A storied Past

Chapter 76: A storied Past

/To be loved by the wind is quite a wonderful thing, is it not? To be fair, it's not very easy to achieve that status, you know? Especially if you're a human, you know? There are some, sure, but most of those are spirit mages and contract with the sylph. Nothing like those that the wind really, likes, those spirit mags are more like leeches you'd find in the river, entirely unsuitable for the adoration that the air around us can give, you know?

Ah, I don't mean to sound elitist though! There definitely are lots of people who deserve to be liked, it's just that leeching that blessing off someone who actually has it feels kind of like cheating, you know? It's like when you have to do a group presentation on something, and the smart kid does all the work, and then everyone else just swipes the credit away under their noses. That's pretty unfair, you know?

Well, still, sometimes I do think that the wind is too gracious in general. Like, it feels almost as if it hands out love all willy nilly sometimes, to people that have nothing really to do with it at all. I once saw a mole with the wind's blessing, you know? A mole! What's a mole doing to be loved by the wind, huh? Can't even go to the surface! Sure, if it was the earth, I get it, if it was water, maybe even that I can relate to, but the wind? Why would the wind be interested in something that spends most of its time crawling through disgusting, gross earth? Like, ew!

Really makes me question why it also blessed me, you know? I'm a sylph and all, but if the wind gives its blessing to moles, does that mean I have something in common with them? Do my fingernails look like claws?! Do I roll around in the dirt too much?

Eeeeeeewwww, I couldn't even imagine living like that... Those thoughts plague me a lot nowadays, you know? It feels unfair, to suddenly have to compare myself to such a weird creature. Why can't I be liked just for my cuteness, not for my molenesssssss.../

A rant on <Wind's Blessing>, spoken by a true sylph. She afterwards claimed to have had no racist intentions, yet researchers conducting the interview are doubtful.

- - - - - -

As before, Mercury woke up again after a short while, this time with his vision and smell returned. He was plonked onto the floor right in front of the door that Yvette had very rudely knocked on. The two women who were with him had woken up before, and seemed like both of them were meditating. No, wait, that wasn't meditation...

When Mercury sensed the mana between them, he could very, very clearly feel that they were... wrestling? Yvette was using her better control to hammer in on Lucia with brutal, heavy strikes of moving magic around, while Lucia went for much faster, sharper attacks, infused with her fire.

"What the fuck are you guys doing?"

Almost immediately, both of them opened their eyes, stood up, and patted some of the dust off their clothes.

""Absolutely nothing!!"" the women said at the same time.

"I fucking hate both of you."

- - -

After a moment of quick catching up, Mercury actually received an explanation of what the fuck had happened. Apparently, they had gone to a 'perfectly legal' company which 'partook in occasional trade, bartering rather peculiar goods, specifically focused on information'. Yeah, and they were named 'Black Reticence'. Yeah, sure, that sounds incredibly trustworthy, legal, and not sinister at all.

Surprisingly enough though, they did actually keep their promise. When they woke up, Lucia was already carrying a map of Nevarzahri, and the surrounding countries. Apparently, by now, Iris was well on her way to a destination quite a bit from here, a little over 2 weeks. It was to a nation west of the aristocracy, a small country, run by the wealthy nobles running a Senate, which elected 2 full representatives each year. Sounded roman alright.

Well, in any case, they had survived the political landscape due to their wealth and powerful trading connections, since it was a place where many caravan owners had their main place of living. Thus, they had some sort of diplomatic immunity, where fucking with them would mean that a lot of nearby countries would get pissed off and try to whack you over the head with a sword.

And, apparently, in their capital, there was a small underground base of some organisation Iris had been part of. Lucia refused to go into detail about it, and the note written by Black Reticence mentioned no further details. What a pain.

"Well, with that all settled, I guess that's all you need from me," Yvette said with a frown. This had been a deeply unpleasant experience overall, and having to introduce people to Black Reticence was always a pain. She didn't do it often, and she didn't want to do it any more often than never.

"I suppose you-"

"Yeah, no, I don't think so, actually," Mercury said. "You both aren't telling me everything. Which is fine, really, I swear. We all have our secrets and shit. But if you're already not telling me anything, after we needed to go to some shady organisation to get even a sliver of information, I'll be quite honest, not eager on running into there."

""...""

"So no. Yvette, we're not splitting up here. You're coming along. My intuition is telling me we aren't going for peace negotiations, so having an extra loose cannon won't do that much harm," he said.

"What do you mean loose cannon?!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN EXTRA?!"

Ah yes, the ultimate way to provoke easily provoked people. Tell them they're easily provoked. Mercury smiled to himself, not showing even a hint on his face.

"Well, I mean, yeah, no, you guys are totally safe to bring along," he stuttered, acting flustered. "Please, it's fine Yvette, I'm sure we'll do alright without you."

"Huuuh? Oh, so now you think I'm unreliable? I'll fucking SHOW YOU RELIABLE!!"

Success. And with that, Mercury gave Lucia a small wink, and himself a smirk. Maybe those semesters of communications hadn't been that useless after all.

"We're leaving then," Lucia said with a small sigh. She didn't like having Yvette along for the ride, but she would do with what she had to. The mopaaw was right, they needed more firepower, and Yvette wasn't weak by any means. Well, not weak by most means. Comparing her to something like a demon king would be slightly unfair.

But on that note, the now slightly less tiny but still small party went on their way to the merchant nation of Chrysos.

- - - - - -

Zyl took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. It was crisp, and clean, and...

"Why are you here?" he asked, his eyes still closed, but his brows furrowed.

"Oh, but brother-" There it was. That slimy voice, that foul smell, that visage with piercing eyes.

"We are brothers no more."

"Zyl-"

"Nor are we on a first name basis," he hissed. "Speak what you need, loud and clear, so that it may ruin my morning properly and once over, rather than tainting the blue sky grey by overstaying your welcome."

"Lord guardian-" A sharp glance. "Lord Friaminth, our country humbly requests your aid in these trying times."

"Oh, does it?" Zyl said, a sharpness to his tongue that would usually not be found. "Well then, *emissary* Berthorn. What do you request of me?"

"A trade," the other man said. He was slightly small, of a build that would make him look frail, boyish even, but he was certainly an adult. His hair was black, not that of a raven, but an oily, slick black, its edges shimmering in the same deep green of his eyes. It was the green of a bog, of swampen vines one would see before being swallowed. "We wish for a spark of your flame-"

"YOU DARE?!!" Zyl bellowed. He did not yell, or screech, or scream, but roared, his voice echoing beyond his mountain, across the city below it, ringing in the ears of all his people.

"It is but a spark, surely to someone as noble as you such a thing is not much?" Berthorn asked, his tongue gliding over his lips and coating them with spit so slick it gave them a rainbow sheen. It made even the brackish green of them stand out slightly, and Zyl despised it.

"Leave, before I think about it a second time."

"But lord, we-"

"I will not repeat myself. You will not use me, will not extort me. Tell your people to retreat, for if they move a step further towards my city I will go to lend them more than a spark, personally," Zyl said, his hands balled to fists behind his back, the sun slowly rising over the mountains in the east.

"It is but a humble request, surely milord will consider it?" The slimy emissary asked once more, but doubting two threats called for action.

"I have warned you," Zyl said, exhaling a hot breath of steam, flames already licking the grass beneath his feet. "And then I warned you again. If I you do not disappear within three seconds, I will make you. If your soldiers take a step, I will make you. If you ask one more thing, I. Will. Make. You. Three."

"But lord-"

"Two."

"We simply-"

"One," Zyl said, the wind rising behind him. The flames that were licking his feet began to rise, over his boots and knees, his hip, waist and chest, over his shoulders, arms and fingertips, and even into his hair. He had not styled it today, yet the updraft from the heat was enough to blow any of the strands from his face.

Before the second was over, he had vanished.

Not even a moment later, he had appeared, and swung at Berthorns neck, and when precisely three seconds had passed, his strike would have connected. Would, if the taunting, slimy bastard had still been there.

Once more, Zyl took a deep breath. He kneeled down to the grass where the swampy man had stood, running his finger through it as he channelled some stamina, raising the blades back up from where his boots had crushed them. Then, he lightly strode back to the edge he had stood, and once more breathed life into the vegetation there.

"I apologize," he said, to the ground. "I wished nothing but the best for my people, and didn't mean to cause problems to the mother of dryads. Please, accept this arrogant lord's humble plea once more."

As always, his apology was accepted, and he returned to his position with a smile, stepping lightly, so that the grass may move for him, not be moved by him. The soldiers were gone now, having disappeared at the same time as the meddling swamp-man, yet as he watched the sun rise, Zyl felt a little... shaken.

Seeing someone he had once considered a brother was rough, but this time was even worse, since that snake of a man decided to also adapt the qualities of a leech, attempting to threaten and coerce him into giving away more of his spark. It was the same spiel every time, but a spark of your flame, a glimmer of your ember, a fragment of your fire. The same, at every turn, every time they came.

They sought not a piece of his flame, but all of it, simply attempting to take it fragment by fragment, and when negotiations stopped working, they tried to threaten him. But as always, he stopped them, yet how many more times would he be able to?

His flame was large, but missing even a few fragments threw his balance off. Not enough to be a huge pain, but it gave him a ringing in his left ear he just couldn't get rid off. It was a chore, quite frankly, but there was no way he could earn it back. He was a guardian, not a disaster anymore. It would be unfair of him to punish the people of their nation for what their overlords had done, yet those people were but hostages to keep him at bay and his spark trapped.

Even back then, he had only escaped thanks to Otto, a man he would always welcome in his house, at his table. After all, it wasn't his brothers and sisters that had freed him, instead, those took his spark and hid it away with glee. It was Otto who broke the walls that held him, and ripped those chains.

Tsk. How typical of that snake, making him recall what had happened so long ago. It left a sick taste in his mouth, like grapefruit and bog water, and he shook his head a little to get rid of it. Still, at the very least they didn't let him forget.

Otto had asked a favour. It wasn't a huge one, either, when he came. Just simple things. To have his claws sharpened, and his skin mended again. The cracks were getting larger, and while the pain was dull, Otto didn't particularly like his own reflection. It was part of why Zyl only used duraton mirrors, so that Otto wouldn't have to see himself again.

Zyl shook his head. That friend really deserved better. As always, he'd do his best to acquiesce his requests, and there was one more part to it. Otto had asked him to meet 'the woman' again, and there was, of course, only one person who could fit that description. The last disaster, Lucia of pained light, was the only woman to not be afraid of Otto. Maybe because of her arrogance, but surely, it was something.

So, since his friend had asked nicely, perhaps it was time for him to ask her for a meeting? He smiled at the thought. Quite frankly, he missed her too, and seeing each others' faces again would certainly be nice.

Of course, if there was anything in the way, he'd do his best to properly take care of that.

"Hey everyone," he spoke, his voice making all the ones living below feel like he was talking from just next to them. "I will be off to do a friend a favour. If anything goes wrong, yell. I'll know. Live as you usually would."

And with a smile, he jumped.

- - - - - -

Kintra was pretty happy with her new job as a receptionist. It had been almost a chapter and a half now, and slowly, the ache in her heart was growing dull.

Of course, there were always night when she thought back to the things she had had. Back to sitting on her mother's lap, eating the cookies grandma made for summer's first, or when her dad piggybacked her. Still, she had lost her parents some time ago, so those memories had more distance.

The death of her grandpa pained her very much, more so than she would ever like to admit. He was a good man, brave, wise, and strong as well. A retired seeker, and the reason she even decided to work with them, and also the reason she was able to make it out.

He fended off dozens of the creatures, slamming their mouths shut, or cutting off some limbs with his greatsword. Perhaps, if he hadn't told her to run, she would have simply stood frozen in front of a portal and gotten her head eaten.

Carnage. It was something that would stick with her forever, a memory carved so deep in her skull that she couldn't hide from it, even in the moments she desperately wanted to. The scene of those creatures clawing their way through bloody rifts, their grotesque movements, and their shifting skin... it was horrible to think back to.

Yet, it was a burden she would bear. She wanted to live. She had made friends as well. It had even been her grandpa's last words to her, a request so honest and genuine she wouldn't think of refusing it.

Before the eclipse, there were many seekers she knew, yet after, few remained, and even fewer stayed in Treyno. Yet, when she was grieving, someone lent her company even though he didn't know. It helped to know that someone who had gone through the same was sleeping when she cried at night, it helped to hear Mercury breathe, and it helped to see when he picked his own pieces back up in his own way.

Somehow, she was proud of him as a friend, and somehow, she missed him very much. Of course, in Treyno she wasn't lonely, there were many return customers, and she was even better friends with some parties now, yet her room was her own. The only sound keeping her company at night was now the clacking of the small gift from Mercury, and on some night her own weeping.

But it was alright. No, it was hard, of course, and by no means did she always think it was fine, but she kept going. Another day awake, another night slept through, and there was a little more distance, a little more time.

The pages flipped, and Kintra became able to smile more thoroughly, more genuinely, not only to some people. She found her laugh again, found joy, and found purpose. She held the legacy of all her family now, of her grandfather's bravery and her grandmother's kindness, of her mother's love and her father's sturdiness.

She was Kintra Dresque, friend and home to Mercury, and legacy of her family. If the days were a battle, she would fight them, until time gave her enough space to breathe once more. After all, even heroes were only able to be heroic with a place to come back to, and for many people in Treyno, she was that place. For many friends she was that place. And those memories alone made it worth to tough out some of the nights, no matter how treacherous and cold they got.