Worlds Apart

Chapter 35

T U N N E L S • O F • T H O U G H T

Oct. 27 2020 21:43 OLT

South of Lohs Llyo, Province of Olli

"So there are only six bloodlines we must be extra careful around?" Daisha asked in summary, leaning against the wall as she held up her fingers.

Riona nodded. "And all the Marked have very obvious signs of being Marked—" she gestured vaguely at herself and her Markings— "so they should be pretty easy to make out."

"Some Unmarked are just as dangerous, too," Naia piped up from the other end of the room, her face curled in a playful scowl.

"Like you?" Elin asked innocently.

"I'm the one with the shotgun here, babe."

"And you've all got different abilities, right?" Daisha continued, ignoring the banter. Elin rolled her eyes, fondly exasperated.

"Right." Riona smiled lightly.

"Jaykio is necromancy—"

"With variations, yes."

"—and that's the crescents." She pointed at the ones on her cheekbones and forehead.

"Yep."

"Orma is the other one you have, the cloudy Markings, for dream manipulation," Daisha said, counting on her fingers.

"Uh-huh."

"Parri is your friend. Light manipulation, Markings in wing patterns on the back and shoulder but we can't see that. Considering they can create illusions, they'd be a pain, anyway. Natun is the Guardian Captain or whatever we met at the Gate. Telepathy, with the crystals on the collarbone and back of the hands. Celèsa, like Celnis, is for amplification or nullification of other Marked. Star patterns on the temples and hands. I suppose they wouldn't be too bad on their own."

"Maybe not, especially since they have some restrictions on their powers."

"Under the Queen's control?"

"Yes, that, and they work best at night under open sky. Their abilities are linked to celestial bodies."

"Huh," Daisha mused, eyebrows raised. "And I'm missing one more." She wagged her thumb for 'six'.

"Ikal." Naia got up to rearrange the old sheets they'd found in staff lockers yesterday. She always went to bed and woke up the earliest to take the last watch shift. "Not sure if you've run into them before but they've got these circuit Markings under the eyes and on their forearms. Tap into all sorts of tech, which is why we're avoiding any places with active surveillance."

She snuggled into the sheets, the intersection area they had camped in for the night surprisingly warm once they got the generator running.

"But you said the Gates were linked to the Marked, right? That each Gate has the properties of each bloodline? But there are only four Gates."

"Yeah," Riona said slowly, drawing the word out. "The Ikal and Celèsa are more recent ones, but we don't know a lot about how they came about."

It was Elin's turn to look surprised. "They just...appeared?"

"Kind of," she replied drily, shrugging. "No one questions it much, though. This place has weird enough things going on all the time, like how the Gates simply exist, or how Evanos even separated from the rest of Earth-side in the first place, or where the sea goes beyond the walls because everyone just dies at one point."