--- HIVREN ---
Hivren watched his fiance as she smiled pleasantly out at the capital city. The carriage rolled through the gates and just like everywhere else in Melor, they were stopped at the wall and asked for names. It only added a minute or so to their journey, but it was still an annoyance.
“What do you think of the capital?” Kureia asked him, sitting properly and firmly in her spot.
Hivren followed her gaze out at the enormous palace and legions of guards, the bustling market, the lively taverns… it reminded him of Reiaran a lot more than any other place, the main difference being the presence of all those soldiers. It hadn’t been as bad lately, but queen Steris always did seem to give out soldiers sparingly. “It’s interesting.” He eventually said, examining the tops of large boats he could see from the docks. “Why doesn’t anyone call it by its name though? I think I’ve only heard it a few times and ah…”
Kureia smiled, “And you can’t remember most of the name, can you?”
“That’s right.” His scholarly nature rebelled against that fact, but the more he examined his knowledge of the capital, the more he realized that besides the fact that it started with a V and that it was outlandishly long, he couldn’t remember what it actually was.
“Vethemelnexintelali,” Kureia said easily, “It means ‘etherguard of the new age’ in one of the old tongues. The name is from right after the cataclysm and historians suspect that it was one of the first cities built after the destruction.”
Hivren leaned forward with interest. It was nice that she was a historian, because that was his blindspot. “Etherguard of the new age, eh? That implies there was an etherguard of the old age, and what does that even mean?”
Kureia’s mouth twitched upward, “No, most historians agree that etherguard refers to the tuvei. Apparently their ancestors saw themselves as such.”
“So why don’t we call it etherguard instead of Veth…”
“Vethemelnexintelali?”
“Yeah.”
Kureia shrugged, “People do things like that sometimes, and it’s not like the common folk know what it translates to.”
Hivren nodded, glancing out the window again and pulling out the transcribed address his mother had told him. He’d probably be here before Aymi, but he wanted to have a chat with Harrel beforehand anyway. “It’s like trying to study silvi, the question itself is usually how you identify the problem.” He frowned at the address for a moment before the carriage rolled to a stop. Oh well, that just meant the driver was better at directions than him.
He peeked out at the building to find a rustic little bookstore titled ‘Wela’s Wonders’ nestled between two taverns. Interesting neighborhood here.
Kureia peeked out with a frown, glancing down the street on either side, taking note of the taverns and a random maket stall. She turned in another direction and noticed a few residential houses. “The layout here is just as horrendous as I remember it.”
The driver heard her and glanced their way with a chuckle, “Well no doubt there, it annoys her majesty to no end, but this district belongs to noble house Seneset, they started lowering rent prices for chaotic layouts when her majesty took the throne.”
Hivren frowned at the bookstore and the taverns, that seemed…reckless. Why spend social capital just to annoy someone? He tossed the driver a coin, absently sending a “Thank you for your time” with it as he followed Kureia into the bookstore.
The interior walls were lined with bookshelves, each of them packed full of worn tomes that had been greatly loved by their previous owners. There were presumably tables somewhere, but Hivren couldn’t really see them under the stacks of books piled toward the ceiling on what had once been chairs and desks. They were now glorified book holders, and they seemed content with their new purpose in life.
Why Harrel had asked them to meet here of all places was anybody’s guess; as far as Hivren could tell, his uncle hadn’t opened a book that was unrelated to his next expedition since finishing his schooling. That implied that Harrel was looking for information on his next exploit, but you could never really tell with him.
Someone peeked out from the backroom when the bell on the door rang, but whoever it was ducked away a moment later.
Kureia picked up a nearby book and leafed through it, prompting Hivren to do the same. It was a good way to pass the twenty minutes it took before the front door opened extravagantly under the sudden thrust of Harrel Shelex’s palm.
The bell didn’t ring. The magical lights that Hivren had absently noticed floating in the corners winked out, Hivren’s own mind enhancements petered out and his constant sense of the earth beneath him wavered before collapsing. Kureia seemed to have similar effects on her because she gasped and put a hand to her head.
Hivren sighed and gently took his fiance’s arm before leading her away from Harrel’s path of violence.
As such, the two of them had a spectacular view as he nodded once to Hivren and unceremoniously kicked the back door off its hinges with a physical might that Hivren still had no idea the actual force behind, magical or true. It was probably a mixture of both and- Sparks. Hivren blinked a few times as his mind moved slower than he was used to, belatedly remembering that Harrel had told him this before and he was wasting his time.
Kureia set down the book she’d been skimming and peered into the back room, still holding a hand to her head, “Is he… coming back?”
Hivren nodded, “He probably gave us this address because he was going to shut down some blackmarket something or other on the same day we were going to arrive.” He sighed as his mind tried to catch up with his reasoning, “the uh… Harrel didn’t forget about us, he’s just doing double work right now.”
She blinked, seeming impressed, “He gave us this address months ago.”
“Harrel is like that.”
Sure enough, a moment later the nullifier walked cheerfully out of the backroom with a skinny man draped over one shoulder. The stranger was out cold and there was nothing about him that suggested he was some kind of criminal.
Harrel grinned at them, waving like an energetic child, “Hivren! Great to see you! Is this your lovely fiance?!” As he focused on them, Hivren felt -blessedly- as the nullification bubble lifted and his mind enhancements returned to him. His feet felt sturdier on the ground and his mind as clear as day.
Hivren nodded, “This is Kureia.”
Harrel grinned wider, “Great to meet you, Kureia.”
She seemed a bit confused about the unconscious criminal, but she nodded cordially, a mask of indifference coloring her face. Hivren knew though that she was probably panicking a bit on the inside. “It’s a pleasure to meet such a legend as yourself.” She bowed her head in his direction.
“Hivren found a polite one too, that’ll make gatherings interesting.”
Hivren rolled his eyes, “the arrangement was mother’s idea, but I think we’re both happy enough with each other.”
“Oh booo, that always adds needless drama.”
“That was my only worry too and it hasn’t given fruit yet.”
Kureia diverted the conversation, smiling at Harrel, “So I’ve heard that you’ve done a lot of interesting things, what is it exactly that brought you to Vethemelnexintelali?”
Sparks, she was probably just flexing on everyone her ability to actually say the city’s name. Harrel seemed to think so too because he didn’t comment on that fact. “This bookstore. I’ve been hunting the owner for quite a while. Wela is a nasty one, she is.”
Kureia frowned, “but you’ve been here over a year, that can’t be the only operation you were after.”
Harrel shrugged, “I did a few side jobs here and there, but I had to make Wela let her guard down. She knows I’m coming for her.”
“And…you still haven’t gotten her then?” Hivren deduced with a frown, glancing at the young man draped over Harrel’s shoulder.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“It’s a step in the right direction. This is the first time I’ve gotten one of her subordinates and they haven’t silenced themselves forever.”
Hivren shuddered slightly, and then picked up the book he’d been examining earlier, he left a few coins in its place, hoping that they wouldn’t be used for something nefarious. Harrel led the way out the door where a dozen bored looking guards stood at attention. “Thanks guys, I’ll be using the building for the next few weeks though, I can try and get you more evidence if you’d prefer?”
One of them took the criminal from Harrel with a grunt, “No need for that mister Shelex, You’ve brought in enough of these people that we get the drill by now.”
Harrel shook his head with bafflement, “always check your sources men! Anyways this one is special, he’s from the society of the Mis-born Dragon, have him on suicide watch because that’s how we lost all the other’s we’ve almost caught. Be careful with him. I’d like to interrogate him in a few days if that works for you.”
The man grunted, apparently not going to ask for any further explanation.
The guards were gone a moment later and Harrel grinned at Hivren and Kureia, “Alright!” He sombered, which was absolutely terrifying on him, “Emelit said that Aymi is going to arrive tonight. You’re certain that she’s the real Aymi?”
“My sister apparently evaluated her herself. Several times. That’s the most proof we’re going to get until she arrives.”
Harrel nodded, “I heard about that, but even a master soul mage can be fooled with a strong enough adversary.”
Hivren sighed, “You’re going to nullify her when she gets here, aren’t you.”
“Aymi wouldn’t expect anything less of me, and if this is a shape changer or a different illusionist, I need to expose them.”
--- AYMIAE ---
Aymi walked along the dark streets, curiously examining the new kind of magical streetlamp that lined the blocks with regular pulses. They were more blue than most magical fires, so she suspected they were actually individual light spells. She’d become something of a street lamp connoisseur over the last year, and she really did see all the types there were in her travels.
She approached the Seneset district, which was just as strangely chaotic as she remembered it being. Everything was measured by the exacting standards of the queen, every street lamp was at perfect intervals, and every building was the exact right distances from the buildings around it. Every fence was just the right height, and every street was numbered with a perfect grid system. Aymi remembered hearing about how much of the city Steris had torn down just to meet these exacting standards. It was certainly odd, but the city flourished.
The Seneset district, however, took advantage of the one piece of the system that couldn’t be orderly. The people. As a result, Aymi passed a washhouse, twelve tax buildings, a tavern, and six residential buildings on the first street. Navigation was easy, but you couldn’t have much of an idea what a building would be just by the street name on an address.
As such, when Aymi found herself at the address Harrel had given her, it wasn’t too shocking that it was a bookstore nestled between two taverns.
The only odd and slightly worrying part was the ‘closed’ sign on the front door. With a frown, Aymi examined the door, her eyes tracking to a piece of paper stuck to the other side. ‘Aymi, come right in.’ Huh. Well Harrel had probably pulled another version of the Nakonua incident or something. He was probably the shop owner now or he was looking after it for an elderly couple who were out of town or… well it didn’t matter.
She pushed the door, and sure enough it opened under her hands. The room beyond was dark, but she saw a light coming from the backroom along with laughter and some jeering that sounded like Harrel.
The bell above the door chimed happily and the voices stopped as three faces peered out at her. Harrel, Hivren, and a young woman that Aymi didn’t recognize who matched the descriptions of Hivren’s fiance.
“Aymi!” Hivren greeted with a wave, smiling, he glanced at Harrel, “see, I told you it would be her.”
Harrel however, was frowning.
Oh dear.
“Harreldon’tyoudare-” was all she got out before he activated his area wide nullification.
The world went dark as Aymi felt her current body dissipate.
--- HARREL ---
Harrel felt… disappointed as the pretender immediately revealed her true form. He hadn’t wanted to admit to himself that he was hoping Aymiae was alive, hoping so hard… but he’d gone to her funeral, he’d forced them to show him the burned out husk of her body, he’d scoured the remains of the Ayfel, feeling lost.
His nephew’s face went pale as he watched first the illusion drop and then the strange white creature that resembled Aymi start to disintegrate into… sparks were those spores? Harrel pushed the two kids into the back room, “Stay back, I need to investigate.”
He approached the pile cautiously as they reluctantly withdrew, closing the door behind them. Pulling his shirt up over his face to avoid breathing it in, Harrel examined the pile. In the dim room, it looked almost like it was glowing. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be a magical glow because his nullification was still operational. He took out a stick from his dimensional pack and gently prodded the substance, it acted just like sand, but… even as he watched, it grew almost imperceptibly, streaming outward.
Without hesitation, Harrel took a box from his bag, the one he’d gotten as a gift from Raan ten years back. He counted his blessings that he’d sent its last occupant to a more permanent prison a few months back. He turned off his nullification hesitantly since the box wouldn’t work if it was on.
Harrel opened the box, facing it toward the pile of imposter Aymi.
He stood up as it started streaming around the box, frowning as the pile just started…getting bigger.
Harrel skipped backward as it formed right back into the humanoid shape, the box clicking closed, apparently thinking it’s job was over. A colony being then? The box would stop once it caught a single creature, if it was a colony then the box wouldn’t be able to catch anywhere close to the whole thing.
He thought fast, deciding to turn his nullification back on and try something else-
The creature formed Aymi’s face again, still strange and white, with more human-like characteristics than he was used to. Its eyes were red, and it was glaring at him. “Harrel you sparking idiot.” It formed the rest of the body, holding up a hand with a frown and flexing it experimentally, five fingers. “It’s me.”
Her voice was exactly the same, but that could mean a lot of things. “That just means you’re good at mimicry.” He said quietly, suddenly wanting to yell at it instead of run containment, he felt his voice rise, “Last I checked, Aymiae wasn’t that. Really, what are you trying to gain by pretending to be her? Only the worst of evils prey on people’s emotions like that, only the darkest of the dark and the most cruel of terrors. Lucky for me, I hunt things like that for a living.”
She looked hurt for some reason, taking a step backward, it was still Aymi’s face, and that part clawed at Harrel’s insides. He’d maybe believed for a bit that it might actually be her coming to look for him… but… “I need help, Harrel.” Her voice was soft, it wavered at the edges, just like Aymi’s had whenever people started arguing and she couldn’t do anything about it.
“And what makes you think I would help you?”
She was silent for a moment, and then she started casting a spell.
Harrel was on the defensive immediately, preparing to pull out his area wide nullification until he realized that it was an illusion. Nullification was weird about illusions since they were opposites, he was able to dispel permanent ones, but the active ones that were still alive and changing? Not a chance.
He pulled back his instinct, and continued glaring at the imposter. She was even a pretty good illusionist, nowhere as good as Aymi of course, but as the scene appeared before him, he relented that it was very realistic.
It was a memory, clearer than his own, the greens were slightly brighter than how he saw them, the reds slightly duller.
“We were so stupid when we set out…” the intruder said quietly, looking up at the Everhigh mountains. “So stupid and hopeful, figuring that we could become dragonslayers and save the world from a whole lot of trouble.”
Harrel blinked at the detail of his companions’ faces, Marn, Cada, and Raan. He saw his own face, but it was different from how he saw himself. He seemed stronger, more sure, he seemed to always have a smile and he seemed so kind.
“It didn’t work of course, but you know that already, someone beat us to it. I wish we’d been able to be the ones though, I’m sure that we could have done it.” Her voice wavered, “Because I learned years later that she was the one who killed my brother.”
Harrel furrowed his brow as the scene changed to a battlefield of ash, and a man disintegrating into nothingness as an unfamiliar woman cried at him, shoving something into his empty hands… “I wasn’t even there when he died, but I know he was suffering the whole way.”
The scene changed again, this time to Yera, the time he’d been shot by that sniper with the ancient weapon. “I remember when you were hurt there, I remember that fact being what drove me forward, I remember realizing after that that I needed you.” The illusion ended and Harrel was met again by the dark bookstore, Aymi still glowing slightly. “I’m scared, Harrel, I don’t know what to do now, but I know that I need your help.”
“Aymi?” He found himself asking, “What happened?”
She started crying at that, wetness running down her white face out of those strange red eyes. “I was going to die Harrel, I was going to die and I was so scared of dying. I just…I stared death in the face and found that I had so many regrets. So I made a deal at the end, since I thought we could save each other. He couldn’t though, but it turns out he wasn’t in any danger in the first place and-” she sobbed, “Harrel I’m a sparking mushroom now! Do you know how weird and horrible that is?! I’m a sparking mushroom and I don’t think I can even sparking die now and the sparking-” She sobbed again.
Harrel didn’t remember moving toward her, but suddenly he was hugging her, “Hey, Aymi, it’s okay, please start from the beginning.”