Cas was tempted to pull a Mean Girls quote during her round of questions, but she remained professional and kept her questions on topic.
Sara answered all questions promptly, and most of it only served to confirm that Cas’ knowledge of the games was mostly accurate.
For her part, Cas wasn’t too curious about Sara’s personal affairs, and so allowed the conversation to slip into more casual matters.
Sara was a fun person to talk too, as it turned out, and time flies when you’re having fun. Night fell before Cas had realized it, and Sara interrupted herself with a yawn, scratching her chair back as she stood up into a reaching stretch.
“Well,” she said, patting down her dress skirt and looking over at Cas. “It is getting late. Would you like the bed? Oh! Wait, I forgot slimes don’t sleep!” she chuckled, looking attentively over at Cas. “I thank you for all the help, and for keeping me company through the day.” Lowering her arms back down, she winced a bit as her shoulder traveled through a sore spot. “I think I’ll be strong enough to travel by tomorrow. I’m late enough for my post as it is. Can I expect you’ll still be here in the morning to accompany me? I’d be happy to introduce you to ‘civilization’ as you termed it.”
Cas almost couldn’t believe her luck at the offer. “You’d do that?” she perked up, sitting a bit straighter in her chair.
Sara was covered entirely by the shadow of the wall, so that the moonlight contrasted plainly on her delicately smiling teeth. “Of course I would, darling,” she answered smoothly. “It’s the least I can do for someone that saved my life.”
Another yawn took her.
“Anyway, I absolutely must go to bed. I’ll be in the children’s room down the hall. The one with the in-tact wall. fJust kick me awake if I’m not up by sunrise, good night!”
----------------------------------------
Cas, for the first time in a long time, spent the night idly.
She didn’t sleep.
Rather, her chest was full of so many fluttering emotions, and her thoughts so occupied with possibilities, that she found enough in her musings to keep her entertained for hours at the table.
Eventually, even that burned through Cas’s patience however, and she started pacing the floors. A cool wind blew into the room through the hole in the wall, and the charred floor boards creaked painfully with every step.
Cas was just so worried! She was going to meet other people, soon! And she was wearing tight pants… and a fur coat, ugh! She recoiled a bit from the sight of herself in a nearby mirror. She didn’t look bad, but… it just didn’t seem like her personality to wear such a thing. And, there was also the language thing to consider.
The language!
She hadn’t even asked Sara about why she spoke English! How could she forget such a basic thing? How were they going to explain that!
And her status sheet was ok, right? It didn’t look too shabby.
She pulled up her ‘presentable’ screen once again, looking worriedly at the suspiciously high Constitution modifier. Maybe she should reorder it?
Cas suddenly stopped and taking a moment to breath, relaxed…
Turning back into her slime form had that feeling of laziness to it. As her body liquified and dribbled down into the floor, it felt like every cell in her body was relaxing to the maximum extent. And with her body relaxed, she also found her emotions cooled. The electric feeling in her gut disappeared, and the thundering in her heart dissolved, and she was left alone with her mind.
Huh, strange how easily calm came to her, in this form.
She’d be fine, Cas reassured herself. She’d asked all the really relevant questiions. All that was left was to walk Sara over to her meeting and be introduced. Simple as.
----------------------------------------
Cas decided to spend the early morning scavenging, finding a leather purse and filling it with various trinkets she didn’t need.
By the time she’d found match-sticks, Sara – awake now – was waiting for her at the edge of the wide, dirt road that cut through the dilapidated town.
There, Cas joined her and, fixing the bag strap diagonally over her torso, set off with her to the east.
‘The East,’ was quite a fanciful way of putting their heading. In reality, it consisted mainly of a hundred hills and an expansive wasteland.
The fields were barren, and the whole of the earth was scourged. Ten miles of walking had done little to improve the conditions. Even this far away from the village, large scorch marks painted the dirt where acres of trees used to be, and a field of craters where mountains of dirt and bedrock had been gouged from the earth by tremendous forces.
And, all around, the world was silent, not a single bird song or cricket chirp in the air.
Cas felt herself shivering, as the weight of miles and destruction seeped into her. It felt as solemn as a graveyard.
“What happened to this place?” Cas murmured, looking steadily more amazed as the miles passed, and the damage hardly seemed to wane.
“Battle,” came the answer easily. Ahead of her, Sara walked around the craters and burnt stumps like a familiar grocery store. It was disconcerting to see how casually the woman trod through so much carnage.
Eventually, however, even this went away. Twenty more miles of hiking passed, and the surroundings healed, and the craters fell away with the day-light as night fell over the world and they stopped to camp.
Sara seemed in a better mood, now that they were in a living forest.
Cas sacrificed thirty pounds of mass and created a tent clone for them to rest in. Inside, Sara lay down on her back, using her hands like a pillow and staring up through transparent roof at the twinkling stars, apparently enamored by the novelty of a moon-roof.
Cas sat beside her, once again a teenager wearing suddenly baggy clothes and stabbing emotional baggage.
14, as it turned out, was a precarious age, and worries were abound like a whirlwind in that mind of hers. Because, right now, despite her midnight convictions, Cas couldn’t help dredging up her more intense worries.
“So, Sara…” Cas ventured awkwardly, just hating how her voice sounded in the cramped, tent space.
“Yes?” Sara answered serenely, still taken with the view of the stars, and the feel of the aura-warmed air that the tent encased them in.
“Are you sure my status sheet is going to be ok?” Cas asked, bringing up her aura and highlighting the Constitution score once again.
Sara, sensing the genuine distress, sat up to look directly at Cas with a reassuring expression. “Absolutely,” she answered. “Any discrepancy is permissible with a good enough story. Just stick to the story we came up with, and I promise no one will think twice.”
“Are you sure I couldn’t hide it, anyway, though? Just to be safe?” Cas felt a sudden bout of self consciousness as Sara looked over at her, hugging her knees closer to her chest and hiding the lower half of her face behind them. Suddenly, she realized how silly she was being, and felt even more self conscious because of that.
“That would only draw more attention, darling,” Sara reminded, gently, speaking without condescension. “The best way to avoid questions is to answer them before they get asked, after all.”
Huh, food for thought. Cas mulled over that latest saying, forgetting her shyness temporarily and raising her head back up into view.
It was only a second later she caught herself and hunkered back down. “Ok, but what if they ask more questions about the story?” Cas challenged. “According to you, I was supposed to be the captain of a ship. I don’t know the first thing about sailing..”
Sara shifted over, hugging her knees to her chest and mirroring Cas’s posture in a way that put the little girl at ease. “Listen, Cas. Tell me again what you were back in your own world… you mentioned that you were a scholar of some sort?”
“I was a research biologist, yes,” Cas nodded.
“Right, and if your world is anything like this one, I take it that becoming a biologist requires a lot of effort and study and self discipline, right?”
“Right!” Cas nodded, sparking with pride.
“Well, forget all that,” Sara said plainly.
“Huh?”
The blonde woman laughed in a way that mellowed Cas's worries. “Look, the story itself is fine, but the story you say doesn’t matter as much as how you sell it. You’re not a scholar anymore, Cas. You’re the third daughter of a minor king!
“You’re like every other noble child without a real inheritance. Do you have any idea what those lost children are like?”
“Uhm… to be honest I’m not really familiar with nobility, outside of story books and the occasional overpriced wedding, that is.”
Sara sighed. “Look. I’ll introduce you to some, later, but the average third child tends to be wasteful, incoherent, and fancifully unaware of what the word responsibility means. You asked me earlier who in their right mind would waste their life learning the most selfish and useless spell in the world, right?”
Cas nodded,
“You would!” Sara answered pointedly, “as would every other third child I’ve met my entire life. And they would all be exactly the sort of people to buy a ship and staff it with the cheapest crew around while knowing nothing about sailing. Trust me, Cas, the only thing you’ll be interrogated about are how your parents managed to raise such a responsible and level headed child without bribing them with an inheritance. So, don’t worry about it, ok?”
“Ok,” Cas answered.
“And, don’t worry about odd questions either. I’ll step in for you if anyone starts pressing you for details.”
Cas did feel much calmed by that. Although, the pit of anxiety in her gut remained. So close to her meeting with civilization, it was hard not to feel a little excited.
“You said we were close to your camp, right?”
Sara had already laid back down. “Yes. It’s just twenty miles to the northeast. We should be there by tomorrow.”
“What’s it like?”
“Oh, I’ve never been,” Sara answered. “I was called here to replace one of their Psylens. This is my first time working in this region.”
A raised eyebrow dragged Cas’s face up over kneecaps. “If you’ve never been here… then how do you know where it is so exactly?
“What, your game didn’t tell you that?” Sara teased.
“Sara,” Cas said, almost growing with annoyance. Curiosity was genuinely painful at this age, and she demanded relief.
“I can sense them,” Sara answered, tapping a finger to her temple. That’s actually the job I’m supposed to be doing for them, helping them keep track of their soldiers, letting units communicate over distance, that sort of thing.”
Cas blinked back in surprise. Hmm… that hadn’t been a class in the game. Then again, the game had been focused entirely on small group combat. The more logistical elements of magic probably took a back seat to the fireballs and deathrays.
“Wait, so you’re a soldier? Are you with the Kistal army?” That was the human nation, as Cas recalled it.
“I am Kistan by birth,” Sara answered, “but I’m not working with the army directly. I was actually headed here with that caravan as a part of a… strength bolstering mission. The army wanted to hire some outside forces, and I ended up being in a position to help them.”
Cas thought about it for a moment, her naivete wrapped around her train of thought like a rubber band, holding her back from the right conclusion before everything snapped into place and she gasped, pointing an accusatory finger in the woman’s direction: “you’re a mercenary!” she all but shouted, suddenly losing her self-conciousness as the accusation bounced around the cramped walls of the the tent interior.
For the first time, Sara seemed to lose her cool a little.
“I am not,” she denied sharply. “I just… happened to work and travel with mercenaries. I’m more of an adventurer, really.”
“Riiiight?” Cas teased, flexing her sarcasm muscles just a bit.
“Oh, grow up!” Sara muttered, turning on her side and facing away from the obnoxious child.
Cas only giggled, and very soon after grew bored, noticing that Sara had either fallen asleep or was ignoring her.
That was another issue with being so young. You got bored easily. The flipside of that was you could also be entertained easily, and Cas proved this to herself as she dug an arm into her satchel and drew out the gem encrusted doll she’d found in the house earlier.
Somehow, it was more enticing to her, now, and she found herself more interested in it as she focused her aura and forced it into the miniature figurine.
Unlike when Sara took the doll under her tutelage, it refused to dance for her. Rather, the aura – as if under the burden of some massive weight – resisted Cas as she tried to force it into the figurine, and after a minute of intense effort, it was all she could do to make it raise its arm.
Aura: +30XP, +50XP, +20XP!
It was slow going, but Cas found she had a lot of enthusiasm and time to spare in the night.
----------------------------------------
The next morning, Cas reconstituted the tent and gained enough mass and maturity to offer an apology to her guide.
Partially, this was done out of genuine guilt, and more partially out a realization that Sara was about to lead her into a camp full of soldiers, while holding a dozen secrets about her. Safe to say, getting on her good side quickly became a priority.
“Hmpf!” Like any true lady, Sara had an ability to accept an apology like it was overdue debt. “Well, I should hope you’re sorry!” she pronounced sharply. “Prying into a lady’s business is quite the imposition, much less making accusations.” Seeing that Cas was thoroughly, sorry, however, she was quick to mellow. “And… apology accepted.”
“Glad to hear it,” Cas said.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
As they had every morning. Sara was lying back against a tree trunk, and had pulled her top up to reveal the wound in her side. Cas replaced the pressure bandage, astounded to see how quickly the woman had healed over most of the wound, the fist sized wound and exposed ribs now looking hardly any worse than a stab wound.
Which, granted, a stab wound itself was pretty bad, but the injury values here seemed heavily depreciated.
As with any doctors exam, it was quite awkward for all involved, and that had done quite a bit to blunt the force of Sara’s verbal attack.
Placing the new pressure bandage on, and stiffering it, Cas resumed her human form and drew down Sara’s dress. “You’re good!” she smiled.
“Excellent,” Sara stood up, stretching her arms up a little painfully and turning around with that innate sense of direction which had guided them thus far. “This way,” she gestured, strolling forward. “They’ve moved camp since last night, and they’re a little closer to us, though not by much. I think we can meet them by noon if we keep a good pace.”
Seeing the intensity with which Sara took off walking, and with the memory of her wound fresh in her mind, Cas felt some discomfort in letting the woman push herself so. “You know, I do have a transformation that can carry you.”
“No, thank you,” Sara replied adamantly. “I’m quite capable of walking myself, and I’m not looking forward to riding side-saddle, in any case,” she said, fluffing the wide-brim skirt of her dress out to either side in demonstration.
“Oh, you wouldn’t have to ride. It’s like a moving tent, see-”
“And, even if I wanted to be carried. We’re quite close to the camp,” Sara continued on. “I think it’s best if you refrain from transforming until we’re in a more private place.”
“We’re miles away from the camp. Can they really see us from all the way over ther?”
“An adventurer can never be too careful, nor too wise, and wisdom is a field for paranoia,” Sara preached, holding an instructional finger up in the air.
“Sounds like adventuring is a rough life,” Cas commented. “Why’d you take it up.”
“That’s personal,” Sara nodded resolutely.
Cas was aghast. “Hey! I answered all your questions about my life!”
“That was during honesty tea," Sara lawyered. "If you really wanted to know, you should’ve asked then.” With that, Sara picked up her step and walked off, and Cas hurried to catch up.
----------------------------------------
With Sara’s past firmly off limits, Cas decided to pass the time on more important topics. Among their myriad conversations, they included philosophy, the differences between this world and earth, morality, physics, metaphysics, meta-metaphysics (apparently, that was quite a topic in this world), and on all the most difficult and complicated topics, they were able to have amicable, productive conversations, even when they disagreed.
On all topics, that was, except one. In fact, by Cas’s estimation, the one topic that gave them cause to argue was also perhaps the most important, and Cas just couldn’t help bringing it back up for the seventh time as she whined.
“But why can’t monsters do magic?”
“Because they just can’t,” Sara answered sharply.
“Even if they try really, really hard?” Cas bargained.
In truth, Cas knew she was on the losing end of an argument.
Even in Siablo III, she recalled vaguely that most of the monsters she fought in the game didn’t use magic attacks, relying more on crossbows and other tools than the blue laser beams that were ubiquitous on the alliance side of the equation.
At the time she was playing it, Cas thought it was just to differentiate the factions, and in fact she thought it hurt the marketability of the game to not simply rip off star wars and give the bad-guys red magic beams.
“Well, whatever. It’s not that important anyway,” Cas deflected. “Anyway, why are we turning?”
In her haste to change the conversation to topics less embarrassing, Cas caught onto something useful. Namely, the fact that Sara was taking them onto a wide turn to the north.
“Their camp keeps moving,” Sara complained with some annoyance. “Sorry to take you on a goose chase, but unless we can find out where they’re heading, we’ll have to trace their steps.”
“Well, you said you could help units communicate, right? So, couldn’t you like –” Cas placed two fingers to her temple “ – communicate with them, somehow?”
Sarah almost laughed. “Maybe if I strained myself half to death. The enemy unit has a Psylen, too, and she’s closer to the action. She’s jamming everything,” Sarah said with a note of disgust. “Honestly, she’s not even doing a good job of it. Just screaming energy everywhere.” Noticing the slight look of worry at the mention of an enemy unit, Sara rushed to assure. “Oh, don’t you worry. She can’t keep me from tracking them, just from communicating. I’ll be able to get us there in no time.”
Cas replied a bit slowly. “Well, honestly, it’s the getting there I’m worried about. You didn’t exactly mention there was going to be a fight!”
“Well, that’s what army units do?” Sara replied dumbly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I thought it was implied. Besides, you seem like you can handle yourself. Saving someone of my caliber is quite a feat, you know!”
Sara was trying to hype her into doing something stupid, and Cas wasn’t having it.
“I was able to kill those hyenas because I could transform into a flying creature! I don’t know how to fight as a human! I can barely control that aura doll you gave me!” Cas pulled out the aura doll and waved it around like a limp model.
Sara, to her credit, seemed genuinely shocked at this. “You’ve never trained how to fight?” she said, aghast.
“No!”
“But… but, I know you don’t have nobility in your world, but you said your parents were wealthy, were they not?”
“Welll… yeah,” Cas admitted, “relatively speaking.”
“And, they never enrolled you in a wrestling class?”
“That was not my vibe in highschool,” Cas said, not even daring to consider it.
“You never had any fencing tutors?” Sara continued, trying to contain her disbelief.
“No!”
“Dueling classes?”
“They have classes for that?”
“You’ve at least learned to hunt on horseback?” Sara tried, grasping for some last signs of hope.
“Why would I ever learn that?” Cas said, sensing Sara’s indignation, and masking her embarrassment with anger.
“You’re literally wearing a hunting outfit,” Sara gestured to Cas’s riding pants and hunting coat.
“I just thought it looked nice!” Cas admitted with a yell. “Is that so illegal. Didn’t you say earlier noble kids don’t have to know anything about anything.”
“Oh my gods, you really are a scholar!” Sara said with a horrid realization. “You’re saying you’ve never been trained how to formally fight.”
“I’ve never even been in a fight before I got into this world!” Cas said, feeling panicked at the direction this conversation was taking.
Sensing the downward slope of their attitudes, Sara took a breath and came back fresh with a smile. “Well,” she allowed, “that’s fine enough. It’s not like you’ll need to fight in any case.”
“Well, I’m not sure the enemy army is going to give a choice,” Cas said.
“Oh, hosh. Prince Haowi is an honorable man. That I know. He’s not one to conscript the unwilling. You have my word that I’ll vouch for you, and you’ll be placed under his protection until we get back to the city. At most, you’ll be asked to carry water or tend the wounded.”
“I… suppose that’s fine,” Cas said, not able to believe her own words as the thought of imminent war, real war, made her stomach queasy.
Catching on quickly, Sara reassured. “And don’t you worry. Units are always jockeying in this area, but it’s rare anything comes of it, and moreover, I know this to be the safest unit in the entire region.”
“You know that for a fact, do you?” Cas said, recalling many bad car-sales that had started off with similar phrasing.
“I do,” Sara said confidently. “Paranoia, adventure, I already told you the saying, darling, don’t make me repeat it. Anyway, I’m not one to throw my life away for some money. I choose my work very carefully, and I happen to know,” she leant forward a bit, whispering despite their isolation, “that prince Haowi has the Banner.”
“Really?” Cas said. “And what’s that.”
Sara grew a bit flustered at Cas’s apparent unwillingness to work with her here. “I’m saying he has the banner. Not one of the lesser ones everyone’s flaunting.”
Cas was unwilling to give Sara a break from her amazement, however. “I don’t follow.”
“The Banner!” she said again. “Trinket Ember? The first Banner of Ember Regalia?”
Finally, something she knew!
Ember Regalia was a familiar term to Cas.
In Siablo, Ember Regalia was an undefined maguffin that the whole plot of the game revolved around. This first Banner nonsense, however, was new to her.
“I… wasn’t aware that Regalias could have fragments.” Cas answered.
“Well, they do,” Sara replied shortly, “and Prince Haowi has the First Banner. It’s called Trinket Ember.”
“Well, ok, but it doesn’t sound that impressive.” Cas, as her usual tactic for when she became confused, tried for brutal honesty. “I mean, what exactly is an ‘Ember Trinket’ supposed to do-” Cas shut up immediately, when she noticed Sara’s face, which looked like Cas had stepped on a Bible in front of her. “I mean,” Cas corrected herself immediately, “tell me more.”
Sara took a calming breath. “First of all, the proper way to address it is ‘Trinket Ember’ not ember trinket or whatever it was you said. And all you need to know is that I know for a fact that Prince Haowi is in possession of it.” Sara continued, unusually nervous to speak on the topic. “Also, please understand that is to be kept in the closest confidence between us. I only tell you as a show of trust and confidence. The royal family doesn’t like things like this getting around, understand?”
“I’ll keep it to myself,” Cas promised. “Although, I’m still not sure why it matters?”
Sara seemed to be at the end of her patience with Cas, at this point. “I thought you said you played the game!?”
“I did. I’m not going to read the lore logs, though! I have a life… had a life. I don’t even know what Trinket Ember does! I don’t even know what Regalia Ember does! Why is it important that the prince has one?”
Seeing Cas’s true confusion, Sara stepped back, and tried to construct a sentence that would hold all the necessary information.
“Prince Haowi having Trinket Ember means that he’s invincible, darling,” Sarah answered. “It means he can do no wrong. And it means,” she stepped forward, pointing a finger straight at Cas’s heart, “that you will be safer in his unit than anywhere else in the world. There are a million regiments in the grand army, and ten units to a regiment, and only one of those has Trinket Ember.”
Cas looked into Sara’s eyes.
She was sensitive to the fact that Sara was a very convincing woman, but… she also knew the woman had integrity.
Cas knew people like her could make you believe anything, but… they also wouldn’t lie while looking you in the eyes, and she knew for a fact that Sara believed everything she said.
“I understand,” Cas answered.
“Great!” Sara cheered, clapping her hands and turning away to the new location the Unit had encamped in. “We’re just a few miles off, now. Honestly, it seems like fate has brought you here, since you get to see a Banner so soon after your arrival in this world, much less Trinket Ember! Most people go their whole lives without seeing even a lesser Banner, you know? And here you are,” she gestured with two arms at Cas like a proud mother, "ready to see the first Banner."
“Yeah,” Cas sighed, dejected about the nervous feelings which were taking their time working out of her system.
Sensing it was time to change the topic, Sara went back. “Really, though, Cas, you’ve never had any fight training? As in, none at all?”
"No," Cas said again.
"As in, not even an irregular class? Like, winter only classes would technically count."
“Does everyone on this world know Kung Fu?” Cas burst out. “Why am I getting grilled for not spending my free time punching people in the face?”
“Well, everyone of means would learn how to defend themselves, yes,” Sara answered.
“Even scholars?” Cas pressed.
“Well…” Sara hesitated, “most scholars tend to focus their efforts on Magic,” not bothering to hide the ironic laugh that escaped her voice.
“....rude,” Cas replied, finding yet another reason to sulk.
It was just so unfair! No monsters could do magic. That just couldn’t be right, Cas invoked. Like-
“What about night stalkers!” Cas blurted suddenly, sounding triumphant.
“What?” Sara said.
In her excitement, Cas forgot that the marketing names didn’t transfer to this world, and tongue tied herself as she tried to recall an apt description. “You know, tall, humanoid, dark purple. They do psychic attacks.” Cas mimed what she imagined was an accurate ‘psychic attack’ gesture with her arm. “Don’t tell me they can’t do magic! That’s basically their whole thing!”
Sara was unimpressed by the performative argument. “Those ‘things’ are called Chanezzars, and they can do magic, but-”
“Ah, ha!” Cas leapt mid stride. “You admit the truth!”
“BUT!” Sara interrupted, continuing, “it doesn’t help your argument, in either case. They’re not monsters, they’re demons.”
“Oh, come on! What’s the difference!?”
Sara looked at her like one might a crazy person. “Apples and oranges, darling. The difference is they’re completely different creatures! And natural enemies, to boot. Monsters hate demons almost as much as they hate us. Although, it’s hard to find anything in this world that monsters don’t hate. But I digress. The major difference is that Demons…” she paused for dramatic effect, “can do magic!”
She smiled gleefully as she spread her fingers out into the air, sprinkling stardust all around her with a chiming sound.
“Low blow!” Cas scowled, turning away to sulk into her own thoughts.
It seemed her cutscene skipping had come back to bite her. Cas vaguely recalled that there was some difference between demons and monsters. As far as she’d been concerned, they were both just packs of red health bars.
Although, correlating the knowledge with her experience, monsters being unable to do magic did explain how she – along with every monster she’d thus far seen – had a Magic Affinity score of 5. This was low compared to even regular animals like the Zanzibar and Sand angler, who had 10 and 15 in that stat, respectively.
Sara seemed to have an innate sense for when someone had lost an argument to her, though she also had the sense not to gloat.
Still, Cas looked back and was able to note the satisfied look on Sara’s face froze, her face turning pale as horror replaced itself over her expression.
“Sara?” Cas asked.
Sara didn’t answer, except to sprint forward, brushing past Cas and almost knocking her over as she tore up the next hill.
“Sara!” Cas yelled after her, scrambling up to follow.
Cas couldn’t see what was beyond the crest of this next hill. But Sara, reaching the apex first, could, and Cas could see the recoiling horror and awe that froze Sara and place as she stood at the precipice of rolling ground.
Cas sprinted up, tracking dirt and broken ground in a quick few seconds as she took a place next to Sara, although, she was able to see the spectacle even before then, the entire scene burning itself into her mind the moment her eyes peeked over the crest of the hill.
Ember Regalia had many fragments.
The first and greatest of these was Trinket Ember, and it lived up to its name.
Cas was color blind. Truly color blind, living in a world defined by greys and darks and lights.
And never had she been more aware of this fact than when she first laid eyes on the Red Banner.
Trinket Ember stood high over the field. It shone with a brilliant, crimson light that touched nothing except the terrain of one's mind. It felt like Cas just knew it was red, rather than actually seeing it as such, and she knew it was a red so brilliant that no physical object could do it justice.
It was majestic.
It was like nothing Cas had ever seen before.
Most things, you looked at them first.
Trinket Ember was different. It was something so important that it deserved to be known, and it was known.
Every detail of it that it wanted was known.
Cas knew it was red, even though she couldn’t see it. She knew it was frighteningly powerful, despite having no idea what it was. She knew it was noble, and refined, and beyond anything ever conceived.
She also knew that it was in mourning, because its holder – brave Prince Haowi, Kind Prince Haowi, the rightful heir of Regalia Ember Prince Haowi – was dying.
Prince Haowi was dying, and all hope was lost, and Trinket Ember stood vigil high above his body, even as the men scattered, and the flames spread, and the black cloud of monsters descended to feast upon his corpse.
All of this was immediately apparent to Cas.
It was a strange story to know, however, because Cas knew that Trinket Ember was powerful. No earthly force, nothing in existence could stand up against it.
That begged the question: what could have possibly laid low such a magnificent thing?
The answer was also apparent, but in a terrible way.
Off in the distant horizon, barely a speck to the eye but looming large in the frightened minds that cast their gazes upon it, the Black Flag of death rose high – for the first time in ten centuries.
The Black Flag of death, Trinket Sable, had a terrifying presence, it froze the mind and made it realize things everyone wanted to ignore.
The Black Flag of death, Trinket Sable, was triumphant.
The Black Flag of death, Trinket Sable, had orchestrated the death of Prince Haowi, and all that remained for it to do now was wait.
Like the vultures which were its omens, it flew high above the dead and dying.
It had time enough.
For Cas knew immediately upon seeing it, that Death was a most patient creature. It waited on all creatures. The young, the old, the rich, the poor, the most noble princes and wretched beggars.
It was also waiting, Cas knew, for someone just like her to step foot in this battlefield.