Chapter 2: Battle for Ostia

In the entrance to the castle, a cloaked figure barks commands to his comrades.

"Capture the king and kill anyone who gets in your way!"

After giving this order, he takes a Fenrir tome out of his pocket and prepares for battle.

As Chris, Rustus, and Lenna enter the fray, Rustus realizes something.

"Sirena was right. These fighters aren't normal. They have... immense battle lust."

Suddenly one confronts Rustus. He draws a small dagger. "Prepare yourself"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he struck forward with his dagger. But Rustus was quick, and had his katana at the ready. Then he noticed the dagger he had blocked.

A killer edge. They really are out for blood. He thinks to himself.

Meanwhile, Chris and Lenna were in a predicament of their own. Some mages had them surrounded.

"Is this the end of us, Chris?" asks Lenna

Chris pulls a steel blade. "No way. At least I won't go down without a fight."

Suddenly, a man on a horse with a lance comes in and takes out a couple of the mages.

"Does that help?" He asks.

"Ken, keep going!" Lenna yells as she pulls her longsword. She turns to a mage, who has a Fire tome at the ready.

He casts from it, but Lenna deftly dodges the flame. Then with one smooth stroke, the mage falls.

One thinks he could catch Chris off-guard, but he thought wrong. Immediately after casting, Chris does a back flip, lands behind the mage and hacks at his neck, an instant kill.

Soon, a trail of monks, lead by Lord Reginald, enter the fray. "Take out the shamans!" he barks.

No sooner had they begun attacking than had King Raimei entered the battlefield, Silencer in hand. At the sight of King Raimei, most of the enemies stop in their tracks, then turn to face him.

Back with Rustus, the thief with the killing edge seemed to be winning the contest of power, but Rustus wasn't about to give up. Instead, he broke the contest and sidestepped. The thief then trips because of his own momentum. At this, Rustus takes a swipe at him with his katana. However, the thief is somehow able to backflip behind him.

He's good. Thinks Rustus.

Just as he thought those words, Rustus felt a splitting pain in his side. The thief had stabbed him in his ribs. However, the pain left just as soon as it had left.

The thief sees that the wound he had just inflicted was no longer there. He turns around to see Lord Reginald, staff in hand.

He has Physic. the thief thinks to himself. He turns to him. Then it is he who feels the sting in as Rustus sunk his katana into his back.

"Thanks, Lord Reginald." he says.

"No thanks necessary. It's what I do. Go protect the king." Lord Reginald returns.

But the king was in no need of protection. In just four swings of Silencer, he had dropped two mercenaries, a mage, and two brigands. But what he didn't see was a ballista shooting into the chamber. A bolt nearly hits him.

"That was close. But where did that come from." He detects movement behind him. A thief decided it was high time to assassinate the king for his leader. He drew his dagger high, but King Raimei turned back and with a single slice, the thief falls dead.

But turning back was his downfall...

Chris sees that the shaman leading the troops on the otherside of the king. He decides it's high time that the shaman met his blade. And he sets off to attack him. Suddenly he hears a noise, and he stops in his tracks. And he was in front of the king...

Next thing he knows he has a bolt sticking out of his body. He falls to his knees screaming in pain.

Lenna hears his screams, and turns to see her best friend... falling... with death soon approaching...

"NO!" Lenna screams, as she runs over to him and grabs him.

He looks up at her. "Leave me, Lenna."

Lenna scowls. "I won't leave you. Not like this. I promised Mom I'd protect you, so that's what I'll do!"

He moans in agony, then turns to her and says "Stop calling my mom Mom!" (1)

She drags him off of the battlefield and tries to keep him awake.

And soon came the showdown...

King Raimei noticed the shaman. "We battle now!"

He looks at him. "King Raimei, in the name of my Prince, I, Shinwer, sentence you to death."

"I won't fall. I will prevail!"

Soon after, he is hit by a blast of Fenrir, but, unfazed, he rushes at him, Silencer raised. He swings...

And misses. Soon after, another bolt is fired at the king, which knocks the blade out of his hand. Disarmed, he has no choice but to run away. But behind him, a pair of brigands blocked his path.

"Oh dear, what a predicament." He then draws a pair of hidden daggers from his belt. "Time to get serious."

From nowhere, Rustus and Sirena appear. "You're not alone, my liege. We're here."

Rustus draws his katana and says. "You don't scare me. Taste Justice!" (2)

A brigand swings his axe at Sirena, but she dodges, then counterstrikes with hers, taking him off of his feet and knocking him out.

Shinwer casts a blast of Fenrir at Rustus, but he manages to dodge and he counterstrikes with a swing of Justice. It connects, but does not seem to faze him.

"I am impervious to your petty blade."

As soon as this is said, the king connects with his twin daggers across his back, tearing him open.

As he screams in pain, Rustus notices something in his pocket. As soon as he sees it, not knowing what it could be, Rustus, the semi-cleptomaniac (3) that he is, takes it.

Soon after, Shinwer reaches into his pocket, looking for something to heal himself with, only to find that his only healant is gone.

"Looking for this?" Rustus asks, taunting him with the elixir that he pilfered.

While he was distracted, King Raimei stabbed him, literally, in the back. With his dying breath, he muttered "Prince... I've failed... failure means... death..."

And he falls, with his cloak falling off, revealing his face.

King Raimei is stunned when he sees his face: extremely pale, with jet black hair and glittering gold eyes.

As soon as Shinwer falls, everyone falls back. But Rustus noticed Shinwer.

"It cannot be... he was a... morph..." Says King Raimei.

"What's a morph?" Rustus asks.

"Morphs are supernaturally created beings, created from the quintessence of humans. Do you recall the Battle of Dragon's Gate?"

"Standard knowledge, Your Highness" Says Rustus.

"In this battle, Nergal created morphs to stall the legendary heroes. Something's not right. For once..." The king utters. "You may have been right."

Back with Lenna and Chris, Chris was beginning to pass out from loss of blood.

"Please, stay awake, Chris. Lord Reginald will be here. I'm sure of it." Lenna pleas to him.

"This life has been good to me." Chris says, slightly delirious. "It gave me the open fields... it gave me the trees... and it gave me you... Lenna..."

After saying this, his head sinks to his shoulders, which sat on her breasts. He was unconscious, and death was calling him.

"Oh St. Elimine... Lord Reginald! Help me!" Screams Lenna.

At this, the bishop runs as fast as he can to help her. But upon seeing him, he says, "I cannot help him until that bolt is removed."

"But that will hurt him more!" Lenna says, startled.

"If you do not hurry, he will die."

With those words, Lenna attempts to budge the bolt from his abdomen.

And she succeeds, only to hear Chris scream in such anguish that I believe a human was not meant to endure. At this sound, Lord Reginald uses his Mend staff, so much so that it breaks, but manages to patch the gaping hole in Chris's gut.

When he stops screaming in horror, Lenna embraces Chris. "You made it! Oh, Chris!"

"Lenna..." Chris is, for once, unsure what to do. He returns the embrace, lightly.

"I thought for sure you were done for... Oh Chris..."

After the battle, and the cleanup, King Raimei calls Rustus, Chris, Lenna, Ken, and Sirena to the throne room.

"You wished to see us, Your Highness?" says Rustus.

King Raimei was smiling, something that is completely uncommon for him. "I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for help defending Castle Ostia. I want to thank you for thank you for driving those brigand back. But special thanks are in order for one of you."

He turns to them. "Chris, you saved my life out there today. You took a bolt from a ballista that would have killed me, nearly taking your own life in return. Were it not for Lenna and Lord Reginald, you would have died. I wish to give you this shield."

He claps, and in comes Lord Reginald, holding a large, red shield.

"This... is a... Hero Crest!" Chris says in amazement.

"Quite. I give this to you on this glorious day for saving me."

Chris looks at it, then pushes it back at the bishop. "I cannot accept this, it is too much. My saving you was an accident, although I cannot bear the thought of this place without you."

King Raimei's grin got even bigger. "Accident or no, your actions have saved me. Take it."

Chris was stunned. For one, he never dreamed of the day of getting a Hero Crest. And another, it was his best friend in the world who saved him from a terrible fate. And once more, he had saved the King of Ostia.

"Thank you, Your Highness. I am forever in your debt."

King Raimei's smile, if it could get any bigger, just did. "No, it is I who is endebted to you. Anything you need, it is yours."

He turns to the rest of them. "As to you all, for your journey, I award you each 2500 gold. You may stay here for another night, but after that I bid you scuttle towards Pherae as fast as you can."

"You may turn in, if you so choose."

As they leave, Ken remarks. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."

Chris laughs. "You're always hungry, Ken."

As the rest of them laughs, Lenna cannot help thinking about what Chris had said to her...

"This life has been good to me. It gave me the open fields... it gave me the trees... and it gave me you... Lenna..."

Was what he said said in delirium, or did he mean it? This question resounded in her head.

She soon discarded the thought. They were never meant to be more than friends.

"I'm going to bed. Good night to you all!" She finally announced.

"Good night, Lenna." they tell her.

As she closes the door, one sentence runs through her head.

Chris, we're finally even. (4)

Notes:

1: This is a bit confusing, so I thought I'd explain. Chris and Lenna have been the best of friends since their school days, and because she was over at his house so much, she developed a habit of calling Chris's mom "Mom". It is a habit Chris doesn't exactly like.

2: Once more, the name of Rustus's katana. It is unusual for a thief to wield such a weapon, however this katana is light and sharp. Its name is meant as a bad pun...

3: this is simply a definition. A cleptomaniac is a person who cannot stop stealing. So a semi-cleptomaniac steals only some of the time.

4: Chris met Lenna when she was dangling off of a cliff. He heard her screaming and came to her aid. Although it was his brother who actually saved her, Lenna felt endebted to Chris. And they've been friends ever since.