Legacies of light

“You know I can’t do that, Orb pick something else.”

Rubbing against Suzuka's tails I say, “Ahh. how heavenly this is, it is such a pity that a certain mean woman will never get to feel this in her lifetime,” I say with a smirk.

She continues struggling until she slams her head on the table, and says, “Ok, my head is clear now. I accept your offer, but I would like to know how much quality time I get with her.”

“How much do you want?”

“I would like to take her home with me for three months and give her lots of head pats and hugs.”

Giving her a look of disgust I say, “You can touch her tail for three seconds.”

“Let me spend two days with her, with unlimited head pats.”

“You get to spend two minutes with her, with three head pats.”

“Let me spend seven hours with her, with unlimited hugs and head pats.”

“You get to spend one hour with her, you get one hug and three tail rubs, take it or leave it.”

Grinding her teeth she says, “Five hours, unlimited hugs, and on top of all the info I am giving you, I will spread a single false rumour you want.”

“Three hours, you can rub her tail all you want, and any other form of contact will only be allowed if Suzuka lets you.”

“DEAL!” she screams grabbing my hand.

As she jumps for Suzuka I hit her in the face, saying, “The information first.” I can’t believe this weirdo is the same woman who was just destroying me seconds ago.

While Ai is recoiling from the blow, Suzuka says, “Orb this woman is giving me the creeps.”

“I am really sorry Suzuka, but I am relying on you, you are our only hope.”

“Our only hope,” Suzuka says with a face of shock. “Then it can’t be helped, I will do my best!” Suzuka says extremely giddy.

As Ai has finally recomposed herself, she says, “Ok, to begin with, I don’t for a hundred percent know where your friend Cyrus’s sister is, I remember a rumour that there were two dragons in the slave market, but I was never able to track them both down, the only thing I knew was that Morgan Elia had one of them, which turned out to be Cyrus.”

“So you lied to us,” Suzuka says while enraged.

“How cute, even when you are angry you're adorable, I can't wait to be your friend.”

“Don’t be mistaken, I will never be friends with you old lady.”

Under my breath I mutter, “I doubt that, considering how easy you are once someone gives you a few compliments.”

“What was that Orb,” Suzuka says directing her anger at me.

“Nothing. Now Ai, I am assuming there is more to that.”

“Yes there is, recently, I have heard word, that a certain merchant by the name of Viktor Anwunta has been looking for a dragon named Cyrus Damavand, that’s how I first heard your friend's name.”

“But how would he know such a thing,” after giving it thought for a second, I say, “The only answer could be if Cyrus’s sister told him.”

“But that also brings up a problem; Viktor is one of the richest and most well-connected men currently on the continent, so he wouldn’t be doing this unless someone has paid him quite a large sum, and there is no way that Cyrus’s sister could have that amount, especially without people knowing, and outside of you guys little debacle at Seirei there hasn’t been any news on dragons on Terrafide.”

“So that brings us to a dead-end.”

“Not quite, if you think about it, maybe someone has somehow gotten Cyrus’s sister to tell them such information. There are quite a lot of ways that could happen, but we can all leave that to our imagination. So that means any number of people could be the ones looking for Cyrus. But if you want my guess it would have to be Ahmed Abrahams.

“For what reason.”

“Simply because, he happens to be the biggest slave buyer I know of, he loves collecting rare races and bringing them into his kingdom. Sounds like the exact sick fuck who would buy Cyrus’s sister doesn’t it.”

“So how do we reach him?”

“That’s the issue, he currently lives in the kingdom of Jedidiah, and that happens the be ranked number two on the list of places you never want to be no matter what, right behind Fimbulwinter.”

“Is it that bad?”

“The issue isn’t as impossible as Fimbulwinter, but still quite bad, you see the entire country is surrounded by an extremely harsh sand storm round, that only ever eases up about once every year. But if you're not able to escape within twelve hours the sandstorm will start again. So you see you’re not going to be able to do an investigation for one specific slave.”

“You said he was one of the biggest slave buyers on the continent, how could that be if he is only able to leave for twelve hours a year.”

“There are a few wonderbeasts that can pass through it, but they have all been tamed and are kept by Ahmed himself.”

“Then how are we going to get through.”

“The easiest option I can think of is that you could send dragon boy through the storm by himself, he could probably live it.”

“That’s way too dangerous for him, Cyrus has been through enough.”

“Then the only way to get to him would be to sell yourselves to him, but that could also go very wrong. Especially considering that Viktor might find out you’re the ones who caused the issue at Basileia. He happens to be the leader of the people who are pissed.”

As I sit there ruminating over this decision, I feel my head start to throb, there is just too much I don’t know that could seriously affect this, what the hell am I supposed to do.”

Giving me a head pat Ai says, “You don’t have to decide right now, just go plan it out, while I start my time with the little princess over there.”

“I guess you’re right.”

So, as I get ready to hand Suzuka over to Ai I say, “So where is my something extra?”

“What do you mean?”

“I said, you have to give me what I want, plus a little bit extra, now where is my extra?”

“You really don’t have to be so greedy.”

“How did you put it, oh yeah you said adults will use all their knowledge and influence to extort kids but don’t worry we kids can learn to do the same, so hand my gift over.”

With some blood trickling down her nose she says, “Even when extorting me kids are still adorable, here you can have this.” She then hands me what I believe is a costume.

“What is this?”

“It is the outfit members of CN wear when they are looking for information, it has a bunch of tools and surprises stuffed away in it.”

Looking at the clothes, I think to myself; isn’t this a ninja outfit, I guess this makes some moniker of sense with them being reporters. It is also dark blue, which I guess is to blend into the scenery of Elpída.

Going over to Suzuka, I say, “If she gets too annoying, knock her out then go to the gravity police.”

“Alright Orb,” Suzuka says as she prepares to head over to the woman.

As they stand side by side, Ai says, “Think long and hard about this before we come back, I know it will be difficult but you will have to make a decision.”

“I know, and regardless of how off-putting you are thanks for all the help.”

“Don’t worry about that, but just as a reminder becoming my son is still on the table.”

“Never in a million years, now get out of here.”

“That was my plan.” Holding Suzuka tight she throws something on the floor which creates smoke and when the smoke clears their gone.

“I guess she really was a ninja.”

After she leaves the bar, cheers erupt with people screaming, “WHERE SAFE!” I guess she really did abuse all the people here quite a bit.

Walking out of the bar, I put the clothes on over my current clothes. but I have to still wear my scarf. These are really comfy, but I can’t be distracted about such things right now, I should head back to Avaram and discuss what I learned with everyone.

I then suddenly realise, I can’t contact them without Suzuka, I am an idiot. I guess I have no choice, I have to sniff them out. Going to the bar we got Cyrus from, I sniff around for Avram’s scent, and after getting it I head off in the said direction.

-Break-

After moving for a while, I realize that they must of went on a bit of a detour. They walked from the third all the way to the fifth platform, instead of taking the short way, I guess they had some shopping to do.

As I continue towards the end of the fifth platform, I see Iancu walking around near the entrance of the sixth platform. He is carrying a large bag of stuff with him, so maybe he is taking some shopping home.

Instead of asking him for directions, I come up with a better idea, “If I am dressed as a ninja I should at least act the part.” So, using my stealth skills, I follow him around until we reach the sixth platform. Would Avaram really be living in the sixth platform? Especially since Avaram didn’t want him going anywhere near Ichnaea.

As my curiosity gets the better of me, I continue to follow him around. As I get closer to him I start to get an itch on my hand, so I scratch it, but when I do tiny spherical objects fall out of my clothes. When they land on it causes tiny explosions, which made me freak out a little.

After recomposing myself I look for Iancu, but I can’t find him. “What are you doing following me,” I hear someone say behind me.

“Oh, well I was lost, and I thought I would follow you back.”

“We live on platform two Selene so just go over there.”

“Thanks for that, so then what are you doing here?”

“None of your business.”

“Guess I will just have to ask your dad.”

“Is that a threat?”

“No, it’s a promise. So, just tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, as long as it is not illegal, I will help, so come on tell me,” I say running around in circles.

He gets very visibly angry, but Iancu calms down, and says, “Ok then, but you can’t tell my dad, if you do I won’t let you leave this country unscathed.”

“I promise that as long as Fimbulwinter is cold, I won’t break this promise.”

“You told my dad earlier that you can’t feel the cold, so what meaning would that kind of promise carry.”

“Just stop complaining and tell me.”

“Ok then follow me. To be honest I am lucky you’re here; I needed an extra hand.”

As we walk through the sixth platform Iancu says, “Since you will need some context, I would like to know if you understand the reason why Ichnaea is currently like this.”

“No idea.”

Letting out a sigh, Iancu says, “Ok then where should I begin, remember how I told you we only have enough crystals to keep this place functioning.”

“Yes.”

“Well, the people in charge of this country, saw all the profit that was being made by Basileia over the years and devised a plan to try and do the same. So they started to slowly but surely make policies which all basically amounted to destroying the sixth platform Ichnaea and using the crystals that would power it to deepen their pockets.”