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Vega Of The Wastes
Chapter 69: On the Horizon…

Chapter 69: On the Horizon…

Chapter 69: On the Horizon…

When backed into a corner, when heaven rejects, what should one do? You can join arms with devils, sure, but what is the future that lies before you?

Do you deny it or accept it?

Skaldi wondered, if a magical miracle could occur, that might be able to find a path into a future that made sure everyone could survive. Seeing the horizon made him sure that the sun was setting soon, both literally and metaphorically.

He needed to do his part, to build a way forward. And he wasn’t going to do it alone.

And he certainly wasn’t going to do it fearlessly, that's for sure.

“You, the elf. Who, are you?”

The lady, dressed in a steel blue color, like wearing fake armor, pointed a large finger at Skaldi’s face. His eyes widened and held out his arms in a friendly fashion, trying to put on a kind image. But the intimating look on them both made that impossible.

“Holy shit they’re huge.” Skaldi backed up, very much spooked.

“T-they’re actually smaller than I expected.” Sorbet shrugged, a tad disappointed. Still, she too was scared.

“Shut it.” Chakrit whispered down to her.

“All three of you, it seems. The Tripolian, the elf, and the servant. What are you doing here? How did you break in?” The father, with a booming voice, demanded with a clenched fist.

“Actually, the door was open and no one stopped us. Whole party thing and all?” Lai stepped in front of the group, looking back only on Chakrit. She seemed ready to take the blame. “Dad, can I please explai-”

“Sun. You will not interrupt or interfere again. Your mother already said we’ll speak to you later. Is that clear?” With a stern voice, the father instructed Lai. Bowing her head down and nodding slowly, she stepped away from them. Now, the three were unprotected from the parent’s interrogation.

“...U-uh, I’m Skaldi… I’m a guy and uh, that there is Amir.” He started to regain a little confidence, remembering that his teammates were there with him. “And over there is Sorbet. She’s new around here.”

“...understood. Skaldi, why are you here, dressed like… this?” The mother walked with her hand on her chin, gently rubbing it.

“Well, you see, that’s a very complicated question.” Skaldi shrugged, looking away from the mother’s burning gaze.

“Enlighten me.” She said quickly.

“Right…” The redhead thought of how he was going to get out of this. How he was going to get everyone out. Should he lie, maybe he could tell them that they just wanted to party and to hang out? Perhaps that they wanted to meet them and flatter them with some gifts he could pull out?

No, that wouldn’t work. Not because it was obvious, because even if they did get out, all of Uvi Jantok would be doomed. No more support, no knowledge on what’s in the Lai Bank. And more personal, he would be lying to himself about what he was doing. Doing good in his own way.

He wasn’t going to feign some persona, some false unhappy identity to appease those that lord over him. He was going to fight.

“Fine. I decided that dressing me and my team as girls would be the best way to get into your home in order to make a deal with you about the future of Iozia.” He spoke clearly, strutted up towards the parents, and looked them directly into their eyes. His heart beated fast and he felt the sweat build up on his skin like acid. But he knew that he couldn’t erase that fear, he could only work with it.

Everyone stared at him, their mouths agape. Even the watchmen were impressed by his boldness.

“...You’re right. That is very complicated.” The father briefly turned away, also putting his hand on his chin. The parents mirrored each other, almost standing in the same height and position.

“Y-yeah that’s kind of the gist of it.” Sorbet stood next to Skaldi, hiding behind him.

“~I have no clue what is happening, but the boy is doing something right.~” Amir talked to himself, swaying his head to the people in the cell.

“Is that a good sign Lai? Lai?” Skaldi asked again, but she wasn’t in the mood to add on. She seemed hurt, which Skaldi believed to be the first time the big lady showed any type of weakness. If he wasn’t in this situation because of her, he might have seen a little bit of himself in her.

“Yes, could you please go on? Not with the dressing up, but with the deal? What is this, this deal?” The mother asked in a tone less fierce and more concerned. The type concerned not of death, but of a merchant worrying about their money. Less empathic yet captivated.

“How to put this…”

“W-we’re getting invaded by Tripolians in a month or so.” Sorbet blurted out, not sparing a thought for anyone’s reactions. She relaxed after saying it, like lava cooling after erupting. Everyone else, not so much.

“Really?” The parents staggered, falling against each other.

“Really?!” Chakrit and Lai grabbed her by the shoulders and held her up in the air, her legs swinging to touch the ground.

“Fuck. What?” One of the watchmen cursed out, as the five stumbled and struggled to stand. Their facade of strength and calm was broken by such news.

“Oh this is really bad.” The senior most watchmen trotted up to the parents, barely able to keep composure.

“And really complicated!” The father gripped the sides of his head, shaking himself.

“Hold on! That’s not the whole story.” Skaldi held out his arms to the ones in and outside the cell. Chakrit and Lai put Sorbet down slowly, waiting for Skaldi to elaborate.

“Where the hell was this news two weeks ago? Would have been nice to know this before getting stuck here!” Lai grabbed Skaldi’s arm hard, making a bluish bruise immediately.

“Okay… first Sorbet, please let me explain this before we continue, okay?” He turned to look at her, and she nodded. “Second, Lai, could you not do that?”

“Just explain.” She let go, and focused intently.

“Alright… here in this bag contains a few copies of the notes me and my team captured while out on the sea. It came from a Tripolian war camp, set on the Isle of Blight Elves, not too far from here.” Stalling for a moment to calm himself, he pulled the bag of handing and dug into it. Pulling out two scrolls, he held them out through the prison bars.

“I-I wrote it down if it helps. And Amir! He was the one who translated for us.” Sorbet pointed back at him, trying to better qualify their backstory.

The parents gestured to the watchmen to come to them and started to show them the scrolls containing the plans for the invasion. Details like Operation Stomach Breaker, troubled them severally.

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“Goals. Burn Iozian fields of food crops to feed themselves. Destroy enough Silphium to cause a population crisis within the Oligarchy, leading to mass famine. No supplies, no food. Destroying Silphium… oh no.” The head watchmen read out just loud enough so that Lai and Chakrit heard.

“What!? That’s impossible. If they wanted to do that, they’d have to burn all of Uvi Jantok… they want to burn all of Uvi Jantok.” The realization in Lai’s voice was cold. There a great worry appeared on her face. This problem couldn’t be put on hold. It was coming, whether she liked it or not.

“So… big surprise! We’re fucked, that’s what we are.” Chakrit shook his head, not even attempting to come up with a solution.

Outside, they could all hear the partying of people in the Cloud District. Drunk, energetic, and ignorant. While on the inside of the manor, in this single room, the truth had been revealed. A despairing one.

The father stopped analyzing the scroll for a moment and put on his fierce face once more. He unlocked the doors to the cell.

“Skaldi. This is… fascinating information. You and your team. Come, we’ll take you to our safe room.” He snapped his fingers and the watchmen escorted the three down the halls.

“Wait! I haven’t told you about what I saw on the horizon yet! We still can-”

“Silence! An armada, an invasion force like that? Even the Lai family can’t fight that. We cannot fight this! We must go.” The father hurried, motioning the watchmen into a steel door.

Cannot fight? That scared Skaldi. That a man of such power and influence didn’t even consider to resist, not out of pure cowardice, but out of its impossibility.

Could they even survive?

With one watchman locking the door behind them, Lai and Chakrit remained, stuck and contained.

“Ma? Please. Don’t leave me here.” Reaching out of the bars, she pleaded for her mom not to abandon her.

“Enough out of you…” Not even looking at her daughter, the mother moved further down the hall. Skaldi turned his head and saw Lai’s head slump down, with Chakrit comforting her.

For a moment, he wondered if he should leave them to their fate. Afterall, Lai had never been much good to him.

But no, no could be left like that, especially after such a dump of negative news. He wouldn’t do that, not to a person that was alike to himself.

“Wait! Bring Lai and Chakrit.” Skaldi broke away from the watchmen, backing up to the cell the two were still locked in.

“...do you need them?” The mother asked, her eyes filled with disdain of Lai and Chakrit. Lai held her arm shyly, somewhat pathetic. And yet, Skaldi recognized how Lai was still young, like himself.

He didn’t need them. But the road is better walked with more people.

“...Yes.” Skaldi said clearly and firmly. Standing in silence for a few seconds, the mother snapped her fingers and one of the watchmen opened the cells.

“You better not be lying, elf.” She said, passing him by. Not far behind, Lai and Chakrit stopped to see Skaldi. Giving him a simple thumbs up, Chakrit passed him quickly. However, Lai stayed a lot longer, as if to see what had happened to this person she had thought she knew.

What part of him had caused the change? The loss of his eye? His height, his build? Not a couple months before Skaldi would have likely rejoiced at Lai’s imprisonment, but now he was showing her a side that she didn’t think existed.

Perhaps it had always existed, but someone helped to bring it out. Maybe it was the scarecrow, she thought. Sparing not one more moment of awkwardness, Lai headed down the hall, leaving Skaldi there.

“...can we do this…no. We have to do this. Together we are what we aren’t alone.”

In a chamber lined with two inches of iron and pipes supplying them air, this safe room was every bit prepared for devastation. Built more like a warehouse, stocks of long lasting grains, pickled vegetables, and salt barrels lined the tall shelves around. You could survive, but not live.

Of the few luxuries, a decorated water fountain and a small gymnasium for general health. Otherwise, this place was gloomy, lacking any natural light. Candles and lanterns were your best friend here. And the silent dark was your worst enemy.

Already stock piling more gear into the warehouses, ghost servants did most of the hard and dirty work of bringing everything in. As the parents and the military men continued to labor over the plans, Skaldi couldn’t help but focus on those ghosts. Tired and exhausted, while the rest of Uvi Jantok was partying.

“The thirteenth day of the first month of the new year. That's barely forty days or so. Forty three, at best.” An adviser cracked his pen in his hand, the stress of the whole situation getting to them all. Amir and Sorbet sat on the fountain, wading their hands in the water. Messengers had already been sent to where the rest of the team, all they had to do was wait.

Chakrit was allowed to join the advisors, where he kept a paranoid but optimistic view, probably the only one there with one.

Lai stood a couple feet away from Skaldi, where he was leaning against the wall. She was building up her courage to do something, for what Skaldi did not know. He began to feel more and more impatient.

Sure, people in power were actually taking this seriously. However, everyone outside of this safehouse, outside the Lai manor, had not a clue. They needed to know. They needed to be a part of this.

Taking off his eye patch, he wandered over to the fountain. Sorbet and Amir didn’t ask to see what he was doing, they could tell by his reflection in the water.

What am I?

What can we be?

I am the man I want to be, and the man people need me to be?

His thoughts muddled, rippling like the fountain water. The image of himself he could only look at with one eye, the other ruined. He hated it, but he had also come to terms with it. What he feared is that more would suffer like himself. Run away from doing what was right, robbing for only monetary gain. Drinking to drown himself in a false bliss.

“Skaldi. What are you doing? We have survived! You have saved us.” The mother put a hand on his shoulder, in much better spirits than she was.

“No. If we hide, we’re ensuring everyone out there dies. We’d be no better than Tibato.” He didn’t move, still staring at his watery reflection.

“Does he know about this? Well, even bett-”

“He isn’t going to do anything.” Skaldi brushed her arm off of his shoulder. “He didn’t even care. He’s hiding behind those walls of his. And you’re doing the same.”

“...” She didn’t have a response for that. Lai could see it, if faintly, the mother was feeling guilty.

The reason he had a scar and not a grave was because someone saved him. Vega saved him. But after that, how did he save himself? Because of Valiato, because he wanted to protect her. Because of Bolato, because he loved him.

He had something to fight for. To live and die for. Something more than himself.

In a way, Skaldi believed that was magical. Maybe, that’s how they might be able to survive.

“What’s in the Lai Bank?” He went up to her, not caring to put his eyepatch back on.

“Excuse you?”

“What is in it? We need to know if we’re going to save everyone.” Skaldi demanded, gesturing to all the folks there. The mother looked towards the father, who had been listening in. He gave a quick nod, and the mother pulled Skaldi up the stairs. Seeing this, the rest of the team went with them.

After a minute, they stood on a balcony overlooking all of Uvi Jantok. From the Cloud District to all the way to the docks. The mother hadn’t noticed the rest of them and when she saw all she could muster was an angry look. The sun had started to set, the sky turning dark orange.

“...the Lai Bank. The Lai Bank. That is why we are so powerful. We store and trade the money of the wealthy there for generations. Recently, its purpose has changed.”

“How so? Is there more money, more shit rich folk don’t know what to do with?” Skaldi laughed it out nervously. The mother wasn’t offended, seeing that she was outnumbered. Lai and Chakrit peered their heads out from the stairs, which the mother had noticed. Breathing out a sigh, she went on.

“There’s a treasure so grand in the Lai Bank. Rather, that’s the name we had for what Kaliber had in store.”

“Kaliber? You mean Kaliber Scherzade, the lady Vega is looking for?” Skaldi’s recoiled, along with the rest of the team. Sorbet, feeling the Soul Gem she had stolen, wondered if that was one of Kaliber’s

“The fucks a Vega?” The mother blurted out.

“She’s a friend, mom. Sort of.” Lai stepped out of the stairs.

“There's our family fortune in there, yes. But the real treasure, the real valuable things are what Kaliber had us store inside. Not even Oligarch Tibato knows.” Pointing up to the Black Wall, she spoke quietly. The mist of clouds was not high enough to enter.

“What is it?”

“Her third tower. Before she had disappeared, we made a contract that it would be transported inside. We know where it is in the bank itself, but we aren’t able to open the tower’s doors.”

“If we could, what would be in there?” Chakrit asked.

“Soul Gems.” Sorbet spoke, presenting her Soul Gem in her hand, shining a sunrise of green. Glowing brightly below dimming, she closed her fist around it. “If Kaliber is involved, it has to do with Soul Gems. Vega interacted with this Soul Gem when she got emotional, angry.”

“She made a pitchfork manifest out of nothing. If we get more Soul Gems… who knows what she could do.” Skaldi laid his hands on the balcony, looking out to the horizon.

What he saw was still a terrifying threat, but this idea of Vega’s untapped ability made it seem defeatable. Together.

“Still. Who can open the tower?” Chakrit questioned, hoping for an answer.

“…I think I know someone who can. First, we need to make sure they don’t break us…” Skaldi raised his fist to the horizon. Everyone moved closer to see what it was, and gasped as they did.

Twenty warships, black dots underneath the sun. The Tripolians were sending forces already.