Fantasia
Arc2: The Quest
Chapter9: A false hope
Falbay; the last station in Juan's tiring quest seeking the tower of Grimoires looking for the empyrean mage who'll lift the dread curse of petrifaction from his beloved clan.
However, during his quest he met many persons that changed the course of his adventure; the Clavian tomboyish princess Cecilia, the hot headed Espadaian knight Dean, Tsukiname the shadow imp, and Ramirez the amnesic man.
But the latter, and with the aid of Dean's notes, is revealed to be no one but Vergil, Vergil of the dark heavens, one would ask who is Vergil of the dark heavens? Many answers one might get but all can be summed that this man is an incarnation of evil.
Through the history of the Féenian land, many mages have been famed for their powers, but among them all, one is a living legend, he's Vergil.
According to the Hatenaian archives he's forty four years old, descending originally from Nanali but his legend started when he was twenty years old and famed as the strongest mage of the millennium, not only the strongest but the coldest of them all.
People who survived tell that he and solely by himself, wiped out entire clans in one night, and not only that he killed the inhabitants of those villages but the lands of those who stood against him are now nothing but withered wastelands, people also said that he likes to take rest from time to time, for that he built a monument for his solitude that people started to call "tower of Grimoires".
With many enemies, the man also got many followers who cherished, praised, and even worshipped him! With time they gathered in his tower, and started to learn magic from this mysterious man, and made a living of this craft.
This was what flashed in the scared shepherd's mind while running to warn the unaware princess of the grieving danger, he was racing time until the clinic was right behind the corner of that narrow alley, he noticed a fancy wagon in the neighborhood but he didn't give it much attention, he turned and with a swift move he collided his shoulder to the wooden door breaking into the place.
"Princess!" he shouted, but he halted seeing that Cecilia is safe and two mysterious men beside her.
"Juan! Come here quickly!" she said.
The man obeyed her and approached them checking the two men; they for sure were twins, for the similarity between them was uncanny, they were tall and slender about thirty years old, wearing pure white capes, gloves and boots, with black jackets and loose pants carrying the symbol of the former Féenian capital Hatena -a triple array of co-centric circles pierced by seven elongated triangles linked together by a septagon- he raised his head to check their faces, both had curly blonde hair and black eyes, but one of them had a trimmed light goatee while the other one had his face shaved.
The shaved man lifted his hand to shake Juan's hand: "Greetings! My name is Glenn Lockheart, I and my assistant Allen are council officers, we are here to capture the runaway criminal known as Vergil Gallant." The man said introducing and explaining the reason behind his existence.
"Um…pleased, I'm Juan Rocux, a humble grazer of Ardneria" Juan said with all respect, before this conversation was interrupted by Dean shoving himself inside the clinic cursing:
"Where's that bastard!? Where's the Goddamned Vergil!?"He asked boastfully squeezing his blade until some blood fell on the floor.
Yes! He's another avenger, it seems that Tsukiname wasn't the only companion of Juan who had a heavy revenge burdening her shoulders, she understood how Dean felt at that moment, but she was worried that he'll end as she did when she tried to get her revenge, for that she calmly extended her arms tangling the angered man's movements:
"Calm down Dean!" she said pulling him.
"Leave me alone! This damned bastard killed my father! And now here's my chance! I have to kill him! Leave me alone!" He shouted before he stabbed her arm releasing himself free to attack the weakened wizard.
Juan feared the sight of blood at this very moment so he moved to block his friend, but something flickered before his very eye, it was one of the brothers, he moved like a flash and with a swift swing of his palm he delivered a solid push to the raging knight ignoring his heavy defense and caused his eyes to went into his skull, he and with a simple hit made Dean fall down vomiting.
This was the threat that Tsuki felt earlier, but something relieved her, they said they are council officers, which means they are law granting people, Juan is safe! She released a silent groan before the stinging pain of Dean's blade finally reached her head.
The princess stood idly on the other hand seeing all this; Dean the funny knight who helped them past the trials of their quest is on the ground, she somehow felt that this is all her fault, she was too kind, yes! Too kind that she brought a criminal with her, and he was no ordinary criminal, because she just knew that he killed Dean's father, this made her lower lip shake and her lids to get heavier as she released a pent-up cry.
"Take it easy young lady" Glenn said consulting her.
"I'm sorry everyone, I should've been more gentle." Allen apologized for knocking the young knight down.
"More importantly, what's going on?" Juan asked while trying along with the doctor to help Dean stand up.
"We are extremely sorry, Glenn, why don't you take these young ones to somewhere else? I'll take care of Vergil" Allen suggested.
And so was it, the officer took the four of them to some inn by the wharves, he offered them some seafood, and started some friendly conversation with them in order to chase this gloomy weather around:
"I'm sorry youngster but we had to do this, our orders are to bring Vergil alive." Glenn apologized to Dean.
"It's okay, I should've held myself back there…" Dean said while rubbing his stomach and looking away.
"So, you must be Princess Cecilia, my God! You look like just like Miss Cassandra." The officer complimented the princess.
"Oh don't say that! Cassy is way too beautiful than me." The princess responded shyly.
"I heard she's engaged with Princess Zeve, they had made such cute couple."
"Really? How come she never mentioned that? In fact I didn't see her in like two years now."
"He must've been such a charming man to hold her from seeing her family" Tsuki added slyly.
"And by the way, Juan right? You said you are from Ardneria, how come a human be a part of such brutal clan?" the officer asked not aware that this somehow hurt the feelings of the shy man.
"I think me and Juan will go check our reserve book, you three enjoy, we'll be back." The princess said in order to pull Juan from this conversation.
Glenn of course understood that but he quickly returned to the conversation:
"So what brings such young people all the way from Ardneria, Clavia, Espadia, and Eikoku, way up here to Falbay?" Glenn asked them.
"Well I actually am here to get my mission fee, I have to protect those two until they reach the tower of Grimoires in order to get some empyrean mage, and Tsuki here likes to hang around or something." The knight answered putting his arms behind his neck.
"Grimoires' tower? But that place has been abandoned for months" he noted.
"No kiddin' what!?" the knight said.
"I swear! all of the mages there are either killed, imprisoned or ran away, the only one left was Vergil and thanks to you we got him! And anyway when we did the counts, there was no single empyrean among them!" the officer answered making the other two stand up in silence leaving the inn.
…
After this note the two walked slowly toward the seaside and started discussing something that might be the biggest disappointment ever:
"So should we tell them?" Dean asked Tsuki.
"I don't know, Juan won't like to hear this for sure." The imp answered.
"Meh, I guess we'll make them sleep well for tonight, and tomorrow…you tell Juan and I'll tell the princess, I'll even ask her to cut my salary half off…"
"All you think about is money! Do you think it is easy for me to tell Juan about this? I mean the man kid was so eager to save his clan, and suddenly we'll throw all his dreams to the sea!"
"Hey! Beats me if he was a crybaby! I'm telling the princess, in fact I'm going right now to tell her!" the knight boasted while heading the opposite side toward the inn, shortly before the imp stuck herself to his back, forcing him to carry her.
He walked slowly where only the creaking sound of the dry planks that made the floor and the clacking sound of his armor pieces can be heard, walking up the stairs, he headed to the room they reserved, he was sure that he has the face to tell them, it's simple, he'll just say it out loud "There's no single soul in the tower of Grimoires, so we're back at home, sorry to tell you this! But this is the truth!"
While Tsukiname didn't pay so much attention, she knew that an idiot like Dean will say it so she didn't bother herself, she just swung her small body waiting for all this to be over.
Dean put his hand on the door bolt, slowly he turned it clockwise, and pushed it smoothly making a small gap, creating an entrance for Juan and Cecilia's words to his ear:
"I can't believe it! We'll be tomorrow at the tower of Grimoires, tomorrow our problems will be solved." Cecilia said happily.
"Yes! Imagine that! An empyrean mage healing my clan! I can finally be with them, I really missed mother and father, and my brothers, and everyone!" the shepherd while sniffing holding his nose from dripping.
"Juan! Enough of tears already, it'll be okay, tomorrow you'll be sitting next to your family and friends in a great supper I shall ask my father to prepare!" the princess consulted the crying man.
It'll be cruel if he told them, crueler than shoving his hand in their chests and pulling out their hearts, that what the knight thought upon hearing this hope-filled conversation, he shut the door slowly and walked with his head down, the imp on his back felt that sorrow for the moment so she leaned her arms around his neck, and gave him an uncomfortable hug trying to show sympathy but he just ignored this act and dropped her heading to the restroom.
And with this the sunset arrived, Dean washed his face from tears he didn't let anyone see, and headed back to their four-persons room with a skillfully crafted happy face, he entered in his usual noisy way and called for the shepherd offering him a night at the bar where he heard that they serve delicious crab-cakes, while Tsukiname already had invited the princess to a hot tub by the western side of this small town.
Yes they gave up on telling them, they just wanted them to have some good time before they obliterate their false hope, it was a bitter act of the knight and the imp's side, but what can one do? Life is just that cruel!
Dean tried to forget all this for now while he was in the middle of a ravishing night with some drunken sailors he just met, he introduced Juan to them, while they seemed impressed that this skinny boy fought Artemiciano Zoldeo and survived, he responded to their surprise by rubbing his head and leaning his face with a blush.
But! The slim door of the bar opened violently! Everyone looked at that direction, where a half naked green haired pale girl was standing trying to catch her breathes stood, nobody knew her identity but two, she was Nimmy! That enigmatic forest nymph that Juan and the others met for a short moment:
"Nimmy? What's wrong?!" Juan asked the girl while holding her from falling.
"The princess girl…a baddy took the princess girl!" she answered while looking outside pointing toward the shores.
Dean didn't spare a moment and jumped out followed by the other two, as they followed a shadowy figure chasing another by a nearby rocky cliff, she was Tsukiname trying to catch up with a stocky man that carried the princess on his shoulder, Dean tossed a knife at the kidnapper, but some invisible force prevented the weapon from hurting its target.
The mysterious man stood by the edge of the rocky road facing the chasers, when the moonlight behind the clouds revealed some details about him; he had a stocky muscular body covered by a dark red cape with the tower of Grimoires symbol ornamenting its sides, he wore a thick black leather jacket and brown loose pants with large boots, but his face was covered by a metal mask where only his blue piercing eyes can be seen.
"Put the princess down you bastard!" Dean shouted at the man.
"Aren't you the mouse that roared!?" He answered with a scary deep voice making fun of the threat, then he lifted his right hand and with it he summoned a sparkle of light that blinded them making an escape for himself.
Everyone opened their eyes after the light faded, and the man was floating toward the tower, Tsukiname didn't spare time and prepared to jump at the enemy, Juan reminded her to control herself but she shouted back telling him that she knows what she's doing, and in a flash she tossed her light body like an arrow setting her claws and canines for the assassination.
But at that moment she discovered her stupidity, she made a really bad mistake, as she witnessed her foe facing his glowing right palm toward her.
She was vulnerable to his deadly light spell! She was a second away from death, but luckily she felt a tingling feeling around her left foot, shortly before she had been pulled violently to collide with Nimmy and roll with her several steps back.
"Are you okay? Tsuki? Nimmy?" Juan asked the girls.
"Nimmy's fine, Nimmy just happy she saved imp girl." The nymph answered while sheathing a vine whip into her palm.
"Curses! Sorry Juan I was hasty and almost died there." The imp apologized.
"Never mind now, we have to save the princess!" Juan and Dean said while they were gazing intensely toward the masked man who disappeared with the mist toward the tower of Grimoires, agreeing that their aim now is clear, the princess had to be saved!
To be continued