A king

"Welcome to the top of the tower! To your left, a set of windows with outstanding vistas of the shattering world! To your right, a pile of rubbish accumulated over time by the many visitors who made it here!"

"Why would they leave their stuff behind?"

"There's even some good equipment in there…"

"That's a very good question, miss Sayu. Now, if you're so kind me, you'll find the reason yourself."

The group realized they were no longer alone at the atrium. The soldiers stepped forward, ready to brandish their weapons against any possible danger, but the small guide appeased them with both hands.

"Calm down. Unlike the monsters beneath us, these lizards won't attack us any time soon. They are in the middle of… a collective slumber?"

"Collective slumber? Is that a common trait for lizardfolk?" Ami questioned, while Sayu just shrugged.

Harold frowned. "I've met many lizards in my time, but they never neglected to leave sentinels in watch for intruders. Whatever this is about, it's nothing good."

"Keen senses, my dear archer."

"Save your praise, tour guide. I'm still onto your case."

"Hohoho, whatever could you mean?"

"Quiet." Olber commanded. "These lizardfolk… if we bother them too much, they will wake up on us. If possible, I'd like to avoid any unnecessary confrontation, so we should just stick to our business and push on."

Amimari tensed and nodded. While fighting other combatants was within the captain's field of expertise, their group was exhausted from the last encounter: caution was optimal. Olber addressed their tour guide and new companion in a quieter voice, wary of the small movements the sleeping lizards were starting to make.

"You have been here before, isn't that right?"

"Aye, a couple of times. No Maker to be seen here, though."

"It's not here?" Sayu murmured, expressing annoyance with her brows. While saving the world wasn't exactly in her to-do list, Terra didn't really have much time left in it.

"Um… What about him?"

The party followed Amimari's finger that time. The lizardfolk she pointed wore white robes under golden garments. Over his shoulders, a cyan cloak with inner fur promised to shelter anyone from cold in the comfiest of manners. From his snoring opened mouth, two long white-blue trails of moustache danced to his breath. Aside from the golden crown on his dark scaled head, the ornamented lizard had small white fang-like paint on his cheeks.

There was something… special about that lizard. It was the faithful captain who recognized him first.

"King… Ba'gunar?"

As a royal captain, Olber had the chance to meet many a royal in his time serving His Majesty, which extended to the other sovereigns. King Ba'gunar had always been on the eccentric side, but his odd behaviors didn't include suddenly disappearing from the capital along with his loyal assortment of retainers without uttering any word of their destination to anyone.

"A king? What is a king doing here?" Sayu asked, echoing Olber's inner ponderings.

Harold shook his blond head. "No matter. Something is wrong here. I can feel it. Whatever we do, we should go about without waking them up."

"Really?" Ami blinked. "If I remember correctly, the lizardfolk were looking for their lost ruler. Are we just going to move past him anyway?"

Sayu hugged her friend from behind and rested her chin on Ami's shoulders. "I agree with Haroldy here. Saving the world seems more important than some political affairs. We can always share the news once we accomplish our goal, no?"

"That is… if we do remember about their presence here once we leave."

Olber's comment tried to be realistic, but it also fanned the flames of worry in the party. What if… someone already tried to tell everyone about the king's whereabouts and was stripped of their memories in the process? They couldn't risk forgetting about their important mission for the wellbeing of some king, as much as it pained the knightly souls of the soldiers.

Mogha stepped forward, as he usually did.

"Ahem. As I was saying, aside from the catastrophic vistas and the unsettling rubbish around, we have one last spot of interest: the secret area." The guide resumed, guiding the group to a hidden passageway beyond the lizards. It led them to a moderately sized chamber. In the center, a circular crystal was carved into the floor. The walls were made of some transparent material, sturdy to a weapon's kiss. "A gondola, if I'm not mistaken."

"Super!" Sayu sang, quickly stepping onto the thing to inspect it further.

"'If I'm not mistaken?' You haven't checked?"

"My weary bones are not fit for exploring, my dear archer. Besides, I can't say I'm curious enough to bother inspecting it much."

"A 'great' tour guide you are." He mocked.

"What I do know is that there's a huge tunnel beneath the thing. If that's not a gondola, I don't know what is."

The group entered the elevator and awaited the nurse who stilled hesitated.

"What if the Maker is neither here nor down there? What if it doesn't exist?"

Harold and Sayu heaved a sigh at this. Olber, inexpressive as usual, approached her.

"It is said celestials cannot exist without faith. To be honest, I never believed in the Maker much, myself."

"Then… why? Why did you set out to find it?"

"My faith, I place it on my companions rather than in some elusive concept. However, my hope… I bear hope for salvation. Even if the Maker is but a legend, I will search for it until the end of time. It's okay if you don't believe in it, but never cease to hope for it."

"To hope… for salvation…"

Finally, the knight cracked a smile on his dry lips and touched her shoulder.

"In your case, to hope for the safety of your retirement funds."

The color returned to the beastgirl's face and a cheerful determination nested in her eyes. No matter her religiosity, her will was strong enough to persevere in her goals. Before joining the others, she considered herself a faithless person. After the crystal circle glowed a blue tone, she realized faith is but a distillate of hope.

Mogha considered pointing out the oddity of the lift's behavior: the gondola only started descending once all the visitors were on it. Prioritizing the good mood over the little details, he shrugged it off and continued to observe the cute interaction between the nurse and the dancer.

"Yummy."

Those were not Mogha's creepy words, however. The old man bumped the orb of his magic staff against the rocky wall. When he met the persistent stare of Harold, he whispered a silent threat not to ask anything. The ex-soldier had already caught onto the fact that he was not any ordinary perverted geezer, so Mogha decided to drop the act with him.

"Hmm?"

Just as Bahl was leading the way up to the highest platform, just beneath the atrium where the Maker potentially awaited them, the distant sound of movement reached her ears. It was a tremor, as if something big moved slowly downward into the earth.

"Something wrong?" Grace asked, reaching for her bow.

The blond mercenary listened carefully, but the sound eventually went away. Finally, she relaxed her posture.

"It's nothing. Let's continue."

"Aye!"

Behind the two girls, the untrained trio of slowpokes gasped for air. Between the long ascent and the rushed pace, they were exhausted. Kuscah was a tad too fat for such trots, Bajanna's mountains were gentler than the tower's stairs and Renova was more of a scholar than an athlete.

"Are they… always… so fast?" The mage asked.

"Haha… Nope… Those two must be… thrilled to be… so close to the top… I bet…" The priest answered. "How… are you gals… holding up?"

A mixture of silence, gasps and distant echoes was the reply: too tired to talk. The healer took notice of the issue and pushed his meaty legs to reach the vanguard. A moment of respite. That's what he set out to request. Alas, in the end they never stopped until reaching the top of the tower. One after the other, the fatigued trio fell to the cool floor, sweat dropping from their chins. Kuscah and Renova removed their cloaks while Bajanna tied her long strands of white hair into a ponytail. Whatever it took to cool off. When Bahl and Grace finally took notice of their condition, the girls exchanged glances and silently agreed to allow them some time to recover.

The solar mage gathered the strength to utter a question. "So… We're here… Now what?"

"Now what indeed." Grace nodded, aloofly looking through the windows. Debris floated upwards over some parts of the wastelands, making for a great landscape. Dusk painted the world with amber shades, giving it a romantic feel to the end of the world.

The priest knocked the floor. "Hello? Any Maker home? We brought your pizza."

"What is a pizza? Do you eat it?" Grace asked, earning herself a long and enthusiastic explanation from her older friend. Even Bahl disproved the forest dweller's limited gastronomic knowledge, if silently.

Meanwhile, Renova wondered whatever the other beastgirl of the group was doing. Still sweaty, Bajanna waved her scythe through the air. The lack of spirits worried the medium. Her family business heavily relied on their talent to channel spirits. Was she so tired that she couldn't focus enough? Or was there something… that kept the ghosts away from the atrium?

Engrossed in her ponderings…

"Urrragh…"

…a sudden noise caught her attention and, soon enough, the others.

"Oh. Um… Hi there. I'm sorry to disappoint, but the pizza delivery was a joke."

Among the three lizards suddenly standing on the other side of the room, one stood out. With a crazed look in his dark blue eyes, he called himself a king. To his left, a bulky magitech knight scanned the intruders. To his right, an unarmed archer murmured mantra to himself. Without uttering the order, the lizards prepared their weapons. The king unsheathed his sword of golden edges. The lizard of black armor activated his magitech suit to power a dark spell on his right hand and an icy one on his left. The archer of golden shirt and baggy pants readied an arrow onto his elastic tail.

"Are they really picking a fight over some pizza?! Is it that good?!" Grace asked, readying an arrow of her own. Kuscah patted her back and slammed the tip of his staff on the floor.

"We'll treat you to some once we get the chance!"

Renova channeled a spell on the tip of her armored gauntlet. "I can show you a nice restaurant at the capital, but, for now, we duel."

"W-Will we be okay?" Bajanna trembled, nervous about engaging her first non-predator foe.

Bahl pointed her sword towards their newest rivals. Without further words, she simply dashed towards the king's neck. The magitech knight casted a wall of ice to catch her incoming slice. The spell grew quickly and surrounded her blade. Then, the king stabbed the block of ice and a thunderous current rushed through the solidified water. The lizard of elastic tail aimed an arrow towards the stunned blonde.

"Not on my watch!"

A blazing wave of heat pulsed through the room, throwing the archer off balance and melting the block of electrified ice. Following Renova's lead, Kuscah casted a heal for the stunned mercenary at the same time as he shielded her from a mighty kick from the huge lizardfolk. Bajanna stepped on the priest's back and jumped towards the knight. The lizard blocked the scythe with one arm and casted a piercing ice floe with the other. As he prepared to stab the exposed girl with it, another wave of heat melted his latest spell, forcing an annoyed grunt out of the magitech knight.

To remedy the annoyance, the lizard archer prepared an arrow with Renova's name on it. As he made the final micro-adjustments, a sharp pain reached his tail. He made the error to neglect the female archer who opposed them, for her shot got his all-important tail-bow. Nonetheless, even if the injury prevented him from tensing the bow painlessly, he had other weapons in his arsenal. Again, his tail. Breaking into a dash, the archer spun on his ankles and jumped towards Grace. A terrible lashing got her bow-hand, sending her weapon flying. With renewed anger, the huntress took out two arrows and engaged her rival in close quarters.

Renova continued to support both fronts from the rearguard. Meanwhile, Bahl dueled the king. Not being able to clash against his sword due to his electric properties bothered her, but the mercenary was quick on her feet and graceful on her movements. The king had fought many swordsmen, but few were able to work around his magic sword. Much to the blonde's misfortune, he had been feigning a preference for downward attacks to condition her. Once she least expected it, his sword would pierce her stomach in one swift motion.

The time was nigh!

Bahl reacted in time to parry with her sword. However, the electricity never reached her. Something dark nested in her weapon. Something even its owner ignored. Whatever it was, Ba'gunar's motion was too potent to halt in time, which earned him a powerful elbow on the back of his scaly head.

As his crown fell to the floor, the other lizards reacted to it. The burnt archer released the girl he was strangling with his tail and the injured knight dispelled the dark orb directed pointblank at Kuscah's face. Seconds later, they fainted just as their king did.

Although the sudden end to the fight relieved their aching hearts, the clash was so crude they couldn't just smile about it. Kuscah started treating the knocked out Bajanna while Renova worried over Grace's heavy coughs.

The mercenary sheathed her blade and took a rope from the priest's backpack. Coldly executing the lizards wouldn't sit well with her, but they couldn't allow them to cause any more troubles. While her teammates recovered, she dragged the lizards towards a column and tied them up.

Someone grabbed her arm. If that man touched her just to crack another of his corny jokes, Bahl would carry out her prior warning and break his bones. However, Kuscah wore a furious expression.

"What are you doing?"

"See for yourself." She retorted.

"You're injured."

"Oh… So it seems." She hadn't noticed yet the trail of blood on her other arm.

"I don't really mind that you prefer to be left out of our antics. Despite my goofy persona, deep down, I respect you, Bahl. I understand that you have endured many hardships as a lone mercenary, but I would greatly appreciate if you remembered you are not alone anymore. If you get injured, you show me. Next time you neglect yourself like this, I'll hit you. Are we clear?"

Pride made it harder to reply verbally, so the woman simply gave a brief nod and revealed her wound by removing the short cloak on her shoulders. Was he drunk, the priest would have drooled at her exposed torso, but the seriousness of the situation kept him focused on what mattered: her health.

After Grace kicked his butt for threatening Bahl, she showed him the marks of tail on her neck and requested some heals. The both of them were too familiar with each other to be bothered by the magnificent view she gave him. Later, they even joked about it. The boring tales of an old harem protagonist.

Bajanna rested her back next to the mage. "Ya look surprised."

"I… am surprised." Renova admitted. A man among a group of women. She could clearly picture an old geezer who would kill to enjoy his position, yet Kuscah kept his cool through it all when it mattered the most.

"He reminds me a bit of my grandpa. Silly at times, but of noble heart. I'm really glad to have him with us."

"I see."

The idea upset the solar mage. What if… her class had valued friendship over academic achievements? Possibly, their performance wouldn't have been as outstanding, but… what about the enjoyment of the process? 'Friend' is a word she wouldn't use to describe her fellows… but could such a thing have been possible had she tried hard enough?

Fellowship and friendship. Similar concepts… different temperatures. As a solar mage, Renova preferred it warmer. Distracted, she allowed her eyes to witness the healing miracles casted by the medic's healing staff. That hourglass artifact intrigued her, but she couldn't quite understand why.

A fainted king squirmed.

"Nngh…"

Time! Or matter? The issue of perpetuity! Cycles, yet more cycles. Mothers. Or fathers? Clashes of steel! Shocks of dark! Nature twisted for the recreation of self. The works of life. The… what exactly?

Such thoughts rushed through the clouded mind of King Ba'gunar as his consciousness slowly returned. Upon opening his now calm eyes, he discovered his newest bindings.

"This is a rope."

Truly, his talent of observation knew no rival.

To his left, Y'pakar, and to his right, S'naip. In front, a group of humans and beastfolks enjoyed their meal next to an improvised fire. They ate their soup while chatting about anything, but one of them sat a bit further apart from them. The king's blood rushed through his veins. It was the first time he saw the blond mercenary, yet his body reacted to her.

Could it be… attraction?

Despite the group being composed, mostly, of beautiful females, the blond human had a charisma of her own. An aura of solitude. Compared to her, the king's collection of paintings and sculptures were insignificant. Ba'gunar cared deeply for the sentiment behind his collection, but the human portrayed something even deeper.

It took him only a moment to notice her frown. Ah, so that's what this is about. The king and his guardians were bound to the column thanks to them, so they were potentially brigands in need of money, influence or both.

"Capturing a king to gain fame in a world soon to end. The epitome of foolery!" The king lamented.

"Aaaah! My tail!" S'naip grieved upon discovering its new injury.

"Shush! I was having the greatest dream!" Y'pakar grumbled, finally awaken.

Their tummies complained in unison as soon as Kuscah seated next to them. Before talking, the priest spooned a mouthful of soup. The lizard drool percentage of the room increased. The human grinned at this and began the interrogation.

"Let's start with simple questions. Why did you attack us?"

"Was it really because of the pizza?" One of the girls asked from the distance.

The mere mention of the pizza caused even more grievance by the lizards' bellies.

"Is… there pizza here?" Y'pakar murmured.

S'naip sniffed the air. "I don't smell any."

"I don't care. Right now, I'd trade my kingdom for a slice!"

"Your kingdom?" Kuscah repeated, furthering the questioning.

"You're seating in front of a king, human. I came to this tower in hopes of meeting my god, but after that…"

Nothing. A spiral of crazy thoughts, delirious revelations and doubts of existence. When the storm ceased, they were bound to a column.

"Human, you said we attacked you." Ba'gunar continued, proceeding to question his retainers. "Am I the only one to not remember such a thing?"

"Nay, milord. Though I feel like we must have fought someone. My body feels sore."

"And my tail! I need a healer urgently! My tail!"

Grace found some pleasure at seeing the lizard who almost strangled her panicking in earnest. However, her heart didn't revel in such cruelties, so she directed a look at the priest and he casted some heals for the injured, if anything, to make him shut up.

"I thank you, human. Your question, however, I can only return to you. Why did we fight?"

The priest sighed while scratching his head. "Oh, boy. We'll never find out at this rate. Any ideas?"

The meek beastgirl approached them. Bajanna was intimated by Ba'gunar's title, for their standings couldn't be any further apart. However, her particular abilities gave her some hints of what it could be about.

"I… think they were possessed."

"Possessed? As in, by spirits or something?" Kuscah inquired.

The girl shrugged and her eyes dodged his. She hadn't told any of them yet about her talents. Even though it wasn't particularly a secret, the fact she had never told anyone before constituted an obstacle.

"I… Oh." The lizards' curious stare worsened the situation, so the girl grabbed her companion's arm and pulled him aside. "I'm… a medium. It runs in the family."

"Didn't your family run a hot spring business?"

"By channelin' spirits, we enhance the water's healing properties."

"Heeeh, that's intriguing. Now I really do have to date your grandma so that I can have a go at those waters." The priest joked, trying to help the girl relax a bit. "So, you said the lizards were possessed? By some evil entity, I assume?"

"N-No. I don't… I don't know what that thing was. There were no other spirits when we entered the floor, that much I could tell. After Bahl defeated the king, something incorporeal exited their bodies. M-My grandma… allows some spirits to nest in her body in order to allow conversations that shouldn't happen anymore. When she does that, she later finds herself with no recollection of whatever happened during the process."

"That could explain their amnesia. Does that mean these lizards also have a talent for necromancy?"

"That's the odd part. Only a spirit of great power would be able to steal a normal person's body. My ancestors hunted these harmful spirits, so there should be none left… It doesn't make any sense…"

The priest rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks for sharing this with me. If possible, you should also tell the others."

"You think?"

"Aye. They're not going to love you any less for your talents. Quite the opposite, in fact." Kuscah giggled, easily imagining Grace's soon-to-happen barrage of questions. "As for this issue… I think I know where this spirit came from."

"Really?"

If Bajanna's ancestors really cleansed the world from evil spirits, the one that captured the king and his retainers must have appeared recently… Only the Maker could spawn such a thing so easily. However, that begged the question… If the Maker truly created that spirit, did it mean that god rejected visitors?

Only one way to find out.