THE DREAMING RELIQUARY, DYNAFEL

NARRATION

JANUAE

Damn it! I was in such a state when I escaped from the bounty hunter that I came to Dynafel without recharging the vest! Now that it’s expended I have no way to return to Jargolamis. My impulsiveness will be the death of me, I swear…

JANUAE

Narla, I can’t return to Shoum’s abode. There’s no way I can get that teleportation cypher now. I didn’t recharge this vest before I came here.

NARLA DESHU

And this vest is what brings you back to the device in Jargolamis?

JANUAE

Yes. Every time it is used to take    me back to Shoum’s abode it fully discharges. It needs an overnight charge before it will work again. When I escaped the bounty hunter by jaunting back there I immediately came here.

NARLA DESHU

You panicked. That’s understandable. I may have done the same thing.

JANUAE

 It was stupid and careless. Charmonde is a long way away from Jargolamis. I wasn’t thinking straight. I once watched that bounty hunter kill a man. I know what she’s capable of. Then when she had that bailing whip around my neck…

NARLA DESHU

It’s okay, Januae. Breathe. You’re safe here.

JANUAE

No, I’m stuck here, at least until I start jaunting again.

NARLA DESHU

Stuck here? I’ll try not to take that personally.

JANUAE

You don’t understand. I need to be able to get that bounty hunter off my back. With a fully charged vest I could escape back to Shoum’s abode at a moment’s notice. Without it I am at the mercy of the uncontrollable jaunting. The bounty hunter could easily kill me before I could jaunt again.

NARLA DESHU

Come here, Januae. Let me take a look at that vest.

(examines it for several moments)

Is this what powers it? These crystals that are sewn into it?

JANUAE

I believe so, yes. They hold the charge that enables the vest to bring me back to Shoum’s dimension walking device.

NARLA DESHU

Hmm…

(a beat)

You know, I have a thought. Are you familiar with the Gtharren Crystal?

JANUAE

The giant crystal in the Gtharren Valley? Legend has it that it holds the memory of millions of intelligent beings from one of the prior worlds.

NARLA DESHU

Whether or not that is true, a shard from the giant crystal can be used to connect with and control other devices, even power devices that have been completely discharged. I’ve seen one of these crystals at work, so I can verify this is indeed true.

JANUAE

The Gtharren Valley is a week away from here traveling by foot. Load me up with enough provisions to get there and I’ll acquire a shard from the crystal.

NARLA DESHU

Whoa there. It’s not as simple as that. The crystal is watched over by a very old but very powerful nano named Phiraster. He is said to be rather capricious and a bit difficult to reason with. You cannot acquire a shard from the crystal without his blessing.

JANUAE

What does he ask for in return? There must be something he is in need of I could offer in exchange-

NARLA DESHU

That’s just it. No one knows what this man wants. For some he will ask questions about what purpose they have for a shard, others he will just pose a riddle. Some he will insist accomplish some sort of mission or task for him. In more instances than not, he will just deny them and drive them off, and this man’s powers are nothing to be trifled with. Personally, I think he is a bit insane.

JANUAE

I think it’s worth the risk. I’m going to make the journey then, see if I can convince this Phiraster to let me have a shard. When he hears my story he will empathize with my plight.

NARLA DESHU

Alright. But I’m going to double the amount of provisions I’ll send you with in case you need to make the journey back here.

JANUAE

I feel pretty confident I won’t need them. The extra weight will just slow me down.

NARLA DESHU

(snapping)

Januae! Have some sense! This outcome is not guaranteed. You’ll be taking enough provisions for a round trip. Just in case.

JANUAE

(after a beat)

Fine.

GTHARREN VALLEY

Narration

JANUAE

Travel to the Gtharren Valley was relatively uneventful. The lands of Iscobal are populated with several aldeias surrounded by wheat farms and billam orchards. Game hunters manage to keep dangerous animals at bay that compete for their quarries, making travel safe for the most part. The moderate climate of this land makes for a restful sleep when setting up camp and the gently rolling plains that eventually give way to the valley makes for easy walking.

I reach the valley in a couple of weeks just as I had figured. As I descend into the valley I can see the giant crystal in the distance. From what I can tell it must be around fifteen meters tall and roughly six or so meters across. As I near the crystal I can see the old nano strolling? pacing? around where the crystal stands suspended several meters above the ground. It makes me wonder how he is able to reach up to it to break off any shards.

JANUAE

(to PHIRASTER as he nears)

Hello, sir. May I have a word?

PHIRASTER

I know what you want. No, you can’t have a shard. Go away.

JANUAE

Please, sir… Phiraster is it? If I could just have a moment, I believe you could help me.

PHIRASTER

I believe I could. Now go away.

JANUAE

You see, I need your help getting back to-

(sound of flames whooshing up)

Oh! Please sir, I mean no harm! Please don’t hurt me!

PHIRASTER

Them flames won’t hurt you if you don’t step forward. Maybe if I move them toward you you’ll turn around and go back the way you came like I told you to.

JANUAE

Sir! Could you please disburse the flames! I’d like to tell you the tale of my plight. I assure you it is a tale unlike any you’ve ever heard.

PHIRASTER

(he sighs heavily and the flames disappear)

If you come any closer, the flames come back. If you bore me, the flames engulf you.

JANUAE

(relieved)

Thank you, sir. My name is Januae, I am- was- well, I’m still an Aeon Priest. I was-

PHIRASTER

Get on with it. None of that backstory skist.

JANUAE

Yes. Of course. I’m a jaunter. An inadvertent jaunter. I can’t control where I jaunt to or when I jaunt.

PHIRASTER

There you go. Kind of interesting. Go on.

JANUAE

I’m working with a dimension walker in Jargolamis. She attuned her dimension walking device to allow me to control where I jaunt to. I can return by the use of this vest. Unfortunately the crystals in this vest have lost their charge and I cannot return. I believe a shard or so from the crystal of which you are the custodian can provide enough charge to take me back.

PHIRASTER

Back to this dimension walker you’re working with.

JANUAE

Yes?

PHIRASTER

I assure you a shard will charge that vest.

JANUAE

Good. I was hopeful of that. If I may ask how-

PHIRASTER

But I hate dimension walkers.

JANUAE

You- um…

PHIRASTER

Ain’t got no business messing around in other dimensions. You wanna mess around in another dimension? Here ya go. You find your way back I might give you a shard.

JANUAE

Wait, what do you- hey, what are you doing to me? What is happeni-

THE ENDLESS ABODE

JANUAE

I find myself in a plain, nondescript hallway about three meters across, maybe nine meters long. There are several doorways on either side of the hall and a door at each end. I can also see a window roughly two doors down from where I stand. As plain and unremarkable as this hallway is, there’s something very strange about this place, but I can’t ascertain what gives me this feeling…

I make my way to the window and peer out. I get a strange sense of vertigo as I gaze out the window, but I am able to see Phiraster standing near the crystal, just as he was when I first approached him. I step over to the door beside the window and quickly open it and walk through, only to find myself in a room. It is empty, save for a few scuffs and scratches on the walls and floor. I leave the room and immediately try the door on the other side of the window. It also opens to a room, also empty save for several skeletons of small reptile-like creatures, possibly laaks from the looks of them. How are there rooms on either side of the window? It makes no sense. As I think about it, there was no building, no structure in the Gtharren Valley. However, the old man did say something about another dimension…

I hastily try the other doors, finding a room beyond each one. Many are empty, some contain detritus of sorts, where one has several chairs, or what I assume to be chairs, as several are clearly designed for humans to sit in, but others appear to possibly accommodate seating for creatures with a different anatomy altogether. I make my way to one of two doors at either end of the hall. Behind this door is a library of numerous books, tomes, and manuscripts. At first glance I can see many books with their titles written in Truth, others written in some of the more commonly spoken provincial languages of the Steadfast, and others yet in scripts and languages beyond my recognition. They all seem to be of varying ages, some new, some ancient. However, information is not what I seek right now. I need to find my way out of this place.

Within this large hexagonal shaped room there are five other doors, one on each wall. I will have to be mindful of which doors I’ve already checked as I explore each room. The first three doors open to a kitchen, an empty room, and another hallway with multiple doors, respectively. I decide I’ll check the other two doors, come back to this door that opens to the hallway, then return to the hallway I arrived in and check the door at the other end. As I’m about to return to the library the entire hallway begins to rumble and shake, and I brace myself against a wall to avoid being thrown about. The quake lasts but a fraction of a minute, and when I’m certain it has cleared I make my way back into the library. However, the room I return to is no longer the library. The room contains only two doors, is rectangular rather than hexagonal, and contains a network of pipes running overhead, several of which are leaking and dripping water from loosening seams. I turn back to enter the hallway, having lost my sense of direction, but it is not the hallway I had entered. It is instead a long corridor with no doors, opening to what appears to be a vast chamber beyond. Everything has altered under my feet, before my eyes! Nothing around me is as it was before, and I am even more lost now than when I initially arrived in this strange dimension!