53 Death's Secrets

Markos pulled a flat wooden ladle from the handle beside the pot. He dipped it into the roiling boil. He sniffed the steam but couldn't discern the smell.

What could be inside it? Was there another entrance? Whose camp was it?

Strangely shaped bones and a dark-skinned blade-shaped ear tangled in a hunk of black hair emerged from the fluid. Markos's eyes widened in horror at what he discovered. "What in all that's holy?" He threw the cursed liquid away, drawing his sword. "We need to get Iliana and get out of here, now."

"What did you find?" Caelyn drew his blade in response. "I don't understand. It's like she's everywhere."

Markos gulped, moving to Caelyn's side. "Nothing good. I think I found the elves."

Caelyn stared at him for a long moment; his eyes widened then narrowed as his jaw clenched. "No. It's not her. I can still feel her. She's alive."

"Children," an echoing feminine voice rumbled in multiple languages at once. The templars whirled as they searched for the source, finding only eerie shadows on the walls. "Come to me. I called you here."

Caelyn raised his sword; his tattoos and blade blazed crimson as he gathered his breath. "What are you?" He hissed. "Where is she?"

Laughter bounced off the walls around them. "Interesting. You ask what. The ones opposing you asked who. You have fared better."

"We're not in that pot," Markos growled, desperately reaching out to the Word to find the thread that led him to Iliana. It was daunting; as Caelyn said, Markos found her threads forming a tapestry around them. It didn't make sense. What had Iliana done?

"Very good." The voice paused, and the heat of the campfire intensified. Their maraium equipment burned hot in response, having the men grimace. Its tone softened before booming, "Let's abandon this pretense."

Beneath their feet, the ground trembled and broke apart in a thunderous quake. The air around them solidified and shattered like broken glass. Caelyn released his energy in a gale of protective wind around them as gravity dragged them down into darkness.

-----

"Caelyn. Markos." Iliana whispered.

Markos blinked and rubbed his eyes, seeing nothing in front of him. Somewhere water dripped down. He looked towards the voice, sensing her presence but could not see her eyes illuminating the cavern. It was strange. What could douse an ember's fire?

"Why can't I see you?" Markos blindly groped around him, feeling Caelyn's arm beside him. His touch passed through where Iliana should have been. "Iliana, are you a ghost?" It was not the question he wanted to ask. He'd sworn to protect her and so utterly failed.

"No, it's just..." Her voice drifted, coalescing once more behind him. "Different."

Markos craned his head to look at Iliana. "Illiana, am I blind?"

Caelyn groaned beside Markos. "It feels like a suppression field," he muttered, his hands grasping Markos's arm to steady himself.

Markos stared down at his friend in wonderment. "A what?"

"It's a way to manipulate the Word to isolate a pocket from the outside world. We used one against the aphotic to not draw more to that house by using magic," Caelyn sighed. "It mutes the outside world, so nothing exists outside of it for those within it."

"Why is it so dark?" Markos anchored himself next to Caelyn; he was the only tangible thing in this state. "Have you ever seen it do something like this?"

"No." Markos could see Caelyn, but he sensed that he was shaking his head. "This isn't like anything I've known or read about. I've never seen a dragon like what's in that cave."

Something gnawed on Markos. They stood beneath a temple dedicated to a First Child, specifically Mara's death goddess. No one knew what a First Child looked like; they only knew they existed. Even without proof, it was an accepted truth. Someone built the temple with monstrous doors, chambers, and ceilings. It meant that the people that made it were giants or trying to accommodate giants. They knew about the aphotics and the demon dragon. Some accounts of St. Fleur mainly talked of his faith and nobility but not his appearance.

They knew of the power of the First and their disappearance after the Second Children; the elves went to war. But that meant that somewhere in the elven temples should be some evidence of the First. They walked Jord in the light of the Word alongside the gods. Why was there no record concerning how the First Children appeared? Was it all just a parable? Was the war between the First and the Second just a myth rather than an actual event? Wars meant bodies, remains of the passage of armies, letters, some evidence of what occurred. They had a record, but things were missing.

They had discovered a dragon in the depths, hidden away by two sets of magical doors, but it had feathery wings. It was not the demon dragon the Order fought; that cave was further north in the wastes. Markos gulped. What if this creature was what people thought was Mara?

"Caelyn, I have a theory," Markos whispered. "This is a temple dedicated to Mara, right?"

"Yeah, it is," Caelyn confirmed.

"What if that dragon we saw beneath the heartstone was Mara." Markos felt unseen eyes burning a hole into him.

A spark illuminated the shadows before them, and they saw the graceful curve of a pale woman's back. Her hair was pitch black and draped over her shoulder. Her head turned to look at them with a blazing blue eye. Her features were sharp, too distinct for them to have been looking at her from a distance. Light reflected from her skin, giving it an opalescent quality that only came from the inside of shell or scales.

Markos and Caelyn gaped at the sight. "You're the dragon," Caelyn remarked.

"Very good," her voice reverberated around them, echoing within itself and against the cavern walls as the dragon woman turned to face them. "I'm Mara." She rose, taller than either of the templars, her hair veiling her exposed, scaled breasts in a silken veil. She pointed at them with a long, slender finger ending in a golden claw. Not a stitch of clothing covered her body; if it were not from the knowledge of what she was and the glint from the scales, Markos would have found Mara alluring.

"Where is Iliana?" Markos asked politely, hoping to get an answer. He felt Iliana all around him; her magic was everywhere. If this was a field, it was of Iliana's making. "Why does her magic surround us?"

Mara ran a hand over her raven tresses, throwing them over her shoulder as she stepped toward them; the ground quaked in response. The reality between what they were seeing and what was in conflict. Markos glanced down at Caelyn's tattoos and their lowered swords. They were black; whatever magic was at work, their magical bindings were not working against it.

"That child is weaving this dream together for us." Mara stopped short of them, her gaze weighing their measure from above them. "She has marked you both. It means you are worthy to hear the secret your Church has kept from you." The way her voice echoed reminded Markos of people talking at the same time. It wasn't so much as a single voice but two voices speaking. Mara tilted her head towards Markos; her diamond-shaped pupils lingered on him. "You've been blessed."

"I don't understand," Markos swallowed, uncomfortable under her gaze. Mara turned her attention to Caelyn.

"Your partner has been blessed as well, but in a different way." With Mara closer, Markos heard a strange guttural language speak a fraction of a second before the second voice translated for them in Drassin common. He recognized the voice in Drassin. Mara stroked her chin. "Yes, I can work with this." She nodded.

Markos's eyes widened. "You're using Iliana to translate."

Mara smirked, looking impressed. Caelyn blinked, looking between Mara and Markos, his jaw tightening. "Why are you using her body?"

Markos found himself in a nightmare. Some ancient dragon was inhabiting Iliana's body and they were trapped in a suppression field with it far beneath the earth. What was even happening?

"Interesting. I wonder if she intentionally gave you halves of the same blessing," Mara commented gesturing to them both. "Iliana agreed to help me, so in a way, yes." She grinned at Markos. "But you see the falsehood behind the illusion, how do you see the powers that binds you to it?"

Markos considered lying to Mara but it seemed foolish if she was one of the gods that they worshipped. "Bound to the Word? It's threads in a tapestry. I see Iliana's mark everywhere in here," Markos admitted.

Mara folded her arms across her impressive chest. The image of the dragon woman broke away from the dragon it was imposed over. The true Mara winked at Markos with a large golden eye. He took several cautious steps back.