Asad appeared and led everyone inside. Hector moved to help carry Zeff, but a pair of much larger men were already there, so he just stuck close to the children.
The building’s interior left him gawking again. Polished black tiles covered the floor of the entryway, matched by an obsidian lion that looked pretty much life-size, by Hector’s estimation. A team of butlers were there to greet them as well, offering to take luggage that most of the Rainlords chose to hold onto. Hector did the same with his one bag.
‘Wow,’ Garovel said privately. ‘We knew Asad was rich, but holy shit. This place is ridiculous.’
Hector had to stifle a laugh. ‘Do you think he’s richer than Roman?’
‘Ha. Dunno. Now that I think about it, we seem to have a lot of rich friends, don’t we?’
Hector gave a sideways nod. ‘Yeah, I guess so. How the fuck did that happen?’
‘Maybe it’s because whenever you meet a poor person, you usually just save their life and leave, you classist prick.’
‘What--?’
‘You should take a good long look at yourself.’
He knew the reaper was joking, but he also knew that there was some truth to be found there as well. They’d discussed the topic at length back in Gray Rock and come to the conclusion that he should work on achieving a better relationship with the lower classes. Indeed, that had been the purpose of his visits to homeless shelters just prior to his trip to Sair. Thinking about it now reminded Hector of all the things that still needed doing at home.
It still felt a little strange to think of Warrenhold as home. Strange in a good way, though.
He glanced over and saw Emiliana lagging behind her siblings. Hector pulled back to ask her, “Are you okay?”
She looked at him, as if surprised, and adjusted her mask. “Ah. Yes. I apologize.”
Chergoa floated up beside her. ‘Something wrong?’
“No,” said Emiliana. “It was only an odd shiver.”
‘A shiver?’ said Chergoa.
“Goose pimples. They surprised me. But I am fine.” She walked on ahead, not waiting for a response.
Hector exchanged looks with Chergoa before the reaper left to join her.
‘Hmm,’ hummed Garovel privately, who’d apparently been close enough to overhear. ‘A shiver, huh? Is it cold in here?’
‘Not really,’ said Hector. ‘Well, maybe compared to outside...’
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
First! :D
ReplyDeletesecond =P
ReplyDeleteBad premonition from Emiliana.
ReplyDeleteParson is coming!
Half :]
ReplyDeleteOh, Garovel is harsh with his humour, isn't he?
ReplyDeleteThat, or something equally bad newsy. <_<
ReplyDeleteHe can sugar coat... oh, wait, my bad: cyanide. ;)
ReplyDeleteLike the monster... thingy,,, she saw before.
ReplyDeleteYou mean Gohvis? Whom she's seen at least twice already?
ReplyDeleteI'm still not sure if he's projecting something, or if she's receiving. I'm pretty sure she's not just hallucinating, it's too much of a dead ringer for Gohvis and he seemed to notice her surroundings.
Yeah, I thought it was Gohvis, but I wasn't sure that had been confirmed. From what we know of Gohvis' description (monstrous man with black scales instead of flesh), he seems to be a mutation user. Maybe he´s interested in a fellow mutation user? They are supposed to quite rare, after all.
ReplyDeleteThat was my thought too.
ReplyDeleteI caught up? NOOOOO!!!
ReplyDeletePronunciation question here. How do you pronounce Sair? I've been thinking of it as Saïr (that is, i-trema to separate the two vowels ai from each other) making it Sa-ir, with a kind of hard r sound at the end. I'd probably even put the stress on the second syllable.
ReplyDeleteI think that was just her future form.
ReplyDeleteShe thought of that, but discounted the possibility since it didn't have horns and she's stuck with hers.
ReplyDeleteNo reason she couldn't grow the helmet over her horns, though. My fan-theory was that it was an image of the most powerful she could be, given her current link with her reaper, power level, and knowledge of anatomy. Increase any of those and it would be interesting to see if it changed.
ReplyDeleteIts clearly some kind of projection or other mental construct, because Ghovis can't teleport (hopefully).
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that there's something weird about mutators, and that as a result they can sometimes see projections of other mutation users, or perhaps specifically the most old and powerful one, which I'm pretty sure Ghovis is.
If a mutation user is good enough, they can almost seamlessly get rid of old mistakes. They could definitely create another adaptation that covers up whatever is left behind at least visually.
ReplyDeleteI just pronounce it SARE, but I only have my own guessing at the wonderfully imprecise pronunciation/spelling relationship of the English language.
ReplyDelete10 more till 1000!!!
ReplyDeleteI've always pronounced it, Cy-ear. I think it comes from hearing the name of the character on LOST, Sayid.
ReplyDeleteIf mutations users can modify their brain then giving themselves mental powers are not out of the question. Telepathy, remote viewing, esp and maybe telekinesis and pyrokinesis may be possible.
ReplyDeleteI pronounce it Sare (as in fair) too.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that you mention it. I have no idea how his name is written, but around here, due to synchronization or whatever, his name ended up being spoken "Sa-id". It's been ages since I watched LOST, so I might be wrong.
ReplyDeleteI love how everyone has a different idea about pronouncing Sair.
To answer your primary question, I'd consider it a variable pronunciation, like most things in the story. Typically, I pronounce it as just Sare (as in, rhyming with "air"), but I Sa-eer and Sai-eer are appealing alternatives to me. I imagine the folks with Valgan accents pronounce it as Sa-eer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the answer. :)
ReplyDelete"goose pimples" wtf
ReplyDeleteThe world is ending! Frost provided some useful information rather than RAFOing it!
ReplyDeleteI distinctly remember knowing both the spelling and pronunciation of his name, but I can't recall why.
ReplyDeleteI frankly doubt it. So far the story has been based on the one big lie principle (one bit of speculative fiction, fleshed out and discussed) with reapers as the lie. Gaining new powers through the use of old ones also seems like a bit of a game breaker, even if it is only available to a frustrating Magikarp power.
ReplyDelete