Late in the morning of the next day, the Ayfel was under siege.

I would never claim to understand crowd mentalities, but what I saw from the top of the palace mostly felt confusing. There were townspeople everywhere, some calmly sitting outside the Ayfel, others peeking through the windows and yelling for the Hero.

I would be wondering if Aymiae was alright if she wasn’t right next to me, wearing an illusion of her younger self. It was strange, but not as strange as some of the things lately.

She stared down at the Ayfel, “For some reason, I thought you were less impulsive after all this time.”

I sighed, “I know, I know.”

“I thought you were going to wait a couple days at least, get yourself used to the illusion, and plan out how to go about each step of the process. Apparently I forgot who I was talking to.” Aymi sighed, still looking down at the Ayfel. “You’re going to have to lead them somewhere else, entertain the crowd or something. They all put you on a pedestal, the only way to get off of it is to interact with them on their level.”

I grimaced, “That means answering their questions doesn’t it.”

“You don’t have to answer all of them, not even ones about the battle. You can tiptoe around it, get everyone to assume it’s just too painful to talk about.”

I sank to my knees, leaning against the architecture of the building, “Well I wouldn’t even be lying with that. It’s not like I like all the nightmares with your brother turning to ash right in front of my face. I just wish my subconscious would get more creative already.”

Aymiae winced, “Sorry. You…saw it happen then?”

I nodded and stared blankly down at the city for a moment, “I had the way to save him right there in my hands. Two amulets that my master -the dragon- gave to me for that exact purpose. But by the time I got to him he wasn’t substantial enough to even hold one. Sometimes I wonder if he’s still there you know? In the void, suffering through Aeinar’s own torture, hating me through every sparking second of it.”

I blinked when I felt Aymiae sit down next to me and drape an arm across my back, “Describe that moment to me, what he looked like.”

I felt my throat constricting but I complied. The one I expected to hate me the most after learning I’d let him die was Aymiae, but here she was, in the illusion of her younger self, no longer a ball of anger and resentment that I remembered her as. Instead I saw something different in her eyes as she made a comment.

“That sounds difficult. I don’t think I would have taken it any better. I know that the last thing he would want is for you to be beating yourself up about this. He would just be glad that you tried. I’m glad that you tried.”

--

I stepped through a spatial distortion, the architecture of the Palace melting away into the roof of the Ayfel. The crowd below hushed immediately, some gasping and pointing upward at me, pointing toward the Hero of Melor. Others simply fell silent, watching with bated breath for what I would do next. I don’t think any of them expected me to leave the roof, let alone leave it by jumping three stories.

But that’s what I did.

It’s trivial to trick a body into thinking it only fell a short distance, but it’s much more difficult to do so without letting anyone around you see the spatial distortion. But I don’t think it would have mattered even if they did. Such a casual use of dimensionalism boggled almost every mind since it was a relatively rare skill. Everyone knew someone who could do it, but being able to do it and being able to do it well are very different things. I landed without issue in the middle of a throng of people and simply waited.

It didn’t take long for them to do something about it, in fact it took exactly twelve seconds for the nearest woman to shove her baby in my face and ask me to hold it. It took thirty seconds for Hivren to start asking me questions -really, I should have spotted him earlier- and it took just under a minute for the rest of the crowd to be requesting similar things. There was even a woman with a goat, but she was pretty far off.

I frowned at them all, deciding that this wasn’t going to work. I needed an orderly row of people, not a conglomeration that could tackle me from any angle. I examined the crowd of overly excited people, deciding that the longer this went on the more chances there were of a fatality.

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I needed… ah, perfect. I pointed at Illila, who was being jostled around unfairly, her eyes wide. I hadn’t been touched yet but that was only because I had a shield charm that I’d bought in the market a few weeks ago resting between me and the crowd. It could be broken with effort, but I didn’t think I needed more than that at the moment.

“You.” I said, still pointing at Illila. “You’re a sound mage, right?” The crowd, somewhat helpfully, shoved her forward, apparently eager to gain my favor. Illila nodded hesitantly. “Great, try to make my voice louder so there isn’t any miscommunication for this part.”

Illila nodded hesitantly and I saw something happen with my magesight. Illila concentrated for a moment and then gave me a nod. I grinned and held my arms up, “People of Reiaran!” My voice boomed in my ears, several people nearby blinked and put their hands to their heads, one guy even put a hood over his antennae, but I wasn’t quite sure why since they only detected certain sounds. Some folks leaned closer though, a look of glee in their eyes.

They shut up though, every last one of them. I would say you could hear the dead snoring, but I didn’t think Jeref could sleep.

“If you want to speak to me, get in a line. If you want to stare at me creepily then stay at least ten paces away. If you need me to do something then come back later.” I made a short range gate into the Ayfel and pulled a chair out of it, setting it firmly on the ground and putting my behind down just as firmly. “Anyone who skips the line gets ignored.”

I nodded at Illila and made a cutting motion before sitting back and watching as the people remarkably did as they were told. “Many thanks, sound mage, do what you want now I guess.” I waved her off but didn’t see what happened to her.

Somehow though, the first person in line was Hivren. I really should have expected that though. I gave him a moderately annoyed look, “You again? Alright, you have thirty seconds, what have you been dying to ask me?”

He nodded quickly, Jiuhen’s notebook in hand, “Why did you come back? Are you here to topple the new empire?”

I stared at him.

He stared back.

“No. I have nothing against Queen Steris unless she gives me something to be against.”

Hivren looked disappointed for some reason, “So why are you here then?”

I sighed, “You slipped in two questions there mister.” I narrowed my eyes at him, “I’m here, because I have nowhere else to be. I was born and raised in Reiaran and I plan on dying here.”

“But where were you-”

“Back of the line if you want to ask me anything else, little human.”

The person behind him shoved him away. Slowly as the line progressed I worked my way into what questions were the most common. I was only glad these people hadn’t worked together to ask the most questions they could, they might’ve actually gotten information out of me that way.

“Where have you been all this time?”

My answer, “Recovering from stuff.”

“Why did you kill the Last King?”

My answer, “He was a dragon-crap king and everyone agreed with me.”

“How did you kill the Last King?”

My answer, “Persistence.”

“Are you going to help Melor conquer Sanaria?!”

My answer, “Since when are they doing that? And no.”

The questions went on and on, my patience had never been as great as I claimed it was but I felt I held my ground remarkably well. After three hours of this though I was done. I stood up from my chair, “Last question, make it count!”

The last person in line was Niun.

I hadn’t noticed that.

He stared at me for several seconds, “Could you…heal my brother?”

I…

Sparks I hadn’t even thought about Raendus since getting this illusion. The problem though wasn’t there. The problem was that Niun was asking of me something I didn’t think I could give. Maybe if I had the ability to do so, but I didn’t. Healing was a thing I could only do sometimes and even then it was just the basics. Battlefield medicine if you will. “I’m not a healer kid.” Besides, hadn’t I told everyone who wanted me to do something to go away?

Niun’s bearing hardened, “I can pay, I have money. How much do you need?”

Sparks Niun, that’s not… “Kid I have two affinities, do you know what they are?”

“Dimensionalism?”

“And?”

“I don’t know, enhancements?”

I shook my head, “I’m a soul mage.” I poked him in the chest. “You should know better than anyone that no matter how hard we try we can’t pick up the elemental stuff unless we never touch the soul. Even then we can’t get past the basics.” That was a bit of an exaggeration but oh well.

He stared at me, he seemed…lost. Sparks this was going to bite me in the butt. I started shaping the teleportation spell before remembering about the chair. Instead I started a gate. “For what it’s worth though, I hope your brother recovers.”

I was gone before he could reply, setting the chair back down in its place in the Ayfel and returning to the palace grounds. I shed my Foralen guise and wiped off the makeup, I was too disturbed to think about it. I had to get back there as Eliax, make sure no one was overly mad at the Hero for the departure.

In the back of my mind, all I knew was that I needed to figure out that cloning spell as soon as possible.