27/06/337

Audra

“Vasuki!” Audra yelled. By now the moon was the only thing illuminating the field they stood in. They had been searching for Vasuki for hours, one second he was laying in the grass recovering from his lost magic, the next moment he was gone. As if he had just stood up and left, but where could have gone without them seeing him. Audra and Noelem stayed in the field while Cabana and Zadkiel went to the city to see if they could find him there.

“Noelem you have truesight right? Can’t you just see where he is?” Audra asked.

“I wish it worked like that, but it only works when something is hidden. There isn’t many ways to get around it.” Noelem explained before yelling out for Vasuki.

“What are some of the ways around it?” She asked, wanting to broaden the options of where this fucker could be.

“Well there are two main ways to hide someone, and both of them involve Etherea. Ascenders, we can see, because it’s just a normal thing, a weird normal thing, but the point still stands. If he was hidden by Etherea, then it would be extremely difficult for us to see him. Another way would be to use an Artifact that can somehow do it.” Noelem said. Audra had heard of Artifacts before, but her knowledge of them and the way they work was spotty at best. A question for another time.

They searched late into the night, but there was no sight nor smell of the dragon. Eventually Noelem talked her into returning to the inn, while he stayed out to search for him. She walked into the inn to find Cabana pacing back and forth.

“I won’t bother asking if you found him. Something’s going on.” Cabana pointed out.

“What do you mean?” Audra asked.

“Vasuki wouldn’t do this, not of his own free will. Tell me have you seen him talking to himself?” Cabana asked, “Not like normal, I mean, like having a heated argument with the air.” She added.

“No, I haven’t.” Audra said sitting on one of the chairs.

“Vasuki’s easy to manipulate that’s the whole issue. And the process in which he is Ascending is with Vistrata, who is a manipulative psychopath. He knows which cards t-to play and when to play them, and he’s damn good at it. My theory is that he t-took V-Vasuki somewhere. But that wouldn’t explain how he vanished like he did. He doesn’t have access to the Rift like we d-do.” Cabana explained.

“Cabana, you need to slow down. What are you getting at?” Audra asked. Cabana reached into her bag and, shakily, unrolled a scroll before putting it on the table revealing a map of Tristal. She pointed to the Southern Isle.

“This island was filled with monks that worshipped a-an Artifact known as Wilted Flower. I-i-it’s a powerful weapon that has the ability to cause any kind of hallucination to-to whoever the wielder wants, a-a few years ago this island wa-was completely massacred. I-I don’t know the specifics but we do know that Wilted Flower is m-missing and no one has seen it since that day.” Cabana’s eyes were wide with panic.

While it would be possible to hide Vasuki with Wilted Flower, since it would be one of the two ways to do it, the likely hood of the same person that stole it messing with them would be astronomically low. Audra stood and approached Cabana.

“You need to calm down, Cabana. Come on let’s get you in bed.” Audra said, grabbing her shoulders and gently putting Cabana on the bed.

“But, Vasuki is out there, he i-is in d-danger!” Cabana yelled. Audra smacked the woman as hard as her right hand could without a buildup. Cabana staggered to the side and rubbed her cheek before looking at her with a bit more clarity.

“Thanks.” She muttered, rubbing the red mark.

“Anytime.” Audra said, exhaling in relief, “Listen, why would the same person that stole the weapon from the Southern Isle be here, in Daemerall of all places. And why would they fuck with us like this?” Audra asked. Cabana thought for a moment and shook her head.

“I...I don’t know...maybe I should get some sleep.” Cabana said, laying on the same side Vasuki had been sleeping in just last night.

“Get some sleep, Cabana, we both could use it.” Cabana nodded her head before kicking off her shoes and turning to her side.

Audra stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She was holding herself up by her arms while leaning against the sink.

“What do I do Lusalene? I’m lost on this one and I could really use some advice.” Her reflection didn’t start acting like it was someone else, instead it morphed horrifically. Her limbs began to extend unnaturally long, she grew a few feet in height, and her mouth began to open wide to the point her jaw displaced and cracked. Her skin began to turn into a color that lacked light, it wasn’t pitch black, it was more like it was a missing space in existence. Her face no longer resembled anything a human could look like, it was just this black and white fuzz that kept moving sporadically.

Audra’s breathing became panicked, she rubbed her eyes and blinked hard before opening them back to see her reflection back to normal, just waving at her.

“Hey...are you okay?” Lusalene asked. Audra breathed heavily, sweat dripped down her forehead.

“I...I don’t know. I think I just need to get some sleep.” Audra claimed.

“That would probably be for the best, I’ll leave you alone this time around.” Lusalene claimed.

Audra hit the pillow and her eyes closed, but it didn’t seem like sleep was going to visit her that night.

28/06/337

Audra sat across from Cabana in the small cafe, absentmindedly stirring the spoon in her coffee, mixing in a little bit of sugar so it didn’t taste like pure horseshit. Yet it still smelled like it tasted, like horseshit with sugar, but she’d need it to wake up.

“Today we’re going to try a different approach to finding him. No matter what there has to be some kind of clue.” Cabana pointed out, “Even if someone used Etherea, or something else, to keep him hidden there’s no way they could keep up with everything, right?” Cabana suggested.

“There’s a lot of light so it should be easier to find him. Unless Vistrata convinced him to cover his tracks extraordinarily well.” Audra pointed out.

“Exactly. We’re going to find that bastard no matter what it takes.”

“Did you just call Vasuki a bastard?” Audra asked.

“That’s besides the point. The point is we need to eat up, we’re going to find him!” Cabana yelled, drawing the attention of a portion of the cafe’s customers.

When they reached the field where they had been they found a small cluster of rocks at the base of a tree that was close to where they had been practicing.

“You gorgeous bastard, Noelem’s pointing out some places he found things.” Cabana claimed.

“Guess it’s good having someone as powerful as he is on our side.” Audra claimed, she then swore as she felt something pinch her arm after saying that.

The two investigated the tree and found a bit of cloth remaining on the bark. Audra gave it a smell, as if she were a tracking dog, but she couldn’t get a clear scent from it.

“I’d need a bigger piece of cloth to get a scent from it, but I think it could be his.” Audra claimed.

They looked a bit further into the field before finding more and more small clusters of rocks. Boot prints, Audra put her foot in the track to compare, it was quite a bit larger than her own shoe making the tracks a possible lead. It was far from a fresh trail but they were definitely onto something.

The trail led south, towards the forest that surrounded Kiaveen. By the time they reached the end of the tracks the sun was in the middle of the sky and beginning to fall. Audra chewed on a piece of jerky as she followed, what could potentially be, Vasuki’s prints which were always accompanied by small rock formations next to them. Suddenly the tracks vanished, they just stopped mid-stride, as if he were lifted.

“Confused the hell out of me too.” Audra jumped and looked at the source to see Noelem sitting on a chair shaped rock, “This wasn’t natural, that’s for damn sure.” Noelem claimed.

“This had to be Vistrata.” Audra pointed out. She didn’t know this as true, there was no way anyone could have known for sure but for some reason the three of them all pointed to the option of Vistrata somehow convincing Vasuki to go with him. It didn’t explain how he up and vanished but it did give them a logical conclusion to where Vasuki could have went.

They searched for hours, in the brush on the forest floor, in the tree tops, Noelem even created a hole where Vasuki’s trail ended. There was nothing, all the evidence of his existence had faded from the world at the end of those footprints. Audra walked the slowest as the sun set in the distance.

“I wish I could tell you where he went, but unfortunately I can’t do that. Cabana and I will take turns training with you every other day, the one not training with you will search for Vasuki. We need to prepare you for the future, we can’t let his disappearance put a dent in that plan.” Noelem claimed.

“You think I can train without knowing where Vasuki is? I can’t even fucking sleep! How do you expect me to become stronger and more prepared for Ascension if I can’t get a wink of sleep?” Audra asked.

“We’re doing all that we can, Audra but you have to understand that this is difficult for all of us.” Cabana claimed.

“He’s my best friend, he’s the only friend that’s always been there! How the hell do you expect me to go through rigorous training without knowing if he’s even alive!?” Audra felt tears forming, whether it was due to the emotional stress she was in or the fact that she was running on fumes or a mixture of the two was unknown to her. But she didn’t really give a damn and just let the tears fall.

“He saved my fucking life, how could he just turn his back on us!?” She sobbed. She felt Cabana’s arms wrap around her. She stayed like that for a while, just letting Cabana hold her while she cried.

Only when Audra’s cries began to weaken did Cabana speak.

“Can I show you something? How I show up where I want?” Cabana asked. Audra simply looked up at her, puffy eyed.

“Not many people can do this but there are a few of us. I can feel it coming from you too. We’re known as Rift Walkers. And no they have nothing to do with the Children of the Rift, and I’m going to show you how to Walk.”

“Is this what you meant yesterday by Vistrata not having access to the Rift like us?” Audra asked, drying her eyes. Cabana nodded her head.

“Stand up.” Audra didn’t want to but she still went along with it, a little hopeful.

Audra and Cabana stood next to each other.

“The hardest part, is touching the Rift to begin with. It’s hard because it’s a feeling you can’t really put into words to another person. You have to focus really hard on everything, but once you get it down it comes naturally. First let’s attune you to the Rift.” Cabana said.

“What happens if I’m not a Rift Walker?” Audra asked.

“You are, but if you weren’t and I did this with you, you’d die as soon as you get in. It doesn’t like foreigners inside of it.” Cabana explained. Audra audibly gulped. Cabana didn’t give her time to say otherwise, she grabbed Audra's wrist and suddenly everything went black. She had been here before, Lusalene brought her in here once before. But now that she had motion of her own to look around she could look at the pure nothingness within the Rift. And just like before, one moment there was nothing, and then the next everything was back. They were no longer in the forest, instead they were in the field, far ahead of Noelem. It happened again, without warning, and both her and Cabana appeared next to Noelem, this time she had felt something, it was like a small spark in her stomach. That didn’t sound like a good thing but it was the closest to explaining whatever feeling she was experiencing.

“You two having fun?” He asked, unamused.

“Hey don’t call this fun, walking through the Rift like that is hard on our magic.” Cabana complained.

“Now Audra you try it out, but be careful it-” Cabana’s words faded as the realm of darkness sucked her in and spat her back out about 100 feet ahead of the two of them, she felt like her body was going numb. Cabana gave her a look of aggravation.

“It saps your magic like nothing else does!” She yelled out. Audra sat on the ground, as Cabana appeared next to her, “You’re like a fucking natural at it...damn that was fast.” Audra felt weaker than she ever had but she still knew deep down, somehow this was going to help her find Vasuki Odol.