The Two Authorities [[ HIATUS ]]

VIII. (Part I)

Aegis tossed and turned all night. Aside from the fact she couldn't get Terf Kross out of her head, she was still recovering from yesterday, brain overwhelmed and threatening to shut down. She wasn't sure what time it was except that it was time to get up. The sun she had been enchanted by shone through the crystalline walls without any interference. Yan's family was adamant about seeing the marble-paved streets below.

Must save a fortune on electricity.

Yan must've snuck pillows underneath Aegis and Somnus while they slumbered and folded sheets across them. Aegis smiled and gripped the soft cloth in her hand. Feeling renewed, she sat up and pinched a strand of her razor-cut hair. It had been through a lot and needed some revitalization but Somnus was in the bathroom. It wasn't unusual for him to wake up before her.

While Aegis waited to use the bathroom, she grabbed a glass on the living room table and peered to the couch Somnus slept on. His covers were neatly folded and placed on the side. The skeptic tossed her covers off and stared. Somnus feigned neatness when he was hiding something. Maybe it was a nervous habit or deliberate camouflage but it didn't go unnoticed.

She leaned forward and glanced to where their rucksacks were.

His was missing.

Aegis' glass slipped from her grasp and crashed to the floor.

A thud came from upstairs-courtesy of something, or someone falling as Aegis leaped over the broken pieces of glass. She kicked her rucksack out of the way to charge the bathroom door with her shoulder. The entire frame shook as she jangled the doorknob.

"Somnus, you'd better be in there--I swear!" She shoved her shoulder against the door a second time.

A frantic Yan ran down her pixel steps in another oversized sweater.

"What's wrong? Where's Somnus?" Yan asked Aegis with concerned eyes.

Probably for her precious door.

"For his sake, he'd better taking the longest shit of his life!"

One final shove and wood splintered. The door slammed open against the wall behind it. Yan and Aegis surveyed the bathroom. Water rushed in the sink but there was no sign of Somnus anywhere. Aegis ran out of the bathroom and snatched her boots.

"I don't understand why he keeps doing this!" Aegis ranted to herself.

Yan walked out of the bathroom with a drenched piece of paper in hand. "Aegis?"

"What is it?"  After jamming her feet into her boots, she joined Yan's side and stared at the paper with squinted eyes. The ink bled through but it was still legible.

Yan's right. You've never seen your parents either but I forced you into an awkward position. I'll find out what the note means on my own. Besides, I've read more books than you. I'll see you at home, Aeg.

Aegis squatted on the floor and stared at her reflection in the tiles. Her elbows dug into her thighs, and hands covered her face before parted fingers forced through thick hair. While staring into the eyes of her rippled counterpart. She looked lost, anxious; the headstrong girl she once knew herself to be, nowhere to be found.

Yan lowered herself next to Aegis and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I have to inform Rorik."

That was the last thing she wanted, but what else could they do?

"Where is he, Yan?" Aegis asked in a defeated tone.

"Rorik? He's at Central Hall. They're redistributing the responsibilities of the Two Authorities but they're the same every year. Rorik attends because the High Priest asks him to."

Yan released Aegis' shoulder and she sluggishly stood to retrieve her rucksack from across the room.

"Then that's where we're going."

Yan stopped dead in her tracks and shook her head. 

"We can't do that, Aegis. The Light Heathens Guild doesn't know you exist. That and you look a lot like her."

Aegis paused. "Like who?"

"Your mother, Navaria."

Aegis' jaw tightened. This was news to her. Rorik never divulged her mother's name and as far as she was concerned no one else was supposed to know it either. She was under the impression that the relationship between "Navaria" and Morvaan was kept secret from the public.

"How do you know what she looks like, Yan? How do you even know her name for that matter?" Aegis' voice developed an edge.

Yan averted her eyes and poked a crack in the floor with the tip of her foot. "Aegis, I can't."

Aegis bit the inside of her cheek. She knew she was being unfair. Yan had already done so much for them. The hot-headed Dweller didn't want to take anything out on her and changed the subject rather than pressuring her into speaking. Yan's empathetic heart would have divulged the sensitive information to Aegis.

"Our world is falling apart at the seams and only these guilds can peace it back together. I learned to accept our circumstances because I can't control my quintessence, but Somnus?"

Aegis motioned towards the city view. "Everyone was shocked when he overloaded those breakers yesterday. All that did was feed his curiosity. He's not content with accepting it like I was."

"Was?" Yan's caution seeped into her light steps forward.

Aegis' solemn gaze lowered to the floor. "I have no choice but to follow Somnus now."

Aegis was striding towards the elevator when Yan threw herself in front of her. Yan adjusted her large glasses with one hand.

"Aegis, there won't be any going back. You'll leave the life you made in Stillusion behind."

Aegis knew Yan's concern for her and Somnus - the guilds - was genuine. Under normal circumstances, Aegis would have heeded her words, but...

"You're a quintessent engineer and your mother is a quintologist. So you've studied every known pairing of quintessent natures to date, right?"

The circumstances weren't normal and she had to play dirty.

Yan lowered her arms with piqued interest.

"Every guild has their own database filled with the quintessent natures of their guildsmen. If we run my quintessence it'll find Morvaan as a match. From that point, it'll be like solving an equation."

Yan stared at the surrounding space with a single finger in the air.

"You want me to find the missing variable in hopes that it'll help you understand why you can't control your quintessence?"

Aegis gave a single nod. "Take me to Central Hall and the discovery is yours."

Yan had no time to ponder the offer. Aegis was already tapping the elevator button with her rucksack fastened to her back.

"W-Wait, I don't get time to think about it?" Yan grabbed her keys and backpack. She slipped through the elevator's closing doors in a rush. They almost snagged the straps of her backpack.

While Yan panted, Aegis stared at the numbers glowing one by one as they descended. Aegis was clenching the strap to her rucksack so tight that creases formed. She wasn't prepared for what they were bound to face but her forced confidence in what needed to be done was overpowering her anxiety on the matter.

"You can think about it on the way there."