Lost Tales of Ragnarok
By Rei-kun
Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Ragnarok Online. Gravity Corp would sue me if I say it's mine.
The First Saga, Part Four:
"Do you have it?"
"Yes, barely… I met up with a bunch of troublesome youngsters. Thank the Devil Shenola was there with her teleportation skill."
"You are so weak, Madho."
"Watch your tongue, woman!"
"Quit the squabbling. Those who trouble you tonight will be dealt with after our mission is accomplished. We have what we have come for, so it's time to leave this desert city."
Ri-anne Zedt took in a breath and straightened herself, keeping a collective mind. Her friends wondered what they were to expect. They supposed they should brace themselves for anything that could be thrown at them, considering that they were in the home of the ruling assassins.
The petite girl pushed open the two doors leading to her father's study room. The guests gaped at what was revealed behind them. How could it be called a study room when it was more like a library? Where was the Rune-Midgard Library again? Did it move here?
Hei-wu was standing before the long study table with his back to them. Ri-anne stepped forward and bowed. "Good evening, father."
The man turned and faced the young people. The first thing everyone noticed about him was the scar which traced from above his right eyebrow to his cheek. He had a stern-looking face and greying brown hair. His greyish-green eyes had a fierce spirit of a true assassin.
He grunted at his daughter's greetings. "I am sure you know of the intrusion at your grandfather's morgue."
"Yes, father," she answered.
"There are those who saw you fight the intruder."
"Yes, father."
"And you let him escape."
Ri-anne locked jaws and clenched her shaking fists. "Yes… father."
The other five held their breaths. They could see the elder's face altered into a furious one. They felt sympathetic for the girl as there was nothing they could do to help her.
"Your friends will be held in the dungeons from hereon," he declared coldly.
"W…what?!" Ri-anne blurted.
"Ever since there are outsiders within these walls, terrible things happened one after another," he spat, looking directly at her friends.
"Antares is a high guest of Grandpapa and my friends arrived just an hour ago!" protested Ri-anne. She wasn't going to tolerate any injustice to her companions, not even from her father.
"Are you defying me?" he questioned dangerously.
Ri-anne glared at him. "I won't allow you to do this to my friends. They have done nothing wrong. With my life, I guarantee their innocence!"
The father and daughter glowered at each other. Antares sighed. He knew their relationship wasn't good but to this extent? Elliot made a move to stop the quarrel but Phelysa stopped him and shook her head once. It was family matter and it would not be good to trespass.
"Then, tell me, what was Antares Yilric doing near the morgue?" Hei-wu shot.
"It isn't wrong to have an evening walk, father. It just so happens he was near there. And IF your subordinates saw right, he was fighting the intruder along with me," Ri-anne answered with a sharp tongue. The five were taken aback by her absolutely insane bravery to answer back at her father in such a defiant manner.
"Ri-anne, your trust in whom you call friends will cost you one day. Remember, you are an assassin!" scolded the father.
"If being an assassin means being alone in this world, I rather not work as one. Grandpapa was a great assassin and he had many friends," stated Ri-anne.
"What he had was alliances! It is different! There is no personal relationship in it!" he corrected her.
"See it however you like it. I stand on my ground. If my friends are harmed, no one in this organisation will live through a peaceful day," she warned.
"Do you think you are capable of that, you arrogant child?!" he roared at her threat.
"Even if I do not finish it in a day, I will stop only when everything and everyone here is gone," she seethed.
"Leave!" he shouted.
The haughty girl bowed her head and turned on her heels. The five exited along with her. They exhaled in relief, thankful nothing physically bad happened.
"Father, why does she have to carry your aura around her? Your time and her time are no longer the same. Assassins cannot live based on trust. We are dwellers in the night, shadows of death… Trust will only bring betrayal…"
Hei-wu sighed. Despite their poor relationship, he still loved her. Which father would hate his daughter? He was really only trying to protect her.
"That was a close one. I thought we'd be sleeping in the dungeons tonight," muttered Delfred as they headed off for dinner.
Elliot frowned. "Your relationship with your father certainly has not improved over the pass years, Ri-anne."
Ri-anne laughed sarcastically. "You think? I just don't get it. Every time we try to communicate, we always end up arguing."
"That's because both of you display your prides," Antares said quietly. "The Zedt Family are famous for they're proud natures. It is their confidence boosters but it is also why they have enemies."
The brown-haired gi rl scowled. "You sound like my grandmother, Antares."
"That's because your grandmother is not a Zedt," he said flatly.
Phelysa and Galicia giggled while Delfred wrung his arm around Antares. "That's a good one, man."
"What is a good one?" he asked blankly. He didn't think his previous comment was a funny one. He meant it as a serious statement.
Ri-anne chuckled. "Dinner's waiting, after that we've got some preparation to do."
Six figures dressed in black moved quietly and edged towards the shadows of the walls. As planned, Ri-anne and Antares would remain behind while the four went ahead. They had inspected the place after dinner and saw sixteen guards around the morgue: ten high thieves and six assassins.
Elliot, Delfred, and Galicia came out from hiding to lure the guards away. Phelysa was to support them from behind. Antares and Ri-anne were about to move when they saw Delfred was flung into a nearby wall. They stood away from the wall and prepared to give them assistance.
Feng-xen?!
A lone man stood at the centre of the open grounds, a pair of Bloody Roar katars in his hands. Below the moonlight, his hair gave out a peculiar blue and green colour. His countenance was unreadable.
"Antares, head straight for the morgue without me," whispered Ri-anne. Antares nodded and ran towards the entrance.
The person named Feng-xen moved in a blur before the High Acolyte's eyes. Galicia and Elliot could barely catch up with his speed. Just as he was about to strike on Antares, Ri-anne kicked him at the side from behind. He stabbed into the ground with his left katar to prevent himself from sliding any further and steadied himself.
"You have the agility of an assassin cross," he uttered coolly.
Ri-anne kept her silence and took her place in front of the morgue's entrance. Elliot went to her side to aid her. "Tell Galicia and the rest to sit this one out. He graduated far earlier than Galicia. They're on a different level," she muttered under her breath to him. Elliot nodded once and made a signal to the others to back down. Galicia wasn't very happy about it but obeyed the order.
"Whatever you do, don't hurt him," Ri-anne gave her second instruction. Elliot looked at her surprisingly but did not question any further. The only defensive skill he had was Parry. He hoped he would not need to activate his other skills.
"Where is your weapon?" Feng-xen directed his query to Ri-anne.
In reply, she threw three kunais at him swiftly. It didn't matter if they hit their target or not, so long as it distracted him for a split second. Throw Kunai was originally a skill of the Ninja but she had learnt the skill from her grandmother who was a Ninja herself. Feng-xen blocked the kunais with his katars easily but he had lost sight of her.
Ri-anne suddenly zoomed into vision and attacked from the left with Katar of Cold Icicle in her hands. Instinctively, the man raised his weapons to meet her attack. With two assassin crosses in the battle, Phelysa and Delfred had lost tracked of it long time ago, unable to keep up. Galicia could barely keep up while Elliot had the pleasure of witnessing everything.
Meanwhile, in the morgue, Antares knelt on a knee before the sacred body of Sir Sen-yu Zedt, which was already dressed for the burial, in respect. His body was placed on an altar at the very centre of the small building. The place was decorated with white cloths and large foreign words which meant 'honour to a great warrior' were written on one of them and hung in the background. Circling the altar were inscriptions. He did not know what its purpose was but there was no other way. He had to be quick.
He took a step forward pass the inscriptions. He expected something bad to happen but besides a tingling sensation at first, there was nothing else. Antares braved himself and stood before his guardian. To him, he seemed to be only sleeping. He shook the thought off. He was gone, that was facts.
Antares picked his body up into a sitting position and began taking Sir Sen-yu's white clothes off. He was only wearing a plain long-sleeved shirt and long white trousers. It symbolised the yearning of the soul to enter heaven after living so long in darkness on earth. It was a different tradition from the locals of mummifying the dead.
The High Merchant's eyes widened when he saw a black round spot on the back of his guardian's neck. It must have been where the murderer punctured him with the needle. There were two other similar spots on his two wrists. The murderer had chosen the most vital spots, he noted bitterly.
He carefully checked for any other signs of injury but there was none. Disappointed, he put back on the clothes over Sir Sen-Yu's body when he noticed a stain of blood at the end of the right sleeve. He stared at it, baffled, not knowing what to make out of it. Suddenly, a strange feeling overcame him. Antares did not know why he drew his hand towards Sir Sen-yu's face, as if there was an unknown force telling him too.
His hand shook fearfully as he reached for the dead man's eyelid. When he pushed it up, nothing but a hollow hole with black-red and slightly green gory flesh met his eyes. He fell back onto the ground, badly shocked and panicking. Sir Sen-yu's eye was…missing! The frightening image kept flashing in his head. He held his head, trying to shut it out. But it would not disappear even after he shut his eyes tightly. Unable to control his emotions, he let out a tormented scream.
"Parry!" yelled Elliot, defending himself with his twin swords from Feng-xen's multiple blows.
"Angelus!" commanded Phelysa. Everyone's defence heightened at her casting of skill, giving Elliot a better chance of survival.
Knowing that his skill was not going to be successful, Ri-anne leapt at Feng-xen and planned to kick him on the neck when he, in turn, surprised her by turning at her direction and blocked her incoming kick. He reached a hand to punch the girl. Ri-anne barely evaded the fist but unfortunately, he managed to snatch off the piece of cloth which covered the bottom half of her face.
"Sister?!" Feng-xen exclaimed, bewildered.
"Sister?!" The others in the field exclaimed simultaneously too.
"Shush!" chided Ri-anne.
"What the hell…" swore Feng-xen but before any explanation could be done, a scream emitting from the morgue reached their ears. Impulsively, Ri-anne rushed into the morgue.
"Antares!"
Her eyes searched the place and found him weeping in a corner. The others entered the morgue behind her anxiously. Ri-anne hastened to Antares' side and asked what just happened. Besides mumbling some words she could not make out and constantly moaning her grandfather's name, she was clueless.
Elliot placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ri-anne, we've got to get out of here."
She nodded worriedly. What did the High Merchant see to send him into such a state of shock?
"Feng-xen, lend us a hand," said Ri-anne softly.
The younger brother sighed and supported Antares on one side while Elliot supported him on the right. Soon, they were away from the morgue. Ri-anne expected answers from this trip but all she gained were more questions.
