Aria Windsong

  Aria’s day had been going so well before this evening. She had convinced Axel to allow her to bring Lyra into their flock, then she had an amazing date with Lyra, and to cap the night off, they had an amazing connection after enjoying a meal with Axel and Jareth. Then, when several people appeared in her room, she chose the wrong form of attack. A bolt of flame would have likely bought her time with either the heat or bright light that might give her an opening, but she went for her daggers from her years of training with Hector.

  Now she was laying in a heap near the wall where a window to a lovely view of a fountain once was, being thrown away when Axel again tried to rescue her. Lyra lay across from Aria. She saw the leader of these attackers reach down to lift Lyra from where she landed on the opposite side of the opening, but then someone attacked him, melding out of the shadows much like that angry snake she had hunted with Axel.

  Aria then saw a red glow in the striker’s hand when he latched onto the attacker, who then was attacked by who Aria labeled as minion one and two using attacks of Pearl and Larimar. That would have to be who it was, as Aria knew the way they fought by watching them fight and train over the last weeks. A red-hot fury boiled in Aria as the short fight happened, and the leader with the dumb voice seemed to panic as he could not find Jareth.

  Lyra was then abducted right in front of Aria’s eyes in a wave of shadows along with minions one and two. When the shadows vanished, Aria felt control over her body's return, and as she was not distracted, she felt the pain from dozens of injuries from her right wing being dislocated to her left knee at a right angle. Aria cared little for these injuries as when she could move her head, she could see Axel and nothing else mattered at that moment.

  Aria tried to stand and walk, but her leg refused to function, so she tried to crawl, but it seemed her shoulder was dislocated. Aria then, with her good arm and wing, dragged herself over the bits of broken wood, glass, and ceramics that were shattered during the fight. As she arrived, she was now covered in blood from cuts and the pool under Axel that was slowly gathering.

  Aria also noticed there was someone only slightly revealed in the moonlight kneeling on the other side of Axel. Aria knew it was Jareth, and she felt the ever-burning hatred she carried every day flicker and burn as she blamed him for what happened that night.

  “He is alive,” Jareth’s voice was as soft as a whisper. “He is still somehow regenerating even after tearing himself up like that, but thankfully the spike hit on the opposite side of his heart.”

  “His heart is mirrored,” Aria hissed at Jareth and kept pulling herself until she was on top of Axel and could check for herself.

  Jareth stilled, the moon shifting to show him looking again at Axel before deciding on something. Aria did not have time for the deceitful merchant as she checked, and Axel still breathed and had a heartbeat, much to her relief. Aria then heard a tearing noise and saw out of the corner of her eye the large piece of metal and wood that was the shaft of Axel’s halberd being ripped out.

  Aria, out of reflex, grabbed for one of the many hidden knives she had in her night clothing, even on nights she enjoyed pleasure with a partner and tried to throw it at Jareth as it seemed he was trying to finish Axel off. Jareth dodged the throw, which Aria would admit was very poor at the moment, and then he pulled out a beast gem. The soft green light of a healing gem illuminated the room as the energy poured into Axel.

  Aria stopped her attacks and just leaned against her mate, knowing that he was too stubborn to die from this. Aria then picked up the sound of a lot of movements outside before several officers in Harmonizers armor arrived through the broken window. The officers scanned the room quickly before coming over to Axel, and one of them kneeled down.

  “Ma’am, are you alright?” The strange modulated voice asked while checking Axel over.

  It was at this moment that Aria realized Jareth had vanished and somehow moved her hand over the beast gem when she was distracted. She decided to leave dealing with him for now and get as much help for Axel as possible.

  “Me and my mate were attacked by a couple of Adepts and an Expert,” Aria said calmly while pressing down the gem on Axel. “They captured one of my flock that I just initiated, then fled likely because they sensed you coming from the noise Axel made.”

  The officer nodded and started to do battlefield medicine on Axel while calling out, “Healer! I need a healer here now!”

  Aria moved out of the way as her training was fighting off the panicked need to hold on to Axel and allow someone who was whole to attend to his injuries. Aria then attended to herself, an intake of breath forced her shoulder to realign with the hard surface of the floor. Her vision turned grey from the pain for a moment, but the feeling began to return, with the pain, to her arm.

  The officer looked at the noise while attending Axel but chose not to say anything while he worked at a frantic pace. As Aria moved her arm to return mobility and feeling, a new Harmonizer leaped into the room and rushed over to Axel. This one touched Axel, and Aria felt the power flow into him from what seemed to be an Expert-tier healer.

  Aria had, in her younger days, been hauled into these buildings many times until Foster Mom got tired of it and got Aria training with a guild friend so she would stop being caught, as she realized Aria would not stop. Aria used the warmer memories to give her strength as she was flagging from the injuries and drain of the day.

  After arriving, a woman in healing robes, not the armor of the Harmonizers, began to help Aria as several healers arrived in night clothing and began to work on Axel. The young woman cleaned the cuts and abrasions along with removing the shards Aria had picked up from the floor trying to get to Axel. When the healer was done, Aria saw that Axel was removed from his night clothes, which Aria oddly noticed would need to be replaced as the hunting trip had destroyed them. A more senior officer arrived.

  Aria could tell by the wear on the man’s armor, the way he held his hands and the way he walked. This was someone who had seen many things while completing his duties.

  “Greetings,” the officer started before pulling out a notebook. “We need an account of everything that happened.”

  Aria nodded and closed her eyes, letting her training in both law enforcement—the other side of getting guild training was letting Foster Mom set up city scout training—and criminal training guide her as she made her statement. Aria did not have the memory of her mate, but she had the training to pull up details to help an investigation. Aria gave as detailed a report as she could while the man asked questions to help fill out the missing information.

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  After Aria completed this, she was allowed to rest, but before she did, Aria prayed to the Goddess to help them through this in her journal. Aria detailed what happened in as much detail as she did with the officer and asked the Goddess to tell Lyra something.

  Lyra Windchime

  Lyra’s last sight before being engulfed by the shadows was looking at her best friend lying there bleeding out from what looked like a heart shot. As a trained healer, Lyra knew that the heart, brain, or core were the most deadly places to be injured. The heart seemed to be the strange one in regeneration or healing powers, being much harder to heal than any other organ in the body. As the world returned to color, Lyra felt the tears running down her face, stinging a cut along her left cheek gained from one of the tumbles while being held by Axel.

  Lyra was surprised she was not more injured than she was, but her health data showed she was mostly bruised with healing lacerations along her body. There were foreign objects being ejected, likely glass or other debris from the floor. Lyra was still trapped in her body as her eyes swept around a lavish entrance hall that held hand-carved stone floors, pillars, and what looked like a set of stairs.

  The room also held paintings, vases, and other trappings of wealth just from what Lyra could see by sweeping her eyes. Lyra’s view was temporarily obscured when a black cloak was thrown across it, but she could not see who threw it or where it went when a raspy, damaged voice called out.

  “Maids, bring me a healing stone,” Lyra’s abductor said, then started to rapid-fire out commands. “I also need power shackles, a room ready for our new guest, and a new shirt.”

  Lyra then heard the noise of moving feet, but no one said anything to the man. This observation was interrupted as her body and head moved on their own. Lyra was then able to see the man who caused her so much pain in the eyes for the first time.

  He was a middle-aged-looking man of average height after he took off what looked like platform shoes, with a look that would get lost in a crowd if you blinked. His hair was a dusky brown that matched his mud-like eyes. The only distinctive thing Lyra noticed was he had a palm scar on his throat that did not seem to be healing correctly. Normally, the blessing would have taken care of that, but there must have been some power at play preventing its healing, or the man wanted it there for some reason.

  The man had a wound on his right shoulder, likely from Axel’s insane throw, that had stopped bleeding, but as the man removed his shirt, the whole area was bruised from the impact. Lyra could also see another palm mark left by the third party who interrupted her abduction that looked similar to the one on his throat but was showing small signs of healing. Also in her view were Pearl and Larimar, just standing at attention to the side but not taking care of their injuries or damaged clothing.

  “You two,” the raspy man said while checking himself over carefully, seeming to be looking for any hidden injury. “Why did you reveal your faces? I did not order that, and now with Aria living, you won’t be able to retake your posts. This is going to set back my agent placement plans by at least four to five years.”

  “We apologize, Master Weaver,” the pair said at the same time while bowing to him.

  “My mask was damaged, and I could not see well, which would have added undue risk if another party attacked,” Pearl added while staying bowed.

  “My mask was getting in the way of stopping Jareth and threw off my aim while trying to subdue Axel without damage to our primary objective,” Larimar then said from her position.

  “Fine,” the man said with a sigh. “We retrieved our goal, and while neither of you could finish your uncle, your training was completed already anyway. You both will be added to the guards here for now while I make sure there is nothing wrong with your training, as I don’t want a repeat of your uncle.”

  At this point, the maids arrived, all of which were Aurelians, in matching uniforms carrying all the items called for. One began to clean the wound area while another brought the same cuffs that Lyra had seen Axel in during his trial, while the others each carried clothing for their master to change into.

  As he was being fussed over, this man named Weaver looked at Pearl before commanding, “Place the cuffs on our new recruit.”

  Pearl stood up and moved smoothly to place the cuff on Lyra, and for the first time in a long time, Lyra could not feel the twin stars of power in her body. Lyra was then cuffed at the ankles with just metal cuffs before she regained control of her body. Lyra then fell onto her butt as she was not ready and her balance was off due to the restraints.

  “Good,” Weaver gave a rough-sounding laugh and pushed his way through the maids to stand over Lyra, looking down on her from above. “You will be trained as one of my agents. I will mold you into the deadly flower that you are meant to be. The lords of this world will fear the mention of your passing, but that will be the future.”

  “You two take her to her new room as I still have to fix this disaster.” Weaver waved at a couple of the maids before leaning down and running a finger along the cut that stung from Lyra’s tears. “Don’t worry, my deadly jungle flower, as when I am done you will no longer feel this sadness and your hatred will be transformed.”

  Lyra knew that she would likely pay for it later but still bit that finger that touched her face. It felt like biting a metal pole covered with a bit of rubber. Weaver did not even move his finger and gave Lyra a grin with a wicked look in his eyes.

  “It is always best to remold the fighters as they will fight all the harder for me,” was the last thing he said before Lyra was taken away with an arm under each armpit. Lyra did not try fighting out of this grip as each of the maids was Adept and she could not touch her powers for the time being.

  The trip took a few minutes as stairs were climbed, four flights to be exact, and Lyra was placed in a room with no windows but a skylight above her head. The room only had a bed and a toilet, but little else besides the light of the moon. After placing Lyra down, her ankle shackles were removed, and the maids left after softly closing the door. There was a solid clink as the lock fell in place, and there was now no one but Lyra in this room.

  Knowing breaking down would not help, Lyra did it anyway as there was nothing else she could do with the welling-up feeling inside of her. After a short time of letting the feeling through her, Lyra began to take stock of everything. Axel was either dead or crippled if that hit his heart, and he would be down for a while healing. Aria was mostly unhurt, but even as skilled as she was, she was going to need time and luck to find and rescue Lyra if that was at all possible. Sky and Roran were unknowns, but Lyra had a hunch that they would voluntarily try and help.

  Jareth seemed to be enemies with this Weaver, but Lyra was unable to discern if he was on her side or just using her group for some plan. Lyra also knew that she was on a time limit as Weaver was most definitely a mind mutant who had gained restricted powers based on what she had seen. This would mean he would be trying to do to her what seemed to be done to all the maids and the twins.

  Lyra had not picked up a mental defense yet for powers, but thankfully Axel had forced her to work on her mental palace, which should help from what she knew from her training with Mom. As Lyra stared at the slowly moving moon, she made a realization. It was moving too fast in the sky, which meant that this building was moving, though she could not feel the motion. There was only one way this was possible to her knowledge: she was atop a Skywhale moving through the night.

  “Little good this knowledge does me though,” Lyra said aloud just to hear a voice in her solitude.

  As time passed, Lyra worked around the room to see if there was anything to use, but the room looked like it was swept clean. The bed was bolted to the floor and wall. The toilet was set in place with very little she could do to it. After exhausting her options, Lyra decided to rest, as it was only going to get worse from here, and she could only take that on with rest when she received a quest that completed immediately.

  Quest:

  Axel Lived and Aria will find you – Completed

  Lyra felt a wash of relief wash over her, and everything seemed much better. While the situation was still terrible, with this small ray of hope, Lyra steeled her will to fight until the end with everything she had. As Lyra lay on a bare mattress, plans and goals began to swirl in her mind. Lyra also updated her journal with what information she had, hoping the Goddess would keep interfering in this.