Chapter 11
Living Water
District C-1, Central Sector, Dominion of Nylos
Giger pulled his coat tighter around himself as he stood in the barren emptiness of the Hollow Sea several kilometers outside the city. Gally was with him, as he tried to make sure she was never left alone if he could avoid it, and Bogdar was there too as their minder.
"You going to tell us what this is all about?" he shouted to Mordekai, who was standing some distance off.
All Mordekai said when he woke Giger up this morning was "Come with me." Maybe it was just Giger's imagination, but ever since his change, Mordekai seemed less attuned to the concept of personal space. Maybe Giger was just more self-conscious about it now that his old master was an uncomfortably attractive woman. It was certainly not something he was good at sorting out first thing in the morning.
"I thought you should be here for this, Giger," Mordekai replied, not bothering to raise his voice despite the distance. With no real ambient noise about, it was not really necessary.
"And what is this?" Giger asked in turn.
"I was thinking about making the Hollow Sea not so hollow."
It did not take Giger long to realize what he meant.
"Mordekai, you can't—"
"The Star Seed gave life to this world, Giger. All our lives, the lives of our ancestors, three hundred years back, we've only seen a taste of her power. Our existence was maintained all while she was sleeping. You're going to see what it's like now that we're awake."
Giger could not imagine this being anything but a bad idea. Maybe he could try talking Mordekai down. There was not much hope of it working, but it was worth a shot.
"Mordekai, you've never used this much power before. You don't know what'll happen."
Mordekai turned to him and smiled.
"I know I built my reputation on magic theory, but I've always been more of an applied magic person, Giger. The best way to find out what will happen is to do it."
"You think that was what Kamellia said before she became an Abomination?" Giger asked.
This earned him a nasty look from Mordekai.
"Kamellia wasn't ready for the kind of power she called upon. It was my failing as a teacher that drove her to it. And it's still a bit of a sore spot, Giger, so I would appreciate it if you didn't speak of it lightly."
"I wasn't saying it lightly, Mordekai," Giger replied grimly. "My whole world fell apart that day and everyone had to pay for it. I don't think we can afford that kind of butcher bill a second time."
Mordekai's expression darkened as he said, "You couldn't stop Kamellia then and you can't stop me now, Giger. I brought you here as a witness. You're the one who's most able to understand what I'm about to do."
"I don't think I like the way this conversation is going," Bogdar said.
"You should feel honored, Young Bogdar," Mordekai told him. "This is but the first of many great wonders you will see. Of all your guild, you are the one who has the most promise."
"Promise for what, Master Grummond?"
"The promise for understanding what you are about to see."
Realizing that this was his last chance to stop Mordekai, Giger shouted, "Mordekai, don't!"
"I suggest you take Galatea and get up on that hill over there," Mordekai replied as he raised his hand. "Unless you're in the mood for a swim, that is. Young Bogdar, that goes for you, too. Surely you must know how bad wet dog smells."
Instead of making some desperate move to interfere with Mordekai in the slimmest chance it might make him reconsider, Giger found that his first thought was of Gally for some inexplicable reason. He took hold of her, ignoring her protestations about the rough treatment, and scrambled to the hill Mordekai was talking about, one of the few points of elevation in the mostly flat Hollow Sea.
It turned out that Bogdar decided that discretion was the better part of valor and was up the hill before them. By the time Giger turned back to Mordekai, his old master slammed his hand on the ground, making it shake with a violence Giger had never felt before. The closest thing to it was when the Star Seed was being awakened. What had been awakened this time?
Cracks began to open up in the ground, ejecting jets of steam that raised up a massive dust bloom. Giger hastily summoned the dimensional pocket where he stored his relics and pulled out the cloak of Erlander Fin, wrapping up himself and Gally as he had done when the Star Seed broke confinement. Bogdar would have to take care of himself.
The wind whipped at them, but Master Fin's enchantment made the cloak sturdier than an armored wagon. It was not until things went still and quiet that Giger dared to pull back the cloak and when he did, he saw that Mordekai was true to his word. The Hollow Sea was no longer hollow. There was water all around, as far as the eye could see.
Bogdar was where Giger had left him. He was on his knees staring out at the water. His mask was off and tears were streaming down his face. It was not the tears of blood he shed when he used the channel booster but ordinary tears.
"Mat... Mat Zemlya..."
Giger might have to ask what that was supposed to mean later. For the time being, he turned his attention to Gally.
"You alright?" he asked her.
Gally nodded. She was clinging to his coat. Pretty tightly, too.
"Afraid I'm going to float away or something?" he asked.
There was probably something more delicate he could have said, but it was like a reflex, especially whenever she was involved. It took her a moment to realize before she looked down at her hands and promptly let go of him.
"Are you saying I weigh more than you?" she asked in turn.
Women were sensitive about their weight, as Giger understood it.
"There's nothing to you to weigh you down," Giger replied.
She did not seem to appreciate that. Apparently women were as sensitive to lack as they were to excess. However, before one of their famous arguments could start up, something more important occurred to her.
"Giger, where's Mordekai?"
Giger looked out and he saw a body floating in the water. Then, with only the least amount of forethought, he threw off coat and kicked away his boots before jumping into the water. He was not much of a swimmer, but it was one of the few physical activities he enjoyed as a child, though it had nearly been that long since the last time he went for a dip. Driven by urgency, he took to it better than someone so out of practice and out of shape would normally be.
Not that he was expecting it to be anyone else, but the body was indeed Mordekai. With considerable struggle, Giger dragged Mordekai back to their little hilltop island. Bogdar helped pull the two of them out of the water.
While Giger was laying Mordekai out, Gally asked, "Is... Is he...?"
Still being driven by urgency, he opened up Mordekai's shirt—something he would have normally been hesitant to do and far more so with his master's current form—and put his ear to the old master's chest. It was faint, but his heart was still beating, and when Giger lifted his head, he could see the subtle rise and fall of Mordekai's chest to show that he was breathing.
"Exactly how long are you going to keep staring?" an annoyed Gally asked him.
"I could ask you the same," Giger replied, noting her eyeline.
"I, ah, er..."
"He's alive at any rate," Giger said. "The only question is when he'll come out of this, and..."
"And?"
"Exactly what the hell are we supposed to do!?"
Giger's voice no doubt carried far in the empty air, while the four of them were stuck on a tiny island in the middle of a newborn sea. A gust of wind reminded Giger of the chill and the fact that he was sopping wet. He sneezed. Contrary to Gally's silly little folk belief, he did not think it was because someone was talking about him.