“So we have a plan!” Leone rallied. “We’re going to find some fairies and see if they can wish you home! And at the very least, we’re still going to meet some fairies! How cool is that?”
The robot was slowly starting to perk up. “Yes, okay,” he started in his usual monotone. “We will seek out this dwelling and find some help.”
The group began planning their trip, but were quickly interrupted by Reavius, who had some concerns. The blacksmith mentioned that if they were going to go on such a quest, it would be good to have a slightly larger party traveling with them. He pointed out that Azim and Leone were the only fighters, and both of them were wizards of some capacity. Reavius told them it would be beneficial to have some other Classes of traveler with them, like a Knight or a Changeling. He also pointed out their respective levels and how they would fair against the trials ahead.
Riva was, of course, base level 2 with enchantment level 3. Leone took the terram’s magic test and it was determined that he was base level 7 with no speciality in any specific art. Finally, there was Azim, who was base level “0” with what the group approximated was level 7 metalmancy. Reavius had told the three of them that his sons had traveled through the fairy dwelling when they were about baseline level 15, and that had almost not been enough. To play things on the safe side, the blacksmith suggested they wait until their magic was built up to level 17 at least before trying to make a deal with the fairies.
“Why does their magic need to be so strong?” asked Riva. “What if someone was powerful but didn’t have a lot of magic? Would they not be able to ‘handle it’? Or what about Azim? Are they going to see that he has baseline level 0 and it be a problem?”
Reavius solemnly responded, “I wish I could answer your questions, young lady, I really wish I could. But I only know what my sons relayed to me. I don’t know much else, I’m afraid. Though I’m sure you will find your answers in time.”
Riva thanked Reavius for helping Azim as well as the information, and the group said their goodbyes. The woman made sure to give him some gold from their bag on the way out. He was against the idea at first, pushing the bag back toward Riva, but she was a very insistent woman. It was hard to say “no” to her. She assured him they had plenty more thanks to Leone’s success at the fight club, another 2 bags in fact. The three companions were on their way out of the shop before Riva realized, “Azim, hun’… what happened to your clothes? My clothes?”
“Oh, that’d be me,” the old man chimed in. “I had him undress so I could inspect him. Sorry about that. Here you are, son.”
Azim stared at the folded shirt and pants that he held in his metal hands. After a pause, he said, “I do not think I want to wear these. My body does not need warmth the way that of a living creature does. Additionally, in light of everything that has happened recently, I think it would be better for me to be more open to this new world. More… connected. So I would prefer to not wear the garments if that is alright. Though thank you, Riva, for initially offering them to me. I am grateful for the gesture.”
The group understood what he meant, however strange it may have sounded to anyone else. Not having a connection to magic the way everyone else did, Azim wanted to feel as connected as he could. By letting the nature of Irvana affect him at its purest, he felt it could make up for lacking something everyone else had. Reavius ran back to one of the corners of his shop. “Well, boy,” he shouted from across the room, rummaging through a closet. “Take this at least. I have a feeling I know why this lovely woman wanted to cover you up, and that’s to keep you safe. If you don’t want the pants, that’s fine. But please, at least wear this, so you’re just the least bit hidden. Okay, son?”
In the blacksmith’s hand was a dirty, brown cloak. A long cloak with dirt stains and slight tears here and there. Between the left and right shoulders of the cloak was a rope, strung to each end and connected by a black seal. The thing was old and scuffed up but it was fine because Azim had no preference when it came to clothes. He took it from the old, terram blacksmith and put it on, letting the cape drape down to his calves and the shoulders of it poke around his. Reavius put up the hood for him, which concealed the glowing emblem on the robot’s forehead. Azim looked down and turned his head from side to side, admiring the cape around him. For someone who did not care too much about the necessity of clothes, the android sure liked this piece. “Okay, Reavius…,” Azim replied. “Thank you.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it, boy, just stay safe, okay? All of you.”
----------------------------------------
Walking out of the blacksmith, the group felt a sense of accomplishment. Mostly Riva and Leone, but Azim still felt something. Even though it hadn’t been long, he had already made some new friends. And he had something to achieve. The group had even gotten some steps closer toward helping him achieve it. All they needed to do now was keep moving forward.
Back in the carriage, Leone, reminded by the robot’s new clothes, brought up his own to Riva. He rummaged through one of his bags from his winnings and pulled out several gold coins. “Here,” he offered. “For the clothes. I said I’d pay you back for ‘em, so… here.”
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
She stared at the money for a moment before looking back up at the young man. “Thank you,” she said with the slightest smile, accepting the gold. “For everything. Thank you.”
Getting back to the task at hand, the group conversed about what to do while riding down the streets. The travelers recalled the terram’s suggestion for another companion or two to help them out, as well as the idea of where to sleep. It was going to get dark soon, and the three of them needed to find a place to rest for the night. What was peculiar was that as the sun was starting to set, people around them seemed to be getting more nervous. Pedestrians started walking quicker toward their homes, passersby seemed more alarmed by the presence of one another, and the lights of buildings were going out very abruptly.
Eventually, Azim and the group reached a hostel where they could stay for the night. When they walked in, the clerk at the front desk seemed rather nervous. “H-Hi,” he muttered. “C-Can I help you?”
“Hi, dear, yes you can,” replied Riva politely. “We just need a room for the night.”
“R-Right of course, let me get that settled for you,” the clerk rattled off, almost as if he was rushing his speech.
“Sir, is there something wrong that I’m not aware of?”
“Um, n-no…. well, no it’s just… you know, it’s getting dark so this is when they start coming out.”
Riva paused for a moment, confused. “I’m sorry, dear,” she replied. “Who comes out?”
There was a look of awe in the timid clerk’s eyes. He could not believe the words coming out of this woman’s mouth. How could she not know? How did she not know what he was talking about? Sure, she could be from out of town, but they were still very well known. Those from neighboring cities, even some in other regions, knew of them. The only way she wouldn’t… is if she was from the middle of nowhere. That had to be it! This poor woman had come from one of those poor towns that arrive in droves for the winter, not knowing the dangers that await them. It wasn’t winter, though. Just her luck to show up so close to nightfall, the clerk thought.
“T-The men of the east tower,” the clerk stated, desperately trying to calm his nerves. They come out and patrol the streets at night. During the day, the city is ours. It belongs to the people. But at night, Appilus belongs to the east tower.”
As Riva talked to the clerk, Leone went off to find someone who could help with their carriage. The girl he stumbled into let him know of a lot that they had in the back, which used a Protection Barrier and individual Veils to conceal everyone’s property from anyone that wasn’t them. Leone was impressed. He went outside to draw the horses around the building. As he did, he noticed a group of guys slowly walking down the street. It was hard to make out exactly what they looked like from the distance, but they didn’t seem like they carried with them the same energy that the rest of the city folk had. The young man hurried with the horses so he could return to his companions. Placing the horses and the carriage under a veil, Leone ran back to join the group, careful he didn’t accidentally run into the odd strangers.
“Hey,” Leone addressed the others. “There are some weird-looking guys coming down the street. Should we be worried?”
“That’s them!” The clerk responded, though Leone had no idea what the man was referring to. “The Darconi, a gang that’s been in this city for years. No one outside the tower has ever seen the guy who runs it, though that’s not saying much. No one outside of the tower has ever seen anything. Though no one knows why of that either. It’s all kind of a mystery.”
“What do you mean by mystery?” Azim questioned.
“Well,” the clerk began, pausing for a moment at the stranger’s odd voice. “Those guys come out at night, as they’ve been doing for years, and they just make sure everything its the way they like it. They’re known to sell drugs and weapons to those who stay out looking for them, but some are not so lucky. Some get their memories wiped for seeing them when they’re not supposed to.”
“I see. What is the part that no one in the city understands?”
The clerk hesitated as if someone was listening, before saying, “Well, we know that they patrol the streets, but we don’t really know who they are. The only thing we know is that they all come from and return to the tall, east tower, opposite the city’s central right tower.”
“Why is that the only thing you know? Why not investigate the tower or send the city after them?”
“What are you, stupid?!” The clerk shot back. “Sorry… sorry… It’s just, we have tried that, of course we’ve tried that. But apparently, whenever someone does go check out the tower they come back with no new level of info. Not only that, they don’t even remember having gone to the tower. It’s like they had less awareness than when they started. The city has, of course, fired at the tower before, but they have an incredibly strong protection barrier. The only way to get close to them would be to just walk right in, but again, nobody seems to learn anything new about them when they do. And because of the nonviolence that they show in retaliation to the city’s efforts, it has started to cause some tension in the city about who's really in the wrong.”
“Well we want nothing to do with that,” Riva asserted. “Just show us to our room and we’ll be on our way.”
The clerk had the girl from earlier show them to their room and the group got settled. It was a two-bed room, which Riva and Leone took up respectively. Meanwhile, Azim assured his friends that he would be comfortable powering down in the chair. Riva was quick to fall asleep, tired from the overwhelming stress of the day. Leone seemed tense, like he was on edge waiting for something to happen, but as the minutes passed, he eventually knocked out. Azim was the last to “sleep”, waiting for his new friends to do so first so he could ensure they were safe. Listening in on the surrounding environment, he picked up on subtitles in the air that no one else likely heard. Conversations people were confident were not being eavesdropped. Critters scurrying about along the ground outside. All read "normal". All appeared well.
----------------------------------------
Riva awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of stumbling. Drearily opening her eyes, she saw that the window to their room was open… and the bed next to hers was empty. “Azim!” She whispered loudly. “Azim wake up!”
Not having moved a millimeter from his initial resting position, the robot’s eyes slightly warmed up to fill the circles of his lenses. “I can not wake up, for I can not sleep. I can only power down.”
“Okay, that’s not important right now, dear. Leone is missing, I think he went to go look for those men patrolling the streets. You’ve got to find him, okay? Make sure he’s safe.”
Azim lifted himself from off of the chair in a perfectly fluid motion. “Understood,” he responded. “I heard him leave, but I did think much of it. I apologize. I will do my best to return quickly.”
Then he rigidly gave the woman a wave and turned toward the open window. The woman watched anxiously and the metal man jumped out and into the night, slivers of steel shining in the moonlight, to find Leone.