136 Much Ado About Love (1/2)

Reed and Lu'um had almost gotten caught. Not even half an hour later, a small battleship had entered Cem-Elle's airspace several thousand meters above in secret. It was stealth-focused scoutship designed for reconnaissance into enemy territory in the Shadowlands.

The Mirage-class, Autumn Whisper had arrived in Cem-Elle. It probingly scanned the small town and its immediate surroundings, miles above as it hid in a passing patch of clouds.

It was looking for any abnormal Anima fluctuations. Even the slightest in Anima density was enough to be picked up by the sensitive equipment on board the ship. Anything that displaced Anima was fair game to the ship, be it hovercraft engines, holo-screens, streetlights, and electronics.

If it ran on Anima, it created a displacement that could be measured and analyzed. Of course, this included... Chosen, too. They were living Anima batteries and therefore, constantly displaced Anima wherever they went. The stronger the Chosen, the greater the displacement, too.

A normal mortal displaced Anima too, but it was not as a meager thing. They, on average, displaced as much Anima as a toaster would.

The average Contender was another story, though. They displaced roughly enough Anima as a hovercraft engine. Conquerors displaced enough Anima to match smaller warships, depending on how skilled they were.

Hence, it was very easy to identify hiding Chosen from the masses. All you needed to see was whether they were walking reactors or not.

As such, the crew of the Autumn Whisper was looking for was a person that had a displacement large enough to match a vehicle. It should not have been too hard to find an anomaly as large as that, but...

They had experienced certain complications the moment they arrived. Problems had arisen all over the ship.

Minor glitches in the propulsion system.

Inaccurate readings from the Anima scanners.

Sudden power surges in the reactor core of the ship.

Erratic and dangerous failures in the ship's life support systems.

The crew of the Autumn Whisper tried their hardest to get a good scan of the town, but the ship continued to grow increasingly more unstable the longer they remained above Cem-Elle.

Eventually, the situation reached a breaking point and the captain of the ship ordered for the ship to retreat. For one reason or another, the Autumn Whisper had been pushed back by some unknown force of nature.

Further investigations into the mysterious event over the small town of Cem-Elle would conclude that the entire crew of the Autumn Whisper had suffered a sudden onset of paranoia and mass hallucinations.

Several different inspectors would note that Cem-Elle was nothing more than what it seemed like on paper. A little town for mortals.

...Reed and Lu'um, on the other hand, had not witnessed the paranormal event. They'd bolted straight out of Cem-Elle to the east, near the border between the South and the East laid.

After several days worth of driving, they finally reached their destination, the city of Haufin. It was one of the larger cities in the South, located on its eastern coast. It was a coastal city that acted as a cross mix between the South and the East's cultures, given how close it was.

For Reed, it was uncharted territory, especially since it was a city filled with non-humans. Avunian tourists were aplenty in the city, but that wasn't his concern. He'd once been an Avunian prince, so they weren't what caught him off guard.

It was the Eisalo that made Reed feel uncomfortable. He had heard of them from the townspeople in Cem-Elle, but not once had he really dealt them that much since he arrived in the South. They were the race that ruled the South, even though it was a mix of a variety of other minor races.

The main problem Reed had with them, as did many, was that the Eisalo were a transformative people. 'Fluidity' best described what they were on any given day. None of them had permanent forms like Humans, Avunians, or any other race on the continent.

If Avunians were considered to be the most beautiful of all the races on Mulia, the Eisalons were considered the most seductive because of their unique racial trait. They had the mysterious ability to change their appearance to match their mate's tastes in a variety of ways. For this particular reason, the Eisalons were feared by couples across the continent.

All it took was a single touch for them to read your mind and assume the most optimal form to take in order to match whoever they wanted to be with. They were a genderless race at birth and could take on whatever sex and form they wished at any point in time once they mastered their innate racial ability.