Chapter 24: Arrival
Somewhere in Avalon.
The sky was tainted crimson, its glow reflecting against the vast ocean below.
On the water, there was a massive ship, slowly moving along the waters while heading east of the planet Avallon.
Inside it were a lot of people seated in uniform lines; upon seeing their size, one might guess that their numbers passed the thousand digits. But among these people were three women who were dressed in white cloaks with a pretty, odd pattern drawn on them. Their silver hair slightly showing through their cloaks, together with the pristine knightly armor they were wearing underneath the cloaks.
All eyes around were on them, though no one dared to ask what the ladies' business was; all the people around them could do was watch them silently. The women themselves couldn't help but stay silent, while looking back at the masses all around them.
Somewhere on the ocean, waves crushed against rocks in abrupt force.
The night passed with nothing of the sort to be documented.
***
Morning arrived, replacing the crimson glow with a blue one, and the massive vessel had finally arrived to it's destination in Avalon.
All passengers on board the massive vessel started to descend one after another, leaving the ship and taking in the almost violet colored skies.
Some time later, the three women in white cloaks emerged from the vessel, still covering their persons as they made their way off the massive vessel, their knightly armor clinking with every step, and none of them had any weapons visible on their persons.
In front of them were a lot of people, hoping to make a profit selling food and other luxuries to the arriving guests. And from the looks of things, most of them had already made a profit, counting their currency in the form of silver coins and paper, a smile on their faces, and as for the others, it appeared as if they had just arrived, opening up their business to start the day.
"Ladies, you look tired, mind if you take some rest in our inns! It only costs five hundred Veyr!" One of the people called out, approaching the women in white.
Yet, the women just passed him, ignoring him without even sparing him a glance.
"Hungry ladies? We've got fried, smoked, boiled, and even tenderized fish in your aboard, and it only costs fifty Veyr for each one." Another one said. Yet, the ladies ignored him as the last one.
Most of the people gathered there approached the ladies, begging for Veyr or just trying to sell them goods, but the ladies ignored them all, as if the people weren't even present.
Sometime hence, the three women reached the city of Avalon, though there the situation was almost the same as at the shore, strangers offering them a place for rest, food to eat, and some even asking for assistance.
"What the hell is a Vayr?" Finally, after reaching a decent inn. The three women booked a room; it wasn't big, but to them, it was the right size for all of them to sleep in together, though the room only contained a single bed.
"I'm guessing it's the currency of this world, cause the owner of this place said something similar when Aztec asked. But knowing Aztec, that man's words only mingled for a brief of a second in her head."
The woman who looked slightly taller than the others explained, still putting on the cloaks.
"Currency?" Another woman muttered, standing by the open window and taking in the city view.
"Oh, I almost forgot... You're too not a professional on the matter, but I'm glad you're here with us today." The taller woman said, stepping closer to the bed.
"I can't help but wonder, what did you think about the humans' behavior in this world, Flora?" She asked.
"Can't say, but humans are quite odd no matter the world." Replied the woman at the window. Her name was Flora, and from her posture, she appeared to be the youngest in the group.
"Odd, huh?" Uttered the taller woman, hovering a hand on the bed, her hand was dressed in armor, dressed in silver, white, and black, also possessing the odd pattern on their cloaks.
"An odd person can't be saying such words, because you know, strange can't be calling strange, 'strange.'" She continued. Flora only stayed silent, still taking in the view of the window.
The tall woman stopped hovering her hand on the bed and swiveled, looking at the closed door.
"Do you know why Aztec is taking her sweet time returning here... Don't tell me she's eating that strange food we saw in the diner."
She stepped closer to the door, and a second later, the door clicked open.
"Ah, Lady Caelthys?" The woman named Aztec appeared.
The sentence Lady Caelthys. Aztec was referring to the tall woman.
"What were you doing out there?" Caelthys asked, then paused, looking at Aztec's unarmored hand. "Were you eating the grub we saw in the diner?"
"Ahhh... No. But I was about to, then I remembered the one million one hundred and eighth rule that states about enjoying the pressures of other worlds." Aztec stated.
Caelthys let out a soft sigh, pivoting and looking at Flora on the open window.
"Flora, set a barrier on the window and the other open spaces of this room. We don't need to draw attention from the humans around."
Some moments passed, and the room was now covered in flowers that ran along the walls of the room until the opening in the window. The flowers were slightly radiating light as figures that looked like fairies started taking shape atop each flower and embracing them before turning motionless.
The three women now had their cloaks off. They all had such long silver hair that ran all the way down to their feet, though it was tied to prevent it from getting into contact with the ground.
Their faces were beautiful, too beautiful, suggesting that these women were human or anything that can describe a humanoid. Their eyelashes were the same color as their hair, but some small details separated these women apart. They all had a different set of eye colors, going from scarlet, blue, and green.
"So, where should we start looking?" One of the women inquired, and from her height alone, this was Aztec. She had scarlet eyes that glimmered like expensive, rare crystals.
"We'll keep going east. I can sense large amounts of ether coming from that direction." This was Caelthys, though she appeared to be older than the others. If she were human, she would have been somewhere in her late twenties. And her blue eyes shimmered with a radiant hue of abstract blues.
She then sat on the bed, glancing up at the sky with a grave expression on her face.
"Judging from the ether I'm sensing, it seems Lumina Nexus is a human now. The ether is just too weak to be recognized by the others, that's why I guess they haven't made a fuss yet. So it seems." She said.
"But at this current time, I too sense Lumina Nexus presence, yet, it's naught coming from the east directly, but slightly to its nearshoring contour." Flora described, staring at the blank space in front of her.
"Yes, I too sense it," Caelthys said. "But that ether... it feels like it belongs to Makina Azuryth and Lumina Nexus fused together. And, sorry to state the obvious, Flora, that fusion is Estaria, Lumina Azuryth, in simpler terms. That ether seems more like it's coming from his daughter rather than him."
She paused, considering. "Still, I shouldn't jump to conclusions. Yet I feel like Lumina Nexus may have split into two. Or it could be Estaria herself. But if it's her… what is she doing here?"
Both Flora and Aztec looked at Caelthys with a wry expression.
"Hey Caelthys, why can't we just open a portal to get there quickly?" Aztec asked, Caelthys shifted her attention to face her.
"You can't be serious... Don't you remember the last time we cut a portal on an alien world... The whole galaxy was in shambles, with nothing left except ether." Flora said.
Aztec glanced at the floor, feeling stupid for even suggesting something like that.
"Don't worry about it. Right now, let's focus on getting some rest before we can proceed... And, oh, Flora, you'll be heading to uncover who that ether belongs to exactly, if you find anything, summon me to a dimension gap, we'll discuss things moving from there." Caelthys explained, finally removing her whole cloak, leaving only the armor.
"What about Aztec?" Flora asked.
"Don't worry about her, she'll be coming with me, to keep an eye out for any other gods trying to get to Lumina Nexus." She stretched her shoulders.
"As you already figured, she can't be left on her own, she's too reckless when it comes to making decisions, she might end up wiping this whole world again."
Aztec stayed silent, listening as Caelthys spoke of her recklessness, and she didn't even try to defend herself because the statement Caelthys gave stated only the truth about her.
"Fair point, then I'll take off next time when I wake up," Flora said, stepping close to the bed and sitting next to Caelthys, who now lay on her back with her eyes closed. A moment hence, Flora followed.
***
Hours later.
The three women had taken their fair share of sleep and now were heading east as the sky roared with thunder clouds that covered half of Avalon.
Flora went her separate way from Caelthys and Aztec, who continued heading east on foot. And they had put on their cloaks again, covering their faces to appear normal to the public. But their journey wasn't one of awkwardness. All eyes were on them every time they passed a crowd.
As for Flora, she had taken a carriage that was heading straight to Steria. Unlike the others, she had the carriage to herself since she was the only passenger. But she remained cloaked, making sure that no one got a glimpse of her face.
Caelthys and Aztec passed through the mountains for days, without even taking the time to rest their eyes.
A month passed.
Finally, the two women had stopped to rest and purify their ether.
They stopped east of Mel, where a town named Fall settled a few miles from Dol.
...
That evening, Aztec had a vision. In her vision, they were dressed like servants of humans—maidens—only with slightly different faces, and they were working deep underground in some sort of dungeon. There, there was a man, Caelthys called Hajime, and this young man was Lumina Nexus, only now he was a human who couldn't even use a sword.
The vision continued, Caelthys was trying to awaken this boy, making him remember who he was and what he needed to do, but the odd thing was that Flora wasn't there; it was only her and Caelthys.
After Aztec illustrated her vision to Caelthys, Caelthys first found it hard to believe, but later believed every single word spoken by Aztec about the vision.
"Fine then, we'll head wherever your vision points you to go."
Caelthys was willing to take a chance just to find Lumina Nexus. The reason being that she had been in search of him for more than a million years, and with the timing of Aztec's vision and the strong presence of ether as they got closer to their destination, everything was starting to add up little by little.