SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 8

The guards at the border of Feita let Raven through pretty easily.

So why the fuck aren't they letting you through?

"Miss, your ID says you're from Altera," says one of them.

"What does that have to do with anything?" You snap. "Why can't I seek refuge if I'm from Altera?"

"Miss, are you even listening to yourself?" Says the other one. "That's Altera we're talking about. The heart of Elrios. The pinnacle of greatness. You have no need to stoop yourself as low as we mere Feitans. Go back to Altera and live in peace."

There's a bitter lining in his words that doesn't settle quite right with you. Before you know it, you're shaking all over in anger.

"That's right," snorts the first guard. "Back where you belong, not with us plebs."

"Rena," warns Raven, standing inside the city.

He makes no active move to stop you, though, and frankly, you've given enough fucks already.

You march up to the guard and pick him up the front of his collar. "I walked out of Altera in the middle of the night," you hiss, "after two kind, decent human beings did their darndest to stop an absolute asshole from leaving scars over my back. I walked nearly fifty kilometres to escape a fucking madman, and I walked another twenty kilometres to get here. I'm not taking no for a fucking answer."

For a moment, the four of you are silent. The other guard has a knife in hand. Raven looks like he's about to kill either the guards or you, and he can't decide who.

The guard in your hands is turning blue. "Miss, please just let me go," he squeaks. "I'll let you in, but I'm not entirely sure if they'll let you stay…"

Raven snorts. "Just take us to Elesis Sieghart," he says. "She'll give us somewhere to stay."

He glares at you pointedly. "It would be nice if you could drop him now," he says.

You let go of the fabric in your hands. The guard drops back to the ground, gasping for air.

"Follow me," he says, hand clasped to his throat. "I'll take you to General Sieghart, but I must warn you, she's very busy."

Thankfully, the buzzers don't go off when you follow him into the mountainside city. It's beautiful looking at it from a distance, but from up close, you can really tell when the modern architecture meets ancient artwork.

You recall reading about the city once, in Altera. Before the confederation of Elrios, Feita was a small colony, mainly consisting of people living in tents and some in the temple. It was said that once, thousands of people made the pilgrimage to Feita to pray in the temple and wish for a bountiful harvest. While the temple is no longer a tourist site, the mountain that it was built into became home to the thousands that gave up their nomadic lifestyles in tents.

Somehow, you'd expected the city to be slanted, for it to have layers built upon layers on top of the rolling hills. Instead, you're greeted with the sight of a city built into the mountain itself. You can see places where walls and shops are half inside the mountain and half outside, but the many layers that cascade down the side of the mountain still fill you with awe.

"Welcome to Feita!" Says a girl, running up to you and grinning. "Hope you enjoy your stay here!"

"Oh… Okay," you say sheepishly. "Thank you…"

She runs off to join her friends, telling them something that requires a lot of hand gestures. You wonder if they're talking about you.

"If I may make bold to ask you, sir," says the guard, clearing his throat as he turns to Raven, "why are you looking for General Sieghart? I mean, not many people are here to see her, you're honestly the first people I've had looking for her."

Raven makes eye contact with you for a split second before looking away. "You don't remember the rebellions," he mutters. "Let's just say that Sieghart and I are old friends."

The guard seems to get the idea and shuts up.

The three of you walk on in silence as the noisy city seems to close in on you. Even as you wander deeper into the mountain, there is still life that goes on. The natural sunlight turns to soft artificial lights above that sway with the breeze.

The streets straighten out and stop curving around. The few sparse market stalls that covered the surface grow exponentially in number on the inside. The artificial streets are bustling with life, not to the level of Velder's chaotic marketways but a comfortable, familiar feeling.

It's almost… Cozy, in a sense.

A group of children squeeze by you, each waving a stick of candy in the air. They disappear into the seemingly indifferent crowd, draining through the older residents like water through a sieve.

The guard leads you and Raven beyond the market, further into the mountainside. The busy streets turn to calmer ones. The colourful signs fade out into gray stone walls, doors replacing the stalls and simple black numbers nailed up next to them.

There are less side streets in this section of the city, just homes. A woman opens her door as you pass by, nearly smacking Raven in the face. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry," she frets, bowing.

Raven immediately turns bright red. "Uh… No need to be sorry," he assures her. "No one was hurt, so it's alright."

She keeps apologizing to him until the guard clears his throat. "Um, ma'am, I have to take these visitors to see General Sieghart," he apologizes, ushering the two of you beyond the doorway. "Have a nice day, ma'am."

You leave the woman behind, continuing on into the residential area of Feita. The numbers seem the shrink the farther in you go-00057, 00055, 00053.

Finally, at 00026, the guard stops. "She lives here," he says. "I'm not sure if she's open for a consultation, though."

He knocks on the door three times, sharply and swiftly. "General Sieghart, you have visitors,"

"Door's already open, just come in."

He turns to the two of you and bows. "I bid you have a good day, sir, ma'am," he says. "And… I'm sorry about the hassle at the border."

You smile. "All's well that ends well," you tell him. "Thank you for bringing us here."

As you and Raven enter Elesis Sieghart's home, Raven turns to you. "Kindness doesn't get you anywhere, Rena," he tells you. "You need to be prepared for the world outside Altera."

"Right now, kindness is all I have," you remind him.

The house is only sparsely furnished. A small kitchen in one corner of the room connects to a dining room, which doubles as a lobby. There's a living room with a couch and a coffee table that's covered in papers, as well as a television set. A flight of stairs is directly across from door, leading upstairs.

You follow Raven across the room and up the stairs. There's a bathroom to the right, a small one. At the end of the hallway is an open bedroom door.

As you walk in, you don't know what you were expecting. Elesis Sieghart is tall, not quite as tall as you are but tall enough that she doesn't walk face-first into Raven's chest. "It's been so long, Raven!" She whoops, giving him a hug. She has long red hair that's tied up in a little bunch at the top of her head, like a pineapple. When she turns around, you see that she's wearing a black shirt and black shorts underneath her long white jacket. Despite the cold draft in the room, she's barefoot.

Elesis turns to you. For an awkward moment, she blinks at you, probably scrutinizing your every feature. Then, her eyes go wide. "Raven-"

"This is Rena," says Raven, his voice lowered again. He's taking a defensive stance as he walks over to your side. "She's an escapee from Altera. We came here to avoid the Alterans."

Elesis' red eyes flicker with nervous energy. "It's nice to meet you, Rena!" She says, taking your hand and shaking it firmly. "I'm Elesis Sieghart. I worked with Raven in the uprising five years ago."

The rebellion. Five years ago. Worked with Raven.

Does she know… Who Seris is?

You smile warmly at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too," you manage.

"Say, how about I take you around town and get something to eat?" She says, letting your hand go. "Raven, I believe there are some of our old friends who'd like to speak to you. I'll take Rena around, since she's never been here."

The way she smiles tells you that it's an order, not a request. "We can meet up back here later," you supply. "It's so nice in the city, you should see Velder!"

"I've heard stories," she laughs, swinging an arm across your shoulders. "Come on, Rena, let's go get something to eat.

Raven looks like he could strangle the both of you right now, but says nothing as Elesis guides you out of the house.


Feita City Market, 7:42 pm.

Elesis studies you curiously, like you're a brand new specimen of some exotic species. "Are you sure you can't remember anything?" She asks as the two of you enter the marketplace. Unlike Velder's chaotic market square, this one has stalls running down either side of a road. It's still busy, but at least the two of you have enough space to stand in line at a small stall.

"My earliest memory I have is waking up, five years ago," you affirm. The words seem hollow to you, though, as you repeat them for the millionth time. "I can't remember anything about my life before that."

Elesis smiles. "Well, at least you can remember coming to visit me from now on, she jokes, poking your side with her elbow.

"By the way, what are we lining up for?" You ask.

Her eyes twinkle with mischief. "Oh, you'll see."

It only takes a few minutes for the two of you to reach the front of the line. In Velder it might have taken half an hour. "Good evening, Viva," says Elesis. "Rena, this is Vivace. Viva, this is Rena."

Vivace seems to be about your age. She has pink hair braided and piled into a bun at the nape of her neck. "Hello there," she says, her voice coarse and loud, like every other person in this mess. "I'm assuming you're visiting. Two of the regular?"

"Actually, could you make one regular, one veggie?" Says Elesis, retrieving a small wallet from her jacket pocket and opening it. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a stack of business cards in each layer of the wallet.

And suddenly you're thrown back in your memories. A girl who liked to collect business cards, who stashed them all in her jacket pocket.

This isn't the first time you've met Elesis Sieghart, and you're sure of it.

You blink. She's already paid for the food, and is dragging you to one side while Vivace takes the next order. Soon, two paper plates are slid out of a little window in the plastic shield.

Elesis picks up both and hands one to you. "Enjoy," she says, picking up one of the skewers on her plate and ripping off the first piece of meat with her teeth. "Absolutely delightful."

Your own skewers are comprised of mushrooms, onions, bell peppers and some strange blocks of what appears to be a meat substitute. "How did you know I was vegetarian?" You ask in amazement as you slide the first piece of mushroom off the skewer.

"I had a hunch," says Elesis, shrugging. She's already eaten an entire skewer. "The weird block things are tofu. They're actually pretty damn good."

You bite into one to find it soft and white on the inside, a crunchy gold on the outside, and all covered in a fragrant barbeque sauce. At this point, you've really stopped caring about your image. You scarf down the remaining food just as quickly as Elesis.

"How about we go get some bubble tea?" Suggests Elesis.

"I'll pay," you offer, following after her.

"Oh, no, you really shouldn't," she frets. "You're my guest. Besides, it would look weird for the both of us."

You really don't deserve her kindness. She's only being kind to you because she's friends with Raven, and you're a heavy burden on him. Someday, you'll find a way to repay her in full.

You follow her to another stand, where a man is shaking a bottle aggressively. "Morning, general!" He says, despite the time. "How are things looking?"

"Pretty great right now, Presto," laughs Elesis. "Lemme get two small milk teas, with the black and white tapioca."

"That'll be one-forty-eight, general," he says. "But for you-"

Elesis has already slapped the money on the counter. "None of this shit," she says, eyes burning, though her playful smile gives her away. "I'm still a resident of Feita. "None of this special "general" shit."

"Right," concedes Presto, scooping up the money and putting it in his pocket. "Two panda milk teas, coming right up."

He quickly assembles both, pouring milk into two cups, adding a spoon of black and white tapioca to each, then pouring black tea into each. The dark tea drains between the tapioca, seeping into the milk and turning it to a warm brown.

"Here you go," he says, putting a lid on each. "And for each of you, a nice straw."

He opens a box from under his counter. There are hundreds of multicoloured straws that pop up.

"Do you have a curly straw?" asks Elesis playfully.

Presto chuckles. "Unfortunately, that we do not, general, but we do have these." He drops a white- and red-striped straw in her cup. It looks like a candy cane, the type that Eve likes to keep in her penthouse during the holidays. "And you, miss?"

It takes you a moment to realize he's talking to you. "Ah, anything will do. Thank you!" You tell him as he sticks a green straw with a vine pattern in your cup.

"Come again!" He says as the two of you leave the stall behind.

"You know, Raven nearly choked on a tapioca when I first introduced him to bubble tea," says Elesis, chewing a few of her own. "We were all screaming at him and pounding his back. Eventually Allegro did the Heimlich maneuver on him and he spat it out like a bullet."

The two of you laugh for a moment. "What else do you want to eat?" She asks. "We've got herbal juice down the road, fried crackers over there… There's so much here. You can eat whatever you want."

"How about we just wander around, buy some stuff to eat and just sit down and talk?" You suggest.

"Sounds good to me," she agrees.

Fifteen minutes later, you're trying to hold the remainder of your bubble tea in one hand, a lovely clover salad in the other and a paper bag of apple fries hanging off your pinkie. Elesis holds her own bubble tea and a small salad, though you're pretty sure she has some grilled chicken on hers.

The two of you wander out of the mountain, into the outer rings of the city. It takes a while because you're holding so much food, but you and Elesis climb up a few rocks to sit on top of what might have once been a pillar from the temples of old.

Wild grass blows all around you, drifting in the wind. It kind of reminds you of Eve and Chung in a sad way. The scent of the apple fries don't help much.

Elesis takes a sip of her bubble tea, watching each tapioca pearl rise up the straw intently. "So, what do you wanna talk about?" She asks, mouth full of tapioca.

You ponder for a moment. "Can you tell me about Seris?"

She swallows down the tapioca, sets down her bubble tea and looks you in the eye. "Rena, how long have you known Raven?" She asks.

"About a year," you admit. "Once I arrived in Velder, everyone kept saying I look like Seris, but I still have no idea who she is."

Elesis is silent again. "You do look a lot like Seris," she confirms. "Seris is-well, she was Raven's fiancee during our protests."

"Oh." The reality finally hits you. It must be incredibly painful for Raven, having to see and take care of someone who looks just like his late beloved everyday. Silently, you thank him for being so tolerant of you and putting up with you for so long."

"Don't get me wrong, you're very different from Seris," chuckles Elesis. "You have a gentle soul. You're not a fighter at heart. Seris was a planner, a tactician. She planned all our protests, where we'd do them for the best effect, what time of day we'd do it. As much as Raven may deny it, Seris was the lifeline of our team."

"Who was the last member?" You ask. "I heard he ended up in Sander or something."

Elesis' eyes turn dark. "Alex," she mutters. "His dad was from Elder but he was born in Velder. He kept thinking that he was higher up than all of us, kept telling us that he'd rise up above all of us. The dirty bastard turned us in to the Alteran police the day before our final protest. Raven and Seris helped me over a fence and I got out of Altera, but the Hamelians ended up catching me over their border."

She winces. "Seris died in that mess," she explains softly. "Raven lost his arm trying to protect her. Once we lost Seris, the revolution fell apart."

The two of you sit in silence, watching the sun go down in the distance. "It sure is pretty, isn't it," you murmur.

"Yeah," sighs Elesis. "I've lived here for five years and the sunset is still as stunning as ever.

As you lean back and open your bag of (heavenly!) apple fries, a dark spot flies across the horizon. You blink a few times, but it doesn't disappear.

"Elesis," you say slowly, "is it just me, or is that black dot coming towards us?"

Her eyes grow wide with every word. "Fuck," she mutters, swallowing down her tea. "FUCK! We need to get inside. Now."

You're frozen in shock until she stands up. "MOVE IT, RENA!" She barks. Her tea and salad spill across the pillar as she drops them. "Those are Alteran bombers coming for us. We need to get everyone inside, quickly."

The sheer force of her voice shocks you awake, getting you on your feet. You down the last of your bubble tea and toss the cup aside as Elesis grabs your hand and begins to jump down the colossal rocks that form the city. You can barely shove the salad into your bag of apple fries as you struggle not to look down the steep drops, your heart beating faster with every step you take.

"RAISE THE BARRIER!" Shouts Elesis when the two of you reach the outer city. "THERE'S AN ALTERAN BOMBER COMING THIS WAY!" She grabs a running child by his collar. "GET TO THE EMERGENCY BUNKERS!"

A wave of fear washes over you as Elesis grabs a red umbrella from a nearby store and waves it in the air. "I REPEAT, RAISE THE BARRIER!" She screams again.

As the panic begins to set in the general public, the chaos of the crowd begins to bring you down. A siren goes off somewhere in the city. Three frantic ladies rush out of the shop where Elesis grabbed the umbrella, knocking you aside.

Elesis whirls around. "Rena!" She grabs your hand and drags you up to your feet. "You need to find Raven-no, find Lento. Lento can activate the barrier," she says hurriedly. "I need to stay here to make sure everyone gets out and that the barrier works. We don't have enough time to put the entire barrier up, the bomber is too close to us…"

She grabs your shoulders. "If we don't see each other again, I'm glad that I met you," she says, smiling wryly. "Your sharp eyes saved hundreds of people, Rena. El be with you."

You nod at her once, trying to find the strength to smile but failing. "El be with you," you echo before you run, pushing through the struggling crowd. There are tall people and short people and crying elders and screaming children, but you keep your eyes up high, hoping to Raven's black hair somewhere.

"Rena!" Someone catches your hand and holds on tight. You're whipped through the chaos, tugged into a side alley. "Where's Elesis?" Demands Raven, his eyebrows furrowed.

"She stayed behind to make sure everyone got out," you gasp. "Where's Lento? He needs to raise the barrier!"

"He already went to do that," he says. "I need to go find Elesis. Fucking Siegharts don't know the meaning of the word danger…"

"We need to go find Elesis," you correct. "I'm not going to the shelters. I have nothing to lose."

Raven doesn't even respond. He just runs. You follow him.

Even as you rush back towards the outer city, you can see the huge dome closing over the outer city. You get the idea that it was built to be only a light shield, meant to save the citizens, not the structures. The impact of any explosive against this dome would cause the shield to shatter into pieces, but the worst of it wouldn't hit the citizens.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Elesis and a tall man behind a large rock of the outer city, one of the handful that make up the framework between the inner and outer. They seem to be pushing against two handles with all their might.

"There!" You yell at Raven, dragging him over towards them.

Elesis' eyes go wide when she sees you coming over. "No, no, NO! You're supposed to be in the bomb shelters with everyone else!" She shouts angrily. "Why aren't you in the bomb shelters like everyone else?!"

You shove yourself against the large handle next to her. "We work together," you tell her above the distant hum of the barrier closing overhead. "Save more lives while we can."

Raven brings the two of you down, smashing you against the ground. "Get down," he yells, "There's no time left!"

You're only faintly aware of a warm body pressing all three of you to the ground before the screams of a million souls rip your world to pieces.


From dust to dust.

There's a fine layer of white dust settling on your hands when you open your eyes. The weight on your back has been lifted, but even as you blink, the dust makes your eyes water.

A bit travels to your nose. You can't help but sneeze, violently blowing the snowy layer off your hands. The white cloud drifts up in the dying sunrays, capturing the last rich orange sunrays as they die overhead.

"Rena."

You roll over onto your side. Raven is sitting next to you, his face covered in ash and his eyes red. "You're alright," he breathes, pulling you up and wrapping you in a massive bear hug.

It feels odd for Raven to be holding you so close to him, especially after Elesis told you about Seris, but you accept his embrace. "You're alright too," you whisper, your voice hoarse.

There's a cough on your other side. You turn away from Raven to find Elesis lying on the floor beside you. You give her your hand and haul her up. "Do you need some water?" You ask, hacking out a cough yourself.

Elesis shakes her head before suddenly going stiff. "Lento."

You were wondering who had tucked all three of you in at the moment of the blast. As you turn around, Lento tries to smile.

"It's only a little shrapnel, I swear," he says. "You guys aren't hurt, are you?"

His entire back is covered in blood, seared from the heat of the explosion. You can barely even make them out at first, but there are three large pieces of some metal, lodged in his back and his shoulder.

"Lento, you dumb fuck," says Elesis, her voice hoarse with anger. "Stop trying so hard!"

He winces. "A little bomb like that isn't going to be enough to kill me," he says, gritting his teeth. "Though I could probably use some medical attention right about now."

"Wait." You stand up, ignoring the ringing in your head. The outer city has been decimated, and much of the inner city is too. While the inner city's damage is mostly from the shock of the explosion, the entire dome has collapsed in on itself, shattered to pieces that rained down upon the city. The closest piece of the barrier is a mere two metres away from the wall, a piece that was likely blasted from the very top.

One of the shops you see destroyed is a little clothing store up ahead. You jog over to it, digging in the rubble for any sense of fabric. A lot of the wares are dusty, but you come across what might have once been a plastic tub of scarves, each wrapped up in new plastic bags. A single touch tells you that they're cotton fabric.

You grab as many of the scarves as you can hold, running back to the little group. "Here," you tell them, dropping the packages. "Tell me where I can find alcohol."

Raven raises an eyebrow. "Alcohol?"

"Preferably with a high concentration," you affirm. "Like medical booze?"

"Cantata's pharmacy, eight shops down, left side," says Elesis quickly. "Should we try to remove the shrapnel?"

"No!" You yelp. "Is he still bleeding?"

"Not that I can tell," says Raven.

"Good," you tell him, standing up. "Now wait here while I raid a pharmacy for some medical booze. It would help if you could remove the clothing from his back. Gently, please. Avoid touching the metal, it'll only cause more bleeding."

You're back with three bottles of isopropyl alcohol after a few minutes of digging through the ashes. While the pharmacy itself hasn't been destroyed, one of the walls has tipped over, which made searching a little more painful.

After you pour a little alcohol onto a scarf, you begin to wipe down Lento's back. He grits his teeth, but says nothing as you clean up the blood. "We can't do much about the shrapnel for now," you apologize. "But I'm going to clean out your burns to the best of my ability."

It takes a while, but you manage to clean up the majority of the blood. "Help me wrap him up," you tell Raven and Elesis, ripping open another scarf.

"How do we keep them from flying off?" Asks Elesis. "If we're going to carry him back to the hospital…"

You want to search the fabric shop again, but a flash of red runs through your sight as you try to stand up. "Here," you say, pulling on one end of the long ribbon you use to tie your hair up. The black ribbon whirls around you, letting your hair fall around your face in a blonde curtain as you kneel next to Lento again to secure the fabric down.

Across from you, Elesis and Raven glance at each other. You can't read their expressions well, but you detect some sense of shock from them. It's like they're having a silent conversation about you with only their eyes.

The three of you manage to put Lento on a tarp you find. It's relatively clean, so you dust it off. There's a small bloodstain on one of the corner, but you rip it off.

Right now, you don't want to think about where it's from.

There are screams beginning to arise from within the city. People are coming out to inspect the damage. You start to hear the panic rising again.

As the three of you lift Lento into the city, you get the feeling that it's going to be a long night. As a former Alteran, you have to fulfill your duty to serve the people.

You have to.


A/N: GUISE I'M NOT THAT AWESOME PLZ

Thank you to users EternaPhoenix and Zadred212 for reviewing, and to user Scientist Zimmena I believe for following my progress via Tumblr!

But seriously y'all I'm a sad little mortal potato I am not worthy of your praise

plz do not start cults they are never good ideas read the Orange Papers if you have the time to

my friend from elementary has a fanbase/cult dedicated to him on facebook and seriously guise I'm fucking terrified this is one of the reasons why I don't have facebook

PM me talk to me peeps I crave attention I am a potato

~MargaritaDaemonelix

UPDATE: FORGOT TO SAY THIS EARLIER BUT THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS WILL BE LONGER THAN THE USUAL 4500-ISH COUNT. HAVE A NICE DAY/NIGHT/W/E.