CHAPTER 29: YADRIA

It had been a few hours since they entered Yadria—the outskirts of it anyway. Entering the city felt like entering a whole other world. And Soren was already experienced with such things.

If you brought back Victorian era gothic architecture and mixed it with old nordic hill dwellings with a tad bit of icelandic turf houses added to the mix, you’d get Yadria. Every building looked to have once stood on its own, then sometime in the future, merged with the surrounding flora. Some buildings had entire trees jutting out from their sides, forming an entire other dimension to the structure. Others had massive mushrooms jutting out from the roofs. The lamp posts that lined the streets were all made of tiny glowing trees.

A blend of nature and stone masonry.

Most ridiculous of all, however, had to be the Moving Homes. These were apparently Living Hexes similar to the golems they saw outside the city walls. Except, these had another purpose—transporting entire homes across the city. Large trunks would grow from underneath the small platform holding up the house—moving the building smoothly across the city. Entire sections were apparently allocated for Moving Homes to park in.

When he asked Myrin why this was even necessary, he simply pointed up at the colossal tree at the center of the city.

The Spirit Blossom Willow.

This was the colossal tree he had spotted prior to entering the city. Understanding its sheer scale and size was pretty impossible. It took Soren his entire neck snapped all the way back just to see its branches. And even then, the crown of leaves probably went above the clouds themselves.

It was insanely huge. And Yadria being placed around its circumference meant the city needed to be large as well.

In Yadrian society, all noble houses were expected to perform a pilgrimage around the sacred Spirit Blossom Willow each year on the 180th day of Vyak. While Yasini’s Paradise occurs roughly 3 months earlier, this pilgrimage was unlike the first. It was meant to show devotion to not just The Flower Maiden, but Yadria itself.

Of course, this tradition was later adopted by lower ranking high class citizens who wished to appear more refined or classy within their circles. After a while however, many quickly realized that this sacred duty could be completed in a much shorter time if they simply used living hexes for transport. Add a few hundred years, and this model was refined until finally, Moving Homes became a thing.

Why go out and travel when your house itself could do the pilgrimage for you?

Soren chuckled to himself. He knew a few people back on Earth that would have probably loved this invention. Ah, who am I kidding? Really, the only person he knew that would truly be this lazy was Julie.

I wonder what she’s been up to lately… Probably still wasting all her money on gacha games…

He shook his head and walked toward the balcony. The city skyline came into view.

“Did you get a goodnight’s sleep?” A voice interrupted his thoughts—Myrin.

The blonde elf had just come out of the shower with his hair ruffled. He smiled at Soren while brushing his hair with a towel. “I honestly did not expect this level of hospitality. I brought with me countless ancient tomes from our mistress to trade for Imra, but it seems none of that is needed.”

They were currently staying on the outskirts of the city in a normal looking hotel. Even so, the view from the balcony was already breath-taking enough.

“Is Tina still sleeping?” He asked.

Myrin nodded. “Don’t expect her to wake up any time soon. Other than the holy Mother of Silver, she worships two other things: food and sleep. Especially since the beds here are incredibly comfy.”

Suddenly, the building started to shake. Soren tilted his neck to the balcony—he noticed the view changing. It was as if their building had lifted into the air.

He then remembered something. The hotel did look fairly normal to him, but Myrin had told him its functionality was nothing but normal.

It too was a Moving Home, and a fairly large one at that. He guessed there were people out there who couldn’t afford purchasing one of these Living Hexes, and so, renting them was the next best option.

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Myrin looked at him and chuckled. “The hotel will be stopping at three Moving Home Slots before it gets to our stop. We have the entire evening to ourselves until then.”

Soren glanced out the balcony and smiled. He watched as the hotel’s tree-like limbs maneuvered over buildings like a child avoiding stepping over his own playhouse.

The streets were bustling with life. A few streets across, he could see another Moving Home going the opposite direction as them. It was much smaller than the hotel—only one balcony was available on the second floor. Right beneath where that Moving Home had stepped was a food market. He could see a bunch of people mixed together, all heading in different directions with groceries in their hands.

“What even are living hexes?” Soren asked. “How are they different from Malevolent Hexes?”

Myrin chuckled. “Try using [Eyes of the Fairy] on that Moving Home.

Soren did exactly that. Seeing the unseen, he focused his eyes on it and activated [Record].

Event Log

New Entry Recorded: [Living Hexes] (Magecraft)

He ordered the pages to shift.

Living Hexes (Magecraft)

An unnaturally born creation made through magecraft. Using a soul contract with a spirit, an inanimate object could be brought to life through possession of its material form. Contracts require extensive knowledge into demonology and a magus affinity in relation to binds and vows.

Soren lifted his brows. “Spirits? Demonology?” He’d never heard of such things prior to this. He opened the magecraft section in The Records and saw a new section appear titled demonology. But no information about the subject appeared when he ordered his book to show him what it meant.

I guess The Records recognizes that magecraft exists, but the types of magecraft themselves are something I will need to discover on my own.

“Demonology…” Myrin chuckled. “Stay away from that field entirely.”

Soren titled his neck. “Why? It seems interesting.”

“Demonology doesn’t just depend on knowledge on magecraft, but also language. Unless you are an expert in etymology, this field is highly dangerous.

“The reason why is simple: contracts are soul bound. The moment you sign a deal with a fae or demonic spirit, the clauses on that contract will be forced upon your very being. Refusing your end of the deal would end horribly.

“And what’s worse is that demonology is not always enforced using Scripted Runic. Other more ancient languages like Yasini are needed, especially for fae-folk.”

Soren thought for a moment. “Are you saying it's dangerous because words could be misconstrued?”

“Indeed,” he nodded.

What he was saying definitely didn’t sound too out of the ordinary. Even back on Earth, contract laws were immensely important—signing something without reading the fine print was foolish and could cost you immensely. Even he had fallen victim to such contracts—his parents found a loophole in the fine print to siphon the money he obtained from his chess federation sponsorships for themselves.

Now apply that same danger with contracts but to supernatural beings that could bind your entire existence to said contract.

A chill ran down his spine.

“I'll keep your advice in mind,” he replied to Myrin. “But what even are spirits?” He remembered the Memory Void Spirit—he wondered if it was a being similar to that.

“Spirits are existences that have no physical body. Unlike most beings like us who have both a physical body and a metaphysical one that exists within The Beyond called a Runic Existence, Spirits only have the latter.

“They roam freely within The Beyond. There are two types of spirits. Demonic and Fae. Interestingly enough, fae-folk spirits can be found almost everywhere in Yadria. They are attracted to the Spirit Blossom Willow.

“As for demonic spirits… You usually find them across the realm. They are much more concentrated in The Eclipse Moor as well as deep within labyrinths from the old Avalon Empire.”

“I see,” Soren looked out of the balcony. He glanced up at the Spirit Blossom Willow—its golden leaves had shifted colors to that of emerald green. According to Myrin, the tree would continue to shift in hue as the hours passed. Yadrians used it to tell time.

Soren realized that the Moving Home Hotel was now in a different area than before. Underneath him, the buildings looked more dilapidated.

“That’s the Sulkwood District,” Myrin responded to his thoughts. “Its where the unblessed live.”

Soren frowned as he glanced out from the balcony. Street children in rags roaming the markets barefoot with what looked to be something on their ears. Myrin explained that those tags were clipped on them to mark their sins. He finally understood why all the unblessed had maimed ears.

From the corner of his eye, Soren noticed a ruined, wooden cart carrying what looked to be a pile of things wrapped in white cloth. Countless men were surrounding the cart and dragging it off somewhere. There were a few women weeping next to it as well.

Frowning, Soren focused on the cart and activated [Eyes of the Fairy]. For whatever reason, he felt like he needed to know what it was carrying—though he already had a creeping suspicion.

As his eyes focused and pierced through the white sheet covering, his hypothesis was confirmed. The cart was carrying bodies.

And not just any bodies—unblessed who had presumably died due to The Nameless Mist. Though most of them did not have the features he used to see in Memory Void Husks. These ones only had dried out skin—it seemed that they had probably died before they had fully transformed into Malevolent Hexes.

But what shocked him the most was what he found within that pile of corpses. A body of a child that looked to be no older than fourteen years with blonde hair and freckles across his cheeks and nose.

Liluth’s brother.

He somewhat wanted to believe it was another child victim, but the description he got from her matched what he was seeing completely. The information entering his eyes from the Beyond couldn't be wrong.

Soren stood there motionlessly as the Moving Home Hotel went past the group of grieving mothers surrounding the cart. Judging by where they were heading from, he realized that these were probably bodies they found outside of Yadria that they brought back for burial.

Another evening in Yadria’s slums passed uneventfully.