It took a while until they reached the slums. More guards were on patrol. Surely our actions tonight have nothing to do with it. Why of course not. And who are we but regular everyday citizens certainly up to no good whatsoever! Luckily the guards didn’t bother harassing either him, Lar, or Laphy as they made their way back to the coalition.
The slums were slowly becoming more acceptable to him since he had been living there for several months. He felt like a part of its culture at this point in time. At least it was to enough of a degree that he didn’t mind the less-than-ideal circumstances. Sure there was more grime and people who ought to perhaps bathe a little more often around here. But that wasn’t something most of them could afford to worry about since they were so poor. And he didn’t blame them either.
These conditions gave way to its own culture which was certainly useful for the coalition. His faction could make use of the fact that the city guard and the queen’s knights avoided these areas for the most part and if any of them chose to come wandering through, they’d get nothing more than nasty glares and useless information.
Eventually, he and Laphy reached the abandoned state building they currently operated in. Juna waited outside with a new set of clothes on compared to the ones she wore to the party. She wore appropriate clothing for the winter wearing brown trousers, leather on her torso, and a heavy warm cloak.
She came running up eager to welcome them. “I knew you’d make it back,” she said with her hands pressed to her hips. “Although, I was admittedly a bit worried, but only a little!”
“You had every right to be,” he said only for Laphy to gaze at her seriously catching her attention.
“Where is Aini?” he asked with immense concern.
“Oh she’s inside. Come on, I’ll take you to her.”
As he went to follow them in, someone gripped his right shoulder keeping him a few steps away from entering the building. He looked over his shoulder noticing Lar being the one to get him to stop.
“You’ve outdone yourself tonight,” she said. “Those weren’t exactly pushovers that we fought. That sorcerer for instance was a step or two removed from being a fully fledged adept sorcerer by my estimations.” Do you mean to tell me they weren’t adept already? If that was how powerful a less adept sorcerer was, he didn’t want to imagine a more powerful one. “I’d say you’re a natural when it comes to killing.”
He thought he was supposed to be flattered by his companion’s words. Instead, he felt dread settle in him.
Though he still had hardly any memories from his past life, he thought he could tell that his hands had unleashed a lot of bloodshed. His instincts and talents would not be as sharp if that weren’t the case.
Lar gave him a curious gaze. “Are you alright? You seem a bit down all of the sudden.”
He wore the same plain face he wore a moment ago. Lar’s connection to him made it easy for them to sense his state of being despite that. “I just wish I didn’t have to kill.”
Lar gripped his hands and graced their hand along the backside of it. “These are meant to create and destroy. Those who would have caused you harm do not deserve your kindness or forgiveness. They deserve nothing more than to be destroyed.”
“Yet still.” He pulled his hand away and gazed up at the pitch-black sky where there was no moon and there were no stars to shine down upon the world at any point in recent memory.
He knew not what else to further say to her. He instead chose to go fully inside the abandoned state building. The interior was quite dark this time of the night. There were a few candles to light up the main circular space with a domed ceiling up above and the two wraparound staircases towards the back of the front chamber. The twins Sera and Sara were down below standing together with a look of distrust towards him. He hadn’t managed to get them to view him positively since he had first met them. From everything he had heard from the others, they were next to impossible to gain friendly relations towards. So he gave up even bothering to try and chose to avoid them similarly to the way they avoided him.
Laphy stood at the center of the darkened interior eager to be reunited with Aini. They shared a serious bond by being married.
Familiars in many ways were just like humans. There were observable differences to be had, but the more he spent time with Lar and got to see and know other familiars, he thought there were more similarities than differences. Why the two sides had to wage a world-ending war many centuries ago with each other was something that confused him let alone people who were practically the same doing the same to one another.
But not all was sad in the world. When Aini was brought down from the second floor being led with the help of Juna, his heart filled with joy as Laphy embraced Aini who clamored for their warmth.
“Aini!” Laphy said.
The two familiars joined together with their arms strewn behind each other’s backs. Aini was quite small compared to Laphy. She wore big round spectacles and still had the collar around her neck which prevented her from changing forms. It also apparently suppressed a person’s magical abilities. The fact Laphy was able to do any kind of magic at all was kind of astonishing come to think of it.
“I’m so sorry that you were locked up for so long,” he said to her. He held his palms to her face as she wept to him. “You did not deserve to end up in those torturous clutches as I was.”
She shed tears but she had a smile on her face. “It’s alright. We’re safe once more and reunited at last. That’s all I could ever ask and hope for.”
He continued to embrace his wife with both lovingly embracing each other. “I won’t let anyone take you again. I swear this to you.” Judging by his way of saying those words, Kiran thought he undoubtedly spoke true.
Hoghdar came to greet him after greeting several others inside the domed chamber. He had his hands clasped behind his back and wore a long black coat that nearly reached the old dusty wooden floors that were broken apart in some places.
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“Good work today,” he said eager to praise his actions. “You’ve proved to be an incredibly valuable asset. Along with your companion.” He looked to Lar who appreciated their praises. “Look, I’ve decided I’m going to have you meet with the big guy real soon. I don’t know exactly when, but I’m going to make sure it happens soon. Consider yourselves lucky. It’s rare for him to be willing to speak to newer recruits. Just be sure to thank him whenever all three of you are in the same room together.”
“Giving thanks hasn’t ever been difficult for me so it shouldn’t be a problem,” he said. And surely even grumpy ol’ Lar would be capable of giving thanks as well.
“That’s a good quality. I’ve known plenty of people who aren’t ever willing to even bother giving thanks or muttering a mere thank you to another. The big guy appreciates those who are cordial and reasonable. Just be yourself and you’ll be fine. And I expect that he’d even be willing to help you out with these problems plaguing your mind. Just be sure to ask him when in his presence.”
I most certainly will. “I look forward to meeting them.” Especially if he’s someone capable of helping me with my past.
Hoghdar left the two of them and headed towards Laphy. Laphy straightened their back and stood next to their beloved Aini towards their left. Hoghdar touched the metal apparatus around their necks getting a feel of it along with a closer look.
“Think we can get these off tonight?” Laphy asked.
“Yes. It just so happens that Noreko is here in our midst tonight. He should be able to free these from you two.”
A man who had been standing within the shadows appeared. He had hidden himself so well within the room, that Kiran was surprised he hadn’t noticed him until now.
“You can get the apparatus’s around their necks off can’t you?” Hoghdar said.
“Why of course,” Noreko said. “It is a simple thing for me to do.” He put his hands on the metal apparatus surrounding Aini’s neck. It unlocked and fell to the ground and he did the same for Laphy. While it didn’t appear he had done anything, he had most certainly used some kind of spell without having to mutter an incantation or show it visibly in any way.
The two familiars were quite pleased to have them removed. Kiran wondered about the one known as Noreko as their gaze met his. He had an intensely unwavering stare. He was completely bald and had a strangely beautiful face for a man.
“You’re Kiran aren’t you?” Noreko said as they approached him and Lar.
“I am.”
“I am pleased to meet you.” They shook hands and all he could think about was how cold his hand were as he shook it. “I have heard a little about you. I’m glad to finally get to meet you, especially after this successful mission you and your companion have carried out tonight. You’ll go far within the coalition if you keep it up.” The man gripped his shoulder and began to motion away. “But alas, for now, I must go. I bid you farewell.”
“Heya! We did good tonight didn’t we?” Juna had nearly frightened him with her sudden appearance. “Well, besides the fact that we didn’t sneak out successfully, of course.”
“It could’ve been worse,” he said.
“You’re sure right about that. It went well all things considered.” Juna observed Laphy and Aini together as they both spoke with Hoghdar. Aini had her arm wrapped around Laphy’s waist and nodded her head along as they were being spoken to directly by their faction leader.
After everything tonight, everyone looked utterly relieved and at ease. Laphy was reunited with his wife and out of the torturous clutches of that nasty man. He along with Juna and Lar had made it out with dying. There was a lot to be satisfied by since things could’ve easily gone in the opposite direction.
That training he had been taking part in did its job. He was feeling quite confident about his abilities and felt he would be able to handle even more tense situations if required. Although he’d prefer to avoid any for a while. His body deserved a good restful period after all of that fighting.
“Alright everybody,” Hoghdar said gathering everyones attention. “Go and get some rest. We continue our work tomorrow. And some of you still need to continue your training. You’ve undoubtedly had success tonight, but if you want to continue to achieve it, you’ve got to keep working hard training your bodies every day you can and completing important tasks.” Their particular faction leader was pleased with them, but they knew that it wasn’t enough. Saving two familiars was quite the accomplishment but with a city as large as this one, there were plenty of more problems to fix and do.
With everything settled and done for the night, his body began to tire more rapidly. It’s been a long day. I really could use some rest. He had gotten up early in the morning and spent time going through all of their plans and scenarios to carry out for tonight’s mission.
Rather than pass out at Juna’s place where they still stayed most nights, he fell onto a rather pathetic mattress in one of the many rooms of the building they were in that they made into a sleeping quarters for the coalition.
Lar decided for some reason to join him on top of his mattress by crawling slowly up to him. Her head eventually was right above his and he could see her cleavage quite obviously from such an angle.
“Um,” he said only for her to smirk. Her yellow eyes glowed just a tiny bit in the darkness of the room.
She fell over onto her side putting her head on the pillow next to him. She ran a hand over her long white hair to hide it behind an ear.
“Is there a reason why you’ve decided to join me on this mattress?”
“Yours is more comfortable than the one over there.”
“Somehow I doubt that’s your actual reason.”
“Why can’t that be the reason? Or would you accuse me of being a liar mister?”
“Don’t call me mister.” Before she could reply with her witty comeback anytime he said that, he put a finger to her lips. “Now, are you going to get up and head on over to your own mattress now or what?”
“I don’t really want to. Why can’t we share this mattress? Our souls are deeply connected after all. We’re meant to be close. To deny me this—”
He gently pushed her off only for her to scowl.
“You would dare push me off?”
“My mattress. My rules.”
“Our mattress, our rules.”
She crept back onto his mattress and threw the covers over their bodies. Lar was a bit of a conundrum. They were becoming far closer as time went on. But now they were becoming more affectionate. Perhaps too much so, or so he thought as much anyways. He was at least happy to see their relationship continue to progress positively. Even if she was a bit weird when it came to trying to sleep on his mattress tonight that he would’ve preferred to have it for himself.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep quite quickly. Since it usually took him a bit of time to fall asleep, he could listen to hear breathe in and out and even see drool falling out of their mouth to soak into the pillow. She was a ferocious familiar and yet in this state, she was calm and at peace while they drifted away into the world of dreams.
If only every moment of our lives could be at peace such as this. That would be quite great wouldn’t it be? But oh well. Perhaps one day I will see that world manifest before my eyes. Until then, I’ll be trying my best to reach that point.
He joined his dear companion in the world of dreams as his consciousness slipped away welcoming the peace that such sleep often provided to him.