Chapter 25: Once More unto the Breach

Nier and Weiss returned in the morning looking much cheerier.

"You're early," Kainé said as she held the cold meat over the fire. "It worked, I take it?" she asked.

Nier smiled, "Yonah is feeling much better now. I can't remember the last time I saw her so full of energy."

"That's really good," Emil said. "I'm glad."

Kainé nodded in agreement. She never met Yonah but Nier loved her and no child deserved to suffer from Black Scrawl.

"Did you eat already?" she asked. "I have some lamb here."

"Thank you," Nier replied, taking a piece of meat. "I didn't have anything for breakfast."

"Yonah decided to use her newfound energy for cooking," Weiss explained. "So he ran for the hills."

Nier winced, "Yonah only wanted to help, really…"

"But you still value your health," Weiss added. A glare from Nier made him switch topics, "And where exactly is the Shadowlord?"

"He'll be back soon. He wanted to check on his kid too."

Nier nodded, "I understand."

He probably did. They had a lot in common: both were single fathers, both had ill children… Kainé frowned slightly. Both of them could use magic… They even looked somewhat alike…

"We should prepare to move out once he returns," Weiss interjected, making her lose her train of thought. "I have determined our next destination, though we will no doubt get derailed by some unimportant task Nier chose to saddle himself with."

Emil tilted his head, "What do you mean?"

"He is the local dumbass for hire," Kainé explained.

"No task is beneath him: hunting lizards, gathering junk, herding chickens…" Weiss added.

Nier rolled his eyes, "Oh, laugh it up, you two. I get paid for it, so I don't care."

"So where are we going next, Weiss?" Emil asked.

"The Lost Shrine."

When the Shadowlord returned, they put out the fire and hit the road once again. Nier and Weiss took the time to tell everyone what they knew about the Lost Shrine.

"The main entrance to the building was blocked off," Weiss said. "But since some of us can fly, not to mention teleport, we should be able to get in. Investigating the place that I used to inhabit could be quite useful."

"I wonder what happened to those statues," Nier said. "I… wasn't very good at aiming my spells back then."

"He broke the ceiling," Weiss tattled immediately.

"When the roof started to cave in, I just ran," Nier continued. "So for all I know, those two could still be in there."

"If I can talk them down, I will," the Shadowlord shrugged. "If not, then we'll fight. We've dealt with dangerous enemies and won before. I don't see why it should change now."

Kainé looked between him and Nier, remembering her earlier thoughts. She lagged slightly behind, quietly getting Emil's attention, "Hey, kid, I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, Kainé! What is it?"

"Is it just me or do Nier and the Shadowlord look similar?" she asked.

He slowly nodded, "Yeah, I think they kinda do. I wonder why…"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Maybe they are related?" Emil offered. "I mean, if the Shadowlord used to be human…"

"Wasn't he asleep for thirteen hundred years?" Kainé asked.

"…Very distantly related?"

Kainé snorted, "Sure, if you say so." She waved her hand, "Eh, it's probably nothing. Come on."

She grabbed Emil's hand and dragged him along, catching up to the others. Better put this out of her mind: she had other things to worry about.

She still wondered why the hell Tyrann was laughing at her.

Getting into the building wasn't hard. Emil made no progress with teleportation, but he did figure out a new spell, covering everyone in a transparent bubble of magic and flying them across the ravine. Once inside the Lost Shrine they encountered a few Gestalts, but the half-mad things still had enough of a sense to get out of their way, urged on by the Shadowlord's presence.

They got to the roof without any trouble, approaching the gates, when the Shadowlord froze, staring at the dark spot where some kind of long-dried liquid was spilled on the stone.

"Are you alright?" Emil asked him worriedly.

"…I've been here before," he replied and crouched down to swipe his fingers through the substance. "That's my blood. The facility my daughter and I were in was hidden behind a dimensional lock. I had to use my blood as a power source to teleport us out. And this is where we appeared… I didn't have the time to look around, just teleported again, but if this is the place where you met Weiss…" He stood up, his wings arching up, "Doesn't it seem like too much of a coincidence to you?"

"Not to mention that we still don't know why exactly I was there," Weiss added after translating his words. "The mysteries just keep piling up…"

"Then we should go in and look for clues," Nier said. "Come on."

He opened the massive doors, waving them all in.

Kainé whistled appreciatively, seeing the damage inflicted on the huge room, "You really weren't holding back, were you?"

A good half of the ceiling was missing, its chunks lying across the floor. There were even a few holes in the walls.

"Oh, that's the dimensional barrier, alright," the Shadowlord said, walking the narrow shadowed path near one of the walls. "Can you feel the magic? Weiss? Emil?"

"Uhhh… I can feel something," Emil said unsurely, pointing his staff at the far wall. "There is something right there…"

"A rather intricate spell," Weiss hummed. "Though I cannot tell how exactly it works… It seems to be something between a teleportation point and a dimensional pocket."

"Can you open this lock?" Nier asked.

The Shadowlord flared his wings with a shudder, "Going back there is the last thing I want."

"This magic is far too complex," Weiss replied. "I suppose you managed to escape because it's weaker on the inside. I doubt we will be getting in any time soon."

"Well, that was pointless," Kainé huffed. "Are we leaving?"

And that was when the remains of the ceiling caved in.