*Kryzen*
“Stay close,” I said to Briella and Roy as we made our way through the shimring Celestial City streets.
It was strange being there after so many years. The last ti I visited, I had been a teenager, young and brooding.
The city itself hadn’t changed much. The crystal spires and the maze of canals were the sa. What did change were the people. They laughed and chatted like the ones in my childhood mories, but sothing was off. I couldn’t tell if it was due to being older and possibly more jaded.
“Why?” Briella demanded but she kept her voice low. “Did you sense sothing?”
I looked around at the sea of people in front of us and the lights bouncing off the shimring building facades. “I’m not sure,” I answered after a mont. “I think I’m just unsettled by the strangeness of it all. We need to get to the bottom of this.”
I led the way deeper into the city, down a particularly busy street, the main shopping district. It was an area that my family and I frequented often when I was a kid. It was an array of shops that were usually filled with people. There was a candy shop that my older sister and I would spend a lot of ti in. I could still recall being handed coins by my parents to spend on chocolates and carals shaped like different creatures.
I was pleased to see that the shop was still there, but I wasn’t tempted by the sweet aromas wafting from it.
“It’s a little ways away, but I think we should make our way to the temple,” I told Briella and Roy. “We should speak to the elders about the strange occurrences.”
Briella pursed her full lips. “Do you really think they’ll know what happened?” she asked, her tone doubtful. “Shouldn’t we go to the healers or perhaps to the Alpha?”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Wouldn’t you go to the elders in the valley if sothing like this were to happen?”
Briella thought about that for a long mont, her lips thinning. “Yeah, but that’s mainly because we don’t have an Alpha or a head healer. The closest to the latter would probably be my brother.”
I nodded in understanding. “The elders here are reputed as the spiritual leaders of the city,” I explained. “While the Alpha might make decisions that have to do with political and fiscal ans, he will still often seek out the elders for advice and guidance. That is why I believe that we should do the sa.”
“They might even have sothing to do with the end of this disease,” Roy added with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Weren’t you at the temple when the portal opened and sent you to the Embervale?” Briella demanded. “Maybe we shouldn’t go back there, especially after that just happened.”
I shook my head, already making my way down the path that would lead to the temple. “Rember what Mathias said,” I told her. I gestured vaguely in her direction. “The two cities are alive in a lot of ways. The portal likely opened because we were ant to find you, maybe even ant to bring you here. We won’t get sucked up again.”
“If you’re sure,” Briella said doubtfully but she didn’t argue further as I led the way down the busy street.
I couldn’t help but watch Briella as we made our way through the shopping and entertainnt district. The afternoon was quickly lting into the evening, making way for street perforrs and other forms of art.
Briella’s jaw dropped as a fire juggler threw his flaming batons into the air before catching them effortlessly, the embers fluttering down like tiny stars. Her face lit up with a childlike excitent that I found myself smirking at. A warm sensation fluttered in my stomach. I averted my gaze, confused by the feeling.
We needed to get to the temple, but I decided it wouldn’t hurt to take a bit of a detour on the way. My stomach seed to agree as it growled viciously at .
“Are either of you hungry?” I asked my companions.
Roy nodded. “I could use so nourishnt,” he said. “None of us have eaten since leaving the Embervale. Not accounting for the strange lack of ti during realm jumping, it has probably been several hours since our last al.”
Briella looked relieved by this turn in the conversation. “I’m starved,” she announced. “And there are a bunch of food booths up ahead. I wonder if this place has festivals like this every night.”
I chuckled at that. “I believe we are here during the start of the Celestial Festival,” I told her. “It’s to celebrate the founding of the city. It usually goes on for weeks. For the next several days, they will likely have food booths and gas every night.”
I could tell Briella was trying to contain her elation. Her lips were turned down, and her jaw was tight, but her bright green eyes were practically shimring as we turned the corner where all the food booths were lined up in neat rows on either side of the street.
“What should we get, Stormfall?” she asked, whirling to face , her face eager. I thought I even heard her swallow.
I raised both eyebrows. “What would you like?” I asked.
“You should pick what we get,” she said decisively, looking at Roy. “Right, Roy? Stormfall should choose what we get, right?”
“And how do you figure that?” I asked before Roy could formulate a response, amusent leaking into my voice.
Briella rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Because you’ve been here a bunch of tis,” she said as if it was obvious. “You should know where to get the best food.”
I could have argued but relented, craving the smoked at skewers and moonlight cakes.
About a half hour later, we were seated on a bench, enjoying the skewers. There was only one empty bench, so the three of us were seated with Briella between us. I tried not to think about how our thighs were nearly touching as I bit into my skewer.
“The at is so tender,” Briella said, looking completely content as she bit into another at cube. She sighed happily after swallowing. “Cooked to perfection.”
“Are you actually comnding my choice, Black?” I asked teasingly.
Briella wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin before scoffing at . “As if you had anything to do with the deliciousness of the food.”
Roy chuckled from Briella’s other side. “He did suggest we go to that booth, so we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy this had he not said sothing.”
Briella rolled her eyes but didn’t comnt. Her green orbs rounded suddenly, and a shiver went through her. She looked around quickly.
I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong when it hit like a sinister shadow. I looked around sharply, but the dark aura was gone before I could confirm its presence.
“You felt it too,” Briella said, watching my face carefully.
I nodded once, standing quickly. “We should hurry and get to the temple.”
“What did you two feel?” Roy asked in alarm.
I paused. The sensation was difficult to describe to those who didn’t wield magic like the prince of Egoren. “Darkness,” I finally answered. “A sinister aura. It passed over like a shadow, but it’s already gone.”
Roy cursed under his breath, and we quickly disposed of our trash before hurrying through the streets.
The temple was in the middle of a nature oasis in the center of the city. It was the only area that was full of grass and trees. When I was a kid, my parents often took there so that I could run through tall grass and pick flowers with my older sister.
Briella craned her neck to stare up at the temple. The sun was setting, casting orange and pink lights on the marble facade. The white material was veined with threads of gold, making the structure a true masterpiece of divine craftsmanship.
We climbed the array of sleek steps up to the large golden doors. As we made it to the top step, the doors opened, revealing Ezriel, the lead elder.
“Co in, young friends,” he invited in a slightly raspy voice, stroking his wispy white beard before turning to head into the temple.
We followed the old man into the sanctuary. We all squinted at the sudden brightness due to all the gold fixtures and shimring marble. Ezriel ascended the steps to join the other half a dozen elders on their stage. I was amazed that the elder was able to lower himself down to sit cross-legged on a thin velvet pillow.
Briella didn’t waste a second. She stepped forward. “Thank you for seeing us, elders,” she said respectfully, dipping her head in a bow. “We’ve co from the Embervale Realm, from your sister city of Celestial Valley.”
“Then we welco you warmly,” said a female elder sitting on Ezriel’s left. “It is not often we are graced by mbers of the valley.”
I took that as an opening, stepping forward to stand next to Briella. “I am the grandson of Eva Stormfall,” I said. “She left the city, telling us of a horrible illness that had fallen over your city. We’ve co to aid you in any way we can.”
“We are grateful for that and honored to be in the presence of a descendent of Eva Stormfall,” said another male elder.
“But your good aid is not needed,” Ezriel said.
“Not needed?” Roy echoed.
Ezriel nodded. “We have prayed heavily to the goddess, and she has miraculously lifted the horrifying disease,” he inford us. “Celestial City is at peace again.”
Briella, Roy, and I all glanced at one another in disbelief. It was clear that we were all suspicious.
“With your permission, we would like to stay and investigate further,” I said, knowing that at least Roy would agree with my decision.
I noticed Briella nodding in the peripheral, so she was on board as well.
“Of course, you may stay as long as you wish,” Ezriel said, but it was clear he didn’t particularly see the need. “We must insist you stay in our guest house suite for the duration of your stay.”
“Thank you,” I said, bowing low. “We graciously accept.”
“That was odd,” Briella said as we walked through the gardens just outside the temple.
I nodded at her understatent. “It is odd, but I sensed that Ezriel was genuine when he claid the Moon Goddess intervened.”
“We’ll stay and confirm that for ourselves,” Briella said, determination crossing her features.
Roy and I nodded, but I had a dark feeling co over that things would be far more difficult than we hoped.
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