Crystalline Chaos

by Gabriela Voelske

  * * *

  Drake awoke to find Amnur dozing next to him with Ciel and Crono nowhere in sight, everything else appeared fairly usual, however. He stretched out an arm and began nudging Amnur, who responded quickly to the intrusion. Amnur looked around but saw that they had not returned and sighed once more, turning to Drake who still had his arm resting by his side.

  “How are you feeling?” he enquired quietly, as they were still the only two awake.

  “Not my best admittedly,” Amnur whispered in reply. His voice was much calmer than Drake had expected, potentially because Ciel and Crono weren’t around; he felt he had no need to remain hostile.

  “It’s good to see you awake, though,” Drake said, causing Amnur to flash him a smile.

  “Thanks. I never did ask your name,” he admitted, everything had moved so fast that it moved out of his mind.

  “It’s Drake.”

  “A dragon hm? It fits you if you take the positive side of it anyway.” Dragons were rarely seen in the present era aside from in the North. It was still unknown if they were truly a separate species from the original ancestors of the angels and demons.

  Drake was about to shuffle himself into a sitting position when he noticed something caught in Amnur’s coat. From its position, it didn’t appear to be something that had just randomly got stuck in the lining.

  “What’s that?” he commented, pointing at the small object. Amnur followed his line of sight down and found it, teasing it free from where it had been placed.

  “It feels like paper. It’s been folded up too,” Amnur commented as he held it in his hands, carefully propping open the folds. Fully unveiling it, it appeared to be a letter but the contents were randomly placed and hastily scribbled, with no obvious pattern to them. He tilted it to show Drake before directing it back towards him, so he could attempt to decipher it. Drake watched as he intently focused on the paper, trying to make sense of the mess of the writing.

  “Do you have any idea who wrote it?” Drake spoke up after a while of silence, Amnur had his free hand clenched in a fist while the other held tightly to the letter. His body was tense and his expression was distraught. He didn’t reply, instead opting to walk over to Ferdan and shake him awake.

  “Was she suffering from anything?” he growled at Ferdan, who was startled by his upfront approach.

  “What do you mean?” Ferdan replied blearily, trying to wrestle Amnur’s arms free from his robes.

  “Don’t lie to me!” Amnur bellowed, causing Ferdan to try and move away but he failed. He was starting to catch on to just what the demon was demanding, evidently, something had happened.

  “She dragged you back; both of you were injured. You had a toxin within your blood where she had chaos magic residue affecting her.” Amnur dropped Ferdan back on his bed and collapsed backwards. Such a thing would explain her crazed ramblings in the letter, what appeared to be an attempt to explain what was happening to her. Despite the aggressive approach Ferdan had received, he was truly sorry. Evidently, the seal he had enacted on her had proven inefficient, she must have just suffered silently the whole time.

  “What did she write?” Drake queried from behind, bringing himself around to support Amnur where he sat.

  “She wrote that she’s sorry for everything she did, her mind and body were not her own,” Amnur spoke, his voice was shaking. What she had written was a farewell; she had no intention of being found.

  “She did nothing to us, though,” Ferdan said, grabbing Amnur’s attention towards him, “whatever she thinks she did never occurred.”

  “Sakura fled sometime in the night. Ciel and Crono have been looking for her but I doubt they’ll have success now.” The news shocked the other two. Ferdan began to wonder if the seal did not fail naturally yesterday and that there was something outside acting on it, allowing the magic to once again infect her mind.

  “I’m sure everything will end fine if we can cut the source of the chaos,” Drake said with overly thick enthusiasm, attempting to cheer the demon up. It worked in some regard, Amnur snapped from despair too deep thought. Magic did not persist once the user had perished, killing the one who had infected the creatures with the magic would work. “Ciel has received the pledge of the West to help with a push, to join up with a planned attack from the East.”

  “How long until the attack happens?” Amnur demanded, his voice was now steadier but his body still showed his sorrow.

  “A week from yesterday.” It meant that Sakura would have to last alone that long in the bitter wilds. Such a thing was feasible for one such as her normally, but the weather added a level of doubt.

  “We better get started on preparations then. I should make sure Ciel is efficient with channelling magic with those blades.” Drake was surprised by the comment; it wasn’t uncommon knowledge that his family could use such an ability as that, but it was rare for one to know how it was done. Amnur noticed his shock and chuckled, removing an ornate but deadly blade from inside his coat. “I taught his grandfather the skill, as well as his father,” he commented, lining the blade’s cool metal with bright flames. He glided the blade through a couple of thrusts and parries, showing off the flame that embodied the blade.

  “That looks familiar, yes,” Drake noted, “though Ciel doesn’t use fire.”

  “I just happen to aligned to fire, nothing more.”

  Drake sat there looking lost, so Ferdan decided to step in and explain how elemental affinity worked and the reasons why some can only use one certain element efficiently, while others can use all but to a lesser extent. Amnur added in bits as Ferdan went, using it as an excuse to show off. It was rare these days for someone to admire his strength, as opposed to fear it. The whole thing began to make more sense for Drake, education on the fundamentals of magic was not commonly taught to those who could not manipulate aether.

  A loud bang interrupted them and they turned their attention to the door, which swung open as Crono shoved through, carrying Ciel under his arm.

  “You didn’t find her,” Amnur stated as Crono shut the door behind him; he was less than pleased at Amnur’s negativity.

  “She never had any intention of being found,” Drake added, Crono tossed him a dubious look. Their voices were flat, barely showing any signs of sorrow. Amnur held up the letter and Crono went stiff. She had left a final note before running off, possibly to her death. He put Ciel down by the fireplace and walked over to them, noting their offputtingly cheery attitude.

  “If we can put down the cause all of this, she will be freed from her torment,” the fire mage said. Ciel was shivering but he turned his attention to what was happening.

  “Would she last until then?” Ciel enquired, it was a stretch he had to admit. Silence washed over them, Amnur's expression told him enough. It was the only hope they had, it would provide good motivation point to push on. It was going to be a long week, they had a lot to prepare for and a lot to hope for.

  * * *

  A couple days passed before the twins of Esterbrook and Valmeadow arrived in Linlake, along with a notable consignment of armoured demons. Some humans trailed behind in groups, sporting waggons that contained tents, weapons, armour and other various odds and ends. They would set up camp within the borders of Linlake for the next few days. Being the northern most town, it was the closest to the spires, although it was the smallest. Crono watched them arrived with Ciel at his side, less had turned up than he had expected.

  "Here they are," Crono mentioned as two figures drifted up towards them. The first thing that attracted Ciel's attention was their peculiar attire; a mixture of tightly weaved ropes held a multitude of differently coloured feathers and beads that sat above tattered grey and green robes. They truly embraced the shaman title they held, Ciel was starting to imagine why Crono could find them more than slightly annoying. Standing in front of him, it also became apparent just how tall they were for supposed new blood demons. They stood a few feet taller than Ciel, the odd attire highlighted t
heir slender bodies, including the fact one of the two was female. Another curious detail that grabbed his attention was the male’s piercing white eyes, for a demon to have such a pure colour was unheard of. His sister only possessed red eyes, the different between them was interesting.

  "It's good to finally meet you, Crono has told me much," Ciel spoke up, offering out a hand towards them. The female lightly wrapped her hands around his arm, completely skipping past his hand. He was taken aback but kept himself strong, squinting at Crono who appeared unfazed. Such a thing must not be uncommon for them, some warning would have been nice, however. The other twin watched on, interested in what his sister was doing, or seeing.

  "You have an interesting aura," she mused, "for one whose bloodline abandoned us, you have a deep concern for us." Ciel smiled, amazed that she could sense that from just touching him. "In particular one individual, one who you should perhaps avoid.” He recoiled, the last thing he needed was for them to tell Amnur now. Crono raised an eyebrow, not towards Ciel, however.

  "You should introduce yourselves," Crono interrupted, earning a small bow from the two of them.

  "Forgive us. I am Abel," the male spoke, "this is Na-ri."

  "You are Ciel, son of Sebastian," Na-ri spoke up before Ciel could manage, causing him to silently stutter his words.

  "Who requested our help with the matter of ending that which ails us," Abel continued, once again interrupting Ciel before he could speak. He was starting to see what Crono had warned him about; not being able to get a word in was starting to get obnoxious.

  "Your numbers are fewer than I anticipated," Crono responded before they could continue their nuisance talking routine. It was constructed as a way to playfully annoy others, separately they could be far more pleasant.

  "Some waited behind to hold down the fort," Na-ri responded, looking out over the still arriving force.

  "Woman, children, the elderly," Abel added. Ciel was surprised by the last one, was there enough elderly demons in the West for them to be left behind? "If our gathering becomes noted by our opponents then we become sitting ducks." It was a sharp reminder of the risks of this plan, if their gathering presence began to be noticed they ran the risk of getting themselves killed. They hoped that the much larger force of the East was enough to keep him distracted.

  "We will return to overseeing our people," the twins spoke in tandem, offering another bow before turning and walking away. Ciel breathed a sigh of relief as they did so, causing Crono to snicker.

  "It's far easier to talk to them with several people, admittedly," Crono shrugged, seeing Ciel nod in agreement.

  "Their slightly chronic habit of completely overriding you is rather loathsome, indeed" Ciel lamented; he did not doubt that their hearts were true, their mannerisms could do with some work, however.

  "I'd like to say they're the only ones like it in the West, but you're going to find it with Amnur, too."

  "What do you mean?" It was feigned ignorance, but Crono just raised an eyebrow at him.

  "I'm not blind, you know.” Ciel froze, his eyes went wide. "I have nothing against it, but I’m not the one you need to worry about. It might be best to keep it silent until we get her back safe, however." The shorter demon relaxed; he had a point, anything more right now would only stress Amnur further. He was already not holding up well.

  "Come," Crono broke the topic, much to his relief, "we still have much to prepare ourselves." He agreed and followed after the stocky demon; he had much to learn with the West, their politics were far varied to that of the East.

  Chapter 12: The Advancing Tide

  As the days passed in the East, the attacks by the creatures had been numerous but greatly thinned. The one that was leading them was evidently not wanting to reduce his numbers too much, while still relaying a message. More variations of them had started to appear, possessing multiple different elemental affinities; it was keeping the defending forces well occupied. The creatures had since been given a name by the commoners as the body count increased, such a monster only appeared in nightmares, referring them as such was only logical. From the group name Nightmare, the three armies began to come up with names for each individual type of creature they saw; having a joint agreement on names allowed for a quicker response.

  Despite the increased aggression towards them, the allied forces continued to press on with their intended plan. Sebastian had to rely on the hope that Ciel had managed to successfully request the help of the West, they were having enough trouble holding off the constant assault to launch any enquiries. Solomon was too worn down from his last venture over to the West, it would be unfair to ask him to perform it again; the spell could easily have fatal consequences.

  Arariel had since woken up, rather taken back by the sharp pain that spread through his chest and shoulder. It was healed up soon after with Solomon's remaining reserves, once he agreed to the procedure. To his amazement, the angel had been remarkably fine with the whole thing, although the pain he was experiencing likely swayed his hand.

  Arariel had taken over from Solomon while he got some well-needed rest. Sebastian had found him quite useful, not at least because angels were more willing to talk with him. His knowledge of the notable figures within Eriden was an additional aid, he was probably unwittingly telling Sebastian more than he should.

  "Uriel's still on track with the preparations, as per your advice," Arariel stated, pacing around in front of Sebastian. Even if the demon meant him no harm, the size difference between the two was unnerving for the angel.

  "As I'd hope," Sebastian replied. The whole thing would require very precise coordination between all of them, Thardosean wouldn't quibble any instruction given but the other two were not the best at seeing eye to eye. That was where Arariel was a hand; Uriel was far more willing to listen to what he said, even if he was just directly repeating what Sebastian said to him.

  "I'm sorry he can be so stubborn like this." His apology wasn’t anticipated by Sebastian, then again, everything about this angel was a surprise to him. It almost felt a shame to have him wasted on Uriel; such an open minded individual would serve well under a leader that was prepared to listen to him.

  "You shouldn't have to explain for him.”

  "I just feel it's correct to apologise, no one else would to you," Arariel gave a resigned sigh, he hoped desperately that this event would be the start of a proper peace between the two of them. He had lost both his parents in the ongoing tensions between angels and demons, as much as others tried to make him resent the race that had claimed them, he found he couldn't. The long history between the races was well known by him as a child. He had wondered just how much suffering his family had caused demons, although their death was an extreme Arariel could not deny that they potentially deserved such a fate. Sebastian watched the angel as he lamented over something, reaching over and giving him a pat on the shoulder.

  "I take it you have history," Sebastian spoke softly, his sudden interruption startled Arariel.

  "Ah, well..." He trailed off, now was not the time to worry him with such things.

  "If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me." He gave the angel a smile, before turning toward the door, gesturing for him to follow. "I believe Solomon wanted a word."

  The news perked Arariel up as he looked up, going bounding off in front of the King. Stood outside his chambers were Iomor and Kaiser; the two of them had proven to be a strong base for Sebastian during this time, one he very much needed. Having to turn everything around so quickly was not something anyone could perform easily and certainly not alone. Kaiser laughed as the angel skipped past, evidently something had taken his interest.

  "You’re perky this morning," Kaiser teased as he entered the room, since all of this had started he had not seen the King in a good mood once.

  "Uriel's been amiable for once," Sebastian replied with a grin, though the two of them knew there was something else.

  "You sure there's nothing more?" Iomor snorted,
receiving a raised eyebrow from Sebastian. "Joking aside, we've received some troubling reports." His new voice carried a much more serious tone, which toned down Sebastian's peppy mood.

  "Troubling how?"

  "We've had no solid sightings yet, but there have been reports of a massive Nightmare roaming around." Sebastian admittedly looked sceptical about it, if it were that large he doubted it would be easy for it to go missing.

  "How massive are we talking?" he queried, watching as Iomor gestured towards Kaiser.

  "From what we've heard, I would come up to around its neck," Kaiser remarked. The news caused Sebastian to freeze; Kaiser was the tallest being that he had ever seen, for something to be even taller was not a pleasant idea. He thought on it for a minute; in a straight fight he was able to take down the great demon, but it was always a close battle between the two.

  "Could you still take it down?" Sebastian said, of course, they knew nothing of the creature, except for its supposed height.

  "You doubt me?" Kaiser jested, but Sebastian's expression remained firm.

  "I'm being serious here Kaiser, I don't want to send you to your death." Kaiser became notably more concerned after his retort.

  "Sorry," he sighed, "it's hard to judge from what we know, but I don't see why not."

  Iomor nodded and pulled a canvas sack from his back. It was bursting with long parchment scrolls, all rolled up. "Come, we have much to discuss," he spoke up, steering the flow of the conversation back on track.

  * * *

  Arariel bobbed down the corridor, obtaining weird looks as he went. By now the angel had learnt to ignore them, they more just thought him odd rather than harbouring any desire to actively attack them. He would have expected anyone who wished to harm him to have tried by now. The angel stopped outside a familiar door and gave it a small knock before entering; the stone doors were not pleasant to knock on, nor did they make much sound when struck. Dumon was sat at Solomon's side, fussing at him while he laid on the bed, something that didn’t appear to be the best received.