The Mark of Oblivion: Home [Four]
Finding a giant, animate stone statue was, as it turned out, not very difficult. Particularly not when Kira already knew where it was and where it was heading. In that altered state she hadn’t just seen the statue, she’d seen through it, felt how it felt...if it could actually feel.
More importantly, she saw what it saw. There were docks, and shipping containers, and boats. Kira wasn’t familiar with the dockyards themselves, but she was confident it wouldn’t matter.
“Do you know where it is?” Cedric asked. Kira wasn’t keen on the skeptical tone in his voice.
“Sort of?” Kira said slowly. “I used the telluric current to, I dunno, put a tracker on it?”
“You manipulated the telluric currents?” Salazar asked, standing. There was a strange look on his face that Kira couldn’t quite read.
She just shrugged and began leading them towards the back of the warehouse. “I guess. I was kinda making things up as I went along,” Kira explained as they walked. “It’s looking for something. No idea what. Hopefully it won’t be too hard to spot.”
While Kira couldn’t see Salazar and Cedric, she could feel them exchanging looks behind her back. Whatever, she was on a mission. There was a eight-foot tall animated statue on the loose.
Outside, Kira couldn’t help but blink in surprise. She was just here, among the shipping crates and cranes. The only problem was that there weren’t any directional landmarks in the dockyard. Worse; with the rings on she couldn’t sense her way out of a wet paper bag.
“Dammit,” Kira hissed. She tried looking around, but the crates obscured her vision. “Sorry, guys. I thought I’d still be able to sense it, but-”
“No, I can definitely sense it,” Salazar spoke up. Kira turned to him, but his gaze was fixed intently on some point in the distance.
That made sense. Out of the other three, Salazar was the most familiar with telluric currents. He took over the search, leading them through the maze of crates.
After some running, Lix let out a surprised, “Oh! I think I can sense it too.”
So they really were getting closer. Kira tried her hardest, but all she felt were the presences of the Otherworlders beside her. This would be incredibly embarrassing if she wasn’t the one who created the tracking spell in the first place. Good thing she didn’t have to admit that out loud.
Kira heard it before she could sense it. What she first assumed was another part of the soundscape - the sounds of the river on one side and bustling downtown traffic noise on the other - didn’t quite seem to fit.
Several seconds later, Kira realized why she recognized it. This was the same scream she heard from the statue just minutes ago. It almost sounded like a human scream, but there was something off...It never ended. The statue wasn’t living, so it didn’t need to breathe. It just kept letting out one long roar of rage without needing to stop.
“It should be right around this corner-” Salazar said as he took the next turn. Then he stopped short and it didn’t take long to figure out why. Watching a giant stone statue wildly beat at the air was pretty intimidating.
More surprising was the reason. As a neutral mage, Kira was always surprised when her spells took visible form. The telluric currents were wrapped in rings around the thing’s shoulders, just like she pictured. It glowed orange, bands of energy forming loops and peeling off at random intervals, like the surface of the sun, or Kira whenever she had a meltdown.
The statue was so busy thrashing at the magic it didn’t notice the group’s arrival. It just stood there, swatting uselessly at the magic, like watching a cat go after a penlight. Kira couldn’t help but laugh, from both pride and the surprising amount of humor in the situation.
Unfortunately, it was her laugh that finally got the thing’s attention. Its head swiveled in their direction, singular scream suddenly cut short. “Oh, shit,” Kira managed before the thing started heading right for them.
“Watan!” It shouted. Because of course.
Kira took a step back and was fully prepared to pivot when the statue froze mid-step. Cedric and Lix also stopped their sudden retreats. She watched telluric energy around the statue constrict, holding it in place.
When she turned to the side, she found Salazar with an arm outstretched, fingers clenched in a fist. “Just because I’m no longer the Guardian of Mixba’al doesn’t mean I no longer know how to control telluric energy,” he smirked. The smirk wavered as the creature struggled against his bindings. “It would certainly make it easier, though.”
No, shit, Kira thought. She could hear the tension in his voice. If she was going to do something, she needed to do it fast.
The answer was so simple and Kira was embarrassed she didn’t think of it sooner. Wasn’t her specialty neutral magic? She’d seen into the core of the statue’s magical essence when she tracked it down. She knew exactly how it was constructed. Breaking down the enchantment would be a breeze.
Placing her palms together, Kira drew on that magic deep within herself. The part of the magic that was intrinsically her. In the blink of an eye, she had enough there to begin stringing a counterspell together. Her hands moved in swirling patterns as she wove them together.
Before she could complete the spell, a hand on her arm stopped her. “Hold on, I can’t let you destroy this thing,” Cedric said. “It’s not outwardly malicious. We just need to contain it, not destroy it.”
“Wa! Tan!” The statue cried, inching closer to them.
The spell fizzled out between Kira’s hands. “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do?”
“Wait!” Lix shouted, suddenly holding an arm up. She turned to the creature and said...something Kira couldn’t understand. Whatever it was, it made the statue stop struggling immediately.
“Watan?” The statue said again. This time, Kira could hear something almost like sadness in its voice.
“I thought I recognized the way this golem was crafted,” Lix sighed, looking back at the others. There was a frown on her face. “It’s late Nabataean. Watan is the Arabic word for home.”
Lix turned back to the statue, slowly letting her arm down. Salazar still had an arm up to channel the binding spell, but Lix looked back over her shoulder and gestured for him to drop it. There was a quick, nonverbal back-and-forth, but Salazar relented. He still kept a wary eye on the situation.
From this far away, Kira couldn’t make out exactly what Lix was saying, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to understand it anyway. She could only wonder if the words were as pretty as they sounded. Even though it had no discernable facial features, Kira could see the slight tilt of the statue’s head as it listened to what Lix was saying.
Then, in a moment that had Kira blinking out of shock, it said something back. They were slow and stilted syllables, but it was more than Kira had heard out of it in two encounters.
The conversation didn’t last long. Before she even knew what was happening, the statue inclined its head towards Lix as she produced something from her pocket. A piece of chalk, Kira realized, as Lix began to draw some kind of sigil on the statue’s head. Without turning around, she gestured for everyone to come over and join her.
The trio exchanged various glances and shrugs before acquiescing. They got there just as Lix finished drawing the sigil. Suddenly, the statue stood to attention and froze in place. Everyone but Lix jumped back, only to realize the statue wasn’t going anywhere.
“It’s resting now,” Lix said. She reached a hand out to the statue. “All it wanted was to go home. It was taken by some men not long ago and brought here. It was just retracing its steps.”
That mixture of loneliness and nostalgia Kira felt when she saw into the statue earlier...It was homesickness.
“And where’s home?” Kira asked. She might’ve been weeks away from a master’s degree in history, but she knew woefully little outside of the European Middle Ages.
“A town not far from Petra, Jordan,” Lix explained. “This golem was the guardian of a tomb. It stood there for hundreds of years, but then the tomb was raided and it was stolen.” She turned around, seeking out Cedric. “You have to make sure this golem makes it back so it can fulfill its duty once more.”
Cedric’s nod was solemn. “I intend to.” He paused. “When you say it was taken…?”
“The grave it protected was robbed. And recently,” Lix amended. The frown on Cedric’s face deepened.
“I don’t think it’s the only thing,” Kira spoke up. “When I was tracking this guy down, I could sense hundreds of magical items in the warehouse. I thought, since you knew the guy who owned it, that this was something you oversaw. But…”
“It’s not,” Cedric finished for her, his expression hardening. “Shame. A lot of my revenue came through that auction house. Now I have that to search as well as Sterling International. No rest for the wicked, I suppose.” He let out a particularly tired sigh. “Well, I guess it’s time we headed back to the shop.”
Everyone gathered in a tight circle around the statue. This time, Lix was the one to grab onto Salazar first. Kira, meanwhile, wrapped her free arm around the statue while Cedric grabbed the other side.
Once everyone was secure, Salazar pulled the crystal from his pocket. “Everyone ready?” He asked, waiting for nods. Kira gave hers, then immediately braced for the spell to take effect.
Before Kira knew it, they were in the alleyway behind Vestibulum Venenatis once more. She blinked a couple times to adjust, but the vertigo was already clearing. Cedric really wasn’t kidding when he said this got easier with time. Considering how often they were using the herkimer diamond these days, it probably wouldn’t be long before Kira could just shrug it off the way Cedric always did.
Speaking of, the incubus was currently in the process of inspecting the statue. This was the first time he’d seen it, Kira realized. She wondered what he thought looking at the thing. Kira was still a little nervous around it herself, worrying it would suddenly spring to life again and come after her with stone fists swinging.
“How do you plan to get it back to Jordan?” Lix asked.
“Oh, I have my ways,” Cedric replied. He sent a secretive smile Kira’s way that made her guess she was part of the plan. It didn’t last long enough for her to return, however, and soon he was back to frowning at the statue. “Now the real question is how I bring this inside…” Cedric trailed off, leaning in like he was going to lift it up himself. Halfway there, decided against it. “Actually, one of my employees is a werewolf. This is his problem now.”
Kira couldn’t help but laugh. An actual joke from Cedric. How long had it been? When he looked her way, she waved him off.
“Would you be alright watching this while I grab his attention?” Cedric asked Salazar and Lix. He turned to Kira and nodded towards the shop. Behind them, Salazar and Lix were making quiet conversation in Spanish. “What was it earlier?” Cedric asked. He leaned in, lowered his voice, and raised an eyebrow. “Not checking me out are you?”
All at once, Kira was hit with a feeling almost like the homesickness from the statue. A tidal wave of longing for the times before Layla’s resurrection, before Kira’s nightmares came back, before the grimoire was stolen. Cedric’s joke earlier and his flirtatious comment now both had a glimmer of easier days in them.
For Cedric, those words seemed so natural. Over a thousand years of flirting with people probably made it a pretty ingrained habit. He seemed to realize a second later, drawing back with the shadow of a wince on his face.
Cedric wasn’t the only one fighting off a knee-jerk reaction. After so long of dealing with her boss’s passes at her, Kira’s first instinct was to let out a defensive no! But she held herself back. She wasn’t about to discourage Cedric from getting back to his old, flirty self - particularly if it meant he was happier. And, well, there was no point in denying that she’d been staring at him.
“That smile earlier,” Kira said instead, holding the shop door open for him. “The genuine ones aren’t a bad look on you.”
As Cedric passed by, Kira watched his expression carefully. The smile came back, and Kira nearly congratulated herself. But then his look changed. Maybe she was just being too oversensitive, but Kira swore she saw something in his eyes. It looked like a dawning realization. And he looked horrified.
Before she could spend too much time on it, Gus was calling their names. Kira looked up and found her best friend waving them over to the register. At first she thought he was just excited to have them back. However, she quickly recognized the distress on his face.
“You said it would just be lunch!” Gus cried once they were close enough. “You were gone for over two hours-”
“And we’re really very sorry about that, Gus,” Cedric sighed apologetically. Then, in a quieter tone, “Someone called in about the statue from last night.”
Gus’s eyes widened. “Did you, I dunno, stop it?”
“It’s in the back alley right now,” Kira answered, smiling proudly.
“And I’m sure you did just fine without us,” Cedric assured him. “Nothing’s on fire and I didn’t get any distress calls. I daresay you did an excellent job for your first time.”
“Yeah, you dare,” Gus hissed. He waved his arms at Old Reliable, voice rising in pitch. “This thing nearly broke on me, and then we had a line of customers who wanted to make their purchase now. And I had to...”
Very suddenly, Kira was reminded of the fact that Gus had never had a job in food service. Or retail, for that matter. That was just another thing that happened at the shop once a week, sometimes more. Besides, the customers here were actually a lot nicer here than they were the fast food places Kira used to work. She didn’t doubt he could handle it once he got more comfortable. The upcoming supermoon probably didn’t help, though.
Gus broke off his upcoming rant to roll up his sleeve. Kira watched in confusion as he placed three fingers on the inside of his wrist before clamping down where he placed the lowest finger..
“It’s a pressure point,” Gus explained to Kira and Cedric’s surprised faces. “Supposed to relieve stress. Toni taught it to me.”
The Harbinger, who had been talking with a pair of customers since they’d walked in, was at their side a second later. “Not like that. All you’re gonna do is give yourself a headache,” she sighed.
She held out her hand and Gus dutifully dropped his arm into it. Toni measured out the same three fingers before kneading small circles into the same spot Gus had been working at before. Kira watched in fascination as Gus’s breathing slowed and the tension left his shoulders.
“See? You don’t have to press so hard,” Toni told him, drawing back once she was satisfied with the results. She shot a smirk at Kira. “Men, right?” Kira had to place a hand over her mouth to suppress an ugly snort and she was pretty sure she saw Gus blush.
Cedric cleared his throat - probably to clear his grin, but it had the added benefit of drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “Now that you’re feeling better, what do you say to helping me lug a thousand-pound statue inside?” He asked.
When Gus’s eyes widened this time, it was even more comical. “Uh, sure?” He most certainly did not sound sure, but obligated.
While the two of them disappeared out the back, Kira hopped the counter and took Gus’s place behind the register. Toni watched the whole thing, seemingly fascinated. When Kira asked what she was looking at, Toni just shrugged. “I’ve seen Gus do it a couple times, but I guess I haven’t been here with you much. Does Cedric parkour over the counter too?”
“He started it, actually,” Kira confirmed.
“Just when I think I have the Warden figured out,” Toni shook her head. Then, she hopped up on the counter and swung her legs over. When she was done, Kira was staring at her. “What? Don’t look at me like that. I know I’m short.”
Out the corner of her eye, Kira saw the couple Toni was talking to earlier making their way to the register. Toni stared at her like she was in the way. Kira watched in surprise as Toni rang up their purchases. Gus must’ve taught her how to work Old Reliable, then. Huh.
Since Toni seemed perfectly content behind the register, Kira opened the door to the back rooms. What she found almost made her laugh. Gus was the only one with a hand on the statue, grimacing as he brought it over to the store room. At first, the appearance of fangs and glowing eyes made her nervous, but he probably needed to shift a little to help pick up the giant hunk of rock. He seemed pretty focused on the task at hand anyway. Salazar was spotting for him and holding open doors while Cedric appeared to be nothing more than moral support.
And Lix...Lix was staring at something just over Kira’s shoulder. She turned just in time to catch Toni wave behind her. That seemed to do the trick, but Lix continued to shoot them looks.
“What? Is my fly down or something?” Toni asked.
As if she didn’t already know. Kira moved to stand behind Toni, meeting Lix’s stare. She seemed to get the point after that.
Moments later, the rest of the crew emerged from the back. It was getting a bit crowded behind the counter, but Kira didn’t know how to politely excuse herself to the other side.
“Well, now that everything’s settled,” Cedric was the first to speak, cutting through the awkward tension. “Toni, you’re free to go. You too, Gus, if you’d like to get back to the labs.”
“Sweet,” Toni nodded. “Oh, before I peace out, you’re gonna need to put me on the payroll with the way you keep dragging me down here.”
“That can be arranged,” Cedric shrugged after a moment’s consideration.
Halfway across the counter, Toni hesitated. Looks like Cedric really did never stop running out of ways to surprise her after all, Kira couldn’t help but smile. Toni did too. She didn’t really say anything else after that. Maybe she was still too shocked to come up with a witty goodbye. Or, well, a verbal one at least. She did manage an impressively sarcastic salute. The bells above the door played her out.
“I’m gonna stick around for a bit, but I’m gonna head out on my lunch break now if that’s alright?” Gus asked a moment later.
Once Cedric gave him the okay, he was running out the door too. With no customers left in the lobby, the shop went quiet. “Have you decided what-” Cedric began just as Salazar said, “So I should let you know-” They shared a look before laughing. Cedric stopped first, deferring to his friend.
Salazar took a deep breath before saying, “After weeks of stalling, I have to return to my Ward.”
It was like a punch to the gut, Kira couldn’t help but think. Still, one she saw coming. Hearing him say it hurt, but at least she’d known to brace for impact. It was bound to happen eventually. It needed to happen. Still, that didn’t mean Kira had to like it.
“I’ve left it without a leader for too long and that alone is inexcusable for a Warden,” Salazar went on. “I’ve also neglected the Temple of Mixba’al and...” He stopped to wrap an arm around Lix’s shoulders. She leaned into the embrace with a kind of ease that suggested this was a common position for the two of them. “And I’ve been neglecting the woman I’ve asked to marry me. I need to head back.”
Cedric was the first to speak. “Ah, I figured that’s what this was about.” He nodded solemnly, but there was a smile on his face. “I’ll be sad to see you go, my friend. Don’t be a stranger.”
“Don’t worry, I intend to make plenty of visits,” he replied, throwing his smile in Kira’s direction. “As long as you still want my help, of course.”
“Of course I still want your help!” Kira said immediately.
It wasn’t so much a want as a need. There was still so much about the Mark she had yet to learn and the thought of doing that on her own was terrifying. What she wanted to do was tell Salazar to stay. Stay until she understood just what she’d inherited, stay until she knew him. But after seeing the look in his eyes when he smiled at Lix, Kira knew that was out of the question. Selfish! Her mind screamed at her. She shut her lips tight.
At least Salazar seemed to think her response was funny, or maybe his chuckle was his attempt to lighten the situation. Kira swallowed and tried to stop herself from tearing up.
“Just know you’re welcome here any time. My guest room will be lonely without you,” Cedric told him.
“Don’t tempt me, now,” Salazar chuckled, looking away to shake his head. “But it’s time to stop being so afraid. I may be a coward, but at least I’m honest with myself about that. For a long time, I thought that would be enough. Now I realize that it’s time for me to face my mistakes.” He took a deep breath. “It’s time for me to go home.”
