February 20, 2020

Aylward:

     Another day of searching. Another city, darker than most, but maybe that mean I’m getting closer to finding him. At least I haven’t been alone this trip. At my last check in with the elders, 6 months ago, a healer joined me on my search.

     He had given a pretty inspired speech about the possibility of Amory needing him, in case a fight broke out once I found him. I knew there was more than he was telling, about wanting to tag along, but I also couldn’t deny he was right about the possibility of Amory needing to be healed. So, that was how I managed to get an 18-year-old, newly ascended healer, tagging along on this increasingly frustrating journey.

     Ever since we came to this city, something has felt off. I can’t focus on anything around me long enough to get more than a hazy impression of what it looks like. The people are blurs of inconsequential nothingness, not staying in my focus enough to draw my attention more. The feeling of not being fully aware of my surroundings has me on edge.

     Right this moment, Haven, the healer, is talking to me about something I should probably be paying more attention, but the sound of someone humming captures my undivided attention. I shush Haven and quietly follow the soft melody.

     It dawns on me, as soon as I hear the humming, that the entire city has some sort of perception blocking spell around it. After giving Haven a quick lesson on overcoming a perception spell, we finally have a clear picture of the city and its citizens. The buildings are all dark on the outside, most of them towering over the alleys, blocking the suns light. The people are wearing dark clothes. It has an overall feeling of bleakness. The misting and fog in the middle of the afternoon add to the drabness of the area. It is not a pleasant feeling place and it makes me wonder why they have such a strong perception spell going.

      The humming has faded, but its not completely gone, yet. Haven finally hears it, and with a quick look in my direction, he takes off after the sound, with me following. Quietly, we go through alleys and down deserted roads. We split up briefly and meet back together after a few minutes and a couple of blocks. It sounds as if the person humming stopped up ahead of us. Haven turns his head to let me know and promptly runs into our hummer.

      I would be easy to miss the resemblance if he wasn’t humming her lullaby. He is taller than anyone in our family and his hair is jet black, not blonde. As soon as his eyes met mine, there was no denying it. He is her son, with his peridot green eyes that seemed to have light shing from the inside out…. her eyes.

I found him. Finally.