Author's Notes: So my dog is still alive for now, but probably not for all too much longer. Even the cats are paying more attention to him, but we've figured out how to get him to eat again. I don't know whether to hope that he passes during spring break, before it, or after. By the way, partway through this chapter is when we found out that he's got cancer.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Legaia.
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Chapter 37: Deep Fog
Shera sighed as she went over her armor in the pre-dawn light. The other three were still asleep. Gala was snoring on the other side of the room, making a glass on the nightstand next to him rattle. Vahn and Noa both slept peacefully.
"You needn't worry quite so much, Shera. You went over your supplies with the others last night." Shera sighed again as Mule reminded her that her nerves were the reason she was up already.
"I know. But I can't sleep." She kept her voice quiet, so she could avoid waking the other three. She was still in her sleep clothes, her blanket draped over her shoulders. The room was chilly, but she couldn't see her breath.
"Why don't you go see if the innkeeper is up yet? Helping her may help you calm down." Shera took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, her fingers stilling on her chestplate. Then she took another, and another, until she felt calmer.
"That sounds like a good idea." Shera set down her chestplate and changed into the clothing she'd wear under her armor that day. She moved quietly, and closed the door behind her with barely a click as she headed into the common room.
The innkeeper was awake, and looked surprised to see her. She tried to direct her to sit, but Shera moved to help in the kitchen. The innkeeper's wife blinked a little at her and pointed her towards a pile of vegetables that needed to be cut up.
"I couldn't sleep," Shera explained quietly. The man nodded with a slight smile, accepting that. He didn't insist on talking. The two of them just worked quietly as the innkeeper tidied up the common room.
By the time breakfast was ready, Gala was up and looking groggy. He looked surprised at Shera's presence, and even more so at the fact that she looked wide awake. The two of them ate quietly, until Vahn came out.
"Morning." Shera waved a fork as Gala greeted Vahn. Vahn blinked at the two of them and sat to serve himself from the dishes on the table. "Is Noa still asleep?" Gala's answer came when the girl walked out of room they had been sharing for over a week.
"Good morning." Noa yawned as she walked over, and stretched before sitting down to eat. "Shera, did you start going over your armor before coming out to eat?" Shera nodded, putting another spoonful of whatever it was she'd helped make for breakfast in her mouth.
"So we got the seedling yesterday...Who wants to go with me to pick up the Soru bread?" Noa immediately volunteered for that when Vahn asked. "Alright. Shera, Gala, will you make sure we have a safe way to carry the seedling without it getting crushed." Shera and Gala both nodded at that, and Vahn bolted down his breakfast, feeling suddenly more awake. Noa ate only part of hers before she bounced to her feet excitedly.
As the two of them headed out the door and up the stairs to the casino, Shera finished her food off and started to stack up the dirty plates. Once she had most of them cleaned up, she took them to the kitchen. By the time she got back, Gala was done and was cleaning up the rest of the dirty dishes.
Between the two of them, they managed to get one of the satchels emptied and started to figure out how to carry the genesis seedling so that it wouldn't get crushed in a fight. They filled the other satchel with healing supplies, and only then realized that they didn't have a way to carry the eight loaves of Soru bread.
"We're back!" Vahn and Noa had returned from the casino. "They gave us another bag to carry the bread in. It's not all that good, though, it's already ripped a bit." Shera sighed a little at that as she walked out into the common room.
"Still, it solves a problem that Gala and I ran into. We have all of our healing supplies in one satchel, so we don't have to dig around in the one with the seedling. We're still going to have to be careful, though." She ran her fingers through her hair with a sigh, and went to look for the innkeeper so she could braid her hair.
By the time Shera's hair was done, a few people from Sol had come to wish them well. One of them even brought an old map of where the Sage's Chests could be found. Shera took the map as well as the satchel with the Genesis Seedling in it. Gala had four boxes of what was probably food pressed on him as they walked through the small crowd and into the Mist.
While the clammy feeling of the Mist was unpleasant, the lack of chatter felt like fresh air to Shera. She walked in the middle of the group, using her spear to keep her balance, with the Genesis Seedling pulling her to the other side. She consulted the map as she walked, and paused at a landing to squint at the paper. Mule lit up helpfully to give her more light.
"The first one should be on this level here." Shera gestured towards the door she stood by, an inn that was likely the one the innkeeper they had been staying with had been jealous of. Noa came trotting back up the stairs to lead the way into the decrepit inn.
It didn't take very long to find the Sage's Chest, laying open. Vahn set a loaf of Soru bread in what looked like a tray and closed it. All of them jumped as a machine's humming started, and looked at each other with wide eyes.
"Uh, right. These boxes are apparently hooked up to machines…" Vahn shrugged, and peeked over Shera's shoulder to look at the map. "Looks like the next one is down a level."
Each level seemed to have at least one of the boxes. Sometimes they needed to look around a bit before they found the box, but by the time they made it to the statue that had halted them the last time they'd ventured so far down, the cloth bag that had been carrying the Soru bread was empty. They didn't poke around too much around where the Sage's Chests were, maintaining the privacy of the people that had once lived there.
The door to the strange room was still hard to open, but the rumble of machinery working echoed in the room now. Once again, Vahn found the switch by accidentally stepping on it, which made the machine hum even louder. The four of them waited for a moment to see what would happen, and Gala opened his mouth to say something just as steam hissed out of some tubes. The four of them backed up, wary.
A rumble from outside the room made Shera poke her head out the door. The statue that had been blocking the way rotated and backed up into a part of the wall that had parted like doors. The rumbling stopped as soon as the part of the wall that had moved slid back into place.
Steam was filling the front of the room, and lights flickered on either side of what looked like a control panel. Slowly, an image of a man in a white coat appeared appeared in the steam, wavering as the currents of the air moved the steam. A sound was coming from the machine. It was unintelligible at first, but eventually it sped up to the point where they started to recognize it as words.
"...Mmooo-o-ost impre-ssed!" The words broke up a little, but they were still understandable. "You, who solved my riddle! Don't be scared! I am Dr. Usha." Shera exchanged glances with Gala as Noa greeted the illusion. It had to be an illusion, because the man could still be seen through. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance! Don't be alarmed, this is a mechanical device. It isn't the real me. I know not whether I will still be alive by the time you hear this message. I recorded this message just after sealing the Sage's Gate. This I did to protect the Warrior's Square from the approaching Mist and its cohorts. If I am lucky, I will survive the Mist long enough to meet you. Proceed with the Genesis Tree seedling, heroes! Drive the Mist from Sol!" The sound of metal on metal sounded, and the image flickered and faded, steam ceasing to come from the vents in the machine.
"What a strange machine," Gala said in the quiet after the machine had ceased running. "To mimic the sight and sounds of a person? I've never heard of such a thing."Shera shrugged a little at that and adjusted her satchel, sticking her hand into it to make sure that the seedling hadn't been crushed.
"The farther north we go, the more things we encounter that are strange to us. I imagine things here used to be even stranger. But the way is clear now. We can continue." The four of them left the little room and started down the stairs again. There were several levels with no doors before they reached the bottom of the staircase that wound all the way to the roof of Sol.
It was a very fortunate thing that the lowest floor of Sol was fairly straightforward. The path to the Warrior's Square went through the library. Gala lagged behind as they walked between the shelves, looking curiously at the old books. Shera got distracted as well, pausing as she saw a set of books with the words 'History of Sol' printed on their spines.
"We can come back to look at the books later. We need to get to the Warrior's Square still." Gala and Shera both exchanged looks and caught up to the other two. Vahn was right, the books could wait. Though, when Shera glanced at the history books again, she spotted one that didn't look like it fit and tugged it off the shelf, shoving it into her satchel so she could look at it later.
As they left the library section, Shera had to jump backwards to keep from getting hit by a spike of stone. Vahn immediately moved to attack it, and Shera frowned. She could have sworn she'd seen statues that looked just like it in Ratayu. Looking around, she saw more statues, and frowned as she realized that all of them were likely Seru. She'd heard when she was younger that Seru looked like stone when they weren't active.
The Seru that Vahn was fighting faded in a shimmer of light that sunk into Meta, and the next closest 'statue' woke up to move again. Shera sighed through her nose and stepped forwards to help fight this time.
By the time they were through the hallway that connected the library to the Warrior's Square, each of them had a new Seru power in their grasp, and a newfound hatred of stone-based Seru. Shera had called up Orb to heal them all so that Vahn wouldn't have to use his own energy to heal them all. Gala had silently pulled out one of the leaves that helped with headaches and handed it to Shera for her to chew. She sighed, but accepted, mentally wishing that he wasn't able to read her so easily. Even summoning a single Seru left her with a light headache.
They finally reached what looked like a more metal shrine than the ones that had been near the other Genesis Trees in the past, and Vahn paused long enough to scoop up three bottle and another Pheonix pendant and tuck them into the supply satchel.
"Is it me, or are we still going down? Doesn't it seem a little odd that the stairs ended but we're still going down?" Shera turned her head, and yelped as something clanged over her ears, making them ring so badly that she couldn't hear, or keep her balance. The other three took out the strange human-like creature dressed in purple and gold robes that had ambushed her. Vahn had to call on a Vera so she could hear and walk normally again.
"Well, that was something we've never seen before," Gala said with a faint smile. "We'll have to keep an ear out for more of those, so we don't get ambushed again." Shera growled a little at the joke made at her expense, and started to walk again, using her spear as a walking stick.
They reached a large carved stone not far from the shrine, and paused to look at it. There were two lamps lit in front of it that were still burning, somehow. They looked like candles, but when Shera tilted her head and leaned close to one, she noticed that there wasn't actually a wick.
"Strange. This plaque mentions Hari. Just how old was he?" Shera straightened up at that, and looked at Vahn, who'd been actually reading the plaque. "Didn't the Genesis Tree get moved to the roof a hundred years ago?" Shera frowned a little at that as well, and moved to the small shrine to Tieg, and knelt there, closing her eyes in prayer. Once she was done, she turned to the others and nodded. Gala was frowning a little, but didn't say anything.
As they stepped into the next room, their breath began to show in the air. Shera grimaced and rubbed her arms to try to keep warm, before checking that the seedling was fine. This room looked old, and abandoned.
Plants grew all over the place, moss and a couple of types of vines that had destroyed what must have once been stairs. A beam of light edged into the room, it must have taken them all morning just to get there. The light hit a circle of raised stones around the middle of the room. In various places, there were things that looked like gates made of electricity, and switches that had the color rubbing off thanks to whatever creatures lived down here.
"I'm not sure what I expected, but I don't think it was this," Vahn said softly, and walked forwards towards the staircase. "Why did they make everything metal except for these? It doesn't make sense." He kicked a handrail and it crumbled to dust.
"Symbolism, maybe. I'm guessing we need to hit some of these oversized switches to get that ring of stone down. I doubt it'll be safe to just climb up and down randomly, there's rusted out guardrails sticking up here and there." Shera grimaced at that.
"Why do guardrails have to be the first thing to rust away?" She knew she sounded petulant, but she did have at least a small history with missing guardrails. At least this wasn't as bad as the drop in Jeremi.
"Because they're usually thin metal and the paint on them chips away easily." Shera grumbled as Gala answered her rhetorical question. "Anyway, it looks like not all of the stairs have rotted." Gala pointed, and the group of them started in that direction. Vahn paused just long enough to pull on the switch at the head of the stairs he'd kicked, which made the outer ring of stones rumble and shake as they receded into the earth.
"Oh, so we just have to find the other switch that looks like that one." Noa sounded rather chipper as she looked between the switch that Vahn had pulled and the ring of stones. Meanwhile, Gala was scowling at a gate with the remnants of pink paint on it. Next to it was a switch with a broken handle. Shera kicked it, making it move just a little bit. She growled at kicked it until the gate made a low humming sound and the sparking stopped.
"You know what, let's just ignore the missing handrails. Just be careful where you set your hands and feet." She stepped through the gate anyhow, and walked down the stairs. Her foot dropped through the last step, making her stumble. "Yeah, just ignore the stairs. Just because they don't look rotten doesn't mean they're okay." The others jumped off the ledge to join her, and started to look around for the other switch they needed.
"Oh, there it is, up there!" Noa pointed, and they all looked. On the top level, opposite of the entrance, was the other switch. Shera took a deep breath in and held it before breathing out slowly, calming herself down. Then she started for that ledge, ignoring the gate to climb up next to it and pull the switch. The inner ring of stones grumbled into the ground, and Shera jumped down two ledges to the Warrior's Square, balancing her satchel with the hand that didn't hold her spear.
"Somehow, I get the feeling it wasn't supposed to be that easy," Vahn said with a small smile. Shera growled incoherently instead of giving him a proper reply. She paused just outside the ring of stones with a wary look on her face, slowly sliding into a fighting stance. Her reaction set the others on edge as well.
"Shera, the seedling. We should plant it before Songi and Gaza show up." Judging by Noa's voice, she could feel the same sense of impending danger that had alerted Shera. Gala jumped down to the lowest level as well, looking around warily as he stood next to Shera.
"Oh how sweet, the Moron Brigade still thinks of me." There was a ripple in the air that made the hair on the back of Shera's neck stand on end, and Songi stepped through it, dropping the three feet to the ground without a problem. Shera's stance changed immediately, tucking the free end of her spear between her arm and her side as her other hand steadied the satchel hanging from her shoulder. "I wouldn't want to ruin my reputation by not living up to you morons' expectations." Songi shrugged carelessly as he stepped forwards, a sneer on his face. He stopped in the center of the stone rings, right where they needed to plant the Genesis Tree seedling. Gala stepped forwards, in front of Shera.
"Songi, leave here peacefully. Now." Gala sounded like he was gritting his teeth at he spoke. Ozma crackled a little, mirroring his tension. Noa looked around, still in her stance, but wary.
"What did you do with the old man, Gaza?" Vahn finally set his right hand on one of his swords, standing at the back of the group. Songi turned his attention away from Gala to look at Noa, sneering.
"Hah. How touching, the barbarian girl is fond of the old geezer." Songi's grin grew at Noa's reaction, and he crossed his arms in front of him. "If you want to see him that much, then go ahead! Hey Gaza! We have visitors!" Songi called over his shoulder, and Shera tensed, feeling that the invisible portal was opening again.
A familiar suit of armor emerged from the portal, and landed surprisingly lightly...until Shera noticed that there was more on Gaza than just armor. Her breath left her for a moment, her eyes wide. She had to suppress a shudder as what looked like a tube of something pulsed, leading from the extra spikes on Gaza's pauldrons to under his armor. On top of that, Shera's sense of Gaza, and the thing on him, screamed 'wrong'.
"I'm just as crazy about this geezer as you fools are. In fact, I like him so much that I gave him a custom-fitted Sim-Seru." Shera had to force herself to breath again, and the fury at what Songi had done came rushing in. Gaza had been twisted by the Mist, but he had been a champion of human survival despite it. Songi had taken a man that was so opposed to the Seru that he faced death daily, and forced him to wear the very thing he hated with all his soul. "He's a Super Geezer now, and quite a formidable opponent, too! Now then. I'll leave you to the geezer. If you'll forgive me, I must be going. I'm so busy now! I would wish you good luck, but that won't do you any good!" Songi laughed like he'd made a genuinely amusing comment, and the only reason Shera didn't charge him was because Mule suddenly locked down her rage. She could still feel its pressure, but the feeling of fire in her veins had faded.
Songi flipped up and through the invisible portal with ease. Noa darted forwards to approach Gaza, a worried look on her face, but Gala stopped her with an arm in front of her. Shera took a couple of steps forward, her eyes on Gaza's helm.
"Noa, stay back. He's possessed by a Seru." The Seru on Gaza's back pulsed again, and Shera winced. She felt an echo of an all-over burning pain that could only have come from Gaza. She saw Noa flinch a little as well, and knew that it wasn't just her feeling it.
"He's being killed by it." Vahn sounded like he was physically pained by that fact. Shera swallowed hard as she realized that no matter if they fought him or not, Gaza would die. She had to take a shaky breath and mentally locked away her emotions. She couldn't flinch in this fight, or she would die as well. As it was, she could hear Gaza's breathing echoing from under his helmet. He was breathing far too fast, and the pulses of his Sim-Seru were coming faster - hyping him up for battle.
"He's being worked into a frenzy." She was aware that she sounded very impersonal. She settled firmly into her fighting stance. "We aren't getting out of this without a fight." The sound of a sword being unsheathed made the rest of the group face Gaza and get ready for a fight.
"You would halt my path of carnage." Gaza's voice was thick with pain and the fury that the Sim-Seru Songi had forced on him fed him. "You must die. Prepare to die by the steel of the Astral Sword!" And with that, the fight started.
Songi had somehow changed Gaza's fighting style with the Sim-Seru. The old man's ready stance now looked more like one of those suits of armor that they'd seen in royal castles. It was ridiculously open, and Shera hesitated seeing it. Was it possible that Gaza was doing all he could to keep from fighting at his best? The old man had enough willpower to at least give the Sim-Seru some trouble, she was sure.
The Sim-Seru had also given him some new abilities. When he plunged his sword into the ground, spikes shot up elsewhere in the Warrior's Square up to about hip height. One grazed Shera's right leg, and she staggered with a yelp. She wasn't the only one to feel pain from that attack, though Vahn was already summoning a Seru to heal them. Shera didn't pay enough attention to tell if it was an Orb or a Spoon, she simply felt her flesh knitting back together.
Shera had to dodge suddenly, her instincts telling her when Gaza swung that huge sword of his at her rather than her eyes. She felt the crown on her head hum slightly with the force of the air the sword pulled past it. She breathed out hard, glad that she had actually managed to dodge it. She paused just long enough to let Noa dart past to try to land a proper hit on Gaza with her feet. Her eyes widened, and Shera tackled Noa, both of them just barely ducking under a wave of energy that Gaza had launched at the girl.
"Impressive, dodging my Astral Wave." Shera pulled herself up and made sure that the seedling was still fine, glaring at Gaza. "But luck will take you no farther." Shera moved away from Noa, who was still getting to her feet, and frowned as Gaza let go of his sword and it floated into the air. The bigger spines on his armor bent to point at the floating sword. "Neo Star Slash."
The sword plunged into the ground again, and spikes shot up around each of them taller than they were. Shera staggered, gritting her teeth at the pain. One of the spikes had torn through her inner thigh and bicep, and she had to use her staff to hold herself up. The others were in about as much pain.
"S-Spoon!" Vahn managed to call upon the latest healing Seru they'd come across, and Shera straightened as she felt the wounds heal. Unfortunately, the healing didn't replace the blood she'd lost, nor did it clean and repair her clothing. It didn't completely remove the ache, either.
"Gala! Remember what I did on the roof!" Gala glanced at Shera, and frowned, until a look of recognition flashed across his eyes. Shera turned her attention back to Gaza, and jabbed at him with her spear, keeping his attention on her. When she felt the warning echo through Mule, she darted backwards in time to dodge the bolt of lightning that had come from the Viguro that Gala had summoned.
Gaza yelled in pain as the lightning grounded through him, his armor glowing red. Shera forced herself to not notice the scent of cooking meat and char that suddenly wafted around the Warrior's Square. She focused and stepped in close again, spinning her spear around her hands. Water rushed in its wake, defying gravity and hissing off of Gaza's glowing hot armor with each strike.
Another echo of a warning, and Shera jumped backwards in time to avoid another bolt of lightning. This time, Gaza fell to one knee before pulling himself up with a groan. The veins of his Sim-Seru pumped furiously to keep him from simply collapsing.
Fire burned on Shera's arm suddenly, and she stumbled backwards to avoid another swipe from Gaza. His movements suggested that he didn't even feel his injuries from his now-warping armor, until a person took note that he was now moving like a puppet rather than a warrior. Shera covered her injured arm as she kept Gaza's attention on her, leading him away from Vahn, who was once again starting to summon a healing Seru. She sighed with relief as she felt its effect cool the pain of her arm, and dodged another Astral Wave, feeling it tug and tear the shoulder of her shirt to leave only a tiny cut.
"RAAAAAH!" Gala startled Shera by running past her directly towards Gaza. He slammed his axe down on the old man's helm, and for a moment, Shera was sure that Gala was going to get killed right in front of her. Then there was a creak of metal giving way as Gaza crashed to the ground, and Gala stood there, panting.
A shattering sound occurred as the Sim-Seru separated from Gaza, and the old man fought his armor to sit up. Shera dropped her spear and knelt next to him to help him do so, ignoring the massive sword that lay on the ground at Gaza's feet. Blood was pouring from the places where the Sim-Seru's veins had entered Gaza's body, and Shera could feel just how weak the old man was becoming. She looked up at Vahn as he charged over, her voice caught in her throat.
"The Seru is leaving him." Gala's tone indicated he could tell what Shera could. Gala helped the old man remove his helm, wincing a little at how deep of a dent his axe had left. There was a welt on the old man's head when the ex-monk finally got the helm off.
"I d-dropped my guard..." Gaza's voice was weak as Noa and Vahn knelt next to him as well. "I am...utterly defeated...by the enemy..." Shera sighed at that and set her satchel down so she didn't have to wrestle that at the same time as keeping a dying man sitting upright.
"We never were your enemy," Noa said softly. "We wanted the same thing as you, for the people of Sol to be safe." Gaza didn't seem to hear her, continuing to mumble to himself about how the vow he'd made was broken. When Gaza's eyes finally lit on the four of them, he didn't seem to see them.
"Mar... Theodore...Belde..." The weight of what was happening finally seemed to hit Noa, and she started to cry. Shera adjusted her hold on Gaza as he slumped, and Gala reached from the old man's other side to help her keep him upright.
"Terra, he's dying! Don't let him die! Help him!" Shera felt tears well up in her own eyes at Noa's plea, but she could feel on her own that the old man was too far gone for help. Mule did carry Terra's reply to Shera, though.
"It may be possible to keep his spirit alive." Shera looked at the old man as his breath caught, and then across at Gala, who was looking haggard. A blue glow from Ozma caught her attention through the fog that seemed to have wrapped around her mind.
"Special powers are needed to raise the Genesis Tree seedling into a full-grown Genesis Tree." Gaza lifted his head finally, and his eyes seemed to clear, more than even when they had first met him. In his last moments, the taint of the Mist was leaving his mind.
"Gaza's strong spirit, which fought the Sim-Seru even as it imprisoned him... It's pure and earnest enough to provide the Genesis Tree Seedling with the energy it needs!" Shera felt a flutter of worry from Mule, and knew why. The other Ra-Seru were speaking of Gaza as if he was simply fertilizer.
"He would live eternally in the Genesis Tree here in Warrior's Square, but...It is not right to make this decision for him." Shera nodded at Mule's contribution.
"Old man." Gaza shifted his head to look at Shera. "If we could give you the chance to watch over Sol for as long as it stands..." The old man's eyes gleamed suddenly, focusing on Shera as if she was the only thing holding him to life.
"You speak of merging me with the Genesis Tree?" Shera nodded, surprised that the old man had been able to guess. "Even after I failed to uphold my vow...the least I could do is to watch over the people I failed. I agree." Shera nodded, pressing her lips into a thin line to keep from betraying the maelstrom of emotions she felt. She reached down into the satchel she'd been carrying and pulled out the Genesis Tree seedling. It was somewhat battered, but still intact.
Gala helped Shera settle Gaza into a position he could maintain on his own, cradling the clay pot the seedling was in with the last of his strength. The four of them stepped back and arranged themselves around the old man. Shera stood facing the east, Noa facing the north, Gala facing the south, and Vahn facing the west.
Shera had to wrap a mental fist around her emotions to keep them from spilling out and ruining her concentration. Each of the four held their Ra-Seru towards Gaza. Shera's light flickered as she tried to grip the peace that she'd felt at the other Genesis Trees. Finally, it settled in her grasp as she reminded herself that this was to save an old man that reminded her of someone dear to her. That if she could do this, perhaps she could also somehow save him...
The sound of a pot breaking made her open her eyes, and she stepped back as the Genesis Tree grew, with the only sign of Gaza's presence his oversized sword where it had fallen point-first into the ground. Her grip on her emotions failed, and tears poured down her face. She jumped a little as she felt a hand on her shoulder, and blinked at Gala as the pulse of energy from the Genesis Tree drove away the Mist. A beam of light shot up through the tower of Sol, and the four of them looked up, though they couldn't see much past the ceiling.
The beam of light would be cause for celebration far above them. But for the four of them, it didn't feel right. This victory didn't feel as clean as the others had. The awakening of this Genesis Tree was tainted with the death of a man that had walked a path parallel to their own.
"He still lives...though he sleeps. The transformation has taken a toll on him, but he will watch over Sol." Mule's words were muted, meant only for her. "He chose this. I know it still hurts." Shera nodded to Mule, and took a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself.
"I know." She looked up as Vahn pulled Gaza's Astral Sword out of the ground, and frowned. He turned, noticed her looking at him, and smiled. It looked just as pained as whenever the topic of the wall of Rim Elm came up.
"A swordsman's soul is connected to his sword. This shouldn't stay here, it should be cared for." Shera blinked at that before nodding. Even with a boost in power from his Ra-Seru, Vahn's arms strained to hold the sword up. "I think...we should take it up to the roof, to Old Deez. Gaza wasn't a monk, but surely that wouldn't stop them from caring for the soul of such an outstanding warrior." Shera nodded, and picked up the empty satchel from the ground, before picking her spear up as well.
"We should return to the inn. I'm sure the people of Sol are anxious to see that we're alright." Shera sighed as she looked down at herself. Her shirt was tattered from all of the hits and near-misses she'd suffered, and there was a huge gash in her pants leg. The only new scar was the one on her inner thigh, however. Shera had a feeling it was because the wound had been so large.
Shera rested a hand on the trunk of the tree, and smiled slightly. She couldn't say how, but she felt that the old man was there, recuperating after a long battle. Maybe in several decades, she could come back and speak to him, and hear his voice on the wind.
"Shera. Let's go." Shera turned and nodded to the others, sighing as she realized that they had to climb up to the door again. She ended up needing a boost from Gala to get up each of the levels to the door, because she'd been keeping Gaza's attention on her to prevent the others from getting hurt badly. She didn't miss that Vahn was also walking close to her as they started through the library back to the stairs.
They climbed slowly, and it took quite a while before they saw anyone. Those that they did see looked disoriented, and eyed them warily as they passed. Shera didn't stop Noa from waving to each of them, but she herself focused on climbing the stairs. She didn't want to make them stop before they reached the inn where their belongings were.
"Wow! You really did it!" Cara's voice greeted them around the lower weapons shop, and Shera paused to look up from where she was putting her feet. "You look like you've gone through war, but you did it. Here, lean on my shoulder, I'll help you the last leg of the way." Cara trotted down to them and stood next to Shera, who must have looked the worst.
"Thanks. There's soldiers down below who still think the war is going on." Cara winced at Shera's news, but wrapped an arm around her to help support her weight. "They didn't speak to us, but we overheard them talking to each other as we passed by."
"I'm not surprised. The Mist is why the war ended in the first place. I'm sure you'll have a chance to introduce yourselves to them eventually, but I'd wager you all need some time to rest first." Shera nodded at that, and sighed as she spotted the landing of the inn.
"Yeah, I'd say we do. Shera, if you want, I'll go find that tailor and get you at least a new shirt. That one's probably gonna end up as rags." Shera heaved another sigh at the reminder of just how disheveled she was.
"Oh, you're back!" The innkeeper bustled over to them as the four of them stared at the oddly crowded common room. "Here, this way, these gawkers are all hoping to get a look at the heroes of Sol, but I'm sure you need to get some rest." The woman led them through a back hallway to their rooms before anyone in the common room had time to stop them. Cara simply waved and disappeared into the crowd.
Each of them had a short shower before changing into some sleep clothes. Vahn insisted on Shera going first, and she was fast asleep by the time any of the others were done bathing, despite the racket that was coming from the common room.
When she woke up, everything was eerily silent. She got up and moved to the window between Vahn and Noa's beds. She opened it and leaned out, taking a deep breath of fresh air.
Outside, the moonlight illuminated the landscape for miles. She could see a few rotations of the spiral mountain range around Sol, and the lack of Mist. She set her chin on her arms as she leaned on the windowsill, wondering when the last time she'd actually bothered to enjoy the fresh air.
Mule was asleep, she could tell. Gaza was snoring, and Noa was mumbling in her sleep. Vahn was sleeping silently as he usually did. Shera was the only one awake.
For once, she didn't feel lonely as the only one awake. She closed her eyes and gripped the sense of everything around her, and felt the blaze of life all around her, up and down the tower. There were people still awake in the dance club, in the lower levels of the tower, and up on the roof, but the majority of people were sleeping.
Shera wasn't sure how long she stood there, enjoying the clear night air. Eventually, Vahn stirred, and he stared at Shera for a moment before she turned and noticed him staring at her. Neither of them spoke. It was a long moment before a gust of wind drew Shera's attention back out the window.
"It's late. Are you feeling better?" Vahn kept his voice low. Shera nodded and sighed a little, her brows creasing with a slight frown. Physically, she did feel much better.
"I think I figured out why that hit me so hard. He reminded me of Juno." Vahn winced at that and sat up. His back cracked, and he grunted a little at that. "Sounds like you need to stretch." Shera sounded vaguely amused.
"Probably. I'm a little surprised that you're so wide awake. The moon is still high in the sky." Shera shrugged and took a step back from the window before quietly closing it.
"We went to bed early, so it stands to reason that we're gonna wake up earlier. I'm gonna get dressed and wander around Sol for a while." Vahn frowned a bit at that.
"Do you want me to come with?" Shera paused for a moment at the foot of Vahn's bed and shook her head after a moment of thought. "Alright. Stay safe." Shera nodded, gathered a change of clothes, and disappeared into the bathroom to change. When she came back out, Vahn was asleep again.
Shera stretched as she stepped out of the inn, and turned to start up the tower, tossing her loose hair over her shoulder. She noted that the casino was still open, though the normal racket of games were markedly absent, only the buzzing of the lights coming from it.
She went past the thumping music of the dance club without even pausing, and headed up to the roof. Once up there, she found her way to the center of the gardens and sat, folding her hands in her lap. This was probably the best place for meditation, and despite how she'd been acting in the inn, she felt disconnected from everything. Her head felt like it was floating, and the silence just increased the feeling that nothing was truly real.
She meditated until dawn, and lifted her head at the sound of the morning prayer of the Biron Monks. She didn't move still, not wanting to let go of the feeling of being one with the world, though as the prayer ended and monks started to move among the garden to start tending to it for the day, it slipped away from her like water trickling through her fingers.
She sighed as a rather young monk found her, and flapped a hand at him as he started to apologize while standing up. She waved and started towards the stairs to the lower levels, stretching her arms over her head. It was too early in the morning for anyone but the monks to be up, so she still had some peace and quiet for her trip back down to the inn.
"Good morning! My, you must have gotten up much earlier than either of us." Shera shrugged at the innkeeper's comment and sat down to breakfast, which was as a simple rice porridge. "I figured that after the fight you four must have had yesterday, you'd want something easy on the stomach." Shera nodded.
"Simple is a little better right now, thank you." Her voice was softer than it usually was. The innkeeper frowned immediately, and sat down next to her, turning Shera's head to face her despite the clueless look on her face.
"Something happened down there. You're floating about in a daze, like I've seen soldiers do in the past." Shera blinked a little. Floating around certainly did sound like the way she felt, especially with her mind the way it was.
"...Gaza...We had to fight him. He was being controlled by a Seru, though." The innkeeper's eyes widened for a moment, and then Shera was engulfed in a hug. She blinked, and slowly relaxed. She still wasn't sure why she was being hugged, but it felt much more comforting than sitting separate and dealing with this on her own. At the very least, she could start to process what had happened.
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End Notes: So Shera and I have a similar reaction to grief. Immediate acceptance and then numbness that lasts for quite a while. For Shera it helps her keep moving so she can keep fighting. It does last for quite a while, though.