The Will-Breaker

Seeing through two different sets of eyes was always a disorientating situation. However, at least when it was with Zandrue, Felitïa was looking at the same location, albeit from different perspectives. Now, she was seeing both the Council Chamber and the entrance hall at the same time, and it was incredibly weird, not to mention a little nauseating.

This shouldn't be possible, Mikranasta said in Felitïa's actual head—at least, she was pretty sure it was her actual head. That made the most logical sense, though it was hard to tell for sure. The shield isn't large enough to allow for that, and it hasn't been breached.

Don't worry about it right now, Felitïa said.

I'm sorry, Will-Breaker, but I will worry about it.

Whatever. She was starting to get used to the disorientation now. In the end, it wasn't really that different from seeing the same location from two different perspectives. Plus, if it got too disorientating, she could always close her eyes. For now, though, she'd keep them open. She didn't want to accidentally close Sinitïa's.

Sinitïa? How are you?

Swarms of colour—so much colour—pounded at her. She wasn't even sure how colour could pound something, but it did, and it hurt. And it kept coming.

Sinitïa, please!

The colours stopped, and there was emptiness for a moment. The emptiness didn't have colour. It wasn't black, or white, or anything. It just was.

Yellow pulsed briefly.

I don't understand. What do the colours mean?

There was another flash of colours as she said that, one after another, and then emptiness again. They were mostly blue and green, although she was pretty certain they were all distinct shades, even if she couldn't distinguish between them precisely. One was orange though.

Red flashed.

I still don't understand.

Four colours flashed by again. Green, green, green, and orange.

Red flashed again. No, not flashed. Questioned. Red questioned.

How could a colour question?

These were Sinitïa's thoughts, Felitïa knew. She'd experienced this before, had even started to recognise their meanings, but it wasn't coming as easily this time. Perhaps it hadn't come as easily last time either, and she was just misremembering?

Red questioned again. No. Cherry red questioned. And it was her name.

Felitïa?

Yes, it's me, Sinitïa. Another burst of colours, but she understood now. Those colours were her own thoughts.

More colours from Sinitïa.

Repeat that, please, Felitïa said.

I said, this is weird, even weirder than when Mikranasta does it.

Mikranasta has been in your head?

Uh huh. In Isyaria and a couple times on the ship coming here.

"What's happening?" Agernon asked.

Felitïa shook her head at him. "I'm still figuring this out. Don't disturb me."

Yellow flashed from Sinitïa. Sorry. That was it.

Oh, no no, Sinitïa. I was talking to Agernon. I'm still figuring this all out.

Yellow-green, orange. I understand. Grey. Sort of.

In the Room in Felitïa's head, Mikranasta's presence released tendrils in numerous directions, each one probing different parts of Felitïa's mind. Both her body and Sinitïa's twitched.

Rapid rust-blue-brown questioned, What was that?

Mikranasta's probing my mind, Felitïa said. We shouldn't be able to maintain a connection over this distance.

Grey, yellow-green, violet, beige questioned. No, the yellow-green was chartreuse, representing Sinitïa herself. Should I go back?

No, not yet. I need to figure this out.

Did you figure out how I used the Pearl?

No, I still need to figure that out too. Give me a moment.

Okay, I'll look at the fireplace. Sinitïa strode across the entry foyer to the fireplace at the far side and held out her hands. Even the feelings of warmth expressed themselves as colours—reds, yellows, and oranges. How did Sinitïa keep track of so many tiny variations of colours?

Sinitïa's contentment came across as yet another variation of yellow, her excitement as a vibrant magenta, and her curiosity as a softer purple, close to periwinkle but not quite.

No, it was starting to make sense. Keeping track of so many colours was no different than how Felitïa kept track of so many words, thoughts, and feelings. It was merely a different way of doing it.

It occurred to her that there hadn't been any blending of their minds. At no point so far had Felitïa been unable to distinguish between herself and Sinitïa, as often happened when she was in Zandrue's head. Was that something to do with the way Sinitïa thought? Or perhaps it was the physical distance between them. There was only a part of her mind in Sinitïa, and there was no way to add more of herself. That might explain…

In the Room, she reached out and blocked one of Mikranasta's tendrils, and then another.

Will-Breaker, please do not interfere. I need—

You're not going to find anything, Mikranasta. I don't think there's anything breaching the shield.

Explain.

You let me into her head while she was here. I just went with her when she left. I'm effectively in two places at once.

But you can communicate back and forth. There must be a link.

No, I'm not communicating back and forth. I don't have to. They're both me. As much as it didn't make sense, it was the only thing that made sense. That was a direct contradiction, she knew, but it had to be. Somehow, she just knew.

I am sceptical, Mikranasta said, but if you're right, this has very disturbing ramifications.

What? From now on, you'll be forever worried there might be part of me hiding somewhere you can't keep me controlled?

That is not what I meant.

Yes, it is, but that's fine. I understand your concerns. I really do. And I promise you, I won't engage in such subterfuge.

As Sinitïa continued warming her hands, the colours in her head began to swarm again, this time coalescing into full images. There was Meleng with both arms at first, but changing to one-armed just as Felitïa noted the second arm's presence. Another image was of Jorvan and Feviona standing hand-in-hand. The third was of Felitïa herself. The detail on all of them was incredible. Three-dimensional and as clear as the people in the queue in the Room were, although these ones were thankfully clothed. Sinitïa was actively forming these images, though they were based on memories. Memories that were so much more precise than Felitïa's own.

For a moment, a distorted image of Elderaan appeared, then vanished again.

I'm sorry you can't remember him perfectly, Sinitïa said. The colours of her thoughts were getting much easier to read.

That's all right. I'm more amazed at your ability to remember things so vividly.

Doesn't everyone?

Felitïa absent-mindedly shook her head. No, they don't.

"Are you going to tell us anything any time soon?" Agernon said.

"Sorry, Agernon. Please, just give me time."

Agernon grumbled.

Sinitïa, let's try the Pearl again, but don't go back downstairs. Let's go somewhere else first.

Okay. Where?

She was tempted to suggest going to Arnor City, but no. Like she'd told Zandrue, she wasn't sending Sinitïa there by herself. How about your room in the palace here in Quorge?

Sure!

Sinitïa held the Pearl in front of her face, and the images of Meleng, Jorvan, Feviona, and Felitïa vanished to be replaced with an image of the entry chamber to Sinitïa's rooms. It look exactly as if Sinitïa were standing at the door to her bedchamber and looking out. Her painting easel stood along the right hand wall, complete with a partially finished painting—the same one Sinitïa had been working on for the last couple weeks.

As the image formed, the fire in front of Sinitïa's eyes vanished, and the entry chamber appeared, almost perfectly overlapping with the image of it. It had happened just like this when they'd gone from the Council Chamber to the entrance of the Hall of Knowledge. There were a couple of minor differences, like a chair in a slightly different spot, and several jars of paint which had been scattered on the floor in Sinitïa's image of the room had been gathered together in one spot—presumably by Sinitïa's handmaid, Olla, who was the only major difference between the image and reality. Olla had not been in the image, but she was present in the actual room, and she shrieked.

"I'm sorry, Olla!" Sinitïa said, rushing over to the handmaid. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Olla gasped for breath. "Your Highness, I… How?"

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"I used this." Sinitïa held out the Pearl.

"I don't understand."

"That's okay. I don't really understand it either, but I'm the only who can make it work, though Felitïa's trying to figure it out by watching me."

Olla looked around. "Princess Felitïa's here too? Where, your Highness? In your bedchamber?"

"No, in my head."

Olla stared at her.

I think you're just confusing her, Felitïa said.

I don't mean to.

I know, but you'd be confused too, wouldn't you, if someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere and said somebody else was watching them inside their head?

I suppose. "It's okay, Olla. You can...um...you can go back to your duties."

Olla curtsied. "Is there anything you need, your Highness?"

"Not right now, thanks." Should we go again?

Yes, but for Olla's sake, go out in the hall first so it looks like you left normally.

"I'm going to the Hall of Knowledge now, Olla. I'll be back later."

Olla curtsied again. "Yes, your Highness."

Sinitïa made her way to the door and out into the hall. Her head was full of pinks, the colours of embarrassment.

Did you figure the Pearl out? Sinitïa asked.

Maybe, Felitïa said. I think I might have an idea. And if she was right, there was going to be very few people capable of using the Pearl. Sinitïa might end up the only one. Let's go back to the Hall of Knowledge.

Okay.

It took a little while to find a place without anyone else in sight, but eventually she did.

"We're coming back now," Felitïa told the people in the Council Chamber. "We took a detour to the palace."

As the image of the Council Chamber in Sinitïa's head overlapped with the image appearing in front of her eyes, Felitïa leapt out of Sinitïa's head and back fully into her own. She wasn't entirely certain how she did it. It was more an instinctive act, but it worked.

"You can close the shield around me again," Felitïa told Mikranasta. A moment later, Sinitïa's presence disappeared and the Room was empty again. That emptiness seemed vaster every time, and with a sigh, Felitïa sat in one of the chairs.

"Well?" Agernon said.

She smiled at him. "I think you were partially right, Agernon. The Pearl needs precision, but not with your physical stance or the way you hold it. I don't think any of that matters at all."

"Precision with what then?"

"The image."

Agernon scowled. "Shit." He nodded towards Sinitïa. "Then we're going to be reliant on her?"

Felitïa shrugged. "Probably."

Zandrue pulled up a chair beside Felitïa. "Are you saying the rest of us can't form a good enough image?"

"Pretty much. Take this room, for example. How well can you describe it?"

Zandrue looked about. "Well…"

"Don't look at it. Close your eyes."

With a shrug, Zandrue closed her eyes.

"Now, describe the room."

"It's big. There are numerous rows of chairs looking towards ten bigger chairs that look back on those rows of chairs."

"How many rows?" Felitïa asked.

"About a dozen, I think?"

"Describe the larger chairs at the front of the room."

"They're not quite thrones, but they are cushioned, unlike the other ones. They're pretty much the only comfortable chairs in this entire blasted place."

"What about the designs on the frames of the chairs?"

"Dragons, I think?"

"You think?"

Zandrue sighed and opened her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I get it."

"It's incredible, Zandrue. Sinitïa can form an almost perfect image. Now, I suspect the Pearl doesn't need as much precision as she manages without even trying, but…"

"It needs more than what the rest of us have managed so far."

Felitïa nodded. "What do you think, Agernon?"

With a grumble, Agernon looked Sinitïa up and down. "It's a possibility, I suppose." He then held out his hand, palm up.

After a moment, Sinitïa dropped the Pearl in his palm.

Agernon closed his fist around it, and hobbled over to Felitïa. "I did consider the possibility a while back, but dismissed it."

"You did?" Felitïa said.

Agernon sat beside her and held up the Pearl again. "Yes, back when we first started and I told you to make certain you were choosing a destination you knew well. I thought you, of all people, the telepathic mentalist, would be able to form a clear mental image." He started tracing equations over the surface of the Pearl.

"I can't even bring up a clear mental image of Elderaan, and I lived most of my life with him." In the Room in her head, she tried again, but like every other time, it wasn't complete, and most especially, it wasn't clear.

Agernon looked up briefly from the Pearl with a harrumph, then continued with his equations. A couple little sparks shot from Pearl to his fingertips, and he hissed. "It makes me think you've come to the wrong conclusion then. I can buy whoever made this wanting to make it so not just anyone could pick it up and accidentally use it, but if even the fabled Will-Breaker can't, they made it too well. What do we know of this Dyle fellow? How capable was he of making clear mental images?"

"No idea." Felitïa looked to Zandrue.

Zandrue shrugged. "Don't look at me. I didn't have an insight into his head."

Felitïa looked back to Agernon. "What do you suggest, then?"

Agernon rolled the Pearl along his fingertips. "There are five magical disciplines held in here. Two are mentalism and enchantment. The other three are lost disciplines, although given it's ability to transport people, one of those three is presumably dimensions. The young lad over there and his Isyar instructor have confirmed that the unknown discipline they detected at the appearance of the first demon is identical to one of the ones in the Pearl, presumably dimensions."

"We know this," Felitïa said.

Agernon waved his hand at her. "Shush, I'm gathering my thoughts. It clearly has other powers as well, maybe one or two for each discipline. We know it was used with the dragon, to summon or bond it. That could be a mentalism power. The Pearl is also definitely designed to be activated mentally. The only question is, how?" He waved at Sinitïa. "Girl, when you used the Pearl, go through what you did."

Sinitïa stepped sheepishly forward. "I held it up in front of me, and did what Felitïa told me to do. I thought of where I wanted to go and the first couple times, I thought of the word periwinkle, but I didn't use that the last couple times."

"And you formed an image of the destination in your head?"

Sinitïa nodded.

Agernon sighed heavily. "I'm missing something."

"What about colour?" Felitïa said.

"Hmm?"

Felitïa stood up and approached Sinitïa. "Sinitïa's head is full of colours. Every thought she has has a colour associated with it. Sinitïa, what colour is Agernon?"

Sinitïa tilted her head. "Do you mean his name or actually Agernon?"

Felitïa smiled. "His name."

"Charcoal grey."

"Ezmelda?"

"More of a blue grey."

"Meleng?"

Sinitïa grinned. "Periwinkle. It's my favourite colour and it was before I met him. Isn't that amazing?"

"I'm not following," Agernon said. "Names have colour?"

"It's not just names," Felitïa said. "Sinitïa, what colour is the word, room?"

"Very pale blue."

"Sky?"

"Fiery red."

"Really?"

Sinitïa nodded. "I know the actual sky isn't usually red, but the word is."

Felitïa turned to face everyone else in the room. "Every word Sinitïa hears or thinks has a colour associated with it."

"Melly says other people don't see colours when they hear things, but I do, and it's not just words. It's sounds. Sounds have colour. It's really weird that you can't see that."

"Fascinating, I'm sure," Agernon said, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"I think I'm starting to understand," Angelida said, coming forward. "What if Princess Sinitïa has such an easy time with the Pearl because she's constantly thinking colours, and it's a colour that activates it? Not a command word, but a command colour."

"Exactly," Felitïa said. "It's presumably a colour that's relatively common because it's been in the image Sinitïa has formed of everywhere she's gone, but not one people are likely to be randomly thinking of."

Agernon laughed.

Felitïa stared at him. Was he laughing at the idea? At her? At himself? Gods, she wanted to get rid of the blasted shield permanently.

After a moment, Agernon got himself under control. "Bloody brilliant, if true. I certainly never thought of it, and it might have been ages until I did."

"If you ever did," Angelida muttered.

"Oh, I'd've thought of it eventually, woman. Just could've taken time."

Felitïa turned back to Sinitïa. "Sinitïa, do you have any idea what the colour might be?"

Sinitïa shrugged. "It's not periwinkle, is it?"

"Is there periwinkle at all the places you've been to with the Pearl?"

"There's periwinkle in my room at the palace, but not in here or at the entrance."

"Not periwinkle then," Felitïa said. "Anything that's in all three places?"

"Lots of greys," Sinitïa said. "And blues. Some whites and beiges. A bit of yellow."

"We're going to have to start testing them all," Agernon said.

"I can help!" Sinitïa said.

"With some of it," Felitïa said. "I'll still want to observe you a little, but the fact is, you have too much colour in your head. It will be hard to know which is the right one. We'll need to do most of the testing ourselves."

Sinitïa frowned.

"But don't be upset," Felitïa said. "You got us to this point. Without your help, we might never have figured it out."

"As much as I hate to say it," Agernon said, "we might also need her help figuring out how to take additional people with us." He held up the Pearl. "She has a knack for using this thing. She might discover the methods faster than we do."

Sinitïa beamed.

"Does this mean we're getting closer to going after Rudiger?" Zandrue said.

Felitïa grinned and nodded. "Yes, it does."

Zandrue threw her arms around Felitïa and hollered in delight.

"First though," Felitïa said, looking Zandrue in the eyes, "Sinitïa and Meleng have also uncovered some information about the demons, who may be launching another attack in two days, or...well...any time now. I should go over that with them."

Zandrue grinned back. "I suppose I can let you do that." She laughed.

Felitïa turned to Meleng. "What have you got?"