The Katapies Experiment; Part 13

Tsuni 

    I was still hung up about Eclipe, but after three days in Necron, it kind of... faded away. Most of it, anyway. I still couldn’t believe he would run away like that. Not that it mattered. 

    Everyone was working on trying to find their friends, and when we found out that one of Soros’s fathers, Inanos Libitus, was elected head of Necron, everyone was ecstatic. Letters were sent back and forth to Vitalos, Nephele, and Divinios, and Inanos sent out formal invitations for the Shifters, Mages, and Messengers to live in Necron.  

    The Shifters and Mages responded right away, but the Messengers never wrote back. Necron sent out carriages and servants to each of the three cities, and the Shifters were the first to arrive.  

    I hadn’t seen Celenni in ages. Her blond hair had grew longer and her blue-gray eyes had a bright twinkle in them, and she immediately tackled me when she jumped out of the carriage, shrieking with excitement. 

    “Tsuni-oh-my-gosh-I-haven't-seen-you-in-so-long-where-have-you-been-my-mom-said-you-were-dead-but-you're-not-what-happened-who-are-all-these-people-guess-what-happened-with-Jinxe-and-me-I'm-so-happy-to-see-you!” Celenni stood up and beamed, helping me stand up and looking around at all of the beautiful buildings in Necron. 

    “I never knew all these buildings were so... pretty! Mora, what do you think?” 

    Celenni’s sister stepped out of the carriage and smiled. “Never been here before. It’s nice.” 

    More and more carriages came pouring through the front gate, and I waited for my mother and Avalain. They were on the last carriage, and Avalain came running at me with arms wide open, hugging me as I toppled over.  

    “TSUNI! I thought you were dead! Mom thought you were dead, everyone thought you were dead... I’m glad you’re not!” He grinned and let go, leaving room for me to hug my mom. By that time the gates were closing and everyone was inside, and Inanos had a problem.  

    “Hello, citizens of Vitalos! Thank you for coming all this way and staying with us! Now, we have a slight predicament... currently, we do not have enough space for all of you to stay in the local inns and hostels, so we might have to move most of you to the castle.” 

    Everyone started cheering, but Inanos shook his head. “The castle is run-down and a bit old-fashioned. We haven’t used it for several hundred years. We will get the rooms cleaned as soon as possible, but there will be drawbacks. On the bright side, there are hundreds of rooms in the castle, so all of you will be accommodated quite comfortably. For the first week or so that you are here, you might have to find rooms someplace else while the castle is fixed and cleaned. I hope that doesn’t put a damper on your stay.” Inanos smiled and started calling over innkeepers and regular people to ask if Shifters could stay with them.  

    Leuko said he couldn’t keep all of us for much longer, so we were scattered around Necron in different gorgeous houses. I was to share a room with Celenni and Leccii. The longer I stayed in Necron, the bigger it seemed to get. How had I never noticed that tiny tea shop squeezed in between two tailoring stores? How many libraries could there even be in a city? 

    A couple days later, the Mages paraded in with only a few carriages needed. Apparently there were only kids in Divinios, and lots of toddlers. That was when I learned that every single adult left Divinios with a Mage named Abrin, for no determined reason. Huh. 

    Not much happened in Necron. Sure, it was peaceful, but there wasn’t much to do other than wait for the Messengers to arrive and listen to Celenni rant about Jinxe Ceraun for hours. I think they had started to date.  

    One night, while everyone was sleeping, screaming and shouting could be heard from outside Necron’s walls. Messengers were pleading at the gates, shouting for help as Summoner guards hurried to let them all in. 

    It was terrible. Isabelline had attacked and captured Nephele, taking almost all of the Messengers as prisoners. Avia’s mother and cousin were captured, Celadon’s mother was taken, and Fuchsia’s father was beaten up and nearly dead.  

   Avia broke down immediately, slamming herself in the house she was staying at and not coming out. The owner of the house said she was throwing and wrecking the things in the room, screaming and crying and yelling. 

   Celadon asked questions to everyone in panic, even people who knew nothing about the Messengers. “Where is she? Is she still alive? Can you get her back? Please? I’ll do anything.” When he couldn’t get an answer, he got angry, shaking people for answers before people took him to a (temporary) prison cell. 

   Fuchsia’s face was filled with tears immediately, and she silently cried all the way to the house she was staying at with Amee trying to cheer her up.  

   Time flew by as everyone tried to make the Messengers feel even the slightest bit better. Before we knew it, the castle was all cleaned up, and everyone was moved to the rooms in the castle. They were roomy and comfortable, and there were numerous intricate balconies and lounge rooms. It was pretty much perfect.  

    As soon as everyone was settled in, Inanos had a meeting with all the Messengers planning out how to get the captured Messengers back. It lasted for hours; no one could decide what to do while it was going on. Once it finally ended, Avia burst out of the room with a grimace on her face and her wings flapping angrily. 

     “Whether or not those Summoner bastards help me or not, I’m going to get Soriie back.” 

~~~

    Eclipe 

    I ran as far as I could. I didn’t really care where, I just ran. Eventually, I stumbled across a small cabin, secluded as neatly as it could be, with flowers dotting the grass around it.  

    There was really nowhere else to go. I knocked on the door and waited a couple minutes until someone answered the door. A woman with silky mahogany hair in a braid and olive skin stood in the doorway, looking me up and down like I was a criminal. It wasn’t like I could deny it, anyway. 

    “And... who are you?”  

    “I’m- uh- Eclipe. Eclipe Halitus.” 

    “And what are you doing here?” 

    “I... it’s a long story.” 

    “Well, come in, I love stories. I don’t think you look too dangerous. Maybe you’ll be a nice friend for Cerise.” I heard excited squealing from inside as the woman laughed and grinned. “I’m Illumine Mer. Nice to meet you.” 

     I followed Illumine as she walked into the cabin, which was decorated with pots of flowers and candles strewn about. A girl around my age with wavy brown hair, tan skin, and pearly white wings was sitting on a chair and looking up at me happily. “Hi! I’m Cerise Lyra. Just call me Cerise. I'm Illumine's roommate. She took me in about two years ago. I heard you have a story to tell. Spill it.” 

    And so I did. Every little detail, talking until the light from outside faded away, making Illumine and Cerise gasp and laugh and frown as the candles eventually burned out and Illumine lit a lantern so I could keep talking. I stopped, finally, as Illumine yawned and stood up. 

   “Interesting story, Eclipe. I suppose you’re tired after all that, how about we get you to sleep?” Illumine started getting blankets, while Cerise pulled out a cot from a small closet.  

   “I think you can stay for a little bit. Besides, Messengers believe in generosity. Isn’t that right, Illumine?”  

   Illumine rolled her eyes and grinned. “I’m a Mage, silly. Of course we do.” She laughed and tossed a couple of pillows onto the cot, then turned to me. “Tell us if you need anything, okay? Goodnight.” 

   Cerise blew out the flame in the lantern and watched as the smoke drifted up near the roof. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw speckled faint light coming from the rafters. 

   Cerise turned to look at me and smiled. “They’re dried nightflowers. They glow at night. If you squint at them, they kind of look like stars. Don’t you think?” She grinned and sat down. “They’re practically invisible in the light, but they’re beautiful in the dark. Illumine arranged them a long time ago. They were here even before I arrived.” 

   Illumine, who was laying down in the top layer of a bunk bed, groaned and sat up, with her hair frazzled and ruffled. “Will you two go to bed already? It’s getting late, and I’m tired. You can talk in the morning. Okay?”  

   I nodded as Illumine fluffed her pillow and turned away from us. Cerise looked at me and shrugged. “Well, goodnight. Sleep well. Have good dreams and all that.”  

   I nodded again as Cerise slid into the lower layer of the bunk bed. I looked up at the nightflowers and realized how much they did look like stars. Scattered all around the ceiling, bright, but not too bright, and arranged in a way that resembled the night sky perfectly. I could even recognize constellations.  

   I spent most of the night trying to recall all the constellations my parents taught me. Every single one. It was a perfect replica. Exactly star for star, spanning the entire ceiling. Even different colored flowers for the different planets.

Illumine had supposedly made all of this. She had arranged thousands, maybe millions of tiny nightflowers, which Cerise said were almost impossible to find in the day, on the ceiling, in perfect uniform. And the flowers were tiny, miniscule in comparison to the ceiling. It must have taken decades. 

   It really made me wonder. 

   How long had Illumine lived here?