Fantasy [MiraAutumn and Phoenix]

[MiraAutumn]

His logical retort only made her scowl. It made sense, but that didn't change the fact that she felt so used here. He would get so much information from her, whilst she would gain literally nothing, apart from the minor knowledge that demons knew of the uprising, which frankly, she could have figured out anyway. Talking to him was a waste of her time, even if logically she knew it would be better for the whole world to tell him. She knew she was being childish, salty even. Perhaps she had spent too much time amongst mortals.

"Shut it, stop trying to sweet talk me. I'm thinking." She snapped at his blathering. An issue popped into her mind suddenly. If she told him of the lead, then wouldn't he head to the capital too? There was no way they wouldn't get in each others way then. Deciding that to be the only thing she withheld, she told him the other details. "Rumours have been escalating over the years, concerning those that want to overthrow the gods. More and more people are joining them. That's about all I've verified over the years. Happy now?" She spat plainly, before spinning on her heel and heading back to the village. Now she needed to hitch another carriage ride somehow, to get to the capital.

All she hoped was that she'd never see that demon again, or any other demon for that matter. She'd had enough of them for one lifetime.
PhoenixMire

 

[PhoenixMire]

He huffed when she told him to shut up. Moody for an angel. He listened closely as she spoke, his ears perked, but her information was kind of disappointing. What about leads? Where to start searching for more information? Anything?

Malri knew he should probably try to grill her with more questions, but she was already walking away. Not that he couldn't catch her... but the last thing he wanted to do right now was chase after her. He doubted she'd answer anymore questions, and he didn't want to waste his energy on a fight. He needed to save his magic.

Taking a deep breath and concentrating, he weaved an illusion to hide his demonic features again, then paused and wondered where to go. Where would he most likely find information? A more populated area would be a good spot to start. But Malri didn't know the surface as well as he could, and realized he'd need a map. Maybe he could find one in this village.

Smoothing out his hair with a hand, he set off to begin his search.

MiraAutumn

 

[MiraAutumn]

Once again, Ivory found herself in the back of a carriage. With sacks of potatoes and creaky wooden floors, it was practically the exact same experience as the first time. She was glad to get some shut eye after that whole stressful experience. Embracing her laidback lifestyle again, she was twiddling with some loose threads from the woven satchels before being called out again.

"We're here!"

With a small smile she hopped off, waving at the kind driver, before finding herself on the outskirts of the grand capital city, Nephrim. The city had grown since the last time she had been here, which was a few years ago. New buildings had emerged that she didn't recognise, and she swore those rooftops didn't used to look so glossy and smooth. Although the capital seemed to have changed for the better, an odd mist seemed to cover the area. Not one that mortals could see of course, but it seemed to be some kind of dark residue, an ominous mist perhaps. It looked like her lead had shown her the correct place to investigate.

Perhaps she should start her search from a distance this time, rather than walking straight into the threat like earlier today. Her lead was vague, but it entailed rumours of people going missing in the Moon District of the capital. But these weren't your average missing people incidents, no, it seemed as if multiple people were lost at once routinely. It was whispered that a note was left, scribbled in a mix of black and red, with abominations about the gods. This was the reason she chose to investigate, although the fact that groups of people would just randomly vanish was alarming in itself.

Clearing her thoughts, she calmly knelt on the ground in front of a nearby tree, after having given a cautious glance to the general vicinity. Perhaps to a passerby, she might appear to just be meditating or taking a quick rest, but her magical presence was overflowing, whether they could sense it or not. Closing her physical eyes, she allowed her senses to flow through her mana to awaken her other eye.

Slowly, she opened her eye. She could see her body resting there, underneath the tree, as if nothing had happened. Stretching her mana tether, she flew above the capital to pinpoint the location. Gliding past the Sun District towards the Moon, she noticed how the buildings seemed to deteriorate as she went by. Not from intentional vandalism, or physical damage, but perhaps neglect? They appeared dusty, a little too calm/quiet, as if no one had been home in weeks. Taking her time, she examined small things like this slowly.
PhoenixMire

 

[PhoenixMire]

Malri sighed heavily as he slipped off the back of the horse. Exhaustion had seemed to seep into his very bones. He wasn’t accustomed to riding horses.

A few days ago, on his way to find and purchase a map, he’d caught a glimpse of the angel again. An idea had struck him. Why not follow her to see if he could gather any information?

So Malri had stolen a horse and followed his target from a distance, sometimes nearly losing track of her - after all, he wanted to stay far enough away that she couldn’t sense his presence, but that meant he’d almost lost her multiple times.

Ah well. He’d finally made it. She had stopped on the outskirts of a big city, and Malri stayed a safe distance away from her, observing carefully. He tried to pat his stolen horse’s nose - but it made an irritated noise and shied away from him. It had been moody for the entire journey. He supposed that made sense - he’d stolen it from its home, after all, and animals were more sensitive to auras than humans. The beast could probably sense that he was a demon.

Rolling his shoulders, Malri eyed the sprawling city below him. He stood on a hilltop below a copse of broad-leafed trees, switching his gaze between the faraway angel and the multitude of buildings nearby. He hesitated for a moment before setting off toward the city.

Suddenly a familiar feeling swept over him. The aura of an angel. Malri froze. If he’d accidentally gotten close enough to the angel to sense her, that meant she’d most likely be able to sense him in return. He sucked in a breath through his teeth and hurried toward the city, hoping she hadn’t noticed his presence.

MiraAutumn

 

[MiraAutumn]

There was no way didn't notice, considering her abilities literally revolved around perception. The reason why she, a mere half-angel, was selected for this mission was her specialized skillset afterall. Perhaps this strong magical presence was not the same person from earlier, was what she hoped anyway. She was sincerely not looking forward to a reunion this soon. Annoyance began to simmer within her as she sent her eye towards his location.

Welp, look who it is. She sighed mentally, seing as she couldn't move her real body at the moment. There he was, hurrying towards the city. It didn't seem like he had a destination in mind... why was he here? Unless.. he tailed her? Well... what did she expect from a demon? She asked herself this internally to calm down and prevent becoming angry for the second time. Every time she even thought about this guy it didn't seem to end up well.

For a moment, she just watched him, perhaps she could spy on him like this? It wasn't a very honourable thing to do, but playing fair against a demon didn't seem like a great idea. She wondered, could he sense her minds eye? Her consciousness was currently floating above him in the sky, basically invisible. But they could sense each others magical presence couldn't they? As she began to ponder, she continued observing his every move. Being as laidback as she usually was, she didn't even bother thinking up the repercussions if he could sense her.
PhoenixMire

 

[PhoenixMire]

Malri hurried toward the city, focusing his magic on keeping up his disguise. He didn’t want anyone to see his demonic features, after all.

He studied the capital city as he walked down the hillside and toward one of its many gates. It sprawled before him, its buildings ranging anywhere from simple wooden things to grand affairs made from polished marble. Nothing in the city - not that he could see, anyway - looked junky or rundown. Not like some other villages he'd passed through.

The demon admired the city with his mouth agape as he passed through the gates. The guards flanking the gates gave him a mere glance, but didn't move to intercept him, probably deciding that he wasn't a threat. Multiple other people streamed into the city in front of and behind him.

The smooth, intricately-laid stone streets bustled with activity. The residents he saw ranged anywhere from normal humans to elves to dwarves to fairies to orcs to little goblins skittering to and fro... Malri tried not to let his fascination show too much as he watched. Truly this human city was a marvel of architecture and mixed races. He didn't know if he'd seen so many different kinds of folk gathered in one place.
...Even though they didn't all get along. He watched as a bulky orc bumped into an elf and the both of them began yelling in anger, and as a goblin tore off a shred of a woman's dress with a snicker.

Once Malri managed to pick up his jaw off the ground, he realized something - the angelic presence hadn't faded. It almost seemed to be following him. Narrowing his eyes, he surveyed the crowd, but couldn't see the light-dweller's distinctive crimson hair anywhere. Where was that aura coming from? He turned in a circle, then realized it seemed to be... coming from above? Flicking his gaze to the sky, he saw nothing, and frowned in confusion.

MiraAutumn

 

[MiraAutumn]

Oddly, the demon appeared so... surprised by this city? She had already guessed that it was his first time here at the capital, but had he never been in a place like this before? As cities go, this settlement was majestic yes, which was expected since it was the capital, but he seemed amazed by everything. It was satisfying just watching him walk around and experience it, like watching a child with their first toy. Cute. Too bad he was a demon. She couldn't bless exactly bless an evil being from hell now could she.

Ivorys heart skipped a beat when she noticed the demon swiftly glance at her consciousness in the sky. Not romantically of course, but rather the primal fear of being found by a predator. Noticing him frown, she realized he hadn't actually found her, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief. Internally, of course. Realizing a headache was slowly dawning on her consciousness, she slowly re-connected her mana tether in order to fast forward to her bodys location.

Moments before she left, blazing fires suddenly dawned over the horizon.
PhoenixMire

 

[PhoenixMire]

Malri explored deeper into the city, marveling at the sights along the way. Where would he even begin to gather information? This place was massive and highly populated - perfect breeding ground for rumors and intel, but at the same time, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

He supposed he could start at a tavern. Drunken folks were usually a bit more talkative than they'd otherwise be. He scoured the streets and saw many wooden signs hanging above doorways; there were toy shops, and wood carvers, and blacksmiths, and carpenters, and bakeries, and glass-blowers, and clothing shops... the list was endless, but he didn't see any taverns.

Suddenly he picked up the unmistakable smell of smoke. Eyes narrowing, his lifted his head and peered at the horizon to the east, where he saw a pillar of thick, black smoke curling up into the blue sky. What was that? Malri began to make his way toward it. And as he went, suddenly more stacks of smoke appeared, accompanied by the unmistakable glow of fire. Someone came running down the street from the east, yelling a warning about the sudden and fast-spreading flames.

To the demon's surprise, hardly anyone seemed too concerned. There was a slight murmur of worry, but most folk went about their day as if nothing had happened. Malri supposed the fires were far enough away not to worry people too much; they probably figured someone would find a way to put it out before it spread far.
But the demon was curious. He caught the arm of the man who had called out a warning about the flames. "What started the fire?" he asked.

The man shook his head, eyes wide. "No idea. Never seen anything spread so fast in my life! Some say it could only have been caused by magic. Why would anyone want to start a giant magical fire?"

Interesting. Malri pursed his lips. Was this at all connected to his investigation, or was it completely unrelated? Only one way to find out. He hurried off through the crowd, pushing people aside as he made his way toward the massive blaze to the east.

MiraAutumn