Lady Shidare's House

She laughed, her perfect teeth flashing. “Perks of being a part of my bloodline.”

“You can-”

She placed a hand on his knee, swirling her clawed finger in a circle. “I’m waiting for what you want to tell me, not to answer questions.”

He cleared his throat. “Are you a Psyonic?”

“No. You’re testing my patience, boy,” she said, narrowing her eyes with a wry smile.

She ate the last ten.

Ignacio swallowed. “I am here on an urgent mission to rescue my little sister from Cypher Corp. Do you know what that is?”

Her eyes widened as she lifted her head off her hand. “What?”

“Cypher Corp, do you-”

“They took your sister?” she asked, her powdered face blushing with anger.

“Yes, my Lady. We believe she’s the First Nexus.”

She frowned, her sharp, draping sleeve swaying as she removed something from his face between her red and white claws, flicking it away.

“What’s the First Nexus?” she asked, crossing her legs toward him.

“A person who can enter the Ethergeist,” he said, pausing. “Without being a Psyonic. They can just do it. And in theory, they could bring powers from the Ethergeist to the outside world.”

“To your world,” she said. “Why would that concern me? You allowed them to come to my world.”

Ignacio sighed. “I had no control over that, my Lady. But I’m bringing it to your attention because if they keep her, and learn how to use her, they will become unstoppable.”

“They already are,” she said, sliding her hand up his leg. “And besides, you don’t seem like the type to take on Cypher Corp.”

He clenched his jaws, grabbing her wrist from his leg. “They would be able to flood your world with Psyonics, my Lady. Men and women who would destroy you and wipe everything out.”

She glanced at his hand clutching her wrist, and he let go.

“What would you need me to do?” she asked, leaning her elbow over the back rest of his seat again.

He blinked. I really didn’t think this far, he thought.

“I… don’t know,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I’m asking for your help.”

She tilted her head to the side, lifting his chin with the tip of a claw. She smiled, her eyelashes fluttering.

“Let me show you something,” she said.

She waved her hand to the side, as if pulling a curtain closed. Ignacio fell flat on his backside, the thud echoing in the giant library.

He looked around, frowning. “How do you do that?”

She placed a hand to her mouth as she laughed, her robe trailing as she stepped over him.

He stood up, spinning in a circle as he scanned the room. The library was huge. White shelves spiralled all the way up to the building’s zenith. Paintings sprawled across the walls, floor and ceiling; images of wars waged in beautiful landscapes, men on horses and Pegasus, some on the back of Griffyns and Dragons.

The shelves had carvings that run up their sides; deep red patterns that resembled various eyes. The shelves were topped and based with gold rings, and the largest one in the centre of the room, right ahead of Ignacio, contained a staircase that contained marble steps.

Lady Shidare turned to him, the fringe of her long, beautiful robe wringing around her legs.

“This is the Miraveth House of Records,” she said holding up her hands. “And if you watch closely,” she said, snapping her fingers at a book shelf.

A book pulled itself out of the shelf, its pages opening and… flapping like a butterfly as it flit into Shidare’s waiting hand.

Ignacio’s smile widened. “Woah…”

She turned away from him, opening her arms wide. “Politics and history!”

He glanced around as books began sliding out of the shelves. They flit through the air, covers and pages beating like wings, fluttering around Ignacio and around Shidare. Reds, purples, dark blues, browns. The air became alive with the sound of flipping pages, the array of colours making it impossible to choose a single book.

She turned back to him, a devilish smile on her face as she flipped through the book she held, and tossed it to Ignacio with a wink.

“You can start with that one,” she said.

He turned it over, blinking at the glyphs on the dark red cover.

“I can read this?” he said, flipping open the pages. “But I’ve never learned this language before.”

“Mh-hm,” she said, hand contouring around the spiral of a shelf as she disappeared behind it. “This library is our collection of every single literary and historical work written in the Ethergeist that we’ve ever had access to.”

“The History of Miravethian Politics?” he read from the cover. “Um… with all due respect, Lady Shidare, I don’t have the time to read about your politics.”

She laughed, head peeking out from behind the bookshelf. Some of the ornaments in her hair dangled backwards as she smiled at him.

“That’s a pity. I brought you here to teach you about the politics of this place, since you’re obviously so fresh and new to this realm,” she said.

Ignacio sighed. The others were probably looking for him, worried about what happened. Especially after Daichi made that joke.

Hopefully it was a joke.

She walked out from behind the shelf, her robe half way down her back, a large roll of papyrus in her hands.

She crouched, flapping out the roll and laying down a beautiful map. It was large enough to lay four people on, various elements labelled with names.

“This is Cognyrra,” she said, standing and producing a long, pointed rod from under her arm. “We’re here,” she pointed to a city on the map marked Miraveth.

Ignacio walked around the map, stroking his chin.

She pointed to another city further up the map. “And this is Korravane. Korravane kills Psyonics. We don’t talk about Korravane. You don’t go to Korravane. Understood?”

Ignacio frowned. “Why do they kill Psyonics?”

“They view you as false gods,” she said, smiling with narrowed eyes. “I view you as real gods,” she tapped another city near to Korravane, “so do they,” she moved the point of her stick across the map. “And so do they.”

Thalyssan?

She moved the point towards herself, tapping right at the map’s border. “And that is Velin. Owned by a Psyonic crew named Eclipse, which is led by a man named Sora,” she said, biting her lip. “Sora is a Death Aspect Titan. You don’t want to be on Sora’s bad side. Understand?”

She tapped the three cities, Miraveth, Thalyssan, and Velin. “We three form the House of Freedom. We support Psyonics…” she trailed off. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“Ignacio,” he said, “or Ace for short.”

She lowered her gaze with a smile. “Alright, Ace. Let me spell it out for you. The House of Freedom must vote collectively before a decision to enact any military action can be made. Majority rules.”

He nodded as she stared at him with mischievous eyes.

“Why are you showing me this?” he said.

She smirked. “Because I can tell you’re not lying,” she said, walking around the map towards him. “Because you ran after a carriage with an Empress in it to enquire about fighting to save your little sister,” she stopped in front of him, her hand sliding up his chest. “Because you came here with the sole purpose of saving her, didn’t you, Ace? And those people you were walking with aren’t your friends. They’re people you’re using to save her.”

Ignacio paused. “You’re sharp.”

She winked. “It’s part of the job,” she said. “And, if what you’re saying is true about the threat this could pose to us here, I doubt the House will stop me from deploying Eclipse in your aid. Though we may need a vote from Specterveil to take it that far. They make up an extra House unto themselves when it comes to matters of deploying Psyonics.”

He smiled, cheeks warming. “So, uh… I suppose I am asking you for help in using military force to rescue her.”

“Have you got a plan?” she asked, taking a step back as her robe fell further down her shoulder, revealing a blazing red blossom painted on her porcelain skin.

He shook his head. “Not yet. I’m trying to learn how to control my abilities for now while we gather information.”

She nodded. “What is your Aspect?”

“I’m a Ronin,” he said.

She snorted. “You have the Empress of Miraveth offering you a multitude of favours and you return my kindness with lies.”

“I’m being serious,” he said.

She tilted her head to the side. “Prove it.”