The Katapies Experiment; Part 6

Novis 

     The lights were beautiful. We thought they were going to be dim and pale, but they weren’t. They were eerily gorgeous, deep blue and illuminating everyone’s faces so we looked like spirits. Clode hid and jumped out of the bushes multiple times to scare Hydran, but the terror wore off after she did it for the tenth time.  

    When morning faded in, we sat down in a comfortable spot and started to make a suitable camp. It was freezing; Divinios had always been the coldest out of Katapies. As Clode and Hydran went out to find wood and water, I figured I’d just talk. Lychnus probably wouldn’t mind. 

    I realized that I could just vent; Lychnus couldn’t spill anything if I told him secrets, he couldn’t talk! “Augur and Dune did things I never could have done. Should I really have stayed put and done nothing like that? Now that I really think about it, I should have probably stayed and fought with them, fire is a good element for fighting.” I gritted my teeth and kept going, turning to the forest and fiddling with a leaf on a tree, which started smoking.  

    “Augur is insanely powerful, remember when she made that squirrel brain-dead? Dune’s almost indestructible too – wonder how strong the guards that caught them were. Which prison do you think they’re held in right now-”  

    “Novis?” A gravelly, out-of-use voice rang behind me. I turned around and saw Lychnus, red in the face.  

    “Oh, I didn’t think it would be that hard to say, I mean, I haven’t used it – my voice, I mean --in a long time, and it sounds all wrong...” Lychnus turned even redder and cleared his throat, covering his face with his hands. “I’ll just shut up now.” 

    He actually had a much higher voice than I thought he would have. He was lanky and tall for a fifteen-year-old, and I guess I just supposed he would have a deeper voice. I stared at him for a while before realizing that was rude, then smiled and tried to strike up a conversation. 

    “So... you can talk?”  

    “Oh -- yes, I just don’t want to most of the time. I talk to Nova, but that’s mostly it. You’re the first new person that I’ve talked to for years.” He smiled nervously and got up, probably to get wood for the fire. So much for the conversation I wanted to start. 

    Clode and Hydran popped out of the trees with uneven pieces of wood in their hands. I arranged them in a way that they could burn without being too hot and placed stones around the edges. We all crowded around as I lit the fire and huddled around the newfound warmth. 

    Being a Mage in Disarus was probably the biggest advantage we’d ever have. None of us were particularly good at talking to people, and I didn’t think we would gain allies here. No one really liked Mages, but we were definitely the strongest out of the four races and had better survival chances because of our elements. 

    We woke up just as dusk started, so we followed the lights again. I was exhausted; my sleep schedule was probably ruined by then. I just wanted to go home. 

    Clode kept looking at me funny. I don’t think anyone else noticed it, but she was glaring at me like I had done something wrong. Eventually, she pulled me aside and started to scold me. 

    “Why didn’t you tell me Lychnus can talk now?” 

     I glanced at her with a very confused look on my face. Of course Lychnus could talk, he laughed and cried and screamed like any other person with vocal cords could do. He just never spoke words.  

    “Look, Clode, I know this might sound confusing to you, but Lychnus can talk, he just never wanted to. I don’t know if it’s extreme social anxiety or a traumatic event or something, but he could talk all the years we’ve known him.”  

    Clode looked even more perplexed. “Couldn’t he have just... talked?” 

    “Clode, no, just listen to me. He could have talked, but he just didn’t want to.” Clode could be so darn stupid sometimes. She looked at me with a face filled with bewilderment, and I decided to just leave and go back to Lychnus and Hydran.  

     What a mistake to leave them alone. 

    Messengers. Stupid bird people. They literally just had wings, and yet they were the pinnacle of every history book we had. Something about a war. They lost, too. I wondered why Lychnus and Hydran weren’t doing something. They were just standing there, wide-eyed and uncertain. 

    The Messengers weren’t doing anything, either. I mean, it wasn’t like they could.  Their wings were all tied up with wire, and I could see the glint of a small white scrap of paper on one of the coils. I felt pretty bad for them, actually. Everyone else had their advantages, even the Shifters, and they were just... chained.  

     Clode stepped out of the bushes behind me and frowned. “Messengers? Wouldn’t you guys just fly away?” Right then, she noticed the wires. “Oh. Ohh. Sorry.” She looked at what looked like the oldest one, a girl with fluffy dark purple hair, and shrugged. “Sorry, can’t really do anything. I’m a lightning Mage, I’d just electrocute you.” 

     Hydran looked sympathetic, stepping backward ever so slightly. “Water Mage. Apologies.”  

     Lychnus didn’t say anything, so I just stepped up and spoke. “He’s a light Mage. I’m a fire Mage, I can try to melt the wire off you. It might not work, but I feel like it’d be your best bet at getting it off. None of us are mind Mages, so no guarantees.”  

    None of the Messengers really said anything, until one girl with curly brown hair and cocoa skin stepped up and looked me straight in the eye, then nodded silently and turned around. I focused on one area of wire at a time, making it as hot as possible. It didn’t budge or melt or even turn red.  

    I sighed and tried with the other three. Nothing. Usually, I was able to melt metal; my mother was a blacksmith before she left Divinios with Abrin and the rest of the adults. She made me help with the shop a lot. I shrugged and gestured to the blue glowing lights in front of the eight of us, then started walking again. 

     I’m not sure if the Messengers were quiet or just scared. They all stuck like glue to Lychnus, who, apparently, was the least powerful in their opinion. Another girl with blondish-pink hair (probably the result of a failed flower-dye) kept nervously biting her lip and glancing at Clode, then me, then Hydran before trying to flap her wings. Poor her. 

    The sun started to pop its head over the horizon again, so we started to set up camp in a small clearing, just big enough to fit all of us comfortably. Both Messengers and Mages were used to cold weather, so we had a stockpile of wood quickly. As I started the fire, the purple-haired girl crowded around me, amazed at how I could light my fingertips on fire without any burns. 

     “Hi.” She beamed. “I’m Amee!” Amee looked young, but I supposed she was just pampered. All of the Messengers looked young and beautiful, but I guessed at least two of them were the same age as me. They were all decorated too; almost all of them had flower crowns and colorful pins on their jackets. 

    She was the only one who was completely unafraid of me. Her friend (I think?) with the cocoa hair tried to pull her away, but she was determined to examine all of our elements. By that, I mean she just stood there in amazement as Hydran explained everything. 

     Eventually, her friend finally managed to pull her away and keep her with the other Messengers, and we all tried to get sleep, even with the sun screaming in our faces and birds chirping like sirens.  

    We kept trekking after the lights, pausing every hour or so to sip water or eat a little bit of food. The Messengers had pockets full of expensive-tasting bread and pastries, and Amee finally convinced her friends to share with us. After days, we finally came across a small, cozy clearing, but it looked like someone had already been there. 

     Clode assured us it was probably an animal or anything other than another person, but as we settled down, we heard voices.  

    “...Hey, Tempest, do you know how long we’ll be here?” A girl’s voice sounded urgent, like it was the most important question she’d ever asked before. 

    “I don’t know, ask Leuko or something.” The other girl had a high-pitched voice, a little bit like a mouse would.  

    “Alright, but it’s only so long until a Mage gets here. What’ll we do then?”  

    “Stay! I mean, it’s safer here. Much, much safer. If a Mage gets here and they’re nice, well, how about we let them stay? I mean, if anything tries to fight us, they might be an asset or something.”  

    “An asset? They could kill us, Tempest! Especially if one of them is a mind Mage.”  

     “Mind Mages aren’t... well... I guess you’re right, they could be dangerous.”  

    “Exactly." A boy's voice rang out, confident and haughty. "You’re exactly wrong. Very, very wrong.” Oh no. 

     Hydran? 

    I didn’t even notice him slip out of the small clearing. I didn’t notice him stalking through the tall grass, sticking to the trees for cover. I didn’t notice him shuffling through the bushes. I didn’t notice him tap one of the girls on the shoulder. 

    Why did he have to be so damn unnoticeable?