“I say a lot of things. Why worry about the specifics?” Jaster shouted back.
“Because I didn’t know we’d be late.”
“Ease up. We’ll be back on time.”
“How? It’s a ten-minute walk to the nearest station, and even then, it took us an entire seven minutes to ride into port! Have you already forgotten teachers only give you a five-minute window in-between class?”
Jaster flashed Taní a know-it-all grin. “Like I said, ease up. I know a shortcut.”
Taní groaned, though whether it was from the lingering pain in his back or his annoyance, he couldn’t tell. “Look, you’re a smart guy and everything, but how’s a shortcut going to save us seventeen minutes? We’re in port.”
“That’s why it’s a shortcut!”
“That’s not—” Taní sighed. “Okay, fine, whatever. Where’s the shortcut?”
Jaster pointed up the street. “Just a little more that way.”
Taní peered down the street. Just the same busy route to the carriage station. Good blood, why go the straight way? Barreling through the streets via carriage might save them some time. No, maybe stealing a horse would be faster—
A skin-rending flash of heat radiated from his tender back, reducing the world to a monochromatic glare. His strength escaped him, and though the Firmament was naught but a hateful scale, it whirled. Without a sound, gravity arrested him.
The gray brick road accelerated to view, a set of inky jaws gnawing at his peripheral. As they threatened to snap closed, a hand drew him back onto stumbling feet.
His silvery vision swam, the crystalline Prism washing the room in light so drab he nearly believed it was darkness. Wait, Prism? Why was it shattered?
Gold-speckled craters pocketed the prison, yet the glaring void of night remained. Its soundless screams shaking their final home. <<<---------- held him, her heart-shaped face etched with grief. Or was that guilt? She hadn’t caused this. Though the gloom had no one save her to call mother, he could not blame her. So why did her eyes shimmer with remorse?>>>
<<
“Tan?o?”
The refined voice dispelled the prism, and though their faces weren’t a perfect match, ---------'s visage seamlessly blended with Lavisa’s. Her furrowed brow painting a nigh-identical illustration of concern mingled with remorse.
“You good, Tan-Tan?” came Jaster’s voice from ahead.
“Y-Yeah. Just a little dizzy.”
Return. He had to focus on Hierrsé’s. Not the pain, nor the flashes, or even those persistent dreams. Then again, the pain reminded him of what he didn’t have: An Awakening. Because even a squire’s blood possessed curative properties.
Two minutes must’ve passed before Jaster came to a slow stop. Lavisa—without Taní’s input—ceased his momentum, her hand rubbing away at the bruise in great, gentle circles. The mark bloody hurt, but her ministrations soothed his aching discomfort.
Taní stopped. Wait…
Alleyways littered the street, much like those the girls had used when he first came to Hierrsé.
“Ready to climb?” Jaster said, hand on his Blood-Loader.
“Climb?” Taní squeaked.
“Are you joining, your highness?”
Lavisa ceased her ministrations. “But of course.”
“You’re familiar with this place, right?”
“The Grind? I believe it provides a swift, makeshift path to the school with little to no security presence.”
Jaster whistled. “Well, look at you. Didn’t take you for a dodger.”
“I’m not, though neither am I deaf to my House’s gossip. I assume you’re familiar with the environment?”
“Nope, it’s my first time out. A lot airier than I expected it to be.”
This coming from the guy who sleeps on a roof?
“So how ‘bout it?” Jaster brandished a phial from his Loader. “Favoring your blood 'oday?”
Lavisa waved. “I’ve no need for a phial.”
“What about you Tan-Tan?”
Taní fumbled with his Blood-Loader for a moment too long. He didn’t want to aggravate his back again. “Yeah,” he mumbled disappointedly to himself. “Still full.”
“Great. Let’s get going.”
Lavisa entered the alley with a confident stride. She stretched her shapely arms and legs, breathed, then bent forward. Taní half-expected her to charge at the wall like the trio of girls, but she just breathed again. Her eyes honed to a look of supreme concentration.
Dropping into a runner's stance, she sucked in one last sharp breath, then burst at the wall in an arc of steaming ripples. The princess spun mid-lunge, crashed feet first, then—after anchoring herself—dealt a deft kick that sent her spiraling skywards.
Lavisa arced through the air like the crescent moon, her salmon-flaxen locks streaming behind her like a creamy treat. Even then, Taní thought her perfection itself. Her confidence, her form…
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
She was nothing short of magnificent, like the Juneac?o of eld.
And watching her left his lungs short of breath.
Lavisa stuck the landing on the opposing wall, turned, then darted across the dead space. Her legs slicing through the Firmament as she managed a stomach-turning revolution.
When her boots clicked against the surface, she dug in and ran. Driving herself skyward with each step.
Before gravity could arrest her, Lavisa burst towards the opposite wall, stuck out a hand, and caught herself on the lip of the roof. Taní feared the impact would rattle her, but within the split-second of her grabbing the edge, she drew herself into the air, released, and managed a striking somersault that ended with an effortless landing. Then she turned to look down at them. Appearing neither exhausted nor winded.
“Well?” Lavisa called, fixing a stray lock back into place.
Taní wrestled with a grimace and lost. Of course she’s a prodigy.
He turned to Jaster, his confession on the tip of his tongue, but the Nimmian was gone. When he turned back to the alley, he already found him charging at the wall.
Jaster sloppily kicked off the wall as she had, but instead of aiming for the opposite side, he shot up. He gained little to no altitude, but before he plummeted to the floor, a thin pole of darkness whipped across the alley. The darkness latched onto the lip of the roof, drawing Jaster up like a lazy block on a pulley.
Arriving at the roof, he accepted Lavisa’s outstretched hand. The shadow quickly receded into his.
Jaster and Lavisa waved down at Taní, and though he knew he couldn’t use Sedd, that didn’t deter him. Maybe today might be different.
Maybe today he could be so much more.
Taní entered the alley, a lukewarm crackle filling his gut.
“Do you know how Sedd works, Taní? It works cuz of your heart,” came Danza’s phantom voice as a rogue breeze whistled through the alley. “You don’t need a big one to be great; you just need to be honest. You need to be true. That’s why the greatest Juneac?o were the kindest people: Because they understood preserving meant more than thrusting a spear.”
The air was crisp, the breeze gentle. He could still taste the roasted chestnuts, their memory cooling his nerves.
“Sedd only happens when you stir. Focus on that; focus on what inspires you. If you don’t, you’ll spill. That’s why you gotta grit your teeth and stand fast. Be it doubt or dragon.”
Right, focus. If preserving was what they did, then he didn’t need a better reason, right? Helping people was good enough. It had to be. That’s what worked for other Juneac?o!
“That’s why I want you to keep getting up, even if you think you can’t. And if it hurts so much you’d rather cry, then fine. Go and cry; cry until you can’t think of anything but the tears. Then I want you to get up again. Why? Cuz you’re better than that. They might not say it, but you’re better than that. And I know you think you are, too.”
Something stirred in Taní’s breast, and with it came a spark of heat at his hips. It was flame with no form, yet it possessed the desire to fuel. Yes, Taní might not have been a great squire, but he could still be something more.
Even if no one wanted him here, even if they thought he was some ne’er-do-well with no redeeming qualities, he wouldn’t relent. He’d keep getting up until something happened; until something CHANGED. Maybe it wouldn’t be now, tomorrow, or even in the near future, but something would change.
All he had to do was get up.
Taní broke into a sprint, his legs carrying him further with each stride. Wind howled in his ears, but he didn’t care. The old blood was with him now.
He’d ascend to the rank of Juneac?o, along with his classmates. Then, they’d have no other choice but to acknowledge him. Perhaps even apologize, too.
The heat sputtered, and his strides shortened, but he pushed.
Taní lifted a leg, prepared to catch himself on the wall.
Unfortunately, his terrible balance caused him to slip at the last second. His last sight was of the speckled brick wall as it hurtled into full view.
Lavisa’s breath caught in her throat as the dull slap of Tan?o’s head meeting the wall rang in her ears. Each skull-cracking repeat worse than the last. Her eyes darted to his fingers, though instead of catching the telltale twitch of life, she found only limp stillness. The blood-chilling realization made her heart stop.
“Ta—” She swallowed a hot lump that hadn’t been there. “Tan?o, are you…?”
Silence.
Lavisa strained her ears to catch a hint of sound, maybe even a raspy breath, yet she heard only the wind. They were too high.
Sedd raced to her ears, filling them with the light buzz of conversation some two streets down. She even caught the sizzling of food, but no breathing.
God, why wasn’t he breathing?
Lavisa transferred the rush to her sight, and though their enhancement was slight, he remained still as a statue.
No.
It was just like then. Just like her mother.
He couldn’t be gone. Not like this. They had countless years ahead of them. One of the finest Grazers…gone. Yes, his skills left much to be desired, but his jokes, his being? None compared to him in those regards. Not even a fully anointed Juneac?o!
But like this? She couldn’t—she wouldn’t believe it. Not today, not tomorrow. Never. Not again.
Never again.
Lavisa swung a leg over the edge, but before she could leap, Jaster hooked his arms underneath her shoulders.
“H-Hey! Pretty jumpy there, aren’t we?”
“Unhand me!” Lavisa growled, and though she knew she could break free from the Nimmian’s grip, he put up a good fight. “Unhand me this instant if you wish to keep your head!”
“Yes, I can see that you’re both equally crazy about hurting yourselves today, but it’s okay,” Jaster said.
“How is cracking your skull on a wall okay?”
“It’s certainly better than throwing yourself off a roof.”
“And you’d rather do nothing while your classmate bleeds out dozens of meters below?”
“Taní’s tougher than he looks, your highness. Guy almost fell off the academy roof and look at him! Still in one piece. Besides, whoever let a little brain damage stop them?”
Lavisa scowled. Why was he mentioning the bloody roof again? Did these idiots spend their free time defying death?
Almost as if he could read her mind, Jaster drew her back and craned his neck over the edge. “You all good, Tan-Tan?” he shouted.
Silence.
“See? A quick trip to the nurse, and he’ll be brighter than the moon. I think.” He paused thoughtfully. “Actually, don’t hold me to that.”
Lavisa snatched Jaster by the wrist, spun and, locking her foot around his ankle, scythed him off his feet. A moment later, he slammed against the rooftop. Freed, she mindlessly dove into the alley, using the walls as an occasional stop. It was leagues more difficult than climbing up, but the trick was in keeping one’s balance. That’s what A?el used to tell her despite being Seddless.
Lavisa tucked into a ball as she came within a meter of the floor, the alleyway road meeting her limbs with a jarring probe. It was a rough landing, but nothing that would bruise.
She sprang free from her roll, her hands blindly scrambling across the dark, cold stone. Her hands found his neck, and though the throat-tightening dread left her scraped hands shaking, she tilted his head forward.
He wasn’t bleeding. Moonrays, he wasn’t bleeding.
Lavisa pressed two fingers beneath his chin and waited. She wanted to shake him until he stirred, perhaps even scream into his ears until he ordered her to stop, but she couldn’t bring herself to. Her fear kept her cemented.
She didn’t want another stiff body. One was enough. If anyone deserved to be dead, it was that man. Not someone as kindhearted as this hopeless squire.
A cold, hard rage boiled in her chest. It was all because of him that this happened. It’s always because of him. If not, then her mother…then Tan?o…
An immense, throat-sealing pressure seized her chest. She tried to breathe, found that her legs wouldn’t respond, and just focused on him. Praying—hoping that her rapid gasps wouldn’t draw attention.
Two breaths, one thought, two breaths, one thought, two breaths… She repeated A?el’s mantra without pause. Each second stretched for a Cycle-spanning eternity. Good blood, there was nothing.
He—
A shock of warmth pulsed to Lavisa’s aching fingertips.
Against her better judgement, she pressed. It was there. Stronger; hotter.
Life.
A swell of emotions washed over the sea of icy dread that threatened to paralyze her, and though Lavisa knew she should’ve been happy, she clung to him. Praying that the Solanarium wouldn’t rip him away, either.