Chapter 3: The True Reason
The first thing Selene felt was a calm, floating sensation where her body was hovering in the air. She was not sure where she was floating to, but it did not really matter. She could not feel her body, as if her senses were disconnected somehow from her. No sense of touch, no sense of sound and no sense of sound. The only thing she was aware of was that she was floating, which did not really make sense since she could not feel anything, so how did she know she was floating?
Then, she heard something, barely audible, but it sounded like someone shouting. She was not too sure who was shouting or who it was directed to, but she somehow felt it was towards her. Then, the voices faded away. It did not really matter to her.
Selene was not aware of how long she was had this floating feeling. She had no sense of time and direction, rendering her time here feeling like hours, but at the same time she felt it was not that long. What seemed antagonistically like hours ended rather abruptly when her eyes suddenly registered light. Bright, incandescent light. Was this what people talked about, the end of the tunnel where the soul travels to heaven and enters God's domain? If it was so, then God must have a very sadistic approach to death for making her wait for so long.
She was not sure what she was really looking at. The bright light that seem to shine down from some circular beacon made her squint. After what seemed like a minute looking at this bright light, it suddenly hit her that she was looking at the sun.
" Thank God you are up," a voice said suddenly, sounding really relieved. It also sounded familiar.
Then, all at once, her senses returned to her. First, the sensation of her body returned, and she felt that she could control her body now, which felt extremely heavy, like someone had strapped lead plates on her. Then, she could tastes blood in her mouth. There was a whirl of noises around her, and the blue sky started to expand around the bright sun, although her vision was out of focus. The last to hit her was the overwhelming pain of a thousand needles piercing her body.
" Ugh..." Selene groaned, writhing slightly in pain.
" Hang on, don't move. You need to rest, after what happened to you," Azaroth's voice floated into her ear. A pair of hands laid themselves on her, trying to hold her down for her to relax.
Selene waited for a while for the pain in her body to subside, before slowly trying to get her bearings. As her vision started to come into focus, she saw both Azaroth and Serene leaning over her, both worried and relieved expressions etched on their faces.
" Feeling better now?" Azaroth asked.
" I think so," Selene said, her voice sounding weak.
" Ah, typical of you," another voice replied.
Selene took a look around at the direction where the voice came from to see who else was around. Her eyes spotted two figures at the background. One was a male, dressed in tightly bound lengths of cloth and leather garments. He had a blank look on his face, owing much to the long scarf that was wrapped around his neck, covering most of his face except his expressionless pale eyes. A pair of katars that he was wielding indicated that he was an assassin.
The other figure was a more familiar one, and was just the one who had spoken to her moments ago. Dressed in simple garments and covered with a flowing, white cloak, she walked right up to Selene. She wore a very roguish, mischievous smile on her face, which was accentuated with the twinkle in her eyes.
" Vermillion?" Selene gasped weakly.
" Ho, strong enough to remember me, eh? Guess your brain is in good shape, despite that attack you took," Vermillion replied in her usual boyish tone, with her hands akimbo.
" What a coincidence that you should know her," Azaroth replied.
" A friend of yours?" Selene asked.
" Yes," Azaroth replied.
" We aren't really friends. We just work together under the same order," Selene replied.
" Aw, what the hell. And after I saved your life this the damn appreciation you are giving me. That is an all time low, especially for you. Only person here who shouldn't give a shit about things would be me, and that's because I'm qualified for that," Vermillion shot back.
" Talkative as usual…did they kick you out again?" Selene asked.
" Oh, shut up!" Vermillion shouted, her voice suddenly turning rather offensive.
" Kick you out? Kick you out of what?" Azaroth asked, sounding amused.
" Well, you should know that Vermillion has a lot of disciplinary problems, and for that, she is always being banished from the Circle of Monks for disregarding orders and misbehaving in the church, or anywhere within the vicinity or affiliates of the church. The only thing that keeps her in the Circle is her mentor and her violent fighting skills," Selene replied, almost laughing.
Vermillion pointed her finger angrily at Selene, saying " I would beat you if you were not in such a condition!"
Azaroth got up and held Vermillion back, trying to calm her down just in case she did any damage to the already weakened Selene. " Hey, come on, don't beat up the patient. Is that what they thought you in your monk school?" Azaroth replied.
" Monastery, you dimwit, and I only became a monk because I needed way of releasing all my pent up energy," Vermillion declared, shaking Azaroth's hands of her.
" Yeah, beating a couple of people up…really character building…" Serene snorted.
" Shut up, elf!"
" Vermillion, why are you here?" Selene asked.
" Hey, just to let you know, I was not here to save your ass," Vermillion quickly replied.
" I had figured that out years ago, Vermillion. You are avoiding the question," Selene replied.
" Well, go figure. Everybody is so busy at the city, they can't even give a damn about a bunch of kids. I dunno, but I was just doing my stuff when there was this report where there was this strange things being sighted at the far outskirts of the city, where all the farming villages lie. But, somehow, everybody seems to busy to do anything else, so I head out here on my own just to look for signs of trouble. And what do you know, the first town I visit I find a bunch of terrified kids who said their mentor teleported them here and that some village was under attack or something. Asking them to get back to the capital, I made my way here and viola, I find Azaroth and his elf girlfriend here dragging you along, half-dead," Vermillion said rather dramatically, with her hands moving about.
" I guess I should be thankful that you are here," Selene said. Her attention was suddenly diverted when the assassin turned his head around to look elsewhere.
" Who is he?" Selene asked, feeling worried that an assassin was in their presence, although through Azaroth, Serene and Vermillion's reactions to his presence, there seemed to be no sense of alarm.
Vermillion was about to speak when Azaroth cut in, saying quickly " He's a friend of mine. Don't be alarmed, he's quite….docile, if the word suits him."
Selene sense there was something else, but she felt too tired and weak to further broach upon the subject. She gave a sigh, and dropped her head back down and closing her eyes to get some rest. It was then when Vermillion whispered loudly into Azaroth's ears.
" What was that for?!" she demanded.
" V, you are already in trouble with the church and your Circle with all these antics of yours. And as far as I know, the Cardinals are a bunch of traditional, old geezers who don't believe that anyone out of Prontera should even be allowed into the Holy Order. Not to say that you and Krayken don't go well together, but the last thing the church needs to know is that you are associated with an assassin. It's not like the Circle really wants to keep you anyway…" Azaroth whispered back, careful not to allow Selene to hear what he had said.
" Aw, thanks for the thought, I really needed it," Vermillion said mockingly.
" Just shut up and check on Selene. And for goodness sake, don't fight with Serene," Azaroth replied, slapping her on the back. Vermillion grunted, but she obeyed, kneeling next to Selene's prone body to check on her status.
Azaroth had gotten used to treating Vermillion like a male, and Vermillion liked it that way. Vermillion was the most talkative, violent, foul-mouth tomboy anyone can find within the entire country, and if someone could beat that, it would be a day Azaroth never picked up a sword again. She hails from the city of Juno, renowned for sages and wisdom. However, she fitted neither group, and was predictably an outcast in her society.
Azaroth met Vermillion Striker in the city of Prontera when he was taken there as being a suspect in the massacre done by the Kyrodin. After he was kicked out of the church for trying to enter again, he started moping around the city's streets. Trying one of the bars, he was quite surprised to be thrown out about as quick as he entered by a drunk girl his age, who was obviously drunk and brandishing an empty bottle as a weapon. The rest was history.
Azaroth walked up quietly towards the assassin, who got up from leaning against a nearby tree. After moving some distance, Krayken replied " I guess I should have left when I had the chance."
" Don't bother about it," Azaroth replied.
" You might get in trouble," Krayken replied.
" I figure I'm already in trouble," Azaroth replied.
" Besides, what were you doing with the priestess? Not very natural of you, unless she has some official business with you, which would make your comment on being in trouble sensible," Krayken replied, his voice sounding very deep.
" The Cardinals are offering a trade off I can't refuse. I just need to go to the city and find out what they have," Azaroth replied.
" The only thing stimulating enough would be about the Kyrodin Guild, am I correct?" Krayken replied. Azaroth merely nodded in agreement.
" You know, I doubt that the Cardinals really know anything about the matter. Something about this doesn't feel right. I'd prefer it if you stay here, away from the city. Well, technically not here, since it's rather unsafe to stay since after what happened. Vermillion and I have warned the other nearby villagers, and if they have enough brains, they'd leave the place here and head for the city for the meantime," Krayken replied sophisticatedly.
Azaroth nodded. Krayken may be an assassin, but he was an assassin who followed a moral code. Krayken was an outcast from his village, after a murder incident which he claimed was an accident. Being banished into the criminal world, he decided to become an assassin out of spite, intending to pay back what the village had humiliated him with, although after completing years of training he found out he lacked the hate to do so.
" Anyway, it is unconfirmed, but there seems to be a ruckus in Prontera. I'm not sure what it is, but it seems the Cardinals are keeping things quiet. The general populace doesn't know what is happening though, but there is something fishy going on. For them to be asking you to go, it feels like it is too much of a coincidence," Krayken replied.
" I'm not that worried. Maybe it has something to do with me helping them. Maybe I have some information they need to solve this problem," Azaroth replied.
" I'm not that convinced."
" I'm not worried...I think," Azaroth replied. " By the way, nice to see you here. I'm surprised you actually were around the area."
"I was merely dropping by when I bumped into Vermillion. She then dragged me along, so I had no choice in that, really," Krayken sighed.
" Hunting anyone now?" Azaroth asked.
" As a matter of fact, I am. I'm traveling up to meet our 'old friend' there, where we will meet up before I leave for my task. I must take my leave now. You should be in no trouble now," Krayken said.
" Why can't you stay? Follow me to the city," Azaroth requested.
" Alas, my friend, I must decline. Although would very much appreciate your company, but I'm not a welcoming sight in the city. Besides, I have a task to perform. I doubt the priestess there would not really appreciate my presence. I will meet up soon, I believe. Take care," Krayken said, before walking off to the north. Azaroth wanted to stop him to make him stay longer, but he knew that was uncalled for, so he decided to let him leave.
He walked back to the group, where Vermillion was now dosing off under the sun. Selene was still resting, her eyes closed in peaceful slumber. Only Serene seemed alert and awake.
---
Selene woke up to the smell of roasted meat. The sun had fallen a couple of hours ago, and the sky was engulfed in darkness, yet there was a faint orange glow somewhere, bright enough to illuminate the area and tell her senses that she was still lying down on the ground in the middle of a mildly dense forest.
" Here, we made this for you," Serene said, sitting down next to her as she held a bowl in her hand and a piece of meat skewered by a stick. She helped Selene sit up slowly so that she could feed her. Using a makeshift spoon from a small blade, Serene carefully fed Selene, careful not to cut her with the end of the blade as she placed it in her mouth after dipping it in the bowl.
" What is this?" Selene asked, after tasting the rather rich, thick stew Serene had given her.
" Some stew we made...relax, nothing dangerous. We needed to make something healthy for you since you are in such a condition. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe and it's real good," Serene replied. " Surprisingly, Azaroth and Vermillion are very good cooks."
" I was not asking about that, as I can obviously figure that myself from what I'm eating," Selene replied.
" Ah, well, some familiar meat and a mixture of herbs that I found," Serene replied, feeding Selene another mouthful.
Selene took another glance around the place. The three of them had built a fire around the clearing, which was now burning down to its embers. Vermillion could be seen snuggling up to the warmth of the fire, fast asleep and snoring silently. Azaroth, however, was nowhere to be seen.
" Where is Azaroth?" Selene asked.
" Well, he's up keeping guard for a while," Serene replied.
" What for?"
" Well, the undead where summoned, and although they have disappeared..."
" Disappeared?!"
" Well, there was no trace of them after you blew up that monster, so we are guessing that they were forced to go back into the ground where they came from. We did a short investigation of the place and we found nothing there to say undead were there. Of course, none of us have any Holy magic to check really properly, so we could only search superficially. Azaroth is worried they might arise again, so Krayken and Vermillion had earlier warned the nearby villagers about what happened, so if they would listen to us, they would be heading to the city right now. He's keeping watch just in case any trouble arises," Serene explained.
" Shouldn't we also leave?" Selene asked, feeling worried. " I'm wounded, but I think..."
" Azy is in the opinion that we rest here for a while till you regain some of your strength back. He sees no point in stressing you out first with traveling or warping back to the city. When tomorrow comes, we will head there. Besides, if there is an emergency, Vermillion will immediately open a warp portal for us to leave immediately. No worries," Serene replied, smiling. Selene sighed, then accepted their decision.
-
Azaroth waited a few feet away, staring at the remains of the nearby village which they had entered earlier. The fire had mostly burned away, leaving small red glows of embers that just refused to go out. He had both his swords drawn and ready by his side, just in case something happened. He had no reason to suspect the undead would rise again so fast, but he hated to be so sure.
He tried to make sense of what happened. The seal he saw on the ground was certainly something that acted as a medium or a spell that worked in a way to channel dark energies to summon the dead. The thing was: how did it work. This was the first time he had seen, or even heard of, such power that worked to such a degree. And, where did the bodies come from? Undead beings need a vessel to survive, like a body, or even simpler like a skeleton. One does not create bodies of the dead simply from scratch. Either someone had placed bodies there before, or the zombies crawled to that spot from beneath the ground or an even worse case scenario would be that the seal actually created zombies.
" Whatcha doing?" Serene asked, sitting down next to him.
" Just thinking about what happened today and all that. My God, what a long day it is," Azaroth sighed. " I'd be glad to reach the capital and get some rest."
" How do you think all those undead came about?" Serene asked.
" I can only give theories at this point. A real investigation will have to be carried out to search for the cause. We better not mess with things here," Azaroth replied.
" I'm alright with that," Serene replied, lying down on the grass.
" How's Selene?"
" I've fed her already, and according to Vermillion, she should regain much of her strength by tomorrow. She's sleeping quite soundly now. Vermillion had dosed off some time ago," Serene replied.
" Great. Why don't you get some sleep?" Azaroth suggested.
" Bah, don't worry about me," Serene replied.
" I'm not. I need you to keep watch later, and you'll need to save your strength," Azaroth replied.
" Oh, and here I thought you were worried about me," Serene replied, giving a mocking face of dejection.
Azaroth gave a chuckle and turned his head away. Getting up, Serene walked back to the simple encampment they had established and laid down to sleep
---
" Get up, you lazy bum," Azaroth cried, giving Vermillion a kick on her back when she turned around and ignored his normal attempts to wake her up. The sun had already arisen a couple of hours ago. Vermillion grunted, but slowly got up, so Azaroth decided not to bother her anymore.
The night had passed by peacefully with no further disturbances, with Serene and Vermillion successfully completing their watch. The last of the fires had finally burned out in the devastated village, leaving a charred black ruins. Azaroth gave once last glance at the destroyed village, before turning around to see Selene approach him.
" Are you sure you are strong enough to walk around?" Azaroth asked.
" I disliked being treated like I can't stand for myself. I'm made of far better stuff than you can imagine," Selene replied, sounding offended.
Azaroth shrugged his shoulders and gave a hearty laugh, much to Selene's displeasure from the way she scowled. " Well, no point camping out here any longer. If you are strong enough to move, then we better start heading to the city where you can get proper treatment for your injuries. Let's go find Vermillion," Azaroth replied, trotting back into the small campsite they made.
Vermillion was yawning loudly and stretching herself while Serene was busily packing all their equipment. Spotting Azaroth coming, she asked " Ready to go?"
Azaroth eyed Serene as she placed the last of their items in her sack. " Ready when you are," he replied.
Clasping her hands together, Vermillion muttered a few words under her breath and drew a few sigils in mid-air, which left traces of white luminescence. Soon enough, there was a rush of air in their faces as the warp portal opened up, a white circle opening up slowly where they stood, which was enough for one person to stand.
Azaroth stepped in first, and he felt a weird pressurizing feeling enclosing all around him, before it released him and he felt his feet on firm ground again. He stepped away from the portal and Selene came out of it, followed by Serene. The last to come was Vermillion.
It was customary for the person who open, or can open, warp portals to go last. During a war or an emergency, they found out they during traveling through warp portals they could be interrupted by other sources, and if the unit who opened the warp portal had already traveled through the warp portal, the ones left behind were doomed. Priests and monks usually went last, since if there was a problem, they could open another warp portal somewhere else.
" Still the same look…" Serene sighed.
All of them too a quick look at the Pronteran city. All they could see was the great outer wall that was fortified with tons of stones, shielding the city and making it, literarily, a city in a fortress. The different tones in colour of the stones that fortified the walls of the fortress showed that it had been repaired over and over again over time since its foundation. Some of the guards looked at the newcomers with surprise, as Azaroth could see them looking down at the four of them with surprised looks, while whispering to one another.
The four of them headed towards the main gate, which was a sturdy 100 foot tall wooden gate. It started to creak open as they arrived, and they entered the city when the gates were big enough, with Azaroth taking the lead.
No sooner than when he entered the city's grounds, a whole swarm of knights pounced upon Azaroth like menacing wolves, their total weight suppressing Azaroth to the ground. Azaroth was caught unawares, and before he knew it, there were about 5 knights wearing heavy armour all piled up on him, each holding a part of him on the ground. Several more came up and quickly relieved him of his weapons.
" What the hell…?" he started, but the only reply he got was a painful shove of his head to the muddy floor. Serene and Vermillion were alarmed at such an action, and were already ready to fight, but several guards made a wall around them, holding them back from Azaroth. The only person they did not touch was Selene, who looked at the on-goings without the slightest idea what was going on.
" Let us go, you damn bastards!" Vermillion yelled angrily, not to be easily put down without a fight. She violently let loose a punch that went straight to the face of on of the knights, knocking him a few feet backwards. Five more knights surrounded her to hold her down, but she only decided to struggle even more. They had to use twice the amount of people holding both Azaroth and Serene down to keep her at bay.
" Hey, what's this?! Let me go!" Azaroth cried, squirming slightly.
" Do not resist," one of them replied back.
" But, I…" Azaroth tried to protest, but the guy lost his patience and drew his sword, pressing the cold steel against Azaroth's neck, which promptly shut him up.
Selene stepped forward and asked " What is going on here? I was asked by the Cardinals to bring this man to the church, by a special request. Why are you holding him in such a fashion?"
" There is nothing wrong. We are following orders from the Cardinals," a deep, female voice replied from behind her. Selene spun around to see who had spoken to her. She immediately spotted a female crusader, donned in full plated armour along with her greaves and steel gloves, walking up to her. Serene looked at the exchange, unsure what was happening, while Vermillion was still trying to beat the crap out of everyone who was holding her.
The crusader executed a backhand and her fist landed hard upon the back of Vermillion's neck. She gave a cry of surprise, her body going numb from the attack. " Calm yourself, it is not you we are arresting, but if you want to further aggravate the situation, it will be my blade connecting with the back of your neck the next time I strike," the crusader replied, harshly. Vermillion did not reply and stopped struggling, mainly due to the fact that the hit had mainly knocked her dizzy.
"Lieutenant Melanie," Selene gasped, seeing the familiar face of her comrade-in-arms.
" Well, 'Sis', it's technically now 'Captain Melanie', but we don't really need to be so formal when we address one another, don't we?" Melanie remarked, calling her friend affectionately by her nickname and grinning despite the situation. Selene looked confused, unsure what to say.
" What is all this about?" Selene asked.
" You were asked to escort this person back in a trade-off for information," Melanie replied " But in fact, there was another reason for brining him here, and we had to keep the information confidential to avoid trouble and for convenience sake."
Selene was still not sure what was really going on.
Unsheathing her sword, Melanie walked up to Azaroth and placed the blade precariously over his head. " Azaroth Crimson, you are hereby charged for the murder of Cardinal Crenarius Morison. You are now placed under arrest under the combined order of the Holy Order and the Pronteran Army. Take him away!"
Writer's note: I must say something about the usages of magic here. The healing spell is used differently here in my fanfic. In the game, anyone who can use a Heal spell, can automatically recover all the HP of a character. However, to keep things logical, in my fanfic, the Heal spell, or any healing spell for that matter, does not recover a person to full health. Healing them only closes their wounds, repairs their internal system and helps maintain their body, if severely damaged. They will still need to rest for a while to recover from their injuries (eg. blood loss...we can't have priests magically add blood into the person). So, even after being healed, they will still be weak and need to rest to recover their bodies. Just to let you know. That's why Selene was weak even after being healed.