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Authors: Keith Baker
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were, she needed to stand, to regain her balance. She used her staff to push herself to her feet. Despite its strange performance earlier, at the moment it seemed to be a simple length of wood.
This wasn’t the first time the staff had displayed hidden abilities. When they had faced a mind flayerdeep below Sharn, the staff’s song had shielded her and Daine from the monster’s mental powers. Lei had spent days trying to unlock its secrets, studying it with every mystical technique at her disposal, but all to no avail. There was magic within it, but she could not identify its nature or what events were required to trigger its release. The staff had been given to her by her Uncle Jura, a man who had been driven from the house after marrying a dryad. She’d never been close to Jura, but she’d heard her share of disturbing stories. The final story was that Jura’s wife had died under mysterious circumstances—and she’d been a dryad bound to a darkwood tree.
Lei stared at the staff, at the carved face.
Do you have a story to tell?
No response. No song or motion. Just a sorrowful face carved in darkwood.
“Are you sure you’re not hurt?” Daine was standing behind her, his breath warm against her neck.
She nodded and took a step forward, moving out of his reach. “I’m fine. Whatever Lakashtai did to me, it’s gone.”
“And your memory?”
Lei tightened her grip on the staff, but there was no need. The unnatural fear had been fully wiped away. She let her mind drift back to the chaos of Karul’tash.
Crystals. Shards of crystal. Pieces of a sphere
. But there was more. When she’d held the shards, she’d
seen
into them. Just as she could sense the magical energies of a warforged when she used her gifts to repair it, she could feel the pattern of the sphere, what it had once been, the state it yearned to return to.
“A moon,” she whispered. “They broke the moon.”
“What are you talking about?”
Lei tried to force the image out of her mind. The pattern was painfully complex, more intricate than anything Lei had ever tried to create. For a moment, she feared it would swallow her thoughts. She pushed back, trying to ground herself in familiar concepts—words, numbers, stories. “Legends say that once, there were thirteen moons above Eberron,” she said.
“And we just lost one somewhere along the way?”
“Yes,” Lei said, still struggling to control her thoughts. “Some say that the planes are tied to the moons. Lakashtai said that the monolith was a place where the giants built weapons for their war. I think she was telling the truth. The central pillar was designed to allow travel between the planes. The orb I restored was supposed to prevent it.”
Daine frowned. Magical theory was hardly his greatest strength. “How? Smaller words.”
“The orb … it was designed to represent both the moon and the plane of Dal Quor. It’s called sympathetic magic, though I’ve never heard of it being used on such a scale. I think that by destroying the sphere, they severed the connection to Dal Quor and drove the invading spirits away.”
“And the moon?”
“Vanished? Shifted to another plane? I’m just guessing.”
Daine nodded. “And Lakashtai somehow controlled your mind and made you put it back together?”
“Yes. But there’s more to it. It was so complex. I could never repair something like that. But I just
knew
what to do. It was as if the knowledge was hidden within me, and Lakashtai somehow pushed all other thought away and forced it to the surface.” She remembered that moment, that utter focus on
fixing the damage
… anda second revelation pushed its way forward. “Daine …
I
healed my hand.”
“What?”
“I don’t know how. But whatever Lakashtai did to me … when I repaired that orb, I healed myself as well.”
“How is that even possible?” Daine said. “You said that not even
Jode
could heal that level of damage.”
“He couldn’t. I can’t. I
This wasn’t the first time the staff had displayed hidden abilities. When they had faced a mind flayerdeep below Sharn, the staff’s song had shielded her and Daine from the monster’s mental powers. Lei had spent days trying to unlock its secrets, studying it with every mystical technique at her disposal, but all to no avail. There was magic within it, but she could not identify its nature or what events were required to trigger its release. The staff had been given to her by her Uncle Jura, a man who had been driven from the house after marrying a dryad. She’d never been close to Jura, but she’d heard her share of disturbing stories. The final story was that Jura’s wife had died under mysterious circumstances—and she’d been a dryad bound to a darkwood tree.
Lei stared at the staff, at the carved face.
Do you have a story to tell?
No response. No song or motion. Just a sorrowful face carved in darkwood.
“Are you sure you’re not hurt?” Daine was standing behind her, his breath warm against her neck.
She nodded and took a step forward, moving out of his reach. “I’m fine. Whatever Lakashtai did to me, it’s gone.”
“And your memory?”
Lei tightened her grip on the staff, but there was no need. The unnatural fear had been fully wiped away. She let her mind drift back to the chaos of Karul’tash.
Crystals. Shards of crystal. Pieces of a sphere
. But there was more. When she’d held the shards, she’d
seen
into them. Just as she could sense the magical energies of a warforged when she used her gifts to repair it, she could feel the pattern of the sphere, what it had once been, the state it yearned to return to.
“A moon,” she whispered. “They broke the moon.”
“What are you talking about?”
Lei tried to force the image out of her mind. The pattern was painfully complex, more intricate than anything Lei had ever tried to create. For a moment, she feared it would swallow her thoughts. She pushed back, trying to ground herself in familiar concepts—words, numbers, stories. “Legends say that once, there were thirteen moons above Eberron,” she said.
“And we just lost one somewhere along the way?”
“Yes,” Lei said, still struggling to control her thoughts. “Some say that the planes are tied to the moons. Lakashtai said that the monolith was a place where the giants built weapons for their war. I think she was telling the truth. The central pillar was designed to allow travel between the planes. The orb I restored was supposed to prevent it.”
Daine frowned. Magical theory was hardly his greatest strength. “How? Smaller words.”
“The orb … it was designed to represent both the moon and the plane of Dal Quor. It’s called sympathetic magic, though I’ve never heard of it being used on such a scale. I think that by destroying the sphere, they severed the connection to Dal Quor and drove the invading spirits away.”
“And the moon?”
“Vanished? Shifted to another plane? I’m just guessing.”
Daine nodded. “And Lakashtai somehow controlled your mind and made you put it back together?”
“Yes. But there’s more to it. It was so complex. I could never repair something like that. But I just
knew
what to do. It was as if the knowledge was hidden within me, and Lakashtai somehow pushed all other thought away and forced it to the surface.” She remembered that moment, that utter focus on
fixing the damage
… anda second revelation pushed its way forward. “Daine …
I
healed my hand.”
“What?”
“I don’t know how. But whatever Lakashtai did to me … when I repaired that orb, I healed myself as well.”
“How is that even possible?” Daine said. “You said that not even
Jode
could heal that level of damage.”
“He couldn’t. I can’t. I
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