Crunch
All Lyi could hear as she put one foot infront of the other was the crunching of the snow beneath her. The icy cold woman holding her hand seemed to be talking, though the words were starting to blur together. She could understand at first; words of comfort, words of kindness. But with each short glance behind her, the more and more hatred she felt towards herself. The obsidian man was following at a distance behind them, the body held over his shoulder. There was a faint shimmering surrounding them both, the Force particles in the air hooked around one another like chains. Certainly a kind of shield to protect the obsidian man and the body.
What bothered Lyi more than anything else... was that she was far more focused on the way the Force particles interacted with eachother. She felt wonder towards them, amazement even. It completely overrode any sadness she felt towards the man she had killed. She felt herself speak, but couldn't tell what she said. It made the obsidian man stop in his tracks for a moment, faint embers of rage touching his stern face.
She even felt herself smile. Smiling at the symphony of light infront of her eyes. Why was she smiling? She had killed a man. But then again, why was she angry? There was a beautiful orchestra of magic, playing just for her.
In that light, she could even see him...
Him?
Who was 'Him'?
There was just light in her eyes, no person or thing. Light she couldn't even understand, one that was hurting her head.
Thwack!
With a sharp pain on the back of her head, the light faded from her eyes and the snowy landscape faded back in. As her hearing faded in, she could faintly hear the obsidian man and icy woman yelling. Her face was cold, covered in snow, and she could see icy particles floating in the air.
A hand faded into her sight, held out infront of her in a protective stance. The ground infront of that hand jutted up into an earthen wall, pushing up against an icy barrier.
The hand tapped her, and she faintly heard the icy woman speak:
”You probably shouldn’t talk.”
From past the earthen wall, she heard a shout from a gruff voice, presumably the obsidian man:
”Shae! You know the Wing must have planted something in her! Who on Anosha knows what she'll do when we bring her to Poenticivt?!”
With a roar, the Arch-Custodian’s club smashed the earthen wall, bouncing off the icy barrier with a metallic screech. He lifted the club, and lines of Force particles formed into a circle around it. The Arch-Custodian held the bottom, tilted his head in an aiming stance, looking directly at Shae.
As his Aura rose and the Seal binding it shattered, the icy woman Shae moved her hands alongside the rising icy blue particles. Both mages yelled in that esoteric language that could beckon forth magic's might:
"Unde Amo Ta!" from the Arch-Custodian, his tongue whipping in his mouth as if it were a vicious viper,
"Di Amo At!" from the icy Shae, her hands stretching out as a solid barrier of ice formed infront of her and Lyi.
Though just as soon as it formed, densely packed Force particles scattered through it and completely shattered the barrier. Shae let out a gasp as three of the particles tunnelled through her, light pops being heard from the wounds as thick red liquid poured out. The woman collapsed onto her knees, still alive but clearly suffering no small amount.
Lyi, on the other hand, was sent catapulting backwards as two stray particles caught onto her wing, unable to pierce but certainly able to drag. She felt a light thud and a creeping discomfort in her back as she slammed into a tree, her wing dug into its firm trunk. The discomfort turned into burning in both her wing and back as she saw blinding gold liquid seep from the minuscule broken areas that the particles had struck. She couldn't help but exclaim as she felt pain for the first time proper, especially in a region with such sensitivity. She clawed into the air, trying to pry the intangible particles out of her wing, to no avail - she simply couldn't reach them.
Wincing, she turned her gaze back to Shae and the Arch-Custodian, the latter of which had flipped his grand club onto his back. He knelt down infront of Shae, a faint golden glow emerging from his arms as he placed his hand on her wounds.
"Shae, I- I'm sorry. Meeting the Wing again... agitated me. I... I... couldn't help but remember the West. Those wings, they're... terrifying."
The woman's face of suffering quickly moulded itself into one of distinct anger, though not of hatred, as she spoke through her winces and sharp breaths:
"Moron. She's not the damned Wing... she's a kid... so what if she..."
Lyi heard the icy Shae cough roughly, prompting the Arch-Custodian to bring out even more of that golden light. His face was filled with worry, though faint shades of anger were still present on it, only showing when he glanced at Lyi.
"I-"
"Shush, Hylimdem. You stay up there for a bit," said the Arch-Custodian.
"But-"
"Oh, just... shut it, kid. We'll talk after I... get up..."
After being shut down by Shae, Lyi could let out nothing more than just her winces from the pain. Somehow, the Force particles on her wing were also preventing her from raising her Aura. She couldn't even cast to get rid of them. Looking at them closely, they certainly weren't normal particles - there were atleast 7 of them overlayed in a manner similar to the barrier from earlier. They hurt, but not as badly as her back. It felt like her wings had pushed into it, and being forced further back into the tree constantly wasn't helping - atleast she didn't feel any of the same substance that was leaking from her wings on her back, presumably her blood. No race she had read about had golden blood... though, it wasn't as if she was a common race.
Whilst Lyi hung from the tree, the light from the Arch-Custodian's hands faded and Shae stood up with a stretch. As the Arch-Custodian turned to Lyi, a hand slightly raised with a faint trace of his Aura around it, his gaze stopped on the golden blood pouring from her wing. With a little mumble, the two weird Force particles keeping Lyi pinned to the tree disappeared with a pop.
She fell to the ground hard, though didn't have a moment to think as the Arch-Custodian pushed his face up to the wound on her wing. The man was clearly thinking about something, a mix of fear and joy found in his face. He went to touch the golden blood, though retracted his hand after a short moment of deliberation, instead opting to summon that golden light he had used on Shae earlier to restore the wounded area of the wing.
Unlike Shae's wounds, however, Lyi's wing wound clearly seemed much harder to repair. It took nary a moment for Shae to stand back up, but Lyi's wound... it was barely recovering. The man let out an exasperated sigh, and pulled the golden light back into his body.
"I apologise. Hylimdem, your wing, it's sensitive to the touch, correct? I'm going to put a bandage on it, so less of that... blood comes out. It'll be uncomfortable, but bear with it."
Without letting Lyi speak, the Arch-Custodian fumbled his arm on the weird club until it slipped inbetween a gap that definitely didn't support the man's large hands. Despite his grumbles, he pulled a white cloth from the club, which certainly couldn't have fit inside it. Some sort of weird magic, presumably. As he started wrapping the wing, Lyi took in a sharp breath. The pain was much worse the second the Arch-Custodian wrapped it, even if it was good for her.
"It hurts."
"Your kind can feel pain? Interesting. The Wing never has."
With a whisper and a hand motion similar to a swat, a small blade of wind cut off the end of the cloth. The man tied the end of the bandage tight, prompting a wince from Lyi. He made a beckoning motion towards Shae and tossed a small bottle towards her. The woman caught it, stumbled her way over to Lyi, and scooped some of the blood from the snow into the bottle. After she tossed it back to the Arch-Custodian, who stuffed it into his club, the man spoke,
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"I apologise again. I've been inflicted by a spell for a long while that makes me prone to anger. Not even our greatest dispeller has managed to remove it. It's still no excuse for my behaviour."
"I- Uhm, okay. You said I... lashed ou-"
"You don't remember? We'll have a look into that back at Poenticivt. Shae, get us going."
The moment the Arch-Custodian finished speaking, Shae started a long chant and the Ice particles around them formed into faint wings on her back - invisible to the eye. She didn't stop there, however, as despite the completion of the spell she kept chanting. She clasped her hands, and two lines of Ice particles attached to the Arch-Custodian, Lyi and the corpse of Gezo each.
In a flash, they were in the sky. With Shae leading the flight, they left the mountain range in a blur.
Upon the eastern tower of Poenticivt, a man in raven-black clothing stood, small feathers falling around him as his faint yellow Aura shoved itself against a Seal floating steadily around him. Vicious winds lashed from the tower, though none reached the city below - the translucent blue chains from the tower fired small bolts at any stray Wind particles that seemed to placate them. With every passing moment, the man's Aura shifted into different shapes, writing into a small crack on the Seal. The ever-shifting red lines were nearly matched in shape by the Aura, but never completely; this seemed to prevent it from breaking entirely.
With a grumble, the man's Aura fully retracted back inside him, any magical defenses he had raised shattering in the process. He raised his hand, pushing aside his long hair to touch the compass engraved on his cheek. His eyes remained closed as the natural wind around him gently shifted his hair, a faint whistling sound emerging in a way that sounded almost comforting. Though, the wind grew stronger, ever stronger...
Until the icy Shae, steadfast Arch-Custodian, bewildered Lyi and corpse of Gezo crashed onto the tower. Somehow, they all managed to miss landing on the raven-like man. His yellow aura pulsed as the wind pulled the three living to their feet and laid a small tarp over the dead. His eyes slowly opened, their green hue slightly blurring as tears slowly welled up in them.
"The Wing got Gezo, then."
His voice carried on the wind, reaching ears far beyond what they should have normally reached. The faint noises of chatter from both the upper and lower cities of Poenticivt stopped in but an instant, instead replaced by a collective bursting of Auras. One after the other, spells were fired into the air: those of Wind, Ice, Force and Water. It was like the city burst into celebration, with the lights covering it, but even Lyi could tell that it was a masking of their misery. She couldn't help but clench her fist, and as she even brought herself to send a Clickrend into the air, the raven-man's hand stopped hers.
With a glance at him, her eyes shifted downwards to the ground. He could tell who had done it, there was just something in his expression that told her as such. Even as his other hand sliced through the air, sending bursts of golden wind skyward, he wouldn't allow the person who had gotten Gezo killed to mourn him. As he lowered his hand, though the rising spells still burst out constantly, he forced himself to take Lyi along with him. Through the use of Message Tunnel, she assumed, the man already knew the situation.
With Gezo's corpse floating silently behind them, the two descended down into the tower. The faint noises of spells could still be heard from outside, the shrieks of Wind the clearest. But with every shriek, Lyi could feel the man stumble. Something about him felt far more mournful than the others, though it certainly wasn't her place to pry.
The stairwell was not a large one, and they arrived in a small room in but a short amount of time. The raven-man let go of Lyi's hand, though he continued walking. She instinctively stopped; even as she watched the man sink further down into the tower, she did not follow. She had been trusted to be alone in the finely decorated bedroom, and she did not want to betray that trust.
The room was far more elegant than the one that Hope had brought her to before, though that was most certainly because it was actually used. Little glowing crystals of red, white and yellow lined the walls, bringing some light into the black room. There was a sizeable open window, though somehow she could not see out of it, only feeling the piercing cold wind drifting in peacefully. The rugs and bed were well-kempt, though besides a large wardrobe an incredibly familiar item leaned against the wall.
It was her Rui Undea, well polished to the point where the room could even be seen on it. How had that gotten here? There was no time for her to question in her mind, however, as she heard the light footsteps of the raven-man rising up from the lower floor. It didn't take more than a moment for him to set foot back into the room, the corpse of Gezo nowhere to be seen.
"Beautiful, aren't they, little Espi? Y'know, it took Gee a full cycle to form each of those. All 48 of them. 12 years, darl. 3120 times that bleedin' moon rose and sunk. They're meant to 'elp me sleep. They don't. When I told 'im, he made me another lot. Never told 'im those were no 'elp either. Should have 'em, you should. I know you don't need to sleep n' all that, but keeping a piece o' every person you kill, it'll 'elp. Keep you from forgettin'. Even 'elped the Wing, when she weren't the murderous psycho bitch she is now."
"But I-"
"Now, now, lass. Ain't your turn to talk, now, is it? What I'm tryin'a tell you is that I don't want Gee's death to send you over the edge, no. I wan' you to remember 'im, fight for 'im, and kill that bloody Wing that caused all this mess. Though, ever since she lost it... we ain't had much info on her. Your turn, lass. What step did she mention she were at, and any people she get you to meet? We know she works fast."
"I... she said she was at the third and... uhm, sent me to meet a person called Tsomus. He was like me and Hope."
The raven-man closed his eyes and nodded, the gentle wind blowing into the room slowly fading and being replaced with an outward wind. Lyi guessed that the man carried messages along the wind, based on the very faint Wind particles she could see. The wind switched its direction every now and again, with Lyi left completely in the dark about what the man was nodding his head about.
As the wind started to fade out with no replacement this time, the raven-man walked over to his bed and sat down, head buried in his hands. His leg was shaking, and he was clearly panicking a little. Lyi kept her distance as she watched the man's Aura fluctuate between its full strength and barely even being present. After a few minutes of this, he lifted his head out of his arms and tilted it to look towards Lyi.
"Third step is a problem, since the best of us only barely have our toes into the second. Me, I'm just inching over to the second meself. Means we'll need to take our time 'fore we can actually fight her proper, though if we can get you up to speed fast... not a good idea, actually. Her training you to the Eighth-stage of Apprenticeship in just a few days is problematic of itself."
"Why's that, sir? She figured if I progressed fast, I'd be safe from Mizem."
The raven-man shook his head lightly, "That's true, aye, but she's risking you suffering from magic Overload, Mania if you're lucky. Take too much magic in too fast and you'll burst apart, go insane in lesser cases. Notice how you couldn't control your strength? You ain't acclimated to it yet. That's why you're 'ere, with me. I'm the one who trains Magical Beasts around here, atleast the leader of the department anyways. You need to take it slower, so I'll be guiding you through that."
Lyi's eyes shone. Despite what she'd done, these people showed such affection for her. She knew they just wanted to use her, but even then, they were doing it with her safety in mind. Not like Hope, who wanted to rush her without a care in the world, and was happy to hurt her with spells that she couldn't even match. It was especially apparent with this raven-man, who was going to work with her personally. Something about this simply felt... different from Hope. Like they were actually letting her learn... though her thoughts were interrupted by a groan from the man,
"It's all well and good that we can do that, but there's a bigger problem. Tsomus. She really knows how to choose them, aye. That man... he's a mythological figure. One of the figures carved in the walls of old Poenticivt, the city below us. The one with the most carvings, even. Least we know he ain't here, but that gave ol' Juni a real scare. Lucky he managed to figure out from your wordin', 'Sent', that it must'a been an illusion. Aye, we woulda been in for it if the man were really here."
"A... mythological figure? What do you mean by that? He wasn't fake... he touched me, even. He even gave me something called
"Bleedin' hell, she got you in contact with the real man. I knew she met someone back in the day, but to think it were 'im... no matter, if you have a gift from 'im in your hands, we're in a much better position than we thought. Howsit work, then? We have an Actualisation method o' our own, one that I was supposed to teach you, but anything he gives ought to be of much better quality."
"It states I need to be bathed in the spell {Radiant} to strengthen my body, before carving a
The raven-man slapped his knee with a laugh, "Weak to Light, ey? Finally, something to use against the damned bitch. We ne'er thought of that, since {Radiant}'s her favourite spell when she wants to have fun. Listen, lass, we have no-one capable of casting {Radiant}. But I'll eat me cloak if we can't get anyone who can. That old man, Choho, back when he were still alive, could cast Darkness spells. If we find his corpse, we can find a Light user. One o' those is what did him in, afterall, an' Light magic leaves a lasting mark."
Lyi nodded. The logic was sound - find a Light user to raise her resistance to Light spells, even if the
"Sir-"
"It's Roch. My name."
"Roch, got it. Please, I want to assist you all in defeating Hope."
"That was a given, little lass. One thing at a time, though, you aren't even a proper Mage yet. I'll shape you up, I will. The Wing, the one you call Hope, she'll wait for us. We can take our time. I'll be personally coaching you, but don't expect me to be all that nice. If you muck up or slack off, you'll get an earful, aye lass?"
Lyi's face was filled by a warm smile. Maybe she had finally been brought to a place she could call home. A place she wouldn't have to leave for a long, long time. A place where she could finally become a Rui'Tura.