Chapter Two: Briefing the Council
Along one of the many sidewalks a pillar of blue light erupted from the streets of Prontera. The blue light quickly faded and Kyson and Celina stood where the pillar once shown. Celina still clung to the knight, softly crying into his armor as he stroked her hair as best he could with his gauntlets still equipped. She began to hiccup softly as she slowly began to calm down, the shuddering not ceasing whilst the tears may have.
"Shh..." Kyson whispered gently, "We'll be alright now. We're home now..."
The blue-gray haired wizard looked up at him with her light-gray eyes, now red and bloodshot from the tears. Her grip on him tightened as she rested her head against his chest. The hiccups finally stopped and the shuddering ended shortly after. Parting her lips to speak, she tried, but nothing came out. She closed her lips quickly and looked further toward the floor before opening them yet again, this time looking back up into the knight's deep, dark-gray gaze.
"I just... I just miss him so much..." she whimpered, sadness still looming in her eyes.
"I know, dearest... I do too..." Kyson whispered, giving her a small kiss on the forehead.
Finally moving from their teleported location, the two walked silently along the stone streets of the bustling city with their arms interlocked. As they strolled they passed many sights that were just natural to the city. Merchants all fought each other for the best prices on their goods; stray animals stole food from fruit venders, and people hailing from every city and town on Rune-Midgard all occupied this busy capitol. However, their destination wasn't a local bizarre or a shop, but Prontera castle where the king, Tristan the Third, himself resided along with the Grand Council that governed Midgard.
Reaching the castle, the gigantic stone building loomed over them as they stood in front of the large wooden doors. Quickly toward the main gate the knight and the wizard separated from their hold on each other and walked right up to the huge door of the stronghold. A guard stopped them right when they reached the barrier and politely demanded that they state their name and business.
"Captain Celina Airyath of the Third Wizard Division," Celina motioned to herself, "and Captain Kyson Senarith of the Second Knight Division." She gestured over to Kyson who was to her right. "We are here to speak to King Tristan and the Grand Council. We have been investigating the disappearance of Crusader, Thane Airyath, as per their requested instructions," she said steadily; her voice never wavering or showing emotion to the guard.
"Very well, come this way," the guard stated with a nod of approval, opening the large door to the castle to let them through.
Entering the building the two were greeted with a large, white marble hall that lead straight down through the castle. Many rooms branched off the central hall and numerous staircases were connected to certain parts, granting access to other area of the castle. Following the guard half way down the hall he motioned them onto a staircase to their left. The staircase was rather large and took about a minute to finally climb to the top step. This floor of the castle was set alone for the meeting of the Grand Council that governed the cities of Rune-Midgard. A single representative from every city, as well as the king himself was always present whenever the council met. A large wooden door was set in front of the lone room on the floor, which the guard quickly opened for the couple. As soon as the two were inside, the large door was shut and the guard departed to return to his post in front of the castle's main door.
The council looked the two over as they entered the room, muttering amongst themselves until the king stood from his seat to speak.
"Captains, welcome. I trust this unannounced visit is not a social call?"
King Tristan spoke in a jolly tone, much like a grandfather would his grandchildren. Kyson only sighed and nodded as Celina stepped foreword to address the council herself.
"King Tristan and other esteemed members of the council, I bid you greetings from the both of us. As you already know, the two of us were dispatched in an attempt to locate the missing captain from the church's crusader units. Following the small leads we had, we last tracked his whereabouts to the caves of the orc inhabited lands. As is common knowledge of that area, the caves within those lands are filled with the undead ancestors of the warrior race."
Celina stopped for a moment, the events of the past few hours rushing to the surface of her thoughts. She unknowingly shuddered visibly before everyone, but they just leaned foreword and rested against the long wooden table they sat at and waited for her to finish.
"Upon entering the caves we were met with fierce resistance," Celina continuted, "as was expected. But… something was odd… Something differed from the scouting reports and our own first-hand accounts of the creatures in the cave. Usually they just attack wildly, seeing as they are undead. They only have the basic instincts of killing and eating. However, this time they seemed…" she paused to think of a word, "Coordinated. I figured this out when they seemed to learn how deadly the fire walls I was casting really were. I'm sure you all know how they brainlessly charge the walls only to be burned to a crisp, yes?"
The council representative from Geffen grinned and nodded. The man being a wizard, he no doubt had fought against the undead fiends in one of their little riots to free themselves from the caves to destroy the living world above.
"After I had only cast a few walls, they began to hold back and not rush them as per their usual manner. Being surprised by a group, Kyson was bludgeoned in the back by an axe and knocked out. I easily kept them at bay, after taking care of the ones near Kyson's unconscious form, by casting fire walls in a pattern around us until he came to."
The council members seemed astonished at the findings of the two captains from the Pronteran army. As the young wizard had said, there had never been an account of the undead orcs actually… learning.
"After Sir Kyson woke up, we dispatched the rest of the group that was in front of us. Our peace was short lived however. Orc Zombie reinforcements came within seconds and were everywhere around us. The only thing we could do to survive was to teleport back here, to Prontera. As for the crudaser Captain, my brother, we found no trace of him during the fighting."
Celina looked toward the floor to hide a few tears that slipped from her eyes at her final words. Kyson's gentle hand reached up and held her by the shoulder, and she placed her own atop it. She quickly wiped the tears with her robes and looked back to the council.
"Wizard Captain Airyath. Knight Captain Senarith. Thank you for your report. We'll try our best to obtain another lead that may shed some light on the crusader's location. As for you two, you've had a rough day… Go get some rest and we'll send a messenger if we discover anything at all."
King Tristan spoke with the uttermost kindness in his words. Kyson and Celina bowed respectfully to the council and made their way down the stairs and out of the castle. Passing the guard at the front gate they said a kind "goodbye" and ventured out into the streets of the city.
"We'll find him, Celi, I know we will…" Kyson said with an unsure look on his face.
Celina smiled at his attempt to make her feel better and turned to him; pausing their walk. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down, and kissed him lovingly on the lips. Ending the kiss, she rested her forehead against his and looked into his eyes.
"I hope you're right, "she said smiling; trying to keep her spirits high, "As long as I have you I won't lose hope."
The two resumed walking toward the south-eastern section of the city where their house resided. As they were entering the block in which they lived, they passed about six houses just outside their area that looked newer than the rest, and the sight of them made Kyson stop dead in his tracks. His eyes fixated on the fourth house of the six, he closed his eyes and fell to his knees while beginning to sob softly. Celina dropped down with him and wrapped her arms around his body, trying to comfort him.
He opened his tear-stained eyes and looked at the house. Its wood and paint job reflected more light than the other houses around them, just like the other five in the group. They stood out so well from the others, and it pained him greatly. Memories of a year prior rushed his conscious thoughts as he naturally reacted to Celina's embrace and held her tightly…
"Mom… Dad…" he managed to whimper, but nothing more.
The wind blew gently, silencing any other noise around them except for the echoes of Kyson's own tears landing against the cold, stone road.
