Pellan Rise Chapter 38: Epilogue (Patreon)

** First off, I'm sorry that this is the send off Pellan is getting. I outgrew this story so much and on so many levels, from my writing ability to my interests to even my ability to identify with Syl. When I started writing it, I was early on in my journey, wanting nothing more than to be a small, cute girl who runs around in dresses and skirts and giggles constantly. I'm not that person anymore, and that was beginning to reflect in Syl too. The Syl in my mind, the image I had of her was becoming jaded and bitter. A reflection of how I felt about the story maybe, I'm not sure. All I know is that writing this story became a huge chore, it stressed me out and I hated it. The more people begged and pestered me for updates, and the more I tried to force myself to write it, the worse it became. I had to stop.

There was a total of three chapters planned after the previous one though, the story was almost finished. The story was going to be that blackfeather rallied for another go at their fledgling town and failed, only for the whole thing to be destroyed when it was overrun by the corruption and Nosos. They fled, end of story, gateway to the next book or whatever. I didn't like that ending, and recently I came up with an idea for book 2 that was wild and out there and crazy, but it required me not to do the original plan. I'm leaving a little bit of setup here, in the hopes that one day I might gain the motivation to write a Pellan 2, but don't hold your breath. Sorry again, it was a special story to me for a long time, and I hope people can enjoy what's here anyway. **

“Woooooow!” I exclaimed in wonder, a huge smile growing on my face. “You’ve been like super busy!”

“Yup, I earned the money legitimately too!” Nia said proudly, looking around at the apartment, her normal human disguise still in place despite the fact that the three of us were alone. “I forgot what it’s like to live in a society where I’m just another random person. It’s kinda nice honestly.”

She had gone and done what I’d suggested and used her magic to cheat a legitimate identity back into the system. She’d actually gone and reclaimed her old name by erasing all the evidence she could find of her supposed death. With that out of the way, she’d used her magic to do some dangerous task or other for some startup money, and now she was doing… something? I couldn’t remember what it was. Something super duper technical anyway.

“What are you going to do about your girlfriend?” I asked curiously. “When you figure out a way home.”

Nia had mentioned she had a very long term girlfriend back in the big castle or whatever it was that she lived in back on that city planet of hers. They sounded pretty cute together, like the other girl was always mellowing out the dragon’s crazier tendancies.

“I’m hoping she’ll be willing to come here and live with me. As much as what I was doing in the Orchid was incredibly important, I think I need a break for a few years,” she said seriously, then turned to look at Karen, who was still standing awkwardly in the doorway. “Plus, I have a little sister to look after.”

Karen gave her sister a nervous smile and a nod.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get the papers sorted out, and my startup should be generating enough money soon that we can pay for any legal fees if Mum and Dad get litigious on us,” Nia said soothingly, moving over to give Karen a little hug.

Oh right, Nia had also started a company doing… something? It was a way for her to generate revenue to put Karen through university when it came to that. I was honestly a little jealous of Karen having a super powerful older sister.

“I know…” Karen whispered sadly. “It’s just that I’m scared you know? Scared that this will all get taken away from us somehow. I know you’re like, secretly the most powerful person in the world or whatever, but that big bad is still out there, still trying to hunt you and Syl down.”

“It’s okay, from what I last knew, we think we have him contained for now, but once I’m back in contact with my order, I’ll still be helping them if they really need me,” Nia told us both reassuringly.

“How close are you to like, finding a way back?” I asked curiously.

Nia winced, her expression flashing with worry for a moment, “I don’t know. I think I’m going to need to break into the university and find the old lecture hall where we were all taken, then see if I can find any traces there. I need the coordinates of where we are in relation to Andegral.”

“Oh… well… good luck,” I said, completely confused by what she had to do. Real magic sounded so complicated, but I kinda wished I could learn it.

“Thanks,” she said, letting go of Karen. “I’m going to go and bring your stuff up in the lift. Going to cheat and use magic if no one is looking, so you two can stay here. Make sure your clothes are on when I get back.”

“Oh my god!” I exclaimed in embarrassment. “Stoooop it Niiiaa!”

She had taken to teasing us so much, almost to the point where it was too much. Karen seemed to like it though, being teased by her older sister, so I guess I could deal with it for her.

When Nia left and closed the door, we both turned back to the apartment. Gosh it was a nice one, open plan and brand new to boot. The tower had only just finished construction, and it was evident in the new smell that permeated everything.

The apartment itself was reasonably modern looking, a lot of glass and steel, but it was done in a way that kept a homely feel to the place and didn’t stray too far into that super cold clinical feel that sometimes happened with this style. There was actually one too many bedrooms for the two of them as well, but Nia said she was going to turn the third one into a magical workshop.

Karen moved up behind me and encircled me in her arms. With a happy sigh, I leaned back against her and tried to turn my head to get a look at her.

“Thanks for reuniting me with her,” she said quietly.

“It’s no big deal,” she shrugged bashfully, scuffing a foot on the new carpet absently.

“As if,” she snorted. “You’ve done a whole lot for me.”

“Just as much as I should,” I said happily, enjoying her praise and the feel of her holding me protectively in her arms.

“Maybe,” she shrugged, then went silent for a moment.

We watched the city down below, the bustle moving past. It was getting cramped in the inner city these days, given that the whole CBD was built on a tiny strip of land between the hills and the sea. There was all sorts of crazy ideas about how to fix the problem but no one had thought of a proper solution yet.

“Did you hear that Blackfeather quit Pellan?” Karen said after a moment. “Announced it on the forums and everything. Their whole guild was gearing up for another attack against our hilltop village, which we really need to agree on a name for by the way.”

“We do, but Liam keeps arguing everyone else's ideas down,” I giggled, leaning forward to kiss her arm, the only part of her within reach of my lips.

“He keeps wanking on about how the name has to be perfect,” she groaned, then hummed and gave me a return kiss to the top of my head.

“Ewww gross!” I whined.

“Oh shush, don’t put that image in my head!” my girlfriend laughed.

“You’re the one who said the super gross words!” I shot back with a laugh of my own.

“Okay, okay fine,” she acquiesced, then turned the subject back. “So yeah, they were going to attack us again, but then Blackfeather up and quit on them without choosing someone to take his place. Their guild fell apart and the guilds that they had been fighting rushed in and spawn camped everyone that was left.”

“That feels so anticlimactic,” I mused. “But then again… I don’t know. I feel like we’ll see him again you know? Like… it just doesn’t feel like this is the end.”

“I know what you mean. I guess for now though we can work on building our lives within and without Pellan,” she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “I really hope this all goes well. I hope I can finally just be a lesbian in public with you, point to you and say… she’s my girlfriend!”

“I would like that a lot,” I murmured happily, turning in her arms to look up at her. Gosh I was short.

We smiled at each other warmly, and just as we were leaning in for a kiss, Karen’s phone rang. Nia’s name was on the screen, so she answered it with speaker on and said, “Hello?”

“My plan doesn’t work,” Nia grumbled from the other side. “There’s too many people. Why is the world so busy now these days? Fuckin’ rabbits. Anyway, I’ll need your help carrying your shit up after all, because holy crap is there a lot of it.”

“Sure thing,” Karen laughed. “We’ll be right there.”

“Thanks,” Nia said and ended the call.

Giggling and rolling our eyes, we leaned back in for that kiss that had been interrupted. Nia could wait a minute or so.