Tales of the Gleamwind I

The Magnetoriat was composed of somewhere between seventy and eighty Shards floating in the endless skies. You might notice how I said ‘somewhere around that number,’ because back in my early days as a ruler, the Frontier consumed around one shard every two decades or so. Each Shard is -to this day- lead by and Oracle, a pillar of Human values. The Oracle is the only thing standing strong in this wicked world that tries its best to wipe us out. - Memoirs of an Oracle.

A vibration, a resonance. Something both timeless and deeply imprinted in the present. A feeling of home, of control.

Sonora shivered and opened her eyes. At least, she tried to do so but her eyelids slammed shut. Her knees wobbled, but she managed to catch herself on the battered bronze railings of the oval Core Chamber. The deep orange lights of the lanterns all around the room undulated at the same rhythm she did.

Sonora steadied herself, gripping the railing until her knuckles turned from chocolate-coloured to sickly pale. It took her a couple of deep breaths to convince herself that she would not throw up if she tried to open her eyes once more. And so she did.

A massive boulder with shimmering streaks of silver and turquoise floated in mid-air a dozen paces in front of her. The bronze railing she was so desperately gripping was the last barrier between her and the Shard Core itself. The heart of her home, the reason of her existence. A single piece of legendary material that kept the Shard from precipitating towards the endless sky and the deadly Gleamwind.

It was also the reason she felt light-headed and on the verge of throwing up. She had always felt herself drawn to the Core, which she did not think was so strange at all. Sonora Sitak was next in line to be Oracle, after all, and Oracles were supposed to feel a special connection to the Core. However, as far as she could tell, her father barely even visited the Chamber.

Sonora shook her head and raised her wide, dark eyes to the Core. Its rotation was slow, almost imperceptible.

“What is wrong with you today? You have never been so intense before.” She murmured, hoping none of the controllers heard her.

Moving her head slowly, she caught a glimpse of two individuals dressed in long silver coats and thin helmets that covered everything except their eyes. They stood near the entrance of the Chamber, halberds softly humming with electricity in hand, and did their best not to look interested in what Sonora was doing.

She did not expect an answer from the Core, obviously, but it felt good to voice her thoughts and reflections every now and then. The controllers, however, had started spreading words of Sonora Sitak going crazy, talking to stones and walls. Not the kind of rumor a future Oracle needed for themselves.

Sonora glanced back at the Core and allowed herself one last dip into the pool of concentration she felt every time she stepped into the Chamber.

Dread. Fear. Sonora trembled uncontrollably and stumbled back from the railing. Pure gold rings woven into her long, black braids clinked together as she caught herself from falling onto the cold pavement. That would have given the controllers tales to spread for weeks to come.

She clutched her chest as she recalled the numbing fear she had experienced just moments ago. It was not her own fear. It was… the Core’s fear? Sonora frowned and took a step closer to the mystified floating boulder.

“I can tell you are afraid. But you have to share the reason of your fear with me so I can help you.” Even talking to the lifeless Core, Sonora could never forget the teachings of her father. The way of speaking of an Oracle: always in full sentences. One must know where his words take him in the end before saying anything out loud.

An awkward cough made Sonora flinch, then turn around slowly. The taller of the two controllers shifted the halberd into his other hand, emitting a loud buzz and opened the heavy door behind him. Sonora smoothed her long dark purple toga and calmed her nerves just in time before the short, bulky man could enter the Chamber.

“Rosevy, I apologize if I interrupted something, but your father, the Oracle requests your presence after he is done with his daily requests in the Audience Hall.”

Rosevy, or offspring of Rose, her father’s name. A name that had always unnerved her since she had grown old enough to be called that. Her sculpted face showed nothing of this momentary burst of frustration.

“You have interrupted nothing, Rinaer. I thank you for delivering this message and I will head to the Audience Hall at once.”

Sonora cast one last glance to the rotating Core. She hoped that the rock would just magically tell her the reason for that strong outburst of fear, but after just a heartbeat of hesitation she gathered the edge of her toga and climbed up the stairs to the entrance of the Chamber.

Rinaer, her father’s first Officer, had already left the room. Rose Sitak-Lazio’s daughter, the Rosevy, did not require an escort to find the Audience Hall of the palace. Only guests and prisoners were ever accompanied around the long marble hallways of the immense building.

The two controllers shut the door of the Core Chamber behind her, silver cloaks fluttering as they did so. Sonora glided away towards the nearest double staircase without looking back at them. Had they heard her last sentence to the Core? Were they going to spread more uncomfortable rumors about the Wicked Oracle Sonora Sitak? She shook her head and concentrated on putting one slippered foot before the other. She would have all the time to worry about such things once she actually became the Oracle.

Before reaching the staircase, however, she moved past an empty pedestal standing out along the polished marble wall. A pedestal that once held one of the most treasured possession of the past Oracles of this Shard. Something Sonora and her older brother broke a long time ago while playing flashball. Tullip… who was supposed to be the Oracle. Not her.

She almost fell over the first steps as she got there. Tears streamed down her painted cheeks and her breathing doubled. She blinked furiously to regain her sight. Sonora sniffed and quickly wiped her tears off, forcing herself to regain her composure.

She realized with horror that some of the golden face paint was stuck to her palm. How much of it did she wipe away with that stupid move? Reluctantly, she slid a thin arm under her toga and grabbed the small silver bell she had wrapped in a soft kerchief. With a quick motion of her wrist and a gentle twinkle from the bell she summoned a short servant who scurried away to get some fresh face paint as soon as she saw Sonora’s face.

Dressed in plain clothes the same color as the marble walls of the palace, the body servants were the nameless and voiceless faces that helped the Oracles and their families to keep up the seamless stream of their daily routine. They did not talk like the controllers did. It was quite hard, without a tongue to do so.

After the body servant renewed the golden sinuous lines on Sonora’s cheeks and jawline, she dismissed her with a nod and a cold smile. She was not trying to be rude with the nameless woman, it was just the best she could do after being reminded of her late brother.

Officers, servants and controllers all stood aside as she climbed the wide stairs of the palace to reach the main floor. Sonora tried to distract herself by guessing what her father, the current Oracle might want from her. His rule ended in little more than two weeks, as by the laws of the Magnetoriat, after which Rose Sitak-Lazio would have to pass his title and duties on to someone who would carry on his sacred bloodline. The only candidate for this was Sonora, the Rosevy.

What could he want now? Sonora already knew everything there was to know about being Oracle, included that she had to choose one of the five official types of Oracles to represent.

Sonora stopped on the last step. She was facing the silver door to the Audience Hall, as tall as four men and wide enough to let in two completely opened gliders, and this was only the side entrance.

Could it be that her father learned something about her brother?