At the same time that Nihil was talking to Ignis, Stella was pouring over the inscription pattern, memorising each and every minute line that was marked down on the blueprint. At this point her aim was just rote memorisation, so she put off trying to decipher and understand it’s construction until after she and Stella had met their master.
In order to not distract her sister, Lunam was passing the time by catching up with a couple of old friends that lived within the capital. The group of five people were sitting around a table in the busy pub section of Stella and Lunam’s inn, enjoying a few drinks. After the small talk had passed, the topic naturally shifted to Lunam telling stories of Diei Noctis’ escapades over the recent years.
After excellently portraying some of the exciting battles and quests the party had gotten into – including the various stories of how the group had gradually grown to be quite so big – Lunam took a long draught of the water that was on the table in front of her.
“A couple of interesting guys have been travelling with us recently. They work as bards, so they probably would have told those stories better than I did.” She laughed in high spirits.
“Oh? Did they have any good legends to tell you guys?” A small, fairy-like girl, with sparkling gold hair, asked from across the table.
“They did share one, but it directly contradicts history and that didn’t sit too well with Stella especially.” Lunam laughed awkwardly in response to the girl called Rashida.
“That’s got me interested now too.” A tall lady with mint green hair and pointed ears piped up from next to Rashida.
With nods of assent from the other two present, Lunam was forced to summarise the song Nihil had performed then.
“Before we start, can one of you cast a soundproofing barrier, please? It doesn’t align with history and the atmosphere’s a bit tense in the capital at the moment.” Lunam requested after some thought.
Only once the barrier was in place, did she start telling the story Nihil had described. By the time she’d finished, the group of four had shocked expressions and even had tears in their eyes that they steadfastly refused to let fall.
“That’s definitely a new take on Avalon’s history.” A strange voice that seemed neither totally present nor completely absent, agreed.
This voice belonged to one of the four people sitting around the table with Lunam. He was a special type of demon that didn’t have a physical form. As such people from this ‘Soul Clan’ wouldn’t have a choice except to become a mage – as they had no body they could cultivate.
The final member of the small group was a low-ranking demon with a light red tail and a matching pair of wings. Despite his bloodline, he was still a decent mage falling into the upper end of average. In fact everyone in the group Lunam had met was a mage at least at the upper average level.
As mages from the Mage’s Guild, they were guaranteed to be skilled. Average and weaker mages would invariably end up in the Adventurer’s Guild (which is why the Sun and Moon adventurers didn’t have any even in such a large party).
The small girl named Rashida was a half elf, half dwarf cross. The green haired, tall woman was called Mel, and she was a pure blooded elf. The translucent demon from the Soul Clan went by the name of Seis. Finally, the pretty boy, red winged demon’s name was Rood. They were all old friends of Stella and Lunam, and used to be part of the same party before they all transferred to the mage’s guild and the girls had founded Diei Noctis. They’d still often bump into each other on various quests, though.
At this point Mel spoke up quietly. “Actually I have heard whispers of this story back in Alfheim.”
“You have?” Lunam asked, surprised.
“We elves are naturally longer lived than humans, so it’s not unusual for our histories to be more accurate – especially when the humans are deliberately trying to hide the truth.” Mel pointed out.
“Why would they try to cover that up, though? It’s a very touching story.” Rood questioned, confused. Demons lived for roughly the same length of time as elves, but they were more solitary and generally didn’t bother with passing down histories.
“The problem isn’t with why it was founded, but with how. It’s not apparent with this story, but it’s actually set before the Great War.” Mel explained.
Avalon’s official history stated that the country was formed after the Great War in an effort to help the survivors’ lives regain a sense of normalcy and peace.
“This Nihil seems to have deliberately worded it so that the timing wasn’t obvious.” Mel continued in an impressed tone. “So I’m sure he already knows of the father and son’s crimes following the end of this story too.”
“Crimes? Just what did they do?” Seis questioned, thoroughly intrigued by his friend’s teasing.
“Haha, ok I’ll stop beating around the bush. We already have a soundproofing barrier up, so I might as well just say it bluntly.” Mel laughed. “In an effort to increase their country’s power rapidly, and to completely establish their rule, they caused the Great War.”
““““What!?”””” A collective shout rang out.
“Wait, wait, wait. Why would that even help them!?” Rashida asked, shocked.
“I’m not sure what they were actually planning – if they meant for the casualties to be as high as they were, or not. But, if you think about it, the result was that the races’ hostility to each other grew; the population decreased by a lot; and they were one of the more powerful groups of humans since they had been fully prepared for the war far in advance of everyone else. By the time the Inter-Species Council had calmed the war down enough that the pact could be signed, the Royal Family were the only possible representative that humans could send to sign it.”
The other four people at the table all had shocked looks on their faces, like they couldn’t quite believe just how smoothly it had gone for the two.
“What the hell!?” Rood’s muttered exclamation effectively summed up everyone’s thoughts at that moment.
“If even you know this much, then how could the Inter-Species Council let them get away with it?” Seis asked.
“No-one knew about it until much later. At that point it was too late to do anything. Even now, these are only rumours flitting around in Alfheim. Though the reality is that the Inter-Species council are greatly suppressing Avalon’s Royal Family.” Mel answered.
“Perhaps this is part of the reason why Prince Pravus is so hostile to the other races?” Lunam mused.
“That would explain a lot.” Seis agreed, nodding his head.
At that point, Rashida looked outside at the moon high in the sky. “Ah! It’s this late?”
“We should probably go back to our own houses.” Rood agreed.
After they’d all said their goodbyes, Lunam made her way over to the counter to talk to Hera.
Making her way up the stairs, Lunam softly opened he door to her shared room with her sister.
“It’s about time to wrap up your studying today.” She gently reminded Stella after seeing the girl still absorbed in her research.
“Mmn …” Stella agreed, still looking at the blueprints.
Just then an enticing smell made its way to Stella’s nose. Glancing up, she saw her sister holding a tray of delicious food and a tall mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate chips. Seeing this, her eyes lit up and she immediately stopped what she was doing.
“Thank you!” Stella exclaimed at the same time that her stomach let out a loud grumble.
Lunam just laughed and handed the tray over. While watching her sister eat, Lunam asked how the research was going.
“Mmh, it’s taking a while, but I should be able to try it out for the first time tomorrow.” Stella replied around mouthfuls of food. As she ate, her cheeks bulged out, reminding Lunam of a hamster.
Smiling gently, Lunam told Stella how their friends we’re doing. She didn’t talk about the last conversation they’d had though, because she had no way to set up a soundproofing barrier, and Hera’s warning about there being prying ears was still fresh in her memory. She decided to tell her only after they’d left the capital again.
* * *
While Nihil was describing his few memories to Ignis, he had been fiddling with the various weapons in the room so that he didn’t have to see his friend’s reaction. However, once he’d finished speaking he didn’t even have time to turn around before Ignis had slung his arm over Nihil’s shoulder, ruffled the man’s hair, and unhesitatingly declared “No matter how old you are, or what you’ve done before, I know who you are right now. You’re my best friend.”
“You might want to withhold that statement until you see the next room.” Nihil had briefly mentioned what he’d done, but hearing about something, and actually seeing it were two completely different things.
Seeing his friend’s serious expression, Ignis nodded his head. Judging from the plethora of weapons in the room they were currently in, he had already started to form an image in his mind of the next room.
Stepping through the door, the room that greeted him was a lot plainer than Ignis had expected. He’d been picturing a stone table with various large torture devices around – such as an iron maiden or a stretching table. By contrast, the chain and hook was completely innocuous.
Despite this, Ignis could clearly see just how much the room had been used in order to get such a uniform coating of the walls, floor, and ceiling. In truth, such a revelation was a bit of a shock to the system, and he had to take a few steadying breaths before his emotions calmed down enough to properly focus on the woman currently hanging in the middle of the room.
While Ignis was getting accustomed to his surroundings, Nihil’s eyes seemed to get just a little more lifeless – he had a feeling that this room was just scratching the surface of what he’d done in the past. If this had been a normal situation, Ignis would have noticed this minute difference in his friend immediately. As it was, he was too distracted and didn’t spot it at all, and by the time he looked at his friend, Nihil had automatically hidden the change. It was unknown whether he’d even noticed it in himself.
“Wake up.” Nihil calmly said.
Contrary to what most people would expect, this actually was enough to wake the woman up. But that wasn’t surprising to the two men, after all Nihil had used magic to project his voice even into her subconscious.
In a confused and dazed state, Scarlet focused on the two before her and her face paled when she remembered what situation she was in.
“N-no matter what kind of t-t-torture you put me through, I-I won’t t-talk.” She stuttered out in an unconvincing tone.
“That doesn’t matter.” Ignis replied when he realised that Nihil wasn’t paying attention. He casually nudged his friend before asking the first question himself.
“Who exactly sent you after us? And how much did they tell you?”
Scarlet’s face paled even more – it was clear that she was desperately terrified of the one who’d given her this mission. In a similar fashion, Ignis’s face also blanched a second or two later.
“No way!” He exclaimed as he fell a step back. “Callum? I thought he was …”
Hearing this name, Nihil snapped back to his senses as he tried to reassure his friend. “We’re not in the same situation anymore. I also have some of my memories back, so I am a lot stronger now too.”
Stepping in front of Ignis, Nihil’s eyes hardened as he started asking questions again once Ignis seemed to have calmed down somewhat.
“How much of our past do you know?”
“Well, I’m now wondering if Callum has any connection to you guys, at least.” She mocked. Seeing Ignis’ reaction was enough to make her feel confident again.
Naturally she’d wondered how Ignis knew it was Callum who’d sent her, but she assumed that she must have said the name out loud by accident. He had always terrified her, after all. Luckily it seemed to have had the same affect on her captors as well, so she didn’t panic too much.
With all this going through her head, Ignis had to indicate to Nihil that he didn’t get what they needed. Receiving his friend’s signal, Nihil’s eyes flashed as he struck her left cheek bone with some brass knuckles that Ignis hadn’t noticed his friend pick up from the other room.
“Remember the situation you’re in. You don’t have the luxury to be able to look down on us.” He all but snarled viciously. “How much does the Royal Guard know about us?”
Ignis glanced worriedly at his friend, but quickly refocused his gaze back on the captive who was spitting out some blood that had trickled down her cheek into her mouth.
Scarlet showed her bloody teeth in a scathing smile as she replied. “I. Won’t. Tell. You.”
This time however, Ignis had gotten what he needed. This allowed Nihil to move on, but the man still spitefully struck her again in the same place as before. Hissing in pain, Scarlet just clenched her jaw and glared at Nihil, while thinking some vicious swear words in her heart.
“What exactly were your orders?” Nihil asked his next question. This time Scarlet didn’t actually mind answering as she knew it would serve to further piss them off.
“Haha! Callum doesn’t actually care about the red head so much, but he’s desperate to get you back.” She replied smugly, knowing exactly what would be in store for him when he eventually got recaptured. “You can’t run forever. We will hunt you down, and make you wish you’d never been born!”
This ferocious fanaticism concerned Ignis, so he frowned and focused even harder on the person in front of him. A few seconds later his eyes widened and he flung his gaze over to his friend.
That can’t be true! Ignis thought vehemently. But … what if it is? I can’t tell him until I know for sure. The way he is now, he’ll just accept it as fact without verifying it, and he’ll hate himself even more.
“Why is Callum’s goal so important? Aren’t people strong enough already? More power will only create more destruction.” Nihil asked without waiting for his friend’s signal.
He wasn’t sure why he was quite so certain of this fact, but something in his subconscious was telling him he’d experienced this for himself.
Grabbing Nihil’s elbow, Ignis dragged his friend back into the other room.
“What’s going on with you? Ever since we joined up with Diei Noctis you’ve been letting your emotions show a lot more easily.” Ignis started. “While that’s normally a good thing, if you let them overwhelm and control you then you’ll be no different than a magical beast.”
Ignis’ words managed to get through to his friend, but it still didn’t look like Nihil was ready to talk about it yet. He wasn’t sure why, but Ignis instinctively felt that bad things would happen if Nihil ever got too caught up in his own emotions. For most others, Ignis would have been happy to see them coming out of their shell, but he only felt a growing sense of dread whenever he saw his friend doing just that.
“I should probably tell you what I’ve learned from our captive.” Ignis quickly changed the subject.
He had a bloodline ability that let him read the flow of mental energy around a person and accurately decipher what they were thinking at that moment in time. Ignis had only relatively recently discovered this ability so he wasn’t all that good at using it yet. As a result if a person had mental defences set up, or wasn’t currently thinking about something when he was trying to read them, then he couldn’t get much useful information. This was why Nihil had had to prompt Scarlet with the questions earlier, since even if they refused to answer out loud, people usually couldn’t help but to think of the answer when prompted.
“Most of the Royal Guard aren’t aware of the specifics, they just know that Callum was researching how to allow people to both cultivate and develop their magic as well. They know that you are the key to this, and that you aren’t human so they don’t think that forcing you to take part is wrong.” Ignis explained. “It almost seems like they were all brainwashed by the prince when they were training to enter the Royal Guard.”
“That could be a problem – even for the inter-species council.” Nihil muttered in response. “Do we know what the average Avalon citizen thinks of these human supremacist beliefs?”
“She didn’t think about that, so I’m not sure. But she also had orders to keep her actions a secret from the general populace, so I would guess that they’re not all on board with that line of thinking.
“Since Callum doesn’t care about my whereabouts too much, it seems that we were successful at convincing them that I was just another failure, though.” He answered helplessly.
“That’s great. I wasn’t sure if we’d let it slip during our escape.” Nihil replied with obvious relief. “What about the earlier questions?”
“She was only sent as a scout to figure out where we are. Despite her fame for the ‘Scarlet Blade’ incident, she’s actually much better at stealth than combat so she only attacked us because we discovered her.”
“That’s unexpected – her sonic attack didn’t exactly seem to lend itself to stealth.” Nihil commented.
“It could have been developed to help her during combat – it does effectively stun most non-human opponents.” Ignis pointed out, shrugging his shoulders.
“That is true.” Nihil realised and smiled at his friend. “If she was sent to locate us, then how much has she told her sergeant?”
“That’s the problem. She told them we were travelling with a group in this area. Luckily she only found us after we split up and she doesn’t know the group by name, but it might still be best to leave the adventurers – for their sakes.” Ignis was worried that they’d drag people into their mess and that someone would get hurt because of it.
Since they had already disappeared for a while, it might be better to just stay separated like this until they managed to either resolve the situation or report them to the inter-species council.
“Where is her squad? I’ll check in on them quickly.” Nihil decided to check on the situation before he committed to a particular option.
In response Ignis just furrowed his brows while he concentrated hard on sending a set of coordinates and an image to his friend. Receiving the information, Nihil opened a gate and stepped through, leaving Ignis and Scarlet behind.
Aerone Grey 