The walls of the Kingdom ship became completely transparent as it swooped down into Zazi directly towards the crystalline structure beneath the city's tallest building, making it appear to everyone onboard that they were flying through the air on black chairs. The sudden double-vision RED-1 and Wadaw experienced sent a sharp pain through their minds that made them all reach for their heads. Prism stopped sharing his expanded senses with the others in time for Rhonan to say, “We wanted you all to have a chance to see the splendor of Zazi. Apologies for any discomfort that may have caused you all.”

  “Cheeky fuck!” Srell shouted aloud at Rhonan.

  Rhonan leaned back in his seat and spread his legs more widely apart. The Constable seemed to relish disrupting Prism’s invisible surveillance, though he could only infer that he had.

  “Keep your comments in the link. I’m sure Gusa and the Queen are monitoring our every move through Rhonan and this ship.” Ursun shared with Srell and the others. “It’s bad enough that he just hurt us so effortlessly. No need to add insult to injury.”

  As the aircraft got closer to the temple, the temple’s scale became more apparent. Its pointed roof was adorned with golden shingles that resembled the scales of dragons. The roof was connected to the bottom of the central tower, seemingly allowing access between the two buildings.

  "This temple is called Giduyakon. It was built nearly five centuries ago to celebrate the Queen’s 500th birthday.” Wadaw shared.

  The Giduyakon was a stocky structure that was wider than it was tall. It was an octagon with massive gates of sapphire on each of its sides. A gilded frieze containing statues of the Queen in various triumphant poses wrapped around the building below its roof. The roof itself featured intricate sapphire hawthorns along its cornice.

  “A shrine to stupidity.” Lorias rolled his eyes and shared.

  “Incredibly gaudy, too.” Leanna shook her head as her face scrunched up in disgust. “You would think a person who’s been alive for a millennium would have better taste.”

  Sensing their approach, two of the sapphire gates slowly opened wide enough for their craft to fly through. Large, blue gates of gold and sapphire opened within the ornate temple like the buds of a flower, revealing a large circular hole that was hundreds of meters deep. Flashing linear lights along the hole's walls marked each 10 meters of depth and served as a guide for aircraft descending and ascending its interior.

  A primal terror came over Prism when he looked into the hole that had appeared below them. The dense mana that flowed around the area through intense, colorful currents faded into mere wisps at the mouth of the hole. The closer they got to the hole, the less mana there was for Prism to access. The Giduyakon had hidden the void's presence, as if that was the shrine's true purpose.

  “The Monarchists can’t know that this is a deadzone, can they?”

  Prism thought about his enemies potentially trapping him in a chasm free of mana, where he’d grow weaker and weaker like he had while in A-Lab. As worried as he was, he kept the thoughts to himself until he could be sure of their veracity.

  “Giving us the royal treatment, eh? Not even Gusa or his Council use this method of entry.” Wadaw said to Rhonan.

  “I’d rather have you all crammed into one of the temple’s elevators; it’s more secure. The Queen gets what the Queen wants. No one is crazy enough to argue with her to her face.” Rhonan said.

  “You've actually met her in-person?” Leanna couldn’t help but ask. She heard Ursun’s voice in her head telling her to drop it, but she still stared expectantly at Rhonan.

  Rhonan slowly leaned forward in his seat toward Leanna, who did the same a bit too excitedly. “I’m a Constable. The only person I report to is the Queen,” he whispered to her before leaning back with a smirk on his lips.

  “You should’ve known better.” Lorias shared to Leanna.

  She placed her hands in her lap and stared down into the abyss that their ship flew downwards into while remaining lateral. A strange sense of vertigo made her dizzy for a few seconds, causing her to look over at Prism. She saw him gripping his knees and grimacing in pain.

  “Prism? What’s wrong?”

  Her telepathic message felt like silk as she perceived it slipping into Prism’s mind. This was not the link that she and her team had spent a year mastering the use of; this was something entirely new to her.

  “There’s no mana here. The little I have left is quickly leaving my body. We’ve entered…a deadzone.” Prism shared.

  “That sounds absolutely horrifying.” Wadaw shared.

  “How are we communicating? This doesn’t feel like our link…” Srell telepathically asked.

  Ursun’s eyes focused on Rhonan, who was staring at Prism. The Constable was examining the sudden change in Prism’s condition. “Are we compromised somehow?” Ursun asked Prism telepathically.

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  “No, this is…pure telepathy. There’s no magic involved. This must be Eizavoba’s doing…” Prism shared.

  “Eizavoba!?” Srell again asked telepathically. His eyebrow shot up as he leaned forward in his chair to look at Prism.

  “Please tell me that this is some elaborate joke. It would be a quite facetious one, at that.” Wadaw shared as he looked down at the hunched-over Prism.

  “We must maintain our composure. We can’t let our enemies know that anything is wrong.” Lorias shared. He too saw Rhonan silently scrutinizing their odd behavior. “I take it that the three of you had quite the experience in Prism’s dreams yesterday,” Lorias added.

  “It was something, alright…” Leanna shared. She took in a deep breath to calm herself down before continuing. “Can we really trust this “gift” we’ve been given?”

  “I don’t see that we have a choice.” Prism shared. He dug his fingers deeper into the skin of his knees as sweat began to bead upon his forehead.

  “So there is both "Magical" energy and “Psychic” energy…and Eizavoba is a real entity…I see why you kept all this to yourselves.” Wadaw shared.

  “You all met Eizavoba!? The God Eizavoba!?” Srell shouted at Leanna, Ursun, and Prism through their new link.

  “Potentially.” Leanna shared along with a sense of disregard towards Srell. She was getting used to the new sensations of communicating through the link composed of purely psychic energy. “Prism, can you use any magic at all?” Leanna asked as they continued descending underground.

  “Barely…it would be like squeezing water out of a rock. I can’t even sense my fog magic anymore.” Prism shared.

  “My people...are they safe?” Wadaw became serious all of a sudden.

  “Don’t worry; the fog will still last another two days without me being connected to it.” Prism shared. His anxiety bled into the new link, which he had little to no control over compared to the magical link he’d initially created. He lacked proficiency in the psychic arts, a fact that made their current situation even more dangerous.

  “You’ve never told us about “deadzones” before.” Ursun shared. His suspicion of Prism began to rear its ugly head again.

  “I hadn’t encountered any on ?ba before,” shared Prism. “They are very rare occurrences. They’re usually the result of some pretty extraordinary events happening that also tend to be extremely rare. There aren’t many things in existence that can drain a large region of its mana like this.”

  “You’re one of those things.” Lorias shared.

  Prism sighed and threw his head back against his chair. His eyes met Rhonan’s, which had taken on a gold hue around the irises. “Yes, I am.” Prism shared.

  “Could Eizavoba have caused this deadzone? Could the torturing and murder of his first incarnation have left a curse on this land?” Wadaw asked Prism. The guerrilla leader could barely believe what he was saying or what he was even beginning to entertain in his heart.

  “Maybe? I can’t be sure. We still know so little about the entity calling themself Eizavoba.” Prism rubbed his face with both hands and shared.

  “I doubt Gusa or the Queen know that this area is a deadzone. Let’s keep that information to ourselves. If the Monarchists threaten us, we’ll simply act as if Prism is still fully capable of wiping out this entire city.” Ursun shared. “Now, I’ll brief the three of you on what transpired yesterday in Prism’s dream,” he continued, thinking, “as crazy as that sounds.”

  It was incredibly difficult for both Srell and Lorias to remain still in their seats when they learned that Jaik had lived on somehow within Prism’s mind. Srell’s questions were as rapid-fire as the PAW he held, and none of them were answered satisfactorily. Lorias simply listened, as did Wadaw.

  Prism’s entire retelling of his experiences within the mysterious dreamscape, since first sleeping in the True Twins Gospel’s western cave system, stirred both faith and terror in Wadaw. To Wadaw, Eizavoba’s behavior was more akin to the trickster Faeri of myth than to the loving god many of his people believed in. The “silence” within the bay of the small golden ship spoke volumes.

  ****

  After landing within the Ewada’s underground complex, RED-1 and Wadaw were escorted through a series of wide, black-rocked tunnels by Rhonan. Two of his robed officers followed behind Rhonan as the other two closely followed the rest of the group from behind. The tunnels were illuminated by hawthorn-shaped sapphire lighting fixtures along the walls. Despite appearing tiled in dark blue, the floors were perfectly smooth. Cool air that carried a light scent of pine regularly wafted down the tunnels.

  “This place is strangely similar to Pack HQ…” Srell shared as he followed behind one of Rhonan’s officers.

  “That’s not a surprise. It was the model for our facility.” Ursun shared.

  “How is that? Were there other infiltrations into this place back during your father’s time?” Prism asked. He’d adapted to the lack of mana faster than he thought possible.

  “Old World records, actually.” Leanna shared before Ursun could. “The Ewada complex has been rebuilt many times over the centuries, always based on the same blueprint that was made two millennia ago. They make a few changes for security reasons, like adding a few new connecting tunnels, rooms, and secret passages.”

  “How naughty. The Council of Elders would be livid if they knew you dirty heathens had access to one of the original Ewada blueprints.” Wadaw tilted his head back and smiled.

  "How are you feeling?" Leanna asked Prism. She made eye contact with Prism as she walked beside him.

  "I feel fine, actually. I think it's Eizavoba again. I think they're bolstering my mental state with their psychic abilities." Prism shared.

  "You think? Can't you sense the psychic energy?" Leanna asked.

  "That's the scary thing about it; I can't detect it directly, not like how I can sense mana and magic," shared Prism. He figured he shouldn't keep anything from Leanna since his condition was so precarious. She'd showed a penchant for understanding even the more esoteric subjects he'd brought up with her recently.

  "So that's why you didn't detect Eizavoba or its influence until it made contact with you." Leanna shared.

  "Psychic energy, or psionic energy as some call it, is in many ways the opposite of mana. Whereas mana is born from physical processes like the movement of air or of light, psychic energy is the product of thought and consciousness. Most of us produce such minute amounts of psychic energy that it is barely noticeable. That's why most lifeforms have no ability to detect it or interact with it." Prism telepathically explained to Leanna, Wadaw, and the rest of RED-1.

  "Something else that we can’t detect that we also have to worry about. Great.” Lorias shared with a sideways glance back at Prism.

  “But you’re able to use telepathy with your magic,” shared Leanna. “Is that not psionic? At least, in part?”

  “The great thing about magic is that it allows its wielder to act on reality in any number of ways. The tricky part about magic is that it merely mimics natural phenomenon without necessarily taking on the actual essence of that phenomenon.” Prism explained.

  “Like when you made our disguises look and feel real without actually changing our bodies?” Srell asked, intrigued by the conversation.

  “Right, like that.“ Prism shared. He could tell by Leanna’s pensive frown that she wasn’t convinced.

  “When you took that Sguvan officer’s memories…didn’t you interact with his mind, with his psychic energy?” Leanna asked.

  “One was the cause of the other, yes, but there is more to the mind than the psychic energy it creates or interacts with. By using my magic to interact with that enemy’s mind, I in effect altered the psychic energy his mind produces.” Prism shared.

  Leanna nodded to herself as she began to understand what Prism was speaking about. “The implications of this are very concerning. If Eizavoba really can interact with our minds without even you detecting it…” Leanna closed her eyes as she walked for a moment, then said, “we can’t trust our own minds…”

  “We can’t think about that psychic-psionic nonsense right now. Keep your focus on our mission.” Ursun ordered.

  "One more question!" Leanna shared. She sensed Ursun's reluctant allowance of her continued curiosity. "Prism, why do you keep referring to Eizavoba using "they/them" pronouns? We can't be sure that it is even sentient."

  "Eizavoba is a gestalt entity, meaning that they are bunch of minds acting as one. I'd bet that the minds they store in their Everafter all contribute to Eizavoba's whole. The distinct minds add up to a distinct whole, one that is aware of themself. I've sensed Eizavoba's consciousness...I almost drowned in their vastness. Eizavoba is a genderless, bodiless being with their own will. I'm sure of that."

  Prism's explanation disturbed Leanna and everyone else in their group save for Lorias, who had little concern for anything outside of his current goals. Srell was bothered the most by the implications of their dead loved ones being added to a being who fed on their minds their entire lives and who dulled their innate potential. Esdegonian culture reveled in its freedom from tyranny, and Eizavoba represented an inescapable cosmic dominion that trapped one even in death. Wadaw and the rest of RED-1 all fell silent for the rest of their walk as the gravity of Prism's words set in.