Shana dreamt.
She could only remember a few other times this had happened – dreaming while awake. Each time, it had been when traveling from one Location to another in the Enchanted Dominion.
And each time…
“I told you, I don’t want to see you in my dreams,” Shana said.
Before her stood the Radiant King.
“Tell me, Shana,” the King said. “Do you remember this place?”
It was the first place she had met the Radiant King. The two of them stood within a great golden bubble filled with light.
Outside was nothing but darkness.
“What do you want?” Shana asked.
The King bowed his head, sighing sadly. “I wanted to speak with the Dreamer,” he said. “I should apologize. Keeping Annabelle… resorting to trickery and deception with you… I was a fool. A fool for doing such evil in the name of good, and a fool for thinking you and your friends were weak. I never believed you would even try to save Annabelle, and yet you not only attempted it, but succeeded. I never believed that you could restart the Dream Forge in the Library of Solitude on your own, and yet you did. You have been a true Dreamer, a beacon of light to a weary, darkened universe.”
“Why are you watching me?” Shana asked. And then a thought occurred to her, one that made her even more uneasy. “How are you able to watch everything I do so closely?”
“You will discover that for yourself very soon,” the King said. He reached out his hand, his fingers brushing the edge of the golden bubble lightly. Glittering golden sparks burst lightly in the air around them. “I had hoped you would never go to the Garden of Memory. The memories that can only be seen there are things that were hidden or destroyed for a reason.”
“Of course you want to keep things secret,” Shana said. “What you did to Annabelle… to Sarabelle… to all of your Royal Guards and Enforcers… to Athena… to the Crystal Family… to Sunset Square… you’ve done nothing but deceive people, coerce them, manipulate them, and try to control everything and everyone. And when you haven’t been able to control things, you’ve carried out horrific acts of violence, killing so many. People aren’t puppets. If you really wished to destroy the darkness and save the universe, you wouldn’t resort to such despicable means!”
The King turned around, pacing back and forth at the far edge of the bubble. “You’re right, of course,” he said softly. “That is why I came back to you after all this time. I’ve had time to think and reflect on my own failings as I’ve watched your successes. You are the true Dreamer, the best that Heart could ever hope for. So all I hoped… all I desired… was to be able to work with you. It’s true, I tried to control you, to coerce you, to use you. But I was wrong. I see that, now. So I propose an alliance. Please, Shana.” He turned to her, holding out his hand. “Can we fight the darkness together, side by side?”
Shana stared at his outstretched hand in shock… and then turned around. “I’m leaving now,” she said firmly. “Don’t come to me in my dreams ever again.”
She heard a heavy sigh behind her. “As you wish,” the King said.
The bubble, the light, the darkness, all faded away. For a moment, Shana was all alone. And it was her turn to let out a sigh – of relief.
He sounded so sad. So full of guilt.
He’s always been so convincing. Great at talking – great at lying. But…
He was too convincing this time. If he hadn’t let me go…
Would I have ended up saying yes?
The world around Shana swirled in blurry swaths of color, and then coalesced into a rocky plain. Shias, Kathryn, Rae, and Ben were with her.
They had arrived at the Seat of the Seven.
The rocky plain swiftly rose up in a sheer cliff face, rising a dozen or more stories into the sky. Embedded in those cliffs was a great door – three times taller than any in Shana’s group, and wide enough for all five of them to pass through side-by-side with ease.
If the door was open.
It stood shut, grey stone with a carven image of seven thrones arranged in a pyramid.
At the top of the cliffs, a strange light could be seen. Where the sunlight of the place Shana and her team stood was warm and golden, the light from beyond the cliffs was blue and clear.
But Shana needed to keep her focus. She looked at the door, and to either side of it were the stacks of flat rocks that Selphine had described. On the left side were seven, while the right side had eight.
“We go left,” Shana said, starting forward. Following the wall to the left, the ground beneath them soon turned to a narrow path with cliffs to the right and a dense, dark, impenetrable forest to the left.
“It’s hot here,” Rae said.
“And dry,” Shana said. She reached into her bag and pulled out her water bottle, handing it back to Rae, who took it with a grateful smile.
Despite the dense foliage to the left and the high cliffs to the right, despite being outdoors in beautiful sunlight…
It was all completely silent. The only sounds were the footsteps, breaths, and scattered conversation of Shana and her friends.
Like the world outside the Seat of the Seven is dead.
What lies through the door? You need a special writ from the Crystal Family to enter… but why? Selphine didn’t say anything about what’s inside, not even the slightest hint.
And everything outside is pretty, and pleasant to look at. But walking through it, all this silence… it’s so strange. It feels eerie.
Kind of like the Radiant Palace. A sort of papered-over beauty, a façade to conceal…
What?
The Radiant Palace’s brightness was concealing what it was before, the Crystal Palace.
If this place is connected to the Crystal Family too, then did the Radiant King do something terrible here, as well?
It was frustrating and disheartening to think of the Radiant King, but Shana knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid that.
I’m about to learn about his hidden past, after all.
And if we’re going to put an end to his manipulative, abusive ways, then we need to know as much as we can about him.
But…
No. This place doesn’t feel the same. The Radiant King was too ostentatious in his own home, making it so bright, so glaring, that we needed special eye protection.
This is more subtle. It’s not his style, and it…
No. It feels similar, but at the same time completely different.
Whatever’s wrong with this place – assuming there is something wrong, and this isn’t just how it always is – I don’t think it’s linked to him. But I’ll keep it in mind.
Their path was soon shaded as trees arced their leafy boughs overhead, blocking off much of the sunlight. The coolness was welcome as Shana took a long series of gulps from her water bottle.
And it wasn’t much longer before they rounded a corner and faced a door.
This door was small, simple, made of vertical planks of wood braced by dull strips of iron. Just below the metal handle was a large keyhole.
“This is it,” Shana said. “Everyone, make sure to stick together. Don’t wander off, don’t get distracted by anything we see in there. We’re looking for things connected to the Radiant King and nothing else.”
“We don’t want to make the Garden’s Guardian angry,” Kathryn said.
Shana took out the key that Selphine had given her and inserted it into the lock, turning it once. There was a muffled click! The key dissolved in Shana’s hands.
The door swung inward.
Cool, slightly humid air rolled out of the open doorway. The space beyond was a swirl of dark green with pulses of gleaming blue light.
Shana reached out her hands. One took hold of Shias’. The other took hold of Rae’s. Behind her, her brother and friends reached out to each other, holding hands.
Shana took a deep breath and led the way through the door.
The warm light of the outdoors was swallowed up by a cool, comforting darkness. They had arrived at the Garden of Memory. Above wheeled stars in dazzling, complex constellations. Below was soft, dark grass broken up now and then by stepping stones. All around were tall, bushy hedges, and numerous flowering trees and bushes. The flowers on said trees and shrubs were like something out of a painting, with deep streaks of color blending one into the next.
And throughout the dark Garden were flashes of glowing ice blue light. They appeared to be words suspended in the air, words written in a language Shana didn’t recognize. Each collection of words bobbed in the air, and the words in that collections moved and reassembled as a sphere, swirling and stacking in different patterns. But each collection of words was distinct and kept to itself, never colliding or combining with another.
“Are those the memories?” Kathryn asked softly. Something about the place brought a hush to the group, inspiring them to speak quietly.
“Probably,” Shana said. “But we should explore more to be sure.”
“If they are, how do we find the one we want?” Ben asked. “We can’t even read them properly.”
“There will likely be clues somewhere,” Shias said. “Keep your eyes open. Don’t get separated.”
Shana started forward, she and the others letting go of each other’s hands but continuing to stay close.
Despite the darkness, the gleaming collections of words didn’t contrast too harshly against the lack of light, and were surprisingly pleasant to look at.
But that’s probably the point. Inspire curiosity so we do something we shouldn’t and make the Guardian angry.
I wish we knew more about how this place works. But if we have to explore…
This isn’t such a bad place to explore.
It was dark, but not unpleasantly so, and the glowing, bobbing words lent a sort of cheerful, sort of ethereal atmosphere to the place. When the lights of the words came near the painterly flowers, the colors of the flowers took on a wild glow that seemed to come from within, transforming all of their colors into a vibrant kaleidoscope of beauty.
The scarce stepping stones eventually brought them around a corner and into a courtyard, in the center of which was a square fountain. Water flowed from the statue in the fountain’s center, a tall pillar of pale blue stone carved in the likeness of a beautiful maiden pouring from a large pitcher. The water cascaded down as a gentle, quiet stream into a pool with surprisingly still water, mirroring the starlight above.
“Now where?” Kathryn asked, surveying the situation beyond. The stone on the ground now formed paths, each branching off in different directions, vanishing soon through various gaps in the hedges.
Shana’s eyes were higher, in the distance, and she pointed. “That looks promising,” she said. Beyond the hedges, a fair distance away, was a wide building with a shallow, triangular roof that flared out and upward at the edges. Spinning around in a circle, Shana couldn’t spot any other landmark like that.
“So which path do we follow to get there?” Kathryn asked, hands on her hips.
“How far away do you think the roof is?” Ben asked, mainly directing his question to Shias. “Because it looks like I could Blink to it –”
“No,” Kathryn said firmly, wheeling about and pointing at Ben. “We stick together, no matter what. No Blinking away, even for a second.”
“Right,” Ben said, staring wide-eyed at Kathryn’s pointing finger.
“I could send out Brutus,” Rae said.
“And I could send out Altair!” Shana said. Altair spun in a circle at her feet, staring up at her excitedly. “Our Summons will find the way.” Rae smiled, nodding at that and bringing Brutus’ hulking red form into being.
“So the rest of us just wait,” Kathryn said, taking a seat on the edge of the fountain. She smiled at Altair as he dashed off down one path, Brutus making his way down a different route.
“How long?” Ben wondered aloud, plopping down on the fountain a few feet away from Kathryn.
“Who cares?” Kathryn asked, gazing up at the starry sky. “It’s such a beautiful, peaceful place. I don’t mind just resting here for a while.”
Shana smiled at that.
It really is something special. I wish it hadn’t come with so many warnings. If I wasn’t so worried about the possible dangers we’ll face, I’d be really happy to be here. But…
She looked around at the dozens of floating spheres of words.
So many memories that were intentionally destroyed, hidden, or locked away.
Are there that many people willing to go to extreme magical lengths to hide the past? And what kinds of memories are hidden in these words? Just how…
A sudden, firm grip on her shoulder startled her, and she wheeled around to see Shias staring at her intently.
“What?” she asked.
“You were getting too close,” Shias said, nodding past her. Shana looked…
And saw she was less than a foot away from a sphere of glowing words.
When did I…
“Best to try and ignore them as much as possible,” Shias said. “I think they want us to look.”
Shana stared at the words a moment longer.
A hidden past, crying out to be known.
But we can’t look.
She turned away, surprised at how much effort it took. Taking a cue from Kathryn, she turned her eyes skyward, while letting her mind drift back to her link with Altair. He was rushing along happily, turning here and there, every now and then finding a stone statue or tall tree to leap up so he could get a look at the building in the distance and make sure he was on the right track.
Such a smart, capable little boy.
After a while, Rae held up her keychain Talisman. A flash of light, and Brutus reappeared in front of the fountain. She sighed, taking her Summon’s giant hand in hers. “Our connection isn’t strong enough when we aren’t in view of each other,” she said. “I just can’t get a good sense of what he sees, and he struggles to make it clear to me.”
“That’s okay,” Shana said. “He’s got all kinds of skills all his own. Altair and I’ll handle this part things. Just know we’ll be ready for Brutus if things get dangerous.”
For a while longer, Shana’s friends chatted softly now and then, while Shana kept her attention on her faithful Summon. On he went, with his unending pep and joy, and looking through his eyes brought a lightness to Shana’s heart.
Then he turned a corner, and Shana gasped.
“Found it,” she said softly.
“Great!” Kathryn said, hopping to her feet.
“I also found the Guardian,” Shana said. Through Altair’s eyes she looked up a long, shallow staircase to the doors of the large building, and there stood a man. He had a long, sheathed katana planted on the floor like a cane, and both hands rested atop it. His entire stance and bearing made it clear that, doors open or closed, he was the one who decided whether people entered the building.
“Well, we were gonna have to talk to him,” Kathryn said.
“Doesn’t mean we need to be gung-ho about it,” Ben said.
“She’s right, though,” Shana said, calling Altair back to her side. “Let’s go meet the Guardian.”
His sword and stance were one thing.
But his eyes…
Like he looked straight through Altair to me.
Shana followed the path she’d memorized through Altair’s exploration, constantly averting her gaze to the ground or the sky when her eyes drifted towards a memory sphere of words. They passed more beautiful flowers, and several more courtyards with fountains like the one they’d first seen, with a maiden statue pouring water from a pitcher.
Then came the final turn, and Shana gazed up the stairs at the Guardian.
Still he stood, hands resting on his sheathed katana, sword planted on the ground, feet set apart. His hair was silver, and he wore a long, dark green coat, its collar high enough to hide his mouth. That only served to accentuate his eyes – dark, penetrating, they gazed upon Shana with startling precision and intensity.
There was a sudden shift in the air, a sensation that Shana couldn’t describe. But it caused her heart to sink, and she suddenly looked around.
Her friends and brother were gone.
Shana and Altair were alone with the Guardian.
-----
Kathryn was alone with the Guardian.
One moment she’d been with everyone else, and the next…
Alone.
“What did you do?” Kathryn asked, glaring up at the Guardian.
And yet he hadn’t done anything. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t spoken…
What was happening here?
-----
Rae and Brutus were alone with the Guardian.
Fear clutched her heart, and she held onto Brutus for support.
“Wh-where is everyone?” she asked, looking around her. They’d just been here with her, she knew it!
And yet…
And yet…
Rae was alone.
-----
Ben was alone with the Guardian.
“What…?” he asked slowly, reeling from the sudden change in situation. “I didn’t do it, I swear!”
He hadn’t moved from his spot. No one else had moved. Right?
But here he was, all alone.
Where had everyone gone?
The Guardian stared down at him, silent, unmoving.
-----
Shias was alone with the Guardian.
One moment he had been standing at the bottom of the stairs with Shana, Kathryn, Rae, and Ben.
The next moment, he was standing there alone.
The Guardian hadn’t moved, hadn’t blinked, hadn’t spoken. And yet…
“What did you do to the others?” Shias asked, one hand touching the pen Talisman in his pocket.
“Nothing,” came the voice of the Guardian, a soft, flowing baritone that filled the air all around Shias. “But I will, in a moment, do to them what I must do to you.”
“And what’s that?” Shias asked.
The Guardian stared back at Shias for a long, silent moment. And then he spoke again.
“You must be searched. Pray that you are not found wanting.”