Echoes of Disaster

Kourelan nodded in greeting, sharp eyes looking down on Hildebrand from beneath long silver hair that framed a face lined with worry. His summoners robes of dark blue were embroidered with silver bars around the hem, but were otherwise simple, and the old mans bearing betrayed a great tiredness.

"Senior Runeblood, you look well... considering."

Considering you've been burned alive from the inside out. It was surprising that Hildebrand seemed to have no visible scarring. The boy simply looked as if he was sick.

"I've read the official reports, and I've come bearing a gift." He shifted his arm slightly, indicating one of the packages he carried. "I wonder if we might talk about events as they unfolded?"

The Curator stood returning the summoners look, his voice . He scanned over the room for a place to sit. He noticed several empty potion vials on the counter, as well as the faint smell of tea.

He sat slowly into the chair, setting his burdens down on the table across from Hildebrand. He pushed the small rectangular box to one side, in favor of the leather bound binder which he unwrapped and set open in front of him.

"The Institutes official report on the Void Incursion Incident as they're calling it here. You, Senior Summoner Hildebrand Runeblood, were entrusted with leadership of the Leagues response to the Void attack, the coordinated power of twelve Nexi, one portable Nexus, and the responsibility to yourself complete the incantations to seal off Void access to our world." Kourelan looked up at Hildebrand. "The door was closed, the void tide stemmed, and the Freljord can go back to fighting one another in relative calm."

He leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath, his eyes searching the others face. "But that is not why I have come."

Opening the smaller box, he pulled out one of two bottles. It was a clear blue crystal, flask, girded and wrapped with a gold band worked in a detailed filigree that swirled into waves. It had a metal cap that flipped open on a solid spring-worked hinge, and as Kourelan set it on the table and flipped open the cap a ethereal blue smoke rose and dissipated from its neck.

"I understand that in your current condition you require an unusual level of mana to maintain your health. This is a Mana flask. It is designed after a similar work, the chalice of harmony. Instead of the constant stream provided by the chalice, it stores up to a set amount, refilling itself from an ambient process of Prolix Submagia Amansolidare. You do not drink it, but breath it. Left open it acts much like the Chalice, simply spewing mana in a pre-vapor state. Closed, in collects mana like a bucket collects rain. It may augment your dwindling supply." He nodded toward the empty mana potions.

"I was never a healer. My focus is prevention. To that effect I suggest you ease into your body's new craving. When you're tired, don't go sleeping on a Nexus."

"Ah. I should have mentioned that." The old man reached forward, closing the flask. "At some point it should be as easy as breathing." He paused, looking back to the report.

"No. I am not here on anyone's errand but my own, and the flask is not all that I wish to speak of." Kourelan took the heavy binder in hand, flipping forward. "The report states that the High Summoners approved this plan, under your guidance. You are a intelligent man. Time was of the essence yet, but there were other possibilities. Other ways the problem could have been handled."

Kourelan closed the document, setting it back on the table as he sat straighter in his chair.

"I daresay you feel you know the High Summoners to some extent, and that you understand the way our Leagues leadership is conducted. Let me tell you a few things that I have learned in my years. There is little left to chance in an organization of this size. No doubt you assume that their faith in your success was the sole reason for their choice, that they underestimated the strain it would put on you, or possibly even overestimated your ability. Whatever you think you know about the High Council only scratches the surface, and I assure you they know your capabilities quite well. The know your character. Your faults. Knew the likelihood that you would limit the responsibility, and so the damage, all to yourself. So tell me Hildebrand Runeblood. If the opportunity presented itself, would you attempt to join the High Council of Equity?"

"Indeed." He was right. There is no greater place of influence over the peace of the realm than seats of the High Council of Equity.

"You are willing to make sacrifices, to risk your life for the greater purpose. It is for that reason I caution you to concern yourself first with living for Runeterra, instead of dying for it. The Council was testing you. Whether each Councillor preferred that you live is not for me to speculate."

He added an earnest inflection to his voice, trying to catch the full attention of his host, for this was the warning and the second gift he meant to give Hildebrand.

"Without effort, without a single stone thrown, rising in the hierarchy will earn you enemies. Be aware, and be cautious. I believe that should the need arise, there would be few better candidates than Hildebrand Runeblood for Council chair. Don't take sacrifice lightly. We may have need of you yet."

"That brings me to my last bit of news." Kourelan pulled from his interior breast pocket a long folded piece of paper. He unfolded it, showing an image that consisted of a cluster of strange lines. It looked like an piece of cracked glass, or like angular veins of a tiny creature.

"As you know, my work centers on the care and maintenance of magic items. One of the many responsibilities of our Artificers is the handling of Nexi. This is an image of the zenithal projection on the portable Nexus. It is uncertain whether the flaw existed before the event, or if it was caused by the energy used in the Freljord. That is not important. What is important is that our information points to the portable nexus being a prototype, and not perfected to the point of safely handling the strain that was placed on it. The amount of magic that was directly slipped into your body as a result of this flaw would have been phenomenal. The effects are simply not predictable by our experts. Your condition, your altered state, may have been influenced by this. I hope knowing this may help you find answers as to what has happened to your body."

The Curator had been listening carefully, keenly interested in Hildebrand's theory on the possible imprinting of crystalline pathways.

"I'm sorry, I must have misheard. What sword are you referring to?"

As he listened, the Curators face transitioned from confusion, to surprise, and then anger. A dangerous and unpredictable item had been simply overlooked? Left lying in the snow for anyone to stumble upon? Had it already been taken by some fool summoner, or worse, taken a fool summoner for itself?

"Why this was not reported by any of the summoners present is beyond me, unless its been retrieved and somehow I was not informed! I need to look into this immediately Hildebrand, you'll forgive me if I must cut our meeting short. Is there anything more you can tell me about it? It's appearance, or last known location?"

Leaning forward in his chairs, Kourelan's hands went to the armrests as he prepared to stand.