The auras Yaro felt were indeed that of sophont creatures; raised to Tukk. She’d had enough of the tunnels already, their gloom, lack of accessible resources, hostility towards her nature -it all beat her down. Civilization, even on the ground, would have at least one access to the surface. And this one, with each aura she could pick up as she came closer, had the entire upper half. All she needed to do was enter inconspicuously, find stairs, an elevator, a warp, or use another way up, and keep her treasure hidden all the while.
She hoped it wouldn’t be a fully underground civilization. Some towns were meant to prohibit accessibility, to keep the others out. Fully in the air, fully submerged, fully dark, fully guarded, all kept by one means or another, a homogeneous and thus peaceful existence; also as a measured defense against some of the wild. Trade must exist, to be done beyond the borders. Cities to her south, what Miraul would be, were planned to accommodate every sophont species: flightful tsohtsi, aquatic Ayyaba’aru, cavernous solumkerd, and surface-bound humi. She hadn’t made it to the continent of Kexist yet, so it was up in the air if they would have such accommodations, at the very least a surface.
It took time to get closer, the few hundred auras slowly came into focus. Her senses were so unused to the enhancement, she misconstrued the distance, leaving a small bit of irritation in her flame sac. The still spent flame sac that wanted more than her to breathe fire-saturated air of the upper sky. She picked up her pace in anticipation, still taking longer to reach the town.
She plotted how she would go about finding out about the town. The best would be to enter the poor district, steal some food, listen to local gossip, and make her way to the merchant district. She could also enter a checkpoint, her background as a dreulbe on pilgrimage proven passable. Going through the checkpoint would bunch the potential for conflict to one singular point, easy to make or break. She could also enter by talking to the first person she saw, asking for directions to a bank or some other non-specific location to gain intel. She could keep to dark alleys or busy streets, that aspect dependent on the population density.
It would be best to scout the town from a distance, see if she could form a map in her mind by the positions of everyone. Even having the jyk so close enhanced her to such a degree, she might be able to… She touched, just for a moment, the light. All at once, every person and all their emotions were exposed to her. It blotted her out. She tripped, dropping her treasure helplessly to the ground.
A flash of light left her flailing excited, unable to process anything.
After regaining her composure, she snatched up the light and returned it to her hood. There really wasn’t any time to get a good understanding of where things were. And, she admitted to herself, she probably couldn’t piece things together with her head too full of information. It’s not only that her senses weren’t made for that kind of intake, the complexity of sophont emotions made it unfathomably impossible. For her, she knew, someone with a natural ability from birth for sensing auras may be able to handle it. She doubted that of anyone in a larger city.
Her smile dissipated as she paid mind to it. She’d never been one for, or able to be affected by, substances such as alcohol or ingesting poisonous plants. It looked, from what she’d seen, to be a double edge sword of enjoyable to use but mind-alteringly dubious. Her atho partook on occasion, Yaro always feeling left out though she would never let that be known. Not all creatures were affected in the same ways, but most had some amiable vice they could use or abuse. Her biological mother may not be affected by alcohol, but renua would have had her head spin, her father had the opposite tolerances. She only had tolerances. Not to the Jyk; was this the feelings everyone raved about? The elation, the warm feelings, the alteration of thoughts, it definitely fit the ditch. She guessed this would be the closest she could get. She didn’t like it, how out of control she was in her own body.
The wandering of her mind helped ease the amount of time required to get to the town. And now that she was fed-up and out of time, she found herself ready to expend what little energy she had on her escape. There were people near, just on the other side of the wall. She’d seeked them out after her survey. She truly appreciated the knowledge the jyk gave her, she could make out each individual solumkerd and humi as if they stood nude before her. She sensed what they did, sitting, chatting, eating. Moreso, she could identify their emotions to the most minute details and changes, slight and brief agitation one had with another’s presumed comment, though she had no way of telling what was said. The feeling of their alertness. She saw that these, upon her encroachment of the town, were the ones to notice her. Guards.
Time and information were two boons she wasn’t sure she could do without. It offered her a way in through this jolly, manageable group whose anxieties were lower than most, timing perfection. What the intensified senses didn’t offer is understanding of layouts. She could sense where people were in relation to other living things and where they moved, but she couldn’t sense anything dead. People could be walking inside or outside —a bit poor phrasing for the underground, more a communal and typically more spacious area— down a hallway that could end in a leap forward or after a real sprint. Where some people were, they were obviously in some private area, either alone and constricted in their working area or otherwise sedentary and isolated. Where the guards were, people passed by close in a more crowded path. They sat to the side, upright, diverse, and ringing in vigil, too serious to be a group of friends just hanging out. And their location, at the very farthest from the center of the conglomerate, must be a gate.
She was ready to face them, mask, cloak, hunch, and clutching of the jyk in her hands underneath a layer of torn cloth.
The faint smell of their meal urged her to remember bodily needs. She pushed that from her mind, the muffled sound of fire crackling and talking finally gracing her ears. She hadn’t realized she would have missed language so much. The deafened wild sounds that followed her for the Yon-taken time may have been wearing on her sanity. Controlled and vaguely recognizable patterns that meant ‘hello’, ‘what’, and ‘come’ she sorely missed.
She followed the noise, clasping her hands tighter over the jyk in a hope for better obscurity. Warmth spilled out from the crack in the wall, touching her chilled skin, her weary eyes, and her nose; a gate of stone blocking her. The spices that tickled her nostrils had her pause, her body telling her to go to it. Another step and she second guessed herself. Maybe it would be better to go to the more empty part of town. Before she could let the onset indecision overtake her, stone ground against stone.
“Greetings wanderer,” said a stout solumkerd with a scar over its left paw. “not many come to this gate, nor any with as much of an exhausted presence as you. Come, sit by the fire and tell us of your travels.”
They offered probably the friendliest check-in any town had offered to Yaro. She expected laxness, but they must not have gotten many travelers to be this aloof. She cleared her throat, the voice that left her still ground like the stone gate. At least she had the accent right saying, “this is very kind of you, I humbly accept.”
They waved her inside, the solumkerd failing to intimidate her as they looked up to her, shuffling the thunderspear strapped to their shoulder. Maybe if she worried about wounds, it might have given her pause. She quickly scanned the others, surprised at the humi that had been the presumed agitator wearing a pristine white cloak and mask with three bejeweled eyes. Performing the action so quick that she thought she might actually be of their faith herself, she made the one simple eye of her mask wink. They blinked all three in return.
“It’s not too often a pilgrim roams so far a field,” they said.
Yaro took a seat on a cousin the solumkerd pulled up. There were five in total, one other solumkerd and three humi, all in red. She silently thanked the fire, taking in a deep, warm breath. Her flame sac felt like thousands of needles entered it, having forgotten what it was like to be full. The smoke-tunnel overhead meant a pointless job for some poor soul. It definitely wasn’t the wicking of the already lacking moisture, her grateful for this, though these two species wouldn't be, that had them stoke flames. She guessed it must have been the visual attractiveness and warmth, a bush grown on the side of the street for aesthetics.
“Do you have any news of Kexist?” The solumkerd in red said as Yaro took her seat.
It must have been the direction she came, which means she was heading north instead of south. Irritating. “No, I have not been there for a few weeks.”
“You must have gotten out just in time, then.”
“Time for what?” Maybe she shouldn’t have asked, she didn’t want to spend too much time with these guards. The light began burning its joy through the layer of protection.
“The lockdown, guess you haven’t heard yet. The attacks have gotten bad. We haven’t been affected yet, but come a few weeks from now and we might not have let you in.”
“That’s not a good thing,” She replied.
“No, so we need to make sure our small hamlet,” he said this in a joking manner Yaro could feel, “doesn’t get invaded by pirates. Not that I’m accusing you, these are just frightful times.”
Yaro smiled behind her mask, unsure if it was natural or enhanced. “You have nothing to fear from me. I will not stay long, I am simply passing through.”
The humi of the dreulbe faith held up a gloved hand, “Please, stay in our town for a while. It has been so long since I’ve had a civil,” they turned to face the solumkerd, “discussion. At the very least, I’d like you to join me for prayer this evening.”
Yaro withheld her assent. “I appreciate the hospitality, but I must be on my way.” She stood up. The pain would be overwhelming in just a few short breaths, she had to leave.
“Excuse me sir, what’s that you’re holding?”
To Yon. She spun on her heel, blew open her cloak, and before anyone could even make a change in expression, she opened one palm and smashed her fist into it. The light exploded, Yaro prepared for the blindness by closing her eyes. Despite this, she could not escape the elation that shocked her whole body into a sprint.
She could hear them shouting something about contraband behind her. They no longer mattered.
She dashed through someone's living quarters, one of the hanging cloths snagging on her horn and ripped. The shouts were typical, she hadn’t cared about staying this time. To Yon, her leg wasn’t fully healed and panged slightly. Her wings wished to fly, her flame-sac saying it was okay to do so. Her brain stopped the nonsense, the tunnels were too claustrophobic. She continued to run, cloak billowing to exposure despite her grasp. The jyk in her hand urged her on nonetheless.
Already mapped in her head by the placement of everyone, she willfully sprinted down the most crowded paths. She shook her head, trying to detach the stray banner stuck on her. Her cloak puffed away with the errant cloth into her holder. Damage to her remaining disguise couldn’t be risked. It didn’t matter that everyone saw her, only a minute or two more before she’d be to the skies.
Turn left, go down, right, back up, straight, and up a staircase, that’s all she needed to do. The straightaway and staircase were going to be the problems, she could sense the rising tension building there. She could also sense the promise of the grass above her.
More people, more shouts, alarms ringing, and horrified visages swarmed. Passage-ways became colorful with murals and decorations. Smells of dry streets buffeted her with a slight breeze. Her feet slapped and her talons tacked. The exertion of spent muscles was overcome with the jyk coursing through her, enough to push those too slow to the ground as she drove through the crowds.
Everyone tried to avoid her or stood in shock, but two decided they were heroes and would stop her ‘rampage’. A humi and solumkerd jumped in her way, sending waves of earth that tripped her, sending her tumbling. They wore red.
She couldn’t be caught, not here, not when she was this weak. These two might be protectors, but they were still people. And people were predictable. See a robbery, turn your attention to it. See a monster, attack it. See food, eat it. See money, grab it.
She let as much of the light enter her as she could handle. Her hands burned with a brilliance she could never and probably will never bring about again. Her awareness expanded, she could almost read their thoughts by simply knowing their emotions and aura. She took it all in, one final look and plan. Then, she threw it away.
She thought, with how much force, elation, and awareness it gave everyone in the vicinity, that the world may be more tolerant if it always felt like this. She knew she didn’t need to see when the pure yellow light blinded all. They all felt excited and confused.
Yaro kept running, down the main street and up the stairs. No one stopped her, they all congregated like moths to a light. She lept, using the remaining strength in her legs to take her as high as possible; it hurt. People funneled into the caves, the absurdity of collective awareness informed all of the wealth down there. She opened her wings, dullness taking her up, up, up into the thickening clouds.
Below her, the sea of skyscrapers reached on and on; there was no trace of the town she’d just ran from. She took time to angle herself south, a large swoop that was easy on the wings. Long breaths of hot air filled her with something not quite joy. No, it was joy, just a far more muted variation, a ravenous joy. She felt as she always had, but it somehow wasn’t enough. Like burning a filament with a lot of electricity but not so much that it was no longer usable. She could still glow at the same intensity she always had, but her eyes haven’t adjusted from the brilliance. And that brilliance, she knew, would stick with her. She took one final look at the silently populated wilderness of a city before breaching the clouds.
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