White Devil

by Janina Franck

  Partenis went on to explain that it was from this sand that the famous Arc-Glass was made in the Northeast of Velsalia, named in honor of Arceolus by its descendants, and she added the promise of a visit to one of the local Velsalian glass artisans tomorrow, as they would proceed to Arciola, the capital of Velsalia, after the stop by the ruins. Z’hna turned his head to Lilith and Zero while Partenis took a break from talking.

  “Have you ever been to Velsalia before?” he asked. Even though his beak didn’t move much, his words came our clearly.

  “No, it is our first time. Do you know it well?”

  Z’hna nodded.

  “I grew up in the north of Evarain, close to the border. Arciola is an amazing city, I’m sure you’ll love it. Have you ever seen Arc-glass?”

  “I have not.”

  “Take a look at my harness,” Z’hna instructed excitedly. “Do you see the inset gemstones? They’re actually Arc-glass.”

  Lilith stroked over the red band around the gryphon’s neck, and indeed, there were several gemstones woven into the material. There were dark, yet still transparent, but when in direct light, they shone in many different colors – red, blue, green, purple… there was no end.

  Lilith struggled to find words to react.

  “Beautiful,” Zero noted.

  Z’hna stretched his neck proudly, as if to show it off more.

  “Yes, it’s quite expensive, too. A real commodity. People from Xtlzquel are especially crazy about it. They’ll pay fortunes to get even a pebble’s worth of this glass. You probably won’t get a chance tonight, because we’ll arrive in Arciola quite late, but you’ll see it when they get to the artisan’s workshop tomorrow.”

  He nodded toward a pair of humans carried by a harpy. They were dressed in long, colorful gowns and one of them held a little glowing box toward everything, while both of them grinned non-stop.

  Lilith wanted to ask Z’hna a few more questions about the Arc-glass, but she she was interrupted by Partenis beginning to talk again.

  It didn’t take much longer for them to arrive at the ruins. First, they circled above them to give everyone a good view of the general surroundings, and to give Partenis time to explain the sudden and inexplicable disappearance of the city.

  “One day it was there, glorious, marvelous, despite being under attack, and poof! The next day it was gone, together with its attackers and the entire country from here to the Northern coast. It was probably only the natural borders of the mountains that spared Quintz and Evarain from being affected as well.

  “There’s a theory that whatever caused the destruction here, actually affected the spring for the river that used to flow through the Cursed Lands and caused the changed state. Plus, there are some handwritten accounts from the time that speak of a bright light in the night sky, but what the cause was, no one can say. Some call it divine intervention, others think that the Fae, with all their advancement in technomancy, finally went too far and caused their own destruction, there are even some who think it was a natural disaster. A poet and scholar by the name of Yamin Tellsner, you might have heard of him.”

  General laughter interrupted at this point and it took a moment before Partenis could continue.

  “Yamin Tellsner believed that some earthquakes cause fissures from the deep, releasing a gas that caused the rapid change. He explained the light as an ignition, as the gas met with our atmosphere, reacted and began to burn hotter than anything here could withstand. Which of these theories is true, no one can say for sure, but you might notice that the remainders of Arcelous seem to have a layer of Arc-glass over them, please go ahead and touch them when you’re wandering around the ruins. You can take your time to eat lunch and explore the area at your leisure and if you have any further questions, I and my assistants will be happy to answer as much as we can.”

  They landed, and after a few unsteady steps, as everyone got used to the sandy ground giving way underneath their feet and hooves. Lilith didn’t wait for anyone before running into the ruins. She was annoyed at the sand for spraying up and slowing her down. In her haste, she forgot to account for the loose ground and tripped up as her foot slid into the sand.

  “It might be safer to take your time. The rocks aren’t going anywhere,” Selene chided gently as she helped her get up again.

  “If you fly you also won’t have to bother with that grainy stuff,” Amethyst added helpfully. A large snake slithered past them over the sand, leaving behind an interesting ribbon-shaped pattern on the sand’s dark surface. It made its way into the ruins and around some corners, where it waited for Lilith, Selene and Amethyst to catch up.

  “Did you find anything Zero?” Selene called ahead. The snake coiled up two thirds of its body and lifted the last third to face them to shake its head in a human manner.

  “Where’s the dragon?” Amethyst asked, craning his head around after taking his usual place on Lilith’s shoulder.

  “Back there,” Selene jerked her thumb toward their mounts outside the ruin. “He’s resting up from the flight.”

  Lilith slowly walked up to one of the black walls, glittering red, blue, and green in the light. She placed her hand on the smooth surface. It was cool, despite the strong sun beating down on them. With her other hand, she gently stroked over Amethysts feathers. Unlike the wall, they were taking up the heat and Lilith could only imagine what unpleasantness the raven must be experiencing, considering how hot her own head of hair was feeling

  “Amethyst,” she said, “maybe you should join Ayalon and see if he will let you stay in the shadow of his wings. If you want, he could also empty a little water over you to cool you down.”

  The raven hesitated.

  “But you might need my eyes,” he argued. “You can’t trust these non-birds to see everything. What if something is higher up?”

  In response, they heard some crackling and rasping sounds. When they turned around to it, they saw Zero, now in the shape of a vulture, sitting on a black, glassy rock.

  “Hm, well, maybe he can help a little,” Amethyst admitted disgruntled. “But make sure you call if you need me, okay?”

  “Of course,” Lilith promised.

  Amethyst took flight and left the ruins, allowing Lilith to return her attention to the castle walls. Even though the walls appeared to be made of glass, more precisely, Arc-glass, Lilith got the impression that it hadn’t originally been made from it. Like most glass, it had a transparent quality, however, toward the center, the darkness of the glass became impenetrable, as if there was a remnant of the original stone left inside.

  Letting her fingertips stroke along the smooth surface of the wall, Lilith took gentle steps toward something resembling the remains of a doorway.

  Very soon, the three had searched the entirety of the ruin and, while it was beautiful and what was left of the architecture left Lilith occasionally staring in awe, they didn’t find any useful leads. There were no half-buried items in the sand, no secret passageways they could uncover, and no monuments that could uncover further helpful information.

  Every new room they checked offered new hope for Lilith, but every room they left provided only disappointment. The further they went, the more Lilith’s shoulders sagged, the heavier her steps became and the more she suffered under the heat. Selene was also having problems. Her long blonde hair had become greasy from sweat and her face was beginning to turn red.

  A lump appeared in Lilith’s throat as she thought of the help Colm needed from them, and what she was making her friends go through, because she had thought on a whim that they might find something of use here. She chided herself for her thoughtlessness. Of course, they wouldn’t find anything here. If the Hellfire Naginata had been here at any point, it would have been found and taken away a long time ago. The chances of there being any hints left had also been minuscule considering the ruins were not only a tourist destination, but also visited frequently by some Velsalians, as one of their sacred plac
es, as Partenis had told them.

  The more time they spent wandering through the ruins, the more Lilith found herself thinking she had been misled. Arceolus was known for having had incredibly technology, and probably technomancy as well. It was very likely that whatever had caused their demise, had been created by themselves.

  She finally gave up entirely when they stumbled across the family from Xtlzquel, placing their boxes on a rock to then pose in different ways in front of a wall.

  “And now, everyone show your legs,” the man shouted. Immediately, all three lifted their long robes to show their ankles and made a surprised, shocked face for the box.

  Lilith turned just in time to see Selene’s amused frown.

  “Let us go back,” she said. Selene shrugged and followed her, while Zero flew ahead, still in vulture shape.

  Selene touched Lilith’s shoulder.

  “We knew it was a long shot,” she reminded her.

  “I know,” Lilith responded. “But I was hopeful either way. Now it seems as though we wasted precious time.”

  “Perhaps. Or we may have eliminated one of the possibilities, getting one step closer to the right place.”

  “I do like that way of thinking,” Lilith admitted and allowed a smile to brighten her features. Selene smiled back at her.

  “I’ve seen plenty of hopeless situations. This isn’t one of them,” she said.

  Lilith nodded, a little spring returning to her step, and they made their way back through the maze of the ruin. They had made it about halfway back when Lilith heard voices behind a wall. It sounded like an argument.

  “Uncle, I’m sure it’s the same.”

  “I told you, I don’t remember. Drop it.”

  “But think of it, just east of the port… You can only see it at low tide, remember? Doesn’t it look just like it?”

  “Look boy, this is just a squiggle. You can’t even make it out properly. You might have seen it in a brochure or something and now you’re remembering it wrong.”

  Someone snapped their fingers.

  “No! I got it, I know where I saw it before!”

  The other person groaned.

  “Would you just leave it alone already? I’m going to eat.”

  “No, uncle, it’s true, remember Tarleep? It’s on that notebook of his…”

  The voices moved closer and Lilith pulled Selene back behind a rock for cover as the two centaurs passed them. She felt like she shouldn’t have heard what she did. Luckily, Selene also reacted quickly and didn’t make a sound. When the two hybrids had put several walls between them and the girls, Lilith left their cover, and went around the wall. Whatever had been here once upon a time, it wasn’t now. Lilith wasn’t even sure whether the walls that stood here now were actual walls or just rubble that had fallen to stand like walls, crooked and mismatched as they were.

  Listening to the centaurs, renewed excitement had washed over her. Perhaps there was a lead here after all!

  Curiously and impatiently, she scanned the walls, but she could find no symbol or squiggle.

  “What are you looking for?” Selene asked eventually, waiting, seated on a rock.

  “I am not certain,” Lilith replied. “A squiggle perhaps?”

  “Did those horse people talk about it?”

  “Centaurs,” Lilith corrected, remembering too late that the hybrids probably hadn’t been speaking Pbec.

  “We didn’t have those in Jianlah,” Selene shrugged. “But I found your squiggle.”

  The girl had risen to help Lilith look for the symbol and was now pointing at the rock she had been sitting on. Indeed, to Lilith’s eyes as well, there was something etched into it, seemingly below the surface of the Arc glass.

  “That could be anything,” Selene noted.

  “Sadly, I think you are right,” Lilith admitted, her enthusiasm draining away as quickly as it had risen.

  The shape was hardly a shape at all. It was more like some random lines and squiggles had been laid on top of one another.

  “Let’s cut the trip short,” Selene suggested, watching Lilith’s expression closely. “Watching how glass is made probably won’t help. And it’s one place down.”

  “Alright.”

  Her child was ready. It hummed in anticipation, sensing that a change to its existence was on its way. Gently, Death stroked it.

  Patience.

  She felt the backlash that would hit anyone who met her child. She did not fear it, but she hoped. She hoped that the Anomaly would have the purity and the power to do the undoable. A millennium ago, it would have been easy for anyone. Now it was next to impossible.

  Death worried about the future of the world. If everything ended, her existence would end, too. She would like a holiday, no question, but she didn’t quite feel like ending just yet.

  Next to her child, Death waited.

  At the same time, she came to a soldier in Quintz. He had been stabbed through the throat by a dainty sword and was now lying tied up in a pool of his own blood. As she stroked his cheek she said: I am here to take your pain away.

  With the last remnants of life the young man had left, he smiled at her through wet red lips.

  Death separated his soul and body, taking him to where he belonged and bringing the life force leaving his body to where it was needed.

  They found Ayalon deep in conversation with the purple dragon Partenis, and even though she was easily twice or three times his size, Lilith imagined she could see some courtship happening. Nevertheless, they were quick to inform their guide that they would need to cut their trip short and return to Nenbalon without the rest of the group. Partenis was hesitant to let them go, for insurance reasons it seemed, but she agreed to have Z’hna bring them back.

  Lilith overheard her give Ayalon a quiet invitation to return to Nenbalon some time to visit her, and she smiled to herself.

  They got back to town just after nightfall and Z’hna even escorted them as far as the archives.

  Maurice was surprised at their early return from their trip but seemed happy to let them stay another night and share his dinner.

  The next morning, they woke early to catch the first steamer to Taquin. This time, they had a compartment to themselves and the journey passed in silence. Lilith was lost in her own dark thoughts and none of the others were in a talkative mood either. Not even Amethyst said much of anything.

  Now, Lilith stared blankly at the window beyond which the landscape flashed by quickly. Her eyes didn’t focus on anything. Both Amethyst and Ayalon were sleeping, and Zero was sketching once again.

  The door to the compartment slid open and Selene came in, carrying some water bottles and sandwiches. She handed one of each to Zero and set some aside for the sleepers. Then she sat down beside Lilith.

  “We’ve only just started,” Selene commented.

  Lilith gave no reply.

  “It was pretty foolish to think we’d find something like this in the first place we go. If it was that easy, it wouldn’t be a legend.”

  She opened one of the bottles and took a few gulps.

  “By Rum, this is good,” she sighed.

  Lilith’s eyelids twitched, but she still didn’t respond.

  “We searched for years for any information on an artifact we didn’t even know for sure existed or would even work if it did,” Selene continued unfazed. Zero put his pencil down. “We didn’t know where to start and we couldn’t even go around asking people. We had to hide and fight constantly, on top of searching for information. It might not even have existed for all we knew; it was nothing more than a story. You at least know the Naginata must be real. And it’s been what – three days and you’re ready to give up? That’s pathetic.”

  At last, Selene received a response. Lilith turned her head to face her.

  “I am not giving up,” she argued.

  “Oh no? And what’s all this depressing atmosphere about then? Giving up doesn’
t just mean making the decision to stop. It starts with your attitude. You’re getting depressed because we haven’t found anything and it’s making you think that we’ll fail.”

  Lilith bit her lip and averted her gaze.

  “We don’t have years.”

  “I know,” Selene replied, and handed Lilith a water bottle. “Don’t worry.”

  The Highlands’ beers and spirits were fruitier than what Balthasar was used to. He had been uncertain about them at first, but the more he had, the stronger his taste for them grew. He, Ryo and Joe regularly met up in one of the taverns in the evenings. Occasionally, Griffin and Maco were dragged along as well.

  “My leg is killing me,” Ryo groaned, letting his head thump onto the table. “Seriously, you’d think I’d be used to it by now.”

  Joe looked at him reproachfully.

  “Do take care,” he advised. “The skin is much fresher, not as hardened. It shall take time to function as it did before. You should not set your expectations to something unattainable.”

  “Here, mebbe dis’ll help ye forget.”

  Balthasar pushed a beer across the table and Ryo gulped it down. The glass hit the table.

  “Another might do the trick.”

  “You ought to try this instead, my comrade.”

  Joe placed a small box in front of Ryo. Balthasar raised an eyebrow.

  “One of yer creams?”

  Joe smiled and raised his hands in defense.

  “It functions as it ought. However, ensure that it does not reach your eyes. It would burn horrifically and there might be a miniscule chance you may go blind.”

  “That’s a cheery thought,” Ryo grumbled, but he pocketed the box anyway.

  “Excuse me, Ryo?” A young woman waited beside the table, holding a guitar. She smiled shyly at the rest of them before turning back to Ryo. “Would you mind playing us a song?”