Chapter 4

It was during the next afternoon while Ba'ul flew leisurely over the treetops that covered most of the Tolbyccian continent when he suddenly let loose a mighty roar, scaring birds from their roosts in the branches below.

"What's wrong, Ba'ul?" Judith asked with a mix of surprise and worry.

There is a massive imbalance of aer coming from the direction of Heliord. Just the fact that I can sense it from here means it is something extraordinary.

"Can you tell what's happening?"

He paused a moment before replying. Something is wrong with the barrier blastia. If the flow of aer continues as it is, the blastia might explode. Many people will be injured or killed.

"That's horrible. I wonder what might be causing it?"

I cannot tell. We should investigate. There might be something besides Hermes blastia causing aer disturbances. Allowing events like this to occur without knowing the cause would be even more disastrous than- he abruptly cut off.

"Ba'ul?" Judith inquired after a moment.

It stopped.

"What?" She exclaimed, confused. "Just like that?"

Yes. They must have fixed the barrier blastia. There was another pause as Ba'ul considered their options. We should still investigate, he finally decided.

"Yes, I'm even more curious now than when it was about to explode," Judith agreed. "Fly quickly, Ba'ul. Something strange is going on, and I want to know what and why."

Despite increasing his speed, Ba'ul and Judith arrived at Heliord just after nightfall, precisely when they'd planned to anyway, due to a fierce storm that was battering the city. Recalling the events at Capua Nor, Judith inquired about the source of the storm. Ba'ul replied that it wasn't a blastia, merely the natural effect of the aer sorting itself out after the day's events.

"Well, what are you feeling now? Is the barrier blastia all right?"

The barrier is functioning normally. It is not a Hermes model, so we can leave it alone. However...he thought for a moment. There is a very strong aer disturbance coming from that large building there. He sent Judith a mental nudge toward the building Judith recognized as the inn. It is the same as the blastia from the manor in Capua Nor. It is consuming large amounts of aer. It may have caused the blastia to malfunction.

"So one of those people in the room back then was carrying it," Judith thought out loud. "No wonder I didn't see it. Well, let's go take care of that right now before they escape again."

The room containing the blastia has a balcony. We should be able to enter from there. Now hold on tightly. The air currents are in turmoil from the storm. It is going to be an uncomfortable ride.

Judith readied herself as Ba'ul headed toward the balcony of the second-floor suite of the inn, rain pelting off her helmet as they sped downward.

Although he was approaching at high speed, Ba'ul expertly cut his momentum and came to a halt right beside the balcony, then let out an intimidating roar.

Where is it, Ba'ul? Judith asked her partner, her spear ready as she searched the room for signs of the blastia.

She immediately recognized the three people inside - they were all members of the group she'd seen at Capua Nor, and more recently at Caer Bocram. Why did these people always seem to appear wherever she went?

One of the three humans in the room was the pink-haired girl, sitting on a chair by the bedside of the short red-haired girl, who was propped up on the pillows. She didn't appear to be injured, but the pink-haired one moved closer to her protectively as Ba'ul announced his presence. The third person in the room was the man dressed in black, standing between the two women and the balcony

It's right there! Ba'ul said, mentally nudging Judith towards the pink-haired girl, preparing to unleash a blast of fiery aer into the room.

Wait, you don't mean... that girl is the blastia? Judith was confused for a moment before she realized what her friend planned to do.

Ba'ul NO! She yanked upward on his horns in a futile attempt to pull him away from his target, but Ba'ul was much stronger than her and didn't budge.

With another mighty roar, Ba'ul launched a fireball from his mouth toward the girl beside the bed. Judith watched as she threw herself over the body of the unconscious girl to protect her while the man in black stepped into the path of the attack, holding his scabbard up in front of him. Judith could see the bohdi blastia on his wrist and immediately saw what he was doing.

The fireball collided with the man's blastia, instantly breaking apart and dissipating into the air. Most of the residual sparks fluttered harmlessly downward, gone before they reached the floor. Blocking an attack like that took an impressive amount of skill and more than a little courage. However, Judith didn't have time to appreciate the boldness of the man's defense, only be grateful that he'd done it.

Ba'ul, we're leaving! she shouted mentally to the beast before the three in the room could recover.

But the aer is still-

NOW! She grabbed onto his horns and twisted his head sideways as hard as she could. GO!

Ba'ul grudgingly obeyed, turning around and flying across the treetops, away from the city. Judith could hear voices coming from the balcony behind her, but she was too upset to understand anything they said.

The mood was tense between the pair as they rode silently away from Heliord, then landed in a nearby clearing. Judith quickly dismounted and pulled her helmet off, throwing it angrily into a nearby tree.

"By the Goddess, Ba'ul, what did you think you were doing?" she said as she rounded on her companion. She was as close to yelling at him as she had ever been in her life. "You can't just go around roasting people!"

That girl was consuming large amounts of aer. It is likely she was the cause of what happened to the barrier blastia earlier today. She is a bigger danger to the world than all of the blastia we have destroyed combined.

"You don't know that!" Judith exclaimed. Her voice reeked of anger and frustration as she paced around the clearing. "We don't know what that girl is, or what was going on, or anything! We can't just fly in there and kill her because we think she has to die!"

But our mission is to-

"Our mission is to destroy blastia, not kill people!"

If she is allowed to keep consuming such large quantities of aer, many people will be-

Judith spun around and glared directly into Ba'ul's two huge, yellow eyes, her face flushed bright red as she struggled with barely-withheld rage - a rare thing for the usually well-composed Krityan.

"I am not a murderer!" she nearly screamed.

There was a long silence between the two as Judith stared at Ba'ul, conviction, determination, and anger taking turns racing through her eyes. Finally, Ba'ul broke the silence.

We should contact Phaeroh.

Judith stared at her companion for a moment longer before breaking eye contact and taking a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm herself down. "You're right. Gusios said as much." Her voice trembled with pent-up emotion as she stalked off into the woods. Using her nageeg to contact Phaeroh on the other side of the world would take a lot of concentration, if it worked at all - she needed to be alone. "I'll be back," she said without turning around, nor did she wait for a reply.

However, as soon as Ba'ul was out of sight she collapsed to the ground and almost burst into tears for the first time since her father's death. I shouldn't have done that, she scolded herself, I shouldn't have been so mean to Ba'ul. It's not his fault, he was only trying to do what would be best for everyone. She sat there for a few more moments, berating herself for treating her best and only friend so badly.

And if Ba'ul is right, if that girl is so dangerous that she could ruin the world's aer balance all on her own, then I'll have to...I'll have to...she shook her head, halting that line of thought. No, I'll see what Phaeroh knows about her before I make any sort of decision.

Judith shakily got to her feet and gave herself a shake to clear her head. Phaeroh was likely far to the south, in the desert he called home. She needed to concentrate hard in order to send him a message.

Closing her eyes, she reached out with her mind, sending out a message only Phaeroh would be able to hear. Phaeroh, this is Judith and Ba'ul. We have found a strange girl. She consumes aer like a blastia, but at a much, much greater rate than any blastia we've ever seen. We don't know what to do. Gusios said to contact you. Please, help us. Tell us what you know of her.

She repeated the message several times in slightly different directions before sinking to her knees, exhausted. Using her mental powers at such strength was very tiring, and though she and Ba'ul hadn't physically done much that day, she felt like she'd just run a marathon. She let herself rest briefly before she got up and headed back to the clearing, and Ba'ul. Before she got there, however, Phaeroh's reply echoed in her mind. It was very faint and came in bursts; he was likely also having trouble transmitting his thoughts over the vast distance between them.

I hear. Stay away from the girl. I am coming. Remain where you are. I will explain. Stay away from the girl. Then it was over.

So Phaeroh knows about her, Judith thought to herself, and he's worried enough that's coming here himself. She spared a moment to consider what that could mean. Maybe she really is as dangerous as Ba'ul said she was after all...that just made her feel even worse about how she'd treated her friend in the clearing. She steeled herself for an apology as she headed back to Ba'ul.

As she entered the clearing Judith couldn't bring herself to look directly at her friend, instead staring at the ground in front of her feet. She knew he was watching her as she approached but neither of them spoke a word until she stood in front of Ba'ul's face. Only then did she manage to find her voice, her gaze still intent on the ground in front of her.

"I'm sorry Ba'ul, I shouldn't have-"

No, I am the one who is sorry. Ba'ul interrupted her almost immediately.

"But I got upset with you when you were only trying to do what you thought-"

I almost killed someone today just because I thought they had to die, her companion interrupted again in a more serious tone than Judith had ever heard from him before now. That is murder. That is wrong. You stopped me. You stopped me because you are a kind person. There is kindness in your heart. And love. Love for me, for this world, and for everyone who calls it their home. That is why I saved you ten years ago. That is why today you saved me. Thank you, Judith.

Judith was speechless. She simply stared into Ba'ul's eyes in shock while he stared back, his eyes and face expressionless, as she tried to absorb what had just been said.

All this time she had wondered and asked Ba'ul why he'd saved her from the war. He had always avoided answering the question at every opportunity, only to blurt it out at her just now as if the answer should have always been obvious.

Kindness? Love? In my...heart...? She felt confused. Questions raced through her mind as she tried to understand what Ba'ul's words meant. Is that why I feel so empty? She asked herself, remembering that cold feeling she always felt after destroying a blastia. Have I lost the kindness and love that Ba'ul saw inside me when he found me, so many years ago?

Judith remained silent as she searched the depths of her soul, looking for the feelings that Ba'ul saw in her that she hadn't even realized she'd lost. Why did I want to save that girl? Was it just because I didn't want to have her death on my conscience? Or was it...because I wanted to protect her? Or Ba'ul? Was it out of...kindness? Is that what Ba'ul sees in me?

But if there really is kindness in my heart, then...why do I still feel so empty inside?

"Ba'ul, I..." she finally stammered out, but didn't know where to go from there.

Did you contact Phaeroh? Ba'ul asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, yes I did," Judith said, trying to regain her composure for the second time that evening. "He was very far away but I managed to reach him."

What did he say?

"He said to stay here, he's on his way. He knows something about the girl, but he didn't have time to tell me what. He also said...he said to stay away from her. Maybe she really is dangerous."

Maybe. We will wait until Phaeroh gets here to make a decision.

"Yes, we will." She thought for a moment, looking at the ground. "Ba'ul, if in the end we do have to kill that girl, then-"

I know, Ba'ul cut her off. I believe you. I hope it does not come to that.

"Me too, Ba'ul," Judith nodded, then looked up at the sky, bright orange and red with the light of the setting sun. "Me too."

Author's Note

So sorry this one took so long to get up. I was doing my final passover of it and realized that Judith began acting very un-Judith-like, so I went and fixed it, but it took some time. I hope to not have such a long delay between the remaining parts, but school's ramping up so unfortunately I can't promise anything. I feel especially bad because this chapter is also the shortest of them all, though it was one of the harder ones to write. I'm especially proud of some of the dialogue in here, it was rewritten several times before I got something I was happy with.

Tune in next time for the longest chapter so far, with a slightly different view of the events at Dahngrest than what you saw in the game. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed/favorite'd this, it's always encouraging to know people like my work :). Ciao!