Claude de Lune

Dione

They sat in silence as the minutes stretched longer and longer. He fiddled with his bag, checked to ensure the letters and music boxes were intact after it took such a hard fall back in the office. It seemed nothing had gotten knocked loose. Cushioning his most precious items with his travel blanket had been the right call.

"Do you happen to know who wrote the Stargazer Requiem?" Claude asked Celesta.

She shook her head. "It's a beautiful song, quite popular, but the composer remains unnamed in our records. Is the person who wrote it your mother?"

"I believe so. I have her signature too."

Celesta placed a hand over his before he could pull the music box from his bag. "Show it to me when we reach our destination, in case you need a quiet place to mourn."

Her words made Claude's stomach turn cold, but he nodded. Outside the carriage, the walls slowly began to lighten. He focused on that instead of the growing apprehension that made him nauseous,

A sudden burst of light forced his eyes into a squint. He flinched away from the window, shielding his eyes with an arm until they adjusted. When he finally looked back out the window, his jaw fell.

The beasts pulled the carriage over a bridge that spanned the length of a glimmering spring three times the size of Hedalda. Another bridge cut widthwise over the water with arches carved out of its base for boats to pass through. The entire affair was encircled by mountains, some with peaks so high they disappeared into the clouds, others covered in dense forest. Buildings surrounded its shores, carved from the red-brown bedrock of the mountains themselves. He spotted ferries and sailboats in the water delivering passengers to the docks that dotted the spring's shore.

Even in the stories Gwenore would read to him, he'd never imagine something like this could exist. A kingdom surrounded by mountains? Tiny Claude would've lost his mind. Heck, adult Claude was losing his mind. He pressed his face against the window, Marvelling at the flat-roofed buildings interspersed with trees and greystone roads. Some of them were massive, bigger than the Ivory Cathedral in Divine City even.

Celesta breathed a laugh beside him. "That never gets old. Welcome to the Summersong Mountains." So these were the mountains Quintus spoke of. The cretin neglected to tell him there was an entire kingdom here.

"Has it always been here?" Claud asked. He'd certainly never heard of this place, not in his studies with Gwenore or at the Divine City.

"Millenia ago, a group of necromancers carved through the bedrock of Jua and came to this spring on the other side. They built this city from the ground up and established it as a safe haven for necromancers. It's this region's best kept secret." A fond smile crossed her lips as she glanced out the window.

The bridge inclined upward and up ahead a thick pillar appeared at the springs centre where the two bridges met. Upon closer inspection, Claude made out the finer features carved into the stone and realised they were not pillars, but statues.

"Here," Celesta worked a crank near her door and the roof peeled back, revealing the sky beyond. "You can stand, just mind your balance."

Claude obliged, sticking his head out the roof like a giddy child. He spied three other statues, each standing on a different corner of the intersection. Two men, two women. Each of their faces were carved into a stoic expression. They held one hand over their heart while the other was outstretched with fingers entangled with chains bearing windchimes, long and thin as the branches of a willow.

Their gentle songs were barely audible over the breeze cutting across the spring. He took the mountain air deep into his lungs, and for the first time in a long time, the knots in his stomach loosened. For the first time he felt like no matter the outcome, he'd be alright.