Fairyland Chronicles - Character Side Stories

[Aaronock]

OOC: RP event last night means I get to write another short story, huzzah!
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A small lamp light glowed on a table within a room on the second floor of the Prontera inn in the western side of town. Outside, crickets chirped, this at least lessened the deafening silence of the room. The space had been occupied approximately one week now. The occupant hardly kept up with time very well though, unless counting the days before his next meeting. He relished living in the moment, but lately found himself unable to enjoy that. Now he found himself stuck counting the days again before meeting Odin himself.

His gut feeling a few weeks earlier that the life he lived the past two years would end burned in his mind further. People…counted on his success. Not just Kotori, whom he’d been charged to protect, that he could handle. Yet, the events almost played out poorly and fell from his control last night when she got taken captive by Lucretia. Success came about due to Cynbel’s help, and he paid a price of his own for doing so. Now their sudden ally laid captive in Mystra’s old castle. Nameless faces afterwards turn to him asking, “What now Ezekiel?” And then that echo of failure also coming with it when some goofy Professor simply said to him, “I told you so,” as if he needed further reminder that they played too perfectly into Lucretia’s hands earlier. No desire existed in him to play the big shot hero, but for some reason, forces worked hard to push him in directions he never seen, much less felt, before.

The options at least available to him widened. However, with no aces in their sleeves, none of them could hold Lucretia at her word. So now he must find something that can pin her down long enough to cause her pause. But now the question turned to, ‘how to obtain such an ace?’ Investigating Cynbel’s home could yield some further clue, but also lead to a dead end. Another ace to pursue involved researching possible medicines to restore the fairy’s wings. The others in his group wanted to talk to the lord of Payon, but that didn’t seem worth pursuing to him, so decided to leave it to everyone else. Odin also could potentially provide power, but a God’s powers always came with a cost. Did he have the ability, or even the desire, to pay it for some Fairy who would more than gladly kill him? What of the others in the team as well?

He stopped pacing and sat down on his bed. To him, this problem belonged to the humans alone. One of their ancestors performed the action that triggered the cruel fairy’s angry spiral. The gods getting involved could have higher consequences than they imagine right now. A ripple effect that meant humans and fae and everyone in between the worlds they inhabited no longer existing with full autonomy for their lives. Ezekiel trusted his own wits and skill to solve this, but time also was of the essence. The more he and the others failed, the more likely everyone would choose to destroy Lucretia instead.

Cynbel said something that bothered him, that despite Lucretia harming the humans, he did not wish to see her killed. Could the fairy’s love truly be so blind? Or did he still yet miss a piece of solving the puzzle? Too many thoughts all at once just made his head hurt after all the battles and stress of earlier. A grunt came from his throat. He better come up with something soon, or else lose the current favored position he had gained somehow with his allies.

Perhaps learning those manners hadn’t been a waste of time after all. Certainly needed them in this situation when working with so many others for once. Silently, he thanked Katarin, and a proper thank could come once the situation reached a conclusion. Despite his own misgivings, Kotori managed to have Ezekiel agree to visit Odin this Friday. Hopefully this test the god had prepared for them could help to release some of those pent up feelings that now stirred inside him. Especially if that test involved killing lots of monsters. That idea he certainly appreciated. His mind began to calm, and decided to boil a pot of tea before bed. The taste would probably not match the one the sage girl made earlier, but the familiarity of his own cooking could help ease any further worries for the time being.