034.002

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Breath of Air

Court Arcanist

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“I have heard what happened to the draken in your care and what you and your party are trying to do for it. I sincerely hope it goes well.”

“Yeah,” Alyssa said. “Me too.”

Now knowing roughly what kind of company she was in, Alyssa had taken a seat at the table. Before, she had been a bit wary that some high arcanist of the local government wanted to talk to her. She wasn’t sure that she should be entirely comfortable in the presence of these monsters—she had only met and talked with them for a few minutes back at the oasis and that had not been the most peaceful of introductions—however, at least she knew exactly what she was dealing with.

A doppelganger. A creature in a similar vein to Kasita’s kind. Its body wasn’t illusory like Kasita’s, but it did construct paper-thin illusions out of its own flesh and blood. Its forms were a bit more substantial than Kasita’s, allowing it to actually lift heavier weights and occupy a space for real; however, its construct was just as inconsequential as Kasita’s. If someone stabbed the man, the little girl wouldn’t be harmed at all. Though it would probably break the illusion that kept her from being perceived.

The other one was a strange sort of monster. Apparently something that should not be north of the Fortress of Pandora, according to both Brakkt and Oz who had told Alyssa a little about the monsters they had encountered in that oasis on the way to Illuna. It had been a human at one point in time. Or half of it had been. The woman had picked up a monster known simply as a cursed sword. A living, sentient sword that formed a parasitic relationship with its host. At the start, the host might not even realize that the sword was anything other than a sword, but the more the sword got used, the more the sword gradually took over.

If the human ever died, the sword would simply go inert until some other unsuspecting person spotted it and picked it up. It was particularly dangerous to the uninformed. The cursed sword looked an awful lot like an enchanted sword, something anyone would love to pick up if only because of how much they could be sold for. But as soon as they did, they would feel a compulsion to use it rather than to sell it, starting the process over again.

Alyssa wasn’t entirely sure how that worked with souls. Closing her eyes and concentrating, she could only see one soul in the sword’s position. Perhaps the woman had died completely and had already had her soul reaped by either Tenebrael or Iosefael. Or perhaps it was something more along the lines of the final stages of Irulon and the dragon’s situation.

Either way, the sword was now simply sitting to the side, staring down at her hands with the occasional giggling. Creepy. Her very existence was disturbing, but she really made it all the worse with how she giggled and stared. But as long as the sword wasn’t going to hop bodies anytime soon, it probably didn’t matter all that much. The damage was already done for the person it had taken over.

Volta didn’t seem like the kind of person that would allow harm to come to her companions even if Alyssa wanted to do something.

If the woman died and the people looked like they would try to pick up the sword, Alyssa would try to stop them, of course. But that wasn’t likely to happen. Hopefully.

Though it did raise the question of whether or not the cursed sword could take over the body of something else. Tenebrael had made those empty meat puppets for replacing Jason, Chris, and Alyssa’s mother. She had put souls into them to fool angels, but Alyssa had to wonder whether or not the sword could make use of an empty one. With Tenebrael’s power at her fingertips, Alyssa might even be able to create empty puppets if it came down to it.

But, barring some disaster befalling Illuna or the oasis, that was entirely theoretical. And hopefully would stay that way. Alyssa really didn’t want to go about creating meat puppets if at all possible.

“If there is anything I can do for the draken, please, let me know.”

“Thanks, but I don’t know that there is much you can do. We’re currently waiting on a bit of information before pressing forward with our plan to get Izsha back on its feet.”

“I don’t have much experience with draken. Do you know what is wrong?”

“That’s what we are hoping to find out,” Alyssa lied. No sense getting complicated with talks of souls and angels. “For now, Izsha is stable and not getting any worse. It’s just that Izsha isn’t getting better either.”

The man posing as the arcanist frowned, putting a hand to his chin as he rubbed the small stubble that was growing around his chin. Volta’s actual body hardly moved at all. Oz, Brakkt, and even Kasita hadn’t mentioned anything about that, but it seemed that the fake-body took over most motions and actions, leaving the doppelganger’s true body in a somewhat inert state, only able to walk around behind the fake while it was up.

“We’ll handle it, don’t worry,” Alyssa said with a small smile. “Izsha has been a good friend to me. Brakkt cares for all the draken a great deal as well. We’re not going to leave anyone hanging out to dry.”

“Still, I wish there were something I could do.”

“It’s fine. Don’t you have your own problems you need help with? You surely wouldn’t have brought me here and revealed your identity if all you needed to do was to pass me a shopping list. And with your position, shopping for yourself probably isn’t that big a problem anyway.”

“Bigger than you might think. I can’t exactly hire a courier to deliver food and supplies to the oasis. Even dropping them off in the middle of the desert would be far too suspicious. People might not think I am a monster right away, but they might suspect that I am supplying brigands and highwaymen who litter the areas.”

That would probably be bad. Alyssa could see how Volta might come under fire for that. And it wasn’t like someone could deliver supplies directly to the oasis. Not without finding a trusted merchant who could handle it without selling the secret later on. That probably wasn’t an impossible task, but a risky one nonetheless. Volta wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the likely prestigious and influential position of court arcanist too. As she mentioned, she had used the position to divert attention away from the oasis in the past.

“So it is just a shopping list?” Alyssa said after a moment. “When I met you in the oasis, I figured you were being literal about supplies. Finding you here made me think you were trying to bring me in on some secret sabotage or desperate quest to rescue a captured member of your community. But now we’ve gone back to supplies, so that’s nice I guess.”

“Well… If you want to do a bit more to help…”

Alyssa pressed her lips together, staring for a moment before sighing. “I can’t promise anything more than delivering supplies on our return journey. Not while Izsha is down with a sickness. But, I suppose I can listen and discuss with my companions any possible solutions.”

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing serious like rescuing comrades. Illuna doesn’t have many—if any—slaves and everyone living at the oasis follows strict rules to avoid detection. No one has been captured since I arrived.” Volta’s body double, who Alyssa still didn’t know the name of, shook his head. “No. Rather, in addition to simple food and maybe clothing supplies, I would like to ask that you visit another location and take some supplies there as well. It is not directly on the route back to Lyria, but the detour isn’t so great as to add weeks to the journey. They are not as close to a city as we are nor are they in the middle of a desert, so they can grow some crops and maintain livestock to a limited degree. However, they have had a bit of a famine this year. Over half their crops died with no yield. Some kind of pestilence, I gather.”

“I can’t deliver extra food to you and you have some of the other monsters take it down to this other location?”

“We aren’t really equipped to travel. No horses or carriages. If we ever have to flee, we’ll be fleeing on foot. As such, carrying even small amounts of food isn’t possible as we tend to eat what we can carry.”

“I see. We should have the carrying power, especially if Izsha makes a full recovery. How soon do they need food? Are they starving right now? And how far is it? It might be possible to have Brakkt run down with Dasca, Musca, and Ensou if it is needed right away.”

“They should have enough storage to last even a few months. There may even be another solution down the line. It’s just that this information came to my attention and I would prefer to help them out sooner rather than leave things to chance.”

“Understandable,” Alyssa said with a nod of her head, thinking.

It didn’t sound that bad. She wouldn’t say anything one way or another until she had conferred with Brakkt and Irulon, but a small detour wasn’t that big a deal. And if it let them skirt the edges of the Plains of the Dead, Alyssa was all for it. The biggest problem was going to be the guild. Would they take exception to several communities of monsters? Oz was already unhappy enough about being asked to keep the oasis a secret. Lumen and Catal weren’t far behind him. It was really only thanks to Brakkt and Irulon that they hadn’t told everyone at the local guild tavern about the little community of monsters.

Alyssa and everyone else carrying supplies might be able to split away without too much issue, but her mother would probably go with them. Alyssa really didn’t like the idea of being separated for too long. She could probably take care of herself and Oz wouldn’t let her come to harm willingly. But, especially in an area known for having criminals attacking caravans, Alyssa would feel much safer with them all together.

“I’ll have to discuss it with the others, but I don’t see too much issue. Not so long as it isn’t that far out of the way.”

“Until you agree, I’ll be keeping the exact location a secret. Not that I don’t trust you—I’ve been keeping an eye on you and your group, none of you have mentioned the Oasis thus far—it’s just that the less people that know, the less people there are that can leak the secret to people we would rather not know about our presence. We’re peaceful groups, just trying to keep a low profile and live our lives. But we will defend ourselves if necessary.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to lie down and die. But… It’s a shame that you have to live like that. Since coming to this… uh… land, I’ve been quite disappointed in the treatment of monsters by humans. I think there is a lot to gain on both ends by cooperating.”

“I can’t say that the treatment is completely undeserved,” Volta said with a sorry shake of the double’s head. “Monsters have definitely been the aggressors in more than one conflict.”

There had been a war with the elves several years before Alyssa had even appeared on Nod. Apparently that one had been started by elves. She couldn’t remember who she had heard that from, but it was likely either Oz or Tzheitza. Either way, it did raise the question of why the humans simply didn’t wipe out the elves. Or all the monsters south of Pandora, for that matter. Alyssa wouldn’t condone such actions, but she doubted most of the people of this world shared her opinions on matters. Was it just the current royal family and their passing friendliness with monsters that kept them from taking more drastic action?

Some things would be difficult to wipe out. Gaunts, for one. Dragons were another that Alyssa knew about. There were surely other things that would be extremely difficult to kill. But elves? From what Alyssa had gathered, most elves lived within the mountains on the southern coast. Perhaps that was the reason why. Inhospitable terrain that would be difficult to march an army through. Plus the elves’ penchant for engineering. If only one or two could construct secret passages right in the middle of Lyria, their entire society could fill those mountains with traps, escape routes, and even ways to get behind an approaching enemy.

Thinking about it like that, the elves would probably be an incredibly resilient force.

And who knew exactly what lived south of Pandora. The fortress apparently came under assault on a regular basis, but it managed to hold off against whatever was down there. Gaunts and cursed swords were probably the least of the most dangerous things in the area.

Once again, Alyssa thought to see it for herself. Once Tenebrael fully booted the Astral Authority from Nod, she would have to try to make a portal down there. The Pharaoh wanted one anyway. Though Alyssa did question the wisdom behind putting a portal right next to the largest human city. If hostile monsters ever did smash through the Fortress of Pandora, they could completely cripple the government by slipping through the portal. Probably multiple governments with leaders of other cities spending much of their time around Lyria.

Then again, having the time-manipulating Pharaoh able to act instantly should something happen rather than weeks or potentially months later—if a Message didn’t reach him—might make up for any potential security issues.

Ah well. That was something for other people to worry about. Alyssa would only worry about when, inevitably, something bad came through the portal and started attacking the city and she wound up caught in the middle of it all.

Maybe opening temporary portals would be for the best.

“You’ve been silent for a while.”

Alyssa looked up to find Volta’s fake body staring down at her, lips pressed into a gentle smile. “Just thinking troublesome thoughts,” she mumbled. “Nothing to worry over.”

“I see. I see. You’re staying with the local guild, are you not?”

“That is correct.”

Nodding, Volta looked toward the window. “I’ll have someone along with a list of supplies for both locations. Come see me before you leave and I’ll let you know how to get to the second. As thanks, I do have a collection of potions here. Perhaps some might help with your draken friend?”

“Its body is healthy. We’re just waiting on a bit of information for a spell that will fix Izsha’s mind. I’m doubtful that any potion will help.”

“Unfortunate. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

“It’s fine. Offering is more than enough.” Alyssa stood, stretching a little. “I’ll be back after talking with my companions. If there was nothing else..?”

“Actually, one thing.” Volta turned back to face Alyssa, though neither of her bodies stood to match. “Raugis was asking for the… ‘handsome warrior’ who escorted her here.”

“Oz?”

“I don’t believe she mentioned his name.”

“Probably Oz,” Alyssa said, wondering just what Raugis might want to meet with him about. Surely his lame stories didn’t actually woo her. “I’ll let him know. If she didn’t mean him, he can figure it out himself,” she said to herself, turning to leave. “Thanks for—”

“Ah.” For the first time since entering the room, the cursed sword spoke. She held up a finger, staring right at Alyssa. Her eyes, gleaming out from under her hood, were like daggers as she stared.

Alyssa froze, shifting where she stood. The sword was just staring. Nothing else. Her finger was unmoving in the air like she wanted to mention something, but had simply shut down.

“Red? Something to say?”

“Ah. The sword,” she said. “Eheheh, I want to see it.”

Volta sighed, slumping slightly.

It could have been anything. And yet, Alyssa only took a moment to realize what she was talking about. “Brakkt’s sword?”

“Feel free to ignore that.”

“But I want to cut—”

“Ignore it, please,” Volta said, waving a tired hand toward the door.

“Right…”

Although her mask and cloak covered up almost the entirety of the sword’s body and face, there was still an obvious dejection in her suddenly slumped posture. Alyssa tried to ignore the monster as she made her way to the door.

Just before shutting it behind her, she heard Volta speak in a semi-harsh tone. “I’ve told you before—”

Alyssa put it out of her mind. The servant that had brought her up to the room had been waiting in a chair at the end of the hallway. Upon seeing the door open and close, he quickly stood up and, with hardly more than five words, he quickly led Alyssa back outside. All in all, she was out less than twenty minutes after arriving. A relatively short meeting, but she was just glad that there hadn’t been any big bombs dropped. No threats against her or her companions, no people trying to arrest her for whatever she might have done, no demons sneaking into the city. Just a simple request for help.

It was nice to be not thrown from one crisis to another for once. Especially because the current crisis hadn’t technically been resolved just yet. It was just on hold until Irulon woke.

With that damper on her mildly good mood, Alyssa decided to head back and check on the sleeping princess.

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