Wiz rushed over to inspect the goods she had purchased at auction. Relieved to see they were all still intact, she looked at me with confusion.
“I know they are a little different from the trinkets I’ve sold you in the past, but since they looked similar, I thought you’d like them. Was I wrong?” Wiz adjusted her collar, sweat running down her neck. “Please say no… I spent a lot of money on them.”
Without uttering a word, I reached inside and gingerly picked up a small, icy blue crystal with a flickering pale light at its center. I had seen billions of these stones during my time aboard the Aeldari Craftworld Biel-Tan.
‘All these Spirit Stones should be locked away inside a Craftworld’s Infinity Circuit. Did one crash into the planet before Doom’s arrival, or is there a Webway Gate on this world? While I hope both are incorrect, if one must be the truth, I would prefer the former over the latter.’
In dire need of answers, I took a deep breath and extended my consciousness into the stone. As my mind connected with it, the crystal brightened in response.
The room collapsed around me, morphing into the visage of an Eldar meditation garden. A small babbling brook meandered through the garden; young fruit tree saplings lined the banks at equal intervals. Nearby, a large rock sat in the middle of a dry garden, meticulously maintained by the soul who called this place home.
During my youth, I had spent countless months honing my psychic powers in a space like this at the behest of my caregivers. While they were not pleasant memories, the couple who raised me gave me the best upbringing one could expect from the emotionally restrained Eldar.
“Filthy Mon-keigh! By what right do you violate my peaceful mindscape?”
The disgruntled soul of a deceased Eldar warrior stepped out of a simple cottage with his blade pointed at me. “Speak, or I shall cut you down.”
He gave no opportunity to reply, charging at me the moment he finished speaking. As he brought the weapon down upon my head, I knocked him back with a burst of psychic power. He slid back, using his blade to steady himself.
“Child of Isha and Kurnous, you will cease this disgraceful display at once. He is not your enemy; he is trying to save the Aeldari and Humanity from a fiery end.” The decree came from an ancient, weathered voice.
Both of us halted our fight, lifting our heads to the darkening sky above. With effortless grace, a colossal dragon descended into the mindscape. Its majestic presence caused the warrior to sheath his blade and kneel with the utmost reverence.
While the Eldar recited old prayers, I kept my eyes fixed on the newcomer. His visage was known to me, as I had read countless tomes about him in Biel-Tan’s archives.
“It is an honor to meet my soul-bound companion, the divine Starweaver.” I stared into his eyes with coldness. “Why have you chosen only now to make your presence known to me? If you had helped me ten thousand years ago, my brother Zephrim and beloved Valeria would have lived.”
“Your anger is justified, Leon, but my intervention would have changed nothing. Even if the two of us had combined our powers, Davoth would have still won.” The dragon looked back at me with calm understanding. “In the past, you forsook the limitless potential your father gave you, instead choosing to sacrifice everything to save your family, your homeland, and those you loved. The one who stands here now has embraced that gift, refusing to sacrifice anything else. For that reason, I will join you to salvage this terrible situation and protect what remains.”
Without another word, Starweaver lowered his colossal head to me. As my fingers reached out to touch his ethereal scales, a chilling cold shot down my spine. Instead of discomfort, it felt like the last piece of who I was clicked into place. A soothing calm filled my heart and soul.
“I look forward to traversing the galaxy with you, Starweaver. You’ll have to tell me sometime how my Father convinced you to play along with your plans.” I turned toward the still kneeling warrior.
Upon feeling my gaze, he lifted his head to address me.
“Forgive my earlier rudeness.” A hint of disdain was still in his tone, but it was acceptable. “What has brought you to my peaceful haven? Do my kin require my continued service or guidance?”
“I will be frank, there is no easy way to say this, but we aren’t on a Craftworld right now. We are on a human world at the fringes of the galaxy…”
As I shared the limited information I had with him, the Eldar’s face became tense. Still unwilling to trust me, he closed his eyes and extended his consciousness outside the crystal.
“No… This cannot be true!” His eyes flew open as he tried to contain his panic. “Altansar… where is the cherished Craftworld I fell protecting? Tell me, Mon-keigh!”
My eyes widened in shock.
“Altansar? Well, that explains quite a lot.” I took a second to form a response. “Five hundred years after the Eye of Terror came into existence, a gravity well pulled Altansar into the rift. At the onset of our 41st millennium, it was returned to the Materium thanks to the efforts of an Eldar named Maugan Ra.”
I had to phrase my words carefully because the Fall of Altansar happened long after I died. It was only because of my otherworldly knowledge that I had a general understanding of the event. Any more than that was a complete mystery to me, and frankly, I had no urge to look into it.
“I… I see…” He took a short walk to collect himself. “Are you able to deliver our Spirit Stones back to our people? They will compensate you in some fashion, I’m certain of it.”
“I can certainly take you to Altansar, but it will take several years. We are as far as one can get from them without leaving the galaxy.” I said.
“Very well, I understand these things take time. While our Spirit Stones are in your care, please protect us from our mortal foe and her subordinates.”
The two of us exchanged a firm handshake, though it was clear he did not understand the idea behind it. As I retracted my consciousness, my surroundings warped back to Wiz’s warehouse.
“Hello? Is anyone home?” Olivia examined his face for any signs of life. “Please say something, you are starting to really scare us, Le—”
I cut her off with a grin. “Boo!”
With a terrified shriek, she slapped my face while falling into the open crate she had been leaning over. I caught her mid-fall before she landed on the precious gemstones.
“You really should be more careful, Olivia.”
“That was your fault, not mine.” Olivia puffed her cheeks out in anger. “Did something happen? You became unresponsive suddenly; it scared us.”
“I was communing with the ancient soul sealed within the gemstone, trying to get an idea of how it ended up here.”
Intrigued by this information, everyone picked up a stone and attempted to commune with it. As expected, most of them could not get a response from ancient souls. Unsurprisingly, Wiz got one to react to her, but what caught me off guard was that Yumeria got her stone to react too. The instant their minds connected, Yumeria flung the stone in fright.
“Woah there!” I caught it with telekinesis, gently placing it back into the crate. “Please be careful; these stones prevent the souls within from drifting into the afterlife. It may sound cruel, but on the other side, their souls are a light snack for their mortal enemy.”
With great care, they put the stones back and retreated several steps.
“So, Wiz, where did these stones come from?” I opened the other two crates, verifying that they also contained Spirit Stones. “Are there more out there I can go purchase? They need to be taken back to their native homeland.”
“They were pulled out of a Rank 2 dungeon in the Alzer Republic.” Wiz stared at the pale stones with curiosity. “The story goes that twenty thousand of them were dropped as a Boss Reward. Since they contain dense amounts of magic power, their Mage’s Guild bought them to enchant equipment. They stopped after people reported hearing voices in their—”
“Say what now!? Please tell me that this isn’t all that remains of the twenty thousand…”
I stared at Wiz, holding out some hope that I could save more of the Eldar. We may not be on the best of terms, given they tried to kill me and treated me like a nuisance, but I still wanted to help them.
“Only five of the original twenty thousand still exist. The rest were used to enchant equipment or recharge magic items.” Wiz gave me a sympathetic smile. “If the Elf and I can communicate with the souls, a skilled mage should be able to as well. Were the souls unable to contact them, or did the mages purposefully ignore them?”
A dry laugh escaped from Angelica, Clarice, and Deirdre’s lips.
“Miss Wiz, surely you jest.” Deirdre’s face contorted into an icy scowl. “I’ve had the misfortune of working with their mages when my father’s vessels were in drydock for maintenance. While there may be some exceptions, in my experience, the Mage’s Guild is a bunch of money-hungry, third-rate mages. Their work is shoddy; they overprice everything, and in the past, they’ve committed many taboos to satisfy the bottom line.”
A sudden idea came to Angelica. “With everything going on right now, I don’t think we have the time or resources to pursue the matter. Clarice, if I’m not mistaken, don’t all the trade guilds in the Holfort Kingdom answer to the Prime Minister?”
Clarice’s eyes lit up like stars. She had been waiting for an opportunity to be of use to her fiancé; now the time had arrived.
“Leave this to me, Leon! I will have my father get to the bottom of this matter and bring the ones responsible to justice.” Clarice said as she clenched her fist doggedly.
“Very well, I will leave the matter in your capable hands.” I pulled my fiancée into a warm hug. “I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
My pleasant scent and warmth enveloped Clarice like a thick wool blanket. In an instant, steam erupted from her head as her embarrassment spiked. The poor woman’s mind short-circuited.
‘Damn it, Clarice! Pull yourself together, it’s only a damn hug. If this is all it takes for you to have a meltdown, what will happen further into our relationship?’
As her mind caught up, Clarice wrapped her arms around Leon and held him tight. The pleasant feelings became even more potent, making her head spin at a million miles a second. She had to pull away from Leon after a few moments because her self-control was slipping.
“Ahem…” Lucoa stared at the flustered woman who bumped into her with a cramped look. “I’ve verified these potions are safe. We can pay the airhead and leave this place.”
My business concluded, we returned to the front to pay for everything. I negotiated a price for the stones, paid the tab, and headed for the door. Just as I was about to turn the handle, Wiz called out for us to wait a moment.
“What about the staff I mentioned earlier, Yunyun? Do you want it?” Wiz asked as she looked to Yunyun for an answer.
With a flushed face, she shook her head. “I appreciate your generous offer, Wiz, but I think I will stick to using this staff for a while longer.”
Wiz looked at the young girl as though she were insane. Her current staff was a fusion of several broken parts; the one she was offering was vastly superior to it. She wanted to press the matter, but then remembered something else.
“Ah! You don’t want to part with that staff because Leon made it for you, right?” Wiz grinned ear to ear. “Very well, I will keep this one here for you when you’re—”
“Wiz, you big meanie!” Yunyun flew out of the store in a blur.
By the time we had poked our heads out the door, she was long gone. Only confused onlookers remained, glancing in the direction she had fled.
“I did not know Yunyun could move that fast.” Lucoa looked on with genuine admiration. “Where to now, Leon?”
“How about we grab dinner before dispersing for the night?” I looked to the women for their input.
In response, Hertrauda, Olivia, and Roxanne’s stomachs growled with approval. With that, we headed into the heart of the Market District to grab food from the various stalls.
Join the Discord group: .gg/YTYN36rRzZ
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter