Chapter 241: Realizations

The sweet acrid scent of potions filled the air. The candles burned dim, the wax pooled around what little remained. Faint rays of sunlight crept over the horizon and bled into the shuttered windows.

Poppy grimaced and opened her eyes blearily. She lay in a long narrow bed. Frowning at the distinct feeling of the linen blanket over her body, she glanced underneath the covers and confirmed her fears.

“The white mages had to strip off your clothes to properly heal your wounds,” a voice whispered from the corner of the room.

Poppy stiffened at the sound and smiled weakly, “Ah, Sylvie, you startled me... I didn’t see you there.”

“Mm,” Sylvie nodded slowly. She sat in a chair, half-hidden in the shadows.

“Are you okay? What happened to those cloaked men?” Poppy sat up quickly and grimaced.

“You shouldn’t move. You were hurt pretty badly, the mages did their best to heal you, but your body will have to do the rest…”

Poppy nodded and carefully laid back down, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sylvie shrugged. “And those men that were in my room are dead… Do you have any idea who they were?”

“Of course not,” Poppy frowned. “I was just walking by when I saw them rush into your room. I came as soon as I could.” She smiled wryly, “In retrospect, I should have called for some help. How did you escape anyway?”

Sylvie smiled coldly, “...I just got lucky.”

“Oh… well, I’m glad you're safe.” Poppy chuckled nervously, “Um, do you know where my clothes are? I feel a little awkward just laying here naked.”

Sylvie leaned forward, “Don’t worry, no one noticed your tattoo… Except for me. Not that any else would have known what it meant.”

Poppy’s eyes widened, “Uh… I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“Really? The little black ink etched on your inner thigh? Are you saying it just magically appeared? That one day you woke up and boom, it was just there? Is that how you suddenly became a weapons expert?”

Poppy swallowed, “It’s not like that… I didn’t mean for you to find out like this…”

“Like this? Or you didn’t mean for me to find out at all?”

Poppy looked away in shame.

Sylvie laughed scornfully, “Yeah, that’s what I thought. So was this all bullshit from the start? Did my parents put you up to this?”

Poppy shook her head, “I don’t know who your parents are.”

Sylvie stood to her full height, her shadow darkening the room. She stalked over to the bed and bared her fangs in Poppy’s face, “I’m done with your damn charades. I swear if you lie to me again I will drain every single drop of blood until your pretty red skin turns fucking pink!”

Poppy went pale with fear, she swallowed and tried to control her trembling.

“Now answer me,” Sylvie growled. “Did my parents have you follow me here? Is your name even Poppy Skeller?”

She licked her quivering red lips and spoke slowly, “My name is Poppy of the House of Skeller. I was recruited when I was fifteen, no one in my family knows.”

“...Go on.”

Poppy nodded stiffly, “Two years ago, one of my superiors managed to place me in charge of chromatic magic testing at the academy; for the new incoming students. I was ordered to take note of anyone who might have the potential to join our cause… Then one day I got a message. A very important individual was coming to the academy. My new task was to make contact with said individual, watch over her and keep her safe, without my identity being discovered. I was your secret guardian.” She smiled sadly, “Clearly, I failed.”

“...Dammit,” Sylvie sighed deeply and slumped back in her chair. “So I never really got away. My parents always knew I was here…”

“I really don’t know who your parents are, I swear.”

“What do you know about me? What did your superiors tell you?”

Poppy glanced away, “Just that you're very important, I should keep you safe during your stay at the academy… And that your name isn’t really Sylvie, but I don’t know your real name either.”

“Heh, so you walked into all of this blind too, huh?” Sylvie chuckled bitterly. “I guess we’re both a couple of chumps.”

Poppy swallowed the lump in her throat, “This past year wasn’t a lie, not to me. I don’t know why your parents or whoever, ordered me to be your guardian, but I’m more than that. I don’t care what your real name is, I’m your friend, Sylvie. If you need help to disappear from all of this, I’ll help you.”

Sylvie shook her head, “...How can I ever trust you again?”

Poppy chuckled and pointed to herself, “Do you see anyone else willing to take a sword in the gut for you?”

“That’s your job, isn’t it?” she raised her eyebrow.

“No, my job was to keep you safe and hidden. Sure, they didn’t care if you joined the academy, but they didn’t want you to stand out,” Poppy grinned, “at least not too much. But you were never supposed to go to the Great Cities Tourney. I was supposed to dissuade you from even thinking of becoming one of the academy’s four competitors.”

“...Then why didn’t you?”

Poppy smiled, “Because I got to know you, because I became your friend. You told me stories of how you grew up, alone, without anyone but servants who were afraid of you… I know what it’s like growing up in a family that doesn’t let you do anything, a family that expects you to only act a certain way. I don’t know why your family locked you up from the world or why they kept moving you from one place to another, but I definitely understand why you ran away.”

Poppy grimaced and pushed herself to an upright position. “If you really want to escape your parents’ influence, I can help. … If you don’t want to be a part of all of this, I won’t let you get dragged back into it.”

Sylvie smiled grimly, “Thanks… but I’m done running away. There is no escaping this for me. Our world may have monsters that lurk in the dark, but I refuse to live hidden away in fear any longer.”

“What do you mean?”

Sylvie walked over to the window and gazed at the rising dawn, “...I’m different, but you can still get out, you know. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says; you were born free, don’t be so quick to give that up.”

Poppy bit her lip, “Syl-”

The infirmary door slammed open.

“My baby, what have they done to you!?” a middle-aged orc screamed from the doorway and rushed over to the bed.

“Auntie? Agh, it hurts!” Poppy squirmed as the orc woman squeezed her tight.

“What sort of shitty healing treatment is this?” Celica frowned and looked Poppy’s wounds over. “I swear these academy white mages wouldn’t know a proper healing spell if it bit them in the ass!”

Sylvie smiled, “I’ll let you two catch up.” She turned and headed for the door, “Oh, and Poppy, if your superiors ask, tell them I’m heading to that tournament. I don’t care what my parents or anyone else thinks.”

~~~

Lysaila ignored the startled looks of the crowd waiting at the city’s gate. The gate had been closed for the night and sunrise was still a few minutes away. Nonetheless, the merchants had already gathered with their wares and caravans eager to make a profit as quickly as possible. Their greed for money did nothing to stop them from staring at the beautiful blue lamia, in fact, Lysiala could already see in their eyes how the merchants were trying to find a way to make a profit with her.

“Wow, looks like one of them is actually coming,” Kithina whispered to Lysaila.

One of the merchants, a tall drow, sauntered over with a wide smile and a golden tooth. He made a short bow to Kithina, “Good morning, miss. The gates are about to open, so I’ll make this brief. How much for this exquisite exotic pet?”

“She isn’t mine,” Kithina chuckled.

In a flash, Lysaila drew her blade and held its edge under the merchant’s chin. “I am no one’s pet,” she hissed. “Now be a good boy and tell your little friends to stay away from us or I will cut out your guts and use them to strangle the rest of them.”

“Y-you… you’re threatening me!?” the merchant sputtered indignantly. “If you don’t stand down the guards will take notice, they’ll arrest you and your owner!”

The lamia’s azure tail flicked out and swiped his feet from under him. The merchant cried out in surprise and fell on his bottom with a hard thud. He grimaced and scrambled to his feet.

Lysaila glared at him, “Leave now, you piece of sh-”

The merchant squealed as a sudden gale of wind swooped him up and launched him into one of his wagons a dozen paces away. The other merchants quickly realized the use of magic and hurried to distance themselves from the fallen merchant.

Lysaila slowly turned to the smiling dwarf next to her, “Kitty?”

“What? He was being an ass,” she shrugged.

“Clearly,” Lysaila smiled half-heartedly. “...I’m gonna miss you. You’re the only person in this damned city who isn’t half-bad.”

Kithina blinked, “Wow, I think that might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Don’t take it personally. We occasionally drink together, that’s it.”

“I’m glad we’re friends too,” Kithina smiled warmly. “And I see you at the Merry Crescent almost every evening, that’s more than the occasional drinking buddy, just saying.”

“Shut up,” Lysaila muttered with an annoyed tone, but there was a slight curl to her lips.

A large black carriage with crimson wheels and a large banner strolled down the street. The merchants noticed the banner and quickly moved their wagons out of the way. The black carriage passed by and reached the front gate without difficulty.

Kithina stared at the carriage’s banner, a skull writhing in shadows impaled by a crimson blade. A range of emotions passed by her face, but she settled for an impassive expression.

Lysaila noticed her change in demeanor, “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… I’m not too much of a fan of House Veres right now.”

“It’s ‘cause that Callum guy, right?”

“Something like that,” Kithina sighed.

Lysaila clicked her tongue, “It’s fucked up that he managed to get into the tourney but you didn’t, you’re clearly the stronger one.”

“We don’t know that,” she shook her head. “And that has nothing to do with my problems with Callum.”

“Oh, that I know. You’ve cried on my shoulders so many times while drunk,” Lysaila shivered. “Callum this, Callum that. I thought you had gotten over him when you started crying about your loss against that gold bitch, but I guess I was wrong.”

Kithina hid her bright-red face in shame, “...Am I really like that?”

“Yeah, you're definitely an angry, sad drunk.”

“Wonderful,” Kithina muttered, peeved. “Things really change, huh?” she sighed, and to Lysaila’s surprise, she laughed.

“What does that mean?” Lysaila asked.

Kithina smiled in reminiscence, “When I first came to the academy, I was so excited. More than anything, I wanted to be a mage and go on adventures like the stories I always heard growing up. The school was intimidating; I had never spoken to an aristocrat before and suddenly there were dozens of them walking by me in the hallways. I desperately wanted to fit in…”

“Why? So you can act like all the other pompous assholes?”

“No,” Kithina frowned. “It’s just, I wanted to be liked, you know? I wanted to stand among the greats like the stories… a bit silly, I know.”

“No, not really,” Lysaila said quietly.

Kithina chuckled wryly, “I’ll never forget my first day of class, I was so nervous. This blue goblin ended up sitting next to me, you know the one. He was really skittish and he smelled like booze. Honestly, I wished he had sat anywhere else. Then Professor Rime put us together for a group project, and that’s when I really started to panic, but Rime also put a vampire aristocrat in our group.” She smiled weakly, “Callum Veres…”

“Wow, sounds magical,” Lysaila rolled her eyes.

Kithina laughed, “Look, you’re not from around here, so you don’t understand how big of a deal it was, but this was a freaking Veres. They aren’t just one of the city’s Ruling Families, they’re one of the oldest and most powerful Houses in all the Ebon Realm! Then there was me, a commoner with no magical background. Me, simple ol’ Kithina, was going to hang out with a Veres! It was unbelievable!”

“There’s nothing simple about you, Kitty,” Lysaila said in a serious tone.

Kithina scoffed weakly, “Thanks, but I don’t really feel particularly special these days.”

Lysaila licked her lips and nodded, “Okay then, so what was so special about this Callum person, hm?”

“He was a Veres?” Kithina cocked her head to the side.

“Yeah, but isn’t he like the 4th or 5th child? He’s not even the heir to the Veres throne. I’m having a hard time picturing why you were so enamored by this guy. Did he have anything besides a name?”

“W-well, Callum has a lot of good points,” Kithina said abashedly. “He’s handsome, smart, charming, and he’s talented at magic –actually, he hid his white magic back when we first met, so I didn’t know that about him at the time. And he can’t read very well, so his red ward spells we’re pretty bad, they still kinda are– B-but! Callum is also a hybrid vampire-human, which is pretty cool… Oh! He’s also pretty athletic, he always got 2nd or 3rd place in Tauri’s classes.”

“Why not 1st?” Lysaila raised her eyebrow.

“Stryg or Sylvie always get 1st place,” she admitted. “No one beats those two, so they don’t really count.”

“Sylvie… that’s the dire girl, right?”

“Yeah, she joined the academy last autumn,” Kithina said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“Hmm. So what about before last autumn? Did Callum never once beat Stryg?” Lysaila muttered the goblin’s name as if it was poison on her lips.

Kithina shook her head, “Not in athletics class, no. Stryg has always been a cut above the rest of the class, I mean seriously, it was pretty frustrating. Stryg always won in everything; running, push-ups, sit-ups, even sparring.” She furrowed her brow, “Which in retrospect is kinda surprising since Cal practices the renowned Gale Style. Oh, that’s another cool thing about Cal by the way. Have you ever heard of Gale Style swordsmanship? It’s considered one of the best in the entire Ebon Realm.”

“I’m familiar,” Lysaila said dryly. “Anything else?”

Kithina scratched her cheek, “Actually, there was this one time Stryg beat Cal up so bad that he had back pain for weeks, it was really sad- Ahem.” Kithina stopped when she caught the look of irritation on the lamia’s face. She winced, “Yeah, not what you meant, I can see that now. Anyways, Callum was also good at other things like… like… Huh. I guess that’s pretty much it.”

“...Well, this Callum guy sounds really swell,” Lysaila batted her eyelashes and pretended to swoon.

“~Stop~” Kithina laughed.

Lysaila shrugged, “Look, this Veres boy sounds alright, maybe one day he’ll even be great, but don’t underestimate yourself either. Stop searching for greatness within others, look at a mirror once in a while.”

Kithina smiled, “You know, sometimes I forget you’re this super deadly killer who wants everyone in the city to die horribly.”

“Meh, I don’t want you to die,” Lysaila flicked out her forked tongue.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she chuckled.