Chapter Twenty:
Tales of a Sparrow
I
|I|
This is the tale of a little sparrow.
One born sickly into the world.
A tale of how her birth was the machinations of selfish people, and as such would find no permanent happiness in this world. Of how the misfortune that would follow at her heels would only spiral her unfortunate life further into chaos and despair.
|i.|
The cries of a newborn echoed through the valleys between the mountains alongside a shriek of pain—one of many—brought onto the mother by its birth. Those few present, kin of hers, surrounded her and the midwife who held her weeping babe in her arms.
The mother exhausted beyond belief could not distinguish the sounds from her kin at the sight of her child. Mistaking it for gasps of amazement, the woman reached out to the midwife for her babe—her masterpiece. The midwife however cowered at the gesture, taking the child away from her grasp while holding it at arm's length. Almost like it was a pest to be avoided. The woman's stomach sank at the midwife's action. It forced her to mind those around her with more clarity only to finally distinguish that what showed on their faces wasn't pride, but disgust.
Enraged, the woman used what little strength she still had and lurched forward, her claws grasping away the thin piece of cloth keeping the babe warm. Eyes widened at the horrible sight of it.
"What…?"
The babe was deformed. It held the semblance of a human infant. Her Vastagian blood only showed through the crimson feathers splotched around her body and appendages. The child held no beak with which to eat, no sharp claws with which to hunt, and no keen eyes with which to aid her.
All that would've been salvageable, forgivable even, were it not for the state of her wings. The pride of any Vastagian, hers weren't attached along the span of her arms, but instead hung limply from her back barely attached by weak appendages.
The muttering amongst them spread like wildfire and showcased their disgust as they bemoaned her predicament. Most aghast of all was her. This should have been a flawless plan. It had been the sole reason she had dangered into one of those foul towers and taken one of those bastards. All to spawn an offspring powerful enough to wrestle control of the Vastagian tribes at the conclave.
Her golden egg, her opportunity—wasted.
"Take it away." The midwife along with her kin turned at her words, the latter asking what she meant by that. "Get it out of my sight!" she snarled at them when questioned. "I don't care what you do with it. Drown it, feed it to the Red Lions, use it to kindle the fires—I don't care! Just get rid of it!"
Nobody moved. No one knew what to do with such a thing. Suddenly from her kin, one stepped forward. Another woman, her older sister. Though kind, her calm expression belied the hatred and vitriol behind those keen eyes.
"Allow me." She reached out towards the midwife who passed the thing without a second thought. Her older sister held the babe in her arms close to her body, the warmth of another finally quieting its cries. "I'll dispose of it."
"Do so, Theone," the woman demanded. "We can't allow that abomination to be seen by the others. If we do—"
"Us Raudona will be disgraced. I know." Theone's response was swift, nonchalant. "Fret not. I will set you free of this burden you brought upon yourself."
Leaving them behind to care for her sister, Theone stepped out of the cavern into the cold night. The dim moonlight illuminated their lands that were as barren as she was. Sobs erupted from the bundle in her arms, the breeze that rushed past quickly lowering its already fragile temperature. Theone held the babe close to her bosom, draping her arm and wing to shield the defenseless creature from the unforgiving nature.
"Quiet now," she cooed. "We don't want them to find out where we're going now, do we?"
This might not have been her sister's golden opportunity, but Theone would see to it that it would be hers.
|II|
Noélia—of the root 'not one'. That was the name bestowed upon her. For, to them, she would always be no one.
Kept underground and unable to spread her decrepit wings, the child was nurtured by a cruel, manipulative hand and fed fear and false hope. Hope that one day she would be strong enough to escape her hellish bindings and be one with those she knew as her people.
Alas, the place she sought to belong to was not among them. Even after being victorious and rightfully winning the throne of her people, they would not accept her. That day was when she realized exactly what she was and why she would never find a place to be in this cruel world she was brought into.
She was the offspring of a monster and a magician. That was what she was. A piece of both, but a part of neither.
In the wild, she grew, until the day came that she set foot once more on the lands that had deserted her. There she found many like her—so-called abominations—that to her people were nothing but slaves, and ruling them all was the woman who raised her with cruelty and nurtured her with fear.
The little sparrow knew not what drove her to do what she did then. What it was that had her freeing those slaved and taking them in arms to revolt against those that used them. What it was that had her stepping into the throne room where her aunt awaited.
What drove her to kill her.
Be it what it may have been, the little sparrow knew only one thing. It was what she had wanted to do after all those years of roaming the wild. She had already dealt the blow to her own mother the day of the conclave, and now, after ridding the world of the woman that raised her so mercilessly, was when the little sparrow realized what it was she yearned for more than anything.
i.|
"Drown it!"
"Hang it!"
"Burn it!"
"Kill it!"
"Kill it!"
Noélia laughed maniacally at their pleas to end her life and their fantastic ideas of how to do it. Her people were truly a creative bunch. No complaint spilled from her lips even as they chanted those last words while a couple of guards hauled her out of her underground prison. Beaten and downtrodden, there wasn't an ounce of strength left in her young body. Not even as they placed her head on the stocks for her beheading did she lift a finger.
Decades of fighting had tired her. There wasn't any reason to live for her. Never had been. Spite had been the only thing keeping her head above water until then. But now with her aunt, the sole source of her hatred left dead, there was no reason to keep living. She had done her part in this wretched life of hers. She had ridden it of the true monsters that inhabited it: cold-hearted and deplorably selfish people like her family.
The murder in cold-blood of their current leader carried a hefty price tag with it though. One she'd been ready to pay the moment she was born.
"Noélia of the Raudona, you kneel before us accused of the murder of the vedlys. Witnesses and evidence stand against you in show of your guilt. What do you have to say in your defense?"
"Defense?" Unruly and defiant till the end, Noélia raised her head, a wicked smirk playing at the corner of her lips as she looked up at her judge, jury, and executioner. "You oughta be throning me and groveling at my feet! I just saved you from the most horrid vedlys you'll ever get in your lifetimes—"
One of the guards holding her against the stock shoved her face further down until her jaw hit the stone. "Shut your filthy mouth, apsigimęs."
Deformed. Noélia cackled; she'd heard worse from her own mother.
Eyes sharp as a hawk narrowed down at her, eyes full of pity and disgust in equal measures. Noélia only glared back at the dichotomy of her gaze. "Do you truly not regret your actions?"
"Only thing I regret is not having done it sooner." With the little bit of strength her own rebellious spirit gave her, Noélia pushed back the guards that held her down long enough to raise her body and spit at the feet of her executioner. "So fuck your pity. If you have the balls to do what Theone and Theophania couldn't, then stop delaying it and fucking cut off my head already, Andromalius!"
When she opened her mouth this time, Andromalius spoke in a low tone. Low enough for only her to hear.
"Be still, child. It will be swifter that way." She lifted herself carefully and faced the rest of her people as they remained silent for her verdict. "Noélia of the Raudona admits to her crime and accepts her punishment. As our law mandates, her punishment is death."
The crowd cheered. Noélia cheered silently along with them.
Immense wings of a beautiful golden sheen lifted as Andromalius steeled them into a sharp blade. Sharp enough to cut cleanly through her neck. Something that Noélia was thankful for.
Make it quick, Chieftain.
The sun was blocked as those gigantic wings hovered over her. Resigned, Noélia breathed out a sigh of relief and let her head hang limply on the stock. Despite its rapid beating, she willed her heart to calm and her mind not to think of wanting to live. Because what she had been doing for the past decades hadn't been living. And she was so sick and tired of surviving in a world that didn't want her.
For once in her life, Noélia smiled warmly.
Thank you, Andromalius. For ending this farce that was my life and helping me find the peace I couldn't find here.
"May Illah have mercy on your soul."
Noélia disregarded Andromalius' whispered prayer and closed her eyes as the swift swing of her wings fell upon her neck—
Only to stop short at striking a barrier of gold.
Emerald eyes shot open and widened at the sight of their chieftain faltering backward, her mighty wing injured from the rebound of the barrier. The cries and roars for justice from her people lowered to mere mutterings. At last, her gaze rose past the barrier that encircled and protected her and saw the vague silhouettes that parted through the Vastago with ease.
Five figures that appeared rather...small.
"What's going on here!?"
"Is that a child?"
"What's happening here, Chief Andromalius?"
Their voices mingled incoherently in her head. Adrenaline had worked wonders but now that it had run its course culminating into nothing, it left her mind in a daze. Noélia didn't bother paying the arguing voices any mind. Instead, she tried focusing on what was right in front of her.
The small hand of a child—a human child—splayed itself across the barrier that protected her. It took only their touch for it to scatter to the winds, leaving her at the mercy of whoever dared take her. To her utter shock, none did. No one dared take a step towards the dark blue-haired children that now stood before her.
The two were identical in every manner and stared at her with their large cerulean eyes. The one who had touched the barrier protecting her lowered their hand and tilted their head. A boy, Noélia finally recognized. Her eyes shifted ever so slightly to the mirror image that stood beside the boy with her hand covering her mouth as she peeked curiously over it. And a girl.
"I am merely carrying out justice for my tribe." Noélia could barely make out Andromalius' voice over the droning sound that buzzed in her ear. The sudden lack of adrenaline truly took away any ounce of energy she had left. "The assassination of our chieftain is punishable by death…" Andromalius paused briefly, then added, "Or exile."
Noélia watched the children carefully as they gave a sidelong glance to one another. A knowing glance.
"She must be quite skilled to have killed a vedlys on her own." This time another voice spoke out, one that hadn't done so when the execution was stopped. The children glanced over their shoulders—the girl fully giving her back while the boy only spared it—and led her eyes to the tall woman that knelt behind them. Dark blue hair cascaded to the floor around her as mercurial eyes focused their sights on her. "If you're just going to execute her, why not give her to us instead?"
A commotion erupted. The Vastago who heard the woman's claim rose to argue against it. The other two who accompanied the woman and the couplet of children stood back and watched them patiently. As if waiting for someone's answer.
"If she would never set foot upon your tribe's lands again, would you spare her life, Chief Andromalius?" the boy asked aloud at last.
Noélia couldn't see Andromalius from her vantage point, but the serenity in her words was unmistakable. "I would." The crowd rose again in disagreement but was silenced by Andromalius lifting one of her mighty wings. "I will hear nothing more of the issue. From this day onward, Noélia of the Raudona is exiled from any and all lands belonging to any of the twelve Vastagian tribes."
The crowd wasn't satisfied with their chief's proclamation. Their cries for justice and blood mingled almost indistinguishable from one another. But Andromalius would have none of it, her voice rising out when she roared.
"But be forewarn, little human, if she ever sets talon upon our lands again, I will finish what was halted today and I will not allow you or any of yours to interfere again."
"Thank you, chieftain," the boy said.
Andromalius however shook her head solemnly. "Do not thank me, little one. You aided us once; I am merely repaying the favor."
Hefty claws released her after a long pause, their sharpness cutting the ties around her wrists loose. Noélia, for as much as she wanted to, couldn't retain consciousness much longer. Her body didn't rise from the stocks and instead laid there as her mind faded, the sight of two children and that woman hovering over her the last thing she saw.
—{i}—
Emerald eyes shot open only to be met with a pair of cerulean right above her.
Acting on instinct, Noélia sprung back, kicking whoever had been hovering over her back. She scurried back in a hurry until her back hit a stone wall. Suddenly aware of her surroundings, Noélia's gaze shot from corner to corner in search of an exit. Thankfully, the tiny room was easy to scope and the doorway leading out was clear to see. Sprinting out before whoever had been there had a chance to attack her, she followed her gut in search of a way out of the godforsaken maze she was in.
At one of those turns, however, a human woman caught her eye as they too turned the corner. Noélia struck without hesitation. Grasping steeled feathers between her fingers, she threw them forward, and although they could not pass through the golden barrier that surrounded them on impact, it gave her enough time to vault over them to run off.
Noélia could hear the cries and sudden panic that bled into the air and despite how suffocating it was, kept running, not caring who or what she struck with her steeled feathers. Soon enough, however, she found herself at a dead end and before she even had the chance to turn back and look for another way, a handful of humans had already found and surrounded her, staves held aloft.
Vaguely, recognition came to her mind. These people...they were the same that appeared at her execution. Or what would have been. The black-haired woman and the tall man stood at the ready with their staves, but the boy who rounded the corner last didn't even raise it from beside him where he held it.
Knowing not what else to do, Noélia snarled at them as her eyes scanned every which way in search of a way out.
"Wait."
A soothingly calm voice rose over the commotion as the blue-haired woman stepped into the small corner where she was trapped. She walked past the two who were ready to attack and even by the boy that appeared slightly more concerned than the others. All the woman did was assuage his fears with a gentle caress of his hand as it attempted to hold her back by her arm. Seeing her step too far forward, Noélia snarled once again and backed herself further onto a corner.
"Back off!"
The woman curiously tilted her head, assessing the situation before crouching down and setting the staff she'd been holding on the floor by her feet. As she rose, she kept her hands held up in surrender with a smile.
"It's alright," she spoke softly, using Noélia's tongue to speak. "I won't hurt you."
She took a step. Noélia took one. The woman took another. Noélia did as well. Their little dance ended the moment Noélia once again felt her back pressed against the cold stone behind her. Her feathers stood on end, bristling and steeling in response. Seeing this, the woman stopped.
"We took you away from the Vastago," she simply said. "You have been unconscious for the past four days now. We were starting to worry."
Noélia didn't dare respond to her. The way her eyes scurried to find an exit, however, told the woman exactly what she so desperately wanted.
"Do you wish to leave?" she asked. The narrowing of her emerald eyes was enough of an answer.
Turning her back to her, Noélia watched as the woman spoke to her companions. Their expressions were of utter disbelief but it appeared that whatever she and the boy said thereafter was enough to convince them. It was then that the woman turned back to her, her hands still raised.
"Once you exit here, they will point towards the way out. They will not attempt to stop you." With a smile and tenderness in her silver gaze, the woman finally stepped aside. "You are free to go."
Noélia didn't hesitate.
Sprinting for the exit, she stopped at the first crossroads. The black-haired woman from before held her staff by her waist with one hand and pointed towards the right with the other. With all the caution in the world, Noélia approached her and briefly stopped to snarl at the woman before running out to the right. It wasn't like she was listening to the blue-haired woman. The only reason she chose to follow her instructions was because she smelled the fresh air of the outside in that direction. It just so happened that the black-haired woman, the tall man, and the blue-haired boy all pointed in that same direction.
At the last bend that she knew would lead her to the outside, Noélia halted at the sight of the other blue-haired child. She came from the opposite way from which she smelled the fresh air and was holding her stomach with a grimace. Suddenly, she stopped as those cerulean eyes met hers. The pause was brief, only long enough for the girl to puff her cheeks before pointing straight ahead from where the fresh air came from.
"That way."
Noélia didn't hesitate and sprinted out towards the last exit. A hit of freshness met her as she met the outside with constrained lungs. Not knowing where else to go, she found herself chasing after the nearest clump of trees and climbing up, up and up—as high as the foliage allowed her to. Finally, out of breath and energy, Noélia plopped herself on the sturdiest branch before focusing down below.
Those people—the magicians from before were now outside, but none of them appeared to be searching for her. If anything they appeared to be clamoring over the little blue-haired girl. The one she now realized had been the one she kicked out of panic when she awoke. No ounce of remorse found her, however. Escaping such a suffocating environment was all she wanted. She was well aware that being corralled like that with nowhere to go and having nothing to protect herself with was a sure way to get herself killed.
But...they hadn't attacked. What's more, if what that blue-haired lady said was true, they had not only stopped her execution but nursed her back to health these past few days. Questions bombarded her mind, unable to understand their reasons for helping her at all. The more she thought about it, though, the heavier her head became and the more it pained her.
Who cares? Noélia clicked her tongue disdainfully and scooted back until her back hit the tree trunk and the canopy helped hide her from their view. But even as she hid there, a strange sensation kept her pinned, unable to move. Almost as if someone were watching her.
Ridiculous, she thought with a scoff. None of them had eyes on her. And even with her distinct colors, the canopy of trees aided enough in hiding her from mere mortal eyes. The feeling didn't waver, though, and wishing to leave with a clear coast had Noélia choosing to lay low for the time being.
Just long enough to get those nasty eyes off of my back.
—{i}—
Who the hell was watching her?
Noélia couldn't for the life of her figure just what the hell had her in its sight. During the past couple of nights, after she was sure the magicians had ceased their activities for the day, she'd hunted the nearby forests in search of what surveilled her. But aside from a few wildlife she easily rid the forest of, nothing else appeared to be much of a threat.
The magicians had readily forgotten about her despite having gone and bargained with Andromalius for her freedom. Something, she might add, Noélia was still quite bitter about. Those idiotic humans had no right to stop that. Andromalius had promised her a swift end, much more than she had expected honestly, and they had all but ruined it. She wasn't death-crazed by far, but it would be foolish of her to deny that she was tired. Of everything.
Dying in the hands of a swift blade would've been good enough.
It would've saved me a whole lot of trouble at the very least.
No use thinking of that now, though. What occupied her mind now was how to get away safely without being followed and so far, the one thing keeping her from that, was that watchful eye that kept a lookout for her from goodness knows where.
Even now in the quiet of night where not even the tiniest of animals stirred there was no clear sign of her peruser. It certainly didn't come from the magicians. They had gone on with their tasks as if they hadn't just upended her life—or death—with their silly interventions. Nothing she hunted down for sustenance either appeared to be any concern big enough to bother with. So what the hell was it?
The rustling of leaves brought her attention to a cleared patch not far from where she sat in the tree line overhead. Pupils dilating, Noélia watched attentively as a creature entered her field of vision in the dead of night.
A Vastago. A hunter no less. Both odd in and of themselves. Vastago hunted the skies like vultures. Though not scavengers, they rarely came near forested areas where the canopies obstructed their vision from the skies. Which meant they weren't there hunting for food. The instant more appeared out from hiding to rendezvous a reason came to mind.
They're here to kill me.
It was the only sound reason as to why a whole flock would be so far from their hunting grounds. The fact it was only a handful also told her they were there without Andromalius' knowledge. If that bird-brained granny was loyal to anything it was her word. If she truly exiled her without any further repercussions like that blue-haired lady had told her when she awoke, then surely many of the Vastago were more than angered by the decision. Noélia just didn't think them stupid enough to go against their vedlys' decree and attempt an assassination.
Seeing them rush towards the magicians' encampment clearly proved her wrong.
A sudden thought crossed her mind at seeing them scurry through the foliage. If they were here for her, then the fact the hunters assumed she was with the magicians still gave her an opening to escape. With them busy hunting the magicians' encampment, Noélia would have more than enough time to hastily retreat.
A grin split her lips. This couldn't be more perfect. Chuckling under her breath, Noélia jumped through the branches heading through the high canopy until she reached the nearest clearing where she landed safely and with a snicker. She dusted her hands clean, unable to believe what luck she'd struck with these idiots.
What a damn carnage it's gonna be.
Whichever side caused it didn't matter to her so long as they killed each other off. The further she walked away, however, the more a bitter feeling slowly began to sink in her stomach at the thought of the hunters getting the upper hand on the magicians. It was a strange sensation, to say the least. One she didn't quite recognize. All she knew was that it made her feel sick to her stomach. Noélia didn't care what happened to either of the two, but she couldn't deny that a tiny part of her didn't like the sound of the hunters getting their way with the magicians. She supposed it was because they had nursed her when they didn't have to, or more like shouldn't have bothered to. Something about their blind kindness was something she couldn't comprehend even now.
Kindness was idiotic. Selflessness was an even bigger death sentence. Yet the bunch of them had taken the risks on her behalf.
And Noélia simply hated owing anything to anyone.
Groaning at her own idiocy and consciousness was all she could do as she pivoted on her feet and sped towards the encampment.
I'll make it quick, she thought as she rushed through the foliage quiet as the creatures that slept. Get rid of the hunters and that's it.
Luckily for her, the idiots hadn't made it inside yet and certainly didn't expect to be ambushed. Noélia caught the first one off guard and isolated with a surprise attack, lunging from above and slitting their throat with her talons before hiding in the shadows before long. Climbing the ruins the magicians called their camp, Noélia used the darkness to her advantage to sneak up on a couple more, taking them down just as quietly as she had the first. From her first count, these last three down meant there were still a few more to go.
They were nowhere close by, though. Emerald eyes searched about only to find them below at ground level and already on the offensive. Noélia's brow furrowed at the sight, hesitating only for a moment to survey the situation. But the instant she saw the little blue-haired girl surrounded, Noélia knew only to act.
Dropping down from above made it easy to catch one off guard and push off of them to catch another quick enough before they could react. Vaulting off their shoulders, Noélia landed in front of the girl crouched down and stood with steeled feathers in hand.
"Here to kill me?" she scoffed, a single brow raised incredulously. Their answer was to brandish their wings, feathers as steeled as hers.
Noélia wasted no time to rush in and draw their fire to her. Dodging between flying feathers, she made her way through finding a couple at the end of her feathers and kicking them away for good measure. One attempted to strike her from behind, sharpened feather in hand, but Noélia ducked in time to evade it and strike upwards with her own instead severing their neck entirely. The splatter took little of her attention away as she vaulted away from the feather that flew straight at her from one side. It wasn't the only one though. And though she parried most away, of the few that escaped her, one lodged itself in her forearm.
Ignoring it, Noélia jumped forward, tackling the one who hurt her and piercing through their skull before jumping off ready to take on the last one. Coward that they were, however, and seeing their whole brigade decimated, they thought it best to retreat.
Like hell you are.
Taking a few of her feathers in hand and steeling them only took a few seconds of her time. Even in the dark of the night, Noélia could see perfectly. Taking aim for only the split second it took her to inhale, she set her feathers flying. Their cry midair let her know she'd hit her mark. Noélia waited until after she heard them crash into the ground and waited a few seconds just in case before breathing again. When there seemed to be no other sound of a threat, the feathers on her back and behind her ear visibly relaxed.
The stirring of leaves behind her caught her attention and had her glancing over her shoulder at the little blue-haired girl that stood aloofly in place. The fight she just witnessed didn't seem to bother her in the least; if anything, she made it look boring.
"Get back in there." Noélia knew that speaking to her wouldn't gain her anything. Their languages differed too much. Regardless, the brat needed a warning. "And stop coming out at night. It's dangerous."
Her piece given, Noélia felt the sickness in her stomach receding almost instantly, and with it gone, knew that it would be alright to finally leave. Just as she took the first steps away, her ears caught a different noise. That it came from behind her didn't help in calming her mounting nerves either. Before it could get any closer, Noélia spun on her heels slashing away at whatever it was with her talons.
The blue-haired girl stood nonchalantly a few feet away, undisturbed by the fact that Noélia had just kicked away the bundle of cloth she'd been holding. Cerulean eyes stared at the floor for a moment before going about picking up the package and what few items had managed to escape. Noélia didn't move, watching instead as the girl collected what looked to be bandages from the ground.
Once done, the girl held them out once again, offering it out towards Noélia who only stared incredulously at it and the girl.
"I was going to leave this at the edge of the forest," she said, very matter-of-factly and with close to no emotion behind her words. "Your wounds aren't healed entirely and I thought you would need them soon."
Unconsciously, Noélia touched one of the bigger wounds that still lingered from her custody under the Vastago.
"You can use it," she mumbled while pointing at her own shoulder then pointing at Noélia's. "For that, too."
Both stood at a standstill when Noélia refused to take the package she offered. The girl sighed deeply and set it at her feet before giving Noélia her back and walking towards the entrance of the ruins only to stop briefly to glance over her shoulder.
"And also..." Her head lowered as if thinking of something and raised her hands to her chest, mimicking gestures that Noélia knew from her people. A sign of gratitude. With that said, the girl entered, leaving her alone in the dark of the night.
Noélia gently nudged the package laying at her feet before crouching down and carefully untying the knot the girl had made. Well, she hadn't been lying. From what little she understood of the child, there were supposed to be medicinal objects here. Finding bandages and distinct herbs that she knew would work in healing some of her wounds proved as much. Conflicted, she wondered whether it'd be wise to use them, but her throbbing forearm gave her little choice.
It took her a few minutes to take care of the deep wound and a few more for the numerous cuts she'd sustained during the fight, but once done and most of the supplies gone, Noélia stood feeling slightly better than before.
Hearing movement from the inside startled her enough to run away towards the nearby trees from where she spotted another of the magicians. They mustn't have noticed her, more preoccupied with the bunch of corpses she'd left behind in her wake instead. Not wanting to be a part of that, Noélia made her way through the canopy, stepping from branch to branch until she was a safe distance away from their camp.
All the same, though, Noélia could see them from where she perched herself, rousing and readying for the day to come as the sun began to rise. Intending to rest, she remained there, thinking once she healed completely she would leave the place for good.
—{i}—
Something was truly off about these humans.
Noélia couldn't grasp what their intentions were. Despite this being their so-called base of operations, they were rarely around, being gone days at a time and returning for shorter times. Every time they did come back, their puny bodies would be ravished with injuries. What battles they were fighting, she could not tell.
But that wasn't what baffled her the most.
What did was that blue-haired girl and woman. Ever since the night she saved the brat from the Vastago assassins, both made it a habit to come the forest every time they returned. Even more baffling was how surprisingly close they came to where she'd made her resting place in the trees. They would never remain for long. All they ever did was leave the small basket the girl would bring with her at the clearing near her tree and return to the encampment without a single word.
Noélia had ignored it at first thinking it a trap, but the smell that reached her after a while told her exactly what was in that basket. She confirmed it that same night in the veil of darkness and couldn't help but stare at the cooked meat and bread that laid under the small cloth. After verifying with a few bites that nothing was wrong with it, Noélia scarfed them down, leaving the basket empty within minutes and quickly jumping back into the trees for cover.
That had been the first day.
Day in and day out afterward, they would come to retrieve the basket they left the day before and leave another full one in its place. Noélia questioned their motives. What were they hoping to gain from this? To curry favor? If so, they were barking up the wrong tree. Despite what they had done, Noélia had no intention to listen to them even if she could understand them. But the fact that they kept coming without demanding anything in return peeved her.
It continued to build up until the time came that she couldn't keep it to herself any longer. During what had become now a routine over the last couple of weeks, Noélia descended from her perch as they turned away to leave, landing loudly enough upon the ground to catch their attention.
Both turned to meet her gaze, the little girl with that same unfazed expression and the woman with a soft smile. Before they could leave, Noélia stepped forward to speak.
"Why are you doing this?"
Her question was straightforward. The woman responded in kind.
"We don't wish to see you starve."
"I don't want your pity," Noélia spat back, already past being astounded by how fluent the woman was in her tongue. "I can provide for myself."
"Yes, we know," she agreed. "Though I believe it will be hard to hunt until that wound fully heals, will it not?"
Unconsciously, she pressed her hand against her bandaged arm, eyes narrowing upon the two. "I can still hunt."
"You shouldn't." This time the one who spoke had been the girl from before, her tone as lifeless as before. "Your wounds will heal slower. You need to rest."
Noélia didn't know whether to be amazed or afraid at how fluently the brat could speak her language. Regardless, she took it as a threat, knowing better than to underestimate anybody. "They will heal no matter what I do. Whether they do so later rather than sooner doesn't bother me."
"We understand," the woman intervened. "We hope you keep accepting the food, however. Let it...alleviate the amount of hunting you do at the very least." Her hand landed atop of the girl's head then as if gesturing to her. "Think of it as my gratitude to you for saving my child from the Vastago that found her unattended."
Noélia didn't respond. But she supposed the fact that she didn't outright reject their offer gave them some peace of mind. Enough to leave anyway.
Once alone, it gave her time to ponder about these magicians once more. With the limited amount of exposure she'd gotten to them, Noélia could only muster a single word to describe them: ludicrous. All of their actions were nothing short of insane. Three adults and two children traveling back and forth to these hidden ruins, always returning with injuries. What was even crazier to her was the fact that they were somehow acquainted with the Vastago. They had either really brave or really stupid for bird-brained granny to have accepted their damn request to spare her life and exile her instead. Somehow these tiny, pitiful humans held something against Andromalius. To say it didn't intrigue her would be a lie.
But I'm not about to die because of my curiosity.
Forget it. Curious or not, Noélia wasn't about to die to satiate it. Getting comfortable once more up in her branch, she draped her wings over herself to keep from the cool night breeze that blew by as her determination came up with one final decision.
Tomorrow at dawn she would leave this place and people behind. With her wounds more than healed, traveling would be a mild inconvenience at best, but not enough of one to keep her there any longer.
So come tomorrow morning, goodbye to you nutty lot.
—{i}—
Smoke.
Emerald eyes shot wide open at the stench that permeated her nostrils so suddenly. Her vision rapidly adjusted to the dark of the night thanks in part to the massive flames that engulfed the forest around her. Noélia didn't have time to think. All that mattered was getting as far away from the fire that kept encroaching towards her. Jumping through branches, she headed straight in the opposite direction of the flames only to find them approaching not far from that direction as well. Doing the same thing again only proved to show in what kind of situation she found herself in now.
Surrounded.
The whole damn forest is burning up.
Choking on the rising smoke, Noélia lowered herself to the ground to avoid it the best she could. Now instead of smoke, it was the heat from the flames that threatened to envelop her. There wasn't much else for her to do except run towards the nearest clearing where it'd take the fire longer to reach, but she was also fully aware that getting there would only afford her a short respite.
Sooner rather than later it would reach her.
Where the hell can I go?
Everywhere around her was completely engulfed in flames. Even if she remained there, they would get to her. A quick glance told her that there was nowhere nearby that she could go where the outcome wouldn't end with her burning to death. The thought of what could be one possible escape came to mind and brought her gaze upward only for her to click her tongue in frustration.
If only she could fly. It'd be so easy to just get away from this place if she hadn't been born the way she was. If only her wings worked.
If only I wasn't a fucking monster.
"Over here!"
Her whole body pivoted at the voice calling out to her and found the blue-haired woman not far wearing a distraught expression while carrying the little girl on her back. Noélia's survival instincts were quick at their assessment: anything was better than burning to a crisp. Instantly, she sprinted towards the woman, catching up to her rather quickly and pushing her forward to lead the way. Noélia remained vigilant of her surroundings, both of the fire that continued spreading and the other magicians that came into view.
They were all standing close to one another and guarded by the same golden sphere that Noélia recalled protected her from her execution. The sight of it alone brought a great deal of relief to her mind. If that thing could defend against Andromalius' steel wings then a measly fire would mean nothing. With just feet away from the dome, however, a sound came to Noélia's sharp ears. A familiar swift noise that cut through the air and was heading straight at them. There wasn't enough time for her to think, only act. Pushing them into the dome, the woman and little girl stumbled into its boundaries, falling unceremoniously onto the floor.
Noélia stared back at the little girl's cerulean blue eyes as she stared wide-eyed at the sight before her. Of Noélia's arm and back pierced by steeled feathers, blood seeping through her clothes and down her arm and back, and a haughty smirk spread across her lips.
Breathing a shaky inhale, Noélia ignored the pain wracking her body and focused instead on the direction from whence the feathers now piercing her had come from. They were easy to spot as they hovered in the middle of the crimson and soot-filled sky: Vastago hunters.
"There it is!"
"Eliminate the abomination! Leave no witnesses!"
Again?
"Do you bastards ever get tired!?"
Noélia yanked the steeled feathers stuck to her arm and threw them their way. They didn't do much seeing as they had injured her dominant hand, but it was better than nothing. Undeterred, the hunters swooped down towards her and the protective dome. Steeling her feathers and taking a handful between her fingers, Noélia did her best to shoot them down in their descent. One fell for the trap but the rest simply dodged out of the way before crashing down against her and the dome. The slashes that came after were easy to defend against by covering the majority of her body with her steeled wing. The rest, however, struck the dome behind her with hellish force. It did little to damage it but the mere fact that their aim was also to dispose of the magicians bore something in her.
And she knew this feeling too well.
Rage.
They had done nothing but be kind to her. Even when she berated them for it, Noélia never detected any sort of malicious intent from their actions. They were just kind for its sake; because it was borne from them the need to act that way. And the fact that they were willing to punish them for such innocent actions...it lit in her soul the same hatred that came to be the night of the conclave and the day she stormed the tribe to kill Theone.
The Vastago served no other purpose than to kill the innocent.
"You can come and seek me to kill me, but don't you dare touch them!"
Noélia jumped back and used the surface of the dome to gain some height. Beneath her, she could hear the magicians questioning her actions but didn't spare them a glance. She had more important targets to take care of.
Timing her approach just right, she waited until the last moment of their next dive to attack. She jumped on the first one, catching their back with her talons and ripping at them before jumping and taking a big chunk of skin and feathers as another came to help. Her injured hand grasped at the steel cord she made out of molten feathers, unwrapping it from its coil in her pouch and tensing it between both her hands as she came upon another hunter. Purposefully, she avoided landing on them this time and instead used the downward momentum to catch them with her cord by their neck, bringing them down with her. Another of the hunters threatened to catch her in her fall but anticipating this, Noélia pulled down to use the hunter caught in her cord to protect herself. Both stumbled in midair at crashing and Noélia used their added weight to climb on top of them as they came crashing down to soften her fall.
Cutting the cord, she tightened another batch as more hunters chased after her. One of them caught her unawares, grasping one of her limp wings in their claws and hoisting her back into the air. Noélia gritted her teeth through the pain and instead clawed her own way up onto their back, biting at her own lip to distract from the massive pain that came from twisting her wing in such a way. She didn't wait a second longer than necessary and slit cleanly through the hunter's throat. Their gurgling or immediate descent didn't distract her from ensuring the kill, making sure to steer his falling body straight into the dome face first.
Jumping off, Noélia paid no attention to the falling body and instead faced the other hunters that lingered in the air, immobile. Her glare narrowed, wary of their next move. But to her dismay, by the time she saw the hint of a smirk on one of them, it was too late for her to react.
"Watch out!"
Crystal shattered. Her left shoulder pierced. But all that paled in comparison to what she saw as someone crashed against her legs, throwing her off the large feather's trajectory that'd been headed straight for her heart.
The little girl. She'd walked out of the dome's protection and pushed her. Not only that but somehow created a dome of her own—a meager imitation anyway. It didn't even fully manifest into a complete sphere. It barely managed to create panes of golden crystal directly in front of and behind her to lessen the feather's impact.
Noticing their intent to attack once more, this time in unison, Noélia acted once more, steeling her wing and crouching to fully protect the little girl that clung to her legs over herself. Before any of them could reach them, however, something happened. A flash of light blinded her sight for a mere second. But apparently that's all that was necessary. The cries of the hunters echoed in her head, agonizing screams that ended prematurely moments before their petrified bodies crashed and shattered into the ground.
"Expand the borg, Arba."
Noélia diligently watched as the dome that protected the magicians—the borg—expanded to shield a wider area. The black-haired woman sighed a bit, thin lines of sweat down her temple the only indication that gave away the burden of what she had done. Unveiling the girl but unable to stand from her injuries, both stared at the blue-haired boy that stepped forward with the older woman following a step behind him. The girl, upon seeing the woman, released her grip on her—did she just hold me tighter before letting go?—and ran towards the woman who simply bent down to catch her as she lovingly embraced the child in her arms.
The boy stared at Noélia then, speechless and unmoving. Despite her urge to run, she knew better than to try in the state she found herself in now. Her injuries, despite not being fatal, were debilitating enough to make that impossible.
"You better leave," Noélia finally said, holding onto her bleeding shoulder. "More are bound to come. And if they know you saw them, they will come after you too. You heard them. They don't want witnesses to go tattle on them for breaking their vedly's orders."
"You're right. They won't be long," he responded, his accent heavy as he spoke to her in her language. "So we better get going. We'll treat your wounds once we get somewhere safe."
Emerald eyes widened for a split second before glowering back at the boy that simply smiled cheekily at her. "Don't be stupid!" she snarled. "I'm the reason you have to leave your hideout now. Taking me with you will only cause more commotions like these! Take care of yours and leave already!"
"You're the one speaking nonsense." The words he spouted baffled her even further but this time he used the second it took to explain with a glint in his eyes and a broad grin on his face. "You're a part of us now, remember? And we've always taken care of each other. It's not going to be any different with you."
The ire that grew within Noélia this time was completely different from any kind she'd felt before. Despite how much his words irked her, she could only muster muttered curses against the boy. "You brainless, little—"
"We did promise to watch over you." The woman's soothing voice cut her insult off and had her eyeing the woman as she approached her, kneeling before her to see eye-to-eye with Noélia. Unlike before and despite the urge to leave, a calm washed over her before settling in her chest and spreading further the longer she listened. "Not only that but you've protected us twice now from those pursuing you already. Besides, my son's goal isn't to just liberate the species and have other magicians join in his cause. That very much applies to other species as well. Right, Solomon?"
Solomon nodded. "And if you want to, you could be the first one to join us."
"Why would I—"
"Friends." The girl's quiet voice echoed in Noélia's head. She didn't quite look at Noélia but she could see those cerulean eyes of hers glint like the vast sky she'd yearned for as they peeked over the woman's shoulder. "Having some is nice. They make things...less lonely."
Friends?
In her youth, Noélia hadn't wanted much except to be accepted by her family. Now that that was all but a pipe dream, she couldn't fathom the thought of what having friends would be like. It sounded ridiculous. Yet another pipe dream that would explode in her face like the last one had. But something about them—something about their expecting expressions and caring gazes—borne a strange feeling in her chest.
One she didn't know what to do with.
Clicking her tongue, she frowned and turned away in an attempt to hide the heat that was coming to her ears and cheeks.
"Whatever. I'll just leave after I'm healed, anyway."
"That's alright," the woman replied, mercurial eyes shining like a thousand stars glimmering in the night sky. "And if you decide to stay, that'll be alright, as well."
|III|
Magicians.
The other half of her bloodline. What the Vastago had considered the weaker half that had malformed her were in actuality not weak in the slightest.
The fact that they were the sole species in their world naturally capable of wielding magic said as much. Noélia herself came to corroborate firsthand the more time she interacted with these magicians, something that came to happen after a long, long time of painstakingly coming to terms with them and their idiosyncrasies.
But it was with those five in particular that Noélia felt the yearning that her younger self had once had finally becoming a reality—
"What a lovely name. Do you mind if I call you Noé?" "What's your name, lady?" "They call me Teosa."
"This is hopeless." "Not quite. You're beginning to understand more. You're learning."
"Can I call you meistras?" "You may, but what does it mean if I may know?" "It means teacher. The Vastago—that's what fledglings call those who teach them how to fly."
"It's confusing talking with you, Noé, but also very...fun. My name is—"
"What do you mean with 'inherent bias', Ignis?"
Noé turned to Ignis with her lute in hand strumming mindlessly away as she read over the meticulous notes written by the blue-haired girl. The once indifferent little twerp grew plenty in the last five years of knowing her. Now seventeen, the little girl that had always clung to her meistras' skirts when young now spent more than ample of time engulfed in her so-called 'research.'
Cerulean eyes blinked back at her owlishly, strands of dark blue hair falling from behind her ears as they finally peeled away from her incessant writing on that book of hers. Noé scoffed at the sight. Despite having softer features, when her hair framed her face just right, Ignis once again became the mirror image of her brother. Same indifferent and faraway gaze and all. Though in her case, Noé knew it was more out of disinterest than outright teasing.
And despite being similar in more ways than that, there were still plenty of things that differentiated the twins. Among them their interests with which Noé was more than acquainted with. Over the years of them liberating more species and recruiting more allies, she'd seen how that spark had festered in Ignis as she grew and saw in the flesh when it bore fruit and became a true yearning to learn. But unlike her older brother whose curiosity enticed him to learn more about the other species, what Ignis wished to learn about the most was humanity itself.
And after having babysat her one time too many during missions where Teosa didn't feel comfortable taking the kid, it appeared that she too unknowingly became part of Ignis's reconnaissance party and only slightly unwillingly. The latter being so because, despite having complained about helping out at first, Noé didn't really mind it in the long run. After all, learning more about her other bloodline had sounded somewhat interesting back then. Still did to some degree, though now it was far more interesting to watch Ignis theorize and hypothesize about humanity as a whole.
Ignis eyed her notes briefly as if reading them over to recall what she'd written before tapping the end of her quill against her nose. Noé had already read it more than a few times herself. Despite its complexity, it was already ingrained in her brain thanks to her meistras' nifty spell that to this day held its efficacy. But no matter which way she read it, any attempt to find some sort of hidden meaning behind it proved useless. Her ramblings made sense but that didn't change the fact that they were ramblings all the same.
"It's just an observation," Ignis briefly pointed out, returning to writing in that book of hers. "I've noticed it on the documents that crop up anytime we raid a Gunud. It's quite the feat that we've found so many as well. Sol doesn't like waiting to destroy those towers until after we've collected what I need."
"Well, he does want to liberate those controlled by the damn tower so I wouldn't blame him."
"I don't."
"Sounds like you do."
"You're putting words in my mouth again," Ignis retorted with a slight puff to her cheeks. The sight of such a nonchalant person acting like a child had her chuckling.
"Relax, Iggy. I'm just joking."
"Bad taste jokes."
"Only you and Solomon think so. Pair of stuck-up siblings you are."
"Ignis. Noé." Both turned upward and met Solomon who waited just at the bottom of the hill the two sat on just outside the perimeter of their headquarters. The boy, now seventeen as well, didn't waste time with any formalities beyond that and Noé could understand why.
"Is it time?" she asked, her strumming stopping momentarily to listen. Solomon simply nodded. Heaving a sigh, Noé helped Ignis put her notes away before helping the girl to her feet. "Let's get going then."
Time wasn't in their favor this time around. According to what information Ugo obtained, the single Gunud's control was already wavering which gave them less time to rescue the divine staff that controlled the tower. Despite her years with them, Noé still cared very little about the magicians Solomon recruited for the Resistance. After the last five years, she had barely gotten used to the core five she met back with the Vastago. And though she stomached those like Falan, Wahid, Setta, and Ithnan, she only did so because they had become tight-knit with that specific group. So by de facto, some tolerance was in order. The others, however, Noé trusted as far as she could throw them.
But her loyalty wasn't to them. It was only to Teosa and her children, Solomon and Ignis. So long as they needed her, Noé would do what was in her hands to aid them to achieve their goal. No matter how grandiose and seemingly impossible it sounded to her.
"Who resides in these arid regions?"
Noé overlooked the lands controlled by the Gunud from a nearby mountain peak alongside Ignis. Though she could spot the species from up high, it was difficult to distinguish them in detail. If anything they just appeared like shapeless and mindless blobs. It was a fate she was thankfully spared thanks to Ignis's borg that negated the magic emanating from the tower. With it surrounding them, there was no need to worry about it controlling her like it did the species below.
"The Manticores." Ignis offered that response to her before looking upward at the explosions that set off across the tower. "They've started."
Noé nodded, crouching down at the peak of the mountain to watch over their progress. Despite joining them, there wasn't truly much to be done by either of them. In Noé's case, it was simply because the tower's magic could easily affect her if she wasn't protected by a borg. In Ignis's case, it was because of her incapacity to fight, something that Teosa simply described as her being too weak to be able to sustain the powers of a divine staff like Solomon or the others could.
All these factors came together for them to perform the only job they could: a simple contingency. If the main group looked like they would fail in their ambush, it was their job to relay that information to the rest of the Resistance in order to call for backup.
Meaningless job if you asked me.
It was difficult for her to think such a thing necessary when she saw time and time again the Gunud toppled over in the wake of the vanguard's attack and subsequent escape on their carpets. With one headed straight for them, Noé held onto Ignis before jumping onto their ride.
"Good to see you safe." Teosa smiled back at Noé who could only lower her gaze as the others thanked her for her good wishes.
Ignis, however, was interested in other things as she made her way to her brother. "Sol, did you get anything for me?"
"Oh, yeah." Plucking from his feet a couple of tomes, he easily passed them to her. It almost had Noé laughing from how the girl hunched forward from the weight of the books. Almost. Knowing better than to mock her, she decided to instead help the delicate girl carry them. "Hope they help."
"Thank you," she said.
"Who's the twerp?" Noé asked, at last noticing the head of pink that peaked from underneath a blanket. Big round coral eyes blinked up at her only to screech a moment after. Suddenly self-conscious, Noé shrunk into her shoulders as she slipped on the hood of her cloak and laid as far away from the girl as possible.
It took a while to reach their base but once they approached the vicinity, Noé readied herself to leap off. Ignis and Solomon both turned towards her at noticing and incited the curiosity of those on board as well.
This time it was Ignis who spoke up. "It's not necessary for you to disembark before us."
True, but Noé didn't want to deal with the crowds. Unlike his sibling, Solomon understood this which is why he never said anything whenever she prepared to leave. Ignis, on the other hand, could never keep her thoughts to herself about the subject. To her, five years of living together meant that something about her mentality towards others had to have changed.
It won't. That's one of the few things books won't teach you, Iggy.
Taking that in stride, Noé patted Ignis's head and grinned down at her. "Bring me dinner later, alright?"
Ignis nodded slowly. "Mmh."
With that assurance, she leaped from the carpet just as it flew over the head of their moving base and landed safely atop of it only to turn and watch after them as they headed inside. Leaning against the head, Noé let her wings rest behind her and stared overhead to the blue sky to begin the usual wait till dinner.
—{i}—
"Noé, look here."
Caught mid-bite, Noé let the chunk of meat hangover her teeth as she turned to Ignis who held the tome her brother had given her on her lap whilst reading it aloud for her sake. The girlie had brought her dinner like always and spent the time she had before bedtime analyzing the archives they had gathered from their newest raid. Idly, Ignis pointed at a certain excerpt urging her to read it.
"This is what I meant."
"About?" she asked.
"Inherent bias."
Ah. Reading it over a couple of times alongside her explanation made what she meant to say make sense now.
According to what she and Teosa often discussed, this bias held onto by humans was not innate. What should have begun as a mission to unite the world ended up forgotten and twisted into this new doctrine concocted by the Church. A way to control others—to take control of those which they feared and couldn't control. If there existed an entity that knew nothing of this world and was introduced to these teachings, Noé could see why they would think of other species like her as monsters. History wrote them as villains despite their only desire being to live and survive, and humans as the heroes of 800 years ago as the ones favored by Illah.
"I see," she muttered under her breath. "History is written by the victor, huh."
"Yes." Ignis scooted closer and pointed out many more excerpts. How in the world the girl could read so quickly was beyond her. "It's like poisoning a pure flow of water. It taints all and none can tell it apart from the original source. Its perspectives are skewed."
"Makes sense why they would do that. It justifies these kinds of horrendous acts to their mindless followers, after all. If their whole shtick is being 'holier than thou', then nothing else would matter to them. Not even hurting innocent species."
"Exactly. It doesn't erase the other side of history."
"It'd be great to also have a record of that side, don't you think?"
Cerulean eyes narrowed as Ignis's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Well, yeah. It's kinda logical if you think about it, too," Noé pointed out, chewing her piece of meat before taking another bite and talking over her full mouth. "From the sound of things, it's basically impossible to avoid that inherent bias. I mean, it's not like you can convince the winning side that they lost or vice versa, right? All that discussion would bring would be chaos. Though...I suppose you could avoid it by having all sides of the story."
"Both sides, you mean?"
"No, all sides." Noé raised her free hand while chewing away. "Meistras always says that despite there only being two factions in this war—the oppressors and liberators—there's also us, the ones victimized and caught in the middle of it. There's even more if you count those species that aren't affected by the Gunud's magic and have stayed away from the war itself as well. In reality there's a bunch of different sides to take into account if you want a true unbiased version of any sort of history. Once you have that, then whoever reads those accounts would be able to decipher for themselves the 'truth' of those events, unhindered and untainted by bias."
Suddenly her train of thought was interrupted when their mountain of a base halted in its tracks. The abrupt stop brought their attention to the massive part of the continent missing right in their way.
So much for heading to the next target.
It wasn't anything new. Even Noé during her travels years ago before settling with the Resistance had noticed that parts of their world were coming apart. Something that made things rather difficult for any land-dwelling species or, in her case, a defective flightless one to traverse it. More than likely they'd camp out in place for the night. They might even visit the nearby village underground that Noé could smell from a mile away.
Oh well. It'd give her some time to rest at least.
Not wanting to leave Ignis with only half of her own thoughts, Noé didn't hold back, wolfing down her food before ending her derailed train of thought.
"But anyway, it all sounds great and dandy in theory but I doubt it'd work if put into practice. Doing that would take time and tons of interaction with the other species and humanity. And seeing as neither are rather fond of each other, their inherent biases will just float to the surface all the same. Not to mention the sort of way you would need to keep that history in order for it to not be distorted by time. Oral history would be a nonstarter considering there's no such thing as an unbiased person. Writing doesn't sound that much better either; it's certainly still an option albeit a tedious one." Noé spat out the bone that she'd been playing around with in her mouth and took one of the smaller feathers from behind her ear, steeling it to pick at her incisors. "So all in all, kind of a pointless idea, I'd say."
"Noé, that's brilliant!"
"...I'm sorry?" Noé paused briefly at having been completely ignored and stared dumbfounded at the sight of Ignis. Never had she seen that kind of glint in her ceruleans eyes. Rolling hers but smiling all the same, Noé shrugged back at her. "You did hear what I said, right?"
"But it makes sense!" Her sudden outburst was so uncharacteristic that it startled Noé and made her jump in her seat beside Ignis as the girl went on with a sheen in her eye that she too often saw in Solomon's when in the vicinity of other species. "We are witnessing history unfold before our eyes. We are one side helping liberate the other all the while not neglecting the practices of the Church. If we gather everything into a single lexicon, we could build this reservoir of knowledge so that this awful history never repeats itself again!"
—{i}—
Build a reservoir so that history doesn't repeat itself?
It was impossible not to scoff at such a childish idea. Even if all species had that kind of knowledge would they really be able to understand one another? No, Noé very much doubted it. Especially since she had already experienced the type of species that would single-handedly blind themselves to new knowledge in order to maintain their olden ways. Noé couldn't imagine a tribe like the Vastago accepting their own shortcomings and being willing to accept other species. If anything any tribes like hers would take advantage of that knowledge against others instead of using it to unite with others like Ignis so foolishly believed.
"No matter how you see it, it won't work."
"What wouldn't work?"
Recognizing the voice immediately, Noé instantly rose from her seat to welcome her meistras as Teosa approached her. She'd been so engulfed by her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed her presence so nearby. Then again, with it being the middle of the night, she hadn't expected any of the magicians to be awake, much less ambling about aimlessly.
Teosa brushed away the formalities with a wave of her hand and a caring smile. "Please desist. Welcoming me isn't necessary."
Noé understood that, but it didn't change the fact that she held her meistras in high enough regards to treat her with the respect she deserved. Much like the kind she had for Solomon, although, she would admit that her meistras was ever so slightly above their young resistance leader.
Teosa found a seat at the edge of the mountain's head and patted the space left beside her for Noé to join. Doing so reluctantly but accepting it out of respect, Noé perched herself facing back at the continent that they had traveled so far. A stretch of land that was inhabited by a gentile tribe where surely the rest of the magicians were leisurely spending the night at. Everybody except Teosa who always had the knack for finding her when she least expected it.
"Having trouble sleeping?" she finally inquired once the silence of the night had settled for a few minutes.
"Just thinking." After living with them for so long it wasn't rare to find herself speaking casually with her teacher from time to time. Sometimes she fell into the role of a student where her respectfulness would surge and take the forefront in regards to her actions. Nighttime, however, wasn't one of those times.
"About what you and Ignis talked about this morning?"
Emerald eyes glanced askance at Teosa whose gaze never wavered from the vastness of life that laid before them with a smile. It never ceased to be eerie how the two of them always knew everything about the other. Unlike with Solomon, Teosa and Ignis appeared to almost be attached at the hip. Whatever one knew, so did the other, sometimes at such uncanny speeds that it would make one think it almost impossible. It was the one thing that still amazed and terrified her about the two.
"I don't understand why out of everything else we've seen all these years this is what caught her attention the most. It's not like it would work anyway. At least not for the purpose she hopes it might."
"It's my belief that Ignis's fascination with humanity is what brought that on." Teosa's gaze lowered as she brought the red shawl closer against her body to guard against the night breeze. "As unbelievable as it seems, Ignis actually saw humanity as a hopeless species that despite its strength was on the path towards its own destruction."
"She did?"
Her meistras nodded, a melancholic smile coming to her lips. "I understood her sentiment as well. After the manner of things we've witnessed, it was only obvious to arrive at such a conclusion. But after reuniting with Solomon, the idea of such a boundless hope was planted in us and slowly came to bloom. It is why we aid him in his endeavors against the Orthodox Church now. It is why Ignis toils away in her research instead, unable to fight alongside us as she is. We both have that same hope alive in us and wish to change the world so that these cruel events never have to repeat themselves."
Suddenly, those mercurial eyes turned to Noé and caught her off guard. Almost instantly, she felt her cheeks burn a bit and turned her gaze slightly downward to avoid the embarrassment.
"That's why I'm grateful to you and how you've helped Ignis all this time in her research. More so now that you have given her such a wonderful idea in which she wishes to pour her heart into."
"You mean the archiving we talked about," Noé said matter-of-a-factly, understanding the flow of the conversation. Despite the giddiness that swelled in her chest from the praise, it died down quickly as her logic crept back into her head. "But I already told Ignis just how impossible of a task it would be. With all the work that it entails, it could quite literally take an eternity with only Ignis and I."
"That is if it only was you and Ignis."
Hearing that brought Noé's brow neatly together in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Dedicatedly, a slim finger rose against Teosa's cheek as she smiled mischievously back at Noé. "Much like my son can go on recruiting magicians for our cause, we can also recruit members of other species who are interested in joining us in this endeavor, don't you think?"
"You can't be serious?" When Teosa didn't seem fazed by Noé's outburst, she felt like groaning at what that implicated. "You are." She shook her head before retorting, "You seriously think bringing different species together to collaborate in something as grand and abstract as that is a wise idea?"
"Perhaps not when looking at it through your eyes. Then again, that's the whole point of this project, correct? To overcome that bias." That quaint smile of hers brought Noé to a point where all she could do was listen as Teosa ended her explanation. "Besides, if a proud Vastago such as yourself could cohabit and fight alongside magicians for the past five years without any trouble, I think you and Ignis can handle a few new children to help you."
Noé wanted to retort again but found herself unable to, only for the fact that she just didn't know what to say against that. It wasn't sound logic. At least not fully. But despite that, there was also something about the way she proposed such a seemingly impossible feat that made her want to try.
It made her want to succeed against such impossibility.
After a moment, Noé could only wring the back of her neck all the while a small smile pulled at the corners of her lips, nervous and somewhat enthused at the idea of conquering such an unfathomable foe.
"You win." Chuckling, she heaved a long sigh while keeping that smile on her face. "I'll join Ignis in this craziness."
"Craziness makes it sound rather unattainable," Teosa said playfully. "Why not call it the pursuit and imparting of knowledge instead? It is what we'll be doing after all. While Solomon and the others fight to change the world, we will fight to ensure that it never returns to such a state."
"What we basically wish to compile is the unbiased side of history. I can't think of anything crazier than that."
"No one better to chase after it than us of the Resistance then."
Noé scoffed and stared off at the night sky littered with countless stars overhead.
"True."
There ain't no crazier bunch out there than us, after all.
A/N:
Hello, guess who's back! I know it's been a hot minute but my free time has only gotten shorter and shorter with how school went last semester and with how short my vacations are this year.
I'm looking to finish this whole Alma Toran Arc before I head back in which is going well so far. Aside from this chapter, I've got another one finished but it won't be edited and updated just yet. I'll finish the chapter after next and then possibly upload both together.
For now because I'm short in time, I'll just like to thank everybody who's been waiting on this and who favorited and followed so far. To those amazing reviewers that leave lovely comments, I also thank you. To that one that wasn't so nice: spite fuels me :D
Anyway, hope you guys have a great rest of your day/night! Hope you enjoyed and that you stay tuned for the next update!
*Evie*