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

Nali cut the giant leech in half, stomping on both halves of its body to finish it off.

"How are those wards coming?" she called to Din. There were several leeches approaching from the south and Nali was ready to call it a day.

"Almost done," Din called back. "Just one more rune and… there!"

A giant bubble sprang to life around the city. The guards watching from the top of the wall cheered jubilantly at the return of the protections.

Nali and Din retreated inside.

"That's a relief," Jaqun said. "We haven't had a proper ward in months. Last one wasn't visible either."

"It's easier to tell when the spell goes down that way," Din said, dusting her hands off on her clothes. "Invisible wards are only good for subtlety."

They had been on Lapis for almost a month now, and in that time, Nali had seen no sign of Hinesh, nor anyone else from other boats. It gave her a crucial clue about where they were.

Loren: an archipelago in the Northwest Sea. It wasn't closed to outsiders, but travel to and from the islands was dangerous and costly.

It was the perfect place for someone to hide a secret prison colony.

Nali brushed off the thanks of various residents and headed back to Emerald house.

The accommodations were not as nice as Nali's estate. Her room was plain, and she slept in one of seven beds that had been crammed into the narrow space. Din and Herald—who preferred to be called Harry, Nali had learned—occupied two other beds. The remaining four belonged to a group of humans that had apparently been rescued after being teleported to the beach.

Nali heard that one of their group didn't make it, but the humans didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't force the issue.

"Welcome back," Harry said. "Did it go well?"

He lounged back on his bed, writing something in his notebook. A quick glance over his shoulder showed it was a recipe for some sort of mead.

"You might as well just wait for the ban to be lifted," Nali said. "Mead takes months to make."

"I know," Harry said in a forlorn voice. "I'm just daydreaming. We're on dishes tonight, but the others are taking care of it."

Nali glanced over at the empty beds. "Do you think they'll ever open up to us?"

"To you? Not likely," Harry replied, closing his notebook and sitting up. "They might talk to me after a while. They haven't had a good experience with Emberians so far. Give 'em some time."

"Technically, you haven't either," Nali pointed out.

"I s'pose that's true," he said. "But I had two weeks on that boat to make sure you two weren't some sort of psychopaths. Not to mention, it's hard to find you scary with you puking your guts out the whole way here."

Nali shook her head. "I would rather forget that ever happened."

She dreaded the day she would go back to the mainland, as it would mean returning to that System-forsaken boat unless she had some way to get out from under the anti-teleportation ward that seemed to encompass the entire island of Lapis.

"Nali, Olga's calling for you," Din said, peeking her head in the room. "She says it's urgent."

"This had better not be that insufferable Lyka complaining about us again," Nali muttered.

Olga was the headwoman for Emerald house. The tall and imposing woman was quite personable, though she had a bit of a mean streak when it came to the other humans. She wasn't hostile out of prejudice, but Nali had learned in the past few weeks that humans were prone to mischief and the poor woman had to deal with most of their messes.

Even without the humans' presence, some of the residents of Lapis were not as pleasant to deal with as the soldiers in charge of the wall. In fact, some of them were downright annoying. Nali had managed to keep her sanity by ignoring Lyka as much as possible and being subtly catty when they were forced to converse. As far as she could tell, the feeling was mutual.

Olga was waiting for them in the main room and Lyka was nowhere in sight. That was a good sign.

The existence of the two burly men standing behind her was less encouraging.

"There's a boat here to take you to another island," Olga said, her voice tight. "I don't have any more information than that, so don't ask."

Nali grimaced inwardly at the thought of getting on another boat, but outwardly, she showed genuine curiosity. "Where are we going?"

"Only you," Olga said. "Din and Harry are staying here. You can say goodbye if you want. I don't know when—or if—you'll be coming back."

That put a damper on Nali's cautious excitement. She wanted the plan to move forward, but she didn't want to leave Din alone on Lapis.

Din was similarly displeased. "Where Nali goes, I go," she declared.

Olga opened her mouth to object, but she was interrupted.

"You two aren't leaving me behind!" Harry snapped, coming in from the hallway where he had been eavesdropping.

Olga shook her head, her voice growing impatient. "They only sent for Nali."

Nali wasn't quite sure who 'they' were, but this was her chance to get that answer. She didn't want to pass up this opportunity, but leaving the others behind was too much of a risk.

In the end, she decided to stand her ground.

"You and I both know that you can't force me to go anywhere that I don't wish to go," Nali said in a matter-of-fact voice. "They come, or I stay. I don't care one way or the other. Those who fail to give proper explanations for my incarceration don't deserve my cooperation."

Olga tapped her foot, frowning at the three of them. The poor headwoman was at her wits end, dealing not only with Nali and her companions, but also with the grouchy Lyka and her sycophants. Not to mention the chaotic humans that were determined to make her life miserable. It was a position that Nali didn't envy her for. She very well might pity the poor woman, but this was something with which Nali couldn't compromise.

"We'll take them all," one of the men said, making Olga's decision for her. "It's not like the boats too small for a few more passengers."

"What if they try to escape?" the other man asked.

"Take a look at her name tag," the first guard said. "She doesn't need a runesmith and a human Initial to help her escape. Let's just get them on the boat and get out of here. I hate Lapis." He wrinkled his nose, looking around disgustedly at the interior of the common room.

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"We'll go pack our things," Nali said. "Meet us outside in twenty minutes."

* * *

"How many dishes can one person use?" Andrea complained as she scrubbed yet another bowl.

"Technically, it's thirty people," Nathan pointed out. "This number is pretty normal."

Emma wasn't sure she agreed with him, but though the stacks were higher than they should be, it wasn't excessive. She assumed Lyka was just using more dishes than necessary for the cooking.

That woman had it out for them. Emma wasn't sure what they'd done to piss her off, but Lyka had even dragged Harry and his companions into it.

"Let's just hurry this up," Britt said. "I want to go check out the ward that Din's putting up around the city."

"Don't tell me you're going to try to copy it," Nathan said nervously. "Last time you nearly blew my head off."

"It was only your ear," Britt said defensively. "And I told you, I have something for regrowing that. You're the one who insisted on going to the full healers."

"Because you blew off my ear!" Nathan snapped. "How the hell did you even get Runesmith as a Class if you suck at it so badly?"

Emma finished the last bowl in her basin and placed it on the clean stack.

"I tinkered with runes long before the System tried to tie me down," Britt said. "Or did you think the System gave me that levitation spell for my broom. The Class makes it safer and more streamlined, supposedly, but runes don't need anything special. They're magical all on their own."

"Magically explosive," Nathan muttered.

"Would you two give it a rest?" Andrea asked in exasperation. "You're not any better at runes than Britt is, or have you forgotten the finger you lost two weeks ago."

Nathan shuddered. "Don't remind me. The point isn't that I suck at it, the point is that Britt shouldn't be trying anything strong enough to level the island. Even if Din's ward will theoretically protect the city."

Emma and the others had been pretty standoffish with the newcomers so far, but only because they were trying to gauge how honest they could be. The lizard woman, Nali, was nice enough. She introduced herself as 'Lady Nali Emery' in front of the rest of the house as if making it clear that she didn't belong there. Emma wasn't exactly sure of her intentions, but it had made her seem kind of haughty, though the impression didn't last.

Din was pleasant and upbeat. Her biggest failing was that she was hypervigilant, always looking for anything that could harm Nali. Emma was hoping to give her time to calm down before initiating a deeper conversation than greetings.

As for Harry… Emma wasn't sure what to think of him. He was human, which was a surprise, since Emma hadn't expected to see any other humans on the island. His preoccupation with alcohol was a bit off-putting but he seemed like a decent guy. Emma had a few pleasant conversations with him so far trying to figure out if he had any desire to leave Lapis.

Putting beside the captivity issue, Lapis wasn't a terrible place to live. They had food, water, a roof over their heads, and the only thing they had to do to earn their spot was some chores and good behavior.

They had been testing the limits of the second criteria recently. The island was boring, and on top of that, no matter how freely they could move, it still felt like a prison.

It wasn't like they were being terrible guests. They just played a few pranks to pass the time, and Britt's hobby was concerning, to say the least. The first time she blew up their room, Olga looked like she was going to faint.

It would be a moot point when they figured out how to get off the island. Emma was sick of captivity and she still needed to figure out how to get to Rayna.

"Did you hear?" a young female voice said in a hushed whisper nearby. "They're taking Nali and the others off the island!"

Emma's head snapped up. Uria, a young woman with an ear for gossip, was whispering to the head cook, Grita.

"Britt, get the cloaks and meet us outside," Emma hissed.

Britt nodded, her face suddenly serious and Emma and the others rushed out of the kitchen as nonchalantly as they could.

"Hey, you aren't finished," Grita called after them.

"We'll get it later," Emma said. "We want to check out the ward before it gets dark."

Grita was much more reasonable than most of the Emberians that Emma had met thus far. She let them go with a stern warning to hurry back.

A warning that Emma intended to ignore.

Once outside, Emma inched around the side of the house. As she expected, two guards stood in the front yard, their large burly frames blocking the front entrance.

Emma signaled for the others to stop and silently waited.

Britt came up behind them, nearly giving Emma a heart attack.

"Well, what were you waiting for if it wasn't me?" Britt asked in a sharp whisper.

"I thought you'd be coming out the front door for some reason," Emma admitted.

Britt handed out the cloaks, rolling her eyes. "Even I'm not that stupid. The cloaks will help you hide, but they're not foolproof. Stick to the shadows if you can and don't make any noise, I haven't figured out the sound charm yet."

Emma accepted the cloak and slipped it over her shoulders. The nearly transparent hood drooped down to cover her face as buttoned the front.

"Mine's not working," Nathan complained.

Emma glanced over. She could make out the outline of the wall through his semi-transparent frame. Were they in shadow, the effect would probably be more pronounced.

"The bottom two buttons have to be fastened for the spell to work right," Britt said. "I made it that way so we can keep them on at all times. One button for normal cloak, two for semi-transparency, three for invisibility."

She demonstrated, fastening each button one by one. She faded, then vanished from sight.

"I take back everything I said about your runes," Nathan said, disappearing as he fastened the last button. "This is epic."

Emma shushed him. "Walk at least five feet behind the guards at all times," she whispered. "Don't make a sound. If we get caught, we'll have to wait for the next miracle to fall in our lap."

Nathan's hand appeared in midair, giving Emma a thumbs up.

Emma bit back a groan as his hand vanished again.

Movement at the front door regained Emma's attention and she cautiously moved closer as Nali and her companions emerged.

"You're not planning on actually using those, are you?" Nali asked in an unimpressed voice, glancing lazily at the magic-suppressing handcuffs that the guard was holding.

The other guard snatched the cuffs and put them away. "This way."

Emma followed behind them, careful to keep her steps as silent as possible. The streets were almost empty at this time of day, as most of the residents of Lapis were busy with their chores or evening meals. Emma still had to dodge around the occasional pedestrian or pause and catch up after a cart had passed. She had no idea if the others were still behind her, but she couldn't confirm it without giving away her position.

The guards stopped to speak to the bored gate guard who waved them through.

"I'm here to watch for monsters, not manage the comings and goings of residents," he said grumpily. "Be back by sunset or you won't be allowed back in until morning."

Emma risked getting closer so she could slip through before the guard closed the gate again.

Sidestepping to avoid the swing of the man's arm, she waited until Nali and the others had gained some ground before continuing.

The walk to the beach was long, but Emma barely noticed it. She was too busy watching her feet to avoid fallen branches or anything else that might give away her position.

It became more difficult as the light dimmed. Emma cringed every time a tree branch snapped, even when it was broken by the people in front of her. Neither Nali, her companions, nor the guards saw fit to fill the silence with conversation, making Emma's sneaking even more difficult.

Emma froze as the beach came into sight. Her heart sped up as she stared at the sand.

This was the first time she'd been back since…

"How will we get past the worms?" Nali asked, her calmly curious tone not matching Emma's racing heart.

"They'll sleep for a good long while," one of the guards said. "Not that you need them docile, I reckon."

Emma tried to force herself forward, but her feet were glued to the ground.

Come on, it's just sand! she screamed in her head. Just walk!

But no matter how much she berated herself, she couldn't make herself go forward. Sweat poured off her brow, soaking into the invisibility cloak that kept her hidden.

She watched helplessly as Nali and the others were loaded into a boat and taken off the island.

Their one escape and she missed it.

"Dammit!" Emma snapped, dragging the hood off her head to let the cool night breeze alleviate some of the overheating. She leaned against a nearby tree, taking deep breaths to try to calm herself.

"You too?" Nathan asked, unbuttoning his own cloak.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Britt's head appeared just before she ducked behind a tree, retching into the bushes.

Andrea pulled her hood off as well, looking queasy but keeping her dinner down.

"So, the beach is out," Nathan said, wiping the sweat off his forehead and shooting nervous glances at the sand. "Think there's a way we can teleport off the island?"

"How are we going to teleport?" Andrea asked angrily. "We can't even learn proper runes! That was our chance to get away!"

Britt emerged from behind the tree, her face green. "I didn't see you running off to catch them," she commented.

Andrea shook her head. "It's just sand."

"It's worms," Nathan said grimly. "And we either get over it, or we find another way."

A screech echoed in the dim forest, cutting off their conversation as everyone stared nervously at the trees.

"First, we have to head back," Emma said. "None of us are strong enough to spend the night out here."

She pulled her hood back up. "There should be some space between the wards and the wall. We can wait there until the gates open back up tomorrow morning."

It was going to be a long and uncomfortable night, but they would survive.

And tomorrow, they would start thinking of a new plan. One that didn't involve worm-infested beaches.