Day 210: Home

Coqoj 36th, 4288: 210 Days in the Mortal Realm

I must say, I’m thankful for the composure I still have. I’m home once more with Raæin. It was a sweet reunion, but I can feel part of me keeping Raæin at an arm’s length away. There’s comfort knowing I’m with him, but I’m determined not to need him.

Last night when Isaac had teleported the circlet of Szen’s to the Ethereal plain, he told us that he could easily teleport us to France. Now of course this was after I woke up and we attempted to go back for Carl. I had rested in the ocean as a mermaid. It wasn’t the best of choices for cows and bodies were floating in the water I was breathing by morning. It was quite retched to say the least.

Quickly I got back on land and did my best to clean up from all the blood and feces. Isaac then suggested to go find the ornithopter and try using it to get to France again. I was doubtful since we still hadn’t had enough time to make fuel, let alone that part of town could have been burnt down. Still, we went and searched.

After a short time, we found the Roaring Rafters, ornithopter still on top. We walk in and soon discover Carl was tied up in a closet. Apparently I had returned to the right place the other night. The people who answered were the ones who had tied Carl up.

I figured we’d fly a safe distance from Threll, land somewhere inconspicuous, and continue to create fuel. That way I’d be able to finish flying us to France.

Our flight out of the city was soon interrupted by a red dragon pursuing us. Not being able to accelerate due to the broken windows, Isaac casted an illusion to make it look like we were crash landing. I landed the ornithopter and we waited. It had seemed the dragon had gone, but after a time Carl noticed the dragon was a few hundred yards away watching us. That was when Isaac got the idea to teleport us to France.

Isaac did warn us that there was a chance he’d teleport us to the wrong place, but if we succeeded we’d finally be back where I had wanted to be. Part of me felt irked that he hadn’t suggested such a plan sooner. I certainly wouldn’t have had the horrible experiences yesterday.

Carl figuring it’d be pointless to just leave the ornithopter and tavern as it was. So he set a self destruct mechanism before holding my hand as Isaac took us to Rehm.

It wasn’t Rehm we landed in, but the fauna we were surrounded in was that of France. I called for Raæin and a moment later a most welcomed image of a Celestial Charger appeared before me.

“There you are!” he greeted.

“Oh Raæin the stories I have to tell you!” I said throwing my arms around his neck. It felt wonderful to be back with my mentor.

“So tell me,” he said.

“First, let’s go to a safe place before I just start spewing details.” Raæin nodded. I told Carl to place a hand on Raæin’s flanks. Once he did, Raæin took a step.

We were in a large forest like town. It wasn’t familiar to me, but I figured it had to have been one of the elven settlements. From the looks of the folk walking around though, it was too diverse to be primarily elves.

I looked back to Raæin who had disguised himself in his MIra deguise.

“Still keeping that look up?” I asked.

“Yeah, no one here knows what I am.”

“Is this the place you’re currently healing?”

“Yes. I’ve actually been doing quite well. Let me take you to my place,” we all began to follow Raæin, “I must warn you though, that cult is very much here,” Raæin warned. The mention of Heinul’s cult scared me, yet intrigued me considering how Raæin has chosen to stay in the city.

“Tells us where and we’ll take care of it,” Isaac said.

“Uh, no. I’m not getting involved with that. I know they are here, but I don’t know where their headquarters are. Ah, this is my place,” Raæin said.

He opened a door to a quaint house  right off the main road. I was in awe at how well Raæin was doing. I’m still envious, but I have the determination to make my own way. I want to do what he’s doing, what Gemmel’s doing; help those in need with my talents. I imagine though that my talents won’t as needed and therefore some side job should help with meeting my physical needs.

And I must say, I’m trying to figure out what my talents are. What could I do as a job? I know how to fight... I know how to work with livestock and I can fly. I can fly an ornithopter... I’m sure I’ll figure something out, but enough of that.

The rest of the day was spent telling Raæin about what had happened since my kidnapping. How I almost turned into a lizard. How Gemmel saved me, twice. How Isaac met up with me and how he died. I told him about how we met Carl. When it got to Threll, I purposefully avoided telling Raæin about what had happened in the suite since that wasn’t a shining moment for myself. Isaac elaborated on about how he saved me from Szen while I mentioned how I almost was possessed by him. Raæin was impressed I wasn’t killed though admitted I always had a way of getting out of tight places. I assured him that my luck was soon to run out if I kept that kind of life up.

I can feel my mortality hovering closer to me each day. Not that I think I’m about to die, but each time I’ve come close to death, it has become that more apparent of how mortal I am. This notion that I’ll be protected is thinning. I know I need to strive to be more cautious. Hence my decision to settle down and not pursue the evil. If it comes to me, I’ll deal with it. But for now, I want to try and live the memory that I once thought was real. Where I lived a normal life in which no one revered me. Where I found joy in the daily things and hadn’t a care in the world to what the bigger picture held.

Raæin kindly is allowing the three of us to reside with him. I think tomorrow I’ll explore the city, get a feel for it and the job opportunities available.