The last thing Alexia expected after being put on death's door was for her enemy to make her tea. Yet there she was, inside the house of the man who had been responsible for the very curse that stung her hand. Alexia had chosen a more minty blend, still surprised by the variety the man had. Cyrus’ love for the orcish delicacy was only outmatched by his love of fiction, something that was clear through the presence of numerous bookshelves in every room save the kitchen.
Across from her sat Laurolia, the plant girl’s eyes locked on her like a predator stalking prey. Alexia glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes in an attempt to make sure they didn’t try anything. It was clear as day that Laurolia had zero trust in her, the only thing which held them from trying to murder the human girl being Cyrus. Alexia silently prayed to the Oracles that she survived the night.
Her attention was drawn away from Laurolia and to Cyrus, who set a warm cup of tea down on the table she had been told to sit down at. He sat down so that both Alexia and Laurolia were before him, something easy to do with the small circular nature of the table in question. He took a sip of his own tea, one far more fruity than he usually had but he found it perfectly fit the mood.
“I hope it is to your liking,” He tells Alexia between sips. Alexia was caught off guard by the man’s relaxed and somewhat joyful tone.
She looked at her own cup of tea that he had set down for her. The green hue of the tea and minty aroma was already pleasant enough, yet as she lifted said cup to drink it, she found the quality was only outmatched by that of Rashi’s own mint blend. It was some of the best she had enjoyed in her short seven months alive, and a smile crept onto her face as she drank it. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was until she set the cup down, half the tea already gone.
“Not bad,” She told Cyrus. “Only had one other cup that was this good in my life. Strangely enough it was on the day I first met Laurolia.”
“I assume it was to calm a girl wondering what the hell she had just witnessed?” Cyrus asked smugly. He didn’t get an answer, but the sudden avoidance of eye contact told him all he needed to know. “I don’t blame you, just so you know. If I was a good two thousand years younger I could imagine being just as shocked,” He turned to Laurolia, the plant girl clearly not happy at his words. “You don’t have the friendliest appearance.”
“I am aware,” Laurolia responded. “I’m not… supposed to be… able to mimic elves and… humans. You are not one… of my prey,” She looked down at her elven form and placed a hand on her neck. “Before I consumed Elenori, I was… not thinking like your… kinds did. I can’t tell if… I’m more elf or… plant now.”
“A result of the experiments she put you under?” Alexia asked. Laurolia shrugged, a response that got a sigh out of the girl. “If you don’t know that I guess we will never know.”
“Indeed, and while this conversation is enlightening it is not what we are here for,” Cyrus says, putting his tea cup down and turning. Alexia and Laurolia nodded, the latter grateful for the subject being changed. “Alexia, once upon a time the Council was the right choice for the world. The code of light is a sign of that.”
“Yes. Through the code of our world Oracle, Vas’e’lou, the Council of Peace decreed that all innovation that could lead to horrific war must be stopped,” Alexia recited. She had heard all of it before from Halerosh. “Thus why she granted Alabaster immortality… right? Vas’e’lou granted him immortality because he saw what innovation could do to the world. Through his guidance Eurea was told what was deemed dangerous.”
“Alabaster has eternal life, but he isn’t immortal,” Cyrus quickly corrected the girl. “Immortality means nothing can kill you, yet from what I hear he is currently dealing with cancer,” He takes a quick sip and finishes what he is going to say. “Wouldn’t need you around if he wasn’t gonna die from it.”
“I did not know the difference till now. Still learning some of the basic shit, being only seven months old and all,” Alexia said, a shrug added to the end of the sentence. “Still, I knew that and I know I’m nowhere near ready to take his place,” She crossed her arms. “I’m assuming there is something more you haven’t told me.”
“Yes,” Cyrus said. He put the tea cup down again and clasped his hands. “As you are aware, “Lords of Terror” are picked out by Vas’e’lou themselves. They are meant to be a guiding hand to the world, a means to help keep the world moving forward,” He shook his head. “Yet as time passed, their cause was lost by a dying Vas’e’lou.”
While he had said those words calmly, they had left Alexia shocked. It was known that Oracle’s weren’t immortal, that they had lifespans just like all creatures, but the idea of one dying and no one knowing terrified her. After all, the life of an Oracle was tied to the planet they created and kept the history of. If one was to die, then the planet went with it unless another Oracle took their place.
It was for those reasons that it was only three possible words to reach Alexia’s lips. “Vas’e’lou is… dying?”
“No, Vas’e’lou is already dead,” Laurolia explained.
“Don’t try that bullshit with me!” Alexia said as she slammed her hands onto the table. “We would all be dead if Vas’e’lou wasn’t still alive!”
“Normally you would be right, but Laurolia is correct,” Cyrus explained. He did his best to hold in a sigh at Alexia’s sudden outburst, his table getting stained with tea ever so slightly from her hands slamming down onto it. “As I said, the cause of those we know as the Lords of Terror was lost as Vas’e’lou’s lifespan reached it’s end. As she died, her mind started to go with it, and those she brought to our world became less and less heroic. For this, she begged Alabaster, the last Lord she truly trusted, to do one thing: make sure those her mind summoned would not bring death to her beloved planet.”
“Something they still do to this day, as those we know as the Council of Peace.” Alexia said, only for her face to turn to an expression of shock as she realized something. Cyrus smiled as he saw it. “Wait, if Vas’e’lou is dead, then another Oracle is in charge of Evra now. That would mean that this Lord of Terror isn’t the product of our Vas’e’lou but–”
Cyrus nodded and kept quiet, believing it was better for Alexia to come to terms with it herself. The girl never finished her sentence, but she didn’t need to. Even if he didn’t say the answer outright he had led the girl to one possible conclusion: this Lord of Terror wasn’t like the others. They weren’t the result of a dying all-powerful being, but of one that had yet to show themselves to the world.
“There is one part of that though that doesn’t make sense,” Alexia said after five minutes of silence. “The pool of light found in the Hall of Light is directly bound to Vas’e’lou, is it not? If the Oracle was dead, then the light would have dissipated.”
“The halls still glow bright then?” Cyrus asked. Alexia nodded, and Cyrus closed his eyes as he thought of the revelation. “You are correct, Alexia. If anything that means that Vas’e’lou is not as dead as Laurolia and I believed,” He opened his eyes, looking at the girl sternly. “Yet it does not change the fact that this Lord is likely that of a new Oracle that has taken over in her place. After all, even in madness, there are actions we can consider sane.”
Alexia took in what Cyrus said, not sure what to believe. Her first thought was to dismiss what the man said as outrageous, but a part of her couldn’t. She remembered what he had told her when she had first been introduced to the man. The rules that Vas’e’lou followed for every Lord of Terror concerning when they appeared and where they were from.
“The timing between this Lord of Terror and the last,” Alexia said. Her mouth never fully closed after she spoke,as if it was like a door whose handle had broken to the point it wouldn’t shut. “You and Hal didn’t know why the timing for their arrival was half a century off, but if another Oracle oversees things now…”
Once again, she never finished what she wanted to say, and once again Cyrus didn’t feel the need to answer for her. Cyrus gave a nod to show she was thinking along the right line of thought. She wasn’t entirely sure why the most damning piece of evidence hadn’t been directly said, but she knew now what the elderly man was getting at. If it was all true, then the Council of Peace would end up spilling blood more innocent than any Lord they had killed before. Worse yet, with the code of light still shining bright she wasn’t even sure if they would believe her.
“Laurolia, I apologize for earlier,” Alexia said, heart heavy with the information laid bare to her. “I understand now why you didn’t trust the Council. I still don’t fully trust the Lord themselves, but knowing all I can I don’t think I could raise my scythe against them.”
“Thank you for… the apology,” Laurolia said with a slight bow. She leaned against the back of her seat, a calmness passing through the room that hadn’t been present till then. “I know! If you do not… trust the lord, then meet them… with me!”
If those words had been said ten minutes earlier, Alexia was sure she would have gotten angry from such a suggestion. Now, she just let out a somber laugh. Something about returning to Halerosh with everything she had learned, much less kill someone who wanted to do good, felt impossible. Of course she still couldn’t be sure that was the case, and that made what Laurolia suggested was perfect.
“Meet the new Lord, and decide if they are worthy of me following their path,” Alexia said with eyes closed. “Funny, if you told me I would be considering such an action yesterday I’m sure I would have thought you insane,” Those words brought excitement into the dead eyes of the plant girl before her. Alexia shook her head. “Just know I won’t guarantee my support to them. If I deem they aren’t doing the right thing, or that I won’t be remembered fondly under their stead, I’m out.”
“Being remembered truly means that much to you?” Cyrus asked. Alexia opened her eyes and nodded. “Heh, I guess I can’t blame you. Though don’t blame me if there ever comes a time you wish to be forgotten.”
“I doubt that day will come,” Alexia replied, the smile that adorned her face very forced. “I suppose you won’t be coming with us, given your words to Halerosh some days ago,” Cyrus nodded in response, and Alexia turned her attention back to Laurolia. “Give me some time to get my things ready, and I’ll meet you at the gate heading to Ellio. I can tell the Lord of Terror is in that direction.”
With that, Alexia got up from her seat and gave them both a bow. Laurolia smiled and returned it, happy that she might not have to kill the human after all. When Alexia left to grab her things for the journey, scythe returned to her possession, Laurolia had taken her tea and started to drink it. Plants like her did need water after all, and somehow Elenori’s experiments had given her a sense of taste. She knew that she was just as much of an anomaly as the girl who was to be her traveling companion
She and Cyrus were silent for a while, the only sound being the quiet blowing of the wind. The old man watched her closely, and Laurolia didn’t mind at all. She was certain he was just curious as to her nature, and she couldn’t blame him at all for it. He was a sage met with something never before seen, and desperately wanted to find out how she worked.
“If I die, you have… permission to dissect,” She replied, voice perhaps too cheerful for the words that she spoke.
Nonetheless her words made Cyrus smile. “Thanks.”
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As she had no idea where the exit to Ellio was, Cyrus escorted Laurolia there after the tea cups had been empty. It had proven to be a decent length away, mainly due to the fact that he housed himself in the Manark district of Hisin. Manark lied to Ellio’s east, with Obsidia and Erador’s Majesty between them, and that meant the exit to Ellio was the farthest to their location. It was a nice change of pace though; he didn’t usually make his way here because of the distance.
They had reached the gates out of the city before Alexia did. It wasn’t surprising, especially since Halerosh’s estate was far closer to the middle of the Manark district than Cyrus’ residence was. To Laurolia’s surprise, the man had prepared for the wait with some crackers. Crackers which she was more than happy to try, as they were the first ones that she had ever had in her life. She had found herself fascinated with food, but unlike water she didn’t actually need it. Still, the taste was pleasant even if the crackers were a bit stale.
“Taste is strange,” She told Cyrus. She rubbed the cracker curiously with her fingers. “Touch is strange. Not even a month… ago, I had never… had them. I felt thirst, and I hunger for… the sun, but they only… ever left a full feeling,” She tilted her head to the side. “Did life truly have… all these strange textures… all along? Was it possible I… could have possibly… never tasted this had… things been different?”
“Perhaps, but I would like to think of it as you possibly sharing these experiences with Elenori instead of myself,” Cyrus told her. “I imagine those would have been happier times, and most likely a better world.”
“I guess you are… not wrong,” Laurolia replied. She eat the cracker, finding it was a bit blander than the other ones she had had due to her rubbing the salt off it. “It is odd. Life is created… and destroyed within a… matter of minutes. How many of those… are accidents like myself?”
“You consider yourself an accident?” Cyrus asked, shocked at her words.
Laurolia nodded. “I think that… the reason I can… taste and feel and… talk is because of Elenori. I ate her, and the experiments she… did must have done… something to create a being… that shouldn’t exist,” She shrugged. “It’s a new thought. Based on what Alexia… said earlier.”
Cyrus grunted and gave a nod. It was a decent enough hypothesis, even if all it was based on was the words of a girl that was remarkably similar to Laurolia. It was almost funny how similar the two were in terms of story, having been willed into existence with no idea as to how or why. At least Laurolia was lucky to know some of the path that led to her existence, but with Elenori dead it was more than likely she would never know the full truth.
The sound of footsteps brought their attention to the form of Alexia, who was approaching with a bag on her back. The girl didn’t really know what she was preparing for, but she had brought what she believed was reasonable. Some food, tinder, a few books, a lantern among many other things. The amount of stuff put a decent weight in the bag, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. The most prevalent thing besides the bag was, of course, the scythe that she had quickly given a strap to sling it onto her back using string. It dug into her shoulder and wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it worked.
“Apologies for making you two wait,” She said, a smirk on her face. “Though it seems like you two didn’t miss me much.”
“To be fair, we don’t know you… that well,” Laurolia replied. She got up and made her way to Alexia’s side. “That will be… changing after tonight. At least for me.”
“Yes, and I’ll gladly stay out of your talks of makeup and… actually no that doesn’t work with you two,” Cyrus said, his words earning a look of confusion from Laurolia and a roll of the eyes from Alexia. As he stood up and put his crackers away, he made his way over to them. “Just don’t go killing each other, you here? Not a very productive use of time.”
Both of them nodded, but neither had thoughts of killing each other anymore. Their minds had been filled with other things to think of. For Alexia, that was the hope that Halerosh took her disappearance well. She had left a letter to the fae explaining the whole situation, but she wasn’t sure it would calm him. Alexia had already given several silent apologies for abandoning the fae.
Laurolia was just trying to figure out why Cyrus thought she would kill someone who was no longer an enemy of the Lord of Terror.
“Well, no time to waste. You got a Lord of Terror to meet,” Cyrus said. He walked past them, one hand up in a motion of farewell.
Laurolia and Alexia watched as he disappeared into the darkness of the night. It would be the last time they saw Cyrus for months, even if they didn’t know it just yet. He had played his part and would sit back, watching the world to see if this new Lord of Terror was worth helping. When they were sure he was gone, Alexia turned to the gate leading out of Hisin to Ellio.
“I’m really doing this,” She muttered, her gut feeling like it had been punched. She wasn’t sure if she was ready, but it was too late to turn back. “Halerosh, I’m sorry, but this is what is best.”
“If best comes to… best, we may not need… to kill them all,” Laurolia told her companion. She noticed the tenseness those words caused, the exact opposite of what she had wanted. “Sorry.”
“Just… be careful with what you say in the future,” Alexia told her. Laurolia nodded, looking away in shame at her words.
Those were the last sentences either of them said before heading off into Ellio.
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One thing Sofie had quickly picked up on in her first few days in Evra was how different the night sky was. Back home she couldn’t make out the stars due to the pollution in the air, so seeing stars on its own was a new experience. She had heard about the beauty the night had on a clear day, but that was it. The first night she saw a star in the sky not of the solar system they were in, her jaw had dropped. That was to say nothing of the stunning visage of Evra’s three moons: Hur’theul, Mag’no, and Sep’sin.
With a turn to her left, she watched as Maria and Cameron looked up at the sky, the two carrying a conversation she was only able to hear one side of. She continually thought back to how strange it was, seeing individuals like herself feel so open with their sexuality. A part of her wished desperately to live in their times, to feel free to be who she really was. That and Cameron’s stories that he had told throughout the journey to Nentara had made her really intrigued; the more she heard about video games the more she wanted to try one herself.
“You see those ones right there?” Elenise asked her, Sofie turning to her right so she could face the elf and her husband. She then followed where she was pointing to the night. “Those six stars there make up a candelabra that the dwarves call Soven’s Light. According to their legends Soven, the dwarven god of navigation and the night, showed them to Eurea millennia ago by pointing the stars so the candelabra showed the way to our continent. It was there that Erador, dwarven god of earth, placed the mountains that today make up Erador’s Majesty.”
“Incredible,” Sofie replied as her brain took in what had just been relayed to her. “Wait, so if the dwarves believe in different gods than the humans and elves, then do they call the moons something different?”
“Yes! They do!” Elenise told the girl as she leaned in, invading Sofie’s personal space a bit. Said personal space was returned as the elf looked to the sky. “Hur’theul is known as Mada, Mag’no is called Titania, and Sep’sin is…” She tapped her chin as she tried to recall what the dwarven name was before turning to her husband. “Honey, what was it again?”
“Augdre. They call Sep’sin Augdre,” Harper said, a rare smile on his face. “Personally, I like the names the dwarves have more than our own. Don’t know their creation story for the moons, but I would love to learn it. Especially if it is an excuse to visit Erador’s Majesty. I heard the views are breathtaking.”
The couple turned their discussion away from the stars, instead figuring out what they would do if they did visit the dwarven homeland. Not interested herself in the conversation, Sofie turned her attention back to Cameron and Maria. She looked at the eyes first, having figured out that it was the only cue she had beforehand of who was in control of the body when they weren’t speaking. They were brown at that moment.
“Hey Maria, do you know much about constellations?” Sofie asked.
“Huh? Oh, uh, no,” Maria replied, Sofie’s words derailing a conversation she had been in the midst of with her brother. “I had some friends who were into that kind of stuff, but outside of the most well known constellations I know nothing,” She turned to the sky. “Those constellations don’t exist here. Hell, it is possible that our solar system’s star makes up one of these constellations before us.”
“I… didn’t even think about that,” Sofie replied as she looked back up at the sky. “So one of those stars is maybe our sun then?”
She knew it was unlikely, but the thought that she could in some way see home fascinated her. She scanned the stars in the sky, looking for one that she felt fit their solar system best. Her hands trailed the stars in the sky, denying every one of them for reasons unknown until she landed on a dim one that she could barely make it. For some reason, it just felt right like the correct one.
“Let's say it is that one then, eh?” She ask the wyrmret. Before Maria could say anything Sofie got up and started waving at nobody. A sad smile adorned her face. “Hi mom, hope you are well. Don’t worry about me; I’m in a place where I can be who I really want to be now.”
Elenise and Harper’s attention turns to Sofie. Cameron and Maria felt a skipped beat in their shared hearts.
“I want to introduce you to some people. My first real friends, Elenise and Harper Randolf,” Sofie turned and motioned to the couple as she spoke. She did the same as with the wyrmret. “And this is Cameron and Maria. Don’t ask about the shared body thing, it is complicated,” Tears started to form in her eyes. “Cameron told me we ended up winning against the Nazis. Isn’t that great? It seems the US, Russia, and Ukraine are all allies now.”
Maria could feel her brother’s wish to wince, and her own expression fell as Sofie said those words. Part of them wanted to correct her, but both knew this was neither the time or place for such things. Maria looked at Sofie, a trail of tears on the Ukrainian’s cheeks already despite her best attempts to keep herself together. She had not seen Sofie break down once since they had met, the same going for her brother, Elenise, and Harper.
“Oh, speaking of which, I got to tell you some of the stories Cameron’s time has. They are really cool!” She said, her voice cracking as she reverted to a more childish tone she hadn’t shown in years. “He recently told me a story of six heroes branded by some demigod in an attempt to destroy a moon and all the people living on it. He hasn’t finished telling it yet, but I’m super invested. You… you…”
The tears, the feelings, the thoughts, finally started to overwhelm her, and she broke into tears as she continued to speak.
“If you live to see when that story, that video game, is created, you better play it!” She shouted. “I may be gone, but you still live! I already told you that Germany is gonna get what is coming to them, so there is nothing to worry about. Play all the games you can before you die. That way when I die as well you can tell their stories to me, got it?!” She collapsed to her knees. “You… you are alive right? Please tell me you are alive. Please tell me they didn’t kill you.”
She felt something hit her back, and a look to her left brought her face to face with Maria. At least she thought it was, but the icy blue eyes signaled that it was Cameron instead who had draped a wing over her back. He gave the Ukrainian a smile before turning up to the sky. Sofie followed his gaze up, tears staining her face more and more each passing moment.
“Hey, Miss Yvanova,” Cameron says to the dim star Sofie had pointed to earlier. “Don’t worry about your daughter. She’s a good kid, and a wonderful friend at that,” He patted her with his wing to try and emphasize what he had said. Sofie looked at him in astonishment as he said those things. “So, as she said, take it easy. I promise you that nothing will harm her.”
“That goes for me too, Miss Yvanova,” Elenise said as Harper and her got up and walked over to Sofie. She offered the Ukrainian a hand, and she accepted it without any hesitation. “Sign of Fog or not, I stand by her side of my own free will. Our goals align, and you can make sure that any who try and hurt her will have to go through me.”
Elenise used the hand to get Sofie back onto her feet, the girl looking to those around her with eyes red from crying. A part of her felt she didn’t deserve this, a look to Elenise’s hand reminding her of said Sign of Fog that tied the elf and wyrmret to her unwillingly. Yet hearing that they were standing next to her not because of the brand, but because they wanted to, comforted her. So, despite what her mind believed, she smiled at the thought of having people around her that genuinely cared still.
“I’ll also be here to make sure your daughter doesn’t starve herself. Oracles know she needs some muscle and meat on that frame of hers,” Harper said, the obvious joke causing Sofie to giggle weakly.
“Thanks, all of you,” She said as she turned back up to the star. “Tomorrow we will be arriving in Nentara, the capital city of the country I’ve ended up in. I’ll make sure to tell you about everything when we get there.” She closed her eyes. “Tomorrow is the true start of Evra’s revolution. I have no idea what form it will take, but I can tell you one thing.”
She opened her eyes as her smile grew to one of confidence.
“I won’t repeat the same mistakes we did, and I will make sure that the laws that hurt you won’t exist ever again!”