Chapter X
Finn and Talia had walked out of a mess hall, Finn with a bone still in his mouth. "That was great!" Finn proclaimed, spitting the bone into a nearby bin.
Talia had an expression made of equal parts astonishment and amusement. "I haven't seen anyone eat that much mutton besides my father." She said. In her mind, she was contemplating the possibility that Finn's stomach may just be an endless void of all encompassing space.
Tossing the thought aside, she looked around the area they were in. Time had passed surprisingly quickly, and more people were moving about the city. She could recall seeing every one of them at least once before. She couldn't place names, but there wasn't an unfamiliar face.
Except for Finn's.
She reasoned that even if humans are somewhat of an endangered species, it's possible that she may not have seen everyone in this city of thousands of individuals. But at the same time, Finn somehow seemed out of place in the city. Though the very notion of one human not fitting in with what little there were left was outrageous by all means, she could shake this feeling of uneasiness.
But, as she and Finn walked through the city, the jolly grin plastered on his face, she supposed it really didn't matter.
Finn wasn't a threat, but he sure was a mystery.
"So, what should we do now?" Finn asked.
"Well, I didn't have anything planned for today. I was just gonna watch old holovids."
"Have anything good?"
"…No, actually."
"Oh… Well, I'm sure there's something else that's fun around here." Finn said, aiming to keep spirits high.
Talia put her hand to her chin. Her eyes wandered around until she saw something that gave her and idea.
"I know!" She gestured for Finn to follow her as she hurried toward a familiar looking building with a question mark on it.
He and Talia entered the building. Finn noticed that the first floor was completely empty except for a young man with black hair tied into a ponytail. "I knew you'd be here. Always the first one in, aren't you?"
Evin didn't look up from his book. "Hello Talia, and Finn, I wasn't expecting to see the two of you." He said, still reading.
"You two know each other?" Asked Talia glancing at each of them.
"We'd met a few days ago." Evin explained, still refusing to look up from is book. "Is there anything I could help either of you with?"
"Fireworks!" Talia slammed his fist on Evin's desk. "We're bored, and I know you made new ones. We can shoot them off in the park."
Evin closed his book, and placed it on his desk. A sly grin appears over his face.
"Lemme show you what I've been working on."
Finn and Talia were walking through the city, with Evin following with a large bag of his fireworks. "I'm telling you Finn, Evin's got the best Firecrackers in the world!" Talia explained.
"Really? Sounds pretty cool." Finn replied. "What makes 'em so special, Evin?" he asked.
"I make them using runes." Evin explained.
"Huh?"
Evin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stone with a symbol carved in it. "These stones have special magic properties. I can't do magic myself, but I can use these to imbue other objects to do certain things." He explained.
"Yeah, and he's the only nerd at that whole school who can do it." Talia added.
"Yes, well, it's one of the more advanced techniques." Evin said as modestly as he could.
He then however stood still. "Talia, we're going the wrong way." He said. His tone of voice was serious, and sounded more like he was demanding they turn around rather than correcting a mistake.
"No, we're going to that park." Talia replied with smugness that starkly contrasted the near-sternness in Evin's voice.
"Talia, we're not supposed to go outside the city."
"Awww, come on, Evindol, we can't use the really good ones in the public park."
"Tali, need I remind you why we don't go there anymore?"
"We're not gonna get caught! My dad's gonna be at the weapon smith's all day, and I know your folks are gonna be on the eastern part of the city all day. It'll be fine." She said.
Evin stood still, skepticism clear on his face.
"Pleeeeeeeease?"
"Tali-"
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeease?"
"I don't thi-"
"I guess you don't want this…" Talia protruded something from the bag on her belt. "Raven's feather."
Evin's eyes went wide with a horrifying mix of excitement and anger. "You… how long have you had that?"
"I shot one a few days ago. I knew you needed it for a potion and saved in case I needed something from you. So, you're coming to the woods?"
Evin's eyes narrowed. He couldn't help but smile through his anger. "You're despicable." He said, shifting the weight of the bag of fireworks on his shoulders.
Finn smiled, finding the whole ordeal humorous. He thought on how long it'd been since he a disagreement between friends end so quickly. Thinking about how often he and Jake had fought only to just 'get over it', he wondered if it was something inherit about humans.
"Hey, you're coming right?" Talia said to Finn.
Finn blushed, feeling embarrassed at being caught in his dazed thinking state. "Yeah, sure." He said, catching up to them.
They made their way to a secluded part of the city; there wasn't a soul in sight.
"Here we are. The wall of the city." Talia said with a tone of excitement.
Her face dropped slightly when she noticed something. "Aww, what? They closed the hatch!" She said.
She ran to the wall, where a small metal door marked a spot close to the ground.
"Oh no, I guess we can't go into the woods. Darn, I'm just so upset-"
"You're gonna get this door open, or you're never getting the feather."
Evin's brow furrowed in frustration. This woman will be the end of me.
"I don't even know I can get it open." He said, inspecting the hatch.
Finn got a closer look as well. "Hmmm. Lemme take a shot at it." he said.
Finn drew his demon blood sword and looked at where he intended to strike. "EYAH!" He shouted as he brought his sword down on the lock, slicing it open. With one kick, the door opened easily.
"Whoa." Both Tali and Evin said.
"Where did you get that sword?" Tali asked, looking at it with amazement.
Finn thought for the right response. "I guess my dad gave it to me." he said.
"Think he has arrowheads like that?" she asked jokingly.
"Come on, you two. Before someone finds us." Evin urged.
The three went through the hatch, and closed it behind them.
"Okay, you guys ready?" Evin asked.
"Yeah!" Talia and Finn responded.
Evin lit the fuses of two firework launchers. In a manner of seconds, sparks launched out of them, and the flames took the shape of two people who began dramatically sword fighting.
"Woooh!" Finn and Talia shouted.
Walking through the woods surrounding the city, Talia and Evin brought Finn to a sizable clearing in the trees, where they could safely shoot off Evin's fireworks. The variety of explosives Evin had was mystifying; the sparks made moving shapes, some made ice crystals, or sweet aromas. They produced fire, water, various colors of mist. As such, fun was had by all, watching the light show in a veritable Garden of Eden.
The sword fighting figures diminished and Finn laid back in the grass. "This is pretty great, guys." He said as he rested his head on the turf.
"And to think, Evin wanted to shoot them off in the local park." Talia gibed.
"Excuse me for wanting to be cautious. The forest isn't exactly the safest place, you know." Evin explained.
"Come on, no one in the city's gonna hear us, what's gonna happen?" Talia retaliated.
"Yeah, well, we're still risking a lot." Evin said. He rummaged through his bag of fireworks. "Let's see what we haven't tried."
Talia suddenly got a mischievous look on her face. "I know which one we should try."
Evin looked at her, "What do you- NO! You know what happened last time."
"Come on, you said you fixed it."
"I said I think it's fixed, I haven't tested it."
"Test it now!"
"Wait, wait, what are you guys talking about?" Finn intervened.
"Evin's got a firework that's supposed to explode around you, and be like an entire performance of sword fighters, animals, and other cool stuff around you. It's super-cool!" Talia explained.
"I would be, if it wasn't incredibly unstable. Last time it just launched into the sky like a beacon; put the entire town into panic!" Evin added curtly.
"C'mon, you said you fixed it."
"But I haven't tested it!"
"And now's a perfect time to do just that, don' you think so, Finn?" Talia looked at Finn, expecting him to agree
Finn didn't want to be in their argument, but had to admit he wanted to see this firework. "Well, you know, you shouldn't be afraid to try something. I mean, it's not like you're gonna get another chance to test it with both of us here to help if it goes wrong." He chose his words carefully, hoping not to incite further arguing. Never having been the most articulate person, Finn was worried how they might react.
Evin looked mildly frustrated, but soon his face became a bit calmer. "I guess you have a point." He said, slightly begrudgingly. "But if this goes wrong, you two are taking the blame."
Talia was about to interject, when Finn put a hand on her shoulder, and nodded. "Fine" she said, sighing.
Finn and Talia sat in the grass and watched as Evin, brought the firework out of his bag. It was large, and had the most designs carved into it, as evidence of its complexity and importance. Evin lit the fuse on the launcher, and ran back to sit next to Finn and Talia. Excitement was evident on their faces as the anxiously awaited the blast.
But it never came.
Instead, the base of the launcher began to glow, just before the explosive shot out of the side of the launcher, strait into the woods.
"Well, I didn't account for that happening." Evin said with the same deadpan tone of voice he'd used so many times before.
It wasn't much later until they heard a very, very loud roar in the distance.
"And I certainly didn't account for that."
Finn could hear the loud footsteps of whatever made that roar in the distance. They were in rapid succession, but having spent so much time in forests like this, he could recognize the pattern. There were three very large creatures, with six legs each. And that meant one thing.
"Basilisks."