A Hand-Woven Universe 148 147. The Pendant?

Noone spoke freely, choosing to not overthink the current situation. If this was going to be a good exchange, he knew he would have to be open.

Noone casually spoke of the history of Tapestry as it was taught to him. How eons and eons ago The Ancestor arrived among their people and warned of a world-ending desolation. Thus, she carved a home for them underground, in the cliff at the edge of the world, and gave his people something called the 'common heritage.'

He did his best to explain the effects of the common heritage. The entire room listened carefully as he spoke about how the people of Noone's home would spend their lives absorbing energy from the world around them.

At this point, the wizards asked various questions trying to understand what this power was exactly. Each one had lived long lives, so they knew that the various magics of the world often stemmed from similar places.

Maybe it was similar to elemental magics of the fae and elemental? Or was it a type of sorcery – bloodline magic within their bodies?

Noone did his best to explain his understanding from what he heard from the elders and Adria.

When Noone mentioned Adria, his expression became a bit stiffer but otherwise he continued without pause. He spoke evenly and clinically, as though he was removed from these events. But in his mind a sadness was building.

Noone talked about the condition under which he was born. No power. No attunement. And no power-lines, explaining he was the first of his people to ever experience this. This caught the attention of the powers at the table, and they asked for more detail, as well as what might have caused this. Noone told them he wasn't sure, but Liter – their record keeper and librarian – had proposed it was because the common heritage had grown too thin. This made those who thought that the 'common heritage' might be a bloodline-heritage take note.

Noone continued to speak about his time growing up within Tapestry. He spoke fondly of the town and the people, as well as how different it was from the beings of the surface. The camaraderie and familial bond shared there was nothing like the individualism here, Noone mentioned.

Everyone nodded, as though understanding his position but Noone wondered if that was the case, if any of them really could understand.

Noone continued to speak freely about his life in Tapestry, avoiding talking about the events that would happen next for as long as possible.

He spoke about Trisha and Liter to an extent. When he mentioned how their powers were not based in the elements, but things more ethereal like 'soul' and 'knowledge' the wizards around the table all sat up intently, asking Noone questions. However, he only knew so much so his answers were less than satisfactory.

When Noone mentioned the things like water-stones and sun-stones, there was one in particular who seemed especially interested. Noone had realized after being on the surface for a while that these element stones were not extremely common, so he chose to do his best to quickly gloss over the abundance of those resources. Noone figured this wouldn't breach the oath because it wasn't related to him and his history.

Finally, after an hour Noone exhausted anything else he could talk about and could discuss his coming of age ceremony.

When he explained the process to the room, the entire group was shocked. The ocean off the southwestern edge of the continent was widely considered to be hostile and deadly. Even Alaviv was shocked by Noone's retelling of his fall and climb.

This was especially so when Noone discussed his encounter with the galaxy tree.

For this part, Noone chose to try and gloss over the details of that encounter… specifically he tried to avoid discussing the vision he had seen when within the bulb of the plant. It wasn't that Noone thought it was particularly important, but more that it was just too absurd. He didn't know how he would even begin to explain the things he saw in the vision. Noone managed to get away with explaining that he saw a vision of the ancestor planting a seed under tapestry, which became the plant that he encountered.

For the most part this seemed to convince the people around the table.

Finally… Noone talked about his return to Tapestry.

The s.h.i.+ft in atmosphere was palpable as he spoke of his return. There was not a single person in the room unfamiliar with the dulcet tones of loss, thus they began to understand where this story was going immediately.

"Despite only being gone for a hundred years – a mere fraction of our lifespan – when I returned the quiet city of Tapestry had become a silent graveyard instead..." Noone said gently. He didn't hold anything back when talking about the next part. How he saw a vision of his family's elder – Elder Azelle – sending out Adria a hundred years prior to escape to the surface.

He talked about collecting the bones of his people, his family and his friends, and burying them over the course of a month. Without stop.

And finally, he talked about what occurred when he buried his elder, the leader of Tapestry.
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"My senses expanded to cover miles, and I felt a barrier put in place to hide us from the outside world. It was ancient, put in place by the Ancestor. And then… I saw the skeleton." He talked – in vivid detail – of the image burned into his mind. The skeletal being with glowing orange eyes who had been revealed by the explosion of energy when the common heritage was condensed into Noone's body.

As Noone watched everyone around the table, he saw no hint that they recognized the being he talked about…

"After that occurred, my mind and body were given over to an inner devil that I had developed due to losing control of my power. I climbed the rest of the way to the surface, which is where I encountered a party sent by the Order of Life, seeming to be at the behest of someone outside the order."

When Noone spoke of this, the entire room stirred, surprising Noone. Why such a big reaction? He thought. His eyes narrowed. "They definitely know something." In his heart, Noone was happy he had decided to hold his questions till the end.

"The party from the order sealed me away using a kind of pendant, which eventually removed my inner devil but became bound to me in the process." Noone spoke evenly. "Apparently it was using this necklace that they were led to me, an item given to them by whoever ordered my retrieval." This caused another stir. Noone held back a smile. "Got'em" he thought.

"Since then I have been traveling with that party – and getting used to training the power I inherited." Noone quickly described this power, attempting to give just enough detail to dissuade them from asking too many questions.

Throughout this whole exchange, Noone would constantly look at Alaviv who leaned back in his seat with his feet up on the table. It honestly seemed that the gnome couldn't care less about the discussion – although Noone had a feeling this was just a front.

When Noone finally caught up to where he is now, the room was silent for a few minutes as people organized their own thoughts. Soon it would be Noone's turn to ask questions of them.

"The pendant, you should have it on you now, right?" one of the people spoke. This was the first time he had said anything, and Noone was unable to distinguish whether the speaker was male or female. Noone nodded giving Alaviv a glance before fis.h.i.+ng the pendant out from under his s.h.i.+rt.

As he did so, an image of the pendant was projected in the air above the table, magnified tens of times so everyone could see it clearly.

"d.a.m.n." The wizened voice scoffed.

Even Alaviv sat up in his seat to look at the pendant.

It looked the same as it always had. A silver crescent-moon upon which thousands and thousands of small engravings are carved into it. Noone now recognized these engravings as runes. In the center of the crescent moon, floating inside of it and yet somehow fixed in place, there was a pitch-black stone upon which hundreds of tiny white dots would glow and dim looking not unlike the night sky.

Everyone was silent as they observed Noone and the image. A few people cast magics to investigate but nothing changed.

"You said you are unable to remove the necklace because it sealed away your inner devil?" The soft-voiced wizard asked. Noone nodded.

"That is what I a.s.sume anyways – you would know much better than I." Noone admitted. The woman nodded.

"Could we take a look inside? If it is a seal, then the s.p.a.ce within should be able to be projected." She said. Noone thought about this for a moment. It had been a while since he explored the pendant with his divine sense.

The last time he did, he was able to see his bedeviled self trapped within ice, unmoving. Finally, he nodded.

The small woman nodded and waved her hand forming complicated runes that Noone couldn't even begin to memorize. Soon Noone felt a thrum from his pendant, and the image floating above the table began to distort and s.h.i.+ft.

Soon it was completely changed, and Noone's eyes widened as he looked upon the scene.