“On the left is a map of Wallovik’s territory from the same history book where I found the account I read to you,” she said. “The map on the right shows the location of the present-day Romanian village of Hoghilag.”
They were a near-perfect match. My excitement grew by leaps and bounds. I felt bad for Eric. He was about to lose a hundred oboli.
“Any idea where in the village we can find it?” Abi asked.
“There’s a memorial to Wallovik’s family in the middle of town. It’s kind of a little tower.” Clem read the notes she’d written in the margins around the maps. “It has a piece of art they say Ygor carved himself. A bone. In the shape of a heart.”
My excitement grew as Clem spoke. Abi’s discovery was a solid lead, but it was a lot harder to get to than what Clem had just shown us. We could be in and out of that village before anyone knew what had happened. If the Heart of Eternity was there, we’d be on our way to the Umbral Forge in a couple of days.
“Why did the priest only see two colors coming out of Wallovik?” Eric asked with a wicked grin. “Jace saw four in his vision. Your lead sounds a little weak.”
“Don’t split hairs,” Clem said with a snort. “You just don’t want to admit I won. What I found is both more recent and easier to get to than Abi’s. Pretty sure I won this one, right, Jace?”
“You both did amazing work,” I said. “But Eric is right, Clem. Abi’s story ticks more boxes than yours.”
Before my friend could protest, I continued.
“But we have to check out your lead, too. We’ll settle the bet after we’ve been both places.”
“Sounds fair,” Abi said. “I will arrange for a trip with two legs. We’ll go to the island, first, then take another portal over to Clem’s target.
“I will let you all know when the time is right,” he continued. “We’ll need hiking gear, flashlights, backpacks, maybe provisions for a day or so. I’m not sure how long the hike will take.”
We all agreed to gather what we could, and my pulse quickened.
It was all coming together. Finally, things were going our way.
The Cut
I CONVINCED MY FRIENDS to race back to the dining hall after our meeting so Eric and I could fill our aching bellies. We shoveled food into our grinning faces, happy to be on our way to the Forge. After weeks of preparation, we were finally doing something.
When we parted, my thoughts raced a million miles a minute, turning our plan over and over to look for flaws. I knew from long experience that my only hope of sleeping that night was to find the still center at the heart of my mind. That meant meditation.
Which was perfect, because I needed to focus on advancement. Things were about to get much more dangerous, and I had to prepare for that. Disciple level was significantly more advanced than most Empyreals ever achieved. Breaking through to an artist core, though, opened a whole new realm of cultivation. I hoped that a more powerful core would give me control of my serpents again.
“There you are,” Hahen greeted me from his seat on my desk as I returned to my dorm room. “I looked for you in the dining hall, but you missed your time at the trough. Are you prepared to master Sleepless?”
Hahen’s insistence on mastering that technique irritated me, but only because I knew he was right to push for it. The extra hours it freed up could be the key to reaching the next level. With a sigh, I began laying out everything I’d learned in our last session.
The rat spirit listened attentively, then he posed a question to me, “And what does all of that mean to you?”
I considered what I’d just said to him before I answered. There seemed to be only one clue to work with.
“The Sleepless technique has to be tied to the thread I saw during my meditation,” I explained to Hahen. “The exhaustion aspects follow it into my aura. Maybe I should cut it.”
The rat spirit’s eyes widened with alarm. “I know nothing about that thread. Cutting it could be dangerous.”
It was surprising whenever Hahen told me he didn’t know something. Every time I bumped into the limits of his experience, it felt like I’d stepped out onto thin ice. The rat spirit had been around longer than anyone I knew, including the elders and sages. If he couldn’t tell me about this thread dangling from my aura, I didn’t know who could.
I was sure the line of shadows was the key to unlocking the Sleepless technique. If I could find someone who’d mastered it, maybe they’d drop a clue or two for me.
“The more powerful cultivators get, the more secretive they become,” I muttered. “That’s why we’ve never heard about these threads, and why we don’t know anyone who’s learned the Sleepless technique. Sacred artists who are powerful enough to see the threads would keep that knowledge to themselves.”
The rat spirit wrinkled his nose at that statement. He paced back and forth in front of me, then scrambled up onto the edge of my desk and crossed his hands in his lap.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Jace, but you’re not that powerful.” Hahen raised both hands to cut me off before I could argue with him. “I didn’t say you aren’t one of the strongest people I know. You are. But you’re no sage, and you’re certainly not a dragon. There are tens of thousands of people at the disciple level in this world. Do you really think they can all keep such a secret?”
It was my turn to pace as I considered my mentor’s words. There was no shortage of people
