2.33 Concept of Consciousness

Jasmine's mother, Accalia, tried her best to hand down the magic of their dryad kin. But Jasmine knew her mother's knowledge had many gaps, and if she wanted more, she would need to seek out their people in the forest.

There was place deep in the woods where the foliage turned strange, where one could always hear the sound of the mountain waterfalls and the little tributaries that feed the river.

Jasmine's first trespass into the colony's territory brought her to Sellhil. He was around her age, and as curious about her as she was about him.

She took it as a sign.

Sellhil was all too happy to tell the 'exotic' girl from the human village anything she wanted to know.

The two met up often. Jasmine learned about the forest colony's magic, but she also learned about their social structure, their customs, and their religion... things her mother rarely spoke of, for those were the details that drove Accalia's brother and sister so far away from their heritage.

Sellhil risked a harsh punishment by bringing Jasmine to the others, but it was a calculated risk.

"Her blood is weak," his father muttered.

"But it is new blood," his mother reminded them. "This is something we are in short supply of."

The colony had been in trouble for a long time. Dwindling numbers were only the least of their worries. Their leader, Mehrend—their eldest and wisest—had taken ill, leaving an unclear line of succession between her many children.

Many favored Nesswen as Mehrend's successor, but a large enough number made it clear they would back Kiand, or Lhirre. The others were not as interested in leadership, but would likely throw their support behind different siblings.

Though they all seemed to care for each other, this schism would inevitably lead to major conflict, if Mehrend passed away. There was simply no way to compromise on certain differences of opinion.

The simplest solution would be if Mehrend simply... got better.

And that wasn't an impossibility!

Mehrend—and others—had lived a greatly increased lifespan, allegedly due to ritual worship of a river that ran through these mountains. 

Sellhil said they had a pact with the spirit of the waters. They sacrificed prey and items of value to the river, and in return were granted longer lives and more powerful magic. However, the river had slept since long before his birth. None of their offerings to it were accepted.

It granted audience to no one.

Lhirre theorized the river was bored of their meager offerings. To heal Mehrend—already so old, and so long past her natural lifespan—the river required something powerful. A more equal exchange. The longer one's life is extended, the more unnatural it is, and the greater a gift it is.

Jasmine didn't care for the politics, but the more she studied of the rituals, the more she thought she would like to partake... and if she could save Mehrend in the process of gaining power for herself, she'd be a hero. 

Her acceptance into the colony would be assured.

She just needed suitable prey.

The town of Hidden Springs had two mages. Kiand had proposed offering one or both of them, but Nesswen thought it would be unwise, as the fairy that visited many moons ago clearly had some interest in the Archer twins. 

The fae were not to be crossed.

 

Moreover, Finley and Junpei were dangerous.

Jasmine didn't think she'd have any luck taking them on. Not even with Sellhil's help.

Reve, though...

He was young, foolish, and more telepath than mage.

If she could just get him alone... she might be able to knock him unconscious, and drown him in the waters before he'd be missed.

And why not try?

His life meant nothing to her, and if the river failed to wake, no one would have to know what she'd done.

But until tonight Reve Archer had unknowingly evaded her at every turn.

Sellhil had dropped to his knees in a hasty bow. 

"Forget the human," he hissed. "The river has awakened!"

 

Jasmine takes no notice of the tiny purple light that flies away, as it's almost drowned by the brilliant white shimmering of the winged figure standing on the opposite bank. She did not imagine the avatar of the river would be one of the fae, but reflecting on its description in legend now, this is unmistakably the entity in their people's stories.

"Spirit of the river..." she addresses it, in as bold of a tone as she can muster, "...have you come to answer our prayers?"

The silvery fairy does not answer her, but stares in an almost threatening manner, motionless except for the slow wavering of its wings. 

 

Jasmine grabs Reve by the hair and forces him to look at her. "Why have you come here?"

This place is sacred. He should not have been able to find it. 

Unfortunately, Reve is struggling too much with the very concept of consciousness to answer her. Jasmine was told about this, that most humans who encounter the river become confused and forget where to find it—a useful phenomena that protects the colony and makes this territory even more desirable to them—but she'd never seen this cognitive dysfunction firsthand. 

Reve's movements are slow. Even focusing his eyes on hers is a struggle.

Jasmine makes up her mind. "Sellhil, help me get him into the water."

"Are you sure about this, Jas?" Sellhil rises back to his feet very slowly, as if afraid of being struck down by the fairy that silently watches them. "We don't know why he's here. The river might have been speaking to him..."

"The river is bound to your people by contract. If we perform the ritual, it has to answer us."

"What if it doesn't believe this sacrifice is worthy?"

"We'll never get a better chance to save Mehrend or to take any power for ourselves."

 

So Jasmine and Sellhil performed the ritual. 

They said the words, and they drowned Reve Archer in the waters of the Lethe. 

Variations of this had almost happened before. 

Larkspur had been a bit faster to fetch help those times. 

Or—rarely—Timmothy had intervened.

But this time, the boy died.  

Lethe took a moment to appreciate the novelty.

 

 

It was not as easy as throwing Reve in the water. 

They had to hold him down under it.

Once the struggling ceased, they coordinated one big shove to push their victim further from the river's edge. No longer a person but a thing, it just kind of... sank.

Drowning was a distantly familiar, horrible, paralyzing feeling... and then, it stopped being familiar.

Everything stopped being familiar.

Before Reve's consciousness faded, he experienced a peculiar loss of self. All of his memories, cherished and mundane, escaped him. He forgot not only where he was, but who he was... and then he forgot how to breathe.

 

One of the most unsettling things about the sacrifices is that once they are done, it is impossible to remember exactly what or whom was sacrificed. 

There is some lingering notion of it; Jasmine can remember she'd plotted this for a long time... and what she hoped to gain... but had the life lost ever been important to her? She could only hope not. 

A hint of fear crosses Sellhil's face. He realizes they have been successful when he fails to recall the face or the name of the person they just killed.

In some ways, it was as if Reve Archer had never existed.

As if the universe itself forgot about him.

 

 

Finley never mourns Reve, but every once in a while she stops to feel melancholy over the nursery she furnished for a child she never had.

The crib was still there, but Reve's loft bed was gone, and every toy that wasn't originally Finley's or Junpei's was gone, and Reve's artwork had vanished from all the places it had been — the walls, the floors, scribbles tucked into books on the shelves. 

There was an empty seat in class the next day that nobody noticed, and Parley distinctly remembered not having a date for prom, which was a major embarrassment for her.

As far as Newton knew, he'd never had a single close friend in his entire life, and poured everything he had into his studies in hopes of escaping to college and starting over.

However, there was someone who could still see things that had been erased.

And Loki Archer, or whatever his name is today, has a reason to intervene.

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Etc.: Next installment will contain spoilers for my other legacies.