Legends of Myriad: Arc Two - Chapter 3: A Step Forward
Chapter 2 | Chapter 4
Arc Two Masterlist
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Honed bubbles burst on Alek’s tongue in layers of ripe fruit and an unpleasant burn. Holding it tight, he swallowed the bitter drops. He did not share the same affinity towards celebratory drinks as his relatives, preferring sweeter tastes to the whetted edge of alcohol, but as soon as he came of age, his parents insisted he drink at least one glass at every party. A beverage of the affluent, they claimed, and a staple they would not relent on. Not with their reputation on display at every family gathering and the dispute of his admission into the Citadel Academy still choking the atmosphere.
The powdery perfume of the cerulean blooms crowning the vases irritated his nose. More clean vines and immaculate petals scaled the carved struts to ornament the chandelier, flawless to the most miniscule sinew and emanating the stench of perfection across the hall.
Sniffling, Alek itched his nose, masking the motion behind his drink. A drone of conversation swarmed the assembly of relations. Shoulders leaned closer to divulge rumours and the occasional compliment flushed already rosy cheeks.
“He is to begin his new role next week,” his Aunt Edwina prattled, arms loosely crossed and her gem-encrusted rings drumming on her glass. “The promotion we have all been waiting for. It could not have happened to a more deserving man than my dear son.”
Alek’s mother puckered her lips into an artificial grin and lifted her chin to look down her nose. “How quaint,” Millicent said with a pointed swill of her rose-tinted refreshment. “I do find it admirable you celebrate such achievements.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Edwina demanded, retaining the gracious smile to place the barbs into her words instead.
“Only that people get promotions all the time,” Millicent clarified. “But I know that not everybody has the courage of my boy, and your son must do with what he has been given.”
Alek shrunk from the attention, aunts, uncles, and cousins within the conversing circle eyeballing him as though the brag came from his lips. He attempted to lower the short sleeves of his shirt, cursing himself for complying with his parents request to flaunt his battle scars. They cared little that those streaks and stains trailed distressing nightmares in their wake, and that when those terrifying images threatened to pluck at his senses, Cas and Rhena never failed to answer his call with calm reason and sympathy.
“Alek went to another world and saved those poor, little people from a raging beast,” Millicent bragged. “That is something to be proud of, Edwina.”
Bristling at his mother’s description of the kind-hearted souls of Azuris, Alek gulped a mouthful of wine to withhold the indignation mounting in his chest. He extended his aunt an apologetic glance, but she brushed him off with a scowl.
Since arriving home from the Citadel Academy, qualifications in hand and schooling finished, his parents fussed morning, noon, and night, questioning his professional intentions before he crossed the threshold of the house and contriving unnecessary family gatherings for pointless reasons to parade him in their faces. A soldier’s heart beat behind his ribs, the desire to protect prevailing in his veins. That aim never changed, but they warped his ambitions to the point he could not recognise them anymore. Their gloating and their disparaging remarks about other members of his family tainted those dreams, loosening his grip on his goal and obstructing his view of the future he wanted.
“My Alek defeated a monster single-handedly,” Millicent pressed further, driving the point home with an arched eyebrow at her sister. “Those people are in his debt.”
“Stop it,” Alek snapped. The smirk scoured from his mother’s face in an instant. Relatives within earshot looked on in shock. “Just... stop it.”
Millicent blinked at him, clawing to retain her dignity by tucking a stray curl back behind his ear. “My boy, do not be ashamed of your accomplishments. You are amongst family.”
Alek chewed harder on the inside of his cheek, tasting blood. “I am the reason that monster was released in the first place,” he corrected coolly. “The citizens of Azuris were perfectly fine before I got there. All I did was mop up the mess I created with the help of some generous, brave people.”
“Appears your perfect boy has had too much wine,” a lanky, sharp-chinned uncle snickered. Others contributed their own mocking chortles, Edwina a more than willing participant.
Losing the battle but ready to return fire, Alek’s response died on his lips at the sweeping touch to his arm. By his side and to the rescue, his sister exuded her usual serene poise.
“Perhaps you would like some fresh air to clear your head, Alek,” Gwendolyn offered, the bordering relatives softening at her benevolent charm. “I do not think the refreshments are agreeing with you.”
“I’m fine,” Alek said.
“Don’t be silly.” Gwendolyn extracted the glass from his grasp and planted it by a half-empty plate of savoury pastries. “Come for a walk with me. I have missed getting to speak with my little brother while you’ve been away.”
Her endearing tone quashed most of the animosity brewing, and she steered him to the double glass doors, granting the family a gracious smile in recompense for the trouble.
“I don’t need rescuing,” Alek insisted.
“Of course you don’t,” Gwendolyn sighed, ushering him out into the gardens and sealing the pompous gathering inside.
A premature dew coated the leaves, the cold snap rambling across the north of Celestria fleeing as the mild temperature soon saw to the glittering chill disturbing the land.
“The Efros flowers are expected to bloom early this year,” Gwendolyn commented. “Won’t that be nice? Even more honeycomb.”
Alek scowled, traipsing after his sister as she roamed the orderly hedgerows and yawning flowers to the angelic statue that guarded the converging paths. Wings outstretched as though she had just landed on her designated pedestal, she elevated her sword high, away from the icy pool below.
Pausing by the garden’s figurehead, Gwendolyn welcomed the refreshing chill. “You can stop looking at me like that,” she told her brother, aware of his frown and the flex of his fists. “I’m not going to chastise you. If you keep that expression up-“
“The wind will paint it on my face forever,” Alek finished. “I know.”
“Exactly. Some may call it an improvement, but I prefer to see you happy.”
A throaty chortle pushed at Alek’s chest, the swelling laughter subduing the pinched pout and the strain in his jaw. If there was one person he could always rely on, it was Gwendolyn. Dependable and encouraging, she bolstered him through every struggle, even when he did not deserve it.
“How have you been?” she asked, seating herself onto the fountain’s edge and patting the space beside her. “Be honest with me. You have always been good at hiding how you truly feel, and I’m worried you are withdrawing again.”
Alek flopped onto the cold slab and slumped over his knees. Amongst the flagstones of the path, grass stole into the vacant spaces, pining for sunlight and toiling to shake off the hardened frost.
“I’m not doing okay,” he admitted. “I can’t... I can’t do this anymore.” He directed a flippant gesture to the dominating house and the extensive garden where greenskeepers commanded every flower to grow perfectly or face being trimmed and discarded.
He finally faced her, an identical amber hue staring back at him. Her slender eyebrows dipped and a wealth of wishes for him nestled in the crease between them.
“I know you have been wanting to leave,” she said sympathetically. “I can see it in your face sometimes, and as much as I will miss you, if that is what you want, what you need, then you must go where your heart is leading you. This place will only wear you down, and I will not allow you to share my fate.”
Lodged in his soul like a splinter, her admission silenced the frustration. As the eldest child, Gwendolyn carried most of the expectations, often commended on her beauty and her talents, the shining jewel of the family. She never complained about the stresses of bearing their reputation, soothing abrasive situations with her compassion and appeasing their parents with her successes. Despite the fact they often took undue credit for the achievements of both their children, she tolerated their endless vanity to protect him, to ensure they would not find fault. On the occasions they did, she provided him with a defence and diffused the issue, all while bearing her own burdens.
Alek hugged her tightly. “I couldn’t have wished for a better sister or a dearer friend than you,” he said. “Lucky doesn’t even cover it.”
“Don’t give our parents the chance to guilt you into staying. Go. I’ll make up an excuse for you, just let me know when you’re safe.”
A bold rush spurred him, the murk he had been enclosed in for months dissipating with her inspiriting boost. Could he leave so suddenly, no word, no forewarning? What would he do? Where would he go?
As soon as the question sparked, he knew. There was only one place in Myriad he truly wanted to be. “I’m not going to abandon you,” he promised. “Once I’m settled, you can come and visit, and we’ll make plans for you, too. You can do whatever you want, Gwen. Play music all over Myriad, no ties to anything.”
Gwendolyn grinned at his enthusiasm, holding onto his hands as he bolted up from the fountain’s edge. “Knowing that you are happy is good enough for me.”
“No, I mean it,” Alek asserted. “I won’t allow myself to get away and not you. Myriad has opened up opportunities for everyone, and we will both get the life we want. You’ll see.”
“With confidence like that, how could I argue?” Gwendolyn chuckled, getting to her feet with his assistance and squeezing his fingers. “Now go. Don’t delay, or give yourself time to talk yourself out of it. Contact me as soon as you’re off world, okay? Swear it.”
“Okay,” Alek agreed, mind abuzz. “I swear.”
* * *
Lightning fuelled his steps and jubilant thrums beat against his ribs. Alek never stopped from the moment he cleared the Emerson gardens to the second he entered the Temporal Gateway Axis. His new goal energised into an exhilarating flame and burned away the knotted webs ensnaring his ambition to get out into the stars.
Within the station, dusk endeavoured to shut out the remaining daylight, the gilded warmth receding through the circular windows and the bracket lights on the turnstile entryways activating.
Beneath the globular clock, a mass of activity admitted him into the foyer. Corporate staff in tailored suits rushed to catch the gateway home, speeding past tourists jabbing at fold-out maps and shoppers hauling their newly acquired goods with heavy-lidded blinks and wearied shoulders. An artist guild associate bumped him as he darted by, extending a sincere apology before scurrying on his way.
The departure screens displayed interchanging advertisements until Alek tapped on the last monitor, rifling through the list of ships and gateways. Pockets of opportunity unwound before him. Spacious corridors lined with knowledge in The Compendium. Sprawling forests of Skuld. Paradisical oceans on Aetherdril. Swamped by choice, he almost covered his eyes and selected one at random, but at the heart of his climbing sense of freedom, he knew where he wanted to go.
He filtered the options to easier navigate the list, locating an entry departing in ten minutes. Below it and only five minutes later, a passenger ship awaited leave for Azuris.
The corner of his lips tugged at the image of the tidy slopes and the generosity of the people who called that stifling heat home. In his last communication to Cas and Rhena, he had promised to visit, but his original intention ferried his hand back to the slot above it.
Accepting that he would never reach the next gateway crossing even if he sprinted, he searched the selection for a later booking and purchased his ticket, accessing the funds in his private account and stashing the printed pass safely in the zipped compartment of his jacket.
Every path converged into a singular tunnel beyond the barrier checks and security inspections. Bowed bronze beams arched across the curvature of the ceiling, each decorated with unique designs representing the nine worlds of Myriad. Antiquated patterns embellished the Lucarian sign, and a herd of mystical horses galloped the length of the curve dedicated to Prosperia. Solgarde’s own crowned the end of the channel in well-wishes to those departing for home.
For Alek, leaving his home, a shamed sting nettled in his chest. Behind him lay his entire life, his adventures on Eternity an exciting heartbeat compared to the years of magic and the lulling swish of the coastal waters of his childhood. Yet, despite the temporary twinge at losing that familiarity, the hushed trepidation of the unknown enticed him more. He had prepared no plans for what he might do or where he might go once he reached his desired destination, but Solgarde crowded him like a cage. He needed to smash those confining bars and find liberation if he truly wished to escape his parents’ influence. Not only for him, but for Gwendolyn too.
Stretches of retail outlets and storefronts branched out from the connecting lobby, two aisles divided by low trees and occupied benches. String lights looped between the boughs to dip in luminescent waves. At intervals, advertisement boards between the seating cycled through posters for various shops in the vicinity. Cartoon animals announced limited-time offers and exclusive deals as travel announcements conveyed through the tannoy speakers. Multiple calls sought missing passengers and robotic reminders to keep an eye on personal items floated into the noise.
Alek browsed a quiet bakery while he waited for his gateway, purchasing a honeycomb muffin from the friendly cashier and digging into the treat on a seat outside the establishment. The crunchy, porous sweet atop the mountain of icing brought to mind the occasions his sister smuggled his favourite confectionery to him when they were children. Their parents forbade certain foods, but Gwendolyn never let that stop her from seeing her little brother happy.
He swallowed the regret with a mouthful of grainy buttercream. Casting off their parents without her left a sour taste on his tongue, but he reminded himself that it would not be forever. She would escape their suffocating control and take her musical gifts to every realm known to Myriad. He was certain of it. Every good commander needs a scouting party to assess the situation, he thought. I’ll make sure that when she’s ready, she has everything she needs.
The tannoy broadcasts blended into each other, notices merging in a repeated chain that interrupted the natural chatter. Lost in contemplation and almost missing the announcement for his journey, Alek flung the paper packaging from his snack into the nearest bin and raced for the signposted gates.
“Repeat of announcement: passengers travelling on passage 38412B are required to head to Gate Ninety-Four,” the cheery voice intoned over the speakers. “Thank you, and happy travels.”
He took a wrong turn and doubled back to an intersection, scanning the overhanging signs and locating the correct gate as staff began steering travellers towards the walkway. The Temporal Gateways no longer appeared as bursting columns of light, encased instead by tunnels and accessed through angular, teardrop frames.
The queue moved in an organised row, shoving commuters directed to the rear of the line by onlooking security and helpful station attendants assisting those with questions.
At the top of the staircase, Alek provided his ticket and shuffled along with his fellow wayfarers. Reaching panes met at the apex of the closed-off access bridge, and he peeked into the recesses below where windows permitted a glimpse of the inner workings. Catalysts applied their inherited gifts to maintain the swiftest mode of transport in Myriad, attentive to every shift in the mechanism and each adjustment of the machinery.
Aware of his hesitation and the potential to hold up the line, he focused on the moving queue. He waited at the outstretched hand of the guard on duty until he moved him along with an impatient flick of his fingers. Part of him wanted to look behind him one last time, to take in Solgarde, his home, but Gwendolyn had been right; remaining there would only wear him down, and if his future rested elsewhere, no amount of guilt or stalling could hinder him.
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