Chapter 2: Onward to Adventure

(Fantasia)

Of the most incredible of my father's ideas, this was one of the more impressive. Truly, to travel the continent and experience the cultures of all of the clans and learn of their own significant powers was quite an enjoyable thought and so much more the action of it. However, our trip would be dangerous. 

“Come Fantasia, bring what you'll need. Remember we have to go to extreme climates so bring everything you can that'll keep you warm, cold, whatever,” my mother said haphazardly as she changed my baby brother's wrappings and covered him in several layers of clothes. Truth be told, she seemed to be a lot more tired and stressed now that she’d had her baby. Her eyes were more bloodshot, her once full, thick red hair was becoming thinner and her face was etched with lines of worry. I wonder, did she look quite like that with me when I was in my baby brother’s place not quite so long ago? My father and older sister's conversation swiftly broke my ponderings as my sister hoisted our tent and her rucksack over her shoulder. She held a weapon designed for her, a trident, in her offhand.

“Remember, Eris, we are going among the rulers in peace, there is no need to stress.” 

“Father! Not more than a month ago we had an angry mob attack us and you had to save the day. Mother and Fantasia could've been killed!” She was feisty as ever since that one day she came back and always seemed to find a reason to fight with my father. Had she always been so quick to argue and rush into a fight? I didn't know and frankly didn’t care either, she barely came into my life thirty years ago. I remember how emotional my father had gotten, it was a little frightening to see him cry as much over someone I'd never heard of. I wonder if he'd do the same if something were to happen to me. 

“Yes yes I know! Still, as long as I am king, we may come and go from wherever as we please.” 

“What of Nihilis and the Void Clan?! They've proven time and again that they are far from under control!” She shot back. 

Ah, yes, this I knew about! I smiled to myself as I left to go pack, thinking of the terrible death-bringers that had committed a mass holocaust on the Harp-Note and Time Clans in search of the Harpnotica and Nightingale. I remember that from my history lessons with Magus Rom. My father and sister argued on and on with my sister's harsh bites and my father's calm reassurances. 

Soon we left the house I knew so well. There remained at least six more hours of daylight by the position of Sol-Ano, our sun. The warm morning wind was flowing freely across the massive expanse of my father’s property. We flew from our perch in the clouds with my mother having Eris hold her luggage so she could hold the baby. I found it difficult to carry one bag, let alone imagine carrying three. As much as I disdained my older sibling, I had to give it to her; she was stronger than most.

Soon we landed several miles from the house near a stone barrier, entirely impassable through flight. I knew this wall too well, every inch of craggy, unscalable rock that arched towards the sky defiantly to forbid any from entering or leaving. The wall rose to just below where the air was so cold that your wings would frost and harden. My father produced a key from his coat pocket and turned it in a hole in the stony wall. A doorway appeared and we passed through to a snowy and forested area. The change in temperature was drastic as we ventured into the tundra. 

We tramped through the frost quickly and as we went, it froze over our footprints in a haze, leaving no trace. The farther we went, the harder it was to see the barrier through the falling sleet and ice.

It was strange living at the edge of a world, so vast and bursting with vibrancy, in obscurity. 

I wondered at times why my father would want such a life for us, far away from the bustling cities and towns full to the brim with adventures and new people. 

My father brought us to a nice warm cottage to get some sleep and change. Sol-Ano was setting, and Forever Twinkle was already high in the sky, casting its ominous silver glow across the freshly fallen snow. My father made dinner, kindling the fire gently in the fireplace, to cook a nice herb and meat stew from our last dinner's leftovers. That was our family food rule: let nothing go to waste unless it was spoiled.

My wings were flooded with warmth and I steadily grew sleepy. After dinner, father told us some of his war stories of how he'd fought alongside Nightingale against Mirage of the Venom Clan to keep her from dragging everything below the surface of our world, down into the inky depths of Toxicon where it could be ruled by that noxious Clan of poisons and remedies. 

I was only half-listening and soon fell asleep. I’d heard this story many times before but every time my father told it differently. I thought I heard Eris mutter my name before she carried me in her big, strong arms to my bed. I slept better than ever before that night.