Broken Lands

Chapter 407 – No Wings

Sophia could hear people talking, but focusing on it was hard. It was much easier to focus on the warm chinchilla in her lap and Dav’s warmth as he pulled her off the cool bark and into his lap. The voices were still there, but they were distant, held at bay by the presence of the rodent.

That meant something. At least, it should. Sophia felt like her thoughts were racing in circles and not getting anywhere.

Oh, right, Taika wasn’t supposed to be there. He stayed back in the Broken Lands because he was linked to Cliff, not Sophia, and Cliff was now tied to the Kestii Tower. “How are you here?”

Tails snorted, then spoke out loud. “I had Cliff send me. It wasn’t hard; you’re here and you’re sitting on a Tower. I wasn’t running any of the scenarios right now anyway, so it was really no trouble.”

Running scenarios? Was Taika managing some of the Challenges for Cliff or something?

Dav’s voice came from next to Sophia’s ear. “Remind me. Why was I carrying you again?”

“The mobile den is comfy.” Taika shifted and seemed to bury his head in Sophia’s lap, almost like he was trying not to look at Dav.

Sophia giggled. “I think he caught you. You didn’t need to be carried at all, did you?”

“Com. Fy.” Taika drew the word out until it was two words instead of two syllables. “But I’m not here for my den, I’m here to block out the shouting in your mind. I don’t see anything and they’re still here and they’re not shouting in anyone else’s mind, not even Dav’s. What’s going on?”

“Shouting? Is that what happened?” Dav’s arms tightened slightly, then loosened the moment they were too tight for comfort. “I don’t … oh. It’s not on the link, it’s … off to the side? I hear them now, but they’re not very loud. I can barely make out what they’re saying. It’s not directed at me, I can tell that much. It’s … hm. The louder voices sound like they’re worried about a scream that disappeared and someone is saying they’re already looking?”

“That’s more than I can tell,” Taika admitted. “I can’t really hear them. All I can do is protect Sophia. It’s not easy; things keep slipping through. They’re not really strong enough to be an attack, just enough to be heard, but there are so many of them.”

“That’s because it isn’t an attack,” a high-pitched voice interrupted. “You have to be the … wait, which one of you is it? None of you have wings.”

Sophia looked up at the voice. Closer than the islands that hovered in the sky not too far away, a bird slowly flew towards them. It was larger than most birds, even the oversized owl that Ci’an became, but it looked like it should be a small bird, with a curved beak and webbed feet. It had a white head and neck, with gray markings on its belly and a black line that seemed to run directly back from its eyes, but it was the wings that really caught Sophia’s attention.

Well, the feathers of the wings and the tail, really. They weren’t ordinary feathers, even though they flexed just like they should as the bird flew. Lightning crackled along them, rolling across the wings and tail in waves that slipped into the sky behind it with each wingbeat. The tips of the feathers sparkled and sparked internally as if they were made of the same lightning that rolled across the outside of the feathers, even though they were clearly mostly physical.

“You’re not a bird,” Sophia muttered. “You’re an Archon.”

“I’m Giramakari Et’Zin and you’re the one who screamed,” the Archon said as she landed between Sophia and Xin’ri. The birdlike sapient was roughly half Xin’ri’s height. Her words spilled out quickly, almost like a stream of consciousness. “Your voice sounds the same, and this is the right Gateway. You have to be her. But where are your wings? Did something happen to them? Are you grounded?”

Why was she so concerned about wings? Sophia shook her head in confusion. “I don’t have wings. I mean, I can manifest wings when I need to fly, but that’s an Ability. Do you mean that or do you mean naturally?”

“All Archons have wings,” the bird answered as if it was obvious. “You screamed in the lifeweb; that means you have to be a lost Archon, maybe some of your parents or grandparents went through the Gateway and now you’ve come to Arcatiz and … wait, I was supposed to have to carry you to the Shaman. Why are you awake? And how are all of you speaking Arcas?”

Sophia’s thoughts skipped for a moment at the thought of a shaman. The shaman she knew best was her greatest grandfather, World Shaman Senkovar Et’Tart, but she knew there were many other types of shamans among the Suras. The word was even the same.

Arcas had to be related to Suras. It had to be more of the weird language duplication, even though they were Archons and there were no Archons anymore back home.

In fact, now that she thought about it, everything they’d said since Sophia started listening was in Suras instead of English. She hadn’t really noticed; it was one of the languages she grew up with, so as long as she wasn’t switching back and forth, she didn’t have to think about which language she spoke in. It was probably her fault, too; Dav shared the languages Sophia knew across his mindlink, but Sophia was the reason they were all talking in Suras. It was the languages the voices she heard when she stepped out of the Wanderer’s realm were whispering.

“We aren’t speaking Arcas and I’m not an Archon,” Sophia answered slowly. “That’s why I don’t have wings. We’re speaking Suras and I don’t know why I can hear you all. I’m conscious because Taika’s blocking most of the noise. I’d be happy to meet a shaman, especially one who knows what’s happening. Can we all come? There are quite a few of us.”

Sophia looked around and found that only Ci’an and Xin’ri seemed to have followed Dav and herself across the portal. She could see the others on the other side, watching, but they couldn’t be heard. Sophia’s guess was that they were waiting for space; the landing was bigger than it looked, but that wasn’t saying much.

“Of course! Shaman Et’Zin said she wanted to meet whoever the lost one came with. Plus, you’re from … where does this Gateway lead? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone come out of it.” The Archon looked around as if she was confused. “But this is clearly an old Gateway. It’s much too high in the Tree to be new.”

“Kestii Tower,” Sophia answered, then picked up Taika and pushed herself to her feet. It didn’t really surprise Sophia that the Archon in front of her and the Shaman she wanted to bring Sophia to were both Clan Et’Zin; if Archons were like Suras, Clan was important. “And it’s a long story, but the Tower was broken until recently. Why don’t you lead us to Shaman Et’Zin? I’ll tell her what happened on our side and you can listen. She might be able to point us where we need to go.”

“She can teach you how to handle the Lifeweb,” Giramakari Et’Zin agreed. “I’m not sure about the rest. Do you need me to carry anyone? I know most visitors have trouble with the height, so we usually send someone to help even if there isn’t a lost one.”

“I think we have it handled,” Sophia answered politely, then silently asked Cliff to summon an Echo. He heard and a pastel dragon large enough to carry two appeared, but the action made her head pound. She wasn’t going to do that again soon. 

The birdlike Archon jumped backwards in surprise, winging up into the air. When Sophia’s Echo didn’t do anything more than look at her with a grin, the Archon settled back down on the ground.

Sophia waved for the others to come out, then manifested her Prismatic Wings. She hopped off the slightly sloped platform and into the air to make space.

“Those are not Archon wings,” the Archon said as she followed Sophia into the sky. “They are constructs of mana. You have to maintain them, don’t you?”

Sophia sighed, suddenly unreasonably annoyed. “Don’t remind me. I want wings like my father has, but none of us have wings in our human form, probably because Mom doesn’t. That’s how Uncle Althyr says it works, but I can’t shapeshift so I don’t get to have wings. But I did get them as an Ability so that helps. A lot.”

“Your father was the Archon, then?” Giramakari asked hopefully.

Sophia shook her head as she watched first Meadow and then Rockfist carefully climb onto her Echo’s back. The Archon’s question reminded her of a family story her grandmother sometimes mentioned. “No, not my father. My grandmother’s grandfather had wings; we think he was an Archon. My father’s a dragon. An Asuryan Arcane Dragon.”

Giramakari laughed once, then stopped as she realized Sophia wasn’t laughing. “You’re joking, right?”

Sophia shook her head. “No, that’s his exact Species.”

The birdlike Archon stared at Sophia for a long moment, then wheeled and flew away without saying anything. Sophia followed as quickly as she could with a glance back at the others. Her Echo could keep up, of course, and so could Dav. Everyone else was a little or a lot slower, though they’d all get there. Well, everyone else except for Arryn and Arak Shade; Arryn stood on the platform and waited for them to reach their destination while Arak had simply disappeared. He was probably in someone’s shadow.

After a few minutes’ flight, Sophia could see the floating island they had to be headed for. It was not one of the smallest, which were little more than clumps of soil just large enough to hold a single tree, but it was also not one of the large ones, the ones big enough that Sophia couldn’t really make out the far side. It was on the smaller end, probably a bit smaller than a city block on each side, but that was still plenty of room for a bunch of very large trees. In between the trees, Sophia was pretty sure she saw buildings.

The Archons might be birdlike but clearly they didn’t like being in the open in all weather.

It reminded her of the architecture on Suratiz, where the Suras built up instead of out and used personal flyers instead of wings to get around. Outsiders thought it was dangerous but Sophia was like residents: it was fun. 

Almost all Suras wanted to fly, but Suras didn’t have wings. Suras who gained real wings became Asuryan. Sophia wasn’t sure exactly what the difference was beyond the title, but she knew it was important to them.

It was all legends, and her father wasn’t a legend. Unfortunately, all of his children were Suras and half dragons. Some could shapeshift, some couldn’t. Sophia got the short end of that stick.

Ahead of Sophia, someone bright and colorful stepped out of one of the partially visible doorways and leapt into the sky, headed directly towards them. As she grew closer, Sophia could see that the figure was an apparently human woman, despite her dark blue hair and wings. Her wings were the source of most of the glow, made of lines of light that imitated the shape of a butterfly’s wings. They flapped lazily as she rose, clearly supported more by magic than physics.

The woman’s clothing was many different layers of silk dyed in a rainbow of pastel colors. The outer layers were diaphanous chiffon with golden embroidery while the inner ones were clearly thicker and opaque. She wore large earrings and several necklaces as well as bracelets, also in gold. Whoever she was, Sophia had to believe that she was important and not expecting a fight.