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Breath of Air

Walkabouts

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The city of Illuna was, thankfully, a city. It was large enough to give Izsha a private room in some unused stables outside the city. Brakkt and the other draken had not left Izsha’s side since arriving. Not even to sleep. Brakkt was sleeping on the same straw that the draken were and taking meals there as well. For three days, he had been out in the stables nonstop.

Alyssa had been the one bringing him his meals. They were fairly good meals, bought from the same sort of people that the local nobility purchased meals and food from. Unfortunately, even hurrying as fast as she could, she could feel the baked potatoes and roast losing their heat. She didn’t apologize for it. She had the first time, but now, she just handed the large wooden bowl-like plate over to Brakkt. He thanked her. Without even setting it near the large firepit in the stables to warm it back up, he started eating.

“Irulon finally fell asleep,” Alyssa said. It had been three days since portaling back to Illuna. Three days during which Irulon had been too excited to actually sleep. Like a child awaiting Christmas morning, except children could stay awake all night and the morning would still come. Irulon had to fall asleep. Considering how hard it was to wake her up, Alyssa could hardly believe that it had taken three full days of meditation to actually go down. Now she had to wonder and worry over whether or not Irulon would wake up in a reasonable amount of time.

“Good. I appreciate the update.”

“Any changes with Izsha?”

Brakkt shook his head as he chewed a bit of roasted beef. As soon as he finished, he looked down to Izsha. “None. Aside from breathing, I’m not sure if it has moved.”

Nodding, Alyssa closed her eyes. As she had done every time she came out here, she did a quick check on Izsha’s soul. The draken was still unconscious and hadn’t stirred even once. Similarly, the soul was still and mostly inert inside the body. Not totally. In fact, talking to Izsha tended to help spark those bits of soul-sharing that went on with normal healthy souls. “Don’t worry,” Alyssa said, resting an arm on Izsha’s scales. “With Irulon finally asleep, Tenebrael can help out. At least a little. We might even be able to have you all fixed up shortly after she wakes.”

Hopefully. With even Tenebrael unsure as to whether or not fixing Izsha was possible, Alyssa couldn’t say for certain that Irulon would come up with a solution. But certainty wasn’t really necessary. Irulon hadn’t been idle these last few days. Although most of her research material was back in Lyria, she did have a few tomes on soul research. The dragon inside her head apparently kept a library of just about everything it had seen as well. Her meditations had been as much spell research as they had been counting sheep.

As Alyssa spoke, Izsha’s soul reacted. Bits of it broke off to jump to Alyssa. The reverse was true as well, though Alyssa couldn’t see bits break off her own soul. Still, something resembling a soul jumped to the draken. The interactions were a good sign in Alyssa’s mind given how normal souls acted. More than that, more than just the metaphysical elements, Alyssa took the interactions as being a sign that Izsha was listening. Even if Izsha couldn’t respond, letting the draken know that things were being done and that they had a plan for the future hopefully gave hope. At the very least, it showed that people cared and hadn’t forgotten.

Unfortunately, Alyssa couldn’t do much else for Izsha. Not directly anyway. Not more than she already had. She was acting as the primary go-between for Irulon and Brakkt. With the former asleep, finally, Alyssa wasn’t quite sure what she should be doing. Kasita was sticking around with Irulon to ensure that someone was there when she woke up, but Alyssa should probably join her. She was the one who spoke with Tenebrael on the regular, after all. If Tenebrael was doing something strange, Alyssa might be able to answer a few questions. Or at least try to call down Tenebrael to make the angel answer some questions.

“Anything else you need?”

“I think I’m good for now. I’ll send up Musca with a note if I think of anything.”

The tiger-striped draken, not quite sleeping in one corner of the room, opened an eye and stared between Brakkt and Alyssa. For some reason, Alyssa felt like Brakkt was getting a much heavier glare than normal. Letting out a snort of hot air, the draken closed its eyes once again, settling into a large patch of straw.

“Alright. I’ll be back later this evening unless Irulon wakes. If she does, I’ll probably be helping her.”

He nodded as Alyssa took her leave.

Stepping outside the stables, Alyssa sighed as she looked up at the sky. Flames burned along the horizon. White and black flames licked the otherwise blue sky where a facsimile of Tenebrael’s tattoos hung high overhead. Both the flames and the emblem were fainter here than they had been at the pit. Yet they were still present. It was a strange thing. Something that shouldn’t work. Because, looking off in the distance toward Lyria—almost in the directly opposite direction from Owlcroft—Alyssa could still see the flames on the vanishing point between the planet and the sky. Yet, if she headed back to Lyria, she knew that they would continue fading away.

It was a strange phenomenon. And she wasn’t sure how far it would extend. Could Lyria still see faint flames? What about the emblem? It was even brighter, more obvious. Once night fell, the light show would be the only light in the sky aside from the pasty grey of the moon. That was how it had been the last few nights.

As Alyssa made her way back up the path to the city and through it toward the guild’s headquarters, she couldn’t help but notice that the aura of the city had completely changed. Prior to fleeing from the Astral Authority and venturing off toward Owlcroft, Illuna had been a fairly lively city. People walked around with their heads held high, laughing and generally having a good time as they went about their business. They had walked around as such anyway.

Walking through the city now, people kept their eyes down. More than a few could be seen praying on their knees, asking Tenebrael for… whatever. Forgiveness? Mercy? Judgment of their enemies? Alyssa honestly didn’t know. But they were afraid. It wasn’t just the sky being on fire. The Astral Authority that had appeared for Alyssa had spread throughout the city looking for her. While Brakkt and Irulon stayed behind specifically to warn off people who might try to attack or agitate the fake-angels, they hadn’t been able to warn everyone.

Around a dozen people, four soldiers and several others, lost their lives after managing to kill a Kindness. It hadn’t attacked back, but a passing Patience took off their heads with apparently little effort.

Just thinking about it made Alyssa sigh. If she had kept better control over herself, the Astral Authority wouldn’t have come chasing after her, those people wouldn’t have died, she could have gone to Owlcroft with Irulon and Brakkt, maybe Izsha wouldn’t have… died. Or maybe everything would have gone much worse. Brakkt, Irulon, Fela, and the other draken might all have been caught up in that Justice’s attack. It had been… overwhelming.

Maybe things couldn’t have turned out better. It was impossible to know. Not even Irulon or the Pharaoh’s magic could turn time back for a second attempt. As far as Alyssa knew, while Fractal Mirror could reveal possible futures, there was no spell to reveal alternate pasts. So she would never know.

Opening the door to the guild, she found it surprisingly empty. Martin, the local leader of Illuna, had hired out most of them to keep an eye on the city. Not because of those few guards who had died, but because of general uncertainty. He, like many others in the city, was afraid. The sky had people claiming that an apocalypse was upon them, even though Alyssa had tried to explain that it was actually a ploy by Tenebrael to get those fake-angels of the Astral Authority to deal with the demons.

Lisa was one of the few around. Oz, Catal, and Lumen were all helping keep an eye on matters around the city. Besides Alyssa’s mother, there was only one table of four present. A group that looked quite exhausted. All four were in full armor, maybe having just gotten off a shift watching the city. Alyssa caught a few glares from them as she walked through the room. She wasn’t sure if that was because of the Astral Authority showing up in her wake or because they had been present when she had chained everyone in the room. Either way, she ignored them. With her sunglasses broken, her glowing white eyes were on full display. She doubted that anyone was going to bother her.

And if they did, she had put several hours over the last few days toward drawing out a few dozen more Spectral Chains cards. She wasn’t going to run out unless she had to chain up a whole angry mob.

Which hopefully wasn’t going to be a concern at any point let alone the near future.

“How is it going?” Lisa asked as Alyssa sank into the seat beside her.

“With Izsha?” Alyssa picked a sliver of meat off her mother’s plate. “Still the same.”

Slowly, and somewhat awkwardly, Lisa put an arm around Alyssa’s shoulder and pulled her close. “I honestly don’t know what to say,” she said, gently rubbing the shoulder. “Your father was always better at these kinds of things than I was. I’m… a bit more standoffish. But I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that.”

That was an understatement. Alyssa’s father had always been the one around. He made birthday cakes, he went to school events, he had driven Alyssa when she went on her very first date. As embarrassing as that last event had been, he was always the more… there parent. Not that Alyssa thought her mother didn’t love her or anything. It was just her job. The military kept her away from a lot of family events. One weekend a month, she had to go to work. Plus the occasional deployments that had happened, resulting in her disappearing overseas or just to training forts away from home for months at a time.

Alyssa didn’t resent her for it. It was all thanks to that sacrifice that Alyssa, Clark, and their father got to live comfortably. And yet… it definitely made it much harder to relate. And that went both ways. Alyssa respected her mother, but sometimes she felt a little guilty that most of that respect was the same respect that she might have for a teacher rather than a parent. It was a complicated emotion. One not even completely accurate in that analogy because there was definite love there, and she wasn’t sure that she had ever really loved a teacher.

But still… she didn’t quite know how to act either. Ever since her mother had come to this world, they both had kept each other at arm’s length. Interaction was common, but always a bit stilted, like neither knew exactly what to say or do.

So it was nice to hear that her mother felt the same.

“We’re just a little awkward together,” Alyssa said with a small smile. Sitting in her mother’s arms as she was, she honestly didn’t think she needed much in the way of conversation. “You don’t need to say anything. This is enough.”

A silence of the comfortable variety fell between them. Alyssa didn’t feel a need to speak as she snacked on her mother’s meal. It was still hot. She must have only gotten it a few minutes before Alyssa walked in. Which did raise one question. “How come you aren’t with Oz and crew?”

“Catal is negotiating a contract for the journey back,” Lisa said, pointing to one of the closed doors at the far end of the room. “I don’t think it’s going to go well, but we’ll have to see. Oz and Lumen are on shift for the night watch tonight. They’re trying to get a bit of a nap in before having to wake up for that.”

“I see.”

“Which does remind me… Someone was looking for you earlier.”

“Someone?” Alyssa repeated with a frown. The only people who should be looking for her were people who had traveled here with them. Fela, Trik, Kasita, Oz’s crew, or the royal siblings. None of whom should have been as unfamiliar as to deserve a someone.

“Didn’t catch their name,” Lisa said, confirming Alyssa’s worries.

“And you didn’t know who they were?”

“Never seen them before in my life. Some younger man with blond hair, accompanied by a few children.”

“Fancy clothes and maybe a fleur de lis somewhere on his outfit?”

“You do know him,” Lisa said with a slight accusation in her tone. “You know more about history than I do so I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that both the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate during medieval times were… staggeringly high.”

“Mom. I’m not… That’s…”

“There are also diseases to consider. The lack of contraceptive measures as well.”

“Mom!” Alyssa pulled away, slipping out from under her mother’s arm. “First of all, I know. Second… no.”

“I just want to make sure that you’re staying as safe as you can be.”

Under other circumstances, Alyssa might have thought that her mother was joking. As religious as her household had been, sex had never really been a joking topic. In fact, the only other times she could remember such things being mentioned were during sex-ed as part of school and after her first period. So having it brought up now, Alyssa could only shake her head in confusion as to how her mother thought a mildly good-looking person would lead to anything of a sexual relationship. At least so soon. They had only been in the city for a few days, including before heading out to Owlcroft.

Alyssa was not the kind of person to hop into one-night stands.

“I don’t even know his name.”

“But you do know him.”

“He’s the court arcanist for Illuna. Not sure what rank he is, but probably at least a five. If he is looking for me, it’s probably something magic related. Nothing more.”

“Mhmm…”

Alyssa stood with a sigh. “I should probably go find him.”

“Weren’t you watching over Princess Irulon?”

“Kasita can handle that. Irulon only just fell asleep less than an hour ago. With her having been unable to fall asleep for half a week now, I doubt she’ll be up soon. And I don’t want to wake her early and interrupt anything… and waking her is almost impossible anyway,” Alyssa said, thinking back to all the times she had needed to wake the Sleeping Beauty up. A slight grimace crossed her face. “No. It’s best if she remains asleep until she wakes up naturally, at which point Kasita will likely send a Message.”

“Stay safe.”

“Yeah. You too… The arcanist, he didn’t say where he was going to be, did he?”

“He mentioned heading back to Illuna’s manor.”

“Alright. Thanks.”

Alyssa could not get out of there fast enough. Perhaps when she returned, her mother would come back to her senses. For the time being…

The manor wasn’t a long walk from the guild. Illuna was a large city, but probably only about a quarter or maybe a third of Lyria’s size. Actually getting into the manor was a bit more difficult. It had a pair of guards stationed outside the gate. The quacks of the geese and ducks landed like a trumpet on the ear as she tried to explain that the arcanist wanted to talk to her, but neither of the guards were listening. They had probably gone deaf from all the stupid birds in the yard.

She was just about to give up and leave until the arcanist came to find her himself when another person rushed outside, crossed the lawn, and ran right up to one of the gate guards. The person, dressed as a servant, whispered into the guard’s ear with occasional pointing toward the upper floors of the manor. Following his finger, Alyssa spotted the blond arcanist waving down at her.

After that, she got inside without any complaint. The servant brought her right up a set of stairs to the room Alyssa had spotted from the outside. He stopped at the door, knocked twice, waited for a confirmation from inside, and opened it for Alyssa. Throughout, the servant hardly spoke to her. From his occasional shifty glances, she got the feeling that he was a little nervous in her presence.

Yet another reason to find a way to replace her glasses. She should have asked Tenebrael, but she really hadn’t been thinking about such a small thing at the time.

The room was almost disturbingly reminiscent of Decorous’ office back in Lyria. It was overly gaudy with tapestries bearing the Illuna crest adorning the walls. A fanciful table occupied a good chunk of the room, though there was enough space that it didn’t feel cramped even with a few chairs around the table. Only two of those chairs were occupied. One by the blond arcanist with a little girl sitting on his lap. The other by that heavily cloaked figure that Alyssa had first seen him with when those children came up to bug Fela. Like then, the cloth bindings left no skin visible, though there were some odd lumps, mostly around the right side of the body.

Disfigured, perhaps? Trying to hide it? Alyssa didn’t know exactly what a leper colony consisted of back on Earth, but, if there were similar things here, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that otherwise normal people would want to hide any abnormalities. Though the heavy cloth on its own was something of an abnormality.

The door closed behind her as Alyssa entered the room, leaving the servant on the opposite side.

“I heard you wanted to speak with me,” Alyssa said, remaining standing at the opposite end of the table.

“Indeed, I am pleased you came to me as well. I don’t particularly like to go outside. Small dark places suit me much better than wide open streets or fields.”

Alyssa glanced around the room once again. It really wasn’t that dark at all. Several jars of that glowing potion were set about, providing proper illumination. They weren’t quite as bright as Tzheitza’s brews; whether that was because they were older and nearing replacement or because the local potioneer was less skilled wasn’t a question that Alyssa could answer. Still, she just shrugged it off.

“If this is about the sky, I don’t know when or if it will turn back to normal.”

“Dealing with the demons, is it?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder to the window he had been waving out from before. With the little girl on his lap, he couldn’t turn all that much. The little girl, for her part, just sat and stared at the table. It was a bit creepy, to be honest. Alyssa wasn’t sure which was worse, the man with the kid on his lap or the girl that hardly moved. “Despite the increased presence of guards along the city walls looking for incidents to respond to, there hasn’t been a single infected spotted. No plague incidents within the city either, though three days isn’t really much time to identify and eliminate such things.”

Fela might have been able to do that, but she had been spending almost all of her time with Kasita, Brakkt, or spending the nights with Alyssa. Perhaps she would ask if Trik and Fela would be willing to run around, just in case. Though Alyssa really wasn’t expecting much in the way of plague infections. Not with the emblem of Tenebrael hanging in the sky. The plague struck when faith was low. People were fearful at the moment, but their faith was probably higher than ever.

“But that isn’t what this is about at all,” the arcanist said with a grin. “Rather, is your offer for supplies still on the table?”

“Supplies?” Alyssa blinked. “What supplies?”

“Oh come now. I thought you saw everything.”

Alyssa blinked again. This time, she concentrated for a moment, focusing on the souls in the room.

There were only two souls apart from herself. The cloaked figure and the person… the monster sitting across from her.

She felt like slapping herself. How had she missed that. “Volta?” she said.

The little girl in his lap remained still, but the man smiled.

“So this is what you meant when you said you kept humans from discovering that oasis. And how you knew all about the situation with Illuna and the demons. You’re…” Alyssa let out a small chuckle in spite of herself. “How do people not notice that you’ve got the little girl attached to you at all times?”

“Oh? You can see my true self? Normal people ignore the real me completely.”

“Oh.” It was one of those things. “I didn’t get a good look at you in the cave before you melted your clone into your body, but I really should have noticed. I feel silly now. And that one…” Alyssa looked to the cloaked person. It had to be a monster too. Maybe one of the animal-eared monsters from the oasis, but… with the strange bulges on half its body… “The sword monster?”

“Eheheh…”

Definitely no mistaking that slightly muffled giggle.

“Does anyone know? Martin or anyone else from Illuna?”

“Martin does not,” the blond fake said with a shake of his head. “I believe I have fully infiltrated this city with none the wiser. And I would prefer that it stay that way.”

Alyssa’s smile slipped ever so slightly. “As long as you aren’t causing harm to the people here.”

“No harm. Just a bit of trouble every now and again. Our oasis has been nearly discovered on several occasions. So far, I’ve managed to distract the people here enough.”

“Then there is no problem.”

“Good. Then let us talk a little business about how you can help me out. And maybe I can find something you need help with in return.”

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