~
"GOOD day, sir," the shopkeeper said. As he took notice of Killian's clothing his expression turned to one of distaste. "Ah… Perhaps you'd like to try one of our sister stores, near the temple district. Our prices might not suit what you're after."
"My master sent me to buy a looking glass," Killian said, his voice gruff. "One of those seeing devices the artificers make. Here." Killian flicked a silver coin, his last, in the shopkeeper's direction. "I have more."
The shopkeeper's expression smoothed. "Of course." He opened a glass cabinet and withdrew a thin disc about the size of Killian's hand. "Is this the kind of device you're after?"
Runes covered the edges of the disc, while the centre was blank and shone like a mirror.
"How do I know if it works?" Killian said.
The shopkeeper frowned, and then looked at the window. "I can demonstrate it here?"
"That works," Killian said, "but not that window. Can we look out this one, up at the mountain?"
"Of course," the shopkeeper said. He led Killian to the window and showed the younger man how to position the seeing device in front of his eyes. "To activate it, you say 'semara-sulara'."
At the shopkeeper's words, the symbols around the rim of the disc Killian held in his hands lit up with alternating colours of blue and green. The mirrored surface at its centre showed brown rock, dust and rubble.
"That's the mountain," the shopkeeper said.
"Hmm," Killian said. He tilted the device, and suddenly he was looking at the sky. This was harder than he had thought it would be.
"I'll have to ask you to give it back now."
"Just a moment," Killian said. He moved the device but now it was pointing too low.
"Please, sir, give it back now."
"Just a moment!" Killian growled. He glared at the shopkeeper, and the man backed away.
There. Just a little bit back down. Ah, there it was.
Killian looked at the place where once the Pinnacle had been: a beacon to the faithful of the Tingaran Empire and a source of pilgrims bringing wealth to the Assembly of Templars.
Where the light had been, there was now nothing, but Killian already knew that. What drew his attention was the mound of rubble on Stonewater's summit. Something had happened here, and it had nothing to do with the destruction that had followed in Killian's wake. What if Evrin Evenstar had his own mission to complete, and it had something to do with the Pinnacle, the most famous relic in a place known for its mysteries?
Killian absently handed the seeing device back to the shopkeeper and walked out of the shop, his gaze captive to the mountain's peak, unaware of the shopkeeper's words following him out. How could he find out more? Who would have answers?
Killian thought again about how he had first found out he was different. The templars had taken him, just another orphan and thief, and given him the strange liquid. They had been amazed at his body's lack of response, although at the time Killian hadn't known it was death or addiction they were expecting.
There was one templar in particular, leading them, a man who was knowledgeable about the relics and their powers. A templar who valued knowledge above all else, with a fanaticism Killian could only now appreciate.
Zavros.
Killian decided he needed to pay Templar Zavros a visit.
~
ZAVROS stood silently regarding the destruction of the refinery, deep in the bowels of Stonewater, at the foot of the great shaft that ran the height of the mountain.
The explosion had blown outwards, opening a seam into the open air through which the intruder had probably escaped. Saryah met her end here; they had found her broken body in the rubble. Zavros had thought nothing in this world could kill Saryah.
Like Melovar Aspen, High Templar Saryah took too much of the elixir, but it affected her differently. It took both of their humanity, but where Melovar became senseless to pain, whether his own or another's, Saryah responded more physically.
At any rate, she was dead now, and Zavros would never be able to study her further.
Zavros wondered about himself. Some of the prisoners had called him inhuman; that, and names much worse. Zavros wasn't inhuman; it was simply that he knew the truth: nothing was more important than knowledge.