“Die.”
Alisson rose his knife once more out of the corpse, and stabbed down, straight into an already eviscerated throat. Blood splattered even more heavily across the ground and across Alisson. His Opensen was activated, and his tails swirled around each other fiercely. He pulled the knife out, raising it high above his small body, about to stab the long dead man again when,
“He’s dead brother. You’ve a done a good job so far but you need to learn restraint. Just one good puncture at the neck will do, there’s no need to overdo it.”
A hand was set on his shoulder, and Alisson’s body jumped. He turned to see his sister Apophria, standing over him with the same sly smirk she wore all the time.
“What a great idea this was to bring you along with one of my missions. These guys are just a bunch of chumps, there’s no way my apprentice would have any trouble, right?”
Alisson looked to the bloodied knife in his hands. He knew sparsely of what this building was or of who these people were; all Alisson knew, is that they had to die. His sister had said so. She’d simply thrown him over the perimeter walls in the dead of night, with no weapons or even any armor – He only wore plain, unassuming clothes. It was apparently a safe house of sorts, to which the owner had gone a done something or said something that had displeased Lady Sidonia. He didn’t care why, and he frankly didn’t understand either, but his sister decided that she could let him loose alone with his sole objective being, the death of everyone in the compound. Weaponless, he’d had to beat the first few targets to death with his bare hands before finding that one of them carried a knife, to which he’d used until now.
“Well anyway, I just dropped in to let you know…those guardsmen deeper into the safe house, they’re armed with swords. I don’t want to bring you back to Sidonia in a body bag, so try not to die. They’re unarmored though, so they shouldn’t be a problem. Continue as you have been until you clear the final stronghold.”
She lifted her hand off of Alisson, and with it the only warmth in his body left him.
With that, she disappeared into the darkness, completely and utterly leaving Alisson’s senses, as if she’d never even existed. Alisson blankly looked to his blood covered hands, and tightened his grip on the knife. He stood up shakily, and he melted into the darkness, sifting forward through the empty and long hall. He reached the end of it quickly, it opened up into a courtyard surrounded by walls. There was a single building on the other side of the courtyard, about fifty meters away, that was brightly lit and had a guard in front of it. Then there was a patrol of two, a man and a woman, coming right toward Alisson. Each carried a lantern in one hand and a sword in the other. They had only thin gambesons from the looks of it. The woman had deer ears and small antlers, and the other looked to be an elf from his elongated ears and bright eyes.
Alisson was taught by Apophria – He knew when to be aggressive and overwhelm the enemy, but now was not one of those times. He sunk back into the dark corridor, and found an inlet in the stone wall to hide in.
He heard the guards as they approached, the ears atop Alisson’s head twitched sensitively as he heard their steps and voices.
“Just what the hell is going on in the outer partition? First they report a beast attack, then they say there’s an assassin, and now they don’t say anything.”
“Hey, don’t be such a smart ass, for all we know there has been a breach in security. We’re only a day away from that Andestine ship arriving, word could have gotten out. Our camp isn’t exactly well hidden if someone knows where to look.”
“You elves just sour everybody’s moods don’t you?”
“And you don’t seem to know when to shut up, doe. It’s a miracle that Father Oreese was able to bring us all together in the first place.”
A moment passed and no reply came to the elf.
“What are you, deaf?” The elf said, turning toward his comrade. “I thought those ears-”
When he turned, he saw his friend gurgling and grasping at her throat. A hand held her forehead back, and a knife was gouged into the woman’s throat. The elf’s face twisted into horror and he backed away. He rose his sword on instinct. Alisson came deftly around the side of the now incapacitated deer-kin, rushing the elf, even though Alisson was half his height. The elf was about to swing down his sword, when a knife impaled his sword arm’s wrist. The elf’s hand loosened and the sword hit the stone floor. The elf retreated, holding his wrist with one hand, about to scream out for help.
Alisson was taught to not let the enemy call for reinforcements when he didn’t want them to. Alisson rose his knife, and with a fast vertical swipe, threw it at the elf. The elf didn’t have time to react. A thrown knife gouged itself into the elf’s exposed throat. His eyes widened and he grasped at his throat with both his hands whilst falling over onto the floor.
The two guards were both still alive, the writhing elf much more than the gurgling deer-kin. Both of their lanterns were on the floor. The elf’s had extinguished when it hit the floor, but the deer-kin’s still burned ever so slightly within its cage, illuminating the area.
Alisson slowly picked up the sword that the elf had dropped. It was quite big for his small stature, so even though that it was a one-handed weapon, Alisson used two hands to hold it, one on the handle and one on the blade itself for leverage. He walked to the elf, and rose the sword over his body. The elf looked at Alisson, writhing his head back and forth, trying to squirm away. Alisson impaled the sword dead center on the elf’s chest, blood splattered across the walls of the corridor and across the floor. Alisson rose the sword out of the elf, and the impaled it into his throat. That was enough to finally kill the elf, but Alisson didn’t stop. He continued lifting and stabbing the sword at the elf for almost a full minute.
By the time Alisson backed off, covered in blood, there was little left of the elf that wasn’t severed or pulverized.
The deer-kin was just barely alive, and didn’t seem to be in a conscious state of mind; she’d been reduced to a creature that could only gasp and gurgle for air. Alisson approached, and placed the sword horizontally to the deer-kin’s throat. The woman didn’t notice, her eyes dull and her mind away. Alisson pushed the sword down, using the full weight of his body. The blade dug into the deer-kin’s neck. The woman seemed to suddenly regain rational thought, and thrashed her legs about, trying to get Alisson off of her, but her efforts were null. The sword continued about halfway through the deer-kin’s neck before Alisson’s weakness was revealed. He lifted the sword, and pushed a second time down. This time, the sword severed all the way through, and the deer-kin’s head was fully detached from her body.
As Alisson rose, with a blood covered chest, he left the sword on the ground, and instead retrieved the knife. The sword was useful in its weight and length, but Alisson was far from being able to swing it in combat. Alisson, knife in hand, stood in the middle of the crimson-painted part of the hall for a moment. Blood flowed all throughout the ground, and ran down the walls. Some even dripped down from the ceiling, most all the entrails of the elf were but pink bits on the floor. Alisson left the scene behind him, paying no mind. Just like the deer-kin’s eyes before, his own eyes were dull, and his countenance blank.
Alisson sifted to the edge of the hall, and peeked around the wall into the courtyard from the darkness. The guardsmen by the door was a wolf-kin, his sharp yellow eyes stared straight at Alisson. Amongst his twitching ears, the wolf-kin’s nose piqued.
“Blood…”
He muttered, staring directly at Alisson, though evidently the man couldn’t see through the darkness to Alisson, and was simply eyeing the corridor. The wolf-kin suddenly snarled, and turned toward the door he was in front of. It was clear he was about to either call for help, or rouse the people further in.
Alisson charged out of the darkness, armed only with his knife, right toward the wolf-kin. He managed to get about halfway to the man before he was noticed, and the wolf-kin turned with a scowl away from the door. He had a mace on a chain in one hand, and no armor to speak of – That was it. Alisson had never fought a ball and chain before, the odd sight of a spiked ball at the end of a chain attached to a handle hadn’t met his eyes until then.
The wolf-kin preempted Alisson and started to spin the mace by his side with quick revolutions. As Alisson neared, and lunged, the wolf-kin brought the mace high over his head; with the momentum from its spinning being paired expertly with the man’s movement, the weapon was incredibly fast.
Alisson was able to narrowly avoid the man’s mace, and slipped to his side, thrusting at the wolf-kin’s kidney. The wolf-kin had been able to keep his mace’s momentum, and swung the mace too his side in a panic.
So, as Alisson’s knife impaled itself into the man’s side, a morning star wrapped itself around Alisson’s left forearm. The chained wrapped around Alisson’s arm, and the spiked ball stuck straight into Alisson’s unguarded elbow. After completing his strike, Alisson was about to retreat, when he realized that he was thoroughly caught in place by the wolf-kin’s weapon. When the wolf-kin turned, and saw that he had Alisson’s arm caught, amidst his face cringing in pain, he smirked malignantly. The wolf-kin gave a firm twist to his mace, and the chain followed suit – Alisson’s forearm easily gave way, and an audible crunch was heard as it shifted unnaturally out of its socket. Alisson didn’t react in any sort of pain, rather it felt more normal to be in pain that it was to not be in pain, and the familiar sensation was welcomed in his mind and body. Alisson, backpedaling and utilizing his whole body, managed to pull his arm through the net of chains; Though of course, the spiked ball lodged in his elbow scraped across his arm as a result of his movement, and tore through his left sleeve and drew blood. The wolf-kin now advanced on a wounded Alisson, he was bleeding himself, but any fighter could tell that the wolf-kin, already swinging his mace and poised for a follow up attack, was at an advantage.
Alisson didn’t clutch his arm in pain, nor did he look at it, and neither did his eyes even cringe.
He stepped forward, into the follow-up swing of the man. It looked like he was committing suicide.
Alisson rose his left arm, the one that was scraped and bleeding dearly, and by all accounts should’ve only been able to remain limp at Alisson’s side. His left arm caught the mace, and the entirety of the chain wrapped around Alisson’s left arm once more, the spiked ball at the end of the chain digging itself into the flesh of Alisson’s left shoulder. But, Alisson didn’t scream out, and didn’t recoil.
The wolf-kin, seeing victory before him, gave a tug at his weapon on instinct as to cause more damage. Though, instead of fighting the pull of the chain, Alisson jumped forward off his feet, and followed the pull of the chain, all the way into the wolf-kin. Alisson body slammed into the man, and the both of them fell toward the door that the wolf-kin had been protecting. Alisson position his knife directly in front of the man’s throat, and when they both hit the floor, the sudden stop in motion for the wolf-kin led to his death when the knife was gouged into his throat.
The man didn’t go limp immediately, so Alisson slashed over and over again at his neck, blood flying side to side through the air – Within but a few seconds, the wolf-kin was dead.
Alisson had been so wrapped up in stabbing the wolf-kin, that he hadn’t noticed where he was. When the two of them had fallen against the door, it had given way, and they’d fell into the entrance of the building. Alisson looked up, and saw the lit interior. The whole area was bathed in an orange glow from numerous small candles. Against every wall and huddled in every corner, were non-humans, they were all animalian humanoids – The so-called ‘mutts’ of human society. All of them were similar in how ragged and downtrodden their clothing was and of how dirty they were. There was a second floor that overlooked the first, and from the similar lighting, there seemed to be the same cargo as the first floor. On this second floor, peering over the ledge at him, was what Alisson realized was the person of most threat in the room, and so Alisson’s focus locked onto him. It was a large fox-kin man, wearing a simple robe.
As Alisson stood off the dead wolf-kin, the chain falling limply across the ground off Alisson’s left arm, the large fox-kin man leapt from the second floor, and landed in the middle of the first floor with a large thud, kicking up a cloud of dust. Now level with him, Alisson saw that the man held in one hand a great sword, though due to his size, the fingers of only one of his hands greedily wrapped around the entire hilt.
“Listen here child…I know not of who you are, but you are Nekomata, that is like us…”
The fox-kin continued talking like a soothing grandfather, though Alisson saw that the man was readying himself, and that his eyes were splashing over Alisson in a wave of analysis. Ignoring the man’s speech, Alisson walked forward, his left-arm hanging limply by his side dripping a sizable amount of blood onto the floor. His steps were shaky, and his small body by all accounts shouldn’t have been able to function with how badly damaged is left arm was from the wolf-kin.
The fatherly fox-kin’s speech gradually died out as he saw that Alisson wasn’t listening, and he sighed deeply, raising his sword, grabbing onto the base of the blade with his other hand.
All around the two of them, the surrounding refugees all stared at Alisson, some with horror, some blankly indifferent, already having lost hope long ago, and others with anger. These people who flashed looks of anger stood, about five of them in all, and took the fox-kin’s side, glaring at Alisson. They were unarmed yes, but they could easily all just rush Alisson and tackle him. Any sane person, met with such odds and armed only with a knife, would turn tail and retreat.
…If Alisson were to do that…a fate worse than death would await him. Only two-outcomes existed. He either died fighting, and was freed of his hell, or he accomplished his mission, and killed every last breathing soul in the building.
Alisson honestly didn’t know which was more preferable.
He broke into a sprint, straight toward the fox-kin man, armed only with his knife, his left arm completely unusable, and dangling behind his body.
…
“W-what’s going on in there, master?”
A blue-haired boy asked his master. They were on a cliff overlooking a large cobbled together compound on the beach. It looked like a landing of sorts, and it wasn’t hard to miss even though it was the dead of night due to all the lights.
“Don’t be nosy Rickard. We’re only here because the Lady can’t have word of Serendipity’s movement’s get out.”
The blue-haired apprentice, Rickard, looked up to his instructor.
“You mean that we’re taking all the credit?”
Rickard’s master nodded slowly, and Rickard turned back toward the compound.
“That’s wrong…” Rickard muttered.
“That’s the way it is.”
Rickard’s master replied with a stone-cold expression. One couldn’t say anything heretical when she was so nearby. His apprentice was young and so naivety was expected, but he was a grown Nekomata, and such thoughts would land a large bullseye on his back.
“There ya’ go. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one that takes training their apprentice seriously.”
The older Nekomata gasped and recoiled away from the voice, almost falling onto his apprentice. Standing right over his shoulder, was Apophria, staring smugly at the compound. His eyes were wide in fear, he thought that he was done for – After even thinking about the prospect having those sorts of thoughts, she’d appeared, like reading his mind.
“L-lady Nuam…I thought you were handling things down there in the refugee den…”
Apophria glanced to the terrified Nekomata with a smirk. She noticed that the apprentice, although glancing at her, was in no way as scared as his master, and even seemed to frown with resentment at her. He was quite courageous.
“Yeah about that…My little brother is taking care of it. You know it’s only natural – I do so much for him it’s only normal that he’d want to repay me.”
“A-ah…I see…”
Apophria looked back over to the compound, smiling with devilish jubilee.
…
Though the candles still burned, it seemed much darker in the room.
That was because blood now covered every square foot of wall, ceiling and flooring. There were innumerable corpses just scattered about. Men were disemboweled and remained unmoving before their entrails, women were but limp hulks in the shadows, and the children’s bodies were so eviscerated that one couldn’t immediately tell that there were any in the first place; and would simply think that they were apart of other messes. In the center of it all, Alisson sat. A single beam of moonlight shone from a hole in the ceiling and illuminated his bloodied body. Around him lay those men that had tried to gang up on him, and directly under his boots, was the destitute corpse of Father Oreese, his eyes still wide from the moment he died only a minute before.
Alisson was still, and looked blankly into the ceiling, his head limp and his eyes blank. Covered in blood, and wounds, he looked just as dead as those around him.
“So, how did it go?”
Apophria asked, now suddenly in front of Alisson.
“Mission…accomplished…”
Alisson said in monotone, no muscles moving except for his mouth. Thanks to his wounds, he was already in the process of dying. There was no way he should’ve been conscious, much less been able to speak. Apophria smiled tenderly.
“Really now?” She tilted her head. “Oh…they grow-up so fast…only a few years ago and you didn’t know left from right, but look at you now. You’re going to need a bath but…” Her eyes narrowed, “…You did well, Alisson.”
A moment of silence passed as Alisson recognized what his sister had said. When he did, a light returned to his eyes, and his gaze set on his sister, his mouth open with its prior blankness. Slowly, a nervous but hopeful smile appeared on Alisson’s once blank countenance.
“S-so…does that mean,” He swallowed a knot of nervousness, “…you’re proud of me?”
Apophria eyed him for a moment, still smiling tenderly. She walked closer and set a hand on Alisson’s soft hair.
“Yes. I am, Alisson, I’m proud of you.” She said, ruffling his hair.
Alisson looked genuinely, and undoubtably, happy, in that moment in time. His eyes closed and fluttered in ecstasy, and it felt like his entire body could melt due to his weightlessness. Her hand glowed blue, evidently she was healing him with one of her scrolls, but Alisson paid no mind to it, and was far more affixed on the sensation of someone touching him with so little maliciousness.
“But…about that bath…how does a swim in the Andestine Strait sound tonight? This is a great time to build your endurance.”
Apophria asked with the same tender smile, but Alisson either didn’t hear her, or didn’t mind what she was saying. The thought of freezing in oceanic waters sounded foreign, and make-believe, when waves of warmth were rolling down his body from his sister’s petting.
…
Contrary to last night’s heavy raining and thundering storm, the morning birds still chirped with their usual loudness, and the estate’s empty halls went on creaking. I woke up before Alisson, and was about to go back to sleep to try and steal some more rest, when I noticed that he was still on my shoulder. So, I stayed awake, and sat with mellow eyes, yawning in bliss with Alisson on my shoulder, his chest rising and dropping softly and his mouth ever so slightly agape. The light of the sun soon poured through the window that we’d slept in front of, and so sun shafts pierced Alisson’s eye lashes and splashed across his softly closed eyes.
He started to stir, and, wary to not be caught ogling him, I was about to stand up and start getting ready...when I realized that his movement and erratic breathing wasn’t him coming to. He thrashed his head side to side, and despite my best efforts, his head came sliding off my shoulder and onto my lap. His entire body moved and shook in some way or another, very slightly. I could tell he was having some sort of dream, and that he looked to be in distress from his shifting facial expression.
Having Alisson so perfectly in my lap and with a solid enough reason, I started caressing his head with a hand, with a gentle smile.
“There there…”
I might’ve been having a little too much fun, but it’s not often I get to treat Alisson like this. He’d definitely push me away and call me a pervert if I were to just do this to him out of the blue. I can do whatever I want right now though because he’s unconscious. It’s definitely not the same, but I can vicariously imagine what this would really be like if Alisson were conscious and consenting of me were I to stem my fantasies from this.
Then suddenly, Alisson’s eyes flicked open. Wide. Like he’d seen a ghost. He suddenly sat up, eyeing me with a hopeful and heartfelt smile. I didn’t have the time to recoil my hand, and so I still had a hand atop his head. For a second I thought that was the moment, that was the moment that I’d confess and find out once and for all that Alisson actually likes me, and a smile was about to brew on my face when…
Alisson spoke.
“You’re…you’re proud of me? Right?”
His smile widened, and it soon became clear that his smile was not confident, like at any moment he could just fall into a depression. He reached out to my other hand, the one not on his head, and, completely perplexed, I lifted my hand toward his, and let him grab it. Now holding a hand of mine with both his own, he looked at me pleadingly, and I realized that he wanted an answer.
“Er…yeah. I’m, proud of you…Alisson…?”
I say, still confused. Within a heartbeat, Alisson’s Opensen activated, his tails swishing back and forth in glee behind him like a dog. He was right in front of me, his legs splayed over my own, so the view I had was intoxicating – Seeing Alisson smiling and wagging his tails like a dog.
“Ah…t-thank goodness…”
His breathing was erratic.
He clenched my hand tightly. The way he spoke was childish, like in the course of a night he’d suddenly regressed into a child.
Is Alisson hallucinating or something? Was this his dream and maybe he’s sleep walking or something?
It had only been a quarter of a minute since he’d woken up, and I was about to reply when I saw with my own eyes,
His smile slowly faded. His tails gradually decreased in the tempo of their swishing. And his eyes darkened. His grip on my hand loosened.
All at once, his eyes suddenly shot wide, and his face curled into surprise. In a flash he stood and shakily backpedaled away from me, like I was some horrible thing. Just as quick did he fall back onto his butt, still staring at me like I was the craziest thing in the world.
“Alisson…”
I said, and started to get up with a face of concern.
What’s wrong? Did I do something bad?
A mild panic overtakes me as I near on Alisson.
His gaze finally breaks with me and his head sank low. He was shaking intensely, either in fear or distress.
“T-there’s no one…no one is here…”
He said shakily to himself. It looked like he was insane, like he belonged in an asylum. I kneeled next to him, and reached a hand toward him, smiling warily.
“I’m here Alisson.”
Alisson looked up, as if not believing me. After a moment, his mouth curled into guilt.
“I’m…I’m sorry, I, I don’t know what that was…” Alisson said, averting his eyes guiltily.
Well, evidently Alisson is back in a stable state of mind. Just what was all that?
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“What’s wrong? Some kind of dream?”
I ask, tilting my head in confusion.
“I don’t know…” Were the only words Alisson gave in response.
The two of us sat like that for a few minutes. We gradually started to prepare to depart. When we were putting on our armor, I eyed Alisson. His actions were less a conscious effort and more like he was going through the motions. His mind was evidently away.
The atmosphere was tense, and I was really uncomfortable.
“S-so…About Enhérejär…”
I spoke out, wanting to break the silence.
“…Yes?”
“I told you it was moving on its own…and I’m pretty sure it talked to me at one point…”
“Mm…You didn’t tell me that part. That’s rare, the fact that you have an affinity for Enhérejär.”
“W-what do you mean? It’s not like I used it…”
I replied.
“No, you didn’t use Enhérejär, Enhérejär used you. It used your sense to see and maneuver. Enhérejär has a range that it can move in, and it looks like your one of the people that has one for it.”
After a moment of silence, Alisson spoke again.
“But, that sounds like you two are quite the team, communicating like that.”
“It really wasn’t anything…”
I mutter in response, a little embarrassed, and a little disturbed. The way Alisson spoke so normally, even though it was abhorrently apparent that he was hiding some grave thought to himself, it was painful to listen to. No matter how much I tried to motivate myself, I couldn’t even try to confront him about it, and we we’re left in an awkward conversation. I’m not sure if Alisson knew that I knew, or if he was just that good an actor, but his presence to me was suddenly unnerving, and I was put off by Alisson, my senses constantly told me and pricked at my back, saying that somebody was next to me. That sort of treatment was left for strangers, Alisson before had always melded in seamlessly with my environment, as something that should be there. But now, I was left in a mild panic at my own distrust of him.
The sudden thought of an overbearing and tall, shadowy figure loomed over my mind in Alisson’s place, and I wasn’t able to take any hearth in Alisson as I had before. On one hand I was worrying about this fact, but on the other, colder end, my only thought was that I was better off like this, without anybody, just like how I’d been for my whole life, independent.
I shook my head at my own calmness at seeing these thoughts course through my head.
What the hell is wrong with me.
I couldn’t stir myself up, and my body was stone cold, and alert. I was infinitely wary of how uncharacteristic me and Alisson were being, and I was subconsciously terrified of it.
…
“Knock knock.”
Instead of actually knocking on the door, Lavjoure peeked her head in our room just as we were about to set out.
“I got those maps I was talking about.”
She said, her two maids filing in and placing a small table in the room, to which Lavjoure unraveled a few large sheets of paper over each other.
“It was a pain to go all the way down there, but thankfully nothing bothered us. The maps themselves are newly made, but their contents…well…They may or may not be tens of thousands of years out of date…”
Lavjoure said, as if we we’re going to reprimand her for that fact.
“A map is a map, the world does not change no?” Alisson asked quizzically.
“I guess not so much in that time…but it’s not current, so just keep that in mind.”
Alisson and I peered over the table. The sight was unbelievable.
“No way…”
“Where did you get such a thing…?”
Me and Alisson both gasp in disbelief.
The map was colored, and not in large blocks like a handmade political map, but the coloring was actually the land itself. It was like somebody flew high into the sky and sat for years drawing out millions of small details. There were hundreds of islands that I’d never even heard about scattered within Aleeze and surrounding it. I could see Peidzé and Siphrine, and the Andestinian continent. The Deadzone, I could see it right away, it was the large gray smear on the northwest of Aleeze, contrary to the green and blue of the rest of the map. I was expecting to see a large plain of green where the Ipithid Plain was, but, it was actually quite hard to discern. There were some lakes where the plain should’ve been, but these were not whole, and rather looked to be cut and fractured, like the lakes had moved while someone was drawing the map. The same was the case for the trees in the plain, they looked fractal, and not in coherent clusters like they should’ve been.
Alisson pulled out his compass and laid it on the table, and leaned in closer, tracing several points.
“If Daigoro is here…and Pūshkinskaya is around here…”
He circled a part of the map, on the northeast part of Aleeze, with his index finger.
“We should be around here.”
He concluded.
“Hmph. Pretty good guess. Though I guess that’s a given because all you people have to work with are such rudimentary maps and tools.”
Lavjoure said, taking off a glove and revealing her sharp fingers. She pointed with her index finger at a place near Alisson’s finger, her sharp metallic scalpel seeming magnitudes more accurate than Alisson’s gauntlet.
“We’re more around here. Some mountain ranges you’ll notice haven’t formed yet, and some haven’t crumbled, and some rivers don’t exist, and others do, that sort of thing.”
“That’s what you mean by out of date…” Alisson muttered. “Regardless, this is an extraordinary piece of cartography – It must have taken millions of man-hours to make.”
Lavjoure smiled in smug victory.
“Ho…All it took was a single press of a button, and the last available photo was printed. That’s all.”
“Fo-to?”
Lavjoure frowned.
“Yeah…about that. This isn’t a drawing. If you were to draw your vision perfectly and realistically, so that other people could see exactly what you saw, that’s what a photo is, like snap in time.”
“Some sort of advanced magic?”
Alisson asked, still looking over the map, like trying to absorb the contents.
“Yeah, you could say that I guess. But magic in the sense that I’m magic: Not really.”
She said, shaking her head.
“Well, that’s just the physical map, I also had topographic one and one that a…person I’m meant to be serving, was working on too.”
The topographic map was highlighted with bright colors, hot red to indicate height and a dark blue to indicate an absence of such, the vivid colors were mesmerizing, I never thought I’d see such bright colors on paper…it’s only spells that have such bright colors.
Lavjoure showed us the last map she was talking about, something about it being the pet project of one of her masters, back when she had any.
The map was like the first, only overlaid across the continent were four blue hurricane looking amalgamations. The largest was in the south of northern Aleeze, above the lake, where Alisson had said Pūshkinskaya was. The other three were as Alisson described, above the first – on top of the Halaruth capital, to the right of the first – Above Daigoro, and to the left of the first, over the center of the Deadzone.
Other than the four bundles of circles, there were numerous dots of blue, running down the continent of Aleeze in columns and rows, no place was far from a blue dot.
“What do these blue circles mean?”
Alisson asked, studying the map.
“If I remember, it was a plotting out of some sort of energy, and for whatever reason it amassed at the places marked with blue, much more so in the north with these large circles.”
“Some sort of energy…” Alisson mumbled. “It can only be mana.”
“Mm. My thoughts exactly, though at the time we didn’t know what it was, or really anything about the surface other than these maps.”
Lavjoure said, and then quickly rolled the maps back up, much to our harrowing stares, like a grand treasure was ripped away right before our eyes. One of the maids placed the rolled-up maps in a metal tube, and clicked the cap tight, before handing it to Alisson. He was wary of the maid who not hours before had been trying to kill him, but he took the metal tube nonetheless.
“…Before we leave, I must ask…” Alisson said, peering at the maid before him, who about a head taller than him. “…Who are these two servants of yours?”
“Mm…” Lavjoure looked up to the two maids. “They’re my subordinates…there’s a…what do you call it…a hierarchy to us, ‘spirits’ as you call us.”
“A hierarchy of spirits? And here I thought they were all the same.” Alisson replied.
“Yes, it goes Foremen-Class, the lowest and least equipped constructs, these two here are such Foremen. Then, Intercessor-Class, that’s me, I’ve got a step up in the processing department and I’m a specialist with a complicated skillset. Then there’s Progenitor-Classes, those guys have AI matrices that can control entire facilities and manage multiple other complicated tasks all at once. If there were any around here, then they’d be my boss, fortunately for me, there are none, so I’m the highest-ranking intelligence ‘round these parts.”
She shrugged, shaking her head smugly. These two are ‘Foremen’, I guess it’s a fitting name if all these do is physical menial tasks, and it explains why although their more physically strong than Lavjoure…they’re pretty dumb.
“Are all spirits like them so impassive?” I ask.
Lavjoure shook her head.
“No, they used to be just like me but…as I said last night, they didn’t last too long. I shouldn’t be stable either really, the only ones that on paper should still be operable are the Progenitors. But, I’ve stubbornly kept these two around, I am a bit of a technician so I can fix them and myself. They keep me from being too lonely.”
Alisson nodded, apparently accepting the explanation.
“Speaking of fixing things...” Lavjoure started, looking at our armor. “Are you really going to travel the roads with that armor?”
Alisson and I both glance down to our horribly mangled steel plate. Her concern was valid, our steel plates and coifs were in bad shape from the last few days of battle; Alisson’s was much more so than mine, anyone could see the large gash through his abdomen were he’d been impaled by the hero.
“For now, it will do.”
Alisson replied tersely. Lavjoure shook her head with her hands on her hips.
“I can fix that armor up, if you want.”
Alisson shook his head.
“I appreciate the concern, but I’d rather get moving as soon as possible. There also isn’t anything that I can recall dangerous on the road to Pūshkinskaya. So we’ll be fine until we reach a smith there.”
Lavjoure frowned. She took both of her gloves off, and took a step forward. Alisson and I took a step back in nervousness. String shot out from her hands and me and Alisson recoiled, our hands reaching for a weapon. Though, the string was not aggressive, and floated gently through the air toward us. The string slipped into our armor, under both our watchful gazes.
“This is the least I can do if you’re so pressed for time.”
Lavjoure said, smiling. More and more string flooded into our armor, and I wondered where the hell it all was going to. Lavjoure suddenly gave each of her hands a clench into a fist, and both me and Alisson yelped out in surprise. All around my upper body a tight lattice of string had tightened, and I quickly realized that Lavjoure had reinforced our gambesons with the metal string, and had sewn together any rips within seconds.
Lavjoure emitted a small sadistic chuckle in response to our reactions, but me and Alisson ignored her, focused on what she had done.
“Metal wire reinforced gambeson…”
I mutter, looking down at my armor. Evidently, this string was far more threaded together than the invisible string she’d used before, which was good, because I was momentarily scared about catching fire like all the other string when Alisson had thrown that oil last night.
“It’s not hard to move in all, I’m quite sure this is just about the best thing you can do when it comes to light armor.”
Alisson said. Lavjoure nodded, though she stared intently at both me and Alisson with a dark expression, her hands our before her, her string still connected us in full.
“What’s wrong?”
Alisson asked.
“Oh nothing…I was just resisting the urge was all.”
I realized then that she was in the position to restrain the both of us immediately. She seemed especially affixed on me, and was staring right at my chest.
…Is she thinking of revenge for last night? I mean…I was grabbing her chest then. She doesn’t exactly have anything to speak of, so I was a little disappointed in such a perfect position. A wave of reprimand flows through me and I cringe my face slightly from hearing my own thoughts.
Lavjoure suddenly shook her head lightly and the string still suspended in between us was severed from what was now in our gambesons, and retracted quickly into the spirit’s scalpel like fingers. She put her gloves on immediately thereafter, like it was some sort of crime to have her fingers bare.
“Well,” Alisson looked back to Lavjoure, “Thank you for your gracious gifts.”
“It’s nothing really compared to how I acted last night…”
“Hmph. Perhaps we’ll meet again in the future, but until then, farewell.”
Alisson nodded. Lavjoure seemed to be caught on his words.
“Yes…goodbye…Maybe next time you can take me to meet that other spirit you spoke of earlier.”
“If it comes to that, then it’ll most certainly be an interesting sight.”
With that, Alisson and I left the estate in the wake of two bowing maids and a furrowed mouth from Lavjoure with her arms crossed, staring at the both of our horses trotting away at a calm pace.
When me and Alisson wanted to find shelter for the night, I never thought we’d come in contact with another spirit, and much less have such an…exciting, evening.
Everything in hindsight makes sense, those corpses were just former residents that the spirit had stuffed due to boredom, and those maid girls were just brain-dead spirits or something. And all that string was just the spirit’s doing. When holding her, I could tell immediately that she was a spirit, the way her body felt like it had no bones, and only a hard shell plastered over with skin, it was exactly how Sylph was.
Though, as I’m thinking over the events of last night, my heart jumps when I remember the one thing that wasn’t a result of the spirit’s games.
“Hey…Alisson?”
I said. We’d been riding for a few hours, and Lavjoure’s estate was far behind us. The sun was out, and the surrounding forest was lively, but it was noticeably chilly, and cloudy. Compared to our time in the cult lands, it’s a step back toward normal.
“What is it?” Alisson almost snapped at me.
…What’s with that attitude?
“I saw Sequiturs…last night, again…”
“Plural?” Alisson asked, still not turning around to even look at me.
“Yes…there were two of them, and they were right behind me, meters away…”
Alisson sighed heavily, but still didn’t turn to face me, and went silent for a long moment.
Compared to how worried he was when I’d only seen one, and at such a distance, his sudden doubling down on his worry is unorthodox and inconsistent.
“It’s like you only ever see them when I’m not around…keep that in mind. You might have to confront them all on your own by design.”
Real encouraging, Alisson. He didn’t say anything else after that.
I try to forget about Alisson, as my stomach is mildly tightening in panic when I realize how he’s been acting.
Then there were those maps, it seemed like they’re not real due to how crazy accurate they are. But, despite my beliefs, I can still see that metal tube resting in some straps on the side of Alisson’s stallion. As my gaze wanders higher, it rests on the back of Alisson’s head, and I frown.
The way he’s been acting…He had some sort of dream…but, that’s only exaggerated what’s been there…he’s been acting like we’ve been strangers since that forest of white, after he was beaten by the Hero. It’s just that back then the change was so small that I couldn’t notice it, but whatever dream he had, had evidently exacerbated his condition. He’s been treating me like he did when I was first assigned to him back in Sidonia, at least outwardly. Right now, I don’t have a clue what’s running through his mind.
…That must be the reason I myself felt the way I did back when we woke up, he’s acting weird, and because of that I am too.
…It’s better to nip this at the bud, and strike while the wound is hot. I know this is the proper action to take, but, that’s it. I know to do this. But, actually doing it, is another story. I spent the next several hours preparing myself for such a brazen confrontation, against Alisson of all people.
Eventually, I exhaled deeply, making up my mind. I pulled my mare up beside Alisson’s stallion.
…
“Alisson.”
Celis sounded stern, and her expression was dark. Alisson reluctantly turned to look at his apprentice.
“We need to talk.” She said, staring him dead in the eyes. “Let’s dismount for a second.”
Alisson stared quizzically, but he soon saw the determination in his apprentice’s voice. He broke sight with her uncharacteristically easily.
“What for?”
He asked, averting his attention, and seeming absent minded as he had been.
“Just trust me.”
Celis insisted. Alisson frowned in response.
“…Fine then.”
He eventually conceded, noting that the horses did need a break.
Alisson thought with a clouded mind, like he was detached and simply watching his body move on its own accord. He hadn’t stopped thinking about it once since he’d woken that morning.
His sister’s face was caught in his mind, and that dream, a memory he’d long locked away, had resurfaced ungracefully out of the blue. He could see his own face during that time, his dead, blank, unfeeling and automaton-like face. That in parallel with the recent events, it seemed to laugh in his face and only prove his mental scourge further.
Alisson slipped off his mount. Celis walked toward him. He’d noticed a certain glint of disgust in her eyes, though his mind was far too busy to consciously realize this. Celis didn’t stop walking toward Alisson, even when they were inches apart.
“Cel-?”
He yelped in surprise when she grabbed him by the collar and pushed him all the way against a tree on the side of the road. He was a little scared to note that she was stronger than he’d thought, she’d almost lifted him off his feet. Well, she was now as tall as his eyes, it was to be expected.
Pinning him to the bark, Celis stared up to Alisson with a scowl. Though, her anger seemed pleading in a sense.
“What’s wrong, Alisson?”
She asked bluntly. Alisson averted his eyes with a frown.
“Nothing is wrong. I don’t know what you’re eluding-”
“You can tell me Alisson; I know there’s something bothering you.”
Alisson was silent for a moment. His shoulder prickled with unease and his body felt uncomfortable. He didn’t think much about what was happening, he only thought that he wanted to get out of the situation as fast as possible.
“It’s nothing.”
Alisson said quickly, and tried to shake Celis off of him, but she held him firmly.
“You’ve been acting differently Alisson, I know there’s something.”
Alisson was growing annoyed at his apprentice’s insistence.
“I told you,” He looked back to Celis sternly. “There’s nothing wrong.”
In response, Celis sighed, but looked back to Alisson with an even greater amount of determination that had came from seemingly nowhere.
“Talk to me, Alisson.”
That’s all she said, but it was enough to finally make Alisson consider the situation on a conscious level. Celis didn’t normally speak so sternly, it was evident that she’d thought ahead what she wanted to say. Celis was thinking of him in advance, her shakedown was clearly an act of care.
Realizing this, Alisson’s mind quickly snowballed out of lethargy. Both did his mind suddenly step back to criticize himself, as it did swirl into anger. The lethargy of his mind had locked away his thoughts.
The critic of his mind quickly saw who was being demanding of him, and quickly concluded that pride was not worth alienating Celis.
Even so, his anger persisted, and his face curled into a scowl as a fist of his tightened. He averted his gaze, grinding his teeth.
“I’ve noticed something…”
Celis’s face turned to worry in the presence of Alisson’s anger.
“Does it have to do with your dream?”
She asked. Alisson took a deep breath, realizing that indeed his mind was focused on it.
“…My sister…Ever since I haven’t been under her wing…”
His eye twitched.
“I’ve been powerless. Soft.”
Celis stared at him pleadingly, and her hands dropped off of holding his collar. She opened her mouth to respond, but Alisson was faster.
“I’m weak! I’ve been ignoring it until now, but the truth is right before me!”
He slammed his clenched gauntlet into the tree bark in anger. His eyes were burning.
“I’ve been beaten-! We’ve, been beaten-! Time and time again!”
He spat.
“I’m the third best in all of Sidonia – Nothing should be able to stop me! But we’re hindered by the likes of that Hero and those damned Andestinians! Even that cult was on the brink of overrunning us-!”
Anger was seething through his teeth.
“I would’ve died so far, if hadn’t been for you…”
Gradually, his outburst cooled, and his hand dropped from the tree, and his head hung low.
“If I were truly the third best…Then we would’ve won…we wouldn’t have lost Dereleg ‘Bol…” He muttered defeatedly. “And now, I’ve fallen so far that I can be captured by the likes of a stupid little spirit!”
He spat. For a long moment thereafter, they were silent. Celis was smiling at him with soft eyes, as if one were to look at a child.
“I would’ve died too.”
She said tersely. Alisson looked to her.
“…What?”
“You watched out for me too, Alisson. You’re not weak, you can protect the both of us. We’re still here.”
Alisson looked away guiltily.
“But…but if I were stronger…or a better tactician…”
“You’re already good at what you do, Alisson.”
Is all Celis said, but it made Alisson’s shoulders scrunch up protectively, like defending from a foreign threat.
“We fought for almost four days in a row without rest…that alone shows it…it was only natural really that we’d be too exhausted to win against Andestine…and then after, you were wounded and tired, there wasn’t anything you could do against Lavjoure.”
Celis tilted her head expectantly, but Alisson wasn’t budging that easily.
“…So?” He said suddenly. “What difference does it make? We’re Nekomata. Nothing can beat us; four days is nothing…And there’s no excuse for losing to that inexperienced hero…” Alisson mumbled. “I had far worse when I was an apprentice…”
Celis could only stare on with her small smile.
“We’re Nekomata, Alisson. We’re supposed to be smart enough to rest up before every battle and be at our best, and know what battles we can win and what battles we can’t.”
That made Alisson’s head perk up. That was something that had been drilled into his head by his sister, and hearing it from his apprentice felt very close to home.
“Mm…I suppose you’re right…” Alisson said, admitting defeat. “But,” his head picked back up as he stared suspiciously at Celis. “…why do you care? Why talk like this?”
Celis looked away.
“B-because…I…I…”
Her voice trailed off. Alisson sighed.
“Forget it…I’m, I’m sorry for being like this…”
Alisson said suddenly, and Celis looked back up to him. She shook her head.
“Admitting your problem is already halfway to fixing it. It’s good that you told me now, and early…”
When Celis said that, Alisson realized that she’d set out with the express purpose of getting him to bite his pride and express his thoughts. Was she actually set on hearing his irk and shouldering the negativity?
Alisson smiled slightly in spite of himself.
“…If anything bothers you Alisson…just tell me, okay?”
Celis tilted her head with a smile. Alisson didn’t respond, and he averted his gaze in embarrassment. His cheeks felt warm.
“R-right.” He looked away to the sky, to get away from his embarrassment. “The birds have stopped chirping and dark clouds have rolled in; Beasts will be here soon. Let’s get moving.”
“Right.”
Celis nodded with determination.
“You’ve got a hard shell, Alisson.”
When they mounted up, Celis let out a quiet but smug comment. Alisson looked to her with a wry smile.
“Are you gonna hold that over me now?”
“Probably.”
She shook her head slyly.
…
It had been a week since then, and not much had transpired. Yes, beasts had harassed them, and they’d ran into a few villages, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. The entire time, Alisson had been waiting for an Andestine strike force to suddenly appear, but that moment never came.
The roads had been as they’d been outside of cult territory, the odd battle with Roamers and the lack of sentient contact outside of villages was oddly reassuring, and normalizing. Alisson was left thinking in his head about Celis and her brazen shakedown of him when they had left Lavjoure’s. The thought was still surreal, Celis had even been confident enough to actually speak out and pull him aside, all while he was in some sort of mood. He was glad she’d made him see himself, and see how wrapped up in his own thoughts he was because of that dream. He was thinking over and over again how his sister was right, how he should’ve stayed exactly like she’d taught him, and he’d be far stronger because of it. He was even looking on at Celis, and contemplating if he should do the same to her as his sister had done to him.
A perpetual cycle of torment, but it produced results, Alisson was the living proof of that to be sure.
He’d regained his third person view of himself, and for that he saw how stupid he was, being so childish as to worry about losing and not being powerful enough; Though the truth was, this insecurity was still strong in Alisson. The difference now was that he realized it. If his sister were beside him, he’d be beaten up for thinking the emotion was childish or mundane. She’d said the emotion of being powerless was actually one of the strongest someone could have, and the motivation to become strong as a result was invaluable. The trick was, to always feel one was behind, even though they really weren’t.
Exactly how Alisson had acted, he was the third strongest in Sidonia, yet he was acting like a spoiled brat just because he’d lost, without looking at the context behind his losses.
Apophria would say that context didn’t matter, if you lost, then you lost, and that you should’ve been stronger to completely overrule whatever ‘context’ caused your defeat. It was a brute force way of overcoming challenge, but now that she was where she was in strength, it didn’t sound as crazy.
Now, Alisson needed to lock away his emotions more than ever. The most important part of his mission was approaching, for Pūshkinskaya was not but hours away.
It was noticeably chillier, and the tree and bushes were staring to shrivel in anticipation for the coming snowfall. Snow stayed around for the better part of the year in the north, and Alisson had hoped to come and go through Pūshkinskaya avoiding the snow. But it looked to be that unless they accomplished their tasked within the week at Pūshkinskaya, snow would very well be upon them.
The sun, hiding behind the dense gray clouds over head, was in the middle of the sky. Although it was noon, it was quite dark.
Having traveled from cult lands for a week, they were now very much in the Kingdom of Tarakia. Though like all northern nations, a nation more existed in name only. Borders were hardly noticeable, and the lands were mostly lawless. Only Halaruth stood as a bastion of safety in the far north.
Further down the road, him and Celis spotted two horsemen. They had subpar coifs and a spear and shield each. Though they had the crest of the Tarakian King on their leather-covered shields, they looked to be more like militiamen than guardsmen. The both of them wore blue ragged scarves, perhaps as some sort of uniformity.
“Oi there – Who goes?”
One of the cavalry men shouted, and it was evident that this was the outer patrol of Pūshkinskaya. Unlike more protected lands, the cities in the north were far sparser and more independent, which meant that every city had to defend itself. The same with villages, though they were far smaller and received far less harassment, and as such didn’t have the multiple layers of defensive patrols and camps surrounding them.
Understandably, it was going to be hard to be let near the city. No one should be coming from Alisson and Celis’s direction.
“Just travelers, sir.”
Alisson shouted. He quickly recited the story him and Celis had discussed beforehand in his head as they neared the cavalrymen.
“What are you two doing out and alone? Where did you come from?”
One cavalryman asked.
“We’re from Halaruth, our caravan was ambushed by the cult when we got too close to their lands, now we’re all that’s left.”
Alisson responded. The cavalryman eyed the armored steeds of Alisson and Celis, but then saw the completely mangled outer armor the both of them wore, and seemed to understand. Alisson had purposely left his cloak parted to show off his destroyed steel armor, and it looked like Celis had been keen enough to do so as well.
“What are you two, exactly?”
The man asked, still sizing up Alisson and Celis’s armor.
“We’re adventurers, tasked with defending the caravan.”
Alisson said, and the man scoffed.
“So you saved yourselves…” He muttered.
It was better to appear not like a noble upstanding Nekomata but rather as common as possible.
“Mm, you’re free to pass but we’ll have to escort you to the gates. It’s dangerous out here you know.”
The cavalrymen’s scarred armor and trained posture indicated they’d had more than a few run-ins with beasts and marauders.
“It’s much appreciated.”
Alisson responded, and he heard the man mutter under his breath as he turned,
“…Cowards…”
So, escorted by the two guardsmen down the road, Alisson and Celis managed to bypass the defenses of Pūshkinskaya. They passed a few other patrols of cavalrymen, all with the same armaments and steely gazes. Then they passed a campfire with a few men surrounding it, horses nearby. The campfire was right in front of a destroyed building, and it looked to have been a guard post from the looks of it. It seemed to have been destroyed recently. They saw a couple of these outer campfires but as they neared the town, the guard posts became better staffed and the very last guard post, right outside the walls of Pūshkinskaya, was the only one not collapsed.
“Well here it is, you two clearly aren’t from around here, so I’ll give you some friendly advice.” One of the cavalrymen, who was quite old, said to Alisson outside the gate of Pūshkinskaya. “You two are adventurers, but you two don’t got’ your stripes; I recommend you go talk with the Guild and get sorted out. The town doesn’t like people going around with weapons without a reason. You’d better watch yourself, us guardsmen are spread thin enough defending Pūshkinskaya from the outside.”
The cavalryman said, and Alisson and Celis entered the city without much fuss. The cities in the north were a different breed than those controlled by the Caliphate and Principality, safety was a luxury. Thugs roamed the streets, and honest work was a rarity. There were destroyed buildings surrounding the outside of the city walls, and on the inside, in the slums, there were also destroyed and charred buildings. This was typical human society. Alisson had been to the north scarcely, and had experience and knew that this was the reality of it, but still was unfamiliar with it. There were beggars gliding through the streets and the destitute homeless covered in rags with nothing to do but die in the next beast attack; It was a miracle humanity even existed in the north. And it was just as much as a testament to the ungratefulness of the people in the Caliphate and Principality. Before being united under a single authoritarian nation, the numerous tribes and nations were all exactly like this.
The people of the Caliphate and Principality were only steps away from descending out of civilization, and into whatever this was. The King that so called ‘ruled’ this town and others in Tarakia was nearer to the coast, in the capital of Tarakia. On the coast, connected to the Principality and Caliphate through inter-maritime trade and transport, it was a far better place to live than being further inland like Pūshkinskaya.
“Alright.”
Alisson had found a relatively quiet part of the slums, and although he saw out of the corner of his vision children and people in rags staring at them from out of their half-destroyed buildings from the shadows of the interiors, none of them were in hearing distance, so Alisson ignored them.
“Let’s get down to business, Celis.”
She nodded.
“We need to find a smith to fix or perhaps even to buy new armor from. It might not look like it, but the large adventurer presence in Pūshkinskaya means that weapons and armor aren’t as hard to come by as many live to support the adventurers. We also need to restock our supplies, this town isn’t as ripe with goods as others, but it still shouldn’t be an issue. Then, we need to get in contact with the Guild, and find an adventurer team to join up with that’s willing to go into the Freigat Jungle soon: Entrance to the Jungle is blocked to only those who are suspected to be able to make it out, and the Guild won’t let two strangers just run in and kill themselves.”
Celis nodded, and Alisson continued.
“I’ll go find a smith to handle our armor. In the meantime, go restock our supplies, make sure to prepare for the expedition that we’ll be making into the jungle. After that, you can meet up with me at the Guild, I’ll be going there after I find a smith to go get us sorted with the adventurers.”
She nodded. So, Celis, leading their two horses, and Alisson, carrying their broken armor in a bag, parted ways. The both of them had stripped off the broken steel plates and coifs, and Alisson now carried a bag of broken and jangling armor. Although they were both stripped of their stronger armor, and they’d split up, even in a town like this, where Alisson could feel the stares of maliciousness on his back, he was confident that him and Celis could handle themselves.
***