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moonstruckme · 22 days ago

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Thawing Out

collab with @ellecdc

cw: modern au, smut mndi, chronic pain mention, I always feel like my confessions are awk so sorry if you think this one is too

note for minors: a lot of this chapter is smut, but you can read up until the red line without worrying about it. There's no summary this time because it really is just smut for smut's sake and all the character development happens before it starts, so you won't need it for the plot. There is one vague mention of boners before the red line (sorry it's just for a laugh), but that's it

poly!wolfstar x fem!reader ♡ 3.2k words

You catch on quickly to what’s happened between Sirius and Remus. What you don’t understand is why they’ve interrupted it to come talk to you. And how you could be wrong twice—do they cancel out if you were truly right the first time?

Clearly, the chemistry you’d felt between Remus and Sirius wasn’t imagined. You’d convinced yourself you must’ve gotten your wires crossed—otherwise why would Remus have kissed you?—but evidently they’ve come to some sort of agreement. Are they here to ask for your permission? Intra-team fornicating: approved.

You’re not sure if you wish they’d waited until they were less hard to pop by.

“Um.” You keep your eyes very intentionally on the boys’ faces. “What’s up?”

Sirius looks almost nervous, skittish even, but Remus’ hand wraps around his to pull him closer to your doorway. Your heart does something funny in your chest.

“Could we talk?” Sirius asks.

“Er…yeah. Of course.” You step aside, letting them into your small room. Remus sits politely on the edge of your bed, giving you deja vu from the night before, while Sirius makes himself comfortable further back. He leans his side into your pillow where it’s propped up on the wall.

“We were talking,” starts Remus, “and I told Sirius about what happened between us.”

Your next breath seems to come slower. Unwillingly, your gaze flits to Sirius, but he looks impassive, only like he might be scrutinizing you in turn. You look back at Remus. “You did?”

“I did,” he says gently. “But it wasn’t—”

“Babe,” Sirius interrupts, “don’t look so freaked. What’s the matter? And why are you still standing there?”

You realize you’re hugging yourself around your middle, standing awkwardly in front of the bed. “I’m not sure it’s meant to hold three people,” you say weakly.

Sirius snorts, whatever nervousness he’d arrived with vanishing. Sirius has always been good this way; he can only ever panic when no one else is, but the second you’re panicking too he’s all ease.

“Don’t be silly.” He pats the space between himself and Remus. It’s as ample as the bed allows, which isn’t saying much. “It��ll be fine. Anyway, it’s your bed.”

You can’t think of a good reason to argue. Something in you calms as you settle in between them, Sirius’ hip touching yours and the warmth of Remus’ body on your other side. It’s familiar, safe.

“Are you upset?” you ask Sirius.

His brows pinch. “Why would I be?”

“Because…” You cringe. “Aren’t you two…?”

“There’s been a lot of confusion, I think,” Remus says kindly. “But when we were talking, we both sort of came to the realization that we fancy each other…and you.”

There’s a dense pause.

“And me?” you echo.

Remus’ lips tilt slightly. “Yes.”

“As in…” You rub your eyes, dumbfounded. “Sorry, I did just wake up.”

Sirius laughs. Remus too, reaching over to rub your knee like he can’t help himself.

“For the record, I didn’t plan any of this,” says Sirius, “but if I had, I’d have done it exactly this way. It’s very gratifying to finally disturb your sleep schedules the way you pricks have been doing to me all these weeks.”

“Oi,” Remus chides teasingly, reaching over you to push at Sirius’ thigh. You marvel at this new easiness between them, now given even newer context. “Anyway, we thought we’d come see if you might be interested.”

“In…you.” You rub your lips together, looking between them and noticing Sirius’ gaze has fallen to your mouth. Unless you’re terribly mistaken and you’ve got it all wrong, this means he fancies you as well. Your partner, your best friend.

The idea isn’t as upsetting as it ought to be.

Do you fancy him too? You’ve never thought about Sirius in that way. You love him, of course, but you’ve never taken the time to parse out if it might be a different sort of love than the kind between friends. And as for the rest—well, who wouldn’t be attracted to Sirius? You’re only human.

“In both of us, yes,” Remus confirms patiently.

“Is that something you’d be into?” Sirius asks.

Your answer leaves you on a breath, thoughtless but true. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?” Sirius grins.

You nod. You’re suddenly fixated by the way his cupid’s bow flattens out when he smiles like that. It’s something you’ve noticed a thousand times before, but now…

“Yeah,” you say again. “Um…what do we do?”

Remus chuckles. “I don’t really know. I’ve not been with two people before.”

“Believe it or not, this is a first for me as well,” Sirius says lightly.

“Right,” you laugh. It breaks up some of the apprehension in your chest.

“If you want to,” Remus’ voice softens, “I suppose you could start by kissing him.”

You look at him, then at Sirius. For the first time, something like insecurity flashes across his face.

“You don’t have to,” he says quietly. No longer the brazen flirt, but the kind, considerate boy you know. “It’s okay.”

“I know,” you reply.

It’s like he’s afraid to touch you until you get to him. You steady yourself with a hand on his jaw, your other pressing into the mattress as you lean towards where he’s reclined against your pillow and bring your lips to his.

You know all the ways that Sirius moves, and even this new, completely uncharted part of him is consistent. Sirius’ kisses start out slow, probing, feeling out what you like and what he can do, but then he gives himself over to it. His hands find first your hips, urging you closer to him before one slides to the small of your back. Greedy fingers curl in the fabric of your pajama top.

You make a small, accidental sound in the back of your throat when his teeth tease your bottom lip, and Sirius pulls away. You’re both breathing hard.

Sirius stares at you for a weighted moment before his eyes drift behind you and he huffs out a laugh. “Enjoyed that, did you?”

You look over your shoulder, and Remus is watching you both with a low flame burning in his gaze. He flushes a tad at the question but his expression doesn’t change. He leans forward, kissing you, tasting Sirius on your lips.

───────────────────────────────────────────

The three of you don’t need to speak much to communicate. Remus pulls you back into him, his length hardening against your ass, and Sirius follows. He kisses Remus over your shoulder with a relieved sort of sigh. All the while, his hands are roving your thighs, pushing up your pajama shorts until they crease and pinch at your crotch.

You exhale and tilt your head to the side when Remus drops his lips to your neck. “We have a competition tomorrow,” you remind them both. “We ought to be resting up.”

You feel Sirius’ grin as he brings his mouth to yours again. “Yup.” He nips your bottom lip. “I’m aware this is a bad idea.”

“I’m afraid I can’t condone it,” Remus agrees, one hand covering your ribs while the other sneaks down to tease the waist of your pajama shorts.Your poor shorts are being attacked from both sides. “How far do you want to go?”

Sirius pulls his lips from yours to watch you think. They still tingle, and you rub them together unconsciously. His eyes darken.

“You drive me mad when you do that,” he says.

“Do what?”

Sirius’ mouth kicks up at the corner. He brings his thumb to your lower lip, pressing down on it gently. His own lips are swollen and gleaming prettily with spit, eyes nearly all pupil. Remus’ hand strokes lazily at your side.

“I want to go as far as you guys want to,” you say without breaking Sirius’ gaze.

His grin widens, and he looks at Remus, shrugging. “We could just go until somebody says stop.”

“Alright,” says Remus. One of his hands leaves you, finger hooking in the waist of Sirius’ trousers. “Can we take these off, then?”

Sirius isn’t shy, but you didn’t think he would be. He sits up on his knees and pulls them down, letting Remus help them over his ankles before they’re discarded in a heap on the floor. Remus gets rid of his too, and then you’re staring at the outlines of both boys through the far thinner material of their underwear.

Remus ghosts a touch over Sirius’ cock, making the other boy’s expression pinch with want, before pulling down the waistband. Lithe, graceful muscles and hip bones curving inwards. Sirius curses as Remus’ long fingers wrap around him.

Remus pumps slowly, his own arousal an insistent heat at your hip. You find your attention torn between the feeling of his body against your backside and the sultry droop of Sirius’ eyelids as he watches Remus work his cock.

“Doesn’t he look pretty?” Remus murmurs.

It takes you a second to realize he’s speaking to you. “Yeah.” Your mouth feels dry. You swallow, and watch as Sirius’ eyes flit up to the motion. “He always does.”

Remus hums in agreement, pressing a light kiss to an exposed bit of skin beside the neckline of your top. “Do you want to try, lovely?”

You turn your head to look at him. Remus’ eyes are glued to Sirius. “What about you?”

A chuckle, and another soft kiss to your shoulder. “I’ll be alright.”

Remus waits until your hand is around Sirius’ shaft, pumping a couple times against his own fist, before letting go. You choose a slightly less languid pace than Remus had. Sirius twitches in your grasp, taking your face in his hands and setting his lips to yours with a muffled groan.

Behind you, Remus moves closer until his length is pressed against your ass. One of his hands steadies you by the hip while the other dips below the waistband of your shorts, palming you through your underwear. You shift, and he hisses when you move against him.

You turn your head on instinct, Sirius’ lips smudging across your cheek. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Remus’ voice is breathy, amused. “You just surprised me.”

“What’d she do?” Sirius is never one to be left out of the loop.

“Just backed into me.”

“Oh. Gorgeous,” he smiles, turning you by the chin to capture your lips again, “who wouldn’t want that?”

Their praise soon has you devolving into a thoughtless, sensory creature. Sirius’ hands caress your face and neck and Remus’ fingers brush your panties aside to toy with your cunt. Every movement of your hips makes him push more insistently against you. Your shirt comes off, Remus dotting your shoulders with sweet kisses. Your grip tightens on Sirius’ cock, and a low, needy sound tears out of him.

“Fuck, that’s it, sweetheart. Just like that.”

Your heart flutters at the endearment, but you don’t let your movements stall. Soon he’s pushing his hips into your hand, kisses turning messy and desperate, your own sounds harder to suppress as Remus bullies your clit with two fingers. You’re glad to know at least Sirius’ room is empty on your other side, because you’re beginning to wonder how thick these walls are. Remus pushes his length into the crease between your asscheeks through your shorts, Sirius’ cock beginning to twitch in your hand, and you press your lips together to contain a sound that promises to be both loud and mortifying—and the bed collapses.

You fall backwards onto Remus as the cardboard on his end gives out, sending all three of you to the floor. Sirius’ teeth knock into yours and Remus catches you around the waist with both hands, keeping you from fully sitting on his hard cock.

“Fuck.” Sirius brings a hand to his mouth. “What the fuck?”

“Oh, shit.” You scramble away from Remus, onto the floor. Both boys look at you in alarm. You’re looking to where Remus’ leg is bent underneath him, not at a terribly cruel angle, but still— “Your hip. Is your hip okay?”

“Oh.” Remus glances down as though he’s forgotten it himself, realization dawning over his features.

“Fuck,” Sirius breaths, remembering as well. His hand moves toward Remus but lingers in the air, afraid of hurting him.

“It’s…yeah, it’s okay,” says Remus. His eyes meet yours. “It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt.”

Sirius’ brows pinch, but his hand makes it the rest of the way, rubbing tentatively over Remus’ hip joint. “Are you sure?”

Remus shifts slowly, sitting up off his knees to move closer to Sirius. “I’m sure.” A little smile graces his lips. “You worried about me, Pads?”

Sirius’ face splits in the sort of grin you can only ever surprise out of him. “Fuck off,” he laughs, pushing Remus away when he tries to kiss him. Remus catches Sirius’ hands, his own smile unfurling slowly, almost unwillingly. It makes his eyes crinkle at the corners.

“How sweet,” he hums, smug.

You find yourself smiling at them both, your heart a balloon in your chest.

“Okay.” You give the mattress a little tug. “In that case, could you guys get off?”

“What’re you doing?” Remus asks. Both he and Sirius move.

“Having this on a slant doesn’t seem like a good idea, so I’m moving it.”

It should be awkward, this break in the tension, but maybe it’s because you’re so used to working as a team that it isn’t. You all get the mattress situated on the floor, and then you’re dragging Remus’ underwear off, his hands moving kind and doting over the lengths of your arms. He inhales a small breath as Sirius takes his cock into his mouth.

You watch Sirius’ lips move up and down his shaft, his eyes dark and growing shiny as he takes Remus as far as he can. You aren’t quite sure how to contribute, but when you rub the inside of Sirius’ thigh tentatively both boys moan. You take that to mean you’re on the right track.

The muscles in Sirius’ back flex as he raises and lowers his head between Remus’ legs, mouth growing wet with spit and slick, and it’s not long before Remus’ fingers are curling in Sirius’ hair, curses spewing from between his lips in a Welsh accent you’ve not heard before. You can’t help but follow them back to the source, kissing Remus just before he cums down Sirius’ throat. He grips you by the arms with something like desperation. You’re happy to stay as the tension unwinds from his body, until his hands are moving down you, smoothing across the skin just above the waistband of your shorts.

“Are you planning on keeping those on all night?”

It’s Sirius who asks, his gaze sultry as he watches Remus’ finger skim just underneath the fabric covering your ass. He wipes the corner of his mouth with a thumb.

“How’s this?” Remus suggests. He pulls you gently into his lap, situating you between his legs with your back against his chest. Again, you can feel the impression of him pressed against your backside.

Your voice comes out weak. “This is good.”

He chuckles, soothing a hand down your side while Sirius grins. Sirius’ fingers grasp the elastics of both your shorts and your underwear. “Okay?” he asks you.

You nod.

He takes his time working them down your legs and off your ankles, his eyes locking on your exposed cunt and the arousal Remus has coaxed out of you already. Remus, too, is watching over your shoulder. His fingers gravitate back to it, dragging slick up through your folds idly, almost worshipfully. He kisses behind your ear.

“Fuck, you’re lovely,” says Sirius.

Both boys’ gazes stay glued to your cunt as Sirius positions himself over you, pushing into your warmth. You bite down on a small sound. Remus tuts at you, his hand spreading reassuringly over your navel.

“You can do better than that,” he chides. “Don’t think we don’t want to hear you.”

Sirius holds your hips as he sinks into you. His fingers dent your flesh, and you marvel at the fact that you’ve wasted so much time not doing this. That you’ve ever been in a room with either Remus or Sirius and managed not to kiss them dizzy. You’re not sure you’ll be able to manage it again.

Remus draws slow, tight circles around your clit with his finger. You arch your neck back onto his shoulder, and Sirius groans as you tighten on him.

“God—you’re so perfect,” he says hoarsely. “You feel so good.”

Your reply gets lost on a lewd sound as he drags his cock along your walls. Remus kisses you rewardingly in the soft skin underneath your ear. “There you are,” he says. “Good girl.”

Warmth unfurls through your gut.

Sirius grins whatever reaction must show up on your face, his hands migrating to your ass as he thrusts into you. As he gets rougher, so do Remus’ ministrations to your clit, his slow circles turning quick and jagged. You feel yourself tighten on Sirius in little flutters that have him gripping you tight enough to leave fingerprint bruises.

“Fuck, like that, yeah. Just like that, baby.”

Your lips part at the pet name and Sirius’ eyes flick up to yours like he’s surprised too, like he’s let slip something he didn’t mean to. But you say, “come here,” and he goes, leaning over you to let you take his face in your hands and kiss him until you can’t breathe.

Remus feels your high approaching before you do. His free hand smooths over the inside of your twitching thigh.

“Are you close?” he asks you.

Sirius parts his lips from yours, looking down to see the confirmation on your face. You give it.

“Good,” he says, picking up his pace, “good, sweetheart, that’s it. Cum for me, yeah? I’ve got you.”

You nearly bite your lip in half when you do, Remus tsking amusedly and kissing your neck while the tightening of your cunt threatens to send Sirius over the edge as well. He starts to pull out of you, but you grab his hand.

“It’s okay,” you manage. “In me.”

“Really?” he asks in a strangled voice.

“Yeah. Yeah, I wanna feel it.”

That’s all it takes. Sirius’ expression pinches like you’ve said something cruel as he thrusts into you one last time, a shock that reverberates through you as he warms you from the inside out. He’s rigid for a few seconds before tipping forward, his head to your shoulder and to Remus' chest, which you’ve slipped down without noticing. His breath fans softly over your skin.

Remus rubs your thigh comfortingly and with his other hand pets down Sirius’ hair, cupping his flushed cheek. “Alright, love?” he asks.

Sirius’ blush seems to worsen. “Yeah. You?”

“More than.” Remus kisses his head.

It’s only after a few seconds of silence that you realize Remus’ question was posed to the both of you.

“That was…” you shake your head, at a loss “...fantastic.”

“Yeah?” Sirius nudges his nose into your skin. “I thought so.”

Remus’ chuckle rumbles through all three of you. “Cocky,” he says fondly.

“And decent enough with it, by all reports.”

It starts up a round of sweet, half teasing kisses Sirius pretends to want to escape despite making no real efforts to do so. You give and receive plenty of your own, until not just your lips and shoulders but many other parts of you are wet with spit and slick. You fall asleep all three on a twin mattress on the floor, your head on Remus’ chest and Sirius’ arms wound around your middle. It might be the best sleep you’ve ever had.

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cosmindart · 1 year ago

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Aquafirma: Waters of the clouds

[any excuse to repost my fav old works. Here's an AU story with the AskIsaak cast]

Aquafirma, a world similar to ours centuries ago back when castles and horses were kings, but twice smaller. Here in place of Humans lived the Anacrees.

They looked quite a lot like Humans but that was just on the surface. The main striking difference between a human and an Anacree was the green pearl-like gem emerging through their chest, however there was much more to them. Their longer lifespan, their innate magical disposition, their stronger bones made from the same gem-like material as their pearls.

Their culture was quite unlike ours, they worshiped a different deity and had holidays divergent from ours. For example everyone wore a shawl on their shoulders, each family having their own cut, color and trim combination. In addition special shawls everyone wore for specific celebrations existed as well. Most celebrations centered around the Salmalion god and the water cycle.

This story follows a group of 5 Anacree friends who, one faithful year, vowed to restore their world from the recent calamity.

___________

Chapter 1

Today was the first day of spring and Lionel was excited. Everybody was but for a different reason. Today was the day of the Salmalion festival, the biggest holiday of the Anacree people. Every winter, the fresh waters of many lakes across the world rise into the sky to form huge water bubbles up in the air with a crystal at their cores leaving only salt oceans until spring where the drinkable water finally rains back down in a 2 day long downpour. Anacrees celebrate right before the rain comes every year with dances and feasts. Lionel however wasn’t excited about this, during the celebration he was going to propose to his childhood friend and soulmate of 3 years.

Lionel was running up and down in his apartment itemizing everything. His celebration outfit for this afternoon was ready laid out on his bed, his hair was brushed, his shawl ironed to perfection, his pearl was polished despite its cracks… Everything was in order.

“Chill out! You’re gonna pop a vessel” exclaimed Kennedy, Lionel’s roommate. “The celebration isn’t happening for another hour you know.”

“I know! I just… I wanna make sure I'm not forgetting anything!”

“I know you’ll nail it and even if you ‘mess up’ I know Isaak will find it funny and just as memorable!” Kennedy patted him on the back to reassure him a little and took off the tan guy’s shawl so he’d put on his celebration one “Let’s go out! Helping out the performers setting up could distract you and stop you from turning into a nervous wreck!”

“Aren’t the pair who are playing the Salmalion new this year?” Lionel asked, his mind successfully distracted”

“Yeah! Micheal is gonna be the head of the beast! He said he had to or his dad would have been sad to have their family tradition broken. I know the second dancer is new too but I heard he didn’t want people to know who he is…” The red head paused then smirked “I will find out! Nothing escapes me!”

“How about you don’t snoop eh! Won’t you be celebrating my engagement after the dance?” He joked “You’d rather weasel your way backstage to expose the guy?”

“Pfft of course I’d celebrate with you!” The two tall guys walked out of their house “That’s why we should help them set up! That way I can snoop now and celebrate later!”

“I agree to help, yeah.” Lionel poked Kennedy’s nose “But I'll make sure you wont get any time to snoop! Leave the man alone alright!”

The two men laughed for a while as they made their way to the grand plaza. Banners were already hung up everywhere, a dozen people were running back and forth setting up more decoration, putting up pillars on which the Salmalion dancers would jump on later during their performance, setting up booth where food and drinks would be served, and more Anacrees just sat and watched the buzzling going.

The duo walked toward the stage with the pillars, ready to lend a hand on Lionel’s side and to pry for info on Kenny’s side. Putting the stage together were two grey-haired dudes in blue stage gear: Pyotr and Shurik. Supervising them wearing green fur covered pants was Micheal. No doubt the pants he was wearing were the front paws part of the Salmalion costume. Kennedy looked around trying to spot someone else wearing matching pants… All he saw around the wooden podium were other crew members in blue. Lionel pulled Kennedy toward the Wojcik brothers and the dancer.

“Do you need help? Kenny and I are at your service if need be!”

“Nah, we about got it done” said Pyotr, the chubbier one of the brothers.

“We were already done setting-up actually” added Micheal “We just ended up shifting the stage slightly but it’s all good now. Thanks anyway.”

“I heard Eliott ask for strong men to help him 10 minutes ago!” mentioned Shurik

“Ah! He just said that because he’s gay and wants eye-candy! He doesn’t actually need help!” joked Kenny “I bet if we go find him he’ll already be done setting up too!... Anyway I was wonder-”

“We’ll go check anyway!” interrupted Lionel pulling on his friend’s sleeve.

“You really weren't joking when you said you wouldn’t let me snoop uh!”

“Leave the mystery man to his secrets!”

“Mystery who?” Asked the lanky brother.

“He probably mean And-”

“Pyotr! We talked about this already, did we not?” scolded the dancer “He’s hiding away for a reason. Don’t ruin this!”

Micheal had interrupted his helpers a little too late. Keno had heard more than enough for him to connect the dots and Lionel could tell just by looking at the smile forming on the trans guy’s face.

“Well, we’ll get going~” the redhead cooed

While Lionel and Kennedy were making their way around the plaza offering their help here and there, their friends on the other side of the city were busy with their own dealings.

Artyom had called Isaak over to help calm down Vadim who was in a panic. Usually he would have called Kennedy but he knew he would probably be helping with Lionel’s proposal set-up and rehearsal today.

“What’s gotten to him?” asked Isaak, Vadim had locked himself into his room, crying and panicking. “Did you have a fight or something?”

“No! He woke up like this! I tried asking him what’s wrong but between all of his sobs I wasn’t able to properly grasp what the problem is.”

“What’s the best you could interpret?”

“I'm not sure? At one point he screamed ‘the water! The water!’ but that’s about all I caught...”

“What? What about the water? Is he scared of this year's downpour or something?”

“I don't know!”

Isaak sighed heavily before knocking on the distressed twin’s bedroom door.

“Vadim… Can you open the door? Can we talk?” Shuffling could be heard behind the door “You said something about the waters... What is this about?”

“The water won’t come down!” Vee screamed back “It’s just not going to! I’ve seen it! I know it!”

“What? This can’t be true! Why wouldn’t they?”

“I dreamed about it. The water isn’t going down today… It’s not going down for a while!”

“You dreamed of it?” Arty asked, confused

“Don’t you think it was just a nightmare?” Asked Isaak

“I doubt it!” Veed tried to recompose himself then put both his hands on Isaak’s shoulders “Look… Isaak. You’re smart right. You gotta believe me. I... I’d had multiple dreams before that turned out to be true. Usually they predict things far in the future, like months or years ahead. This one however, it’s so short notice… but I know this is one of them still!”

“W-wha…?”

“H-how?”

“I saw in my dreams that you’d become a transman… I’ve seen months in advance that Arty would get promoted to be the royal artificer.” He started pacing around. “At first I choked it up to coincidence or just me misremembering old dreams. But after 10 or 12 of them happening I’ve come to recognize the specific energy I feel when I'm having a precognitive dream. I know the water not coming down is an event I foresaw!”

“Wait.. You could see the future and never told us?” Asked Artyom “Why keep it from us?”

“All the dreams I had so far where things I felt were better left unsaid. Would you have liked me ruining the surprise of your promotions month before you even applied and risk you not putting in the effort because you’d think you already had it secured? Should I have personally inserted myself in Isaak’s self discovery years before he realized he was trans and potentially make Isaak feel pushed into being trans and make him steer in the opposite direction?! It’s fucking complicated but one thing I can tell you is that it wasn’t my place to say anything. Things were bound to happen without my input. Me saying anything could have made things worse instead!”

“Please calm down!” Whispered Isaak “Forget about the old dreams for now. Let’s focus on the water dream. What can you tell us about it? How do you know it’s gonna be today and not next year that the water won't come down? Wouldn’t it make more sense since all your other dreams predicted things way far ahead?”

“I.. All I know is that the water won’t come down, and since the reserves we got were only enough to have us last through winter we’ll have a huge problem going through spring a d summer.” Vadim retreated back into his room, the door still open. He sat on his bed. “I know it’s going to be this year because of a key event I know is going to happen today… Arty knows what I'm talking about…”

“Oh.. yeah I know what you mean…”

“What’s the key event?”

“Well.. Er…” Arty tried thinking of something to say that wouldn’t expose Lionel’s romantic plans. “The new dancers! This year we got new dancers. We’re probably going to have a reveal/introduction to the new performers that we won't get next year…”

It wasn’t the best excuse but since it technically was true, Isaak wouldn’t catch him in a lie.

Isaak sat next to Vadim. Everyone stayed silent for what felt like an eternity. Isaak was thinking deep and hard about the upcoming event. The waters weren’t going to come down if what Vee saw was true but then what? Neither of them could do anything. They couldn’t just fly up in the clouds and order the water to come down. Warning the population before the celebration wouldn’t help either. At best they’d be laughed at, at worst it would cause unnecessary panic. Had they know earlier maybe they could have told The Highness to make bigger reserves but it was a one-day notice. Nothing could be done.

“Well.. We should get going…”bluntly said Isaak “The celebration will start soon”

“WHAT?! What about the waters!” Vadim cried

“What do you want me to do? There’s nothing any of us can do! The only thing we can do right now is wait until after the celebration to talk to The Highness about it!” He painfully sighed ‘We don’t need to create chaos or have you branded as the bad omen that caused it all, alright? Let’s go.”

“I guess you’re right…”

The twins swapped their usual shawl for their celebration ones before all three of them made their way out to the plaza, they quickly stopped by Isaak’s place for him to change his shawl before finally arriving at the festival.

After a ten minute walk and another five to find their missing 2 friends the group was finally reunited. Both the blue haired guy and the twin had put on a brave face, fainting happiness even if the fear of what might come upon them today. When he saw Isaak, Lionel’s excitement for his proposal was renewed. He was too blinded by his daydreaming to notice the tenseness coming from his partner. He had his plan playing on repeat in his head: First they would all raise their banners, a swig of Pecha would be drunk, they would watch the Salmalion dance and then, right before the rain would pour down, he’d get down on one knee and ask Isaak for his hand. It would be perfect!

“Arty! Vadim! You won’t believe what I discovered today!” Kennedy said with a smug grin, Lionel shaking his head behind him. “Guess who the new dancers are this year~”

“Micheal? That’s not a secret.” replied Artyom

“Yeah yeah we all know about him. I'm talking about his partner. The butt of the beast!”

“Oh? They changed too?” the other twins attention was caught “I thought only Micheal’s dad retired to pass down the role on him.”

“Weeelllllll… Have you seen your brother today? Isn’t he suspiciously missing in action right now?”

“No way Andrei is performing. That’s just too unlike him!”

“Yeah, he’d be way too embarrassed to do something like this!”

“Why do you think the identity of the new dancer is kept hidden! It’s his shame!” Kennedy made exaggerated dramatic gestures “He can’t bear to have it known. Too bad his best friends accidentally let it slip <3”

“Wouldn’t you two know already?” asked Isaak “Wasn’t that the key event that-”

“We shouldn’t talk about the dream thing!” Shouted Artyom, his hand covering Isaak’s mouth “Y-you said it yourself! We don’t need to create unnecessary chaos!”

Isaak nodded. He planned to tell Lionel and Kennedy but maybe it was best not to, Kenny might go around and spread rumors. Besides now that he thinks about it, it was possible Vadim had only seen Micheal in his dream and not the other dancer. Micheal was kind of a bigger deal, family traditions and all.

After reassuring and distracting the two tall guys away from the dream talk, it was finally time for the festival to start. Every Anacree in town were out in the street laughing and partying. One-handed banners branded with the face of their chimera god were distributed throughout the crowds. Some people waved their banner in the air, others attached them to their back with lockbound magic and more simply held onto theirs. Once everyone had their banners the music started. It wasn’t time for the grand dance yet but there was always some form of party dancing before that. People danced, people drank, they looked at the sky brandishing their flags. Everyone was celebrating, even Isaak and Artyom who had forgotten about their prior talk. Only Vadim remembered and looked up with eye full of worry.

“Hey Vitamin!” He thoughts were interrupted by Kennedy. “The Salmalion is about to make its entrance. Should we cheer by saying Andrei names at the end? Don’t you wanna see his reaction?”

“Uh? N-no. Let’s not… We.. We don’t need to torment him.” Vadim whispered, Kenny’s mood suddenly shifting.

“Are you alright? I know you’ve always been the quiet twin but even by your standards you’ve been awfully silent. What’s the matter?”

“It… Youll see later…”

Kennedy looked around at his friends.

“Er..” He leaned in closed and whispered “It’s not about Lionel’s proposal is it? Did Isaak talk about not wanting to be with Lionel when you were away or something?”

“No, no! It’s fine… Just don’t worry about it for now…”

Not worrying wasn’t gonna be easy. He didn’t know what was bugging Vadim but he knew that tonight was a big night for Lio and he really didn’t want this life milestone to be ruined. There wasn’t anything for him to do for now beside smiling and not letting Lionel catch on any potential tension. He’d make sure he was going to propose and everyone would be happy. Just after this dance it will be time.

While it was clear it was just two men in a costume, for a brief moment under the projector, it felt like it was a real beast. It jumped effortlessly onto the pillars, standing and bucking as if it was one single living being. It showed how skilled and in prefect synch the two performers were. People probably already forgot these were two newbie performing in front of people for the first time. They weren’t untrained of course, but a first time show in front of so many eye on such an important date was sure to put them under pressure.

Lionel had waited long enough, the show was going to conclude soon and his moment had come. He poked Isaak’s shoulder to get his attention. It was had for the guy to pry his eyes away from the dazzling display. If it really was Andrei under there, he was truly impressed. Seeing that his first attempt was mostly unsuccessful (only getting his 3 other friend’s attention but not Isaak’s), the tan guy nudged his boyfriend a second time.

“Yeah? What is it?” Isaak said, his eyes still locked on the green creature kneeling and bowing indicating the end of the dance.

“Look” giggled Lionel, his voice coming from much lower than what Isaak was used to

The trans guy looked down toward the source of the voice. Lionel was kneeling down, just like the beast did a moment ago.

“Whe. Wha? Wait. What?!” incoherent questions was all he could mutter

“Will yo-”

“Well yeah?! Of course!”

“You didn't even let me finish!”

“S-Sorry… Go ahead. I won't interrupt this time!”

Lionel stood back up and laughed

“No, no, no really go ahead and do it again! I didn’t mean to cut you off!”

“It’s fine! I can’t deny it didn't go down the way I expected but I think we’ll get to laugh about it for quite some time!”

“At least say it in full! I wanna hear it!”

“Alright! Alright!” Lio paused dramatically, looking straight into his partner’s eye who grew with impatience. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes! Yes I will!”

The blue-haired man hugged his soulmate tightly, a good portion of the crown now looking at them cheering. Proposals were not uncommon on this celebration, to them it was just something more to be happy about and celebrate. To them kissing under the torrential rain of the spring downpour was just so much more romantic… But there was no rain.

Isaak’s mind had been completely focused on the celebration and then the proposal that he had all forgotten about the whole water premonitions. He was only reminded of it when murmurs grew through out the crowds. It should have started raining by now and everyone was talking about it. What was going on? Did they start celebrating a bit too early? Were the new dancers not good enough for the god so he decided not to grant them water? They waited. A few more minutes, then an hour, then two more… The water... It really wasn’t coming down.

Vadim was right.

Panic set in. People started crying, shouting at the sky, banners were thrown, glass shattered. At the middle of it Vadim was frozen. I knew this would happen, and he wasn’t able to stop it. Why didn’t he predict it sooner, before winter back then there was still time? What was the point of him getting his vision right before the fatal event?

Eventually, guards came down to minimize the chaos. Lionel who was a guard currently off duty was asked to join in too and get the population under control. Once the crowd was deemed calm enough The Highness walked onto the stage. Their voice instantly got everyone to look at them. They spoke in the most soothing voice, yet a tinge of coldness could be felt.

“Please. I urge every one of you to stay calm. Surely our dear Salmalion is merely testing us. Showing some slight displeasure at this year’s show perhaps. I'm sure the spring rain will come soon. Please be patient.”

___________

Chapter 2

It was the next afternoon and the rain still hadn’t started. The entire population was agitated, speculations ran rampant and no matter how many speeches The Highness gave the mass couldn’t be calmed. There was yesterday’s speech, a closed off consort with elites, messengers sent to other towns to estimate the extent of the rain situation, traders deployed to find or exchange money for freshwater supplies, yet another public speech and finally there was today’s consultation with the artificer team.

Artyom was the leader of most of these tinkerers so he knew he had to be on top of his game today. With both Vadim’s info and what he heard from the prior meeting he had already started drafting inventions. He had a number of blueprints tucked under his arms. They were very rough as he had drawn them himself and didn’t ask his artistically skilled twin to clean them up for him. Vadim already had enough on his plate so he let him sleep throughout the night while he stayed up until dawn to work.

“Your Highness, let me start up the meeting with what I have drafted!” he exclaimed, already laying down his papers on the table. “With enough steel and glass we could work out some thermal desalination! We’d need salt water for this. I figured since we can't conjure water out of thin air and we know the oceans don’t rise up during winter we should have no issues with that...”

“Go on” encouraged the royal figure, surprisingly not being bothered by Arty cutting them off.

“My design is for the most part just 3 components. A first container filled with salt water, a heat source placed under the container and finally an empty container linked to the first by a tube.” he explained as he pointed to his scribbles laid down on the table. All the other workers followed in silence. “If everything works the way I think it will, the water will evaporate from the heat then drip down into the second container. The salt being too heavy and not able to turn into gas will remain in the first container!”

Everyone nodded. On paper it sounded logical.

“Have you tried it out on a small scale?” asked the town leader “How fast would the process be? How much heat would we need to generate to turn a large amount of salt water into fresh water?”

“I-I haven’t had the time to test it out on such short notice but I'm very confident in the process!” Artyom stuttered “Um.. Additionally I… Would it be possible to have a private consultation regarding the issue.. My brother wanted to speak with you on the matter and-”

“I don’t have the time at the present. I understand that everyone is worried but I cannot address everyone’s concern individually.”

“Well actually it was a more helpful insight really..”

“Have him consult the elite Majis then. If whatever he has to say is pertinent enough it will get back to me. Now go and get this unsalty thingy test out. If it doesn't work, report back to me with a new idea. Do not fail me, you would fail the people as a whole”

“Of course your Highness. I won’t disappoint.”

The tinkering twin lowered his head. Well at least he tried and so far his machinery plans were accepted. With this approval The Highness dismissed everyone. From this day until the waters were back or a new source of fresh water was found, they would all have to work on Artyom’s desalination plans. Most of them were quite happy with how the meeting went. None of them had to speak or fumble with their half baked ideas. What Arty had displayed here truly showed why he was picked to be the royal artificer and not just another worker.

Isaak was the one to contact then, he though to himself. Isaak wasn’t an elite Maji officially yet but he had been granted a staff last month meaning he was bound to be promoted in the coming weeks. In this world there was 2 types of magic: Lumos and Silvusion. Lumos allowed Maji to turn pure light into solid objects and projectiles while Silvusion-which technically still was a light based spellcraft- was the art of using mirrors to display images. It’s main use was entertainment and every house had a big mirror in their living room that would be used like a television. However it had its tactical use also; all elites and Highness-approved individuals like the royal artificer got to have a smaller pocket-sized mirror they could use like a cellphone of sorts in order to communicate long distance. Artyom pulled his pocket mirror out. Did Isaak also receive his when he got his staff or were they waiting for his official graduation? He thought.

“Should we start working now?” asked one of the other engineers who was following Arty out of the royal quarters along with everyone else.

“Ah… yeah..kind of. Everyone go get your stuff and meet me at the smithing house. I need to fetch a couple things before we get started… maybe get those prints cleaned up too.”

“Artyom. I need to talk to you.”

“Is it urgent? I'm kinda busy right now..” he shook his blueprints “Royal duties and stuff…”

“...Hmmm… I guess not…”

“Is it about the dance? I know the Highness said that maybe it didn’t rain because the performance wasn’t good enough but I personally don’t think so. Yo-...Micheal and his partner did a great job!”

“Ah.. Thanks for your input. I'll be sure to forward it to Micheal.”

It felt immensely weird for him to both see his older brother vulnerable like this and having to console him. He hoped his words were enough for the time being. There was just so much for him to worry about and execute. He wasted no time grabbing his equally sulking twin out of the house and on their way to their half-blind friend. On their way there the double got to talk a bit about what was to come and Vadim brought up an interesting point.

“Do you really have to ask Isaak to get us in touch with the elite Majis? Can’t we go to them directly?”

“We cant because a lot of them are snobs who hates me.”

“What? Since when?”

“Since the beginning pretty much. They don’t like how, unlike the others, I do not consider the use of Lumos in my builds. They all think magic is the most important thing and tech needs to evolve with it. I don’t believe in that and still managed to make it as the royal artificer. It pisses them off.”

“I see… But Isaak… don’t you think he’d rather focus on his engagement with Lionel right now?”

“It’s just gonna be a small favor in order to help everyone! It’s not like I'm going to completely prevent him from designing his new family sash!”

He did agree with Vadim and didn’t really want to involve Isaak, but if he wanted the Majis to listen to him and his brother he needed someone the elites had faith in to speak on their behalf.

He wondered how Lionel was dealing with all of this also. Isaak knew about the rain situation but Lionel didn’t. Did he feel like his proposal was ruined because of it? Did he think that maybe he was somehow responsible for the crisis because the god disapproved of their union? He didn’t get to find out just yet since when they arrived Lionel was nowhere to be seen. He was probably on guard duty today.

“Hey Ziki”

“You know I don’t like it when you call me that!”

“Sorry. You know how I am when I'm nervous, being all sweet and stuff. Using nicknames is part of it.”

“Yeah, yeah. What is it?” the blue haired man asked, lifting his head away from the paper he was drawing on. “How did the royal meeting go?”

“Good for the most part. I have all the machinery planned out. I still need to get Vadim heard by The Highness tho…”

“You didn’t get to mention it during the meeting?”

“I did! It’s just that they said he’d need to ask an elite Maji first…”

“I'm.. I'm still technically a scholar Maji. I didn’t graduate to elite just yet.”

“I know but you can talk with them! They wont listen to me plus I need to go work on the desalination system.” Arty grabbed Isaak's hands “Can you talk to them for us? Bring Vee with you maybe?”

“Fine.” Isaak replied as he looked back at his less than stellar drawing of a shawl. “If Vadim help me with this design we can call it even.”

“Of course! I don’t mind” replied Vadim, finally participating in the conversation. “I can whip up something real quick right now and we can check with the Maji later.”

“Hmm no. Let’s go see the elites first. It’s more important”.

Isaak felt both flattered and nervous at the idea that he was the only one able to help the twins in their situation. He left like a small hero almost. If the elites listened Vadim could be bumped up to a trusted position of sort like ‘the royal medium’ and get access to a pocket mirror he’d use any time he gets an important vision. Perhaps the elites could find a way to more precisely channel his ability and get him to see critical events on command.

The trans guy was honestly just excited about visiting the elite's quarters. As a simple scholar he didn't get to visit the noble district often unlike Artyom who had his smithing house there. The trio made their way through the plaza, up the small incline that led to the inner wall separating the commoner’s zone from the noble district and along the housing street. When they passed by the smithing house Arty split from the group leaving Isaak and Vadim to continue toward the elite’s tower.

Out of all the buildings, the elite’s tower was the prettiest according to Isaak. Sure The Highness’s castle was gorgeous as well but to him the slimmer elegant glass tower was much more pleasing to the eye than the wide golden palace. There was no one guarding the tower today. The water crisis probably had most guards in town keeping everyone calm and stop the most distressed individuals from attacking merchants and stealing any water they could get. Lionel was probably in the thick of it right now.

Inside, the two men made their way up the spiraling stairs. It was Vadim’s first time here and Isaak could tell it was scaring him a little.

“The elites can be a bit snooty but they aren’t outright dickheads. Don’t sweat it too much.”

It didn’t completely reassure the guy but Vee appreciated the gesture nonetheless. He remained silent the entire way up, following the scholar around the place. They eventually stopped in a long hallway, dozens of blue doors lining the sides of the crystal-decorated walls. Isaak pointed at one in particular and gave a little nod to encourage Vadim to enter.

“He-hello?” He shyly muttered, a crowd of staff-wielding men turned toward him “Erm…”

“The Highness told us to consult you regarding a matter we dim of utmost importance” declared Isaak

“More important than the water shortage that we have to deal with?!” barked one of the older Maji

“Well… Kind of?” Isaak braced himself a bit “My friend over here has an ability that could prove useful.”

“Can he create water?”

“Locate a freshwater source?”

“Call the rain on command?”

“N-no he cannot do any of that” Isaak was having a harder time than he expected.

“What is it then”

“He can dream of the future. He actually told me about the rain not coming down hours before it happened.”

“How long did he know about it?”

“Why weren’t we notified”

“Eh. I was gonna ask if he was the cause of it but looking at how pathetic and terrified he is I doubt it!”

“I only dreamed about it the night prior. I had slept in that day so when I woke up it was already too late to do anything! Isaak told me not to tell anyone so as to not cause panic or make me look like a bad omen!” he yelled before taking a deep breath. “While I got this vision only hours before it came true, I usually have most of my visions months or years ahead. If you can find in yourself to trust me I'll be sure to notify the council of any visions deemed important that I get.”

“What other predictions did you get?”

“How often do you get them?”

“How do you tell the difference between a regular dream and a vision?”

“I.. I usually get only 2 or 3 visions per year and they are mostly about my friends..”

“We could potentially weaponize this!” said a very old Maji who had been silent until now. “Let’s say his vision only comes to him if it involves his friends. The water crisis involved everyone so it’s fair to say it still follows the ‘friend parameter’. All we need is to always have one of his friends participating in important events so we can get predictions.”

“Isaak is his friend, we could use him!”

“Yeah!”

“We can’t involve him with everything. We only get 3 predictions a year!”

“You guys are all making plans but we haven’t even got any kind of proof this is true!”

“Hmhmm! Anyone can say ‘I saw it in a dream’ after it has already happened.”

“We could potentially put it to the test using Isaak”

“Do we think? Personally I don’t want to involve anyone not approved in important dealings. Not without the proof Artyom can predict things accurately and within a reasonable time frame.”

“I-I'm Vadim actually... Artyom is my”

“Yeah yeah”

The room of elites was split. On one side some thought using the two young folk was a good idea, on the other were the ones wanting proof first. There was also a smaller pool of ‘wizards’ completely uninterested in the speculated precognitive abilities. In all honesty Isaak was less than thrilled to hear all these people he looked at as peers casually discussing using him as a test subject. Sure, he’d be glad to help with Vadim’s gift but they made it sound like they were going to throw him into dangerous situations just to see what would happen. He was starting to think this was a terrible idea.

“I... Ah…” Isaak hesitated “We’ll let you think about it. Vee and I need to go back to Artyom… Vadim is supposed to help with the blue prints…”

The entire room was too busy debating with each other to reply to the scholar so him and his companion quickly made their exit.

“That’s... That’s not at all how I envisioned this unfold…”

“Yeah… Me neither…”

A bit defeated, they made their way back to the smithing house. Isaak hated that name to be honest. Artyom was the one to name it and he wasn’t the most creative when it came to naming things… well beside giving people nicknames but that wasn’t the same, with nicknames you get a base name to work off.

Inside the tinkering warehouse everyone was huddled around something out of the two friends’s view. They could hear them whispering to each other but couldn’t understand what was said as so many voices spoke simultaneously. A familiar voice drowned them all.

“Alright boys! Time for a taste test!”

Now part of the circle, the scholar watched Artyom take a generous gulp of water out of a beaker. Looking at the guy’s face the water didn’t taste salty. His idea had worked.

“The water temperature aside, it taste decent! I think we’re good to go for the larger scale production!” he declared before spotting his twin in the crowd. “Right on time Vee! Let’s get the schematics polished so we don’t have any mishaps from misreadings! Everyone, while we work on the papers yall can already get the smelters ready. We’ll need a bunch of stuff melted down to make enough stations to generate water for everyone in town!”

Away from the rest of the workers, Isaak leaned in toward the artificer leader.

“Do you think this will generate enough water for everyone?” he asked

“To be honest? No. But it’s better than nothing. It will probably be tightly rationed with only the nobles getting comfortable supplies at best…”

“Yeah I figured also…”

“My first plan was actually to build a pump that reached all the way up there to siphon the water back down to us… But there’s no way we can build that high…”

“What about the river’s source?” chimed Vadim “the water of our lake came from the Nicolas river.. Maybe if we followed it to the source…”

“I heard e scouting team was sent there already” replied the other twin

“Let’s hope we’re the closest to it.” stated Isaak “If the water crisis is worldwide there’s no doubt any nearby town would also check any close-by water sources and if they capture it for themselves before we do it could get dicey…”

“Yeah…”

“Well at the very least we got some hopes with your water-conversion plants!”

Artyom nodded then started walking away, blueprints in hand. As much as he enjoyed the chitchat it was time for him to get to work. The sooner he got his men to build the faster they could start refilling the water reserves.

Arty wasn’t the only one who needed to go back to work, so did Vadim. It wasn’t the same kind of work however. He gently nudged his taller friend.

“Let’s get home and start drafting those shawl designs shall we?”

Proposals and weddings were completely different in Anacree culture. When proposing there weren't any rings needed, they still did the kneeling thing like humans do but that was about the only thing they had in common. After popping the question there was no month or year-long waiting times until the officialization of the union. There weren't any big party celebrations either. Here things were simple: first one partner proposed, then after accepting the other partner was to design the shawl they and their future children would wear until they too get married.

There were many different styles of shawls but only 3 categories of union shawls. First there were the ones which were designed by mixing attributes from both partner’s shawl such as taking the color of one and the trim-cut of the second. Next there was the one who was brand new, taking no cue from the pre-wedding garments and displaying a completely different color and cut. Finally there were the ‘extensions’, in place of making a new shawl the submissive partner would simply start wearing the same shawl as the dominant’s family kind of like humans (and anacrees to an extent) do with last names. This last one was very common amongst nobles.

“What kind of designs were you thinking of?”

“Hmm I'm not sure… I know Lionel doesn't really care about keeping his shawl and while I love mine I feel like adding a touch of color would make him happy. So regardless of if I merge both designs or make something new, I’d go for something that has some bright trim like on his cloth. I do really like having gold bits on the ends though! It gives the shawl some nice weight to it…”

Vee took mental notes of it all. He already had some designs floating through his head but he pushed them aside at first. He was focusing, searching the back of his head. Had he any dreams that hadn’t happened yet where he saw Isaak with a different shawl? He thought. Had he already seen what he knew was the lovers destined union cloth? No. The only prediction that didn’t remember having taken place yet was one with Artyom sitting down on the lake shores, it taking place after the crisis was over no doubt.

___________

Chapter 3

The entire month it took to have these made were a decent distraction for the three people involved. They couldn’t completely ignore the drought however. All 5 friends were very concerned, each having their reasons. Kennedy’s crops were shriveling making his harvest pitiful and leaving him and his clients hungry, Lionel was constantly dealing with thieves and people driven mad from dehydration, Artyom was stressed from the responsibility of running the water conversion plant that didn’t produce nearly enough for everyone, Vadim slept more than usual in a poor attempt at triggering his precognitive dreams in order to find a solutions, and Isaak he just.. He felt the pressure of him needing to do something but compared to the other he felt like he wasn’t in the place to be feeling that way.

He wasn’t a guard, people didn't rely on him for food or water, he couldn’t predict the future either so why did he feel so responsible somehow? Even after finally being officially promoted to elite Maji rank he wasn’t in any position to do anything. None of the elite Majis were from what he had been briefed. As far as they and The Highness were concerned they were just going to wait for the water to come down by itself once the god decided it was time. He didn’t like this idea at all.

Isaak sat at the window back in the elite's tower looking up at the sunset-red skies and watching the humongous watery orb above. It seems almost reachable from up there.

“You’ve missed another meeting” said Uriel, one of the other elites

“My presence wasn’t needed” replied Isaak “I bet all you did was talk about changing one of the tower room decorations again.”

“It was about changing the roof’s golden pole actually…” The pink haired man leaned on the window ledge. “There’s not much we can do about the water situation so for us life goes on. We just focus on whatever we would as if everything was normal.”

“So we just sit there while everyone else dies?!”

“I don’t like it either, you know.”

They stayed silent for a while, looking up at the life fluid hovering high up above.

“What’s the dark spot at the center of it?” asked the new elite.

“It’s a crystal I think… If I recall correctly Salazar confirmed it was a crystal when he looked at it with his spyglass.”

“We use crystal gems in our staves to focus our magic…”

“Yeah.”

“And we pull said magic out of our own crystalline chest pearl right?”

“Hmhmm. And the crystal up there is surely powered or using magic to keep the waters up all winter.”

“What if we broke it?”

“Uh?!”

“The crystal at the core. If we broke it there wouldn’t be any magic to keep the water up! We’d get our water back and we won’t keep dieing!”

“Isaak! Do you even hear yourself? Do you really want to defy God, break one of his gifts and go against his judgment?!”

“Do YOU have a better idea besides sitting on your ass and doing nothing?!”

“Alright.. Let’s entertain for a minute your idea of destroying the crystal. How are you gonna get up there? Because you nor any of us could cast a luminous projectile that would fly that far.”

Isaak remained quiet for a while, trying to think of something.

“Well… er…building with bricks and steel seems unfeasible… Too many resources needed… would take too long aswell…” He hadn’t thought that far.. He hadn’t really thought at all to be fair. The idea had hit in only a few seconds ago. “We could use Lumos to create a ladder or stairs..”

“So have a full team to go up there? Because you can’t have a group on the ground making the ladder since we can’t conjure magic that far and having only one person go on their own they will tire themselves and eventually be too weak to keep their cast solid.”

“Well I suppose yes…”

“What if one accidentally falls off and the entire focus is lost? Everyone would fall to their doom”

“Fine! I haven’t figured it out yet!” The trans man shouted “I still think it’s the best option!”

“It’s a foolish plan.” Uriel gently put a hand on Isaak’s shoulder. “You’re still young and new to the Maji. Trust me it’s not a good idea.”

The fresh Maji pushed away his senior. He wasn’t going to drop it, not yet. Unless he wasn’t able to come up with any method of going up he would keep this as his main plan. Without wasting any time he sat at his desk, completely ignoring Uriel who was still very much in his room. Isaak opened his notebook and started scribbling away.

He did his best putting down every potential method of getting up with Maji that he could think of. Stairs, ladders, ropes, trampolines of sorts. Each and every plan fell flat for the same reasons: they would all either consume way too much energy for a solo expedition or even if a team was used any loss of focus could unmaterialized the Lumos and get everyone killed. Only the greatest of the elite would be able to pull it off and there was no way they’d agree with this plan if Uriel’s reaction was anything to go by.

“Are you done?” said the unimpressed dark skinned elite who kept watching as Isaak struggled to come up with anything viable. “Are you willing to listen to reason?”

“I am NOT done!” snapped the newbie. “I still have plenty of ideas!”

Isaak stormed out. In truth he didn’t have much left in his head. He knew someone who might however: Artyom. His specialty was to build contraptions that could function without Maji after all. Surely he could come up with something. A sort of huge harpoon launcher that could attach a rope to the crystal that Isaak could climb? A catapult that could safely send him up? A precise canon that could swiftly dispose of the crystal perhaps?

He ran straight toward the water plants. He didn’t stop for a second even if his lungs were burning from the efforts. At the moment it didn’t really care about the dryness in his mouth, the sharp pain in his chest or the dizziness getting to his head. He had hopes.

“Arty! I need a favor from you!”

“U-uh? What?”

“I need you to make a machine that can get me up there! O-Or something that can shoot far enough to penetrate the waters and reach the crystal inside!”

“What?! What are you on about?” The orange-coded twin was completely taken aback and confused. It wasn’t like the guy to talk crazy like this. If anything, cookie plans was his field of expertise, not Isaak. “You want to go up there? To get the water down?”

The former scholar looked around for a moment. Both the artificer Artyom was talking to a minute ago and all the other workers in earshot were looking at him funny.

“I..ah… Let’s talk about it in private okay?”

“Okay?...”

The royal artificer led his friend to a less populated part of the plant.

“So you wanna get up there… What are you gonna do when you’re there? Politely ask the water to come down?”

“I'm gonna shatter the crystal” Isaak stated matter-of-factly

“WHAT?!”

“I'm gonna break it. It’s gonna break the spell that keeps the water up.”

“I-I. Wh.. We-I mean I guess it could work.. But how? Like? What do you want me to build to get you up there? How are you gonna break the crystal?”

“I don’t know how to get up there, that's why I'm asking you. Lumos Maji wouldn’t work as I’d get exhausted before I even reach a tenth of the distance so if Maji won’t work you’d work something out!”

“I'm..flattered you think I could come up with something…” Arty started walking around as he started racking his brain. “Hmmm..perhaps…”

The artificer walked away still in his thoughts, the Maji trailing him closely. Isaak could hear him mumbling as he went along, unable to grasp what was being said. Eventually they reached the twin’s house where Arty shot straight to his bedroom. There he reached for one of the shelves above his desk and brought down a small wooden boat.

“A boat? I'm trying to fly up… not… you know…” Isaak was quite confused.

“I made two of these for Vadim and I to play with. We’d spend entire afternoons on the lake shore to watch our little boats uncontrollably zip by. One day my boat hit a rock but rather than crashing and sinking, it got launched in the air and the sail catching the wind pushed it really far through the air. You know, the same way it can help the boat glide on water but up? Maybe we could do something like this?”

“It does sound a bit crazy…”

“Yeah and so far all my crazy ideas worked out so maybe~”

“I… If you think it can work, I'll put my faith in you.”

“For the take off I’d need a machine that can either catapult the boat or generate a big enough gust of wind.” the brunette said as he started to scribble down ideas. “Once up in the air a steady flow of air could keep you sailing and fall back slowly. The airflow could be maintained with a spinning fan operated with a rotating lever… But then the descent… I don't thin the wind and sail could keep the fall slow and gentle.. Not at this angle at least…” Artyom grabbed his small wooden boat, lifted it up and let it fall to the ground. He gave a small nod before picking it back up, tying up his pillowcase to it and dropping it one more time. This fell noticeably slower this time around. It was still a hard fall for the small toy but it was undeniably slower than before. “Yeah! A bigger horizontal sail could work… It would need to be tucked up or folded during the take off though, otherwise it could prevent the ship from taking off entirely.”

Isaak didn’t understand much of what the tinkerer was saying but it seemed like he had promising plans.

“So here’s what I have so far: we’d need a small boat as a base, anything too big could make the take-off harder but big enough to fit the team.”

“Team?” Isaak asked

“Well yeah, you’d need at least 2 people; one who’ll operate the fan and the other to work the sail… I mean I could potentially see how I could fit things in a way where you’d be able to work the lever with one hand and the sail with the other but then I wouldn’t have any space to put the folded up second sail for the descent.” Artyom scratched his chin. “Come to think of it, depending on how big of a sail it would need to be, I might not have enough space either way… That would need to be tested further first…”

“Yeah and even if I could operate both at once, I would need at least one free hand to cast any spell to get right of the crystal…”

“Oh yeah! That too!”

“A two-man team is inevitable…”

“I mean, would Lionel let you go up there on your own anyway?”

“Ahah! No! No, he wouldn’t!” Isaak paused, realizing he had thought about so many parts of his plan but had yet to even consult with his husband about it. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Take your time with it cause I got a lot to work on if we want this to work.”

Isaak nodded before making his exit. Would Lionel agree to his plan? If he did would he even have the time between his guard duties? If his husband didn't have the time, who would he turn to to be his co-pilot? Arty was still needed at the plant, Vadim would never do anything this dangerous and Kennedy… Maybe Kennedy would agree.

The Maji made his way to the marketplace as it was where Lio was posted most of the time. The market was a shell off itself. Evening was approaching but it should still be active for an hour or two before Lionel would probably patrol around town.Thankfully he arrived on time. He took a good look at the few stands still up around him. The fruits and vegetables were pitifully small compared to previous harvest, the fish booths that would usually pop up this season were nowhere in sight and while the meat stand seemed to still have decent produce it was only a matter of time until all the livestocks that were fattened up during winter would run out.

Isaak stopped in front of a stand for a moment, it was a tea stand. Tea merchants were the only one to still prosper in these times as people would use the dried leaves to flavor the muddy-tasting waters some people were able to dig out of the soil since the desalted water was distributed in such small rations.

“Isaak?” called a familiar voice behind him

“Uh?!” he turned around, now facing his lover.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the tower?”

“Oh, yeah. I was looking for you actually!” the trans man replied, nodding his head to the side to motion Lionel to move away so they could talk in private.

“What’s the matter?”

“I.. Arty and I have started on a plan to get the water back but I’d need your help.”

“Sure?” the tan man was a bit apprehensive. “What do you need me to do?”

“Arty is building a ship to get us up. I’d need you to fly it with me. I can’t operate it on my own.”

“F-Fly?”

“I know it’s a bit of a wild plan but.. I know it’s gonna work!... It has to…”

“Wh… Okay. Have you tested the ship already or…”

“Artyom is still building the schematics for it actually.”

Lionel thought about it for a moment. Flying up sounded crazy, even more so considering they hadn’t even tested whatever machine they wanted to use. He looked up at their end goal.

“What did Vadim say about all this?” he asked.

“Uh? I.. I haven’t talked to him today” Isaak’s confusion didn’t last long. “He didn’t get any visions about it. Not yet as far as I know… If he gets a vision where it ends badly of course I won't go through with it.”

“Hmm..”

“Besides, we can’t really get a prediction any time soon, I think. He said he gets like 3 a year and he already had one last month. The two he has left probably won't happen for a while…”

“Not necessarily.. Even if he used to have visions at regular intervals his last vision was clearly a break in his usually precognitive habits with it being a short term prediction.”

“True…”

He sighed heavily and made his way to the kitchen. On his way he walked by this twin’s room, he seemed hard at work. He hesitated between continuing his route downstairs or inspecting what his brother was doing. Before he could make a decision Artyom noticed him.

“Hey sleepyhead. How is the dream thing going?”

“Still nothing worthwhile… Looks like you got something going?”

“I.. Isaak asked me to build him a fucking flying machine…”

“You sound both excited and terrified at the idea.”

“Fuck yeah I am! On one hand IT’S A FREAKING COOL IDEA! But on the other hand it’s like… He could crash and die, you know?! BUT IT’S STILL A FREAKING COOL IDEA SO IMMA DO IT!”

It was often like this with Artyom, excitement made almost any danger seem trivial in the heat of the moment. Surely later when he’d be testing things on the field he’d be much more cautious. Sure he liked risky fun but not to the point of putting his friends life on the line.

The artificer spent quite a long time explaining in detail what he and Isaak were planning. Vadim soaked it all up. He prepared himself mentally for his upcoming clean-up of Arty’s blueprints. He knew he technically wouldn’t need to since his brother only asked for clean-ups when someone else would need to follow the drawn instructions. Vee didn’t really care if this was going to be a solo build-job for Arty, he really wanted to draw those prints. He wanted to feel useful in these times of crisis. If he couldn’t bring any predictions, this was the only good thing he could provide.

___________

Chapter 4

It didn’t take long for word about Isaak’s skyward expedition to spread around and reach the rest of the elite team. Even if words hadn’t spread they would have been found out now that testing would start. Artyom had spent weeks on this vessel and was ready to see it fly.

For now, the elites only watched from a distance but at the first sign of promising success they knew they might need to intervene. They couldn’t let Isaak go up and defy the natural course of nature, they could certainly watch the fool crash and set the example for people not to follow in his footsteps.

Arty had set everything outside of the city walls. The entire group of friend was here: The artificer was checking all of his machinery, Isaak was composing himself the best he could to fight off his nervousness, Lionel was already seated in the boat ready to face it all, Vadim stood aside his eyes closed as if he was trying to conjure any last minute vision even Kennedy was here. He had pretty much given up on his crops at this point and had nothing better to do than watch his friend put all their effort into this outlandish plan of theirs.

The boat-like sky-machine was propped up onto a large wooden structure that had some semblance of a giant crossbow tilted upwards. Artyom was going on about the procedure.

“One last time. First I will pull the lever, it will release the cord and will launch you guys up. Once you reach the apex of the curve: Isaak, deploy the main sail and Lionel, start cranking the fan. At any sign of drop or instability deploy the parachute sail. Do not hesitate! It’s better to deploy early and be safe than too late and dead!”

“Don’t worry. We will follow your protocol.” reassured Isaak

“Just making sure. I won’t be able to remind you once you’re up in the air!”

“What’s your pronostic” asked Kennedy to Vadim

“I don't have any” the shorter man whispered back

“I don’t mean in terms of dream predictions. Just in general what do you think is gonna happen?

“I.. I don’t know…”

“Personally I think it will fly… Probably not upward enough for a first flight but it does look promising!”

Vadim stared at his companions fully getting ready to fly. Surely if it were to end in a death he’d have gotten a vision for it, right? They’d be fine regardless of whether it was going to work or not, right? If anything fatal were to happen and he didn’t warn them it would be his fault wouldn’t it?

“Just don’t sweat it with the visions, okay?” said the red head. “If you ask me; the more you focus on it the less likely you are to get one.”

“Uh?”

“Yeah! It’s like when I lose something. When I look for it I never find it but when I stop looking I suddenly find what I was looking for! Maybe your visions are the same. Just try to not think about it.”

“Are you two ready to see history getting written?” shouted Artyom from atop his contraction, lever in hand. “It’s time to take off. I hope you’re watching!”

Kenny and Vadim’s eyes locked onto the boat-thing. There was no turning back now, it was time. Vee looked at both Lionel and Isaak’s faces. Lionel seemed a bit apprehensive yet still very calm and focused. Isaak however… He didn't look sad or scared. He seemed determined, angry even. Rage and passion flowed through him. There wasn’t anyone else more invested in seeing this work, not even Artyom.

“On the count of 3!” Arty declared. Tension rising.

“One”

The artificer held the lever tight with both his hands. Sweat drops forming on his twin brother’s forehead.

“Two”

The two husbands firmly gripped their respective controls, ready to pilot the vessel around. Kennedy held his breath.

“Three!”

The moment Artyom pulled on the mechanism, Vadim closed his eyes. He wasn’t ready to see this. He didn’t want the disaster that could unfold to be forever etched in his brain. He couldn’t live with himself with their faces haunting him. Kennedy and Artyom didn’t notice Vee wasn’t watching, they were too busy following the flying machine with their eyes. It didn't launch far up but it was flying!

They were soaring. They were a bit shaken up by the force of the launch but they were still set on their objective. Isaak opened up the sail and held it’s bar firmly, Lionel getting at his own task on the same beat. With the current angle their best way of gaining altitude would be to gently ascend in a spiral.

“How are things on your end Lio?”

“All good!”

“Great! This might be a slow climb. Let me know if you get too tired to keep the fan spinning.”

“I can manage. I was able to keep my arms up without resting for a full 6 minutes! This is nothing in comparison.”

Lionel’s strength was his pride. With his pearl cracked he couldn’t use any Maji, not even the very small Lumos spell any commoner could master. With the gem-like material their skeleton and pearl was made of, it was very difficult for Anacree to break a bone. The center pearl was where it was the densest making it even harder to crack. Somehow Lio managed to get his damaged. He didn’t remember when nor how. As far as he knew it was always like this.

The strong man put all his heart into getting that fan spinning and his lover did his best steering the ship upward. They wanted to reach the top but deep down they knew they wouldn’t make it on the first try. Right now it was a matter of seeing how high they could go.

After almost fifteen minutes it felt like they were so high up already, but looking at the water bubble above it was clear they were nowhere near high enough. They didn’t even make it half way there.

“I think we’re starting to lose altitude” Said Lionel

“Already?!”

“It’s kinda hard to judge right now but if we’re not already tipping, we’re about to.”

“Alright, let’s give it a couple more minutes before we initiate the descent.”

“Got it!”

It didn’t take long for them to have confirmation that they were indeed starting to fall. Without wasting any time Isaak folded back the mainsail and Lionel took out the large cloth that would serve as a parachute.

As the huge draping unfolded, part of it wrapped around the center pole of the boat. If it remained tangled it could get the men into serious trouble. Their descent was getting increasingly faster. Panic started to set in as the two started to wrestle with the fabric. They pulled and tugged but they didn’t seem to get anywhere.The tangled sail slapped them with the wind making it even hard for them to focus or do anything.

“We need to get it off!” cried the younger one.

Both of them were terrified. All their efforts proving unsuccessful, Lionel let his instinct kick in.

“Get down!” He ordered

Isaak obeyed without asking any question. Now that his husband was out of the way, Lio started ramming into the pole with his shoulder. After only three blows the wooden mast splintered away. With the force of the wind, the fabric’s hectic flapping, gravity and momentum of Lionel’s blow, the pole flew up in the air and the sail finally got to open up properly.

The fall wasn’t over however. The delayed sail opening would probably mean they wouldn’t have as much time to slow down enough before impact but it seemed that the pole ripped a small but noticeable hole in the fabric, further impacting the speed of their descent.

Down on the ground Artyom and Kennedy were getting worried. Vadim was completely drowning out the outside world at this point. He hadn’t opened his eyes since the launch, even after Kenny shook him in celebration when he watched the boat glide through the air.

He didn’t move either when his brother called for him to help when the ship crashed nor when Kennedy ordered him to help. Vee was completely disconnected from his surrounding, hiding deep down in his mind bubble to shield himself from the real world and it’s harsh consequences.

Luckily the two pilot didn’t die in the fall. They were badly bruised and a bit concussed but thanks to their stone-like bones paired with the parachute who had still considerably slowed down their fall, they were okay. It took their voice to confirm they were okay and back on the ground safely for Vadim to finally open his eyes again. He was still shaken and speechless, just as much as the two who had just had the biggest fall of their lives.

“Not too bad for a first flight!” Isaak joked, his pain clearly audible in every one of his words.

“Could have gone better” replied Artyom.

“How long will it take you to fix it?” the blue haired man asked, taking pretty much everyone by surprise.

“You already wanna fly again?!” Yelled Kennedy, Lionel slouched on him for support.

“I'm sure Lio and I will have enough time to heal while arty works.”

“Well I can’t just repair it. I’d need to redesign it first.” said the artificer “It’s clear the main pole can cause issue during the parachute deployment…”

“Maybe… Maybe you could put the parachute in a box on top of the poll” Suggested Lionel. “And the top could be opened by pull a rope from below where I’d be sitting?”

“Hmmm… Perhaps… But it might mess up with air flow and aerodynamics… Ill look into it.”

Vadim hated Isaak’s determination right now. He didn’t like how he could be so ready to throw himself into danger like this even if it was to save people. Wasn’t Isaak upset when the Maji considered using him as a test subject by throwing into equally dangerous situations?

Vee hated this, he hated that they were making good progress, that that would continue, that they would probably reach higher and higher next time, that every tries the chance that they could die with increase along the height… That he couldn’t do anything about any of this. He couldn’t help them nor could he stop them. All he could do was watch and hope they’d survive.

This feeling wouldn’t go away for a long time. As month went by, Lionel and Isaak multiplied the flights. No matter how many time they crashed,got bruised or broke a bone, they got back up and flew again. At that point, Vadim wasn’t the only one with negative feelings about the airship project.

The elite Maji already knew about the entire plan since day one thanks to Uriel, but steady progress of the fliers made it clear it was something serious. Not only was Isaak acting in total defiance of the God by trying to destroy the crystal and force the water back down, but he was dragging with him a good part of the population. The crowds were dying, water supplies kept dwindling as other town started giving less and less of their salt waters instead keeping it for their own conversion, there was little to no fauna left to hunt for meat and crops were suffering from the drought just like everything else. To many, Isaak was their last hope. The Highness wasn’t going to let this slide, an intervention was needed.

Right before their latest flight, the group was greeted by Valliard. Valliard was a tall and strong man just like Lionel and Kennedy. Unlike them however, he was well versed with Maji. He was one of the top 5 elites. Isaak had seen him many times in the meeting but had never heard him spoke before.

“The Highness is displeased with your actions Mr.Lockheart.” his deep voice boomed. “Not just you but also the Alexeev twins.”

“Well I'm displeased with The Highness’s lack of actions! We need water!” shouted Isaak “I'm getting it!”

“This is your first warning. You can try one last time but be assured. If you do damage the crystal or continue to try flying both you and Artyom will lose your ranks. You might be exiled even”.

“Fuck you!” barked Isaak. He was having none of it. “I'm doing what’s necessary! Can’t you fucking see it?!”

“You’re not. You’re rebelling against our guardian.”

“Our guardian is letting his people die in mass all across the lands! And for what? Punish us? What have we done to upset him so bad?”

“Maybe You are the problem! You’re just a massive disappointment!” Valliard declared, shooting daggers at Isaak with his eyes. “We all though you’d grow to become a great Maji like your grandfather Ignacio, but we were wrong… You’re no better than the cracked pearl you married.”

The launcher was prime. Artyom was on post, lever in hand. Isaak jumped in, ready to go. Lionel was still on the ground however, preventing them from taking off.

“Come on, Lio. Let’s show him we’re worth more than his snobby magic tricks” encouraged Isaak.

Lionel couldn’t hide his pain. Yes his pearl was cracked, but he was still a good man, he already showed he was a productive member of society. Many time he was praised for being a great guard in the market place even without using any Lumos to apprehend thieves.

“I can’t do this without you Lio…”

He was right. Isaak couldn’t do it without him. He needed him, the people needed them. The only reason their friend group made it semi-comfortably this far was because Isaak and Artyom’s ranks as Elite Maji and Royal Artificer got them access to a bit more water than the rest that they would share with the friend group.

With their rank on the edge of being striped and they water supplies cut, it might make it harder to rest, heal and fly in the future. He needed to get in there and pilot this ship straight to the top.

“Yeah” he said before taking a deep breath then climbing aboard. “I'm ready”

With everyone at their post, they lifted off. Just like every previous time the initial launch was flawless. Sure they would be shaken a bit or lose their balance but it was nothing they couldn’t easily recover from. This rather short period of time was the easiest and most peaceful.

Isaak looked down bellow as they progressed upward, after so many flights and rough falls he no longer feared heights or experienced vertigo. They could see it all from up there: the empty lake, the streets only populated by corpses people were too tired to move, the palace and tower where the nobles hid and hoarded most of the waters, Artyom’s water-treatment plant that could no longer keep up. It was all sad.

“Reaching the apex in 5!” stated Lionel

“Alright! Ready to sail!”

By now they were used to the routine. It didn’t matter how much the ship had changed after all the crashes, all the redesigns to make things smoother. On paper it was still the same steps: they launched, they opened the sail once they started losing altitude, they’d power the fan who’d push then higher and then after they got as high as they could -goal reached or not- they open the parachute and make their descent.

“It’s the highest the launcher got us yet!” said Isaak

“Yeah! I think we got almost as high as our first flight after using the fan.”

Now was the hardest part. Isaak needed to keep the boat in line and carefully pilot it upwards while Lionel would have to work his arms off to keep the fan spinning to keep their wind-push steady. Thankfully, Lionel’s task had been made easier. With a few extra gears and loop Lionel’s lever-cracking was made more efficient as it seemed to more or less multiply the amount of spin the fans would do for one of Lio’s input. It was like for one crank the fan would spin like 5 times as opposed to the 1 to 1 they started with.

The two pushed forward. They kept going higher and higher, following a spiral pattern. Ascending like this was a bit slow but so far they hadn't found a better way to do so. It was working so it’s all that mattered for now. Looking up, the water bubble kept getting closer. Give or take 50 minutes they should be able to reach it.

“Do you think You could do both the cranking and steering at once?” Asked Isaak “I might need both my hands to properly aim at the thing once we get close.”

“Yeah don’t worry about that.”

The boat creaked and groaned the further they got up. It sure had been through a lot so far. Most of its plank had been replaced at least once, most of the cracks have been filled with paste or covered with metal plates. For the most part it looked a lot like the initial boat safe from the mast that had been moved a tiny bit further back and the secondary sail on the side of it opposing the main one. By having it on the side of the pole it prevented it from getting tangled up on it once released.

“How close do we need to be for you to shoot? I doubt we were planning on getting anywhere inside the water bubble, were we?”

“I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

They were close indeed, but not close enough, not yet. Isaak’s heart was beating faster than the fan was spinning. Just a few more minute.

“How are we doing regarding height?” He asked “Still going up?”

“Yep! Still going strong” replied Lionel. Gone was the pain he had in his voice when he was still on the ground in front of Valliard. “Seems like we aren't gonna plateau or descend for a good while!”

These minutes felt like slow motion for Isaak. They were so close! How long had they been going up at this point? Almost two hours logically, but it felt like twice that. Couldn’t they make it up already? Finally get this drought over with?!

If he could, Isaak would have been pacing back and forth in a poor attempt to manage his impatience. However he had a sail to operate, he couldn’t slack and risk messing things up when they were about to reach their goal. Despite the frustration and his eagerness to go faster, he remained focused on his task.

Isaak grabbed his staff with his right hand, the left still tight on the sail handle. He pointed it up toward his target, closing his left eye to aim. He didn’t need to close his left eye to focus his sight better since he was already blind from that eye for a few years now, but it was a force of habit.

“Hold on! Let me get the sail.” Lionel said bending forward.

“No need yet. I'm just calculating stuff.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah… I give it at least three more loops.”

By that point, the circle they were making to go up were getting tighter and tighter. Tight enough to ascend as fast as possible while not making the turns to hard to maneuver.

Lionel looked at Isaak as he did his calculations. He’d married a smart man, very bright and resourceful. He didn’t agree with the big elite’s words. Isaak wasn’t a disappointment. Sure he might have not been as powerful as the great Igniacio Lockheart but he was still a great Maji.

He though back to the many things he heard both Isaak and Artyom say, elite Maji were snobs. They didn’t value people for what they were, only for what they could do that would benefit them. Isaak was worthless to them because he didn’t fall inline with their view of what should and shouldn’t be done to please the god. Artyom was below them because he refused to build machines that would complement their magic. Him, well he was pretty much nothing since he couldn’t cast any spells at all.

“Lionel! It’s time!”

Isaak’s command pulled him out of his thoughts. Without hesitating nor wasting time Lionel reached forward, firmly grasping the sail handle.

“I got it! Fire whenever!”

Isaak aimed straight for it. Lionel did his best to keep the ship steady while his husband charged his bolt. Light beams swirled around them, merging at the tip of Isaak’s staff. Once the ball of light was large enough, he fired.

The lumos bullet whizzed through the air, Isaak getting pushed backward from the recoil. Both men followed the projectile with their eyes. It pierced the water forming an ever growing whirlpool around itself.

The watched on the edge of their seat. The bullet was barely distinguishable at this point. They could see it’s glow but the refraction of the water made it seem like there were many flying in completely different directions.

They felt their ship starting to lose altitude but didn’t move quite yet. They watched a little longer. And a bit more. Now they had completely lost sight of the bullet.

“I missed it.” whispered Isaak

The projectile indeed didn’t connect. Either that or it did without damaging the core. It was better to think it missed because it meant they could try again, shattering it to pieces this time around.

“F-fire again then!”

Isaak aimed his staff up again. Lights swirling around them once more. Then nothing. It just poofed. No bullet, no fanfare, just a whole lot of nothing.

“I can’t! I used all the energy I had! I can’t!” the trans man cried. “I wasted our chance…”

Lionel pulled his husband close to him with his right arm and held him tight to comfort him, pulling the cord of the parachute with his left. They’d try again. At least he hoped they could. With how close they came to success, he worried the elites might take away everything. Right now he had plenty or time to think about what to do next. The descent was going to take a while.

___________

Chapter 5

It took a full week for Isaak to recover enough energy to make a new attempt. He spent the whole time locked in his house away from the elites and everything else. Lionel filled him in with how the other were holding up everyday, he also took care of him and stayed by his side as much as possible.

From what he had heard, The highness did not officially removed his and Arty’s rank. The ship and launcher hadn’t been confiscated either. There was a rumor that the elites couldn’t enforce their threats because of the masses. The Maji feared a potential uprising and felt like they had no choice but let them fly as to not upset the crowds.

“How are you feeling today” Asked Lionel, gently caressing Isaak’s cheek. “I think we should go out together today, the fresh air would do you some good.”

“We should fly today. I’ve rested enough.”

“Hmm.. I don’t know if Artyom’s available today… They’ve been overworking him a lot lately. I guess it’s their way of preventing us from progressing…”

“The boat is in working conditions is it not? I'm sure Kennedy or Vadim can take Arty’s place. All he does is pulling a lever.”

“Ah… about Vadim…” Lionel hesitated for a moment. “He... He still hasn’t woken up.”

“Uh?”

“Y-yeah.. It’s been two days… He’s still alive and breathing! He’s just.. Asleep…”

“Do you think a vision is holding him back in somehow?”

“I don’t know.. Maybe? Or maybe he’s forcing himself to remain asleep until he gets one…”

“We need to put an end to this. The drought is messing with everyone and he’s the one who probably have been hit the hardest aside from the ones who already died.”

Lionel nodded. He didn’t like how long this water crisis was lasting either. Each day he spent ‘wasting time’ was torture to him. Last time they almost had it, they just needed one more try and they’d make it, he was sure of it. He though about how hard it must have been for Isaak. Missing his shot must have weight on him, so did having to wait until he had charged back up.

“Before we fly... Can I go check on Vadim in person? I doubt Ill wake him up but.. I feel like talking to him wouldn’t be a terrible idea. It’s been a short while since I’ve seen him, you know? It kinda feel like it’s been an eternity…”

“Of course. I'm sure Andrei will appreciate you visiting his brother.”

“He’s not mad at us is he?”

“No. He’s upset about Vadim’s seemingly endless sleep and Artyom being treated as a work-mule, but he got nothing against us.”

“That’s… That’s good.”

“He’s been helping a lot actually! Since Arty is so busy these day, Andrei’s been the one to keep an eye on our equipment.”

“Maybe he could be the one assisting us at launch then?”

“I’d prefer not to.”

“Why not?” Isaak was a bit confused. Lionel had just said Andrei was willing to help so why the hold up?

“If we do get any negative consequences for this any time soon, I’d rather not involve him. He could have a good life with Michael once everything is back to normal. Keeping an eye on our stuff while Arty is away isn’t putting any attention on him so let’s keep it that way.”

“Fair enough.”

The trans man finally got out of bed and starting dressing up. It made him feel a bit better. After spending an entire week inside almost neglecting himself, it was a nice change to actually make himself presentable.

They walked slowly to the Alexeev house. Even if Isaak had fully recovered his casting energy, he was still quite drained emotionally without even taking into account the thirst and hunger brought down from the drought. At least they had it fairly good, Isaak though. Everyone else had it way worse without their privileges.

After a long walk through the empty streets of their hometown the couple eventually reached their destination. The twins -and their older brother’s- residence. This house had seen quite a lot. Artyom had cracked and blew hole quite a few times in the past with his experimental machines. Lionel knocked on the door. By now it had probably been replaced at least 7 times. He vividly remembered that one time Andrei had to kick down the door in a panic after Arty had set something on fire when they were teens.

“Oh. It’s you.” said the eldest Alexeev who opened the door. “Isaak is here too. Good to see you’re still holding up okay.”

“I wanted to check on Vee before we go fly again today.” weakly stated Isaak.

“I have great hopes that we’re going to make it this time” cheerfully added Lionel.

“I hope you do.” the scar-faced guy motioned them inside. “We all do. Even the elites… They may be mad and truly believe breaking the crystal could piss off whoever created said crystals… but they want the water back just as much as everyone else.”

“H-hey… I hope you’re doing okay in there…” Talking to an unconscious friend was much more hard on him than he expected. “I'm.. I'm sorry. I'm both sorry because it all suck and I don’t like seeing you like this and I'm also sorry if any of this is my fault… I know I didn’t cause the drought, I didn’t cause those visions or anything.. But I do feel like my plans to recover the water did stress you out. I know you were terrified we might die the first time we launched. Arty told me you desperately wanted to get vision to stop us from flying if you foresaw things to go wrong and I'm deeply sorry about all this. I never wanted you too feel like you needed to push yourself and your ability to assist us… Maybe I should have said something about it sooner… I mean I did, I think? I probably wasn’t clear enough or worded myself properly to sooth you but… I was just... I was focused on making the plan work, you know?”

The two taller guys watched silently as Isaak spoke softly. Isaak really did focus too much on the airship mission. Not matter how many time the wooden plants splintered and cut him deep, how covered in bruises he got, how many bones he occasionally broke in the falls. He just got back up and tried flying again the next day.

“Let’s go get Kennedy” said Isaak “Let’s get this over with…”

“You’re not taking Artyom with you this time?” asked the eldest. “I'm sure he’d hate to miss a flight, especially the one that succeed…”

“I totally get that but I really don’t want to waste any time. They barely give him any free time these days, do they?”

“Right…”

“I still have my pocket mirror. Ill be sure to call him so he can watch us from wherever they put him.”

“Alright…Fly safely.”

“Eh. A couple bruises never kept us down for long.” Isaak laughed..he hadn’t done that in ages, he felt.

It warned Lionel’s heart to see his husband smile even if it was half faked. Hopefully he’d be able to see him genuinely smile like he used to very soon.

The two made their way out after waving goodbye. They needed to find Kenny but honestly had no clue where he might be. He wasn’t at his and Lionel’s apartment this morning and probably wouldn’t be at the farm considering how bad it had been these days.

“So… Where are we heading, Lio?”

“Well Kenny told me he’s been spending most of his week checking on people around our place, see if they needed help and all that…”

“So?”

“So we’re gonna go back to my street and scream his name until we find him. Unless you got a better idea.”

“I haven’t seen him in a week! How do you want me to know where he is?”

“Then screaming it is!”

“Urh!” Isaak crossed his arms. “Why cant they give everyone pocket mirrors? It would be so much better! We would be able to talk to anyone at any time of the day no matter where they are!”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

Isaak didn’t really like the idea of yelling to find Kennedy. Their throats were already dry enough from the lack of water, they didn’t need to make it worse. Going door to door would have probably been smarter but it was undeniable that screaming was much faster. It only took them five minutes to get the red head’s attention.

“What is it? Are you guys okay?!” Said Kenny, panicked. It’s like he expected them to be dying or something.

“We need an extra pair of hands to get the boat flying.” said Lionel

“Oh! I take Arty is still under the elite’s tight grip?”

“Yeah pretty much… I’ll still try to call him once we’re on site so he isn’t completely left out.”

“Okay, Alright. Are we doing this right now or..”

“Yeah.”

“We could wait a little if you’re in the middle of helping someone” contradicted Lio. “We don’t want to force you to bail on anyone.”

“Nah, nah! I'm cool doing it now. There’s no issue on that! Lead the way!”

With Kenny now there, the party was now ready to take off.

The walk to the launchpad was much faster than the one they took to the twins house. Not because it was closer but because Isaak was much more in a rush and the emotional drain weighted less on him despite being still there.

When they arrived there they noticed a few people standing around the machinery. At first they were fearful these were elites or people sent by the elites to sabotage them, but on closer inspection and some conversation it was revealed these were supporting townsfolk.

Andrei did keep an eye on the equipment in the evening and at night, but during the day this group stayed put. They truly had the whole town supporting them in their endeavor. One of them even said he wanted to fly why Isaak was still resting but had no choice but back down when it was brought up to him that a skilled Maji needed to be on board to shoot down the crystal.

Before any flight could take place, loading the launcher was in order. The boat was already on the machine but the elastic cord that made the launch possible wasn’t pulled back yet. Lionel grabbed the wooden wheel-crank on the back side of the machinery. The more he spun it, the tenser the cord got.

“Are we ready to go?” Asked Kennedy from the top of the wooden platform.

“About to be! Ill give it another spin or two for good measure.” replied Lionel

“Is there anything I nee to do beside pulling the lever? Like, I don’t know… shout commands or something?”

“No. Even if you did, we wouldn’t hear you from so far up. After lift off, Lionel and I will pretty much be on our own but there’s nothing to worry about.”

“We’ve perfected our routine at this point.”

“Figures… To be honest I don't even know why I expected to do more. All the other time you guys went up, Arty just stood still just like I did and just watched…”

“Aw c’mon!” Lio patted his roommate on the back. “Your part is still key to the whole thing! We need all three of us to make it work! You launch us, I provide the airflow for the boat to get to the top and Isaak take down the core!”

“Pff! How much do you want to bet once you two get back down with the water, they will only praise you!”

As the trio joked about who would get the most accolades and who deserved them best, they were interrupted by a familiar face approaching them. It was Uriel. He strutted along as if everything was fine and dandy.

“Lionel, Let’s get in and go. Now” Isaak ordered. The mood had shifted.

“I'm not here to stop you, lecture you or in any way bother you.” Said the black man. “I'm here to wish you luck. As much as I disagree with your action, if this get us out of the hell we’re trapped in then so be it. Fly on.”

“Hand us your staff then!” said one of the townsmen who had been protecting the catapult.

“Yeah give it to us until they are back! That way we’re sure you won’t shoot them down with Maji!”

“There will be no need. Ill be taking my leave shortly. I was just passing by to pass the good word, that’s all.”

Isaak had absolutely no care for Uriel and whatever he had to say. While his superior was busy bickering with the townies, the rebellious Maji jumped aboard the ship. His husband followed suit.

“Kenny!” Isaak called, snapping The beefy guy out of his daydreaming. “On deck! Get ready!”

“Oh! Yeah! Sorry, I was uh… Whatever they can take care of the guy anyway!” Kennedy shook his head. “Alright boys hold on tight! One flying boat coming right up!”

The ascend had nothing new nor exiting to offer him. At this point it was just an unskippable timewaster. He just wanted to be upther, take the darn thing down and save the people.

The fire that burned in him was too strong for him to be antsy or nervous the whole way up. No. He was still as a statue. His hand gripping the sail so firmly his knuckles turned white. He was gonna shoot it, destroy it. He was gonna blow it to pieces. If he missed one more time, he’d never forgive himself.

Lionel could feel how tense and passionate Isaak was. He didn’t say a word. Not even when they reached the apex, his husband deployed the sail on his own. They both knew to perfection how and when every tasks needed to be perform, no communication needed. Isaak didn’t need to tell Lionel to scoot over and handle both handles either.

He took a deep breath and held his staff against his chest for a brief moment. Aim. Focus. Don’t miss. He raised his golden cane upward, pointing it at the target. Aim. Focus. Don’t miss. He charged his lumos beam, the bullet growing before his eyes. Aim. Focus. Don’t miss. All he needed was to shoot. Don’t Fucking Miss.

As Isaak released his spell, a loud crackle was heard and he was pushed back hard. Lionel momentarily let go of the fan handle to catch him. The were about to descend anyway so cranking it was no longer necessary.

Both of them looked up to see the conclusion to the fruit of their labor and effort. Just like last time they stood speechless as they watch the glowing projectile cut through the water, the ripple and refaction making it look like a multitude of them dispersed through out.

And then.

BOOM.

The Crystalline core broke into pieces, releasing a shockwave through the air.They had done it. The Crystal was shattered and the water was raining down.

The water was raining down.

Now they just had to parachute back down like they had done many times before. Lionel went and pulled the cord. The cloth unfolded but didn’t deploy properly. The fabric was too soaked and heavy. They were quickly faced by the horror of the situation they were in.

With the torrential rain hammering down on them, the soaked sail was nearly unusable. It wasn’t going to slow their descent nearly enough.

Unless they did something, they weren’t going to make it.

“I.. Maybe I can cast something!” Isaak said, holding Lionel’s hand tight. “I can try to male a parachute out of Lumos! It won’t be affected by the rain.”

“C-can you? Didn’t you use all of your energy already?”

“Just give me a moment to rest and focus. Trust me... Ill get us out of this!”

The held each others hand and pressed their forehead together, focusing in unisson. The heavy boat fell down much faster than them and since they were no longer holding onto it, they felt it leaving under their feet. Up in the middle of the sky they poured their heart and last bit of energy into this last spell.

“Let’s hope it works…”

___________

Myth and legends are plenty on Aquafirma. One tell the story of a man who brought back the world’s water out from the clutch of a greedy displeased god.

Everyone know this story is rooted in truths but these days you’d be hard pressed to hear what really unfolded. There are as many versions of it as there are stars in the sky. Some say the man flew on a winged whale, brought the water down using a Lumos nets then came back from the cloud to be crowned king. Other will tell you he built a ladder, fought the Salmalion himself and became a new god. There are also tales saying he used his Maji to launch himself up like a living missile, sacrificing his life to destroy the crystal.

To most, it mattered very little how he got the waters back. The water was here to stay and the land flourished. That was the most important thing of all.