The Meanderer

by xeveningx

"The world is beautiful and pure, it's the weeds in it that ruin it." And to save the world she loves, Noé will do what she must: find her friends to free her master. But as she learns what saving it implies, discourse stirs in her. Is it really worth saving anymore? "It's not the world that's worth saving," a red cub told her. It's hard to understand his words.

3. Foreseeable Fear

Chapter Three:

Foreseeable Fear

---

|i.|

"The girl journeyed through the world going from dungeon to dungeon to speak to the great djinn inhabiting them in the hopes of finding her friends.

But diving dungeons when not planning to conquer them left her at a disadvantage. Without conquering it, she could not exit them. More than a few times she dove without a way out and was forced to wait until another came and got to the treasure room. Thankfully, luck was on her side far too many times as she would always be liberated.

It seemed that freedom was hard to lose once won. That gladdened her. It meant her hard work and all the suffering she endured wasn't in vain.

The girl had to admit, however, that she needed a better plan if she was to follow the first djinn's advice. And after understanding the role of the great magicians of creation, she found her better plan."

—{i}—

"You seriously need to stop doing this."

Noé's smile didn't waver and her eyes didn't leave her lute as she played a couple of notes before tuning the instrument. Her foot bounced in midair as she strum the full chord. "Stop doing what?"

"Entering dungeons without having an exit, you dumbass!"

That Chief blew her gasket made it even funnier and got her to let out a boisterous laugh that resounded throughout the treasure room. Noé truly didn't know what she was getting so mad about.

"Relax. Yunan said he had chosen a candidate already for this one. He sounded pretty sure about having an exit for me."

"I hope so. Dying in this dungeon would only mean we become food for scavengers."

"Yeah right! I'd live of off these small fries before becoming anybody's food." After all, baby dragons were tasty with a lot of things. Noé especially liked how they tasted glazed with honey and cooked just right. But she couldn't blame Chief much since there had been plenty of times when they waited much too long for a dungeon to be conquered. That's why this time she made absolutely sure to have a plan.

Well, she supposed as sure as trusting Yunan and his instincts went. Noé didn't doubt the wandering magi, though. He was a good guy and a fine ally when needed. He had never let her down and she was sure he wouldn't start now.

The moment she caught the distinct smell of the salty sea mixed with fresh blood and sweat, Noé knew that she hadn't been wrong about trusting Yunan. Her fingers instantly stopped as the noise from a couple of voices approached the treasure room. Wanting to remain unseen until the djinn and the exit came to be, she used her light magic to distort the light around her and disguise herself. The footsteps rushed into the room as a couple of young bucks entered the treasury. It was easy to scrutinize them from her perch just above the entrance where a balcony was: two boys of about the same age. One had green hair and hardened features, decked out in red and golden armor. Noé recognized the sigil of the Venomous Spider Princess of Parthevia. The other was a simple sailor boy with lusciously long purple hair and eyes of molten gold. What caught Noé by surprise was the sudden kick that the rukh around her got.

Since she wasn't a magician, she couldn't perceive the rukh. However, if gathered in great quantities and if she played right with the light around her, she could spot the silhouettes made by the fractured light she conjured as they flew about. Moments like those were rare; she usually played around with that aspect of her powers whenever she and Yunan spent any time together. But the moment those two walked into the room, Noé instantly felt their presence and as she played with the lighting fracturing it to the point she'd discovered, she could visualize the horde that hovered in the room.

Hundreds of thousands of them had entered the room with the two boys. And they all gathered around the little sailor boy.

How curious.

"What intensity." It was more than clear to her that Chief was more impressed than interested about what they were witnessing. "It's like a magi."

But unlike it. Magi were magicians loved by the rukh. But these weren't hovering adoringly around the boy. They just were, guiding him away from the piles of stone treasure towards the real cache: the djinn's metal vessel.

Touching it, he summoned the grand djinn that appeared before them, lightning striking out alongside him. Blue lightning.

"It's Lord Baal." Huh. Noé never heard Chief speak of the others like that. The other djinn had been comrades, bittersweet affairs, some even old enemies, but she never spoke of them with such revere. It made her wonder about the djinn. But Noé wasn't an idiot. She knew who Baal was, just not personally.

Not my district, not my problem, is what she would have thought of him. Except that was then and this was now. And right now, she wanted to speak to the djinn. But he seemed a bit more taken by the young men that declared themselves as the candidates to conquer him. When they went at each other's throats and inevitably started fighting over who would get to become king, Baal had no problem with them duking it out between themselves.

But as the two boys did that, Noé wasn't blind to the djinn's scrutiny her way. It was almost painstakingly obvious that he could see her but he decided to hold his tongue for some reason.

"It's his dungeon. We are aware of what occurs in our domains. Hiding from him wouldn't have worked regardless."

She didn't expect it to. It wasn't like she was hiding from him, though. She just didn't want to deal with the kids squabbling over who would take the shiny new toy. So Noé sat back and watched the spectacle, betting two gold coins on the sailor boy. Chief ignored her childish game—Noé just placed Chief's nonexistent bet on the opposing party—and watched alongside her as the two went into a clean fist fight.

That's primitive.

"When in doubt…"

And surely, no doubt was left after the sailor boy popped one last hit at the soldier effectively rendering him unconscious. He stood proudly and bloody from the sword fight before Baal.

"The victory is mine."

Baal stared down at the brat, taking his prying gaze away from her, and proclaimed, "I have witnessed your ambition, Sinbad. However…" Noé saw where this was going when the djinn's eyes came to her on her perch. "The boy you defeated is not the only candidate present."

That bewildered the sailor boy Sinbad plenty. "W-What?! But only Drakon and I made it here!"

"Another has been here for sometime, watching." Baal finally faced Noé and raised a threatening hand crackling with lightning. "Show yourself."

Noé grinned, liking the blue giant's boldness, before flashing to stand before Sinbad and Baal and breaking the cloak of the light around her, showing herself to the two of them. Sinbad jumped back, startled by her sudden appearance so near him. Baal wasn't amused but intrigue did etch itself on his face.

"Hello," Noé cheerfully called with a wave of her hand to Baal more than to Sinbad, "Nice to meet you, my name's Noé."

"H-How—" Sinbad shook his head and instead focused on another question. "Since when…?"

"Not long before you entered." Noé saw now that the intrigue in Baal could be heard in his words. He'd known she was there even before he emerged. "And yet you did not claim me. Who are you, human?"

"I already introduced myself," she pointed out, craning her neck back to see the blue giant better. She flinched a bit at hearing Chief's loud chastising in her head from being so disrespectful to Baal, but Noé ignored her as best she could, plugging one of her ears to keep the noise to a minimum. "But if what you want is a reason then it's to talk to you."

Baal raised a questioning eyebrow. "Talk?"

Noé nodded. "What I want is information, if you happen to have any, about my friends, the recorders."

"Recorders?" she heard little Sinbad repeat every bit as confused as he sounded. His bafflement was blown out of him when he jumped out of his skin again at hearing the boisterous laugh that erupted from Baal. Noé glanced around at the small trickle of sand that poured out of the cracks of the treasury from the shaking his laughter caused.

Once calm, Baal reached down and patted Noé's head to her utter astonishment. It hurt—he wasn't being careful at all!—but it was short lived and left her hair messed up every which way. Not like her auburn curls weren't a mess by themselves already. Baal let out another chuckle, taking his hand back and letting her put her hair back into place.

"You're one of Arikos' friends."

"Yes, I am. And I'm looking for Ari and the others...sir." Well, as good of a mood as declaring her motives put him in, Noé didn't think a little flattering via respect would hurt her. "Would you happen to know anything about him or the others?"

At being asked this, though, his happiness left and his solemn expression returned to him. "I do not, child. His works were of no consequence to us. We only provided the information, not the means."

"I see." What a bust.

"However—" Noé's eyes shone a bit with hope that he had something to give. "—if you will be searching for them, then I suggest you start with those sigils marking you."

"What sigils?"

"Um?" At hearing him speak up, Noé gave Sinbad a sidelong glance as he cleared his throat and pointed to his own face. "I think what he means is what's on your face."

"My face?" She reached up to touch her cheek unconsciously on the side that always burned when using those powers. "What's wrong with it?"

"You are Andromalius' master, correct?" Noé nodded at the question. "Light reflects. I suggest looking at yourself now." Preoccupied with that, she used Chief's powers to gather the light and materialize a round crystal mirror. Her eyes stared at her reflected image for a solid second, her hands holding firmly onto the ragged edges and her mind processing what her eyes were seeing.

On the right side of her face, from the top of her forehead to the bottom of her cheekbone, was a bright orange sigil just like Baal said. It was an eight-pointed star and inside it was a second image, originating from the middle of the circle. It was a bright point of color that burst out into several lines to reach the edge.

It looks like an exploding sun.

It was faint, the color almost fading from her dark skin, but her eyes still saw the remnants of engorged veins on her forehead and around her right eye and cheekbone. It looked odd. An idea struck her and to test it, Noé focused on channeling her powers.

Not Chief's. Hers. The ones that she took. She had learned long ago how to summon it—how it was different from Chief's magic, despite both being the same kind—and although she knew plenty about it, she also understood that her knowledge on it was not exhaustive. That it manifested so brightly when using it was a clear example of the limits of her proficiency.

But how could she have known? Noé seldom looked herself in mirrors, much less when using her magic. But Baal was onto something. That sigil, it was like those on the metal vessels, but the other on the inside was one she recognized. And if she had it...

They'll have them too.

Noé let herself relax, releasing the powers of the seal, and watched as the marking on her face faded off, leaving only tiny remnants of her swollen blood vessels. The mirror disintegrated in her hands as she unconsciously rubbed at her face.

"And if it aids you in any way, I believe that Arikos had his on his left arm." The djinn specified his description by lifting his own arm and brushing his other hand over his left forearm.

Noé grinned haphazardly and nodded. "Yes, it will. Thank you, Baal. Oh, and Chief wants to tell you that she's glad you have found a master."

His eyebrow raised at hearing that. "I have yet to choose. After all, you and Sinbad remain."

She shook her head. "I never entered with the intention to conquer you. I don't need another djinn." Noé let her hand fall off her face and turned to glance at Sinbad. Going back to her goofy persona, she started looking Sinbad all over.

It only took a few seconds for him to become nervous about her perusal. "U-Um, can you stop, please?"

And she did. Noé stepped back and smiled with a solemn nod before patting his head. Despite appearing so young, she was almost to her full grown height, at five and a half feet. Only four more inches. Compared to her, Sinbad was but a boy. But if Yunan chose him then it must be for a reason.

"I don't want Baal," she assured him, his molten eyes staring owlishly at her response. "Besides, Yunan led you here for a reason, right?"

His eyes widened even more despite Noé thinking that impossible. "You know Yunan?"

She nodded cheerfully, teasingly slapping his cheek a couple of times. "Tell him I say 'hello,' okay?" Before he even answered though, she turned towards Baal again and motioned to Sinbad. "I forfeit my candidacy. You have your king right here."

Baal agreed wholeheartedly and entered Sinbad's sword. The portal appeared then and Noé was more than glad to enter it to watch Sinbad from a distance as he struggled with the gold he was packing. Once he was done and entered it as well, the portal took them away. It became awkwardly silent on the way back but Noé didn't mind the silence. The sailor boy did, though, and broke it with an inquiry.

"So...you have a power like Baal too?"

"Yep!" Noé didn't deem it necessary to lie to the boy. "Mine I got a long time ago, though."

"Did Yunan help you too? Is that how you know him?"

"No, he didn't. At least not with capturing my djinn." Noé never found out who raised Andromalius. Not like she cared anyway. Chief was hers now and no magi would say otherwise. No one would take her friends away from her ever again.

At the mention of Yunan, a dark cloud hung over her mind. This little kid was another of his king vessels. Another one that could end just as fatally as the others. And Noé knew how much those outcomes saddened Yunan. Since she didn't want to see him sad again, she turned to him with a wide grin before poking him teasingly right between his eyes.

He yelped back, holding his forehead where she'd attacked him. "W-Why?!"

"Don't let the power get to your head, alright kid? Be honest and be true to your dreams. Most of all, always be kind. And remember that absolute power corrupts absolutely."

His gold eyes blinked twice before a sincere smile spread across his face. With a nod, he agreed, apparently having taken to heart her advice.

Before long the portal returned them to the dungeon's origin...where a horde of Parthevian soldiers waited for them. At first, they were happy that the dungeon had been cleared, assumedly by the Parthevian boy, Sinbad. But when said sailor declared he would not hand over neither the metal vessel nor the treasure, they became furious and opted to take it by force.

Joy.

"He can't deal with them by himself. He just got Baal and he doesn't know how to use him."

True. Noé supposed that the easier route would be for her to intervene. So she did. Raising her hand over her head, she summoned Chief's bow and pulled back on the invisible string of light that nocked the arrow. Noé didn't waste time and let the arrow fly into the sky and, with no target to hit, it exploded into a blinding light. It didn't affect her or Sinbad but dazed the soldiers that had meant to attack them.

"Nice job!" Sinbad called out. "Can you get us out of here?"

Noé chuckled while rubbing the back of her head. "I can't."

"What?!"

"Can't you?"

Yeah but...not happening.

Flashing was a good ability but one that she used sparingly because it came from the seal's powers. It tolled too much of her energy and that was just from using it for herself. Distance covered added to that factor though not by much. Adding extra cargo, now that added an additional levy that she did not want to pay. So flashing Sinbad, herself, and the fat stack of cash with them was a no-go.

Thankfully, she did not have to crack her mind open so much about it when Yunan literally appeared into the scene. "Hello, you two."

"Yunan!"

"Hey, Yunan."

His caring yet saddened baby blue eyes gazed over Sinbad for an instant. That was all it took for Noé to see that, aside from his happiness about the boy having conquered the dungeon successfully, there was also an underlying sense of grief. Many wouldn't have seen it as any different than how he usually looked. But having seen much happier expressions on the wandering magi, Noé knew it wasn't.

He ignored her for a second as he helped Sinbad conjure Baal's powers. The sheer intensity of the lightning bolts was astounding to Noé. Few where the djinns she'd seen in action once bound to a master, but none had been as amazing nor as terrifying as that blue lightning. The soldiers drew back understandably scared from the lashing of the magic. To her surprise, Yunan helped Sinbad get back to wherever he came from, sending him off with his magic along with his bags of treasure.

Having him alone by her side now, Noé grinned at him. "Off he goes."

"Yes." He watched over the trajectory she assumed he send Sinbad off before turning to give her his full attention. "Any good news from Baal?"

She gave him a chuckle of her own, her hand reaching up to the right side of her face. "It's a clue. It'll keep me going for now."

"That is good," he agreed. Before they could continue their talk, though, the two of them noted how the soldiers from before were starting to approach them. "Maybe we should talk somewhere else." With a swing of his staff, Noé felt the magic he conjured surround them before it envelope her whole and popped her out of existence.

The two of them reappeared in another city completely. It was easy for her to tell they weren't in Parthevia anymore because the earth wasn't permeated with the thick stench of decaying corpses. This new city was one she recognized vaguely. Seaside islands, a vibrant trade market, palace facing the far off northern side.

Yeah, this was Balbadd.

"I'm glad the dungeon didn't teleport you outside of its perimeter." Hearing this, she turned towards Yunan who wore a warm smile on his face. "I've been meaning to talk to you."

Intrigued, she raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

He didn't waste time. "Have you met any other magi aside from myself?"

Noé gave the question some thought. Knowing him, he wasn't asking out of self-gain. He wasn't that petty to think some other magi had taken her as king candidate. Besides, she was sure he knew her better than to think she'd tie herself down to any one person or country again after all these years. So if not out of self-interest, then he was asking to tell her something else.

"Only one other. Reim's golden girl."

He nodded solemnly. "You haven't been east?" When she shook her head, he had his answer. "Then this might be of interest to you: another magi has surfaced and he resides in the eastern parts of the world."

"Can you guys track each other or something?" she asked teasingly with a half smile.

Yunan played along with her, reciprocating the gesture. "I passed by there a few years ago and found him. He is but a child barely getting to know his own abilities from what I saw."

"I guess now would be a good time to visit the east then. Thanks, Yunan."

"Balbadd has ships that can take you close. You'll have to cross the plains there to get to the other side and to the city. But I must warn you, there is darkness there."

That caught her attention. "The organization?"

"I believe so."

Her demeanor changed with that piece of information. Al-thamen, huh. She guessed that only having been to two-thirds of the world meant that she had missed the dark stain where those bastards resided. She offered him a nod and sincere smile. "I appreciate the warning, Yunan. I'll be careful. Will you be following the little sailor?"

"You mean Sinbad?" he asked curiously and chuckled at her confirmation. "I will. Or at least I'll keep watch over him as he begins his journey."

"That's good." Despite saying this though, Noé couldn't ignore the anguish hidden behind his eyes. He's still doubtful. Trotting up to him, she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled. "It's good that you're watching over him. Don't let him walk off the right path, Yunan. The only way to do that is to get involved. We can't leave everything to fate."

His smile changed briefly to a frown but after he shook his head, it was gone and he nodded at her suggestion. "I will. It's my hope that it'll be different this time. I'll have hope like you said."

Hope…

Hope won't get you anything but loss and agony.

"Noé." Chief's stern voice snapped her out of her sudden mentality. This time when she nodded and smiled to reassure him, it was only superficial, though she doubted he could tell after doing it for so long.

He hadn't just like she guessed. "Want me to give you a ride to the ports?"

She raised her hand dismissively. "I think I'll walk. Thanks for the offer, though." With a wave goodbye, she gave him her back and left him to his endeavors with his ninth king vessel.

---

|ii.|

Niko raised an incredulous brow after Noé had her say about the dungeon the very next day. "You say a dungeon is what's causing all this. And you want to conquer it?"

"I want you to conquer it and I can train you for it," she assured. The prospect didn't seem as sound as she thought it to be in her head to Mennie and Areste though. By the looks on their faces, it seemed they were just as skeptical about it as Nikotis was.

"Aren't dungeons dangerous?" Mennie mumbled, turning to her husband and brushing her hand against his arm.

"And how are you so sure that it's a dungeon?" Areste huffed, putting his two cents in.

"I went there last night." Mennie and Areste appeared surprised, Niko not so much. Noé liked that he didn't put anything past her. He was as wary as he was calculative. That would make her job easier. "The dungeon's there and I can take you to it. Not only that but if it'll help calm your nerves—" she said with a nod to his wife and brother "—I'm diving in with him. I've done this before and I can guarantee he'll come back alive and with the power and treasure that dwells inside it."

"People die in dungeons." Noé didn't turn to look at Luca like the other three did. She didn't feel like getting her stomach turned by whatever pitiful expression the kid had on his face. How she hated dealing with kids. "Dad...are you really going?"

Mennie shook her head and went over to him, soothingly stroking his head. "Of course not, Luca. Your father isn't going anywhere."

But Noé could see that despite what Mennie was saying to their son, Niko was seriously thinking about his options. Even with the limited information she gave, it was a solution to their problems and she knew that he knew this.

He just needs one last push.

"Give me five months to properly prepare you. Not only will I do that but I will help you clear the vermin from Maladh as well while I'm here. Once you clear the dungeon, you'll have what you need to do that and more without me. You will regain control."

And after living in such a state of chaos and uncertainty for years, Noé could easily deduce what he would choose.

"Very well."

"But Niko—" "Dear!" "Dad?"

Noé covered her ears with her hands, the raucous sound of their sudden arguing hurting her head. Her eyes stared duly at the three adults that fought over Niko's decision. Curious, her glance went askance to Luca who stood by glaring at Noé. She didn't blame him but didn't bother with him either. Kids tended to be more trouble than they were worth.

They were too emotional. Too rash.

"You weren't much different."

I was exactly the same.

She knew from experience. So when Luca dared step up to her, Noé quickly brought her arms up to block the feeble punches he threw at her. Mennie shrieked at her son's actions but it was Niko who stopped him, pulling him aside by his shoulders. Noé couldn't see the kid's face anymore but she could hear his sobbing which made the feathers behind her right ear fall back against her head.

"Listen to me, Luca, what I do is for you and your mother and uncle. It's for the family and it's my choice."

"B-But dad, you'll die!"

"I won't." The candor practically oozed from his words. Niko believed them, and because he did, it appeared that Luca started to too. Niko's gentle glance changed in a split second to a cold stare as he turned to her. "You're asking for five months?"

She nodded. "To train you. Whatever is in that dungeon won't go easy on you. I have to take into account your capabilities now to know what I need to teach you," she explained. "Five months is a rather reserved estimate but it's one."

"Can you do it in three?"

Noé raised an eyebrow rather interested in what he was suggesting. "You should be asking yourself that question, not me. But I'll warn you, three months of me training you will be hell compared to five."

"I'll manage."

Noé shrugged her shoulders and scoffed before standing up from her seat. "Alright, hot shot. That being the case we better get started then."

—{ii}—

It was easy to train Nikotis. Not only was he strong to withstand the hell she threw at him, he was determined to do what he thought best for his family and town. He had what she saw in many dungeon conquerors other magi had chosen. It made Noé think that even when this wouldn't be a longstanding choice that it would be a good one for however long it lasted.

As promised, Noé also helped cleaning the weeds that plagued this small patch of the world. It was good exercise she reckoned since it had to be done without Chief's power. Not like that was saying much when Noé was a born and taught fighter. Regrettably, Niko told her that murder wasn't allowed in Maladh so she had to settle with being able to beat them up as much as she wanted before throwing the vermin out of town.

Despite being able to expend her pent up energy training Niko and cleaning Maladh up, Noé had to admit that the thought of staying in Maladh for three months was harrowing at first. She didn't like being cooped up when there wasn't a need to. The world was her garden, one she never tired of exploring. Forever changing, forever astounding.

But Noé managed to calm her nerves with the idea that it would only be three measly months. And what were three months after the years she had lived and those she still had left?

Three months will fly by like nothing, right, Chief?

It took Noé a few seconds to recall why Andromalius didn't answer. The obstinate djinn would not answer her for anything at the moment. Not even as the days turned to weeks, or as the weeks began to bleed into months. But like she'd known before, Noé understood Chief's restraint to aid her. And she didn't blame her either. Which is why she never complained. In spite of her silence, Noé still talked to Chief as if nothing was wrong, wanting to have at least that from before. Solitude killed, after all.

Through those three months, Chief only spoke to Noé once the night when she informed Niko that they would be dungeon diving come the morrow.

"Be careful, Noé. Those powers of yours may be greater than even my own but they take a greater toll on you than I ever will. Use them wisely."

A warning. Aside from concern, Noé supposed that it was to remind her as well of their agreement. Andromalius wouldn't help her conquer Sitri for Nikotis. Which meant that all she had at her disposal were her own skills and Grace of Sunlight.

And since no sun shines underground, what powers the latter would give her would come from the magoi her own body produced.

"I'll be careful, Chief. Promise."

—{ii}—

Three months exactly after her arrival to the decrepit town, Noé stood once again before Sitri's dungeon but this time she wasn't alone. Getting them there had been easier than before now that she knew what awaited her on the way. But nothing prepared the young man she brought with her for the splendor of the dungeon that caused all his problems.

"You ready, kid?"

The bemusement left his eyes and they steeled before he gave a nod to her. Nodding herself, she took ahold of his shoulder before pushing both of them through the entrance. Noé felt the pressure change before a light blinded her but at opening her eyes once again, she saw the desolate world that was left and the same thought that always came to her when she dove crossed her mind.

I'll never tire of seeing you.

Her nostalgia didn't last as their fall culminated over a very active crater filled to the brim with bubbling and boiling magma. Seeing it before he even had a chance to, Noé maneuvered herself against the wall before pushing off to shove Niko out of the crater's way. They tumbled to a stop some feet away a few moments before the crater erupted into a pillar of fire making the two of them cover their faces from the heat.

"T-This...is a dungeon?"

"Sitri's. Yeah," Noé replied as both watched the fire pillar die down into its crater. Sounds of eruptions made a cacophony around them, more active craters littered around them. "Watch where you step."

Niko followed after her as she stood and made her way through the chamber. Sitri's dungeon was quite flamboyant if she said so herself. Dangerous to boot too. Luckily, Niko hadn't died right out of the bat. That would have dampened her plans quite a bit. As they reached the end of the room, Noé couldn't help fanning her face and airing her clothes from the heat piling against her body. She took a swig from one of the many gourds of water she brought along before turning to Niko.

"Alright, hot shot. You're up."

"Yes." Niko took the hilt of his sword tightly as it rested at his side before braving forward and leading the way. Just like Chief had done with her for the past three months, Noé wasn't going to help Niko on clearing the dungeon. Unlike her djinn though, Noé would intervene if things became too dangerous or if he looked like he wouldn't be able to deal with things himself. He had to work for his reward after all. But that was aside from the fact that she couldn't let her escape route die on her either.

Noé figured that watching over him as he traversed the dungeon would be better than leaving him to his luck. But she began to notice the further they went through the dungeon that she had worried for nothing. Although Niko did need her help when somewhat overwhelmed with enemies, Noé found the young man capable of holding his own against the myriad of Sitri's dungeon creatures. It made her job easier for one but she also grew to admire his tenacity and grit. She had to admit that the man knew what he wanted and how to get it and wasn't going to back down on anybody's account.

That easily got them through most of the dungeon. And with Noé's help translating the riddles, they finally managed to arrive at the treasure by the three hour mark. Niko was exhausted, beaten and bleeding from some minor injuries but was elated at realizing they had made it to their end goal.

Impressive. Isn't he?

Noé hadn't expected a response. It shocked her when she did. "Considering that your aid was minimal, yes."

Nice to hear you're back.

Chief scoffed at her cheekiness. "I still disagree with your decision. What matters now is that it's over with and you can speak with Sitri."

The silver arrow that laid on her bosom glistened after she said that and an eight-pointed star shone upon its surface. Without warning, a beam of light shot from her arrow and found its target on a sword far inside the room. Noé and Niko followed the light and found that another eight-pointed star was on a sword that was plunged into a cracked stone pedestal.

The hilt of the sword was gold and crafted to look like a raising dragon. It's body and laid back wings made up the guard and followed downward along the hilt to the dragon's head were sapphire eyes were inlaid, its mouth open from where the blade came out of. Blue and gold swirled on the hilt and and the pommel was the dragon's claw grasping an egg in its grasp. The eight-pointed star that shone laid on the blue-jeweled egg.

There you are.

Noé grinned and nudged Niko's shoulder before motioning at the sword. "That's your reward." Niko gave her a strange glance before stepping up to the pedestal to pull the sword out. As soon as his hand touched the hilt, light erupted from the blade before its inhabitant showed itself, its voice booming with its inquiry.

"Who wants to become king?"

Unlike Noé, Niko was bewildered by the sudden appearance of the djinn from its vessel. It was amusing to see the usual aloof man be shocked by something. Giving the djinn a glance though, she had to admit that this one was a pretty looking thing.

A female djinn like she had suspected from what Chief and Yunan had hinted, Sitri was a curvaceous woman. Her hair was pulled up into a bun behind her head with a veil of blue fire trailing on her back. Her upper body was covered by a translucent vest with a white sash wrapped around over it and her chest which let the shoulders of the vest fall around her arms. Three gold rings pierced her bottom lip, the two side ones linked to thin chains that connected to the golden armlets on her arms and followed down to rings on the middle finger of each clawed hand. Wrapped around her hips was a translucent fabric tied with a sash of blue fire. A couple more pierced her left eyebrow which contrasted beautifully against her sharp eyes. Around those same eyes, blue and white scales ran along the edge and traveled down the side of her face with more spread along her arms, chest, and exposed abdomen.

Her sharp eyes landed on the two of them making her bend over a bit to do so. Noé had to make sure Niko didn't cower away from her, seeing as Sitri didn't appear to be the type to take kindly to cowards.

"So you two little ones made it," she called with a lopsided grin.

Wishing to lighten the somber mood, Noé stepped aside to separate herself from Niko. "Yes, Sitri, we have."

The djinn's eyes narrowed again. "Not just any humans, I gather, if you know my name."

Noé lifted her silver arrow by the thin leather band that held it around her neck. "Chief Romali told me who you were," she lied.

A wicked grin came to Sitri's lips before she ruptured into a fit of laughter. "So you're the old hag's master?"

"Old hag!?"

"Doesn't seem like she's fond of that name."

Sitri cackled again and eyed Noé. "Always the bitter crone, isn't she?"

"Absolutely," she agreed giddily.

"Noé!"

Swatting away both the conversation and Chief's annoyance, Noé exchanged her goofiness for a serious expression. "Before we get back to answer your question, mind if I ask you one of my own?"

Both Niko and Sitri stared at her, one confused, the other intrigued. Sitri didn't hide her amusement either as a toothy grin befell her features. "You may."

"It's quite simple and not really as interesting as you may think," Noé shot down with a cheeky grin of her own. "I wanted to know if you knew anything about the recorders?"

The djinn's expression was puzzled a bit at her words and it wasn't until she deciphered her words that she smiled warmly. "...you're one of them."

Noé gave her a sheepish smile. "I'm looking for my friends, Chief Sitri. I know they're out there somewhere and I want to find them to help the world."

Sitri nodded, "And it very well needs it, child. Sadly, I don't know anything of the recorders. None of them were of my people." Noé let a breath out from her nose before nodding in acknowledgement. The djinn's features turned grim as she spoke again, "And although you may have already guessed it, your friends surely aren't there."

Those words hit her hard. It wasn't that she hadn't thought about it, not when she had spent such a long, long time searching for them already. She knew that the other recorders, those who held the other gifts, wouldn't be alive in their new world. Not after such a long time anyway. It was like a childish part of her had hoped against hope that maybe they had...just like she had. But after so long, Noé knew that she wasn't in fact looking for her friends anymore. At least not the ones she had known.

"However," Noé glanced up at Sitri continuing, "even if they are gone, their legacy isn't. You know how those gifts of yours work better than anybody, champion. They cannot disappear from the world, they must continue living on for the world to do so as well."

"You mean their descendants."

Sitri nodded and crossed her arms, the thin chains elongating at will to give her leeway to do so. "The world exists due to their gift and yours. They predominate over your individual existences as sad as that is."

It made sense now just like it had when Chief explained it to her a long time ago. The possibility of finding her friends had dwindled over the years becoming nonexistent now. And although it would have been ideal for it to have been her friends she found…

"It is not them we require".

Noé gave her a small smile and nodded. "It is but it's not something we can change. Thanks anyhow, Sitri."

The fire djinn gave her a genuine smile. "Of course, champion."

Masking her sullenness from before, Noé returned to her cheery self and placed her hands on her hips. "Now back to the question of your master."

"Yes, of course. So—" she motioned her open hands towards Noé and Niko, "—which one of you will be king?"

There was really no contest when Noé simply clasped her hands childishly behind her back before taking two steps back and making Niko the center of attention. Sitri and her chuckled at his baffled expression which he quickly lost and stepped forward himself full of valor and candor.

"Men were always my thing, anyway," Sitri jested while blowing a kiss at Niko. Cackling as he turned his eyes askance, she asked, "What is your name?"

"Nikotis Ramal."

"Take this sword in your hand then, Nikotis." Niko stepped forward onto the dais where the pedestal with the sword was. He grabbed the hilt with both hands and with ease pulled it out of the stone. "Nikotis Ramal, I, Sitri the Djinn of Diligence and Gallantry, accept you as my master."

Everything went as expected after that. Niko now had Sitri. But as she helped him gather the treasure from the room into sacks, a question rose to her mind which she quickly voiced to Sitri just as they were loading everything onto the portal that would take them home.

"Sitri, the fog you released from your dungeon, why did you spread it? What were you trying to repel?"

Sitri's brow furrowed and she clicked her tongue in disgust. "There's a pestilence in the world. One I didn't want touching my dungeon."

"Pestilence?" Niko asked as he adjusted the dragon sword against his belt.

She gave a solemn nod. "One that goes against the world's order. One that I haven't seen before. No." Her hand came up, her fingers cradling her chin pensively. "I have seen it, felt it before if for the briefest of moments. But I cannot recall where."

"That so?"

Sitri sighed and her shoulders slumped as her body began to fade into light to enter her vessel as the portal took them further away into the dungeon's exit. "Mm. What I do know is that it's not normal for it to exist. Inorganic almost but at the same time more natural than anything I've ever perceived."

"Black rukh or Al-thamen even?"

"It's similar to them." Sitri shook her head after Noé voiced Chief's suggestions. "But it's also different. Darker if I had to describe. It's strange and it disgusts me. Whatever it is, it's been in the vicinity of my dungeon. I have kept it at bay but now that you've conquered it, that will no longer be the case. Be careful, master, champion."

Both Niko and Noé assured her they would be just as they exited the dungeon. Noé squinted her eyes as they arrived rather quickly back at their world just in time for the break of dawn. The sun rose with them and that it bathed her cold and clammy skin made Noé breathe a sigh of relief.

The excitement of dungeon diving would never compare to the feel of the sun on her and how invigorating it felt to have all that magoi surging through her veins. It almost made the insatiable thirst it brought with it bearable.

Almost.

"Well!" Noé turned to Niko who jumped slightly at her abrupt call making her chuckle. "Good job, Niko. You earned this!" She started dragging one of the bags with her to help him get them over the hedge where the dungeon once stood. All the while she did, Niko remained quiet and wistful as if something was caught in his mind. Noé didn't bother asking having already gotten what she wanted and only a promise to Mennie and Luca to bring Niko back safely getting her to help him.

"Noé?"

The tone and way he said her name bellied his intention and gave away his question before she even replied without giving him a second glance, "Yes?"

"Who the hell are you?"

Noé took a deep breath before sighing through her nose, a smile on her face as she glanced over her shoulder at him. "Just a traveller that wants to find her friends, Niko." Groaning a bit as she pulled the treasure over her shoulder, she gave him a toothy grin before nodding towards the direction of Maladh. "Don't you have a family waiting for you? Let's get moving, kid."

---

|i.|

How vibrant and quaint this capital was. The people, although adorned in clothes of variant colors to denote their class, seemed to be well off. Many were merchants, some local manufacturers, but what really got Noé's interest was the fashion. It was so unique, way different than anything she'd ever encountered in her journeys to other countries.

Humming blissfully under her breath, Noé peeked into a stand where they were selling sashes for their rather bulky dresses and picked up a crimson and gold pair to admire the work.

The east is so different. So beautiful. How come we never came here before?

"You had other responsibilities to attend to. Namely Elly."

A sombreness overcame Noé at hearing that name, her hands tightening around the fabric that she held in her hands, her eyes scanning every thread and embroidery. The sash...a deep crimson. Like her feathers, like his.

"I'm sorry, Noé. I didn't mean to—"

"How much for this one?" she asked the vendor completely ignoring Chief's comment.

"Fifty huang."

The term caught her by surprise. "Huang?" The vendor was kind enough to explain the currency used in the east by the country of Kou after its unification. Although she had none of them, the vendor luckily accepted the equivalent of fifty huang in the gold coins she still had. Taking it to go, she tied it around her waist, swapping it for the boring old string that held her drape together and her burden against her back.

There hadn't been too much time to explore the capital of this recently established country of Kou before this. Not when her priorities had been on getting to the dungeon that had been raised just a few hours after she arrived to the outskirts of the city.

"What do you take of Agares' information?"

Noé didn't know in actuality. Being one of the oldest chiefs, Agares knew a lot so it was a given that she trusted his knowledge. And even when his words had been rather vague, the djinn of earth had been helpful.

"You recorders, those of you who took the gifts as yours anyway, affect the world around you. Distort it in awfully particular ways," he said.

Noé couldn't understand how they did that, how she would be able to affect the world she lived in to that degree. But then again, according to what Agares said and what she and Chief deduced, even if such thing did happen, it wasn't like they would be able to notice those changes. After all, she wouldn't be able to see the changes of her absence if she wasn't there.

"What can I possibly affect?" she had asked him curiously.

"You have the Grace of Sunlight, correct?" Noé had nodded as her reply. "Listen once you return. I would imagine the sun disappears, overshadowed by its counterpart when you are absent from the world as you are at this very instant."

And to her surprise it had. After exiting Agares' dungeon once its intended conqueror came, Noé wondered around the populated areas and began hearing the gossip. The sun had indeed disappeared the whole of yesterday. Many of the superstitious people were saying that it had been a dragon that had swallowed the sun whole, foreboding the new emperor's reign as one that would bring upon change.

The sun being swallowed… Seems like Chief Agares was right.

"This is good. With this we can make assumptions that could greatly help us in our search."

Noé couldn't agree more. After all, the fact that Grace of Sunlight affected the world so greatly could mean that her friends who had taken the other gifts could also possibly affect it just as drastically. She and Chief would have to use their imaginations for it later, but coming up with things that could happen if their gifts were missing and looking for those signs would be much better signs to follow than the wild goose chase she had been engaged in for the past third of her life.

That could wait though. Right now, she wanted to enjoy Kou and its rich culture. Being a newly founded country made it quite the gem in the rough to explore. It would take days to properly chip away what she'd rather not see and find what would be better to experience in this eastern city.

But that thought rushed out of her head when a little kid bumped into her as they ran past her closely followed by their friends. "Hurry, hurry!" they cried out, "It's starting!"

"Wait up!"

"What's going on?" she mumbled under her breath. Curious, she followed after the kids and the mounting crowd that began to gather the closer she got to what she presumed to be the outer plaza just outside the imperial palace. The crowd was immense. Everyone wanted to see what the commotion was all about. Some apparently knew and were overtly excited, muttering away about it.

A public execution? Chief hummed pensively at the back of Noé's mind as she started making her way through the crowd, shoving people if the need came which it did. She brushed off the profanities sent her way and made her way to the front of the large dias that was before the spectators. On it where two men, one was much older than the other and dressed in much more regal clothes. He must be some kind of important figure. The other man was grotesque, built to a fault with muscle, and dressed rather darkly. An executioner.

"We come today to punish the grave sin of this criminal! They who have done a severe injustice to not only the greatest ally of our emperor and their family but also the Imperial family itself through their deceit!"

Public executions; Noé hadn't seen many in this world. From what she knew, people tended to undertake such affairs in private away from the public eye. But she knew the reason for the few she had seen: intimidation. Public executions only served the purpose of showing others who might follow or disobey that a regime existed and their reign would not be disputed. And from the sound of it, this was exactly that, a display of power. Nothing but lynching by the ruling powers.

Men on the sidelines moved along bringing the culprit out from their putrid cell. The moment they brought them out and Noé laid her eyes upon them, they widened in shock and astonishment at the so-called criminal.

"She's...a little girl."

The young girl that cried as they walked her up the scaffolding where the executioner and his blade awaited her had caramel hair matted against her somewhat dirtied porcelain skin and dull, stark blue eyes that appeared dead and vacant as the tears fell down her cheeks. Noé could smell her fear and desperation but aside from that she also sensed her remorse and...relief?

"Odd."

The men roughly brought her to her knees beside the executioner though they didn't find any kind of fight left in the poor creature. She seemed so defeated, so devastated, as if this execution was actually a blessing in disguise. But Noé could still sense the terror of death lingering on the young girl's soiled skin, and most notably in her blank eyes.

The old man she saw before began talking again, rattling on about the supposed crimes the girl committed. Noé listened closely at the allegations; murder, usurpation, duplicity against the family of the victim, and treachery against the Imperial Family. Hefty accusations for a child that Noé could guess was no older than eleven even in spite of her small frame. A ruckus some feet above and away from the scaffolding caught Noé's attention and at looking up she saw that high above in a gallery was a group of people arguing. Or more like a young man arguing against the execution, she surmised.

Interested, Noé walked away from the crowd and hid from it before flashing into the balcony all the while using Chief's magic to distort the light around her to make herself invisible to their eyes. The box she barged into belonged to the emperor and his queen and from the looks of it the one disputing the execution was the oldest prince. Crying beside her caught Noé's attention. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw another family, one of five. The mother crying with her oldest daughter, the younger two crying as well but most likely they didn't understand what was going on. The father might not have been crying but the red around his eyes and the dark bags under them told her he'd done his mourning in private.

"Father, I urge you to reconsider!" Noé turned at the prince that argued one-sidedly with the emperor. "Ceara is but a child. What she did could very well have been an accident!"

"I highly doubt that." The father spoke up, his voice strained. "The girl did not leave and gain power for nothing. She planned to use it. And although we are also at fault for reclaiming her after her desertion, the girl was angered after her brother's death. I might agree with Prince Hakuyuu's claim to some extent, but she has gone rampant before and there's nothing assuring us she won't again." His eyes narrowed and glared down at the scaffolding where the little girl knelt before the roaring crowd, the headsman awaiting the emperor's order. "If it was heartless enough to kill my innocent daughter, then it's capable of killing anybody. Even yourself, your majesty."

"No, father, I don't think—" The emperor raised his hand to silence his son before turning sideways to the other side of the gallery near the entrance.

"Step forward, my boy." From the shadows, a silhouette obeyed and stepped out,letting a young man of fiery red hair and eyes step forth.

Noé's eyes narrowed pensively at recognizing the boy. He's the one that conquered Agares. She had briefly met the boy when he and his entourage entered the treasure room just as she finished talking to the Manticore chief. They had threatened her for obstructing their conquering of the dungeon, but like always she stepped aside and watched the little fireboy claim Agares. But that had been months ago, close to half a year almost. Noé never thought she'd meet the little conqueror anytime soon. Especially not in this kind of situation.

He bowed low before the emperor, respectfully, dutifully. "Your majesty."

"Kouen, my nephew, the girl confessed to you, did she not?"

Fireboy—Kouen, she tucked the name at the back of her mind— nodded once. "Yes, I witnessed her involuntarily using her djinn's powers which prompted her to tell me everything." Even through his regality, Noé could tell that the young man seemed unsure of whether to talk. Surely, he felt guilty for condemning a girl to death. But the boy looked to place duty over anything else which she guessed was what had him in that gallery now.

"Do you believe her a threat?"

"Putting that weight on a child. Disgraceful."

Not unheard of or unseen. There were plenty of moments where Noé could recall the same thing happening. The innocent doomed to condemn other innocent. It was convenient for people in power like the emperor; it washed the burden from the shoulders of those in higher power and gave it all to the young.

Little Kouen's shoulders squared as he measured his thoughts before speaking, his voice with a slight tremble that no one heard except her as she put explicit attention to his words. "Tragedies can and do happen when such power is not controlled. I do believe her a danger now, your majesty, but one that can be trained for your benefit."

Noé saw the eyes of the prince glint in gratitude. Neither of them wanted the girl to be punished so severely and with such finality.

"But you can't promise us that!" the shrill of the oldest daughter hurt Noé's ears as she stood next to her. "She murdered Haku! There's no way she doesn't have something against any of you or us. If she killed once, she will kill again, and I'm not losing anyone else." She repeated her father's words and they only seemed to drill the point in further. The girl had done it once already and there was no promise to any of them that she wouldn't do it again. The daughter rounded the two little ones that stood nearby into her as they continued to sob.

"I've heard enough."

As have I.

Flashing away, Noé stood now at the side of the scaffolding still with full view of it. She hadn't liked the tone the emperor had used, so definitive yet somber all the same. He made up his mind in spite of how much it pained him to have done so. But a ruler always puts the value of their people over the individual, don't they, Chief?

Andromalius remained quiet, expectantly so. Noé sighed defeated, stuck between wanting to save the little girl and leaving the world to weed itself out.

"No one saved you. You saved yourself. Why bother saving those who cannot do the same?"

One long breath left her as her hands reached up to run through her hair before she turned her back on the scaffolding, intent to leave the plaza. Just as she stepped through the archway leading out, Noé heard the distinct whistling of metal through air accompanied close by the hard snap of bone and flesh before being followed by the deafening cheers of a merciless crowd.

Conflicted and feeling sick to her stomach, Noé ruffled her hair and ran her hands through the side of it. Fluttering caught her attention as she opened her shut eyes to see a red feather followed by smaller ones hover down until they hit the floor. Noé clicked her tongue at that; molting wasn't something that happened to her often anymore. Not unless she was stressed. She supposed that this whole ordeal struck a little closer to home that she would have liked.

Stepping over the feathers that had fallen off, her feet took her away from the plaza's vicinity and headed for the docks.

There are more islands off to the eastern coast of Kou. Kina, I think the kingdom's called. We should check it out, shouldn't we?

"We should," Chief agreed, her voice heavy and solemn. She didn't question Noé's decision, only hoped that the resemblance hadn't affected her too much.

---

|ii.|

Their thunderous celebration deafened Noé's ears but it wasn't unwelcomed. She liked parties actually, especially since it meant that there would be plenty of food to eat and water to drink.

After their return from the dungeon, Mennie and Areste called for a celebration and rounded up the few residents of Maladh that had stayed behind despite its dilapidated state. It was a small group of people but that didn't make the celebration any lesser. Alcohol and a delicious feast for their chief and dungeon conqueror, they said, and for the woman that helped them reach the goal of saving their beloved home. Noé rarely felt bashful but she certainly found it flattering that they also claimed her as graciously as they did. Besides, there was no way she was saying no to free food and drinks.

So while the townspeople relished the future to come, Noé found her rest with a platter full of meat skewers, plenty of water and delicious fruits. Her gaze wandered off to the people as they celebrated and left her to her little corner of the bar.

"They're nice people."

For once she agreed. Although Noé had seen and disposed of her fair share of weeds, there were times when she encountered the rare few that were actually humane. Whenever she met these kind of people, it was hard for her to dismiss them or to leave them to the tragedies caused by the vermin she struggled to rid the world of. The world was a paradise made for good people like these, she thought, and that she kept finding the handful that existed in spite of the majority of pests threatening them brought some life to her dying hopes.

People like them that cherish and work hard for what they love are what this world deserves.

Chief took a breath but paused briefly before speaking, her voice somewhat deeper, more solemn. "And the rest?"

"They can all burn in the fires of hell for all I care."

"Miss?"

Noé's train of thought slammed on the brakes at hearing the quiet voice that called to her. Half a skewer still between her teeth, she turned to face Luca who stood a few feet before her with his hands behind his back while balancing on the heels of his feet. Sheepish, nervous.

"Hey, bucko. What's up?"

Luca hurriedly took his hands from behind his back to show Noé a small plate with a rather appetizing desert on it. He rushed forward and placed it on the table where the rest of her food was before stepping back to face her.

"Thank you for bringing my dad back home safe."

Emerald eyes widened a bit before they warmed up and her hand reached out to ruffle the boy's hair. Luca complained and held his head in his hands as his gaze went askance. "You're welcome, Luca." She took the desert into her hand and took a bite with a small fork, the sweetness of it and the boy's gratitude getting a genuine smile from her. "And thank you for this too."

He smiled and nodded before running off. Noé followed him with her gaze and watched him return to his family. The sight of the three of them together made the sweetness from before turn sour. Plucking the fork out of her mouth, Noé put the dish aside and went back to eating her food and drinking as much as she pleased.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she mumbled as she finished yet another platter of food and setting it aside to make room for the next one. Just...brings back memories.

Chief hummed in agreement, a warmth from the silver arrow around her neck telling her just how much her djinn felt for her at the moment. But forgetting was easy for Noé, at least when there was plenty of food and water.

Just as she was about to dig into the fifth platter that Mennie brought her, a sudden presence filled the air making the atmosphere around her heavy. Noé paused in mid bite and raised her head to look around, feeling a sudden chill run down her spine as she gazed out into the night through one of the front windows of the bar. It was pitch black on the other side of the pane of glass. Eyes narrowed though, Noé swore that she saw something move.

Slim, fast, malleable, and...black.

She stood and took a few steps towards the window but as soon as she got within a few feet of it something struck from the outside, piercing and shattering the window and heading straight at her head. On a split second, Noé called the seal that immediately gathered as much light as possible to create a pane of light right in front of her face. The dark tendril struck hard against the pane, piercing it an inch in and slowing it enough for Noé to step aside before it completely broke it too. The tendril retracted back out into the darkness before she could do anything about it.

"Noé!" She made no gesture to acknowledge and stop Niko in his approached of her, instead focusing on the broken window and even the others that were around the first floor of the bar. "What was that?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Chief?

"I didn't sense anything until it broke through. But it's unmistakably the presence of a dark djinn."

Emerald eyes narrowed when the other window on the same wall broke and from both black tendrils began to slide through wanting to pry the window frames open. Noé clicked her tongue and stood to address everybody. "Stay inside and away from the exits. Don't go out for any reason!" As Mennie and Areste took care of the people, she turned to Niko and gave a nod out of the tavern. "Take Sitri and follow me."

Niko didn't hesitate, quickly taking a step back to take Sitri's sword before going after Noé. "Cover your eyes!" Gathering the light into her palm, Noé didn't wait to see if Niko heeded her orders before releasing the sphere as soon as she stepped out of the place. The ball of light exploded blinding all in the nearby vicinity but it also gave her sufficient lighting to see what they were up against.

And she didn't like it one bit. She didn't hesitate to materialize her bow and strike the two dark djinns she'd seen one after the other. Although it didn't make a scratch on them, the shots were enough to get their attention away from the tavern, their face hidden beneath stone masks and mouths seeping that same cyan-colored liquid that eroded the ground that it touched beneath.

It was one of those things, the same as that black djinn she fought in Reim all those years ago. But Noé didn't understand how two of them had gathered in the middle of such a tiny town as Maladh.

"They must be what Sitri was sensing from within her dungeon. The pestilence."

They sure were one. When she noticed the dark djinn readying to charge at them, she grabbed Niko by the arm and ran away from the tavern.

"W-What are those things?!" he shouted as he tried keeping up with Noé as they turned into the labyrinth-like alleys of Maladh.

"Bad news." One that had already given her trouble when she fought it back in Reim. A part of her was grateful that she at least had another metal vessel user with her until she remembered that Niko didn't know the first thing about how to use Sitri's powers. So she was technically fighting this thing alone again. Two of them. I can try something real quick.

"Niko, I know you have no idea what you're doing but you gotta listen to me. I need you to help me fight those things?"

"Fight them? How?!"

"With Sitri."

"I've never used her before!"

"I know!" Noé kept a groan from escaping her as they turned another tight corner, large and destructive footfalls chasing after them. "Kid, it's not as complicated as you think it is. You've just gotta listen to what your heart tells you."

"You're not making any sense!"

She finally let the groan she held in out, her frustration mounting faster than she'd like. Things can't possibly get worse!

As they were running out of one corner and heading to a more open space, the footfalls got louder and made the walls around them quake as they ran out of the alley. Noé stopped Niko in his tracks to keep him from getting trampled by the dark djinn that fell from above after having most likely climbed across the walls ahead of them.

Spoke too soon.

The beasts didn't waste time to lunge and it didn't give Noé enough time to react. But they didn't get the chance to take another step closer as a wall of blue fire sprouted from the ground threatening them back. Noé spared a glance beside her where Niko stood with his dragon's blade aloft, the eight-pointed star glistening and the blade emblazoned with the same blue flames that kept the dark djinn away. He blinked dumbfounded, his attention going from his sword to the firewall and finally to her.

Noé couldn't keep the lopsided grin that came over her. "Not that hard, huh?" Focusing on the trouble ahead of them she manifested her bow and nocked back an arrow with plenty of magic behind it before aiming it at one of the two beasts stuck behind the wall. Letting it fly, it struck right between its eyes, breaking through the mask and exploding into shards of light inside its head. It fell onto the ground jerking about as more of the cyan liquid escaped its wound.

It wasn't dead, regrettably. Noé knew that until the rukh that composed it was completely released or destroyed, that thing could regenerate with time. But she didn't have any time or energy to waste. The one charged shot took a quarter of her magoi already and with it being night time there wasn't any way to regain whatever supply she lost.

She had three good shots left, if her count was right, before depleting her magoi supply to absurdly low levels. Times like these made her hate how low her reserves were in general without the sun. Clicking her tongue and taking a deep breath, she turned to Niko, "When I say to, make the wall disappear. As soon as it does run like hell towards the outskirts of town."

"T-The outskirts, but why?"

"To avoid casualties. My attacks are too single target centered. A fire vortex would do them in easily but it'll have to be somewhere in the open where it won't hurt anybody." Niko narrowed his eyes and nodded, understanding what she meant. Noé's grin widened as she turned back to the beasts before shouting, "Now!"

It took a bit for him to do it but before Niko even had the wall down, Noé had her bow at the ready and sent a volley of smaller arrows that caught the beasts unawares. The arrows stuck to their masks exploding at random. Without needing a word, the two ran out from their spot avoiding the ravid djinn on their way.

They took a good lead before Noé caught the rancid smell of their decaying bodies starting to rush after them. She gave some credit to her luck when they managed to barely reach the edge of Maladh with the dark djinn just as their tails. But this was far enough. Drifting on her feet to angle herself between them, her mind raced through her options, the lopsided grin never leaving her lips. Too close to get a good shot at them, Noé knew what her best course of action was. "Niko, listen to Sitri and gather all the magoi in you to use it on that fire cyclone!" The arrowhead around her neck brightened as she used Chief's light magic to solidify light against her feet, knees, elbows, and along the back of her hands into sharp spikes. "I'll round them up for you."

Not skipping a beat, she rushed ahead just as the dark djinn let loose their black tendrils straight at them. The appendages thinned and became rod-like, shooting straight at her. But the forefront attack was easy to see and just as easy to maneuver around. Dodging the many that sprung her way, Noé got close enough to stab and slash at them all the while keeping her due distance when they attacked. Them touching her, by either a scratch or bite, wasn't something she wanted; one time had been enough. Attack after attack, Noé let light daggers fall from her hands, plunging into the ground and remaining as she danced around them. It wasn't until there were enough surrounding the two dark djinn that Noé jumped over one of them as it lunged her way. As she jumped over it, she plunged one last light dagger into its mask, the beast howling as she landed behind it and between the two.

Noé grinned and snapped her fingers, "Ashieat Qafar."

Light flickered between the daggers before sharp ribbons of light materialized, the beasts entangling themselves the more they moved to pry away from them. But Noé quickly noticed how their sudden gnawing at the taut strings was actually starting to rip the steeled ribbons. She didn't understand how—that light was supposed to be sharp enough to cut through the strongest steel—but that didn't matter. What did was keeping them in place long enough for Niko to unleash his attack. The kid was still trying to make it work though.

I need to keep them in there longer.

Not thinking, she rushed to them, jumping over and landing on the beast with the dagger. Gripping it with one hand and steadying herself with the other as the djinn thrashed, Noé chanted underneath her breath to the seal and infused Chief's dagger with its magoi. The ribbons brightened in color, like sunlight pouring over a horizon, before they crackled with the immense amount of magoi in them. The dark djinn recoiled as the energy reached them. The moment they backed off, the loop of running energy connected and from the ribbons rose thin walls of light confining the djinn and herself completely inside. The walls towered over them, their blows doing nothing to the fortified magic of Ashieat Qafar. And when they saw that they couldn't get out by brute force against the barriers, they turned to Noé.

She didn't hesitate to back off from the djinn at that moment, a curse leaving her lips as she did so. But the enclosure gave her no room to maneuver and she couldn't leave it. Ashieat Qafar was complete confinement for whomever happened to be inside it and that included herself. Flashing was an option but fortifying the spell had drained what magoi she had. Her reserves were too low. But if she dispelled the magic, she wouldn't be the only one to get out.

I can't run away if I want to keep them here.

"Sometime today, Niko!" she bellowed, jumping from wall to djinn to wall and back again, the need to keep moving paramount to her survival.

"I can't!" he shouted back, blue flames licking the blade in his hands. "Not with you—"

"Forget about me!" This spineless idiot was going to get her killed! But her fury ignited further when her eyes spared a small glance towards the town. People. The townsfolk had found them, followed them from the tavern or through the commotion and armed to their teeth with household items. Their determined look to help blatant in their expressions. Damn fools. Baring her teeth, Noé kicked the dark djinn that bared its own at her before shouting at the top of her lungs. "Just fucking kill the damn things!"

It was a brief moment later that Noé felt it, the warmth of flames. Her eyes barely caught the flicker of the blue spark before the flames engulfed everything around her. The limited space left her no place to run to; Noé simply brought her arms up against her face to block the intense heat that burst from underneath her. She felt the currents of the flames lick all around her, her ears catching the shrieks of the dark djinn as they were engulfed by the same fire and their desperate thrashing against the walls of her magic. Good, she thought, burn in this furnace. Rather quickly though, she felt the blaze getting to her too. She bit down her scream as the flames latched onto her clothes, like griddy hands grasping at her and rapidly scorching through it to reach her skin. And it burned. Gods, it burned like the fires hell.

"Noé, release Ashieat Qafar!"

"The dark djinn—they're still—" Noé could still hear their shrieking. They were still alive. They could still come undone from Sitri's fires if she let them run free. There was no way she'd let that happen.

"You'll be burned to death along with them if you don't!"

Just a little longer. Every painful breath that gave her air mixed with smoke she counted. Her ears in pain from the flames so close to her head attentive to the shrieks of the beasts that seemed to be never-ending. Just a little—

A sudden pain like no other hit her, ripping from her lungs the scream she had kept in tenfold, as the flames burned away her drape and reached her back and that. They were burning—they hurt—and the pain of it pushed her beyond her breaking point.

Her focus broken, Noé staggered quickly back as the walls she created shattered into nothing but specks of light, the bright cerulean flames licking at her body until she managed to escape the cyclone. The pain remained even outside of the pillar of fire and her hands reach to her back to hold and soothe that which caused her the most nerve racking pain. Despite barely being able to see beyond the flurry of white specks that clouded her vision, Noé focused on what she held in her hands. A long wing, feathers a dark red with tinted golden tips, languidly rested in her arms. Some of the feathers held a black hue to them as the embers that had caught onto them died off, but the remnants of the pain were still there. Nerves, too many to count, had been scorched with Sitri's flames.

"Noé, are you alright?" At first she thought that had been Chief talking to her—her mind blurred with the aftermath more than she would admit—but as a hand gently laid on her bare shoulder, Noé found herself tensing but staring up nonetheless at the one who'd touched her so carelessly.

Niko. But he was different. His eyes didn't reflect the concern she heard from his voice. Instead all she saw was bewilderment—fear—as his eyes darted from her own to the burnt wing she cradled in her arms. The moment was broken when the other townspeople reached them. Meaningless chatter echoed until the silence fell faster than she realized. The silence accompanied with the feeling she hated most, the stabbing sensation of stares.

Noé bit her lip willing herself to ignore their gazes as she struggled to stand back up. But every muscle hurt, every breath burned still. Sitri had done more damage uncontrolled than Noé thought.

"What are you?"

Noé couldn't help flinching at what Niko asked. The same question from when they exited Sitri yet different. Not a 'who' anymore. But as she knelt before them—exhausted of her magoi and tasting the disgusting iron of her own blood in her parched throat—Noé anxiously watched as their bewilderment morphed into fear and then anger quicker than she thought possible.

The moment she saw that her instincts went into overdrive, snippets of other times flashed through her eyes, overlapping the scene that kept worsening by the second. She was so occupied with keeping herself in the present that Noé failed to hear the shouts of the people, much less the word they began to chant over and over.

Monster.

"Noé, you must run." The urgency was clear in Chief's stern voice, the only concern that she heard in anybody's anymore. "They're going to attack you. Flash away."

A part of her believed they wouldn't but the part she believed in more shrieked at her to open her eyes. And one single glance at the crowd that now glared at her gave her the answer she needed. Weapons at the ready and eyes filled with fear-fueled anger, they approached her carefully but decisively. They had made up their minds. The last hope she had snuffed out as her eyes came to Niko who appeared at odds with himself. It was like he couldn't decide whether to join them or defend her. But when both of them overheard Mennie's call above the rest, Noé's eyes hardened as she watched what modicum of doubt was left in his eyes disappear. Niko tightly held onto Sitri as the flames lined the edge of the blade, his eyes askance, ashamed but determined.

"Noé!"

I can't, she thought defeatedly as she struggled to back away from the looming crowd that threatened her. Her wounds were too fresh and too many. The pain from her burnt wing left her numb but she could feel the numbness beginning to wash off as a new wave of it began seeping through its nerves. That her magoi was exhausted from using such hefty magic only added to her problems. And the moon was not going to help her. I'm out of magoi. I can't flash.

The harrowing memories of a time in chains and torture flashed through her mind, knowing that if she let them do as they wished with her the same could very well happen.

Do not allow them. A pulsating pain rushed through her body, one of her hands reaching to her shoulder from where she felt the pain emanate. You cannot submit. A life of submission is not becoming of a predator. Even a deformed one as yourself.

The pain roared in her body as those words flooded into her, her blood boiling through her veins as her mind cried at her to fight, to neglect the pain and kill them before they could get to her. Noé braced herself, her arms cradling her limp wing to her chest as the townspeople began rushing towards her, but instead of their weapons reaching her, they clashed against a dome of bright energy. Noé's eyes widened as she gawked at the dome that suddenly surrounded her; it took her a good minute to realize that what kept them at bay was a borg.

Everything that happened after recognizing the borg went by in a flash. A warm hand laid on her left shoulder—away from her wing—and held onto her tightly. Warmth that she recognized filled the air around her, the faint golden silhouettes of beating rukh filling the inside of the borg. But all that disappeared, her stomach dropping as the scenery changed, the in an instant Maladh vanished from her sight as another much more familiar one appeared before her.

Through her blurry eyes, she saw the the small room—her room. Her knees buckled beneath her as she felt close to collapsing. Thankfully, the same warm hands from before held her, careful not to touch anywhere near her back. But even if he had, she had no strength to fight him or to push him away from touching it.

"My goodness, Noé, are you alright?" Yunan's voice was heaven sent. Noé barely had any strength to give a whispered 'yes' before a soft scoff escaped her. Thinking about it better, she knew she wasn't and she wasn't just referring to her injuries.

Yunan helped her the best he could to the bed. Even with it being soft as any cloud she'd imagine, the comfort it brought didn't do any good to her wounds or heart. But Noé knew that with Yunan's help they would heal.

Well, one of them at least.

There was no attention given to the wandering magi as he worked his magic to heal her burns. Noé closed her eyes and let him do what he could, her scorched skin being washed over by a cool, soothing sensation. She could hear him faintly muttering to himself as he worked.

"...how could they…?"

Noé wanted to reply to him but her bleeding throat didn't allow her. Thirsty. Nonetheless, she knew the answer to that question; she'd learned it a long time ago. People are so easy to turn to violence when the things they love are threatened. Not only people, everything that breathed and lived held the things it loved dear and would do anything to protect them from harm. Even when that threat is only a perceived one and fueled by nothing more than misled fear. Noé understood well the dangers of creatures whose fear bred from ignorance. It was like some unspoken law of the universe, like gravity; people fear what they cannot understand. And Noé knew that the moment they had seen her wing untethered from its bindings and limply laying beside her, they would be fearful and wary. Everything happened so fast that there hadn't been time to think of what was happening.

She had acted in her desire to help the people she had thought deserving of her protection. And those same people turned their backs on her the instant fear crept into their minds, the instant they saw her as a monster.

"When will you learn?"

Apparently not today.

—{ii}—

Yunan didn't stop healing her even after Noé passed out on her bed. Her burns were appalling and for that same reason he needed to make sure he treated her properly. It wasn't until he noticed her breathing less labored and her body not as tense from the pain as before that the magi finally stopped, letting a sigh of relief escape him as he slumped down on the nearby chair. His eyes lingered on Noé's resting form as he leaned his staff against the wall.

Most of her clothes were charred if not completely tattered from Sitri's flames. Her skin had taken most of the brunt but most of the burns hadn't been fatal except for a couple serious ones. That wasn't what worried him. No, what did was the wing that Noé had been cradling even before she passed out. She had held onto it the entire time it took for him to take her to lay on the bed. Even as she went to lay, she held steadfast to it, the scorched feathers clinging to her body. Yunan had never seen that—never knew that Noé hid such a part of herself from the world. But it existed. He was looking at it as Noé unconsciously wrapped it around her body, the span of the wing large enough to brush her ankles—and even when out of it, she clung to it. It was obvious to Yunan that she did not want him or anybody to touch it.

His soft baby blue eyes watched her with concern, half hooded as they inspected her injuries, before deciding to stand and part the drapes of the only window in the small bedroom. Luscious fields spread over the horizon of the small hillside. Not another house could be spotted over the expanse of the prairie where Noé's small cottage—her tiny refuge—stood. He guessed that she chose this specific spot for that same reason. Noé, for as friendly and outspoken as she was, seemed to like her privacy and solitude. Tying the drapes, he let the light from a barely rising sun bleed through the pane of glass into the small room.

Sunlight helped, he knew. It was one of the things he knew about her with certainty. Every other thing was mere speculation on his part. Knowing she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, Yunan took the time to explore the cottage he had helped build years ago but hadn't visited since. It was tiny. It only had four other rooms aside from Noé's: the living room, a kitchen, a lavatory, and an empty room. The essentials. But the more he walked around it, fixing what little cracks or mold he saw on the walls or floors, Yunan realized that most of the house was bare. Nothing gave it personality, nothing could tell it apart from any other house, except maybe for the trinkets she kept in that empty room. Few in number, he guessed they were reminders of better times. Happier ones. He didn't dare touch any of them though as he peeked through the door of that other bedroom. It was smaller than Noé's, fit for a child.

Yunan didn't recall this being part of his doing. The wood was real; it wasn't alchemically made. But he didn't pry. Not when this particular room had an air to it that told him not to disturb it.

The magi had to pass the time elsewhere and finally returned to her room when he began hearing shuffling from within. He gave the door a couple raps before gently opening it to let himself in. His baby blues met with hazed-over emerald; Yunan could tell she was still somewhat out of it. That didn't stop her from guarding her wing against herself.

Her eyes scanned the room before coming to him again. "Where…?"

"Your cottage just out of Reim, Noé," he related softly as he took the seat he'd left from before, "I took you away from Maladh—" Yunan laid a hand on top of one of hers; Noé tensed slightly, her eyes falling down to where his landed. Anxiously, cautiously. "Do you remember what happened?"

Her eyes focused on no particular point as she thought about it and Yunan clearly saw the moment the memories rushed back, her eyes widening slightly before slowly fluttering shut. The lopsided grin she gave made him grimace; she was taking this much too well.

He didn't voice that concern. Instead he watched as she lifted her head to glance at him. "Thank you for saving me, Yu. I owe you one."

"No debt incurred, trust me," he assured her, feigning the smile he gave her. Reaching with his other hand, he intended to see to her injuries but was shocked to see Noé jerk back against the walls next to her bed, her teeth bared. Noticing this, her eyes widened again, this time out of bewilderment as she forced herself to stop and shake her head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

"That's alright," he whispered. He showed her his hands, his palms upright. "I'm just going to check the burns on your body." That didn't calm her in the slightest, her body still tense and ready to strike. Almost like a wounded animal. This time when Yunan smiled it was more genuine. "I promise you I won't go anywhere near it."

That seemed to relax her enough to let him see to her wounds. To try and settle her down further, the magi kept talking as he went about doing so. "Mm. Looks like I managed to heal most of them. It isn't all that surprising. Your wounds weren't as bad as they looked." He brushed his cool fingers over the burns on her right shoulder and saw her recoil. "Except for a few where the fires managed to burn through to the muscle. You will have to take care of those more diligently." Unable to help himself, his gaze traveled down to the wing she held against her body, a small grimace showing on his lips. "I could heal the burns on it if you let—"

"Thank you, Yunan." The magi pursed his lips, realizing very well that she had shut the idea down. She took a deep breath as her gaze fell to her feet, "I should have listened to Andromalius when she warned me about guiding a candidate to Sitri without a magi."

"You had no way of knowing things would turn out this way," he assured, trying to comfort her the best way he could.

Noé scoffed and gave him a lopsided grin, "I should have known better than to hope otherwise." She heaved a sigh and thanked him again for helping her.

Yunan shook his head, worry and grief marring his soft features even as he smiled. "No need to thank me. But I do suggest you rest here for the meanwhile. At least until your wounds heal properly."

She gave him a curt nod. "Will do." Yunan stood when she attempted to and gave her space to maneuver herself. She stumbled on her feet, like a newborn fawn, but quickly regained her composure. Once she did, she gave him a cheeky grin, "See, nothing to worry about. Fit as a fiddle."

"Your words have never done anything to quell my concerns for you, Noé." Yunan chuckled nonetheless, appreciating her humor in such a situation. Tilting his head, he nodded off to the door, "I'll make something for you to eat tonight. How does that sound?"

Noé gave a chuckle of her own. "You cook?"

"Magic does half the work," he replied, lifting his staff at her. "How does beef stew sound to you?"

"Wonderful." She gave him a dismissive wave of her hand, "I'll go help once I change into some more decent clothes." He smiled at that and left to give her the room to herself, but instead of heading straight to the kitchen, Yunan waited behind the closed door for a few minutes. Shuffling could be heard beyond the wooden door, her changing as she said, he assumed, but it suddenly stopped and brought silence with it. Yunan pursed his lips and waited on bated breath, watching the rukh that fluttered adoringly around the place. Although he knew most of them were there for him, the others that glittered in the sunlight were there for another reason. They were there for Noé. And the moment he saw them shift in the air before disappearing completely was when Yunan understood; he gave it a few seconds before opening the door to find an empty room. Burnt clothes were haphazardly thrown on the floor, the bed disheveled from used, but other than that there wasn't a sign of her.

A sigh escaped him as he tilted his green hat back to watch the rukh that remained in the room, their beating wings slowed, saddened.

"I know," he spoke softly to them, a sullen expression coming over him, "But there's nothing I can do about it."

Yunan couldn't stop her. Noé came and went into people's lives like the passing of seasons, but that didn't mean the people she met didn't affect her. What pained him most was that she chose to pretend like they didn't matter, like it didn't hurt.

But humans are weak, she once told him, and I'm duty bound to protect the weak.

"My sweet girl, when will you understand that we're all human...including yourself."

---

A/N:

Here it is. Longer chapter than the last two. Actually thought of cutting it in half but opted against it since I wanted the contrast to be in the same chapter. But yeah, dungeon diving, bit of a secret revealed, and more of Noé's character as well.

Also, cameo of my last story's protag for those who read it! Although I'm pretty sure you smart cookies will get what her death here means, I'll cover my bases and put it out. This is another world, one of those many explained in the manga during the Alma Toran arc. So yeah, it just so happens that here Ceara got found out by Kouen and not Hakuyuu and things fell were they did to lead to her execution here. Something similar also happens to all those others connected with the seals, so even when Noé did make a cameo in SL, that version of her also met an end. It will be something that will be put concretely in later stories but that I wanted put out there now: after their original world, where all the seals were in one place, they can no longer coincide in a single one so their younger bearers who have yet to have their powers die off when another has already been established. Sort of like their checks and balances after a major screw up. Confusing? Yes, or maybe, but I promise it'll be explained in later stories, if not a bit later in this story itself. I'll see how that runs along.

A thousand thank yous to twistedlittledoll and Aviantei for their reviews on the opening chapters of this story. Also a huge thank you and lots of hugs to Creme Tea, tinybean98, Procrastinatingismyforte, moonlight phonex101, Sonata Fuling, EthaGrinndt, Curlyfr13s, kuraton97, ap. 310, A Deathless Song, and Feyre55109 for the story follows and favorites. Knowing that you all want to read on gives me all the motivation to write!

Seeing as this chapter already ran long, I'll be leaving you with this. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next update!