She got used to the positive effects the projector had on her body rather quickly - the constant, debilitating headaches were gone, and she quickly embraced the freedom that was offered. Now, the headaches had returned, accompanied by unrelenting itchiness and burning of her black veined body. Something was happening to her, something was changing her, and not for the better.
She tried to heal herself but to her dismay, Auria realized that she no longer could properly feel herself through the projector. When she focused on Suranihr or Harian, she saw their body to the last detail - she knew where all the veins, even the smallest ones were, all the nerve endings, all the organs… She felt everything that was wrong, everything that was right, and everything that could be modified by a mere thought.
When she focused on Naira, she felt only the gauntlets, and when she focused on herself, her senses were quickly overwhelmed by the presence of thick, black sludge where the blood vessels should be. Nothing more, nothing less.
She tried to focus on that, to cast it out of her body. Instead, the blackness spread further - merely by half an inch, but still - and a throbbing pain in her blackened eye made her crash back into the painful reality.
Auria tried the approach of traditional medicine. She took a blood sample from her blackened vein, yet the blood seemed completely normal - without the proper equipment available to alchemists in the Citadel, she was unable to find any irregularities in it. She tried the most powerful universal potions, serums and poultices, yet her body acted as if it mostly rejected them.
Strongest narcotics had only a minor impact on her. The dose that would make the trained man of Harian’s or Suranihr’s physique catatonic for days only numbed her pain slightly and made her dizzy for a short while. What was worse, they were quickly running out.
She wondered whether this was the madness that Sphinx wrote about, whether the decay of her own body caused by the projector would also mean the decay of her mind, but at the moment, it was too soon to tell.
She kept herself mostly isolated, trying not to talk to anyone, not to touch anyone… She pondered about all that happened to her since the projector nested itself in her spine. She tried to find a pattern in all the effects it had, yet she realized that there were no clear answers for her, only the confusion. She remembered the visions she had - the great wall, the citadel fleet, Whispers, golden army… Why did she have them? How?
When she drained the people, she saw glimpses of their memories… Perhaps those visions she had for the first time were also the memories of someone long dead. The last victims of the projector perhaps…
No. She saw the citadel fleet, and she saw it in the present, of that Auria was sure. So how then…
***
Harian galloped towards Suranihr and Naira, quickly jumping down from his horse. “An hour and we will be at the gates of Celeanae, provided that we actually reach the gates.” He said to Suranihr. He and Naira lead the convoy, with the rest of their group behind them and Auria alone in the back, closing the procession.
“What do you mean?” Suranihr asked with a bad feeling.
“An army. Thousands of them are camped in front of the city. Merchants and travelers have to pass right through their encampment to actually reach the gates.”
“It is a large city. I have seen the map. There are multiple gates.” Naira pointed out, to which Harian shook his head. “You don’t understand. The whole city is circled by golden legions. I’ve seen multiple banners - black banners of Broken Spears, carmine detachments of Setting Sun, blue of Lions, bronze standards of Unbroken… I could name them for an hour.”
“They are preparing for something.” Suranihr muttered, and Harian nodded.
“They appear to be preparing for an all out assault.”
“That might be our luck. They would not bother with controlling all the carriages and travelers that aim for the city. Perhaps their presence is all that is necessary to repel all potential threats from the city.”
“We are not a threat, Suranihr.” Naira stated. No one disagreed with her, yet they all knew that the opposite was true.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“So, what should we do, Harian?”
Harian shrugged. “Nothing. Either they will let us into the city, or not. If they won’t let us pass, that means that there is no reason for us to even try any… peace talks, or whatever it is that we actually came to do here. If they let us through, it is a good sign. What can we lose?”
“Our lives.” Naira said coldly. “But I agree. We come in peace. Either they accept it, or there is no reason for us to try and force our way through.”
“And if they attack us on sight?” Suranihr asked.
“I’ll kill them all.” Auria said as she appeared behind Naira. They all looked at her - there wasn’t a hint of uncertainty in her face.
“You do not mean it, Auria.” Naira said softly, but Auria grinned. “I do. For all they did to me, they deserve nothing less. I will give them one last chance - I will accomplish my mission of peace, if they will let me do so. If not, they can all rot for all I care.”
“What did they do to you?” Suranihr asked, confused.
“She made the connection.” Naira muttered, to which Auria nodded. “She realized that the golden dragons from her dreams were Glaerians.”
“I always knew.” Auria’s voice was as cold and sharp as Death's scythe. “I’ve just always pushed those thoughts away. But no more. No longer.” Eyebrow above her blackened eye twitched. “I can’t run from myself anymore.”
***
Auria expected to see a marvel of architecture, a colossal walled city in the middle of untamed wilderness, forged entirely from gleaming gold. She expected majestic walls towering up to the skies, their surface adorned with carvings of legendary battles or perhaps mythical creatures, and beyond the walls, she expected the realm of luxury and grandeur.
The only luxurious thing about the city was the huge building in its heart - a grand cathedral with polished brass rooftops that glinted in the noon sun, yet the cathedral was surrounded by ordinary brown rooftops of aged tiles, sitting atop daunting, gray stonework. The further her eyes went from the cathedral and closer it went to the city walls, the buildings were much simpler and aged, some of them even crumbling underneath their own weight. To state it bluntly, Auria was disappointed in the golden city.
On the other hand, the brass-clad army surrounding the city was really awe-inspiring. She focused the telescope she borrowed from Naira upon the scores of soldiers stationed underneath hundreds of colored banners, their ranks stretching as far as her eye could see, brass of their armor gleaming like the sun itself. Even at the distance, she could hear the noise the thousands of soldiers were causing.
Myriads of travelers - traders, farmers, nobles and common folk alike - traveled on the large cobbled road to the city, walled from both sides by thousands of Glaerian soldiers. They were paid little to no attention.
“We should pass through the gates without problems.” She muttered as she handed the telescope back to Naira.
“Onwards then.” Suranihr sighed. “I don’t like this. It feels like walking into the pit of snakes.”
“Oh believe me, it is much worse.” Harian said through clenched teeth.
***
Iarvahr was surrounded by pitch black darkness. His breathing echoed through the void, giving him a claustrophobic sense of being buried alive. “Hello?” He shouted, his voice returning to him distorted. “Leonie?” Silence was the answer.
He ran, without seeing his body, without seeing his surroundings, he ran. He put foot in front of another foot, stepping into something wet and cold, dry and hot, into nothing and into everything. Sharp stones tore up his soles but at the same time, his feet were caressed by a soft mossy carpet. He ran, pushing against the unmovable wall, falling down the hole, climbing up the hill… Yet he did not move at all. He knew that whatever he tried, he stayed at the same place that he was a second, a minute, an hour before.
“Where are you?” He screamed, again and again, until his lungs bled. Or did he? Did he shout it once, twice, or a million times? He wasn’t sure anymore…
“Here.” Her voice came to him flying on a soft wind and he turned his head, staring into her bleeding throat-wound. It encompassed everything, the void disappeared and he drowned in the blood streaming down her pale neck, swimming through the gore he caused with the blade…
Something pulled him out of the blood and held him by his neck in the air. He suffocated although he did not breathe, he struggled although there was nothing around him.
“Find me a body. Build me a body. Bring me back.” Her voice was rasp, dry and cruel, reminding him of something entirely else than his beloved…
“You’re not her.” Iarvahr muttered. “You’re not Leonie.”
Laughter answered him. “And the hammer hits the nail. But you have no choice. You’re where you were supposed to go. You leave, the projectors overtake your will. You stay, and you will die. There is only one thing you can do.”
Iarvahr blinked as a man formed in front of him out of pitch black darkness. He wore strange clothes made of a smooth, reflective material Iarvahr had never seen before that absorbed light instead of reflecting it. His face constantly changed and in a mere moment, Iarvahr had looked into the eyes of a thousand souls.
“As I’ve said before...” The man said through a wide smile. “Find me a body and bring me back. And then…” A chain appeared in the man’s hand, its other end coiled around the neck of Iarvahr’s beloved Leonie. “I will let you bring her back to life.”
Iarvahr wanted to move towards her, yet found himself glued to where he stood. “Is that you, Leonie…” He whispered, and the chained woman nodded slowly. “I am… Please, Iarvahr, help me..”
This time, it was her. There was no doubt. The voice, the intonation, the love with which she said his name…
Fury mixed with despair rose in Iarvahr as he turned towards the man. “Who are you?” He asked, rage dripping from his mouth.
The man smiled widely. “I am The Creator, and you will obey.”
***