Yes, the building complex was connected to the slaver's dock. Yes, it was suspiciously close to the inner wall.
That didn't mean it had any passage through Fluentem's Inner Wall.
But what now?
Could I search out the whole building?
At least she could somewhat figure out if there was a path through before she tried to enter. Aureum was a sorceress of wind.
Wind can go nearly anywhere.
Sitting and focusing, it took some time, a few mistakes and deadends, before she found a path through the building. It wasn't always easy to orientate herself around the tiny paths. As she threw herself onto the wind, she could squeeze beneath a door, but then she had to still know where she was. The building was as confusing as she remembered it.
However, she opened her eyes to hope.
There was a route into the wall. It wasn't just sitting next to it.
Maybe the building was a relic from when the Outer Wall was whole. Making the Inner Wall less important.
The only problem were the guards. They didn't have ice mana, which was a good sign. Nix's soldiers must not know of every nook and cranny of Fluentem yet. Aureum hoped they were slavers. Then, it wouldn't be a city of soldiers she had to run from.
Worst case, she'd be enslaved, not imprisoned. So much better.
Aureum shivered.
I need to stop thinking about that.
Worrying about who was inside could wait until after she figured out how to get in. At least that is how she prioritized things.
She turned towards the river. The water was going to be cold.
Maybe one day I'll be able to break into a city during summer. And not have to swim.
After scurrying away from the building again, still trying to keep to the shadows, Aureum waded into the Vena.
Despite the calm surface, the river pulled around her knees as she stepped in.
"Dammit…"
It was freezing. Every slow step deeper stung. Aureum took a breath and rubbed her neck. It was pointless to draw it out.
She plunged in. A few fierce strokes and she was deep enough before the cold truly hit her.
Her body flailed a bit under it. Being cut off from the wind was always a shock, but the cold was the worst.
The cloak soaked through instantly. What had helped her fly now dragged her down. She hadn't even considered it, as it was almost her second skin. She should have.
It wasn't heavy enough to drown her.
A stream of air released from her mouth. It didn't break out into bubbles.
Aureum had too much of a chokehold over its form to allow the natural course.
She could control it, even as the river sought to pull it from her. It broke the surface of the water. Her intention was only to make a line that she could sense the guards through. So that she knew when and where to resurface.
"Ah!"
But of course, as soon as the thin string of air broke the surface of the water, she could breathe.
"Urgh. Ahhh. Urgh!" Aureum choked.
Sort of.
The shock of the cold fought her body's natural inclination to breathe. It took her a few moments to stop choking. But when she did, what wonder.
As soon as she was able to breathe, she could sense beyond the water's surface. The suffocating feeling of being isolated vanished. The void of her senses felt more like a calm blanket.
I could hide in the river and wait. Wait until the best time to come out.
A cold void. Her shivering body meant she couldn't wait for too long. And she knew some of the guards were sorcerers of water, which meant she couldn't trust this security of being senseless.
It was only a moment of peace. Better than only pain, but nothing she could hold to. She had to continue on.
As she had hoped, she was able to wait for the guards to leave. Because of the cold, that was a minor miracle.
She got out shaking, but she dashed for the wall. The unpleasant memories and feelings struck her as she darted by, but there was no time to dwell on them.
Her goal this time was a window that the wind had let her know was cracked open. The room, she knew, was empty. Her fingers quickly reached beneath the window and pushed it up. She jumped through softly. Aureum couldn't fly yet, but she had enough mana for that.
Puddles dripped wherever she stepped, but she didn't mind that. Drying herself out would take too long.
The rest was a quiet and tense scamper through the empty rooms. Yes, the rooms were indeed empty. All the treasures that had been stored there in the past were gone.
Of course, when I get the chance to come back with the ability to store everything, it disappears! Of course!
It was a far simpler process than escaping had been back then. Aureum had the strength of her body to complement the sensitivity of her mana.
And there were far fewer guards. Nothing much was left for them to hoard.
It was so simple it terrified her all the more.
It felt too simple.
She became a little dizzy as she easily bypassed another guard. She felt her heart beating. The door out, the one that she'd figured was the closest one to where she wanted to be, was now before her.
The lock wasn't a problem. She had enough time. She just needed to blow wind through it—
KREEEEH!
In the quiet, the whistle of it resounded throughout the hall. Aureum sucked in a scared breath.
Move!
Her hands shaking, the lock was carefully slid down. With that done, she opened the door. As soon as it was shut behind, she ran with abandon.
The cold breeze hit her first. She barely noticed as she burst outside.
Her heart and steps pounded.
Yes, she was terrified.
It wasn't until she was a few blocks down the street that she remembered she could fight now. She had the ring that held her spear.
A few more steps. The lock she still held dug into her hand. Aureum hadn't realized she'd still been holding onto it.
Am I inside, at least?
Aureum turned back. The Inner Wall rose before her.
Does that mean anything?
For a moment she was still disoriented. But the obvious change in the streets showed the truth. Compact, orderly buildings with the ornate stone carvings of past histories of grandeur. Not a patch of grass to be seen in a glance.
The moon was bright and clear tonight. Completely full.
Aureum almost laughed, but she was still too busy running.
I need to head to the university—
There had been no people on the street during her run. Now she felt someone turning the corner towards her.
Aureum ducked between two buildings. She squeezed in as far as she could go.
Two soldiers of Nix walked by. They had no torches. Aureum held her breath as they passed.
The moon was very bright.
They walked slowly.
"…I can't believe he's always complaining about his wife."
"None of us have wives right now."
"You have somebody waiting at home. That makes a difference."
"Maybe we're happier to be away than you think."
"Yeh, like I don't see you staring at that sketch every night. There are plenty of men who don't complain about their wives like he does. Yet here he is with a wife while I've got nobody and damnable nothing!"
"Why don't you try complaining to a girl instead of me…"
Eventually, they took another turn. Aureum released her breath. Then she began the slow and unseemly task of wriggling out.
It was a long moment before she was able to head again in any direction, but as soon as she could, it was to the university. Where else would she find them?
The buildings passed by in the blue light of a full moon. The soldiers were easy to avoid. There wasn't a single person out at night.
In the hour, Aureum saw the Viadelux University rise before her. At least the tips of it. That was all she could see. Not exactly the same as the ancient carvings around the city, but a modern reinterpretation of it.
The large buildings were none too compact and orderly from her memory. What had been one small building had grown into four buildings that sprawled out across much in the eight or so decades it existed.
Despite how it taught sorcerers, it had never been designed for an organized defense.
Fluentem had been neutral. Fluentem had been harmless. Fluentem had only been a benefit to everyone.
Most Lords didn't notice or care about the progress of the city's university. Only those of lesser means would grasp at such things, they thought. The teachings of their bloodline were far superior, in their minds. But the hope the openness of useful knowledge gave drew people from all parts of Aeternitus, and it slowly became the jewel of the city.
Not all applicants became great sorcerers, but the influx of aspirants helped Fluentem in other ways.
They became workers when many of their young populace were leaving for other cities. They had to eat and live, and in the early days when the university didn't provide that, Fluentem did. Then, as Viadelux became acclaimed across Aeternitus, it brought in travelers from as far as it was spoken of.
Not to mention how promising it was to have sorcerers and a few ascended as part of the university.
Their studies had given Fluentem more than it had lost. Some things were little trinkets sold in Fluentem, like ever-spinning pinwheels. Other things were more ambitious, like flying ships. But no one at Viadelux had managed it yet.
Still, the finances weren't there for mass production of much of what the university already knew could be done. And most of the sorcerers who stayed at the university permanently desired the study of mana. Not the destructive implement of it.
The warriors who came to study at Viadelux, despite being many, left within a few years when they found what they were looking for.
Fluentem had once had peace, and warriors who traveled to learn powerful methods of layering didn't stay where there was peace.
There hadn't even been real walls when Aureum was last here. She and Hiems had been able to walk right in. They had even used one of the old training grounds with no one complaining. Now, some sort of pillars erected by a stone sorcerer made a barrier between it and the city.
Calling them pillars was generous. The earthen wall looked more like a side of a cliff than anything built. They loomed over Aureum.
How am I supposed to enter that…? She fretted.
Hide away until daylight? The night wasn't that deep. It would be hours.
And every fifteen minutes or so Aureum found herself hiding from some soldier.
Quickly enough, a potential solution revealed itself.
The hastily erected wall had a hole in it. An unknown force had broken it. Bits of the earthen stone lay behind it.
Aureum had questions, but no answers. And there were soldiers in the way of the gap.
How…
This made Aureum take some distance. Another gap between two buildings, this time with some crates in front of it, offered a place to think.
She'd been too long without running. Being soaked through, she'd begun shivering at some point.
How am I supposed to get through this?!
If her rage was enough of a weapon, she might have just killed them on the spot. Yet, the two soldiers stood.
In their uniforms, they all looked so similar. All holding the same shape and colors. The same identity as a tool for the most hateful person ever in existence.
And all completely expendable.
At least it seemed so in Aureum's eyes in that moment.
Her hand reached for her ring to summon her spear. But no. It lowered again.
I don't need to be chased tonight. On top of everything else.
That's what she told herself. What she was remembering was something different. The way it had felt to stab a man.
Surprisingly soft, and… suddenly heavy.
Her face strained as she fought for her composure.
It had been a long night.
"…ha…"
It had been a long week. A long month. A long couple of months.
A year that had stretched back into so many years of just pain, patience, and bitter disappointment.
Aureum sat back, drained. When her emotions had calmed, her exhausted body had been still for too long. She dozed.
So much time passed. It felt like so little.
She woke up from the noise of the city. Voices, steps, and hooves. She felt too warm, and her eyes itched.
Aureum was where she had hidden last night: between the two buildings and behind a pile of crates. She crawled a little forward and peered around.
In the morning, the soldiers were still there before the gap. Different soldiers, but the same to Aureum. Before she could work up any solutions, or even emotions, for the constant state of her predicament, a woman just walked by.
Ah… was it that simple?
Aureum stood up. She felt a little creaky, despite the young age of her body. Even young women will be sore if they sleep in an awkward place.
Not to mention the discomfort of sleeping in wet clothes. Everything itched.
She stepped out from her hiding spot. There were a few people that noticed her in the slow morning, but not the soldiers. Aureum made sure of that.
Then she, in her completely ruined state, tried just walking in.
"Tch!"
Aureum felt herself jolt. She kept moving, painfully slowly, hoping nothing was wrong.
Nobody stopped her. It was just the soldier's expression of disgust at her disheveled appearance.
Aureum's heart lept against her chest as she got further and further away with no repercussions.
Could I have just done that last night?
She didn't know. It felt a little like a dream. Yesterday she was staring at a wall trying to scrape out how to get in. Now she was inside, hopefully about to meet Lacuna and Sitis.
Hopefully.
Aureum's good mood dropped like a stone back into water. Her small accomplishment was just that, small. She still had to find Lacuna and Sitis and then…
Beg them to help me with Hiems?
Even if she took them out the way she came in, which would be a little bit more difficult with Sitis, would they even want to help Hiems?
Should I really just start a rebellion against Nix right here?
"Heh."
She let out a noise between a scoff and a laugh. Whatever she was walking into, it would probably be at least as brutal as what she left.
She took another step forward anyway.