Her hands around my neck, her wails had quieted to short sniffles and grumbles. My wings blocked her off from the world, allowed her to have a private moment to finish. She slid away and slumped on the ground. Took a shuddering breath. Finally looked up at me. “I…” she said, “I want…I want to know…why.”
“Why what?”
She rubbed some snot from her nose and sniffled. “I want to know why…they had to wait. Why…Jake said he needed me. Why he…” her voice dropped. “Why he said…I was going to die fulfilled.”
I nodded. “Then I will help you.”
To be honest, I was curious as well. Because what I managed to hear…sounded involved. Interesting. And not in a good way. More in a world-ending way. “Come,” I said standing and shuffling her a bit with a wing. “Rod is waiting.”
We walked around the graveyard and into the chapel, where Rod sat on a bench directly under the window. Or…he sat on something. He had produced a new ratty ringmaster coat and hat, wearing both with a satisfactory smile. He faced us, hands in his pockets, smile slipping just a little as he stood.
“So,” he said softly, voice barely echoing. “Now you’ve met Jake.”
I crossed my arms. “Clearly. You gonna explain more, or do we just skip to the part where we’re attacking each other?”
“I think we skip past that part,” he said, taking the steps one at a time. “You want in terran like this or…?”
“Terran,” Layla said, coming up from behind and looking at us both. “Please. I want to be kept in the loop this time.”
Rod looked at me and I shrugged. “I will do my best.”
“First off, we’ll start with the personal news. Jake was assembling a crew back in the day, station and species didn’t matter. He was on a hunt to find lost artifacts and tomes on other worlds. Knowledge for knowledge’s sake, all that jazz. I was one of the members. We didn’t know until much later that it wasn’t anything it appeared; then again, maybe it was and something bit him. Changed him.
“The first bizarre transformation from him is when he began practicing magic outside the Terran system. Specifically from your home system, clever-wings. He managed to study and replicate mirror images from Phoric, information systems from Pondera, body alterations from Elkien, and subversive communication from Elewna. Not in that order, really. Maybe in reverse order.”
He shook his head. “Anyway. After that moment he began working with all of us to attain the same thing, with…mixed successes. Some resonated more with one magic than another, and some went absolutely batshit because the study was too complex. Either way, he now had his little army of scholars-turned-fighters, and while everyone practiced and studied – including him – he came upon another finding. Changed his views altogether.”
He paused, looking at me with that annoying, all-knowing look. Mouth slid a little sideways into a frown.
“Which was?” Layla prompted.
Rod took a breath. “It was after he met a young-looking half-elk. Elf. Ehlv?” Shook his head. “Whatever. Your father, kiddo. He met your father.”
Layla sucked in a breath.
“He won Glidon’s trust with words and study, something they shared. Glidon wound up sharing his notebook with Jake, and with it were notations and studies on something called the Keystones.”
Now it was my turn to suck in a breath. Pain, devastation, and loneliness all flashed through my mind. Memories of fire. Of hurt. My hands balled into fists.
Rod pretended not to see.
“I…I feel like I know that word,” Layla whispered. She shook her head. “I…why do I…?”
“Because your father was studying them,” Rod answered.
“But…what are they?”
“There are different theories,” Rod said, walking down the steps. “Some say they’re the keys to freedom. Some say they’re the foundations of the universe. And some say they don’t exist at all, that it’s all a bunch of bunk made up by natives too scared of the dark.” He gave a short shrug upon reaching the floor with us. “There’s no evidence of who is right and who is wrong. Only coincidences that anyone who got even remotely close to sites of supposed Keystones died or vanished mysteriously.”
“But what are they?” Layla insisted. “Are they really stones?”
Rod shook his head. Hesitated. “Well…some think they are literally stones. Others think that they’re disguised as everyday objects. A sash, a braid, a ring. Those sorts of things. They say the Keystones hold or control or are linked to one of the eight elements.”
“But…there are only four.”
“In some circles. Others promote five. The periodic table has over a hundred, if you’re counting those kinds of elements. But back in the home system where the Keystones were created, they believed in eight foundational elements. Roughly translated, those are earth, water, fire, air, magic, knowledge, order, and chaos.”
My arms itched again. By the moons, don’t activate now.
“And my father? Which ones was he studying?”
“All of them, from what Jake said. But the one they went back and forth the most on was Order.”
“Why?”
Rod shrugged. “Order is the one most of the mythos surrounds.” He hesitated. “Alright, so in the story, each element was something that connected to one of the eight primary gods - while most have different names, the closest any of the stories got where calling them Masu. Legend goes that the Masu created Atmu, which serve as eight elemental demigods. They merged and mixed and eventually created life on the four planets in this other system, and Order went berserk. Tried killing as many as possible. Got locked away by the other seven, who then made the Keystones as a way of release. Then they gave the Keystones to the remaining life forms, a way for the punished to decide the fate of the punisher. At least…that’s what I can remember of the base legend. Like most legends, the stories skip around a bit on the who, what, and why.”
“Forget the legend,” I snapped. “What happened after Jake saw the notes?”
“What inevitably happens with ancient powerful artifacts,” Rod said. “Jake plowed through the knowledge as best he could. Decided he knew better than the gods in the legend. Glidon saw where he was going and withdrew. Didn’t fall for any of Jake’s magic, charms or words. He was very firm about it.”
“...And what happened?” Layla’s voice was small, hardly a whisper. “What…did he…?”
Rod heaved a sigh. Sat on the last step with a slight flop. “Despite many of us arguing and fighting against him…Despite all logic and reason…Jake went after your father, kiddo.”
