501 Years Later

Blaise peered out over the mountains, for only a moment, watching the last sliver of golden sun sink below the jagged peaks. The sky was growing dark. Time to come out.

He hastened to a stop in front of an abandoned wooden scaffolding, where immediately he leaped upwards, catching himself on a rough cedar beam. Blaise hoisted himself to the next level, and then the next, and the next, until he sat at the top, looking out over leagues of evergreen forest. The twilight wind felt cool, and ruffled his loose hair. He took in a deep breath.

The forest was prickled with pines and cedars and birch, mixed in with the taller needlebarks and bell-tops. Beyond the forest, tiny orange lights dotted the hillside of a steep mountain--Rains Shadow. This was the perfect night for a visit to the town, after all, Blaise only had one night in this region before he would have to move on and search in another place. This place, however, he was certain held the Eternity Disc.

A cloud of thousands of black bats rose into the air before him, fluttering together in a horde from their perch in the trees and disappearing into the gradient plum sky. Bats again. Blaise had seen more than enough bats for a hundred thousand lifetimes. They often followed him around, appearing out of nowhere and giving away his location to passerby. Though, they were company...they felt like an army at his back. At times like this he could use an army.

Blaise wrapped his legs tighter around the pole, making sure that he would not fall. A misstep from this height could mean death. He had no intention to die tonight. The Eternity Disc that he held close to him extended his life, but did not make him invulnerable. He had survived for centuries--even longer than human memory--but his life was delicate as a butterfly's wing, fittingly, like the fragile disc that extended his life. Somewhere deep inside he felt sick from his recklessness. He had an abnormally active conscience these days.

Then, Blaise saw it. The High Tower of Rains Shadow was partially hidden behind a thicket of tall evergreens. Contrary to its name, the tower was not high at all. It was stubby and flat-topped, like a massive tree stump crowned with points. Dim white lights lit up the Tower's exterior, highlighting each ribbed stone groove and obscuring the rest in darkness. Blaise sighed. There, in that building, was the disc he had been trying to find for over three centuries. Finally, this journey was almost at an end.

Night wind blew past him, rustling the trees, and Blaise climbed down quickly and plopped his bare feet onto the forest floor. Then, he began to run.

***

The High Tower stood before him, looking even more massive this close. It was no wonder that these people treated the Tower like a holy temple--the architecture was almost too beautiful to be practical. Ripples and waves of all shades of gray and black covered the glossy stone which was carved upwards in a spiral pattern. The spirals ended at the peak of the Tower in dangerously sharp-looking spikes. The Rvyni liked spikes and dark colors, which was strange given how colorful they sometimes looked physically.

Three sentries stood at the tower entrance, wielding crossbows. Blaise had always thought Rvyni looked strange in long black skirts. In the places he had lived most of his life, only women wore dresses. Blaise couldn't help but smile. After years of wearing fashions from around the world, he had concluded that the Rvyni most certainly had it the worst. The skirts were thick and hot, even in this cold northern climate, and they allowed for little movement. Today, he would have to tolerate it for the sake of blending in, but as soon as he took what he needed, he would strip down to his trousers and be on his way as fast as possible.

Blaise walked up the black stone staircase to the door which the sentries stood around. He had to appear casual, as to not draw their suspicion.

"Ho! How is the watch coming this fine night?" Blaise said nonchalantly in the washy Rvyni tongue.

The sentries exchanged glances. Then, the tall one with pale blue hair sticking out of his helmet spoke, "Can we help you, young man?"

Young man. Blaise had become used to others addressing him as 'young'. He had found it amusing long ago, but now it seemed slightly annoying. In this case, it was appropriate. These days, Blaise always took the appearance of his thirteen-year-old self. This was the age he felt most physically agile--he didn't need muscular strength for most of his 'outings'.

He looked no older than a child to them. "My master is meeting me inside the Tower. I do not want to keep him waiting, less he be angry."

"You serve..."

"Chancellor Gradian Lorack of Shah Neurn. From the embassy." Lies were believed most often when they were spoken without excessive detail. His answer was short and to the point, perfect.

The blue-haired man nodded to his comrades and gestured for them to open the double doors for Blaise. Finally.

But the two sentries halted just as their hands clasped the door knobs. Their eyes darted upwards to the walls of the Tower, looking at something. Many somethings.

Blaise bit his lip. Hundreds of brown and black night-bats were perching between the ridges of the Tower walls, and more were flying in, crowding the others. The bats' soft cries were amplified by the sheer magnitude of the colony--a symphony of noise.

"What in the--" one of the sentries began.

"Let the boy through, you two!" said the blue-haired Rveni, "They're just bats. Harmless."

Harmless. The bats' tiny heads seemed to turn towards Blaise as he walked through the double door of the High Tower of Rains Shadow. They wouldn't follow him into any enclosed space except a cave, but that wouldn't stop them from keeping watch outside. If they wanted to protect him, Blaise had no problem with it.

Inside, the Tower felt smaller. Blaise had expected a large chamber in the center, and most ideally, the disc he needed perched on a pedestal in its center. Things were never what you expected them to be--in fact--they were most often the polar opposite. Any thief looking to steal the disc would expect the disc to be in the center of the Tower in a room locked away with heavy bars. This was the exact reason why Blaise knew the disc was hiding without guards. Probably in a desk drawer or among a stash of prosaic--ordinary--discs.

This was an Eternity Disc though--a relic from ancient times--even older than Blaise. Blaise recalled coming across a few Eternity Discs in his lifetime, and not all of them looked like ordinary glass discs. They were the only type of discs that could be made out of materials other than glass, such as stone or metal. In fact, most did not look like discs at all. The most famous of Eternity Discs--Blaise had forgotten its name--was a set of two swords. It was unclear to him how a person would be able to bind himself to the discs, with nothing to crush. That was half the trick. The other half was learning how to use the things properly.

Fortunately for him, Blaise had come across an Eternity Disc early on in his lifetime. The disc looked like any ordinary disc--it was average size, and made of smooth glass, just as breakable. A nasty thing. Why make an Eternity Disc that granted immortality if the thing was so capable of being broken? Perhaps it was intended for someone more humble than himself.

Ever since the moment he shattered one half it in his fist so long ago, he had kept it near him. Any sort of disc would fail to work if the disc operator and the memorite were more than ten paces away from each other. Right now Blaise kept his Eternity Disc in the metal box attached to his belt. The box also held the other glass disc memorites which he had currently had a nexus to. His box was rarely ever opened, and his belt was never taken off.

Torches lit the maze of dark corridors inside the Tower. Occasionally, a door or marble archway would appear, the main passageway branching off deeper into the labyrinth. The floor was made of glossy obsidian tile which reflects the torchlight, a feature popular with many important buildings across the territories of Rvyn. Blaise had always enjoyed his visits up north; the architecture was exquisite and the people here were tolerable, despite their absurd dress.

With long robes sweeping across the tile, Blaise strode past several professors and scribes, each with distinctive Rvyni colors in either their hair or eyes. Each had that pearly, almost glittery, skin, which was only visible in harsh light and showed as they passed the torchlights. Blaise nodded to them under his hood. Rvyni usually never payed much attention to his lack of native features, for in shadow and darkness, it was difficult to tell the two races apart.

At last Blaise reached the archive...one of the archives. There would most likely be more than one in a place like this. The room was brightly lit by torches and filled with shelves upon shelves of un-bound prosaic discs. It was busy, and men and women alike were browsing through the large collection. The Tower's prime purpose was to be a University, a place where the Rvyni people could study the discs, and possibly forge new ones.

Among the rows, Blaise tried to look for abnormalities. Possibly a faint colorful tint on the disc, or unusually complex runes. He had become exceedingly skilled at located Eternity Discs over his long lifetime. But here, there was nothing out of the ordinary. All of the discs looked nearly identical. He could try another room maybe, but it would have to be quick or he would risk being caught. Blaise looked like a child, so he was probably already drawing strange looks from the older students.

The eyes of a teenage Rvyni boy locked onto Blaise as he browsed through the collection. The boy frowned as Blaise walked past him, not speaking a word. Already the students here probably knew that he was an outsider. That did not matter really, as long as they were smart enough to not tell anyone.

Blaise paused as he saw something, and he reached out, selecting a simple glass disc from the filing shelf. He turned the smooth thing over in his fingers, inspecting the two interlocking halves. Runes on this particular disc were extraordinarily simple...something he did not see too often. What was its purpose, then?

He was tempted to take the disc apart and crush one half so he would be able to operate it, but, that meant using up capacity. Every person had a limited mental capacity to store discs--it usually varied based on a combination of race and genetics. The Esk people had the greatest capacity, and could safely store ten discs; however, the Neureans could barely store two. Blaise was human, which meant that he was somewhere in-between, if slightly above average. And at the moment he was saving his capacity for the Eternity Disc which he was seeking today.

Blaise sighed, frustrated, and put the disc back on the shelf so he could continued looking. This was going to be no easy task, finding what he wanted. A sudden realization struck him. When he glanced down the aisle, there was no one there anymore. Where had they all gone? That was not a good sign--it was time to leave. Blaise turned towards the door.

A single man stood, blocking the exit, his figure illuminated by the pale light of the single window. He was distinctive, with dark skin like Blaise's and shoulder-length auburn hair, which was growing white at the roots. Finally, Blaise thought, amused, they send me someone closer to my age.

"Ah, you've returned, haven't you?" said the man, "Are you done with the Eternity Disc or did you decide to keep it for yourself? Surely a human like you has enough sense to give it to someone with more...capacity."

Blaise ground his teeth. He hated this fool of a joke the other races had put upon his own. He remembered the exact day--maybe not exactly the day--this whole thing had started...nearly five hundred years ago. There was nothing more infuriating to him--than lies told about him, or the race he was born into. The worst part of it was, the rest of the humans believed them too.

"What kind of trick is this?" Surely this was just a ploy to get him to leave.

The man stepped forward, his silky black robes rustling against the floor. "Trick? This is no trick, boy." he said, "The Indelina was held here in this Tower for five-hundred-and-fifty years and now--"

"You mean...it is not here anymore?" Blaise's heart started pumping faster. "When was it taken?"

He scowled, "We are not idiots here. If you return the disc to me within twenty-four hours, I will not be forced to kill you. So, you will return the disc to me, and then you will let yourself be taken into custody and sentenced to imprisonment for your crimes against our country."

He looked sincere. Was the man telling the truth? Had someone else already swiped the Eternity Disc before him? That was impossible!

Suddenly, several crossbow-wielding archers flooded into the room behind the man, blocking the exit. Theses were true soldiers...the infamous archers of Rvyn. Their armor was made of interlocking chains of silver metal, which was fitted underneath black velvet surcoats. Their arrows were made of steel and tipped with a sticky, and highly poisonous substance. Blaise knew how to handle these so-called 'legends'. His memory was faint, but he knew that he had dealt with them before. In fact, he had been one of them before.

It was time to go now, even without the Eternity Disc. It was too dangerous. These archers would fire at any sudden movement--he had to be quick. So, in a heartbeat, he made his move, dashing not away, but directly towards the door. A couple of archers cried out as he hit the floor and slid on the smooth tile, unable to loose their arrows in such close quarters. Blaise swept the feet of a couple of the archers, sending them crashing to the ground with him.

Blaise hopped onto his own feet and dashed down the hallway, taking a sharp left. Out of sight for a brief moment, he quickly slipped the Rvyni robe over his head--it would be extremely hard to move in the thing. Luckily, he was wearing his good clothes underneath.

Feeling less confined, Blaise turned left again, then right, then left. For once, he was thankful that the inside of the Tower looked much like a labyrinth. He would be able to escape, hopefully.