Chapter 2 – Duality.
Dense fog drifted soundlessly in between the shadowed cliffs of the canyon, suffocating the air and obscuring the rest of the world from sight. Diffused light from the morning sun glowed gently through the miasma, basking the floor of the shallow gorge in a vague milky-white backlight. Sporadic patches of brittle needle bushes laid motionless in the windless air accompanied by dead, leafless trees standing silently in the windless air. The harsh figures of the naked trees created dark, vague silhouettes that loomed out ominously from beyond the silent white void.
"…Ah!" A feminine gasp of surprise rang out, echoing up and down the canyon.
A messily bandaged hand clamped onto Alisha's flailing dominant right arm as she toppled forwards, arresting her uncontrollable momentum.
Velvet held on firmly to the princess's arm whom had accidentally caught her left armored boot on a stray root invading the path's uneven surface. "Easy." She muttered beratingly, pulling her hand back and giving Alisha the leverage needed to recover. "Your arm just healed. Try not to break it the very next morning after."
"R-right." Alisha's face was tinged a slight shade of red as she nodded. "I'll be more careful. Thank you, Velvet." Her armor clanked softly in the quiet misty air as she detached herself gratefully from the other woman.
"You alright, Alisha?"
Worry was clear on Sorey's expression as he trotted back down the path towards them, having quit leading the group upon her initial gasp. "Do we need to take a break?" He asked earnestly.
Saving the young princess from further embarrassment, Velvet answered for her.
"We're fine." She reassured lightly, resting a hand on her hip. "The two of us just happened to be chatting about girl things before Alisha accidentally tripped." She explained conversationally. She blinked, a thought apparently occurring to her. "Did you want to join us, Sorey?"
It was amazing how quickly Sorey's face reddened. "O-oh!" He stammered. "Is that right!" He let out a grunt, having accidentally backpedaled into Mikleo to the seraph's displeasure. "S-sorry, Mikleo!"
He turned back to Velvet's inquisitive face and waved both hands in front of him as if to ward an evil spirit away. "I'm fine, Velvet! You two can chat all you want." His eyes immediately seized onto Mikleo's befuddled face as a way out. "U-uh, Mikleo and I have something to discuss! Sorry!"
Mikleo blinked. "We do?"
"Yep!" Not unlike a lion pouncing on his prey, Sorey slung his arm around the helpless seraph and dragged him away, utterly deaf to Mikleo's complaints. "We'll be going on ahead!" He called back to Velvet and Alisha as he resumed the group's pace down the road with Mikleo in tow.
Velvet shrugged disaffectedly in response. "Suit yourself."
Alisha's laugh was soft and smothered as she giggled into her palm, watching the Shepherd and his seraph bumble off down the foggy road. "I appreciate the save, Velvet." She thanked gratefully once the men were out of earshot. "And I must say, that was remarkably well handled."
"Yes! My sentiments exactly." The two women turned to find a clearly amused Lailah trotting up to them, a bright smile on her face. "Who would've known that all it would've taken to instill terror in the heart of the Shepherd would've been the mere thought of a woman's body?" She hummed, a single finger held thoughtfully to her chin.
Velvet huffed in amusement as the three of them resumed walking together. "Guys like him are laughably easy to scare off." She pointed out. "Mention just about anything about 'girl things' and you'd think you had the plague with the way they take off." Her lips had curved upwards in an unbidden smile.
"Ah, yes." Lailah agreed with a soft smile. "The eternally innocent boyish type. I'm quite familiar with those."
Alisha had a grinningly thoughtful expression on her face as she inspected Velvet's expression. "From the sound of things, you've had a lot of experience in this field." She deduced slyly. "Am I wrong?"
"My!" Lailah clapped her hands in surprise. "Romance stories already, so early in the day?"
Velvet's eye twitched.
"Hm…" Alisha hummed thoughtfully, putting an armored gauntlet up to her chin. "Now that you mention it, we should probably refrain from discussing this topic until after nightfall." She supposed. "Love stories are best told by a campfire, so I'm led to believe."
"I agree completely." The fire seraph nodded wholeheartedly. "That is very wise wisdom to have, Alisha." She turned to the other woman and cocked her head to the side inquisitively. "Given that, would you please mind holding onto your stories until then, Velvet?"
Velvet rolled her eyes at the other two women. "Let's… not jump to any conclusions." She muttered, waving a hand in the air dismissively. "All I meant was that I knew…" she shook her head and corrected herself, "…know a few people as innocent as Sorey. My cousin among them. That's all."
"Oh… I see." Albeit disappointed, Lailah nodded her head understandably. "From the sound of things, you and your cousin are very close… I hope you and he reunite in the near future."
"Yeah." Velvet agreed softly. "That would be nice."
Gravel crunching underfoot filled the silence as the three of them continued to walk onwards. The sound of Alisha's armor and of the chains on Velvet's outfit clinking simultaneously combined to resemble a pair of wind chimes vibrating in the windless air. As they walked, Velvet found her gaze drifting towards the fire seraph, a contemplative frown forming on her face.
Quite familiar… huh?
"…Lailah." She abruptly prompted, drawing the seraph's attention. "Exactly how long have you been around, again?"
Alisha winced.
"Oh my!" As if a switch had been flicked, Lailah's eyes suddenly sparkled with mania as she leapt forwards on her feet, clapping her hands together for emphasis. "Look!" She gasped. "The fog! It's flawless! Just look at how it wraps ever so gently around that tree over there!" She pointed excitedly. "Nature can truly be a such a beautiful thing sometimes, don't you agree?!" She implored, spinning around gracefully back to face the other two women.
Velvet face was locked in a dry deadpan. She turned slowly to Alisha. "Is she…?"
"Yes…" Alisha confirmed with a deep nod. "Lailah has some things that she's not willing to share with the rest of us. This," she gestured in the general vicinity of the seraph's overtly enthusiastic form, "is how she copes with that limitation."
"We should probably keep going before we lose our guiding Shepherd in the fog." Lailah suggested, turning on her heel and strolling onwards.
"…Shall we continue?" She asked the empty air in front of her, her back facing the other two.
"Yes, let us." Alisha agreed, easily letting the fire seraph keep whatever secrets she was holding.
Velvet's brow furrowed as she studied Lailah's back as she too resumed walking, silently contemplating the fire seraph's unusual qualities.
In the distance, the voices of Sorey and Mikleo could be heard clearly through the fog as they discussed the veritable climate of the region and how it could've affected the surrounding terrain in such a way. Somewhere in the outside sky, the morning sun continued to rise, its warmth trying valiantly to breach the thick shield of the fog.
Eventually, Alisha slowed her steps and allowed Velvet to catch up to her side. She turned to her, a worried expression on her face. "Are you feeling alright, Velvet?" She asked quietly, breaking the silence.
The woman in question blinked in surprise at the question. "I'm fine." She stated as an afterthought. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, it's just that…" Alisha threaded her hands guiltily, glancing down at her moving feet as she walked. "Last night, you insisted on sleeping on the floor instead of taking one of our beds. I was… worried that you might be tired from poor rest."
Velvet shook her head. "If that had bothered me, I would've paid for my own room. You don't have to feel guilty about something so small as that."
Alisha blinked, closely examining Velvet's expression for any hint of falsity. Amazingly, she found none.
"I… take it you're used to such conditions?" She asked hesitantly.
"I suppose you could say that." The black-coated woman shrugged in response. "I've been doing this for a long time."
"I see…" Alisha trailed off, deep in thought.
A sudden burst of cawing drew the entire group to a halt, drawing eyes towards the sky. A murder of crows materialized in the fog, gliding in synchronized movements as if they were of a single collective consciousness. Together, the group of cackling birds circled lowly around the group, before ultimately deeming them alive and not dead food to scavenge, leaving just as quickly as they'd arrived.
Silence fell once more in the canyon.
In the quiet, Alisha mumbled soft, contemplative words. "…I must admit, you remind me a lot of my master." Her gaze was distant and thoughtful. "In more ways than one."
Velvet blinked. "Your master?"
She nodded, turning and meeting Velvet's eyes. "Lady Maltran, back in Ladylake." She elaborated. "She trained me ever since I was little to become a knight worthy of the kingdom. Everything I am today… it's all because of her." She shook her head in amazement. "Lady Maltran has been to so many places and seen so many things. She's surmounted obstacles so unimaginably overwhelming that they would be positively inconceivable to the average person."
"And…" Alisha fixed her gaze earnestly on Velvet. "Everything I see in my master, I see in you too. Your hardiness, your well-travelled temperament; even the way you hold yourself; honestly, the resemblance is uncanny."
She held a fist up to her chest in determination. "…I genuinely aspire to become as competent as both of you, someday." She confided.
"Maltran… huh?" Velvet mumbled, committing the name to memory. "Well…" She shook her head. "I can't say anything about your master. But what I can tell you is…"
She abruptly turned on her heel and began walking once more through the rough pathway, her long raven hair trailing behind her.
"I'm not a person to look up to." She muttered as she left. "That's all."
Alisha was left standing there, her hand on her chest, staring at the receding form of the enigmatic traveler in confusion. All around the lone princess, the fog seemed to churn.
"Sorey… a… are you sure?"
"It might look and smell a little funny, but you'll never know unless you try! Come on, Mikleo. Let's eat together."
A drawn-out sigh. "Why do I get a bad feeling about this…?"
The shuffling of boots crunching on well-worn gravel transitioned into the rustling of clothing as two people sat down on the ground.
The hollow scraping noise of a wooden spoon leaving a wooden bowl rang out. "Alright, here goes!"
"Yeah…" Another wooden spoon was raised from a different bowl in tandem with the first.
Together, the sound of noisy slurping rang out into the fresh mountainside air.
A pause.
"…AAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!"
"…HAAAAAAAGHHH!"
Velvet's eyes snapped open; her light nap having been abruptly snatched from her by the piercing screams of two youthful idiots. She pushed off the lone tree she'd been sleeping against and got to her feet, tensing her muscles and glancing around wildly.
The group had stopped for lunch on a shadowed section of flat land relative to the surrounding rough, downward-rolling hills angled towards the vast valley far below. The fog that had confounded them earlier in the day had dissipated the moment they had begun the descent down into the valley, allowing the bright midday sun to beam down onto the hills covered by bright green grass and sparse patches of foliage. The campsite they had found a little way off the main road had been wreathed in one such patch of foliage, allowing the group a comfortable place to rest and prepare some food to eat.
The food in question had been the source of the commotion. Velvet did a double-take.
"H-HAAAH! A-Ack! It-it burns! Agh!"
Tears were rolling down Sorey's face as he rolled on the floor, getting dirt on his well-worn Shepherd's cape as he did so.
Mikleo wasn't faring much better. "I-it really, really does-! Gah!"
The water seraph was hunched over on the ground and actively casting a low power twin-flow arte to rinse his mouth in a vain attempt to remove whatever horrid taste he'd tasted.
Velvet crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, slowly turning to Alisha and Lailah for an explanation. Both ladies were sitting next to each other in front of the pot hanging over the simmering campfire, watching the two men suffer with wide eyes. Velvet jerked a thumb towards the suffering duo. "The hell happened here?"
Alisha had a hand over her mouth in a mix of amusement and horror. "I… I don't think Lailah's cooking sat well with them..."
Velvet stared. "…Seriously?" She glanced once more over to the two boys rolling around helplessly in the dirt and kicking their feet up in the air. "Lailah did this?" She asked incredulously.
The fire seraph in question had all her fingers pressed up on her forehead in pure disbelief. "I only added a few extra of those peppers I found next to the creek to the soup! I… I had no idea that they would be that strong!" She seemed on the edge of tears as she watched Sorey and Mikleo suffering across the campfire from her. "All I wanted to do was to add a tiny bit more flavor! I was just… afraid the soup would be too bland…!"
"M-Mikleo!" Sorey panted, crawling over to his friend, his words slurred and barely intelligible. "Waturh! Waturh!" He pleaded helplessly.
"G-gimme a sec!" The seraph's eyes were squeezed tight in agony as he cradled his head. "It's h-hard to cast like this!"
"Haaah! Hawht! It's too-Hehk!" Sorey gagged once more, hunching over in agony.
Lailah's hands fell to cover her face entirely in mortification. "Oh, it's all my fault!" She moaned. "How could I have failed so badly? Oh, Sorey, Mikleo, I'm terribly sorry!"
Her apologies were abruptly halted by a finger poking her shoulder. She blinked, her hands falling from her face as she registered someone sitting down next to her. "Velvet?"
Without a word, the other woman reached over and picked up a full bowl of piping-hot soup from besides the campfire.
Alisha let out a small gasp of horror, covering her mouth in shock. "Wait you aren't really going to-?!"
On the other side, Mikleo had recovered enough to dimly register what was going on. He scrambled to his knees urgently. "What are you, crazy?!" He yelled. "That's poison!"
Sorey's head shot up at this. "Velvet!" He cried, crawling forwards. "Th-the soup's too strong! Don't-!"
To their joint horror, the woman calmly brought a full spoon to her lips and tilted her head backwards, sliding the red-hot liquid inside. Her eyes were closed as she seemed to taste the flavor while her arm fell down, gently settling the empty spoon back inside the full bowl. Her eyes opened to find a wide-eyed Lailah staring at her.
With a light huff, a completely unaffected Velvet set the bowl back onto the ground next to the campfire.
"…You need to remove the pepper seeds."
Mikleo and Sorey exchanged looks of pure astonishment. Alisha blinked in surprise. Lailah was frozen in surprise.
"It might be a good idea to use less peppers in general as well. Also," nonchalantly, Velvet pointed to the simmering pot of stew hanging over the campfire, "from the look of the texture, you went way too heavy on all of the seasonings." She observed. "You have to remember, that when it comes to cooking, moderation is key. Keep that in mind at all times."
Velvet gave the fire seraph a light smile. "…But as far as a first try goes, it's honestly not the worst I've ever tried." She nodded firmly. "If you keep it up, I'm sure you'll get better. Don't stop trying to improve your cooking, and you'll be a master in no time." She finished encouragingly.
Lailah's jaw hung wide open as she stared uncomprehendingly at Velvet. After a moment, the fire seraph finally registered all of the woman's words and intentions.
A wide, bright smile appeared on her face as brought her hands together in a decisive clap, reestablishing her determination. "Oh, Velvet!" She cried brightly, tilting her head along with her hands. "Nobody's ever said such things about my cooking before! I can't tell you enough how much that means to me!"
She grasped Velvet's bandaged hand with both hands. "Thank you, thank you!" She sang as she shook the appendage up and down.
"H-hey!" Velvet grumbled. "Knock it off!"
Alisha chuckled into her palm as Lailah eventually released Velvet's arm. "Apparently, the latest member of our group is also a culinary expert." She remarked warmly with a fond smile. "You are really full of surprises, Velvet."
"No kidding." Mikleo muttered lowly, jerking his legs and forcing himself into a sitting position in front of the campfire, giving the contents of the simmering pot a sour glare. His eyes went to Velvet's imploringly. "And just how did you manage to eat that without batting an eye?"
"Yeah, that was crazy!" Sorey seemed in awe of Velvet's apparent immunity to poisons. "It was so unbearably strong for me that I'm still a little dizzy, even now. But you didn't even flinch!"
Velvet shrugged easily. "My cousin's cooking is worse. Let's just leave it at that."
"…Worse?!" Alisha shuddered instinctively, putting a hand up to her chest. "Worse that what just happened to Sorey and Mikleo?!"
Lailah had stars in her eyes. "So I really am not the worst cook in the world!" She gasped.
"…You find the silver lining in everything, don't you, Lailah?" Mikleo muttered sourly.
"Yeah… That would make sense..." Sorey addressed Velvet's explanation. "Having a cousin be that bad of a cook must've acclimatized your sense of taste, in a manner of speaking. That's quite impressive."
Lailah hummed, turning to Velvet. "Between you and your cousin, I take it you're the better cook."
Velvet pointed out dryly, "That's not really a high standard to meet."
"Can we have you cook next time, then?" Mikleo muttered, turning his head and spitting some residual taste out of his mouth.
Laughing, Sorey wrapped an encouraging arm around the water seraph's shoulder. "While I would like to try some of Velvet's cooking," he gave a nod in the woman's direction, "I also do want to give Lailah's another chance, sometime!"
He grinned brightly. "I'm also sure you'll get better, Lailah! Just like what Velvet said." He squeezed Mikleo closer to his side. "And I promise, the two of us be here every step of the way to let you know how it tastes!"
"Hey! Leave me out of this!" His seraph friend grouched, wrenching Sorey's arm off of him and retaliating with a jab to his friend's stomach. The two of them instantly devolved into a childish jabbing match as the women watched on in exasperation.
Alisha leant back on her bent legs and rested her weight on her palms behind her, shaking her head at Sorey and Mikleo's antics. "Oh!" She blinked, glancing over at Velvet. "About your cousin," she prompted conversationally, "do you mind if I inquire as to the story between you and him? It sounds like there's quite the tale there."
"A wonderful idea, Alisha!" Lailah agreed, settling herself back in her seat while expertly managing her flowing dress underneath her. "Now that we've finally had a break from travelling, I think now is the perfect time to officially introduce ourselves to each other."
"That sounds great!" Sorey eagerly settled down as well, crossing his legs and resting his gloved and ungloved hands on opposite knees. "How about it, Velvet?"
"I suppose." With a shrug, the woman obliged, also getting comfortable on the ground with her right arm resting on her right knee. "There's really not much to tell for myself."
"Somehow, I doubt that." Mikleo remarked wryly, settling himself down cross-legged on the dirt.
"Yes." Alisha agreed. "You seem like quite the character, Velvet."
"Well, if you say so." Velvet shrugged and idly tilted her head upwards, letting her long hair slide on the rough gravel behind her as she gazed up into the clear blue sky. Her eyes grew contemplative.
"…I come from an obscure, small town in the outskirts of Lakehaven Heights." She began. "There, in that peaceful town, I grew up with my brother, alone." With her daemon-enhanced vision, she watched a lone hawk flying through the skies high above.
"Was he resonant as well?" Sorey's voice was soft and curious.
She watched as the hawk disappeared behind an errant white cloud. "Yes. We both were."
She turned her head down to meet the faces of the people she was lying to. "Like I said, there were seraphim living in that town as well as us. They helped guide the two of us into living with our resonance and allowed us to mesh seamlessly with other normal humans."
"I can't even begin to imagine such a life." Alisha admitted softly, threading her gauntleted fingers together. "The past few weeks ever since I became Sorey's squire have been positively mind-boggling, at times bordering on overwhelming." She shook her head. "To think that there was so much in this world that I had not seen for so long! Seraphim, hellions, blessings, domains, malevolence; all of it. To live with such knowledge from birth…!"
Velvet shrugged. "We managed."
"And your cousin?" Lailah prompted.
"Leo…" Velvet's lips were curved in a soft, nostalgic smile. "Leo and I ran into each other completely by accident, one day out of the blue." She recounted. "I hadn't even known I had had a cousin up until we discovered that we were related later on."
"A long lost relative, then?" Mikleo blinked. "Was he resonant as well?"
Velvet nodded. "When we met, he had a seraph travelling the world with him. A little wolf pup called Hawk. That's how I knew, instantly, that he was different."
"Hawk…" Sorey's brow was furrowed. "A stray wolf seraph? Voluntarily travelling with a human?"
"Strange, but not unheard of." Lailah remarked softly with a nod. "I'm sure the fact that Velvet's cousin could see him played a large role in allowing a human and seraph to bond together."
"Seeing one other does indeed mean a lot." Alisha agreed quietly. "I myself can attest to that fact directly."
"…Yeah." Sorey nodded seriously. "It must be difficult to believe in something you can't see."
"Such is the problem of coexistence between humans and seraphim." Lailah agreed lowly.
Sorey's brow furrowed deeper.
Meanwhile, Mikleo's mind was racing as he considered all of Velvet's story. "A brother, a sister, and a cousin… all of whom were resonant from birth." He murmured under his breath. "That… would suggest that resonance is an intrinsic human trait passed on through blood."
His eyes met Velvet's. "What about your parents?" He asked. "You said you and your brother lived alone?"
"My parents died when I was very young." Velvet shrugged. "I'm afraid can't tell you anything about them."
"Then why did you and your cousin begin travelling, while you brother stayed at home?" Alisha asked.
Velvet shook her head. "That's… a bit of a long story." She muttered, effectively declining to elaborate.
"…A tale for another time, then." Lailah assured, smartly recognizing Velvet's hesitance and putting an end to the conversation. She bowed her shoulders forwards gratefully. "I thank you for sharing your story with us, Velvet."
"Yeah." Sorey nodded deeply. "Who knows? This information might be key in figuring out how resonance really works in humans, down the line."
"About that," Mikleo spoke up, "wouldn't it be fair for you to say something about yourself, too? All she really knows is that you're the Shepherd, and nothing else."
"O-oh. Right." Sorey grinned abashedly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry! I get a little carried away with my thoughts sometimes."
With a plonk of his fist on his palm, Sorey turned to Velvet, officially introducing himself. "Mikleo and I grew up in Elysia; a place where seraphim dwell high up in Lakehaven Heights. We only recently came down to explore the world of humans for the first time." His eyes seemed to shine as he held a fist up in the air; proof of his dedication. "And we have a dream for our travels. That is to explore ancient ruins all over the world!"
Velvet cocked her head to the side. "Ruins?" She asked. "What for?"
Alisha smiled. "One could call them Sorey's calling card of sorts. Him and Mikleo's."
Lailah reflexively covered her wry smile with a fan of casting cards. "It is quite a sight whenever the two of them stumble upon an ancient temple. Given the chance, they could talk sunrise to sunset about an edifice without stopping for breath!"
"Haha, I guess I can't deny it." Sorey grinned sheepishly and turned earnestly to Velvet, answering her question, "I believe that the secrets contained in the ruins from ages past hold the key to a bright future." His eyes were bright. "That's why I explore them. To help bring about that future."
"A future… where humans and seraphim might one day live in harmony together!" He declared, a determined grin on his face. "That… is my goal!"
Velvet carefully studied the Shepherd's face. To her surprise, she found nothing but true dedication in those eyes.
Humans and seraphim… huh? She pursued her lips in thought.
"And that's," Mikleo pointed out dryly, "why he decided to take up the mantle of Shepherd."
"For with the title came the power of purification, allowing the Shepherd to purify hellions." Lailah finished, nodding slowly. "That is what happened during the Sacred Blade Festival, when Sorey offered himself up as my vessel."
"Now," Mikleo explained, "our group is travelling the world in order to broaden our views and to better prepare ourselves for the Shepherd's true purpose."
His true purpose. She knew instantly what he was referring to.
Sorey nodded seriously, meeting Velvet's eyes. "And that is quelling the Lord of Calamity himself. The source of the world's malevolence."
Velvet didn't blink, nodding slowly and neutrally at the declaration.
"…And as the Shepherd's squire," Alisha put a fist on her chest, "my duties are to support Sorey's efforts to quell the hellions across the land."
"Marlind would be one such stop along the way. Alisha's been sent there by the council of Hyland." Mikleo explained. "Like we said, we're not so sure where we're going after that."
"But we'll figure it out!" Sorey promised brightly. "This is our world to explore, after all."
With a dry chuckle, the water seraph nudged the man. "As long as you don't get too carried away. Like you always do."
"Come on! I do not!" Sorey denied indignantly.
"But of course!" Lailah agreed brightly, smiling and tilting her head to the side. "As they say, one foot forward followed by another, with our eyes not far behind!"
"I'm… not so sure that's how the saying goes, Lailah." Sorey pointed out grinningly, scratching his cheek with his index finger.
"Huh?" Lailah blinked rapidly in surprise. "Wait, really?"
As the conversation began to drift away naturally, Velvet stayed quiet, studiously yet discreetly studying each and every member fo the group, considering all the information she'd just uncovered.
SNAP!
Velvet abruptly stilled as she registered the snapping of a twig in the distance.
She glanced to the side. The others were still chatting along merrily over the simmering campfire, ignorant to the chorus of sounds of things approaching up from all directions that only Velvet could hear. Subtly, she moved her head and spied a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye.
Having confirmed the presence of an impending attack, the woman returned her head to forward position, mentally registering the locations of as many attackers as she could with her auditory senses alone.
And then she waited.
"Whatever you say!" Sorey was waving his hand dismissively in the air as he stood up.
Mikleo was adamant as he too shot to his feet. "I'm telling you!" He grumbled as he bent down and collected the wooden bowls lying around. "I'm not scared of dogs!"
"What's this about?" Alisha asked curiously as she trotted over, the now-empty pot of stew held in her hands.
"Oh," Sorey turned to her with a bright grin on his face. "Mikleo saw a dog in the village yesterday and just about bolted halfway down the street thinking it was chasing him."
"Hey! That's totally not what happened!" The seraph denied hotly.
Alisha hummed, touching a finger to her chin. "This was while Lailah and I were shopping, correct?"
"Yeah." Sorey nodded, kneeling down and kicking dirt onto the residual embers of the campfire. "As it turns out, the dog had run away from its master for some reason. I barely managed to catch it's leash as it ran by me!"
Behind him, Mikleo grumbled sourly, "You should've just let it scamper off."
"Hey, don't be like that, Mikleo." Sorey nudged him playfully. "Just because you're afraid of dogs doesn't mean you have to be mean to them."
"I'm not afraid of dogs!"
"Oh my!" Still sitting down on the ground, Lailah blinked in surprise at Mikleo's yell. "That was quite the outburst!"
"Well." Alisha chuckled into her palm. "It would seem that we've found Mikleo's weakness."
"I guess so." Sorey laughed in agreement. "Funnily, he never had any problem with the goats in Elysia."
Mikleo's expression was sour. "That's because they were used to us Seraphim. Down here, all the dogs just think that we're evil monsters."
"Then why does Lailah not have any trouble with dogs?" Alisha asked curiously.
"Well that's because… because…!" Mikleo struggled to find a way to save himself. He couldn't.
Accepting defeat, he simply turned his nose up into the air and looked away indignantly. "…T-that's because Lailah isn't afraid of them, alright?!" He admitted heatedly. "That's why!"
Sorey and Alisha burst into simultaneous giggles at the seraph's red-hot face. "…Looks like we got him." Alisha observed wryly.
"Haha! I'll say-WOAH!"
"SOREY!"
CRASH!
One moment, Sorey and Alisha were laughing at Mikleo's expense, the atmosphere light and playful. The next, Sorey was down on the ground with his sword barely out of its scabbard, furiously wrestling the huge serpent hellion that had pounced on him. Blood splattered on the ground as the hellion's long fangs bypassed the Shepherd's thin sword and raked shallow gouges across his clothing.
In that same instant, the hellions that had been lying in wait around the perimeter of the campsite had charged in, overwhelming the group.
Alisha clumsily dropped the empty cooking pot in her hands, causing it to fall down in a freefall as she dodged a different pouncing snake hellion. Trying to run to Sorey's aid, Mikleo was intercepted by a group of snake hellions forming a tight predatory circle around him. Lailah barely managed to get to her feet and hop out of the way of another group of hellions swarming her position.
The falling pot hit the ground with a clank.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The world devolved into chaos as the Shepherd's group fought back against the horde of hellions with everything they had. Flashes of azure and ruby rivalled the sun in brilliance as artes materialized and flew every which way. Earth-shattering explosions resounded out through the ground as mana impacted everywhere, casting shards of gravel high up into the sky. Cold hard steel whistled through the air as weapons flew out of sheaths, swung in wide, deterring strikes. Yells and grunts rang out into the noon air; proof of the group's stout and unwavering emotional strength as they rallied against the attack.
"Alisha!" Mikleo yelled urgently, swiftly clubbing his staff against the back of a serpent's head and knocking it unconscious. He swore as another serpent quickly took the last one's place, blocking his path forward. "Sorey needs help!"
"I'm on it!" The princess's expression was carved and determined as she leapt backwards, dodging a snake's venomous fangs. Her armored boots slid in the gravel before finally finding hard purchase. Her legs tensed.
With a fierce cry, the princess of Hyland leapt up and into the air, soaring clean over the offending snake, her spear acting the part of the angel's judgement. The squealing of the snake was an afterthought to Alisha as she landed and pivoted on her left foot, twisting her spear and forcing the impaled, writhing body of the snake hellion to fly to the side and away from her. Quickly as she could, she broke out into a sprint and raced away from her pursuers, running to her liege's side.
Suddenly, massive claws burst out from out of the nearby foliage, seeking to rend her flesh in half. She cried out in alarm, barely managing to dive out of the way of the massive attack, tumbling over herself in the gravel. She grunted, quickly finding her feet under her as she hefted her spear, taking in the massive form of the leader of the hellions as it slid fully into the campsite.
A shiver of terror ran down her spine.
Meanwhile, Sorey's blood-soaked grip was perilously slick as he wrestled with the heavy snake wrapping around his torso. Its thick green scales were near impossible to find purchase on with his hands, leaving him the only option of holding his sword horizontally to block the serpent's mouth from reaching his neck. The serpent's snarls filled his ears as he struggled as hard as he could for his life.
With a grunt, Sorey abruptly twisted his torso around and forced both his and the snake's body to roll over.
Capitalizing on the snake's disorientation at the sudden move, Sorey let go of the blade of his sword with his left hand and pulled his arm back as far as he could allow. With a cry, he slammed his fist on the soft underside of the snake's jaw, feeling a satisfying crack of bone in response. The serpent squealed in agony, its entire body untensing instinctively.
Knowing that this was his last chance, Sorey tossed his sword up and into the air, catching it firmly with a fisted grip. Urging the powers vested within him to flow through his sword, he let out a cry and sunk the blade into the snake's underbelly.
Blue flames erupted outwards, engulfing the writhing hellion. Now freed, Sorey quickly forgot about the purified hellion and got to his feet, panting and heaving as he finally recognized the wild chaos taking place all around him.
"Sorey!"
He turned his head towards the source of his name just in time to instinctively raise his left hand and catch the wrapped gel that sailed his way.
Velvet gave him a firm nod in respect, her unbloodied gauntlet blade held at the ready. "Nice job." She said concisely, gesturing at the hellion that the Shepherd had fought off single-handedly.
"Thanks!" Sorey returned, quickly breaking the packaging of the gel and roughly slathering the medicine all over his wounds. He glanced over at the woman, whom was keeping her distance away from the rest of the hellions and deterring approaching ones with kicks and slashes. "Be careful!" He warned urgently, moving forward with his drawn sword at the ready. He stood in front of Velvet and slashed forward, blue flames billowing out from his sword. "Leave the hellions to us. Just stay safe!" He urged over his shoulder.
Velvet nodded wordlessly in response.
She watched as Sorey charged forward, headed to aid the rest of the group. Her gauntlet blade was held limply at her side with no intention of usage. Her eyes were as keen as a hawk's as she studied the Shepherd's movements.
He was resilient. That was good. Yet…
She watched as Sorey slashed down once more, only to meet no resistance as the hellion he was attacking slithered backwards agilely in a dodge. He grunted in surprise, barely managing to guard against the hellion's counterattack with his sword.
The Shepherd's sword skills were abysmal.
Velvet shook her head softly in disapproval. She had thought that his skills were novice and inexperienced when she had tested him back in the meadow by Lake Perniya as well. This would not do.
She would need a much stronger tool to accomplish the task she had in mind.
"Everyone! I am in need of aid!"
Alisha's cry of help drew Velvet's attention. She looked over and found the princess in a dire battle against a massive hellion. Almost twice as high as normal human, the monstrous mutated snake-woman hellion screeched as she lunged forward, her deformed clawed hands out for blood.
"Alisha!" Sorey yelled, getting in-between the two combatants and slashing forwards with his flame-engulfed sword. Steel and claws met in a blinding flash of sparks. The Shepherd was cast backwards from the force, crashing into Alisha. The two of them went down in a tangled bunch, rolling backwards in the gravel away from the huge hellion.
"Damn!" Mikleo swore, finishing an arte and causing a bolt of water to pierce the hellion hounding him. "Sorey! Alisha!" He yelled.
Shaking his head to clear his head, Sorey managed to untangle himself from Alisha, only to find that his sword had fallen from his grip in the tumble and was lying between him and his opponent. His opponent which was quickly closing in on the two of them, out for blood.
He opened his mouth to armatize.
"Outta my way!"
Sorey gaped as a blur of black leapt in front of him, raven hair flowing gracefully behind her as she attacked. Velvet yelled fiercely as she lashed out with her sword, driving the snake-lady backwards in a dodge. Not letting up, she twisted around and kicked outward, her iron boot shining in the noon sun.
SHINK!
The hellion shrieked in agony as a hidden blade burst out from within the woman's steel boot, drawing a rough gouge across its exposed abdomen. Velvet quickly drew her foot back close to her and leapt backwards, dodging the hellion's retaliatory tail strike. "Mikleo!" She barked urgently. "Now!"
"R-Right!" Mikleo nodded sharply, finally finding some distance between the remaining hellions and raising his staff towards the massive adversary. "Here goes!" Mana whirled around him in a violent influx, jerking his clothing and hair around as the spell finalized.
"TWIN FLOW!"
Two spears of water burst outward from the tip of his staff and blasted across the campsite, directly over the extinguished campfire to spear the hellion through the chest. Its cries resounded outwards as it fell into a crumpled heap onto the ground.
"Alright!" Mikleo yelled. "Sorey! Now! Purify…! Huh?!" He faltered, having registered the fact that Velvet had not stopped attacking after his arte.
"Got you!" Velvet snarled decisively, sprinting forward through the gravel towards the fallen hellion. She raised a sword high in the sky.
SQUELCH.
Her gauntlet blade sliced cleanly and deeply down across the hellion's body; through both flesh and scales. Blood splattered on the ground, having been extracted from the victim's skin with the blade.
Naturally, easily, Velvet's body pivoted around with the slice. She raised her sword once more to deal the final blow, letting out a fierce battle cry.
CLANG!
She grunted in surprise, registering Sorey's boyish face staring right back at her. The metal of his ceremonial sword squealed as it was pressed up against her cold steel gauntlet blade.
"What are you doing?!" Sorey implored, his teeth gritted under the weight of her strength.
Blinking, Velvet raised her sword arm to the relief of the Shepherd. "…What?" She asked incredulously, letting her bare blade hang loosely by her side.
"The hell do you mean, 'what'?!"
Velvet looked over her shoulder and was surprised to find the rest of the group standing behind her, having taken care of the rest of the other hellions. Mikleo had been the one to speak. The water seraph was now staring at her incredulously with a guarded grip on his staff. Alisha had a hand on her mouth in horror. Lailah's expression was uncharacteristically serious as she studied Velvet in a new light.
Velvet turned back to Sorey and watched as the Shepherd raised his sword in the air, flames clinging to its metal, and waved it over the form of the bleeding hellion. With a flash of blue, the hellion reverted into the form of a human woman, lying there in a pool of her own blood.
Sorey's sword returned to its sheath with a deafeningly loud ring in the silence. His back was to Velvet as he stared at the form of the hurt woman at his feet.
The bright, cheery afternoon day suddenly seemed at odds with the seriousness in the air.
"…Heal her, would you, Lailah?" He mumbled lowly.
Behind Velvet, Lailah nodded. "Yes, of course." She walked slowly past Velvet and kneeled down to the human. "…She should be just fine after some treatment." She mumbled to Sorey, beginning to channel mana.
"That's good." Sorey's words were soft.
A dry breeze suddenly blew, rustling the foliage surrounding the clearing and playing with the clothing of the group. The dull hum of Lailah's healing artes filled the silence.
Slowly, Sorey turned around, his boots crunching on the gravel. He met Velvet's eyes directly with uncharacteristically hard eyes. "…You were going to kill her." It was a statement. Not a question.
Velvet blinked. "…Yeah." She nodded. "Is that… a problem?"
"You're damned right it's a problem!"
She turned, meeting Mikleo's furious eyes as he stomped over. "You were just going to go ahead and kill someone in cold blood!" He accused.
"She was a hellion, wasn't she?" Velvet pointed out in confusion.
"A hellion who was originally a human!" Mikleo yelled.
Sorey took a serious step forward, meeting Velvet's eyes. "Velvet." He uttered lowly. "We don't kill."
His hand rose to the side, pointing at the path ahead. His eyes were firm.
"And if you do, then you have no place with us."
A stray breeze blew through the land, rustling the leaves overhead and the brush nearby, punctuating his ultimatum. His meaning was clear.
Velvet stared. Is he for real?
Slowly, she got over her astonishment and recognized the fact that this naïve boy in front of her was dead serious. With an internal sigh, she realized that the only way for her to stay with the group would be to comply.
Gathering her wits, she nodded, slowly.
"…Alright." She muttered.
"I suppose… it's different for all of you, since you have the power of purification." With a loud click, she sheathed her gauntlet blade and put a hand on her hip. "I'll leave the hellions to you all, then."
And with that matter having been dealt with, she turned on her heel and weaved between Lailah and Alisha, walking off out of the campsite and towards the field. "I'll be back in a few minutes." She muttered under her breath, heading off to cool her head.
She could feel the eyes of the group digging into her back as she left.
A dry breeze began to blow through the fields, disturbing the lands far and wide.
Crickets chirped, filling the night with a gentle chorus of ambient song. Up above, the waning moon hung quietly in the starry sky. Sorey's boots crunched in the grass as he trotted outwards through the night, idly fingering the pommel of his ceremonial sword sheathed at his side as he walked. Behind him, the vague glow of the group's distant campsite shined in the middle of the field; the only source of illumination in a sea of moonlit darkness.
He let out a sigh, finding a small boulder amidst the hip-tall grass and settling down on it with a pensive expression. He rested a foot high up on the slanted boulder and propped his elbow on his knee, his eyes distant.
Velvet Davidson…
A murderer.
His brow furrowed as he tried to reconciliate the vicious, violent fighter he'd seen with the hardened yet well-meaning traveler he'd been travelling with for the past day.
It was too difficult a task for him to achieve.
Just how could a person like her, who would be so kind to Lailah by encouraging her cooking, be so horrific as to attempt to commit the worst sin imaginable? Just how did one reconciliate the helpful traveler with the sinful survivalist he had witnessed?
"…I suppose…" He mumbled to himself into the night sky. "…That killing was the only way she could survive against the hellions."
He nodded to himself, almost hurriedly. "…Yeah. That sounds right." He felt almost relieved at the realization. That killing was a habit borne out of necessity, not out of malice.
Yet… did that justify the act?
Sorey sighed. He didn't have the answers. He didn't have anything, yet. With an idle tilt of his head, he stared up at the moon contemplatively, considering the newest addition to his group. He blinked, realizing that the moon wasn't there anymore.
It had been blocked out by a rapidly approaching cloaked figure, falling directly towards him.
With a yelp of surprise, Sorey barely managed to leap backwards off the boulder before the figure slammed onto it with a crash, deafening his ears. Scrambling for a foothold, Sorey wrenched his sword out of its sheath and held it shakily out in front of him, his wide eyes fixed on the cloaked form kneeling motionless on the boulder surrounded by a cloud of disturbed dirt.
Slowly, its head moved up to face him. Two horribly familiar red eyes glared out at him from behind the nightmarish mask. A massive blood-red claw clutched the boulder beneath it, pulsating disgustingly in the moonlight.
"Y-you again!" Sorey gasped, his whole body tensing instinctively in the presence of the powerful hellion. He glanced around, cursing his foolishness for wandering so far away from the rest of the group. His gaze returned to the motionless hellion, watching him from its perch on the boulder.
The memories came back to Sorey in an instant. That horrific night. The pain and horror that had engulfed him. He stood no chance against it. He knew this. He thought back to Mikleo's words. Of how his friend had been convinced that no hellion could possibly be anything but monsters.
Yet…
With a curse, Sorey belatedly realized that the hellion was charging.
CLANG!
The blood red claw met his hastily raised sword. His sword stood no chance.
"GAH!"
With an involuntary cry, Sorey tumbled through the grass, having been cast bodily away into the distance. Grunting in agony, the Shepherd pushed his bruised and battered body back up and onto his feet, grasping his sword in his hand.
To his surprise, the hellion hadn't moved from where it had attacked him, instead simply watching him from a distance.
A soft nighttime breeze blew through the field, rustling the grass all around them. The crickets continued to chirp in the background, filling the tense air with song.
"Wh…" Sorey let out a hoarse cough and shook his head, starting over. "What do you want from me?!" He yelled out into the field.
The hellion's response was to raise its claw and charge once more. Cursing, Sorey raised his sword once more.
CLANG!
"AGH!"
And once more, Sorey was cast bodily into the distance by the hellion's raw strength, tumbling over himself in the grass. With a grunt, the Shepherd found his feet under him and got up once more, his sword at the ready. And once more, he found the hellion simply watching him, at the same place where they'd traded blows.
Ever so slowly, the blood-red claw rose once more, in a slow, obvious indicator of an impending charge.
"What…?" Sorey breathed, tensing his body in preparation for the attack.
And then the hellion charged, in the same manner as the past two attacks. This time, Sorey tried something different.
Instead of blocking against the hellion's incredible strength, the Shepherd lunged to the side, dodging the hellion's charge entirely and rolling in the grass. Sorey's hair stuck up on the back of his neck mid-dive as he felt the malevolence rolling off the hellion's swiping claw wash over him.
Grunting, Sorey recovered, stumbling to his feet and turning around, his sword at the ready against his adversary, now within a few meters of his position.
He blinked, finding the hellion just standing there, its claw held limply at its side. The two blood-red eyes seemed to burrow into his.
The two stood there; one gasping for breath, filled with confusion, the other stoic and silent in the darkness.
Frustrated, Sorey smartly flipped his sword around shoved it resolutely into its sheath. He crossed his arm and faced off belligerently against the hellion toying with him. "Enough of this!" He yelled, standing firm. "Tell me what you want!"
The two eyes narrowing was Sorey's only warning before it lunged.
His cries of agony and pain filled the night as the hellion let loose upon him, clawing him relentlessly every time he got to his feet.
But Sorey continued to get up every time he fell.
"You…" He let out a cough, spitting out blood, struggling to his feet and glaring at the hellion. "You won't kill me." He stated with upmost conviction.
"GAH!" He groaned as he was slammed down onto the ground, the massive pulsating claw pinning his entire body against the grassy ground.
Sorey stared up defiantly at the hellion holding him still, clearly calling its bluff. He ignored the utterly horrifying sensation of the pulsating serrated flesh against his skin and clothing and instead capitalized upon his frustration. "I… I won't do anything until you tell me what you want!" He spat. "So, tell me! It can't be that hard!"
The blood-red eyes were narrowed in apparent frustration.
And then just like that, the hellion released him and leapt off into the night, leaving him lying winded and bruised on the grass.
Grunting, Sorey got to his feet and shouted out into the night. "You just made my point!" He yelled.
With a huff, the Shepherd bent down and picked his fallen sword, carefully wiping the dirt of it as he did so. He didn't bother looking around for the hellion nearby. He knew now that he would see it again.
It was following him. And him in particular.
If only he knew why!
With a sigh, Sorey turned on his heel and began quietly walking back towards the group's distant campsite, absently slathering some gels on his bruises as he did so, frustration in his eyes.
In the far distance, Velvet Crowe wrenched the mask off her face in frustration. She glared over her shoulder at the distant field where she'd traded blows with the Shepherd. The naïve idiot had a long way to go. A very long way to go until he would be strong enough to take on hellions like her.
To take on a hellion like the Lord of Calamity Himself.
With a sigh, forcing herself to calm down, Velvet stuffed the mask and her cloak into her travel pack once more. She would have to get back to the campsite before Sorey returned; to maintain her false persona.
With one last disdainful shake of her head, the daemon tensed her legs and leapt inhumanly high into the starry sky under the cover of darkness.
The field was returned once more to the silence, filled only by the soft chirping of crickets and the soft rustling of grass swaying in the night breeze.