Empyrean 25: Unfolding Secrets (Patreon)

Amelia, here! :) please enjoy a new chapter of Empyrean's Flight.

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Getting back to the new city was uneventful. We made our way to the sewers in the night, which meant that dim streetlights helped us find our way to the grate, but I had to use light’s fury to see my way through the tunnels. Adalinda and I held little conversation on the way, my mind still reeling from the events of the day.

It took us, overall, around two hours to reach the new city. But, especially considering my last visit to this side of life, I stopped for a moment before we opened the way to the city to recharge my mana.

Your mana has been fully replenished.

Your channeling skill has increased to 25.

I pushed open the gate out of the sewers and walked toward Odenna’s shop. Being back at night meant that the streets were as quiet as the last time we entered this side of Mesina.

But I reached the shop without any difficulties. I approached the familiar wooden door and knocked.

And, to my surprise, it cracked open with the light force of my fist.

“Ada, I think you should manifest.” If a fight was coming our way, the celestial’s help would be invaluable, especially in her new form.

I slowly pushed the door further into the shop and held my dagger ready. I listened for any noise and was only met with an eerie quiet.

“Can you see anything?”

“No,” Adalinda said. “But I hear a faint noise coming from upstairs.”

I creeped into the shop, closing the door behind me, and moved toward the staircase leading up to Odenna’s personal room. The stairs creaked slightly with every step I took, and I couldn’t help but flinch every time I so clearly made my presence known.

As I turned the last corner of the stairs to step into Odenna’s room, I saw what Adalinda had been hearing. On the floor, wrapping up a wound on her leg, was the old elf. Around her was a mess of objects broken, and there was a large burn mark on the wall.

“Odenna? What happened?” I asked, rushing toward her.

“What are you doing here? And what is that?” she snapped, pointing to the Komodo dragon, who had swiftly stayed by my side.

“This is my companion,” I said gently. “We are not here to hurt you. Tell me what happened.”

The old elf sighed and stood up from the floor. She limped toward the leather chair and sat unceremoniously, holding onto her leg. “I was attacked,” she started. “I managed to fend them off.”

“Who attacked you?” I asked, sitting down on the pale green couch I took up on my last visit.

“It must have been Arinna’s spies,” she hissed.

I pursed my lips, thinking back to my captors.

“Do you think it’s the same people who captured you?” Adalinda asked.

“I am not sure,” I said.

Turning my attention back to the elf, I decided she should know what happened to us the last time we left her shop. “I was attacked by people who were asking after you when I left last time.”

“What? What did they want?”

I sighed and leaned back on the couch. Remembering the events of the last day was nothing short of painful.

I felt a scaley nose rub against my leg. “It’s going to be okay,” Adalinda reassured me. “We have to tell her if she is going to help us.”

“They were insistent that I had something to do with something called ‘the resistance’, and they wanted to know how I knew you and how I was involved in it,” I explained, pulling myself together.

When the elf said nothing, I continued, “I obviously said I know nothing, because that’s the truth.”

Odenna rubbed her hands across her face and bared her teeth for a moment. “They know,” she said simply.

I furrowed my brow. “Know what?”

The old elf’s gaze turned to me slowly. Her eyes, usually calm, were filled with what I could only call fear at this point. She didn’t say anything for a long while, and I sat silently, giving her the time she needed to speak.

“The resistance,” she started softly. “Are a group of people who came together in an effort to detangle Arinna’s grasp on Mesina.”

My eyes widened, but I still sat quiet. If I said anything now, it wouldn’t add anything the elf surely already knew I was feeling.

“We have been going for years,” she continued. “We actually started before you and Soren were born. That is where I first met your parents.”

“My parents?” I asked, barely whispering.

“Yes. They were part of the original council of founders.”

The numb feeling I had when Alon’s body was lying in front of me came back. This was not the information I had come for, but nonetheless, it explained why Odenna was so hesitant to be in my company earlier.

“We fought against Arinna and her sworn, quite triumphantly, for a long time. For a while, just before you came into the world, and when Soren was just a young one, we were on the brink of victory,” she said. “And then we were betrayed.”

“By who?”

“It doesn’t matter now, child. It wasn’t by anyone who would ever have any stake on your life,” the elf sighed. “But it did matter at the time, and we lost momentum. We took a few years to recover, and when you were less than ten winters old, we took our next chance.”

I bit my lip, guessing where this story was going next.

“Your parents died in that fight.”

As Odenna said the words I was waiting to hear, tears started welling in my eyes. For the first time since Alon’s death, I had a moment to soak in everything that had happened. And now that included what really happened to my parents.

My whole life—at least, since their death—I thought they had met their demise because a player killed them, or something of the like. I was too young to really understand at the time, so Soren told me it was the fault of the Game. It’s where my hatred for it was truly born.

And I supposed that he didn’t lie but twisted what really happened. Did he know what I knew now?

I couldn’t bear to think about that right now.

“Why take on the fight against Arinna?” was the only question I could muster.

“Because when you live under the rule of a Power, you are oppressed,” the elf said, gritting her teeth. “The Game and the Powers who are part of it, as you know, care nothing for the non-players that get in the way of what they need to become the cream of the crop. They will do anything, use anyone, to complete their quest. To get what they want.”

I stared at the elf, who had grown visibly displeased. Her hands balled into fists, she continued, “And we got tired of that.”

“And that’s why you chased me out when I revealed I was a player,” I guessed.

Odenna nodded curtly. “Simply, I don’t trust you.”

Slightly taken aback by the matter-of-fact way she said that to me, I sat completely still. I knew what it was like to live at the mercy of the Game, and I knew what it was like to be one of the civilians Odenna spoke of. If anything, I could uniquely relate to both sides.

But I never wanted to be that kind of player.

“I understand,” I said. “I hope I can show you otherwise.”

“It will take a lot,” the elf said.

“I understand,” is all I could say. From my own experience, I couldn’t fault the elf for being distrustful of me.

“Can you tell me more about my parents?” I asked gingerly.

The elf shook her head. “Now is not the time for that,” she said simply. When she saw my face drop, she continued, “Tell me why you  came back here, and then we need to leave. There’s no telling when those… people will come back here.”

I sighed and told her the story of what happened when I left her shop. Beyond the kidnapping, what I found when I returned to the Raccoon base, Alon’s death, and that Soren and Eoman were nowhere to be found.

“Eoman alluded that he knew you, and I thought you could help me find him. Soren must be with him,” I explained.

“I can help you,” she said, some calm washing over her.

“Can I just ask,” I said, stepping in before she could continue. “How do you know each other?”

“He was one of the Insurgence founders.”

I nodded my head slowly as everything came together. The reason Eoman seemed so ready to find a solution outside of going to war with the Devils, how he knew Odenna, and how he came to be in charge of the Raccoons.

“I have some contacts that can help us find him. But we have to leave now, before trouble finds us,” the elf urged. She stood from her chair laboriously and looked at Adalinda. “Will this one be a problem?”

“No,” I promised. “Do you need a healing potion?”

The elf stared daggers at me for a second, then relaxed her shoulders and let out a long sigh. “Yes, please.”

I pulled a potion out of my bag and threw it toward her. As she drank, her stance became noticeable more confident. “Does that feel better?” I asked.

Odenna nodded and started walking normally to the staircase. “Thank you. Let’s go now.”

We tread down the stairs quickly and moved toward the front of the shop. For a moment I looked back at all the herbs hanging from the ceiling. “Do you have everything you need?” I asked Odenna.

“Yes, child, don’t worry about me. Come,” she ushered. She was holding the door open and pointing me toward the outside.

I exited swiftly and looked around, seeing nothing of note, still faced with a quiet street. The elf followed and closed the door behind her, locking it with an ornate silver key. She pulled her fiery hair back into a bun and walked left, closer to the safe zone, and away from the street into an alley.

But before we could turn the corner, a voice from behind shouted.

“You, there!”

✵ ✵ ✵

I whipped around to see three city guards walking our way purposefully.

“They’re not here to talk,” Odenna said quietly behind me. The elf backed further into the alley, cowering a little.

I turned back to the guards, who were slowly walking toward us. Their heavy armor impeded any quick charges, which gave me plenty of time to try out my new spell.

Holding my hands out in front of me, I started chanting my summons.

Seeing I would need some extra time, Adalinda leapt forward and stood on two legs in front of the closest guard. She exposed her sharper claws and pushed them into his chest, pulling his armor off.

The last two guards pushed toward me. “Ada, I need more time.”

Heeding my plea, the celestial jumped back between the guards walking towards me and hissed at them. They swung their weapons at her, but so slowly that she had time to hop out of the way.

As they tussled, the blue haze on my skin disappeared, and my spell was complete.

You have summoned an air elemental.

In front of me, a small cyclone of wind visibly formed. The creature, whose face consisted mostly of two black holes on the top of the form, looked toward me.

I pointed at the guards. “Kill them. Stop at nothing.”

In a moment, it spinned through the alleyway and into the larger street where the guards were standing. In a single, quick motion, it curled into a ball and slammed down on the ground.

You have critically injured 3 hostile entities!

Odenna stood back, her mouth agape. Adalinda, who was less taken aback by the entity, opened her maw and breathed fire out onto the guards.

Fire and wind now mixing in a whirlwind of agony, the guards started screaming. With another slam, the elemental hit down on the ground, this time flinging them in all directions.

One guard hit the wall, and he stilled.

You have killed a level 10 human.

Readying my arrows, I walked forward and started shooting toward the last two guards, who were lying helpless on the floor.

You have killed a level 10 human.

You have killed a level 8 human.

You and Adalinda have gained a level and 1 attribute point.

Your air magic skill has increased to 5.

Your summoning skill has increased to 22.

As soon as the guards died, the elemental dissipated. Wiping a small bead of sweat from my brow, I looked at the elf, who was still standing still. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I am fine,” she said. “But that was unnecessary. We caused a much bigger ruckus than we should have.”

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I have been fighting formidable enemies of late, and it seemed like they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Isn’t that always the case,” Odenna scoffed, barely loud enough for me to hear. “Anyway, let’s get going. We need to get to safety.”

We started walking away from the scene, toward the alleyway. I held my hands behind my back and hung my head, thinking about what the elf had just said. Maybe the guards were just trying to find out what we were doing. Maybe I killed them for nothing.

Was I becoming just like the players I didn’t want to be?

No, I thought. Odenna said they were dangerous. So, I helped.

But I tore them apart in a matter of minutes. Was that really necessary? My command to the elemental was to ‘stop at nothing’.

Has killing really become so natural to me?

“Are you okay, El?” my companion asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“I am okay,” I said, not too sure of my answer. “Let’s just continue walking.”

I couldn’t face the answers to these questions, not now.

We walked in silence for another ten minutes before the elf stopped suddenly. We had come to a seemingly abandoned building. Roots from trees had pushed the bricks up in the street, and like the Raccoon base, the windows were boarded up.

“We’re here,” she said.

“Here?”

“At the Insurgence safehouse.”