Chapter 8: SILVER
The vampire lord roared, flaring his wings. It was impossible to see how he had once been Lord Carleon, a prestigious and respected nobleman. I dodged out of the way as his claws cleaved down. I slashed him with my sword, before the cut slowly bubbled, regenerating.
"Foolish mortal." He laughed, "you cannot beat me. Lay down your weapons and I will make you one of us."
"My friend died. Bastard." I hissed, if he thought that regeneration would keep him alive, then he was sorely mistaken. I had battled the Bloody King, a resurrected being that could regenerate at will. This foolish vampire did not know the meaning of unbeatable.
My sword seemed to have a mind of its own as it glowed with holy light. And with the speed normal eyes couldn't follow, I slashed him to pieces. His servants that tried to approach me were shot with magical arrows, I ignored my ally, hitting the vital points before slamming into the beast with my shield, he collapsed into the wall, body twitching, but still trying to reform.
"Tch." I ran forward, leaping before stabbing into his skull with a shout. His body ruptured, dissolving into tiny pieces, but not before thoroughly covering me in his blood.
"I'm not sure whether to be afraid or aroused right now."
My sword was at the newcomer's throat in an instant, and he let out a shrill scream. The arrows, this was the ranger that had taken care of the bats—
"Definitely afraid. I'm sorry." He squeaked, a sound much unbecoming of a man that was taller than I. I hesitated but stepped back, getting a good look at him. Dark hair, eyes, and skin, he had a cloak that shrouded most of his body, but the hood was down.
"Apologies. Thanks for the help."
"Not that you needed it," he shrugged. I stared at him for a moment before looking around, the mansion was covered in bodies, blood coated the one marble floors. Godiva had regained consciousness, and I felt a glimmer of relief, I had saved one person. One.
"I'm Ken, by the way, the notorious vampire hunter!" He introduced himself, I gave him a sideways glance,
"General Song." Before approaching Godiva, she was looking around with wide eyes, the vampire hunter (was that even a real profession, it had been one day?) Ken was saying something excitedly about meeting a General, but I ignored him, kneeling before the orphaned noblewoman.
"Lady Godiva, I am General Song, I'm here to save you."
"My father...is he?" She whispered, I nodded, wondering if she would cry. Her lower lip trembled but then she took a deep breath, "I will not allow the sins of my father to stain the Carleon name. As heiress, I will do my best to make things right."
A noble goal, I helped her to her feet. I looked towards the entryway, blood covered every inch of the ground, "may I?" I asked, implying that I was going to pick her up, she nodded and I swept her off her feet before striding down the stairs.
"I suggest you close your eyes, my lady," I said, and she shook her head.
"I must burn this image into my mind. I must not forget the sacrifice of my people, and for the tragedy that has taken place," she whispered. I did not speak of it, I set her down in the courtyard, where there were fewer bodies to worry about. I didn't even look towards the servant houses, but I was reminded of the trio of maids I had left behind.
The ranger was following me, his face suddenly impassive as he regarded the bodies. "Ranger Ken," I said, and he perked up, "in the servant's house, there are some maids that survived, can you get them?"
"Maids? Oh goody!" He jogged off and I sighed, if he even dared to be anything but a gentleman to them, I would cut his hands off myself. They were traumatized enough without a pervert doing anything.
"How did you know that I needed help?" Godiva asked as we walked through the front gate, the dark atmosphere had disappeared, leaving only the bodies. I silently cursed myself. I had killed even the Khabimists in my rage. How could I expect to find the Princess if I kept allowing my emotions to take control?
"I didn't," I admitted truthfully, "it was simply my duty to eradicate the vampires, but I'm glad you're alright." She bowed her head respectfully to me,
"I thank you for freeing my families name from darkness, if there is anything I can do in the future, I do not know if the King will allow me to keep my noble status, but I will do everything in my power to aid you."
I smiled at her, and thanked her once more, I noticed Ken herding the three maids over, and Godiva was so happy, she knew them all by name and was so grateful to see they were okay.
"There was a dead pegasus in there too." Ken said, and I visibly stiffened, "was it yours?"
"He was my friend." I affirmed quietly before changing the subject, "let's get you ladies to Kellwoods." I took the lead, I didn't want to look back. Part of me still thought it was a terrible dream, I knew I was in denial. This had happened to me before.
You think after a while, you'd get used to it. But every death was like having another piece of your soul ripped from your body. I didn't think I would ever get used to this part of my life.
The idea of losing friends.
I knew Ken was conversing with the maids and noblewoman, but I ignored it, I ignored everything. I didn't want to be awake anymore, but I didn't want to sleep. I wanted to stop, but I couldn't.
I had an order that had to be fulfilled. I couldn't stop. Not yet.
There was a roar, and one of the maids screamed, I looked up quickly to see Zeroth turn back toward us, landing some distance away. Fera got off quickly and took one look at the situation.
"What did you do?" He demanded, and I glared at him.
"She fucking dominated, killed all the vampires in the Carleon Manor...of course, I helped a little bit, but most of the work was her. I think I'm in love." Ranger Ken elected to answer for me, and I glared over my shoulder, but he only winked.
Ugh. Straights. Why me?
Gay shithead, my thoughts said, and I searched for Bartholomew, but I knew he was gone.
"Why didn't you wait?" Fera asked softly, only I heard him, but I shook my head. It wasn't that simple, I was planning on waiting, I knew that it was stupid—
But here we were.
With more blood on my hands.
I also didn't want to talk about it, I rolled my shoulders back, "let's just get the survivors back to the village, okay?" His dark eyebrows furrowed, and the scar jutted out, "did Ruby talk with you?"
"Yeah." Was his only response.
And we traveled back to the village in silence, with Zeroth flying overhead. And my pegasus nowhere to be seen. He didn't have much to say, he was thinking, his eyebrows would furrow and I assumed his lower lip would stick out when he got too focused. I wouldn't know, I'd never seen the lower half of his face, he kept it covered with that mask of sharp teeth and dragon bone.
The maids gave a sigh of relief when we entered the town's borders, though the pyre was still burning, perhaps not as ferociously as before, the villagers had gathered within their strong mountain walls to defend them.
I was tired, surprisingly so, not necessarily physically, but I was exhausted emotionally and mentally. The village chief took Godiva under his wing, and the villagers all banded together to help the Noblewoman that had lost just as much as they had.
"You should rest." Fera had snuck up behind me, his footsteps were so quiet I had to resist the urge to pummel him with my shield. But I ignored him, eyes set on the villagers who had gained at least the tiniest sliver of happiness that more people had survived. Ruby was running around, tending to the injured.
"So!" The voice caused both of us to turn around, it was the tanned-skin ranger. What was his name again? Kurt? "What's our next mission?"
Anger flared at the thought of him considering Lania as a mission. That her rescue was no more than a check on a to-do list. Not a human being that deserved to be rescued because she was my...my responsibility and charge?
"Who are you again?" Fera asked bluntly, the ranger scowled, and I could tell he was prepared to make an insult about Fera's height, having only sized him up a few moments prior.
"Best not do that, he's scarier than me with those knives of his." I inclined my head to the gleaming blades at his waist. The Ranger visibly stiffened,
"My name is Ken—" oh, right. Ken. Not Kurt. "Please take me with you on whatever journey you're on."
Well. That was blunt. "What makes you think we're on a journey?" I asked, noticing Adora began skipping towards us, a bright smile on her face.
Ken rolled his eyes at that, "well, I don't know, how about it's the obvious priest, tank, damage line up that MOST adventures have. Or maybe it's the battle-hardened look in your eyes, the anger that killed all of those vampires couldn't possibly be from just a pegasus."
My fingers unintentionally tightened on the hilt of my sword that was buckled at my side. Anger? Oh, I was getting pretty close to showing him that anger again, and this time, my sword would NOT feast on the blood of the undead.
"Silver. We need to talk, and you need to try and get some rest." Fera was right, and so I took a deep breath, but just then Adora decided to add things to the mix, popping out quickly to introduce herself to the tall Ranger,
I'd never heard a man scream that high before.
"Wh-What, you have a gremlin in your party?" He stammered out, and I blinked, how much of a recluse was this guy if he had no idea what a Shaling was. Perhaps he wasn't a follower of Ellora. Perhaps he was just clueless.
And instantly, I could see he had offended her, her eyes seemed to almost change color, shifting from purple to red. And I wondered if she would destroy him, blow him up with her magic. She looked about ready to explode herself.
I didn't think I would stop her. "Adora is a Shaling, a child of light, and you best apologize before she destroys you."
"Oh don't worry General Song! I wouldn't destroy him, but I might poke him with my staff." She giggled, and I felt myself a little scared of her all the more. Her demeanor had shifted back and forth within the span of a few seconds. That was crazy emotional control.
"Whatever, Silver, can I talk to you?" I glanced down at Fera, his eyebrows were furrowed, and I glanced at him before nodding slightly, I needed to get away from the others, they were whittling away at my patience. I followed Fera a short distance away from other people.
Things were silent for a moment, "did you get any sleep last night?"
"Did you?" I pointed back, and he narrowed his eyes,
"As a matter of fact, yes, an hour, while flying on Zeroth's back. And I can tell you didn't sleep. You look like death."
Wow, say what you're really thinking, I rolled my eyes at his words, folding my arms across my armor, I noticed now that there was blood flecked across the silver surface. I had forgotten it. Bartholomew was always the one to remind me.
"What happened to...Bartholomew?" He asked, and I stiffened, glaring at the ground,
"Vampires got him."
"Why didn't you wait for us?" He questioned, I didn't like how he was grilling me, it was like this was an interrogation.
"I fucked up, okay? Can you quit with the questions?" I replied bitterly, but then I shook the feelings off, "sorry, I'm just...
"...tired"
"Gay?" We said at the same time, and I coughed out a chuckle at that,
"I suppose you're right." I admitted, before shaking my head, "I guess I do need to rest. Won't be able to save Princess Lania if I'm dead tired." Of course, he was my common sense. The cry of a bird broke through the air, and I knew that noise. My head shot up, a raven, had they found Lania?
It flew down and perched on Fera's arm, he grabbed the message and it took off once more with a flurry of feathers. I quickly read over his shoulder, decoding the message in my head.
'Failed to recover Princess Lania at Fort Zenen. Rondo fled to Parna's Coast with her.'
Wait. That couldn't be right. Failed to recover Princess Lania? Failed? When the fuck had they found her? And why hadn't I been notified? Fera. Did he know?
"They just want to know how the vampire extermination is going." Fera suddenly said, and my heart dropped. He was lying to me, he didn't know I could read the Onyx Order messages. He lied to me. Why the fuck would he lie to me?
"When?" I asked, doing my best to take deep breaths, he turned to look at me now,
"What?"
"When did they find her?! Why—" My voice that had grown in volume had drawn the attention of a good chunk of villagers, and I trembled with rage as I cut myself off. His eyes had widened,
"You can read—"
"I don't trust the Onyx Order, I don't trust Crow. It seems I was right." I glared at him, "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't they save her?! Is the Onyx Order title just for show? Or can any of you bastards actually accomplish anything?"
But I was on a roll now. I was furious. So furious all I could see was red. "They found her, and you didn't tell me. They FAILED. And you were going to keep it from me. Don't you think I deserve to know?! I'm the Princess's Knight!" I was shouting now, I didn't care that everyone was staring at us now. I was enraged.
"Some Knight you are. Where were you when she got kidnapped?" His electric blue eyes glared daggers at me, his voice was just as quiet as normal. No. He wasn't overcome with rage when he came up with those words. No. He was calm.
He was calm as he shredded into me.
Like a slap to the face, a dagger to the chest. My anger was fractured, and betrayal replaced it. Perhaps it would have hurt less if he had actually stabbed me. At least then there could be some kind of healing, some kind of restitution.
But no.
In one quick instance he had not only confirmed my fears that I was the one to blame, but he had also taken our friendship, my trust, and shredded it completely.
No words could express the pain of a friend who had betrayed you. He took a step back, the glare on his face subsiding, as if he was surprised he had spoken those words. As if he cared that he hurt me.
And so, I didn't speak, and instead, I walked away. Clenched hands and angry eyes, I didn't want to do something I regretted, like kill Fera. I'm sure the kingdom wouldn't be happy, in the very least. Eyes of all the villagers were on me. I kept a level head as I walked the distance to the transit shrine.
I was done with this.
I would save Lania. Even if I had to do it alone.
The transit shrine flashed with light. I wasn't exactly sure where I had gone but—
The air smelled of salt, the sounds of waves crashing on cliffs reached my ears. That's right. The Sea of Hakanas. This is where the mission had taken place. This is where my Princess had been. This is where they had failed to save her.
No.
This is where I had failed to save her.
Curse him. Curse Crow and his shitty ideas. Curse the Onyx Order. And curse Fera. They all had failed me.
Curse me. My inability to...to know these things. The anger seemed to rush out of me as the exhaustion seeped back. Exhaustion coupled with numb. I only wished that the numb would rid me of this exhaustion, this fog that crept into my thoughts.
I found myself in the ruins, the decrepit building that was swarming with Onyx Order agents, skeletons littered the crumbling brick floor, I don't remember how I got here. But I knew why.
Fort Zenen.
She had been here, how long ago? An hour? Two? And I? I had gotten my friend killed. I had gotten distracted by my anger. And here I was, paying the price. I had been too confident. I had flown too high.
Oh how hard I was falling.
Lania. She was paying the price for my arrogance. The metal of my gauntlets scraped the stone altar. A ritual, they had said. A ritual that required my Princess. Had they performed it here? Was she even still alive?
My knees became weak, and I slumped against the altar.
Numb.
In the span of a few days, I had lost everything. My title, my friends, my home, the one I cherished above all else. I had flown too high, perhaps this was the price to pay for my sins. My overconfidence. Goddess knew how weak I was.
I didn't know. I hadn't cared to know until this moment. Because it ate at me, the kind of feeling that chased away the numbness, and instead left me feeling hollow.
Hollow and in pain.
Author's Note: I'm so mean to Silver no but I actually feel really bad about it, oof. I'm setting up my art Instagram (or attempting too) where I do art for this storyline, mostly, because I'm kind of obsessed…
