Chapter 22: Leaving Crystallia

Nic stood near the entrance to the Crystallia Castle. In his hand was a small journal that Yuuki had found in Crystal's sleeping quarters. Normally he wouldn’t have taken it himself, but Yuuki insisted on it thanks to some of the things in it related to his family. Next to him was Aria with Rust on her other side. Sarman was near the center of the entrance hall to the castle, near Yuuki. Yuuki herself was on a raised platform, quickly crafted in the past two days for this very moment.

“And now, at the request of our former queen I, Cyril Loughmen, hereby declare Yuuki Ito as the new Queen of Crystalia.”

Nic watched as Yuuki was officially crowned into the small Rad-Town’s monarchy. If this was any other moment in time, this would also mean that Nic would once again be unable to see his friend for a long time.

But this wasn’t ‘any other moment in time’.

“Thank you, Cyril.” Yuuki thanked the racoon demi-human as he quickly stepped off the stage. Yuuki turned to face the crowd gathered in the castle. She was wearing a beautiful crafted purple dress. Apparently, Crystal had it made for her before her death. It was originally meant to be a parting gift, but now it stood as the clothing that Yuuki decided to wear as she received her true parting gift from the Blood Elf. Atop her head was the small golden crown. Her long black hair was perfectly aligned with her straight back.

“To everyone in Crystalia: thank you for agreeing with Crystal’s announcement on her deathbed. To tell you all the truth, I wish I wasn’t standing on this stage right now. I wish she was still with us.” Yuuki stopped her speech as the crowd sorrowfully murmured in agreement. “I can’t be the same as Crystal. I don’t believe I’m cut out to be a Queen. Not yet at least. That’s why I must make a few announcements here and now.”

Yuuki turned back to the side of the stage.

“Cyril Loughmen, would you please come back up here?”

The Racoon Demi-Human looked around in confusion as he walked onto the stage. When he got to Yuuki he knelt in front of his new Queen.

“You may stand.”

“Yes, your highness.”

“As my first act as Queen of Crystalia, I hereby name Cyril Loughmen as the Grand Governor of this city.” A ripple of shock swept through the room. Cyril himself was eyeing Yuuki with great suspicion.

“Grand Governor?”

“That’s right.” Yuuki nodded. “I’m still fairly new to this city. Your job while I’m here is to help me run the city as you are a longstanding citizen of it.”

“While you’re here?” Cyril questioned the wording of Yuuki’s declaration. Unknowingly he had hit on the one point that Yuuki was about to explain.

“And that question gets me to my second announcement. Though, in this case, it’s not really my announcement. Nic. Aria. You two have the floor.” Yuuki nodded confidently at them.

Nic let out a sigh. The reason they were by the door itself was for this reason. Nic and Aria soon found themselves blocking off the main exit for the 100 or so people in the castle at that moment in time.

Could Yuuki have painted them as villains any more?

“Hello everyone,” Nic projected his voice as loud as he could. “I know that my friend and I here are standing in a very suspicious spot, but I assure you that nothing bad will come of what we must do. We came to this town during the recent attack and helped to defend the citizens. During that time, we witnessed the destruction you all faced. And we saw how you bounced back to rebuild the city. We’re leaving Crystallia soon, but we wanted to give you a gift before then. One that will hopefully make your lives just a little bit easier.”

Nic and Aria shared a glance as Nic took out his sword and held it above his head. The room they were in began to groan. A low continuous sound that droned on for a while. As it grew louder, the wind began to pick up. It found its way past every person there, drawing out the Irradiation in their body. It didn’t matter if it was only trace amounts or they were on their deathbeds with Irradiation Sickness.

But it wasn’t just the people that the wind drew Irradiation from. Every piece of object. Every building outside. Every shard of grass or speck of dirt. The wind drew it from everything.

And it funneled all of it into the sword raised in the air.

Nic absorbed and purified all of it. It didn’t even take him long to do it. He had finally reached the point where creating a new City-State like this wouldn’t take the strength out of him like it had originally.

And so after a few minutes, Crystallia had stopped being a Rad-Town and was now a fledgling City-State.

There were a handful of people who had been bedridden with Irradiation Sickness. They were looking around wondrously as they could finally stand up again. The air grew abuzz as the citizens of Crystallia slowly began to realize what Nic’s ‘gift’ was.

A life without Irradiation.

Freedom from the fear that it brought.

A chance for the city to grow.

Realizing this and more, the people crowded around Nic and Aria. Praises, Thankful cheers, and the crying embrace of those whose family were on the brink of death from Irradiation were showered upon the two of them. They each tried in their own ways to calm the people down, but when it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to do it, they simply gave in and let the people do what they wanted.

“Ahem!” It was only after a few minutes of watching this display that Yuuki loudly cleared her throat, drawing the attention back to her. “As you have all realized, Nic and Aria have graciously freed Crystalia from the shackles of being named a “rad-town”. We now have a chance to grow. To prosper. To become the city that Crystal always knew we could be.”

Before Crystal had appeared, Crystalia didn’t exist. It wasn’t a town that had existed beforehand and simply changed its name. It was Crystal that built the first building. It was her that drew so many people together. It was her that kept them around.

Crystal was responsible for creating so many of the first City-States after the Irradiated Winter. Each one was a place for humanity to survive the apocalypse on their doorstep. But as the years went on, Crystal became dissatisfied with those City-States.

And so Crystallia was her answer.

“Crystal created this town to bring change to the world. And as a City-State ourselves, now we have the chance to do just that.” There were strong murmurs of agreement coming out of the crowd as they listened to Yuuki. “But there are still rules we must follow. And we must make sure we can get through long enough to do what Crystal hoped this town would do. As it stands now, we don’t have enough resources to last us through the year.” Yuuki paused for a moment. The air above the crowd grew strained. What she said wasn’t what they wanted to hear, but each and every single person knew it held a kernel of truth in it.

“So this is what I plan on doing. While our friends travel back to their home of Sanum, I will lead a small delegation and travel with them. My goal is to enter an alliance with Aric or Sanum, maybe both if I’m lucky, to help us with supplies and protection while we get back on our own two feet.”

The tension in the air broke. Yuuki had set up the moment with her pauses in order to gain the maximum support for her plan that she could. She let the tension rise with the less than well news, before springing her proposal on the people of the village.

The adults in the crowd didn’t care if they knew that their emotions were being manipulated. Nearly every single one of them raised a voice in support of Yuuki’s plan. Cyril had looked worried for a bit there, but once he heard Yuuki’s plan and everything clicked into place in his mind, he looked relieved more than anything.

“You have the city’s blessing, your majesty!” One of the people in the crowd called out to Yuuki. He may not have gotten everyone’s permission to say what he did, but the cheer that resounded from the rest of the people showed that the sentiment was correct.

“Thank you. I guess I should get ready to make my departure from Crystallia then. Everyone is dismissed!” Yuuki turned to Cyril to talk, but Nic was too far away to hear anything.

Aria and he quickly got out of the way of the townspeople as a number of them left to get back to their usual daily routines. Not a small amount stopped to thank the two of them for what they had done for Crystallia.

Once things had died down and most of the people of Crystallia had left the church Aria, Rust, and Nic finally managed to get close to Yuuki and Sarman. The latter two were talking with a couple of straggling townspeople. As the group got close to them, it became abundantly clear why.

“-row two of the city carts then.”

“That would be very nice, but I don't want to take away resources that could help the people here. Just walking should be fine for us.”
Yuuki was trying to argue that they didn’t need to use the few carts that Crystallia had on their journey, but was being met with the wall that is a stubborn man.

“It won’t be a problem for us, Queen Yuuki. Your safety should be the highest concern. Getting to Sanum and back in a timely manner would help make sure you are safe. So these carts are still going to be used for Crystallia’s interests!”

Yuuki was in a losing battle, and even she realized it. Continuing to argue would only serve to delay their departure from the fledgeling City-State. With a clear sense of annoyance, Yuuki finally submitted to the townsperson’s request.

With their goals accomplished, the last few people left the castle, leaving only a handful of people left. Besides the four outsiders to the city, Aria, Sarman, Rust, and Nic, Yuuki and Cyril were also there. As was a maid named Linda, her fiery red hair making her standout even in the largest of crowd, and two other people who would be joining them as part of Yuuki’s little delegation.

“Well then, it looks like we are ready to head for Sanum then?”

It was the first time that Sarman had spoken up since the coronation ceremony had begun. He had silently watched the entire thing, focused on making sure that no one would attempt to regicide yet again so soon.

Yuuki gave him a quick nod of her head before addressing Cyril. “Yes, we’re heading out now. I trust the city in your hands.” The two shared a strong moment of silence before Cyril let out a troubled sigh.

“I guess. Make sure to come back quickly though. There are still a number of things you need to be taught about being queen.” He waved his hand in dismissal as he turned to leave the entrance area himself. It seemed that the man had already fallen into the trap of his position and found himself unable to argue against it.

Nic oddly felt that the role suited him just a bit too well.

“Lady Ito, I have already moved everything to the stables near the entrance of the city. We can head out as soon as wanted.” Linda bowed deeply before Yuuki as she spoke up. What she said caused a small confusion attack throughout most of the people listening to her, including Yuuki.

“You already moved everything there?!”

“Yes.” Linda nodded while still bowing. “I assumed that the people would offer you assistance upon hearing your plan, so I moved everything there before the ceremony had begun.” Linda stood back up and cocked her head slightly to the right. “Have I done something wrong?”

“No- no no no. I just wasn’t expecting it.” Yuuki stammered out a response as her face turned a bright red. Perhaps she felt the heat in her face, or the awkwardness in the air, because Yuuki quickly turned towards the castle entrance and quickly walked that way.

Nic couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as the rest of the group ran to catch up with Yuuki outside of the castle.

The roads in Crystallia weren’t that long, only a few hundred Mer at the longest, so getting to the newly built stables didn’t take the group long.

It was there that they found all of their luggage already packed onto two horse drawn carts. They weren’t as luxurious as the carts that Sanum had for its people of importance, but it would do nicely for the trip back.

The carts were each pulled by two horses and were essentially just boats with wheels. Two benches adorned the length of the half walls on either side. There was an extra seat on the front of each cart for a coachman to sit. With all of the luggage split between the two, there was a total of enough space for twelve people. Two coachmen and ten riders in the back.

Linda and Rust ended up taking the role of coachmen for the carts. Yuuki, Sarman, and the two other members of the delegation sat in the one that Rust was driving while Nic and Aria found themselves alone on Linda’s.

“I hope you two don’t mind the bumpy ride.” Linda looked back at the two of them with a glint in her eyes. One that made both Nic and Aria glance to each other for confirmation that they were seeing the same thing.

“Uh… How many times have you driven a cart?” Nic asked, hesitation permeating his voice.

“Once!” With her triumphant cry in response to his question, Linda kicked the horses into high gear and the cart sped through the still opening gate of Crystalia.

“What?!” Nic shouted at their driver only to have his cry drowned out by her laughter.

This wasn’t something that she got to do very often, but Linda loved the feel of rushing through the land on horse or being pulled along by a horse. The freedom she felt in those moments were shining beacons by which she lived every day of her life.

Nic and Aria had been dragged into that very same beacon.

It only took the two carts a little over two days of travel to reach the entrance to the City-State of Aric. What had been a seven day journey on foot was much faster on horseback. Overall it had been nearly two weeks since the last time they had been there.

They had been stopped at the gate, but once the guard saw who was on the carts they quickly hurried inside the town.

Not long after a familiar face appeared walking up to the gate.

“Papa!”

Aria called out to her parent once she saw him. He smiled at her before looking at the rest of the group and finally landing on Yuuki.

“It’s good to see you all back, and some new faces as well. Hello. As for our last guest here,” Kayde bowed his head. “It has been far too long, lil’ Yuuki.”

“Ah, Mr. Towsend.” Yuuki also gave him a small head bow as a greeting. “Ten years, no?”

“At least you still remember me.” Kayde wiped a fake tear away from one of his eyes. “I have some questions about the ears and tail, but at least our lost cat has finally been found.”

Yuuki looked embarrassed before glaring at Sarman, Aria and Nic for a second each. They had conveniently forgotten to tell Yuuki that they had informed Aria’s father about the truth.

“I’m sorry for keeping the truth from you for so long.” Yuuki bowed her head again, this time in apology, earning a small laugh from the man welcoming them into the village.

“Ahahah! Don’t worry about it. For now, welcome to Aric. Properly this time.” Everyone got off the carts as Kayde gave them an extravagant gesture to welcome them.

As her feet hit the ground, another shout was directed at Yuuki from within the town gates.

“MASTER!” Sarah burst past Kayde and wrapped Yuuki in a large hug. Kiara walked up a moment after and pried Sarah off of the trapped demi-human.

“Sorry about her, Yuuki.” Kiara chopped Sarah on the head to get her to calm down. “Welcome back.” Yuuki found the racoon-type Demi-Human warmly smiling at her in place of her significant other’s rash actions.

“Thank you.” Yuuki clearly wasn’t sure on how to respond to Kiara. So she simply returned the smile while thanking the other demi-human.

“Well, since it seems the major reunions are done, let me show our guests from across the forest around our small city!” Kayde motioned to Yuuki, Linda and the two other delegation members as he talked.

Yuuki had been in Aric the longest as she had passed through it before, but even she didn’t know everything about the town. With a gleeful acceptance, Yuuki spoke for the rest when she accepted it.

And so their group split apart yet again. Sarman, Sarah, and Kiara all joined for the tour around Aric and left with Kayde. Rust disappeared at some point himself, though Nic had made sure to mention to Kayde that Rust had lost his close friend and most likely wanted some time alone.

As for Nic and Aria, they had their own destination in mind. Their ultimate goal was the house that Nic’s mother lived in, but Nic also wanted to stop at his father’s grave first.

The two of them found the small graveyard nearly empty again. Rows of gravestones populated the small lot. Almost every single one of them was older than a year. Only a handful have been recently added. Two of which belonged to Nic and Aria’s parents. For Nic it was his father, and Aria; her mother. Both of them had sacrificed themselves during Jack’s attack on the then Rad-Town, creating time for the city to be saved by Nic.

An older couple was leaving as Nic and Aria arrived. They exchanged a hushed greeting with the two before moving into the cemetery proper.

Like last time, there was someone in front of the gravestones for their parents. Unlike last time, they seemed to have just gotten there themselves as they were in the process of cleaning up the site around each gravestone.

“If we keep meeting here, it might make me think that you only spend time next to father,” Nic called out to the brown haired woman as they got close. “Mother.” He nodded to her as her head shot up upon hearing his voice.

“Nic. Aria. Did you find your missing friend?” His mother walked up and hugged both of them in turn. Any surprise she had felt upon seeing them again had quickly faded. Unlike their last time apart, this time Nic and Aria had been gone for just under two weeks.

“We did, Kayla, but…” Aria confirmed that they had found the one they had been looking for.

“We also learned some stuff. Stuff I thought that father would’ve wanted to hear.” Nic let the heavy words slip out of his mouth. The things he had learned; things about the source of Irradiation, about his family’s history, and the forces he would have to face soon. And that damned journal of Crystal’s. Nic had taken the journey from Crystallia to Aric to fully read it.

“What kind of stuff?” Kayla peered at her son in confusion.

“Mind if we sit down?” Nic pointed to the area in front of the gravestone. The other two agreed to it and so the three found themselves sitting in front of the two gravestones.

With a heavy sigh, Nic took out Crystal’s journal and set it in front of him before looking at his mother.

“Mother, do you know of the Blood Elf, Crystal Serilo?”

“Of course I do. Who hasn’t at least heard of her?” His mother responded to the question with a slight scoff in her sentence. The answer to the question should have been obvious to most people.

“Well,” Nic paused for a second. He didn’t know which news he should’ve started with. “For one, she was killed just a few days ago.”

“What?!” Clearly shocked, his mother almost grabbed him by both shoulders as he revealed the news of such an important figure's death.

“That’s not all for us. Her real name is Crystal Verilo.” His mother stammered as Nic dropped the biggest of the Crystal related news to her. She looked completely out of things as she tried to get her bearings.

“How? How is that possible?”

“Alongside Rust, she was there with Noah Verilo when he first unleashed the Irradiation upon the world. She stayed by his side through it all. It’s thanks to her meddling in the bloodline that we had the chance at purifying Irradiation in the first place.”

Nic stopped as he saw Kayla pondering the revelations that he had just dropped on her.

“But, if she was the reason for that and she has been around since the beginning, why did we have to wait five centuries in the first place?” Kayla had found the hanging thread in all of this herself. Why had Crystal put in a five hundred year time limit?

Nic looked up at the sky as he listened to his mother’s questions. What was the best answer? What should he tell her? Would the truth make her worry too much?

“That’s,” Nic reached out one of his hands and grasped nothingness in the sky. “That’s because I’m up against a god.”

“You-! Are you insane?” Kayla nearly screamed as she grabbed Nic, shaking him with all of her strength. Aria was about to step in herself when Nic motioned for her not to. “A God?! Like a Spirit Progenitor?”

“No,” Nic shook his head. A majority of the religions currently in the world worshiped one of the eight Spirit Progenitors. Each claimed that its Progenitor was the dominant force in the world. Yet Nic had learned the truth from one of those very same Progenitors. And that knowledge had been built upon thanks to Crystal’s journal. “The one I’m up against is Kronus. The one who created the Spirits.”

“Kronus…” Kayla repeated the name with a mix of fear and trepidation in her voice.

Nic reached back down and grabbed Crystal’s journal, opening it to a page near the beginning. It was one of the passages she had written hundreds of years in the past, a short time after she had left Noah Verilo’s presence.

She had looked into the one behind Irradiation.

Crystal had searched high and low. It was a part of her journey throughout the lands. In each place that she stopped and created one of the initial City-States she would search for more clues to Kronus.

“I have spent ten long years traveling so far.” As Nic began reading the section, his mother slowly let go of him. “In each place that I stop, each city that I help, I find little more about this being named Kronus. The whispers that I do hear contradict each other. Some say that it is just another Spirit Progenitor while others relate it to a truly godlike being above the Progenitors. I wish Aerial had told me more before disappearing.”

“Is that Crystal’s findings?” Aria had yet to see the journal herself. Everything that he was saying was new to her, and by extension Aerial as well. Nic nodded before continuing to read.

“My proposed theory on Kronus is this; Kronus is a being above the Progenitors. If any being had the right to be called a God, then it would be Kronus. As the creator of the Spirits, it seems that Kronus also has control over the different elements in this world. Creating a new element and inserting it into an unsuspecting human wouldn’t be that difficult for it.”

Nic stopped reading and let the air stifle for a bit as he turned the pages in the journal. The contents that he wanted to read jumped forward to just under a hundred years ago.

“Is that it?” Kayla hesitantly asked her question. Even what he had just read was almost more info on Kronus than Nic had ever heard in one sitting before himself. The only thing that beat it was hearing things from Aerial and Salamander themselves on their way to Crystallia.

“That can’t be.” Aria peered at the book with quizzical eyes. Because of her connection with Aerial, Nic knew that she would be questioning the lack of information in that one excerpt.

“Aria’s right. There’s another section I want to read.” Nic looked back at the journal. The next entry he was going to read was from ninety-nine years ago. The day… one week before the founding of Crystallia. Nic already knew from reading the rest of the journal that the contents of this entry were what sparked the founding of the Rad-Town.

“I met Kronus.” The first words on the page. The first words out of Nic’s mouth. They were the biggest words that could’ve been written. “Not in the way I thought I would. I learned a lot from this meeting. About that God, and even about myself. Yes. Kronus is a God. Through and through. There is simply no other way to describe a being of his caliber. He controls time and space. The Spirit Progenitors were created to aid in his control over space and the elements that flow through it.”

There was still more on the page. More that Nic would need to tell Aerial and Salamander later, but for now, Nic stopped. He had read everything he needed to. The rest was not something that the common person should know.

“So… this Kronus, it’s the Godlike being that you have to go against?” Worry coated his mother’s face as she confirmed everything. When Nic nodded in response to her, he could see a visible shrink in her demeanor.

Kayla stood up and began to pace back and forth. She looked between Nic, the journal in his hands, and the gravestone of her husband. She was worried about her son. Worried about his future. About his life.

Of course she would be worried at this moment.

“Kayla, Nic isn’t alone! He has me. And Sarman. Yuuki, Sarah and Kiara as well! Not to mention…” Aria tried to placate her fears. She wanted to console Kayla with the knowledge that Nic wasn’t alone. Nor was he in weak company. They had two Spirit Progenitors on their side. Aerial and Salamander were widely considered the strongest of the Spirit Progenitors in terms of power.

“I know. I’m worried. But I also understand that even if I wanted to stop Nic, I wouldn’t be able to, would I?” Kayla shot Nic a small look of quiet resignation.

“No… You wouldn’t.” Nic got up himself and faced her mother properly. “This is something I promised I would do. I can’t back down now, knowing everything that I do.”

Nic knew too much about the world now. He knew about Kronus, and about the origins of Irradiation. At long last he had learned the truth about his bloodline. The full truth of his family.

There was one last secret that he couldn’t reveal yet. Aerial was probably the only other person who knew about it, seeing as he was the only Spirit Progenitor to know Crystal even at the beginning.

“I see,” Kayla reached out and pulled Nic into a hug. “In that case you have to promise me something. Promise me you will end it all.”

Hearing the soft whisper of his mother’s request, Nic simply smiled as he wrapped his own arms around her.

“I will…”

After the sun had set on the day, Nic found himself sitting in front of a small fire behind the house that his mother was the sole inhabitant of. Everyone else was in the town circle, celebrating the return of those from Crystallia and the news of their neighbors' newfound freedom.

It had been decided that a meeting would be held the next day to decide the specifics of the proposed alliance that Yuuki had brought. In the meantime a large feast had been set up in little time.

Sigh…

Nic let out a low sigh as he held Crystal’s journal over the fire. Three sets of torn pages sat under a rock next to Nic. They were the only things in the journal that were of importance to most people.

The rest contained secrets that shouldn’t be revealed to anyone else. Secrets that even Nic felt bad about learning.

“You didn’t mention it this afternoon, but Crystal learned the truth in the end, didn’t she?” A familiar androgynous voice spoke up from next to Nic. A small glare had it holding its hands up defensively. “Aria is at the feast. It’s just you and me here.”

“...” Nic stayed quiet for a moment before asking the question weighing down on him. “Do you know if anyone else knows? That Crystal was…?”

“That the spirit that she combined with to become an elf was a Spirit Progenitor? As far as I’m aware, only Noah Verilo learned at the end of his life.” Nic was relieved to hear that. When he burned this journal, the only ones alive that would know would be Nic, Aerial, and Ruby- another name that appeared in Crystal’s journal.

Nic dropped the book in the fire.

He listened to the crackle of the fire burning any water and air stuck in the pages. The book shriveled up, growing ever more black as it did. Heat washed over Nic’s body from the fire fueled by this secret.

“Now there are only three.”

“Three? Who’s the third?” To Aerial, it should have only been two; him and Nic. To answer his question, Nic reached down to the three sets of pages from the journal that he had torn out. Two of them had been the passages he had read to his mother that morning.

But the third…

“Ruby Serilo. Crystal’s first and only attempt at cloning herself to provide a companion to the Verilo meant to break the curse.” Crystal was known as the Blood Elf because of her control over blood. It was that control that let her stay near Noah Verilo in the beginning. It was that control that let her create the method that Nic was using in the current day to absorb and purify Irradiation. It was that control that let her heal the wounds of ordinary people just by touching them.

And it was that control that made her toy with the idea of being able to create a clone of herself. She wanted to give her descendant, 500 years in the future, a companion to help them on their journey.

“The result of her attempts was Ruby. She apparently looks exactly like Crystal, and even shares some of the blood related abilities to her.”

“I feel a but coming…” Aerial was learning all of this for the first time, but even it knew what it was feeling was more than just a gut feeling.

“That’s right. Ruby should have been the success that Crystal was looking for, but her personality was the complete opposite of Crystal’s in certain important areas.” Nic looked over at the suit of armor made of wind. “She wants to create a second Irradiated Winter.”

The armor stood quiet. The slow popping of the fire was gradually going out. Soon there was nothing but empty air between the two of them.

“Crystal wanted to create a unified world,” Aerial was quiet when it finally spoke again. “One where humans and demi-humans worked together for the betterment of everyone. And one without Irradiation.”

“But Ruby,” Nic continued after Aerial without so much as a pause. “She wants to rid the world of Humanity. Force everyone to either die or turn into a Demi-Human through a second Irradiated Winter.”

“Impossible!” Aerial spat at the notion. Like Nic, the very notion of a second Irradiated Winter seemed to make Aerial sick to their stomach.

That afternoon Nic had stated that his enemy was a godlike being; Kronus. But that wasn’t fully the case. He had a second opponent; Ruby.