Galaxy of Hyperion: Mystic Heir

Chapter Thirty-One: Love in Flames

Finding Jayler was an easier affair for Jay than she had expected, not that she was objecting. In fact, she was more than fine with it. She made her way through the castle quickly before finding him in the main area. With her conversation with Tuila out of the way, there was no reason for her to linger elsewhere, and she could tell that she and Jayler had a lot to cover. 

A few moments after Jay arrived in the main area of the castle, the lights overhead flickered before coming on. It seemed that the magical core of the palace had been restored to its full quality once again. She sighed to herself, glad to see that such a feat had been accomplished so quickly. The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with the cold throughout the rest of the day. It was more bearable the closer to the inside of the castle that she got, but near the doors, it was notably bothersome. 

"There you are!" Jayler cried out as he approached Jay, his face in a bright smile. "I'm glad to see that you're doing well throughout all of this. I was kind of worried that Tuila was going to be upset when she dragged you off like that, but you certainly look to be in one piece."

"We were able to understand one another after we started talking," Jay explained with a simple yet loose shrug. "That's the main thing that you need to know about that... Though I do think that we should talk about our dynamic personally. It's what we should have done a while ago, but I suppose that there's no time quite like the present when it comes to sorting out those matters."

Jayler nodded his agreement. "Yeah. I can take you up to my room. I'm sure that you already know where it is... I mean, you did sneak in that one time and all that," he commented. After a brief pause, he continued. "Speaking of that, why did you come into the castle that night? You said that you were on a mission, and I would imagine that you would want to focus on your job instead of coming to see me."

"I was lonely," Jay confessed softly, trying to not sound too detached. "It's been difficult trying to manage the mission, if I'm being honest. It's finally been taken care of, so it won't be an issue anymore, but it's still something that was rough to grapple with at first. I take it that you're going to want details about that, yes?"

"Of course," Jayler replied. He started walking away from the front of the castle, and Jay trailed after him. "I've really missed you since we last saw each other, you know. I mean, I feel like that's obvious given that I wanted to talk to you as soon as I realized that you were here again... I've been waiting for so long to see you again, but I guess that you got caught up in other things before we could see each other once more."

Jay winced silently. "Yeah... I just so happened to be dragged into something else important around the time that you returned to the Galaxy of Hyperion. It wasn't exactly convenient timing, but I'm glad that I was able to take care of it before things could get out of hand. That was what brought me here, as a matter of fact. I was gathering the other fighters that joined us during that battle. I'm sure that you saw them during the process of cleaning up after the fight ended," she told him. 

"Yeah, I did," Jayler confirmed. "Well, I saw one of them. I think she said her name was Jubilee. She's kind of blunt, but I can tell that she has good intentions beneath that. In that way, she isn't exactly unlike Xia... You're going to have to tell me more about them if they're really as heavily involved with this as you're making it sound. I mean, if gathering them was your mission, then it has to have something to do with us. That's what I'm choosing to believe at this point, anyways."

"You would be correct... They're the rest of my Hanilia faction," Jay explained. "They're the Skylian Mages. There has only been one team of us since the ancient days when Lyloc was still alive, and we just so happen to be the members of that team. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to come together sooner, but it wasn't as if we had much of a choice in the matter. We were in a difficult situation. Some members of our group weren't aware that they were Skylian Mages at all, and out of the others who were left, they were involved with other obligations. At least we're together now."