—————
Happy Eid for everyone that celebrates!
Here's an update gift~
—————
Vera was surging with triumph. Her feet quick, side by side with Ariabella Augebelle, and one step behind Elisious Aeric - the most powerful man in the world.
And she'd stuck him under her boot.
Káel didn't exist. The emperor had no successors, as did his sister, Mystral Aeric, who had worn the crown of Alta Staar till the end of the war. Formally unwed up until her death days after the march on Shakri'gurn. Since Káel didn't exist, she knew he wanted to keep it that way.
She wasn't going to be cheated of the treat. The labour of her efforts picking up the wreckage Káel left in his ignorant strides. He was going to another freaking planet, and she was coming. Everyone that had to eat grass in blistering starlight was coming.
"What do you think their houses look like?" Truvius' whispered, his breath brushing her ear, spurring her lips to curve.
Ugly. Obviously.
"You think they all dress like Káel did?" Vera snickered, catching the smallest snort from Elisious.
"Y-you think they're. They're dangerous?"
Vera laughed at Talli, the answer clear in her tone. "Without lumience or magic?"
The walk carved mostly downwards, winding stairs turned to bleak, carved stone. Doors turned to hidden hatches. Straight paths now too complex to memorise with their twists and turnarounds. At the end of their journey, they found themselves nestled deep into the rocks, a room barely decorated with white paint and a few permanent light enchantments.
Light enough to show an intricate ritual on the floor, carved into the stones with powdered lumience crystals to fill the cracks. The runes running through it didn't translate, Vera's eyes immediately narrowing at the emperor. "This is ancient lumience."
He eyed the runes. Careless. "Really? Everyone that likes their head on their shoulders has said otherwise."
No one laughed. His tone didn't play well to a joke, and Vera felt a strange conviction to seal her lips. She had never spoken directly to him, always at her father's side when the man publicly greeted their arrival and never uttering a word short of hello. Something told her being Káel's friend and Cilvren Acadrius' prized daughter wouldn't matter if she crossed his lines.
Elisious pulled a slew of silver medalions from an ebony chest, counting them out as he walked and handing each of them one. "This is a paravelt. It works best with magic. But the way I've reworked the ritual with lumience gives you a little under ten hours... for one person. There's four of you, so I wouldn't hope for more than two hours."
"Five, actually," Káel muttered.
Vera watched Elisious scoop Puff out of his arms, the drake grunting in protest as he squirmed in his arms.
"Guardians stay here." His cold tone warmed as he twisted Puff to face him. "With more yukkla fruits than they can ever eat."
Puff relaxed at the bribe as he was placed on the ground, but Vera didn't, feeling Cinder shift in her jacket. The phoenix practically lived in there, and was anxious to say the least when she vanished for more than five seconds. "I need another paravelt your majesty." she breathed in some calm as the emperor glared her down. "my phoenix is a chick, she'll combust the room if I disappear."
Relief filled her when Elisious parted another medalion from his cluster, holding it tight when Vera grabbed it. "Now I definitely wouldn't hope for more than two hours." He waved them to the center of the runes, satisfied by their placement as Vera faced the man's pointing finger. But his eyes were drawn to Káel, a shred of paternal snark in his tone as he upped his volume a notch. "I don't want her coming back with even a paper cut. Cilvren's a good friend, you're not going to be the reason he tries to off me."
"I don't think a dragon lord could kill you sir, you're like the living dead," Ariabella chimed, some attempt at a smile on her face as she held a purring Puff. "Káel, I must warn you not to speak with any strangers. A bizarre herd of Earthlings has invaded your town."
"Bella, don't you have a guest list to memorise?" Elisious mused.
"Already done sir, as I said before. Would you like me to go over manners with you before the party as well?"
"Very funny, I'm sure there's better ways to waste my time." He withdrew from the circle, pulling a decent chunk of lumience crystal from the same ebony chest. It glowed clean with energy, dancing silver into his green eyes as he lifted it above his head. "You'll have until this crystal is spent, then the ritual will rip everyone back. If anything chases you, run home."
Vera felt the ground tingle, the emperors words whispering through the air like a chanting breeze. The powdered crystals glowed white, intensifying as the whispering words drowned in an irritating buzz.
And then everything went white.
-----
Dandelions. The first pop of colour Káel saw when his eyes recovered from the blinding light.
They were standing in a dandelion infested field.
The dandelion infested field.
He felt his knees drop, speechless. A beaming smile on his face as he breathed in the dry air of Iridis. So engrossed with nostalgia he didn't notice the loose dirt under his palms until he grabbed for grass. He jumped back up, turning to face a dipping crater, a deep chunk of the field dug away in a circle where the strange rock had been.
Someone had stolen Iridis' UFO landing pad.
And strangely enough, the singing hum he lived with was gone too.
Truvius stepped away from the sight, panic in his face as he pointed. "We didn't do that... right?"
"No," Vera muttered, more interested in the sky as she gawked at the sun with Talli. "It's so empty..."
"I guess." Káel frowned. He'd gotten used to Lumi's cluttered sky. But he was back. Back to a home he'd almost lost hope in ever seeing again. So the rock was gone. It was probably in the way of some construction project.
He had so much to catch up on.
Káel turned to his friends, unable to tame the huge grin on his face as his heart pounded with excitement. "We'll grab the branch first. Then I have a million things to show you all!"
"Make it quick," Vera replied, kneeling in the grass to pull up a glowing chunk of crystal. Smaller than the one his uncle had been holding. "This is all the lumience we have right now."
He had to stop himself from skipping through the grass, the clusters of completely normal trees parting to flaunt the edge of a completely normal town. He sighed. Roads, sidewalks, telephone polls, crumpled plastic garbage, he even missed the ugliest parts of it.
His friends however, put his awe to shame.
They were approaching the roadside leading to his house when Vera took his side, her voice low as she pointed to the thick black cords of a telephone wire. "What is that between those scout towers? Does it catch things?"
Káel shook his head. "It's electricity. Those towers aren't for scouts, they hold up the wires."
"Wires?" Vera muttered, darting her gaze around the few buildings that were visible. "A concentrated pyrillis could smash these huts to rubble."
"Yeah... well... we're not expecting to be attacked." Káel chuckled, stopping Vera before their feet touched the gravelly road. He caught the grey semi coming in fast, waving his friends to stand back a few feet for it to rip by.
Talli yelped, and Truvius immediately ducked behind a tiny shrub with Vera.
"That's a truck, it stays on the roads," Káel said, holding in a laugh at Talli's shaking hands. "There's people inside of them, like a carriage. They'll try and stop if they see you." he shifted his gaze to Vera and Truvius, his smile dropping at the massive knife she'd drawn. "You brought a knife?"
She eyed the rim of his pants, reminding him of Cursimian's presence. "Don't act like you didn't."
"Yeah, well hide it." He frowned as Vera didn't budge. "The guards here will arrest you if you go walking around with it in plain sight."
She snorted, slipping it back into a hidden sheath. "Where's the tree?"
Káel stepped onto the road, waving them across the empty expanse before another car zipped by. He was hoping their clothes could pass as a weird fashion statement, or maybe unenthusiastic larpers.
The real problem was his face.
They passed a wall of blue pine, Káel pointing to where they parted and showed a large ashen house. His house. His sanctuary. "My uncle said to run there if we get chased, the key is under the mat. The only people that might do that are the police, so don't do anything weird. Just walk and follow my lead," he said, physically pained to turn away from it instead of running inside. But he would easily waste what little time they had if he walked into the place.
It was evening by the way the shadows stretched. He didn't have a watch, so the first clock he passed would have to ground him. School was definitely out, which meant more eyes in the heart of the town, and less lingering on his school. The busiest spot they'd likely pass was Casey's Bakery, easy to dodge being spotted if he looked the other way.
They reached the first stretch of sidewalk in the town. Káel sucked in a deep breath, motioning for his friends to mimic his smiling face.
This was it.
They passed a small row of houses, Truvius off the sidewalk completely and unable to keep himself from stroking the different kinds of fences. He lingered at a chainlinked one, staring through it to the small shuttered house and colourful children's toys strewn about the lawn. Káel readied himself to move his friend along, but the burly rottweiler that threw its body into the net of metal did that for him.
"We can stare at stuff after we get the branch," Vera hissed, ignoring the fact that she was guilty of sneering at a group of giggling girls across the street mere minutes ago.
Káel could see the green and white awning of Casey's Bakery, soon his school would be in full view too. He dropped his gaze to the pavement as a car passed, slowing, but moving along likely to just snap a picture of what his friends were wearing. As his eyes rose they landed on the light pole a few feet away, his face staring right back at him in a pixelated mess called his school photo.
His feet stopped, Vera joining his side as she stroked the thick layer of tape. "This painting really catches that dead smile you do." she pushed her nose at it, letting Truvius in beside her to stare at the other posters lining the pole. "The details are astounding. What a strange place to put paintings."
Káel felt his gut clench as he saw the other poles, row upon row of his face, laced with so much tape you couldn't cut the paper free with an axe. There was only one person that would have gone through that much effort, Sora. He felt the homesickness seize him again, chancing a glance into Casey's Bakery, the seat she took given to an elderly couple enjoying coffee and scones.
It had been months since the panic settled. Would she even recognise him?
"Lights without magic or lumience." Káel perked at Phantom's voice, his friend weaving through the walls of the shops surrounding them, his entire body seizing before a television screen hanging in the tiny electronics repair shop. "A giant magic box!"
Káel waved for his friends to follow before anyone else saw the television, holding his breath as he passed Casey's Bakery, and the fifty shades of green running all over his school came into view. He had to pull Talli across the road, she was terrified of the few cars stopped to the sides, and horrified of the ones that would slowly pass them.
But when they reached the grass on the other side, Káel lost any reason to blend in, tearing past the front entrance of his school as his mind filled with every boring class, normal teacher, and lunchtime meetup with Sora. He just needed two branches and he would be back to that.
He stopped at Leaf's scaly trunk, hope swarming his body as he spoke between breaths. "This is a winter tree? Right Phantom?"
Phantom stared at it, silent in thought. "We'll know for sure when you try to take a branch. It sleeps in warm weather, so be quick with the cutting."
Káel blinked, eyeing the large tree as the rest of his friends caught up. "Why?"
"Because it will feel like chopping off a finger, and it's gonna kill the closest thing."
Káel gulped, the warm sweat from his jog chilling as he reached for Cursimian, pulling out a small set of ebony garden shears instead.
He blinked. The possessed knife was now a garden tool.
Káel collected himself. He'd just cut a chunk off big enough for him and his uncle, then he'd jump and book it. He wrapped his arms around the trunk, finding a knot to hook his foot on and push his reach to the canopy. The journey wouldn't have been so hard, if the scaly bark didn't rub the bandages protecting his scrapes. Even Fairez Stella's finest nurses couldn't heal like Ms. Metulas.
He was finally up, straddling a main branch as he scoured his choices, Cursimian shears at the ready for the perfect piece. But his attention was pulled by a calling voice, strangely unfamiliar in a town where he knew everyone.
He looked at the man casually dressed man that had yelled "hey." His tone was a greeting instead of a warning, the cherry haired woman beside him giving Káel a weird, and mildly confused look. They crossed the road while he stared at them, stopping at the sidewalk to watch the spectacle.
"You kids having fun?" the man said, eyes only on Káel as he smiled.
Crap. Káel looked around, he had to think quick. What did it look like he was doing? Aside from straddling a tree with shears on school property of course.
He cracked a smile back. "We're playing a fantasy game! Want to join?"
The woman's nose scrunched, her voice nearing a hum of disapproval. "We'll pass. Are you sure you kids are allowed to do that?"
"Why don't you keep your nose out of it?" Vera retorted, the expressions of the two blanking out as they stared at her.
The woman was suddenly intrigued, glancing at the man as he shook his head. His face was riddled with confusion, as though he hadn't understood a word she'd said.
Káel froze. The translator.
"She's speaking Elvish," Káel blurted, drawing their attention again. "That's all she speaks while we're playing. We're a band of elves."
"A band of elves with garden shears?" the woman replied.
Káel took the opportunity to look for a branch, blunting his tone with innocence. "Yeah."
The woman chuckled, unconvinced. "You should really come down before you hurt yourself."
"Even more," the man added.
Snip and book it.
Káel kept a smile on the couple, feeling the shears hook around his chosen branch. Sucking in a sharp breath he squeezed, the soft woody flesh shearing clean off with a rubbing shriek. A branch half his height tumbled to the ground, Káel eyeing the shears questionably to figure out if the sound had come from them.
"Jump Káel! Jump and run!"
Káel looked at Phantom, slipping his leg around to drop off the branch. But as he swung, something hooked his hands in place, legs hanging as he looked up at the slithering branch that pressed his hands down. "Oh sh-"
A branch swung out beneath him, slamming his stomach to rip him right off the tree and into the grass a few feet away. He let out a wheezing cough, the shears in his hand now sharpened into a toothed black mini-saw.
He felt a root grab his ankle, paling as the tree shuddered with rage.
He hadn't sawed a thing in his life.
Káel felt the root rip him back into the air, chunks of grass and dirt flying everywhere as he caught a glimpse of the woman. Predictably shocked, back on the sidewalk while she fumbled to punch a number into her phone.
Hanging in the air upside-down, Káel still managed to yell. "Vera! Stop that lady from using her magic box!"
Vera slapped the phone out of the woman's hand, kicking it across the field and stopping any form of protest with a death glare. "Don't worry Káel, I'll help you," she called, feeling around her jacket. "Cinder, roast that stupid tree!"
"Yes Firehead!" Phantom cheered.
"No! No no no no no! I'm in it, don't light it on fire!" Káel screamed, sawing at the thick branch wrapped around his ankle while it flung him up in protest and slammed him into the dirt.
Talli jumped in to try and pull Káel free, a lashing branch relentlessly whipping her head until she pulled back. Káel felt another root seize his wrist, squeezing into his bone so he dropped Cursimian. Another root slithered to his neck and he could feel his necklace warming.
Káel gritted his teeth. Not again. He was going to save himself, prove he could do at least one thing right. Magical trinkets be damned.
But the snaking roots didn't budge, pulling him closer to the tree, and deeper into the loosened dirt where a large branch waited to snap down on him.
A shadow passed over him, the roots pulling off his body as Káel gritted his teeth in frustration. Again. It had happened again.
He twisted around, expecting to see Talli or Vera, his face frozen with confusion as the random guy stood over him. He'd ditched his blue jacket that might have given extra padding, taking a beat to the back from the massive branch without a flinch. Káel stuck his hand out as the branch reeled back for a second slam, a fireball twisting at his fingertips as he screamed "rastasnatch".
It blew past the man, engulfing the thick branch as the tree let out a shrill shriek.
Káel felt the man grip the collar of his shirt, dragging him away from the flailing tree as it whipped at him with its smaller branches. He pulled him to his friends, still crouched over him to make sure the tree didn't pull any more stunts. An off sort of calm lingered in his smile. "Are you okay?"
"Nazrus' crown! That guy is harder than dragon scales," Phantom scoffed, his shoulder's rising as the man looked up at him.
His smile drew wider, eyes brushing up and down Phantom. "Thanks. Nice costume."
Káel took a second to get past it, blinking to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He'd replied to Phantom. Looked him up and down and smiled at him. Káel's eyes travelled along the man, the skin under his torn white tee free of welts or even red marks from where the tree had thrashed him. Inhumanly indestructible.
Like Ray.
There was one detail, other than the ominous lack of injuries. A tattoo, printed on his right shoulder where the sleeve was left to hang in tatters. It was curving black petals, a flower, perfectly matching what little Ray could trace in the dirt, now with a finished center and S1 printed beneath it.
"Guys..." Káel's breaths quickened, his heart starting up when he couldn't budge his arm from the man's iron tight hold. Despite the man's confusion at his panic, Ray's words wouldn't stop playing in his mind.
You die.
Slowly and painfully.
He tried to jerk his arm again, locking eyes with Truvius as he kept his voice from screaming out the words. "Grab the branch, and run."
Don't forget to:
COMMENT/CRITIQUE/(VOTE IF YOU WANT)
Quality Quip #52:
'Home life is no more natural to us than a cage is to a cockatoo.'
~ Bernard Shaw