When Last Night Didn't End

2.7

I yawned, the wind driving my hair off my face roaring in my ears. After a few weeks training with the Knights, I've managed to strengthen my skills and have even unlocked several of the low-level skills apart from the starting spells. I've yet to retrieve the Key of Goran before I think about combining basic level spells to develop my own set of special skills.

"Eastern Tower incoming!" Ahrian's voice joined the roar of wind and reached me just in time. My ride chirped in excited tones, no doubt looking forward to returning to the netherside. Nazran glanced at me with a frown. The beast clammed up.

Early this morning, we were gathered in the Knights' Room and Cavya handed this mission to us. One of the scouting parties from the Eastern Tower has valuable details about a potential big assignment, so much so that even the lead guilds over there passed it up. Without much choice, the eastern guilds appealed to the only institution who had the adventurers who could handle this hypothetically huge mission.

That's where we came in. Dragnasand has currently deployed most of its parties into various regions, taking up streamlined assignments to other territories. Since most of the parties didn't have a summoner who could cut travel time by a huge fraction, mobility has been difficult. Despite Cavya's wish to watch the Warrior Matches whose opening event was tonight, we had to choose but to saddle up and fly to the east, where the scouting party who reported the mission were based.

So, using Nazran's summoned beasts, each one looking more regal than the last, we were on our way. Ahrian, astride a beast that's a cross between a crocodile and a bird, tilted her head to the side, her eye watching the carpet of white clouds zipping below us. Occasionally, mountain peaks punched through the flat expanse, but for miles and miles ahead, nothing but white laid out before and behind us.

Then, a lone stone spire loomed in the horizon. Ahrian identified it to be the Eastern Tower. The beasts fell into formation, resembling the migratory birds I often see back home. To my far left, Nazran put two fingers between his lips and blew a sharp note. The beasts gave out different cries of triumph before dive-bombing the clouds.

A pit widened in my gut, my meager breakfast threatening to go back up. My fingers tightened around the reins of my beast, the line of clouds getting nearer and nearer each second. We slammed into it, punching a hole straight through. Then, the expanse of the eastern territory laid out in plain view.

Mountains rose and fell, some bright green in my periphery while others mere silhouettes in the horizon. On the flat plains, some were blobs of residential land while most were unexplored forests, pockets of overrun ruins of stone buildings, and agricultural lands. Sinuous rivers snaked past choice breaks in the canopies while spots of clear lakes and waterfalls falling from towering mesas decorated the expanse.

The beasts continued their descent, making the wind roar louder in my ears. Cavya said something from the head of the formation, but as someone who was in the third row, it was lost on me. Soon, we were leagues away from the spires of the Eastern Tower, the grand building hewn out of stone nothing but a bright shadow behind us. From the rate we were going and angle we're descending, we're aiming for the residential town with shingled red roofs and an unhealthy amount of chimney smoke hovering in the air.

A few more minutes of descent and the beasts' paws tapped against loose cobblestones. Gasps and murmurs bled into my ears, too fast and too hushed for me to understand completely. I swung my leg off the beast's flank and dismounted. The others followed suit, their boots slapping the ground in discordant timings.

When we're all safely on the ground, Nazran held out his hand and a bright purple ball of light danced on his palms. Within seconds, the beasts melted into mere shadows before being sucked by the light in their summoner's hand. Why couldn't I just be a creature spiria? It's way cooler than a valdyrsi.

Cavya dusted the sleeves of his suit. This morning, he has decided to wear a crimson pinstripe suit with black lapels and a black vest tucked underneath. The same off-white scarf decorated his collar. "Right," his whiskers twitched at the feeling of new air. "Our goal is Raventhorne Guild. Stick behind me and don't wander off. We don't know how these people will treat the citizens from other territories."

That was, if I could even be considered that.

Without voicing my thoughts, I followed the rest of the group into a building with an all-white facade with golden lines resembling a child's drawing of the sun's rays. A huge red crystal glowing in the middle of the circle gave me the shivers.

Cavya flashed his adventurer's card at the first receptionist who noticed our entry. No one bothered us as we made our way towards the set of tables and couches scattered in some sort of lounge. A few paces beyond, sets of staircases curved in and out of the lobby like how hotels and airports did.

"I hope we didn't keep you waiting," Cavya pressed his gloved paw to his chest and gave the scouting party already perched on one of the tables and couches a respectful bow. "We are the Dragnasand Knights, the Central Empire's elite adventurer party. How can we be of service?"

A boisterous and bubbly voice answered. "No, we didn't wait that long. We just got here after a certain someone ended up sleeping in," it came from a female dragonkin with an uneven mop of red-orange hair. Unlike the snouts and draconic features of Valren and Yaora, the girl only had a set of fangs and slitted eyes. Otherwise, her face looked remotely human.

"Are you the best the other guilds have to offer?" a man with a dog's head spoke. I glanced at Cavya to find his ears flat against his head. Still, he had a calm expression on his cat face. Right. Even in this world, cats and dogs didn't mix.

Mirani crossed her arms, making the braces on her arms clink. I still have trouble meeting her eyes after I stormed out on her during our sparring session a few weeks ago. Since then, I've resorted to making Valren or Ahrian train me. They each offered helpful tips to get me used to my body and my weapon. I hoped to repay them someday, Mirani included.

"You're looking at the flagship guild and the party carrying nothing but the guild's name," Mirani was saying, an apprehensive expression twisting her otherwise benign features. What's got her on edge this morning? "Of course we're the best in the Central Empire."

The dog-headed langkoor—what the people from this world call the animal hybrids such as Cavya—rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine," he waved a hand in the air. "If you say so."

Mirani stepped forward but Cavya's gloved hand weighed down on her shoulder. With a subtle shake of the cat head, the blue-clad woman relented. Cavya turned back to the scouting party with a small smile pulling against his lips, revealing a hint of his sharp fangs. "We're delighted to have your guidance," he said. "But we must make haste. If it's a sighting to the degree as you claim in your report, then we'd better hurry before they amass more."

I was about to agree and say something to ease the tension when a flash of purple flared in my periphery. A woman with long, silver hair and dark purple eyes stood behind the dragonkin with red scales who appeared to be the leader. I froze, shivers sliding down my spine and cold locking my limbs in place.

Because whatever face she donned or whatever form she took, that smug, self-assured smirk on her lips was unmistakable. She might be known by another name here like I was, but there was only one name I knew her as, one name I was doomed to call her forever.

Hye-jin.