Starry Resonance Ch. 09

"Was it?" Elly asked, "Nora, would you really have killed Nelimir?"

"No," the goddess said.

Elly nodded in an 'I rest my case' manner, "It might be hard to believe, but I can tell when these things are true or untrue by instinct. And right now, Nora is being truthful."

Nelimir searched the tall woman's expression for any lie, but none was found. He touched his neck absentmindedly, right over the miniscule dagger cut and asked, "And the rest? How do you all feel about this?"

"Doesn't this type of thing happen between us all the time?" Roesia said. "Stars look at Elly's arm. If anything, this is the least of offenses."

"Yvain even threw me off Great Divider," Selt said. "I could have died." The kid then narrowed his eyes, "Actually isn't everything that's happening his fault to begin with?"

"I thought you couldn't die as long as you had the favor of all gods," Yvain retorted.

"Why would you believe something so idiotic?" Selt said.

This brat.

"Alright, I got it," Nelimir cut in with a sigh and looked to Nora, "Regardless, I will not have it happen again. This will be the first and last time, understood?"

"I am still but a guest here," Nora said, "I can only defer to your verdict."

"Let's hope that holds up," he said and stood from his chair impassively. "Now onto more exciting matters."

Nelimir went into his office and rolled out a chalkboard along with chalk and eraser. He moved his chair aside to make space and walked up to Nora before handing her the items she'd need to give her presentation.

The goddess grabbed the equipment and gave Yvain a questioning stare.

"What?" he asked.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

Seriously?

"It's chalk, you'll use it to write whatever information you need to convey to us there," he said as he pointed at the black board.

"Oh! Like a quill," his girlfriend said with a smile of realization.

Yvain couldn't remember anyone ever using a quill anywhere, but he humored her and nodded with a smile of his own.

"The soft rectangle on your hand is an eraser," Roesia added.

"I figured as much," Nora said as she stood and walked to the front.

Selt bent forward and whispered, "She's not very bright, is she?"

"You'll have to excuse my lack of understanding," Nora proclaimed loudly as she stared at Selt, "in matters regarding human culture and technological advancements."

The kid sat back with an air of dignity, "You are excused."

Nora didn't reply and instead turned toward the chalkboard. She then drew a misshapen circle which began to be filled with many details--mountains, rivers, lakes. It was insanely comprehensive, and every drawing seemed to pop out of the black backdrop.

"You're clearly an artist," Yvain said.

"I dabbled in the hobby from time to time," the goddess said without turning.

Eventually she pulled back and, apparently satisfied with her work, faced her audience.

"This is the land we reside in called Astros," she said and looked at everyone for at least half a minute.

"Does this name ring any bells?" she asked.

It didn't for Yvain. He looked to those around the table, but they were as clueless as him.

"You guys really don't know anything of the outside, do you?" Nora said.

"What we do we had to scrape together," Nelimir said.

"We aren't even allowed to leave Empryon, neither do we receive news from the outside," Roesia said.

He should have known that Nora would not know of their situation. Meeting her back at great divider as a human had given him a subconscious perception that she would in fact understand Empryon's culture and rules, even after learning of her true nature. And they had been too focused on their relationship, training, and mission to have this much needed conversation.

"Stars have mercy," Nora said as she shook her head in wonderment, "Well all this changes now."

The goddess stabbed the chalk on a spot to the southeast and outside of the landmass, "This is where Empryon is located."

"It's not part of Astros?" Nelimir asked. What Nora pointed at was much smaller and disconnected from the larger land.

"It is," Nora said.

"And what's between it?" Yvain asked. Could it be open dark space? Just like the one found inside him between the outside and his Galaxia?

Nora looked at him, dumbfounded, "you don't know what an ocean is?"

Yvain shook his head.

"It's obviously a large body of water surrounding us, dumbo," Selt said.

"That's... correct," Nora said skeptically.

"And how exactly do you know that?" Yvain asked.

"It's common knowledge," Selt said with a shrug.

No, it wasn't. But this was just another random outburst by the kid; many had come before it, this one being the least confusing. And Yvain already knew what the answer would be to questioning. Silence. Selt never answered the first ever question the guild ever asked him, 'where did he come from?'. Neither would he answer anything that might reveal his past.

"In any case, Emrpyon is set apart from the mainland by the ocean which surrounds Astros itself," Nora said. "I won't go into geographical detail, but while we're on the topic," the goddess wrote four names on the chalkboard, one on each of Astros's cardinal directions.

To the North there was the Starless Ocean.

To the South the Darkened Hollow.

The West and East had the Weeping Gulf and Inflamed Tides respectively.

"Why are all these names so depressing," Roesia asked.

"Ask the cartographers who named them," Nora said with a shrug. "I don't have much to say about them except that you are right next to the Inflamed Tides." The goddess circled Empryon.

"How are we supposed to crossover to Astros?" Nelimir asked.

"Before I knew the extent of your lack of outside knowledge, I assumed you all had a plan. Now? I'm not sure," Nora said.

The goddess began to turn for the chalkboard but stopped and looked back, "You wouldn't happen to know what boats are?"

"We don't," Yvain said, beginning to feel like a child.

He always imagined himself gleaming off this type of information from a book or some random more experienced personage on the outside.

Which I guess is what we're doing now, Yvain thought. Yet never did he imagine how mortifying it would be.

"Actually, isn't that what we use to tread waters?" Roesia asked.

"Yeah, I remember my family using a pair during one of our vacations as a kid," Nelimir said.

Are you kidding me? Yvain thought.

"Where would you even use this boat?" he asked.

"There's a lake all the way down south from Allsworth," Elly said.

Of course she would choose to talk now.

"And why exactly haven't I heard of it?" he asked.

Elly shrugged, "Maybe you should get out more."

As the group talked, Nora was once again drawing something on the chalkboard.

The goddess spun and addressed the group, "This is what you would need if you wanted to cross into Astros. It's called a ship."

On the board a white outline of what looked like a very detailed basket with two sticks coming out of it was drawn.

"It follows the same logic as a boat, only, its much bigger, it can fit as many more people, and it can cross the ocean," Nora said.

Nelimir dragged his hands across his face and sighed, "More things we'll need to deal with later on."

"I understand your frustration," Nora said, "now that I've lost a large percentage of my starlight, I'm good as stuck here until I gain most of it back or a ship presents itself."

"Which begs the question," Roesia said, "how did you get here?"

"I flew here," the goddess said nonchalantly.

The group fell silent.

"What?" the sorceress asked, mirroring Yvain's incredulity.

"We'll deal with that tidbit of information later," Nelimir said, "Please continue."

Nora nodded. "To expand upon the conversation we had on the nine powerhouses inside the Tairos rank," the goddess began to write down another list, this one containing nine names, "these are the nine most powerful races in the continent."

On the right most corner of the chalkboard, right next to Empryon, they read as such: Dragons, Humans, Bulls, Vampires, Elves, Demons, Werewolves, Angels, and Starchildren.

"There are other, much weaker races that fall under the influence of these groups, but they are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things," she said. "As I'm sure you can deduce, each one of the powerful races have a Tairos combatant."

"We're finally getting somewhere," Nelimir said, a small smile threatening to grow full.

"But wasn't your ex-husband in the Tairos rank? That means that the dragons don't have a champion," Yvain said.

Nora looked at him sadly, "Yes."

"What will happen to them?" Roesia asked.

"Besides us and my subjects no one knows that he is dead, but it's only a matter of time before news spread across Astros, bringing to light the possibility of war," Nora said.

"Is the situation that dire? Would your people be swallowed up so quickly by turmoil over the death of one person?" Nelimir asked.

"Why do you think there are other weaker races depending on those more powerful than them?" Nora said. "As I've mentioned in the past, strength is everything, and those who don't have it are doomed to be beholden of another."

It didn't take a tactical genius, then, to know what would happen to Nora's people once news spread.

It also wasn't hard for Yvain to imagine what Nora's choice would be once the time came either. She would return to her rightful place as an empress and goddess when her powers returned, regardless of his wants. What would he do then?

"But we're getting sidetracked," the goddess said as she took a deep breath and began to draw lines intersecting all of Astros.

It divided the continent in seven parts in an upright arc, with an eighth in the middle being the biggest one, connected with the Darkened Hollow. The closest division to Empryon had the name of 'Bulls', a simple ship ride away. To its west was the Parallax Belt, the biggest piece of land out of all. North of it was the land of Demons. Then in a straight line west one would hit the Angels and Starchildren--who were contained in the same land­--, Neutral, and the Elves; all sharing the Starless Ocean while the first three were north the Parallax Belt.

Yvain looked to Nelimir who was seriously studying the map along the rest. One of the biggest reasons for creating Draconian's Tavern was to find his ex-fiancée, yet her land was all the way to the other side of them. It could very well take months if not years to get there.

Going back to the map, right to the south of Haradriel's home was the Weeping Gulf, and southeast of it were the Vampires whose land separated them from the Parallax Belt. Said Vampires also separated the Werewolves who were south of the Gulf.

There was only one race left.

"Where are the Dragons?" Yvain asked.

"Over the Starless Ocean," Nora said, and she drew what looked like a piece of land ripped out of the earth.

"What do you mean over it?" Rosie asked.

"Exactly what I meant, our country floats over the northern seas," Nora said.

A flying world. It seemed fitting for the race called dragons, especially if they had the form of the beast Yvain fought in the past.

The sorceress's eyes shone with he mention of a floating land but she remained surprisingly calm as Nora continued her presentation.

"Now, later I will write down details like capitals, cities, state of affairs, and such. At the moment though I will stick to what is most pertinent to us," Nora said. "The first thing being Cosmos and its real purpose."

"That being?" Nelimir asked.

The goddess drew even more lines on the map, these starting at the center of Parallax Belt and fanning out into each country.

"To create a filter between everyone having a chance at resources and all-out war," the goddess said. "Am I correct in assuming that there are no dungeons in Empryon?"

Nelimir nodded.

"That is because no dungeon comes into being outside of the Parallax Belt unless a starchild is challenged. Inside this huge chaotic land guilds coming from all around Astros can freely fight each other for an attempt at the dungeons and its contents without repercussions. If you want to have any hope of coming into your own and having a say on intercultural relations," Nora stabbed the Parallax Belt, "you will need to thrive here, everything else comes later."

It's perfect, Yvain thought. A free-for all where anyone and everyone could fight each other to their hearts content. It reminded him of their time inside Empryon's west.

"Needless to say, all of you should be at least Protos rank before going here," Nora said.

A snore broke everyone's concentration. Selt had fallen asleep on his arms.

Without batting an eye, Elly grabbed the kid, took him to his room, and sat back in her chair.

"Do you have any ideas as to why Cosmos would hide this from us?" Nelimir asked.

"Personally? No. But I can infer a few things, which brings us to the second topic, Arthur Allsworth," Nora said. "Be he your father or not, it doesn't change the fact that all of humanity answers to him. Empryon came to be thanks to him, as did his subjects' ability to stand equal with the other eight powers. And if this carriage, soap, cooking utensils, showers, and any other quality of life improvements are any indication, so did technological advancements."

"You don't have anything like that back home?" Roesia asked. "Not even a shower?"

"We have our way of doing things, but it isn't as easy or comfortable as it is here," Nora said with a regretful smile. "It shames me to say it, but we've had to even make deals with humans before to acquire something like a bed. Or at least, a bed made by your kind."

"No sweets and now this? How do you live?" Roesia said half-jokingly.

"It's not as bad as it sounds, except the sweets parts," Nora said with a small laugh that tapered off into uneasy silence. "This is the crux of the problem though. To Arthur, and those who follow him, every other race is composed of barely coherent animals whose only purpose is to be livestock. If they can't fall in line, then they are simply culled."

It was no surprise then, that Empryon would be as it was.

The goddess pinned everyone except Yvain with a hard stare. "This is far from the truth, as I hope I've shown you all. Because no amount of display of competency can convince the god of humans otherwise." Nora's shoulders relaxed, "In the past I felt that every human must be like him, but thanks to my experiences here I now know that isn't the case, which means the reason Empryon came to be is obvious, as is Cosmos's control over information."

"To keep the hatred toward the beast races burning strong," Nelimir said with a frown.

Nora nodded. "As the goddess of dragons, it's practically impossible for me to visit other countries. My people wouldn't allow it, and I wouldn't risk dying and abandoning them for just sightseeing. Yet I feel I can safely say that I would never see what I saw in Triven outside this land. How at ease even children were with the idea of dancing in the guts of their enemy."

Yvain slightly flinched at his girlfriend's condemning voice.

She didn't show any reactions to the Day of Terrors, but she clearly came to her own conclusions, he thought.

"Please allow me to apologize on behalf of my people," Nelimir said with a hard expression.

"I happily accept," Nora said, "but that won't change the fact. Other races are far from innocent, but humans have a way of being cruel for cruelty's sake. Even the Demons, whose sole purpose is to increase their ranks and sow chaos, have a system and rules in place."

"My question is," Elly began, "why is it that humans can be considered as powerful as you say, yet hold such a small amount of land compared to the rest?"

"That... you would need to ask Arthur himself," Nora said. "Though if you look here," the goddess pointed to where she wrote 'Neutral', "This land is the one place where all the races gather in relative peace, each holding a degree of control. But I've heard that humans have the most authority. Unfortunately, I don't know much more than that."

Would that be the smartest course of action? If the god of humans was truly Nelimir's father, how should they proceed? The man was against their guild, even banished his son, but they had never perceived him as someone uncaring and cruel. Nora's picture of the god of humans didn't match. Yet, if it did...

"Is there anything else that you must tell us?" Nelimir asked.

"A lot more, but the rest is just tedious details which I'll write down later," the goddess said.

"Then let's conclude our meeting here," their leader said and stood, "today is almost over so we'll set off at dawn tomorrow."

Everyone else followed suit, preparing to go about their evening business. Yvain was already formulating ideas on how to spend the rest of the day with Nora as she walked back to him with a wide smile.

"Already forgotten our training, have we?" came Elly's voice, like two heavy chains wrapping around his neck.

Stars strike me down.

"How do you plan on doing anything with that arm?" Yvain said with barely contained disappointment. He knew full well what her answer would be.

"I have another that works just fine, let's go," his master predictably said as she turned for her room.

The goddess looked just as upset as he felt, but suddenly an idea visibly developed in her eyes.

"Do you mind if I join?" she asked Elly.

His master snapped her head toward Nora, and Yvain was sure she would deny the request. Yet she nodded.

"The more the better, we can go for a two versus one," she said.

"Oh please, you couldn't even take her one on one. And that was with two arms," Yvain said with a laugh.

"Who said anything about me?" Elly said, her eyes turning into crescents as she stared at him.

"I am still recuperating, please take it easy on me," Nora said to him with a grin as she caressed his arm and walked past.

Both women were, at the flip of a switch, suddenly consorting against him. No words exchanged, just an implied understanding he had not expected from them. They were clearly trying to tease him, but this was a challenge Yvain would gladly take.

The question was, why did Elly agree, and would she do anything out of the ordinary now that his girlfriend would be involved in their training? He hoped not.

Nonetheless this was an exciting opportunity. He couldn't remember the last time someone other than the two of them had been involved in their routine. Only Nelimir had joined them once two years ago and sort of kept up before swearing to never train with them again.

"Do you want to join us, Roesia?" Nora asked the sorceress who was about to enter her lair.

"I'm good for now," she said before closing the door.

"You'll have a tough time convincing her," Elly said with a chuckle as she went into her own room.

Yvain caught up to his girlfriend who looked slightly saddened.

"Hey, at least she added 'for now'," he said. "That has never happened before."

"We really need to get her a specialist. If she was trained well, she could keep up with any of us."

"Focus on the present," Yvain said as he softly, but firmly, punched his girlfriend's sides, earning a challenging stare from her that got his blood boiling in more ways than one.

"You'll need that fire when you're going up against me," he grinned.

"Be careful you don't get burned," Nora said with her deliciously imperial voice before she sashayed into Elly's room, giving him a full tempting view of her ass, somehow visible even through the baggy clothing.

He'd be buried in it tonight.

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"You better prepare a huge meal today," Yvain said as he, Elly, and Nora descended the stairs into their training room. Or 'Gravitational room' as Roesia called it.