Chapter Text
Fire.
Fire surrounded everything, the smoke making it hard to breathe. Distantly, screams could be heard, and pleas to a dying god fell silent as the flames consumed it all.
A figure emerged from the fire, a grin slowly forming on its face. It came closer and closer, grabbing his head, It whispered in his ear.
"Soon, I will be the only God."
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"Rafiel!"
He opened his eyes, and his sweat-stained shirt felt uncomfortable against his dark skin.
Looking to his right, he could see his sister, Sekhmet, standing with a deep frown on her face.
"Finally! I've been trying to wake you up for years, you know?" She said, clearly upset.
"You're supposed to be at work! Geez, what would you do without me."
A yelp escaped his throat, he was extremely late for work. He took Sekhmet out of his room and quickly dressed.
His white robes were too big for him, yet he always wore them as it was from his late father, no matter how uncomfortable they could be.
Once ready, he went to the kitchen, where his sister was waiting for him with bread in her hand.
“Here, I don’t want you to die from starvation,” she said as she handed him the food. “Anyways, you better get going, they’re probably waiting for you.”
“Alright! I’m heading out then, take care, okay?” With a big smile, he went out of the door and onto the vast desert.
Rafiel started to walk to the town, it was in the middle of nowhere, separating the grand Sol desert and the capital. His house was pretty close to it, so he didn’t have to go far. The Sol desert was a dangerous trip, but only at night, despite it, he always brought his sword with him, no one could know if those pesky creatures decided to attack during the day.
After some minutes, he could see the town in the distance. As he approached the gates, he overheard that the guards were talking with a person, whose hood had strange patterns, ones that appeared familiar to him, but he couldn’t recall from where he had seen it.
“I’m sorry, but due to suspicious activity we can’t allow entry to non-citizens.” Said one of the guards to the person.
“But I need to get through, I have an important message for the capital.” Said the hooded person with a nervous tone. Their voice was soft, with a masculine tone to them. They were holding a big staff with a crescent moon on top of it. Maybe some kind of mage?
Rafiel approached them.
“Hey! What’s happening here?”
“Captain!” Shouted both guards, clearly surprised.
The person turned around, they had white hair with dark blue strands and dark skin. Their almost white eyes stared at him, and a sense of familiarity surged through him. ‘Where have I seen this person before?’ He thinks to himself.
“They won’t let me through, but I must go to the capital.” They said, clearly tired of dealing with the guards.
“Come on, let them come inside, I’ll keep them on my watch,” Rafiel said with the most charming tone he could muster.
After a moment of consideration, the guards let them both through.
The town wasn’t as big as the capital, but it had a charm to it. Children ran around, merchants were shouting, and people walked among the crowds. In the middle, there was a street act, forming a circle of people around it.
"Woah, this place is something!" Said the hooded person with an impressed tone. Then they turned around to face him.
"Thank you so much for helping me there, I don't know what I would have done without you," they grinned "My name's Israfil, nice to meet you!"
"My name is Rafiel. If you need something while you're here feel free to tell me." He said to the other man with a smile.
Then a voice came from the crowd.
"Captain!"
A girl was running towards them, she wore a robe similar to Rafiel's, with some black shorts and sandals. Her yellow eyes stood out from her black hair.
"Where were you? We were searching for you all morning!" She said with a worried tone.
"Ah, sorry, I overslept," Rafiel said with a smile.
"Of course you did," Amira said with disappointment "Anyways, who's this you're with?" She looked at Israfil, who looked surprised at his mention.
"A-ah, I'm Israfil, nice to meet you," he looked embarrassed at the sudden attention.
"I've never seen you around, are you not from Soleil? I heard we weren't allowing outsiders, Rafiel," she gave him an unimpressed look, reminiscing of that time when he let a person inside the town, and they ended up robbing an important artifact.
"Well, I'll make sure this time to keep watching! Besides, I'm sure Israfil has no bad intentions! It's my gut feeling, trust me."
Hearing those words a soft smile came from his new friend, giving him a warm feeling in his chest.
“Anyways, we should go to the capital now, it’s a long way there so we have no time to waste,” with a wave he started to walk, Israfil gave Amira a peck on the cheek, who just appeared shocked at the custom, and started to follow him.
“So, what kind of message did you need to give? It appears you have come from very far away,” said Rafiel.
“Well… I mostly bring a warning, there’s this group called the -Lunatics-,” He muttered with a hesitant tone, it appeared like he was thinking of a vague memory rather than something that happened recently “They ravaged my village, and I have my reasons to believe that they’ll target Soleil next.” He had a solemn expression, it was to be expected under that situation.
Rafiel, concerned, looks at Israfil with a sad face, “Do you have a place to stay? Is your family okay?” He had so many things he wanted to ask, but he felt like those were the most important ones.
Israfil sighs, “I was the only survivor, nobody else is left.” He stops walking “I’ve been roaming around since, trying my best so it doesn’t happen to anyone else, I’m… I’m trying to find them, I may not have a grand amount of power to fight, but I’d like to try my best to stop them,”
Over a moment of silence, Rafiel hugs him. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, once we pass along the message you could stay with me and my sister, we have an empty room.” He looks at him “You shouldn’t go through this alone,”
Silently, he says. “Thank you”
Embarrassed, he releases Israfil from his grip, he didn’t mean to hug him all of the sudden, but the rush of emotions that went through his body controlled him at the moment.
Israfil seems to laugh at his actions and waves him off.
They continue walking, yet a question invades his mind.
“Hey… Are you not burning in that hood? It seems warm.” He asks a bit sheepishly.
“Hmm? Well, it does provide warmth usually, but I put an ice spell in it. It’s very comfortable.” He has a small smile on his face, while interesting information, he was a bit abashed at having asked such a stupid question...
Time passed by in comfortable silence, he glanced at Israfil and saw him deep in thought with a grim expression, considering what he had gone through it was no wonder what he was thinking about.
They were about halfway through, but suddenly they started hearing a commotion just up ahead. They rush to the place and find a band of thieves surrounding a chariot. Rafiel takes his sword out and points it at them.
“Halt! By the name of Sol, I say that you stop in your path!” He yells, he does have authority in all of Soleil, so he could arrest them if needed.
The thieves stop moving, and the apparent leader approaches him without fear. He had short black hair, with a thin ponytail, one of his eyes had some red cloth and his whole body was full of gold accessories and belts.
“Oh? Has Sol himself come down from Celestia to punish us?” The leader laughs loudly. “Come then! Show me the wrath of Soleil!” He takes his sword and quickly approaches Rafiel.
They clash swords, fighting for dominance. While distracted, one of the other thieves took their bow and shot at him, the arrow grazed his shoulder, making him drop his sword in pain.
Then, the leader was going for the finishing blow, Israfil took his staff and countered. He stared straight into his eyes.
“Surrender.” He said in a powerful voice, then-
A cloud of smoke goes off, and once it clears out, the thief is no longer there. What has Israfil done….? Some sort of banishing spell?
They hear a sound coming from the floor, and when they stare at it…
They find a small black dog.
In shock, Rafiel approaches it.
“What did you do to me?! Why am I… this thing?!” He screamed in a high-pitched voice.
They stared at each other and exploded into a laugh.
The dog barked at them, threatening them with his small paws and teeth.
“Boss! I-is that you?!” One of the thieves cried out, reaching out for the small dog. They took him in their arms and the dog started growling at them.
“I can walk! Don’t treat me like a baby!” He bit their hand and they released them in pain. The dog started running away, towards a nearby oasis, the thieves following behind him.
“By Sol, what turn of events…” Rafiel turns towards the chariot. “Let’s see if anyone is there.” He approached the Chariot, and when he reached it, a small girl came from inside. She had dark gray skin, with some light purple braids, a big hat with smoke coming out from it, and a big coat full of trinkets and potions.
“Aha! It is done! Succumb to the power of science!” She took a big gun and pointed it at them, she pulled the trigger and a small ball came out from it. It lands on the floor beneath them and starts releasing pink smoke.
“W-what?!” He breathes in and his mind starts feeling fuzzy, he sees his traveling partner in a similar condition. He closes his eyes and falls over. His consciousness is fading away…
---------------------------------------------------
Rafiel feels his head throb, hitting it on the floor thanks to a sudden movement.
He opens his eyes and finds himself in the back of a chariot. He could hear the camel’s steps, moving the chariot at a steady pace. He tried moving to see his surroundings more clearly but noticed that he was tied up, immobilizing him.
He turns his head and sees Israfil in the same way, sleeping soundly. They were surrounded by boxes and weird plants. It appears the small girl had confused them with the thieves who had tried to rob her.
He struggles against his bindings, trying to set himself free.
“Oh! You’re awake, it appears I need to give you a bigger dose next time…” The voice of the little girl comes from the front of the chariot, he hears the sound of the pen against paper, it appears she is annotating her discovery.
“It appears this is a misunderstanding.” His voice came a bit slurred and slow like he had drunk Shedeh. “We are not related to the thieves in any way, we were just passing through.”
“Hmm? How do I know you’re not lying? Do you have any proof?” She stood over him, looking for some sort of sign he was telling a lie.
“I am Rafiel, Captain of the Sol guards. We were heading to the capital to bring a message to the Khan. If we go to the capital you can confirm this.”
“What a coincidence! We are headed to the capital, we are almost there!” She starts undoing his binds, brutally breaking them with a dagger. Where were this girl’s parents?!
Once released he looked at his surroundings more carefully and saw that the sun was already setting down. He would have to spend the night in the capital… He hoped his sister was okay, while it wasn’t unusual for him to leave for days he still got worried. Even though she was young, she was pretty independent. She could handle herself, or at least that’s what he hoped.
“Are you perhaps thinking of where you’re going to stay? You don’t look like you brought a lot of money with you, or more like I know you didn’t.” She said with confidence. “Well worry not! For me, Mist happens to have an extra room in my workshop! You and your partner can stay there!”
“Oh, I’d appreciate that. But will your parents be okay with it? You can’t just trust strangers that easily.” He said with caution, had her parents not taught her anything about the dangers of the world?
“My parents? It has been decades since I’ve seen them. I am an adult, you know.” One of her brows twitched, it appeared he touched a nerve. “Besides, I can defend myself as you just saw.”
“Ah… right.” He glanced at Israfil, and he was still sleeping like a log. Maybe he should try to wake him up…?
He shakes him lightly but gets no reaction. Was he… dead?
“Ah, it appears he is very malnourished, my potion should have been worn out by someone of his height! Kids these days should learn to eat healthily!” She says. “I think I have a cure around here…” She roams around some boxes and finds a small vial with some purple liquid in it. “This should give him enough energy to combat the other potion’s effect.” She takes it to his lips and makes him take it. The effect was immediate, his eyes started to flutter until they slowly opened.
“Hmm… What…?” He groaned, clutching his head. He was already unbounded, and Mist, he recalls her calling herself, brought him a cup of something warm.
“Drink this, It’ll make you feel better.” She handed the cup to him, it looked like it was some sort of herbal tea.
“What… is it?” He says weakly, clutching the cup.
“It’s an infusion made of Chronias and Lilies of Kaar, they will regulate your magic flow.” She says confidently, Rafiel had never heard of such flowers, or what he assumed to be flowers, they must have been really rare, but recognition appeared through Israfil’s eyes, did he like flora?
“So why are we here? And who are you?” He said with distrust, did she say something he didn’t like?
“Well, at first I was going to let you rot in jail but now you’ll spend the night in my house!” Her eyes widened. “You’re right! I haven’t even introduced myself, I am Mist, The Miracle Alchemist! Or at least that’s what everyone calls me hehe. Glad to be working with you!”
“I’m Israfil, a traveler. Nice to meet you… What do you mean by -working with me-?”
“Have you not noticed? You’re a perfect specimen for my studies! Therefore at the cost of staying the night in my workshop, you’ll let me study you!” She laughs.
“S-specimen? Why me of all people?” He sweats.
“Your magic flow is just so strong! You have so much potential, I have to study it.” She stares at him intently.
Rafiel laughed, that doesn’t seem like a bad price, besides she seemed so enthusiastic, that he knew that it was impossible to deny it.
“Fine… I accept your terms, but the moment you overstep I will not hesitate.” That sounded like a threat more than anything… Yet, Mist seemed happy enough.
The rest of the way went by quickly, with small talk here and there, the sun slowly setting, bringing the stars and the remains of the moon out. He looks at the black void in the sky. Is it true that once it was white and shining in the sky? Is it true that there was another God that ruled besides Sol? He didn’t believe the legends, but he always had his doubts.
He turns his head and sees the gates to the capital, its giant walls separating it from the outside. He could see The Sun Temple from where he stood. He had been inside only once, and that’s when he got his title as Captain.
Israfil looked at the temple with wonder, he can remember how excited he was the first time, so it must be the same for him.
“We have arrived! Help me with carrying my things.” They tried grabbing everything in the chariot, but she ended up having to carry some plants. They approached the guards.
“Welcome to the capital of Soleil! What is your purpose for being here?” The guard said with a loud voice.
“I’m a resident, and these are my guests.” She takes out her documentation and shows it to them. The guards let them through, and they started walking to Mist’s workshop.
The capital was full of life, even though it was the evening, there were still a lot of people around. The Sun Festival would soon begin, so the streets were heavily decorated. Unlike his town, this place was quite elegant, with every building having no visible flaws.
They followed Mist into the depths of the capital, it seemed that the place was never-ending, with big buildings and fancy decorations. They went through a shady alleyway and ended up in a completely different place, with little to no people around and with more modest constructions. One building stood out from the rest, it was wide, with a circular roof, and plants were coming out from the inside.
“We are here! Please come inside.” She led them inside, the place was even weirder than he thought. It was crowded, full of books and trinkets. There were big machines and suspiciously colored vials, he could see an owl inside a cage in a corner. He had never seen a place so messy, it was a small room, yet it held so many things. Did she live in this place…?
“Don’t mind the mess, I haven’t had the time to clean in a while.” She didn’t seem embarrassed at all. “Anyways! Your room is upstairs, I only have one other bedroom so you’ll have to share! I hope you don’t mind.”
“It’s fine, thank you for giving us a place to stay tonight.” Rafiel looks around and in the mess, he finds a book that catches his attention, the cover has a white circle with a starry sky, and it is titled “Umbra, The Forgotten Kingdom”. He picks it up. “What is this one about?”
“Oh! You have a good eye, that book is about some ruins to the south of Soleil. They were part of an old kingdom called Umbra; it seems to have disappeared over time. The author is a very well-known researcher, Ares is his name I believe, and he has spent his life studying it.” She goes over some of her books and pulls some out. “Here are more of his books if you want to read them.”
He takes them and skims through them, “The disappearance of the moon”, “Creatures of Umbra.” and “The God of the past.” He wasn’t much of a reader, but he was highly interested in these. “Where did you get these?” He asks, he was considering getting some copies himself.
“Oho~! These are one of a kind! The author stopped selling copies suddenly and nothing has been known from him since then!” Despite the morbid words, she seemed pretty happy about that… “I’ll lend you them for now, they’re quite long but time flies when you have them in your hands!” She approaches him menacingly. “Now shoo! I need to experiment with your dear friend.”
Israfil didn’t look thrilled at the idea but didn’t protest. Rafiel scurried away with the books to the top floor, where Mist had said the guest room was.
…It was just as cluttered as the workshop. He may have known Mist for less than a day, but he already knew more about her than he wished. At least the bed looked comfy, it was pretty big for someone like Mist, she is quite small after all. Did she live with someone else before this?
He took off his robe and sat in the bed, he wasn’t ashamed about sharing beds but… isn’t this like those tropes in romance novels his sister liked? Spending the night with a stranger… he swears to never tell her this.
He shakes it off his mind and grabs one of the books that caught his attention. There were many choices but the one that caught his curiosity the most was ‘The Disappearance of the Moon.’ by Ares Hammond.
“The moon, a celestial body with both the power of darkness and light, is now nothing more than a dark abyss in the sky, but centuries ago, its spherical body shone in the night with a balance of white and black.” He read out loud, so it was true… The moon’s light wasn’t just a child’s story, but… why did it disappear? He skimmed through the rest of the book, it was mostly ramblings about the author’s thoughts and experiences until he finally found what he was looking for. “...Although no longer recorded, there was a big war between the sun and moon gods, dividing the whole realm in two. It was a fierce battle, but in the end, the sun god remained victorious, and he vanished from the moon into the Kháos dimension, it's said to be worse than purgatory itself, never to see the light again. At least that’s what So—”
The rest of the writing was pure gibberish, it looked like something scribbled over it, he also noticed that the other pages of the book were ripped off, who had done this? Was it Mist? But she looked so proud of her collection, it couldn’t be…
A knock on the door gets him out of bed, it must be Israfil.
"Come in!" He closes the book and puts it in the small space available on the messy desk.
"Ah, I see you're already reading those books?" He seemed a little shaken up, probably due to the 'experiments', he wanted to ask what she did but seemed quite tired.
"Oh, yes! Are you interested in them? I had never heard of the kingdom of Umbra, so I'm quite curious." He shows off one of the books, 'The God of the Past. Israfil is quiet, and a sorrowful expression seems to pass through his face for a second before he smiles.
"You truly seem excited, mind reading a bit? I won't be awake for much longer, however." He says while taking off his hood and slipping under the covers; he truly didn't seem embarrassed about sharing a bed, maybe Rafiel was the weird one for feeling a little ashamed… His new friend did seem to not feel bothered by physical contact, it must be nice to live without such social rules.
He clears his throat, now a little more nervous by having an audience, and starts reading a page that seems interesting. "...During my travels, I found a small town near the void that once was Umbra, and while I was surprised anyone would be interested in living in such a place, I was even more surprised that the people there all had a particular trait, they were loyal to a god known as Sin. On hearing this, my fellow scholars just thought it was a blasphemous religion and left for some nearby ruins, but I stayed and found something that finally satiated my thirst for knowledge!--" Seeing as Israfil was already dozing off, he decided to close the book for now and get some sleep himself. They had a big day ahead and he still needed to go back to his home to see his sister.
"Goodnight, Israfil." He says, turning off the candles and lying down. He closes his eyes and quickly dozes off himself.
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Smoke fills his senses, but this time it isn’t a mere nightmare, he quickly awakens and finds smoke leaking through the door, he tries to awaken Israfil, but once again, no response. If it was a fire he’d have to carry him out of the window… He beelines to the door but once opened, his adrenaline instantly gives out. The perpetrator of his rude awakening sits innocently in the living room as if giving him a death scare is not a big deal at all.
“I see you’re finally awake, you guys sleep as if you were dead!” She says as if she didn’t try to kill them a minute ago, she might be small, but she was deadlier than most knights in Soleil. Despite feeling enraged, he tries to contain his fury and sits beside her. She hands him a cup of tea as a peace offering, and he accepts begrudgingly. It was sweet, probably made from hapri, common flowers that taste like honey.
“Guess I should thank you for waking me up at least, lately I haven't been quite the early bird, weird dreams plague me.” He chuckled, the tea was sweet, maybe he could buy some for Sekhmet… He wishes to see her soon. Mist just looks at him with an ominous smile, more interested in the newspaper she’s holding.
Time passes, and he finally can form the question that has been plaguing him since last night.
“About the books you lent me… I read ‘The Disappearance of the Moon’, and some pages were ripped off. I doubt it was your doing… but still, what happened to it?” He’s hesitant, the thought of what the answer could give him chills for some reason.
She ponders, normally she would brush it off as a mistake or insane ramblings of an unwell author, however, she couldn’t bring herself to lie to the young man.
“Censorship.” She looks through one of the notebooks she had inside her coat and shows it to him, the pages were filled with doodles, calculations, and writing. “Here’s what I could make out from it, sadly I couldn’t restore the missing pages no matter how hard I looked, as you know, the author just… disappeared.”
In the center of the page, he could see a small paragraph, probably what had been gibberish in the book translated to something coherent. ‘(...) At least that’s what Soleil wants you to believe, in reality, both Sol and Sin had died in the war, with the Khán erasing all records of it, now his reasons, I wouldn’t know (...)’ There wasn’t anything else written, but those simple words had struck deep into his heart, Sol had died…?
“It must be shocking, but there is evidence of it, given that he suddenly stopped his appearances in the mortal world altogether, and that his blessing isn’t quite as powerful as it was… I wholeheartedly believe this.” Rafiel wasn’t quite convinced, it couldn’t be that nobody else knew this, it was impossible. But what Mist said was true, they hadn’t seen Sol in a century, there were no records of him, and every day there were more and more monsters that were supposed to be gone thanks to his influence, it all made sense….
A noise from upstairs startles their grim conversation, he sees Israfil standing on the stairway railing, descending with zero energy inside his soulless eyes. It appears he’s not a morning person… With a big yawn, he throws himself onto the couch beside Rafiel.
“Hnngg– Why is the capital so noisy, it’s barely sunrise!” He continues to rant about how people outside seemed to wake him up with their noise -which was completely normal, at this hour everyone went to work. Israfil seemed to be from a more nocturnal place and wanted to make his sudden awakening everyone's problem. It was a welcome distraction, his dark thoughts fading to the back of his mind.
“Oh! Thank you Sol for blessing us with the presence of the Sleeping Maiden–” She also handed him a teacup, but he could see that the color was quite… unpleasing, he just hoped it was medicine or some sort of safe experiment, he prayed for Israfil’s stomach. His companion didn’t seem bothered, instead, he truly seemed grateful for the concoction, what kind of things did he get fed as a child… He shouldn’t judge, he ate sand as a child.
“Alright, so today we need to request a meeting with the ruler of this place, right? How do you go around that? I’m not sure if I’d be allowed to, since I'm a foreigner.” Israfil asks, oh. He had forgotten it was his first time in the kingdom, he didn’t even know the term, he’d be happy to explain if Mist wasn’t looking at him as prey. He makes a motion to her to give her total control over the conversation.
“Well, my dear uninformed friend! Your dear companion has special benefits around these parts, he’s the son of Khán's right-hand man! Not only that, but he’s also captain of the guards of Soleil! If you have this guy stick around you then you could commit a felony and not be charged at all” He sends her a death glare, while corruption was common in the history of generals, he did his best to not be part of the problem, although he didn’t have as much influence as she claimed, he wasn’t part of the royal guards, after all. He was just a commoner after his father left. Wait.
“Y-you know who I am?” His face darkens. Before shouting. “Then why did you kidnap me and try to get me incarcerated?!” He was astounded at the malicious gremlin, and while he knew she was a good person deep down, very deep down, he had a hard time controlling his anger, unfortunately, inherited from his father. He quickly tried the breathing techniques his sister often practiced with him.
Mist, amused, just exclaims “Who wouldn’t know who you are? You stick like a sore thumb in Soleil, between all the black and blonde hairs, yours is as bright as fire, it resembles it quite closely…” She ponders. “Anyways, I just was quite shaken up by attacking someone with the favor of the royal family so… I might have lied a little, sorry, ehe~” She truly seemed to not be sorry, but in her position, it makes sense, while he wasn’t a royal at all he still had the favor of the Khán, attacking him in such a way could lead to execution.
Israfil seemed even more confused now, poor guy. “All I could gather from that is that we don’t need an audience to meet with the ‘Kahn’?” He smiled, his pronunciation was a little off, but it was kind of endearing. Rafiel nods and starts preparing himself to leave. Mist jumps off the couch and scurries to the basement of her house. She comes back with a fancy box in her hands.
“Alright, so before you leave here you go!” She hands the box to him. “It contains one of my genius inventions, it allows you to communicate with anyone by magic! I won't bore you with the details, but basically, it makes a rift in time and space–” She talked too quickly for him to understand, and it made him have a headache, he looked inside the box and found two bracelets and some gems he had never seen before, looked pricy. “-So that’s why it’s not technically illegal.” He will not ask about that last part.
“So why are you handing these to us?” She glares at him as he has a third head.
“For you to contact me, why else? I need to know how my experiments are going! I didn’t use super expensive potions on you for nothing! I need to know the effects!” In his head, she only seemed lonely. He happily would accept these, so he gave one to Israfil, who stared at it as if it was poisonous. Did this mean he could contact Israfil whenever? Could he maybe contact Sekhmet no matter where he was?
“...Potions? You mean the tea?” He wasn’t surprised at this point, the grim reaper was coming for him and it was in the form of a girl with purple hair. “Never mind, I don’t want to know what you’ve poisoned me with, so with this, I could call anybody? How would I do it?”
"It's quite easy, all you need to do is to have the other person have one of those gems in their person, they can use it as a necklace, bracelet, or put it in their pocket. Then you choose one of the matching gems in your bracelet! There's a limited amount, so don't go giving it to anyone. Mine is the purple one, of course!" She shows off two necklaces around her neck, it appears it's for their communicators. "This technology was very hard to acquire too, the prototype was from a faraway land! I just modified it…" She seemed ashamed that it wasn't her original idea, but it was so impressive she could do something like this!
"I truly owe you, please tell me if there's anything you want back… I don't know how to repay this." He wouldn't need to leave his sister alone anymore, this was life-changing. Since his father died they’ve always been alone, she was his only family, and they could always rely on the villagers of their little town, but it wasn’t the same… Sekhmet had grown way faster than any child had to, she was barely twelve yet she already knew how to cook, clean, and even fight. He wishes he could be a better parent model, someone who could stay with her at home and teach her about the world, but his job made him travel and not go home for days, this could solve all his problems, and he’d be able to be present in his sister’s life, unlike his mother.
“Thank you so much Mist-na, we’ll be sure to contact you a lot, however, we should get going, the sun is already high in the sky.” Israfil prompts Sol to get moving, it appears they’ve been stalling for too long. After getting some more supplies from Mist, noting that she gave a suspicious bag to Israfil, they start going their way. It seemed like a good day, the capital was already full of life and sounds, and the market was just up ahead.