Don’t ask, don’t tell. When Leo came stumbling back into their room several hours later, he had a lost far away look in his eyes, a look not dissimilar to the one he wore when he woke up a month ago. Trenton never saw this, of course, his head still buried beneath his blanket cover, rather pretending he were a butterfly peacefully sleeping within its cocoon than acknowledging the world. What Trenton did see, however, was the way Leo looked at him. They stayed with Rema for another 3 days, but the whole while, everytime Trenton spoke to Leo, which was infrequent, Leo would just stare at him for a little bit, his eyebrows drawn down and his face scrunched, before responding. Did he know? No. It was probably because of how weird Trenton was acting. He’d have to pull himself together.
The morning of the 5th day at Rema’s place, Walibeld bade them gather their things to set out. Trenton and Leo apathetically donned their stray belongings, standing in the doorway to the tower with Walibeld, waving a final goodbye to Rema, Millie nowhere to be seen.
“Here,” Leo said, handing Trenton the book about Gasal, “Walibeld said to give this to you. Rema had a copy.”
“Thanks,” Trenton responded, stowing the book away in his invisible pocket.
They both looked over at Walibeld, who seemed to be saying some farewells to Rema before they left. Even though it didn’t seem like he really liked her, he probably didn’t like anyone, so he gave her the same formalities as everyone else. Finally, with a final farewell, Walibeld stepped away from Rema and joined the two boys at the door.
“WAIT, HOLD ON!” Millie shouted, sprinting through the myriad desks and servants scattered across the room.
“Oh gods. I knew this would happen,” Rema said, folding her arms and placing a hand on her forehead.
Millie stopped just in front of their little group, looking intently between Walibeld, Trenton, and Leo, “I wanna go with you,” she said. Walibeld looked up at Rema, who still sat there holding her creased forehead.
“I’m not going to say yes, but I’m not going to say no. It’s not really my decision. I’ve already warned her of what it's like out there, so I’ll let you decide, Walibeld. I trust you can look after her,” Rema said..
“Can you look after your own?” Walibeld asked, looking back down at Millie now.
“Of course I can! I’ve been practicing my magic for years! I’m not really a good fighter, but I’m great at avoiding fights! I survived all on my own for months before I met Rema!” Millie shouted, waving her arms around as if that would make her statements more believable. Walibeld looked up at Rema again.
“It’s true. She was out in the eternal forest when I found her, some 800 miles north of the dwelling,” Rema replied, exasperated.
Walibeld stood there, regarding the girl quietly for a minute, “I’ll actually side with Rema on this matter. Trenton, you have the final say. I think your opinion matters more than mine in this instance.”
Trenton walked forward, kneeling in front of the little girl. He could say no, let her stay here and enjoy her life of luxury with Rema. No joy can be found among the plains. Especially not with a group as wound up in strife as theirs. She wouldn’t be happy, and she certainly wouldn’t enjoy it. But, he just couldn’t say no. Not to her. Not to Lilly.
“You can come. Stay close and I’ll protect you,” Trenton said, standing to his full height.
Rema looked at him wearily, but didn’t say a word in protest. Together the one eyed man, the sullen boy, the confused boy, and the energetic girl set out across the Colossus cliffs. Another week of traveling passed, Trenton and Leo still holding their silence. What spare words they did say to each other were mostly regarding what was happening or what needed doing. Trenton did, however, talk quite a lot to Millie. He took comfort in their conversations, whatever they happened to be about–a fond nostalgic feeling. She was always talkative, excited about something or other, the scenery, their training, the wildlife, etc. Whenever they would camp for the night, Trenton and Millie would often spend a lot of their downtime talking or sitting together, ensuring that Millie remained in good spirits and entertained, especially. Trenton was worried for the girl's fragile mental state, but she seemed to hold together pretty well all things considered. They didn’t encounter any combat in this stretch, probably because of how close they were getting to the city, but the pace they moved at was quick. Even a weathered soldier would struggle to keep pace beside them. Yet, Millie held her own with little complaints. It wouldn’t last forever, conflict finding them wherever they seemed to go, but for now, it was a breath of serenity–peace.
Finally, standing on a crag overlooking the brightly lit city, they had made it. It had been exactly 52 days since the destruction of Aria, a long and arduous journey up to this point alone. Thinking about how much they had left to go, Trenton was a little intimidated. They’d have to travel another 1500 miles at least before they even got close to the academy. And even then, what would they do when they got there? Trenton would hardly feel at home studying side by side with all of the rich program students. He’d heard about the Academy program a couple of times before. The idea was that talented children from each of the kingdoms would gather at their respective capitals, under watch of the kings or their entourage, where they would then be teleported to the academy by Era. It was a big event once a year, and was supposed to be a means of inspiring the youth. However, the only children that ever got selected were noblemen's kids. He was even invited a couple years back, but declined since he already had Walibeld training him personally. Trenton shook his head, removing his mind from the past and bringing it into the present.
It was already long past dark, the lot of them holding magical motes of light created by Walibeld, the stars above twinkling their little song. Below them the imposing city gleamed with the brilliance of thousands of magical lights all throughout the streets. Aria itself was radiant at night, the government's light mages seeing to the city's luminance, but this was a step beyond. Trenton had always heard that Wyrm’s Perch was a lot bigger than Aria, and now looking down at it from above, he could say with certainty that it was true. The sprawling streets expanded in every direction, disappearing beyond the horizon beyond view, the stone houses and towers barely visible beyond the great bulwark encircling the entire city.
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“It’s so pretty!” Millie exclaimed, her mouth ajar in awe.
“I had no idea it was this large,” Trenton said, also similarly stricken.
“Aria was much smaller than the other cities in Verulik mostly due to its location. Not only was it much further south than any of the other cities, the Colossus Cliffs blocked most travel towards it. It wasn’t an easy area to reach or leave, which made its growth slow. In contrast, Wrym’s Perch is practically bordering the Liafer, which gives it easy access to Dasellium and trade. Although it’s difficult to travel south down the Liafer, it’s much easier to traverse the plains beneath Dasellium than the cliffs, so travel back and forth is at least plausible,” Walibeld clarified.
“Is there really a wyrm here?” Leo asked, scanning what they could see for any sign of the city's center.
“There is. Filyinir is his name. He’s the companion of Zylor, the duke of the city,” Walibeld said.
“Companion? How do you befriend a wyrm?” Millie asked.
“He didn’t really…I’ll explain it some other time. It’s complicated. For now let’s-” Walibeld stopped dead, suddenly focusing on the city with an intense gaze. “It’s quiet. Trenton, can you feel any movement from within the city?”
Trenton kneeled low, placing both of his palms on the ground. It was completely still. They were several miles away still, and it was late, but he should’ve been able to feel the gate guards bustling about at least. It was almost eerie how still the world around them was. Practically every moment of every day he felt some sort of movement, animals, plants, peoples, or whatever else. But this was absolute silence as if the entire world had been put to sleep. Trenton shook his head.
Without another word, Walibeld leapt off the cliff, the ground beneath him cracking from the great force. Looks like he was scouting ahead. Trenton and Leo scrambled down the crag, making a dead sprint across the valley the rest of the way to the gate, Trenton carrying Millie so as to not slow down waiting for her. When they arrived, Trenton and Leo sweaty and panting, they stood before the city’s magnificent wall stretching easily up 200 feet, trying desperately to make out what was happening beyond the slotted steel gate. Trenton could feel something now, a slight rumbling beneath him, but it was still to faint. The soldiers required to guard the wall should’ve made a hundred times the roar just sitting still.
Trenton craned his neck upwards, staring into the inky abyss of the night. Did the guards not notice them? Were the guards even there? Even if they would be denied entry, the guards should at least say something, right?
“HELLO! WE SEEK ENTRY! IS ANYONE THERE!” Trenton called out, focusing his presence in his throat and lungs to make his voice boom.
Nothing
“We can’t just sit here. Can you climb the wall, Trenton?” Leo asked, lowering his gaze to look at Trenton.
Trenton ran his hand along the stone wall, feeling for any grooves or handholds. It was completely uniform. He wouldn’t be able to climb unless he could form grooves into the wall, which would be impossible with the protection runes. Trenton looked up, suddenly noticing that he could barely even notice the wall’s runes. For whatever reason, they looked muted, their colors barely shining. Did someone attack the city's defense network? That shouldn’t have even been possible. The only way to nullify a rune was by drawing its inverse with an equivalent magical signature to the original. Even if someone was here that was strong enough to do that, the runes wouldn’t look muted, and the inverse runes would be clearly visible. This was something else entirely.
“Somones nullified the protection runes on the wall. I should be able to climb it, but…” Trenton hesitated, still leaning on the wall.
“Whoever did this is probably an aspect bearer,” Leo finished.
“Right, and a dangerous one at that. That’s probably what freaked Walibeld out so much. I’ll carry us up the wall, but we’ll need to be careful,” Trenton said, Leo and Millie wrapping their arms around him.
Using all of the incredible might within his body, Trenton vaulted upwards, forming grooves into the wall as he went. If the wall's runes were still in full effect, his magic would’ve been completely nullified, making climbing impossible. But then again, if the runes were still in effect, the soldiers by the gate would probably be there to open it for them, so the only difference was the danger lurking in the air. As Trenton climbed, Leo and Millie gripping onto him for dear life as they dangled a hundred feet above the ground, he used the stinging pain of the cold winds whipping at his back and the straining of his muscles to focus himself. There was danger. He couldn’t afford even the slightest lapse in focus.
They made it to the top uncontested, the three of them rolling forward onto the vast stone expanse that comprised the top of the walls' defenses. Wet. It was wet. Streaks of fresh blood were smeared all across the top of the wall, their sources nowhere to be found. There were no soldiers anywhere, just more blood as far as the eye could see, the rumbling beneath Trenton even fainter now. Trenton twisted around to face Millie, his mind racing with how to convince her to hide, only to see her form disperse into a mass of water, which pooled amidst the blood. Good. She could easily stay hidden here. There was no telling where the killer was, but he wouldn’t be going back to a place he’d already cleared.
Suddenly, lighting up the night with hues of brilliant orange, a great blaze was started somewhere in front of them–somewhere within the city–its crackles and pops easily heard even from so far away. Trenton and Leo blitzed forward, splashing through the puddles of blood to get to the other edge of the wall where they were able to see the source of the great fire. Massive pyres, each one stretching 50 feet into the air, decorated the bright city streets, which themselves were also lit ablaze.
“We need to get down there!” Trenton shouted, his eyes grazing across the wall for a watchtower. Across the way there was a checkpoint tower with its door still hanging wide open. “There! Come on!”
Trenton and Leo made their way to the tower, leaping down dozens of stairs at a time to descend the spiraled tower, breaking through the door at the bottom and spilling out on the street.
Inferno
Small piles of corpses were burning in the streets, the buildings around them, which practically scraped the sky, torn with great fires, their slowly crumbling infrastructure slamming into the street, creating great waves which shook the ground. A pyromancer's work? Trenton and Leo wove around the pieces of falling rubble and burning corpses, coming out onto the main thoroughfare where they saw the impressive pyre’s form atop the wall. Just like Trenton suspected, the main sources of fire were colossal piles of corpses, likely the bodies of soldiers and civilians in the area–hundreds of them at least.
A cackling rang out across the road, its maniacal timbre almost lost beneath the roar of the fire. On top of a great piece of stone rubble lodged into the road some 50 feet in front of them, stood a man, his arms splayed wide, his head tossed to the sky. His form was hard to make out, the largest of the pyres burning directly behind him, giving him an ominous backlight. But what Trenton could see, was that he was absolutely coated in blood, fresh, boiling blood clinging close to his skin. It was abnormal, not the blood of the hundreds of people slaughtered, but his own blood seeping out from beneath his skin. This man was no pyromancer.
“Blood crazed,” Trenton said, turning on his heel to look at Leo, suddenly realizing what the man was, “He’s blood crazed!”