Chapter 15 – Hesitation.
He supposed it hadn't been the best idea to go out alone during the darkest part of the night. But then again, it had been obvious that sleep wasn't going to be happening for him back at camp in his warm bedroll. With that thought in his mind, he drifted to a halt, aimlessly looking around as he shuffled on his feet for warmth.
A dull, dry wind gusted through the darkened foothills, twisting and weaving through the branches of the dead trees dotting the rolling landscape and producing a low, eerie moan that sent shivers down Sorey's spine. The rising mountains hinted at by the foothills he stood upon loomed over him in the darkness, blocking out the stars with their intimidating mass. He shivered, his breath misting in the biting cold as he forced himself to keep putting one boot in front of the other.
"NO!" a man's frantic, hysterical voice begged. "NO, PLEASE!"
A bloodcurdling scream shattered the unbreakable silence of the night, echoing off the nearby mountain range.
Immediately, Sorey whirled around, his eyes wide as he tried to discern where the scream had come from. Subsequent, continuous howls of unadulterated agony rapidly followed the first, driving him into action. His rapid breathing caused puffs of mist that dogged his steps as he charged up the next foothill, his right hand grasping the pommel of his sword as the screams grew louder and louder.
The moment he rounded the peak of the hill and came into view of the source, he inadvertently entered the domain as well – a horribly, horribly familiar domain. He froze on the spot, his eyes widening in uncomprehending shock.
A seraph taking the form of a middle-aged man clad in a pure white tunic accented by veins of aquamarine squirmed and screamed in the monster's grasp, the putrid malevolence of the surrounding domain eagerly and visibly seeping into his body like water into a dry sponge. He cried out again as the pulsating claw clutching his waist tightened, tears falling from his eyes clenched shut against the overwhelming pressure of malevolence tearing into his heart.
Sorey was beyond horrified. He took an incredulous step forward, his sword held loosely in his hand. "What… WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He yelled, aghast.
In response, the monstrous hellion gripping the helpless suffering seraph in its claw turned its head over its shoulder to look directly at him, a pair of jarring crimson eyes glaring through a familiar steel mask that glinted in the moonlight. In that moment of true, undeniable proof that what he was hopelessly denying was actually the case, Sorey's mind momentarily ceased to function.
The tip of his sword sank into the earth, its own leverage being the only thing keeping it connected with his fingers.
And then in the next moment, it was over. The howling screams of the seraph came to a halt as the man clutched his head in pure agony, the poisonous malevolence having completely saturating his body and invaded his mind. The world exploded in a violent reaction to the final clash between the seraph's pure essence and the corrupting malevolence; the resulting shockwave thrumming through the entirety of the foothills and beyond. Sorey was forced a few steps backwards from the explosion, instinctively raising an arm to shield his eyes from the dust blasting his way as his cloak flapped frantically behind him in the billowing winds. Forgotten amidst the chaos, his sword fell from his grip. When the air had calmed enough to allow him to lower his arm, a horrific sight awaited him.
A newly born bipedal dragon panted on its back amidst a patch of burnt grass in the foothills, its elongated body reeking in fresh malevolence eagerly intermingling with that of the domain. The powerful chest of the young Dragonnewt rose and fell at increasingly regular intervals, plumes of mist accompanying its labored breathing as it acclimated to the transformation.
The successful corruption of an innocent seraph, into a monster.
In the relative silence of the now deceptively calm domain, Sorey somehow managed to find his voice. "…Y…you." he breathed shakily, drawing the masked hellion's full attention as it turned to face him, its movements suddenly foreign to him. He blinked, uncomprehendingly. "Why would you…?"
"You failed."
Sorey's eyes widened in response to the deep, warped voice uttered by the masked hellion. The monster stood there, its pulsating, monstrous claw hanging idly at its side, staring directly at him with narrowed eyes as if… it was disappointed with him. His breath hitched as he registered its meaning with a sinking feeling in his chest.
It had all been a test. For him. To see if he would have the instinctive capacity to charge in and save the seraph in peril from itself. A monster clearly torturing a seraph with its malevolence. This hellion had wanted to see if he would have the capacity to draw his blade for real and attack the hellion that he had thought was different at the drop of a hat the moment he saw it doing something clearly malicious.
Yet he hadn't. He had failed.
Behind it, the breathing of the recovering Dragonnewt continued to steady; a sign of an oncoming storm. The masked hellion turned away from both Sorey and the waking dragon, instead facing outwards towards the emptiness of the plains beyond. Malevolence poured out of its being in vast quantities that Sorey had only ever seen once before, accentuating every move of its cloaked figure.
The sound of metal clattering against earth and rock brought his attention to his feet; the hellion had kicked his fallen sword across the grass over to him.
"Save him." In the silence, its warped command rang out deafeningly.
Then, without another word, the hellion leapt into the air with inhuman strength, all but immediately vanishing into the night sky. Within moments, its domain had faded from the area, causing the harsh winds to slowly die down in the wake of its departure and leaving Sorey alone with a newborn dragon that was now slowly getting to its feet with lethargy and weakness in its every move.
The Shepherd gritted his teeth and forced himself to step forward and pick up his sword with bone-white knuckles, his boots crunching noisily on the burnt grass. Another dull, dry wind gusted through the foothills, playing with the regal cloak on his back as he approached his opponent, his lips drawn into a thin line. The Dragonnewt, steadying itself on unfamiliar limbs, abruptly registered the human approaching it, prompting a low, instinctive growl that thrummed down its throat.
Sorey didn't wait for his opponent to be ready. Fury borne of pure frustration in his eyes, he charged the empty-handed bipedal dragon, his sword sweeping through the air. "HAAAAAAAHHH!" he roared.
SHINK!
The dragon's bellow of agony echoed off the nearby mountain range as his blade bit deeply into the hide of its leg, causing it to stumble backwards. It lumbered around, its monstrous, mindless eyes glowing in the darkness, before finding the attacking human right behind him. Sorey smartly dodged the monster's talons as it kicked at him, rolling to the side while simultaneously bringing his sword up to bear. He was rewarded by a gratifying roar of pain as his sword sank into the monster's other leg.
He quickly got to his feet and bolted to the side, just in time to avoid the newborn dragon's weak spew of flame. The boiling hot flames near blinded him and singed his clothing as he barely avoided the dragon's breath. He abruptly changed course and once more threw a slash at the newborn dragon's thigh, scoring another direct hit and drawing copious amounts of blood while eliciting a howl of rage and pain.
Stumbling on weak legs, the Dragonnewt abruptly whirled around and slammed its tail directly into the Shepherd's gut, tossing him bodily across the field. He crashed harshly onto the grass, tumbling to a halt with the breath knocked out of him. Wincing, he spat out dirt and blood-tinged saliva as he stumbled to his feet with his sword still held readily in his right hand.
Yet, amidst the emotions swirling confusingly in his brain and the aching of his body, Sorey found that he welcomed the clarity that the challenge and peril that the battle provided him.
A fierce expression spawned on his face as he stood up straight, standing his ground as the Dragonnewt stumbled towards him on injured legs. "I'm not done yet!" he yelled, bring his sword up and behind him, focusing copious amounts of mana behind his actions in preparation.
A deafening crack echoed into the air as the Shepherd shot forward towards his opponent, the very air crackling with unnatural electricity. His blade slammed with unnatural force into the Dragonnewt's left leg, causing it to stumble onto its knee. The moment his blade met resistance, Sorey twisted his body around in a clockwise spin, bringing his sword around to bear. His blade slung through the air, trailing behind a vivid streak of charged electricity before it tore through the dragon's unarmored gut. Sorey leapt back as the dragon collapsed forward onto its hands, clutching his injured stomach, his eyes flaring a florescent yellow as he forced all the mana in his control into his sword. "Howling blade…"
"BOLT TEMPEST!"
He thrust his sword into the dragon's exposed shoulder, eliciting a terrific screech of agony. Before the dragon could retaliate, he opened his mouth and roared as he expended all of the power in his possession in one fell swoop and, with all his might, pushed up.
BANG!
An explosion of silver flames laced with bolts of erratic electricity lit up the foothills for miles around, engulfing the body of the Dragonnewt as it was tossed backwards by the sheer force of the Shepherd's mystic arte, falling back onto the land like a crashing meteor while spewing stray plumes of silver flame across the grassy hill. Explosions rang out as the dragon jerked and writhed on the spot, the holy magic of the Shepherd thoroughly cleansing the former seraph's body.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the flames died down.
The crackling of electricity halted, and the roaring of the dragon ceased, leaving only a bizarre silence in the wake of the chaos. Sorey eventually managed to discern a much smaller, humanoid form lying unconscious on the patch of grass where the dragon had fallen and heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Then, like a sack of potatoes, he collapsed onto the grass.
He groaned at length, covering his eyes as he slowly caught his breath, exhausted with everything. Despite all of it… the aching of his body, the sweat drenching his clothing, and the uncontrollable reeling of his emotions… as he laid there on his back panting like a dog, all Sorey could think of as he laid there in the cold grass was how much he regretted going out alone that night.
High up above, the looming mountains continued to watch, as did the lone figure standing in their midst; ever silent and ever present in the churning darkness.
"…Lailah. You're doing it again."
"Huh?! No…! But I thought…"
"Careful, Lailah!" a different voice yelled. "They're going to catch on fire!"
"Yep." someone else agreed dully. "Everyone better watch out. For like, the billionth time."
"Tch." yet another different person muttered. "…The hell kind of Prime Lord can't even cook her own eggs without setting them on fire?"
"Dezel!" someone else hissed reproachfully.
Lailah's rage was evident in her low, trembling voice. "Well. You should be careful then!" she snapped. "Who knows what I might end up setting on fire next? Or who, even…"
An audible gulp and a marked silence followed that threat.
It was Edna's voice that spoke up next. "Hey. It's gonna blow."
"Huh?!" Lailah gasped. "NO-!"
BANG!
All fleeting traces of rest in the wake of the exhausting battle with the Dragonnewt last night were instantly swept away by a deafening explosion that sent Sorey rolling around in a panic while wrapped up in his sleeping roll. Coming to a halt and blinking blearily, he slowly registered the sun above him, shining brightly amidst brilliant blue skies just above the peaks of the nearby mountain range.
"You let your guard down and let yourself get distracted." Velvet's low and distinctive voice drew his attention back down to the group, gathered around the center of camp. "And because of that, you went ahead and forgot about what mattered most at a crucial moment." she continued, lecturing Lailah with her arms crossed. "Cooking requires many things, and what those things are vary depending on what it is you're trying to make at the time, but one thing that it always demands is attention."
The resonant traveler glanced to the side. "Mikleo." she said calmly, standing before the leaping flames of the campfire – and the pan on top of it – that remained from the recent explosion. "Put it out."
"R-right!" he affirmed hastily as he quickly scrambled to his feet, having dove to the ground for cover the moment Lailah's pan of eggs had exploded. The pan cropped up on a makeshift rock stove atop the campfire hissed pitifully as Mikleo doused it for the umpteenth time with a deluge of water mana, the liquid mixing with the burnt remains of eggs smoldering within.
As the fire quickly puttered out before her, Lailah bobbed her head ashamedly, staring sadly at the spatula in her hand. "…You're right, Velvet. As always, you're right." She sighed hopelessly. "Oh, how will I ever become even remotely decent at cooking when I can't even fry a batch of eggs correctly?"
Velvet shrugged. "You might never be able to." she admitted blandly to Lailah's utter dismay, causing her to hang her head even lower. Velvet raised an expectant eyebrow, crossing her arms. "But sitting around and moping about it sure won't help your chances. If you want to give up, I won't stop you. But if you truly want to learn how to cook properly, then don't let failure get in your way. It's your choice."
Lailah blinked as her head jerked back up, staring back at the other woman dumbly before understanding finally dawned on her. "I understand." she nodded slowly, resolve creeping back into her expression. "…Thank you, Velvet." she intoned.
Sorey watched with a smile on his face as Lailah once more sat down before the pan, a furious sort of determination etched on her expression as she took up the spatula once more. Velvet stood over her shoulder in all her boundless patience, giving her surprisingly gentle tips here and there as she began a fresh batch of eggs on a new pan. He was amused to also see Rose sitting close by, chewing on a… rather burnt set of eggs, grimacing with each bite. Dezel had taken to watching the spectacle from a distance, all the while radiating disapproval. As for Edna…
"I give her five more minutes before she sets off a grassfire."
Sorey jolted in surprise as he found Edna coming to a halt beside him, her umbrella now being used to shield herself from the hot sun. His face broke into a grin as he looked back over at Lailah and Velvet while resting his arm on his folded knee underneath his sleeping roll. "Then it's a good thing we have Mikleo at the ready to help put it out." he replied optimistically.
Sure enough, Mikleo was standing fully at the ready beside the campfire, his staff already in hand in the case of further inevitable 'study-incidents.' his focus upon Lailah's cooking was so intense that it was almost comical.
Edna rolled her eyes. "Such a brave, handsome seraph." she drawled. "I feel safer already with him under Velvet's thumb."
"…Oh." Sorey chuckled nervously. "I see."
After a pause, the earth seraph abruptly pivoted on her boots, turning to face Sorey directly. "You're normally bouncing awake like a puppy." Edna observed concisely, frowning. "Something's bothering you. Something big."
He fought hard to maintain an innocent expression in response to her words. Collecting his thoughts, he carefully shook his head. "Thanks for worrying about me, Edna." he said gratefully. "I just didn't manage to sleep to well last night for some reason. That's all."
Her frown didn't budge an inch. Somehow, Sorey didn't think that his lie had gone over that well.
Hastily, he pushed himself out of his sleeping roll and stood up, inadvertently breaking into a tired yawn as he did so. "I… should go check to see if Lailah needs any help." he supposed casually, making sure to avoid Edna's creeping eyes that he could feel staring at the back of his neck.
"Yeah. You should." Edna's words were dry. "Well? Go on."
Sighing, Sorey nodded and walked off, leaving her standing there beside his empty sleeping roll with her frown decidedly in place. He shook his head to himself, kicking himself internally for the lie. But still, the Shepherd still felt an obligation to keep his irregular night excursions with the mysterious hellion a secret.
…Even after what had happened last night.
His teeth gritted. With a significant effort, he forced himself to mentally disconnect from the uncertainty in his mind and instead focused on Velvet, Lailah, and Mikleo gathered there before the campfire.
"Mornin' guys." he greeted lightly, meeting everyone's eyes as he approached.
Velvet barely spared him a glance, her full attention on guiding Lailah's hand as she helped her carefully scrape the sizzling egg from the bottom of the pan. "You're up." she greeted without looking. "Good. That burnt pan needs to be scrubbed clean before it's put away. Go wash it in the stream."
Mikleo subtly shifted to Sorey's side, whispering lowly, "You'd better do it quick." he warned. "She's been in a sour mood this whole morning for some reason. You really don't want to know what happened to-"
"Sorey."
Velvet's tone was tinged with a foreboding tinge of impatience.
"Y-yes ma'am!" Wisely heeding his friend's advice, Sorey bobbed his head readily and quickly snatched the burnt pan from the ground before turning around, exchanging a look with Mikleo before hightailing it away from danger as soon as possible.
Velvet herself was laser-focused on her current task; her brow furrowed as she once more moved her hand to adjust Lailah's arm. "You have to be gentler." she berated calmly. "You do that too much, the yolk spills out onto the pan."
Lailah nodded; her face scrunched in deep, deep concentration. "I shall get this one right." she maintained. "This batch will be perfect."
Off to the side, Rose started coughing vigorously, silently making ever more disgusted faces as she tossed a rather large patch of egg that was burnt to the point of being inedible off her plate. Standing behind her, Dezel made it a point to stomp the scrap of egg into the dirt, ensuring no local wildlife could possibly poison themselves inadvertently by eating it.
Watching all of this unfold from afar, Edna quietly turned around, instead staring up at the vast mountain range towering over them all. She let out a quiet sigh, mutely spinning her umbrella.
The sun had risen to its highest point in the sky by the time the group had finally gotten back onto the path, resuming their approach towards the entrance to the Cambria Caverns. Together the group trotted up the dirt path that meandered vaguely up the foothills, weaving left and right and dodging large boulders and dead trees that were increasingly common the closer they approached the mountains. Their leather packs creaked alongside the jangling of their weapons with each rhythmic step they took up the hill, the sounds of constant travel accompanied by the trees and foliage blowing in the powerful breeze that blew parallel to the mountains themselves. Trotting alone at the head of the group, Sorey found he had no other choice but to give in to the dark thoughts that had been hounding his mind ever since he'd woken as he walked amidst the companionable silence.
The screams of that seraph had haunted him long after he'd fallen asleep last night – he would never forget them. The abject horror, the repulsion of a seraph becoming wholly and entirely corrupted by malevolence. The miasma of humanity's sin; the poison upon which monsters called hellions were born of and thrived upon.
He subtly glanced over his shoulder, his jaw set. To think that Mikleo could also one day be subjected to the horrific fate… his mind turned grim, and he stared contemplatively at the seraph in question, currently having a quiet discussion with Rose. It was one thing to know of the concept in abstraction, but an entirely different thing to see it happen firsthand. To think that all of the seraphim he knew could also possibly suffer that fate. Edna, Lailah, Dezel, Gramps, and everyone else back home. Everyone he knew and everyone he'd been born and raised by. Gone; forced to turn into a horde of mindless beasts. Just like that.
By the merciless claw of a hellion that he'd thought was different.
He shook his head, gritting his teeth. If he hadn't been there when that seraph had been turned into a dragon, there might've never been hope for him. Sorey had taken down Drakes. He had taken down Dragonnewts. But there was no way he could take on a fully-grown dragon. And even if he was strong enough, no Shepherd in history had ever been able to restore a full-fledged dragon back into a pure-hearted seraph. He had promised Edna that one day he would find a way to do so for her brother's sake, but… he was still far, far from ever accomplishing such a thing at this point. Regardless, the masked hellion's intentions had been clear last night. It had been a test, and one that he had clearly failed.
But a test, to accomplish what, exactly? Exactly what did that hellion seek from him?
He shook his head, absently tensing his legs and hopping across a small ditch in the terrain as he continued to walk. From what he had learned from the seraph that he'd purified last night after the fight, the hellion had kidnapped the completely innocent seraph out of nowhere, then used him. A living, thinking being, reduced to nothing more than bait. A seraph whom had been dwelling upon this land for countless years, in one single moment reduced to a tool to be used and tossed aside.
Fury filled his features as he tried his damndest to comprehend such a despicable act. And to think! He still, after all this time, didn't even know what it wanted from him!
"SOREY!"
CRASH!
Velvet's cry of alarm had preceded her charging forward and tackling him forward just in time to save him from being crushed underneath a massive boulder that had inexplicably fallen from the hills above. The two of them crashed harshly onto the dirt on the other side of the boulder, coughing amidst the plume of disturbed dirt and scattered shrapnel that had accompanied the its fall.
She swore, roughly disentangling herself from the travelling pack on her back and tossing it to the side in favor of having freedom of movement as she stood back up into a fighting stance. "Get your head out of the clouds!" she ordered harshly, keeping her eyes fixed on the hazy image of the boulder that had begun to move by itself.
Sorey shook his head harshly and forced himself to follow her advice, also leaving his pack on the sidelines as he got up, drawing his sword and standing alongside Velvet as they faced off against the intruding hellion. His eyes widened, his sword slacking momentarily in shock as he registered just what exactly they were facing. "That's … a stone golem?!" He gaped up as the huge boulder before him slowly stood up, lumbering around on what quickly discernable as massive limbs made of individual large boulders digging deeply into the dirt below.
"Sorey! Velvet!" Rose's worried call had come from beyond the golem.
He responded by yelling, "We're alright! Get ready to fight; this one's gonna be tough!"
"SHEPHERD!"
A flash of green exploded before Sorey, announcing the arrival of Dezel as he abruptly appeared before him and Velvet with a ferocious jagged grin on his face.
"Dezel?!" Sorey exclaimed.
"I'm done playing around." the wind seraph declared darkly. "You gave me the power of the Armatus, and now it's finally time for me to use it."
The Shepherd's jaw set as he squared off against the wind seraph. "Easy, Dezel." he warned lowly. "I told you when you first joined us. You're part of a team." he reminded the wind seraph while keeping the slowly lumbering giant in his peripheral vision. "I won't have you going around being a lone wolf on my watch."
In response, the wind seraph sneered. "I don't need your permission." he turned around, putting his back to the Shepherd with crossed arms. "I said I was done playing around, and I meant it."
With that, he vanished once more in a burst of green mana, leaving Sorey and Velvet alone facing off against the lumbering giant that had turned its attention fully upon them. He shook his head in frustration, exchanging glances with the woman at his side. "…This doesn't bode well." he muttered, readjusting the grip on his sword.
Velvet's lips were drawn in a thin line as she too readied her own gauntlet blade, staring up at the stone behemoth before them. "…Its movements are slow and predictable." she noted. "Don't get caught up in anything, and keep moving."
"Right." Sorey took a deep breath as the giant's massive boulder-fist rose up high in the air above them, ready to crash down and smash them into bloody paste.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Both Sorey and Velvet instinctively dove out of the way as giant whips of pure wind mana sheared through the golem's body, tossing debris and chunks of its body every which way in the air to tumble harshly onto the surrounding ground. Suddenly, shooting through the thick plume of dust inundating the surrounding the area emerged a flying holy angel adorned with blades of neon green wings floating on her back.
Clad in flowing garb of white and green, Rose let out a battle cry as she twisted around, jerking her armatized body to a halt floating a few feet above the ground. Her expression fierce and determined, she flew backwards a few paces, the blades of mana on her back angling themselves in a mesmerizing fashion as the mana began to pool in overwhelming amounts. When she shouted the name of her technique, her voice was intermingled with Dezel's as the two of them attacked.
"DARK STAR!" they roared. as one
BANG!
With a blinding flash, a pulse of wind mana detonated behind Rose, catapulting her forward at a blinding pace. Her trajectory sent her right through the monster's left arm, slicing it clean in half and sending it tumbling down to the ground with a thunderous boom. Angling herself around, Rose banked back around in a graceful arc straight back to the ground beside Sorey and Velvet, sliding to a stop atop the dirt with barely a hitch.
"So… this is the power of the Armatus!" Dezel's voice rang out in the minds of those nearby, his glee clearly evident in his tone. "Come on, Rose! Let's finish this!"
Rose blinked, suddenly indecisive as her body began twitching on its own. "H-huh?! Wait, Dezel-!"
Both were interrupted as Rose's legs were abruptly swept out from under her, causing her to crash down onto her back, the wings of the armatus splayed out awkwardly underneath her. She blinked in confusion, staring up at Velvet standing over her in a combat stance. "Velvet…?" she mumbled.
Her eyes were hard. "Anymore and you'll kill the hellion." she jerked her head over her shoulder towards the crumbled heap of the golem in the center of the battlefield. "Dezel's driving you too far. Cut yourself off from the Armatus, now." she ordered roughly.
"A-alright." Rose agreed hesitantly, closing her eyes and focusing.
With a flash of white, her brilliant flared clothing returned to her normal travelling outfit, leaving her lying there winded on the floor while Dezel appeared outside of her, silently adjusting the top hat on his head. "…Hmph." the rogue wind seraph exhaled lowly. "You're all so damn soft."
"I will smite evil!"
FWOOM!
Together, the three of them turned and watched as the golem was engulfed in encroaching silver flames, directed and coordinated by Sorey's practiced hand as he stood before the massive fallen hellion. Soon, the flames faded into the afternoon air, leaving behind an unconscious bear lying in amidst the displaced dirt with small embers of silver flame clutching onto its fur.
"Sorey!"
Now unimpeded, Mikleo jogged up to the Shepherd standing before the bear in the wake of the battle with Lailah and Edna right behind him.
Lailah intertwined her hands worriedly. "Are you all alright?!" she implored. "You and Velvet disappeared so quickly, and then Dezel armatized with Rose and flew away…!"
Sorey shook his head, a decidedly serious expression on his face. "I'm alright. Thanks guys."
Slowly, he turned around, his eyes falling upon the reckless seraph that had almost gotten out of hand. "…Dezel." he began lowly as he walked over to him, Velvet, and Rose. "I know your intentions are to kill the person who you seek revenge from. We all knew this when we let you into this group. That is your business and none of ours, and we agreed on that, as long as you didn't cause trouble."
He crossed his arms. "Because of that, I'm telling you that I won't stand for you risking all of our lives over a taste of power like you did just now!"
Dezel had heard enough. "Or else what?" he sneered, taking an aggressive step forward. With his height and hat the wind seraph towered over the Shepherd, allowing him to sneer down at the young man with disdain. "
You'll leave me in the wild without my vessel? Let me become a dragon and slaughter the nearest town of humans?" he scoffed derisively. The way I see it, there's pretty much nothing you can do to stop me from doing what I want, short of killing me." He growled, leaning down lowly towards Sorey's face with a jagged smirk. "Wouldn't want that on your conscience now though, would you?"
Sorey's jaw was set as he stared wordlessly back at Dezel, his fists curled up at his sides. The seraph's words had hit their mark. It was all true; he had his hands tied in this case. Not that it made him feel any better about the current situation.
Inexplicably, his thoughts turned to last night. The acute sensation of helplessness in the wake of his indecision. His teeth gritted as he attempted to find a solution, only to come up empty-handed.
"He can't kill you. But I can."
Dezel grunted as he straightened up, turning around as Velvet stepped forward with her arms crossed, her eyes cold and hard. "If you risk my life or the other's lives again, I'll happily take you down, regardless of how Sorey feels about it." she warned dangerously. "You can bet your life on that, here and now if you'd like."
"…Velvet." Sorey spoke up warningly. "I told you-"
The hardened woman fisted her left hand in front of her chest before tossing it roughly to the side. "If it means keeping the others safe from a rogue seraph too busy letting his new powers go to his head, I'll happily part ways with you." She glared at Dezel; distaste clear in her expression. "Don't worry." she reassured the seraph coldly. "I know how to get things done when they need to be."
Sorey's jaw tightened at that statement.
Dezel's jagged teeth gritted in frustration as he stared back at the impudent woman. "…Just who do you think-"
"Everyone just chill out already!"
Rose yelled as she stepped between them all, her arms raised as if to stop any physical blows before they occurred. "You're all getting way too worked up over all of this!" She glanced between Velvet, Sorey, and Dezel and reasoned, "At the end of the day, nobody actually got hurt. Everything ended pretty sweetly just now, and I'd call that a win."
She turned and interrupted Sorey who had been about to speak. "Yeah, I get how Dezel's actions were dangerous," she conceded, "but the thing is he's only just getting used to the Armatus. I'd say we give him a break and let him off with just a warning this time. Hell, I even nearly went overboard the first time I tried armitization with Lailah. So… yeah!"
She smiled disarmingly, gesturing to everyone nearby. "Why don't we all let sleeping dogs lie? Besides," she added, "the armatus only works when the human involved is cooperating with the seraph. If he goes overboard again, I'll just reign him back in next time. Simple, right?" she finished reasonably.
Sorey and Velvet exchanged a dark glance at that, both thinking the exact same thing.
If only that were truly the case.
"Tch."
The hatted wind seraph heaved a sigh and turned away from them, readjusting the hat on his head in the process. "It wasn't like I was going to kill that innocent animal, anyways." he claimed. "I'm not some human, selfishly killing animals for sport." He paused.
"…Regardless, I'll promise to listen to what you say next time." he muttered lowly. "Deal?"
"Deal." Sorey nodded, letting his face relax into a small smile. "Thanks, Dezel."
The wind seraph didn't say anything in response, instead choosing to vanish in a ball of green mana to return back inside Sorey. Clearly, he wasn't in the mood to look at any of them at the moment.
After a tense pause, Rose let out a huge pent-up breath. "Whew!" she breathed. "Glad that's over with." She glanced around at everyone. "…Alright, come on, guys, let's get a move on! I'm tired of standing under the sun and not moving."
Lailah made it a point to agree wholeheartedly. "Indeed. We shouldn't be far at all from the entrance to the caverns according to the map. It would be prudent to make up for lost time today."
"Alright." Sorey nodded slowly, exchanging one more glance with Velvet before turning around. "Let's go, guys."
"Right behind you." Edna agreed.
Together, the Shepherd's group one more resumed their hike up the foothills underneath the heavy heat of the afternoon sun, leaving the unconscious newly purified bear alone in the wilderness in their wake.
"Boss!"
The shouted greeting broke the haunting silence and echoed down and down the damp, dark caverns, reverberating off the ominous teeth-like stalagmites and stalactites heavily populating the floor and ceiling of the tunnels.
Rose's face broke into a great big grin as she recognized the two people clothed in the leather tunics of assassins waiting up ahead with a lantern shining brightly in the abject darkness. "Felice! Talfryn!" she greeted, breaking into a jog through the rocky cavern towards her the two members of the Scattered Bones. The rest of the group followed her not too far behind, with Sorey and Velvet carrying their own lit lanterns.
The two redheaded twins gave her a warm grin as their leader came to a halt before them. Talfryn waved, getting down to business. "Alright. Just as you've asked, we've scouted up ahead to find the best route through the caverns as possible to get you all through to Biroclef Ridge, based on the best information we could get from the townsfolk at Lastonbell."
Felice nodded, reaching inside one of the zippered pockets of her assassin's uniform and pulling out a neatly folded sketch of the area. "Just as rumored, it's extremely confusing. The best way we could find was through this route there. It's pretty fresh information since we scouted this morning, so hopefully it'll be accurate enough to get you all through this place."
Sorey and the rest of the group trotted up curiously, standing beside Rose and examining the confusing-looking map in Felice's hands. "This is all because of the rumors surrounding these caverns, right?"
Rose crossed her arms and nodded easily. "Yep. That's why I sent two of our best to come over here and grab some intel for us ahead of time."
Talfryn cupped his chin thoughtfully. "From what we could tell, they're also mostly true. These caverns have an infamous reputation for constantly, and I mean constantly shifting due to small, localized earthquakes that frequently cause paths to cave in entirely at the same time other routes open up."
Felice grinned devilishly. "We didn't see any ghosts though, so I wouldn't worry about those rumors." she added.
Velvet raised an amused eyebrow at Rose whom had immediately flinched at Felice's words. "Relax. You're the Shepherd's squire now." she pointed out. "Any ghost hellions we might find in there will be trivial to deal with."
Rose blinked at her dumbly. "…Ghost hellions?! Argh!" Rose shut her eyes and groaned. "Why doesn't anyone tell me this sorta stuff beforehand?" she pouted.
Edna switched shoulders to rest her unopened umbrella on idly. "Ready to quit now?" she asked calmly. "The exit's right behind us. Leaving now would provide you with a total of one hundred, seventy-three hours and thirty-five minutes as a Shepherd's squire."
Rose's eye twitched. "You've been counting?!"
Meanwhile, Sorey had taken the folded-up map from Felice and was carefully examining it with Mikleo at his side. He hummed thoughtfully. "It doesn't look that bad, actually." he remarked. "There's a few turns here and there, but it looks relatively straightforward to get from one side to the other." He glanced up at the twin assassins with a thankful grin. "Thanks for the help, guys!"
Talfryn waved it off easily. "Not a problem. The Boss calls and we do our best to deliver. Sucks for you guys that the landslide at Biroclef Ridge hasn't been cleared up yet. You wouldn't have to deal with all this, otherwise."
Felice trotted up to Velvet and handed her another folded-up piece of paper. "A back-up," she explained, "in case something happens."
"Thanks." Velvet nodded gratefully as she pocketed the map. "How's the search for the new hideout going?"
The redhead assassin shrugged. "We've got a few places on the list, but nothing for sure, yet. But business as the Sparrowfeathers is really taking a turn for the better, what with the Boss's new recipe making the rounds."
Velvet raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what recipe is that?"
Felice grinned back at her. "Mabo curry buns." she announced proudly.
"…Mabo…?"
"Curry. Buns." Felice enunciated. "Believe it or not, they've been a huge hit!"
Velvet blinked a few more times before shaking her head. "I guess I'll have to try some when we get back to town." she supposed. A thought occurred to her as she glanced between the two twins in the dim lamplight. "I don't suppose your newfound success has in turn made it easier for you all to get into places where normal people couldn't, has it?"
Felice's eyes shone in the dim light as she held Velvet's gaze. "Observant." she remarked brightly. "Just the sort of insightfulness that we'd be able to make use of in the Scattered Bones."
She shifted on her feet, crossing her arms together. "What with all the other skills you've been showing off lately, well. It's just really been convincing me more and more that you'd fit in just well with us." she admitted. "With the Boss's consent, of course."
Velvet blinked before she shook her head appreciatively. "…I'll just stick to trying what food you people come up with, thanks."
The assassin shrugged. "And we'll always appreciate another loyal customer." she replied easily. "Just lemme know if you change your mind."
Velvet nodded in return.
With that, the two of them turned around and walked back over to group, all of whom were currently finalizing their game plan for navigating the treacherous path ahead. Sorey was currently showing the rest of the seraphim and Rose the map that would lead them through the caverns.
"And that's where the exit is." he finished, tapping the dot at the southern end of the sketch with finality. "We'll need to be pretty careful to not get tricked at any of the junctions though, just in case the cave has shifted in-between the time the map was written and the time we get there."
Mikleo had a hand cupping his chin in thought. "We could theoretically make a few detours on purpose, given the presence of any intriguing stone features or wildlife inhabiting the tunnels. There may be a possibility that we could uncover some large natural caves around here that could be preserving ancient bones or artefacts that we'd never be able to find elsewhere."
Sorey's eyes gleamed at the notion. "That'd be so cool!" he exclaimed. "Just one more thing to add to your book, huh?"
"Or yours. If you find it first." Mikleo shot back with a smirk. "I'm nothing if not an honest explorer. Credit where credit is due."
"So it's a race, huh?"
"Yeah. Why not?"
"I'll tell you why not." Rose abruptly butted in between the two of them, a severely grouchy expression on her face. "These caves are dark, dingy, and, if what I'm hearing is right, probably haunted." she grumbled sourly. "I vote against the whole silly stumbling-in-the-dark-for-a-few-pieces-of-rocks idea, and I'll kick the ass of anybody who does." She glared at both Sorey and Mikleo, daring them to say otherwise.
Lailah giggled, stepping forward with her hands intertwined in front of her dress. "Perhaps it would be best to leave the academic studies for later, Sorey, Mikleo." she supposed reasonably. "There will always be another time to return to these caves."
"Heh, fine Rose, you win." Sorey conceded, turning to Mikleo and patting him on the back. "It's fine, Mikleo. You're still in the lead, anyways."
Together, the group turned to face Felice and Talfryn whom were watching the exchange with amused expressions. It must've been especially interesting to spectate upon a conversation between humans and seraphim, whom they couldn't see. Regardless, Sorey stepped up and gave the two of them a thankful bow. "I really appreciate your guys' help. Thanks."
The two twins nodded back as they started to pack up, hefting their backpacks onto their backs. "Not a problem." Talfryn reassured, picking up their lantern from the ground.
Before they left, Felice turned to Rose with a business-like expression. "Boss. There's one more thing. That Romano Firm looks legit on paper, but after some digging turns out it's about as shady as it gets."
Talfryn nodded. "That's right. More than 30 reported bankrupt families in just the last few months alone. The firm confiscates all the families' property and takes it as their own." He shook his head. "And as for what happens to those broken families… Well, that's really anyone's guess, as no one ever hears from them again."
Rose crossed her arms, furrowing her brow. "…There's gotta be a legal pitfall somewhere." she muttered. After a pause, her eyes raised up to meet the twins. "Have squads 2 and 4 back you guys up. Keep on checking out the Firm and its surroundings." She shifted her body weight, putting a hand on her hip. "I'll leave it up to you two."
"Yes boss." Talfryn nodded once more.
With that conversation finished, Talfryn and Felice turned and headed right off, walking at a brisk travelling pace past the group and out towards the distant entrance to the Cambria Caverns with purpose in their step. The rest of the group watched them leave before turning back to Rose as she stretched her limbs, getting herself ready for the long journey ahead. "Alright gang, let's head out!" she chirped, setting off into the darkness with her lantern held high up above her.
Sorey and Mikleo exchanged impressed glances as the followed suit, the rest of the group right behind them. Behind them all, Velvet and Dezel stood in the flickering light of the former's lantern.
Quietly adjusting the top hat on his head, Dezel chuckled under his breath. "…That's my Rose." he breathed.
Velvet crossed her arms at that, giving the wind seraph a slow, careful look-over with her lips pursed. All around them, the oppressive, musty cave air drifted in the windless cavern, lazily playing with the fickle flame present within the lantern's receptacle.
"…You really care for her, don't you?" she remarked quietly.
He glanced at her, instantly hardening his expression. "What's it to you?" he challenged.
Velvet shifted on her feet, resting a hand on her hip. "Does she matter to you more than your revenge?" she posed the question bluntly.
His jagged teeth glinted in the light of the flickering lantern as he bared them at her. "Of course not." he growled.
"If it weren't for the person I want to kill, Rose would have been far better off. The Windriders would still exist. …But most importantly, this burning hatred in my heart wouldn't have ever formed." He glanced away, towards where the Shepherd's group had gone. "Regardless of whether I care about Rose, one thing is for sure. Nothing is more important to me than my thirst for vengeance."
He stared at her directly, challengingly. "I'll sacrifice whatever I have to if it means seeing it through." he stated with crushing finality.
Velvet held his stare, her lips pursed.
"…Then you should decide for sure." she stated quietly. "You should decide not just the kind of lengths you'll go about to achieve what you want, but what you actually want in the first place." The flame dancing in the lantern held in her hand cast haunting shadows upon the cavern wall behind her, silhouetting her figure in distinctive, harsh figures. "If you don't, you'll only find yourself doing things you'll end up regretting."
Dezel took a step forward, his gloved hand curled up into tight fists. "And how exactly do you know all this?" he asked roughly. "Just what is it about you that makes you butt into my personal matters?"
Velvet sighed, giving him an annoyed look that for some inexplicable reason caused him to stop talking. "I told you before, didn't I?" She spun on her heel, turning her back to the seraph and walking down the path in the Shepherd's steps. "I'm only talking from experience."
With that she left the seraph standing there in the quickly encroaching darkness, pondering her words as the light began to fade away from view.
Velvet let out a sigh of annoyance, glaring at her surroundings as she got back to her feet.
Stray displaced pebbles were still tumbling down the crater above her head, cackling as they bounced through the dust-filled air to crash onto the floor beside her. The remnants of the earthquake could still be felt thrumming through the floor, inducing an ominous rumble that echoed through the darkened labyrinth of caves and bounced off the vaulted ceiling of the massive cave that she now stood in; one big enough that the feeble light of her lantern couldn't even hope to fully illuminate.
She blinked in surprise as she registered that the strangely colored parts of the cavern floor weren't made of rock at all, but rather of water. For she was currently standing upon the shores of a massive underground lake that extended endlessly into the darkened void. It was a haunting sight.
"Ngh…"
Velvet blinked, turning herself and her lantern to find that she hadn't been the only one to suffer the misfortune of being separated from the group during the earthquake. "Rose." she said, quickly walking over to the fallen assassin's body.
At the sound of her name, Rose's eyes flew open as she pushed herself up on her hands, blinking rapidly in confusion at her surroundings. "…Velvet?" asked blearily as the other woman knelt before her and began looking her over for injuries. "Where… are we? What the heck happened?"
Having not found any evidence of any major wounds, Velvet stood back up, gesturing up at the newly opened hole in the ceiling of the cave above them. "Bad luck, from the look of things." she stated simply.
Clarity coming to Rose's eyes, the assassin froze. "…Please don't tell me we're cut off from the others."
"Alright then." Velvet replied dryly. "I won't."
Rose gave her a sour look in response. "Gee, thanks." She sighed, gingerly getting to her feet and testing her limbs with the nuance of a woman whom had taken many falls in her lifetime. "…I guess we should be counting ourselves lucky that we're both not hurt." she supposed.
"Yeah." Velvet turned around and raised her lantern, gazing out into the darkened void of the eerily still waters. "Except now we're here, alone."
The sound of leather boots crunching on the dirt below echoed off the chamber-like walls of the cave as Rose stood up, looking around with wide eyes. "…Well, it's a cool-looking place, at least." she remarked taking in the sight of the otherworldly underground lake. "Say. You still have the map that Felice gave you earlier?" she prompted.
Velvet blinked. "Right…" She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the scrap of paper that she had forgotten, unfolding the paper underneath the flickering light of her lantern with a frown.
Coming to stand beside her, Rose swiftly pointed to one of the points of the sketched map. "That's where we fell through." she stated matter-of-factly. "I remember us being in the tunnels curving just like that before the quake."
Trusting in her words, Velvet furrowed her brow. "We should keep an eye out for any tunnels with features similar to the ones on this map. If we do, we'll know where we are in relation to the exit." She wordlessly folded the map back up and handed it to the assassin. "Felice's map should be a big help in getting us out."
"Sounds like a plan." Rose agreed readily, accepting the map from Velvet and pocketing it. She sighed, putting her hands on her hips and looking around, examining the lake and the dead-end patch of earth they were currently standing upon. "I guess we ought to get ready for a swim… hmm?" She blinked, stepping closer to the waters with a keen eye. "Huh."
With careful, ginger movements, she moved one of her boots over the water. Suddenly, she kicked her boot straight down and into the water, inducing a loud splash that echoed deafeningly through the cave.
"…Ah-hah!" she cawed victoriously as the sound faded.
"What's wrong?" Velvet walked up to Rose, raising an eyebrow at her strange actions.
Rose turned and grinned back. "Watch."
She then proceeded to walk backwards, straight into the waters without a care in the world. Yet, against all odds, she didn't appear to sink any lower, instead appearing to stand just underneath the surface of the water. "Looks like we're in luck." she grinned.
Velvet crossed her arms, intrigued. "A natural pathway?" she gathered.
"Strong enough to hold our weight, too." Rose nodded happily. "Pretty neat, huh?"
"Useful." Velvet remarked, herself dipping her steel boots into the water and finding appropriate resistance with the water barely reaching her ankles. "I'll take point."
"Fine by me."
Together, the two lost travelers began their journey through the vast underground lake, surrounded by nothing but darkness and the echoing sounds of their own steps forward. Velvet maintained a steady pace forward while continuously staying vigilant to any changes to the underwater path that she was following by the light of the lantern in her left hand. Rose followed close behind, trusting Velvet's actions and instead focusing on the darkness surrounding them, looking for any breaks in the walls of the cavern signaling an exit.
As the trudging of their boots through water continued to echo off the surrounding walls, Rose abruptly shuddered. "Ugh." she groaned. "This is so giving me the creeps."
The therion's eyes flitted briefly towards her before returning to her task. "What's creepy about this?"
Rose gave her an incredulous look. "Do you even have to ask that?! People always talk about how places like this are haunted, then you go and tell me that ghost hellions are an actual thing, and now here we are: two pretty young girls alone in the middle of abandoned-dingy-town, ripe for the picking!" she exclaimed.
"Well, you're not wrong." Velvet shrugged apathetically. "There's probably at least handful of ghost hellions watching us at this very moment, waiting for us to get close before they pounce upon their prey when we least expect it."
"Hey, you know, that's not exactly helping, Velvet." Rose grumbled, shuddering again.
Velvet abruptly came to halt in the water and turned to face Rose with a serious expression. "What's there to be afraid of?" she asked directly, waving a hand carelessly in the air. "You live in a world where you know the truth behind things like ghosts and seraphim. Anything we run into will be something that we can more than likely handle between the two of us." She put a hand on her hip. "Besides." she smirked dryly. "Only kids are scared of the dark."
Rose pouted, standing still while Velvet turned right back around and resumed her trek across the lake.
She abruptly sighed, shaking her head. "I guess if you put that way, it's not so bad..." She resumed her pace, jogging back up to catch up to Velvet. "But regardless, I'm still sticking as close to you as humanly possible!" she declared with finality.
Velvet huffed in amusement. "Do what you want."
The two returned to walking in companionable silence, maintaining the rhythm of walking through the shallow waters to wherever the path took them. After a few underwater dead ends and a few mishaps that had nearly sent one or the other tumbling into the water, the two of them finally discovered an opposite shore; one that also led to an opening in the wall of the cavern; an exit.
"Whew. What a relief!" Rose breathed as she finally stepped out of the waters and onto dry land, stretching her limbs. "I thought we'd be stuck down in this lake forever."
Velvet put a hand on her hip, briefly glancing over her shoulder at the black void of the lake they'd managed to travel before turning back forward and noting the subtle hints of fatigue in Rose's posture. "Time for a break?" she asked.
"Yes, please!"
It wasn't long before the two of them were leaning comfortably against the far wall of the cavern, not too far away from the water as they bit into the strips of dried meat that they had prepared in their packs. The silence of the lake, with the exception of the steady dripping of distant water, was a welcome change to the constant sound of sloshing water that had defined the past few hours.
After a while, Rose abruptly spoke up in a dramatically different, sober voice.
"By the way… I'm sorry about what happened to your brother." she offered quietly.
Velvet stopped chewing and turned her attention from the partially bitten strip of meat in her hand to Rose, who was looking at her with a soft expression. "I heard from Sorey." the assassin explained, playing with the strip of jerky in her hands. "About what happened, that is, and why you're still travelling with us."
Velvet stared at her own strip of jerky, her eyes growing distant. "It's in the past." she said absently. "Laphicet's… he's been gone for a long time now. You shouldn't be sorry."
"Then if you don't mind me asking…" Rose tilted her head and asked curiously, "What's it like? Having a little brother, that is." She shifted in her seat to a more comfortable position. "It's just… something I've always wondered about." she explained.
"I take it you never had one?" Velvet asked back.
The assassin shook her head. "I grew up travelling with the others. Eguille helped looked after me and sorta became like a father to me, but I never really had anybody younger than me to take care of or anything like that."
"…Makes sense." Velvet nodded, biting into her jerky and chewing.
After a thoughtful silence, she swallowed and spoke. "Having a younger brother is, in one word, tiring." she said with soft smile creeping up into her expression.
Rose blinked. "Tiring…?"
"Yeah." Velvet nodded. "First, you have to deal with them not knowing anything about how the world works and having to walk them through it yourself. Then, when they're old enough, they think they have things figured out when of course they don't and start acting up on their own. They constantly give you one huge headache after another as you scurry around all worried for their safety and whatnot. It's enough to drive you up a wall on a daily basis."
She leaned her head back onto the cave wall, her expression nostalgic. "…That was my brother. The things that kid would do…" she smiled softly, staring out into the void. "Always trying to go off on adventures. Staying up far too late reading those books of his. Trying to fake taking his medicine and pretending to eat his vegetables…" she shook her head in exasperation.
Rose raised an eyebrow. "So, having a younger brother was… horrible?" she offered.
"No." Velvet's hand absently slipped into her coat, slowly bringing out a and holding handful of something amber tenderly in her left bandaged hand. "Actually, quite the opposite."
Rose's eyes were soft. The assassin stayed as still as possible, keenly observing a side to the enigmatic traveler that she had never seen before – a side of her that she was sure she wasn't going to see again anytime soon.
And then the moment passed.
The amber shards of the comb went back into Velvet's coat pocket and she resumed her meal, the softness fleeting from her face almost as quickly as it had arrived.
"…Tell me. How far would you be willing to go, Rose?" she asked inexplicably, looking out into the darkness with an unreadable expression. "How far would you go, if it meant doing something that you knew had to be done?"
Rose blinked in surprise at the abrupt change in topic. The irregular sound of water dripping in the distance punctuated the silence that followed the woman's peculiar inquiry.
Hesitantly, she considered the question. "To… do something that I knew had to be done, huh?" She pursed her lips. "…Well, I'd do everything I had to do." she promised. "Nothing more, and nothing less. That's always been who I am."
Velvet's expression didn't change. "Thought so."
"Why do you a…" Rose's eyes widened, her sentence all but forgotten. "Huh?!" She gasped, shooting to her feet in alarm.
"What's wrong?" Velvet got to her feet as well, following Rose's frozen gaze as she stared in terror towards the exit to the cave.
Except there was no exit there at all. All there was at that end of the cave was a solid, uninterrupted wall of hard rock. Nothing had changed around them at all except for the exit; it was as if the opening they had seen earlier had simply vanished into thin air.
Rose had begun to tremble. "V… Velvet? I'm not seeing things, am I?"
Velvet's eyes had narrowed. "Stay calm." she ordered lowly. "This isn't right."
Together, the two of them broke down their impromptu campsite and walked on over to where the cave's exit had been, Velvet at the front and Rose close behind. Carefully, her every sense on edge, Velvet lifted her bandaged hand in the air and, after a pause, pushed the hand onto the spot of rock where the exit had been.
Her hand pressed down upon the solid rock and stopped moving, clear as day.
Rose swore, whirling around and yelling into the cavern behind them. "Alright! To the smartass doing this to us, I'd like to let you know that this isn't funny!" she yelled angrily with a small strain of panic in her voice. "I'd like to get out of this place without starving to death, thanks!" her loud shouts pierced the quiet of the massive underground lake, echoing countless times until it finally faded away.
And then, to Rose's abject horror, something responded back.
"But of course." a young, disembodied feminine voice echoed back off the surrounding walls. "The show must always go on. For no play is complete without the actors." An utterly unsettling, malicious giggle followed the words, making every hair on Rose's neck stand up in abject terror.
The two of them whirled around as a loud warped noise resounded into the air, their eyes wide as they watched a completely different part of the cave wall vanish right into thin air and reveal another tunnel entrance. One that had definitely not been there before.
By her side, Velvet clicked her tongue in annoyance. "…Illusions. Damn." She glanced to the side at Rose's bewildered and none-too-terrified expression. "Stay alert." she warned. "Think twice about everything you see."
Rose nodded mutely. "I sure hope this is one of the things that the two of us can handle like you were saying earlier…" she muttered.
Together, the two of them, with no other alternative, stepped into the darkness of the newly appeared tunnel, their eyes wide and alert. They trudged onwards by the light of Velvet's single lantern, their eyes wary and their steps cautious as they climbed up the steeply inclining pathway. Every errant shadow seemed to want to jump out at them in the eerie silence at every turn, cast by the jagged features of the cave. Eventually, the single tunnel leveled out, offering an exit to the two lost travelers up ahead into a cloud of darkness. Velvet and Rose exchanged ready nods before both walking forward, steadily approaching the exit to the tunnel.
There, the thing that awaited them at the end of it all was nothing short of a nightmare.
It crawled awkwardly out of the shadows towards them, propped up by misshaped, unnaturally bent limbs. Limbs that seemed to have been torn off completely different creatures. It's pupil-less eyes glistened in the light of the flickering lantern, narrowing as it rumbled a distorted, ragged growl. A monster in the most visceral sense; an utter abomination constructed upon vast contradictions, self-destructive rage, and pure, unadulterated misery.
Velvet's eyes widened in horrid recognition, her fists furling inhumanly tightly at her sides. The memories caught in her brain like wildfire, flashes of a blue and green, and the feeling of drowning in darkness.
"What… is that?!"
Rose gaped in horror beside her with her jaw hanging slack. She stared up at the monster's silhouette, trying in vain to reconciliate it all into one being; strange chicken leg, the flaming lion's paws, the eel-head tail, the disgusting appendages of a bug dangling high over its misshapen body; it was all so… unnatural.
Beside her, Velvet's teeth were bared. "…You." she growled lowly. "You're not real."
Her steel boots clinked softly in the tense silence, punctuating the rising growls of the misshapen monster as she approached. Her eyes were fixed squarely upon the monster's sightless ones.
Rose blinked incredulously. "Velvet?! What are you-?"
She flinched back as the monster suddenly reared back and let out a violent bellow. One that was so incredibly strong it shook the very stones beneath and mimicked the quake that had collapsed the tunnels from before.
Velvet simply continued to walk forward, uncaring for the spittle flying in her face nor the whipping of her hair and jacket in the face of the monster's ire. "…You think this'll bother me?" She spat to the side, growling herself as she took a battle stance. "Don't make me laugh!" She lunged forward with an almost inhumane grace, her pupils dilating as she kicked her leg back.
"HEAVEN'S WRATH!"
Her steel boot curved in through the darkness like a silver arrow piercing the skies, slamming into the side of the abomination's head with inhuman strength, causing it to careen off to the side. She twisted around acrobatically, touching her left foot down letting the momentum carry her through a violent roundhouse kick with her other boot almost instantaneously following the first strike.
Both her boots touched off the ground for a second before she twisted around into a backflip, slashing the hidden blade on her boot and tearing a deep gouge in the breast of the monster and eliciting a twisted howl of agony. Crying out in fury and determination, Velvet twisted around once more and leapt into the air, sweeping both legs around in midair as she landed atop the monster's back, stabbing her hidden blade directly into the monster's spine. The beastsquirmed and writhed in agony, flailing its limbs in self-destructive fury.
One of its bug-appendages managed to land a direct hit upon the woman on her back, flinging her bodily off of it to smash into the side of the cave with a bone-shattering crash. Her limp body promptly fell of the wall and collapsed within a cloud of dust, obscuring her from view.
Watching in utter astonishment, frozen in the moment with her blades held slack in her hands, Rose took a step forward. "Velvet!" she yelled. Her eyes widened as her shout drew the attention of the horrific monster, which turned slowly on its misshapen legs to face her. She swore, taking a step back with her blades raised. "Damnit!"
"You're defenseless!"
A blast of mana conjured by an arte flashed briefly and harmlessly through the air, followed the ringing sound of a gauntlet blade extending. Completely disregarding the blood flowing off her temple and running down the side of her face, Velvet contorted her face in mad, animalistic fury as she aimed her sword arm towards the back of the monster.
"SCALE CRUSHER!" she snarled, channeling it all.
BANG!
The dark cavern, which had until this point been illuminated by nothing but lantern light, was suddenly and violently pierced by blinding rays as Velvet's arte detonated. The blast of mana that had been cast through the air towards the monster ruptured and exploded in a blast of pure incendiary heat, easily penetrating the misshapen hide of her opponent and sending it sprawling forward.
Velvet gritted her teeth, quickly scrubbing the blood away from her right eye as she took a heavy step forward towards the fallen monster. That disgusting imitation of herself.
Despite it all, the beast managed placed its limbs on the ground and pushed, standing up on all fours once more. It slowly turned towards Velvet herself; trails of saliva mixed with blood dripping out of its open maw. The two slowly lumbered towards one another; two wounded beasts, both out for blood.
"LORD OF WATER!"
The cry of two simultaneous voices pierced the dark of the cavern, making Velvet freeze in her tracks and snap out of her deathly focus. She leapt back and out of the way as a bolt of jagged water mana slammed directly into the monster's chest, sending it reeling back.
"My bow is the heavens!" Sorey and Mikleo yelled, their armatized body lunging forward in an explosion of water mana while drawing back their bow arm. They shot through the air as if they themselves were an arrow; one made of holy white accented with azure and gold. "The vortex swallows you!" they yelled.
"AQUA LIMIT!"
CRASH!
The nocked arrow of water rammed directly into the monster's breast as the Shepherd tore through the monster in one fell swoop. Water splattered across the cave with the force of a storm as the remaining mana in the monster's skin detonated. Sliding to a stop with his heels digging into the dirt, Sorey glanced to the side at Velvet with clear concern in his glowing blue eyes. "Velvet-!"
"Focus on the threat!" Velvet yelled, cutting him off while keeping her own eyes fixed on the lumbering monster.
Rose ran up alongside them, her own body covered in a flowing white tunic emblazoned with the markings of an earth seraph. "I'm with her." The armatized squire agreed, hefting giant floating rock fists at her side. "This ain't over."
With flashes of green, the Shepherd's remaining seraphim appeared behind them all, taking out their own weapons in preparation for battle. Lailah fanned her casting cards, determination sculpting her expression. Dezel flexed his wrist, readying his pendulums. Together they stood -the Shepherd's group, facing off against the monster in the darkness as one.
And just like that, the monster froze in place.
The sound of clapping echoed through the cavern; omniscient without an obvious source. The group glanced around, wide-eyed as a maliciously enthusiastic voice resounded off the cave walls.
"Perfection!" the feminine voice drawled. "I couldn't have expected a better show, even from such talented actors!"
Dezel stood up in sudden, abject fury. "That… That voice!" he snarled.
"Who are you?!" Sorey yelled, glancing around warily. "Why are you doing this?"
An enthusiastic laugh echoed through the cavern. "…I have something for you, Shepherd." the voice revealed softly. "A token of your victory today, perhaps."
A wave of mana spread across the cave, causing the seraphim to shudder. Up ahead, the monster that had frozen in its steps abruptly unfroze, suddenly letting out pitiful whimpers and squeals as its body pulsed. Then, without a warning, the thing began to fade away, its dying noises replaced by only silence, its body being replaced by a simple glowing object on the floor where it had stood.
"Ever since the first man set foot in this hallowed world of ours, knowledge has been everything." the voice mused thoughtfully, her tone malicious and cold. "Knowledge rules our world, for with knowledge comes power."
The iris gem glowed brightly in the darkness, swirling with tainted mana that obscured the reality offered from within.
"For the truth begets hatred. Hatred begets action. And action… begets satisfaction." Another laugh resounded off the walls; this one filled with anticipation. "The Lord sends his regards, Shepherd. We will meet again soon."
With that, the illusions; all the illusions disappeared with a blink of an eye.
Light from the setting sun streamed in through the exit to the Cambria Caverns, blinding the group momentarily as they blinked in confusion, registering what had changed. The cavern in which they had battled the twisted monster was flooded with brightness, with exits to various tunnels all having spontaneously appeared, no longer being hidden by illusions. Outside, birds chirped while a crisp wind blew, whistling lowly as it entered the caverns through the exit.
And there, lying at the foot of the exit, still glowed the iris gem that had been "gifted" to the Shepherd, pulsating violet in the orange glow of the distant setting sun.
Dezel cursed, breaking into a sprint and tearing out into the open air, completely ignoring the iris gem in favor of shouting into the sky. "So you're just gonna run, huh?!" he roared. "Come back here and face me! COWARD!"
"D-Dezel?" Rose blinked in confusion, dispelling her armatus with Edna.
Sorey walked up behind her, Mikleo, Lailah, and Velvet right behind him. "Dezel, you know who that was?"
The wind seraph caught his breath, visibly collecting himself as he stood there before them all. "…That was the one I've been searching for all this time." he growled lowly. "The one I'm going to kill!" he snarled.
Sorey's eyes were wide. He opened his mouth. "Dezel." he began seriously. "Are you-?"
Dezel whirled around, cutting him off. "Am I sure that this is what I want to do this, huh?" he asked disdainfully. He shook his head, crossing his arms. "…I've made up my mind on what I am, and what I'm willing to do to accomplish what I want." he declared. He turned to face him directly, baring his teeth in a disdainful smirk.
"Unlike you." he sneered.
With that, the seraph disappeared once more in a flash of green back into his vessel, leaving the group standing there in silence. The wind picked up, blowing across the valley before them and causing the nearby clusters of alpine trees to wave in tandem with one another. The crisp fresh air was a drastic and welcome change to the musty, suffocating atmosphere of the caverns they had just left.
Setting his jaw with the thoughts running through his mind, Sorey shook his head and turned around, drawing the group's attention to his own actions as he walked back to the mouth of the cave and knelt down. He glanced over his shoulder at the group, wordlessly asking permission before reaching down for the glowing gem at his feet.
Velvet glanced away; her expression unreadable.
A flash of white.
Bodies clad in proud uniforms of white and blue, stained red by their own blood laid there in the dark background, motionless with their swords and spears laying in their limp grips. Flashes of their lives appeared; their friends, their families, their homes, their duty… and finally, their sacrifice.
They were valiant soldiers one and all – each of whom had wanted nothing more than to protect the lives of others.
More bodies came after the first ones – these were clad in the simple plainclothes of villagers and townsfolk. The people that those soldiers had failed to save, and thus had doomed. many of the bodies wore clothing meant for a warm, tropical climate. Some others wore heavy furs. Others still wore clothing for mild temperatures.
All lied there, unmoving in the silence of death.
The bodies trailed in her wake; left behind by the one figure heedlessly moving forward into the darkness wearing a cape of putrid malevolence. It was clear that the lives she had ended and the lives she had ruined did not matter to her in the lightest.
No place had been safe from the destruction she had wrought. No life had been spared by her cold, callous steps.
The sky was dark that night, the stars and the moon having been hidden by a heavy sheet of clouds that threatened imminent rain. Amidst the cool and crisp air of the darkened valley, a lone woman stepped out between the trunks of the towering alpine trees, her expression obscured by the shadows. Her boots crunched softly in the overgrown foliage as she stepped out of the tree line, slowly coming to a halt in the middle of the clearing.
She abruptly spoke into the darkness. "You're a seraph." she stated.
A low hum rang out into the cold night air as a seraph taking the form of a young girl clad in skimpy dark clothing inexplicably materialized before her, her expression neutral as she faced the taller woman amidst the grass. "A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Mrs. Crowe." she greeted softly with a bow.
Velvet put a hand on her hip, raising her eyebrow. "I'm afraid I can't exactly share that sentiment – not after what happened today." She ran her eyes up and down the girl's appearance, frowning. "Who are you?"
"My name is Symonne." the seraph introduced herself, putting a hand to her chest. "You must understand that what I was doing today was merely in accordance with what my Lord bid me." Her arm fell limply to her side. "Naturally, I hold nothing against you, Lady Calamity." she demurred.
"I wouldn't call me that." Velvet crossed her arms with an irate expression. "My reasons for doing what I do are nothing compared to that of your own Lord."
Symonne studied her carefully, standing almost eerily still as she did so.
Eventually, she spoke. "Why was it do you think that I chose that particular monster for the final act?" she asked. "I could have selected any number of hellions to serve the same purpose. Why that one in particular?"
Velvet's eyes narrowed. "…I imagine it was because that monster represents a time in my past where I was the most vulnerable." she growled. "It served to let me know just to what extent you all are aware of my past."
"Just so."
The dark seraph leaned forward expectantly, an excited fervor coloring her voice. "My Lord knows everything about your splendid history, Ms. Crowe. As such, so do I." she explained. "We both know what you're doing here alongside the Shepherd; deceiving him with one of your many faces."
She spread her arms out wide, taking an indulgent step forward. "Yet why bother?!" she asked loudly. "What is so bad about the person you care about being a hellion?" She raised her hands higher, up to the darkened sky above. "It is only natural! The true state of all beings; the end resultof life! Why must you toil so as to reverse what is only inevitable?!" she implored incredulously.
Velvet's lip curled disdainfully. "You must've not seen nearly as much of my past as you've been boasting if you felt the need to ask me that."
"Then tell me!" Symonne objected heatedly, any semblance of the cool she had displayed earlier washing away with the utter fervor in her voice.
Her arm slashed to her side decisively. "This pointless existence begets only sorrow. Sorrow that persists until life itself finally arrives what it should truly be! The stars shine, the waves roll, the sun sets, just as how everything that is alive falls to malevolence. Am I not wrong?" she cried. "Why must you prolong such suffering?!"
With that, Velvet spun around on her heel, turning her back to the seraph. "We're done here." she dismissed callously, beginning to walk away.
Taking deep breaths, Symonne collected herself from her outburst.
Her breath calming, she shook her head quietly. "…So be it." she murmured, her eyes rising to drill into the back of the former Lord of Calamity's neck. "Then we must continue to tear you away from your fellow actors, just as one bleeds themselves so as to purge themselves of poison."
Velvet glanced over her shoulder disdainfully. "You think I couldn't tell what you've been trying to achieve this entire time?" She resumed walking; her eyes cold. "…Keep trying." she growled under her breath. "See if I give a damn."
Symonne watched her leave, a single exposed canine tooth biting her lip. She glanced up into the sky as the first droplets of rainwater began to land on her exposed skin, falling from the turbulent skies above.
Volatile winds began to pick up across the valley, gusting furiously as the storm truly began to break. Trees groaned in protest to the wind, splattered with waves of rainfall pouring down from the heavens. The servant of the Lord of Calamity let out a breath, closing her eyes and savoring the freezing cold water falling on her face. "The scene is set; the time is ripe." she mumbled, smiling softly. "Rather productive… for the opening act."
Her eyes opened into the rain, her smile widening. "Oh, but how happy he will be."
Up above, the rain continued to fall, the storm only just beginning to unleash its true potential upon the world.
Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!