The cabin was still a mess but it could be taken care of later. Perhaps tomorrow, to make his final departure preparations. For now, getting home was the priority.

He creaked open the door, a gust of cold swept through, sending goosebumps prickling up his arms. The liquor-soaked bandage felt like ice. He winced, and pressed on.

Nick glanced over the edge of his deck, watching moonlight reflect off passing clouds. Below that was the glittering waters of the sea. He glanced back to the steering board at the center of the deck, and stepped forth to brace it for maneuver. Before making any sudden movements, he looked into the night-sky.

A few auroras passed above, streaming to the north pole where they would funnel back into the earth. With his bearings set, he shifted his glance away from the auroras, to the south.

There were few places outside of the old continent where concentrated aether from the earth’s mantle drifted to the surface naturally. Nick was looking at one.

Towering above the shadowy land in the horizon, rose a spire stretching above cloud cover. Floating dark islands brimming with the lights of human civilization drifted around it. At the peak was a beacon of white light spearing up to the heavens until it scattered into auroras far above.

Seraphil, capital city of Vislanda. A wonder of the world, who was both a source of inspiration to artists and the source of Vislanda’s wealth. The city where Valdric’s old so-called companions wined and dined while the man rotted away in obscurity. Nick gripped the steering board and narrowed his eyes as he looked away. He always thought its light blinded more than it illuminated.

Either way, it made a fantastic landmark. Based on the angle of the spire from the moon, it was about time to move. He swerved the steering board, and the emerald wind engines shifted, turning the boat towards land.

***

Nick picked out a seedling latched to his hair as he walked along the cobblestone road. He glanced down at one of the irritants and flicked it into the open plains. The moon and the light of the spire cast a blue-gray light upon the path ahead. Bright enough he didn’t need to pull out a ruby for illumination.

He stepped along, with nothing but his clothes and two jingling pouches tied to his belt. One with Vislandan coins while the other held the Eric’s gift.

Everything else, his sword, the goods, and the boat was left in the seaside cove he discovered eight years ago. He had been using as his personal hide-out for the last five. Nobody suspected a thing this far north. All the attention was centered to the south, along the border with the Imperium.

Another seedling nicked his arm, and Nick grit his teeth. He dug through his shirt to remove the offender. The problem with the cove was in getting to it on land. Through a path laden with forest and foilage, which was in full bloom this early in the year. He could still feel some less-annoying offenders scattered throughout the cloth, and resolved himself to change clothes after dinner.

He crested over a hill, and the town of Sevola came in sight. It was built during old times, evidenced by ancient pale walls which surrounded its perimeter. A dock stretched out to sea, a few dingy boats swaying at its edges. Like the walls, the dock was a remnant of the past, to an era before the first Innatum developed wings for flight, ascending from common humanity into the Nephilim.

The boats and the dock were maintained by Cedric. An old man who loved collecting old things. He was one of the odder folks in town, but Nick had fond memories of visiting his house. Of listening to him regale stories of his artifacts, to a time long past.

Pale two-story family houses with sloped roofs were scattered throughout the town, sprouting up like weeds along the landscape. A consequence of growth without direction. The entire town brimmed with them, save for a flat section of dirt along the wall. The training grounds.

Normally it was empty. This evening however, there was a stone altar at the center, surrounded by five sculpted pillars in the shape of a hexagon. All in preparation for tomorrow. The Day of Ascension.

Nick hurried toward the town gate. Judging by its closed doors, he was already late and he also wanted to avoid a specific encounter with a specific unsavory character.

Standing next to the doors was a spindly looking man about Nick’s age. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, dressed in a pale uniform consisting of a simple buttoned coat and set of trousers. Atop his head was the signature Vislandan helmet, sloping around his neck and covering his entire face save for the mouth. A mouth that was open wide and snoring.

Nick kept a distance of five paces from the sleeping watchman and leaned over.

“Hello sleepyhead.”

The man bolted upright, nearly tipping forward. His arms uncrossed themselves and flailed as he tried to regain his balance.

“Who-Who goes there!” He crouched into a combat stance. One hand out with fire gathering in its palm. The other hand tipped his helmet, which got crooked in the ensuing struggle, back into place.

Nick smiled and shook his head. “It’s just me Felix.”

“Oh.” The man eased up, the fire in his palm vanishing. He finally got his helmet in a way that could see. “Nick! Didn’t expect to see you working late tonight.”

Felix was an Innatum. Able to naturally draw aethereal energy without a Bracer into his born affinity, which in this case was fire. He was also a good person albeit a bit lax with his duties.

“Preparations for the Earl’s party.” Nick shrugged. “You know how he is.”

“Ouch,” Felix rubbed his helmet. “Sounds rough. I heard he had something special planned out for his daughter’s party tomorrow.”

Nick grit the side of his teeth in a sheepish manner at the mention of the Earl’s daughter. “Uh-huh… it is what it is though.”

Everyone in town thought his day job was as a servant in the Earl’s mansion. It was true he worked for the Earl but not exactly as a simple servant.

“Figures.” Felix yawned, pushing the gatedoor open. “The old man’s doting nature is legendary. Anyway feel free to go-“

“What is going on here!”

Nick’s heart sank to his stomach at the voice of the unsavory character. His hair fluttered as a gust of wind tore down from above as something flapped its way down. He sighed and looked up.

A winged man dressed in the same uniform and helmet as Felix drifted from the gatehouse above the wall. The newcomer stopped just short of the cobblestone, his wings billowing dust straight into Nick’s eyes, who raised a hand to block the debris. Probably done deliberately, knowing the man’s demeanor.

The man’s helmet obscured most of facial features, save for the scowl present on his mouth. His collar, unlike Felix, was striped in gold, to show that he was a Nephilim.

Seraph-Knight Volkar, commander of the lowly Sevola garrison and a man who was very sour of that fact. If the madness ever took Nick, he knew that Seraph-Knight Volkar was the one of the first people on a long list of names he’d go after. Probably among the top five. Thankfully, the fight with the aberration had sated those urges. At least for the night.

“Who is this!?” Volkar pointed his finger at Nick. However, his eyes were on Felix, who was standing at attention. “Privos Legunda, why have you failed your duty. Anyone entering town after the hour of nine is an immediate report to me.”

“Sir! W-Well…”

“Well? Well what?!”

“Easy there good sir,” said Nick. “It is just Nicholas Wendier.”

Volkar shifted his gaze and Nick could see the sneer through the helmet. Nick resisted the urge to roll his eyes, all it would do is give him an excuse to badger him more.

“Ah yes, you…,” said Volkar. “For what reason are you out so late?”

“Just work at the Earl’s mansion.” Nick knew Volkar was perfectly aware he worked for the Earl. However, the man had a personal grudge against him, or maybe he was just saw Nick as easy prey. Countless times, he had been questioned for no particular reason other than to waste his time.

Volkar’s nose twitched. “You smell like stale liquor. Drinking on the job?”

Nick swore in his head. He forgot about the bandage. If Volkar saw it and the wound, that would raise more questions, and drag this out even longer.

“A few of the servants and I just had some fun afterwards.” He shrugged, keeping his shirt tucked up. “We worked hard for tomorrow’s festivities. What can I say?”

“Hmph! As expected of those of wastrels,” Volkar brushed his hand over his chin. Nick was hoping he would just let him be for the night.

“Very well,” he said and Nick let out a mental sigh of relief. “But I’ll be keeping an eye on you. Don’t go trying anything funny you hear?”

Nick dipped his head forward in a bow. “Wouldn’t dream of it sir.”

“Good.”

Volkar flew back up to the gatehouse.

“Ugh,” said Felix. “I can’t take working with that man.”

“I feel you,” said Nick, feeling bad for the watchman.

“I’m actually thinking of signing up for one of the mercenary troops.”

That got Nick’s attention. “Weren’t all the regiments full? I thought they are all deployed south to assist the Imperators?”

“They are but they aren’t enough. Rumor has it the Adrestans are sending teams of Bracers across their border. Enough that the current regiments can’t deal with it, so the Council agreed to levy more to keep the peace.”

“Really?” That was news to Nick. “I thought the Adrestans agreed to stay out of the conflict.”

“Thought so too but you can’t trust their lot.” Felix shook his head. “Figures. They want to upend the entire order of the world, why should they care about the sanctity of a written treaty?”

“Interesting… Do they even have the ability to hire enough Bracers to send? I thought all of them are fighting in the Reclamation War.”

“That’s what you’d think, but times have changed.” Felix lowered his voice to a whisper. “Supposedly, word has it they are training Bracers in secret at Reclaimer City, and smuggling them back across the sea.”

“What? What about the Reclaimer commitment? Four years of service to the cause?”

“Again, Adrestans. They have no respect for the old principals.”

Nick thought back to what Eric said. “Nowadays any old schmuck can get a bracer and a few gemstones or two. Provided they got the money for it. Now that don’t mean they will know how to use it. But you can always pay for an instructor.”

“That is… troubling.”

“It is,” said Felix. “One of the Council Heads is going to Reclaimer City to straighten it out with the elected Archon for that reason.”

“That’s news.”

“Yep big news.”

Nick rubbed his chin. He wanted to ask more questions but he had to get going.

“That’s a lot to think about.” Nick stepped past Felix. “I have to get going though.”

“Wait!”

Nick stopped, looking over his shoulder.

“Um… I was wondering.” Felix looked down, clasping his hands and toeing his foot around the dirt. “I heard Lara Belver is back in town. I know you live with her family… I was wondering. I don’t know her well but you seem like you do. Would you mind introducing me?”

Nick smiled. It wasn’t the first time someone asked him this.

“I will, but no promises. You have my word.”

“Thanks!” Felix rubbed the back of his head. “I appreciate it. You’re a good person you know that?”

“I try to be,” said Nick.