The window by the shelf looked out into the pastures of Arland, but the open bedroom door looked out into darkness. The darkness trailed into the room like smoke as Arienne walked through the door, but was sucked out through the cracks of the door as she closed it behind her. She pointed at herself. “This isn’t really me either. The real me is outside, sitting in the room at Lucretia’s. This is me as I think of myself.”
“I am physically here but you aren’t?” Cain asked.
Arienne shook her head. “I haven’t attempted it, but I don’t think I can go inside myself.”
It was an imaginary space, created with logic that was beyond Cain’s own understanding. He had no idea what was possible and what wasn’t. Cain eyed the cadaver at the bed.
Arienne explained. “That man… Well, that’s a Power generator. His name is Eldred.”
Cain waited for her to continue.
“I stole him from the Academy.”
“Why?”
“He asked me to. He promised me he would help me escape and teach me sorcery.”
“Do Power generators normally speak and use sorcery?”
“Eldred is special. He can’t cast spells, though. At least, not in this room. Probably.”
Cain widened his eyes at Arienne. “Probably?”
“If he could, he would have done something by now.”
The mouth on Eldred’s face grew wider. The smile was reminiscent of another smile, one that had been carved onto the murdered woman’s face at Lucretia’s last year. But it also reminded him of the grin on the killer’s face when Cain had confronted him.
Cain had never liked sorcery. When people came across something too difficult to comprehend, they would place the blame on a broken Power generator or some hidden sorcerer, choosing to ignore facts that were right in front of them. Cain considered such attitudes lazy, but still, sorcerers and sorcery existed in this world. If this was a room of Arienne’s imaginings, anything could happen in here. The walls could collapse and monsters could appear, and none of that would be out of place. Cain hated the powerlessness it made him feel.
“Why did you bring me in here?”
Arienne looked taken aback by his tone and hesitated. Cain asked again, more gently this time. Arienne relaxed her shoulders.
“Because Eldred knows what that Power generator you found might be used for.”
“Couldn’t you just tell me what he said instead?”
“You’re not the only one who wants to share burdensome secrets with others.”
This was understandable. Cain nodded and turned to Eldred. He wanted to hear what he had to say and leave this place as quickly as possible.
Eldred spoke. “Then I shall tell you.” He let out a long sigh, a small cloud of dust escaping from his lips with the sound. “You must be aware that the Empire uses something called the Circuit of Destiny?”
Cain nodded. He had heard of it. Something to do with predicting the future using Power generators. It had greatly contributed to the Empire conquering the world, but such things were beyond Cain’s interests. Until now.
“It is perhaps the greatest of the Empire’s treasures. The last testament to their ingenuity, before they devolved into the current sorry state where a sorcerer is only taught to barely light a candle.” Eldred glanced at Arienne with his desiccated eyes. “They are going to smuggle that generator into the Senate and connect it to the Circuit.”
“To do what?” said Arienne. “Isn’t it made of scores of Power generators? A single Class Four generator can’t control all of that.”
“Precisely,” replied Eldred. “There are three hundred and twenty-seven Power generators in the Circuit that are at least Class Three.”
Arienne looked surprised. “How do you know that so well?”
“I just do.”
Cain watched them closely. Arienne seemed to distrust Eldred. She must’ve been fooled by him once or twice already. Maybe he had even tricked her into stealing him away from the Academy. Eldred, on the other hand, was enjoying this lack of trust. He relished the power that came from keeping secrets.
Cain spoke up. “He knows because… Eldred was probably the sorcerer-engineer in charge of maintaining the Circuit of Destiny.”
