Chapter 1: The Shifts.

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  English is not my first language, so, sorry in advance if there's any mistakes ;-;

  Cedric hadn’t known inside the monster’s belly could be this warm. Even now, days after he was pulled out of that place, he sometimes dreamt about it. How warm, slimy and tight it was, the digestive liquid gripped him with a phantom feeling of disgust on his skin.

  But he was happy, happy that he could walk out of that dungeon alive.

  Solvaria had always had numerous dungeons with various types and levels. But there was one particular one, so hard it became legendary. People went in and returned with serious damages that they couldn’t live normally like before, or never returned at all. Cedric sometimes thought it must have been a miracle from the God of Light that he and his friends could defeat the mother monster and walk out of it with just injuries, not any death.

  He felt relieved everyone was still alive. Surely they all needed healing and recovering, but all were alive.

  The return of his party of six was the talk of the whole realm. Their King and nobles were all so pleased with this achievement, they prepared a banquet in the palace and a festival in the capital just to celebrate this achievement. There weren’t any big festivals like this for a long time.

  He and his friends had ten days to rest before the first day of the festival and the banquet occurred, and people - commoners and minor nobles - were swarmed outside the gate of his newly rewarded estate; he couldn’t walk in his garden in peace. He felt a little bit pressured and foreign, but he didn’t hate it. He worked and fought for the people, and now he got the recognition he deserved!

  His country, the grand Solvaria, had the longest and most glorious history in this entire continent, cradle of heroes and missionaries. Cedric had always dreamt about his future adventure while listening to those magnificent stories the priests told him about.

  The bubbling excitement hammered inside his chest, and the giggles started coming out from his throat again. He did it. They did it.

  Cedric put a hand over the rough skin of his shoulder, praise words of the king left an unfamiliar sensation on his pores, making his skin crawl and goosebumps. Maybe because of the unfamiliar material of the clothes, too soft and slippery on his body; or maybe because he didn’t feel right laying on the high-quality bedsheet like this after years of being outside, where the dirt and hard ground was his trusted company.

  The central temple rang its mid-day bells outside the big windows, where the sky was so blue, not even a single cloud was in sight. Solvaria had always been warm and sunny, and true to what lots of people said, the sky in the capital Luminastra was clearer and brighter than any other place in this country. It was a shame staying at home on this beautiful day.

  Luminastra was the biggest and oldest city of Solvaria, the seat of The Absolute Light Temple and the Royal Palace, two hearts of this city and the whole country.

  This new luxurious estate, in the most prestigious neighbor of the capital city Luminastra, was one of his many rewards, which had once only existed in his fleeting dreams before.

  The closer to the two of them the more important and expensive the land was. And now he could just lift his head outside the window and the central temple was so close he thought he could touch it with a reach.

  The first night in this bedroom, Cedric was on his knees praying to the God of Light, It was for your miracle and mercy that I was still alive, dearest God. Please don’t make it only a dream.

  He had been praying all that night, from sunset to dawn. Only when the first sunlight of the next day appeared that he knew he really made it.

  There was a soft knock outside his window, he turned around and saw a familiar short, spiky, brown head of Veyna was peeking at a corner.

  Cedric jolted out of his fine bedsheet, hastily opened the door to his balcony, “For the love of God,” he pulled the two girls inside, “What do you guys think you’re doing?!”

  Veyna’s sharp green eyes glared at him for a brief moment, Cedric knew he wouldn’t get any answer out of his stubborn youngest friend. So he turned to Alenya, who was brushing Veyna’s dusty footprints off her shoulder.

  “We were so bored.” Alenya didn’t wait for his question, her lightweight armor and bow was missing, which was so odd for some reason.

  “You were bored.” Veyna shook her head.

  “Alright!” He clapped his hand to get their attention like any other occasions before, “Why did you two decide to climb onto my house?”

  Alenya’s cheerful voice answered, “Come on! Don’t you feel the same, Cedric?” She nuzzled at his shoulder, “Just three days and I’ve already felt bored out of my mind.” Then she signed her hand to Veyna, who was now sitting on the floor with her long simple tunic, “Veyna feels the same!”

  To be honest Cedric couldn’t lie and said he didn’t have familiar experience, so he just nodded. Alenya’s brown eyes were lit up, “Great! Wanna go out to the main street? The festival is now in preparation, there are lots to see!”

  He, Alenya and Veyna were the three youngest of the party. They were an unholy trio of pranks and mischief - like Jorin once said. So Cedric didn’t take much time to consider, he went to another room to change his clothes.

  Veyna was playing with the hems of her long tunic again, her tool belts and gadgets were missing. She felt lighter, more bare.

  “So…” Veyna asked with a steady tone, “When will you plan to confess to him?”

  Alenya’s ears felt hot, she stuttered, “I…”

  But then Cedric came back to the room, years of being outside help he changed quickly. “Wanna ask the other guys?” He asked, “We can quickly grab Alaric and Jorin!”

  Alenya shook her head, “We got to their place first, and both refused.”

  “Bo~ring adults.” Veyna sang-song.

  “So I’m the last option?”

  “No… no like that!” Alenya stuttered again, “Just… They live in the noble row and you live in the centre.”

  Cedric laughed, a usually free laugh that came from the bottom of his heart. “I know I know.” He patted Alenya’s dirty blond head, “How about Lyra?” The name sounded melodic on his tongue.

  Alenya looked sheepish, “She lives on the outskirts of the capital, we… didn’t get there yet.”

  Six of them each got a new house that they could freely choose as their estate. Cedric’s was the closest the Royal Palace and the main Temple, other four’s estates all sat well in the noble row of the city. Only Lyra, their healer and herbalist, chose a humble and rather small house in the outskirts.

  He knew Lyra was a simple woman, she never asked for much.

  “Then we should go ask her too!” He proposed, then quickly added more like he was afraid people could catch the subtle heat on his face, “She may feel bored just like us!”

  Veyna’s brows were shot over her forehead but she didn’t say anything. Alenya quickly agreed.

  Three of them all secured with cloaks to sneak out of his estate. Thanks to Solvaria's yearly sunny weather, there were too many people using cloaks and hoods for them to notice the famous three heroes wandering on the street.

  There was bright laughter, voices sharp and loud, children darting between stalls, everything was all over the wide cobblestone streets. Alenya looked around like her old habit, but her pose was slightly more relaxed.

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  The streets were safe, the city was filled with subtle exhilaration.

  She once lived in a village near the capital, her parents sometimes took her to the capital for praying, but never ever witnessed such a festive joy like this. Luminastra had always been grave and grim and grand in her memory, with straight tall white walls and grandeur buildings; hundred-year-old bells from temples sang many times a day.

  Solvaria was once the most powerful country, famous for their passionate devotion to the God of Light. Old folks said their lands were stretched from this side to another side of the continent, towering over all the other countries that dared to defy the will of God.

  But the past glory was slowly rumbling. Alenya never saw the lands stretched across the continent, connected to the two oceans, or the chivalrous army of white. She only knew about the wars along the borders - other countries reclaimed their soil, they said; the turbulence amongst the central land that lasted for fifty years. She heard about kingdom Eryndor of the far North, hungrily retrieving their so-called historic ground; the Tribes of the Forest Gods, who claimed they never acknowledged the holy God of Light, just served their one and only Gods of Forest, lived like savages for the sake following their spirited belief.

  There was a silent common knowledge amongst younger generations like her, that this country wasn’t in its holiest glory anymore, everything slowly crumbled for over fifty years. The bubbling joy like this was like a distant dream in her grandparents’ story. But the streets the three were walking were like bottled happiness that was about to burst, and that made her happy too. Maybe folks needed this occasion to ease themselves out, maybe they saw this as a chance to relive the beautiful past.

  The sound of the streets slowly changed from hubbub to soft as they walked. Houses that once stood close together gradually became farther apart, tiled roofs started to mix with wooden and thatched ones. No one understood why Lyra chose to live this far, but Veyna thought she kind of got it when the small, humble house stood at the end of the path came to her view.

  Its roof was covered in simple grey tiles, and the short chimney leaned skyward like a lazy sentinel. Around the house stretched a wide garden, soil freshly disturbed yet lightly tamed - the first sign of work; and a small stream with gurgling sound hidden behind. The place looked half lived in, some corners neat and touched, while others still bare and waiting. This house carried a curious air around, felt both old and new at the same time, its fresh signs of moving in resting against seasoned frames. Veyna could smell the faint nostalgic smell of burnt hay, she felt oddly calm and peaceful

  Cedric was at the front as always, quickly opened the short gate and walked to the front door, there was a slight excitement in his posture that maybe he didn’t even know about. Veyna turned her gaze to Alenya, the sparkling of her eyes were still there, but it seemed to be duller just slightly.

  Veyna secretly rolled her eyes, what a mess of young people’s love, she thought, as if she wasn’t the youngest of the bunch.

  She picked up her pace and half-ran past Cedric to become the first to reach the doorsteps. Above the frame, overhead of the small porch, dangled a bundle of dried herbs, their brittle leaves crackling soft whenever the breeze came to visit. The front door was stout wood, deep brown, freshly painted with a faint stang of resin and pitch. The lower half stood solid and plain, while the upper half was latticed with thin wood and oiled paper that blurred the sunlights into a warm, honey-color glow. The door must be newly oiled, so its sound was so quiet when slowly opened from the inside after she knocked a few times. Behind it happened a familiar flaming red river of hair, with the pleasant smell of herbs and potions.

  Lyra seemed not so surprised, as she had always been, she opened the front door to welcome them with a quiet gentle smile. Inside her house was the same warm feeling, Veyna thought the honey-color glow outside strutted over the wooden floor and painted it golden. She took no time to hug Lyra, burying her nose inside the woman’s crook of neck.

  “I really miss you all.” Lyra exhaled, waving to Alenya to come closer, “It’s been some hectic days, hasn’t it?”

  The other girl didn’t take much time to join the hug too. Lyra’s embrace smelled like herbal bite mingled with some fresher scent of cut wood, Alenya took a deep breath and let the lovely scent filled her lungs.

  Cedric stood aside, looking a little bit flushed. He scratched the back of his neck and asked, “We want to go out to… have some air. We thought maybe… maybe… you would want to… join?”

  Now it was just Veyna clinging to her small waist, Lyra’s hands were free to pat Alenya’s shoulder, “Have your wounds got better?” The worries flashed across her face, “I really want to help, but the healer of the capital said they’ll take care of you all.”

  “We’re all good!” Alenya didn’t want Lyra to feel burdened or troubled, “If it wasn’t for you to keep us alive then the healer could only heal our corpses from death to death. Don’t care about what they said!”

  “Huh? What did they say?” Veyna and Cedric chimed in curiously. They were both unconscious after getting out of that legendary dungeon.

  Lyra put her hand over Alenya’s mouth, her right blue eye looked deep like it was black, silently signalling Alenya not to talk anymore “Nothing really. Look, I really want to join you all, but there’s a lot to work on my house…”

  “Then we’ll help you!” Cedric quickly brushed past his curiosity. He had been eager to help Lyra anytime she was in trouble, but unfortunately for him, she wasn’t the type to headbutt into scenarios without preparing beforehand like the three of them.

  Veyna also nodded in agreement, still clinging on Lyra’s waist like a kid. And Alenya just felt a little bit guilty, Lyra was so gentle and considerate to all of their mishaps.

  Cedric helped move her furniture into places, and Lyra was setting up her kitchen. As for Veyna and Alenya, they both were sent upstairs to help arrange her working office. That room was still bare with just a few boxes.

  Veyna knew the number of boxes Lyra possessed had to be multiplied if it wasn’t for joining them on this adventure. They both swept the floor first before sitting down and cleaning all the bottles.

  “Tell me,” Veyna suddenly asked, “About what you said before, what did the healer say to Lyra?”

  Alenya felt troubled, but the words of the healers hang in her head for days.

  “They just shooed her away,” She carefully said, “You know what healers think about herbalists. They think their healing power is absolute and healing by using medicine is below them. What a fool! If their healing power is that strong then why is Alaric's foot not completely healed by now?!”

  Alenya’s tone started to pick up a heat without her even knowing it.

  “All of us were injured, Lyra was barely keeping Cedric and you alive while tending our wounds all by herself. And then the healers came from their high horse and do you know what was the first thing they said?!” Alenya’s voice was now hushed and irritated, “They asked how dare she use her lowly potions?! Can you believe this? She just tried keeping us alive and the first thing they said was insulting her! They think we can wait till they come and heal us? We’d be cold corpses at that point!”

  Veyna furrowed her eyebrows, her wounds were actually still bled and hurt, her whole body still ached, adding to the newly formed displeasure. The healers’ power wasn’t that powerful, they acted like this because they all came from the Temple.

  Yes, healing power was rare, every child that had early signs of this kind of power would be raised by the Temple and be pupils of the God of Light.

  Veyna wasn’t really devoted, but most people in this country were deeply religious, even Cedric, Alenya, Alaric and Jorin included, so she thought she should keep her mouth shut.

  Magic was common on this continent, but not everyone possessed magic’s power. Magic had only five big elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Metal and Air. Everyone’s magic abilities sat well into those five categories and their sub-elements. The wind magic of Alenya is a sub-element from Air, Lyra’s plants magic was a lesser form of Earth and Water magic. Veyna was blessed with the main branch magic from Fire and Cedric’s was from Metal.

  People with main branch magic often came with stronger magic power, but she thought if they didn’t know how to use it then it was just a waste of nature.

  Healing power was a rare mix between Water and Air. Air was for lightened things; Water was like the motherwomb of them all, carried and borned; together they would have the ability to lesser people’s wounds like a reborn of blood and skin. And the healing power only existed in temples. The magic wasn’t that grand and glorious like in the fairytales, it was never enough to destroy things or heal the almost-dead back to life.

  Magic did help, but Veyna thought without a sharp mind it was just some cheap tricks to show off.

  ??

  They came down the stairs when lunch was ready. It was just simple vegetable stew and some loaves of bread. Lyra sorry for not being able to cook something more for them, but they all insisted eating light like this may keep spaces in their stomachs for street foods later.

  Veyna had a habit leaning against people next to her while eating, and she leaned on Lyra’s bony shoulder. She wondered if this lunch was really simple because Lyra wanted to cook something quickly, or because Lyra didn’t store food in her house at all? The woman had always eaten so little. Her frame was slender, a touch of thin, as though the world had been feeding on her rather than the other way around. Her face had delicate features with a neutral expression that never betrayed her, a deep blue eye on the right like an abyss of deep ocean, almost black from some angles - Veyna found its depth unsettled those who looked too long. The upper left half of her face was hidden behind a simple metal mask, Lyra wore it to cover her burnt scars.

  People wouldn’t notice Lyra first in a crowd, maybe some people would be curious about her mask, but her thinness, quiet expression and her habit to put on the hood whenever lots of people gather made her seem like someone who faded into the background. Her only striking feature was the flaming red hair, a cascade of burning threads, wild even under her dark hoods, contrasting against her pale and slender face - too bright, too vivid for someone this soft-spoken.

  Veyna loved her the most out of her adventure friends, Lyra was like a big sister she never had. Lyra was the steady presence, never dramatic, never loud, gentle and almost maternal with a quiet femininity that was unmatched. Veyna loved when she hugged her, the faint safe smell of herbs filled her nose, she loved when she could place her head and sleep on Lyra’s legs, when her wounds were treated with such tenderness, when the woman secretly sneaked her the sweets after drinking medicines. She thought no man could be good enough for Lyra, even Cedric, not mean Cedric was bad though. That maybe was just her biased idea, but also she hoped that Alenya could successfully confess her feelings to Cedric and be a couple already.

  But first, Cedric must let go of his crush on Lyra. Everyone in their group could see his feelings, he wasn’t half as subtle as he thought, but Lyra seemed to not give any attention.

  Alaric, with his oldest years of living, adjusted his glasses after watching Lyra patting Cedric’s head one time and simply said. He was just a little brother to her. Poor boy. Poor my single old heart. Veyna agreed with him for the most part, minus his single old heart.