He lay on his back, his breath coming hoarsely as he looked at the still, reflective surface of the pool. The stone was hard behind his back, but if he moved the pain would overwhelm him. Better to stay like this.
He glanced at the bloodstained bandage on his right leg and chuckled. The cloth had been so crudely wrapped around the gaping wound that he could still see down to the bone. The skin around was mottled with colours of blue and black, puffy and inflamed. The bones in his other leg rubbed against each other whenever he moved. It took all of Evrin's effort to suppress the pain and stay conscious.
The source of Evrin's humour wasn't his injuries; it was the fact that here he was with all the essence in the world in front of him, and yet he lacked the strength to do any more with it. There was a time when he could have healed himself without a second thought. Those powers were forever lost to him now.
"Evrin Evenstar. Killed by gangrene," he muttered. "What an epitaph. Could at least have been a sword."
Evrin had done what he could. Now he could only wait.
Two days ago, passing time in the chamber with only himself for company, Evrin had run out of food. An hour ago he ran out of water. The pool was tantalising, but it wasn't filled with water. Unlike the Primate's foul elixir, this oily black liquid was tasteless, but quenching Evrin's thirst was impossible. The raj ichor wouldn't kill him, but drinking the essence would give him no benefit besides making him quite ill.
Evrin looked around the vaulted chamber, wanting to fix his eyes anywhere but on the reflective surface of the pool. It was hard not to, however, for there was only a crescent-shaped gallery of stepped stone; everywhere else was taken up by the walled pool.
At one end of the crescent a hole could be seen where the spiral stairway led down to the base of the statue. Evrin lay in wait, propped up against the stone tiers at the opposite end, where he would see any who made it this far.
The pool was perhaps fifty paces across, lined with a stone wall where it met the crescent, its opposite walls formed by the shell of the statue. It had been filled to the depth of a man's knees.
In the very centre of the pool a stepped island of stone emerged from the liquid. On this platform, the relic of the Evermen dominated the room, graceful and beautiful, ethereal and otherworldly.
It looked like an oval mirror, twice the height of a man and unbelievably thin, hovering in the air without apparent support, with no part of it touching the stepped island in the pool. The mirror initially appeared reflective, but on examination it was not; its surface shimmered silver and was difficult to focus on.
On the mirror were three seals: one on the rim below, a second on the left, and a third on the right. The seals were made of a glossy, metallic fabric, akin to the material that the pages of the Lexicons were made of, and each seal was covered with runes.
The pool was simply the power source for the magic. Creating the relic had required breakthroughs of knowledge even for the Evermen, yet gathering such a large amount of essence hadn't required skill, simply dedication and ruthlessness. Evrin glared at the essence now. Every drop was obtained by blood. The gods had betrayed their worshippers.
Long ago, when Evrin was last here, he had put the three seals in place. He didn't have the power to destroy the portal, but he could turn his brothers' magic against them. All of the energy provided by the pool of essence was now being drained by the seals. The pool now powered the seals that kept the portal closed.
Evrin cast his mind back to the events that had brought him here. It had seemed so simple, back when he had charged Killian with the task of destroying the Primate's refinery and set himself the task of destroying the knowledge hidden at the Pinnacle.
But he had failed at his task, and whether the Primate discovered the location of this place or not, Evrin knew he would die here.
For he hadn't been able to build the traps with a mechanism to allow his passage back out. Evrin's wards would prevent anyone from entering, but they would also prevent him from leaving.
Guarding this place was the whole reason for Evrin's existence. He might have liked to share this burden with Killian, but perhaps the lad was better off not knowing about the portal, just as the rest of them were better off in their ignorance.
The devout of Merralya prayed for a day when the Evermen would return, and take them to a land of golden skies, far from the pain of this world they lived in.
Evrin knew the truth. The return of the Evermen was the last thing they should pray for.
Evrin would stand guard at the portal for as long as he was able.
When thirst overcame him, Evrin would join his maker.
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