The House and the Map Lead to Dragons

Lady Shidare took a deep breath. She moved her hand in a circle, the portal opening like a plate of gold that faded and revealed the House of Freedom on the other side.

She stepped through, raising two fingers and closing the portal behind herself.

The auditorium was made of ascending rings of stair-seats, aisles running down them to segregate the city Representatives. They all stopped talking, turning to face her in silence.

The stairs designated to Velin were obsidian, marbled with a dark orange that resembled lava. Those for Thalyssan were carved from wood, embedded with glowing, aqua-coloured fruit seeds. Lunar fruit seeds, if she remembered correctly.

And finally, those for Miraveth. They were the prettiest. White dream-stone marble with red, gold running along the top of the seats.

The lowest ring of seats closest to the centre floor held the royals, Those at the top held ambassadors or politicians in training. Everyone in between those positions sat in the rows running between; namely Priests, Scholars and the Warlords. The Psyonics sat in the row right behind the royals, of which only two men and a woman sat.

Kaito, the leader of Specterveil, a Phoenix Aspect Paladin. And Sora, the leader of Eclipse. The Death Aspect Titan.

Sora, being the god-king of Velin, should have sat in the front row. But he preferred being considered a Psyonic. Beside him sat a woman who was… unfortunately beautiful. She had sleek, yellow eyes and silver hair that was as straight as the Colossi Temple curtains. Her skin was sunkissed, spotless, her jaw stronger than most men’s.

Veyndara. The Storm Aspect Oracle of Eclipse.

She raised her sharp eyebrows at Shidare, and Shidare gave a slight bow.

The centre Shidare stood in was carpeted in deep purple, the circular room lined around the top by a ring of glass. And behind her, growing from the wall and dividing the ring of stair-seats into a curve, was the giant marble head of a Phoenix. The symbol of the House of Freedom.

“Men and Women of the House,” she said, opening her arms. “I have come to make a petition.”

She went on to tell them everything she knew about Ignacio, Celeste, the First Nexus, and Cypher Corp. And by the end, the entire auditorium was silent.

Sora raised his large, gloved hand. “Lady Shidare, what evidence do you have that this girl is actually a Nexus?”

“Her brother is a Ronin,” she said, shrugging. “That’s supposed to be an impossibility. The First Nexus isn’t. I don’t see why he would be lying. And he is being assisted by Genesys, so I doubt they’re helping him with no cause.”

Sora nodded, lowering his hand to his chin.

Kaito shook his head. “I can give you my vote already, House Representatives,” he said, standing. “Specterveil votes against.”

And with that he walked out of his seat, up the stairs and to the door at the top of the auditorium.

Veynara raised an elegant hand, her eyes narrowed at Shidare. “If Cypher Corp is such a big threat, why have we left them for so long?”

“Because we never had a proper way to fight them,” Shidare said, folding her hands. “And because you, Psyonics, kept us away from them initially. I do hope you recall that?”

Veynara leaned forward, her hair swaying down the side of her face. “I do. And if this girl is the First Nexus, it would line up with the killing of the Psywyrm.”

Sora raised his eyebrows, chuckling. “Have I ever told you I’m in love?”

Shidare nodded to Veynara. “Yes, Lady Veynara. As such, I do believe this is a real threat that we must respond to.”

Veynara exchanged a glance with Sora, and nodded.

Sora raised his hand. “Velin votes for.”

Shidare’s heart sprang, mouth widening in a smile. She turned to the Seats of Thalyssan.

“I hope all of you find ample reason to join Miraveth and Velin in putting an end to this threat?” she asked.

The members of the House murmured among themselves. Her eyes moved down to the Queen of Thalyssan who sat at the base of the seats, her face looking particularly punchable that day.

She wore a blue and green dress, her scarf of bright yellow and blue bird feathers wrapping around her neck and down the side of her shoulder.

She stared at Shidare with narrowed grey eyes, leaning her head as one of the House members leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

She gave a curt nod, glancing back at Shidare.

“Thalyssan votes against,” she said, lifting her dress as she stood.

Her and the rest of the Thalyssan House members walked out of the auditorium.

Veynara sighed, tucking her chin down. “You will need to convince one of them, Lady Shidare.”

Shidare nodded. “I will. I request that Velin and Eclipse please be on guard for the duration of the day.”

Sora nodded. “We will prepare, in case of a turn around.”

“Lady Shidare,” Veynara asked, “can you recall this man, Ignacio, mentioning anything about Ether-abduction?”

Shidare wagged her head. “Not that I can recall.”

Veynara nodded, lowering her chin to her fist.

“Why? What’re you thinking, Veyn?” Sora asked.

“Oh, not much,” Veynara said, staring at her hand as she flexed it. “I was just wondering.”

Ezequiel jabbed a finger on the holo-screen cast over his desk.

“That right there is where Celeste is, inside the Sanctum,” he traced his finger to the left, around a mountain on the map, over a river. “And that’s where the Imperium Citadel is.”

Ignacio nodded. “And we’re currently an hour and a half away from the Sanctum?”

“When we left the Ethergeist, yes, we were about ninety minutes away,” Ezequiel said.

Daichi stepped up beside him, hands fiddling together. “May I ask that we don’t, under any circumstances, and I mean any circumstances, operate on our own?”

Koharu blew out a plume of pink smoke beside Ignacio. “Plans always go to hell, Daichi. No matter what we say here, we may need to operate alone.”

“Alright, alright,” Daichi said, wagging a finger. “Only operate alone when absolutely necessary.”

Kiyomi walked around Ezequiel, her hand trailing along his shoulders. “We have an idea of their path, based on prior transportation patterns provided by our informant.”

Ignacio cocked his head to the side. “Who is this informant, by the way?”

Ezequiel folded his arms. “A man who doesn’t want to be named, and rightfully so.”

“Alright,” Ignacio said, “but we’re sure he’s reliable?”

“Very,” Kiyomi said, pointing to the blot on the map marked Sanctum. “We need to take them once they leave the Sanctum, anyways. But we need to be far enough to avoid having to deal with the Sanctum guards, but close enough to allow ourselves as much time as possible to get her back.”

“How long will it take them to transport her?” Ignacio asked.

“About six Ethergeist hours,” Kiyomi said, scratching the tattoo at the corner of her eye. “They’ll transport her by ground, in all likelihood. Air battles are riskier for them because blimps are too fragile.”

“And because Aspects like mine exist,” Beltran said, his half-dead eyes wrinkling as he smiled.

“What Aspects can we expect to be dealing with?” Koharu asked.

Ezequiel puffed his cheeks as he sighed. “It’s hard to say. We know there are various Aspects that serve at the Sanctum, but we don’t know which ones specifically. I can almost guarantee there are Sentinels, Warlocks, and Titans,” he scratched his head. “And for something this important to them… they’ll probably have a Dragon Aspect escorting her.”