Chapter four:
Grima seemed to invade Morgan's dreams and every few hours, he awoke in cold sweat, panicking over a nightmare. A particularly bad one had his Mother completely possessed by the dragon, to the point where her body had started to become the beast herself.
It was still dark when he decided he wanted no more sleep. He got dressed quickly and stepped outside, deciding the river was a good spot to sit.
He pulled off his gloves and stuck his hands in the cool water, washing the ash off them. After a long moment of nothing but the sound of the creek, he heard familiar shuffling. He looked across the river to see Robin's favored Risen, the one with the broken crown.
"Do...do you want something?" Morgan whispered.
"O-ordered...to serve. W-what is your c-command?"
"I want you to search for a man called Validar. He might be able to...help Mother."
The Risen nodded once and started to walk away.
"Wait!" Morgan whisper-called."What's your name?"
The soldier tilted his head. "A-afraid I cannot...recall. N-not needed. A-apologies."
"It's fine. See you, I guess."
As the Risen disappeared into the dark, Morgan fiddled his sleeves.
He doesn't remember his past life then? That's really...depressing. If I'm going to work with this man, I want to know who he is….
He pulled an old piece of bread from his pocket and bit into it. It was so hard, it crunched between his teeth and the crumbs that fell were like sand.
"Disgusting," he muttered and forced the rest of into his mouth. He swallowed hard, remembering where he'd gotten the bread.
I'm mean…Mother really has no need to eat because she's connected to Grima. So I guess she forgets about fresh food.
He stood up and started to his tent. Instead of watching where he was heading, he smacked right into another Risen.
He knew it was one by the way it breathed: heavy and drawn out with smoky breathe. Even so, it still frightened him.
"Uh….," Morgan stammered. "Um...who...sent you?"
"Look out!"
Laurent rushed forward, tome blazing. He blasted the Risen and it dissolved in a smoky mess.
"Um...thanks?"
Laurent pushed his glasses into place. "What in Naga's name were you doing?! Did you forget that Risen kill? Or did you think that you could take it out with your bare hands?"
"Sorry...I was...lost in thought. What are you doing up at this hour anyway?"
The mage snorted. "And I was about to ask you the same thing. Well, if you must know...I have...trouble sleeping. So I tend to take walks or read in the night."
Morgan nodded. "Okay. I just...wanted to clear my head."
"How bad were they?"
"How bad were what?"
Laurent sighed. "Your nightmares. Everyone who's here gets them, especially newcomers. My research says that six out of ten people here have recurring nightmares and four out of these six are new recruits."
"Wow. That's very...interesting."
Morgan turned to walk to his tent. "Thanks...for the Risen thing."
"No problem, I guess."
Celia woke them up early the next day and calling them to the meeting place. Exhausted, Morgan dragged himself from his bed and picked up a quick roll before heading to old barn.
He bit into it and he stopped in surprise: the bread was soft and doughy and it was nothing like the stuff he'd had last night.
"This is really good," he said, stuffing the rest of it in his mouth.
"Really?" Noire asked, who'd been passing by. "Plain bread?"
"Yea...I never got to eat this kind of thing at home. If I found a biscuit, it'd be hard as a rock."
"Eww."
He sat next to a red-headed girl who was polishing her blade.
"Um...hi," he said.
"Hi. What's your name?"
"I'm Morgan. I'm...new here."
"I figured," the girl said and sheathed her sword. "I'm Severa."
Morgan watched Inigo pass by and sit across from them, eyeing Severa with a grin.
"Inigo is staring at you," Morgan reported.
"Ha! Inigo would date any girl he could get his hands on! Consider yourself lucky that you're a man."
She tossed her waist-long pigtails and stuck out her tongue at Inigo.
"Soldiers!" Celia yelled, silencing everyone else. "Today, we march to Breakneck Pass. There, we capture it from any Risen nearby. Search for scavengers or survivors. We move out in one hour!"
After her very short speech, the group disassembled and they started to prepare.
"That's it?" Morgan asked.
"Yea," Severa stated. "The captain isn't known for long speeches."
He was passed a Killing Edge from someone and he hurried to his tent to gather his tomes.
What am I even doing here? I'm supposed to find someone who can help Mother but so far, I've gotten nowhere. There isn't anyone here who could possible help. The most promise I've found in anyone is Mother's favorite Risen.
He sighed and headed outside toward the group. He scanned the people, looking for a more capable person to stand next to.
Lesse, there's a very scary-looking wyvern rider with a mask...Gerome, I think. And there's a priest with a scar over his eye...there's a very spritely Pegasus rider girl...who's coming over.
"Hi!" The girl said excitedly."I'm Cynthia, what's your name?"
"Uh...Morgan."
"Hi Morgan! Where are you from? Are you new?"
"Yea...I'm...from...somewhere far."
"Really? I mean, how come you haven't died? If you lived all by yourself far away, and-"
Cynthia rambled on forever and she lost him very quickly. He ended up just nodding every so often as she talked, even when they started to march.
"Don't talk his ear off, Cynthia," Laurent said.
As they walked, Morgan's heart suddenly grew empty, as if he'd lost something.
I miss Mother, he realized. It's been a very long time since since I've spent a day without her. The again it's been a long time since she's been truly...whole.
He clutched his book and hung his head slightly, trying to hold back his tears.
"What's wrong?" Cynthia asked.
"No, it's...nothing. Nothing at all. I just…miss someone."
"Awww! I get it, don't you worry. My parents haven't appeared for yeeeears!"
Everyone looked rather grim once she said that, as if each and every one felt the same.
"I think we've all had that, Cynthia," Gerome said. "The only things I recovered from my mother was her ring and her wyvern."
"I never even found my parent's bodies," Laurent stated.
Severa fidgeted with her hair. "I argued with my mom right before she left. If I had known that she wasn't coming home, I would have held my tongue."
"I'm so sorry," Morgan said. "I'm very fortunate to have so much time to spend with my mother before…"
He stopped. He couldn't bring himself to say anything more. Before what? Her gettingpossessed? Becoming a dragon of annihilation?
"You're welcome to speak to us about it," Cynthia said, giving a sad smile. "I guarantee that we'll understand."
Would you? He wondered. How could you? Seeing my mother like she is now...it's much more worse than it would be if she had died like everyone else's parents.
He felt incredibly guilty for thinking such and he clutched his tome harder, wishing with all his might.
I'll get you better, mother. I promise! I'll make Grima leave you and make sure we live happy lives afterwards. I...I just need to figure out how.
"You know, my mother cursed me a lot, to try out her magic," Noire confessed. "But when the spells worked, she was happy. I could tell she loved me. And I'd give anything to see her again, happy, even if she did curse me again."
"That's a bit odd," Inigo mused. "But sweet...in I twisted sort of way."
"Your mother was a dancer?" Morgan guessed.
"Yea, the best ever. Why?"
"Since you dance, so I assumed you learned from her-"
"I'm not a dancer."
"Ooookay then."
Celia stopped them at a huge clearing and insisted they break fur lunch before heading into the mountains where Breakneck Pass awaited.
Morgan was given bread and cheese and he ripped off game if the loaf and stuffed it in his pocket for later. He savored every bite of cheese, as it was something rarely ever found fresh in the cellars of Ylissetol, where he and Robin were residing in.
As he finished his food, the air was suddenly filled with familiar screaming of Risen.