Chapter 16: The True Enemy
"Why am I gettin hurt so much lately?" Ethis asked from the corner while he rubbed his fingers where I had bitten. Meanwhile, the other Elvaan, who's name according to Ethis was Anose, had managed to convince me to sit down with the thief turned Dark Knight in order that he might tell us his current view of events.
"While he may have committed acts against other adventurers that may be deemed inappropriate, they are hardly worthy of the level of attention you have given them. In fact, this thief has insider information on a group that I, Ethis, and the rest of the Radiant Vanguard had been tailing and confronting prior to becoming seperated during a major operation." the theif looked up at Anose and barked out in annoyance-
"Y'know, I have a name, It's Ferdinand Altherege." Anose simply blinked as though he had not heard him and continued.
"Anyway, this group, the Blackguard, has been committing atrocities and creating political, social, and economic stirfe from the shadows all over Vanadiel, according to Ferdinand here, their ultimate objective is to awaken the power of beings known collectively as the 'Hellions', Demonic beings that apparently equal the Avatar's in power and number. We don't yet know what their ultimate objective is in trying to awaken these monsters, but we can assume by their actions that whatever it is thy are plotting will not bode well for Vanadiel." I scratched the back of my head, wondering what the hell he'd just said. The only ting I got was that this Blackgarb group was up to no good and Ethis's crew was tryin' to stop it. I decided I'd try ask some more detail oriented questions and see if I couldn't puzzle things out after that.
"So this group, the...Blackgarb, who are they exactly, you said you've encountered them, so do you at least know who they are? Like names or something?" Anose was silent for a moment before he responded.
"Well, theres no telling how many there really are, but the core members are- erm ahem, Ariana, if you would-" Anose began.
"No Problem-aru." responded Ariana, who then held out her hands and producd a large white globe, when Anose spoke again, an iage appeared in the sphere.
"Valtyre Croxis, an Elvaan Dark Knight/Samurai, master of the Scythe." The image became a seen of violence being committed by a tall Elvaan, he had brownish red hair, black eyes and skin which was considerably darker then the average Elvaan's. By his eyes and his grin he was clearly a very smug and conceited person. Anose Continued.
"Jorse Veltine, a Ranger Warrior of extreme skill, deadly with any gun." The Image changed to a shorter figure, he looked like a cross between Hume and Elvaan, had light-green hair, and a pair of cold eyes that reflected extreme insanity.
"Mitirya Esithy a Mithra skilled at Ninjitsu and theivery." The image changd again to show a slinky cat girl darting in and out of shadows, she had pink-white hair, light fur, and a single red eye, the other was covered by a patch.m Within that eye I saw...nothing, a hollow empty shell, I felt chilled to my soul.
"Maru and Eralin Karuis, Taru-taru siblings with masteful magical skills and considerable summoning skill." This was the first image that did not match up with what Anose said, I saw two taru-taru, but rather then a display of what they could do, I saw one, an apparent female, yelling at, attacking, and generally abusing the other, apparently a male, who seemed to neither feel, hear, or care about the abuse he was going through. The female had redish-brown hair, grey-green eyes, and in what was becoming a familiar motif, skin considrable darker then your average Taru-taru's. The male had Blue hair and creepy Yellow eyes.
"Glyra Valtore, a Hume woman who also has extreme magical skill, though her abilities appear to be geared toward the art of Summoning, more so then the taru-taru siblings. We believe she will be their 'trump card' so to speak, in controlling the Hellions once awakened." The image changed to that of a woman, making use of a vast army of Spirits, to lay waste to a town, she had long loose black hair down to her back and green eyes that glowed with a maniacle glee.
"Lastly there's Gullock, a Galka Monk/Warrior, we believe he merely serves as pure muscle, and does not have a mjor role other then to be added strength." The last image showed a large Galka pummeling a skeleton with a bored, almost impassive look, everytime he knocked the enemy down he whipped out a random snack from his pockets and took a bite. A rather unpleasant sight all told.
"Those are the seven core members of the Blackguard, we know of a leader, but unfortunatly-" Anose cast a glance at Ferdinand- "We do not know his name, his race, or what he's capable of." Anose finished and took a sip from a mug of tea he had left over from the meal we'd eaten earlier.
Ferdinand looked highly perturbed for a moment, as though he wasn't sure what to do with himself, then- "Well, I did my part, got the girl away from 'em and-"
"Yes, if only in an unconcious, and therefore unhelpful state." said Anose firmly.
"Hey, Hey, cummon, that's not fair, I got her back to civilization-"
"And then immediatly and inexplicably decided to leave again to head for a dangerous treck of mountain."
This time Ferdinand seemed to have been caught. "Er well, uh, that was cuz'..." He didn't seem able to come up with an adequate explanation, Anose however, seemed glad to give one for him.
"But you allowed you'r lust for the blood of Beastmen to cloud your judgement. And against all intelligence, you went to those mountains to sate you'r thirst." Now Ferdinand was uterly silent, however, one person took up the chance to become very, very, pissed.
"YOU SON OF A (censored)!" That would be...me. I lunged at him and grabbed him by his thoat. "YOU'R THE REASON MY SISTERS IN THIS CONDITION YOU (censored)?" Anose grunted in what sounded like irritation behind me grabbed one of my arms, and yanked me away.
"While he certainly deserves a certain amount of blame for this, the end truth is that it was the result of a Demon's attempt to kill her, and it was his actions that prevented that from happening, we have that at least, to be thankful for." I glared at Ferdinand with an all consuming rage, did Anose expect me to just forgive him that easily? Ridiculous, He needed to pay for what he'd done! Not for what happenned to my sister but for all the things he'd done to all those other adventurers as well, I still had not forgiven him for that either.
"RGH! AND WHAT? SO I SHOULD JUST FORGIVE HIM? NOT A CHANCE!" I shouted angrily as I fought to free myself from Anose's grip.
"Actually, there is a high chance of that. In fact I guarentee it, if you want you'r future adevntures to be pleasant that is." I glared at Anose, wondering what the hell he was on about.
"Whadooyou mean?" I demanded.
"Simple, it would be best to clear the air now of your grievances, as I believe the best course of action form this point forward will be to have Ferdinand journey with your party-"
"WHAT?" Both I and Ferdinanad shouted in unison.
"NO WAY! WHATARE YOU ON? YOU WANT ME TO MAKE THIS GUY PARTY OF MY TEAM? UH-UH NOT HAPPENING!" I shouted, ws this Elvaan out of his flipflopin mind? There was no way in HELL I was gunna accept Ferdinand as a member of the Red Wings, it was absurd to even suggest! How dare he?
"SAME DEAL HERE! WHO THE HELL GAVE YOU THE AUTHORITY TO TELL US WHAT TO DO ANYWAY? YOU CAN"T FORCE THIS ON US!" Ferdinand shouted his rage nearly rivaling my own.
"Actually, I can... unless, Ferdinand, you'd prefer I turn you into the authroties for assisting a malignant agency in carrying out their schemes? I assure my word would carry far more weght then yours would." That seemed to catch Ferdinand by the throat.
"No No, way, th- THAT's BLACKMAIL!" He shouted in defiance.
To my suprise, Anose smiled. "I prefer to think of it as a 'trump card'. Now then, will you do as I say, or should I drag you down to Bastok Prison?" Ferdinand seemed at a total loss, still trying to find a way out but clearly not seeing one.
"Give it up Ferd-" Ethis spoke up at last from his position in the corner. "Anose is, shall we say 'skilled' in the art of persuasion, if you just give in now you'll get off easy, better take it before he decides to use one of his more 'convincing' methods." And he too, smiled in the same manner as Anose, and I could not help but feel that I had just been hup-wiggered, sure they had Ferdianand in a trap but they had nothing on me, I couldn't care less if Ferdinand took the fall for being who he was.
"Still, not impressed here! Give me one good rason I should let that rat-bastard into my party?" Anose looked down at me, and squeezed he area of my arm he was holding and lifted me up off the floor, with that one hand...
"Because, Hume, if you do not, we, the Radiant Vanguard, will not help in the recovery of your sister." I felt as though I had been stabbed in the chest. He had me there, A Demon had placed some kinda curse on her... I would have to depend on the Radiant Vanguard to help... but...
"Fine, but what good is this? Why do you need the Re Wings help? Wha'ts in it for you?" ANose shook his head.
"There's nothing in it for us exactly, but the world as a whole will collectively benefit from our preventiitive measures. You'r role, is to be the counter force to the Hellion's, should they be awakened." I stared at him and felt my mouth drop to the floor.
"ARE YOU NUTS? HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO GO UP AGAINST THESE HELLIONS?" I shouted.
Anose chuckled. "If you recall I mentioned that the Hellions we're equal to the Avatars in power?" realization dawned on me, but bfore I could voice it Anose spoke it. "You, as a Red Mage, are ideally qualified to be able to master and control the Avatars' powers. We, The Radiant Vanguard, shall assist in kind in this effort, The first of which is-" He produced a small nauble from a pocket under his armor. "This stone will be the key to activating the 'keypoints' from which you can call upon, and challenge, an Avatar fo the right to weild it's power, you must expose it to heat, clear skies, sand, wind, ice, rain, and thunder, you will know you have successfully charged it when the stone changes color to reflect the element it has been exposed to. He finally allowed me down from the position he had me held in.
He placed it in my hand. "You are to journery throughout Vanadiel, exposing the stone to each of the elements I described in their rawest form, when you have charged the stone with all the elements, contact us with this-" he handed me what looked like a small black pearl. "This is a 'linkshell' the other members of your paty have them as well, now our two groups are as one. When you contact us, we will join you to assist with the conquering of each of the eight Avatars. Here are some scrolls...er you should put those two items aay for now..." I obediently put the two items away in my travel pack. "Okay, these scrolls will youw you the incantations for calling upon eight elemental spirits, as you journey you should make it a priority to learn these incatations and master effective useage of the spirits. That should help you prepare for the time when you will be called to challenge the Avatars themselves."
I found myself at a loss for words, staring don at the handful of scrolls that Anose had given me. Fin the eight elements in their rawest form and expose the stone to them, master the summoning of spirits, challenge the Avatars, and then who knows what kind of trials I would face after that. This was so far above and beyond anything I ever expected of me or to experience in my life that for a moment it all felt unreal, like a floaty dream. However, my sisters revival hinged on me being able to accomplish this task, so-
"Fine, I'll do it, I'll do it all, and then I can finally go back to a life of quite normalcy." I looked up at Anose, feeling firm conviction well up inside me as I did so. "Make no mistake, that's all I'm fighting for, when it's all said and done, I just wanna go back to a quite life, maybe take up smithing as a career, I've already had enough adventure to last me a lifetime." To my suprise Anose laughed.
"A very good cause to fight for indeed. Well, then, your friends, should be returning soon. You'll be sure to tell them of course?" he asked in good humor.
"Right, I'll tell them everything, including the fact that our team has a sixth member-" I cast a dark glance behind me toward Ferdinand, he returned a similarly dark gaze. My finals words were a mumbled whisper more to myslef then to Anose. My mind going over a thousand questions as I considered the very thought. "The sixth member of the Red Wings... Ferdinand Altherege the Dark Knight..."
end chptr 16