The one to save us all…
Prontera, Rune Midgard Capital, an hour before chapter 6
Alice risked heading out into the open, just so that she could see Jovich and Rephere; how they were doing; if Tiana's death was too much for them. She saw Rephere drinking in the local pub, raving about the cruel life. Jovich sat in her room, crying endlessly into her pillow.
They were beyond hope for recovering. It was all Alice's fault, and she knew it. Guilt struck her like gong, seeing how she had made her friends so sorrowful. It was all her fault…and she didn't have enough courage to meet with them ever again.
She took one last look at Jovich, then jumped down the roof she was on, scrambling back into the alleys. It was all her fault, she should have never gone through that warp portal…she should never have let Little Tails go…
She should never had let her friends die…
A sudden tingling feeling came from behind Alice. Someone was coming! She couldn't be seen, they might recognize her from the Hairdresser shop…
Alice dashed off as fast as she could, finding a place to hide. She ran through the alleys, looking for a tight gap or a box she can hide in. She could sense somebody stalking her, feeling her pursuer rounding corners before she could actually see them.
It was like a sixth sense, like she knew someone was following her instinctively. And Alice has learnt to trust her instincts ever since she was followed. They have always proven themselves to be right every time.
Alice jumped up onto a roof, hopping her pursuer would move on ahead. Alice watched as a monk ran through the alley, making loud footsteps as he passed. That was close, almost too close perhaps.
Alice continued on, finding a safe spot to rest, hopping from roof to roof, She couldn't go back to the church; she would be too far out in the open. In a matter of minutes, her roof leaping took her to the north-eastern side of Prontera. Alice found a tight cluster of buildings, and thought maybe the roofs would be her safe haven for a while.
Alice's thoughts drifted back to what has happened. Tiana died…and Jovich and Rephere would never forgive Alice for letting Tiana die…she lost so many friends already, did she have to lose more? Maybe she couldn't lose anymore. Maybe she couldn't have friends, no matter how hard she tried, because she would always lose them in the end…
Tears streamed down her Alice's eyes, soaking into her shirt. She wiped them away, wishing that she wouldn't cry so much. She wished she could just forget everything and live a life alone, where nothing will come to harm because of her, where no one will ever be sad again because of her.
It was always nice, having friends, getting to know each other, doing things together, but Alice never wanted to lose them…and she didn't know how hard it was to lose your friends, until now. If she knew, then she would never had had made any friends…but it was too late; she has already lost all her friends…Tiana, Jovich, Rephere, all the slaves of the Owl Baron, the Glast Heim inn keeper…
Little Tails…
She couldn't stop crying. The reality of it all was too much to handle. Not a thousand years could break her sadness. She hung onto a statue of the Norse god Odin, starring into the moonlight.
Little Tails was the only one Alice was certain of that was still her friend. If only she could see him one last time. If only he could take away Alice's worries like he always had. Alice wanted to see him one more time before she accepted fate: she had to return to the Owl Baron. She didn't want other people to lose their friends…she didn't want them to go through what she had already gone through…
A small clinking sound caught Alice's attention. She peered down from the statue, seeing a knight with his spear raised at her. She panicked for a moment, then eyes widened as she realized who it was. It was the lord knight that killed the Owl Baron. It was the lord knight that killed Alice.
It was the lord knight Alice gave Little Tails to.
Auril lowered his lance, still not believing what was in plain sight for him to see. The description that Meth gave him matched. The girl who the Owl Baron wanted so badly was her? She couldn't be, no one in their right mind would dare do anything to make the Owl Baron angry, and most certainly anyone who would give up their life for a kitten…
Auril dropped his lance completely, making it land in a heavy thud. His action surprised even himself, and snapped him out of his trance. No, he had to take the girl, selfish or not, it was for the whole of Midgard. What did that compare to a single girl?
The girl dropped down from the statue, landing gracefully on one foot. She straightened up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "A-are you here to take me back? Back to the O-Owl Baron?" She said in a pleading sort of voice.
Auril didn't know what to say to her. The original plan was to knock her unconscious and drag her back to Glast Heim for the Owl Baron to take care of her. Now he wasn't sure. Did she really deserve to go back? Auril had overheard the Owl Baron devising a sinister plan to kill Alice just so that more slaves would work for him…
No, he had to end his dilemma here. He was done everything for the greater good of Midgard, and it shall always be that way.
"Yes, I'm here to take you. We need you to prevent a war from happening, please, we seek you cooperation." Auril said as smoothly as possible.
The little girl nodded slowly, then held her arms out Auril to cuff…not that Auril had any cuffs anyway. "P-please, take me then…but I have one request before I go…"
Auril nodded at the girl, beckoning her to continue.
"I-I've left Little Tails with you, h-haven't I? I-I want to see him again before I go…one last time…please…" She bowed toward Auril, sobbing harder as she did so.
Auril couldn't say anything. His old feeling of guilt returned. The girl knew it was him who killed her…she knew it was he who had her kitten. But she made no indication that she remembered being killed by Auril…that she was sliced in half by him. Auril remembered how Grace locked herself in her room when they went back to the guild castle; how she cried that her boyfriend was a murderer. It took a few days to let the matter pass, but Auril never forgot that day ever since it happened.
Auril looked at the girl, putting her hands back down into place. In all his guilt and dilemmas, he still found heart to smile. "You can certainly see your kitten. It's probably in my room, shredding my bed sheets into shreds again. And I don't have to cuff you either."
The girls' face lightened up, replacing her sadness with the joy of god in heart. She recovered from her bow, wiping her tears from her face again…this time with a smile. She was so much like Grace…they were both so easily delighted; forgetting everything for a while.
"What's your name anyway, lil' ma'am?"
"M-me? I'm Alice…"
"And I'm Aurility, though all my friends call me Auril," he actually found it comforting to be able to talk to Alice…to be friends rather then enemies…
But it wouldn't matter; Auril won't be seeing her much longer anyway…
Auril stepped into the master room, finding the place just as he left it. Grace was on the bed, apparently asleep. The kitten, which Alice called Little Tails, was wide awake, tearing up the bed sheets as Auril suspected.
Alice ran immediately to Little Tails, picking him up and putting her face into it soft fur. She cried tears of joy as Little Tails' tail swished wildly back and forth.
Two friends are once again rejoined together, thought Auril to himself. He opened up the Guild Link again, ordering everyone to return. There was no point looking for Alice if she was already found, was there?
Auril took off his armour, replacing it with a military style robe instead. He put back his lance and claymore in the cupboard, jamming his greaves in for a pair of sandals. Just as he finished, Grace began to stir from the growing commotion in the room. She rubbed her eyes, squinting around the room in the candle light.
"Auril…?" Grace began. "Auril, are you back?"
Auril walked up to her, rubbing her hair when he got close enough. "Yes, I'm back."
"Auril…" Grace began to sob steadily, "I-I had a n-nightmare…that y-you got killed when l-looking for t-that girl the g-guild was looking for…I-I was so s-scared…I t-thought that I l-lost you f-forever…I…I-I didn't…"
Auril held Grace closer to him. They both were sitting on the bed, holding each other like all romancers do…in the moonlight and in the sorrow…
"But I'm here Grace, living and holding you. Isn't that enough proof I'm here?" Auril replied smoothly.
"Mm…" Grace replied softly, "But, if you're back, then did you get that girl?"
Auril looked at Alice, seeing she was playing with Little Tails, "Yes, I did get. I'm doing her a favour…just before she goes."
Grace looked up, seeing a pale young girl stroking Auril's kitten gently. She gasped as she recognised who she was…it was the girl back in Glast Heim castle that Auril killed so brutally…
Grace held onto Auril's arm, not believing what she saw too. It wasn't possible, only the warrior jobs had the luxury of resurrection…but Auril had figured it out already…the Owl Baron could be revived, so why can't his minions?
Still, Grace held onto Auril's arm tighter, "W-why, why is she the one? I you killed- I mean I thought she died…? Why does the Owl Baron want her? Why is she alive…?"
Auril didn't answer her questions. He was too mentally exhausted to do anything. He leaned his head onto Grace, dozing off a little. Grace stopped asking her questions completely, accepting the fact that her boyfriend had a rough night and deserved some rest.
From a distance, Alice watched intently as the two lovebirds cuddled each other through the night.
The guild was assembled in the operations room, waiting for Auril to debrief them on what happened yesterday.
Lulaba sighed as she leaned on the wall. Auril was late again. He was never on time for any of the guild meetings, saying he was 'busy'. Busy with Grace, that's what, Lulaba thought to herself, men.
Everyone else was present; Meth the assassin, Chan the monk, Valianse the hunter, Turamii the other assassin, Zennon the priest, Taso the rogue, Kelly the blacksmith and a bunch of others Lulaba couldn't be bothered to think about.
Taso lost his patience and decided to leave without the debriefing, but right on queue, Auril stepped inside with Grace and another girl.
"Sorry I'm late guys." Auril apologised sincerely.
"Again," Turamii complained.
Auril ignored him, going straight to the point, "Alrighty, ladies and gents, after a few days of searching, we have located and captured the girl the Owl Baron wanted, Alice. According to original plans, we are supposed to bring her to Glast Heim for the Owl Baron to slowly devour her, or risk a war on Midgard. That was, however, the old plan."
Everyone in the room suddenly became more intent.
"I have a new plan. A much worse solution, but one that may end the reign of the Owl Baron and Dark Lord completely. I purpose we wage the war against them, instead of idly sitting here, waiting endlessly for an unforeseen attack on the cities. We should strike first, not like how the previous rulers Glast Heim let their enemies come to them. The results were horrific, as we all know, and many innocent lives were killed or enslaved, never seeing the lights of day again. The first Abyss Legion may have failed to defend Glast Heim, but the second Abyss Legion managed to drive out the Titans out of this world, making the Dark Lord afraid, making him fear us for a change. We could do the same; I've already spoken to Abyss Well about this earlier this morning. They've helped devise a plan that would permanently put Glast Heim in a barrier, letting only some people with the right spell matrix," what ever that meant, Auril thought to himself, "would be able to pass through it. Anyone else would just bounce off the shield. I've spoken to King Tristan III as well, he believed in us that it will work, and his majesty has gathered as many worthy warriors like ourselves as possible to aid us." Auril Caught his breath for a second then continued. "Any questions?"
Valianse spoke "Yes. If most of the mission has to do with spell craft, then why not just let the Abyss Well do it?"
Damn, Auril cursed himself for missing out that point. "There's one problem: Glast Heim is protected by one of the greatest magic items ever known to Rune Midgard; the Emperium. Through a bit of research, it was discovered that Glast Heim was protected by the rare crystal, much like our own, only it is much bigger, able to repel magic forces on a city-wide scale. That's where we come in. We must locate the Emperium and destroy it. Understood?"
Meth spoke up this time "So, we storm into the city, find whatever it is we are looking for, destroy the oversized bulk of crystal and get the wiz's to do the rest. Simple as that."
Auril nodded in Meth's direction. Looked like he didn't need a lengthy speech after all.
He chanced a glimpse of Alice's face. She was shocked at what Auril was going to do. She was beyond dismay, eyes filling up with fear and disbelief as she heard the ambitious plan. 'It's not going to work' was written all over her face.
Auril patted her shoulder, whispering to her, "Don't worry, it'll work."
Alice didn't say anything, just looked down at the floor, shaking her head disbelievingly.
"I won't let you take all the glory either; I'm going to be the one to save Midgard, not you."
These last words surprised Alice the most. She never thought of it that way, she never thought her actions were for glory or for fame. She just didn't want anyone to be hurt…
But Auril just smiled, smiled as he smiled fearlessly in the face of death…but what was death to him in this world? If he died, he could be resurrected. Big deal.
He didn't know it would be the last mission the Abyss Legion would ever do.
An Injustice listens to the conversation, hurrying back to its master to report what it just heard.
