STORY4
Shion moved leisurely through the
narrow streets of Colora. The city was the largest in the vicinity and
home to plenty of magicians. Today Shion had been sent by one of the
priests at the 'Facets of Purple' sect building to retrieve some items
from a scientist. The day was sunny and she hadn't been given a deadline
so she wanted to make the most of the outing. As an acolyte she was
usually inside the sect building. In a couple of years she might venture
out and start working as a monk, though as her powers leaned more into
precognition, she had little desire to travel. Especially not on her own.
The curly-haired, heavyset acolyte could manage her visions pretty well
but the big ones still made her faint. Ending up in a ditch or a pond
would be life-threatening.
Luckily a lot of people visited the sect building and had their fortunes
read so she could comfortably make a living outside of what the sect
provided her with. Maybe she would get lunch at one of the new restaurants
as a reward for her recent work. The thought lifted her spirits and she
almost increased her walking speed. Almost, but not quite.
Not much later Shion arrived at Ryokuou's home which turned out to be a
small shop. She pushed open the door and entered. The small shop was
filled with light from a skylight a couple of stories higher. Dust
sparkled in the light. Shelves lined the walls and were filled with herbs,
vials and bottles. The upper stories were accessible by stairs and
walkways. A counter faced the door and the street but nobody was standing
behind it. One other person, a woman clad in black, was browsing the
wares. A bell sat on the counter but before Shion could ring it, she was
struck by a vision out of the blue.
Smoke and heat made it hard to breathe. As usual, her vision was dead
quiet but somehow Shion knew people were calling for help or screaming in
pain. Her throat seized up and she blacked out. Her last thought before
fainting was that she needed to hurry and get away.
Nibiiru turned around just as the curvy woman fainted. A small whimper had
been all warning the monk of the 'Cloak of Grey' had received that
something was wrong. The tall, black woman rushed forward and managed to
protect the other woman from the worst of the fall though she hadn't been
able to hold her up.
"Help!" she called and hoped the owner of the shop would hear
her.
Nibiiru had shopped at Ryokuou's shop before and knew that the priest of
the 'Mantle of Chartreuse' tended to get lost in his work. He didn't mind
patrons leaving money on the counter for their wares and as far as she
knew no-one had tried to steal from him. Maybe because he had a good
reputation despite being eccentric.
Apparently a cry for help would rouse the priest from his work as Nibiiru
could hear steps on the stairs. At the same time the woman laying on the
floor showed signs of waking up.
"Easy." Nibiiru told her, "Help is coming."
Shion's eyes widened and she managed to croak: "We need to get
out!"
"What's happening?" Ryokuou asked.
The thin priest with curly brown hair and fatigued features asked. He'd
been working on his research and was a bit unsure of what day it was. The
light seemed to indicate it was nearing noon. Seeing the collapsed woman
on his floor, he could tell immediately that she wasn't ill. It was a perk
of his magic that he had a general indication of a person's health. He
could also nudge energy to flare up or to dwindle, transferring it from
other sources if need be. Though some of the acolytes and monks of his
sect earned their livelihood that way, Ryokuou preferred to research new
ways to help others. He'd never had the stomach to take energy from
animals meant to be slaughtered anyway, even if it could heal a
human.
Nibiiru explained how the woman had fainted and Ryokuou observed how she
was already crawling back up.
"We need to warn people to get out." Shion repeated as she
unsteadily stood leaning on the counter, "Fire is coming."
At her words, both Ryokuou and Nibiiru connected the dots. They didn't ask
any more questions but instead set to work. Ryokuou flew back upstairs to
grab his notes and Nibiiru rushed out to the street, only to return and
climb to the roof to see if she could make out anything unusual. The
narrow streets hadn't provided a wide enough view but on the roof she
could see that smoke was already hanging over the Western part of
town.
"The water mages will take care of the fire." Ryokuou said as he
returned to the shop.
"It'll spiral out of control." Shion said without an ounce of
doubt, "Maybe something is amiss."
"We are to help out anyway." Nibiiru added.
All three of them had sworn oaths of service in times of crisis as those
invariably came and went. So they sprung into action and left the
building. Taking only what they could carry in items that might prove
useful (and Ryokuou's research papers).
"My father belongs to the 'Wave of Aqua'", Nibiiru said as they
headed down the street toward the fire.
They pounded on doors and told people to flee toward a safer direction
that Shion had determined by a quick meditation - something that was hard
to do under pressure, but she'd managed somehow.
"There should be bells ringing to alert them. But somehow that's not
happening. We need to get to one of the fire stations to get them to sound
the alarm." Nibiiru explained.
"We should be careful, if someone or something is preventing the
alarm from being sounded we shouldn't rush in without a plan."
Ryokuou interjected. He'd been alive longer than the other two and was a
quick thinker to begin with. This entire situation reeked of foul
play.
Both Shion and Nibiiru grew quiet as the possibility of a planned attack
hit them. The idea was frightening, partly because it was so obvious once
it had been uttered. But they could do little more than alert people and
head toward the fire station. People rushed away, following a path that
Nibiiru continued to set while they advanced. The illusions were small,
just little hints that one direction might be better than another by
darkening the dead ends and streets that wrapped back toward the danger
zone. She'd been instructed to use her power like this, but mostly to
ensure people stayed on the right paths in forests or maybe get lost in a
store to spend more.
As they got close to the nearest fire station it became clear that Ryokuou
was probably right. Though the smoke was noticeable now, still no alarm
was sounding and the area around the fire station was calm. Ryokuou hoped
people had already fled their homes. Though they hadn't encountered any,
it was possible that they'd fled by taking a more direct route away from
the smoke. The life mage raised his hand and the group waited and
observed. Nibiiru waved her wand and a shadowy mist encircled them.
"We should still be quiet but we shouldn't be noticed." she
said.
Ryokuou turned to Shion, "Any premonitions?"
Shion inhaled, closed her eyes and placed herself into her inner sanctum.
She allowed the future to appear before her as if she was looking out of a
window. Flashes of insight gave her a terrible headache as she'd used her
power more than ever before but Shion held on.
"There are two guards at the door. In a few instances, one will leave
to investigate a sound and then we might be able to overtake them."
Although Shion wasn't exactly trained in fighting. Ryokuou seemed about as
weak as her so the purple mage turned her eyes on Nibiiru,
"Can you fight?"
"We'll manage.' Ryokuou hushed her.
The priest picked up a rock and threw it as far as he could. Shion looked
at him questioningly.
"We can make a sound to distract them. You saw it in your
vision."
Shion had never thought about using her power like that but it did make
sense. Although she felt certain that another sound would in fact come.
The three of them crossed the little plaza and Nibiiru focused on the
lock. The illusion of a key usually tricked locks into opening unless they
were spelled. But since the fire stations were open to the public such a
measure would have been wasting money. The door cracked open and Ryokuou
rushed in, grabbed the guard and suddenly the man fell to the floor.
"Hurry." he hissed and started dragging the guard around the
corner.
When the second guard returned, a repeat of the scenario took place and
they pulled another lifeless crook out of sight.
"Are they dead?" Shion asked.
"Merely hibernating." Ryokuou said, "We have about two
hours before they wake up."
"Ringing the bell shouldn't take us that long." Nibiiru
reassured them. She knew where they needed to go.
"Unless there are more guards to subdue." Ryokuou
retorted.
Although with Shion's foresight, Ryokuou's stasis and Nibiiru's cloaking
they were a formidable team. Nibiiru grinned and wondered how many of the
other sects would be frightened by a team constituting of their three
sects when a lot of them felt that the main elemental mages were a lot
more powerful. In fact her two companions had amazed even her with how
well they worked together.
They reached the alarm tower and she rang the bell, grateful that her
father had droned on about his work when she was younger. They didn't
often see each other these days but she did appreciate him. And after
today she could tell him he had probably saved a lot of lives.
But as the sound of the alarm roused the mages, so did it alert the bad
guys that they had intruders. They seemed to swarm in from every possible
exit and the three found themselves surrounded.
"I can't hide us from them." Nibiiru said, hoping one of the
others had an idea.
Ryokuou shook his head. He had put the guards in stasis but hadn't taken
from them. He needed to touch to affect others and he could never touch
all of them at once. Once they knew how his power worked, they'd be able
to subdue him. Shion's eyes glazed over as she meditated and used her
power in the way that she'd never held possible. As a means of figuring
out what to do. And strangely, her powers complied.
"Hold tight." she said and then added, "And give me as much
energy as you can."
Ryokuou nodded and gave her what he could while Nibiiru tried to hold of
their assailants with some gruesome illusions. They wouldn't hold long,
but most of them did react on instinct as she'd hoped they would. One of
them seemed more steady though and he came running toward them, a knife in
hand ready to slash.
But before he reached them, Shion connected the dots of her precognition
and her dream magic and she drew all three of them inside with Ryokuou's
energy. She had no clue where they would end up but anywhere was better
than here. Although, she didn't want to land them in the fire. So she held
her focus for as long as she could before ejecting them from her
dream.
"Welcome to Ryslen." A voice said, "So many people are
arriving here of late. Word of the flurry must have carried far and
wide."
"Ryslen?" Nibiiru asked.
"It seems some explanation is in order. Follow me. "
