That feeling of buzzing discomfort just beneath the surface of skin never quite left Jay behind. She, Arian, and Lana had been in Cloudpeak for a few hours, but they still hadn't made much of any progress, if any, in figuring out just what about the town sat so strangely with them. They had taken to sitting in a room they were sharing at the hotel within the town, and Jay couldn't stop thinking about what had happened when they first entered the building. The images played through her mind again and again, and she had long since stopped trying to halt them.
The lobby of the hotel had been eerily empty, almost as if nobody wanted to acknowledge the fact that the building even existed. The space was dusty and thick, leaving the air feeling heavy and draining. The air particles seemed to cling fiercely to Jay's skin, and she somehow felt as if her motions were being stifled. She glanced over to Arian and Lana to see if they had the same sense of anxiety that she did, and Arian most certainly did. His eyes were clouded with nerves, and he was unable to stop fiddling around with the edge of his hair. Lana was hiding her anxiety far better, but she was still nervous about what was happening. The lack of certainty was leaving them all on edge, but there was no explanation for why they were so unsettled. Cloudpeak itself seemed to just bring this out of them.
The hotel room wasn't much cleaner than the rest of the building, and Lana had swiftly cleaned it out as soon as they were settled inside. The space hadn't seen use in so long that it didn't even seem as if someone had passed through in the past two years. Jay was thankful Lana had Air magic, because Lana's cleansing of the space allowed them to breathe. She knew that inhaling would be a distant memory without Lana's influence, and it unsettled her more than she could hope to describe. There was a constant itch resting within her, but she couldn't find a way to claw it no matter how hard she tried. She pressed her lips together in an attempt to not think about it, but there was only so much she could do without thinking about it.
"What do you think is going on with this town?"
Arian's words snapped Jay out of her trance. She was sitting next to Lana on the larger of the two beds within the hotel room, and Arian was on the other mattress. All three mages looked to each other out of something that looked like curiosity but resembled fear far more. Arian's question was left unanswered for a long time, and none of them knew how to properly respond to it. Jay eventually tore her gaze away, hating that she couldn't quite identify what was bothering her so much. It felt like it was on the tip of her tongue, but she still couldn't reach it.
"I don't know, but it can't be good," Lana answered simply. "There's some interference hiding here, but I'm not sure what's causing it. I want to talk to Ronan again. There's clearly something happening, and he must know more than us about it. He lives here, so he has an inherent advantage when it comes to finding new information."
"Something about him bugs me," Jay admitted. "He seems so innocent and sweet, but the rest of the town is eerie and ominous. The whiplash is notable... It's not something that I can ignore given how small this place is. It's hiding in the sand dunes. Why would someone so sweet and sociable ignore the rest of the world to live here?"
"Most people probably don't even know this place exists, and that means they're able to get away with a lot," Arian commented. "There's got to be a secret hiding around here, but I don't know how to find it... We should go out searching tomorrow. We've done a lot today, and I know I could use some rest."
Jay didn't remember just how much they had done that day until after Arian commented on it, and she found herself cringing at the realization. They had fought against the Ice mage, or perhaps the Ice Lakinya, just earlier that day. The exhaustion that came with the chill of Nadia had been earlier in the day as well, and they had met Lana only a few hours prior. Somehow, everything seemed to blur together, as if it was being viewed through stained glass. There was an image of Cloudpeak layered over the top of everything else that Jay had experienced recently, making both halves damn near impossible to identify on their own. The confusion was so notable that it made Jay's mind spin.
"If there's really something going on here, then we'll have to find it," Lana said firmly, but it was clear she was trying to seem far more confident than she felt. "I think there's something censoring the magic of this town, and... I guess I'm finding it rather odd that we haven't had the chance to talk to others about the town at all. The passerby keep on ignoring us."
Jay couldn't deny the truth of Lana's words. Aside from Ronan, the only person who had spoken to them since their arrival in Cloudpeak had been the receptionist at the hotel, but even that conversation had been brief and felt stilted. The smile on the woman's face had clearly been falsified, and no grin or emotion ever reached as far as her eyes. She seemed like a distant, hollow shell that had once been a person years ago. They had ordered food to be brought up to their room, and she had said that she would do what she could to help them. The trio had moved up to their space soon afterwards, and it became clear that nobody had stayed in the hotel in years. Ronan hadn't been kidding when he said that Cloudpeak rarely saw visitors.
There was something similar to lethargy sinking its ugly fangs into Jay, and she didn't think that she was going to be able to stay awake for much longer than she already had. It made sense given that she and Arian had been incredibly busy all day. Even if they took a break halfway through the day to sleep, they had been running around nearly constantly. Jay still felt the cold from that morning when she lost focus, and she rubbed her hands against the skin covering the top of her arms. She hadn't been this chilled in quite some time, and she was starting to wonder if it had something to do with Cloudpeak. Would she really be so freezing if not for the town?
Such a conclusion made little to no sense though. They were in the middle of the desert, and the sun that glowed overhead was more than enough to warm up the sands. She had been so hot all the way to Cloudpeak, so why was she so cold all of a sudden? It had been hours since she fought against the Ice mage in Lakinya, so why couldn't she shake the chill? Her senses felt as if they were being dulled, and her defenses were slowly falling away despite her attempts to keep them up. Jay's eyes began to droop even though she was trying with everything she had to keep them open. She had to stay alert. It was too soon to fall asleep. The sun hadn't even vanished over the horizon yet.
Despite this, Jay found herself slipping over towards the pillow propped up against the top of the bed. Arian wasn't doing much better, and every part of his body, usually filled to the brim with energy, had grown loose and a bit too relaxed. His cheek hit the pillow, and his eyes slowly slipped shut. Jay stared at him for a moment, watching as his breathing evened out into something that seemed a bit too calm to be Arian. He wasn't smiling in his sleep, something she supposed was normal, but it still bothered her with an intensity she didn't now how to fully define.
Jay didn't force herself to stay awake after Arian slipped into slumber. Why should she have to stay up when Arian was going to be out for the rest of the night anyways? They'd be able to investigate Cloudpeak and all of its eccentricities the next morning. They wouldn't be able to get anything done if they were exhausted, so it would be for the best if they just slept then and worried about the rest of the world later.
It took Jay a lot more effort to convince herself to sleep than she had been expecting, but she eventually allowed her eyes to slowly flutter shut. Darkness overtook everything she was in a matter of seconds, and the world blurred until nothing was left. She couldn't tell apart the stained glass from the rest of the world, but she suddenly didn't care about if there was a difference. Was there something unique about both halves, or was she only imagining it? Did it matter?
The shadows told her that it didn't, and Jay was all too happy to believe them with the way she felt as if she was crumbling at the seams. She shut her eyes and allowed the rest of the world to vanish as sleep overtook her. There was a restlessness that she felt for a brief moment before her exhaustion eclipsed everything else. Something is wrong, was the last thing she thought, and for the first time that evening, she wasn't thinking about Cloudpeak at all.
~~~~~
Jayler threw a basketball above his head as he stretched out on his bed. He spun the ball before catching it once again. He hadn't ever been the athletic type, but every once in a while, all he wanted to do was throw something around, and the ball was the easiest target for him to let out his emotions. He flicked the ball up and caught it.
It had only been a few days since he was dragged back to Hyperion, and yet, he couldn't shake his impatience. Jayler hadn't ever been the type to be caught up in his anticipation, but this situation somehow felt different. He couldn't stop thinking about his sister as soon as his attention shifted in her direction.
He hadn't been given the chance to look for her yet. He would get the opportunity one day, but that time simply hadn't come yet. He knew that he was on the verge of finding the power to search for her, but he still couldn't calm himself. That wasn't enough all of a sudden. It had been a comfort to him for so long, a balm against his rattling excitement, but it was insufficient seemingly out of nowhere.
Jayler knew exactly why this was, and he hated it. He had gotten so excited and preoccupied with the idea of seeing his sister as soon as he was back on Hyperion. She had promised him that she would be back, and he wanted to believe her. He had believed her. Going back there but not seeing a face that looked like an echo of his own hurt a lot more than he had been expecting, and there wasn't a way for him to banish the thought from his mind.
As much as he loved the rest of the Clan Leaders, he knew that they wouldn't ever be able to fully comprehend what he was going through. Despite their sympathetic smiles, Jayler was sure that they didn't understand. It wasn't anything against them; the situation was simply too unique for him to ignore.
The ball spun in the air once again, and it clapped against Jayler's hands when he caught it this time. He hadn't realized that he had thrown it with such force. Why was this so hard for him? He knew that he would be with her soon enough, and he wasn't an impatient person. What about this was so different?
He knew what it was despite his attempts to block out the truth. He was so close to figuring out everything that he could have ever wanted to know, but it was still out of his grasp. His fingers kept on touching freedom, but he couldn't grab onto it with enough power to make a difference.
Jayler was the adventurous, curious sort. He faced his problems with a bold smile and as much confidence as he could mange. He took every challenge in stride and used everything he had to push himself to success. He had thought that he understood how he worked, and every facet of his personality had been so familiar to him.
But then the Silver Knight appeared, and from nowhere, his stomach constantly burned with a fiery anticipation that he hadn't ever seen before. He didn't know how to describe it aside from a constant itch that he longed to scratch, but he knew that wasn't going to be possible until he was able to find her once again. Desperation was leeching off his sense of optimism, and he was wondering if his supply was going to be exhausted soon.
She was a Hanilia just like he was. They were bound to cross paths sooner or later, and he knew that, but there was only so long he could exist within the limits of his own hope. He knew that she wanted to see him just as much as he longed to reach out to her, but he was still missing the sound of her voice. When they next met, her words would no longer be muffled by silvery armor, and he was looking forward to it far longer than he should have.
The first day of the Skylia operation had been successful, but they still had a long way to go. Jayler tossed the basketball up again before catching it. This time, the ball stung against his palms, and he let out a sigh before setting the ball off to the side of his bed and shutting his eyes. It was getting late, and he wanted to be ready in case something else happened with the rest of the Clan Leaders the next day. They weren't planning on meeting up, but he figured that he would at least be ready.
As soon as Jayler's eyes shut, he was on the verge of sleep. He was far more tired than he had realized, and there wasn't a way for him to escape it no matter how desperate he was. When slumber finally overtook him, Jayler dreamed of meeting with the Silver Knight again. It felt as if she was so close, and yet, there was the distance of a thousand miles between them. His sleep was filled with images of a girl with brown hair and a blurred face that he knew looked like his without even needing to see it, and the pictures lingered for hours afterwards. He woke up around two in the morning, and when he did, sleep evaded him for ages. All he could think about was that face, and he wanted to see it more than anything else in the world.
~~~~~
Lana didn't know what woke her up, but as soon as her eyes opened, she knew she wasn't going to be getting back to sleep anytime soon.
She let out a light sigh and shook her head before swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Her robotic eyes allowed her to see perfectly despite the darkness, and she could see Jay and Arian both sleeping soundly nearby. There was still something off about the room though, and Lana didn't know how to describe it. She shifted uncomfortably for a moment before rising to her feet, stretching her arms above her head. Her body felt oddly creaky, and it wasn't at all because of her robotic body. She frowned to herself before moving towards the door. She had to get some fresh air. Maybe that would clear her head.
Lana slowly slipped through the crack between the door and the wall after she had twisted the knob and pulled the slab open. She shut the door behind herself before moving down the hall and out into the lobby of the hotel. The entire area was dark, and Lana frowned to herself. She would have expected someone to at least be there to run the building, but it seemed that wasn't the case. She did her best to shrug it off, but she couldn't banish it from her mind no matter how hard she tried.
Lana arrived outside soon afterwards, and a harsh breeze practically slammed into her as soon as she was outside. A shiver ran up her spine, and she rubbed her hands against her upper arms. When had it gotten so cold? Lana was fully aware of how chilly desert areas could get to be at night, but there was something different about it this time. She didn't know how to describe it, but there was something off.
Still, she didn't turn back, instead concentrating on placing one foot in front of the other as she navigated her way through Cloudpeak. There wasn't as much sand in the air as there had been during the day, making it easier to see the volcano that pierced the skyline. It appeared to be dormant, but Lana couldn't help her frown at the thought that perhaps it was very much alive. It wouldn't surprise her given how peculiar natural phenomena could act under the influence of magic, but she would certainly prefer to not tempt the fates by giving them any ideas. They were trying to enjoy a peaceful night in the town before exploring the potential odd little details the following day. They needed some time to unwind.
There weren't any people out and moving about, which made sense given the hour, but it still bothered Lana. She still felt as if she was being watched. There weren't any townspeople in sight, but she could sense eyes staring at her every move, and she bit down on her lip. This was most certainly odd.
When she and the rest of the group had arrived earlier, none of the people in the town had acknowledged them. The only person to actually approach them was Ronan, and while the manager of the hotel had spoken to them, it still felt forced and weirdly stilted, as if the conversation was more of an order rather than an easy chat about visitors to the village.
Could it be that everyone was afraid of them? Lana certainly didn't want to rule it out despite how dreadful the idea was, and she frowned to herself at the thought. Maybe there were people watching her walk around from their places inside of their homes. After all, there were quite a few small buildings scattered around the area, but they all seemed to regard the hotel with wary uncertainty. The air was chilled, but not in the way that Lana was familiar with. Something was wrong. The cold of the wind didn't feel natural at all, but if it wasn't brought on by nightfall, then what the hell was going on?
Lana felt another shiver run up her spine, and she naturally sunk into a battle stance before she could stop herself. She scolded herself for a moment before returning to her regular posture, but there was still something that made her think that perhaps she had made the right choice in her moment of instinct. Lana hadn't been involved in combat in quite some time, but she was still rolling over various strategies in her mind. It had been years since her last fight, but she liked to think that she had enough experience to ensure that she would be able to defend herself if anything went too wrong.
Lana kept walking, but she couldn't help wondering if perhaps it would be for the best if she abandoned her ideas of a nighttime stroll to retreat to her room at the hotel. Jay and Arian were likely going to wonder where she had disappeared to if she was gone for too long, and the last thing she wanted to do was worry them. Maybe she should just go back...
That was when Lana remembered the way that she hadn't been able to properly sense magic ever since arriving. Back in the City of Steel, she had been able to tell that there was something strong resting in the desert sands, but she hadn't ever gone out of her way to learn more. After all, there were people counting on her leadership, and it would be too risky for her to abandon the city for an extended period of time without the proper preparation. She had gotten far closer to the source of the magic, and yet, her powers felt dulled.
The cold of the night was beginning to sink into her very core, and Lana glanced around in a moment of panic that she didn't know how to describe. She was positive that somebody was watching her, but she couldn't identify where they were. All of the curtains of the windows in the nearby buildings had been pulled shut, hiding the occupants of Cloudpeak from her view. If she had wanted to, she could have easily used her advanced technology to see through the curtains and look at the people who were causing such issues for her anxiety, but she convinced herself to not get too far into thinking about it. She was a guest in Cloudpeak, and she didn't want to make others even more suspicious of her and the rest of her group.
Lana turned around to go back to the hotel. She had been hoping to clear her mind, but this walk was doing anything but that. If she wanted to find peace, she had to get out of the open air and find a place where she felt secure. The constant feeling of being watched was starting to grate on her nerves, and she felt as if she was riding a knife's edge. There was a fine line between comfort and terror, and Lana wondered if she would be able to find one side or the other at all that night.
As soon as Lana had turned around though, she could see a figure standing on the horizon that happened to block her path to the hotel. She let out a gasp and took a step backwards before strengthening her resolve and moving forward once again. She wasn't going to let someone like that stop her from getting back to the hotel. Avoiding them wasn't going to help her at all when she felt as if she was going to explode if she didn't return to the rest of her team.
The moonlight made it difficult to see the new arrival at first, but Lana's incredible vision allowed her to pick out the finer details a few seconds later. She could see that it was a man who seemed rather stern, and his gaze was unreadable. His eyes were hiding behind glittering black sunglasses even though it was the middle of the night. His hair was a silver color that gleamed with the same tints as the moon. His skin was pale enough to be mistaken for snow, and it was impossible to say where his skin ended and his hair began. He wore a black suit that contrasted the rest of his body notably, and his lips were set in a strict frown. One of his hands was shoved into a pocket, and the other fiddled with the wide of his sunglasses. There was something about him that screamed intimidation, but Lana refused to be deterred from her mission.
Lana kept walking even though the man was bothering her in ways she didn't know how to describe. The distance between them slowly got smaller, and Lana avoided looking at him directly. His eyes were impossible to see behind the darkness of his sunglasses, and she didn't feel comfortable staring into what she thought might as well have been soulless voids. Her steps were shaky, but she forced herself to inject confidence into them.
Maybe this wasn't worth it. As soon as the others were awake, she was going to try and get them the hell out of there. This mission was ridiculous, and she had no reason to believe that it had something to do with their quest to uncover the rest of the Skylian Mages. Lana knew who she was, and she was positive that the other two were aware of who they were, but she had no guarantee that this was at all involved with their journey. They had to get out of there as soon as possible to ensure that they didn't find themselves in any deeper trouble than they were already in. Cloudpeak was bothering all of them, so why were they bothering to stick around? They should just leave, find a way to get out, abandon even the idea of returning--
Lana's shoulder collided with the man's when they were close enough to touch. She finally forced herself to look up at him, and she ground her teeth together to keep herself from screaming in surprise. Her shoulder was so cold out of nowhere, and the chill was only settling in on the spot where he had touched her.
The man looked down at her, but once again, she couldn't see through his sunglasses to observe the look in his eyes. He stared at her for a few seconds, but it seemed to stretch on for an eternity. A smirk appeared on his lips, but it felt so empty that it sent a shiver up Lana's spine. She wasn't an organic being, and she never had been. She was used to the sensation of life born through unorthodox life since it was the same feeling that lived in every corner of her body. She knew that something about him was fake, and she was going to figure out what it was if he dared to cross her.
Still, her threats wound up meaning little, and he kept walking as if they had never crossed paths. His gaze once again turned to the sky, and he moved while continuing to ignore her. The moment of panic was gone, and Lana found herself grasping at straws to justify her moment of panicked desperation. Her shoulder was still cold, and she almost felt as if she had been stabbed with an icicle. There was no blood in her veins, so if something like that did happen, there would be no warmth to the injury. Her hand moved up to touch the impact point, and she shuddered as the chill passed over to her fingers.
Run.
The thought was only in Lana's head for a moment before she was moving, and her feet slammed into the sand violently as she propelled her body forward. She had to get away, get back to Jay and Arian, no matter what happened. There were still eyes on her, but this time, she could see them. They gleamed in the moonlight, and she felt as if the volcano ahead was staring at her with morbid fascination. It knew exactly who she was, and she couldn't get away from it no matter how hard she tried. Every part of the town was watching her, and that included the man with cold skin. He was facing away from her, and she knew it, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he was finding a way to stare regardless.
The only person whose gaze she couldn't feel was Ronan. She had come to recognize those soft eyes so easily in the short period of time they had been together, and she couldn't sense him anywhere. He was the only normal part of Cloudpeak, and he was the only person who didn't seem to be run by fear and silent, fascinated gazes. His smiles were sincere and real, possessing a dimension that Lana hadn't ever expected to take comfort in. He was normal even if he had lived for well over a hundred years. She needed to see him again, to warn him that something was wrong.
As soon as she arrived back at the hotel, Lana practically threw the door open, and she used the air around her to increase her speed. She sprinted as quickly as possible to the room that she was sharing with Jay and Arian. The door was still shut, the same way that she had left it, and she slipped inside as quickly and quietly as possible. Both of them were asleep still, but there was something different this time.
Jay and Arian both looked paler than before, and Lana frowned at the realization. She slowly made her way over to the side of the bed that she was sharing with Jay, and she pressed hesitant fingers against the other girl's face.
Cold.
She wasn't as freezing as the man outside had been, but there was still something eerie about her. Lana didn't have to reach out for Arian to know that he was chilled in the same way, and Lana felt as if she was going to be sick. She sat down on the bed and laid down, not wanting to risk sitting or standing in case it attracted anyone's attention somehow. She knew such a fear was ridiculous, but she still couldn't escape it.
For the rest of the night, Lana laid there in the darkness, unable to sleep or calm her nerves. She was more sure than ever before that there was something wrong about Cloudpeak, and she wanted to get away above all else.
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Oh boy updates are fun
-Digital