ARTHUR LEYWIN
"Alright, Regis, Cecilia, it's time to pack up. Caera should be back sometime soon," I mention. "Thanks to Caera, we got our supplies and I have Ellie's late birthday gift. Cecil, this is all the food you'll need for a while. Throw it in your dimension ring. Regis, have you had your fill of being a perv?"
"I'll never be sated, Princess, but I'll be fine for now. Maybe Varay will stop giving me a cold shoulder," he replies while snickering at his own joke.
"You're hopeless, mutt. Cecilia, is there anything else you'll need other than food and those changes of clothes?" I ask.
"No, I think I'll manage. I'm just excited to let Tessia see everyone," she replies.
"Thank you for caring about her, too, Cecil. I didn't expect her to be as active inside of you as she is. I'd like to find you a vessel as soon as possible. Though, I need to find a way to get you out of there too," I comment.
"I'd like that too. I'm sure she's not exactly enjoying being a spectator in her own body. I'm not enjoying being the one suppressing her either," she points out.
"We'll figure something out," I respond, completely unsure of the reality.
A key slots into the locked door of Caera's apartment, as the cream-colored door opens, a familiar navy-haired woman enters while massaging her temples. She places her room key on its hook and slips off her boots. When she's finally done with her entering ritual, she lifts her head to find all of our gazes firmly placed on her.
"Are you guys just going to stand there and stare? Do I need to yell, 'Honey, I'm home!' or something?" Caera asks with a sense of hostility in her voice.
"Woah there, that's quite the attitude to whip out this early in the day. Actually, scratch that, it's 3 pm. What have you been doing?" Regis questions.
Caera makes her way over onto one of her red armchairs and takes a seat, all while still massaging her temples.
"I had quite the hangover. I spent most of the AM stuck by the toilet. Scythe Seris was surprisingly understanding. I barely remember anything after our meeting. I know we played Sovereign's Quarrel. That's it," she replies.
"First time or something?" I ask.
"Yes, actually. I'm a very sparse drinker, and I'm apparently quite the lightweight," she answers.
"Well, we were getting all of our things together. I planned on leaving around an hour ago, but you were late. We didn't want to leave without saying anything. I know it's on brand for me, but I'm trying to not do that unless I have to," I say while Regis and Cecilia give me questioning glances. "Okay yeah, it's bound to happen again, but I'm not aiming for some magician's disappearance act."
"So long as you know, Arthur," Cecilia and Regis say in tandem.
I wave off their criticism and place the bow, manuals on runes, and about 30% of the food we got into my dimension rune. Turning to Caera, I give her a smile and she does the same.
"Time to go?" she asks.
"It seems so. Sorry for the errands we made you run, but I didn't want to have to stay with Alaric. I also didn't want to have to bring Cecilia around him," I answer.
"No, I'm glad you came. I was worried sick about what may have happened to you after the Victoriad. I got the chance to speak to Scythe Seris about it, but as per usual, she was vague. She told me about how you weren't Alacryan and not entirely human. It all makes sense now that you spilled your guts." she says as the smirk begins to fade and an air of sadness begins to radiate around her.
Caera stops massaging her temples and stands. She walks over to me as her bare footsteps barely make a single noise in the living room. She stops about two feet in front of me and pulls the pendant I gave her out from her undershirt. She begins to unclasp it before I cut her off.
"No, Caera, you keep that. I do need the diamond from it though. I may need to use it again," I tell her. She reaches toward the locket, pulls on the clasp, and hands me the small diamond. It gleams and leaves incredibly small text on my fingertips as the sunlight refracts through it.
"Thanks for coming, Arthur. I'm sad I can't go, but I understand. I can't be gone from work for that long anyway. I'll continue to take care of your students. I wish Seth and Mayla could have gotten the chance to see you," she mutters before bringing me into a hug. Her arms wrap under my armpits and clasp just beneath my shoulder blades. I return the hug in like form as I place a hand on her back and the other on her head. As she pulls away, her expression resembles how Ellie and Mom look whenever I say I have to leave again.
"I'll see you again someday, Caera. This isn't some permanent goodbye. I'll probably come back to the world of the living sometime in the next month- at least a month out here," I promise.
"You better, dummy. At least bring me a present next time. You and Regis just took up space the whole time. At least Cecilia did chores to compensate for her presence here," she says as a mischievous smile begins to form on her face. She gives me a playful punch to the sternum. Well, more than playful. That would have really hurt if I wasn't part asura. "I had to test whether the whole not-entirely-human thing was true or not."
"The two left arms on your ground four days ago wasn't enough?" I comment, rubbing my chest.
"Oh yeah, maybe I just forgot about that. You owe me for that too. I spent a really long time trying to find out how to dispose of two human arms," she grumbles.
"At least we cleaned the blood," I mention.
"There's still a stain! Look at my floor! There's even blood on my carpet!" she yells.
Maybe a more subtle approach would have been better.
'But it was funny, princess. We got her real good. She was all 'are you here to finally take me, Agrona?' And then you did the whole three left arms thing and whatnot,' Regis butts in.
It was well thought out, I will admit.
Returning to the conversation at hand, Cecilia and Caera are saying their goodbyes. Cecilia got rather attached to Caera while we were here. She's one of the very few girlfriends Cecilia ever had- in either life.
"Ready you two?" I ask Cecilia and Regis.
"Aye, princess," Regis replies before jumping into my body.
"Yes, Arthur. Let's go to the safe zone," Cecilia answers.
"Thanks for the hospitality, Caera. It means a lot that I still have you and Seris to count on whenever I end up in Alacrya," I tell her while giving her a nod.
"Be safe, guys, if you keep walking south along the river you'll find it," Caera gets out before Cecilia grabs onto my hands and I begin to connect the aetheric pathways to around a mile outside of the city.
"Whew, that's draining," I comment. "That took around 50% of my reserves. We should just walk from here on out"
"Okay. It's nice to get to walk out in nature anyway," Cecilia mentions.
"Take in the vines. They're Tess' favorite. She loved walking around Elshire Forest. That's where I met her, in fact. I saved her life and brought her back to her family in Zestier," I mention.
Cecilia forms a pained smile at the mention of Tess. It's becoming obvious how much Cecilia would like to stop being a domineering soul in a body that isn't hers.
"What are some other things she liked? I want to try and keep her as calm as possible," Cecilia asks.
"She loves sweets, or generally any food. She enjoys spending time with Gramps and me. She loved to play with Sylvie. All in all, she's like the teenage girls you remember from TV back on Earth," I answer.
"That's easy enough. I don't have a way to get an iced caramel macchiato, but I can at least find a pastry or two if we ever find a civilization that doesn't want us dead," she comments with a chuckle.
Cecilia raises her hands into the limbs of the passing trees, allowing her fingers to sift through leaves, vines, and branches alike.
"Unfortunately, we won't have much in the way of civilization for quite some time. We'll be stuck in the Relictombs for the foreseeable future. It's too dangerous to keep you out here," I reply.
"I know. It's a shame the world has come to this. A war of asuras with the mortal races caught in the middle," Cecilia mutters.
"It's the way tyrants work. They couldn't care less about their subjects. Everything is a means to an end," I explain. "Oh, look, Cecil. There's the river."
Cecilia begins to jog up to the river bank. When she gets there, she dips her hands into the cool, running water. Her face lights up at the simplicity of the moment. We never got the chance to go into nature back on Earth. It's heartwarming to see her have fun with such simple things.
"It's so pretty, Arthur! Look, the water is clear and there are even fish!" she excitedly shouts.
I finally catch up to her as she begins to splash water around.
"It is pretty. Is this your first time seeing a natural river?" I ask.
"Mhmm. On Earth, the urban sprawl was so bad that I never even made it to a forest, much less a natural river. The dirty canal a few blocks from the orphanage was the biggest waterway I'd ever seen until now," she responds, her face still beaming.
"Well, we get to walk along it for a few miles. Come on, we need to get going. Our hosts are waiting," I tell her, nodding my head south.
"Ugh, fine. There better be something like this in the Relictombs," she huffs, before making her way back up the riverbank.
"There's most definitely some river somewhere in the Relictombs," I reply, grabbing a few flat rocks off of the ground.
How much do you bet I can get at least 25 skips on this?
'Nuh uh, princess. I'm not betting a damn thing. You'll just force the time-space continuum to shift and allow it to skip 25 times. Bets against you are never fair,' Regis responds.
You're no fun. Say you were to hypothetically bet, then. How much?
'I'd bet 20% of the aether we get in the next zone, but that deal isn't happening. Gambling and you shouldn't belong in the same sentence.' he says.
Let's find out how you would have done.
I take a few steps down the riverbank so that my feet are at the water level. I firmly slot the rock between my index finger and thumb while allowing it to rest on top of my middle finger. As I begin to imbue aether into my hands, the bones begin to ache. I wind up a sidearm-style pitch and release the flat rock as fast as possible just inches above the water level. It skids an innumerable number of times before nestling itself firmly into the riverbank around 200 yards away.
I think that was at least 25...
'No shit, Aroldis Chapman. That would have gone straight through the catcher's mitt,' Regis points out.
You're probably right.
I turn over my shoulder to Cecilia to find her with wide eyes. She then glances down at a few flat rocks on the ground and turns to me.
"Yes, Cecil, I'll teach you. I taught Tess too a little over a decade ago. Though, she was never very great at it. Tell her that for me if you can," I jest.
Cecilia laughs and then her gaze lingers above my head for a few seconds.
"I told her in my head. I'm not sure if she heard it, but I am getting a little bit annoyed so perhaps she did," she says while her giggles continue. "So how do I hold it?"
I hold my hand out with my hands forming a 'C' with my index finger and thumb, the rest of my fingers remaining relaxed.
"Like this. And try and release the rock as low to the water level as possible," I explain, showing her how without using aether.
Cecilia gives me a determined nod before walking back down to the riverbank next to me. She winds up in an inefficient but admirable form and throws the rock. It tumbles right into the water's surface but still manages to skip once.
"I did it!" she yells and jumps in excitement.
"Yeah, you did, Cecil," I congratulate her while putting on a fake smile.
That's exactly how Tess reacted...
'It's okay, Arthur. We'll get her back,' Regis affirms.
I sure hope so, Regis.
"Are you ok?" Cecilia asks, her head tilted slightly to the side.
"Yeah, Cecil, I'm okay. Just recalling some memories." I reply, not exactly lying but avoiding the painful topic. "As much as I'd like to keep skipping rocks, we need to get moving. It's almost sundown."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's get going. We can God Step there or whatever you call it," she says, holding out her hand.
I take her hand and start to connect aetheric pathways again. I take us around a mile and a half down the river to what I assume is our destination.
Before us is a quaint wooden shack in quite a state of disrepair. The slight awning at the front has begun to sag on the left side. The pillars supporting it seems like they could crumble with the slightest thump.
'A light breeze could turn this thing into an insurance claim. Are we sure this is the place?' Regis asks.
It's not exactly what I was expecting, but yeah, I think this is the place.
"Let's start looking around, Cecil," I say, turning to her and nodding toward the shack.
"I guess we should. I'll stay outside. I don't want to go in there. It looks scary," she says, twiddling her fingers and twisting her feet slightly in the dirt.
"That's fine, but stay on the porch of the shack. Try not to go too far. I can't sense your mana signature if you get lost," I ask.
"I can do that. Let's go," she anxiously mutters.
Hey, mutt. Whenever I go in there, can you watch her for me?
'You got it, princess,' he replies.
Cecilia and I begin to approach the shack. As I take my first step onto the ancient and warped wooden floorboards, they creak like failing brake pads. My second step is less creaky, but that's only because the likely termite-ridden wood crumbles beneath my foot, causing me to fall through. My foot hits the ground beneath. My leg sinks to just below the knee below the floor. I pry my leg from the hole and keep making my way across the porch. The third, fourth, and fifth steps go much easier. I reach the door and realize the knob isn't there anymore.
As I push the door open, a musty and dank smell wafts through the air. I recoil in disgust from the acrid stench. Even Regis feels my disgust as my emotions leak into his. He quickly jumps out of my body and dry heaves.
"What the fuck is that smell?" he says as a small amount of strange purple ichor leaks from his vulpine maw.
"I have no clue. It's not anything normal though," I reply.
The room before me is devoid of most luxuries anyone may expect in a home. Granted, in this home, I wouldn't expect much. I take a few steps inside and glance about. It's a very basic setup for a shack in the woods. There's a circular table with 3 chairs set around, it, a wooden bookshelf on the corner, devoid of books, and what seems to be a bundle of hay on the floor.
"The stench must dull your senses quite a lot, Arthur. It took you long enough."
A/N: Last I check we crested 3k views and 350 votes. Thank you guys so much. I've only been at it for like 5 days, and the reception has been unbelievable. I'm excited for you all to see where this story takes us!
Naz out!