IN THE REVERENT’S PLACE IN JARGO TOWER

NARRATION

JANUAE

We have been at this every day for nearly three weeks. I don the vest and Reverent Shoum sends me off to another strange dimension, some nearly identical to our own, others so strange and bizarre they are beyond description. I spend as little time as possible in each dimension as I do not want my presence being detected by the shatarak. Shoum believes even a brief dimension walk is enough to attune the device to my personal frequency, whatever that means. Her theory is that it will eventually resonate with my personal signature as well as every location I have ever visited in my life. She says all I’ll need to do is call up the location in my mind and it will create a resonating link between her dimensional portal device and the location in question. I wish I could forget some of the previous locations I have visited so they might not inadvertently come to mind.

It turns out that this theory was quite accurate, though the resulting validation was not what I would have hoped for. Prior to this particular teleportation attempt, I found Reverent Shoum to be in a rather… inquisitive mood. It was get-to-know-Januae-day in the Shoum domicile. She asked where I was born, about my childhood, how I decided to become an Aeon Priest, the full story of how I came to jaunt uncontrollably. She wanted to know about the wonders of all these strange places I had been and what I had encountered. She was particularly taken by the ritual of the Veilwardens and of the Ustiliator, how it had reappeared and brought me to the Twinned Cities. She believed it might be linked to the polyps in the valley somehow, considering she had been… duplicated in a similar manner.

All this talk of the Veilwardens and the Ustiliator and Cheloh… it kept rolling over in my mind that day while donning the vest and entering the teleporter- and of course, this turns out to be the time Shoum’s theory proves correct.

So here I am within the walls of Cheloh. After I get through the initial shock of finding myself not in a strange dimension, but in a location that is somewhat familiar to me, that gives way to a feeling of disappointment. I would have held an entirely different place in mind had I thought this was the time it would actually work. Had the Reverent not been so inquisitive about how I had ended up this way…

Actually, since I’ve ended up here, I’ll see if I can make good use of the trip. I head over to the Temple of the Wellspring which the Chelohans call the Kileti-Fior, the place where this condition was imposed upon me. I’ll speak to the Veilwardens and see if perhaps there’s a chance this can be reversed.

PRINE

Outlander! You have returned!

JANUAE

Yes, well not intentionally. Much like the last time I was here.

PRINE

The spirit-winds did not indicate that you’d be returning.

JANUAE

But since I’m here, maybe you can help me out with something. Last time I was here the Ustiliator did something to me and now I’m jaunting all over the place and I can’t control it. It’s become a problem. I’m wondering if you can reverse it for me. Or at least make it to where I can control it.

PRINE

I’m not sure I understand. Let’s bring Kaebossus into the mix, see if we can’t figure this out.

JANUAE

I would appreciate-

PRINE

(yelling, interrupting)

Kaebossus!

The yell of the Kaebossus’ name echoes throughout the temple. Kaebossus comes over to join them.

KAEBOSSUS

Prine! There’s no need for that.

PRINE

Remember the outlander? He’s returned. He says the ritual of the Wellspring did something to him.

KAEBOSSUS

Welcome back, Outlander. Though I didn’t expect you would be returning here.

JANUAE

Yes, well neither did I. I’ve got a problem. That ritual you all performed did something to me. It’s made me jaunt at random times to random places. I can’t control it.

KAEBOSSUS

Jaunt at random? And you think the ritual did this to you?

JANUAE

I know the ritual did this. I wasn’t jaunting before you performed it on me.

KAEBOSSUS

Then if this is what has happened to you as a result of the Tul’ta’a- the ritual of the Wellspring, then that is what’s meant to be.

JANUAE

No, you don’t understand. The ritual was supposed to send me back home.

KAEBOSSUS

I don’t think you understand. If you were meant to go back home you would have gone home. Wherever you’ve gone instead is where you were meant to go.

JANUAE

No, no…. none of the places I’ve been have anything to do with anything. It’s all random. Whatever you meant to do didn’t work.

PRINE

We didn’t mean to do anything. We just perform the Tul’ta’a. Whatever happens from there is in the hands of the Ustiliator.

(chuckles)

Well, as a matter of speaking. As you can see, the Ustiliator has no hands.

JANUAE

The Usiliator- of course. It appeared the last time I jaunted, before the split. Let me speak to the Ustiliator.

KAEBOSSUS

You can try but I’m not sure what you think you can accomplish. The Ustiliator doesn’t speak.

JANUAE

I plan to tell it to fix what it did to me.

(yelling)

Ustiliator! You need to undo this jaunting thing you did to me!

PRINE

You’re wasting your words, Outlander. It won’t respond.

JANUAE

(after a couple of beats)

Do the ritual.

KAEBOSSUS

Excuse me?

JANUAE

Do the ritual, do your chant. That’s what woke up the Ustiliator, or activated it, or whatever, right? I heard the chanting when it showed up in Qi. Get the other Veilwardens together and start chanting. I need to convince that thing to fix this for me.

KAEBOSSUS

We can’t just jump up and perform the ritual for you, Outlander. The others are busy tending to their duties. Besides, the energies of the temple have not been activated. We don’t activate it, it just happens outside our control. It’s as if the Kileti-Fior itself decides when it will become activated. Outside of that, we can’t perform the ritual until it does. It would be completely ineffectual and the Ustiliator won’t respond at all.

JANUAE

Well, I’m going to go talk to it.

(walks off toward the Ustiliator)

PRINE

Hey, you can’t just-

KAEBOSSUS

It doesn’t matter. Leave him to it. If it’ll make him feel better… which it won’t.

JANUAE

Hey, Ustiliator. I need you to fix this jaunting condition you’ve afflicted with me with. You were supposed to fix the teleportation device, or at least send me back to Qi.

(silence)

I’m ready. Do whatever it is you do. Lift this curse, this curse that you imposed on me.

(silence)

Why did you do this to me, Ustiliator? Why did you make me jaunt but didn’t give me the ability to control it? What is the point in all this? It accomplishes nothing but torture.

(silence)

And why did you show up at the Durkahl to take me away? Then make a duplicate of me? Am I some plaything for you? Are these Veilwardens aware of what you are doing to me?

(beat)

Answer me!

An extended moment of silence passes

Januae returns to KAEBOSSUS and PRINE

KAEBOSSUS

What did I tell you?

JANUAE

Fine. I’ll just wait here until it is time to perform the ritual again. Then you’ll do to me what you did last time.

KAEBOSSUS

I’m afraid we can’t do that.

JANUAE

What do you mean you can’t do that? You did it before!

KAEBOSSUS

The spirit-winds guide us as to who will join us in the Tul’ta’a. They did not speak of you. In fact, it’s my contention you’re not supposed to be here.

PRINE

Go back to where you came from, Outlander.

JANUAE

I’m not going anywhere until you perform the ritual for me.

KAEBOSSUS

Actually, you are. Prine, go fetch the guardians.

PRINE

Right away.

(PRINE begins to walk away)

JANUAE

(with a heavy sigh)

Fine. I wasn’t intending to come here anyway. If you all won’t help me I’ll just continue working with Shoum. Thanks for wasting my time.

KAEBOSSUS

  No, thank you for wasting ours.

BACK AT SHOUM’S PLACE

JANUAE

Back at Shoum’s place, frustrated.  As unintentional as it was for me to go to Cheloh, I lost a great opportunity to correct this condition! It takes me a few moments to calm down and realize that this little sojourn had actually been successful on another level. Shoum had been able to calibrate her device to a location I had previously visited. It is not a remedy to my condition, but at least I will have a modicum of control over where I go, and with a charged vest, I can return here if I inadvertently jaunt during any one of my excursions.

A bit numbly, I express my gratitude to the Reverent as I remove the vest to recharge it. For my next excursion I will hold a much more deliberate vision in my mind as to where I want to go next.