Aether's Heart 9.2

Written by Vincian

80 Days B.N.D.

The dragon poked its head out from the scarf and trilled. Railyn sighed. "We're getting out of here... Onyx? No, that's a sucky name." He covered the dragon back up and rushed back out the hall, down the stairs two at a time. He slowed down to a trot as he reached the entrance of the building, which looked down on the main roadway of people. He glance around... and noticed the same large woman he used as bait earlier. She was talking heatedly with a Baron Guard. She looked in Railyn's direction, and pointed, and all three of them, the Guard, the lady, and Railyn, locked eyes. Railyn could almost hear her say, "That's him! That's the disgusting liar! That's the Grand Rebel!"

"Shoot. Time to leave." Railyn muttered, and hopped over the balcony railing to the landing below. The poor wood didn't support his weight, though, and he fell through it into the stream of people below, making such a fool of himself and of course attracting attention from every Baron Guard around. He picked himself off the ground and looked back at the Baron Guard, who was now walking in his direction. Not even running, or even a leisurely trot, but a casual walk! Did they have that little faith in him escaping?

Something inside Railyn jumped at the thought, like he was a little kid again. Boy, they were mistaken. He knew this city better than anyone, and he was about to prove it.

"Stop him!" Somebody howled into the crowd. Railyn bolted through the crowd, bumping into a few passerbys as he rushed into an alleyway. However, no one tried to actually stop him. He smiled as he ran, of course no one would actually do something to stop him. Baron Guards had influence, but laziness and apatheticness had more.

Railyn tumbled as his foot hit a rock that sprouted above the ground. He merged his tumble into a roll and managed to make it into an alleyway. This one snaked through, almost to the heart of the city, which is ironically the exact opposite place of where he wanted to go. However, it did intersect with a small hole-in-the-wall entrance to a wooden walkway through a makeshift second floor of buildings, hanging precariously by steel beams pinned to ceilings and hanging stone pillars. It allowed for more expansion in the small confines of the inner city, but, more importantly for Railyn, it allowed for easy access to almost all parts of the city with a small amount of climbing and maneuvering.

Railyn jogged down the paved stone alleyway, scanning the walls of the two buildings on either side for any notable indention. A couple of guards found their way into the alley, their clanking of armor and shouting was evident enough of his time constraint. He didn't find anything extremely useful for him to rely on, so he had to risk it.

Railyn ran to the end of the alleyway and launched himself up a garbage can and positioned his right foot on a stone brick that jutted out of the right wall. Using his momentum, he hopped from one side of the wall to the other side. The narrow width of the alleyway allowed him to climb it fairly easily. He slipped, but managed to redirect his fall to land on a balcony of a rickety house.

The Baron Guards looked up at him almost confused, helpless as to where to go, until one who looked like a commander or something barked orders at them. They split up, two running down the alleyway to him and the others backing off, no doubt to try and corner him. Railyn brushed himself off and swung himself through the bars of the balcony to land on one higher up. The further away he was from the ground troops, the better.

Railyn looked above him. Roofs, and yet other walkways. What is it with this city and walkways and levels, Railyn thought. He knelt down and launched himself, barely managing to grab onto a ledge with one free hand. He swung for a bit before leveraging himself to grab a better hold with his other hand. Groaning, he heaved himself up. "Boy, I could lose some weight," he managed out. A chirp squeaked from his scarf, and he rolled onto the roof, gasping for air. "Oh... yeah. You're really... heavy for being so... small." He said. The dragon trilled, either in agreement or in astonishment.

Railyn scrambled to his feet.

"Halt!" he heard from below, and that shook him back into reality. He jumped from one roof to the next, stumbling into a roll. He looked to the east --or at least, what he thought was the east-- and ran that way. From what he remembered of his early mining days, back when he was more shipping than actual mining, everything he took always went east. There had to be a way out of the city there, and if anything left the city, they left it there.

Railyn jumped from roof to roof as the shingles slanted downward, making way for a more substantial walkway as the houses got shorter and wider and transitioned to businesses that operated on the layer's outer edge. The walkways shifted from weak wooden to metal beams that supported air ventilation systems that led to who knows where, but looking back on it, Railyn realized they were probably shipping air in front outside the city. How no one managed to realize this, Railyn couldn't understand. Many people were born here, lived their lives here, and died peacefully in their sleep or in the mines here.

Railyn didn't want to suffer the same fate, and, glancing down at the being in his scarf. The living, breathing, magical being that had been just sitting there, waiting for him for so long. He didn't want this pure creature to suffer this fate, either.

The running on uneven roof shingles turned into running on fairly even ground as houses morphed into factories. The air got hotter, but that was what Railyn was used to. It was his environment, and his gait became easier. He glanced back, and noticed no one was following him. He outpaced the guards, of course. He slowed down and managed to catch his breath and pace himself.

The dragon nosed its head out of Railyn's scarf, and chirped up at him. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of here, Corrick, nope, not it." The dragon chirped and snuggled back into the folds.

"Stop right there!" Four guards climbed onto the pipeline. They revealed weapons, and one of them had a staff, who stepped forward. "Give yourself up, and we'll take you in quietly. We'd like to ask you some questions." She offered a disarming hand.

Railyn backed away. "I didn't start that Grand Rebellion," he shouted.

The Baron Guards inched forward as hey backed away. He glanced behind him, and noticed more guards climbing up behind him. "We never said you did. We just want to ask some questions, and then you can go home, we can all go home."

A crowd had started amassing underneath them, pointing and whispering. What if he was a filthy Grand Rebel? Who lived near him? Who was his family? Who would be associated with him? A spectacle, in all things, interested the citizens of Yse the most and kept them entertained. And what better entertainment than a Grand Rebellion? Wait...

Railyn yelled at the top of his lungs. "No, you don't want to ask me questions! You want to kill me!" He gestured wildly. "You want to kill all of us! Who's next?" He pointed to a portly man down below. "Him? Do you actually think I'm actually a Grand Rebel? You're just turning us against each other until there's no one left!"

The mage Baron Guard set down her staff. "Listen, I think you may have breathed in some toxic gas from the mines. There was an explosion this morning. We need to get you to the hospice right now."

There was a murmur of agreement among the crowd below. "I think I heard my cousin from the mines mentioning that..." someone said, and consensus quickly spread.

"There's a possibility that you could have been experiencing some things... out of the ordinary," the mage said. "We just want to keep the peace."

"Keep the peace? Keep the peace? You call yourself peacekeepers! But the only things you do is steal friends and family from their beds at night. Who here has lost someone randomly, never to hear from them again?" Railyn asked the audience below. The talking quietened down and peopled loitered about, suddenly no more an onlooker to the action. Railyn shifted his attention back to the Baron Guards. "I lost my life, my best friend." Railyn choked back the words he really wanted to say. "I- I was just a child."

"Yeah! I lost my husband!" someone from the crowd.

"I lost my best friend--"

"--My neighbor--"

"--My hairdresser--"

"--My sister!"

Shouts of all kinds rung through the air as the crowds below the pipe walkline became more and more agitated. The Baron Guards glanced at each other, sensing the rising tension.

"Let's talk somewhere private, please." The mage guard said in a rushed tone. She flicked a finger to the other guards, and they dispersed down to the crowd, corralling them away from the pipeline.

Railyn saw his opportunity slipping from his reaches. Sweat dropped off his brows onto his silk scarf. "I will never, never come with you all. Not again." He stepped forward. "Get out of my way, please, or I'll hurt you." He hoped she couldn't tell he was absolutely and utterly bluffing.

"You don't want to do this, sir. Let me help you find your friend." She sounded sincere, oh so sincere. "Trust me, we will be able to find him, somewhere."

Railyn stumbled in his thoughts. He wanted to trust her, so badly. He wanted everything to go back to when things were right, and free, again. He wanted to be free again.

But he couldn't do that in Yse. Not anymore.

Railyn rushed forward, and the mage flicked her wrist, her staff jumping up to her hand. A simple twist, a force of magic shuddered the buildings in front of her and a blast of light filled Railyn's vision. He raised his arms to cover his face, and suddenly everything stopped, and everything became so clear.

Something slowed in him, and the blast seemed to bend to his will, and he spread his arms, letting the energy redirect from his arms to everywhere in front of him.

As quickly as it went, the feeling dispersed, and the energy blast knocked the Baron mage from the walkway, destroying everything in its path. But it didn't stop, it didn't die down. The blast impacted with the cavernous wall of Yse, obliterating it completely.

Light flooded in, a beam so intense that Railyn had to cover his eyes once again. His arms were scratched and etched in a pattern that seemed not random, or like it was intentional, and they were surrounded by burns on his arms. The baby dragon poked its head out and curled around his forearm, looking past him. Railyn followed his gaze to the light. No, not light.

"Sunlight."