Enmity of Atlas

Trenton and Millie sprinted through the city streets, following quietly behind the spirit. Because all the guards seemed to be dazed by its mysterious influence, they were able to pass through the city without any trouble. Even though they were practically sprinting to keep up with the large creature, the spirit never seemed to notice, instead having full faith and confidence in its dazzling presence regardless of how noisy they were being. What could it have been thinking about that had it so enraptured?

Finally, after worming its way through miles of lower city streets, the fire spirit stopped, sitting down in a large plaza just before an opulent water fountain. Some time passed, no one moving or saying anything, before finally, another greater spirit, this one just as big as the fire spirit, came waltzing in from the other end of the plaza. Except, this time, it was a water spirit, not a fire spirit. Trenton wasn’t aware if that was important at all, but Millie seemed enraptured with the two of them. As soon as the water spirit arrived, the fire spirit stood, and the two of them began to circle around the fountain, swaying with an odd sort of rhythm, their motes and magic intertwining in the air to create a spectacle of fire and water.

“Millie, what is this?” Trenton whispered to her, peeking out from behind a building.

Millie’s mouth hung open, “Are they really performing a spirit dance? Right here in the middle of the city? Are they insane?”

“Why, what is that?” Trenton asked, pulling his eyes away from the show to look down at Millie.

“Spirit’s have a special way to share memories with each other, a spirit dance. But, it’s supposed to be a sacred right. It should never be done in front of a human. To do one in the middle of a city isn’t simply taboo, it’s unheard of.”

“So they’re sharing memories?”

“Yeah,” Millie stopped, grinning up at Trenton, “and I can get us in.”

Millie grabbed Trenton’s hand, pulling him forward into the plaza. The two large spirits were still dancing, their eyes closed, and their movements focused, which meant they weren't paying attention to their surroundings. Coming in at a spiral angle into their circle, still holding Trenton’s hand, Millie began to sway to their same rhythm, tendrils of water extending from her body towards the twist of fire and water intertwined above the fountain.

Suddenly, the world melted away, the stone facade of Wyrm’s Perch peeling back to reveal a new scene. They were standing on a grassy knoll just before a great crystalline lake, the other two spirits nowhere in sight. Behind them, there was a massive castle, its walls stretching out far past their vision in either direction. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, a great quake that nearly shook Trenton out of his senses The water in the lake began to turn, or rather, roll outwards as a massive stone platform rose out of the lake, a bridge connecting it to a stone path off to their left. In the middle of the platform, there appeared to be some sort of purple orb hovering there. It was spatial magic of some sort, but Trenton couldn’t make out exactly what it was, certainly nothing familiar. The door to the castle creaked open, interrupting Trenton’s thoughts. Someone else was there.

Millie grabbed Trenton, pulling him backwards as the scene melted away, the pleasant lakeside day replaced with the dull blacks of the Wyrm’s Perch night. The two spirits looked agitated, their dance slowing now to a stop. Millie, still holding Trenton’s hand, bolted away from the plaza, dashing in between the buildings the way they came, desperately trying to get away. She was surprisingly fast for someone who had never fought. That must’ve been what she meant when she said she was great at avoiding combat. Running away is a pretty sure fire way to avoid fights. She wasn’t as fast as Trenton or Leo, but it was still enough to maybe get them out of their current predicament without Trenton carrying her.

Behind them, Trenton could hear the spirits in hot pursuit, their heavy footsteps shaking the ground as they ran. However, unfortunately for the spirits, Trenton and Millie already had too much of a lead, and the more they twisted through random allies, the more lost the spirits behind them became. Eventually, Trenton could no longer even hear the other spirits. They must’ve taken a wrong turn and gotten lost somewhere along the way. Just as the soldiers were starting to pull out of their daze, Trenton and Millie sprinted through the front door of Olin’s manor, locking the door behind them and collapsing into a sweaty heap.

“And,” Millie said between gasps for air, “it’s even more taboo to interrupt a spirit dance,” she looked over at Trenton, her smile almost radiant. “Wasn’t that fun!? Thrilling!”

Trenton got to his feet, and started to walk back towards his room, “If it was so taboo, then why exactly did we do that?”

“For fun!”

“Right. Do you know what that memory was about?”

Millie thought about it for a second, “No, not really. I know the location, but not what was happening. That was definitely the lake behind the castle in the spirit dwelling, but I didn’t know there was even anything in it.”

Trenton considered the memory for a moment, remembering what Olin had told him earlier. Was that a vault? It would make sense given he didn’t recognize the magic. Millie and Trenton chatted for a little while, returning to bed and slowly drifting off into a more peaceful sleep, the action somehow having cooled both of their minds. Trenton even noticed as he was losing consciousness that the fog around his mind was gone, nowhere to be seen.

The next day, Trenton woke early, pale gray sunlight barely streaming through the window. Millie was still sleeping when he awoke. He could’ve woken her, but since he planned to go shopping today, it would’ve been best to just leave her here. Trenton stopped by Leo’s room, wondering if he was fully treated like Peya had said, and true to her word, Leo was sitting there, awake and staring out the window.

“How are you feeling?” Trenton asked, sitting down on one of the chairs.

“I’m alright. I don’t really need a pep talk right now. They filled me in on what happened. Thanks for helping me, and thanks for grabbing my hand. I would’ve been a lot more upset if I woke up as a cripple,” Leo smiled, tossing the large sack of coins to Trenton. “I heard you wanted to go into town yesterday. Let’s go.”

Leo slipped out of bed, putting on his shoes and following Trenton to the front door of the manor. Looks like his spirits were still high. Just as they’re about to leave, Trenton spotted Olin, suddenly remembering the events of the night prior. He quickly summarized everything that happened, a bit antsy to get out the door, but as he finished up his tale, he noticed Olin looked flabbergasted.

“I can’t…I don’t…it can’t…I need to look into this. My gods thank you, Trenton. This might be exactly what I was looking for,” Olin said, before running off deeper into the manor.

“Huh, he seemed excited,” Leo remarked.

Trenton merely shrugged his shoulders and opened the door. They spent most of the morning shopping around town, grabbing general supplies like rope, rations, healing salves, and anything else they thought might come handy along their adventures, stopping for lunch after a couple of hours. Finally, once all of the simpler mainstay items were gathered and stowed away in Trenton’s invisible pocket, they made their way towards Sorcerer's Atelier, a really famous magic shop brand run by a family of wizards. Supposedly, there were 4 of these shops, each one in a different city run by a different member of the family. Although, that was more so word of mouth than solid fact. Given that there wasn’t one in Aria, Trenton and Leo didn’t really know much about it. They didn’t even know what it was supposed to look like, but they realized a lot sooner than they had expected.

Long before they could ever see its base, they saw a massive stone wizard's tower stretching hundreds of feet into the sky, its width alone making it something akin to a national monument. That something like this even existed was astonishing. The store must’ve turned quite a profit. Leo and Trenton stood before the impressive doors to the shop, looking up at the big sign above the front door.

“Wow,” Leo said in awe.

“Wow,” Trenton said, agreeing with Leo.