Chapter 19 - Ralevi

Holly slept well, despite being on a bus for the last ten hours. As it turned out, a late-night run through the woods made sleeping anywhere a snap. That being said, she’d appreciate a real bed tonight.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and took in her new surroundings through the bus window. Long faded the forests and mountains, now they drove through civilization. Her eyes remained wide with wonder as it just kept going and going and going. There were so many buildings, automobiles, and people all around and it just seemed to stretch on forever!

The young zalavan knew Riterra was big, but she had no appreciation for the definition of that word until this very moment.

Places, people, things whipped by with reckless abandon and she had no time to take any of it in with any scrutiny.

The best was yet to come.

She thought she had seen a city.

Poor foolish, naïve Holly had no idea what a city was.

Ralevi was a city. One steeped in history with its many well maintained, but clearly aged structures.

This city was no relic of the past, however. The modernity showed in the impossibly tall high-rise buildings, shimmering in the sunlight as the bus casually strode by, ignoring the feats of engineering.

This was normal. These people walked around like these weren’t amazing accomplishments to just have in their settlement.

Holly sighed, tearing her eyes away from the infrastructure. “Get ahold of yourself, Holly,” came the self-admonishment. Her gaze fell on her watch; she twisted her wrist allowing the green to shine in the light of the sun poking through the bus windows. “I’m a Riterran too,” she mumbled to herself. These were normal things, she couldn’t let herself get impressed by every little discovery.

But it was so difficult to stay composed when there were possibly hundreds of such sights all whipping by without a care in the world.

The bus deposited its passengers in the middle of it all – downtown Ralevi.

Holly adjusted her backpack as she stepped out of the terminal and took in the sights. From her vantage point on the street corner, she was impressed the large bus could even fit down these roads. Cars were parked all up and down the sides of the streets. Trees created a canopy over the sidewalks and even the road directly across from her. Maestros and their Resonators were everywhere; chatting, buying wares, eating, laughing, and living life to their fullest.

The roads even looked different, being made of interlocking hexagonal stones that stretched straight in the four cardinal directions.

She spotted a clock tower in the distance. It was eleven in the morning if she was reading it right. Given she slept decently well, Holly decided to wander. She could probably find a hotel or hostal or whatever while she walked.

With a lick of her index finger, she held it up and allowed the breeze to guide her way. Sage Cielto’s great winds pushed her east, so that’s where she started walking. As she meandered along, she noted the cars only traveling in one direction, soon spotting a sign which confirmed the fact reading “ONE WAY”.

“Strange,” she mumbled. Though there probably was some reason for the restriction on vehicle travel, a city planner she did not aspire to be.

The many shops and stores that lined the tightly packed streets continued to inspire wonder in the traveling plant. Little food shops were next to large medical buildings. Many more were just unmarked – possibly residences? It was a mystery.

Just like Pietri, there were tons of palm trees about. Holly was grateful that the citizens allowed greenery to invade their concrete jungle.

Where the bus had passed many sky-scraping buildings, this part of town seemed to be mostly single-story structures with a few having a second floor.

Holly poked into a store labeled vertically as “SNACK”. Minutes later she stepped out with a fizzy drink and a small bag of sweets for less than ten notes.

The drink hit her in the chest with its bubbliness, and the distinct tart sweetness was its own unique blend she couldn’t place having tried before.

It honestly was a poor choice to pair with the cookies she bought – the sweetness of the two clashed. She stashed away the cookies for later and sipped on the cola while she continued to walk. Across the street was an art gallery – even if it wasn’t plainly labeled, the paints and bright colors of the pieces on display were enough to give it away. Perhaps it was an avant-garde sort of place, given the black bricks painted with white text naming it the “Gallery of Art – Marqunci”.

She was never one to be an appreciator of the fine arts and continued her trek, another day perhaps.

More little snack shops graced her vision as she walked. It took a feat of extreme willpower to not stop at every one to try their wares. She didn’t want to overspend and be forced into work that evening.

As she crossed a street to the next block she found more odd shops. One selling exclusively lights? Another specializing in spinal cord care? And even a building under construction. It was attached to both of the fully constructed buildings on either side of it, but this one was missing its windows and all of its interior furnishings. Bricks and temporary scaffoldings lay unused. Promises of new construction with concept photos that in no way resembled the current structure were plastered all about.

Across from the half-finished building was a small clothes store. Had Holly still needed pajamas, that’d be her place. Thankfully she addressed that problem in Pietri, so she could carry on.

Turning south she found her pace picking up as she spotted larger patches of green. Part of the city was cut away and greenery was allowed to truly thrive in this space. However, there were artificial waterways cut through the land and a large fountain in the middle of the man-made pond.

Still, it was pleasant and Holly took a break to snack on her cookies while she people watched. An older man walked by with a small posse of child Resonators all excited playing amongst each other. The Maestro looked so happy.

Underneath a bridge, a man and a woman shared a passionate moment, cuddled up together and exchanging pecks of their lips and giggling with giddy. (Holly averted her gaze, feeling warm watching the open affections on display.)

There was one sight that drew her interest and sucked her in.

Across the park was a chain-link fence with several Maestros and Resonators surrounding it. Getting closer, Holly noticed the fence was quite tall and seemed to box in whatever the crowd was observing. Closer still, she heard the familiar Naturalian language indicative of spellcraft.

Her eyes widened at what she saw when she finally got to take a peek for herself.

Two Maestros stood on the far ends of the rectangular space. In front of each of them were a Resonator a piece – a fire element canine woman faced down a winged nature element man. Holly gulped feeling the uncomfortable heat of her conceptual weakness.

“Lanciafiamme, Forte!” the fire Maestro shouted. His Resonator in all her striking reds moved her hand back, holding it as straight as a blade while flames began to form. She swiped her arm as if slashing the air, and in the wake of her swipe a thin strip of fire shot out. The winged man was faster and took flight.

This was a Resonator battle! She had only read about them, but never imagined they would just be out here in public like this. Some zalavan she knew would balk at what they would consider barbaric, but not Holly. Her eyes sparkled with intrigue as the fire slash missed its mark. The flame spell continued flying, hitting the fence. Energy flickered to life between the holes in the chain links of the fence, preventing even a single ember from escaping the confines of the battlefield.

“Rapsodia di Miele, Legato!” The command from the nature Maestro drew Holly’s complete and undivided attention.

She had never heard that spell before.
She thought she knew every spell the elements had to offer.
Was he making stuff up to throw his opponent off guard?

No, Holly knew it was no bluff, as her eyes were forced to take in the majesty of the winged man. He held one hand out as if bracing an instrument against his shoulder. A vine shot out and wrapped around his arm and he held it taut. In his free hand a small staff, perhaps more accurately a bow, of electricity formed.

Then what happened next defied any of Holly’s expectations – using the lightning bow he played the vine as if it were an instrument. What should not have worked defied all conventional wisdom as a beautiful, enrapturing melody played from the vine. Not only that, but a sweet aroma wafted down from the heavens where the angel of a nature Resonator played from.

“What… is that?” Holly gasped, not intending to inquire aloud.
“You never seen an Ossia before?” questioned one of the onlookers.
“A what?” the curious plant asked.

“Dual element spells. That’s the Nature-Lightning Ossia,” they explained.

“Dual… element?” she felt stupid mimicking what the other spectator was saying, but what was happening here defied everything she knew about spellcasting. “You can do that?”

“Sure, there’s combinations of every element. Fire and water, lightning and earth, you name it, there’s a spell for it,” the bystander chuckled.

She hated feeling like such a foreign presence in this world, but at the same time, her heart hammered so hard. There was something new to learn in magic.

And Rapsodia di Miele… she knew how to use it.