The Mountain and the Desert

The crystal just hung there in mid air, radiant in the sun’s light. Wren shaded his eyes against the harsh desert sun and squinted to try and see the slowly growing crystalline mass better but the glare reflecting off of the azure pool of water that gave the oasis its name prevented him from gaining any clarity.   “How big is it?” Wren asked the short… well short next to Wren… man in the orange robes next to him.   The man reached into his satchel with his heavily tattooed hand and pulled out a wooden spyglass and handed it to Wren while answering, “This cycle has gone on for three days now. So, the nodule should have reached nearly the size of an apple. Not the longest Terran convergence that we have recorded but certainly abnormally long.”   Wren took the spyglass and delicately used the tips of his fingers to open it. The man in orange chuckled lightly. “I have met your kind once before but, at the time I did not understand how ill suited the fashionings of our lives must be for a people as large as yours,” he said companionably.   Wren looked down at the man and said, “You should visit the Steelpeak sometime, Joon. My father would have to craft a special chair with steps so that you can share a meal at our table,” with a wry grin while laying his granite gray hand on the man’s tanned shoulder.   The two men shared an affable moment before Wren lifted the spyglass to his face and turned his attention to the Terran nodule hanging in space above the water surface at the center of the basin. Through the glass, he could see that the nodule was nearly spherical but with many facets. How many, he could not tell but each on seemed to be made from different types of gemstone.   “Fascinating…” Wren whispered to himself. “And you think the Nexus will shift this morning?”   Joon nodded thoughtfully. “Our calculations aren’t perfectly precise,” he replied. “But all the signs point to a shift before mid-day. We have our initiates standing by at the Bastion if an Aquan convergence begins. They will row out into the basin and dive down to retrieve the nodule.”   “And if the Nexus shifts Pyran?”   “Then the nodule will be incinerated as the living flame pours forth into our world.” The man let out a long sigh, “I almost hope that we do have a Pyran convergence. The Negresti and Curran delegations have been getting more and more agitated with each other and a nodule of that size will be greatly desired by both. We Keepers are not here to enforce the peace but, with each passing year, growing tensions require our closed fist more often.”   The breeze rippled Wren’s loose, white tunic bringing a brief respite from the desert heat in the moment of silence. Wren lowered the spyglass and opened his mouth to respond when the silence abruptly ended when the crashing sound of cascading waterfalls washed over him. He jerked his gaze back to the center of the basin where pure, cerulean water now gushed out from the point in space that the Terran nodule occupied not seconds ago. Wren barked out an excited laugh and smiled widely. “Amazing!” he exclaimed feeling the cool humidity rolling out towards him from the Aquan Convergence.   Small rowboats started moving out from the opposite shore of the basin carrying initiates of the Nexus Keepers to go retrieve the Terran nodule that now sat at the bottom of the basin. Wren turned to hand the spyglass back to his companion when a brief flash of muted light from under the surface of the water caught his eye. He narrowed his gaze as if to pierce the misty spray that was now starting to build around the area where the Iridescent Nexus poured water into the Azurine Basin.   A sharp splash and a jet of white spray burst up from beneath the water just outside of the mist a lithe form shot out from the water’s surface before landing on it in a run as if the water were solid ground. The figure ran directly towards Wren and Joon, appearing to be looking over its shoulder back toward the initiates’ rowboats. It turned its hooded head towards the two men and skidded to a halt: freezing like a startled animal confronting a predator. Most of the figure’s features were obscured but Wren could clearly see the Terran Nodule gripped in its hand and the swish back and forth of a tail behind the shrouded figure.   The moment stretched before Joon shouted, “Thief!” The exclamation seemed to bring the figure to its senses, and it turned a sharp right and ran away from Wren and Joon; angling towards a group of buildings that hugged the basin’s shore.   “Hey! Get back here!” Wren shouted after the sprinting figure as he shuffled and edged along the boardwalk that separated this district of Pogña and the Azurine Basin towards where the thief would likely make landfall.   “Wren! What are you doing!?” Joon called after him.   “Go assemble your brothers,” Wren called back while awkwardly reaching for a pouch at his belt. He pulled out a crimson pebble and tossed it sideways to Joon. “I’ll contact you with that to let you know where I catch the rascal!”   Wren broke into a run down the boardwalk; a joyous smile starting to spread across his tattooed face. It has been some time since he had had a proper chase. His quarry looked to be quick and graceful as Wren watched it jump and tumble over the waves in the basin but, Wren has spent his youth running foot races with other young Goliath in the Peaks and the air down here in the lowlands was thick. Wren was certain he would win in a distance race but that meant that he could not let the thief lose him in the maze of Pogña’s streets.   The sprinting figure made landfall and just as it was about to dart down an alley between the squat clay buildings, Wren pulled a flask from his belt, muttered a few arcane phrases under his breath and hurled it towards the thief. The flask shattered at the feet of Wren’s quarry and a cloud of brightly colored, green power burst out from the point of impact; coating everything in a small area.   “Gotcha!” Wren exclaimed as his lungs worked like forge bellows to support his run. Wren skidded slightly as he turned to follow the thief down the alley and the bright green paint now covering his prey let Wren keep track when the figure ducked down another side street.   The thief weaved amongst the market stalls and labyrinthine streets of Pogña with Wren in hot pursuit. More than one cart of fruit or cloth was accidentally overturned as Wren’s hulking form barreled through the market squares. Wren shouted hasty apologies back to the people he had disturbed; trying to make a mental note to return and help repair the damage. The bright green of the paint set his course unerringly and just as Wren predicted, he slowly closed on his quarry.   As the chase neared the outer edge of the city, Wren turned a corner after seeing the thief dart into the alley just moments before and was confronted with a dead end, the thief nowhere in sight. The cramped space reeked of rotting fish and Wren had to forcibly slow his breathing before he could take more than a couple steps into the alley. Wren scanned the area carefully, but the figure was nowhere to be seen. Wren advanced a few steps further and as he passed a crate of what looked like assorted vegetables, he caught sight is a small splash of green paint glowing on the wall behind the crate. He reached out to move the crate to the side but, his hand passed directly through the wood and vegetables like they were not even there.   Wren cursed under his breath and reached into his pouch and took out an identical red pebble to the one that he had thrown to Joon earlier. “Joon,” he spoke into the pebble starting to mentally count out the 25 words he could send in the message, “chased thief to alley off of…” he looked over his shoulder at the market down the street, “amethyst square. Thief disappeared behind illusory wall. Awaiting your arrival.” Wren grimaced and squeezed the stone sending off his message to Joon.   Wren paced back and forth at the alley’s mouth for a minute drawing many looks from the many passers by before he heard Joon’s voice coming from his sending stone.   “Wren, we’re on our way. Keep watch over the alley. I’ll bring a mage to dispel the illusion so that we know we are…” The message cut off mid sentence.   Wren chuckled. He would have to explain how a Sending spell works to Joon later. Whatever was down in that bolt hole was probably dangerous and he would have to be careful. But the thought of examining that nodule was too tempting for Wren to back out now.