Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Halfway back to the fortress Tarot reappeared, burying himself in Ruwen’s hair.

“You are really noisy,” Tarot said.

“I know. Which probably means questions for me back at camp.”

“Well, it is something to brag about. It’s not every day you meet a Realm Warden. And considering where we are, he is likely a Prime.”

The water here reached Ruwen’s chest, and he gently pushed a snail floating in front of him out of the way as he strode through the brown liquid of the swamp.

“Hold your aces, Big T, explain everything you just said.”

“It takes significant energy to pass between Realms, and while the Shadow Realm isn’t the hardest to bridge, it’s not easy.”

Ruwen had a lot of experience crossing Realms. Tremine’s betrayal had led to the first Realm Ruwen had physically entered, and it had taken a lot of work, and Spirit, to leave the Spirit Realm. His exit had put him in Uru’s Divine Realm, but he didn’t know if all the Spirit he had used to get here was because of the destination or just what was required to leave the Spirit Realm in general.

The third Realm Ruwen visited had occurred without his consent. Echo had triggered his Scarecrow Aspect’s Infernal Realm bind point, sending him into a trap set by her father, Lalquinrial. Again, he had no idea how much energy that took since he assumed Lalquinrial paid the price since he owned the Aspect.

The fourth Realm Ruwen found himself in had occurred after using the sixth rune and smearing himself across the universe. He had found Miranda in the Third Secret, Pen’s Divine Realm. The energy needed to do that had nearly crippled him.

“Yeah, moving realms isn’t easy,” Ruwen agreed. “What is a Realm Warden?”

“The Material Realm is a mess, with all the deities, their followers, and Harvesters. The Shadow Realm works hard to keep that out of their Realm. I’ve never gone, but it’s on my list.”

“Now you sound like Sift.”

“A soul for adventure is a good thing.”

Ruwen shrugged. “I’d rather sit in a comfy chair and read.”

“Ironic, then, your path.”

“Yeah. That has crossed my mind.”

Ruwen stepped onto a long narrow stretch of land and strode forward, making better time.

“What did you mean by ‘prime’ and ‘considering where we are’ when you spoke before?”

“This planet is special,” Tarot said. “That’s one reason I’m here. It was on my list.”

“Okay, you need to do better than that.”

Tarot squirmed in Ruwen’s hair, and Ruwen resisted the urge to itch his scalp.

“This is a Nine Muses planet,” Tarot said as if explaining the obvious.

Ruwen had an excellent memory. Better, in fact, than anyone else he knew until he met Rami, and probably now Xavier. What he lacked was Rami’s ability to index her knowledge and memories and create near instant access to information. In this case, however, the mention of nine muses made an instant connection in his mind.

With an ease born from thousands of hours of practice, Ruwen popped an item out of his Void Band and into his right hand. He held the nine-sided coin over his head so Tarot could see.

“These nine muses?” Ruwen asked.

A moment later, Tarot responded. “You’re an Ink Lord?”

“Yes.”

“With a Perception Bookwyrm?”

“Yes.”

“Well, there goes crossing the Archive off my list.”

The narrow island ended, and Ruwen returned to the brown muck of the swamp. He had traveled farther than he’d thought from the fortress.

“Okay, this conversation is getting messy. I feel like I’m talking with Sift. Before we get even further from my original question, can you please, in simple terms, clarify what a Prime Shadow Warden is, what it means to be a Muse’s planet, and explain the Archive?”

As Tarot collected his thoughts, Ruwen brought the Ink Lord Emblem of Dominion down to eye level and studied it again. The charcoal grey nine-sided coin depicted nine women in a circle around an open eye. He flipped the emblem over and examined the etching.

A pyramid with a black dragon coiled on itself, the wings creating the walls of the pyramid. Ruwen had seen this image before, on the cover of an ancient book Blapy had given him, The Black Pyramid: Rules, Guidelines, and Procedures. He focused on the emblem and brought up its description.

Target: Ink Lord Emblem of Dominion

Type: Item (Magic)

Properties: Decorative

Uses: Authorizes attendance to Ink Lord Conclaves and permits access to the Nine Muses’ Archive.

The “Uses” of the emblem had triggered Ruwen’s memory. The description had contained a reference to the Nine Muses’ Archive.

“Don’t they teach you anything in school?” Tarot asked.

“Not about this.”

“Tragic. The youth of today are so ignorant.”

“If you’d hurry maybe you could fix that and prevent my death from curiosity.”

Tarot sighed, the sensation like someone running their finger lightly over Ruwen’s scalp. “Before the last battle, the nine most advanced worlds pooled their knowledge in a central location to preserve it for the coming dark ages. Each world provided a Muse to safeguard their portion. That emblem you hold is one of fifty, which were distributed to the other worlds to grant access to the Archive in the future.”

“And this was one of those advanced worlds that provided a Muse.”

“Right, which meant it contained multiple developed species, including those in the Shadow Realm.”

“Is the Shadow Realm planet specific?” Ruwen asked.

Tarot shifted around again. “I’m not an expert on that. Like I said, it’s on my list so I can learn more.”

“That’s fair. But you think Zylkin is important, or at least powerful, since he crossed into the Material Realm.”

“Absolutely.”

“Any idea on why he distinguished between my shadow and what he called a true shadow?”

“No idea. But one of my brothers is an expert in Augury divination and knows how to read shadows, just like the Prime Shadow Warden read yours.”

The fortress came into view and Ruwen slowed his pace so he could finish this conversation. “What do you mean ‘read a shadow?’ Aren’t shadows just the result of blocked light?”

Tarot laughed. “Sorry. Laughing at ignorance is rude. I’m trying to act nicer.”

Ruwen stopped and turned his head, but his shadow remained stored in his Bamboo Viper mark. It felt weird to not see a shadow connected to him, and even weirder that something he had ignored his whole life contained information about him.

“What can they see in shadows?” Ruwen asked.

“I’m not an expert,” Tarot said again. “But of all my siblings, I seemed to have received the greatest amount of curiosity, and so I’ve picked up things here and there over the millennia. You’re right that a shadow in the visible spectrum results from blocked light, but many other spectrums pass through you, leaving patterns and shapes that experts can interpret.”

“Is that what Zylkin meant about me not attending to my shadow?”

“I’m not sure. Like I said, I’m—”

“Not an expert,” Ruwen finished. “Thanks, Tarot. I appreciate your knowledge and applaud your curiosity.”

Ruwen remained stationary. He felt foolish and awed that something he’d ignored his whole life had far more meaning than he’d ever imagined. A notification blinked at the bottom of his vision, but he remained focused on the closest tree’s shadow.

What type of information would a shadow contain after passing through an object? The concept fascinated Ruwen. When Zylkin had said Ruwen held darkness, he must have referenced something he’d noticed in Ruwen’s shadow.

The Prime Shadow Realm Warden had also made a big deal about Ruwen’s true shadow being completely hidden. Since he had no idea what that meant, and not something he did consciously, it probably related to the only thing about himself sealed away beyond finding: his soul.

Ruwen continued with that thought process. He knew souls had a sound, and he had seen their light. Sift blazed with so much soul energy it came out of his eyes. So, if the soul created light, just like sound, it made sense it could cast a shadow. A shadow of what, though? This line of reasoning felt right to him, even if he didn’t have all the answers. The true shadow Zylkin had referred to must be generated by his soul.

The whole concept of shadows having substance and various objects, some inside himself, generating shadows blew his mind. When he had witnessed Ky, and later, the Founders, Shadow Stepping, he’d assumed it was a form of teleportation or Blink. He considered now it might be more complicated than that, and they actually moved through a different realm somehow.

That gave Ruwen an idea, and while remaining focused on the cypress tree’s shadow, he accessed his Architect Role, navigating through Navigator to Dimensional and finally to Keys. With a simple thought he could confirm his suspicion. That when focused on a shadow, he would have options for the Realm key, the final symbol in the rune sequence.

With a mental effort, Ruwen restrained his curiosity. The previous times he’d accessed the Key Role, it had consumed all his Mana and pulled Spirit from his Core. If he did that now, it might permanently scar him.

Ruwen quickly closed his Architect Role. Confirming he could enter the Shadow Realm with gate runes would need to wait. It begged the question if that is how the Shadow Clan moved between shadows. That didn’t make sense though. They did it almost instantly and certainly didn’t have time to draw out gate runes with chalk made from Divine blood.

That meant it probably related to this true shadow the Shadow Warden had mentioned. Ruwen would look for opportunities to learn more about this.

Ruwen opened the notification and found he had multiple. All for the same Rating.

Gong!

You have increased your Knowledge!

Level: 155

The intelligent know true power is held by knowledge. The wise know knowledge can be dangerous. Greatness is found between them.

Ruwen’s previous Knowledge level had sat at one hundred fifty-one, so the understanding he’d gained here had added four more points.

Striding forward toward the fortress, Ruwen marveled at how every increase in his Knowledge Rating reinforced his vast ignorance of the Universe.