Chapter 8: Sanctuary Sanctum
1898 Words
Key for this chapter:
* Rinzen's Thoughts *
// Anyone Else's Thoughts //
'Old dialogues memories, spoken out loud thoughts, the past in general...'
///Memories///
POVs
""Not an Actual Speech or Thought""
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Warning: Alternative POVs
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1-04-2113 (4:00 pm Frankfurt, Germany)
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Xhe Garcia- Jäger was not someone who quite understood why people had to carry on with fanfare even during their daily life, not that they understood people in any manner. They were assigned as female but had a hard time understanding the want to be a girl, they had a penchant for liking small and cute things true (which as they had found out many males had a penchant for liking too), but besides that similarity, they did not see things as a woman at all.
"Welcome to Frankfurt".
The tall man who stood beside them nodded, "Yes", he said, "One of the few cities that are still an original city", he stated simply.
"That and it seems to have become almost Victorian European", they agreed.
"Well it certainly has its own rustic charm", he mused.
Xhe snickered, "I always thought Re-Villages were odd, the ones that wanted to keep only to magical sects and not use an ounce of technology, to only rely on their powers to live. But I was raised here in Frankfurt after I was adopted by seven Drag Queens when I was nine, all I can say is it's interesting to live in a world essentially called Steampunk-y", they said amused.
Ralph nodded, "Steampunk; a merging of Victorian Europe with the future", he defined briefly, and then as they both looked around, "It's four in the evening; did you have work around this area?" he asked curiously.
"No", Xhe answered, "I was on my way into school", they stated pointing at the large building upon which steps they stood.
"Huh?" he answered looking up at the large building, "This is a school", he noted, "I would never have guessed", he stated bemused.
Xhe agreed, they'd stared at this building too, the first time when they'd come here with the man she called Father Numero Uno, or Uno for short, a little more terrified then. "It certainly doesn't look like one", they smirked amused now.
"No, but definitely a strange variation of a Research Institution", he said, "I was wondering why you were facing a hospital-like building", he stated intrigued.
Xhe hummed, "I don't know why it's designed like this, or if it was an intentionally eccentric requirement, but this is my school. Tobias' Institute of Learning", she gestured. "The 'T' does make for an odd cross if you look at it wrong", they said amused.
Their companion nodded and then hummed, "So the way home?" their chosen mentor in a top-hat asked.
"This way", they said and started to walk down the stairs, "I parked at the back", they said waving at a few passing students, not really calling out to anyone or stopping.
"I'm Ralph", the man introduced himself.
"Zee", Xhe answered as they continued down the stairs.
They made their way in silence and finally came across a parking area of the compound that was gated. The black gate barred them from further entry until, Xhe checked their pocket and retrieved a card-shaped object and placed it across the scanner of what was a simple RFID machine, embedded in the gate's center.
"Is each card different?" Ralph asked.
"If you're asking if someone can steal a card and use it for themselves", Xhe hummed, "Probably", they agreed, "It's not the most foolproof, but it has its security advantages", they said, "And it's petite, so also easy to carry", they said as they pocketed the card.
"Are there no magical keys?" Ralph asked.
"Blood Wards for those who have awakened", Xhe answered, "I'm both underage and still an Opsimath", they answered simply.
Ralph nodded as the gate opened and they waited quietly as a cube was released and deposited via a tray, unlike an old fashioned CD docket.
Picking up the cube, Xhe walked towards the parking area, she placed the cube on the ground and pressed a button, as they both stood waiting the cube unfolded into a Ciel Board.
It was both nostalgic and something Xhe truly cherished. A gift their favorite father offered them when they'd turned twelve. It was designed after the original skateboards of the earlier twentieth century. The deck easily sized at 91 centimeters; it conformed to the shape of a longboard rather than the traditional skateboard. Instead of gripping tape players and users used to adhere to the gripping on the top surface, their board was lined with wards and glyphs creating an almost tribal pattern over the top.
Beneath the board, the key to flight magic had been equipped in a small Mythril wand, shaped into a rectangular tube, which lit up with a fluorescent blue light indicating its activation, after scanning the anatomy details of the rider.
Xhe's board had been registered with their vital statistics and blood type every year to date. In case of an accident or anything that would cause her major blood loss, the board would be able to keep her alive long enough to be transported to the closest hospital, by transforming into an emergency docket and releasing a medical kit that would be available to any first responder or their-self.
"I think I would have preferred a flying carpet", Ralph muttered eyeing the spectacularly designed board.
Xhe chuckled and removed a pen from her pocket and wrote down something on the board, they stepped back again and smirked as the board transformed from a simple one person longboard shaped Ciel Board into a mini surfboard at the length of six feet, easily allowing two people to stand on it.
To answer him Xhe hummed, "I wonder about that, I would give you the coordinates, but I think if you landed anywhere on the property without an escort, Tres might shoot you and that's only what Tres will do to you", they hummed and climbed onto the Ciel Board, "Well come on", they smirked, "It'll be short and painless and I am an excellent rider", they grinned cheekily.
Ralph snorted at the inappropriately laden sentence and hummed, "Okay", he sighed heavily, "At least we both know instant teleportation doesn't render us both almost catatonic unless there was someone named 'Tres' out there", he muttered and hopped on up behind her.
Xhe guessed to a certain degree traveling via a Ciel Board that had handles had to be awkward for two people, but the handles only ever came up when there were more than two people on the board.
"What are you?" they asked.
Ralph paused his fidgeting and then grinned because the top hat he wore had a large brim it gave off an impression of shielding half his features in shadow, not an attribute a top hat actually had, it must have a magical feature stitched into its fabric, not that that made a difference in their speculation, especially as all they were greeted to, was a smirk that had every hair on their body stand on end.
"Very astute of you to notice I'm more than one", he said. "I don't think there's a significant way to explain it, but I'm somewhat very similar to who you are and what you feel like a mortal at this moment Messer Non-binary", he stated with a sharp grin.
Xhe hummed and nodded, "Makes sense", they hummed, "The handles only come up if there are more than two people on the board, otherwise, the gripping wards would have been activated, and we'd just be flying easily with me as the rider", they explained.
"I was correct in choosing you", Ralph murmured.
"Because I'm somewhat perceptive?" they asked curiously as they entered the coordinates on their watch and watched as the Ciel Board glowed blue and activated, rising above slowly.
"Somewhat they say", he laughed and nodded, "Yes, we'll go with that", he hummed. "Shall we go then?" they suggested instead of answering.
Xhe paused and then nodded inwardly they recalled an old quote and muttered it to themselves;
// What's life without a little whimsy? //
*
Ralph O'Connor a transsexual selected by the Hale Academy Ascendant criteria ten years ago had undergone quite the ordeal of surviving in an unknown world and trying to grasp his own sexuality, not to mention the Ascendant virtue of a Chimera.
When four voices including his own had detailed summits before a decision could be reached and occurred on a plane that allowed for time to be spent easily, well-making choices were always a hurdle best left made on the fly.
He'd made his decision to choose the young 'hunter' in front of him, almost as soon as the current ascendants spilled out of the elevator and their chaotic movements settled after one of the students had a strangely almost allergic reaction to teleportation magic.
// Though I've never heard of that before? Maybe it was a form of motion sickness, which could break the constraints of magical protections? It certainly is a mystery… //
And yet, well that was a thing of the past, for now, Zee Hunter was already turning out to be fascinating, besides their announcement of being gender-neutral, they held a deep-seated need to be wanted, and belonging.
It would be a hard lesson to teach, with results that would probably not be very fruitful to them, but it was a lesson that needed to be taught. Before he could continue contemplating anything else, his charge spoke up.
"We'll be reaching my home in five minutes, hold on, I'm taking a shortcut!"
Ralph hummed in acknowledgment and kept a firm grip on the handle as she suddenly took a sharp left turn and swerved through a few FC riders and a few carriages into a lane that seemingly popped out of thin air.
"Whoa…!!!"
"Sorry, I forgot to warn you about the suddenness?" Zee yelled over their shoulder.
"What the hell was that?" Ralph wondered as they rode through the alleyway.
"Emergence Alleys: they pop up at random. They were developed, a few years ago, but they're always synced with certain vehicles. I have a code warded into a specific area on my board and it allows me to use them as shortcuts", Zee answered over their shoulder.
"So not everyone can enter an Emergence Alley?" Ralph asked.
"Yes, because Emergence Alleys are keyed to certain areas of power. Or are ruled by powerful people, my family is one of these area-holders", they explained as they flew over a section of tarmac and landed in front of a gate.
The gate certainly was formidable; it reminded him of haunted mansions on hills. The image that came straight out of an eighties horror film, scared him witless. Heaven knows his sister enjoyed torturing him with that dreaded form of enjoyment that he genuinely loathed on a level that was best left unsaid.
"And this is?" he asked as they keyed in a password he couldn't decipher.
The gate opened with a loud creak that caused him to rear back, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end, he shuddered violently.
Zee smirked somewhat amused at his reaction no doubt and nodded, "Welcome to Heiligtum Sanctum!" they welcomed with an exaggerated flourish.
*
TBC...
- Writer
