Part 19
The world didn't seem as quiet anymore. A river close by was hosting many unique animals which filled the air with their unique noises.
Cyeen woke up feeling good and fresh. She looked up at the trees, then at the birds and finally at the other animals. Summer had arrived. It had been officially two months since she left Enidia. Somehow, she had managed to survive outside for this long, owing the most of it to Súko of course.
The noble felt a sharp vibration within her soul, hinting at En wanting to talk to her. Cyeen summoned her white book, turning on the first page: "Do you have any requests of me, your divine highness."
The feather she wrote with suddenly started floating on its own, starting to write something on the page with a neat cursive writing.
"Yes, my twicen. I was just about to ask something of you. The siblings, make sure they are in your control. Be their new captain."
She could feel the air get denser even from mere words. Such was the power of divinity.
Cyeen thought for a second, that was already what she was trying to do. A quick hesitation later, she wrote she would do it.
The white book flew out her hands by a punch from behind. Actually, it'd be better to say the noble was the one that flew forward.
Cyeen splatted on the ground after a few flips, looking back in anger.
"Jess you piece of!"
The demon seemed amused with the situation.
"HAHA! Take that ya nerd!"
Jess felt someone teleport behind her which she responded by quickly blocking. A handful of mud went through her block, painting her face brown. She wiped the mud off before seeing the noble on top of a tree.
Jess pointed her finger at the noble.
"Just waid until I brin' ya down!"
The demon huffed and left to go next to Zoen. She annoyed her brother about something for a while. He held his ground untill Jess became too hard to ignore, finally giving in. Cyeen could swear she heard the guy whisper: "I'm sorry Cyeen."
Cyeen was now face to face with with Jess, on solid ground which resulted in her eating a handful of mud right to the face. The noble backed up in suprise as she wiped her wipe. Realisation hit her, she was standing exactly where Zoen last stood. Her eye caught a glimpse of Zoen on top of the tree where she just was.
"Help." Zoen calmly exclaimed.
"Jump dyown bro, I gotcha." said Jess, right underneath the tree with her arms in the air.
Zoen immediately jumped, clearly trusting his sister. He landed in her arms before being put down to the ground.
"Zoen, how did you do that?" Cyeen asked in awe, not caring about the mud that was just slammed to her face.
"The teleport? Well my teleportation works a bit different than the rest, I can only switch places with people. Pretty useful for saving someone in a tough situation." he said proudly.
Cyeen put a hand on her chin,
"So it's useful for throwing you in dangerous situations."
Zoen smiled awkwardly.
"Well I can take it so why shouldn't I? If we're going to be talking about my arsenal why don't we sit down next to the campfire so I can explain?"
She nodded and swiftly went to the other side of the lit campfire. The siblings followed her soon afterwards, taking out their skewered bunny meat and handing one to Cyeen. They all began rotating their own sticks above the fire.
Zoen cleared his throat.
"Let me get straight to the point. You already saw it right, my soul weapon I mean. It's a sword that I usually use with a single hand. As for the essence consuming ones; small scaled illusions, essence push and pull, really loud blasters, and a handheld shield."
The noble titled her head. Mostly utility skills? How does he defend himself then? The way Jess looked at Zoen took Cyeen's attention.
"Hey broter, didn't I tell you not to reveal every skill ya had to her?" she sighed. "Well if we are doin' that then I have a thingk or two I kept hiden too. Why do you alway' do this Zoen."
Cyeen was distracted by Zoen who had an apologetic expression on his face before Jess clicked her fingers to get her attention.
"Looky here you dumbass. So first of all, swords aren' my onliy way of attackin' although all I'm permitted to use in me arsenayl are swords. Whenever one of me swords stabs somethin' I can create a pseudo blaster shot." The demon summoned a longsword mid air. "Secondly, I can sacrifiyce some of my shiel' hitpointz permanenently to incresase (?) my essence. I neva used it 'cause I've no idea how much it takez or if it only refills me essence reserve. Do ya have anythin' hidden Flamingberg?"
Cyeen took a bite out of her cooked skewer.
"Not really a hidden thing since I learned it a short while ago. You know how you said my white essence was pretty weak? I learned that it hits stronger the more pain I'm in. I don't know the exact numbers though."
Jess's eyes began shining. This was the perfect opportunity to beat Cyeen up without any consequences.
"Really? Let's try it, cmon!"
Cyeen grimaced, clearly knowing Jess's intentions.
"No thanks, I'll probably save it for desperate situations. By the way Zoen, you know I can copy abilities right? You said you had a handheld shield right? Can you summon it for me? It can be pretty useful in future fights."
He obliged, shrugging before summoning his swiss shaped shield. Cyeen watched carefully, observing the circle that appeared along with the shield. There was a bunch of scrabbles in a circle that constantly changed position and shapes.
Cyeen tried replicating the circle inside her mind and... Her mind began getting attacked by meaningless mumbles and whispers, completely wrecking her ability to think and process. She held her head in hopes of stopping them which suprisingly worked. Strange, this normally wouldn't work. In the end, she couldn't replicate the swiss shield.
"So Cyeen, did you do it yet?" asked Zoen who was tapping his arm with his finger.
She shook her head and mumbled to herself.
"I think it failed because its summoning circle was incomprehensible."
The siblings looked at each other in confusion before deciding to nod at Cyeen simultaneously.
"When ar we leavin' lil Zo?" asked Jess.
He exhaled.
"Now, Jess. And never call me that ever again."
All three quickly gathered their equipment up and hopped on their horses. Cyeen began testing a few things with her white essence. I see, whenever I use a copied skill once, I don't have to imagine its circle again. She messed around some more. I can also switch those saved skills around. Pretty useful. After messing around once more she came to the realisation of nothing. There really was nothing of importance she came across.
A thought crossed her mind. Some people name their essence if it has a certain gimmick right? Then I shall come up with one as well.
The noble began trying come up with names. Copycat? No. Copyama? Minenow? No. Pain, yes that fits. The voice of someone familiar was heard.
"Cyee, go ride infronto me. Ya'r makin me nervus from back there." said Jess.
She lifted her head up to see the demon in front of her. Cyeen nodded before slowly riding her horse next to Zoen with a sense of deja vu in her. There was a silence between the two for a long time before Zoen asked a question.
"Were you not born with that white essence perhaps? As I said before, you seem too unfamiliar to it."
Cyeen had to lie her way out of this as she couldn't outright reveal she was a twicen.
"I was born with it of course. I just never used it you see."
Zoen fixed his sitting position before talking again.
"There were cases of people receiving new essences so I couldn't help but wonder. Still, you may be right, it's not that uncommonon for someone to have two different colored essences."
"I suggest you don't wonder much, Zoen. I have to say I find it quite hurtful. But, rather hypocritically, I wondered about something as well. How does Jess know of such complex words she casually uses in conversations?"
Zoen went silent for a while.
"You don't just take her as an uneducated pirate do you? Jess is smart, just not academically. We didn't really have the opportunity to, you know, have a normal life"
"Very well." her curiosity had been sated.
Cyeen started minding her own business after that, slowing her horse down to ride in between the siblings. En wants me to lead them huh? Zoen would listen to me if I tried hard enough, Jess, not so sure. I still don't believe she is trying to change her ways. She'd try her best anyway. Change couldn't happen without force.
"Zoen!" Cyeen yelled from behind. "Where are we headed next?"
A clear gulp left him which was heard even by Jess. His voice shriveled.
"East..?"
All the horses stopped in their tracks as if Zoen just had uttered outrageous claims. Jess looked uncharacteristically calm and collected. Cyeen slowly approached the guy.
"Zoen, do you actually know where we've been going?"
He shook his head.
"Cherry, she told me to go east if I wanted to have a chance to encounter #+@)/. She didn't give me exact details of when and where. We've been just going off her words."
Cyeen placed her bandaged hand on his shoulder.
"So we've been going around blind and deaf?
Another gulp left his mouth,
"Basically."
The noble sighed,
"Go to the back please. I'll take the lead."
The noble took Zoen's position before Jess joined her by her side.
The demon laid back on the saddle, somehow.
"I ain't trustin' his ass fo a while. But jus so you knoyw, I doon't trust yar ass too."
Fair, thought Cyeen. She had already acknowledged the near impossible chance of Jess obeying her words.
Cyeen quickly stole a look back. Zoen's guilty face made him look like a puppy. He'll get back up surely. She thought as they began moving again.
A ton of horse footsteps later, the path they took began expanding with new pathways connecting to it. The random dirt pathways turned into their stone counterparts soon enough. It was clear by now, this road was leading to an important place. They saw where the road was headed to soon enough.
A mansion on top of a hill right in the middle of a big town appeared right in front of their eyes. The style of the buildings were vastly different from the ones badk in Enidia. The roofs of the houses were designed to collect the rainwater and funnel them underground. There seemed to be a rain problem here. Cyeen did not have any good memories in this place.
The stopped her horse, turning back to announce something.
"At last. Welcome to Drantu, you pirates."
***
They had set up camp somewhere they could see the whole duchy from. Their tents were all ready to be slept in and a campfire was lit like the rest of the days. Only this time, they were eating bird meat. Cyeen didn't know if it was a downgrade from the bunny meat or not but she didn't care as long as it tasted good.
A good meal later, it was time to go to sleep. Jess clicked her fingers to get the attention of the noble. She had been doing this a lot lately. I hope she doesn't accidentally summon a sword on my head one day. Cyeen slowly went and sat across from her, making sure to keep the lit campfire in between them.
"So Cyee, why eaxactly are we here?" asked the demon.
"For the Gossipers Guild of course. Haven't you heard? Maybe there we can get your questions about that player answered." said Cyeen.
"No of course I haven' heard of it you dumass, I spentd nearily half me life on the ship and this plasce is nyot even adjacent to the smallezt amount o' watter." said Jess in an annoyed tone.
Cyeen shifted her body into a comfortable pose.
"Just tell whatever you were intending to, you're beating around the bush way too much."
Jess smiled, revealing her jagged grin.
"Let's make a deal, Cyee."