Lost in Time [7]
The group continued to travel through the desert. The sun was at its highest now. The group had been traveling since before sunrise. It amazed Sera at how quickly the terrain changed. They were still in the dry, sand filled desert, however there were now broken ruins in the area. Sera looked around at the different pillars. Derek told her stories about how they were built. The people of the desert told the stories to him. The stories amazed Sera, however, the terminology used by the beorcs in the area, bothered Sera.
Sub-humans
That word bothered Sera. She never understood why beorcs hated them so much. It was worse for the branded. Sera couldn't help but shiver as she thought of her time in Begnion. She was constantly called horrible names and hit. Derek saved her from that torture.
"Hey, you okay?" Sera jumped hearing the voice next to her. She turned her head to see Edward standing next to her. He seemed to have a look of concern and confusion.
Sera blinked, "sorry. What?"
"You were making a weird face just now. Are you alright?" Edward asked again.
Sera quickly shook her head, blinking a few times to make sure her expression was straight, "y-yeah I'm fine. Sorry I was just thinking. That's all," she explained.
Edward nodded his head slowly. Sera turned to see that they had all arrived in a small building. One of the walls had fallen and the rest of the desert could be seen. It looked never ending. Sera couldn't help but wonder. Just how far would they be going? At the moment, they had plenty of supplies, but as soon as the group went deeper, the heat would rise even more and they would be running out of supplies soon, especially because of the armor they were all wearing. Sera still couldn't understand how Meg, Aran, and Nolan were surviving with their armor. Sera herself was feeling tired. Not only that, there was a strange humming noise in her ear that wasn't stopping. It was annoying Sera greatly.
"This seems like a good place to stop," Micaiah suddenly spoke up. "We'll rest here now and then continue…" Sera raised a brow as she trailed off.
Sothe noticed as well as he spoke up to ask her. "I sense something here… I'm not sure what, but there is a presence calling out to me," she explained.
Sera was confused by what she heard, but looking around, she noticed, Nolan, Edward, and Leonardo just nodding and understanding.
"Why don't you two check it out?" Nolan spoke up, "we'll keep watch here."
Micaiah nodded her head, "yes that seems like a good idea. We will go then. I feel that it is important we find this presence."
Sera looked up hearing that, "mind if I tag along?" She was curious to know what this presence was. Not only that, there was something here she wanted to see as well. The pictures on the ruins were making her curious. She wanted to explore more.
She watched as Micaiah thought for a second, before she could reply, Sothe spoke up, "It would probably be best for you to stay here."
Micaiah glanced at Sothe and then sighed, nodding, "he's right. You know the area best so you would be able to help the others hide," she started, hesitantly.
Sera frowned, but then decided against insisting and nodded her head, "very well then."
She noticed the apologetic glance that Micaiah gave as she left with Sothe. Sera just shook her head. She didn't understand the maiden. Micaiah says no, but then has an apologetic look. Why? Did Micaiah sense the same thing as Sera? If so, why wasn't she letting Sera go with her? Did she think Sera wouldn't be able to handle it?
Sera just let out a sigh. What ever the reason was, Micaiah did have a point. Sera was the most familiar with the area and if there were any trouble, she would be able to guide the group away. As for Micaiah and Sothe, Sera sense a great amount of faith Micaiah and Sothe shared. It reminded her of her faith in Derek.
A small breeze soon came, carrying sand with it. Sera lifted the collar of her cloak to cover her face as the sand blew past. Thinking of Derek brought back memories of their time when they traveled through the area. This was where he had taught her how to use the basic wind tome. It was perfect not only because of the seclusion, but also because the fact that there were no trees or plants in the way of disrupting the wind. The only thing they had to be concerned about was making sure that the sand didn't blow towards them. That would cause some severe injuries. Even so, the two would always be prepared.
"Hey Sera?"
Sera looked up to see it was Leonardo standing a little off. He seemed to have a look of hesitation, but Sera realized it was because of her mouth covered. She instantly lowered her cloak to speak.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"Yeah, Meg has some pretty bad sunburn on her arm. Laura's taking a look at it now, but Nolan said that you should come look at it since you would have a better idea on how to treat it," he explained.
Sera glanced where the rest were a little off. They were sitting in the shade of the ruins with Edward and Ilyana standing above Laura watching while Aran and Nolan were a little off. They were paying attention to what Laura was doing as well, in case she needed something, but at the same time, they were keeping watch. Sera then nodded her head, "alright then. I'm coming," she stood up, brushing the sand down and then followed Leonardo back to where the group was.
Laura was shaking her head, looking a the arm, "I'm sorry. I'm not very experienced with desert burns like this," she was apologizing to Meg.
Meg just nodded, "it's alright. At least you knew this much. The wet cloth is helping…" she trailed off when she saw Sera and Leonardo. Everyone else turned towards them as well.
Edward grinned, "perfect, don't worry Meg. Sera's here she'll know what to do," he remarked.
Sera raised a brow, wondering why he was so confident that she would know. She just sighed and nodded, "I might have an idea. May I see the burn?" she asked. Laura nodded as she scooted over for Sera. In the process Edward and Ilyana took a step back, but both seemed to want to watch, even though Leonardo was scolding Edward to move back so they could concentrate. Sera couldn't help but smirk at that. She had lost count with how many times the archer had scolded Edward now.
Sera then looked down at Meg's arm. Her armor was taken off and her sleeve was rolled up with a wet cloth placed on it. Sera lifted the cloth to look at the wound. It wasn't a severe burn. Most likely it had occurred while she was in the area before running into them.
"I know that you picked out some herbs for this, but I wasn't sure which ones they were," Laura explained apologetically.
Sera shook her head, "it's fine. At least you covered the wound with a wet cloth. That's more than enough. Though…" she paused to dig through her pouch and pulled out a small white flower, "this is what you should use. It's the Lily of the desert. Once you crush it and mix it properly, it will help moisturize the skin and help heal the burn." As she explained, Sera had Laura continuously dabbing Meg's burn while she showed her how to crush the plant and mix it properly. She couldn't help but think of how this was the exact way Derek would teach her the use of different herbs. Along with that Derek would always randomly quiz her, which Sera never liked.
Once the herb was mixed together and turned into salve, Sera wiped down Meg's arm and applied the salve on the burn. She saw Meg flinch once, but afterwards she sat still. Behind her Edward and Ilyana were still watching. Nolan and Aran had joined as well, conversing among each other, but Sera ignored them. It was common for her to have an audience. She didn't like it, but knew there was no way to avoid it.
"There, all finished. Do you mind wrapping that?" she asked Laura, who nodded her head.
"Absolutely. Wow Sera that was amazing," she remarked as she wrapped Meg's arm.
Meg nodded her head as well, enthusiastically, "that really was. Thank you so much!" she added as Laura finished.
In the back, Edward was saying something along the lines, "I told you she could do it."
Sera just blinked, "I just crushed herbs and mixed them…"
"But the fact that you knew what you were doing and instantly started to treat it with out any hesitation, is impressive Sera. Good work there," Nolan remarked, patting her back.
Sera just shrugged with a straight face, "well if it comforts you. You're welcome." She muttered. All the excitement and praise she got, it was something Sera was not used to. She had hid from people for so long that now if she helped one, she wasn't sure how to accept their appreciation.
Luckily the attention didn't stay long. As Laura and Ilyana helped Meg put on her armor again, Sera noticed a pillar of light shoot up into the sky.
"Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing at the pillar.
Everyone's head turned that way, and Sera noticed Nolan, Edward, and Leonardo's faces turn serious.
"That's the signal from Micaiah when she's in trouble," Edward explained.
Sera blinked. Trouble… They were most likely bandits, but which type? Laguzes or Beorcs? Personally Sera hoped for Beorcs. That way she wouldn't have to worry about them sensing something and expressing their hatred. It had happened before, but that time the people she was with knew what she was. Sera wasn't sure what others would think of her if they knew she was a branded. Yes, Micaiah knew and of course she would accept her, but she was the only one.
"Everyone, get ready quickly we need to get going," Nolan ordered.
Sera watched, as everyone was instantly ready. She herself was ready with her tome in her pouch and her staff in its sheath on her back. The only thing she ended up needing to pack were the herbs that she had just used, but that didn't take long. Soon enough everyone was ready. With one last look around, Nolan ordered for the group to move out.
Sera followed with the group, staying towards the front with Nolan. She wanted to get a good view of the place and keep track of where they were heading. It was in a different direction from where Micaiah and Sothe had gone. Not only that, she was curious to know just what the ruins were. They seemed to be a run down temple, but of what? Sera wasn't sure. The images
Arriving to the entrance of the temple, Nolan indicated for everyone to stop. When he did that, Edward moved forwards with his sword ready. Sera noticed that he had pulled out his wind edge. Leonardo followed behind. Sera noticed that Ilyana had moved forwards as well. She decided to follow the thunder mage's lead.
They entered one of the rooms. Sera stopped in her track seeing all the treasure. Her eyes widened as she looked around. That's when her eyes fell on Micaiah and Sothe. There were two large figures in front of them. At first glance they looked like beorcs, but Sera tensed as she noticed the ears and tails.
Laguzes…
"Whoa… they're tall…" she heard Edward remark. He was standing next to her, looking around as well.
"Have you ever fought one before?" Sera asked, though she knew what the answer was.
Edward shook his head, "No. Never have, though Leonardo did explain to me about the basics of fighting one apparently he learned it while in military school.
Sera nodded her head. At least they knew somewhat. She herself knew that magic would bring her at an advantage. The only thing was that she would have to be faster than the laguzes to make sure they were caught in the spell.
Growling was heard. Sera looked to see one of the cat laguzes snarling at them. They had been spotted. The one in front of Micaiah and Sothe had shifted as well.
"Alright then. Meg, Laura, you two come with me. We're going to go cover Micaiah and Sothe. The rest of you, try and sneak to the back and attack from there," Nolan ordered. Everyone nodded and split into their groups and was off. Sera took a quick glance to see what Nolan was planning and then the others.
"What do you think Sera?" Leonardo spoke up, "which side do you think we should attack.
She then looked at the two paths that they could go. It was either left or right. She wasn't sure which one to pick. With laguzes, they would need more people. From what she saw, Nolan was heading towards the right with Micaiah. Though she didn't pay much attention to that. There was someone here. She could feel it and it was bothering her. She then looked over seeing they were expecting an answer from her, "we should probably split up. It will confuse them and that will give us a chance to sneak up on them."
The others nodded their head.
"Makes sense," Aran spoke up, "It would also be best for Edward and I to lead."
Sera nodded her head slowly. She looked down the path to the right, "Good idea. But there's something I want to check out so I'm heading this way."
"Alright I'll go with you," Edward spoke up, "and then you guys can head the other way."
Leonardo nodded, "I think I have an idea. We should move out," Sera nodded her head and saw the others agree. They were soon off. At first it seemed silent. Sera didn't see any coming, nor did she hear any. In the distant there was a fight going on. Sera continued to stay alert.
That's when she heard a yowl and looked to see two cats coming towards them. Instantly, she saw Edward with his wind edge out. He was swiping it towards the cat. Sera watched as the strip of wind struck the cat. She saw a cut form, but not only that, because of the strip of wind, she saw coins fly and one strike the laguz. That's when Sera got an idea. She then opened her tome and started to read a spell. The wind appeared and started to get stronger.
"Hold on, move back," she ordered Edward, who glanced at her and then nodded. Sera targeted the cat and then multiple strips of wind formed, surrounding the cat. Along with that, the small gold tokens started to rise. Sera pointed to the cat and the strips of wind struck the cat, swiping through it. Sera saw the cuts form, but not only that, the gold that was lifted, flew at the cat and she managed to pierce one of the eyes, causing the cat to yowl in pain.
"Brilliant Sera!" Edward remarked as he pulled out his wind edge. The cat rubbed its eye then glared at the group. Sera noticed the blood trickling from the eye, which was closed shut. Sera knew that she had blinded the cat's one eye.
Edward then decided to do the same as he sent a strip of air at the other cat laguz. The gold coins flew and one hit its eyes directly. Sera took the time to attack the cat while it was still stunned from pain. While she defeated that one, Edward had switched to his other sword and was killing the cat.
Sera bit her lip. It still felt weird to her that she was actually killing them and the fact that she was realizing that these laguzes were living beings as well, made her feel worse.
"Come on, let's keep moving," Edward spoke up. Sera nodded and then started to walk forwards. She noticed a small room and entered it to see what was in there. There was treasure everywhere.
"You know, it would be a shame to just let this gold lie around. We could sell some and get better supplies," she remarked. She waited for a response, but none came. She turned around, wondering why only to find no one there. Sera blinked. She was expecting that Edward had followed her, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Edward?" she called, but there was no response.
Sera looked around. Where was he? She couldn't have moved that far ahead of him. The area was small and he was right behind her. Not only that, she should have ran into one of the others.
That's when she saw. There was a laguz standing there. He hadn't shifted yet and was looking right at her. Sera tensed and watched as he stepped forwards. She quickly turned the page in her book, preparing an attack.
"You're a parentless…" he growled. Sera tensed hearing him speak. He had a deep and heavy voice. He took a few more steps towards her. Sera tried to look down to see what the spell was, but she feared that he would strike if she did. Instead she was forced to take a step back.
"We don't like parentless like you. You're not even worth eating." He snarled as he stepped forwards. Sera just continued to move back. She could feel a large pile of gold behind her as the floor was now starting to angle upwards. That was making it difficult to move, but it didn't' stop the laguz. He stepped forwards, backing her into the wall.
"In fact, you know what we do to parentless?" he asked and didn't even giver her time to answer. Instead he growled as he punched the wall behind her, causing Sera to flinch, "we crush their skulls and rip them to pieces and throw them out in the desert to dry up and that's what I'm going to do now." He laughed. Suddenly he started to glow purple as he was shifting.
Sera tried to take this time to read the spell and cast it, but suddenly she heard a cry of pain. Sera looked up to see the man stumbling forwards. Blood poured out from the wound formed on his back. As he moved, she saw Edward standing there. His face seemed much darker as he moved forwards to attack again. "You sick, dastard," he growled. Sera blinked at the sight before her. She suddenly sensed a different aura from Edward. He didn't seem like the cheerful looking boy anymore. Instead she sensed anger and it was all let out on the laguz. He didn't give the laguz a chance to strike. Instead, Edward impaled his sword into the laguz's neck. Sera cringed and looked away as the body went lump. She only looked back when she stopped hearing movement.
Sera didn't say anything as Edward still had his back towards her. She watched as he slowly lowered his sword. She then heard a sigh and turned to look at Sera with a smile, "phew! You're not hurt are you?"
Sera blinked. The dark aura was suddenly gone and she sensed the cheerful boy again. She just cleared her throat and fixed her cloak. "uh… no. I'm fine. Thank you." She made sure that the mark by her neck was covered.
"No problem. I got worried when you suddenly disappeared I mean one minute you were there and then you were suddenly gone. Where did you go?" he asked.
Sera gave a nervous laugh, "yeah… I think I may have continued walking while you stopped," she explained apologetically. Did he hear what the laguz said? How was he going to react?
Edward just shook his head, "well luckily I made it in time. I got really worried that you may have been attacked. I-I mean you weren't there anymore so it was only right to worry right?" he went on to explain.
Sera listened as he was explaining and couldn't help but raise a brow as she suddenly sensed nervousness from him, but that quickly disappeared, as Nolan and Micaiah came with the others behind them. "That was good timing with the kill. We manage to keep them separate and take them out pretty quickly," Nolan remarked.
Edward nodded his head, "you got that right. It was thanks to Sera as usual. She had a pretty good idea that kept the attention on us."
Sera blinked, "I just had gold flying around…"
"Yeah and that blinded them and they weren't able to attack back," Edward remarked. He then turned towards Nolan to explain everything.
As Edward explained what happened, Sera let out a sigh of relief, taking a few steps back. Her head turned towards the dead body of the laguz leader. He was dead. It wasn't the fact that he was dead that disturbed her in fact; it was what he called her. Parentless…
It was a word that always bothered Sera. She never understood why she was called a parentless when at the time she had both of her parents. After their death, Sera did become parentless. That's when she started to think that the brand she had was a curse and that it would bring misfortune to her parents, which it ended up doing. Even now Sera believed that it was meant to be that she would live a misfortunate life. However the word parentless still bothered her. Luckily Edward didn't catch on to it. At least Sera was assuming that since he had yet to mention anything about it. She didn't sense the feeling of fear or awkwardness coming from him either.
Sera then looked around the place. That's when she heard. It was a small humming noise. Turning her head towards it, she took a couple steps back and then realized. A voice was singing. Sera narrowed her eyes, as she tried to listen to what the song was. In the process, she zoned out the others.
This song, it was one that sounded familiar to Sera. Suddenly, a warm feeling appeared in Sera and coursed through her body. Sera closed her eyes as the feeling traveled down her legs. As she did, the image of the beautiful forest appeared in her head. It was the Serenes forest. Sera felt she was back home with the trees standing high above the ground, and the wind softly blowing, passing between the branches making the leaves sing their own tune. It was a peaceful memory.
"Hey Sera, you there?" Edward's voice broke in.
Sera jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Instantly the images were gone and Sera saw Edward was standing next to her. He had a look of concern as he moved the hand off of her shoulder. A little off, Leonardo and Meg stood with a slightly similar expression.
Sera quickly shook her head as she realized he had asked something, "Sorry what?"
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Sera nodded her head slowly. She was about to speak, but then she heard the singing again. So it wasn't just in her head.
"Do you hear that?" she asked.
"Hear what?" Edward asked. From the way he turned to look around, Sera knew he didn't hear anything.
Sera sighed, "A voice, singing," she tried.
The three of them shook their head. Sera frowned as she listened. How could they not hear it? The voice was loud enough to be heard. Sera looked around for the others, wondering if maybe they heard. That's when she realized that neither Micaiah nor Sothe were in the area. Sera's eyes narrowed.
She soon found herself running out of the room deeper into the ruin temple, leaving the others to protest as they followed behind her. This song was very familiar to Sera. It was one that not many sang in the forest. Sera herself only knew few of them. However, this person knew the entire song, which made it easier for Sera to narrow down whom it could be.
Soon enough the singing stopped. The only reason Sera assumed it was because Micaiah had found the singer. That just urged Sera to hurry. Micaiah could have told them what was up. It annoyed Sera that she was leaving them out like that. Then again, Sera did the same, leaving them behind, but she had a reason for running there and she would have told Micaiah had Micaiah stayed in the area.
Sera was almost to the room now. Just one more turn and then she would be in the same room as the singer. She could hear talking. It was most likely Micaiah talking with the stranger.
Finally, she arrived to the room. She waited before slowly entering the room. It was a rather large room, along the walls were broken statues of what would have been wolf laguzes. Like the rest of the rooms, there was gold scattered along the floor that glittered in the sunlight, which seeped into the room through the large crack in the ceiling. In the center where the light shined brightest, stood five figures. Micaiah and Sothe were two of them. Both had their backs towards the door, which was something Sera found annoying. They knew they were in enemy territory. They should have turned away so that enemies would not be able to sneak up behind them.
In front of Micaiah and Sothe, stood three others. All three of them were laguzes. It took Sera a moment to realize the two standing on the sides were wolf laguzes. Sera could tell by their tails. She had read about the wolves, but never met one. However as surprising and interesting as the wolves were, Sera's attention was on the figure between the two laguzes. He was wearing a long white robe with silver sequence that seemed to glitter along with the rest of the gold around them. His hair was long, blonde, and wavy. He had pure white wings that folded neatly behind his back. Sera couldn't help but stare. His entire figure seemed to glow. It was a beautiful sight.
By now, Sera's presence was known. She was slowly walking towards the group, hesitant to disturb them.
"Sera!" Micaiah started excitedly. They had all turned to greet her and Micaiah was in the process of introducing whom everyone was, but trailed off as she realized Sera had something else on her mind.
This was a heron. He was from the forest and Sera knew she knew him and he knew her; however, neither one of them were able to recognize one another. The heron seemed to notice her interest in him and he turned his head to look at her. Instantly Sera saw his face darken. Sera froze, unable to move anymore now that he had noticed her. Instead, the heron started to walk towards her. The silence was interrupted by the female wolf, who started to move forwards.
"Rafiel…" the wolf started, but trailed off as the heron lifted a hand to stop her. He gave a gesture of assurance and then looked at Sera again, this time with confusion.
Sera narrowed her eyes as well. Rafiel… that was a name she knew. How long had it been though since she had heard it?
"Your face… it looks very familiar, but your heart is too dark to read. We have met before haven't we?" The heron started cautiously.
Sera stood there, biting her lips. She was about to speak again, but the heron now stood before her. Sera's eyes narrowed as she studied his face. It did look familiar. She closed her eyes, as he reached forwards, but then opened them again when she felt his hand cup her face. His hand was soft and he had a gentle and caring touch that made Sera relax as she looked up at him.
The heron the began to smile, "Your eyes I do recognize. It's been a long time, Sera."
As soon as he said her name, Sera instantly knew who this was. She couldn't help but smile as back at him as now both recognized one another. She soon found herself hugging him tight.
"After all these years…" she whispered. Tears streamed down her face, but no one could see them since her face was buried in his chest. Rafiel just smiled, stroking her head.
"It's alright Sera. Everything will be fine now." he assured her, as he held her close. Sera nodded her head. Hearing his soft, musical voice was all she needed.