Empyrean 22: The Home I Once Knew (Patreon)

Amelia, here! :) new chapter of Empyrean's Flight, any and all feedback is welcome. 

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As Adalinda and I walked out, the sun caught my eye and blinded me a little. I had been walking in the dark for a while now, and it would take some time to get used to the light. I held my arm up, blocking it momentarily, and looked around.

Now that it was morning, the streets were bustling with people again. Mothers were pulling children along, workers were moving slowly toward their daily tasks, and guards were patrolling the streets. It felt natural, but I was still reeling from my capture the previous night.

“Ada, let’s quickly find a place to learn this ability and you can unmanifest,” I said, turning to the lizard.

“Agreed. We can just go back into the abandoned building,” she suggested.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said. “Those people said they were going to come back.”

“If they were, they probably already did,” she argued. “Or, if they still are, we won’t take too long, will we?”

I shuddered a little. We would be away from prying eyes and have the privacy to ready ourselves for the journey back to the Raccoons.

But I would have to go back. It was risky.

“El?”

“Yes, let’s do it,” I said hesitantly. I moved slowly toward the building where I had been held, near death, and stood in front of the broken-down wooden door. I stood and listened for any movement, but heard noithing.

“Is everything okay?”

“I am scared to go back in,” I confessed.

The celestial nuzzled my leg. “We will be okay, I promise. We are ready now.”

I took a deep breath and gathered my mental strength. Opening the door, I walked into the familiar room where I had been held. The chair was still knocked over from when I used it to lift myself up, and dried blood was splattered across the floor.

But, surprisingly, I did not feel endangered.

The room was just that—a room. I wasn’t tied up, and I wasn’t being faced by three angry people. I wasn’t being interrogated, or tortured. I wasn’t almost dead.

I was just here with Adalinda, and sunlight was peeking through the cracks in the walls.

“Okay, I’m ready,” I said.

I pulled the items from the brown bag Tommin gave me.

You have learned the ability: witch armor. When this armor is active on the user or the person the caster touches, damage resistance is increased by 10%. This ability can only be used on one person at a time. You have 5 of 7 Faith ability slots remaining.

You have acquired 3 x full health potions.

You have acquired 3 x moderate health potions.

You have acquired 2 x darkvision potions.

“There you go,” I said, smiling. “Now we have some more protection.”

“You’re getting more comfortable with the Game,” Adalinda surmised. “I am proud of you.”

A warm feeling emanated in my chest. The celestial was right. After the fights we had, I started to realize that I could be a formidable opponent to our enemies, but I didn’t have to be like the player who took advantage of civilians in the Kingdom.

I could make a change.

“Thanks, Ada,” I said. My thoughts ran free with the events from the previous night, and the accusations the spies had thrown at me.

“What do you think they meant by my bloodline?” I asked my companion.

“I wish I could tell you,” she replied. “But I know as much as you do about that.”

I sighed and rubbed my hand against my forehead. The amount of secrets around me were piling up, and I had no idea who to turn to for the answers I needed.

But I was determined to get them.

“Alright, let’s get going before they come back. You should unmanifest for our journey back, I think.”

The celestial heeded my request and turned to mist, safely back in her resting place. I looked around the room one last time, considering what we had been through. We made it, despite the odds, and we were ready to take on the Devils.

I walked out of the room and back toward the sewers.

✵ ✵ ✵

The trip back to the poor quarter came with no trouble. I used the darkvision potions I found in Tommin’s shop, which helped me get all the way back home without having to use light’s fury. Adalinda kept herself unmanifested, mostly because I didn’t want her to distract us with any strange smells again.

I pushed open the grate above me and pulled myself up and back into the street. Wasting no time, I started the short journey back to the Raccoon base, where Alon and Soren were waiting for me.

As I walked, I wondered if Eoman would know anything about the people who kidnapped me. I still wasn’t sure who they were, but they sounded like they were working for Arinna. If anyone had answers, I guessed it would be the Raccoon leader.

After ten minutes or so, I reached the base. But as I neared the door, I noticed that Vigil was not waiting for my return. Strange, I thought. Now I had to try and get inside without a key.

But when I pushed the gate, it opened immediately.

My heart jumped into my throat. Why would the Raccoons leave their base unattended? It didn’t make sense. Eoman was too careful for that. Something is very wrong.

I rushed inside and closed the door behind me. Stopping in my tracks for a moment, I listened for anything out of place. There was nothing but silence.

Walking with my dagger at the ready, I slipped through the corridor and into the room where we met Eoman. The door was closed, but a single push also opened it. I peered inside and saw Celeste sitting with her head in her hands at the desks.

I rushed inside, calling to her. “Celeste, what happened here?”

She looked up at me. Her eyes were red, and the natural traces of makeup she was wearing had been smudged on her face. “Oh my god, Elana. You’re alive!”

The silver-haired woman stood up and ran to me, wrapping me in a hug. She pulled back and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. I noted that her grey dress from before was slightly ripped, and she wasn’t wearing any shoes. “The Devils attacked,” she said. “Eoman and the boys fled to fight them. But they pushed back too hard. They rushed in here and… they…”

She started sobbing before she could finish speaking. I felt my face grow hot, but I couldn’t react before I knew where to find my companions.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I said. “Can you tell me where they went?”

“I don’t know,” she sniffed. “All I know is that we had to evacuate. Eoman left me here because he thought they would follow him.”

“And, of course, they didn’t,” I growled.

I looked at Celeste. The woman I had met before, the confident and gentle face I actually looked forward to seeing again, was now haunted with fear and covered in dirt.

This was the moment I decided I had had enough of the Devils. That maybe Alon was right all along.

“Can you give me an idea?” I asked gently.

“If they did go anywhere, I imagine it would have been toward the central hall,” she said. “The courtyard there would be better for a fight, I think. Most of the Devils were chasing them.”

I nodded, not saying anything more. I wrapped Celeste in a hug and pulled a health potion out of my bag. “Take this,” I said. “It may give you a boost to get out of here. Find somewhere safe.”

The silver-haired woman took the potion and thanked me softly. I turned to walk out of the base and toward the hall she mentioned, not looking behind me.

I needed to find my brother and Alon.

✵ ✵ ✵

The central hall in the poor quarter was a short distance from the Raccoon base. In the past, it was used as a place for the council of Mesina to gather and hand out food and clothing to the more needy people of the area.

But that went away when I was still a child.

Now, the hall had become an abandoned structure that a lot of the homeless in the area used for shelter. It stood behind a massive courtyard, with a fountain in the middle which no longer ran any water. It was a nice idea, but like everything else in the poor quarter, it was forgotten about.

As I neared the hall, I heard the sounds and shouts of fighting.

“Ada, I’m going to need your help. It’s time to kill some Devils.”

I waited for my companion to manifest, and when the lizard appeared next to me, I marched toward the sounds of battle.

Walking through a small alleyway, I turned a corner to see Devils and Raccoons at each other’s throats. I scanned the battlefield quickly but saw no sign of my companions or Eoman. It looked like the Raccoons were holding their own, but I was so angry about what they did to Celeste, what they almost did to me in the lair, that I could do with some killing.

I held my bow ready and walked to the nearest group of fighters. The Raccoons were donning their symbol, which made it easy enough to identify the real enemy among the people. I pulled my arrow back and shot it toward the first Devil.

You have critically injured a level 10 human!

Adalinda rushed forward in front of me and dug her claws into him. Within seconds, he bled out on the floor. Two Devils behind him whipped around to stare at me. “It’s the girl!” one screamed.

They left their fight to charge toward me. Holding another arrow ready, I shot one at the fastest thug. The fiery arrow curved quickly and hit him in the chest, setting him alight.

The second Devil ignored his companion and continued charging. My first arrow missed him, but the second hit his leg. And another, in his leg again. He slowed so Adalinda could catch up and dig her claws into his back.

A level 8 human has died!

With his companion dead, the second Devil hesitated before recovering from the arrow in his chest and ran toward me again. He held his sword across his body and knocked a few arrows away before reaching me. I called light’s fury to my hands, dodging his attacks, and plunged my light-infused dagger into his arm.

The Devil screamed and dropped to the ground. I pushed my knees into his chest and cut my dagger across his neck, draining whatever life he had left out of him.

I stood up, cleaning the blood from my blade. I looked around to see no more Devils had noticed my presence.

But there was still no sign of the axeman or my brother.

I started moving to the other side of the courtyard. “Ada, come, we need to find Alon and Soren,” I called to the celestial. Without a word, she followed in my tracks.

As I moved across the battle, I noticed Vigil fighting against a group of Devils by himself. I ran toward him as a thug struck a sword through his armor.

“Vigil!” I called out, watching him fall to the ground.

The guard looked up slowly and reached a blood-stained hand out to me. The three Devils with him turned to face my direction, and I readied my arrows.

The first Devil I shot fell immediately. The other two screamed, one rushing toward me while the other held her own bow and arrow at the ready. Adalinda leapt toward the running Devil, letting out a breath of fire in his path. He stopped in his tracks, but not soon enough, and her fire caught him.

The Devil rolled on the floor, trying to dampen the flames, and Adalinda rushed in to bite down on his head. With one tug, she snapped his neck, and he lay lifeless on the floor.

As the celestial triumphantly fought against the first thug, I tackled the archer in my own battle. Her arrows were quick, and I struggled to dodge them, but managed to shoot mine forward. Grappled in a game of target practice, the mess of arrows flung between us made it difficult to see her anymore.

Until one struck me.

You have been critically damaged! Your health is a 70%, and your right arm has been crippled.

The arrow was embed in my right arm. Not being able to hold my own bow, I rolled down low behind small wall nearby a group of fighters to hide. Hoping they wouldn’t notice me, I snapped the arrow in half.

“Ada, I need your help,” I called.

Within moments, the celestial was by my side. “I see, I’ll get it,” she said.

The lizard reached behind me and pulled the arrow out with her teeth. I grunted at the pain but had to shake it off. The archer was looking for me among the fighters.

I stood up and searched for the archer. Moving away from the group of fighters, I scanned the battlefield for her. She hadn’t moved much from her spot, and I walked slowly from cover to face her. Pulling back my familiar blue bow, I shot a fire arrow at my foe.

You have critically injured a level 16 archer!

I shot more arrows at the now stumbling woman. My first had struck her chest, and her light armor did little to help her recover. Two more arrows in her leg and her arm killed her, and finally, I had won.

I took a breath and looked around the battlefield once more. Still no sign of my companions, I started feeling panic rise in my chest. The fighters were dwindling from the battle, and I couldn’t see any familiar faces.

Except one.

To my left, across from the city hall’s entrance, I saw a familiar sickly-green arm swinging a morningstar.

The assassin.