~ Chapter 5 ~
Alight into Darkness
"Umm… he does realize he's grossly outnumbered, right?" Severa asked worriedly, quickly counting up the nine hooded and cloaked that Helios had raced off to confront.
"That didn't stop you and Owain earlier when those mercenaries were attacking the Chon'sin caravan, did it?" Morgan pointed out with a cheeky grin.
"Those oafs?" Severa scoffed. "Even on my worst day, I could handle a score of those senseless brutes. We're the ones who had them outnumbered."
Owain shot Severa questioning look, for he remembered that particular battle quite differently, but when he saw his wife's fierce glare, he knew better than to voice his disagreement.
Morgan, too, did not press the point. "Then the odds are in our favor now, too, aren't they?" she replied.
"Are you sure we should be getting involved?" Owain asked. "We don't know much about this man, and we know nothing about those others."
"Am I sure?" Morgan repeated, laughing. She drew Alondite from its sheath. "You two really need to stop asking me that."
Helios sprinted across the meadow, moving so swiftly that he seemed to glide smoothly across the uneven ground. His footfalls were muffled by the soft grass, and it wasn't until he was nearly upon his quarries that one of the cloaked figures finally noticed his approach.
The cloaked man had time only for the briefest warning. "Sun Guard!" he barked, and his companions spun around immediately, just in time to see Helios closing the remaining distance with a powerful leap.
"Good evening," Helios greeted pleasantly. "Please, pardon my intrusion. I could not help but notice that you folks chose an unusual time and place to gather. Are you lost, perhaps? If so, I'd be happy to escort you to your destination."
The cloaked figures exchanged looks, and several of them shifted uncomfortably. One of them finally spoke up. "Thank you, but we're quite alright," the cloaked man declined politely, doing his best to remain composed.
"Might I ask where you and your friends are headed?" Helios asked, and though he spoke politely, his tone made it clear that his words were more of a demand than a request.
The cloaked man who had spoken up before stared at Helios appraisingly, his own face still concealed beneath his hood. "We're off to visit the library," he said carefully. "It's rather unusual, I'm aware, but the nine of us share a passion for old books. We spend many evenings together in the library."
"Ah! What a coincidence!" Helios exclaimed with mock exuberance. "I'm an avid reader as well, and I was just on my way to pick up a book for myself. I have a long shift ahead of me tonight, after all. Why don't we head over there together?" Helios casually sheathed his swords, but did not remove his hands from the hilts.
Again, the cloaked figures looked nervously to one another. "Light take the Sun Guard," one of them finally groaned, before all nine drew back their cloaks in unison, revealing their weapons. Most of them were carrying long, curved knives akin to those used for hunting, but two were equipped with swords similar to Helios's. Their swords seemed to share the shape and craftsmanship of Helios's weapons, but the blades appeared to have been forged from ordinary steel, for they did not gleam nearly as brightly.
Helios reacted so quickly that it looked as if his swords had leapt back into his hands. "Nihilists, then," he nodded, unsurprised. "I figured as much." That's all he managed to say before the Nihilists charged.
Unfortunately for the Nihilists, they had misjudged their foe rather badly. The cloaked fighters swarmed around the robed swordsman, thinking to score a quick victory, but none of them had anticipated their outnumbered opponent to charge at them instead.
Helios pivoted hard as he reached the first of his foes, but kept his forward momentum, spinning into his enemies with his blades sweeping out wide. The Nihilists' ranks broke like a tide against a boulder, and the cloaked fighters scattered aimlessly, desperately fleeing the Sun Guard's deadly reach. Amidst the confusion, Helios zeroed in upon his nearest opponent, driving one sword neatly through the unfortunate man's chest. Then, before any of the doomed man's companions could retaliate, Helios reversed his grip upon his remaining sword. He stepped gracefully aside, extracting his first weapon and dropping his motionless victim to the ground while swiping the second sword protectively behind his back.
The remaining eight Nihilists, realizing that they could not overpower their dangerous adversary, assumed a more defensive posture then. They formed a tight ring around Helios and began their measured approach anew, but they were so focused upon their immediate foe that none of them noticed their predicament worsening. At least, not until Severa and Owain abruptly burst into their ranks.
Two more of the cloaked fighters collapsed immediately. A third yelped painfully as he was struck by a wave of force, then slumped to the ground, staring disbelievingly at Morgan as he fell.
With reinforcements coming to the aid of the lone, yet devastating Sun Guard, the remaining Nihilists knew they were beaten. They turned to flee, but even that proved to be a daunting task. Severa and Owain quickly cut off a pair of them, the former cleanly bashing one of the cloaked fighters into unconsciousness with the shaft of her lance. The other Nihilist tried to steer clear of the dangerous woman, flinging his knife at and weaving around Owain. Owain swiftly ducked beneath the poorly aimed throw, then slashed his attacker's legs from behind, deftly hamstringing the cloaked man.
Meanwhile, the Nihilist who had been farthest from the fighting had taken the long way around, circumventing both Severa and Owain. He hesitated when he laid eyes upon Morgan, remembering the mysterious projectile the little girl had thrown. "You were only seeing things," he muttered quietly to himself. He clenched his jaw tightly and charged, silently reassuring himself that he could easily overpower a girl less than half his size.
When Morgan saw the cloaked man fleeing her way, she allowed her sword to dip towards the ground before presenting her tome with her other hand.
The fleeing man hesitated, taken aback by Morgan's odd reaction. Then, before he could make any sense of the young tactician's choice, he felt as if he had spontaneously burst into flame. He howled in terror and threw himself to the ground, rolling frantically to put out the flames. A moment later, Alondite's hilt struck him squarely on the back of his head, leaving him limp and motionless.
Morgan, Severa, and Owain closed in upon the last two of the Nihilists, but when they saw Helios's whirling blades, they could do little more than stare in awe. The Sun Guard looked as if he were toying with his cloaked opponents, somehow remaining just out of reach of their knives. Every movement the two Nihilists made was promptly cut off, and every attack neatly parried and countered. Their frustration mounted visibly, and each of their foiled attacks seemed more reckless than the last.
Throughout it all, Helios never once stopped moving. Even as his blades darted in and out of the fray, he himself weaved back and forth, repositioning himself constantly so that his opponents could never catch him off guard. His opponents left him opening after opening, but he let them pass unpunished, patiently awaiting the perfect opportunity to end the fight all at once.
The Nihilists finally caved under the mounting pressured. One of the pair roared angrily – an angry, wordless battle cry to mask his exhaustion – before throwing himself forward, as if hoping to tackle the slender Sun Guard to the ground.
The desperate move looked pitifully unimpressive to Helios. He merely retreated a step, lifting his swords to form a defensive cross to catch his foe's knife. A simple upward shove tore the Nihilist's knife from his grasp. Helios then kicked out fiercely, and his foot caught his charging opponent in the groin.
The beaten man crumbled, whimpering feebly, and the last of the Nihilists gasped in horror. She turned and bolted, her hood falling askew as she stumbled over one of her fallen companions. Her sword slipped from her hands, but she ignored it as she continued scrambling away without looking back.
She did not see Helios dropping one of his own swords to catch the falling knife he had wrested from his last victim.
"Oh, you better run!" Helios cried.
The fleeing woman felt a sharp sting in her lower back, and before she could sort out just what had happened, the road seemed to be rushing up to meet her. Mere heartbeats later, her world went dark.
"You know, if it were just about anyone else, Captain Minos would be pushing for a promotion," Helios lamented as he retrieved his fallen sword. "Since it's me, he'll probably scream himself hoarse instead, before assigning me to every night shift for the rest of the year."
"Who are these people, Hel?" Morgan asked. She stooped down beside the smoldering man she had brought down earlier and began trying to pat out the last of the embers. Severa and Owain began inspecting their victims as well, for they could not help but wonder if they had erred in attacking the so-called Nihilists.
"I'd love to explain, but there's no time," Helios apologized, shaking his head in dismay. "You three need to get out of here, right now. I'm surprised more of the Sun Guard haven't arrived already; a patrol is stationed at the base of the Sun Spire all around the clock, and they must have overheard the fighting."
Before Helios could say anything more, a chorus of shouts rang out loudly from the direction of the Sun Spire.
"Maybe the fighting isn't over yet," Morgan offered.
Helios's expression contorted angrily. "Damn it," he growled. "Look, just try and make yourselves scarce tonight, alright? I've got to go, but if you're still in Aquila's Ascent at this time tomorrow, we can meet up in the park and talk some more."
"Uh-key what?" Owain asked blankly.
"Aquila's Ascent. This city," Helios explained hurriedly, his last words to them before racing off towards the lighthouse.
"Hel, wait!" Morgan called, but the lone Sun Guard did not look back. A few moments later and he was gone, leaving Morgan, Severa, and Owain standing alone in the street with the dead and unconscious Nihilists.
"So… what now?" Severa asked uneasily, eyeing the prone forms sprawled all around them. "If Helios was right about his fellow guards being on their way, we probably don't want to stick around here."
"Yeah," Morgan agreed. "Let's keep following Hel. You don't want to miss out on all the excitement, do you?"
"E-excitement?" Severa sputtered.
But the young tactician did not linger to hear the rest of her sister's protests. Leaving Severa to stew in her own exasperation, Morgan began chasing after her new friend, with Ellie emerging from her hood and bobbing in the air behind her as she went.
When Morgan saw Helios rounding the corner in front of her and turning towards the lighthouse, she quickened her own pace, pushing herself to sprint after him as fast as she could manage. At first, she was tempted to call out to him, but thought better of it, deciding that drawing too much attention to herself could be dangerous.
Then, when she rounded the same corner, she did cry out, or at least she tried to; someone had seized her as soon as she turned, lifting her cleanly off her feet and wrapping an arm firmly around her mouth to silence her.
"Quiet," Helios hissed, and when Morgan realized who it was, she stopped struggling, and Helios set her down gently. "Is this your idea of making yourself scarce?" he asked wryly.
"Sorry," Morgan apologized hastily. "I just wanted…"
"To see what was going on," Helios guessed, and a faint smile tugged at his lips as he shook his head in exasperation. "Years ago, back when I was little, I'd see all those other kids with younger siblings. I often wondered what it would be like to have a kid sister. Now I know."
Morgan managed an abashed smile, but before she could say anything, Severa and Owain caught up, nearly running her over. Severa paused to catch her breath, then glowered angrily at Morgan.
"If you're going to follow me, stay clear of the fighting," Helios interceded quickly. "Onlookers are common when fights break out within the city, but few outside of the Sun Guard know their way around a weapon. Most who do are Nihilists. Also, whatever you do, Morgan, do not set anyone on fire again. Magic has been outlawed throughout Monolith for as long as anyone can remember."
"Okay. Sure," Morgan agreed easily.
"We'll keep an eye on her," Severa promised, clamping one hand tightly upon Morgan's shoulder.
With a satisfied nod, Helios turned back towards the lighthouse. Several figures darted back and forth at the foot of the tower, locked in battle, but before Helios could take another step towards them, there came a loud, shattering noise akin to glass being broken. The sound came from far above, and Morgan, Severa, Owain, and Helios all instinctively looked up towards the top of the Sun Spire.
At first, it seemed as if the light of the Sun Spire had scattered. Tiny glowing fragments shot outward from the top of the tower, forming a beautiful shower of light and causing flickering shadows all across the formerly illuminated city of Aquila's Ascent.
Then the light faded altogether, and the city went dark.
"What was that?" Severa demanded, as Owain swallowed nervously. None of them could see each other anymore, though they could hear Morgan rustling through her pouch in search of something.
"I don't believe it," came Helios's hushed voice. "They actually did it."
"Who did what?" Morgan asked, though the rustling noise continued.
Helios began to laugh, the haunting, strained laughter of a man who was terribly, terribly afraid. "That was the death of Aquila's Ascent. Our Sun Spire has been destroyed."
For a moment, his shocking proclamation went unanswered. Then, screams of terror began ringing out from all across the city, a deafening cacophony that seemed to confirm the Sun Guard's words, a death knell heralding the end of every man, woman, and child within Aquila's Ascent.
Morgan finally found what she had been searching for, and donned her lantern ring, illuminating her companions and the surrounding region. Helios hardly noticed the ring. His face seemed devoid of any emotion, and his unnerving calm had rubbed off on Severa and Owain, too, who were both standing frozen.
"You two better put on your rings, too," Morgan suggested, before turning back to Helios. "What's happening, Hel? How could the Sun Spire have been destroyed?"
"I don't know," Helios admitted quietly. "This has never happened before. The Nihilists have been trying for decades, but they've never managed to breach one of the Sun Spires before now. Without the light of the Sun Spire weakening the Nightmares, we're defenseless; few in the city will survive until daybreak."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Morgan offered in a small voice.
"We killed a few of those Nightmares things on our way here," Severa said. "If we can round up the rest of your Sun Guard, we might be able to protect the city until dawn."
"Or vacate the city and seek refuge with your staunch neighbors," Owain suggested.
Helios's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "You've battled the Nightmares before?" he asked sharply.
"Only three of them," Morgan admitted.
"Only three," Helios muttered. Then, after a few moments, he shook his head. "It's too late. Staying here is pointless. Just listen to all the screaming; you're not going to get anything organized in time, and the city's walls have likely already been breached. The Sun Guard may have been able to stem the chaos and hold off the Nightmares for a time, but I bet most of them are already trying to flee the city on their own or with their families."
"You don't seem to think very highly of your comrades," Severa remarked.
Helios grimaced. "I don't," he admitted. "And I might be wrong. Look, I'm going to head for the walls. If the rest of the Sun Guard is still there making their stand, I'll stay and fight beside them, though Light knows if we truly stand a chance. But if I'm right, and they're already gone, I'm going to make a break for Sol Hearth."
"What about us?" Owain asked.
"You three should get on out here," Helios suggested. "Use whatever magic brought you here to our world and head back to your own. Or another world. Anywhere that's not here, really."
Morgan wavered indecisively. The screams of Aquila's people gnawed at her, a haunting reminder of all the villages and caravans she had tried and failed to save. She wanted desperately to believe that there was still something she could do, to help the rest of Monolith, perhaps, even if it was already too late to save Aquila's Ascent and its people.
Instead, Morgan snuck a glance at Severa and Owain. She wanted to argue with Helios, to stay, heedless of his warnings, but she knew, too, that their situation had drastically worsened, and she didn't feel comfortable dragging her two companions further into a mess that they had little understanding of.
Then Severa spoke up. "We're not leaving," she said quietly, to her younger sister's great surprise.
"Indeed," Owain agreed. "Owain Dark cannot ignore the misery welling up within this world."
"And you, Morgan?" Helios prompted, though he already knew what the younger girl's answer would be.
"I'm not going anywhere. You promised to show me Sol Hearth, remember?" Morgan reminded Helios petulantly. Or at least, she tried to sound petulant.
Helios managed a shaky grin. "I figured as much. You three seem to be a meddlesome bunch," he said. "Alright, then. If you're sure you can handle yourselves against the Nightmares, stick with me. If the Sun Guard's already given up, the four of us can escape to Sol Hearth, at least."
"Lead the way," Morgan said. She tossed her ring to Helios, who caught it easily and slipped it onto his own finger without question. Severa and Owain took out their own rings as well, and the four of them began making their way down the smaller streets of Aquila's Ascent. Following Helios's lead, they did their best to avoid the wider roads, which were crowded with countless indistinguishable figures, only barely illuminated by the light of the torches some carried. The sounds of panic grew louder and louder as they went, and the telltale white and gold robes of the Sun Guard were distinctly absent.
Before long, they came across the walls of the city, and immediately saw that the Sun Guard had deserted their posts there, too. It was a different gate from the one that Helios had been stationed at earlier, but it seemed to have been structured the same way. The weapon rack had already been emptied, and not by the unarmed civilians, who could only flee before the scores of shadowy creatures streaming into the city.
"I warned you," Helios declared grimly. "There's little more we can do. The city is lost."
Though Morgan wanted nothing more than to draw her sword and begin striking down the ghastly invaders, she knew better than to argue; this time, they were truly and impossibly outnumbered. She looked pleadingly to her sister and Owain, and when she saw their similarly grim expressions, she knew that they shared her sentiments.
None of them said a word, and they waited uncomfortably, watching as Helios intently studied the encroaching Nightmares. When the Sun Guard finally noticed a lull in their enemies' approach, he signaled to the other three. Together, they wrapped around the nearest cluster of Nightmares, then swiftly fled from the doomed city.
Eventually, the ongoing screams from Aquila's Ascent faded into the darkness, drowned out by the whispering winds. Nevertheless, the tortured sounds continued to linger in Morgan's mind, and she could hold her silence no longer. "Hel, who are the Nihilists?" she demanded suddenly, her voice agitated. "How could anyone want to destroy an entire city that way? What could they have hoped to gain?"
"What did they have to lose?" Helios asked in reply.
Morgan stopped in her tracks, staring at Helios in disbelief. Helios, too, came to a halt, sensing the younger girl's distress. "That's what their answer would be," he explained somberly. "A nihilist is…"
"Someone who believes that life is meaningless, and that nothing we do matters or has any purpose," Morgan finished impatiently. "We have philosophy in our world, too, but philosophers don't rally armies and destroy cities. Why would…"
"We should keep moving," Helios interrupted. He turned to face the centermost of the distant lights, which appeared to be closer than the others, and resumed his steady march. "Monolith is not a forgiving place. One can never really feel safe, especially while living in the Reaches. Everyone I've ever known has lost someone… a friend, a family member… many don't have anyone left to lose, even. I've been on my own since I was ten. My father was part of the Sun Guard. He, like many others, fell to the Nightmares. My mother was a tailor. She fell ill a year after my father passed away, while Aquila's Ascent was suffering from a shortage of medicinal herbs. It's easy to lose hope out here, living the way we do."
"So, what? They want to make everyone else suffer, too?" Severa interjected angrily. "The world we come from isn't fair, either. People lose their loved ones all the time. That doesn't mean…"
"I'm not trying to defend them," Helios clarified quickly. "I joined the Sun Guard myself, remember? The Nihilists are our sworn enemies, trying to destroy what we try to protect. See, somehow, these people got it in their heads that Monolith shouldn't exist. They believe that the Solcryst is our way of cheating fate, and that it carries a price. All of our squabbling over residency in Sol Hearth, all the infighting over food and supplies out here in the Reaches… even the constant battles against the Nightmares – they blame all of that on the Solcryst. They live and hide among us, spreading their selfish beliefs to anyone they believe will listen while waiting for a chance to destroy the Solcryst – and Monolith – for good."
"That's insane," Morgan muttered.
"No argument there," Helios agreed. "Life in the Reaches isn't pretty, I'll admit, but that's no reason to give up entirely. To go even further and dash everyone else's hopes, too? If you ask me, the Nihilists are worse than the Nightmares."
"Are there truly so many of your people that have been driven to such sinister madness?" Owain asked, frowning. "We four defeated nine of them alone; how vast was the force that came against your city's heart upon this cursed night?"
Helios glanced over his shoulder, shooting Owain an odd look.
"It looked like you would have thrashed those Nihilists with or without our help," Severa translated. "And you just happened to be there alone. Didn't you say there was an entire patrol stationed at the Sun Spire? How could the Nihilists have possibly forced their way past them?"
"I think you've gotten the wrong idea about the Sun Guard," Helios said with a derisive laugh. "Oh, we're supposed to protect the city and all, and there were probably at least half a dozen men standing watch over the Sun Spire, but the reason I train on my own is that the Sun Guard hardly trains at all. If they're not standing watch or carousing in a tavern and chasing skirts, they're trying to impress their patrol leaders in hopes of catching the attention of Sol Sanctus. It makes sense in a sad sort of way. Getting your patrol leader to like you is how you make your way to Sol Hearth. How well you handle yourself against Nightmares doesn't make much of a difference at all."
"Didn't you mention a couple friends, earlier? Are they part of the Sun Guard, too?" Morgan asked. Then she swallowed uncomfortably, a terrible thought occurring to her. "We didn't leave them behind just now, did we?"
"Nah," Helios said. "Well, yes, they're also part of the Sun Guard, but one was transferred to Sol Hearth about a year back, and the other…" Helios abruptly fell silent, and he shifted slightly, instinctively assuming a defensive stance.
Noticing the subtle movement, Morgan, Severa, and Owain each drew their weapons as well. Despite being on their guard, they instinctively stepped back in unison when a dark shape stepped into the meager light of their rings. The approaching Nightmare resembled a massive, hooded serpent fully fifteen feet in length. A pair of limbs – resembling bony scythes but composed of the same colorless matter – protruded from about a third of the way down the serpent's form, and were upraised, poised to slash down vertically.
Helios, unlike his companions, did not hesitate in the slightest, and immediately flipped Morgan's lantern ring back to her. His swords sprang from their sheaths as he spun past the Nightmare's right side, ducking neatly beneath its claw. He scored a couple glancing hits there, and was already backing away when the Nightmare spun to face him. "Crawler! They're fast; stay clear of their talons!" he called out in warning.
"You don't say," Severa grumbled, before seizing the opportunity to rush forward and thrust her lance into her exposed foe.
Behind her, Owain hesitated. "They?" he mumbled.
That one word caught Severa's attention, but the warning had come too late. Severa took her right hand off her lance and swung it wildly about, illuminating two more of the Nightmares that were eerily close to her side. She tried to tug her lance free and back away, but the first Nightmare was writhing wildly. In the end, she was forced to relinquish her weapon entirely, and scuttled back seconds before the second Nightmare could behead her.
In a flash, Owain was at her side, holding back the other two Nightmares. Then the first of the shadowy creatures shrank and grew dense, and both Severa and Owain remembered to look away. In doing so, Severa finally noticed Morgan's curious reaction.
The younger red-haired girl was simply standing there, Alondite dangling loosely in her slackened grip. She wore a mystified look, as if something most unusual had fully occupied her thoughts.
"Morgan! What are you doing!?" Severa screamed.
With a jolt, Morgan's grip on Alondite's hilt tightened. To Severa's relief, the younger girl's expression became one of extreme concentration. A bolt of energy whizzed past Severa, and Alondite's magic cut cleanly into the nearest of the Nightmares.
Severa backed further away, not wanting to be caught between Morgan and the Nightmare without a weapon of her own. She lifted her hand high, scanning the ground for any sign of her fallen lance. The light glinted off a mangled mess of white, gold, and crimson.
"Helios!" Severa cried out in horror, immediately recognizing the robes of a Sun Guard.
"That's not me!" Helios's voice rang out from somewhere in the darkness.
Severa cast her light in that direction, and indeed, the robed swordsman was alive and well, or as well as anyone could be while caught between another two of the serpent-like Nightmares and a third Nightmare that resembled a giant blob with far too many legs. Several small objects beside Helios glowed faintly.
Severa lowered her light a bit, illuminating three more bloodstained corpses clad in the same white and gold robes. Helios must have already noticed his fallen comrades, she realized. The faint glow was coming from a pair of glaives lying beside the bodies, and the third prone form wore a burnished quiver while clutching an asymmetrical wooden bow.
"Cover me," Severa pleaded with Owain, before racing for the fallen weapons.
Owain immediately understood and moved to protect her. Another Nightmare detached itself from the shadows on Severa's other side, but a quick blast of fire from Morgan put an end to it, while illuminating the surrounding area. Severa tucked herself into a tight ball and rolled neatly past the last Nightmare in her way, grabbing one of the glaives as she recovered. She twirled her new glaive around, admiring its perfect balance and polished shaft as she impaled the serpent behind her.
Another fireball exploded nearby, this one casting light upon Helios, who was now pressed by four of the Nightmares. The robed swordsman seemed to be losing ground constantly, and he could not land a definitive blow against any of his attackers. The blob-like Nightmare threw itself forward in a clumsy tackle, and while it was nowhere close to hitting its agile target, it was an undeniable distraction, and Helios very nearly missed parrying one of the serpents' claws.
Strapping the glaive to her back and trusting in her sister and husband to hold off the Nightmares behind her, Severa retrieved the fallen bow she had spotted earlier, as well as a handful of arrows from the dead archer's quiver. Angling her shots so that they would not hit Helios if they pierced through, she set the bowstring humming, quickly putting four feathered arrows into the blob-like Nightmare. Two more clean shots finished off one of the serpents, buying Helios enough space to dispose of the second. The last of the Nightmares, one of the hulking humanoids that Severa remembered from before, turned and bore down upon her.
Helios leapt atop the final Nightmare's back, and his blades burst through where the Nightmare's collar bone would have been. Both of the gleaming silver swords then cut upward in a neat V, severing the Nightmare's head from its body.
"Thanks," Helios said, sheathing one of his blades as he stooped to inspect one of the bodies. Though he had been moving constantly and frantically all throughout the battle, he seemed only barely winded.
"No problem," Severa said, as Owain and Morgan reached her side. Owain was looking around nervously, as if expecting more of the Nightmares to emerge behind him at any moment, while Morgan seemed strangely intent on the mysterious black powder that the defeated Nightmares had left behind.
"These men came from Aquila's Ascent," Helios announced grimly a moment later. "I recognize this one." He kicked one of the bodies lightly, the bloody remains of a short, rotund man with thinning brown hair. "This is the patrol that was standing guard over the eastern gate, where we departed from. They must have grabbed their weapons and taken off the moment they realized the Sun Spire was lost."
"You mean they didn't even try to do their job?" Severa scowled.
"Neither did I," Helios admitted shamelessly. "And it wouldn't have mattered. This fool's never slain a single Nightmare, as far as I know. I've fought beside him before… or rather, I fought while he cowered behind me and watched. His glaive and robes were wasted on him, if you ask me."
Severa looked down at her newly acquired glaive. "Do you think I should keep this?" she asked, wondering if trying to enter Sol Hearth with the pilfered weapons would cause them any trouble.
"Probably," Helios said. "We'll have to come up with some kind of story for the border guards in Sol Hearth, and these weapons can only help. They'll probably confiscate them afterwards, though. We try not to let the weapons coming out of Sol Sanctus fall into the Nihilists' hands."
Severa frowned, wondering how the pilfered weapons would get them into Sol Hearth, but before she could voice her question, Owain spoke up.
"Sol Sanctus? Is that not the resting place of the fabled Solcryst?" the blond swordsman asked, puzzled.
"Yep. It's also the main headquarters for the Sun Guard, and the location of the Sun Forge. I've never seen it running, but it's supposed to be a great furnace powered by the Solcryst itself," Helios explained. "All of the Sun Guards' weapons are forged there. Even our bows are inlaid with a trace of silver and exposed to the Sun Forge's light. It's supposed to make our weapons more effective against the Nightmares. Every couple of years, the enchantment wears off, and we exchange our weapons so they might be brought back to the Sun Forge."
Severa took a closer look at her bow, and saw that there was indeed a sliver of pristine light ingrained in the wood. "Interesting," she mused, before Morgan tugged the bow from her hand. "Hey!"
"You don't want it confiscated, do you?" Morgan asked. She grabbed the fallen glaive nearby, and a second one from near the first body Severa had spotted, then stashed all three weapons in her pouch. "All of these arrows are bent out of shape, anyways. I'll give the bow back to you along with another glaive after we get to Sol Hearth. Owain, you should let me hide your sword when we get there, too, just in case."
"Alright," Owain agreed readily.
"Keep your sword ready for now," Helios advised. "We're still a couple hours out from Sol Hearth." Then, as if to accentuate his point, he resumed his eastward march.
Owain quickly followed, but before Morgan could do the same, her older sister tugged her aside. "What were you doing earlier, standing still like that?" Severa hissed.
Morgan blushed. "I got distracted," she admitted. "Ouch!" she added, before turning and glaring into the hood dangling from the back of her robe.
"Ellie isn't happy about you spacing out either," Severa guessed.
"No, she isn't," Morgan said. "Or about me ignoring her. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"It had better not," Severa said grumpily. "Why is every place I've ever known full of monsters, anyways? Risen, eidolons, Faceless, and now these Nightmare things."
"Wraiths," Morgan mumbled.
"What was that?" Severa asked.
"Never mind," Morgan said quickly, suddenly realizing that Helios and Owain were already quite far ahead of them. "Come on. We don't want to get left behind."