[Book II Chapter 1] Filia: Returning Home

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The sun was creeping up on the horizon, yet Filia sped forward ignoring the blinding brilliance. The enormous featherless wings on her back cut through the air at a high subsonic speed. Almost there.

The dire news had reached her late last night, after the pillar’s destruction. Apologizing to the party mates, she’d immediately hitched a ride most of the way on an airship bound for Bastion.

<> Spoke a voice only she could hear. The owner was her oldest sukemon, Cici the galebat, which she was currently fused with. It was the reason her skin was currently a grayish white.

<> She answered back, diving towards a narrow chasm in the earth.

Plunging into the darkness, she let out a high pitch screech. The shape of rock formations ahead appeared in her mind, and she weaved her way through the gaps. Her ears found the exit before her eyes. She shot out into a space too vast for echo location, where the winding roots of three light funnels illuminated the land below. Lomistan, my home.

Smoke was rising from all the settlements below. Even the far off capital was burning. Which makes no sense. There were scars across the landscape, signs of battle where trees and buildings had been leveled.

<> Cici mumbled.

<> Filia sighed. <>

Filia dropped down towards a familiar, yet now unrecognizable hamlet, landing right outside. Her stomach couldn’t face going straight to her destination.

Burnt bramble covered the smoldering buildings, in places intertwining into thick, thorny crucifixes. Each held a charred figure in its embrace. King Orswalt came himself, he had an affinity for the plants. Filia averted her eyes, tightening her fists as she walked down the street.

When she was young, her parents had happily sent her away to study at the Veritas War Academy, hoping to keep her from Lomistan’s ugliness. Still, she’d seen enough over the years to understand the basics. The Kulmen people, who ruled the north and the capital, were devout followers of the Church of Idia. The Aburd, meanwhile, rejected the White Mountain’s authority and worshiped Gridon, a powerful salamander primal residing in the Ether. Since Idia rarely answers prayers, they sought out a more responsive patron deity. Ever since this isolate underground region had been settled, there had been friction. Yet, after two thousand years of coexistence, Filia had believed the peace might last.

<> Cici whispered.

Filia glanced through an alley way to the field beyond. She remembered rolling through the grass , filled with joy at having summoned her first friend. Now she only saw blackened bramble along with several outlines, some child sized. It was no accident they used fire, the bastards.

Filia swiftly rounded the corner, only slowing her march once she approached the house she grew up in. The remains of the front door had fallen forward, and coals glowed red in the space underneath.

<>

Filia understood and did as requested. Blue and white crystalline feathers replaced the grayish white skin, and her bat wings turned avian. She felt her new partner take in the scene through her eyes. As her wisest, most mature sukemon, she wasn’t worried over his reaction.

<> Blizzy offered.

Filia nodded and yelled out, “Winter Vortex!” The hamlet was engulfed in a snowy tempest, quickly erasing any remaining heat. All sukemon had four named abilities which were abnormally powerful. She’d just used one of Blizzy’s. As the winds died down, she entered.

All that stood intact were the the stone walls and the chimney. The roof was gone save from the blackened support beams bravely holding together. The cheerful wallpaper was singed away. Couches, armchairs, and beds were down to crumbling burnt out skeletons. Only the outline of two large bookshelves was left, the burnt remains of their content buried in the thick layer of ash which covered the floor. Filia carefully dung out a partially melted trophy.

Turning the metal over in her hands, she placed it above the fireplace then brought out two colorful slips of paper. “These are tickets for the Tulven Sukemon Championship in two months. I was really hoping you could attend this time.” Filia explained before placing her gift besides the trophy. “I’ll leave them here just in case.”

<> Concern permeated Blizzy’s words.

Stolen novel; please report.

“I knew I would outlive them. I just never thought it would be so soon, without a chance to say goodbye.” Filia leaned against the wall, letting her white feathers absorb the soot, and closed her eyes. Blizzy remained silent.

“I should have return sooner. Perhaps I could have prevented this.” Lomistan had no immortals. As a saint, she might have stayed Orswalt’s hand.

“Your presence would have made no difference.” A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. Filia looked over to see a large black man at the doorway, all manner of metal wrapped around his massive frame. Legonas Ironheart. “This was the Laughing Man’s work.”

“What do you mean?” She demanded. I didn’t hear anything of his involvement.

“Late last night, Gregory Stein, an immortal paladin from the White Mountain, came to stop the slaughter. While mostly too late, he incapacitated Orswalt and his top retainers, taking them into custody. That’s when the Laughing Man revealed himself. The two fought, and Gregory fell. Then the madman began his own massacre, this time targeting Kulmen. You must have seen the capital aflame. Someone took advantage of the chaos to set it on fire.”

So if I had been here, I would’ve shared Gregory’s fate. “Do you believe he orchestrated everything? The prince’s murder?”

“My guess is yes, but there hasn’t been time to investigate. I only arrived shortly before Dawn. It’s been a long night.” Legonas glanced at the devastation surrounding them, “I saw you fly down. Did someone you know live here?”

“My parents.” Felia responded curtly. “Why did you come? Did you need something?” While she appreciate the information, she didn’t want the company.

Legonas nodded, “There are survivors, here and in other places. Can you heal?”

“Yes,” Felia answered, heart sinking. Lifelessly, she followed him out and boarded a small airship.

They stood on the deck in silence as they traveled North. <> Blizzy offered optimistically.

Filia nodded absently, watching the approaching capital. There were signs of battle everywhere, with collapsed buildings and upturned earth. Gregory Stein put up a fierce resistance.

“Siegfried made an appearance last night during the Laughing Man’s rampage.” Legonas pointed to the cliff face past the capital, where an enormous concave indentation had been blasted out. Below, rocks littered the landscape. “He struck the fiend with his full might, and that crater was the result. Afterwards, he relayed a warning, ‘You are skating on thin ice. There will be no further boring massacres, or I will kill you in a way you can’t come back from.’”

“It’s interesting how Siegfried hinted the Laughing Man may be unkillable by ordinary methods. This would explain how he bested Arther Bard.”

“Why did he interfere? And couldn’t he have acted sooner?” Filia didn’t bother hiding the bitterness.

“He was the last actor to suffer the HEAVENLY DOA’s wrath for conspired against the Isle of Dream. This is a real silver lining. With warping gone, it would be a nightmare if the Laughing Man started targeting isolated settlements as he has in the past.”

‘Silver lining’… Filia ground her teeth, resisting the urge to retort.

<> Blizzy soothed.

<>

Nearing the makeshift relief camp surrounded by airships, Filia hopped off and glided towards where the wounded were laid out in neat rows.

<> She told blizzy as she landed. Feathers were traded for a pink pelt, and nine purple-tipped tails stretched out behind her.

<> Velvet, her ephemerox, commented snidely while observing the hundreds of burnt and maimed bodies. Despite her healing ability and wonderfully soft fur, the fairy nine-tailed fox had the worst temperament.

It wasn’t Filia’s first time responding to a disaster, and she quickly headed over to the medics struggling with the worst cases. Spreading her tails behind her, she shouted, “Lunar Cure.”

A powerful wave of healing washed forwards, restoring melted skin and mending torn flesh. As soon as one batch was out of the danger zone, she moved on to the next.

Legonas joined her while she worked. “Thank you. All I can do is gather survivors and rely on others to keep them alive.” The frustration was clear in his voice. “Most of my usual healers were exhausted by the werewolf outbreak under the Isle.”

Filia glanced at all those still in need of assistance and groaned. Many had lesions and other signs of torture on top of fire damage. There was a limit to what she could do.

<> Velvet commented calmly.

Resolving to go as far as she could before making hard choices, Filia focused in front of her only to gasp at how rapidly wounds were closing. Grasping for an explanation, she noticed even those not under effect of ‘lunar cure’ were improving quickly. How?

“Michael White has arrived.” Legonas chuckled. “What a relief.”

A small white warship was descending, elaborately adorned with golden patterns. A powerful restorative force radiated from within its hull.

<> Velvet complained. <>

<> Filia snapped back. I am so glad no one can hear her. Where did she pick up this vicious, sadistic streak? Is it because she is a fox?

From the warship, a small throne floated over. In its golden embrace sat Michael White, an immortal arch-bishop from the White Mountain. The ‘master of healing’, the second person since Sola to reach immortality through his skill in the craft. He appeared young, in his early twenties, with brown hair and below average looks.

“Your visit is greatly appreciated,“ Legonas greeted. “Although I’m surprised they let you travel.”

“True, Samuel Lithorn doesn’t like me leaving the empire.” Micheal smirked. “However, relations between the emperor and the White Mountain have become complicated. This bit of defiance is part of that.”

His smile faded. “Also, I was the one who granted Gregory Stein’s request to interfere. It’s only right that I recover his remains. Besides…” Michael turned to the recovering survivors and then the far off smoldering capital. “I wanted to see the Laughing Man’s work with my own eyes.”

“You have a history with him, if I remember?”

Michael nodded, “I am one of the five survivors of his first appearance, together with Simon Black. It saddens me the path he has chosen to take.”

<> Velvet had no interest in small talk or human politics.

Filia realize that, with Michael’s arrival, she was no longer needed. She quietly took her leave to go put her affairs in order and bury the dead.