6. The Power


Morning came, and Zael woke up to breakfast from Ariela; tasty eggs and thin slices of ham, as well as a slice of toast. It wasn't much, but it was still delicious.

"Wish we could serve you more, but we need to save most of the foodstuffs for later today and this evening." She quipped. "How about you head to the back and wash some dishes after you're done?"

Zael nodded. He finished breakfast quickly enough and moved to the kitchen. Already there were two to three people working to serve hot breakfast to those that stayed the night.

"So you're the new one?" A man with a bushy moustache and beard peered at him, before shrugging. "Well, you know what to do. Don't get in our way and you're good."

Zael quietly washed the dishes for about an hour, after that. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Arganan present in the main area of the tavern, looking around. A few people literally passed through him; made sense, since he was dead a ghost. Zael realized that absolutely no one took notice of Arganan. It really was just him that could see him there.


Eventually, Ariela let Zael off dish duty. Apparently she needed him to go out and get some things from the marketplace, deeper in town.

"Finally," Arganan groaned as he and Zael left the tavern. "We've spent far too much time in here already."

"To be fair, I'm staying in there without paying anything otherwise." Zael argued, frowning. He wondered if Arganan had been bored, waiting for him. That probably was the case. "I have to do something in return."

"Fair." Both men walked in silence, and Zael took the opportunity to look around. Lazulis City was a vast place, bustling with both Gurak and humans running about, heading to work or doing their errands for the day. Some merchants were lined up in the courtyard, or along the street, if not in the marketplace itself. Because Zael had little money on his person, however, he couldn't really buy anything. The money he did have on hand was strictly for buying some supplies for Ariela's tavern from the marketplace. She told him that he could keep the rest as payment.

He checked the list. Eggs, flour, bananas…seemed like they were easy to find. At least he had enough memory to retain basic knowledge of what normal things were.

The scent of food cooking, as he entered the marketplace, made his mouth water lightly, but he did his best to ignore it. Instead, he closed his eyes, and opened them.

Hadn't Dagran found him at some point, during his first night or so in this city? Told him about a parade of knights. He could see Dagran's eyes, and he could visualize the parade right now, with a white-haired knight walking along a brown-haired one that wore a notable blue coat, and a medal…

"Zael?"

Zael blinked, and looked towards Arganan, who paused in walking just a few steps ahead of him. "Just remembering something." He managed, catching up to him. "I'm fine."

"What did you remember?"

"You actually want to know?'

The older man shrugged. "If you don't mind, that is. It gets awfully boring, being dead. And you're the first person that can hear and see me since my death, so…"

Zael tried to imagine it; Arganan, wandering Lazulis Island, trying to speak to anyone; survivors of Zangurak's final victory and takeover of Lazulis Island. Having no one to hear you must be lonely, he realized. To be present in a crowded place, with people coming in and out, and yet no one will stop to listen to you because they didn't even know that you existed to begin with…

"Well," Zael took a deep breath, "I was here. In the market. I was just exploring town, buying spare supplies for me and my friends."

"And?"

"And…there was a parade. I think…" He frowned, trying to recall the white-haired knight and the medal-wearing knight's faces, but they were blurry. "I think I saw a white-haired knight, and one with a noticeable medal…"

"Sir Therius and General Asthar." Arganan breathed.

Zael's eyes widened. "They came here from outside Lazulis Island?"

"Yes." The older man nodded. "I'd heard that they were headed to Lazulis Island to do some research, and Calista's engagement party was around the same time that they arrived. I thought it suitable to just give them an invitation to come as guests, out of courtesy."

"So that explains why they're here. But…" Zael paused. Arganan mentioned that Asthar had been here for research. "What were they researching?"

"I wish I knew. I should have asked." A sigh left the other. "Maybe we wouldn't be in such a mess right now if we found out."

Zael wondered how long Arganan carried guilt about what happened back then, before remembering – right, a hundred years. He'd been dead for a hundred years, while Zael was asleep, Calista was holding back Zangurak, and while everyone else died.

They didn't always die, Zael suddenly remembered, and he recalled holding someone's hand, watching the blue of his own hand glow before she woke up. Maybe…?

"Arganan?"

The older man turned towards him, frowning. "Yes?"

"You mentioned, at some point, that I revived allies when they got knocked out." The younger man swallowed, then looked up at Arganan. "Could I revive you?"

"What?" Arganan stared at him, breath half-caught in his throat. He cleared his throat, before managing, "You want to bring me back to life?"

"Yeah." Zael nodded once. The memory of a dying Syrenne in his arms came to mind, including how she got shot in the chest by a living skeleton only seconds before. "I've done that before…I think. It might be worth a shot."

"I don't know how useful I'd be alive." Arganan pointed out. "Also, I've been dead for a century."

"You've been helpful so far." Zael managed, raising a brow. "You've helped me remember a lot. And if it wasn't for me running into you in the first place, I don't know if I would ever remember anything."

Arganan paused, swallowed lightly. A sigh left him, before he nodded. "Well…it's worth a try."

Zael wasn't exactly sure how to bring Arganan back. He held Syrenne, right? Begging for her to live all the while at the time, sick of the pain, and then she just woke up like she was fine. Maybe that's all he had to do with Arganan? Touch him?

Zael reached a hand towards him, but the older man leaned back a bit. "What are you doing?"

"I have to touch you." Zael told him, raising a brow. "I think that's how it works."

Arganan first offered up his metal arm, but another stare from Zael made the older man sigh and offer up his right, non-metal arm. "Do it."

Zael took Arganan's hand in his. It was surprisingly cold, but Zael supposed it made sense – after all, the man was dead.

Nothing happened, after a few moments. A sigh left Arganan, before he pulled his hand away from Zael's own.

"I suppose it doesn't work on people dead for over a century." He managed. "But it was worth a shot."

"I suppose so…" Zael tried not to sigh. He really did think it could help, having the older man alive again. Maybe there was a way to bring him back that he wasn't aware of. He hoped to learn such a technique later on.


Zael quickly grabbed the ingredients he needed and brought them back to Ariela. Ariela smiled, took them from him.

"You can keep whatever change is left, Elza." She spoke, chuckling softly. "We'll be fine from here for the afternoon, but we'll need someone to do dish duty for the evening, so be back by then, alright?"

"Will do." He offered her a soft smile. "Thanks."

Zael decided to use his time to carefully explore the town. The Gurak and humans residing in Lazulis City tended to not talk to each other, and instead interacted with their own fellow humans and/or Gurak. Zael guessed it was a consequence of Zangurak's takeover of Lazulis; the hatred between humans and Gurak was enough for them to avoid even conversing with each other, if they didn't need to.

"So," Arganan managed after a moment, "How are we going to do this?"

Zael stared at him. "Do what?"

"Get into Lazulis Castle, obviously." The older man hissed back. "If we're going to defeat Zangurak, we have to take back the castle, somehow use the Lazulis half of the Outsider to reconfigure the island as its fortress, and then we have to take out Zangurak."

"Wait, what!?" The younger man's brows furrowed. "What even is the Outsider? And what do you mean by configuring this island as a…fortress?"

A groan left Arganan at that, and he shook his head. "Right. Amnesia. I have to explain everything again." He took a deep breath, looking Zael in the eye. "Back when we were all alive and before Zangurak took over the damn island, there was a weapon that we used within the castle called the Lazulis Cannon. It was powered by the half of the Outsider, which was previously summoned by my ancestor to stop a war back in the day."

For some reason, the story felt oddly familiar to Zael. He tried to recall all of it, but it was too blurry in his head, so he kept listening to Arganan's explanation.

"They say that a man with the Outsider's mark can turn this island into a fortress," Arganan managed, "And the mark you have on your hand is indicative of that. You are the one that can turn this island back into a fortress. After Zangurak took over, he reverted it back to its normal state, but…someone else with the same power as him can easily change it back to a moving fortress."

"…I see." Zael wasn't sure what to think of that. "Is it actually going to work this time, though? I mean, if I failed a century ago…what if it just fails again?"

"We can't know until we try, can't we?" Was the former Count smiling? "But I think we should try to be prepared first. You have the leftover money from Ariela, right? Stock up on supplies."

Zael had a feeling, as he headed to the closest weapons shop, that things were about to get very, very chaotic from here.