The Stubborn Light of a Dying Flame [Isekai - LitRPG]

"I'm not going," Rayna said firmly.

She couldn't believe that Lord Emery was even considering this.

The sitting area in his office hadn't changed since she last saw it; a sofa and several comfortable brown chairs around a low coffee table. The fireplace was lit, despite the warmth of the season, and Rayna was thankful for the cooling effect that her cloak seemed to provide.

"I can protect you," Lord Emery insisted. "If they truly have news of Nali—"

"They don't," Rayna said. "Because if they did, they wouldn't be running around with secret notes and all this cloak and dagger bullshit."

Rayna hadn't mentioned Myre yet. She wasn't sure how to do so without risking Lord Emery's safety. She told him that Nali was taken by vanishers, but not who had sent them.

Lord Emery pressed his lips together. "I don't understand why you're being so difficult about this."

"Because it's obviously a trap," Rayna said. "And I'm not stupid enough to walk right into it."

Perhaps this was just experience talking. Walking into obviously-sketchy meetings is what got her stuck on Ember in the first place. If she had managed to talk Emma out of going into that warehouse, they would be back home, sipping wine and arguing over which books had the best character arcs.

Jayne entered with a tray of sausage rolls and tea.

Lord Emery nodded. "Hurry up and eat. We're going to be late."

"Are you even listening?" Rayna didn't make a move toward the rolls even though they smelled delicious. She was too annoyed to appreciate them properly at the moment.

"It is suspicious, to say the least," Jayne said, surprising Rayna with his support.

Lord Emery threw up his hands. "Not you too!"

"Forgive me for saying this, milord, but Lady Emery sent Rayna away at great personal risk. If she were here, she wouldn't blindly throw her into another potential danger."

"There is nothing to suggest that this letter and that incident are related," Lord Emery insisted.

"You are insufferable!" Phira snapped, popping onto the sofa next to Rayna.

Lord Emery leapt to his feet, drawing his sword. Jayne looked mildly surprised, but he calmed down when Rayna looked exasperated rather than alarmed.

"You could try entering a conversation more politely," she said, motioning for Lord Emery to sit down.

"And lose my only source of entertainment?" Phira asked mischievously. "I must say, showing up unannounced is much more fun outside of the tutorial. Usually in my maze, it just resulted in a knife through the face."

Rayna blushed. "In my defense, I thought there was a final boss."

"Yes, the wording of that trial description was rather inadequate. I requested a revision several times, but the Administrator wouldn't spare the Essence."

Lord Emery sheathed his sword hesitantly and sat back down, watching the Tinkerer warily.

Phira was ignoring him, her gaze locked on the steaming pile of sausage rolls. "Could you eat one of those?"

Rayna blinked. "What?"

"Eat something," Phira repeated. "I'm getting better at tapping into your senses and those rolls smell divine!"

"Is this really the time…?" Rayna asked.

Lord Emery's expression had turned incredulous.

"After how many times you've stuffed me into my stone for days on end, you expect me to miss this chance?" Phira asked. "How do I know another two week nap isn't right around the corner?"

"Two week nap?" Jayne asked.

"Long story," Rayna said, grabbing a roll off the pile. "Fine, I'll try it, but we need to work on your manners."

"My manners are fine," Phira objected. "I'm quite polite for someone who was alone for three thousand years. You don't want to know what that sort of isolation can do to a person."

Rayna had a good idea from a few documentaries she had seen back on earth, but those had only been a few months or years in isolation. She couldn't imagine spending centuries—let alone millennia—alone.

Then again, she couldn't imagine living for centuries, so maybe it was a moot point.

She took a bite of the roll, and her eyes closed as the hot savory juices mixed with the melted cheese and salty bread.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

She and Phira groaned in unison.

"That is really good," Rayna told Jayne, taking another bite.

"I'm glad it meets with your approval," he said. "I'll tell the cook to make more. Would your guest like a cup of tea?"

Phira shook her head. "I'm a simulacrum, unfortunately. My physical body has long since wasted away."

"There are many teas that are meant to be appreciated through sight or smell alone," Jayne explained. "It would be poor hospitality to leave the table bare."

"That is quite thoughtful of you," Phira said, glancing sidelong at Lord Emery. "In that case, tea would be lovely."

Jayne left the room, and Rayna enjoyed the rest of her roll.

Phira sighed. "I suppose a proper introduction is necessary," she said as if she didn't want to waste her time on one. "I am Phira Alderon, Third Princess of Azanel. Since coming to Ember, I was simply Phira, a Runic Mage that specialized in magical items with moving parts. As Rayna's contracted simulacrum, I look out for her best interests, and I won't tolerate you dragging her into what is clearly a dangerous and likely fruitless meeting."

"Contracted simulacrum?" Rayna asked.

Their magic lessons had been pretty lax, what with Phira being stuck in her stone all the time. Rayna resolved to ask the Tinkerer more questions in the future, though Phira's next words proved that more magic lessons wouldn't have helped her in this instance.

"I've been playing around with the term," Phira said. "It isn't normal, you know, for simulacra to have senses beyond sight and hearing. Even those are usually dulled by the magic keeping our souls tied to our stones. If a mage isn't careful, they will be without senses altogether, forced to waste away and go mad in the endless torment of the abyss.

"It is also common—or I suppose, as common as it can be for an uncommon art like simulacra—for the mage's memories to atrophy over the centuries if they didn't set the proper safeguards in place. Even with my perfect spell, I was seeing some signs of atrophy myself. However, since I gave my stone to you, I have felt sharper and more aware, and my senses are almost as clear as when I was alive. I can also experience the secondary senses—smell, taste and touch—through you. Were I still alive, I would insist on studying the phenomenon."

"Technically, you are studying it," Rayna pointed out, grabbing another sausage roll.

Phira's expression lit up. "You're right! Goodness me, I'd forgotten how fun it is to research! Perhaps we might find some time to visit the library in Perth—if it still exists, that is. Whenever I needed to find some information that wasn't in the System Archive, I could always find it in that library. I spent almost as much time there as I did in my workshop. I went so far as to create a teleport anchor there so I could pop in an out as needed."

"Lovely as this chat may be," Lord Emery said. "We are on a time constraint."

"Are you deaf?" Phira asked in such a politely concerned voice that Rayna nearly choked on her roll.

"I beg your pardon?" Lord Emery said.

"You don't have it," Phira said. "If you wish to risk your own life, I won't stop you, but Rayna and I will be staying here. Or, if you wish us to leave, we'll head to our next destination—wherever Rayna decides that is. You have no right to order Rayna about like she is one of your servants. You should be ashamed of yourself for even suggesting she go with you to that forest. Do you have any idea what she has already endured in there."

"That was much deeper in the forest than we would go for this meeting," Lord Emery argued. "And if the sender has news of my wife—"

"Rayna brought news of your wife," Phira snapped. "And instead of thanking her, you dismissed her immediately and planned this hairbrained scheme of yours. I see no further reason for this conversation."

Jayne reentered the room, placing Phira's tea on the table in front of her. "It seems I have missed something important," the butler said, taking in the tense atmosphere at the table.

"Only your employer's lunacy," Phira said. "If this were me—"

"Phira, chill!" Rayna said, putting a hand on the Tinkerer's shoulder. To her surprise, the woman actually felt solid.

Phira's eyebrows raised, and she immediately turned and attempted to pick up her teacup.

Her hand went right through the handle. "Well, that is curious," she said.

Rayna shook her head, placing this new development at the bottom of her long list of things to figure out.

"In any case," Rayna said, removing her hand. "Thank you for defending me, but you can take it down a peg." Rayna turned to Lord Emery, squaring her shoulders. "I know you're worried about Nali, but this isn't going to help you find her, and I have too much to do right now to waste time on this. I need help locating something in the area."

She silently wished she had brought this up earlier. She wasn't sure how likely Lord Emery was to help her after Phira had basically spit in his face. Phira didn't say anything Rayna disagreed with, but she could have said it more politely.

"I'll help you find anything you need," Lord Emery said. "If you come with me to the meeting."

Rayna tapped her fingers on the table. What was the probability that she could find the hubs on her own? She spent hours trying to figure out how to work the scan, but so far she hadn't had any luck. Lord Emery would know the map better than she did and he might even be able to point to any broken down cabins in the middle of the woods. If the hubs weren't operational, like the one in Ellis, then the telepathic field shouldn't be active, which would mean that travelers would be able to see them.

"You—" Phira started to say.

"Fine," Rayna said through gritted teeth. "But I'm running away at the first sign of trouble."

"Rayna, you can't," Phira said. "This is a terrible idea!"

"I know," Rayna said. "But I need his help. When this turns out to be a trap, I'll just high-tail it out of there and leave Lord Emery to clean up the mess on his own, are we agreed?"

Jayne's look of disapproval was aimed at Lord Emery, not Rayna, but he also didn't seem to like the idea of Lord Emery going on his own.

"You won't have to run," Lord Emery said. "I'll protect you from any potential dangers, man or beast."

"You can't guarantee her safety any more than you can guarantee your own," Phira said. "You aren't the strongest man in Helia. Rayna passed several men on the road whose level far outmatched your own."

"Phira," Rayna hissed in warning.

The Tinkerer rolled her eyes. "Forget it. Rayna, if you're going, do me a favor this time and don't put my stone in your Inventory. You have a tendency to forget me in there and I don't appreciate it."

Phira vanished without so much as a goodbye.

Lord Emery frowned at the spot where she had been. "Did Nali tell you my level?"

Rayna glanced at his name tag.

[Enalus Emery — Level 210]

[Yndar]

He wasn't as high as Nali, but he was close.

"It came up in a conversation about C-levels," Rayna lied, covering Phira's flub. It hadn't occurred to Rayna that the Tinkerer would also be able to see the name tags if she was seeing through Rayna's eyes.

They would have to have a long discussion about what Phira could and couldn't say.

Lord Emery cleared his throat. "If you're done, we should get going. This 'N' won't wait forever, and we have a long run ahead of us."

Rayna resisted the urge to glare at him as she put the rest of the stack of sausage rolls in her Soul Realm.

She gestured toward the door. "Lead the way."