Ascension: Chapter 1--Part One

by KissedByRainingStars

This story is based off of Rinmaru's visual novel Ascension, found on . None of these characters are mine, and most of the dialogue is not mine. My goal was to take Rinmaru's visual novel and put it into a story format for anyone's reading pleasure, in case you want to enjoy the story without interactions.

Sky always said the best place to find every kind of lowlife was at the Nifty Fox Inn of Davenside. To me, however, the Nifty Fox Inn meant money. People always drank until they couldn't see straight, and it was always easy stealing from drunkards. We could usually make around eight gold a night, especially with the "drunken fight" trick.
Sky picked up a random mug and slammed it down on the counter. "Come here you little filth, so I can break your annoying face!"

Took her long enough. "Bring it on, you ugly wench!"

A dwarf stood up tipsily and belched out, "Fight!" to which another inebriated customer replied with "Come at me, you stinky, fat-headed Ordagan cow!"

One of the barmaids screamed and hurried behind the counter for protection. Sky looked at me with a delighted sparkle in her eye and muttered, "The fight is on…we don't have a lot of time, so steal quickly."

"As if I need tips on thievery from you," I scoffed. With all the nimble agility of a sun elf, I danced around the fighting men, quickly darting my hand into coin pouches and pockets. I saw Sky doing a similar dance out of the corner of my eye. Soon the fight began to die down, which was our cue to leave.

"Okay, how much did you snag?" Sky asked as soon as we were outside. "I think I got about five or six gold."

I smirked as I opened my pouch to reveal roughly twenty-four gold pieces. "I amaze myself sometimes."

Sky grimaced and quickly put her earning away. "Stop bragging and hurry up, we need to get back to camp before my father gets angry. Well, before he gets too angry."

"Ain't that the truth," I muttered as I began jogging behind Sky. We made it to the outskirts of the camp before we began to slow down and tread more quietly. Just when we thought we would make it to the soup hanging in a pot above the fire, a voice called out angrily behind us.

"There you are!"

Sky and I winced as we turned around to face Tahn, Sky's father. His scowl only deepened as he glared at me. "I suppose you are done putting my daughter in danger now?"

I met his scowl with sarcasm: "And here I was, just thinking about throwing Sky off a cliff, selling her to the slave merchants or feeding her to the wolves. My evil plans are all ruined now." I sighed dramatically for emphasis.

"Don't forget we are letting you stay in this camp out of kindness," he snapped.

"I know, I never-"

"Look Aida, when we found you that day…your wounds…if Sky hadn't brought you here in time, you would have died."

My expression hardened. "I don't want to talk about it, Tahn. Besides, you know that if I really wanted to hurt your daughter, I would have done so within the past six years."

"Just, don't put her in danger," he said, putting up his hands and closing his eyes in exhausted frustration. "Whatever you do, just keep her alive. Consider that payment to us for saving your life."

"I would protect her even if I didn't owe you my life. You don't have to remind me of that every day," I snarled. "Sky is my friend."

Tahn shook his head and walked away, muttering under his breath. I caught bits and pieces, like "ungrateful wench" and "never should have helped her." I hate that guy.

I was still fuming when I walked passed Cal, a mercenary who was part of the meager encampment. "Hey Aida, need something?" he asked.

Quick to hide my angered expression behind a mask of indifference, I responded with, "Oh I need a lot of things, like a soft bed, maybe some clean clothes. I could do with a lot more gold too."

Cal rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you need a bath, alright." I made a rude gesture and sauntered off to interact with someone less rude.

I found Esmay sitting nearby, conversing with his twin brother. I walked up as Esmay was trying to convince his brother of something.

"No mate, Talon wolves don't die from a hit with a normal weapon. You have to sing to kill them."

"That doesn't make any sense," Brale said with a wrinkled brow. "You're making fun of me again, Esmay."

"Trust me, Talon wolves are magic wolves. Right, Aida?" Esmay looked over at me hopefully.

I nodded sagely, "Yes, and in fact you must be completely naked while you are singing, or else it will just come back to life and attack you while you're asleep."

"That's right, mate," Esmay agreed, "y'have to be naked as a newborn babe."

Brale suddenly looked very worried. "Oi, I only know one song!" I laughed loudly at the poor boy as I turned away to see what Jalen was up to. The moon elf was sitting just outside the camp perimeter, his eyes closed and his face turned towards the moon. I walked up behind him and announced, "You know, Jalen, this whole sexy, mysterious elf thing is working well for you."

"Yes, humans seem to like our appearance," he responded, not moving from his position. I waited for him to explain himself. When he didn't, I shrugged and walked off to my tent. He was probably doing some sort of weird moon elf ritual that I wouldn't care about. When I entered the tent I shared with Sky, she was sitting on her bed roll, hunched over a book she perused often. She was murmuring to herself as she flipped through the pages. "Uh oh…" I began.

She scowled at me with the same face her father made. "Don't 'uh oh' me. This is interesting. My mom mentions a hidden temple in Ionmarsh quite often in her journals."

"Yeah, well, she mentions quite a lot about your father's romantic advances, too." I didn't know what Sky was trying to accomplish by reading her mother's journals. I'd read some of them already and there was nothing of interest in them.

"She—what? What have you been reading?!" When I shrugged and feigned innocence, she sighed, "By the Old Kings, Aida, stop reading her personal stuff! But seriously, I want to check that temple out. Can we go tomorrow?"

Now it was my turn to sigh. "Ionmarsh, how great. It's been awhile since I've smelled dead fish and rotten food. It'll add a little variety to the usual vomit and alcohol." Sky just smiled and hugged me before returning to her mother's journals. I walked over to the desk and picked one of the journals up off the table. I flipped to a random page:

"And so the savior rose from the land of the dead with flames of passion through; one who has seen death; one who has seen beyond. The kings of the Old Kingdom have been called once more to the land of the mortal, with the tongue that was long forgotten. They reside in the land full of dark sins swirling in the blood of many. There began the era of the silent; there began the silence before the storm. The tongue that was long forgotten will remain unspoken until the second arises."

Whatever the hell that means. I figured I should probably get some rest before adventuring in the morning, so I laid down on my sleeping mat and closed my eyes. Sleep quickly washed over me, and soon I was shrouded in the caress of black sleep. I could have done without the dream, though.

The pain was searing. I couldn't breathe without choking on something warm and metallic. Blood? I could feel my life slowly seeping away through the gaping hole in my stomach. Is this what feelings are like? Is this what pain and sadness are like? I want absolutely nothing to do with them. Nothing could be worse than this.

"Is she dead?"

"She looks dead."

"Well, you know what they say: third time's the charm."

"Let's go…."

"…Aida, c'mon! Let's just go before the others wake up!" Sky whispered earnestly.

"Did I ever tell you how much I hate morning people?" I grumbled into the ground below me.

"Please, let's go before my father wakes up." I could hear the pouty face in her voice. Damn me and my inability to resist stupid pouty faces. Groaning, I slowly raised myself into an upright position. She was right, of course; Tahn would never have let us leave if he'd known where we were going. Finally standing, I stretched luxuriously before joining Sky in the main camp. I found a few gold coins laying by the dew-covered fire pit. Who would leave gold out in a camp full of thieves? The fog lay thick over the forest floor as we began our trek. If the fog was still out, then it was definitely too early to be awake. We made good progress in comfortable silence, pausing only to pick some berries for breakfast. Soon we came to a crossroads. Sky froze ahead of me, staring at the rustling bush ahead.

"There! Behind the bushes!" she said, panic coating her voice. "Aida, I don't want to die!"

"What is it?! Where?!" I jumped in front of her, fists at the ready to take out anything trying to harm us. The rustling began to subside after the rabbit hopped out and looked up at us, ready to run at the first sign of attack. I looked pointedly at Sky. "Really?"

Sky turned as red as the Adeshian desert. "Shut up, I thought it was a wolf or something." I smirked as we continued on in a more embarrassed silence, with Sky still leading the way. In another half hour or so, we came to a clearing with a cave entrance about fifteen feet from where we'd stopped.

"Okay, here we are," Sky announced nervously.

Skepticism was clear in my voice as I said, "Sky, you do realize this place is in ruins, right?"

"I know it looks bad, Aida, but I have to go in there. I have to know what's in there."

"Alright, but if we encounter a giant, slobbering monster, I'll let it eat you first."

Sky chuckled. "I don't think there will be any real danger. My mom would have mentioned it." She looked up at the stone structure that I could tell now was most definitely not a cave. "According to her, this temple holds a map. Well, part of a map, actually. She believes…believed…that if you gather all the pieces of this map, they could show you the entrance to the Old Kingdom."

"It could or it will? I mean, there's nothing wrong with 'could', but I myself am more of a 'will' kind of girl," I replied, trying to keep my mild exasperation out of my voice. This better not have been a fool's errand, or Tahn will have my hide.

"Will," she stated, then faltered. "Could…I don't know. She doesn't say. She rarely ever talks about the Old Kingdom in her journals."

"Sky…."

"No, it's okay. She never wanted me to find out about her research to protect me." Her eyes were bright with tears. "She was just trying to prevent me from finding out. She knew I was weak and useless…."

Nonono please don't cry. "Can you blame her? I mean, have you seen yourself fight? You look like a mentally challenged Ordagan monkey."

Sky laughed and wiped her eyes before responding with her usual "You're an ass." I grinned and began looking around. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a gray object laying in the grass near the entrance. I walked over to it a picked it up. "I've never seen these markings before…dwarven?"

Sky shook her head. "It looks like Kadan."

"Kadan? You mean the ancient language?" I looked at her incredulously, then up at the building in front of us. "Just how old is this temple?"

"Old," Sky answered absentmindedly, still looking at the tablet. "It's a pity I can't read it. I wonder what it says."

"Maybe it says 'do not enter, there are monsters inside and it smells really bad'?" I suggested.

Sky sighed, "Can you ever take things seriously?"

"Not if I can help it," I said sweetly. I went back to observing the entrance again when I noticed this strange black liquid puddled by it. "I'm definitely not touching that."

"Blood?" Sky inquired.

"If it's blood then it certainly doesn't belong to a human," I grimaced. I looked around the clearing for any signs of the life form that could have deposited this strange black slime and noticed a nearby tree. "Are those scratch marks?"

"Wolves?" Sky suggested, but I shook my head. "Too deep, whatever made these was not a happy creature," I determined grimly. We were probably walking into the jaws of death here, literally. I wasn't about to let Sky down after we'd come so far, though. She squared her shoulders and entered the cave first, with me close at her heels. I felt the cold chill emanating from the stone walls as soon as we entered the abandoned temple. The entrance was tight and dark, but at least we could still see the stairs leading downward. Well, the beginning of the stairs, at least. The bottom was shrouded in inky blackness. I looked at Sky to ensure she was okay; Sly had a things against underground tunnels. There was no hesitation in her face as she tightened her jaw and began descending.

When I finally started walking down the stairs, I felt a slight breeze on my neck. It seemed like someone was watching us…I had a bad feeling about this. "I can't see anything," I complained loudly in an attempt to break the eerie quiet.

"Neither can I. Sorry, was that your foot?" Sky asked.

"No, that was my hand."

"What in the name of the old kings are you doing on the floor?"

"I fell, alright?!"

"Wait, is that a switch? Aida, is that a switch?!"

"For old king's sake, stop yelling in my ear!"

After much stumbling about, we finally entered a room lit by an otherworldly glow coming from the statue in the middle. The statue was carved out of beautiful, flawless white stone, made into the perfect shape of a woman. She had long, flowing robes on, and a red gem was placed expertly in the middle of her forehead. It was breathtaking, and the only thing in the entire chamber.

"By the old kings…." Sky breathed.

"Uh, it's a dead end," I pointed out.

"But look at that statue!" Sky exclaimed. "It must be of an old queen or something." Her expression suddenly became serious as she murmured, "Rest well, my queen, and forever watch over us. Tal a bir sarath mi tan, Linne Tenoth."

"Never knew you were the religious type, Sky," I teased playfully.

She continued looking at the statue. "I believe in Ascension. You don't think the old kings and queens watch over us from Erani once they ascend?"

"It's not the time to discuss religion. Let's just focus on finding the map."

"Right!" Sky cleared her throat. "My mother mentioned a hidden switch hiding somewhere in this room."

I glanced about nervously. The black slime from earlier was splattered up the walls and along the floor. I looked away in disgust and found the red gem on the statue in my line of sight. This was a thieving opportunity too good to pass up. While Sky was searching the walls, I crept up to the statue and reached out to touch the jewel. As soon as my fingers came into contact with its smooth surface, the room began to quake violently.

"Aida, what's happening?!" Sky cried out.

I couldn't answer her. My body was suddenly suspended above the ground in an orb of white light that encased my entire frame. I could feel my eyes glowing and my hair coming loose from the pins I secured my braids with (thievery was easier without long, loose tangles getting in the way). The wall at the far end of the room began to recede into the floor to reveal a dark room beyond. I could hear Sky screaming behind me, but it was drowned out by the rumbling of stone against stone. After the wall had completely disappeared, the light began to dull and I was placed gently back on the ground. "What the…" I gaped at the opening in front of me.

Sky came running up to me. "Are you alright? What was that?"

I shook my head incredulously. "Did, did I just fly?!"

Sky looked just as dumbfounded. "What did you just do?" she asked fearfully.

"I barely touched the damn jewel and the whole place went crazy! I hate magical stuff."

"That must had been the secret switch then, there's a secret door over there," Sky said excitedly. Great, a magical secret door that opens up to yet another dark tunnel….

Sky saw my hesitation and laughed. "So, brave little Aida is afraid of a little magic!"

I glared at her. "I just flew, Sky," I snapped. "That was by no means 'little magic'!"

I started walking towards the dark tunnel, not waiting to see her reaction to my words. That strange black goo started appearing more often as we got deeper into the tunnel. Even worse, that feeling I had of being watched only worsened. I glanced back to see if Sky was okay, but she looked overjoyed. She had good instincts, and I could tell she felt we were close to something. Soon we entered another room, with a singular barred window at the top of the wall shedding a bit of morning light on the tiny space.

"So, another dead end," I sighed. This trip was getting more and more pointless the deeper we went into the temple. When I saw the look of dismay plastered on Sky's face, I quickly felt bad for being angry. She had placed such high hopes on finding something here that would connect her with her mother somehow.

"No, there must be a hidden switch!" she stammered, looking desperately around the room. "Here on the walls maybe?"

"Sky…" I began, but she cut me off. "No! No way! We were so close…the magic jewel…the hidden door…." She trailed off, her eyes watering.

"Sky, please," I begged. I couldn't handle seeing her like this.

"No, please Aida, one last time. Please, this can't be it."

There she went, making that pouty face again. I shook my head slightly and began looking around the room, knowing I wasn't going to find anything. The only thing besides us in the room was that stupid ebony liquid. I looked at it curiously. What would happen if I touched it…? I bent down to gently prod one of the puddles on the floor. My eyes began to close the instant I came into contact with it. When I opened them again, I was in a warm little hut, sleeping in a soft bed for the first time in years. Even though it was pretty small, the hut was clean. The sheets smelled of spring flowers. Something felt familiar about this place…oh.

It was Grandmother's hut.

And suddenly there she was, in her simple blue dress and white cotton shawl. The sight of her caring face made my chest ache with a terrible pain. This couldn't be real. Grandmother was gone, thanks to my stupid arrogance. And yet, there she was. I stood up and slowly approached to old woman. Even if this was just a dream, I would give anything to talk to her again. I could say I was sorry for never listening to her, although it wouldn't do much good at this point. Grandmother smiled and said, "Finally up?"

I began stammering, "Up? I-I don't know-I don't remember…."

Grandmother's smile disappeared. "They are coming for you, Aida. They know you are alive."

I shivered in fear. Those were the exact words she had said that day. Come to think of it, it felt exactly like that day. The hut, the stew, even Grandmother looked the same. Then the heavy knocks began sounding on the door. Those perfectly balanced, confident knocks. I didn't want to open the door. My knees were shaking. It was them.

"Run, Aida," Grandmother insisted, "and don't look back."

"I don't think she has anywhere to run."

And there he was. His gaze held nothing but contempt for everything he looked at, just as mine had before he had appeared. He looked from Grandmother to me. "Please don't waste my time." Before I could move, he was standing in front of me, his deadly gaze freezing me where I stood. His hand wrapped around my throat as he thrust me against the wall.

"Wh-why?" was all I could manage.

"It's nothing personal, you just have something I need." He was strong, stronger than he should have been. His cold eyes were full of disgust. "Nothing personal…my ass," I said with labored breathing. There was so much hatred in his countenance. Why did he hate me so much? Before I could ask him, the cold metal pierced through my stomach.

It didn't hurt at first. Being a "noble," I rarely felt any kind of pain. At least, that's what Grandmother used to call me: a noble. They were feared by many, with silver hair to accentuate their deadly gaze. They were abominations of the human race; their superior sight, speed, and reflexes paired with their lack of emotions and feelings made them stone cold killers, the perfect soldiers. Grandmother used to say, "The day you meet a true noble will be the day you die." I hadn't understood those words, as I myself was a noble. But seeing that man in front of me, with his lethal eyes, emotionless face, perfect voice…I began to realize what a real noble was. I wasn't a real noble, and the real nobles didn't want me alive for some reason.

I slowly began to feel cold and tired, but mostly scared. I couldn't hold back the tears that were rushing down my face. Before I completely lost consciousness, I looked up at him one last time. His eyes were glowing. That glowing white light was connecting him to me and I started to feel the agonizing pain in my stomach. It was my ability he wanted. Time began to slow down as the pain increased. Soon it hurt too much to even scream. My eyesight became narrower, and colors went from blurry to black. I could feel my eyelids slowly closing over my failing eyes. I lost consciousness.

"What should we do with the girl?"

"Throw her somewhere near the woods, make it look like some bandits did this."

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a clearing. There were blurry faces all around me, but I couldn't focus on any of them.

"By the old kings, look at her wounds!"

"Dad, can you help her?"

"I don't know, Sky. These injuries don't look good."

"Hey, don't worry, I'll help you! You're safe now."

My eyes fluttered open to reveal the sky. No, no the sky. Sky-blue eyes. The reason for her name. Sky-blue eyes and long brown curls that framed a face full of concern and compassion. Tahn wasn't my savior, Sky was….

"I've got this, it's just an incubus."

There was a rattling noise from somewhere far away with the female voice.

"Your friend is lucky. If it had been a full-grown incubus, she could have slept for years. Here, this should wake her up."

Something tingly touched my lips. I felt it bubble down my throat, leaving a strange aftertaste of morning dew and stale tea. What were they doing to me now?

"Will she wake up now?" Sky was panicking again. "This is all my fault."

"In a few moments. She will probably be having a terrible nightmare though." This one was decidedly male. Who were these people and why was Sky letting them near me in my weakest state? I had no defenses. I needed to sit up.

"You should have been more careful." Female again. "Never touch an incubus. They have the power to trap you in an eternal nightmare loaded with your worst fears."

"We aren't exactly scholars, I'm sorry. Tillie, right?" If Sky is on a first name basis with them, does that make them friendly?

"And Zander. The carvings are dwarven, Til."

"I know, I told you!" said the female happily. She's a little too peppy for my liking. Perfect for Sky though.

"So your sleeping friend here, you said she flew?" The male seems very interested in me. I hope he has a nice ass and a cute face.

"Yes, and her eyes were glowing, too! Then the ground started shaking." Sky had clearly filed them in on our travels already.

"And then the secret entrance opened. So what happened to the gem and the statue?" Zander(?) asked.

"I don't know, they just vanished!" Sky's voice developed a suspicious edge. "So, why are you guys here?"

"Oh, stuff…." Zander answered vaguely. "Why are you here?"

"Stuff," I replied groggily as I attempted to sit up. I winced a bit, the remnants of my nightmare causing me to once again remember old wounds.

"You…you idiot!" Maybe I should have stayed asleep. "What were you thinking, touching that thing?!"

I tapped my chin and looked up in an act of contemplative thinking as I responded with, "I don't really remember, but it must have been something like 'Oooh, a weird looking black substance, I should touch it.'"

"You're still joking?!" Sky looked absolutely furious. "Your clever mouth will be the death of you one day." She pointed towards the strangers as she continues, "If Tillie and Zander hadn't been here, you would have died!"

The companions, a dwarf and a moon elf, were shuffling about rather awkwardly. I cleared my throat and addressed them. "Ah, thank you, for, you know, saving my life."

"Don't worry about it!" Tillie beamed. She seemed to have the typical gaiety possessed by the dwarven race, multiplied by five.

Sky's anger had subsided enough that she began to care about my well-being again. She looked at me with eyes drowning in concern and asked, "Are you alright? Zander said you probably had a terrible nightmare."

I looked down at my feet. "Yeah, it was about the day we first met." Sky knew that I didn't want to talk about it. I never wanted to talk about it. It was just too painful to relive.

Zander cleared his throat loudly (Why do moon elves always have to be so grumpy?). "Well then, shall we go, Til?" Tillie was ignoring Zander, however, and focusing intently on me. I shifted about awkwardly under her gaze. "Uh, why are you staring at me?" I looked at Zander and Sky. "Why is she staring at me?" I looked back at Tillie. "It's the hair, isn't it?"

Tillie hesitated, then said slowly, "You look like a noble." That surprised me. I'm sure everyone I met probably thought the same thing, but they've never been brave enough to say anything about it, not even Sky. I did look like a noble though, with the silver hair and the pale, perfect skin and all. I shuffled my feet a bit as I responded lamely with, "Well, I'm not…."

"Half noble? But that doesn't make any sense, they aren't known to have human partners," Tillie mused, mostly talking to herself at this point. I shrugged, unable to answer her question. "I never knew my parents sooo…."

Zander, who had slowly been moving closer to Tillie this whole time, leaned down to whisper in her ear, thinking I couldn't hear him, "Hey Tillie, I don't mean to interrupt or anything…but it might be a good idea to avoid pissing of someone who comes from a race of well-known, cold-hearted killers…just saying."

Tillie shook her head. "It's weird, you look like a noble but you certainly don't feel like one."

"I…thank you?"

Zander cleared his throat again. "So can we go now?"

Tillie looked at Sky, then back at me. "I saved your life. At least tell us why you're here." Zander sighed and rolled his eyes while muttering, "Here we go."

I glared at him, then shrugged. "Fair enough. We were looking for a map."

Tillie nodded, "To the Old Kingdom, I presume. Why would be looking for a map to place that doesn't exist?"

I threw up my hands. "Sky here thinks it exists. I'm just here for the fun and occasional life-threatening situation."

Tillie smirked and said, "Well, you're standing on it."

"On what?" Sky and I looked at her blankly.

"The map," she replied.

Sure enough, when I looked down I could see the very faint outline of a map beneath my feet. It was so faint that if Tillie hadn't mentioned it, I would have passed it off as the texture on the stone floor. "By the old kings," Sky gasped.

"Well that doesn't look very portable," I stated. I looked up at Tillie. "So, why are you here?"

"Research…you know, us dwarves aren't exactly known for our talent in the arcane arts."

I raised my eyebrows slightly. "I actually didn't know that," I admitted.

"Yes, it's true. But, this is a dwarven temple; the structure, the stones used in the building…."

I leaned in, awaiting her response. "And?"

"And…how did you enter the hidden tunnel?"

"Well," I started, struggling to remember exactly how it had happened. "First there was this huge quake, and then I flew a little." Wow, that sounded just as lame out loud as it did in my head.

"And then you flew a little!" Tillie giggled.

"I was the magical jewel!" I said defensively.

Tillie became serious again. "Think about it. What was a magic jewel doing in an old dwarven temple? And in Valond, no less! I know I can't answer these questions, nobody can. Except for the Old Kingdom itself. So I guess now we're looking for the same thing!" she concluded cheerily.

Something was still bothering me. "How come nobody has ever opened this tunnel before?"

"The jewel must have been some kind of a lock," she said thoughtfully.

"Then how come when I removed it, the hidden entrance opened?"

"Something about you must have triggered the magic in that jewel," she shrugged. "I'm wondering about that myself…I thought you being a noble might have something to do with it."

"They say nobles originally came from the Old Kingdom," Sky added. "That's why they are called nobles; they all used to be royal families in the Old Kingdom."

"Right!" Tillie exclaimed. "So according to the legends, it's a city built by humans, dwarves, and elves together, and was very advanced in the arcane arts.

"Even mages were…common…back then," Zander interjected quietly.

I began picking dirt out from underneath my fingernails. "Right, thanks for the history lesson. That was, very kind of you."

Tillie gave me slightly exasperated look. "All I'm saying is, since we are looking for the same place-"

"We should team up!" Sky finished.

"What?!" Zander and I exclaimed. At least I wasn't the only one who thought it was an awful idea.

Sky, however, ignored us. "We can find our next target in my mother's journals! Let's go to our camp and rest. We can leave for the valley in the morning!"

Zander closed his eyes in frustration. "I guess we don't have a say in this."

"Nope," I sighed.

We exited the temple with Tillie and Sky leading the way. They spent the entire way gushing over their newfound friendship and discussing alchemy.

"…so you just have to cut a slice from the tip of its tail!" Tillie concluded.

"The only alchemist I've ever known is my father, and he never tells me anything about poisonous arrows!" Sky exclaimed.

"Right?" Tillie agreed. "It can be pretty dangerous though; if you don't know how to handle the poison, it could paralyze you for days."

I glanced over at Zander. His face hadn't changed since we'd ended our conversation in the hidden room. "Well," I started, "at least Sky looks pretty interested."

Zander ignored my comment. "Are you okay? You look a bit pale. You were in that nightmare for a while."

I nodded, "Yeah, floating and then falling into a nightmare trap wasn't exactly entertaining, though." My stomach growled. "And I'm hungry." Zander smirked. I stopped walking out of shock. "Did you…did you just smile?! Look at that! I didn't know you moonies could do that."

Zander's smile disappeared. "Normally, we rarely ever do. But, I am a…mage."

"Soo what, mages are normally smiling, optimistic people?" I asked confusedly.

Zander shook his head. "Mages have ten times stronger emotions than anyone without magic," he replied. "How come you don't know about this? It's quite common knowledge."

"I wasn't taught much," I said defensively. "You know, the whole 'hiding from being constantly hunted down' thing doesn't exactly allow you to sit down and learn anything other than survival skills."

"Ahh, I see." Zander shrugged. "Well, there is not much to learn. I am like any other moon elf. Well, with exaggerated emotions, and magic."

I looked up at him rather sheepishly. "Forgive me for saying this, but you don't seem very emotional. I mean, you always have the same face."

Zander furrowed his brow before saying, "Forgive me for always having the same face."

"No, I mean the 'I think I ate too much' face, not your physical features," I corrected.

"I don't have that face," Zander said indignantly.

"You do have that face," Tillie confirmed over her shoulder.

"I don't have that face!" Zander insisted angrily.

"We're just messing with you Zaneder, geez," I said apologetically. "So uptight," I muttered as we continued on.

"Oh," he said, a little sheepish.

I was already getting dark once our group reached the road to camp, but I was feeling rather annoyed. Something didn't feel right. Call it the noble blood in my veins or my highly developed sense of danger from years of hiding, but there was definitely something off about what was ahead of us. It was getting cold, and the air was silent…much more silent than it should have been. I stopped in my tracks. "Wait, something isn't right. I feel…death."

But my words came too late. Sky had kept walking and was in full view of the camp. As soon as she saw it, she froze in horror. "Father!" she screamed as she bolted for the camp.

"Sky, wait!" I called after her. Whoever had been here could still be around, waiting for us. But the place seemed deserted except for us and the dead bodies of the men left behind at camp. The first body I found was Cal. He had a clean shot to the head. Whoever did this was no amateur. Disgusted, I moved on to the bodies of the twins. They were so young, with so much ahead of them. "May your souls find their way to Erani, brothers," I murmured as I gently closed their eyes. I stood up and found Jalen in the same condition as the other three. This was just brutal, they didn't even give these poor souls a chance to fight back. I heard Sky crying from our tent. Oh no….

"Why?" I heard her sob as I entered the tent. She was kneeling on the ground, holding her father's lifeless head on her lap. "Who would do this?"

I looked helplessly at my devastated fried. "I…I don't know Sky."

"Please, Aida, I…I want to be alone for a while. I…I can't…." She trailed off as her tears began to flow even stronger. I backed quietly out of the tent to let her grieve in peace. As I was leaving, I looked up and noticed something strange about the table in our room.

"Sky! Your mother's journals are gone!" I exclaimed.

"Why would anyone want my mother's journals?!" she sniffed hysterically, looking up at me with pleading eyes. She was begging for an answer I didn't have. I looked about for a solution. "Maybe someone else is looking for the Old Kingdom too?"

Sky shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense. Nobody knew about the journals except us." She looked down at her father's lifeless body and began sobbing even harder than she had been before I mentioned the journals. I needed to get out of here before I made things worse…again. I walked out into the main camp and saw Tillie moving towards me.

"Aida, I'm so sorry." She looked around for a bit before asking. "Sky's father, is he…?"

"Yeah," I sighed sadly. Tillie looked sorry she had asked. "Zander and I moved the bodies away from the camp for now, for…we are not familiar with human burial customs."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think Sky should decide what to do with them. I'm not exactly human, either."

Aida, can I talk to you?" Zander joined us and looked intently at me. "I think I might know who is behind this."

My eyes widened slightly at the news. "Who?"
Zander pursed his lips. "Well, I am not sure, but by the way they were killed, with a single arrow to the head…it looks like the Eagles," he answered hesitantly. It was almost as if he regretted knowing who the murderers were.

"I suppose you don't mean the bird," I responded, having no idea who the hell he was talking about.

Zander shook his head, "They were the gang responsible for the annihilation of the Knight Order, around the time your previous king died. They divided the knights into groups one day with tips about a certain illegal deal that was going on at night, then they attacked the outpost once the groups were gone. No one expected a gang to attack the Knight Order so openly. They were incredibly well-organized, however; the gang was not a group of brute mercenaries. It was a group of professional archers and assassins. Now that the Order is gone, the Eagles are practically running Northcliff."

I blinked at him after he finished. "How do you know all this?"

"Tillie and I had a small run-in with them a few years back," Zander closed his eyes. "It wasn't pretty."

"This is bad," I muttered. "Why would the Eagles be here?" I asked more loudly. "Sky's mother's journals are missing, they contained information about the entrance to the Old Kingdom. Could they have been looking for that?"

'Aida, these people are incredibly dangerous," Tillie spoke up. "They can't have that information. They can't have access to the Old Kingdom."

I looked from Tillie to Zander. "Why would they be looking for it?"

Zander looked at Tillie before replying, "In the Old Kingdom, they practiced necromancy."

"A few years ago, they found us for what they called 'magical research'," Tillie continued.

"Turn out, their 'research' was on the practice of necromancy. When we understood what the research was about…"

"We ran," Tillie finished.

"I'm guessing they didn't like you running away?" I asked.

"No, they didn't care about us actually," Zander said with a wry smile, "But Tillie here took all of their resources and gathered information with her. That, they cared about."

Tillie placed one hand on her hip, the other on her chest and gave Zander a sassy look. "Well I couldn't just let those people have that kind of power, now could I?"

"No, but you didn't mind having those resources for your alchemy either," he countered.

She tried to hide her smirk as she said, "You are becoming awfully chatty, Zander."

I cleared my throat to remind them I was still here. "So, what do we do? How do we get the journals back?"

"We need a good plan." Tillie's expression became serious. "These people are not random thugs."

A sniffle came from behind me. I turned around to see Sky, her eyes red and puffy and her face tearstained. "I…Aida, we have to get those journals back."

"Sky…" I started sadly.

"We can't let those monsters use anything that my mother owned!" she said fiercely.

I nodded. "I promise, Sky, I won't let them use those journals." I turned to our companions. "Tillie, Zander, you must know their weaknesses. You worked with them."

"They don't exactly have a weakness," Zander mused, "But there is one thing…."

Tillie picked up where Zander left off. "Their leader recently became a man named Diego. We knew him; he's ruthless and also cunning. However, he's a giant show-off."

"The Eagles won't trust him, so he will want to recruit new members," Zander stated.

"That could be your key to their front door," Tillie concluded.

"My key?" I asked, very surprised.

Tillie looked up at Zander. "Well, they already know us, so yeah. Unless you want Sky to go instead," Tillie said sarcastically. Sky clenched her fists and stuck her chin out. "I can go!"

I smirked and shook my head as I replied with, "No, you'd end up stabbing the guy in his sleep or something." I looked at Tillie and Zander more seriously. "So, get recruited, go in, take the journals, run away." They both nodded, but I held up my hand. "However, there is small problem. I look like a noble. Silver hair will attract some unnecessary attention, especially in Northcliff."

"Uhh the city will have tailors, so you can buy a cape!" Tillie stammered. I gave her a dubious look but nodded.

"Just give me a few moments to say goodbye before we set out," Sky said as she walked back towards our tent. The rest of us began looking around the camp to scrounge up any supplies that we could take with us. I met up with Zander by the boy's tent. He looked over at me and asked "So, are we leaving now?"

I scoffed, "What, you don't like our cozy camp full of dead bodies, blood and drama?" Zander looked as if he didn't quite know how to respond to that. "Honestly, I haven't seen that many dead people since my approval."

"Approval?" I asked.

"To the Academy of Arcane Arts," Zander clarified. "In Ildis."

"I thought you didn't need any approval for the academies in Ildis."

"Not for regular people," he confirmed. "For people with magic, however, it's different. You have to go through several trials to prove you can keep calm, even in the worst situations."

"So it's that bad when you guys go crazy, huh?" I asked jokingly.

Zander wasn't joking, apparently. "I remember my mother taking in a little Lith servant girl when I was a young boy. She had tiny mouse ears…called herself Kille. That's 'fast legs' in Lithian. She didn't know how to read, so eventually I started to teach her. We quickly became friends. She was smart, for a Lith I guess." He stopped for a moment before continuing on with his story. "Having magic in my blood, I never exactly had any friends, so Kille…she was my first friend. One day my mother found out that I was spending time with a 'wretched servant girl.' She brought Kille to my room and started beating her, telling me this was what was going to happen if I ever mingled with servants again."

"Your mother sounds like a very lovely lady," I muttered.

"She is the kindest one in my family," Zander answered.

"So what happened?" I prompted. "You told her to stop, I suppose."

"In a way…" he trailed off. "I burned the house down."

I stood there for a moment looking at him. "Remind me to never piss you off."

"They barely got my mother out alive, but, Kille was…she was left behind in the fire. That's when I understood what would happen if I lost my temper. I killed an innocent girl. So, yes, it is that bad if we cannot control our emotions." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, I never meant to take up so much of your time."

"Don't worry about it, Zander! It's always great to know I'm in a group with a pyromaniac." Man, I really need to learn how to control my tongue.

"Just remember, try not to piss me off," he said drily.

I chuckled and began heading towards my tent to check on Sky. She had just come outside and was wiping moisture from her cheeks. "Hey," I said quietly.

"I didn't say anything to him," she responded thickly. "I just, snuck out. He died wondering where I was, he was probably worried—" She broke off, trying to swallow a fresh wave of tears. "It's all my fault."

I tried to cheer her up with my usual Aida sarcasm. "I hardly think you're capable of killing two very skilled thieves, a humongous mercenary, and a talented alchemist by yourself." More gently, I added, "It was the Eagles that killed them, not you."

She shook her head, "No, I didn't mean…I blamed him, Aida, for my mother's death, and he knew that. He died knowing that I always blamed him, and I just can't forget about this. I just can't let this one go. When you lose someone like this…I keep thinking, wondering if things would be different if only I could say the things I hadn't said."

"Would you really feel better if you could say the things you never did?" I asked softly.

"I guess now I'll never know," she sobbed. I held her for a while and let her cry into my shoulder. When her tears started to subside, I loosened my grip and left her alone to compose herself before she met back up with the rest of the group. When I turned around, Tillie was motioning for me to come to her. I walked over to see what she wanted. "Hey Tillie, you wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, though you might want to sit down for this," she said seriously.

"Oookay," I said warily as I sat down on the ground. "This sounds serious."

"I already told you about our necromancy research with the Eagles, right? Well, I found out that the information wasn't exactly for the Eagles themselves," she admitted.

"I don't get it," I said blankly. "You said the Eagles found you."

"Yeah, they did! And I always thought I worked for the Eagles, but one of the documents I stole contained the account information for the research. You know, the buying and selling of materials and supplies. And listen: a huge amount of money was being paid to them by a man called 'Oswaldo.' I recognized the name as soon as I heard it, so I looked into it. It turns out I was right; some years ago, he and one of my teachers in the Academy had a huge argument about a book…anyway, my point is: this Oswaldo guy. He's a noble, Aida." I blanched, becoming infinitely more curious about this tale. Could he be…? I waved my hand to tell Tillie to continue. "I just…well, I don't know if he's working alone or with the Silver Order…you know, the noble army."

I narrowed my eyes a bit at that. "I know what the Silver Order is, Tillie. I've been hiding from them all my life."

"Okay, I'm just saying, be extra careful, Aida. If the Silver Order is behind this research…this might be bigger than we can handle."

I pursed my lips and went to go pack up the supplies we had gathered at the center of the camp. Once I had all the packs ready to go, we divvied up the supplies and we on our way. Whether it was to our deaths or to our victory, only time would tell.

The king's study room looked calm and silent, just like every other room in the once glorious Northcliff castle. The young king was busy reading a book, leaning to the side of his table. The book was written in Kadan, the ancient language of the Old Kingdom. Very few knew how to read Kadan now. The book was written about a sacred ritual call, 'the fall,' but the information was useless. It only contained gossip and rumors, nothing solid. The young king Kael hated everything vague, like the Silver Order. They were always vague in their answers, in their orders. Kael knew the Order had him on a leash, but he was nothing without their power. He knew he had no other choice.

He threw the book away in frustration.

"Feelings, Your Highness." The man had walked in as silently as a shadow, which he might as well have been for Kael. Silver hair, red cape, black boots, and a face devoid of all emotion, cold as the icy winter. He could always be counted on to ruin Kael's moments of solitude. "You need to suppress them." He picked the book up off the ground and calmly put it back in its place.

Kael closed his eyes in frustration. "What do you need, Synuis?" He asked, emotionless.

"Need?" He approached the young king. "I don't need anything, Your Highness. I just wanted to inform you that the map is almost complete."

"Good." Kael opened his eyes. "I would like to see my mother now."

Synius' eyes flashed. "I'm afraid that's not a good idea, Your Highness."

"I don't remember asking for your permission, Synius," Kael responded bitingly. Synuis gave him a vague bow, leaving Kael alone in the dimly-lit room. Sighing, Kael stood and blew out the candle.