“Well, I knew that there wasn’t much we could do to help Reo- I mean Lilac, but…” Pho paused for a moment, looking at not just the pilgrims but the knights. They had all dropped to their knees in either honor or prayer. “… this is definitely strange to look at.”
Nyal couldn’t bring herself to nod as she looked at the scene before her. Soliene hadn’t informed her of whatever their plan was, and it had quickly become clear that they didn’t have one. They had walked to the city gates, allowed the guards to do a check and… this had happened. Even though she wasn’t the one directly being prayed to, the sight still made the Harpen uncomfortable. She could only assume that it was even worse for Lilac, whose elbows were held so close to her chest they were likely jabbing into her ribs.
It was this that told Nyal that the past fifteen days of semi-normalcy was over. It had been nice while it lasted, but it was clear Rag’na’rog did not desire normalcy for her vessels and oracles. If it was, she wouldn’t be caught up in any of this, wouldn’t have met Lilac and Soliene, and most likely hadn’t had to feel death's embrace so soon. Nyal shook her head and held out her wings for a moment.
“No, do not call the historia!” Pho ordered, Nyal flinching back slightly at the phoenix’s voice. No one around her seemed to notice. “Remember, Klaus is looking for you. Summon it in front of everyone, and he will track us here.”
“Won’t he already do that, when word of Lilac gets out?” Nyal asked, her voice low to avoid standing out among the kneeling crowd.
“Yes… unless we tell people the Oracle of Death and its vessel is no longer with her,” Pho explained. “He has interest in you and you alone. He can check you through his historia, and if no one knows you are an oracle then he won’t know you are here.”
“If you say so,” Nyal said, giving the oracle a subtle nod. She turned her attention to Soliene, the Numaran patiently waiting for the knights to rise from their kneeling position. “Professor, are we supposed to just stand here or…”
“Yeah, this has gone on long enough,” Soliene replied, letting out a sigh as she walked up next to Lilac. Teolus flopped onto the Lilac’s right shoulder, wings spread. “Lilac, can’t you get them to do something?”
“Oh, probably. I didn’t think about that,” Lilac responded. She looked away, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then looked back to the soldiers before her. Her stance became more rigid and straight. “Rise soldiers. Me and my companions need to see the High Priest. Are we able to head through?”
The knights before her rose, Nyal’s eyes widening at the sudden coldness of Lilac’s tone. In the over half-a-month she had known the Acamian, she had never heard anything like it. It was strange, odd, and sounded nothing like the kind girl she had come to know. A look at Soliene told her that the Numaran was far less taken aback by the sudden shift in attitude.
Nyal couldn’t help but feel the attitude didn’t fit Lilac.
“Yes, lady vessel,” one of the knights said, giving Lilac a firm salute. “Your companions and you are of course free to enter. Thank you for gracing us with your presence.”
With a nod, Lilac turned back to Nyal and Soliene and motioned them both to follow. In a desperate bid to get out of the group the immediate turn from a walk to a light jog. The trio only stopped as soon as the gate, and the prayers, were no longer in sight. Nyal watched as Lilac collapsed to her knees, placing her chest over her heart and breathing loud and fast. The harpen quickly rushed to their side, nearly bringing her wings within contact of the Acamian and causing Teolus to squawk and take flight in fear. She pulled her wings back after that.
“You okay?” She asked in slightly eligible acamese.
It felt weird to use at some points, but Soliene and Pho had insisted she actually use what she learned to get used to it. She didn’t understand, but also didn’t argue against what they had said.
“N-no. Not okay,” Lilac replied, shaking her head quickly. She tried to get her breathing under control, ignoring the few people that walked by staring at her in confusion. Soliene reached out hard from the Acamina’s right side, Lilac gladly taking it and getting back to her feet. “That… That was possibly the worst thing that I’ve had to deal with in… forever. Oh oracles, I hated it.”
Soliene briefly looked back in the direction of the gate, and then sighed as she looked back to Lilac. “Yeah. I can imagine that being uncomfortable.”
As they talked, Nyal turned her attention to her surroundings and let her jaw hang. Their run had led to her completely missing the sheer beauty of the buildings and streets she now stood in. The entire city was made of the most magnificent and gorgeous stone and marble she had seen, no doubt imported from a time before New Numar and Reine had gotten on bad terms (she still hadn’t checked why that was, despite the days she had available to do so). The entire city seemed to slowly build up and up, leading to the Grand Monastery in its center. Nyal couldn’t help but stare in
“Wow.”
“Can’t exactly blame me for being uncomfortable, considering how my home feels about me,” Lilac replied, Nyal doing her best to listen as she continued to stare at the city around her. “Acamus sees believers of faith as defective, much like they would feel about the man who targeted us back in Makaus. Hard to think that people see me as anything more than a monster.”
“Considering Il’jan’i’s personality, I think you were one,” Soliene replied, walking past the Acamian and up to Nyal’s side. “Incredible. It’s no Vanpeer, but it definitely reminds me more of home than anywhere else in Reine.”
Nyal turned to Soliene and tilted her head, watching as the Numaran lowered her hood. “Vanpeer?”
“Capital of New Numar. It’s where I spent my life up until leaving my father and I left for here,” Soliene explained. Nyal could notice a little water in the Numaran’s eye, an expression mixed with both sorrow and joy making its way to the surface of her face. “The city was absolutely breathtaking, but it was a dangerous place for those like me. Even with laws in place to protect us half-humans, that doesn't mean the people or justice system actually enforces them.”
“That is what led to you leaving,” Nyal said, her voice quiet. It wasn’t quiet enough for Soliene to not hear her though, getting a nod from her teacher. Nyal’s entire body sulked at the affirmation. “I’m sorry, Professor. You already went through so much, and now I’ve just made you even more hurt.”
Soliene’s eye went wide, mouth opening to speak before stopping herself. As much as she wanted to deny what Nyal said, there was some truth to the hen’s words. She turned to feeling her empty eye socket, questioning the blatant hypocrisy in her at what Nyal had revealed. After being angry at Lilac for the same thing since the day they all met, could she really let Nyal go scotch free? They could be just as much to blame as Lilac for getting her involved in this whole mess.
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Soliene wanted to slap herself as that thought crossed her mind, unable to help but feeling dreadful for even assuming Nyal wasn’t a victim as well. The hen knew nothing of the countries common tongue, had had her chance for normality stolen away by another horrid Acamian, and had fallen into death’s embrace once because of Lilac’s mere existence among them. They were not responsible for anything, being just as much a victim as her if not more so. As this hit Soliene, she turned away and clamped down on her bottom lip with her teeth.
“You… you aren’t responsible for this. Don’t blame yourself,” Soliene told the hen. Before Nyal could give any sort of argument, the Numaran turned her attention to Lilac. The Acamian had started making her way back to their side, but stopped when she saw Soliene’s watery eye. “So, we are heading to the center of the city?”
“Yes. That was where Am’a’ros said to go,” Lilac answered, nodding her head. “Gelginea Monastery. The person I need to meet isn’t there, but the High Priest is the only one who knows where they are.”
“After you confirm that you got what you’ve come for, we go our separate ways,” Soliene explained, crossing her arms and giving a smirk. “You and I will never have to see each other again.”
Lilac smiled back and nodded. Nyal was certain it was the first time the two had given each other genuine smiles. She liked it, though she could feel Pho get a bit sad at the expression. She didn’t ask why, for it wasn’t her place to inquire about every change in the phoenix’s emotions, but it made her curious. As far as Nyal could tell it meant the two were finally getting on good terms.
“Let’s get this over with then,” Soliene said as she started walking off down the street. “The faster we get there, the less we have to be together and the less people kneel to you in prayer.”
Nyal watched Lilac visibly shudder at the words as they both followed the Numaran.
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“Once you had been so sure of your path. Twice you’ve had immortality in front of you and you let it slip. Need it slip a third time?”
Klaus took a long sip of water as he looked out among the expanse that was Reine, contemplating that which his oracle questioned him on. They were right after all, twice now he had failed to grab what humanity deserved. Twice death had escaped his grasp, and as is expected of it left the world with one less life in it. He had hoped to never have to see the destruction the Oracle of Death could cause, that he would have eliminated them before something drew them out. Yet that was what he had borne witness to, having allowed it to happen by saving it instead of killing it.
The sight of the scorched clearing would have made him quake if he hadn’t watched Reine soldiers murder his entire town years earlier. Instead it just sat at the back of his mind, mocking him. It was a symbol of his failure to do what needed to be done, of his unwillingness to bring harm. If it had just been Nyal perhaps he could have done it, but she wasn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to kill Reonda or Soliene, nor could he harm the soldiers that the unknown man had sent after them. For those reasons, for his unwillingness to go through with his words, he understood why his oracle questioned him.
“Perhaps it would be better for us to pull out of this endeavor,” it argued. “It is clear you can’t bring yourself to harm her. At this point, is immortality worth it?”
“Yes, yes it is,” Klaus told himself, shaking his head in conflict. “It has to be Zhy’ti’ria. All we need to do is take care of one young harpen.”
“A harpen who has twice evaded us,” Zhy replied. Their voice was firm and filled with confidence. Klaus wished he had the ability to draw upon that from his oracle instead of water at times. “A young harpen not even old enough to fly. It is clear that trying to kill just her will not work. If we are to bring immortality, then we must be willing to kill more than jus–”
“We will not kill anyone else!” Klaus exclaimed, gritting his teeth after finishing his sentence. He looked at the grass under his feet, then back out to the expansive wilderness of Reine. “We will not become monsters Zhy’ti’ria. There is no necessity for needless slaughter and death, especially when those we kill no doubt deserve the eternity of happiness we wish to give them.”
Zhy’ti’ria did not immediately respond, leaving the wind as the only sound both vessel and oracle could hear. Klaus brought a hand to his chest, gripping where his heart was. For all the things he was unsure of, that single belief had stayed true. He didn’t kill Nyal’s parents because they deserved immortality, just as Reonda and Soliene also deserved it. Harpen, Numaran, Reinese, Acamian, the origin of one didn’t matter to him. All deserved the chance to enjoy forever, even Nyal.
Yet she wouldn’t be able to, because Rag’na’rog was cruel. Her life was the only thing standing between him and the end or mortality, and she too deserved to live forever. Aria and Lasp couldn’t replace her, just like Nyal couldn’t replace her dead sister. To be forced to take an irreplaceable life didn’t sit right with him, and if he could avoid it he would do everything in his power to do so. The only way to do that, however, was to let her and mortality continue on, and he had no wish to die.
“Does every one of them truly deserve eternity?”
Klaus’ eyes widened as Zhy’ti’ria finally responded. He felt his heart skip a beat at the cold question, nearly taking a step back in shock. He looked up to the sky as if he could see the oracle there, but all he saw was clouds, sky, and Rul’s journey through them. He blinked several times, wondering why the thought had even crossed Zhy’ti’ria’s mind. After all, a vessel’s oracle is heavily influenced by the vessel itself. For them to be having such thoughts made zero sense.
“Reonda Perciple, a thirteen year old girl who has the blood of an entire city on her hands. She revealed to Acamus that her brother was intersex, getting him executed,” Zhy’ti’ria stated, remaining cold in their delivery. At the mention of Reonda’s brother, Klaus felt his entire body tense. “She is a monster, plain and simple. We can not trust that she is true to Nyal or Soliene, and that is to say nothing of the oracle she harbors in her. What they did in Brunell is more than proof of what they are capable of, so let me ask again: Does everyone truly deserve eternity?”
“Yes, you are correct about her being a monster,” Klaus admitted, hanging his head. “Yet if we start judging who is or isn’t worthy of eternity, then we will spend so much time spilling blood that it never comes. Besides, considering her own parents disowned her, and why they disowned her, I believe she is truthful.”
“So a girl massacres an entire city, needlessly gets an innocent teen executed, and just because she claims to be sorry she is let off the hook?’ Zhy’ti’ria asked, a slight amount of frustration coming from their voice. Klaus did not answer, closing his eyes and ignoring the invisible glare the oracle was giving him. “Hmph, you are unsavable. Go on, continue to let such a dangerous individual live. I’m sure the world will be really happy with you for that.”
“They will be, for when immortality is finally brought there shall be no need for prejudice and hate,” Klaus hissed, finally finding the ability to match Zhy’s confidence with that of his own. “Death’s existence is the true source of all injustice. We take away the means for those horrible people to create that injustice, and those like her and her parents will slowly realize the idiocy of what they do. For that reason, they will be happy.”
“Then you will like what I have to tell you.”
Klaus spun around as he heard the voice, knowing well who it came from. He could see the wing of a harpen peeking out from behind a tree. It was snow white, mature, and despite what he knew of the individual it belonged to seemed relaxed. He didn’t say anything to them, knowing that while they had given a long pause his sudden guest wasn’t done speaking. The harpen, leaning against the tree, pushed herself away from it with her talon.
“The Vessel of Death has arrived in Pierzè,” They stated. “Let us hope young Reonda doesn’t bring her with them to Gelginea. That will complicate things greatly.”
“I will agree that her being among the priests will make things complicated,” Klaus replied. “Yet you haven’t told me what is so dangerous about Gelginea. What is there that you are so afraid of Nyal finding?”
While he couldn’t see the scowl his question brought, he most certainly felt it.