Chapter 26: Day of Reunion (part two)
Spring 34
It wasn't long after they got into Selphia itself that Amber took off to see Ventuswill. Sven wasn't sure about going in to meet with the goddess of the region just yet. After all, she'd want to talk a long while with these four now that they had returned. And she was a divine dragon, even if one more beneficent than Storgane. Thankfully, Lest offered to take him by the clinic to ask the doctor if he was really dependent on the armor. His friend who knew about machines, Helena, wasn't going to be in town for a few hours as she flew the post ship for this area of Norad.
At least, that's what they'd thought. It wasn't long after they got in the clinic that a woman with blue-tipped black hair spotted his armor and got curious. "Hey Lest, who's this interesting person?" she said.
"Oh, this is Sven," Lest said. "Sven, this is Helena, my friend that we were talking about. Lena, this armor is mechanized and supposedly Sven can't live outside of it. We wanted to check with you and Jones to see if that's true and if there's anything we can do about it."
"I see, that's what that was about," Helena said, holding her hand near the chestplate of the armor. Sven couldn't be sure if she was touching him or if he should feel this was too close.
Another woman nearby smiled. "Lady Ventuswill told us yesterday that we should take today off and stick around because something interesting might come our way. Seems like she knew what you were doing."
"I'm not surprised," Lest said, then nodded to him. "You can trust Helena and Dr. Jones, they'll help you out. Do you mind if I leave you here with them?"
"It's fine," Sven said. After all, Lest was the prince here and he probably had things to do since they hadn't intended on staying overnight in the forest.
The other woman, Nem, went to speak with the doctor while Helena was still examining the armor. "Looks like you got chewed up recently," she said.
"Yeah," he said. "It's going to sound strange, but it was a bunch of brightly colored butterflies."
She shrugged. "Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. They must have been dang powerful butterflies to make these holes, though. This is high quality armor and the machinery in here is really advanced. If this kind of thing was invented around here, it would've weighed a hundred pounds more at least. I'm guessing this is Sechs tech."
"Um, yes, that's where it was made," Sven said, nervous.
"Although it's absolutely mad craftsmanship," Helena muttered.
"Helena?" a man asked. Jones waved them into the back room. "Bring him in here in case we need my equipment."
"All right, let's go," she said.
Even if she thought it was light for what it was, the whole suit was heavy enough that it was a concern of breaking the patient beds here. Sven still couldn't figure out how to get the armor to sit, but between Jones, his wife Nancy, Helena, and Nem, they got him lying on his back on the floor so their work was easier. While Helena kept checking on the machinery, Jones changed headgear to something that greatly focused his mind, allowing him to use magic to check through the steel armor to see how his body was.
"How long have you been in this armor?" Jones asked.
"Six years," Sven said. "Haven't been outside of it since I was put in."
"Ah, so since you were around sixteen?" he asked.
"No, I was twelve." He wondered for a moment why the doctor thought he was older.
"Twelve?" Helena asked, surprised. "How? You've got a bodysuit on underneath the armor and machinery; you should've grown right out of it."
"They used a lot of drugs to make sure I grew up like they wanted," he told them.
"That's troubling, although you seem to have grown properly in a physical manner," Jones said. "Your muscles are in top condition, thankfully; seems like the armor still needs them to work. I am concerned about your lung function, there's a weakness there like you've been under a breathing enhancement spell for far too long."
"There's an air filter that's keeping him breathing while limiting the amount of openings the armor needs," Helena said. "Also a fully enclosed support to his digestive system so it needs minimal intake and output. That's got to suck, not being able to eat or drink this whole time."
"Is it like that?" Jones asked, taking another look.
While Helena nodded, Sven said, "Yes, although I was a little grateful I didn't have to eat those protein bars and manufactured foods they were giving me."
"It's going to take some long therapy to readjust your body," Jones said. "You'll have to be under a restricted diet again to make sure your system can handle real food."
"I can deal with that if it means getting out of this," Sven said. And getting to eat real food again, perhaps whatever he wanted in time.
Jones nodded. "For what I can tell, you are dependent on what the armor does for you, but that dependency can be gradually reduced in a safe manner until you can be fully independent. I'd like to see the outer shell come off at least so that your skin can get some sun and fresh air, as long as you wear some sun lotion as it's going to burn easily at first. Plus this damage can't be safe to keep equipped."
Helena took a little longer before she could give her judgment. "We should be able to cut off the outer shell and take off the helm today," she agreed. "I am going to need your help on the inner helm, Jones; it has wires connected to his scalp in order to communicate electronically through the skull. They should come out without breaking blood vessels, but it's better to be cautious."
"If it's like removing splinters and other small foreign objects, that should be fine," Jones said.
"I think it'll be. But you've had one lucky stroke, Sven. Whatever force wrecked the command codes only got the artificial intelligence control unit, not the codes that keep your life support systems running."
"You mean the Executioner's mind itself got killed?" he asked. It was what the others had said, but it was encouraging to hear it from someone who knew what she was talking about.
Helena nodded. "Yeah, something like what would have controlled a golem. This armor could have been activated as a golem without the need of a person inside; I could see how it would work. Huh, but whatever they wanted a human host for, that got erased from the codes as well so I don't know why they didn't."
"I wouldn't know either," Sven said.
"Anyhow, the life support equipment could use some maintenance work done on it, including adjustments so that we could make a gradual move away from dependency. I'll have to do some fixes on the remaining coding too, so take it easy for a few days until we make sure it all works well. If we could get some clothes that were a size or two big on you, then it shouldn't be hard to get you out of the jumpsuit too and hide most of the machinery under a normal outfit."
"The market day is tomorrow, so you should be able to pick up some clothes then," Nancy said. "We'll have to see what can be done until then once the outer armor's off."
"I don't have anything but the armor and scythe to my name," Sven said. That was going to be a problem.
"The townspeople should be able to lend you some help to get you started with a new life," Nancy said warmly.
"Yeah, and getting to study this kind of advanced work is more than enough payment for me," Helena said with a grin.
This was a world of difference from how the empire had been. "Thanks, you're wonderful people," Sven said.
"It's no trouble," Jones said. "I'll put you to sleep for the work so that you don't feel any of it. Nancy, could you start a patient file for him?"
"Of course, what's your full name?" the nurse said, standing up but waiting to retrieve the papers.
"Sven Geisel," he said.
"That sounds familiar somehow," Jones said, trying to recall it.
"I think that's Doug's name too," Nancy said, going over to a cabinet.
Hearing that was a shock unlike anything else; he'd never had such a good thing come around unexpectedly. "What, Doug Geisel, he's here? That's my cousin's name, he's a dwarf with red hair. We were from Medritarc." Although he wasn't sure how much further he could describe him since Doug had been sixteen when they got separated. It was unlikely, but he might've changed. "He'd be twenty-three now."
"He hasn't said where he's from, but the rest sounds just like him," Nancy said, happy to have found the coincidence.
"He's your cousin?" Jones asked, curious.
"We had a rather complicated family," Sven said. "Dwarves and half-dwarves, but I don't know the full story. I didn't think any of them would still be alive after the town got destroyed." Perhaps those of his family other than Doug had escaped too, even his parents? He wondered if he deserved that kind of miracle.
"I'll invite him over when you're ready to wake up from the operation," Nancy said, taking some files from the cabinet. "That's great to know that you already have some family here."
"Yeah, it's amazing," he said. Even if it was just Doug, he felt like thanking all of the gods in the world for him being here. And he was free, plus those guardians and the prince who had rescued him... it seemed like a lot of prayers had finally been answered today.
There was an excitement in town that Doug found hard to play along with. While he didn't understand the full story, there were four humans known as guardians who protected Ventuswill in their enchanted sleep somehow. It was the sacrifices that the voice from the rune sphere mentioned. Prince Lest had brought three of the guardians back to Selphia ever since the market cleaning week and everyone expected he'd have the fourth back today. Not sure how to feel about it, he read through the history book Kiel had recommended to confirm what he'd been hearing.
Tonight, there was going to be a feast and celebration in honor of the return. It was going to be really hard to get out of attending, especially with Blossom happily making bread and fried vegetable rice to go along with the meal. From what Clorica had said while arranging it with her, Porcoline was handling the main dishes, she was doing some other sides, and Kiel was making desserts. That meant the meal at least was going to be great. Doug wasn't sure he could keep himself calm and quiet the whole time, though. Especially not with the knowledge of Lest's empathy; no one could hide their feelings around him, which made him nearly a mind reader. Doug wanted to stay away from him as much as possible, but not attending this party was going to make him suspicious to everyone else in town too.
The bell on the door rang, announcing Nancy's entrance. "Good afternoon," Doug said, smiling as he did for any customer. "I thought you came by this morning."
She smiled. "I did, but I came for you this time."
For him? "Really, what for?" he asked, curious but also worried.
"Oh, hello Nancy," Blossom said, coming into the room to see who it was. "How's it going with Alice?"
"We're doing fine, she's having a nap right now," Nancy said happily. "I had big news for Doug, actually. We had a different kind of patient come in this morning, he says his name is Sven Geisel."
His thoughts went completely blank from getting hit with the unexpected name. "Huh, Sven? Are you kidding? He got kidnapped by some crazy doctor from the Sechs Empire years ago."
"Oh, is that someone in your family?" Blossom asked, coming over to his side.
"Yeah, he's my little cousin," Doug said, reminded of that afternoon he'd been taken, right out of the middle of a conversation they'd been having. Don't be crying now, he told himself. "Though I guess he wouldn't be so little now; he should be eighteen. Although it's a complicated situation, as his parents were both half dwarves and he's mostly human. Made it a huge scandal for Grandfather Conrad and the three of them had to leave the old town. But because of that, we were pretty much brothers growing up together."
"That sounds like what he said," Nancy said, smiling for him.
"That's wonderful, I'm so happy for you," Blossom said, giving him a small hug.
Nancy nodded, then added, "I said he was different because he came in a machine armor that he's been living in for years. Jones and Helena have been getting most of it off him; they're done and he should be waking up from the operation soon if you want to come over."
"Sure, is that all right, Granny?" he asked.
"Of course, you go see him," she said, patting his shoulder. "I'm at a point where it won't be much trouble to keep an eye on the store and kitchen. And you invite him to stay with us, as long as you don't mind sharing a room until we can get one of the others cleared and cleaned up."
"We wouldn't mind, it'd be like picking up where we left off," Doug said, feeling even happier that she'd extend her home to Sven without meeting him. "Thank you so much for helping him out, both of us really."
"Of course, I'm sure any of your family would be just as sweet as you," Blossom said.
At least until you got more than one generation back, Doug thought, although he didn't want to say it. He walked over to the clinic with Nancy with a little nagging worry that this was too good to be true. But if Sven had said the same things about him, it had to be his cousin. Just what did she mean by a machine armor, though? He knew the Sechs had such things. Did she really mean Sven was the Executioner? That was one of the most terrifying weapons the empire had during the past war, like a golem but with a higher grade of thought able to use rune skills. That didn't make any sense though, for his kindhearted sickly cousin to be in control of the arena killer that no one had ever defeated. He'd been too young to be that kind of monster.
When he got into the clinic, Sven was sitting on a patient bed. He had grown up but looked about right, with copper-brown hair and gray eyes that made him look like a pale-skinned human version of his father. He had a beard too, cut off in an awkward way while his hair was unevenly matted against his head. In another part of the room, Helena was putting pieces of cut up armor into a box, black armor with a glossy red sheen. As if that wasn't proof enough, the Executioner's huge scythe was also in the room. Sven still had some of the machinery on over a black one-piece suit. The machines included clear device under his nose, strange ghostly chains on his wrists, and dense devices on his chest, shoulders, and back.
"It is you, Sven, I never thought I'd see you again," Doug said, smiling in amazement as he came over.
"Same to you Doug," Sven said, breaking out in a grin and hugging him once he got near. "I can't believe that you're still alive, and I hardly recognize you without a beard. I thought you were going to keep it."
"Things change," he said, self-consciously touching his cheek. "Like you're all buff and have a beard worthy of a dwarf now, wow. Just need to get it cut better."
"I think the armor took off parts that got in its way," he said, showing a part that was longer than the rest around it.
Nancy came over and offered a pair of scissors. "We'll let you two talk a bit, do you think you can cut his hair?"
"Sure, that won't be a problem," Doug said, taking the scissors. Not wanting to bring up the Executioner directly, he thought on what to ask until the others had left the clinic area. "You all right? What happened to you?"
"I have to spend a long time cutting my dependency on all these machines," Sven said, tapping what was on his chest. "But the machine that was in control is gone, so I'm better than before. I got taken into the Sechs Empire where they trained me like a soldier before putting me in this armor they called the Executioner. It was entirely in control of what we did and all it could do was take orders from its masters, which didn't include me but eventually included a crazy evil god. But then just yesterday, Lest and the guardians wrecked the control machine, cast out Storgane's influence, and put me in charge. Somehow they knew I was in trouble even though I had no way to speak for myself."
"That's great," Doug said, feeling guilty in playing false faith in Lest here. Then again, they had saved Sven. How could he stay angry with them?
Especially when Sven said, in a grateful wonder, "Yeah, I was starting to think I was crazy for having any hope of living free again. I still need to talk with Ventuswill and Lest, since I asked them for sanctuary from the empire. But, I hope I can do something to help protect Lest now, or serve him in some way. I owe him and the others so much; they could hate me because the Executioner had orders to kill him, but so far everyone's being really nice to me. Nobody's nice in the empire and if they are, they're trying to manipulate you."
"I've heard that before," he said, wondering what he should do now. Definitely not stick with the Sechs although they were severe with traitors. If they heard he was quitting, they could send an assassin after him.
"Good thing the armor's out of here, though I don't know what to do with the scythe," Sven said. "And what about you? I heard a lot of talk about how Medritarc and Telliarc attacked the empire because I got kidnapped." He shuddered nervously at that.
"It's all right, keep still so I can trim this," Doug said, still working on fixing his beard's shape. "There were a lot of resentments against the empire at the time, the kidnapping just triggered it all to come out. But even the traditionalists who raised a fuss about you at first said you were still part of a dwarven family, thus they wanted you back home in Medritarc."
"The Sechs commanders were proud of the weapon that they used to win the siege," Sven said, some fear in his words. "Something that could crush a whole town like an impossible storm. I got sick of them saying it and tried to block them out."
A weapon the empire had used? To crush it exactly as he had seen. But the soldiers at the scene and the general had seemed shocked at the extent of it too. Had they lied about that? Or were they lied to? Figuring he'd think about it later, he said, "Yeah, that's what happened."
"Sorry," Sven said, shifting his eyes away but trying to keep his head still.
"You don't have to be," Doug said, again making sure they were the only ones in this part of the clinic. He lowered his voice to say, "I happened to be traveling between the towns in the underground tunnel when Medritarc got attacked that last day of the siege. And it was like a huge hammer had come down and smashed everything. I went into shock at it all and, well, I'm not sure what all I was doing for a short time, but I wandered around Norad until I moved here last year."
That disappointed him. "Oh, so it was just you. But, at least you survived and somehow we ended up in the same town now. I thought everyone was gone, so this is wonderful."
"It is," Doug said, rubbing his eyes trying to keep them clear. "Oh yeah, I've been living with this sweet old lady named Blossom. She runs the general store and I've been helping her out. She's the reason I've stuck around here, since she doesn't have any of her family around to help her with the heavier work. And she said you can stay with us if you don't have anywhere else to live."
"They want me to stay here for tonight to make sure this keeps working outside the armor shell," Sven said, crying a little but he sounded grateful. "But that'd be great. Like I said, everyone's being so nice and I'm just dumbfounded that I am free. There's so much I missed being able to do but I have no idea where to start."
"This is a great town," Doug said. As much as he had tried not to like it, it was hard to deny.
Hard to deny that Selphia was warm and welcoming while the Sechs Empire was cold and uncaring. But what did he do now? The arrival of his cousin only brought more evidence that the Sechs general had lied to him about Ventuswill. Then what of the hate spirit in the tunnel and this mysterious Sechs weapon? Surely if they had that, they would have used it on Selphia by now.
They wanted to call her a princess. Frey did not like that idea. In stories both real and fiction, she saw that princesses were most often dressed up very pretty and feminine, kept inside unless under protection, not expected to do or be much, and expected to get married early on. The only part of that she could tolerate was dressing up, but most of the time she preferred a cute but athletic style with a touch of femininity, not huge poofy dresses with ribbons and lace. "I thought you'd know that I didn't like the princess style," she told Lest.
"I'm hardly a traditional prince," he said. "It's important that I keep up the farms, for one thing. Besides, the castle has a nice workshop in the basement, complete with a forge and a big crafting table. Even some equipment for alchemical work if needed. It seems like a waste to leave that space unused even though I rarely do anything in those crafts."
"You've got a forge in the castle?" she asked, excited to hear that. Their house back in Grelin had a forge and crafting area, but only because it had been passed down in their mother's family as part of their work. Buying a house with a forge would be expensive, although she hoped that the funds she had would cover it.
Lest nodded, which did make it tempting to move in with him even if it meant being called a princess. "Right, although it's been years since it's been fired up so you'd want to check over it before trying. Looked like there was even a kiln."
"Ooo, those can be useful," she said, crossing her arms over her chest to think. "But still..."
"And you'd be right here to help me bug him to make pancakes more often," Ventuswill said cheerfully
"Oh gosh, yes!" Frey said with a grin. "Although even if I got my own place, I'd still come over and pester him about it."
That made Lest smile. "I'm sure. Oh, but then there's your fireworks. The spires here seem like one of the best high spots to shoot them from since the observatory's risky with its windmill blades. The top rooms have big open windows where the glass can be pulled aside easily. Only, it'd be hard for you to get access to those areas unless you did have a small measure of authority as a princess."
"Wow, you do fireworks too?" Ventuswill asked, watching her. "Big colorful ones?"
"Yeah, those are the best," she said. She hadn't been around the divine dragon for long, but Frey already liked her immensely. She liked pancakes, and now fireworks too. "Great for late celebrations, although I don't have enough powder to mix up any today."
"Well there's rules on when and how fireworks can be used," Ventuswill said. "And I'm afraid there wouldn't be many times right now when it'd be okay. With the Sechs being an invasion threat, we don't want to give them any reason to attack. But if things calm down, it'd be fine for a princess to shoot fireworks from the castle spires."
"Geez, you two almost make being a princess sound fun," Frey told her brother.
"You being you would make that happen," Lest said with a grin.
"Yeah, I'm sure of it!" Doomgale said from where she was hovering around watching.
"I like the idea of a princess like you being around," Ventuswill said, smiling as well. "We should do this. Volkanon!"
"Aw, seriously?" Frey asked, being too dramatic for fun. Still, they made good arguments. She had been named a sage but still acted how she wanted. Why shouldn't she continue to act that way if she was going to be called a princess too? The forge alone might make it worth the trouble. Or the fireworks. Or her brother's pancakes. Or being around Ventuswill if this was how she really was.
"Yes, Lady Ventuswill?" a burly old man said from where he'd suddenly appeared near them.
"This is Lest's sister Frey," Ventuswill said, in an impressive regal manner. Frey wondered if she did that for fun too. "I like her, so I'm naming her the honorary princess of Selphia. Thus she'll be moving in here and you should work with her too. She'll need a room and the forge downstairs should be checked over so she can use it after getting a license."
"Sure, we'll get to work on that," Volkanon said with a nod. Then he smiled at Frey. "Glad to have you along! There's several extra bedrooms on the second floor of the royal wing, so we'll meet you up there in a couple of minutes."
"Wait, what about Doomgale?" Frey asked, not about to make this set in stone unless her dragons were settled in too. "Flareson's fine living in the countryside, but Doomgale here is family and she's not going to live in a barn."
"Oh, may I live in the castle too?" Doomgale asked with bright eager eyes.
"Certainly you may stay here," Ventuswill said. "She's a fellow wind dragon so should be treated with respect."
"Of course, that's how things should be," Volkanon said with a nod. "Especially if she's family to you. I believe there's some rooms on the third floor where the windows can be opened so she can fly in and out as she pleases. If you help us with knowing how she likes her space, we'll help set things up."
Doomgale whirled about on the spot. "Yay, I can stay with Frey and Lest again!"
"Of course, wouldn't leave you out," Lest said affectionately, tapping her tail as it came by him.
Frey was about to say that she'd help Volkanon, but he was already gone while she'd been distracted in Doomgale's glee. "Dude, you have a ninja butler," she said, impressed.
"We have three of them," Lest said. "He's the master with two students. While I can call on them with my bracelet, they have a way to show up right as you're thinking of calling them."
"It's their way of fulfilling their noble duty," Ventuswill said.
"That is so awesome," Frey said. And kind of weird that Lest was going along with having servants, or that she would be. Then again, it'd be nice to have someone who could run a small errand while she was involved in crafting or studying. Doomgale did her best, but the trouble she had learning to speak the human language made it hard for her to fulfill some tasks.
Although she and Doomgale picked out their rooms, there was only a short amount of time to work on setting them up how they liked today. There was a lot of work for the butlers and Lest because of the party this evening, so Frey helped them out. Even if Ventuswill had said it was an honorary princess, not with the responsibilities that Lest had, she figured it was only right to do what she could to help her brother and Selphia. It was what she'd be doing anyhow. One of the first things she noted was outside in the farm's toolbox. The equipment Lest had for that work was really lousy. Deciding that would be top priority, she got the form to request a test for a forging license to make him better gear.
As the evening came, everyone in town gathered in the town plaza. There were three long tables there, one with the spread of food (a large beef roast, grilled salmon, roast potatoes and vegetables, fried rice, a gratin dish, a fruit and cheese plate, three kinds of dinner rolls, an impressive four tier cake, and more) and the other two for dining. Ventuswill sat just outside of the central entrance to her room while Doomgale was flitting about to see if there were other friendly people in town. Near the divine dragon, the four guardians were talking quietly among themselves. That had been a pleasant surprise today, to find that not only had Lest managed to fix his broken bones through a successful miracle, but that he'd already placed the rune spheres and woken the guardians up. Whenever they got a chance, there would be a lot to catch up on between her and her brother.
They were waiting to make sure everything was in place when one of the dwarves in town came up to where Frey and Lest were. "Hey, Lest?" he asked uncertainly.
Pleasant as usual, he smiled. "Hey Doug, what is it?"
"Well first of all, sorry for the other day. It seems I was mistaken about you." Doug seemed like he wanted to say something more, but wasn't sure about saying it here and now.
"It's all right, I could explain more later if you want," Lest said.
That surprised him. "After that, I didn't think you'd forgive it so easily."
Lest shrugged. "Well I could tell there was some reason behind it, so better give the benefit of doubt."
"If that surprises you, you don't know him all that well," Frey said.
"Fine by me," Doug said, relived at it. "More importantly, thanks for saving Sven. He's my cousin and our family lost him years ago. We thought we'd never see him again."
"Good to know he has family here," Lest said, his smile beaming a little knowing it. "I haven't heard the story behind him, but I can feel a lot of pain in his heart and it's going to take a while for him to feel secure. If he has someone he trusts right away here, then that makes a huge difference."
"Yeah, I'll be there for him like we used to be," Doug said, smiling too now. "Plus he and Granny are getting along well already, so we'll take care of him."
"Good, but if you need any more help, I'll do what I can," Lest offered, giving him a handshake.
"I'll keep that in mind. See ya." He went back to two others, had to be the pair he was talking about. Frey still needed to learn names here, which the party gave great reason to do.
She moved closer to him and quietly asked, "Fixing some disagreement?"
"More than just that," Lest said quietly. "But there's still more work to do with them."
"You seem pretty happy with it," she said.
Lest nodded. "I didn't think being a prince was going to help, like I'd have to do all kinds of boring work and argue with folks over laws. But it's pretty laid back so far. I can do what I do and be a busybody seeing what everyone's up to with the excuse that it's my job."
Frey laughed at that and playfully poked him. "Yeah, you can busybody like nobody else."
Before they could keep chatting, Volkanon came over to let them know that everything was ready. The led Lest to call for everyone's attention and try to bring them closer in. This was so Ventuswill could speak without projecting her voice too much. "We started this party with one reason, but have found other reasons to celebrate in the meantime," she said. "Thus I'd like to welcome all who've come into Selphia this spring: Arthur, Sven, baby Alice, our Prince Lest, and his sister Frey. Then of course those who have returned after being gone for far too long, my dear friends Leon, Amber, Dolce, and Dylas. I say to all of you, welcome home and I hope you can find your happiness here."
People cheered in approval; Frey thought it was understated for how she must have felt, but it seemed she had greeted them more affectionately when they each came back. Leon responded by saying, "We hope the same for you, but we had something else to say before anything else gets going."
"Don't take too long making people wait on food," Dolce said, making several people laugh.
"Sure, I can keep it short for that," Leon said with a nod. "We have been apart for a long time, but something that kept the four of us strong was music. Words couldn't cross where we were, yet our songs somehow reached each other so we weren't alone. One thing we decided early on was that when we could finally be together, we would sing for you. If you don't mind, could you give us some time for music?"
Frey felt curious about that. Words couldn't cross in the ether sea, but music could? Perhaps if they had tried song at the rune springs, maybe they might have been able to reach them before waking them. Although, that was a possibility that was no longer needed. The information might be useful for other things.
Ventuswill eagerly agreed to hear their song and nobody would deny the request. The four guardians began to sing a song of praise to the divine dragons, their version focused mostly on Ventuswill. Hearing it, Frey felt lucky that she'd managed to arrive in time to hear them. There was no doubt in their devotion, giving the song a powerful emotion that could have inspired faith in the most hardhearted. The harmony between the four was incredible too; few groups could claim centuries of practice together like them.
Perhaps there was more to do in Selphia, but the song gave hope that any obstacle could be overcome.
End Arc 1: Rune Spheres
A/N: Yup, the guardians are all home and thus ends arc 1. I'm working on arc 3 currently (that's why I feel confident in posting two chapters a week!). So what's ahead in arc 2? Some slice of life sections, helping Doug wrap up his past, The Running Sign, Lest causing Volkanon trouble with his cross-dressing, that's a small sample. Though primarily it's about the hell gates. All of the characters who have the spirit chains are connected to a hell gate and need to be freed of that.