A Race to the Top

A Race to the Top

The climb from the river valley floor tested every member of the party.

What had looked from below like a gentle slope proved instead to be a narrow mountain trail carved into the granite centuries before. The switchbacks climbed relentlessly, sometimes no wider than a cart wheel, with loose shale threatening to slide beneath every step. Snow still lingered where the morning sun had not yet reached, while the afternoon warmth turned other sections into slippery streams of meltwater.

They had decided to spend the night in the tower for shelter and then investigate further when they weren't exhausted from the climb.

The next morning as soon as light broke, Tajan studied the enormous doorway with the massive heavy doors wide open but not swinging.

“Wouldn't the wind have pushed them shut centuries ago?”

“They should have frozen solid,” Alster added.

Rintaron quietly looked toward the entrance.

“I've visited abandoned towers before.”

“They never welcome visitors.”

Blena rested one hand on the pommel of her sword.

“So...”

“...someone opened them.”

Nobody answered.

They had slept the night in the first large room behind the open doors which gave them some shelter but not from the temperature. The morning gave them the opportunity to really step inside. They found an inner door that was openable and it lead to a chamber that was larger than the tower itself.. "this chamber must be within the mountain stone." concluded Blena.

The chamber was silent.

No rushing wind.

No humming crystals.

Only the soft echo of their footsteps across polished stone.

At the centre of the room stood another crystal pedestal.

Its crystal glowed faintly.

Then tiny motes of blue-white light began drifting upward.

Like sparks or stars.

The particles circled the pedestal faster and faster until they merged into the outline of a person.

Blena instinctively stepped between the others and the figure.

The shape solidified and blood like one of them but into a body made of light and photons. It made the shape of a boy as it moved in and out of focus. A boy of perhaps 18, he had facial hair, a well kept short beard around his chin and fine clothes. He was handsome for the moments that he could be perceived clearly. He was around 6 feet tall but seemed taller as he was floating above the pedestal. The elemnets of light broke off in tiny sparks that flew around the room and then reconfigured on his appearance.

Every part of him shimmered as though woven from countless speaks of light. His skin seemed translucent.

His clothes shifted constantly between light and shadow.

His glowing eyes searched the room without ever focusing.

Then he spoke.

“Signal reacquired...”

His voice echoed strangely around the chamber, metallic and distorted.

“Receiving biological observers.”

The glowing head tilted.

“Visual spectrum unavailable.”

A pause.

“Hello?”

“...Is someone there?”

“I cannot establish optical reference.”

Blena whispered without taking her eyes off him.

“Did... did it just greet us?”

Kaelen had already pulled out his notebook.

“I think so.”

The young glowing man looked directly toward them.

Or perhaps through them.

“I am Kahleen.”

“My dimensional reference frame is unstable.”

“I apologise for the degraded communication.”

Silence. As the travelers stared at the glowing figure, confused by the dialogue and what their eyes were seeing.

Tajan finally asked the obvious question.

“What language is that?”

“I believe...” Kaelen answered quietly.

“...ours.”

The entity continued.

“The quantum crystalline lattice has fallen beneath harmonic threshold.”

Blank faces.

“The baryonic resonance no longer maintains interdimensional phase coherence.”

Blena slowly looked toward Kaelen.

“Translate.”

“I...”

Kaelen frowned.

“I can't.”

“I understood every word.”

“...just not the sentence.”

Kahleen continued speaking as though everything made perfect sense.

“The Atomic Crystalline Lines have collapsed below sustainable excitation.”

Kaelen's eyes widened.

“Atomic... crystalline... lines?”

He scribbled furiously.

“What are Atomic Crystalline Lines?”

The glowing boy hesitated.

“Primitive terminology unavailable.”

Kaelen looked almost offended.

“I am not primitive.”

Blena smirked. Maybe Kaelen is a primitive version of Kahleen?

“Compared to him? I think I am primitive....Apparently.”

Alster slowly circled the pedestal.

“So...”

“Are you... magic?”

“Rintaron, interupted and said "ignore my friend.. are you a Veylborn?"

Kahleen seemed genuinely confused.

“I do not understand the question.”

Rintaron continued...“You appeared out of thin air.”

"Negative. My present photoic state lacks sufficient gravitational resolution to be dynamic. I was reconstructed in your dimension for interaction.”

“You shine like a Veylborn.”

“I am visible to you.”

“You float above the ground.”

“I occupied a higher coordinate value that doesn't corespond with the dimension target. I am causing them pretrubation.”

Nobody knew how to answer that. "Is he talking to us?" Questioned Alster.

Rintaron stepped even closer not as fearful of the being made of light.

“I've travelled with a Veylborn for many years.”

Everyone watched to see if Rintaron could communicate with the being more effectively that them.

“I've never seen one quite like you.”

Kahleen nodded faintly.

“I have difficulty maintaining this projection.”

Rintaron looked thoughtful.

“Gertina, my Veylborn, sometimes speaks about energy.”

“She says they don't create power.”

“They borrow it... or soemthing like that. I never truly understood what she meant. She appears when I really need help or when there is "energy in abundance" is what she says" He turned and spoke to the group..I don't question it. When I need help I say a prayer, I make sure I always have crystals with me. Most cases she will appear and share knowledge and ideas and then fade away.”

Kahleen seemed to recognise the description and answered directly and immediately to Rintaron.

“Correct.”

“Energy cannot be created.”

“It is transferred.”

“It flows.”

“It resonates.”

“It remembers, form, shape and pattern according to Crsytaline lines and atomic frequencies.”

The chamber fell silent.

Kaelen slowly lowered his notebook.

“That...”

“...doesn't sound like magic.”

“No,” Rintaron agreed quietly.

“Gertina always became frustrated when people called her powers magical.”

“She insisted they were simply natural laws.”

“We just hadn't learned them yet.”

Blena folded her arms.

“Natural laws that let people turn into glowing light?”

Kaelen shrugged.

“If someone from five thousand years ago watched a lightning rod or a mechanum crystal set radio signal...”

“...they'd probably call that magic too.”

Tajan smiled.

“I suppose.”

“...you're impossible.”

Kahleen suddenly looked toward an empty corner of the chamber.

“Observer Seven has disconnected.”

Everyone followed his gaze.

Nothing.

After several long seconds he quietly added,

“Correction.”

“...You cannot perceive them.”

The room instantly felt colder.

Nobody moved.

Even Blena looked uneasy.

Kaelen broke the silence.

“Why are you here Veylborn?.. do you need to give us a message.. Where is Gertina? Why are the towers disconnected and fluctuating.”

The light around Kahleen flickered.

“This entity was subject of a summoning.”

“By whom?”

“Subjects are not cerebrally precondtioned for dimensional inforamtion say..refuse transfer."I can not"

“Why?”

“You are not ready. But know this...for dimensional trasnfers to continues equilbrum must be returnedd. You are task bound. Stop the collapse. Stop the Aethorian infrastrucre degradation. ”

His glow dimmed. "Wait..what? Who.... do you want to do ...what?

“There is insufficient energy.” The young man said before plusing so brightly all their eyes hurt to look at him. Then..“Kaelen, Stop the Water Mage. Unity is a source of power.”

“My connection is degrading.”

“I cannot perceive this continuum correctly.”

Kaelen frowned.

“Meaning?”

“Transmission failing...”

“...direct universal containment fields. stellar calibration synchronisation exceeded....too late...”

Nobody spoke.

The words echoed around the chamber long after Kahleen had finished.

Finally Rintaron rubbed his eyes and looked upward.

“If you follow the stellar calibration network...”

“...you may restore synchronisation.”

Blena blinked.

“The what?”

“The stars.” Said Rintaron, the Thalorians use the stars to guide them ..it must be the stars.

“We still navigate by stars...so we need to find this stellar calibration network?”

“Excellent." Said Tajan... we all know eactly what you are talking abotu and we will have this problem solved in time for a light snack on way down...What are you talking about?”

“They remain functional? Well of course they do they are stars.. they are always there.” Said Blena trying to be calm in a most unusual situation.

Tajan whispered,

“I understood less everytime that thing spoke...”

“Same here,” Alster admitted, then to Rintaron, "Do you think Gertina could help us communicate with this Kahleen?

Kaelen closed his notebook.

“We're missing too much.”

He looked around the room one final time.

“I think this tower is only one part of something much larger.”

“The river.”

“The first tower.”

“This tower.”

“They're connected and that message was about power..and alignment and...He thought for a minute...and I understood one thing... He looked down at his notes and read directly ...“Kaelen, Stop the Water Mage. Unity is a source of power.”..He knew your name and he gave you a direct message.”

Kaelen said.."I know it gave me chills when he spoke my name out. I think we need to understand a lot more to be of use here... Maybe we start with understanding the power that drives these towers? When he said that Alster nodded slowly.

“And if anyone understands machines older than the Sundering...”

“...it would be the Mechanum Ascendancy.”

Tajan looked toward the doorway.

“That means travelling to Solaryn Reliquary first.”

“From there we might be able to contact Anderix.”

Kaelen smiled.

“If anyone from Mechanum will actually answer questions...”

“...it's him.”

Blena groaned.

“Wonderful.”

“Only...”

“...how many weeks away is that?”

“Several.”

Silence settled over the group.

Then Tajan's eyes brightened.

“Unless...”

“...the Council approves griffon transport.”

Kaelen immediately understood.

“Drue.”

“The Emberwild Dominion.”

“The fastest griffon rider in Aethoria.”

Blena grinned.

“I like that plan much better.”

“So we report back to the Heartwell Council.”

“Get permission.”

“Borrow Drue.”

“And fly south.”

“Exactly.”

The was decision made and everyone realised just how exhausted they were.

Alster reached into one of the many pockets on his satchel and produced several bundles of herbs wrapped carefully in waxed cloth.

Blena looked suspicious.

“Please tell me those aren't more flowers.”

“They're dinner.”

He crumbled fragrant green leaves over their dried meat before adding tiny purple mountain herbs and a pinch of crushed field thyme.

Within moments the smell changed completely.

Warm rich and smoky and they all sat down to eat and recount their version of events.

Tajan took a bite.

Her eyebrows shot upward.

“Alster...”

“...that's actually incredible.”

He smiled proudly.

“Good herbs can't fix everything.”

He looked at the leathery strip of dried mountain goat in his hand.

“...but they can make dried boot leather taste almost respectable.”

Even Blena laughed.

After a short meal they stepped outside and pulled the immense stone doors to the hidden tower shut.

To everyone's surprise, they moved almost effortlessly.

As the doors closed, Kahleen's fading voice echoed softly through the narrowing gap.

“Signal...”

“...lost...”

“...awaiting...”

“...reconnection...”

The doors sealed.

Silence returned to the mountain.

Outside, beneath a sky darkening with the setting sun, the companions wrapped themselves warmer clothes and determined to make it to the monastery before all light was lost.

The day after that they would begin the long journey back to Kefar.

None of them realised that the glowing boy inside the tower had just challenged everything Aethoria believed about magic.

Or that their next journey would carry them far beyond the frozen peaks, toward the machines of the Mechanum Ascendancy.

Thy Quests
Kahleen uses words the party can hear but not truly understand. Choose three strange phrases he says and explain what you think each one might mean. Then explain why Kaelen thinks Kahleen is using science, not magic.