We made our way to the deck as one, Faust carrying Aurora princess-style. Octavia and I walked cautiously behind August, scouring his hand and the deck for any dropped fragments. Our efforts were useless; the shards curled tightly in his hand.
August strode to the boat's edge, spread his wings, and jumped over without a preamble. Octavia and I darted to the edge, shouting in unison with the deckhands in surprise. We caught sight of him, gliding over the ocean. He slowly let himself drop down, leaning until there were inches between his hand and the water. Unceremoniously, he opened his hand, the pieces scattering like sand, the sunlight catching them as they fell. A wave crested, catching and vanishing them into the ocean's dark depths. August dusted his hand over the water before dropping back down, dipping his hands in and ensuring every last speck of gem dust was lost forever.
Job done, he flapped his wings, landing softly on the deck behind us, his wings shaking off the threads of his now damaged shirt.
“Good riddance,” Faust said.
“.....we’re not going to regret that, are we?” Octavia asked, hesitant as she stepped away from the rail.
A tension I didn’t know I was carrying unfurled in my chest, the responsibility of the gem now lost forever.
August shrugged, looking like he’d dropped a massive weight with it. Metaphorically, he had. “I don’t.” He headed back to the bowls of the ship, as close to skipping as I’d ever seen him. Happiness and relief suited him, softening his edges and taking a decade off his face. His eyes sparkled in the light.
We arrived back in our temporary quarters without much fanfare, and I scooted Ani off the scroll I had stolen, clumsily untying it.
Faust walked over to read over my shoulder, “So you did manage to steal one.”
I opened it gently, twisting it to read from the top. Absently, I responded, “Yeah. I snatched it off the desk shortly after nabbing the gem.”
The scroll started with the information Hilarious had told me, regarding the magic types and compatibility between humans and the magical creatures, though in much greater detail.
“Does it have anything about your magic?”
“That’s what I’m about to find out.” I settled in my hammock for a long read, positioning myself so the sunlight from the window illuminated the words of the scroll. The world around me faded away, the words drawing me in.
The scroll detailed many fascinating things but, to me, ultimately useless. The process of making a chimera, the process of making the gem–of which I hoped there were no copies of, etc.
There were a few items of interest, however.
Hilarious hadn’t lied when he’d said he wasn’t sure he’d ever met anyone with my magic type. He also hadn’t known everything, and I suspected more than a few of the unusual magic types were mine. More recently, prior to having Caesar, they had run across a few with a specific kind of magic they listed as ‘unknown-fortune?’ Individuals with this magic had spoken of unusual ‘feelings’ before bad events, or were able to use tarot cards or cast runes to tell fortunes. Some of the individuals stated they had no idea they had magic at all. Meaning, it might not be that my magic itself is rare, but that it was subtle enough to go unnoticed.
Like I had never expected my strange feelings to be ‘magic.’
Magic types also run in families, the citizens of each of the four major countries being more likely to contain their respective elements.
There was also an informative excerpt on the unknown chimera written by Hilarious.
….there, we came across a unique magical ‘item,’ a collection of golden shimmering, moving dust. Caesar informed me this ‘item’ had a unique magical signature–as if it were alive. We captured the dust in a bottle and returned it to my lab for testing.
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…..deided to use this unique creature in our next chimera experiment. Lucius offered himself and we agreed to make him the next chimera candidate….
…..the experiment was a success. Contrary to expectations, the transformation manifested itself in scales and claws, almost like a dragon….
A dragon, huh? I pictured the standard dragon in my head, comparing it to the unusual chimera. It was like comparing oranges to grapefruit. Some similarities were there, but they looked like two different species. A different breed, perhaps?
The information was fascinating. Golden dust…. I recalled a brief scene from the dream I’d had before awakening here.
The shadow swelled, and a tide of darkness crashed over the stars, shattering them; their lights splintered and scattered to the furthest reaches.
Golden dust… like stardust? It was times like these that I desperately wished I had my phone for notes or even the tablet or scrolls I’d been writing on. I reclined my head back, looking up at the ceiling as I closed my eyes and tried to snatch on to the rest of the dream.
The dream tricked away like water, impossible to hold onto for long. Frustrated, I sat straight up, sending Ani tumbling off my chest and into my lap with a startled yelp. He calmed underneath my touch, and I thought, and thought, and thought about the stardust as I ran my fingers through his soft fur.
That evening, I had my first dream in days.
When I opened my eyes, I was back in the endless dark. The dark was empty, and I wandered around aimlessly for an eternity. I saw nothing; I felt nothing.
There was a spark, then a Flame, eternity snapping back into measurable time. The Flame strode forward, his footsteps echoing through the dream, reverberating off the unknown. I stood, waiting.
When he reached me, he placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, his shadowed face full of sympathy. “I’m sorry,” the Flame said. His emotions were as clear to me of my own; I felt his guilt and apology. My eyes burned.
The Flame gripped my shoulder tighter until I stared deep into his burning brown eyes. “This was too important. You couldn’t be distracted.”
His words echoed with the truth, and he smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile, nor a bitter one. It wasn’t kind; it wasn’t sad. It was an empathetic smile; it just was. “You’ll understand soon.”
And so I would.
I didn’t want to see it.
With that, the flame collapsed in on himself, vanishing from the dark. I fell through the pitch black beneath my feet, deeper into the dream.
The next time I opened my eyes, it was to sunlight filtering through the trees of a forest. The forest was bright and deceptively cheerful–the scenery was painted with colorful flowers, and creatures brimming with joyful magic took to the sky and woods around me.
The ants returned full force, a deep sense of dread trickling up my spine.
Distant trees shivered, branches before me twisting and shaking the once cheerful creatures into silence.
The abnormal chimera dropped from the tree tops, bounding further into the forest.
I felt myself tugged alongside him, tethered by some invisible force. He moved single-mindedly, driven forward by the thrall of the gem.
The trees began to thin, artificially trimmed for a trail ahead. The chimera’s eyes dilated, fixed upon one figure in particular, amongst many trudging up the trail.
Surrounded by guards was a cloaked figure with brilliant, fiery red hair which hung loosely underneath her hood. I felt my breath catch as I realized what was happening.
Sera had announced the pilgrimage to the sacred site, a temple erected at the place where the Phoenix chose the very first King of the Phoenix Kingdom.
As expected, the Chimera had gotten wind of the pilgrimage, the promise of opportunity too good for him to pass up.
The chimera glanced up at the sky–scanning for Millie. Not seeing her, he slithered back into the forest, sprinting ahead of the group, and the two trick-pony waited patiently in a tree above the path. He sat perfectly still, without so much as a muscle twitch to give him away.
He kept still as the unaware retinue passed beneath the branch, eyes fixated on the red-haired girl as she drew ever so closer. He dropped from the tree the moment she was beneath him, his claws raking across her throat.
Red strands of Sera’s hair mixed with the red blood on the chimera’s claws, threading and catching, tearing the hood from her shoulders.
The chimera froze, watching dumfounded with the guards as the body toppled to the ground, life leaving her blue eyes.
It wasn’t the princess. The chimera shrieked with rage, disorienting the shocked guards. His eyes dropped to the red strands sewn into the hood dangling from his claws. He sniffed the hood, registering the scent–which we’d ensured would be the princesses. Trembling, the chimera flung the hood down to the ground, leaped above the recovering guards, and escaped back into the trees.
A few swords skimmed across the scales on his back, too little force to deal any real damage. The men cursed.
A maelstrom of emotions I couldn’t place welled up in my chest as I stared down at the lifeless body. Disgustingly, I felt a little pride that this part of the plan had worked. My nails bit into my palms. I felt a tugging sensation, the men's voices and the trail around me shifting as I was unwillingly dragged to the next part of the vision.
The foreboding sensation turned burning as the ants crawling beneath my skin were set on fire.
Above, burning as bright as the fire beneath my skin, soared a shrieking Millie, her coal-like eyes catching sight of the Chimera targeting the woman beneath her. She dove down, talons outstretched.
Nex to me, the Chimera showed the first bit of emotion I’d seen on his face besides rage–satisfaction crossing his face for a split second.
Icy fear flooded through my veins, extinguishing the fire. I don’t want to watch this! I thought. Not alone!
Some part of me reached out, the emotions overwhelming. A familiar presence burned beside me, a spark I called for unhesitatingly.
I wasn’t the only one in this dream anymore.