Riding on for forty minutes listening to the rustling bushes, and crunching of dirt and rocks of King’s Road. The sun remains high beyond the clouds’ reaches but occasionally, cloudiness looms over their silence, and the melodic singing birds greet them. Some perching on the carriage’s open windows, watching Ober successfully crashing out two lines on his paper. He writes down in cursive that he has to head for the capital. There he will meet three princesses and pass by Merlin Market where he plans to buy a pen. Then there is Ruther’s smithery workshop, Farlon’s lumber mill, Esterlita’s bakery…many others to visit and many more to list. What decorations to use for the festival, what kind of entertainers should he hire, what setting is best, what spells to cast beforehand…
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“Lord Magister” the young boy–his servant calls feebly, sliding open the small wooden panel that is enough for a letter to pass through. But no letter is passed and only a chance for the lord magister to settle his pen and note on his lap. Letting his open chest heave in and out, whistling himself with the birds.
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“And my sweet Isaac calls, my ears are on you son.” He likes to say, just like how he recalls about the older magisters calling him a son.
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“Why would horses want to drink when camels do not need to? Are not they the same when both are for riding and transport?” His wandering paints horses and camels in Ober’s mind, as he imagines them themselves while keeping watch of the reigns of their two black horses. “Would not it be better if they and camels would be the same animal?”
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Ober thinks for a while, letting his mind flow and adjust out of his rigid thinking for this coming festival. “Well son, I am sure you have heard about the concept called climate?” Yet even as he tries, he still cannot take the pen and paper off his fingers, bringing his hands to have a mind on their own.
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“I have read from a Fa’Yore book…There are hot, cold, and Tohf climates that go round and round over Glorious Atormis. I notice that camels are mostly found in hot climates, with horses at Tohf. But Cyndoryll also has hot climates and camels at Tohf. Confusing, most to say” He sounds like he confused himself,
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“Haha, it is not at all” Ober draws mini camels and horses, “If you have read about geography, you would have known that there are more camels in the dry, rough, and arid places. The humps they have, I’m sure you know, that they contain fats.”
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“FATS!?” Does not sound like the boy knew it, “Not water?”
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“No, no, that would be strange.”
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Strange…and Isaac thinks of the fat nobles they have met at other kingdoms having big bellies and the doctors assuring them that they are just blessed full with water and not fats…So which is true? The boy scratches his head, listening to the lord magister.
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“They store fats because they will use it to go long distances without needing to eat or drink. Because, those fats will be converted to energy. They still have the urges to drink and eat which is why they should not fully rely on their humps. Plus, they are not the fastest of the Course species. They are simply favorable on the kinds of land I have mentioned.”
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“OH!” Kind of gets it, the horses’ glance back at the boy worriedly who might have gone dumber, “Then uhm, what about the camel that runs like a horse? I think it is a mythical beast…”
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A mythical beast that runs like a horse, at first Ober thought of a camel that indeed run like a horse. He has seen one at the Djahatian archipelagos but a mythical beast. “Are you talking about the Chorus?” Ober then mutters silent words to conjure what a Chorus would look like riding in through the tall grass of the plains. The horses themselves are baffled by the magic.
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“Chorus?” Isaac repeats, being as baffled as the horses. “I think that’s right…and over there!
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“Yes, Chorus is a mythical beast of the desert. Their small falcon heads and pointed wings help them gallop through the desert gales. With long legs that of a horse and giraffe, paws of a fox. Making them the fastest running beast on sands. They also have humps like a camel so they need not to drink water nor eat for as long as ten years.”
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“Woahhhh. They sure sound out of fantasy books! Have we not them here in Cyndoryll?”
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“Here on Cyndoryll? They were here once I believe, back when the southern region was a desert and still connected with the Djahatian Landbridge.”
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“Awe! I’d love to see and touch one of them. I bet their furs would be as light and flowy and when they are under water, they’d look like jellyfishes.” Odd comparison but okay,
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Ober simply chuckles, “Haha, I’m afraid they are slumbering. Like all the other beasts.
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“Wha!? Right, I read that it is because they are preparing for the next Absternicous.”
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“Mmm, that is right. When the skies bleed red and the ground sprouts the chains of Nercoxia. No one will be safe except for the beasts. Some say that they will join in the fight that triggered the Absternicous while some would pray for them in rescue. Like the Chorus I have mentioned, in the old days, during the first Absternicous, herds of them were seen roaming on all enormous stretches of flat land. May they be in the Saharan desserts, Prairie plains or on frozen expanses. Anywhere there are plains, they can be found and ready to help those who praise and offers sacrifices. Unlike their Pegasus or Seahrues cousins who are wild and only tamed by those they deem deserving—"
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“Hehe, uhm” Isaac cuts his old man, “Actually lord magister. I was meaning to ask if we can stop and rest? Merry and Bell have their tongues out, I think they need to drink”
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“W—why didn’t you say so child! Goodness, Merry, Bell” he calls, “Rest us on a path that is not King’s Road.”
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And the horses whinny.
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“You could always tell away son, do not beat around the tall grass.”
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“Hehe, I got too interested by the Chorus.”
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The wild magical Chorus disappears in to light particles as Ober smiles proudly, gazing at the satisfied pastures, bright with healthy greens and a high noon glow. Some green ogre and goblin can be seen sitting on a rock peacefully eating their apples. But they seem to be patrols and Ober knows best not to make eye contact with them.
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“Can we?” Isaac asks again
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“Of course,” The magister says, then uttering silent words that distorts the space around them into a transparent dome. But quick enough to be seen as normal by Isaac as the carriage shortly stops after.
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Tweet, tweet, the rodents and birds around the blades of grass. Whooshing is the gentle refreshing breeze kissing Ober’s cheeks. The dirt road is mild between damp and dry with colors as fertile as its surrounding meadow and clear blue sky. No clouds at sight as far as this stretch of grass goes, but over at where the capital is are gray. Cows, deer, and wild lamb graze at the far distance. Prairie vulture hawks above with their shadow are being followed by Poisdart snakes. Isaac opens the shackle Merry and Bell, letting them roam free and graze. The boy walks up to Ober who had sat on a nearby rock. The winds playing with his beard and a happy meerkat have found its stage on his shiny bald head.
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“Lord Magister,” Isaac stretches himself before asking, “would you be hungry? I can hunt us a hare or a squirrel, or pluck some berries growing around these parts”
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“These parts?” Ober looks around knowingly, “Haha, you have still got to learn more son.”
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And the boy tilts his head, finally having the chance to ask why and what this lord magister knows. “Magisters usually laze around inside so servants like me always get to know what is outside!”
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“What burbling nonsense.” Ober giggles, “I am 1,000 years older than you son. Not an exaggeration. And magisters, which I am a lord of we are always the first to know before the servants.” Ober gestures for Isaac to sit down with before he opens his arms and describes the vast meadow around them, “This is Orlorn’s plains, where clouds wail every sixth moonlight of the 14th moon. You’d find nothing other than mice, worms, wandering cattle and wild deer and rats... Occasionally carcasses.” he points at the goblins hoarding a deer’s body. “And that is because the deity, Orlorn, lives here. He is seen as a half goblin and dwarf and hates little burglars or pimple fruits. Which are berries. And you know, you need not to keep looking out for me young boy, I’m already old. I can hear Necroxia calling out to me in my naps. So, for the little things I need to do, I can procure them on my own.”
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“Because you are old, hence why I need to look after you! The Lord Magister has been so kind to accept me as his personal servant and take care of me. It is right that I should do more than just leading the Merry and Bell and that way, I can also learn from you.”
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Ober chuckles at that, just like how the meerkat rolls around his bald head as Ober pinches the boy’s tiny button nose. “Learn from me huh? And what do you want to learn?”
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“Well, I guess how nobles do stuff, and magic…”
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“That is all?” the old man’s voice slightly disheartened,
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“Well, that is all you know though…”
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“Haha, that is just because I keep secrets. If you want I can—”
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Rustling, something rustles the blades of grass behind them. The meerkat startled awake and runs away. Isaac remains silent and all of a sudden, the plains imitate the boy, completely silent and still. A cloud hides a shadow. Meanwhile Ober leans forward onto Isaac, uttering a silent chant. Imagining the earth behind him to sink and it does so. A young girl screams before “oof”ing herself. Both the lord magister and his servant stand to look at their prowler whose appearance looks explicitly dumber than that of a fur-worn barbarian.
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“It is a girl!” Isaac points, “I thought it was a monster when it is just a girl. Looks like my age too!”
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“We would not know for certain.” Ober grips onto Isaac’s shoulder, pulling him back. The girl with tattoos and a feather headband urges him to chant more silent words then the blades of grass tie her wrist and ankles. “...She does not look native to our lands. Who asked you to tail us and from what tribe are you?”
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The girl dizzily shakes her head off the dirt, groaning before acting surprised, “Gaah! Hemrean noticed!? Uhm…well…Mira did not expect this…”
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“Since we left around the marsh,” Ober adds angrily, sourcing the ear tickling feeling he had from her. “You have been tailing us far. From the marsh, around the forest and the plains. Now, we have caught you. Your presence that is of a monster. So, I can only assume the worst with you. Not even I would have tea with you.”
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“Uhm, uhmmm, not good. Mira—Mira is just curious with Hemrean. Mira, want to know what Hemrean is like and you two, Mira likes…” She crawls forward, looking closely at Isaac, “Mira interested~”
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To which Ober does not believe anything that she says and harshly stomps the girl’s face to the ground. “Answer my asking, beast.”
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Tightening the ropes of grass that can crush a man’s limbs but the girl seems unbothered, expression pleading. “Mira does not know!” Perking her ears, “And, Mira is not a beast”
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Ober looks as if he is going to end the little girl when Isaac interrupts him, taking the side of the girl. But Ober has nothing to say to the servant whose eyes have colored fuschia. Everything about this girl sparks him with danger, the mask it wears as a little girl. He is far too familiar with putting up a face and this one, surely is, right!? “Then what are you? And how have you come to know our tongue”
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“Oooh Oohhh, Mira knows what tongue is! It is what you eat!” Gnarly growling and munching at the rocks and dirt in front of her. With bold expressions and gestures, that she plays around with her face and tongue as if she is possessed. Not even a hint of fear in her tiger feline eyes, “Here, here, Mira can even touch baby nose with Mira tongue!” And she does so. A snaky tongue that enters her own nostrils.
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Disgusting–Ober sees a garbage while Isaac claps at the weird impromptu talent show.
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“Ooooh Ooooh, and I can also make Mira’s urine go flying!”
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“Do it!” The boy looks expectantly but then,
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Ober bellows his voice and stops them from furthering into inapt. Feeling no less assured by this strange child. How she learned to speak well, stealth, and even felt to be that of a beast–A beast that Ober utters silent words and feel his chest ripping. “What are you?”
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“What is Mira?” Feeling disturbingly unhinged for being rudely asked, “Look at Mira, Mira have cowtits!”
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“OOOOOOHH!” Isaac eyes’ grow wide at the bombastic reveal.
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“Just like a girl! Who happens to follow you out of that foggy land! LOOK, LOOK, Mira’s big cow titties~”
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So, she simply followed them? And why would she follow them? Because of curiosity? What about them that makes her curious? The question is being beaten around the bush and Ober chants a few more silent words. A gust of air forms into three pointed daggers at her throat. “Last chance”
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…
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Isaac looks left and right, wanting to take a side, even though he already has, or stop this from escalating. “Lord Magister, I think Mira is really telling the truth.”
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But Ober can only see, and hear what this girl has to say. Not wanting to keep his eyes off her. “Don’t side just by her looks, boy. She could be a shapeshifter or a beast from the dark west. You never know what a person is until they show up. And we felt it right? We felt a presence that of a tiger, not a girl. And we were both alarmed, and from her is where it came from? Absurd. stop hiding in that form and…let go of Isaac.”
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…the girl remains quiet, neck bending up to avoid bleeding more from the sharp dagger winds. Keeping silent and still, then Ober decides to say the words and the wind daggers pass. The girl’s neck burns and cuts around the side, she simply grunts and smiles. Ober expects her head to fall off or her neck be riddled with holes but somehow, the girl is still alive. Confidently with a smile, she boldly declares, “You can’t kill Mira~ Mira is not affected by Hemrean stuff and Mira knows you won’t and you can’t! Hehe~”
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Urging Ober to chant more dangerous words that most of the blades of grass turn into iron swords. Bending his arms for all to stab the girl but no…the girl is still there. But Ober saw it. Ober saw the gore and the pile of swords into her body…but how is she still standing? How are the grass not blades? It is getting harder to breathe and Ober slowly looks down, feeling a hand blocking his lips. The pink eyed Isaac has covered his mouth, asking the magister to stop and see that the girl is simply no threat. “...What are you after?”
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And the girl finally says, “The Absternicous, do not we all wish to return that which was most gratifying and glorifying? That---which Hemreans do.”
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Winds blow against stiff rocks and unswaying tall grass. Dry dirt road holding onto Ober’s slippers with the sky slowly burning dark. Mira looks up and sees a gathering cumulonimbus. “Nautrens…” She says, tickling her toes impatient. “Mira heard back with that princess, that Hemrean is starting a festival. What for?”
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“None of your concern”
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“…But it concerns to Mira and others about what it is. Please do tell, or Hemrean Is betraying himself. And Mira hates betrayers, time lost, effort spent, Mira hates a cabbage’s life!”
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Ober glances again at Isaac checking if he is conscious or not despite the boy still standing aside–motionless as if undead. And knowing that this strange girl is looking, he can only sigh in gladness that they managed to avoid it. Still, he never knew that they were being followed by a beast or at least, she feels like a beast. Her expression cannot conceal the red skin around her crazy eyes. “You will not find anything in Kinguin.”
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“Mira knows and Mira will not tell. Mira can simply follow the Hemrean around and wait.” To which she walks up to Ober and points further down King’s Road. “Mira can hear the sound of ruffians over where Hemrean is heading. And do not worry, Hemrean can deal with them and Mira can protect the boy. Mira knows, and Mira will not ask nor tell further of what Mira knows.”
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“...And I will not as well.”
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The strange girl walks away, “Hmph, intimidated by Mira, Mira supposes” distorting the visual space of the dome Ober created before disappearing into thin air.
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The magister, dry onto his lips, looks over at the distance and wondered how the beast made it in. His apologetic eyes yonder over at the foggy marsh. Before letting out a frustrated sigh. “That escalated quickly…” He mutters, snapping his finger near the dazed servant’s ear to bring him back to his senses. “She has gone…and that was more than troublesome.”
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“W-woah~! It was all normal at first then everything turned dark and green and the magister turned into this horrifying black shadow! And the girl…well, she was the same…who was she, Lord magister?”
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“Aren’t you going to ask what happened to you first?”
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“O-oh! Y-yes, what happened to me? Why was I seeing dark green and greens?”
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“Dark west magic, more likely how I was able to pull her to the ground and restrain her.”
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“...Uhm, what?”
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“She pulled down and retrained your soul to Necroxia. Keeping you alive and dead at the same time. Like how Unmens are.”
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“WOAHHH! That’s so cool!”
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“That was dangerous!” Ober scolds the boy, “and, I would have figured them out if it weren’t for them actually coming from the dark west. I guess, whatever happens from when I repaired the barrier will be all my fault…”
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“D-don’t look sad lord magister! It was a good thing to repair the barrier and I know that you can figure this out! And, I doubt that whoever she was, she won’t give us any trouble. Kinguin is at peace now, I’m sure she’ll enjoy around!”
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“Oh, how envy your hope boy.”
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The sun slowly comes down behind the clouds as Isaac whistles back Merry and Bell who are happily grazing at the meadows. Ober sits back inside the carriage, pondering on what the girl had said about the road ahead. To follow the road and listen to the stranger or not. Ober decides to, “Follow the road.”
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