her way to the college.

Only a few scholars were hurrying along the corridors of white marble. The college was very beautiful. The walls where of marble and covered with mosaics, and the halls sounded from the clacks boots made on polished granite. In it’s architectural beauty the college could easily keep up with the temple of Sanctum, the capitol of Silverwood, which the Guardians had chosen for their headquarters.

Alas, it was also equal in terms of pompousness and righteousness with Sanctum. Famaniel did not know of any other place she had met more self-satisfied men, and fewer women, then here.

She entered the office of one of them now. Sylver Valis was undoubtedly a genius. He managed what the Guardians had seen as the work of their gods: To bring people to ascension, which meant, they where made immortal. The Guardians claimed this a doing of the Vigil, but secretly Famaniel believed, they used the same technology as the Defiant.

Sylver Valis may have been the first to discover ascension, but it was not him alone to master it. It had been the coordinated work of hundreds of scholars, technicians and craftsmen to make it happen. Yet Sylver claimed all credit for it. And as the discoverer of ascension, he behaved as if he had property on the ascended themselves. He seemed to see the world as a lab for his experiments. His success with the ascension experiments had put him in favor with the Lords of Meridian, but that didn’t mean his ingenuity always led to success. More often than not someone had to clear the rubble of another failed experiment. The price for the mislead magic was usually paid by common folk, such as the people of Granite Falls.

Sylver was already in his lab. Most of the time he slept there, and he didn’t need much sleep anyway. Being an ascended himself, he could hardly work himself to death, if he died of a heart attack, he would simply reappear somewhere.

Famaniel entered without knocking. Sylver turned around, when he heard someone enter.

“Famaniel!” He looked surprised to see her again. “You are alive!”

“Of course, I’m alive, you moron” she thought, “You made sure, I cannot die properly.”

But she didn’t share her thoughts. “Sylver”, she said instead. “I hope I don’t disturb your work!”

In fact, she hoped she did disturb him. Maybe it would delay him in messing up the next village.

“Oh, no no.” Sylver hastily rolled up the scroll he had been reading and turned toward her.

“How are things going with Centius?” He asked.

“Centius is where he belongs, on the other side of Titan’s Gate. Where ever that leads.”

“So you did defeat him?” Sylver looked satisfied. “Good, good.”

Famaniel braced herself. “At a very high cost.” She claimed. “Fifteen of the city guard died. I barely got away.”

Sylver shrugged. “It’ll take a lot to actually kill you for good, Famaniel. I wouldn’t worry.”

Famaniel felt a rush of anger. “These were good men. They fought bravely. We owe them a lot. You owe them a lot!”

Sylver looked at her like at a child. “They’re mortals, my child. Mortals die. And it was for a higher course.”

Famaniel couldn’t believe it. “It was you, who brought that thing in the world. If it weren’t for your silly experiments, they could be still alive! It’s not that we don’t have enough problems already, with a civil war going on, the rifts, and Alsbeth and Regulos trying to take over the world! We really don’t need the avatar of a dead god walk around!”

Sylver seemed surprised by her rage. “But if we gained control over it, it would have been worth it.”

“Not for me, no!” Famaniel shot back. “If we raise ourselves above the common men, what makes us different from Alsbeth?”

Sylver shook his head. “Famaniel, I am working for the greater good here. We have to accept that there are certain sacrifices.”

“Yeah, that’s easy to say for you. From your warm and safe study. It’s not you, who sacrifices everything! You don’t walk through the gates of hell everytime someone puts a sword through your belly!”

Sylver looked troubled. “All I want is peace for the peoples of Telara, my Child!”

“You know how they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions?” Famaniel was furious now. “I bet Alsbeth’s intentions weren’t always bad, you know? She bet she wasn’t always like she is today. There are things you just don’t do. Killing innocent people just to prove your point is one of them.”

She took a breath.

“And while we’re at it: I am not you’re child. My father is dead. Like most of my people!”

Sylver looked at her in bewilderment. “What do you expect me to do? Watch as Telara is torn apart by evil forces?”

“No. But I expect you to follow a moral path, and stop acting as if the world is yours. We are at war, but if we allow ourselves to become our enemy, what are we fighting for then? You’ll have to be much more careful on what you’re experimenting on in the future.”

“Is that a threat?” The arrogance in his voice was suddenly replaced by a mixture of anger and nervousness.

“Yes,” Famaniel replied calmly. “if you want to see it that way. I am going to send my reports to the council. And I’m going to add my view of things. Someone’s got a close eye on you now, Sylver.”

Sylver clearly wasn’t happy. “What makes you think I’ll just let you do that?”

“Because you know that even you’ve got to stick to the rules. Maybe you’re the master of ascension. But your latest failures haven’t gone unnoticed. There are many important robes in this collage, and I daresay not all of them are your friends.”

Sylver sighed. “What do you want?” He asked.

“The same as you. Peace for Telara. A chance for a new beginning. But I also want everyone in this land treated with the respect they deserve!” Famaniel put a scoll onto Sylver’s marble desk. It contained her report.

“I don’t want to be sent out again, to clean up your litter.” She said, before she left the room, silently closing the door behind her. Sylver stood there, still puzzled.

“Remarkable” he murmured. “Really remarkable.”

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