Age of Souls

by Garrett Stevens

  The hallway was similar to the rest of the interior, wood everywhere and clad with hanging fabrics or tapestries. Reds and blues made up most of the colouring with the odd piece of painted artwork hanging between caged sconces. A single short table sat beside the far doorway that was hidden behind the main stairwell. A small metal box and two small candles rest in the middle of it.

  Gemini walked up to the box and knocked on it once with her knuckle.

  “Come in child, we were expecting you.” A young women’s voice came from the other side of the doorway.

  Gemini stepped through, bending at the knees slightly to get her wings under the cross brace and stopped abruptly, making Mara bump into her and almost dropping her scythe. Gemini’s surprise was slapped across her face and all she could do was muster out a name.

  “Tharissa!”

  Chapter 24

  Girlish laughter woke Gemini up, the walls of the establishment were thin compared to the exterior look of the structure. Morning light crept its way through the window and itched its way across the messy bedroom. Bedsheets and pillows were strewn about the floor like someone had tossed the bed throughout the night. Morning dew sparkled on the window sill as the orb growing in the distance began its daily rise and peeked its way through the outlying mountains. The girls in the next room were finding something very amusing that was raising curiosity within Gemini.

  Rolling over on the large bed to come face to face with Mara, who was still asleep. Her hair had come loose from its braid and had cascaded its way across her milky skin and sprawled out behind her across her pillow. The light danced around her pretty face through the moisture on the window, making little rainbows flutter as the light moved. Each flag of colour wiggled down her body, making it seem like she could be an angelic goddess. In the restful setting they had, both sets of their living steel had come to rest and only the shifting bands weaved their way around their skin.

  A gentle flip over to look out the window as to not wake Mara. Gemini was trying hard not to listen to the conversation the other room. The giggling between each inaudible voice was making it more and more intriguing. With another shuffle back to Mara, she also was finding it hard to deal with the blanket wrapped around her wings.

  “What could possibly be so funny over there?” Mara half smirked while keeping her eyes closed.

  “Who knows with those three. They are always up to some sort of game.” Gemini cocked her head at the wall as their laughter came through again.

  A door opened in the hallway that stole their attention. Tromping footsteps through the corridor getting closer and closer to their own door. The rap at their door came and went as the two looked at each other.

  “Gemini?” Tharissa’s voice saturated into the rooms dead air. “I’m coming in.”

  With a subtle creek on the hinge, the door slowly pushed open and Tharissa slowly stuck her head through the small opening. Her interest to come in was greeted by a questioning look on across both Spiri’s faces.

  “There is breakfast for you two downstairs. Burz had the girls send everyone home last night after you came up. Should be free to move around without prying eyes.” Tharissa pushed through the door and stood just inside. “Are you two naked?” The look on her face almost made Gemini laugh.

  “Almost. A perk of the new appointment.” Gemini shrugged and spoke in a sarcastic tone.

  Sliding under one of the few blankets on the bed, she pulled the corner up and over her exposed breasts. Mara watched her and chuckled with the feeble attempt to be modest. Rolling over to the edge of the bed, Mara slipped out of the sheets and stood up tall. With a stretch of her wings behind her and a reach up with both arms, she sent a handful of cracking noises from her spine with a couple twists, letting loose a refreshing breath.

  “It’s only flesh Mother, we all have it. Should be proud of what you have, you have a good form.” Mara spun her head around and smiled back at Gemini whose face had gone a little red.

  “Mother?” Tharissa asked.

  “My title within the ranks.” Gemini threw her legs off the other side of the bed while holding the sheet around her front.

  “The armour you two had on last night is also part of it I take it?”

  Gemini nodded.

  “Well, leave it to you or Mya to walk around the world without clothes on. I will stick with my fancy dresses thank you very much.” Tharissa brushed down the lines of her body with the backs of her fingertips to showcase her tight and very ornate dress. “Let’s eat.”

  Tharissa turned and left through the crack in the doorway and tromped her way back down the hallway, her footsteps fading down the stairs.

  “She walks heavy for a little girl.” Mara stretched again and turned to Gemini, watching her exposed back.

  Gemini turned to talk with her, dropped the sheet around her waist and exposing herself to the room. Noticing a large scar across Mara’s left collar that looked like it came from a large bear type animal, she lifted her hand and lightly pointed at it.

  “Where did you get that?” Gemini asked.

  Looking down at her collar, Mara sighed. “It was from a long time ago, when I first received my armour. Reminder for the loss of my family, Caja and I were not so lucky when we got embraced by the Spiri. There are more ancient evils out there than most can understand. A story for another time.”

  Gemini pursed her lips together with a nod.

  “Let’s eat, I’m starving.” Mara motioned with her head towards the door as she spoke.

  “Your leg seems fine this morning.” Gemini stood and quickly made her way around the bed in case she needed a hand.

  Putting a little weight against the leg, Gemini reached out with her hands as if to catch her from falling. The living steel spun around both as Mara put more and more weight on the leg. The colouring from her own was a little lighter and a small chip could be seen in a section of it, like it had been shot with an arrow and broke off.

  Her body was almost perfect. Gemini tried to think back if she had ever seen her without her full armour or without a robe on. Her curvy hips leading into a lean stomach and up through her shoulders were very clean and proportioned lines. Mara’s wings beautifully spread out with their majesty, making her angelic presence very prominent.

  “How is your leg?”

  “Another perk of our appointment, as it were.” She nodded back toward Gemini and a boastful laugh. “The magic we possess helps us heal quite quickly, it should be back to normal within the day. Broken bones and sickness is something you will learn to love quickly.”

  “You’re a very beautiful woman.” Gemini couldn’t keep the words in.

  “Yet another benefit to being one of us.” Mara smiled. “At least you don’t have far to adjust.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Gemini asked as she made her way to the door.

  “The power of the Spiri begins to change your appearance as time goes on, which is why you see most of us looking similar. There will be subtle differences between everyone but we all sort of look the same after a few thousand years.” Mara looked back at a mirror in the corner to peek at her backside before following Gemini.

  “So, if an Orc or a Grandule or a Leeman were to become a Spiri, they would start to change to look like you?” Gemini continued into the corridor and slowly made her way to the front stairs.

  “Not exactly, they would hold a couple characteristics of their original race but ultimately, yes. Like, us. Most of a Spiri reflects that of a half elf and the constant training along with the magic of the armour keeps us lean and fit.” Mara bumped Gemini with her hip and gave her a wink.

  Making their way past the room full of giggling girls, Gemini peeked through the half open door. Taara and Xhou were naked and sitting on the floor with Kaliin between them, all her limbs spread out wide and a small cloth box resting on her stomach.

  The corridor matched the downstairs of the building, wood everywhere. Tapestries and colourful cloth filled the walls
with bouquets of flowers giving off a heavy aroma. Small braziers holding small flames lit every nook and cranny of the establishment that made it seem very homey yet provocative in a comfortable way.

  Gemini could only shake her head at the three before her attention was needed for the upcoming stairs. The red door they came through the night before sat closed and the morning pedestrian traffic could be heard hustling about on the other side. With a turn around the railing, the two shuffled their way to the back room and before entering, a single knock on the metal box that sat on the shelf.

  “Gemini my dear. Your sister has been telling me a fascinating story about how she got out of the palace. Dare I ask what has happened to you to bring you back here under the circumstance?” Burz called out from the back room. Her young voice was kind and inviting.

  The back room was a small kitchen that had a larger table to one side and clean cabinetry and shelves to the other. Only a couple of shelves holding the odd tin or jar had something on them. Stone tile covered most of the flooring that looked like it had been there since the beginning of time. Against one of the walls was a small alcove that looked to lead to somewhere under the flooring.

  Tharissa sat against the far wall with a plate full of steaming vegetables and a small portion of some bird type meat. Burz stood opposite her, leaning against the cabinetry and sucked on a long pipe.

  “It might be a longer story than what we have time for unfortunately.” Gemini answered her question as she came into the room.

  Burz had short scarlet hair that spiked back from her face that made it look like she had been just out running in a gusty wind. Her features were smooth but still looked a little aged with the odd wrinkle and slight bags under her eyes. The medium build she had was barely featured under her plain robe and the soft fur skin slippers she wore made things a little comical. Her look did not match her voice at all.

  “There is always time for a good story.” Burz puffed on her pipe, sending a trail of smoke around her.

  “As she said Burz, we don’t have time. We need to get up to the Iceclaws as fast as we can and with Breen, or rather Thorn, chasing us; we need to hustle that much more.” Tharissa broke in with an aggressive mouthful of food.

  “We ran into Thorn on the way in last night.” Mara spoke from the doorway.

  “Nasty little bitch that one. She killed mother and father.” Tharissa swallowed her food angrily.

  Silence filled the room and Gemini starred at her with eyes wide.

  “What?” Gemini asked urgently.

  “Something to do with a contract; the girl went berserk and killed a handful of guards and then came after me too.” Tharissa took another mouthful of food from her plate.

  Silence again filled the room.

  “Bring the Thorn, desire to carve deep and relentlessly draw blood.” Burz spoke in monotone like she was in a trance. “This isn’t good.”

  “What does that mean?” Tharissa shot her a glare.

  “Part of a creed for the Neightur. There is always five of them.” Burz paused to take a large inhale from her pipe. “Bring the Needle, desire to weave in discord and stitch the bloody tapestry. Bring the Sliver, desire to burrow deeper to the world and connect life to death. Bring the Shard, desire to coalesce the shadows and shatter the souls of the Children. Bring the Thorn, desire to carve deep and relentlessly draw blood.”

  “That’ is only four, what is the fifth?” Tharissa asked through a bite into a vegetable.

  “The fifth has never been revealed. In all my years, I never thought I would see the day that this all comes true and the seals finally being broken.” Burz took another long drag of her pipe.

  “The same seals that seal the Chains and Low Realm?” Gemini asked from behind her glare.

  “You are right in not having a lot of time child.” Burz thought in silence for a second and continued. “My girls can get you out of the city unseen, but you are on your own once you reach the forest. I can offer you a tonic to bolster your stamina, but you will need to stop after the third day for at least twelve hours.” Another long drag from her pipe.

  “Should be enough time to get there if you run for most of it.” Burz had an unsettling urgency in her voice that made Gemini uncomfortably shuffle her weight and Tharissa put her fork down to pay attention. Mara pushed her way around Gemini’s wings and sat with her back against the table.

  “How do you know so much about this?” Mara asked directly.

  There was a brief silence with the two women starring at each other before she spoke.

  “I come from a family in the North that lives with their deity, who was part of the Twenty in the War of Six. We have been blessed with extended life for our symbiotic union. I won’t go into detail, but we are given a third eye type of ability for visions of our world. The Neightur sought us out to learn our magic but they are well known, even in the North.” Burz gave a little smile from behind her pipe.

  “Which god, and what type of union?” Tharissa perked up with curiosity.

  “Has several names, most know it as The Eater, but we call it Kourous. It takes the form of a massive demonic beast of which there is no likeness. We offer it sustenance to be reborn.” She took another couple puffs from her pipe, letting out a smoke ring.

  “With my time in this city, that creed of the Neightur has been muttered more often than I would like by our patrons. Always five, always with the same end goal, always will be a new person to take up the mantel if one of the acolytes falls.”

  “If they have been around so long and keep being replaced, how is there anything we can do that is supposed to be of help?” Gemini complained.

  “Oh. I know that one.” Tharissa almost jumped out of her seat. “I need to get something.”

  With the speed she got up from the table, with what was left on her plate spilled out onto the table before she disappeared through the doorway beside her. The other three stood in silence and shared a look of interest. Mara glanced over at Gemini who shrugged.

  “Don’t look at me.”

  “She’s your sister.” Mara laughed.

  Tharissa came back in the room with a big smile on her face, holding a large tome bound with a leather strap. Dropping it on the table made everything rattle and sent a jolt through the room.

  Carrying a serious look on her face she asked Gemini. “Tell me you have the Cup?”

  “Necrolin’s cup?”

  “Yes.”

  “Should be upstairs with our stuff.” Gemini pointed to the ceiling.

  “Good.” She sat back down at the table and placed her palms on the large book. “We will need it when we get to the glacier.” Tharissa paused and looked down at the book. “No. Wait, it’s moved now.”

  “Wasn’t the Dragon relic the reason why you were sick?” Gemini gave her sister a side glance.

  “That whole thing? Only a farce in order to get things moving. Necrolin told me that something was coming, all were in danger. I was to take get his cup to the Crucible where the Spiri ambassador would take the relics to the Immortal Realm to prepare for a sealing spell.”

  “What we know of the Chains or even the Immortal Twenty is limited and in most stories, wrong.” Necrolin and the other elders will not be able to keep the balance much longer.” Tharissa’s words hung in the air.

  “Then what was all that noise from Turi about the Chains and the dead rising?” Gemini huffed her concern with her hands on her hips.

  “It’s really hard to take you seriously when you’re almost naked, you know that?” Tharissa laughed.

  The grumble from Gemini almost made Mara laugh.

  “Hey, so are you, don’t you start.” Gemini growled at Mara.

  A brief silence filled the room.

  “It is true that the Chains are weakening, but it is not due to his relic being away from his tower. There is something else going on, which apparently the Neightur have been planning for. They have figured out how to break the that binds the balance, but it won�
��t cause the dead to come into our world. That’s so cliché.” Tharissa began flipping through the tome. “The seals set by the Elder Dragons ward against having the road between Low Realm and High Realm open and support the balance between the mortal and immortal realms.” Tharissa kept flipping through the pages.

  “All of the Twenty have been in a balance since the Battle of Six and with what the Neightur have been doing over the past, who knows how long, has broken that support.”

  “So, the dead won’t come into our world?” Gemini looked to clarify.

  “Even if a wide necromancy were to wake the dead, they wouldn’t be much help.” Burz laughed the answer making Tharissa stop flipping pages and glare at her.

  Both Mara and Gemini pushed out a sigh while Burz sucked on her pipe, looking at them in a mocking way.

  “She is right. Even if they were to come back, the amount of magic to sustain them, or even a few of them is far beyond anyone’s skill.” Slowing her search through the tomb, Tharissa began to scan through each page. “There are still three of the Dragon children in Low Realm that are needed to support and fill in the Twenty. The Elders need the full family for what they need on their end, and with them trapped in Low Realm, it limits what they can do. Breaking the seals helps us in a way but gets the Neightur that much closer to their goal.”

  “The seals keep the Immortals from taking true form here though, wouldn’t they just destroy our world?” Gemini asked what everyone was thinking.

  “Yes, but not for the reasons people think. Being able to take true form in the Realms just allows them to use their full power when needed. Doesn’t mean the world is coming to an end.” Tharissa went back to her tome.

  “The Neightur have their own idols, worshipped in secret through the ages. The Immortal Twenty have been able to find a way to extend their powers through us, with their boon you can perform extraordinary feats. Part of the balance.” Burz stared at Tharissa as she spoke.

  “Here it is.” Tharissa exclaimed with a finger pointing at the open pages.