Legacy of Darkness

The Wild Rose came in to land at Inchaya, the city was a far cry from any of the others that Roisin had visited so far, it wasn't built up and the Aquala University sat out at sea, Aquala University was Inchaya's Academy, with the element being water. The city itself was ancient and had stood through many wars and battles.

The days of fighting were long behind the city state though, and they now lived at peace with their neighbours. Roisin and the others walked over to the customs desk and signed all the paper work they needed to.

Once done, they all headed into the city proper, the Airship Landing was directly next to the main square, which was filled with dozens of small market stalls, and the streets were bustling.

"This place is amazing!" Roisin smiled.

"It's the most prosperous nation in the whole of Crystalla" Wes smiled. "If I recall, settlers from here made it all the way over to where Aranei stands now, this is the perfect place to get away from it all" Wes explained.

"That's awesome!" Roisin nodded, as she looked at the various market stalls, paper lanterns lit the square as the floated above the stalls.

From the other side of the market stall, Trevela watched as Roisin and Wes were talking, he smirked to himself before approaching.

"Ah! You look like fellow Ishtallians" He smiled.

"How... did you guess that?" Roisin asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Well actually I'm..." Wes began speaking.

"Quiet, I'm talking to this lovely lady" Trevela shushed Wes. "Yes, you have the look of an Ishtallian, the clothes and the hair give it away" Trevela smiled.

"I'm... Roisin, nice to meet you" Roisin nodded.

"The name is Tre... Treallan" Trevela introduced himself. "If I may, I know of a place nearby, where you and your friends can stay" He added.

"It's okay, we have prior arrangements, but thank you for the offer" Roisin smiled.

"Ah, but where is it? I can escort you to your accommodations, if you please?" Trevela offered.

"No, it's okay" Roisin shook her head, getting slightly irritated.

"But it's no trouble" Trevela continued.

"She said no" Wes growled, before forcefully pushing Trevela over. "Come on Roisin, lets get out of here" Wes said, as he grabbed Roisin's hand and ran through the markets, to lose Trevela's trail.

The pair ran through streets and streets of markets, making random turns to give Trevela the slip, after a couple of minutes the exited into a park, a red wooden bridge went over a large pond in the middle of a lake, Roisin and Wes made their way towards it.

"What was all that about?" Roisin asked. Wes sighed and looked down.

"When I said I visited this place as a kid, I lied" Wes admitted. "As a little... a little girl, I grew up on the streets here. I got wise to certain types of people, who try to exploit you. Usually foreigners like him, in my case, I guess because they knew I wasn't from around here. Likely thought of me as a lost child, looking for her parents" He continued.

"That's horrible, I hope you were always able to evade them" Roisin said as she put her arm around Wes. Wes looked at Roisin and smiled.

"I did, I learned how to fight from others who lived on the streets. Don't get me wrong, this city is a lovely place, and every nation has problems like these. It's just, well, it's my old stomping ground, and I know how things work here more than anywhere" Wes explained.

"Yeah, we had plenty of homelessness back in Ishtall too, in the old town. I always felt so bad whenever we drove past them..." Roisin sighed.

"Raryst had it quite bad too, from what I recall, a lot of their automation forced people out of work, and those who were unskilled, well they had nowhere to turn" Wes replied, as they reached the bridge, they both sat on the railings and looked down into the water. "I'm so lucky I met you guys..." Wes sighed.

"You were quite insistent on meeting us, from what I recall" Roisin laughed.

"When I saw you, I knew I wanted to be your friend, you're a kind person, but you don't suffer fools" Wes chuckled. "Dex was a great guy too" He sighed.

"He'd have loved to have been here..." Roisin said as she looked at the city lights, and the low rumble of the market streets echoed through the park.

"He is, in a way, he'll always be with you" Wes nodded.

"That's actually truer than you realize" Roisin admitted.

"How do you mean?" Wes asked.

"When we stopped to bury him outside Ishtall, he sort of... joined his soul to mine, to help me with the burden of the Fire Crystal, or something along those lines" Roisin explained, haphazardly.

"Hmm..." Wes thought.

"I didn't imagine it" Roisin frowned.

"No, it's not that" Wes smiled. "I'm just wondering if he can hear me now" He winked.

"He probably can, maybe?" Roisin shrugged. "I'm not one hundred percent sure on how it all works, to be quite honest" She chuckled.

"But you're glad he's there anyway, I imagine" Wes smiled.

"Yeah, for sure" Roisin nodded. "Hmm" She thought.

"What is it?" Wes asked.

"The others... they're probably wondering where we got to" She sighed.

"Oh, don't worry, I've just sent them a message explaining what happened, and told them to go to the accommodations, and to make sure to avoid that weirdo" Wes smiled.

"Who do you think he was, and what did he want?" Roisin pondered.

"I'm not sure, do you think he knows you?" Wes asked.

"I dunno... I guess I've become pretty well known after Bryan branded me a criminal" Roisin sighed.

"Well, whoever he is, we gave him the slip, let's wander around the city a little longer to be sure we've lost him" Wes said as he climbed down from the edge of the bridge and both of them walked into the bustle of the markets.