AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Ah yes... plot fillers, the bane of many a fanfic. Sorry guys, but I'm just suffering from a severe bout of WRITER'S BLOCK and, well, STRESS. It's not really a good place to be in, you know? Hehe, I guess that's the reason why my last chapter didn't exactly feel right, IMO.

I plan to rewrite chapter 14 if I have the time, but right now, I think I should just keep on with the story.

Well, anyway, I promise you that I'll let you know when I'm out of this... rut.

So... on with the fic!!!

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RAGNAROK ONLINE FANFIC

TRANSGRESSIONS OF FATE

By: RAGNAR (that really is my name)

Chapter 15: Unanswered Questions

Kevin stoked the fire with a stick to keep it burning brightly. They were having Savage for dinner again. This dinner, however, was quite uncomfortable. In one side of the camp, were he and a still sleeping Meshido.

At the back, tied to a tree, was an unconscious – and bound – Marus. His strange weapons were strapped to Kevin's back.

For some reason, those two knives ended up on the floor next to Marus. Another strange thing was, Kevin couldn't even touch the hilts. So, he just kept them near for safekeeping.

On the other side of the, facing him, were the two people that he was sure to be the enemy – until now.

The thing is... he couldn't fight them for two reasons.

One, he's outnumbered two to one – not to mention the fact that they're the next thing to invincible.

Two, Freya seems to be taking the Assassin's side, or rather, by his side every other second. Whoever this Mae was that has taken over the girl's head, she seemed to have a history with Sodos.

Mae was leaning contentedly on the Assassin's shoulder.

He was right; this is starting to turn into one weird soap opera.

His green eyes sparkled from roasting fire as he turned the Savage around on the pit. "All right, could anyone of you tell me what's going on here?" he finally said after one long and rather awkward moment.

Mae – he guessed that he would have to be used to calling her that – stared at him while a smile crept at the edges of her lips. "Well, where do you wish to start?"

Kevin cleared his throat, "First of all, what about Freya? Is she...?" he let that question trail of, he didn't like it if a friend of his is dead.

Battle-hardened as he was, he just didn't like loosing friends. His family tree doesn't exactly make people come near him with open arms. If they knew what he was, it would be more like fire and pitchforks.

"The girl is asleep," Mae said with a smile, "I'm just taking over for a while until all this is settled."

Well, that was actually... reassuring. He thought with a frown.

"OK... what about that guy?" he said while pointing his thumb at Marus' direction, "what's his deal? And why does he call himself Sei'Gash? I thought his name was Marus."

Mae took on a lecturing tone while floating an apple towards her, "Marus Shadow-Eyes and the demon, Sei'Gash are of the same body. However, they are entirely different entities. Marus is what he claims to be – an agent of the Fates. His mission is, not exactly to fix, but rather, to smoothen out the 'rough spots' caused by the Rift's existence. It's a long story, one that I will leave Marus to tell, but that's basically it about Shadow Eyes."

Kevin tore off a piece of the Savage, "What about the demon?"

After taking a deep breath, Mae then said, "Sei'Gash is Marus' father."

Now that raised an eyebrow. Kevin let the Keeper continue.

"Long ago, before the Beginning, Sei'Gash was once a..." Mae lifted her head, searching for a word, "...person, that was vying to be one of the Guardians. They saw too much darkness in him, and so, they rejected him. This was an extreme insult to him, so, he vowed that one day, he will destroy the Guardians and all that they stood for."

After a pause, Kevin added, "You still haven't reached the part where Marus is the demon's son."

This time, it was Sodos who spoke, his voice still carried no emotion.

Odin's bloody eye! How does he do that?! The man can carry a tone this flat while facing a friggin' tornado!

"Sei'Gash is not his father by your definition, Kevin. He's more like his creation. An instrument to carry his will into our world. You see, when he was rejected, Sei'Gash waged a war against the Guardians. A war that he lost. He was then banished into a prison that is bound by time. One day, I don't know how, that prison was loosened for a brief second. In that second, Sei'Gash placed a part of himself into a woman, a maiden in some stories, so he can have flesh."

Kevin frowned, "That story sounds awfully familiar."

Sodos just kept going with the story, "The first part of Marus' life wasn't very glorious. It was marked by death. The human side of Marus was under the demon's control. Day after day, you would hear stories about an entire town slaughtered by 'Death's Will'. Sei'Gash's name would be seen written on that certain town's walls – in blood."

Kevin's frown deepened as he pondered on, this story just got interesting. "Shit... well? What happened next? How come Marus is not doing that anymore?"

Sodos fondly looked at Mae before continuing, "The Fates sent a powerful Wizard to stop him. Their battle, I have heard, lasted very long. It ended with Sei'Gash defeated and delivered to the Fates for judgement."

The Assassin let out a smile, well, that was new, Kevin never thought the man was capable of smiling. "The Fates were about to throw the demon and Marus back into the prison when the Rift suddenly began to form. It would seem that Sei'Gash was able to plant certain seeds before being captured..."

"... So, in order to keep Sei'Gash from getting out again, they sealed him into the deepest corner of Marus' soul. Shadow Eyes was grateful of this and agreed to be their agent..."

"Grateful?" Kevin frowned.

"Marus never wanted to be a murderer. In fact, he was destined to be something else. The demon's presence in his body changed all that and sent him down a whole different path. In order for Sei'Gash's will to imposed on Shadow Eyes, the demon tortured his soul day by day. Naturally, being human, Marus can only stand so much. In the end, Sei'Gash ruled his every action."

Kevin couldn't help but feel curious at a certain word, "What's the Rift?"

"The Rift is place where there is absolutely nothing. In short, it is oblivion. The thing about this kind of oblivion, though, was that you remain conscious. Your body no longer exists, but your mind, or rather, your soul is still alive. To tell the truth, I almost went insane at the first few seconds they threw me in."

The Rift... the very concept sent chills up Kevin's spine.

"They knew that the Rift's presence could actually disrupt the way things were supposed to go. So, as his punishment, the Fates assigned Marus to guard the true passage of time."

Sodos trailed off as he stood up, "You know, I first met him a thousand years ago when I was just a boy. He built up a reputation for himself then. Every child spoke his name with reverence. He was at the time, a war hero..." Sodos trailed off for a moment before continuing, he smiled, "He saved the world once by stopping a demon invasion by taking down their leader."

Kevin was about to reach for his sword as the Assassin was leaving, when the man spoke up, "There's no need for that, Crusader. I'm just going out to think. I'm not the type to stab people at the back. Also, I owe you for taking care of Mae. For that, you have my gratitude."

With that, the Assassin disappeared into the shadows.

Mae looked at the direction Sodos disappeared into. "You may not like the fact, Kevin, but you can actually trust him to keep his word."

Kevin took out another piece of the boar. "Yah, well, I keep it as a policy to not trust anyone who's with someone who tried to kill me." He said while motioning at Degedos.

The Knight let out a feigned, wide-mouthed, yawn. "That was a business affair. I believe, you would do the same in my position."

Again with that phrase... Why do those two assume that he "would do the same thing in their position"?

Instead of asking it, though, he asked Mae the next question in mind. "So... what's with you and gloom boy?" he was referring to Sodos.

At the question, Mae's expression became... sad. "Sodos and I..." the Keeper let out a sight, "Sodos and I were getting married on top of Dragon's Cliff at New Year's Eve. It was a forbidden marriage, however, because he was just a soldier and I was a Royal. But then, we were in love so..."

She fed the fire a twig before moving on, "Then, in the middle of the ceremony, his brother, Leish, barged in with not less than a hundred soldiers. Out of jealousy, he gave our names to the Questioners. Both Sodos and Marus fought those soldiers but not even Shadow Eyes could take on that many, especially when he trained those men himself."

Kevin took out the third piece of what's left of the Savage. "Well, what happened?"

"Marus was pushed back into a corner and fell into the ravine." She sighed again, "Sodos and I were captured and tortured in prison. Leish then accused us of being leaders of the Rebellion. We were pronounced guilty."

Mae ate the last portion of the apple. "At the place where we were to be thrown into the Rift along with the Rebels, Leish killed me in front of Sodos before throwing him in."

Degedos then added, "That's also the first time I met Sodos. From his eyes, I can tell that he was innocent. I could also tell that he was destined for great things."

That last piece of information stoked the Crusader's curiosity. "Well, if you were killed, how come you're talking to me right now?" he asked Mae.

"The Fates assigned me as the new Keeper to Sei'Gash's prison. That is why I was able to take him, Sodos, and Degedos so easily. I was given the power over the Sei'Gash and all those under the Rift, which is the demon's creation."

"Why take over Freya?"

The Keeper smiled as she placed the apple core at the ground beside her, her voice carried a slight air of nobility as she spoke, "I am afraid that that question is to be answered some other time."

Oh well... this was a lot to put together in one sitting. Kevin placed the Savage's remains in a bag as he fed the fire more wood. With Meshido out of commission, they would have to keep watch over the camp the old fashioned way – by taking shifts on watching the camp. He didn't like the idea of keeping the girl awake, even though she wasn't exactly herself right now, so he placed her as an exemption from the job.

He also didn't like the idea of being asleep when there are two people in the camp he didn't really trust all the way. He wouldn't be surprised if he woke up with a sword jutting out of his gut.

That leaves him the only person who's up for the job...

"This is going to be a very long night." Kevin muttered to himself.

Then, the Crusader was hit with a jolt of realization. "Wait a fucking minute... You said a thousand years ago." He said while turning towards Mae, his face pale, "Would the Marus you were talking about be the same Marus we have tied up over here?"

Mae's straightforward reply was, "Yes."

"No shit... H-How?"

"Marus is, in a way, Fateless. He dies then lives again. It's complicated, you should ask him that when he wakes up."

Kevin was going to ask another question when Sodos came back from wherever he went to, his form materializing out of the shadows as he walked out from the trees. He then threw an axe in front of Kevin.

Kevin recognized the axe's make. It was crude, yet he can see that it was powerful. He's seen others like it before.

He turned towards the Fateless Assassin, green eyes turning hard, "Orcs."

"This far from their territory?"

"It would seem that way."

"Anyone you know?"

"No."

"What do you think they want?"

Kevin's only answer was... "My head."

It would seem that those fires and pitchforks have come for him. Only, it wasn't from the people he expected.

The Crusader kicked dirt over the fire as he stood up.

Steel rang in the middle of the night as blades left their scabbards.

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The view from the heavens never changed. Always, he can see wars, battles, and deaths on the earth below.

A smile crept on his lips as his attention was drawn to a certain patch of night-shrouded ground. The tension rising there would inevitably lead to a battle.

He knew that is will happen. He's the one who sent those orcs to the camp.

Mivere, First Guardian of the Heaven's sat on his throne while witnessing the scene from the glass covered Clairvoyance spell that he placed on the floor of his floating castle.

As much as he hated being in this disgusting corporeal form, it was necessary for communicating with lower beings.

He also hated being in this backwater plane of existence that the humans below call "life". The very concept brought a sneer to his lips.

Then, a portal opened in the middle of the room. As the white pillar dissipated, a man dressed in stylish red Wizard's robes strode forward.

It wasn't exactly a man, per se, as flames raged on from the open spaces of the robes. The only thing visible of the man's face was his charred skull floating over the gaping hole of his uniform's collar.

Mivere regarded the being before him with no less attention he would grant an insect, "What do you have for me, servant?"

The being's voice was as empty and hollow as his clothes, "My sources were correct, my Lord. The demon, Sei'Gash has truly awakened. They say that his release was aided by some other party that is still not known."

Mivere's eyes stared at the "man's" eye sockets as if there were still eyes to fill those empty holes, "What do you mean, 'still not known'?"

"The unknown person or people responsible for the demon's release have eluded all my sources' eyes and ears, my Lord. It would seem that whoever they are, they are not ordinary humans."

The Guardian lounged at his seat while watching the people at the earth below. It would seem that the Crusader is going to fight those orcs on his own. How he would succeed, Mivere couldn't care less.

Stupid mortals, all humanity must be full of fools.

Mivere waved off his "concerns", "Very well, I want you to find out who these new beings are. Also, when you do find out, I want you to tell me immediately."

"Yes, my Lord."

The Guardian turned back to his viewing, "What other news do you have for me, Leish?"

Leish's blackened bones creaked as he gave a deep bow, "None, my Lord."

"Then you can go."

"As you wish, my Lord." Leish kept his head bowed as another portal opened and closed for him.

Well now, there are actually people who can actually elude Leish's web of information. The fact actually made Mivere smile as his eyes stayed on the little scene below. This might actually be interesting.

However, whoever these people are, Mivere must make sure they will not hinder his plans. No one must stop him from becoming the One Guardian.

Control will be his.

All beings will bow in servitude before him.

If he succeeds, he will be worshiped for an eternity.

Before he knew it, his laughter echoed across the castle.