Starry Resonance Ch. 03

While Nora sat naked on the bed, Yvain went to answer the door. An irritated Elly was holding onto the frame overhead with one arm, the other on her waist. Instead of her skimpy armor she was wearing proper clothes. Of course, they were tailor-made for her and accentuated all her curves while still keeping everything covered. Everyone else was already at the table having breakfast.

Elly was unfazed when she saw Yvain's state of nakedness, but her expression darkened when she looked into the room.

"Hurry up," was all she said before turning around.

"Wait, can you lend Nora some of your clothes?" Yvain said. "Hers are torn and she doesn't have any spares."

Elly was about to protest but Nelimir interjected, "We're already late as it is, just do as he asks."

"It's his fault we're late in the first place," came Elly's dissatisfied mumble, but she nonetheless went to her room. Yvain threw his friend an apologetic look and Nelimir nodded in understanding.

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With Elly's height, Nora's new attire was slightly baggy on her. Yet Yvain found it amusing how it seemed to perfectly fit her chest area. When Elly handed her the clothes, she noticed the difference too but didn't address it.

They were all now sitting at the table with Nora right next to him on an extra chair. Selt was making a point of ignoring her presence completely, focusing instead on his food with a weary look.

Nelimir was his usual phlegmatic self, seemingly ready to take action at a moment's notice while exhibiting an unkempt appearance.

And finally, Roesia had reverted to her normal form; or at least somewhat normal. Yvain tried to suppress a chuckle when the young woman's tongue shot out and latched onto a sausage, quickly bringing it to her mouth. His magical companion remained with head bowed as she chewed her food, embarrassment and frustration dueling with the remaining side effects of her transformation.

Roesia Reinhart, considered the strongest magic user to ever have graced their old academy. She had cerulean hair soft enough that slight movements made it seem as if she had flowing water coming out of her scalp and a refined look worthy of the most narcissistic noblewoman back home.

Standing taller than Selt but smaller than the rest, she offered indispensable services to everyone in the guild. The men tried to stay on her good side, Selt being the exception; though he didn't tease her as badly as he did Elly or Yvain.

"One of these days you're going to turn yourself into something you won't be able to come back from," Yvain said with a grin.

Roesia looked at him with her customary deadpan expression. "As long as the transformation serves to provide proof for my hypothesis then I wouldn't mind," she said while chewing, "I just hope it'll be something with opposable thumbs." She moved her fingers as if afraid they'd pop off and run away at any moment.

"Finish chewing your food before you speak," Elly said. With a murmur of acquiescence, Roesia straightened up a bit and began to eat more delicately. Yvain didn't miss the look of dissatisfaction the sorceress gave Selt, who was currently stuffing his face yet earned no reprimands.

Selt was the only one who had managed to get Elly to stop nagging at him at every perceived mistake. In her own words, the kid was a lost case. She never took it easy on the rest though, it could even be said that her efforts redoubled thanks the kid. Yvain just chalked it up to an ingrained mentality gained after countless years of teaching.

Yvain's plate was filled with scrambled eggs along with different types of meats and bread, a glass of water on the side. It was obvious that Elly had been the one to cook this time around, though if he remembered correctly it was supposed to be his turn.

Nora was already digging in with a propriety that matched Elly's. Seeing as everyone was also about to finish their meals Yvain ate as quickly as possible. The hunger he had been holding off hit like a cannonball when he took the first bite and had to consciously stop himself from eating like Selt.

In the middle of his meal, a hand tapped on Yvain's shoulder. Nora appeared holding up eggs on her fork.

"Ahn," she opened her mouth and happily intoned a coquettish sound not unlike that of a mother feeding her child. Though in this case it'd be a woman feeding her lover.

A soft impact clinked out in the living room and Yvain's attention was pulled to Elly, whose fork had slipped from her hand. She didn't acknowledge the act though and just picked up the utensil as if nothing had happened.

Roesia, not knowing where to look, repeatedly darted her eyes from the couple to some other target with an out of norm awkwardness. She was already an awkward individual, thus making the act stand out even more.

Yvain did his best to ignore them and looked back at Nora.

Not wanting to let her down, and feeling scalding warmth in his chest, he happily opened his mouth and ate the offered food. A bit embarrassed, he refocused on his plate as Nora rested her head on an open palm and stared at him with affection while he chewed. Selt scoffed and an uneasy silence descended on the group.

"I guess the holy monk has finally abandoned his ways." Roesia was the first to speak after finishing her plate, though she was looking away from the couple.

"You and the rest were the ones that decided on that name, not me," Yvain quickly said. He didn't want that nickname to come up with Nora present, but it was futile.

"Why do they call you a holy monk?" Nora asked.

Without missing a beat Roesia spoke, "Your boyfriend has mercilessly trampled many hearts in the course of his life. It's one thing to reject someone, but he went as far as to insult any woman, or man that approached him. He would tell them off as if they were dirt under his boots." She made what Yvain could only guess was a mock sorrowful expression, but when combined with her already default emotionless demeanor, it felt like the situation was a tragedy. "I think some even committed suic--"

"Let me stop you right there," Yvain cut in and looked to Nora. "I simply didn't find myself attracted to them, so the gossiping idiots you can find anywhere started calling me the holy monk."

"Set on his path of enlightenment with greatsword in bed," Nelimir finished with an unconstrained chuckle. He immediately raised his hands in concession when Yvain scowled at him and went back to finishing his meal.

Nora laughed. She grabbed Yvain's hand under the table and rested her head against his shoulder happily. "We'll need to dispel that rumor as soon as possible," she said in a hushed tone.

Any current embarrassment left with her husky voice and words. Yvain wanted to lose himself in bliss along with her but with so many eyes on him, and his master practically glowering, it was difficult. So, he simply squeezed her hand and rested his head on hers.

Everyone was mostly finished eating at this point so the leader of Draconian's Tavern, setting down his eating utensils, gathered their attention.

"I'd like to thank everyone for gathering here today."

"Is that really necessary?" Roesia said but went quiet when Elly gave her an admonishing look.

"I'm sure that, including me, we all thought our next meeting would take place outside of Empryon. For two years we have turmoiled to make such a dream a reality and I'm proud of what we have accomplished so far. That being said, it will do us no good to rush ahead and end up failing, which is why we decided to send scouts in the first place. It now seems that we must stave off said plans for a bit longer in the name of caution thanks to this choice. An unfortunate development, but nothing we can't overcome with simple time and effort." So far no one at the table was against his words. They were merely a formality, as everyone in the guild was more or less of the same mind toward the goals of the group.

"We'll start this meeting with the report from our scouts. Yvain, if you'd please," Nelimir motioned for Yvain to start.

Yvain nodded and addressed everyone at the table. "As we suspected, no guilds seem to have passed through this part of the wall in a long time," he said. "Not only that, but the stairs leading out were destroyed. I had to climb by hand with Selt on my back."

"We noticed the stairs as we were coming for you and Selt," Nelimir said. "Have you seen something like this before, Elly?"

"The time I spent in my past guild was short, and we never tried to venture out of Empryon," she said.

"There has to at least be a reason for guild management to abandon this section," Nelimir said. Usually all exists points in Empryon were heavily guarded by Cosmos.

"We could always ask them directly," Yvain said, knowing that it wasn't an option.

"Could it have something to do with the chaos that was going on at the top?" Nelimir asked.

"Maybe. It wouldn't be surprising if it had something to do with what Selt and I discovered," Yvain said. "But we're reaching at this point."

Nelimir nodded and motioned for him to continue his report.

"When we arrived at the top of Great Divider a castle that was already in a state of decay was there. We didn't know it was a dungeon and made the mistake of going in before investigating further, immediately getting stuck inside."

"There was so much gold!" Selt said and opened his arms wide. "We could have done anything we wanted if we had only taken it all out." The conversation seemed to have brought out his usual self, not acting as guarded as he had been so far with Nora present.

"We got stuck inside exactly because you grabbed said gold," Yvain said with exasperation.

"Sorry," Selt said with a sheepish grin.

"How about you try some self-control for once?" Elly said in a cold tone, "That way you won't have to apologize anymore." Selt stuck his tongue out before looking away to play with the leftovers on his plate. Nelimir quietly waited for the rest of the story while Roesia lazily spun strands of her hair.

"To be honest, we only managed to go inside the castle because of me," Yvain said. "The doors were locked, but something I can only describe as a spell activated by itself and attacked my mind. When I managed to endure the magical onslaught, whatever was holding them closed disappeared." At the mention of a spell Roesia finally seemed to perk up.

"Tell me what happened in detail," she said.

Yvain did as asked and explained how he felt during the mental battle.

"Were there any symbols etched on the doors?" she asked.

"No, just the eyes and flames that were engraved on them."

Roesia went silent and everyone waited for her to share her thoughts on the matter as she usually did with no prompt.

"If what you confronted was a dungeon, and the doors were sealed from the start, you may have met the requirements to go in when you surmounted its challenge," Roesia said. "What I can't understand is why it would suddenly weaken in the middle of its activation."

Roesia's idea felt like it made sense for the most part. Yvain didn't have the slightest idea on how spells worked so he took her words at face value.

"Then what about the doors closing after Selt grabbed the gold?" he asked.

With a shrug, Roesia replied indifferently, "I don't know. Maybe grabbing the gold just meant you accepted the challenge. Or maybe since you were the one to suffer and endure the magical attack, only you were allowed to enter. Selt going in could have activated a defense mechanism."

Yvain tried to remember if anything had been out of the norm when Selt grabbed the gold, but nothing came to mind. Nora might know more about what was going on in the dungeon considering she had arrived there way before them, but before asking any questions he had to finish his report.

"Regardless, since we were stuck, we had no choice but to try and do the trial. Selt stayed behind in case the door opened up again or you guys arrived, and I went deeper inside." Yvain went quiet for a moment, trying to find the best way to explain what he went through without sounding insane.

"Skipping to the conclusion, I failed the trial spectacularly," he said. "Or that's what I thought at first. I went up against something Nora called a dragon that ended up killing me." Yvain decided to leave out most of his small adventure, both to hide his shame and get to the point.

"You died?" Elly asked in confusion.

Yvain shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "It was too powerful. I felt like an ant going up against a mountain. It burned me alive with its fire before I awoke in another room for unknown reasons." Looking at Elly he continued, "I lost the sword you gave me during that fight."

Elly gave the slightest nod, showing none of the anger Yvain expected.

"Do you think I could have survived?" she asked.

"None of us could have put a scratch on it. Which brings me to the most important point of the report." Yvain looked at Nelimir with a somber expression.

"We can't venture out of Empryon yet?" Nelimir guessed. Yvain simply nodded and waited for his friend's decision.

Nelimir began to tap the table in exasperation, mulling over the current information handed to him. Despite his speech, he was the most eager out of everyone currently there to leave Empryon. "You know we can't keep running around forever. Not only have we all reached a bottleneck in our training, but I'll never find more allies as long as we remain here."

Yvain of course sympathized with their leader's worry. While they had enough resources to live comfortably for a long time, nothing that mattered would be achieved if they didn't venture outside. But doing so would see all of them facing mortal danger. He knew that now more than ever.

"I might have a way for us to at least resolve the first issue," Yvain said.

"We'll discuss it once you finish the report," Nelimir said.

Yvain nodded and continued, "After the fight, Selt and I met up and entered another set of doors which gave way into a forest."

"Don't skip!" Selt suddenly yelled. He stood up full of spirit, as if he had been waiting for the right moment all along. "He failed to mention that before he went deeper into the dungeon there were two doors to choose from. He asked me which way to go, but in an act of gross disrespect went the opposite way from my choice."

"You're being awfully diligent for something so stupid," Yvain said with irritation.

Selt completely ignored him and continued his tale with a bit more flourish, "Little did the muscle brained fool know, the advice offered to him by his faithful companion was the correct choice all along. And when he finally finished his impossible journey, he learned that betrayal never goes unpunished." He started to stab the air with fork in hand. "That same companion he mocked was already at the doors to the ravaged forest, waiting to pass judgment on--" a stream of water splashed Selt's face. The kid spluttered as some of it shot into his mouth.

"You really love to waste our time, don't you?" Roesia's fingers were covered in a soft blue light that was already fading away.

"Behave," Nelimir said.

Selt, who was about to throw his fork at the girl, stopped his arm mid-swing.

"Sorry," Roesia said with no sincerity behind the word.

The boy sat down once more with a grumble but didn't continue his story.

"What did he mean by ravaged forest?" Nelimir looked at Yvain and asked.

"Behind the new doors was a forest that was almost fully destroyed. It held signs of battle on a scale I've never seen before."

"Was it an illusion or an artificially created space?" Roesia asked. Yvain didn't know the answer to that and was about to say as much when Nora joined the conversation for the first time since he began the report.

"It was an artificially created space, but what Yvain faced in his trial was an illusion," she said. The sudden revelation came as a shock and relief to Yvain. He had his suspicions but knowing for a fact that none of what he experienced was real was somewhat comforting.

Roesia started and looked at Nora as if she hadn't known the woman had been there this whole time. She quickly regained her composure though and asked her next question, "Was the illusion inside an artificially created space?"

"Yes. It would be impossible to do so with spaces like this one, but a dungeon is created in part by nature, so it has a much stronger base to work from," Nora said.

Roesia's eyes changed. The light she usually got when magic and its theories were involved brightened her demeanor. "Yvain, explain to me in detail what happened in that battle of yours."

"Is that necessary?" Yvain asked, caught off guard by the request. Roesia fixed him with an unusual hard stare, demanding an answer. It would have been easy enough to give it if it wasn't for the child. He didn't want them to know of his failure. His out of the norm resistance was already making the others look at him weirdly though.

I guess I just need to focus on fulfilling my duty, he thought. Seeing no way around the recounting, Yvain reported to Roesia what he experienced while trying to keep the topic of the baby out of the telling. Unsurprisingly, he could see the questioning looks on his companions.

"What are you hiding from us," Elly said, more an accusation than a question.

"What do you mean?" Yvain asked, trying to keep his voice and expression steady.

"The way you fought those skeletons and dragon makes no sense unless you were trying to protect something," she said.

Yvain looked at Nelimir but his friend was curious about the answer too. Next to him, even Nora had the same expression. It wasn't something he felt he had to hide now that he knew it was an illusion, but the idea of letting them know still didn't feel good.

"At the start of the trial I found a child that was about to be killed by the skeletons," Yvain finally relented, "so I saved it. I had to face them and the dragon while shielding it with my body." Focusing on his plate he tried to say what he had to as fast as possible, "I couldn't protect it and we both perished."

Yvain closed his fist in frustration and embarrassment as he remembered the defenseless baby that had depended on him. He realized that knowing it was all fake didn't save him from the guilt after all.

Before he went too deep into his self-blame Nora's hand enclosed his own. She slowly pushed it open until they were both intertwined, her warmth quickly lifting some of his somber mood.

"It's not your fault," Elly said with sympathy.

"I know," Yvain said with a weak smile, "It wasn't even real. It's just that the feeling of powerlessness and failure can be a bit overwhe--"

"If what you just told me is true, then this is something way beyond the scope of what we know about illusions," Roesia spoke with excitement. "To create a spell that can best you so easily, create such destruction, and at the same time leave you mentally unscathed? It's not just imprinting an image into the mind, but the heat, the smell, the sounds, the way it affected every small part of your body. It was enough to even affect reality." The girl's eyes had lost focus, seeing something only privy to her. "I'd like to be excused," she said, already standing up to go to her room. She was in her own world now.

"I guess we don't have much of a choice at this point," Nelimir said with some amusement.

Yvain's mouth hung open, still holding half of the words that were interrupted.

Nora looked at Roesia with irritation and was about to speak out, but a laugh creeped out of Yvain's stomach that soon turned into an all-out howl with tears, stopping her from doing so.

She really didn't have any tact, did she? For all the teasing Roesia threw at Yvain, she wasn't that much different from him when it came to their passions and single mindedness. They just happened to have different line of work. Did she realize that? If she did, she didn't show it. Thanks to her none of the grime that had covered his mood remained.