It took Kosai the rest of that day, the whole night, most of the next day, and more turnip soup before he was fully recovered. He did not dream of the beach, or the naked man, or any of the events that happened during his Awakening, but slept a dreamless sleep.
When he finally recovered, Mearto wasted no time in starting him back on his studies. The first two hours of the day were spent reading on what “Channeling the Faye” meant, how to do it, and what you could do once you channeled the Faye. Kosai learned the theory behind spells, incantations, and circles of power. Kosai turned to all the pages that Mearto had written down, but consulted the book, which pulled the meatier portions out of the text. Some of the books Mearto brought up contained paragraphs about the Dark One and his past and the School of the Faye in Anteperil before it moved to Noiknaer. Other sections were portions that Kosai remembered from the “Enlightenment and Damnation of Zenith”.
After the four-hour study period, there was a fifteen-minute walk to and around the Oasis. After the fifteen-minute break, Kosai was to spend two hours meditating and communing with the Faye. Lunch was next, followed by a four-hour practice session in the arena. The day ended with a two-hour study session.
As Kosai and Mearto were walking up the West Stair, Kosai stared at the ground, thinking about his relationship to the Dark One and the plot to end his life. What Principle Daius said made sense. They could train him, and use him to defeat another, greater threat, and when he accomplished that task, they could kill him. If Kosai didn’t kill the Dark One, more people would die from starvation or-- perhaps the Three Brothers were right, perhaps an uprising was coming.
“What’s on your mind?” asked Mearto, looking back at Kosai as they continued to walk upwards. Kosai stopped and listened. There was no one coming up the stair from the library and no one coming down the stair from the Oasis. Even though no one was close enough to hear him, he didn’t want to take the chance that someone may walk in on him mid-sentence.
“I have a headache. Is there a really quiet place in the Oasis?” Kosai asked, his firm stare indicating he didn’t have a headache at all. Mearto seemed to understand and nodded.
“Follow me.” Once at the top of the West Stair, she led Kosai halfway around the Oasis to the north-east side.
“We’re safe here. What’s on your mind?” said Mearto as she kneeled on the grass.
“I know why Theo is trying to kill me,” he started. “Do you know about the other vision the Seer had?”
There was long silence. Mearto looked down at the ground.
“Yes,” she said softly. She looked in the distance. Bees buzzed about the hives, finding a way in, and then buzzed out to collect nectar from the flowers in the Oasis. “Though, I do not believe it. Since the Seer is betraying the routes, I can’t trust anything he says. He may want you dead. I don’t know why yet, but you can’t let that distract you. Do I believe that you are the one to kill the Dark One? Yes, because why else would he want to make you a Forced Conduit?”
“To remove one of the most talented guards the Barracks have,” Kosai said.
“There are easier ways to kill you than to waste time on teaching someone,” Mearto said firmly. “No. The Seer Saw you killing the Dark One. And even if he did See you against our school with another, the future, I think, is changeable and moldable, like water. It takes its course. When you alter the ground, the water changes where it flows. But that’s not all, is it? You still look troubled.”
“No. I found out today why I am the one who has to and can kill the Dark One. It’s because of my mother.” Mearto pulled her attention away from the bees and looked at Kosai.
“The Dark One’s mother was Anna, and Zenith passed away long before your conception. I do recall that Anna went missing a few years ago, but there was time for her to give birth to you, which makes the Dark One your half-brother.” She paused for a moment. “And then who was your father?”
“The Captain is, or at least he is the one who raised me, but whether he is my biological father…” Kosai stopped midsentence, and stared at the buzzing hives. “It doesn’t matter. Ellene and the Captain raised me, and that’s the end of it.”
“But what does being the Dark One’s half-brother have to do with being the only one who can kill him?” Kosai thought how he would answer this question without letting her, or anyone who might ask, know about the book.t. The book had cautioned him against revealing it to anyone and he held to that warning. Kosai closed his eyes and he flashed backed to his encounter with the Dark One.
“When I first encountered him, he almost killed me. The Dark one took part of my sword and stabbed in my leg. When I pulled it out, my blood was on that blade and when I attacked the Dark One, it hurt him. I attacked him before when my sword was whole but it passed through him as if he were mist. His blood and my blood are similar, and that is what hurt him.” Mearto looked at Kosai and frowned.
“How do you kill him then?”
“I’m not sure,” Kosai shook his head and bit his lip. “He is impervious to the channeling of Faye. Physical attacks like swords and spears cannot hurt him. That has been tried. The vial he carries, it is the source of his power. If I can destroy that, I will be able to use my blood to kill him.” Kosai thought about Zenith’s story and what the Women of the Water instructed. Zenith built the altar by way of the Unspoken, and attempted to kill the Dark One. Kosai wanted to know if the altar was still there, and if it was, if he needed to lure the Dark One to it to kill him. The possibility that the Seer was spreading false visions to place Kosai’s life in jeopardy only complicated things.
“Do you even know what to do with your blood? Do you just spill it on him and that’s the end? Will he just shrivel up like a salted slug? What do you need to do? You need to think things through,” Mearto prodded. Kosai sighed.
“What are we going to do about the Seer?” Kosai finally asked, putting aside thoughts of the Dark One for the moment.
“We do nothing. You continue your training until we figure out why he wants you dead. When we find his motive, then we confront him.”
“He wants me dead because he believes I am going to destroy the school!”
“And I don’t believe that he actually saw that.” Mearto’s voice was firm and orderly. Her tone again reminded Kosai of the Captain.
“And how are we going to find his motive?”
“Leave that to me,” she said slyly. “We have gone over your break time. Go find a quiet place to commune. I will be close by in-case anything happens.”
Kosai veered away from the beehives and found a spot next to one of the many streams in the Oasis. There was a little flock of chickens nearby. They jerked their heads left and right, staring at him with each eye before continuing to scour the ground for insects. Little arms of grass reached up from the dirt and small, fuzzy patches of moss grew in small circles around him. He read about what meditation and communion was, closed his eyes, and went back to the beach in his mind.
[][][]
The naked man was lying on his canvass beneath a palm tree. He stood and greeted Kosai, shaking his hand. “Why are you the only one who can kill the Dark One?” the man asked.
“I am his half-brother. I am the blood of his blood and flesh of his flesh. I alone can kill him and no one else.” The man smiled and laughed.
“That book of yours is a real treasure. Now, have you figured out who I am yet?”
“Based on the story that I read in the book, and what you have told me so far, I think so, though I don’t understand why. You are Zenith, the Second Head Teacher of the School of the Faye.” The man clapped his hands in congratulations.
“That wasn’t too hard to figure out, now was it? How are you going to kill me?”
“You tried to kill your son with an altar and fire made from the Faye, a knife and your own blood.”
“Good!” Zenith said. He smiled again and began to walk further into the island. Kosai followed him. As the pair walked, the
island began to change. The tropical trees transformed into tall, thick evergreens. Kosai looked up, unable to see the tops of them. The soft, warm sea breeze shifted, and then stilled. The smell of rotting undergrowth and tree sap filled the air. Kosai looked behind him and the beach was gone. There were only trees behind trees.
All was quiet. There were no birds, no waves, no breeze, no rustling branches, no insects, nothing. The only sound was his breathing and his footsteps. Sunlight beamed through the branches and pine needles, as if they were walking through bars of translucent gold.
Zenith stopped when they reached a small clearing. In the clearing was an altar with sticks around it. A fire was already burning, though Kosai couldn’t tell if the boy from the story was in the fire or not.
“You’ve already guessed how to defeat the Dark One,” Zenith said. “When the time comes, you must kill him in room that I created.”
“I figured so, but why? Why does his death have to be so… so, methodical?”
“Many, many reasons. Mainly because of that cursed vial I gave to his mother.” Zenith kicked the ground and was silent for a moment. “Only the blood of his blood and the flesh of his flesh can kill him now.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.” Kosai said flatly.
“I admit it didn’t look right that I was killing my only son. The room that I made, the altar, the circles of power that hid the room as well as lit the torch, all of it, was done through the power of the Unspoken that only I knew. That way there would be no interruptions. I should have bound him to the altar. It was my mistake to put him to sleep instead.”
“You still haven’t answered my question,” Kosai said, raising his voice.
“Have you learned nothing of patience?” he yelled. Kosai blushed and looked down. “Patience is the answer to all things; you would do well to remember that first lesson.” Zenith was quiet again and kneeled on the ground. Kosai did the same.
“There was a very specific reason the Women of the Water appeared to me, and the things they taught me, I withheld from everyone. Seeing as you are the one to kill the Dark One… I suppose I will answer your question, but it is not a concise answer.”
Kosai nodded and waited for Zenith to continue.
“When the world was first created, the cognitive energy that we call the Faye created primitive man. Over time, man changed into a more intelligent being, and became as we are now. The Faye, which flows in all life and gives power in our world, saw fit to create four beings to aid and assist man. These beings you and I know as the Women of the Water. They were supposed to teach man how to make medicine, machines, and tools. They were supposed to develop their minds, and teach them about the Faye and its purpose.”
“Teach religion and science then?” Kosai interjected.
“Yes. As the population of man grew, the Women of the Water were unable to assist man by themselves. Together, they decided to create another race of man, one whose blood was of the Faye. These men and women were the beginnings of the conduits and were known as pure conduits. In them was the knowledge of the Awakening, as well as the Unspoken. Over time, these people of the water mixed with man, and from them came conduits. After the fifth and sixth generations of the women of the water had passed away, the knowledge of the Unspoken and the Awakening were lost, and all but two of the bloodlines were mixed.
“Anna, your mother, was the last of one of those bloodlines. She was not Awoken, and if she was able to commune with the Faye, she hid that talent very well. I was the other who had pure blood of the Faye. Our son, the Dark One, is a direct descendant of pure conduits, tracing back to the Women of the Water.
“Though the Women of the Water are immortal, the race they created is not. The People of the Water die natural deaths, and can only be killed by one who shares their blood. When the boy took the knife from me, it already had his blood on it, and when he stabbed me in the heart, that blood pulsed into my body, and I died.
“The reason for the altar and the Unspoken is because of the cursed talisman that I gave to Anna, which she gave to her first born. The word for binding is used to subdue the Dark One so that he may not use the vile. The word for breaking is what will destroy the talisman. Only the Unspoken has power enough to break the circle of power on the vial. Kosai, you are the last descendant of Anna, and though your blood is mixed, there is enough of the Faye running through your veins to put an end to the Dark One.”
“Is that why I am able to swim so easily?”
“Yes, because you are a half descendant of the Women of the Water. The ocean, streams, lakes, they are natural to you.” Kosai stared at the ground, and then back at the fire.
“Why don’t you teach me the words that I need for the Unspoken? Then I wouldn’t have to find your secret room. I could just make my own, or I could meet him anywhere in the desert and build the altar.”
Zenith let out a short, hard laugh.
“If I taught you the words, the moment you spoke them, you would die. You are not strong enough. The first time the Faye flows through you, you will understand.” Zenith stared into the fire.
“You’ll have to teach me the words sometime,” Kosai said. “How else am I supposed to open your room at least? And why wasn’t any of this put into your book? Isn’t it supposed to contain all your knowledge?”
“What I have told you, you will not find in any book. Though it is my knowledge, I did not place it in the book in fear that the Dark One might find it. That book is a powerful tool, and he would destroy it if he knew it held the secrets to his defeat. I have come here, as your object, for the purpose of teaching you the Unspoken. Right now, as I said, you would die at the first utterance. It takes years to build up a tolerance to the Faye, and only then would you be able to learn the Unspoken, and only then will you be able to destroy me.” He chuckled. “I guess I mislead you earlier, but only somewhat. It is going to take you a long time to build that tolerance, time that we don’t have. That is why you must train, and when you are ready and have built up your tolerance to the Faye, then and only then, will I teach you the three words of the Unspoken that you need; one for opening, one for binding, and one for breaking. When you go to Anteperil, those are the only words you need to defeat the Dark One.”
Kosai had read the past four hours about the importance of a strong will when channeling the Faye and the theory on how to do it, but the books never mentioned building a tolerance.
“Mearto didn’t mention anything about a tolerance. Usually, she throws every book on a subject, and anything that relates to that subject, at me and demands an oral report two hours later. Do forced conduits need to worry about tolerance? What if the Dark One attacks before I am ready? How am I supposed to lure him to Anteperil? What motive would the Dark One have to come to his death chamber?” Kosai asked frantically, one question right after another.
“You are that motive,” Zenith said, smiling. “The Dark One is aware that you are the only one who can kill him. He will do all he can to remove you as a threat, even if it means going to that room.”
“And what about attacking before I am ready?”
“That is the time we don’t have,” Zenith shook his head. “That is why you need to train, hard. You need to build your tolerance. You know what’s at stake if you don’t.”
Kosai nodded and stared at the fire. Each moment, each opportunity spent not training, was a small victory for the Dark One. Kosai placed himself in the Dark One’s position, and tried to decide when and how he would attack.
“I don’t know why he has such a disposition to do evil,” Zenith spoke more to the fire than to Kosai. “Perhaps it was because of how he saw others treating his mother.” He picked up a stick and threw it onto the pyre. “I wish I had more time to study. The Faye knew he was evil, they even warned me of him and gave me a commission to kill him, yet they allowed him to live, to be born even, and for what?” Zenith picked up another stick and threw it more violently. It hit the burning fire and knocked o
ff some of the embers. They quickly died out and turned to sand. Kosai looked at the small clump of sand for a moment and then turned back to Zenith.
“Do you think you created the Dark One by trying to kill your son?” Kosai asked.
“No,” Zenith said calmly. “He was a conduit, the purest and attuned I ever saw. Inside him though, when I looked into his eyes for the first time, was darkness and evil that made me shiver. For the first time, in a long time, I was truly afraid, and of a child no less. No, I didn’t create him. He would have done what he did to become what he became, even if I hadn’t intervened.”