by S. J. Wist
“Just don’t pull up any of my baby pictures out from my head, and I won’t say anything.”
“Fair enough.” He smiled and touched the wall with his hand, draining the aeri into himself to darken the room. “I’ll be outside if you need anything.”
“I feel bad that you are watching my room like this...”
“I don’t mind. Besides, I find your Dreams interesting.”
“You’re spying on my Dreams?”
“Well—” Cirrus cleared his throat. “Only the appropriate ones. I don’t wish to lose your trust.”
“Uh huh... So what did I Dream yesterday?” Sybl said, as if asking what she ate for dinner last.
Cirrus receded into his thoughts, trying to turn the answer into something other than what it truly was.
Sybl crossed her eyes impatiently. “Well?”
“I don’t exactly know how to explain it to you.”
“You can’t explain one of my own Dreams to me? I thought you were my Ancient?”
Cirrus blushed red and turned around to hide it.
“You know what? Never mind.” Sybl rolled over, turning her back to him while pretending to be upset. “I’ll remember eventually.”
Cirrus left knowing that there was a very good chance she would, and closed the door behind him. He settled his back to a sit against it as he waited for her to go to sleep, but now she was upset about something else. She was back on her feet, trying to make the aeri stream on the walls glow brighter by splashing it with her hand. It was genuine as she didn’t seem to like the dark.
He caught her eyes through her psi and found it interesting enough that she had next to no night vision. Touching the base of the door, he let his aeri fuse with the draft as he guided the wind to the stream of water. It bubbled when the air fused with it and became brighter.
He smiled when she jumped back, as if electrocuted by brilliance on her part. Cirrus wasn’t going to take away any of her victories, as she went back to bed and curled up under the blanket. But before his hopes could get any higher that she might actually stop long enough to allow him some time to think, her psi touched his.
“Thanks.”
Cirrus was left curious to how she had found him out.
“You made the water smell like lavender.”
I did not, Cirrus retaliated. Besides, humans can’t smell that well.
“You should be purple.”
He rested his head against the door with the impossible amount of patience he had for her. Why should I be purple?
“Because lavender is purple.”
I’m not purple or will be turning purple anytime soon. Are there no white flowers on Earth to compare me to?
“Umm...”
Cirrus crossed his arms in anticipation of victory. There had to be a white flower on such a huge planet, somewhere.
“Yeah, but daisies and wildflowers don’t really smell like anything.”
He dropped his head to his chest in defeat. First the terror known as the White Death, then Cursed and now a failed wildflower. Cirrus didn’t know how much more out-of-touch he could get with himself before he forgot who he was altogether.
When he lost her psi for a moment, he soon found it again as her mind drifted closer to her Dreams and possibly some answer to what they should do next. Now if he could just stay one step ahead of her returning memories, he might have a chance against his fairy yet.
He closed his eyes as he tried to separate the estus energy and its negative emotions from his soul. He didn’t need to search through its darkness for anything, anymore. Yet it still pulled his mind into a trance and into the Threads of memories from his past.
He found himself before an intact Fay Wall and behind Nafury, as the dark brown, deformed dragon sat before it. His wings hung at his sides with un-healable tears throughout them, as if his Ancient was the survivor of a war that no one knew of. His back was deeply scarred with the lashings Simera had given his soul. They were severe enough to mirror onto his Ancient.
The memory of the Prince’s face turned to look at him before he could somn. Nafury caught Cirrus’ look of pity before he could hide it in his dragon form. Not that it would matter now.
‘Can you see it?’
See what?
‘Our kind has struggled for centuries to gain the blessing of Aragmoth, yet he has done nothing but ignore our prayers. Even his wing tries to fold its touch away from us.’
You’re tired and need to rest.
‘If we brought the Asterian Caelestis here, he would not be able to ignore us any longer. This can be the only reason why I was made to look like this. It’s all a test.’
You are still beautiful, Nafury. Stop talking like you’re different.
‘I am not beautiful, and you can hide your soul within your somn all you want. I was old enough back then to remember what you look like. You insult me by thinking I can’t see your intent to try and make me feel better.’
That’s not true.
‘We are all beautiful in the eyes of those who love us, and I can feel your love for me more than anyone else’s. But if I had her love, then there would be no need for anyone to pity me. I would have everything I could ever need. Only fools look down on those blessed by Aragmoth, and she can set me free. Help me bring her here, Cirrus.’
The only way to her is the Gate in Mer City and she would die from the pressure.
‘Not if inside one of our somns. But she would never see past this deformed monstrosity I have been made into to give my love for her a chance. I can’t do it alone.’
Nafury just stop! It’s too dangerous, and I can’t—I won’t do this.
‘Then you are no different from the rest of them!’ Nafury snapped angrily back at him, bringing his teeth back together in a clash of unevenness and pain. ‘You claim to love and care for me, yet you hide under the shadow of doubt my father casts over everyone! You are nothing but a lie!’
Cirrus braced himself as the brown dragon came down the Great Hall for him, before Nafury’s Ancient went through him and he woke with a start. He caught the closest thing to him, but who he caught cried out in a fright. Sybl pushed him off of the side of the bed and to the floor, where he landed with a crash.
He regained his full awareness when Sybl got up from the bed and looked down at him. Her infuriated blue eyes looked just like Nafury’s when he got angry.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
He didn’t know what he had been doing while unconscious, as his Ancient had already fled from her wrath with the answers he needed right now. So he just lay there as he tried to figure it out from her by best guess.
“GET OUT!”
He couldn’t move as one of her thoughts struck him like a knife to the side to add to the pain already paralyzing his back. “I would never do that to you—I just fell asleep.”
“Where you then sleepwalked into my room and put your hands on top of me? Do I look like a complete idiot to you!?” Sybl shouted at him.
Cirrus trembled when her rage refused to die down and left him refusing to leave with her thoughts on him so wrong. But it was too late to try and do anything to calm her down when the door opened, and Kayla stepped in.
“What is going on in here? What are you doing, Cirrus?”
“It was an accident.”
“Dragoons don’t accidently molest females.”
“I didn’t try anything!” Cirrus retaliated with a raised voice. He hated Kayla. If she hadn’t been born a daoran he would have dedicated his spare time to making her life a living hell.
“You have some nerve shouting at me like that. Now get out of this room before I have you disciplined for this!”
Cirrus got to his feet as he had little position to argue against the High Priestess’ daughter, and left to take out his anger elsewhere.
Sybl calmed down somewhat as the daoran’s grey eyes focused from Cirrus’ leaving back to her. She was pretty and looked a bit older than herself, as her lon
g purple waves fell over her slim figure and yellow dress.
“Are you alright?” Kayla asked as she walked over.
“I think so.”
“The dragoons these days are worthless aside from being on a battlefield. I’m Kayla,” she said as she held out her hand to her. “Daughter of the High Priestess, Yri.”
Sybl took it and shook it in turn. “Sybl.”
“Well, that explains why there is so much interest in you. These are Healer lines,” the daoran said as she caught her handshake and looked at Sybl’s palm.
“Healer lines? What do you mean?”
“It means you have the ability to use your energy to mend wounds. But despite that, I see nothing of the Suzerain Continent in your mind,” she continued as she looked into Sybl’s eyes. “Interesting.”
Sybl looked away, uncomfortable. She didn’t like her soul being scanned from her eyes-out.
“Don’t be scared of me, I don’t bite,” Kayla said with a sly smile that might suggest otherwise. “You look like you could use a warm bath to calm down.”
Sybl wasn’t given the chance to argue as she was led off by her arm from the room and downstairs. “Wait—I don’t need a bath, really.”
“Nonsense,” Kayla replied, before reaching the bathing room and looking inside. When it proved to be empty, she hauled Sybl inside and locked the door behind them.
Sybl gulped as she looked at the cavern’s wall, where Kayla’s purple Ancient watched under the green vines it wove together. She was trapped.
Kayla began to undress before heading over to the small waterfall and the pool it fed. “Were you going to bathe with your clothes on?”
“I’m sorry, no offense, but I don’t feel comfortable.”
“Am I not female enough for you?”
“It’s not that—” Sybl was cut off when the vines came for her and caught her clothes, before yanking her out of her nightclothes and undergarments against her protests, until she was left standing completely naked. Now left without any other choice but the water for cover, she waded into it.
“If you truly want my judgement, it lies entirely with your hips.”
“It’s a European thing from the old days on my world.”
“Oh?” Kayla asked in curiosity.
“When women used to have fifteen or more children.”
Kayla didn’t say anything back to it and changed the topic. “The last human here, Serena, was a human beautiful enough to be made into our Queen by Simera. Perhaps somewhere in those uncanny blue eyes you can see a future that has eluded the best of the Novaists here.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died a short while ago. You see, she was a Seer, or what I think you call a fortune teller on your world. I can only assume that a part of her saw that Simera would never return.”
“Humans don’t just die from grief,” Sybl replied.
“Yet that didn’t stop you from trying to take your own life.”
Sybl now had enough of the conversation and slowly backed out of the water.
Lintrance paced worryingly outside the shower room, as his sister had locked herself in with Sybl.
“This is the daorans shower room...” Loki said as he stopped in the hallway, where his brother pondered the door.
“I’m aware of this.”
Loki caught the rest of his brothers thoughts, before looking back to the door. “You think sis will try something?”
“Of all times not have a daoran on our side in this whole mountain...” Lintrance replied in worry.
“If you intend to adopt her, that makes her your daughter. Go and get her out if you’re so worried.”
“After Cirrus’ stunt just now?”
“Well I’m not passing up the chance to meet her—”
“You’re going nowhere,” Lintrance said as he caught his brother’s shoulder and pulled him back.
Sybl didn’t make it far before several vines caught her foot in the water. There was no time to panic and try to get free, as more caught her other foot. Kayla swam behind her to see what Sybl was doing a miserable job of hiding.
She trembled when the daoran’s hand touched the scars on her back. The hand pulled back as the memory of pain surged through her mind and seemed to strike the daoran’s as well.
“They won’t heal...”
She looked back at Kayla as the daoran sounded genuinely concerned for a moment.
“Who did this to you?”
“It’s nothing,” Sybl said in retreat and got out of the water with no more scars to hide, before going for a towel and drying herself off. Hastily getting redressed from where her night clothes had descended to the floor, she then unlocked the room and left.
She stopped in surprise on finding Lintrance standing outside, before looking back to make sure Kayla had dragged her off to the right bathing room.
“Are you alright, Princess?”
“Yeah I’m fine,” Sybl replied, not wanting to talk about anything anymore.
“I’m sorry about Cirrus. I should have told you about his abnormal sleeping habits.”
“You told me that when a dragon falls asleep, they go berserk.”
“Normally, yes, but Cirrus has been every exception in between most of his life. I do know that he wouldn’t purposely do anything to lose your trust in him.”
“I should apologize then. I didn’t give him much of a chance to explain anything.”
“Then it can wait until morning as he headed out for the night.”
Sybl went silently back to her room at that.
19: FIERY DISPOSITION
Sybl regretted not paying attention as she rushed back to her room, only to find herself lost in the maze of tunnels again. She kept her thoughts locked up as she tried to calm down to think straight, knowing that would only be possible on finding Cirrus. What Lintrance had said followed Sybl’s conscience like a torch that might lead to her having a meltdown, yet. One week on a different planet and she was already starting fires all around her.
But her anger and despair wouldn’t be unheard as she looked to the end of the hall when it suddenly glowed a red light, as if from flames. It did it again, and she was left confused to how it was possible with water running on both sides of the wall. “Hello?”
It didn’t respond in any way, and she decided to see it up close. She peered around the corner and down the other hall and found it empty, except for a silver-masked, human-shaped statue that was draped in a heavy black cloak.
She feared it to be an Awl, but as she dared to look closer, it had no cloak of feathers and its mask was not that of wood. It wasn’t of deceit, but a beautifully crafted and engraved silver one.
The fiery glow didn’t appear anymore, and she let out a breath of relief. But the hallway was a new one, and now she was even more lost.
‘Did you need some help?’
Sybl jumped back from the statue in a fright, before letting out a long breath of relief as it wasn’t alive. She was being paranoid. Sybl didn’t recognize the voice, but the Ancient of the dragoon was nearby. It walked out of the wall behind her and stopped a meter away.
It looked like a smaller Lintrance, but it was a fire dragon as the tip of its tail was lit like a torch.
She looked back at the statue, before deciding to follow after her helpful new guide. She guessed he must have been busy in a different room or the sorts. The Ancient used his tail to guide her on.
Sybl was certain she had missed an important place in the mountain when she followed the dragon down several more hallways and down a long flight of steps. At its end was a room of a heavy heat and fire. A flare of it came straight for her, and she ducked. But it passed harmlessly over her, as she was not the one meant to be melted by it.
A dozen fire dragoons worked about the room, using their Ancients to melt and reform metals and glass into what they wanted, with precision and elegance on top of anvils. Sparks and music flew from their hammers striking their will into their creation
s. Their Ancients seemed to dance about from the center of the inferno of the forge that rose through the ceiling like it was their fiery waterfall of fun.
“Fevre stop working for five minutes of your life and have some fun already,” the same voice spoke. Its source walked across the room from the other side of the forge.
When she looked closer, she could see that it was a living version of the masked statue she had seen in the hallway. He pulled off his black cloak and set it down on a nearby bench. Her mysterious statue looked to be little older or taller than herself. “Sing up a song for us.”
