Vincere aut mori
-Conquer or die
The Gates of the Kingdom of Hesperia, Northern Ardeneon.
April 14
The gates of Hesperia stands tall—in fact huge—compared to them, the guard steps out of a human/sprite sized door one wouldn't notice was on the gates considering the enormous size.
"Halt, travelers! What brings you into the great Kingdom of Hesperia?" River scoffs at that. He wouldn't say 'great' but whatever floats their boat.
"We're looking for a Kaito Ladiston, do you know him by chance?" River asks the man.
"I'm a guard not an informationist" he laughs in their faces quite rudely.
"Dude, do you know him or not?" Dexter asks.
"Why should I answer you when you have no knowledge on how to address your elders?" the guard asks.
"Sorry about him" Elijah interrupts "You said something about an informationist, where can we find this person?"
"If you're looking for information on someone or something, your best bet would be the local tavern" he tells them "But, unfortunately I cannot let you in, unless you prove yourself worthy"
"How do we do that?" Skai asks.
"One of you lot has to best me in a duel, if you lose your bodies get thrown under the Hesperian bridge" he says it with a straight face but also almost like as if he was trying to scare them off.
"We're literal children, what the hell dude?" Skai curses, she wasn't as worried about his threat though because she had just been under the bridge but it was still startling.
"Skai." River nudges her not wanting to get the guard more upset and she groans. "I'm injured you moron" she rubs her shoulder.
"Calm down, okay?" He sighs rubbing the area of her shoulder which he hit in apology.
"Look sir, we're not here to pick a fight" Dexter appeals to him.
"So, are you fighting or not?" the guard taps his feet impatiently ignoring Dexter "I don't have all day"
"I'll fight, I didn't do fencing for nothing." Emily steps forward mumbling the last part.
"No sunshine, you can't risk your life like that, this isn't fencing." Elijah warns her watching the guard sharpening his sword.
"We don't have much of a choice Ellie" her eyes pierces into his. "Not after how far we've come"
"B-" She cuts him off
"Let me do this" She grabs his hand "Alright babe?" she kisses him before walking over the guard.
"Sister Lily wants to fight!" Seraphinius cheers. Making River and Skai fall in awe at how he's being a supportive brother already.
"Oh no, Rule 78 of Hesavine conduct says we don't duel in front children." The guard says his eyes on Seraphinius.
"You're literally dueling a child bro, make it make sense" Dexter chuckles under his breath.
"The child needs to be 10 feet away from the dueling ground" the guard informs them, not hearing Dexter's little jab.
"I'll go wait with Phinius over there" Skai says.
"You can barely walk, I'll go with you guys" River offers, and she agrees, the two go with Phinius about five feet away from where Emily was going to duel the guard.
"Being a little younglin sucks" Seraphinius huffs "I really wanted to watch"
"You're so weird kid" Skai ruffles his hair. "You can see it fine from here, you're good". The guard hands Emily a sword, Elijah and Dexter move away from the two opponents a little to give them space.
The guard didn't seem as good as they had expected, they were starting to have hope, Emily knew all the right movements to make and outsmarted him easily time after time.
The guard charges, his sword swinging in powerful arcs. Emily dodges and weaves, her agility and quick reflexes allowing her to avoid his blows. She ripostes with swift and precise strikes, her sword darting in and out like a silver snake.
Even from this distance River and Skai could tell that just like all of them, the guard was taken aback by her speed and agility, although they'd have to admit he is certainly no novice. He didn't meet their expectations, but he isn't bad either. He counters with a series of powerful slashes, forcing Emily to leap and dodge to avoid his blade. She lands a quick jab to his shoulder, but he barely flinches.
The flight intensifies, the two of them exchanging strikes in a flurry of steel and sparks. Emily's sword slices through the air, striking the guard's armor with a ringing clang. He retaliates with a powerful overhead strike but Emily dodges beneath it and strikes back.
The guard stumbles a little, his sword wavering. Emily takes this opportunity; her sword flashes a precise strike.
Before their eyes could believe it, Emily had the middle-aged guard on the floor, pride evident in Elijah's eyes, River was the only one who was surprised. He really didn't believe she had it in her again, in that moment he knew "Lily Solaris is back." He mumbles with a small smile.
Standing over the guard, her sword points at his throat, she gives him a smug smirk "Yield" she says, her chest heaving with exertion.
The guard glares at her, but he knows he has been beaten. "I yield" he growls, and Emily lowers her sword, a triumphant smile spreading across her face.
"Sister won!" Seraphinius jumps up clapping.
"That was so badass" Skai gasps.
"I know right, I didn't believe she could do it for real" River laughs high fiving Skai.
"What's badass?" Seraphinius asks cluelessly.
"A word you should not be saying" River shakes his head at the 6-year-old as they make their way over to the 'duel ground'.
The guard had gotten up from the ground "Okay you little scoundrels" he breathes out holding the part of his neck Emily seemed to have scratched with her sword, it was bleeding, Emily on the other hand was sitting on the ground tending to her own injury on her arm, Dexter and Elijah assisting her in tying a piece of cloth over it. "You can go in" he pushes the door open.
"You got a name?" Dexter asks the guard before they walk through "Someone we can speak to"
"Raven" the man answers
They make their way into Hesperia and after the crazy security, which was a first, like any other Kingdom, they were faced with the marketplace. The marketplace is bustling with people, loud and not very orderly.
One could easily tell by the gadgets most people had on that the Kingdom fancies steam punk mechanics. It reminded River of the pattern of the twin watches he and his sister had, they never took it off, even to sleep, their dad had instructed them not to, it was a symbol of their love for each other as he said.
Seraphinius holds on to River's shirt as people were pushing past them, River picks the little boy up into his arms, protecting him from the crowd.
Moving with Seraphinius had River feeling like they had their own child, the little boy was growing on him fast, he was kind of like a group child.
They can practically feel and hear the people whispering around but decided it was best to pay them no mind assuming It's just because they are foreign.
"I miss my mommy" Seraphinius whines in River's ear.
"Same kid" he sighs in response.
"We need to find the tavern the guard was talking about" Elijah says as they turn a corner with a sign board pointing towards the left street. "Path Morene" which none of them saw.
"The local tavern" Skai speaks out.
"Yes Skai, the local tavern" Elijah opens his scroll's hologram map, "It is around here"
"Yes, it is" Skai tells them.
"He just said that Skai" Seraphinius giggles.
"No guys, the tavern is literally right there" she points at a restaurant in the center of the streets.
THE LOCAL TAVERN
It's boldly written on a rusty sign above the building. They walked towards the door something catching Emily's eye as she was looking around. "Path Morene" she mumbles and Elijah hums in response.
"Path Morene" she says louder this time "It sounds familiar" she says before realizing. "Does anyone still have that paper?"
"What paper?" Skai asks.
"The one from the Vani river"
"I think I have it in my bag" Elijah searches through his bag bringing the paper out. Emily takes it from him reading it out loud.
"Still in search? You never rest
Unlawful ways, surrounding the chase
Worth it or lost it, count it destructive
The answer you seek, Tis not what it seems,
Could it be the air we breathe? The ground we stalk, the water we drink, or might it be the sun and moon amidst? You are bound to miss as I do not come in peace.
But if you truly hope to see, why for tussle in disbelief,
the bustling grimes, along the path Morene."
She finishes looking at the sight board "That's path Morene" She motions to the street beside the tavern. "Should we look around a bit?"
"It's always worth a shot" Skai shrugs.
"We'll look, you wait here" Dexter tells Skai looking at her foot.
She nods reluctantly as River puts Seraphinius down next to her and the four begin searching the path. Just as Elijah is walking around, he steps on a block that is higher than the others. Looking down he kneels on the ground pulling the loose block out, he sees a little box underneath it and pulls it out quickly returning the block back into its hole now level with the others.
"I found something" he calls out to his friends, and they make their way back to Skai and Seraphinius.
"Did you find it?" Skai asks.
"It's kind of like he insinuated he did" River looks around shrugging with sarcasm.
"I think so" Elijah answers Skai, ignoring River as he opens the box bringing out a paper proceeding to read it out loud. "Halt, best not waste your time with these foolish rhymes, the time will come when you will be mine."
Emily scoffs "So we are being played" She concludes.
"But why would anyone want us?" Dexter asks.
"That is the least of our problems right now" Elijah responds, "let's just focus on getting out of here." He squeezes the paper throwing it in a nearby can with the box.
"Uh guys" Skai motions to them staring at the tavern wall, photos of them, all five of them, with their names written boldly on the brown papers. 'WANTED' written boldly at the top of each picture
"Dangers to our world, if left freely roaming?" Elijah reads off under one of the posters. "Wanted by TGC, Reward: 1 million shiflings each if found"
"That's a bit rude" Skai gasps dramatically "I'm worth more than a million shillings"
"Damn right" Dexter mutters and River lifts a brow hearing him.
"Guys we need disguises, God knows why they're looking for us" Emily frantically rummages through her backpack. "This isn't just the Bolveras guys, this is bigger than them, people can't just paste wanted signs wherever they please" "TGC" She breathes out taking out her cloak "only the great council can approve of this."
Understanding the gravity of the situation, River takes his cloaks out "That means..." he trails off, following her suit, putting one on himself and the other on Seraphinius, completely enveloping the little boy.
"Yup" She runs her fingers through her hair "10 out of 10, we're in some serious trouble."
"Guys, I feel like this makes us more suspicious" Dexter tugs at the hood of his cloak, River and Emily had already worn theirs with the hood over their heads, the rest of them are currently adjusting their cloaks properly to hide their faces.
"It would be," River picks Seraphinius from ground level and balances him on his left hip. "If we were somewhere else, but this is Hesperia, it's a dodgy place"
They walk into the restaurant slowly assessing the place, the tavern has the classic hustle and bustle of any late-night bar, waiters all stumbling around the place serving beers.
Elijah leads the way, taking them to the counter where they meet a girl with coily red hair cleaning cups while humming as if it was a daily routine for her, it most likely was.
"Raven?" Skai asks "You look like a Raven" she giggles.
Emily nudges her "You don't say things like that out loud" she warns her.
"How can I help ya' lot?" she puts the glass down "Information I'm guessing"
"We're looking for Kaito Ladiston" Elijah speaks up "We hear you have information on everything and anything"
"This might be a stab to the rep, but I have no idea who you're talking about" she takes the glass cups to the shelves behind her and starts arranging them "Sorry can't help"
They begin to walk away, disappointment evident on their faces, then Elijah spins around.
"Wait but you would recognize a face, right?" Elijah asks.
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" she laughs "I'm known for my impeccable photographic memory"
Elijah whispers something in River's ear and River nods. "Okay, so just think of an older version of him" Elijah tells her, and River pulls his cloak down.
She stumbles back as she seemed to have caught on, but she quickly composes herself. "Information doesn't come free, I need something in return"
All Emily had was some money Alistair had given her, she places a piece of gold and 2 shiflings on the table.
"Am I a joke to you?" Raven eyes it.
She puts a little more shiflings on the table "that's more like it" Raven grabs a stool from behind her and settles on it.
"If he is who I think he is, you ought not to be looking for him, lot of sprites in this land that is dodgy ey' but that man ain't the type of guy you should be trifling with" she chews her gum aggressively "He was in town last week from what I know, he's always hanging by steamchanics, that old workshop ey', but he's prolly gone by now" she leans in "he don't stay in town long, he's seen even shorter, but those who cross paths with him, those that mess with him, they don't got no good thing to say"
"Oh" Emily breathes out.
"Ain't you the sprite on the paper?" she looks at River even closer, he pulls the cloak quickly over his head.
"Run" Dexter whispers to them. You didn't have to tell them twice they weren't about to get caught.
They run and run till they see something that catches their eye.
STEAMCHANICS
"Guys in here" Dexter yells and they run through the doors of the workshop, only when he was putting Skai down did the others notice he was carrying her.
Their eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing, inventions lining up from the shelves, this entire place was the epitome of creativity.
"Nice watch you got there" they look up and see a man who was probably about four centuries old sliding down a zipline.
He lands in front of River examining the watch. Then he looked over at Skai's watch.
"Impressive design, isn't it?" River says hesitantly.
"I wouldn't say so" the man coughs out "That particular design is far from decent, I would know, I made it" he smiles fondly as if in reminiscence "but your father was very fond of this one"
The man walks to the shelves dusting the inventions "You look just like him by the way"