The Keeper, and the graveyard of the lost. That was what that fey had said. Misha looked at the small pear-like building, and the fence and yard surrounding it that was filled— littered, in fact—with piles and piles of miscellany. Clothing, books, tools, weapons, and broken bits and pieces that were unrecognizable as to what they may have once been.
"Well... I'd say this is probably the place, " Aliana said. Misha looked at Grey, who lowered his head in something like a nod.
The three walked up the dirt path that led to the building’s door, Grey remaining close by Misha's side. At a glance, Misha did not think she spotted her book or Aliana’s armor lying about anywhere.
Aliana knocked on the door, and there was silence. Then, after some moments, the door opened ever so slightly. Beyond it was darkness, but Misha could see the shape of a face peering out. An eye darted from each of the women and the wolf present, an eye that Misha tried to place. Humanoid? Close, but larger than that of a human, perhaps more akin to the slit pupil eyes of a harpy. "Who's there?" came a gruff, hoarse voice from behind the door.
"Um," Aliana looked at Misha and Grey.
Grey barked, and there was a pause before the person behind the door said, "What're you looking for, then?"
"Oh." Misha's ears stood up, her whiskers twitched. Grey was rather at home here. Or, at the very least, he knew how to make a good impression with these people. "Have you... Seen any armor? Or a book? One about earthcraft."
"Plenty of both in my day," the voice said. "And I have had many a day, I assure you that. If you're looking to find your items, you'll need to get your hands dirty."
Aliana shrugged. "Never been scared of that. How many things can you possibly have in there?"
More silence, then the face slipped away behind the door. The door opened further, revealing darkness beyond it even despite the sunlight that should have spilled in from outside. "Many out there. Many in here. Most in here, in fact. The things we've lost are all in here, little one."
“Oh…” Aliana hardly sounded as if she knew what to make of that statement. “Well… Well, still, we’ll be quick!”
"Everyone wishes to be. Everything lost is here. Whether true or not. Mind yourselves so as not to become lost yourselves.”
Aliana and Misha exchanged a look between each other. No words seemed to come to Aliana. But Misha told herself that hesitation was going to get them nowhere at the moment. She patted grey on the leg and said, “I think we’ll be alright. The things we're looking for should stand out well enough, right? Your armor, at least. If we can't find my book, we can leave it."
Aliana nodded slowly. "Um... Right. You’re right.”
Misha took the lead inside the building made from a pear, stepping into the darkness with Grey close behind, and then followed by Aliana's boot steps. Misha could not see anything but trusted her whiskers to tell her of any walls she may walk into. She could feel them brushing up against various items, but in the shadows, it was difficult to make out many specifics. Some were firm and smooth, others rough, some soft. Items of all sorts and sizes, possibly teacups and vials and bottles of wine? Misha thought she smelled fish for a moment. Her whiskers told her a wall was up ahead, and she reached her hands out to feel it. There was a frame. "Is this a door?"
"You may open it," the fey's voice said.
Misha tried reaching up for a door handle. "I... don't think I'm tall enough for the—"
Before she had finished that sentence, the door swung open and light spilled in. She was looking out the doorway into... the fey's backyard, perhaps? Judging by the grass on the ground and the many more items piled high, that made sense to Misha at first. But then she tried to look out beyond the piles of items, expecting a fence and then the buildings of the fey village. Instead, she saw nothing of the sort. Only more piles of lost items carried on into the distance, out into the horizon. There was no sun in the sky, which held a pink tint to it, and Misha could not hear the bustle of other fey wandering about. She turned around to see Grey sniffing the ground and walking past her, and Aliana staring mesmerized out into this field of lost belongings.
When Misha looked back at the pear building, she saw that everything inside beyond the door was still shrouded in darkness. The voice spoke once more, "Come back this way if you find what you seek. Best of luck to you."
Misha nodded and the door closed slowly with a soft click shut.
“So…” Aliana looked around the valley of miscellany. “Where do we start?”
To Misha’s left were piles and piles of old dishes that were chipped and cracked, along with plentiful silverware. Books were stacked up to her right, and she spotted one that, at a glance, may have been the earthcraft tome she sought. But when she grabbed it and flipped it open, she was disappointed to find that the contents were more... adult in nature. Disappointing, but then again, she should have expected this not to be so easy. She began sorting through some more of the books while Aliana tried to climb atop a stack of furniture.
"No luck over here, but if you’re interested in some graphic romance, I think I have you covered," Misha said, trying to bring some levity to her little group after everything that had been going on lately.
Aliana chuckled as she stood atop a wobbly table to get a better view of the area. “Can’t say romance is my cup of tea. Never been the sort to take any interest in men. Or women. Or… Well, anyone.” She squinted as she peered out into the distance. “Still surprising to know Veldin of all people got together with someone.”
Misha left her pile of books be and stood by the furniture, watching Aliana from below. “Why is that strange?”
“I just… Remerick seems like a nice person. What’s he doing with Veldin?”
Misha tilted her head a bit. “Well, I would think it’s because they like each other. Or… did, at least. Back then.”
“Does anyone like Veldin?”
“What?” Misha was taken aback at first. “Aliana, Veldin’s a good person.”
Aliana looked down at Misha from atop the precariously-stacked furniture. “He’s a good person? He’s a condescending bastard who caused all of this, Misha.”
“It’s not his fault that Elcevier—“
“Don’t try to defend him!” Aliana shifted her weight to turn back towards Misha, but as she did, the table beneath her shifted along with her. She slipped with a shriek of surprise, tumbling down and catching herself on the ground.
“Are you alright?!” Misha had stepped back to avoid being crushed. Grey, having been pawing at old toys and boots partially buried in the dirt nearby, looked up at the two and walked back over to them.
Aliana sat up on the ground, rubbing at her elbow that she’d hit on the way down. “Ugh, I’m fine.” She stretched her arm out and, after checking that there was no serious damage, stood up and began to brush herself off.
Misha played with the hem of her green cloak where it lay over her small shoulders. She took a deep breath, choosing her words carefully. “I’m not saying you have to like Veldin after everything that’s happened. Grey didn’t like him when we first met, either. Actually, he was trying to kill Veldin at the time.”
Grey lowered his head.
“But Veldin never meant for all of this to happen, Aliana. Elcevier’s the one who hurt all of us and so many other people. She’s the one who—”
“She’s the one who turned Veldin into a blood-drinking monster, yes. And how easily could he kill us if he wanted to, Misha?!” Aliana snapped back, her voice rising into a shout.
“Aliana, he would never—“
“Neither of us has any idea how magic works, we don’t have that sort of power on our side, you especially!”
Misha found herself without words at first. She only watched as Aliana’s face shifted from anger to shock at her own words. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean that you—“
“It’s alright,” Misha said quietly, head lowered.
“It’s just, I have Moonlight, but—“
“It’s fine, Aliana.” Misha shook her head. “I’m not as strong as you or as smart as Veldin, I know that. But I also know that Veldin isn’t the monster you think he is. I know that both of you are my friends. I won’t make you like him, but I won’t sit around while you say those things about him, or Remerick when he hasn’t even been around for most of this.”
Aliana nodded slowly, her voice soft. “I… I get it. I’m sorry, I… shouldn’t have brought it up.” Her hand came up to the fortune charm at her neck. “We should keep looking, shouldn’t we?”
Misha sighed, trying to put her thoughts on the matter aside for now. “That’s a good idea.”
“I don’t know about your book, but I don’t think my armor’s around here. I really was hoping this would be quick.”
A thought struck Misha when Aliana said that. "Grey, can you find Aliana's armor? Or my book? Maybe you could smell them since I bet they'd smell like us."
Aliana brightened up at that suggestion, though there was still a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "Hey, there's a good point.
Grey gave a huff of a sound in response to Misha and began walking, making his way between the tall refuse and belongings that had been long forgotten. Misha and Aliana followed after him, keeping their eyes attentive for their own belongings.
“So, Grey’s a fey then, right?” Aliana asked after a while of walking, her tone hesitant as if she were looking only to break the silence.
Grey paused, head tilting back to Misha and Aliana, and making a whimpering noise.
"Well,” Misha said to the wolf, “I think it's been fairly obvious since the last time we were here, what with the cold iron. It explains a lot if you ask me. It's not like I'm going to judge you for that, though. Plenty of the fey seem perfectly helpful and polite, and I count you in that category."
Grey grumbled and continued walking.
"I still have plenty I'd like to ask you about if only we could talk more properly, though..." Misha sighed. She noticed then that Aliana, despite being the one to bring up the topic, had suddenly slowed her pace and was falling behind. When Misha turned, she saw Aliana was gazing off into the distance, to the side of where the three were walking. "Is something wrong?"
"Huh?" Aliana snapped back to attention. "No, I, uh... I just..." She halted, and there was a white flash of light somewhere in the distance that caught her attention, and now Misha's as well. Grey turned around, pulling his lips back to show his fangs, yet Aliana shook her head. "I... I have to go check." She began running in the direction of the flash, climbing up over the various items scattered about.
"Wh—Aliana, wait!" Misha called out, giving chase.
Aliana had already gained a head start on Misha and Grey, leaping up over a wall of stacked and broken furniture that stretched out from one end to the other. When Misha and Grey caught up to her, they found her standing in a patch of grass where old weapons lay—swords with chipped blades, axes and spears with broken shafts, and other equipment that was instead rather unharmed. Aliana was standing staring at a weapon that lay atop a cracked and splintered wooden table. It was a sword bearing a white hilt and blade that shone with white light that Misha recognized. The same light that had been given off by the creature that turned out to be Seraphim.
“Why is… why…” Aliana’s eyes were locked on the sword. “Seraphim? Is—is that you?”
But, Seraphim was with Elcevier. Surely this could not have been the same sword. Then, Grey dashed forward, catching Misha off guard. Just as Aliana reached a hand out to the glowing sword, Grey came to a stop between her and the weapon, his fur standing on end.
“Grey?” Aliana staggered back in surprise, her attention previously too fixated on the sword to have noticed Grey’s approach. “Grey, what are you—“
Before Misha’s eyes, the white sword lifted from the table as if being carried by someone, but it looked to be floating of its own accord. It moved, floating away from the three and down the pathways of items.
“Wait, Seraphim!” Aliana called out, reaching for the sword past Grey.
“Aliana, no!” Misha ran to catch up to the two, stopping at Aliana’s side. “If Grey doesn’t want you to go, I don’t think—“
“I need to know!” Aliana shouted. She moved quickly, placing a hand against Grey’s back and vaulting over him before breaking into a sprint after the sword just as it disappeared around a hill-sized pile.
“Aliana!” Misha shouted. She hopped up to pull herself onto Grey’s back as he took off running, but Aliana had gained the advantage of surprise and a head start. She had not gotten far, but it was enough to make it around the hill first. When Grey rounded the hill after her, Misha was surprised at what she spotted up ahead. The piles of miscellany, packed together so firmly to have made walls, rose high into the form of another hill, but with an opening in the side that Aliana now stood before. It was the mouth of a cave. Misha felt dread come over her, knowing nothing good could come from this supposed Seraphim leading Aliana to a place like this.
But, much to Misha’s relief, Aliana had already stopped. In fact, she stood stock still, staring ahead at that opening.
“Aliana!” Misha called out as Grey trotted to Aliana’s side and came to a stop beside her. But her gaze remained fixed. “Aliana? What is it?”
“Ser… Seraphim went in there.”
Misha shook her head. “Aliana, I don’t know what that was, but I don’t think it was really Seraphim. The Keeper warned us, didn’t they? That we might be lost here as well… What if that’s what it was trying to do?”
Aliana finally met Misha’s eyes, a strange look on her face. One of fear, perhaps? Or distress? It was difficult to place. “Misha, I…” Her hand drifted to Moonlight’s hilt on her side.
“What is it?”
“I heard… Moonlight.”
Misha looked up at the sky above. But still, there was no sun or moon in this place to gauge the time of day at this point. Aliana had said Moonlight only spoke to her once the moon had risen in the evening sky. But, even with the ambiguous sky here, it should have still been early in the day. “What did it say?”
“It… It was just for a moment. But it told me to stop.”
Misha couldn’t help but tilt her head as she tried to sort through that. “Well, I did call out to you.”
“I know the difference between your voice and Moonlight’s in my head, Misha.”
“Then… What does that mean? If it’s speaking now?”
Aliana looked down at Moonlight on her belt. “I don’t… I don’t know.”
Grey nudged Aliana’s hand with his nose, commanding her attention.
“What is it, Grey?”
Grey began walking along with Misha on his back, and Misha was left to look back at Aliana and say, “I think he wants us to follow him.”
Aliana allowed herself one look back to the cave mouth, then began to walk.
Grey’s path took the pair further into the seemingly endless field of items, passing more hills and piles and walls before, suddenly, he came to a halt in front of what looked to have been an old, dilapidated building. One made by mortals, of stone that had collapsed and wood that had long since rotted away. Misha looked to Aliana and dismounted from Grey’s back before climbing over an open portion of the wall.
Inside the building were yet more belongings, but Misha let out a cry of joy when she spotted a familiar suit of armor laid out on the damaged wooden floor. “Aliana, I’ve found it! Or, well, Grey’s found it!”
Aliana had not taken long to follow after and ran to her armor to collect it the moment she laid eyes on it. “Oh, thank Opal,” she said, relief obvious in her voice. “I’d really rather not take a sword to the chest anytime soon.”
Grey walked past the both of them to the further end of the room, where a tall shelf had been toppled over and leaned against an opposite wall at an angle. Beneath it were piles of books and broken decorations, vases, and the like. Grey pawed at one of the books, and Misha ran to catch up to him. Lying there on the ground was her earthcraft tome. Some of the pages were torn at the edges, and the cover was scuffed, but it was otherwise still intact.
Misha turned to Aliana, holding the book up high for her to see.
Aliana returned the joy with a grin. “Good,” she said. “I’m ready to leave this place. Alright, Grey. You know the path out of here, right?”
Grey lowered his head in a nod.
It hadn’t been lost on Veldin that Remerick had remained close to him ever since they’d separated from the rest of the group. Though Remerick had said little, he walked practically close enough for his and Veldin’s arms to brush against each other, and the whole time, Remerick’s attention shifted from every little creature or building or plant they passed by as if expecting some danger to leap out. Which, in all fairness, was not an unreasonable expectation in this sort of place. Still, Veldin did feel it was beginning to border on excessive.
“You do know that I am fully capable of being responsible for myself, yes?” Veldin finally said.
“Oh.” Remerick took a step to the side, allowing for some more distance between the pair. “I’m sorry. I hadn’t meant to bother you. I… I get worried, I suppose.”
“I can see that.” Veldin eyed a tall insectoid fey being that walked past. They similarly glanced down at the two humans, saying nothing and continuing past without issue. “As much as I appreciate the concern, there is such a thing as being too vigilant.”
“Well, I lost you once already, so I’m not looking for it to happen again.” Remerick scratched at the back of his neck. “I… I shouldn’t talk about that, though, should I? I’m sorry.”
Veldin gave a questioning glance in Remerick’s direction. “Why is that?”
“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable…”
“I see…” In truth, Veldin was still processing how this all made him feel. He hardly had a clear answer to that. He was distracted from that, however, when he heard a voice whispering in Feyish.
“Please, mortals should leave this place,” the voice said, its tone sounding pinched and distressed. Veldin could not see at first where it had come from, stopping in his tracks to look to the buildings along the dirt path. Whether or not Remerick understood the words, he had clearly heard them and was set on guard once more, shifting closer to Veldin. Veldin noticed a movement in the corner of his eye, and when he turned to see it, managed to just catch sight of something disappearing behind an apple building.
“Back there,” Veldin said, pointing out the building. Remerick took the first steps, the two coming around behind whatever building this was, whether it be someone’s home or business.
A creature was waiting for the two back there. It was a small fluffy thing that resembled a rabbit at first glance, but as Veldin looked over it more, its long and pointed ears, small nose, stubby legs, and excessively furry tail were all too ambiguous to point out exactly what sort of animal it resembled, if any. The creature looked up at the two men from the ground, then after sparing a look about as if checking for any other people nearby, it said, “You should leave this place. Please hurry and go.”
Veldin crossed his arms and replied in Feyish, “I am afraid that is not something we can do at the moment.” He switched to his own native language for Remerick’s sake, “Are you comfortable enough speaking our language?”
The indeterminate animal fey wriggled their tail. “If I must. But you are in danger here. I only wished to warn you.”
“What sort of danger?” Remerick asked.
The creature seemed hesitant to respond, taking a few tentative steps back.
“Your warning is hardly of much help to us if you tell us nothing,” Veldin said, narrowing his eyes at the small fey. “We do not intend to leave as we have a purpose here.”
“I… cannot.” The creature shook their head.
Veldin thought to say more to convince the creature, finding himself irritated at their reluctance to be of assistance when they had bothered to speak out to the pair in the first place. But before he could say more, he felt Remerick’s gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Do you mind if I try speaking to them?” Remerick said.
“Well… No, of course I would not.” Veldin took a step back, allowing space for Remerick and the fey.
Remerick took a slow step towards the nervous creature and knelt before them. “Now then,” he said gently, keeping his voice low and soft, “why is it that you can’t tell us?”
The fey shifted on their paws for a moment, then tentatively answered, “It’ll be bad if I’m found out…”
“Found out? By who?”
The fey shook their head and began to take another step back as if to turn away. “You should leave.”
“We won’t let anyone find out you told us. Is this because of the queen?” Remerick’s words caused the fey to stop in their tracks. “Is there a reason you can’t tell us about her?”
“The… knights.”
“The ones who patrol the village?” Veldin asked.
The fey creature nodded. “They’ll… They’ll be angry.”
“All because you gave us a warning?” Remerick said.
“If they know I spoke against the queen…”
“That’s alright then, they won’t find out. It doesn’t seem like there’s any here right now, right?”
“R-right…”
“Can you tell me something? Do you like living here with the queen?”
The fey hesitated and sounded all the more nervous when they spoke again, “N-no. The knights tell us not to speak against her. Sometimes they pick some of us to take to her palace, and we never come back. They take… they take humans.”
“The humans that used to live in this village?”
“Yes… The knights used to be humans.”
A frown crossed Remerick’s face and he looked to Veldin to express that concern. Humans transfigured by the queen’s magic. Veldin looked up at the massive tree that rose from further in the village. If he had to guess where this “palace” would be, that seemed like a likely guess.
“And how would one enter this palace?” Veldin knew his voice sounded strained. Knowing what the “queen” had done set him on edge.
“No one enters. Only if the knights take you…”
“I see,” Veldin said. “Very well, then. Thank you for this information.”
“Yes, thank you.” Remerick stood up from the ground. “You should find somewhere safe to be for now. We won’t tell anyone about this, and… Well, hopefully, you won’t need to put up with this anymore.”
The fey creature nodded and began to walk away from the pair.
“Just a moment,” Veldin added, catching the fey’s attention. “I have one last question for you. How would we recognize these knights?”
“They’re tall,” the fey said, “with claws. Large claws. There’s plenty patrolling. Please watch out for them.”
“Very well.” This time, Veldin allowed the creature to leave without further comment to them. Once the fey had departed, he said, “Remerick.”
“Yes?”
“I must apologize to you in advance, as I do not think you will approve of the plan that has come to mind.”
Thanks for the chapter