Disclaimer: The Fox isn't dead, readers; she just hasn't been in the mood to write. Oh, and she doesn't own Capcom's Dragon's Dogma.

Fun Fact: I drew the cover for this story myself. I didn't want to go through all the trouble to find a suitable art piece and get permission to use it, yet I am bad at drawing via "Paint". So…I drew the cover on my notebook, scanned it, saved the image onto a flashdrive, and uploaded it from there. Of course, not all the colors show up, since it was drawn with colored pencils, but it's supposed to be an image of Kennedreth and Aiken confronting the dragon, with Kennedreth's open hand extended and her shouting the title of the story in an exaggerated fashion.

Chapter 6: The Salvation

The scene: the noble quarters of Gran Soren. Outside the front gate of the duke's demesne stands Ser Maximilian, who is now staring at a very sore looking Arisen.

"Are you hurt, Arisen?" The captain expressed his concern.

"Sore, but otherwise recovered, ser." I gingerly massaged my arm. "I suffered from lots of cuts, Aiken nearly lost his arm, Helga had to be treated for diseases when a goblin bit her, and John had an arrow in his knee. All that aside, we took the fort back and killed every last goblin."

"Aye, word of your victory over the goblin horde proceeds you, ser. With the fort back in our hands, the south of Gransys is shielded once more. May your success continue, ser."

He handed me a small sack. I peered inside it and smiled when I saw that there was gold in it. Pocketing the gold, I asked, "So, what's next?"

"You want to partake on another quest already?" Ser Maximilian asked with surprise. "Shouldn't you at least rest before continuing on?"

"We have already rested, ser; we're just sore from the attack, that's all."

"Well, there is still a cult that needs investigating, as well as a research team that still requires aid."

"Tell me about the cult."

"Very well, but I fear this task is no simple call to action, ser. It will no doubt take time and a more…subtle approach than your other work. Perhaps you've heard of the society they call 'Salvation'."

I frowned. Having lived in Cassardis my whole life and only seeing Gran Soren for the first time a couple of days ago, I knew little of what was going on in the world, dragon aside. The only cult I had heard about was the Cult of Shkuchullhu, which worshiped this giant squid monster that was supposed to enslave the entire world one day, among other strange deities. If it's not dragons wanting to steal some random person's heart and destroy the world, it's squid with weird names that want to enslave all of mankind.

"I cannot say that I have," I finally answered, "would you like to 'enlighten' me?"

Ser Maximilian groaned at my choice of words, but he still explained, "In truth, most of what we know is the product of such hearsay. They are a band of heretics who worship the dragon, and welcome the perdition it brings."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"In the chaos come with the wyrm's arrival, their influence has grown. Pray, keep watch for signs of Salvation as you go about your business. If you find aught, tell me."

"We'll get to it as of this moment."

I led my group of pawns a ways away from the eyes of Ser Maximilian. I stare at Helga and John for a few moments before asking, "Have you done this quest before?"

"Sadly, I cannot say that I have." John shook his head.

"I know what to do, master." Helga answered.

"Lead on." I motioned towards the stone pathway with an exaggerated wave of my hand.

"It is this way, Arisen."

Helga took the lead. As we followed her, I couldn't help but ask out loud, "How did you know where to go when you first did this quest?"

"I have learned from other pawns that I have travelled with the first time I aided an Arisen in this quest."

"And how did they know?"

"By learning from other pawns that they have traveled with the first time they aided an Arisen in this quest."

This wasn't the answer I really wanted, but before I could argue, I found that we had arrived at the inn. Helga led us to a man who was sitting by himself at a large table. I approached him and he lifted his head to look at me.

"Ah…" I said sheepishly. "Hello."

The man paused before cautiously returning the word. I decided to cut to the 'heart' of the matter (what is it with me and cheesy wording today?) and I asked, "Have you heard anything about the Salvation cult?"

"Asking about Salvation? You must be a friend of Mason's then."

"Mason?" I vaguely remember him as the guy in orange who pulled a vanishing act on me after telling me to ask around about the pawns.

"All too eager, that one. He's been questioning everyone with ears to listen."

"Where can I find him?"

"This way, Arisen." Helga took off once more.

I gave a hasty "thank you" to the man before running after her. When the pawns and I caught up with her, I called out, "Oi, slow down!"

Surprise, surprise, she actually listened. We slowed down our run to a walk and I saw that we were entering a part of Gran Soren that I had not seen before. Judging by the mildew on the buildings and the smell of foul water, I figured we must be in the poor part of the city. I said to Helga, "About my earlier question…"

"With the pawns and their quest knowledge?" She asked. "They learn from other pawns that they have traveled with-."

"I know, I know, but how do they find out in the first place?"

"They learn from other pawns-."

I felt like screaming. I raised my voice, "I mean 'do they learn from trial and error'?"

"That is not impossible."

"Thank you." I gave an exasperated sigh. Sometimes, it was hard to get an answer from a pawn.

The smell grew steadily worse and we found ourselves alongside a large aqueduct. Leaning against a wall was Mason, who was looking at us as if he were expecting us. The thought now crossed my mind that not only did these pawns know just who to talk to, but they know where they are. It was almost like they had compasses built into their heads or something. The surprises behind these pawns never seem to end.

Mason straightened himself and asked, "Looking for me, friend?"

"Looking for you, aye," I said, "but I wouldn't call you a friend, not when you vanish on me like an assassin in a crowd."

"Well, you must have been seeking me because of Salvation, aye?"

"Aye. I've heard you've been asking around as well."

"I have, but it seems I'm cursed with a villains' mien, though. One look at my face stalls a man's tongue dead."

"Well, you aren't exactly the most handsome man in Gransys." The words slipped out of my mouth.

Mason laughed at this and he admitted, "Your manner isn't exactly gentle either, Arisen, but you would be better to carry on my investigation better than me. Here, take this with you."

He fished out a small trinket out of one of the pockets of his orange clothing and placed it in my hand. It was a small blue circle with a pin on its backside; it was a badge. Imprinted onto the front of the badge was a small red dragon. The badge might as well say "I'm a member of Salvation, come and kill me".

I turned to Mason to ask why he gave me this badge, but he was gone. I groaned, "Not again!" I look to my companions and I asked them, "Did you see where he went?"

"Down into that one tunnel." Aiken pointed.

I ran down the tunnel, only to find that it was a dead end. How was this man so good at vanishing? Well, either way, he gave me a lead to go on once again. I let Helga take the lead once more and we spent some time inquiring about Salvation.

One interview later, a guard told us a rumor that Salvation has a meeting place in the catacombs. I honestly thought that we would have to talk to more people before finding a piece of information like that. Must be a lucky break for us.

After traveling a ways north of Gran Soren, we had arrived at the catacombs. Unsurprisingly, it was infested with not only skeletons, but zombies as well. We took on wave after wave, with only a few breaks now and then. When we weren't sending these monsters to a second death, we were wandering about the maze-like corridors and descending further down into the catacombs.

At some point, I asked, "Just how big is this place?"

"Quite big, I will admit." Aiken answered me.

John suddenly stopped where he was and he said, "I hear someone speaking."

We all stopped our walk and listened. I could faintly hear a man speaking, but I couldn't decipher his words. I looked to the nearest doorway and assumed that the voice was coming from this direction. I slowly walked towards the doorway, followed by the pawns. After some exploration that didn't involve slaying the undead for once, we stumbled across another doorway.

Peering through it revealed a gathering of black robed figures one floor below. They were all gathered around a bonfire and their attention was to a preaching figure in a brown robe. Judging by the voice, I recognized that figure as the creep that came to Cassardis that one time.

"The dragon is the force by which the world will right itself, and we are duty bound to cede our souls unto it." The creep's voice echoed in the room.

"Turn off your lanterns." I whispered to the pawns.

They all nodded and did as I told them to. I turned off my own lantern and crouched down. I could make out a stone walkway looking over the gathering below and I slowly crawled towards it, with the others following behind me. As we crept onto the walkway, Aiken whispered, "Be careful not to step on any stray bones."

CRACK!

I stiffened and turned my head to see what made that noise. Out of all the people to step on a dry bone, it was Aiken, the very one who gave the warning not to step on any bones, who gave our position away. I peeked over the railing of the walkway to see if the people below heard us. Unfortunately, they did, as the creep was now staring at me.

"Come to join our flock, Arisen?" The creep smiled, showing his rotting teeth.

With a wave of his arm, a wave of pure force flew at us and hit the walkway. The walkway crumbled and we all fell to the gathering hall below. The first thing I did when I stood up was to glare at Aiken. As he stood up with the rest of the pawns, I gritted my teeth and told him, "Brilliant, Aiken, just fucking brilliant."

The creep and his followers formed a half-circle around us. The creep stepped forward, raised his arms in an exaggerated fashion, and said, "This! This is the answer, dear Arisen!"

My eye twitched at the words "dear Arisen". I was about to snap at his choice of words when a sudden gust of wind blew past me and my team. The air and dust swirled around the followers, and they were as surprised as we were.

"Unto all things, death and chaos!" The creep announced.

In addition to dust, dark energy became mixed in with the swirling air. The followers muttered various exclamations of surprise and they backed away. When rotted arms shot out of the ground, several of the followers screamed. Following the arms from the ground were the undead. After they had pulled themselves out of the ground, the air stopped swirling and the dark energy vanished. All the followers made a run for it, with the undead running after them. For some reason, they paid no attention to me, the pawns, and the creep.

I will not lie: I was genuinely confused at what was happening. Why were the undead attacking the creep's own followers? Did the creep have no power over what he had summoned? These questions in my head were summed up in one sentence.

"What the hell are you doing?" I shouted at the creep.

The creep only laughed. The undead, meanwhile, had caught up with most of the followers and were tearing them to bloody shreds. The scene was horrific. It was one thing to watch someone getting stabbed; it was another watching someone get torn to pieces by hands, nails, and teeth.

The pawns, however, were unfazed at this sight. Aiken charged forward at one of the undead and took it down with one swing of his sword. John and Helga stayed behind me, with the former firing arrows and the latter firing balls of fire from her staff. In seeing my comrades fight, I snapped out of my shock, drew out my daggers, and joined in the fray.

"They hate fire!" Helga shouted.

"Burn them!" Aiken joined in.

I stuck my daggers into the shoulders of one zombie and kicked it to the ground. I turned to Helga and shouted, "I don't have any fire on me!"

"I will assist you, Arisen!" Helga shouted back.

My daggers grew warm in my hands and I looked at them. The blades were now glowing orange. I assumed that Helga must have enchanted them. I looked back at the zombie I had kicked down, which was now getting back up, and I plunged my daggers into its back. I pulled the daggers downward and saw that the gashes that they had left behind were being burned by little cinders. The smell of rotten flesh being cooked was probably the most horrid thing that I smelled up to this point. I left the zombie to burn and I went for the next one.

During the fight, I saw that Aiken's great sword was also enchanted with Helga's magic. I also spotted fallen corpses that were covered in flaming arrows, meaning that John's arrows had also been enchanted. With flame enchanted weapons and Helga firing bolts of fire, the battle wasn't that hard.

However, that didn't mean that it was less frustrating.

"Burn it!" Aiken repeated himself at one point.

"Tis weak to fire!" John joined in.

"Fire works well!" Helga said as she was firing another ball of fire at the undead.

I let out a holler of frustration and I took my anger out on the last zombie that was standing. I remembered the creep and I glanced around the room. Unfortunately, he must have snuck off sometime during the fight, as he was no longer here. I groaned and kicked the head of the undead I had just slain. The head detached from the weak sinews of the neck and rolled off towards a door at the back of the room. I now noticed that we were not alone.

Standing at the door was Mason. He looked over the mess of corpses, both old and recent. I was about to ask how he got here when he said, "Quite the sight, that was. Though I s'pose it's the stuff of every day to you, Arisen. I'd thank you to join me a minute."

He turned around and walked through the door. I ran after him, followed by the pawns. We had entered a smaller room and saw that Mason did not wander far off as I originally thought he would. Slumped in one of the corners of the room was one of the creep's followers. He was wounded, but otherwise alive.

"The zealot slipped past, but at least I snared one of them." Mason said as he approached the follower. "A humble prize, sure, but at least he's talktative. No honor among thieves, eh?"

The follower sat up and placed a hand over his stomach. He gave a nervous laugh and said, "'Twas just a lark…all in good fun. I never gave over to that rot about destruction and salvation, never!"

As far as I could tell, the follower's words were sincere. I was about to say something to Mason spoke up again, "Just the same, he'd be trouble if we let him go free, now that he's seen the two of us together."

"Trouble?" I asked. "Why?"

"Wait!" The follower suddenly blurted. He looked at Mason and protested, "You promised me-!" He stood up, only to fall back down.

Mason walked over to me, waved a hand towards the follower, and told me, "He's all yours."

"What-?"

Mason walked towards a small staircase and ascended it. I was about to run after him, but I turned to look at the fallen follower. This person was injured and not hostile, but he was a member of Salvation. I approached him, to which he backed himself against the corner.

"Are you going to kill me, Arisen?" The follower asked.

"I don't see why I would," I stopped my approach, "you're not trying to kill me. I just want to know some things."

"Anything."

"I want you to tell me where that creep went off to."

"Creep?"

"The guy who was preaching all that crap to you lot."

"Oh…he is known as the Elysion. I know naught where he went, Arisen. He most likely went to hiding, or he's meeting with another group."

"Another group?"

"Salvation is everywhere. I am—was, the leader of this group. The Elysion came to teach us the word when you showed up."

"Sounds like you know a lot. Looks like you're coming with us."

"What?" The leader was surprised.

"You know about Salvation, and we were sent to find out about Salvation." I turned to Aiken and told him, "Help me with this guy."

He nodded and he approached the leader. We grabbed his shoulders and hoisted him up. He looked like he was about to fall again, but we kept him steady.

"Oh, bless you, Arisen." The follower gave a sigh of relief. "I promise you, when the end comes-."

"Shut it." I interrupted. "I may be letting you live, but I'm still turning you in."

The leader fell silent. We led him through the walkway where Mason went off to and we soon caught up with him. When he saw that we had the leader in tow, he scowled at me.

"Rather too kind, aren't you…friend?" Mason lowered his voice.

"He's our only link to Salvation," I explained, "plus I think rotting in a cell is a fate worse than death."

"I fear he may tell a little…too much, if you were to turn him in."

Before I could ask, he added, "Shame, and I thought we were going to get along. I'd hope you might assist me further, but I fear you lack the stomach for my work, friend. I'll not have your consciousness 'round my neck for a noose. Our partnership ends here."

He suddenly ran towards the leader and stopped just short of him. The leader gave a grunt and I saw that Mason and stabbed him in the chest with a knife. He gave the knife a twist, causing the leader to cry out in pain, and jerked it out, leaving a messy gash behind. Blood trickled out of the wound and the leader's head and body slumped.

My eyes widened and I turned to Mason. He had a cold look in his eyes and a frown on his face. Without another word, he turned around and walked away from us. I released my hold on the leader's corpse, leaving Aiken to hold him up, and ran at Mason. I let out a shout as I balled up my fist and swung my arm to punch his head.

Mason quickly turned around and swiped at my fist with his knife. The blade cut across my knuckles and I jerked my hand back. I had no time to look at the damage as he kicked me to the ground.

"Master!" Aiken dropped the corpse and ran to my side, as did John and Helga.

Mason turned around once more and started to walk off. I sat up and yelled at him, "Bastard! Why did you kill him?"

He ignored me and continued to walk away. I shouted at him, "Answer me, God damn you!"

My shouts went unheard. Soon, Mason was out of our sights. I gritted my teeth and looked at the wound on my fingers. The blade had cut deep just above the knuckles. I couldn't tell with all the blood welling up, but I thought I saw the whites of my bones. Helga went immediately to work on healing the wound. The calming light of the healing spell worked wonders, as I saw the flesh close itself before my eyes. I wiggled my fingers and, though they were sore, they were still functional.

"Thanks." I muttered as I stood up. I looked back at the fresh corpse of the cult leader. We could have gotten more information from him, could have turned him in, but that chance was now gone. Why did Mason kill him? To add to that: who is Mason? He had a clear reason for killing that man, but I could only guess what that reason may be. He could be trying to hide a secret. With the way he wielded that knife and how he would keep disappearing on us, he might as well be an assassin and he killed that man under orders from someone.

"Are you alright, Arisen?" Aiken asked.

"Why did he do it?" I asked out loud.

"I haven't the faintest idea."

I turned to the direction Mason walked off to. Odds were, he had already left the catacombs. I said to my group, "All we can do now is report back to Maximillian."

"Yes," John spoke up, "tis the best thing we can do for now."

We walked down the rocky corridor and eventually came to a ladder. Luckily Helga had healed my fingers, or I would not be able to climb it. We ascended and found ourselves outside underneath a bridge. Funny how shortcuts work like that. Either way, with a heaviness where my heart used to be filling that empty chest cavity, and ever-chatty pawns at my side, I made my way back to Gran Soren.

I had to look up Mason on the Dragon's Dogma wiki since there wasn't much on him in the game itself. "All there in the Manual", as TV Tropes would put it. Next time, the group tackles the last job for the Wyrm Hunt, with the author's extra twist to the quest that's not found in the game.

Chapter 7: The Merchant (excerpt)

Inside the large room, a group of men in dark blue robes were gathered around in a circle. They were waving their arms about in an exaggerated fashion and chanting ridiculous words that would be hard to spell out on paper. On the side of the room was the corpse of a Cyclops with markings on its body that looked like jellyfish stings.

Somewhere in that room, most likely in the center of the circle of robed men, a woman was shouting, "Let me go! Please, let me go!"

The clues added up and I groaned. Bodies covered in jellyfish stings, consonant-mixed word chanting, blue robes, and a woman begging for release: the people I was seeing in front of me were members of the Cult of Shkuchullhu, and the woman I heard screaming was most likely a sacrifice (usually virginal) to one of the gods of hard to pronounce names.

I guess this hero thing was starting to grow on me, as I felt obligated to save that woman. I looked to the pawns and whispered to them, "Get ready to fight."

They all drew out their weapons. Aiken said, "We are ready when you are, Master."

So now, what was once a mission to survey some ruins has now turned into a rescue mission.