2412, Diori 07, Daleth
Being back at Depandes was a slap to Cyrdel's face after all the effort it took to get him out. This time, though, the emptiness sat on his gut like it had been there for a long, long time. He caught himself on multiple occasions glancing to his right expecting Ravalee to be there. Every time, all he found was thin air. He might have made it out of Alkara with company but he made it back alone.
Well, technically, not alone since he had the ingenious human as company.
Cyrdel dug a lump of metal from his belt. It's the last one in his arsenal. His teeth ground against each other as he fed it into a machine which cuts metal into thin, ductile wires. He would later twist the wires around a terznite ore which would allow him to store spells inside it. The wires helped in providing a fuse so Cyrdel could activate the gadget with better accuracy.
He glanced at his companion and noted the human was lost in thought with eyes cast to the ground. If Cyrdel could peer into minds like Ravalee, perhaps he would know Nyxis seemed to find the Rabante earth distasteful.
To Cyrdel, it's nothing but upturned earth reminding him too much of what happened on Penleth. It might mean differently for Nyxis, though. The human barely frowned and always had a witty retort to anything ever said but now, it didn't seem to be the case.
"I thought frowning makes you look older?" Cyrdel perked up, slotting the metal into his wire-producing gadget before turning the wooden crank. He heard the metal crunch against the gadget's sharp, grinding teeth.
Nyxis blinked a few times before his gaze settled on Cyrdel. The human didn't look any better than any of them had the past week. Cyrdel, himself, felt his limbs become heavier. It's also harder to get up every time he wakes up from a weary sleep. Of course, Cyrdel knew why. They were all told about it and there's no way they could deny it when the proof's all around them.
Nyxis smiled but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Nothing," he said after a minute of silence and a shrug. "I was just...thinking."
Cyrdel nodded and pursed his lips. He wasn't making it any easier for the both of them. "Do you want to stop? It is becoming dark," he mentally kicked himself for being bad at conversations.
Usually, he could tolerate a full day without talking but that's only because there's no war bearing down upon their shoulders. There's no mission of utmost importance entrusted to him back then, either. If his wishes would be heard, he wouldn't like to spend his probable last days spiraling down into his thoughts.
Nyxis jerked his chin towards the clearing crawling to their view in the horizon. "We are almost to the border," he pointed north. "After that, we are inside Depandes. We cannot waste any more time."
Cyrdel clicked his tongue as he extracted the freshly-grated wires bunched at the plate at the base of his gadget. He hasn't even given it a name yet. How pathetic. "True," he said. "We could always wait until morning. That way, we can slip past the border unnoticed."
YOU ARE READING
COF 6: The Last Oracle
FantasySIXTH BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF FANTASILIA SERIES 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴. Xanthiene Vivenca has to find allies and legendary objects of po...