"What is this place?" both Darius and Kristina seemed to share the same thought, speaking in unison.
Jhandis spoke clearly and simply, "My workspace."
A small clearing in the nearby forest revealed a small waterfall. Honestly, if Darius really stretched, he could probably reach the top. Strange orange flowers littered the area and the underbrush. Darius watched closely as animals that looked somewhat familiar but distinctly different scattered about, though what most caught his attention were the colorful carp in the pond below the waterfall.
"Stars?" Darius asked.
"Not quite. Watch" Jhandis pulled a few dozen small ruby and sapphire stones from the hole in his pants that someone might call pockets, if they really stretched the idea. His eyes turned red as both Darius and Kristina heard a crushing sound, before he released the fine gem powder into the water.
"This place is nothing special, just a piece of land untouched by human hands other than my own. Though the creatures that occasionally come here inspire awe from even this old man."
The carp swarmed around the gems devouring what they could until their bodies started to glow.
"A peculiar thing life is. Cyclical in nature, if you just look close enough, you may find even the stars near your home."
The fish had climbed up into the waterfall, slowing forming into several familiar shapes. An oval with a line through the middle, a heart, a long pillar, a bear with tusk, an open book, and an eye.
"Tor, Kel, Drum, Jawn, Iyear, and Iroh," Darius spoke quietly and solemnly as he watched, out of earshot from Jhandis, but loud enough for Kristina to just pick up. "If I had to guess, I bet these are called star fish."
"Close, star koi. Not something you'd see every day, if ever really. Those names you said, are they the names the people from Journey have for those constellations?"
"Yeah, named for the Patrons. They're like Guardian spirits, who watch over and protect Journey. See the one that looks like a an eye? We call him Iroh, Patron of wisdom, and guardian of Acumenos."
"In Stellar, we call that one Vitnova's eye; she watches over each of us, protecting us as equals." Darius could loudly hear the subtext behind her words, but before he could act on anything, she quickly changed the topic, "Jhandis, I've heard that scribes need a peaceful environment to do their work, and a piece of whatever they're looking for. I have one of the Griffin's feathers so…"
"You may very well be correct, but that won't be necessary." Like before, Jhandis reached in his pockets where he had the ruby and sapphire. Only this time he took out two sizable emeralds, about half the size of the palm of his hands. "We'll just need a little help from some friends."
He held his hand out towards a large thicket and stood there, nearly motionless. He stayed that way for nearly 10 minutes. Moments before Kristina and Darius fully lost their patience, two deer like creatures appeared.
"S-Silver?" Darius was in awe, just today he had seen a bird light itself on fire, a half eagle half lion creature, and fish that took the shapes of constellations, yet these deer, animals he had seen before, glowing with their elegant silver radiance left him dumbfounded.
"These are moon deer… but… but they hate people. Why are they getting so close to us? Just who are you Jhandis?" It seemed Darius wasn't alone, Kristina was likewise in awe, albeit for different reasons.
"Once a powerful warrior, then a lost soul, and now an old man. I don't think it really matters who I was anymore, anyway. Dredging up those old stories would only lead to heartache."
Unconsciously, Jhandis reached towards his medallion and lightly stroked it. As he did Darius was able to get a closer look at it. More than just rusted, the medallion looked like it was shattered and glued together. A disfigured beast with multiple heads could be pieced together from the remnants, but it looked somewhat familiar. If Darius had to guess-
"A dragon? With two heads…no, that medallion is missing a piece. Another head?" Kristina spoke softly, but there was a definite hint of anger or maybe even fury.
Jhandis responded with a downtrodden expression, "You must be from one of the Great Cities, New Dawn from the look of you. Not many would recognize this symbol from just a glance."
Kristina stepped forward, intending to do… something. Whatever that was Darius knew it was going to be bad. "Before you walk over there and beat the life out of an old man, let's calm down a bit."
"He's Chimera."
She didn't elaborate, but Darius could tell whatever that meant, it wasn't good.
"Was…There was once a time when I would've shattered your jaw just for your tone of voice when you spoke of the Chimera," Jhandis remarked. "Now my stomach churns at the mere mention of its name."
The air was dense, so much so that Darius found it hard to breathe, yet he was at a loss over what was causing these two to create such a distortion.
"I'm not from one of the Great Cities, so if someone could-" Darius started.
"He's a bastard, nothing more, maybe far less," Kristina interrupted.
That generated a hearty laugh from Jhandis, "The girl doesn't mince words, but I can't disagree with her."
Jhandis's words did not serve to calm Kristina down who blundered into a rage, rushing over to grab Jhandis by his shirt, nearly lifting him off his feet. "Is that funny to you. How about the forests you've burnt?! The buildings you've crumbled?! The people you've killed?! Is that funny?"
"THAT WAS NOT THE CHIMERA! That is not the Chimera I built." Jhandis's voice was loud and commanding, startling Kristina and surprising Darius.
Silence permeated the area as the three witlessly stared at one another. An uncomfortable amount of moments passed before Darius responded, "There seems to be a lot of bad blood between you two. From what I could understand, these Chimera is some sort of…let's go with radical group, and you're a former member. Am I missing anything?"
"Perspective, you're missing perspective. A century ago, when the Chimera was founded, they held the absolute belief that wattiez is being abused."
"Abused?!" Kristina screamed, her foot angrily tapping against the ground. "How? wattiez is sacred! Our entire livelihood is based off of wattiez, we'd be nothing without it."
"That's the problem!" This time Jhandis grabbed Kristina by the shirt, his body glowing with a raging red aura that flickered off his body. "Wattiez is not to be worshipped, it is a tool, a tool used to control and manipulate. Even that pathetic piece of excrement, Cornelius Nihil, knew as much!"
"Drop her and calm down." Darius's words may not have been enough, but the dagger held to Jhandis's neck seemed to be extremely persuasive.
"Again, I apologize for my outburst, it seems my body still has some reserve of strength I thought lost long ago." That strength was probably the faint but almost blood red aura surrounding him. Though it disappeared once he calmed down.
Kristina's face was stern, but her anger already subsided, replace with something that resembled disappointment. "Jhandis, do you have more than one affinity?"
"No, I do not."
"Then you really are a fake. At least, I've never heard of a scribe with only Augmentation Wattiez. Coming here was a waste of our time."
Darius didn't understand Kristina's words until a previous conversation came back to him. "Relativity Wattiez… if you can only use the augmentation variant, how do you scribe?"
"He can't, that's what I'm telling you. He can't scry," replied Kristina.
"No, I cannot." Jhandis said, petting one of the moon deer.
His tone was layered, a fact missed by Kristina due to her anger, but not to Darius who had an idea of what he actually meant. "But the moon deer can, can't they?"
A nod from Jhandis confirmed that Darius was correct, a fact surprising to even the native Kristina. "They can? I've never heard of one doing so, then again, I've never heard of a person doing more than spotting one, but here we are."
"They are Relativity type creatures, by placing their head upon your own, you should be able to locate important items, people, or in your case animals. The moon deer are far more powerful than your average scribe. You need only intensely focus on your target to locate it but be careful. Should you lose focus, they are liable to scurry away, refusing to return for some time even if you offer emerald. Could be days before I see them again, months or even years."
"Then we only have one shot?" Kristina said.
Darius took a keen interest in a certain part of Jhandis's explanation. Darius walked to Jhandis and whispered in his ear. "Any person? Say friends, lovers… enemies?"
Softly, Jhandis whispered back. "You will find whatever you can most focus on at the time," Jhandis explained. "If your fury burns bright enough to light a path to your enemy, that is who you will find. Tread lightly, lest you betray the trust of a comrade."
Darius looked to Kristina, woefully unaware of the bit of treachery he intended on committing. Like she said before, they'd only get one chance with the moon deer. If he used this chance to find this Guile character, and she failed to focus correctly, highly likely by Darius's projections, then they both would be screwed. At least that what he weakly told himself. In all honesty, he just wanted to help Kristina.
"Yeah, you're right Jhandis," Darius said, "I made a promise that I intend to keep."
With Jhandis's guidance, the moon deer lowered their heads, ready to be met by Kristina and Darius's.
"Ready?" asked Kristina.
"Nope," responded Darius just before he placed his head on the moon deer.