Lindon and Yerin walked through the visitor’s entrance, which was clean and well-decorated, and completely empty. Visiting hours were over. Once they were through the outer scripts, they could sense the shape of the facility.
Then they both disappeared again, reappearing below.
Here, great rivers of images and flashing color flowed in from every direction to an island of steel. Memory constructs buzzed like bees around their hive, placing dream tablets beneath scripts and then sorting them once they had been filled with memory.
Yerin pointed toward the river of information. “Happy birthday, Dross.”
Dross searched for a reaction for a moment before he forced a happy gasp. [For me? Aw, you shouldn’t have. I’ll just be off, then, drinking deep of these delicious memories. You two just do…whatever. Whatever you do.]
Dross drifted off, continually sneaking glances behind himself at Yerin.
She scratched the back of her head. “Thought he’d be happier.”
“He’s distracted,” Lindon said, but that was all he could say before the oath he’d sworn sent him a warning. “I’m going to see if there’s anything here about the Void Icon. You?”
“Been shoving Ruby’s madra into the same old techniques. Looking to see if I can tighten that up a little.”
Lindon had worked on that with her back in Serpent’s Grave, but Dross had been gone. Without him to help simulate the techniques, neither of them had been confident enough in their understanding of blood madra to complete her new Path.
Since Dross had returned, there had been more pressing matters.
Yerin held out a hand. “Give me a scale, Dross? Slap my madra into a dream construct and we might have to stick the whole place back together with spit and mud.”
[Yes. Of course.] Dross Forged a purple coin, which shimmered more brightly than it ever had before. [Spend it well.]
Lindon drifted off before he said too much. One violation of his oath was enough.
With great effort, he focused on his own task. There was more he could find here than just dream tablets; some of the raw material used to form the Dreamway would be perfect for crafting a Divine Treasure from the Silent King’s core binding. If he could take enough, he might even be able to create a new mind-spirit like Dross, though he didn’t want to strip Emriss Silentborn’s masterpiece down to its core components after she’d risked herself to help them.
He had barely started when Dross tapped him on the shoulder. [Look!]
Lindon took his time before turning around.
Yerin stood at the center of the steel island, and she flipped the dream scale once. Then she crushed it and used the madra to power a giant script that lit around her feet.
A recording of Emriss Silentborn’s voice echoed around them. “This action is restricted. If you do not have permission to operate the Dreamway, you will be punished to the full extent of the law.”
“Clear as springwater,” Yerin said.
Emriss had included a full list of the Dreamway’s capabilities in her assignment, but she hadn’t drawn attention to this one. Lindon and Dross had seen the possibility as well, but they weren’t allowed to say anything.
Of the four of them, the only one not bound by an oath of secrecy was Yerin. She had to realize the potential on her own.
Lindon felt like his heart would burst with pride.
[That was exhausting,] Dross complained. [Do you know how close I came to saying something?]
“Yes.”
[Wait. It doesn’t count if we don’t stop her, does it? No, it can’t.]
They hadn’t sworn not to prevent the truth from giving out through inaction, just from saying it themselves.
Yerin waited for the memory constructs to arrange themselves around her, ready to memorize her face and her every word.
“Guess this is going out to everybody,” Yerin said. “Huh.” She rubbed her chin. “Let’s cut straight to it, then.
“The Monarchs are letting the Dreadgods live. All the Monarchs have to do is ascend and the Dreadgods would go away, but they don’t. You’re all dying so the Monarchs can keep ruling over you. But that sun’s setting.”
Yerin extended her Goldsigns behind her so they caught the light. “The Silent King’s gone. Killed by the Void Sage, Wei Shi Lindon Arelius.”
Heat ran up into Lindon’s face. She hadn’t needed to say that.
“We’re coming for the rest of them. It’ll be a tough road, I’ll tell you true, but hang on tight. When it’s over, we’ll have no Dreadgods left. And that’s worth the fight.”