For the next week and a half Amelia followed a simple schedule. First, she would wake up in Serena’s arms and give her a blast of healing magic. Serena had remarked that she suspected her body might be getting younger as a side-effect, although she wasn’t sure. The pair of them decided to keep an eye on things.
The next daily task was washing, followed by breakfast and a morning coffee. Serena had raised an eyebrow when Amelia returned with a twenty-pound sack of Jimari coffee beans but otherwise didn’t say anything.
Tomes continued to turn up in the morning and help teach Amelia writing and reading. She was getting good now and could understand more and more complex sentences. She also enjoyed the mathematics books he had brought her and was delighted to find that demons had discovered calculus! Although they used different symbols that felt strange at first, she got used to them. On seeing how proficient she was with numbers, Serena mentioned that her oldest sister, Nina, would get along with her.
They would then proceed to the academy to train. Amelia never saw Mel again, but she caught sight of her brother once, who only glared at her but otherwise said nothing. As she continued to spar and practice her swings, Amelia was feeling more and more confident by the day. The wooden sword now felt natural in her hands and the grandmaster and Serena were pointing out fewer and fewer mistakes.
Still, the first aura lay beyond her reach. It was a frustrating experience. Her experience as a mage only made it more challenging to get her aether moving in the unfamiliar ways required for the warrior’s aura. She was making some progress, although Amelia felt like it was happening far too slowly despite both Serena and the grandmaster telling her she was doing great considering the amount of time she had put in.
“Try imagining a convection current,” Serena said one time.
“A convection current?”
“Right. When you heat a cup of water from the bottom, the heat travels like this.” Serena scratched a diagram into the ground. “Imagine something similar but instead of heat it’s your aether moving throughout your entire body.”
“I tried that! Look!” Amelia focused inwards and flowed her aether around her body.
“That’s not the same,” Serena said, “You’re flaring your aether like a mage and relying on your exceptional aether control to move it while it’s agitated. Aura needs a more delicate touch. You need to inject intention into your aether and let it react instead of forcing the expected reaction.”
That instruction had helped Amelia greatly, and she soon felt she was on the right track. She was given a few more meditative exercises, which she practised as often as possible.
After training, Amelia would wander around the city with Serena. Sometimes Aiden would join them, although he had a growing list of other tasks that would keep him busy. Now that he had sent off the report about Amelia it was mostly a waiting game for whatever the Cascadian government decided.
Serena had been spending more time around the ship as they finished the repairs and installed a new gun turret. The shipment from Ponan had the last vital supplies they needed, and, with the help of the greatlord’s men, they were ahead of schedule.
Serena’s weird dreams had stopped, although Anathor had warned them they might return when they left Kenhoro to sail south. Amelia had questioned Serena about the nature of The Vengeance. Was it alive? Did it have a soul? Her questions only received half answers and an apology. Apparently, the answers she wanted were locked behind doors and protected by Serena’s superiors on a need-to-know basis.
It was a shame Tatiana was too busy to meet up again. Even so, Amelia was happy to make a human friend. Surprisingly, Serena didn’t seem bothered, stating she wasn’t the kind of person to stop her from having friends. She had been suspicious at first, but after her investigation into the merchant came back clean, she didn’t mention Tatiana again other than after their final meeting where Serena made sure Amelia recounted everything she had said ‘just in case you let something slip’.
They would spend their evenings at the inn, training and chatting. On occasion, they went out for food and drinks. Thankfully, there was no more drama or drunken lords to cause problems.
Then the night would come, and without fail, lips would meet lips, and the fingers and tongues of one of them would have the other giggling and moaning. As the days ticked by, they grew ever more comfortable around each other and Amelia would often not even bother to get dressed anymore when she woke up. Instead, she would lounge around naked while drinking her morning coffee, enjoying both the bitter taste and Serena’s eyes on her.
When they finally went to sleep, Amelia would kiss her girlfriend and whisper ‘Goodnight, Ren’ and Serena would whisper ‘Goodnight, Lia’. Their little nicknames became a small ritual that only they would witness every night. A sign of their growing relationship and trust.
All seemed to be going well until one morning, ten days after she had met Tatiana for the last time, Serena stomped into their room, frustration and worry visible on her face.
“What’s up?” Amelia asked.
“Just overseeing the loading of the new cargo down in the docks, and guess who I bumped into? Or rather, who bumped into me?”
“The greatlord?”
“Worse. The Dragon is in Kenhoro.”
“So?”
“So? The man has direct command over the Eastern Admiralty! I’m used to taking my orders from Greatlord Oshiro! That was who swore me into my commission! Bastard…” Serena poured herself a coffee and sat down, mumbling a few curse words.
“I guess he gave you an order?” Amelia asked, sitting up.
“Intelligence has detected movements of Christdom Church agents in Kenhoro and Tanhae. The Federation are up to something as well. Kenhoro’s getting hot.” Serena took a sip of the coffee. “The Dragon wants us to take a civilian cutter down to Shimashina, while Dagon will sail The Vengeance towards Ponan before turning south and meeting us.”
“Why?”
“Because, with so many foreign agents poking their noses around, the likelihood that you’ll be attacked or someone will try and kidnap you is too high. There will be Speakers hidden among the enemy agents, and we’ve already had one fight in the city where Words have been Spoken,” Serena said with a thoughtful expression, tapping her horns. “I suspect it’s some kind of counter-intelligence move. I bet they’ll leak where we go through certain channels to identify leaks and see who moves to follow us or The Vengeance.”
“We? I can come with you?” Amelia asked.
“Of course,” Serena said. “He all but stated he expected both of us. I think it’s fair to assume the Dragon is aware of our relationship now. Which means…” Serena gave a soft sigh. “My family also knows.”
“I can’t wait to meet your family! It’s going to be fun!” Amelia said with a grin.
“Fun is not the word I would use…” Serena muttered.
“When do we have to move?”
“Now.”
“Now!?” Amelia blurted out. It was so short notice!
“The cutter waiting for us at the eastern docks is called The Sakamoto. It’s one of the last lines out before travel shuts down tomorrow or the day after. Storms will start hitting the city any day now.”
“But, but…” Amelia cast her eyes around the room that had begun to feel like a home. “What about our stuff? The masks? My coffee!” She went over and hugged the enormous sack of Jimari beans.
“Ha!” Serena scoffed at her actions. “There’s people waiting for us outside. I’ll have them get whatever we miss and put it on The Vengeance. As for us, pack your clothes in a bag.”
“This is happening so fast!” Amelia cried, “Do we have rooms on this other ship?”
“I don’t know. But it’ll be packed. They probably picked it because it’ll be packed. I bet you whoever’s working behind the ticket office today is an agent in disguise taking notes on whoever has a sudden pressing need to board The Sakamoto.”
“Right, right,” Amelia said as she hurried around the inn room collecting her worldly possessions. She made sure to fill the pockets of some of her clothes with what coffee beans she could, which made Serena shake her head.
Her girlfriend joined her packing, and within a few minutes the pair of them were downstairs saying goodbye to Mister Weng. After exiting the inn, Serena talked to a mysterious man smoking a cigar.
“Can you get the rest of our possessions and get them on The Vengeance?” Serena asked the man.
“Boys!” he called, and a pair of demons appeared from around the corner. “Go upstairs with Weng and get everything that doesn’t belong to the inn. Get it on the ship!” The pair of demons headed inside, and the man produced two tickets which he handed to Serena.
“These are your tickets for The Sakamoto,” he said. “It leaves in an hour, so you’ll need to hurry.”
“Will the ship have an escort?”
“No, not until it gets closer to Shimashina. This is all short notice.”
“Right, we’ll be off then.”
“Good luck.”
With that, they hurried to catch a tram to the eastern docks. When they arrived, Serena handed over the tickets to the demon sitting inside a windowed office who glanced at the pair of them before stamping them. Amelia wondered if that demon was really an agent in disguise. He looked exactly like any bored minimum-wage worker you could find anywhere.
Finding the bay The Sakamoto was docked in gave Amelia a shock. It was very different from The Vengeance. The cutter was made entirely of wood and didn’t appear to have a walkable deck. Instead, a gangway led into an opening on the ship's side. It was about half the size of The Vengeance but looked far sleeker.
“Cutters are built for speed,” Serena explained, “Lightweight and powerful engines. No armour. We’ll reach Shimashina by tomorrow morning.”
They boarded the ship, pushing through the other passengers and their luggage. They found their rooms near the engines in the rear of the ship. They knew they were near the engines because they could feel the rhythmic beating of the lift engine sounding from somewhere close by.
“Guess first class was sold out,” Serena said as she opened the door and peered in. The room was small, with a single tiny bed and a thin table. Amelia’s room was opposite and it was equally compact.
“Like sardines in a can…” Amelia mumbled.
“What are sardines?”
“Small fish. Packed tightly together in a can for transport.”
“Do they taste good?”
“... Nah.”
image [https://i.imgur.com/0ETpTo1.png]
“The Vengeance is prepping to move. Something spooked them.”
Natalia Marakova snubbed her cigarette into the desk. Polina swallowed nervously. “Do we follow them?” Polina asked.
“No,” Marakova waved a dismissive hand. “We do not deviate from the ship’s itinerary. If we do, it’ll blow our cover. We return to Vinay as planned. We have other agents in other cities. They’ll report to us when they see it make land.” She narrowed her eyes at Polina. “Do you have any problems with that, Polina Volkova?”
“No, Team Leader,” Polina said. She knew Marakova was well aware of her personal history with Serena Halen. It was the core reason why Marakova was originally against her coming on this trip. Nevertheless, Polina had been on her best behaviour for the duration of the mission. Never complaining nor deviating from her instructions.
“Target One and Target Two are not sailing with The Vengeance,” Marakova said, prompting a series of murmurs to erupt around the room. “One of our assets has informed us they’re taking a cutter south to Shimashina. A ship called The Sakamoto.”
“Why the split?” One of the men in the room asked.
“Church Intelligence is in Kenhoro,” Marakova explained, “And you know how sloppy they can be. The information regarding the targets taking different routes is floating around in a few circles. It’s an intentional leak.”
“To see who’ll bite?” Polina asked.
“Damn straight,” Marakova glared at the room, “And we’re not biting, understand?”
“Yes, ma’am!” came the chorus of replies.
“We’ll rebase ourselves in Vinay until we verify if The Vengeance makes land in Shimashina, and then we’ll plan our next moves. Alright, get to work. We need to get the cargo on board quickly if we’re going to beat the storm season.” As everyone turned to leave, Marakova called out to Polina. “Not you, Senior Volkova. Stay behind for a minute.”
After the two of them were alone, Marakova slowly took out another cigarette and lit it. The smoke lingered in the air, ticking Polina’s nose.
“You’ve done good work, Senior Volkova.”
“Thank you, ma’am!”
“But your role ends here. Once we reach Vinay, you’ll be heading back to the Bureau. The director has a dozen testimonies he needs you to verify.”
She couldn’t go back! She was so close! “Ma’am…” Polina began to argue her case, but Marakova cut her off.
“You can’t come down south to Shimashina. Your face is known to Target One, and Target Two would have seen a copy of the photograph from your merchant visa.” Marakova clasped her hands together, relaxing back into her chair. “You’ve done good work, but your blessing is too valuable to risk further in the field.”
Polina didn’t say anything. Her throat had gone dry. What could she say? Marakova seemed to see her predicament and distress as her voice took on a kinder tone. “Look, you’ve demonstrated enough competence and initiative in the field that I’ll recommend that the director open you up to more fieldwork in the future. Is that fair?”
“Yes… thank you, ma’am.”
“Alright, now-” Marakova suddenly cut off, turning her head slightly as her eyes became unfocused. “Do you hear something?”
Polina focused on her hearing. There was something. It sounded like…
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“Gunshots!” Marakova explained, drawing a revolver from her person.
“Wha-”
“Silence! Don’t move!” Marakova hurried over to the closed door and pressed an ear to the wood. The gunshots continued, and now the sound of yelling could be heard. “They’ve boarded the ship,” Marakova said with a grimace. She turned and, with a grunt, pulled a bookcase down so it leaned against the closed door.
“We’re trapped!” Polina exclaimed.
“No, we’re not. Go here.” Marakova indicated to the other side of the table, and Polina obliged. For a moment, she thought she was going to help Marakova lift the table to further block the door, but instead, the woman picked up the table herself and threw it across the room to nestle against the door.
Polina saw a faint red glow emit from Marakova’s skin.
Well, she was the team leader for a reason.
“Here,” Marakova said, opening a hidden trapdoor. “No talking from now on, understand? They might have Speakers.” Polina nodded furiously and followed Marakova down through the trap door.
It led to a tight and suffocating crawl space where Polina dutifully followed her team leader until they reached the end. She couldn’t see anything but could hear Marakova fiddling with something metal. Suddenly, a beam of light appeared as a hatch in the underhull was opened.
Marakova placed a finger to her lips and exited the hatch on her back with careful, methodical movements. Polina saw there was a rope running alongside the underhull that Marakova was using to shimmy along. Polina took a breath, said a silent prayer and turned onto her back and exited the ship.
The sound of shouting and gunfire could be heard all around her. Polina could hear men screaming, not knowing if they were human or demon. Together, she and Marakova clambered along the underhull, using the rope that had been fed through metal rings lining the lowest point of the ship. Did all ships have these, or was it set up for this purpose?
Polina swallowed, trying to avoid looking down at the sheer drop underneath them. She focused on moving, putting one hand in front of the other, trying to ignore what would happen if she let go. After what felt like an eternity, she bumped into Marakova, who had stopped. Polina opened her eyes and looked at the team leader who was motioning down.
Polina looked down and saw they were above a platform that held the keel blocks at the ship's bow. This was only a drop of a few feet compared to the deadly fall only a few meters the other way. Marakova dropped, landing like a feline, and Polina followed, only letting out the smallest of grunts as her body absorbed the impact.
They crouched down and snuck between the keel blocks. Above them, Polina could hear the sounds of someone shouting orders. Marakova tapped her shoulder, and Polina saw that they had come to an iron gate. Marakova produced a key and with a click that sounded awfully too loud, the gate was swung open.
Marakova motioned, and they entered the tunnel. It wasn’t high enough to stand so Polina had to awkwardly half-crouch. Marakova shut the gate behind them, and they progressed in darkness for a few minutes before Marakova spoke in a whisper.
“These are the old sewers that used to serve this district before they tore it down to build the docks. Now they’re used for the flood waters in storm season.”
“What happened!?”
“Something in our cover gave us away. A traitor. Someone bribed. A mistake. It could have been anything. It happens.”
“Is everyone…” Polina felt her voice break slightly. She wasn’t tremendously close to the team, but she had started playing cards with them and they had shared drinks more than once.
“Dead? Yes, and if they aren’t, they’ll be trying to find a way to become dead. You don’t want to find yourself under interrogation by demons. Do you have your capsule?”
“Uh… no, I must have fallen out of my pocket while climbing the rope.”
“Take this, put it under your tongue.” Polina felt something pressed into her hand. It was a familiar wax capsule. She placed it under her tongue. “Quiet now,” Marakova ordered, and soon, the only sound that could be heard was the shuffling of their feet and her own frantic breathing.
Time passed and suddenly the darkness grew lighter and Polina could make out details of the wall and ground. As the figure of Marakova in front of her became ever clearer the sound of wind could be heard. They arrived at another gate. Marakova didn’t have a key for this one, so she pulled the iron bars apart with her bare hands.
Red aura really was something.
“Where are we?” Polina whispered, peering out over the edge and swallowing at the sheer drop of a hundred meters or more. The wind whistled and her hair fluttered wildly.
“On the outside of the plateau. We’ll have to climb up,” Marakova said while twisting her neck to look upwards. “It’s on a slight incline, so that helps. I’ll make the hand and footholds for you, alright? Be careful when you look up; stones and dirt will fall into your eyes.”
Before Polina could protest, Marakova began climbing. Polina followed, needing to take more than a few seconds to find the courage to leave the safety of the tunnel. The wind was far stronger than she expected, forcing her to press her body tight against the wall lest it rip her off. She was sure she might have shed more than a few tears, but the wind snatched them away as soon as they could form.
Hand by hand, foot by foot, handhold by holdhold. Polina followed Marakova as she whispered prayers to the Lord. Someone up there must have been looking out for her because eventually they reached the top. Marakova peeked over before quickly pulling herself up and then helping Polina up. They were on a small street, and while Polina could see movement at the ends, it seemed no one saw them climb up.
She wanted desperately to rest but Marakova dragged her into a side alley. They ran for a few minutes until Polina’s lungs were screaming at her.
“Ma’am…” Polina gasped, stopping against a wall. “Please… a moment.” Marakova stopped and for the first time Polina caught a glimpse of sympathy in her eyes.
“I forgot how weak people are without aura,” Marakova said. “Take a moment, Senior Volkova.”
“Ah… Thank you…”
After a minute of rest, Polina felt her heart rate return to normal. They continued through the side streets at a brisk walk.
“Twenty-Four, Long-Hall Lane,” Marakova suddenly said.
“What?”
“Twenty-Four, Long-Hall Lane,” Marakova repeated, “Say it back to me.”
“Twenty-Four, Long-Hall Lane,” Polina said.
“It’s a safe house,” Marakova explained, “In the eastern human district. The key is hidden under the kami statue by the stairs leading up to the entrance.” Marakova turned and stared at Polina. “If we’re ever separated, go there and wait. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes,” Polina answered, “Why are you helping me so much? Wouldn’t it be more efficient if you were by yourself?”
“Silly girl.” Marakova snorted. “Your blessing is more valuable than I am. The only thing worse than you dying is you surviving and being caught. You must never be caught. Understand?”
“Yes, Team Leader,” Polina swallowed nervously.
For half an hour, they moved through the city. Marakova didn’t tell her where they were heading, and Polina didn’t ask. Just as they were about to exit a side street onto one of the busier shopping streets, Marakova froze before snapping her body around.
“We’re being followed,” she whispered, pointing the revolver down the dark alleyway. “Someone with skill…” Marakova handed Polina the revolver and took a few steps. “Guns are no use here,” she whispered. “Run.”
“Wha-” Polina began but was cut off as a man in a robe appeared before her, swinging down a sword to cut her head off. Marakova intercepted the blade with an arm which had taken on an orange glow.
“Run!” Marakova yelled.
Polina didn’t need to be told a third time. She turned and sprinted out of the alley onto the main street, slamming straight into a demon carrying some shopping.
“Oi!” The demon yelled, but Polina ignored him and ran down the busy street, weaving and dodging between stalls and their shoppers. She ran and ran, not knowing if her head was going to be cut off at any moment. When her lungs were about to explode, she turned into a quiet side alley and threw up onto the floor.
“Ah… ah… ah…” Tears formed and she wiped them away. Polina spent a few minutes collecting her breath and her emotions. Was Marakova okay? Polina didn’t know, but she had to keep moving. She tucked the revolver in her belt. Thankfully, the wax capsule was still secure under her tongue, having survived the chaotic events.
Polina gathered herself and kept heading east. She figured she would find the eastern human district and go from there. As she walked, she wiped the worst dirt and grime from her clothes that had built up through the sewers.
She found a pathway to an elevated part of the city where a pagoda was located. As she walked upwards more of the city could be seen below. She was at the south-eastern edge of Kenhoro, and spread out below and in front of her…
Was the eastern docks.
Where a single ship sat docked.
A ship taking on passengers and their luggage.
A cutter, with the name Sakamoto in white lettering down the side.
This was the ship Serena Halen was taking south to Shimashina. Polina swallowed. What should she do? What did her training tell her? The Kenhoro network was compromised. She had the location of a safe house, but Marakova also knew that location. She should assume that Marakova was captured and the location would be discovered.
This meant… she needed to leave Kenhoro. She would need to hide in the human district until storm season was over and then find a way back to the Federation. Or… she could board The Sakamoto right now. Not only would she be leaving Kenhoro, but she would also be able to achieve her ultimate goal.
Was this the best choice? Or was her decision-making clouded by her desire for vengeance? Polina shook her head. In the end, it didn’t matter. She would keep moving on. Until the end.
With her mind made up, Polina followed the path down to the eastern docks, where she saw a group of travellers getting their tickets stamped before heading through a gate. It was a gate she could climb if it wasn’t in direct line of sight of the employee sitting in the windowed office.
She chewed her lips momentarily, thinking about how she could get past. Then she saw that the building the employee was in was lit by aetherlights.
That would work.
Polina waited until there was no one else around and activated her blessing. The world was drained of all colour, and she felt her energy draining. In her vision, she could see the moon crystals in the building’s aetherlights glowing through the walls. She focused on one behind the employee, ignoring how queasy it made her. The crystal was stable but Polina gave it a nudge, telling it to become unstable.
The aetherlight exploded.
“Fuck!” The employee jumped, spinning around.
Polina moved. She walked as fast as she could while keeping her feet quiet. Towards the gate she went. She focused again, and another aetherlight on the ceiling of the building exploded. She heard the employee curse, but he didn’t turn around. She reached the gate. Focusing once more, she picked a lamp in the room and made that unstable. As the final explosion continued, she scrambled up and over the gate and quickly turned a corner.
Using her ability three times so quickly made her feel faint, and she had to rest against a wall for a moment. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself off. She just needed to get on the ship. But how? Polina looked around and saw a small windowed room. Opening the door, she found herself in the employee cloakroom. She found a jacket that looked like someone’s spare uniform and put it on. Grabbing a workhat and fixing it on her head, Polina exited the room.
She approached The Sakamoto as a family was boarding, struggling to move all their luggage aboard. They were arguing in frustrated tones, clearly the stress of last-minute travel testing their nerves.
“Need any help?” she asked, trying not to let her Federation accent come through. Not waiting for a reply, she picked up a piece of luggage. “What room?” she asked. After receiving an answer, she took a deep breath and walked up the gangplank into the ship. Thankfully, the conductor was distracted and only glanced at her. She wasn't sure whether he assumed she was a part of the family or a dock employee.
Walking through the ship, Polina followed the signs to the room. She kept her head down and her eyes low. Her heart was racing. Every time she turned a corner, she jumped in anticipation of bumping into Serena Halen or Amelia Thornheart. What would she do if she saw them? If they saw her? She didn’t know.
She wasn’t ready, yet.
Arriving at the room she dumped the luggage inside. It was a fancy first-class room, but not a place she could hide in. As the family arrived and started bickering with each other Polina took her leave. She needed to find somewhere she could hide. Somewhere where she could find a lot of moon crystal.
Steeling her nerves, Polina walked through the ship.
Towards the engines.
image [https://i.imgur.com/0ETpTo1.png]
“All this happened so fast,” Amelia said, swinging her legs. There wasn’t even enough room to cuddle on the small bed so Serena laid on it while Amelia sat on the table. “What about Aiden? Oh! We didn’t get to say goodbye to Grandpa Gu or Lord Yulan!”
“Aiden will have been updated and he’ll let the grandmaster know something came up,” Serena said, yawning lightly. “Mister Weng will notify Yulan if he comes knocking at the inn. What time is it?”
Amelia glanced at the wall clock ticking softly. “Dinner time! Wow, it’s already been so long! How far do you think we’ve travelled?” The pair had kept to themselves since The Sakamoto had set off. At one point, Amelia had even retired to her own room and napped. The sounds of the engine had lulled her to sleep.
“Eight hours… a cutter like this will travel at fifty knots so… a little over seven hundred klicks,” Serena said while placing a hand on her stomach. “I’m hungry. Are you hungry?”
“Yeah!”
“Let’s see what passes for food around here… come on.” They both left their room and made their way to the dining room. It was a long, thin room with small tables and cubicles to the sides. Waiters moved trollies of food down the centre and at the far side the kitchens could be seen where a handful of chefs worked as they chopped vegetables and sizzled meat.
“Do you have a reserved table?” A passing employee asked.
“No,” Serena said.
“Sit anywhere where there isn’t a reserved sign. Ring the bell when you’re ready to order! Menus are over there!” The employee pointed and then rushed off to collect more plates from the kitchen.
Amelia bounced over and picked two menus then followed Serena to a table. As they sat down, Amelia was delighted to find that she could read the majority of the dishes. The lessons from Tomes were really paying off! Amelia eventually settled on her choice but when she looked up at Serena she found her girlfriend was looking down the dining room with narrowed eyes.
“What’s up?” Amelia asked.
“Listen to what those employees are saying.” Serena nodded in the distance and Amelia focused on her hearing. Two uniformed employees were having a whispered discussion. Amelia’s high perception easily captured the contents.
“A stowaway!?” Amelia whispered, “Someone snuck onboard?”
“In the engine room… they’ve barricaded the door…” Serena mumbled, before sighing and standing up. “I’ll investigate this. Stowaways are not uncommon but considering the situation I’m going to double-check. You never know…”
“Want me to come with you?”
“No need. I’ll just have whatever you’re having. I won’t be long.”
“Okay!” Amelia chirped.
Serena left and informed the employees who she was. After a moment of deliberation, they lead her back down the room, past Amelia and through the doors. Amelia ordered her food and relaxed, humming to herself. She didn’t want to be nosey, but she couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the surrounding conversations. Everyone was travelling for different reasons. Some were trying to return for a family birthday, others for a business meeting. Some were travelling for leisure, while others were catching a connecting ship to go further afield.
As Amelia listened the hairs on her neck rose as something rippled through the aetherfield. Her instincts screamed at her and she had just enough time to throw up a ward around her.
And then the ship exploded.
She had just enough time to see bodies and wood fly against her ward before being lifted off her seat as the room twisted and tumbled wildly. She was flipped in the air and was only just able to grab onto a wooden pillar. Looking at her feet she could see an enormous hole in the ship where the kitchen was and beyond it the darkening night sky.
Chairs, tables, food, and cutlery bounced around the room, along with two dozen bodies, some of which were screaming and the others quiet.
Amelia gritted her teeth and boiled her aether. She threw out a healing spell, covering what she hoped was the entire ship. What else could she do? Where was Serena? She needed to find her.
“Serena!” she yelled out as the wind screamed outside.
“Serena!” she scrunched her eyes shut as tears formed.
“Serena!” she was scared. It didn’t matter how powerful she was. She was scared!
“Sere-” A familiar hand grabbed onto her. It was Serena.
“Serena…” she couldn’t help but blubber as her emotions got the best of her.
“It’s okay!” Serena yelled over the wind. “The engine's blown! We need to get outside! So we can see!” Amelia nodded. Serena looked at the hole where the kitchen was. “There must have been a bomb in the kitchen as well! It’s an assassination! Come on!”
Together, they climbed up the dining room as the ship was now in a nose dive. They weren’t fussy about handholds, using their extreme strength to simply grip into the wood as they pulled themselves towards the hole. As they reached their goal, Amelia threw out another ship-wide healing spell. Who knew how many people were getting hurt by things flying around?
They climbed out of the ship and if it wasn’t for her strength the wind would have pulled her off. Looking down, she could see smoke billowing from holes all through the ship's structure. And beyond that… was the ground. The dark green expanse of the endless forest was approaching faster and faster as they approached terminal velocity.
“What do we do!?” Amelia tried to think how to save everyone on board. She could throw out a healing spell just as they collided but would that help? In airplane disasters, bodies disintegrated. She wasn’t confident she could time it right, and even if she did, could she heal somebody if they were in pieces?
Luckily, Serena seemed to have a plan.
“Can you Speak!?” Serena yelled. “I can’t! I’ll destroy the ship and blow us away! But you can!”
“Okay!” Amelia yelled back, folding the aether into Aseco and then ejecting the remaining aether so Speaking wouldn’t cause a power release. “Aseco,” she Spoke and she felt herself become divine as the godly aether rushed into her body. She glowed an incandescent golden, so bright anyone a hundred klicks around would see.
“Good!” Serena yelled. “Flare your aether as hard as you can! Against the lumina! Hold the ship up!”
Amelia gritted her teeth and did as instructed. Her connection to the aetherfield was extremely strong and by flaring her aether she could levitate against the vast lumina far below. She pressed her aether as far as the First Word allowed her and for a moment she felt the ship slow as the force she produced counteracted against the thousands and thousands of tonnes falling towards the ground.
But it wasn’t enough. She could slightly slow the doomed ship, but she couldn’t do enough to prevent the crash from being devastatingly fatal to everyone inside. The method of generating force from the lumina-aether reaction wasn’t efficient.
The First Word wasn’t enough.
“I need to Speak more!” She yelled, looking at Serena. “The First Word isn’t powerful enough!” As her words reached Serena, her girlfriend’s eyes widened as she registered Amelia’s intentions. A sombre moment passed while they looked at each other with complex emotions.
Serena gave the smallest of nods. “Do it!”
“Promise me!” Amelia called, “Promise me you won’t change how you see me! No matter what I become!”
“... I promise!”
“Okay!” Amelia closed her eyes, focusing inwards, ignoring the screaming wind and the ground rushing to meet them. She focused only on the divine aether inside her as she moulded the aether of Aseco into the advanced Word. It was the first time she had done this for real, but her instincts didn’t let her down and in a few moments it was ready.
Amelia opened her eyes and Spoke the Second Word of the branch of divinity.
“ASCLEPIUS!”
The world slowed to a crawl as it took on a sepia tone. All sound was muffled apart from the ethereal thud that erupted from the divine aether in Amelia's body, rippling through the aetherfield and the mists. The noise snaked its way through the planes of reality as it sought its owner.
It was a knock on the door, so to speak.
After a moment that felt like a dozen seconds to Amelia, but was only microseconds in real-time, an answer came back.
“Oh, mighty and dreadful daemon lord, arrayed in human flesh. Dost thou seek to sully my nature? Dost thou desire my embodiment?”
It took Amelia a moment to register the words being spoken in her mind. The experience of having Asclepius communicate with her directly was akin to being blasted by amounts of aether far denser than any attack she had witnessed in the world so far. No wonder the Second Word was such a momentous achievement here! The average Speaker would be risking their lives just making this initial step!
Well, the deity had asked her a question, and keeping him waiting would be impolite.
“Um… yes, please?” Amelia chirped.