The Lucid Bond

Release the Bond, Student.

I returned, snapping my eyes open as I gasped for breath. Wiping away a bead of sweat as it trailed down my forehead, I looked across the small room to Var-Lu. Sitting cross-legged atop a sheepskin rug, Var-Lu’s eyes remained closed, his face unreadable beneath the traditional white tattoos etched into his bronze skin.

He opened his eyes and spoke softly. “Slow today. Again dream?” He had a basic grasp of Imperial Common, but the translation from Sul-Nari seemed to confine him, limiting his words to short sentences and basic phrasing.

I nodded, rubbing the sweat from my eyes and releasing the tension in my shoulders.

“Sages seen?”

I shook my head. The dark hooded figure had plagued my dreams for weeks now, but I wanted to avoid visiting the Circle of the Heartmother. The temple’s healers were notorious for their smothering, tending to agitate those in their care to such a degree that the students would eventually prefer the ailments they were brought in with originally.

Var-Lu nodded slowly, then closed his eyes. “Again begin.”

I closed my eyes, breathed deeply to calm my body as best I could, then left it.

A narrow plateau of rock stretched out before me, sitting just above an endless expanse of swirling silver mist. This was not a real place by the common meaning of the word. Immanent Vales, regarded as sacred places to the Sul-Nari people, are manifestations of the shared connection of two minds known as the Tela-Nim or “Lucid Bond.” The Vales allow individuals to interact without consequence to the physical world. There was no sun in our Vale, but due to the sheer amount of stars in its sky, a constant twilight-like glow seemed to cast an amber sheen, regardless of the hour.

At the other end of the plateau stood Var-Lu, already poised in Stance of the North Wind. He seemed both resolute and weightless, like he could fly away with the wind at any moment, yet nothing could move him unwillingly. He raised his left hand, signaling he was ready to begin.

I entered Stance of Deep Stone, planting my feet firmly on the ground. I established a link to the plateau itself, feeling energy reverberate between my body and the rock beneath me. This Vale was created to allow us ample resources to practice Elemental Evocation: the harnessing of the natural world in order to shape matter to our will.

Var-Lu spoke, his words echoing like thoughts, soundless yet resonant. You are one with the land upon which you stand. The land is one with you who stands upon it.

While maintaining a Lucid Bond, language barriers were inconsequential. Instead, the fundamental intent of a person was shared across the Bond, translating the essence of thought into comprehensible language. It required a great deal of concentration to communicate effectively in this way, as stray thoughts about things like lunch or extracurricular relationships would be translated instantly without impedance.

I echoed the customary response. You are one with the wind upon which you soar. The wind is one with you who soars upon it.

Var-Lu nodded, then leaped into the air. The gentle currents flowing across the plateau erupted into violent gusts of wind, tearing through me as they roared to Var-Lu’s beckoning. He began to summon a whirlwind in the center of the plateau.

I took a step back, both to brace against the wind and to call upon the ground beneath me. My feet sunk into the plateau as the stone began to mold itself around my ankles. It started slowly at first, then shot up the rest of my body, forming an armor-like shell of gray rock. The stone enclosed around my head like a helmet, then formed two narrow slits so I could see.

I tensed as the whirlwind struck, tearing away small pieces of my rocky armor and sending them into the abyss below the clouds. As chunks peeled away, more rock moved up from the plateau to take its place. Standing defiant against the wind, I couldn’t keep a small smirk from forming on my face. Stoneform was a tricky Evocation to wield, especially against a Master Stormbearer like Var-Lu.

I looked up, eyeing my opponent. Var-Lu’s face remained impassive as he hurled gust after gust in my direction, tearing away bigger chunks from my Stoneform. It was difficult to keep pace with him, yet I knew he was holding back. He was Master of Tempests, after all; I was just Alaric, a student on assignment from the Aerdalen Imperial Academy. I was merely a token, a pleasantry exchanged between the Noctan Empire and the Temples of the Talon Peaks. If anything, I was the Master of Tardiness and Mopping.

I focused, moving more rock to the front of my Stoneform. I then pulled more rock from around me, stretching it into cable-like tendrils before attaching them to various pieces of my shell. The rock was moving so fast it seemed to flow like water, stretching and bending between thousands of tiny cracks and fissures. My smirk grew into a grin—this was, by far, the best I’d performed in the Vale.

Var-Lu seemed to observe this as well. His eyes began to glow a pale white as lightning started to crackle in his hands. He sent another whirlwind, but this time it pulsed with electricity, shattering airborne rocks to dust as it sailed toward me. I braced, my confidence building to a crescendo.

Then I saw it.

The dark hood.

The black sword, black flames trailing down the edges of the blade.

It turned toward me.

YOU ARE MINE, ALARIC STILLGUARD.

I gasped, losing my concentration. My Stoneform evaporated like dust, blowing away into the wind. The whirlwind hit me head-on, lightning striking me over and over, the blast sending me hurling from the plateau. Just before I entered the swirling mists, I released the Bond, gasping for breath.

I looked up, expecting another unreadable expression from Var-Lu or worse, subtle disapproval. Instead, Var-Lu lay on the ground, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, a bloody gash torn through the center of his chest. I leaped forward, reaching for my Master’s neck to check for a pulse. Nothing.

I began to yell for help, but stopped short as I heard the sound of shouting and the clash of steel from the courtyard below. I ran from the room and down the ancient stone steps but stopped as I stood in shock at the sight before me. The temple guards were fighting a dozen figures in dark hoods, each with their own black-flame blade. I watched as a guard was cut down, unable to compete with his quarterstaff. Why weren’t they using their Stances?

I planted my feet, trying to establish a connection to the stone steps beneath me.

Nothing.

I tried again, planting my feet hard and focusing.

Nothing.

Shaking, I took a quarterstaff from a fallen guard and ran to join the fight.

——

Shouting, Master Var-Lu stood over his student who would not wake.

“Leave bond. Wake Now.”

Alaric’s eyes remained shut, his body limp, his breathing shallow and strained.

“Stillguard-Son. Wake now.”

A short, portly man with matching white tattoos hurried up to the door, panting heavily. “Is everything alright Master Va—”

“Bring the other Masters to me now, Pel-Nu. There is no time.”

“At once, Master. What should I tell them?”

“That I saw the one who plagues this student’s dreams. He took this student before I could release our Bond.”

“Master, you cannot suggest that—”

“Go now, Pel-Nu. There is no time—The Prince of Ashes has returned.”