“Is that considered murder?”
“No,” I responded. “It’s legally sanctioned.”
“So imagine you ask Endow if she committed murder, but she believes she merely executed a killer.”
I chewed on his hypothetical only for a moment before deciding, “She’ll say she didn’t murder anyone.”
“Right,” Rune stated with a nod. “Now suppose you try to throw her a curveball and ask her if she’s taken anyone’s life. But let’s assume Endow believes everyone has an immortal soul.”
“She’ll probably answer that with a ‘No’ as well,” I said. “Basically, she’ll find a way to sidestep the question while giving truthful answers.”
“Now you’re getting it,” Rune noted. “She’ll equivocate. Of course, that’s if she answers at all.”
“What?” I intoned. “I thought she had to tell the truth.”
“She does,” he confirmed. “But just because you ask a question doesn’t mean she’s compelled to answer. In that respect, she still has a choice.”
I contemplated on this for a second. “So you’re saying that if I ask Endow something like, say, whether she loves me, she could respond — presumably in the affirmative or negative — or she could just sit quietly.”
“First of all, yes — your analogy is spot-on,” he declared. “Second of all, don’t go there.”
“Go where?” I asked, plainly confused.
“Falling for Endow.”
His tone was so serious and somber that I started chuckling heartily. Just thinking about the age difference between me and Endow was hilarious, so it was obvious that Rune was making a joke. Thus, it took a few seconds for me to realize that Rune wasn’t laughing.
Chapter 30
Following our discussion about Endow, the next pressing issue on my mind was the man from the fresco. I had planned to ask Rune about him, but remembered the fellow adamantly stressing that Incarnates shouldn’t be made aware of him. More importantly, I had sensed that the man was trustworthy.
Bearing all that in mind, I decided to forego discussing the issue with Rune and opted instead to confer with another local: Ursula.
*****
Running her down turned out to be fairly easy. I simply told Rune that I needed to speak to Ursula, and he, in turn, simply glanced away for a few seconds before informing me that she was in her quarters. Then he made what appeared to be a twirling motion with his finger. A moment later, I was in what I took to be a great room, with a sizeable fireplace, lush carpeting, and posh furniture.
Sitting on a nearby love seat, Ursula gave me a smile.
“Oh my — a gentleman caller,” she said coquettishly, patting the seat next to her. “You know, guys usually wait a little longer before finding a pretext to see me again.”
“Huh?” I muttered, confused.
“We practically just finished in the Relic Room, and you’re already asking your friends to ask my friends to ask me if you can stop by.”
Laughing, I took a seat next to her. “So Rune reached out to Endow when I mentioned wanting to talk to you. And she, in turn, contacted you.”
“Yes, but feel free to cut out the middlemen next time,” she teased. “And no need to come up with some flimsy excuse — just say you missed me.”
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t a pretense,” I said, chuckling. “I have a legitimate reason for wanting to see you.”
“I don’t think infatuation counts,” she stated with a kittenish expression.
“Come on,” I implored with a grin. “I need your help.”
“You’re no fun,” she pouted. “But okay, what’s the problem?”
“I need to show you something — telepathically.”
She merely nodded in response, and I reached out and relayed to her my experience with the guy from the fresco.
Chapter 31
It didn’t take long to share what had happened with Ursula.
After breaking the telepathic connection, I said, “Basically, I’m trying to figure out who the Fresco Kid is and what he wants.”
“Well, he’s more of a man than a kid,” Ursula noted, “but that’s Cerek.”
I looked at her in surprise. “It is?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Looks like he’s been roughing it for a few days, but that’s him.”
“So,” I droned, trying to put that fact in context, “was that his ghost or something?”
“No, you goof,” she teased. “The presence of his ghost would mean that he’s dead. That was an astral projection, which means he’s very much alive.”
“Alive where?” I asked. “The Incarnates say they can’t find him here, and as I understand it, nothing can enter or leave.”
“That’s all true,” Ursula confirmed.
“So where could he be, then?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Think about it,” I urged. “If you wanted to hide from an Incarnate in our present environment, where would you go?”
She threw up her hands in frustration. “There’s nowhere you could go. A Chomarsus can see all the places in Permovren that are accessible, and the verboten places are…well, verboten.”
I thought about that for a moment, reflecting on something I’d recently heard.
“Rune mentioned to me that some places in Permovren are off-limits,” I said. “Are those what you’re referring to?”
“Yes.”
“How many places are we talking about?”
Ursula made a vague gesture. “I don’t know. I’ve never done a full tally.”
“How many would you guess?”
“I’m not sure,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Let’s see…there’s the Paragon Potens. The Conflagration Chamber. The Room of Ebon Enlightenment…”
“Hold on,” I interjected, as something she said seemed to resonate with me. “That last…”
“The Room of Ebon Enlightenment?”
“Yeah — what is that?” I asked.
“Honestly, you’re probably asking the wrong person since I’ve never been in it,” Ursula admitted. “That said, it’s supposed to be a place that will, among other things, give you answers to the questions you don’t know.”
I gave her a look of incomprehension. “What does that even mean?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” she declared. “It sounds like maybe it addresses questions you aren’t consciously aware of.”
“Like when you found something I subconsciously wanted to see,” I suggested.
“I suppose,” she softly concurred. “Basically — as the name implies — the room is supposed to bring light to darkness, but I assume that’s just a metaphor.”
“I’m not so sure,” I said, reflecting back on
