Ignite the Sun
Chapter 45: Three questions

Chapter 45: Three questions

"First of all, Let me introduce you to my advisors." Sylara started, and gestured to her right. "This is Geodor, our resident Grand Mage."

The old man gave them a nod, but didn’t say anything.

"This is Tiana, the head of logistics and infrastructure." She pointed at the unremarkable woman.

Tiana gave them a little wave, and Sylara moved on.

"You already know Alison - she’s the Captain of the Verdant Watch, which is a military organisation that acts as both our army and city guard."

The youngest advisor didn’t acknowledge them aside from a quick glance.

"And finally, the lil ol’ me - I’m Sylara, and you may call me that, but to people of the city I’m known as the Lady of the Grove. I also have a couple more names, but I won’t bore you with a long list." She looked at Calen and her eyes twinkled. "Besides, you already know one of them."

"...the Matriarch." He said.

Sylara nodded with a smile.

"Before we begin discussion proper, would you mind showing your mark, so that we’re all on the same page as to what we’re talking about?*

"Sure." He shrugged.

Calen put his wrist on the table, showing the half-lit sun to everyone present.

Tiana and Alison didn’t have much of a reaction, they seemed to be rather confused as to what they were looking at - Geodor was a different case though, the moment he saw the mark his eyes went wide, and he almost fell off his chair.

"I was starting to suspect the cycle was broken, but clearly not - whether it’s a good thing or not, time will tell."

The voice of the old Grand Mage was nothing like Calen expected, it was deep, smooth and pleasant.

"Excuse me, but could someone explain why master Geo is making such a fuss?" Tiana asked in a polite, but clearly bewildered voice.

"Yeah what she said, If that symbol is supposed to mean something then I’m afraid we’re not in the know." Alison added.

Geodor sighed.

"You younglings never learn about history properly and because of that we have situations like this - a figure of legendary status shoes up on your doorstep, and you can’t even recognise them."

He went on a long rant about ’youth this days’, somehow managing to explain the concept of a Flamebearer along the way.

***

"So let me get this straight, this guy is supposed to save the world, all by himself?" Alison looked sceptical.

"Not necessarily by himself, but yes, that’s the gist of it." The old man nodded.

The Capitan eyed Calen suspiciously, before saying:

"Sounds like bullshit to me." She turned to Tiana. "What do you think?"

Tiana pondered the question for a moment, before asking Sylara:

"Is he really a saviour?"

"He might become one in the future." the Matriarch smiled.

The head of logistics shrugged.

"That’s good enough for me."

Alison didn’t look particularly convinced, but she wasn’t going to argue against her own boss.

"With the introductions out of the way, do you have any questions?" Sylara asked.

"How’s Cassian... I mean our friend, doing?" Calen queried.

Their host smiled, as if she approved of the question.

"He’s doing fine, but we’ve put him in an enchanted sleep so he can fully recover as quickly as possible - he should be wake up before dusk."

Since his biggest concern was addressed, Calen wanted to start questioning Sylara about both the city and the Guardians, but before he could she proposed an idea.

"I have a suggestion - how about we trade information the most important information, question for question, before moving on to lighter topics?"

"...we can do that I guess." Calen was slightly confused as to why they couldn’t just talk normally, but he rolled with it.

"If you have any concerns about my trustworthiness, I have a solution for that - Geo, if you could...?"

The old mage produced a neatly folded scroll, and spread it on the table, revealing a complex rune array.

’Okay, she definitely planned this - no sane person carries around a Vow of Words scroll.’

"I assume you know how it works?" She asked.

Calen and Isara nodded, but Elita shook her head - on the opposite side of the table Alison was trying to look like she understood everything, but it was quite clear that, once again, she had no idea what she was looking at.

"It’s a contract enchantment that ensures both sides remain truthful, but it works only for a limited number of yes or no questions - three for each side in this case." Geodor explained.

Alison tensed up slightly.

"So they can ask about our secrets, and we’ll have to answer?"

Sylara chuckled.

"I’m afraid we don’t even have that many dark secrets to reveal, but no, you’re not compelled to answer."

The Capitan relaxed a little.

"So what do you say, up for an honest exchange?" Their host asked.

Since he could just refuse to answer, Calen saw no harm in the two way interrogation.

"Sure." He answered.

Both of them placed their hand on the scroll, while Geodor activated the enchantment - a blue light suffused the parchment, and then left it to wrap itself around their wrist, forming an illusory handcuffs.

"Since it was my idea, how about you start?" Sylara suggested.

That’s when Calen realised he hadn’t thought of any questions beforehand, so he asked about the first thing he could think of:

"Are we in any danger here?"

"Yes."

Everyone in the room froze.

Well, that was not the answer he was expecting, but fortunately Sylara was quick to expand on her answer:

"Mountainfall is a big city, I will ask you to do some things as a favor, and not all of them will be completely safe."

Calen understood that talking to the Guardian will be a very frustrating experience.

"Now it’s my turn." Her voice and expression became more serious. "Tell me young Flamebearer, do you think you’ll be able to fullfil your task?"

Calen opened his mouth to respond, but then hesitated.

He had no idea if he could do it - how could he? He barely knew anything about the invaders, and considering the thing that attacked them yesterday, they were only half of the problem.

"I... don’t know."

The contract didn’t forbid him from saying so, it only ensured that he didn’t lie, when he was unsure of the answer he could express it.

Sylara nodded, bud didn’t comment - it was his turn.

"Will you help us?"

"Yes." She answered with a smile, and then added: "In one way, or another."

Well, that’s reassuring - although he was starting to wander what she could consider ’helping them’ for her to answer this way.

"Calen, are you willing to swear that you will never harm the innocent to achieve your goals?"

He wasn’t sure how did she know his name, since they never introduced themselves - maybe she read his thoughts when the Guardians appeared in his dreams?

Anyway, it was a rather easy question to answer.

"Yes."

It was his last question, so he should make it count - somehow he had a feeling that Sylara wouldn’t be willing to answer many of them afterwards.

What would be the most important piece of information he could get from her?

For some reason, he remembered Elira saying that the Guardians were connected to the old gods. When he put it together with the terrifying display of power from Sylara yesterday, a short, simple question escaped him:

"Are you a god?"

Her advisors were flabbergasted, but the Guardian herself looked only mildly surprised.

"...No." Ahe answered after a short pause. "Since you finished with such a heavy question, let me do the same: If you had to choose between saving the world and your friends, would you sacrifice them for the greater good?"

He wanted to answer what he thought she wanted to hear, but an invisible force stopped him.

"No." He said sincerely.

Sylara’s expression was... neutral.

She didn’t seem particularly upset or approving - she just acknowledged his answer without any feedback. If he was being honest, it was far more concerning than contempt he was expecting for his answer.

There was plenty of that from Alison though - she clearly disapproved of his stance.

"Isn’t that incredibly selfish? To put your wants before those of the rest of the world?"

Before he could respond, Geodor rebuked her:

"This sad world has plenty of cynics like yourself, we need idealists like him to balance it out."

The Capitan huffed.

"People can be as idealistic as they want, but it shouldn’t be a worldview of someone who’s sole purpose is to save the world."

"Um, If I could..." Calen interjected. "I don’t really consider myself particularly idealistic or virtuous? In the presented scenario I would just look for a way to save the world without sacrificing anyone."

Alison gave him a deadpan stare.

"That’s the definition of an idealistic approach."

Suddenly, Sylara laughed.

"Okay, that’s enough - Ally please don’t antagonise our guests, Geo don’t be mean to Ally." She addressed Calen. "So do you have any more generic questions?"

He had one, quite a lot of them actually - but he was going to start with the one that interested him the most:

"What are ’the Ancient Ones’?"