Zinc 01 - Altors, page 10
part #1 of Zinc Series
"Impressive." I muttered up at him. He climbed out of it and then down until he stood beside me.
"Are you feeling more oriented?" While I heard his question, I didn't answer right away, distracted by the Pallium eyes that seemed to observe my interaction with Galax.
"Why is everyone staring?" I whispered. He opened his mouth to explain, but was cut off when a tall and lanky Pallium man came to stand beside us.
"Cause your kind," The man grabbed my hand, shaking it. "And his kind," He ruffled Galax's hair, leading my poor guide to growl in annoyance. "Don't know how to speak to one another without swords."
I frowned. "Why would we fight?"
"My question exactly!" He laughed, making me even more confused. "Conium Morrisey, at your service." Grasping my hand again, he placed a quick kiss on my knuckles.
"Solenum Everhart." I returned. "Morrisey?" He had pale skin like every other Pallium I'd seen so far, making me wonder how they didn't tan in the burning hot sun. Also, like everyone else, he was wearing clothes that were covered in belts and pockets, making me realize they altered their attire to help in their work environment.
"I gather you've met my wife." The dark goggles he wore blocked me from seeing his eyes, but they just added to the goofy look about him. He gave off this friendly air, someone you could rely on.
"Galaxi." I confirmed.
"Sic?" I was startled by her sudden presence. Conium pulled her into his arms, placing a noisy kiss on her cheek, which made her laugh happily. The way they looked at one another reminded me of Acacia and Lupinus. It was the kind of love that was considered rare.
"Adepto suus victus." Galaxi said to Galax. He nodded and gestured for me to follow him. Doing so, I couldn't help but look around me again. I could honestly say that for a first glimpse, though the garage was full of grease and loud noises, it seemed to be a nice place. People around me were all smiling and laughing. But not in a creepy or obnoxious way.
"Here." He opened one of the many doors on the right wall of the garage, pointing for me to go inside. "The bathroom."
"How did you know?"
He grinned. "You were bouncing on the spot."
* * * *
I walked over to the kitchen, eyes locking on that mop of azure again. Joining Galax at the small round table he was sitting at by himself, I sat down on the chair opposite. When I saw the plate of fries, I couldn’t help but reach out and snatch a few, my belly grumbling loudly, reminding me I hadn’t eaten in a while. Galax chuckled at the enthusiasm, pushing his plate over to my side of the table as he allowed me to scarf down the food. That earned him bonus points.
“Thanks. You know,” I swallowed quickly. “For saving my life.” This was kind of awkward, I didn’t generally need saving.
"You were just lucky I didn't feel like being evil in that moment." I smirked at the mirth in his eyes. "Are you going to tell me why you were in the desert now?" When I ignored him, he pointed out. "I may be able to help you if you tell me." I frowned, momentarily forgetting my fries. That was true. Going after Cali had seemed like a good idea at first and it still was; I just couldn't repeat the scenario of being unprepared. Shoving some more fries in my mouth, I pondered over how I'd explain.
Shrugging, I decided to just blurt it out, as that's how I normally did things. "I'm looking for my friend."
"Okay..." He dragged out, obviously wanting more information.
I rolled my eyes. "Like, my very close friend. We grew up together in a boarding house and one thing led to another, forcing us to get separated. When I found out where he was, I didn't want to risk getting caught by our guardian and so I just ran into the desert." I waved a flippant hand at his expression. “I know, bardus."
"Yes, very bardus." He pointed out again. "You had no provisions or gold."
I narrowed my eyes. "Did you go through my pockets?"
He shrugged, not denying it at all. "I did. I was looking for your ID. You were out for quite a while."
"How long?"
"About two days. Considering the state I found you in, I'm surprised you didn't sleep it out longer. Galaxi nearly wanted to use a blow dryer to get your muscles to unfreeze." He laughed at this while I glared. "Look, I don't know the exact details of your situation and I'm not going to pry, but I'm guessing the city you’re looking for isn't Cobalt as you aren't seeking a way out of here or throwing questions at me about your very close friend. But what I do know is whether you leave today or tomorrow, you are going to need gold." I slumped back down in my chair, sighing heavily.
"Sic. Gold sucks." He agreed cheerfully. I was slowly getting depressed again. Why hadn’t I taken the time to think things through? Of course I knew I’d had to go fast, but- I blamed Lupinus for all of this.
Galax stopped eating, looking me over. "What's the region you need to go too?"
I perked up, because at least I knew where I was going. "The Meadows of Serenium." He whistled and that didn’t sound like a good thing so the perkiness just as soon vanished.
"That will cost you, due to the boat trip involved. You're not even close to the harbor here. The sand mountains of Cobalt are far away from the city center. And even after you get to the harbor, onto a boat and in Copper Town, the Meadows of Serenium is a very large region. Unless you know the exact location of your very close friend, which I doubt, you'll need even more gold to be able to cover the distance while searching for him." Depression. Crash. He chuckled, reaching over to give my shoulder a sympathetic squeeze.
"Don't pout.” He murmured. “That's not fair. Now I'm obliged to help you." He pushed my pout back in with his index finger and I smiled at the news of him willing to help. "Better. Unfortunately I can't give you the amount of gold you need and sing you a merry fare-thee-well. Like I said, gold sucks. It's hard to get a hold of." When the pout threatened to pop back out, he quickly added, "But I can get you a job."
I'd known I would run into issues such as these. While I hadn't been prepared, neither had I been 'bardus' enough to believe finding my way to Cali would be easy.
"How long will it take to get enough gold to go to Serenium?" I asked.
He pursed his lips. "Stick with the Palliums and you might be able to make it in the next month." My eyebrows pulled together in worry. A month was reasonable. It wasn't like I wouldn't have ended up this way hadn't I run from Lupinus. I’d known gold would have been needed to travel. The worry was; was Cali alright?
"Sounds good. Thanks." I said honestly.
"Don't thank me yet." My gaze snapped on his in surprise. "I don't mind having you around for the next month, if it means helping you out. It's Flux you want to worry about." Where had I heard that name?
"The Pallium leader." Galax enlightened. I was to meet the man that was viewed as a king to the Pallium race? I was definitely not in LV anymore.
* * * *
Chapter 11: Solenum Everhart
"Are you evil?"
* * * *
While in the garage you couldn't see the sand mountains of Cobalt, stepping out of it, you were surrounded. Galax told me that if you dug deep enough, you could find ice from the desert beneath the sand. The garage was square shaped with only one exit, the door with a sliding system I'd memorized earlier. Outside, a stone path was constructed on the sand. When taking a left, it would lead you to the edge of Corium Desert. The scenery changed from a warm yellow to a cold blue quite abruptly, making it seem surreal, more so as the temperature changed instantly when you stepped over the line, or so Galax explained.
When taking a right on the path, you were led to a junction that split into three. One led to the city center of Cobalt City, the second led to the back of the garage, and the third led to the second base the Palliums owned. The second base was the technician center; it was placed within an old castle that was partly in ruins. The stones were the same color as the sand, but the parts of the castle that weren't damaged had detailed ornamental frames made out of Corium Desert jewels around its windows, roof edges and doors, contrasting the warm with cold. The castle was circled by a large river, and it seemed the only way in was the drawbridge pointed in the direction of the garage. Which wasn’t in working order; the drawbridge couldn’t pull in anymore. I’d asked why, but Galax had managed to change the subject rather neatly.
Galax had explained that it was about an hour's walk down to Corium Desert and it took only fifteen minutes to get to the castle from the garage. Although I couldn't see the city center of Cobalt City, he pointed me in the right direction, explaining that past all the sand mountains, the city could be found roughly fifty kilometers away.
Nearing the broken drawbridge of the castle, we were politely saluted by two guards positioned by the entrance. They were Pallium, which I could now tell from their physical characteristics and their clothing. They stood guard in a relaxed manner, just hanging out, playing a game of cards. Despite the casual attitudes, they carried pistols on their hips.
When they recognized Galax, they smiled, joyfully announcing a good afternoon and while he shook hands with them on our way in, I timidly waved. The entrance to the castle led directly inside, there was no inner courtyard, instead we were introduced to a large circular area that reminded me of a ballroom. The floor was what had me stopping in my tracks, and I stared in amazement down at it.
It was a glass platform placed on top of a floor made out of stone, and in between the ground and the glass were Corium Desert jewels. They were shaped into hundreds of small swirls twining into one another, glowing a soft sapphire and lighting up the platform.
Galax pulled me out of my trance by placing a hand on my shoulder. When I looked up, I saw him smiling, gesturing to the floor.
"Watch." He whispered. I kept silent, watching as he'd asked. Breaking our eye contact, he started walking onto the platform at a slow pace. "Watch the jewels." Casting my eyes down, my lips parted. The moment his feet connected with the platform, a blue light shone underneath the layer of glass, produced by the swirl shaped jewels. The soft azure glow complimented his pale skin and brightened his already blue hair.
"How does it do that?" I asked, but then instantly moved my hands up to cover my mouth when the large, empty room echoed back my words.
Galax grinned as he turned to look at me again. "It's the jewels."
"People say that if you purchase the right stone and give it to the one you love, the stone will glow red, like a heart that is in love." I murmured, my eyes fixed on his feet still, sparks of light continuously coming to life with each step he took.
"That is a silly fairy tale. Cute and although it is possible to get your hands on a desert jewel that glows red, it isn't fueled by love." I grimaced at that and he chuckled. "Sic, that kills it. The real reason is still quite magical though." Standing still, he gestured for me to step onto the platform myself. I felt shy all of a sudden, hesitantly placing my foot onto the glass all the while tearing my gaze off of his. The shyness disappeared when I was distracted by the glow appearing beneath me. It was of amber coloring, making me wonder why it didn't shine azure as it did with him.
He looked as curious as I felt. "These jewels are the purest you can find. They are hard to come by as their location always keeps moving throughout the desert. We don't know why exactly, but the color glows different for each type of person." He tilted his head at me, seemingly wondering. "I knew you weren't Civilian. And if you were, it would be with a heavy trace of Altor. Your hair and coloring tells me so." I heard him, but I was having too much fun walking around on the glass, smiling each time a burst of yellow and orange shone beneath my feet. Spinning around as gracefully as I could manage, I stopped walking when I faced Galax again, a few meters separating us.
"Altor is the official name given to the race that descends from the rebellion?"
His eye twitched. "That's a very accurate guess."
I smirked. "It's not so much a guess as it is a deduction. Conium said my kind and your kind are known not to communicate in a civil manner. I may be bardus in preparing for a trip, but that doesn't mean I'm an idiot all around."
"No. You're not." His smile and words were so gentle, the shyness I'd felt earlier, returned.
"So," I cleared my throat, breaking the moment of silence. "What else don't I know?"
"Oh, you're completely clueless." He announced cheerfully, starting to walk towards one of the many doors surrounding the platform. "But we'll have a session of 'frequently asked questions' another time, since right now we need to get you a job."
The door we entered through led us into a long hallway and I couldn't take my eyes off the wall on my left as occasionally there would be a great big hole. Not a window, but as if parts of the wall had been blasted out with force. Picking up my pace, I walked beside Galax and then pursed my lips at him.
"I will be asking you about those, too." I got the clear idea that while the war may be over, a feud was still taking place between the Regius and rebellion, or more officially, the Altors.
"Somehow, I just know I should be worried if you didn't." The hallway led to another door that gave way to a room. It was missing it's left wall completely, giving a view of the sand mountains surrounding the castle. It was pretty, but previous architecture obviously hadn't meant for the view to be quite this open. Opposite of the broken down wall was a set of double doors that were guarded by two more Pallium men. They flanked the entrance, looking quite stern, with their hands on the hilt of thin and elegant looking swords. I was so not in LV anymore. I couldn't repeat that enough.
They let us in without any issue thanks to Galax's wave of the hand and then we were introduced to yet another room, only this time everything was in tact. The surprising thing about it was that it didn't look like it was part of the castle in any way. The walls didn't have fine details around the edges and large sand colored bricks, the windows weren't big and rounded at the top. This was a simple square room, no windows; just the door we'd come through.
Galax tapped the center of the wall opposite from the door. I frowned, remaining silent as I'm sure things would be explained in a second. He took a step back when a square around the area moved back and then a small electronic device slid outwards.
"Flux is all about security." He muttered before leaning forward, placing his chin on top of the device. I let out a noise of fear on his behalf when his eyes were being scanned.
"Doesn't that hurt?"
Galax chuckled. "No. We might find out in ten years that the light recognizing the pupil's pattern can make us sick. But it's not the future, so it's perfectly harmless as far as we know right now."
"Access granted." A robotic voice announced.
"I am so not in Lithium Village anymore." I said in amazement when the device vanished, allowing the wall to split itself in four parts. Once opened, it revealed another large space, shaped like the ballroom with the glowing platform, only here there was no platform. The area was quite simple, shaped with castle bricks, no windows, just one big chandelier hanging down from the middle of the ceiling. Otherwise the room was filled with the biggest computers I'd ever seen in my life. Like, they kicked the ass of the one tiny computer at LV’s high school so bad. There were numerous screens nailed onto the walls, each showing different content. Some displayed maps of Zinc with different colored dots on them, other screens had just rows and rows of text. It was amazing to me because the one computer screen I’d seen had been black and white only.
I counted fifteen people that were each sitting in big comfortable chairs, typing away furiously on their respective keyboards, their eyes glued to whichever screen they were concentrating on. The sixteenth person was standing in the middle of the room, walking in slow circles, following the edge of the floor so he could watch over the shoulders of the people working.
Like all Palliums, he was tall, blond and pale, with eyes the color of coal. He seemed to be in his late forties, a severe look plastered on his face. Yet the wrinkles he sported suggested he laughed regularly. His face was very square, but he didn’t look mean, the better word was authoritative. I guess he was handsome, I couldn’t really tell what with him clearly being thirty years older than me. Unlike his people, he was dressed in neat black pants, a dark grey button up shirt and his shoes were really shiny.
At the moment he was shouting about orders around the cigarette he had stuck between his lips. The people typing on their keyboards didn't seem overly bothered. I assumed they were used to it.
"Flux." Galax whispered by my ear, startling me with his sudden near presence. I nodded, waiting patiently for Flux to give us his attention, and when he did, he did it suddenly.
"Galax! Eram vultus pro vos!" His voice was heavy, booming its way through the room.
"Maybe I don't want to be found." Galax informed, giving Flux a funny look as said man simply smirked back. I did something I never thought I’d be capable of doing. I hid myself partly behind Galax, as I was just that intimidated by the Pallium king. I felt ashamed for the action, but it had been a reflex. Flux looked my way, raising an eyebrow.
"Galax can't help you here, sweetheart. Let me take a look at ya." His voice was laced with a heavy accent, which I assumed to be of Pallium origin. It wasn't overbearing though, I could understand him without issue. I stepped shyly out of my hiding place, as he'd called it, and my cheeks turned a furious red as I heard Galax chuckle. Flux took my hand roughly, making me spin around once. He did just what he said he would do, he scanned me over. Grunting around his cigarette, he nodded, as if... Did he recognize me?
"What's your name, sweetheart?" I guess not.
"Solenum Everhart." I said shakily. The Pallium king threw his head and laughed loudly, making me take a step back again but this time I reined myself in from hiding behind Galax. He spat the cigarette out and crushed the thing under his shiny shoe.
"What'd you tell the girl? She's scared as shit!" Had I not been ‘scared as shit’, I might have had the courage to glare at him.
