Letters and Documents

Hours later, a massive ship floats along a branch of the Praesi, misty white waves trailing beneath it as it makes its way to the Trunk. A warhammer is carved into the wood on either side of the hull, painted gold with fine detail. The blinding colors beyond the barrier of the branch shine on the ship and its six passengers.

"It seemed a lot smaller when there were a hundred others beside it," Cage mutters, leaning on the railing of the raised platform at the back of the ship. He scans the wooden deck below, which is currently being scrubbed clean of blood by Ingen and Krash. The two large men seem tiny compared to the long, wide deck, "If there were walls and a roof, this could be a house by itself," Cage says, "A big house."

"It fits all of us quite comfortably, and there are enough supplies below to last for months," Kyro says, standing behind the pedestal in the center of the platform, hand sliding across the Control Orb. The black, crystalline sphere is much larger than any Cage has ever seen, "That's all that matters," Kyro smiles at Cage.

Cage returns a slight smile, looking back out over the massive deck. Krash's boat hangs off the side of the deck, tied in place by thick rope. At the other end of the ship, a small raised platform is surrounded by railings like the one he leans on. Kyro told him that part of the ship is called the forecastle, and the platform that Cage stands on is called the castle.

"Well," Cage says, glancing back at Kyro with a smirk, "Looks like we have room to train."

Kyro laughs, "Exactly! We'll just need to be careful," he says, white teeth shining in a wide smile at Cage, "We can't throw you too hard, or you'll put a hole in the deck!" Kyro laughs again.

Cage joins him with a chuckle. He grips the railing with his one hand, looking back at Kyro, "I'll go join Yoru and Alyra in cleaning up the rooms," he says, earning a nod from the Rajin. Cage vaults over the railing, landing on the deck below with bent knees.

He turns and puts a hand on the wooden double door leading to the lower deck, but a voice interrupts him, "I'm not washing the whole damned ship! You clean the lower deck!" Ingen yells at Cage, mop in hand, soapy white sudds under his bare feet.

"Yeah, yeah! I'll handle it!" Cage waves a hand over his head, not looking back as he steps through the doors. After a short trip down a set of creaky stairs, Cage steps down into a long and wide hallway that stretches far ahead of him. To the side of the stairs he just descended, another set retreats down into the darkness.

Hammocks hang from the ceiling on either side of the hallway, and under each one, wooden benches jut out from slightly curving walls, small chests with silver locks beneath them. There must be at least fifty hammocks and benches, probably more. Ingen broke the lock on one of the chests and found small items like brushes, flasks of liquor, and rough drawings of Utherian women and children. The personal items of the Utherian soldiers that slept and ate on this ship... before they were slaughtered.

Cage steps quietly down the hall, planks creaking under his feet. Along the ceiling, little jars of brightly glowing insects sway gently, their dim blue light shining on the hammocks. The hall narrows farther down, the gap between the walls becoming small enough that Ingen would be forced to shimmy. Krash would face the same problem, and while less so, Kyro too.

Cage steps down the narrow section easily, eyes trailing to each of the four doors lining both walls, two per side. He opens the first door on the left and a small room is revealed. A wooden slab extends from the left wall, covered by a thin mattress and wrinkled white sheets. Under the circular window shining with those swirling colors on the far wall, a round table is bolted to the floor, and besides that, a metal tub and something like a stool are attached to the wall.

Cage steps toward the stool, which has a large hole carved out of the top, and its flat sides sink into the floor. He leans over the stool and looks down into the hole. Far below, Cage can see the branch and those lights sliding by. Cage suddenly pinches his nose and steps back toward the door, "Oh... Shit. It's shit," he mutters, quickly exiting the room.

The door clicks closed, and Cage breathes out hard, a brow raising as he hears familiar voices. A door is cracked open on the far wall, and orange light flickers through and shines on Cage's face. He steps up to the door and knocks, a slight smile on his face, "Hola, a visitor for you," Cage speaks with a horribly executed Spanish accent. He didn't expect the ones on the other side of the door to understand his bad joke, but he did expect an answer of some sort.

The answer never comes, only inaudible mutterings.

The door creaks quietly as it opens, and a room much larger than the others is revealed to Cage. On one side of the room, the middle part of the wall retreats back a few feet, and a wide bed is squeezed perfectly in the gap, a canopy with thin white curtains surrounding it. The other side has a round white tub made out of a smooth material that Cage doesn't recognize in the corner, and a small open door with a toilet made from the same material visible on the other side.

On both the left and right wall, paintings are hung. Some clearly depict Tiren, Betor, Gira, and the others battling against the Umbra. Others depict rolling fields with mountains in the back ground, and one in particular is focused on the upper part of an ice-tipped mountain. In both paintings, the apex of the mountains are covered with bright, vast cities, and some parts of the city stretch off the mountain and seemingly float in the clouds.

A large window stretches across the back wall, and before that, a large wooden desk lined with golden trimmings sits in the middle of the room. Yoru sits in a big leather-backed chair behind the desk, leaning over a stack of parchment, a candle burning to the side. Alyra stands beside her, leaning with her hands on the desk and staring at the same parchment. They whisper to each other in hushed tones, as if the things they speak of are forbidden.

Both of their faces twist with a mix of emotions. Excitement, confusion, and... horror. Each emotion never stays long enough for Cage to know which one is correct.

"Uh... Am I interrupting something?" Cage asks slowly, genuinely confused.

Two pairs of eyes snap up to look at him, silver and burning yellow, mouths hanging open. The silence is nearly heavy enough to grab. Cage looks between the women, rubbing a hand on his robe, nerves vibrating with the awkwardness, "Have you found something about the Utherians?" Cage says with a nervous chuckle.

Yoru blinks, nodding slowly, "Yes, actually. I apologize, it's just..." she pauses, glancing up at Alyra, down at the parchment, then back at Cage, "...I don't often find myself completely lost on a subject."

Cage steps forward, brows furrowed at Alyra, who stares back at him, seeming to still be lost in her own head, "Well, uh..." he looks at Yoru, mustering a smile, "...Do you need an extra mind? I'll help, if I can."

"I might take you up on that offer," Yoru says, rubbing her forehead with her forefinger and thumb. She takes a deep breath and shuffles the parchment, "The Utherians have been searching for something, and from what is written here, they've found it... or them, I should say. Something they call 'Splinters of Lux'."

Cage furrows his brows, looking down at the parchment, "Splinters of Lux? What are they?" He asks.

"Well..." Yoru sighs, "...That's what we're trying to figure out."

Alyra picks up a piece of parchment, handling it with both hands as if the floppy paper is some ancient artifact that might suddenly turn to dust. She's clearly woken up from that dumbfounded state, at least, "These are written by a Utherian man named Aziral. He was the Captain of the unit that we took this ship from. Most of these are monthly journal entries, inventory and soldier lists, and letters from other Captains and higher-ups in the Utherian Army."

"The letters are what we've been focusing on," Yoru says, straightening the stack as Alyra puts the parchment she held back, "Quite a few of these other Captains and Generals mention the Splinters of Lux. However, they only speak of which planets they've been found on, and who is in possession of them. There isn't a single mention of what they are or how they are used. Not in the letters, at least."

Cage hums, "So it's mentioned somewhere else?" he asks.

Alyra purses her lips, "Kind of," she says.

Yoru shuffles through the parchment, searching for a particular one. She finds it and begins reading out loud, "'Lyza hung her toes over the edge of death, but by Tiren's grace, she has recovered. A month has passed since that day, yet I still see that monster in my dreams. Nevertheless, I must go on and keep what I have seen to myself, lest it finds me again'" Yoru reads the words smoothly, "We depart from Idra today and move to join the rest of the army that will attack Raj. We were never meant to be a militaristic people, we have been forced to become one, and so we have tasted countless defeats over the last century. This time, however, we have a Splinter among us. Those barbarians have those cursed crystals, and disgusting as they are, they have brought the Rajin army strength. It will not suffice this time. We will finally be victorious, and maybe, just maybe... I will finally have my own Splinter."

"They knew about the Rage Stones all along?" Cage asks incredulously.

Alyra nods, "But it seems like they find the stones... revolting," she says, thinning her lips to a line, "I wish our people had thought the same."

"That would be important, if not for what the rest of the entry says," Yoru says, placing the parchment at the top of the stack, "These Splinters are clearly some kind of weapon, one strong enough to give the Utherians enough power to finally defeat the Rajin army."

"So..." Cage mutters, words trailing off.

Alyra nods, running a hand through her smooth silver hair, "If this Aziral person is speaking the truth, then Raj is doomed. It still doesn't make sense why they waited until they started losing the battle, but that is hard to even care when there is already so much we don't know."

"Another thing," Yoru says, "Aziral says that he might obtain a Splinter for himself. According to the letters, I believe they've been invading planets just to find them. That may mean most, if not all planets harbor one of these Splinters, including Raj."

Cage nods slowly. There is so much information being revealed to him at the same time, it's almost too much to think about. It would probably be easier if he didn't have something else on his mind. He meets Yoru's blazing eyes for a moment, taking a breath, "So, um... How are you doing? If all of this is true, then Raj is..."

Yoru sighs, "I can't do anything about it. Neither can anyone else," she says with soft, almost tired words, "Until we know more about what's going on, we should all steer clear of these Splinters. And if I were you, I would be thankful that we didn't join in on Raj's demise."

Cage pauses. She is clearly feeling something at the thought of her people meeting their demise, but as he's learned, prying only makes her lock up tighter. That will change one day, he's make certain of it, "What about Kyro and Ingen? We need to tell them about this," Cage says.

Silence. Yoru stares down at the parchment for a while, her thoughts taking over. A hand sets gently on her shoulder. She looks to see red skin and black nails. Alyra's deep black hair drapes over her shoulder, silver eyes concerned as they gaze down at her. Yoru smiles, patting Alyra's hand and looking at Cage with a slight smile on her thin lips, "We can tell them together," she says.

Cage nods, relieved. Most things will take time, but it brings him comfort to know that Yoru's walls are not as high as before.

"Someone has to read the evidence," Alyra says, sly smile plastered to her face, "And no matter how strong you and the rest are, a punch won't help with that."

The women laugh, and Cage frowns, "I can't help it," he mutters, the words lost under the waves of cackling.

"Oh, don't look like that," Yoru says between chuckles, wiping a tear from her eye, "I planned on teaching you anyway."