Drakengard Chapter 3: A humble meeting

My head was in excruciating pain when I began to regain my consciousness. "Oh! She's finally waking up!" an unknown voice happily said. The unknown voice sounded like a female. "It's about time. She has a lot of explaining to do," Caim said. "What if I'm not in the mood to explain things?" I replied. He huffed a bit but ignored my previous statement. The woman, however, let out a small gasp. I picked myself off of the bed I was laying on and sat up. I opened my eyes to a room that was more or likely in a castle. Upon further inspection, it looked like no effort was put in the up keeping of the room. "Yuck was that a spider?" The woman who was sitting by my bedside was wearing a white dress, with metal bands around her waist, and weird metal things at her hips. She looked very much like an angel. Caim was not too far from the woman in the white dress.

"Are you feeling any better?" the woman asked. I didn't get to reply since Caim intervened and said, "She is fine. She was able to talk so she is fine." The woman looked at Caim and said, "Caim, she is the one who has to say that. I know you are only saying it for her because you feel uneasy about her. From what I can tell, she is just a normal girl. Please lower your guard." "Furiae…I -sigh-," Caim tried to say before Furiae shushed him. "Um..," I said to catch their attention, "Are you perhaps Caim's sister?" Caim looked like he was going to tackle me to the ground and attempt to kill me. Furiae let out a small gasp before inquiring, "How did you know that? Are you a witch?" "No, I just noticed how overprotective Caim was and how he looked uneasy about you being here. I have a friend who is an older sibling that also does the exact same thing," I stammered out very quickly. Caim gave me another bewildered look and Furiae calmed down.

Furiae decided to question me further, "Are you part of the Empire?" "Empire this. Empire that. I don't even know where I'm at, so how am I supposed to know what the Empire is let alone be a part of it?" I said angrily. "Watch your tone Amea, or so help me…." Caim growled out. "Caim stop it. She is only reacting to what I said please just…" Furiae said as she stood up trying to get in between us before she collapsed on the ground. "Furiae!" Caim said shifting his focus onto his sister. "I'm alright. Don't worry about me," Furiae said with a weak smile on her face. "What's wrong? Are you ill?" I asked. Caim glared at me before he helped his sister up. "You need to rest Furiae. I will take you back to your chambers. And you," Caim stopped to point his finger at me and said, "Stay in this room. I will come back to have a word with you."

Caim left without another word. Furiae looked like she wanted to stay, but she had to comply with Caim's concern. I was left alone in the room. I looked around to get a better look of my surroundings. The room was bare of any furnishings aside from the bed and the chair Furiae sat in. I could hear the guards talking to someone before the door opened.

Inuart stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He looked at me and said, "I heard that Furiae came in here to talk to you." "Yeah, she did, but I couldn't talk to her because Caim was being overprotective," I said exhaustedly. Inuart smiled and chuckled at my little quip at Caim. "Why is he so overprotective?" I asked Inuart hoping that he would have the answer. Inuart's face fell down from pure happiness into sorrow as he said, "Furiae is his only living relative. His parents were murdered by an Empire dragon." I didn't know what to say. Inuart continued saying, "Furiae was also named the Goddess after their parents died. I know that you may not know the Goddess's role so I will explain. There are four seals in this world that protect the balance of this world. One of them is the Goddess of the seal. The Goddess is a woman, chosen by the hierarchs, which protects the world with her own life. The only time she can be relieved of this status is when she dies."

"That's not right! Why? Why does she..?" I said in protest. "No one knows, but it is truly a horrid thing. I sometimes wish that it wasn't her. Even though I was her betrothed I cannot truly be with her. Caim suffered a heavy blow from all of this. He has changed in these many years. I've noticed that he rarely smiles and he is more withdrawn from everybody. Furiae can't even get Caim to smile," Inuart replied sighing every now and then. I gave him a puzzled look as I asked, "Caim has changed?" Inuart gave a small smile and said, "Yes he has changed. Caim, believe it or not, smiled a lot more than he does now. He still faces challenges head on, but the way he faced them was with a fearless and unwavering faith. Now he is just an angry man full of bloodlust." "Is he your hero?" I asked politely. Inuart looked at me sheepishly and said, "Yes, he kind of is. Or was, I don't know. I've always wanted to be strong like him. I want to be able to protect Furiae too." "I'm pretty sure you can," I said with a smile.

Inuart smiled back at me. It was a nice change of pace from Caim's angry demeanor. "Oh! Aren't you tired of staying in this room? Do you want to go out and explore the castle?" Inuart asked me out of the blue. "I do, but Caim and I got into a little misunderstanding when Furiae was here. He ordered me to stay here so he can talk to me," I said as I looked down at my feet. "That's rude of him. You're not an enemy and he knows this. I don't really see the point of arguing with you unless…." Inuart trialed off. "Unless?" I inquired. Inuart turned giving me a very serious stare down as he said, "Unless you threatened Furiae." "I didn't threaten Furiae," I said calmly, "But I did overreact to her question. Caim got angry and Furiae tried to intervene before she collapsed to the floor." Inuart didn't say anything for a little bit. A few minutes passed before he said, "Caim is being too harsh, especially to a young girl like yourself. Furiae collapsing in pain was because the weight of the seal and he knows this." Inuart walked towards the door. Before he opened it he turned around and said, "I'll try to convince the guards to let you out so you can get some fresh air. As you explore the castle, I'll try to find Caim and calm him down."

Shortly after he said that he opened the door and shut it behind him. The guards were easily persuaded and they let me out of the room. I was now free from the room and was able to explore the castle. The corridors of the castle were still dark even though there were torches were lit. Nothing aside from the armories held any sort of decoration. There was nothing but stone walls, floors, and steps that continued to get me lost. I decided to climb up the set of stairs I had miraculously found. The set of stairs led me into an open air hallway. "Ah, finally some fresh air," I said as I stretch to relieve some of my muscles. I looked up at the sky to see that it was almost night time. The sun was beginning to shine the last few rays of day before the moon rose. I was in pure bliss by how the temperature was not too hot and not too cold. My eyes were also mesmerized by the sunset.

I was very dazed by all the scenery that I hadn't noticed that Caim was walk towards me from the opposite direction that I came from. "What are you doing here?" He growled snapping me out of my little trance. He began to walk towards me in a very fast pace. I was very frightened by that, but I managed to say, "Inuart wanted to talk to you." Caim slowed his pace, but he still glared at me as he walked by. He began to mutter things under his breath that more and likely were about me. Before he got down the stairs I noticed how tired he looked. His eyes looked like he had been up for more than 24 hours. Maybe I was just hallucinating about the whole thing.

After that little blurb, I decided to stretch out my leg muscles since I ran without stretching. "Ugh," I grunted every time I stretched. My poor old muscles didn't like that very much. As I finished that ordeal, I remembered that Caim came from the opposite direction. "Could that be where Furiae is?" I pondered for a moment. "Maybe I should apologies for my brash statements," I thought to myself as I walked toward Furiae's chambers.

The chambers were as dark as the hallways. The torches provided little to no light, but I was able to find the door. As I got closer to the door I heard Furiae's muffled voice behind it. "Here goes nothing," I thought as I lifted up my hand and knocked on the door. On the other side I heard scuffling until Furiae opened up the door. "Oh my! Amea? How?" Furiae began with a look of pure shock. "Thank Inuart. He was able to talk to Caim. I hope. I came here to apologize for my rude behavior," I said apologetically. Furiae smiled and said, "No, it alright. You don't have to apologize. You were just reacting naturally." She motioned me to step inside. I, being nice, stepped inside her chambers as she closed the door.

Furiae's chambers were cleaner than the room I was in, but they both still lacked furniture. The furniture that was in there still better than the ones in the other room. Furiae walked over to the table and sat down in the chair. I decide to walk to the window near the table and sit in the window space. Furiae looked at me with her blue eyes that seemed to be filled with questions. "If you want to ask questions go right on ahead. I will try to answer them with the best of my abilities," I told her in an attempt to strike up a conversation. "O-okay," Furiae said before she began her first question. "Um… How did you get to this land?" she said nervously. I started to think about before I answered her with, "I really don't know. You see, before I came into this world I was just sitting in my room. All of a sudden my necklace, that I recently bought, started glowing bright. A hole began to form in my room. I fell into the hole as I was trying to escape. Before I lost consciousness I saw various images of people and things. I blacked out and then the rest is history because I bet that Caim told you how he and Inuart found me." Furiae shook her head. "What? He didn't tell you that I out ran him and his horse before I climbed up a tree?" I said in shock. Furiae erupted into a fit of laughter. She was laughing for a while. Furiae regained her composure before saying, "No, he didn't and I think I know why." I smiled and said, "Because he was too embarrassed about it. I knew that already. He started turning red after I told him my age." Furiae giggled and said, "Really? I thought he couldn't do that anymore. Thank you for that little bit of information." "You are very welcome. I enjoyed telling you about that. I found it quite hilarious," I said with a chuckle.

I noticed that Furiae was beginning to get tired after all of that commotion. "Furiae, I would love to talk with you some more, but it's getting a little late and you look very tired,' I said to her calmly. "I understand. Thank you for visiting me. I will retire for the night. Please tell Caim that I said good night," she said in a sad tone. I got up from the window space and walked towards the door. I placed my hand on the door handle and turned around to say, "Good night, Furiae. I hope I can talk to you tomorrow." She smiled and waved as I went through the door.

The room next to Furiae's was very dark. The lit torches were of little to no use, but I was able to find the door that leads outside to the open air hallway. The stars were shining very bright tonight. I stood there looking up at them. "I wonder if my dad knows I'm gone. I hope that everyone back at home doesn't worry," I said to myself and I gazed at the stars. A little while later I stopped looking at the stars and began making my way to the other door. Not feeling tired at all, I decided to explore the castle a bit more. To my disappointment there was nothing in almost every room and hallway, except for my room, Furiae's room, a few locked rooms, and the armories filled to the brim with weapons.

I magically found another staircase that goes down. I walked very slowly down the stairs due to my increasing fatigue. My energy perked up when I heard a commotion up by the entrance of the castle. "Empire scum! Tell us what you know already!" a male voice shouted. As I approached the scene I saw a different soldier encircled by the soldiers that had previously accompanied Caim. Caim had recently walked up to the group because he said, "What's going on here." His tone changed when he saw the soldier in the center. He said, "Well, what do we have here? An Empire dog that strayed too far off of its path. Well, whatever information you have I suspect you start talking." The soldier laughed and said, "There is nothing you can do. When my scouts and I left we were told that should we not return, they know that the Union took us forcibly. It's too late for you to do anything. The Goddess will be ours. The Goddess will-," he was about to finish before Caim stabbed him in the chest with a sword. I could tell that Caim was upset. He turned and found me standing right next to the entrance.

"When did you-," he said before I cut him off. "I was here when you started interrogating that guy. Is he part of the enemy?" I asked Caim with concern in my voice. Caim sighed and said, "Yes. And now the Empire knows we are here. Furiae isn't safe anymore. We need to pack up and go." "Lord Caim!" said one of the soldiers that barged through the gates ahead, 'Our scouts have spotted Empire forces less than a day away from the castle! What shall we do sire?" "Dammit! Now we have no choice but to defend the castle! This couldn't have happened! It shouldn't have happened!" Caim bellowed pacing back and forth. His men looked terrified and stepped further away from Caim with each word he said.

He eventually calmed down and said to his men that were there, "All of you, go and spread the news of the Empire being less than a day away. Tell the rest of the soldiers to prepare for battle. We must protect the Goddess!" "Yes, Lord Caim!" all of the present soldiers said and ran off to tell the rest of the castle. Caim began to sigh even more as he rubbed his temples and turned to face me.

I was in absolute shock when he said, "Inuart told me about your reaction to Furiae being the Goddess. I've completely misunderstood everything about you. Will you accept my apology?" I looked directly at Caim's face. He looked older and very tired. "So I wasn't imagining it at all," I thought to myself. I gave Caim a small smile and said, "I forgive you Caim. By the way, why do you look so tired?" Caim looked very puzzled before saying, "Do I look like I am tired?" I nodded and he said, "I didn't think anyone would notice. I have been up way before dawn." I stared at him in amazement and said, "You were up before the sun had risen and you chased me up a tree? You should get a medal for being able to do that. Most of my teammates can't even do that." Caim replied with, "Now, now, you shouldn't praise someone you barely know. And what teammates?" "My teammates and I are racers. We run as fast as we can through various terrain, obstacles, and distances. Whoever can run the fastest wins the race. We often compete with not only each other, but other teams as well…," I said.

As I was about to explain the competition when a soldier came up to us and said, "Lord Caim, we found some very interesting things from the Empire scouts. Would you like to take a look?" Caim nodded to the soldier and turned to me. "Can we continue this conversation later? I need to see what my men have found." I nodded, but then I said, "Can I come with you? I'm sort of afraid that I'll end up lost again in the castle." Caim nodded and we followed the soldier.

The soldier took us to one of the armories in the castle. "We found some gold and this," the soldier said as he lifted up a necklace. I recognized the necklace. "Interesting," Caim said looking at the necklace in a curious manner. "Um, Caim?" I asked very quietly. "Yes? What is it Amea?" he replied back. "That necklace is mine. How on earth did it get here?" I said trying to wrap my head around this weird appearance of my necklace. Caim looked at me and asked, "Really? This necklace that strangely looks like a pact mark is yours?" He lifted up the necklace and dangled it in front of me. "Yes. I would recognize it anywhere," I said before I asked "What's a pact mark?" Caim huffed a bit before saying, "A pact mark appears on a human to show of what the human lost during a pact. A pact is when a human exchanges their soul with a beast to gain power from that beast. However, the human gives up something in exchanged and the two are linked together. If one dies, the other dies too." Caim's explanation of the whole pact thing kind of confused me a little. I must have looked puzzle because Caim said, "I didn't expect you to understand. You can have this back now, but if you are lying to me…" "You'll kill me. I get the picture," I said as I took the necklace from Caim's hand.

I decided to wear the necklace so I wouldn't lose it again. Caim turned to the soldier and asked, "Was there anything else?" "No Sir Caim. We found just the gold, the necklace, and some maps they used. Nothing else," the soldier replied. "Thank you, you are dismissed," Caim said to the soldier. The soldier saluted Caim and left to do whatever he was supposed to do. After that I began to yawn. Caim turned to me and said, "You must be very tired from all of this." "Yeah. I'm exhausted," I replied as a small smile crept on my face. "Do you need me to take you to your room?" Caim asked with a hint of annoyance. "Yes. I'll just end up lost in this castle. We wouldn't want that now would we?" I replied with equal annoyance. Caim sighed but reluctantly showed me the way back to the room I was in earlier. "If that is all I shall bid you good night. I, however, still have to do my duties," Caim said sounding unhappy. "Well then, I shouldn't keep you here. Good night, Lord Caim," I said with a hint of insult.

I closed the door on him before he could even reply. I heard him sigh and slowly walk away. As I was about to lay down I remembered about what Furiae wanted me to tell Caim. I ran towards my door and opened it very quickly. Luckily, Caim was still in the hallway. He turned around and asked, "Did you forget something?" "Yes. Furiae wanted me to tell you goodnight," I told him in a rush and quickly shut the door behind me. I could hear him walking up to the door, but then turning around and walking away. I walked over to the bed a sat down. I took off my shoes and proceeded to lay down. I pulled the covers over my body and stared up at the ceiling. "I wonder what will happen tomorrow. I have a bad feeling about this," I thought as I drifted to sleep.

Wow. This chapter was a pain to write. Not going to lie, but this went through five rewrites at the most. Thank you to all who have stayed with me this long. I feel terrible about taking forever. Anyways, Next chapter will be about the beginning of the game. Yay!

Please Rate and Review. I'm curious to know about what you readers think of the chapter.

Disclaimer: Drakengard and its characters belong to Square Enix and Cavia