“Thank you, Captain Granger! I hope all sailing goes smoothly for you!” Aliya smiled and waved up at Captain Granger from the docks.
“I’m sure it will thanks to the Luck of the Fae!” He called down to her before returning to handling business on the ship.
"So what is the whole Luck of the Fae thing anyways?" Breyze asked Aliya. She kept forgetting to ask before when it was mentioned. “Is it real?”
"Well it came from the days when humans couldn't see the Spirits," Aliya smiled at Breyze as she explained. "Some Spirits would be on the ships humans sailed without them really knowing and those Spirits typically protected them from dangers of the sea. Now it's just more of a superstition since Spirits can be seen now."
Kindle had carried Terbius off the ship and onto the docks. She leaned them against a stack of crates. They were still out cold. They never woke up during the whole trip. They seemed like they would be out even longer but it was too much of a hassle to deal with carrying them through town.
"Hey, Terbius, wake up! We’re here," Kindle lightly slapped their cheeks. They didn't even stir.
“Man they can sleep through anything can’t they,” Gwen laughed.
“Yeah they can. Sometimes I prefer it when they stay up all the time because of that.” Kindle took a deep breath and raised her voice, "Terbius! Wake up you lazy punks!"
"Yes Sis’!" The twins were startled awake at her yell. They immediately sat up straight and tensed up.
"We made it," Kindle said, completely deadpan.
“Ah! The capital?!” Ter quickly stood up alongside his brother.
“It’s been forever!” Bius looked around excitedly at the city.
A stairway rose up into the Imperial Capital City of Lurline between the tightly knit stone buildings. Even from the docks one could see the towers of Imperial Palace shadowing over everything from the top of the hill. The mana lanterns along the streets began to light up in the setting sun, bathing the grey streets in all various colors of the different Runes that powered them, making the city seem livelier than the people filling the streets.
“Well my lovelies, I have business to attend to!” Gwen took a few steps toward the city. “If it wasn’t such a tight knit group then I'd offer you to tag along. But perhaps I’ll catch you later!”
“It was nice chatting with you,” Aliya smiled.
“Yeah! I’m sure we’ll end up drinking together sometime soon!” Kindle waved as Gwen walked off to disappear in the crowded stairway into the city.
“Bye Gwen!” Terbius both shouted and waved in unison.
“Let’s find an inn! I’m beat! I want to sleep!” Aliya happily strolled past them towards the city.
“Why didn’t you sleep on the boat?” Kindle scrunched her nose up in confusion as she and the others followed her into the city.
“I didn’t think about it then,” Aliya shrugged. “I got caught up in the reminiscent feel of sailing while helping the crew a bit. The sun is setting anyway, not like there will be a ton of people out and about. I think it would be best to eat and rest up. Tomorrow we can try and recruit some more and I’ll probably hit a few places to see if my brothers have been in town recently. If no information turns up then we’ll head to Lambertine the day after if you guys are cool with that.”
“No real problem here,” Kindle shrugged. “Not really looking forward to trying to hunt down some help though.”
“I don’t know it might be fun,” Bius chimed in with a bit of a bounce in his step.
“Hell yeah! This is important stuff!” Ter did a fist pump in excitement. “Surely there’s some strong people in the Empire’s Capital!”
“You boys better behave!” Kindle glared at them. “No fights! Also I don’t think it’s a good idea you guys try to recruit. I can see it going way wrong.”
“But Sis’!” Terbius whined in unison.
“No trouble!” Kindle stated in a firmer tone. They both pouted in response.
“Well if you’d all rather do your own thing don’t sweat it,” Aliya waved her hand back and forth. “I don’t mind doing the whole recruitment and info gathering on my own. You guys joined for the fight after all.”
“Miss Kindle is probably right, it might be best for the twins to lay low,” Pree voiced from a top Breyze’s head. He had been directing her by swaying her head one way or another so she wouldn’t run into anything or anyone since she was zoned in on taking notes and making doodles of her surroundings. “This continent has been the center of the war so better safe than sorry.”
“But we want to help!” Terbius whined again.
“Well I might have something you can do that won’t get you in trouble,” Aliya thought about it for a moment. “For now let’s just take it easy tonight!”
A loud commotion sounded from a couple streets away. Bursts of light filled the evening sky as explosions of water and fire mana grew closer. Just as Aliya was about to turn the corner onto a rather narrow street she caught a glimpse of the Imperial Knights chasing after a man with messily slicked back terracotta colored hair carrying a large bag. There was an oversized broadsword with a purple and gold hilt strapped to his back with a large Fire Rune embedded in the widest part of the blade. He wore a blue and cream long jacket with cap sleeves and a black high collar lapel trimmed with gold detailing. Underneath he didn’t wear a shirt, just a small purple and gold vest. He wore white fingerless gloves that cut off at the wrist with golden fabric and continued up his forearm in black. His boots were loose and went up above the knees having a similar aesthetic as his jacket and tucked into them was black pants held up by a wide white belt.
As he was about to run past Aliya the man aimed a small rectangular device towards the knights and pulled the trigger on it. Several bursts of water mana launched out of it at blinding speed and created an ice wall, effectively rerouting the Knights that were after him.
Aliya’s eyes widened as she instantly recognized the one of a kind weapon in his hand as one that her brother Zephyr owned. Before he could run past her she reached out and grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the gun with one hand and the other grabbed him by the neck. Before he could even react she slammed him face first into the wall she was next to.
“Aliya! What are you doing?!” Terbius was surprised by her quick reactions.
“Normally I save the kinky stuff for after the first date but for you I might make an exception,” he shot a sly smirk over his shoulder at Aliya.
“Wow real charmer!” Kindle rolled her eyes.
“Listen here you thief!” Aliya’s voice was as harshly frigid as her stare. “I couldn’t care less about a petty thief, like you! But I want to know where the Spirit you stole that gun from is!”
“Look sweetheart! I didn't steal it,” He shrugged with a smirk still on his face. “I won it in a bet!”
“I will turn you over to the knights then!” Aliya hissed, pressing him against the wall harder.
“Don’t!” His expression quickly dropped any trace of his playful attitude and he switched to a tense panic. “You guys might end up dead if they get what's in this bag!”
“Is that so?” Kindle snatched it out of his hand and backed out of his reach to look inside. Her expression shifted to one of pure shock at the impossibly rare sight of the crystallization of all four mana types into one Rune the size of her torso. “This is a Multi-mana Rune!”
“Impossible!” Aliya’s eyes widened as Kindle showed it to her. She couldn’t fathom finding a Rune like that outside the Leylines. “The technology for that doesn't exist anymore and those don't occur naturally on the surface! Especially not one that size!”
“Well the Empire has that tech now and they are weaponizing it to kill Spirits!” He sounded rather disgusted by the notion. “So if you value your lives, I'll be on my way and you should probably make yourselves scarce!”
“Only if you leave me the mana gun!” Aliya tightened her grip on him and gritted her teeth.
“Sorry sweetheart but I actually enjoy using this thing!” He pulled the trigger on it and fired a burst of wind mana straight into the air. Aliya leaned back to avoid it until it curved back around to hit her in the shoulder. Her grip on the thief loosened. He grabbed the sword from his back with his free hand and twisted around so he’s behind Aliya, blade at her throat and the gun to her head. His playful smirk returned to his face, “Now I'd hate to mess up this gorgeous face so toss over the bag!”
Kindle put a hand up to stop Terbius from trying to jump in. She hesitated to hand it over, looking at Aliya who started manipulating her mana to start freezing him. However, without a spell to focus her magic arte it progressed too slowly and he noticed. The Fire Rune in his sword starts to glow and heats the air around him enough to melt the ice that was starting to form and turn it into steam.
“Is it just me or are things getting hot and steamy between us?” He whispers into Aliya’s ear in a sultry tone. Aliya looked visibly displeased. He glanced at Kindle, a slightly more serious expression on his face. “Hand it over or I will give this angel a burn mark that not even you could make!”
“Aliya?” Kindle looked at her for confirmation if it was alright. She knew what was in the bag was dangerous and there was no telling what a thief like him would do with it.
“Just do it! He's not worth the trouble!” Aliya sighed in annoyance. “Carefully!” She emphasized caution. She knew if that Rune was damaged it could destroy the whole city.
Kindle slowly approached and set down the bag before backing off. The thief closed the gap while still holding Aliya. He shoved her forward hard enough for her to lose her balance. As she stumbled towards Kindle, he quickly stowed the gun in the holdster on his belt and snatched up the bag. He swung his sword towards them and a wave of fire sped their way. Terbius jumped in and they raised an earthen wall to block it from hitting anyone. They lowered it once the danger passed and the thief had put some distance between them.
“I’m sure I’ll see you again, my darling Aliya!” The thief waved back and blew a kiss at Aliya.
“I should have busted his face in!” Aliya hissed bitterly.
“Should we go after him?” Terbius asked, both of them thinking it would be no sweat to catch him.
“No,” Aliya shook her head. She took a deep breath before she spoke again. “There’s something more concerning than him to worry about.”
“You really think he was telling the truth, Aliya?” Kindle looked at her sharing the same concern about the Empire.
“I don’t trust him, but I know where we can find out,” Aliya’s expression was a little more grave. If the Pastoria Empire really was finding a way to kill Spirits by using a Rune made of all four mana then the war would likely end up being a third-party in the war. “If The Pastoria Empire does have this technology we need to destroy it or they will make this war so much worse.”
“So what was the deal with what was in that bag?” Breyze skipped up between Kindle and Aliya. Her chipper curiosity cut through the tension.
“That was an Aurora Rune,” Aliya explained as she led them through town towards the center of Lurline. “It’s a culmination of all four mana. They don’t form outside of the Leylines. Runes only occur when mana is condensed into high concentrations that’s why most on the surface appear only during High Magic Artes. It's rare to even find small ones that have two mana types infused together. On top of that a Rune that large only comes from a Spirit when they die. There was once an ancient civilization that had technology to make any kind of Rune but it was all destroyed when the Lost Continent was swallowed by the sea.” Aliya clenched her fist, “I didn’t think there would be any way to retrieve that sort of research let alone for humans to be able to.”
“Fascinating!” Breyze whispered excitedly as she was scribbling down everything she mentioned in her book.
“So where exactly are we going?” Kindle asked.
“Black Heart Tavern,” Aliya replied pointing just down the road. “It’s just ahead. It’s one of the main places I hit up for information on just about anything in The Empire. There isn’t much they don’t know about all the dark secrets of The Pastoria Empire.”
“A tavern means drinks!” Terbius cheered. Their idea of rest was drinking the night away. It was the plan before they got caught up in that thief’s drama.
They stopped just outside of the city square. They stood in front of a stone brick building with darkened windows. Two Fire Rune lamps on either side of the dark oak door illuminated the sign hanging above, it had Black Heart Tavern written on the same dark wood with elegant purple script.
Outside the entrance was a human about as big as Terbius, if not bigger. He had short, well kept, dark hair and extremely tanned skin and striking blue eyes. He wore a dark blue pinstripe dress shirt underneath a black vest with a purple symbol of a music note with feathers coming off it embroidered on the chest pocket. He had an intimidating presence but Aliya walked right up to him.
“Sorry, tonight it’s invite only,” He held a hand out to stop her from entering.
“Good thing we have an open invitation…” Aliya smiled as she pulled the Water Rune off of her belt buckle and showed him the back of it. Engraved into it was a symbol of a sword cleaving the waves. He nodded in recognition and stepped aside to let them pass.
They entered and the tavern was entirely empty save for one Wind Spirit standing at the bar. She had long and straight midnight blue hair kept in a ponytail that turned light green the closer to the floor. She wore a dark purple tunic kept on by a few black belts. Underneath was a dull teal pencil skirt with a slit to reveal thigh high black boots underneath. There was a small calico cat Spirit resting on her shoulders with a bright teal bandana around its neck with the music note symbol on it.
The Wind Spirit turned around, her left eye had claw mark scars and she kept it closed. She leered at the entrance to see who came in with her lime green eye and her stern expression softened upon seeing Aliya.
“Aliya!” The feline Spirit launched off of her shoulders straight for Aliya, who caught the small cat in her arms. “Long time! Long time!”
“Hey April!” Aliya happily snuggles her face against the cat. “It has been a while hasn’t it? You’ve been keeping Mistral safe right?”
“Yeah! Yeah!” April purred cheerfully. “April, best guard! Best guard!”
“That’s good!” Aliya smiled at Mistral. “How are you, Mistral?”
“Things could be better but it’s great to see you again,” the faintest smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I’ve taken over as guildmaster for now.”
“Well you’ve been around long enough I’d figure it’d be natural,” Aliya handed the happy cat back to Mistral.
“Care to introduce us?” Kindle tilted her head towards Aliya.
“Oh yeah!” Aliya stepped aside so she could gesture to everyone as she introduced them. “That’s Kindle, Breyze, her Kin, Pree, and those two are Terbius! They've been helping me out with the mission I'm on.”
“Nice to meet you all, I’m Mistral, Guildmaster of Blacksong and this here is my Kinbound, April,” Mistral helped April crawl back into her favorite spot on Mistral’s shoulders.
“Blacksong?! Isn't that a thieves guild?!” Kindle was taken off guard. She had heard that Blacksong was notorious for thefts and assassinations.
“Don't sound so shocked,” Mistral scoffed and gestured to Aliya, “You are following around an original member of the most notorious pirate crew, Black Briar.”
“You're a pirate?!” Kindle didn’t think of Aliya being the dangerous criminal type. Let alone it was shocking enough that she was a part of the most bloodthirsty pirates that terrorized The Pastoria Empire for decades before destroying The First Order.
“Well that was a long time ago,” Aliya shrugged rather uncaringly. “Also they weren’t as fierce and bloodthirsty as the world made them out to be. Besides it was either hang with them or be stuck under The First Order’s thumb,” A cold expression flashed across her face for a moment. “The choice was pretty clear. All that’s left of us are the Spirits that were aboard the ship. We all have the symbol of our flag as a reminder of our lost friends.” She showed them the symbol on the back of the Water Rune belt buckle.
“Speaking of, are your friends here as good as Thatch’s Crew?” Mistral hoped she could get Aliya to help her guild out like the old days.
“Remains to be seen,” Aliya answered honestly with a slight smirk looking at her party.
“Hey!” Kindle paused and thought about it. She looked at Terbius and Breyze. She shrugged and nodded, “Actually, no, you are probably right…”
“If you’d like, I have a job for you,” Mistral played it cool but she was getting a bit desperate for manpower lately as The Empire kept taking out her members over recent years.
“Does it have to do with the weapon that kills Spirits?” Aliya was stern in voice and expression.
“How’d you know about it?” Mistral was surprised she already heard of it. It was a rather well kept secret of The Pastoria Empire.
“A little birdie told us. What’s it matter?” Aliya waved off the interaction with the thief. “If the Empire is recreating the Lost Continent Technology then it could be bad news. We need to destroy that weapon and any research associated with it!”
“Do the rest of you feel the same?” Mistral looked over the other members of her group.
“Smashing stuff is what we do best!” Terbius fist bumped each other. A little bit of action sounded fun to them.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they were planning on using the thing to target Earth Spirits to start.” Kindle sighed at the thought of the Empire attacking Spirits regardless of association worried her. “I’ll do anything to protect these two knuckleheads!” She pointed over her shoulder at her brothers.
“I go where Aliya goes!” Breyze grinned, looking up from her notes.
“Good,” Mistral nodded, she was glad despite her serious expression. “Since everyone is in agreement, I have a man that will help you infiltrate the research facility. He’s a freelancer who only really goes where the money is good. He’s proven reliable so he’ll be able to get you in.”
“Oh Mistral! I’m home!” A familiar voice came from the back door. Aliya tensed up at the sight of the thief from before.
“Erik, good timing,” Mistral noticed he was empty handed and it displeased her, not that it showed on her stoic expression.
“Well, well! Isn’t this exciting!” His eyes fell upon Aliya and he smirked. He bowed dramatically. “Seems we were fated to meet again after all, my darling!”
“Don’t call me that or I really will kill you!” Aliya hissed as she shot him a glare that could kill.
“Have you met already?” Mistral raised an eyebrow at their interaction.
“I stopped his punk ass when he was running away from the knights because he stole Zephyr’s gun!” Aliya raised her hand in his direction, rather bitter. There was something about him she didn’t like and him just calling her Ice Queen definitely didn’t help.
“I thought that looked familiar…” Mistral tilted her head. It had been a long time since she had even seen the weapon so she didn’t even register that it was Zephyr’s.
“I told you I didn’t steal it, I won it in a bet!” He rested his hand on it defensively but the rest of his body carried his carefree attitude.
Aliya was about to speak out against him and everything about her said she was going to yell at him but she froze. She started to consider her brother did have an unfortunate tendency to make wagers and bets. It was a gift from the Captain of the Black Briar Pirates. On top of that, the gun was one of a kind even among Lost Continent technology. It was dangerous in the right hands, disastrous in the wrong ones. She wanted to believe he wouldn’t wager it to a criminal of a human let alone at all.
“See,” She took a breath and retracted her ire for a moment. “I don’t put the bet bit past him but I never expected him to wager it because it used to be the Captain’s!”
“Please discuss this later! Time is of the essence!” Mistral clapped her hands together to get them back on track. She looked at Erik with a stone faced expression, “Did you retrieve the package?”
“I stashed it away safe and sound!” Erik rested his hands behind his head and swung back and forth. “You’ll have it once you pay up.”
“Fine, one more mission first,” Mistral narrowed her eye on him. “Help them completely destroy the weapon and I’ll pay you double. Now is the best chance, they’ll increase security measures by morning for stealing the core. Oh and bring her with you,” Mistral pointed to a woman clad in a black cloak, sitting in the corner of the Tavern. Her face was covered only showing her grey eyes. Her long raven hair was in a messy ponytail. No one had noticed her there until Mistral pointed her out.
“Mistral?” Aliya’s ice cold glare shifted to Mistral. “What do you plan to do with the Aurora Rune?”
“None of your concern, Aliya…” Mistral closed her eye, her tone matching Aliya’s.
“All of my concern!” Aliya raised her voice. “An Aurora Rune is dangerous outside of the Leylines. One of that size, if used wrong, could destroy a half the continent. You can’t damage or cut them or they will become unstable and explode!”
“How do you know this?” Mistral hissed, finding it hard to believe The Empire would be working with such a risky material in the capital.
“Lios has memories of his life as a human and he lived on The Lost Continent,” Aliya knew it from other reasons as well, but she needed just one, this one didn’t reveal too many secrets. ”What exactly do you think would sink a whole continent? The Lost Continent centered their technology around it and it ended up being their downfall.”
“Then I will dispose of it with care!” Mistral hissed through her teeth with finality. She wasn’t planning on getting rid of it at all. She hadn’t made plans for it yet but she was starting to get a better idea on how to use it for the guild’s gain.
“Convincing,” Kindle mumbled sarcastically under her breath.
“Which one?” Breyze leaned in to whisper to Kindle.
“Good point,” Kindle placed a hand on her chin to think about it. She always felt Aliya was holding some information back. She definitely knew more than she was letting on. “Both are a bit odd.”
“Anyone else weirded out?” Ter leaned in to join the whispering conversation.
“They went from friends to enemies in no time flat,” Bius looked at them with an air of concern.
“It is quite the peculiar relationship they have,” Pree voiced quietly.
The room fell silent as Aliya didn’t believe for a second that she was planning on getting rid of it. Even if she was going to, Aliya knew the only way to get rid of it safely was to take it into the Leylines. Everything about this situation wasn’t sitting right with her.
“Tension! Tension! Lighten up a little ladies!” Erik cut through the silence and stood between the two with his hands up before things could escalate any further. He looked between the two ladies with his sly smirk. “Save your little cat fight for after we destroy the weapon.”
“He’s right, we can’t waste anymore time!” Mistral crossed her arms. She wanted the job to be done already so she could figure out her next move against the Empire.
“This isn’t over Mistral!” Aliya looked past Erik and kept her ice cold glare on Mistral. “The only reason I’m agreeing is because I’d go destroy the weapon anyway. It’s beneficial to have someone who already knows the way in.”
“Shall we go, m’lady?” Erik gestured to the front door keeping his smooth tone. Aliya rolled her eyes and gave him the cold shoulder as she stormed out.
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