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After getting split off from her main group from a pack of Zeugles, it was only with a good amount of skill (or what it mainly was, luck) that she made it through to the tunnels to Cagalia relatively unharmed. Even more luckily, Hootle seems to be okay, if a bit shaken from this little expedition. Oh what she would do for some sweets though…
No matter, she’s almost to where the Gate of Flames was—
“Hoot? Hoot!”
“What is it, Hootle?”
The owl, calm seconds before, shakes himself from Rinwell’s hoodie and into a faraway rock behind her.
“Hootle, what was that—”
“What the hell?! Snuff it bird!”
Hootle slams into aged stone, wings twitching. Rinwell’s book unbinds as astral energy comes to her, fire on her lips, a growl coming out. “I’ll kill you!”
Her assaulter jumps out of their hiding place and runs at her. She hasn’t used her magic after that Lord has killed her family but this white hot hatred inside her makes the incantations flow faster and fireballs start falling from the sky.
The assaulter jumps into the air and punches a ball, exploding in his face. His body gets thrown across next to Hootle as Rinwell charges up another spell and runs up to the both of them. The assaulter groans in pain. Damn, that little stunt didn’t kill him. Hootle calls out to her in pain as she shoots a ball of light into the assaulter.
“Shhh, it’s okay Hootle.” Rinwell picks the poor owlet up into her arms. Hootle looks up at her with another pained cry. “I’ll get you help, just hang in there.” She looks back at the assaulter. Her last attack only seemed to knock him out, looking at his shallow breathing. Another strike would do him in. More astral energy comes to her—
“Hey!”
She turns around, two people running towards her, energy dispersing in her hand. One, a ( Renan) markswoman from the looks of her gun, and the other is a swordsman with two swords.
“You must be the Blazing Sword.” Rinwell says, cradling her arms around Hootle. “I’m Rinwell, from the Silver Swords, the resistance in Cyslodia.”
“You've heard of us?” Blazing Sword asks.
“Of course we have, you brought down one of the lords! No one has done that ever since the Renans—” She throws a nasty look at the Renan and the Renan throws it back. “Took over.” Hootle groans in her arms and she pulls him in closer. “And this is my owl, Hootle. He’s pretty hurt right now—”
The Renan walks over and with a healing arte, soothes Hootle into a light sleep. “There.”
Rinwell stares at her.
The Blazing Sword steps towards the Renan. “Shionne…”
“If I didn’t heal the owl, it would’ve taken us more time from going into Cyslodia and killing the rest of the lords.” The Renan frowns at him, tapping her foot.
“We could’ve left him behind—”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“...You’re right.” Blazing Sword looks down at Hootle. “What happened to the poor thing?”
Rinwell looks back at her assaulter. “The Lord of Cyslodia, Ganabelt, probably heard about my group’s trip here and had someone follow us.” She couches down, holding Hootle closer to her chest. “They were probably going to have him report back about us and lay an ambush. Luckily, Hootle caught him before he was able to get back but…”
“Wait, hold on. He looks like a Dahnan.”
"That's another thing about Cyslodia." Rinwell moves Hootle to one arm and looks for a rock. "We're made to turn on each other." She picks up a blunt piece of stone—
"Hold up there Rinwell." Blazing Sword squats down, eye focusing on the assaulter. "You're saying that the Renans have made Dahnans fight each other in Cyslodia?"
“Yes, with the Bureau of Civil Observation that Ganabelt created, Dahnens are forced to rat each other out. If not, they’ll be forced to die in slave labor.” She raises her rock, aiming for the assaulter’s head. “And he is a traitor. That’s why I can’t allow him to live.” With all of the force she has, she strikes—
“No.” Blazing Sword grips the rock and Rinwell pushes against him but his hand is unmoving as he continues. “We can’t let our hatred of the Renans cloud us into killing each other.”
“But he hurt Hootle!” She struggles— she can’t just allow another person to hurt her family and get away with it. Not again.
“I know. But Hootle is okay now, right?”
Rinwell looks down. Hootle is still sleeping in the crook of her arm, now snoring slightly. “Y-yeah.”
“And this guy is down—” Blazing Sword looks at the assaulter again. “... How did you do that anyways?”
Rinwell opens her mouth and then closes it quickly, eyes looking around the ground. “A-ah, I got lucky and he tripped on a rock.”
“No he didn’t.” If this Renan had thorns, then Rinwell could feel them stabbing into her throat. Shionne looks at where the assaulter punched her fireball, scorch marks line the ground. “I could feel latent astral energy from here, not to mention the damage. So either you got a Renan partner with you hidden from us or you’re able to use astral artes.”
Rinwell lets go of the rock, shooting up into a standing position, holding Hootle with both arms. She could tell them of her history and abilities— lying anymore about this would probably cost her in the long run. But she can’t just say it out in the open, that’s way too dangerous. “... I don’t feel safe saying what the answer is, not here.” She looks at the two. “Could we go back to your base? I’ll tell you what happened over there.”
“Okay,” the Blazing Sword says. “I also want to question him.” The assaulter is still on the ground, slumped against the wall. “I want you to promise me you won’t stab him in the back while he’s here. I understand he hurt Hootle and that he went against us Dahnans but the reason I took up the Blazing Sword wasn’t just to take our homeland back from the Renans, but to free all Dahnans too. That starts with focusing on the real enemy and not ourselves.” The Blazing Sword looks at the Renan before turning back to Rinwell. “Can you promise me that?”
Rinwell stares. “... Okay. Just as long as he isn't near me or Hootle.”
The Blazing Sword smiles, “Alright.” Then he picks up the assaulter. “Sorry about this Shionne—”
Shionne raises her hand. “Don’t be. Interrogating him would be more beneficial to us than running in blind even with Rinwell as our guide.”
“That’s true.” Rinwell says as they start walking back through the Wall of Fire. “Oh, I didn’t catch your names.”
“Alphen.”
“...Shionne.”
Walking up to what Rinwell assumes is the leader of the Crimson Crows, he seems to be flabbergasted by the person Alphen is holding as he puts the assaulter down. “... I’m assuming you know him?”
“Alphen, that’s my son.”
“Your son?”
The leader nods. “He left a year or two ago, after my wife died.”
“Zephyr…”
“But now here he is.” Zephyr stares at— actually no, when Rinwell looks more closely, he’s looking at the ground before his son. “You know the fight we’ve taken up is a hard one and I’ve made my fair share of regrets. Keeping my son at arms-length during my time of grief was one of them.
Everyone in the room was silent for a few moments before Zephyr took his eyes off of the floor and towards Rinwell. “Oh, it seems like we got ourselves another guest.”
Rinwell steps forward. “Rinwell, sir. I’ve come here from the Silver Swords—”
“I imagine you’ve come here to ask for the Blazing Sword’s help?”
“Yes.”
"Well, I apologize for the sappy introduction then." He reaches out for a handshake and Rinwell takes it. "Zephyr, leader of the Crimson Crows. Though, I imagine you've already assumed that."
Rinwell nods, feeling a hole being drilled into her by Shionne. Right, she should get on with that. "I was wondering if I could talk to Alphen and Shionne privately for a moment while you talk to your son."
"Huh, right onto business then. You could clear out the room up top, just tell the people up there that it's coming from me."
"Right. I'll do that right now then." Alphen says, going off to climb the ladder.
"Thank you sir."
"No, thank you for bringing my son here." Zephyr looks at the boy, grief and pain setting on his face. "Now, it's time to try to fix my mistakes."
People start coming down. "Hey guys, it's empty now," Alphen calls down the hatch.
Rinwell and Shionne climb up (thankfully Alphen grabs onto Hootle when Rinwell was in the middle of the ladder and placed him on a nearby bed) and Rinwell starts her explanation. That she’s a mage, the last of her people and their history. The death of her family by the hands of monsters . Her abilities—
“Wait.” Shionne says. “You have to use a book to cast astral artes?”
“Yep. For Renans, you use your entire body as a conductor of astral energy for your spells and while mages do the same thing, it isn’t as efficient as using a spell book. And without it, well, I wouldn’t be able to start.” Shionne nods and Rinwell casts a simple spell, a ball of light on her fingertip before dispelling it. "... That's the first time I ever got to show off a spell." Rinwell whispers, the warmth of the light fading from her finger.
"I'm glad we were the first ones to see it then." Alphen says. "It'll also be helpful when we head out back to Cyslodia. You'll be okay using it while we're out there though?"
"Yes. Any risks of anyone trying to take or kill me from knowing that I’m a mage is now offset by you and Shionne."
"You expect us to be your bodyguards?" Shionne frowns— actually, Rinwell is starting to think that's her permanent expression.
“No, bodyguards means that I’m helpless.”
“Seeing Zephyr’s son, you’re far from it, Rinwell.” Alphen smiles at her and she returns it. “Now, is there anything else that we should know about Cyslodia before we head out again?”
“When we get to Cyslodia, we should head towards the capital, Cysloden. That’s where the Slivers Swords are at.”
“Okay. We should rest up beforehand and see if Zephyr has gotten through to his son. If he didn’t then we all are heading out. Shionne, got anything to say?”
“No.” Shionne says.
“Hoot?” Everyone turns to see Hootle, turning his head at Shionne and Alphen. “Hoot.”
“Hootle!” Rinwell runs up to him and picks him up.
“Ho—!” He flaps out of her hands, coming down and relaxes into her hoodie.
“Aw, I know how much you like it in there, Hoots.”
“... Isn’t Hootle short enough without a nickname like that?” Shionne folds her arms. Typical attitude you expect from a Renan.
“Shionne…” Alphen gives her an unimpressed look and the group stays like that for a few hours. Well, Rinwell thinks it was a few hours but the light outside hasn’t changed.
Rinwell steps closer to Alphen, making sure her whisper could still be heard by Shionne— “Is she always like this?”
Alphen gives her a hurt face before replying, “Yeah.”
Oh this is going to be a long trip to Cyslodia then, isn’t it.
“I’m planning to bring Law with us.”
Rinwell blinks. “Why?” She says slowly, frustration in her throat as she looks at Zephyr and his son. Oh, he’s not in his hoodie anymore. Sad, it’ll make it harder to burn him with a fireball later.
“He has agreed to help us traverse into Cysloden— unsurprisingly he knows the inside of Ganabelt’s base and how Ganabelt works. It’s also an extra pair of hands to help us there.” Zephyr breathes in and lowers himself where both him and Rinwell are eye-level. “Rinwell, I understand that he hurt your owl and if that makes him untrustworthy to you then just say the word and he’ll stay here.
”But he wants to help us now, and I’m not the one to turn people away from second chances.”
Second chances. Give him a second chance after siding with the Renans and hurting Hootle?
“R-Rinwell,” the traitor comes next to Zephyr (he’s taller than her by a good head, irritatingly) and looks to the side, rubbing the back of his head. “I’m willing to make it up to you, alright? I may have been under orders from Ganabelt to chase after you but attacking you was still uncalled for. I’m— I’m sorry.”
“You’re not going back to Ganabelt, are you?” Rinwell puts her hands on her hips, Hootle looking over her shoulder.
“Wha— No! I hate that guy’s guts!” He finally looks at her, a firm frown on his face. Ah, maybe he is serious.
“Hm. Okay,” she turns around and starts to walk off. “I’m okay with you coming. The second I see you go back on your word though, you better hope Alphen is there to stop me for the second time.”
“Wait-wait, what?! Rinwell—”
Breathless from all of the fights they had to go through, Rinwell puts her hands on her knees and shakes her head in disbelief from actually appreciating coming back to the cold of Cyslodia.
Everyone coming here has been doing well in combat, unsurprisingly. The all-consuming heat of the Blazing Sword is something Rinwell would’ve thought to be fantasy if she didn’t see the destruction of the Gates of Flame beforehand. Watching it in action though, it’s… scary. And how Alphen and Shionne setting up foes for the other to take down makes it seem like taking down Ganabelt is possible.
Oh. And there’s Zephyr and his son too. They’re probably protecting her back as she was casting.
“Rinwell.” She looks up to Alphen, who looks at her for a second before turning to Zephyr’s son. “Law. That village up ahead, will it lead us towards Cysloden?”
“Yes, but it’ll lead us into the Rudhir Forest.”
“The Rudhir Forest?”
“It’s a forest filled to the brim with Zeugles— Ganabelt tried to clear it out a few years back.” Zephyr’s son says, pointing into the cliffs behind Messia 224. “But he stopped sending forces in and just created alternates routes into Cysloden that are heavily patrolled.”
“The forest is a faster way through if we could sneak past the Zeugles.” Rinwell says.
“... Explains why Ganabelt didn’t tell me your guys’ direct route.” Law shakes his head. “I don’t know if y’all are crazy or desperate.” Oh, is that how he wants to play it?
“Well,” Rinwell walks up to him and pokes his chest, pushing him back a step. “Why wouldn’t you know, with all of the people you sent to that slave tower, making it so Cyslodia couldn’t even see the sun . You know, that thing that everything needs to survive?” Rinwell shakes her head and turns around. How in Daha’s name could you make such an insensitive comment? “We’ve been enslaved for three hundred years. Three. Hundred. You think uprisings weren’t created beforehand? They were but then they were squashed because the Renans took notice. Every single time.”
“I-”
She turns around, flushed cheeks melting the snow falling on them. “So we have to take risks and at least this way our families wouldn’t have to be forced into slavery for our actions.”
“Rinwell, that’s enough.” Zephyr puts a hand on her shoulder. “He understands what’s at stake. Right, Law?”
Zephyr’s son looks at Rinwell for a second before looking elsewhere, sleepish. “Yes Dad.”
Zephyr pauses for a second, letting go of her shoulder. “We should find somewhere to rest, getting here took a lot out of us.”
Rinwell points towards the north, towards the closest cliff face. “...There should be a cave along this ridgeline. We could rest there.”
Around the charred remains of their campfire, Rinwell watches out of the cave as night watch. There have been some Renan partols going around but they’ve been focused on clearing the Zeugles for Messia 224.
"Rinwell?"
She looks back, the traitor coming towards her.
"Yes?" She turns back around, facing away from him.
"What do you plan to do after we take down Ganabelt?"
Her hands turn into fists. "We move onto the other lords, and help the people there." She looks at him, voice with a slight edge. "Why do you ask?"
"You just… Before I ran over here, I would talk to the guys in the Crimson Crows a lot. You speak like the ones who have lost everything."
"That's—" Exactly right, the traitorous part of her brain tells her. She might have a plan after Genabelt but not after freeing Daha. All she needs is revenge to make things right for her. And her parents. "Hey, you don't have to tell me." He raises his hands up. “I know how it is.” He looks into Cyslodia, the snow forever falling. “I know how it is a bit too well.”
Rinwell stares at him for a second. “That’s oddly insightful of you, Law.”
He blinks. “I think that’s the first time you’ve called me by my name this entire journey.”
She smiles, though she could feel it not reaching her eyes. “...True.”
“Beginning to trust me now?” He smiles back, his cheeks making his eyes smaller.
“Maybe. Ask me again when I save your behind from another Zeugle.”
“And when I prevent them from rushing you down?”
“I always thought that was just you wanting to get into the fight as fast as possible.”
He frowns and crosses his arms. “Well, that’s not exactly true.”
“That wasn’t a denial.” The conversation dies as they watch the snow outside as it falls until it is time for Alphen to watch.
They’ve decided on going through the Rudhir Forest on Rinwell’s word. If they choose the other routes, they risk fully alerting Genabelt to their presence. He may be tipped off from Law’s absence but it’ll keep Renan partols from chasing them until they’re inside the capitol at least.
“Sorry Shionne, there wasn’t another ruin to get a coat you like.” Alphen says, giving her a normal coat.
She just grumbled under her breath and Rinwell could only raise her eyebrow at the exchange. "Why would you need to go to a ruin for a coat?"
Alphen looked at her for a second. "Long story, I'll explain it later." And then he looks over everyone else. "We're ready to go in?"
Everything seems in order, so they leave.
Messia 224's a small village, one that doesn't get the attention of the Renan's much other than as a touching point between Cysloden and the Gate of Flames. Thankfully it seems like the locals are still inside as they pass on through and there aren't any BCO here either.
Rinwell stops at the entrance to the Rudhir Forest. "This place always had heavy snowfall here and the Zeugles are tough, so we have to be careful."
"Right." Alphen takes point and leads them into the forest. They maneuver through the snow, Rinwell can’t see her footprints behind her as they progress. Alphen holds up the Blazing Sword as a touch to see further and thankfully that seems to drive off Zeugles in their path.
After a bit of time, they find a plateau and rest a bi—
A roar makes Rinwell pull out her book, a large bloom of snow covering her eyes. She could hear Alphen yell something in the distance but she can’t make out the words as she starts casting at the snowcloud.
“Burning Strike!” Fire falls from the sky as the snow cloud whisk away into a massive wolf. It dashes towards Rinwell as she starts running away from the group. “I have its attention!”
The wolf turns with her, gaining ground. She breathes in and casts towards the ground, “Rinwell!” She doesn’t know who said that as her body is in the air and more energy comes to her. The wolf jumps up towards her as her next attack comes out.
“Swallow's Flight!” Disks of air appear next to her, throwing themselves into the wolf. It redirects the wolf’s mouth, from her body to—
From her place in the air, Rinwell gets pulled down to the packed snow— her ankle stuck in the wolf’s mouth. She bites her tongue to prevent herself from screaming and tries to focus on another spell.
“Let her go!” The wolf recoils to the side as astral energy fills her hand and she aims at the wolf’s eyes.
“Air Thru— woah, woah!” The spell comes out as the wolf spins around, letting her go and she feels herself thrown into the air in a random direction.
“Rinwell!”