Chapter VIII: The Reunion
"Bright silver slash!"
The shout echoed through the forest followed by the sounds of screeching metal. The cries of a daemon werewolf were heard. It turned its head to face the hooded warrior, who was responsible for his grave injuries. The daemon extended its fangs and roared, glaring like a maniac into the man's eyes, inviting him to one final showdown. The warrior began to rotate the staff slowly, moving it from one side to side, until it spanned so fast the weapon itself could barely be seen. The daemon dashed and lunged towards the warrior. He met its onslaught with the same movement of his own. The warrior's weapon whistled through the air and clashed with the daemon. Blood was sprayed across the trees.
Their movements turned to naught as both of them landed on the ground. After a few seconds, the werewolf upper torso began to part from its lower body. The warrior slowly turned and walked towards the still alive werewolf and put his pointy metal boot on its neck. Blood and foam were spewing from daemon's half-opened mouth as it was staring at him with eyes full of hatred and grudge. The warrior swiftly moved his foot and broke the creature's neck, the remnants were dissolved into a black and dark purple mist.
Avernus removed the hood and sighed,
"These "Code Red" daemons are turning into a nuisance and they're become increasingly difficult to fight alone."
"Release me and I can help with the fights," Tia suggested.
"Not a chance, at least not yet. You show your face around here and we'll get into trouble."
Tia whispered some unintelligible mumbling but he ignored them.
His mind was deeply occupied with another thought. Avernus sheathed his weapon and strode through the forest, "For now let's head back to our contact and collect our pay. 1500 gald is not much but it's better than nothing."
Avernus reached a group of parked carriages near the Loegres gates and nodded to a woman standing beside the caravan. She threw a pouch of gald to Avernus, "Boss needs to see you, stranger."
Avernus weighed the pouch and after a short surprising look at the contact, he began moving towards the city.
"I hope Tabatha has some news."
"Seres is a powerful Malak, I think she can handle it. But the problem isn't freeing that girl Velvet, it's the obvious matter that we need allies to bring the fight to the Abbey." Tia suggested.
"You're right. I've been thinking about asking some outlaw groups with connections to Bloodwings. Tabatha is somehow reluctant to introduce me to them so we may need to broaden the circle ourselves." as Avernus finished his talk, he saw a new poster outside the city gate. He moved closer to read the description,
"For your safety, beware of the "Dragon", stay at your homes after the curfew hour."
He started to laugh, "Haha I can't believe those morons!"
"It seems that you got your signature namesake again," said Tia.
Avernus's smile began to dry as he remembered the time people in his homeland called him the same name,
"The Dragon… ha? he who fights with monsters should be careful that he himself does not become a monster…"
"Don't you remember what you said before? sometimes it takes a monster to kill a monster." Tia asked.
"Yeah… I remember." Avernus replied in a bitter tone and continued his way to the tavern. The bar was crowded with people but Tabatha was nowhere to be seen. Avernus moved to the counter and picked up a bottle of whiskey and two glasses filled with ice. On his way to the room, he saw the head cook standing beside the stairs and rambling about everyday work. She saw Avernus,
"Hey, Avernus! I need your help serving the customers."
Avernus pointed to his black circles around his eyes, "Eh… No. At least not now, but maybe later I'm really tired and in need of a good bath and some rest."
Head cook folded her arms and twitched her nose, "Oh really?! I just received your serving outfit from the tailor. It cost a good fortune you know!"
Avernus raised his brows, "What? Why you ordered a new suit?!"
The head cook sighed, pointing out to his torso, "Well… your body posture is different than the most… with that chest, arms, and shoulders… you needed a new shirt."
Avernus rolled his eyes. The head cook continued,
"Also, dealing with customers here is harder than any job the Bloodwings will throw at you. But... it's all good, just remember, tomorrow there will be a mass of customers coming for the ceremony so we need as many hands helping with the tavern as we can get, do not make me beg for it. Oh, don't forget about that dancer Majilu, she is going to come here too."
Avernus narrowed his eyes in frustration at the head cook, he mumbled something and he made his way to his room.
"Just kill me now…"
After he entered the place, he locked the door and placed the whiskey and the glasses on the table. After a few seconds, a shining white orb appeared and transformed into Tia, his faithful Malak.
Avernus poured some whiskey in the shots as Tia sat down. Avernus picked up his glass and moved to the other side of the room,
"So let's have a review of what we have discovered and what we've accomplished during these days." Avernus then began taking off his armor, piece by piece, revealing the bruises and wounds underneath.
"The Midgand people believe the world is governed by four elemental Empyreans; water, fire, earth, and wind. But it turned out there is another one; dug up by Artorius in that night and used as a weapon to quell most of the daemon threats during the last three years." He unstrapped the shoulder armors and gauntlets and silently moaned as more black spots and injuries were becoming visible,
"…Which as of now we know that thing is the only Empyrean active and the rest are nowhere to be found. The main purpose of this Malak is still a mystery to me even after killing that priest and his two praetor guards."
"Let's not forget that you could have done more damage but you spared other praetors in the church…"
Avernus turned his head towards the Tia. He was surprised,
"I thought you know me that I don't kill without reason. Those scums used and tortured innocent people and Malakhims in the name of the greater good. The rest of the praetors were just teenagers who believed in stopping the daemons and protecting the common folk. I couldn't just outright murder everyone that I saw." Avernus pressed his lips and stared blankly.
"But the things that I've done, the lives I took, there was no comeback from it but…" He lowered his head, "But I must finish this at least." Avernus clenched his fists, hiding his anger.
Tia smirked, "Don't get emotional now. This is war and chaos." She poured more whiskey into her glass, "You are a warrior, didn't you always tell your apprentices that; don't feel for your enemies because they don't feel for you?"
Avernus shook his head violently, trying to clear his head of unwanted thoughts. "Let's get back to the main topic; The fifth Empyrean." He almost took off all his armor except for the boots and trousers, Avernus curiously looked at Tia and asked,
"Back home, we called you a spirit goddess of void and chaos." Tia raised her brows, shaking the glass of whiskey in her hand, waiting for the rest of the sentence.
"Is that counts as an Empyrean?"
She giggled at his question, like hearing an absurd comment. "Do you think I'm an Empyrean?"
Avernus finished getting off from his clothes and began walking towards the wooden bathtub at the end of the room.
"I don't know, you tell me. I'm just checking what exactly an Empyrean means, that thing had a form of an eight-headed golden dragon when it escaped its prison. Your transcendence form is a five-headed dragon. Looked kind of similar to me…"
He sat in the tub and let out a sigh of relief as the enchanted warm water began to slowly heal his wounds. Didn't want to pay any attention to his malak, Avernus closed his eyes, sinking into a calm and exotic feeling. "I really need to try one of those hot springs these people keep mentioning."
Tia slowly began to walk in the circles around the room,
"An Empyrean… hmm… a strange term, indeed."
"Still not answering my question…" said Avernus.
"Maybe he's a long lost family member... who knows."
"That's great, Tia. So we can go and have a civilized chat with him."
She chuckled but he was in no mood for jokes. Her disregard for the seriousness annoyed him. Tia gently asked him,
"Let me ask you this question; Why do you care so much about a small peasant family? Likes of them died each day during the past decades and you didn't seem to feel for those that much."
Avernus picked the glass of whiskey and shook his head,
"I feel that I owe them. They were different, they had a simple yet happy life. Their souls were untainted by this dark cruel world. Not frozen...They didn't deserve this fate, she… didn't deserve this. All Velvet wanted was an uncomplicated joyful life with her family and she tried her best for them... but those screams… those cries… I just can't forget, I can't get them out of my head.."
Avernus suddenly stood up and picked up his towel, "I must find her and fix this."
Tia smiled and sat, crossing her arms and tilting her head to one side and added,
"Beware Avernus; people change. You might end up... disappointed."
He didn't pay attention and started braiding his hair and getting ready to meet Tabatha, Tia came closer and placed his equipment along with the feather earring set that the strange old Seraph gave it to him a week ago on the table near him,
"You need a new set of armor, one that does not hinder you like this and also protects you against exorcists magical artes."
"Like my old Shepherd's outfit? Too fancy for this line of work,"
Tia smirked, "Definitely, it is more fashionable than this crass set you already have. Also, you should try these."
He looked at earrings and twitched his lips, unsure what to do with them,
"Won't these things look ridiculous on me?"
She held them in mid-air,
"These are the symbols of Malakhim. Whoever gave you these must know who and what you are."
Avernus suddenly paused. A sorrowful memory passed his mind. He swallowed and continued,
"Rosa used to adore my clothes and hair when I was a kid with feathery cosmetics... now that I'm thinking about it, four semi-large feathers hanging from my ears is contradictory to my intimidating looks at this age so, nope."
Tia sighed and forcefully put them in one of his pockets, Avernus gasped at her persistence behavior and finished gearing up. Nodding at Tia, she turned into a white orb and merged with him. He exited the room and made his way downstairs. Tabatha was talking with a customer behind the counter. Avernus waved his hand and went to her side and he noticed Kamoana was sitting near her, she saw him and ran to his side,
"You're back!"
Avernus smiled and bend over, "I didn't go anywhere little princess, I'm always here."
She lowered her head and stared at her toes telling Avernus, "Mommy says that there is a big dragon out there, I'm so scared that he would find us and we get eaten!"
Avernus raised his brows, "You don't need to worry that little one, the dragon will only eat bad people, like those who wanted to hurt your mother. He will not hurt a sweet little princess like you."
Avernus pampered her head and happily, she returned to her chair. Tabatha saw the interaction between them and called to him.
"Avernus my boy, I was hoping to see you again. We have an important matter to discuss."
"Madam Baskerville, yeah I got your message. How can I be of service?"
Tabatha looked Kamoana which at that moment, was going back to her mother.
"You have a kind heart and you are so good with little children, you will be a great father someday."
Avernus leaned back, staring blankly and remembering something, "I have a little brother and a little sister back home, they're twins in fact. I used to spend most of my time when I came back from… my job. I was kind of their second father, I miss them so much…"
Tabatha smiled and changed the subject,
"We got word from one of our sources that an unknown group completely sabotaged the abbey's operation in the Hellawes and they are making their way towards Loegres. There is also a pirate ship going in the same direction."
Avernus narrowed his eyes waiting for the rest of the news. Tabatha continued,
"I think the person you are looking for is in one of these groups."
His eyes flashed and quickly asked,
"Where can I find them?"
Tabatha crouched and picked up a map from under the bar and put it on the counter, pointing at a place in the northeast of Loegres,
"Here in the abbey's Vortigern sea fortress. This is the only path available to them to sail between Northgand and Westgand which as of now is blocked by this military base."
Avernus focused his attention on the map and added,
"Yeah, I heard about this one. They're saying that it's impenetrable and lots of battleships patrolling around it...Do you want me to take it out?"
Tabatha smirked,
"That's a bonus but I want you to find that crew and bring them to me, we can use their help against the abbey."
Avernus began to fold the map,
"Consider this done Mrs. Baskerville."
"Go to the Zekson port, there is a merchant captain waiting for you. He will sail to the fortress and will drop you at the nearest point to your destination."
Tabatha explained and nodded to Avernus, then moved to the other side to receive the orders of customers waiting in the line. He turned and checked the crowd in the tavern. He finally found a glimmer of hope.
"It is good to finally have someone to help with the fight"
Confident and eager to see this through, he made his way towards the Zekson port.
Reaching the docks, Avernus found the ship captain and after exchanging their identities, they embarked on the mission to assist the unknown groups.
Avernus, arms crossing and hopeful, was staring at the horizon. The sun was high up in the sky. They were getting close to their destination. The ship's captain came to him and gave him valuable information about that specific pirate crew,
"The royal navy nearly wiped out every other pirate bands across the Midgand. This particular one is the last and strongest group. If there is a gang that has the ability to challenge the abbey, it is them."
Without breaking his stare Avernus wondered, "What makes this pirate crew so special?"
"They're the most famous or in this case, the infamous gang of pirates, led by captain Aifread. They have also an advanced ship called Van Eltia. Even after the pirate hunts, they managed to evade and sink a number of Royal Navy ships. Of the four pirate kings who terrorized Midgand, only Aifread and his crew remain."
"For a merchant ship captain, you seem to like to hold them in high praise," Avernus observed.
"I could have made more money by selling them to authorities, but that's too boring, don't you think? The fun's in making a killing by breaking the rules." captain answered.
A small grin formed on his face,
"So they're the only group left that can pick a fight with the Royal Navy and win…"
"Fortress above board!" the scout sailor called out as the huge gates of the fortress were coming into the view. Avernus scanned the front area and turned to the ship captain,
"I will go alone from here, take your ship back to the Zekson port captain. This area will probably turn hot and it will be dangerous for you and your ship to sail these waters."
Captain nodded and Avernus dived into the sea. As he got closer to the shore, he went underwater to avoid any guards watching over the entrances. Avernus slowly moved his head out of the water to check for any movement, to his surprise there was no patrol alongside the walls. He jumped out of the water and landed on one of the platforms outside of the main wall.
"This is strange, there are no signs of guards or any of the fortress personnel."
"Watch out, I'm sensing malevolence ahead," Tiamat warned.
"What? Malevolence? Here?" Avernus growled in anger, unsheathing the Dreamshadow from his gauntlet. Cautiously but quickly, he moved near the heavily armored door and checked the lock but it was shut tight. He looked up to the above walkway,
"I'm guessing there is some wall scaling in order."
Avernus climbed the wall quickly and jumped from the platform to the platform until he reached the top. The wind was wild and his cloak was already flying up in the air.
"Those are some big doors." The main gates of Vortigern were enormous in scales. He then checked the middle of the fortress and saw a ship trying to maneuver through the waterway.
"That ship, it doesn't look like any Royal Navy battleships. In fact, it kind of look familiar to me."
"If that ship is our target you need to move in to support them," advised Tia.
"Yeah, but what about the doors."
Suddenly, a loud cricking sound was heard and one of the doors gradually started to move.
"It seems they have a team opening the gates already, good planning." Avernus checked the lower platforms and saw several groups of mutated guards getting ready to attack the ship.
"Then we will move to cover the ship"
Avernus checked the deck of the vessel to identify the crew; to his surprise, there were only a few of them running around with a single one that looked like to be a little girl with a strange pink outfit.
"Hmm… they have no chance to defend themselves. I'm moving in."
He jumped to the terrace below which was swarming with 'wall daemons'; monsters that half of them looked like they were carrying a huge wall behind them. They noticed his presence and proceeded to position themselves for the attack. His left arm began to glow red. He was conjuring explosive fireballs and scrubbed the Dreamshadow along the ground getting ready to hurl his artes at the enemy. The daemons attacked and they soon met with fireballs and waves of water artes cast by Avernus's staff. One by one the artes cut through them like butter. Dark blood and smell of burnt flesh filled the battleground. With their forces in disarray, Avernus moved in and finished off the rest with a strain of physical attacks.
A loud sound was heard; the second gate was already opened and the ship increased its speed.
The platform was clear of daemons. Avernus raised his left arm up in the air and shouted,
"Blazing Javelin!". A fiery elemental spear formed in his hand.
"The javelin requires a lot of mana to conjure, be precise with your throws," Tia advised. Avernus narrowed his left eye and calculated the throw distance and travel speed to compensate for the long distance to lower and far crowded platforms that were close to the ship. By that time his left arm was engulfed in fire and a red and orange hue could be seen from afar. He saw that the short girl in pink was pointing to his location and the rest of the crew turned their heads toward him. He targeted the nearest terrace to the ship and threw the javelin. The fiery spear illuminated the area as it hissed through the air and finally impacted the ground in the middle of the attacking daemons.
The spear exploded in a blazing orb. The daemons that were caught in the blast were disintegrated. Avernus conjured another one and threw at the other side, denying daemons the opportunity to overwhelm the ship. That group also met the same fate as the previous daemons. After the fire cleared out they were no creatures left. Avernus began to gasping hard as conjuring spears drained much of his stamina. He looked up and saw a group of four people looking at him from the archway but suddenly they got attacked by an unknown daemon.
"Those people didn't look like guards or abbey's exorcists to me," Tia observed.
"They were the infiltration group responsible for opening the gates, they're in danger." Avernus recollected his stamina, checking the bottom, he spotted more daemons converging on the ship. He decided to cover them with more javelins before heading up to meet the group.
"Blazing Javelin!" Avernus jumped and constantly bombarded the horde below to nothingness until he could conjure no more spears. The ship increased its speed to avoid further attacks. He then focused his strength to climb the ladders. On the top, he noticed the group had already taken care of the huge wall daemon and two of them jumped down into the passing ship. He raised his head and looked at the third member, a girl with a black coat and very long hair. Feeling her being a familiar individual. The sense of excitement filled his soul. Hope had returned to him. She was Velvet Crowe, the last surviving member of the Crowe family.
Nothing could control his reaction,
"Velvet?"
Avernus started to walk faster, hoping to reach her before she could make the jump. But another one grabbed his attention; the fourth member was a boy in a white dress that was standing beside the corpse of their attacker, picking something up. The daemon's eyes glowed red and it came back to life,
"Damn it! the Kid!" He charged towards them instead but the daemon smashed the ground, resulting the boy being thrown towards the edge of the bridge. Velvet also noticed this and began to run towards him, suddenly she shouted a familiar name,
"Laphicet!"
Avernus felt the whistle of a passing cannon ball which hit the back of the daemon, stalling it. Sensing the opportunity, he threw the Dreamshadow at its head, cleaving it in half and finishing it off for good. The boy, however, fell from the archway. Velvet jumped to grab him. Avernus did the same and followed her. Velvet managed to grab the boy's hand but she didn't notice that another hand also grabbed her own as well.
"Gotcha this time, Velvet!"
Avernus managed to save her from falling off the platform unlike three years ago. They were all hanging to each other, like a strain of chains. She smiled at the boy telling him,
"Don't scare me out like that,"
But when she turned her head up to see who grabbed her arm, the smile went away. Her amber eyes widened in shock. Avernus moved his arms to the sides like a pendulum and hurled them up towards the top. Velvet and the boy landed safely. Finally, the man himself managed to get back up. They started at each other. She didn't look friendly like before. Avernus didn't know what to do. He slightly smiled at her. She was neither happy nor angry. For him, it felt like a few weeks ago, but she was changed drastically. For her, it was a different story.
"Hello, Velvet."
Avernus didn't prepare anything special to say to her. He swallowed a knot in his throat. The generic greeting was blurted randomly. Avernus observed her for a moment; she was all grown up and more mature. Her hair was a lot longer, almost touching the ground. She was wearing a black coat with red cloths strapped together to act as a top which barely covered her torso. The shorts were ragged and strapped together with several belts and chains. it was the remnant of her trouser that she used to wore. But most importantly, that shining face full of happiness wasn't there anymore, instead, deep anger had replaced it. The smile was also beginning to dry from Avernus's face.
But after a few seconds of staring into each other eyes, Velvet frowned and grabbed the boy's arm. She ran towards the side without saying a word. Avernus snapped out of his reverie and extended his arm automatically towards her shouting her name.
"Wait! Velvet!" But she and the boy both jumped down the to the ships below. The sails cushioned their hard fall.
"Damn it!" Avernus yelled in frustration and preparing to follow them.
Avernus jumped on the crow's nest.
Suddenly several explosions caught him off guard. He checked the horizon and saw six Royal Navy battleships closing on their position and bombarding them with long-range artillery.
"Are you kidding me?! Six ships?"
Van Eltia severely broke to the right to avoid the barrage of cannon fire. He took a long and slow breath, trying to focus his mind.
"Tia, how many teleportations can I perform in succession?"
"Only two warps at best."
Avernus sighed in frustration but remained firmed, "Damn it! okay, we only need to reach the one farther in the back."
Avernus then began to charge an arte.
"It is too far, you can't reach it with only two teleportations,"
"I know, I'll glide using the Dreamshadow for the last part," As he finished his arte, he jumped and disappeared in a cloud of subtle grey smoke. He appeared a hundred meter further in mid-air. His body began to uncontrollably roll, but he concentrated his attention towards the last ship and performed another warp, advancing another hundred meter. The jumps were nearly precise but the lack of ability to perform more, he began to glide and started his descent towards the last ship.
Avernus landed in the middle of the last ship. Shockwaves pushed most the Royal Navy sailors and the soldiers out to the sea. The surviving captain of the ship watched him in horror as Avernus slowly turned his head towards him,
"Get off my ship,"
His cold and threatening phrase in addition to the show of force was enough for him to jump into the sea without question.
Avernus walked to the helm and took control of the ship.
"Tia, how many cannons this thing have?"
"Nine on each side and they are all armed and loaded,"
Again, he breathed in long sequences.
"Alright, I need your help for targeting those ships,"
Avernus raised his right arm and extended it towards the right side. His eyes began to glow red and his pupils become vertical slits. Tia's domain expanded and he could sense the canons as a part of his Malak's extended senses. A seizure began to engulf his brain. He hadn't much time to effectively control them.
He aimed for the Royal Navy ship sailing on the right side.
"I 've got one shot at this…"
After a few seconds of concentration, he closed his fist and all nine starboard cannons fired in a loud and echoing sound of an outburst. The cannon balls hit the port side of the enemy ship and half of it went out in an explosion. The ship started to tilt on its left side.
"One down!"
Avernus shouted as he switched his attention to the left side. However, a barrage of cannon fire hit the ship hard. The other crew found out about the situation and decided to focus their attack on him.
"I need to take them out quickly or we'll be shark bait,"
amidst the bombardment, Avernus raised his left arm and took control of the remaining port side guns. Sweat was dripping from his forehead and his muscles were cramped. The seizure got worst and his focus began to wane away. He was trying to map a path for the cannon balls. He took the shot. The cannon balls traveled to the target but nothing happened.
"Did I miss?!"
Avernus focused on the attacking ship to check for the damage. Suddenly, the whole enemy ship turned into a large fireball. The shots hit the ammo dump beneath the lowered deck, igniting the whole supply of gunpowder. Avernus let out a sigh of relief and checked the Van Eltia and saw the two of three remaining ships were burning. The last ship began attacking Van Eltia from behind.
Avernus moved to the helm, he conjured a wind arte to accelerate and set the ship in a collision course with the attacker.
"You can't make it out in time, you will get caught in the explosion!" Tia voiced her concert to Avernus but as always, he didn't listen. As the ship was a few seconds away from ramming the last Royal Navy battleship, Avernus planted the crystal in the bow and started to run.
Two ships collided together and the crystal exploded, causing a major blast that enveloped both vessels. The hot flames soon caught up with him but not before his diving into the sea.
The burning debris from the blast rained down on Van Eltia. The crew stood frozen from the unfolded events, except for Velvet which after shielding the boy from the fire, was checking the water for any sign of the man who destroyed the ships.
After a few minutes, Avernus climbed on to the other side of Van Eltia and threw himself at the deck. Exhausted, burned, bruised, out of breath, and soaking wet he coughed as he opened his eyes and noticed someone standing on top of him, the strange girl wearing a strange pink outfit and lots of books hanging from where her skirt should be laughing at him,
"You looked so heroic and awesome until you know, you were hurled like a burning rag doll into the sea."
Avernus slowly began to stand up and immediately searched for Velvet among that colorful group. She was standing beside the kid that she saved. He barely managed to walk towards her but she extended her wrist blade and pointed at him. The move that kind of broke his heart.
"Don't come any closer!" Her face expression was a mixture of anger, fear, and uncertainty, but her voice was the one that worried him. A cold, gruesome tone that felt roughed up.
"What are you saying, Velvet? Don't you recognize me?!"
Avernus feelings were mixed. Disappointment, sadness, hopeless, he couldn't tell. He just wanted to disprove his rational sense that everything is going to be alright. He yelled in frustration. the wreckage of the battleships burned behind them, covering the area in a cloud of thick smoke.
The smell didn't help. His mind fought to keep that image of her past self in his mind. A friendly, family oriented girl.
"No… he died that night. You're an imposter! Damn you Artorius! Using his memory against me like this!"
"What memory?! What imposter?! I'm…"
But before he could finish his sentence, a blond man in a black coat punched him hard in the stomach. It was the strongest blow he'd ever received.
"Damn you… Not in the…"
Avernus dropped on his knees, everything started to turn to black as his head hit the deck of the ship.
