"Free you?" she asked.
Rethen inclined its head. "The goddess is consumed by war. She has had no time to loose these chains, and I have lingered here for a very long while, reflecting on the sin I committed. I must go to her aid, yet these shackles have drained me. At present I possess only the strength of a dormant being, and I cannot break them myself."
Elizabeth blinked at the statue. "I mean… that is what chains do. Their whole purpose is to imprison you. They wont be effective if you could just break free."
Rethen's laugh was soft and musical, gods even his laugh sounded heavenly. "Indeed. You are right."
She fell silent, hundreds of thoughts going through her mind. She wondered if her nightmare's purpose had been to free this being and help it escape, if this was truly her trial. It had to be, yet nothing about freeing this being matched what she had seen at the start of the nightmare. She frowned.
"How do I free you?" she asked at last.
Rethen's eyes drifted toward a distant pillar. "Those towers you see on the horizon, those are what feed the chains that bind me. Within each stands the heart of a giant. Destroy four of those hearts, and I will regain enough strength to shatter the rest."
The heart of a giant?
She remembered the one eyed colossus she had seen at the start of the nightmare, shackled to a pillar just as Rethen was now. She quickly connected the dots, somehow those giants were the batteries keeping the chains powered. She truly did have to kill a giant. The realization sat heavy in her chest, now that it came down to it, could she do it? If so how?
"If that's the case," she murmured. "Is there a way for me to kill that thing? Surely its heart is not that easy to destroy."
Rethen regarded her with a considering air, its beautiful features turning serious. "You are correct. You are nothing but a mere mortal. Asking you to do this alone would be folly." It paused. "But I can help."
Two of its many arms stilled upon the harp. Rethen lowered its gaze to its own elegant hands, then seized one finger and snapped it off at the knuckle. Golden blood welled from the break and ran in thin streams. Elizabeth stepped back, startled not because a statue could bleed, though it was strange, but because of how sudden the action was.
"What are you doing?!"
Rethen did not answer. It broke another finger. Then another. Bone white stone and gold parted with a crisp, unnerving crack until four fingers lay severed. It cupped them in its remaining palm, lifted them toward its lips, and whispered words she could not understand. Power thrummed in the air. After a time the statue fell silent, and its hand blazed with molten gold before the light guttered out.
"Come closer, child," Rethen said. Its voice had grown faint, thinned by exertion.
It extended its palm.
Nestled there were four identical swords, vast and flawless, each as long as Elizabeth was tall. For a moment she forgot to breathe. They were the most beautiful blades she had ever seen.
"Take them," Rethen said. "Drive each one into a giant's heart."
She stared, stunned, trying to reconcile what she was seeing. Rethen had claimed to be reduced to a dormant being, yet it had shaped weapons from its own body with apparent ease.
"How did you do that?" she asked. "You said you were weakened."
Rethen's eyes settled on her, puzzled. "Are you truly unfamiliar with sorcery, child of the sea? What has become of the world, that one of your kind does not know sorcery?"
Sorcery?
Elizabeth's mouth fell open. Of course she knew of sorcery. She had studied it at the academy, listened to her brother and Tessie explain its intricacies. Sorcery could do many things, but its most coveted use was the crafting of memories, a skill treasured by legacy clans. Even then, a single memory took ages to make. Yet this being had just created four in a matter of minutes. Her heart hammered, a hot mix of wonder and greed filled her heart as she looked at the blades.
'Gods. Are these what I think they are?'
"Come now, child," Rethen urged. "Whether you understand sorcery is irrelevant. Take the weapons. They will serve you well in breaking the giants' hearts."
Elizabeth forced herself to move. She stepped forward and reached for the nearest sword. The instant her fingers touched the hilt, the blade shrank with a smooth, liquid motion until it fit her hand perfectly. It settled into her grip as if it had always been there, an easy extension of muscle and bone. The balance, weight, edge everything felt perfect. Power tingled up her arm.
[You have received a memory.]
Excitement surged through her. This was her first memory and she had obtained it without facing a nightmare creature, a gift given freely. Well… not entirely freely as she still needed to do something in exchange. Still, she was not about to complain. She reached for the second sword.
[You have received a memory.]
Then the third.
[You have received a memory.]
And the fourth.
[You have received a memory.]
Rethen's lip curved in a small smile. "For one who claims no knowledge of sorcery, you look remarkably pleased to receive an artifact."
Elizabeth could not help mirroring the smile. "You have no idea."
"Then go," Rethen said. "I wish you fortune on your journey."
It turned back to the harp and set its fingers to the strings. Again no sound came. Strange, she had heard it clearly earlier, though only in her mind, was it linked to Rethen's ability to communicate mentally? And Rethen had said he was exhausted, that would explain why she could not hear it. Whatever, she did not care about the harp's workings. She was on a mission.
She left the chamber and set off toward one of the obsidian pillars. As she walked, she summoned her runes and called up the memories' details.
Name: Elizabeth
True Name: –
Rank: Aspirant
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories: [The Thumb of Rethen], [The Index Finger of Rethen], [The Middle Finger of Rethen], [The Pinky of Rethen]
Attributes: [Split Spirit], [Siren of the Sea], [Spirited]
Aspect: [Ocean Maiden]
Aspect Description: [A being that tends to the ocean, protects the ocean, lives for the ocean, hears the voice of the ocean, and is the voice of the ocean.]
'What strange names.'
She knew that sorcerous created memories could sometimes bear the names their creators chose, though more often the Spell itself assigned them when applying the runes. In this case, she was almost certain the Spell had done the naming. It hardly mattered. She focused on the first memory and let its rune rise to the surface.
Memory: [The Thumb of Rethen]
Memory Rank: Sacred
Memory Tier: I
Memory Type: Tool
Elizabeth's thoughts halted.
She stared at the glowing runes, not trusting her own vision and blinked a couple of times. A Sacred Memory. Her very first memory was Sacred.
'A Sacred Memory?! How in all the tarnation do I have a Sacred Memory as my first?'
Memories followed a rigid hierarchy: Dormant, Awakened, Ascended, Transcendent, Supreme, Sacred, Divine. You could get a memory based on the nightmare you killed which likewise, nightmare creatures had their own ranks, Dormant, Awakened, Fallen, Corrupted, Great, Cursed, and Unholy.
To earn a Sacred Memory, one had to face a Cursed Nightmare, a calamity in the shape of a being, something so close to divine that people spoke of it in the same breath as gods. Even then, slaying such a monster did not guarantee anything. The Spell still did not guarantee a Memory for slaying one.
Not that anyone in their right mind sought such a fight. Meeting a Cursed Being at all was a death sentence. Standing against one was like raising a sword against a god.
And yet here she stood, her hand wrapped around a Sacred Memory.
Rethen said the chains weakened him. Could he truly be a Cursed Being? Or… something akin to one? If he is not a nightmare creature, then… a Sacred Being?
Her curiosity about what Rethen truly was heightened. She still did not fully believe his claim of being a musician of the gods, but she shelved the doubt for now. First, survive the nightmare.
She called up the memory's description.
Memory Description: [Nether was the last born of the –Unknown–, but he fell in love with the goddess of black skies. Their love almost bore fruit, if not for the curse imposed by the other gods. In his rage he raised war against them, only to lose everything. Cast into the depths of the underworld, Nether forged his first creation in a desperate attempt to shape life. All he achieved was a false fruit of their love.]
Memory Enchantments: [Liberator], [Conduit].
When she read the description, she tilted her head in confusion. 'Who is Nether?' For some reason, no matter how hard she tried, she could not think of anything that reminded her of who this Nether was. And it did not help that the Spell refused to translate the runes fully.
'How annoying...'
The term "–Unknown–" would not resolve either. She stared at it until her eyes watered, but the glyphs refused to yield. She had never heard of a case like this, which meant it was rare or entirely unique to her. Then again, she was likely the first to hold a Sacred Memory after all. Whoever Nether were, they had been entangled with a god… but the description offered nothing about what the Memory actually did. And it was a Tool-type, not a Weapon, which was an unpleasant surprise given that it had manifested in the form of a sword.
'Wait. Do not tell me it is one of those single use tools.'
If its only purpose was to pierce a giant's heart once and then vanish, she would be forced to surrender these exquisite blades as soon as she used them. The thought left her oddly empty. Still, escaping the nightmare mattered more than clinging to pretty things. Even if they where scared memories. She exhaled, a small, reluctant sigh.
She checked the other memories. As she suspected, they were all Tool-type and all Sacred.
'Urgh, why?'
She did not want to part with them any time soon if they really where single use.
'Hmm? The descriptions is different.'
She opened the runes.
Memory: [The Index Finger of Rethen]
Memory Rank: Sacred
Memory Tier: I
Memory Description: [At first, Nether was satisfied with his creation. In time, his satisfaction curdled. The thing was flawed and ugly, unworthy of being the fruit of their love, so he cast it aside. Later he returned bearing the carcass of their true, lost fruit. Using its essence, he shaped a new form, a semblance of life. The creation was no longer ugly, but it remained imperfect.]
Memory Enchantments: [Liberator] , [Conduit].
A continuation of the first, then. But how did any of this tie back to Rethen? To her task?
She moved on to the next rune.
Memory: [The Middle Finger of Rethen]
Memory Rank: Sacred
Memory Tier: I
Memory Description: [The goddess of black skies felt a sliver of her divinity being torn from her. She searched for the cause and found the abomination Nether had made, the false fruit between them. Nether hoped she would rejoice at his work. The goddess felt only revulsion.]
Memory Enchantments: [Liberator], [Conduit].
Already caught up in the tale, Elizabeth opened the final memory runes.
Memory: [The Pinky of Rethen]
Memory Description: ["Your very existence is a mistake," said the goddess of black skies. "You are nothing but an insult to what we had." Rethen looked upon his world, his reason to live, the very essence of his being. "Oh, Mother," he whispered. "Why do you not love me?"]
Elizabeth's eyes flew wide at the last line.