Part XCIV: Swirling Smoke
Date: Kapton 4th, 114 A.U.
Flek. Flek’s hair stood on end and then he whispered his reply, in a voice low enough so that the other’s around couldn’t hear him.
“What?”
Our alliance is having some unintended side effects that I’m worried of.
The voice sounded more compassionate than usual. “What kind of effects?”
Didn’t you hear what Jroldin said last night? The ‘demon’ may not be physical, but it could be. And though I’m not a demon, words are figurative. And I could very well be the one who will unintendedly make you the traitor. Have you not thought of this?
“I… I have considered it…” Flek said slowly.
We can’t let this break the bond, Flek, the voice said coldly. You still need me, even as I need you. But we are might be able to lessen the effects.
“What do you mean?”
I will depart from you with a portion of my spirit and only leave the part that makes you as skilled of a fighter as you are, the portion that gives you unbelievable skill. But I will not speak or communicate, or use your body anymore until the traitor is found it. We can’t risk it otherwise.
Flek pursed his lips. “Very well.”
Kapton 5th, 114 A.U.
Astrid sat up in bed, blood chilled, as her cold arms grasped the metal railing on her bed before she caught her breath again. Only a dream. It was only a dream. For the ninth time in the past couple months, she had had another dream concerning her murder of the man in Araelia, an event which she had tried to block out of her memory for the most part. But it was still occurring.
Astrid left her sleeping quarters into the empty main room of the ship as she looked out the glass windows at the darkness around the ship, where it rested on the ground. After nearly being suicidal after the murder and on the brink of leaving Araelia forever, she had gotten caught up in the whole Xavier Team ordeal and had been distracted from having to deal with the consequences for her actions. She had almost forgotten about it. But her subconscious mind still remembered. And the dreams haunted her.
“I didn’t want to,” Astrid whispered, as she placed her hand against the cold glass, wishing not for the first time in her life that she had made a different choice there, that her old choice could be undone. But there was no forgiveness for her—no way to make it that her sin never happened. And though Monty claimed that the Great One offered forgiveness and a way to start a fresh life, Astrid still wasn’t fully convinced that he was right.
Kapton 6th, 114 A.U.
“So this is it,” Jroldin said as he looked up and down at the ruins of the city nestled in the crag of the mountains.
“This is it,” Reynyagn said. “The former capitol city of the Sla’ad Empire. It was a glorious city back in the day, albeit one that was swamped with the corruption of the tyrannic king.”
“I suppose there’s no reason not to do it now, then,” Augger said. “If we are going to split up, we might as well do it now.”
“Yes,” Reynyagn said softly. “Augger and I have the radios, and so I suppose it’s better to do it sooner rather than later. Hagion will work with Augger and his team on going around the neighboring mountains with the information that Hagion was able to give us about the troop movements and the strategic decisions made when attacking the chief city, and I’ll go with the other group to investigate the city itself and what traces of the Arglem we can find there.” And after bidding each other farewell, the two groups separated, on their separate ways on course to find the Arglem.
“The Sla’ad couldn’t have had their treasure trove on that half of this mountainous area,” Hagion was saying as he gestured toward part of it. Our troops were primarily in this direction and had its extremities on that mountain and this one. So unless they chose to undergo severe risks to place it on our side, it likely is beyond us, closer to where the mountains reach the sea at the end of the Sla’ad empire.”
“Which mountains is the most likely?” Flek asked.
“The further away from the battle lines, the more likely I think they’d be,” Hagion said. “I’d almost wonder if the trove was placed in one of the mountains adjacent to the sea, though the sea is miles away from the city, if only because if part of their back-up plan was to escape by ship, then the trove would be right next to them and on their path of departure.”
“The Sla’ad we spoke to never seemed to give the impression that escape by ship was an actual option,” Augger commented. “Actually, just remembering what he said, he indicated that the sea was mostly controlled and watched by the dwarven fleets and that was why there wasn’t any escape that way.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Hagion said. “Just needed to jog my memory a bit there. Yes, the Sla’ad were caught between two opposing forces on land and sea, and the elves very much controlled the air, even at that time before the Great Upheaval, so that there was not only nowhere to run, but few places to hide it as well.”
“It would have to be invisible to those in the air as well,” Monty said. “Mayhaps in the pits of the mountains we’d have a better chance of finding it.”
“Further down and further in then,” Astrid said. And so they went.
Date: Kapton 4th, 114 A.U.
Flek. Flek’s hair stood on end and then he whispered his reply, in a voice low enough so that the other’s around couldn’t hear him.
“What?”
Our alliance is having some unintended side effects that I’m worried of.
The voice sounded more compassionate than usual. “What kind of effects?”
Didn’t you hear what Jroldin said last night? The ‘demon’ may not be physical, but it could be. And though I’m not a demon, words are figurative. And I could very well be the one who will unintendedly make you the traitor. Have you not thought of this?
“I… I have considered it…” Flek said slowly.
We can’t let this break the bond, Flek, the voice said coldly. You still need me, even as I need you. But we are might be able to lessen the effects.
“What do you mean?”
I will depart from you with a portion of my spirit and only leave the part that makes you as skilled of a fighter as you are, the portion that gives you unbelievable skill. But I will not speak or communicate, or use your body anymore until the traitor is found it. We can’t risk it otherwise.
Flek pursed his lips. “Very well.”
Kapton 5th, 114 A.U.
Astrid sat up in bed, blood chilled, as her cold arms grasped the metal railing on her bed before she caught her breath again. Only a dream. It was only a dream. For the ninth time in the past couple months, she had had another dream concerning her murder of the man in Araelia, an event which she had tried to block out of her memory for the most part. But it was still occurring.
Astrid left her sleeping quarters into the empty main room of the ship as she looked out the glass windows at the darkness around the ship, where it rested on the ground. After nearly being suicidal after the murder and on the brink of leaving Araelia forever, she had gotten caught up in the whole Xavier Team ordeal and had been distracted from having to deal with the consequences for her actions. She had almost forgotten about it. But her subconscious mind still remembered. And the dreams haunted her.
“I didn’t want to,” Astrid whispered, as she placed her hand against the cold glass, wishing not for the first time in her life that she had made a different choice there, that her old choice could be undone. But there was no forgiveness for her—no way to make it that her sin never happened. And though Monty claimed that the Great One offered forgiveness and a way to start a fresh life, Astrid still wasn’t fully convinced that he was right.
Kapton 6th, 114 A.U.
“So this is it,” Jroldin said as he looked up and down at the ruins of the city nestled in the crag of the mountains.
“This is it,” Reynyagn said. “The former capitol city of the Sla’ad Empire. It was a glorious city back in the day, albeit one that was swamped with the corruption of the tyrannic king.”
“I suppose there’s no reason not to do it now, then,” Augger said. “If we are going to split up, we might as well do it now.”
“Yes,” Reynyagn said softly. “Augger and I have the radios, and so I suppose it’s better to do it sooner rather than later. Hagion will work with Augger and his team on going around the neighboring mountains with the information that Hagion was able to give us about the troop movements and the strategic decisions made when attacking the chief city, and I’ll go with the other group to investigate the city itself and what traces of the Arglem we can find there.” And after bidding each other farewell, the two groups separated, on their separate ways on course to find the Arglem.
“The Sla’ad couldn’t have had their treasure trove on that half of this mountainous area,” Hagion was saying as he gestured toward part of it. Our troops were primarily in this direction and had its extremities on that mountain and this one. So unless they chose to undergo severe risks to place it on our side, it likely is beyond us, closer to where the mountains reach the sea at the end of the Sla’ad empire.”
“Which mountains is the most likely?” Flek asked.
“The further away from the battle lines, the more likely I think they’d be,” Hagion said. “I’d almost wonder if the trove was placed in one of the mountains adjacent to the sea, though the sea is miles away from the city, if only because if part of their back-up plan was to escape by ship, then the trove would be right next to them and on their path of departure.”
“The Sla’ad we spoke to never seemed to give the impression that escape by ship was an actual option,” Augger commented. “Actually, just remembering what he said, he indicated that the sea was mostly controlled and watched by the dwarven fleets and that was why there wasn’t any escape that way.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Hagion said. “Just needed to jog my memory a bit there. Yes, the Sla’ad were caught between two opposing forces on land and sea, and the elves very much controlled the air, even at that time before the Great Upheaval, so that there was not only nowhere to run, but few places to hide it as well.”
“It would have to be invisible to those in the air as well,” Monty said. “Mayhaps in the pits of the mountains we’d have a better chance of finding it.”
“Further down and further in then,” Astrid said. And so they went.
RSS Feed