Chapter 27

The ruined city was in silence. The creatures that prowled its bowels were unnaturally quiet, moving as if not to disturb something particularly dangerous slumbering deep within the cavernous underground. All there was, was the cold wind that whistled and howled through the empty buildings.

And they had a reason to. For they could feel, emanating from the depths of the city, a palpable aura of rage that promised the world a bloody end.

In the privacy of his dark cavern Argath lifted his head slightly and brought his clenched fist up. He stared at the black glove for several seconds before opening his fist.

In his palm lay a small dot of purple light, shimmering with its own halo. He gazed at it, his deep red eyes glimmering in the light of it.

After a minute or so he clenched his fist again. A grim smile stretched across his face as drops of blood fell from his hair and landed on his fist.

'I see,' he said, blood running down his face. 'My own weapons turned against me...very clever. But humans can only be so shrewd before they give in to their own emotions - and the battle will not end until they are wiped off from the surface of this world completely. I will see to that.'

He turned on his heel and looked up. 'Don't you think so, honourable one? The preparations for the inauguration are almost done. Now we must get our potential candidate ready for the ceremony, and he must be ready to take the throne when the time comes.'

There was a sound. It was not a particularly pleasant sound. It sounded like a thin, malicious voice speaking in an utterly unknown tongue.

Argath closed his eyes, his smile widening. 'It is so unfortunate that you cannot return to this world, diminished into such a pitiful form. But do not worry, for when he comes you will be able to return and this world will be yours again.'

'And this time the darkness will reign over it forever.'

Argath's laugh echoed through the silent caverns.

Eni shivered and pulled her thick woollen blanket closer around her. She had borrowed it from Amaru, who kept several in his cart and was now doing the same with another one.

Everyone stared despondently into the blue witchfire that blazed in front of them. They did not talk, primarily because there was nothing to talk about, and besides it was far too cold. No ordinary fire could burn on the thickly fallen snow.

Valkron sat with his back to a tree, paring slices off his usual piece of herb with his dagger and chewing on them slowly and deliberately. Emeth sat next to him, his cloak wrapped around him. As far as anyone could tell he was fast asleep.

Around them the wind whistled through the barren trees and howled in the distance. During their short time in Prontera the world had been stripped of its greenery and had it replaced by the cruel, cold whiteness of a dark winter. No one could tell if it was day or night, for neither sun nor moon shone. The only thing that did give off its own light was the horrible magic circle that floated in the sky, glowing brighter and brighter as the world progressively plunged into what promised to be an everlasting darkness.

Valkron absently stirred the snow next to him with a finger. He was worried for the party - worried that they would not be able to withstand the freezing cold. Their provisions, kindly provided by the blacksmith, were beginning to run out and he feared that it would be soon when they had to give up. He could not allow that to happen before they found the portal.

Still, he was taking a wild guess about what lay to the northwest of Prontera. There were many undiscovered lands that lay beyond the borders of the kingdom and the portal could be in any of them. Valkron had no wish to venture beyond the kingdom of Rune-Midgard. He did not want to know what waited out there.

But what choice did they have, as long as they solved the problem?

Valkron felt someone touch him gently on the arm. He turned his head slightly and looked sideways at Iruna.

'You seem worried,' she said softly, her brown eyes blinking at him.

'Who wouldn't be?' he replied. 'I didn't take into account this blasted winter.'

Iruna shook her head. 'We'll deal with this, somehow. You should get some sleep, you haven't been resting at all. Emeth looks almost comfortable.'

Valkron looked at the wizard, who was sitting cross-legged and his head down. 'He's going to have an awful neckache when he wakes up.'

'Well, at least he's pretty much getting what he needs at the moment.' Iruna turned her gaze back to him. 'You should be, too.'

Valkron looked at her again. He didn't want to be told what to do, but he had no idea what else he could do at this time.

'All right,' he said eventually, mist forming in front of his face as he spoke. 'I'll try to get some sleep.'

Iruna drew away to join Samaroh and Nocturne, who were arguing quietly, leaving the knight to make himself comfortable against his tree. He gazed into the heart of the flickering blue fire and thought about how they were going to survive.

He was awoken by Emeth some hours later,as they got up from their place and got ready to go. Valkron did not complain but he was somewhat sleepy as he fed his peco and mounted it.

They trudged through the snow for some time. Only Iruna and Valkron had mounts, and therefore the rest of the party got sick of being wet and tired, so the two of them allowed the rest to ride behind them on an hourly basis. The members of the party welcomed the rest gratefully.

Valkron, still feeling sleepy, followed Iruna closely. He had no intention of leading while he was still trying not to nod off. He had given her instructions to head northwest until he knew where they were in order for them to change direction so that he could do whatever he wanted.

His mind strayed as he rode until he was unaware that the others were switching between themselves behind him. The crescent scythe he needed was necessary. Although his trusty old nameless sword had helped him survive many battles it was time he had to get it. This battle would need more than the blade of a sword to turn it to their advantage.

At this point he was glad he had a party behind him. He had certainly felt better whenever he was around them, especially Emeth - which mystified him, since he was sure the wizard hated him to his guts, counting how many times he had been yelled at by Emeth. Valkron sighed in exasperation at himself for this. Trust himself to get things wrong.

He looked up at the heavy skies. Somehow the greyness swirling above them mirrored his mood. Mist shot into the air as he exhaled sharply and turned away from its gloomy sight.

They rode on in silence for some time, and then finally stopped to rest. Valkron dismounted from his peco and gave it some food, although much less than he had before.

Iruna noticed. 'Are you trying to starve your bird, Valkron? It's got weight to carry, you know.'

'I know,' said Valkron, watching his peco gulp down the food. 'But he knows too. Does the Battle of Al'Zahur ring a bell?'

Most of the party stared at Valkron, including Emeth.

'I was employed to the reinforcements during that war, but I never knew what was going on,' said Samaroh. 'No one ever told me anything.'

'It was when the Turtle General decided to hook up with Phreeoni and charge on Morroc.' The knight caught sight of his party's expressions. 'Just using mercenary terms, I can see Eni looking puzzled. The Chivalry and the Order of Juno were charged with the responsibility of defending Morroc as part of the Vassals Act King Tristan agreed to.'

'So what does that have to do with your peco?' enquired Eni.

'I was with a skirmishing group and we got lost in the desert,' said the knight, stroking his peco. 'There were twenty of us, with twenty pecos. When we were rescued there were two left.'

No one said anything.

'I didn't allow anyone to approach mine, and I rationed his food. He lost twenty kilograms and was close to starvation...well, so was I. I don't know how many times we've starved and recovered together, but he's used to it now.'

'You seem to be very cruel to animals,' said Khan.

'Oh really? When I'm giving myself the same treatment?' Valkron shook his head. 'When you're in a situation like min, Khan...you don't have a choice. It's just that I had a choice before the battle. My peco didn't.'

'You're very...considerate,' said Iruna carefully, after a few minutes.

'No, it's just military life.' The bird sat down and Valkron flumped down next to it, leaning on its feathery body. 'You don't know how it feels like, you've never been in the military division before. Except for Iruna.'

'How did you know I was in the military before?' said the crusader in surprise.

Valkron pointed. 'The cross around your neck. You get it when you join the Order of Juno.'

Iruna's hand grabbed the cross almost immediately as her face turned red. She backed off from him.

Valkron turned away from them. Somehow the more he talked to them the more he seemed to want to stir up conflict. He did not want this to happen. They had seen enough.

Eventually his sleepy brain shut down and he fell into a deep slumber.

'Can't catch me! Nyeh, nyeh!'

A swordsman ran through the courtyard, laughing mockingly as a smaller built boy tried to catch up with him.

'You can't even run properly!' the swordsman laughed at him as the boy stumbled over the loose stones. 'Titch! Son of a knight can't run! Wait till I tell the rest about this!'

The little boy came jerkily to a stop and watched the bigger boy run off, panting heavily, and brushed his fringe out of his eyes. He'd never be a proper swordsman at this rate. Of course, he was one now, but he'd never make it to what his father would have wanted him to be.

He turned away and made his way back down to the tree in the middle of the courtyard of the Swordsman Academy. Once there he sat down in the shade and rested.

He did not feel hurt in any particular way towards the bigger boy. Somehow he knew it was his own fault that he was that way. The only person he could blame was himself, then, with his own reasoning.

But how could he improve? He looked up into the green leaves of the tree above him, which shook in the passing breeze. They seemed so cooling as they made shapes above him...

He stared. Somehow he could see the shapes they were showing him, but then when he looked again they may be something different from another point of view. He wondered at this.

A voice from across the courtyard caught his attention. He turned his head half-heartedly, reluctant to shift from the stream of thoughts in his mind.

'...it should be time to send the swordsmen out into the forests to do their survival and fighting training on their own,' said one of the two figures passing by. 'I wonder whether they'll be ready for it.'

'They should, if they want to be true swordsmen,' said the other figure. 'It's a necessary procedure.'

'But I'm not sure if he is ready to take it,' said the other figure, and they looked at the little boy.

At this rage surged through him but he kept it down. He refocused back on the leaves, gazing unseeingly at them as a barrage of heated words began arguing in his mind.

The greenness of the leaves gradually cooled his temper down. The boy soon found himself enjoying the gentle waving motion of the leaves above him and relaxed. He smiled dreamily as they waved and swayed in the breeze.

And, in the silence, a calm voice said in his head, The leaves show things and lets us interpret them the way we want to. How do you interpret the training?

The boy thought about this, and then said quietly, 'I want to train so that I can prove I am a true swordsman.'

Valkron felt himself being shaken. He opened his eyes crossly. 'What is it?'

'We've decided to go on,' said Emeth, bending over him.

'I thought I was the leader here?' said the knight, getting to his feet and brushing snow off himself.

'Yes, but to be frank we've got about two weeks left till that spell up there,' Emeth pointed up to the sky, 'rips our world apart. We don't have a choice, do we?'

Valkron wished he wasn't right. The lack of sleep was making him feel like he had low levels of blood sugar. He squashed down his feelings of rage and kept silent as he mounted his peco. Let sleeping dogs lie where they are, he thought in the privacy of his own head.

As his peco walked his felt the cold touch of snow on his head. All around them snow was falling softly.

Valkron looked up at the sky and snorted softly before riding on defiantly.

There was a flash of light as the blade twisted, before it sliced cleanly through the straw. The target thumped to the ground as the boy straightened.

There were certainly some differences to him now. He looked stronger and taller, and his face looked harder and fiercer. The only thing that stood out from him was his green eyes - they were soft and gentle.

He looked around at the other targets and ran his hand along the flat of his blade. His feet had not moved from its position.

A voice floated through the trees. 'And there he is!'

The boy looked up, his eyes automatically narrowing. The voice did not bode well for him, but he didn't like running.

Three swordsmen emerged from the bushes. They were wearing identical grins and their eyes glittered with the sight of seeing the boy on his own.

'Training in secret, eh?' said the biggest of them, nudging his friend. 'That isn't so popular these days anymore.'

His friends laughed. The boy sighed. 'We were told to practise every minute so to keep ourselves alert.'

'But I don't have to! That means I'm good enough so I don't need to practise any longer, hey?'

The boy did not reply. He hooked his sword over his shoulder and turned to walk away. Immediately they were around him, standing taller and looking down their noses at him. This would have been impressive if the boy had been short, but he was not so anymore and they were forced to tip their heads up to look down at him.

For a second a grin stretched across the boy's face, and then he was gone in a blur. The only thing they remembered was the hilt of a sword landing on their stomachs, and then they were curled up on the ground, groaning as the boy stood over them.

He sighed and sheathed his sword. Then he turned away and walked off, shaking his head at the idiocy of people around him.

Valkron woke up with a faceful of feathers. He straightened up in his seat and turned to see everyone staring at him.

'What?' he said.

'I think you seriously need some sleep,' said Iruna, putting a hand on his shoulder. 'You keep nodding off--'

'No, I think I got enough with this one,' said the knight, brushing her hand away. 'Let's go on. Like Emeth said, we don't have time.'

He got given looks he recognised ranging from 'He's mad, all right' to 'Are you okay?' Instead of responding to them like he usually did he turned away and sighed. 'Better me than the world.'

As they rode Valkron sank deep in thought. It was odd. Somehow when he was least expecting it he would fall asleep and be completely dead to the world.

What?

Valkron tried to squash down the calm voice in his mind. He disliked it. Although it helped him out of situations it also had a bad habit of turning up when he didn't want it to and analyse the situation for him. It was good for him in the long run but in the short run he hated it.

However it wouldn't give up. He fought with it and then gave up as it adamantly stayed in his head. So he chose to ignore it and continued to think, which was not as easy as it looked.

You said dead to the world, Valkron.

The knight sighed and rubbed his head. Maybe he needed some peace with himself in time...but he had to solve the stupid problem first.

Stupid? This isn't a stupid problem.

Valkron shook his head vigorously to clear his ears of the voice and sank into thought again. This party was becoming a burden to him. Maybe he would have to--

Did you just think that?

At this point he stopped completely. Not just stopped thinking, but stopped his peco.

Iruna heard the thudding footsteps of the peco behind her come to a stop. She reined her peco around and pulled down her blindfold. Valkron was staring straight ahead.

'What's wrong, Valkron?' she said, riding up to him. 'You look pale. Are you cold?'

There was no response. Iruna tried again. She was not the kind to give up easily.

'Valkron, maybe you need a rest. Come on, get off your peco and we'll get Emeth to start a fire.'

No reply.

The crusader looked into Valkron's face. His eyes were glazed over, but they were so wide she could see the whites all around.

Samaroh and Emeth came over just then. 'Need some help, Iruna?' said the priest. 'I'll just give him a whack over the head, shall I? Or should Emeth deal with him?'

'No. No, there's no need for that,' said Iruna, putting out a hand just in case. 'I think he's...thinking.'

'What? This isn't the time to be thinking in the middle of the snow!' said Emeth. 'Eni's freezing at the back! We don't have much time and we rely on him to tell us where he's going!'

Iruna turned back to the knight and reached out to touch his cheek. The tips of her fingers came into contact with his flesh, very lightly.

'We're not the only ones who are cold,' she said. 'But...Valkron's coldness isn't the coldness of a human. It's more like the coldness of a corpse.'

Valkron stared. He stared for a very long time.

'What?' said the person in front of him. 'Never knew you had someone like me in your mind before?'

'I used to think I was schizophrenic,' said the knight, 'but I never expected this.'

'Oh, haha.' The knight in front of him took a few steps forward. 'Ever wondered where all your sarcasm came from?'

Valkron looked up into the green eyes of the perfect copy of himself.

The two knights faced each other for some time. The copy was blinking calmly and looked completely at peace.

'Odd,' he said, finally. 'I'm looking into the eyes of the person who wants to be me.'

Valkron blinked. 'I...want to be you?'

'Certainly,' said the knight. 'Your eyes tell me everything. They say quite a lot about yourself, really. All anyone has to do if they want to find out about you is look into your eyes.'

Valkron frowned. 'But why would I want to be you?'

'Well, you've always wanted peace. You've always wanted to stay calm in any situation and assess things quickly and calmly. I do that, for you.' The knight shrugged. 'Not surprising, really, considering how much you talk to yourself in your head.'

Valkron coloured. 'It's called thinking.'

'Hah, thinking?' The knight shook his head. 'If you want to be what you want to be, the only thing I can tell you is that you should admit your feelings for others. You keep telling yourself that you hate Emeth and that it's not worth it to stay near Iruna, but is it really the truth? Nocturne can deal with it so much better than you do.'

'What - What are you talking about?' said Valkron, sincerely puzzled.

'You're a lonely, sad guy.' The knight sighed. 'You know that? Go figure that out yourself. Now, there's something else I want to talk to you about. No, don't interrupt, I don't care what you have to say. You yourself knew that you were falling asleep and completely dead to the world, right? Who wants you dead?'

Valkron opened his mouth. Valkron shut his mouth.

'You consider this problem stupid. Really? Was that you or was that someone else? And your party is a burden, is it? Who is in your mind?'

Valkron stared.

The knight shrugged. 'Up to you. If you don't think about this fully you're never going to get anywhere. And remember - the mark of the Blood Judge is still on you.'

The words stayed long after he had turned and walked off into the darkness. Valkron was left standing in his own mind as he came to realise that there was someone else - other than himself - in his mind.

The white world of snow returned after a while. Valkron realised that someone had piled a lot of blankets on him, and there was a witchfire burning quite hotly near him. This was clearly a fire hazard, but given the situation Valkron didn't voice this out loud.

He sat up slowly so as not to let the blankets slide off him and catch fire, and met everyone's eyes staring at him.

After a few minutes of silence he said, 'What happened?'

'You...blanked out,' said Iruna. 'I think it was too cold.'

Valkron shrugged. 'I didn't feel cold.'

'That's a fool's saying,' said Samaroh. 'You could have suffered from hypothermia if we hadn't covered you and kept you dry.'

'Eni needs them more than I do,' said the knight. 'Nocturne, help your sister. She looks like she's going blue.'

No one moved. Valkron raised an eyebrow and got up, picking a few blankets with him. He walked over to the shivering alchemist and offered them to her. She took them without a word.

'Why do you all keep staring at me?' he said. 'What went wrong?'

'You were cold,' said Iruna.

'Other than that.'

'You blanked out and stopped completely,' said Emeth. 'Like you...fell asleep again. Which was scary.'

You keep telling yourself you hate Emeth.

Valkron turned to him. 'I...wasn't conscious of it,' he explained. 'Maybe I was sleepy then. I feel better now, though.'

Something stirred in his breast. With quite some effort he squashed it down. He knew what it was.

'Really?' said Khan, giving him a look.

'Yes, really,' said Valkron.

'God, you're such a loser,' said Samaroh sourly. 'Why can't you bloody admit you're ill? I checked just now and you weren't just cold and out, you were slowing down completely! Not cold my foot. You're just trying to look big and strong and that's it.'

Valkron felt annoyance rise, but it was not him. He fought it down, focusing on the priest. 'You seem very sure of it.'

'Well, of course,' said the priest. 'Anyone could see that. You've always been pretending and everything but even a child could spot it from a distance. What kind of knight are you?'

Valkron shook his head. There was a buzzing in his ears. He tried to blank it out. 'Samaroh, I don't know what you have against me but I can assure you I'm perfectly fine. You're a good healer but you don't need to...push it.'

The words had dropped off the tip of his tongue. He stared in horror at himself. he would have never said that to a priest.

Samaroh got off the tree he was leaning on. He had not been looking at Valkron the whole time he had been talking...until now. Valkron looked into grass green eyes that glittered with a maliciousness that seemed somewhat familiar.

'Push it?' he sneered. 'Who's pushing it now?'

Valkron backed off. 'Samaroh, you know I didn't mean that--'

'You always mean what you say, don't you? Why suddenly so fickle? Why keep denying? You'll never be able to run from yourself!' said the priest, his voice dripping with poison. 'Now I'm in league with a liar, a fraud! Am I pushing it now?'

'Samaroh, please--'

'Please? Please ain't going to do anything to appease me!'

'Stop it, Samaroh,' said Iruna. 'You don't have the right to--'

The priest whirled around and struck Iruna across the face with his book so hard she was sent sprawling onto the snow. Valkron started, but the priest turned on him almost immediately.

'So concerned for others?' he sneered. 'Or just trying to gain benefit for yourself?'

Emeth had reached Iruna's side and was helping her to her feet. She was still in shock. Valkron could see her wide open eyes.

Samaroh stepped in front of his view. Valkron jerked back in shock and stared into the priest's eyes. The grass green had black clouds swirling over the irises.

The knight knew he had no choice. He had a bad feeling that the priest's will was not strong enough to fight down Argath's mark, but what could he do other than face Samaroh?

The priest solved the problem for him. In one blow Valkron was sent into a tree. As his head spun he felt the clouds swirl around his own irises and the mark grow hot as the rage that had stayed dormant for so long rose in him.

Valkron snarled. Samaroh laughed grimly.

They attacked.