The mirror: Kevali

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The Kevali inhabit vast cavern systems beneath the surface of their hostile planet. The twin suns constantly boring down on the surface have created a harsh desert environment. The days are long, the nights longer (the normal day lasts 36 hours). The intense heat of daytime and the bitter freezing cold of evening drove the Kevali underground centuries ago.

Phosphorescent algae provides an ambient glow, while oil lamps set into carved niches in the walls provide most of the dim light.

The capital city of Andhakara'a is built around an inky black subterranean river, the water is mostly drinkable...

The air is stale, it's crowded and the air is filled with the sound of tools and working.
It never seems to stop.

Map

The Carpathians were staring at all of this with wide eyes, surprised by it. Christine was the first to move, going to the child to check if Fate had killed him then bringing his head to her lap after sitting down. It wasn't his fault that Fate had taken him over after all.

Andre soon moved over to help Christine, though the others stayed back since two would normally be enough to help and they were uncertain now. Fate had not sounded very good.

Jarral was alive, he stirred in Christine's hold and groaned softly, moving to clutch his throbbing head and mumbling something in his native tongue.

Kaliyani took a few steps toward them, and crouched so she could see the boy better.

"My Lord, are you alright?" She asked tentatively.

Jarral opened one eye, hissed in pain and asked again in common "What happened?" He was slurring his words slightly.

"Fate took you over. She was scary." Christi e said then shrugged a little. "She hurt your brain again." She said as she brushed his forehead gently, still working on heali g him

Jarral closed his eye again, grimacing in pain. "I... do not understand." He mumbled.

"I am not certain we do either." Kaliyani admitted. She looked to the others worriedly.

Brandon stood up and repeated everything that had been said, word for word and mimicking their voices as well as he could while Christine and Andre finished healing Jerral.

Jarral listened quietly, no, he still didn't understand.

"The... Elders... know, need to speak to the Elders." It was hard to think.

Kaliyani nodded. "Rest first, when you are well enough my Lord... "

Jarral opened his eyes and tried to sit up. "No, now. Find them.. Now."

Kaliyani hesitated. "m.. My Lord are you certain that is wise in your current state?"

"Need to know what... what is going on." Jarral sounded stubborn and determined.

Christine helped him to sit up without falling over then stood. She would help him back to his seat so he could be more comfortable. Andre stood to help them too.

Jarral let them pretty much carry him, he didn't seem to have much strength in his limbs. He rested his head against the side of the throne and stayed there, eyes half lidded, looking exhausted and sick.

Kaliyani looked uncertain, and even the Steward had come in to see what was going on, she stood in the doorway looking wary.

Jarral managed to wave a hand weakly. "Bring the Elders, all of them."

Kaliyani and the Steward went to do just that.

Christine and Andre sat on either side while the twins came over to help heal and give him some strength for this coming meeting. They would move off when the elders came

Jarral nodded vuage thanks to the Carpathians and kept his head resting to one side as the Elders came in.

They stood in a semi circle before him. Most of them looked wary. The one from earlier looked extremely worried and was clasping tightly the hand of an extremely similar looking female. They must have been related.

The silver haired female Akantarak had her arms folded and looked defiant while Suravi bowed his head and spoke for the council.

"We were told what happened Ishvara, why do you call us all here?"

Jarral looked at them tiredly. "I am not her." He spoke softly.

A few of the elders relaxed a little.

"What is the orb?" Jarral asked. "what does it do?"

The carpathians listened with interest. They wanted to understand this too, just as Jerral did. They stood to one side and watched together as a group.

Suravi looked to Akantarak, she looked back and spoke. "It is an artifact." She told the child flatly. "From before the rising of the second sun, when the people were separate. "

Jarral frowned. "What does it do?" He repeated.

"It was used by the high priests, to channel the will and power of Fate through themselves, they used it to speak with her and have her speak through them, and they used it to directly control their surroundings." Akantarak told him.

"it let them use magic?" Jarral asked.

The female elder nodded. "It allowed them to twist reality, to bend it to their will, to shape it on a god's whim. But.. it came at a cost."

"Sanity?" Jarral guessed.

Akantarak nodded. "Not only that, with prolonged use, it would burn the vessel from within, leaving only an empty husk."

Jarral flinched.

"When the second sun rose and the desert encroached, when our hosts fled their homelands, the Kanilikanda joined them, and they brought with them the orb." Akantarak continued. "Fate did not wish to relinquish the power it gave her over the material realm, she would not come with us when we took our hosts. We surrendered much of our power to guide the people, to ensure their survival as much as our own. "

"I do not understand." Jarral told them.

Suravi spoke up. "We were once gods Ishvara, like Fate. But when the second sun rose and the cataclysm began we were presented with a choice. We could not directly interfere with the mortal realm, we had to do so through vessels, through hosts. We had no orb like Fate, our power was limited but what power we did have allowed us one option. To take mortal hosts and guide the people to safety in person, to rely not on a prophet as we had in the past, prophets were too easily corrupted and driven by their own desire for power, we knew we could only trust ourselves. It was that, or we die with the people."

"Why did all of you have to take mortal form?" Jarral asked them.

"We did not trust one another." one of the other elders spoke. A couple of them murmured in agreement.

"And so we formed the council, that all of us would only act if we could agree on the right course and that none would be able to act in a way to usurp or remove power from another through action or inaction." Akantarak continued.

"but Fate didn't?" Jarral asked.

"We did not see her as a threat. She had no power without the orb and a vessel through which to channel it, or... so we thought."

Jarral frowned.

"Vaali... " Kaliyani spoke quietly.

The elders nodded.

"We do not know how she did it, but she found a way to communicate directly with the man, without the use of the orb. She chose a miner, of all things, a miner? Not a priest, we suspect because she knew a priest we might notice. But we did not notice Vaali, not until it was too late. " Akantarak shook her head.

Jarral stared at them tiredly. "But what does this have to do with the orb?"

"We took charge of the orb, we felt we were the best people to control its power and decide when and how it should be used. But Fate had other plans, she used Vaali instead, and while she could not directly control things as she did through the orb, she still slowly, through her vessel, started to wrest power from us. We tried to work with her vessel, Ishvara and Elders, together, ruling to protect and nurture the people but the Ishvara inevitably went mad and Fate did nothing to stop them from abusing their power and the power of the orb. We knew we could not stop her fully, but we could limit the level of damage she could do. We hid the orb, buried it deep in the earth where it would never be found. When she learned what we had done, she told her vessel to banish us. We have spent centuries in this battle with her, your own father locked us away again because she told him to. He wished to know what you ask, and we told him all this but she consumed his mind with other things, distracting him, while the people continued to dig."

Ok, that was a lot to learn about. Very interesting but they didn't know what to do with the information just yet. The carpathians looked to one another then back to the council.

Jarral sat for a few minutes, digesting that information. At length he asked. "And why should I believe that you want what is best for the people and Fate does not? Did she not lead my father to his death and guide the Carpathians to us to help?"

"We do not know Ishvara what her plan with you or these guests is, perhaps it is another distraction, or perhaps it is a way to throw us off, make us believe that she has the people's interest at heart. But believe us when we say, Fate does not care about the people, she does not care about this planet, or Kalvair, or this system. She cares only about the power of that orb." Suravi told him.

Jarral frowned. "But if this orb is so powerful, why could it not be used to bring life to the surface again? to bring the rain?"

The Elders shifted uncomfortably, they had no good answer for that. "only if Fate wills it... " One of them murmured.

"How was the surface made devoid?" Max asked softly, ready to back off if his question seemed intrusive to them.

Some of the elders looked unsettled at Max asking questions, but Suravi nodded. "When the second sun rose it brought with it great upheaval, the seas evaporated, the desert encroached and as the years passed it became harder and harder to find water or green land. The planet was dying, the people were dying, and so we intervened. "

"We do not know why the second sun rose." One of the others spoke. "There was always a second sun but it was dim it was... nothing... and then it flared into life and began to compete with its twin." the elder glanced to Suravi

Suravi nodded, grimacing.

"He has two minds, trapped within one body." Jarral murmured in explanation.

Suravi nodded. "Simultaneously destroyer and life bringer... it is conflicting and... disturbing."

"Suravi is our sun god." Kaliyani explained, aware they probably had no idea what gods the Elders actually represented.

"I was, once.. a long time ago." Suravi shook his head.

"You seem unnaturally sane for a man who is supposed to be mad." Jarral told him flatly.

"And you my boy, have astounding maturity for one who is supposed to be so young." Suravi replied.

Wow, just wow. "So the council is made up of those who were once gods, yet have no power anymore, and Fate is trying to take this orb thing so she can have physical power over this world again?" Jessica asked to be certain. Simplistic way of putting it, but it was the basics of the situation.

The Elders nodded in unison.

Jarral looked wary.

"But how do we stop her?" Kaliyani asked

"We do not know, already her power grows to a point we have not seen. She is asserting herself upon the material world in ways we did not believe she could." Elder Suravi sounded scared.

"Generation by generation her connection with her chosen has become stronger, we do not know how she has done this, but we have known each Ishvara and never before has she taken outright control like that." The Elder from earlier spoke, still clinging to his sister.

"We fear it means you are close to finding the orb, the closer she gets to it, the more her power grows. If she finds it, there is no telling what she may unleash upon this system or indeed the greater universe." The sister continued.

Max thought about that for a little while then looked from one to another "So, she needs him to be close to this orb?" He asked quietly then looked to Jerrel "He has to be on this planet?" Hm, that was a choice, though it would mean moving their entire population away from here.

The Elders nodded.

Jarral looked uncertain and wary.

Kaliyani looked worried.

"She needs a living being from this plane of existance to wield the orb, to open it. Without them, she would be unable to directly manipulate the artifact. " One of the elders explained. They all looked as if they expected something terrible to happen any moment.

"But if we say, took everyone off the planet, then she would have no power here?" Max asked and watched them all

The elders shuffled uncomfortably. "Perhaps... there is no guarentee. " One of them said.

"without the people we would die." Another protested worriedly.

One of the others nodded and put a hand on her shoulder.
"We have lived for centuries, perhaps that is enough."

"If we could be certain it would defy her." They seemed reluctant to speak Fate's name now. "stop her. But we cannot be."

Max nodded and stayed quiet, thinking about all of this. Hm, so the council was tied to the planet?

Jarral sighed. "go." He gestured to the elders. "We will discuss the matter and speak with you again."
He looked tired and confused.

The elders bowed their heads. "as you wish Ishvara" Suravi told him.

They all watched him warily as they departed.

Max and the others looked to Jarrel once the council left. They were comfortable where they were

Jarral looked like he was thinking, and at length he said "I do not know what to do... or whether to believe them. Why would Fate lead him to his death if she did not care about the people? Why would she bring you here? I do not understand."

"A mortal cannot understand the way a god thinks." Brandon said with a shrug. "You get a better insight, but it is only better, not clear."