Chapter 27: Spineless leaf, soft soil

A board was slid slowly atop a small post holding its weight. The board held a diagram on its surface, one that the others recognized, but the two children were at a slight loss.

Rowen began to explain, pointing to a line settled between the diagram of the reverse city.

“Think of this as a boundary, it is essentially impossible to cross forcefully, like an visible wall that we can refer to here in the city as the sky.”

Seeing Agi’s faint acknowledgment he continued, “The sky is the center of inversion, anything that crosses this point will become inverted, this means anything.”

His visage became a bit eerie, “If you somehow managed to reach this boundary, instead of passing through it—you will become inverted, and set barreling into the ground.”

Agi frowned, “Then how are we supposed to cross over?”

Instead of answering he said, “I’ll get to that, first let me finish the basics.” He pointed to the two points of the city, on the diagram what was see was two cities, they looked exactly the same, but one was upside down in the sky, while the other was grounded.

“This,” He said pointing to the city in the sky, “Is often called the upper city.” He moved down to the one below, “While this is referred to as the lower city.”

But he shook his head soon after, “Though its a pointless phrasing, nobody really knows which one is the upper city, and which one is the lower city. The barons who should know, tend to keep a tight lip about it.”

Agi looked at his hands in contemplation, “So this is the reverse city…”

Rowen let out a subtle laugh, “No, this is merely the surface, this place holds many strange things.”

He pointed to an obelisk looking structure floating between the skies, “These are called the spirals.”

He pointed around, “There are many spirals, and they are the single method to travel between the cities… But they are dangerous. Entering a spiral is equivalent to risking your life, even the barons rarely dare to enter.”

Soma let out a drunken chuckle, “Ask Sammy over there, He’d know.”

The man in question shot her a slightly hateful gaze, then cleared his throat, “It was only a minor situation.”

Agi looked over with a raised eyebrow, “You went through a spiral?”

Rowen interjected, “When we first arrived, by luck most of us had been together, but Samuel was nowhere to be found, I was forced to go through a spiral to find him.”

Agi studied Rowen for a moment, his motivations were always unclear to Agi, just what did he gain for that? Risking his life for what?

Because Samuel is strong? If he wasn’t wrong Rowen should be just as strong…

Ananda gave Soma a glare with mirth as well, “It was hardly funny, if you told me that he experienced death in there I’d have believed it.”

The boy grew even more curious, while Lucille was surprisingly quiet.

Likely in shock from Agi’s station, or feeling awkward at the intensity of the conversation. Agi directed his gaze at Ananda,

“It was that bad?”

She scoffed, “Of course it was! I–”

Suhail cut her off with a tilt of his head, “Oh yeah, isn’t that when you cursed out Agi, saying it was his fault?”

Ananda grit her teeth, she glanced at Agi for a moment, a bit worried the crazy child would retaliate.

But in fact, she felt slightly more fearful seeing the calm, cold gaze. It was completely inhuman.

Samuel cut them off, “Enough, This is pointless. Interruptions from now on will not be tolerated.”

Agi stared at Samuel, and the room felt like it chilled ever so slightly, it was subtle, perhaps the only person who noticed the wicked scaled and feathered creature wrapping around Agis limbs was Lucille.

“He’s hiding something…”

But he let it go for now, focusing on Rowen’s board again.

“For now… We don’t have to worry about the spirals.”

He moved the board revealing a new one beneath, this one being a diagram of the body vessel.

“There is something called the three inversions within the reverse city.”

He tapped the boundary point, “First, the flow of soul is completely inverted. Nobody knows why, but it functions mainly the same, outside of a couple weeks of adjustment.”

He turned back to the group, “Though as you all know, this process can be sped up marginally with some assistance by someone already adjusted. It’s as simple as circulating soul while in contact.”

He glanced at Samuel, then back to Agi, “I’m sure you experienced something similar, when Samuel did this for you.”

Agi gave a nod of affirmation, drawing a glance from Samuel.

He had been very confused about this, by the time he had arrived, not only had Agi already acclimated, but he had even crushed Saku, someone who had spent their entire life in the city.

Agi leaned on his palm, ignoring Samuels glance, others were insistent on hiding things from him, then he planned on reciprocating.

It was a childish, but he couldn’t express his frustration any other way, if he did, he feared what he may do.

Rowen and Samuel shared a look as they felt the shift in Agis state, but they mutually decided to leave it be.

Rowen continued, “There is a space in the very center, between both cities, and between the inversions, its called the door.”

He let out a sigh, “I don’t really know why, like most thigs around here, but this could be called the second inversion, the inversion of concepts. The one thing this inversion tells us, is that its not impossible for abstract things to suddenly become inverted.”

He set down the stick he was using as a pointer, “The third inversion… this is the most important, as this can be carried outside the reverse city.”

He took a step, and begun to stand on nothing.

“Its similar to the second inversion, in fact, it was conceptualized by watching it.”

He flicked out his arm, which suddenly shot up despite the clear indication that he would strike down.

Agi looked with intensity, his gaze burning to understand.

“Think of this as taking the concept of inversion and applying it to yourself. Outside of the Reverse city, its limited, at most a single step, or changing the direction of a swing slightly.”

Agi nodded slowly, “The feeling… describe the feeling.”

Rowen dropped from the air and settled back onto the ground, he thought for a moment, “Hm… It’s like being half submerged in a bath… I guess?”

He didn’t seem to grasp the feeling well, “But you don’t have to worry, the third inversion is a naturally occurring phenomena, it seemed as soon as someone created the concept, people began to realize they were already capable of doing it with relative ease. You just have to be here long enough.”

Agi only barely hid his grimace, he was not like the others–He had not acclimated, he had forcefully carved out stability from this place.

This was a problem he would have to solve.

Lucille looked curiously at Agi for a long time, “You can’t do it?” She asked with a slight frown.

And in response Agi muttered something under his breath before glancing at her, “You can?”

She nodded hesitantly, “Well of course I can…”

He eyed her, “This is perfect.” He was almost elated, he couldn’t go to Rowen, he might see through his lie.

He left a lingering gaze, “Tell me later.” He then turned his attention back to Rowen.

Lucille was a bit upset from being disregarded so readily, but she had rarely met someone her age, so she only nodded.

Rowen pulled the board away, handing it to a nearby servant, beneath was a layout of the reverse city, “Next, I’ll explain perhaps the most important part. The territories.”

On the drawn city were four separately colored lines, they never crosses over one another, and one of them was isolated from the others in what seemed to be a dead zone.

It was the only location colored in gray.

He pointed to the gray zone first, “This is something of a middle ground, its chaotic and it is rife with bloody conflict.” His finger trailed down, setting on an area colored in purple, “This is the territory claimed by the Linwood family.”

The words settled for a moment,

“Linwood…” The name felt heavy, and Agi’s eyes set forward.

Rowen continued, “The Linwood family isn’t known for being particularly remarkable. Their patriarch, Sebastien Linwood, is however a very well known man.”

He waved his hand, “He’s somewhat mysterious, in the sense that nobody can really gauge his thoughts, his every action is often ambiguous, but when he moves it is always calculated.”

Gesturing to the edge of the Linwood territory he continued, “This section here, was claimed only recently by the Linwood Family from the not so reputable House Finley.”

Samuel cranked an his head slightly at Rowen’s remark on House Finley, but ignored it as he continued.

“In recent years, The Linwood family has only participated in two major conflicts, the first was within the gray zone, which is typically referred to as the tides.”

“In the tides, the Linwood family was determined to gain a portion of it closest to themselves, and in some kind of miracle, managed to succeed, transforming a block of lawless land into their territory.”

He saw the unimpressed look on their faces and shook his head, “You’re all failing to understand how impressive it really is achieving such a decisive victory in the tides.”

Soma crossed her arms, seemingly sober for this meeting, “So what if they can take control of some lawless part of the city? They have an entire military force.”

Samuel nodded as well, “Soma’s right, so just what exactly is going on in the tides?”

“It’s simple really, the tides are filled with the people of the four barons, they are just pretending to be common criminals while actively impeding one another from gaining ground,”

He paused for only a moment,

“Claiming a portion of the tides, and actually holding onto it? It’s almost the same as beating the other three barons at the same time.”

Their eyes all settled on the baron of the east—

Sebastien Linwood.

Ananda tapped on the desk, “That may be so, but in what world does that make them unremarkable? Seems the opposite to me.”

Rowen nodded, “It would seem that way, But both of their major recent victories, both claiming territory from House Finley, and claiming territory from the tides, share one thing in common—

There was hardly any fighting.”

Agi frowned the most, while Samuel was immediately launched into thought.

Suhail snorted, “So you mean it’s worse than thought?”

Rowen nodded with a sigh, “I’m afraid so, the Linwood house rarely engages in conflict, and when they do, it is almost always a decisive victory. But they are so out of the loop they are often overlooked.”

Agi gnawed his inner cheek, “Alright, let’s move on for now.”

The little girl didn’t really understand their conversation, idly drawing on a board that was handed to her by an attendant.

Rowen nodded, “Compared to the Linwood Family, House Finley is actually unremarkable. They have utterly nothing of note. No conflicts, friendly relations all around, the only outlier, is perhaps they have the most unruly bunch of members.”

“Most criminals come to the Reverse city, it’s a form of freedom, despite still being a cage. A lot of the most dangerous criminals find themselves joining the lax House Finley, It’s been called the scourge of the south for this very reason.”

“They also wield the smallest territory.”

There was a slow silence that permeated the room until Ananda broke it, “So… that’s really it for them? Nothing of note whatsoever?”

Rowen coughed awkwardly, “Well, from what I’ve gathered the situation seems to be this way, even when I was a kid it was the same.”

Samuel just sighed, “No matter, lets move on.”

“Right, in the north rests House Salvatore, even amongst the houses in the other city, It’s said that they are the most powerful.”

The green shaded in area was marginally larger than the others, “They boast not only the largest territory, but the greatest physical force. With a truly monstrous military they are the single greatest threat in this place.”

He looked at Agi deeply, “They handled everything with an iron fist, not allowing a moment to speak back. If you meet Faustin Salvatore, be ready for a bloody combat.”

The boy nodded slowly, “If they are so powerful, then why haven’t they taken the tides?”

Rowen crossed his arms, “Who do you think created the tides? From the legends I’ve heard, in his youth Faustin was known as the Patriarch, in other words, he owned the entirety of this city.”

He pointed down, “Perhaps down there things were different,” He seemed to assume they were in the upper city, “But it didn’t last long either way.”

“Some kind of revolt happened, splitting this city back into its traditional four baron system. The original territory where the main manor of Faustin was set, was in the tides.”

“Nowadays, the three are constantly working to suppress his prescence in the Tides, and being in the North, his main force is actually situated farthest away from the tides, stopping him from taking it forcefully.”

The group absorbed the information and finally Rowen moved onto the final house.

“The Final baron… House Maris, led by Johnathan Maris… My Father.”

Suhail’s composed demeanor fractured as his chair stumbled back, andfrom his position on the floor he looked up at Rowen, “Seriously?”

Rowen grit his teeth, “Unfortunately, yes. I take no pride in my father.”

Agi eyed him curiously, his serpentine pupils gauging every movement,

The golden haired man seemed oblivious while he continued, “House Maris is the greatest economic power the Reverse City has to offer. It is an undeniable truth, and an impossible economic wall to overcome.”

The flicked a coin from his pocket, it was engraved with a small sun, “These coins, called little suns, suns, and large suns, are a rudimentary currency created and spread by House Maris.”

Suhail fixed his chair, listening curiously as Rowen started again, “Everyone trades with suns. The exchange rate is around 50 of the previous make 1 of the next.”

Agi didn’t know much about money, so he only glanced up at Samuel who gave him a reassuring nod.

“To put it simply, unless we plan on starting a trade war, they shouldn’t be much of a worry.”

The monstrous child felt there was more to the story, but for the time being he relented.

He pondered for a while in silence, “To pass the trial… we must unite the reverse city.”

Rowen stared at Agi with wide eyes, “Are you– Oh my… you’re serious….”

It was like his world came crashing down, “I see… but this is no different from a life sentence,” All of a sudden many of the events within the Reverse City made sense in Rowen’s mind.

He looked down at the table and Rowen offered his advice, “Then… We should start in the east, with the Linwood Family, They are a complete unknown, and likely wouldn’t handle the unexpected well. Compared to the others, we have much more to worry about if the Linwood family begins to plot behind our back.”

Samuel nodded, “I agree.”

Ananda cleared her throat, “Well, I suppose I do too.”

Soma gave her a sidelong glare, “Of course you do.” She scoffed.

Ananda shot her a glare, “What was that?”

Agi glanced at Suhail, cutting off the bickering women, “What about you?”

Suhail shrugged, “Well, that Linwood family is fine, but shouldn’t we go after that House Finley, they’re an even greater unknown!”

Samuel thought for only a moment, “They are outwardly weak, I doubt they’d be willing to drop years of progress because of the Linwood family, not to mention that they might become overjoyed at the loss of such a sleeping giant, and in the best case they may end up underestimating us.”

“If that happens, delivering a decisive blow wouldn’t be hard.”

Agi looked at Soma, “What about you?”

She looked inside the bottle in her hand, “Well, the Linwood family seems like the best bet.”

Agi stands up, “Then it’s decided.”

He glanced at Lucille, whos invested in drawing—

SHAW!

A coincidence?

His mind ran, images flickered through his head.

A scaled and feathered serpent like lizard crawled hazily up his body as a torrential force poured out from him.

Why was that here?

Only two people had ever seen it…

So why…?

Why was Lucille drawing his inner world?

Samuel Grimaced, “Agi!” He called,

Immediately Agi snapped out of it, looking around and shaking his head, “I’m Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

Samuel set a hesitant hand on his shoulder, his gaze glancing at the eerie drawing from Lucille,

A vividly depicted forest, its edges were pitch black, an eerie pair of slit eyes lingering just beyond sight.

“It’s alright Agi. It’s getting late, I’ll have an attendant show you your room.”

Agi nodded slightly, “Sure…”

Lucille hopped up following Agi with a silence that now made Agi feel uneasy.

The two left the room, an attendant in tow.

Meanwhile, Samuel looked around the table, “Agi is unstable. It’s becoming worse and more dangerous especially as he becomes stronger, we all heard it, Agi is something called an Arch-Human, I don’t know what that is…”

“But it seems far too similar to an inheritance. So we should treat him like one. Try not to provoke him for now.”

Rowen nodded, patting Samuels shoulder as he walked by, “I’ll keep it in mind, I’m turning in for the night, we have busy days ahead of us.”

Samuel returned a curt nod, “You’re right, Getting some rest would be best.”

He decides to get some rest as Ananda falls in line behind him somewhat naturally, earning a glance from both Suhail and Soma.

And finally, only the two were left.

Soma stood up, throwing back another drink as she stumbled to the door,

He let out a derisive chuckle under his breath,

She turned back to glare at him, “What?”

He shrugged, “Nothing.”

She huffed deciding to ignore him,

“Just…” Suhail began, “I’m not surprised a little girl from the clergy doesn’t know how to fake it.”

She stopped, her hand halfway to the handle, “Do you have something to say?”

He straightened his back, “How’s that drink, Soma? Is it bitter?”

“That’s life, and if you’re going to drink it away,”

He walked over, taking the drink from her hand, “At least drink something good.”

He pushed out the door and left a stunned Soma there.

She put a finger gently on the embroidered eyepatch.

A shaky breath left her,

“Damn it…”

The captains settled for bed, and though Agi was tired, he couldn’t bring himself to settle into bed, instead opting to head toward the garden he had found himself in earlier that day.

The attendant had long since been dismissed, and now,

It was only Agi, Lucille, and his hand, twitching to slaughter a potential danger.

He stared into her silver eyes, the garden dimly lit by some fluorescent silvery light high above within the Reverse City,

“That drawing, what was that?”

She tilted her head, “Hm… I’m not sure, it just came to me while looking at you.”

Agi nodded slowly, “Lucille, have you ever thought, that life is so unfair?”

Agi crouched down, looking at a flower then—

Squii

It crushed beneath his fingers, “That some things leave too easily?”

She shook her head, “I don’t know.”

Agi smiled bitterly at himself, “So you don’t know. Mm, I don’t know either.” He stood up and looked at her,

“I can’t hurt another person so easily, I can’t make them leave so early, But I can’t let myself be used.”

His pupils were dialated, a little crazed,

“I have to cut off any dangers.”

He took a step closer,

“I can’t risk any more.”

He started raising his hand,

and her voice flowed into his ear, “What do you mean?”

He looked down on her, “That drawing, do you really know nothing about it?”

She shook her head slowly, “It felt… Lonely, like when mother leaves.”

Agi grit his teeth, “Like when mother leaves?” He gnashed his teeth together wickedly, “What is she talking about? I don’t care about that…”

He eyed her for a moment, then his hands finally unclenched—

“I see. She really doesn’t know… She doesn’t understand.”

His shoulders dropped slightly as the familiar visage of the ground swept into his vision,

“She’s just a child.”

She titled down, looking up at him from below, “Are you okay, Agi?”

He let out a long breath of air, “Yes, I’m fine.”

“I’m the strange one. It’s me.

He looked into her eyes, “You said you planted some of these yourself?”

“I don’t care about flowers, they can be easily trampled.”

She beamed, “Yes! Come follow me!”

He followed behind, and yet a single question ate his mind,

“Just why can you see my inner world…”

He left the thought behind with every thought.

He focused on the child in front of him, she took graceful steps, humming to herself a tune that Agi did not know.

In fact, he did not know any songs, let alone what she could be humming.

Did she not understand?

So many of these people would show him their backs without a second thought, they would let their lives dangle on a thin string, not even aware of the snapping fibers.

In Agi’s eyes, it was utterly incomprehensible, they didn’t trust him, maybe follow him out of necessity, but their was no trust.

Are humans so willing to bet their lives on something so fragile?

He wasn’t. Not anymore, he never wanted to bet his life—

He would never be the one attached to a string again.

Dancing around like a fool, struggling to scratch out a moment of space.

He could not live as a guardian, but he also could not live as a coward.

He could only live to preserve himself, just as he always had, desperately and viciously.

“Here,” Take a look, “Pretty right?”

Planted and shivering stood the heavy leaves, bright yellow with a hazy glow, its stalk was a deep purple, and amidst the bed of roses, it was utterly out of place.

“It’s unsightly.” Agi complained, strangely enough though, he couldn’t take his eyes off it.

Lucille watched the inhuman boy as he stared deeply at the flower, the corners of her eyes a bit lifeless, yet a small grin held her features.

“I knew you’d like it.”

The flower shook, it seemed quite lively despite its station.

Agi looked around the shivering ugly flower. He focused his gaze down at the grotesque purple roots.

“It’s killing the other flowers.” He observed.

She tilted her head, “Is that wrong?”

Green scales reflected the luminescent light, the hazy yellow bouncing off his green scales, His eyelids drooping ever so slightly, “No… If that’s what it takes to survive.”

He brushed his metal plated gauntlets against the underbrush of a leaf, a dusty yellow stain imprinting.

She crouched down as well, “Well, what about the others?”

Agi looked at the roses, settling his gaze onto her, “The others were too weak.” He says seemingly losing interest in the flower.

“What about the others you planted?”

She frowned, “Well… they should be here too…” She walked around the rose bed eventually saying, “Ah!”

Agi walks over, ignoring the crunch of roses under his boots, He looks down, embeded under a mountain of roots and roses were an assortment of yellow and purple grotesque flowers.

She sighed, “Those were so hard to get…”

She poked around, “Oh! Agi come look,” She moved the roses and the wilting yellow flowers, “Look, one of them survived!”

He stared at it silence for a long time, earning a confused glance from Lucille.

A single small flower. It was by far the smallest flower in the bed, in fact it almost just seemed like a sprout.

A single tiny sprout that just barely managed to survive.

He shook his head, just a bunch of flowers… they meant nothing—

They mean nothing.