Kiran walked alongside Yorais who almost always stood in a confident and well-composed manner. She carried herself this way during serious moments or more casual ones such as this. “I must say,” Kiran said, “I can’t help but notice a similarity between this tower and the one in Liall.”
“You’ve made an astute observation,” she said with a slight grin as they kept walking together through a long corridor of stairs to reach a higher level of the tower. “Many towers such as this one were built when the world had yet to become fractured. Towers such as these were built across the lands humanity ruled over. I imagine that very few of them remain. I had hoped when we found and reached this tower by happenstance, that being here would give me back my ability to cast magic. You can imagine my dissatisfaction when it didn’t. It turns out that not even a tower such as this one can hold onto magical energy in this domain. It is in fact entirely bare of it entirely.”
“You sorcerers and sorceresses are practically naked without magic,” Abigail said from his left.
“That’s one way to describe it,” she replied. “The truth is people like myself are entirely useless now. We have no place in a place without magic.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself,” he said. “There’s more to a person than whether they can use magic or not.”
“I don’t disagree, but I have made something of myself because of my magical talents. Without them,” her voice became a bit solemn and soft, “I am struggling to see what all I have to offer any longer. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. Many in and outside of the coalition feel similarly.”
Abigail made a strange noise. “Geeze, if you’re that concerned about your uselessness there’s a fix for that you know.” She pressed her palms together. “It’s time to get your hands dirty like the rest of us who aren’t as talented as you guys at magic. I’d even be willing to help train you on how to fight if you’d be interested.”
“That’s a kind gesture Abigail, but I do not have the will or desire to learn how to fight like a typical warrior. I am plainly speaking, not the right match for such a thing. My physique is simply not compatible as well.”
“You know, many have said that about myself. ‘What’s a short freak like ‘er doin’ trying to fight?’ Well you know what, I sure proved them wrong by beating their asses every time we went out and sparred!” She really sounded like she was proud of herself.
While Abigail was a fair bit shorter than either of them, she was a bit bulky and headstrong with a willingness to throw themselves into a fight at any moment’s notice without fear.
“Why is it anyways that magic isn’t working properly in this domain?” Kiran said. “I haven’t quite figured out why this is even happening in the first place. I seem to recall you saying you visited this domain in the past so clearly it wasn’t always this way otherwise you would’ve never made it out of it and made it to the fifth domain.”
They kept walking up the steps that seemed to go on for forever. They took their time though not strolling up at a brisk or fast pace. “I haven’t yet figured out what is causing this anomaly. If we can figure out what is causing this domain-wide suppression of magic, then that would obviously fix a lot of our issues. However, I have no idea what is causing the suppression which makes things difficult.”
After a long while of traveling their way up through the tower, they began to reach the seventh floor. Unlike the previous floors, this floor of the tower did have giant windows on each of the four black walls. On the opposite side of this open floor from them, Rinas stood with their back facing them as he gazed out of a large window overlooking the dark banespawn-filled city.
He turned to take notice of them and particularly him approaching him. “Kiran.”
When the three of them neared Rinas, he shook the coalition leader’s hand. His grip was noticeably weaker than he expected. Rinas appeared immensely tired and worn from when he last saw him. His eyes were dark and sunken. He had let his beard grow out when he otherwise kept it either shaved or properly groomed as expected from a nobleman. Rinas without a doubt had seen better days.
“I heard that you managed to return to us,” Rinas said. “I’m sorry I did not greet you upon your initial arrival.”
“That’s fine,” Kiran said. “I passed out shortly after I arrived at the tower anyhow.”
“We thought we’d show him around this big ol’ tower for today,” Abigail said from his left.
“Very good. As you can see, it is quite a formidable location which we are fortunate for. We had no idea that when we came through this city, that it would be occupied with tons of monsters. Thankfully, this place has—at least for now—kept us guarded against those monsters that were more than eager to let us wander in.”
Kiran began to cross his arms. “What’s the overall plan then for the foreseeable future?”
“For now at least, to merely stay put. We have lit the beacon at the top of the tower to try to signal to any potential allies far away from here. Unfortunately, we have yet for any to come.”
“Well,” Kiran said, “there’s actually some friendly people to the west of here but we’re too far away to expect them to notice it. We’re also in some territory that they actively avoid wandering into due to an agreement with the ruler of this territory.”
“How is it that you know all of this and we don’t?” Abigail said.
“Let’s just say that I ran into some useful people on my journey to find you all. I even met a particular lady who rules or manages the western region.”
“A lady you say?” Rinas said with a hand to his chin.
“Her full name is Meredith Duvaugn.”
“If you can vouch for her,” Rinas said, “then perhaps we ought to consider going more towards that direction rather than continue heading east. Although I am somewhat apprehensive to go back west knowing that the green cloaks would likely want to kill us all.”
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“I don’t think you have much to worry about from them. They’re not doing so well after everything that’s happened and they’re busy enough making sure everything doesn’t completely fall apart within their midsts.”
“Regardless of that,” Abigail said jutting in. “Fearing those dirtbags does us no good. I mean just look at what Grand Master Harold tried pulling back in Liall for crying out loud and then tried to do once everyone crossed over. All they’ve ever done within recent memory is fail so I think we’d hold up just fine against them at this point.”
Rinas crossed their arms. “Maybe you’re right Abigail. Either way, I would prefer to avoid ending up in another conflict with them.”
The human population that managed to make it over from the fifth domain had dramatically dwindled already. They really needed to avoid any major conflicts and instead unite together in some capacity so that they could focus on what really mattered and that was the survival of their species. Even if humanity managed to exist in the other three domains in some capacity, it didn’t do the race any good to die off in one domain.
“There is much for me to think over,” Rinas said in a tired and weary voice. “If you’ll allow me, I need to be alone to contemplate all of this.”
“Come on Kiran,” Abigail said as she grabbed at his wrist. “Let’s go.”
Abigail led him and Yorais from the seventh floor back to the stairs that would gladly tire out his legs once again unless they chose to go down this time around.
“I’ve been getting the impression that he’s losing his grip,” Abigail muttered. She led the two of them further up rather than head back down.
“I didn’t get that impression,” Kiran said.
“Yeah, well, you’ve been gone for a while. He still manages to put on a stern face, but beneath it, I can tell he’s cracking under the pressure. Just the look in those eyes of his reveals that much to me at least.”
“Abigail,” Yorais said seriously, “you should know better than to speak about him behind his back. This I think is rather, inappropriate.”
“Come on Yorais. You know I’m speaking the truth. We may technically be underneath him in rank, but that doesn’t make him our overlord. We do get to have our own opinions and thoughts. The fact is, is that he’s losing it no matter how much he tries to make it seem otherwise.”
Having to lead people in these given circumstances was more than likely to cause anyone to lose it at least a little. To see Rinas not be completely gone was in some way a good sign but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to lose it completely in the near or far future. Especially if things get worse. It wasn’t for Kiran to say though. If Abigail felt this way, he imagined the other coalition leaders and general members might feel the same way. He’d have to keep a closer eye on Rinas to make a fair judgment for himself.
After several minutes of walking up more steps, the cooler air outside began to hit up against his face. An orange glow lit the corners of an opening to the top outside floor. Wind brushed up against his face as he stepped out from the corridor. The ceiling of the tower hovered above him being kept up by arches at each of the four corners.
Like the other floors, this one was quite large as well allowing for plenty of people to be atop it if need be. No one else found themselves out here, however. It was just the three of them with a bright fire lit at the center acting as a beacon of light amidst a sea of overwhelming darkness. It acted as a signal to those both good and bad. It had rightfully brought Kiran to where he wanted to be so it was entirely possible that help from outside might also choose to come to them.
“Well, this is it for the tower,” Abigail said. “Now you’ve essentially seen it all.” Abigail walked over towards the outer perimeter to stand at the very edge. She began to whistle along a tune to a song he thought he had heard before although he couldn’t think of when he had heard it before. “Geeze, I can’t see a thing out there,” she said briefly and then returned to whistling the somewhat familiar song.
Kiran gazed out along with her. An entire city should be right below them. And yet he couldn’t even see a little bit of it.
The overwhelming darkness of this domain never really was something he could get used to. It altered the way he slept and made such a trivial daily thing a difficult endeavor.
His skin was even starting to become paler and less dark over time as well. Everyone else also looked paler as he thought about it. Pretty soon everyone would look like Lady Meredith and everyone that kept her company. They all looked as pale as ghosts practically and soon they’d join them in looking that way as well.
He lifted his left arm and propelled it forward spreading out his fingertips. The darkness surrounded it and if it weren’t for the beacon of light behind them, he doubt he’d even be able to make out his hand.
Abigail stopped whistling and twisted her head around to look at him. “Kiran.”
“Yeah?” He pulled his arm back to his side.
“Be honest with me. Do you think we’ll make it here in this domain?”
“I’d like to think we can.”
She smiled and turned to face him. Her long blonde hair flowed back behind her as Yorais kept gazing out towards the darkness. “I’m glad to see that you’re not so dire like everyone else is. We need more people like you now more than ever.” It felt strange hearing Abigail compliment him in some capacity. She had been warming up to him and now with his return, she definitely seemed much more willing to treat him kindly than how she treated him from before. “If you ask me, everyone needs to start toughening up and stop thinking we’re done for.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Yorais said. She kept looking out not bothering to look at either of them. “After everything that has happened to us all, many have the right to feel as they do.”
“I never said that they didn’t.”
“Nonetheless,” Yorais continued, “try to not beat them up about it.”
“I don’t know, a good punch to the face might do them some good and make them snap out of it.” He imagined if Abigail were in charge, violence would be her solution to everything. Thankfully she wasn’t.
Kiran was one and Abigail seemingly another not fully succumbing to the grim nature of this domain. He couldn’t fully tell whether Yorais felt similarly but she at least didn’t appear to have given up like some apparently had.
It wasn’t entirely unreasonable to give up if he were to be honest about things. Given their circumstances, Kiran wouldn’t hold it against anyone. Sure, not all was bad. Many still lived and had not yet died. They also had the safety of the tower for now at least. And there were small populations out there managing to survive for years out here but he was doubtful that it was sustainable beyond a certain point. Unless things change towards this perpetual darkness ending or magic being restored, the few humans and familiars in this domain that occupy it are likely to end in the coming years as more and more supplies dwindle and people die off.
As for how to solve these gravely important issues, Kiran lacked the exact knowledge needed to resolve these matters. All he knew was that while darkness may lie ahead overwhelmingly so, light did exist out there; he need merely attempt to seek it out and find it. It might not be here within this city or right outside of it, it may not even be within the many miles that surround this area of the fourth domain, but somewhere out there, it certainly could exist. Kiran would remain hopeful at the very least, even if everyone else around him gave up.