Chapter Fifty Three - 053Before him appeared to be a child-sized...anthropomorphic ermine. Perhaps only four feet tall, their body was long in proportion but stood upon two solid legs and held small, withered hands folded before them. A series of wrappings surrounded their body, like layered and elaborate robes once elegant, now moth-eaten. They were also old, their wedge-shaped face wrinkled and sagging as their almost emaciated neck strained to hold it up. Their ears were large triangles that flopped down from the top of their head, and eyes the unstained blue of summer sky regarded him with a cool sort of amusement.
They reminded Felix immediately of the Orit, if tinier. He kept his hand raised, the spell still primed and spinning. He tossed an Analyze at them.
Name: ???
Race: ???
Level: ???
HP: ???/???
SP: ???/???
MP: ?????/????
Lore: Unknown
Strength: Unknown
Weakness: Unknown
So they're either way too strong or have the ability to hide from my Skill. Felix mentally groused. I need to level this up faster.
"Who are you?" Felix asked again, amending his question; this was clearly a person, despite his first confused impression. The ermine face stretched into a sharp-toothed smile, the large blue eyes crinkling heavily at the edges. Felix stifled the urge to call for the Silver Ranks; he'd see where this went first.
"This one is Vvim." Their voice was strong and high, but rusty, creaking with disuse.
"...Good evening, Vvim. Why are you here?" Felix didn't see the need to beat around the bush, the creature had obviously been watching him for at least some time. Probably longer, since Felix had not been able to sense him previously. Curious, Felix flexed his Manasight in an attempt to see Vvim's aura. Nothing appeared. The creature laughed, a dusty cough that seemed kind.
"This one is very old. These eyes have seen many things in many lands, but this one was convinced there was so little left. Then you stepped into Shelim."
"Shelim? Is that the name of the city? You're..." Felix assessed the creature's size and proportions. "The carvings and statues. You're one of the original inhabitants of this city?" Felix was somewhat amazed; he'd expected any people from this ancient ruin to have long been dust.
"Ah. So soon our name is forgotten. Yes, that was unavoidable. We flirt with the edge of Ruin here." The creature shifted slightly, but Felix saw their face twitch in discomfort. They're in pain and their movement is slow. If this goes sideways I should be able to get out the door before they can kill me...maybe.
"Ruin? You're Lost?" Felix pulled himself back in, recalling the term bandied about the Nym.
"Not quite," Vvim's tone softened slightly. "But soon, perhaps."
Felix didn't know what to say to that.
"My...condolences, if that means anything," Felix frowned, feeling a reluctant pity kindle in his chest for this odd creature. Still, he kept Acid Stream in his raised hand, ready to use. "You still didn't answer my question, though. Why are you here?"
"This one is an Eye of the People. Long have we watched the city. A vigil measured not in days or years, but in centuries. The Eyes were told to wait for one thing, above all others, one sign that the end we sought might soon come," Vvim fixed Felix with a gaze at once both mild and unyielding. "We wait for the return of the Nym."
Felix's breath caught in his chest, and his heart started to hammer wildly. What? Is he saying...? "You wait for the return of a--a Lost Race? I'm told they're all gone."
"Not all," Vvim said softly, eyes turning to the southwest before flicking back to Felix. "Not all."
Felix's mind worked furiously, trying to find a way through this conversation. Vvim is waiting for the Nym. Do they know I'm Nymean? They can't, right? The fog should still be interfering.
"Vvim's eyes are old, but not blind," the creature continued, shifting their weight from foot to foot. "The fog does not blind this one as it does those poor mortals who wander into our land. The Geist are strong, they are wise, and they see much, Nym Who Is Not."
Surprise after surprise, this Vvim was delivering them like knockout punches. Felix reeled slightly, his secret exposed...but after a moment of thought, a number of ideas rushed to the fore. "You see through the fog? Like me?"
"Oh yes. The fog is an old friend, an ally to the People when we needed one the most." Vvim didn't appear to move, but Felix was startled to realize that they had somehow gotten within five feet of him. He took a hesitant step backward.
"So you see my Race, yeah? You can see that I'm Nymean, obviously," Felix half-laughed, but Vvim made a short slashing motion with one small hand.
"No. You smell of something else, of somewhere else," Vvim's nose wriggled. "The Grand Harmony names you Nym, but you are not."
"Then what am I?" Felix asked, irritated yet genuinely curious. For the first time, it felt like someone had answers to his core questions.
"This one...thinks you are a promise kept."
"That's vague," Felix frowned. "But I wasn't sent here by anyone. I'm here by accident."
"Are you? How do you know, child?" Vvim tilted their head, blue eyes earnest as they sought Felix's own. "Do you truly know why you are here?"
"...Do you?" Felix asked.
Vvim shrugged. "This one can only guess. And hope." The..Geist, was it? The Geist spread its arms wide, as if in admission of some failing. "You appear as the Nym once did, and the Grand Harmony sings that truth into being. Perhaps you were something else once, perhaps not. But this one has watched you, Nym Who Is Not, and this one finds themself...curious."
"Watched me? For how long?" Vvim didn't answer. "What makes you so curious? And what gives you the right to spy on me?"
"You are the one who entered my Tower, no?" Vvim answered with some mirth. "And I am curious about your relationship with the Large One and her metal attack dog."
"Magda and Harn?" Felix raised an eyebrow. "I've only known them for a couple days."
"And what do you think of their plan? Their rescue attempt?"
Felix was immediately on guard. If this creature heard everything, they could easily tell the giants. If they haven't already. "I think it's the right thing to do."
"Are you not afraid? Or are you so stone-hearted that the threat of four hundred giants does not touch you?" Vvim steepled their hands, tapping short black claws at the tips.
Felix didn't answer, and instead stared stonily at the Geist. He waited for their point.
"What is your goal, child? Not the Large One's goal; the safety of a paltry few from the hands of one of countless threats in this world. That is nothing. A few lives means little in the end." Vvim stared at him, his wide blue eyes searching Felix for...something.
What is this? Felix felt a hot, skin-prickling anger heat him from the inside out. The back of his neck itched and his jaw clenched. "What-?" Felix started to ask, but the Geist kept speaking in that same high, creaky voice.
"Why do you not run? Why save prey that has fallen into the hands of predators? Unless you mean to take them yourself." Vvim paused, nose wrinkling. "Is that your plan, Nym Who Is Not? Do you seek more meat for your fire? More blood for your belly?"
Felix back went cold, his freehand that held the vials feeling suddenly feeling clumsy and obvious.
"No! Of course not!" Felix protested, but he felt as if his guilt flashed across his face; he easily recalled considering the consumption of his allies' blood to learn their Skills. "I would never."
"Then why? You are mighty. This one saw what you did to the corrupted Ofrenok. Why not flee this place? Why risk your life for prey? Why defend those you have never known, for whom you have no reason to care?" Vvim's voice rose, not in volume, but in depth until it shook the air all around him. Felix couldn't think. Couldn't process even as icons flashed in his vision.