Chapter XVII#
Your Parents Fucking Suck#
well i knew that
Warning
Chapter illustrations currently WIP.
How did this man get here? He’s got the Haelborne’s pin on him. He must be a cultist. Weak one, to have simply died in my path. Even my good ol’ glass cannon build shouldn’t be taking out – I think that’s a t-five remnant aura. Damn.
Have they tracked us this whole time?
Arodorros should put tracking protection on his boat. Also, why’d they give him such a big boat? He’s a one man mission. I suppose they did also set him up with a six bedroom underground hideout suite.
I debated picking up the body but decided it wasn’t worth the weight, looting it instead. There was a lot of light gear and what appears to be one of those communicator units Deliria has been shipping out recently – but far more sleek and red. Perhaps this was a scout, come here out of pure chance. Or maybe his presence was very intentional.
Either way, I should get the party moving before his death attracts friends.
The ruins of the that town came into view. I still remembered where the trapdoor for Arodorros’ hideout was, but a detour wouldn’t hurt. If anything, his worries should be quelled with my aura in detection range.
It wasn’t much to look at. A few houses, a well, a large farmhouse on the outskirts. Never reached tier one. Most of these buildings were still manually built as well – too early for the Governance to take over, siphoning materials faster than light for instantaneous structures.
In a particularly intact house, I found some portable bedding, backpack, and other supplies – more than just one cultist’s worth. Someone had brazenly spray painted a wall with that sigil on their pins, in glowing red paint.
There were others operating here. We had to move fast, before they returned from wherever it was they went.
I returned to the trapdoor, descended to concern from only Arodorros. Definitely heard that sigh of relief when I got back - no doubt Rosa and Lloyd had assured him of my routine hunts and that all was well, but there were extenuating circumstances.
“How goes the hunt?” Bia grinned. “Anything that’ll sell good?”
“One cultist,” I ignored her. “Potentially more, camped in those ruins nearby.”
“Changes nothing,” Arodorros replied. “We were already planning to leave this morning regardless.”
“We were?” Rosa asked.
“You’re not coming, remember?”
“Yes I a – ”
“We’ll stay here,” Dan nodded.
“Use the hideout’s aura radar to watch for when the cultists are gone,” Lloyd said. He’d evidently been studying the place. “Otherwise, stay inside.”
“We’ll come back for you,” Bia promised, smiling. “Probably. Maybe not Rosa.”
“Thanks!” Rosa rolled her eyes.
“Eventually,” I said. “Might be a while.”
“Supplies to last a good few years in the cupboards,” Arodorros jumped in. “If worst comes to worst, use the escape portal. It’s at the back, there. Goes somewhere north – I’ve forgotten the country’s name, but it’s up there. It will shut behind you and it’s one way. Don’t mess with it.”
“Ohhh,” Lloyd nodded. “That’s what that was.”
“Wait – ” Bia’s eyes narrowed. “If you’ve got a teleportation device in here, why do we need to use the one in Avertine?”
“A standard telegate would take a lot more space than this to run,” Lloyd shrugged. “This one’s probably calibrated to only go one place at a smaller range. North of Haelcrien would be Autumn Kingdom – not that far by gate standards, I think. But that’s not my specialty.”
“The hideouts were built centuries ago,” Arodorros explained. “Our technology has advanced far in the intervening time. We were only able to create one-to-one one-way connections without existing infrastructure. They are more meant for efficient retreat than getting back to the Kingdom. Travelling to Avertine would be faster than following this trail.”
“Have you two packed?” I looked at Bia and Lloyd.
“What is there to pack?” Bia said. “We haven’t done anything.”
“Uh, gimme a few minutes,” Lloyd said. “I left some inspection instruments in the control room.”
“It’s an absolute mess in there,” Bia snickered.
“Please do not attempt to study those,” Arodorros looked pained. “You could break something.”
“I’m sure it was fine,” I dashed an eye at Lloyd. “Golden Boy is very good at his job.”
“My job is monster hunting?” he called back. “I don’t think this relates.”
“You get what I mean, ” I shrugged. I turned to Bia. “We have something to discuss.”
Arodorros linked eyes with me in exchange for a nod. Bia pretended not to notice.
We ducked into one a side room – probably Rosa’s. The sheets were everywhere.
I steeled myself. I will make this as easy as it can be. If she says yes, we go through it. If she says no, then we don’t. Simple as that. Worry is an impediment. I am turning it off.
But it won’t leave. It clutches. It claws. I drag that now ragged limb of soul away into the basement and hope it stays there until this is settled.
“Ari,” Bia put away her ambient laughter. “What’s wrong?”
Dumb as a donut, but she could see.
“Arodorros told me a lot of things last night,” I started. Looking back, it was nice of him to leave me time to think instead of forcing it onto Bia too at the time.
“I guessed so.”
“You didn’t eavesdrop?”
She snorted. “I’m not you.”
“Low.”
“True,” she stuck out her tongue, then sobered again. “What’d he say?”
“First off, our entire situation is Duskir and Faelorn’s fault.”
This snort made the last look like a routine exhale. “Well, well, well,” she spat. “Who would’ve seen that coming?”
“They stole the hourglass from Dawne’s vaults and ran away with it.”
“Hold on,” Bia held up a hand. “How old were they?”
“Late university, by our standards. I think. Dawne’s a different school system than us.”
“No shit. You’re telling me the great big overpowered superstate had an artifact significant enough to break border lock to recover and had it stolen by a pair of teenagers.”
“Arodorros called it a wake-up call.”
“Wake up – they must’ve been in a fucking coma! And if they hadn’t – ”
“Grim would not be after us. The hourglass would be safe in its home. The Haelborne would not be aiming at us. We might even be living better lives in whatever utopia they crafted behind Dawne’s walls.” I put my head in my hands.
“Incredible,” Bia’s voice was scribbled with spite. “But there’s more. Arodorros would not have asked to speak privately just for that.”
“Yeah.”
“Go on.”
“We only need one Hastor to bring the hourglass to Dawne.”
“Okay.”
“It can be either of us.”
“Yep.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Are we about to get to a point or…?”
I glanced about. “Do you not get it?”
“Nope.”
“Only one of us needs to go to Dawne.”
“Yes.”
“Only one of us has to deal with the hourglass, the Haelborne, everything.”
“Ari, I think you’re the one who’s not getting it.”
“...what?”
“Why don’t we both go?”
“But you could get away from all this. Stay with Dan and Rosa, stay away from all the mess we’re going to cause. You could be free.”
“And leave you in chains,” she smirked. “What were you thinking? Would you have done the same for me?”
“...”
“You didn’t consider it,” she frowned.
My face was ice.
“I did.”
“You are gonna need a hell of a character arc, little sis.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That’s a new nickname.”
“Eh, seemed fitting for the situation.”
“How nice of you.”
“You did just consider the saddling of an entire world’s responsibility onto my back.”
“...sorry.”
“Not your fault,” she stood up to leave, and reached out a hand. “Let’s all just blame Duskir and Faelorn instead. Just don’t do it again – and stop trying to Lloyd and I away from you. We take this burden together. Three backs break slower than one.”
“That is not the saying,” I smirked.
“Who gives a shit,” she smiled, and dragged me back outside.
***
We said goodbyes to the Verosavens, promised a return. Dan gave Bia a hug. Rosa tried to claw her fingers off with a handshake. Lloyd and Dan exchanged a long winded fist bump sequence. Arodorros worries on as we’ve forgotten all regard for hurry.
We’re on the road now, back south towards the capital. Road is just a saying here, of course. This town never built anything. Speaking of, the cultists haven’t shown their faces. Hopefully they never do.
Our route takes us past the mouth of the tunnel network. Speed wouldn’t serve us much good when we had to thread a needle through the entirety of Troltano and its cultist infested streets.
“We’re taking a zigzag route south,” Arodorros explained. “Throw off the Haelborne best we can. Stop at Troltano, then continue – ”
“Troltano?!” Bia’s eyes snapped open. “Why?”
“Your father has some things that Dawne should have.”
“He stole more than the hourglass then,” I sighed.
“Not stole. Well, nothing material he stole anyway. He has insight. Those visions I mentioned. There are documents and notes in there that will be of great value to the Dawne Kingdom.”
I bit my lip. “Will that be worth the risk?”
“Certainly. Getting your hourglass to Dawne is only the first step. Faelorn’s visions, however stupid or convoluted, can be utilized to help us in the rest of the war.”
I shared a worried glance with Lloyd, who shrugged. Bia was sighing at the mention of Faelorn, as per usual.
“You’re sure,” I said.
“The Matriarch made it known that this is a high priority,” Arodorros sniffed.
“Right,” Bia said sceptically.
We followed Arodorros’ route regardless. He was our ticket into Dawne – which seemed to be just about the only safe place on the globe these days. That doesn’t bode well for Rosa and Dan – but surely Haelcrien will last long enough for us to get to Dawne and come back for them. It’ll be much safer without Grim’s target on our backs.
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