Reliquary
Saint Felix stood at the top step of the anima pyre, watching the strange magical liquid bubble and swirl.
Life essence distilled down. He idly wondered how many body had passed though this pyre. It was one of the oldest in known existence; he was sure he could not even properly conceive of the number. But he was sure it was still had seen less than the Cryphan pyre, with all that land's wars and senseless conflict even in times of peace. The Saint sat alone with his thoughts, children already sent home, and in this moment of solitude he considered taking that one last step into the pyre.
To join them. He swayed toward the edge, the draw of it tempting him to move.
"Are you sure?" A rough voice came from behind, the saint turned just enough to catch a glance at blonde hair and crimson eyes that he still found startling.
"I don't think you have the right to question me," Felix snapped back, but the edge of his voice faded to something more tired than angry.
"I am not going to stop you," Eran assured him, hands held up in surrender. "I just felt that for their sake I should at least try and make sure you had really thought this through," The war criminal leaned against the railing just a few steps behind Felix, he looked content enough to watch the man take that last step if that is what it came to.
"The children are grown," Felix shot back, justifying, one hand curling so tight around the railing that his knuckles had gone white.
Eran nodded his head in agreement. "I am not saying you should stay to be father, that hardly seems like a reason that would appeal to you." The words were calculated, designed to hit a nerve and when the saint turned to face him, rage written across his face he knew it was a direct hit.
"You hardly have a right to speak on the matters of fatherhood, do you even know where half of your lab-grown assassin children are?"
"No," Unlike Felix that hardly seemed to get a rise out of the inventor. "You did not let me finish,"
"Go on then," Felix said, waving his hand, ushering the man to go on. "Let me hear more of your words of wisdom on matters of loss and fatherhood." Eran took a step forward, leaving only one stair between them.
"You only went and settled down to play father because there was no war." Eran did not pause for more than a breath, he did not want the saint to have time to argue. "You have moved from conflict to conflict for hundreds of years in some form or another and even when death separated you from your battle, you refused it. You paid that boy to burn all but your finger just so you could find your way back to the bloodshed--"
"That isn't what happened!" Felix snapped, but Eran held out a hand.
"Don't be offended, it's something I admire about you," Eran assured him, but that only caused the saint to release the railing and close that final step between them. "You even called yourself the 'Saint of Vengeance', you knew what you stood for: a leader, but only in times of conflict." Eran took a step back, trying to defuse the building tension. "But times of conflict are not over, and you are in an unusual position, Saint of Vengeance." He began to walk down the steps of the Athanorian pyre, towards where the ceremony had been. "You can step in that pyre and relent, finally put away that mantle of vengeance..."
The man from another world shrugged his shoulders. "Or you can finally let it consume you."
Felix paused for a long time, something was wrong here, this-- "You aren't Eran," Felix said finally and the one wearing his father-in-law's skin turned, smiling in a way that looked wrong on the older man's face.
"No," She said, "I'm not."
Lai is running as fast as her feet will carry her, but it seems that is not fast enough for the companion made of metal and gears at her side. He pulls the preteen into his arms with one firm tug on the back of her shirt, and then they are running far faster than her short legs had managed. "They saw us." Lia's voice was still breathless. "It's too late." She knew that would not stop Eldon from doing his best to escape the dragon's wrath. "They have better things to do than chase a girl," Eldon assured her, voice rough and metallic. "Trust me." Lai looked dubious, but she settled in against him, forcing herself not to look back towards town, to see if the dragon had taken flight yet.
"I hate that you were right," Lai muttered as she placed her gathered firewood in the center of the cave. "I often am," the automaton chirped happily, standing to assist his charge with creating a fire for the evening. Something needed to be done to keep the small human warm. Eldon wished his charge had not been made out of such fragile parts and sadly he had been informed multiple times that it was very difficult and almost always deadly to try and modify a human. "I should have let the dragons decommission you." "That is a terrible thing to say to your only friend." A rock was thrown from the other side of the dark cave, hitting the automaton in the chest harmlessly, but much to Lai's satisfaction it did make a rather loud noise.
Lai had lost track how long her and Eldon had been on the run. It felt like an eternity, but Eldon was always happy to remind her it had only been months, perhaps almost a year. They could never stay anywhere long in fear of being seen and reported, she had started to resort to stealing from merchants in the towns they passed as there was never a chance to do any work for coin. "You need to eat," Eldon insisted, pushing the small piece of bread towards the dirty girl who somehow looked younger than she had eight months ago. Eldon assumed that was an effect of the hard labor on her body with not enough to eat. She had grown of course, children were prone to doing that, but mostly she had gotten taller. Eldon often remarked that she looked like a willow tree, dusty green hair only making the description more accurate. "There isn't another town for two days." The words were tight, edged with exhaustion and despair. "If I eat that now there will be nothing for tomorrow." She knew Eldon meant well, but he didn't understand how long they had yet to do. "I will be fine, let me get some rest." Eldon let the subject drop, but his worry carried into the night.
"Nobody lives here anymore," Lai said for the fifth time, but she had followed Eldon all the way to the gates of Winter Bloom. "Not after the massacre, not even the Saints would come back here." "Then there must be supplies left behind." Lai huffed something under her breath but she continued to walk behind the automaton, kicking a few rocks for entertainment as they moved through the town. When they passed the decaying gate and into the town that was made of small hovels decaying with time and no sign of life for over a hundred years, to say Lai was unimpressed was an understatement. "Congrats," Voice heavy with mockery, "You brought us to a rotting old town probably full of corpses and ghosts." Eldon not deterred kept walking towards the large cathedral that overlooked the once flourishing rebellion town. "How much do you know about the old saints?" A desperate attempt by the automaton attempt to fill the silence that seemed to be closing in on them but all he got from his companion was a barely audible grumble. "I will take it you weren't paying attention in your history lessons." No response still, Eldon resigned himself to a quiet walk up the hill.
The Eternal Church was once a monument to resistance and hope in a dark time, but age had finally caught up to it. Several of the once grand stained-glass windows had cracked, the old wooden door could no longer close properly letting in the cold gusts of winter air that cause it to shudder like someone left out in the cold. "Are you sure about this?" Lai raised one eyebrow, but her arms were wrapped tightly around herself, something to keep warm. "This place looks...haunted and honestly I can't imagine it gets anymore pleasant inside." Eldon shifted his weight between his feet, causing his metallic body to make an awful creaking sound. "It will be warmer than sitting outside," he offered, stepping forward to pull open the old church door. "And we could get a fire going." That was enough to get Lai helping him open the door. "But if there is a ghost," she said as she looked in at the decaying space, "You are fighting it." "Deal." Eldon moved in ahead of Lai, pulling the sword from the old battered sheath on his back. He moved ahead of his charge, checking behind old pews, shifting aside curtains to ensure no specter waited for them. "Looks like the worst you will find here is very large spiders." Lia took that as a sign it was safe to walk inside, she still did not dare move too far from Eldon. When a door opened near the alter Lia all but jumped out of her skin, scrambling to reach for the red fabric that hung around Eldon like a cloak. The man who stepped out was thin, hair falling down past his shoulders almost to the middle of his back and pale grey that had faded closer to white over the years. Dressed in crimson garments and light armoring he cut an imposing figure. The Saint stepped out of the doorway, hands raised as to show the pair he meant no harm. "Who are you?" Lai snapped, growing bold when the man seemed harmless enough. Eldon laid one hand on her shoulder, a silent warning not to move ahead. "You walked into my home." The Saint seemed amused by their presence. "I believe it is I who should be asking you that." He took another step towards them, hands still at his side. "Apologies," Eldon was quick to speak before Lai could go on provoking their host. "We had to flee our city for our safety, we were just looking for a place to stay for the evening." The Saint looked them over again, sighing before ushering them forward. "Come then, let's get the girl by the fire. I was making dinner and there should be enough to share."
Eldon sat in the corner, making repairs on his hand that he had neglected during the journey. Lai was as close to the fire as she could safely be, it felt as if her bones were still frozen, but slowly it was getting better. "You don't regret it?" Lai asked after a moment, a follow up question to the story the saint told. "No." "Not even a little? You will never see them again..." Lai wondered how you could just abandon someone like that. "That isn't true," Felix corrected. He picked up the metal rod at his side, prodding at the fire. "There are ways and I intend to find them, when I am done here." He would eventually be done, no matter what she said to him that day. It just wasn't now. After all those years, he couldn't stop until the mission was done. "Until what is done?" That pulled a laugh from the saint. "You know, someone once asked if I knew when I would know that my mission was over, and for a long time I wasn't sure." Setting down the rod he looked up at Lai, pink eyes meeting emerald ones. "But I know now, there is something that can fix all of this." Now Lai was invested, she leaned forward just slightly. If there was something that could fix what the dragons had done, that would mean that her and Eldon could go home. She could see her mother again, go back to sleeping in her own bed and not paying attention in boring history classes. "What is it?" Lai demanded. "Tell me." Felix laughed, smiling in a bittersweet way. "I will tell you," he promised. "But first I have to tell you another story, about a tower from a world before our own." That seemed to appease the girl, she leaned back settling in for the next story.
A week after coming into the Saint's care, Lai had woken up to find that Eldon was nowhere to be found. She checked every possible hiding place before waking the saint from his slumber. "Wake up," Lai was panicked, shaking the sleeping man roughly by his shoulders. "Eldon is gone!" Felix blinked slowly into awareness, swatting her away. "Of course he is," Felix said as he sat up. "The dragons have been getting closer, if they found him here they would kill all of us. It was only a matter of time." Lai stepped away as if she had been struck. "No." Lai stormed towards the door. "He wouldn't just give up! Not after we found somewhere safe." She threw the door open, anger causing her to tremble. "He isn't like you! He wouldn't abandon me." Felix moved to say something, but she was already running out the door. He sighed. This would only end poorly. "Titans, give me patience."
Felix found her out in the snow. She was cradling an old ratty bundle of red fabric in her arms. No words were exchanged as he settled in to sit next to her, one hand finding her shoulder. "Did he tell you?" she asked, voice still rough from sobbing. "No." "If he did would you have told me?" Lai turned to look at him, wide-eyed and desperate to trust him. "Yes, I would have." There were always appropriate moments to lie and this was one of them. She nodded, seeming content enough with his answer to lean into his side for comfort. "It's not fair," she mumbled, still holding tight to what she had left of her dear friend. "I know," he said softly. Because there was no answer that would make anything better, at least for now.
Lai is running as fast as her feet will carry her, but it seems that is not fast enough for the companion made of metal and gears at her side. He pulls the preteen into his arms with one firm tug on the back of her shirt, and then they are running far faster than her short legs had managed. "They saw us." Lia's voice was still breathless. "It's too late." She knew that would not stop Eldon from doing his best to escape the dragon's wrath. "They have better things to do than chase a girl," Eldon assured her, voice rough and metallic. "Trust me." Lai looked dubious, but she settled in against him, forcing herself not to look back towards town, to see if the dragon had taken flight yet.
"I hate that you were right," Lai muttered as she placed her gathered firewood in the center of the cave. "I often am," the automaton chirped happily, standing to assist his charge with creating a fire for the evening. Something needed to be done to keep the small human warm. Eldon wished his charge had not been made out of such fragile parts and sadly he had been informed multiple times that it was very difficult and almost always deadly to try and modify a human. "I should have let the dragons decommission you." "That is a terrible thing to say to your only friend." A rock was thrown from the other side of the dark cave, hitting the automaton in the chest harmlessly, but much to Lai's satisfaction it did make a rather loud noise.
Lai had lost track how long her and Eldon had been on the run. It felt like an eternity, but Eldon was always happy to remind her it had only been months, perhaps almost a year. They could never stay anywhere long in fear of being seen and reported, she had started to resort to stealing from merchants in the towns they passed as there was never a chance to do any work for coin. "You need to eat," Eldon insisted, pushing the small piece of bread towards the dirty girl who somehow looked younger than she had eight months ago. Eldon assumed that was an effect of the hard labor on her body with not enough to eat. She had grown of course, children were prone to doing that, but mostly she had gotten taller. Eldon often remarked that she looked like a willow tree, dusty green hair only making the description more accurate. "There isn't another town for two days." The words were tight, edged with exhaustion and despair. "If I eat that now there will be nothing for tomorrow." She knew Eldon meant well, but he didn't understand how long they had yet to do. "I will be fine, let me get some rest." Eldon let the subject drop, but his worry carried into the night.
"Nobody lives here anymore," Lai said for the fifth time, but she had followed Eldon all the way to the gates of Winter Bloom. "Not after the massacre, not even the Saints would come back here." "Then there must be supplies left behind." Lai huffed something under her breath but she continued to walk behind the automaton, kicking a few rocks for entertainment as they moved through the town. When they passed the decaying gate and into the town that was made of small hovels decaying with time and no sign of life for over a hundred years, to say Lai was unimpressed was an understatement. "Congrats," Voice heavy with mockery, "You brought us to a rotting old town probably full of corpses and ghosts." Eldon not deterred kept walking towards the large cathedral that overlooked the once flourishing rebellion town. "How much do you know about the old saints?" A desperate attempt by the automaton attempt to fill the silence that seemed to be closing in on them but all he got from his companion was a barely audible grumble. "I will take it you weren't paying attention in your history lessons." No response still, Eldon resigned himself to a quiet walk up the hill.
The Eternal Church was once a monument to resistance and hope in a dark time, but age had finally caught up to it. Several of the once grand stained-glass windows had cracked, the old wooden door could no longer close properly letting in the cold gusts of winter air that cause it to shudder like someone left out in the cold. "Are you sure about this?" Lai raised one eyebrow, but her arms were wrapped tightly around herself, something to keep warm. "This place looks...haunted and honestly I can't imagine it gets anymore pleasant inside." Eldon shifted his weight between his feet, causing his metallic body to make an awful creaking sound. "It will be warmer than sitting outside," he offered, stepping forward to pull open the old church door. "And we could get a fire going." That was enough to get Lai helping him open the door. "But if there is a ghost," she said as she looked in at the decaying space, "You are fighting it." "Deal." Eldon moved in ahead of Lai, pulling the sword from the old battered sheath on his back. He moved ahead of his charge, checking behind old pews, shifting aside curtains to ensure no specter waited for them. "Looks like the worst you will find here is very large spiders." Lia took that as a sign it was safe to walk inside, she still did not dare move too far from Eldon. When a door opened near the alter Lia all but jumped out of her skin, scrambling to reach for the red fabric that hung around Eldon like a cloak. The man who stepped out was thin, hair falling down past his shoulders almost to the middle of his back and pale grey that had faded closer to white over the years. Dressed in crimson garments and light armoring he cut an imposing figure. The Saint stepped out of the doorway, hands raised as to show the pair he meant no harm. "Who are you?" Lai snapped, growing bold when the man seemed harmless enough. Eldon laid one hand on her shoulder, a silent warning not to move ahead. "You walked into my home." The Saint seemed amused by their presence. "I believe it is I who should be asking you that." He took another step towards them, hands still at his side. "Apologies," Eldon was quick to speak before Lai could go on provoking their host. "We had to flee our city for our safety, we were just looking for a place to stay for the evening." The Saint looked them over again, sighing before ushering them forward. "Come then, let's get the girl by the fire. I was making dinner and there should be enough to share."
Eldon sat in the corner, making repairs on his hand that he had neglected during the journey. Lai was as close to the fire as she could safely be, it felt as if her bones were still frozen, but slowly it was getting better. "You don't regret it?" Lai asked after a moment, a follow up question to the story the saint told. "No." "Not even a little? You will never see them again..." Lai wondered how you could just abandon someone like that. "That isn't true," Felix corrected. He picked up the metal rod at his side, prodding at the fire. "There are ways and I intend to find them, when I am done here." He would eventually be done, no matter what she said to him that day. It just wasn't now. After all those years, he couldn't stop until the mission was done. "Until what is done?" That pulled a laugh from the saint. "You know, someone once asked if I knew when I would know that my mission was over, and for a long time I wasn't sure." Setting down the rod he looked up at Lai, pink eyes meeting emerald ones. "But I know now, there is something that can fix all of this." Now Lai was invested, she leaned forward just slightly. If there was something that could fix what the dragons had done, that would mean that her and Eldon could go home. She could see her mother again, go back to sleeping in her own bed and not paying attention in boring history classes. "What is it?" Lai demanded. "Tell me." Felix laughed, smiling in a bittersweet way. "I will tell you," he promised. "But first I have to tell you another story, about a tower from a world before our own." That seemed to appease the girl, she leaned back settling in for the next story.
A week after coming into the Saint's care, Lai had woken up to find that Eldon was nowhere to be found. She checked every possible hiding place before waking the saint from his slumber. "Wake up," Lai was panicked, shaking the sleeping man roughly by his shoulders. "Eldon is gone!" Felix blinked slowly into awareness, swatting her away. "Of course he is," Felix said as he sat up. "The dragons have been getting closer, if they found him here they would kill all of us. It was only a matter of time." Lai stepped away as if she had been struck. "No." Lai stormed towards the door. "He wouldn't just give up! Not after we found somewhere safe." She threw the door open, anger causing her to tremble. "He isn't like you! He wouldn't abandon me." Felix moved to say something, but she was already running out the door. He sighed. This would only end poorly. "Titans, give me patience."
Felix found her out in the snow. She was cradling an old ratty bundle of red fabric in her arms. No words were exchanged as he settled in to sit next to her, one hand finding her shoulder. "Did he tell you?" she asked, voice still rough from sobbing. "No." "If he did would you have told me?" Lai turned to look at him, wide-eyed and desperate to trust him. "Yes, I would have." There were always appropriate moments to lie and this was one of them. She nodded, seeming content enough with his answer to lean into his side for comfort. "It's not fair," she mumbled, still holding tight to what she had left of her dear friend. "I know," he said softly. Because there was no answer that would make anything better, at least for now.
Featured Characters: Felix Aisling, Kjæreste Aisling, Lai
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