Foes and Heirs: Segment One: The Easy Life

By Haroldosaur

Written throughout the summer/autumn of 2016

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SEGMENT 1 – THE EASY LIFE

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

1: Warranted Suspicions

    It was, on the whole, a sight not entirely unwelcome that awoke Iamos Wilder from his slumber. It admittedly could have been more comfortable – his ribs felt like they were being crushed – but this did little to dull his mood as he caught sight of the inquisitive eyes of his younger sister, Azura Wilder, turned on him. As he showed signs of consciousness, a beaming smile appeared on her face.

“Good morning, Iamos!” She practically sang, leaning close to Iamos’ face as she announced her words.

“Your breath smells.” Iamos deadpanned in response.

“How rude!” His sister blanched as his statement and leaned back. “I’ve already brushed my teeth this morning!”

“I was kidding, Azura. Don’t worry about it.” Iamos rubbed his sister’s head affectionately as he sat up. “And how might you be this fine day?”

“I’m doing well, thank you very much.” Grinned Azura. “What’s the schedule for today?”

“Well, I’m trying to get a proper handle on air, so Rainer was going to help me with that…”

“I thought he was busy today.”

“Is he? I could have sworn… well, I’ll go talk to him about that.”

“If you want, I could train with you!”

“Az, I’m learning alchemy, not partaking in combat training. My throat still hurts from last time.” Iamos laughingly acknowledged, beginning to dress himself as he continued to talk. “So, what’s happening today?”

“Oh, not much.” Answered Azura. “Just come down for breakfast, because Rainer is waiting.”

“Call him “master”, Azura, not “Rainer”.”

“You know he hates being called master.” The girl pointed out as Iamos pulled himself into his jeans.

“That doesn’t change the fact that we should be respectful of his status.”

“Shouldn’t we also be respectful of his wishes?”

“Social conventions come first.”

“And how would you know so much about social convention? Last time I checked, you couldn’t even make eye contact with someone you didn’t know!”

“Oh, don’t bring that up.” Muttered Iamos as he finished clothing himself, sliding a violet shirt over his chest, before pulling jet black fingerless gloves over his hands.

“Fine I won’t. But hurry up, Iamos, or Rainer’s going to be angry!”

“Good point. Come on!” Iamos grabbed his sister’s hand and the pair ran out of the door and down the antique wooden stairs of the house. Past the painstakingly crafted bannisters and over the cheap carpets, it took seconds for the two of them to arrive in the kitchen.

“Ah, you’re finally awake!” Rainer greeted them. “Good, good. Come, Iamos, sit down. You too, Azura.”

However, Iamos did not obey his master’s command as he would normally have done – he was too busy staring at the person who was eating a hearty breakfast besides Rainer.

It was the girl.

“So… she’s still here then?” He eventually managed to say.

“Oh, yes.” Rainer nodded.

“I see. Can we… talk about that? In private?”

Rainer’s brow furrowed. “If that is what you wish.” He rose from the table. “We’ll be back in a minute, Daiyu.”

The girl nodded, and Iamos and Rainer walked through the hallways until they were out of earshot. Once Rainer had affirmed that this was the case, he leant down to his apprentice.

“Now then, Iamos, what is it you wish to talk about?”

“Well, it’s about that girl – what did you say her name was, Die-you?”

“Daiyu.”

“Yes, thank you. Anyway, as you know, she tried to steal from us, and I had to catch her, and then you showed up, and… I don’t know… master, how can you be so sure that you’re doing the right thing? I know that you believe that circumstance forced her to steal from us, and I’m sorry if that’s the case, but I don’t understand how you can forgive her so easily for what she tried to do.”

Rainer stroked his chin, pondering Iamos’ statement.

“I see. You believe that we should not be so quick to trust this girl, considering when we met her she was attempting to steal from us.”

“Precisely sir.” Iamos bowed. “I just… would have thought that the matter would need to be given more time.”

“I understand where you’re coming from Iamos, but how about you listen before judging, hmm?” Rainer tipped his head to one side inquisitively – an endearing, childlike gesture of his. “I talked to young Daiyu last night, and questioned her motives, motivated by the same thing that motivates you now – I wanted to see if we could trust her. Well, the truth is, I believe we can. When I spoke to her, I was made aware of how she considered stealing a last resort, and has been travelling across the Cheinir Empire for years – yet, she can count how many times she’s stolen on the fingers of her hands. Most of her times is spent earning what she owns through work, or doing odd-jobs for people in exchange for supplies, or begging... I won’t go into the details, but let’s just say she’s had it rather rough.”

“So… circumstance, then?”

“I believe so. In any case, I have insured that she will never attempt to steal again – I have simply changed her circumstances.”

“Ah. Thank you master, for your clarification.” Ignoring his master’s reprimand of “Rainer”, Iamos nodded again, and smiled – though this facial expression quickly faded when he had another thought.

“Wait a minute. When you say “changed her circumstances”, what do you mean by that?”

“I’ve given her a home here, of course.” Rainer shrugged as if it were the most obvious course of action. For a few long, terrible moments, Iamos was shell-struck.

“WHAT?!” He eventually managed to half-shout, half-splutter.

“Well, we did have the attic to use as a spare bedroom, and it’s not like we can’t feed or care for her…” Rainer pointed out as Iamos continued to lose all usage of his jaw. Eventually, he managed to say:

“It’s one thing to forgive, but it’s another thing to give her a place in our home? Master, I don’t understand how you can trust her so willingly-” He was cut off by a knuckle rapping his temple.

“It’s RAINER!” The aforementioned man snapped, withdrawing his fist. “And I’ll tell you why I trust her. Because I believe that she trusts me.”

This cut Iamos off.  

“We talked for a good amount of time after you had retired, you know.” Rainer chuckled. “And in that time, that girl – who hasn’t a friend in the world – opened her heart to me, and entrusted me with all of her burdens. And so, it seems the least I can do is trust her in return, and grant her this simple kindness. This is something that we owe to everyone.”

“You can’t do something like that for every person who opens their heart to you.” Iamos muttered, knowing even as he spoke that the dispute was lost. “Practicality aside, it doesn’t seem wise.”

“Is that so?” Rainer chuckled. “In that case, let me tell you a quick little story. One night, near a beachside town, there was a terrible storm and a tsunami. Whilst the townspeople were unhurt, a great deal of fish were washed up all along the beach and were left suffocating in the air. When one old man noticed this, he began to pick the fish up one by one and throw them back into the sea. It was not easy work for the old man – his joints were aching after years of living, and his muscles were worn down.

But he still traveled along the beach, making slow progress, saving every fish he could. A little while later, another man came across the fellow and scoffed at him. “Foolish old man!” said he. “There are thousands of fish all along this beach. What difference does your effort make?” The old man, perspiring with said effort, lifted an enormous fish and heaved it back into the waves, where it swam off; free once again. After this, the old man turned to his heckler and smiled, before saying:

“It made a difference to that one.””

“Hmm… I get the moral.” Iamos conceded. “I just don’t know how I feel about this.”

“Ugh, you’re such a change-o-phobe!” Rainer scolded, rolling his eyes as he turned around. “It’s useless trying to get through to you when you’re like this. You’re going to have to come to terms with it in your own time.”

“So what should I do in the meantime?” Protested Iamos. Rainer turned around and smiled a fatherly smile in his direction.

“Come and have some breakfast, of course!”

Iamos raised an eyebrow at his mentor’s childlike enthusiasm, although he had a sneaking suspicion that he was involuntarily cracking a smile as well.

“I appreciate the offer, master, but I think I might take the chance now to… come to terms with it, as you said. The sooner I do that, the sooner it’s over and done with.”

Rainer shrugged. “Suit yourself. Although you’re missing out; I made pancakes. No condiments, though, you can thank your sister for that. Why I let her stay with us is beyond me sometimes…”

His good-natured grumbling faded away as the door to the dining room closed behind him, leaving Iamos with nought but his blessed solitude. However, he didn’t have a long time to savour being on his own.

“Hey loser.”

Iamos started and whipped around so fast he cricked his neck.

“Woa.” Mused the other person, watching as Iamos’ face lit up with pain and he hastened to massage his neck. “You trying to hurt yourself or are you just happy to see me?”

“There a third option?” Muttered Iamos, though the small smile on his face indicated an answer closer to the latter. “Hi Loden.”

“Hi.”

“Question.”

“Shoot.”

“How did you even… get in?”

“Well, I have my metho-“

“It was the window, wasn’t it?” Iamos indicated exasperatedly to the accused piece of architecture.

“Yeah, it was.” Loden avoided Iamos’ gaze.

Iamos rolled his eyes.

“Want to go for a walk? We have… a lot to talk about, actually.”

“Sure.” Shrugged Loden. “It’s always entertaining to see you complain about something.”

“Trust me, this isn’t your conventional session of “rants with Iamos”. Just listen…”

**********

“So that’s how things are now? She’s just moving in with you guys?”

“So it seems.” Iamos lamented. “I… I’m not too sure how to feel about it myself.”

At this moment, Iamos was walking along a dirt track that ran through his village of residence, conversing with his best friend. The wind whistled through open windows as the pair walked aimlessly, taking the time to converse instead of trying to go anywhere. Occasionally the two would happen across someone else, but for the most part they were alone.

“Now there’s a shocker. Mr Socially Braindead, uneasy because someone he’s never met is moving in with him? Next you’ll be telling me that Azura is actually super chilled out and has a freakishly deep voice. Like, so masculine-”

“Loden, I’m being serious.”

“Sorry.” Loden leaned back as the two of them walked, staring up at the overcast sky. His hair, the colour of wet sand, flopped over his forehead and down his neck – and his amber eyes showed humour and attentiveness at the same time whilst he was stretching his well-built form. “Didn’t know it was a crime to try and lighten the mood.”

“It isn’t, I just… I don’t know. I’m feeling really weird right now, ok?”

“Okay, fine. But define weird.”

“I mean… I don’t know! Distraught, hassled, rushed-“

“Guilty?”

There was a brief silence, then Iamos stopped walking. Loden turned and saw what must have been an odd expression on his face, because he stopped dead. What could it have been? Resentment? Realisation? Anxiety? Why was it that he had the words, but could not match them to the expressions? Why was that so hard?

“Yes. Yes, I’m feeling guilty.”

“What about?”

“About… being as distrustful as I was. I mean, I guess I had a right, because… you know, thief and all that, but by this point I should have learned to respect my master’s judgement.”

“I see… so you feel remorse, huh?” That’s also quite unlike you. Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Stop ragging on about how it’s weird that I’m showing emotion. I’m not a robot.”

“Do you want a captcha to prove it?”

“No, Loden, I don’t need a captcha OR your attitude.”

“Fine, fine. Anyway, you’re not feeling great? Feeling… guilty, even?”

“Yep.”

“Glad that’s cleared up. The real question is, what are you going to do about these feelings?”

“What do you mean?”

“According to your analysis, you’re feeling guilty. It’s not a nice feeling. Being a regular mortal, I can relate to such feelings. So what are you going to make you feel not guilty?”

“I could… um… well, I could apologize to Daiyu?”

“Precisely. When a pretty girl comes to live with you, you probably shouldn’t act like an antisocial jerk around her. At least, not for too long.”

Iamos smirked. “How would you even know that she’s pretty?”

“I can sense it.”

“Wierdo.”

“Says the guy who can move stuff around with his mind– oh, hey Yatsu!”

This last part was directed at someone, obviously an acquaintance of Loden’s, whom had spotted the pair and was making his way over to them.

“Hey Loden!” Yatsu said in response. “How are you?”

“Good, you?” Loden grinned his trademark roguish grin.

“Yeah, great! We’re gonna have to start work on the harvest soon, by the looks of it. The fields are almost completely packed!”

“Already? Sounds like a good haul.”

“Looks like it, too. Hey, what about you? How’s the ol’ training going?”

“Pssh.” Scoffed Loden. “They should make me captain of the guard and be done with it already.”

Conversation of this sort flowed between Yatsu and Loden for the next several minutes, with Iamos watching with what he hoped was a neutral expression on his face. Eventually, the two said goodbyes and Loden turned back to Iamos. As he did so, Iamos caught a look on Yatsu’s face that he was familiar with.

“You alright?” Loden queried, noticing how Iamos was staring at the retreating figure of Yatsu. At Loden’s question, he stopped staring and instead focused his attention on the ground below his feet.

“There’s one of those looks again.” Iamos murmured.

“What would you say it was?” There was no teasing from Loden now, no light-heartedness. It was one thing Iamos truly appreciated about his friend. When he knew something was wrong, he didn’t act idiotically or in an insensitive manner.

“I’d say seventy per cent or so of it was distaste… maybe a bit of anger? The rest, if I had to take a gander, was fear.”

“I thought you didn’t know how to identify fear?”

“I think, when I saw how scared Daiyu was when we first met, her expression of fear stuck out to me. Now I think I can identify it better…”

“Well… that’s, uh, good, right?” Loden sounded unsure of his words, but pressed on. “Regardless of who or what you are, you’re gonna encounter a lot of fear in the world. Better you learn how to see it now, right?”

A long silence followed his words.

“Iamos?”

“I’m okay. Yeah, that’s it. I’m okay.” Iamos muttered to himself, before turning to Loden. “It was just a look, right?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Loden thumped his friend on the back. “Just a look, man. Nothing to worry about. That’s why they say “IF looks could kill”, because they can’t! You’re fine!”

“Good… Ugh, sorry about that. Stuff like that shouldn’t still get to me, but it does.”

“Hey, no problem. If I were in your position, I don’t know how I would cope. I mean, you only really talk to me, Rainer and Azura, and for what? Because everyone else doesn’t like you for what you freaking ARE? That’s gotta be hard on you, right?”

“Actually, I appreciate the solitude.” Grinned Iamos. “I’m my own favourite company.”

“I resent that!” Chucked Loden, playfully swiping at his friend’s shoulder. “Anyway, where were we?”

“On the subject of apologies.” Iamos’ smile faded. “And how to go about them.”

“Well, don’t plan it.” Deadpanned Loden. Iamos sent him a shocked expression, but he ploughed on regardless.

“I mean, you’re probably not going to remember anything in the heat of the moment, why even bother? ‘Sides, it’s not like’s she’ll be much better, it sounds to me. You’re going to have to make sure you don’t frighten the poor girl away.”

“And how would I do that?”

“Speak to her as you would a gentle, fragile forest creature.” Explained Loden, wrapping his arm around Iamos’ shoulder (much to the other’s chagrin) as he indicated with his free hand. “Or, better yet – a pet animal. You’ve had pets before, right?”

“Nope.” Iamos answered.

“Right. Right. Anyway, when you’re getting to know these things, you go up to ‘em and you be all soft-spoken – in other words, you make the first move – and then you just have to sit back. And wait for them to come to you in their own time. If they don’t, then just back off and try again later.”

“And you’re sure that roping humans into the same category as pets in terms of psychological treatment is an efficient strategy?” Wondered Iamos, decidedly sceptical of his friend’s words.

“We are animals, after all.” Loden reasoned. “We have that same core psychology. You just need to be nice, and gentle, and not trap her using alchemy again.”

“To be fair, she was stealing from us.” Protested Iamos gently. “What was I supposed to do?”

“I’m not blaming you for that. Thief, scoundrel, I shall never forgive thee, blah blah blah. Ignore what you’ve already done. Just… make sure you don’t do anything quite so antisocial now that we know she’s going to be staying with you for possibly a long time.”

“Right.” Harrumphed Iamos. “Simple enough.”

“In theory.”    

“Don’t quote all my doubts back at me, Lode-stone.”

“What are best friends for?”

“Not that, that’s for certain.”

“You’re so sensitive. Come on, what do you want to do now?”

“What do you mean? Shouldn’t I-“

“Not yet, boy wonder. You need some time to get used to the idea of talking to a person you haven’t met before, I know you. Don’t rush stuff like this. Seriously.”

“Well… okay.” Iamos conceded. “If you’re sure.”

“Sure I’m sure!” Loden nudged his friend in the side. “Just make sure you actually get it over with by the end of the day, you know? Too long, and it won’t look good.”

“Does the timing have to be so precise?”

“Trust me on this, man! I recommend this evening or something. You have enough time to wrap your head around all this socialising stuff, but it’s not too long since the incident, so she won’t think that you’re some jerk who only apologizes to people when he’s coerced into doing it.”

“Aren’t you coercing me into it now?” Pointed out Iamos.

“Well, yeah, but she doesn’t need to know that!” Loden countered.

“Fair enough.” Iamos conceded. Loden’s chatter continued to fill his ears, but it slowly faded into background noise as the alchemist pondered a strategy for the coming trial.

**********

“Hey.”

Iamos’ voice startled the girl, Daiyu, who whipped her head around to look at the young man before shooting back to her original position and exhaling a squeak of surprise. Rubbing his head awkwardly, Iamos took a step forwards on the metal balcony, hoping he hadn’t scared off any meagre chance of conversation. The dim light of the crescent moon and the stars surrounding it provided the illumination for the setting, and Iamos took confidence from the fact that neither person could see the other’s face. Facial expressions were of no use to him anyhow.

“Sorry.” He muttered, his voice low. “I just came out to look at the stars.”

“Same.” The reply surprised Iamos, but he used it to bolster his courage and took another couple of steps forward, leaving him next to Daiyu. He placed his hand on the balcony beside hers.

“I… I was hoping we could talk.” The words were forced out through a clenched jaw. “This has been on my mind all day, and it’s something I’d like to get off my chest.” Daiyu’s response was initially a nod of acknowledgement, before she murmured:

“Okay.”

“Alright… well, since you’re going to be living with us for the… um… foreseeable future, I feel like I should… apologize for how brusque I’ve been. I’ve been harsh and… yeah. I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Iamos turned to Daiyu, who slowly faced in return.

“I-I was trying to rob you, after all… if anyone should be apologizing, it’s me.”

“Maybe… but when Rainer said that you were staying with us, I shouldn’t have been so critical of his decision.”

“You still didn’t – don’t – know me. I don’t think many people would, um… blame you. Blame you for that.”

“Well then maybe we’re both at fault.” Shrugged Iamos. “Here’s an idea – how about I shrug off my… um… reluctance to have you around, and you shrug off your… hmm…”

“Thieving habits?”

“Actually I was going to suggest prejudices towards alchemists, but that works too. How did you even get it in your head that alchemists are so terrifying anyway?”

Daiyu picked up a lock of her lengthy black hair and twirled it around in her fingers.

“I don’t know where, exactly. It’s just common opinion everywhere I’ve been, so I guess I kinda… picked it up.”

“People think lowly of us.” Agreed Iamos. “Trust me, I’ve experienced it. They believe that we forfeit our basic rights if we choose the path of Alchemy. That our art is unnatural, and the work of dark beings.”

“What… do you think it is?”

“Well… let’s see… I think it’s an art just like anything else. It’s just like magic, or drawing, or bioelectrical manipulation. The point is… it upsets me that alchemy gets a bad reputation over all this other stuff. It’s just another THING. I don’t get why so many people are terrified by it…”

“Well…”

Iamos glanced to his left to see the girl nervously poking her fingers together, and realised with an uncomfortable jolt that, despite his own decent height she was taller than him by at least an inch or so. Just one more difficulty in regards to eye contact.

“When… when you trapped me in that prison… and then came out of the shadows… I was pretty terrified.”

Iamos tried to ignore the uncomfortable flush that was doubtlessly forming on his face.

“Well… um… t-that’s more to do with MY appearance. It’s not like all the alchemists look as… as scary as me, right?”

“R-right.” Daiyu nodded. “Yeah. I guess that makes sense.”

“Yeah. So. Yeah. Anyway, re-introductions.” Iamos cleared his throat before holding his hand out. “Shall we get that part over with?”

“Sure.” Daiyu nodded hesitantly, before putting her hand in his. “My name’s Daiyu Abernathy, I’m seventeen years old and I’m a terrible thief.”

“My name’s Iamos Wilder, I’m also seventeen years old, and I’m really envious of your height.” The words were out before Iamos had time to consider them. His eyes widened and both his and Daiyu’s fragile confidence shattered almost instantly.

“What?” Daiyu blurted.

“What?” He echoed.

At this point, the pair were rescued from any more incidences of the sort by an exited squealing from the entrance of the balcony.

“Oh, you two are just PERFECT together!”

Mortified, Iamos wheeled around to see Azura bouncing up and down excitedly behind them.

“It’s like a match made in awkward heaven!” She laughed.

“You- shut up!” Iamos snapped. Daiyu didn’t say anything, appearing to be frozen in place with embarrassment.

“Loden’s gonna love hearing about all this!” Squeaked Azura before vanishing, sprinting away.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Waiting for nothing, Iamos almost stumbled over his own feet as he hastened after his sister.

2: Story Time

The early morning sun shone down on Loden Adalwin, causing sweat to form in a sheen upon his skin as he continued to move and work despite the protests of his tired muscles. The motions of longsword combat were by now as familiar to him as using a pencil to write with might be to others, but the need to practice them every day was still there. The desire to become the best warrior that he could be drove him to religiously work on his skills and physical strength. Every day there was exercise. Every day there was practice as the shooting range. Every day there was repetition of the basic ways to wield both a sword and an axe, sometimes until his body felt like it was screaming in pain. Often, the amount of training he did amounted to at what time Iamos would decide that enough was enough and drag him away from the practice dummies and the armoury to receive a meal and a lecture on responsible care of one’s self. The meal was appreciated. The lecture less so.

Today Loden had found himself awake at an unnaturally early hour, his body clock thrown off for one reason or another, and so had taken the opportunity to get in an extra session of sword practice. As usual, he had stuck to the simplest of all movements, ignoring the more fancy or flashy moves that many other people practiced; “the basics are for battle”, someone had said to him a long time ago, and it was advice that he had followed for as long as he could remember.

His grey jacket, discarded due to it being unneeded, lay on the ground a meter or two away from him. The warm folds provided heat that was unwanted in the blazing hot Chenise summer, and the numerous mementos and items in the pockets only weighed him down. Because of this, Loden’s torso was clad in nought but a slightly-too-small t-shirt, normally an intermediate shade of green but currently darkened by sweat. Hiking boots scuffed the ground as his feet leapt from side to side, and the young man absent-mindedly tugged on the waistline of his almost silver trousers, the legs wider than otherwise necessary to increase manoeuvrability whilst they were worn.

The dull thud of metal on wood echoed across the ground as Loden wearily swung the blade once more in a downwards arc, slicing through the chest of the worn practice dummy. Panting, he rose the blade and clumsily fitted it back into his scabbard as he surveyed his handiwork. The instrument before him, already badly worn due to a constant usage by himself and others, looked to be on the verge of collapse, with the majority of the torso mauled by cut after cut of Loden’s blade. One of the outstretched arms was on the floor, having been severed by a particularly powerful blow he had delivered in the heat of the moment.

“You done abusing that thing?” A voice called out from behind him, and Loden wearily craned his neck to see Iamos meandering towards him, hands in pockets as he surveyed the scene before him.

“You just get here?” Loden was content to answer a question with a question, knowing that his best friend would not be offended by his lack of an answer.

“If I had gotten here sooner, I would have stopped you sooner.” Responded Iamos, eyeing Loden with a look made up of equal parts disdain and concern. “What drove you to work so hard to early in the morning?”

“I woke up early.” Admitted Loden. “Just one of those things, you know. Thought I’d get in some extra hours.”

Iamos hung his head and let out an audible sigh – a sure sign that Loden’s words bothered him. Loden could read most people like open books, and Iamos was no exception.

“Well, I forbid you from doing any more work until after lunch at the earliest.” He declared. “You can lie down for a while. Even if it’s not sleep, your body still needs rest.”

Loden tried to protest, but Iamos held up a thin-fingered hand.

“Would you rather I use alchemy to transport you back to the house? I could if I wanted to. You know that.”

“Fine. Don’t threaten me with your mind powers, I give in.” Loden raised his own grimy and blistered hands to head height in a mock surrender. “Yeesh, you’re never gonna make more friends if you threaten to do stuff like that.”

Iamos cocked his head slightly to the side, like a bemused little bird. One of his more endearing habits. “I’ve never threatened anyone except you and Azura.” He revealed.

“Only because you can’t threaten Rainer and no-one else has given you any reason.” Pointed out Loden. “You’d better make sure you don’t threaten that girl staying with you. I don’t think she’d appreciate something like that, you know?”

“I’ve already imprisoned her in an earthen cage once.” Deadpanned Iamos, a slightly bashful look spreading across his handsome features as he spoke. “I don’t think interaction with her will create a situation in which threats are necessary.”

“Because she got a crash course in what you’re capable of.” Loden rolled his eyes. “Man, as introductions go, that’s pretty sucky.”

“We talked.” Revealed Iamos. “And forgave each other for our respective transgressions.”

“Oh?” Loden raised an eyebrow. “Was is hard?”

“Yes, but she appeared just as awkward as I was, which made things easier.” The alchemist revealed. Loden chucked, envisioning someone just as socially awkward as his best friend. “I would have paid money to see that.”

“I’m sure that, had I not restrained her, Azura would have indulged you with every detail of our conversation.” Iamos folded his arms. “Luckily, I was able to stop her before she could reach your house.”

“What a pity.” Loden shrugged, and began to walk towards his best friend. “I guess I’ll just have to ask about it later.”

“Please don’t.” Iamos requested. “Whilst it technically went well, I’d rather not relive the experience.”

“A retelling isn’t the same thing as a reliving, I.” Loden grinned like a fox cornering a rabbit at his friend, who frowned.

“It is when your memory is as detailed as mine is.” He grumbled.

Loden sauntered past Iamos. “I’m sure that having a good memory must be terrible for you.” He crooned. “Come on, let’s head back. I intend to get all the details out of Azura, and you can’t stop me!”

**********

What surprised Loden was the fact that, once he had received the full story from Azura (despite Iamos’ efforts to deny him), he was more happy than anything else. Sure, the idea of Iamos and the girl – Daiyu, her name was – stuttering and squirming in front of one another was hilarious, but when it boiled down to it Loden was just glad that Iamos had found someone on his wavelength. Hopefully Daiyu would be able to provide Iamos with a much-needed friendship; perhaps even something more, if the two were mature enough. Iamos definitely deserved some proper happiness in his life, and there were some aspects of that happiness that Loden couldn’t provide, no matter how much he might want to.

He was walking around the house aimlessly, hoping to find something to do (Iamos had once again forbade him from training), when he caught sight of Daiyu herself seated on some old rocking chair on the porch of Rainer’s rickety brick house. She leaned back in the chair as if she were some old woman, staring at the horizon with a vacant look on her face. Deciding it couldn’t hurt, he sauntered towards her and spoke.

“Yello.” He chirped, flicking his wrist in greeting as he approached. Daiyu gave a start, but didn’t attempt to run away and didn’t look like she was about to pass out from fear. Progress at its finest.

“Sorry.” Loden continued. “I didn’t mean to startle you. Although, you jump really easily.”

“I-I know.” Said Daiyu, falteringly. “I’ve been on my own for so long… I’m still getting used to people approaching me… and I’m also not used to the fact that I can stay here.”

“Been on the move a lot?”

“For… as long as I can remember.”

“You ever had any company?”

“…No.”

“Woah. Any friends at all?”

“Uh… no?”

“NO? Good grief, no wonder you’re as bad as Iamos.” Loden threw his hands up in the air, in a melodramatic gesture. “No friends… gah! I can’t even…”

Daiyu watched his outburst with a bemused look on her face. Loden made a mental note of the fact that facial expressions not resembling a startled baby animal were actually possible for her, before exhaling hard and sliding to the seat on the other side of the porch, dragging it closer to the girl.

“Sorry.” He continued to speak as he worked. “I’m just used to socializing, so I’m not used to people saying they have no friends. Even Iamos has me, after all.”

“That’s something I’ve been wondering about, actually.” Daiyu declared. “How is it that you are Iamos are friends? The two of you are so different…”

Loden chuckled.

“Well, it’s a long tale full of tragedy and heartbreak.”

“Really?”

“Nah. Bit of a lengthy story, if you want the full version, but otherwise fine.”

“I see. Can… can I hear it? The full version?”

Loden laughed. “What, you got nothing better to do?”

Daiyu twirled her hair in her fingers but otherwise said nothing. It looked like she really DIDN’T have anything better to do – and for once, neither did Loden.

“Well, okay.” He shrugged, flopping into the second chair. “Just bear with me, because I’ve never had to really tell anyone all of this before…”

“I guess our friendship has been an element throughout both of our lifetimes. He was born on February the third, and I was born on February the second, so some could really see that as us being destined to have our lives intertwined or whatever. I first met him when I was five or so years old... you know, do you want the full story of how we met? It’s pretty weird, and I don’t want to get off track or anything, but…”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Well, I was visiting Rainer’s house, because my parents were working and they were good friends with him. It was… I think, late afternoon? The sun was setting, at any rate. There was this knock on the door. We went to get it, and saw this man standing there – and he was in terrible shape. All bruised and cut, and I think there might have been an arrow in his shoulder or something.

Anyways, he looks at us and like, falls to his knees. “Please,” he begs, “take them.” And he indicates with his hand and I see this kid standing a bit away, holding some kind of cloth bundle in his hands. He said “them”, so it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the bundle was a second person.”

“And that was…” Daiyu’s words faltered, as she struggled to process the story. “That was Iamos?”

“And Azura.” Confirmed Loden.

“But who was the man?” Gasped Daiyu.

“Dunno.” Loden shrugged. “But whoever he was, they must have meant a lot to him, because I don’t remember exactly what he said after that, but it was something along the lines of how important the two of them were…? Ugh, I really don’t remember, it was so long ago. I only know this much because Rainer told us how everything went down when we were older.

So, like, the guy keeps insisting that Rainer takes these children, and that he keeps them safe. And Rainer just wants to know why, you know? What’s so important about them, anyway? Like, is he their father? Why do you care so much about these children, oh panicked one? But before this guy can really answer any of his questions, there’s this really weird noise that comes from the trees. Like someone clicking rocks together, only multiplied by a hundred. And then this really bright light comes on from inside the forst.

When the guy sees the light, he freaks the heck out. He grabs the kids, basically throws them into Rainer’s arms, and before Rainer can say anything he bolts off – like, injuries and all – he bolts off away from the house and back into the forest. And… if I remember correctly, there was shouting, and then the noise and the light died. And Rainer thinks to himself “what on Militiregnum is going on” but he has to prioritize, and the kids aren’t looking so good so he shuts the door and takes them in.

Long story short, Rainer grew attached to the kids, and adopted them. And since I was at Rainer’s house a lot, I got to see a lot of both of them. So… I guess that’s where me and Iamos first formed a friendship. It was a bit tenuous, but I don’t think Iamos had really had another friend in his life, so he was real unsure of himself. I guess some things never change.”

This elicited a giggle out of Daiyu. Loden allowed himself a smile of his own.

“Anyway, a few years passed. And when we were teens, my… ah…”

He trailed off.

“What’s wrong?” Inquired Daiyu, receiving no response.

“Loden?” She pressed, with a worried sort of look on her face. “Are – are you sure you want to… to talk about this?”

“Well…” Loden hesitated, wanting to reassure her but unable to even reassure himself. “…I won’t go into the details, but let’s just say that it was a bad point in my life. Like, lowest point to date. I got involved with the wrong people. There was immaturity, there was anxiety… I was just kind of a scumbag, you know?”

Daiyu nodded, her look of concern still on her face.

“Anyway, when I was fifteen, I was being beaten up by these older guys. I didn’t stand a chance. Pretty dire situation.”

Here, an oddly wistful look came over Loden’s face.

“And that’s when he showed up.”

Daiyu raised an eyebrow.

“Like some knight in shining armour, Iamos arrived. I remember it like it was yesterday…

“What’s might you all be doing?” A voice called out. Grimacing, Loden rose his head from the dirt and opened his uninjured eye. There was a figure standing in the alleyway entrance. A figure oddly familiar to him.

“Iamos…?” Loden was at first unable to believe what he was seeing, but soon panic took over. “Iamos, go! Run! Get out of here!”

Iamos didn’t do any of the above, instead coolly eying the situation, emotionally detached as per the usual.

“Well, I don’t need an answer.” He eventually said. “It’s all very clear as to what’s happening around here.” And then, to Loden’s absolute horror, he began to walk forward.

“I guess I’m going to have to do something about this.” He muttered.

“Iamos, NO! You can’t-“

“Relax, Loden. I’ve been training with Master Rainer. I should be able to handle this.”

Loden thought there must have been something wrong with his ears. Maybe he HAD been out of touch for a while, but since when did Iamos call Rainer master? And what training? Was it alchemy?

Before Loden could speak, either asking his questions or warning Iamos further, the leader of the group assaulting Loden stepped forward. There was a glint in his slitty eyes, and Loden could tell he was relishing the fact that fresh meat had entered the fray.

“You picking a fight with us as well?” He grunted, flexing his rather muscular arms.

Impressive, Loden though despite himself. That was almost a complete sentence.

“It won’t be much of a fight.” Warned Iamos.

Without saying anything else, the leader threw a punch towards Iamos. But instead of the punch connecting with Iamos’ face, something more extraordinary happened.

The ground between the two rose up, and instead of punching a face, the leader found himself punching a wall of soil with the occasional rock mixed in. Pulling his fist out, baffled, he left himself wide open as the wall slid back into the ground and the pavement behind Iamos contorted and formed into a fist that rushed forward and ploughed into the leader’s stomach. The leader was knocked to the ground, and made no attempt to rise, instead clutching his stomach and making a sound familiar to that made by a pre-pubescent pig.

The other tough guys looked one threatening gesture away from an accident in their pants as they stared at Iamos in fear and disgust. Without missing a beat, Iamos idly flicked a thumb over his shoulder.

“Get out of here.” He ordered. The aggressors took their chance, scampering away and taking their downed leader with them. Iamos watched them retreat before holding a hand out to a battered Loden.

“When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.” The boy recited as he hauled the other to his feet.

“I…” Loden found himself unable to speak, and instead only took Iamos’ hand and accepted his assistance in rising, wincing in pain as he did so.

“Why did you help me?” He managed eventually. “They’ll complain, you know.”

“I couldn’t exactly let them get away with something like that. They can complain all they want.” Emphasised Iamos, turning around and beginning to walk away. “Besides, you’re my friend.”

“And friends look out for each other.”

Loden finished his recollection, a smile reminiscent of a proud parent on his face.

“Despite the fact that his reputation amongst our peers in the village was already precarious, he attacked them to help me. And what makes me so happy is knowing that he would have done that for anyone, not just me.”

“That’s really sweet…” grinned Daiyu. “So, does anyone else in this village like him?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Loden’s smile faded. “Like I predicted, those guys complained. And Iamos was low enough on the food chain, ‘cus of his alchemy, that his word amounted to less than theirs.”

Daiyu shook her head, disgusted. “It makes no sense how people judge others just because they do something commonly judged as unfamiliar, or suspicious.”

Loden raised his eyebrow. “Weren’t you full of anti-alchemist stereotyping and terrified of Iamos when you first met?”

“Hey, I didn’t know any better!” Protested Daiyu, looking agitated for the first time since Loden had met her. “I just travelled around a lot and heard the same thing enough times to believe it. Besides, the way we met wasn’t great.”

“True.” Chortled Loden. “Though, he is sorry for that. Which is quite something, now that I think about it.”

“It’s fine. I’m sorry too. We talked it over.” Daiyu waved the matter off, but Loden leaned forward towards her with a sly look on his face.

“I don’t think you understand.” He grinned like an overly-excited Cheshire cat. “Iamos is the most stubborn person I know, no question. Once he’s decided something, or picked a side in an argument, he’ll cling to it like a drowning man clings to a life buoy. So the fact that he apologised to you – like, actually apologized instead of grunting and running away – means quite a bit.”

“Well… I guess I’m flattered?” Faltered Daiyu. Loden’s smile stretched even further.

“Oh, I’m definitely keeping you around. Dealing with that idiot’ll be so much easier with you around to help out.”

“Uh…” Daiyu was by this point seemed unsure of what to say at all. Loden was thinking of a way to clarify his point when a voice rang out.

“What are you two doing?”

Wheeling round, Loden was confronted by the curious features of Iamos as he stood beside the porch, watching their conversation intently.

“I’m giving away your tragic backstory.” Declared Loden.

“Cool.” Iamos shrugged. “I’ve been getting some training in with Rainer.”

“Which aspect are you learning now?”

“Well, I’m TRYING to figure out fire transmutation, but it’s proving to be quite the struggle.” Declared Iamos, frowning as he spoke.

“Fire transmutation?” Echoed Daiyu. Iamos turned to her.

“When it comes to alchemy, there are a number of different ways to transmute. The core four are earth, water, air and fire, and they represent the four different states of matter – solid, liquid, gas and plasma.”

“What about jelly?” Interjected Loden.

“We don’t talk about the fifth state of matter.” Iamos grunted before continuing. “Anyway, once you have mastered earth/solid style transmutation, for instance, you can transmute solid objects like the ground or a brick wall.”

“And… with air, would you be able to transmute gas?” Guessed Daiyu. Iamos shot her an appreciative smile.

“You catch on quick.” He complimented. “Yeah, you can. Water, liquids, fire, plasmas – and you can combine these aspects to create special different types of transmutation.”

“Give us an example, this is interesting.” Prompted Loden.

“Well, the most well-known one is combining knowledge of fire transmutation and air transmutation to create lightning.” Iamos filled in. Daiyu’s eyes widened, and Loden had a feeling that his were doing the same.

“Seriously?!” He blurted. “Lightning?!”

“Yeah. It’s quite simple, theoretically.” Iamos held up a finger. “Lightning is created in nature by cold air and warm air colliding inside clouds. The knowledge of air transmutation-“

“I don’t want the theoretics. Is that something you can do?” Loden interrupted him. Iamos glared at the ground.

“No, it’s something very few people can do. It requires a tremendous amount of control to manipulate the heat of the air in such a way, and there’s always a chance of a transmutation backfiring.”

“Transmutations can backfire?” Blanched Daiyu.

“If an alchemist is not exercising appropriate control whilst transmuting, then the transmutation will fail and the natural energy that would have otherwise gone into the transmutation is released in one blast. Sometimes it’s not so bad – like earth, for example. Your transmutation goes wrong, you’ll probably just get some dirt in your face. No big deal. But imagine you’re trying to transmute lighting and it backfires. All that energy’s going to go wild and get released at once.”

“Well, that explains why you don’t see too many alchemists about.” Mumbled Loden. “They all killed themselves trying to impersonate Zeus.”

Iamos shot him a dirty look.

“Okay, that was tasteless.” Admitted Loden, adequately shamed for his actions.

Nodding his approval, Iamos continued to speak. “Besides, I’m struggling with fire as is. I’m nowhere near the skill level required to transmute lightning.”

“Well, what can you do?” Daiyu said.

“Let’s see…” Iamos began to count off the styles on his fingers. “Earth, water and air… ice and sand.”

“Coolio. A demonstration?” Loden pressed, and Iamos glared at him once again.

“You should have seen a lot of this already. I honestly don’t know why you’re so fascinated.” He deadpanned.

Loden shrugged. “What can I say? You talk about it so much it’s kind of gone over my head at this point.”

“Explain.”

“Well, when you’ve heard one speech about the wonders of alchemy, you’ve heard ‘em all, you know what I mean?”

“That doesn’t explain how little you know.” Iamos folded his arms. “You should have picked some of this up by osmosis, at least. I don’t get it.”

“When you’re not listening, anything is possible, my dear friend.”

“Ugh. Well, no demonstration for you.”

Loden’s face fell. “Wha…?”

“Alchemy isn’t something that you flaunt for the heck of it.” Iamos snapped. “Plus, earth is the only one that comes really easily to me at the moment, and both of you have seen that already. The rest is still hard.”

“How is transmuting different things hard? Don’t you just have to concentrate?” Daiyu spoke.

“Technically, yes.” Admitted Iamos. “But alchemy – at least, the way I perform alchemy – is also dependent on familiarity and getting used to what we’re transmuting. We can only transmute, after all, if we know about something’s chemical makeup so that we can turn it into something equivalent. So, Loden, think of… weights.”

Loden perked up and listened as Iamos continued.

“You start off with a weight that is heavy at first, but as time goes on you become stronger and it feels less heavy. Then you either move to a heavier weight or another type of exercise, and that becomes hard. HardER, in fact, because you still have to keep training with that first weight. For me, transmuting any element other than earth is like bench pressing sixty kilograms.” He looked at his arms, which had an underwhelming amount of muscle visible, forlornly. “I technically CAN do it, but not for long because it’s hard, and I’m not used to the sort of concentration required. Elements get more complex to manipulate down the line. Comprende?”

“Yeah, I think I get it.” Admitted Loden. “It’s always helpful when you include fitness analogies.”

“So…” Daiyu faltered, looking between the two. “Why would you learn alchemy, anyway?”

“Beats me.” Shrugged Loden, just as Iamos answered “I find it interesting.” Loden turned to look as his friend. “No practical application? Well, that fits in with your not-really-doing-anything mentality, I guess.”

“The what?” Interrupted Daiyu.

“What Loden is so crudely referencing,” explained Iamos, “is the fact that I have no real goal in life. Being the passionate and single-minded person he is, it’s hard for him to relate to my, uh… not knowing what I want to do.”

“I mean, I have it all laid out. Finish my training, become a knight, get sent off to war, win some glory for myself. Maybe come back and chill at the end of it all. Find a spouse. Something like that.” Loden filled in for Daiyu’s sake. “But Iamos? He’s got no idea what he wants to do.”

“Unfortunately. The good thing is that, as I stand now, I’m perfectly content. I don’t need a goal.” Iamos smiled, before walking past Daiyu and Loden and heading back inside the house. “Anyways, see you later. I need to ask Master some questions.”

“Bye!” Loden waved him off before rising from his chair. Noticing Daiyu’s curious gaze, he grinned.

“If Iamos is in the house, that means he can’t keep an eye on me.”

He broke into a run.

“And if he can’t see me, I can get some more training in!”

3: Peer Bonding

Had anyone told Daiyu Abernathy a week ago that she would have volunteered to set foot into completely unfamiliar territory with only that slightly creepy but also slightly cute guy for company, she would have most likely inwardly laughed to herself. What she had not counted on, however, was spending a week doing essentially nothing at Rainer’s house. Whilst she had managed to strike up the occasional conversation with Azura and Loden, Rainer had often been too busy to talk to, and she and Iamos weren’t on consistent speaking terms.

However, cabin fever had slowly but surely been eating away at her, until she was about as desperate to do something as she could remember.

“Uh… Loden?” She approached the young man timidly, mentally berating herself for a lack of trust. Weren’t these people all nice?

“Shoot.” Grunted Loden, hacking at a wooden dummy with an axe.

“Is there… is there anything I can do?” She eventually asked. “I mean, I know I’m supposed to be the guest, but I… I’d like to be useful, if that makes sense.”

Loden cleaved through a block of wood and turned to face her, leaving the weapon embedded in the ground. Daiyu shuddered.

“Well…” He considered. “There’s not an AWFUL lot that needs to be done…”

“She could go down to the square!” A voice suggested. Wheeling round, Daiyu was confronted by Azura, who was peering up at the two older teens.

“Azura, you startled me!” Hissed Daiyu, trying to control her breathing.

“Sorry. But couldn’t she?” Azura craned her neck to look behind Daiyu at Loden, who was now nodding sagely.

“Sure, she could.”

“Wait, I, uh…” Daiyu faltered. “What does that entail?”

“Once a week, it’s market day.” Explained Loden, wiping sweat from his face with a muscular forearm. “Everyone in the village heads down there to sell what they’ve grown or made or whatever over the week. It’s kinda how we just survive amongst ourselves.”

“So… I should go down there and buy stuff?”

“You won’t need to worry about that. Iamos is normally in charge of what to buy. But I think he could do with an extra set of hands.” Azura giggled. “Big brother doesn’t really think about how much strain he puts on himself sometimes.”

“Something we have in common.” Agreed Will.

“But, wait, I though everyone in the village hated Iamos?” Daiyu wondered out loud, to which Loden shrugged.

“It’s kinda like his own act of defiance, I guess. It’s the only time he shows his face around there.”

“Is he alright?”

Azura frowned. “Some people refuse to sell him, and the rest tend to not give him change. I think they only let him buy stuff because of Rainer.”

“Rainer?”

“Yeah, he’s really useful because of his alchemy. He fixes things. That’s why most people don’t have much of a problem with him. But my brother is, like, the one they kinda take their fear out on, I guess. If they were to mess with Rainer, he’d refuse to help them. But there’s nothing Iamos can do to them.”

“Well, he could always-“ Loden was about to say, but Azura glared at him.

“You know that’d only get him into more trouble!” She snapped.

“Why? What were you going to suggest?” Daiyu turned around to gape at Loden, who proceeded to rock on his heels and whistle in a suspicious manner.

“Oh, nothing.” He trilled.

Azura rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, you could go with him! I’m sure he’d appreciate the help.”

“I don’t know…” Daiyu nervously twirled a lock of her hair in her fingers. “I don’t think he likes me very much…”

“He’s just shy.” Stated Azura. “It’ll be good for both of you.”

“But what if someone is rude to him? What am I supposed to do?”

“Just cower behind him.”

“And he’ll be fine. Nine times out of ten, nothing anyone says bothers him anyway.” Loden grinned. “Trust us, that guy’s a master of not caring what other people think.”

“But what if my being there only makes thing-“

“Shut up and go find him, before he heads down on his own!”

And that was how, ten minutes or so later, Daiyu found herself next to Iamos as the pair ambled down a beaten dirt track that apparently led from Rainer’s property to the heart of the village.

“So…” Daiyu tapped her index fingers together repeatedly – another nervous tic of hers. “…what do we have to get?”

“Enough food to last the five of us for a week.” Deadpanned Iamos.

“Oh.”

“With you here, I’m hoping that I’ll – WE’LL – be able to get it done in one big load.”

“Do we get given bags?”

“If we’re lucky.”

Daiyu decided not to press the questions any further, and instead shuffled closer to Iamos as they began walking through streets, eventually arriving in the unofficial centre of the settlement. Looking around, she could see stalls and vendors selling their wares and goods.

Shouts rent the air as sellers tried to outdo each other, and customers tried to choose what to buy. Without hesitation, Iamos made his way over to a stall in the very corner of the square, manned by a burly, moustached man with a stained apron and several chins who glared at them as they approached.

“Good morning, Francis.” Iamos greeted, coldly.

“Wilder.” The name was spat like a curse. “I suppose you’ll want the usual?”

“Actually, make it five portions instead of four.” The young alchemist amended. “For the time being, we have a guest.”

Instead of paying attention to what Iamos was saying, Francis peered around him at Daiyu.

“And who’s she supposed to be?” He eventually said.

“The aforementioned guest.” Iamos replied. Francis’ brow furrowed as he reached underneath his counter and began counting out portions, only pausing to look up and glare at Iamos once again.

“You can pay for the extra portion, right?”

“Of course.” Iamos jangled a purse attached to his belt. Francis nodded and went back to sorting through meat. Eventually, he emerged with Iamos’ order and roughly shoved the bags across the table, Iamos being forced to catch them before they hit the floor. Nodding brusquely to Iamos, who dropped a number of coins onto the vendor surface, he then turned to Daiyu and his expression – if at all possible – grew even angrier. Daiyu began to feel uncomfortable. What had she done?

“Is there an issue you’d like to take up with her?” Iamos snarled.

“No.”

“Then stop staring at her in such a manner. It would be considered disconcerting by any neurotypical.” With that said, Iamos turned with an almost dramatic flourish and began to stalk away. Daiyu was poised to follow when Francis’ voice echoed behind her.

“Hey, girl.”

What did he want?

Trying to ignore her growing fear, Daiyu turned to the butcher.

“Be careful of the company you keep.” He hissed, before turning his back on her and tending to his goods. Was that it? Daiyu hoped that was it. Barely supressing a shudder, she too turned round, and hurried after Iamos, not wanting to be left on her own.

**********

It was the food list was being checked off, one item at a time, and Daiyu was gradually feeling the weight of what she was carrying, that she began to hear the whispers.

As she and Iamos travelled from stall to stall, encountering surly service after surly service (plus the occasional straight up refusal), eyes followed them everywhere and judged their every movement. Specifically, Iamos’ every movement. The closer he was to Daiyu, the more intense the stares seemed to get. As if he was being judged for how close he was to another person.

It was horrible, and Daiyu couldn’t understand how Iamos had put up with it for as long as he had.

The worst part was in a particularly crowded area, where Iamos had grabbed Daiyu’s bag-free hand to ensure that the two didn’t get separated from each other. Daiyu didn’t even have to listen to hear what everybody around them was saying.

“It’s not right…”

“…intervene?”

“Some things…”

“…unacceptable…”

“Shouldn’t someone warn her?”

“How dare he…”

She shuddered as the hostile intent threatened to smother her. As she did so, she caught Iamos looking intently at her, brow furrowed in thought and concern. Before she could ask, she felt her hand slip out of his, and saw him subtly shuffle away from her – not so that he was out of sight, but so it was possible for casual bystanders to not associate them with one another. Almost immediately, the tense atmosphere became more amicable. Daiyu felt as if a noose had been lifted off her neck.

“That’s not fair!” She wanted to shout, but her mouth dried up at the very thought of speaking. Instead, she settled for the next best thing.

Gritting her teeth, she manoeuvred her way towards Iamos and grabbed hold of his wrist. Ignoring the general disapproval, she bumped shoulders with the young man as a show of solidarity. He turned to look at her. His eyes, always so tired, seemed to have lightened somewhat; even though no other part of his facial expression had changed, Daiyu could see all the gratitude she needed to motivate her hidden deep within his eyes, embedded with all the colours of an angry sea.

**********

“Well, that was decidedly torturous.” Iamos declared, dumping bags of food down in the kitchen.

“Agreed.” Sighed Daiyu, leaning back in an armchair and letting out a long sigh before looking over to Iamos. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“I feel like that wouldn’t have been as bad if I hadn’t been there.”

For a moment, Iamos said nothing, as he laid down the last of their load.

“Don’t worry about it.” He eventually said. “All I needed was someone willing to side with me and not the masses. I think… I think your just being with me made up for it.”

Daiyu tried to ignore the fact that she was probably blushing. “Why do you go down there, anyway? If they hate you so much, couldn’t Loden or someone get food?”

“No.” Declared Iamos, almost instantly. “I’m the only one who can do it.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Master is a busy man. And even if he had time to go down there, he’d probably mess up the lists or something. For a genius alchemist, he can be somewhat absent-minded.”

“Oh.”

“Loden himself I can’t send down because he’s a lot more temperamental than I am. He might very well get into trouble, and unlike me, he actually has a decent reputation to lose. And as for Azura…”

Here, Daiyu saw fire in his eyes. The same anger that had burned when they had first met.

“I’d never let her go down there by herself. She might not be able to defend herself from physical violence, and I might very well lose control of myself if anything were to happen to her. She means more to me than anything else in the world. If she were hurt, or worse, because of other people’s prejudices against me…” He looked down at the counter in front of him. “I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself.”

Sighing, he stood up straight and flexed his shoulders.

“So that leaves me, as someone who won’t get into trouble, won’t get anything wrong, and won’t get hurt.”

“Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

The words were out of Daiyu’s mouth before she had time to register the thought.

Iamos seemed to freeze in place.

“I wouldn’t say “sure”.” He eventually revealed. “If you’ve been feeling something for as long as you can remember, how can you tell whether it’s abnormal or not? Maybe all I know is pain. But, then again, maybe I am truly immune to the things people say.”

He sighed.

“I’m not quite sure who I am, Daiyu. I’m aware that my brain works very differently to everybody else’s. Master, Azura and Loden all think it’s a good thing. Personally, I don’t know. I’d like to think of it as a good thing, but honestly, my life seems to be so much more complicated than the lives of everybody around me.”

“Sometimes I just wish I knew what everybody else was thinking.”

There were a few moments where neither of the teens spoke. Daiyu, for her part, wasn’t quite sure what to think. She almost felt as if she had intruded on thoughts which were private, and felt uncomfortable because of it.

“Sorry.” Iamos spoke again. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. I guess… I don’t know.” He looked up, and smiled at her. A small, real smile. “But thanks for being a good listener, all the same.”

“You’re welcome.” Daiyu managed to say. “For what it’s worth, I think that-“

Iamos held up his hand, brow furrowing once again. “Give me a moment.”

“Oh?” Daiyu couldn’t understand his train of thought. “What is it?”

“That noise.” Iamos winced. “Can’t you hear it?”

“Can’t I hear…?” Daiyu strained her ear, and pinpointed what she could only describe as some kind of incessant clicking, each burst of noise following directly behind the other one, and getting ever-so-slightly louder with each passing moment.

“Yeah, you’re right.” She murmured. “I didn’t pick it up at first. It’s kinda like a background noise.”

“Well it’s bothering me.” Here, Iamos physically shook his head from side to side, reminiscent of a dog. “Can’t we find a way to make it stop?”

“We can go see what it is?” Daiyu offered. Iamos nodded, and the pair made their way back towards the front door of Rainer’s house.

“It sounds… familiar.” Iamos confessed, as they stepped onto the porch. “I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve heard it before.”

“I know what you mean.” Daiyu nodded. “Something about it rings a bell. I don’t know from where, though.”

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Muttered Iamos as he and Daiyu began to trudge along in the direction of the noise, towards the forest. Abruptly, he held out a hand and stopped Daiyu from walking any further.

“What is it?” She gasped, slightly winded from the feeling of walking into the young man’s arm.

“Look through there.” Iamos pointed through the trees. “That looks like fire.”

Squinting, Daiyu saw that he was right. An orange light was burning amidst the wood, and seemed to be spreading. She was about to ask if it was safe for the two to venture any further when she suddenly flashed back to when Loden was telling her about Iamos and Azura’s arrival.

“Oh no.” She murmured. “Iamos, we shouldn’t be here. We REALLY shouldn’t be here.”

“What makes you so sure?” Iamos questioned, though Daiyu noticed a trickle of sweat run down his cheek.

“When Loden talked about how you arrived here, I think he mentioned something about a bright light and a weird clicking…”

“I knew I had heard it before.” Spat Iamos. “The question is-“

“Questions can wait!” Interrupted Daiyu, beginning to tug on Iamos’ arm. “We need to find Rainer! Something really bad is happening.”

“I – yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Iamos turned, and the pair began to sprint back to the house.

“Where would we find Rainer, anyway?” Daiyu called from behind Iamos, who was running ahead of her. In response, he slowed down until the two were running parallel.

“Rainer has his own personal area, not too far away from here!” He replied. “It’s between the house and the main village. He spends most of his time there.”

However, as luck would have it, they rounded a corner on the path and almost collided with Rainer, who appeared to be walking in the opposite direction.

“What’s this?” He scrutinised the two. “And where are you off to in such a hurry, hmm?”

“Master!” Iamos panted. “There’s, uh… light, and…” He covered his head, contorting his face into one of pain. “Ugh, I HATE that noise!”

“Clicking!” Daiyu tried to fill the gaps. “Flame and clicking, like when Iamos and Azura first arrived here?”

“How did you know about…?” Rainer trailed off as the ominous clicking became louder.

“Never mind. You can tell me later.” He began to run back the way they had come. “Get Loden and Azura, and STAY AWAY!”

“But… master!” Iamos called after the old man’s retreating figure. “I can help!”

“You’ll only get in the way!” Rainer hollered over his shoulder, disappearing from view.

Iamos clenched and unclenched his fists.

“I…Iamos?” Daiyu asked, concerned. He turned to her.

“Do you have any earplugs?” He demanded.

“Uh… no?”

He grimaced.

“I guess I’ll have to do without, then.” With that, he began to run back up the path, after Rainer.

“Where are you going?” Daiyu called.

“There’s no way I’m letting Master sort this out on his own!” Iamos called back.

Now Daiyu found herself wracked with indecision. Head into danger with Iamos and Rainer, or find Loden and Azura?

As it turned out, Iamos made the decision for her.

“I promise I’ll be fine!” He yelled, pausing his running to turn back and speak to her. “Just make sure the others are safe, alright?”

“I… I will!” She called back. “But what about you?”

“Didn’t I just promise I’ll be fine?!” He replied. “I’ll even throw in keeping an eye on Master! Just go!”

“O… okay!” Daiyu spun on her heel and began to continue haphazardly down the path, determined to search for her new friends. “But you’d better come out of this alive!”

4: Roll of the Die

(Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWAsTgcyOW0&t=32s)

The first thing that revealed to Iamos he was entering a life-threatening situation was the wave of fire he saw arc into the sky.

As if fired from a downwards-facing engine, a jet of orange flame roared upwards, soaring tens of meters above the ground before culminating in another blast that sent heat and light rippling across the air, accenting the sunset-red surroundings. Wincing at the bright light, Iamos lowered his head and continued to run up the path, back towards Rainer’s house. The clicking noise was now almost unbearable, an unsteady machine gun-like rhythm slamming into his eardrums and disorientating his senses.

When he finally arrived at the peak of the slope, Rainer’s house in sight, what he saw would have been enough to send him careening back down the slope if it weren’t for the situational emotional detachment he possessed, which allowed him to keep his rationality and dart into some shrubs before either combatants could spot him.

To the left of Iamos’ vision stood Rainer, both angrier and more battered then Iamos had ever seen him. His robes were torn and his moustache was singed, but there was unbridled fury in his eyes as the ground around him buckled and groaned, sending volley after volley of rocks and dirt at his opponent.

On the other side stood an unfamiliar man, whom Iamos had never seen before. All he could make out was blonde hair and a red, flame-patterned coat, as the figure was surrounded by a literal whirlwind of fire, which turned all of Rainer’s offensive attempts to a hot, bubbling sludge. With a jolt, he realised that it was this phenomenon that was producing the clicking sound.

As Iamos watched, part of the firestorm around the stranger contorted into a spear shape, which then thundered towards Rainer with an almighty roar, turning the grass around it to ash. In response to this, a wall of rock slid cleanly out of the ground. The flames collided with the stone, and were blasted to the side. Droplets of fire splattered the surrounds, some of them landing dangerously close to Rainer’s residence.

Throughout all the chaos, neither man moved a muscle, mentally bending the elements to their will.

“So he’s an alchemist too…” Iamos had time to muse before Rainer spoke out loud.

“What are you here for?” He demanded, staring down the other man even as earth, fire and wind all battled with one another around them. The blonde shrugged.

“Two reasons, old man.” He declared. “To do my job… and to tie up a loose end.”

Perhaps Rainer had been about to say something more, but he was forced to put conversation to one side as the man attacked again, sending another burst of flame in Rainer’s direction.

Iamos watched all of this with bated breath, thinking as he did so. Without context, the man’s statements were all but useless. What was the job, and what did he consider a loose end? More to the point, what was so important to him that he was willing to forego something he had been either told or paid to do?

So lost in his own thoughts was he, that he almost didn’t notice the arc of wind that swept through the air like a hurricane. However, noticing did not equate to reacting, and Iamos found himself knocked backwards before being able to transmute a defensive wall to protect himself. The next thing he knew, he was tumbling head over heels.

Only the hasty grabbing of an outstretched tree root prevented him from getting knocked back down the slope altogether, although it was jarring to the point where Iamos felt as if he had been punched in the gut. Panting, he realised that he now fully understood Rainer’s words. There was no opening for him to jump into the fray and assist Rainer. All he could do was watch. And it was as he was watching that he noticed something abnormal.

Evidently, it was something Rainer had noticed too, as he shouted once again to the stranger over the roar of flame and the hiss of the wind.

“Will you humour me if I ask you something?” He yelled.

“Only if you promise not to die mid question!” The man responded as the fire around him continued to scorch the earth.

“How is it that you can create so much fire with no fuel source?” Demanded Rainer. “It shouldn’t be possible!”

The man laughed.

“They say a good magician never reveals his tricks. It’s the same for an alchemist!” He declared. “If you really want the answer, I’ll tell you with my dying breaths!”

“It may not look it, but I intend for neither of us to die!” Rainer hollered.

“Well then, you’re not gonna win!” Declared the stranger. “Only someone willing to end my inglorious life has any chance of defeating me.”

“You consider yourself so strong?”

“Not “strong”, perse. More like… unrestrainable.”

Another jet of fire rushed towards Rainer, morphing until it resembled a dragon’s gaping maw. At the last second, however, the air surrounding Rainer shifted and the flame split either side of him, following its fuel source. The fire around his assailant also died down, taking the incessant clicking with it – clicking, Iamos realised, that resembled the noise of flint striking steel.

The stranger grimaced. “You know a few tricks, old man. I’m impressed. However…”

The ground beneath Rainer suddenly rumbled.

“Fire isn’t all I transmute.”

Iamos wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but he knew that he could not let it be so. Narrowing his eyes, he focused and felt the familiar tugging feeling in his gut as he practiced alchemy. The trodden earth, seemingly about to implode on itself and take Rainer with it, reformed and solidified before any damage could be done.

Before he could slink away unnoticed, however, he felt the ground jolt beneath him as the earth convulsed and launched him into the air. Yelling in surprise, he felt the wind get knocked out of his lungs as he slammed against the ground, leaving him to cough and shudder in pain.

“Iamos!” Blurted Rainer. “I told you to run, boy!”

“Iamos?” Repeated the stranger. “Interesting name. Never heard that one before. And who are you supposed to be?”

“What’s…” Iamos choked, pausing to inhale before continuing. “What’s it to you?”

The stranger shrugged once again, bony shoulders rolling to the side underneath his red coat. “I make it a point to not forget anyone whose life I take. S’not like they’re gonna forget me, after all.”

“I…” Iamos hesitated, the weight of the man’s words hitting him after a moment without clarity, so discombobulated were his senses. “I see.”

“No!” Rainer called. Iamos winced as the ground under his master began to crack. “You’ll have to destroy me before laying so much as a finger on this boy.”

“Noted.” Declared the blonde. “Well, I guess I could do with some fun.” He smiled, a too-wide, almost unearthly smile. Iamos was disturbed by the amount of pleasure he seemed to draw from the situation. “It’s been a while since I’ve fought such a worthy adversary, Rainer Oum.”

“So you know who I am?” There was tension in Rainer’s voice unlike anything Iamos had ever heard before.

“You disappeared off the grid a while ago, which I guess explains why you look so much older than what your file had you pegged as. But an extraordinarily talented Elepharian alchemist with brown eyes and an emphasis on earthen transmutation? You’re Rainer.”

“I see. It appears that I hadn’t disappeared quite as well as I had hoped.”

Though his words spoke of lament, Rainer still sounded more upbeat than he had any logical right to be. “However, I could say the same for you, Aedus the fire fist.”

For the first time, the man – Aedus – wore a look of genuine irritation.

“You’ve never had any formal information released about you, which explains why I didn’t recognise you on sight. But an extraordinarily talented blonde alchemist with mad eyes and an emphasis on fire-based transmutation? You’re Aedus.”

Iamos could hear Aedus’ teeth grinding against each other, inside the alchemist’s mouth.

“That’s what they call me.” He spat, all hint of jovial nature cast aside; presumably in the fact of both being identified and being mocked.

“Now what is it you want? I don’t suppose it’s too late to talk this out.” Rainer inquired. Aedus narrowed his eyes.

“I want the map.”

“…I’m sorry?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, old man!” Snapped the flame wielder. “They said that the map was here. They said you had it! Give it to me, or I’ll burn down this village.”

“I see.” Acknowledged the older man, before turning to his apprentice. “Iamos!”

Iamos automatically stood up a little straighter. “Yes master?”

“It’s Rainer! And I need you to do something for me.”

Aedus and Rainer were staring each other down, neither one looking away from the other’s eyes, meaning that Rainer could not look at Iamos as he spoke.

“I need you to go to my shed.” He declared. “The chest on the far left side of the room should have the map in it. You can’t miss it, it’s tied up by a ribbon that’s a vivid green colour.”

“Well, if that’s the case, I’ll just go and-“ Aedus was cut off as, before he could move, a section of the ground tilted upwards and he almost tripped as he tried to walk away.

“No. You’re staying here, with me.” Decreed Rainer. “We’re finishing this.”

Aedus grimaced, as fire began to build up around him again.

“Once you’ve found the map,” continued Rainer, having to shout to make himself overheard as the roar of the flames steadily increased in volume, “you need to pull the lever on the far wall. Take what you find once you do that, and use it to get out of here. The map will guide you from there.”

“But what will I find?!” Protested Iamos.

“I propose you take someone with you.” Continued Rainer, ignoring Iamos’ protest. “I suggest Loden and Daiyu, and of course your sister. They’re the people you trust, is that right?”

“Master, I don’t understand what-“

“I’m sorry, Iamos. If we meet again, I will explain to you these unfortunate circumstances. But right now-“

A renewed wave of fire erupted towards the pair, Aedus smiling wickedly once again as he manipulated it.

“We don’t have TIME!” Finished Rainer, as the ground buckled once again and Iamos found himself propelled backwards, away from the flames. Sitting up from the position he had found himself knocked into, he saw Rainer and Aedus battling it out once again. Reasoning that it was best to let the two alchemists continue without him in the way, he rose and fled back down the path, hastening to do what his master had instructed of him.

**********

The “shed”, as Rainer liked to call it, was a large wooden building more comparable to the likes of a barn or cottage, consisting of one enormous room filled with pieces of machinery, notes, books and the occasional hole in the wall or still-burning patch from backfired transmutations.

Bursting through the double doors, Iamos sprinted towards the chest Rainer had described, on the left side of the room, squashed between a pair of tables with what looked like blueprints on them. Skidding to a halt, he threw open the chest, digging around and tossing scrap items and bits of paper over his shoulder until his keen eyes spotted the aforementioned green ribbon. Grasping it in his hand, he pulled up what looked like an ordinary piece of parchment. Under normal circumstances he would have examined the thing further, but he considered himself pressed for time, and so resisted the urge.

Iamos, as he looked at the apparent map, couldn’t help but let his mind wander on the subject of his master. What other secrets had the man been hiding? Stowing the map away in his pocket, Iamos turned to the lever Rainer had mentioned to him, which was located on the opposite wall.

"Now..." he mused, “what else have you hidden, Rainer..."

Poised for action, he crept forwards and gave the dusty lever a cautious tug, sending it earthwards with surprising smoothness. For one almost awkward second, nothing happened. Then, Iamos began to hear a low grinding noise; the sound of metal scraping against metal, combined with a low hum coming from his side. Turning his body to the right, he saw that the far wall - the one that faced dense forest - was slowly flipping upwards, curving backwards to reveal a new, far larger room.

And - Uther's Ghost.

In front of Iamos was potentially the strangest... thing he had ever laid eyes on. Directly in front of him was a bulbous construct made with glass and metal, and if he squinted he could have sworn that he could see seating of some kind inside. As the wall finished sliding upwards, curves of metal extended outwards behind the initial construct, and Iamos couldn't help but wonder precisely how long the construct was. Hesitantly, he began to walk forward.

Passing by sheets of gilded bronze overlaid with jet black steel and stark silver iron, he eventually found himself beside two contraptions shaped like eggs attached to the sides of the construct.

The eggs had the undersides flattened, as if the bottoms had been sheared away, and bending down, Iamos realised that the open undersides were made out of what looked like a grate, as well as the fact that there were identical constructs on the opposite side of the construct. Brow furrowing, he rose and continued his trek, eventually arriving at the very back of the machine.

The first thing he noticed was that there seemed to be some kind of line etched into the sheet of metal on the back of the construct, almost invisible. A door, perhaps? The second thing he noticed was a group of small constructs next to the line. Walking closer, he saw that the constructs were a jet black, and each one had a different number printed on it, with a translucent surface above them. Next to that was a piece of paper, tacked onto the iron, which Iamos recognized to be written in his master’s handwriting.

“”Origin passcode: 16052001”?” Echoed Iamos, out loud. What was the Origin? Backtracking, he noticed the words Origin painted onto the metallic surface in a bold golden shade. And then he realised.

It was a ship.

The giant, metal contraption was a ship.

He almost laughed, it was so surreal. This? This hunk of metal was a functioning ship?

WAS it even functioning?

Only one way to find out.

Re-energized, he ran back down to the end of the ship, and looked at the numbers again, before back at the pad of numbered squares.

Hesitantly, Iamos stretched out a finger and pressed the button with a 1 on it. The symbol appeared in the translucent area, and nothing else happened. Quickly, he tapped the rest of the numbers in the sequence, making sure that they were all correct. When he typed in the last number, a small ringing noise blared from the pad, and Iamos heard a hissing as part of the sheet of metal lowered itself, creating a ramp inside the structure.

Once again resisting the urge to laugh, he jumped onto the ramp and walked upwards, into the ship.

Inside, there was darkness. Iamos found himself almost blind as he wandered down a stretching corridor, ignoring all the rooms that led off the path as he headed towards the area he had seen before, which he now realised must have been some kind of cockpit. Several seconds passed before he reached the seating area. In front of a trio of leather seats, one in the centre at the front and two further back, there was a whole range of controls. What interested Iamos, however, was the middle seat, which had a range of pedals and levers.

Curious, he sat in the chair and peered at the set of what looked to be controls. The first priority was to find whatever turned the machine on. Looking round, he spotted an ominous-looking big red button on the side to his left. Hesitating for just a moment, he pressed it. There was an almost silent whirring, and then a new button popped out of the wall by his opposite leg. Grinning now, he pressed this one as well.

This time, the whirring was far louder.

All the panels beside Iamos and the other two seats lit up, blinking into life and beginning to spew information as he looked on in wonder. Shaking himself out of his awe, he paid attention to the screen closest in front of him, which seemed to be forming a virtual version of not only what he could see in front of him, but the surroundings of the whole ship. Even as he watched, it switched to a bird’s-eye view of the ship, and a simulation of the area all around it.

Grinning, Iamos grabbed the wheel in front of him, and peered at the controls. A pair of levers were at his feet, with a dial and what looked like a joystick to his left. As experimentation, he pressed down on one of the levers with his foot.

Nothing happened.

He pressed down on the other lever.

There was a roar, and Iamos felt the ship lurch as it moved forward. Hastily, he removed his foot from the lever, and felt the energy fade.

Mentally, the young man began to plot out the different controls.

“Forward…” He pressed it again, and then pressed the other lever – this time, the ship ground to a much faster halt.

“Stop…”

He gritted his teeth. As interesting as the experience was, his master had given him his orders. “Get out of here” was something he was more than willing to do – though he’d miss the house, he’d miss the village as a whole a lot less. The issue was Rainer’s other order, which was to gather up… he supposed a crew. Not that he had qualms about his sister or Loden, or even Daiyu joining him. No, the problem was that he had no way of figuring out where they were. He tried to think back. He had told Daiyu to go and find the other two… but where had they been?

He furrowed his brow in thought.

Suddenly, the door to the shed burst open and in flooded Loden, Azura, and Daiyu, panting heavily and looking as if they’d run for miles. Upon seeing the Origin instead of a far wall, their reactions were understandable. Loden and Azura both yelled in surprise, whereas Daiyu just gaped. Cursing, Iamos searched the control panel in front of him. Was there a way he could send them a message of some kind…?

Upon spotting a gap in part of the segment he was sitting in, between metal and glass, he hastened forward and gave the cockpit window a tentative shove. Upon feeling it move, he pressed his hands against the glass and began to pry it open, helped after a moment or two by an automatic opening system that activated upon sensing Iamos’ efforts. If anything could have shocked the others more, it was this, and now all three of them were staring dumbfounded as Iamos waved to them from the cockpit.

“Come in!” He called. “Hurry!”

“What even IS that?!” Azura called back, more functional than the other two now that she had seen her brother unharmed.

“It’s a ship!” Replied Iamos! “Come on, the entrance is at the back!”

“Got it!” Called Azura as she scampered out of Iamos’ vision, leaving Loden and Daiyu standing where they were.

“Hey, you two!” Called Iamos! “Get in here!”

“Holy spades, what did you say that was?” Loden eventually managed to say.

“I said it’s a ship! And I’m pretty sure it flies!”

“Uh…”

“I’ll explain later, but Rainer’s given me an order and I need your help!”

Loden, for a moment, said nothing. Eventually, he shrugged.

“Well, whatever.” He sighed. “Nice to have a break from routine, I guess…”

With that, he too left Iamos’ vision, pulling Daiyu behind him, just as Azura entered the cockpit and hovered over Iamos’ shoulder.

“What’s all this?” She gaped at the controls.

“I’m not sure yet.” Admitted Iamos. “You might want to find a seat somewhere.”

“Aye!” Acknowledge Azura, who darted back into the corridor, now lit by a set of sterile white lights. Grimacing, Iamos turned back to the controls.

“I can only hope they’re user-friendly.” He muttered to himself.

“I have arrived!” Blurted Loden as he entered the cockpit, Daiyu in tow. “And you’d better tell me what’s going on here!”

“Well, it’s kind of a long story. I need to figure out how to fly this ship away from the village.”

“Where are we going?” Asked Daiyu, the first time she had spoken since seeing the Origin.

“No idea.” Iamos pulled the map out of his pocket, and tossed it to Loden. “Apparently this will guide us?”

“A map?” Loden unfurled it. “Woa… what is this, a map of the whole planet.”

“I wouldn’t know, I haven’t seen it.” Pointed out Iamos. “Look, can you just sit down? I need to figure out how to fly this thing.”

“Do you need to work on the fly?” Grinned his friend, to which Iamos groaned loudly and resisted the urge to smack his head into the wheel.

“Shut up Loden! I’m trying to concentrate! And close the cockpit window!”

Loden obliged, jumping up and grabbing the screen, dragging it back into its original position.

Iamos placed his foot firmly on the “forward” lever, and smiled to himself as the ship began to move forward once again. The edges brushed ever so slightly against the walls of the initial shed building, but as it was, there was just enough room for them to move – until they arrived at the wooden wall in front of them.

There was the sound of a rending and a crashing as the Origin burst straight through the wall like a fist through toilet paper. Daiyu screamed as wooden splinters scattered on the windshield.

“Aren’t we supposed to be, like, airborne?” Loden pointed out.

“I’m working on it!” Snapped Iamos as the ship dragged along the ground. “What’s-“ he stopped speaking as he flashed back to the poles he had seen supporting the ship.

“Oh, of course!” He yelled out loud, scanning the control panel for a way to get rid of them.

“W-what is it?” Stammered Daiyu as she watched him search. He whipped around to face her, prompting a small squeak of surprise to escape from her mouth.

“I need you to find a way to remove those support poles from our underside.” He declared.

“I… um…” Daiyu looked around frantically, before seeing something and almost throwing herself out of her chair in her rush to press a button. Iamos felt the ship jolt once again, and he saw the ship sink somewhat.

“Okay, okay… how to pull up?” He mused out loud.

“Hey, can that wheel move up and down?” Loden wondered out loud. Following his gaze, Iamos saw room for the protruding steering wheel to be moved.

“Aha!” He jerked on the wheel, pulling it upwards, and he felt the ship tilting upwards as he did so. “There we go!”

They were now pulling up at a significant angle, and Loden hastily clung onto his chair to stop himself from falling backwards, though he still let out a whoop of excitement.

“We’re flying!” He repeated in ecstasy. “We’re flying!”

“D-down there!” Daiyu pointed out of the window with a shaking hand, and Iamos dared to look.

Rainer’s house on the top of the hill was burning, a ball of orange flame as a beacon in the night sky. Smoke formed clouds in the otherwise clear shy, and rivers of flame poured out of the windows like tears. There was no sign of either men.

“…What happened?” Daiyu whispered in horror. Iamos wanted to speak, but his voice failed him. He paused. Licked his lips. Tried again.

“I… I’m sorry, Daiyu.” He murmured, immediately regretting the words as he felt the eyes of both other people with him face his direction. He turned his own head, back to the front, and exhaled.

“I’m sorry.” He repeated. Why? This wasn’t what he had been planning to say. “I know you liked having… having a home.”

Daiyu said nothing, but gave a sad little hiccup as the Origin climbed further into the sky. For a moment, nothing happened. Nobody spoke. There was nothing to say.

“So what happens now?” Loden asked, eventually. Iamos glared at the horizon.

“Now?” He echoed.

“We trust in Master’s-“

“Rainer’s.” Corrected Loden, rolling his eyes.

“Master’s words.” Continued Iamos. “He said that the map would guide us.”

“But what’s even happening?” Protested Daiyu. “What is the map supposed to guide us to?”

“I don’t know.” Admitted Iamos. “But something important is going on. Something bigger than us. Master – me and Master were attacked. I don’t know who by. I bet he was the one who…” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, the point is we now have a job to do. At least… I do.” He turned back to Loden and Daiyu. “You don’t have to come with me.”

Loden laughed. “You kidding?” He smacked Iamos on the back. “You must have a screw loose if you think I’m abandoning you know, and several if you think AZURA’S abandoning you now. Daiyu?”

“I…” Daiyu nodded. “Yeah. I’m… I’m staying with you. For better or worse.”

Loden grinned. “Listen to the lady, Iamos.”

“We’re all in this together.”

>>Next Suggested Story>> A Series of Questions by One Inquisitive Young Blubberstein

>> Next Story in this Series>> Foes and Heirs: Segment Two: The New Life