Ever After

What happened to the adventurers after they saved the world?

This is a chapter 1 short story, meant to be an opening for a wider story asking, "What happens next"?

Raella crept down the narrow alleys of San Mer’s undercity, breathing deep the cold damp air. The sharp rank scent of waste and decay came first, but pushing past it brought the scent of mold, trash, and even a metallic note. She had passed through warrens like this a hundred times before, and each had some sort of under-smell that typified the location. For San Mer, it was a chilly crisp scent - like the air during a snowstorm. Perhaps it was from the Fae ruin’s strong presence in the city - it was tough to say.

Unlike other cities, the capital had far more denizens so openly living in the underworld. There were the gambling dens of course, but there were also nooks and niches for various merchants. Scholars who wanted access to the ruins began their searches here. Alchemists sought after the mosses, molds, and creatures that slithered through the waste and stones. Mercenaries accompanied them both to guide them through the labyrinthian passages, ready to strike as need demanded. Raella was none of these things, but if her hunch was right, she was nearing where she needed to be.

She passed the scholars and alchemists, keeping herself hidden in the shadowy high rise that hung over the majority of the camps. She eyed the glittering bottles, barely concealed beneath burlap sacks, even glinting metals. One of the fool mages hadn’t even bothered to cover a pearly white staff that clutched a sizable sapphire.

Bait, or carelessness? She wondered. A move that like would usually mean he would be relieved of his affects. Raella herself was tempted. A staff like that would have been worth a fortune - but wizards were very particular about these things. A fence would take a large cut of that commission just trying to find a buyer. No, better to take small things. She had learned that lesson ages ago.

Small potions, gems, coins, the occasional artifact was all fair game. Once she spotted her target, she moved to it and out as silent as a shadow, returning to the high rise. After all - she couldn’t completely give up old habits.

The high rise skirted the ruins, and eventually she was brought up to a corridor with a long train of sewer water like a river before a series of doors. The high rise lowered into a safe landing that only had slightly slick stones. The stone walls were nearly fuzzy from moss, and there was a strange glint between each of the doors, buried between grime and grit. Shards of glass, almost oily to the touch and several fragmented - it was an old lighting trick that she had seen in ruins before. Yes, she was much closer.

Raella doubled her pace, her excitement guiding her more than these quiet clues. When she reached the last door on the lane, she saw the symbol that grew a bigger smile - the dragonwing flower, carved beautifully into the wood.

She pressed against the door. It resisted. Raella got onto her knees and pulled out her lock picking tools, plucking each of the tumblers until she heard the satisfying clink of the door giving way. She grinned to herself, and slid her hand over the filmy knob to enter.

“Look out!”

An enormous spiked maul came sailing down. Raella darted forward and rolled, missing the spike ball as it hurled into the door. She glared at it, her heart racing, before turning back.

And there he stood.

His shoulder-length blond hair had darkened somewhat, though whether it was from the damp filth of the sewers or from age, she couldn’t tell. His small square of facial hair had grown curly, but not wild. He’d exchanged the robes and armor for a very simple linen tunic, apron, and trousers. But his smile remained the same.

“You could’ve killed me, you know.” Raella said, standing up and dusting herself off.

“Sorry. After my clinic mishaps I thought it best to install some security.” He shrugged sheepishly. “Besides. What’s one more hit to that head of yours?”

She exhaled a laugh, and ran up to him. Lucien embraced her warmly, laughing a little himself as he held her close.

“It’s good to see you again, my friend.”

“It’s been too long.” Raella murmured. “I know people just say that sometimes but…” She pulled back, brushing away his hair and cupping his face. “Gods. You look like an old adventurer now.”

“I know!” He said, cradling her hands. “You’d think that retirement would have me turning paunchy and curmudgeonly, but sadly my experiences have not afforded such things.”

“Never say never.” She grinned. Then paused. “Why are you down here?”

“A few reasons. I could ask the same of you. After the Gates I thought I’d never see you again.”

“Everyone sort of… drifted apart. I kept eyes on everyone for awhile but they moved on. I fell into old habits.”

“Speaking of…” Lucien grinned. He eyed her, then looked down at her pockets.

“What?”

“I’d like my stone back please.”

Raella blinked, then with a resigned sigh, pulled out the blue gemstone she’d pulled from their hug. Lucien snickered.

“To tell you the truth I was a bit hurt.” He said. “I figured we at least could mosey a bit longer.”

“You wanted to go to Uswain.” She reminded him. “What happened to you anyway?”

Lucien’s bright expression flickered somewhat. He guestered for her to follow, and she did. He led her through the thin entryway, and back into the very small niche home. It had a fairly new wooden bookcase filled with alchemy ingredients. The tomes and scrolls she had expected to see had been carefully laid in a metal box. The walls had scrape marks from tiny tools, and a few tentative decorations had been placed around the small rooms. There was a small hearth with a cooking pot, a carefully wrapped food supply, a tent with a clean bed, and a small display rack of weapons and armor she recognized.

“For the undercity, this seems very lavish.” Raella remarked. “Hiding doing well for you?”

“I had more.” He said, pulling up a stool beside the cooking pot. He gestured for her to sit on the metal box. “After the Gates were freed, I took my coin and spoils to Uswain and spent time with the scholars there.”

“How was it?”

“Oh, Cvia was lovely! Wasn’t quite what I’d pictured, but I’m sure that’s expected. There is water there that looks almost completely blue. And it’s not because of crystals - their cities use a careful aqueduct system leftover from the Fae. And the city of scholars…” He shook his head, his eyes twinkling. “I could’ve sat forever amongst the Reginolic fragments, studying them.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Well no. There was a lot left I wanted to see. Seeing Moranda’s dragon, and the great light… I couldn’t sit in towers anymore and pretend it was what I wanted.” Lucien softened. “You told me about so many places. I figured it was time that I see them.”

“I’m glad you did… but that doesn’t explain how you got here.”

“Well I wanted a place I could settle into, at first.” He replied. “When I met the scholars here, they offered this row as a place of quiet. After our stint with Amalgam, any place had to be better than there. Though admittedly… I did feel a bit spoiled after Cvia. Did you know their beds are made of over a hundred counts of cotton threads?”

“A hundred?” Raella blinked. “Cotton?”

“I know! It was marvelous really. Some of the best sleep I’ve ever gotten. Anyway. When I arrived here, there were a lot of wounded and sick folk. So I opened up a clinic a few rows down.”

“Based on your door, I’m guessing the undercity isn’t fond of healers.” Raella smirked.

“The citizens are. Most can’t afford conventional magic, or the alchemists on the surface. I didn’t really need the money, so I helped for free.” Lucien rubbed his neck. “The alchemists and mages… well… they weren’t too fond of that.”

“I thought most of the alchemists and mages around here were here for the ruins.”

“Some are. Some are trying to get experience with their talents. Others want to make some quick money from the desperate people who live here. Others, like me, wanted to help but needed the money.”

Raella frowned. “Couldn’t they have worked with you?”

“That’s what I thought as well, and I did have help for a time. Mostly young mages who needed experience. Any money that was thrown at us went to the people who needed it. Eventually we had people trying to rob or sabotage the place. Finally… they burned it down.”

“They burned down stone?”

“All our stores, a few patients, all my students...” Lucien’s face was pained. “They did it when I went to a patient’s home to give them some tonics I’d made. By the time I got back…”

Raella reached out for his hands. “I’m sorry. That’s horrible.”

He offered a half-hearted smile. “After it happened, I mostly did house calls. But it’s all dwindled… Do what you can, you know?”

“I know.” She nodded. “I’m proud of you though. You’ve come a long way since we met.”

He laughed and squeezed her hands. “I think I still have the high pitched voice.”

“It’s softened a bit.” She grinned. “It’s mostly the change of clothes that does it.”

“You like my undercity chiche? This apron is top quality you know. Only the best renegades get to wear them.”

“Ahhh that’s what it is.”

They chuckled, and for a moment by the hearth, Raella felt a sense of calm she hadn’t had since the quiet at the Gates. Back then when it had been them and all their friends, plotting in secret, meeting in quiet, and finding ways to escape the Fae where they could. Until Moranda and Lindi.

“I miss them.” She admitted softly. “Our fearless leaders.”

“Do you think Moranda was actually one of the older beings?”

“If Lindi was, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Raella sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Do you really think one of us could tame a dragon?”

“Hm… Maybe not tame. I could feed it. Beg it not to eat me here and there perhaps.”

She snorted. “Between limbs.”

“Eeeexactly.” He chuckled.

He shifted closer to her, making her closeness sink in comfortably. He smelled faintly of magic - that clean, charged air, with an almost earthy scent behind it.

“So. Now your turn.” He said. “What are you doing around here?”

“Visiting an old friend.” She murmured, closing her eyes. “I’ve missed you all.”

“You’re an awful mush, you know.” He put his arm around her. “Well… I suppose I missed you. A little.”

She jabbed his side, and he laughed.

“Okay okay, easy. I’m old now. Yes… I missed you too El.”

“Tell me a story.”

“A bedtime story?” He guessed.

“No, just any.” She said. “You had the best stories at camp.”

“Well… I could tell you about the time the sewers were so backed up there was an explosion down in the lower wards. The scholars there were awash in sewage for weeks. I could tell you about the time I met my twin in Cvia. Ooooor… How about a fantastic story of dragons?”

“Dragons?” She winked an eye open.

“Well one dragon. But it is fantastic.”

She settled against him, smiling softly. “Sounds familiar… and perfect.”