Imago Ch19: Twilight (Patreon)

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The sound of festivities fades as Astraea and L make their way from the Atrium, the warmth and noise dissolving in the Grove’s crisp outdoors. They leave in silence, unremarked and unseen; L makes sure to cast a wary eye around for Puck, but he’s too busy playing jester to notice their departure. The rest of the Grove is deserted. There’s the odd brownie or stray goblin, but otherwise they’re alone. Walking silently through the streets, they draw closer to the great walls of the city. The architecture gives way to sprawling gardens, and Astraea leads her down a spiralling path through painstakingly trimmed shrubbery and ornamental arches. The walkway ends in a smooth stone plaza stretching before an open gateway. L would have questioned the lack of defences, if it wasn’t for the towering figure standing placidly in the middle of their path. "Isn’t that Thiar?" L whispers, ducking back into the hedges. She’s pretty sure she recognizes the helmet’s design. "Is he going to stop us?"Astraea shakes her head and puts a finger to her lips.  "He won't, but others might. Let's move quickly."She tugs L out of the bushes, hurrying to the walls. The automaton clicks and whirrs, something inside his armour glowing with renewed life as he spots the approaching figures. He inclines his head, as if getting a better look.And then, very deliberately, he turns to look in the opposite direction.  "C'mon!" Astraea stage-whispers, hurrying past the automaton’s ankles. L hurries along, pulling her wings close like a cloak."He's just going to let us pass?  I thought his job was to watch the gates.""We're friends." Astraea says warmly.  "So he makes an exception for me." L shakes her head. Of course they are.They continue through the passage, an imposing, phosphorescent tunnel - enormous blocks of salt, shot through with veins of aether. The ground beyond the gate has been filled with sunken blocks of the same material. Nothing can grow, and nothing can pass, except by the narrow stone pathway. Beyond that, rising like a distant ocean wave, is the roiling furious blackness of pure creation.  The Wilds.Her Wilds.A sparkle of electricity runs through her as her eyes struggle to adjust. She's stood in Xylia's light so long that at first the darkness is impenetrable, but eventually it gives way to vague, dancing outlines. Stooped and gnarled trees, branches left split by the careless passage of a nameless giant. The canopies claw their way up,  so high they appear as great pillars supporting an endless night sky.Is this safe?Her antennae jerk nervously, moving this way and that at every scurry in the undergrowth. She knows better than to dismiss them as her imagination. Something's out there, watching. Something always is.I̷t̸'̴s̵ ̷n̷e̵v̷e̸r̵ ̵s̴a̷f̵e̵.She breathes in the cool air, laden with the scent of rotted wood and dry leaves, damp moss and dark earth. All of creation moving in some unplanned dance.  Fragile lives scurrying through bracken. Shining eyes blinking from hollowed-out trees. The faint reverberation of enormous footfalls, far off in the distance. Astraea, her dress whispering at her legs, her hair spilling down her back like golden fire.  L’s own steps, soft and measured, becoming part of the natural rhythms.Astraea reaches the edge of the salt barrier and stops.  L catches up with her, and together they watch from the edge, listening."I used to stand here.”  Astraea says, “During festivals or after a cleansing.  I’d get away as soon as I could and come out here and just... stare into the black.” She lets her thoughts drift, the night forest quietly singing as its night unfolds.  “Sometimes I’d think... I could just let it take me.”Something rustles, and there's a sharp flash of motion, a cry cut short, and a flare of wings. Gone too quick to see what it was.It could be an owl.Maybe."It's not...kind." L says.Astraea lowers her head. "But it isn't malicious.  It isn't wasteful or sadistic.  They said I’d learn someday.  That I’d finally understand.  Well…"  She sighs, then looks up."One day, I heard a voice. Singing from the dark. And I followed it."She steps out into the forest, pale grasses swishing at her ankles. "It's not far."They pass under low-hanging branches, and L scrabbles up a moss-covered boulder, keeping pace.  "Is this where she lived? So close to the walls?""No, although I think she hunted nearby. She just came to look. Drawn by the light, I suppose." Astraea comes to a halt before an enormous tree, overgrown with jutting, shelflike mushrooms. They’re close enough to serve as a terrace, and sure enough, she begins to climb. One handhold to the next L scrambles after her. The mushrooms have a firm, fleshy texture to them; in the half-light provided by Astraea's glow, they look wooden, but when she actually puts her weight on them there's a spring. She prods gingerly at the tree itself with her talons, but decides it's best not to trust her weight to the glamour.  Up and up they go, until she can once again see over the walls into the Grove. And higher still, until she's able to see all of Xylia. "So you climbed...the tallest tower, lured...by a beautiful maiden's voice?" L grins, breathing raggedly. Astraea laughs from above, not the slightest bit out of breath. She pulls herself up onto a larger mushroom, firmer and dryer than the rest. "More like I awkwardly scrambled up it, but... yes." She leans down, offering her hand. L grasps it, fluttering her wings to give her one last little boost, and scrambles up to join her."Real...fairytale stuff -” L wheezes, and turns around.The gilded city glows like a drop of gold in the night sky, pooling with warmth and brilliant architecture soaring out of the roiling dark. Firm. Fixed. Unchanging and beautiful."...wow.""Yes."  Astraea says, settling down at the ledge, heedless of the dizzying height. "It’s beautiful, from a distance."L nods.  "I can understand why she was drawn to it.""...if only we understood why she left.” Astraea says, softly. "We really tried, though.""We did.” L's shoulders slump, and she settles down at Astraea's side. “I'm sorry we couldn't do more."  “It’s okay, L.”  Astraea reassures her, gently letting her legs swing in the open air.  L gives a weak laugh.  "At least we got that look on Helios' face. Can’t imagine his expression when he hears we've escaped back to Annwyn.""He’ll be furious."  Astraea laughs. She leans forward, absently twitching a lock of hair. "I'll just be glad to be back home.""Will… our disappearance cause trouble for Fili and the others?”Astraea hesitates, enough to answer the question before she speaks.  “It’s hard to say.”“And after Evander’s made such a point of taking an interest."  L taps at her arm, thinking.  "He doesn’t do that often, does he?”“What’s that?”“Take an interest?""O-oh!  No.  N-not... usually..."  Astraea shivers, and she looks down into the forest, watching arm-sized dragonflies dart in and out of her light. “... but…”L stops swinging her legs.  “...but?”“Well...”  Astraea folds her hands under her thighs, staring at her knees.   L leans in gently.  The little dryad darts a guilty look at her, then away. “It’s nothing.”“Oh come on, you can’t leave me hanging.”  No eye contact. L leans forward, a little more insistent. “What is it?”“I’ve just…never told anyone.”  L goes quiet, something inside telling her to wait. She watches as Astraea navigates whatever internal workings she’s having to sort through. The dryad’s so expressive that she struggles to hide it, her face gently shifting from one thought to the next. Insect song rises to fill the silence. "Evander is the reason…Lyra and I… happened."Astraea hangs her head, her hair falling forward and forming a sheet of gold between them.   Leaning forward, L reaches and brushes aside just enough to catch Astraea’s eyes. The little dryad looks so…fragile.“It sounds like a story.”  L says. Astraea sits rigidly, but doesn’t pull away.  “... I like stories.”“Well…”  Astraea smiles shyly. “...alright.’  She eases back, looking back over the gilded city and waiting for L to settle before she begins.“It was the night of my first Songbird hunt…”

Astraea gasps for air. She’s running,  shouts echoing behind her. Some calling her name, others cursing her. But she can’t, she can’t, she can’t–  Her breathing grows worse, hyperventilating now.  She looks shakily down at her hand, and her stomach cramps painfully. The memory plays over and over, capering back and forth inside her head.The rotted tree. The dappled shape.  A shriek and then– She hadn’t meant to–She’s going up, hand over fist, so fast she risks falling. She needs to get away. Somewhere she won’t be found. Somewhere safe. Somewhere alone. She can’t stop to think just yet. Quickly. She has to go faster. Has to get to that safe place, fast enough to outrun the scream building in her heart. Astraea collapses onto the fungal platform, body aching, eyes burning. "It wasn't her-" She gasps. "It wasn't her it wasn't her–" "Astraea."  Astraea jolts up at the chiming voice, eyes wide and uncomprehending.  A shape soars in from the gloom, grey silhouette against flaking bark. She lands deftly in front of her, a bundle of thick, waxy leaves in her talons. Lyra."Blood is loud." The feral nymph chides, already cleaning and dressing injuries Astraea didn’t realise she had. A slash on her side. Puncture wounds on her neck. Dormant aether in the leaves flaring gold as Lyra fixes them in place. “There.”Astraea shudders, then surges forward, wrapping her arms around the nymph and burying her face in her shoulder. Lyra stiffens, her arms reflexively twitching to grab before she catches herself. As Astraea starts to sob, she runs a hand tentatively over her hair. "Did I miss a wound?”"N-No, I'm okay, I just... Lyra, I just..."  She chokes out, barely able to speak. "I've d-done something–"Lyra frowns. "The nymph?”  Astraea’s eyes go wide. Lyra’s frown deepens.“She attacked you.”"Yes but,"  Astraea rasps.  "I…killed her!"Lyra flicks her wings, brushing Astraea's cheek again. "You killed her quickly. You will heal.  What is wrong?"Astraea pulls away slowly, her tears giving way to hiccups.  “You didn’t... know her?""Know her?” Lyra looks confused. “Why would I know her?""W- she was a nymph! She could have been your sister! Or your friend, or-""Not if she did this."  Lyra interrupts, touching the leaf plastered over Astraea's neck.  "Never if she did this."Astraea shudders again, swallowing another wave of tears. Once she’s sure she’s held them back, she presses her hand over Lyra’s, bowing her head."I'm…glad you're okay." "Shh. Me? Foolish." Lyra murmurs. She smiles, closing her eyes. "You’re the one who needs looking after. I will watch more closely next time. If I’d seen her, she never would have touched y-"The nymph stops speaking mid-sentence, her voice shrivelling away. "Lyra...?"  Astraea asks, looking up. Lyra’s eyes are wild and wide. Her wings and body have gone rigid, and her teeth are bared in a silent, terrified grimace. Her only movement comes from her antennae, tapping uncertainly at the air in quick, twitchy spasms. "Lyra, what's wrong- "Light washes over them, melting the gloom away before it. Colours blaze to sudden, unexpected life. The grey bark of the tree gleams. The fungal shelf below their feet warms into a yellow-orange hue. "Little sister.”Astraea turns as the light leans in for a better look.  Evander towers above, his expression unreadable, but his eyes wide and gold. Lyra’s trapped in his gaze, too overwhelmed to move. “Remain still. I will remove the insect."  He says, delicately reaching toward them, his palm glowing white-hot. "ELDER BROTHER, NO!" Astraea throws herself in front of Lyra, her voice pitching up in hysterics. Evander’s hand is still moving, heat growing closer. She spreads her arm, knowing what a pitiful shield she makes.  "Don't, please don't! She is my closest friend!!"Evander halts. His hand remains, hovering and white hot, the air shimmering before it.  "She is your… friend?"  He blinks, his eyelids shutting in a miniature eclipse, lifting in a glorious dawn. "You are confused, little sister. She is of the Wilds."  "I am not confused, Brother Evander!" Astraea declares, her body blazing. White light cracks out from her fingertips, forming a barrier over her and Lyra both.  It’s flickering and feeble beneath Evander’s glow, but her defiance is unmistakable. “Calm yourself!” Evander blinks again, startled.  “Calm yourself, little sister. I believe you. But I do not understand."  He withdraws his hand, glancing between the two of them in perplexed fascination. "Share with me what you have done with this feral nymph.” Astraea looks down, shame-faced, the fire seeping out of her. "We... became friends. It just happened. She... hasn't hurt me."Evander’s attention swings from Astraea to Lyra, his eyes burning down at her like inquisitive spotlights. She shudders under the light, pinned and paralysed by the terror of his regard. "Is this true, Wilds nymph?” Evander asks. “You have done no harm to Sister Astraea?"Tears trickle down her cheeks, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks.  "Never." Lyra manages. "I never hurt her.""This is… unorthodox.”  Evander muses, his attention drifting. Unnoticed, Lyra huddles back, trying to drape herself in her wings. “Unorthodox…but by the light of Xylia, illuminating.  Sister Astraea, is your union with this Wilds nymph your reason for forestalling taking your first Kept?”“F-forestalling?” Astraea stammers, caught off-guard. “No, it’s… complicated.”“But if you already hold affection for her, will this... Lyra... not serve?""We’re friends. I don't want to Keep a friend. I-it’s not…""Ah…” Evander nods indulgently. “Sister Fili.”  Astraea's mouth snaps shut.  “I will admit I am not as versed in humanist rhetoric as she, but I do understand that taking your… friend… as Kept would perhaps be thought of as…disagreeable?”Astraea hesitates, then nods. Evander hums to himself as he thinks, turning the concept this way and that. He makes a considering sound in his throat, foghorn-deep and echoing.  “Ah… Consort.”Astraea stares at him. “Consort?”“Yes! She could be your… Consort.”  He answers, trying out the word as though it were his first time saying it. “Is that term not more appealing to you, little sister?”"What is...'Kept'?" Lyra interrupts, her voice cracking. "What is 'consort'?""Kept is…sexual property.” Astraea says, baffled. “Consort is sexual partner. Equals. It’s…heresy to raise a nymph to such a station. Brother Evander, why would you offer this?"Evander breaks into a slow smile, like a mountain remembering an old joke. "There are always those few who, standing taller than the rest, must see further for all. I will not openly endorse this, but I will support you…”  He holds a finger to his lips. “...quietly."Astraea stares wide-eyed at her feet, her mind racing. She darts a look over to Lyra, a sudden shyness in her eyes. "...it must be her choice, too.”Evander watches her for a long, quiet moment, then shrugs, and laughs carelessly.  “As you wish.”Astraea straightens up, earnest joy kindling in her as she turns away from the lord of the Grove and back to Lyra. She extends her hand, breathing quickly. “W-what do you say Lyra?  Would you like to be my–”The word barely registers for the nymph. Lyra tears her gaze away from the towering dryad, looking back over her shoulder. Towards the endless expanse of trees, their hearts darkened with secrets, their roots buried beneath an eternity's worth of loam. She looks back to Astraea. The dryad’s face is gashed and tear-streaked, but her eyes hopeful and unclouded. Clear as the sky.Lyra’s talons fold back against her body as she takes Astraea’s hand, holding to it like a lifeline.

"It was a slow process. Adjusting to the Grove as a Wilds nymph was hard on her. In the end, she did have to begin as my Kept, but Evander kept his word. He never overtly supported us, but in the ways that he could, he kept us safe. And eventually, Lyra was made my consort.” Astraea kicks her legs back and forth, propping herself up and tilting her head at the Grove."I thought about telling Fili, just so she knew he might be a sympathetic ear for her, but…it barely seemed real. Evander?  The very foundation of Xylia, supporting the most radical humanist step in memory? Who would believe that?”  “Or what if saying something broke the spell.”  L says.   Astraea nods, soberly.  L leans to the side, picking a bit at the mushroom. The edge flakes away under her hand, crumbling into little yellow-brown specks. She lets them scatter, disappearing into the gloom below."Would there really be that much of a fuss against him if he said something?  He’s like the King of your people, isn’t he?""The tension between those who believe that things need to change and those who hold on to tradition is so tight. Elder Brother never does anything unless he’s thought about how it might end. I think... if he came out and supported us openly and things changed too fast, that tension could snap. Humanists like Fili and I are still the minority, even if that’s slowly changing. Maybe Evander thinks that a gentle approach will ease things along."Astraea shrugs."It’s like he said... 'There are always those few who, standing taller than the others, must see further for all.’ Maybe he sees things that you and I just...can't.""Maybe."Seeing further..."Maybe he does." L says. She's h̶e̶a̴r̴d̵those words before.Something stirs in her mind. Her heart. Whatever place within her that the old hunter's instincts had settled. The part of Lyra that could follow a trail.L sits up, a sudden urgency in her voice."He knows something.”  She blurts out, the words forming before her thoughts.Astraea stares at her, incredulous.  “L… we have no evidence that -”But she knows.  She knows. “Astraea,  If he's after peaceful change, and Lyra was attacked by - by someone like Helios -  or…”  Her words continue to race ahead of her thoughts.  There’s something there alright. “He wouldn't tell you because of what you might do.  And why the sudden change back to wanting me a Kept?  Why go back on his Consort promise if–"She swallows convulsively. Her mind is full of wingbeats. Blurry blows against the air, and beneath them, that voice. Those words."He knows something.  I’m sure of it." Astraea looks at her, soft and sympathetic. “I know you want that closure for us. I do too. But at this point, we just…can’t do more than guess. It’s time to get back to Annwyn. We've done what we can here."L wavers. Astraea’s right, of course she’s right. The two of them, against what feels like an entire city? Lives - Ian's life - at stake, if they don't return?And yet, that certainty. Cold as iron."Maybe it's more than closure." L says, forcing the words out. Thinking of the nymphs in the Rookery. Of Helios' sadistic smile.  Of the humanists rising to defend her.  “And if Evander knows what happened, then we can too. All we need…” And there it is.The solution.“...is to open the right book."Astraea is confused at first, then a sharp understanding flashes across her eyes. "L, you can’t possibly mean - " "It's right there!" L gestures to Xylia, expanding below them.  "In the library.""No. L, No. No! You aren't allowed to look at anyone's reliquary except your own! How would we get past Bien? How would we even find it?""We just...look for the biggest book. It's got to be his, right? And Bien's not that hard to fool. I got my own reliquary out of there, didn't I?"Astraea stares at her, expression hard.   Fixed.  Unmoved.L eases back, gentler.  Speaking softly.“Astraea, I know. I know. it's dangerous. But if we go back, knowing that we had a chance and didn’t take it..."  She looks back at Astraea. Doubt and certainty warring for control in her eyes.  "I… don't know if I can live with that."Astraea wavers, struggling to find any other way. "L I mean... sneaking into the library? Looking at a dryad's reliquary...?  Brother Evander's reliquary on a hunch? Those are deeply punishable offences for me, let alone a nymph!" L gives a lopsided shrug.  "What isn't deeply punishable for a nymph?"Astraea laughs despite herself, a mix of exasperation and anxiety. She rocks back, tugging lightly at her bangs. "We are going to regret this, aren't we."L shrugs again.  "Likely."Astraea stands, staring out at the clock overlooking the city.  "... we have some time before the nights festivities end. If ever there was a chance... it's now."L gets to her feet."...then we'd better hurry."

L flies down at Astraea's insistence. She can see the dryad climbing as she touches down, a little lightning bug winking high overhead. She's making good time, but it will likely be another ten minutes before Astraea reaches the forest floor.Without Astraea at her side, the forest is darker, the gloom deeper. Branches clutching for her and every small noise a potential predator. Lyra would know the difference, but L simply has to remain jumpy, half of her mind on the task ahead of them and the other half alert to the slightest hint of danger.A sense of foreboding settles over her. There's something about the ground that she doesn't...like. As if it's watching her back. She shakes her head to dispel the feeling. It's just leaves. It’s just mushrooms.  Sprouted in a circle. L walks closer for a better look.  There's something intriguing, though. Something about those pale, fruiting bodies rising from the decay. L crouches down on her knees, peering closely, drawn further into the undergrowth. Her skin prickles, a chill breeze plucking at her wings. Soft rustling.  A pair of scumblers crawling under a root, an alp-luachra gnawing at a dead leaf.The circle has her. Whispering to her like the ghosts in Astraea's flat.  L.She wants so badly to touch it. To cross the boundary. LTo step out into the dark."L!"L jolts. Astraea’s hand is on her shoulder. "Astraea?” “L, what are you doing?  C'mon, you don't want to get lost in there." L blinks, looking at the girl in front of her, then back overhead. Hadn’t Astraea just been all the way up there? Just moments ago, she’d been nothing more than a spark of light from the ground. How fast had…The nape of her neck prickles. Astraea takes her hand, drawing her back to the path, but she can still feel the circle. Feel it like she feels her own body. She knows it in her bones.The darkness beneath those caps is just a little deeper than it should be.Darker than the absence of light should allow.continue reading ->We couldn’t possibly do an ominous fairy wood without including a fairy circle. That’s Wildly illegal. They’d take us to fairy jail. Hey, everyone! Hark here, thanking you as always for stopping by and joining the adventure alongside us! Don’t forget to leave your top three picks you’d like to see Heart illustrate this chapter with, and be sure to check back next time on November 15th as L and Astraea venture back into Xylia’s library of memories…