Chapter 2 A Gift
A Gift
“The James R. Thompson Center was originally the State of Illinois Center until it got too expensive for the Illinois state government to inhabit it and they sold the building to Google,” Finley stated as he stood by Declan’s elbow.
“How the mighty have fallen. I don’t even think Google had a chance to take it over before the war. ”
His best friend was not telling him about the post-modernist rotunda building whose whole aspect looked like what someone in the past thought the future would look like. Finley was reminding himself. Declan understood why.
With its round base and steep glass walls that rose up like a sheer ice cliff before them, Declan could almost remember what it had been like when the streets were full of people and there’d be tourists coming in and out of the building, eating in the food court in the lower area or heading to one of the L trains, what Chicago termed its elevated and subway lines.
The memory of the buzz of life was all it was.
The ruins were silent and dark now. More like a monument to the dead than the living.
“It’s fared a little better against the plant-life,” Declan remarked. “Walls are too steep for them to get a foothold.”
The vines that thrust up through the asphalt and concrete sidewalks and roads did hang down like a beaded curtain around the first level of the Thompson Center, but the upper floors, which were simply walls of glass, were mostly clear.
Surprisingly, many of the panes were still intact, too, but Declan supposed they were of incredibly sturdy glass.
They had been “walls” of the former state building after all.
“What is Google?” Elasha asked as she dusted her hands off on her thighs.
“Oh, it was…” Here Finley gave a sigh. “It was a technology company. An information technology company at its core. Its search engine was known to…” He broke off when he saw her furrowed brow.
“Basically, it was a librarian in a way. It helped you find answers to questions, brought information to your fingertips, let you explore many subjects. You could get lost down plenty of rabbit holes with Google.”
“Oh, well, that’s quite useful!” she answered.
“Yes, it was very useful,” Finley nodded.
“Did it have as many sources as the Athenaeum?” she asked.
“You might not believe this, but it had far more,” Finley explained.
“All of human knowledge could be accessed through something called the internet. And Google, among many other things it did, allowed you to search that information efficiently. You could learn anything. Find out anything. It was incredible.”
Elasha looked a little dubious, but said neutrally, “Well, I can understand why you would miss such a thing.”
“Like your ridwin, we could contact people all over the globe immediately and search all that information with our phones.” Finley moved his thumb over his palm as if he was his old phone. Declan could feel the silky smooth glass under his own just watching that movement.
Elasha couldn’t hide her disbelief there. “That sounds quite wondrous.”
“It was. And we should be working to bring it back. Power it by magic instead of fossil fuels, of course.” Finley balled his right hand into a fist. “The Separatists can seem ridiculous–can be ridiculous–but trust me when I say that there were some things about the old world worth saving. That was even better than what we have today.”
She shifted from foot to foot. “Cara, uhm, she’s a human friend of mind, says some of the same things. I admit that when she speaks of certain activities like flying in the air and such, I do have a feeling of wonder.”
“Maybe it’s something to build a bridge over,” Finley said. “Instead of just saying that everything human is bad and has to be eliminated.”
“I don’t think that!” Elasha cried, but there was a slightly guilty light in her eyes.
“Maybe not. I guess I’ve just not heard anything from many elves about what they’d like to preserve.
It’s all about reclaiming. Though I don’t think there’s much worth keeping around here.
” Finley turned back towards the broken doors that were hanging off their frames as if people had simply smashed through them in their panic to escape the Leviathan.
Maybe they had. While the first rifts had opened in Lightwell, Declan imagined that the Pedway–or any underground area really–would have suited the Leviathan quite well in terms of their rifts.
While they were not fond of electric light or any light really, that light did not hurt them in the same way that sunlight did.
It was thought that many of the rifts opened in people’s basements.
The subway system here must have been an incredible place for rifts.
“We should go in. Finley, where is the entrance to this Pedway?” Aquilan asked.
“Downstairs. The interior is fully open with offices and stuff all along the outside. But there was a food court at the bottom and three entrances to the Pedway from there. Are you certain that the horses and HT will be safe up here on their own?” Finley asked a little anxiously as he saw the Sun had dipped far enough in the sky that the shadows were growing longer in the streets.
The horses and Helgrom’s pony were swishing their tails and touching each others’ noses.
Aquilan smiled. “Yes, I have strengthened all the enchantments over them. Nothing shall hurt them. And they will know to run back to Tyrael if anything is to go wrong.”
“Horses scared of dark,” Snaglak chuckled. “Not make war like Glom. Glom kill good.”
“Horses have a hard time using stairs, Snaglak,” Finley reminded the orc. “And they aren’t meant to kill things. They’re meant to be ridden.”
“Glom meant to be ridden and kill things,” Snaglak nodded sagely even as Glom attempted to take a bite out of his butt. “Hey! No eat!”
Snaglak smacked the naki on the head. It didn’t hurt the great beast just reminded him who was–supposedly–boss.
“Oh, I guess you don’t smell funny then?” Rhalyf asked dryly.
Sensing that he was missing something when Finley snickered and shook his head while saying, “You really can’t get over the fact that Snaglak doesn’t want to eat you. As if that’s a bad thing!”
“As I’m sure that any intelligent creature knows, I am delicious! So yes, I am offended,” Rhalyf proclaimed.
“Stringy,” Snaglak muttered under his breath.
“I’ll tell you what, Rhalyf, I’ll slice some meat off your bones myself and cook it for Snaglak next time we’re in the inn,” Helgrom promised.
“Well, maybe we don’t have to go that far.” Rhalyf looked at the dwarf askance. “I am stating a fact that everyone knows without actually taking a mouthful.”
“I don’t know you’re starting to make me feel a little peckish, too,” Helgrom chuckled.
Everyone laughed, but Declan saw that Aquilan’s smile was faint as he regarded the others.
He imagined that under other circumstances the Sun King would have been chuckling just as loudly, but Aquilan’s mood had become darker and darker since he’d heard about the potential rifts to Illithor.
The tension had risen in the Sun King’s strong shoulders to the point where Declan imagined if he touched Aquilan it would have been like touching stone.
Of course, he’s feeling worried! The voice supplied.
The voice had been surprisingly quiet on the way here. Well, not quiet. He had been humming a little tune, but had said little. The humming was actually quite tuneful and a little sad.
Why? Declan asked.
Did you not hear Helgrom? An Aravae in a Kindreth city? Attempting to loot its magics? The voice tutted.
Yeah, but Darcassan is only going there because he wants to keep people safe against the Leviathan, Declan reminded the voice. He thinks the Leviathan are massing in the Under Dark, readying a huge attack. And he believes that there are weapons in Illithor that can defeat them.
Oh, there most certainly are! The voice agreed.
You… you know this?
More and more Declan was certain that this voice was a man.
No, not a man. An elf. A Night Elf to be exact.
He did not sound like Vulre and he had expressed the desire to kill the other Kindreth, but he was almost certain he was a Night Elf.
He definitely could not be Lady Ashryn Zinsadoral as he was clearly a “he” and she was a “she” or rather they presented as such.
Besides, he would know her presence immediately.
And this person was nothing like her. Not exactly…
Everyone knows this! Look at Rhalyf, the voice chuckled. He’s practically moaning with desire and dread to get there!
Declan’s eyes shifted to Rhalyf and he saw that the voice was correct.
There was only the thinnest veneer of insouciance that the elf normally cloaked himself with.
Thin and cracking. When people weren’t looking directly at Rhalyf, his expression was taut.
And Declan didn’t think it was because he was afraid of what the Separatist woman had said that no one returned alive from the Pedway.
But Aquilan is no thief. Unlike Darcassan and Rhalyf.
He would never dream of taking anything from purple-towered Illithor, the voice waxed poetic.
Ah, it’s maze-like streets where one could find a shop containing the rarest of scrolls or a knife against one’s throat!
Oh, the domes of its temples where pot-bellied, forgotten gods feasted on the blood of innocents.
Their screams rising up in the distance only to end in groans of pleasure-pain.
And then there were those dens of iniquity where anything and everything was for sale!
You sound like you’ve been there, Declan replied dryly.
Been there? The voice chuckled. Oh, yes, you could say that.
So if Darcassan finds a rift there will the Night King know? Declan asked.
Yes, Declan, the Night King will know, the voice answered softly, almost slyly. He will most definitely know.
And what will happen? Declan’s hands fisted at his sides.
To Darcassan?