The Endless Solvent

When a Gate closes, the monsters dissolve and disappear, even their corpses. Before when he thought the Unseeing came from the Gate itself, Ral thought it made a lot of sense. They would be monsters from another world, the Gate their connection to it. Closing the Gate would sever the connection and they would disappear with it.

But now seeing more than one person turn into Unseeing, it made much less sense. It made it all the more unsettling that Rask didn’t seem to relax after the Gate closed.

“Talk will have to wait.” The freerunner started searching the bodies of the dead men around them, drawing out a wooden talisman from around the neck of one of them and taking a coin pouch from Helaf. It was unsavory and Ral knew the older man hated doing this but it was a matter of survival. Ral searched the body of the other dead man that had been mauled to death by the Unseeing turned from Kentor. Kentor’s body that had turned into Unseeing was gone as it had dissolved into the ground.

When they took all that they could, Rask found his way down the scaffolding, pausing halfway to cast his gaze northwestwards. “Will you be able to climb the city walls and scale that mountain side?” Rask pointed.

He could, even if the climb looked dangerous and steep; the mountains would not be easy to navigate up or down. “We can go through the northern gate,” Ral said. “Why take the hard way out of the city?”

Rask grunted. “You think the danger’s passed now that the Unseeing are gone?” he said. “I’m afraid the trouble’s just started for Alkkes.”

“What do you mean?”

Rask didn’t answer him and simply moved on the route he pointed out. Back then, the freerunner’s lack of answers would annoy the younger Ral but now he found himself unable to be irritated by the older man. He was just glad to be in Rask’s company again.

They scaled up the rocky surface behind the caverns as the sun started to set. Even before reaching the outer reaches of the city-state, Ral could hear the clamors of activity and the orange glow of fire. Soon billows of smoke rose up along with burning specks of ash.

“Up the mountain now, just so we don’t get seen,” Rask mutters to him. Ral leads the way by easily scaling the rocky sides and picks hand holds easy for the freerunner to hold. At a ledge particularly out of sight, he spares a glance towards the commotion and sees a mass of people fighting. It was hard to see between the buildings and being so far out, but Ral thought he could see a man pulling at another, shouting something. “They started the looting,” Rask said, squinting at what Ral was staring at. “There are people taking advantage of the chaos to help themselves.”

“How - ” Ral struggled with the outrage burning at his throat. “We should be there to stop it.”

Rask raised his brows at him. “Really? The two of us?”

Ral could faintly see Alkkian guards trying to get things under control but it was simply adding more people and weapons into the fray. Voice cried out as the fighting grew ugly. Someone escaped with what looked like stolen goods bundled in cloth such that they could carry it easily - another gave chase, escalating to a beating when they caught the thief.

“We will find a way to help, just not now. Not here,” Rask said, nudging him. “We should leave before the Bringers see us.”

Bringers. Ral gave the older man a startled look, but another insistent nudge made him move again. They kept going up the mountain, climbing and scaling the rocky sides and passing dry bushes that grew in the cracks. When it got too dark, they managed to find a plateaued spot that reminded Ral a little too much of the spaces the Somas lived on in the caverns. But Ral could hear the exhaustion in Rask’s steps and so agreed to make camp despite how uncomfortably familiar it all felt.

“A fire’s going to attract too much attention,” Rask said after a brief pause. A fire was usually the first thing to get going when they made camp. It would be cold at night, but not unbearable. Ral agreed with Rask’s decision and sat down to catch his breath.

Kentor was dead. The thought slammed into him and Ral passed a hand over his face, stomach twisting at the thought. Sure, the man wasn’t who he said he was. But did the merchant deserve such a fate?

“What are you thinking about, Ralos?”

Ral slid his hand down to look at the freerunner through his fingers. “My friend… my acquaintance turned into an Unseeing. I saw it with my own eyes on the platform,” he said simply. “Now he’s dead.”

“On the platform? Your friend was one of the Bringers?”

“Kentor called the other men that,” Ral said. “How did you know that name?”

“There had been rumors of certain people with certain affiliations being responsible for opening Gates,” Rask said, voice bitter. “No one really has any idea who’s behind them except that they are religious.”

“They worship a god that exists beyond the Gate,” Ral said. “I… I think I saw it.”

“You saw their god?”

“I saw something.”

“I believe you,” Rask said, nodding. “You were half inside the Gate when I got to you. I thought I would lose you. What did you see?”

“Tendrils. Body parts not belonging to a body. I heard a voice. It was very strange, a world with no ground or sky, just tendrils.” Ral shuddered, remembering the dark, squirming mass. “I don’t know what it was but it felt like those men were working for it. Their leader was talking to it.”

“Body parts, huh?” Rask said thoughtfully.

“Rask, strange things are happening,” Ral started, but felt his words falter. Where should he start? Back with the Somas? The strange words of their Wisdom? Meeting a Part? Or should he simply tell him what he discovered in Alkkes?

As if sensing his frustration, Rask made a sound of assurance. “We have lots of time, son, since we’re staying here until the sun comes up to greet you again. You can take your time.”

While trying to figure out what to say first, Ral blinked when a thought occurred to him. “Wait, how did you find me?” he asked Rask almost accusingly. “How did you know I would be here?”

“I thought you would never ask,” Rask laughed. “A little bird told me you left the desert, that’s how I headed down here.”