Chapter 365: The Returning Road

Kaelen reached the recess before the heat swept across the path behind him.

He crouched with his blade across his knees and the cloth tight over his mouth. Beyond the opening, the rock deepened to red, held, then faded. He counted through the easing heat, watching the stretch ahead. When the gap opened, he moved.

The path narrowed beyond the recess. The canyon walls drew close enough for him to touch both sides, and he kept to the middle until a bend hid the ground ahead.

The next surge came early.

Heat pressed against the cloth before he reached the end of his count. He dropped into a hollow at the foot of the wall and pulled his legs in as the glow climbed. One boot scraped the edge. He held it clear until the heat passed.

He stayed through another cycle, measuring the shorter gap. Farther back, he had adjusted when the intervals tightened; he would have to do it again here. He checked the next shelter before leaving this one.

Around the bend, part of the walkway had settled toward the left wall. A plate-backed beast crouched on the sloping stone, its legs tucked beneath it. There was no room to pass without coming within reach.

Kaelen waited at the corner while the glow rose and faded. He could see a recess beyond the damaged slab. The beast stood between him and it.

He stepped onto the slope with his blade raised.

The beast sprang. He cut behind its head where the plates parted, felt the blade pass through, and stepped clear as it fell. Its body slid toward the wall.

He recovered his balance before moving again. His rear foot had slipped on the tilted stone; he set it firmly, drew the blade back and crossed to the level ground beyond. The walls were brightening when he reached the recess.

The blade shook as he laid it across his knees. He loosened his fingers one at a time and closed them again, testing the grip before he needed it. Beyond his boots, the fallen beast lay against the glowing wall. He watched the stone beside it dim until he could make out the next stretch of path.

He bent over his knees and breathed through the cloth until he could straighten.

The remaining stretch gave him less time between shelters. At each one he watched the glow, checked his count and chose his next footing. Twice the heat began to rise sooner than he expected. He waited out those surges under cover and shortened the next crossing.

His legs shook when he stood, but they still took his weight. He kept the blade close enough that it would not catch either wall.

At the last bend, the canyon ended.

The path continued through an open stone gate onto ground untouched by the glow. The air beyond it was still. Kaelen stopped inside the final recess and watched the threshold while another surge passed.

There was no booth beside it and nowhere to present a writ. He looked once at the ground between his boots and the opening, then crossed when the heat eased.

Stone closed behind him. He turned at the sound and found a solid wall where the gate had been.

He lowered the cloth from his mouth.

— • —

A path led across the yard to a low building with a Guild sign above the door. Inside, a clerk looked up from a register.

"Name?"

"Kaelen Voss."

The clerk ran a finger down the page. "Furnace Road?"

"Yes."

"Sit down."

Kaelen set his kit beside the chair and sat. The clerk entered his return, read the name back and turned the register for him to mark. His fingers tightened around the pen before he could make them move.

"Where am I?"

"A Guild exit station. Different world from the one you entered on. We arrange the onward transport."

The clerk checked another line in the file, copied the return notice and sent it before putting the sheet aside.

"Your house has been notified, as filed. There’s a room through there. I’ll call you when transport is ready."

The room held a cot, a basin and a jug of water. Kaelen closed the door, drank, then sat on the cot to undo his bindings.

The cloth caught at his knuckles. He soaked it loose rather than pulling. Beneath the wrapping on his left forearm, the dark, hardened patch remained as it had been on the Road. He touched its edge, then reached for the kit.

Eira’s instruction was still fixed inside the lid. The gray vial lay in its place, half full, its stopper secure. He left it there and took out clean cloth.

Once his hands were dressed, he sat on the floor with his back against the cot. For a while he continued counting. He would reach the point where the walls should brighten, tense, and have to remind himself where he was.

Gradually his breathing settled. He turned his attention inward.

The barrier at peak Seedling had resisted him for years. He had felt the pressure building on the Road, but each gap had ended before he could give it his full attention. Here he could stay still. He gathered his energy and felt where the resistance had thinned.

He worked there carefully, holding through the tremor in his hands. When the pressure eased, he followed it instead of forcing another surge against it.

Space opened within him.

His awareness reached bare ground beneath an open sky. He felt the ground settle and the air move above it, both held within the world that had begun to form. He stayed with it until the movement steadied.

When he opened his eyes, his hands rested on his knees. The basin stood where he had left it. He reached inward again and found the world still there.

Stage Five. World Creation.

He had grown up among Bloodline cultivators, with a path none of them could walk for him. Now he sat in a borrowed room at a Guild station, turning his attention between its stone floor and the ground inside his own world.

He remained there until he could do so without losing his concentration. Then he eased himself onto the cot. His hands still hurt inside the clean dressings.

When the clerk called, he picked up his kit and went to meet the transport.

— • —

Kaelen’s chair was still pushed in when dinner began at the Terrace.

Ren sat near the stairs, with Lyra and Iris to his left. Eira and Vesper were opposite. At the far end, Yuelan argued with Cassian through the slate propped against the fruit bowl. Yueying arrived while they were serving and took the place beside Vesper.

Vesper stopped with the serving spoon above her plate.

Ren followed her gaze toward the path.

Kaelen was coming up the steps. His coat hung loosely from his shoulders, its edges stiff and scorched. Clean bindings covered his hands. He carried his kit over one shoulder and slowed at the table, looking around it before resting a hand on the empty chair.

Ren had started to rise. Kaelen pulled the chair out and sat down.

He lowered the kit beside his feet and eased its strap off his shoulder. The scrape of the chair had stopped Yuelan’s argument. Cassian was still speaking through the slate when she turned, and his voice broke off as she moved out of its line of sight.

"YOU CAME OUT."

Yuelan stood so quickly that her chair tipped behind her. She came around the table and gripped his shoulders. Kaelen looked up at her while she searched his face.

"You came out," she said again, much more quietly.

"Yes."

Her hands stayed on him a moment longer. Then she let go, returned to her place and righted her chair.

"Cassian. He’s here."

"I can see him." Cassian leaned closer to the slate. "Hello, Kaelen."

"Cassian."

"You look terrible."

"Yes."

Eira was watching his hands. Yueying stood and bowed; Kaelen inclined his head to her. Lyra moved a dish within his reach while Vesper set down the spoon and fetched another plate.

Iris handed him the bread.

Ren sat back down. Across the table, Yuelan kept looking at Kaelen between attempts to resume eating.

— • —

They let him finish the bread before asking about the Road.

His answers were short. He had completed the final stretch, come out at a Guild post and waited there for transport. The house had received the notice first, as he had arranged.

"Have you been there?" Iris asked.

"I came here."

She passed him the serving dish.

"And the wall?" Ren asked.

Kaelen set down his cup. "Five. At the post."

Yuelan looked up again. Eira’s eyes moved from his hands to his face.

"Your world?" Lyra asked.

"It’s there."

Ren smiled. Kaelen held his gaze, then glanced down at the cup before taking another drink.

"I checked the public board on the way from the transit hall," he said. "Six?"

"Yes."

Kaelen watched him for a moment, then reached for more food. Ren left him to it.

When the plates were cleared, Kaelen brought the kit onto his knees and opened it. He took out the gray vial and placed it in Eira’s hand.

She looked at the liquid still filling half the glass, then at him. Her fingers closed around it. The instruction remained inside the open kit lid between them.

As he lowered the kit, his sleeve drew back and exposed a dark edge beneath the forearm binding. Eira leaned forward.

"I’ll look at that."

"Later."

"Tonight. Before you sleep."

"All right."

She put the vial away. He closed the kit and set it beside his chair.

— • —

Ren waited until the others had gone inside. Lyra touched his shoulder as she passed, and Iris took the slate in after Cassian said goodnight. Yuelan lingered at the door before following them.

Kaelen remained at the table.

"There’s something I need to tell you about our families," Ren said. "I wanted you to hear it from me when you came back."

Kaelen turned toward him.

"I’ve received memories through my family’s inheritance. From an ancestor named Aldric. One of them showed me what happened with Roderic Voss."

Ren paused at the name. Kaelen’s wrapped hand rested beside his empty cup.

"Tell me."

He began with the door. Roderic had opened it, and something beyond it had begun to reach through. Aldric had killed him to stop the breach. Ren described the killing and Aldric’s effort to seal the opening afterward, keeping to what the memory had shown him.

"He killed Roderic," Kaelen said when Ren stopped.

"Yes."

"And you’re saying this was why."

"That’s what I saw. I don’t know what Roderic had been told before he opened the door, or what account reached your family afterward."

Ren kept his hands on the table. He had thought about this conversation while the chair was empty, but now Kaelen was across from him, tired and hurt, asking about a man from his own family. Ren had to leave room for his questions. The memory could tell him what Aldric had done; it could not tell him how Kaelen would take it.

Kaelen looked down at his hand. He turned it over, studying the cloth across his knuckles while Ren waited.

The lamps along the rail had been lit. Voices carried from the lower paths, faint enough that Ren could not make out the words. Kaelen’s cup stood within reach, but he did not pick it up.

"Do not underestimate," he said at last. "That’s what the records I saw said about your family. They didn’t give me a reason."

Ren nodded.

"They’ve had a long time to keep one."

"They have."

Kaelen looked toward the door where the others had gone. Ren waited for another question, resisting the urge to fill the silence with more of the inheritance. He had told him about Roderic. Kaelen was still sitting with that.

"I’m going to the house," Kaelen said.

"When?"

"Tomorrow. I’ll ask what account they kept, and whether it has a door in it." He flexed his wrapped hand. "I want to hear them answer."

"They might not."

"Then I’ll know that too."

He stood, pushed his chair beneath the table and picked up the kit.

"Eira’s waiting," Ren said.

"I know. I said tonight."

Kaelen went inside. Ren gathered the two cups and followed him, leaving the chair pushed in beside the table.