”Timeline”
Instruction of the Lifted
[3,285]
Deni's eyes slowly flickered open. A quaternity of sensations came into focus.
Touch. He was not alone. His head rested on somebody else's as the pair of them swayed with the gentle motion of the water. One hand rested on her lower back. His fingers were interlocked with hers on the other. It felt like a dance position. Had they been dancing? That must have been why he felt so tired. That and the way her scales scraped against his made him want to curl up and sleep.
Sound. "Are you still with me?" She whispered. Her voice was tinged with a hoarseness as if she'd been shouting. A hint of a giggle touched the inflection. He could imagine mischief in that voice. Despite the raspiness, her voice brought him comfort.
"It's been a long day," he replied. Even the sentence was a strain. She sighed softly into his chest.
Sight. The pale fuchsia light of the bioluminescent algae beside them cast a dim glow into the dark corner of Pelagia. Her long green dress glittered in the twilight, enhancing the depth of colour in her violet scales. Deni couldn't see her eyes, but he could picture their golden glow in his mind.
"I suppose it has been," she replied quietly.
Her fingers loosened from his hand and found their way to his chest, where her nails drummed lightly.
"Sometimes I wish my mother was still around," she confessed, "so I could tell her I've found the perfect man."
Deni's heart skipped a beat. Heat rose up his back. She was already in a relationship with someone else. He didn't think those words were supposed to hurt him. So why did they make his stomach churn until he felt sick?
"I mean, Mal's alright," Deni said wearily. "He's ambitious. Outspoken."
"I wasn't talking about Mal."
Taste. A hint of spice and smoke hit him as her soft lips pressed against his. Likely from the cigarette they had shared earlier, but Deni didn't care. He had been caught off guard by something he was so certain would never happen. All he wanted to do was to stay in that moment. He leaned into the kiss.
She backed away.
"I'm sorry, Deni" she said softly. She couldn't look him in the eyes. "I have to try and block these emotions out, you know. I'm with Mal. I can't be with you."
The pale velen found breathing difficult. He gasped for air, but it left him as soon as he found it. Faster and faster, hyperventilating until his vision was plagued by black spots. Those spots expanded until everything was black.
Deni gasped as if breathing for the first time.
"Oh, thank the Vis! He's alive!"
The voice sounded feminine. High pitched. Panicked. Raw. A girl, probably a teenager. Deni realised quickly that he was in the forge that he had used to craft that weapon for stopping the wicker worm. There were two figures crouched next to where he lay.
The first was the girl. Shadowy green scales and wide, brown eyes. Then the boy, a little further back. A deep orange, almost brown. He looked even more terrified than her.
"What happened?" Deni croaked. It was the girl that spoke and her words came out in a torrent.
"You were hunched in this corner like an old man - we really didn't expect to see anyone here so it came as a shock! We checked to see if you were alright and you kept saying 'I killed her, I killed her' as if we were supposed to know what that means! Then you started shaking and fell down. I think you were having a panic attack."
She slammed her lips shut when Deni reached for a nearby bottle of whiskey. It was empty. With a groan, he rubbed the side of his head. His brain felt like it was going to melt. At least breathing felt good.
"Wait," the boy gasped as he eyed the pale rogue. He suddenly pointed. "Look at that on his belt! The serpent-shaped pistol made of auritium!"
It was the green-scaled velen's turn to gasp.
"You're Jaculator Deniisis Perfide!"
Deni's headache grew more fierce the more they cited the height of his fame that had made it to the press.
"You helped end the war with the ophids! And before that, you helped repel the daemonic invasion in Terminus and then embarked on the journey to close the Black Portal!"
"What are you even doing here?" That earned the girl a glare from the starstruck boy. They might have been teenagers but to Deni they acted like children.
"The question is, what are the both of you doing here?" Deni retorted. He heaved himself onto his feet and would have fallen back on his arse if not for the table next to him. "A little extra time on your course in the art of gunsmithing? No, I think not."
Both of the teenagers suddenly looked as if they would rather be anywhere else. They certainly were on the course since only students, the smiths and the Epimelitis had access to the forge. But the way the girl pulled her dress down at Deni's words and the blush on the lad's face said all he needed to know.
"Please don't tell anyone!" The girl pleaded. Deni waved his hand toward her as if swatting a fly.
"As if I would come between two young lovers," he said as he planted himself on the table. "Oh, wait. I guess I already did."
"Really, why are you here?" The flame-scaled velen asked.
Deni sighed. It sounded more like a groan.
"Just wasting time until I head back to Terminus."
All of them grew quiet for a while. It seemed as though they had caught his mood. The inquisitive girl was the first to break the silence.
"Who was she? The woman that you killed."
"Her name was Nonovya," Deni replied, massaging his temples. "Nonovya damned business."
Both of the teenagers opened their mouths to object to his antics but Deni didn't give them a chance.
"Since I so rudely inconvenienced that little thing in your pants, I guess I should give you something else to get hard about."
Both of them backed away as the pale rogue forced himself up right. He realised what he had just said when he caught a glimpse of their horrified faces.
"No, nothing like that! I'm not a pervert!"
He glared at the empty glass bottle on the cold stone floor and cursed it for being empty.
"How would you like to be part of a once-in-a-lifetime crafting session with renowned gunsmith, Deniisis Perfide, using vitatium?"
The couple gasped and immediately began to ramble over one another in unbridled excitement. Deni couldn't make out a word they were saying.
"Shhh, both of you, you're giving me a migraine! Migraines and forge steam don't mix well, I can assure you."
The pair slammed their lips shut. Deni took the opportunity to fill the silence with orders.
"Before we start, we're going to need some essential components. Firstly, some good forging steel. Secondly, I need coffee. Oh, and some smokies. I'm starving."
Both of the teenagers scrambled for the door. When Deni was left alone, he lay back down on the table. He could feel his heartbeat thumping in his ears. Light-headedness, a rush of heat to his face. The sensation of shivering, though outwardly he appeared still. Deni didn't feel well at all.
"I almost overdid it this time," he mumbled to himself as he stared at the ceiling of the forge. "I always said it would be a woman that killed me. Not substance abuse."
After a short while, the two teenagers returned. The flame-scaled lad placed a heavy-looking box of metal on one of the counters, the green-hued girl handed Deni his coffee and grilled fish.
"What are your names?" Deni asked as his teeth tore into the smoky fish.
"Senno."
"Venicia."
The pale rogue glanced between them a few times. He thought he had the measure of them, but was not entirely certain. Senno, a boy from a working-class family. His accent had a more rugged undertone than his partner's. It was subtle, perhaps not noticeable to those that had not spent much time in Pelagia, but it was enough. Venicia, on the other hand, had a grand name and an inquisitive nature. Her words were crisp and clear, though not as refined as most noblewomen. A merchant's daughter maybe. Both of them looked at Deni expectantly, though Senno's eyes seemed more guarded, as if ready to be let down. If their relationship was as the rogue suspected, they certainly wouldn't want anybody finding out they were sneaking into the forge at night.
"Let's fire it up," Deni said with a mouthful of fish and the two apprentices leapt about the hall. Senno heaved the heaps of steel to the nearest forge while Venicia shifted big barrels of oil.
"Can you tell us about your adventures while we work?" Venicia asked between strained breaths.
Deni rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. The bitterness made a stark contrast to the smokiness of the fish, but he wasn't drinking the hot black liquid for the taste.
"I guess you're not going to leave me alone until I do," he groaned. "Fine, under one condition. What's said in the forge, stays in the forge. I don't need my dirty secrets getting out."
"Of course!" They both responded.
Once the furnaces were heated and the metal began to melt, Deni wandered over to one of the anvils and pulled a sealed metal container out from behind it. The two younger pelagians stopped and stared as Deni unclipped the lock and revealed the rare element. A luminous emerald substance, even in its lateris form it had a sheen that made it look like a liquid.
"Barrel. Chamber. Grip," Deni said loudly, snapping the apprentices out of their daydreams. "For a pistol, three-quarter size of the military standard. I'm assuming you can handle that?"
"We're on it!" Venicia replied with a jump in her step.
"That's the second diagram from the left?" Senno asked. Deni nodded and the flame-scaled boy hastily grabbed a rolled up sheet of paper from a stand on the far wall.
The two teenagers smelted the steel, talking amongst themselves as they heaved bits back and forth. They poured the molten metal into the forging templates, allowing the silvery fluid to take on the required shapes. Meanwhile, Deni put his gloves on and took the vitatium to a different smelter.
The gunslinger could feel the stares of those wide-eyed amateurs pierce the back of his head. Sweat slid from his forehead down the side of his face as he shifted the rare, emerald substance into the furnace.
The vitatium sat comfortably in the flames. How long would it take before it started to melt? Depending on the quality, it could take minutes or hours. A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Deni threw a handful of powder over the metal. A mixing agent that helped quell the toxicity of the fumes.
"Alright," Deni sighed as he returned to his cooling coffee. "For every passable component you craft, I'll answer one question."
Senno appeared in front of the gunslinger with a narrow steel cylinder gripped in his gloved hands. Deni closed one eye and looked through the cylinder. When he was satisfied with the quality, he nodded his head.
"What was it like fighting at the Black Portal? And at Flumen Petram?"
"Really I should count that as two, but I'll allow it," Deni responded. He sank into a nearby chair and exhaled heavily. "I wouldn't wish what happened at the Black Portal on anyone."
The emerald-scaled teenager looked up from her own metalwork long enough to catch a glimpse of Deni's somber expression.
"I didn't want to go. I repaired the ship for its journey to Krevati Evimerias, and then turned to leave. That's when I bumped into my dear friends who persuaded me to stay."
Deni leaned forward, propping his elbows up on top of his knees and leaning his chin on his fists.
"A huge serpent broke against the ship, storms of hail cut at my scales. People were tossed overboard or eaten or struck down by powerful magic. An arch-daemon grabbed me, trapped me in my own mind. Damn near killed me. That was the beginning. Later, another arch-daemon almost set me ablaze. Almost killed my friends, too. The only reason we survived was because we were lucky. Stronger, braver, more valiant soldiers than I died that day. Yet here I am."
The sound of metal ringing against metal resumed after Venicia received a stare from Deni, yet he continued despite her hammer blows.
"Flumen Petram was different. We came in as aid in the midst of the battle. Fresh combatants. I don't really remember much about it aside from the wicker worm. He threw me into a building. Knocked me out cold."
Venicia came over to him with the chamber, a classic, symmetrical six-shot firing system. She had a wide look in her eyes. Deni examined the component.
"It's a little robust. I did say three-quarter size. Start again."
Frustration boiled up in her petulant expression, but was quelled quickly as she stormed back over to the furnace. While Venicia flooded more of the melted steel into the templates and moulded it into the shape of the chamber, Senno worked on the grip. The loud buzz of a saw filled the hall as the young pelagian carved the grip out of some dark wood. Even Deni began his own project from some of the scrap steel as he watched the vitatium burn, gently hammering and chiseling warm steel into decorative metalwork.
Eventually, Venicia had finished making the chamber and Deni inspected it once again. He nodded.
"Who was the woman you killed?"
Senno winced at the boldness of her question as he deactivated the saw. Ordinarily, the rogue would have reached for a bottle or a cigarette before answering, but he still felt delicate after his overdose. He sighed wearily.
"She was the first woman I ever really loved," he said simply. It sounded like the words were being dragged out of him and every syllable was a thorn in his tightening chest.
"When I was living in the waterways, I tried to join a gang, but they wouldn't let me in."
Deni laughed heartily.
"I made them take me in. She was the leader's partner. Power-tripping sphincter, he was. None of us had very much but each other and she and I…"
Deni's blue eyes glanced between the two teenagers who were staring intently, hanging on the precipice of his words as if their lives depended on what he would say next.
"Right there, sharing scraps of someone's leftover takeaway and drinking cheap booze with her was the only place I wanted to be. Then, I killed her."
"Why?" Venicia asked, wiping her eyes on her arm.
"Because someone betrayed the gang and they all got killed," Deni said through his teeth. He growled and forced himself to take on a neutral tone. "Our enemies looked straight at her and let her by while they slaughtered the others. Then, it was only the two of us left. Right now that sounds perfect, but back then… how could I trust someone that would kill the only friends she had ever had? I couldn't leave her alive, I'd be looking over my shoulder the rest of my life. I was so naive. Thought I was so damned clever."
The forge became silent except for the crackling furnaces. Eventually, Deni barked a laugh. It was a bitter sound.
"You see now? I'm no hero. I'm a coward. A coward that knows guns."
His agitated blue eyes glanced into the furnace next to him to check on the vitatium.
"So let's make a gun."
The two teenagers were a lot quieter while Deni worked the vitatium. They could have just been concentrating on how he grasped the bright green metal with his tongs, but he knew that wasn’t the case. It was unlike him to act so emotionally. Why had he divulged so much information? There wasn’t a being alive that knew about what happened with his old gang, other than himself. Now there were two more. Perhaps it was being back in Pelagia. As much as he had once loved the city, he could no longer stand the sight of it after what he had done.
“I don’t think killing someone you love is cowardly,” Venicia said suddenly.
“Veni,” her partner warned, shaking his head, but she didn’t relent.
“It would take more courage than killing anyone else.”
Deni laughed.
“You’d think so,” he grunted as he took a hammer to the smaller more intricate vitatium components. “Turns out, she was innocent.”
He tapped gently at the green metal parts. As he had suspected, it was easier to mould than regular metals. It was softer, more slippery, like hammering a bar of soap. His eyes narrowed to a squint as he held the miniscule green pieces and delicately shaped them.
“Later, I found a letter proving the betrayal from another member of the gang.”
The teenagers both gasped as he moved onto the next piece of vitatium.
“Her last words were begging for her life and insisting upon her innocence. I should have listened to her.”
When Deni set the completed vitatium down to cool, his hard stare made them both look as though they had done something wrong.
“What are you doing just gawking there? Gather the parts, we’re going to put this thing together.”
Once all the parts were gathered, Deni used a multitude of tools to connect them together. A dark wooden grip, leading into a silvery chamber. Two metal wings were fused with the sides of the barrel and the edge of the nozzle was protruding out of a bird’s beak. Two miniscule emerald-like gems marked the bird’s eyes. When it was complete, the gun gave off a faint green glow when it hit the light, since most of the vitatium components were part of mechanisms on the inside of the weapon. The two teenagers stared as Deni pointed it at a wall and tested the trigger. It made a satisfying click.
“If you can handle the fragility of the smaller components, use the majority of your terra regia there. It makes the gun fire so much smoother. I think this is my best work yet.”
Deni stared at the pistol for a moment. If this gesture didn’t prove where his heart lay… well, he didn’t know any other way.
“I’ll test the sights later, but first thing’s first.”
He pulled the auritium pistol off his belt with his free hand and aimed it at the two apprentices. Their eyes quickly welled up with terror.
“Nobody else knows the secret of the woman I loved and killed. I can’t allow it to get out, you see, it will ruin my reputation. I’m going to have to kill you both.”
“Wait! Please don’t-”
“But we… why-”
Deni pulled the trigger and the pair of them squeezed their eyes shut. A faint click. And then the pale gunslinger emitted a deep chuckle. Eventually, the sweating couple joined in.
“Seriously, though. No telling. Or I will have to come and find you.”
Senno gulped and Venicia nodded furiously.
“Thanks for all you have taught us, Jaculator Deniisis Perfide,” the green-scaled girl said with a bow.
“Yes, thank you,” Senno added.
“Deni is fine," the rogue insisted, "and remember: none of this happened."