Of the multitude of lands across this magnificent and mystifying continent, the territories of the Argent Pact must rank among the least worthy of one's ventures. Their wildernesses are rampant, their settlements treacherous, their governments languid. Yet the allure of the peripheral proves all too irresistible for many a seasoned traveller – present company included.

     - Corval, Theodosius, A Most Curious Discourse Collected from Five Years' Travel Across the Famed Dominions of Zeydal, III, p. 186

*

     She had the dream again last night. It had been her only dream for as long as she could remember, and every time, it had the same end.

     At first, she sat among rolling wildflower-flecked fields and lakes that lapped their soothing warmth over her paddling feet. Trees towered with leaves that ranged from lush, vibrant greens to red-stroked amber hues to the dignified silver of the full moon that peeked through the setting sun's veil. Flocks of small, swift birds flapped through the honeyed air, their emerald feathers blanching to a pure, dazzling white in preparation for the long journey over the snow-capped mountains. Herds of roaming horses trotted close by without a care. She did not recognise the place, but she knew the feeling it instilled within her. She knew the feeling of home.

     Then she heard it. "Go, Talwyn!" It was her father's voice, yet Breock was nowhere to be seen. Before Talwyn could gather the breath to speak, the wind turned, the lake water chilled around her ankles, and the skies darkened until nothing but light-slivered shapes surrounded her. A bitter, metallic taste tainted her mouth, and a dull ache rang through her head.

     "Now, Talwyn! Run!" Years of handling tamed and wild horses had taught her father plenty about patience, and that made the desperation in his cries cut even deeper. As the last straggling horse fled into the wilderness, Talwyn pulled herself to her feet and turned around. There, at the mercy of the swelling storm, stood a narrow single-storey shack crafted out of layered leaves and winding vines. Its feeble light flickered against the shadows, and a lone figure lingered in its doorway, silhouetted yet without doubt looking back at her.

     Her father called to her over and over. "Go, Talwyn! Go, now!" The darkness swallowed the house in one sweep, then surged relentlessly onwards. Blazing streaks of thick storm clouds charged towards her, every front unfurling into two broader, deeper waves that rose until they disappeared into the blackened sky. She cried out, but she heard nothing beyond the storm and her father's echoing pleas. "Run! Run, Talwyn! Run!"

     Alone against the storm, Talwyn did what she always did. She ran. She ran from the clouds towards where the sun had been setting just moments earlier. Her lungs burned as screams raked along her throat, and still she ran.

     Shadows lashed out from her left. She swerved clear.

     Coal-black clouds crashed in from her right. She weaved out of their path.

     A dense, roaring wall of darkness curled overhead, shaking her spine as it plunged into the ground ahead of her. There was nowhere left to go. Talwyn threw herself down to the dirt, and as she curled into the tightest ball she could manage, she cast one final glance to the sky above. There, as always, the scarred moon stared down at her, its vivid green glow finally full. And when she looked down, the glow followed, bright green light pouring from the spidering lightning marks seared along her lower arms.

     Vidias was whole, and Vidias was with her.

     "Talwyn? Are you with me?" A violent jolt rocked through Talwyn Farrier's legs, and a follow-up tremor wiped the image of the looming moon from her mind. In its place came a haze of rust and rock dust, cracked walls climbing all around her, and the grey, milky glaze of Kerensa's concerned eyes. "There you are. Any longer, and I'd have sent a spectre into your head to shake your senses loose."

     It was a joke, yet one that only worked because such an act was well within Kerensa's necromantic abilities. "I was just...thinking, that's all," Talwyn said as she straightened the airy, elbow-length sleeves of her lilac dress. She glanced at her scars, but found no sign of the blinding light that had just coursed through them in her daydream. Gathering her long waves of soft silver hair over her shoulder, Talwyn met her friend's eye and smiled. "Besides, I thought you hated summoning spirits."

     Another shudder coursed through the metal cage that lowered them through the narrow mineshaft to the Pallad Library, lightless save for the string of pale green sparks that fluttered by Talwyn's will. The lift's constant low rattle ground against her nerves, and she pressed her fingertips to her temples in an effort to shut the noise out from her mind.

     Catching the discomforted wince of her friend's teal eyes, Kerensa let out an exaggerated sigh and set her hand on Talwyn's arm. Sharp bones jutted through her pale, withered skin, and her flesh was sheer chill to the touch, yet her hold offered nothing but close comfort. "True. Spirits are so loud and excessive. There's no finesse to them. They don't understand that magic is an art." She ruffled her tied black hair, her long, dark nails clawing through the shock of grey along her roots. "Maybe I'd go for an imp instead – or I could raise a skeleton! I love raising skeletons."

     "A skeleton with the right number of heads this time? And in the right place?" The slow, speechless cock of her friend's eyebrow punctuated by fits from the creaking lift was all it took to summon a laugh to Talwyn's lips.

     The lift squeaked and shunted down the mineshaft, the glow of Talwyn's magical lights dancing off the honed stone outcrops that jutted to within a feather's breadth of the cage. Though solid metal sheets spanned the floor, large gaps around the platform's edges exposed the profound depths that awaited them. Overhead, between thick, rust-pocked bars, the warm light of the mineshaft's entrance dwindled to little more than a blinking pinprick. Still, the lift continued its steady descent to the Pallad Library.

     Kerensa took her friend's gloved hand and linked their fingers together. "It's still on your mind, isn't it?" she asked, soft breaths keeping her black-stained lips apart as Talwyn tensed and nodded. With every quake of the cage, the dark and crimson folds of her dress swayed around her ankles to reveal the legions of frayed threads that tore at its hem. "Do you feel alright, darling? I can do the talking when we get down there, if you like."

     "Thanks, but I'm fine," Talwyn said with a twitching smile. The cage rocked past another hefty lump of protruding rock, and she hooked her fingers around her soft russet scarf. "Or I will be when we get out of this death-trap. How deep are we going again?"

     "The attendant up top said the ride takes about fifteen minutes, so we should be almost there," Kerensa answered, braving a glance at the sheer drop that lingered below. The void offered no hint of hard ground to meet their descent, nor did the sliding chains and grinding gears of the lift mechanism seem eager to come to rest. Resigned to ignorance, she drifted back to Talwyn's side and snagged her friend from another bout of blank-eyed fretting. "It's okay to be nervous, you know. This is a big deal for you, but I assure you, you're more than capable of finding what you need. You'll get some answers here, I just know it."

     With a slight nod, Talwyn mustered the spirit to return her friend's unwavering smile. "I hope so." 

    They had shared similar exchanges before entering countless other libraries, archives, and centres of learning across the northern continents, yet this time was different. While previous locations had provided little more than scraps of speculation, readers at each one had pointed her in the same direction. For insight into the movements and machinations of the celestial bodies, she had to head south to the continent of Zeydal, to study the collections of the Pallad Library.

     And so to the Pallad Library she had come. Without notice, the lift cracked against the stone surface and stood still, the perpetual clatter of its intricate parts dissipating into the darkness. The cage door lock clicked loose, and the mesh panel drifted open onto a dimly lit, rough-hewn tunnel that slimmed and shortened as it travelled. Clouds of fine dust swept up by the settling cage sank towards the mine floor, adding to the potent earthy odour that filled the cavern. Adjusting her off-white waistcoat around her shaking frame, Talwyn sent her lights into the tunnel's close confines and followed its trail.

     The path narrowed even further than Talwyn had anticipated, yet the discomfort of sidling between sandstone walls paled in comparison to Kerensa's irritated mutters over her shoulder. Talwyn's knee-high riding boots, it turned out, were a better fit for the harsh, uneven cave floor than Kerensa's tired, tattered leather sandals. Soon, however, the surface underfoot smoothed out, the walls widened apart once again, and the sound of several rushing water streams trickled through the curving rockfaces. They were almost there.

     After a few more curious steps, rows of cast iron lanterns appeared on the cavern walls. Their rich silver flames dazzled when looked at directly, yet they gave off no more than a gentle, ambient light that sparkled off the surrounding stone. Clean, pale grey tiles carved with four-pointed star symbols lined the centre of the tunnel, leading the eye to a set of broad darksteel doors flanked by two larger, brighter platinum-hued lights. A thick, plush rug lay before the entrance, its cobalt blue colour matched to the cloth-bound handle of the sole, star-marked door knocker. Nobody greeted their arrival.

     Talwyn reached out and rapped the knocker against the door's reinforced steel body. Motes of dust leapt from the surface to tarnish the white fabric of her waistcoat, and the handle's ring pealed through the tunnel until every dreg of sound had faded from earshot. Despite her will, the door remained stubbornly shut.

     No one was here, or at least nobody willing to entertain visitors. She had dragged Kerensa from the fresh shores of the Azurite Sea to the ever-misty climes of the Warding Wilds for nothing. Now, without a plan, without a hope, she had to get back onto the noisy, hostile, slow-crawling lift and –

     "Ah, yes." Behind them, at the rear of the small cavern, a flash of silver light split the shadows, and a tall, grey-maned lion amari stepped out. "Apologies for the slight delay. You must be the two..." he began as he stooped to move through the tunnel, his golden leonine eyes bulging momentarily at the sight of Kerensa's ghostly smile. "...striking young ladies Taron notified me about. A very warm welcome to you both. My name is Shazir, and I am one of the attendants here at the Pallad Library. What business brings you here?"

     Talwyn cleared her throat, the dust that pirouetted through the air suddenly glued to the inside of her mouth. "I'm Talwyn, and this is Kerensa. We were wondering if we could search through any materials you have on the moons," she began, comforted by the return of Shazir's well-rehearsed courteous manner. "We're interested in figuring out the nature of Vidias, see, as well as any...effects it might have."

     "And why it's so green," Kerensa added with encouraging levity, succeeding only in further disturbing the doorman's fragile composure. "I mean, Morya's not green. Why is one moon green and the other one not? Freaky, right?"

     "I suppose one could call it...freaky." With a last glance at the deathly mist that clouded Kerensa's eyes, Shazir adjusted the collar of his exquisite deep blue doublet and turned back to Talwyn. "We have a wide selection of volumes that study the heavenly bodies, Vidias included. Our assistants are on hand to aid you in finding the specific articles you desire. Which institution are you associated with?"

     Shifting her weight between her legs, Talwyn's muscles tensed. She was suddenly swimming far, far beyond her depth. "No institution, really. It's more of a personal research project," she said as she twirled a lock of her flame-lit hair. Readers at previous knowledge centres had not warned her that she needed credentials to enter. They had also, however, neglected to mention the quarter-hour cage ride and the choked entrance tunnel just to reach the door. "Is that going to be an issue?"

     The soft sinking of Shazir's broad shoulders answered her question before he uttered a word. "I am afraid so. The Pallad Library is a prestigious archive containing some of the rarest, most sensitive materials from across the world," he began, stressing his syllables with just the right amount of echoing gravitas. With each measured bow of his head and thrust of his cupped paws, he purged another shot of blood from Talwyn's cheeks. "In light of recent events heightening tensions within neighbouring territories, the Eclipse Society have decided to temporarily suspend admissions of unsponsored researchers into the Library. I am sure you understand that the security of our readers and collection is of utmost importance."

     His words had barely rippled in the waters of Talwyn's mind before Kerensa, nostrils flared, skidded over the stone tiles. "Are you serious? Do we look like dangerous strangers to you?" she demanded, dark veins spidering along the pale skin around her eyes. As the attendant's pointed teeth bit back the words on the tip of his tongue, she stepped back and huffed. "Well, that's just rude. So, what do you want from us? Does Talwyn need some university bigwig or someone to back her before she can enter?"

     "A letter from a tenured academic, a Syndicate family representative, or a member of the Eclipse Society would grant you access, yes," Shazir said as he kept his lustrous gaze on Talwyn's crestfallen face. "My apologies, miss, but if that is all you require, then I have other duties to attend to. I really do wish you the best of luck in your search. Good day to you both, and do take care on the difficult flooring on your way out."

     Not a shred of frustration or disgust emanated from the attendant's mind, Talwyn granted. With better news on a better day, she may have even enjoyed interacting with Shazir. Yet now, his attempts at politeness merely cleaved deeper into her aching gut. "Sure. You have a good day too, doing...your stuff."

     The lift had not stirred since they had left it, and smoky clouds of stone dust still swirled around its bronzed walls. Kerensa stepped inside the cage behind Talwyn, then slammed the mesh door shut. "Fuck that guy, and fuck this stupid stuffy library in its stupid cramped hole," she snapped as the lift rumbled into motion, beginning its slow ascent between the narrow shaft walls. She flexed her wave of rage out through her fingers and neck before landing at her friend's side in one pace. "No matter. We'll get you the letter you need in no time."

     "I don't know, Kerensa. My head's a mess right now." Despite her friend's efforts to mask her anger, bolts of boiling fury still fired through Talwyn's mind. She had figured out how to tune out other people's passing, low-lying moods, but she was still powerless to stop intense, surging impulses from flooding her senses. Being the sole person she knew with such a keen sensitivity to others' emotions did not help either. "Can we just chill out a bit before we head back to our room for the night?"

     "Of course. Whatever you need." Running a black nail along her neck as she studied Talwyn's profile, an affectionate glow brightened Kerensa's gaunt face. "You know, you're so talented, Talwyn, and you work so hard. Somebody somewhere will see that."

     While she could always count on Kerensa to express – and wholeheartedly believe in – such a statement, Talwyn struggled to match her friend's faith at the best of times. Doing so while still peeling the skin of her trampled heart from the cavern floor was all but unthinkable.

     Narrow points of powerful orange light propelled into the hot, shaded tent that housed the mineshaft's surface access point. The figure that had received them on arrival, a stout, balding dwarf who they now knew to be called Taron, was nowhere to be seen. Setting the lift to carry them back was clearly his final action before joining the flock of migrating souls now freed from work's yoke.

     Beyond the sheltered entrance, the blushing sandstone streets of the city's ground level glimmered beneath the night's first candle lanterns and magical lamps. A fair breeze parted the patchy jungle canopy overhead, melting the humid heat of the day's peak with rich scents of wet earth and the ripening fruits it sprouted. With night's ascension imminent, Trocari was preparing to awaken in vibrant, singing colour.

     Kerensa reached towards the mineshaft entrance, mimed a well-rehearsed hand gesture, and withdrew a lightweight, ink-black parasol from the shade. Shadowy flecks leapt from its spokes as she popped it open, and glossy lines of pure darkness pulsed and swayed in cobweb-like patterns over its matt canvas. It was the necromancer's favoured method of concealing her morbid exterior from passing eyes, and it had so far proven surprisingly successful.

     "Now, darling," she began with a flourish of her free arm, the pearls of her eyes shimmering through the shadowy veil cast by her parasol. "How about we take the long way back to the Canopies? Maybe we'll catch the night market as it opens and get first pick of those adorable little pastries we saw."

     Shrugging off the last dregs of her headache, Talwyn looped her hand through her friend's offered arm. "You read my mind."