Chapter 2: Arrangements and healing
Rose walked up the grassy slope that made up Elysia and entered the house on top of it. The interior was neatly arranged with shelves and little trinkets and in the center was Dezel sitting on his knees and an older man with long pale green hair tied back wearing green and white robes looking over to her sternly. Rose walked up to the two.
"Hi …" Said Rose sitting down. There was no response. The three were silent for a while with Rose's eyes looking around. The older male seraph fixed his eyes on her.
"Rose." He began.
"Yeah?" She replied.
"Is what Dezel said true, that you two brought a human into Elysia?" He asked.
"Yeah." Rose replied.
"You know the rules."
"Yeah but he's injured!" Said Rose.
"So I've heard." He said.
"Plus he's the only human I've … you know, actually came in contact with, plus I think he has some small degree of resonance." Said Rose.
"The resonance part was not mentioned." He said.
"Dezel!" Rose shouted.
"Slipped my mind." Said Dezel.
"Lafarga, can you please let this slide just this once?" Rose begged. Lafarga sighed.
"I know you mean well but the longer we keep the human here the more risk there will be of producing malevolence or attracting someone looking for this human that might not be exactly pure or neutral and this worries me." Said Lafarga. "Whether or not he has resonance doesn't change that fact that he can still carry malevolence in his heart."
"Lafarga-!" Rose started to argue when Lafarga put his hand up.
"Due to the circumstances it should be fine. After all, if we turn humans away when they're in need of help, then we're no better than hellions." Said Lafarga. "One of us will heal the human's leg and you may also help him prepare for his departure."
"Thank you!" Rose cheered hugging him.
"If this happens again just tell me before you do anything, got that?" He said.
"Okay, come on Dezel, you're helping me heal his leg!" Said Rose grabbing the back of Dezel's shirt and dragging him.
"Ugh ow! Let go!" Dezel protested. When the two left the house Dezel released himself from her grip and got up on his feet and dusted off his backside. "Couldn't you have asked one of the other seraphs to fix his leg?"
"I would if they were responding." Said Rose. "I mean when we brought in Sergei they were kind of acting like we weren't there. The only thing that would be normal was them joking that you got another pet."
"I don't do it that often." Dezel huffed.
"Well not recently, which I should note is quite a feat for you." Rose joked.
"Shut it." Said Dezel. The two made their way back to Rose's house. When they got back into Rose's house Sergei was lying on the bed trying to count something on the ceiling.
"I'm back and I brought someone to help with your leg!" Said Rose.
"Is it that the entity from earlier, since apparently you two are the only ones here?" Asked Sergei.
"What, you didn't get that being watched sensation when we entered the village?" Rose asked.
"Sort of … I think it faded out." Sergei admitted.
"Weird …" Rose muttered.
"Not every seraph here is on the level of Kyme, or Lafarga for one, and his resonance is weak so things like us 'fading' out to him may be common." Shrugged Dezel. "I don't know."
"Do I need to do anything like remove my boot?" Sergei asked Rose.
"You should be fine maybe hold still and don't flip out." Rose shrugged. Sergei nodded while Dezel just sat there. "Well go on."
"Which leg?" He asked. Rose went up to Dezel, grabbed his wrist and guided his hand to the leg Sergei was trying to stay off of. "I could've figured it out if you had told me."
"So what's the world below like?" Rose asked.
"World below? Is that what you call basically everywhere else?" Sergei asked as Dezel started healing.
"Well what else would we call it? It's below this mountain peak." Said Rose.
"Ha ha, point taken." Laughed Sergei.
"If you two get flirty I just might puke." Muttered Dezel.
"Well I hail from Lady Lake, the capital of Hyland which this … I think it might be unaligned or part of the northern territories since I've never seen Elysia on any map." Sergei started. "Anyway it's a city. It's in the middle of the lake. The people, most of the time earnest people, or at least they were."
"Why do you say that?" Rose asked.
"Well for the last at least twenty years things haven't been so great." Said Sergei. "Now I wasn't around in Lady Lake much as a child but from what I heard it was a beautiful place with quite the lively atmosphere. However, ever since I started working in Lady Lake it has always felt … dreary, like it's constantly raining and for good reason. For as long as I have been a soldier there more and more people have been losing their jobs and wind up living on the streets. In correlation to that crime has increased, anything from theft and fraud to more serious ones like murder and rape to some back alley things. More children seem to be dying every year also. In addition there has been wide spread plague and famine, livestock are dropping like flies and there has been an increase in natural disasters. As time goes on we're finding more corpses and burning them and placing possible people who are diseased or may be suspect of crime under strict quarantine rather than protecting or helping them."
"Sounds like shit." Said Dezel around the time Sergei was talking about the increase in natural disasters and plague.
"Our resources are being stretched too thin to be able to deal with this. It doesn't help that there are rumors that our councilmen and some political heads in the neighboring kingdom, Rolance, are squandering resources for war." Sergei continued. "In addition to that there have been rumored super natural happenings." Dezel perked up while Rose quirked and eyebrow.
"What kind of supernatural happenings?" She asked.
"Like people going into sudden berserker rage like they've been possessed, people turning into monsters, people suddenly bursting into flame …" Sergei listed off. "Plus there have been rumored sightings of dragons and there are people that say that the dead walk the earth. I don't know if this has been going on around the world or just Glenwood, I think around the same time all of this chaos started Glenwood got isolated from the rest of the world."
"I would say it sounds rough but from what you described that would be a severe understatement." Said Rose pulling out the glove she got earlier.
"You're right it would be." Said Sergei. "Every day it's getting harder to think positively and I think everyone else is starting to think the same thing. At this rate we need a goddamn miracle that could help us get through these tough times. Maybe something like the Shepherd and his band of followers from thirty years ago." Dezel looked up.
"The Shepherd you say?" Rose questioned. "I mean sure they might be able to handle the supernatural shit, but everything else? That can't happen unless they manage to somehow get the people to cooperate." By then Dezel stopped healing Sergei's leg. "I think your leg might be okay now." Sergei got up, shook it out and stood on it briefly. He then walked around a little. "Well?"
"Thank you." Said Sergei. "I think I can go back to Lady Lake."
"Wait now?" Said Rose.
"Yes, my brother is probably worried that I've been gone for so long." Said Sergei.
"How long is Lady Lake from here?" Rose asked.
"Two to three days by foot." Sergei answered.
"That close?" Said Rose. "How about you stay a little longer so I can at least help you prepare."
"Oh no, I can't possibly overstay my welcome." Sergei declined.
"I insist." Said Rose. "Better to travel back over prepared than to be underprepared and not realize it until it's too late, am I right?"
"I guess …" Said Sergei looking around nervously.
"And don't worry about bothering anyone else I'm sure they won't mind." Said Rose. "C'mon, at least let me help you prepare some extra rations." Sergei bit his lip.
"Okay …" Said Sergei giving up.
"Great!" Said Rose.
The next day Rose and Sergei started walking out of the village when she bumped into Dezel.
"Rose?" Said Sergei.
"Go on ahead." Said Rose, she then turned to Dezel. "You're not coming?"
"I never do." Said Dezel.
"True…" Said Rose.
"Hey Dezel, hurry up!" A seraph called.
"Lafarga have you busy today?" Rose asked.
"Yeah." He replied.
"Oh." Said Rose giving the glove to Dezel. "When you get the chance can you ask Lafarga about this glove?"
"If I remember." Said Dezel.
"Come on we don't have all day!" Called the same seraph.
"I'm coming I'm coming!" Dezel snapped back. The two then parted ways and Rose met up with Sergei at Elysia's gate.
"Sorry about that." Said Rose. "I needed to take care of a little something."
"It's all right." Said Sergei. "Shall we?" The two walked into the wooded area between Elysia and Mabinogio ruins. Rose was slightly ahead of Sergei at all times. She sniffed the air for something, when Sergei was about to ask what she was doing she stuck her hand in front of him.
"Hide." She whispered to him. The two quickly ducked behind a bush when a small pig walked out. "That's a prickleboar." She whispered to him. "They're quick little bastards but they're a damn useful animal once you manage to catch one. The meat's easy to preserve, their hides can make sturdy bags, the and the bones can make for a good weapon if you're in a pinch, or you could probably polish them up and sell them."
"How much would they be worth?" Sergei questioned.
"I have no idea." Rose whispered back. "Oh and watch out for the big ones those will likely give you a few broken ribs."
"I'm wearing armor but I'll keep that in mind." Sergei whispered.
"Good, let's go." The two moved quietly from behind the bush, or for Sergei as quiet as can be feasibly possible for him with his armor having a tendency of going "clang clang clang" every time he moved. Unfortunately the prickleboar notice the noise and started running.
"Crap! Flank it! Flank it!" Rose shouted.
"On it!" Segei replied splitting from Rose. Rose ran after the little boar when it ran into Sergei with his sword drawn out. It stopped and looked behind it and tried to run in a different direction when Rose ran towards its left and Sergei was adamant in keeping the prickleboar in his sights. Without another movement Rose got on top of it, pinning it down. While it was still squirming Rose stuck her blade just below the its skull making it instantly go limp.
"Man that was a whole hell of a lot easier than it would normally be." Said Rose. "Maybe you should come hunting with me more often." Sergei laughed and shook his head.
"I'm afraid that'll be a bit difficult since I have a job." He said.
"True …" Said Rose. "Anyway, to last you a few days we might need to hunt down a few more and I can show you how to smoke the meat and some other things."
"Sounds good to me." Said Sergei. The two then went to hunt down two more prickleboars. Then the two went back to Rose's house in which Rose showed him how to skin the pigs, gut them, cut up the meat, smoke it while having some of it set aside for making a jerky. She also showed him what to do with the various other parts of the pig and then started cleaning off some bones to see if her prickleboar bone jewelry idea would actually hold some water.
"You know I think you might be good to go tomorrow or the day after." Said Rose as she was trying to polish a bone bead with the tools she has. "We just need the hides to dry out so we can make a bag out of it and you'll be good."
"That's good to hear." Said Sergei.
"Sergei, you mentioned having a brother yesterday, what's he like?" Rose asked.
"Hm? What brought this up?" Sergei asked.
"I kinda wanna talk while working on this." Said Rose.
"Wouldn't that end up being counter-productive in the end because you're kind of distracted?" Sergei asked.
"You'd be surprised what I can do while holding a conversation." Said Rose. "Plus I don't have any siblings as you can obviously tell."
"All right all right." Sergei chuckled. "Well my brother's name is Boris, he's actually my twin. We nearly look exactly the same, minus the scar." One of Rose's eyebrows rose. "He does have a tendency to goof off quite a bit even when we were kids. We both practiced the same sword style under the same instructor while we were training. He's almost always well-meaning but is honestly more selfish than I am and can be quite an ass at times."
"Aren't we all?" Rose joked.
"Though I can't fault him too hard, he is family after all." Said Sergei. The two ended up talking until Sergei fell asleep and Rose completed four beads. Dezel then walked in and signaled to Rose to come out side.
"What's up?" She asked. Dezel gave her the glove she handed him earlier that day.
"Lafarga told me that apparently this has the mark of the shepherd on it." Said Dezel.
"The sucker must've dropped it the last time they were here or something." Said Rose putting the glove away. "Anyway Sergei should be leaving within the next day or two."
"You might wanna tell Lafarga this." Said Dezel.
"I will I will. I'm going." Said Rose walking up to the slope to Lafarga's place. She knocked on the door.
"Come in." She heard Lafarga say. Rose walked in just as Lafarga was rearranging some old books and papers one flew towards her. She picked it up and read some of the contents written on it.
This is part of the account of the Shepherd's Hellion Incapacitating Task Squad and what happened to them. Please for the love of everything good do not make it into an acronym. The Team consisted of the shepherd, his squires and four seraphim. Three of the squires are currently alive along with one seraph but three of the seraphim are currently missing and have not been seen since the beginning of the Age of Chaos so it is unknown whether they are alive or not. The rest of the group, including the Shepherd himself-
"Ah Rose, Is there something you need?" She heard Lafarga say. Rose looked up from the paper.
"Well I just wanted you to know that the human will be gone either tomorrow or the day after." She informed. "Also you dropped this." She gave him the paper.
"Very well, we might not have been very gracious hosts but the least we can do is see our guest off." Said Lafarga. The next day Rose and Sergei were finishing up working with the prickleboar hide so Sergei's departure ended up being delayed until the next day. At Elysia's front gate Rose and Sergei stood face to face with all of Elysia behind her. Sergei looked around with that being watched feeling he had when Rose found him.
"Well you should be ready to go and the map should be able to get out of the forest without getting too lost. Be safe out there." Said Rose.
"I don't know how to thank you Rose, but I really appreciate what you've done so I'm truly indebt to you." Said Sergei.
"It's no problem, really." Said Rose.
"Sorry, this may feel like this came straight out of nowhere but I think the entities that have been around us are actually seraphim." Said Sergei, Rose's lip twitched as she resisted the urge to say 'No shit Sherlock' Sergei continued. "I know it may sound crazy but I've always believed the Seraphim existed and this town is prime evidence of it."
"No, you're not crazy." Rose assured.
"In any case, I will keep this place a secret so no harm will come to it or the entities that live here." Said Sergei.
"You don't have to." Rose brushed off. "But thanks anyway." Sergei smiled and left without another word.
"It's for the best." Lafarga assured a few minutes after Sergei left. He then got a sudden shiver. "No …" He muttered.
Ha ha the SHITS I am sooooooooo matuuuuuure.
Anyway it has kind of bugged me in the game where the cast say that the age of chaos is happening all over the world when they don't even leave Glenwood, sure the world guidance book say that the age of chaos is happening in the north as well but we don't meet anyone from the north or even get a glimpse of it on a map not is there a trail to get there in game. So I kind of assumed that Glenwood is sealed off from the rest of the world when the age of chaos happened due to no accessible trade routes and that wall in Zapphott Moor.