“Whatever’s plaguing your mind is likely to fight what I’m about to do now.”
He turned to face Crono, who took the hint and gently bound her body with his arms. Sakura flinched but knew it to be the best option, and after a short while, she nodded at Ferdan for him to continue. He placed his hand upon her head and took a deep breath, preparing himself for whatever came next.
The soft chant began, causing the ink pattern to glow with a bright white light. Sakura cried out in pain as the residual chaos magic fought back against the soothing waves of Ferdan’s magic. Finding her body unable to move she bit down on one of Crono’s fingers, trying to make him let go. Crono, however, was unfazed as her teeth were barely even scratching his tough skin. He remained gripping her while Ferdan continued; the ink was almost completely gone now, and it was nearly over. The light faded from the pattern, and it soon became invisible, only to be revealed when it was touched by magic.
Sakura’s body once again went limp. She did, however, remain biting into Crono’s finger. Such a process must have been excruciating for her. Crono ran his other hand delicately through her hair, feeling her relax as he continued.
“How are you feeling?” Ferdan asked, watching her eventually release her jaw. Sakura stared at him for a while, before collapsing down. She was exhausted.
“Tired,” Crono commented, picking her up off the floor. He stood up and strolled over to his bed, settling her head against the pillow and slipping the covers over her body. They left her to rest for now and turned their attention to Amnur, who was still unconscious.
“Without him awake, it’ll be hard to tell exactly what’s wrong,” Ferdan explained to Crono. Symptoms like Sakura’s would only be obvious when he was awake.
“What can you do then?”
The whole subject was past his field of expertise, he normally relied on Amnur for that.
“I can take a sample of his blood to check if there’s anything untoward with his mana.”
Ferdan revealed a small covered blade from another one of his pouches.
“You’ll need more than that.”
“I’ve cut demons with it before,” he remarked before pausing, realising just how bad that had sounded. Crono raised an eyebrow before bursting into laughter, allowing Ferdan to relax. “I would like your permission, though, Crono, since I doubt Amnur would let me do this normally.”
“Do whatever you need, he won’t argue with me.”
He knew Amnur would dispute it, but he would respect the fact the mage had asked permission first, though.
“Alright. It’ll take some time to see any results, or at least I would hope it does.”
If anything showed too quickly, then he knew something to be terribly wrong. Ferdan took the blade out of its cover and ran it across the demon’s wrist, creating a thin line of blood. He collected the blood with a small tapered flask, allowing it to fill up about half way before sealing the cut closed. With an equally small bung, he sealed the flask and gave the contents a slight swirl, watching the liquid intently. The consistency was fine, though for a mage’s blood the colour was dull. Mage blood usually held a lighter colour than their non-mage counterparts due to the high concentrations of mana within the blood. Ferdan settled down to begin the multiple different tests he could perform on the blood, in the hope that one would give him an answer.
* * *
Ciel, Drake and the others returned after half a day of scouting and from what they were holding, gathering. Outside from the howling wind and perpetual snow they had seen nothing strange, which was stranger than anything. After the attack on Amnur and Sakura yesterday they had expected to see something or at least evidence that something had been around. Ciel had noticed Sakura on the bed, so he quickly deposited his spoils and went to her side, something which did not go unnoticed by those around him.
“Evening Sakura, how are you feeling?” he whispered to her, nudging her shoulder. She began to stir and wearily opened her eyes, staring at Ciel’s deep red eyes. For such a fierce colour, his eyes carried much emotion.
“I’m sorry about earlier, I hadn’t meant to be so cold to you. It was just…” She trailed off, what had happened to her did not need to be brought up now, her mind felt clear and calm. “Ferdan sorted it, don’t worry. It did exhaust me rather, though, that’s all.”
Ciel returned her smile as she evidently did not feel like talking about it. Her apology was welcome words to his ears. Even if it hadn’t been her he had the problem with, it would explain why she was talking with Ferdan though.
“I have something to tell you, but I’m not sure how,” Ciel said. She looked at him curiously. He was nervous, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. When he was happy that no one was, he took a deep breath and calmed himself. With a swift movement, he brought his face next to hers, delivering a single, sweet kiss on her cheek and departed as quickly as he came.
Sakura was stunned; she watched him flash another smile as he left, leaving her alone on the bed. She didn’t feel angry or upset if anything she felt quite warm, as well as confused. Part of her wondered if she had indeed woken up or had just dreamed that episode. The girl sighed. Evidently, he was anxious to display affections for her so openly, a fact she couldn’t blame him for either.
Kicking her feet out in silent frustration she clipped something and remembered what it was, the book she had been looking through previously. She had left it open on a certain page before her mind had become overwhelmed. What she had been reading had eluded her, though.
Propping herself up, Sakura grabbed the book and looked at the preserved page. A scrap of paper lay pinned within its spine; a hastily made bookmark from her father. Time slipped by as she read the pages in detail, absorbing every little bit of information presented.
“I think I’ve found what my father was so interested in,” she announced aloud to the chatter-filled room, obtaining everyone’s attention. They gathered around her, sitting before her like young children. “There’s quite a bit to it, but I’ll try to summarise.” Sakura used her hand to mark her position on the page as she started. “Nether plane; a dark and twisted plane that connects to our own. Mana is rife within its enclosed sphere, far greater than the levels of our own plane,” she spoke in a clear voice, glancing up to see if anyone had anything to say before she continued. Ferdan waved her own, signifying that no one did right now. “The creatures that exist in this plane thrive by channelling liquid aether through their bodies. They contain no normal organs and as such if the flow is disrupted or solidified the creature will die.” She knew this line would pull some reply, it was a keynote to have.
“All the creatures we’ve seen have had crystalline, solid mana, though,” Ferdan stated, obtaining a nod from Ciel and Drake as they listened to him.
“Doesn’t that mean that they’re essentially dying?” Crono added. It was an interesting point indeed; it proved that the creatures were not here out of their own will, simply spending time within this plane must be agony for them.
“It would seem that way. We would have to find one that had died naturally to confirm this, though,” Ciel replied. In the blinding snow, it would be a difficult find, assuming one had even died within a decent distance of the village.
“Is there anything about natural chaos magic within there Sakura?” Ferdan enquired, allowing her to continue with her reading.
“There’s some information about elemental affinity, and it touches on what elements they can use, but there’s nothing that directly says chaos or even a word that could possibly mean the same,” Sakura admitted, though it had been the answer Ferdan was looking for. For chaos magic to be present, there was definitely an outside source affecting the creatures, driving them to the same controlled insanity that Sakura had experienced. “Hmm, what else… Tough skin similar to a carapace. They appear to be blind, instead relying on sound and something about an ability to sense the mana within the bloodstream or mana in general.”
The last few
facts provided some useful information for all of them. A mage would be the first targeted by the creatures and as such could act as a decoy for one not so magically notable. “That could explain why that creature didn’t react to me until I stabbed it,” she commented, pointing to where the wound on her leg had been for some of the confused onlookers.
There were a lot of new questions raised by this, and they went on debating into the night. Soon it came time for dinner, so they dispersed and started preparing for that, still chattering to each other.
Now everyone was distracted, Sakura decided to use the opportunity to attempt to talk to Ciel privately. She spotted him quickly, but he was speaking with Drake. With a swift step, she snuck up behind them and waited until Drake was no longer looking in Ciel’s direction. She then grabbed Ciel by the waist and dragged him off to a side room, leaving Drake rather confused as to where he had just gone to. Ciel had been too startled to react, and when he turned around to look at the culprit, he broke into laughter.
“You could have just asked you know,” he chuckled, giving her a playful nudge.
“I’ve never really been someone who asks questions first,” she admitted with some embarrassment as her antics have gotten her into trouble before due to it. Now they were stood facing each other, it became apparent just how much shorter she was compared to him. She stood just shy of two-thirds of his height.
“The fact you’re short is cute, Sakura and you’re certainly not lacking anything in personality or looks either,” Ciel grinned. The line was crude, but he was unsure how to speak to her. Regardless, she blushed at the comment and turned away, absently scratching her ear. He lowered himself down and embraced her. She was slow to return the embrace but did so firmly.
“What of our fathers?” While she certainly felt something for Ciel, it was impossible to ignore the bad blood between the two families. He thought for a while. It was a large sticking point between the two of them. He was close to his father, and from what he had experienced so far, she was close to hers.
“They would be wrong to deny it,” he remarked, nuzzling her neck. “Who knows, perhaps they’ll see sense.” Given his blood relation, he could have pretty much any woman he wanted, except for her it would seem. He just hoped his father would be willing to look past Amnur’s history.
“Let’s join back up with the others for dinner before they worry where we’ve gone to,” Sakura replied, trying to shift the mood back more positive. He nodded and lifted her up off the ground, grinning at her embarrassed protests.
“What? It’s not like they’re not going to find out anyway.”
He strolled out into the room, carrying her in his arms which attracted the attention of those in the room. Sakura turned her head away from the crowd, not wanting to observe their possibly doubtful expressions. Opting to position himself beside Drake, Ciel sat down and put Sakura down between them. Drake fussed her head, causing her hair to become messy, a fact which irritated her.
“Oi, that takes a while to neaten out you know,” she growled. Horns weren’t the easiest things to brush one’s hair around.
“You’re more than welcome to try it on me,” he laughed, prodding her in the chest. Sakura gazed up with a resigned expression; it was not a wise challenge to follow-up on.
Crono watched on from a distance. It was heart-warming to see them accept her so readily, even when they knew who she was. Ferdan was busy working with the blood sample. He had exhausted most of the tests he could perform with not a whole lot of success. It showed that Amnur’s mana concentration was lower than expected, but that could be down to anything, even Ferdan misjudging his original mana level. He groaned and poured some of the blood into another flask, ensuring it was not much more than a thin layer. Depositing the second sample close to the fire, he sat down and awaited the approaching meal.
The dinner was calm, apart from the odd bursts of chatter and hushed whispers. Ferdan had finished his meal hastily and retrieved the sample near the fire, holding it up to the light. As he tilted the flask, he distinctly saw something stuck to the bottom of the flask, catching the light as he turned the flask. Fetching a long metal tool from one of his many pouches, he stuck it inside the flask, scraping at the thing stuck to the bottom. A small bit broke free, and he hoisted it out, placing it onto a piece of cloth. After a while of inspection, it became obvious what he was looking at, and it repulsed him greatly.
“This is bad.”
“What’s wrong?” Crono asked, wary of the sudden outburst. Bad was not what he wanted to hear.
“Amnur’s mana is crystallising within his blood,” he replied, rolling the crystalline lump around in his fingers.
“What will it do to him?” Ciel spoke up before Sakura had the chance to, his arm resting on her shoulder to hold her back.
“Aside from the eventual death from mana deprivation, having sharp objects travel around the inside of your body never ends well,” Ferdan admitted. He had never dealt with a disease before, or whatever this could be called. It was worrying that such a thing could be inflicted with a single hit from one of those creatures; he didn’t even know which creature had been carrying the toxin.
Sakura collapsed where she sat. The news was dire. Amnur could perish, and Ferdan was not any the wiser on how to fix such a thing. Ciel and Drake rushed to comfort her, but she was cold to their response, pushing away any attempts they made.
“If I brought you one of those creatures alive, could you do something?”
“Well, yes, possibly,” Ferdan replied. It was enough for her. She stood up and leapt over Drake’s hand as he tried to stop her, running up to the door and departing. The rest just sat there, dumbfounded at the whole thing, unsure how to react.
Chapter 9: The Council’s Truth
Sebastian arrived alongside Uriel at the main entrance of the Magi Council’s academy. Confused onlookers knew not how to react to seeing the two working together, opposed to ripping each other’s throats out. The doors were hastily opened for them, revealing mages scrambling to get out of the way. They knew something was wrong, the serious expressions on the two leaders told them enough.
A young mage cowered in front of them, unsure whether he should complete his duty or just flee like the rest.
“Can I help you?” he squeaked, nervously shuffling from foot to foot, trying his best to avoid eye contact with either of them.
“Take us to whoever you have in charge here currently,” Uriel demanded, causing the boy to flinch before him.
“Certainly,” the boy replied, his voice was shaking. The fact Uriel had emphasised the word us surprised him, for those two to be working together on such a level something was seriously wrong. He beckoned for them to follow him and set off in the direction of a staircase, to which they followed, remaining silent as they went.
They had ascended two flights of stairs before Sebastian paused, taking a look above him. The stairs went on as far as he could see, hugging the wall of the massive spire.
“Are we going all the way to the top?” Sebastian enquired, causing the other two to stop in their tracks.
“Unfortunately, yes,” the mage sighed. The stairs were dreaded by anyone who desired to see the Archmage, an effective deterrent in hindsight. Uriel threw a glance at Sebastian and nodded, he knew what the demon had in mind. Sebastian lifted the boy up into his arms, nearly causing him to scream. With a strong flap of his wings, he took to the air, with the angel following close behind as they ascended through the middle of the winding tower. They had landed on the open platform before the doorway and Sebastian set the mage back down on the ground, who was rather startled by the short flight.
“Well, that beats the stairs,” he absently remarked, staring back down the staircase. “I’ll wait out here as I assume you wish to keep the conversation private.” He gave a low bow. In reality, he just didn’t feel like walking back down the staircase. Hearing their escort’s statement, Sebastian took a deep breath and knocked on the door; he was wary
at just how the Archmage would react to seeing them stood on his doorstep.
“I’m not interested,” a voice replied from inside, irking Uriel who was beside Sebastian now. He silently gestured to Sebastian, who backed away to allow him to do whatever he was about to do, before pressing his hand against the lock of the door. A ring of light appeared, followed by a reverberating snap. One way to open a door was to remove the lock completely after all.
“Ah,” the mage who had escorted them up murmured, “that’s not going to go down well.”
Uriel pushed the door open and was greeted by a rather unamused looking man, whose robes came over rather pompous even for the angel. They were threaded with expensive iridescent threads that displayed a rainbow of colours, then there were the rich gemstones that were set within polished metal bracelets and necklaces that lay on top of the lavish robe.
“I didn’t realise I walked in on Thardosean,” Uriel whispered, loud enough for Sebastian to hear behind, who shrugged with a bit of a grin. The Human King was well known for his love of fineries, he often wore over the top garments and accessories.
With a wave of the Archmage’s hand, the door slammed behind them, and a light green veil was projected along the walls. He did not state its purpose, but a barrier to prevent sound escaping was the most feasible reason.
“I do not appreciate pretentious miscreants barging into my room.”
His voice was lavished with anger toward those stood before him, rapping his fingers on his chair. Uriel snapped, and Sebastian soon found himself having to physically restrain the angel, not that he blamed the feelings of contempt Uriel held towards the mage. Humans usually knew better than to anger one or other of the races, more so directly uttering something to the leader of either race. “I will not dignify you with my name, so do not waste my time with yours,” the mage spoke before Sebastian could speak up. He had half a mind to just release Uriel to have his way with the bastard.
“What are you hiding regarding the storm?” Uriel snarled, still trying to pull away from Sebastian. The mage looked up and regarded them for a second, folding his arms on the desk he was sat at.
Skies of Fyir Box Set Page 30