[Melas] Chapter 81: Sanctuary (Patreon)

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I felt my eyes open as I heard a light knock coming from the door to my room; my thin cloth blanket rustled as I pushed it off me, getting up and off my ruffled bed. I glanced out the window, seeing only a small inkling of light from the sunrise leak through the tall rooftops around us.

It was morning, and I had barely gotten any sleep.

It might have been because I had been making plans all night— going through all the various ways the meeting with King Adilet would go wrong, and how I could respond to them— or it might have simply been because I was nervous. Either way, I was tired, but I still forced myself up.

I dragged myself over to the door as the knocking grew louder. “Oi! You awake, lass? We have to—”

I swung it open, dodging to the side as Gennady’s closed fist whizzed past my face.

“Oops.” The Dwarf grinned, retracting his hand and scratching the back of his head. “Ye shoulda given me a warning.”

I sighed. “Why would I need to warn you that I’m opening the door, when you’re the one calling me to it?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “So you don’t get a fist to the face?”

Shaking my head, I turned back to my room. “I’ve got to get ready,” I said, pulling open my bag. “I’ll be out in a bit.”

“You sure?” Gennady looked me over and furrowed his brows. “You look tired. Did ya not sleep well?”

“Nope.”

I pulled out a rectangular piece of paper. Well, it was a piece of paper holding another piece of paper within it— an envelope. And within it, was Felix’s letter for the King of Taw.

The Dwarf ran a hand through his scraggly beard. “You sure you wanna meet with Adilet today? I’m sure I could postpone it to a week from now, get you accustomed to the city and everything before the important meeting.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, turning back to him. “I’m as prepared as I’ll ever be. Might as well get it over with now— if things don’t turn out well today, it won’t turn out well any other day.”

Gennady hesitated at the door, almost as if he wanted to add something, but decided against it. “If you say so.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.

I waited until I heard his footsteps disappear, then I slowly sat back down on my bed. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and waited a moment, feeling my heart pump blood through my arteries. Then I exhaled.

“And if things don’t turn out well today, I’m not sure what I’ll do. So it has to go well. After all, it is my birthday.”

I didn’t really believe in luck or fortune; I had met a god before— a jerk god— and he had killed me to ‘save’ the life of some kid. So if the world did not function on chance and probability, it was fate that determined things, and not luck.

But nevertheless, I would have liked to believe luck was a thing. Sure, it was probably coincidence that had my birthday be the day I had arranged to meet with the King of Taw. But if it was luck that caused this, I hoped that luck would prevail today as well.

Gennady led me out of the warehouse and into the misty streets of Jahar’taw. It was spring— right in the middle of it— yet I was still covered by a light blanket of chilly air as I stepped outside. I was wearing my Witch outfit. I had my pointed hat on over my head and my purple cape thrown over my  robes. But over that, I also had a light brown coat on to keep me warm on this early spring day.

I followed behind the Dwarf through the gray gravelly road, hearing the light crunch of our footsteps in the silent street. We were in an emptier part of the city— far enough from the harbor that we took a short wagon ride to get here, but not exactly in the inner city yet. In fact, contrary to what it seemed like with the towering mountain before us, we were still miles away from the inner city.

That was why Gennady had gotten us a train ticket.

“We just have to turn this corner, and we’ll be at the station,” he said, pointing down a junction.

I nodded, stepping behind him as we made our way down the street. I glanced back at the tall mountain to the north, peaking over the clouds. “And the train will just… lead us straight into the mountain?” I asked, still trying to process this fact.

“‘Course. And it’ll drop us off right by the Or’tag. From there, it’ll be a short walk to the King’s palace.”

I followed the railway that went part way up the mountain, before cutting straight into a large artificial opening.

“I just don’t understand. How doesn’t the mountain just collapse into itself?”

“That’s because it isn’t a mountain,” he said simply. I stared at him, confused, as he explained. “It’s an inactive volcano. At some point in the past, it had been active. But now it isn’t. So we built into the caldera, expanding it and all we had to do was reinforce the sides from collapsing on us.”

“It’s a volcano?” I asked, frowning. “Isn’t that dangerous.”

Gennady scoffed. “I just told you it’s inactive. So it was a volcano. Right now, it’s just any old mountain.”

“And how do you know that for sure?”

We stopped right at the train station and he turned to me. “You worry too much, lass” he said, shaking his head. “If it were active, our miners would’ve found some molten rock. No magma, means it's safe. And it won’t collapse on us— it’s not even that large. Only about… say, ten thousand feet tall at the peak?”

I grimaced, realizing that I was being overly paranoid again. These Dwarves had been living here for thousands of years, of course they would have considered these problems.

The two of us entered the station, and stood at the waiting area as I saw Dwarves fill the room. The sun was rising above the horizon now, the thin layer of mist had dissipated. People were finally getting up to go about their day, but not many of them had business in the inner city.

I would have thought my presence, as a Human amongst Dwarves, would have drawn more attention to me. However, people were either too tired to care, didn’t notice, or it wasn’t as much of a unique sight as I had thought.

The train finally came rolling into the platform, slowing with a screech from the rails, before the doors opened and we poured in.

“So if it’s built into the caldera, that means the inner city still experiences day and night cycles, right?”

“‘Course,” Gennady snorted. “If it was dark all day, we’d lose our minds, lass. Who would want that?”

“Makes sense.” I took a seat next to him, following him as he pulled out his ticket for the conductor who was making his way down the rows of seats. “I just had a different mental image of the inner city.”

“What? You thought we lived in some sort of cave?”

“Uh, yes…?”

Gennady shook his head, leaning back on his chair. “That’d drive anyone mad— no, that’s not how it works. The inner city has always been exposed. Been that way since King Adilet first moved the Taj Palace when the inner city was still under construction.”

I blinked, almost forgetting to hand the conductor my ticket; the conductor grunted, breaking me out of my stupid and waved his hand. I handed him my ticket, and he punched a hole through it.

“Wait— the King was around when the inner city was built?”

How old was the King? I didn’t think anyone living past a thousand years old was possible without magic. And as Gennady explained, I realized it wasn’t.

“C’mon lass. Dwarves can live up to 150 years old. In fact, the oldest recorded Dwarf lived up to 162. And the inner city was only built a hundred years ago.”

“Huh?” I felt my jaw drop, before glancing out the window. I pointed at the mountain with the large hole in it. “You mean you built all that only a hundred years ago?”

“Yes.” He cocked his head and looked at me as if I was being crazy. I slowly worked my mouth.

“H— how?” No. There was a better question. “Why?!”

“The Mana Revolution,” he said simply. “Before, we had a lot of industry going for us, sure. But only when the Mana Revolution happened, did we really grow. Before that, the city was just the outer city and with only a quarter of the current population. That had been our Capital for thousands of years. The city was called Taj then. It was only after we built into the mountain— Jahar— did we rename the city to Jahar’taw.”

The train began moving, and he looked up at the ceiling as the hanging lights rattled.

“As for why… well, why not?”

“What?” I just stared at him.

Gennady folded his arms. “It’s a sign of strength, I guess. Our contribution to the Final Holy War cost us a lot of lives, and the life of the previous King too. So Adilet wanted to do something in his father and the dead’s memory.” The Dwarf gave me an odd look. “What’s wrong?”

“But that’s…” Dangerous. I sighed, slumping back down in my chair. “Nothing,” I murmured. “I’m just being paranoid again.”

The rest of the train ride was uneventful; I had been in trains before, back in my previous life, so there wasn’t much for me to comment on. It was powered purely by mana, which was apparently expensive to upkeep. Gennady explained how locomotives generally had a hybrid engine, fueled by mana rather than the typical natural resources I was used to.

I looked out the window as we passed through the various pastures and sparsely spread out factories between the harbor and the mountain. I found my eyes glazing over this sight, just waiting in anticipation for us to reach the inner city. A real mountain city. That thought had me both excited and nervous at the same time.

And when the train started climbing up the mountain, I sat up in my seat.

“Excited, aren’t you?” Gennady remarked, to which I simply nodded.

I placed one hand on the glass window, staring as the farmlands grew smaller— not into specks— but still more distant nonetheless. Then the train jolted, jerking back into an upright position as we reached a plateau. Darkness descended over the train, only the light from within letting me see, as we entered a large tunnel. After a minute in this veil of shadow, the train burst back out into the open.

I blinked my eyes, adjusting it to the light of day as we came into a busy street. The roads were teeming with life: cars and carts busied their way through intersections; food vendors and street sellers had their stalls up and running; and miners mixed with factory workers as they rushed to their jobs.

It was a completely different sight to the empty outer city; everyone was hustling to their jobs this early in the morning, filling the roads rather than out tilling in the fields. I stared at the blur of crowds as we zipped past them.

“That’s a lot of people,” I pointed out the obvious.

Gennady spoke from over my shoulder. “I told you, this is the second most populated city in the world. And a majority of us live here in the inner city.”

“Still,” I said, looking back at him, “it’s one thing hearing about it, and another when you see it for yourself.”

“Well, you should get ready then.” The Dwarf placed a hand on my shoulder, pointing at a large white building at the center of the city, past tall brick buildings that rose up dozens or even hundreds of feet. “Because you’ll be experiencing the rush yourself when we go there.”

When we got off the train and onto the platform, I understood what Gennady meant. I had been to New York City before in my previous life, but I had never taken the subway, and now I understood what most of them felt.

It was like being in a wave you had no control over— I was being ushered out of the station even without realizing it. Then, once I was out in the streets, I was swamped from both sides by large crowds of Dwarves rushing about their day.

And I would have been carried away by the swarm of busy city workers had Gennady not pulled my arm and pushed through the buzzing crowds.

“Oi, move out o' tha way! Coming through!”

He grunted as he shoved oncoming Dwarves aside, like flies being swatted down. We squeezed through these clumps, edging between the sidewalk and the road as cars drove past without care of the pedestrians.

“Watch where yer going!”

“Move it!

“Stop blocking the road, ye brain dead fools!”

It was a city, alright. People hurled insults at each other, whether they were walking, riding on the back of a cart, or driving a car. In fact, there were a lot more cars than I had expected; I had thought there would be roughly an equal number of carts and carts in the streets, but from the looks of it, there were more people on cars than on traditional vehicles.

We rounded a street corner, finally breaking away from the crowd's push. I finally felt like I could breathe again once we escaped the suffocating mass of people. I hadn’t been in a crowd like that in my (current) entire life!

Gennady led me down an emptier road, towards the large white building he had pointed out earlier. It was almost like a mansion, except with a central domed room in the middle, and two protruding towers at the side corners. We stopped right at the gates of it, and the two guards positioned there called out to us.

“Halt! What business do ye have here? This is the Taj Palace, only official guests are allowed within the premises!”

“Good thing we’re official guests,” Gennady snorted. He waved a piece of paper at them. “Here, take this to yer boss or whoever is in charge of guests.”

The Dwarf guard who spoke up eyed it dubiously. Slowly, he reached out and grabbed it. He read the contents of it, paused, then looked back up at Gennady.

“You’re… Gennady Usenov?”

“Tha'ss'a right.” My Dwarven companion folded his arms. “Don’t believe me? Check it in with yer higher ups.”

“No, I—” the Dwarf guard started. “I mean, yes. I believe you, but it’s just protocol, Sir.” He cleared his throat and turned to the other guard. “Take this to the Captain. Verify that it’s true.”

The other guard nodded and entered the palace through the gate. We waited for him to return, and as we did, the first guard turned back to Gennady.

“Are ye really that Gennady?” he asked, sounding more curious than anything. “The great inventor of Taw? The one who made the first Steel Golems?”

“Yeah,” my Dwarven companion said, pointing a thumb at himself. “The one and only.”

The Dwarf guard seemed awed by that, but I only looked at him confused.

“What makes a Steel Golem so special? Aren’t they just… golems made of steel?”

“Bah, they’re only made of steel because that’s the cheapest ‘strong’ metal I could use.” He shook his head. “No— they’re special because of the way they’re designed. Other golems require the use of an external weapon, but I decided that that was inefficient and expensive. What happens if they’re disarmed? Steel Golems are built with weapons, so they don’t have this problem. And their cores are well protected, more so than even Iron Golems. It requires a lot of tinkering knowledge to make them, so don’t even think about them for now.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. I have other things in mind right now.”

“Ah, you mean your c—”

Gennady was cut off as the other guard returned. He nodded at the first guard, and they pulled open the gates. “You can come in.”

“Finally!” Gennady threw his arms up and strutted right in. “Come on, Melas. You coming?”

I hesitated right before the gates. I stared down the walkway cutting through the garden into the Taj Palace. I chewed my lip uncertainly, apprehension suddenly overwhelming me. But I resolved myself.

“Yes,” I said. It’s time to meet King Adilet. And depending on how the meeting went, I could maybe finally live in peace.

An attendant brought us from the lobby with the marbled, tiled floor to an office a few floors up; we walked through the carpeted hallways until we stopped right before a grand double door with two tall golems standing guard beside it. They were Emerald Golems— not because they were made out of emerald, but because the green mana crystal that made up its core shone with the same brilliance of the jewel.

The attendant knocked on the door, and a regal voice came in response.

“Come in.”

Pushing the door open, the attendant stepped aside as Gennady and I stepped into the room. I found myself glancing around the large office, decorated with display cases filled with jewels along the sides of the room.

A Dwarf stood in front of the desk at the end of the room. He had a long white beard that went down past his chest and a widow’s peak that stretched halfway across the top of his head. His arms were behind his back at parade rest as he nodded at the attendant and the attendant left.

“Adilet! My lad, how are you doing!” Gennady simply strolled over to the King, spreading his arms open as he approached.

I blinked at this casual gesture. Is he that close to the King too? I thought, watching this. I was proven wrong in a second.

Adilet reached out and caught Gennady before he could smack the King across the back. Sighing and shaking his head, Adilet turned to face him. “Master Gennady, it has been a while since we last met. I trust you haven’t forgotten the proper formalities one must assume when addressing the King?”

I had expected Adilet to have spoken like the other Dwarves, but to my surprise, he spoke slowly, clearly enunciating each word. Unfortunately for him, he must not have spoken clearly enough as Gennady just grinned and pulled his hand back.

“C’mon Adilet. We’ve known each other since we were wee lads! Well, you’re graying by the beard now— guess ruling over a kingdom does that to you, eh?” He paused, as if in thought. “Although Prime Minister Balta was never so uptight. Maybe it’s just your personality then.”

He guffawed and slapped Adilet on the shoulder. The King ignored the gesture, replying almost apathetically. “Balta is no longer the Prime Minister. The Miners Party has lost their majority seats in the House of Or’tag while you were gone.”

Gennady deflated. “Wha— really? Aw, I liked him as the Prime Minister. Who’s in charge now then? The Inventors Party?”

“You’re well aware that won’t happen,” Adilet said, staring blankly at him.

“Right— well, one can wish, can’t they? Did we at least get more than ten seats for once?”

“On the contrary, the last two elections since you left have the Inventor’s Party lose two seats. No— the Builders Party is now the majority, having formed a coalition with the Farmers Party.”

“Those guys? Gah, that’s expected. Of course the main opposition has to win, if not the majority party.”

“Not much has changed politically since you have gone.” Adilet shook his head, turning to face me. “Now to why you’ve arranged a meeting with me so soon after your return: is this the guest you wished to speak with me about?”

I immediately straightened, caught off guard that the attention had suddenly shifted to me. “Uh... oh, yes Sir! I mean— your majesty…?” I quickly bowed my head, before changing posture to bow my entire body.

I... was not prepared for this! I was going into this meeting expecting Adilet to be another Gennady— or just another laid back Dwarf! This was a proper king. I had never met a member of royalty before. How was I supposed to address or act around them?!

Adilet chuckled, still maintaining his impassive aura, but waving a hand off. “You need not worry with bowing or other gestures, child. As long as you are respectful— unlike the man who brought you here— you will not get in trouble.”

“Oh, uh, thank you.” I bowed my head again, then turned beet red as I realized he just said I did not need to do that. I quickly got back up, as Gennady cleared his throat.

“Adilet, this here is Melas. She’s come here seeking sanctuary as she’s being hunted down by the Church.”

“Yes,” he said, looking me over. “You outlined that in the notes you had sent to me.”

Gennady looked over at me, as if cueing me to speak. I quickly spoke up, nodding as I did. “Yes— uh, your majesty. Gennady has escorted me here to Taw, as I have heard your Kingdom has offered protection to individuals with similar circumstances as I have, in the past.”

“And what is your circumstance? That you are a spellcaster— a heretic that the Church seeks to persecute?”

“That is correct, your majesty.” I bit my lip, realizing how inane that sounded. So what? I thought. So what if you’re being hunted? Why should he help you?

That was exactly what Adilet went on to say.

“If you are being persecuted by the Church, Ms Melas, why should I help you? Go to the Dark Crusaders— go seek for their help. They may be our enemies, but I am aware of their creed: to offer safety to every spellcaster and heretic in the world. Why not turn to them?”

“I can’t,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I mean, I did, your majesty. But things happened, and now they’re going after me too.”

“Ah.” The King of Taw settled back, leaning on his desk. “So you want me to protect you from not one world power, but two of them?”

“That’s not true— your majesty,” I quickly added, almost forgetting to address him with his title. “They don’t have to know that I’m here. I can change my name— dye my hair. Stay hidden away from public view. Just as long as I’m not at risk of losing my life here either.”

“And what do we have to gain from that, Melas?”

I hesitated, and Gennady stepped in.

“C’mon Adilet. You’re a good man— I know you are. Why are you being so difficult right now?”

“Because,” the King said, pushing himself off the table, “this has more to do than just me. It is the safety of our kingdom.”

“You’ve offered sanctuary to those even more wanted than a little girl!” Gennady pointed accusingly at him. “Remember when that Bertrand caused a huge diplomatic issue and you still brought him into our nation?”

“We had something to gain from protecting him,” Adilet simply replied. “I don’t see what this little girl can do for us.”

I looked between the two Dwarves— as Gennady stood up for me. I opened my mouth, stepping in to defend myself. “I’m a powerful spellcaster,” I said, raising a hand. “Gennady mentioned you had a division of spellcasters before. I can do whatever they did for you, but better.”

I had been hesitant to say that; I didn’t like that I was offering myself up as a weapon once again. I was a person, but if I wanted to truly live as a person, I would do whatever was necessary. I didn’t want to do it, however I had decided that a while back.

“That is not enough,” he said, furrowing his brows. “Maybe you can do that for us, but that is not enough. Give me a reason, Melas. Tell me, why should I help you?”

I did not know what to say. I had given him my last resort option; I wasn’t a fan of fighting, but I was willing to do it if it was needed. However, if it was not needed— I had nothing else to give him. I couldn’t do anything for Adilet, let alone his entire kingdom.

But I still had something.

I hadn’t offered Adilet everything just yet; there was still something I could give him. Something that I had with me all this time— even before I met Gennady.

I slowly reached for the letter in my pocket, and Adilet raised an eyebrow. “Finally pulling Felix’s letter, I see.”

I paused, staring at the King. “Wait— what?”

Adilet walked around his desk, taking a seat on the large red chair placed behind it. He smiled, pulling up a piece of paper from the cabinet. He placed it on the desk, sliding it over to me. “Here, read it.”

I looked down at the piece of paper there, and while I hadn’t recognized the handwriting or the message on it— it had been written out in a typewriter— I did recognize some words in it.

The Witch.

On the run.

Give her sanctuary.

From your dear friend, Felix.

I glanced back up at Adilet, staring at the sly smile that crept up his face. “You— you knew?” I sputtered.

“Of course I did. The moment I heard Master Gennady’s message, I knew who you were. The things described in both— and considering that Felix had been in Laxis too, last I heard from him— allowed me to piece things together even before you stepped into this room.”

“Wait, Adilet,” Gennady piped up from the side. “Are you saying you only agreed to meet with me so soon because you knew about her, and not because you wanted to meet with me?”

“I did not say that,” Adilet said, looking back at the Dwarf Tinkerer. But the small grin never disappeared from his face as he continued. “However, it would not be a lie to say I had hoped to delay meeting with you for as long as possible.”

“Aw, c’mon lad!”

“Don’t ‘come on’ me. If you weren’t so frivolous to have left in the first place, I’d have been more happy to have met with you every week.”

Gennady scowled. “You know why I left.”

“And I know that I stand by my decision to permit Bertrand to stay in our country as head Scientist was correct.” Adilet craned his neck, looking over at me with a smile. “Just as I will permit your friend the same.”

I jerked, almost dropped Felix’s letter. “You— you will?”

“Of course,” he said,

“Are you sure you don’t need to read this?” I asked, holding up Felix’s letter. “I mean— I took great care of Felix’s letter. And he said to give it to you.”

Adilet laughed, and took the letter. “I guess I could give it a read, in case there’s anything he wants to tell me that he hasn’t yet. But worry not, Melas. I had made my choice from the moment he contacted me. Didn’t he tell you? He saved my daughter from the Noxeus. I can only do so much to repay his favor with my own, and this is within my powers.”

“But I’m the daughter of the Fiend!” I protested, not sure why I was protesting. This was too good to be true, right? There had to be some kind of catch to this.

But there wasn’t.

“And you’re not the Fiend, are you?” Adilet said, looking at me with one eye. “Perhaps your mother had committed atrocities in her life, and perhaps she didn’t. I’m sure you don’t see it that way. However”— he raised a finger, pointing it at me— “you have not, have you?”

I hesitated. I wanted to tell him that I had killed people— that I had done terrible things I never would have dreamt of in my past life. But I knew I had to do it to survive. So I said nothing.

Adilet smiled.

“It’s settled then.”

He turned around, calling for his attendant to enter the room. The attendant did, drawing a blank piece of paper and held out a pen as the King made his declaration.

“By my authority as the King of Taw, I will provide you, Melas the Witch, sanctuary and protection from any countries, nations, or groups that seek to persecute you for your past or your practices. Not as a weapon of the Taw Kingdom, nor as an asset. I hereby grant you political asylum.”

I listened to his decree, and felt my legs go weak. He had given me a chance— a chance to simply live in his country as a regular person. Not to fight for him as some sort of soldier, or some kind of tactical advantage. But as a person. I was overwhelmed.

Because, after a year of fighting for my life with no hope in sight, I finally saw a better future on the day of my birth. And I was so incredibly happy.

Author's Note:

December 1 2020: Consider checking out Salvos, my other story that just hit Trending on RoyalRoad! And I'd appreciate it if you left a rating as it would help me out greatly. I'm aiming to hit the front page with it!

Don't forget, you have access up to Chapter 12 in the patron exclusive post I made, available to all patrons! Thanks for reading as always.

December 25 2020: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! No promises on a chapter next week though for Melas. I have a backlog for Salvos, but none for Melas. So I'm not really sure if I can get chapters up then because of New Years time with fam!