The setting sun and the two moons above lit our path as Sky and I gathered wood for our camp again. Out of earshot from the others, Sky sheepishly said, “I saw what you wrote on the tablet.”
“Oh?” I absently asked, setting my bundle of branches on the ground so I could break up a larger one. “It’s fine. It’s not like it was a diary or anything.”
“Those words, written on the bottom. They didn’t seem related to anything you said yesterday.”
There was a loud crack as I snapped the overly large branch in half with my foot, nearly scraping my leg on the pieces. I moved to repeat the process, frowning.
“They are all I remember from a dream I had right before I woke up here.” I dropped each bit of broken branch on the ground and gathered them into the bundle before lifting it again. I was tempted to run my fingers over my earrings again, but the sticks in my arms restricted my movements. “Last night, the chimera had thought of the creature he merged with as ‘broken.’ It reminded me of the dream I’d had.”
“Do you think they’re connected?”
“The only connection was ‘broken.’” I pointed out.
“That’s not a real answer.”
I shifted around a thorny brush, thinking. “Yes, I do,” I admitted. I couldn’t say why I thought they were, only that it felt right.
He was silent for another minute, eyeing me, “...maybe that’s why you’re here.”
“Maybe,” I agreed. From what my sister said, it was a common trope in some isekais–to be brought in to complete a specific task. If it was true, though, it opened up a lot more questions than it did answers.
I tilted my head to look through the trees at the two moons rising in the sky. The slow approach of dusk was pretty, but I wished it was Earth’s moon and Earth’s stars hanging above. My chest ached, and my eyes burned with homesickness. It had only been a few days, but it felt like I'd been gone for months.
Had anyone noticed I was missing yet?
….ugh, I even missed listening to my sister talk about the stupid isekais she’s been reading.
“WHOOOO” A sudden series of loud screams from nearby broke me from my thoughts. I jumped, jabbing the sticks into my side and nearly knocking them out of my hands.
Though he’d also jumped at the sound, Sky recovered faster. I eyed him as he started walking calmly, acting as though he hadn’t heard anything, and hurried to catch up. “What on earth was that?”
His eyes twinkled merrily as he explained, “Don’t worry, it was just a pack of fire coyotes.”
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I yelped. “Just a pack of fire what?!” My eyes scanned the trees, looking for either coyote-shaped shadows or lights. I wasn’t sure which.
“They don’t usually bother people.” He reassured me, amused.
This right here was why I hated the outdoors. And so-called ‘country folk.’ Any sane person wouldn’t trust the ‘usually,’ and would treat the events as if you were in a horror movie. Country folk? They hear strange noises and continue as normal.
In a tremendous and pride-inducing effort to remain calm, I asked him to clarify what he meant by ‘fire coyotes,’ picturing a fire-spitting coyote.
Unhelpfully, he explained, “They’re like phoenixes, but they’re coyotes.”
Deadpan, I said, “That clarifies nothing.”
He laughed, then launched into a full explanation. “Legend says fire coyotes rose from the ashes of a forest fire burned pack of coyotes. They tore through the forest, their flames growing larger and more powerful the more they burned. They nearly wiped the people out, until a fire mage could come to an agreement with them. Now, they burn only through the dead brush of the forest, keeping it under control.”
“Are there any other fire-based magical creatures?”
“Plenty.” He ticked off his fingers as he went, “Phoenixes, fire salamanders, fire coyotes, …” he continued listing for a time.
His words made me realize I still didn’t know much about this world's history or legends, and I resolved to ask for more of them during our next carriage ride. In the meantime, however…
“Sera is a fire mage, correct?”
“Yes?”
I explained to him what I had in mind. As he listened, a smirk crossed his face.
“I think that could be arranged.” He said.
And that, as they say, was that.
It took a few more days to reach the capitol, and they passed similarly. In the cities, we stayed with the greedy local lord. On the road, we camped. Sky and Azure continued giving me lessons; Sky instructed me how to draw during our carriage rides, and Azure found time to train us all in the evenings. When we camped, we’d gather around the fire at night and exchange stories; when we didn’t, we’d spend time resting or bathing in our rooms.
Soon enough, we were pulling through the iron gates of Alexandria's capital city. The inside of the walled city greatly resembled pictures of ancient Rome I had seen. Although, like in the smaller cities, the local dress was more medieval in style. Red and gold clad city guards escorted us to the heart of the city, where Sera’s palace towered above, visible anywhere in the city. The palace had four towers, one in each cardinal direction, which loomed over the city, making the previous castles look like mere trailers in comparison. The stone walls were painted red, with gold accenting the roof, windows, and gilded doors. A phoenix decorated the larger stained-glass windows over the towers, nearly glowing in the sunlight.
Sky and I were dropped off at a library about three-quarters of our way to the castle for our research while the others conducted their own tasks.
The library was in the central bathhouse, which had the most extensive public library, gym, and education center in the entirety of Stoicheion. Perhaps, even the entire world. Past the outer walls were elaborate gardens and paths leading to two separate bathhouses, each on opposite sides of the complex, which were joined by the libraries and education halls.
This library worked differently than the previous one, and books had to be requested at the front desk. The clerks would then go gather the books and call us to collect them. Unfortunately, we couldn’t remove the books from the building, so we quickly found an empty table in the corner to use.
As he was more knowledgeable and experienced with the process, Sky went to speak with the clerks and the front desk as I held our table.
We ended up disappointed but not surprised. With a THUMP and an explosion of dust, I slammed the book I was reading shut. “Useless.” Both echoed loudly in the library, and heads turned to glare at us. I cringed and silently pushed the book to the side to rest my head on the cool wood of the table.
Sky rolled his scroll shut, sighing as well before setting it next to the ‘useless’ pile. The ‘useful’ pile had a grand total of 0 books. “This library has the largest compendium in the country–I thought we’d find something.” His voice was hushed but underlaid with the same frustration I was feeling.
We lapsed into a pregnant silence.
My notes scroll, which Sky had given me a few days ago, rested in front of my face, held open by paperweights. For whatever reason, from this angle, it reminded me of a scene from my last dream.