Empires of Flux & Anchor

After a while Sucha Fane rode by, spotted her, and stopped and dismounted. He was a nice-looking boy her age, nothing wonderful but nice enough, and they’d shared some classes together in school. She had never felt really attracted to him, considering her other choices, and they had never dated, but that never stopped him from trying and it was a dull day.

“Hi, Spirit. What’cha doin’ sittin’ here?”

“Waiting for the damned coach. My batty priestess aunt is due in for one of her interminable visits, that’s all. You?”

“Goin’ in to the guild halls to see if my number’s come up, that’s all. You know I got a slot as apprentice electrician.”

“No! Congratulations! That’s a big new field.”

And it was. The reformation of the Church had ushered in a whole new era of scientific inquiry. Study was made of many subjects that had been forbidden or had been restricted to the Church, and hundreds of the brightest minds of World were hard at work. The whole of the capital was electrified now, and there was talk of extending the power grids eventually to every city, town, and farm in Anchor Logh. Her farm would be among the first, as it was one of the two or three closest to the capital. It was said that power would soon no longer be dependent on the supernatural gusher in the temple, but actually might be generated from the energy of Flux, or from units of compressed solid energy created in Flux that could be transported, stored, and used locally in Anchor.

The old books and records had yielded many suppressed miracles, including the transmission of speech by electrical energy, not just through wires but through the air. It seemed impossible, but they had all seen demonstrations of it in school and in the capital. The entire world was poised on the edge of a technological revolution that would match or exceed the impact of the Reformation.

The conversation turned, quite naturally, to the personal, and she had little trouble putting him off yet again. Still, she sometimes felt sorry for the Suchas of the world, and she felt tempted occasionally to give them a break or a thrill. Not now, though. Not today, particularly.

Crestfallen as usual from being shot down again, he sighed, got up, and remounted his horse. “Got to be gettin’ in before they close,” he said lamely.

“Take care and good luck,” she responded. “I mean that.” And she blew him a kiss.

That last really brightened his day, and he rode off at a happy gallop.

Almost on cue, the coach rumbled into sight in the distance, and she watched it approach, then got up as it slowed. The door opened, and out stepped old Sister Janise, looking the same as always.

“Hi, Sister Janise! It’s been a while!” Spirit opened, trying to sound as enthusiastic as she could.

“Too long,” the Sister responded, and hugged her and gave her a peck on the cheek. The coach rumbled off, and they watched it go into the distance towards the capital.

“Everybody’s waiting for you,” Spirit told her. “Mom’s been cooking all day.”

“Well, I hope they didn’t put themselves out too much for me. It will be good to see them all, but this isn’t quite the usual social visit.”

Spirit frowned at that, but let it pass. “Want to go see Mom?”

“In a minute. I think I’d just like to walk along the road and around the farm for a little bit. Not only have I been four days on those blasted coaches, but I like to… remember.”

They began walking back towards the distant buildings, perhaps a kilometer in. “That’s right—you did say you grew up around here, didn’t you?”

The Sister nodded. “Yes. This very farm. It’s nice to see that it’s changed so little over the years, although that’s probably going to end soon. Dramatic change is coming to Anchor Logh. I sometimes wonder, in ten years, if we—either one of us—will recognize this place and whether the magic of science here won’t overpower the magic of Flux.”

Spirit had never seen Janise in such a reflective mood. It gave her an odd sense of foreboding, particularly when coupled with the old woman’s earlier cryptic remark.

Janise slopped for a moment and pointed. “Let’s go over to that grove of trees. I want to talk for a moment.”

They went over and sat on the grass. For a little bit the Sister was silent, but finally she said, “For a long time you’ve wondered about your parents, haven’t you? Your natural ones, I mean.”

The statement jolted her, but she repressed her excitement. “Yes, that’s true.”

“You’re a beautiful, grown woman now. I think it’s time you were told the truth, although you will not be able to tell it to anyone else.”

Spirit felt a chill. “The truth?”

The Sister sighed. “Yes. The truth. But not because you are grown now. It was decided to tell you because others may learn of you, others who might wish to do you harm because of your heritage. You must know in order to guard yourself.”

“Guard myself from whom? What’s this all leading to?”

“You know the story of the Reformation. That Cass, a girl from this farm, this riding, discovered the corruption in the temple and was exiled to Flux. How she discovered in herself great power and how she fell in love with a stringer, and when that stringer died in the war against Hell, she was transformed into the most powerful wizard World had ever known.”

“I hadn’t known about the stringer part, but the rest is taught every Holy Day.”

“Well, Cass became, of course, Sister Kasdi. She beat the evil wizard Haldayne and transformed his evil kingdom into Hope, the seat of the Reformed Church. This you know.”

She nodded. “Yeah, sure. I guess everybody does.”

“And nothing so far suggests a parallel with anything you have been told?”

She shrugged. “Except that that battle killed my natural father, not particularly.”

“Sister Kasdi had a daughter in Anchor by her slain lover. The big secret they’ve always tried to hide from you and everybody else is that you are that daughter.”

Oddly, she felt no shock at the revelation. It was simply too ridiculous to be believed, let alone accepted.

“She had to choose between you and the Reformation, Spirit. She chose the Reformation for the good of everyone rather than herself, and she did everything possible to make sure that nobody would ever trace you to her. You would be the one piece of blackmail her enemies could hold on her.”

“If what you say is true, I doubt if I’d be worth much. I mean, she already took the Church over me, right?” There was a heavy trace of bitterness in her tone, and it hurt.

“There was no choice,” she responded defensively. “You could not be protected in Flux, and the old Church and its forces would have sought out and killed the infant Reformation and both you and her if she didn’t carry it off. I can say you have never been far from her thoughts in all these years.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet. So what are you? Her personal watchdog? She sends you to bring me toys and attend my birthday parties and report to her when she’s got the time?”

“That’s a cruel way to put it. She has seen you, many times. But she is a powerful wizard, able to transform herself into just about anybody or anything, and she had to visit in deep disguise so that her enemies wouldn’t know and follow her.”

Spirit felt anger, not relief at all this. “So why the big story now?”

“There are rumors that her old enemies have discovered who you are. Perhaps not, but they are closing in. They suspect. No matter what you think of your mother or what you think she might do, you’d better think another way. It’s not going to be her in the hands of Hell; it’ll be you.”

That was a sobering-up statement if there ever was one. She thought about it a moment, then shook her head sadly. “This is all so… new to me. I mean, all these years I’ve wondered about my real parents, and now you can tell me all this. It’s pretty hard to take.”

“Everyone tried to spare you all this. We worked very hard to do so. Were it not for the possible dangers, it would have continued that way. I’m very… sorry.” It was getting more and more difficult to keep up the act, the other persona, but it had to be done. It was sadly ironic that she could not come right out and tell her daughter the truth face-to-face, but if the girl was having troubles believing the truth as it was, nothing less than that would convince her that her doddering old “aunt” was truly the monumental figure familiar to all.