Obehid....look how we made it, pansophy straight to FRONT-PAGE issa our work ooooooooo.......... Congratulations Dear, oya drop it like it's hot

lemme not be in a rush but please come and help us upgrade our HERO Nebud for the upcoming war and so that he can be a "Super-Bodyguard" and am patiently waiting for the reunion

Tuhndhay:
Obehid....look how we made it, pansophy straight to FRONT-PAGE issa our work ooooooooo.......... Congratulations Dear, oya drop it like it's hot

lemme not be in a rush but please come and help us upgrade our HERO Nebud for the upcoming war and so that he can be a "Super-Bodyguard" and am patiently waiting for the reunion

Just logged in and i saw it on Fp,
come and see the wide grin on my face i'm super elated
Can't wait for Saturday...

okay Nebud let's see how you go from now on. Thanks Obehid

@decoderdgenius hope you enjoyed. Will you be the first again today ?

@Madosky112 it's complete oh, lol. Thank you for reading

@tunjilomo is it? Next one is about the same length oh. Nebud in action soon.

@Omittesb thank you for reading! Yes, oh, Nebud has really had a painful journey...

@Botaflica more coming

@ayshow6102 thank you for reading. As in...you may be right oh, well let's see

@Tuhndhay thank you! Haha, it's really super-bodyguard. What reunion are you waiting for?

@Datyhpebruv Saturday has come! Come and read

@Fazemood thank you for reading! Let's see what Nebud does next

Part 18
---------

It was good that I was not one to gloat, because if I was, I would be in front of Arexon reveling in my victory. It was really no surprise to me that Sophian accepted me into Sophi’s guard. Why would it not? Sophian was too arrogant to think that I could kill it. In fact, it could not even fathom any scenario in which I would find it advantageous to harm its offspring. If I was a lesser uspec, I would slit the young uspec’s throat right at that moment.

I turned to my left.

Yakubo nodded at me, I nodded back at the uspec.

Perhaps I could not kill the young with Yakubo there. Yakubo and I had been assigned to the same shift. The young uspec was always to be accompanied by two soldiers whenever it left the Castle. Yakubo and I were its guards today. We walked along the hard fog road in the pious camp, between the bases that belonged to the Order of Remediation.

My mind darted back to Sophian’s stupidity. There was a part of me that wanted to harm this young uspec, solely because of the pain that I knew it would bring to Sophian. In my entire time in this port, I had not been able to identify anything that Sophian cared about. Until I saw its interaction with Sophi, earlier on in the day. Sophian only showed emotions with its offspring. I could see the progenitor’s bond whenever it looked at its offspring. If only I did not find it so inconceivable to harm one so young, especially one who had done me no wrong.

The surroundings became more familiar as the base of the Order of Fabrication emerged to our right. That was the base that we had been turned into imps in. Just the thought of that base had me cringing. I hated Aurelion, and anything that reminded me of it.

A glance at Yakubo showed that it shared my distaste for our current environment. I focused on the fog instead, on the way that it drifted about me, the cleanness of it. I had never appreciated fog, until I spent a week trapped in Aurelion. Not even the pits had been that bleak.

We took a right, staying on the path bordered by the Fabrication base. The remediation base to our left gave way to the base which belonged to the Order of Procreation. That base reminded me of the pits of Hakute and the hatch. For a moment, my eyes caught on the young uspec in front of me, and I saw my own offspring. It had been so long since I thought of that offspring, that I found myself shaken by the stirring memories. I shook the memories away, choosing instead to concentrate on my plan.

Sophian and Sophila would die. And the young uspec in front of me, the one that Sophian had so carelessly put under my protection, would be the means by which they were killed. Sophian was smart. At least that was my impression of the uspec. It was smart, and methodical. How could one with so much foresight, make the mistake of trusting me? Did it really believe that deeply in its own infallibility? An orange ray from the daylight dots, wrought a strange glitter in the rectangle in Yakubo’s earring. That glitter caught my eye. It reminded me of the weight on my ears and what the earrings I wore meant. Even though I smelled the fresh fogs, and walked freely on fine grounds, I was still just as imprisoned as I’d been in Aurelion. This life only had the illusion of freedom. I would not get the real thing until Sophian and its progenitor were dead.

Their deaths were my new obsession. I welcomed it.

We reached our destination, the base of the Order of Education. The base was completely sealed off by hard fog. There was an inscription carved into the hard boundary, which read the order’s name. Sophi walked up to the walls, and placed its hand against the fog. The fog softened and then drifted out of the way. The young uspec walked in first, then Yakubo, and I brought up the rear.

There was a neat array of dwellings in front of us. These dwellings varied in size, some having multiple layers, others only having one. Sophi led the way, between dwellings, to a large single layer one, cushioned between several dwellings. Two novices sat on a bench behind a long desk. They were positioned in front of a set of parted curtains.

“Salutations devout ones.” Sophi greeted the novices.

One of the novices inclined its head. This novice was the youngest I had ever seen. It had only two outer eye sockets formed and seven small iron spikes sticking out of its chest.

“You are late Sophi.” It scolded the young uspec.

The other novice also rose its head. This one appeared older than the other. It had four outer eye sockets formed and a partially filled chest. “Very late.” It said disapprovingly.

The uspec’s shoulders slumped. “Forgive …” it cut itself off, then squared its shoulders. It lifted its head and said, “I was delayed on imperial business.”
I almost laughed.

“Every uspec who comes here for knowledge is the same.” One of the novices said. “Imperial or postulant, you are all the same in our eyes. You will not receive any special treatment. Once the lesson begins, no one is allowed to disrupt it.”

“But I am only a few minutes late.”

“The lessons have begun.”

“Please.” Sophi begged. “My pater will not be pleased.”

“Perhaps you should have considered that before you chose to be tardy. Good day.”

Sophi took a deep breath, and then it turned around and walked around Yakubo. We were just about to turn around and follow the young, when we saw a pious one standing behind the drawn curtains.

“Sophi!” The pious one yelled. “Where are you going? I have been waiting for you to start the lesson. Come on, hurry up now!”

Sophi turned around. It was beaming when it ran past us, to the uspec standing by the curtains. “Salutations Teacher Sum.” It greeted with a bow.

Yakubo and I approached them. Once we got closer, we could clearly see the markings on the pious one’s fraise. Those markings showed that it was of the Order of education, it was a teacher.

“Salutations Sophi.” The teacher replied. “Tardy again?”

“Forgive me Teacher Sum, it will not happen again.”

The teacher laughed. “That was what you said the last time.”

“I really do try my best, I just got distracted, reading the tome of the blessed eye.”

“It is always one tome or the other with you Sophi.” The teacher shook its head. It held its hands behind its back, before it began walking. “But, why is it that you are never delayed reading tomes on pansophy. That is after all the education you are here to receive.”

“Pansophy is boring. I want to read about the exciting things. Like the tale of the great boga maker, the isle of shuns, and the blessed eye. I wish I had the blessed eye. But one must be touched by the founder to get it.” The young uspec grew quiet. “Teacher Sum, do you think that the founder will return? I will like to meet it. I would like to lay prostrate before it. Perhaps it will give me the blessed eye. Or, maybe it will allow me to siphon its route, like it did the great boga maker! Yes, I would like that.”

“You only seek to meet the founder to receive gifts from it. Your motives are not pure and selfless as every great hero’s is. You must be as selfless and altruistic as the great maker who the founder Chuspecip chose, or be as honorable and pure of heart as the ones that the founder gifted the blessed eye. Those are the only ones that the founder appears to.”

“Are there no good uspecs left then? Is that why the founder no longer appears to us? I wish for the old days, when there were uspecs who knew exactly where the founder lived. I would walk with the founder. I would give it gifts of silver and gold, of all the metals that we mined!”

The teacher laughed. “The founder desires no gifts. It is one that exists but does not. It needs no sustenance as it is the essence of spectral life which sustains it. It is the source of silver and gold, of the metals in the mines that you will own. You cannot give to the maker that which it can make.”

“What then can I give to the founder to make it choose me, to make it appear to me? I would protect it from the plenum. I would give every soldier in my army to its cause.”

“You have no army yet.” The teacher laughed. It stopped walking. “Besides, the founder does not need protection. It is the greatest being which exists in this existence. Only fools think that they can harm it.”

Sophi frowned. “You are wrong Teacher Sum. The plenum is close to catching it. They will destroy it if I do not get to it first. It is my destiny to save the founder and end the chasm. Kuworytes and Uspeciptyes will coexist again. I will return peace to this existence.”

The teacher bent to a squat in front of the young. It smiled patiently at it. “If you do not heed anything else I say, heed this. The plenum will win this war. They will not win it because they are stronger or wealthier than the founder. No, they will only win because the founder wills it so. This is our test. The founder is testing our faith. Those of the true faith must stay strong in their beliefs. When the trial is over, the founder will return and vanquish the plenum. Those that were faithful will be rewarded, and those that bowed to the plenum will be destroyed. That is why the mighty Sophila will never bow to the plenum. It is why you must remain steadfast. Remember that your loyalty to the founder comes before that which you give to any other uspec.”

Sophi bowed. “Yes, Teacher Sum. I am grateful for your wisdom.”

The teacher drew open the curtains and Sophi walked through. The teacher walked in after it. I counted twenty desks in the room they walked into. Only one of those desks was empty. Sophi sat on that one. The teacher walked to the front of the room. It had a large table in front of it. On that table, there were two bowls. One was filled with crystals of different colors, the other was filled with white crystals.

“Today we begin our lesson in appearance.” The teacher said. I looked around the room and noted that all of the uspecs in there were older than Sophi. Much older than Sophi. They all had several outer eye sockets formed and iron spikes on their chests. Some of them were so old, in fact, that they had all of their outer eye sockets formed and one or two of them filled. From the neckcloths on their necks, I could tell that they were also all novices, though I could not see the markings on the neckcloths clearly enough to say which order they belonged to.

“You have all learned the basics of pansophy. Now, we will learn of its practical applications using these crystals as examples. Before the conclusion of this course, you will all take the appearance of a colored crystal and transfer it through you, into one of the white crystals. What would you expect to happen if this exercise is performed correctly?”

Several uspecs in the room raised their hands.

“Tana.” The teacher called.

An uspec with some of its outer eye sockets formed rose. “If the pansophy is used accurately, the colored crystal will become invisible and the white one will take on the appearance of the colored.”

“Very good. Sit Tana.” The uspec sat. “Observe.” The teacher picked up a colored crystal and a white one, and then it transferred the appearance of the colored crystal to the white one. “Was my transfer obvious?” it asked.

“No Teacher Sum.” The uspecs replied.

“What did you not see Sophi?”

Sophi rose. “I did not see the appearance as it was transferred through you.”

“Very good. Sit Sophi. Now, you have all passed your preliminary exams, through which you showed that your mind bears the ability to learn pansophy. You have shown yourselves to be amenable to pansophy. You have also taken the introductory sciences. You have learned the basics of how to internally manipulate your lifeforces. You have done all of this, in preparation for the real thing, the exciting part, transferring lifeforces. How many of you chose to take another lifeforce before appearance?”

Sophi was the only one to raise its hand.

The teacher smiled. “Which lifeforce did you take Sophi?”

The uspec stood up. “I learnt about thought, Teacher Sum.”

“And why did you choose to take appearance now?”

The uspec looked down at its desk. “I didn’t…” its voice was a low mumble.

“Speak up please.”

It cleared its throat. “I did not choose to take appearance. My thought teacher instructed me to.”

“Yes, I did, didn’t I?” The uspecs in the classroom laughed. The teacher smiled. “And why did I instruct you to do this?”

“I do not know.”

“Be truthful Sophi.”

The uspec sighed. “Because I told you that I was ready for advanced thought.”

“You are not.”

“I am.” The uspec stated stubbornly.

“Who thinks that they can transfer the appearance the way that I just did?”

Sophi and two other uspecs rose their hands. “Come forward.” The teacher said. “Show us.”

One of the uspecs picked up the colored crystal. As soon as it touched it, its fingers turned the same shade of blue as the crystal. The other uspecs laughed. The uspec appeared flustered. More of its fingers turned blue, and the crystal remained as it had been. The uspecs continued laughing. Finally, the one doing the transfer gave up.

The teacher smiled. “You can return to your seat with the blue finger. Your fingers will remain blue until you are able to fix it yourself. Let this be a lesson to you all. Pansophy is not a game.”

The next uspec took a step back.

“You cannot change your mind now. You must finish what you begun.”

The uspec walked forward. It picked up the crystals. Several minutes passed in which nothing happened.

“Return to your seat.”

Sophi stepped forward. It picked up the crystals, and then it closed its eye. A few seconds later. I watched the appearance of the crystal, move through its skin. I could no longer see the colored crystal. It almost looked as if the crystal was in its body. But the appearance of the crystal stopped midway across its chest. Sophi opened its eye. It looked at its hand, where the colored crystal had been, and it smiled. Then it looked at the other crystal, which was still white, and it frowned. Then it turned to the teacher. The teacher pointed at its chest. Sophi’s shoulders sagged.

“That was a decent attempt.” The teacher said.

Sophi returned to its seat, and the lecture began. I found myself sucked in by the teacher’s words.

A finger poked at me, breaking my focus.

“I cannot get the teacher’s words out of my mind.” Yakubo said.

I frowned at it. “Which words?”

“Its words about the founder. Do you think it is true? Do you think the founder will return?”

“To be honest, I do not think about it. I don’t really care. Why do you?”

“I suppose we all need something to believe in. What better faith than Chuspecip? I am of an Uspecipyte port. It is a forgotten kingdom now, just one more annexed port that Sophila stole. But I still pray to Chuspecip. I pray that the founder will destroy Sophila and all that it holds dear. Just as Sophila destroyed all that I hold…held dear.” My confusion prompted Yakubo to explain. “My progenitor and siblings. We were commoners. We did not fight in the Kaiser’s army, but that did not stop Sophila from slaughtering them. I do not know why it saved me.”

“My condolences on the loss of your line.”

Yakubo nodded.

“Is Sophila’s serf army truly that strong?”

“No, the serf army is only in Chiboga. Sophila has a free army, led by golden capons. They are the ones that it uses to cease other ports.”

“And they are loyal to Sophila?”

“They are loyal to Sophila’s wealth.”

For some reason, I found that interesting enough to contemplate on. I was still musing over that when the lesson ended, and the young uspec, Sophi, emerged, with the appearance of the crystal on its chest.

“I made a fool of myself.” It said.

“You did better than the rest, sirga.” Yakubo replied.

“Not good enough. Pater will be disappointed.” Sophi sighed. “I do not want to attend the other classes. Let us go back to the Castle.”

“As you wish sirga.”

I was wary of the uspec. I was careful to keep copious amounts of space between us.

“What eye did my pater give you, chief Yakubo?”

“Mejo eyes.”

“Can you make hail?” The uspec asked excitedly.

“Not yet,” Yakubo replied, “I will have to take lessons.”

“There are tomes that you could read on spectra. You could learn from them. I would not take lessons on hail.”

“I am not much of a reader sirga, I would rather take lessons.”

“There are tomes on spectra?” I asked, joining the conversation.

The young nodded. “Yes, chief Nebud, there are. Do you enjoy reading?”

“Yes sirga.”

It smiled. “During your next shift, I will take you to the libraries and show you all of our tomes on spectra. There are many detailing the different types of uspecs’ reactions to spectra. To some it is effortless, while others take years to achieve fluency.”

“May I take that shift off?” Yakubo teased.

Nebud is eyeing spectra. Hope everyone will be safe.

Las Las.. .Nebud will get Pansophy as a bonus, Nothing much in the episode just Nebud and his stupidity, to think he can kill the young uspec. He wouldn't be chosen if he'll successfully execute it, I give the Nebud guy a little lesser credit for his stupidity, he's as stupid as f.uck. good one Obehid, keep keeping it real.

how i missed this

obehiD


Nice story obehiD, please i need a favour from you, I will be glad if you can help.

maynation:
obehiD


Nice story obehiD, please i need a favour from you, I will be glad if you can help.

Salutations madam! As obehiD's self-appointed PA, you would book an appointment with me first. But first things first, Tiyoseriwosin.

decoderdgenius:


Salutations madam! As obehiD's self-appointed PA, you would book an appointment with me first. But first things first, Tiyoseriwosin.

.

Obehidryte

Awesome and dangerous move at the same time. Allowing Nebud to read those tomes is like giving him half of your kingdom strength. Even though the little uspec did not know that. And for Nebud, this is a step at gaining the little uspecs trust and getting the uspec to completely at some point rely on him. Kudos Obehid.... I love this.

thanks for the update obehid when will nehud start flapping those airlieons of his

very good update when will nebud start flying isn't he old enough or he isn't developed enough?

maynation:
.

Ubehidryte

LOL...
Wrong!
You know what comes next...












But I'll have mercy. Just this once.
Go and sin no more.

decoderdgenius:


LOL...
Wrong!
You know what comes next...












But I'll have mercy. Just this once.
Go and sin no more.

Lol


Obehid created all other gods na , so she is greater

@tunjilomo lol, i hope so tooo oh!

@phoenixchap will it? Well, we shall see . I think Nebud could kill the young uspec. It doesn't want to, but I think it could. The only question is how it will deal with the repercussions of its actions. Which, I believe, is why it won't dare. It's only anger that is making it think all these thoughts

@Ultimategeneral welcome back!

@maynation thank you, glad you like it. A favor? Now I'm curious. Please tell me what the favor is...

LOL @decoderdgenius

@Botaflica Thank you for reading, glad you enjoyed it. I can't wait to see what will come of Nebud's knowledge if there's anything to gain from the tomes that is

@ayshow6102 thanks for reading. That's a good question. When will Nebud start flying? Well, when its body is ready.

@dragonstar14 thank you! Well, sometimes parts of the body just don't start working until they're ready too. Hopefully it happens soon

obehiD:




@maynation thank you, glad you like it. A favor? Now I'm curious. Please tell me what the favor is...

I was thinking you could help me draw up a picture of an Uspec. I am seriously battling with its picture in my head. Especially the numerous eyes. Only you can do this, the picture doesn't have to be perfect. Just anything will do, even a sketch as far as it portrays the very picture of your imagination.

maynation:


I was thinking you could help me draw up a picture of an Uspec. I am seriously battling with its picture in my head. Especially the numerous eyes. Only you can do this, the picture doesn't have to be perfect. Just anything will do, even a sketch as far as it portrays the very picture of your imagination.

my thoughts exactly

Nice... Upgrade on super powers coming up!!!

maynation:


I was thinking you could help me draw up a picture of an Uspec. I am seriously battling with its picture in my head. Especially the numerous eyes. Only you can do this, the picture doesn't have to be perfect. Just anything will do, even a sketch as far as it portrays the very picture of your imagination.

The truth is that I have gotten a request like this before, and I've passed on it, because I'm just not a good drawer. To be honest, I haven't really spent that much time thinking about what the uspecs look like. For some reason my brain doesn't work like that. So, when I read/write a story I never try to picture a character's face. But, I can try to describe what I think of when I talk about it. So, the uspec's face is like a regular human face but remove our two eyes and replace it with one center eye (right above the nose). And then depending on how old the uspec is, there would be eye sockets formed on the perimeter of their face. This could be evenly distributed around the outer perimeter (one on forehead, one on chin below the mouth, and then two on either side, maybe cheek and on the same level as the center eye). Or it could be clustered, like three eyes on one cheek and three on the other (I just thought about this and it just seems so funny in my head). Or it could be something else. Definitely, the position of the outer eyes form in different places for uspecs (its unique to the uspec), and only the center eye is in the same location for all of them. Anyway, I hope this helps. If there are any artists among us, maybe they can help us with a sketch of what I've described

Smooth278:
Nice... Upgrade on super powers coming up!!!

Well....we shall see

obehiD:


The truth is that I have gotten a request like this before, and I've passed on it, because I'm just not a good drawer. To be honest, I haven't really spent that much time thinking about what the uspecs look like. For some reason my brain doesn't work like that. So, when I read/write a story I never try to picture a character's face. But, I can try to describe what I think of when I talk about it. So, the uspec's face is like a regular human face but remove our two eyes and replace it with one center eye (right above the nose). And then depending on how old the uspec is, there would be eye sockets formed on the perimeter of their face. This could be evenly distributed around the outer perimeter (one on forehead, one on chin below the mouth, and then two on either side, maybe cheek and on the same level as the center eye). Or it could be clustered, like three eyes on one cheek and three on the other (I just thought about this and it just seems so funny in my head). Or it could be something else. Definitely, the position of the outer eyes form in different places for uspecs (its unique to the uspec), and only the center eye is in the same location for all of them. Anyway, I hope this helps. If there are any artists among us, maybe they can help us with a sketch of what I've described

Thanks.
It helped.

Part 19
--------

Of all places, the serf camp. Sophila cared so little for the security of the serfs that it did not even bother with placing guards at their gates. It was the only camp in the entire Acropolis which was unguarded. Musa and I walked through the gates unhindered. It was night now, so the orange hue of the daylight dots had been replaced by the resplendent red light of the clouds.

“Are you sure it is here?”

The streets were empty. There were several hovels in the camp, all arranged in neat rows. The hard fog streets had the same quality as those everywhere else in the Acropolis. The only difference here was that there were no landlocked canoes steering through the roads. Only the rare sighting of a serf rushing about on some business.

“I told you master, everything needed to find the place was in the key. It is made out of pansophic conduit, the metal that is mined in Aurelion. Isthum put its thoughts into that key, thoughts of the location where the treasure was hidden.”

“The treasure. What treasure? Did Isthum not say exactly what it was?”

“No master.” Musa shook its head. “It only referred to it as the treasure.”

“Perhaps it is the location of the last brio then.”

“And if it is master?”

I frowned at the imp. “We have had this discussion before Musa.”

“You want to give it to commander Arexon. I understand that you are indebted to the commander, master, but the last brio, belongs to the young master, it belongs to the heir to Lahooni. I believe that there is a reason why the commander could not find it in Aurelion. It is because I am supposed to find it, and return it to the heir to Lahooni. It is my duty, master.”

I shook my head. The last brio. How could so many people think they had the right to one ring? The plenum, Manus, Sophian, and now Musa. I almost chuckled. I contemplated telling the imp about my lineage. Maybe the time had come to share my secret with it. Why was I holding it back from Musa anyway? Musa deserved to know more than anyone else.

I sighed. I could not tell the imp. If I told it, it would want too much from me. This imp was bent on finding the heir to Lahooni and restoring the great uspec to its rightful place. But I wanted no part of it. What did I want? I realized as I walked, that I had never stopped to think of what I would do in the future. I laughed then. Future. What future did I have? Would I survive my desire to kill Sophian? If I succeeded what would happen next? The plenum was waiting right outside Chiboga. My mind drifted to the plenum and the war that Sophila was preparing for.

Perhaps I would be a victim of that war.

“I think your heir to Lahooni is dead Musa. What chances would one such as that have at surviving?” I felt grief as I spoke, but I knew that my words were essential. I did not want Musa to waste its time searching for something that could not be found.

“I disagree master. I think it lives. It is waiting for me.”

I stared at the hair on the imp’s head. It sounded so sure. Well, it was right on one count at least. The heir to Lahooni did live. For now, at least.

“This is it master.”

I frowned. We’d reached an empty space between several hovels.

“What?”

The imp released the key.

I waited to hear the clanging of the metal against the hard fog. Instead, once the key touched the fog, it softened. The hard ground underneath us turned into drifting fog, and we fell.

Luckily, it was a short fall. We landed on a cushioned ground. I could tell from the feel of the material that we had fallen on hardened clouds, the regular foam floor I had come to think of as the alternative to sludge. The tunnel was lit, white light sources hung from the roof of the cave. I did not like this, not one bit. If I had never been to Aurelion, I would not have minded this, but after Aurelion, I would forever be wary of tunnels.

I stood.

“Is this what you were expecting?”

Musa nodded. “The descriptions in the key are quite detailed. Although, this is where it stops. There is no more information in the key, other than, that this is the location of the treasure.”

“Treasure.” I scoffed.

“I hope there is information pointing away from this Acropolis master.”

“Why is that?”

“So that we can leave.”

“And how will we do that?”

“The same way we did when we went to the pious camp. I’ll take away our appearances and we’ll sneak out. I don’t think that we should be here when the war starts.”

I could not leave. Not without Sophila’s eye.

The tunnel followed a straight path. There were no bends in the road to get lost in, as there’d been in Aurelion. And the walls here were smooth. The ground was cushioned, there were no stalactites hanging from the roof. I took a deep breath of air and savored the cleanness of it. This was certainly a far cry from Aurelion.

“Have you ever heard of the fabled wealth of Lahooni?”

Musa smiled. “Yes master. It is no fable. Lahooni is the wealthiest port in this existence, at least it was before master Calam was killed. Now, all of that wealth is gone. Neither Salin nor the plenum have it. It must be somewhere.”

“Do you know where?”

Musa’s smile faded slightly. It turned to stare at me. “I do not.” It replied. I could not tell if it was lying.

“Do you think that it is the treasure that Isthum hid here?”

Musa shook its head. “This cave is not big enough to contain the wealth of Lahooni.”

I whistled. If the last brio truly was the key to that much wealth, I could see why Manus was so interested in it. And the plenum? No, the plenum had connected the last brio to Chuspecip. Sophila only wanted it to buy itself out of the mess it had gotten into when it killed Isthum. Again, I was left to wonder how one artifact could be so precious to so many people. I had the familiar fleeting urge to abscond with it. It was mine after all, left to me by my sire. I shook that thought away. Too many people wanted that artifact. I was not about to become one of them.

But what would I do if I found it? Give it to Arexon? Keep it for myself? I did not know.

“Master!” Musa’s hand clamped onto my arm. It pulled me back forcefully.

I frowned at the imp. “What is it Musa?”

It pointed at the ground I had just been about to walk into. I gaped at it. How had I not seen it? I had been so ensconced in my own thoughts that I had missed the obvious ditch. No, I looked closer, this was no simple ditch. It was filled with fog. I saw a sphere in the fog and frowned. There was something familiar about it. I looked around and saw even more red spheres suspended in the fog.

“Flow fog.” I uttered the words with awe. I took a step back, away from the fog and the globules of red liquid suspended in it. This was the boga equivalent to the kute lit okun. It was lethal to everyone not of the boga spectrum. I took another step back.

The ditch was several feet wide, much too wide to simply step over, or even jump. An uspec could only fly over this ditch, to the cushioned land on the other side. That land was like an island surrounded by flow flog. If only I could fly. I shook my head at that thought, flow fog, like regular fog, drifted. Even if I could fly, there was no guarantee that the flow fog would not drift out of the ditch and envelope me in midair.

I was starting to have a grudging respect for this uspec Isthum. First it had hidden the key to this place in a fake jeja residing in lit okun. That lit okun alone would have ensured that it was impossible for anyone but a select few kutes to get the key. Then it had left no clues of what the key led to. Instead it had used pansophy to put the thought of the location into the key, which ensured that only one with pansophy could find this place. And now this. It had surrounded the treasure with flow fog, a barrier that neither Musa nor I could cross.

Musa dropped to its knees, and its head fell into its hands. “No!” it cried, desolately.

“Come Musa.” I said. “We should leave. There is nothing for us here.”

“But we are so close master. We came so close.”

“So close to what? Neither of us know what this treasure is.”

“Whatever it is must be important. Look at all the care that Isthum went to, to ensure that it would never be found.”

I sighed. “There is nothing we can do now. Tomorrow is a long day for me. I should get some rest.”

Musa rose slowly. “Very well master.” Its shoulders sagged. It turned around, took one last look over its shoulder, at the flow fog, and then walked away.

I was just about to follow, when I heard a voice say, “Musa?”

We both froze.

Musa and I turned back around slowly.

“Musa?” The voice sounded old and strained. “Is that really you Musa?”

An uspec emerged from behind a bend in the island on the other side of the flow fog. It leaned on a piece of wood, as it made its way towards us. The uspec’s back was hunched. There was a single large cyan scale on its neck, and its ailerons were bent and crooked. This was the most aged uspec that I had ever seen. It looked like it was about to die.

The uspec collapsed onto the ground. For a moment I thought it was dead, until it pulled itself up and shifted into a sitting position. “My God! It is you Musa, osin of the mighty Calam, Kaiser of Lahooni.”

Musa drew closer. “How do you know who I am?”

The uspec laughed drily. “How could I not when I spent so much time with Calami? I suppose I have become so aged that you cannot recognize me.”

Musa’s eyelids pulled up, its face contorting into a mask of shock. “Domina Sensu?”

The uspec nodded. It was a very awkward motion. The uspec’s head was barely moving.

“Domina!” Musa fell to its knees. “I have been searching for you! Oh domina, what happened to you?”

The uspec coughed. “I knew one of you would come, I knew one of you would find me. I have held on for so long, just so I could speak to you. It would either be you or Chike, I knew it. In my entire life, I have never seen two more loyal imps. Calami was honored to have you both.”

“Thank you domina.”

“Who are you with Musa?”

“I am Nebud.” I said.

“Nebud. Chief Nebud, from your earrings and bands. Another one of Sophila’s serfs. Where do you hale from?”

I thought about lying, but then what good would it do? This uspec was about to die. “A slum in Hakute.” I replied.

“You must have an interesting epic.” It wheezed. “Can we speak freely Musa?”

“Yes domina.” The imp replied. “Master Nebud is my new master, you can trust it.”

The aged uspec repeated its strange nod. Sensu? I could not believe it. This was the treasure that Isthum had been hiding. Arexon thought that this uspec was dead, that Isthum had killed it. Why had it not?

“What happened domina? What happened after Chike left you?”

The uspec shook its head. “Takabat brought me here. You see Musa, the plenum found out about my existence. I was in Katsoaru when the mighty Calam was killed. Takabat knew that the plenum would search for me, and so it took me to the only port which the plenum had no hold over. It brought me here, to Chiboga. Takabat and Isthum led Sophila to believe that I had been killed, and Sophila relayed this information to the plenum. In exchange for Isthum’s protection, Takabat gave Sophila Cala’s ring.”

“Cala?” I asked.

“The heir to Lahooni. That is what the mighty Calam named it, Cala.”

“Master Cala.” Musa whispered. “I did not know this.”

“No Musa. The mighty Calam kept many things from you in those last days.”

“Why? I would have helped. I would have willingly agreed to be sapped if it meant that I could protect the young master. Why didn’t master Calam let me?”

“I do not know. I had just as many questions as you Musa, but the mighty Calam did not give me any answers. Only instructions.”

Cala. What a name? I thought. Cala. Nebud. Cala. Nebud. One name linked me to the uspecs that I had come from, the other linked me to nothing. Nebud was the uspec who’d been born in the slum and raised there. I was not Cala. Cala was an imperial, it was who I might have been if my progenitor and sire had lived.

“So Sophila has the ring?” Then why did it send us to the mines.

“Takabat was too smart to let a despicable creature like Sophila own something as import as Cala’s ring. It advised Sophila to hide the ring in the mines of Aurelion where it would be safe. Then, Takabat went back with Isthum to retrieve the ring. Takabat left this port with the ring.”

“What of the young master? Master Cala.” Musa asked. “What happened to it? Chike said that you left Lahooni with the young master in a coffer.”

“I was in no position to protect it. Takabat was a pious one. It was descended of a duke, Fajahr, who was still very prominent in an important port. Takabat took the coffer and the ring. It never opened the coffer, never let anyone see what was inside it.”

“Do you know where they went next, where it took the young master?” Musa asked.

“No. Takabat was not sure what the best way to protect the young one was. It was determined to put it in a place where no one would look for it, until the time came for it to be retrieved, and returned to its rightful place. That is why the ring was so important.”

“The last brio.” I said.

“Exactly.” It nodded. “How did you know?”

“Sophila was searching for the last brio. It sent a party to Aurelion to unearth it.”

“Aurelion? Why would Sophila think that the last brio was in Aurelion?”

“That is where Takabat told Sophila to keep it, is it not?”

“No. Takabat kept the ring in Aurelion, not the last brio.”

I frowned. “The ring is not the last brio?”

“Of course not. The last brio has been passed down from one generation of the line of the Kaisers of Lahooni, to the next. While the ring was something that the mighty Calam made. Why would you think the ring was the last brio?”

“That is what Sophila thinks.”

“Another deception by Takabat then. It must be. I was clear, I told the uspec that the ring was the key to the last brio.”

“The key to the last brio?” I was confused.

“You do not think that the mighty Calam would give me a coffer without also giving me the key to it.”

“The ring was the key to the coffer?” I asked.

“Amongst other things.”

“So, the coffer is the last brio.” I chuckled. It was a struggle to resist the urge to laugh. The last brio which Sophian and Sophila were going crazy over, had never truly been in their possession. Takabat had fooled them.

“What other things?” Musa asked.

“What?”

“The ring, you said it has other purposes. What?”

“Oh yes, Musa, that is important. That is what I have been waiting to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“The mighty Calam said that the ring is the key to returning Cala to its rightful place as the Kaiser of Lahooni. There is a secret in that ring, one that will expose Cala as a descendant of the line of the Kaisers of Lahooni. Once that secret is exposed, no one will be able to doubt Cala’s credibility. The mighty Calam made Cala its heir, it is a fact which cannot be contested. You must find the ring Musa, that is the only way that Cala can return to its rightful place.”

“First I must find master Cala. Please domina, think, is there no clue, nothing that you can give me to help me locate the young master? Anything will help.”

“If there was anything, I would tell you Musa. I want you to find Cala. It is my dying wish.”

“Why are you here?” I asked the uspec. “It sounds as if Takabat was a friend to you. Why did it imprison you here?”

“This is no prison Nebud, it is an isolation I choose. I have no pansophy. All it would take for my secrets to be exposed is contact with the wrong uspec. I know too much, I must die here. That is the only way I can think of to protect Cala. I know too much.”

“You would give your life for another so easily? One who may not even be alive.” I asked, doubtfully.

“Calami was my closest friend, it was as a sibling to me. For Calami’s offspring, I would give more than my life. Calami’s offspring, is as my own.”

“There must be a way to free you from here.” I stated, stubbornly. I did not want this old uspec’s death on my conscience. “You must take your life back. No uspec is worth dying for.”

“That is where you are wrong Nebud. That is where you are wrong. When you cherish someone, there is nothing you would not do for them. I cherish Cala, just as I cherished Calami. I am at peace with my isolation.”

Sensu’s words reminded me of Marcinus. I felt the familiar pang of guilt and pain which rose in me whenever I thought of the uspec.

“Isthum made the same offer the last time it was here, right after it told me of Takabat’s sibling’s visit.”

Alarm bells went off in my head. “Fajahromo was in Chiboga?” I asked.

“My my Nebud, you are well informed for a de trop. Yes, Fajahromo was here. Not here in this tunnel, but here in Chiboga. It visited Isthum. It wanted to know more about its sibling’s time in Chiboga. Before Takabat died, it had a plan in place to retrieve Cala and inform it of its parentage. In fact, just a few years before it died, Takabat was in contact with Cala. It said that it had the uspec with it, under its protection.”

“The young master lives!” Musa yelled. “Only a few years ago it was protected by a pious one. Perhaps Takabat told the young master of its lineage before it died. Perhaps the young master is looking for the ring itself.”

“That’s what Isthum and Fajahromo thought too.”

The alarm bells in my head were blaring now. “How is Fajahromo involved in this?”

“Fajahromo cherished its sibling. It loved Takabat. After Takabat was killed Fajahromo tried to do everything in its power to honor its sibling’s death. It was so desperate for a way to serve Takabat’s memory, that Isthum shared parts of our secret with it. Fajahromo is now determined to continue where Takabat stopped, and reunite Cala with its ring. In fact, now that I think about it, there was something that Isthum said.” My mind reeled. Fajahromo knew about my secret, about my ring. “Isthum said that Takabat had a secret vault in Damejo. Fajahromo was sure that if Takabat was going to keep the ring anywhere, it would be in that vault. Perhaps you would find more there, more than just the ring. Maybe Takabat left clues as to the whereabouts of Cala, where it had seen it last.”

“Thank you domina. Thank you so much. We will go to Damejo, we will find the ring. We will find master Cala and reunite them.” Musa swore.

“Good. Then I can die at peace. Waste no time. Go.”

My mind spun as the uspec struggled with its wooden stick to get to its feet. Fajahromo. Fajahromo! What did Fajahromo know? My mind went back to the pits of Hakute. I recalled the day that Takabat saved my life. Maxad had wanted to use pansophy to make me easier to kill, but Takabat had forbidden it. Now, I knew why. It was not because Fajahromo had asked it to look over me, as Fajahromo claimed. It was because Takabat knew who I was. Takabat, my protector, was dead. Just as this uspec would die, alone on an island in a cave. Just as Isthum had been slaughtered. Just as Calam had been killed. All so that I could live. And now, Fajahromo was searching for my ring. I could not let it take it.

“We must go to Damejo master.” Musa said. “We must leave this port.”

“Fajahromo is no friend to its sibling. It killed Takabat. If it is going in search of that ring, it is doing it for its own needs.”

Musa was alarmed. “Then we must reach Damejo before the uspec does. We must find Takabat’s vault first.”

Yes, I could not allow my ring to fall into Fajahromo’s hands. I had to leave this port.

“Sophila’s eye.”

No! I’ll come back for Sophila’s eye.

“Sophila’s eye. Sophila’s eye!”

I could not leave. Not without Sophila’s eye.

“We cannot leave Musa. Not yet.”

“What? But master, we came to this port for information on the young master. We know where to go next. We must leave before harm comes to the young master.”

I shook my head. “Not yet, Musa.”

It frowned at me. “We did not come to this port for the young master, did we? You have other reasons for being here.”

I said nothing.

Musa disappeared.

“Musa!” I yelled, swiping out with my hands, for it. “Musa!” There was no response. The imp was gone.

I doubt Musa will truly leave him. Maybe he is just throwing tantrums for the meantime. A confrontation with Fajahromo, hmmm. Why is Nebud still keeping his lineage from Musa?

I hate to wait

Musa ooooo, nehbud can u just tell musa d truth

....I stil maintaine like I said earlier, that the last biro is Nebud.

Wow wonderful update as usual.I think Nebud should open up to Musa already.
Waiting patiently for Saturday

maynation:
.

Obehidryte

Funny

obehiD:


The truth is that I have gotten a request like this before, and I've passed on it, because I'm just not a good drawer. To be honest, I haven't really spent that much time thinking about what the uspecs look like. For some reason my brain doesn't work like that. So, when I read/write a story I never try to picture a character's face. But, I can try to describe what I think of when I talk about it. So, the uspec's face is like a regular human face but remove our two eyes and replace it with one center eye (right above the nose). And then depending on how old the uspec is, there would be eye sockets formed on the perimeter of their face. This could be evenly distributed around the outer perimeter (one on forehead, one on chin below the mouth, and then two on either side, maybe cheek and on the same level as the center eye). Or it could be clustered, like three eyes on one cheek and three on the other (I just thought about this and it just seems so funny in my head). Or it could be something else. Definitely, the position of the outer eyes form in different places for uspecs (its unique to the uspec), and only the center eye is in the same location for all of them. Anyway, I hope this helps. If there are any artists among us, maybe they can help us with a sketch of what I've described







Well....we shall see

Scary and Uglyful hahaha. Damn!