A really late update, but I guess I'll have enough time to finish this arc by the end of this month at least, right?
Wishes, Dreams, and Memories
Chapter 29 – Family and Duty
"Frey, wait!" the female Earthmate stopped in her tracks, but she didn't bother turning around to face Lest, "Haven't we finished what we're here for? To take the Guardians back?"
"No, not yet," Frey turned to look at Lest with a serious look on her face, "Don't you remember what the letter said? Whoever sent that letter wanted both of us to come in exchange for those four."
"But we're lucky enough to fall into that cave and get them before we encounter the real enemy, right?" Lest's persuasion didn't leave any effect on the green-haired Earthmate as she shook her head.
"I have the feeling that we're being set up," Frey spoke up, surprising Lest, "If you recall correctly, we're going in a one-way path since we fell until we reach this exact spot."
"That… that can't be true, right?" Lest was still left unconvinced, "I mean, the Sechs should be in better terms with us after Ethelberd is gone…"
"They should be," Frey responded sternly, "But Kane mentioned that Ethelberd's son, the current emperor, might be the one pulling the strings behind this mess," Frey took a deep breath as Lest kept his attention on her, "In other words, we're going against our own sibling as well. We're going to fight him to stop him."
Lest stayed silent for a moment before shaking his head, "No, this isn't what I'm here for. Settling things between Selphia and Sechs isn't actually my job because I'm just the acting prince."
"Are you afraid of facing your own family again?" Frey's voice turned down into a whisper, but in her eyes she was clearly disappointed, "Are you abandoning your duty because of family?"
"No, because I can't charge into a possibly dangerous situation for no clear reason," Lest rebutted, "I have a family to return to now. I'm no longer on my own because I have a family to take care of."
"What about me? I'm still your family too!" Frey suddenly raised her voice, surprising both of them, "S-Sorry, I didn't mean…"
"No, I'm sorry," Lest let out a sigh, "It's just that seeing the Guardian's dreams like that makes me think about how they felt when something happens to me instead. I never actually thought about it that much before, but those dreams were so real that I could almost feel the emotions…"
Frey looked at Lest for a moment before smiling, "I see that you're still you. The same old Lest from back then too think about others that much."
"I think that forgetting the past doesn't include forgetting who you really are," Lest added as he smiled as well, "Should we get going to see the person behind all this mess?"
Frey nodded in agreement, "Yeah."
The two Earthmates continued their path through the empty silver and golden halls, looking around for any signs of life around them. The forks in their paths were blocked until they left a single path open, as if someone had purposely led them to take the unblocked path. At the end of the path, a huge metal door stood firmly in front of them.
"I can feel it," Frey let out a whisper, but still loud enough for Lest to hear her.
"Is that person in there?" Lest asked, getting a nod from Frey.
"Yes, and the flow of corrupted runes ended this way," Frey put her hands on the door and turned to Lest, "Are you sure you're ready, Lest?"
"Don't worry about it," Lest put his hands on the door as well, "I've fought Ethelberd without knowing that he's my biological father. I know that I can handle fighting the sibling I never know of."
"Let's do it then," the two Earthmates pushed the door open, revealing the throne room on the other side of the door.
The sound of clapping was heard as a figure stood up under the shadows on the throne, "You have finally made it, Earthmates."
"From the way you're speaking, I think you're the one we're after," Frey looked up at the figure as he walked down the stairs.
"Yes, I am looking forward to this fateful encounter," a man with long teal hair stood in front of them with an evil smile on his face, "I am Halwell, the current ruler of the Sechs Empire!"
"What do you want with us?" Lest was holding on to the hilts of his blades as he looked at Halwell, "What did you do to the Guardians?"
"It was quite a simple trick," the emperor folded his arms proudly, "I just used those monsters to corrupt their minds to lure both of you here. That, I did, for one purpose only," Halwell slowly unsheathed his sword, pointing it at Lest and Frey, "That is, to take the lives of the remaining Earthmates breathing in this land!"
'He sounds just like him…' Lest thought as he hesitantly took out his blades, "Frey, is this the only way? He may be evil, but he's still just human."
"Did you forget already?" Frey took out her spear, "You fought Ethelberd even though he was still human, correct?" Frey turned to see that Lest had nodded, "Consider this the same as before. Fighting an unknown family to save your true family. To save Lady Ventuswill and return home safely."
"Yes, but there's something different now than before," Lest stepped forward, giving Frey a smile, "I have my family here too, fighting side by side with me."
Frey was stunned at first, but then smiled before turning back to their opponent, "True. This is the battle against family, to carry on our duties to our true family!"
The two Earthmates charged in with their weapons as the images of the Guardians flashed in their minds, waiting for their safe return. The sounds of blades clashing against each other were heard echoing throughout the throne room, with no one present to watch the fierce battle between the Earthmates and the corrupted emperor.
Ventuswill was lying weakly in the dragon room as Volkanon paced back and forth in worry. Jones and Nancy were in the room to try and tend the weakened dragon god, but their efforts had been all for naught. Ventuswill had no external injuries, but her expression clearly showed how much she was in pain.
"This is all we can do for her, unfortunately," Jones spoke up as he looked at the suffering dragon, "Just as Frey told us yesterday, she cannot fully recover unless the corrupted runes within her body are removed."
The butler cried after hearing the news, "S-So… is there anything else we can do to help Lady Ventuswill?"
Nancy shook her head, making the butler cry harder, "I'm afraid not…"
Ventuswill was awake as the three of them were talking, but the pain all over her body had completely removed her focus on trying to make up what the people were saying. Her weak movements were unnoticed by the three as she tried moving around to find a position she felt to be less painful to be in. Even with the pain all over her body, one thought made her strong enough to keep herself conscious.
'Lest… Frey… I know you can do it…'
"Ha!" Halwell easily knocked Lest's blades to the side, leaving him wide open.
Halwell swung his sword upward and down towards Lest, but Frey was there to intercept with her spear. The two fighters tried moving around their weapons to find an opening, but doing so had given Lest enough time to recover and ran behind Halwell. A single strike landed on the emperor's armored back, leaving a slight scratch on the metal armor. The second strike came from Lest's other blade, leaving a cross-shaped scratch on the back of the armor.
Just then, Halwell closed the distance between him and Frey by going forward and crossed their weapons. Halwell used the force from the side of his body to push Frey hard to the ground and turned to Lest to strike him with his sword, only to meet his. Aware of the number of opponents he was facing, Halwell single-handedly pushed Lest back and used his free hand to unsheathe another sword.
Frey's attack was stopped as Halwell knocked the spear off target and struck her with the back of his sword, sending her against Lest. The two Earthmates crashed and fell to the ground, but they reacted quickly to roll to opposite directions as Halwell was about to stab them both. Lest quickly got up and tried attacking with his dual blades as Frey was doing the same with her spear, but both attacks were easily stopped by both of Halwell's swords.
Halwell slightly pulled his swords, making the Earthmates to be slightly off balance, before spinning his swords to attack while knocking them away. The two landed on opposite sides with an injury from the swords' sharp blade. Lest had landed on his stomach and looked up at his attacker, noticing the dripping liquid from one of his swords.
It was blood, his blood, as he noticed the sharp pain on his abdomen. Lest slowly got to his feet while clutching to his wound before switching his dual blades for a short sword and a shield. Using his shielded arms, he slowly healed his open wound with his cure spell, while seeing that his sister was getting back to her feet as well.
Lest expected Frey to be wounded from the attack as well, but he couldn't see any trace of blood on her clothes. He saw that only one of Halwell's swords had blood on it, which could only mean that Frey didn't take any damage from the attack. His assumption was off when he saw that her wound was similar to the ones he had seen when he attacked the Guardians' monster forms earlier.
"Frey…?" Lest looked at Frey in confusion as the female Earthmate held on her injured arm, which had some dark energy pouring out.
"Lest… Now's not the time for this," Frey was looking down at her arm when she noticed that Halwell was slowly approaching her.
As Halwell's sword was about to come down at her, Frey's fast reflexes had enabled her to dodge at the last second. While Halwell was still trying to figure what had happened to his target, Frey had stood behind him and ran her spear to the small opening in the armor just below his arm. The tip of the spear didn't have blood on it, but the attack had created a wound for the dark energy to come pouring out.
"W-What…" Halwell turned to where Frey was, but she had disappeared from behind him and appeared at his side, punching him on the face.
Lest watched as Frey quickly turned the tables of the fight, with her single-handedly striking him down with various weapons. From the way she was fighting, he could feel that he was seeing someone else fighting instead. Her attacks were far from clean and planned as they were more like the strikes to actually destroy someone.
"S-Stop! Please!" Lest ran to the field as Frey began stepping on the emperor, who had dents in his armor, while looking at him mercilessly, "I-It hurts! STOP!"
There was the light sound of cracking before Lest pulled Frey away from the emperor, who was covered with dark energy. Frey stood still as Lest held her back without any retaliation, looking at the now unconscious emperor. Seeing as Frey wasn't fighting back, Lest let her go and as soon as he did, Frey fell to her knees.
"What… happened…?" Frey looked to the front and noticed the unconscious Halwell, gasping, "What did I…"
Lest walked to her side and checked for Halwell's pulse, "He's still alive, but barely," Lest turned to look at Frey in worry, "What just happened back then?"
"I… I don't know…" Frey looked down in guilt before she noticed the open wound on her arm, which still had some dark energy pouring out, "I… I'm sorry, Lest… I can't tell…"
Lest looked at her for a moment before nodding, "Okay, if that's what you want…"