Chapter 621: The Dead Paths
Irelia arrived at the infirmary a few minutes later, accompanied by two containment specialists. Between them floated a black plate the size of a tray, removed from inside one of the vessels that had been listed as empty. The surface was not made of paper, metal, or ordinary crystal. It looked like a thin slab of volcanic stone, too smooth to have been cut by tools, with silver lines forming the incomplete outline of the continent.
Seven points were engraved into it.
The first, located in the region of the Tower of Aster, had cracked at the center. Five remained completely dark. The last emitted a steady white light within the borders of the Witch Realm.
Kael remained seated on the bed while the specialists positioned the plate over a table. He did not try to stand again. Sylphie remained beside him, one hand resting near the seal below his collarbone, ready to interrupt any reaction from the command fragment.
Amelia opened her notebook.
"Was the vessel truly empty?"
Irelia nodded.
"There was no consciousness, stored mana, or visible inscription. The map appeared after the specialists tried to remove the outer seal."
"It was hidden inside the structure itself," Kael said.
Elion approached the plate and moved an instrument across the surface without touching it.
"Not exactly. The material altered its own composition when the Well was destroyed. Before that, it probably looked like nothing more than the vessel’s inner wall."
Kael observed the illuminated point.
"Then the map needed to survive the destruction."
"Or record its result," Amelia replied.
Alaric raised his face. The reaction was brief, but Kael noticed the movement of his eyes toward the plate.
"You have seen this before," Kael said.
Alaric remained silent.
Kael did not repeat the question. He merely pointed toward the white light.
"You were not frightened when you learned there was another point. You became frightened when you realized it was active now."
The prisoner looked away.
"Because it should not have lit on its own," Kael continued. "Aster was connected to this structure. When we destroyed the Well, something crossed the connection and reached the next point."
Alaric clenched his jaw.
Amelia observed Kael in silence. The information was still insufficient to confirm any theory, but he was not speaking at random. He was using every reaction from the man to narrow the possibilities.
Kael rested his elbows on his knees.
"The map was not left for you."
Alaric looked at him again.
"It was left for us."
This time, the prisoner failed to hide his surprise.
Irelia frowned.
"A message?"
"More than that," Kael replied. "The Cartographer knew someone would find the vessel if Aster fell. Perhaps she did not know who would win, but she wanted the map to appear afterward."
Amelia closed one of the folders she was carrying.
"A contingency."
"Yes. If the project succeeded, the map would remain hidden. If it failed, it would show the next location."
Sylphie looked toward the white point.
"This could be a trap."
"It is a trap," Kael said. "The question is who it is for."
Alaric released a short laugh, still bound to the chair.
"You believe you can understand someone who spent her entire life finding forgotten paths."
Kael turned his face toward him.
"I do not need to understand her entire life. Only what she wants today."
The laughter disappeared.
Kael pointed toward the plate.
"She wants me to see this."
"Arrogance."
"You know her better than I do. Tell me whether she usually leaves maps for people she has no intention of meeting."
Alaric did not answer.
"That is what I thought."
Elion moved the instrument closer to the illuminated point. The surface reacted, creating small circles around the light.
"There is an emission."
"Where does it lead?" Amelia asked.
"Everywhere and nowhere. This is not marking only a physical position. It is searching for a correspondence."
Kael touched the seal below his collarbone.
The fragment pulsed.
The light on the map increased with the same intensity.
Sylphie immediately seized his wrist.
"Do not move closer."
"I did not touch it."
"It responded to you."
"Not to me. To the fragment."
Kael looked toward Alaric.
"She left the map inside cargo connected to the Well. When I destroyed the core, part of the command became trapped inside me. The map found that fragment and lit up."
Amelia understood.
"Then it is not merely indicating an open door."
"It is using Kael to locate the door," Sylphie said.
Kael shook his head.
"Or using the door to locate me."
The white point expanded slightly farther.
A silver line crossed the map and stopped exactly at the plate’s edge. The material of the table began darkening beneath it.
Elion stepped back.
"Everyone move away."
The specialists raised barriers. Violet pulled Alaric’s chair away while Sylphie reinforced the seal over Kael’s chest. He remained seated, watching the line grow.
The silver reached the edge of the plate and continued into the air.
First it formed one vertical line.
Then another.
A frame appeared in front of the table, tall and narrow, similar to the door Kael had seen in the image received through the fragment. There was no wall around it, only a rectangle formed from silver light.
A hand covered by a white glove crossed the surface.
Alaric stopped breathing for an instant.
Kael noticed.
The hand remained open, revealing a silver seam around the wrist. Then it slowly turned and touched the inside of the frame.
A female voice came through the opening.
"You took your time."
Kael looked toward Amelia.
"I was resting."
Amelia closed her eyes for a moment.
The voice seemed to smile.
"Kael Scarlet."
"Cartographer."
"That name will do."
"You left the map."
"I left a direction."
"For me."
"For whoever managed to destroy Aster."
Kael leaned back slightly on the bed.
"Then you were not specifically waiting for me."
The hand stopped.
It was a small pause, but enough.
Kael smiled.
"You expected the Well to endure."
"It fulfilled its function."
"No. If it had, you would not have placed a contingency inside the cargo."
The Cartographer did not answer immediately.
Kael continued:
"You lost the core, the consciousnesses, Alaric, and the trade routes. Now you are trying to turn defeat into an invitation so it looks as though everything was part of the plan."
Alaric turned his face toward the door of light, waiting for some reaction. The gloved hand merely closed its fingers slowly.
"You speak a great deal for someone who was nearly consumed."
"But I was not."
"You carry part of the command."
"Isolated."
"One fragment is enough."
"That is what the Well thought."
The point on the map flickered.
Sylphie looked toward Kael. He was not merely provoking her. He watched every change in the light, every delay in the response, and every reaction from Alaric. The Cartographer was trying to maintain control over the conversation, but she could not completely hide the limitations of that communication.
"You are not on the other side of this door," Kael said.
The hand became still.
"You are projecting an image through the map. The illuminated position does not show where you are. It shows where you intend to open something."
The voice lost part of its lightness.
"A small difference."
"Not for someone who needs to find you."
Kael looked toward Elion.
"How much of the emission can you track?"
Elion discreetly raised three fingers.
Three minutes.
Kael returned his attention to the door.
"What exists in the Witch Realm?"
"History."
"Useless answer."
"A path your people closed before a Witch Realm even existed."
"Name."
"You will not recognize it."
"Try."
The gloved hand touched the frame again.
"The Dead Paths."
Eleonor entered the infirmary at that exact moment, accompanied by Yggdrasil. The small red-haired woman seemed irritated at being summoned with such urgency, but her expression changed as soon as she heard the name.
"That no longer exists."
The Cartographer replied:
"Forgotten things continue to exist. They merely cease to be observed."
Yggdrasil approached the map.
"I destroyed the roots that led there."
"You destroyed the roots you knew."
Yggdrasil’s face hardened.
Kael looked toward her.
"What are the Dead Paths?"
"An ancient network of passages," Yggdrasil replied. "Before modern portals, some races used fixed structures to cross vast distances. They were not physical paths. They were intervals between territories, sustained by the memory of a place."
Irelia understood the threat.
"A road between realms."
"Between any location possessing a door connected to the network," Yggdrasil confirmed.
Amelia moved closer to the map.
"If the organization controls one of those passages, it can cross borders without using detectable portals."
"Exactly," the Cartographer said.
Kael did not take his eyes from the white hand.
"You just confirmed the objective."
"You had already understood."
"I wanted to hear it."
The hand closed.
"A door will open today."
"When?"
"Soon."
"That is also useless."
"At the third toll."
Kael observed Alaric.
The prisoner closed his eyes immediately.
Kael pointed toward him.
"He knows what that means."
The Cartographer remained silent.
Kael stood from the bed. Sylphie tried to hold him, but he merely walked toward Alaric without moving completely beyond her reach.
"What toll?"
Alaric did not answer.
Kael seized the back of the chair with his healthy hand.
"You are afraid of her. But you are more frightened by the idea of that door opening. That means even you do not know what will cross through."
"Nothing will cross."
"Then why did you call them open doors?"
The first sound echoed through the frame.
It did not come from the infirmary.
It was a deep, distant toll, like a bell heard beneath the earth. The vibration crossed the map, made the seal over Kael’s chest pulse, and drew a small tremor from Alaric’s hands.
"One," the Cartographer said.
Kael kept his eyes on the prisoner.
"What happens at the third?"
Alaric clenched his teeth.
Kael brought his face closer.
"She already lost Aster. If this door fails, she will need someone to blame. Do you truly believe she intends to rescue the man who allowed the Well to be destroyed?"
Alaric’s breathing became heavier.
"She rescues no one."
"Then speak."
The second toll echoed.
The light from the map spread through the lines of the continent. The point in the Witch Realm grew, covering an entire region of forest in the far east.
Alaric yielded.
"Nemet Grove."
Eleonor turned toward Yggdrasil.
"Do you know it?"
"I do."
"What is there?"
Yggdrasil answered without taking her eyes from the frame.
"A crossing door buried beneath a circle of black stones. I sealed that place three hundred years ago."
"Why?"
"Because something continued using the path after every other entrance had been destroyed."
Kael looked toward the Cartographer.
"What is on the other side?"
The voice replied:
"Come and find out."
Elion raised her hand.
Two minutes had passed.
She still needed one more.
Kael realized the Cartographer was also waiting for the third toll. Maintaining the communication occupied part of her attention. If she ended it early, they might lose the trail.
He returned to the bed and sat.
"You do not seem to be in a hurry."
"You will arrive too late regardless."
"If you believed that, you would not be speaking with me."
The white hand contracted again.
Kael continued:
"You need me to go to Nemet."
"I do not."
"Then close the door."
There was no answer.
"She cannot," Kael said, looking toward Amelia. "The map connected the fragment inside me to the point. The door is using both sides to open."
Sylphie became serious.
"Kael is one of the anchors."
"Temporary," the Cartographer replied.
"Then we remove the fragment," Sylphie said.
"If you do that now, the accumulated energy will search for another bond. Perhaps someone less resistant."
Kael watched the light on the map.
The Cartographer had answered too quickly.
"Lie."
The hand stopped.
"If removing the fragment caused that, you would have encouraged Sylphie to do it. Instead, you tried to frighten her."
The third toll began.
It was not yet a complete sound. A low vibration grew behind the frame, gathering strength.
Elion raised her hand.
The tracking was ready.
Kael placed his fingers over the seal below his collarbone.
"Sylphie."
"Yes?"
"When I tell you, cut the fragment out."
The Cartographer moved her hand with true urgency for the first time.
"Do not do that."
Kael smiled.
"Now I believe it works."
"You do not know what you are interrupting."
"You people truly need another phrase."
The third toll grew louder.
Elion threw the three instruments over the map. Golden lines surrounded the white point and crossed the projection, fixing a direction inside the forest.
"Located."
Kael looked toward Sylphie.
"Now."
She placed her palm over the seal and pulled.
Pain crossed his chest like a blade. Kael closed his hand around the bedsheet, but did not pull his body away. Sylphie isolated the fragment, tore it from the restored channels, and trapped it between both hands inside a green sphere.
The connection to the map broke.
The third toll failed halfway through.
The silver door distorted.
The Cartographer’s hand tried to seize the frame, but the light began closing around her wrist.
Kael stood.
"I will see you in Nemet."
Her voice completely lost its calm tone.
"No."
The projection disappeared.
The map cracked from the illuminated point to the edge, but the direction captured by Elion’s instruments remained suspended in the air.
Yggdrasil looked toward Kael.
"You interrupted the opening, but you did not destroy the door. Nemet’s seal was damaged."
"How long until they try again?"
"Perhaps an hour. Perhaps less."
Kael turned toward Amelia.
"Now we close the official passages to the Witch Realm."
Amelia was already writing the orders.
"All of them?"
"Every known one. Leave one false passage active along the western border. I want it to look as though we are moving troops through there."
Irelia nodded.
"A distraction."
"She expected me to run directly to Nemet. We will show her exactly that."
He looked toward Yggdrasil.
"Is there a natural root near the grove?"
The small woman crossed her arms.
"I destroyed all of them."
"All the ones you knew?"
Yggdrasil gave him an irritated look.
"Do not use that woman’s words against me."
"Is there one or not?"
She remained silent for several seconds.
"One secondary root. Ancient. Too narrow for an army."
"Perfect."
Sylphie still held the command fragment.
"Kael, you just had this removed from your chest. Your channels remain injured."
"I know."
"You cannot continue using Celestial Step as before."
"Then I use it less."
"You always say that."
"This time I have a better reason."
Eleonor approached.
"You will not lead alone."
Kael nodded.
"I did not intend to."
His grandmother seemed surprised by the quick answer.
Kael pointed toward the cracked map.
"Amelia maintains the operation from here. Irelia organizes the false deployment. Elion studies the fragment and prevents another remote activation. Yggdrasil opens the secondary root. Sylphie comes with me because she knows the door’s energy. Umbra enters first through the shadows. You coordinate the witches around the perimeter."
Eleonor crossed her arms.
"And what will you do?"
Kael looked toward the direction marked over the map.
"The Cartographer has spent too long watching how I solve problems."
He took the sword resting beside the bed and fastened the sheath to his waist with one hand.
"I am going to find out how she reacts when the plan stops being hers."
Yggdrasil opened a passage in the infirmary floor. Thick roots moved apart, revealing a natural corridor illuminated by small green lines. The path was narrow, damp, and ancient. It led directly to Nemet Grove without touching any known portal.
Kael stopped in front of the opening.
Sylphie seized his arm.
"No running."
"No need."
"No throwing yourself into any holes."
"That seems too specific."
"No touching ancient objects."
Kael looked at her.
"That part may be difficult."
Sylphie tightened her grip.
"Kael."
"I will ask first."
Umbra emerged from his shadow.
"That still allows him to touch them afterward."
"Exactly."
Sylphie closed her eyes for a moment.
Kael descended first.
The root corridor closed behind the group, isolating every trace of the passage. While the Witch Realm moved troops toward the western border and every known portal was blocked, Kael, Sylphie, Umbra, Eleonor, and a small unit of witches silently crossed the forgotten path beneath the forest.
At the other end, the Cartographer did not know the connection had left a direction.
She did not know Alaric had spoken.
And she did not know Kael was already approaching through a route absent from every one of her maps.
Forty minutes later, an opening appeared between the roots.
Kael emerged into a forest covered in mist. Black stones formed a circle less than one hundred meters away. At the center stood a vertical door without any surrounding wall, exactly as it had appeared in the vision.
The Cartographer stood before it.
This time, she was not a projection.
Dark cloak.
White gloves.
A metal structure attached to her back, loaded with small maps, compasses, and magical instruments.
She kept one hand over the handle.
The door was still closed.
Kael walked out from between the trees.
The woman turned her face.
Even from a distance, he could tell she had not expected to see him there so soon.
"You arrived quickly."
Kael drew his sword.
"You lit a light inside my realm."
The Cartographer removed her hand from the handle.
Behind her, six masked agents emerged from the mist. Other movements appeared between the stones, forming a defensive circle around the door.
Kael continued advancing.
"Next time..."
Scarlet mana traveled along the blade.
"...put it out before I see it."