[Chapter 22 part 2] Rose - Aftermath

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…

I should give it a name, Rose mused sending it back to its perch above her room. There were no other firebirds in the Empty City. No need for them here. None were at the Guild either. She’d seen a couple in the city, but only at a distance.

I want more. If her pet had been with her, those assassins would’ve been far less threatening. She’d experimented last night. It was stronger than she was. With its help, I might take down Dawn. Of course, she couldn’t parade around with Lily’s phoenix on her shoulder. Perhaps I could train it to follow discreetly. She’d have to do something about its intelligence first.

While ferocious, her phoenix wasn’t the brightest. It understood verbal commands well enough, but complex instructions confused it. Rose knew it was common to limit the brainpower of ‘permanent’ summons. Over the long term, too much smarts lead to problematic character traits: curiosity, sense of humor, pride… Lily doesn’t want them pranking the tourists. Rose wasn’t concerned as deviant personalities only arose when summons were left unattended. I’ll consult Silver later.

“Found you.” Lily landed besides her, causing Rose to jumped. Where’d she come from? “You’ve another match tonight, right? I’ve been thinking. If you’re weak, doesn’t that make me look bad? Seems Astra’s clone is super strong. I don’t like that, so I’ll train you. Come with me.”

Lily started off, and Rose followed obediently. Wasn’t this my idea originally? She was surprised, but pleased. But if she wants me to defeat Dawn, a little mentoring isn’t going to cut it… She keep this thought to herself.

I should use this opportunity. “Do you have any idea who’s behind the terrorism?” She asked.

Lily looked over her shoulder. “Why do you want to know?”

“Whoever is responsible put a hit on my sister.” Rose explained.

Lily nodded slowly, “There’s not much to tell. If you’ve talked to Simon, you should have a decent understanding.”

“I’m sure you, as regent, are privy to details he isn’t. Could you please share some? Anything is fine.”

Lily shrugged, “Why not? There are at least three actors involved. First is the mastermind. Removing me as regent is meaningless unless you have control over my successor. This means a major player in the World Council: the Demon World, the Cultivating Realm, the Northern Empire, the Grey King, the Barsal Empire, the Black Citadel, or Aery. Only they could build a coalition behind a chosen candidate.”

This exceeds my hopes. If Lily was attempting to scare her off with a deluge of information, she was making a grave error. Why couldn’t Astra be like this?

“Of those, we can eliminate the Barsal Empire, the Black Citadel, and Aery because of their affiliation with various heroes. The Cultivating Realm also never interferes in outside matters. Of the remaining three, the Northern Empire is most likely.”

“Why’s that?”

Lily hesitate, “Samuel Lithorn and I had a falling out a while back. I have no evidence though. Repeat this and I’ll burn you alive.”

“Anyway, next is the impersonator. This is undoubtedly an agent of the power conspiring against me. They’d need to be at least a saint or immortal with an affinity for creation. No clue who it could be.”

“Finally, there’s the collaborator. Both attacks took advantage of windows of vulnerability. Such precise timing required an insider, either in Isle Security or the Rose Palace. If I knew who, they’d be dead.”

“There, satisfied?” Lily demanded wearily.

“The collaborator… Is it Sarah Godspeed?”

“What?” Lily froze, staring hard at her.

This shook Rose, “From the way you and Simon acted yesterday, I sensed Sarah might’ve been the one who leaked our arrival… Was I wrong?”

Lily relaxed, shoulders sagging, “Look, Sarah Godspeed is royalty. Her mother and brother rule a wealthy territory called Tuwen. As far as immortals go, they’re decent. Sarah didn’t quite have their talent, so she volunteered to be Steward. She’s inexplicably fairly well-liked by some people… Anyway, don’t go spreading rumors. It’ll just make things complicated.”

That’s unexpected. Didn’t they have a bad relationship? “So you don’t think Sarah is the informant?”

“Sure, it’s possible, but I have no proof. Believe me, I’ve looked. Eleven years ago, I invited Radin Lockworth to audit the Isle’s finances. Although he eliminated many questionable expenses, he didn’t find fraud. So while she’s a traitor and an enemy, I can’t say she’s done anything wrong.” Lily wrung her hands at the admission.

How does that make sense? “Why is she an enemy?” Rose asked.

“I hate her and she hates me. She never respects my authority and undermines me at every chance. You saw her waiting for us at the gondola. She can’t just mind her own god damn business. Everything about her irritates me, yet I’ve had to work with her for decades…”

Lily gazed off, grimacing as if reliving bitter memories. She shook her head, “Basically, there are those who want me gone as regent, and Sarah is definitively among them. That makes her a traitor. Understand?”

“Yes.” Rose said. Truthfully, not completely. It sounded like Sarah might’ve been a good person. How’d this mutual hatred develop? Is it really just two stubborn people butting heads?

They entered a building adjacent to the Inner Palace. The inside was hollow, with balconies and stairs lining the interior. In its center was a coliseum much like the one at Earth’s End. Nero might’ve made this one too. For some reason, Dawn was waiting near the arena.

“What’re you doing here?” Lily asked, displeased.

“I heard you were looking for Rose. I guessed it was for training and so came to spectate.”

“Your affinity is ice. Why on Enera would you want to watch?”

Rose didn’t want to waste time, “Just let her stay. It’s not like it’ll do any harm.”

Grumbling, Lily put the matter aside, “I’m going to instruct you on magecraft. How much do you know?”

“Not much. Astra didn’t teach us.” Rose said honestly. Magecraft was casting spells by using symbols. The hand signals Light taught himself were one type. It leverages one’s magic for greater effects, at the cost of some control.

Lily frowned, “You learned nothing? Nope, I don’t buy that. Maybe for those without ice affinity, but Dawn here is another story…” Lily confronted her sister. “Well?”

Dawn glanced at Rose uncomfortably, “Yes, she taught Soul and I.”

What? “Wait, you’ve been using magecraft this whole time?” Rose was shocked.

“Of course not. That wouldn’t be fair.” It was Dawn’s turn to be upset. “Astra forbid us from using spells.”

Rose calmed herself. Yes, that’s right. Astra would never allow Dawn that type of advantage. Besides, she’d never seen her sister use magecraft in her fights. Still, this means she’s been holding back even more than I realized. That was a bitter pill to swallow.

“Oh, wait.” Dawn exclaimed. “There was that time when I fought all seven of you. I did use a few quick spells then. I think only Soul noticed.”

“Show me something Astra taught you.” Rose demanded. She wanted to see the evidence firsthand.

Dawn extended a hand, and a circle of condensed ice magic appeared in the air. The hazy blue spread and coalesced into distinct, shimmering lines. These, in turn, formed symbols and formations. Soon an intricate disk was rotating clockwise. A ‘magic circle’. Her sister had written a spell on the air.

When Dawn clenched her fist, it flashed and dispersed like ashes in the wind. In the blink of an eye, a dense wall of ice materialized. It was fifteen feet tall and thirty long.

Rose studied the result. An impressive display for sure, but kind of useless. Any decent martial artist could leap over it. I guess it could strategically block passageways. “I’m surprised you chose a defensive spell.” Rose said.

At this, Lily burst out laughing, “A ‘defensive spell’. That’s the best. Well, it’s true it can be deployed that way. That’s not how Astra uses it though…”

“What’d you mean?” Dawn reacted with a surprising intensity. “Astra once told me she loved this spell. I’ve always wondered about that. It doesn’t fit her.”

“Oh, that’s definitely one of her favorites. I’ve seen her use it a million times.” Suppressing giggling, Lily smiled smugly. “Except the walls she creates are lot bigger. Also, she makes them appear horizontally, a few inches above her enemy’s heads. Gravity does the rest.”

Horizontally… Color draining from her face, Rose looked back at the three foot thick block of ice. She imagined it appearing above her. Could she escape fast enough? Would she be able to burn through that much in less than a second? Analyzing, she didn’t like her conclusions. How long did it take to cast again?

“If you give your opponent time to complete such a spell, you deserve to lose.” Lily commented, sensing her thoughts.

“Why didn’t Astra teach the rest of us?” Rose complained. I’m jealous.

“It was the right approach.” Lily explained calmly. “While incomplete Martial arts can be somewhat effective, imperfect magecraft is worthless. Precision and purpose are what gives spells their strength. A single misaligned symbol, and you lose half the power or worse. Furthermore, while most martial arts can be self-taught to a degree, magecraft is impossible without instruction. The possible combinations are too infinite. Magecraft should be learned correctly or not at all.”

“Time for our lesson.” Lily proclaimed. “Let’s see, how to start…”

(continued in part 3)