Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

After a while, Zorian flipped through the last of the notebooks he had brought along and closed it shut. He impatiently rocked back and forth in place, taking in the sights around him through his various senses. In his mind sense and soul sense, the bees coming and going from the Taramatula estate looked like streams of tiny glittering stars.

Pretty. He turned his back towards the gate and observed the wall of plant life surrounding the estate. He had been here many times in the past, but he had rarely paid much attention to the lands surrounding the place. Ignoring the guards and their alarmed inquiries about where he was going, he promptly wandered off into the wilds and started exploring.

The jungle surrounding the Taramatula estate was kind of beautiful, he realized. No doubt a large part of that was deliberate design by the Taramatula, but still. There were paths cut into the vegetation to make the area more accessible to humans, and flowers were everywhere. Zorian followed the paths with no particular purpose in mind, mentally repelling snakes and biting insects whenever they got too close to him. No large predatory animals bothered him. The Taramatula had probably cleared them all out from the vicinity of their home.

Eventually he stopped walking, staring at a particularly large white flower that had a great many bees swarming over it. A voice sounded from behind him not long afterwards.

"It really is you. Damn it, Zorian, couldn’t you have waited at the entrance just a little bit? If you wanted to look at bees, there are like a million of them inside the estate…"

It was Daimen, of course. Zorian slowly turned around, observing his eldest brother with a complex expression. Interacting with people he had gotten to know as temporary loopers before the end was always rather uncomfortable, and never was this as true as it was right now. The last time he saw Daimen, his brother had sacrificed himself to ensure Zorian could get out of the time loop alive.

Xvim had sacrificed himself too, of course. So had many other temporary loopers. However, Daimen’s choice to burn his whole life force to stabilize the passage into the real world had left a particularly deep impression on Zorian because… it was Daimen. He would have never expected his eldest brother to sacrifice himself for him.

He had never completely forgiven Daimen for what happened in his childhood, he realized. Interacting with his eldest brother in the time loop, he grudgingly came to accept he was being kind of petty and that he needed his brother’s help, but a part of him would always see Daimen as an enemy. Now that part of him was angry and upset, because he realized he owed a life debt to Daimen now. Even if the Daimen in front of him knew nothing of it, Zorian knew he could never pretend it wasn’t real.

"What?" Daimen demanded. He sounded pretty annoyed. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"We haven’t seen each other in a while, but I feel like I saw you only days ago," said Zorian after a second of pause.

"Ha! Yes, your big brother is just as handsome and dashing as always," Daimen said, puffing his chest in an exaggerated manner. He then gave Zorian a scrutinizing look. "You’ve certainly changed, though."

Like always, Daimen doubted his identity upon their first meeting. Quite sensible, considering the distances he would have to traverse just to end up here.

"Yeah, well, people change rapidly during their teenage years," Zorian commented calmly.

"No, it’s more than that," Daimen said, shaking his head. "Even your posture is different. You look calmer. More confident."

"Confident?" Zorian asked incredulously. He felt anything but confident at the moment. He was under a tremendous amount of stress at the moment.

"Yeah," Daimen said. "It seems the academy has been a good influence on you."

He looked around until he spotted a nearby fallen tree and then casually waved his hand at it. A bust of wind immediately blew away all the dirt and leaves on top of it, after which Daimen plopped down on the tree with a heavy sigh. He then gave Zorian a piercing look.

"Why are you here, Zorian?" he asked. "Actually, scratch that. How are you here?"

"Teleportation," Zorian said. In reality he had opened a dimensional gate straight to Koth, but it was best to keep that secret for now. "I got someone to transport me directly to you."

"Transport you directly… Zorian, do you have any idea how dangerous that is!?" Daimen spluttered at him.

"Of course I do," Zorian told him. "It’s just that I had no choice but to do this. I had to talk to you as soon as possible."

Daimen stared at him for a few seconds, discreetly casting a few divination spells at Zorian and considering something. Zorian patiently waited for him to finish and pretended he didn’t notice the divination spells directed at him.

"You’re in trouble, aren’t you?" Daimen finally asked with a long-suffering a sigh.

"Yes," Zorian admitted. "Big trouble."

"I knew it," Daimen said flatly. "Damn it, Zorian… this is the sort of thing I’d expect out of Fortov, not you. Alright, just… tell me what you have gotten yourself into and I’ll see how I can help you. But you owe me big time for this! How did you get enough money to pay for teleportation here, anyway? You didn’t steal from Mother and Father, did you?"

"No, I have plenty of money," Zorian said, shaking his head.

Daimen swore under his breath. He seemed even more displeased with that idea than with Zorian stealing money from his family. I guess he assumed Zorian must have gotten the money illegally.

Which, now that he thought about it, was pretty much correct. He got most of his current funds by stealing it from the invaders, after all.

"Anyway, my issue is that invaders from Ulquaan Ibasa and the cultists of the Dragon Below are going to jointly invade Cyoria on the night of the summer festival in order to release the primordial trapped beneath the city and harvest the souls of everyone living in the city," Zorian summarized.

Daimen gave him a strange look.

"What?" he asked with an incredulous laugh.

"Ulquaan Ibasa, the isle of the exiles, is invading Cyoria through a permanent dimensional portal hidden beneath the city," Zorian said.

"A-ha," Daimen said slowly.

"Much of the city’s leadership has been subverted by the Esoteric Order of the Celestial Dragon, better known as the Cult of the Dragon Below. They are working together with the Ibasans to keep the invasion preparation secret and will directly aid them when they actually invade the city," Zorian continued.

"I see," Daimen said, giving him a sour look. "You are definitely Zorian. Only he would come here with such a ridiculous story. A real imposter would surely cobble together a far more convincing scheme than this."

"I’m glad you think so," Zorian told him calmly. "Anyway, I don’t really expect you to do much about the invasion itself. That whole situation is kind of beyond you. Unfortunately, the invaders know I’m one of the chief people opposing them, so they’re going to go after you and the Taramatula to get leverage over me. That’s why I hurried over here like this. I had to warn you before it was too late."

Daimen suddenly frowned, becoming a little more serious.

"Zorian, this isn’t funny," Daimen protested severely.

"I know," Zorian sighed. "For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for getting you into this mess. All I can do is offer you information, and maybe shelter, if you need one. Though convincing Taramatula to evacuate their ancestral estate and leave it at the mercy of the invaders is probably a tall order, so…"

"You know what? I don’t have time for your bullshit," Daimen told him, anger and annoyance mixing in his voice and posture. He got up from his seat and dusted himself off. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going back to my work. When you’re ready to have a serious talk, we can–"