Troy and the Wyn were racing through the streets while some of the townsfolk were still chasing after them. Normally Troy would be able to lose these people rather easily, but now that he had this Wyn to take care of he wasn't too sure he'd be able to just disappear like he normally would. He turned a sharp corner and ran down a narrow gap between two houses, just barely large enough for two people to walk down side by side. Normally when Troy came down this alley he'd just use his magic to go through the wall, but again this Wyn's presence kept that from happening.
He was about to stop and help them get over when he suddenly felt two hands slip underneath his arms and before Troy could even process what was going on he was flying through the air. The wind rushed through his hair and made his loose tunic flap all around him as he and this Wyn cleared the highest building with ease. Troy's eyes grew wide at the sudden change in height as he was suddenly able to see all of this section of Auria in a much different light than he had before. It looked calm, calmer than it felt when you were down there walking among the often busy streets. The buildings all looked so small from way up here, almost as if they were children's toys made up of small blocks rather than stone bricks and wooden logs.
It all seemed nice for him as he looked down at it all as if he had all the time in the world to simply appreciate this view. But of course that all came to a screeching halt when the air went from calming to rough as the wind flew back up to mark their fall back to the ground. Troy felt his insides twist and crawl into his chest, his heart jammed itself in his throat, and his eyes grew as wide as the autumn moons. He started to kick out and toss his arms about as if that were going to slow their descent. He knew the ways to manipulate the air in a way that would slow their fall but that knowledge was lost on him in this moment.
Troy let out a cry as the ground and roofs of the buildings began to rush up towards them and scatter their bodies and innards all across their tops. The Wyn though let out a laugh as he tightened his grip on Troy before he called out a single word. "Bredil." He said and suddenly the wind around them began to spin forming a visible cone of air that slowed their descent to a near stop just before they touched down.
The moment their feet hit the roof of the building did Troy jump from the Wyn's grasp, placing his hands on his knees trying to get his breathing under control. That old Under superstition about their lives flashing before their eyes held true for the most part. Troy's most cherished memories flew through his head but even more so were the regrets he'd had about all the things he'd never gotten to do or would've been able to do had they'd died just then. He was still composing himself when the Wyn let out a giggle turning to the infant dragon on his left shoulder.
"I got the word right Nim." He'd said and the dragon let out a positive chirping sound before nuzzling the Wyn's cheek. "A few more tries and we might be able to fly huh?"
Again the dragon let out a chirp but Troy couldn't have cared less right now as he stood up. "What in Drian's name are you?" He demanded looking at the Wyn and the dragon. "Aside from the fact that you didn't even know if you're word of Power would work, how in His name did you jump like that?"
The Wyn turned his head slightly. "I just jumped." He said before he gave a bright smile. "It was fun to be able to jump again. I like cities but there's no place to run around like the forest and mountains."
"You didn't answer my question Wyn." Troy said walking over to the monkey man trying to shove him only to have himself nearly thrown off his feet when he shoved. He wanted to say more but he bit his tongue back and gave him a sharp look. "What are you? Really, what are you, because a Wyn shouldn't be able to do what you just did unless you're- well unless you're something else, so what are you?"
Now the Wyn turned his head up a bit as if he were thinking about something. "Um, I think Morgan said we're Sources." The boy crossed his arms and looked deep in thought now. "I think she said I'm the Source of Stink? No- Source of String? No... Strength! That's it I'm the Source of Strength."
Troy just gave him an impatient glare. "That doesn't tell me anything." He said running a hand through his red streaked hair. "Is that some kind of Under thing?"
The Wyn shrugged his shoulders. "Everyone keeps saying I'm something else, so I don't know. Avica I think."
Now Troy looked up with some interest. "Avesia?"
"That's the one." He said pointing a finger at Troy who gave him a skeptical look.
He narrowed his eyes and searched the boy's Aura and instantly regretted his choice because the instant he looked at him and his Aura was he almost blinded. He let out a cry and shielded his eyes from the overwhelmingly bright Aura that was radiating from this boy. He couldn't see much of it, but he saw the golden accents that signaled the Aura of an Avesia. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times to get rid of the dots that were practically ingrained into his vision now. He gave the boy a strange look, eyeing him up and down while he himself just gave Troy an interested look.
"What's your name Wyn?" He asked.
"Isa." He said with a grin and gestured to the dragon on his shoulder. "And this is Nim'Ganyth but we just call him Nim." The baby dragon let out a cheerful chirping sound in response to his name being said which only made Troy nod his head.
This is definitely the same boy that was with Morgan, he thought to himself looking the boy over a bit more and feeling rather guilty about the way he'd treated him. Had he known about this boy then he'd have treated him much better. Still, how does a Wyn like him get Avesia blood in his veins he wondered. It just didn't make sense to Troy, the Wyn and all those like them were dark beings by nature so why does this one have such sacred blood in him?
"You said your name is Isa right?" He asked and the boy nodded his head in response. "Well- you definitely have Avesia in you... We should probably take you to see Hallah so he can properly announce your presence."
"Hallah? Is that the old man with the big beard and long eyebrows?"
"You've met him?"
"Yeah, he got me free food up on that island over there." Isa said raising his arm up and pointing to on of the islands nearest to the top of Auria. "He's nice but his Aether is funny looking. Morgan seems to trust him though so I trust him."
Troy's body went rigid at the mention of her name but he shook it off just as quickly. "About her," He said quietly. "Are you two- a pair? Or is she with one of the others?"
"No she's with Ruin." Isa said plainly looking around the floating islands and pointing to the one that was almost directly above them. "They're up on that one I think. Morgan wanted to look for some new clothes."
Troy's heart sunk at that but he did his best not to show it. Instead he raised his head up and asked Isa another question. "Why did you help me?" He asked with a stoic face. "You don't know me, you certainly don't owe me anything so why?"
"Well you needed help." Isa said with a shrug. "They were ganging up on you- I don't like seeing things like that."
"I see..." Troy said trailing off a bit. "So you'd have done it for anyone, not just me."
"Well yeah, wouldn't you?" Isa's cheerful smile returned to his face. "My mother told me a long time ago that if I can help someone I should."
Troy gave Isa a strange look just then. "You're a strange guy you know that?"
"I know, Morgan tells me that a lot too." He said with an even brighter smile on his face than before. "But anyway we should probably get down now, I wanted to see the Crystal Lake where Shard was."
"Shard?" Troy asked much louder than he meant to as the image of that man flew into his mind. "Why does that place have anything to do with you?"
"Well I just wanted to stand where he stood." Isa said looking a bit sheepish. "Shard's super strong, maybe if I stand where he stood I'll get just as strong."
"You mean you want to literally walk in his footsteps?" Troy asked now as the two of them descended the building. "Why would you want to do that. Just because Shard did something a long time ago doesn't mean it'll affect you in anyway."
"I don't know, I just, I want to be strong like Shard." Isa said dropping down beside Troy before he went on. "I want to be able to protect everyone, but I can't do that unless I'm strong. Maybe if I live the way Shard lived and do everything the same as he did I'll get stronger."
Troy let out a sigh before he looked at the people going to and fro in the streets before he fixed Isa with a look. "Do you even know how to get to the Crystal Lake?"
~*~*~*~Ten Minutes Later~*~*~*~
Troy was watching Isa run around the edge of the lake like a young child that'd been told he could have just sweets for dinner. The Crystal Lake, also known as the Starlit Lake was a lake that was forever frozen in time. There were no waves, no currents, no motion at all when it came to the waters. The surface of the water was like a mirror, perfectly reflecting everything that was above it, and below it was said to be like floating inside of the night sky itself because once you were down there beneath the surface the lights bounced all over creating such strange effects. Troy had only swam in the lake once and it was indeed like he was sitting amidst the stars themselves, it was possibly the most peaceful place in all of Tul'lavey and it was here in Auria.
The lake was amazing and all but it still didn't click with Troy about why exactly Isa wanted to come here so badly. As he ran along the edge of the water Troy followed after him with his hands in his pockets. Isa was heading for the natural bridge, a small very narrow stone path that rested just beneath the surface of the water. It went all the way out to the very center of the lake where Troy's ancestors had erected a shrine on the small island that was no bigger than a single person house. It was a statue to one of Iro's cousins the Celestial called Ermis the god of the the sky.
It was a modest statue that depicted the Celestial with his winged armor and his spiraled staff while the man himself was pointing straight down. As the legend told it, Ermis had hidden his famed winged boots that allowed anyone wearing them to walk among the clouds. No one knew whether or not it was true because no one had been able to last long enough to reach the bottom. But the time Shard the Crimson had arrived arrived was when the legend was proven true. He'd entered the Starlit Lake and promised he'd retrieve the boots himself under the condition that they be his. No one had argued that if Shard could in face get to the bottom of the lake, he'd be the only one with any claim to the boots.
And so down he went, vanishing beneath the reflective surface of the lake in search of the boots. He was gone for nearly an entire day, everyone had assumed him dead and were merely waiting for the body to rise back to the surface. But then the surface of the water exploded and Shard arose from the water with clouds trailing after his heels, the light of the sun showing brightly off of the reflective metal of the boots. Troy remembered that day very clearly, there was a nine day festival held in Shard's honor afterwards for being the first and only one to reach the bottom of the lake. That was when Troy realized that there were still extraordinary people in this world even after the death of his father.
But none were like Shard as far as Troy was concerned, he was a man among men. A god that was born in the body of a man. There was no other way to explain how he could have retrieved those boots when all others had failed. It was Shard who made Troy realize that he never wanted to be compared to anyone. He didn't want to be considered as the Next Shard, he didn't want to be thought of as his father's son, because for him those were two people that could never be matched. So Troy decided he just wanted to be Troy and would do anything he could to distinguish himself from great men the likes of Shard and his Father.
But this man, this boy seemed like he wanted nothing more than to be more like Shard because he literally wanted to walk in his footsteps. That wasn't something Troy was sure he could do, he didn't want to follow in anyone's footsteps he wanted to walk the path that was his and his alone, he didn't want anything to do with others' path especially the great paths. Still he couldn't help but be at least a little bit curious about Isa's desire to stand where Shard had stood and wanted to know just what he'd do once he was there.
Now as Troy walked across the water, using his magic to actually walk on the water so as not to get his feet wet, he stood there on the edge of the small island with his arms out stretched and his eyes closed. He stood like that for a long time, even when Troy had reached the island and said his prayer of thanks to Ermis for another day with a beautiful sky. When the shimmer eyed boy walked over to Isa did he notice that even Nim was standing as best he could with his neck stretched up and had his tiny wings stretched out to either side of him while a gentle breeze blew over them. Not understanding them in the least Troy stood still and waited for the pair of them to finish- whatever it was they were doing.
Finally when Isa's arms came down he turned to Nim and gave the little dragon a nudge with his head. "It's nice here isn't it?" He asked the dragon who nodded his head and let out a squeak. "I really like this place. It's way prettier than the valley I-"
Isa stopped in the middle of his sentence while Troy furrowed his brow at a bit of movement he saw off in the distance. "Hey Isa-" He began while pulling his hands out of his pockets. "I'm not going crazy right? The lake is... it's turning black... right?"
Both of them began to back away from the edge of the water as the black water drew nearer, the lake beginning to visibly boil now as the blackness drew nearer. Nim let out a whimper before he hurried to hide inside of Isa's bag that hung at his hip. Troy meanwhile could only watch in absolute shock as a figure emerged from the boiling lake of jet black water. Troy immediately tried reading the figure's Aura but was confused by the colors he saw, they were blood red with black wisps flowing through them. He'd never once seen an Aura like this but the trembling sensation that shot down his spine told Troy all he needed to know. This man, whoever he was, was dangerous.
His hair was unnaturally spikey, sticking up and leaning more so to the left side of the man's head. It was blacker than the lake and made his ashey grey skin look almost white, the light reflecting from the water only made his angular face seem sharper than it was. It was like looking at a snake with eyes that literally burned with green fire in them making it impossible not to focus on them. The darkened rings around his eyes only serving to make those blazing eyes of his even harder not to focus on.
His clothes weren't like anything Troy had ever seen nor read about in any of his books. He wore a sleeveless dark grey top that was almost black that looked as if it'd been burned revealing a bright green layer beneath it in some area. At his left shoulder was a silver pauldron that had the face of a snarling animal of some sort dipicted on it. Draped down his right leg was a black cloth with a bright neon green inside that drapped over his dark pants. His arms from the elbow to the tips of his fingers were black as though they'd been singed or dipped in oil. He was definitely a bizarre and rather wicked looking man.
"Isa." He called out to them making the monkey man get into a defensive position. "It's good to see you in person. Until now all I've had to go off of were the memories of my older brother that you defeated."
"That I- Who are you?" Isa demanded looking uncharacteristically fierce as he began to get a bit lower. "I don't know you, so how do you know my name?"
"How, why every Unborn knows the names and faces of our dear uncle and aunt." The man said it as though he were expecting a warm reception but Isa merely continued to glare at him. "But to answer your question, my name is Sidian. I'm a spawn Unborn to my father, the Source of Corruption, Abyss."
At that Isa's eyes grew wide and he removed the bag that Nim was hiding in and held it out to Troy. "Take this, and run." He said and before Troy could even respond he added. "There's a Word of Power that Morgan taught me, Val Stip. Picture her if you can and get to them now, take Nim with you and go. I'll handle this guy-"
"I'm sorry Isa but I think you misunderstand the nature of my brothers and sisters." Sidian called out skeptically. "You see we spawn hunt by following life and Power. That city over in that direction, well it's simply brimming with people. I couldn't stop my siblings from going there now even if I wanted to. Yes I'm afraid that nice city is already under attack."
Isa's fur began to bristle now and it was all Troy could do to watch him remove the vest and adjust the bracers on his arms. "Troy hurry and go I'll catch up when I can."
"You're missing the point here uncle." Sidian said once again sounding as though he were putting on a performance. "That city will burn, just as that little village and your entire valley did."
Isa's attention snapped back to Sidian now and he took several steps toward him. "You're lying!"
Sidian's blazing eyes closed for a moment as he shook his head. "My father Abyss demanded we destroy every scrap of your home and devour all those you knew to get a better understanding of you. It's how most of us know your face, we devoured one of the villagers you knew as a child, and met again when Morgan freed you from the-"
Isa didn't give him a chance to finish before he vanished from Troy's side and suddenly the water was all blown back as he throw a massive punch that was intercepted by a green barrier around Sidian. "I'll kill you!" Isa's voice screamed just as dozens upon dozens of twisted creatures began to emerge from the water's edge heading towards Troy. "Troy run, take Nim and get out of here! Use the word I told you and get to Morgan!"
A/N: Annnnd here we GO. The action of this arc will finally happen now that Sidian and the rest of the spawn are beginning to attack Auria.
But omg poor Isa just found out that his valley was destroyed! :'(
KICK HIS ASS ISA!