Edress
14th,
326
A
bright blue sky, broken here and there
with cotton candy clouds. And silence.
An acute silence, the kind one would find in a sensory deprivation chamber.
Aurin felt the old familiar feeling; the feeling of painful remorse, and
self-hatred, boiling in him like a geyser until he found himself screaming and
pulling out tufts of his own hair.
Lysa was smiling sadly, a look Aurin hated
with all of his being. It said, you are what you are,
Aurin.
Screw you, Lysa.
He was on his back, unable to move; the
marble underneath him was hot, so hot
that the sweat dripping from his body evaporated upon touching it. He looked
around and saw the blasted stump of the Tower around him, and what he knew to
be people, a crowd of them, though he had long forgotten their faces. But he
knew they were angry. Disgusted. They were gray, like graphite, and some of
them were missing parts of their bodies; limbs, chunks of their torsos, even
faces. A few skulls peered at him through the crowd, charred black.
They were screaming at him. All of them,
at once.
Shut up! I never meant
for this to happen,
you have to believe me-
They became shrill and harsh, their voices
rising in a cacophony of hatred and
sorrow, their howling lacking any semblance to a human tongue. They closed in
on him.
Then, right as they were about to touch
him, and tear him apart... They
crumbled, and blew on the wind, circling him like a dust devil. They converged into one, and flew into his open mouth, choking him.
Aurin jerked awake, and gasped.
Cold sweat soaked his entire body,
and his breathing was ragged and uneven.
They'll never leave me
alone.
He noticed that the room he was occupying
was not the cozy bedroom he had lived
in at the Manor. He lay on a simple metal-frame bed, and that was about the
only furnishings in the room; The walls were metal as well, with an iron rail
built into it, like the ones built on staircases. The light pouring in from a
circular window behind him told him it was day.
Am I in prison again?
Then his gaze lingered on the bandages
wrapped around his body; A few around
his torso, his arms, and he could feel one on his cheek. Little spots of dried
blood pocked the bandages. Memory came back to him, and he felt his heart go
numb.
"The Mayor's dead." He said the words out
loud, as if he were the bearer of bad
news and his other half hadn't heard it yet.
He sat up, planted his bare feet on
the cold metal floor, and held his
head in his hands. He breathed deep a few times, trying to reign in his
emotions.
He remembered the firing squad, the
firefight with that... man, and the woman
in black. And Lapis. The girl who was at one moment an ordinary girl (save
perhaps for the silver hair and the curiously archaic manner of speech) and
then the next she became... what? A mech? Mechs did not move like that. Mechs
didn't fight using martial arts.
Mechs didn't bleed.
He stood up and felt pain radiate
throughout his entire body, a pain similar
to when he had been beaten and kicked by ten police officers before his friends
had run them off. This was different though. It was a sore, burning pain, like
he had run five miles awake, and then another ten when he was asleep and no-one
had thought to stop him.
The spells. They were unpredictable in the
toll they took on his body, but
after a long day of sorcery Aurin always felt like this, had to rest and eat
like a glutton, and most of all try not to pass out. For the most part, he
managed, though he had overdone it in the Manor.
His stomach grumbled at the thought of
food, and he suddenly felt weak, his
head swimming. However, curiosity overcame him and he peered out the window.
He saw clouds below him, with swatches of
green and blue permeating here and
there like the stripes of a zebra, for as far as he could see. There was no
land or mountains to speak of.
The door opened behind him, and startled,
he turned around. He brought his
fists up in anticipation of battle.
Standing in the frame was an old man,
small and bent, with a long wispy beard
and liver-spotted bald head. He blinked at Aurin through thick glasses,
magnifying his brown eyes to a cartoonish extent. He wore a white coat, and
curiously, old-fashioned wooden clogs that gave an inch or two to his overall
height. He was at most five feet tall. He leaned on a metal cane with four feet
at its bottom.
"Easy there, bucko. I see now you're
awake." His voice was high-pitched but
soft, and slightly shaky.
"Uh, yeah. Obviously. Where the hell am I?"
"Do you not remember anything from the
night before?"
"The night before?"
"Yes. You've been asleep for the better
part of two days. You got pretty banged
up down there... Had to pull some shrapnel out of you, some glass shards, bits
of metal... There were a few second degree burns on your back, though they were
pretty small. They'll leave a couple nasty little scars. But it's all
superficial... no lasting damage has been done."
Aurin brushed the bandages with his
fingertips. "Who are you? Where is Angela? Is she safe?"
"Calm down, boy. My name is Terrace
Harper. I'm the medical doctor aboard this
ship. And yes. Your girlfriend is safe. Though I'm afraid she's quite shaken up
from this whole ordeal."
"She's not my... Wait. This... ship? What
ship is this?"
Harper smiled. "Why, this is the Pallas,
son.
A
transport
ship. Not quite as big as some of the heavyweights in her
class, but she's fast. Probably the fastest ship in Alnora."
"And who are you with?"
Harper's brows knitted together. "Pardon?"
"Your allegiance. Are you with Galthir?"
"Oh. No. Gods no." The old man
mimicked spitting, his lips making little whispery peh. Peh peh peh noises. "Those dogs can
jump in a lake for all I care. No, we're independent. Or, should I say, we work
with the A.M.N."
Aurin sighed and leaned against the wall. Well,
that's
good
at
least."So... Who's the captain of
this ship?"
"Why, I believe you've met her. Mara
Nakashima. Should I tell her you've woken
up?"
"No. I'll tell her myself."
***
Aurin walked down the hall, in a pair of
military fatigues and a tank top
Harper had given him. His new boots clanged on the metal grating, and he could
see a pipe running underneath. He was trying his best to decipher Harper's
cryptic directions, and ignore the burning pain in his back.
Aurin heard a metallic clang behind him,
and turned quickly to look for its
source; Nobody was behind him. It was probably a pipe or a vent, or perhaps
something else.
Without turning, he continued to walk
forward, and immediately walked headlong
into a wall of fur and muscle; He fell painfully onto his ass and looked up.
A huge bear stood over him, covered in
light brown fur. He wore nothing but a
pair of rough spun britches, and a single leather pauldron on his left
shoulder.
Slung on his back was a G-24 rifle, affixed with a scope. A necklace of beads
and little animal bones hung around his thick neck.
He peered down at Aurin with eyes eerily
similiar to his own, and said in a low
booming voice, "Shit. sorry, you alright?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Sorry, I wasn't
looking where I was going."
"'S all good." He offered a paw to Aurin,
and with hesitation, Aurin gripped
it. The paw was soft and warm, and surprisingly gentle, given the fact it could
break every bone in his hand with the slightest effort. The bear-kin lifted him
back up easily, as if he were a child. "I'm Kordoc. Son of Ardoc."
"I'm Aurin. Aurin Acolyse... Er... Son of
Edmin."
"Yeah, I know. You're that famous criminal
kingpin magician guy, right?
Everyone on the ship's been going bananas since you came aboard."
Just as always, my
reputation precedes me.
"Oh... That's... neat, I guess."
"I suppose you were on your way to the
bridge."
"Yeah... or wherever your captain is."
Kordoc nodded, and turned around. "Right.
Follow me."
Aurin followed him down a corridor, lit
here and there with the outside sky. A
couple men in overalls brushed past them, stealing sidelong glances at Aurin as
they went. Uncomfortable, Aurin cleared his throat.
"So... Uh... Where are you from, Kordoc?"
"Cidran. A little port city on the
southern coast called Romagoro. Doubt you've
ever been there."
Aurin shook his head. "I doubt I'd be
welcome there."
"Not unwelcome... Just a little out of
place. There aren't many men in Cidran,
or Ivarosh... Just cranky old bears like me." He chuckled.
"Did you fight in the war?"
"Nope. None of us did. We've never shared
the same views as the cats, or the
wolves... We like our salmon, and we like our beer. Nothing else really moves
us... Certainly not religious dogma, from either end."
As they walked, a large, four-legged cat
leaped down from the pipes in the
ceiling and looked at Aurin with intelligent eyes. It had a long and slender
body,
with a golden-brown coat spotted and splashed with inky black. It wore a metal
collar, a
circular red bulb sticking out of the front end. It sat down in front of them
and licked
its
paw. Then, incredulously, it spoke without moving its mouth. Instead, the red
bulb pulsed with each word.
"Greetings. This one is called Ojo. The
tail rises in interest upon this
meeting." The voice it used to speak was clearly artificial, the words flat and
devoid of emphasis.
"Hey, Ojo." Kordoc nodded at the cat, as
if this was perfectly normal. "Eating
well, I hope?"
The cat's shoulders twitched, as if it had
shrugged. "Food does not interest
this one. The Red Bird is what interests this one."
"You... know who I am?"
"Yes. This one hears man-whisperings, of a
powerful one who bends fire, ice,
air and earth to do his bidding. Are you not the one?"
"Well, yeah. That is me. Though it's a
little more complicated than that."
Ojo's green eyes narrowed slightly, as if
amused. "This one expected you to be
taller." Kordoc chuckled. Aurin opened his mouth to say something, though the
words died on his tongue.
"I'm taking him down to the bridge to talk
to Mara. You want to come with?"
Ojo shook his head. "That is well. This
one has reading that must be completed.
You and this one shall have words another time, Red Bird. Try not to anger the
raven." With that, he turned left down another corridor, and vanished beyond
their sight as quick as he had appeared.
"He reads?"
"He's actually very intelligent. Most of
his kind are."
"What... is Ojo?"
"He's what your people would call a
half-kin- A beast with self-awareness. Their minds kind of jumped ahead
of their physiology... They don't have the vocal chords required to create
speech, though if you build them something to use instead... You have a hard
time getting them to shut up."
"I see... And who built the collar for
him?"
"Maekri Nosyt. He's the chief engineer
aboard
the Pallas. Bit of an odd fellow. A
good man, and very sweet, but definitely odd. Most likely, you'll be meeting
him fairly soon."
A colorful lot these
people are.
They came to a pair of brushed metal
doors; Next to them was a small box that
appeared to be an intercom. With his huge paw, Kordoc gracefully pressed one of
the buttons and a dial tone came through the speaker.
"Kordoc here. Baby bird wants the worm."
The doors slid open, and Kordoc gestured
for him to enter. "Catch you later,
kid."
The doors closed behind him quietly as he
entered, and he looked about the
bridge. The bridge was located on the bow, protruding slightly from the rest of
the ship. It was encased in glass, held together by a latticework of thick
metal beams. A menagerie of navigational equipment and telescreens faced ahead,
port, and starboard, with a crew of eight men sitting at each.
They wore no
uniforms; Indeed, they appeared to be quite casual at their stations, one man
sipping out of a tin mug while he perused the newspaper, occasionally glancing
at the radar.
At the very front of the bridge, two men
sat at the controls; They were sharing
a box of pastries, and wiping their hands very carefully with napkins before
touching any of the instruments.
At the center of the room, was a chair- It
was a fairly ordinary looking chair,
though quite tall for one of its make. It was upholstered in red leather, and
the legs had appeared to be bolted to a rotating plate. It wasn't unlike a
chair that
the Mayor might have had once had in his study.
The chair swiveled around, and Mara was
sitting in it, clad in a pair of jeans
and a collared sleeveless shirt, her wavy black hair tied into a "close enough
for government work" bun. Her right arm was missing; Instead, there was a
prosthetic, clad in carbon fiber armor-plating, airbrushed a matte black.
He thought back to the fight between them
and Abaiss, and Abaiss' remark upon
gripping her arm. That's new.
Her lips turned up slightly in a smirk,
and she stood up to greet him. "So
you're awake. Glad to see you are well." She offered the metal arm to shake,
and Aurin took it. Like Kordoc, she could have easily pulled his arm out of his
socket if she wanted to. She was also quite tall for a woman, standing two
inches above him. She must have won the genetic lottery. She glanced around at
the crew members, who were
watching them now. "Fellas, may we man the bridge for a moment?"
They shuffled from their stations and
walked through the doors. The door hissed
to a shut behind them, and Mara sighed.
"So... What do you think of the ship?"
"What do I... think of the ship? That's
not what's on my mind, Ms. Nakashima.
I-"
"It's what you saw the other night."
"Yes." Aurin felt it again; The ice cube running down his neck. His neck hair
prickled when he realized she was reading his mind. Aurin shook his head, as if
it would dislodge her, but that little pinprick of energy was always there when
he was around her. Mara's mere presence opened up his brain like a picnic
basket, allowing her to take out whatever looked the most appetizing.
She placed a hand on his shoulder;
Her real one. "I understand how you feel
right now." She really did. " Not many people come in contact with a Xaeon and
survive."
Aurin blinked, the alien word seeming to
go through one ear and out the other.
"I'm sorry... a what? A seance?"
"Xaeon. A demon of the light. A god
come into human flesh. A trans-dimensional being spoken of in rumors and old
wives tales. Whatever the name, you've seen one with your own eyes."
Just hearing the word gave Aurin that
feeling of unreality, like he had just
stepped into a waking dream. Even the name didn't make sense. Aurin crossed his
arms. "Yeah, I'm feeling a little ambivalent about that. But what are they?"
"They are whatever form they choose to
take." Mara gestured towards a machine
on the far wall of the bridge, and held a small cup underneath. At the press of
a button, hot coffee trickled into it. She handed it to him and poured one for
herself.
"So you're saying that Lapis, and that guy
Abaiss... They're these things,
these Xaeon? But disguised as humans?"
"Yes and no. It's not as pure and simple
as that."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"You will."
"Great. So is that what Eld Siegfried died
to protect? A girl who can turn into
a giant metal killing machine?"
"That's not all there is to her."
"I'm curious to hear the rest."
She didn't answer him. Instead, she strode
to her chair, and pressed a button
on an intercom located on the adjacent desk.
"Maekri, please report to the mess hall.
It's important. Anyone else who wishes
can come as well." She released her hand from the button, and walked towards
the bridge door.
"What's going on?"
"What I'm about to tell you, I want to
tell the others."
***
The mess hall was of decent size, with a
maximum occupancy of fifty
people. Initially, it was just the two of them, then a mixed group appeared.
Aurin couldn't help but notice it was a very small turnout. He noticed Angela
and Lapis among them; Angela's eyes were downcast, her face as blank as a
slate. Lapis was holding her hand and guiding her. Kordoc was there, as well as
old Doctor Harper.
Mara looked over the group, her arms
crossed. "Is this everybody?"
Kordoc cleared his throat. "Just about
everybody besides the flight crew, and mech maintenance."
"Good. Introductions are in order. Aurin,
this is my
crew. This is Maekri Nosyt, the chief engineer."
She gestured at a middle-aged man with a
curly black and grey afro, and dark
skin. He wore a simple collared shirt, under a pair of orange overalls stained
with
black smudges, probably oil. He had a round belly, though his biceps bulged
with muscle underneath his sleeves. There was an oval around his brown eyes
that showed his skin's true color, while the rest was caked with dirt. He
smiled and waved. "Hello, Aurin."
Standing next to him was a tall, wiry
youth, with chocolate skin and a shaved
head. He was the spitting image of Maekri, only younger and more athletic. His
eyebrows were thin and angular over strikingly green eyes. He was
wearing an outfit quite similar to Maekri as well, and had the same oil stains
on his hands and forearms. He stepped forward and offered a pink palm to shake.
"I'm Jaekri, his son. I'm also an engineer, of sorts."
Aurin shook his hand. "Hello, Jaekri."
Mara nodded at Kordoc. "I believe you've
met Kordoc already. He is our
quartermaster, so if you want to learn about a certain gun, he is your bear."
Kordoc's lips turned up, showing his massive white fangs. Aurin realized he was
smiling.
Next to Kordoc was a bear-kin Aurin hadn't
met yet, and he made Kordoc look
like a cub. He was gigantic, with black fur and one eye hidden under an eye
patch. His lips were
starting to sag from age. Mara patted him on one huge arm. "This is Brigand. He
handles inventory in the cargo bay, and nobody does it better."
"Can we move this along? I was having a
very nice dream about smoked ham."
Brigand grumbled and rubbed his voluminous stomach.
"Soon, Brigand." She gesticulated to
Harper.
"You've already met Doctor Harper.
He pretty much came with the ship."
Harper's head bobbled, a senile smile
underneath his bushy beard. "Staying off
your back, I hope."
Leaning against a wall in the far corner
of the mess hall was a tall man, with
long, dirty blonde hair, green eyes, and a few weeks worth of stubble on his
cheeks. He wore a grey bomber jacket, and an expression of bored derision. "That's
Edric Redaekev. He's an M.A.S. pilot, and also a bit of an asshole."
Edric blew a kiss at Mara, and she
turned away, either not seeing it, or
pretending not to. "Last but not least, this is Rida. She is the caretaker of
the ship, so if you need anything- a bite to eat, laundry- come to her." Rida
smiled and shook Aurin's hand. She was a small woman, with rosy cheeks and a
yellow bandana. Locks of wavy black hair peaked out from underneath.
"Isn't all that... a little demeaning?" Aurin asked her.
Rida snorted. "It's not like any of these lot know how to do their own laundry."
The men in the room laughed nervously.
From behind them, the mess hall doors
swiveled open seemingly on their own.
Then Aurin heard a low purring, and Ojo hopped onto one of the mess hall
tables, with all the grace his species was known for.
"Hello, Raven. Red Bird. All men and
beasts. This one
apologizes for tardiness. He was in the midst
of a bath when he heard the announcement. This one hopes he can finish swiftly."
Mara nodded in agreement. "Yes, do as you
please, Ojo."
Ojo raised one back leg in the air,
lowered his head, and proceeded to
meticulously scrub his crotch with his own tongue.
With that, Mara turned to Angela. "Hello,
Angela. How are you holding up?"
Angela said nothing. Lapis squeezed her
hand and stared at Mara, a look of pleading sorrow in her blue eyes.
"You do not have to be here if you don't
want to. Would you rather Rida brought
you back to your room?"
Angela looked up, and her expression
changed drastically; Aurin had never seen
her so angry. Her eyes were like sparks. "No. I want to know everything you
do."
"Good." Mara met her gaze with a smirk,
and looked around the room. "Before I
begin... Are any of you holding correspondence with anyone who defers to the
Queen? Do not lie. You know I will find out anyway."
The attendees shook their head. Edric
scoffed. "As if. To hell with that old biddy."
Mara nodded. "As you all well know, that
'old biddy' is immortal. She does not
age, she does not fall ill, and she cannot be killed."
Jaekri raised a hand. "As for that last
part, no-one knows if that's true.
No-one has gotten close enough to try."
"That's true, Jaekri. But for all intents
and purposes, let's just say that she
cannot be killed. Period. At least by mortal hands."
Aurin let this sink in. By mortal hands.
"Okay." Edric shrugged. "That's just a
fact of nature. The sky's blue, the sun
is bright, and Queen Armaea fuckin' Tillarand has ruled with an iron fist for
three hundred years. What of it?"
"More on that in a moment." Mara walked
over to Angela, and placed a hand on
her shoulder. "The man who oversaw Eld Siegfried's execution
claimed to be acting under orders of the Queen. Why would the Queen order one
of her most trusted subjects, an ex-Chevalier no less, to die?"
Aurin glanced at Lapis. "Abaiss said that
the Mayor stole Lapis from the Queen,
or at least orchestrated some sort of event to free Lapis. I'm guessing it was
all done through proxies."
"That man, Abaiss... Who was he?" Angela asked.
"He belonged to a group of assassins, one
of seven
bred for killing from a young age." Mara replied. "They are trained in every
manner of deadly combat imaginable, and then they are given access to an ancient
power. By all rights, one that nobody should have."
"You're talking about the Xaeon." Aurin stated.
"Yes. All six are able to turn Xaeon."
That isn't terrifying
at all. "Wait. Just a second ago,
you
said there were seven. How do you know all of this?"
"I am one of them." Mara touched the
brushed metal of her mechanical arm,
flexed it. "Or was, anyway."
Somehow, this didn't surprise Aurin. "So
can you turn Xaeon?"
"No, I lost that ability long ago, along
with this arm. But that's a story for
another time."
Lapis could turn Xaeon
as well... Is she one
of the seven? I'm so confused.
Angela's brow was tight-knit, her eyes
burning holes into Mara's head. "If you were one of these assassins, how can we
trust you?" She looked around the room at each face. When she looked at Aurin,
her eyes were so intensely saturated with grief and rage he couldn't bear to
look into them. "How can ANY of you trust her?"
Mara met her gaze unflinchingly. "That is for you to decide, Ms. Siegfried. But
if it's revenge you want, I am forever your ally."
"We've already killed... what, eight of the bastards already?" Edric counted on
his fingers for a moment. "Yeah. Eight Xaeon. 'Course, they were just
Wanderers... That's what we call Xaeon who have lost their humanity, and in the
process, a bit of their smarts. I guess
you could say killing Xaeon is our business... Business isn't good, in fact
it's downright thankless. But it needs to be done. Without Mara, we'd have no
idea where to even
begin."
Jaekri shrugged, a what can you do.
"So if Abaiss is back in business, that
means the others must be as well."
Maekri looked as if he were going to be sick. "There is already unrest in parts
all over Alnora, and
its only a matter of time before it reaches a boiling point. It's war all
over again."
"This war is
being
fought in secret, with lies and subterfuge and knives in the dark. This one knows the intent. But not the
purpose." The red light went out, then Ojo
meowed, his real voice high and kitten-like. Kordoc picked him up and proceeded
to scratch Ojo behind the ears with his great claws.
Mara turned to Angela
again. "Angela, do you recall the fight
between Lapis and the men who tried to kidnap you?"
"Yes."
"And did Lapis become wounded at one point
during the fight?"
"Yes... She was... Struck by a crowbar. On
the head. She also had bloodied her
knuckles."
"And when you checked her wounds, what did
you find?"
"Nothing. They were completely healed by
the time we got back to the Manor."
Mara nodded. "For the benefit of everyone
here, I would like to add that I saw
this girl Lapis get shot in the back, twice."
"But she's..." The words died on Aurin's
tongue as he looked at Lapis. Lapis,
whose skin was as clean as a mountain spring, who had been shot in the back.
Eld Siegfried had been shot in the back as well, and he had spent the remainder
of his life in a wheelchair.
Nobody spoke. The silence was thick,
almost tangible. Ojo's eyes were alight with curiosity and sudden revelation.
"She's immortal," Maekri breathed.
Lapis looked more confused than any of
them. She held up her hands,
staring at them, as if they would give her the answers she sought.
"Well, I didn't see that coming." Brigand
looked fairly calm, all things
considered.
"Bull, and shit." Edric laughed
mirthlessly, his voice echoing off the metal
walls. He pushed himself off of the wall, and shook hair from his face. "You're telling me that if I decide to put one in this girl's head,
she'll heal, just like the Queen would?"
"You're welcome to try, Edric. Though I
can't guarantee you'll get along with
her very well after the fact," Jaekri said glibly.
"What you're suggesting changes
everything." Maekri was staring at Lapis, with
an expression of abject awe and fear. "The Queen rose to power under the
assumption that she was a goddess, the last of the immortals who created this
world. For centuries, the world took her at her word."
"There is one immortal who yet lives, and
you're looking at her." Mara said.
"A remnant of the Old World." Ojo's ears
twitched in response to Kordoc's laser-precise scratching. "Last of the Makers."
"I cannot believe my ears," Rida said, her
face pale. "You cannot mean to tell
me a Maker is standing in the same room as us. A bloody Maker."
"If I am immortal, as you say," Lapis
began, "Why do I not remember anything? Why is my past hidden from me?"
Mara gestured at Harper. "Dr. Harper,
could you please tell me what you had for
breakfast two days ago?"
Harper shrugged, making a quiet groaning sound every other word. "Why the hell would I
remember something like that? I can
barely remember to wear pants, let alone remember what I had for breakfast two
days ago. At my age, my memory is terrible."
"Yes, yes it is." Ignoring Harper's annoyed
expression, Mara looked at Lapis next. "With great age, comes fleeting memory. Your body may never age, but
your mind still bears the burden of so many experiences. It's a wonder the
Queen has managed to stay the same for three hundred years. I wouldn't doubt
she has assistance with such matters. The human mind can only take so much."
Kordoc shifted his weight uncomfortably
from one leg to the other."Lapis' very
existence is reason enough to have us all killed for treason. So my question is,
what is she doing on this ship?"
"Eld Siegfried tasked me with finding out
the truth. About Lapis. About myself. About this world. About who the Makers
really were." She looked at everyone around her, her face solemn and unmoving.
"And with Lapis, that is
what I intend to do. Too long has the wool been pulled over our eyes; Too long
have we been spoon-fed lie after lie, waging wars against eachother in the name
of Gods who might well have been ordinary people like us, and spilling the
blood of children onto the streets. No more. You are all welcome to join me.
You're also welcome to
depart at any time, in whichever city we first make landfall."
No-one budged.
"Good. Thank you." She bowed before everyone, and they returned the gesture. "I managed to get some
information from
Eld Siegfried before his passing, but most of it is scattered, illegible. But
he was insistent on one thought... our first order of business is to find a man
named Rode Silmaren."
Aurin struggled to keep calm, the revelations he had just learned causing his brain to go wild. "Who is he?"
"Apparently, he was involved with the
program Abaiss and I were a part of. That's all I could glean from the Mayor's
thoughts."
Maekri crossed his arms. "So where can we
find this Rode Silmaren?"
"The letter says he can be found in
Newchapel. Apparently, he's been living in
hiding for some time."
"If he's still alive," Edric interjected. "More than likely, he's already been made."
"If there's a chance that he lives, we have to take it," Mara said, meeting Edric's eyes. "There are no other leads."
Aurin's fist clenched, seemingly of its
own accord. "Time to coax him out. Where are
we now?"
"About eight hundred miles out from
Rynnias.
We're stopping there for food, and
supplies. From there, it's a straight shot to Newchapel."
Rynnias, eh? Aurin felt his stomach
turn to ice, the image of a ruby set in a golden ring suddenly occupying all of
his thoughts.
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