"You're in luck, August Madera." Adma calls out to me as she walks back toward the wagon. "I've provided the gate guards with a description of your accomplice. Every active patrol in town and at the castle is searching for Kieran. He shall be found."
I beam at her. "You made sure to give them the full description, right?"
"A little over five feet tall. A skinny blond boy who potentially carries a strange device. Fair-skinned and skittish. Wearing a yellow shirt and black pants."
"You forgot to mention his beautiful emerald eyes and his squeaky voice. Or his endearing passion about all things Arcanic."
"I'm positive the guards will notice some of the other features mentioned well before the color of his eyes. You Nephilim are a strange lot."
"Just trying to be thorough. And, if I didn't let everyone know how cute Kieran was, I wouldn't be a very good friend, would I?"
Adma rolls her eyes and starts walking down the street. Our carriage stopped at the front entrance of the town while we waited for Adma to check in with the guardhouse. We'll proceed from here on foot.
My eyes sparkle as I take in the town for the first time. In many ways, I find it eerily similar to Little Moon Town. The cobblestone streets that wind every which way. The houses on the busiest street are packed together tightly, while the residential areas off the beaten path have more of a rural feel. Bright colors distinguish one home from the next, and though it feels more commodified, I can feel a sense of community from these streets. This could have been a lunar civilization, if not for the blue sky above us.
Just as I'm admiring how clean and calm the city is, I feel myself get shoved backward and knocked to the ground.
"Watch your feet, you little crate bugger."
I look up at the speaker. A gruff human who's got almost two feet on me and looks vile. I won't engage with this one. Just chalk it up and...
"Excuse me, sir," Adma interjects. "Apologize to my traveling companion. He is a guest of the royal family."
The man looks at Adma and snarls. Then he notices the golden insignia on the front of her armor. He looks back at her, the disdain in his eyes replaced with fear.
"Lord be damned. That insignia, and that bushy brown hair. You're Lady Adma, aren't ye?"
She just smiles at him, doesn't deign him with a response. Once he realizes he's got the right of it, he quickly apologizes to me and offers to help me up. I don't accept. I don't want him to touch me. So I rise on my own.
"All good, sir. This crate bugger has taken no offense."
He eyes me suspiciously as he walks off. I give him a lingering stare to make sure he knows to stay away.
We begin walking down the street again. Adma seems pleased with me.
"You have a fiery soul."
I chuckle. That's what she was burning to say, huh?
"I approve," Adma declares. "Too often do I find the flaw of humans lies in their lack of courage. You do not seek conflict, and yet you do not back down when challenged or slighted. An admirable quality. Just like..." her voice trails off. I wonder if she's thinking about the other Nephilim she knew. Mercury.
I would like to meet this Mercury if he's still alive. She's been dodgy about that particular detail.
Adma points at a large statue ahead of us. It seems to be the town square.
"The earth shrine is underneath that statue, in the underground."
"Got it."
I scan the crowd. It's the middle of the day, perhaps closer to evening, though the sun is still hanging in the sky. There are a lot of people here. Kieran is a bit on the shorter side, especially compared to the humans, so it might be hard to pick him out of the crowd if he's here.
"I'm looking as well. Is it that young man over there, by chance?" she points someone out in the crowd and I take a look.
It's a boy about my age all right, but not Kieran. Too pasty and sallow. Kieran has a healthy glow to him.
"Or perhaps that one?"
She points out another boy. A closer match, but the hair is all wrong. Kieran has spiky hair the color of goldenrod. And he always stands tall and confident. This person is slouching, shambling - they lack Kierans's energetic, peppy spirit.
"No dice," I say. I wonder if she gets the expression. Do humans play games?
"Let us proceed into the earth shrine directly. He may be down there himself."
I follow Adma to the center of town. Sure enough, a dark passage extending into the earth opens up at the base of the wide, winged statue. It is not dissimilar to the crypt I helped Larissa rob earlier that day.
"Samina Vectos, provide light."
As Adma speaks, she holds out her hand and a ball of floating light appears. As if guided by its own will, the light glides into the passage, illuminating the dark stairs.
"You said it was a corestone of wind, right? I'm surprised it can do so much, even make light."
I start to follow her down the stairs. It's dark, but I can see even without Adma's light.
"The power comes not from the corestone but from myself," Adma corrects me. "Samina Vectos is but a conduit. One especially suited to harnessing the power of wind."
"She's not a Magician, August. She has no guide. But, like most humans, she has an affinity for magic, and the corestone allows her to use her innate abilities."
I see. Similar to Larissa, allegedly. I never actually saw Larissa do any 'magic'.
We reach the bottom of the stairs. This place is not as deep as the royal crypt but constructed of the same architecture. As we reach the bottom, I call out.
" Kieran!" I cup my hands around my mouth and shout. Not too loudly - ancient ruins like this give me the creeps and I don't want to attract any dark creatures. Or cause a cave-in.
Adma sends her light out ahead of us, toward the altar where the Guardian rests. No sign of Kieran.
I step up to the altar. A snarling gargoyle stares down at me. It looks a lot like the figure I saw in my vision. The wings are just the same, as is the Gothic architecture surrounding it. But where the one in my vision stared straight ahead, this Guardian is looking down to the ground.
"Sola, I want to talk to the Guardian. Can you wake it up for me?"
Without a response, I feel my body glow with a yellow light. In turn, so too does the statue.
"Lord of Magic," I say. This is how all Guardians are to be addressed. "I seek to become a Magician, but the one destined to be my Vessel is missing. Can you help me?"
Loud popping sounds erupt from the Guardian like wood crackling in a fire.
"Kieran Summers was here, young Magician. Looking for you as well."
"He was!?" I exclaim gleefully. "Where? When?"
Hushed whispers emit from the Guardian. I cannot tell what is being said, but a cacophony of a thousand tiny murmurs fills the space. Adma looks at me with obvious discomfort.
"When he could not find you, he returned to the moon thinking you were left behind."
"You're kidding!"
More whispers. Lots more.
"He has since returned to the planet. But he did not return here. He looks for you."
"Damn that Kieran. Whenever he gets lost, I always tell him to stay put. Why can't he stay put!?"
Just as I speak, a voice rings out in the darkness, startling both myself and Adma.
"August?" it calls. I turn to face the speaker. It's dark, so I can't make them out, but I can see glowing eyes in the shadows. Eyes glowing like a Nephilim. But that isn't Kieran.