Chereads / Rogue Lineage, Tales of Gaia - Voices from the Deep / Chapter 3 - Chapter 2 - The Noble's Cliff

Chapter 3 - Chapter 2 - The Noble's Cliff

The sweet smell of berry-jam filled the entire inn, the bubbling process of liquifying fruits into a substance to spread and dip your fingers into, simply enough to bring anyone to a smile. I let myself breathe out, as if I had been keeping it in since I laid my eyes to rest. I feel across my filtered and curly hair, picking at the gray marks of star shapes littered across my head. I wipe my eyes clean of collected gunk that'd laid rest in my sockets. The rub finally clearing my vision to the palely lit room, the morning sun just barely able to shine through the canopies above.

I stretch my worked arms out, nearly reaching the low ceiling. Rito is still sleeping, and I can feel in my body I should as well. 'But no matter, we've got a long day ahead of us'. The chair creaks as I raise my still waking body, my bones crack as I let my limbs stretch to the short ceiling. My head nearly grazing the un-kept planks lining across, each splinter visible to the naked eye.

I walk along the floor, feeling my step lower the floorboards ever so slightly. There's no mirrors or anywhere to clean yourself, suppose it's another day unwashed, though slightly metal plated clothes have started to attract smell. I'll wash them soon enough, but first.

"O' RITOSE, THERE'S A THIEF!" Quickly the covers spring to life, and out comes a half dressed Rito, his hair untied and flowing, and much like the state of his hair, his posture and eyes follow in a dreary sense, though in hand is his shining sword, simple and plain in its glow.

"W-where, I don't see.." He locks eyes with my grinning self.

"Argh you ass, just wake me up normally." He gives me a hearty punch in the arm, as he rubs his eyes clean of muck.

"Do you think we'll get to Sentinel at a reasonable time?" I ask Rito as he puts his rustic shirt on.

"Maybe, if we are lucky and don't have any encounters." He finishes his sentence with his hair tightly bound, a tail of hair sticking off the back of his head. He takes a deep whiff of air.

"Judari, how much silver do we have left?"

"Forty-eight."

"That smell is too good to pass up." Rito says, already at the door.

We sit across from each other, the small inn only having seats for three companies. Though only one other party was seated, along with us.

"Hopefully the food's not too expensive." I say, letting the silver pouch clank upon our table's surface.

"I'm more worried about quality, this place can't have too good transportation to it." Rito looks around, locking eyes onto the inn-keeper who greeted us yesterday.

"Judari, could you call her over, I want to order." Rito says.

"Call her yourself you coward." I look at him cowering his face away in the small paper menu laid on the few tables. I roll my eyes and call for her. She walks over with a soft elded smile as she approaches.

"What'll it be for you two young men?" She asks, carrying a small piece of wood with a scribbled paper on top. I quickly peek at the menu and see many of the options reaching high amounts of silver, I lean myself closer to the lower value morning products laid in ink.

"I'll have kjold-skol." I say.

"Any sweets with your feast?" She asks, reminding me of how much I missed a good dish from home. One I could always rely on with a bowl of kjold-skol.

"Do you have any hexaloom here?" I ask, with hope in my heart.

"Absolutely, not a lot of peeps ask for it but we have some in the back." 

"Thank the gods, I swear no place in all of Gaia but the desert have them." I say, a year long weight having been lifted from my chest.

"Well it is usually more to Kasparan taste, and they grow their own fruits above." She smiles.

"Now, what'll it be for you?" She asks Rito.

"I'd like a simple jam on bread, but I'd also like to ask if you have any exotic jams?"

"We have have a couple of jams like that, likor berry jam, fever fruit jam and lunardi jam."

"All of course freshly made here." She adds with a smile, as Rito ponders.

"I'll try the fever fruit jam, with a free-leaf tea to accompany it."

"How wonderful, I don't have much of it in the back, as it's quite rare to get around here, but I'm sure we have some. So I'll be right out with your dishes, you two just sit tight." She prances off, leaving my eyes to wander the inn's small dining area. Though not much of interest catches my attention.

"Y'know, I've been thinking of getting a pair of earrings." Rito says.

"Why's that?"

"Well all nobles and merchants were wearing them in Aurelonift, pretty chains and metals."

"So because some rich peeps you don't know were wearing it, you need to as well?" I let my hands wander the table, searching for something to destroy or play with.

"I want to wear it because I think it'd suit me. No other reason."

"You should get some too, it'd fit you. Maybe more silver colored though."

"I'll pass, I'd rather not get metal stuck in my ears because some rich pricks have." I grab one of the napkins close to my hand, and rip little bits of it off.

"Hm, suit yourself. I just know whenever we get the silver, I'm definitely getting that pair of earrings." He says, feeling his earlobe slightly up. I look up to see the inn-keeper returning with two plates and a cup on a light plate of woodwry construct.

"And here's your breakfast, please do enjoy." She gracefully lowers the plate upon our table, steam coming from Rito's tea, and my bowl of soured buttermilk, with the pretty light crackers floating atop the surface, with slatherings of the batter over the biscuits. Along the pretty display lay the six shaped hexaloom slices, their purple coloring making the white and beige dish seem more exotic than it is.

"Thank you." I pass a smile to the inn-keeper.

"Of course, the bill is along on your tray, please do enjoy your breakfasts." She leaves as quickly as she had arrived at our table. I dig into my food, each spoonful better than the last. Equal parts sweet and sour, equal parts crunchy and creamy. Each hexaloom placed on my tongue dissolving quickly, not surprising they weren't soaked in the liquid first. But nonetheless it is quite like I remember it from back home.

"Are you going to eat your jammed bread?" I ask Rito, as he slightly analyzes the dish.

"I don't know… I feel like I might've overstepped my boundaries a bit here…" He says, as I take another spoonful of Kjold-Skol.

"Come on Rito, you ordered it, so you've gotta eat it. No wasting food." He picks up the bread, the red jam glowing with a slight pyre. As he chomps his teeth down upon the grocery.

"So, how is it?" Rito chews upon the sugar coated cubed fruits.

"There's some spice, but there's also some sweet honey flavor." He says, his fingers and arms dripping off his bone ever so slightly.

"Seems you've got some… Spillage." Rito looks at his arms, as they turn from solid to a goo.

"Aw for Solan's sake, I knew fever fruits raised your body temperature, but I wasn't sure if their effect worked in a jam form."

"Suppose you've got your answer now." I smirk.

"Suppose I do, though hopefully I can get my body under more control soon." He grasps upon his cyan flesh, holding it together as his body tries to regulate the temperature shock thanks to the jam.

"We got a long day ahead of us, so if you don't wanna eat the rest you can have some of mine." I offer.

"I'll take a spoonful, but I'll eat the rest." I scoop up a portion and let Rito eat it. He shivers with a delighted look.

"I've missed that, though it doesn't compare how Inari made it."

"Before you came to the sanctuary, he made it much better." I say, clinging onto the smile on my face, making sure it doesn't falter. Rito gives a sigh.

"On account of… I get why it was better, one day maybe he'll measure up to make us a proper bowl of kjold-skol again." He says, my heart pumping a bit of warmth again. Though my body fuzzes with comfort, my eyes realize the truth. The other company sat in the inn had been keeping a close venomous watch of us, their eyes staring daggers into Rito's back and my chest. 

Though to our luck, they didn't act out on their thoughts, and simply left, leaving me and Rito to finish our breakfasts.

I feel our silver sack, only twenty coins left. The smells of hay and feces swirl around the small barn, though a small temporary price to pay to hopefully attain a deer to ride. Closeby, a second inn-keeper stands sweeping the floor with a wooden broom. Though the labor doesn't interest me as much as the prices for riding the deer. I look at the small signs on the walls. Twenty-five silver per deer. 

"Seems your breakfast escapade has cost us most of the day." I say, and Rito sighs, rubbing his brow with slight force. I feel my legs already giving in to leaving the barn, as a low voice talks from behind me.

"I could offer you two sky-kins a discount." The inn-keeper speaks, setting the broom aside and letting it rest against the barn wall.

"In what way?" I ask, as I squint my eyes slightly."

"Two of the deer I have resided here are from a different inn that is also in this forest. And it'd be a hassle to bring both back. So I'll allow a discount if you agree to bring both deer back to their home-barn at the Royal Cliff." She smiles, though a slight chill travels through my nerves.

"That's greatly kind of you." I say, already tugging on the silver-sack.

"Ten silver per deer, both with home-crafted saddles. Should leave you with five silver left, yes?"

"That's… right, though how can you trust us to bring the deer back. What if we run off and steal them for ourselves." I ask, as I hand the twenty silver over.

"Then you'd be noted down."

"Now have a good trip to the Royal Cliff, and don't die with the deer." She smiles.

We gallop through the wetten moss, each click upon the ground meaning we're gaining a more solid ground to ride on. Though the sun shines from above the canopies, the forest is still laid in a thick layer of shadows. Only thing truly giving light to our path being the tiny pricks of yellow ambience from the millions of fireflies above, their rumps giving us a path forward to truth. The massive titan trees the forest relies on for its name, only being catalysts for the ground's bushel and wilderness, as while they absorb all the rain and sun the rest of the forest cannot intake, they provide life to fungus and roots growing off it.

"You haven't said much since we left breakfast." I say to Rito, though with a raised voice as the wind carries my tone slightly away with our decently paced speed.

"Didn't have much of a reason to, and you know I'm not the best at interacting with strangers." Rito says, as I fiddle my hands around the home-crafted saddle I'm seated upon.

"And instead you rely on me for that weakness." I grin, leaving Rito with a defeated smile.

"I do, and there's no way around it."

"I'm merely jesting Ritose, I'd be your interactor till the day I die if I had too."

"Though it wouldn't hurt for you to grow some steel."

"And it wouldn't hurt for you to grow some brain." Rito throws back with a thieving smile.

"I'm plenty smart." Rito passes me a side-eye.

"You just haven't seen my genius yet." 

"So everyone is a genius now?" Rito asks, as I flet my finger under the leather work of the saddle. And I let myself wonder for a second at his responde.

"Why not?" I look to Rito, as he rides beside me on his tanned deer.

"Why can't everyone be a genius, it's just a concept we kindreds made up anyway." I rip my deer's head away from sniffing a passing leaf, the canopies rustling with might and wind.

"I'm sure you'd say the same thing if a commoner from the underground was going to perform surgery on you." He pauses, and glances at me.

"Like you are, on that saddle." My hands freeze, as Rito chuckles. Though I ram through the slight embarrassment and rip upon the small piece of leather I'd been fiddling with. A bird squeals in the distance, as I look down to see engraved in the leather. 'Palinsor'.

"It says Palinsor on the saddle, that's the Duke family right?" I say, and Rito turns to me.

"They… are, now why is their name on a home-crafted saddle?" He asks.

"Maybe Laima or Humsi bought leather from them." 

"Maybe they did…" Rito sits in some ponder, his deer with a more straight mind than he.

A singular rip of the muscle of a branch bellows from above, knickering till snap, ensuing a massive burst of timber upon the ground. Another branch snaps and lands, and another, and another. Each one making a louder sound than the last, and each echo carrying the distinct sound of a swiping claw. I grab upon the lease, and grip right, my nerves and blood acting with a tingling sensation and primal instinct. A shriek screams from above, a march of death is approaching. I kick the back of my foot to the deer's thigh, instantly setting it off in a proper gallop, Rito follows suit.

Leaves and wind blow past us, the flapping wings of a behemoth and shrieks only coming closer and closer to us as we ride the open yet thick aired forest.

"We're still deep in the forest, so follow my lead or be caught dead in the talons of whatever is chasing us!" Rito presses forward, and I follow.

A black shadow descends from the vines and leaves, a face I've seen before flying above us with screeching prowess of the howling winds. A massive dark hawk flying above us, its body covered in scars and marks. Its wings more akin to black bones with ink tendrils grasping on it, and its peak of obsidian shade, with four distinct ragged out-pokes from the side of its head.

"Ride with haste Judari, or get caught in death's claws!" Rito screamed, our deer riding even faster as the ever thrilling adrenaline pumped through my body and heart.

The forest doesn't seem to end, the ever long passage of the ground and canopies continue off till my eyes tire. Though not a single second could be spared for bodily function, as black death approaches us through the leaves. It swipes down yet again, its body the size of the inn we had slept in this night. As a claw grazed the end of Rito's deer, it threw him to the side with his sword in hand.

"RITO!" I yell, quickly adjusting my speed.

"RIDE AWAY FOR SOLAN'S SAKE, I'LL BE FINE!" I hear around, the vines and leaves swirling all around us. I blink, and notice a hole right behind where Rito had been crash-landed. I leap off my deer, sword in hand.

I quickly hurry to Rito, my right arm open, as I tackle him down the hole. Our bodies tumbling slightly, though quickly we come to a halt, as the soft ground hits us.

"You're a dumbars-"

"I got us both to safety. I can only hope the root above us can protect us." I say, feeling the ceiling, as it shakes and shivers from the hawk's barrage of swipes.

"You think we can wait this thing out? It has to get tired at some point, right?" I ask.

"No, this is an Altum beast, like the one from yesterday. They exclusively follow instinct to destroy and cause misery. They don't even need food, they hunt for the sake of it." Rito says. Already brandishing his sword.

"So either we're starving to death, or getting torn to shreds by this, thing. Great, oh thank you Solan for blessing us with this! It's just like my father said would happen." I sit myself down. And Rito passes a look to the side.

"Things might look, dire, right now. But Solan will bless us with his grace-"

"Please cut that out, I indulge the Solan preaching from time to time, but I… not right now."

The hawk's talons sound closer every minute, our time running as thin as 'Solan's grace.'

"I'm sorry…" Rito says, taking his sword out, his pupils widening.

"Do you have your sword on you?" Rito asks, looking me in the eyes.

"I do, why?"

"Hand me it, right now." I stare at him for a second, another swipe from above sending slight wood chipper into my hair. I hand him my sword. Quickly he heads to the ground, his own sword in hand with my own. He laid down, with mine pierced against the broad steel of his. He starts scraping small images into his blade, ones mainly depicting flame. They look like those on my father's old sword.

"What are you doing Rito? Have you lost it? Or do you have some grand plan?" I ask, staring as he heretically carves steel shrapnel off, one by one till his blue arm is covered in sweat.

"Yesterday…" He takes a breath.

"When those Sigil Knights saved us."

"I held a close eye with their swords, each one had different drawings… carved in the metal."

"So, your plan is to draw on your sword. I might as well throw myself out to the hawk."

"If you had studied at the sanctuary like me, you would know a key to drawing elements is imagination. Though I never read anything about these… sigils." He stands up, finally a singular image of a flame has been carved into the steel. The rips and tears of the root spill the ever-slightest slivers of light falling down into our cavern.

"Give me a minute, I have to think of a flame, really imagine it."

"You might not have a minute to play imagination." I say, hearing the vines above sling around and move. Rito doesn't respond, and instead stances up, his feet equal, his arms aligned with his chest, and sword held right in the middle of his body, closing his eyes.

I prick my ears up, the swiping had stopped, the hawks wings were still flapping, but our cavern was no longer under siege.

"Come on… Oh Solan I walk with you, my life but an endless servitude in your exilar sol." Rito says, three times, yet his repeated passages don't bring a thing. Though ever so slightly, his right foot shifts forward, the mud being scraped along his boot. As his left takes backward, and his sword slowly sinking downward, and the veins on his head popping out completely beneath his cyan hair.

"Flame." He whispers through his teeth, the air from his mouth hitting the blade. A faint glow, of a sunset, dimly radiates from the single sigil he had carved. Rito opened his eyes, and now fully, his sword set ablaze, a thin covering of an alive fire spread along the steel, though not completely touching the metal.

"YOU DID IT!" I yell.

"I… I did, Solan truly does grace us with his guidance…"

"Now what, you've got the sword on fire!" I say, the vines above us whipping against the wind.

"I… didn't think that far…" Rito says, as quickly get eye on a loose piece of wood laid beneath us, I lay my hand upon it and rip it from the slight mud covering it.

"Let's light that beast a flame." I reach forward, borrowing the pyre, quickly setting my stick ablaze. I take my head outside the cavern, above the hawk hanging in a bundle of vines, they hold upon it like a steel net, as it screeches and swipes after the vegetation. Though more keeps growing and binding the beast, moving with will and thorn.

 

I look up, to see a horned figure, skin of green scales and a bald head, standing atop a heavy branch with a wrinkled organic book in hand. Waving his arms around with grace, once up, once to the side, and then down. I look to the vines, as they mimic the very motion of the florist. Though the bird's wings reach for the skies, breaking apart branches and bark, knocking the figure off. Though quickly he springs to another, then another, till the whole beast is wrangled in a twisted mess of vines and flowers.

The figure grabs three twigs from a quiver at his side, each one quickly thrown in the air with a touch on the side of the sticks. Each one forming a gracious blue top of petals and a green stem beneath. The stems still floating in the air, the figure took a slight step back, lining their head with the horizon of the newly transformed flowers. Till exit a burning pyre from the figures mouth was released on the flowers, each one lightning aflame. With quick speed, they dart toward the creature, sinking deep into its flesh, and burning it slightly away the feathers slightly, though none catch on fire. I hold tight upon my own burning branch, and fling it upwards to the beast. 

A flare lit upon the vines, scorching away with blackened smold around the bird. Though it lives, struggling away against the pyre. I fold myself back in the cavern.

I search the ground for sticks, or anything heavy enough not to be pulled down by gravity. Though my search is meaningless, Rito's sword simply glowing in the dark for us as a lantern.

"What's happening out there?" Rito asks, gripping tight around his sword, the embers slowly dying down as his concentration falters.

"There's a Florist outside, he's keeping the bird away from us!" I say, Rito still holding his burning blade.

"I can still hear its wings blow leaves away, so I'm guessing the Florist isn't able to kill it."

"Not that they would anyway… We have nothing next to do, we're back to before." Rito says.

My eyes glare over his sword, tilting slowly out of his hand. I reach forward, disarming Rito of his sword as its burn stays a somber.

"What are you doing!"

"Throwing our last chance away, let's hope for a jackpot." I run outside, the sliding moss and mud trying its best to keep me away. I line my eyes with the beast, a couple meters away and I could reach it. If I threw it from here, it'd just fall down and splash the last embers on the ground. I peer around, making sure my eye can catch any distraction. And there, a small protrusion in the mass root of the tree. 'Climbing up on it, then launching myself. Yes, that has to work.'

I discard myself of restlessness, and forward I run to the root, its height reaching at least four meters or more, though my metal boots lay well on the soft wood, trampling upward with the ever-dying sword, its flame still burning with slight pyre around the silvered metal. I plant my foot steadily on the plant. My muscles tightening, and my heart beating to the sound of the beast's wings.

I launch forward, the ground beneath feeling so far, yet my body feels the pull of gravity. Though my momentum carries me and Rito's burning blade. The ever-dark greasy feathers of the beast approach, and I forward the sword deep into its chest, the creature wrenching in agony as I slice and slide through its innards. I feel deep within the sword grazing bone and mucus, and finally it comes to a stop, still burning away and dancing upon the feathers, lighting them ablaze.

I jump off with my feet, landing upon the ground with a push of air exiting my lungs. The florist above swirls an even more obscene amount of vines around the bird, but it doesn't seem to waver. I search the forest ground with my eyes, quickly stumbling upon our docile deer.

"Rito! Get up here, we're riding off!" He comes crawling out of the cavern, my sword in his hand, it slightly stained with mud. He looks upward to his still-burning blade, though he for the moment ignores it and dashes towards his idle deer beside me, quickly slinging himself over the creature with leather in hand.

Quickly we gallop forward, my heart beating immensely as the beast out-tangles itself and rips forward to the Florist. Their continued aerial brawl still clings to my ears as we ride off. The whips of vine and fiery flowers still bursting through the forest with immense sound. Though the hooves of our deer click upon the ground, slowly eroding the whips away. Ourselves being absorbed further into the forest.

 Smelling the fresh grass beneath us, and listening to the birds chirping in the sky, filled me with a sense of relaxation long forgotten. My heart keeping a steady beat, while riding slowly through the enormous yet enclosed forest ground, with small peeks of light sneaking their way through the canopy's cracks. Not a word is spoken as we traverse the floor of the forest. Passing the massive trees and fallen branches on the ground makes one feel so small in the world, like a speck of grain in a desert. Squeezing our way through the smaller areas of the forest ground. Wound around a smaller mushy hill.

"I see some of the cliff over there!" Rito points over to a slightly lightened up area, as parts of the towering cliff appear in our eye-sight, imposing over the forest with a dark shadow. 

"Is the cliff tall or are we far down?"

"It's just a perspective thing I suppose, and both could be true." Rito answers.

"Hm, I guess so." We move closer to the foot of the cliff, to see any sort of path to make the journey up a bit manageable. Immediately we spot a small hut ingrained into the wall, with a stall attached at its left side. I hop off my deer, and Rito follows suit, we stroll across the pristine sun-bathed grass to the hut, our deer huffing and puffing, their home in sight.

"Anyone home, we were asked to deliver two deer to this place!" I yell, as a flurry of sounds and doors being opened brash through the small yet enormous open section of the forest.

Out comes a bed-headed woman with golden locks shining in the sun, her morning coat having been put on with haste and hurry.

"Mmm?" She stares us down, analyzing the deer behind us.

"So Linda is sending me young men to get my deer now. That lazy pala." She untenses herself, and stretches her limbs.

"So what's you two'ses names?" She clicks open a port with the flick of her finger, my eye barely catching it. Her accent reminding me of my breakfast.

"Judari-" I barely get a word out, before she whips her fingers to her mouth, and whistles with such intensity the trees above shake. Both deer lock upon her sound, and gallop inside the stalls at her side, leaving me and Rito standing bare in front of her with nothing left to offer.

"What are ya' standing there for, I'd be guessing you aren't here for no reason." She winks us over to a platform laid in the tall grass, rails and a gate on the platform give attachment points with rope and wire that connect to the high surface above, a stone masonry wall laid from the very edge of the platform. A mechanical wood piece standing atop the towering cliff clinging the rope to itself, though the details of the machine at this distance blur out to me.

"Come now, my mechanics don't bite." She smiles to her ears, her slight freckles moved by the tug. We abide and step onto the thick wood, my weight alone sets the platform deeper into the grass, Rito steps on without a noticeable difference, and he begins a small chuckle.

"Ready'h up now, this thing works fast!" She says, pulling a rustic lever sat on the hut's wall.

We stare for a second, only the sound of the living forest keeping our ears at peek.

"Hold on, I just have to pull it at the-" She tugs down on the lever more, it rebelling against her force, only sounding more restrained every pull.

"Right angle… Aw for the gods sake, first visitors in a while and this thing breaks." She turns her back to us, opening a portion in the wall where gears and screws lay rampant, all seeming to be in status.

"Do you need help?" I ask.

"No… this thing is busted, I can't get it working at all." She sighs and rubs her tired eyes.

"Would you step off the platform?" She asks, and we comply, stepping back in the wet grass.

"What's wrong?" Rito asks, finally handing me my muddied sword back.

"I don't know yet, but I know you two's are stranded down here with me for a while."

"Is there no other way upwards?"

"Well there is… Behind my house, though I'd rather not end up with a lawsuit from the Dukes." She shakes her head as she closes the small cabinet.

"Though yes, if ya' want outta' this forest, you'll have to take that path."

"Wait for a bit though!" She says, quickly darting off inside her hut. I look upward to the stone tower attached to the building. A spiral chimney smoking with gray from the top. Out she comes, a black metal plate with steaming fresh loaves of bread, their crunch apparent from the stripes of amber laid out on the bakeries.

"I hope this is some compensation. The path upward isn't one I've touched in ages so I'd be careful if I were you'se." She hands us each a soft yet hard shell loaf, along an adequate cloth bag to carry the bread.

"So, you haven't touched the path in ages you say, how long have you lived here for?"

"Oh a good portion of my life, I used to live in Sentinel, though I couldn't handle the city-life for'a much longer than my late teens. Though luckily I'm compensated for my living location by the Dukes!" She smiles from ear to ear.

"No one else? Do you live alone out here?" I ask, packing away my loaf.

"Why're you asking such questions, you want to move in with me or something?" She leans ever so slightly close to me.

"I well, I was just curious-" I stammer out.

"Pft, I was just kidding, you're much too young for me." She pauses, as I try shaking off her comment as it still travels through my nerves.

"Name's Astrid, if you wanted it." She smiles with the sun's warmth. 

"Oh, thank you, my name's Judari, don't know if you caught it before." I calm myself, and steady my back.

"Oh I did, don't you worry, and what about you bluey." She winks towards Rito, waking his eyes.

"My name? It's Rito." He manages to get out.

"If you want to make it up this cliff, you'll need to be more awake." She gives Rito a weak punch in his arm.

"Of course ma'am." He straightens his back, much like my father used to. Astrid lets out a chuckle from Rito's gesture.

"I'll guess you two are on your way to become 'Skiks', am I right?" She says, her tone a shade darker than before.

"We're trying to join the Sigil Order, yes. We've been all around Gaia for them to accept us in their ranks." Rito says.

"Accept you in their ranks? I thought those high-minds would accept anyone who bent to their rules. You've got to have done something real disruptive to earn that kind of reputation with them."

"You could say that." I mutter, I pinch my fingers together, till I can feel the blood stopping its flow through the veins.

"Hear this, you two's go up the cliff, then I'll get the mechanism repaired, sound good?" She smirks, half of her body already past her hut's door frame. I pass her a nod, as she descends beyond the wall. I feel a tug on my arm as Rito pulls me behind the deer stalls. A small patch of dirt path showing a guide towards an entrance, located atop some steep steps of dirt. We both slowly climb onto the smoldering dirt, making sure we don't ruin the steps. Entering the entrance, giving view to a black void of a tunnel.

Slowly walking through the small cold corridor, I feel the dirt between my fingers, each nook and grain grazing my fingerprints ridges. 

"This tunnel's walls feel so weak, like it could collapse at any moment. These tiny enclosed spaces drive me insane. Could we get out of here soon?!" Rito rants on, and I hold my palm to the wall, as if it would impart a holy blessing on the mud not collapse upon us. I just nod in agreement. As we approach the end of the tunnel, light floods through the opening. Getting closer to the end we can start to distinguish what lies beyond

I look to see that we finally reached the end, finally stepping foot into lumiancy, I look around for more path, as my eyes are met with a swirling walkway upwards.

"Seems so narrow, is that the only way up?" I remark.

"You heard Astrid, this is the only other way up. Though I'm positive we can make it, we just have to hug the wall, and be on the lookout for any crumbling pieces of dirt." Rito replies. I nod.

Clinging to the flimsy roots piercing through the dirt, we make our way upwards the cliff. We are finally given a slim of a breather, having reached a small plateau on the pathway. Rito slings down to sit a bit. 

 How's it looking at the front by the way?" I ask while Rito mumbles a bit to himself.

"There shouldn't be too much path left." He remarks stopping is mumble.

"Well that's reassuring." I reply snarkly. He lifts himself up and dusts himself off.

"Urgh, crumbles of dirt have gotten in my hair!"

"Heh, why don't you just cut it short if you hate it so much." I jab Rito with another tease.

"In two seconds you will be laying on the forest ground." Rito sternly says with a hint of a smile.

"Ha. Ha." I smile awkwardly, I don't think it would take too much for him to mean it. 

We walk around the winding path, with small steps getting us ever so more close to the top. Rito stops, looking ahead. A gap at our feet, wide enough to fall down through, straight below lies Astrid's hut, the platform's rope traveling through the gap and the rest of the way upward. Rito quickly turns to look at me. 

"Want to pray to Solan?"

"No."

"Still be careful. Also I'll go after you, just to make sure it's safe y'know." Rito says jokingly. 

"Yeah yeah you're really funny, just be ready to jump down and save me if I don't make it right." I say, with a glint and tension in my eye.

"Yeah of course, just jump already!" I take a step back, my ankle and leg tenses. I get ready to jump over. I run ahead with full speed, my front foot setting off at the very end of the path, I could feel myself lifting away from the last step of dirt, I was in the air. 

I prepare myself ready to grab the ledge. And I feel a part of the ledge on my right hand, fear strikes in my entire body. I just manage to grab on with my hand, my fingernails digging deep into the ledge, I hang there for dear life, before I realize what is happening, Rito yelling at me to pull up.. I get my left hand on the ledge as well, I tense my muscles, and use my entire strength to carry myself up from certain death. I collapse upon the path

"Rito, it's way farther than it looks, be careful!" I yell at Rito. I place myself farther from the ledge to give Rito room to land. 

"I'll be here if you can't make it!" I position myself at the very ledge, staring down the long drop to Astrid's hut. He takes a step back, looks at me, with shaking in his eyes. Then closes his eyes, and runs for it. Suspended in the air he floats for what feels too long, is he even going to make it. As quickly as he'd jumped he was nearly at the ledge. His first foot landing on the crumbly soil, but as his second foot follows with, it grazes of the plateau.

His whole body just about to tip over and fall down, leaning backward. I bolt over to him and I grab him by the arm and I pull him back to earth with so much force, it lands us directly on our asses. I check and make certain we're on steady ground, and I let him and myself sink down along the dirt well. Where we sit still for a mere couple seconds, though feeling like an endless purgatory of bliss and anxiety.. My mind wandering to places long been, and vaguely forgotten in my mind's eye.

Black covers my vision, as I feel my dusty eyelids slowly peeling open to the sound of muttering outside, I'm laying on my very own bed, with an itchy dark crimson blanket on. I flip myself over, as a lantern moves into my field of vision. Lighting up the room with a dark warm orange hue. I swing my legs over the bed frame, trying to wake them up. I just get to stretch and sit up myself, my eye catches the door to my chamber sliding open. 

"Hey ere' bud." A scruffed up tall man stands in my door frame, his slight stubble across his cheek complementing his long dry half curled hair. A black and charred piece of armor suit equipped all over his body. He smells of burnt charcoal, a smell I so dearly enjoy.

"Dad!" I yell, letting my legs move in rapid succession to embrace him in a tight hug with my returned father. His crimson cape wrapping around his sides.

"You are'a choking the air outta me son!" My dad yells out in humor, while letting an exaggerated gasp of air out.

"How'd your mission go? Did you catch all the evils of the world yet?"

"Sure did, and I put 'em all in cells! Making sure they learnin' their lesson!" He grabs me by the arms, and as briefly as I was grounded to the floor, I was high in the air. My dad swinging me around like a boulder on a rope.

"And there ya' go!" I feel the rushed blood in my body settle slowly, as I had been sat on the ground again, my head turned away from the gate-door.

"Your old man is too tired to lift you to the sky right now Judari." He says gasping for air, as I feel a familiar soft yet worked hand, ruffling around in my curly hair. 

"My my Judari, seems you've remembered to wash your hair properly while we were gone." My scalp feels the slightly pointed fingernails graze across, the sensation bringing both satisfaction and a chilling shock running along my spine.

"I said I could take care of myself, as I promised!" I say, as I turn around to see the caring embrace of my mother, her dark-gray curly hair flowing across her silvered and shiny shoulder plate, contrasting with my father's blackened suit.

"Did Isaac take good care of you while we were gone?" My mother asks.

"Yes he did, he taught me a whole bunch about Kasparan people!"

"Ey that Isaac don't need tah teach ya everythin'. If ya' didn't know, your dad here actually knows quite a lot about Kasparans." My dad says.

"You know a lot about Kasparan people?"

"Well well now, my very own child doubtin' me huh. You are'a making me cry, son." My dad sniffles in good humor, with a clear smile ready to burst from his lips.

"Gah Judari! I'm just takin' a piss, but I bet you didn't know your old man had a Kasparan mentor when he was a youngin' Sigil."

"You had a Kasparan mentor? Was he a Sigil Knight as well! Could I meet him!" I say jumping up and down in giddy.

"He was a Sigil, yes. But erhm, how about meeting ihm' for another day.

"Alright..." I let myself become quiet, as my parents had started their own conversation.

"Inari, before I came in Isaac gave me a letter, straight from Luther. It has intelligence and details of a raid that is going to happen to a small settlement in the outskirts of the Royal Wood. It says the Wraith Knights are the ones who are planning to attack."

"Oh always with the intelligence, how's he getting it anyway, Vari. Them Wraith Knights must be bad at planning or sumthing am I right? Harh!" My dad nearly laughs his armor off.

"So." My mother looks at me with caring eyes. 

"Judari, we'll have to be gone again soon, but guess what? I got me and your father off duty for a while after this, maybe we can travel a bit, explore a little in the world. Is that alright, my sweet star?" My mom says, tugging my cheeks.

"Of course!" I yell out. With chirping squawks screeching into my ears. My vision slowly starts to fade to black, then into a dim green hue. My eyes adjust to the expansive forest of fireflies, as a flock of black birds fly past me, their eyes sing of wisdom. I look to Rito, his glistening cyan hair and skin, damped by the dirt dust from the cliff.

"Time doesn't wait for no one." I say, my face struck with laid on confidence. Rito chuckles.

"Indeed it doesn't." He raises himself with vigor back in his stream, his energy allocating onto me. He reaches his hand forward, and through even effort and strength, I am lifted from the dirt.

I look upwards, I path short, narrow and sweet, unlike the previous smolder.

"Time may not wait for us, but Sentinel does." I smile with a genuine glow, and walk forward, Rito tailing behind me.

Each step feeling lighter than the last, finally arrived, at the horizon of the Royal Woods.

We let our tired feet lay press on the soft ground, the wet prickly grass sending shivers through my heavy boots, my eyes peering out to the glistening view. The whole titan forest, standing here with me. The nature around myself seeping into my ears first, through my brain and dispersing into the rest of my rough coddled soul. The grand mountains at the back of the forest keeping gate to what lies beyond my knowing

I look to the side, my eye catching the pulling mechanism for the lift to Astrid's hut, a piece of lumber stuck deep inside the metal of the machine. I carry myself over to it, and inspect it. It seems slightly loose, and with a simple pull, the timber comes loose and the gears shift into action, cranking sounds out from inside the wooden structure.

"Suppose that does it, now come on, we don't have till the new year." Rito says, and I turn around till my eyes are met with the barrier ahead. A gate that reach for the skies above, laid with gray bricks and high tower-esk pillars lining the walls of it.

I slowly start taking steps towards the gate, casting its shadow upon us built up of light gray bricks, reaching the surrounding mountains in sheer size. Stepping under the massive construction, we feel the fresh breeze of sea salt and birds squawking. The Cardinal Crossing. Looking out into the green fresh grass, and the glistening azure water, filled me with a sense of relaxation long forgotten.

"It's even prettier than last time."

"And it hasn't changed a bit, a whole year and it remains beautiful." I feel my eyes well up, the sun hurrays from above, shining directly on me and the long yellow road ahead.

"Last year…" I mutter, Rito giving me a heavy yet light pat on the shoulder.

"When we're done at Sentinel, I demand we go to a party of some kind for celebration." Rito says.

"Something to take your mind off the world, y'know?"

"Indeed I know." I smile.