Chapter 79 - A HOME IN THE BARREN

The sensation of crossing through the portal was unlike any he felt before. Through they had been discomforting as a youth, he had grown accustomed to then over the years. The rush of wind, the disorienting spinning had become second nature. At this point, the portal that transported him to the Roost, the intense speed, the crushing void was the most disquieting. The unbearable chill was growing less offensive with every passage.

The journey to the Barren was far less jarring. As if he closed his eyes in the familiar confines of the Raven’s Court, he blinked them open to find himself in an entirely different space. A location that defied logic and expectation.

Risens found himself standing on a small patch of land floating in a sea of nothingness. A few dozen meters in front of him a small, weathered, yet disturbingly familiar house stood among the surrounding fields of wild grasses. The structure was in rough shape, showing signs of extreme disuse as if it had stood vacant for ages. In most spots, the thatched roof had collapsed, exposing the internal wooden supports. The walls, formed of natural boards were weathered showing signs of strain. The door stood ajar, crooked and leaning against the siding for support.

There was something about the appearance of the structure that sparked a disturbing sentiment that rumbled from within. The dilapidated building reminded reminded him of the cobbled together aged panels and cobbled together door over the ruined entrance to Pale Pink’s Pub.

There was only one small window on the wall facing him revealing only hints of the room beyond around the jagged outline of the clouded, broken pane

A single window stood in the front wall of the small cabin. Through the jagged outline of the clouded broken pane, it worked to disguise much of the interior. To either side of the building, the land stretched out for nearly a dozen meters. Covered in a gently waving sea of wild grasses and low, scraggly bushes. As if at one time in the distant past, the land had been worked by human hands, there were hints of organization among the wild growth, though if any fences had one day been present they had been long lost to the ravages of time. It was a field, left for abandon.

Abruptly beyond the final blades of grass, the land stopped abruptly. Risens turned slowly as his vision tracking them over the peculiar plot. In all directions, there was nothing but blackness. The small chunk of earth that he now stood upon was alone, suspended in the endless nothingness.

The black maw of the door that he’d just exited stood open. Without a sound, Mother Raven appeared from the portal. One moment he stared into the darkness of the void, the next he was greeted by her impassive face as she strode casually through. Not unlike her use of the dull wind, though her entrance was noiseless as if she merely stepped from shadow into the light.

Beyond the land he found himself on the the surrounding area was dark. Neither stars nor moon lit the sky and yet he could still see clearly though he knew it was night.

“What is this place?” He gasped, his voice low as if speaking too loud would disturb the utter silence in the area. 

“This is the Barren, as I told you,” she responded reverently. “It is as limitlessness list as it is undefined. It is as unique as imagined.”

“And have you been here before?”

“Yes, and no,” she answered.

Risens favored her with a glare, though it had no effect, brushing past her as if it were nothing more than a gentle gust of air. With the thought, he noted the mild breeze that pulled gentle across the space. It was calm and refreshing, giving movement to a climate that seemed like perfection to his senses.

“I have experienced the Barren before though where we stand none has been before. Until you have arrived,” she responded. “This is a space of your choosing and of your design. You are the master of this land. You hold the key to its change. To its growth, or to its demise.”

“I thought you said it led to the roost.”

“I did and it does, fledgling.”

She brushed past him without giving him another look, striding silently through the grasses toward the entrance of the house. She held her hands out to either side, letting the seedheads brush against her palms. 

Risens followed, his unbridled curiosity dwarfed only by a sense of wonder. It was another in a seemingly endless string of both achievements and advancements that had occurred over the last several days.

He worked to retain the conscious training that had been beaten into him as a child. His focus remained locked on the terrain around him, watching carefully for any signs of threats in the grass or through the shattered window of the house. Somehow he understood that the terrain he crossed would hold no dangers for him. The space, though infinitely mysterious was as empty as the Raven’s Court he’d only recently departed.

Mother Raven moved purposefully onward, crossing through she stopped at the threshold of the building After quickly peering inside, she stepped back, holding her arm out, ushering him into the interior of the building.

“The access to the Roost is there,” she noted.

Tisens peered cautiously into the structure as he stepped passed his cryptic guide. It took only a cursory glance to confirm that the interior held no traps meant for his demise. The space was small with a square footprint roughly ten meters deep and wide. The remains of what had once been a bed like crumbled in the corner, but beyond that, there was no furniture in the room.

There were several windows that lined each side of the single story structure, all were in similar degrees of disrepair as the one that graced the entrance. The opposite wall, however, held a pair distinct doors separated by a stone hearth and chimney. His gaze followed the formed flue up to where it met the ceiling. The thatching had collapsed in at some point in the past, leaving a myriad of gaping holes.

If this was a place of his choosing or design, why was it so dilapidated and up run down?

“You said this is a place of my choosing, I certainly do not recall choosing this,” he called to Mother Raven, who had now entered the house.

“Perhaps it was not a conscious decision, yet it was your choice and your creating nonetheless.”

As had happened frequently over the previous week, he accepted the answer as there was no sense in arguing. He knew from their previous conversations that there would be no swaying or convincing her to expand on subject that she did not want to or need to divulge.

Risens turned his attention away from the roof back to the two openings set into the rear wall. Both of the doors were the same size, their panels closed, though, each had a distinctly different design. To the right, the heavy stone doorway held a clear representation of what he had come to recognize at the Roost. He could see the features of the looming Shrine of the Raven that dominated the hall. The parallel walls of doors that ran along either side of the great hall. The pedestals with their pools guarded by the ravens who perched atop were surprisingly absent.

The other door was entirely different. It featured the image of a raven though the background was the most startling. The bird, with its wings splayed out wide seemed to float over sky of fire. Embers floated around the majestic bird while the flame reached up to lick at the feathers.

“These are both paths and passages that you and you alone can walk. The Brand that you wear on your chest and the markings of the Quillkey on your hand will grant you passage,” Mother Raven inserted. “If you choose to bring others to this space, they must understand that they cannot follow you beyond this realm, as I cannot either, for it will be their doom.”

“I know that one of these portals leads to the Roost, where will other lead me?” Risens asked.

Mother Raven brushed passed him, approaching the unknown doorway with tentative steps. As if she feared the touch, he hand reached out carefully before touching the raven etched into the panel. She withdrew her had quickly as it the door had produced a measure of discomfort.

“There’s much you do not yet understand fledgeling. There are connections between everything. Some clear while most are concealed under layers of shadows.” she continued. “The Quillkey will bring you here, where you choose to go will be up to you. You will need to harness the power of both the Roost and the world beyond if you are to succeed.”

The statement was curious. She had hinted at a growing storm, turbulent winds that he was not yet ready to face. He had no doubt that the difficulties he would soon face would be more than assassins seeking his demise, though he 

“All the land we stand on now and the blackened void beyond belongs to the Barren. What is through that door is merely known as the Under,” she continued. “Whether it is truly beneath where we stand or it floats somewhere in the endless void, I do not know. In the grand scheme of things, where it is in proximity to other places is immaterial.”

Though it was puzzling, Risens had not dedicated a significant amount of time to pondering the answer to where the Roost existed in relation to Windwake or Halthome. That it existed, it was fact enough for him. He was curious that with as much as Mther Raven knew about the places he had been, the places he was to go and their importance, she still seemed to be in the dark about many of the details.

“What will I find in the Under?” Risens inquired.

“Danger and power.” Her tone sharpened unexpectedly as she responded. “Power that you will one day need. The danger will be here sooner that you expect.”

Risens was frustrated with the half answers and vagueness of her responses. Her method of letting him find out for himself by merely giving the slightest clues was obtuse and cumbersome. They had nearly prove it fatal.

“You referencing the storm that is coming. An event that I need more power to withstand. What is it?” He probed. “All can see that Windwake has become increasingly more dangerous, yet I do not believe that it is merely the city alone.”

“It is not a singular thing, fledgling,” Mother Raven replied. “Perhaps you will one day figure things out without all the questions. You’ll figure out in due time. In that one conjecture you are correct. Know this, Windwake is only the beginning.”

It was an ominous and daunting warning. The proposition was too large for him to fathom. He had faithfully defended Halthome from dangers from without and within. Dissent was ripe within Windwake. It was ready to overflow the dam of restraint that held it back. What trouble lurked beyond the boundaries of the city he called home. What’s the realm? He fought to defend it was so troubling.

Was it war? If so, with whom?

He couldn’t help but think in multiple attempts to end his life were somehow connected. The scope,though detrimental to him, seemed far less severe that he warnings.

The prospects of new powers residing in the Under, not connected directly to the sealed doorways and resulting trails within the Roost was enticing. You can feel the Pole to this strength. Never waited within behind both of the doors. He was torn. He could feel the call of the Roost through the hefty stone panel. There were still days before his return to the King. He would be ready for whatever came of that meeting. He had not been disappointed by the unexpected powers he’d found within the hallowed halls of the Raven. He had no expectation that he’d find anything less within the new realm.

“You’ve never been into either the Roost or the Under. How is it that, you know so much about what they contain?” He voiced the question as the thought came to mind.

“As I have said, fledgling, you ask too many questions. You’re also not the first,” she responded cryptically again. “Now is not the time for that discussion, there’s another task I have for you.”

Risens eyed her skeptically at the news of further tasks. Though her motives were undisclosed, she had yet to lead him astray. Collecting the crimson egg and her subsequent destruction of the relic had seemed futile and painful, yet it had led him to the Barren. To the gate to the Under.

To the seat of further power.

Any qualms he had about undertaking another quest from her faded as quickly as they had come. He nodded his acquiescence.

“Inside the Under, you will find a vessel of sorts. I need you to bring it here,” she instructed.

He groaned internally as much like his first task, the second required him to collect something for her. He tempered the aggravation as he considered the end result of his first quest assigned by his aloof guide. As with the quest, the benefits were his to reap. He had no indication of what the bowl would be used for, or if it alone was the item that she truly desired. He knew he that the answer would be revealed in due time.

“Prepare yourself fledgling. As I have forewarned, the Under can be a dangerous place, one the like of which you’ve not yet experienced,” she instructed. “Do not let your confidence distract you from the reality of the the peril you may find yourself in.”

She shifted across the room, her focus rising to the blackened sky above.

“I have no desire to linger under roofs, no matter how decrepit they may be,” she continued. “Once you have collected the vessel return here. Time lingers here much like it does in the Roost, though I would advise you not to tarry.  I will wait here for your return.”