Solaire had not been wrong. The group, with Black Star and Solaire at the front, chatting animatedly about tales of glorious combat, had only a short distance to traverse before running into a pack of hollowed men. Aside from their ragged clothes and twisted, weathered skin, they looked fairly human. When Black Star and Solaire crested the stairs going up the Cliffside into a small plain, the group looked over, hunger in their eyes. Armed with battered wooden shields and ancient, rusted swords, the group of ten or so immediately rushed the group's position. Black Star glanced back at Tsubaki, who smiled back. "I'm ready," she said with confidence.
"Awesome. Chain scythe." Without another word, his partner leaped into the air, transforming mid-air. Black Star caught her effortlessly in his hands. To his dismay, Solaire was already at work. Shield raised, he allowed the first hollow's attack to glance off harmlessly before felling it with a quick horizontal strike across the neck. He followed it with a fast vertical strike immediately striking down the next advancing hollow. Black Star growled for a moment. "Hey, wait up, show off!" He immediately leaped forward into a front flip, landing in front of two hollows and taking them down with scythe strikes before the two had even raised weapons. And so, the two took part in one of the shortest competitions to date, to see who could strike down the most hollows.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group watched with amusement at the back as the two warriors duked it out. "Think we can take this guy home with us when we're done?" Soul asked aloud, half serious. "Looks like Black Star finally found someone who'll actually try to keep up with him."
"If he could keep Black Star from destroying Father's already symmetrical property, I would fully support it," Kid responded, remembering with irritation the number of times the Black Star caused a need for repairs. "Still, something is off about this man. Have you sensed it too, Maka?"
"Well, it's more about what I haven't sensed. I haven't been able to find Solaire's soul this whole time. Even those hollows have a tiny, twisted soul."
Kid frowned. "That's precisely the problem. Whatever Solaire is, he isn't human. Or, at least, he's not any normal kind of human."
"HEY KID!" Black Star vaulted in front of Kid, who lurched away in irritation. "You saw that right? Me and Tsubaki totally got six of them, right?"
"Haha! You showed commendable valour, Black Star, but I assure you, I slew six of the hollows!"
"No way! There was only ten, and I know I got more!"
"Black Star," Tsubaki materialized back at his side. "You did great. But come on, I think we've got bigger issues than who got more kills," she said, her voice growing stern at the end. Black Star looked confused for a moment. "Meh. Fine, you're right as usual, Tsubaki," he said, placing a hand around her waist.
"Miss Albarn," Solaire approached Maka, his hands cupped around each other. "I managed to extract this from one of the hollows," he said, unfolding his hands to reveal a pulsing, black sphere. It was tinged with a pulsing white around the edges. "We should keep moving forward, but at the next bonfire we come across, I believe this soul will be sufficient for you to recover."
"Please, Solaire, just call me Maka. And, uh, thanks," she said, hesitating for a moment. "Maybe… maybe you should hold onto it for now, Solaire. I don't have any place to keep it."
"As you wish, Maka." Solaire opened a small pouch on his mailed coat and deposited the sprite.
"Hey Solaire," Soul spoke up as Solaire began turning back. "Why can't Maka just recover right here? What's so special about the bonfire?"
"Indeed, I've been curious as well," Kid budged in. "What are these bonfires, exactly?"
Solaire paused for a moment. "I suppose I neglected to mention it, didn't I? Well, you all are familiar with the origin of the flame, aren't you?" The group collectively shook their heads. "How strange that they would not teach it from where you hail…. Ah, well, it cannot be helped. It is not a long tale. In the beginning, the land was without fire. It was ruled by immortal stone dragons. It was only when Lord Gwyn game to be that the first flame was created. Lord Gwyn shared the flame with his closest allies. Nito, Lord of the Dead, Seath, the scaleless dragon, and the Witch of Izalith. Together, the four, plus the witch's daughters, defeated the dragons and ushered in the age of fire. With fire, came life, and humans. Gwyn channeled the power of the first flame from the Great Kiln, and used it to create the bonfires, which acted as beacons of life and purity. But, eventually, the flame began to fade. With it, went Gwyn's allies. Seath became reclusive, seeking to become immortal as his brethren were. Nito disappeared completely into the dark depths of the catacombs. The witch and her daughters attempted to recreate the first flame, but instead, created a blasphemous imitator, a false twin which spread chaos and destruction. It was after this that the curse of undeath came, and Gwyn anchored himself to his great barrier to prevent the mistakes of Lordran from overtaking the world. These few bonfires remaining are the remnants of the first flame, still flickering against the darkness…" Solaire sighed. "It is not a happy tale, but it is not too late to change that! Now, I have surely bored you all enough, let us be on our way!"
"I'll say," Patty grumbled from Kid's left hand.
Letting Black Star and Solaire once again take lead, the group continued on a path of Solaire's device, into a long sewer that constructed at an oddly high elevation before shortly turning out and finding themselves on a stone, castle rampart overlooking a small town. Upon exiting, Solaire stopped for a moment, and gave the sun a deep look, as though pondering something.
"Hey, what's the holdup?" Soul asked, raising an eyebrow at the mailed warrior.
"I am merely reflecting on the iridescent sun, my boy! It is good to remember the sun's divine power, and be thankful when you see it once more after a time way!"
"We were only in that sewer for a few minutes," Soul pointed out.
"A few minutes in a dark place, untouched by the sun's blessed rays. Now, let us be off once more!"
"This guy's a loony," Soul whispered to Maka at the back of the group. "Are… are you sure about doing this thing?" he asked her. "What if he's wrong, or lying?"
Maka gave Soul a sideways glance. "Soul, I don't see much of a choice. You know the rule. A sound soul dwells within a sound mind, and a sound body," she quoted quietly. She gave a disgusted look at her arm, though her coat covered it. "I can't stay like this, Soul. I'll go mad, eventually."
"I know," Soul said, turning his face down. "This shouldn't even be an issue in the first place, if I'd done my-"
"No!" Maka cut him off. The rest of the group turned to look at the two, having been caught surprised by Maka's outburst. "Oh… uh, don't mind us!" she said, holding her palms up and waving them back and forth. Slowly, the group moved up again, but Maka noticed Tsubaki sliding her way back. Apparently she felt confident enough in Black Star that she wouldn't be needed.
"Anyways," Maka whispered back. "This isn't your fault. I'm the one that got careless, -"
"And it's my job to protect you no matter what!" he hissed back.
"So, we're back to the duty thing again, huh," Maka said, glaring back. She let her features soften just a bit. "I remember, you know."
Soul blanched for a moment, before letting his face drop back to its usual slacker scowl. "Oh, you mean back in in the Black Room?" he said casually, trying to not betray his fast-beating heart. He wasn't going to lose his cool; he was going to remain calm and suave.
"So, did you mean it?" Maka asked casually, looking off at a small housing district off nestled down from the rampart wall. Two could play this game.
"Cool guys don't lie to their meisters," Soul came back.
"You've lied plenty of times, idiot." Soul grinned, showing off his odd, sharp teeth. Still the same Maka. More or less. He reached for her hand with his.
"Well, what can I say, I haven't always been as cool as I am now," he said, grin growing wider. Maka gave a sheepish grin, still staring off the other direction. But she closed her gloved hand around his as a confirmation.
"You're still an idiot," she said quietly, her smile turning to a short frown. Soul looked puzzled before the moment was ruined by one well practiced at the task.
"Hey lovebirds!" Black Star yelled back at the two, having fallen quite a bit behind now at this point. The two were snapped out of their little world, and looked down at their held hands and shot apart as though on fire. "I know it's hard to keep pace with someone as awesome as me, but we've got plenty more hollows to take down!" he yelled, pointing to the next rampart over, which was already swarming with the blighted people to the group's current location.
"Black Star…" Maka growled. He was going to get the Maka Chop of a lifetime when they were finished with this.
"Hey, don't worry about him. Let's just go kick ass," Soul said, having recovered his composure and giving her his trademark grin. She smirked and held her hand open as Soul leaped into the air and became scythe once more. She caught him and gave a twirl, relishing in the feel of Soul in her hands once more. She leaped up to the square where Solaire, Black Star, now armed with Tsubaki's chain scythe, and Death the trio waiting the rush of soldiers who could be heard shuffling down the staircase of the nearby tower. With a great clanging, a small horde of swordsmen emerged from the doorway, and were greeted by a hail of shots from Kid. The shots connected with ease against the mass of bodies, but more came out over the bodies of their brethren. Maka and Black Star rushed forward and Kid fell back as the horde seethed through, with Solaire not far behind. Black Star weaved in between the comparatively sluggish warriors with ease, planting Tsubaki's deadly point into the neck of the first warrior before twirling and slicing through the neck of the next. Maka used Soul's greater reach and sliced apart the first two warriors at the legs before they could even get within range.
Finally, Solaire, iron shield raised, powered through into the center of the rapidly falling hollows, smashing the wave into two. The hollows turned their longswords on the sun knight, deflected the blows with his longsword and shield from each side as Maka and Black Star cut down the distracted hollows from the side with little effort, neither meister having to resort to soul resonance. The last hollow, panicking, hid behind its battered, iron kite shield and slowly began to back away into the tower again. Solaire and Black Star charged it and the two smashed their respective weapons into the shield. The last enemy's strength failed it, the shield tossed aside as though battered by a hurricane, and the two warriors felled it at the same moment, Solaire's sword through its chest, Tsubaki's point into the head.
"Ah, excellent! Another great show of valour, Black Star, and well done to you as well, Maka. But you… young god, I must ask," Solaire said, turning to Death the Kid. "What sort of devices are those?" he said, peering down at Patty and Liz, who Kid tossed back so they could transform back. "It is a bizarre magic you wield, person and weapon in one. But even more strange, what sort of weapon are you?" He said, closing in within a few inches of the twins, tilting his head slightly. "Some kind of enchanted crossbow?"
"They're guns, Solaire," Kid said, raising an eyebrow as he stepped in between Solaire and his partners. I use them to fire bits of my soul wavelength through enemies."
"So, is this 'gun' a new weapon the gods devised?" Solaire asked, allowing Kid his attention as Liz sighed at losing the attention of the odd man. "It is just very curious, is all."
"No, guns are weapons humans devised. They're all over the place outside this barrier. But then, it seems not much has progressed here, "Kid thought aloud.
"Fantastic! More reason, I suppose, to hope that young Black Star here is correct and we discover a cure for the curse, so I may discover such interesting weapons myself!"
"Bah! Of course I'm right!" Black Star proclaimed. "We'll be out of here in no time!"
"Black Star…" Maka growled again. She hadn't forgotten his earlier transgression. "Maka…"
POW. Maka blinked for a moment in surprise as Black Star slumped to the ground under an almighty karate chop from Tsubaki, who gave Maka a cheerful, knowing smile.
"Eh? What's all the ruckus now?" A higher pitched, yet definitely male voice called out. A trap door from the corner of the concrete square opened up, and a battered hollow man came out. "Oh my, looks like some trouble, I better go warn Yulia!"
"Hey, wait!" Maka called out. The man paused in his descent down what seemed like a staircase.
"Oh, got your senses now, do ya? Well, come down, come down!" he said, beckoning the group. The group looked at each other in apprehension.
"This is not exactly on our path," Solaire spoke up. "But if the fellow can help us out, I will not refuse cooperation when offered."
"Yeah, come on, he just mentioned someone else, so he's clearly got some sense," Maka said, marching forward to the staircase. "Maybe he can help us out." The group descended the path down and found themselves in a spacious stone room, larger than Soul and Maka's apartment, at least. It was littered with a disorganized collection of medieval weapons, along with a basket full of odd looking stones and trinkets in the corner where the hollowed man was settling himself back down.
"So, you've all got your wit, that makes you welcome customers in my books! 'Long as you've got something to trade, of course. I've got a lovely collection of… previously owned merchandise, as you can see," he said, gesturing to the weapons scattered about. "Also some nice trinkets here with Yulia, if you're interested."
Solaire immediately took to browsing through the collection of mostly battered and nicked swords littering the far corner, appraising each one in turn. Liz and Patty followed Kid up to the merchant, Liz looking nervous at the rotted appearance of the man, while Patty was gazing with bright eyes at some of the shiny objects in the basket. "So, these items are 'previously owned'," Kid asked.
"Yeah, you know, took'em from folks who didn't need them no more, like the ones you killed upstairs," the man said, stroking the edge of the basket. Kid frowned, and just closed his eyes and took back to the staircase.
"Hey Kid, wait up, what's the problem?" Liz asked, catching up to him. "I mean, yeah, he's a grave robber probably, but this whole place is a giant mess anyways-"
"His layout is appalling!" Kid whipped around, fire in his eyes. "I can't stand being in that room, there's no organization or symmetry at all!" Liz sighed and put her arm around his shoulder and helped lead him out to the staircase again.
"We'll be right upstairs, we'll let you guys know if more creepy hollow guys come!" Liz said quickly as the two departed upstairs. Patty gave her sister an exaggerated wink before skipping back to Maka and Tsubaki, who were now browsing the basket of trinkets.
Soul was watching from a distance, his back to the wall as he slouched. He seriously doubted there was anything this guy had that they would actually need, but he was humoring the girls. Black Star, apparently equally bored, sidled up beside him.
"This is dumb, there's no way this guy has anything useful," the ninja grumbled. He reached to the back of his head and rubbed it. "Man, my head hurts. I could've sworn I didn't get hit in that last fight, but my brain feels like it's going to explode." Soul couldn't help but grin as Black Star grumbled about the "phantom" injury his girlfriend gave him. "So, you and Maka, huh?" Black Star grinned at Soul, who managed to choke on air. "Nah, that's cool!" Black Star swatted Soul on the back jovially. "Hopefully we get her fixed back soon though; she looks pretty gross right now."
And moment ruined, once again. A vein popping in his head, Soul decked the inconsiderate ninja with an uppercut. He let Black Star stew on the ground for a bit before finally letting out a sigh. "Quit reminding me I failed, "he said quietly, closing his eyes. He didn't expect the revenge strike from Black Star, who managed to restrain himself enough to only knock Soul to the ground. "Hey man, what the hell was that for?!" He bellowed back. He saw the girls look back for a moment before going back to the trinkets.
"You think you're the only one who failed?" Black Star hissed back. "I told- no, I promised Tsubaki we'd get out just fine, I'd protect everyone. Ten minutes later, I ran into that cavern and found Maka dead. I can't surpass God if I let my friends die!"
Soul's expression softened as he hauled himself up from the ground. "Hey," he said, holding his hand out. "So that's our promise now. Nobody else is dying, even if they'll come right back. Nobody else goes through what Maka did. Deal?" A small tear went down Black Star's cheek.
"You're the best, Soul!" he said, giving the scythe a strangulating embrace. "Yeah, you bet. Our deal," he said, pulling apart, giving Soul's hand a bone-snapping grip. Soul managed to extract his hand just as the girls walked up.
"So, find anything interesting?" he asked casually, giving the impression that he'd not just been suffocated to death.
"Oh, a few things were kinda interesting," Maka said. "But we didn't really have anything he wanted for trade, so that's that. Ready to go?"
"Actually, I'll take a quick look," Souls said. Black Star gave him a puzzled look and shrugged it off. "Just wait here real quick, it won't be long." Soul began sauntering off before he got a response.
"Now, I hope you've got something to offer, don't waste my time like those girls!" the merchant grumbled as Soul approached the basket.
"Hey, did you see what they were looking at?" Soul asked tossing his head back slightly to indicate the group behind. "Girl in the pigtails, specifically."
"Eh? Pigtails? She was getting awfully friendly with Yulia, she was," he said.
"Yulia?" Soul asked.
"Yeah, Yulia," the merchant responded, sounding annoyed that Soul didn't comprehend him. "Kept touching her while browsing the merchandise. Julia's in love with me and only me anyways. You'll never abandon me, will you, Yulia?" the merchant spoke to the basket, stroking the edge once more.
"Erm… right. So, what was she looking at, old man? The girl?"
"This ring, I reckon," the merchant wheezed out, reaching inside and pulling out an oddly untarnished ring with a dark red band and golden engravings in an unfamiliar language. "Real pretty, she said."
"What do you want for it?" Soul whispered, leaning in.
"Well, it's obviously got some magical properties, it does," the merchant started. "So I reckon a good solid piece of humanity would do the trick." Soul frowned. They only had the one piece Solaire collected, though they didn't have the chance to examine the hollows from the last battle. Actually…
"How about this. You give me that ring, and we won't loot those hollows upstairs as we head out," Soul counteroffered.
"Teeheehee!" the merchant cackled. "A small army's worth of merchandise for one ring? You-"
"Now, just a moment, Soul," Solaire strode up, apparently having finished his own browsing. "I discovered this most unusual box, merchant. I reached inside, but could not find an end to it. Most astounding!"
"Ah, that there's my bottomless box. Found it on a wizard, I did. Be amazed what you can fit inside it. Never did get anything back out though, couldn't reach the bottom…" he said, his train of thought wandering off. Solaire's shoulders slumped.
"Ah, a shame. Such great potential for this device, I was thinking of purchasing it, but such an obvious pitfall makes it sadly useless, it would seem. Pardon myself, Soul, I will let you back to your business."
"Anyways," Soul muttered out. "How about it, the ring for all the loot upstairs?"
"Of course!" the merchant held the ring out and Soul snatched it quickly and stowed it in a pocket. "Now just do me a favor and go mad so I can recoup it! Teeheehee!" Giving the merchant a scowl, Soul turned back to the group, now all officially waiting for him. Still, it was with a bounce in his step that Soul returned. While nobody said anything, Maka gave him a curious look as they ascended back up to the stone square up above, joining Kid and Liz, who were looking down the castle wall. Solaire scanned the path ahead, and pointed to a second tower, just past the first one the hollows descended from.
"My companions, I believe I've spotted us another bonfire!" He proclaimed. "We shall rest for a short time there, and allow Miss Albarn to recover herself. Follow me!" The group followed in a line, as the path between the towers became narrow enough only for two people to traverse comfortably. Solaire was indeed correct; a roaring fire, surrounded by a cobbled circle on the ground, could be seen as the door to the tower had long since fallen off. The tower square platform inside was quite large, indicating the tower may have acted as a garrison at some point, with the fire only occupying about one fifth of the total room. Solaire marched in first, and withdrew the white-tinged sprite and held it out to Maka. "Please, accept it, Miss Albarn,"
"Maka," she reminded him.
"My apologies, Maka. All you must do is consume it now while we bask in the purifying glow of the first flame, and you will be recovered," he said, gesturing to the great fire.
Maka took the sprite, and looked back at Soul, who grimaced, but ultimately nodded back. The group looked at her with curiosity as she held the sprite delicately up to her face.
"Here goes nothing…"
A/N: Hiya Hiya. Longer chapter than usual, but I wasn't happy with any earlier cutoff point. Anyways, next chapter will hopefully be up within the next couple days. Other than that, as always, comments are always welcome. :) And I swear, Tsubaki's getting some limelight soon...