Call of the Abyss [Book 2 Complete]

"Etherium, I believe. This is not something I have seen for a very long time," Seyatha said, examining shards of the crystal Julia had brought back.

It was late morning by the time the party made it back to Veshari. Ithshar had sent Julia off to get some rest while her party went back to Tirn'Aleya to report on the mission. Apparently, Ithsharûn was the specific wing of the temple where the Zal'Nadir lived and worked. The entire temple itself was called Tirn'Aleya, "The Rooted Grace."

A full 24 hours had passed since, and a dalûn had then docked at her little house-on-stilts, ready to carry her to the temple. She had gone over what happened with Seyatha, likely just echoing what the party had already mentioned, and presented her with the shards of crystal. A quick examination was all it took for her to determine its origin.

"What is Etherium? Sounds like it has something to do with the Ether," Julia asked.

"Indeed, the Ether is the source of all mana. It but trickles into the world from the sun, giving us just the barest hint of its wonder. This, however, is a fragment of a fragment of solidified Ether—literally the crystalized essence of the World's Will. It is a very powerful and very dangerous thing, this crystal. To see this in the hands of our enemies bodes ill," Seyatha explained grimly.

"Could it have something to do with their origins? We already know that the more powerful and commanding Nashiin were summoned from the Ether—particularly the Barrowlords," Julia wondered.

"Potentially. Though, if it did, it would be this crystal that has a connection to their summoning rather than the other way around. These Etherium crystals are remnants left over from the remaking of the world. They are fragments left from the transition to a new Asrûn.

"Beings summoned to this world after its making would not have anything to do with a material created during its founding," Seyatha explained distantly, as though lost in thought while gazing at the crystal.

"Is there some way we could use it? If the enemy is using it to power their war efforts, surely we could do something to aid our own?" Julia questioned hopefully. Using the weapons of the enemy against them had a mythopoetic ring to it.

Seyatha shifted her gaze back and forth from Julia and the crystal before sighing and tossing the shard back to her.

"I think that if there were a use for it, you would be the most likely to find it, dear Julia. Our magic is unique and specific to the Mother. It does not rely on, nor is it catalyzed by, external factors," she said.

Julia caught the shard and gave it another look. It had the same myriad colors popping in and out of existence within its depths. It seemed to suggest infinite possibilities and potential to her, though she hadn't the foggiest idea how to capitalize on that potential and turn it into actionable results.

"So, in summary, we learned that the enemy has created a new variety of Ghûl, use Etherium to facilitate grand magic, and abduct villagers for some unknown devilry. We also know that there is something going on that will likely change the state of the conflict, but we know next to nothing else about it.

We gained some information and even more questions," Seyatha concluded. She sounded neither excited nor disappointed by the summary—more like a professional itemizing a report and filing it away in her head.

Julia, however, was both surprised and disappointed. She'd left the conflict feeling triumphant. Despite her close call with death—being stabbed through her core by a Barrowlord—she and the elves had obliterated a small army of Nashiin led by five Barrowlords and put an end to whatever fell machinations were at work.

When Seyatha summarized it all, the gains seemed not as many as she'd thought. In fact, it felt like all they'd done was answer one question by providing several new, unanswered ones.

Julia was broken from her rapid downward spiral by a sudden flick to the forehead.

"Do not despair, young Julia—you've done well. This is simply the way of things. That you returned with your lives and information is a victory. Any new questions can be answered as long as we still live to seek those answers," Seyatha said.

She handed Julia a cup of tangy juice made from local marsh berries. The berries were peculiar to her, as they grew beneath the water on vines that stretched across the marsh floor. The vines would float up toward the surface when empty, and as they became laden with berries, they began to sink farther and farther until they were fully resting on the floor of the marsh.

The elves kept farms of them where they could monitor their positions. Recently harvested vines would be visible on or near the water's surface, while vines that were ready for harvesting would be absent from their noted positions.

Julia enjoyed the juice quite a bit, though she preferred to offset the tartness with a drizzle of honey that the elves harvested from marsh bees. There were (apparently) a great variety of bees that were drawn to the strong life magic given off by the marsh trees. Connoisseurs among the elves could even taste the honey and pinpoint which specific beehive on which specific tree it came from.

"Here," Seyatha said, handing a small drum to her. Julia set her drink down on the table in front of her and took it.

They were relaxing in a small sitting room within Seyatha's personal quarters. The room was on a second level accessed from a staircase in the hall that Julia had initially come through to meet the Zal'Nadir. It had a comfortable upholstered couch made of a material Julia didn't recognize.

In front of the couch was a small table that sat a little lower than the couch, with two chairs on the other side of the table made of the same unrecognizable upholstered material. At the head of the table was a small fireplace with soot lines and ash to indicate its frequent use.

Behind the couch was a large window that let in a great deal of natural light and contrasted nicely with the oppressive nature the stone room would have had

Seyatha sat on a chair across from Julia with a stringed instrument in her lap. It was boxy, with several strings wound across it. Curiously, the lower strings looked thicker and organic, sort of a transparent off-white, while the higher strings were thinner and made of a reflective white material that reminded her of the silk she had rarely seen on offer in Striton.

The drum she'd been handed was about as large as her chest and as thick as her arm. It had a head that spoke of a hide of some sort wrapped around a sturdy wooden frame. Both heads of the drum were wrapped in hide, actually. Which end was she supposed to hit?

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"A drum?" Julia asked, unsure where this was going.

"A tahmûn, made from the treated hide of a khazra. Khazrat are precious to our people, so we only make frivolous things like instruments from khazrat that die from old age and natural causes. This is both practical and symbolic," Seyatha explained as she plucked the strings of her instrument. She seemed to be tuning it, though Julia wasn't knowledgeable enough about music or instruments to truly know.

"What's yours called? Some kind of lute?" she questioned. It didn't look like a lute, but that was the only stringed instrument she could think of at the moment.

"A shavrethil, this is called. It too has parts made from khazrat. These thicker strings in particular are made from treated connective tissues. The thinner strings are made of a silk native to this land," she said as she continued to tune.

Based on the elves' propensity for using animal materials, Julia did not want to know what creature that silk might have come from. If there were giant spiders about, she didn't want to know about it.

"...what exactly are we going to do? I don't know how to play any music," Julia wondered. She could hit a drum, sure, but that wasn't really "playing music," was it?

"That is perfectly fine, Julia. I will play a melody on this shavrethil, and you just need to play what your heart tells you on that drum. Simply choose a side and strike it when you feel the moment is right. I will continue my melody regardless of what you do, so feel free to experiment and figure out what feels right to you," Seyatha said with a warm smile.

Julia was tempted to ask what the point was, but she'd learned well enough from Braden that older folks would explain if they wanted to. If Seyatha hadn't explained more yet, she probably didn't intend to, regardless of whether Julia asked or not.

Seyatha began plucking the strings, and a slow melody of long notes that stretched into each other began. Julia had a hard time finding a point to interject a drum into the long notes, so she simply waited.

The melody began increasing in speed. Julia lacked proper musical knowledge and terminology, but it felt like the notes began to get shorter and snappier. Seyatha even brought out a small mallet that she used to strike some of the notes rather than pluck.

This felt more natural for drumming, so Julia attempted a few hits. She felt that none of the hits added much to the sound, but Seyatha continued on with her melody unaffected, so Julia continued hitting, trying to find spots that fit the melody.

After a minute or two, Julia found that she felt a sort of "pulse" within the music. She didn't know how to describe it, but it felt like there were "right" points to hit the drum—points that just made sense. She began to hit those points and felt like she was adding to the sound of the song rather than just fumbling around.

Once she found the pulse, she began adding other hits in between them—discovering there were even smaller pulses in between the large ones that felt right to hit. Hitting all of them repetitively felt wrong, so she varied when she hit and when she didn't.

Before she realized it, she was smiling. Fitting her small contribution into the larger song was fun and gratifying in a way she hadn't felt before. She wondered if this was how people felt when they would dance around fires at night to the tune of music. She had seen activities like that before back in Rockyknoll.

After another couple of minutes, when Julia had a big grin stretched across her entire face, Seyatha started singing along to the melody.

Murky water, wind-swept waves
Vibrant greens, and muted grays
Creatures fearsome and tame, big and small
Elves old and young, one and all

Sing for the sun, sing for the rain
Sing for the fun, sing for the pain
We sing for the living, and sing for the dead
We sing in the morning, and we sing before bed

Let our voices reach, the Mother tall
Let Her voice be heard, by one and all

Julia found that the singing added another layer to her drumming. The pulse created by the shavrethil's melody lent itself to a certain drum pattern, while the one created by the singing had a different pattern. When these patterns overlapped, a brand new pattern emerged—a fusion of the two separate patterns. Julia felt her hand was almost being guided by the song rather than her own mind.

As the singing ended and the song drew to a close, Julia found two conflicting emotions that were somehow coexisting. She felt sad that the fun she was having playing along with the song was at an end, but she also felt content for having participated in creating something so fun and beautiful. "Bittersweet" might be the right way to describe these dichotomous feelings.

"That was fun. Thank you for including me," Julia said with a small smile.

"You are very welcome, Julia. That song is one we teach to all our children from a very young age. You might consider it foundational for Jadhariin culture. If you ever attend any of our festivals, you will hear that song many times, from many mouths and instruments.

"Have you figured out why we played music together at all?" Seyatha asked with a warm smile.

"Um…it…there must be some connection between music and the Song, right? Maybe…is it easier to perceive the Mother's Song through music or something?" Julia guessed. She honestly had no idea.

"Hmm…well, I won't say no, as music connects far more than most think. However, that is not why I had us play together. No music a tree could make would even be recognizable to beings like us," she said while chuckling.

"I heard from Ithshar that you have had some trouble with the Song. I suspect that the greatest hurdle you have already encountered is the 'feeling it' part. This is why we played music," she finished with a smile.

Julia leaned forward, waiting for further explanation that surely must be coming. Seyatha's smile grew as they sat there in silence. Just as Julia began to suspect she wasn't going to say anything more, Seyatha broke into a cackle, slapping her knee with her hand as she laughed.

"Ha, oh, please forgive me, Julia. One of the greatest pleasures the very aged have is leaving the young hanging. I thank you for indulging this old lady.

"What I mean specifically is that there is a way to break down music into a very precise and mathematical construction, but that is not what you just did, is it? You felt the music and participated in it by feeling what was right—what it called for you to do.

"You were willingly guided by it. This is what I want you to learn—I want you to learn to recognize the feeling of surrendering and being guided willingly, that you might consciously choose to do it in the future," Seyatha explained.

Julia nodded, understanding the premise. Though she wondered how well these things translated. The music they played was very present in her mind and senses. Surrendering to it was easy because she perceived it very prominently, and she was already familiar with music as a concept. Could she do that with something as ephemeral as the Song?

"You wonder how you might do this with the Song, yes? You suspect it was easy to do with the music due to how easily perceived it was? The Song is present as well, Julia—it always has been. As your perception of it grows, so too will your ability to participate in it, but only if you are willing to surrender to it," Seyatha said, a warm smile once again framing her face.

Julia hoped she was right, but she knew it was still going to take a great deal of work on her part.