3rd Solmay 1117, Eleday. Sigil's Day.
"♪~For hith sun shall rise, quell Gaia's demise..~♪"
"♪~Decked in heavy silver chains, shielding us from pains.~♪
"♪~Amidst the biting cold, where frost and shadows grow.~♪
"♪~Oh Solan in the snow, keep our path aglow.~♪"
"♪~Oh Solan in the snow, guide us where to go.~♪"
I sang as much as I could bear, while the rest of my class sang along like they'd been trained from birth. Everyone else cast in the spotlight, leaving me in shadow. I tap my finger lightly on the grainy desk, wincing as a splinter pierces my violet skin. I try to pluck it out, but it evades my touch. I attempt to use my nail, but still I remain unsuccessful. Maybe if I ignore it, it'll go away by itself.
I peer my tired eyes upward, feeling as if anchors were weighing them down. My teacher, Elanor, stands all engulfed in her lesson, everyone else hanging on her every word. I try to listen to each word carefully, but like sand passing through a sieve, all of it just… filters out. It's the same every time I'm in this classroom, a gaping pit rests in my stomach. It's a sorrow… or longing I haven't felt since I left the Sanctuary. I was more engaged back then… but was that me? Or was it Isaac, gently guiding me through my education? No, I'm making excuses, I just have to focus more… As if it isn't the hundredth time I've told myself that.
If I could just control myself… "Remember class!..." It'd be all better. If I could just concentrate on anything… "Today!..." I'd be… perfect, just minor flaws… I want to be… "Sigil Generals!..." Perfect. Much like this splinter in my hand, if I could simply pluck this part of myself out. I'd be-
"But before that! I'll teach you lot a bit about our greatest weapons as Sigil Knights and followers of Solan!" I snap my head back in focus, Elanor's words cutting deep into my ears.
"The elemental charges. Our purest form of power." She draws a silver sword from beneath the table. Its once-bright shine had long been dulled by dust.
"It has been quite some time since I last summoned a charge, so forgive me for my poor showcase.." She smiled, her white teeth shining past her light ice-blonde hair. She let her sword rise higher in the air, her eyes closed. The warmth in the room seeped away, as if stolen by the air itself.
A cold, biting silence followed as a carving on her sword, a snowflake, glowed faintly with a light blue hue. A sheet of ice crawled from the carving, slowly spreading across the metal. Elanor stands focused with the sword, looking much like when Rito prays. The crystal creeps all around the steel, covering every shred of the blade in a thin layer of pale blue ice.
"For Solan has blessed us with many gifts! One of which is the element of ice!" Elanor displayed it to the class, but my eyes dart restlessly, unable to stay fixed on anything. Though the frost was captivating, my eyes wouldn't linger. It was as if my body refused to let me focus. Though I could focus on a singular thing, the splinter. It remained lodged deeper in my flesh. I finally grabbed my small pencil and used its sharp graphite to dig into my skin.I feel the splinter, wriggling around. And with effort, I finally push it out. My body deflated with relief, the tension drained away. Even my legs relaxed for a moment.
"Pft, I've seen my father do a milly-fold better, even now in his senile state." I hear from the back corner of the room. Siegfried has propped his leg up on his desk. Staring daggers at Elanor, his hair same color as hers, but much, much more golden.
"He probably has. Sigil Knight Jagen is well-known for his powerful charges. But do keep in mind, Siegfried, not everything in life is about power." A smile spread across her lips as the frozen blade cracked apart, the ice thawing without leaving a trace of moisture. Siegfried's face contorted into an annoyed grimace as he raised himself with the energy of a toddler.
"If life isn't about power, then why worship Solan? Is that not all he gives us as his devotees?" Siegfried plucked a sword from a rack by the classroom entrance, tilting it toward the bark ceiling. Only the slightest slit of a carving had been chipped into the blade, yet in seconds it buzzed with electric current. The lighting pattering on the metal like raindrops on a roof.
"Is this not what he gifts us?" Siegfried asks Elanor. If I'm being honest, I think he's right, to some extent. I thought he was just yet another Solanic bore. Though he's still an arse. I could be in the wrong with him though… If only Rito was here…
"Siegfried, if I may ask, do you love and respect your father?" Elanor says, sitting herself upon her chair. Her gentle movement distracting Siegfried for just a moment.
"Of… of course? Why wouldn't I? He's my father."
"Exactly, and it's the same relationship we share with hith lord, Solan." Elanor says, as Siegfried's charged blade sputtered out of its thunder.
"We respect and love Solan, because hith is like a father for all of us."
"You could benefit from taking a trip to the church in Palelink young man. It would certainly help further your… theological education." Siegfried steps back, swiftly disarming himself of the sword. Barely repressed rage permeated his movements, but it lays plain on his face.
"Pft, I don't even know why I'm here. Luscious is probably expecting me by now." He yanks on the classroom's door handle, swinging it open with a thunderous bang. Am I weak-willed for agreeing with Elanor? No, I'm just disagreeing with Siegfried… I keep calling him an arse, but what if he isn't? At least from others perspective… Is my view narrow, or am I justified in my thought path from my minor experiences with him? Can I really paint him in a single color when I haven't seen his shades…? I'm overthinking this… If he's an arse to me and to the teacher, it's best to assume he's the same with most others, except people he respects. Why are my thoughts so dedicated to this arrogant bastard, am I a hypocrite for agreeing with his point? I- I should stop overthinking, I cannot handle more of my own thoughts.
I let out a small chuckle, my mind imagining Siegfried crashing out the door. The way his thin hair parted as he swung the door open was comedic. I look up from my little inner world, to my entire class staring at me. Their various eyes digging into my skin like the splinter I had still not removed. What did I do wrong? Did I say something?
"Thank hith Lord he left the room. I'll help you with a warning, do not keep up that kind of behavior when he's nearby unless you want to be thrown out The Order, or worse." A voice whispered from my side, belonging to a dark haired girl. I grimaced my face in confusion, trying my best to show her I didn't understand. She lets out a sigh.
"He's a noble, and a very, very rich one at that. Guessing by the color of your skin, you aren't. So keep your voice low, or bring more silver to the table of society." She fell silent as the class turned their attention to Elanor, a clap having left her palms. Bringing order to the room.
"I suppose I can continue with the brief lesson we have left. I'd be simply thrilled if you all could show me where you've arrived at with Solan's gifts. As you saw with Herr Evendale, his command over the lightning element is impressive." Elanor explained, as multiple of my classmates had already drawn swords from under their desks. Each one shiny with the edges sharpened.
"Judari! You may come up in front of the class." Elanor spread her lips in a huge smile, my mind barely catching up with her words till a confused expression laid on her face.
"Come on now, show your appreciation of Solan." Her smile invaded my mind, digging into my skin. I draw the dull sword I had sheathed under my table, and shakily raise myself with an uncertain wind clutching tight around me. I walk along the wooden wall that framed us in, and feel my throat closing up from anxiety.
"You may call upon your gifts when you're ready, Vind." Her smile still sits tight around her lips, which only seems to confirm my worst thoughts. I draw my sword, it having a single carving laid into it. A neatly detailed swirly flame, which I had spent more time carving than practicing the charge itself. I stance myself, with my sword tipped forward and my right foot sat behind me. This is comfortable, it feels right. My nerves calm, like a thunderstorm fading away in the skies. I attempt to focus my mind, and lull my thoughts. Some leak into the serenity I am trying to create, but it seems my mind is hollow of too much thought. I try to imagine a flame, how it would move and how it would burn my hand and cause a swell of blisters.
"Straighten up your posture, Vind! That is a disrespectful way to call upon Solan's gifts." The tip of her nail pierces my back, a cold chill correcting my entire spine into a straight line. My entire mind becomes a void, everything crossing itself in an endless scape of convoluted string. I try to summon my thoughts, but they refuse to help me other than nag and beg for a distraction.
"You've been standing here for a minute. I suppose you haven't accepted Solan into your heart, Vind. You may wait by the door." She waves me away, and I oblige. Positioning myself near the entrance to the class, watching each of my shiny eyed classmates activate an elemental charge. My stomach feels entirely hollow, like some took a shovel and dug it out. Time seems to slow, like each element summoned from a sword was another second stolen. And all I could do is simply stand and watch, the pit in my stomach only growing more furious. Similar to the gush of blood from where the splinter had been pierced through.
I walk along the cramped halls of the tree, my body shivering with some unknown guilt that I cannot put a finger on. Like shackles laid on every one of my limbs, from toe to my shoulder. Everyone else had skipped away like happy children on a rainy day. I wander with solemn thoughts, till my eyes finally catch a familiar tear inducing sight. My lips widen in a smile, and my heart fluttered such with relief I could hear it.
"O' Ritose!" I yell out, his hair swinging as he turns.
"Oh! Judari." A smile widened on his lips as well. I sneak my way closer to him, as to entrap him and myself in conversation.
"Do you know what section of The Order you're joining?" Rito says, already having his eyes locked forward.
"Pft, I don't know nothing about any sections, I just want to talk a bit." I smile, brushing off his question with a distracted look around the empty hall.
"I mean, then why are you here… Y'know, never mind that. How have classes been?"
"Oh… You know, the same." My tone drops, though I attempt to keep it light.
"Same as in 'the same' or same as in like back in the Sanctuary." Rito asks, with a knowing look.
"The same." I say, giving him a nudge on the shoulder with my fist.
"I'll make an educated guess you're behind on a lot of the elementary work, so how's about after this showing we meet up at the library. As luckily for you, I take notes." My heart deflates, and my mind in shining light.
"O' sweet salvation, thank you Ritose, I'd be buried under a burning pyre if it weren't for you!" I wrap my arms around his neck, acting up a little cry for sarcasm's sake.
"Don't mention it, unless you want to. I like being a hero." Rito plays along, bringing a smirk to my face.
"No but seriously, have you given no thought to what section you'd like to join?" Rito asks, my mind running blanks.
"I uh…" I try to think, 'has something gotten lost in my head again?' I try to think and think, and then, I feel something. An electric like buzz, running up my spine.
"Argh… What is that?" I ask, my body's hairs raising on their own.
"Do you feel that as well?" I ask Rito, my fingers, hands and legs shivering with a tingling sensation. Like a current was passing through and out of me.
"Feel what?" Rito looks around, with as confused of an expression as his question.
"It's like there's an electric current running through me…" I let my words falter off, as my body by itself moves towards the unknown source.
"Where are you going? Gathering starts in just a couple minutes!" Rito tries to reason with me, but I feel myself weaving away.
I find myself within another hall section, though its lit torches somehow blew less than the ones before. I step forward, my body thrilling more apparent with that same current of electricity. I peer my eyes forward, and they fall upon… A figure. My heart skips a beat, and another. It starts pounding, faster and faster. My muscles tense, like something is controlling them from afar.
"Mmm-hm, come on, touch my spine." I look forward, a gold-haired man leans against the wooden wall, his arm raised high above him. Beneath him stands a girl, her arms drawn in close, and her eyes downcast to the floor.
"It's all natural gold, imported straight from the Decayed Isle." His words lick the insides of my ear, wet and slimy. The girl only responded in small nods, her eyes locked to the ground as the man stood above her. His teeth glint, each coated in gold and some carved with lightning bolts. His hair slicked far back on his scalp, trailing into long locks that spike upward like arcs of lightning. The hairs on my arms stand straight up, caught in the fire of the current.
"My own dearest wouldn't mind if you came back with me, I'd award you with a hefty sack of silver." His left hand reached up and caught her jaw, her armor dulled by his skin-tight black shirt, stretched out by his lean muscle. My eyes narrow, and my hand instinctively reaches out with vigor, my body filled with current and vigor
"Hey! She's clearly not interested, leave her alone!" I raise my voice, and the man's expression-
- dims. His eyes burrowed, however not in fury, but in annoyance. I'm… not supposed to be here right now. I scream at myself deep inside my head, but something in me wants to press further as my body feels the trevors of a prey caught in a predator's gaze.
"Judari, what are you doing!" I feel Rito tug harshly upon my collar, choking the air out of my head.
"I'm sorry Herr, he didn't mean anything by it!" Rito says as the man holds his stare upon me. As Rito pulls me away, I feel pricks of a shimmering current pierce my skin lightly, though fading as his gaze returns to the girl. His fanged teeth glinting in the dim torches lining the hall.
"Do you have a death-wish or something? Or worse, getting thrown out of The Order?!" Rito says, as he yanks me closer to a clutter of noise.
"What are you talking about? Did you not just see that?" I raise myself up from Rito's grab.
"Judari you've got to pick up a Greyvern newspaper, I can't believe someone can be this oblivious." Rito trials off, as I follow him strutting closer and closer to the chatter. His footsteps are quick and hasty, and while I follow, mine are much slower and steadied.
"O' Solan why have you bound me to such a dumb-arse." Rito puts his hands together and forms the image of a fire, praying as an insult to my heroism.
"We have to go back! That girl was getting harassed, why'd you rip me away?" I can't help but follow Rito, my heart may scream for justice. But my stomach and head tell me to follow Rito.
"I did you a favor, now follow me or spend the rest of the day in our room." Rito says, a sort of anger laid in his voice I hadn't heard in a long time. I nod, my heart finally giving into his pleas.
We step inside the small, dark room. The gears behind the walls churned an awful sound of grating steel against my ears, clicking metal. With that noise came the uneasy step of the lifting platform, slowly rising in an ink black closet of a space. Though finally my eyes are grazed with light again, the lift reaching the peak of the tree's crown, the training hall.
A surge of voices and conversation invade my ear as I step upon the moss dyed carpet that laid on the pure bark floor. I look forward and the massive hall opens up to me yet again, a providence of Solan. The light cast upon my face from the massive window warms it with a certain sense of destiny, though the light feels cold somehow, wrong even. I step forward with Rito in toe, and we position ourselves in the midst of the rows, lining ourselves on a straight line placed for conformity in the ranks. I tap my feet and kick a little, as Rito stands stoic looking and waiting for anything to happen.
Heavy steps sound from far to the right of the room, and silence falls to the ground like dust. His beard a light gray, and his skin pale with a sort of violet hue, Frey walks out to the stage. The respect he commands with a mere presence lets even the oppressive light follow him. His heavy armor shines to the hall, as he positions himself steady at the podium.
"Solaire O' mighty!" His voice echoed through the room, even my foot coming to a standstill.
The light at his back shone on his bald head like a holy crown.
"For'a today we continue our tradition of introducin' you lot' to the very top of the Sigil hierarchy." Frey speaks with a piercing voice, and I see a couple knights in the rows light up with warm smiles, as though they were about to meet someone from their family. From up on the stage, see a couple gilded knights standing with their eyes high to the ceiling, except one flare-haired girl, Officer Serena. Her armor is much more dull than I remember, and her eyes are darkened too. She's looking down upon the floor with a look that reminds me of myself. I barely even listen to Frey's speech that seems to arouse a cheer from the crowd as I look upon her. She looks so entirely drawn of energy, like life has left her. Unlike when I met her in the Royal Wood, what… happened to her? Though a chill climbs my spine as my thoughts spiral, Frey's booming accented voice catching my ears again.
"Draug Mas Afisto, our'a frost General, and leader of the Sigils and Security division!" Heavy footsteps sound from behind, their echo loud in the hall, and the chill climbs further up my back, near freezing crystals upon my skin. A man clad in frost silver armor steps forward, his face hidden away by a helmet, though tufts of a dark brown beard peek through the metal. A blazing yellow eye contrasts sharply with his blue-gray skin, though his right eye, while yellow, seems to be entirely made of glass. He moves forward in the hall, a studying look in his eyes, peering out to the crowds as if suspicious. On his back, a massive weapon hangs between a leather bound. One large cylinder of wood that traveled up with crevices that met up at a hunk of metal split in two. One part a blunt surface resembling a hammer, and the other side sharp like an axe.
His steps are cautious as the chill fades away from my back, his very presence seems to invite frost and cold. Frey steps slightly aside, leaving the stage for Draug to take. Every officer and commander on the stage look upon Draug with gleaming yet judging eyes. He places his gloved hands upon his helm, and slides it off, revealing his muscular deep face and bald head. He watches the crowds with a cautious look. Frey with a swift motion passes a piece of paper to the General, and he accepts with quick hands.
"Solaire O' mighty, today is a blessed day!" Draug's voice booms through the hall, nearing even Frey's. His voice sounds like a cough being dragged all the way up through his throat, coarse and rough. His blazing eyes peer around the hall.
"Our Orderly Lord, is our Lord for hith might give us security and sigils. We follow him because he follows us!" Draug yells, a smile creeping upon his lips, light shining from behind him. A wave of knights repeat the same word after Draug had ended his sentence, as if ritualized.
"Visyn." Everyone said, I followed with and spoke words I hold no attachment to. Rito closed his eyes and followed suit. Draug looked upon his paper, his eyes wincing slightly.
"Before I introduce you young knights to my division, I'd… I'd love to bring forward how proud I am of our Order… and society, to have moved past judging someone for the color of their skin." Draug wept sweat off his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he looked up from the paper.
"Even I, a Rigan, have become a General. Truly we have made… steps. In the right direction, that a..."His mouth pierced downwards, his eyes determined and the faint sound of a paper being crumpled could be heard. Is he serious?
"That a Rigan such as myself can be guided by Solan's beliefs! For his Orderly ways is what keeps us alive and sane! And those who squander hith wisdom are but fools lost in this world of ours." Draug finished, a sort of ghast exiting his mouth as he finished his monologue. The officers and commanders behind him nodded their heads in agreement with his speech, most of them Castellan or Haseldan. Several knights erupted with cheers and applause. Finally it quieted down, and Draug folded the paper into a tiny square.
"My division of The Order." Draug stepped away from his podium, letting his tall standing align with our height as he travelled down to our level.
"Is one that protects, defends. And keeps everything we hold dear in a safe embrace." Draug lifts a finger, pointing to someone in the very front row.
"You, do you hold something dear?"
"Of course General Draug!" A militaristic voice echoed, fueled with pride.
"And you'd protect it with your life?
"Of course!" The knight yells, his fist to his chest.
"Then do so, my very division will set you in line for protecting what you believe in! Family, order, tradition and Gaia itself! Join the Security and Sigils division if you want to protect what is yours to believe." Draug yells, a wave of applause and cheer erupts as he stands himself up at the podium again. Looking out on the pleased crowd.
"Today is a day of wondering, wonder about your future, and in what way you want to impact it." He bowed his head slightly to the crowd, the applause dying down, and him letting himself fall back to the wall, resting with the commanders and officers. I look at Rito, his eyes lit with a glow I've never seen before, like his very soul had been glued to intake the speech.
Frey stood himself at the podium. A satisfied look on his wrinkled face.
"Many'a thanks to our'a vh'ery own Draug Mas Afisto for'a such an inspiring speech!" I let my ears fall off as Frey speaks, his booming voice but an echo in my dazed listening. I try to search for Serena again, and there she stands. Her expression hasn't changed, still drained of any sort of fire or spirit. Though a heat rises in the room, the torches lining the hall glew a harsher glow, spiralling upwards with vigorous pyre. My pores open themselves, leaking droplets of sweat along my back and face. The entire hall feeling steeped in steam and flickers of flame grazing my skin.
"And now, Fuligr Skavrr, our'a flame general and leader of the Bounties and Beasts division!" Frey's voice echoes, as the heat intensifies, becoming near unbearable. I catch a glimpse of Rito, and even his skin seems to be melting ever so slightly off his bone. The lift slowly rises behind the crowds, a dead silence allowing the churning gears to blast through the hall, as the heat stabs into my flesh. My clothes stick to my skin, 'I can't even imagine how warm the armored officers and commanders feel right now.' A quiet set of steps ripples through the hall, sounding like nails tapping on thin glass.
I keep my head steady and focused on the podium, as slowly walks forward a figure on the center carpet. My sweat runs wilder, and I feel the embers of a sauna claw at my face. The figure's entire body was cloaked in a thick coat of fur, each strand of hair seemed greased with another and rough to the touch, and from the fur, stood a head of red scale. Jagged and rough, I think if I let my finger glide along his skin I'd rip my flesh apart. A large brown scar occupied the underside of his jaw like a canyon. And on his bald textured forehead a mirrored scar sat. Two massive horns sat high on his head, they bent close to each other and looked as if stone had been stabbed into his forehead. One of the horns' tops is cracked off.
A cape extended from the overhang of fur, holes littered it along with mud stains covering the ivory green beneath that could barely shine any longer. I search his massive span of a body for a weapon, and a rough slate like metal sticks up from the greasy fur-overhang. A metal that seems familiar. Fuligr creeped his slow limbs towards the podium. Like a crow turning their neck, his scarred scaly head turned to us. A black leather eyepatch stangled the left part of his face, covering a massive field o8f burnt flesh. Brown trenches laid on his face with flakes of scales withering at the hour.
He gazed upon the crowd with a burdened look, like he pitied us. He slid his rusted armor-clad arm around his back. The near sound of a lock clicking open rippled through the hall, as from the Kasparan's back, a massive sword of dark-steel was produced. A sharp metal swoosh swept the hall, as his bent great-sword planted itself deep in the wood floor. The hilt was covered in dark-brown bandages, where from the sword extended out like a brutish rock. Grated and sharp on one edge, and blunt like a stone on the other. The sharp side seemed like it'd been melted over and over in some blast furnace by the looks of the metal having formed in small bubbles.
"Evil." A rasp deep voice emanates from Fuligr's throat. His one slit of an eye observes the crowd with a condemning look.
"Evil resides within every, single, one of us." His eye gazed through us, and even while not looking at me, I feel his stare, as if he was directly looking and judging me.
"In every crevice, in every cracked surface in your armors, it resides. Every individual has potential for evil." I feel my heart pound in my chest, and as if every time it expands it gets stabbed by a hundred small needles
"It exists with no mouth, yet it must scream. And it lives dormant within all that lives and does not." Each of the Kasparan man's words hit me in my stomach and lungs. As if I was being suffocated by thick black smoke. I can feel my eyes welling up, his pure essence of fire, and smell of charred coal, reminding me of my father. The crowd seems to have much the same response as me.
"It is the core of our mission, to entirely uproot every seedling of evil, and scorch it till all that lies is the cremated ashes of our victorious conquest."
I feel myself rise up on the tips of my toes, I tower over the majority of the rows. My heart pounds with a harsh rh, as if the next word that left his mouth could reap us from our bodies like a scythe to a crop field.
"We need to defend our ways, and if you wish to do so, join the division in which I command. We are the heart of the fortress of Solanic belief." A weight lifted off my chest, and I could finally allow myself to breathe again.
"Solan is a great powerful god, and the one which this order follows with great devotion. But he does not need to be the only one worthy of your worship. I myself was and still am a follower of Elemira's teachings. Her grace gives way for the healing of this scarred land, while Solan protects it from the inherent evils of our land. So truly, Solaire is O' all-mighty." Fuligr bent his head slightly, his one scaly slit of an eye closed. The crowd stands with happy smiles, but no other appearances, while Rito, seems to bow his head back to the Kasparan.
"I've got to pay my respects to him, he follows Solan to an extent." Rito says. Fuligr goes to join Draug in the back, turning his broad body to the crowd. Though quickly the scarred Kasparan man clasped his hand around Draud's, while closing his eye, as if afraid. Then, up my spine. An electric spider crawls, buzzing and clawing itself into and over my spine. I try to keep my eyes steady, as the rows of knights start buckling down, grunting and moaning, the electric buzz bringing shining knights to their knees. I keep my chest upward, Rito buckling under the current. I try to find Serena in the back, but she's gone. Though with a sweep of a motion, Draug draws my focus to him. Waving his massive hunk of a weapon around himself, a veil of frost approaching from the very back of the hall, and then. Black.
"He's here." Whispers flutter around, my heart sets into an unnatural rate, pounding in my chest so fast I would have thought myself to have ran across Gaia in this second. That tingling, I feel it. My hairs they're raising on their own, and my spine, It feels charged.
"HIGH!" A sharp slimy voice echoed from behind us. The room still laid entirely in black with only the white light shining from the window. Like igniting a candle, the room suddenly glew with a sickly yellow strike from above my head. The entire sky of the hall covered in a long strip of a lighting bolt that shot out like a ribcage from a spine. Each rib of the lighting strike connecting down into an unlit torch, and setting a blaze upon it. The flames from each torch sparked up as the strike hit, a cloud of black smoke puffing up from each one, like dusting off an old shelf. I could barely tell with my body so incapacitated by the buzz, but it seemed like for just a moment, a figure had passed through the lighting strip. A golden specter, spiraling.
It's like hearing the cities of Saint Castielons on Orchilla day, thunder bashing on drums into my ears. So loud I can imagine I'm bleeding deep inside my brain. I let my eye slide to the side, seeing Rito. He's in a stance of defense, standing on his feet yet still curled up and protecting whatever he can, and he isn't the only one in that position. The lighting roars a growl of titans, deep and scratchy. Though as quickly as it had spread across the hall's wood ceiling, it had faded away. A man left floating high above the platform for a moment. Flowing in the still thundering air, is a deep purple cape with the design of a black broken spine running along the royal fabric. The cape connects to an armor so gold I'd never thought I'd be able to see anything richer, in both quality but also value. It shines with an ever-knowing glow of superiority, lightning arcs bouncing off the gold plated armor.
"VOLTAGE!" The floating man howled out for the small second he floated. His hair a sickly yellow with highlights of light gold following along in flickering stripes, and the very back of his head his hair flowed out like lighting arcs shooting… upwards. That… can't be… him..?
The gold shine of a star falls in a fantastic thunder. My ears coil in pain. The man lands, feet first, and with a showman's audacity, raises his arms to the heavens…
His cape flickered with the lighting arcs shooting off him, the entire room lit ablaze with yellow."
Just beyond my eyes horizons, I saw his bastard grin of gold. His mouth wide open to display his sharp teeth.
"GOOD DAY O' YOUNG FRESHIES!" His slimy voice reached to the back-end of the hall.
Though near everyone had just been crouching down from the thunderous display, too many had raised themselves up again to… jubilee.
"You already KNOW who I am! The one and only ever!" The man turned his back to the window, the light bouncing off his golden armor.
"Luscious Goldinveer!" His words formed a knuckle, and punched my guts. Rito saved me.... This golden-haired freak is a Sigil General. He could've killed me if he pleased.
"None of you wanna' hear me talk about why you should join my division, right?" His tongue flickered through his words like a librarian would a book. Many in the rows around yelling
'No sir' back to Luscious.
"As if it wasn't obvious! Now, let me tell you something you really wanna' hear, a personal story of mine." He turned around his cape flowing in the quick spin. The spine design spread across the purple cloth even more apparent to my eyes.
"Of how I got my spine destroyed!" His face wasn't that of sad remembrance, but of eerie glee, like he was about to tell a comedic joke.
"T'was a couple years back, I was out prowling in that filth of a town, Oresfall. By request of Fuligr over here." His left hand pointed to the Kasparan.
"See, he had just gotten his sorry scale of an ass beat down recently, so he needed someone to take care of an Abyss Walker that had been reported lurking in the streets. So I, the gracious hero, went in his stead. Ain't that right Fuligr?!" Luscious yelled, the crowd seemed contempt with listening to this bumbling clown. Fuligr with some hesitation, nodded his head and horns. Luscious turned around to face the crowd again, having gotten his confirmation of truth.
"So, there I was, trying to sense this Ardorian bastard, it was quite hard with so many Rigans around." A forced laugh left his slimy throat, and the knights laughed along.
"Though finally, I heard the grating steel on the stone floor, and I saw the beast. His hair a ruby red, and his eyes emerald green. It was deep inside the mountain city, and the little patrol I had with me got lost. So it was just me, and this fiend." I could feel my heartbeat race, even not wanting to listen to this disgusting worm. I can't help but be drawn in by his story.
"By this time, I had already drawn my weapon and brandished it before this disgrace. What followed was blow after blow. I struck a lightning bolt into him with my dagger!" From behind his cape, he brought a gilded dagger up, its edges contorted and split in the, one side much bigger than the other. A whole blade could be caught in the metal. Around the pommel bling and gemstones sat neatly embedded, shining to the crowd.
"The demon got a lucky hit on me right after, his body having entirely absorbed my strike. Yes, I had been laid to the ground, his abyssal sword cleaving deep into my side and tearing my flesh apart." His booming voice began to quiet, though a subtle rumble thundered inside my heart.
"There I was, on the ground my back turned to the slate sky. All I could think about was not wanting to die like an underground-dweller, as I heard Crack after crack after crack. That filth of an Ardor follower, had pulverized my spine apart with his heavy boot." Luscious raised his chin up high. His bulky dagger coming high up as well, a long golden chain connecting from the bottom of it and disappearing into the inside of his cape.
"I couldn't die there though." His face contorted into a dastardly smile, his golden teeth shining in the blazing torches.
"With the very last of my strength, I charged my blade with lighting, and struck the fuck's face."
Luscious spoke with glee in his voice.
"From left chin to right eyebrow, I had seared his face. And coward of an Ardorian, he fled. Though lucky for me, I was tapped out. The pain of crawling through those dusty streets was unlike anything I've ever felt, but I was sure of one thing, I wasn't going to die that day." I can't believe what I'm hearing from this slime of a man, there's no way any of this is true, maybe except the fact he was beaten to dust. Luscious snapped his fingers, loud enough for the sound to echo through the hall thrice.
Luscious's voice drops to a sinister calm, the sound of approaching footsteps filling the absence of his booming yet nasal voice.
"I was told I'd be paralyzed for the rest of my life…" He turns his back to the crowds, seeming to fiddle with his long fingernails. I look at Rito, his eyebrows burrowed deep down.
"I know I stopped you before… but this man is a clown. I should've let you go off on him, no matter the consequence." Rito whispers into my ear, so quietly I could barely hear him myself.
"Unless!... They operated my spine and replaced parts of it with metal." Luscious's royal purple cape swung around as he turned back to us, as if directly timed with Rito's whisper.
"I at this point in my life, had never ventured to get my body modified in any sort of way. But… a simple stroke of genius inspiration hit me. I told the doctors and healers that if I were to have my spine implanted with something…" He paused, letting the crowd hang on his words, his golden teeth catching the flickering torch lights.
"It'd have to be… gold!" His boomed through the hall. Is this story… true?
"And so my word was heard. My spine now reinforced with the very material which represents my family!" The rows of knights cheered, though it wasn't everyone who was dazzled by this character of a man. A little flame ignited in my stomach, though also nausea.
"Siegfried Evendale, you may join me." Luscious looked to the crowd, his gold-wrapped arms opening up as Siegfried stepped up, his mute blonde hair shining in the blazing torches.
"Siegfried here is my very own protege. He's been mastering his elemental charges like I did when I was a wee' young freshie. He is a pure beacon of this generation's willpower." Luscious presented his golden-haired boy off to the crowds, a disgusting smile sitting deep on Siegfried's face. The sound of footsteps clashing against wood coming closer.
"He might just become, my successor." Luscious bursted a momentary laugh out, Siegfried keeping his smile steady though it wavered for just a second.
"No, he won't. None can be my successor, Siegfried here will be his very own beacon. Much like…" The footsteps finally come to view, a pair of shining Sigil Knights standing at the foot of the podium. A man, with rags draped over his dark blue gray skin. His semi-long hair a bone white color falling over his emerald like eyes like thin curtains. Chains wrapped around his wrists and feet, multiple limbs of his tatted with scars. Though on his right arm which faces the crowds of glaring knights, a symbol of sorts lays carved into his skin. It doesn't look like a scar of any sort, and more like a black worm wrapping over the surface of his skin. He doesn't look well.
"This here, is a Dinakeri prisoner of ours. He escaped his little Sleeping Forest where all his other Dinakeri vermin lurk. Crafty bunch these Dinakeris are, he sailed on a handmade raft over here. Anyhow, he arrived at shore and hid away, snickering and waiting like any Dinakeri would. Till one day, he went on a rampage. Out in the market, here in Palelink. He slaughtered four of our very own in broad daylight." Luscious's long index finger pointed to the symbol.
"That is a symbol of his bloodthirst, a soul of this town now engraved on the arm of this poor excuse for a thinking race." Luscious's pointy nail scratched the Dinakeri's skin.
"The guards got there as quickly as possible, and detained the spawn of Altum." The Dinakeri's eyes are chained to the ground as much as his other limbs, not daring to look up. Luscious bends down, trying to form eye contact but for three seconds. The Dinakeri avoided his gaze.
Luscious whispers to the Knights holding the Dinakeri, and a surprised expression hits their faces. They nod. Bending down and undoing the locks on the prisoner's arms.
"Now watch as this less-minded primal Dinakeri tries to handle the pressure of our modern civilization." Luscious yells to the crowd, I lean forward and so do most Knights. My heart beats faster, so much faster.
"He'll most likely be executed soon, for his crimes are indefensible. And worst of all, he's a Dinakeri. These children of darkness know none but violence and primality. Look at him, young knights, all Dinakeris are as eager for murder as he. To let that rune on his arm run loose in his system." Luscious stands right in front of the Dinakeri, Siegfried keeping his distance and a shaking hand on his seethed sword.
"Siegfried, come closer. You have to show you're not afraid of this child of darkness." Luscious continues to mock the man, the veins on his dark blue gray neck popping out. The Dinakeri man sweats, as if he has a raging fever rampaging through him. I've seen rats treated better, this man doesn't even seem to have life left in him, and yet he's brought out on display in front of us. Am I supposed to feel sympathy, is this a test? General Draug just spoke freely about how we've overcome judging someone for their race. Are the Dinakeris an exception to that? What if I was in that position, I know Vinds aren't as positively viewed as other races. And neither are Rigans.
"He's but an unchained Dinakeri, you can handle that, can you not Siegfried?" Luscious smirks. Siegfried creeps closer, though barely in front of his golden master.
"His kin is one that aligns with Altum, and who else aligns themselves with Altum, but the terroristic Wraith Knights." Luscious says. Is that… true?
"I'd bet a thousand coins that this beast of a race can handle seeing any of us without having murderous fantasies run through their head. They steal from our scrap yards, occupy our promised land, for what? To worship a god of evil?" Luscious yells, and the Dinakeri man rips his eyes from the floor in a slow, easing motion. Staring daggers upon Luscious's gold.
"The God of despair, pain and darkness. THAT is who Dinakeri kind choose to worship. A God meant only for evil. A god whose followers are heretics to common sense and morality. And as this God made them, it comes to easy conclusions, that they too are meant only for evil." Luscious poses his arms far above his head. The hundreds of knights in the hall growling a loud jubilation. I look around, a couple knights standing and clutching themselves as their peers jump and cheer. Out of the maybe three-hundred knights in this hall, I can only get eyes on fifteen not following the crowd. Including Rito.
"For we are fighting kindred animals, and we must act accordingly!" I see tears forming in Luscious's eyes as he yells, though to my fright they're beyond clearly tears of joy. My eyes catch a small glimpse of Draug, he's taken his spiked helmet off. Never in my life have I seen a person look so distraught and guilty. He's barely even looking at the crowds, and instead staring downward in shame.
"We shall rain thunder across their nests, and then finally Gaia shall be rid of evil! As Solan intended" Spit flies out his mouth as he arouses the crowds, Siegfried stands close to the Dinakeri man, as his veins pop properly out of his skin. The so-called rune on his arm glowing a faint white, and his eyes shivering in their sockets.
"SOLAIRE O'MIGHTY!" Luscious erupts, as the shattering of metal shimmers through the room. The Dinakeri, legs unbound and eyes watering, has broken free. Charging towards Siegfried with its hand in a hooked shape. In the flash of the moment, Siegfried's eyes widen and a true fear sets into him. Cocky and arrogant as he is, he's not immune to death, and he knows it. The crowds don't have time to halt their cheers, as that dark blue gray skin tone reached for Siegfried's pale throat. A swish of metal belted through the room, and a thundering buzz struck my ears.
"O' gaze upon the Dinakeri, who's primal mind cannot withstand our purity." Luscious stands with his heavy gilded dagger in hand, a golden chain extending from beneath it and snaking across the floor. Siegfried had stepped away in time for the Dinakeri man to take a beat by the chain, ripping a gash open in his arm. Blood flowing so slowly out, it looks to dry out before even landing on the wooden floor below.
"Even activated his rune, gaze upon this kindred animal fresh knights. This is what you'll be fighting in the near future." Luscious pulls his chain to him, letting it grate against the floor. The Dinakeri man stands gasping for air as Siegfried runs away from the scene, his thin hair flowing in the meek wind.
"Been a fortnight since last I've fought. Though not like this'll take long enough to warm my gilded bones." Luscious licks his lips, his hand shaking excitedly around his dagger like an addict would for their substance. The Dinakeri gathered his strength and ivor, and charged forward again. His veins bulging so far out I can see the black ink coursing through him. Just seeing this act of brutality on both sides gets my heart pumping in such a terrifying way, as if it is going to explode any second. Luscious sways to the side as the Dinakeri throws fists at has direction, barely even bothering to mind the prisoner a look of respect to the eyes. Instead playing it up for performance for the crowds roars.
Over and over, the desperation in the man's attacks become more apparent, but less energy packed in each. Finally the Dinakeri stands for a moment, and Luscious takes his ground. Riling his chain up and letting it pierce the wind. The chain wraps around the Dinakeri with the effort of a step. Completely restraining the fading fire of the Man.
"Well well, all that primality and no class, truly you are a beast." Luscious raises his heavy gilded dagger to the air, the chain around the Dinakeri wrapping tightly around his stomach and chest.
"To tame nature, we kindreds must enforce dignity into it." He begins a slow walk forward, as his eyes light with vigor. A yellow blaze explodes from the hilt of Luscious's dagger. The flash travels downward of his chain till it finally reaches the Dinakeri man. His entire body alight with thunder, electrocuting him from the torso. A light smoke wilts through the air from the aftermath, the Dinakeri man leant over with a beat, but alive look. Luscious walks closer, kneeling down and searching for the man's eyes.
"For good measure." Luscious raises himself again, and sends another shockwave of lightning toward the Dinakeri.
"That should knock him cold for some time. Don't worry young knights, I used just the right amount of power to tame it." Luscious yanks the chain off the Dinakeri man, letting him wilter on his knees. Luscious doesn't care to wipe the massive smile on his face off, as he looks at us.
"Now shall be the time we end this here Sigil Day, it has been great to see this year's batch of fresh knights in the Order's ranks. O' how I will enjoy seeing you all on deployme-" Luscious's words are cut off by a sudden crash of glass ringing in our ears.
The Dinakeri man had shattered the window. A freezing ocean chill enters the hall as he stands in the eye of the hole he'd punched.
"You are all as blind as Solan." Strips of his skin are more but charred flesh, his disheveled bone white hair even having caught a charred stripe. With a single look out the window, he jumps. The hall stands quiet for a moment, till Luscious's metal boot hammers down on the floor.
"Been aching for a chase. I'll be back with this miscreant soon." Luscious walks upon the broken glass, each one crushed under his weight and spreading farther apart. Finally he stands at the eye of the hole.
"O' Solan is in our skin!" Luscious yells, every knight front of the window saluting to his words. A wave of salute forms, only a few not following.
"O' for solan is in my skin!" Luscious pushes his foot down, till the wood beneath him bends. Finally with a look forward, he jumps. Letting gravity carry him for a moment, then falling down to the serene blue sea below. Several knights and officers rush to the window. Though I remain planted on my feet, and my mind can settle into its usual gentle hum of chaos…
"Solan isn't blind… he's wrong." I hear Rito whisper. The hall without halt, disperse. I am left alone, the cold Solmay breeze flowing in. I don't know what good is anymore.
Free from the Sigil Generals clutches, I walk through the halls of the tree. Rito isn't one to break a promise, so he'll probably be in the library. I walk and walk, my legs, body and mind exhausted and warm. Yet I do not stop to rest. This place is a maze, every corner I turn is another door to a nameless knight I don't know, and the library none the closer. I know no one here properly but Rito, and we're already over halfway through our year here.
I miss my father, more than I'd like to admit. But I don't want to worry him more than he already is. The poor man, wilting in his bed. No, he's my father, even if rotten. What am I hearing? Is that… crying?
I turn a corner to a tight hall, and in my eyes a red flare appears. Officer Serena, with her armor torn off and arms over her head. She's crying in a sort of way that seems collapsed, like something is gone, a crying I can remember I've done. A lot.
"Officer… Serena?" My words aren't confident, but I say them nonetheless. Quickly she stabilizes her posture in a fell swoop wiping away her long many tears. She raises herself.
"Yes young knight, how may I… be of service!" Even standing up and with a serious look upon her face. Her crimson hair still clings to her wet cheeks.
"Are you alright, Officer?" I ask.
"Of course, why wouldn't I be? I was simply reading a sad novel, I got caught up in the moment." I look behind her, no book nor paper in sight. I wince my eyes, and she sighs.
"I… I don't want to talk about it. Pray Solan not to someone lower rank than me, I mean how embarrassing right? That I would need to let myself be weak in front of a mere knight, instead of protecting them. Right?" Serena's words border on anger, but even through my general incompetence in telling tone, I know her anger isn't directed towards me.
"Though I suppose you're talking about it right now." I give her a warm smile.
"But, if you aren't comfortable talking." I say, but I'm cut off.
"I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you like that." She winces.
"I've got plenty of time, if you'd like to talk with someone." I say, bringing warmth to my voice.
"I… I've got a shrink already…" Serena closes her eyes, and leans against the wall.
"Alright... My therapist isn't one to believe in my stories anyway." I position myself next to her, as she opens her eyes again. They're wet and shiny.
"My squadron and I were in the Flame Division, which I know, I know. It is the division with the highest death toll… But it is also the most rewarding. It's probably obvious to most but I'm no noble, I grew up in Oresfall , together with a good handful of my squad." Serena talks, her voice wavering between confidence and a grieving woman.
"They were my family…" Her voice goes quiet.
"They were your family. May I ask what happened?" I ask, and she sighs.
"We were out on a mission to slay a monster, similar to when we stumbled into you and your Fischeran. It was supposed to be a simple mission up in the lower Castielon range. But…" Serena widens her eyes, and leans her head upward. Her face morphed, not just into fear, but apathy in the face of it. Null to the senses, in thanks to unreasonable horror.
"We were ambushed by… A Wraith Knight." I could see her face age decades as she spoke. My heart stutters. No. This isn't about me. I can't talk about it.
"It came out of a mirror… Decked in black and silver. With a helmet, or mask I couldn't even imagine in my old nightmares." She spoke, and the hairs on my arm raise like crops on a field.
"It cleaved Betram's head clean off. There wasn't even a word exchanged between us before his head thumped on the ground and rolled towards my feet. I couldn't even think of the maniac in front of me at that moment, instead it was just flashes of Betram and me sharing bowls of crosh over a fire we lit in our little alley hut. I didn't have a moment to gasp before its sword pierced through Alex's chest. It wasn't even a fight for it, and instead just a dance as it cut Frederick in half." Serena's mouth was pierced in a frown, the kind of frown where you battle through it but lose, over and over.
"I only saw Lloyd's body a week after… It was entirely burned black, not a single part of him was recognizable. Just black bone and char." Her eyes well up with tears, but they quickly absorb back into her sockets.
"Orsino survived… Though his face has been disfigured, I can barely look at him anymore. Not that he wants to look at me anyway." She tugs her face between her arms, hiding herself from me.
"You seem not to have been injured, did you defeat the Wraith Knight!?" Hope bulges its beautiful head through my emotions, if Serena could defeat one, then maybe I could as well.
"I… I ran, I've never in my life felt as much fear, no it was just survival instinct! I couldn't stand to see it!" Tears finally fall from her sockets, but they're tainted with anger.
"Right? Am I not right? If I hadn't run away I wouldn't be alive! If I hadn't run away, I could have… could I have saved them, Orsini and Lloyd?" Serena asks, her head tilted up to the ceiling and shedding tears like a river.
"I'm a coward, for Solan's sake… I'm not fit to be in hith Order."
"I won't say whether you could or not, no matter my answer it'd only drive you closer to the edge of madness. What matters is that you are alive, even if the hand dealt to you by it isn't favorable. You can keep living for those who fell." I summon my utmost wisdom, a lot which I've stolen from books Rito has made me read. She looks at me, then to the wall in front of us.
"I… Thanks." Serena wipes the tears away from her eyes, they're still tinted red.
"Even if only words, that does make me feel a bit better. Though regret hasn't left me, I can atone for what I've done. And as you stole from Campaign of the Tundra, I can keep living for those who've fallen." Serena passes me a smile, not exactly of joy but of relief.
"Ya' caught me, but ey' the attempt was good right?" I smile.
"It was, I nearly didn't notice it. You may not have the most thunderous head, but your heart has a warm flame in it, do keep it for me…" Her voice quiets.
"I'm sorry this is really quite embarrassing, but I never caught your name." She wipes the tears stains away from her eyes, as a smile finally fills her lips.
"It's Judari, Judari Onyx."
"I don't know what I expected, though I'm glad he has a child to carry on his lineage. What a legend." Her eyes are clear of water, she picks her armor back up. Wrapping it around her tight black clothes. Looking like how I first met her.
"Thank you, Judari. I don't think all my tears have been shed yet, but you helped dry some away. I hope to see you on the field soon." She reaches her hand forward.
"On the same side, right?" I accept it, and give her sturdy hand a fair shake.
"Of course." Say says, her teeth finally showing through her smile.
I prance through the final hallways, the chatter quieting as the walls grow white clay tiles. Finally, it goes quiet, and I am met with a hall so large yet so claustrophobic. Being here feels like a paradox. The ceiling stretches beyond sight, towering far above the hallway. Yet the walls cramp in like a can being crushed. Gold lights drape over small branches that sprout from the cracked walls. I walk inside the library, a couple souls litter the tables with massive leather books in their hands or on their mahogany desks. I look up, expecting a blank wood ceiling.
My eyes are pierced by pure sunlight, a small bird flying over to shade me. The ceiling is entirely open, green and light. I can smell the sky. I feel my legs shake. I am hundreds of meters from the ground, this feels so unreal yet, entirely natural. The Crown.
The hall is quiet as I sneak on the tips of my toes through it. The white clay tiles, while seeming to be loud on contact, absorb all sound as my strength leaves me walking flat footed. It's like walking on pillow sheets. Stairs line the back wall, ascending higher into the Crown's top. I don't see Rito from here. He must be farther up. I travel up the stairs, each step longer than the last. I peer through the floors, hundreds of shelves stretch before me.
I finally reach the very top, having stepped on hundreds of steps. The floor is dustwry, every step I take a print of my presence here. With my hand I can touch the ceiling of leaves, and with such ease rip the greenery apart. Though another pair of footprints leads my eyes forward to my most preferred shade of blue.
"Rito!" I yell, a smile clawing itself from my gums. He swings his hair in a dramatic motion as he turns to me high upon a rusty ladder.
"Judari! You made it! I was sure you'd skip out on another of our study times again. Leaving poor little me to read for my lonesome!" Rito says with a sly smirk on his face as he flicks through stacks of bounded books.
"I could still leave and go train if you want some proper quiet." I walk up to the base of the ladder and wrap my palms around the sides.
"Nonsense, I said I'd help you catch up in your studies, so that's how it'll be. No running off and batting your feelings into a set of weights." Rito slides a book off the shelf and looks at it.
"The Flower Garden. O' how I've been wanting to read this forever.." Without warning, he tosses the book at my face. I snatch it out of the air.
"Put it on the table, I want to read it later." He says flicking through more books already.
"Isn't this that fairy tale with the prince?" I ask, analyzing the pretty ornate gold cover. A gold leaf on its cover.
"And his knight, yes. Now put it over on the table." I, with as much grace as possible, place the book softly upon the table. Two chairs next to each other. One is clearly not the same style as the other chair, nor the table. The floor also has scratch marks.
"The Kingsbane, a recordance of the Revolution. Thousands of herbs and spices. King's descent. A lesson in Alchemy volume two. Hm, any of these sound interesting or helpful to you, Judari?"
"Not particularly." I say.
"What are you studying right now? It'd help me find something for us to read through."
"Have we not grown up together Ritose? You know me by now."
"I hoped you'd have matured enough to pay proper attention in class by now, I guess a half year here hasn't been enough?" Rito teases and I position myself at the base of the ladder again, wrapping tightly around the supports.
"I guess over a decade spent as friends hasn't been enough for you to know me either." I rock the ladder from side to side, letting Rito stand unstable.
"I can throw more books at you if you'd like it!" Rito grabs a book without looking.
"I'd throw them at you back if you did!" I snare with a grin.
"I suppose I'll look for something general." Rito says, burying his head in the dusty shelves. I lean my chin against the steps, pondering.
"So, y'know earlier. When those Sigil Generals showed up."
"Yes, what about them?" Rito's voice is muffled by the books around him.
"Well, General Draug talked about how we as a society have moved past judging someone by the color of their skin. But then they mock the Dinakeri race and call them kindred animals. I don't see the logic…" I say, hiding my eyes away.
"I… I'm not sure either, the Dinakeri could be… exceptions? But that feels wrong. I'd say our best course of action is to stay open minded. Right?" Rito plucks his head out and looks at me.
"Right. Because… who knows, maybe one day it's us that are being made to look evil." I peer down the chasm of the library, seeing the many Castellans walking around with books in their hands. How come they're so learned yet so privy to hate.
"Though that prisoner's comment about Solan wasn't warranted. Could you imagine if Ardor or Altum were the reigning God? Pure chaos and mayhem I tell you." Rito pulls a book out, its cover is a bright lavender with a swirl of clouds covering it.
"Omens, A self-study of the Vind." Rito reads up. Passing the book to me in a quick throw.
"If you don't know what to study, you might as well learn about yourself, right?" Rito steps down the ladder, and we sit ourselves at the small dusty table nestled in the corner of the walkway.
Rito opens the book and its crusty pages pull apart, we read the first page. It is a page of contents. The translations are obviously rough, but the meaning of the words shine through. None of the chapters catch my eye, except one. Marks, our blessings and curses.
"Could we start on the Marks chapter?" I ask.
"That'd work, maybe I can finally understand why you have silly stars in your hair." Rito finger kicks my hair, a gray star in my curls swinging.
"I remember my mother used to talk about Vinds and Marks, though I never got an answer of what mine is." I say, feeling my throat close slightly on me. My blood pumps through my body harder than before. I hope Rito doesn't notice, he can't notice.
"Ye-yeah. Though I guess we'll have an answer here." Rito passes me a smile, as he opens up to the pages with caution in his hand.
I let my eyes jump from line to line, trying to grasp at key-words. Curse of the Lone, has a picture of a hollow circle with a dot in the middle., Blessing of the Ground Bound, details a drawing of a half circle with a Curse of the Ruin. Huh, there's nothing. No drawing or anything. We flip through more and more pages, reading what is translated and what isn't. A confusing mess of Verbum and Stellan paragraphs. Though finally, one catches my eye. Curse of the Starchild.
"Look here Rito." I point to the paragraph, a slim pale star pictured aside the text. As my finger grazes the paper, I feel it go slightly numb. My legs seem so far from me.
"Curse of the Starchild?" Rito looks, and reads.
"To me Starchild doesn't sound much like a curse, stars are pretty." Rito says. I read through what's translated. I sort of get why this book is stashed away all the way up here now. The pages are an old yellow, but the cover is new.
"There's a long passage here, it seems important." Rito says, as he lays his finger on the crusty page's words. I grab onto the table's edge, and dig my fingers deep into the grain.
"Tu, nate astra. Destinatum ad astra flyto. Si non teneris a tuis dilecti." Rito says, some words don't sound exactly right out of his mouth, but regardless of accent he read through it.
"I recognize some words, like astra, that's star. And destinatum, I think that's destiny." Rito says.
"I'd imagine flyto means fly, right?.. Though honestly I don't think we should-" I say, pointing to it. As I do, I feel my gut wrench in on itself, like someone had reached their hand into me then twisted my organs to disarray. I don't know whether it's vertigo, or if my body is telling something. Rito keeps reading, over and over. He isn't listening.
"Destined, fly, star. The translated paragraphs around this section aren't any help for Solan's sake. They're just notes and or scribbles." Rito roughs his hair into a clump with his hand. Though he fails to see that some of the notes point to the paragraph.
"No, look. This note here says that the last sentence of the passage means… something with love. Or, being held down by your loved ones." Now that I've said it out loud, I feel foolish. These notes are just of a peep who went mad.
"Wait, I think you're right. This is only a guess but I think the passage is saying something close to, You, the star. Are destined to fly to the stars. Unless held down by your loved ones." Rito's eyes flare up, as he digs his nose into the book. A gentle cold breeze grips my neck. Something doesn't feel right.
"Rito, I think we should-" I say, every breath I take is fickle and loose.
"No, I think I got it. You, child of the stars. Destined to fly to the stars. If you are not held down by the ones you love." I feel my head get lighter and lighter, and my eyes ascend higher and higher. I'm out of air, I'm floating while grounded. You've reached for the secret too soon.
"Rito... s-stop!" I handle the book's cover and slam it down. The lightness from my head seeps out of me, and I am brought down to ground yet again. Rito looks at me, his eyes scared.
"I-, I'm sorry." I say, throwing my head in my palm. Rito shakes his head, as if he'd dazed off.
"Judari… No I… I just." Rito stutters, as if trying to find a way to justify himself.
"I should've stopped. I could feel you were uncomfortable, and I didn't respond to it." Rito says, laying his hand on my back and giving me a slap.
"I'm sorry, I'm not tone blind." He gives me a wink, little jabs at me like that are why we're still friends. What would I do without him?
"Let's just put that book aside, who cares about destiny, right?" Rito says, sliding the books away with a warm smile.
"Yeah, I think I remember my mother saying they're likely not to come true anyway. At least that's if I'm remembering right." I let out a soft dry chuckle, Rito gives me a strained smile as I chuckle which suddenly is interrupted by a hollow thud to our left. I quickly rip my eyes over to the sound. An amber-gold book had landed on the floor, its cover a series of ridges and leather veins with a hard-carven title in chalk white letters. Yellow Road, The Rituals of Gaia.
"Huh, how'd that even fall down? Never seen that book either, I've combed through these shelves at least sixty times." Rito says, as I raise myself. The wood floor creaks under my weight, and the chasm of the library opens to my height. I pick the book up, and somehow, it feels alive?
The leather cover has an indent, as if it has been held. It could be old. Though it isn't warm, if anything, this is one of the coldest things I've ever held. I look from where it landed, to where I presume it fell from, a small crack in the vast stretches of books. A tiny hint of a glint makes it through the crack, and I lay the book on the table. I climb the rustic ladder, peering my eyes into the crack. From within the darkness, a lone mirror stands looming and glinting. Its frame is one of black twisted steel, and it looks big enough for an arm to pass through.
"Weird…" I say, the mirror is emanating a strange feeling. As if it's staring back at me with intent malice and vigor. The mirror is attempting to reflect me, but does so poorly, why are my eye bags so huge… and scarred?
"What's up there, Judari?" Rito says from his chair, sitting prissy and educated as usually.
"A mirror, at the very back of the shelf." I say. Every time my gaze lands on the mirror, my heart beats faster, much faster. It feels like it's trying to pull me in, drawing me to it, and something in me cannot resist the temptation. This… is meant to be.
"Judari, you deer-arse, get down here instead of sticking your big nose in bookshelves, trying to be me!" Rito says and my attention is drawn to him.
"Oh, sorry. I kind of fell into a zone." I step off the ladder, but before fully down I see that the mirror is already staring back at me before I am at it. I shift a book across the mirror. It sends chills into my bones, it hurts. I sit myself down on my chair again, as Rito has already opened up to a page spread. The Omens book was old and yellow, but this one is on a whole other level. Neither the cover nor pages could be less than four-hundred years old. Just feeling the paper feels like touching history. Luckily, the many long paragraphs are in Stellan, even if it's an older version, more akin to Sollahn.
Every page and passage is a series of rituals described and even drawn occasionally, the drawings carry a sort of aged appearance as if drawn by a historic figure. All the faces look weirdly bloated and fat, while the bodies and limbs are skin clinging to bone. Though to my superstitions's relief, I don't feel any sort of pulse or draw from this book. I suppose I was just going crazy before.
"These rituals are quite disturbing… Why'd you even pick it up?" Rito asks, reading.
"When a book falls on the ground just as we finish another book, that's divine intervention." I say, with confidence strapped on my saddle. Rito is the super-ego type, he'll satiate my curiosity.
"How hard did you grip on this book? Are those claw marks?" Rito asks.
"That's just how a strong knight handles books, now stop stalling and let's read some." I say, already flipping through pages without reading a word.
"If you say so, Herr Brute Strength." Rito teases, poking at my muscles. We skip around the pages and chapters, seeing so many bloated yet skinny figures. Too many of the drawings include imagery of bizarrely drawn gore. None of it is realistic but there's still an unease to each of them. Though finally we come to one of the last chapters. Vind Rituals.
"I know I just panicked because of that Omen book before, but this seems… more interesting?" I say, stopping our intent reading.
"You're the ferryman here. You choose when to stop." I inspect the page closer, the faces are no longer as bloated but instead all skin and bone. The Vinds in the illustrations are depicted as near hollow-eyed skin to the bone lanky towers. This last section of the book isn't long, but it is packed with illustrations. Whoever visited the Vinds up in the castle to draw them, must've spent more time observing than listening. But a passage does intrigue me. The Sky-boat of blood.
"Now that is intriguing. I've read around and at least in Vind and Fischeran mythos, these sky-boats seem to be a prominent concept. Some texts talk about them like they're real, while some talk about them as an old fairy tale." Rito says, reading most of the text through with his finger before I've even gotten past the first sentence.
"The sky-boats of the old plane of wind were the Vinds's most prominent mean of travel through the endless skies. It required two people to steer it, two people who trust each other with their very lives. The depictions of it are strange, but they're quite an interesting look at our heritage." Rito says, reading through the rest and yapping. Our heritage… We're both born down here on Gaia, what heritage can we even claim to have. All we share is blood with the people from the sky-castles. Nothing else.
"Hm, it seems this sky-boat of blood is a ritual of sorts. Linking two people together. It says in the text that it not only produced the best of sky-sailors… But friends for life." Rito reads, his eyes widen slightly.
"A silly little ritual can force friendship, eh?" Rito jabs me lightly with his elbow.
"Do you think doing this ritual means a closer tie to our lineage?" I ask. A sorry hanging off my tongue's tip with a yarn string all the way down to my stomach.
"I suppose it would, but it's just an archaic, probably fantasised blood ritual. Though it wouldn't be too different from Kasparans attending an Elemira's feast."
"Y'know, we've never really been connected to our heritage, in any way. My dad doesn't even remember a time he wasn't down here, my mother… died, before she could tell me of her life up there. And…" Rito cuts me off.
"And mine are dead as well, though if I remember correctly, they were born down here as well." He says, the same sorrow in his voice as mine.
"It seems the Gods want us as far apart from our roots as possible." I say, a hopeful smile crawling up on my lips, as I lay my arms gently on the table.
"We can't change history, but we can change the next chapters of it." I say, looking into Rito's blue-sea eyes.
"Are you suggesting we…?" He says, pointing down at the paper with his eyes.
"I am. Let's lay our claim on the future. Let us do this ritual, for those who came before us." I say, confidence beaming from my voice. I need an anchor.
"I don't know… could you give me a day to think about linking our souls together?" Rito says, a certain sense of scared sarcasm in his voice.
"You only live once, why wait." I look down to the page, a drawing of a Vind and Fischeran floats above a long passage. They're both skinny, and seem to be drawing blood from their hands, then going to shake the other's. The Vind has slim stars in his hair. They're both saying something. The Vind says Polus, and the Fischeran says Navis.
"Couldn't we read a bit more of it?" Rito asks.
"I know you've already read through it all, probably twice." I say, and Rito retracts.
"...Don't call me weak-willed if you regret this." Rito says, sliding his silver sword up from the table's underworld. Of course he carries it around after hours.
"The ritual seems designed for Fischerands and Vinds specifically, I suppose I say Navis, and you say Polus." Rito pauses, reading over it again.
"Two beings of the sky, a Mast and a Ship. Synchronized in one harmony of the winds. Alone they float, but together they steer. I suppose there's no harm with a message like that attached below." Rito says, cutting a tiny slit into his hand. Light blue blood drips from the wound. His first drop lands on the very downward edge of the paper, coloring it an oxidized blue. I put my hand out for Rito, and he slices a small cut into my hand. A burning sting clings to it, as a narrow river of red opens from my palm. "Polus." I say, and extend my hand.
"Navis." Rito says, accepting my hand. Our blood mixes together in this bloody handshake.
"I suppose our souls are linked now." I say, giving Rito a warm smile.
"Don't make me regret it!" Rito punches me in the shoulder with his bleeding hand, getting some of his blood on my clothes. My head feels still, my nerves are calm and my feet are steady. I let Rito pick the next book. He deserves it. Though when one falls the other is corrupted. A Mast losing their mind, and the Ship losing their body