Mark of the Fool

Chapter 533: A Ritual's Unexpected Side Effect

You know, the Mark of the Fool is really unfair.

Keldas had my power for less than a month, and shes already nearly as good as me.

It took me five yearsto learn how to grow and channel it.

Im happy, but come on, its not even remotely fair.

Yeah, well it wasnt fair that you got super teleportation either, but we all take what we can get, Alex murmured, looking down at his right shoulder. That must be how I got some of her power.

He looked at his fingers, recalling events in the Cave of the Traveller.

There was a momenta brief momentwhen hed touched her power. He remembered how hed been trying to get the dungeons mana to touch her energy to break the coreandas the dungeon core was shatteringhed touched that unique energy that was a part of her.

It was only later that hed begun to notice his sudden gift for summoning and magic related to teleportation.

Her poweror what was left in her bodymust have recognised my Mark, Alex said excitedly. It must have thought I was Kelda and shared itself with me. Holy shit. Holy shit! This is huge!

He frowned, thinking about the power. It doesnt feel like I have all of it, though. Her notes said she could teleport without spells. Her power enhances my teleportation and summoning spells, but thats about it. Maybe I didnt get the whole thing because she was already dead. I cant even imagine what her full power mustve been like.

He felt the energy within him. It definitely got stronger after I came in contact with this object of hersmaybe theres someplace else I can draw more power frowait a minute. If she and Kelda were teleporting aroundwait a minute!

Alex raced through the entries, finding a passage he just knew should be there:

Kelda broke into Generasi University.

Because shes insane.

By now, shes better than me with my own power. She can get through wards so easily. She can teleport thingsin pieceswith such precision that its shocking. She makes me want to work harder.

I wont lose.

The next entry:

We might have found a clue. There was a book in Generasis library: said that some of those clawed monsters that attacked Kelda were seen in the Irtyshenan Empire.

So were going to divide and conquer.

Im going to settle back in Alric and build a sanctum. Somewhere I can research. I think I need to go to the source: if Uldarites can control dungeon cores, then Uldar has to know whats going on.

Kelda wants to work on other Fools who might have escaped Thameland, research her Mark, and see if anyone else has a clue about whats going on. Well divide and conquer.

The next entries were optimistic.

Hannah detailed how shed built a sanctum in Alric, while Kelda developed some sort of organisation elsewhere in the world, one that Hannah wanted to know as little about as possible. It didnt sound exactlylegal.

Theyd stayed focused on their quest and worked well together, but maintained secrecy:

In the event that one of us is captured, weve taken to keeping some of our activities secret from each other. It seems someones been moving against us. We dont know who or the exact details.

But just in case, Im going to be a bit more careful with what I write. Maybe Im just being paranoid, but it feels like Im being watched. My secret language is private, but Kelda knows it.

And if shes captured, she couldif they did things to hershow them how to read my notes, and then theyll know everything.

Maybe I am paranoideven though I know we can escape everythingbut if theres anything I learned from Kalatonia, its that some gods cant be trusted. And in other worlds, deities are very active. Every record Ive seen shows that Uldar has been mostly silent, only speaking to his people through everyday life.

But I cant ignore the possibility that hell interfere directly if we get too close.

Well be careful.

Alex swallowed, feeling the dread in her words.

As time went on, she wrote less and less frequently as she aged.

Years passed between entries sometimes, and they became more and more bleak.

Another year. No progress. No dungeon cores to examine. No link to Uldar. Hips hurt now. Back hurts too. Starting to wonder if I should pass on my work. But who would I trust?

Kelda and I dont contact each other much these days. We visit less.

Shes changed. Obsessed with her Mark. She feels time creeping up on her.

We both do.

He read further, then gasped at another entry.

Kelda thinks she might have figured out something about her Mark. Im going to examine it later today. She said it was based on something Id once told her about home.

Desperate with excitement, he read the next entry:

Shes right. By my goddesses, shes right.

Were going to see if we can reverse it.

Alex flipped to the next page. Reverse what? Reverse what?

His heart sank at the next entry.

We made a mistake.

The process went wrong.

Kelda is gone.

Down to the very soul.

I am alone.

Shit! Alex swore. Shit, shit, shit! What happened? What did you do?

He flipped pages frantically.

There were only a few more entries.

In desperation he read through her final entries about her journey to find Uldar.

He reached the second to last one:

I have one hope left. I know where I made my mistake.

Since wed destroyed the Ravener, I decided to get rid of every potential sample. All dungeon core pieces. Im beginning to wonder if thats why the Ravener and the dungeon cores turn to dust when its defeated, so no one can study it too closely.

So I will wait. Another cycle is coming soon.

I will wait, and I will go through the next cycle one final time. I visited earth again. So much has changed. Everything hurts these days. Everything is so hard. But thats life. Ive lived a long life and a good one.

I hope with my last act, I can finally solve this mystery.

Alexs heart was in his throat as he flipped to the last entry.

Failed.

Ive failed again.

A dungeon core appeared right in my damn sanctum.

So I went after the Ravener-spawn and core first. The fight was tough. The dungeon core was very aggressivelike I expected. I fought hard: changed the signature of my teleportation power to destroy every Ravener-spawn it touched. Didnt want them escaping.

Some of the portals went wrong. Pure chaos now.

Need to shut them down. But weak.

Fought the dungeons most powerful monsters.

But I was slow. Old. Tired.

I broke them but my body is broken too.

My souls too close to the afterworld for divinity to bring me back. Bodys mostly repaired but my soul is already going on. Too weak to move.

Teleporting the ink into my book to write the last entry.

Cant move my hands now.

Kelda. Youre gone. Your souls gone but I hope theres a piece of you out there.

I hope that we meet again.

If somehow anyone finds this. Anyone that knows the language I taught Kelda. Ive hidden a shard of memory. Managed to figure out how to teleport a thought into the pommel of my old sword.

Same process as when I was fiddling with my phone. But clumsy.

It will have a warning for anyone that finds this.

A warning for friendly eyes.

And maybe a path forward.

The following is a ritual that will summon my blade back to the location of this book. It will act like a beacon.

From there, she had described a ritual similar to a spell. All one needed was the book, something linked to the Travellers soulshe assumed her body would be usedand her name.

The ritual wasnt even really a spell array, more like an advanced way to call her magic from across the gulf ofsky? Stars? Space? Alex was still trying to wrap his head around it all.

Once hed memorised the ritual, his eyes focused on her final words:

To anyone that finds this, please keep my secrets as best you can.

Alric is my home. My true home.

If word gets out about what I am and what I seek, the people could suffer. Dont let them suffer. People have suffered enou

And that was it.

The thought cut off, the last perfectly formed letter written in teleported ink.

And nothing followed.

Alex sniffedslightly choked upand closed the book.

The sound was unnervingly final.

You led a hard life, didnt you? He whispered. And yet the last thing you wrote is about protecting my home. By the Tra he paused, feeling the power within him pulse as he said her nameI should say, by you, Hannah Kim. Another pulse. I wish I could have met you. The world would probably be a lot better place if you were still in it. You tried, and not a lot of people can say that. You gave your whole life to trying to solve this mystery.

He patted the book. Im sure Kelda would be proud of you. And Im sorry Alric will never know just what you tried to do for all of us. Well, maybe one day. Maybe one day when this is all over. Still, I gotta say, I wish youd written down whatever it was that Kelda discovered about the Mark.

Alex glanced at his shoulder. Even if things went wrong, Id really like to know what you both thought youd found. Well, maybe your shard of memorywill explain it.

He put his hands together in prayer, then began setting up the ritual. Surprisingly, it really wasnt difficult to do. A piece of chalk from his satchel drew what was effectively a summoning circle on the stones.

He drew symbols in the Travellers language inside the circle, taking care to be meticulous with the symbols.

When he was finished that part, he positioned the book and artefact in the middle of the circle: they werent her body, but they were dear to her, and the artefact held a power that had flowed through her very soul.

He hoped that counted.

Alex sat before the objects and bowed his head, reciting the words in her book: Hannah Kim. Hannah Kim. Hannah Kim. I call upon your power. I call your power to this location. Let what you held dear in life act as a beacon. In all the worlds and all the planes, let this call bring your power here. Come, hear my cry. Hear my cry, wherever you may be: the power of Hannah Kim, known through many worlds asThe Traveller.

What happened next, Alex knew he would remember for all the days of his life, even if he lived for ten thousand more.

The power within him pulsed.

The power within the artefact pulsed.

And both awakened with the ferocity of a blazing forest.

The Travellers energy spread out in a wave, transcending space and planar barriers, reaching out across a distance so vast that even if it could be quantified, it would be meaningless to Alex.

He felt the energy of the ritual join with his inner power and that of the artefact, spreading wider. It felt like he was sending the universes most powerful smoke signal.

And he was rewarded with a response.

then shocked when something else answered.

Two? Alex was stunned. But she only hid one item!

He scratched the back of his head, puzzled. He could vaguely feel where both responses were coming from. From the first, he felt somewhere cold and dark: an infinite frightening void where no light had ever touched.

But it was the second that truly frightened him.

It felt as though he had toucheda wall. No, a door. A door that should never have been touched by any living being. Terrible yearning seeped through the signal: followed by a raw emotion that stifled the endless want.

Confusion.

A mind filled with confusion answered his call.

Something was coming. Two somethings.

Alex reached for his staff, butbefore his fingers could touch itpowerful teleportation magic raged around him, so ferocious that it overwhelmed his senses, sending his thoughts reeling.

Even the greatest teleportation magic hed ever felt Baelin cast was a shadow compared to this.

Reality shifted.

An object appeared before him.

A sword: fine bladed and made of an unfamiliar metal. Runes ran down the side, the pommel was a copper wire wrapping around a piece of silicon.

But before he could examine it, something elsesheathed in blazing white lightmanifested. Alex squinted, hiding his eyes with a raised arm, trying to temper the brightness.

Once again, that terrible feeling touched him, leaving him with the impression that hed made contact with someplace he never should have. The feeling lingered for a breath, then fled, replaced by a web of confusion, calm, and warmth.

As the light began to lessen in intensity, apprehension grew.

Just what had he summoned?

Had the Traveller hidden a guardian to

His heart stopped.

His mind stopped.

His senses stopped.

Floating before himtransparent like mistwas someone hed longed to meet.

A young woman. A young woman who might have been chubby at one time, but who'd been hardened by tough battles over a period of years. Her face was striking in the same way that a painting of a goddess might be.

Her dark hair was long, hanging over familiar robes.

Robes that had shrouded a corpse in a cave hed passed through back in his homeland.

Slowly, the womanor spirit or whatever she wasopened her eyes. Confusion filled them as she looked around. Howis this possible? her voice was low and rasping, yet clear above the roar of the labyrinths flame.

Alexs heart sang.

Floating before him in the blossom of her youth

was Hannah Kim, the Traveller.

He had gotten his wish.

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