Chapter 37: Medritarc Memorial

Spring 54

While it might have been his day off, Vishnal still got up early to get in some studying. There was a lot for him to learn: cooking of course, cultural studies so he didn't offend a guest, social rules to a formal party (be it a ball, masquerade, garden party, tea party, or any other variant), a dabble of music and art, philosophy, protective spells (including figuring out the rare few that would actually work on Prince Lest), and battle tactics. That was a sampling of the books in the shelf nearby he kept for study. Then there was refining his laundry techniques, which was what Volkanon was focusing him on now. While he had the folding arts well enough, he needed to reduce the time it took as well as keep practicing with the fitted bed sheets.

It wasn't long that he got distracted from deciding which book to read. On his floor was a small dead mole, carefully dissected with its innards arranged in a neat line. On the sill of a window that he'd left open overnight for the nice spring breeze, a brown paw cat perched to watch over the southeast field outside Vishnal's window. Maple looked back at him for a moment to see if he noticed.

Although it wasn't a pleasant thing to wake up to, he smiled and gently said, "Good morning Maple, thanks for the gift. Is it for the snacks I've left you?"

Satisfied with that, the paw cat jumped back outside. Vishnal disposed of the remains outside and made sure the spot it had been and his hands were well cleaned before taking up an hour of studying. He told the others about it at breakfast, figuring none of them were too squeamish for that kind of thing.

"You know," Frey said, "They say that if a female paw cat starts being friendly with you out of nowhere, there's a high chance she'll be having kittens in a few weeks."

Vishnal laughed. "She already has, there's five of them out in the barn."

Clorica's eyes went wide. "Really? Why haven't you mentioned it before? I bet they're cute."

"They are, though still really clumsy," Vishnal said.

"A mother cat and kittens is nice around a farm," Lest said, thinking. "Especially since we've got the barn fixed up now for some helpful monsters. There's cluckadoodles running wild all over the southern countryside. If we make sure the paw cats and cluckadoodles don't mess with each other, the clucks give eggs and hunt damaging insects, while the cats hunt down other pests like that mole."

"You can find buffamoos too if you go further south, over near Rouge's Spring," Clorica said. "And some bees or hornets in Yokmir Forest if you know where to look. It'd be even better now that Ambrosia's not a huge risk over there."

"I figured the bees had to be from the forest," Lest said. "They're finding my plants, but a hive here would be reassuring."

Frey poked him. "For you, maybe for Illuminata too. You just make sure nobody in town is allergic to the stings or too afraid of them."

"Yeah, I know," he said, although it seemed like it had slipped his mind with the thought of getting helpful monsters around.

"I don't believe we have anyone allergic to stinging insects, although you'd have to check with Jones to make sure," Volkanon said. "And there's enough people with home gardens that they'd be thankful for a group of honey bees nearby too."

"I'm not quite ready for them, but it's a thought," Lest said with a smile. "Oh yeah, and before you head out today Vishnal, there's something I need to tell you about privately."

"Sure thing," he said.

After breakfast, they went to his office and shut the door. Lest brought out a glass ball that seemed hollow at first glance. "This is something my sister's using in her studies," Lest explained. "Can you cast something to identify runes with?"

He nodded. "Of course." Once he cast it, the ball had changed. There seemed to be a gray blob of liquid floating inside, with sickly looking runes. "What's wrong with those?"

"These are corrupted runes, these ones taken from Darryl's Tower." That puzzled Vishnal, but Lest quickly cleared it up. "I mean, Leon Karnak Tower. I've been thinking of it as Darryl's Tower for a little while, mostly because we have Leon here and the more my sister tells me about it, the more I want to distance it from Leon. Anyhow, runes are purified in the Forest of Beginnings, but these runes somehow slipped out before being purified. I want you to observe the area around Medritarc quietly to see if there are corrupted runes there. Whether there are or not could be a clue towards how they're getting back in impure forms."

"That shouldn't be trouble since the spell doesn't require a vocal cue," Vishnal said.

"Good, then there's something else about this that you might need to be capable of. I have a report from yesterday that Sven's hell gate showed up in town, possibly in response to something he was thinking at the time. Which means bringing him out to his old hometown might trigger it again. In that case, I want you to be aware of how to handle things."

"He might be the strongest fighter of the four of us, but he would have the most trouble," he said as he thought about it.

Lest set the orb holding the corrupt rune back in the bag it had been in. "Right. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the hell gate will try to pull him into it. Do not let this happen. Yes, the gate does need to be destroyed from the inside to be gone for good and he is aware of that. But I'm the only one in Selphia who can get him out if he goes in. Well, Ventuswill probably could too, but we don't want to push the limits of her powers with the rune springs still out of place. If he gets up the nerve to want to challenge it, that's great but persuade him to hold off until you all get back so I can go in with him."

He then went on to explain more about how to handle the situation and make sure that the gate could be destroyed temporarily if it appeared on their trip. It was a big responsibility he was leaving on his shoulders. Listening carefully and asking any questions that were in mind, Vishnal felt determined not to let Lest down with this trust.

It looked to be a good day for flying: a light wind, few clouds in the sky, no bad conditions reported for the airspace they were going to move through. Kiel knew this trip was going to be a solemn one, but he couldn't help but feel a little excited for it. After all, he hadn't left the Selphia region on an airship in a long time, or ever without one of his family along. He'd borrowed a library book about airship navigation and the symbols used to help Vishnal out, as well as prepared a nice picnic lunch for them all. It was for the best that the two of them did as much of the work for the trip as possible, since Doug and Sven would have a lot on their minds.

"Have everything ready?" Forte asked him that morning, about an hour before they planned on leaving. He needed to be down on the airfield soon to help Vishnal get the ship ready to go.

Kiel showed off the list he'd made, everything but the flight preparations themselves crossed off. "Almost, we just have to get the ship going."

"Good that you're prepared," she said, although still worried. "Be careful out there."

"It'll be fine, we're not really doing that much," he said. "At worst there'd be some ghosts hanging around the old town, but I know how to deal with them and Doug has his miner's anti-spirit dagger."

"Erm, well still, I hope you're safe," Forte said.

Kiel smiled. "You're glad you won't be dealing with that, right?"

"Don't tease me about that," she said. "Although you would be better out there for that problem. Just don't wander off on your own; the others would be better with other monsters."

While he felt annoyed at her being overprotective like this, he tried not to show it. She was only like that because she cared about him. "I'll stick with the other guys. And I'm bringing along a bunch of my potions just in case. Better to be over-prepared than not."

Forte finally smiled back. "Yes, that's for the best. I hope it's a good trip."

"Thanks, I hope it's a good day for you too," Kiel said, giving her a hug. "See you this evening."

"Right, see you then."

On the airfield, Vishnal was already going through preflight checks with the ship tied to the anchor post. Kiel helped him with topping off the kerosene tanks for the balloon heaters and then filling the balloons with air. While they were waiting on the last and making sure Kiel knew a sufficient amount of navigation symbols, Doug and Sven arrived. The trader's fort had been a mixed population so they were honoring human traditions with a floral wreath from Illuminata's shop and dwarven traditions with a few bottles of beer. Doug was back to being quiet and uneasy, like when he'd first come to Selphia. Not entirely quiet, as Sven was agitated, maybe even afraid. It seemed like an odd mood for visiting a memorial, but he still wanted to come.

Hopefully that odd mood wasn't a bad sign for today. But even as he thought it, Kiel recalled the astronomical horoscope in the farmer's almanac today for his particular birth sign. Something that seems out of place will become more important than it seems...

Amber didn't have to work today, so she flew around town wondering what to do. It had been a while since she'd visited the forest, so that could be good. On the other hand, she had lots of friends in town, from her very oldest friend in Ven to newer ones like Xiao and Meg. She could go play with them. That is, if they weren't working. That was a downside to living in civilization: it seemed like everybody worked and it wasn't considered polite to disrupt someone who was working.

While flying around, she spotted an airship with its balloon filled up for a journey. Where were they going? She started to fly down and noticed that Doug and Sven were getting on the ship. That made Amber even more curious to know where it was going. Deciding to be sneaky, she flew down to the ship, trying to move quickly and unseen. Some peeks over the side didn't find a lot of cover, but there was a dresser kind of object near the big wheel that had machines on it. That was... radio equipment, right? The machine that could hear invisible waves and make sounds from them. She slipped over the side and hid there.

She listened to the conversation between the two she'd seen as well as Vishnal and Kiel. They were going to someplace with a funny sounding name, being all too serious in talking. While being serious as important occasionally, it was better to be light and happy. Amber grinned as she waited for an opportune moment, then bounced up from behind the radio stand. "Boom!"

"Waah!" Vishnal yelped although he kept hold on the big wheel. He smiled some in relief on seeing her. "Oh, it's you Amber."

"Hee hee, I gotcha good," she said.

"Amber, what are you doing here?" Doug asked, surprised as the rest.

"I wanted to see the airship fly from really up close," she said, spreading her arms out. "So here I am!"

"Well that makes you a stowaway and stowaways are supposed to be thrown off the side," Doug said.

"Um, not unless we're pirates," Vishnal said.

Kiel laughed. "Yeah, and it wouldn't do much good with Amber since she could fly back on."

"But I want to see it fly from on board," Amber said.

"Well, since you can fly, I guess you could stick around during take off and head back into town before we get too far," Vishnal said.

"Okay, but where're you guys going?" she asked, leaning on the radio stand.

"We're on a serious trip here, so you can't be joking around too much," Doug said.

"We're going to visit a memorial in their old hometown," Kiel said.

A memorial meant a grave. That wasn't easy to smile about, but it gave her an idea. "Oh... well could I come? If I promise to be good and mostly quiet."

"What do you want to come along for?" Doug asked, surprised.

"I want to see how other people remember friends who've passed away," she explained. "Cause fairies are supposed to smile and sing after a friend gets wilted or smashed, or munched up, but then I never felt right doing that. Please?"

"That sounds like a good reason," Sven said, although his words were quiet.

"I guess, but you'd better be respectful when we're there," Doug said.

"How do you remember people?" she asked. It made them nervous, but once they started explaining, she learned some interesting things.

Porco's plan for lunch today was soup and appetizers. Lots and lots of appetizers. "You should try all of them," he suggested.

Just the thought of trying to eat all of the different things made Dylas feel queasy. "I'm not that hungry," he said, trying to get out of it.

"Just a tiny bite will do," Porcoline said (although his definition of a tiny bite was more of a full snack to Dylas). "It's an important step to becoming a chef: try many different kinds of food so you're familiar with many different flavors and styles. Never be afraid to try a new food, as it might just become a new favorite."

That made sense, although he tried to work around it by taking tastes from mixing bowls or spoons so he didn't have to eat a lot. Some of it was surprisingly good, like the tuna spread and the carrot gelatin salad (but it had one of his favorite foods in it anyhow). Then he got to a stuffed olive and could barely get it down because it assaulted his mouth with a fiery burn. His eyes watered up and blurred his vision; he couldn't even get a drink of milk to get rid of the heat at first because he had to blow his nose.

"What the hell was in that?" Dylas asked once it got down to a full mouth tingle.

"That was this set, was it?" Porcoline asked, pointing to a section on the divided serving platter. "That's the blend with jalapeno peppers. They were pretty mild for jalapenos."

"That was not mild," he said, starting to feel restless. Maybe he'd feel better if he took a quick jog outside of town.

"But still a valuable lesson in what you should avoid," he replied. "There's a few folks in town that love a spicy heat, so I set them up with these two appetizers."

Not a good lesson; Dylas could've told him that he had sensitive tastes for spicy things like hot peppers. The heat and busy nature of the kitchen was too much for him after the stuffed olive, so he went over to Arthur's office for a little while. But it seemed like he'd walked in at a bad time, as Arthur was talking with Forte and both of them were startled when he did. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," he said, embarrassed and looking away.

"It's okay, I just wasn't expecting someone else to come in just now," Arthur said, getting over the surprise but now worried. "You all right?"

Was his face still messy? He took a handkerchief and rubbed his over his eyes. "Nothing big. Porco gave me a stuffed olive to try without telling me it was stuffed with jalapenos. That hurt."

"I think I'll be careful if he offers me those," Arthur said in sympathy.

"Those are usually really good, though I guess not if you don't like hot spices," Forte said. Then she held up a lunch pail she had. "Oh, I made some lunch if you two want to share. My brother's not around today, so I made some egg salad for sandwiches, but it made a lot more than I could eat."

"That sounds delightful," Arthur said, apparently liking that choice.

Dylas wasn't sure about it. Egg salad sandwiches were something that his mother hadn't liked and never made. Still, trying various foods was going to be important and it sounded like a safer choice than jalapeno stuffed olives. "I wouldn't want much, but maybe half a sandwich."

"Sure, I think they turned out well today," Forte said, taking out the sandwiches she had. There were three, but he could take half and she took the other half and a whole.

When he had it in hand, Dylas had a gut feeling that something wasn't right here. The sandwich looked perfectly innocent and healthy, a yellow and white mix between two soft slices of wheat bread. Yet he still wondered if he was going to regret trying this too. Since he couldn't figure out what could be wrong with it, he went ahead and ate it. "This is pretty good," Dylas told Forte, liking the creamy textured salad.

"Oh good, some days I'm glad just to make something edible," Forte said, which was also kind of ominous.

Half an hour later, all three of them were in the clinic for food poisoning.

On landing the airship outside of Medritarc, Kiel got off the ship first to tie it down to an anchor post so Vishnal could shut down the propeller engines and set the heaters to their lowest setting. Amber had been oddly serious since they'd told her the nature of this trip; she was at the edge of the ship looking over the town. Doug felt like pacing around, but that seemed to bother Sven. How was this going to turn out? Even here, Doug still felt nervous about it.

When Doug had come out here in the past, whoever came with him from Sechs would always stay back and let him go to the memorial stone alone. He'd been grateful because he could get emotional out here, furious, sad, or anything in between. He'd wonder why he survived alone, or how he would enact his revenge. Never what would come after that act, just getting there. Today, he also had to worry about what the truth of the tragedy was, how his cousin was going to react, and what his friends would do. He knew without asking that they would at least walk over with them.

"Do you want to eat an early lunch or wait until later?" Vishnal asked once the ship was shut down.

"Let's just go," Doug said, not sure if he could eat now. Or even later, there was too much else to worry about. Maybe when they were on their way back to Selphia.

"Yeah, let's go," Sven said quietly.

The town was a short walk from the airfield, although it hardly looked like town now. It was still smashed to piles of rubble on the ground with none of the old structures left standing. Not only that, but nature was reclaiming the land with an abundance of grasses, bushes, and flowers growing where stone houses and streets once stood. There were even a few saplings of trees that were taller that he was. Even the memorial of Medritarc was covered in trumpeter vines and tall grasses. Before anything else, they cleared the dark stone pillar of the plants trying to hide the marker.

It was a smoothed flint obelisk, eight feet tall with four sides. Even with that size, there wasn't enough space to carve in all the names of those who had died either in the prolonged siege or in the godly attacks that ended it swiftly. Instead, the side facing the air field stated, 'In Memory of Those Lost in the Siege of Medritarc and Telliarc, Summer 84 Year 1603 to Autumn 27 Year 1605. You are loved and greatly missed.'

At a loss for words, Doug didn't say much as they set the wreath and poured some of the beer on the memorial. None of them said much, making him wonder what they were thinking. Maybe about what he was thinking. He wanted to keep that to himself, but not being sure of the truth of the matter kept bothering him until he couldn't keep quiet any more. "Damn, I wish I knew what really happened here," he said, standing up from where he'd been crouching.

"Um, weren't you here?" Sven said, seeming as pale as when he'd come out of the armor. He'd been slowly gaining normal color to his skin from working out in the sun, but his nerves were getting to him today.

"I didn't see it because I was in the trade tunnel, that's why I'm still here now," Doug said. "The Sechs soldiers who captured me at the time didn't know what happened either, just that a massive down burst of wind crushed the whole town in one fell swoop, without warning. The only clue we had was a hostile spirit hanging around that said it was a servant of the divine wind."

"But that's Ventuswill," Kiel said, puzzled. "Why would she have something out...?"

"I don't know, but I was going to kill her for it!" Doug said, not caring for a moment who heard it. "That's why I moved into Selphia in the first place; the empire had trained me to take her out even though I was brought in as a prisoner. But then lots of things have been happening lately that make me doubt that it really was her. Like how she reacted to the return of you Amber, and the other three, that didn't work with what I thought. A goddess who cares that much for individual mortals seems really unlikely to go destroy another inhabited town."

"She really wouldn't," Amber said, sounding unsure of things and upset. She wasn't even looking at him, just at her feet.

"Um, there's also the fact that she couldn't do this," Vishnal said. "I hate saying this, but even if she is a goddess, she's not as powerful as others. But she would be reluctant to kill anyone; she cares too much about mortals to do that."

"Right, and she's never been able to leave the lands of Selphia without growing terribly ill," Kiel added. "I'm pretty sure that's why Leon became the first guardian over a thousand years ago. In spite of that, she's lived a really long time for one of the Native Dragons. She wouldn't be able to fly or cast a spell this far from her home at her age even if she was as strong as she should be."

Then those doubts were real. This wasn't something Ventuswill was capable of doing, either in means or intent. "Yeah, I started realizing that after Lest did his miracle that one day," Doug said. "I'm such an idiot for believing the guys that were out to destroy my home. Maybe they did, but I don't know what went on anymore. I don't know what I'm going to do now... I swore I'd get revenge on the one who did this, but now I'm back to not knowing who could have done this."

"I did," Sven said, his voice strangely emotionless.

"You couldn't have done it," Doug said. But even as he said it, he was reminded of things Sven had said. He'd known both towns were destroyed by a wind that could only be called on by a god, saying it was due to some super weapon the empire had and was bragging about. However, the Sechs had never used such a weapon again when they could have smashed Selphia just like this if they still had it. People said that the Executioner armor was one of the strongest weapons the empire had in its hands. And Sven had been possessed by the old divine wind when he'd been freed.

"These towns started attacking the Sechs Empire because I had been taken there against my will," Sven said with almost no emotions. How could he be like that? "The emperor confirmed the power of the Sparkling Fountain due to the level of runes in me, leading him to attack back. I was the start of that war and with Selphia taking me in now, the empire might start another war because of me. I was horrified and called on any god to help me escape the Executioner to deny that. And, I was answered by the divine wind dragon Storgane. He thought I was worthless, but he used my despair, the armor's power, and something in the fountain to wipe out these towns with a deadly wind. Then we got lost in the mountains for five years and all I could think about was that day I killed almost everyone I knew and loved."

That was the name of the previous divine wind, the one that was supposed to be dead. But he couldn't consider that mystery right now, not with Sven how he was. "That wasn't your doing because you weren't in control of the armor," Doug said.

"I was still right here watching it done with my own hands," Sven said, still in that unnerving monotone despite the terrible things he was saying. Before Doug could even see him put his hands on the battle scythe, Sven had it out of its clasp and unfolded in front of him. "I couldn't stop it then, couldn't stop it before, couldn't stop it ever, so it must be my doing and my fate to destroy everything before me."

'Sven!" Doug shouted, trying to get some sense in him. But his cousin had already dashed over to him with shocking speed, a violet afterglow following him as he brought the scythe up to cut him down. He barely got his sword drawn to block the attack. "Snap out of it!"

His face an emotionless blank, Sven kicked him over onto the ground and immediately started another attack. Doug wouldn't have been able to block that in time, but he still brought up his arm reflexively. A magical shield of a silver sheen appeared between them, breaking Sven's attack without hurting either of them. That seemed like Kiel's work. Then Vishnal somehow appeared behind Sven and slashed at his neck with both of his swords. Doug's heart was racing between thinking he was going to die and then thinking Vishnal had killed Sven.

However, Vishnal's blades hadn't even touched Sven, not a hair on his head cut. The blankness in his eyes was replaced by a look of pure terror and guilt. "N-no, I won't kill you!" Sven said in a panic, then bolted into the ruins.

"Beware the runes!" Vishnal called, already sprinting after him.

"Are you okay?" Kiel said in worry, coming to his side and offering a hand up. Amber came over too, frightened and crying.

Doug took the assistance, feeling shaken in that brief fight. "Didn't get hurt," he replied, wanting to go running after them too but his legs were weak. "****, what happened there? It was like he was possessed by that armor again even though it's scrap metal now."

"I don't know, but I don't think he really was out to kill you either," Kiel said, grabbing a bag that Vishnal had left behind. "What about you Amber?"

"That was scary," she said. "S-sorry, I don't fight. But, um, are you going to hurt Ven?"

Doug shook his head, though he wished again that she hadn't come. "No, I promise I won't. If she had nothing to do with this, there's no reason to."

It at least made her smile. "Good, I thought you were a good person and you are. I know Sven is too, since he wants to protect people. That didn't seem like him. We should go find them and make sure he's okay."

"Ready to go after them?" Kiel asked

"Yeah, let's go," Doug said, taking the bag he'd brought for the offerings. They hurried towards the town, Doug trying to keep with Kiel's pace and Amber flying overhead to see if she could spot them.

Before they got past what had been the front gate, Kiel grabbed his arm. "Whoa, watch it," he said.

"What?" Doug asked, slowing some.

"There's a lot of bad looking runes in the air here," he said in worry, touching his forehead as if to refresh a spell. "It might be dangerous, but at least the sun's out. That should help. We can go, but if I tell you to avoid a spot, it's because of the runes."

"All right, then you lead the way," Doug said. He wouldn't be able to tell bad runes from good, much less see them.

It shouldn't have been hard to find Sven and Vishnal in the ruins. They were both tall guys who'd be easily seen among the crushed buildings. However, the slower pace he and Kiel had taken had been just enough for them to lose them. It took a bright flare spell from Vishnal and some overhead guidance from Amber to let them find the two of them, down in the tunnel that led to Telliarc.

Sven had dropped his scythe and was leaning against the tunnel wall with his arms wrapped around himself. Vishnal was a bit further down the tunnel, apparently keeping watch for trouble. Leaving that to him, Doug went over to his cousin. "Sven, it wasn't your doing. You didn't want to kill anyone, which is a lot better than what I was up to."

"S-sorry, Doug," Sven said in a completely different voice than he'd had a little bit ago, overly emotional. But that at least was more like him. "They said the armor's mind was dead, but it was back with me for a moment. Maybe it'll always be with me if I have the machinery, but I can't even breathe without that."

"That was Storgane's influence, not the Executioner's," Vishnal said, like it was a fact he didn't question.

"It felt like him," Amber agreed.

That didn't encourage Sven much. "Whichever one it was, I couldn't stop it from taking over."

"Then we've just got to find some way to make sure these crazy spirits can't take control of you," Doug said. Then he looked over at Kiel. "That can be done, right?"

He nodded. "I'm sure it can. You do have an abnormally nonexistent magic defense, so boosting that with armor should make up for it."

"Do you have to put it like that?" Doug asked, a little annoyed but it wouldn't be the first time Kiel blurted out something without thinking how it'd make someone else feel.

"Oh, sorry, that's just, that'd be a good thing to try," Kiel said, his cheeks turning pink at realizing it.

"If that's the problem and a possible solution, I'll do what I have to," Sven said without much energy.

Kiel smiled, trying to make up for his comment. "I can help pester Bado until he agrees to make it right. Or you could ask Frey. I hear she's got a blessing price that's crafting in general, so she should know how to counteract spirits with armor or accessories."

"We should get out of here," Vishnal said suddenly, coming back to them. "There's some spirits down the hall..." he stopped while looking up the stairs.

Doug looked up there himself in time to see a familiar looking creature, a ghostly dragon head with eyes of burning hatred. It laughed cruelly as the air itself began to shake. Instead of leaving, they were forced to head further in the tunnel as a mound of rubble was thrown onto the stairs. Darkness grew as they were trapped underground.

A/N: From this in-story date on, Leon Karnak will also be referred to as Darryl's Tower as Lest explained. It's a fun joke, but since I gave Leon the same name as the tower, there are points where clarity is needed.

Small bit of errata: I changed the name of one of the languages Leon knows to the in-game name of Ath. It comes up infrequently in the game, but I got a chance to check it by taking him to the monument in the Water Ruins. Fortunately, it had only come up once up to this point.