"Are you sad?"
"Yeah...is it weird? I didn't even know him for that long."
Isabelle placed her head on Egan's shoulder. "No. It's not weird."
The two of them sat on the shores of the Geyser Plains. Illya had given the throne of the Geyser Plains to Astrid as a wedding gift, so Isabelle spent most of her time playing here. In the aftermath of Ea's exile, everyone had been doing their best to try and lift their spirits. With the possibility of war looming over their heads, it wasn't exactly easy. Normally the thought of Illya going to war was hardly this unnerving but things were different now. She could barely stand herself up straight without keeling over in pain and nausea. Needless to say, victory was harder to envision this time. Isabelle had been trying for quite some time to cheer Egan up but nothing seemed to be effective.
"Hey, do you wanna go explore?"
Egan looked over at the girl. "Explore where?"
"A couple of days ago I heard uncle Sin talking to some soldiers about the portal they set up at their base outside of the Nightless City. I hear it's supposed to be really pretty over there, you wanna go check it out?"
Egan perked up. "Sure!"
Isabelle grinned and pulled Egan to his feet. "Let's go then!"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Every cough battered against her ribs. Illya was curled over, one hand clinging to Callisto arm with surprising strength for someone who was rotting from the inside. As she drew her other hand away from her lips, thick, black blood pooled in her palm.
"Call Wild...I want...to discuss the plan."
"Lya, I know you're adamant about this war but I really don't think you should push yourself with-"
Knocking suddenly echoed through her chambers. Callisto ushered Illya over to their bed while Seibel went to open the door. As she sat on the edge of the bed, a figure came flying in.
"Ray?"
Raehar rushed up to them, putting his hands on her shoulder and tilting her head up. "What happened?"
Callisto brushed some hair out of Illya's face. "Her root shi is deteriorating...fast. Seimei says that Li triggered its decline even more and now it's rapidly tearing itself apart."
Illya looked over at the bag that hung around Raehar's shoulder and noticed the edges of a book peeking out from inside. "You're still writing that?"
Raehar sighed. "I was. That is until the visions stopped coming and everything went black. That's how I figured out something was wrong."
Raeahar pulled it out and handed it over to Callisto. Callisto's long fingers grazed over the intricate cover, flipping the book open to the last page Raehar had written. "What was the last thing you were able to write?"
"Illya goes to war and confronts Sana, then it all goes black."
Callisto scanned the page. "...he's right Illya...it just ends..."
Illya could no longer hold herself up and leaned back, flopping onto the bed with her feet hanging off the edge. "Doesn't matter."
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Raehar and Callisto looked at each other. Despite their growing frustration, they knew she wouldn't give in. Callisto sat down next to her as Raehar put the book back into his bag.
"Why are you so insistent to go with the soldiers? Why do you have to go?" Asked Callisto.
"Sana has been possessed. If I don't rip the fucker out of his head, things will get significantly worse. The sooner I can do it, the better and...it will give me a chance to heal my root shi."
Raehar brought his hand to his head, massaging it as he spoke. "If you go, there is no guarantee that you will come back. The visions may have gone blank but there was still some kind of pulse to them. You were alive but...not quite? I'm not sure how to explain this but please err on the side of caution Illya. You're not coming out of this unscathed."
"I never expected to..." A weak, breathy chuckle erupted from Illya's sore throat. "Stop squinting like that Ray, you'll get wrinkles."
She reached out for a pillow and threw it at his face. He was used to being knocked over entirely with a cluster of feathers showering down on him from the pillow that would have burst due to the impact. Despite her weakened state, she managed to throw it with quite some force. As trivial a detail as it was, it did console him somewhat.
"Shut it! I'm hardly old enough to be getting wrinkles. If anything, I'm surprised you haven't become a wrinkled prune by now."
"Ha! Time itself adores her. It's blessed my angel with beauty to rival the Gods!" Gushed Callisto.
"Riiiight, whatever you say, lover boy."
The two men laughed, but when no such response came from Illya, a brief moment of panic filled them. All of their attention snapped towards the woman that lay limp on the bed. The sudden silence was broken by the soft sounds of her breathing.
"Looks like she's fallen asleep," said Callisto.
"Of course she has. Leave it to her to fall asleep during talks of war," Raehar chuckled to himself.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Isabelle and Egan had managed to slip past Albus on his way to work. Although Albus was technically a Prince of the Solarian royal family now, he insisted on keeping his previous job as a craftsman. He and Astrid never had a public wedding as requested by Albus for unknown reasons. Albus never spoke much about his family either, but he was proud of his gargoyle heritage. They were travelers and skilled craftsman. It was clear that he wanted to carry on that tradition, so he kept selling his wares in the village, though his measly booth had since upgraded into a proper shop, "Stone Craft Fantasies" he named it. Astrid would often come down to help him run things, which significantly boosted the number of customers coming in so he was a very busy man. As such, he just barely noticed that his precious baby girl was spending time with a boy.
They may have gone under Albus' radar but Isabelle and Egan were less lucky in getting past Astrid. The pair did, however, manage to weave some lie together about pretending to be explorers and going to explore more of the palace. Astrid let them be on their merry way after a lengthy "be careful" talk which ended with "don't fall into lava! HAVE FUN! I LAVA YOU!!" earning an eye roll from Isabelle. 93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0Ko3x2r85
Egan followed Isabelle through passage after passage which she assured him were "shortcuts" until they came upon a secluded opening with a magic circle that was carefully carved in the middle.
"So you guys just have magic circles lying around the place here?"
Isabelle snickered. "Nah. This circle is used whenever there's a battle or invasion somewhere. It's connected to whatever base they have in the area and once they're done with it, they connect the circle to somewhere else. Now that they've found the Nightless City and are probably gonna go to war, they'll most likely reroute the transportation circle to wherever they set up base next. Something about it being easier to send in reinforcements if something bad happens."
"That's convenient!"
"Yeah sure, but if the magic circle is drawn incorrectly at the base or something happens to it, then the people who go through over here are gonna get trapped in space or get tossed around in the dimensional rift until the force tears them apart and they die."
Egan's excitement vanished. "...oh..."
Isabelle had said it so nonchalantly that it was almost as if such an incident had occurred enough times for her to be so indifferent to it. Or perhaps it was because she was just a child that the concept of such a horrific end didn't really faze her. Egan, being the older one, decided right then and there that he would make sure she was safe from whatever dangerous shenanigans she would surely get herself into in the future. Isabelle stepped into the transportation circle and it began to glow.
"Quick! Get in!" Isabelle waved her hand at Egan, sticking it out for him to take.
Egan did as she instructed and grabbed her hand. Before he knew it, his vision was consumed with bright, white light and the distant sound of birds chirping and water flowing was no more.
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