The moment Eizen set foot on the other side of the river, Edna realized that she had been wrong: things were very different across the bridge. A wave of malevolence crashed down on Eizen's head, shaking Edna in her place within him as he buckled slightly under the weight.

"Aagh!" he cried out, struggling to stand up straight as the malevolence pushed at him, resisting him.

Niko must be close, Edna told him. Turn back, baby brother, we can't face her yet.

"What in the…?" Sadie groaned from behind. "What…is this?"

"It's Niko's domain," Eizen growled in response. "She must be close by."

"Domain…?"

"This is how she was able to…how did you put it? Toss me aside like a ragdoll?" Eizen explained. "I don't know why…why it affects us like this - I didn't feel anything like this the night Niko turned - but…this is what we're up against, why we have to take the trials. We can't fight her with our current power."

Sadie snarled wordlessly; Edna could hear the girl's frustration in her voice. It's because you're wielding a Great Lord's power, she explained to the humans. Using the power of purification also makes it so that malevolence is a lot harder on you than it is on normal humans.

"Still, we can't turn back," Eizen went on, apparently ignoring Edna, and she frowned. "If Niko's causing trouble in Marlind, we can't just leave them to suffer; besides, we have to go this way. Let's just…be careful."

"Don't pretend to have noble intentions, hellion-spawn," Sadie spat. "If you were alone here, you'd run away and save yourself."

Ignoring Sadie - probably because he wanted to devote all his energy to pushing through the domain - Eizen forced his body to take a step forward. With a huff of irritation, Sadie did the same.

No, turn back! Edna shouted. Wait her out! If she sees you-

The Shepherd took another step, not even acknowledging Edna at all, and that's when it dawned on her.

He can't hear me, she realized with horror. The domain's too strong…Zaveid?!

I hear ya, came the wind seraph's voice, his presence reaching a comforting hand out to her. Take it easy. We gotta trust our Shepherd.

But that was extremely difficult to do when their vessel was dragging himself through the domain, one hand on his katana. Stop! Edna screamed. Stop! Turn back! We can't face her like this!

Relax, Zaveid told her. Eizen ain't stupid.

There's a difference between being stupid and being stubborn, Edna pointed out as Eizen determinedly stumbled his way forward, towards Marlind. He's just like his parents.

That he is, Zaveid agreed, but stubbornness always served them well. There's nothing we can do as long as we can't manifest anyway, we have no choice but to sit back and watch. No point in worrying.

How Zaveid could still act so carefree when Eizen and Sadie were forging their way ahead even as malevolence clawed at them from all around was beyond Edna. She felt helpless, and, embarrassingly, a little afraid. Please turn back, she begged, even though she knew Eizen couldn't hear her. Please…you can't fight her…

He knows, Zaveid remarked to Edna. He said as much.

Then why is he still moving forward?! she all but shouted at her Prime Lord.

Zaveid didn't have an answer for this.

There were hellions here, unsurprisingly, though what was surprising was how few assaulted them. Eizen and Sadie fought valiantly without their seraphim, but the toxic domain sapped at their strength; it took a lot of medicine to counteract the effects. Sadie didn't even refuse the gels Eizen offered her as they slowly made their way through the hills, quelling anything that approached them but not seeking battles. Then, as they rounded a stone ridge and the gates of Marlind came into view, the sound of massive wings beating against the air froze the Shepherd and his Squire in place.

"Duck," Eizen muttered to Sadie, pressing against a nearby boulder and creeping into some thick undergrowth. "Hide!"

Sadie followed, and soon the two were hidden but close enough to see where Niko's dragons circled each other around the front of the village. A moment later, Niko's demented laughter echoed across the field, and Edna felt Eizen grit his teeth. She couldn't blame him; the sound was hellish.

"I know you're here, dear brother!" called the Lord of Calamity.

Eizen stiffened.

"I know you can hear me!" Niko went on, her voice mocking. "Come on out! There's no sense in hiding!"

Please don't fall for it, Edna prayed, and though he couldn't hear her, Eizen shrank back, crouching down in the brush to avoid being seen. Above the field, the two dragons ceased their circling to hover in place, and Niko laughed again.

"Running away from your own misdeeds, are you, brother of mine?" she taunted. "Can't stand to watch our little sister die, lest you decide you really do want her to be saved? Perhaps you're learning; good for you!" Even at a distance, Edna could see, through Eizen's eyes, when Niko's grin twisted into a scowl. "But your gesture is in vain!" she went on. "Cellie won't die if you're not there. She'll just remain in the throes of the terminal stage of the Twelve Year Sickness, suffering and unable to move, for however long you're away. You have to watch, dear brother, or she'll endure. You will not escape this lesson!"

Confusion swirled through Eizen's chest, unknowingly matching Edna's own. How can she say something like that? Edna wondered.

How can she ensure something like that, is the better question, Zaveid remarked. Celica was purified, Niko shouldn't be able to have any control over what happens to her, even if the Omega Elixir hadn't worked.

You don't think she's bluffing?

She doesn't sound like it, Zaveid sighed. More likely, there's something going on here that we don't know about.

"So you left her to suffer, but you won't face me?" Niko teased. "What ever do you think you're doing out here, then, noble Shepherd?"

"Eizen, get out here!"

This shout came, not from Niko, but from the hellion who rode her dragon companion. From the back of the dragon that had once been Mikleo, a monster jumped down to the ground, all black and red and vicious spikes. His four muscular arms each drew a blade, daggers in the lower hands, greatswords in the upper hands. Edna felt Eizen's confusion over his sister's words turn to sheer horror at the sight of his father.

"Eizen!" Rokurou shouted, his glowing red eyes blazing as he turned around and around in place. "Don't you dare hide! No son of mine should be cowering away from a battle!" Only a few rags covered his waist and legs, fragments of his precious kimono; besides that, he was all black skin stretched taut over solid muscles, glowing red veins spiderwebbing across his body, spikes in place of his hair. "Get out here, son, and face us like a true Rangetsu! Every moment you spend hiding is a disgrace to our family's honor!"

A faint sigh carried to Eizen's hiding place on the breeze. "Grab him," came the distant sound of Niko's command.

Mikleo swooped down and snatched Rokurou up in his claws. Rokurou cried out and struggled, but the beast's grip was firm as he flew up to hold Rokurou in front of his daughter.

"I did not command you to seek him out," Niko told her father sternly. "You are to await my command before you act. Remember, I am the Lord of Calamity; you are my subject."

"Your mother was the Lord of Calamity once too, and even though we fought together, I never obeyed her," Rokurou sneered. "I don't obey anyone's orders! And my son-"

"Is learning his lesson," Niko cut him off. "This is all according to our plan, so long as you don't blow it. What happened to all that discipline and restraint you tried to teach us growing up? The time to act will come; it is not now. You know this."

"But-"

"Do you want me to take away this gift I've given you?" Niko asked dangerously. "You know what will become of you if I do."

At this, Eizen's father stilled. "No…" came his quiet grumble, barely audible to his son. "No…I don't want that…"

"Then behave," Niko huffed. "Wait your turn."

"…Yes, Niko," Rokurou growled, and he sheathed his blades; the dragon Mikleo loosened his grip, and Rokurou clambered his way onto the monster's back once more.

"We will leave you to your devices, dear brother!" Niko shouted. "Whatever it is you think you're doing, you are free to do as you will. But know that every moment you spend out here, our sister is at death's door, a threshold she will never cross so long as you're away. Until next time!"

At last, the two dragons dove down to gain momentum before swinging upwards into the air, flying away. Slowly, the domain eased, until it was completely gone. Free of the burden, Eizen stood, panting.

Baby brother? Edna asked. Can you hear me? Eizen? Hello? Hellooooo?

The Shepherd shook his head, as though to discourage a bothersome fly.

Eizen!

"Edna?!" Eizen gasped. "Is that you?"

Finally. Edna emerged from within her vessel to stand in front of him. Without a word, Zaveid joined her.

"What happened to you, noble seraphim?!" Sadie exclaimed. "Why did you not aid us?!"

"Sorry, babe," Zaveid shrugged, "we would've helped you if we could've. Niko's domain suppressed our ability to manifest - that's what a powerful malevolent domain can do."

"And Niko can control her domain," Eizen added. "She did when we fought Celica. But…I didn't feel it on the night she turned, though I know she would have wanted to stop us…"

"Oh, she was exuding her domain the night she turned," Edna informed her baby brother. "Getting through it was a struggle for me. The thing is, malevolent domains don't have much effect on normal humans, but now that you carry the power of purification with you…" She frowned, searching for the right words.

"Think of it like this," Zaveid piped up: "Your existence stands against everything malevolence is. In a way, being a Shepherd - or a Squire," he added with a nod to Sadie, "makes you almost half-seraph. Malevolence doesn't want you around, so it'll try to push back against you, because it knows you'll destroy it if given the chance. That's the best way I can think to explain it, at least."

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up," Edna agreed. "But once the other Great Lords add their blessings to the one you carry from Maotelus, their combined power will act as a shield against malevolent domains, both for you and for the seraphim you carry with you. We will be able to manifest under even the most intense of darkness, and your movements won't be inhibited by the impurity in the air."

"Yeah…I guess there's no getting around it, huh?" Eizen sighed.

"Duh," Edna grunted.

With a shake of her head, Sadie stepped forward. "Well, domains aside…what on earth was all of this about just now?" she asked. "How did the Lord of Calamity know we were here? And…and what was that about leaving your sister to die?" she demanded of Eizen.

"It's odd," he mused, frowning. "She knew we were here, but she doesn't know that Cellie's been cured."

"We don't know that she knew we were here," Edna pointed out. "She could have been bluffing."

"No, I don't think so," Zaveid said. Edna looked at him, and was surprised by how grave his expression was as he shook his head. "She seemed like she knew, really knew. Something's not right…she's toying with us. I don't like it."

"But she thinks Celica is still sick," Edna pointed out. "She can't be all-knowing. I'm more inclined to believe she was bluffing. It doesn't make sense that she would leave us alone if she really knew we were here."

"And she only started talking to us the moment we were close enough to hear her?" Zaveid countered. "That's a mighty big coincidence…and in my experience, if something seems like a coincidence, the truth is that you don't know everything that's going on."

"She knew Celica wasn't going to die," Eizen said, "but she seemed to think she was still sick. That's what I don't get. Why would she believe Cellie's going to live if she doesn't know Cellie's been cured?"

"Cured of what?!" Sadie shouted. "Answer me, hellion-spawn!"

"Our youngest sister had the Twelve Year Sickness," Eizen explained quickly. "Zaveid gathered four of the five ingredients needed to make the only cure, an Omega Elixir, and I got the fifth just after Niko turned. After I purified Cellie, the disease's progression had been accelerated, but it wasn't too late to save her; we made the elixir, and now she's okay."

Sadie shook her head, and Edna realized the human girl was entirely out of her depth. Maybe we shouldn't have brought her, Edna thought; she's getting to be more trouble than she's worth. She hasn't even armatized yet.

"To answer your question, Eizen," Zaveid sighed, "I wondered that myself. You purified her, Niko shouldn't have any sort of hold on her now, so I can't think of a way she could keep Cellie alive at death's door indefinitely."

"Which brings us back to my theory: she's bluffing," Edna stated. "Seriously, that's the only thing that makes sense."

"Maybe," Zaveid muttered. "But then what was that about taking a gift away from Rokurou? It's obvious she's holding something over him…"

"What does that have to do with Celica being sick?" Edna asked pointedly. "You're assuming the two things are related for no reason I can see."

"Listen, none of this matters," Eizen stated abruptly. "What's important is that we have a duty to attend to, and we can't do anything about Niko as we are now."

"That, and the sun's going down," Zaveid added, gesturing at the darkening sky. "Even if we weren't going to lend aid to the other towns, we'd have to stop in Marlind anyway."

"Right," Eizen nodded, and he strode for the gates without another word.

"He learned this from you, you know," Edna growled at Zaveid as they followed the Shepherd.

"What's that?"

"Not thinking."

Zaveid chuckled. "Pretty sure Rokurou taught him that," he remarked. "Honestly, I wish he took after me more."

In response, Edna jabbed him in the side, maybe a bit harder than she should have.

"Ow! The hell was that for?" Zaveid demanded, though he smiled.

A panicked gasp from behind them caused Edna to roll her eyes; she couldn't take it anymore. "Yes, surprise surprise, seraphim can swear," she snapped at Sadie. "What part of 'we're people too' do you not understand?"

"Easy, Edna," Eizen said over his shoulder as they neared the village. "We've all had a long day, and we're not done yet." He went to open the door, but apparently, it was locked. "Hello?" he called, knocking one gloved fist on the gate. "Is anyone there?"

Instantly, a dozen soldiers appeared atop the village walls, all with bows drawn, arrows pointed at the visitors. "Who's there?" called one of them. "Identify yourselves!"

"I am Eizen Rangetsu-Crowe, the Shepherd," Eizen declared. "This is my Squire, Sadie Halloway, my Prime Lord, Zaveid, and my Sub Lord, Edna. The Lord of Calamity was here a few minutes ago, and we were hoping to lend our aid to anyone she might have hurt. Do you need our help?"

"Help?" came the same voice, a hint of hysterical laughter lacing the man's tone. "If you're the Shepherd, then we could damn well use your help! Open the gates!"

Slowly, the massive doors to the village groaned open, and Eizen stepped through them, only to stop short with a gasp. Edging around from behind him, Edna quickly understood why: what looked like ropes of malevolence crisscrossed the entire village, thick cobwebs of darkness that made taking even a few steps seem like it would be difficult.

"What happened here?" Eizen gasped as Sadie and Zaveid joined him and Edna across the threshold and the gates closed behind them.

"We were hoping you would know," came the same voice that had called to them from the wall.

Everyone turned to see a man in a cloth mask approach them, a bow slung over his back.

"These strands have been growing ever since the Lord of Calamity first killed Shepherd Sorey," he explained, pulling down the mask to reveal a tanned, plain face. "We can't cut them with weapons. The Lord of Calamity claimed that if we joined her, they wouldn't bother us anymore, but…"

"I'm glad you didn't listen to her," Eizen told him. "What's your name?"

"Name's Jason," he replied. "I'm what I guess you'd call the captain of the guard around here, not that we can do much. And…" He sighed heavily. "I think you'll be disappointed by how many people want to give in to the Lord of Calamity's demands. I mean, have you seen that girl? She's controlling two dragons!"

"I know," Eizen said, "and I understand why people would want to listen to her - even the seraphim are hiding in Elysia, afraid to act. But please, don't worry; I'll clear this mess, and then I'll go on my way to put a stop to her."

"We will," Sadie corrected, stepping forward.

"How's the Lord of the Land?" Zaveid asked Jason. "I find it hard to believe this could happen within his domain."

"He…became sick, when the Lord of Calamity first came to us," Jason said hesitantly.

"A dragon?"

"No," Jason answered, "but not himself, either. What's strange is that he hasn't started to mutate into a drake of any sort, he just tells us he's weak and sore."

"That is strange," Zaveid agreed. "We'll look in on him and see what we can do."

"Please clear the streets first," Jason begged. "Some people can't even leave their homes anymore."

"We will do what we can," Eizen promised. "You should get back to your post in case of hellion attacks."

"Thank you, noble Shepherd," Jason said, bowing, and he pushed through the black webbing in the direction he'd come.

"Well," Zaveid said slowly, "this stuff shouldn't be too difficult to clear up."

"Silver Wind, right?" Eizen asked. "How do I use it?"

"How do we use it?" Sadie corrected.

"Sadie, babe, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you can't," Zaveid told her. "Shepherd's power only, though he can take you with him when he uses it, if it's needed to cross a river or a chasm or phase through a barred door."

"Phase through a door?!" Eizen exclaimed.

"Only one with bars," Zaveid said; "only something the wind could get through. When you use Silver Wind, you become the wind for a moment. Here, I'll show ya…"

He disappeared to rest within Eizen, but Edna stayed outside. While Eizen presumably got some instructions on how to use his seraph's power, Edna approached Sadie, who was looking on indignantly.

"What did you expect?" she asked the human tonelessly. "You're not the Shepherd. Did you think being a Squire would make you able to do everything he can do?"

"I worked my whole life for this," Sadie growled. Then she glanced over, and, apparently realizing who she was talking to, flinched and changed her tone. "I'm sorry, Lady Edna, but I thought that, as a Squire, I was allowed to share in the powers granted to the Shepherd by the holy seraphim."

"For the most part, you are," Edna shrugged, deciding not to go over the whole 'holy seraphim' thing again for now, "but you're not our vessel. Eizen is. Only by being a seraph's vessel can you channel our powers directly."

Sadie looked away, and Edna got the distinct impression that she wanted nothing more than to storm off and sulk. Still, she didn't, and Edna supposed she had to give the girl points for showing some amount of restraint.

A whooshing sound caught her attention, as Eizen used Silver Wind for the first time, breezing through a tangle of malevolent webs, which burned away in his wake. He looked back and smiled, and Edna smiled with him…only for both of their smiles to fade as the severed ends writhed and began to regenerate.

"What the hell?" Zaveid exclaimed, emerging from Eizen.

Frowning, Edna poked one of the sticky black ropes with her umbrella, only to almost lose her balance as her weapon went right through the gooey-looking darkness. "Hey, look at this," she piped up, prodding the point of her umbrella through it again. There was no resistance of any kind, as though the web simply wasn't there.

"It's made of malevolence," Zaveid mused. "Probably only as physical as it wants to be, like us."

Edna turned to the Squire still waiting at the entrance as the golden-haired girl cautiously approached the stuff herself, prodding at it with her ax and meeting no resistance, then holstering her weapon and putting her hand through.

"Ugh." Sadie shuddered and pulled back. "It may not be as thick as it looks, but it feels gross."

"Also to be expected, since it's made of malevolence," Edna commented.

"In any case, I can't blame the locals for not wanting to walk through it," Sadie went on. "But if it's not meant to physically obstruct anyone, what is it for?"

"That's a good question," Eizen told her, and he settled into his thinking stance.

"…What are you doing?" Sadie demanded of him.

"He's thinking," Edna told her. "This is the pose he takes when he's thinking really hard about something."

"Why would that be?" Sadie asked.

"Dunno," Edna shrugged, "but it works for him, so who are we to question it?"

As though he hadn't heard them, Eizen lifted his chin and took a breath as he broke the formation of his hands. "Maybe all of this is a by-product of something else," he suggested. "A side effect, not the actual affliction. That would also explain why Silver Wind can't burn it away without it coming back."

"Makes sense," Edna said, and she remembered something that Sorey had had to deal with on his own quest when he passed through this town. "There's probably a source somewhere, if not multiple sources; we should look for those and burn them away."

"Where'd you get that idea?" Zaveid asked her.

"Just a guess based on a mess Sorey had to clean up here five hundred years ago," Edna replied. "Come on, Eizen, let's start looking."

With that, Edna retreated into her vessel, as did Zaveid, and Sadie pushed her way through to where Eizen had landed. Though he could have made the journey easier for himself and his Squire, Eizen also shouldered his way through the semi-corporeal webs of darkness. From within him, Edna could feel the cold, jagged way the insubstantial ropes slid across his skin, like jelly that was full of thorns.

They walked through the malevolence-choked town, across a tiny stream to grassy paths between buildings that seemed still and silent. Though the webbing was thick, there was no sign of any place where it seemed concentrated.

"I know I'm just a Squire and not worthy of the Shepherd's power," Sadie spoke up from behind after a few aimless minutes, her tone bitter, "but if we're looking for a source, maybe we should choose a strand and try following it?"

Everyone, mark this moment on your calendars, Edna told her companions: Sadie Halloway just made her first useful contribution as a Squire. Yes, that would make more sense than wandering around the village hoping to stumble across something.

You're always so harsh, Edna, Zaveid teased as Eizen nodded in agreement and started following a single rope through some trees. Can't you just once tell someone they did well without making it sound like an insult? Hell, even Velvet praised her companions for their contributions when she was the Lord of Calamity.

That's according to the woman herself, and the guy who married her, Edna pointed out. We have no idea what she was really like back in the day.

No…your brother mentioned it once or twice, too, Zaveid told her.

Why are we having this conversation? Edna snapped, indignant at the mention of her older brother.

Because we could have been wandering all night without Sadie's advice, and you managed to find a way to attack her for it.

You don't know what an attack is, dummy.

"Stop!" Eizen shouted, planting his boots firmly. "Please, guys, stop arguing with each other while we're trying to focus. I could need your powers any minute."

There's nothing stopping you from using them if you need to, Edna pointed out, but she knew what the real reason was: behind them, Sadie was stumbling over tree roots and weeds, muttering to herself, too quietly for Eizen's ears - and therefore Edna's - to hear just then. Shielding her thoughts from the Squire and Prime Lord for a moment, Edna added, She's going to have to learn to deal with it eventually, baby brother.

I know, he replied privately, but you've pushed her more than enough for one day. Any more is too much, too soon. Can you and uncle Zaveid at least agree to a truce until tomorrow?

Whatever… Opening her thoughts to Zaveid, she relayed the message, and he accepted.

Around a few more trees, they at last were met with the sight of what they were looking for: a thick, pulsating blob of darkness. It didn't have any sort of animal face, like the clots Sorey had had to burn away, Edna noted, but with all the slimy webs coming out of it, it was clearly either a source or something the malevolence was trying to feed. Bracing himself, Eizen drew on the power of his Prime Lord and swept through the glob, trailing white fire in his wake; behind him, there was an unearthly shriek, and as he turned, he saw the source dissipate, followed by all the strands that had been attached to it as the flames of purification ate along their lengths.

"That's more like it!" Eizen grinned.

Edna smiled within him. It really gets the job done, that spinny mist thing, she remarked, the comment aimed at Zaveid but audible to everyone else.

Oh yeah, I can get the job done, baby, he boasted.

Rolling her eyes, Edna sighed. Well, it's a more interesting response than Dezel gave, at least.

Huh? Dezel?

I said the same thing to him while we were taking the Wind Trial five hundred years ago, Edna began.

"Guys." At first, Edna thought Eizen was trying to break up a fight, but as she expanded her awareness, she saw that even though the source had been burned away and all the strands attached to it were gone, there was still a fair amount of black webbing surrounding them, if not as much.

More than one source, she told Eizen. Pick another strand and follow it.

Night had fallen by the time they reached and burned away the next source, and there were clearly still more to destroy. Luckily, the village was relatively small, and Sadie happened to catch sight of a source other than the one they tracked next on the way. It became easier and easier to guess what direction to go the more sources were purified, until it seemed like every single rope in the town was coming from one, specific, distant location.

Ugh, Edna thought as they followed the almost-clear path up a hill, no longer hindered by blockades of black webbing. Not this place again.

"What's up here?" Eizen asked Edna as she and Zaveid emerged to walk alongside the Shepherd and his Squire.

"It used to be a museum," Edna explained. "It had just been abandoned when Sorey came through here. People tried to fix it back up, I think, but by then it had a reputation for being haunted."

"Haunted?" Eizen repeated, surprised.

"Mostly by hellions," Edna told him, "plus a normin or two who liked to play around. It wouldn't have worked in recent years, now that everyone can see hellions and seraphim, but the Ages before you were born were a different time. In any case, I think it's in ruins now."

As they crested the hill and reached the crumbled remains of a stone wall, Edna's prediction turned out to be true: nothing remained of the building but a few rotten timbers and fallen slabs of cement. Above the remains, however, there was a massive, pulsating, writhing clot of malevolence.

"I don't think this one can be destroyed with Silver Wind," Zaveid remarked, taking a defensive stance.

"Agreed," Edna concurred, readying her umbrella.

The gross thing twisted around, like a maggot turning to look at a piece of food, its many long strands suspending it in the air. This wasn't just a clot; it was a hellion of some sort, one made purely of malevolence itself. Not only that, but in addition to all the webs it had cast over the area, it managed to produce new tendrils, which it used to whip at the Shepherd and his allies.

Even though the dark worm was a massive target and couldn't move, it proved quite daunting, its malleable body twisting away from physical blows and pounding the surroundings with its tentacles. After a few hits, Eizen armatized with Zaveid and started blasting the thing with seraphic artes, though this was hard to do when the monster kept knocking him over while he tried to charge them. Sadie was faring very poorly, and Edna jogged around the battlefield over to her, blocking an oncoming attack with her umbrella.

"You can armatize too, you know," she told the Squire.

"I don't know how!" Sadie exclaimed as the blob turned its attention to Eizen and Zaveid for the moment.

"Speak an allied seraph's true name with deliberation and intent," Edna instructed. She hesitated, unhappy about baring something so personal to such a bigoted human, then told her, "Zaveid's true name is Fylk Zahdeya, and my true name is Hephsin Yulind. Use mine now, and do something useful for once."

"A-As you wish, Lady Edna!" Sadie stammered. Frowning in concentration, she declared, "Hephsin Yulind!"

Armatizing with a human she actively disliked was new for Edna. The process itself was normal, her semi-corporeal essence merging with the human's flesh and life force to form something more powerful than either individual, but once the merge was finished, she felt disjointed, not quite trusting Sadie to wield her power effectively. When Sadie stared at her armatized hands, and the giant's arms that moved in accord with her own, Edna felt that she physically had to shake the girl out of a trance.

You don't have time to gawk, she told her. There's a battle going on. Or do you want me to do it for you?

Lady Edna, I…Forgive me, Sadie managed, and she clenched her fists. You're right. Let us destroy this beast together.

Sadie ran forward and punched the squirming blob of malevolence with Edna's power, and Edna let her. Merged with Sadie, one thing about the girl was very clear to Edna: she was committed to fighting hellions. Almost…unsettlingly so; the determination with which she attacked didn't seem normal to Edna's passive eyes.

With two armatized humans attacking it from different directions, the creature, though versatile, proved unable to focus on both, equally-strong threats, and the tide of battle turned. Though Sadie could have been more of a team player - Edna couldn't help thinking that Sorey and Rose would have worked to keep the thing distracted from each other, striking in turn so that no one got hurt, while Sadie just attacked with no thought for her Shepherd - the combined effort was effective enough. At last, the slimy creature screamed, writhed, withered, and burned away, leaving the Shepherd's team victorious.

As Eizen de-armatized, and Edna tried to separate herself from Sadie, the strands of malevolence that had led them here also burned away, revealing that this really was the last source of the sticky webs. When Sadie finally severed the bond and Edna was herself again, there was no trace of the black ropes that had obstructed the village.

"Not bad," Edna told Sadie passively. "You're competent, I guess."

"Thank you, Lady Edna," Sadie told her; "it was an honor to fight with you."

Edna rolled her eyes.

"Looks like our job here is done," Eizen remarked, walking over to his Squire. "Marlind should be okay, at least for now. Let's get some rest at the inn, then head for Rolance in the morning."

Though Sadie didn't verbally agree, she nodded instead of snapping at Eizen and calling him 'hellion-spawn', which Edna hoped was progress. They headed back down the path from to ruins of the museum, and Edna thought about what they'd found here.

"…Zaveid," she muttered eventually.

"Yeah?" The wind seraph hadn't retreated to rest inside Eizen, and he stepped sideways as they walked to match her pace.

"Have you ever seen malevolence manifest into its own physical forms like this anywhere besides here?" she asked him.

"Hmm…" he mused. "Now that you mention it, no. Have you?"

"Like I said, something similar happened in this town during Sorey's quest, but I've never seen malevolence clot together on its own like this anywhere else in the world," Edna replied. "But then, I don't travel much. I figured you would know better than me."

"No, I haven't seen anything like this anywhere else," Zaveid said; when Edna glanced at him, she saw that he was frowning in what looked like serious concentration. "Strange…Why would such a phenomenon be exclusive to this area?"

"Those are some big words," Edna remarked drily. "You sound like Mikleo."

"Hey, I'm not just a pretty face," Zaveid smirked, the moment gone. "Although, it might be hard for me to stay so eloquent when I've got two lovely ladies keeping me company every day…"

"Quit it," Edna told him. "You're upsetting the Squire."

This was mostly just an excuse to jab at Zaveid, but it wasn't untrue; beside them, Sadie's face had gone red, and she was in danger of tripping as she stared at Zaveid with wide eyes.

"Sadie," Eizen murmured to her.

"Huh?" She turned, still blushing.

"You'll have to excuse Zaveid, he's…like that," Eizen said apologetically.

"Like what?" Sadie's voice came out a squeak, and the four of them came to a stop just before reaching the village proper.

"Well…um…" Eizen frowned, clearly trying to find words that wouldn't upset the human girl too much. "He's…uh…How do I put this?…um…"

"A gross pervert?" Edna supplied at last.

"Well, I mean," Eizen said quickly, "I was going to say…um…Hmm…"

"A gross pervert?" Edna repeated.

Resignedly, Eizen laughed. "I guess there really aren't any better words for him, huh?" he admitted.

"What the hell?!" Zaveid exclaimed. "You two are ganging up on me now?! What is this?!"

"Aw, you know we love you anyway, uncle," Eizen teased, clapping the wind seraph's shoulder.

"I would like to hear that from Edna herself," Zaveid said pointedly, aiming a nasty grin at Edna.

"In your dreams," she said dully.

Zaveid winced slightly, and she felt bad for a moment, remembering what dreams actually meant for him. Then he recovered and grinned at her. "Many times," he smirked.

Edna opened her mouth to retaliate, but was cut off by a wordless cry from Sadie. Turning, Edna saw that the golden-haired girl had clasped her hands over her ears, screwed her eyes shut, and was now shaking her head manically.

"No, no, no no no no no," she murmured to herself. "I am not seeing this, I am not hearing this. I am not seeing this, I am not hearing this, I am not seeing this, I am not hearing this, I am not seeing this I am not hearing this I am not…"

As she continued her frantic self-talk, Eizen sighed. "I tried to tell you," he remarked to his seraphim. "It's all too much, too soon. We need to go easier on her."

A feeling Edna hadn't felt in a long time blossomed in her gut: pure and utter disgust. "Humans," she growled. "They have so little time in this world, yet they're so weak and fragile; they take forever to learn anything, as if they have time to waste being stupid. I can't believe a few semi-decent ones made me forget how much I despise their race as a whole."

"Edna…" Eizen said softly, his golden eyes wide as he looked at her.

"You're okay, baby brother," Edna shrugged. "But I despise earth-dwellers on a fundamental level, and Sadie here is everything I hate about them."

Sadie's mumblings turned into nervous laughter, and she lifted her head. "Well, of course I didn't hear that!" she said with far too much enthusiasm. "The holy seraphim have no reason to…that is to say, they don't…they can't-"

"Well now hold on!" Zaveid exclaimed, any trace of amusement vanishing from his face as he stepped forward.

"Zaveid," Eizen began, putting a hand on Zaveid's arm, but incredibly, the Prime Lord shook him off.

"No," he said sternly. "We're clearing this up right now. Listen here," he said, glaring at Sadie. "Have no reason to? Sure, I'll allow for that - we aren't made of flesh, we don't breed, that's fair. But can't?! What the hell are they teaching you kids in school these days?!"

"Er…" Sadie's face, once red, had gone pale in the face of a seraph practically shouting at her.

"For seraphim, the mind controls the body," Zaveid growled. "What we believe about our bodies becomes the reality of our bodies. Anything humans can do, so can we - eat, sleep, bleed, drown, if we believe we can do it, then we can. Why shouldn't that apply to other things? In fact…" Appallingly, he actually reached to unbuckle the belt around his waist. "If you like, I'd be more than happy to prove it to y-"

Snapping herself out of her horrified shock, Edna gripped her umbrella and stabbed Zaveid in the side, hard enough that he might need a gel to heal the injury, then stabbed him a few more times for good measure. "Too far," she told him coldly once he was curled up on the ground in pain.

"Yes, uncle, even for you, that was way over the line," Eizen agreed, making no attempt to help the wind seraph as Zaveid pushed himself to his feet, gripping the injuries Edna had left on him. "Please apologize."

"But-"

"Apologize," Edna commanded, glaring at him as wrathfully as she could.

"Alright, alright!" he exclaimed, holding up his hands. He turned to Sadie again and said, albeit begrudgingly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that was brash of me. But look, I'm trying to make a point here-"

"And why is it so important that this point be made?" Edna demanded.

Zaveid turned on her in what actually looked like surprise. "What, you expect me to just stand back and let this little bigot question my manhood?" he exclaimed.

Edna blinked at him, long and slow. "Seriously?" she asked, her voice flat. "That's what this is about? You said it yourself, we aren't made of flesh; why is this a point of pride for you?"

"Because it is!" he all but yelled.

"Look, it's late," Eizen began, "let's just-"

"No," Zaveid snapped, turning again to glare at Sadie, "we are not going anywhere until we clear this up. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Unsurprisingly, Sadie appeared to be frozen, though the complexion in her cheeks alternated between several different colors in quick succession, visible even in the moonlight.

"Why is this so hard to get?!" Zaveid demanded. "I've heard of seraphim doing way more unlikely things just because they believed they could!"

"Like what?" The question came from Eizen, and Edna stifled a sigh. Why did you have to ask? I just want to go to bed…

"Well, I once heard a story about a fire seraph who believed he'd die if he ever touched water," Zaveid replied, "since, y'know, water extinguishes fire. He lived in the desert to the west his whole life, avoided any moisture like the plague…He was a good guy, or so I hear, even Lord of the Land for a while. Then one day, a friend of his decided to help him understand that he was being silly about the whole thing, so she splashed him with a bit of water, and poof!, he winked right out of existence, just because he believed he would."

"Really?" Eizen asked, his golden eyes wide.

"Well, I wasn't there, I can't say for sure," Zaveid shrugged, "but I believe it. I've heard crazier. Like the story of this one seraph lady who believed she could get pregnant, so she did - for real, morning sickness, baby bump, she even went into labor. Then, while she gave birth, as the baby came out, it just evaporated into thin air, since it wasn't part of her body anymore."

No longer was Sadie the only one staring at Zaveid in mortified shock. Silence stretched for a few long moments before Edna composed herself enough to speak.

"That," she said, "is so incredibly messed up, in so many ways, I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"I won't argue with that," Zaveid conceded. "But the point here is, we can do whatever we believe we can do. So don't you go questioning my manhood again, you hear?" he added dangerously to Sadie, whom Edna was not entirely sure was even hearing a single word that was being said. "Or I swear I'll-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Edna stabbed him again, careful to hit the same spot that was already healing, hard enough to re-break the skin. Red trickled down his side, and she stepped back as Zaveid clasped a hand to the wound.

"Case in point," Edna said flatly: "seraphim bleed. Can we go now?"

Zaveid gave Edna one glance, then nodded as he gripped his wound tightly before withdrawing his hand to hold out to Sadie. "See?" he pressed. "I'm bleeding, because I believe I can. Now do you get it?"

That Sadie had any response to this at all was almost as shocking to Edna as some of the things Zaveid had said: the girl reached out a shaking hand and touched the red splotch on Zaveid's outstretched palm with her fingertips. Bringing her hand to her face, she rubbed the liquid between her fingers once, all her focus on the dark smear. In her eyes, Edna thought she could see the complete devastation of someone who was desperately trying and miserably failing not to face proof that everything they had once believed was a lie.

"I…I'm sorry for offending you, Lord Zaveid," she eventually managed to croak. "I will…I will avoid causing such offense in the future."

"Good enough for me." Zaveid shrugged and disappeared to rest within Eizen. Exhausted, Edna followed suit, not envying the humans who still had to walk to the inn.

"Sadie," Eizen said at last, "we…we've all had a long day, alright? Let's go to the inn and get some sleep."

When he put a hand on her arm to guide her along the path, the fact that she didn't resist was almost enough to make Edna worry.

~o~

The innkeeper was startled by their late-night knock, and even more so by the fact that the village was suddenly clear of the webs of malevolence that had choked it for so long. He tried to insist that they stay the night for free, but Eizen was adamant about paying for their rooms and some food.

"Just because I'm the Shepherd doesn't mean people didn't spend time and resources making this food and cleaning these rooms," he said, "and they have a right to be paid for their work."

Sadie didn't protest, but Edna had a feeling the girl was just in too much shock.

When at last they went to bed, Eizen shared a room with Zaveid, and Edna shared one with Sadie. Exhausted though she was, Edna watched the Squire as Sadie collapsed onto her cot and almost instantly fell asleep, mulling over her contempt for humans like this one as she drifted off herself.

I can't believe it took this long for me to meet a human who reminded me of why I hate them so much, she thought. Still…I can't say she's not taking it well, all things considered. Maybe she'll be more tolerable tomorrow.

Day came, and Edna let Sadie sleep as long as possible before the boys were ready to go and she had to rouse the sleeping human with a few prods of her umbrella. A short time later, they were stepping outside, to a sunlit Marlind with streets clear of malevolent cobwebs. But the moment Eizen set foot over the threshold of the inn, Edna emerged in alarm.

"You feel that?" she asked Eizen, who had stopped when she manifested.

"Feel what?" he asked.

"Pay attention for a minute, baby brother," she hissed. "Not everything you have to worry about is right in front of you."

Eizen frowned, and Zaveid emerged as well. "I feel it too," the wind seraph informed Edna gravely. "You're not imagining it."

"I didn't think I was," Edna sniffed, though his support did come as a relief for some reason.

"I…I think I know what you mean," Sadie spoke up. "The webs are gone, but…"

"But there's still malevolence here," Eizen finished. "A lot of it."

"Didn't that guy yesterday say that the Lord of the Land was sick?" Edna asked. "He must still be, if there's still malevolence here."

"We should check on him," Zaveid stated abruptly. "This way."

With that, the Prime Lord took the lead, a bewildered Shepherd and Squire behind him, though Edna followed readily. The path through the village to the old museum crossed a clearing in front of the tree that housed the local Lord of the Land, one massive root of which was poked right into the middle of the space, covered with patches of flowers…flowers, Edna noticed as they approached, that seemed very withered.

"Hey, Isan!" Zaveid called, approaching the massive root, and he reached over and knocked against the bark. "It's your buddy Zaveid, come on out!"

A light emerged and manifested as a seraph with short, black-tipped, ruby-red hair and a robe patterned with red flames.* Edna blinked; the last she'd heard, the local Lord of the Land had been an earth seraph named Rohan, but there had evidently been a transition of power in the last five hundred years. Where Rohan had been stern-faced and hook-nosed, almost middle-aged in appearance, this fire seraph looked about as physically young as Zaveid did; while Zaveid was all tanned muscles and rugged masculinity, however, this new Lord of the Land was fair and slender, with delicate, almost princely features - not quite effeminate, but still much more pretty than handsome.

The moment the fire seraph took form, he fell to his knees, even as he looked up at the wind seraph who had called on him with amber eyes. "Zaveid," he all but rasped, his voice as gentle and delicate as his face. "It's good to see you, my friend."

"You two know each other?" Edna asked, surprised.

"Yup," Zaveid replied, "ever since I set out to get a World Tree Leaf for Cellie."

"Huh?"

"Hello?" Zaveid gestured at the massive tree. "World Tree? Do you need a map?"

An alarmed gasp drew Edna's attention to Eizen, whose golden eyes were the size of teacups as he looked up and up and up, his jaw slack.

"What?" Edna asked him. "Did you not notice the massive tree right in front of you until just now?"

"I…I thought this root was the tree," Eizen admitted, "and I thought it was big even then. This is…"

"Yes, it's a very big tree," Edna said tonelessly. She turned on Zaveid and added, "It took you two years to obtain a World Tree Leaf. What were you doing all that time?"

"Well, it's not so simple," Zaveid explained, almost apologetically; "all World Tree Leaves come from this here tree, but not all the leaves on this tree are World Tree Leaves. It's a very rare, very valuable bud that unfurls into the kind of leaf that can be used for an Omega Elixir. So, I spent my time here, waiting just in case one grew, with Isan here helping me keep an eye out."

"Were you successful?" Isan asked Zaveid before Edna could make an exasperated comment. "The girl you were trying to save…how is she?"

"All cured!" Zaveid told him with a grin. "She runs around so fast you'd think she was a wind seraph herself now."

"Good," Isan sighed. "I am very glad to hear that."

"Now enough about me," Zaveid said, his smile fading; "what's going on with you? You don't look so good."

"I…There is nothing you can do, my friend," Isan said, shaking his head. "It is beyond your power."

"Guardian seraph Isan," Eizen said formally, taking a step forward, "please, whatever happened here, tell us. We burned away all the malevolence in the village last night, or so we thought; what did we miss?"

"Burned away…?" For the first time, Isan really seemed to register Eizen, with his Shepherd's cloak and marked glove. "You…are the Shepherd?"

"I am," Eizen nodded. "My name is Eizen Rangetsu-Crowe; the child Zaveid was trying to save is my youngest sister. This is Sadie Halloway, my Squire, this is my Sub Lord, Edna, and you obviously know Zaveid, my Prime Lord-"

"Prime Lord?" Isan gasped, turning to Zaveid in shock.

"That's me!" Zaveid grinned. "The Prime Lord doesn't have to be a fire seraph, you know, and since our last Prime Lord went and got turned into a dragon, someone had to take the job. Now, what was that you were saying about something being beyond my power?" He crossed his arms and smirked.

"Tell us what happened here," Eizen told Isan, not too forcefully. "Please. From the beginning."

"As you say," Isan sighed. "A little over a month ago, the Lord of Calamity came here, claiming to have slain the Shepherd of legend, Sorey - a statement later confirmed by messengers from Ladylake. She told us all that we had to stop resisting malevolence, that it was a cure for all of life's ailments and we would all live together in peace if only we embraced it. I tried to push her away, but the power she wielded…I have never seen such power, not in my thousand years of life. We were fortunate that she left us without destroying everything she saw, but…she did say something about the holy tree. She said that it was so big, and so pure, that it would take too long if she waited for our permission to corrupt it. She did something, left some curse that burrowed into the ground and began attacking the roots." He grimaced. "My vessel…is dying. Even now, the poison saps at the roots, deep within the earth, far beyond anyone's power. And I…I can do nothing…"

Zaveid cursed under his breath, and Eizen turned to Edna. "Can you do something, Edna?" he asked.

"Me?" Edna blinked. "Why me?"

"If it's that deep within the ground…well, you're an earth seraph," Eizen shrugged. "If anyone can reach this curse, you can."

Edna sighed heavily. "I can try, I guess," she conceded. "At the very least, I can assess the situation."

Closing her eyes, Edna deliberately planted the point of her umbrella on the ground in front of her and rested her hands on it. Seraphim usually tried to live normal lives, but she had had more experience than most communing with her element; she drew on it now, reaching into the earth that was her home, her kin, her flesh. There was the earthpulse, of course, which converged under the great tree in an earthpulse point, but her focus was on the physical.

Roots reached down, down, down into the ground, spreading so far that Edna wondered how much of the world was unknowingly covering their farthest reaches. For a good ways down, as well, there was nothing - the roots were healthy, the soil was pure. But then…

She gasped as she reached the level the malevolence had burrowed into. Hundreds of thousands of globs of malevolence, just like the one she had helped destroy the previous night, squirmed and gnawed at the roots. They were shockingly widespread; not a single root wasn't covered in the gross creatures.

"I see them," she whispered, her eyes opening even as she still saw what lurked far below. "The blight. There are so many…"

"Can you do anything?" Eizen's voice sounded distant but clear.

Turning her face in the direction of her Prime Lord, Edna lifted one hand and held it out. "Zaveid, give me your hand," she told him. "I need the flames of purification."

Though her double-vision, Edna expected to see a glimpse of Zaveid smirking, hear him make some sort of snide comment, but she must have conveyed the situation effectively, because he restrained himself. Instead, he nodded once, lit a white ember in his hand, and clasped her outstretched palm, pressing the little silver flame against her skin.

Power flooded through her, and she focused it into the earth, asking the land to take it and pass it on down. What humans didn't understand was that all things came from mana; what was perceived as barren of power was only ever dormant, and Edna called on the sleeping power within every rock, every grain of dirt, every layer of soil to channel her energy, her will. Down, down, down she reached…and the closer she got to the roots, the more the scope of the mess became apparent. By the time she reached one single glob of malevolence to burn away, a monstrosity the size of a small house, she was already despairing. Destroying it wasn't too difficult in and of itself: the earth sang with the power she lent it, and the creature shrieked, withered, and dissipated; but the sheer number of the things made destroying them all seem like an impossible task. It would take at least a month of sustaining this to even make a difference, she thought.

Suddenly, a memory arose at the back of her mind, a memory of Mikleo musing about an unbreakable seal, a distant memory that was suddenly so clear, she couldn't be sure she wasn't accidentally accessing the Earthen Historia:

"…earth, water, wind, and fire. Since they form a cyclical relationship, if all four could be forcibly concentrated together in one spot…they would form a loop that would churn out tremendous amounts of mana."

A Mana Wheel, Edna thought. No…No, we don't have the means to make a Mana Wheel, but…maybe a Mana Chain. We have the elements we need: Zaveid is wind, I'm earth, there's water mana in my umbrella, and Isan is a fire seraph…all we have to do is…

"Isan," she gasped. "Take Zaveid's other hand. Now."

"Why-?"

"Just do it!" she snapped, still channeling white fire into the depths of the land.

Isan struggled to his feet and stumbled over to where Zaveid was granting Edna his power. Zaveid reached out to him, and they clasped hands.

Something shifted. Focusing, Edna channeled the elements together, and instead of directing them at the malevolence attacking the tree, she pushed the energy into the tree itself, the tree that was Isan's vessel. Take it, she told the tree. Take this power, and send it to the one who lives within you.

The tree responded, soaking up the energy and then passing it back into Isan. She heard the fire seraph gasp, then Zaveid as it passed to him, and then it hit her: power, the same power she'd sent but multiplied by four.

With the loop established, Edna only had to hold on, as mana flowed through her umbrella into the earth, then to the tree, then back to Isan, then to Zaveid, then her, through her umbrella and into the earth, into the tree again…Quickly, the power built, and Edna focused all her energy on keeping control of it. Once there was enough, she tried to slow down its flow. This was far harder than simply maintaining it, but so long as she wasn't trying to hold it in place, it wasn't impossible. Stay in the tree, she tried to tell it. Burn away the darkness attacking it. Then continue through the loop again, and come back stronger.

Power flowed, washing through the tree before returning to Isan. With the first pass of this, the black worms squirmed; at the next surge, they screamed, audible only to Edna as she communed with the earth; then they began to shrivel, then burst like gross bubbles. Once they'd all popped, Edna tried to keep the power in the earth around the tree, urging it to cleanse the stains in the dirt.

At last, there was no more blight. But this presented a new problem: the power wanted to keep flowing, continue in its circular motion, and Edna needed it to stop. After assessing it for a minute, she surmised that there was only one thing she could do: she waited for the power to be in the earth, heading for the tree, then forcibly threw her umbrella to the side, breaking the loop.

What felt like a wall made of pure energy smacked into her, throwing her back several feet; she couldn't withhold a cry as she was tossed against the ground, though she couldn't hear herself. She lay there, her ears ringing, her whole body screaming with pain; voices called her name, but they sounded distant and muffled, as though she was underwater.

The pain sharpened as someone touched, first her arm, then her head. She wanted to tell them not to, beg them not to, it hurt too much, but she couldn't form the words as she was propped up against something. Then, a solid object was pressed against her mouth, liquid trickling down her throat, and after a moment, she recognized it: a life bottle, the step-down, man-made version of the all-curing elixir made by Maotelus, vastly inferior to the Great Lord's medicine in every way but effective enough to bring her vision into focus.

"Edna?" Eizen's worried expression swam in front of her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm…fine," she groaned.

Not fooled, Eizen reached to his pouch and pulled out a red blob that he shoved into her mouth. She chewed three times, then swallowed the apple gel, a little strength flowing through her limbs. When Eizen fed her a second and third gel, she ate them too, the pain easing until she was merely sore.

"Thanks," she mumbled at last, pushing herself unsteadily into a sitting position. "I'm okay now. Just…really tired."

"You did it." She looked up to see Isan staring at her with wonder, and it didn't escape her that he was now standing upright, no longer weak or exhausted-looking. "I don't know what you did, but…the curse is gone. You carry power far beyond your years, Edna."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she grumbled. "I'm older than Maotelus." Standing up was almost impossible for her, but someone put her umbrella in her hand, and she leaned on it as she got to her feet.

"Oh." Isan blinked in surprise. "Well, I…I think even Zenrus would have had difficulty accomplishing such a feat."

"I didn't do it alone," Edna shrugged.

"What the hell did you do?" Zaveid asked her. "I know I was part of it somehow…"

"I made a Mana Wheel," Edna replied. "Well…more like a Mana Chain. A Mana Conveyor Belt. You can thank Mikleo for it; he may be as good as dead, but his nerdiness lives on. With your wind, my earth, the water in my umbrella, and Isan's fire, I was able to make a loop of energy that generated enough power to burn all the malevolence away. We would have been here for ages otherwise, and we don't have that kind of time."

"So it wasn't just power, but ingenuity as well," Isan breathed. "Lady Edna…I…I don't even know what to say. I can never thank you enough for what you've done. I will spend the rest of my life indebted to you."

"If you owe us a favor, there is something you can do for us," Edna remarked, already feeling steadier.

"Oh?"

"In case you haven't noticed, we're short a fire seraph," she told him. "We need one if we're going to get the full power of the Shepherd and fight off the Lord of Calamity. You'll do."

"Me? No, no, Lady Edna, I wouldn't be of any help to you," Isan said, shaking his head emphatically. "I am no fighter, and…and I don't have even a fraction of the power needed to fight this Lord of Calamity. I would be nothing but a liability to you. For the sake of your safety, I must decline, and remain here."

"Useless," Edna scoffed. "Everyone's so scared of this girl - most of the seraphim in the world are cowering in Elysia."

"I am sorry," Isan repeated, "but I cannot fight this beast. I have seen the power she wields; it is far, far beyond me. Surely you can find someone who will serve you better than I would."

"She's not that big and bad," Edna told him. "The girl who became this Lord of Calamity is only thirteen years old."

"Thirteen…? No," he insisted, shaking his head again, "you must be mistaken."

"I'm not," Edna stated. "I know her well. Her name is Niko."

"Forgive me, Lady Edna, but this Niko cannot be the source of the power that nearly destroyed the holy tree," Isan said. "There is a greater force at work here, something truly ancient."

"Would fifteen hundred years old be ancient enough?" Zaveid questioned.

"Perhaps," Isan replied slowly, "but…I don't think so. It feels…older than that. Much older. In any case, the one you believe you are fighting is merely a pawn in a bigger game, I know this for a fact, as well as I know that I cannot stand up to what you are facing. You will do better without me."

"Whatever," Edna sighed. "At least try to keep Niko from pulling anything while we take the Shepherd's trials, okay?"

"I will do everything in my power to resist her," Isan avowed. "She took me by surprise last time, but this land is under my protection; I won't fail again."

Exhausted, Edna turned to return to Eizen and rest.

"Lady Edna."

The sigh stopped Edna short, and she turned back to face Isan, whose gazed was fixed intently on her.

"Please, do be careful," he told her. "You wield tremendous power, and if anyone can stop this menace, it's you, but…well, I will pray for your safety. It is the least I can do."

And without any warning, he walked up to her, took her ungloved hand, and raised it to his lips.

Edna felt her cheeks flush, and from behind her, Eizen chuckled. "I think he likes you, big sis," the Shepherd teased.

"Hmm." She tilted her head, trying to fight down the heat rising in her face. Everything about Isan was entirely the opposite of Zaveid, from his build to his manner, and though she'd never really gone for pretty boys, Edna decided she could deal with his delicateness given its contrast to the pervert who wouldn't leave her alone to this day. "At last, a man with some taste," she remarked. "A proper gentleman too." Proud of herself for keeping her voice expressionless, she allowed herself a small smile. "Maybe once this is all over and the world is safe from the Lord of Calamity, I'll come back and visit you. If you offered to take me out to dinner, I wouldn't say no."

It was Isan's turn to blush, deeply, but he bowed his head. "It would be my honor, Lady Edna," he told her.

"Hold on a minute!" Zaveid exclaimed, stepping forward. "I saw her first! What happened to the men's code of honor? I have dibs!"

Not even turning, Edna jabbed him with her umbrella. "Seriously?" she asked. "Dibs? No one has dibs on me. I am a lady, and I can be with whomever I choose. Of course," she added sarcastically, "centuries of me rejecting you is definitely proof that I'm somehow your property."

Zaveid growled, and Isan looked between the two of them in confusion.

"Don't mind him," Edna told Isan, favoring him with another smile. "He doesn't know when to quit. He has no claim on me."

"I…I see," Isan managed. He cleared his throat, then bowed to them. "Be well on your way, all of you, I wish you all the luck in the world. You will need it."

And with that ominous declaration, the Lord of the Land returned to his vessel.

Silence stretched across the clearing for a long minute, and then Eizen took a deep breath. "Well," he sighed, "I'm glad we were able to help the rest of Hyland. But we can't stay here any longer."

"Indeed," Edna agreed, "we have all of Rolance to worry about, as well as the trials. Let's go."

Not waiting for permission, Edna retreated to her place within her vessel and shut the external world out as Eizen started walking, glad to rest. When Zaveid took his own spot not far from her, she could feel him radiating with grumpiness and jealousy.

He's going to sulk about this for days, she thought. And she smiled to herself.


*Originally, I was using Rohan, the Lord of the Land in Zestiria, for this story; the change to an OC is entirely retroactive, the original readers of this fic are used to Rohan. The trouble was, in order for this story to work, the Lord of the Land in Marlind needed to be a fire seraph, and though I originally just changed things so that Rohan was a fire seraph (which admittedly came about because I misunderstood his design at first), an OC works much better. Apologies to anyone who came back to reread this story after seeing the original version (or who saw any reviews that contained any mention of Rohan) and will have to adjust; rest assured that no important story points are changed by the character being an OC instead of Rohan. Also, credit goes to penname "alphawolf2196" for the name of the OC in question.