by S. J. Wist
“It’s fine,” Sybl replied. “Where’s Kas now?”
“He should be along shortly. The griffins have lost his trail. Come with me. You both will be much safer at the Sanctus.”
Loki got to his feet with Sybl, figuring that was the best place to go for now, if anywhere.
11: GATEKEEPERS
The fires from the torches alongside the Sanctus’ streets glowed brightly, blanketing its shadows in warmth. With the breeze created by the energies from Atrum’s Aur and Toria’s across the Eternal Waters, there was a constant imbalance of static energy in the air. Half of the white stone temple was interwoven into a high cliff that rose above and over it like a roof. Blue flags and fabrics fluttered in the wind, signifying a place of peace.
But the peace was not matched by a phelan and a griffin, who fought across the tall grass inside the perimeter’s wall. Then the griffin fluttered up onto the high wall and sat down on his cat-like haunches, facing the opponent he had left below.
“Once again, I am the beautifully winged, glorified proof that the griffin species were created in perfection to reign in godliness,” Gwa said as he stretched out his dusty-red and white feathered wings at his sides. “I shall now sit on my great wall of conquest and gloat over your misfortune.”
Kenshe growled angrily at the griffin from the ground below. The wall was more of a decoration now than an added defense, as there were numerous chimeras living at the Sanctus who could easily fly over its height. Like his irritating friend. “Yea, so self-righteous, you think destroying the world will make it a better place.”
“If you stupid dogs would stop eating everything in it for a min—” the second he started the word, he felt the sharp hit from someone’s psi trying to get his attention. Gwa looked back and across the field with his perfect eyesight to see Jasper approaching. Then his eyes quickly fell to the ones who were with him. “Who do you suppose Jasper dragged out of the woods this time?”
“Huh?” Kenshe asked, jumping up to the top of the wall as if its height had suddenly became irrelevant.
Gwa took to the air to get a better look, as Kenshe jumped down the other side of the wall in a race to get to them first.
Sybl nearly fell off of Jasper’s back when the griffin swooped down over them before landing. But his landing was cut short when Loki somned by instinct, and caught the half bird’s neck in his teeth. Then he threw him to the ground with enough force to snap its neck. If Loki were bigger.
“Hey! Easy! He’s an ally!” Jasper shouted at Loki, clamping his teeth down on the dragon’s wing until he let go of the griffin. “That is Gwa, one of Master Kas’ Custos.”
“A griffin?” Loki replied, then spat out its white feathers into the tall grass.
Sybl looked back at the creature, as it was sitting on its bird-like tail now. Its chest and head puffed up, as if his feathers were statically charged. It was almost enough to cover his bird-like front legs and talons. It had stopped shaking, as if it had been accustomed to predators tackling it to the edge of death.
“She’s so perfect!”
Sybl had no idea what to say back, as its brown, not yellow eyes watched her from its eagle-like face. The griffin puffed his feathers out some more, until he looked like a fluffy piece of popcorn. It caused three times as many white and rose feathers to snow from him. It was hard to see the enemy up close on a normal day, and now this one was going out of his way to appear cute.
“Jasper, what have you been telling her about me?” The griffin next to cried, as its feathers dropped as if suddenly hit by a torrential rain.
“Just unsomn already,” Jasper said with a shake of his head.
Gwa did so, and he now stood in his human-like appearance that his white mist had left him in.
Sybl looked more closely. His skin tone wasn’t pale white like other griffins she had seen, but darker. Gwa’s knotted white hair had light rose streaks and eyes remained brown.
“My mother is a human from Earth.”
Sybl’s eyes grew wide. “There are other humans from Earth, here?” She didn’t move when the phelan behind her dared a closer look and scent of her.
“Kenshe, stop it! You’re scaring her!” Gwa snapped at the grizzled phelan.
“Her aura—it’s amazing. Is this really the Asterian Caelestis?”
Loki’s orange eyes fell on the new phelan who didn’t unsomn.
“Yes, Kenshe. But she is without a lot of her memories still, so be nice. I am going to find Jru.” With the howls confirming that the griffins had retreated at their Borders, Jasper went inside the Sanctus.
“Jru is gonna freak.” Gwa laughed.
Loki finally calmed down enough to unsomn, and wiped the remaining taste of the griffin from his mouth. “Is this a temple, or a complete zoo?”
“It’s a complete zoo, now. Seeing as you’re officially the only dragon here,” Gwa replied, as he sized up the shorter dragoon.
“I don’t think I’m going to fit in here well,” Loki said, looking at Sybl, but she only caught his hand and stopped any thought he had of leaving.
They followed Gwa to the gate he had been guarding with Kenshe, and to the other side of the perimeter wall. Then they climbed the stairs that led to the top to get a better view of the Sanctus.
The rooftops of the Sanctus were white stone domes or glass. They were spiked with spears as if to ward off much larger birds, or dragons. All but the color red decorated the windows and clothing of those who walked about its open atmosphere. It was as if Sybl had fallen back in history to see an ancient city of Rome.
“Heh, it has gotten a lot bigger over the years. So, what does her Lady think? How does the Sanctus compare to the structures on Earth?” Gwa asked, curiously.
“You’ve never been there?”
“Nope. I mean I have pictures and stuff that others have brought over, but it’s not easy for a somnus to visit the place. Our Threads ignite easily in sunlight.”
“I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“The same can be said about you,” Kenshe added.
Sybl went a bright red in embarrassment, as she didn’t so much as know what the phelan staring at her looked like in his unsomned form. But his cat-like abilities did have the effect of unnerving her more, starting with how he effortlessly balanced on the thin wall like one.
“Kenshe will you stop gawking at her already!” Gwa snapped at his friend.
Sybl was perplexed as to why the phelan was doing just that. When she tried to see into his thoughts, his psi retaliated painfully. She rubbed her forehead to ease the new throbbing in her head.
“Sor…sorry,” Kenshe said, before jumping down to run inside the temple.
“Is he going to be okay?” Sybl asked Gwa.
“That one is psycho on a good day,” Gwa replied with a shake of his head. “May I have the pleasure of giving you the tour?”
“Um, sure. Sorry about the whole first-impression thing. You are the second griffin I’ve met who didn’t have the intent to kill me.”
“Heh, understandable.” Gwa brushed his hair back from his eyes with one hand. “You’re the first human woman who hasn’t fallen instantly in love with me.”
Sybl raised an eyebrow at him.
Loki didn’t waste a moment taking her hand in his and leading her away, before the griffin somnus could think of it first.
12: SHRINE
Kas had recovered enough to walk into his own home without looking exhausted. They were outnumbered, out-gunned, and unable to use the Keol at the Harbor. Despite it all, they got out alive with the help of Urio’s Pack. Sybl had made it possible for them to take on the advanced weapons of their enemies. Where she walked, there was no Law of Aragmoth that prevented their somns from harming unsomned souls. Particularly in the case of the ones shooting at her.
He found Sybl in an unusual spot that night, in the center Shrine that held the statues of the caels. Aragmoth was in the center of them, and the Great Dragon tw
isted into a tight knot that all Fate was bound to. Next to him was Tenu, Nephena, Moon, his past self as Erebus and Asil. He had hoped to prepare as much of the Sanctus as he could for the presence of a human Caelestis. Most of his people simply avoided her entirely. Even his mentor, Jru, seemed intimidated by her. Only his friends Kenshe and Gwa seemed to be perfectly content with her presence.
What he saw before the statue of Aragmoth was not a human or a Caelestis, but a soul lost between both existences. Kas knew he had to help her, but she blocked so much of him out of her thoughts. He had never known so little of his soultwin before. While finding her on the Torian Continent had been hard, keeping her close to him would prove his greatest challenge yet.
He went over to her and sat down in the well-kept grass. Her mind was still closed, and he wondered what she was thinking.
“She’s skinnier.”
Kas looked at the statue of Asil, knowing that he had to be careful with his words. But creatively arranging words was not one of his talents; only his downfall when he tried. There was still more estus energy around the Sanctus than aeri, and it would only work to worsen any of her negative moods. “She is wearing less clothing.”
Sybl smiled and looked at him. “You’re getting better.”
“At what?”
“Engaging in human conversation.”
“I have had lots of practice.” Too much practice and heartbreak while he had followed her with his Dreamwalking on Earth. All to bring her here by a means all his knowledge and training over lifetimes could have never prepared him for.
“You have to work better on expressing your emotions. I feel like I’m not wanted here.”
“You are the only one I would sacrifice everyone else to have here.”
Sybl looked at him as her expression changed to the edge of surprise. Or was it shock? She looked at the statue of Aragmoth, and its cold, stone eyes looked back. “You have to stop talking like that.”
“One day you will understand me better. Your memories are still—”
“I have enough of my memories to remember you. But Fay aren’t the world—we’re just a piece of it.”
“And now you are the only one.”
“You are a Fay too,” Sybl said.
“If you remember, then you already know that even in this new body, I walk in death. An undead Fay cannot save this world from a similar Fate.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“I know,” Kas replied. “But it is all we have, sister.”
She looked at him again, as a flicker of light seemed to come from the innards of her eyes. Kas could only guess that the word had an equal or more powerful sway over her. He would have to learn how to wield it better.
“I used to imagine having a brother who would be, well…”
“Go on,” Kas said, and crossed his legs as if to meditate and calm any of his reactions from reaching his mouth. They usually disagreed to the point of an argument.
“Annoying.”
“Only because you had refused to acknowledge that what I said was the truth.”
“Stubburn.”
“Because you give up too easily,” Kas replied.
“Good looking.”
This one was enough to phase him. “That one is not fair. We are not of the same parents anymore.”
“I was just kidding,” Sybl laughed, having successfully broken his composure.
Kas had been so tightly gripped on his state, that he completely missed the fact that she didn’t mean it.
“But still, you called me your sister. To make it worse—I thought you were after me for other reasons when you Dreamwalked on Earth.”
“If I had told you then, what would you have said?”
“I would have thrown something heavy enough at you to be felt by your spirit.”
Kas swallowed hard, as he didn’t want to know where her imagination ended with that one. “Human curiosity can be useful. You did not know what to make of me, and by that, I was able to keep you close.”
“But you didn’t bring me to Aster, Daath did.”
“Daath brought you through a broken Gate I did not account for. But I found you, nonetheless.” Kas took in a deep breath, as he had to hold on to her and not break them apart all over again. “I am sorry that I could not bring you here.” He didn’t know whether she had accepted the apology or not, as her mind opened up enough to change the direction of the topic.
“Vanir will know I’m alive and back on Aster. Will he bring his army this far?”
“I have already started looking into that. Our main concern right now is adding more numbers to our current army. For now, the True guard our Borders effectively.”
“You have an army?”
“Every one of my Custos is a soldier. If the news of you being alive continues to spread, then more will join our ranks.”
“You don’t sound a hundred percent sure,” Sybl replied.
“It is our peace talks with the chimeras in the Efereal Mountains that holds the most of my concern right now. Our messengers have not returned for several weeks.”
“You think the chimeras sided with the Atrum?”
“If they did, we have a challenge before us. That would make a lot of chimeras against us in combination with the Fall’s forces. But Xirel is a pacifist. I think he would sooner choose to do nothing than fight.”
Sybl went quiet, and Kas was relieved when she didn’t mention anything about dragons. If the small one was enough to keep her content, he would have to consider keeping Loki around. “You should get some rest and not worry yourself over this. I have the means to handle it. Did anyone show you to your room?”
“Not yet.”
He got up, and she followed behind him down the halls and upstairs. “My room is right next to yours,” Kas said, stopping before hers and looking at his door. He showed her inside and felt a warm breeze brush past his cheeks, as if his mother’s spirit had peacefully left her former room. Sybl walked in and stopped at the portrait of the ayame on the wall.
His father had sent it from the Atrum as if to further help persuade him to take his throne. The Custos had accepted the gift on his behalf and hung it in here. It only made Kas hold tighter onto his own conviction against his father. “My mother.”
“She looks a lot like you. Except the eyes.” Sybl glanced back at him. “Your eyes are more narrow.”
“I suppose,” Kas replied. “There should be everything you need in here. Ishtar has the room on the other side if you need anything.”
“Kas, wait.”
He stopped in his leaving. “If you feel safer with a guard, I can have one of my Custos watch over you.” He looked to the side as he summoned one of them by psi. Kenshe appeared a minute later, as fluffy and tiny as a wolf pup. Kas picked him up like one, and handed him to Sybl. To his luck, she couldn’t resist how small his friend could shrink to. But Kenshe had done it more to appear harmless from having accidently hurt her psi earlier.
“He’s so cute! Can I keep him?”
“Until we create a Pack suitable for you, mine is already yours.” Kas closed the door then. He tried not to worry about Kenshe, even as his soultwin squeezed him hard enough to make him squeak.
13: FIELDS OF DEATH
Sybl dreamed herself right back where she had started on Aster, before Cirrus took on the phelan in the Casus Beli fields. This time it was different, as there were no flowers, only the charred bodies of various animal forms strewn about. On the battlefield was a woman who looked much like an older version of herself. Next to her was a grizzled brown phelan, whose shoulders stood taller than her.
“How many of these dark angels are they going to send after me before they give up? I should be sitting pretty in a dress and preaching peace all day like Solar.”
The phelan flared his teeth as he circled their dying kill. He preemptively tasted the air for the best place to begin to tear the Sentry apart. “You are far more beautiful dancing in battle with a
sword rising and falling at your side, my Lady Caelestis.”
“That’s only because it makes your job easier,” Asil said with a smile as she looked at the phelan. “But I appreciate you keeping this quiet from Moon and Damek.”
“I am…but a messenger.”
The phelan stopped in his tracks and looked at the Sentry that had spoke. They had cut and tore the transparent wings off of the creature, but it still used its scythe-like arms to defend itself on the ground.
