16

Sion, Scima, and Eva sit around inside reading books in the morning. Eva had asked Notus if he had any books he could lend, and he had sent several books he was simply holding in storage to the manor, all those he thought might serve Eva well in her studies. All three read very different books. Sion reads a collection of anecdotes regarding the Chosen of various deities, Scima reads a treatise on swordplay, and Eva reads a book on political philosophies. Anima, meanwhile, had instead chosen to look around Messis more and grow familiar with its streets.

Suddenly, Anima bursts back into the manor. She moves around quickly, frantically looking around. All three of them look up from their books to watch her. She says nothing to any of them. As she rushes up the stairs, Sion slams the book in his hand closed and follows after her.

The door to Anima’s room has been left swung open. Sion enters into the room, where Anima moves around from wall to wall, carefully inspecting everything around her. Sion calls out to her.

“Anima, what’s wrong?” Anima freezes in place right where she stands, as though Sion had bound her with his words. She looks at him and begins to calm down when forced to face another person.

“I can’t find my necklace.”

“The one your father gave you?”

“Yes, and I lost it.” Sion takes a step into the room.

“What happened?” Anima sighs.

“I was walking, and then I realized that I wasn’t wearing the necklace. And then I rushed back here, but it’s not here either.”

“Do you think it got stolen? Let’s go back down and tell Scima and Eva, and then we can start searching for it.”

Anima nods half heartedly and leaves the room with Sion. They return downstairs where Scima and Eva are waiting with bated breath. Eva looks at Anima.

“Is everything alright?” Anima looks almost pensive.

“My necklace went missing. Sion thinks it was stolen.”

“Then we should start a search as soon as we can.” Eva stands up and Scima follows her lead. He starts to give his suggestions.

“We should split up and choose a quadrant of the city now. Sion, you’re the fastest, so you should check out the area between the north and east gates. I’ll take northwest—” Anima interjects.

“Actually, I sent snakes out, and they’re in the northwest already.” Meanwhile, Sion has been pondering.

“I think it would be better if I went with Anima.” Scima seems slightly irate.

“Why? That would just cut our numbers. We’re not going out to fight.” Sion answers him kindly.

“People shouldn’t be left on their own during stressful times.” Scima cannot refute him, and so he turns towards the door.

“Fine then. You can work out the rest of the plan, I’ll head northeast.” Scima leaves the manor quickly, already almost running. Anima looks at Sion.

“Thank you.” She looks back towards Eva. “If it’s alright, me and Sion will go through the southwest.”

“Very well.” Eva leaves, her elegant bearing masking her desire to help.

Sion and Anima leave as well and begin their search. Once they’re on the streets, Sion looks at Anima.

“When did you last have the necklace?”

“I don’t know… I know I had it when I went out, but I never took it off, and I have no idea when it disappeared.”

“Then all we can do is look around at random…” Sion turns to a random passerby on the street. “Excuse me, but does this city have a thief problem?” The passerby glances harshly at Sion then keeps on moving. Another stranger approaches them afterward.

“Pardon me, but has something happened?” Anima answers, somewhat antsy to be standing still.

“We think someone stole from me…” The woman looks shocked.

“Oh my! That’s terrible! Are you new in the city, then? We don’t have much crime here, but the guard station is in that direction,” she points down a street leading east, “you should go issue a report as soon as you can!” Sion responds to her.

“Thank you, we’ll do that.” Sion and Anima leave the woman. Sion looks at Anima, who still looks worried. “Eva is going in that direction, so I’m sure she’ll report it for us. Let’s ask around and see if anyone’s seen your necklace.” Anima nods and follows after Sion.

Eva walks quickly down the street, only stopping when she passes by a building full of seemingly unoccupied soldiers. She takes a curious step closer, and some of the soldiers seem to notice her. One soldier stands and goes to meet her near the entrance of the building.

“Hello there miss, do you need assistance?” Another soldier, dressed in more formal attire, passes by, then suddenly pushes the other soldier’s head down to make him bow.

“Your Highness! Welcome, welcome. Is there anything I can do for you?” He leans in closer to the soldier and lowers his voice. “That’s Princess Evangelina, you fool, show her proper respect!” Eva recognizes the soldier’s voice.

“My, you’re the soldier from Duke Notus’ manor! What a coincidence to meet again here!”

“Yes, I’ve returned to my proper post, and thus, Your Highness, if I can in any way assist you, I will do everything in my power to do so.”

“Yes, a troubling event has occurred. May we speak inside?”

“Yes, of course, Your Highness. I’ll bring you to my office.”

The soldier brings Eva into the building and leads her through until they walk through a door. They step inside the office. The soldier takes a seat behind his desk and Eva sits in the chair facing him. Once they’re seated, Eva begins to speak.

“In short, it appears one of my companions has become the victim of a theft. Her necklace seems to have been stolen, or at least otherwise gone missing without a trace.” Sweat drips down the soldier’s face at the mention of a companion of royalty. He had expected Eva to have borne witness, not for her to be personally affected.

“I see. Can you describe it, and then I’ll get men on it right away.”

“Yes, of course. The necklace has a silver chain and a blue gemstone of average size that hangs from it.”

“Alright then.” The soldier stands back up. “On my name and my honor, I swear to find and return that necklace posthaste.” Eva stands up.

“Thank you for your assistance in this matter. I ought to be returning to my own search then.”

“I’m sure you don’t need to trouble yourself like that, Your Highness. My men are very reliable, so I’m sure it will turn back up here soon enough. And it’s not like there’s much crime in this city either.”

Scima stands in a dark and narrow passageway, surrounded by stone. He holds out his blade next to a hooded man’s head, forcing him to remain seated against the wall.

“So if you’re too busy with all your upscale crimes, where are all the damn thieves? It’s a simple question, so just tell me what I want to know, and you might keep your head.” The man squeals with terror as Scima leers over him.

“I really don’t know anything! I don’t know any thieves!”

“And I know you’re lying. What kind of gangster doesn’t even know what’s going on in their own turf?”

“I’m telling you the truth! We’ve already taken care of any thieves, and I’m just a grunt, so I wouldn’t know if anything happened! I can take you to my boss, and he’ll agree with everything!” A second reason to deal with these people now has taken root in Scima, and his new desire to crush them slowly begins to overtake the matter of the necklace. Scima grabs the man by the hood and begins to drag him into a more exposed street.

“Alright then. Tell me where to go, grunt.”

“Take this street for a while, then you’ll need to turn into an alley…” Scima starts to walk, dragging the man along.

“Sounds like I’ll be needing you around then.”

The streets of the northeastern section of Messis are strange and dissimilar to the rest of the city. The streets all surround Sagax Academy, and are thus much more ancient than the city of Messis itself. Although the magic is all but lost now, the streets were once filled with spells that created labyrinths, barriers, and illusions, all to keep the secrets of the powerful Sagax Academy. The streets were built with them in mind, leaving a mess of alleys and underground passageways that are far too difficult to patrol with any regularity. When the rest of the city was built, expanding out from Sagax’s campus, they used more typical design philosophies, putting the ancient mazes out of sync with the rest of the city.

However, now that Sagax neither has enemies to fear an invasion from nor the magic to repel them, these streets grew far less orderly. In the places where neither Messis nor Sagax have fully secured, a large underworld has grown. Scima already knew of its presence, and could find its signs quickly. He can’t help but see the similarities between this criminal underworld and Clea’s, both structures once meant to protect the people falling to crime after being allowed to fester.

Scima follows the man’s directions, passing through alleys and underground walkways until another hooded man stops him.

“That one of my guys? I’ll take him off your hands, so why don’t you get outta here, boy.” Scima roughly tosses the man he’s been dragging towards the boss.

“Are you going to kill him if I stay? Not that I care, of course, but you seem like the sort who might.”

“Kill one of my own? Are you stupid, boy? If you don’t leave, you’re the only one dying.”

“I was just trying to make small talk. Has anybody stolen a necklace recently? Or tried to sell it on the black market? And to be clear, I mean within the past few hours.”

The boss silently rushes forward and takes a swing at Scima. Scima steps towards the boss and grabs his moving arm. Before the boss can realize, he’s been grappled by Scima, one arm pulled uncomfortably far behind his back. The boss starts to panic.

“Alright, alright, you win. Well, I really wish I could tell you something, but I really don’t know anything.” Scima sighs, then throws the boss onto the ground next to his subordinate.

“So you’re all useless then!” Scima turns his back and walks away to continue the search.

Eva sits around inside the guard station, having been unable to slip away after their captain’s declaration. She watches the soldiers bustle around, but she can tell that they aren’t truly doing much of anything. They check old files kept on a shelf, walk around as though they have something to attend to, but ultimately accomplish nothing. Eva suppresses a giggle at their performance of being occupied they’ve put on now that she has arrived. Suddenly, a man bursts in and begins to call out.

“Sir Ordino! Are you in? Is your captain here at the moment?” Eva stifles her reaction as she realizes the man is Uro. As she does, he turns his head and notices her as well.

“Oh my, Lady Evangelina! What good fate that we have chanced upon each other once more. In a place like this, no less!” For the briefest moment, Eva considers pretending she cannot see him.

“Indeed, Lord Uro. Do you have business with the guards?”

“I suppose it is something like that, yes.” The soldier’s captain, Ordino, appears.

“Good morning, Lord Uro. Is there something you need assistance with?”

“Well, Sir Ordino, I was sure you would be unoccupied, so I was going to ask if you wanted to train with me. However, seeing as Lady Evangelina appears to be alone, I feel it is my duty as a gentleman to provide her company. Don’t you agree, Lady Evangelina?”

“Yes, quite.” Ordino turns to leave.

“Very well then, I’ll return to my work.” Uro sits near Eva and begins to talk.

“Lady Evangelina, if I may ask, what are you doing in a place like this?”

“It seems that one of my companions was stolen from.”

“Well, that’s the thing isn’t it? That these commoners, once they get even a bit of wealth, can never manage to hold on to it.”

Eva is almost entirely certain that when people say that they never mean getting stolen from. Beyond that, she has no idea why Uro thought to say that, and can not come up with a proper response.

Sion and Anima walk down the street. They’ve been asking around at shops to see if anyone has seen the necklace, but so far nobody has. They’ve already been searching for a few hours now, and Anima has grown depressed. She looks at Sion.

“Let’s give up. We’re not going to find it. And I’ve used up too much of your time already.”

“But isn’t that necklace important to you?”

“I’ll be fine. I can handle it. Really, I should have been more attentive in the first place.” Anima tries to wipe away everything with a laugh.

“We can’t stop people from committing evil. Especially not by thinking about what we could have done better. There’s no reason for us to stop looking yet.” Sion smiles at her. “But maybe we have been wasting our time, and Scima and Eva have been looking around to tell us we can stop now this whole time.” Anima can’t help but smile.

“I guess they really might have found it. It’s not like we had a reason to think we would be the ones to find it.” She looks a little more worried again. “You really think we can still find it?”

“Of course. All effort is rewarded in the end. And if something is important to you, you shouldn’t give up. So I’m sure you’ll find the necklace.”

Scima walks near the edge of the city proper. He’s at the meeting of two roads, one leading towards Sagax, and the other leading towards the ocean, and the small port town not quite a part of Messis. Scima sees a strangely dressed man approaching him. The man wears a sort of robe, white and light blue in color, folded over his body. His hair is pitch black, something Scima has only seen with Sion; his eyes appear closed; and a slight, pleasant smile crosses his face. He wears a sword at his hip.

Scima feels an incredible strength in this man, and approaches him. The man takes notice of Scima and stops, quickly moving his hand to the hilt of his blade. Scima stops as well. Scima notices that although this man, with all his power, had felt so large from afar, he was a little more than a head shorter than he is.

“I’m not here to hurt you. But you’re strong, so let’s fight.” The man draws his blade, revealing its single sharp edge.

“How is that ‘not hurting?’ My name is Tenka, and I have come from the Empire of the Black Sky. Come at me.”

“So you’ve come all this way from across the ocean, huh. Well that explains it. Sorry your first memory here will be a loss.”

Scima and Tenka clash swords for a moment. However, with a deft and powerful movement, Tenka pushes Scima away. Tenka resheaths his blade.

“Sorry. I forgot I have business to attend to. Let us continue this at another time.” Tenka walks away, leaving Scima to grumble on his own.

A small snake slithers up to Sion and Anima. Anima squats near it and lets it onto her hand. She stands back up, then the snake disappears. Anima looks at Sion, relieved and excited.

“The snakes found the necklace!”

“Got it.”

Sion starts to run north. He quickly finds the rest of the snakes and the thin man they’re harassing. In the man’s hand, Sion spots blue and silver glints. He approaches the man with confidence, and speaks to him firmly.

“Did you steal the necklace?” The man unclasps his hand, looks at the necklace within it, then throws the necklace towards Sion. Sion grabs it easily.

“I did. Now will you let me go? I’ll even let you turn me in.”

“Why did you steal it?”

“Huh? I- I was told to, threatened.”

“By who? For what purpose?”

“What? I don’t know any of that. I don’t know anything. I was just threatened by a woman with red hair. Now will you get rid of these snakes? I’m really not good with them…”

“I can’t.”

Sion leaves the man and the snakes, and retraces his path until he meets Anima once more. Anima looks winded, having had to run to catch up.

“Sion, you’re too fast. I didn’t want you to start running like that.”

“Isn’t it better to get the necklace sooner?” Sion holds out the necklace to Anima. Anima takes it, then begins to tear up. “Are you okay?” Anima starts to wipe away the small tears forming.

“Yeah… It’s just… This is the only thing I have of my mother’s. And I really thought I might’ve lost it forever. Thank you, Sion.”

“I’m happy you have it back. Let’s go home.”