Divided by Hostilities (Chapter 14)

[jiminee]

 Chapter 13

Guude was writing again. He wanted to merge his kingdom now, seeing the benefits that Aureylian had brought to light. He was writing a letter to Zisteau, a respectful letter outlining the idea that Aureylian had had. He knew she’d proposed it to Zisteau too, but so far the other king hadn’t made any contact with Guude.
It would be my greatest pleasure to join my kingdom to yours in the ultimate display of peace and union.
Guude scratched that sentence out and tossed the paper aside, pulling a new piece onto his desk in frustration. If he didn’t word this right, Zisteau might feel threatened or insulted and become angry. Guude wished Aureylian was there to help him write this letter. She’d have the perfect wording and know exactly how to approach the problem.
He wondered why she would know. She’d never shown him any evidence of political credentials or anything. She just knew, and that seemed to be enough for everybody. She hadn’t asked for employment, just slotted herself neatly into the role of advisor for both him and Zisteau. Guude wasn’t complaining, though. She had the sort of wisdom that seemed to come from elsewhere. It was strange advice, but Guude had no doubt it worked.

Aureylian was glad she could watch people without them seeing. Others acted differently around her, and she liked to see people in their purest moments. She especially liked to see the two men, Beef and Pause. They always sat under that one particular oak tree on the outskirts of Daedalia. It was because both were afraid to go anywhere else, still afraid of the old laws that could get either into trouble if caught in the wrong city.
She shook her head and smiled as she caught sight of the two. She was moving noiselessly through the forest, watching from behind a tree as she came nearer. Pause, the Abattian, was leaning with his back against the tree, watching Beef. She saw love in his gaze. She could tell - even when she first met them she could tell – that Pause loved Beef. He was holding back a lot of emotions he was certain he couldn’t show.
Beef was reading the small book, over and over again. He must know it off by heart, but she could see he wasn’t putting much thought into reading the printed words anymore. He was looking for something else, some deeper meaning, or perhaps some clues hidden in the margins of the pages.
Beef was more difficult to understand, but he felt something, Aureylian knew that. Not just friendship, not even deep friendship. It was different than his friendship had been with Etho. No, Beef did love Pause, but he was hiding it from the world, hiding it especially from himself, and not ever letting it slip out. Or so he thought. Aureylian could see it; it was a part of him.
She had this gift of knowledge. She had other gifts too; material ones like the ability to control elements and weather, and speed and silence and teleportation and heightened senses. Nobody here had ever seen somebody like her before, and it was almost a burden to have these gifts. They didn’t understand. Pause, particularly, didn’t understand. He resented that she had all this knowledge but didn’t tell them quite enough of what she knew. He thought she was magic, not understanding that it was deeper and more complex than that.
What she found interesting was that Pause had found a note in Ancora about intersections, something a long-dead researcher had scribbled in the margin of their book, and let Beef read it. Neither of them had reacted adversely. It was in the back of Beef’s brain now, but Pause seemed to have forgotten. The vision Pause had had about the dragon was a much bigger cause for concern, and she hoped they would be able to defend against it and either drive it away or kill it before any harm was done. But there was more to it than that, of course. Pause had specifically mentioned flames and heat.
She was afraid she was doing her job wrong. If she couldn’t stop people from dying, was her time here worth anything? Aureylian scolded herself at this thought. She was going to be able to bring the two cities together. She was changing Zisteau, too, and instilling confidence in Guude. That wasn’t nothing, she told herself. She wouldn’t leave until things were right, anyway.
She decided to finally come forward and talk to the two once again. Pause and Beef – although they didn’t know it – were the two most important people in both kingdoms. More important than Guude or Zisteau even. Aureylian had to make sure they were heading in the right direction, but without controlling their choices. Most importantly, she had to finally let them know somehow – she didn’t  know how – that she was in danger.
So she stepped forward and made herself visible.

“Hi Aureylian,” Pause said. He was getting used to her frequent visits, despite the mistrust he still felt towards her. Beef looked up from his book when Pause spoke.
“Hi Pause, hi Beef. How are things coming along?”
Beef shrugged, closing the book. “I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
“Have you found anything about Ancora?” Aureylian asked.
Beef shook his head. “No. Wait, I did find something. In Ancora.”
“What did it say?”
Pause was feeling left out, even though he knew he shouldn’t.
“I don’t know.” Beef frowned, flipping to the page with the writing in the margin. “It’s not actually part of the book. Somebody wrote it in the margin. There are words missing, but all I can make out are the words ‘other worlds’ and ‘intersections’.”
Aureylian peered at the faint handwriting. “Do you have any idea what those words mean?”
Beef shook his head. “No clue.”
“Are you going to tell him, or what?” Pause said. He’d had enough of Aureylian’s cryptic questions and unhelpful information. Beef and Aureylian turned to look at him.
“It’s fine, she’s just trying to help,” Beef said quietly.
“No, she’s not.” Pause turned to Aureylian. “You’re not helping. When are you going to give us real answers?”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, I know it’s hard to understand.” Aureylian sounded regretful.
“Then explain!” Pause was getting angry at her again, and he could already feel a war inside him. He knew he shouldn’t be saying this, but he made no effort to stop. “We need help, and when you first came I thought you’d be able to fix everything. But so far you’ve just made things more confusing.”
Aureylian sighed. “Sit down, Pause, Beef. Let me tell you a story.”
Pause squinted at her in confusion, but followed Beef’s lead as he sat down on the ground. Aureylian sat down too and began talking.
“So once there was a kingdom, much like either of the kingdoms you each live in. It was ruled by a king, a fair ruler if a little… rash at times. He would make decisions before thinking them through, and he had a tendency to believe he knew more than he actually did. He wished there was something to guide him, some sort of magical object to tell him how to make decisions and what dangers might threaten him in the future.
One day a citizen of that kingdom was walking in the forest when she stumbled on an unlit cave entrance. Seeking treasure and adventure she began to explore the cave, going deeper and deeper into its increasingly twisting and confusing systems. She found nothing at all, apart from one thing; a chest containing a single shining emerald that glittered more than any gem she’d seen before. It was the most brilliant and deep green she could even imagine. She pocketed the emerald and tried to find her way out of the cave. But she became lost; not knowing which way was up, down, left or right. She began to run out of food and torches, encountering monsters she was underequipped to fight. In her desperation she took out her emerald to see if it gave her any light.
To her surprise, when she took the gem out and wrapped her hand fully around it, the way before her was suddenly clear. It was like a light in her mind highlighting the route out and navigating her back to the surface much faster than she’d come in. Amazed, she followed the emerald’s light. Once she was out, she kept the stone a secret from all her friends. Nobody knew of its power, and she kept it with her at all times. She soon discovered the emerald could do more than just navigate; it told her everything when held just right. It could predict with complete accuracy events that happened days, weeks and months later.
Soon she realised she held something more important than she’d first suspected. She knew she had to tell somebody after a creeper somehow got into the city’s TNT stores and blew the entire thing up. The emerald had told her it would happen just a day ago. She knew this stone could predict real tragedy, and she could use that to warn the city’s citizens of what might come so they could prepare themselves. So she went to the king.
The king agreed to let her predict danger after she explained her situation. At first he argued that she should give him the stone to use for himself, but she insisted she keep it as she’d found it. Plus, she knew how to work it better than he could. So she took up her new job as seer and began predicting every event that could affect the kingdom. At first, she was glad her job saved them from everything. When the stone predicted a heavy snowstorm that would last for days, she told the king who issued a warning to the citizens. They were able to gather food and supplies to last through the storm. Indeed, many citizens were trapped in their homes and would not have had enough supplies to survive had they not been warned.
So the emerald had benefits. But the woman did not know of its unseen, deadly consequence: somebody else was using the stone. They were using it in a different way. This unknown predator was looking through the stone from a different part of the world, almost a different… dimension. They could see every single thing that woman did, through the emerald. Although she didn’t know it, her every move was being watched.
One day, the woman looked in the stone and saw danger and fire. Something told her it would happen in a month, so she told the king who issued another warning to his citizens. As they gathered up weapons, armour and defences the woman asked the king if she was able to go home and collect some personal items. He agreed and she began to walk back to her house, keeping a tight grip on her emerald.
Almost as soon as she stepped out the door a dragon swooped down and instantly killed her with its claws. It proceeded to breathe fire and burn the city to the ground, killing every citizen.”
Aureylian finished her story abruptly and became silent. Pause looked at her blankly.
“It’s like that,” she explained. “But for me it’s even worse.”
“What? I don’t understand,” Pause said. “What did it mean?”
“I can’t tell you, but I’m in danger,” Aureylian said urgently. “I can’t say any more. Look me in the eyes.”
Pause did, and saw Beef staring at her too. There was pleading, fear and understanding in her eyes, mixed with the familiar wisdom. Pause didn’t get it. He looked at Beef again and saw that he was nodding, and something had clicked in his mind.
“Beef? Do you know what she’s saying?”
Beef continued nodding, but said nothing. He pointed to Aureylian’s eyes again. “She can’t…”
Pause stared at them for longer, until he finally understood, realising with a sharp mixture of fear and surprise what Aureylian was saying. Well, there had to be more to it of course, but he knew that there was a reason she couldn’t tell them more. All that really mattered at the moment was the clear and distinct emerald green of Aureylian’s eyes.

Comments

[anonymousrose]

Poor Beef and poor Aureylian ;-; Very interesting background story though, and it explains the emerald green eyes :3 I don't even have to say it but really, every chapter always leaves me in anticipation and I love thinking about whats going to happen next until the new chapter comes out.

[jiminee]

I'm glad you like it <3