Chapter 134: Virilya (1/2)
“Oh I like her. I’m Petra! Charles can we go please? I want a piece of those fuckers.” the woman said, first happy and smiling, turning furious at the last part of her sentence.
“We’ll think about it alright. I’m Charles as you already know, I assume you want to meet the people in charge?” the man said.
“Ilea, nice to meet you two. And yes, who would that be? Adam was the one summoning the demons by the way so he’s out.” she said.
“What? Adam? That’s gonna change things a little. Elder Urn was killed during the assault, Elder Quil has vanished with that massive beast and at least twenty of our own. She’d be the one in charge if she’s alive. The other two elders are nowhere to be found as always, probably in the north or looking for natural wonders for all we know. Dagon is actually the one organizing the members staying in the capital at the moment.” Charles explained.
“Hmm, the librarian? Sounds alright. Lead on then, I assume there’s no trouble with these guys?” Ilea asked, motioning behind her where the group of flying soldiers she had initially encountered were floating.
“Don’t worry about them. Petra would you take care of it and join us later darling?” Charles asked.
“Of course.” the woman said, her smile a little too enthusiastic but Ilea wasn’t going to stop whatever fun she would have with the soldiers.
“Well follow me then.” the man said, walking off towards the gate. “Time of essence?” he asked, looking sideways towards Ilea. The soldiers and workers around them glanced at the two completely black armored people every now and then, avoiding eye contact.
“Not really. I’ll go back whenever I’m done here. I have a letter from one of the squad leaders for Dagon. We’ll meet at Morhill in a week or two if it takes longer. Worst the demons will do is summon the literal devil to destroy all of Elos.” she answered.
“Alright, well it’s not gonna be less than a week anyway with everything going on. Maybe some of us will come with you immediately. Scouting the city and planning will take at least that much time. At least we know the terrain, secret entries and every building.” Charles said, walking through the humongous open gate. Ilea looked around, taking in the view.
“I’m not sure what that devil is you speak of but I assume you’re joking.” the man said, Ilea not reacting to what he said, stopping in her tracks right after entering the city. The smell had changed, a square opening up before her with beautiful trees, a massive fountain and colorful houses built with attention to intricate detail. It looked like a theme park’s interpretation of a medieval European city with the budget of Wall Street, sprinkled with magic.
“Didn’t grow up around here did you?” Charles asked and chuckled. The streets were bustling with activity, the people unconcerned about the massacre that had just happened a couple hundred meters outside their walls. The sun shined through the trees as merchants, bakers and smiths were shouting their wares and prices, restaurants and pubs serving food to their patrons as music played from their interiors.
“It’s beautiful…,” Ilea simply said and looked towards Charles. “No, never been here before.”
“Well then you’ll want a tour. It’s quite rich in character. I believe Viscera was inspired by Virilya, or the other way around. Both been here for a while. Considering the circumstances I suggest we wait with the tour though, objection?” he asked, surprising Ilea that he would even consider asking her. With the possible ramifications they didn’t know about Ilea was sure they should at least treat the retake and clearing of Ravenhall with utmost importance. She didn’t want to find out if there WAS a devil that could be summoned and knowing one mind weaver she knew they wouldn’t just sit idle on their newfound prize.
“No objections, lead the way. If it’s more than a couple minutes we can run or fly.” she said. The man nodded and started running, Ilea following behind a second later as they both sped up to find a comfortable pace for both of them, avoiding the people in the streets by jumping up to the buildings. Ilea nearly stumbled as she got a better view of the massive buildings, churches and literal wonders of architecture.
“Found myself in Rome eh?” she smiled and followed the man. “Why not fly?” she asked as they jumped over another building, both of them landing with such expertise that not a single brick moved out of place.
“They don’t like it. Not that it matters much but a happy host is a happy host. Running on the rooftops is already considered rude.” Charles replied in a loud voice as they sped through the city.
Ten minutes of high speed running later, Charles jumped off the building into a small square with a lot of trees and benches, devoid of people. The buildings adjacent were overgrown with ivy, their dark red color below reminded Ilea of something you’d see in the southern parts of central Europe.
In front of them however was a cathedral in gothic style, smaller than most of the others she had seen in the distance while running but not any less impressively built. Charles walked towards it, Ilea close behind.
Coming inside a massive man in black full plate armor nodded towards them upon entry. Next to him was the biggest sword Ilea had ever seen.
“Nice sword.” she said, looking at the thing, the man puffing out air as a response as they walked into the cathedral proper. The windows had a sand like tone to them, dimming the sunlight a little from outside. To Ilea it looked similar to one of the old churches she had visited, the only things missing were the rows of benches, an organ and pictures and sculptures of holy men and angels.
Instead she found tables and chairs, gear in piles and boxes, a bar near the wall with a man cleaning glasses. Warm magical lights gave the place a homely feeling. The place was near empty, only around six people sitting or walking around. Four of them were playing cards and drinking which didn’t leave many.
“Dagon, we have a visitor. With news from Ravenhall.” Charles said as the two walked to the man occupied by piles of letters in front of him. The man looked out over his glasses and took in the two people, a small smile forming as he spotted Ilea.
“Another survivor. I will note it. Welcome back to the Hand.” he said, getting up from his chair that nearly broke under the stress.
“Hey Dagon.” Ilea said and waved. The card playing people perked up and paused to see what she had to say.
“Letter for you.” she said as the item appeared in her Hand, giving it to the man who opened it immediately and started reading.
“So much for the worth of knowing you have a spacial storage item...” he murmured, looking at her for a split second before he continued reading. Ilea shrugged and waited.
“Hmm yes, yes yes. This is good. I’m happy he survived.” Dagon said. “A shame about Adam but I’m sure he had his reasons. Making himself an enemy of the Hand, I never thought he’d go that far.” he shook his head, his voice cracking with the last bit. Ilea noticed his hand was shaking a little.
“I suspected it….” he said and shook his head again, his hand brushing against his glasses as he steadied his breath.
“You lot, get together all the members you can find. We’re retaking Ravenhall.”
Ilea discussed the details she knew about with Dagon before she sat down at the bar, getting some mead as they waited for the Shadow’s Hand to gather. After finishing her drink she asked the barman if Dagon drank. The man didn’t know so she simply ordered a drink of his finest strong alcohol, walking over to Dagon with it.
“Do you drink?” she asked and stopped next to him, seeing that he had a blank page with a dried out feather next to it on the table.
“Here to buy information?” he asked after a moment.
“No, but I don’t want to be rude.” she said, placing the drink next to the paper. “I’m sorry about the elder. The way he talked he seemed sure of his decision but not happy with it.” she stated and walked back to the bar, not waiting for an answer.
“Do you have food as well?” she asked and the barman nodded, serving her a cold plate of snacks. “Any idea where I can get information on survivors from Ravenhall?” she asked and the barman looked at her like she was an idiot, nodding towards Dagon on his chair.
“I don’t want to bother him right now.” she said, getting an understanding nod from the barman.
“You don’t speak do you?” she asked, the mustached man just staring into her eyes with high intensity. He was at level two hundred as well, giving the stare quite a bit more weight.
“I’m looking for a cook. Keyla is her first name. Worked for this establishment… damn I forgot the name of it.” she said, starting to drink the fresh mead he had placed next to her.
The barman put down the glass he was cleaning, walking over to Dagon and taking one of the books on his table. Flipping through the pages he stopped at one and placed the book next to Ilea, a finger on the name Keyla Aranoth. Alive and in the capital it said next to the name.
“Glad to hear that. I’ll get in touch with her at some point then. Thanks.” she said, summoning a gold coin and placing it on the counter. He nodded and took the coin when he was behind the counter, picking up the glass again.
It took a mere three hours for the previously empty cathedral to be bristling with life. At least a hundred people were present, not a single one below level two hundred. Certainly a force to be reckoned with.