Book 6: Chapter 73: Laid Out

Book 6: Chapter 73: Laid Out

“He looks so pitiful,” Sadie said. “Are you sure we can’t –”

“There’s an ethereal cage around him,” Dat said. “If any of us try to breach it, we’ll end up just like him.”

“I know. I just want to put him into a more...dignified position.”

“I ‘an ‘ear ‘ou,” Elijah muttered, though his speech was rendered almost unintelligible by two factors. First, he couldn’t actually move his mouth, making hard consonants very difficult to enunciate. Second, his cheek was practically glued to the floor, which really wasn’t conducive to clear communication.

But to Sadie, the worst part was that his body was folded in on itself. Bent at the waist, with his knees and cheek in contact with the floor, he looked like a toddler sleeping in a particularly awkward position.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem like he was in any danger of lasting harm. With his high Constitution and Regeneration, along with Ron’s healing, he would be fine in the long run. Still, Sadie couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him, even if he had brought it on himself.

Elijah mumbled something that no one could understand, so Dat knelt beside him and, after a moment, said, “He says not to worry about him. Just do what we came here to do.” He leaned in again, then grinned. “He also says that Dat is the most awesome bro in the group. His words. Thanks, bro.”

Sadie shook her head and smiled. Leaving him where he was was probably the best option. After all, they had a great opportunity before them – better than anyone could have anticipated. So, they couldn’t let Elijah’s issues derail them. With that in mind, Sadie said, “Does someone want to...um...keep him company while we search for information pertinent to the challenge?”

Kurik sighed. “I’ll stay with the idjit,” he stated with a shake of his head. “Gives me a chance to collect my traps anyway.”

Once that was established, the group reestablished their intended topics of research. The first was obviously about the challenge itself – chiefly anything concerning the First Mage – but at the last moment, Sadie added something else.

“What can you tell me about the Shadeborne Sect?” she asked the disembodied voice of the Librarian.

That had been on her mind ever since she’d forced the surviving elder into absolution. The rest of the group labored under the assumption that she’d used some new skill to push the elder into surrendering to execution, but Sadie knew the truth. She hadn’t used any new abilities. It was the result of Confession and Sense of Sin, both of which had been temporarily augmented by a strand of Faith.

Even then, none of it would have been possible if the elder hadn’t been beset by crippling guilt. Sadie had only forced her to confront those feelings, and the result had overwhelmed whatever sense of self-preservation the elder had possessed. Such a strategy wouldn’t be viable in every situation, but it had been the perfect way to confront the circumstances of that challenge.

Still, Sadie’s actions had left an indelible mark on her own mind, and she wanted to know more about the surrounding details.

Fortunately, the Librarian was quite accommodating on both counts. She – and the voice definitely sounded distinctly feminine to Sadie – led the members of the group in two separate directions. The method of her guidance was interesting. Without a corporeal – or visible – body, the Librarian instead created a trail of blinking lights for her to follow.

As Sadie made her way through the library, she was awestruck by the wealth of information available. If they’d had the time, she could have spent weeks among those shelves, just reading through the contents of one crystal after another.

However, she quickly discovered that doing so would be quite counterproductive. Most contained completely irrelevant information about the societal structure of Ka’arath, detailing the history of various organizations, countries, and even a few empires. The Librarian was perfectly happy – bordering on giddy – to explain as much. That led Sadie to ask a question that had been on her mind since she’d first heard the disembodied voice.

“What are you?” she asked.

“I am the Librarian.”

“No – I understand that,” Sadie stated as they entered a new section. “But what is your nature? Are you a spirit? A construct? Were you –”



The fabled Castle of Whispers was not built. It was grown. Using the soul of an Umbral Spirit as fuel, the sole surviving elder of the Shadeborn Sect grew the castle via a forbidden ritual. It is said that those with powerful sensory capabilities can hear its pleas for an end to its captivity.



It went on to explain the suspected method used in the ritual, but even the author admitted that it was only speculation, noting that information on such processes was very difficult to come by. Sadie understood why, too. The idea of trapping a sentient creature’s soul just to create a stronghold – it was abominable. That knowledge also served to soothe Sadie’s conscience somewhat. Executing the elder had been the right thing.

Perhaps that was the point of her research.

After reading only a little more, Sadie decided that she’d learned enough. With that, she returned to the library’s lobby, where Elijah remained in his awkward position. His eyes were closed, so she assumed that he’d somehow fallen asleep. However, when she drew closer, she could feel the fluctuations in the ethera around him.

“What are you doing?”

He mumbled a response, but it took Sadie a few seconds to understand what he meant. “You’re cultivating?”

He grunted, though he didn’t open his eyes. Sadie could only wish she had the sort of dedication he possessed. He wasn’t always working on something – he spent plenty of time just exploring with no real aim – but he worked as hard or harder than anyone she’d ever seen. That was an admirable quality that, until very recently, she’d not really noticed.

Before Sadie could say anything else, Dat returned.

“I think I found the answer,” he announced, holding up a crystal. “Or the Librarian found it. I just read it.”

Sadie took the offered crystal, and when she read it, her eyes widened. “This isn’t going to be easy,” she said.

“What’s new?” Dat responded.

That was true. Each of the challenges – save for the City of Toh, which didn’t count because it wasn’t a first-clear – had been impossibly difficult. It was easy to think that the only reason they’d survived was due to luck, which was likely accurate, at least to some degree. However, it was mostly because each member of the group knew how to play their roles. If anyone had been missing – or lacked the skill to do their job – everyone would have already died.

She re-read the text:



The Tower of the First Mage

Traditionally, the Tower of the First Mage has played host to the senior-most faculty of the Academy Arcanum, which is the preeminent institution of learning on all of Ka’arath.

Due to that reputation, the First Mage has historically been regarded as one of the most powerful people in the world – both politically and in terms of progression. So, when the final First Mage set himself against the Lightning Emperor, it required a response.

For his own safety, the First Mage activated the Tower’s defenses, which were among the most powerful in the world.



The rest of the essay described the defenses in great detail, though due to a change in tone, Sadie expected that it had been altered by the challenge. That made sense, because there was absolutely no way they would ever gain access to the Tower of the First Mage if it was strong enough to hold a Transcendent at bay.

Even so, Dat’s supposition that they had a difficult road to travel was spot on. Hopefully, they would be up to the task ahead. But the way was clear, which was all she could really ask for.