After tumbling through a metaphorical rubber tube for a minute or so, the spatial channel spat Gaius out at where he’d placed the marker at, and his body landed on the ground with a plop. A bead of sweat ran down the bridge of his nose, splashing onto the soil below.
“That was close,” Gaius muttered.
“M’apologies, Master Gaius,” Nexus said, popping its head out. “Paragon Dak Ho has an incredible sense of hearing, it would seem. I will stick to mental communications with in the future.”
“That’s for the best, unfortunately.” Gaius got up from the ground and patted his clothes. After shaking out a little rock that had entered his boots, he said, “What do you think?”
“Regarding the two?” Nexus mulled for a moment. “It’s…reminiscent of the odd pragmatism that almost everyone in this world seems to have.”
“Now that you mention it, the people of Orb do seem to be very practical,” said Gaius. “What happened to being emotional?”
The boy thought about the time when the Last Star visited Heritage Basestation, where the people in power made a deal with Nox in exchanging information and what not. Other similar instances appeared in his mind, and by the time he was done recalling all of them, Gaius had the feeling that something was wrong here.
“Emotional…” Nexus snickered. “You know where that part occurs, doesn’t it? I think we’ve seen that in many areas — when engulfed by the thrill of combat, rationality goes out of the window. And when one is calm, emotional considerations are but baggage to be tossed aside when necessary.”
“I don’t know about you,” Gaius said quietly, “but that is not natural back on Earth. People can’t just partition their thought processes and emotions with such absurd ease.”
“Didn’t say it was natural, did I?” said Nexus. “But you’re being very arrogant right now. You’re using your own yardstick and understanding to judge others. Who are you to decide what things should be?”
“I…” Gaius looked around the ruined landscape where the Phantom Blade and Scorpio had fought, and began walking to where the latter’s arm was buried. “You’re right. Maybe I’m the odd one. Not the others.”
“That’s a better mindset to adopt, Master Gaius.” Nexus shook its head. “Although I think we’ll be better off having this conversation after you retrieve that arm and leave this place. It would be the height of foolishness to assume only you have the ability to follow spatial traversals.”
The boy grunted. His hand hit up with a faint white glow, and soil gave way as he pressed down on the ground. Within seconds, an arm appeared, its pristine appearance only somewhat marred by some stray dirt and dried blood. Qi flowed out of Gaius’ hand, wrapping around the Paragon-class limb tightly.
After encasing it with multiple layers of energy, Gaius stuffed it into his bag. It was a preventive measure to prevent the remnants of divinity inside Scorpio’s arm from triggering the energy the Constellation had left behind in Nakama. “Let’s go.”
The boy took to the skies after doublechecking that he was still invisible, but he had a hunch that non-visual ways of detecting other people would become very popular in this part of the world, after Paragon Dak-Ho discovered his presence. Sooner or later, simply being invisible would result in having suspicion cast upon the users — perhaps, turning invisible might be made criminal from tomorrow onwards.
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Funeral pyres were still burning when Gaius reached Seireiden’s northern gate. This time, however, instead of the relatives of the deceased standing vigil over the fires, people dressed in the official attire of the Adventurers’ Guild were ferrying corpses over with a solemn, deliberate pace. There was a measured cadence to their actions, a respectful precision as they sent the bodies of the unidentified fallen into the roaring flames.
It was good to know that the Adventurers’ Guild took care of their dead, the ones with no one left behind. Gaius found it hard to look at the silent workers as they continued their grim job of sending off the dead, but he forced himself to look at the scene, burning the images of the dead into his mind.
“The consequences of fights between two Lords and beyond enact their own toll on the people and environment around them,” Nexus said quietly. “This is common knowledge, but when fights occur, the unlucky ones around them are rarely spared. If you are to fight in Seireiden one day, remember to watch your surroundings, lest you do something you’ll regret forever.”
Gaius nodded silently. He continued to watch the officials of the Adventurers’ Guild for a few more minutes from up high for a few more minutes, and then made his way back to Sundown Residence, where Isabelle and Nakama were waiting. Landing in the garden directly, the boy rippled into view as he knocked on the door.
He turned to look at the greenery while waiting for Isabelle to open the door, and for a moment, felt that the vibrant colours were mocking the dead he’d seen at the city’s northern gate. Most of the killed adventurers had a family in the city, but those that didn’t were like fallen leaves — forgotten after a day or two.
Gaius slapped his cheeks. He didn’t know why he was sympathising for the nameless dead, but it probably stood for something.
Probably.
The sounds of the door opening pulled his attention away from the dead.
“How was it?” Isabelle asked.
“It’s a long story. We’ll talk over dinner,” said Gaius. He rummaged through his back and took out Scorpio’s arm, which was still enclosed by layers of energy. “Isabelle, lead us to an unused room. Nexus, draw one of those isolating formations for me to place this damn thing in there. The arm’s eating away at the layers of qi I’ve cast on it.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, Master Gaius.”
The boy placed the now-empty bag down on a nearby chair, and then followed Nexus into a room that no one had used. Circles of light were already floating in the air by the time the boy entered the room, and after a few minutes, a complex, three-dimensional structure made out of lines of silver light had been erected. Isabelle had taken a good long stare at the thing, and then left the room a minute later, presumably to wake Nakama up for dinner.
“It’s ready.”
Gaius nodded and tossed the arm inside. The thick sphere of qi enclosing the arm unravelled swiftly, flowing into the lines of gold and silver light. “Nifty skill.”
“You should learn this, Master Gaius,” Nexus answered immediately. “It’s a bad habit if you’re overly-reliant on me.”
“Of course, of course.” The boy studied the intricate structure, and then shook his head. “We’ll have lots of time for studying, until the Friday after next. I’m sure that’s enough time for me to learn something.”
“Yes. But don’t focus on the arm now. Get Nakama and Isabelle up to speed first, and then we can talk about the rest later,” said Nexus.
“Alright.” Gaius picked up the sculpture, and after placing it on his shoulder, left the room.
The arm was still glowing when he looked back at it from outside.