14. The Reunion


The next morning, Zael had breakfast, helped do the dishes at the tavern afterwards, and then wandered the streets of Lazulis City, hoping to get weapons, extra arrows, and other things to restock.

The shopkeepers were a bit curious about why he needed so many things, but Zael assured them that he was just leisurely going hunting outside town.

And to be fair, that wasn't entirely a lie. He was hunting, in a way. Zael knew that by the time he saved Calista, all his friends and all of Lazulis, there would be a lot of blood on his hands.

He wished there was a better way to solve this. He really did.

He wasn't sure if there was another, better way.


He, Therius and Arganan snuck back into Lazulis Castle. Zael still had a relatively good idea of how it worked, having been through it once before, and it didn't take long to get back to the Military Wing. Asthar stood at the entrance, and he looked towards them, eyes widening as he spotted Therius.

"Sir Therius?"

"General!" Therius stiffened where he stood, before he bowed deeply. "I'm sorry, General. I failed you. I…"

"Raise your head, Sir Therius." Asthar spoke, squaring his gaze on the other, and he waited until Therius straightened himself to speak again. "Do not blame yourself. You did all that you could."

"I couldn't even defend anyone when I died, General–" Therius choked slightly, and Zael thought he saw weakness in Therius' eyes. "I'm not worthy of the knighthood I had."

Asthar simply shook his head. "In your last moments," He managed, "you might not be able to do much. However, if it wasn't for you taking that blow for Zael at the time, Zael might've been incapacitated sooner than anticipated."

As Asthar spoke, Zael saw the image of Therius tackling him aside in his mind's eye, only for Zael to look up and see a Gurak stabbing him through the leg.

"Asthar's right." Zael spoke, and Therius turned to face him. "You did save me, at the time. I'm grateful for that. I remember, now."

"Zael…" Therius hesitated, before finally nodding. "Thank you."

"I don't remember seeing that." Arganan managed, and Zael looked towards him, frowning lightly.

"Maybe this happened after you died?" He supplied.

Arganan's gaze didn't fully meet his. "Perhaps. Anyway, we should get going."


The four ventured further into the Military Wing. Some of the Gurak tried installing new automatons to make up for the ones Zael smashed last time he was here, Asthar explained, but with a party of four working together, it was easy to get past said automatons.

"How do we get into the castle depths?" Zael asked, looking towards Arganan.

Arganan frowned lightly. "There was a hidden passage in the Turret Control Room, last time." He looked towards Asthar, raising a brow. "Please tell me they didn't resurrect Marbas again."

"They didn't. Fortunately for us, their most recent attempts failed." Asthar chuckled lightly, and Zael saw Arganan's shoulders relax at that statement.

"Good. I don't want to go through electrocuting a beast like that again. Once was enough."

The three of them entered the Military Wing, to find it silent and dark. Arganan snapped his fingers once, and light magic glowed from his right hand, becoming a makeshift torch to light the way.

"The question is," Therius managed, "Where is the passage to get down there?"

"I know it was here." Arganan muttered, looking around. "One of the walls fell down after being damaged by the Gurak's attacks, at the time. Zael, do you remember?"

"No." Zael admitted. He ran one his hands along the wall to his left, before he felt his fingers press deeper into one of the bricks. A door to his immediate right opened, and the group turned around to face it. Just inside the doorway were stairs, leading down.

"I think that's the passage," Asthar breathed. He exhaled slowly, looking towards Zael and the others. "The Gurak must've renovated the way into the castle depths to reach the Outsider directly as needed."

"At least we have a way down." Zael managed, looking towards the General. "Thanks."

The four looked between each other, before making their way into the passage. It closed behind them after they entered, and Zael knew there was no turning back. Not until they activated Lazulis' half of the Outsider to turn this castle into a workable fortress.

He just hoped this plan worked.