A Mage's Power (Journey to Chaos) (8 page)

“Captain! What are you doing?!”

“Oh, Lieutenant, good timing.” She nonchalantly handed him
the pad. “It's so hard to take notes one-handed.” Jemas fixed a steely gaze on
Hasina.

“Captain, you could get us and the guild in trouble for
this.” Jemas put the pad down. “More importantly, you can't experiment on
sapients.”

“Experimenting? I'm
examining
, like I'm supposed to.”
Jemas' stare deepened. “I finished the job earlier than expected and, since the
other healer is out sick, I filled in. No extra charge.”

Her lieutenant raised his eyebrows. “Is this true?” Eric
shrugged. “So the healer just happened to be sick today of all days? What a
coincidence.”

Hasina clutched her heart in a dramatic fashion. “Your
accusation
wounds
your captain.” Jemas' expression didn't soften. Hasina
sighed and placed her staff over her heart instead. “I swear on my staff I had
nothing to do with the healer's illness.”

Jemas put his hands on his hips. “What about the 'cough
syrup' you were passing out?”

“I got consent for that!” She pulled out a scroll out of her
pocket. “See? Exactly what it was, what it was supposed to do, and the possible
risks.”

Jemas took the scroll and unrolled it. “You told them it was
candy!”

“It does
taste
like candy.” Jemas shook his head and
paid special attention to the names at the bottom to make sure they were not in
his captain's handwriting. Finally satisfied, he rolled the scroll up and
returned it.

Hasina tapped her foot. “Well?”

 Jemas bowed and said, “I'm sorry for accusing you, Captain.”

“Uh . . .am I done?” Eric hesitantly asked. The pair had forgotten
him, but he was used to it. Even when he was the subject of a fight, which was
rare, he was quickly forgotten.

“Oh, Mr. Watley,” Jemas said. “I hope my captain hasn't been
too rough.”

“N-not at all. I didn't feel a thing.”

“See?” Hasina exclaimed. “It's just a spell to see what's
inside him.” Her eyes regained their light. “Speaking of which, it's fascinating.
Just like the
other
Otherworlders, he's very similar to our
Homo
Sapiens
, and yet different . . .”

That's what Aio called this world's beings. So they all
have 'sapient' in their scientific name?

 “ . . .Like the others, he has weaker bone structure, less
muscle potential, and only
four
pigments. Four!” She was so excited she
was almost incomprehensible. “And his spirit! Like a withered plant that
adapted to being withered! Although due to the stronger spirits of the others,
that last one may be due this particular specimen . . .”

“Captain! Don't be rude!” Jemas shouted. Eric wanted to say
she wasn't being rude and everyone said he was weak, but he couldn't get a word
in edgewise.

“I'm not being rude, I'm just stating facts,” Hasina
replied. “Okay, the last one is an opinion, but more of an educated guess!”
Jemas rubbed his forehead again.

“Captain, please, finish the examination so Mr. Watley can
go home.”

Hasina's eyes lit up again. “Ahh, yes!” She pulled out
needles. “My spell couldn't tell.”

“
Captain.”

“Oh, all right.” Hasina put the needles down and grabbed her
staff.

Aio went hysterical when Eric returned to the immigration
dorms. He shouted that Mr. Monotone had cloned himself. The dorm keeper’s eye
twitched, but he walked past Aio without saying a word. Eric explained that it
was a simple examination and Aio wiped imaginary sweat off his forehead.

“Do you know where the library is?” Eric asked.

 Aio grabbed Eric's wrist and pulled. “I know the perfect
place!”

“Where are we going?”

“To the Temple of Zaticana.”

The Temple of the Language was located in the White Town of
Piety and Pranks adjacent to the Yellow Town of Trade and Creativity, the Grey
Town of Interpretation and Justice, and the Blue Town of Imagination and
Wisdom. On the way, he passed under an arch guarded by two statues. Both of
them were robed and carrying a book in one hand. The other one was empty.

The Temple itself was made of marble gilded with fool's
gold. Four pillars rose above the roof of the temple with smaller pillars in
between them and all covered in the writing of countless languages. There were
so many of them that Eric wondered if some were doodles. Then he reminded
himself that his own language might look like doodles to the users of those
languages. Aio lurched to a stop at the foot of the stairs and let go of Eric's
wrist.

“Go up those stairs, find a priest, and ask for a blessing.”
He backed away from the temple.

“Where are you going?” Aio walked backwards; still moving
away from the temple.

“Oh you know; things to do, places to go. I'll see you back
at the room.”

Eric sighed and climbed the writing-covered steps leading to
the writing-covered entrance. Two brutes in writing-covered robes and bearing
sickles shaped like question marks blocked his path.

“Halt!” they bellowed. “No earthbound mortal may cross this
temple's threshold!” Eric glanced at their gleaming weapons and decided to
obey. Then it hit him.

“If no earthbound mortal can, then I'll jump. I won't be
earthbound then, at least for a while.”

The guards smiled and opened the door. “Not many get it on
the first try.”

It was rare that Eric received a compliment . . .even Emily
scarcely complimented him. In fact, now that he thought about it, he couldn't
remember a time she did . . .

“Are you going in?” Now blushing out of embarrassment, Eric
jumped across the open doorway.

 Inside the temple was writing and not much else. There was
writing on the ground, the walls, the ceiling, and every piece of furniture. It
looked like his apartment when Tasio pulled out his “resume.”
After seeing
him in an apron, I wouldn't be surprised if Zaticana is Tasio in drag.

“Welcome!” a voice called. Eric blinked and saw a woman in a
character-covered robe. “Welcome to the Temple of Zaticana,” she said with the
universally acknowledged sign for peace. “I'm Vestal and I hang with her,
what's up?”

“I . . .I'm here for Zaticana's blessing.”

“Sure. Follow me.”

The priestess led Eric deeper into the temple, through one
hallway and then another. They passed many chambers and it wasn't clergy who
dwelled in them, but lay people studying the writing on the walls.

“They're language students,” his guide said, “By this time
next year, they'll know three languages by skill instead of grace.”

“What about the clergy? Are you the only one here?”

“Yep. Language is for communicating. Those who serve
Zaticana bring her blessing to the community. They're at local schools
preparing for a 'summer reading' thingy.”

She pushed open the doors to the Inner Sanctum.

It was a single room with only glowing stones for light. At
the center was a large black stone on a raised pedestal. Like the rest of the
temple, this stone had writing on it, but this was different; there was power
in these characters. Eric could feel the energy radiating from it.
It must
be a sacred object, maybe their holy text.

“Zaticana, daughter of Chaos and Goddess of Language, I got
this new being here and he needs your blessing. Do you mind coming over here?”

The stone flashed and wind arose from nowhere. A red blur
spun from the characters on the stone. It grew larger and faster and took
shape. The goddess had the same golden-brown hair as Tasio and pointy ears like
Tasio, but was most definitively not Tasio. She was curvier for one and tied
her hair in pigtails for another. She wore a midriff-baring dress and thigh-length
leg warmers for a third.

She stared at her priestess with her hands on her hips. “Vesta,
I've told you a gazillion times. You don't need an invocation. All you need to
do is say the magic word.”

“Got it.”

A goddess . . .a real live goddess . . .
I'm in
the same room as a goddess!
He thought the “blessing of Zaticana” was some
ritual involving the holy-looking stone; not the invocation of a deity! She
locked eyes with him and smiled seductively.

“See something you like?”

 Eric's face was on fire. “Uh um . . .I uhh . . ..what is
the magic word?” Sure, it was a lousy cover, but he needed one.

“Oh that? It's really simple: 'please.'” Eric slapped his
forehead. “You must be the Otherworlder.”

“
You've
heard of me?”

“Of course,” Zaticana replied with a touch of pride. “In
addition to being the goddess of language, I'm also the goddess of
gossip
.
No news can spread without my knowledge.” She cupped Eric's face with both
hands, setting his cheeks further aflame. “Now about your blessing. . .” She
kissed him full on the mouth. Eric's eyes shot open and he promptly fainted.

Vesta’s sweat dropped. “Zaticana, was that necessary?”

“Of course!” She set Eric down on the floor. “He looks like
such a shy thing. I thought he could use some lovin'.”  

When Eric woke up, the first thing he said was, “Speaking
comes from the mouth, so does connecting mouths somehow transfer knowledge of
words? Or does it—”

“That's the first thing you say after being kissed?!”
Zaticana demanded; her brow was furrowed and her voice was harsh.

I made a god angry! I'm gonna die!
His fears were
eased when Zaticana laughed. “Somewhat true, but I didn't
need
to kiss
you . . .” Eric blushed deeply. “. . .I was just having fun.” Eric’s happy
feeling was replaced by a funk.

“It was Zaticana that taught sapients spoken languages,”
Vesta said proudly. “With her gift, social grouping became possible.”

“Why'd she teach so many different ones?” Eric asked. “Wouldn't
that be confusing?”

“Yes, that idea is very common, but language is an essential
part of any culture; its most distinguishing trait. Zaticana's blessing allowed
for the earliest development of distinct cultures and for greater group unity
than would otherwise be possible.”

“Actually,” Zaticana said. “I just thought it would be funny
to watch them talk with each other.”

The priestess suddenly had a coughing fit. “(cough)Yes that
is(cough) true.(cough).”

“You're a trickster, aren't you?” Eric asked Zaticana. “Like
Tasio.”

The Goddess of Language shook her head. “No, not like Tasio,
but I am a trickster. You must be that new friend he's been talking about.”

“We're . . . hardly friends,” Eric replied.

“Yes, yes, we tricksters get that a lot,” Zaticana said,
nodding. “I hope he wasn't too rough bringing you here.”

“Of course not,” Eric said dryly. “Just got to watch that
first step, or pull.”

Zaticana giggled. “Well, Eric Watley, it was wonderful
meeting you.” She winked and Eric's ears burned. She giggled once more before
disappearing.

Chapter 3
Friends

For the next nine days, Eric roamed the city library. It was
a brand new world and there was so much to learn. The librarian somehow knew he
was the Otherworlder and recommended his first book:
The World is My Domain
by
“The Silver Dragon.”
The same one as the dorms?

It was the autobiography of one of the oldest authors in the
world, two thousand twenty-five years old and counting.
That explains it: a
legacy title.
They talked about their travels and the infinite different
places to go and things to learn and how this infinite was multiplied by itself
after every hundred years or so. “It was like going there for the first time
and visiting a familiar place all at once.”

These reflections were accompanied by references to the
Eternal Renewer, Lady Chaos, and the Eternal Sustainer, Order. Together they
blended the familiar and the exotic in ways only an immortal like her could
truly appreciate. The author often mentioned her immortality and always as a
boast. The book sleeve at the end confirmed this: it claimed the Silver Dragon
was older than the calendar system.
It's gotta be a hoax.
Regardless,
the book piqued his interest, so he asked the librarian for more books about “chaos
and order” and was handed a children's fairytale.

The Birth of Noitaerc
, he read aloud.
“From the
Grisly Brothers Collection: 'Originally, there was nothing but Lady Chaos.’”
The
first page pictured a vast sea of golden-brown. It moved on the page like a
real ocean.
Magic in children books . . .I wonder how it works . . .

“Lady Chaos bore a son whom she named ‘Order’ . . .”
Eric turned the page: a grey form rose above the sea.
“. . . and immediately
panicked because she couldn't nourish him; her milk burned him and without it
he would starve.”

The third page showed a third creature; a tree sprouting
from the Sea of Chaos. Its roots were hidden in the waves and its branches
reached off the page.

“The solution came with the birth of her second child,
whom she named ‘Noitaerc.’ The Great Tree drank its mother's milk and diluted
it into a form its older brother could swallow. Order showed his appreciation
with a hug.”

A fourth page showed the grey mass wrapped around the tree.

“
The branches of Noitaerc flowered. Its fruit and leaves
gave birth to more life.”
A fifth page showed a close up of the Tree; round
fruit and angular leaves hung from its branches.

“And within these fruit grew the universes, where our own
home, Tariatla, resides.”
A sixth page showed a close up of a fruit with
people inside.

“The milk of Lady Chaos, the water of the Sea, flows
through Noitaerc to our world and keeps us alive. Then it flows out to keep
Order alive. Finally, it returns to the Sea.”
A seventh page showed a chart
of the Flow of Mana.
“The cooperation of the First Family maintains the
balance of the cosmos.”