Leviathans

Rayne took a low, steadying breath. She moved her feet slowly, making sure she made as little noise as possible. Ahead of her, the group of people she was stalking - no, Rayne told herself. Not stalking. Following - had stopped in front of the entrance to one of the crypts. Symbols that looked like writing ran down the center of the stone door, one line on each side of a gap in between stone that made it up. Rayne’s eyes quickly scanned the floor in front of her, to make sure it was clear of any debris that would give away her presence. she took another step. She had done something stupid.

After having left the airship behind, Rayne had wandered the streets nearby, a map of the city filling out in her mind. She was still wearing the clothing she had worn earlier, minus the orange sash. The intent, after all, was to not draw attention to herself. Before, the Nekasi had been careful to avoid her As she walked through the city, however, they mostly didn’t even see her.

The night began simply enough. Rayne’s walk carried her past buildings and the people that now flooded the streets. Her eyes began to pick up details they had missed before. The stones that made up the square buildings had razor-thin words etched into them above the doorways. Under the people’s colorless clothing and long sleeves, almost everyone hand jewelry in bright colors.

Rayne had gone into shops, marvelling at what they had on sale. In one of them she found idols venerating people whose names and titles meant nothing to her, but were obviously important. Their faces were intricately detailed, but their bodies were carved in rough shapes. She had returned to the bakery, and had purchased a freshly baked sweet roll. The taste of cinnamon had filled her mouth, and Rayne had relished every moment.

Occasionally, one of the people wearing red robes would walk by. She would pause, curious, as crowds silently parted for them. Her mind once again went to what she and Lucy had been told. The Nekasi venerated their dead. Worshiped them as holy. The thought was curious to Rayne. Religion, at leas beyond the vague idea of the existence of gods, was a foreign concept to her.

As she completed the thought, another of the red robed figures passed. This one, however, was followed by a group of people. Without thinking, Rayne had begun to follow them through the city. It was simple, at first. All she did was keep far to one side, making sure the majority of the crowd was between her and those she followed. It was lucky, Rayne found herself thinking, that the ones wearing red were so easy to spot.

Eventually, however, things grew more difficult. They left the more populated portion of the city, and the group approached an iron-wrought gate set into a cobblestone wall about three times as tall as Rayne was. They paused at the gate for a moment. The gate looked like it was made out of metal vines that spread out from a knot in the center. The red robed figure pressed his hand against the knot, and spoke a set of words in nekasi.

Rayne had to swallow a sharp intake of breath as she more felt than saw a flash of magic pass from the man and into the gate. The vines moved, untangling themselves, and the gate swung inwards to allow them entry. A few seconds after the final member of the group had passed through it, and before Rayne could follow, the vines shifted to close the gate.

Rayne whispered a curse, and approached the gate warily. On the other side, she could see the red robed figure and the others following a tree-lined path. A deep breath filled her lungs. If she wanted to keep following them, she would definitely need to not get caught.

Rayne looked around, to make sure nobody was close enough to see, and then began to test handholds in the cobblestone that made up the wall. After quickly finding what she needed, she pulled herself up and over the wall.

A light landing on her feet later and she was moving through the trees as quickly as she dared. Once again she found herself silently thanking the nekasi that led the group for wearing red. It made things much easier for her. The soft grass underfoot helped to keep her footsteps silent as she padded onwards after them.

After another few minutes had come a clearing, and a line of crypts within it. Rayne stuck to the treeline as the men and women paused in front of one of the crypts. She swallowed dry. Having already come this far, Rayne felt she needed to get closer. Needed to see what was going to happen.

The man who led the group reached out his hand towards the crypt door. Rayne’s heart sped up. There was no wall to jump this time. She would need to get close enough to follow the last person in after the door opened or she would be locked out. Her feet shifted and she carefully moved forward into the clearing. If any of the figures ahead so much as turned in her direction, they would see her.

The group, however, was too transfixed by the man. Much like when Rayne had watched the display of magic, she could’ve sworn that she saw yellowish-blue wisps gathering around the man. Rayne had to fight against the urge to shake her head to clear her vision. She took another few steps forward, now only a few feet from the group.

Her breath was loud in her ears, and she felt like a street urchin again. Hiding in dark corners. Sneaking. Stealing. She bit her lip to clear her mind. Focus she chided herself, letting her mind dwell on the wisps of color instead.

The glow around the red-robed leader faded as his fingers brushed against the door and he spoke another set of words. Pushing aside her thoughts on the impossibility of seeing magic, Rayne’s body tensed like a coiled spring. Her body leaned forward, and her eyes were fixed on the group in front of her. She would wait until they began to file in and then approach. Hopefully, the sounds of their own movement would mask hers.

Stone slid against stone for a few moments as the crypt opened. The group filed in, one after another. Rayne, her breath held, slipped in with them. Her heart nearly stopped as she came inches from one of the figures before they began moving again. Rayne slowly let out the breath trapped in her lungs through her nose.

With a more comfortable distance now between her and those she was following, Rayne let herself look around. The group had paused to light torches, and Rayne nearly screamed as their unsteady light revealed a skull carved out of stone directly to her left. After taking a moment to steady herself, she continued to follow onwards. Every sound in the crypt was magnified, echoing around her. Every step the people ahead of her took made it easier for her to conceal her presence.

The hallway they had entered angled deep into the earth, eventually disgorging them into a wide, square room with more hallways branching off each side. Up to this point, the walls had been carved with rough approximations of bones. Rayne imagined that this was just in case someone had made it this far and hadn’t realized they were somewhere creepy yet.

Ahead of her, however, the “decor” if that’s what it could be called, turned towards the gothic. High arches decorated in bones - this time actual bones as opposed to simply carved ones - and statues of ravens set into spaces in the walls drew rayne’s eyes. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine.

It felt like the ravens were alive, and their gaze never left her even as she moved. Her eyes scanned the room, and she was glad to see a myriad of tall urns and large stone pillars she could hide behind. The group continued along the corridor in the left wall, and Rayne followed.

Here began the crypt proper, Rayne thought, as she peeked around the corner. It was as different from the space she had seen in her first delve as possible. Where there, each of the deceased had their own closed casket, here instead the bones were set into the walls themselves. Each of the skeletons gleamed a brighter white than Rayne thought was natural. They were evenly spaced along the hall, and each had a single rune etched into the front of the skull.

Rayne watched from the entrance to the hallway, judging her options. There weren’t very many places to hide in the hallway. All it would take was one of them looking back at her. She fought the urge to curse under her breath. She would need to wait until they had moved past the bend at the other end of the hall.

Having resigned herself to waiting, Rayne was more than a little surprised when the group paused in front of one of the skeletons. She exhaled a shaky breath. The man in red began to chant. The others with him swayed from side to side, humming an accompaniment to his almost musical voice.

This is it Rayne thought, as warmth filled the hallway. A glow, this time certainly real as every one of the people gasped at its appearance, suffused the skeleton. It seemed like it was coming from within the bones, and it grew in intensity until it was almost blinding. After a moment the unbearable brightness faded, and a ghostly figure was standing in front of the small group.

Rayne’s mouth worked up and down wordlessly as she tried to process what she was seeing. Had the group just summoned the spirit of one of their ancestors? Rayne stared at the figure. It’s edges were a series of wispy white lines, and everything else was a series of vague purple and black blurs. It looked like someone had drawn lines over the painting of a woman.

It was then that Rayne noticed that the entire group was staring at her. She had moved unconsciously closer to the figure to examine it, lost in her curiosity. Her eyes went wide and she took an immediate step back and then froze. Rayne’s heart froze in her chest. She cursed under her breath.

The ghost - for what else could it be, a part of Rayne’s mind considered - vanished. It looked like it had been swept away in swirls as it faded from the air. The moment of shocked silence grew, until the man in the red robe raised an accusing finger and yelled something in a language Rayne didn’t understand. As the people shifted to move towards her, Rayne realized there was nothing she needed to understand.

Her body was moving before she could think. Instincts drilled into her by her childhood rushing to the surface. Her boots pounded the stone beneath them. One after the other, Rayne’s footsteps echoed around her as she sprinted back through the crypt.

Shouts sounded behind her, and she couldn’t make out any words over the pounding of her own heart in her ears. Rayne leapt over a group of urns, one of them shattering as it fell. Her legs burned as they carried her up towards the door that would lead to the outside.

The stone loomed ahead of her, and before she could wonder how she could possibly open it, the stone slide open of its own accord. On the other side was another one of the robed figures. Perhaps he had been drawn by the noise. Rayne didn’t care. Instead, she smiled at her luck, as she leapt onto the robed person’s chest and vaulted over their head.

A curse followed her through the air as Rayne’s boots came down on leafy ground. Her momentum carried her forward, and she stumbled into a tree. It slapped at her arm, and she yelped in pain as the branch she crashed into whipped a line of blood across her arm.

Rayne grit her teeth and kept running as she righted herself. Behind her the sounds of her pursuers grew closer. Rayne looked ahead to the wall she had clambered over before. That would be too slow now.

A jump carried her body upwards into the air, barely high enough to catch the thick branch of a tree near the wall. Rayne pulled herself upwards, the top of the wall was still above her, but now she could get there. She crouched, pausing for a moment to judge the distance she had to cover, and then leapt forward.

All of the air in her lungs was forced out as her chest slammed into the wall. Rayne forced herself upwards. Now on top of the wall, Rayne took a moment to catch her breath. She heard the sounds of people crashing through the forest behind her and looked back. She had at most another minute before they reached her. probably less.

Rayne drew a course in the incomplete city map that sprawled open in her mind’s eye, using up the few precious seconds she still had. That complete, she lay on the wall and let her feet dangle closer to the ground.

She dropped, bending her knees to absorb the impact. Pain lanced up Rayne’s legs, but she turned and kept running. Cutting past buildings and through crowds, Rayne pushed towards the airship. Behind her, the number of people chasing her grew.

Checking the map in her mind to make sure she was on the right course, Rayne ran past one last set of buildings, and then along the path that led to the airship. From ahead of her, she heard the sound of an explosion.

Her feet skid to a stop on the gravel that lay spread along the clearing their airship had landed in. A plume of smoke rose ahead, and Rayne heard Lucy coughing. Rayne stared in disbelief as the smoke cleared and she found Heinric frowning down at Lucy. Whatever she had done, it looked like it had been a pretty serious mistake. From this distance, she couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he was clearly laughing.

Heinric’s laugh died in his throat as He spotted Rayne running towards him. “I’m being chased by a crowd of religious nekasi please help!” Rayne shouted. Heinric looked confused, but Lucy only looked exasperated. “Damnit Rayne I gave you one rule” Lucy yelled back.

Lynn and Aria, having heard the explosion, descended from the airship to make sure everything was okay. They caught Rayne midway through her explanation of what had happened. “And now they’re chasing me, and it doesn’t look like they just want to ask me what I thought of the ghost”

“I… what?” Aria asked, voicing the confusing that Heinric shared. Lynn, however, was serious. “Magi, it seems you interrupted the single most sacred nekasi ritual there is. The Nekasi tend to be somewhat... fanatical. They will want to jail you, or worse. Perhaps Richard can defuse the situation, but he returned to the Arcane College with Batari. He wished to do some research at the library.” The man said, grip tightening on his sword.

“I could go find him” Aria suggested, “but I don’t know how to get to the college” she admitted. “I do” Rayne said, “yeah but aren’t you the one they’re chasing?” Lucy questioned, hands on her hips. Rayne turned to face the city as she began to hear the shouts of the nekasi once more.

Lynn followed her gaze with his own and shook his head. “No. She should go. It would be best if we prepared the airship should it be needed. Aria is the most agile of us, and if you can lead her to richard and simultaneously distract the nekasi that is the safest option.

“Safe for us maybe!” Lucy shouted, and Lynn shook his head. “If we cannot convince the group that will undoubtedly come here that we have nothing to do with the woman who interrupted their ritual, they will wish to burn the airship and everyone involved with the magi to cinder” Lynn said forcefully. “Ah’d like to see ’em try” Heinric said darkly.

“Out of time” Aria said with a grin as the shouts grew even louder. “Time to go!” The warrior whooped as she pulled Rayne into a jog. “I’ll be fine Lucy!” Rayne yelled over her shoulder as her stride lengthened into a run. “You better be!” Lucy yelled back.

Aria and Rayne picked up speed as the mob appeared ahead of them. “Through the trees!” Aria yelled, angling herself to the side. The forerunners of the group pointed at them and yelled instructions as Rayne and Aria swept to the side.

Rayne and Aria ran past tree trunks, the crowd now close enough that Rayne could hear their frenzied breathing as they gave chase. Ahead of them, the stone structures that made up the city proper began to materialize. “This way!” Rayne yelled over the sounds behind them, guiding Aria into an alley she had walked through earlier that day.

The patrons of the various shops and stalls that lined the space they ran through screamed as Aria and Rayne crashed through them. Rayne jumped onto the stalls, her feet finding purchase amongst the assorted goods that were being sold. Aria had clambered onto a stall and then, with a great leap ran along the low rooftop rim just beside the stalls.

As the Alley ended in front of them, Aria saw the chance to cause some havoc for the mob that was still trying to push through the patrons in the alley. “Rayne wait!” Aria called, before jumping down onto the back of a cart loaded with barrels.

Aria braced herself against the cart and shoved the barrels off and into the alley. Some burst immediately, showering the surrounding people with liquid, but others rolled haphazardly towards their pursuers, forcing them to stop as they chased onwards.

“Let’s go!” Aria yelled, her laughter filling Rayne’s ears. Rayne couldn’t help but grin as they ran onwards, making space between them and the mob. From then on, Rayne wanted to keep them on as straight a path to the Arcane College as possible. And that meant ignoring the streets.

Rayne looked around for a way up, but found nothing. She would need to improvise. “Aria!” Rayne called as she leaned her back against a wall and cupped her hands. “Time to go up!” She added. Aria smiled widely as she ran towards Rayne, planting her foot firmly in Rayne’s cupped palms. Rayne propelled Aria upwards, and the warrior launched herself onto the roof.

Once there, she turned back and extended a hand as far down as she could. Rayne jumped and grabbed Aria’s outstretched hand. Aria pulled her up, and the two paused breathlessly for a moment. Aria laughed again, and this time Rayne did too. They were shaken out of their rest by the sounds of the mob. “No time for a break, huh?” Aria smiled, and Rayne shook her head. “Guess not”

The two ran across the rooftops, leaping over the gaps between houses and clambering over and onto taller buildings. It was only a few minutes later that they found themselves at the entrance to the Arcane College. They had gained even more ground on their pursuers, hopefully giving them enough time to find Richard.

Aria pushed the gate open and ran inside. Rayne followed a half-step behind her. Aria grabbed the first student she found, a girl that couldn’t be older than fifteen, and turned her to face them. The girl yelped her surprise.

“Where’s the library?” Aria asked her forcefully. The girl was lost in confusion for a moment before Aria repeated herself. The girl pointed to a gigantic building further along the campus. Aria began running. “Sorry!” Rayne said, before following her onwards without a glance back.

Thankfully the campus was relatively empty, and they pushed open the doors to the library within a minute of the girl telling them where it was. Unfortunately, it seemed to Rayne that their good luck stopped there.

“Oh no” Rayne breathed as the sheer size of the library struck them. Row upon row of bookshelves spread themselves out in front of them. Each shelf went from floor to ceiling, and the workmanship of the carved wood that made them up was exquisite. The thickly carpeted floor beneath her boots served to soften the sound of her footfalls. Rayne looked up, and saw another floor above. She had never seen this many books before. Not even in the tower.

Rayne shook her head to banish the thought. “How are we going to find him?” She asked. A man approached them, asking a question in the nekasi language. Aria stared at him blankly. “Cover your ears” She said to Rayne, before taking a deep breath.

Even through her hands Rayne heard Aria call Richard’s name with the volume of a foghorn. Her shout reverberated throughout the library, and Rayne was certain that no matter where Richard was in here, he would’ve heard it. Now she just hoped he hadn’t left before they arrived.

People began to poke their heads out from the various rows of bookshelves as Aria massaged her throat. “I hate doing that. It always leaves the taste of blood in my mouth” she complained. The man who had come up to them before now glared at them. Aria glared back, and he withered under her gaze.

Within another minute, Richard came out from behind one of the shelves and jogged to Aria. His face wasn’t angry at the interruption, as Rayne had expected. Instead, he seemed concerned. “What happened?” he asked, as Batari caught up with him. Rayne explained as quickly as she could, unable to keep herself from glancing back at the door.

Richard rubbed his chin with his hand. “That’s not good. I believe the last time an outsider intruded on one of the summoning ceremonies they were executed” he said. Rayne felt a chill go up her spine and Aria scowled. “I’d like to see them try” the warrior said, fingering the hilt of one of her weapons.

Batari looked at Rayne, his head cocked. “You will need to tell me of your opinions on the ritual” He said. “I have never seen one” he added, more to himself than to Rayne. “you’ll still be accompanying us?” Richard asked him, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.

“Of course. You seek a runestone. The decision is a simple one” Batari answered. After a moment’s pause Richard nodded. “very well. Let’s go outside. Hopefully we can convince the populace to let us leave peacefully” Richard said, keeping his voice steady.

As they left the library and walked into the wide open courtyard, they found the crowd waiting for them. “Aria, don’t say anything. Let me speak please” Richard asked her, and Aria shook her head. “I don’t even speak their stupid language!” she complained, her voice still a little pained from her shout. “We both know that won’t stop you” Richard chided, and Aria sighed in surrender.

The red robed figure at the head of the mob, said something, and the crowd advanced. Richard shouted something back over their yelling, and they paused. He began an impassioned speech. He gestured fiercely, and his voice fluctuated as he spoke. Rayne knew that just the way he spoke would have been enough to convince her he was right, such was his demeanor.

He continued for minutes. Long enough for a shape to form in the distance. Their backs to it, nobody in the crowd saw it approach. Rayne glanced up at it, over and over. unsure what it was until she could finally make out the balloon hanging above it. The others had sailed into the skies, and were fast approaching.

Eventually, the sound of the engines could be heard over Richard’s speech. People turned up to look, only to find the airship descending upon them. It touched down just to the side of the crowd, who was now speechless. “Richard, they tried to kill us. There is no reasoning with them, get on!” He yelled from his perch. Richard paused mid-sentence, and nodded. Aria grabbed Rayne’s hand and pulled her towards the airship as Lynn threw down a rope ladder.

“Looks like it’s time to go” Richard said, as the mob surged forward indignant at their prey escaping. Rayne and Aria grabbed the ladder and began clambering up. As soon as Batari and Richard had handholds, Lynn turned away from them. “Go, Magi! Take us up!” he yelled, and the Airship lifted itself off the ground and into the skies.

Rayne nearly lost her grip at the acceleration, and turned down to find the others hanging on with grim determination. Slowly, with Lynn and Heinric’s help, they pulled themselves up onto the deck. After a moment to collect himself, Richard looked around at the others. “Well, It appears we won’t be returning to Nekas anytime soon.” He said, fanning himself with his hat. “Good riddance” Heinric answered, arms crossed. “The less nekasi the better” he continued, glancing at Batari.

“Still, we have what we came for. To Altressa.” Lynn commented, the longing clear in his voice.