Darkness Lurks In Every Past

The innkeeper of the inn they chose to settle in was a friendly man, for they were paying guests after all, but the smile on his chubby cheeks didn't reach his suspicious eyes. He served them dinner on a candle-lit corner table and the four of them ate under the suspicious gazes of the other guests of the establishment. There were questions in those sharp eyes, Tercius saw plainly. Who are these people? What are they doing here? Their cloaks look like some mighty fine tailoring work and yet no coat of arms is visible. How much money do they have? But none present were willing to voice let alone act on any of these questions.

Much to the surprise of the plump innkeeper, they asked for four rooms. The man's wonder was evident, but he was of the sort that would rather bite his tongue than ask why and risk losing money. A smart man, in other words. As soon as they all were settled and Tercius saw the innkeeper's magia outline go down the stairs, Tercius went to knock on the door where his Mentor was staying. In the privacy of her room and under the cover of her obfuscation spells he wove the small spell and accessed the storage units of his enchanted Amulet. Tercius' spell activated the storage and he enveloped the robe into a thin cloud of magia, connecting the cloud to the open connection.

With a whoosh, the robe was gone from his hands.

He had gotten used to that gray robe over the past few days, especially the overly large hood that could hide his face completely, but it was time to leave it behind.

"And the Amulet?" Mistress Kalina asked.

Oh. He had to leave it too. He certainly couldn't take it with him tomorrow. Reaching for the string, Tercius took it off and sighed. Immediately, he felt the absence of the familiar weight. For the past year, that Amulet had been nearly constantly with him. He did not take it off even when he slept.

"What is your plan for tomorrow morning, Tercius?" Mistress Kalina asked.

Tercius looked into his Mentor's green eyes. "I will go to the old artisan district at sunrise. I need to find someone there. If all goes well with him, I will have someone to introduce me to the clergy of the temple of Divine Balance in the western districts. Hopefully, they will prove amenable to providing me with the information I need."

His Mentor nodded. "Once you return, we will visit the shops and markets here, and make purchases of essential things that will make your journey—" Her hand reached for her slightly stirring Amulet. Her palm closed around the triangular piece of metal and she closed her eyes only to open them a moment later. "Mistress Prime'era is asking us to come to her room,"

The two of them hurried along, Tercius walking a step behind his Mentor. They crossed the hallway of groaning wood within moments and the door just opened when his Mentor reached for the handle.

Mistress Prime'era floated above her bug-riddled bed, her legs crossed. Her eyes slowly opened when the door closed behind the two of them. "Tercius, I have something for you,"

On her chest, her dark triangular Amulet glowed almost imperceptibly and a folded piece of paper appeared above her raised palm. Slowly, it floated to him and Tercius picked it up tentatively. Another letter for him?

"That will help on your quest, although I don't recommend you have it near your person, not when you consider where you're going. You never know who might go through your things when you're not around them. My suggestion to you would be to memorize as much of it as you can, as accurately as you can, and then destroy it. There's an instruction on how to do so properly written at the back." she said, even her voice soothing and warm.

Tercius placed the open palm of his left hand over his heart and bowed slightly. In his still developing voice, he expressed his gratitude.

"Well, give it a look. I think it will be of use to you,"

He unfolded it and there, on the yellow paper, done in dark ink was a map. Waterways were marked, as well as mountains, hills, forests… A small 'Monastery of Balance' was encircled by a thin pen trail, a small ink star below it. His heart sped up. A map of the Western Izmittor Mountain Range. He looked to the far right of the map and there it was, a slightly bigger star and above it 'Spheros' was written. Tercius almost crumpled the edge of the map with his fingers. With this, even if he didn't get any information of the monastery's location from the clergy of Divine Balance, he would still be able to make his way there without literally stumbling around.

"Thank you, Mistress,"

This would open another path for him, but he still needed some more information that this map couldn't provide. For one, he had no idea if his father and grandmother even went where they wrote that they intended to go. He had to visit that temple and its clergy, no matter what.

"This will help me immensely," Tercius folded the map carefully for a more detailed inspection when he went back to his room.

"I figured it would." Mistress Prime'era smiled at him, then turned to Mistress Kalina. "Now, you mentioned during the dinner that you needed to speak to me about something?"

"Should I leave?" Tercius asked.

His Mentor shook her head. "No, no. It's nothing sensitive. Just an idea I've had."

"Well, go ahead my girl, don't keep us in suspense,"

"I've been considering something for the past few weeks, Mistress. We ought to construct a Library here, in Spheros. One in Porvul as well, and another in either Tripatis or Terrtul. Each of these cities has a sizable population, and if we had a permanent public presence like we do in Lissea, we should see an increase in our recruitment numbers. Besides that, our students, like Tercius here, would have a chance to go and visit their families with some regularity, and not be forced to be entirely absent for half a decade or in many cases even longer."

Tercius' mouth fell open.

Mistress Prime'era hummed. "The agreement we have with this Empire will expire in less than two decades, Kalina. Perhaps then, if enough magi agree to serve as the staff,"

"I am not worried about the staff, Mistress. The requests for steady positions have doubled since you've last visited. As to the agreement, their side has rarely held on to their obligations and restrictions. Some of their nobility don't even recognize it as valid," Mistress Kalina said. "A group of them even question if their ancestors signed it at all and have the temerity to argue that it is all some plot on our part,"

Mistress Prime'era shrugged. "A lot of time has passed since. Not even their… Well, eight centuries of generations have changed on their side since Titus and his posse signed it. But even if they don't hold on to their side, we will not break our own, Kalina. I was present when the agreement was made, and Grand-Master Tergaron himself has signed our side of the agreement."

"I am not saying that we should break any part of the agreement, Mistress. We could simply leverage to forget one of their many infractions in exchange for some concessions. This option is included in the agreement, from what I know,"

Mistress Prime'era shook her head slowly. "They do not even remember most of those infractions— if they even know that they are infractions, at all,"

"The Emperor and his advisors are aware, that much I know. Master Verrio had personally made a diplomatic visit to the current Emperor a few decades back and informed him of the agreement his ancestor signed, explaining its points and its expiry date, even giving him an exact copy to study at his leisure, just in case if their original was lost. Taking that into consideration, Mistress, some infractions were made during this generation. They had built a settlement inside the borders of a Natural Preserve in southern Zagea, less than a decade ago. When it was finally reported by a passing Master, we had to evict thousands of mundanes and then reforest the area. I could use that."

Mistress Prime'era considered it, before finally giving a long sigh. "Do as you will, Kalina, but if you're asking for my advice, then I say that you should let it be. Twenty years will pass in a blink of an eye, and then you can make an outhouse on the roof of their Imperial Palace, if you desire to,"

Mistress Kalina gave a weak laugh and Mistress Prime'era smiled.

Tercius listened intently, picking up everything he could. First of all, his Mentor was giving this proposal clearly with him in mind. Whatever her drive, he would be immensely grateful if this proposal came to pass. Second, there was an agreement that curtailed the activities of the Society within the borders of the Empire. At the same time, the same agreement curtailed the Empire from spreading into certain areas. A mutual non-expansion, non-intervention agreement? Interesting, very interesting…

"Mentor, what exactly is a…" Tercius tasted the words of Magik on his lips before he repeated them. "Natural Preserve? Did I say that right?"

"It's passable. Try to open your mouth more for the explosive rurds, though. As for what a Natural Preserve is… well, you know of The Global Accords,"

Tercius nodded. "You've mentioned it before, Mistress,"

"Well, there is a section in the Accords that explicitly states that half of the planet's land surface has to be classified as Wilderness at all times, meaning that human presence there has to be so small that it's considered negligible. No large-scale dwellings can be built in Wilderness. Harvest of resources on a large scale is explicitly prohibited. More detailed parameters exist in the Accords, of course, such as how many humans are allowed per a pre-defined surface area and so on. A Natural Preserve is an area classified as Wilderness but enclosed on all sides by areas of human population. Think of it as a small-scale Wilderness."

"I see… so Nogea… at least the northern part of it…"

Mistress Kalina nodded. "Around seven parts in ten of Nogea are designated as Wilderness, yes. Nogea is the second largest continent of our planet as well as the second-largest Wilderness, with the continent of Angea taking the first place in both."

Angea was that massive chunk of land on the other side of the planet, that was surrounded by rings upon rings of tiny islands… Questions kept ricocheting in his mind, until one popped out with hesitation. "Why?"

His Mentor smiled. "Why what?"

"Why… the limit? Why does half the planet need to be Wilderness? What were the makers of the Accords hoping to accomplish with this?"

Mistress Prime'era cleared her throat and both Tercius and his Mentor turned to her floating form. "Allow me, Kalina. You see, young man, our Founders are called as such because they first created our Society and then the first Repository, where knowledge could be stored and retrieved— essentially exchanged with others freely. After the first Repository was made, our population swelled to sky-reaching heights within just seven to eight generations, and discoveries started to change the way of human life on what seemed to be a daily basis. But there was a dark side to our prosperity. You see, the expansion of one comes at the expense of another. The wildlife was nearly entirely wiped out and many species went extinct. Too many. In creating the Repository, our Founders had unleashed a golden age upon our species, but also a terrible plague upon other species and an even greater curse upon the planet."

"Oh,"

Mistress Prime'era nodded. "Our Founders traveled the Planes even before they created the first iteration of the Repository and they continued to do so even after. As it happened, they were mostly absent during the beginning and the height of the golden age itself. For them, only a few centuries passed, while for the rest of the world… Once they returned home and saw the mind-boggling rise in the numbers of our species, and what the actions of multitudes did to the planet they cherished and fought their ancestors to protect, they sought to undo everything before things went beyond the point of recovery. The system of keeping half the land surface untouched, or nearly untouched, by human interaction comes from those dark ages, millennia ago."

Chills went down his spine as Tercius swallowed. Should he ask? He should… "And just how did they… 'undo everything'?"

Mistress Prime'era smiled sadly. "I don't think it would be wise of me to share something like this now. Ask me again in a couple of years, and I shall share it then,"

"Please, Mistress… I'm already imagining things, things I really don't want spiraling around my mind,"

Mistress Prime'era looked to Mistress Kalina, who shrugged in return. "If he wants to hear, Mistress, and you're willing to share, then by all means. Tercius is more mature than his young age would have him seem,"

"Well then… Where should I start…" Mistress Prime'era took a deep breath and sighed. "Even today, the decision of my Mentor and his two peers remains controversial. I… I must admit that even I don't know what to think of it, and I can only feel immense gratitude that I was not in their robes at the time. I know what I feel about it, but feelings are more often than not too volatile a factor to take into consideration… And now, I'm rambling…"

Mistress Prime'era cleared her throat, composing herself. "Well, in the course of my education, I've been obligated to read the journals of people who went through those turbulent times, handwritten accounts, and testimonies of magi and mundane alike. I… thought it was all a lie of some kind. My Mentor wouldn't harm anyone, I thought, let alone do what had been written about him. He liked to build things, grand things, intricate things, not destroy them. He didn't even like to socialize— none of them do. So, I spoke to my Mentor about it. And it turned out that he didn't do what the journal's writer accused him of. At least, not directly.

"You see, the three of them have tried to reduce the population through incentives. Ah…" Mistress Prime'era mumbled something in a strange language. "What it means is that they gave people funds not to have any children, essentially. Can you imagine that? Still, it did not work. They tried making settlements in the Planes and relocating people there, but with the hostile environment and even more hostile lifeforms, it was not something that could be accomplished on the scale that was needed. Magi could live there on a somewhat permanent basis, but not mundanes. As problems kept appearing, spells were created and tried, some small and local, some even global. The Everstorm, for example, was formed because they had created a large-scale weather manipulation facility in an effort to clear a poisonous miasma that was starting to coat the very air they breathed. It worked perfectly for a few decades, but the sheer scale of magia used to power such a spell eventually spun out of control and created a perpetually reconstructing anomaly that is every bit as natural as artificial, every bit animate and inanimate, all at the same time. Today, we must keep the Everstorm constrained on a somewhat regular basis or it would slowly consume the rest of the world.

"All manner of solutions were tried. The population did eventually start to shrink, but it was too late. The winters were too cold for anything to survive outside, the summers too hot. What little nature remained alive was kept safe by enchantments. The point of no return was reached. Then, Grand-Master Tfenn came forward with a proposal.

"It was his theory that the three of them, himself included, were the true reason why the real problem didn't find a solution in time for nature to recover on its own. They had kept trying to fix a problem of enormous proportion with solutions that only ended up extending the time that the planet's remaining lifeforms had, but it never addressed the real core of the problem in a permanent, sustainable manner. There were simply too many humans, and the planet could not even begin the path to recovery. If it did not recover on its own, problems like the Everstorm would just repeat over and over again, which in turn would just create an even more unstable environment. Grand-Master Tfenn's idea was simple. Since the golden age of their civilization had come about from the peace the three of them enforced, and in an even more major part because of their policy to freely distribute knowledge to everyone, they should just remove themselves entirely from the equation, along with the services they provided to the world at large. Maybe then, nature could do on its own what they were trying to help it accomplish. You can see it, I see. Yes. It was the same solution they had avoided at all costs for so many years, only now spun in another way. A more… palatable way. But, at that point, our Founders were desperate for a solution. Life on the planet would eventually die out entirely if most humans didn't as soon as possible. Grand-Mistress Kortana was willing to try what Grand-Master Tfenn suggested and my Mentor agreed to it too, eventually.

"One day, without any warning, every single node of the Repository went dormant all across the planet, as the central core, along with all the primary and secondary ones, were taken out of their pylons. The Founders of our Society then went into a self-imposed exile, taking the Repository, their Disciples, and Grand-Disciples with them, who also took their own Disciples and Grand-Disciples, who in turn all took their families and so on. With the entire Planetary Council gone, along with almost everyone who was even able to manipulate and power the enchantments that supported everything from global agriculture to housing and medicine, chaos ignited across the planet within the first few weeks and escalated in the following months.

"One Magos, who refused to leave with his Mentor and Grand-Mentor, wrote in his journal that just within the first year, the mundane population in his city fell to two-thirds of what it had been before Abandonment— that's what they called the action of our Founders. First came large-scale riots and civil unrest, then shortages of food. A lack of anything beside basic medicine took many lives. Enchantments that kept the conditions optimal for human life started to wear and tear and there were few who knew or were able to repair them. The same thing repeated itself globally, to various degrees. Some magi had refused to leave and they proved to be the focal points for most of the survivors. They were both able and willing to use the enchantments and they headed the conclaves.

"By the time my Mentor and his peers returned, decades after they left, the world's population was not even one part in a hundred of what it used to be. In some rare places, nature had even started to retake what was once hers. The parks had become forests, pets became wildlife. Our Founders encouraged that on a global scale. What remained of the cities and towns was dismantled and what remained of the local population was relocated to repaired facilities. The grounds were then seeded by forests. The wildlife they took with them was released into controlled environments and allowed to procreate. Groups of magi had to tend to these animals and groves day and night for decades, for the environment itself didn't allow them to grow initially. Facilities around the world, like the one whose explosion created the Everstorm, were tentatively repaired and they restarted their work under extreme supervision. The miasma became slowly but surely drawn out and not just held at bay.

"After they returned, our Founders avoided forming anything even similar to the Global Council of ages past. The population that had remained and survived on the planet was given free rein to govern themselves, even the magi among them. At the same time, the Seventh Permanent Law was put into place, labeling half of the planet as Perpetual Wilderness. The Knowledge kept inside the Repository, once so freely given in its entirety as long as you followed the Laws, had long become restricted behind the prices we still use to this day. Slowly, our planet once more became the green heaven that it used to be. The recovery took centuries of work, but eventually, life was able to grow and spread itself on its own, rather than only with help of magi."

Tercius took a deep breath. He had been in silent enrapture while Mistress Prime'era told her story, but now he realized that his mouth was as dry as the air in the Central Desert. So many things were… he wouldn't say wrong, but rather complicated. Some things were more so than others, but he just couldn't pick one. At least, until he did. He could imagine weather, wars, or a lack of medicine taking lives, but not a lack of food. On Earth certainly, but not on this planet, not with Skills. Unless… did people back then even have Skills?

"Did these people not have Skills to help them feed themselves? I mean, even a low leveled {Gardening} can grow a melon vine from seed to a fully grown plant in two weeks, if you dedicate enough time, to say nothing of a high leveled {Gardening}…"

"No one asked me that question after I told this story before…" Mistress Prime'era blinked. "Well, from the journals I read, I could see plainly that back then was an entirely different time. Few worked with the land or had even the basic knowledge of even something basic as germination of your common melon seed. The majority of the population had other pursuits. Some were much like us, spending their entire lives searching for knowledge, only where we strive to be as individually self-sufficient as possible, they were almost entirely dependent on the backing of others to work. Some dedicated themselves to music, others to various physical activities, games, or even earned their funds by showing off clothes other people made if you can imagine that. Their entire lives, they had built specialized Skills in their chosen areas… and suddenly the world they knew was gone and their Skills were overspecialized towards professions that were simply not feasible anymore.

"There were people with Skills like {Gardening}, don't get me wrong, but how could a small population of people, who cultivated their gardens and backyards mostly by hand, ever feed the overgrown population of an entire world? A group of people maybe, but little more than that. Having food in times of large-scale scarcity invites the wrong kind of attention, as well. And don't forget that all the arable land by that point had to be indoors, rather than outside, protected by enchantments.

"Besides, it takes time, as you well know, for a person to develop a Skill, and years after that to grow the Skill to a point of usefulness. I suppose that some could have hunted to feed themselves, but there was next to nothing left to hunt.

"So you see, my Mentor and his peers might not have taken lives with their hands or spells, but their self-removal from the world's stage had left a void and no void can ever be left unfilled for long. Even in a crumbling world, where weather alone could kill you if you weren't prepared enough, some truly dark individuals had emerged and lorded over others. From the reconstruction of events that our Founders made upon their return, it is estimated that around four parts in five of the population that died in the decades following their departure, came from increasingly hostile weather conditions, while the rest resulted from violent engagements between warring groups and individuals, followed by a lack of proper medical attention and food, as well as multitudes other minor factors. Two entire major cities, for example, were swallowed by an earthquake. Numberless coastal ones were drowned under the rising water."

Tercius shifted his weight from foot to foot. So, if he understood it correctly, the three Founders had just accelerated the inevitable in an effort for restoration to begin before the point of no return was reached. According to Mistress Prime'era, at least. Their methods were also very interesting. He had an acquaintance who always kept repeating that one way to win was to just stop playing. Tercius did not quite agree with that statement, especially when it was used in the way she intended, but in this case the fit was almost too perfect. They had gotten what they wanted by simply letting go. Certainly something to ponder on.

"You're not reacting in the way I'm used to people reacting…" Mistress Prime'era said.

Tercius' hand grabbed his jaw and scratched his non-existent beard, as he shook his head. "I just don't know what to think… On one hand, I honestly can't believe that you're telling me this… all of it, so freely. This feels like one of those shameful family stories that everyone in the family secretly knows about but prefers never to utter a word of even between themselves, let alone share with a stranger. I don't mean any offense by this, truly, but my judgment tells me that your story is more of a fantasy rather than something that really happened."

The corners of Mistress Prime'era's blue eyes smiled gently. "Am I hearing it right? Are you saying that I'm lying?"

"It certainly sounds like that to me…" Mistress Kalina smiled.

"No! No. But you might be playing some kind of a prank on me or testing me, perhaps trying to see how I react, or something like that."

"My Disciple seems to be somewhat insightful." Mistress Kalina said. "That does sound like something you would do, Mistress,"

"I joke only with appropriate topics… Most of the time," Mistress Prime'era gave an exaggerated glare to Mistress Kalina. "Well… I suppose that you will have to take my word for it, just like I took my Mentor's and that of his peers. Detailed records of everything are kept even now, so many millennia later, stories of loss and grief, preserved in the state they were when discovered. You will get a chance to read those, one day. Kalina here, as well as Perdin'nar, Helfira, I, and many others… All of us have read a fraction of those personal accounts, and we keep reading them, if only so that we could place ourselves in their robes and understand to which degree our actions can impact others and the planet itself.

"As for why I told you this, so freely, as you've put it, is because that is the Will of our Founders. They have always taken full responsibility for their actions, never denying it, perhaps even taking on much more than is theirs in truth. In my mind, the Planetary Council was supposed to act well before the problem grew so large, but I can't blame them either. Regardless of who is to blame for what, our Founders demand that the dark truth of those times must live on forever, no matter what. It is a lesson for us all about what happens when too much is done too fast by too many."

Even hours later, as Tercius laid in his bed, sleep didn't want to close his eyes. Judging the actions of others was something he consciously avoided, and this time was no different. What kept him awake was a strange kind of sadness, a tiny presence that did not hurt, but rather merely existed as a small weight above the pit of his stomach. It came every time he remembered Mistress Prime'era's downcast eyes while she told the story. He had always thought that the magi were lucky for having their Repository, where they preserved perfect records of the events of the passing millennia, which almost always had an unflattering light on them. It showed at least a modicum of ability to see themselves as capable of errors, unlike others. But tonight he just kept imagining the sheer accumulated weight of the ghosts of their past and the past of their ancestors.

Mistress Prime'era said that the same things kept repeating to those who forgot their history, but what happened to those who remembered it perfectly?

Around the shoulders of the magi, he saw a metaphorical living stone hanging, a living being that just kept growing and growing and growing, from age to age, until one day nothing but stone remained.

Slowly sitting up on his creaking bed, Tercius reached for the pitcher at his bedside table and the cool water sated his thirst. He swung his legs over the bed's edge and got up. The sleep was not coming to him, so he might as well do something with the time. The nights were warm even this far north, the heat of sun still lingering and he had nothing on but his briefs. Crude work, compared to those he had back on Earth, but they were briefs nonetheless.

The candle at his bedside was long extinguished and the room was mostly enveloped in darkness, save for a square patch of moonlight on the floor below the wide-open window. Tercius reached for his shirt and patted it until he found the letter that Perdinar gave him. The page was blank, utterly so, but he knew what he had to do. Reaching for {Magia Sight} was beyond easy after so many years of familiarity. His irises flared with neon green veins and his hands, the letter, the floor, and everything else simply disappeared into absolute darkness, while the Channels of magia that snaked around his hands and legs and the rest of him, as well as those of the humans, rats, and cats visible on the floors below his, simply appeared. Tercius focused and restricted his {Magia Sight} to only see up to his hands. A larger sphere of sight would only get in the way.

Through his index finger, he guided a bit of magia into the wax seal on the letter. Slowly, glowing letters appeared on the page, a scripture that was out of reach to anyone who didn't have visual means of observing magia. The letters themselves were of a language long dead, but the person who wrote the letter had been alive when the language was still spoken and he had taught Tercius how to write and read it, even speak a word here and there.

Not a single name was on the letter.

Destroy this letter as soon as you read it. To do it properly, place two fingers on the circle in the upper right corner and just inject some magia there.

I shan't dawdle.

The offers that I proposed are only a select few of the paths the four of us saw as possible for someone in your position and they were personally suggested by me. Why did I suggest them, you might ask. The answer is simple. I know you. I know that certain paths will not resonate well with the person that you are today. You might change in the future– or should I say shall change?– which might lead to a change in the offers, but let me explain why I suggested what I did.

Each of those paths will give you access to knowledge and resources you will need in the least amount of time possible. It's as simple as that.

You will get training found nowhere else and they will expose you to all facets of this world of ours. You will have your eyes opened, like it or not. You will need all those things. I know this, and I think that you know it too.

I also know that you might prefer to spend your time in peace and quiet in some secluded paradise of nature, or perhaps to travel the world on your own, but your current weakness and ignorance coupled with your potential will not allow others to leave you as you are. They will want you on their side or no side at all. The only thing keeping you safe now is that no one but a few of us knows of you and what you can do. One day, by intention or by accident of someone, that will change. I think you know this deep down and that is why you hold on so strongly against the current. You're afraid of the change and what that change might bring to you and those around you.

Don't be.

The real answer is never to hold on to a branch and close your eyes from fear or stubbornness, but to see what is around you and learn to swim. You, more so than anyone else I've ever known, have the potential to learn and develop. Learn to fight the current and the other swimmers. Learn to get out of the river and if it doesn't want to let you go, you learn how to make it let you go.

That's my advice to you.

Things are not as bleak as you imagine them. In time, I know that you will be able to spend your time however you wish.

I wish you success on your current quest.

Destroy the letter now. The instruction on how to do so is at the top of the paper, if you somehow missed the first sentence. If you've forgotten how to read this script, then you, my young acquaintance, disappoint me immensely. Look at how much I've written? All those hours I've spent teaching you, wasted. Destroy the letter.

Tercius snorted, shaking his head.

He took a few good looks at the paper and its contents, {Visualization} making sure that each word was carved into his memory before he did as the instruction said. A small burst of magia left his fingers and all the letters jumbled. The magia of the enchantment leaked out of the paper and, without a solid form to hold it, it simply dissipated into thin air.

Now the paper was truly blank, in all senses of the word.

He could feel that a weight was gone from his shoulders. Reading the letter calmed him and took his mind away from the story of Mistress Prime'era, perhaps even enough to finally fall asleep.

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