Chapter 22

'So..what am I supposed to do again?' said Aldev, wringing his hands apprehensively.

'You're to keep watch over Payon. Organise the Raulus party. I'm leaving you in command for the day.' Valkron stifled a yawn and shook his head, sending his untidy mop of hair flying.

'Why me?'

'Because you haven't been doing anything much since you joined us, that's why.' The knight was clearly irritated by the questioning, but he was too tired to snap at anyone. Anyone who spoke to him had to ask him to repeat his words because he was slurring badly.

'But why do you think I'm suitable for this leader job?'

'Can't you just do what I asked you to do?' asked Valkron crossly, making an effort to clear his speech. 'If you want help the other seven of the Raulus will help you out, all right? Oh, no - sorry, six. Samaroh's out for the day too.'

'What?'

'I said, the other six will help you out if you need help.' Valkron pinched the bridge of his nose and grimaced. 'Eurgh. I need to sleep, Aldev. Just do what I say.'

'But still--'

'You don't question my orders, Aldev. That's one thing I made clear to all of you. If you don't want to risk losing your mercenary status you'd better be going now. And when I say now, Aldev, I mean now.'

The monk was clearly far too nervous to listen to what Valkron was saying. 'I don't even know how to organise things,' he was saying, when Valkron caught up with him, 'and everyone definitely won't listen to me--'

The knight grabbed him by the collar and wrenched him towards himself so that their noses were barely a centimetre apart. Valkron looked straight into Aldev's fearful grey eyes and said in a low growl, 'I am tired. I cannot see much apart from a blur. I want sleep. If you want to continue criticising yourself and not get anything done then I might as well spill your blood right here and call it a day. What say you?'

'No thanks,' said Aldev, his voice squeaky with fear.

'Good.' Valkron relinquished his grip on Aldev's clothes. 'Now get going.'

The monk nearly fled down the corridor in his hurry to get away from Valkron. The knight watched him go before stepping back and shutting the door of the room he shared with Emeth. He winced as the sound of wood against wood made his head throb and stepped away. The sooner he got to bed the better.

Valkron began to remove his armour like a man in a daze. He stared at nothing, thinking of nothing in particular. His only intention now was to get some rest. Maybe he wouldn't feel so ill after a good sleep - if sleep could solve his recent stress.

In a daze and almost walking into furniture from time to time he took a badly needed shower. The shock of cold water hitting him was enough to wake him up a little, so when he emerged he was a lot more aware of his surroundings. He shook his head, sending water flying out of his hair, and went to dry himself.

It was while he was pulling on his usual brown shirt that it happened. He felt sick but carried on nonetheless. The ill feeling spread through him as he moved on arranging things in the room to his preference - whatever his hair stated to others he was a neat person by nature. Valkron felt it take him by the throat, and as it did his head throbbed heavily.

He leaned against the wall and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to withstand the pain. It was not a normal headache - it seemed to go on forever, reaching into his body. As it did his heart felt like it was being constricted by tight bands. His hand went up and clutched his shirt above where his heart should be.

The knight was not too sure as to how long the pain lasted, but it seemed to take hours to fade away. By the time it had he was in no position to get to bed, let alone move. Twinges of pain made him wince if he cared to even twitch himself. He gritted his teeth and, with an effort, heaved himself off the wall.

Something lurched inside him. Valkron stared into the empty air, pain forgotten, before he clapped his hand over his mouth and got to the bathroom. It was just in time. He threw up before he had the time to even bend; luckily for him he did not miss.

Valkron gasped for breath. The inside of his head had become hot, sticky fluff. His sight was out of focus, and his body burned with a heat that didn't seem normal, although he was shivering violently. Sweat ran down the side of his head and dripped onto the floor, but was interrupted when he threw up again.

He wasn't too sure how many times he retched, but when it stopped - or paused, more likely - he tried to draw in breath and spit out whatever was left in his mouth. He was sure he hadn't eaten anything much since that morning. That was pretty much what he was sure about.

'Hey, Valkron, what's wrong?'

The knight knew the voice, but right now he wasn't going to greet its owner. He threw up again anyway, just then.

'Ooh...that looks nasty. Do you want to get Samaroh?'

'No...thanks,' gasped Valkron. 'Leave him...be. He...needs sleep.'

'By the looks of it you need him more than he needs sleep. Come on, I'll go get him and he'll help you out--'

'No!' Valkron hadn't realised that his voice was hoarse by now, but he made an effort to relay the message. 'I don't...need him. He probably...won't know how...to resolve this...oh, no--'

Thankfully it appeared to be his last purge. Valkron straightened and flushed whatever it was away. He was shaking badly and his tongue had a horrible taste to it. Well, if he didn't move it wasn't going to get any better. He turned around.

Emeth was standing in the doorway, hands at his hips and looking concerned. Valkron was in no mood to talk to him but the after effects of the shouting was still lingering in his ears, so he attempted to be as polite as he could possibly get. 'Will you move, please?'

'You're not going to bed like that, are you?' said the wizard. 'Wash your face. You look like a mess, not to mention whiter than a sheet.'

Valkron was also in no mood to begin an argument so he did as Emeth had asked. The wizard stepped aside for him and then lurched forward and caught the knight before he hit the floor.

'Steady there. I'll help you.'

With a little bit of swearing and much dragging Emeth got the knight to his untouched bed and sat him down. Valkron clutched his head and bent over, his eyes tightly shut. He felt sick in addition to being tired and hungry.

He heard the bedsprings scrunch as Emeth sit down on his own unkempt bed. For a few minutes neither of them said anything, and then Emeth said, 'Well, this is turning out to be a nice day, eh?'

Valkron did not say anything. He felt too sick to talk and besides he wasn't going to spark off the wizard's temper. From Emeth's tone he could tell that the wizard was still touchy with him - something that meant he was liable to explode if just one word was wrong.

'I don't think we need to gloss over what happened again.' The bedsheets rustled as Emeth shifted. 'But seriously, you look bad enough. Samaroh would be able to sort you out, I'm sure.'

'No - thank - you,' said Valkron through gritted teeth, wondering when Emeth would stop bothering him.

'Really? You don't want to be a little more at ease?'

When Valkron gave no reply the wizard sighed. 'I wish you could be a little more appreciative towards us. I'm not going to elaborate further on that but I think you get the meaning.'

'Are you here to lecture me on how knights behave, Emeth?' said Valkron angrily. 'Because if you are I'm not going to listen. I've just had about enough last night and today, all right? Leave me alone, I want to sleep.'

'In that condition of yours? I'll be amazed. Can't you recognize a fever when you have it? Or have you ever had it before? I don't really know the lifestyle of a knight--'

Valkron badly wanted to snap at him, but when he opened his mouth and eyes pain shot through his head. The knight groaned instead and clamped his hands over his ears as he bent over, shutting his eyes again. This was not good.

After a while a pair of gloved hands took his bare ones and gently but firmly prised them off.

'All right, all right. I won't talk about it to you. Come on, straighten up.'

Valkron winced and muttered something about not being observant.

'Look, just straighten up will you? I'm tired and hungry as well so I know you want to sleep, but I seriously have got to talk to you about something else. Come on Valkron, I don't want you to give up just yet,' the pair of hands grabbed hold of the knight's shoulders, 'and I know it's difficult for you to get up properly but you have got to listen to me, okay? Please? Don't make me go down on my knees and beg, you know I don't like begging...'

After a few more minutes Valkron gave in and let the wizard help him. Emeth sat down next to him on his bed and kept him sitting up.

'So what do you want to say to me?' said the knight coldly. 'After what you just did?'

'Valkron, I-- never mind.' Emeth looked towards the window. 'Look, I have something important to tell you. Just hear me out and then you can go to sleep and get some rest. Please?'

The knight shrugged. 'Whatever, just make it quick.'

'All right then.' The wizard looked back to him. 'Last night was no ordinary incident.'

'I know,' said Valkron, wincing as the wizard's voice made his head ache again.

'The fluctuation last night...was far stronger than I'd ever experienced. I didn't even know I was capable of such magic.' Emeth stared at his hand. 'Samaroh couldn't take it because he wasn't trained to deal with offensive magic.'

'On the other hand it strengthened yours.'

'That's right. I think it's because...well...'

Valkron looked up. Emeth seemed to be holding it back although he had already gone past the beginning of the sentence. There was a look in his eyes that the knight did not recognise.

'What is it?' he asked, forgetting the pain.

'Well...' The wizard wrung his hands, clearly distraught. 'I have a feeling that the portal has grown stronger now.'

Valkron stared at him in disbelief. 'Are you sure?'

'I'm certainly doubly sure about it, Valkron. I've never learned the spell I cast last night, but according to historical texts I know it used to be a spell that used infernal magic as its base.'

'Hold it, Emeth. Infernal magic can't be used by humans.'

'That's exactly the point, Valkron.'

It dawned on the knight. 'The portal's granting you the ability to use infernal magic? But I thought the usage of the magic is forbidden! I remember reading about it in the Prontera Library!'

'You sure are one odd knight,' said Emeth, eyeing him. 'But you're right. It's as if the portal is priming people for its "greater plans", although I don't know what those are and I'm certainly not too keen to find out.'

'Save us, somebody,' said Valkron, covering his eyes with one hand.

'Wait, I'm not done. There's a small problem with having me in your party.'

'What, you have to attend your grandmother's funeral?'

The wizard gave him a pained look. 'Sometimes,' he said reproachfully, 'I wish you wouldn't be so sarcastic. No, it's not that. It's just...if another such fluctuation comes along I don't want any of you to be around me.'

Valkron was taken aback. 'Why?'

'Because I'm not totally in control of myself when I'm under its influence. I'm not joking,' he added, seeing Valkron's expression, 'because the previous night I knew what was happening but I couldn't stop myself. Nor could I understand what was going on with me. It was as if I was being controlled and I could do nothing about it.'

The knight stayed silent. He could see Emeth was serious now.

'I don't want to end up killing any of you.' The wizard looked away. 'There's a possibility of that happening.'

'You're not going to let it get control of you, are you?' said the knight.

'Of course not. But it isn't a choice. I don't think you understand, but I can't choose. That night...it was as if I was somebody else. And no matter what I did or tried I couldn't bring myself to stop.'

'So why did you cleanse the atmosphere and kill the eddga?' said Valkron.

'Uh...I'm not too sure of that myself.'

Valkron shook his head. 'I don't have any hand in this matter, Emeth. You're the wizard, you know more than we do. Basically it's up to you to help.'

'I just pray I don't go berserk, that's all,' said Emeth. 'But you know I'm not entirely that powerful.'

'Right. I'm convinced.' Valkron brushed away a few stray strands of hair from his eyes. 'Are you done? I want to sleep.'

The wizard appeared to consider this for a moment and then got off the bed. 'Yeah, you can have some peace now. I just wanted to tell someone who knows what he's doing.'

'Judging by the way you yelled at me just now I don't think you have a high opinion of me, but thanks anyway.'

Valkron did not watch the wizard. He heard the soft footfalls on the threadbare carpet heading towards the door before they stopped.

'Valkron?'

'Mm?'

'I...I'm sorry.'

Valkron's deep green irises slid to one side as he looked back. Of course he couldn't see Emeth, but he was intent on listening to the wizard's voice.

'You had a reason for leaving the village. I should have heard you out before I reprimanded you.' Emeth's voice was subdued; Valkron guessed his head was bowed.

'Yes, and I had a responsibilty. Emeth, you don't have to go on and on about it, I've had enough of it in one day. We're both quits on this matter, all right? I apologise as well. For leaving the village.'

After a pause, Emeth said, 'Why did you leave?'

Valkron focused on the window opposite him. 'Someone had issues to deal with...and was under the control of the portal's creator.'

Deep in the darkness of some forgotten chamber buried underground a shadow moved slowly, as if admiring the great arches that lined the room. Under the accumulated grime and dirt of the centuries cold hard marble formed the stones of the structures. Patches of gold on the walls glimmered weakly in the light of the solitary candle situated on the podium.

The place had been once a part of the empire that had ruled Rune-Midgard centuries ago. It was not one of the places where the many emperors had tortured and subsequently killed their victims or whoever they wished to torment, enjoying the twisted faces till their deaths. However, it was a place that had once been a very important meeting area for a secret group that had opposed the emperors and, eventually, had caused the empire to fall.

The shadow moved around listlessly and then solidified. Its black head became a hood, its long misshapen body became a cloak and the gap between the floor and the shadow was filled by a pair of legs in stout black boots. Then the shadow - now a person - swished its cloak and turned to face the figure that had come running in.

'What do you bring me now?' said the person in the cloak. His voice was low and deep, but there was something in it that suggested he was not human. Not entirely.

'I bring news,' replied the figure, bowing briefly. 'Our preparations for the new emperor are not going well. We are constantly being interrupted by...positive forces.'

The hooded man slammed his gloved hand on the podium, causing it to shake and the candle to teeter precariously on its uneven top. 'We cannot have any more delays! How many times have I told you?'

'But, my lord--'

The hooded man gave the figure a blow that sent him sprawling onto the floor. 'I want no interruptions this time. If there are positive forces then negate them! Oppose them like those people have opposed us before! Our new emperor must be ready to take his place on the throne on the first day of Vegan! If he does not, then the empire as we knew will not rise again, and the world shall stay as cursed as ever!'

'Y-Yes, my lord,' stammered the figure, getting up unsteadily from the ground. It bowed briefly again before turning on its heel and fleeing through one of the arches, disappearing into the darkness.

The man watched it go before moving over to the podium. In the dim light of the candle flame anyone could see the circle carved into the podium's top, encircled with runes. Many strange glyphs and ancient script lined the inside of the circle. The lines were not very clear now, but they were recognizable.

Above the circle some words had been carved into the marble. The man traced them with a finger, his lips moving as he read the words silently.

Life for The Light,

Life for Friendship,

Life for The World.

After a few minutes of silence the man suddenly clenched his fist, raised it and brought it down on the podium. With an almighty crack the structure split into half before its base shattered under the impact and it collapsed. The candle fell to the floor, smashing into fragments of wax, and with it its light extinguished, letting the darkness it had kept at bay flood the chamber until nothing could be seen.

'Foolish humans,' echoed the man's voice in the cavern. 'They shall now know what they have done. Building their lives on stolen knowledge, pretending to have seen the light when all they know is darkness, saying they know friendship when they only understand themselves. They are nothing more than selfish, conceited, arrogant, murderous beasts - beasts with intelligence that they do not even know how to use! Hah!'

There was a swish as he turned, and his footsteps grew softer as he walked away.

'It is time the age of man has ended. Once and for all.'

When Valkron rose from bed it was the next day. He dressed quickly, grateful that he no longer felt ill.

Emeth was still asleep. Although he had a habit of shifting in his sleep until his blanket was around his waist today was a different matter. All Valkron could see was his mop of red hair sticking out from under the blanket. The pile of thick cloth continued to breathe deeply as Valkron washed his face and fastened on his sword girdle.

Then, quietly so as not to disturb the sleeping wizard, the knight opened the door and stepped out into a silent corridor.

It was still very early in the morning so there was almost no one around except for a beggar hoping for a coin or two. He was surprised when twenty zeny landed in his hat as the knight walked past him.

'Thank you,' he murmured gratefully.

Valkron went out and looked down the street. The early morning mist was still hanging around the straw houses. Many of them were still being rebuilt, especially the ones that Emeth had set fire to the previous day. The knight glanced at them briefly before heading away.

The party found him later on, in the centre of Payon. Most people were avoiding him so it was very easy to spot him out. He was sitting at the base of a tree, staring up into the leaves.

'A bit of morning leafgazing wouldn't hurt you, eh?' said Aldev, and immediately shrunk back from the looks the others gave him. He chose not to say anything else for the time being after that.

'How are you feeling, Valkron?' said Iruna kindly. No one could easily forget what had happened the other day.

The knight continued staring up at the leaves. The wind blew past, shaking the branches of the tree, and the dappled shadows on his face moved as the leaves shook in the wind.

'I think he's off his rocker,' whispered Nocturne to Khan. The assassin gave him a look and elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up, but Valkron did not seem to have heard. Iruna, who had not put on her blindfold, looked up into the tree to see what was so interesting. Of course all she could see was a thick green blanket with holes, through which rays of sunlight were falling.

'Um...I don't mean to interrupt you,' said the crusader hesitantly, 'but what are you looking at?'

'Leaves,' muttered Samaroh, and promptly got his foot stepped on by Emeth.

Very slowly the knight pointed up at the leaves. 'You know what's interesting about the leaves, Iruna? Sometimes they show you something, sometimes they hide things from you. But whatever they do they'll always be there. Whatever they show is up to you to see them as you want, not what they want to show you. No one has ever understood that kind of thing nature can do.'

'Okay, now I think he's off his rocker,' said Nocturne, ignoring the look Khan had just given him and instead staring at Valkron in horrified fascination.

The crusader turned around. The others backed off at the sight of her face, but it was only for a moment. She turned back and held out a hand to the knight. 'Let's go, Valkron. We've got to find out where the portal is, and quickly enough. Devar and the rest can support themselves now.'

'Isn't it funny?' said Valkron, almost dreamily. 'When we can't find the portal when we're looking for it? It's as if something's showing us the truth but we're not interpreting it right. Just like the leaves above.'

There was a silence. Nocturne's face looked as if he didn't believe whatever Valkron had just said, but Emeth had a look of realisation and he wasn't the only one.

'What do you mean, Valkron?' asked Iruna cautiously.

'You know what I mean.' The knight looked at her straight in the eye. 'You should understand.'

The crusader held his gaze for a moment longer and then looked away. There was something in Valkron's eyes that she could not bear to see. It reminded her of a lot of things that she wanted to forget.

And then, with an amazing speed, Valkron was back to who he originally was. 'Well, we shouldn't dawdle around here any longer,' he said briskly, getting up and dusting his cloak. 'We have to get going. The portal could be becoming stronger by the minute, and we wouldn't want that.' He strode off, and everyone, stunned by his change of behaviour, did not follow.

When they did, however, and caught him up, he was looking up at the skies above. Nocturne opened his mouth but Valkron got there first.

'Look,' he said, pointing upwards.

Everyone looked up. Gradually one by one the people around them looked up as well, halting midway in anything they were doing to see what was the fuss about.

It was a very big fuss that deserved attention.

'Snow?' said Aldev. 'In summer?'

'I don't think you could call it summer anymore, Aldev,' said Emeth, holding out his hand as he gazed into the sky. 'It looks more like a magic-induced winter to me.'

'Oh, for once will you just keep your gob shut about your magical theories?' snapped Samaroh, but his tone of voice did not bother the wizard. It did not, in fact, bother anyone. The snow falling, the grey skies above, the swirling, thunderous clouds above them, all sucked it away.

A tiny, delicate snowflake alighted softly on Emeth's palm. As the others continued to stare at the whirl of tiny white feathers falling towards them the wizard examined the snowflake. He frowned.

Valkron reached out and let a snowflake drop into his palm. He brought his hand down and stared at the tiny feathery ice nestling in his gauntleted hand. He blinked, once, twice, and then brought it up to his face and stared at it even harder.

It was very quiet except for the uneasy shuffling of someone in the area, so quite a lot of people jumped when Emeth and Valkron's voices suddenly said, 'Look at the snowflakes.' The party looked around them guiltily and noticed that Emeth was holding his between a forefinger and a thumb and holding it up to the light, while Valkron was still staring at his.

'What now?' said Samaroh irritably. His experience the previous day had not been very helpful with his mood. 'Don't tell me we have to get involved with a little morning snowflakeology--'

'No, really, you should see this,' said Emeth, rolling the snowflake in his fingers. 'It's not giving off a pure white light like normal snow does. It's like the surface of a bubble. You can see many colours as you change the angle from which you're viewing it.'

'Oh, just smash the bothersome thing in your hand and let's get going,' said Samaroh.

Valkron clenched the fist in which the snowflake lay and opened his hand. 'It looks like you can't just smash them with your hand, Samaroh,' he said, looking at the sparkling diamond still resting in his palm, unshattered and unscathed.

'This isn't normal,' said the wizard, dropping his snowflake. 'Winter during summer, strange snowflakes, swirling clouds that don't even look remotely like winter clouds...it's all getting on my nerves. And haven't you noticed? Although there's sunlight there's no sun. It's been blocked by the clouds above us.'

There was shouting from one side of the village. Everyone looked towards that side, where they could see a knight running towards them - slowly, it was true, but so determinedly that it didn't make a difference to him anyway.

'Devar?' said Valkron, turning in surprise. 'What's up?'

'Sir,' said the knight breathlessly, slowing to a stop in front of him. 'You've got to come and see this. Please.'

'We're leaving Payon soon, Devar,' said Valkron, ignoring the sighs of relief coming from the Payonese around them. 'We cannot delay. Our task is still our first priority.'

'No, seriously, sir,' said Devar, wiping the sweat off his forehead. 'Maybe your task involves this. We don't know, we just saw it, but it doesn't look good.'

Valkron stared at Devar for a little while longer before making up his mind. 'All right, lead the way then.'

Within minutes the whole party had reached the other nine Chivalry soldiers. All of them were talking anxiously between themselves, occasionally glancing around them rather nervously as if they were expecting civilians to be listening in on their conversations. At the sight of Valkron and Devar they immediately stood to attention.

'What is it, Devar?' said the knight commander, once they had come into hearing range of the group. 'What is it that worries you now?'

'Well, I'm not exactly sure what it means, but...' Devar seemed to be looking over Valkron's shoulder. '...maybe your wizard might know.'

'Where is it?' said Valkron. As an answer, Devar pointed past Valkron.

The Raulus party turned around - and gasped, even Valkron. Samaroh went white and fumbled for his book. Emeth's expression was horror and shock combined. Even the non-magic users were either fearful or horrified, and it was not without good reason.

High up in the sky, glowing an eerie violet against the swirling black clouds, were two massive concentric circles. In between them an ancient script was written. It seemed normal enough, but what was so terrifying about it was the ancient magic and the malice that poured off it. At first it would have looked like a magic circle to anyone, but there was no such thing that could radiate evil with such intensity. Nothing except this one.

After a few minutes of silence Valkron managed to say, 'What does your book say about this, Samaroh?'

'Uh...looking for it.' Samaroh's eyes were still fixed on the thing; it was an amazing feat that he was flipping hastily through his book without looking. But no one could blame him. None of the Raulus party could tear their eyes away from the symbol in the sky. It was as if although the evil within it was so powerful they were somehow drawn to it.

'Does you book say anything about this, Samaroh?' said Emeth, a few minutes later.

'It does, this book is about the forbidden arts and spells on how to counter them. Um...' The priest finally managed to tear his eyes away from the forbidding sight and focus properly. 'Um...it says here the circle is caused by infernal magic overwhelming new magic and does not forebode well.'

'In what way?' asked Nocturne, still staring up at the sign.

'Apparently whoever uses infernal magic will cast this sign to...to...oh, dear.'

At the sound of his tone everyone turned to look at him. Samaroh was shaking, a fearful look in his eyes. Emeth leaned over to look at the open page.

The silence was long, but it was finally broken. 'It says,' said Emeth quietly, not looking at anyone, 'that this is a spell that will eventually control the world and tear it apart into whatever the caster wishes. Including complete destruction.'

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