Chapter 7: Child of Darkness
Elize looked up at stared wide-eyed at the familiar face sporting scraggly, unshaven stubble. The face belonged to none other than her friend Alvin, and she wondered how he had possibly manifested out of thin air.
"Whoa there, princess," he said with his infectious, signature smile that bordered on being a smirk.
"Alvin," she said with an embarrassed laugh. She used him as leverage to push herself upright and examined his attire critically. "How did you manage to get in here looking like that?" He was covered in dust with quite a few tears in his jacket that made him look like a vagabond. Her friend merely shrugged in response.
"I came through the Culmar Trail. Needless to say things got a little hairy when I passed the Arrow Folzam." He chuckled weakly.
"I thought we defeated it with Ludger and the others?" she asked incredulously.
"Apparently someone thought it would be really funny to bring it back to life and make it stronger," Alvin sighed. "If I ever find out who did it I promise that person is in for a world of hurt."
"Well you can't go to Jude's lecture looking worse for wear," she concluded. She waved an attendant over to get some rough measurements and see if there was a change of clothes somewhere, a vacant guest room and a wash basin for her friend to clean up.
"Well, look at you. All grown up and taking care of me for a change."
"When did you ever take care of me?" she scoffed with arms crossed.
"Well, there was that time in Leronde that you woke up from a bad dream and needed a hug. There was also that time in Nia Khera where you almost fell into the waterfall. There was also the time in Kanbalar when we were infiltrating Castle Gaius and you almost fell off the roof. Also-"
She abruptly held up a palm to silence him. "All right! I get it."
"Haha, no need to be shy, Elize. We're friends aren't we?" He looked around and frowned. "Speaking of which, where's my little buddy? I half expected him to chomp on my head by now."
"Oh," Elize smiled wistfully. "Teepo hasn't been on for a while, actually. I really am too old to carry him around."
Her friend looked at her suspiciously, and perhaps only half believed her, but let the subject drop.
After he cleaned up, he returned to the entrance hall where she was waiting but a servant stopped them before they could head inside, whispering a message to her.
"Something important?" asked Alvin. Her distress must have been apparent since her friend asked if she was all right.
She nodded absently and went back to towards the Hall. "I need to introduce Jude." The attendants opened the door and Elize put her best political face forward while acknowledging the familiar faces from both Rieze Maxia and Elympios before going on stage to convey the speech she had already committed to memory. Post applause, she yielded the podium to Jude.
Jude's lopsided smile, the same one that used to make her heart flutter, was still charming. Ever since she had met him she had held June in the highest esteem as friend and hero. Quiet and unassuming, Jude was not known for his battle prowess, though he was an able fighter. He was known for his compassion and eagerness to extend friendship to those he deemed worthy, and sympathy to those who may not deserve it. He was her reason for studying at Talim though her feelings eventually segued into her own personal quest to study medicine and pharmacology to help others.
Besides, Jude's heart would forever belong to Milla, even if they never met again. Elize easily accepted that reality a long time ago. Milla, whom Elize considered a dear friend, was always present even if her spirit no longer dwelled in the physical realm. In times of frustration Jude looked upward to the sky and mouthed a silent wish to the one he loved, as Elize sometimes saw him do.
With one last look of admiration, despite his cowlicks, she left the hall.
She went back to the library to consult her medical texts on the symptoms conveyed in the message. High fever, vomiting and convulsing were among the chief concerns. This individual would not be able to take the regular doses of medication at this stage. Elize kept flipping pages for various remedies. Entries on herbs, everblooms, mushroom powder, supple ivy, various tree barks crossed her field of vision until she stopped at the page she was looking for.
The venom of the Arrow Folzam, if filtered and diluted, was a useful sedative that could preserve a patient in stasis for days, slowing any disease process to allow doctors to administer other medication intravenously. It was a dangerous drug and offered only to the grievously ill.
A servant came to alert her that her things were ready and as the servant opened the door for her, Alvin's voice gave her pause.
"Where might you be escaping to, princess?" he asked, leaning against a pillar.
"Hardly an escape," Elize scoffed. "More like an errand. There's something I need to do."
"Aren't you in the middle of the Symposium you've spent months planning and preparing for?"
"Someone's life is in danger," said Elize with finality. "You can come along, or you can get out of my way."
He shrugged. "Your new attitude is a little thrilling but it also reminds me of a certain monarch. I heard you had spent some time in Kanbalar. I hope his brand of grumpy didn't rub off on you."
She scowled but did not dignify a response. Yet the memory of her last moment with the king did put a flush into her face.
"Whoa, whoa," said Alvin, strutting up next to her as she left for the courtyard. "What was that?"
"Nothing," she grumbled, wondering why she wasn't able better control her expressions in front of her friends.
The two then proceeded to travel most of the Culmar Trail with Alvin nagging her to tell him what happened with Gaius in Kanbalar but Elize remaining tight-lipped. Her friend then went about insinuating all sorts of situations that started putting weird visuals in her mind.
"So you accidentally sent him a love text on your GHS meant for someone else? Or maybe you tripped over your own feet and somehow pulled off the royal cape? Or fell into the royal lap? Perhaps you accidentally took a wrong turn while he was in the bath and-"
"Stop!" Elize cried out at last and turned a vicious glare on her friend. "Enough! None of that happened!"
"Are you sad it didn't happen?" her friend asked wryly.
Elize rolled her eyes.
"We're here," she declared and gestured towards the low walkway leading to a clearing off the path.
"We're where?" asked Alvin, scratching his head. But then he heard a familiar, fear inspiring buzzing in the distance and his eyes were suddenly tense and every muscle alert. "You're joking."
Elize shrugged. "You didn't have to come."
"Like hell I'd let you fight that thing alone!" he reprimanded her. "What are you thinking?"
"Someone needs the venom to live. You've sold my medicines on the market for me. You know they work. This person…I knew him from Labari. I want to help him. I have to try." Her resolve was firm.
"Look, princess, if you're feeling guilty about those lab rats just because you're the lucky one who got the best out of that godforsaken research, don't. You're not the one who caused all that misery. Trust me, I was there, remember?"
While doing Exodus' bidding, it was the havoc Alvin had caused that eventually led to the lab's closure. Indirectly, she had him to thank for that.
She nodded in acquiescence. "I still need to do this for myself. Thank you for the help, but now we need a plan. Perhaps you can be the decoy so I can cast my artes?"
"Sure," he chuckled. "Make the guy who has the least artes ability run around as a moving target. But, don't you need Teepo?"
"I'm still strong without him," Elize said confidently. "My spells are still rooted in the same patterns, though I'm more comfortable having my incantations take Teepo's form. But no, I haven't actually used him for a while."
"I guess you've finally grown up," smiled Alvin approvingly. "But just the two of us isn't nearly enough-" began Alvin when a sudden rustling from the bushes nearby made him pause.
"Then we shall make do with three," said the king, stepping out from the shadows. Alvin and Elize both pointed the weapons they had drawn away from Gaius. Alvin gave a little sarcastic bow.
"To what do we owe the pleasure, Your Highness?"
"Please, out here I'm just Erston, remember?"
"Erston should still be at Sharilton Manor or else the old man is going to have a fit," grinned Alvin.
"Aren't they going to notice you're not there?" asked Elize, wondering if her sister was actually having a fit at that moment as her most honored guest and event coordinator were both missing.
He observed her carefully, his brows knitted. "I would say the same for you. Since seeing you again in Kanbalar I've noticed your tendency to wander precariously into danger. As your sponsor I suppose it is my duty to keep you safe."
She set aside her personal feelings to address the issue at hand. "I would be thankful for your assistance."
"And I would not miss an opportunity to swing Amaterasu at a worthy opponent."
Instead of making her uncomfortable or nervous his presence calmed her and the effect was surprisingly immediate. Some of it also had to do with the fact he was a very capable artes user, though he was definitely a sword nut.
"I just need a bit of venom. I doubt it'll give it to me if I asked nicely," she sighed.
"We will have to dispose of it," Gaius concluded. "It would be better for the people traveling the Culmar Trail as well."
"Always the thoughtful ruler," smiled Alvin. "If we live through this, remind me to buy you a drink."
"Noted," said Gaius. Though barely visible Elize could see the small hint of a smile touch the corner of his lips.
Alvin positioned forward with Gaius and Elize followed not far behind. After getting the monster's attention with a few bullets to its armored head, Alvin was soon the target of the Arrow Folzam's rage. Gaius blocked a rain of poisonous darts it showered at Alvin with his brilliant long sword technique. Elize first cast a powerful charm on her companions to dispel any negative effects from the creature and then followed up with a healing spell to keep them alive. She continued to provide support as Alvin distracted it with one rapid fire attack after another while Gaius relentlessly hacked away at its armored body attempting to sever any vulnerable joint.
While fighting, Elize thought of nothing else until a sudden shout alerted her that Alvin's weapon had been knocked out of his hand and Gaius had taken a blow that laid him low on the ground. Elize immediately jumped to the forefront and dug deep into her reserves to cast her signature mystic arte, the Scary Go Round. She could feel the darkness welling up in her and she released it in a glowing pink spiral around her enemy only to explode amid a dark cyclone that shredded anything within its cloudy mass.
The move heavily damaged and temporarily stunned the monster but just as its attention turned towards her, Gaius wordlessly whisked her safely away to one side.
"Refrain from casting major spells," he cautioned for the sake of her health before he and Alvin continued their front line assault combination of shooting, hacking and slashing in a rhythmic pattern.
When it was finally over, with both her protectors winded and breathing heavily, Elize gathered a few small vials of venom. When they caught their breath to ask, she told them about Peter, the one her agent had found in town.
"You should go back," she turned to Gaius. "The others will be missing you."
"Is there anything else you would have me do?" he asked quietly. She shook her head gently.
"Elize," he said with a suddenly solemn expression. "There is something I would like to ask. Later, perhaps." She turned away to hide her blush. Elize nodded once and listened as his footsteps faded away.
-000-
She and Alvin then headed towards the merchant quarter where Peter lived, though his health prevented him from working any longer. She sent the agent back to the Manor to request a means of transporting the patient to the hospital and immediately went to work.
"Soooo…," said Alvin as he set the pot on top of the stove and Elize lit the oven. "Did something happen between you? Did the king take advantage of our poor, innocent Elize? Or did Elize take advantage of our poor, innocent king?"
She ignored his baiting and dropped the ingredients into the soon boiling water. But when she attended the bedside, Peter nearly knocked the concoction out of her hand.
"Who the hell are you? Whoever you are, I don't need that. I'm dying anyway," he choked out the words before Alvin helped him up to wretch into a bowl.
"I wasn't there to save Edgar but I'll do my best to save you, Peter."
"Edgar?" he asked and peered into her face more closely. Elize did not turn away from the stench of vomit and illness. He snorted a laugh, which caused him to cough again, and brought on more convulsions. She asked Alvin to hold him down so that she could sterilize a spot on his arm and safely inject the poison laced sedative.
"You're the Child of Darkness, aren't you? Heh, we used to call you Spooky Girl, too." She simply pushed the last air bubble out of the syringe.
"I don't need anything from you, Spooky Girl. Haven't you done enough? Don't you remember that the rest of us were just test subjects for your progress? You were hailed as the success of Labari only because our suffering went into the final booster design for your stupid little doll. Unless you're here to finish me off, I've no business with you."
"Hey," said Alvin sternly. "Elize was every bit a victim of Labari as everyone else. Think she wanted to be sold into slavery? She was just a kid."
"We were all just kids. But everything about her is dark and creepy. From the way she never spoke, to the way objects used to float around her like a poltergeist when she was angry. Then they gave her that hideous doll to complete the picture. They made her into the true monster at Labari. I've seen it with my own eyes - the darkness that creeps up to kill her opponents. Hence the nickname."
"Listen you -" started Alvin in her defense.
"It's true," said Elize, staying Alvin's argument. "They used to test me against monsters and other test subjects who could use artes. We didn't have to fight to the death but I did hurt them. I...must atone."
"I don't see you hacking up your lungs," glanced Peter bitterly at his bloody sleeve.
"We're all dying," said Elize quietly. Alvin's eyes went wide. "I've been able to suppress the symptoms with medicine. I want to help you and for that I need to sedate you so your body can take the treatment. Will you let me try?"
Peter looked at her as her warm hazel gaze shared an understanding with his hollowed glare. "If it doesn't work out, at least we'll all go together," he relented.
She smiled at the irony. No matter how long it had been, no matter where they were, they were all still suffering together in their own special hell.
Peter was deathly still after the injection but alive. His face looked relieved as most of his tension left him under the heavy anesthetic. Afterward, she injected doses of antibiotic and fever medication, followed by her own elixir to stave off the upper respiratory symptoms and bleeding in his lungs for now.
Alvin's clouded expression remained silent as she worked. Probably remembering some of his own struggles with his mom, she thought. But as she turned to meet the transport waiting for them outside, Alvin caught her sleeve.
"Is it true then, princess?" he asked quietly.
"Unlike you, I don't have the talent of lying to make others feel better," she replied.
"Harsh," laughed Alvin mirthlessly.
"Sorry," she apologized.
Deep inside, the inner darkness was returning and the respite she had from thoughts of her fate were coming back to her in full force. Death was staring her in the face now. They would all become like Peter. It weighed on her heavily.
His words made her strongly resent the darkness that was integrated into her, but Elize would need its strength now more than ever to finish her journey.
They silently returned to the manor, somber as a funeral cortege.
