I live!
My, this chapter took me a long time...But from now on, I will take even more creative liberties with the canon lore, which is why I'd like to know your thoughts on this first step. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed finishing it the way I envisioned it. That said, the next chapter will probably be in 2 months. My schedule is not as flexible as it used to be, sadly.
Until next time!
~Kalafinn
Snow covered the path Toto was telling him to follow, and Banthus could tell that ice had made the virgin snow hard as a stone. The way it glew under the sunlight left no doubt about it. The former captain got down of his mount to see just how thick the layer of ice was. Two steps down, he felt his foot slide slowly under him. If he was careful enough, he could make Solare cross through, but he did not know well this part of the forests. With a click of his tongue, Banthus turned towards Toto.
"I'm still not sure why you had to destroy that map you showed me, but are there ravines on the path we're walking on?"
The wolf-masked creature turned towards him, tilting its head, "The Ancient Phoru wishes to renew its fellowship with humans. You need not to know why, accept it as part of its invitation."
Banthus nodded, glancing at his horse before looking at Toto again, "do you think my horse can make the trip all the way through?"
"We already are within the Ancient One's territory and He will protect you as well as your property. That is a true promise. If you must doubt my words, you could leave your mount here. But you must know hungered hunters are knaves."
The one-eyed man looked down, his sigh was only an ephemeral cloud that escaped from his woollen scarf. He gave a pat to Solare's back and softly took his reins to guide him through the ice. Toto was right, he had noticed that villagers were not travelling as much as they used to. And the fields he had seen from afar were mostly half-empty, circled by small el shards. Banthus could only hope he could undo Lua's curse before the lack of El affected any village directly. His steps were careful, his only eye looking for any patches of snow that were duller, somewhere he could not slide on. Yet, he soon noticed that despite the shining surface, his feet were not sliding over the ice. Solare was walking as he would do on heavy snow, unaware of the ice.
Banthus looked to his right and noticed leaves were blossoming on the nearby trees, the frost was melting under a warm summer breeze and, not more than twenty steps later, Banthus could almost swear he had travelled back in time, to the summer where he had witnessed how vile Wally had become. He lowered his scarf and took off his heavy fur coat, tying its sleeves around his hips. There were no traces of winter here, but there were shadows of Phorus and even some of the same warming lights he had seen before he lost his eye hovering in the air like fireflies. They got closer to him, their soothing magic surrounding him and almost completely erasing the fear and bitterness autumn and the beginning of winter had brought with them. He noticed that neither his hair was no longer resting on his shoulder blades and that his beard was not covering his collarbone. He saw a nearby lake, so pure it reflected the sky and he got closer to it to look at his reflexion. He looked as if he had truly travelled back to the summer, save for his eye. Only the ugly lump of scarred tissue remained, crossed by the few stitches he made to himself. He had passed out trying to tend to his wounds properly, once the fever had settled in. It was no wonder it had healed so poorly.
The Phorus approached him. Their deformity no longer caused him terror nor disgust, only sympathy and pity. Although they did not speak to him, they were very interested around Toto, staring at him, getting closer, then leaping back. It was then Banthus noticed some Phorus were taller than others, some reaching the height of a bear on is two rear legs. He glanced around to see if the other Toto he had helped was around, but there was no luck. A finger poked his shoulder, making him turn around to see who it was. The second Toto waved at him.
"Banthus Evans. My wish to you is a warm welcome. All the Totos wish the same."
"Good to see you again, Toto."
At least twenty Phorus turned towards him, tilting their heads. They all had yellow eyes and the tips of their claws, no matter how skeletal they were, had the same colour. That was probably the way to distinguish them from the rest. Other had orange eyes and rust-coloured claws, the ones who were as tall as bears had magenta eyes and claws. The former leader waved at all those who had turned at the mention of their name.
"Hello, Totos. Thank you for welcoming me here. Same goes to the rest of you."
He swept the group of hundreds of Phorus with his eye and they soon looked back at him. And so, he continued, "I'm sure you already know, I wish to reverse the curse Lua the witch put over your shoulders. And I'm a man of my word," he whistled and Solare trotted towards him. Banthus untied a cloth bag from the stallion's back and revealed the El Shard to them, "I might not be a mage, but I do know this is the only thing that can help you. But the same is true for the villagers that live around these forests. I need the knowledge of the Ancient Phoru to find the fastest way to free you and protect the villagers I swore to defend when I became a knight."
Something rumbled in the distance, the trees shook as if something gigantic was swinging from them. But there were also steps of an even taller Phoru. And the sound of a rusty sword being dragged over stones. Banthus held the grip of his sword on instinct, ready to get the first strike at whatever was coming. It had to be two people, or two more spirits. One of the two Totos pulled on the sleeve of his jacket. He glanced at the Phoru for a second.
"Do not be hostile. The Monkey King is not an enemy."
"The Monkey King? Does it have a sword or is there someone else?"
"It is the second protector. The Forgotten One. The Ancient One's younger brother. He carries no weapons but its fangs and fists. Only William carries human weapons."
Banthus flinched at the mention of the name. He remembered the cruel curse Lua had used to defile the corpses of his men. It was hard for him to control his guilt when the tallest human Phoru emerged from the forest, lazily letting their sword drag behind them. The weapon was long and still sharp enough to cut someone in half in one swing and the two men who shared the same rodent body were excellent knights. Yet, their grey faces looked more defeated than anyone else's. William sat down, far from the rest of the Phorus, their blue rags getting shredded and tangled by their claws and their weapon. Will's face slid to the empty eye socket and when their eyes met, Will soon looked away and perhaps convinced Liam to get up again and go back into hiding.
Banthus furrowed his eyebrows, his eye stung and his heart covered itself in lead, painfully sinking down. The one-eyed knight gulped, the knot in his throat bitter as his heart cried silently, picturing some sort of miracle ritual he could to at that very moment to end his men's misery. Yet, he knew all too well that could not be. Banthus closed his eyes, took a deep breath and faced the giant, black and grey gorilla that was approaching him, its ruby gaze speaking of ages before the first rubenians, perhaps before the first elves settled in these forests. The beast was almost half as tall as the oldest gigantic trees, making everyone else seem ridiculously small in comparison.
The same lights that had given his old look back danced around him as solemnly as a court would honour a monarch. The beast huffed, its gaze focused on the El Shard he had taken out. And then, it spoke. The Monkey King's voice was a tingle at the back of his spine that sprung upwards, only to be heard within his head as loudly as if it had roared.
"Banthus Evans. You say you wish to undo the curse that made the Totos, the Mars and the Brure. And you say you wish to assuage the pain of the villagers. You cannot accomplish any of those wishes. Your body is not as strong as your resolve. Your mind sharp in battle, compassionate to those you cherish and true to your heart. And yet, it is not cunning enough to solve both problems."
Banthus, although intimidated by the beast, would not simply agree silently to what the Monkey King had told him.
"If that's the case, why would I be invited to this place?", he clenched his fists, thinking about the success of his plan. He felt less afraid now. His mind was determined to get past the doubts the Monkey King wished to sow in his mind, "I don't think you or the Ancient Phoru would invite me, send a Toto to keep me safe during the journey to this place and let me speak to you if you both thought there was no way I could at least accomplish one of my goals."
"That is correct. I know there is a small chance you can make true one of your wishes. And my question to you is this: Which one would you choose?"
Banthus fell silent. He had always told himself he would first and foremost help the Phorus, but the hunger he had seen in the villages had made that resolve waver for days. The Monkey King growled softly.
"If you wish to correct the mistake you made to the villagers, give me the El and I shall bring it where it belongs. And you will also be brought somewhere you can be judged by the humans."
From the corner of his eye, Banthus saw Will again, peeking to what he was going to say. It made his choice even less clear. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists so tightly he felt blood softly slide down his palm. Banthus knew he was to blame for the suffering of the villagers, and that he deserved to be put in a cell for it. But that humid darkness was the home of new nightmares. And he would have let down Will and Liam again. Nothing would ever repair that. They would slowly lose their identity as humans, becoming as mute as the masked Totos were when he first met them.
"No, I don't want that."
"It is the most desirable choice for any human."
"It's not!" he hissed, looking up, directly at the eyes of the giant gorilla, "Because I would regret having the power to heal the scar that Lua left on hundreds of people and doing nothing with it."
"You understand that none of the Phorus will return as a human, yes? That wish will ultimately free the human souls from the cell of flesh Lua gave them."
"Even so, I wish to do it."
The Monkey King held his gaze fixed in his for a long moment and Banthus did not look away at any point. Finally the Monkey King sighed, "If you wish to bind your fate to appease the dead, so be it. Be very careful, Banthus Evans. Humans who surround themselves with spirits often join them."
The Monkey King turned away from him an leaped back into the forests it had come from.
Will and Liam's gazes were fixed on him. Even if they could not cry, their expressions were fixed in dry sobs they could not hide. They were infinitely grateful to their commander, and they could feel that the same feeling was overwhelming the rest of the Phorus as well. They were all looking at Banthus, their minds collectively agreeing on aiding him so he could break the prophecy the Monkey King had given him.
The second oldest spirit of the forests had never been wrong before, but there had not been anyone who wished to change that willingly. Until now. No Phoru had never completely forgotten they had once been human and they wished to at least die as one. If, on top of that, they could help those who still lived, their long years stuck as unnatural spirits would not be completely meaningless. William picked up their sword as they had often done before and walked before Banthus. They made sure to stay far enough so the smell of their rotten flesh would not disturb their captain.
"Captain," Will began, sliding his head so he could easily look at his superior, "everyone here is extremely grateful for the choice you took."
He impaled his long, rusty blade on the ground as Liam slid his head to look at the captain too, "I know we look like monsters now, but," he knelt in front of his captain, "please allow not only us, but every Phoru around here to become your new brothers-in-arms."
Although they bowed and they could not see the expression on their commander's face, the small chuckle he gave was familiar.
"How can I refuse that request from my most trusted men and those I promised to save? I can't make all of you knights even if I wanted to, but I accept every single one of you as my comrades. You deserve it."
Will and Liam looked up, offering a small smile at the man they had served for years. They had feared the encounter with Lua had completely broken him, but that was far from the truth. Both former knights were all the more happy for it. The masked Totos were smiling too, underneath their wolf masks.
The earth shook under the heavy march of the Ancient Phoru. It appeared from the plains behind the lake. It would be impossible for anyone to walk so firmly in the stagnated waters beyond the stream that was born from the lake, but the Ancient Phoru controlled its land to his will. The waters split as he made each step forward. The white, horned beast was as long as the lake itself and even on four legs, it was as tall as a century old tree. On two legs, it could have eclipsed the sun from any Phoru in front of him.
"Banthus Evans," its ageless voice echoed in everyone's minds, "The Monkey King informed me of your choice. I am glad I was not mistaken when I decided to renew my ties to mankind in this grim era."
"Grim?" Banthus asked.
"There have been more demon sightings across my forests. Some even unleashed old curses like the one in the Ancient Ruins. Undoing that evil is, in my eyes, the first step towards a more peaceful Era."
The one-eyed leader nodded and showed the Ancient Phoru the El, as one would offer a sacrifice to a god. The white beast stared at it with its green eyes and made some of its mana flow into it with only a short huff. The El glowed and a wave of light spread through the forest and beyond.
"I believe that might have given more time to the villagers. Most of them will survive the winter. And the spring harvest will be bountiful. Now, follow me. Unlike my brother, I believe you have what it takes to fulfill both of your goals."
Banthus could not tell how time passed in the White Mist Swamp, but now he understood why this place was called that way. The swamps, when the Ancient Phoru was not around, were hidden so well by clouds of mist it created the illusion that what laid beyond the swamp was nothing more than more forest. Even when he was up close, it wasn't until he was in the middle of the first cloud that the thick mud and smell of stagnated water made the scenery clear.
He had to be there to cut wood from those trees to make the masks the Ancient Phoru would later imbue with its ancient power and put it over different phorus. Those with orange claws were the Mars clan and those tall as bears where the Brure clan. While Banthus did not make any precise shape with each mask, the magic made each clan develop a distinct mask design. All Totos developed wolf masks with yellow marks around their cheeks, the Mars had fox masks and the Brure developed boar masks. Each one had their distinct clothing and speech manner. In that regard Will and Liam were quite unique from the rest. Sadly, that also meant that they could not have any mask just yet. The magic that had transformed them was too strong and the Ancient Phoru feared it would spread into the El.
But one day, the ancient spirit said to him, the curse would be weak enough to release their souls too.
One of the boar-masked Brure came to him, running in its new blue outfit like a tall, furry human.
"Boss Banthus," it hollered as it slowed down, its giant club of wood hanging like a sword over its back. It was panting and, once it took a deep breath, the boar-masked spirit continued with its croaky voice, "Boss. People. Nearby. They mention you's name 'n they armed."
Banthus got up, hiding back the El Shard in his bag, dropping his half-finished mask on the ground, "Thanks for keeping an eye out, Brure. Have they injured anyone?"
"They has Toto. Toto who travel in you's company."
Banthus frowned, "Tell the rest to not fight back. We don't need anymore injuries. See if the Forest fairies can help you with their golems and distract them so other Totos can take the one they took to the Ancient Phoru. We need His help if Toto is injured."
The Boar-masked Phoru nodded, "Yes, boss."
As it ran away, it made a roar, gathering hundreds of pixies who gathered around bushes and trees, bringing them to life as knights to use as distractions. While that same spectacle had scared him in the Ancient Ruins, the magic the fairies were using was so bright and natural it was awe-inspiring to see them bring to life golems from nature. Those trees were not there to hurt him, but help Toto, he thought, and that was perhaps what made all the difference. Banthus called for his mount and Solare came right to him, its hooves pounding the muddier ground near the swamp. Even if the terrain was difficult, Solare was still protected by the Ancient Phoru and he could dash as fast as he did on the best stone-paved roads in Velder.
Banthus patted its neck and mounted swiftly, "Alright pal, we gotta find the Ancient Phoru. And fast."
He clicked his tongue twice, spurring his stallion so it dashed straight to the small temple where the Ancient Phoru would always speak from.
Luciela thought she had fully healed before they ventured inside these forests. Although the weather was significantly warmer, the demoness still felt the soreness of her bandaged wounds. The cold, perhaps, was what was making every stride more bearable. And once that was gone, every punch and leap reverberated, menacing to break her healing fractured bones again. A small voice in her head warned her that her pain was from even older wounds, but she dismissed it.
The demon countess punched through a final golem, sweat dripping down her forehead. She was forced to use her true form to make the acute pain over her barely healed injuries as brief as possible. Besides, Rena was not there to heal their new scratches and neither Elsword nor Aisha were fully recovered yet. The demoness did not wish to see them both return badly injured again. There were no healers around, at least not one as talented as Wilma in Foldengard. The hunters of Haden preferred to simply pray to nature to cure those who had grown weaker. She only regretted that her magic could only heal her and Ciel. It would be worse than poison for anyone else.
The steady wood creaks behind her alerted her of the presence of the same moving trees which had attacked them. Unlike their last battle, Luciela was already expecting the muffled crawling beneath their feet as the roots of the moving trees caved their way to them in a circle to surround them.
"Aisha! Use your scroll, now!" The demoness howled, piercing an incoming golem with chains of demonic mana. It would not kill it, but she was draining its mana steadily to keep Ciel from fainting. Once she knew he had leapt in the air, propelled by the heavy recoil of overcharged mana bullets, Luciela made the earth crack underneath her feet and jumped herself. The young wizard had Elsword next to her and the teleportation scroll in her hands glowed with magic. Its light blinded her for an instant, but when her sight returned, they were right in the place they needed to be: behind the trees. Luciela swung with all her might the dying golem and its body of stone, earth and wood tore open the half of the trees that attacked them. The hit was a hammer tearing through a brick, sloppily cutting it in half.
The demoness was out of mana and that only made her demonic power increasingly unstable. She had to turn back to her child form and hope no other foes came for them in the next four hours. And that was assuming her lack of wings had not slowed her mana regeneration down by more than fifteen minutes. She took a deep breath, swiping the sweat off her forehead.
"So long for asking that guide some questions," Aisha mumbled.
"We still have a shot, Aisha," Elsword said, his ruby gaze burning with determination, "I think we're actually closer to the real swamp now."
"You wish. I can't control all too well where this scroll was going to take us. We could be stuck here for a month again!"
"Maybe not, " Ciel replied as he looked to his right, clenching his fist to keep himself alert. Lu lowered her gaze and walked towards him, putting her hand over his fist before handing him her last mana potion. While her servant silently thanked her and drank the potion, the two kids had focused on the strange fog that Ciel had only briefly looked at before.
"That's not quite mist," Aisha began, mana circuits flashed above her temples, increasing the keenness of her sight, "But that place is without a doubt a swamp."
"I told you!" Elsword grinned, "Come on, guys! We gotta run!"
"I am pleased by such enthusiasm," Lu said with a long sigh, "But I have no will left to run. And neither does Ciel."
"Oh, poor little Lu. Should I carry you piggyback style?" Aisha mockingly asked, "That way you can scout for enemies better."
Luciela shook her head, as if she were looking for something "Oh, this is not good at all, Aisha. By the El, I think you lost it for good."
The mage furrowed her eyebrows, "What?"
Neither Elsword nor Ciel knew how to put a halt to the incoming and inevitable fight as Luciela still pretended to look for something. They glanced at each other just as Lu stopped and looked at Aisha with a smug smile.
"You lost your sense of humour, Aisha. Judging by your confusion, it must have been gone for a long time."
Then she turned towards the rest of the group, leaving Aisha to, "Lead the way, Ciel. We have a mounted fugitive to catch. Elsword, Aisha, I'll close the march, so walk side by side."
The half-demon raised an eyebrow, but nodded at her order. Elsword followed, but Aisha was more reluctant keeping to her right, where the duchess' felt more sore. The group roamed about the forests, following the mass of white fog that covered the horizon more than a concrete path. There was not any to begin with, only patches of grass, vines and dried mud that were easier to walk than the rest of the forest. Luciela glanced to her right every five steps, her hearing focused on any sound that might be either a phoru or another golem.
If anything came their way, she'd have to leap upwards and shred the enemy with her left hand. The pain she was feeling on her right hand was strange. It had been a while since she had felt the numbing pain Barkat's curse left on her body. It was a bad sign, she knew it well. The pain had never appeared this clearly again since her escape. Aisha had to go in front of her so she could protect her. Seeing her from the corner of her eye was not enough.
Luciela grabbed Aisha's shoulder, "Go in front, now."
The mage glared at her, "Why should I? I'm good enough here."
Luciela stared at her broken arm, "With an arm like that? Go in front. If you were in good enough shape to deal with an ambush, I wouldn't insist."
Aisha groaned, "As if you were that much better."
The demoness frowned, but did not say a word. She could not pretend that she was in perfect shape, but she had no broken bones, no healing sight. Aisha was lucky she had not lost her left eye, but she would most be left with a scar over it when she took the bandages off tomorrow, Wilma had warned them about it.
When they least expected it, the weather got suddenly damp, the fog clouded whatever hid more than two steps in any direction. The group got instinctively closer to one another, each one holding their weapons. Luciela's next step splashed icy water onto her legs. She looked down and saw she had inadvertently soaked her leg up to her knee. No one but her seemed to have made her mistake. The reverberating pain over her bones was growing. Why was the remnants of that spell awakening now? This place was even deadlier than the elven grave they had escaped from. Ciel was the first one to look at her and soon enough, Elsword and Aisha followed. The silence was absolute and they could clearly hear a horse trotting towards them.
The way it sounded made no sense to Luciela. It was coming from the direction where she had stepped into the lake. It was not solid ground. Anything that ventured there would have made the waters splash around it. To her surprise, she felt the water retreat to the sides from her leg, soaking both Aisha's and Ciel's feet as it passed through.
Aisha raised her shield and formed a fireball from her fingertips, tearing a hole into the fog. The fire revealed a hooded rider and the masked guide mounted on one of the biggest stallions Luciela had seen in Elrios. The magic dispersed just before it hit the beast and two men on its path.
"Banthus!" the mage hollered, charging another fireball. The hooded figure straightened up, his hood falling down, revealing a very different image of the muscular and proud man Luciela remembered. Whatever had happened to him, it had scarred much more than his eye. The way he looked back and nodded revealed to her that the man was not alone. It was as if he had expected running into them here. The demoness heard the water mutter even further away, at least by more than ten trees, leaving the ground completely dry. Her bones were hurting more than ever before. Elsword's and Aisha's breath slowed down.
Every sensation that led to her son's death was repeating itself.
Without hesitating, Lu used her demonic magic to absorb until the last drop of mana Aisha could have used, negating the effects of the spell that was being cast. The mage fell to her knees, exhausted. Luciela did the same to Elsword, making him immune to the spell. If it entered the body of someone who either did not know how to shield their mana circuits or had very little mana running within them, it could not burn them inside out. Ciel was shocked by what she had done, she could tell. But she could not explain it to him. Not now. She transformed in a blaze of blue demonic flames, feeling more powerful than ever before, even if her current power came from a human's mana and was not the power she had lost.
"Leave it to me!", she ordered the rest of the group.
"Lu! Come back!"
"Lu, stop! We don't know what's behind Banthus!"
Yes, she knew that. Both Ciel's and Elsword's calling should have brought her back to her senses. But not this time. Whatever hid behind the fog, it would not take the lives of more children. She would never allow it. That was why she had learnt to control the scars she was left with. Chains of demonic energy reached out into the fog, piercing something gigantic, she could tell from the almost limitless mana reservoir she felt pouring into her body from the beast her weapons had latched onto. She felt it pull on the chains, with enough strength to almost make her lose her balance. Luciela, however, had slayed beastly kings in Rigomor who were as big as her enemy behind the fog or maybe just a tad bigger. She let go of the chains, commanding her with her mana to wrap around the legs and burn the beast while she leapt above the fog.
And instead of a blue sky, she saw the gigantic face of a horned rodent. She was so close she realized her full height was barely the equivalent of the pale pupils of the white beast's eyes. This beast, whatever it was, was bigger than any beast demon from Rigomor. The beast growled at her, freezing the air around her in place. The beast might have frozen time as Lu could neither move mid-air not fall again on the ground. She let a burst of flames out of her hands, breaking free from the grasp, grateful to feel the air again, even if she could not fly any higher anymore. The demon countess set her gauntlets ablaze, spinning them to form a small explosion summoning circle to dash gracefully back to the ground, where she could see her chains burn the beast. She would have to take them back and form a tempest of demonic flames to even scratch the beast. And she knew exactly where to aim: the beast's eyes.
"Foolish demon," an ageless voice echoed in her mind, "I see your every thought. Your every fear. That is why filth like you will die for good here."
Her eyes widened, her determination flinched for a second and the next thing she knew, painful vines were tied all over her neck, their thorns slowly biting on her flesh, their pressure drawing all the air out of her lungs. She tried to tear the vines apart with her power, but those vines could not burn no matter what. The fog vanished completely and she saw Ciel bound by the same vines, gasping for air. Luciela fought even harder, burning through the mana she had absorbed from both Elsword and Aisha, never burning more than the surface of the vines. Her true form vanished in a cloud of indigo smoke, her strong legs crumbling beneath her.
Once again, she could do nothing but watch as her moments were counted. Her vision blurred, every word that Elsword and Aisha shouted became a mumble of words, or perhaps only the shadows of words. The pain eventually got duller, the blood dripping from her new wounds dried, or so she thought. The demoness could not be sure if she was healing or if death was taking her in its embrace once more.
When she found the strength to blink, Lu took a deep breath, glad to still feel her heart beating even if her body felt as heavy as lead. She was resting on Ciel's lap, judging by the feel of it. The other two kids would not conceal daggers in their pants' pockets.
"Lu," Ciel softly called her, his hand combing back strands of her hair, "are you awake?"
"I am. Are you ok?"
He did not answer, but she soon understood he had been much less injured than her. And so were Elsword and Aisha. Thank Sult allmighty that she could protect those kids and Ciel, she thought. If something had happened to any of them, Luciela did not even want to think what she would have done. Her head hurt, but she found the strength to sit down, helped by her only servant. The two kids were coming back from somewhere to the south-west, both of them out of breath and worried. However, the worry in their eyes melted away when they saw her.
"Oh thank the El," Elsword said, getting closer to her, "Lu, what were you thinking, going against the Ancient Phoru like that?"
So that beast was the Ancient Phoru, she thought, a frown souring her face. It was far more powerful than anything she had faced in all the centuries she had lived through.
"The Ancient Phoru was going to kill you both. I needed to stop it before it caught us." she weakly replied. For some reason, her throat was incredibly dry. She passed a hand around her neck, looking for any wounds the vines might have left, but found nothing. That was strange.
Something in the back of her mind stung; it was something Ciel thought and hid. She looked at him briefly, but found no telling sign of what it could have been. Aisha crossed her arms, looking back at the place she and Elsword had come from.
"Well, if you're good enough to stand or get carried, that's good enough. No thanks to that, we lost Banthus's trail. He headed out south-west."
Luciela glared at the ungrateful child, "Are you ressenting me from trying to protect you?"
The purple-haired girl shrugged, "The Ancient Phoru only went berserk at you and Ciel. It didn't wish harm to neither Elsword nor me. Only reason why you two still breathe is because somehow Elsword could speak to that spirit. Or so he claims. If anything, you put us all in danger."
The red-haired boy turned sharply at Aisha, "Why are you still like that towards Lu and Ciel, Aisha? You don't know what it was going to do to us if Lu hadn't intervened. I already told you that-"
"It's your word against the facts, Elsword!" the mage yelled back, "I am a mage, I can sense if anyone is or will launch a mortal spell at us. It did not attack us at all. I saw that, you saw it too."
Elsword clenched his fist and Lu could feel from his quiet that he was going to let out everything that had frustrated him in one fight. She had seen it plenty of times from youngsters in the demon realm. But Elsword was not a demon. That kind of act went against what he was. It would be a gesture he would regret forever. Luciela got up and put her hand over Elsword's shoulder. The boy looked at her and back down at his unthrown punch. He clicked his tongue, nodded in apology to her and sighed.
Luciela looked sternly at Aisha, the confident rage of the mage melting away as she approached.
"I won't deny you are a powerful mage, Aisha. But you have much left to learn. Ancient and spiritual magic are two of the many things you have proven to lack mastery of. I'm no mage myself, but those two aspects of magic are part of my expertise."
"I know ancient magic too." she replied, trembling with shame.
"Then surely you would know how to replicate my blue flames, correct?"
Aisha looked down, almost at the verge of tears. The only flames she had ever known were bright and orange. Demonic fire was something not even many demonic lineages remembered how to replicate. The Soulscream clan was the only exception.
"Do not feel ashamed, Aisha," Lu reassured her, "You are still only at the beginning of life. You'll have time to learn more. And you have a point, you know?"
Aisha raised an eyebrow at her, unsure if she should trust Lu's imitation of Rena's motherly attitude. Somehow, in the mage's mind, Lu's felt more natural.
The demoness offered her a brief smile, "I know what I did was rash. I should not have done all of that without telling any of you."
With those words, she turned towards the rest of the group, but her gaze lingered at Ciel. Luciela hoped that he would speak to her later, so she could understand why he had hidden his thoughts moments ago. "And for that, I offer my apologies to all of you."
"Don't worry about it, Lu," the Steel Cross replied, but it did little to reassure her. His smile was cold. But no one but her could notice. Elsword agreed with Ciel's words and soon after, so did Aisha.
They all decided to make their way back to Haden and tell both Rena and Ain what had happened.
The Monkey King was watching next to his brother both Banthus trot to the Shadow Forest and the group of adventurers fight golems controlled by fairies to get out of the White Mist Swamp. With the incantations the Fluonian mage commanded, burning through scroll after scroll, she could command the fairies out of the golems. But it took time and, although it made the advance easier, the other three had to protect her until then. His red eyes widened when he saw the blue flames the white-haired girl conjured from her gauntlets. And he growled in anger when the wind unveiled the mark of the Soulscream clan on her back: she was a demon noble. Her attacks withered the life out of the nature golems, using it to empower her own attacks. No. She used that energy to heal the blue-haired sniper. It had to be her servant.
"Is she the reason why you decided to renew its fellowship with humans?"
"No," the Ancient Phoru replied in his head, "It's because of the boy."
"The boy? What do you see in him?"
The group had finally stopped fighting, noticing that the Toto they had captured was no longer there. The two kids started to argue and, if it was not for his brother's words, the Monkey King would have stopped focusing on the group.
"Look carefully, brother. Stare into his soul and his destiny."
The Monkey King did not like to use his powers so trivially, it drained his mana so much it oftentimes left him exhausted. Back when the Rubenians remembered him, he did not have to worry for such things. But even his golden age could not be eternal. The Spirit focused on the child far away from him, piercing his conscience with his power. The boy turned around him, clenching his fist over his heart. His eyes widened in fear, he stepped back. The Old Light surrounded the boy, taking him to a blessed crown of thorns. A benefactor raised her sword to protect the new king as the fangs of dusk pierced the sky. Hands of darkness reached out to a pure light, protecting the new hero from ending all what he had known.
A purple rose tied the hands to a garden, trapping dragging along the motherly darkness no matter how much it fought. Once the gates of the garden closed, two gazes met between the darkness that the garden gate separated. The one who was trapped within the garden cried, not cry out of fear, but out of regret. The arms of darkness reached out again, trying to take away the cold evilness from the eyes who were free. But the free entity of darkness took the prisoner's hands, swept the tears away and vanished.
The garden's prisoner watched, hurt, its tears flowed again and became poison. Petals bloomed on the ground, growing into giant trees before their life was swayed away. A burst of ancient light cut the garden in half, destroying both the flowers in the garden and the darkness trapped within. The protector and the new king would live on, awakened to the severed world but would never try to reconcile it.
Never, since the El exploded, had the Monkey King seen such great tragedy inside a hero's destiny. He undid his spell and shook his head, still refusing to fully accept the magnitude of that boy's future journey in all of his paths of fate.
"To think the diluted Rubenian blood could still be this powerful..."
The boy calmed down, taking a deep breath, giving a smile to the mage who had been the first to rush towards him. The demoness' eyes had a mother's worry at a sick child. She said something to the young hero, to which he nodded, saying something back that brightened a little her expression.
"Brother, you are right about Banthus Evans. But, without him, I could not have had the chance to speak directly to that boy. It's just such a shame I can't kill those filthy demons without ruining the boy's destiny."
The giant gorilla huffed, "I always hated that scheming part of you."
"Ah, dear brother, that's not a fair judgement. You and I both know this is the first of many trials the little hero needs to live up to his fate. You saw it, did you not?"
He had. But that did not mean that the tricks his brother used were any good. Fate was unchanging, even if it had many faces. There was no need to push one outcome over the other; it was not their place as protectors to act as gods. Yet, the goddess had been dormant for the past five centuries. She had no power to judge them anymore, and the same was true for Elria.
Without their authority, the Monkey King was not even an obstacle to his brother. The Ancient Phoru was, by all means, the deity of this side of the world and he did what he pleased. He had hopes that the Ent, being a spirit more powerful and older than them, would not bow to the Ancient Phoru nor follow his footsteps. The two goddesses were going to awaken soon enough, if the young Elsword Sieghardt embraced the crown of thorns that awaited at the end of his journey.
