“Are you ready?” Lia asked Yel who was sitting on the edge of the dock. His was back turned at Lia and the rest of the island.
Sitting that close to the edge was quite dangerous, especially if they looked as careless as Yel did. If it were anyone else Lia would have been worried and chased them away from the cliff, preferably inland but it was Yel. Even if he fell, he could walk back in the air.
People like him were rare. Air was not a common attribute though it was less rare in Levis’eus than in the Empire. I wonder if it's because it is in the air, Lia thought. It was a simple way of thought but most of the time the simple answer was the truth. Nature moulded people’s souls throughout their lives. The environment was one of the biggest factors in the acquisition of an attribute, though not many acquired one.
Nevertheless, the winds rarely listened to people; the minds and souls of the wind spirits were free almost to the point of not manifesting a consciousness and people loved by the air were also like them. Free-spirited and careless. This also contributed to the rareness of Windbearers like him. Not only they were rare by nature but also, they often died prematurely.
“If I can find…” Yel quickly went through his bag. Lia couldn’t see it at first as his back was turned at her, but he had a bag on his lap which he excavated into. He first pulled out a few books, all of which Lia had already read. They were her recommendations. A few story books and a few grimoires.
He then pulled some potions, brimming with various colours. Mana potions were quite useful in travels. One never knew when they would need mana and not have it at a critical moment.
“Finally!” Yel shouted after completely unpacking his bag. At least he didn’t have much packed in there, Lia thought.
He then picked the pair of goggles and wore them like a necklace as he turned back. “Yes. I am ready. I hate flying without these.”
“Great then. Have you seen the others?”
“No.” Yel shook his head. “Inni is probably still packing.” He put his stuff back into his bag, but Lia took one of the books before Yel could get to it. She had known Inni for a long time. Lia knew very well she would be late. Quite a lot.
So, she inspected her old friend. It was a book she liked to read when she was little. Or watch, to be honest. The book had more pictures than it had words. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why Yel tolerated reading it.
“It’s in better condition than I thought it would be.”
“You swore I would never see another sunrise if it happened to be damaged.” Yel gulped as he remembered the way she worded it. “It sounded more like a promise than a threat. I kind of took that seriously.”
“Good.” Lia smiled and Yel felt the goosebumps. There was something in those blue eyes that sometimes terrified him. These were one of those times.
Lia on the other hand, of course, wouldn’t kill someone just because of a book but humans were tenacious beings. They could keep on living without any limbs. Books, on the other hand; when one page gets ripped, the thing becomes useless.
This particular one was luckier than most. There were no missing pages or no damage. Perhaps because it was about the God-Emperor Vaella himself. About how he saved people from evil, how lived amongst the people and founded the Empire.
“You finished it yet?”
“More like skimmed.”
“Did you like it?”
“Kind of. The art carries the story though. The rest is just… simple. There are bad guys and Vaella kills them. Quite predictable after a few pages. Evil guys don’t even stand a chance, but I guess that’s what you expect from a god. I kind of got bored but the paintings… they were excellent.”
Lia sighed. That was the exact answer he anticipated from Yel. At least he read it. She consoled herself. That alone was a win. Yel respected the words and the books but rarely engaged in reading them unless it was absolutely necessary. He once told her that from his eyes all the books were like a grimoire, containing only sleep spells.
“What about Lad and Vir’ni?” She continued.
“Lad was here a moment ago. He told me he would get Vir’ni. I guess he won’t be arriving any sooner than the red bush.”
“You know she hates that nickname, right?”
“She won’t hear it if you won’t tell her.” Yel smiled at Lia for a brief second but just as he noticed something behind her, the joy in his smile quickly turned into dread.
“I heard that!” The approaching mass of luggage that was Inni shouted.
“I would have burnt you if it weren’t for these.” The bundle of bags she had strapped onto her back was almost twice her size yet that was not all. She carried two more bags in each hand, one of which was in a weird shape. The case for the bow, Lia thought. A new one.
Her clothes were new too. She wore a red cardigan that reached down to her knees, a yellow shirt, and a pair of brown trousers. With her curly orange hair tied into a ponytail, she looked like a walking flame.
“At least I wouldn’t have to wait then.” Yel whispered to Lia, but his voice was still loud enough for Inni to hear.
“What did you say!” Inni could barely speak between her heavy breaths. Drops of sweat trickled down her skin and her amber eyes shone with rage.
“I was saying I was going to get them for you.” Yel got up, leaving his bag down and getting Inni’s off her back. He put those down as well, there was no use in carrying them when they still had to wait for Lad.
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“How the hell did you manage to pack so much stuff? I don’t think I could do that even if I packed all my stuff and myself.”
Yel thought that the bags looked like a portable jail for whatever thing unlucky enough to be Inni’s. He doubted some of the smaller ships getting docked and disembark there even right now could carry them all. There was a limit to the magic crystals that carried those boats. The crystals harnessed the powers of the wind spirits without the help of a Windbreather. Just like him, the crystals had a limit to what they could carry and exceeding that limit would result in a fall.
“It is not my fault that you wear the same thing every day. Some people need to change once in a while. Especially after they get spider viscera all over their clothes. And sand. Lots of it.”
“Hey!” Yel paraded his clothes, shaking his shirt and turning around. “I wash them. Clothes don’t just magically become unwearable after wearing them once.”
“Yours need to be burnt. Not washed. You look awful.”
Lia was more in the middle of Inni to Yel spectrum. She didn’t like wearing expensive and shiny clothes like Inni. First, they were damn hard to maintain and extremely costly. Much more than an apprentice at the Levis’eus could afford.
Inni being the youngest daughter of the house Ruiz had no money problems. She also didn’t have any problems with taking money from her parents. For Inni it was their job to provide for her.
Being old enough to start a family and still asking for allowance was not something Lia could do. Even if she could, she believed that a house shouldn’t waste money to clothe their lords and ladies with different silks each day when it could be used for the people.
On the other hand, Inni had something right going on. Yel had worn the same clothes ever since she met him half a year ago. Still the same light grey shirt and brown pants with a waistband of red and blue strings woven into a belt. They had patches and holes in them which he refused to do something about.
Lia couldn’t also wear things like that. She was not representing just herself but also her house, the house of god. A fine white shirt and a pair of black trousers made her feel not too shabby and not too noble. She was often mistaken for a servant of Inni, but she liked it when people didn’t recognize her.
“If it were up to you everything would have to be burnt down.” Yel raised his voice, brows knitted, one hand in the air but the argument quickly died as something colossal above dropped right behind them, shaking the whole dock, almost ripping it free from the rest of the dockyard.
Everything shook, including the trio but they managed to stand still after springing up for almost half a meter. This agility, however, wasn’t inherent in Inni’s bundle of bags. The bow case which sat atop the mountain of the luggage couldn’t withstand the earthquake and slid down the hill like a sledge and fell off the dock into the desert.
The great wyvern stood tall behind them, Lad sitting on top of his neck. Inni fuming at them, righteously.
“If you want to catch that adventurous friend of yours, hop on quickly. Bows don’t do well after a ten-kilometre fall.”
***
The way they departed was a lot different than what Lia had in mind when she was watching Yel and Inni bicker.
Lad was going to arrive both with Vir’ni and the needed papers to disembark. They were going to give them to the officer that anxiously paced back and forth watching Lia and her friends sit on the edge of the dock. Then finally, they were going to leave the island and begin their mission.
What happened instead couldn’t have been more wrong. After Lad prompted them to jump on the saddle that was strapped onto Vir’ni’s back, they all followed his orders without a second thought. They hastily jumped over the giant saddle and tried to pack their stuff as Vir’ni took off. Lad didn’t even wait for them to tie the luggage down; he just threw a paper plane at the officer which Lia thought to be the papers that he was supposed to bring as he dived headfirst.
Lia had to bind the bags, moulding her mana into an invisible blanket and wrapping them tightly. She used that as a sort of shield usually but it was useful in situations like these too. While she held the bags, Inni and Yel screamed and held on to Lia so that she doesn’t fall while focusing on the shield.
Naye had told Lia that his travels would not be easy, but Lia didn’t know that Naye’s words would be proven this soon.
They dived down and down and left the cluster of islands behind. After a while, they escaped the protective bubble around Levis’eus and felt the sun on their skin. Inside the bubble, Levise bestowed her worshippers a safe haven, a paradise of never-ending spring. Everything there was as calm as an afternoon nap.
Out of the bubble, it was cold being so high in the sky. A lot colder than what one would expect after seeing the endless sea of crimson sand below. They were beneath the islands but still far higher than even the tallest of mountains in Nevra.
As Vir’ni fell faster and faster it got even colder with the winds. Lia lost the sense of weight as her feet slowly lost footing on the saddle. It felt like she slowly rose into the air but what was happening was the Vir'ni falling even faster, his wings pulling the ground closer.
Yel pulled her down to the saddle as she slightly lost focus. She almost let the blanket of mana disappear but managed to keep it in place until Inni tied the bags down to the saddle.
When the emergency was diverted, they looked down and saw the bow’s case. It was spinning in the air as it fell.
Vir’ni clapped his wings harder and harder and soon, they reached the bow and Inni caught it. Then Yel caught Inni who almost fell off the wyvern during the process.
After that, the ride was surprisingly calm. Other than Lia and Inni’s screeches at Lad there wasn’t much of a noise. They were hard to hear with all the winds.
A few hours later, they all calmed down and started to enjoy the ride to the south. Crimson sands beneath, blue sky above they flew for hours and finally met the sea.
The Sea of Adril. The silent abyss between the endless deserts of Nevra and the green fields and rivers of Revera.
The sea, however, wasn’t as calm as it was supposed to be.
An uneasiness grew in Lia’s heart, an anxious feeling that the others didn’t sense. That feeling grew larger for minutes and then, Lia saw the darkness gathering in the west.
The waves of the dead sea raged as the dark clouds rose over the horizon.
“That is not normal.” Lia looked west and saw a storm. She had never seen a single wave in the Sea of Adril before. They were at a safe distance but still, it was weird. “There shouldn’t be any storms there.”
“Why? Because it's dead?” Inni smirked, holding her with one hand. The winds tried to sweep through the orange clouds for a hair.
“Actually, yes. The spirit of the sea died aiding Lord Vaella in his war against evil. Ever since the sea is calm. Mourning.”
“Yeah. The sea has been emptied for a while. There is no soul, no essence but still, things live there. Far deep. Make them angry and be quite unlucky then boom! You have a storm” Lad made an impression of an explosion, his hand opening from a fist immediately. “They make travelling quite the pain in the ass. I know people who got stranded on a piece of rock for weeks. ”
“You are talking about the Sea Serpents?” Lia asked, a brow raised in curiosity. “Aren’t they gone?”
Lad laughed. “To where?”
“I don’t know. I just assumed they were gone with their master.”
Lad smiled. “They wait to avenge. And to be pricks. They are one of the most annoying creatures the seas have to offer. Other than a single friend, I have never met anyone who loves them, and I met people all over the world some of which loved quite questionable things. Even that one friend only loved them as clothing. A thousand-year-old vendetta can make one… quite unbearable.”
“I would be more than unbearable too.” Inni joined. “To kill a spirit? That is outright blasphemy. I can’t imagine what kind of a monster would do that.”
“I guess Vaella was right to kill those demons in the book, right?” Yel looked at Lia.
“Definitely. And if I’m not mistaken the killer of Adril was punished accordingly. Burnt at the Eternal Fire at the capital.”
“Oh! No.” Yel hit Lia’s shoulder. “Is that in the book? I haven’t read that part yet!”
“It is…” Lia’s face soured.
Lad smiled. “I am afraid she had just ruined the story for all of us.”