The Voice Casting at Kefar
The Voice Casting at Kefar
There must always be a World meeting place where the Crestrealms have agreed to meet and share until the Heartwell is repaired.... The world has always had its power generated from crystals and from knowledge from before the Sundering and today should be no different. The 11 Crestrealms had some sort of truce and in that lull they called peace there was a unified system of monetary Exchange backed by the 11 Crestrealm economies and the power of the three of most financially elite Crestrealms of The Auric Exchange, the Ironroot Bastion and The virielia Bloomlands. So there in the shining city of Kefar a crystal Exchange has been established along with the bank of The Great Ocean and a great Library of Crysalise, a sub library of the Crestrealm keepers of knowledge ( The Astryx Arcanum) which holds knowledge all Crestrealms have agreed to share. It is there we find Delrona whose knowledge was great but whose control of Athereia crystal power was even more renowned. Delrona walked out of the library and onto the busy streets of old Kefar along the sea wall from the Great Library of Crysalise going east towards the Exchange and its wonderment of wealth and displays of excess. She walked with purpose so much so that her gait attracted the attention of shop keepers and the proud citizens of the city who as residents of Kefar were used to hustle as they were surrounded by the whole world. Delrone knew a crowd gathered each day at sunset to hear an exchange. Some days it was a learned Mage from the Astryx Arcunum espousing the benefits of meditations on past arts and the society of the Argent Isle who oversaw the Heartwell Council would invite a counter speaker from far off Mechanum or Sylvan to balance and temper their views. The Council would always plan these things so as not to arouse the crowds and would seek to enlighten all who listened. But on this day Delrona had left the great library determined to be heard. “Closed minded fools”, she thought as she walked with such determination and vigor that her cape whipped about her legs and lashed out at tables and stalls that she passed. “Today they will hear what The Society of the Argent Isle was trying to keep silent all this time. The crystal mines of Karvok were soon to be exhausted and a shift in power would surely quickly follow and if she didn’t act now the Sylvan Watch would lose influence in the Heartwell Council. Delrona was unusual in that she was a powerful mage from The Sylvan Watch which were known primarily for their unstoppable guardians. But Delrona was able to harness the knowledge of the ancient mages through her study and practice of her arts under the tutelage of the greatest Sylvan masters. But she was in a small group of Sylvan’s who didn’t accept the old stories of a once unified land of one people split into eleven. It was illogical and fanciful and highly unscientific. She followed what was real. There was power in the crystals of the earth and that power could be used to enhance mage powers, guardian strength and healing. In her dissertations at the Sylvan Place of Learning she presented arguments and proofs for an origin story more natural like the ones told by the Verdant Expanse, where each of Aethorias peoples developed independently of each other and that this moment, now was actually the pinnacle of their civilization. A time when the disparate peoples were coming together, uniting and sharing their land's knowledge. “Hurry up, Fateese!” Delrona spoke curtly, only slightly turning her head to see the much shorter Fateese in her peripheral vision, struggling to keep up with her pace. “I’m coming, but I don’t understand the pace, the crowds gather every day. If you miss today’s voice cast then you can just hear tomorrow’s.” Fateese spoke breathily, hoping her logic would slow Delonra’s steps and give him a breather. “What a stupid little man you are, you have listened to me explaining our true origins many times now. I know that you are convinced of what I say yet you still can’t summon the energy to keep up with me and worse you don’t even realise the significance of today’s Voice Casting. Two of the greatest scholars of Aethorean history will be there, as will I and I will prove them wrong. Thousands will hear my voice and accept my argument and I will put an end to tyranny of the Heartwell Council. Grand Council leader Thrankal and Librarian Brosta were speaking that day on the history of use of crystal resonance for healing and had invited a great healer from Mostarya to elucidate and share this possibly useful medical information. The Exchange Amphitheatre rose from the marble heart of Kefar like a crown of white stone, its origin was from the high cliffs of the North East coast of The Sylvan Watch’s marble shores. Its circular tiers descended toward a central dais of the finest crystal-veined Sylvan marble, polished by centuries of discourse and impatient scuffing feet and asses. Above, suspended between towering pillars, hung the Blue Crystal Resonance Orbs...great spheres of tuned crystal, a gift from the Astryx Arcanum. This place of learning was replete with gifts that were symbolic of unified learning and the auditorium echoed that sentiment with every curated message that was carried by crystal to open ear. Every spoken word was vibrated to the furthest reaches of the gathered masses even with the southerly winds off the Great Ocean beginning to pick up in the evening light. Thousands had already assembled though capacity was rarely reached these days.. Markets had dropped over the last few months and trade was waning as gold pieces were in a short supply and shop keepers extended their hours to make ends meet. Scholars in layered robes entered the dias’ closest seats, their entry signaled the Voice Casting was about to begin. The murmurs started to subside. Merchants wrapped in Virielian silks were always the last to stop talking as they discussed possible business till the last. Guardians in ceremonial armor stood watch over the proceedings though Kefar had not much need of them these days. Healers from all the Crestrealms in pale blues and emerald sat humbly and eagerly around the auditorium. Citizens from every Aethoria and every Crestrealm stood shoulder to shoulder, their voices blending into a low ocean of anticipation as the hush also silenced them. At the center stood the renowned speakers. Grand Council Leader Thrankal, ancient and rigid, his silver beard braided with threads of office. Beside him stood Librarian Brosta of the Astryx Arcanum, her thin fingers resting on a staff of pale etherwood, her posture calm, her face serene. “Typical librarian” said listener Grormne to his friend at his side who he knew to be a frequent visitor to the Library of the Crysalise here in Kefar. The first speaker's words rolled outward through the Resonance Orbs. “The unity of Aethoria is written in our ancient texts,kept safe in the sacred vaults of the Astrys Arcanum” Thrankal declared. “It is the foundation upon which peace stands. We were once one and are moving quickly towards that day again. Why, look at this great city and this great auditorium, filled with the peoples , both common and enlightened from all the lands around the Ocean.” A murmur of approval rippled through the amphitheatre. “The sharing today of this Medical Resonance from the generous peoples of the Sylvan Watch will be yet another building block in the return to the glory days before the Great Sundering.” Delrona entered at the highest tier directly opposite the dias after a prolonged hike up many flights of marble stairs. “I should have trained as a warrior not a scholar and then I would have been more suited to such mountainous hikes”, Fatreese breathily extorted to her completely normal breathing mentor Delrona who had marched up the stairs two at a time as if floating on clouds. Delrona’s deep blue eyes did not wander. She did not admire the grand southern view of the city. Nor did not acknowledge the throngs who were seated before her. Without pause she descended the steps on a direct path to the dais. “Will you just wait for one small moment,” Fateese was entirely puffed and could no longer keep pace with Delrona. Each double step was deliberate, symbolising her growing powers and her determination. Each step was irreversible as she ran through her well rehearsed soliloquy on how unification could actually be achieved based on facts not myth, on powers not old stories. Fateese hesitated behind her to the point that she resigned her goal of close support and sat in a conveniently open marble bench on the aisle. She recalls as she sits exhausted, on the way over saying to her impertinent Mage friend “Delrona… please,” she had whispered. “This is not how knowledge is shared. The people of Kefar are not tolerant of confrontation, this is the city of peace.” It had not slowed her down. “No,” she had retorted. “This is how knowledge is freed and empires created.”
Below, Brosta continued the introduction “The knowledge introduced today will be added to The Book of Shared Knowledge which teaches that all of Aethoras peoples were once...” “False.” Delrona’s voice cut through the amphitheatre like a blade through silk as it was most uncommon for the Voice Caster to be interrupted. “Oh my Veylborn brother!” Fatreese exhaled and lowered his forehead into his sweaty hands. Every voice died and every head turned to the descending mage. Delrona stood at the edge of the central circle, silent for effect. She had rehearsed this moment many times over. Thrankal’s eyes narrowed. “You interrupt the Voice Casting,” he said coldly. “You stand before the Heartwell Council without invitation.” Brosta’s voice was softer, but no less firm. She looked at Delrona and instantly recalled her dramatic persona, her eyes opening wide in recognition of the interruptor. “Return to your place, Mage of Sylvan. There is order here and this is not your Casting.” Delrona stepped forward to take a place on the dais between Brosta and Thrankal to the gasps of the crowd. The Resonance Orbs shimmered, carrying her voice to every ear. “There is control here of feeble minded whisps,” she replied. “Not order.” A ripple of unease spread across the gathered thousands. Thrankal’s staff struck the marble. “You will not corrupt this forum.” Delrona laughed. “This is just as I spoke. This is not order, this is griffons and their rider. She continued, calming her voice and speaking directly into the orbs with a certainty that was entrancing ..“You speak of unity,” she said. “Of one people, that were divided.” She raised her hand. Water condensed from the air itself....forming a perfect sphere, suspended above her palm with a cool glow of blue swirling within it. “No evidence supports this,” she continued. “No crystal memory confirms it. No etheric resonance verifies it.” The water hardened instantly into ice, then flowed again. Then with a swirl of her fingers dissolved into mist. The crowd leaned forward. Brosta’s voice carried warning. “You play at spectacle but you speak with little substance or knowledge, all history is based on the great sundering which prerequisites one original people. Begone with your childish outburst. Guardians!” Brosta looked imploringly at the guardians who were most taken back by the request for intervention. “I demonstrate the truth.” Delrona’s voice rose. “The Crestrealms did not fracture.They emerged independently, different races of Aethorians, unique and wonderful in their divergent paths. This myth that we were once all one is a lie spun by the Council to empower the central islands of the Mosaics and enrich Kefar and the council themselves. They would have you believe that this is a place of unity but this is where empires come to die. It is only through our competition that we have evolved our skills and abilities. When conflicts arose we developed tools and powers to smite the attackers and maintain our Crestrealms but now there is a great danger in this talk of unification. And unification under whose rules? The council? And according to whose laws? Not Sylvan laws. Not laws of the grand Mecanum Ascendancy they would have us all give up our independence for their own gain and what of us? Minor provinces with lesser powers under the rule of corrupt Kefarian thinking.” “This is preposterous, someone silence this drivel”, asked Thrankal in pleading tones. By now the guardians had started to move towards the dais as they responded to the unusual presentation.” “Let her speak!” came a call from far back in the auditorium, a seated librarian in the aisle bench. “Yes, hear her out. Came another call from a Sylvan mage who liked what she heard. Something she had thought also in the back of her mind but never voiced. A few other scatter calls of allowing the infraction to continue. “What are you afraid of?” came another call. Let her speak!” The guardians on their way to the dais hesitated slightly and looked to the council member Thrankal who gave them a very decisive signal to end the verbal insurrection. Delrona’s eyes burned now....not with madness, but conviction and spoke clearly and quickly, almost like she had memorised the speech. “Each realm evolved in isolation. Each mastered different truths. Different elements. Different disciplines.” She turned slowly, addressing the thousands. “This moment....this exchange....this cooperation...this is not restoration.” She raised her staff. “This is creation.” The crowd murmured. Thrankal stepped forward. “And you claim centuries of scholarship are false?” Delrona met his angered gaze. “I claim centuries of scholarship were… incomplete, inconclusive and filled in by dubious scholars so that they could make sense of the world..” Then Brosta spoke. “And what would you replace it with?” Delrona did not hesitate. “A new discipline.” Her voice now carried power beyond sound. “Cross-Elemental Mastery.” The air grew heavy with expectancy. The auditorium was filled with elucidated minds and educated citizenry. They knew the path to increased powers lie in concentration of skills and knowledge in one specific school of knowledge. ‘If your one arrow targets multiple rabbits, they will all escape”. Interrupted Brosta during a faint chuckle from the crowd who knew the adage well. “Mages who wield water and fire. Healers who command matter itself. Guardians empowered by crystal resonance beyond physical form.” These are the powers I speak of and they are honed through competition and trial. Gasps spread through the amphitheatre. Thrankal’s face hardened. “You would dismantle the balance.” “I would transcend it.” Her agitation surfaced now....not as loss of control, but as urgency. Guardians now at the stairs of the dais. “You ration crystals. You restrict knowledge. You allow sharing and control of it all from your palaces of grandeur.” “You conflate story to history and steal power from all our traditions.” Her voice rose, no longer pleading...but commanding. And in a cold deep voice she said, “You fear what comes next.” She turned fully to the citizens. “You fear what you could become.” Thousands watched her. Some were fearful. Some were fascinated. Some awakened, like those of the Sylvan Watch who knew there was an element of truth to what she spake. Delrona summoned a water ball from the ocean beyond the auditorium and the crowd were stunned by its size. The guardians halted to reassess their next move. “The crystal mines of Karvok are failing,” she declared. Shock rippled outward. “You know this?” Asked a banker from the front row. The Council would let us know if such a thing were true. “They know this.” Delrona said accusingly pointing with her free hand at Thrankal, “and they hide it.” Thrankal struck his staff. “Enough!” But the crowd had already begun to whisper. Delrona pressed forward. “The future will not belong to false traditions and old stories on dusty shelves.” “It will belong to those who master all knowledge.” Her voice thundered now through every Resonance Orb. “I will build a new school. A school without boundaries and laws and controls. A school without lies.” She pointed toward the Council members in the audience. “Stop listening to relics who fear progress.” Her voice cracked....her emotion was felt but not as passion more on the verge of anger giving pause to the audience. “Listen to possibility.” Silence fell across the entire space. The entire amphitheatre held its breath. For one moment...One fragile, wobbling moment. The future of Aethoria balanced and seemed to sway between acceptance and rejection. Then Thrankal spoke. “No.” The word echoed like a verdict. Brosta followed. “Your ideas are not canon.” Thrankal raised his staff. “They are not truth.” Brosta’s voice hardened.“They are dangerous.” And in that instant.,. The guardians reached the incredulous Delrona who yelled. “Fools, they have you under their yolks and you will all fall!” A guardian placed her hand on Delrona’s forearm and she washed it clean off with a gush of directed water energy. Delrona understood she had failed and pushed away from the guardians, walking directly up the stair on which she had arrived. “Let her go.” Thrankal spoke to all, to calm and ease the crowd. “We can’t all be Syterra,” he said, drawing a rebuking humph from the crowd. Delrona was furious that they did not accept her brief but clear argument. She was not wrong, these simpletons and followers were. She thought that perhaps she was too early, she could wait a little longer and they would see the truth. The crowd began to fracture as she walked past them. Some turned away. Some watched her still. Some nodded as she passed. Maybe some had heard after all. Delrona lowered her head as she slowly made her way to the back of the silent auditorium. Her hands trembled, not from doubt but from a realisation that this was not the moment she would change the world but it was a beginning. This was the moment the world rejected her but some had heard. Now at the top of the stairs she turned and in a bitter sweep of her staff and uttering her cold voice she made it rain on all of them. Fateese, wet and still in a state of shock over how badly this had all unfolded, hesitated, then followed behind her. His toga dripped. “Well that went well!”, he said to Delrona through a curled lip. “Nothing seems to have changed!” Behind them, the Voice Casting resumed. The crowd turned their attention back to the dais as one to hear the Casting resume. But something had changed, not in the Council, not in the crowd. In Delrona. This was the last day she would ask permission. This was the last day she would seek acceptance. This was the day Delrona began her descent...and her ascent. “We are going to Helion.” “What? Now?” Fatreese asked bewildered. “Yes, now.. This way to the docks.” Delrona said as she pointed south. “But I left a fire on”, objected Fatreese.