To The Salmoon
Rachel returned to her body abruptly and sat still even as her head swam.
Even though her consciousness was back within her body her soul and spirit still remained outside and knowledge steadily flowed into her being, using her soul and spirit as conduits.
They stood outside her physical body and became bridges between her and the knowledge she had gained, and was gaining, from her walk. She slowly began processing all of it.
Much of it she already knew but like all knowledge there were fine nuances, and hidden meanings within the knowledge, so even with a bit of understanding there was always more to learn within the magical threads of knowledge. Rachel was determined to fully understand all that she had gained today. She was going to fully know what the Conglomerate was doing and how it all related to Shain, the realm Chaos, and the people of the realm that she had sworn to protect.
The knowledge rippled through her body like an electric current moving through a stable circuit. It cycled through her being seven times before she decided to allow it to calm and slowly seep the remainder of the information into her being like osmosis.
Rebecca frowned but she did not speak. She could sense that something was amiss but nothing that currently endangered Rachel so she stilled.
Smral and Ambruce tensed in unison. Both could see the knowledge pouring into Rachel's spirit and soul and they understood a lot of it and they knew that Rachel would come out of her soul walk upset.
Smral suddenly felt used by fate for the first time while Ambruce became upset with the Conglomerate and herself. She saw how she had treated lesser beings in similar ways and she now saw the wrongness in it.
'How can we feel so superior?'
'This is life. The strongest is always the dominating force. It is something innate and natural for beings. We have to think about our actions and place them next to our personal moral codes to understand if we are truly right or wrong.
'Do not worry. You are already learning if you understand that your past actions are similar to the Conglomerate's.'
Ambruce smiled. She felt as if Rachel forgave her with her words. She suddenly felt a little wiser.
Rachel remained sitting as the knowledge magic continued to stream into her.
The bright pink streams of knowledge dulled and muted until they were barely visible. At that point both Rachel's soul and spirit entered her physical body, almost in unison. They each took a step and overlaid atop her physical being then slowly wavered and disappeared into her body.
She remained sitting for many more moments.
Finally her eyes slowly opened. She looked at Rebecca, Smral, and Ambruce. All three swallowed hard as one. Her eyes were ethereal and foreboding. All three of the Antrunie felt as if they were being pulled into a deep abyss of frightening power.
Rachel cracked her neck twice and gracefully rose to her feet. "The Conglomerate needs to be dealt with and soon." She exhaled dramatically. "First we will return to the Salmoon with the others like planned."
She looked to Ambruce. "I will need you to look into something." Ambruce nodded in affirmation. "Go through the pocket realm connected to you and Trannisa and tell me what you see in Trannisa's sea of souls, then see how it aligns with fate maps and report what you discover."
Ambruce bowed deeply. She looked to Smral and Rebecca in turn and stepped to the right and disappeared.
Rachel looked to the other two. Let's talk to Cramnal and Struns and begin thinking about our next moves.
Rebecca cleared her throat but it was Smral who spoke.
"You told Allons you would speak to him before we left."
Rachel looked at Smral. "He wants to go with us. He wants to be an Antrunie but I am not sure if he is ready."
"You always say that. Look at how long you allowed Cramnal to linger. He can go with us. If he does not belong with us he does not belong but stop trying to hinder everyone's progress woman."
"I am not hindering anyone Rebecca. I am just…"
"You're just what?" Rachel did not reply. Rebecca nodded in satisfaction. "At the very least allow him to be in this meeting while we wait for Ambruce."
Rachel side while Smral stood to the side Watching the spectacle in wrapped fascination.
Rachel looked at him so suddenly he flinched back. "Do you have an opinion?"
"Don't take it out on him Rach."
Rachel exhaled and stepped back. "Get ready to leave."
'Allons if you want to talk come now. We are leaving.'
'I am on my way Milana.'
'Shain.'
'Rachel.'
'We will be leaving soon. If you need me you can talk to me through the tether I bound to you.'
'Okay little sister. Did you find out anything within the main facility? '
'…. Yes… Two months Shain.'
'Two months.'
Allons entered without knocking. He had known he was supposed to be an Antrunie since he was a young boy. Once he laid eyes on Rachel he knew it even more. He wanted, no he needed, to be the one to protect her. She was not the Milana she was his Milana.
He took a knee before her and began speaking before she had a chance to stop him. Both Rebecca and Smral looked on in shock and amusement.
"I am Antrunie. I have been forged to protect the Milana. I was born to this role and I embrace it with all that I am."
"Stand up. You will travel with us. We will go to the abyss near Sibba continent. Get your things. Who do I need to talk to.?"
"I have my things and I already resigned from my post. There is no one to speak to about this."
"You do not need time with your family."
He looked at her seriously. "You and the other Antrunie are my family."
Rachel only looked at him and did not respond.
She looked to all od them as one. "Prepare. I will call Cramnal and Struns."
Allons, Rebecca, and Smral sat as one. Rebecca was impressed as she looked to Allons slowly just as she was closing her eyes.
Rachel sat in the middle of the three. She breathed in and out deeply several times. Ethereal streams of magic formed and extended from Rachel and out to the three sitting with her.
Her breathing echoed and became ethereal and then she called for Cramnal and Struns through their soul tethers.
A few moments passed and two more tethers appeared from two empty areas and extended put to Rachel. Once they connected both Cramnal and Struns spoke as one.
'Rachel.'
Rachel nodded.
'Come and meet us at the Salmoon. We will first finish things we have committed to and then we will address the Conglomerate and Shain.
'The Conglomerate is experimenting on Trannisa residents. It seems some are volunteers and some are not. None understand the fullness of the experiments. Which means I do not as well. I know a bit more than the participants do but only the White seems to know all.
'We will have to see why Shain has manipulated things to get himself here.'
'He did what?!'
'Calm yourself Struns. She is our sister too.'
'I know Cramnal. I know. I apologize Milana.'
'There is no need. I do not fully understand what Shain is doing either. We will allow it a bit longer before we pull him out.
'All I can understand is that these people are being changed into people of light.'
She felt the stir in all of their souls but Cramnal was the one to speak.
'They are creating Azmin?'
They all felt Rachel's nod.
'It would seem so. I think Smral was able to cause so much chaos and Trannisa was so confused because these other Azmin have actually thrown the realm into an odd subtle imbalance.
'It is like only the most instinctual parts of the realm understand that there is an imbalance while the majority of the realm continues with something akin to a tumor growing in the brain.'
Cramnal and Struns nodded as one.
'Do you have a plan?'
'For now we needed to gather more information and understand any and all new changes within the realm.'
All the Antrunie nodded.
'Prepare everyone. We meet at the Salmoon in one hour.'
'Do you believe it is time for your clone to come forth? You have been holding that back for a while.'
'Rebecca is right sister. We need all of your strength. It is said the Milana clone unlocks aspects of the Milana that are otherwise hidden.'
Rachel nodded. 'I will listen to the advice of my Antrunie and consider this.'
The Antrunie nodded as one and the connections slowly faded. Rachel stood languidly and the Antrunie with her did the same, although a bit more slowly.
"Let's hurry to the abyss. I think this is infinitely more complicated than we can currently see."