Chapter 4: Duty
Opening my heavy eyes I saw a wooden roof. I looked around to see my surroundings were that of an unfamiliar bedroom.
Where am I….?
I saw sunlight from the windows so it was still day time.
I snapped out of my absentminded state when I remembered how Natasha was impaled and the monster being sliced in half by a mysterious woman.
"Natasha…!"
I frantically said as I sat up and looked around, the bedroom was about as normal as it got with a table beside me and some plants that decorated the room. The aroma of flowers filled my senses.
As I was getting my bearing I heard an unfamiliar voice.
"You finally awake?"
I turn to the doorway and see a blonde Elafia woman.
Hang on that's the same girl who saved me!
If I'm here then was Natasha…?
"Relax your feline friend's resting in another room, considering her injuries she'll be out cold for a couple more days but she'll recover"
Hearing that Natasha was alive filled me with relief as I casted my gaze downwards and I felt a small smile forming from my lips. I suppose I really did care about that loud feline.
I looked back up to the Elafia woman who I realised didn't seem much older than me, she was taller than Natasha for sure though if I had to guess it wasn't by much and her build was petite.
Her attire consisted of a white strapless top, a green skirt and brown boots. Despite her young appearance her facial expression seemed to convey a level of maturity well beyond her physical age especially the way those green eyes peer into my soul.
"While you didn't sustain major injuries like your friend I suggest you take it easy for the next couple of days, you were incredibly fatigued when I arrived"
My mind flashes back to when I heard that monster was sliced in half by the very woman that's standing in front of me.
Whoever this Elafia girl is she must be insanely strong.
"H-how long was I out?"
"Oh just a couple of hours"
"….I see…."
I cast my gaze downward once again thinking how Natasha getting hurt was my fault.
"I suppose introductions are in order since you'll be staying here for a few days, I'm Azusa Kano"
"…? Oh right yeah…it's Yui…Shirogane"
"Right so I've been meaning to ask, Yui, you girls still in school? You seem awfully young to be out in the field fighting those kinds of monsters"
"Yeah I'm a student at the Victorian Royal Guard Academy"
Hang on whose her to say I look too young, this Azusa lady doesn't look much older than me, just tall I suppose.
"Been a while since I've heard that place, I wonder how she's catching on…."
Azusa mumbled her reply but I was still able to make out what she said and all I can say is that she speaks like she's 100s of years old despite looking like a teen.
I felt too tired to inquire the blonde Elafia about what she means and I doubt she would tell me anyway.
That being said there was something else about Azusa's wording that caught my attention though.
"Hey Miss Kano—"
"Just call me Azusa"
"—Azusa, do you know what that monster was, you make it sound like you knew what it is"
Azusa pulls up a wooden stool at my bedside before taking a seat and answering my question.
"I know what each half of it was but at the same time I don't know what the whole of it is"
"I…have no idea what you even mean"
"Well to start how familiar are you with the term 'Collapsal'?
"Never heard of it"
"Figures, A Victorian Feline living in mainland Terra is unlikely to know of such things"
"Is this 'Collapsal' something I should know?"
"Not really for most folk due to their nature but that's where the problem lies, a being like what you fought a few hours ago had absolutely no business being so far away from the border"
I tilt my head to the side showing that I still had no idea what this Elafian lady was going on about.
"I see you still don't understand forgive me for this is likely to be quite the long explanation"
"Well I'm stuck here until Natasha gets better so I've got all the time in the world"
"Natasha…so that's her name…"
"Hmm? Did you say something?"
"Ah its nothing"
Azusa lets out a chuckle before finally getting to her explanation about
Collapsals.
"So to start they are extra-dimensional beings from Northern Terra, at least that's where their portal is located, and they seem to be mindless creatures intent on destroying everything in sight. The black liquid that seeps out of them is a result of the corruption they spread, it can corrupt wild animals and destroy the flora and fauna making agricultural farmland impossible where their corruption has spread"
"So that's what they do but you haven't answered WHAT they are"
"Frankly even I don't know, the forms they take varies but cognition does seem to play a part however its unclear how much influence being cognisant of them has"
Hmm, that might explain the surging headache I got when I looked at the monster, at least when I was a bit more focused.
"Collapsals…This whole corruption thing they do makes me think they're kinda like demons hell bent on destroying the world"
"Heh funny enough 'Demons' are their colloquial name, they also go by 'wicked spirits' or 'poltergeists', but for Samifjod people like me we call them 'Andskotarnir'"
"That's a lot of jargon"
"You don't need to remember it all, 'Demons' or 'Collapsals' is easy enough to grasp"
"I see…So how about the other half you mentioned earlier?"
"Ah…that's where things get a little tricky, as I explained the black liquid substance that permeated that beast was the Collapsal's corruption so that leaves the various tentacles it had growing out of it. Those tentacles belong to another being known as 'Seaborn' and these entities don't exactly have Terra's best interests in mind to put it lightly"
"Doesn't sound too different from the Collapsals"
"One could see it that way but Seaborns operate a little differently though, for one they work from a hivemind and their goal is to assimilate the people of Terra into them, for what purpose I have no idea"
"Just sounds like both these things want to kill everything"
"That would be the easiest way to go about thinking of them"
After listening to Azusa's explanation it was a lot to take in, like if there were these world ending threats how come everyone isn't notified of them?
"I know what you're thinking, why isn't this kind of information common knowledge? Well since the Collapsals are influenced by our cognition, suppressing their existence is probably for the best and the Seaborn have mostly been kept at bay at the coasts of Iberia so its not a stretch to think that no one really knows about them"
I nodded in acknowledgment regarding that long winded explanation and sought to ask the Elafia something else.
"Well I have a better understanding of what goes on in Terra now but that begs the question, who are you? From what I gather you're not some ordinary citizen of Terra aren't you?"
"I shouldn't be too surprised this is all a little sketchy to hear though I'm not sure my explanation is believable even I would swear that it is the truth"
"Let's hear it"
"….I was one of those that fought against the Collapsals, in my homeland Sami there are special fighters known as the Snowpriests, I was one of them"
"Was?"
"Its…its not something I feel comfortable discussing…simply part of it is that I abandoned my duty"
I can see a look of pain on Azusa's face, it seems whatever happened that led to her desertion was something I shouldn't pry into.
"There's another thing you should know, the reason I know all this is because the Samifjod Goddess of Purity blessed me with immortality, I've lived for longer than my appearance tells"
That's quite the thing to hear, I'm speaking to an immortal lady.
"Only immortal in the sense that my body will never age nor grow sick, If I suffer a fatal wound in combat I will simply die like anyone else"
"So I guess you've been around for so many years you've seen basically everything on Terra?"
"I only learned what I felt like was needed"
Azusa gave me a curt reply.
"Feels like we've been talking for a long time…so anyways where am I?"
"You're in my little cottage home located on the edge of the Sea of Clariside, right now we're between Victoria and Iberia"
"An ocean eh…wait where did you the Seaborn come from?"
"Oh? I never did explain that did I? As their name suggests the sea but there's no cause for alarm here as their point of entry is from Iberia's coastline, around where Aegir would sit"
"Well that's a relief"
"That does bring me to the most important topic our of conversation however"
"Which is?"
"What you fought could only be described as a hybrid of Collapsal and Seaborn influence onto a wild animal, a phenomenon that shouldn't even be possible let alone the fact that those beings are kept on Terra's borders so they just shouldn't be this far inland"
"Yeah I think you said that earlier…."
I remembered Azusa making a comment about how that monster shouldn't have been so far from the border.
"That's because along with Snowpriests of Sami that fight off the Collapsals, our neighbouring country Ursus has their own forces known as Emperor's Blade. Regarding the defence against the Seaborn, a group known as Abyssal Hunters deal with them"
"Things just get more and more complicated don't they?"
"It's a lot to take in, I've lived for long enough that all this information is second nature to me but don't fret to hard over it, just focus on the important things"
"I guess that would be best"
Azusa gets up from her stool.
"Well you seem recovered enough to walk wanna go see your friend?"
"O-of course!"
Tossing the blanket that covered me I followed Azusa to the next door room in the cottage and I see Natasha lying unconscious in a bed with a dome of green around her.
"That's my healing arts, she'll recover eventually as I was able to stop her bleeding in time and you should know that I also managed to purify the Corruption from the attack she took before it got too deep in her body"
Azusa explained as she gestured a hand towards Natasha's unconscious state.
I walked up closer to the green transparent dome and put my hands on it.
It was solid like a hard barrier but the blood that was all over Natasba was gone so whatever healing Arts Azusa used it must be really strong.
"You've had this on the whole time?"
"Well yeah otherwise she would've died"
Azusa answers like it was the most obvious thing in the world but my inquiry had more to do with the fact that Azusa managed to keep constant Arts running while she spoke to me for an extended period of time.
Are all Snowpriests this powerful? Probably.
I let out a mental apology to my feline friend as I let my hands go of the barrier.
"Can I go outside at least?"
"Yeah as long as you stay around here its all good"
Azusa escorts me to the front of the home and I'm met with a coastline and a sea breeze normally felt in Siesta.
The sun was shining bright and it made the scene look all so peaceful…
"I chose to settle down here at the Sea of Clariside due to its remote and relaxing location"
"Yeah I can see that…it feels like a holiday home or something"
I continue to gawk at the calm seas, its hard to believe the contrast with seas in Iberia filled with a hivemind swarm.
"Yui you got a minute?"
"Yeah?"
I turn my body around to face the blonde Elafia.
"I'm sorry to ask this but when you're feeling better may I ask that you investigate Laterano, from that monster's behaviour it seemed to be heading to the city, I don't know what it could mean but that corruption didn't make the beast as mindless as I thought, something strange is happening and we can't afford to sit around for too long"
"You seem much stronger though wouldn't it be better if you went?"
Azusa shakes her head.
"Then who would be here to make sure your friend recovers…sorry I didn't mean it that way"
"It's fine, I have faith in my own own ability to handle myself so I'll go, I'll head to Laterano to see if there's anything to be unravelled"
Ch.4 End
