Incandescent
an excerpt

“Well. That went better than expected.” Calla groaned, sliding down the side of the depilated building, and leaning her head back against in, closing her eyes.

“Is it always this exciting when you venture out of this place?” Soren remarked, still regarding his surroundings with evident distaste. Being of magical education, he was not fond of the Desert, a place where all the magic he had dedicated his life to was rendered completely useless.

“Oh no. Today was tame. Usually we get shot at a few times too.” Naru replied, glaring at him when she saw the look of dislike for her residence. “You can leave if my accommodation is offensive to you, you know.”

Soren snapped his head around to stare at Naru in apparent shock.

“You LIVE here?!” he spluttered, completely dumbfounded at how anyone could actually live in such a place, “…Where?!”

Naru raised an eyebrow, staring at Soren with a scornful expression before gesturing around with her arms.

“Here.”

There was a long pause as Soren stared at Naru, obviously trying to determine if she was joking or not. Eventually determining that she was in fact, not and being serious, Soren sat down heavily.

“How can you live here? There’s nothing…”

“Quite easily.” Calla opened her eyes again, shrugging as Soren looked at her sceptically, “You just can’t believe it because you’ve grown up with all the luxuries of magical amenities. It’s quite simple to live without them if you’ve done so for practically all your life.”

“How…how long have you lived here then?” Soren questioned, looking back and forth between the two girls.

“I’ve been here for 5 years.” Calla grinned, “But I don’t stay here, you see. I travel. This is Naru’s home.”

“And before you ask, it’s been 7 years.” Naru looked up, “And I’m guessing you’ll be wanting an explanation of everything soon enough, right?”

“About the whole talking dragon incident? Yes, that would be good.” Soren retorted, “Along with the question of whom the hell are you?”

Calla gave a small chuckle of amusement and went back to leaning her head against the building. Naru stood up, glaring at Soren.

“Fine then. First things first. My name is Naru Adelardi.” Naru bit out shortly, and waited for the response. If Soren really was from Rhys, then he’d know that name anywhere.

“Adelardi?!” Soren gaped, “As in…Oh goodness. You’re the Chancellor’s daughter.”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Naru shrugged, “I’m supposedly dead. Or rather, everyone used to think I was. I guess that’s rather unlikely now.”

“Unless, of course, everyone suddenly went blind and deaf back there.” Calla smirked, earning her another harsh glare from Naru.

“Anyway. This is Myth.” Naru gestured to the dragon behind her, who was still out cold, having collapsed almost the second they landed, “Myth is, quite obviously a dragon. Who talks. Any questions? No? Good. Moving on.”

“No, no, no.” Soren interrupted, holding his hand up, “I’m afraid I must insist on an explanation. Miss Calla was adamant that you would explain everything.”

“Oh, she was, was she?” Naru shot a glance at Calla, who had suddenly decided to feign sleep. “Well. Myth is…uh, WAS human. That pendant? We think it did some weird…voodoo magic deal and that’s…it, as far as we know.”

“…” Soren was lost for words, so he settled for simply staring at Naru in faint disbelief, “That’s all you know? You’re going after this unique, highly guarded, priceless pendant…on the sheer OFF CHANCE that it might be the right one?!”

“…Yes. Yes, we are.”