When Kiran and the rest arrived at the dining chamber, he hadn’t expected there to be just so much food and the sheer variety available for them. How are they able to have all of this? A giant ham sat on the table with steam rising off it along with different kinds of breads and sweets.
While he pondered on where he ought to sit, both Silvy and Lar went ahead and chose their spots so that their backs would face a black stone wall with a giant rectangular painting strewn across it. They both waved towards him eagerly wanting him to sit with them. He knew better than to deny their request so he went over taking a seat between them.
Rather than sit on their side, Juna chose a seat on the opposite side sitting directly across from Kiran. As she sat there with her hands in her lap, Juna looked a bit out of it today and lost in thought. Her eyes wandered aimlessly around the dining chamber. Even with all of this wonderful food, it did little to dissuade the tumultuous emotions she has been dealing with recently.
Food quickly found its way onto everyone’s plates. Everyone had been eating things like stale bread during their journey and in small portions to make their already limited supplies last longer. With a chance like this to eat so much wonderful food, everyone ate as much as they could.
His belly quickly became full. He ate more slowly struggling to justify any further sustenance going down his gullet. He tipped his head back as he drank from a cup filled the special wine spotting the candlelit chandeliers above them. With this many candles, I wonder how they’re able to not run out of them. If things ever slow down for us, maybe I should consider making a business out of it. I’d make an absolute killing in such a dark domain that requires them in nearly every setting.
While his thoughts ran through what such a business would entail, he realized that Silvy was giggling for some odd reason. “What appears to be so funny? Did I miss something?”
“Oh it’s nothing. You just looked a little silly there for a moment.”
“I did?”
Lar looked less than impressed with him. “If you keep it up, you’ll be just as lost in thought as Juna is.”
Juna snapped out of her own daze blinking at them. It appears we both suffer from the same condition. It’s a state in which we become so lost in our own thoughts, that apparently to those around us, we appear quite odd.
“What exactly were you thinking so intently about?” Silvy who sat to his right crossed her arms.
“I was thinking it might make sense to start a candle business, you know, especially considering the environment.”
She held up her finger to her chin and lowered it. “You know, that’s actually not a bad idea.”
Much more chatter other than their own occupied this dining chamber with enough of it that it all began to blend in. It appeared everyone had filled their bellies enough leaving to everyone chatting with one another.
Lucias lifted their own cup as they sat at the edge of the long table. A person in a black uniform came by and filled their cup from a wine pitcher. Their red eyes met his briefly as they tipped their goblet towards him slightly.
As things settled down, Lucias raised a hand causing everyone still muttering aloud to go silent. Everyone’s attention directed itself fully to the grinning man. “I hope you’ve all enjoyed this meal,” Lucias said. “I certainly know I have.”
Rinas cleared his throat. “Is there anything more you’d like for us to discuss?”
“Ah,” Lucias said, “I think we may as well save that for another day. Let us merely enjoy each other’s company as we enjoy the few comforts we still have in life.” They drank from their cup appearing immensely pleased by the wine.
Kiran poured some more of it into his mouth. He could easily drink more of it due to how good it was and it appeared others such as Juna had drank so much, that she required more to be filled immediately.
* * *
After several hours of eating, drinking, and rather mindless banter, what started out quite well had ended in disaster. Or rather, a disaster for some individuals. Many overate or over drank to the point of being unable to move from their spot or end up eventually throwing up.
And due to certain people’s particular incapacity to move on their own anymore, Kiran found himself carrying Juna in his arms while walking down a slightly sloped street. She was still partially conscious looking at him with squinting eyes. “W-where are you…taking me mister?” she said.
“I’m about to put you in a bed someplace and hope you don’t throw up all over yourself.”
She smiled oddly and began running her hand through his hair. “Your hair is so soft. Oh, and your eyes…your eyes are so pretty. I wish my eyes were the same color as yours.”
Juna was rather adorable while drunk. While he had drank a fair bit more than he might’ve preferred, he hadn’t gotten nearly as drunk as her or the others.
Her finger found its way to his nose somehow. She poked it and began laughing. Really? I could always you on the ground if I wanted to. He wouldn’t ever think to do that to her. But the thought did cross his mind.
“How much did you drink?” he asked.
“How much did I drink? I don’t have the slightest clue. It must’ve only been a few cups at most!”
“Only a few cups,” he said shaking his head. “I seem to recall your cup being filled over half a dozen times at least.”
“What, you kept count? I never took you to be a mathematician.”
“If such basic math makes me a mathematician then I’d be a little concerned.”
The longer he carried her, the heavier she felt to him. His arms began to tire and he felt eager to drop her off someplace soon.
Kiran managed to reach an area that was mostly unoccupied. Valak was a decently sized city, but they didn’t have a large enough population to keep every structure within it occupied. In this instance however, it worked out well for the coalition and the rest of the survivors with them. Lucias allowed for them to stay in this general area for now and depending on certain arrangements in the future, it could end up being permanent.
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He entered into a larger two-story building. A multitude of their people were already inside sitting around or sleeping on the ground or even doing so with their backs against the wall.
The inside was rather tattered and dusty with just a few lit candles on the inside. He went over to a wall and sat her down against it.
As he was still crouched, her eyes opened slightly. “K-Kiran.”
“What is it?”
“Will…will you—”
Before she could even finish the sentence, her eyes completely closed and she fell completely asleep with her head tilting down to her left. She appeared at peace as she sat there asleep against the wall. It wasn’t the most ideal sleeping position, but there weren’t a whole bunch of beds available either. At the very least, she appeared at peace.
“Did you carry her the entire way here?”
He spotted Yorais who amusingly looked at Juna briefly as she slept. “I did.”
“She’s lucky to have someone so willing to carry her all the way over here just by themselves.”
Yorais chose to stand closer to him. He looked at Juna briefly considering how she was indeed lucky. “Someone had to bring her here. If I hadn’t, she would’ve surely ended up sleeping out in the streets if I or someone else hadn’t done it for her.”
“It’s a kind gesture nonetheless. And I’m sure you’re quite aware of it just as I am, but she certainly has need of someone like you, especially right now.”
“Yeah, I do.”
Yorais took several steps towards the still-open entrance. “Would you be willing to come with me for a moment perhaps? You needn’t say yes if you’d like to rest after all of that fun we all had together.”
“Sure. I’ve still got a lot of energy, unlike a lot of others.” Sleep also came more difficultly for him recently as well making him only try to fall asleep when he felt ready to collapse.
He followed her outside only to notice Lar holding a hand to her stomach. She walked by them not even bothering to pay them any mind by entering into the building they had just left.
He and Yorais found themselves alone near a dry and barren fountain that had hardly any light reaching it. The city had lanterns lit throughout it to make navigating the streets a bit more practical, but here at the fountain, it only barely reached it so that they could see each other.
She sat down at the edge of the dry fountain looking up at him. “Tell me truthfully Kiran, what are your thoughts towards Lucias?”
“I have so many thoughts I suppose. What specifically do you have in mind?”
“I’m unconcerned about specifics. I just wanted to know whether you have any gut feelings or reactions towards him. I often find my gut speaks true.”
Others definitely still held skepticism towards Lucias even after granting them a rather warm welcome to his dominion. Kiran was also still a bit skeptical but his gut didn’t make him think that this person who had provided them with a lot of help was out to get them. However, that didn’t mean that they didn’t have certain motivations for trying to get on their good side. “My gut reaction towards them doesn’t overly concern me, although Lar does seem to think there’s something off about them.”
“Did she specify why that is?”
“No.”
She began to cross her arms. He began to see her better the longer they remained out in the darkness and his eyes were allowed to adjust. “I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t the smallest inkling to him that makes me somewhat wary. But he has done a lot for us even when he easily could’ve not done so. It leaves a lot to wonder.”
“He likely wants something from us.”
“Yes. That I very much agree with. At the very least, I’m glad to see that he appears fine with humans and familiars intermingling with each other. I was afraid that might be a problem before we got here. Fortunately, that’s not much of a concern for me now that I’ve noticed quite a lot of humans living here as well as familiars.”
“Was that a problem in the third domain when you were there?”
“Yes. That was at least to some extent my reason to leave and eventually reach Liall. Unfortunately, Liall was far from perfect. Even then, that aspect alone was better in many ways if I am to be honest about it.”
She didn’t appear particularly eager to elaborate further on the third domain so he chose not to push it. “As for Lucias,” she said returning them to the previous topic, “I’d advise caution at the very least. We know not of his true intent or motivations leaving us in a somewhat precarious position. I’m sure we will undoubtedly uncover some of this in the coming days. At the very least, I am hoping that he may have some answers as to the problems afflicting this domain. Something has caused for the immense suppression of naturally occurring mana to simply not exist here along with this perpetual darkness. If it had been this way back when I came here briefly, I would’ve never made it to the fifth domain from here so something acted as a catalyst for these troublesome developments to one day occur.”
“Could any of it have anything to do with the distorted reality or the miasma as they call it here?”
“It’s certainly possible. It affects every domain differently from what I have gathered so these two particular issues could be a result of it interfering with our reality. If that’s the case though, I doubt we’d be able to solve it, so for our sakes, I hope that there is another cause at hand because if there is, we may be able to put a stop to it.”
He liked to hear someone willing to entertain the possibility. So many had given up. Yorais didn’t appear at all interested in giving up, however. Those eyes of hers certainly held a particular intensity to them that appealed to him. If only everyone could be as resolved about things as her.
“Our lives would certainly benefit tremendously if we can remove the darkness and restore our capability to use magic.”
“It would make living here truly viable,” she said with a sigh. “We have little choice other than to do just that though. It’s not like I can create another portal right now under these conditions and have us travel someplace else.”
“What if we were to travel through the distorted reality?”
She began to laugh a little. “We’d all die if we tried to do that.”
“I’ve heard it’s possible.”
“Only in myths. Yes, I’ve heard such claims to suggest that such a thing is possible. I have my reasons to doubt the truth of those claims, however. The unfortunate reality is that the distorted reality covering the majority of our planet is a terrifying force. There’s a reason Kiran, why no still living civilization lives near it. When Queen Luvia Aenveld founded Liall, she made sure that it was located as far away from it as possible.”
“What exactly are those reasons then? I honestly don’t know all that much about this phenomenon.”
“Most don’t and for good reason. It does—just as the name suggests—distorts reality and twists any living thing it touches. Just by being near its presence is said to cause terrifying nightmares and hallucinations. Now imagine what would happen if you plunged your entire body into it.”
It did seem a little silly to think that there were people capable of traveling between domains by somehow navigating through the distorted reality. But such a thing might be possible. Neither of them knew for sure.
He hadn’t seen the phenomenon himself. It was apparently always at the furthest edge of the five domains supposedly. It was what separated every domain keeping them isolated from one another. And unless someone chose to travel towards it, they’d never see the distorted reality or witness it for themselves. If it was indeed true that it affected someone even without being inside of it, he felt it wise to stay away from it.
“Do you know what caused this world to become covered in it in the first place?”
“I wish I did, but even I do not know.”
Yorais was practically a mobile library being so full of knowledge herself. If even she didn’t know why their world became mostly covered in this strange force, he believed that was a question that most certainly would go unanswered.