‘It is,’ said Garovel. ‘However, I remember there being many more shards than this. I remember a mound of them. As big as a person, one might say.’
Qorvass’ hollow eyes narrowed a moment. ‘Where are you from, Garovel?’
‘I was born a Lyzakk.’
‘Ah. A most ancient brother.’
‘You were born a Lyzakk as well?’ Garovel asked.
‘Of course,’ said Qorvass. ‘But you must have guessed that by now.’
‘I try not to presume too much these days,’ said Garovel. ‘Rather, I find it more surprising that your loyalties haven’t shifted in three thousand years.’
‘Three thousand? I am not as old as that, but yes, it has been a while. My loyalty may not have wavered, but my curiosity has certainly led me to wander on more than a few occasions. But I am curious as to why you did not tell me of your heritage sooner? You must have realized it would have gone a long way with the Sandlords.’
‘Well, I wasn’t a Sandlord. And I don’t exactly have a birth certificate to show you.’
‘Even so,’ said Qorvass, ‘I would have liked to know that I was fighting alongside my kin this whole time.’
Garovel’s skeletal face twisted somewhat. ‘You are very kind. But I get the impression that your experience with the Lyzakks was more enjoyable than mine.’
‘Yes, I am getting that impression as well,’ said Qorvass. ‘Perhaps you would care to share your story with me.’
‘Perhaps I would. But for now, I am more interested in these jewels. I remember hearing about their creation, and I went to see them shortly thereafter. Why are there so few now? What happened to the rest of them?’
‘The War of the Three Sands happened to them,’ said Qorvass. 'Strange that you are able to recognize the Shards but not know their history.’
‘Ah,’ said Garovel. 'I was on the other side of the world when that was going on. So these were what that whole fuss was about, huh? I probably could have guessed as much.’
Hector just had to interject now. “There was a war fought over these things?”
‘Pretty much,’ said Garovel. ‘It was a war between the Sandlords themselves. That’s the trouble with a system built on divine right.’ He looked to Qorvass. ‘But you must know more about it than I do.’
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
It seems we might finally learn more about Garovel's past.
ReplyDeleteOh shit i forgot,FIRST.
ReplyDeleteHector's theme song?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzFgSNotNzo
Possible typo:
ReplyDelete"But I am curious [as] why you did not tell me of your heritage sooner?"
I'm also not sure about the question mark at the end.
Got it, thank you.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Sounds like these aren't merely sacred rocks, but actually the remains of someone powerful.
ReplyDeleteSo... they had ancient game of throne?
ReplyDeleteI think it's remains because the pile used to be *significant comparison* a mound the size of a person.
ReplyDeleteAnd he knows about Chergoa. Garovel and Hector weren't making any secret of it.
If they have more significance than 150 pounds of Sermung's various severed right arms, they're likely integrator made. Still though, I don't get why the size of a the person they were made from (assuming you are right) would be a constraint, unless they were made from the corpse of an influential nonservant, such as, say, the founder of the Church of the Dry God. I guess If they had purely religious significance, that would explain why Garovel referred to them as being objects of value, rather than of use or of power.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the rest of the Shards were lost, destroyed or merely split up. Porbably destroyed, I can't imagine how in a war some of them would have been lost or taken but not all.
Also, an interesting but very unlikely explanation: Sermung was the founder of the modern Sandlords and a sand-weilder, hence his power having a known crystal association, and when he left the Sandlords to found, or possibly just join, the Vanguard, he left them with the shards, transfigured from his own body in Pan-Rozum, as a parting gift.