Chapter 2: Lazulis Road

Zael's POV

Whose voice was that back there? It sounded so lonely. I looked down at my hand, at the strange markings on it.

"Did she give me this power?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. But, why me? I noticed Dagran staring at my hand, at the blue light in the center. As I watched, it dimmed and faded away, almost like it wanted not to be seen. We started outwards on the road. In front of us I saw another blue marking. What did they mean?

"Can't believe I've gone all night without a drink. My hands are shaking!" Syrenne complained.

"Quit whining. We're all tired," Dagran told her.

"We're finally on the last stretch," Yurick added.

"Everyone all right? Nearly there now," Dagran said. We stepped out onto the road.

"S-somebody help!" a passer-by screamed, running away.

"Save us!" added a man. We unsheathed our weapons and started towards where the people were running away from.

"Oh bloody hell, what is it now?!" Syrenne asked, annoyed.

"Some kids got left behind!" I caught a man whisper to somebody else. We raced into the clearing, where a white tiger stood atop a pillar, probably the remains of a building. It seemed to have a blue light radiating from its skin, or maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me. It sat calmly, gazing at us with intelligent eyes.

"What the hell is that?!" Syrenne asked.

"Look! There are still some kids here!" Yurick said. I heard they're crying as I saw them sitting, curled up on opposite sides of the clearing. The Forest Beast jumped down, letting out a growl. It brought its face up and I saw the cross on its forehead, the exact same one on my hand. It began to approach us.

"Right, first we draw that thing away. Then the kids can escape," Dagran told us quietly.

"Ok," I said. I knew that this was my job to fulfill, just like back inside the caves.

"Yurick, leave off casting any magic until the kids are safe."

"Understood. I'll get the kids out then," Yurick replied.

"Let's get this done!" Syrenne said dangerously.

"Not good! It's going to attack the kids!" I caught Dagran mutter under his breath.

"What's a monster doing in this place?!" I asked.

"There's a child over here! And another child over there!" Yurick pointed to where the two were, so I knew where not to lead the beast. "We have to save them!" There was a note of worry in his voice, but I pretended to ignore it. "But the children will just get hurt if we rush in."

"Agreed. This is not good," Dagran said. "Zael, you lure it towards you with that light of yours. Yurick, you get the kids out of here while it's distracted."

"Got it!" The conversation seemed slightly unnecessary.

"Our priority is saving the kids! Do what you can to keep it off them!" Dagran said. Syrenne ran straight in for the attack, while Yurick raced to save the kids. I knew what I needed to do; I just wasn't sure how to pull it off. The power seemed connected with my emotions and thoughts. Many thoughts were flying through my mind, but I focused on one. Protect the kids. The blue light returned. "That's it Zael!" Dagran shouted encouragingly. The forest beast turned to face me. I let Dagran and Syrenne attack it, choosing to keep moving around so that it couldn't attack me.

"There now, hold onto me. Don't be afraid," Yurick said from behind me.

"Yeah, don't be afraid of creepy eyepatch kid. He won't bite," Syrenne added, joking again.

"Thanks, crazy lady!" the boy said. I snickered. It was the perfect way to describe her.

"Crazy lady?!" Syrenne shouted, offended. Yurick began to take the kid now on his back to the entrance of the clearing. My snickers distracted me until the beast lunged at me, giving me just enough time to put up my guard. That shut me up. Even so, it managed to force me backwards a step, my blade almost meeting my forehead.

"This thing's strong!" Dagran said surprised. It lunged at me again, but this time I was ready. I dived to the left and slashed at it on the way back up.

"You're safe now. Get out of here!" Yurick told the kid, who did as he was told.

"That was soooo scary!" I heard the kid say as he raced away. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Yurick started running towards the other kid. I started to back towards the water, hoping to keep the beast away from the kid.

"Right, you're the last one. Let's get you out of here." I was nearly backed up against the tree at the very back by then.

"Thanks!" the child replied. I was forced to take another step back as the beast lunged again.

"Kids make him get all protective. How cute!" Syrenne teased.

"I can hear you, Syrenne," Yurick reminded her. By now, I was backed into a corner, rock wall on one side, tree on the other side. The Forest Beast looked ready to attack. So I did something very, very stupid. I ran right at it. The beast stood still for a single moment, confused at my sudden change of tactics, and in that moment I jumped. I knew that there was no way I could leap the entire thing, and I was right. I landed on its backside, knocking both of us onto the ground. I didn't waste a second, leaping to my feet and started on the attack. "You're safe now. Get out of here!"

"Right, the kids are safe. Yurick!" Dagran ordered.

"OK, one roast cat, coming up!" Yurick said. The beast lunged at me again, and the attack connected. I let out a gasp as I slid, feeling four new scratches reveal themselves. The corners of my vision started to fade to black, and I knew that we had to end this fast.

"You better not miss, Yurick," Syrenne warned, and I knew that I did not want to be Yurick if he missed. I got back to my feet, and resorted to only defensive moves. The fireball missed by a centimeter, almost hitting me instead. I backed away and the beast stayed put. I was confused why until it ran forward at an incomprehensible speed, hitting me with its shoulder. I felt myself hit the dirt as the black at the corners of my vision closed in on me, turning everything to black. I saw blue chains all around me, closing in, until one of the lashed out and grabbed my wrist in a tight hold. A feeling of pain went through my entire body as one word popped into my head. Four. I didn't have a clue what it meant. Four what? The blue chains all disappeared, except for the one, which held on even tighter. It glowed brighter and brighter…

I opened my eyes. I got to my feet, my senses at their highest. The beast lunged at Syrenne, hitting her with the same attack it had tried on me. Unfortunately, she didn't have a thick jacket to protect her arm.

"Argh, that's gonna leave a mark! Never seen a monster like this," she cried out.

"Well, we have only just arrived here," Yurick said. The beast turned to face me, noticing I was awake. I realized that it didn't matter whether that strange light was shining or not, this Forest Beast would give me its complete attention anyway. It did the same attack, racing across the area, but this time I was ready. I dived to the side and the beast hit the wall I had been standing directly in front of. It was stunned and none of us wasted a second.

"Very good, Yurick," Syrenne said sarcastically. "Damn is everything on this island crazy?" she managed to get out between sword slashes. It stood back up, and I backed away until I was standing in front of a pillar. The beast turned and leaped in the air. Instincts kicked in and I crouched, putting my sword above my head. Blood rained down upon me, coming from the wound in the beast's stomach. It hit the pillar with its head, sending debris flying. A piece of debris hit me and I blacked out for a split second upon impact. I quickly shook off the feeling and stood up. Dagran, Syrenne and I surrounded it, and I knew that we were hurting it worst, since it couldn't defend itself against our attacks. Suddenly, it ran, leaping over me, to the other side of the field. I stood still as it circled around, focusing on me and only me. It stopped and started to run. Right before it would get to me, it leaped. It soared above my head, landing on the cliff in an impossible jump. Instead of running, it turned around and stared at me. It gave me the slightest of nods, before retreating back into the forest.

"I don't think it's a monster…" I said quietly, not caring if the others had heard me. We walked out of the clearing, where we ran into the kids and their dad.

"Are you all right? You're not injured?" Dagran asked.

"No, we're fine now," replied the father. "Thank you, brave knights."

"Knights?" Syrenne inquired.

"No, we're just mercenaries working for Count Arganan," Dagran admitted. I knew what was coming next.

"M-mercenaries?!" the father backed away from us, stuttering. "S-sorry. I hope you don't mind, but I'd best be going now! Excuse me!" The father walked away hastily, taking his sons with him. At least we got an apology this time. Not like that one time…

I ran quickly, catching up to the others. Behind me I heard the screams as another one of our comrades fell. I turned around for a split second.

"Lost another one…" Dagran said sadly. The forest behind us was on fire. "Come on! We can't wait any longer!" He began to run away as well.

"Zael, we're leaving! Come on!" Syrenne ordered, supporting a badly injured Lowell. I stared at the forest one last time. "Zael!" The words were all the encouragement I needed. I caught up to the others, helping Syrenne to support Lowell as we raced towards the city…

It was raining hard as we stood before the building. Dagran pounded on the door again and again, but to no avail. Somewhere nearby, an alley cat screeched. Lowell was leaning next to the door, Syrenne refusing to leave his side.

"Open up! We got what you wanted!" Dagran shouted. From behind the door came the voice of our temporary employer.

"Just throw it away somewhere! They'll attack the town if we have it!" the man cried. I shook my head, asking myself why he wanted us to get it so bad if he didn't want us to have it. Didn't he know what we had risked? How many of us had died?

"You don't understand. Just let us in!" I knew that Dagran's attempts were futile.

"If it's money you want, we left it out there. Isn't that enough?" I saw the pouch and took a step towards it, not picking it up.

"We've got a man down! Please!" No response came from inside. Syrenne knelt down to grab Lowell again as Dagran walked towards me. He picked up the bag. "Let's go," he said.

"He changed his tune," Syrenne scoffed. "Guess they don't like mercenaries around here either."

"So what else is new?" Dagran asked. "Don't let it bother you." We started on the path to the city.

"Man, I am totally knackered! Get me to a bath!" Syrenne said.

"Just a bit further now. Good work everyone!" Dagran applauded.

"I can see the castle!" Finally, we had reached the gate. Now all that was left to do was to fine the tavern we were staying in. Easy, right?


Hello! I'm back! So, this is apparently amazing. I'm sorry about skipping that CGI cutscene (oh, god it's so gourgoes!), but I could find literally no way to fit it into the story, so again, sorry. I will try to fit in the other CGI's, though. So if you couldn't tell, I'm going to be doing this story from the POV of the character being played. (ie, Yurick is the character you're controlling in-game, that part of the story is written from Yurick's POV) Anyway, thank you Cormag and Lopmion for reviewing! In answer to your question Lopmion about the script, I'm currently using walkthroughs and my own playing experience (I'm at chapter 16 in game, so I'll be using the walkthrough for a while). The walkthrough is on by basically anybody who does what needs to be done and has already played the game, so yeah. Thanks for the compliment about the action scenes, they're my favorite part to write. So, um, yeah. Sayonara!