It's been five days since I started this project.
Hunched over at my workdesk in my chambers, I pore over pages and pages of text to the light of my luminodiamond, dissecting every single line of these infernal books one by one and side by side, making annotations that have gotten so messy I can hardly read them, and scratching out frenzied half finished thoughts before I lose them, all of which have been growing evermore frantic, frenzied, and panicked as evidence continues to mount that the information within these pages coalesces to form one single conclusion.
History has been altered.
Unfortunately, that's as far as the evidence goes. It is becoming ardently undeniable that the recorded events of the past have been changed, yes, but that is not proof of the intentions behind doing so. I can draw conjectures that the Scribes did this to benefit the Goddess and discredit the Fell, but nothing here denotes that it was done on the Goddess's orders. The thought certainly holds merit, but it's nothing more than extrapolation at this point in time. There could be any number of other reasons for changing Lumos to Vitalius.
It's likewise becoming more obvious that these books only provide so much. If I'm to uncover the truth behind why these facts have been distorted, I will need to go directly to the three primary sources.
Xikarius the Elder. Primarch Serenity. And the Goddess herself.
The latter is not happening. The Goddess is above us all. She maintains strict and unyielding isolation within the Solaris at all times. Only the Primarchs are permitted to communicate directly with Her, and there is no chance I'm going to get one of them to ask Her about this.
So, that leaves Xikarius and Serenity.
I think I'm going for Xikarius first.
Exhausted beyond belief, I drop my red quill into the red inkwell and groan as I sit up from my desk to stretch my back, my wings, and my tail. No, that's not enough, so I stand to do the same for my whole body. My notes have covered the diagrams and encyclopedia pages pinned to my walls, but I can't even bear to look at another damnable scribble right now. Chewing on a fatty chunk of smoked pork and having some wine, I flop into the pile of floor pillows I keep in front of the fireplace and close my eyes.
It's nearly dawn. Once the day breaks, I'll go to the Lighthouse at the Novum Archives. But I can't exactly rush in asking about Lumos, so I'll need to very carefully plot my approach. Perhaps by asking the Elder for more details specifically about Vander, Vitalius, and Terrelyx will lead the conversation where I need it to go. Not a word about Lumos. Nor any allusion to the fact I suspect archival tampering.
"Yes," I hiss to myself, too damn weary to move. "The moment the sun comes up… I… will go… see Xikarius. Hells…"
Or maybe tomorrow. I haven't slept all night.
I'm damn near dozed off when I hear wings beat outside. Very few people have access to pass through the protective barrier, and my heart sinks as I immediately fear the worst. Hilde has come to confront me on her own. I'm anything but prepared for–
A streak of blue darts through my window like a ballista bolt, screaming, "Ahh! Fuck! Cramp, cramp, cramp!" right before it fucking slams into me at full force.
The wind vacates my lungs but as the giant blue serpent writhes and coils around me I manage to cry out, "Careful, careful! Project in progress! Project in progress!"
"Oh, shit! My fault! Bleh." The newcomer folds her wings and drops limp as a noodle over top of me, playing dead. Hells, she reeks of booze. "Did I break anything?"
"No, thankfully," I chuckle, hugging her head with arms and legs to poke and prod at my very drunk ex-girlfriend's long snout, kissing her nose and lifting her lips up to see her cute little teeth. "Aww. I forgot how small your fangs are. Thank the Goddess it's you, Zip."
The amphithere in my arms growls, chomping her jaws, though her long tail is wagging. In her draconic form, Zip is essentially a slender, slim, flying snake with huge wings and a draconic head. Royal blue and pale yellow, she's a slightly darker blue than the legitimate airway patrol amphitheres, and frequently abuses that fact without discretion.
It's a pleasant surprise. I was set to avoid all my friends, but here Zip barged her way in anyhow. She and I have always been easy company, and we used to race together all the time. We were friends first, then lovers for a while, but settled on just being friends. There's no stress when it comes to her. She's the single most laid-back person I know.
Exactly what I need right now.
She licks my face with her blue tongue and slurringly taunts, "I bet I scared the shit out of you, didn't I?"
"For a different reason than you think."
"What, you thought I was someone else? Gee, I wonder who that could be. Anyway, been a while, speedster. Haven't seen you at the track much, even before you got summoned. Those crawlers of yours keeping you busy or something?"
Oddly enough, I can hardly remember what I was doing before all this. "Um. I think I was studying something. Yes, I was looking into a way to rig up an automatic feeder for my smaller snakes. The problem is, freezing and thawing makes time windows tricky, and otherwise I'd have to keep live mice in an enclosure that would toss them into the snake den at regular intervals. Doesn't seem all that feasible, and I'd fall in love with the mice too much to use them as feed anyway."
"Ahhh, you're such a good mother. If only mine was half as loving. You and your endless pursuit of knowledge, solely for the benefit of your crawlers. Always in those books. Speaking of, what the fuck is all this?"
"Another project," I sigh, laying back on the pillows and nuzzling up with her head. "A big one. I'm so fucking tired I don't even want to talk about it."
"No scales off my back. I'm mostly just here to be annoying. You seemed pretty tense up there on the glorious exalted hero's podium, and I'm a little worried you got traumatized or something out there, so how's about a little Zipster to level you back out? Bring you back down to Avi."
"That sounds perfect to me. But…"
"Yeah, you're dead tired, aren't you? Been up all night, I'd bet. Well, shit, so have I. Big race yesterday, and the Quetzals threw this insane afterparty, and I got so fucked up I can't even really see straight."
"Yeah, I smell it on your breath, you boozer."
"Like a kirin calling a kirin a kirin. Did I say that right? What fucking time is it, drag? Fuck… Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna crash here. Riiight here. And you're sleeping too, bitch. I will choke you out. Lovingly. Sexually. Fuck you. Nighty-night, Crimmy…"
A battle is waged in my head, but one front is the clear victor.
With a sighing groan, I exhale, "Let's at least get into bed."
"But it's so far awayyy!" she whines, whipping her tail around again. "Okay, fine… Hang on."
She changes forms while still laying on top of me, and then the two of us stumble our way to our feet together. Half a head taller than me but much more skinny, Zip yawns as she stretches her blue scaled arms overhead, then drops them to her sides. Her skin is a darker tan shade than mine, she's likewise a thintail but it's tipped with a fin instead of a hardened blade, her slitted eyes are gorgeous sapphires, her short blue hair is styled so it falls into her eyes a little, and she's dressed in nothing but a chest wrap and a very short sarong, off-white and accented with sky blue.
Gods, she's toned. Her abs are almost sharper than her fangs. Flashing her cocky half smirk, she gives me a wink. "Hey, gorgeous. You're a sexy little thing, aren't you? Wanna… Heh. Crawl into bed with me?"
"Is that an invitation or a proposition?"
"Wha… Oh, fuck. What's the difference?"
"To sleep together? Or to sleep together."
"Ohh, Crim. I was hoping you'd ask."
"Me? Wait, no, you asked me."
"Huh? I did? Did I? I forgot."
"Well, not directly. Crawl into bed?"
"Heheyyy now. With you? Anytime, speedster."
"No, damn it, Zippy. You… Ah, forget it. Hells, you're such a flirt you don't even register the fact you're flirting. Are you committed to seeing anyone?"
"Ummm. When am I ever? I don't do that stuff, drag, you know that."
"Then do you want to go right to sleep or have sex and then sleep?"
"Ohhh. The second one, if you're good with it."
"Yes. Please. Can you… I need something sweet…"
"As you wish." She bows and takes my hand to kiss it with another wink and a tantalizing smirk. "Princess."
"Shut up, you slut. Come here."
"As if you aren't a slut too. Mmm…"
The two of us fall into bed together and our forked tongues twist together as she kisses me and lays down on top, happily but somewhat sloppily seeing to my needs. There is love overflowing in this, but it's untainted by pain and history. Zip and I really are friends, and we love each other as such, and there's nothing more to this than a gesture of that appreciation and affection. Afterwards, the two of us nuzzle up in each other's arms, legs, wings, and tails, snickering and giggling and trading little whispers as we drift off to sleep.
The contrast between Zip and Hilde is jarring.
When Zip and I wake up, it's damn near sunset.
"Shit," I hiss, scrambling out of bed to get dressed. "Shit, shit, shit. Damn it, I did not mean to sleep this late. I have to go, Zip."
"Hey, take it easy, Crim," she yawns and stretches out, her long, slim, and toned body brutally tantalizing even the morning after. "I know we're racers, but sometimes you gotta slow down a bit. Let me cook you breakfast, sweethear–"
"No, damn it." I toss a few specific pages of my notes together and roll them up to stuff them into my pack. "No, no, I have to. There's only two hours or less until dark, and I have to get all the way up to the Novum Archives, talk to the single slowest draconid alive, and get back here before sundown."
"The Elder? Huh. Well… Fuck it. We're fast."
"We?" I ask as she stands up and pulls her clothes on too.
"We." She yawns again, tying her sarong and fixing her hair. "Never seen you this wound up. Never. Sounds like you're on a real mission here. I'm between races, so I've got nothing to do. Let me help you, gorgeous."
I'm burning daylight, but she's going to follow me if I don't stop her. "Zippy, this is serious. Very serious. It isn't our usual airway speed citation or illegal racing ring bust. This could be a really fucking big deal."
"Babe, you could kill a man for no reason at all and I'd still cover for you."
"Bigger than that."
"Arson?"
"Bigger."
"Mass murder?"
"A little more conceptual."
"Oh, oh, I got it. Treason."
I meet eyes with her.
She stares right back.
The grin slowly slides off her face.
I tell her, "If this goes wrong, there's a real possibility I could be sent falling. I can't drag you down with me, Zip. I can't do that to you. I know you want to help, and I am so fucking grateful, and I love you, but I can't do it. Please. Don't–Don't make me. Please."
She clicks her cheek and winces, lifting her claws. "I hear you, Crim. That's your call. No scale. I'll stay out of it. Mostly."
"Zippy, no, come on–"
"Hey, hey, hear me out first! You're worried about getting clipped for breaking curfew, yeah? I'll get something together. Couple of my crew. A few choice patrollers. We'll meet you up there and get you home, no proble–"
I throw myself into her arms. "Thank you. Thank you."
"Sure thing, sweetheart." She returns the embrace and kisses the top of my head with a deep sigh. "I love you, Crim. I'll see you around, yeah? You'd better get moving."
"I love you too, Zip. Thank you. Yeah, I'll see you. Um." I double check that I have everything, grabbing a quill, inkwell, and something to write on too. "Okay, I'm going. Thanks again. I'm glad you're here. Really needed a friend today."
"You know I'm always here for you. Whatever you need."
"I really do appreciate it. Um. I don't know when I'll be done, but I'll see you after."
"You know how I love loitering. Go get it, girl. Wings up."
"Wings up!"
We slap our wings together and then I take off at full speed. Zip comes along behind me in my slipstream for a minute or so then chirps a quick goodbye before darting off to the west. I steel myself and fly faster, faster, faster. I don't play around with buzzing people in the air, but I do break every single airspeed law. For over a century now, my racing friends and I have been flying at breakneck speeds, and we know by now exactly how to avoid getting caught. I'm not wasting any time.
I'm going to get some answers. One way or another.