21/06/337

Vasuki

Audra had been awake for two hours before she had fallen back asleep. Vasuki had studied a bit of the language book he had with him, but was quickly getting burnt out on studying. Vistrata had left him alone, a blessing, but Vasuki was getting bored, extremely so. He sat on the edge of the bed, finally deciding what to do while he waited for Cabana, or Noelem, to return so that he could go out into town to do...something.

Vasuki held his hand out doing his best to remember the flower he had picked from the field, or at least the general shape. He quickly formed the trapezoid shape on a stick, that was the easy part. He decided to focus on bending the stock of the flower to look a bit more natural. Focusing on what he was doing, he put his magic through a bottle neck so that he didn’t over do it like he had last time. All of his thoughts were on the ice in his hands, but he was still either manipulating it too little or too much; no change in the ice or it would begin to crack.

After what felt like an hour but was easily a little less than 10 minutes the ice in his hand shattered. Vasuki sighed in frustration, then began to wrack his brain.

“Why the hell am I making an ice flower?!” He thought to himself. There were so many other things he could create. Surely he could make something cool or badass, like a nice ass sword. But this was for practice! He could admit that he had obtained the magic capacity from his father but he surely didn’t grasp his mother’s artistic ability with the magic of ice. Where she was a creator of masterpieces, of complex sculptures even noble families would come to see, Vasuki was a novice that could only create spears one would see in caverns.

Eventually Cabana’s feline smell hit Vasuki’s nose, he stood, anxious to explore the city. Vasuki opened the bathroom door and let Cabana leave from there.

“Damn, you’re getting too good at randomly guessing where I’m going to come from.” Cabana claimed sarcastically.

“You’ll have to tell me how you do that, eventually.” Vasuki pointed out.

“I’ll tell you when Audra wakes up, she’ll be more affected by it than you will.” Cabana said. “I’ll explain it when the time is right, you go out an enjoy yourself.”

“And what about Noelem? Where’d he head off to?” Vasuki queried.

“He’s taking a bounty, needed the extra coin so he’s taking out a nest of Rasae that formed near a large farm.” Vasuki looked at her in astonishment.

“You let him take on an entire nest of giant venomous snakes alone?”

“He was the leader of the Demon army, Vasuki, his mentality may have changed but his powers haven’t left him.” She said this with a touch of coldness, that was unusual for her. “Sorry, feeling a little off. The point is he’ll be fine. Go have fun, I’ll make sure to keep an eye on her. And don’t go to the Northern part of the city, I won’t be there to save your ass if you get in trouble.”

As much as Vasuki needed to get out, he really didn’t enjoy leaving Audra’s side. The two of them had been through too much in the past week and not being near her in some kind of sense felt odd, she had become a constant in his daily life. He cleared his mind and then focused on the bustle of the city. There were a lot of different kinds of people here, mostly humans but there was the occasional variant but they were far and few in between.

The city seemed to have a lot of metal goods up for purchase. Jewelry, decorations, weapons, armor, plates and bowls, they also had other goods but they were much rarer. He found himself looking at one of the more uncommon goods in the town; a stall with a bunch of flowers for sale.

“You got a nice lady friend you want to give some pretty flowers to?” The old woman running the stand asked.

“Something like that. She’s a good friend, just going through a hard time right now.” Vasuki said, “How much for how many?” He was thankful he had brought his coin purse.

“How about a bouquet of 5 roses for 5 gold. Does that sound good with you?”

After a purchase of the small bouquet he walked around the city. He began to examine a stand of swords on display in the front of a weaponry store, someone walked out of the building but Vasuki was too busy admiring a saber in the window to notice.

“Are those for me?” The person asked. Vasuki’s head jolted over to the man. Zadkiel wore a black collared tunic with a purple crest of wings over his heart. Hanging around his left waist was a curved short sword that seemed to be in a sheathe that was a little too big for it, yet it didn’t rustle around in the leather, at the base of the handle was a ring. Vasuki had no idea of the use of that part of his weapon, however it did seem stylish.

“No, sorry, my friend is going through some stuff. But you have my appreciation for not letting me hit the ground.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He claimed. “Didn’t I see you catch a girl pass out in the middle of a fight the other day? Is it the same friend you got those flowers for?” Zadkiel asked, did his eye just twinkle? Vasuki was seeing things.

“Yeah, like I said she’s just going through some shit at the moment.” Vasuki said, it wasn’t a good idea to tell people she passed out because her ascender decided to use their Etherea and almost kill her. It’d make them an easy target for whatever Royal Knight might be chasing after them.

“So what brings you to Daemerall?” Zadkiel asked as they began to make their way back to The Rising Bull Inn.

“Meeting with a friend of a friend, had a hell of a time getting here.” Vasuki claimed.

“Couldn’t have been too bad, could it?”

“A Shallow, pack of Varulv, and a Dragon.”

“Okay, it’s a bit worse than I thought it’d be.” Zadkiel admitted.

By the time they made it back to the inn, the sun was already beginning to set, and Zadkiel was in a spiel about his luck with women.

“The first used me to get back at her boy toy, the second cheated on me with some rich piece of ass in the northern part of the city, and the third broke up with me because she didn’t like a restaurant I took her to, not ‘fancy’ enough for her.” Zadkiel complained, “Needless to say I’m getting pretty on guard around women.”

“You’ve gotten farther than me, rejected twice.” Vasuki pointed out.

“So now you’re playing your cards with caution?” Zadkiel asked, gesturing towards the flowers.

“These are more like ‘get well soon’ flowers. I’ve already folded.” Zadkiel gave him a knowing look.

“I’ll level with you, Vasuki. What you bought is not ‘get well soon’ flowers. Roses? Come on man. This is more of a...what’s the words for it?” Zadkiel said, thinking intently.

“Proclamation of love?” A voice behind Vasuki suggested. They both looked at the source to see Noelem.

“Yeah, that. So I hope you pick your cards off the table Vasuki.” Zadkiel said, patting his shoulder and walking off. The two of them waved goodbye.

Vasuki looked down at the flowers, slightly embarassed.

“You got a crush on Audra.” Noelem said, it was such a bland sounding claim when someone said it like stating a fact.

“Can you blame me? We’ve had each others backs for a while, she’s really fun to hang out with, and she’s sweet and brave. What’s not to like about her?” Vasuki sighed. “I’m not going to make any moves, I just want to give these to her. Show her that we want her to recover.” Vasuki admitted.

“Roses...you trying to seduce her? In the state she’s in now? Get a grip.” Noelem claimed, walking past him and into the inn.

“Why are you so hard to talk to?” Vasuki asked, as he entered the inn behind him.

The two walked in, Noelem got a glare from Daren, while Vasuki was met with a polite smile and a nod. What did Noelem do to get on Daren’s bad side? Only those two know for sure.

Cabana greeted the two inside the room, Audra was still in bed. It seems Cabana brought in a bit of furniture for the room. A few chairs and a small circular table.

“Awww you brought flowers for her? That’s so sweet of you.” Cabana teased.

“Just want her to get better soon, I’m not used to seeing her sleeping so much. I may not show it, but I’m worried like hell.”

“Roses though? Why not something more...I don’t know, platonic?” Cabana asked.

“It was a spur of the moment alright.” Vasuki said, laying the bouquet on the small table next to Audra's side of the bed.

Vasuki was moving his arm back to his side when Audra’s hand shot from under the blanket and grabbed his wrist.

“You really shouldn’t have!” She teased, giving him a wide smile. Vasuki felt his face turn cherry red.

“It’s nothing...how are you feeling?” He asked. Audra put the bouquet up to her nose and deeply inhaled the fresh flowers. She didn’t speak until after she let out a long exhale.

“Like the Kings treasury.” She replied, she looked...high almost, her eyes were half open and their normal blue-gray color was adorned with an orange hue, like the color of sunset.

“Ethereal recovery, she could smoke the biggest blunt you could imagine and she still wouldn’t be nearly as baked as she is now. It also heightens ones senses so we opened the window. That way she could experience some fresh air. Don’t want her freaking out, right now.” Cabana claimed. Vasuki’s heart dropped, she was a dragon variant, her senses were already strong, now they were heightened, he prayed to Kalano that she didn’t hear him, or wouldn’t remember what he said.

21/06/337

Liz

There she was, hiding away in the corner of the small cell, sobbing. It had taken a long time for her to find the exit. She had gotten out, but that was a mistake, she should have never left the relative safety of her cell.

Outside was a wasteland, completely covered in ash colored dirt and ruined buildings. The sky was dark the stars seemed to turn into eyes, all of them bore down at her. Two large wings, darker than the blackness of the night sky spread out. In between them was an amalgamation of shapes and body features. Eyes, teeth, arms, and legs spread from the dark mass. It spoke to her in many voices, she couldn’t understand what it was saying, nor did she care. She tried to run, but found herself unable to move. Two long and slender hands that seemed to come from the air itself held her legs in place. She felt something enter her chest, a cry that couldn’t be contained. She let out a scream that was not of her own, it contained hundreds if not thousands of voices. Suddenly she couldn’t hear anything, nothing at all, she knew she was still screaming but all sound seemed to have vanished as if her ears just stopped working.

Liz woke up back in her cell, there was a man there looking down at her. He had a long black ponytail with a few strands misplaced over a flawless face. His black eyes seemed to hold the night sky within them, yet, behind the beauty they swirled with malice. He wore a dark coat with emerald floral designs along the rims, it looked like the stitching was moving. Under his coat was a maroon doublet, that exposed a very muscular body, paired with black trousers and boots.

“My demon has done a number for you, Elizabeth Agano.” Liz froze, she hadn’t even thought of her full name in years, yet this man...no, this creature knew it before even speaking to her.

He crouched next to her, his way of speaking was slow and meticulous, with each word that escaped his lips it felt like her very essence screamed from sheer terror.

“I will punish Erefus, eventually. You and he will reunite. Your time here will end soon, but if you leave before the time is right…” He smiled, his teeth were too white to be natural. “I will make you live through lifetimes of torment. And I will find another pawn for this game.” He said, before standing and walking through the cell bars as if they weren’t even there.

The strange man looked at a woman with long blonde hair, it wasn’t the first time Liz had seen her, she was highly respected among her slavers.

“Mother of these children. Who is the one that was supposed to be watching over her?” The woman gestured towards a hooded man. He walked up to the humanoid creature and dropped to his knees.

“Please spare me, master of the Rift!” Master of the Rift? Why would he address someone in such a way? It didn’t take long for her to receive her answer.

“Those who fail me have no right to dwell in the purity of chaos.” The man claimed. The hooded man grovelled at his feet.

“No! Please spare me, Lord Zaurah!” Zaurah responded with his body convulsing, a large dragon’s maw quickly plunged from his torso.

Of course the hooded man had already started running, Zaurah’s arm extended unnaturally, almost whip-like. A scream bounced off the walls of the stone halls before he retracted his arm, the man squirmed on the hand that was now penetrating his chest. In the blink of an eye the dragon jaw opened wide, revealing too many rows of razor sharp teeth, and devoured the entire man’s body and a part of Zaurah’s arm which quickly reappeared in it’s original location.

“I do so hate it,” He slowly turned his gaze towards Liz, “when they run.”