“Now, don’t you start too!” Linette admonished, sending Lucy into a fit of giggles. “The price’s already been paid, and I like doing what I do, and that’s that.” The healer crossed her arms, an exaggerated huff leaving passing her lips.

  “Fair enough,” Sally replied, giving the woman a grateful smile.

  Then, Sally walked toward Lucy. “Ready to go back to the temple, then?” She asked, holding out her hand.

  Lucy grabbed it, lifting herself out of the bed and standing – carefully, but no less decisively – on her own two legs. “Let’s!”

  23. Lake Solemn – August 29-30, Year 216

  They arrived at Lake Solemn during after sunset.

  The journey there had been easy enough, though they walked for longer than they normally would’ve. Lucy had been full of energy – no doubt having grown restless in the days since she broke her leg – and had all but insisted they reach the ke the same day they left Keringa.

  The road itself was one of the safest parts of the Circuits, especially now that the Marshen had adopted a more peaceful approach. The only danger were the creatures in the Solomny river that all but followed the Green Circuit road. It merged with the Oordon flowing further north, their meeting point forming Lake Solemn.

  The river was infamous for its teeming wildlife, even more so than the Graidle on the opposite site of Lake Prior. It contained some of the same creatures – devil-eels, alligators, saaiers – but also had their own, unique beasts and demons wading in and out of its waters. The slinnik, a serpent whose spit alone could kill a man at skin-touch, let alone through a bite; the needlefish, a rge and narrow thing that could unch itself out and spear someone up to a dozen yards away from the river; the cleareye, a near-invisible frog whose tongue could rip someone to shreds with a single lick; and numerous others.

  But still, while the road followed the river – or vice versa, whichever came into existence first – there was distance enough between them for travelers to not have to worry too much about. And now that the Greennds had become safer than ever with the death of a Demon that nobody knew about, there was no need to wander off-road out of fear of being spotted by its inhabitants.

  Lake Solemn itself y somewhat north, northeast of the road, about a mile or two away. They walked to a pce around the middle of the length of its body – to ensure they would be far enough from the meeting point of the two rivers – before walking towards its shore.

  Sally and Lucy now stood at its edge, toes almost in its water as they looked out over it.

  At first gnce, the ke was unimpressive. It was thinner than it was long, a feature shared with both Lake Dread and Lake Prior, but Lake Solemn took it to the extreme. Where Lake Majestic was two miles across, and Lake Prior five miles, Lake Solemn was less than a mile long, perhaps even half of one. Even Lake Dread, the smallest of the four, was at least a mile long from one shore to another, despite its blob-like, near-circur shape.

  Lake Solemn’s proportions were so skewed that it almost looked like it was simply an extension of the rivers preceding it. If it weren’t for how deep it went towards the middle, it might not have counted as a ke. And, of course, if it weren’t for its status as a Dekantist holy pce.

  Not that its supposed holiness was very obvious. Sparing it a second gnce, Lucy found that the ke still seemed unimpressive, and a third one didn’t improve it either.

  Sally rubbed her eyes, just to be sure there was nothing wrong with them, but the impression didn’t change. Its waters were calm, but not magically so like Lake Majestic; there was still a current within it that caused waves to ripple across it. Nor did it reflect the moon and stars like the other ke, nor did it catch the light on its waves in such a way as to transform it into an extension of the night sky.

  Sally looked into the waters itself, at her own reflection to try and see if there was something more to be seen within, either within its depths or simply by looking at it. But there was no view of a city like Lake Prior, nor the more ‘immersive’ experience that Lake Dread had plunged them into. Her reflection only showed a blurry, barely visible version of herself looking up, obscured as it was by the waves and darkness.

  Maybe its waters were drinkable, or easily made drinkable, like Lake Majestic? But if that was the case, surely Sally surely would’ve heard if it by now. There would’ve been attempts – successful or otherwise – to settle it if it were anything like the bigger like. Likely it was as poisonous as most of the rivers in the Circuits; not outright corrosive or burning, but still poison.

  Perhaps its only feature was that it was oddly safe compared to the rivers that fed into it. Even in the dark of night, Sally saw some smaller, harmless fish and animals darting around in its waters or burrowing into its sand. Further in, Sally could see pnts that didn’t look like they ate their cohabitors like so many other varieties in the Circuits’ waters do. Instead, she saw numerous fish eating its leaves fearlessly, none of them getting snatched by or trapped in its limbs.

  Of demons or rge, dangerous animals, Sally saw no sign.

  Lake Majestic didn’t have anything swimming its waters, despite it being know as the safest body of water in the Grand Circuit. Lake Dread, of course, only hand the one thing living within it, the one that would tch on and dragging anyone toward itself the moment you touched it. Only Lake Prior had simirly non-dangerous fish and pnts living in it.

  Was that the missing link? Lake Dread was, if Lucy were to be believed, a past or once-possible version of Lake Prior, only barred from manifesting by the Prophet Ante. Lake Majestic was a vision of the future of Lake Prior – or a possible future, or failed future? Sally didn’t quite know how it all worked – one where its waters were clear, beautiful and almost drinkable right out of the ke.

  By that logic, Lake Solemn would be, what, a vision of the current Lake Prior? Seems a bit redundant, Sally thought, there’s already a Lake Prior, why need another one? Hell, even if it was another version, it would still be inferior; she’d never heard of someone drinking from Lake Solemn and be given visions, magical powers or skills.

  That can’t be it, right? There must be something I’m missing…

  “A bit dull, isn’t it?” Lucy said, startling Sally out of her thoughts. While she’d been busy looking at the water, trying to figure out what was so special about it, Lucy had been busy watching her instead. And found it apparently very funny, if the curve of her lips is to be believed.

  “So, what’s the secret? Enlighten me, oh most holy one, what is so special about this ke?” Sally joked, csping her hands in mocking prayer towards Lucy.

  Lucy’s smile widened. “Oh, that’s simple, my disciple,” Lucy said, stroking a non-existent beard. “Nothing.”

  Sally blinked in surprise. “What do you mean, nothing?” Sally asked, surprised. “C’mon, just tell me! There’s no way you would’ve come here if you weren’t told so by your visions. So there’s no way the ke isn’t holy.”

  Lucy hummed in response. “You’re right, in a way. If it wasn’t special, it wouldn’t be a holy ke, and yet, there is nothing special about it. A real conundrum,” Lucy said cryptically, turning back towards the ke. “Look again, and think, really think bout what it is you see.”

  Sally obeyed and looked at the ke again. But as a minute slowly passed her by, nothing new sprung out to her. Even keeping in mind what she knew of the Dekantist stories behind Lake Majestic, Dread and Prior, there was simply nothing special about it that made the pieces fit together.

  “Do we need to drink it or something? Wait until the sun comes up? Sit in it, bathe in it?” Sally asked, starting to get frustrated.

  Lucy gave a small ugh in response. “Nope, everything we’re looking for is right there, right now, and right in front of us.”

  It was clear Lucy was having fun with it, which was fine, but it did prick Sally’s pride somewhat. But, on further inspection, why would it? She’d never really cared about Dekantist myths or opinions, so why did it wound her pride when she couldn’t understand it? Why did she even try to understand it?

  It seems that, somewhere along the way, this had become her pilgrimage too, sort of. Even if she wasn’t a believer, she’d heard and seen enough during the course of their journey together that she could at least respect, even accept, some of what the Dekantists had to say, if not accept ‘the Truth’ as Lucy would put it. And from those things she had heard and understood, things always seemed to fit together in some way.

  Except, apparently, this ke. “I still don’t see it. It’s just a ke. Nothing special. About it”

  Lucy gave a nod, apparently expecting it. “Then, allow me to illustrate,” Lucy said, taking a lecturing tone “To put it bluntly, the Grand Circuit – and its waters in particur – are fucked,” Lucy said angrily.

  Sally blinked at the unexpected curse. Had Lucy ever done so before? If she had, Sally couldn’t remember it. Furthermore, it was rare for the woman to get angry when talking about something reting to her faith – except, of course, if it involved the Praesidium.

  “Do you think the Grandies have to deal with poisoned rivers or something so clearly diseased like Lake Dread?” Lucy sneered, face twisting in disgust. “That the League has to deal with insects crawling out of monstrous hives capable of wiping out cities? That the Merkahni look to their mountains, fearing and invasion of Erlings or, Prophet forbid, cannibals coming to devour us all? Or that any of them have this many full-blown Demons running around, casually killing anything they come across?”

  Sally remained silent, frozen in shock. She’d never seen her friend quite this vitriolic before.

  “Do you think it is normal that we have to deal with all of that, while they don’t? That it just ‘is what it is’, that life in the Circuits is different, harder than everywhere else, just because?” Lucy asked, but before Sally could answer, she continued on, tone softening a little. “You’re not alone. Everyone, from Keringa to Gadeon, from the Vils to the Drovers, everyone in the Circuits has learned to live with it, learned to ‘overcome’ it, and is proud to live in the harshest part of the world and survive it.” By the end, Lucy’s tone had taken a turn for the dramatic.

  “But you know what the real kicker is?” Lucy asked rhetorically. “There are only two reasons anyone is able to live here: the roads, which are just there for some reason, and the Ante – who’s apparently a deserter of the Hiynites.” Lucy still seemed fixated on that particur revetion, apparently.

  “Without the roads, nothing could’ve stopped the monsters of the Red, Gold and Green Circuits from rampaging, preventing people from ever surviving here. Without those roads, the Grand Circuit would’ve become the dark heart of a New World, a blight to those outside of it instead of the connective tissue it is increasingly turning into.”

  “And without the Ante?” Lucy asked, this time fixing her eyes deeply into Sally’s own. “No offense, Sally, but no-one would’ve survived without the Anteer cities, without Lake Prior. Or do you think the Erling incursion that destroyed your home was the first since the Dawn?” Sally flinched at the words, at her friend’s pitiless eyes, but Lucy quickly moved on. “Or that any of the other cities would exist? Gadeon, Lovesse, Keringa, Southwall, Bridgers, Corton – they needed weapons, ammunition, food, water, all the basics before they could build their own cities, protect their own communities. And who was there to provide it to them? Cardinar, Rostgate, Ancora, The Bite; the cities build by the Prophet with his very hands.”

  “Without the Ante? Lake Prior would’ve been a rger Lake Dread, and likely more horrible as well. There would be no Anteer cities, and without them? There either would be no people in the Circuits, or they would’ve all come from the outside, if the Circuits’ demons didn’t get to them first.”

  Sally didn’t know what to say in response. She knew there had been more Vils in the past and that they had, when necessary, partnered up with the Anteeri to fight of things like Erling incursions or skinner overbreeding, but she’d never stopped to think about what that truly meant. What it would’ve been like without having the Anteeri as neighbors, as trade partners, as allies against the worst of the Circuits.

  As for the rest, would there really be no other cities without the Anteeri? The Anteeri were – and to a rge extent, still are – the premier cities of the Circuit. They were the first to set up rge scale agriculture, the first to produce rge quantities of weapons and ammunition. Their priests were the first to find ways to heal people and, along with the runners, first to wander the bck roads. Not counting the occasional catastrophe, the Vils could mostly survive by themselves from the day the New World arrived, but they could never thrive the way the Anteeri had, and thus could never have supported the growth of other cities. Could other pces have survived without the Anteeri?

  After a moment of silence, Lucy spoke again. “Now, look at the ke. What do you see?”

  Sally looked and saw the same boring ke again. She could see nothing special about it, and Lucy had all but spoiled the fact that there was nothing special to be found. The water didn’t scream death at her, nor beauty, nor hidden secrets or potential prophecies, nor did it contain extraordinary creatures, or demons or anything else. It looked so pin, so normal…

  “It’s unlike anything in the Circuits,” Sally replied in realization, turning to Lucy with eyes wide open.

  Lucy gave her a smile and a nod. “Exactly. The Dekantist preach that Lake Dread is the past, Lake Majestic the future and Lake Solemn a simplified present, but while that is true, it’s not the full story. All the kes offer us a present, a variant on the now as well: Lake Dread is doom, gratefully averted by the Prophet. Lake Majestic is hope, failed to materialize despite the Prophet. Lake Solemn? It is normalcy, denied to us by the very poison that courses through our rivers, that infect our pins and burrow into our mountains.”

  Sally looked at the ke again and felt a strange mencholy fill her. She had always felt some measure of pride at being from the Vils, from the Circuits. It meant she could live where others could not, thrive where others would flee. Like she’d fought against the currents, battled against the odds and come out on top.

  But now? It seemed as if she hadn’t done anything at all. That everything was part of an avanche, things set in motion long ago and shaping the present ever since. The roads contained the demons, which meant people could thrive. The Ante gave the Anteeri the Lake Prior and the means to filter its water, which meant they could more easily grow food, growing their popution, which allowed them diversify their industry, to make guns on mass, fight demons on mass, send runners and priests out on the circuits on mass, and help other communities establish themselves – all of it culminating in the Circuits she knew today. And it all led back to two things: the mystical bck roads and the blessed Ante. Without them, there would’ve been no way to fight against the Circuits…

  Which meant she hadn’t survived the Grand Circuit at all; she’d been given the means to survive, used them and then cimed the victory was all her. But she hadn’t defeated the enemy, for there was no enemy to fight. Where she’d once seen hostility seeping from every corner of the Grand Circuit, now she only saw indifference.

  And that made it all the crueler.

  “If this is supposed to be the norm, then why is the Circuit so different? Why are the rivers poison, why are there so many Demons, why… any of it?” Sally asked.

  “According to the lessons of the Prophet, when the War in Heaven sundered the boundaries between Heaven, Earth and the Below, all great evils and all great goods were sin, along with the very earth itself,” Sally expined. “But, as the Prophet said, ‘there is no simple death for things so grand’. The Unknown Angel died, but managed to save the children of man before disappearing completely. The corpses of Dead Gods are entombed in great catacombs beneath the Leaguerans cities, their power still active, still maniputing the nds around it and, in turn, able to be maniputed by the Arcanist’s, even if the animating force behind them is long gone.”

  “The Circuits also had their own share of remnants of the End of Days, but here – and perhaps only here – things went horribly wrong. The Prophet spoke of it thus:

  ‘Of three things unknown here nded, so three things I saw grow. A tree at the heart of blood; a cavity in earth’s teeth; a word buried underwater. One has burned, but is yet to die; the other has turned, but is yet to fill; and of the st, I dare not utter, for I have made it null and will speak of it no more’.” After prociming those words, Lucy closed her eyes for a moment, seemingly in prayer.

  Some of what she said sounded strangely familiar to Sally, and after some digging, a memory began to resurface.

  “Lovesse?” She asked Lucy.

  The pilgrim opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes. Your brother talked about three particurly magical locations: Lake Prior, the center of the Red Wastes and a pce in the Cannibal Mountains. In turn, I proposed three things: the Deeds of the Prophet, the Ashes of Dakh Hiyn and the Pit of the Devourer.”

  “And I was connected to all three of them,” Sally said, the memory of the day becoming more and more clear.

  “Two antagonistic, and one not.” Lucy stated, “I think we can both guess which is which, but what they have to do with you, I’m not sure.”

  “But the Hiynites seemed- well, not nice exactly, but they did not kill us,” Sally said, before amending her statement. “Not after the oath, at least.”

  “But they were under some sort of thrall, remember? Forced to attack those coming inside their nds by broken commands of a broken realm,” Lucy replied. “I don’t know what’s going on with the Hiynites – especially considering that the Ante was apparently one of them – but Dakh Hiyn is the Ashtree, and thus connected to those broken commands from the Old World and connected to the mysterious magics the Arcanist’s Guild is so keen on tracking down.”

  And the link between the cannibals and the Devourer is as clear as day.

  “And I don’t doubt that those magical currents have something to do with the presence of so many demons, both minor and True ones. They are drawn to magic, made of magic and feast on magic. So for a nd so rife with magical currents and reactions, as your brother put it, well- it only makes sense its all connected,” Lucy finished.

  Sally felt her head spin at all the revetions. Worse, she was still unclear on what connected her to all these things. What these sources magical energies, demons, remnants of the apocalypse and everything else, what they had to do with her revival, with the ‘blessings’ she received, and the visions Lucy received.

  It all made her feel sick to her stomach. The pressure of the unknown, the weight of her link these ancient legends, the expectations surrounding what Lucy called her fate, her destiny during their trip to Lake Dread.

  “What am I supposed to do, Lucy?” Sally asked, burying her face in her hands- hand, damn it! “I can’t- these things are too rge for me to carry. Why? Why me?” The questions sounded pathetic to her own ears.

  Sally felt Lucy put an arm around her and a hand stroking her hair. “I don’t know, Sally, nobody does,” Lucy said. “But remember, it’s not just you. I’m here too, whenever you need it. And I’ll do anything, give everything to help you.”

  Sally leaned into the hug.

  X

  They set up camp at the ke and Sally, naturally, took the first watch, taking a seat next to Lucy’s tent. Not that there was much to watch out for. The ke didn’t contain anything hostile and the Greennds were miles away, and behind the Green Circuit road besides.

  But there was always a need to keep watch, even if her attention wasn’t fully in it. She tried to use the time to think things over – and over and over and over – but few clear thoughts, let alone new insights or solutions, were found. So most of it was spend staring emptily ahead.

  When the time came for Lucy to take her turn, Sally didn’t get up. She’d decided she would stop pretending she could still sleep, stop pretending her changes hadn’t reached farther than she’d expected.

  And it wasn’t just the physical changes she would stop pretending to not notice. Apart from her ‘blessings’, she, as a person, had changed too.

  Maybe it was to be expected. The discovery that her home had been destroyed, and her family killed along with it, was not that long ago, neither in real-time nor in her personal experience of it. Then came this journey, the situation with Caldwell, her friendship with Lucy, the revetions at the kes… it would be stranger if she hadn’t changed since the day she fell to the force of Erlings and skinner-wolves.

  She knew she’d been more reckless before, more excitable, more energetic – even if she now contained more energy – than she was now. She’d longed for battle, loved to prepare and pn them out, ensnare the enemy in a cunning scheme and execute it in mechanical, yet gleeful perfection. She’d loved long journeys, loved spending the days outside and wished to see all the sights the Circuits had to offer.

  But now, fighting didn’t have the same attraction to her, it was a thing to be avoided, even if sometimes it needed to be done. She liked journeying well enough and the wandering about while seeing the sights still held some attraction to her, but it was in a different way than before. The journeys themselves felt tedious now and the sights were interesting to see, but she felt little pleasure about the discovery itself.

  She didn’t mind most of the changes, most of them even felt appropriate. Of course she didn’t like fighting as much anymore, she’d lost far too much already. Of course travelling and spending days outside was less fun, her blessings took out all the hardship and challenge from it. As for discovering new things, well, she’d seen enough.

  But there was some part, hidden deep within her, that felt as if her changes were contrived in some way, as if she was carried along on a current she had no control over. Which was true, she was being dragged along by something. Fate, visions, connections, magic, her inability to die; all of it was part of some game she didn’t know how to py, and she had no doubt her person – from her body to her very identity – was part of that same game.

  Worse, the game wasn’t just limited to her, everyone in the Circuits’ was carried along its uncontrolble tide. Everything in the Circuits seemed connected either to the Ante, the Devourer or the Ashtree, the magic they throw in the air and the actions they’d taken so, so long ago. All of it effecting people’s actions, decisions and futures to this very day.

  And then there were the outsiders, also numbering three: the Merkahni, the Grandies and the Leaguerans. Instead of throwing magic up in the air, centuries-long schemes or mythical acts, these three acted through money, through trade, through politics and people. But while they were easier to understand, they, too, seemed so far removed from everything. They were so distant from the Circuits, and yet were able to enact change within it almost incidentally.

  What was she supposed to do about all of that? Was she even supposed to do anything about it? Fight against the currents – like she thought she’d been doing all her life – or follow its course and be swept away like everybody else was, like she had been without ever knowing it?

  “Sally?” Lucy asked, her half-awake voice breaking her out of her thoughts. “Isn’t it my turn?”

  No time like the present, Sally thought. “I can’t sleep,” Sally replied.

  “I know,” Lucy said.

  “I mean, I haven’t been able for more than two weeks now,” Sally rephrased. “I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again. Or fully tire again. Or die again.”

  But the reply didn’t change. “I know,” Lucy said.

  “Oh,” Sally said dumbly. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  Lucy shrugged. “You weren’t ready to tell, so why am I to demand answers?”

  Sally had no response for that. “Well… you can go back to sleep, then. I’ll keep watch.”

  But Lucy didn’t leave, instead opting to take a seat beside her. “I think I’ll stay,” Lucy said. “Besides, it’s become routine by now. I doubt I’ll be able to get back to sleep anyhow,” Lucy said, her tired voice contradicting her words.

  But Sally liked to company, so she wouldn’t procim. And so, they sat together in silence, until dawn broke once more.