Chapter 8: The Chamber of Broken Souls

Councilmember Barrachus led the remarkable young man through the labyrinth of World Portals in silence. Ykir indeed. The story of Ykir was well known to even the lowest initiate-- their whole society was based on his teachings. He had made the Great Ether accessible to humanity, and his spirit still guarded the Fount of Ascendancy to prevent its misuse-- or so the legend went. Only the Seers really drew upon the Fount with any regularity-- mankind was never meant to handle that kind of power.

But this boy? An initiation was a necessary ritual. It made the Ether aware of a practitioner's presence. Only an initiate could direct the Ether through the structured pattern of a spell. It simply wasn't possible to perform as this young man confidently walking beside him had claimed to. To draw the Ether directly, without spells, simply by focusing his awareness? Barrachus suppressed a small shudder. That was the way demons and spirits used magic-- but with the exception of the rare Dreck or Archangel, neither demons nor spirits possessed the ability to physically influence the Mortal Plane.

Of course, Ykir had. He had been the bridge between the Mortal Plane and the Ethereal. It was he who had created the initiation ritual, being able to influence both Planes into making a secure interface betwixt the two. The greater one's understanding of the Ether, the greater one's discipline, the greater the practitioner of the Arts Arcane one was. It had been so for thousands of years. Magic was a tame science-- no surprises-- until now. Nobody, either before or after Ykir, had shown the slightest ability to control the Ether beyond the now-standard ways.

When put that way, Barrachus thought, it almost made sense. It had to happen again sooner or later. What puzzled him was the fact that the Seers had not been able to predict his coming. Or had they? He nearly missed a step as a chill ran down the old man's spine.

What if they did know, and for reasons of jealousy or fear, or who knew what else, (Seers were an odd sort, not remotely fitting his definition of sane) they had decided to end this boy's illustrious career before it began-- with a Dreck? If so, they had made a serious mistake. He was already more powerful than they had anticipated, and was looking for his attackers. Thus would be the biter bitten.

As far as Barrachus was concerned, once he had introduced young Jacob to the Trial of Fire and Ice, his part in this burgeoning intrigue was done. Either he would die in the course of the test, or, as Barrachus believed, he would come out of it with nary a scratch, and would be able to continue his hunt with impunity. Without him. He had no intention to endanger nearly two centuries of careful living by getting himself caught up in this mess.

Jake himself was rather impressed by the vast number of these doors to other places. There was absolutely no telling what was on the other side of a door by looking at it. Some doors were just surrounded by a frame, sitting in the middle of an empty room, but opened to a completely different place. Einstein and Euclid would not have been happy.

After what seemed to be hours of walking through different doors, they ended up before a massive, circular slab of an obsidian-like substance set upright against a wall in a dimly lit, damp cave. Two guttering torches were fixed to the walls, but Jake could see the flows of energy around them; they would never go out. There were also two old men sitting at large oaken desks that seemed completely at odds with the medieval décor surrounding the rest of the place. They glanced up at Barrachus with surprise and at Jake with a distinctly uncomfortable cast.

"Barrachus, what kind of irresponsibility is this? None but those ready for the Trial are to come here. You know that! Why do you bring this young man?" Barrachus smiled that thin little smile of his and approached them, quietly but urgently explaining his actions. Jake was not the least bit curious about what he said. His fascination was fixed upon the circular slab. There was a device on it, a circle with seven different stripes spiraling counterclockwise inward into nothingness. The stripes were all black, as deeply dark as the rest of the slab, but each had a subtle difference in texture. Jake was sure it meant something important...