Volke had been sleeping peacefully among the branches of a tree near the edge of the encampment. He had tied himself to the trunk, with his combat belt, holding all his knives, daggers, and vulneraries, fastened around a nearby limb should he need to access it quickly. His hand had moved to the belt before his eyes had even opened as soon as he heard the sound of armor. He quickly untied himself and dropped silently to the ground. Listening to the sound, he concluded that it was a lone soldier, possibly an assassin. There was no need to wake any of the others up. Volke's feet barely hit the ground as he ran towards the source of the sound. He reached the assassin, the moonless night making it impossible for anything but the silhouette to be seen. Volke crept up and had his knife on the assassin's throat when he heard the figure's voice. Immediately recognizing it, he backed away.
"Tanith," Volke said, "what are you doing here in your armor?"
"Goddess, Volke," she replied, "I thought you were one of the Disciples."
"Tanith," he repeated, "why the hell are you up right now? You should be getting some sleep."
"I'm sorry Volke, it's just…"
"You're worried about Sanaki?"
"Volke, we haven't heard a thing from them and it's been three days. I was just going to go inside to make sure she's okay."
"You could get killed in there."
"I don't care, Volke. This is my job as a Holy Guard. There's nothing you can do to stop me."
Volke sighed. He knew that once Tanith had made up her mind, there was nothing in Tellius that could stop her. As a professional, he knew that he should let Tanith go on ahead, but another part of him demanded that he find another course of action.
"Okay, Tanith, but I'm not going to let you go alone. You know you won't be able to get past the guards without me anyways," he said.
"Whatever," she said after a brief pause, "Just don't get in my way."
"I'm more worried about that cow you ride."
"Don't worry," Tanith said with a muffled laugh, "I'm going on foot for this one."
The Tower of Guidance was surrounded by a tall wall, with only one entrance, that Edward and Leonardo had been assigned to guard that night. Volke led Tanith to an oak near the wall. He climbed the tree and leapt, barely catching the top of the wall. He dropped a rope down, motioning to Tanith to tie it around her waist. After tying the rope around his waist as well, Volke slowly walked down over the barricade, with Tanith following. Once she had reached the top, Volke motioned her to jump down, where he would catch her. Years of riding a Pegasus had made Tanith immune to any fear of heights, and she jumped off without hesitation. For a second, as she lay in Volke's arms, the two looked into the other's eyes. Tanith felt as if her heart had skipped a beat as Volke helped her get on her feet. Volke, too, found it hard to slow down his quickening heart rate. The two avoided looking too closely at the other until they had entered the first floor of the tower.
"Definitely signs of a battle here," Volke said, examining the wasteland before him.
"But there's hardly any blood, and all the armor…" Tanith said, inspecting the shells, "it's all empty, like they were fighting ghosts."
"What about them?" Volke said, pointing to the bodies of what looked like two priests. Tanith examined the bodies.
"That's senator Lekain, and this one's senator Hetzel," she said.
"I remember that bastard, Lekain. Let's get going, if you want to catch up to the others."
Tanith and Volke proceeded to begin climbing up the stairs. They noticed something strange about the battlefield as they entered the second floor. One half of the battlefield was riddled with bodies. Unlike the first floor, none of the armor was empty, and blood covered the floor. The casualties looked to all be Begnion soldiers. Tanith and Volke stepped carefully among the bodies.
"I recognize this guy," Tanith said, reaching the body of what looked to be a high ranking officer. "This is Levail. He was Zelgius's second in command. I wonder why he would have fought us."
"How loyal was he to Zelgius?" Volke yelled from the other side of the room.
"He was extremely loyal to Zelgius. Why?"
"Because I think he was under Zelgius's orders."
"What are you talking about?"
"Come over here."
Tanith walked to where Volke was standing. She noticed that the bodies seemed to end abruptly at some invisible line, as if a barrier had separated the two halves of the room. Volke was standing over the only body on the other half of the room. From afar, Tanith had recognized him as the Black Knight. As she drew closer, however, she recognized the face of the man who had been the cornerstone of the Begnion military.
"Zelgius?" she said.
"It looks that way. I should have known. Everything fits, his speech, his swordplay, strength. How did I not see it?"
Tanith could only stare at Zelgius's face. He looked serene, almost happy, in death. She could only wonder what would have caused him to side with Ashera. Suddenly, they heard a tremendous roar that shook the tower.
"That would be Dheginsea," said Volke.
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Tanith and Volke drew their weapons and charged up the stairs.