The Endless Solvent

He almost didn’t register the rain coating the world in a dreary cold chill as his horse thundered its way to the north western outpost. They barely slept - he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep after the nightmares of facing the Unseeing the day before.

No, it wasn’t that he had to fight monsters, although it was quite unsettling. It was facing the fact that monsters were people. It was that all the unconventional and uncomfortable things that Aris and Ral had been saying to him were true and that the Academy and his own people were in denial of the truth. It could be that some of them were truly ignorant. But for everyone to deny it?

Monsters didn’t come from the Gates. The Gates turned regular people into monsters. He saw it with his own eyes: the pure white flesh emerging from the woman. The eyes closing up, the mouth ripping open too wide and growing wickedly long teeth. The image seared into his mind and twisted his gut but he had this nagging feeling it wasn’t really the thing that shook him.

His own discontent mixed with a growing feeling of dismay. Verne grit his teeth and forced his horse to keep going as he knew from yesterday she would soon become reluctant to move forward. “It’s close,” he heard Aris’s voice in his ear. The hair on the back of his neck raised as he felt her presence pass by. She had given up staying in her physical form and presumably took to flying in her shade form for the sake of convenience.

He had hoped that there would be nothing for them in Gymor. The thought made him hate himself more, for some reason. The feeling of dread grew so strong, sweat broke out on his forehead and his horse quickly slowed to a trudge. He was about to dismount when the mare screamed in fright and reared back and Verne only managed to just hold on.

As if in answer to his horse’s cry, the Unseeing in the area screamed back. All the ugly feelings blooming at his chest spilled over and he launched off his horse’s saddle while drawing his sword. The brief scrap of metal against scabbard was almost soothing, the weight of his weapon a steady presence to his very solute.

This is what he knew, at least. Peace was found with a blade in his hand. Although the Unseeing had uncanny speed and agility, they lacked discipline and training. Verne found that he still had an answer to every attack from the enemy and going through the movements was what he needed.

The two Unseeing at the outer edges of the settlement were quickly disposed of. Verne ran ahead without noting where the others were - they had discussed at length the night before their plan. Laell would stay a safe distance and assist anyone not yet turned into Unseeing. Aris would go ahead and find the Gate and find the easiest route and guide her brother to it. Verne would stay somewhere in the middle to assist either the twins or Laell as needed.

The goal was to close the Gate as fast as possible.

Verne was full of confidence they would be able to easily attain that - he had witnessed how swiftly they closed the previous Gate. All it took was Aris to locate it with her special sight and for Ral to strike it. They were two parts of a whole. The answer to the problem that Mind had brought to this world.

But then they wandered closer to Gymor’s walls and heard the sheer volume of Unseeing crying out from within. They sang a twisted song so grating, he could have sworn it would give him a heart attack if he listened for too long.

“What’s going on?” he demanded to Ral, who had climbed up a tree to try and look over the wall.

“It’s a fucking mess, that’s what,” Aris materialized right next to him. Her face under her bandages looked white and withdrawn - it took him a few heartbeats to understand it was fear. “Ral, there are so many Unseeing in there… it’s…”

“I can see the Gate from here too,” Ral said. “It’s huge. It’s even bigger than the one back in Alkkes. Like three stories tall.”

Verne immediately took a few long strides back and craned his neck to look between trees and buildings. Eventually he could see it as well - the top arch of a flat oval of dark fire.

“The distortion is making me sick,” Aris gasped. “This is bad.”

Verne found himself at her side again, his hand at her arm to keep her from keeling over. “Tell me what to do,” he said.

“We have to close it,” Aris said. “There’s nothing else we can do. It’s not a coincidence that this Gate is so large and at a place where it intersects in the Great Solvent. Mind is trying to do something.”

“I will help Ral get there,” Verne promised. “Concentrate on getting there and finding the spot for Ral to strike.”

“What about Laell?”

He thought about the time the runist saved them all after they were kidnapped by Camaz’s ‘friend’. “She’ll be fine.”

“Where should we go?” Ral asked, jumping down and landing with a heavy thud.

“It doesn’t matter, the place is filled with Unseeing,” Aris said.

“How confident are you fighting at a height?” Verne took note of how easily Ral climbed the tree.

“Very.”

“We can try to make our way over the roofs, although I’m sure they will follow us up there too.”

“There’s a chance a few will not notice us up there. Better than just barging in,” Ral shrugged.

Before he could say anything else, Ral had bounded off towards the wall and Aris disappeared into her shade form again, presumably to fade through the walls towards the Gate. Verne swore and followed suit. The twins were right: there was no time for hesitation. There was certainly no time for his doubts and worries.

For the hundredth time that week, Verne Teverin pushed his thoughts and heart aside and got to work.