Chapter 40

It took a few minutes to reach Rain's rooms and they made introductions on the way. The priest's name was Wave. When they arrived, he instantly asked, surprised, “what happened here? I can smell something off.”

“Oh, that's just how Rain smells.” That was Hammer, being a smart arse. She gave him a quick, cross look, with just a hint of amusement.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments.

“I didn't mean an odour. It's difficult t describe, but I can sense the residue of people playing with the forces that grant life. That's one of the things we get training in.”

“I was attacked,” said Rain, “someone came through a hole and started attacking me.” They got training in hazeshaping? She didn't know that it was something that could be learnt. “Does your training allow you to manipulate this life force?”

“Not really, though some of us, such as myself, have some natural talent in this area. I notice a mixture of different scents. There was more than one attacker? It seems like there were three flavours of energy in play.”

“Well, Avan had summoned a... I don't know what it was, but it looked like a salamander most of the time. It could do strange things. Avan summoned this salamander thing to help me. Its name was Leptep.”

The priest's eyes lit up. “Avan? Avan Nerovast? He is real?”

Rain was a little cautious. “Yes...”

“And he is working with you?”

“Yes...”

“You must be something indeed! To be working with a legend such as Avan.” Wave was still a little on edge. “Be careful. Our myths tell of strange happenings when he is involved.”

“Everyone's fairy tales feature someone by that name. It's a standard name.”

“Oh, I know, but you don't understand. He is a very central figure in our religion, but he has always been assumed to be a metaphor. His actions set up situations in our history, the parables that follow each give guidance to the believer on the right course of action in a moral dilemma. If these are true stories, perhaps these parables aren't intended to have lessons, or perhaps our interpretation of them is incorrect!”

Hammer looked a little disbelieving. “Histories? Legends? Yours is a new religion.”

“We have been secret for a long time. Well, not secret, but we moved here from Amn. We're a few thousand years old. We've kept low because that is what our tenets say. That policy was introduced when we were hunted long ago. I had always assumed that the name Avan Nerovast was written over a set of other names in the stories that were not parables, during some reformation.”

“So, you take a pragmatic view of belief?” That was Rain.

“Yes, everything must be questioned. That is one of the core tenets.”

“Any others?”

“'Always carry a weapon to defend yourself' is another. ”

“Oh, you have a weapon?”

Wave drew a dagger from somewhere, it sprung into existence as if from nothing. He flourished it once before making it vanish again. “It's also important to know how to use it.”

Rain spoke again. “Let's get back to it. How long have the Fold been able to use Shar?”

“Shar?”

“What you called the life force. I've been able to, knowingly, manipulate it for less than a week.”

“But you're so powerful!”

“Weird isn't it. How long?”

Wave was sweating a little. He was in stranger's home, under the interrogator's knife. He had a weapon, but expected it would not be useful should these people decided to turn him into a memory. “As long as the religion has been around. Our powers had been growing weaker lately. As they weakened, we became more evangelistic; for some that is the way faith is shored up. Overnight our abilities returned – last night!”

Rain looked at Hammer. “That probably has something to do with freeing Tera.”

Hammer nodded, his attention on Rajin who was investigating the various object in the place. She seemed a lot calmer than she had earlier.

Wave was interested in this Tera character, but knew enough not to ask too many questions. He wanted to ask one though. “How can you work with Shar so easily?”

Rain fixed her gaze upon him again. “I don't know. Avan did something and now I can. Sometimes it happens without me meaning to do it at all. I can only work with it when I also use Haze, and doing that hurts.”

“That's interesting. I've never heard of this Haze thing, but then I'd never heard the term 'Shar' either. At any rate, working with it is not painful. It's pleasurable even.”

“Tell me about the way you use it with technology. How does it work?”

“Ah, that. When you add it to something inanimate, it's like pouring life into it. It gets a rudimentary will, which is usually aligned to its purpose, and it seems to be able to just... do... things.”

“But–”

Wave cut Rain off. “For example, a door supplied with Shar will open. Something more complex, like a notepad, when supplied with it will do something depending on how it has been typically used. You might be able to use it to talk to someone, but the messages would go straight into their brains, not to another notepad. Or it might open doors, except it will open any door, because all that electronic authentication we used to use doesn't work any longer. Maybe you could invest an authenticator and make the lock start working again, I don't know, we're still learning. We haven't been able to do anything other than the most rudimentary of things in years.”

“Rudimentary things? Like what?”

“Hmm. If something is alive, you can strengthen its life force – give it Shar – and that will help it in general. Plants will grow, wounds will heal, fatigue will dissipate.”

“Can you pull Shar out of something? What happens then?”

“I don't know if that's possible. I certainly wouldn't feel right doing it, especially as anything with Shar in it naturally is alive. I thought that everything living had to have some Shar in it, but that reptilian bird thing doesn't. What is that thing?”

“That's Rajin.”

Rajin looked up at her name, then continued her investigations.

“She comes from somewhere else. We think.”

Yes, from the world of energy. Very different to here.

“Ah, she does come from somewhere else. Another realm, which I think is the same one that Tera came from.”

“Surely you don't mean Tera the god? The one the Panity worship?”

“Worshipped, and yes, that's who I mean. We released him. Sort of.”

“So he's real too? I can hardly believe this! Think of all the doctrine that will have to be rewritten!”

“Well, his existence didn't make him a god in truth. And he's not around any longer, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.”

“Oh. That's what you meant by sort of.” Who were there people? They killed something so powerful that a whole religion had sprung up around it?

“Yes, that's what I meant.” She had not meant to let the “sort of” slip out, but done was done. She wondered if she could take the past few seconds of memory from Wave's brain... No. She wouldn't even think about that. What a horrible thought!

“I should get back to answering questions to the crowd outside. Do you mind if I call in some time?”

“Um. Not at all. I doubt I'll be here though, I've been having trouble controlling where I spend my time.”

Hammer chuckled.

Rain continued. “I'll come find you if I have any more questions.”

Wave nodded and left.

“Well, that was interesting.” Hammer pushed himself off the wall on which he had been leaning and walked over to Rain.

“There's a lot to think about. I think there is more to this than just the Tera and Avan thing.”

“I agree, but what?”

“I don't know.”

Rajin continued to pad around and look at things, tongue flicking in and out, claws making a soft clicking on the floor.