Obsessed by these questions, the Fyros had combed all the studies on the Kamis available at the Academy. He wanted to know everything about these spirits of nature. Of course, he knew that the knowledge compiled by the Empire was not enough, and that sooner or later he would have to go to the highest place of known Kamic knowledge: the city of Taai-Toon, where the Great Library of the Zorai people was rebuilt after the Empire had sacked Zoran in 2328. Unable to resign himself to leaving the Academy without the highest rank, like Melkiar before him, Belenor had to find something to quench his thirst for knowledge. Thus he began to frequent the Kamis temples of the capital, sometimes accompanied by Xynala, where they were both initiated into various ritual practices. Although freedom of worship was a right granted by the Empire to its citizens, the spirituality of the Fyros was never to prevail over the "Four Pillars of the Empire". That is why the Empire allowed, under certain conditions only, the construction of temples within its cities. Moving thus from theory to practice, Belenor was surprised to see how the followers of the various Kamic faiths maintained good relations, despite certain major disagreements. The most important of these was the existence and identity of the Supreme Kami. According to the majority of cults, the Supreme Kami was Jena, the Goddess of the Day Star and the Mother of the hominity, while for other more animistic currents, there was no Supreme Kami. If in "The Sacred War", the story he had written a few years earlier, Belenor had amused himself by imagining the Supreme Kami as a gigantic entity buried somewhere in the depths of Atys, none of the Kamic cults he had studied described such a being. Yet he had never forgotten the time he had met that Zorai trader in the tavern more than ten years before. He had never forgotten the frightened look she had given him as he spoke the words "Black Mask"… A black mask he had seen himself caressing in a vision, triggered by the Black Kami's physical contact, as he and Xynala had gone to Garius' improvised burial chamber. Deep down, Belenor was convinced that his childhood dreams, the very ones that had fed his story, were not insignificant. Perhaps they had something to do with this Black Kami. So the Fyros got into his head to meet a Kami, in order to discuss with him.

Obsessed by these questions, the Fyros had combed all the studies on the Kamis available at the Academy. He wanted to know everything about these spirits of nature. Of course, he knew that the knowledge compiled by the Empire was not enough, and that sooner or later he would have to go to the highest place of known Kamic knowledge: the city of Taai-Toon, where the Great Library of the Zorai people was rebuilt after the Empire had sacked Zoran in 2328. Unable to resign himself to leaving the Academy without the highest rank, like Melkiar before him, Belenor had to find something to quench his thirst for knowledge. Thus he began to frequent the Kamis temples of the capital, sometimes accompanied by Xynala, where they were both initiated into various ritual practices. Although freedom of worship was a right granted by the Empire to its citizens, the spirituality of the Fyros was never to prevail over the "Four Pillars of the Empire". That is why the Empire allowed, under certain conditions only, the construction of temples within its cities. Moving thus from theory to practice, Belenor was surprised to see how the followers of the various Kamic faiths maintained good relations, despite certain major disagreements. The most important of these was the existence and identity of the Supreme Kami. According to the majority of cults, the Supreme Kami was Jena, the Goddess of the Day Star and the Mother of the hominity, while for other more animistic currents, there was no Supreme Kami. If in "The Sacred War", the story he had written a few years earlier, Belenor had amused himself by imagining the Supreme Kami as a gigantic entity buried somewhere in the depths of Atys, none of the Kamic cults he had studied described such a being. Yet he had never forgotten the time he had met that Zorai trader in the tavern more than ten years before. He had never forgotten the frightened look she had given him as he spoke the words "Black Mask"… A black mask he had seen himself caressing in a vision, triggered by the Black Kami's physical contact, as he and Xynala had gone to Garius' improvised burial chamber. Deep down, Belenor was convinced that his childhood dreams, the very ones that had fed his story, were not insignificant. Perhaps they had something to do with this Black Kami. So the Fyros got into his head to meet a Kami, in order to discuss with him.

Assis confortablement sur le fauteuil en cuir de rendor de son père, les coudes posés sur son magnifique bureau en bois massif, et les mains occupées à jouer avec la tresse de sa longue barbe acajou, Bélénor fixait la flamme de la lanterne murale d’un air éteint. Encore aujourd’hui, le souvenir de cette brève rencontre restait brûlant. Autant que la déception qui lui était associée. Car depuis cette fois-là, jamais il n’avait revu de Kami. Détachant son regard de la source de lumière hypnotique, le Fyros reporta son attention sur le devoir de son étudiant. Mais à peine eut-il froncé les sourcils, décelant une erreur grossière, qu’il entendit quelqu’un toquer à la porte.

Assis confortablement sur le fauteuil en cuir de rendor de son père, les coudes posés sur son magnifique bureau en bois massif, et les mains occupées à jouer avec la tresse de sa longue barbe acajou, Bélénor fixait la flamme de la lanterne murale d’un air éteint. Encore aujourd’hui, le souvenir de cette brève rencontre restait brûlant. Autant que la déception qui lui était associée. Car depuis cette fois-là, jamais il n’avait revu de Kami. Détachant son regard de la source de lumière hypnotique, le Fyros reporta son attention sur le devoir de son étudiant. Mais à peine eut-il froncé les sourcils, décelant une erreur grossière, qu’il entendit quelqu’un toquer à la porte.