VI. The Stair of Water
Agnaliz opened the cupboard and the
cupcake she'd wished for was right there. How convenient this
materialising of the mind was. If only she'd known about this half a
century ago, that would have made her travels so much easier.
Her foresight had been the Rymian gift that came natural to her. But their
kind had other gifts that could be trained. To Calpin she was but a child,
and in the light of his wisdom Agnaliz felt wholly inadequate. But she was
weathered by the life she'd led. At the age of five she'd been kidnapped
by a band of dark witches. They'd raised her until she'd been able to
escape 10 years later. More than once had she found herself in dire
situations, pursued, on the run, in mortal danger. For she could be
killed. Calpin had told her what she'd always suspected. She didn't age
much, but she did need time to heal. If she was hurt badly enough not even
her Rymian heritage would save her. Unlike Calpin who said the pure bloods
would not die unless they chose to go in a sort of stasis. And then they
weren't really dead. Just hibernating until someone found them. Apparently
there were 6 Rymians in stasis at the moment.
"Don't you want to visit them?" Agnaliz asked.
"Why? I'd only inconvenience them."
"But they're like you. Don't you want to live with others of your
kind?"
"I'm quite happy where I am."
Agnaliz wanted to scream. She'd spent a large part of her life looking for
the father she'd never known. He had to have been one of the full-blooded
Rymians which meant she was this close to finding out who he was. It
wasn't Calpin, he'd told her plainly. The man hadn't left his rooms in
over 5 centuries.
"Well I'm not."
"Patience child. Your time to leave will come."
And she'd drag him kicking and screaming along with her, Agnaliz promised
herself. Fate, Destiny, Nature, who else might be in charge, they could
all take a hike. She was feeling mighty rebellious in the safety of
Calpin's home. Just a short time ago she'd just wanted to return to her
home and garden and live the quiet life Calpin so enjoyed. But now that
she was here, her mind was restless and she felt like she needed to meet
all the people in Calpin's stories.
"You promised you'd tell me more of our history." Agnaliz said,
hoping to glean more information about the Rymians and where some of them
might be hiding.
"I've told you many times."
"Just where is Ryme?" Agnaliz pressed, she wanted to know about
her home planet.
"It's all around us." Calpin answered truthfully.
And he told her again that Ryme had fallen to ruin. It's non-immortal
inhabitants long deceased. In fact the planet could not even be called a
planet anymore as it had shattered into a mass of loose asteroids that
were held in a gravity field. Ryme was gone. The truth was that he could
not offer Agnaliz the home she sought. Some of his students had not been
interested in their heritage, some had only wanted to learn how to use
their skills. But Agnaliz wanted so much more. More than he could offer
her. And he felt her time to leave was fast approaching. That would be the
end of the frustrations she brought and he'd be able to return to his
regular routine.
But Destiny had other plans. Or maybe it was Fate, or some other divine
entity. Because the following day Agnaliz harnessed a new power, his.
Understanding how to connect to others was something none of his other
students had managed. Maybe her drive to find her roots had spawned it,
which left Calpin to wonder why he had gotten this power in the first
place as he had no drive to the same.
With almost no warning a door appeared. Agnaliz opened it and grabbed
Calpin before he could jump back. They both fell through space, time, the
continuum of space or whatever made up the fabric of the universe and it's
dimensions. They fell for eternity and at the same time only for a split
second and materialised standing in front of a river flowing up into the
sky. Three rings of civilisation were present at different altitudes.
Agnaliz had taken them to most dangerous one.
Two small creatures hovered around them, chattering and generally adding
to the headache Calpin was experiencing through the change in his fate. A
change he hadn't brought onto himself he might add. That felt slightly
unfair seeing as Agnaliz seemed perfectly fine.
He had trouble focusing but could just make out Agnaliz' voice when she
said:
"We came here for a reason. If you say you want us here for a purpose
then I believe that must be it."