Another update:) After this I'll have to start updating other fics. I have a few ideas for Misfortune and The Princess and her Knight along with a couple of my IS fics. Good thing too since after this comes the battle of Tarbes, and fight scenes always slow me down to a crawl. I also might have to make a full flashback chapter about Manus and Izalith, so I need to decide where I'll place that.

Alright so before I make this chapter: One reviewer asked whether Dark Souls II would affect this story or not. The answer to that would depend on the lore DS II will have. But so far I'm thinking of adding the 'Gradual Hollowing' mechanic - The more you die the more decayed and monstrous your character begins to look. Other than that we'll just have to wait and see since I already have plans for the lore we've already uncovered at this point.

Okay, enough gabbing:D For some the end of this chapter might stretch the 'Willing Suspension of Disbelief' while to others it might not even matter given the Manus segments already breaking canon/being close to breaking canon. Still I hope you all continue reading.

In the countryside roving bands of orcs were always a frequent problems. Stronger (and not to mention smellier) than the average human, the pig-like monsters often raided towns that were too cut off from the main settlements. Using the element of surprise and their superior numbers they would kill whoever stood against them and kidnapped the children. It was rather well known that the orcs could feed on all types of meat and yet for some reason the sub-humans often thought children were the best to feed on.

Of course there were other monsters like Vampires, Ogres, Goblins and even the occasional Dragon, but for the most they kept to themselves or were far too territorial and rare to be considered a constant threat. With the exception of Vampires, who oftentimes kept to themselves in order to avoid scaring off potential prey or were too rare in number, most other wild creatures and firstborns were territorial and preferred not to deal with most humans save for absolute necessity.

One such group was currently camping out in front of a large ruin, dancing and roaring in front of a fire with what looked suspiciously like a small humanoid body roasting at its center. They had raided a village about a week ago and, though the protectors and guards managed to kill of a good number of them, they were able to make off with at least a few children. Oh well, the less there were of them the more food that went around.

Unfortunately, the number of food they had was diminishing and this was their last child. One orc put down his axe and sniffed the air; he would have to go hunting along with a few others come tomorrow morning, "Ruaahhhh!" He let out a pig-like squeal as the scent of something burning reached his snout. Orcs had a better sense of smell than most other creatures in Halkeginia and right now it was serving to aid him.

He smelled rot and decay, similar to the food they burned in the fire. Had someone cooked a meal as an offering for them?

A short distance away, Raziel crouched and pulled on the bowstring. He could spot at least of a dozen of the pig-men salivating around the fire, but it would have surprised him if there were more around and inside the ruin itself. His eyes caught sight of the small corpse being cooked and he wrinkled his nose in disgust. He could smell the burning body from here and it brought out memories of Blighttown that he would have preferred remained buried.

He craned his neck to the side and saw Tabitha hiding behind a tree to his right. The blunette nodded and pointed a small finger upwards; a signal for him to start. To his left Kirche was already beginning to cast the spell and behind him Guiche was instructing Verdandi as the large mole dug a hole deep enough that anybody who fell in would have their legs broken on impact.

With any luck everything would go according to plan and there would be no trouble.

From the camp, the Orc continued to sniff the air, his other comrades unaware of everything else save for the food burning on the pike. He picked up his axe and began to walk to the forest before he saw the arrow heading straight for his head, "Huaaahhhhh!" He let out a shriek of pain as the arrow pierced his right eye.

The other members of the group stopped their dancing as they heard the screams. The injured orc yelled for his comrades to help him just before another arrow pierced his left eye and he fell, dark blood pooling the now dead body, "Ruaahhhhh!" One of the beasts rushed forward to avenge his fallen comrade and fell as an arrow hit him in the center of the head.

Their comrade's sacrifice wasn't in vain, however, as they now saw who it was that was attacking them, "Rarrrhaaaa!" One of the larger orcs roared and pointed at the barely visible Undead. Following his example the other bulbous monsters roared as well and brandished various weapons, intent on killing (and possibly) eating the intruder who dared to trespass on their meal.

"Flames!" Raziel put the bow back on his back and ran in Guiche's direction. He looked behind him and saw the group following him in a manic glee, swinging their weapons while their mouths salivated at the thought of devouring his corpse.

So manic were they in their dedication to killing him that they missed Kirche and Tabitha entirely.

"Now!" Kirche yelled. She pointed her wand at the back of the roving band and a large stream of fire swallowed a few orcs that had stopped when they heard her yell. More yells, this time more pained and desperate than before. The orcs caught in the fire yelled and tried in vain to put out the heated flame, rolling on the ground and licking themselves to try and alleviate their pain before the flame consumed them.

As the fire disappeared all that remained were a few burned corpses.

"Rrrraaaahhhh!" A few of them had split off from the main group and charged towards the Fire Mage. Just as they were about to reach her they squealed once again as Tabitha's spell cut through the thick skin of their limbs, "Windy Icicle," Tabitha chanted softly, the air around them freezing as she created four sharp spikes. Everything went dark as the thick spikes she conjured pierced them through.

Raziel continued to run. A decent number of orcs still hounded him and he didn't fancy fighting them all at the same time. His lips quirked into a slight smile of relief as he saw Guiche waving and pointing at the hole that had barely been covered with a few leaves.

"Jump!" Guiche yelled. Raziel followed the command and heard a satisfying cacophony of squeals and cracks as all but a few orcs fell onto the pit and broke their legs or other appendages.

Not wasting any time he activated his Pyromancy Flame and released the power within. At once the orc's yelling stopped as a large pillar of fire rose up from the hole, killing them instantly. Guiche wiped the sweat off his brow as he felt the fire's heat reach him. This was why he preferred earth magic; it was much easier to handle a little earth and dirt compared to the heat of an intense flame.

The few remaining orcs, seeing that they were outmatched, ran away into the thicker part of the forest. Raziel contemplated on whether he should chase after them before he heard more squeals and the unmistakable sound of flesh being torn apart. Thinking back on it Flame and Sylphid hadn't fed yet

"I'm guessing that was Sylphid and Flame," Guiche commented lightly, looking slightly squeamish as the squeals stopped abruptly only to be replaced with more fleshy tearing. It was hard for him to remember at times, but there was a reason he disliked fighting dragons more than any other creature in Lordran; they had this nasty habit of chewing up anything they didn't like. The blue dragon's unusually meek personality caught him off-guard, especially since she'd attempted to eat him after his first meeting with her.

"You guys alright," Kirche walked up to them with a smile, Tabitha trailing behind her silently.

"We are fine," Raziel looked into the pit and frowned. There was nothing salvageable from the burnt corpses, "What is this treasure that you deemed so valuable that you told us to fight through this encampment of monsters?

"Hmm, lets see," Kirche unfolded the map and grinned, "It says here that it's a necklace made out of an enchanted gold that will ward off all but the strongest spells. Apparently it was made by a blacksmith from Rub al' kali who managed to find a way to study the Elves 'counter' and mix it with magic to create a charm that can ward off the elements we use for our spells."

"It sounds too valuable that it would remain in this ruin," Raziel pointed out.

"Hey, you're a Mage who can use wandless magic and if what Valliere said was true then you're not that rare from where you come from anyway. Or maybe you're like Germania where money and connections are more important," She shrugged, "I'm not really sure since I don't know much about Rub al' kali, but I wouldn't put it past them since there are rumors that they managed to steal technology from the Elves."

"I am not a Mage," He said tiredly. Thankfully she didn't ask him questions about his 'homeland' after he told her that he didn't like talking about it.

"You're close enough," She shrugged again, "Still, I don't want to argue with you. Let's just get the treasure and hope it's not like the other ones we went to earlier."

Oh right, there was also the fact that all the treasures they found so far had been deemed worthless. The maps promised hidden chests filled with gold or armor that were strong enough that they could deflect bullets or turn one invisible. The fact that they were hidden inside ruins or buried under overgrown grotto's and caves with the previous bodies of dead adventurers or treasure seekers led credence to the fact.

Of course what they often found were useless accessories made of cheap bronze or armor that was so old and rotted that even if they did have any protective charms around them they would have likely dispersed long before any of them (sans Raziel and Sylphid) had been born. The longer their trip went the longer all of them except Kirche wanted to just turn around and go back to the academy.

The sounds continued for nearly a minute before Sylphid and Flame joined them, their mouths covered with dark-red blood. Guiche looked away and held the crystal sword he still hadn't returned tighter to him. Tabitha and Kirche ignored the blood and petted their Familiars, the latter even cooing out compliments to the salamander. They didn't care enough about it to feel sick; after all, Orcs were just a bunch of mindless child-eaters.

"Come on, lets go," Kirche pointed to the entrance excitedly.

"Go ahead. I will...stay to cover this hole," He didn't want the death of some hapless thrill seeker to be on their hands, "Guiche, please make a shovel," The noble's willpower was rather low and he didn't have to make Golems, but surely he could still create a basic tool.

Guiche waved his rose wand and one of the petals turned into a crude shovel as soon as it made contact with the ground. Nodding, Raziel picked up the shovel and started shoveling the dirt back to the hole, the others leaving him behind in order to explore the ruin. Raziel picked up another shovelful of dirt and pointedly ignored the burnt corpses filling up the hole. Hopefully Orc bodies weren't poisonous or else they might have been poisoning the land by burying them.

"Raziel?" Siesta asked warily, making sure to keep her eyes focused on her surroundings. She had no training to speak of so she'd understandably hung back while they took care of the Orcs.

"What is it?" He dumped one last fill of dirt before planting the shovel on the ground. The hole wasn't completely filled up, but it was noticeable enough that it could be easily avoided and even if somebody did fall in the increased height of soil meant they would be able to get out of it without much trouble.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"I am not injured," He turned to her and gave a crooked smile, one that she returned with some hesitation. He had a feeling that wasn't what she really wanted to ask him but he said nothing; he would explain everything once they reached Tarbes. Still, it was understandable that she was wary given that he had been using Pyromancy quite openly ever since their first ruin. When she asked him about it he said he would explain it along with what happened in the storage room.

They began to talk to the ruins, the sun going down over the horizon, "Do you think they'll find an actual treasure this time?" Siesta asked, pointedly ignoring the burnt and cut apart Orcs and the child burning on the fire that they passed.

"I doubt it," He replied. In contrast to Siesta, he eyed each and ever body intently, searching for what he so craved desperately. As they got near the entrance his eyes seemed to twinkle ever so barely as he all but ran towards one of the less mangled Orcs. He could see the dark substance seeping out its mouth and, disgusting as it was, he wasn't one to be picky when it came to these things.

"Ah, Raziel!" She chased after him and watched curiously as he pulled something out of the Orc's mouth with a small laugh.

Raziel crushed the dark substance in his hand and sighed happily as a feeling of relief spread through him. Similar to rats these Orcs ate human beings, and for some reason their body didn't destroy it when they ingested the bones. He looked to the burning child on the spit and let out a sad breath. The younger something was the easier it was to grab Humanity from them. That was why the infants in Nito's Tomb were so replete with substance.

"Your hair changed again," He heard Siesta say. He reached a hand out took hold of his hair gently. It wasn't the first time he had fed on Humanity ever since this treasure hunt started and with every dark effigy he had 'eaten' his features changed slowly but surely. The light brown of his hair was slowly overtaking the white and his eyes turned into a more earthly brown compared to the bright yellow of before. Annoyingly his skin still retained its unhealthy pallor for the most part and his hair had grown slightly as well, although he had cut of the length of it spanning his back. Long hair was a disadvantage that could be easily exploited by an opponent.

The only explanation he had was that the Darksign might have been trying to recover his body. If that was the case it wasn't doing a very good job given the fact that he still didn't look older and his height hadn't changed at all.

"Damn..." He cursed softly as he felt the hair tickle the back of his neck. Sighing quickly he pulled out a dagger he'd taken and cut the frayed edges until he could fell the wind at the back of his neck again.

"...We should go check on Miss. Zerbst and the others," She suggested, once again ignoring his odd actions.

They hadn't found any treasure, but he still considered the trip worthwhile. Already he'd fed five times - the beasts in this land apparently having a hunger for human flesh and bone - and while none of the others wanted them he'd found a decent supply of weapons from the not-so-lucky adventurers whose bodies they passed. He'd already gotten a new dagger, a better bow, a flintlock (which he made sure to keep in his left hand and away from any fire), some arrows and even a few disposable throwing knives. He was never that good with the last one but he could learn quickly enough.

She waited until he finished looting another Orc before they went inside. The ruins were nothing special - They were built with slowly decaying rock and most of the now-rotted walls were filled with overgrown vines. Siesta stood closer to him the deeper they got in; it was becoming dark and she didn't fancy being picked off by some unseen monster since she was incapable of fighting back.

"This is it?" They heard Kirche ask aloud. The pair saw the redhead frowning at the altar which, despite its ornate designs, contained nothing more than a single wooden chest that looked more like it belonged in a storage room or a dirty basement than a treasure vault. Raziel walked towards the altar with Siesta staying behind now that she was sure that it was relatively safe inside the dark ruin.

"At least there's actually a chest this time," Guiche muttered. A lot of the time when they reached whatever cave or grotto the map indicated there was nothing but a half-destroyed box or a dead body carrying something worthless. The rare times they did find a chest Raziel kept hitting it first and only answered something about 'mimics' when they asked him about it.

Raziel wordlessly kicked the chest, getting an annoyed look from both Kirche and Guiche in the process. The chest gave no reaction, continuing to sit there nonchalantly as Guiche pushed him away with a roll of the eyes. They didn't want him to damage whatever was in the chest and after he'd nearly sliced the first chest they found in two they'd forbidden him from doing anything but kicking for fear of damaging its contents.

The Undead looked around the room and his eyes narrowed as he caught sight of more dead bodies on the corners of the room. While dead adventurers weren't anything to be worried about at this point, he found their injuries rather...alarming. He could see what looked like curved bites spanning from one end of their torso to another. Were the Orcs responsible? No, that wasn't likely. From what he'd seen they only took children and their mouths weren't near wide enough to cause that much injury.

Rubbing his hands together, Guiche gripped the edges of the chest's opening. It was then Raziel noticed the straight chain at the chest's side.

Guiche lifted the covering with a barely constrained smile, "Wait!" Raziel barely pushed him out of the way before large hands sprang forth from the wood and gripped him tightly, "I told you-" He didn't get a chance to finish whatever he was about to say before the chest opened it mouth, revealing a row of razor sharp teeth. The mimic pulled the struggling Undead into its mouth and chewed.

The world inside the Mimic's mouth was filled with the smell of blood and saliva. He felt his chest bleed as the Mimic chewed, easily tearing through the light leather armor he wore, "Mmph!" He screamed as the chest monster's teeth pierced his upper body, only to regret it immediately afterwards as the creature's saliva filtered into his mouth. He could only thank the sign that he didn't retain his sense of taste.

Raziel grit his teeth and activated his Pyromancy as the Mimic tried to pull him in deeper, "Raaaaaa!" It screamed as the flaming right hand made contact with its tongue. The trapped Undead muffled another scream as the Mimic bit down harder and dragged its teeth across his chest like a knife through a board. He felt even more blood leave his body and drip down the wooden 'face'.

Ignoring the pain he took hold of the creature's tongue once again and gripped the center of the organ tightly, eliciting another scream of frustration from the monster, "Raaaa!" He didn't even have time to give a scream of pain before the Mimic pulled him out once again and unceremoniously threw him at one of the decaying walls hard enough that the structure cracked from the impact.

"Raziel!" Siesta rushed to the injured Undead and assessed his injuries. The chest monster had torn through his armor and she could see blood pooling onto the floor from the numerous cuts from the mimic's teeth.

"Wh-What is that!?" Guiche ran in a panic and tripped as he saw the mimic suddenly stand and walk towards him, its burnt, long tongue lolling to and fro as it caught sight of him. It had been a while since it had fed on the last batch of stupid adventurers and it even ignored the kick the annoying Undead gave him despite wanting nothing more to attack whoever dared to harm him.

"H-Help!" Guiche yelled, putting his arms in front of his face, hoping beyond hope that it would stop the monster from eating him.

As the mimic reached down to pick up its new snack it screamed in sudden pain as blades of air sliced into his legs, making it crash down on its 'face'. It turned its attention to the blue haired Mage before it was also engulfed by a thick fireball from Kirche. In the end it didn't expect that it would have to contend with a Mage.

"...Heh," Despite his injuries, Raziel couldn't help but laugh at the monster's rather anti-climactic end, "Ah..." He closed one one of his eyes and stopped himself from breathing. The damn thing bitten deep and movement caused no small amount of pain. Having blood was rather inconvenient and he could only thank the sign that he didn't actually need the substance to remain functional.

"St-Stay still!" Siesta pressed her hands against the wounds, doing her best to stop the blood from pouring out. The crimson liquid continued to dribble out of the gaps of her fingers no matter how hard she pressed. She cursed inwardly; she shouldn't have left the bandages in the camp. She was tempted to take off her shirt and use that as a makeshift bandage before Kirche's voice interrupted her.

"Is he alright?" Kirche and the others rushed over to him with Guiche still looking rather shellshocked from the experience, "Oh damn it, that looks really bad," Raziel rolled his eyes. Even he could tell that, "We don't have a Water Mage here and the medicine's back at camp. I can probably burn the wounds shut and it's going to hurt but it's better than bleeding out."

"I...I am fine," He gently pushed Siesta off and pulled out a clump of Humanity. It was the last one he had but he was sure he could find more. The others watched curiously as he crushed it in his hands. No sooner had the black sprite disappeared did they see the tears in his body become covered in a small patches of white light before disappearing completely, leaving only the drying blood.

"Woah, what was that!?" Guiche nearly yelled again. It didn't surprise him; while they'd seen him 'eating' it before he'd never actually done so whenever he was injured and so far the only effects they'd seen was that it altered his appearance somewhat, which was nothing more than an unintended side-effect. They certainly didn't expect it to heal debilitating wounds.

"Medicine from Rub al' Kali," He lied.

Siesta looked at the wound again before nodding slowly, still unsure if he was truly cured or if he was lying. The others nodded and decided to accept the explanation - They didn't have any other explanation and medicine capable of healing wounds that deep were also available in Tristain, although they were also expensive and relatively rare compared to treatment by a Water Mage.

"Does the chest contain anything of worth?" He traced a hand through the tears in the leather and frowned. Damn, he hadn't found a bonfire yet. Repairing this with the souls he had gotten from those Orcs would have been trivial otherwise.

"You seriously think that thing will have anything? I don't even know what it is," Kirche shuddered. It was easy enough to kill once they were aware of its presence but it was still something she'd never seen before. She could only assume that it was the 'mimic' thing Raziel was mumbling about a few ruins ago.

"Mimics often carry valuable things," He walked towards the burnt wood of its head and pried it apart forcefully. Its tongue hung out limply and Raziel mimicked a deep breath before plunging his hand into its mouth with a meaty squish.

"Ugh..." He looked back and shrugged as all of them with the exception of Tabitha eyed the action with various degrees of disgust. Hah, he would've liked to see their faces if they had to trudge through blighttown. Compared to the feces covered giants and poisonous swamps Mimics felt clean and immaculate by comparison.

He continued to search through its mouth before his hand took hold of something small and circular, "Found it," He pulled out his hand and, ignoring the blood and saliva, he focused on what he'd managed to get - It looked to be an uneven bright yellow stone covered in a thin brown cloth. Despite the smell his eyes lit up in recognition as a surprisingly uncrooked smile reached him.

"Gold Pine Resin," He showed it to the others eagerly. It was still whole meaning if he could find a way to crush it bit by bit he could likely ration the thing out to give him multiple coatings. He could only hope that Derflinger didn't mind being coated in lightning, but he doubted it would be a problem. What kind of sword would complain about being coated in lightning?

"Resin? As in tree resin?" Kirche asked, to which Raziel nodded, "Great, another waste of time," She let out an annoyed breath, "We fight through Orcs and whatever the void that thing was and all we get is resin from a tree which we could probably get ourselves from the hundreds of other trees we passed through on the way. Really, who goes through the trouble of getting a monster to guard tree resin?"

"..It's Gold Pine..." He offered.

"Yes, that makes it so much better," She replied sarcastically, "It might be a rare resin or something but it can't replace a necklace capable of warding off spells," She sighed, "Damn it, I'm starting to think all of these maps are fake. If the next ruin we pass is worthless we're going straight to Tarbes. We need to resupply anyway and I want to sleep at an actual inn."

"It coats your weapon with lightning," Raziel pointed out again. How could they not see how useful this thing was?

"That doesn't really help us," Guiche pointed out, "You're the only one who uses weapons here; the rest of us rely on magic to fight," Raziel eyed the crystal sword Guiche still had in his sheath. If they relied on magic then why didn't he give it back? "Besides I think you're the only one who really cares about it and since you saved me you should be the one to keep it."

"How generous of you," He answered sarcastically, pocketing the resin. He would crush the first bit back when they reached the camp.

"Next?" Tabitha spoke up for the first time since they entered.

"It's a ruin that's actually close to the village we're going to," She dropped the old map and fished out a new one, "Supposedly it has a ring that grants good luck and blesses the wearer, but at this point I'll be glad if we don't end up getting killed by a Vampire who made a nest there or something."

"To adventure then," Tabitha mumbled, although Raziel didn't miss the slight hint of annoyance that seeped into her voice. She probably wanted to go back to the academy.

Raziel re-adjusted his bow and followed behind the others. Given Derflinger's tales of this land he could only hope that they didn't run into a Vampire who didn't care for humans or a giant scorpion.

"You look beautiful, princess."

The compliment sounded hollow to Louise even as she did her best to make it sound genuine. With tired eyes she watched her closest friend twirl mechanically in front of the large mirror, pausing only to take the veil into her hands so she could see herself clearly. The dress was no doubt beautiful and Louise could see that it fit the princess very well, but neither noble felt much appreciation for that fact considering its origin.

Still, the monarch had to admit that the dress was quite a sight, if nothing else. The frills at the bottom skirt were neatly trimmed and the mixture of dark and crimson color for the cloth was surprising given the connotations of dark colors and their close relation to tragedy. If she had to choose she would have considered the color fitting considering the situation Tristain now faced, but this was meant to be a happy occasion.

The two of them were alone right now, which the monarch had considered a rare comfort. Her mother had been here earlier and allowed Louise to stay and help determine the dress that suited Henrietta best. Of course Agnes was right outside guarding the door, but the princess had cast a small silent spell so they wouldn't be heard unless they yelled out or started stomping around.

Louise's eyes shifted from the princess to the veritable pile of neatly folded dresses. The variety was amazing, ranging from the simple white dresses that were standard fair for most marriages to more ornate looking golden yellow or bright pink attires emblazoned with beautiful designs ranging from flowers or birds to more exotic ones like a dragon or a even a manticore down the front of the long dress. No doubt even a single one was expensive enough that commoners would kill to get even one for themselves.

It only made her shudder even more to think where these all came from. When she'd first arrived the princess had already picked out her wedding attire; a rather plain dress with very little in the way of actual eccentric designs. Not even a day after did a messenger from Germania come with the bearing 'gifts', dropping off the dresses with the message that it was a goodwill present from Emperor Albrecht III and that he was looking forward to the wedding coming in a few weeks time.

Louise rolled her eyes. She highly doubted the emperor of that barbarian infested pit did it for the princesses' benefit - It was likely he had done it either because the dresses fell along his preferred tastes or he wanted to show everyone that he now 'owned' the princess while subsequently showing how influential he was in comparison given that he could afford to give them all to her despite their expensive prices. The messenger did confirm that any she didn't use was to be kept for her personal use, so Louise was leaning on the latter being more probable.

"Louise, could you please assist me?" Henrietta called out, knocking Louise out of her stupor.

Blinking, Louise looked to the princess gesturing to the corset of the orange dress she now wore, "Of-Of course, princess," She stood up from her seat and carefully started tying together the back of the corset, making sure that the constricting attire wasn't too tight, "Is it too tight?" She asked. At Henrietta's shake of the head she moved upwards and finished tying the two sides together.

Her gaze temporarily shifted to the dresser Henrietta was sitting in front of. While its contents weren't that out of place the open bottle of brown magical dye would have garnered a few raised eyebrows. The princess' natural color was a light purple and not chestnut brown, but due to reasons she couldn't really understand her best friend was instructed to keep her natural hair color hidden. It was something about genetics and trying not to give any naysayers any ideas that she was a bastard child given that neither her mother or King Henry had purple hair.

"It looks..." Henrietta let the sentence hang. The new dress was a garish shade of bright orange while the arms and upper body puffed out in abnormal bursts of thin cloth, making her look as if she had stripped the majority of the fabric from the upper body and charmed it with air magic so that it would stay upright. A quick twist caused her to frown as she realized that the cloth was too high and would get in the way of the veil.

"It looks like something out of a horror story," Louise commented flatly, earning a soft giggle from the older girl. With a slight smile Louise began to untie the corset again in preparation for the next round of dress-up.

They'd spent most of the day doing this and at this point Louise had lost count of how many dresses her closest friend had tried on. She watched as Henrietta removed the disfigured looking dress and picked up a more modest earthly green one. From a single look alone Louise could already tell that it was better than the bright nightmare she'd worn just previously.

"This is what counts for relaxation nowadays," Henrietta started, staring at the dress in front of the mirror, "Tomorrow I have to practice walking down the aisle and the day after that I have to memorize all of my vows and praise for the emperor for both the wedding here and the second part of the ceremony in Germania's capital church."

"I still don't see the reason for it. You're already getting married here at the capital; why does he want to go back to Germania and repeat the ceremony?" Louise asked.

"It is likely that he wishes to assert his newfound power over all the others who wish to claim his throne," Henrietta answered honestly, "The title of Albrecht III goes to whoever sits on the throne and the one who sits on the throne is the noble who has the most money and influence (not to mention brutality and intelligence) so that they're capable of defending themselves from future coups."

"I still don't understand why the ceremony has to be done twice."

"It's a show for the other smaller emperors and their families. By inviting them all to the wedding and showing them that he's marrying the heir to Tristain he's telling them that he's not afraid of them and it gives them the message that his death or the death of anyone he deems important will be dealt with by the combined forces of both Germania and Tristain. The only reason we're doing it here in the capital first is because Cardinal Mazarin insisted that it was tradition and that if he wants a child blessed by the blood of our Founder then traditions can't be forsaken."

Louise mulled the explanation over before speaking again, "Would Tristain really come to his aid?"

"Yes," Henrietta nodded solemnly, "The same way we will ask them for aid from Reconquista should the need arise. By marrying the heir he becomes the king by right, but in practice Tristain will retain its independence since Albrecht III will be preoccupied with handling his affairs in Germania. Mazarin will continue to make most of the the royal decrees and the only price we have to pay is obliging the emperor's request from time to time."

'And your happiness,' Louise thought sourly. While her best friend was oftentimes fueled by her emotions and many nobles considered her no more than a tool to marry off to the most profitable and powerful noble there was no doubt in her mind that Henrietta was far more intelligent that she let others believe. Granted she wouldn't be able to rule like the king before her, but she still considered it rather impressive given the fact that the princess had been given little training in that regard save for a few token lessons in politics from her tutors. Louise herself could barely grasp politics given her...troubles in the household.

"Did you have any more luck with the edict?" Henrietta asked, changing the subject.

"No," Her lips turned down into a frown, "I keep trying but whenever I have something it needs more changes and I have to start over again," She pinched the bridge of her nose, "First I had to lie and make up praises for Albrect III. I managed to do that and then Cardinal Mazarin tells me that I have to involve the elements. After I managed to finish that he also said that it had to rhyme," She released a frustrated breath, "The last line I could come up with was about how barrels are in season right now."

"Hmhm, I suppose it would be difficult given the rigid requirements," Henrietta's expression was a mix of amused and apologetic, "I'm sorry for placing such a heavy burden on your shoulders, Louise."

"No, please don't apologize," Louise raised her hands and waved them in an attempt to seem nonchalant, "My role in your marriage is a minor one and it is the least I could do for you both as your loyal subject and, Brimir,willing, as your friend."

"You haven't changed at all, Louise," Henrietta raised her hand to cover her mouth as she let out a small laugh.

Louise's felt her cheeks redden at the sudden comment and she smiled once again, "But you've changed a lot, princess. You're more mature and grown up and I'm...well," She didn't finish. It wasn't just her chest, although Kirche and many others would have likely said otherwise. Since she was a kid she was a 'Zero' and even after ten years had passed she hadn't changed at all apart from gaining a reanimated corpse for a Familiar. She was still a 'Zero', much as she hated to admit.

"I haven't really changed all that much. I'm still blindly going along with what everyone tells me and the one time I try to do something of my own initiative it ended with the death of Prince Wales."

"That's not your-"

"Yes, it was my fault," Henrietta continued firmly, interrupting Louise. She took a deep breath and fingered the Ruby of Wind, "I know that he would have died anyway, that he would never leave despite my pleas and that he would die defending Newcastle with his life. But still, I..." She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath before she smiled once again, "I'm just glad you all made it out. I'm only sorry I couldn't give a proper reward to you, Mr. Raziel, and Mr. Gramont."

"Ensuring Tristain's peace is more than enough."

"Perhaps..." Henrietta's face brightened as an idea crossed her mind. Silently she grabbed one of the neatly folded dresses before turning back to Louise with a slightly open smile, "Remember when we used to play dress up? Ms. Cattleya would always help us until one of the stewards or Ms. Eleanor caught us and sent us back to our studies. Ms. Karin was so mad when we ripped the dresses trying run away."

"I remember that," Louise smiled at the memory, "Father scolded us for ruining them and sent us back to our rooms. Didn't you use a levitation and sneak in? You snuck us to Big sis Catt's room and we slept together," She still remembered Henrietta's wariness in sleeping in the same room as a tiger and a giant snake, "When Honored sister Eleanor found us she yelled at us all morning."

"Ms. Eleanor was always temperamental," Henrietta conceded as she offered the dress to Louise, "Why don't you try one of these dresses as well? It'll go much faster with the two of us and it must be better than sitting there and watching me change all day. It'll be just like when we were kids."

"It..It wouldn't fit me," Louise muttered.

"Nonsense, it wouldn't hurt to try, would it?" Louise shook her head. Henrietta smile turned into a grin as she suddenly pulled the girl closer, "Come now, there's no reason to be shy among close friends."

"H-Hey, Ann! Let go!" Louise laughed as she jokingly struggled against the older girl's grip, temporarily forgetting to call her by her title, "You know that won't fit me! It's just going to end up dropping all over me and I'm going to look silly."

"We won't know until we try, right?"

The playful struggle between the two continued until a flapping of wings made them remember that they weren't alone. With a sheepish expression, the girls separated from one another and turned to look at the swan sitting down on its pedestal, looking at them with what could be considered a flat expression if swans were capable of expressing emotion beyond light noises and flaps.

"I see your Familiar hasn't changed," Louise commented wryly, doing her best to straighten her hair. Summoning a Familiar was a sacred rite for all Mages but too few of them actually ended up using their Familiars: Mage soldiers oftentimes trained separate beasts while those in a higher position used the resources available to them to get things done. At a certain point the Familiars ended up becoming ceremonial unless they were formidable beasts like dragons or manticores, which were rather hard to summon all things considered.

Henrietta's Familiar was no exception. While the swan, named 'Odette' from some fairy tale the princess had heard when she was younger, was immaculate and very pleasing to look at, it didn't change the fact that Henrietta was mostly sheltered in the castle and that even if she wasn't there was very little a plump swan could do with regards to gathering reagents or protecting her master. Living in the castle also made her rather spoiled and it was plain to see given the lazy way she acted.

"She's probably hungry. I'll have the servants fetch her something," She turned to Louise again and placed the dress in her arms, "Just try it on, okay? I'm glad you're here, Louise."

"I am as well," She accepted the dress with a sigh as Henrietta left the room to call for her servants. Idly, she wondered how Raziel was doing on that little treasure hunt of his. Given the tales he'd told her a dive into some barren ruins should have been akin to a vacation for him.

She imagined he was doing rather well.

Raziel wasn't doing very well.

On the bright side they hadn't run into any Vampires or Giant Scorpions.

"Duck!"

On the not-so-bright side, they ran into a giant spider instead.

He couldn't believe his luck. Raziel crouched behind a pile of debris as the spider searched around the dark area. They had arrived at the temple without a problem and for once he'd thought that they wouldn't run into anything else that might threaten their lives.

In hindsight maybe he should have noticed something was wrong when he saw the large webs or the cocoons which looked almost vaguely like eggs or trapped people. Regardless they were trapped in the central chamber and the only doorway out was blocked by a veritable amount of large rocks that had fallen when a misplaced charge by the temple's sole occupant shuffled the debris.

From the darkness he could barely make it out. It was large, at least as large if not bigger than Tabitha's dragon, and it was covered in stony gray skin and rough bumps that gave the skin a solid feel. On its head stood over a dozen black eyes and the end of its legs had sharp points that he surmised it must have used to stab through prospective meals.

At least it didn't have a naked lady wielding a flaming sword for an upper half.

He covered his eyes with his hand as another cloud of dust swept towards him. He could hear the impact of the rocks as they fell against the dirt covered stone. He could hear the large spider moving around, navigating through the stone with ease and bulldozing through the larger rocks. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the source of the sounds. He couldn't see anything. He could only hope the others had hidden themselves well enough. He had run out of power for his Pyromancy and he felt rather defenseless right now.

"Partner, move!" Derflinger's yell pierced through the crashes. Raziel ran to the side and winced as the sharp end of one of the spiders legs landed at where he was just standing previously. He ran towards the leg and brought Derflinger down on it as hard as he could. The leg, sensing pain, started to move erratically in an effort to knock the undead off.

Raziel scowled and pushed the sword in deeper until the he saw the hard skin holding the limb together crack and break. Dark blue blood came out in a large burst from the wound, hitting Raziel in the face. The spider attempted to pull its leg back before it felt fire eating away at its back, "Kekekekeekekekeke!" A rapid series of clicks from its mandibles resounded in the ruined chamber as the fire ate away at its hard skin.

"Cut through," Tabitha muttered. She pointed her spell at its unoccupied side and directed a dozen blades of condensed air to try and bisect the creature's legs, "kkkekekeke!" It snapped more rapidly as it felt its right side being bombarded by invisible blades of concentrated air. Movement suddenly became more difficult as three of its legs started to bleed.

Raziel continued to put pressure down on the sword until a satisfying crack reached his ears and the leg separated from the rest of the main body. He quickly backed away as the spider retreated from him towards an easier target.

"Valkyries, ch-charge!" Guiche yelled in a panic as the spider put its sights on him.

The Valkyries charged forward bravely, but the spider charged through them all with nary a second glance. One of the constructs wielding a halberd had managed to land a lucky hit in and as a reward for its valiant effort the guardian of the treasure took a few precious seconds to use its mandibles to chew the bronze creation whole.

Guiche ran, scrambling against the dust and stone to try and find anyone in the dark interior. His eyes widened in relief as he saw Raziel gesturing towards him and, with a nervous gulp, he ran towards the waving Undead, tripping and sliding down the uneven edges of debris.

He could hear the spider's legs slamming down behind him and he pushed forward even more, throwing out the last of his petals to make crude golems in an attempt to slow it down. He didn't even need to look back to know that it had done nothing - He could hear the bronze metal being torn asunder as the spider's sharpened legs stabbed them through and tossed them aside.

"Guiche-" Raziel rushed forward and attempted to aid the panicking blonde. The spider, seeming to sense his intent, brought one of its legs down on him. He looked up just in time to see the appendage bearing down on him before a searing pain exploded across his right eye.

"Ah!" He fell into his back and clutched the right side of his face as blood poured down the deep cut, letting go of Derflinger in the process. Through his remaining eye he saw Guiche crawling away as the spider chased after him. Gods damn it all, it hurt. He pawed through the ground with his left hand and tried to grab for Derflinger. The blonde fob was going to die at this rate.

"Hurry, Tabitha!" Kirche suddenly yelled. She chanted a quick spell and aimed it at the spider's 'butt'. The medium-sized ball of fire landed on its hardened skin...and yet the spider kept on going, ignoring the impact altogether. Eyes widening she chanted she same spell again, only to be met with the same result. It was too focused in taking its prey.

From her place on the chamber, Tabitha chanted a small incantation familiar to all Mages: A familiars call. It was a quick connection but it was enough that the dragon was now aware of the danger to its master.

The only question that remained was whether she would arrive on time.

"Oh God! Oh God!" Guiche yelled as the spider barreled into him. He let out quick, panicked breaths as the spider stared at him with its multiple eyes, black and devoid of all color. He opened his mouth in a silent scream as he saw the mandible of the spider, covered in a mixture of blood, dust and its own web. The sharp 'teeth' snapped with deliberate slowness, a foul liquid that he presumed to be its saliva dripping down its points.

"Ahhhhhhh!" And then he screamed for real as the spider bit down on his leg.

His scream was interrupted with a "Kyuuuu!" as the roof of the large chamber broke open with even more rocks falling around the chamber. The spider stopped its chewing at the sound of the large noise. It suddenly became acutely aware of an intense pain on its body as Sylphids for clawed limbs pierced through his skin.

"Kyuuuu!" With a great heave the blue dragon flapped her wings and slowly rose, dragging the spider along with her. The creature struggled, its panic rising as it realized what the dragon was doing. Ignoring its resistance Sylphid rose higher, digging her claws into its back as its struggles intensified. She continued to rise until she saw Tabitha give her the smallest of nods.

Sylphid released her grip on the monster.

Raziel saw the creature land with a sickening crack and a large boom, its rigid exoskeleton breaking from the impact. The creature struggled feebly, trying to stand up on its broken legs. He could see the legs shaking desperately, trying to force themselves to move so that it could run away and recover.

"Now!" Kirche's sudden yell reminded him that they weren't safe yet so long as the thing lived. Nodding slightly he picked up some of the crushed resin and slathered it against Derflinger's rusted blade. The Mages attacked with their strongest spells: Torrents of fire, balls of condensed flame, blades from the air itself and spikes made from ice and wind. They pierced the creature mercilessly, hitting anything that looked even remotely vulnerable.

Steadying himself, Raziel ran towards the head of the spider and pierced the lighting imbued blade through one of its eyes. Before it could buck him off he pulled out the sword and stabbed another one. The process continued on until all of its eyes had been destroyed and it had stopped moving altogether.

Even as the 'souls' entered his body he didn't stop stabbing until exhaustion finally hit him and the lightning was dispelled. With one last stab he stepped off the spider's head and wiped away the blood from his face. He'd stopped bleeding already but he could feel the blood hardening and his eye had been damaged to the point that only his left remained functional. This was the third time already and it was beginning to grate on him.

"Are...Are you alright?" Kirche ran up to him before putting her hands on her knees, panting in exhaustion. Tabitha walked slowly towards them, giving another nod to Sylphid and mentally noting to herself that she should give her a few extra meals next time she asked for it.

"Eye is damaged," Raziel sheathed Derflinger and rubbed the stinging eye with a frown. It was much more tedious when he had blood.

"Let me take a look at it," Kirche cupped his face and stared observed his right eye, "Oh, this isn't good - The eye turned gray, that means you're gonna be blind in there," Despite her words a small smile made its way to her face, "But I bet you're going to heal from this, right? This happened in the Count's place too and you were fine before we went on her trip."

"We need to check on Guiche," He changed the subject, ignoring Tabitha's slightly raised eyebrow at the word 'Count's place'.

The noble wasn't in very good condition. While he had avoided getting more than a sprain on his arm and getting covered in dirt, his left leg looked horrible. Raziel knelt down and observed the wound - The spider had bitten through his pants clearly and he could see a deep cut that ended just above his feet. He noted rather worriedly that the cut was purplish and greenish and color and there seemed to be the start of pus.

"Is...Is it bad?" Guiche asked, half-delirious from the shock and pain.

"You will live. Get up," He moved to support Guiche before Tabitha pulled him back with a firm shake of the head, "What are you doing? The camp is close by and he needs aid."

"Too late," She shook her head again and muttered softly with a hint of regret, "Poisoned by spider...won't live long." She'd seen it before. Giant spiders were rare, but their poisons were often used in assassinations. Spike a drink with it and a person's heart would stop within minutes. As she recalled her 'dear cousin' sent her a wine laced with the venom a few months ago.

Guiche's eyes widened and he screamed as Tabitha's words registered. Keeping herself calm, Kirche asked, "What do mean poisoned? We have medicine back at camp, right? Call Sylphid and we'll treat him."

"Won't help..." She frowned slightly as she pointed at the wound, "Already pierced skin. Spider was...trying to kill...save him for food...like them," She gestured to the other cocooned bodies in the chamber.

"Is there nothing we can do then," Raziel asked over Guiche's cacophony of yells. He'd been poisoned himself and he knew there was always a way to help cure it or, failing that, withstanding its effects till it disappeared on its own.

"Kills in minutes," She answered grimly, "Paralyzes body. Stops heart. Kills mind."

That did it. Guiche's yelling stopped, only to be replaced with cries and choked sobs as he prayed for salvation, "Oh Father Brimir guide your wayward son, protect me in my hour of need! I apologize for my sins and for straying against the path of a true believer! Oh Founder Brimir if this is a test please let me survive this! I don't want to die!" His tears intensified as Tabitha closed her eyes and muttered a soft prayer for him as well.

"Can't...Can't we just take the poison out?" Kirche questioned, "I mean there's got to be something we can do other than sitting here and watching him die!"

"Water mage could do it. None here," Her eyes narrowed as she remembered something, "One other option. Extremely dangerous. Likely kill who does it."

"What is it?" Raziel asked.

"Suck poison out. Cut wound clean and use mouth," Kirche and Guiche's mouths hung open at the sudden suggestion, "Will alleviate worst symptoms. Still painful. But will survive," Her grip on the staff tightened, "...Will likely kill one who does it," She repeated again.

Guiche's breath quickened as he stared at his leg. It was starting to numb and the poison would spread to the rest of his body soon, but the only other option was to have someone suck the poison out and they would likely infect themselves with the venom in the process. Neither Kirche and Tabitha were near close enough to sacrifice themselves for him and he was hardly friends with Raziel.

He came to the slow realization that he was doomed. Frustrated tears leaked out again and regrets reached his mind. He didn't want to die, not like this.

"Tabitha, it stops hearts and kills the mind and body. How?" Raziel's sudden question surprised them all. Why did it matter how he was going to die?

"Stops blood flow. Stops heart from beating," It was a simple process, though no less morbid, "Poison is slightly acidic. Burns skin when exposed to air."

Blood flow and heart. Raziel placed a hand against his chest, where a heart should have been; no beating, and the blood he stored within him was superficial and unneeded. That meant...

""What are you doing!?"" Both Guiche and Kirche yelled as Raziel suddenly knelt on the ground and brought his dagger and the pulsating wound. Guiche hissed in pain as the knife made a clean cut through the injury and Raziel placed his lips against the wound and sucked in the blood. As the crimson liquid entered his mouth he became acutely aware of the slight burning sensation and he spit out the poisoned blood.

He continued the process, making another cut at where the large wound was most severe and sucking out the tainted blood. His tongue burned as the blood made contact and the right side of his mouth stung when droplets of the bloody venom touched it. He could only count himself lucky that he couldn't taste anything else he probably would have been vomiting from the fact that he was drinking poisoned blood that had traces of pus.

It was only after the third cut that he stopped, placing a hand against his cheek as the venom seemed to burn at him. Kirche was kneeling next to him, shouting words that he couldn't make out; likely reprimands on his rash actions. Tabitha watched over the both of them, her eyes flicking between Guiche and Raziel to see if either of them would be affected by the venom.

It was only after ten minutes of silence that anyone deigned to say anything, "Hey...I...I can move my leg!" Guiche called out with a relieved laugh. He stood up shakily and immediately fell to the ground for due to his injuries, but the smile never left his face. He had survived!

"Both of us, it seems," Raziel stood up and rubbed his right cheek. His cheek burned and he was pretty sure the illusion of life had been damaged once again, but it was a small price to pay all things considered. The eye and the skin would heal in due time or until he found another clump of Humanity to heal him. Either way it wasn't a huge loss and he'd gotten some souls for his troubles. He wasn't immune to poisons but this one seemed mild in comparison to the ones in Lordran.

Tabitha's mouth parted by the tiniest amount. Surviving poison was rare enough, but she'd hardly ever heard of a case of someone sucking poison out and not being poisoned themselves. It had been ten minutes and if he had gotten infected his body would have already been petrified as his heart stopped beating. And yet apart from some signs of stiffness and a rather ugly rash on his right side he seemed none the worse for wear.

"Let's just get out of here," Kirche sighed, "If I'd known we were going to go monster hunting I would have joined a mercenary band. This trip has been far more trouble than it was worth. Let's hope that village has a good inn we can stop by."

"What about the treasure?" Raziel called out. It was the entire reason they were here.

"Leave it; it's probably just a spider egg or something and I don't want to deal with any more bugs right now."

"I will check to make sure," Kirche gave him a nonchalant wave as Raziel made his way to the center of the chamber. As he passed by the spider, however, he noticed something peculiar at its mouth, "Hmm?" He knelt down and picked up the circular object, wiping off the dark blue blood and spit in the process. As the golden material was slowly revealed the name of the ring came to his mind.

A ring of favor and protection. The spider must have eaten it and the constant shaking of its head caused it to release it. It didn't surprise him that the ring had survived; magical accessories oftentimes survived the most harsh conditions. Still, his excitement was tempered by the weakness of the ring's magic, either from age or the spider trying to digest it. With a sigh he dropped it into his pouch. If the spider had something as valuable as that what could the treasure contain?

He walked faster to the center of the room and wiped the dust off the stone chest, although he made sure to smack it a few times with Derflinger to ensure that they wouldn't have a repeat of what had happened last time.

With rising excitement he opened the chest and...

...

...

...

"Raziel, what did you find?" Kirche called out as Raziel came back, an oddly deep frown on his face. He stuck his hand out and showed her what he had in his palm; a circular blue stone no bigger than an ecu coin.

"...Prism Stone."

Carrying Guiche back to camp was a nightmare. They'd tried to ride Sylphid but getting on the dragon had caused him to vomit and they reluctantly agreed to walk back to the campsite, although Kirche was grumbling about the horrid luck they'd had when running into monsters. Sylphid roamed up above, keeping watch for signs of any more monsters or other possible threats.

The sun had dipped over the horizon by the time they'd arrived and Siesta was already cooking something over a roaring campfire. She had panicked when she'd seen their ragged states but she was quick enough to try and mend their injuries. Of course fate had to try and twist the metaphorical knife further and as they quickly found out they were sorely lacking in supplies and medicine to properly treat Guiche's wounds.

Tabitha and Kirche had received only slight bruises and Raziel's own wounds were superficial despite their horrible appearance so they had all agreed that Guiche would need it most while he recovered from the toxin.

They all sat around the campfire, eating the stew Siesta had prepared. She tried to lighten the mood by saying that it was made of Orc meat, but that only ended up souring the mood further when Kirche and Guiche spit the stew out before she could admit that she was joking. Kirche also asked Tabitha and himself on why they hadn't spit out their stew when they heard her fib and neither of them answered. If he had to guess Tabitha's reason it was either she liked Orc meat or she didn't particularly care what she ate so long as it wasn't poisonous.

Sylphid was out once again; Tabitha had instructed her to try and see if she could gauge the distance between their current location and the village of Tarbes. Flame was sleeping close to the fire, adding some much needed illumination to their makeshift shelter. And finally Verdandi was currently undertaking the honorable duty of using himself as a makeshift pillow in order to aid his sleeping master.

"Itshhh good tooo bee alibeee!" Guiche announced loudly, raising up a canteen of cheap wine with his uninjured left hand. Given the injuries on his leg he had taken to drinking alcohol in an effort to numb the pain. While it seemed to work since he stopped moaning in pain every few seconds they now had to deal with a loud drunk who announced his every thought in a voice so loud anyone in a fifty foot radius would be able to hear him.

"Keep quiet," Kirche rolled her eyes and lied down on her back, staring at the starry sky above, "We were lucky that we made it out of there. Without Sylphid we would have all died and if Razi here didn't suck out the poison we would have been dragging a corpse instead of an annoying dunce."

"Yesh! Yesh! A tousandh praishes to yoo!" Guiche slurred, taking another deep gulp of the canteen. At the rate he was going he was going to drink himself to death, nevermind the poison or his wounds.

She turned to Raziel and gave him a halfhearted smile, "Don't mind the scars, Razi. Some girls like men with scars like yours. It makes you look better in the right light."

One thing he took note of was that Kirche had stopped calling him darling. Her 'flirting', as Louise had called it, had stopped ever since they arrived back from Albion. She had theorized that it was because the thrill had worn off - Louise gave no reaction when she flirted with him in front of her and he didn't exactly respond to her propositions beyond half-answers or point blank refusals. She just didn't see a point anymore to try and gauge a reaction out of either of them.

Well, he still found it relieving. At most she gave him placating compliments like the one she'd just told him. At the very least she'd stopped pestering him on his Pyromancy, which he was severely thankful for. He didn't know how long he could keep up the Rub al' Kali lie at this point.

Two hours passed. Guiche and Kirche slept peacefully, their Familiars resting next to them protectively. Tabitha had left the campfire and moved a slight distance away claiming that she would keep watch and wake Kirche up after a few hours. Right now it was just him and Siesta sitting next to one another, staring at the hypnotic light of the campfire as the minutes passed.

"Want an apple?" Siesta asked, offering him the red fruit. He stared at it blankly for a moment before he nodded and took it from her with a mumbled "Thanks". He didn't need it and he couldn't taste it, but it was kind of her to offer regardless.

He raised the fruit to his lips and bit down on its juicy surface, his eyes never leaving the fire save to look at Tabitha. She stood rigidly against a tree, her staff planted on the ground as her eyes delved into the dark abyss of the unlit forest. They hadn't been attacked since they started this damnable treasure hunt but the younger Mage had insisted that they keep watch and that if none of them wanted to do it then she would do it herself. So far they had managed with switching every four to six hours.

He wondered how Louise and Professor Colbert were doing. While she was likely safe in the palace the aging professor had told met their group briefly and explained that he was planning to go to a set of ruins that might have contained ancient secrets of a long forgotten time. He didn't know what exactly was going on but he still wished the teacher luck.

"I'm kind of surprised you did it," Siesta suddenly commented. Raziel gave her a questioning glance, "I meant sucking the poison out of Mr. Gramont. I understand that you didn't want to hurt him after your duel was concluded, but...I didn't know you were willing to put your life at risk to save his after what happened between you two."

"It was of no danger to me," He muttered vaguely. Siesta's lips pursed at the unsatisfactory answer. A thought passed through him and he quickly found himself asking, "Siesta...do you hate Guiche?"

"I can't say I feel any love for him," She answered with a shrug, "He apologized about the perfume incident and I'm sure he apologized to everyone else too, but I still haven't forgotten," She raised her knees to her chest and gripped the dark skirt tightly, "If he had succeeded then I would have lost my job and its possible that my family would suffer as well. He has an influential family and a servant caught stealing from a family with a strong name will suffer dire consequences."

"It feels as if it was so long ago," Raziel admitted, "I do not call him a friend...but I do not desire to see his death if it can be avoided," While he hesitated to call Guiche a good person he certainly didn't seem to be an irredeemable monster like some of the others he'd faced on his journey. That and he did defend him against his would-be-killer during the attack on Newcastle.

He liked to think sucking out the poison was a way to pay him back for it. He disliked being in a person's debt for far too long; it had a way of catching up with you at the worst of times.

"Even after he nearly killed you? Or when he ripped the bandages of in the middle of the Vestri hall and called you a monster?" She questioned again.

"It is small in comparison," He replied. Siesta opened her mouth to ask him what exactly he was comparing it to before he interrupted her, "I will tell you everything when we reach Tarbes, as I told you before," He rubbed his injured cheek and asked, "Did Guiche not apologize to you? He had apologized to mast- Louise and he admitted to seeking forgiveness from those he had hurt."

"It wasn't as if I was given much choice," She frowned, "Mr. Gramont made an apology, but I couldn't exactly say anything except 'Yes, I forgive you' lest I offend him again. He's acting like it didn't happen and even his lover seems to have forgiven him for it. I don't know, I guess I'm just being silly. Nobody else seems to care about it anymore and I'm just bringing up old wounds."

"Anybody would be mad. It is understandable that you do not see him in a positive light. Let us stop talking of this, lest we shift to more dire subjects," A strained smile reached his lips and he stood up, "...Get some sleep, Siesta. I will go keep watch with Tabitha.

Hesitantly, the maid nodded, rolling out her sleeping pack and falling asleep not long after she had lied down. Raziel grabbed a blanket and draped it over her then silently walked towards the quiet blunette. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow in question at his appearance though she said nothing. He sat down at the tree across from her and gazed into the darkness as well, neither saying a word to one another.

He thought back to the events of the past few days. They had been attacked by monsters at nearly every turn, all of them with the exception of Siesta were injured, Guiche had nearly died and was still in a risky state, he had once again lost sight with one of his eyes, they hadn't found any treasure to speak of, and the most valuable thing he'd managed to get was some resin, a ring that had weakened magic and a stone that told him whether he would die from falling or not.

And yet despite it all he still found himself having fun, even just a little bit. At the very least he wasn't traveling alone anymore and while they weren't all close friends he did feel better with having somebody else beside him. The flow of time in this land was stable and he hadn't run into a single temporal distortion.

A light gust of wind caused a slight sting to envelope the right side of his face, "Tch," He clicked his tongue and scratched at the reddish-brown rash on his face. Bandages wouldn't have helped, as the illusion he wore would only heal with the Estus and more humanity. He hoped they would run into at least one more Orc before they reached the village. He didn't care if he had to rip its stomach open he would get some Humanity to heal himself.

Tabitha reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, "Here," She walked forward and offered it to him.

Raziel looked up at the offered cloth, "Thank you," He accepted it and placed it against his cheek, biting his tongue to keep himself from hissing as the cloth made contact with the burnt skin and deep scar.

"Does it heal poison?" Tabitha suddenly asked.

"What does?"

"Medicine. From Rub al' Kali," She clarified, "Does it heal poison?"

"Yes," He nodded. The only thing it couldn't heal were curses, and that was because the damnable spells were permanent unless you were willing to transfer it over to somebody else. Though why she was asking was beyond him. Did this place not have antidotes that could be bought or made?

"...Where do you get it?" Her tone had turn slightly more serious.

"From Rub al' Kali," He lied again.

"Liar," His finger twitched at the sudden accusation. What in the abyss was her problem? "Had too much. Did not have any before. Only after we left," Her eyes narrowed, "Again. Where did you get it?"

"Why do you wish to know? You are not poisoned," He pointed out. Unless she had sister suffering from corruption he doubted it couldn't be solved by buying an antidote or finding a moss clump (if this land had any).

"Own reasons," She answered softly. She turned to walk back to her own spot until she heard the snap of a twig followed by hushed footsteps. Raziel heard it as well as he stood up and unsheathed Derflinger, his left hand grabbing for the flintlock as the runes lit up to once again show him how to use the small weapon. He only had one shot and reloading in the middle of a fight was impractical at best and a deathwish at worst.

"What was that?" Tabitha asked softly. As a Wind Mage she was far more receptive to noises regardless of how soft they were. She could make out footsteps to their front and some to their sides. They weren't alone.

"Maybe ghosts?" He answered back, only half-joking. Tabitha turned towards him, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. It was an expression of mild annoyance at most but on the stoic girl it was practically a glare. He couldn't blame her; ghosts were a horrible pain to bypass without a ghost weapon or transient curse.

"Douse the lights," She instructed.

Raziel ran back silently as he could and poured some of the water from his canteen. Next he grabbed a thick, dark blanket and draped it over the Salamander, blocking out its fiery tail. He could vaguely see Tabitha gesturing at him to come closer before she walked deeper into the dark of the forest. With a slight frown Raziel ran to catch up to her, his grip on his weapons tightening.

"Why did the fire have to be removed?" Raziel whispered.

"Bandits. Six of them. Following us," She kept staring forward, "Would have come to camp. Hide them. Deal with it ourselves."

"...Three for each of us?" He didn't have to ask her reasoning for it. Siesta couldn't fight, Guiche was in no shape to summon even one golem and Kirche had likely exhausted herself with all the spells she cast at the spider. He could only hope that Tabitha still had some castings left in her, though a few common bandits shouldn't be too hard to fight against.

"Three in front. Three behind," She subtly pointed behind her, "Deal with the front. I will take the other three."

Tabitha walked a few steps more before she stopped in a relatively clear area. The footsteps got louder and Raziel could just barely see the figures stepping out of the trees and the darkness. From what he could see they were dressed in patchwork leather, similar to his own, with most carrying either swords or daggers. The way they twirled them around made it apparent that they were overconfident.

The only exception was a larger man wearing plate mail who he assumed to be the leader. Compared to the others he stood composed and calm, excluding an aura of intimidation that would have sent most already stripping themselves of their clothing in a desperate attempt to survive. On his belt he could see a small wand made out of a dark wood. It figured that the leader would be a Mage.

"Bit of an odd time to be taking a stroll together," The leader stepped forward slowly in what they both guessed was an attempt to look peaceful, "I won't ask what you're doing here at this time. I assume you know what we want and given that you made it this far into the forest I can guess that you aren't stupid. Take all of your valuables and weapons and place them on the ground slowly. I can see the staff on you, girl, and you're outnumbered so I discourage you from trying to cast. I would hate for this to end in violence and to separate a pair of young lovers."

They seemed to be under the impression that the two of them were a pair of eloping lovers. Raziel muttered something under his breath that none of the others could make out and he turned to Tabitha, who gave him a small nod in return.

"I will not repeat-"

Raziel raised his left hand and pulled the trigger of his gun. The warning was replaced with a scream of profanities as the bullet impacted with his thigh, close to the gap between his legs. The two bandits looked at their leader, surprised at the sudden attack.

It proved a fatal mistake as Raziel charged forward and brought Derflinger down across the man's chest. The second bandit fumbled for his weapon giving Raziel a chance to throw a small knife at his shoulder, the runes instructing him once again on where to aim. He screamed as the knife imbedded itself on his shoulder and he gave a final cry as Raziel pierced Derflinger through the man's chest.

The bandits behind them fared no better. With a wave of her staff Tabitha conjured six spikes of focused ice and sent it straight at them. The remaining three screamed as their two spikes impaled their arms and legs, although Tabitha made sure not to aim for anything vital.

It was over in an instant. The leader tried to fumble for his wand before Raziel kicked it away. He started screaming curses and profanities at him, though Raziel paid them no heed. Just empty words from a man about to die.

Tabitha eyed the three would-be-marauders she'd incapacitated. They were bleeding rather deeply from their wounds but she made sure to keep at least one of their legs working, "Leave. Now," She knelt down and picked up their weapons. She couldn't risk them killing somebody else in their panic and regardless it would be useless to them in their current state, "You will not get a second chance."

"Th-Thank you!" The one to the left practically yelled. Despite the pain they all scrambled and crawled away from the terrifying young teen. They had likely expected her to be dot class and easy prey due to her young appearance.

Tabitha stood up and turned to Raziel, only to find him dragging the bandit's leader by his neck to one of the trees. She watched silently until they were both hidden from sight and the only thing she could make out were the bare edges of the leader's steel boots as he continued to struggle against the Undead's pull. Tabitha found it slightly surprising that the thin Familiar could drag the older male around.

She stepped closer and stopped as he heard the leader scream. The legs shook and kick, trying desperately to pull away from whatever it was that Raziel was doing to him. Unfamiliar sounds reached her ears and as soon as she made out what looked to be a whitish-blue glow the struggles ceased, only to be replaced by strained croaking and gasps as he stopped moving altogether.

It was only a few seconds later that Raziel came out of the tree's shadows. Tabitha's mouth parted slightly as she saw his face: Healed of all injuries with no trace of the scar or the burnt skin remaining. The previously damaged eye looked as good as new, going from its empty gray back to its more muted brown color. Whatever he had done he had somehow cured himself.

Tabitha stepped past him and winced by a tiny amount at the sight. The corpse looked as if it had been eaten alive from the inside. Its skin had turned into a dull gray and she could see the flesh sinking and clinging tightly to the bone. Its face was one of abject horror, its mouth hanging open in a tortured scream while its eyes were wide and blank. She could see the hands curled into rigid fists, likely trying to fight its assailant off.

"...That is where the medicine comes from," Raziel answered her silent question. Tabitha looked up at him, her expression completely blank despite what she'd just seen. He waited for her to say anything, but nothing came. She just stared, neither in hate nor in admiration. It was as if she didn't even care about what she had seen him do. He had to admit the lack of a reaction unnerved him.

The walk back to camp was silent. It was only when they neared the edge of the small sanctuary that Tabitha deigned to speak again, "Vampire?" She asked, more curious than wary.

"I do not require blood," He shook his head, "If what Guiche told me is true then Vampires also cannot travel in sunlight. I have traveled with you during the day with no problems in this regard."

"...Earthstone Golem?" She questioned again. She'd heard the rumors of Louise's Familiar being some kind of lifelike Golem and in her travels she'd already seen Golems built well enough that they might as well have been human save for a few odd giveaways. Granted she'd never seen any of them capable of using wandless magic but if he came from Gallia as some kind of twisted experiment then she wouldn't deem it impossible.

"Golems do not require blood," Technically Undead did not either, so the answer was a half-truth. The blood still remained a mystery and he dreaded to see what he would gain next if the strange mutations didn't stop. Still the fact that he was capable of acting on his own will without someone ordering him should have been enough of a giveaway that he wasn't a magical construct.

When they were close enough that they could see the others sleeping forms Tabitha tugged on his sleeve gently, "...Who are you?"

Raziel mulled the answer in his head before he looked at Tabitha, an unsure smile on his face, "I am my master's Familiar. Nothing more."

Reaching Tarbes proved even more difficult than carrying Guiche back to the camp. While Tabitha was kind enough to let them foist all of their camping equipment on Sylphid for her to carry that still left the five of them plus Verdandi and Flame to walk the entire way due to Guiche's fragile state. Attempting to have Verdandi or Flame carry him had proved fruitless; Verdandi wasn't that fast above ground and Guiche often complained of the heat whenever he got near Flame. By the time they arrived it was already afternoon and the sun was beginning to dip over the horizon.

On the bright side no one had asked him about the rate his injuries had healed with only Guiche commenting about how he wished Raziel had shared some of the Rub al' Kali 'medicine' that he had packed with him. Tabitha looked slightly uncomfortable for a bit after he'd said that but after a minute she went back to her previously empty expression, though Raziel couldn't shake the feeling that the childlike Mage was staring at him whenever he wasn't looking. She must have been wary of him 'feeding' on anyone if he ever got too 'hungry'.

"There it is! Tarbes!"

At Siesta's yell the other three released a collective sigh of relief with Guiche raising his free hand in a weak attempt to cheer. Letting out an annoyed breath Raziel shifted the place of Guiche's arm on his neck and tried to make the noble stand more upright. The Earth Mage's face had turned slightly green and he looked as if he would vomit any minute now if he didn't receive proper aid.

"Is there a healer that can aid Guiche in the village?" He sorely wished he didn't have to carry the petal throwing crystal hoarder but levitating him wasn't an option unless they wanted last night's stew to rain down on them from on high.

"Yep, healer Augustine and his assistant should have some medicine at the temple for just about every poison out there. There really aren't many visitors here so it should still be in storage," She clapped her hand, "Ah, but you'll probably have to buy it since Augustine's a bit of a tightwad when it comes to expensive medicines. Unless you're at death's door he won't give anything up for free, and maybe not even then.

"I'll...I'll pay for it," Guiche said, trying to ignore the sweat sticking to his forehead. He was still relieved that he didn't die but after he was healed his father would no doubt yell at him for spending so much on medicine. He could also wait out the poison to pass as Tabitha confirmed that he wouldn't die so long as he slept for most of the day in order to allow the symptoms to pass, but he didn't fancy staying half-dead in an inn for days on end so he would take a lecture.

Tarbes was the picturesque definition of a small town. All the buildings were made of wood and most of them comprised of houses for the townspeople or shops that he assumed were blacksmiths or inns. The only abnormality was a larger building made of stone that Siesta explained was the local temple for Brimir. It was there that most events took place from weddings to masses to funerals to mental (and not to mention physical healing).

As they walked to the temple the other villagers had recognized the dark-haired girl and waved at her, yelling out multiple phrases such as 'Welcome back!' or 'Say hi to Jessica for me!'. As Siesta explained the town was rather small and being out in countryside meant that everyone pretty much knew everybody else. Some of the younger children pointed excitedly at the cloaks the students wore - Nobles visiting a village were rather rare.

"Excuse me, Father Augustine?" Siesta knocked on the doors of the temple.

The large door opened and a man that Raziel could only describe as a bear peeked his head out. The face under the white cap looked annoyed and sourly stared at each of them in turn only for his face to brighten as he caught sight of Siesta, "Siesta, that you?" He pulled the girl into a bonecrushing hog, his lips curling into a grin from beneath his gray beard, "Damn, how long has it been? Your family's been missing you something fierce let me tell you."

This was the priest? He looked more like a mercenary. The muscles on his arms and legs certainly didn't look like something a priest or a healer would get from waving a staff around.

"I'll visit them after we drop him off," She pointed her thumb at the dizzy Guiche, "Mr. Gramont here got injured from a giant spider from some ruins not too far from here. Most of the poison's been sucked out but he wants to take some medicine in order to get rid of the pain."

"That cursed thing? Aye, I can see that," He stroked his beard in thought, "That thing settled in the ruins not too long ago; probably about half a year go? I'm not surprised you didn't know about it. We commissioned the local lord but of course the old bastard didn't want to spend a single copper hiring a band to try and get it out. We've been tense since we're wondering if it'll stomp into the village one day and drag us all off for supper."

"You won't have any problems with that anymore," Kirche commented, "That spider's dead and we made sure to burn anything that looked even close to being an egg."

"Oh? Finally a noble that actually does something except sit on his fat arse and drink wine," The priest grinned, a gesture Kirche returned. Kirche cared little for how others admired or derided nobility; even she rolled her eyes at some of the 'proper' things her parents did whose sole reasoning seemed to be 'It's what a proper noble would do' and shutting our her complaints to the contrary. It was as if they tried to ignore that they weren't always nobles.

"Well I was going to charge for the medicine, but since you killed that spider I don't think I'm going to need a new batch for a while. Just leave your friend here and we'll make sure he'll be fine. He'll feel like he got chewed on and shitted out by a manticore, but he'll live. Better than ending up on the belly of some ugly monster."

Raziel wondered to himself priest's were usually this...crass with regards to conversation. Nevertheless he dropped Guiche at one of the pews and bid the priest goodbye, although not before he made Siesta promise to visit him again the next day to assist him with some of his duties.

Siesta took them to her house afterwards. Kirche mentioned about wanting to visit an inn but Siesta had insisted that they go to her house and join them for dinner. It was oftentimes customary to show nobles proper respect when they visited and given that their group stopped the monster in the ruins the town owed them thanks. Kirche insisted that it was alright since the fight was incidental but she accepted the invitation int he end.

"Big sis!" A young lad with a head of dark hair ran up to them and suddenly tackled Siesta in a deep embrace. Raziel gave her a questioning glance to which the maid gave a light laugh.

"Julien, it's been a while," She patted the top of his head gently, "Oh, I guess I should introduce him. This is my little brother Julien, the second oldest kid in the family. This is Raziel, Ms. Tabitha and Ms. Kirche," She pushed him off gently, "Julien, where are the others? Did they go to town."

"Uh-uh, they're waiting for you back at home," He pointed to the wooden structure not too far ahead. They all started walking again, "You should have been here a few days ago though. Elder Linda passed away and they buried her with that weird armor she used to wear all the time. They almost couldn't fit her in the coffin and she looked like an onion with it on."

"Well she did say she wanted to be buried with it like she did her father," Siesta shrugged, "Come on, we'll talk about that later."

Introductions to Siesta's family was...interesting, to say the least. Siesta had eight siblings, all of whom were male, along with a mother and a father; both a cross between farmers and winery owners. He knew about them from the stories she told him during their free time. About how her great-grandfather was some kind of traveler from the far east who settled down in the village after he was aided by the villagers. Though she was remarkably tight-lipped about what said great-grandfather did after his child was born. He put it down to her not knowing.

Siesta's father, a large man by the name of Alexandre, introduced himself to the pair of nobles and apologized for the village elder not coming to meet them; they had yet to replace the Elder since the previous one died a few days ago. He made sure to stay back and try to avoid making contact. He still wasn't too keen on staying with too many people talking at once.

"My daughter tells me you've been helping her in school. You have my thanks," Alexandre looked the Undead up and down before offering him a hand to shake. Raziel took it and raised his eyebrow slightly at the extremely tight squeeze that followed. If he had to venture a guess the man was likely trying to intimidate him in the off-chance he had untoward intentions for his daughter. Considering he'd nearly killed her over a week ago he couldn't exactly blame him.

"Huh, you've got a strong grip on you lad," He let out a slightly strained breath and released his hand from the smaller male's grip, "Anyway, your friends tell me you're looking for the 'Dragon Guardian' my great-grandfather brought with him. I won't stop you three since that thing's just staying there and taking up space but I'm warning you to be careful. The damn thing's small and it doesn't do anything but it is an old family heirloom."

"I understand," Raziel answered.

Making their way to the temple housing the 'Dragon Guardian' proved simple enough. It wasn't that far away from town and aside from having to go through a thankfully monster-free cave it took them only a quarter of an hour to reach the treasure's sanctuary.

It was only when they arrived that Raziel was hit by a wave of nostalgia.

What stood in the center of the room was a statue, or at the very least it looked like one given its appearance alone. Its appearance was that of a large dragon, only slightly larger than Sylphid or a regular baby dragon in size and width. Its stone-like skin was covered in a thin layer of dirty and soul and Raziel could see what looked to be roots constricting whatever part of it lay on the ground. There was no mistaking what it was.

A great stone dragon.

"This is the dragon guardian?" Kirche asked, disappointed. She knocked on the dragon's snout only to receive no reply as the dragon was either dead or uncaring to her veritable disappointment. Tabitha circled around its body and tapped the tail, which also gave no reaction to the unwanted contact. Aside from its head and wings the roots seemed to wrap around everything.

"My great-grandfather bound the dragon here, or so the story goes," Siesta explained, "I don't really know if it came here with him or after him but its been here for at least sixty years now. We've tried to make it move or see if it's even alive but no matter what we did it wouldn't move. Some of the other villagers think it's just a statue but father insists that it's alive."

"Hmm, what do you think, Razi?" Kirche asked the silent Undead.

Raziel said nothing. He walked forward slowly, his eyes trying to take in all of the dragon's body. Impossible...what in the abyss was going on here? A mimic was one thing but where in the flames did this thing come from? Stone dragons were a rarity even in Lordran, nevermind running into one in a land so far away. That wasn't even including the fact that this thing looked rather...young for an immortal dragon.

When he was just a breath from touching it his eyes caught sight of its stony tail. While he would have loved to chop it up in hopes of gaining a new broadsword he had more important things to worry about. He reached out a hand nervously and touched its snout. it was rough and he could feel the scales even through his gloves. He brought his hand across its face in an impromptu caress.

"Woah!" Kirche screamed in response as the closed eye suddenly opened, exposing its blank eyes for all to see. Raziel backed away and unsheathed Derflinger as the dragon rose up, the roots binding it straining to keep it contained. Its eyes caught sight of the armed strangers and it gave a loud roar.

And then it collapsed, eyes closing again as it finished its yell. Raziel nearly dropped Derflinger at the sudden whiplash, though he could see the others sighing in relief. He sheathed his sword and beat on the dragon's nose with his left fist, although the dragon gave no inclination that the contact bothered it in any way at all. Frustrated he kicked its leg, although that did little other than dent his boot.

"Raziel, stop," Siesta pulled him back gently. She had no idea why the dragon moved so suddenly but she wasn't eager to make it any more mad lest it decide to rampage in the village.

"That was sort of interesting, but it's not much of a guardian if all it does is growl and then go back to sleep," Kirche remarked, though her voice still shook slightly from surprise, "Come on, lets go back to the village. I need to get some sleep."

The other two girls nodded and followed Kirche back to the cave entrance, Siesta looking back and worldessly urging him to return. Raziel stared at the dragon a while longer, studying it. Where had it come from? How was it bound here? Did that mean this land truly had connections to Lordran?

He closed his eyes briefly and followed Siesta out. He had no idea what was happening.

If there was one thing unique about Tarbes it would have to be its field. While it was beautiful to look at in the morning where its true beauty lied was the view of it during nighttime. At night the flowers seemed to glow a beautiful white and solver and simply looking at it calmed even the most troubled of hearts. The village took great effort to care for it and it showed.

Raziel said near the edge of the field, sitting down on a large rock and staring forward silently. Siesta was at her house helping her family prepare dinner while Kirche and Tabitha were settling down at the inn before joining them later for dinner. Guiche was still sleeping at the temple while Derflinger had been left at the house after his stories had quickly proven popular with Siesta's younger siblings. Before he left he was telling the children about a famous Germanian pirate he called Edward Kenway or something. Honestly he didn't understand why the sword's stories were so popular.

He fingered the dagger with his right hand and weighed the flintlock with his left. He doubted he would have to fight so close to the village but it never hurt to come prepared. The last time he had left his weapons under the guise of safety he was nearly captured by a Vampire and would likely have been defeated if not for his Pyromancy.

Footsteps crunching on the ground came from his right. He looked to their source and caught sight of Siesta walking towards him, a hesitant smile on her face. He smiled at her as well and continued to gaze out towards the field, Siesta standing next to him silently.

"What are you doing out here?" She started.

"Thinking..." It wasn't really a lie; the field brought about a sense of choked reminisce from in him that he couldn't ignore. Siesta had told him that her great-grandfather had been buried in the field, although she also mentioned that it was an empty casket. Something about her grandfather adventuring and the funeral being held after he never returned during the day he promised.

"Hmm," Siesta hummed, wringing her hands together nervously, "Are you not joining us for dinner? Ms. Kirche and Ms. Tabitha are coming soon and you need to eat something since you were carrying Sir. Guiche around all day."

"I am fine."

He let out a soft breath. He felt...out of place here. It wasn't as if the others had rejected him; far from it, actually. Siesta's parents welcomed him just fine and the children oftentimes offered to play with him since, in their words, he looked 'lonely all by himself'.

Still, his chest felt heavy. He was feeling resentful of their kind gestures. He tried not to think about it too much but seeing them all laugh and smile together let out the bitterness he would have preferred he didn't have. Siesta was his friend, as was his master if he looked at it a certain way, but there was a certain sense of solitude that he couldn't ignore.

He could confess and cry to any of them all he wanted but the most they would be able to give was sympathy, not understanding. Louise sympathized with his plight but not in the way Siegmeyer, Solaire, Laurentius and everyone else could. The events in Lordran were something Louise was told of in tales, not something she'd experienced herself. He knew they were gone but he couldn't stop a part of him from wishing that they were here now so he didn't feel so cut off.

He mimicked a deep breath and looked at the field again, trying to calm himself. As his eyes took in the silver flowers he was reminded of the grave of a tainted knight and the friend who dedicated her life to watching over it. He remembered looking in wonder up at the great sword only to recoil in fear as he heard Sif's growl and the giant wolf grabbed his former master's sword to defend his grave.

"Ah..." He let out a soft mumble of pain as the memory changed. He remembered Sif pinning him to the floor, her eyes casting downwards as she recognized his scent. He remembered her pained howl as she reluctantly took up arms against him. But...it was impossible. He had killed Sif before he was taken by Manus, and yet both memories were remembered.

Something wet went down his cheeks, "...Huh?" He raised a hand and wiped at the sides of his eyes, looking down in confusion at the clear liquid on his fingertips.

Tears.

"Raziel, what's wrong?" Siesta asked.

"I...do not know," He wiped away the the tears and growled in frustration as another wave of the irritating substance escaped his eyes. Blood was one thing, but where did the tears come from? He stood up from the rock and let out an annoyed breath.

"What's wrong?" She asked again.

"I feel...frustrated," He answered honestly. There was no other way to describe it. The only other explanation was sadness and he certainly didn't feel any regret for killing Sif. After all he hadn't even done anything to the grave and Sif attacked him first. That was how it happened and it didn't matter if his memories told him of lies such as Sif recognizing him.

His promise rang back on his head. He needed to tell her.

"Siesta...I promised I would explain when we arrived at Tarbes."

"You did, but..." She paused to consider her words, "Like I said before we all have our own secrets that we don't want to tell others. If you don't want to say anything then-"

"I am Undead."

An uncomfortable silence met the sudden announcement. Siesta was quiet, trying to understand what exactly he had meant. Raziel cursed inwardly at the impromptu confession. He didn't really know why he'd done it. He just...didn't want to hide it from her anymore. Whether she accepted it or not he would accept it.

"Undead? You mean...you were resurrected?" She asked hesitantly.

"...In a sense," He replied, "I am not...'alive' in the same way you and the others are. The reflection in the mirror, the...rotting corpse and monstrous visage you had seen was no trick. Beyond this illusion of life, that is what lies beneath."

"H-How?"

"In the land where I come from, any who die has a chance of coming back," He lowered the leather and pointed at the dark brand at the bottom of his neck, "I was one of the 'lucky' ones like so many others. It is the reason why I am still alive now despite the constant dangers Louise and I faced. Without my Undeath I would have died when I lost against Guiche."

Siesta reached a tentative hand out and grasped his face gently. Still cold, but she couldn't imagine the horror from the mirror was truly underneath. She pulled her hand back and looked down at her feet, "You're...you're not lying, are you?" She didn't even need to hear his answer. She knew him well enough that he wouldn't lie about this, especially given what she'd seen since she became friends with him.

"...You are afraid."

"I...I'd be lying I said I wasn't," She let out a nervous breath, "My father told me stories about Undead and other scary things. About how Vampires fed on humans like cattle or about how Undead were mindless monsters under the control of mad spirits that killed anything until they were put down. Undead are something I've heard of only in horror stories or legends."

"Undead who have lost their mind are oftentimes violent monsters," He conceded.

"But..." She placed both hands on her chest, "I...don't think you're a bad person, Raziel. I mean...you say you're an Undead but you don't act like anything from the stories I head growing up. From what you told me you were just someone who came back because you died, not because of some dark ritual. You saved me and the others from Count Mott and you helped Sir. Guiche so he wouldn't die."

"Does this change anything?"

"I...I don't know," She admitted sadly, "I trust you and I care for you as a close friend, but...I'm scared," She rubbed her lips together anxiously, "I'm sorry, I imagine I must seem cruel to you. I always grew up fearing the idea of running into Vampires, Elves and other non-humans, but...well, it's not that I'm saying that you're not human it's just-"

"I understand, do not worry," He raised both hands in a placating gesture, "I wanted to tell you the truth and I do not wish for you to lie and tell me that it does not bother you. If you wish to stay away from me now then I will not blame you."

"I...I don't want to stay away from you," She answered after a moment of silence, "No matter who you are it doesn't change what you've done. It's just...I need some time to think, to understand everything. This is all a little hard to take in all at once. I still want to stay friends, of course. I don't want to lose that...lose you."

"Of course," He nodded.

Another moment of silence passed before Siesta gestured to the house, "Um, I came here to invite you to dinner. Shall we go?"

"Undead do not require food," He gave a strained smile as Siesta let out a small "Oh" in response, "It is fine. I will follow in a while. I wish to visit this empty grave that you told me about."

He wanted to tell her more, to admit that he had nearly killed her, but fear kept him from saying anything. Would she hate him if she knew? Wait, he was being naive; of course she would. He would tell her soon...but not now.

Raziel watched her run back to her home and then started walking towards the grave she had pointed out. He could barely see it; the flowers had grown over most of it and the only way he could make it out was due to the tree that stood next to it. He blinked and rubbed his eyes as he realized he could read the epitaph carved on the great stone. It was similar to the cipher he'd read before the trip to Albion.

"Buried in a land that wasn't his own, but he lived a life of no regrets."

The language of Lordran. There was more writing on the bottom, written into the ground in front of the tombstone. He pulled away the flowers and focused on the white and black oily lettering, "What the...," He had realized too late that it wasn't simple writing.

It was a summon sign.

His body tensed as he felt the sharp prick of a crossbow bolt digging into his neck.

"Hm...oh, let me guess: Snatched by a green portal and dragged of to this strange land?"

The velvety voice caused no small amount of rising dread to spread through him. He heard the gears of the crossbow turn and dodged his head to the side as the large weapon fired. The bolt of the crossbow hit the tombstone, barely missing his neck. Turning around Raziel unsheathed the dagger and pinned his would-be-assailant to the tree, placing the small blade against his neck.

His grip nearly loosened as he saw who he was holding onto. The figure was taller than he was, wearing a dark coat and top hat that only the nobility could afford. In his right hand he held a large crossbow and his left was currently holding onto a rose with a knife-like blade at its stem. Of course none of this stood out compared to the mask encompassing the figure's face, its surface displaying a demented grin that a madman would have considered marvelous.

"Chester..." Raziel muttered, his normally blank voice dripping with hatred.

"I imagine what happened to you is exactly what happened to me," The Carim aristocrat continued casually, ignoring the dagger poised to cut his neck, "We are both strangers in this strange land. But at least now there's two us. Mwa haha haha," He let out an amused chuckle at Raziel's continued silence, "You look different, but I know it's you...Raziel."

"What are you doing here?" Raziel pressed the knife closer to his neck.

"What are any of us doing here?" He asked rhetorically, "Or were you under the delusion that you were the only one here? What, did you never think as to what happened to Lordran after the one thing stopping the abyss from spreading disappeared? Or do you simply not care about that land anymore? Did you think you were the only one who was taken?"

"...What are you talking about?"

"Time is such a complicated matter, Raziel," He answered vaguely, "This wasn't the first time I met you. I traveled with a lass named Karin for a time and we ran into you and a companion of yours. You and that Karin girl fought a fierce battle if I remember correctly, but it was so long ago now. You were much more...savage when you fought. Like a wild animal or a caged best. That girl you were with had to stop you from killing the young lass."

"Stop speaking in riddles or I'll kill you."

"Believe what you will then, it is of no consequence to me," He shrugged lightheartedly, "I'll just ask you one thing then: In your travels, despite how many times you died and how long you spent in the kiln, did you never wonder why it was you never Hollowed? Or were you filled with pride and assumed that you were of a much stronger will than everyone else? That no one was ensuring your survival?"

"How do you know so much?"

"Now what would be the fun in just telling you? Hahaha haha," Chester laughed again, "A story is no fun when someone spoils the ending. Ah, but let's not stay in this position. You are not the only reason I'm here," He shook his head in amusement as Raziel scowled, "You've changed, haven't you? It's not just that fake body you're inhabiting. You're not as naive and forgiving as you once were."

"Why was your summon sign in front of the grave?" Reluctantly he stopped pinning the taller male against the wall. If he tried anything else he would slit his throat, no questions asked.

"Why? Because it's mine, that's why," He placed a hand against his neck and rubbed it gently, "I must admit the funeral was a rather droll event. A lot of crying and praying. It surprised me how many showed up or even cared."

"Your grave? That would mean..."

"Figured it out, have you? I want to thank you for taking care of my great-grandaughter. Who knows, maybe we'll be family once this is all said and done."

Done, finally:/ Damn this chapter was longer than I thought I that was after I already cut stuff out:( I was going to show Colbert ruin-diving on the Lordran mural temple and Daphne and Amethyst's debriefing from Louise's point of view. Now I was tempted to split this chapter in two, but since I'm going to have to update others fics first I decided against it. So yeah, hope this tides any readers over till I update my other ZNT/IS fics.

The next chapter's either a shifting POV chapter or we just skip ahead to the Invasion of Tarbes. In the case of the former I can put in the debriefing, ruin-diving and possibly even a 'villain' POV focusing on Fouquet or even possibly Zombie!Wales, so Tiffania might show up early.

And before anyone complains about 'Why not Shiva of the East?' since he's from the Asia analogue for Lordran. I'll say it point blank: Shiva's not as interesting since all we know from cut lore is that he wants to wank off to the Makoto blade. That and taking cut lore into account you kill him, which kinda dampens that.

All we know so far is that Chester impregnated Siesta's great-grandma: I never said anything about him putting up his boots to become a farmer, so don't go crying 'Character ruined forever!' just yet. One thing I like about Chester is that he's a mysterious character and that he comes from the 'land of schemers' Carim. Is he Earl Arstor? Is he related to what happened in Oolacile? Is he from a further point in time than you given his Victorian Era look and unique crossbow? That and it's kind of common practice at this point to replace Siesta's grandaddy with somebody else.

Now to answer questions/reviews:

Futon Lord - I can't tell if that's referring to Raziel being a ball of angst at times or a literal statement given he can't get an erection. If it's the latter then I don't see how it's 'ballsy' since this isn't exactly a sex-fic and he's Undead for Juniper's sake so it's not hard to believe. Before you use Chester as an example please wait until the next chapter. That and we never do figure out of he's Undead or not since I've never seen the guy use an Estus and dying in Phantom form doesn't really kill you. He could be alive for all the fanbase knows.

Or it could be you're just poking fun at me/giving me a back-handed compliment. Whatever it is I appreciate the review regardless.

Demons anarchy - Sorry. The Mirror of Lies is a device that apparently shows the opposite of the reflection. Malicorne used it when he crossdressed so he could wank off to himself. Given Raziel's state it reflected back his Undead body, though whether that's a lie or not is unknown considering he's using a copy of Julio as his baseline.

AnubisGundam0 - One would think he would hate Queen Marianne then, not get a crush on her. He does state that he hates Gwynevere multiple times.

McPoopin - I don't use MS word; not since my laptop got stolen and I lost all my files:/ I use the doc manager hence why I have missing lines. I also don't have a beta reader so there's going to be mistakes here and there.

Sperance - I doubt Louise is going to let him do anything :p Still it does squick her out and she goes to great lengths not to have Henrietta find out about it.

NoGutsNoGlory - Thanks for the once-a-chapter review:) Velka is never stated to be more or less of a God than the others, just that they're afraid of her since NO ONE, not even them, are above her judgement. Ciaran also proves that one can be a demi-god and be reasonably human-sized. That and the commoners line is there for distinction. I would've said 'Most people' but then I took it out because Nobles are people too. That and Fouquet seems to dislike people in general, not just nobles. Just because she's against nobles doesn't mean she's pro commoners. She's a noble without a title, so both sides have something to deride and poke fun at her with.

Oh and the sacrifice to the kiln issue is just plain anger. He hates that he was deceived, he hates that they were profiting off his suffering, he hates them both period. The only reason he chose to burn was because he honestly believed it was the better choice compared to the abyss spreading and even then the stories he hears from the other Lordran people made it hard for him to just let them die since mankind as a whole didn't seem worth saving. Notice that he only cares about his friends from Lordran and not what happened to the land and people in general after he left the kiln, which Chester does call him out on. Oh and Anastacia doesn't wear a mask: You can see her face and that's her in the intro of the game clutching a corpse. She is pretty, although the missing tongue and feet make it hard to focus on.

Yes he met Priscilla, and no he didn't cut off her tail. The doll being in your cell isn't important; Priscilla was to be the main heroine ala the Maiden in Black before the concept got cut. Miyazaki insisted that the painted world stay in the game and the doll is likely an easter egg. Don't think too hard on it. Lastly the curing Ghough's blindess thing was an early part of the story that I want to change in hindsight. The original intention was for Raziel to somehow save his friends, but then I realize it goes against the themes of the game and now Raziel says he knows they're all dead either by his hand or someone else's. Even Solaire dying from the bug is happier since if he survives he burns in the kiln in his world, which is horrible regardless of how he thinks it will make him happy.

Akuma-Heika - If you burned for what felt like 100 years without even a second of reprieve would your really care about proper terminologies? It felt like an eternity and he was barely keeping his sanity intact before he was summoned. Not gonna ask about other questions, but I will answer the Colbert magic statement: Colbert meant the creator of Brimiric Magic. Firstborns like Elves and Vampires use nature magic which is considered heretical.

And no, I never saw Kirche say she's a virgin. A lot of people love to bitch at the anime for making Kirche look more slutty than she really is but I call bullshit: The novel has the exact same scene people keep claiming is anime exclusive where it's implied Kirche sleeps with a bunch of guys. So yeah I doubt she's a virgin, but she's no less a character unless you're one of those ideal wife type characters who call anyone not a virgin as being defiled. Kirche has likely slept with others before, though I doubt she's the type to abandon a kid if she gets pregnant. She must be careful.

The other questions will be answered/have been answered already so I'll just answer the Dark Lord question: Not very likely. One thing made clear is that he hates both Light and Dark, seeing one extreme as no better than the other. He wants out of the Light vs Dark conflict and he says so to Louise in Chapter 24.

Ziharn Krais - A cop can believe the government is corrupt and still turn criminals in. Besides that Louise is naive and hates killing people when they're helpless; she advocated sparing Joseph of all people, so a thief is small by comparison. She wants to do things the 'noble' way, which in her mind equates to the 'right' way. She's 'Lawful ' to contrast Raziel's 'Neutral/Chaotic'.

voidblade6 - To be fair it's hard to judge dogma given that in those 3000 years people were repeatedly told that Elves were baby-eaters that are the equivalent to the devil.