A disturbance was currently occurring in the forest.
It wasn't due to any creatures of the wilds. Nor was it caused by any natural phenomena.
This intense scene unfolding right in front of my eyes was being perpetrated by none other than the newest member of the OSW and the mysterious elf named Arden. When the man had turned around and uttered that one name…
Mei had simply exploded.
The two had some sort of unfinished business that must have been stewing for decades, and she had some things to get off her mind.
I felt bad for Arden. The guy was just trying to do a good deed and assist travelers in a tough situation.
I'm sure he never expected to stumble upon, who I'm assuming to be have been some fling of the past. Or maybe they were family?
Both of them had the same violet-purple shade of hair. It was possible they were related. Siblings, perhaps?
Either way, none of us had a clue who the two were to each other, but the fiery passion that had arisen from Mei paired with the dead eyes and posture of complete defeat from Arden hinted at something.
Since we had already set up camp prior to being so rudely interrupted by the raging forest spirit, I had retired to my tent to clear away the status alerts that had accumulated during combat.
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE INCREASED:
» AGILITY HAS INCREASED TO 28
» PERCEPTION HAS INCREASED TO 24
» AETHER HAS INCREASED TO 49
» INTELLIGENCE HAS INCREASED TO 51
» SANITY HAS INCREASED TO 46
» RESOLVE HAS INCREASED TO 44
Rias entered the tent, handing me a bowl of stew made from cured beef and vegetables we'd foraged on our journey.
She plopped down next to me on a pillow. A deep sigh escaped her lips as she leaned on my side.
"Tired?"
"I'm beat. I've never felt so frustrated doing anything in my life."
"Huh? Whatcha' mean?"
"None of my spells did anything to that monster. I think I did more damage to myself than it."
Rias held out her right arm, revealing brightly irritated skin—speckled with minor blisters.
"Gah! Rias, why didn't you say anything sooner?"
I practically threw my dinner aside and gently held on to her arm.
"Divine light, Heal!"
A wave of light rippled over her arm from my hands washing away the blistered skin, returning it to its proper beautiful complexion.
"You gotta let me know if you get injured, okay?"
Hailey and Julius popped their heads in, and after confirming that we were in the tent, came in to sit with us.
Julius unwrapped two small loaves of bread from a cloth he'd carried in. He handed both my sister and I one with a stupid grin across his face.
Leave it to my second to remember how I like to eat stew!
I accepted the bread with a smile and a laugh.
Rather than eat with a spoon I tore little strips of the firm sourdough, using them as a scoop.
After we finished eating, all of us returned outside.
We joined Aisling and Viane around the campfire and listened to the crackling fire and the still ongoing berating of Arden.
He seemed to be taking it in stride.
Once our ranger had finally run out of breath and stamina she dropped herself to the ground, clutching her knees with crossed arms.
"Are you finished?"
Arden finally gave his own response, his words sounding more neutral than hostile.
In such a heated moment, I'd expect anyone to jump at the chance to defend themselves. Instead, he patiently waited for her to respond back.
Like he was just double checking with an officer to make sure he could move on to the next agenda item during a meeting.
"Screw you, Arden. Yeah. That's all I've got."
"Thank you. Would you mind introducing me to your companions now?"
Mei let out an exasperated humph.
"Nope."
Aisling snickered uncharacteristically, catching herself quickly and slapping a hand around her mouth.
Julius placed a hand on Mei' shoulder. "Come on, Mei. Cut the guy a break, would you? He helped us out. The least we can do is introduce ourselves and offer up some dinner." He extended his other hand past her, holding out a bowl of stew.
Arden accepted the bowl, bowing his head gracefully.
"Allow me to introduce myself first then. I am Arden, Captain, Aestori Forest Guardian Core."
"Julius Adaemus. Commander, Order of the Scarlet Wing, Vanixian Empire."
Arden's eyes grew wide with surprise.
"The Empire?"
Aisling joined Julius and pulled out a small red and gold badge, "Dux'ducae Aisling, ab Stellae Prolaetoris. Egi'syn dux vos'Imperium positaer Umbraedomis."
"Dux'ducae!? Illa veneratae!"
Whatever Aisling had said to him in elvish had a dramatic reaction—Arden shot up and was now in full salute, which Aisling returned.
Hailey waved her hands cutely while also wiggling her fingers, "I'm Hailey Brooks, also a Commander of the Vanixian Empire. Thank you again for your assistance earlier."
"Viane. Acting as an envoy for the Aestori. We've met before, but it was years ago."
"Uhm, my name is Rias and I'm an apprentice artificer. Thank you for helping us—Oh! I also am with the Empire but I'm not in the divisionals or anything I'm just here because my sister is and I—"
"Easy there, kiddo. Keep it simple." I interrupted my sister as her face started to glow red.
"It's nice to meet you Arden. I also would like to extend my gratitude for your assistance with dispatching the trow. My name is Airis Vanixi, Empress of the Vanixian Empire."
-✵-
Elvish had always tickled my ears when spoken. It had such a varied intonation when compared to the common language the denizens of Axio used. Some times you could hear the same odd inflections when Mei spoke.
It was pretty funny when she'd stumble on a word with sharply accented consonants.
From what I understood of the language there were two distinct variants: a written runic alphabet and a divergent colloquial form.
Spoken conversationally, it was fluid and pleasing to listen to. But when referencing a specific concept or thing, such as spell-casting, one would use the more formal proto-Elvish runes, in which the words can come off very harsh. This became more evident when written, as the Iọ-ton'ic runic alphabet used only sharp large-print letters.
The reason my thoughts are hyper-focused on elvish right now? Well that's because, since the addition of Arden, our camp has been alive with the sound of elvish.
Viane and Aisling had been talking nonstop with Arden. As translated by my sister, it seemed like they were debriefing him.
The chance meeting of our party could have major political impact with the Aestori public. If Arden were to return to the Enclave and start telling everyone how he met the Empress and imperial military commanders, things could get really awkward for us later.
Or so I was told.
Apparently Arden had been sent out after a scrying team noticed a strange magicka signature through their magi-tools.
I tried my best to listen in on their conversation, but my elvish was abysmal.
The closest language I was to being fluent in was Natoran—the official language of the Renaultian Republic—but I was a long way from holding a meaningful conversation with anyone. I could read official documents, and that was about it.
A melodic chord sang through the forest. Delicate fingers strummed at a guitar. Mei had brought it with her from Tolin, and had fiddled around with it a few of the nights after we'd set camp.
Tonight felt different though. Instead of her usual playful expression and lively tune, her face was sour and the sounds being played were far from exuberance. She began to sing in elvish. Her voice was so full of emotion that I found it a little upsetting I couldn't understand the meaning of the words.
"Egi'syn palpitae.
Illa pavidiae.
Plac-re s-reniae p-ace̵—"
Mei's mouth continued moving as she was singing, but her voice sounded intermittently in my ears. A high-pitched ring built up until all sound was deafened—save for one: a soft tapping-like noise that echoed in my head.
A stream of messages raced in the center of my vision as a small window appeared.
» ADDRESSING LANGUAGE IMPROFICIENCY
» LOCAL CODEX DETECTED WITHIN RANGE
» SENDING REQUEST TO LOCAL CODEX ARCHIVAL FRAME
» RULER STATUS VERIFIED
» REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED
» INITIALIZING DECRYPTION PROCESSES
» DECODING – STANDBY
» DECODING – STANDBY
» DECODING – STANDBY
» LANGUAGE CODEX DECRYPTED: IỌ-TON'IC
» COMMENCING TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION
» PROCESS SUCCESSFUL: AUTO-TRANSLATION ENABLED
» IỌ-TON'IC TO ALTAERIAN
» ALTAERIAN TO IỌ-TON'IC
The high pitched ringing pierced my ears once more, overtaking the tapping.
Mei's silver voice returned but instead of the peculiar cadence of elvish that was completely incomprehensible to me, I understood each word—their meaning seamlessly translated in my mind.
"I thought I loved you, my only friend.
You ran away before I could say.
Now I tremble, In clear delay.
I truly wanted to be together.
How long must I hide my pains?
How long, how long?
We were meant to be, not play pretend.
What words would've made you stay?
The world has never felt so gray.
Lost beauty, blotted out its splendor.
How long must I hide my strains?
How long, how long?
I thought I lost you, my only friend.
Yet you're here today.
Still I tremble, when next will you slip away?
My heart cries out to just surrender!"
As she sang her final note, the sound of the guitar fading to silence, tears streaked down her cheeks.
Rias stretched her arms around Mei, reassuring her—in elvish, "That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing your feelings with us."
The rest of our camp had a mix expressions on their faces.
Both Hailey and Julius seemed concerned for Mei. Julius had picked up a fair amount of elvish—either from working closely with Mei or because he was trying impress her I wasn't sure. But Hailey had about as close a grasp on the language as I did, she wouldn't have been able to interpret the lyrics of the song, and was probably worried since Mei broke down in tears afterwards.
Both of the elven envoys were glaring daggers at our guest, who seemed to have shrunk as small as he could in his seat.
Arden's gaze was glued steadfast to a spot of empty forest.
You idiot.
I walked over to Mei and sat down near her on the other side, sliding down to the ground so that my back was touching the fallen timber turned makeshift seat. I rested my head against her knee and softly spoke to her.
"It really was beautiful, Mei. I'm glad you shared it with us too."
"Wah?" "Huh?"
Both Mei and Rias craned their heads to me.
"What's the deal? Am I not allowed to comfort my friend when she just sang her heart out?"
This time, a series of exclamations sounded through the rest of the camp and everyone else was staring at me.
"For real? I'm not some ice-hearted princess am I? Why are you all looking at me like that? Quit it!"
I crossed my arms and pursed my lips.
"Sis?"
"Y-yeah?"
"When did you get so good at speaking elvish?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"What am I…?—Airis. You're speaking in elvish. Right now. Your words, are elven words."
"You've got to be… It's got to be this damnable Chaos Magick. Just doing whatever it wants, whenever it wants."
"You used… magick? You used magick!? To learn elvish, you used magick?"
Rias continued to repeat the same question a few different ways while I tried to feel around my mind for an off-switch. If it was a Chaos related spell that did this then it should be like any other time when I connect to the link with Capricorn—there it is.
» PROCESS SUCCESSFUL: AUTO-TRANSLATION DISABLED
» ALTAERIAN TO IỌ-TON'IC
"There. All fixed. I'm back to regular, everyday, good-ole' human speak… Right?"
Everyone nodded their heads slowly, except for Julius who was shaking his in disbelief.