Galen Vesa

Thunders rumbled round the horizon, roaring with the voices of condemned beasts. Fat lightnings streaked overhead, blasting the world with infernal lights. Wind peppered my frame with heavy raindrops, howling through the empty streets.

The heavens cried as the spirits wailed. Not that I cared. The punishment they brought upon themselves.

My feet froze at the last step of those old stone stairs that once brought me to this guild and into their life. Now? The same stairs stood as a barrier I could not breach. At this time, I wasn’t even sure why have I come here. Earth voice still rung in my ears.

“Blood, yes. Blood a plenty. This world shall bleed by your choice my child.”

She spoke, sadness spreading over her face from her eyes.

“But that is only one of the paths you may take. One you best avoid.”

Her voice drowned in a rustling of leaves. So soothing. I almost let myself be swayed by closing my eyes and letting my mind drift away to the sound of her lullaby. For a moment at least. Not a while ago I would not realize but now, Rooth may not been the gentlest teacher yet his ways brought results and I knew. I could sense the power flowing around me. Opening my eyes, I pushed out my mana and blocked her magic.

“Oh dear, I’ve been found out. You have grown my child.”

I knew my attempt at that time to cancel her spell could be called nothing but clumsy at best and yet, she did not persist. Acknowledging her guilt, she waved off her charm.

Above my head another thunder rattled glass in nearby windows. Why had she told me of all that?

Such honest words, I would not expect it from one of her kind. Neither would I expect the face she made when my head rested on her lap. I think I could have stared endlessly in those sad auburn eyes hanging above me. Whether I believed it or not, that creature held some feelings toward me. Motherly love perhaps? As if I could even fathom that.

Out of the four she seemed the least obtrusive and, I am not sure, amiable? Yet I accused her of all sorts of wrongdoings. Even when she came to my aid, in time when I had no suspicion of how much that help I needed.

“As much as I enjoy your company, I do remember I have time and time again forbade all of you from approaching me without me asking. Weren’t these orders absolute? Or is the law you lot flaunt every so often but an excuse to justify your own biddings?”

A smile appeared on her face, golden locks raining down her shoulders. Even in disobedience the earth spirit queen remained beautiful and even now when the others raged, Earth remained calm.

“My child and my love, our law is absolute and unchanging however, it is only but a set of rules. Rules that, shall we say, leave a bit of room for interpretation.”

Was she warning me with that statement? What did I say to her when she held me?

“Interpretation you say?”

“Yes. Interpretation and hierarchy. Every spirit must follow the contract signed with their master. Be it as simple as filling a basin full of fresh water each day or as abstract an order as protect this household or even better, protect me. We must follow such orders but how should one interpret them? Should I protect you from a knife shoved between your ribs in a dark alley? Should I prevent you from drinking your favorite vine since alcohol deteriorates mortal’s health? Or perhaps I should lock you up somewhere where no harm can come to you? Perhaps while I am at it, maybe I should prevent you from breathing since air can carry poisons and diseases? Doing so, would I be protecting you? The vaguer the master’s orders are, the more freedom we have in carrying them out.”

A warning or a threat? Maybe both? Yet, I could not find a single fault in her logic. Except, it did not explain how she could so blatantly ignore my previous wishes.

“You are mistaken my child, thinking that I am in breach of our contract. In fact, I am fulfilling it to the best of what is required. We have sworn to keep you safe while at the same time you demanded from us to keep our distance however, the wish to keep you safe came first thus is higher in hierarchy and enables us to disregard conflicting orders if following them would interfere with an earlier wish.”

Was her defense against my claim.

“That’s mighty convenient for you, isn’t it?”

She smiled at that. A true smile. Try as I might, I could not smile like that.

“Ah, my child, I believe the word you were looking for is cheating. Mortals tend to accuse us of that.”

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I looked behind my back and surveyed the deserted plaza. Rain had banished town’s folk into their homes or perhaps even cellars so they could wait out the unfolding nightmare. But was I alone? That I did doubt. Cheating seemed to be their second nature.

I asked her then, but I did not expect such human answer.

“In this empire murder is a severely punishable crime and yet, the empire’s own knights are often killing people. Are they breaking the law?”

Quite a simple question yet impossible to answer without knowing the exact circumstances.

“It depends on…”

“Interpretation of law.”

Such a smug smile she wore when she spoke of it. What else did they interpret?

Uncertainty crept into my mind just like lightings crawled and crept over the clouded sky. I should not be here. Realization hit me like a hammer slamming into a wall. I turned and I may have even left had the guild doors not swung open.

“How long do you intend to stand there, young lady?”

Worried canine eyes gleamed at me, reflecting yellow light of a single candle that burned inside the lantern Altina held.

“I’m neither young nor a lady. It was a mistake I ever came here.”

“A, perhaps. Though, may lord Shamuu have mercy on us, it is one mistake you and I already made. Come, do not bother yourself with what you cannot change.”

She held the door ajar and waited. Must I drag them into my madness?

“There are four, corporal spirit queens arguing in my office as to who’s to blame for whatever quarrel they had with you. I endured that. I think I can survive whatever trouble trails you.”

Perhaps if she knew all this madness happening outside was caused by her own involvement, she might had stayed her hand before it opened her guild doors and waited until I was long gone. As far as I could tell, her eyes bore no ill intent. But who am I to judge that? Earths eyes were equally calm when she confessed their wrong doings.

“My child, you praise me even though I am scheming sinister plans behind your back?”

“Are you now? Then why tell me?”

“It is also part of my scheming.”

Again, that smile. I was a fool to trust that gentle smile.

“Eh, I don’t get any of you.”

“The feeling is mutual, my child. Even though I am the second oldest, younger only to the everlasting flame, minds of mortals remain a mystery to me.”

Someone like her, hmm, I wouldn’t mind befriending someone like her.

My fists tightened at the memory of a voice that came from within me, one I did not recognize. It spoke of thoughts I never had before. Or perhaps of thoughts I could no longer recall.

No matter, it just made my choice so much easier as storms began to form within the mist. The Jailers chains are cold and unmoving, yet would he be able to stop what lurks out there? Will I be swept once more? Perhaps it should frighten me? I… I know I felt like this before.

Where and when? Why don’t I know? It’s all lost within the mist.

Earth had hummed a lullaby of sorts as my mind wandered. Something a child would like. It tawed something within me. It coaxed my own voice to speak what I did not dare mention even in my own thoughts.

“I feel lost. As if I am standing on the sideline, watching my own life passing me by. Drifting away. I do not know what I am anymore. Again.”

That’s what I told her. That’s how I felt. A toy in hands of… just who played with my life? The undying? The odd one? Gods I knew not and cared not to learn of?

I gazed into the Earth’s eyes, looking for answers nobody would give me but she only shook her head. Whatever she knew was not meant for my ears.

“Tell me, the mist. Have you seen it?”

For a moment she looked away, drawing in a heavy sigh, her chest heaving with pain.

“Yes.”

Then she knows even more.

“If… that what hides within the mist comes. Will you stop me?”

Somebody had stopped the mist before. It should be easier with their power combined.

Silence? Perhaps I’ve been asking wrong questions altogether.

“Can you stop me?”

A single, shining, silver tear slid down her cheek.

“We will try.”

Her reluctant whisper reached my ears and stayed long after she was gone.

“It is what we are scheming for.”

“Then, that guild and the wolf? Is that also part of your scheming?”

“Yes.”

The Queen did not protest, nor did she offer any excuses.

“You did something to her. She is different somehow. When I am near her, my body knows. Well, whatever you did, do not involve her.”

“That is not for you to decide my child. She made her own wish, aware of what it would entail. There was no trickery on our side when we told her our price.”

Again, why would all those people put themselves in harm’s way on my behalf. Why? Anger howled within me.

Why?!

I think I have lost all my reason in that moment when I called their names and ordered.

“If it will come to what I think may happen, you shall choose to protect her life over mine and disregard all my previous wishes.”

“That shall be so.”

Their voice sang in unison. Their anger so strong it put tart taste in my mouth. Fire roared and somewhere in a distance a mountain erupted with her rage. The Water cried her tears brough down this downpour.

Standing at the steps before her, I wondered, what would the wolf do have she knew all that?

“You are not a monster.”

Altina’s voice almost died in a thunderclap.

“If that’s what bothers you, I have heard of no monster that would jump between a blade and a stranger. Neither does a monster risk its life to save some children. Whether you were a wraith of doom in the past, I do not see that in your present and future is never set in stone.”

“Did they tell you…”

“No. But I heard enough of what they quarreled between each other. Of your self-loathing and your desire to trade your life for mine.”

While the heavens cried, we stood staring at each other. Me drenched and lost. The wolf with a look I could not decipher.

“Merciful Shamuu help me, get inside you damn treehumper. It is pouring outside, and my fur is guzzling moisture like a sponge. I hate having wet fur. It reeks.”

She pulled me in and locked the door, her claws digging into my arm.

“Thank you.”

I thought I should say it. At least in the movies people usually did in such circumstances. Altina acknowledged that attempt with a grunt and pushed me towards the hidden stairway.

“A, before we go, strip and toss your dress into that pot. You are dripping. I will not tolerate puddles in my home. ”