“____” speaking

‘____’ thoughts

*____* telepathy

translated from Eldritch

---------------------

“No!”

My refusal was both adamant and final with a good stamp of the foot to solidify my point. Cecil and Twila had been following closely behind me as we entered one of the living rooms near the front of the house.

“We understand you don’t want to but we need a reason why. Not just you saying no.”

Cecil’s head hung a little as he removed his glasses and kneaded the bridge of his nose and his eyes; he sounded tired.

“You want a reason? They’re vile barbaric people that need to be wiped off the face of the planet and I hate them that’s why.”

“Vio, surely you can’t mean that?“

Twila seemed incredibly taken back by the venom in my voice.

“I do and unless you can come up with a compromise I’ll have no part in it.”

Without further conversation I left through the wall went to the pond at the back of the house.

The place that had been chosen for my relocated pond stayed in the shade most of the day and it kept the water at a cold enough temperature that I had to warm it up each time I wanted to relax. I unceremoniously jumped into the pool sending water everywhere while simultaneously heating the water; I hated the cold.

I knew how I acted was unfair towards Ormonde’s parents but I was in a miserable position and thoroughly frustrated with myself. It had taken me a long while to recover to where I was before the incident with the portal. My progress had been slowing down during that time and it had come to an abrupt halt a week ago.

My link wasn’t growing and the threads for spatial Arcane had stopped thickening and were alternating between pure silver or pure white instead of the mixture of both. I had expected as much since every link I had in the past had stopped growing at some point but it was infuriating to watch Ormonde’s grow nonstop while mine remained the same. He had also caught up to me in terms of skill with earth and wind Arcane so unless I moved onto teaching him fire Arcane, which I wasn’t doing any time soon, then there was little training to be had there.

Ormonde seemed to be progressing forward and had actually become better than I was at using earth Arcane; yet another small annoyance. I had finished the Eldritch alphabet and he was now resistant to the whole thing forwards and backwards. At some point he actually wanted to learn Eldritch after I did the test while he was awake and that lasted about a month before I had nothing left to teach. Then there was me; the only thing I had left that Ormonde didn’t have was Edin, but I couldn’t get the stuff to work.

The tentacle did what I wanted it to and was like a third hand at this point, hell it felt nice to have it out and do stuff with it, but I couldn't control the consistency, length, shape, or any other characteristic about it. I couldn’t get Edin to flow anywhere in my body myself, the tentacle withdrew Edin when it wanted, and I couldn’t seem to condense more Edin into another one of the nodes like had happened in the past. Plus, I still hadn’t figured out how to use Arcane while I had the tentacle out even though it was present in my body and I should have been able to use it.

To put it simply, I was stuck at an impasse since my personal growth had stalled and it was pissing me off. I felt bad about snapping at Cecil and Twila but there really was no way I was going to let Ormonde get anything from the Church of the Radiant Sun, not after what they’d put me through. It wasn’t that the Church itself had done something to me, not directly at least, but people from it had and anyone from the church was the same in my eyes.

I had other less stressing things on my mind too like Ormonde’s eighth birthday since I had spent the last one walking around his house without a clue as to where I was. It was a small thing but for some reason I felt really bad about it. The connection between us from Seelenehe was at fault for that and recently every emotion I felt seemed to be amplified by several magnitudes; it was exhausting and I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling was my emotion half the time. Of course it didn’t help that the further away from Ormonde I got the louder a nagging voice in the back of my head became telling me to get closer to him.

“Vio? Are you back here?”

My rambling thoughts were cut short, though I can’t say that it was a bad thing since it would just put me in a worse mood the more I thought about everything that was annoying me. I flipped myself around and looked in the direction of the voice before replying.

“Yeah. I’m in my pond.”

Cecil came around the corner and walked to the pond before seating himself on one of the rocks beside it.

“Twila and I talked about what you said.”

“About what?”

“About coming up with a compromise.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah. That.”

‘Forgot I said that.’

One of Cecil’s eyebrow rose at my response but he didn’t comment on it.

“Anyway. We decided that since you didn’t like our choice we should hear what you would do and work from there.”

‘Seems fair enough to me.’

“Well have you been to all the other Churches?”

“No. Twila’s the one who’s religious. I just try and stay out of her hair when it comes to things like this.”

“Then look at them all and then decide. Heck, better yet, let Ormonde choose.”

“Alright.”

“Wait. What?”

“We’ll let Ormonde choose. I’ll talk to Twila about it but that seems to be what would make you happy.”

“I, uh, sure. You know I was kinda blowing smoke before right?”

“Oh I know and so does Twila, but we could both tell that you have some serious misgivings about the Church and are willing to, as you said, compromise on this.”

‘Am I really that easy to read?’

“Okay. Well, um, thank you for at least letting me have a say in this. When do we leave?”

“We can leave tomorrow if you want but it really doesn’t matter to me.”

‘Not like I have anything better to do.’

“So tomorrow then?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Cecil’s smile extended into his eyes and I could tell he was resisting the urge to ruffle my hair like he did with Ormonde. He stood and left me alone to enjoy my time in the pond before we left. I didn’t do much, just push the lilies around, and eventually I fell asleep only to wake up at the bottom of the pond with my lungs filled with water. A brief coughing fit and relocation later, the next day had finally arrived.

I had gotten into the habit of sleeping underneath Ormonde’s bed or in the corner of the kitchen. However, where I would end up was as much a mystery to me as it was to anyone looking for me. Ormonde was able to locate me regardless of where I was in the house and it was usually his job to find and wake me if something was going on.

“Wake up!”

“Mmmmmmm.”

I groaned while pulling the blanket I had tighter around myself.

“Vio~o. Come o~on.”

“Five more minutes.”

“But we’re going to town! We’ve never been before!”

My sleepy haze was eroded by the excitement that Ormonde was exuding and I did my customary stretches before finally getting up. Ormonde had yet to leave and was staring at me intently, obviously waiting for me to follow him outside.

“Go, I’m be right behind you.”

“If I leave you’ll go back to sleep and if I can’t sleep in neither can you.”

“Fine, but at least wait at the door.”

Ormonde finally gave me some space and I was able to stand and begin folding the blanket before leaving it in the corner for later use. Satisfied with my state of wakefulness, Ormonde had left me behind during that time despite his protests to do otherwise. I left the kitchen and started making my way towards Ormonde.

Although the mansion and the grounds around it were fairly large, having a natural radar that would lead me directly to someone who knew where they were going was a major plus and limited the amount I had to think while only half awake. The stables were located outside the fence that surrounded the mansion and travel to get to them was easy enough since the horses had most likely already been fetched and readied by Cecil or Tanzi before I was woken.

As I had predicted, both of the horses were already at the gates with Cecil doing a final check on the saddles and Ormonde prancing around enthusiastically. The horses were well taken care of and their bodies reflected it, good shiny coats of various mixed browns and well toned yet thin bodies. I had disliked horses since the first time I saw one, but I could deal with them for now.

Tanzi noticed me approaching and gave a small wave that I returned before turning my attention to Cecil since I didn’t know what he was planning to do. Having completed all his checks, Cecil did a quick head count before we set off.

“Ready to go?”

Cecil wasn’t asking either of us in particular but both us replied anyway.

“Great. So Ormonde, do you remember what we’re going to do?”

Ormonde nodded vigorously and I could feel his excitement become even more powerful. I was going to get a headache at this rate.

“We’re going to town and looking around.”

“And where are we looking?”

“The churches.”

“And why are we going to the churches?”

Ormonde had calmed down somewhat and it was apparent that he hadn’t been paying close attention to our actual reason for going. After a moment of contemplative silence he turned to me with a hopeful but desperate look on his face. I just shrugged my shoulders.

“Can’t remember.”

“We’re going so you can choose which one you want to be baptized at.”

‘Baptism?’

It was now my turn to ask questions.

“Is it really that important? And what’s a baptism?”

Cecil looked at me with a near glare before turning his gaze to the tree line and then the sky.

“Let’s start traveling before I spend all day answering questions that you should both already know the answer to.”

I didn’t need to use a horse and got to enjoy watching Ormonde struggle to mount something three times taller than he was. Once everyone was mounted we set off and I floated casually beside Ormonde. The interior of the forest was darker than the clearing the mansion was in from the overhang and it added a nice ambiance to the dirt path we were taking.

“So why the baptism? I really don’t know what it’s about and just didn’t want to go to the Church of the Radiant Sun.”

‘But you already knew that didn’t you.’

“Well, each church has a function aside from being a place of worship. In most cases being a member of the church allows you to gain access to ancient records and texts along with better services and, in the case of the Church of the Radiant Sun, better pay when you take jobs from them.”

“So basically the baptism is just a souped up membership?”

“I suppose that’s one way to look at it yes.”

“Alright. So how long is this trip going to take?”

“We should be at the town in about twenty minutes if we go slowly.”

‘The town’s really not that far away from the mansion now that I think about it.’

It was a good question to ask to pass the time.

“So why’s the mansion so far from town?”

“It’s been here since before the town was built and has been passed down through the generations. There’s no special reason behind the house aside from giving our family a space away from people who would try and use us for their purposes. You know what my family does and it can be a powerful tool since spirits can be very picky about the contracts they’ll agree to.”

“If they’re given a choice.”

My snide remark went unnoticed and Cecil continued to talk about the mansion.

“We could live in the town if we wanted to but it would be tight money wise. My work teaching at the local university and school only pays so much and I’m not in high enough demand often enough compared to other things like soldiers or spirit contractors.”

The bushes to the side of the road shook briefly and Cecil stopped us and gestured for Tanzi to check the bush. Tanzi did so and waved us forward before we continued onward. No words were exchanged verbally throughout the entire interaction.

“What was that about?”

“The number of Eldritch sightings have gone up recently. From the reports I’ve been able to get ahold of attacks have been happening more often and they’ve been getting closer to the town. It doesn’t hurt to be cautious and I’d rather not have to fight if I can avoid it since I really don’t have any combat related skills. Though from my understanding you wouldn’t have an issue with that.”

“With what? Fighting? I don’t seek it out per say but I haven’t managed to avoid it either so I have some skill in that area.”

“And you’ve dealt with Eldritch before.”

‘Because the last time I did that ended so well for me.’

“Yes. Do we have to talk about this or can we go back to you gushing about your mansion?‘

“I wasn’t gushing and there’s no need to keep talking since we’ve reached our destination.”

Cecil pointed towards the opening in the trees that lead out to a cleared out area. The only thing I could see was tan filling the opening; I couldn’t see a town.

It took a few more steps outside of the forest until I realized what I was seeing. It was a wall. Not a small wall either, but one that stretched several times higher than the tree line around it.

“How big is that wall?”

“Seventeen stories tall at a generous estimate. It needs to be able to keep the larger Eldritch out.”

‘Is that big?’

When we got closer to the wall I could make out movement on the top but it looked like moving blurs instead of people; it was good confirmation that, yes, the wall was very big. Instead of watching what was in front of me, I continued to survey the wall locating many different colors of stone mixed in with the tan from repairs.

“Vio you need to stay with us.”

“Huh?”

‘Aren’t I right next to you?’

I stopped and looked around to find myself a few feet from Ormonde, Cecil, and Tanzi. They had dismounted and were standing at the end of a small line of people and animals that were slowly filtering through a guarded door. Ormonde verbalized a question I had in my place.

“Why is there a line?”

“To keep track of how many people are in the town and to check who’s entering for suspicious goods.”

I was not someone who enjoyed waiting, especially not without a reason.

“Why do we have to be in it?”

“Everyone has to be in it.”

“But I can just go through the wall or over it.”

“And that would get you in trouble.”

“Woopty doo. What do I care?”

“Do you enjoy being alive?”

‘Do you enjoy asking stupid questions?’

“No.”

My answer caused Cecil to do a double take and my deadpanned expression didn’t help dissuade the concern he was showing; he let out a long sigh before continuing.

“Right. Well regardless of your own opinion, many dislike the idea of being dead and would prefer to stand in this line for the few minutes it takes to get into the town without causing a ruckus.”

In the time our conversation took, we got close enough that I could take a look at the people who never left the gate and seemed to be the ones ushering people through. The guards on either side of the gate were dressed in similar attire, a metal chestplate and armguards connected with what looked like simple cloth. All of the people at the gate had what looked to be a sword strapped to their waists and the two in armor had spears and shields

There was another guard that lacked any weapons and instead held a plank of wood with paper coming off it in one hand and a black stick in the other. He was asking each person questions before they entered.

Our turn came and I was able to give pass a fairly accurate judgment on the person writing things down. The man had stubble on his face, bags under his eyes and one of the most monotone voices I had ever heard. All in all a very lame looking person.

“How many people?”

“Two.”

Cecil answered for our group and I was about to question him when the guard spoke again.

“How many spirits.”

“Two.”

‘What, so spirits aren’t people? I think I’m going to love it here.’

“Any weapons?”

“None.”

“Names?”

“Cecil Everand, Ormonde Everand, Tanzi, and Vio.”

“How long do you plan to stay?”

“Two days at most.”

“Great. Enjoy your stay in Fantin.“

‘I’m sure. Hope it’s more inviting that this guy.’

I rolled my eyes and followed Behind Ormonde after the guards at the gate let us through. Behind the gate was a tunnel that led deeper into the wall and I was unable to see an exit. I turned to Cecil with a look of absolute confusion on my face.

“What was that about?”

“That was their security check.”

“But it was so.”

I struggled to come up with the correct word to explain how lackluster and inadequate the check was. Cecil laughed at my expense and picked up the slack in the conversation.

“Yes the check doesn’t seem like much but those guards can get serious when need be. Plus we’re not done yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.”

‘I hate surprises.’

We continued to walk through the tunnel until one of the walls slid open and another pair of guards accompanied by two spirits stepped out. One of the pair took the horses from Cecil and continued to walk down the tunnel while the other guard gestured towards the opening they had come out of.

“This way please.”

The guard walked back into the hole in the wall with one of the spirits still at his side. The remaining spirit waited till we were all through and into the branched tunnel before closing the wall. I had an intense dislike for humans most of the time and spirits that associated with them were just as bad in my eyes.

We continued to walk for a while before we reached an empty room with a few glowing crystals hanging on the walls.

“What’s going on?”

“Customary mind scan.”

I very much disliked the idea of someone else poking around in my head even if they wouldn’t last a second inside it.

“Is this optional because if it is I’m not doing it.”

“Then you’re not getting into the town. Sir, is this spirit going to be a problem?”

‘If this shit keeps up? Then yes.’

The question was directed towards Cecil and he replied without batting an eyelash.

“Not at all. I assure you there won’t be any problems.”

Seemingly satisfied with Cecil’s answer, the guard nodded and left us standing in the center of the room before crossing it the rest of the way. Cecil sent me an apologetic look and I returned it with a glare.

“This town had better be worth it or I’m torching it to the ground.”

I was muttering hypotheticals under my breath and didn’t expect anyone to hear but Cecil replied regardless.

“Surely you can’t mean that.”

“Try me.”

My response was more of a subdued growl than words and Cecil took the hint and backed off. The previous guard had returned with another in tow; this one dressed in a modest green and red dress. Our new arrival smiled and briefly waved at us. She was young, mid-twenties at most, stood about the same height as Cecil and had the same brown hair and eyes ninety percent of humans seemed to have.

“Hello. I’m Isidora and I’m going to be the one in charge of doing a basic check on you before you’re allowed into the town. Who’s first?”

Cecil volunteered and in a few seconds he was confirmed to be fine. Tanzi and Ormonde’s turn quickly passed and they were both given the ok.

“You’re next then.”

The woman’s previously happy face faded a bit and I hadn’t a clue as to why.

“Dear if you don’t drop your mental shielding and let me in I can’t do my job.”

“I’m not trying to keep you out.”

Even if I didn’t want my mind read I wasn’t going to cause trouble for Ormonde and Cecil for the hell of it and I really didn’t have anything to hide. I just felt I had enough people in my head as it was.

“Strange. Well then. Is it alright if I touch you? There’s a chance that that might help.”

“If you can. I’m not exactly solid.”

‘And I’m not about to become corporeal for you.’

“That’s fine. It shouldn’t be an issue.”

‘Sure because you can turn ethereal. Wonder how she’s gonna do this?’

She reached forward with the intent of placing two fingers on my forehead and was actually able to touch me. The touch was the same as any other contact and I was fine until I felt something move unconsciously inside my mind. Both of us jumped away from each other and Isidora stumbled before landing on her rear. The other guard and the spirit took up offensive stances, obviously waiting for something to happen.

“What the are you!?”

“Nuh uh! I’m done with the surprises and being dragged around without knowing why! Why the hell are you able to touch me when I’m ethereal?! And what the fuck did you do in my head!?”

Isidora’s brow rose and her eyes widened slightly. The other guard moved closer while we stared at each other and he bent down while eyeing me to whisper in her ear. She waved him away and he and the spirit relaxed while Cecil seemed to not have a care in the world as to what was going on. Our staring contest continued until she started to move about fixing her sitting position and brushing herself off; it was obvious she was waiting for the tension in the room to dissolve a little before speaking.

“If I answer that question will you answer one of mine.”

“Possibly.”

“Is that the best I’m going to get out of you in terms of agreement?”

“Yes.”

She sighed before rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands; too many people did that around me.

“Have to do I suppose. I can touch you because it’s part of the abilities I get from my spirit contract. The ability to sense intentions and do surface scans of a person’s thoughts are a few other things I get as well. As for the thing you felt in your head, I have as much clue as you do. All I know is that it kicked me out quite forcefully.”

“You’re being awfully chatty about something that I can’t see you sharing normally.”

“That’s because I want to try and get an answer from you.”

“Least you’re honest.”

“And I hope you will be too.”

“All depends on what you ask me.”

“The same question I said earlier.”

“Which was?”

“What are you?”

“I’m a spirit.”

“Really?”

I walked closer and opened one eye wide while pointing to my red iris.

“This answer your question?”

One of Isidora’s eyebrows rose and her outward demeanor changed immediately to feel more aggressive.

“Are you going to be trouble?”

“Not unless I have to be.”

I was fed up with dealing with people and floated over to Ormonde and went to my personal space within his soul. It was comforting to retreat to a place that no one could get to me and was warm and slightly damp just how I liked it. After a moment of adjustment I tapped into Ormonde’s senses and could feel the room enough to see it and hear people talking. Ormonde had approached the now standing guard.

“Does this mean Vio passes?”

His turned his head downward and he stared at his feet while waiting for an answer. Isidora’s shoulder’s slumped forward and she repeated the same tired sigh from earlier.

“Yes, yes I suppose it does. Mr. Everand if I could have a word?”

Cecil followed her over another part of the room and the two talked for a moment before the other guard was called over and entered their conversation. They continued to talk for a few minutes before stopping and coming over to Ormonde. Like before, we were led through a tunnel and let out into the main tunnel we had come from by the guard. Small talk was being passed back and forth and I felt I had cooled down enough to not blow up and left Ormonde.

“Vio I need to talk with you once we get to the inn we’re staying at.”

“Fine.”

Cecil didn’t press the matter any further and we continued through the tunnel without any issues.

When the tunnel finally ended it opened up to show buildings that stopped abruptly at a ceiling and light was filtering in from the area in front of us that seemed to open up after about twenty buildings.

“This is not what I expected.”

“Well it’s harder to build out than it is to build up or down when trying to fortify and protect something. The town is built like a cylinder with an almost hemispherical cone taken out of it and people live on different layers. This kind of layout allows each layer to get real sunlight and reinforce the walls at the same time so it’s used all over the continent. We need to be on this layer for now but there’s another we’ll need to go to.”

‘I have no clue what he just said.’

“How many layers are there? You make it seem like there’s tons.”

“Just four. This layer holds most of the residential and shopping areas; it’s where all the churches are. The next layer up has most of the educational and training areas and we’ll have to go there so I can pick up something from work. The third layer is all the political and recreational areas and the final layer is for the military even though they have buildings mixed throughout every layer.”

Ormonde was looking around completely absorbed in the bustle of those passing us as we continued forward. A look of realization came over him and he went and tugged on Cecil arm.

“Where are the horses?”

“In a stable inside the base of the wall. They’ll be fine so let’s head to the inn we’ll be staying at for now.“

Cecil continued to lead us through the throng of people and towards a set direction while weaving in and out of moving stands and carts. The occasional smell from a stationary cart garnered my attention but for the most part I was focused on watching the sky slowly unveil itself from behind the ceiling of the upper layer.

I could feel my eyes open wide when we finally cleared the overhand and I was able to see the inside of the town. As Cecil had said, the wall on the opposite side had three layers of buildings above the one we were on seemingly suspended by nothing.

“How does it stay up?”

Cecil hadn’t heard me but Tanzi had and promptly began to explain how the buildings on the lower layers acted as support pillars as well as their intended purpose.

I continued to watch the surrounding area and noticed that there were alleys that presumably led from one from the street we were on to another like it. The actual destination of the alley was out of sight and all I could make out was piles of garbage and the occasional person or persons in ragged clothing pawing through the aforementioned piles.

‘Looks like not everybody’s happy here.’

In comparison to the main road we were on, the alleys seemed to be located in a different world in so many ways. I didn’t pretend I understood what got those people there nor did I care, but it was just another confirmation that humans weren’t worth my time.

“Here we are.”

We had arrived at a building that was the same indistinguishable tan as each one before it and the only difference was the ornate wooden placard with thick black squiggles on it hanging off of a metal pole rammed into the side of the building.

“Hilthfurry Inn?”

Ormonde was looking at the placard and his voice sounded about as confused as I felt.

“The name may be strange but the rooms are clean and the beds are comfortable. Come on.”

Cecil was holding the door open and I watched as Ormonde nearly tripped on the step up that was necessary to enter the building since the door was above ground level. The inside of the inn was spartan with the few decoration it had sticking out like water in a desert. Someone behind a counter greeted us and Cecil weaved his way between the tables and the patrons sitting at them and made his way there leaving us behind. While Cecil talked to the person behind the counter I did a quick look around the room and noticed a distinct lack of spirits.

To the left of the door was a stairwell that most likely led to the rooms that guests would stay in and to the right was more tables and a small area that was clear and had a dartboard that would have worked better as a pincushion on the wall. The lighting was like that inside the tunnels we had gone through using small crystals that I assumed were Aldite.

Cecil returned jingling a key and led us up a very narrow staircase to the second floor. I followed behind Cecil and Ormonde as they walked down a hallway just big enough for two people side by side to a door about halfway between the stairs and the wall. After a moment of fighting with the lock, Cecil opened the door and we all filtered into the room; Tanzi and I just went through the wall.

Once we were in the room I let myself become solid and walked over to the bed and threw myself onto it. It was fluffy and incredibly comfy. I rolled around and sat up since Cecil had wanted to talk and he wasn’t someone who would forget something easily.

‘Might as well get this over with.’

“You wanted to talk?”

“Yup. I just wanted to say good job.”

“Good job for what?”

“For not blowing up and for talking things out with the guard. It would have been easy for you to get in another way but you stayed with us instead.”

“I thought I was going to get reprimanded.”

“Oh that’s coming but I need Ormonde out of the room first. Tanzi?”

Although it was phrased like a question, Tanzi took it as an order and collected Ormonde before heading outside the room and presumably downstairs to the tables.

“Now then, I know I’m not one to speak since I don’t know what your beef with humans is but it going to cause a lot of problems if you go about showing it as easily as you were earlier.”

“What do you mean? I wasn’t showing anything?”

“The entire time we were walking to the inn you had a look of disgust on your face. Are you telling me you really didn’t know that?”

“I honestly didn’t. It’s true I hate humans, but I’m not stupid enough to openly show my hatred in a place primarily inhabited by them. Though I’m surprised you’re fine knowing I hate you just for being human.”

“I’ve been hated for much less believe me and those people didn’t have a reason like you do.”

“So we done here?”

“For now yes, but I would like to try and get you to not view all humans as bad. After all, you don’t hate Ormonde do you?”

“I . . I don’t know.”

All the tension left my body and I half shut my eyes while slipping into thought. It was sad to say I really didn’t know where my feeling about Ormonde lay. One part of me wanted to deteste him since he was human but at the same time he was a part of me because of Seelenehe. I had become comfortable being around him but I couldn’t say I enjoyed the contact like I did the sparring and training. Two different ideas were fighting in my head and it was going to give me a headache until I figured it out, if I ever did.

The wrinkled brow and bowed head were all Cecil needed to know that he had taken the conversation to an area that was vastly outside my comfort zone. He stepped closer and placed a hand on my head before ruffling my hair gently and speaking softly.

“Let’s go down and join Tanzi and Ormonde. Then we can head to the first church and get this done with. Sound good?”

“Mnn.”

I started to make my way to the door but a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

“Are you planning on staying solid for the rest of our time here?”

“As much as possible why?”

“Are you able to make yourself shoes?”

“Why would I need shoes? My feet are fine the way they are.”

“You already stand out as it is in an all white dress and walking around without shoes is going to draw even more attention.”

My eyes rolled in their sockets and I materialized a pair of shoes on my feet that were basically slippers with a back. It wasn’t like I wanted to wear all white it was just that I couldn’t change the color of my dress. The same, thankfully, couldn’t be said about the shoes and Cecil suggested a dark or light brown. When we were both satisfied we exited the room leaving behind the single bag that Cecil had brought with him and locked the door.

The two of us joined Tanzi and Ormonde and we started to walk in the direction of the closest church to start our trip. As we got further away from the entrance and more into the open area, the crowd thinned out and we found ourselves with only a handful of others waking in our proximity. I still hadn’t seen any spirits aside from those at the gate and it was beginning to get to get on my nerves not knowing why.

“So why aren’t there any spirits? I’ve been looking and I can’t see any.”

Cecil seemed to freeze up momentarily before he kept walking forward.

“How best to explain this. First of all how many spirits do you think are willing to make contracts with humans?”

“Not many since most nature spirits hate every other race. Concept spirits and birthed spirits would be the go to options since they’re not bound to a location for their power.”

“Right and knowing how rare and powerful concept spirits are they won’t stoop to help humans so that leaves birthed spirits. Birthed spirits are more common but they’re usually related to animals of some sort and we can’t get some of the needed types of Arcane and Aldite from them.”

‘And thus you forcefully trap other spirits.’

“So then what happens?”

“Any spirit that we can get to make a contract with us is usually paired with multiple people in an attempt to balance out that deficit. So you don’t see many spirit out and about because there just aren’t many here.”

Cecil paused for a moment before continuing.

“Fortunately we have people here that have bloodline traits to rely on such as my family and a few others that have an inborn ability to manipulate small part of certain types of Arcane.”

“How’s that any different than a witch?”

“Let’s take a water witch for example. She would have the access to the entire chain of progression that water follows and could use any part of it she desired to. One of these families has the ability to use only, say, ice instead of water and ice. Their ability with using the ice would be incredibly small and very taking on their stamina since it draws from that instead of on Arcane like a like a witch and spirit do. Any other questions?”

“Yeah. Where are we going? It seems like you’re leading us into another crowded area and I can smell food.”

“Well I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had anything to eat yet today and I’m fairly certain Ormonde hasn’t eaten either.”

I didn’t have a response so I just grunted instead and continued to follow as we slowly merged with the mass of people that were going from place to place. The crowd got thicker as we got closer to the smell but Cecil didn’t lead us directly there and instead walked parallel to it and I saw that he was looking for a table to sit at.

“This looks like a good spot. You three wait here I’ll be back in a minute.”

Cecil stood at a table and waited for us to catch up with him before he set back off into the crowd to get food for himself and Ormonde. Ormonde took a seat on one of the benches attached to the table and I sat next to him while Tanzi sat across from us. I watched the people meandering about the area, some carrying food to tables and others eating while they walked, for a while before I placed my head face down on the table in boredom.

Something stiff but flexible poked the top of my head and I looked up to see Cecil holding a plate in my face.

“You need to sit up if you’re going to eat.”

Once my head was off the table Cecil placed the plate down in the vacant space and set about eating his own food. I wracked my brain for a reason why he would have gotten me anything but couldn’t come up with an answer.

“Why’d you get me food?”

“You’re corporeal right?”

“Yeah?”

“Then you need to act like a normal person and that includes eating when we do.”

“Fine.”

I wasn’t thrilled about the idea regardless of how good the plate in front of me smelled. It was some kind of chopped meat and noodle covered in sauce and I watched Ormonde and Cecil eat for a moment since I had no clue how to go about pretending to eat the food I had been given. They were using a strange needle that broke into three prongs at the end of it and a quick check confirmed that there was one on the side of my plate too.

Mimicking how they held the tool took a few tries but after I figured it out I was able to stab some of the meat and a noodle and pick them up without either falling off.

‘Can’t hurt to at least try it.’

Once the food was in my mouth I pulled it off the food tool and started to chew it.

‘Same as always. What did I expect?’

I let the tool drop onto the plate and slumped enough to rest my chin on the table and finished chewing before swallowing. There was no point in eating any more that I had tried, it wasn’t going to change the lack of taste and texture nor would it feed me.

Ormonde finished his food before Cecil and I slid my plate over to him with the intent of not letting it go to waste.

“You’re not going to eat it?”

“No. It’s all your.”

He gave me a questioning look for a moment before I told him it was fine again and then he started to devour it just as fast as he had done with the first. Cecil and Ormonde both finished around the same time and I started to stand up when a little cloth bag was placed on the table in front of where I was sitting.

“What’s in there?”

“Mixed candies.”

“You really shouldn’t have wasted your money trying to feed me.”

“It’s fine, just take it and try a few of them.”

I picked up the bag and rolled it around in my hand feeling small balls the size of marbles move around inside it. On one side of the bag was a small cloth square that had three different colored circles with more black squiggles next to them. Ormonde had already pulled the top of the bag he was given open and had popped the first candy he pulled out of the bag into his mouth.

His face scrunched up and he puckered his lips before spitting the candy out into his hand.

“It’s really sour.”

“Then don’t eat the sour ones. Eat the others and put the sour ones in their own bag”

“Ok.”

Cecil just shook his head at out interaction and told us to wait while he took the plates and tools back to the stand that he had gotten the food from. In the mean time Ormonde was happily eating the candy and had poured the contents of both bags onto the table and was putting the sour ones into one bag and the others into another. Once he was done sorting he turned to me with a devilish grin on his face.

“You gonna eat the sour ones?”

“Sure why not?”

I reached into the newly filled bag and tossed a candy into my mouth only to feel my face scrunch and pucker like Ormonde’s had done before I started coughing. By the time I finished and returned to normal I had tears in corner of my eyes. Ormonde was full out laughing and I could see Tanzi trying to restrain snickers but I didn’t care and instead took another candy from the bag and ate it; this one wasn’t nearly as bad as the first.

Tanzi saw what I did and that my eyes were still watery.

“You don’t have to eat them if you don’t want to.”

“I want to.”

Cecil came back and we started to walk away from the food and towards the first church that was on our list. The entire time I kept eating the candies with a smile on my face and watery eyes. After watching me eat my fourth candy Cecil finally said something to me with obviously concern in his voice.

“I didn’t think that you’d keep eating them after tasting how sour they were. Don’t feel obligated to eat them.”

‘You wouldn’t understand.’

I replied with a shrug and a grunt and continued to walk beside Tanzi as we sifted through the people and into a less crowded area. As it had done before, the number of people thinned out as we walked away from what was a center of activity towards another one.

Unlike the other were I smelled it first, this one I heard before we got to it. The number of people around us with weapons started to increase as well and instead of knives there were now swords and other weapons of different shapes and sizes that I didn’t know the names or use of. Almost every person was shouting something at someone else and it was nearly impossible to hear myself think.

“What are all these people doing?”

“Hunting jobs, escort jobs, or anything else that they can get from the building that they’ve all gathered in front of. We want the building past this one.”

With the knowledge of our destination being close at hand I stayed close to the other as we wormed our way through what was by far the thickest congregation of people we had come across.

Around the time the crowd started to thin out again I started to look for signs of what church we were at and didn’t have to look much further than the banners hanging from the building in massive quantity. The red half circle and surrounding yellow spiked radiating off it meant to represent a sunrise told me everything I needed to know and my mood fell from good to rock bottom.

‘It just had to be this one first didn’t it?’

“Vio keep up so we don’t leave you behind.”

I begrudgingly willed myself forward in Cecil and Ormonde’s direction. They had waited for me to the side of the open door and the steady but small stream of people that were filtering in and out of the church. The banner of the Church of the Radiant Sun passed overhead as I caught up with them. This was going to suck.

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AN: Hello readers! Another chapter for your reading pleasure. I'm still accepting (and will always accept) anything you think I need to do to improve the story writing wise. Not much to say for now so for now I'll bid you adieu.

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