I woke up from my nightmare in the Utopea quarters, which Lady Raksha assigned to me. I’ve been dreaming the same nightmare for a long time, and it messes me up every time. I can see my partner, Yokku, dying from the extensive usage of his powers. He was a shadow aspected thaumaturge, very similar to the shadow-walkers nowadays, while I am a light aspected one, I guess it is true that the opposites attract. He died protecting me from the Obscura a few years ago, I don’t even remember how long ago it was, really. Maybe I’m fading away too, as he did back then, which would be more peaceful than trying to solve the Imperator’s riddles, or fighting these constant skirmishes with the Obscura forces, honestly.
I stood up from the bed, made my way through this small, but cosy room. There was a fluffy rug right in front of the fireplace. “That’s no real fireplace if I’ve ever seen one.” I thought to myself as I walked around it, it’s just a remanifested heater to look like a fire. I’d wager it’s work of Lady Raksha. There was also a little wooden table with flowers on top with two chairs which gave this room a really nice and friendly feel. Utopea sure knows how to make their rooms appear home-like to those who stay.
I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I look pale, almost as if there was no life essence in me. I look exactly like he did, except for the fact that he turned greyer and darker as he died. I turn paler every time I overuse my powers, there must always be balance in thaumaturgy and it is beginning to show on my body. My eyes already lost most of their blue colour, my hair, once golden like the Solis, now looking completely white with a little hint of blond in them. “Damn.” I had to stop myself from shattering the mirror. I splashed some water onto my face, and pinched it around, trying to make myself look more alive, not that it works of course, just makes me feel better. “Maybe I’ll get used to this, as I got used to the scar on my face,” I tried to comfort myself, stroking the scar that runs through my eye. It’s a reminder of the day when he died, so I decided to wear it with pride, caring less and less about my looks, however I do think that this wild pale and pasty look suits me.
I should go out and get back to my research. Lady Raksha was kind enough to assign some of the researchers to my cause. I opened the door and went through the long corridor to the teleport device. Passing portraits of the honourable members of Utopea. Some of them I’ve already seen in action, some of them I have yet to see. There were even a few portraits with black bows wrapped around them, those must have died in action, I presume. Seeing how many of them have the black bow made me feel even more sick and tired. So many wasted and lost lives and for what? No matter. I’ve got to push through and see this finished. After that I will either retire or the Academia will force me to step down because of my collaboration with Utopea.
I walked out of the teleport in the Research centre of Utopea. The researchers greeted me and gave me the report of progress that they have made over the days. They were kind enough to print me a copy of a map with the way to Riekyira, as well as a description of how to get into the village. Since it’s a village protected by the Imperator of water I figured there’d be some puzzle involved. When it comes to Delnoris, and the House of Felwitch, the researchers made no progress, but they told me to speak with Raksha directly. Not seeing her last few days, I was happy to finally have a chance to talk. I made my way to her quarters right away.
I knocked on the door with Raksha’s plaque. “Raksha Devan, the creator and head of the Utopea Coalition,” she sure likes to remind people of their place, doesn’t she?
“Come in.” I heard from inside. Hearing her accent made me cheer up a bit, her voice is very soothing to hear and makes me feel calm.
“Hello there!” I waved and smiled at her, coming closer to her table and sitting in front of her onto a leather couch, situated on a very cosy-looking rug.
“Harbinger bless you, Hikaru. I believe the researchers sent you my way, so let me begin right away.” She stood up, looking exhausted from the fight. “Delnoris, the person you’re looking for, he’s… well, how to describe this situation to you.” She placed one of her hands on her forehead, as if she tried to soothe her headache. I was very confused but didn’t say a word. I wanted Raksha to explain the situation. “Well, let me show you instead,” she said as she made a few hand gestures around her, transforming the whole room into something else. As if we moved into outer space. All around us were stars, celestial beings, planets, and their moons in a vast nothingness full of eldritch horrors and ancient entities, fascinating to behold.. It was brilliant, dare I say perfect! I was just sitting on the couch and looking at my surroundings in awe. “The Harbinger, an entity unknown to most of the commoners. An entity that we don’t really see that much, maybe only in our dreams, in different manifestations.” She pointed her finger, seemingly at nothing, and suddenly a big, whale-like entity appeared between all the stars and planets. It was bigger than everything, and quite hard to comprehend. I felt my sanity struggling to keep up and almost collapsing from the sheer strain it took me to comprehend the power and scale of the Harbinger. Raksha touched my shoulder and swayed her hand in front of my eyes, two stars inlaying themselves into them and soothing my uneasy feeling. “You know that Harbinger mostly gives out the powers of the Imperators without them being present. Sometimes however, the Imperators choose mortals to receive their boons themselves in dire need. However, Harbinger has given fragments of his power to two people. One of them being me – The Eye of Reality.” Raksha once again made hand motions pointing at a star in the distance. It suddenly transformed into a little girl crying over two dead bodies, then getting up, and manifesting something that looked like the Utopea. “However, the Reality cannot stand on its own without the Imagination.” She moved the star of the little girl away and pulled in another star, showing a feline looking boy jumping through wormholes. “This is Delnoris of House Felwitch – The Eye of Imagination. He was chosen not only by the Harbinger to have his powers, but also by the Imperators. A very strong individual, even though he’s sometimes… questionable.” The stars showed Delnoris fighting countless fights, and napping.
“Is that all he does? Just fights some guys and naps all day?” I asked in disbelief that this powerful guy is pictured as someone who just sleeps and bonks some guys on the streets.
“Well, as I said, questionable. He can be very unpredictable. Even his race is very unpredictable. The shapeshifters can shift into any form they want. He prefers his feline look, but in the past he also appeared as a bunny, a human, an elf, and sometimes he even shifts genders. So you can only imagine how difficult it can be to track him. However-”
“How the hell am I supposed to find this guy?” I jumped up from the couch being angry, and impatient. This whole conversation felt like a joke to me.
“Mind your manners.” Said Raksha with a calm voice and pushed me back onto the couch with her powers. “As I was saying… There are people in House of Felwitch that don’t really like each other, they are only in the same house, and obliged to protect each other. I know that Blair Felwitch is also in Riekyira, however her business there is classified. She could help you find Delnoris. Tracking her should be easy, she was blessed with necromancy from the Imperator of Death, that kind of magic can be felt, and smelt, kilometres away.” As Raksha finished her sentence, she once again swayed her hands and dispersed the illusion of space. We were back in her quarters in the Utopea.
“Thank you, Lady Raksha. I don’t know how I can pay you back for this information.”
“Don’t mention it… Just, don’t tell Delnoris I told you all this, please.” She looked embarrassed and unwilling to talk about it, so I just nodded and waved, making my way out of the room.
…
As I went out into the gardens of Utopea I noticed teleportation devices. “Hey! Can I use one?”
A young male with a prosthetic arm looked me up and down and put his protective goggles on his forehead. “And you are?”
“Hikaru Barone! I helped Lady Raksha fight off the Obscura in the latest breach. Surely I deserve at least this?”
“Right, as if you didn’t take some of our researchers already. Fine, Barone, you can use one of them, where will it be?” Sharp commentary, but he was right, I did use their researchers, who for sure had better work on hands.
“Entrance to the Riekyira.” I showed him the map with the way highlighted.
“Hope you’re not scared of water, then.” He said and turned on the device, the world started spinning around me and suddenly I found myself in a wild river. I caught onto some light and weaved a simple teleportation magic to blink to the shore.
“Hope you’re not scared of water, then! – Dumbass.” I mocked the guy. I dried myself up with magic and went closer to the river. Kneeling down I noticed a little whirlpool in the flow of the river, that’s where the entrance should be. “In the name of the Harbinger, open up!” I chanted as a magic seal appeared. I smirked and worked my way through it quickly, since I had notes from the researchers. As I cracked the seal, suddenly a big water apparition appeared in front of me and embraced me with its tentacles, pulling me under the water.
I woke up coughing near a red river. I put my finger into it and it didn’t take long for me to figure out that it’s filled with blood. “What the hell is going on here?” I saw some buildings protected by a watery barrier in the distance, so I decided to make my way towards it, maybe that’s the village.
…
As I was close to the barrier, suddenly I felt uneasy. As if somebody or something was watching me. I started to hear tapping on the ground and the air started to feel as if Death itself was corrupting it. As I turned around, I suddenly saw a tall, slender woman with blonde hair, tapping her staff on the ground and murmuring something under her breath. Souls of the dead surrounded her as she continued to mumble, and dance around with her staff tapping the ground. “Hello?” I asked, trying to communicate with her somehow.
“Hush!” She silenced me quickly, and as soon as she did, few ruptures in reality opened close to her, Obscura monsters pouring out right at her. She quickly danced to the rhythm of her tapping, dispatching them with ease. I tried to not intervene as much, mainly because I know that death magic doesn’t really cooperate well with other kinds of magic.
As she finished fighting, she stopped tapping her staff on the ground, and made her way towards me. “Blair of House Felwitch, nice to meet you, boy.” I looked at her and was in awe. Her combat style was very different from what I’ve seen up to now. “Cat’s got your tongue?”
I snapped back into reality from my head “Pardon me, Lady Blair, I was just trying to comprehend the fighting style you just employed back there.” She smirked and stuck her staff into the ground.
“Death’s dance, not many live to see it, mainly because I take their souls right after it. But we can talk about that later. It’s not safe here, we need to move to the village.”
…
Blair took me to her office in Riekyira. From here she manages the affairs needed to be done in the village. “So, what brings you here, to our humble village of water, boy?” She asked almost mockingly.
“Name’s Hikaru. I’m looking for someone, I think you could help me with that, since you know each other.”
“Now you’ve got my attention. Is it someone of the useless lackeys from my House? There’s a lot of us, so I hope you’ve got a name at least.”
“Delnoris Felwitch”
“Oh my, the cat boy, or girl. Or whatever form they’re in now. Our precious Eye of Imagination. I can help you with that, sure, for a price.” She grinned, looking into my eyes as if she was piercing my soul.
“I knew it wouldn’t be easy.”
“Nothing’s easy! Once we find him, you’ll convince him to get up from his ass and help Riekyira, if not, you’ll serve me until I see fit.”
“That’s it? Just convince him?” I was quite confused since convincing them to help shouldn’t be that hard.
“Oh boy, you haven’t met Delnoris.” Blair stood up from her chair and waved her hand, signalling to me that I should follow her. While we made our way through Riekyira, there were destroyed houses all around us, it looked as if some kind of apocalypse happened in here. People rushing through the streets, not making eye contact, shutting themselves into their houses. The whole vibe of this place just made me anxious and more interested in what’s really happening here.
…
We arrived roughly to an edge of the village. There were cherry blossom trees blooming, amethyst stones and some crystals I’ve never seen before glowing in pink colour. It was as if the apocalypse didn’t hit this corner of the village. Blair noticed my confused face “It’s just an illusion, they’re the Eye of Imagination, remember? Don’t let this fool you.”
“Delnoris! Your old friend Blair came to talk to you.” She yelled and tapped her staff three times. A brown cat came out of the dark corner, meowing, purring and stroking itself around Blair’s legs. “Alright, you don’t have to pretend you like me, now take on some form in which we can properly talk.”
“Damn, no fun, huh?” Said Delnoris and suddenly there stood a tall, pale, brown-haired elf in front of us. Do you prefer this form, my dear colleague?
“You look like shite in all of them.”
“As bitter as always. Never change. So, what brings you into my humble corner of Riekyira?” He asked, changing his form again, suddenly there was a grey-skinned void-touched elf, with purple hair flowing in the air. They for sure like to show off.
“This boy here, Hikaru, wanted to speak with you, he might regret it after seeing how batshit crazy you are, though.” Blair pushed me in front of Delnoris, as if I was a small child too shy to say something.
“Oh, is that so, little boy? Delnoris of House Felwitch. Pleasure to meet you. May the imagination guide your hand.” They changed their form yet again, looking very feline, as in the vision from Raksha, having cat ears, and tail, but retaining their human form.
“Right, um, would it be possible to have some privacy, Blair?” I sent Blair away, as she went, I started explaining my situation with the Imperator.
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