Dragon Aster Trilogy

29: SHIVER



Cecil scrambled out of the way when Cirrus woke up with a cry of pain. “Cirrus!”

Cirrus caught his head in his hands, as pain overtook every part of his body.

Cecil smelled blood on him and used his aeri to heal the wound on Cirrus’ side, before getting out of the way as the larger dragoon struggled to get to his feet and see again.

“Cirrus. Cirrus wake up!”

The dragoon opened his eyes and looked at Cecil, before looking down to where Sybl lay at his feet. He fell back to his knees and touched her forehead, trying to see where her psi was now. But he couldn’t hear her anymore.

“What happened? Where is she?” Cecil asked in worry.

Cirrus rocked her a few times in his arms, before looking at his wrist where his Mei to her had vanished. “Damek took her.”

“What? You mean her soul is stuck on Earth!” How could you leave her there? Does she even know she’s Dreamwalking? The Sentry—”

“Cecil, shut up!” Cirrus picked Sybl up and lay her down next to Kas’ body on the bed, as his thoughts raced at a hundred miles an hour on how to get her back. He left the room and went downstairs to where he sensed Gwa. Several dragoons stood in the hallway outside of the shower room when Cirrus got there.

“I’m not taking a shower in there. They have diseases.”

“Did you see his eyes? He’s not even a griffin somnus.”

Cirrus didn’t so much as register their faces when he grabbed the shoulder of the closest one. The dragoon never saw the punch coming that landed him on the floor. Then he stormed past him and into the shower room. Gwa was shivering when Cirrus found the griffin somnus sitting alone on the floor near the back. “Gwa.”

Gwa looked up at him. “Where’s my Beautiful?”

Cirrus walked over to him and picked him up by his shirt, before pinning him against the wall. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“Wha…?”

He threw Gwa across the shower room, where he collided against the far stone wall. The somnus got to his feet and retaliated with his somn, sending a surge of electricity through Cirrus. “Why are you attacking me? Where’s Sybl?”

“She’s trapped on Earth, and whatever you did with her last is likely the reason why!”

Gwa staggered back at the accusation. “The last thing we did was get her kyrie.”

“And the festra.”

“Yeah. Then the creature died. I mean, we were worried that Sial was carrying some memory Sybl was better without, but nothing happened. I watched her the entire time. Where is your Mei to her? Why haven’t you gotten her back?”

“Damek broke it somehow,” Cirrus replied, and pulled his blond hair back and out of his face.

“That’s impossible. Nothing can break a Mei.”

“Aragmoth likely can’t be saved anymore, so it’s possible. I need to get to Earth, but Moon says the Rifts have all closed. He pulled me back without her because of it. ”

Gwa pulled out of his pocket a panel and turned it on, before throwing it to the floor in front of the dragoon. “That’s the panel that Sybl had taken from one of the dead Falls soldiers who attacked here. There’s one Gate left.”

Cirrus picked it up and looked at the map. “Helios.”

“Kas was keeping a close eye on them for some time now. He had suspicions that they were working for the Falls, while under the guise of allies for the Sanctus.”

“Kas’ escort was mostly Helios’ Pack, wasn’t it?”

Gwa nodded. “Which would explain the Fall’s timing of their attack against the Efereal Mountains and Toria. I think the faster we can fly back to the Suzerain Continent, the better. If they had anything to do with Kas’ death and what happened to Sybl, I’ll kill them with my own talons.”

“Get ready and meet me downstairs. We’re leaving once I find Kenshe.”

“Cirrus, wait,” Gwa called after him.

He stopped and turned around to look at the griffin somnus.

“I thought Beautiful might want this fixed. It’s probably better that you hold onto it, since you have the matching one.” He dropped Sybl’s fairy pendant into his hand. “Maybe it can help somehow with it being gold and all.”

Cirrus looked at the necklace. “Fixed? What was wrong with it?”

“The pendant broke into two,” Gwa replied. “It fell from Sybl’s neck while you were Dreamwalking.”

Cirrus held his last remaining connection to his Bond tighter in his hand. There were no memories left in the gold. He wouldn’t be able to use the gold of his own fairy pendant to find her Threads on Earth this time.