Author's Note: FINALLY. It took me an AGE to write this chapter. It ended up being more fast-paced than I liked, but it's something. I tried making it work, but it may read wonky in some places. More notes at the end!
P.S. I totally deleted the prior chapter 6, that's why you got an update there was a new chapter 6.
UPDATE 2/24/2021: Updated description of Kain due to Chapter 8, and development within the plotline itself.
It felt like an age.
Everything felt so heavy, including my eyes. But I tried my hardest to open my eyes. I had been in an unending void of nothingness, so time felt weird to me. What had happened? It felt like there was a fog in my head, stopping me from thinking properly. I heard voices, and one of them was concerned and worried. The other was a deep, familiar voice... Arvald...? How had he...?
My consciousness faded as I let that thought cross my mind.
It wasn't too long before I found myself regaining consciousness again. I still felt so, so heavy. I heard voices again. But this time a woman's voice.. A rough voice... Ryda? Was I with the bandits again? Izayoi's voice broke through, and I heard her say something along the lines of there being something wrong with our pact and that I shouldn't be having this problem...
Or perhaps I misheard.
It wasn't long before I fell back into the darkness, unable to stay conscious for longer than a few minutes.
When I was finally able to open my eyes, a week had passed. I'd been meaning to wait for Sorey and the others, but I'd spent the entirety of the time they were gone fading in and out of consciousness. Sitting up, I put my hands to my face. My head felt fuzzy and there was the feeling of brain fog. I probably woke up too quickly, but that would be a problem for later. It didn't seem like there was anyone there, so I got out of the bed, though shakily as I hadn't moved for quite some time and my body had to readjust to it. It took a few moments to reach the door and open it. I was in the Lastonbell Inn, and...
"You're awake!" I heard Rose's voice, and looked over to see her hurrying to my side. A good thing, too, as I fell over onto her and she had to hold me up. With a sigh and a smile, she helped me over to the lobby of the inn and helped me sit in one of the chairs. The weight in my chest was heavy. Heavier than it usually was, and it felt like it was pressing against my chest and forcing me to breathe a bit harder than usual. There wasn't much I could do except try to breathe normally with the weight in my chest. I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew I didn't like it. It felt like my entire body was rejecting something, but what was it? I didn't know, and it was suffocating.
"Are you alright?" Lailah asked, putting a hand to my head. "...You're not feverish. But you still look really pale."
Izayoi shook her head. "It's never really happened like this before. I don't know what's wrong with her, Lailah. I don't understand." She looked depressed, and very upset with herself.
"Don't think too hard on it, Izayoi. We'll figure out the solution. In fact, we're going to Goddodin soon. Maybe there's a solution there."
"I can carry her along." The voice of Arvald was surprising. I looked up at him, the tall intimidating man. "That way she won't overexert herself and collapse again. And if she passes out, well, she's safe with me."
"Alright. Thank you, Arvald." Lailah bowed a little, her hands still clasped in front of her. "I appreciate yours and Aevar's help."
"Guys, I'm fine..." I said, but obviously I wasn't. I wanted to be, and yet... there was no way for me to be. This had been happening since the moment I'd become the Oracle, and I suppose it was a way of saying I hadn't adjusted to Izayoi being my Prime Lord. I didn't understand why I hadn't, but... perhaps there was a reason as to why. Maybe there was something wrong, that neither Izayoi nor Lailah could understand.
The plan ended up being that Arvald would carry me there, and I'd basically rest in the places he put me as to not use up all the energy I was already low on. It wasn't ideal, but it was something. Though there was a bit of a spat between Sorey and Dezel about bringing me along in this condition, the wind seraph relented and just scoffed. A "do as you want" coming from him. Guess he cared, but I'd gotten that feeling for some time that he was just a big softie in the end. Maybe it was just my memories of playing the game that was influencing this, but at this point I didn't really care. As soon as everything was set and ready, Arvald picked me up in his arms and ducked under the doorframe. I'd forgotten how big he was, or never paid much attention. Arvald was a giant of a man, and he easily dwarfed the others by quite a bit. Perhaps his genetics were different from others, or he just had an intense growth spurt.
Either way, it was effective since he could deal with hellions with one hand free. Aevar, who was trailing behind and had been quiet the entire time, spoke up after a bit. "You scared me, you know? Fainting like that. Izayoi keeps saying she doesn't understand what's wrong, but there's something amiss. When did this start happening?"
I had to think. When exactly did it start happening?
"Why are you here?!" Lailah asked as Sorey armatized with Edna. "Water seraphim are more suspectible to being corrupted by malevolence, Izayoi!"
The seraph, Izayoi, shook her head. "I followed my dreams, Lailah. They told me the Oracle was here! Even if I turn into a Hellion, I must see this through!"
Lailah gasped. "But that's just a fairytale!"
Izayoi smacked her hammer against one of the hellions, and bubbles appeared. They seemed to glow with the same light that Lailah's flames of purification did, but it was no use. "No, the Oracle is real. They help the Shepherd. But I suppose your oath prevents you from speaking about it." The water seraph tucked her hair behind her ear. It was silver, with light blue at the ends and reached her waist while tied back in a low ponytail at the nape of her neck. There were some pieces of her hair that fell free, framing her face. Izayoi's outfit consisted of a white off-shoulder shirt, a black corset and a pale blue skirt that reached only the middle of her middle finger. Black leggings and silver boots brought together the ensemble, and on her hands were rings of silver and blue. Her eyes were a silver colour as well. A beautiful woman made for combat, it seemed.
"Izayoi!" The malevolence seemed to be converging on the water seraph, who was trying to hold it back with the bubbles. Lailah was concerned, and tried burning the malevolence away. It didn't work. "Izayoi, you need a vessel! You're going to become a hellion!"
"I know, Lailah. But the Oracle... They're here, and I'm going to help them. That's why I made my purification oath, so I could also help." Izayoi held out her hand. It wasn't hard for me to imagine who she might've been waiting for. With a sharp intake of breath, I took her hand. She looked at me, and then her face softened into a smile.
It was almost instant, our pact. Unlike Lailah's, there was no fancy words. No "I'll become the Oracle!", a mirror of what Sorey would have done. It was a silent agreement, something we both decided on within a moment. But when she entered me, I felt a weight and a pain in my chest. Like something was wrong, an imbalance in my body. I took in another breath, and exhaled slowly. She hopped out of my body in a flash of light, hammer held in one hand.
"Our pact is complete." Izayoi said. "Now I can assist you, Lailah."
Back then... when we were forced to fight in a war. I'd felt so odd when the pact was made, and it merely persisted until I armatized... and then it got worse. I coughed a little, a dry cough that still hurt my chest and didn't dislodge the weight that I felt in it. Leaning against Arvald, I closed my eyes for a bit. When I opened them again, the sun had nearly set and camp was being set up for the night. I was sitting against a tree, and I hadn't answered Aevar's question from earlier. I'd probably passed out when I just wanted to rest my eyes for a few moments to ignore the pain...
"You're awake." I looked over to Izayoi, who was standing with her back towards me. "I've been thinking. I believe I know why you're having such a hard time, and I had to ask Lailah to confirm. The last time I made a pact was when there was an Earth Seraph as a Prime Lord. Now that Lailah's Prime Lord, we're imbalanced."
Imbalanced? Wait, didn't that mean that the pact was the problem? "Izayoi?"
"You can walk, so come with me." Carefully, I stood up and started walking with her. We walked for a bit, until we came across a couple of hellions. There was a seraph attempting to fight them off, but failing badly. Izayoi sighed and armatized with me, and I could feel the weight increasing even more. I stumbled, but moved myself forward to help the seraph before they got killed by the hellions.
It wasn't too difficult to defeat the hellions, but it was extremely taxing. My body felt heavier and heavier, and I had to force-cancel the armatization before I fell over. I coughed, collapsing to my knees and unable to breathe. The weight was suffocating me, continually. I could hear Izayoi's panic, and then a resigned noise from someone else. The weight, slowly, lifted from my chest and I was able to catch my breath. There was a hand on my back, and a warm feeling.
"I can't do this every time, Izayoi. You're making her worse." The seraph snapped, turning to her. I stood and looked at the two. The seraph had long, black hair tied into a ponytail with the Fire Seraph pink ends and wore a tattered red scarf, a grey dirty tunic with black trim, long black pants and matching boots. Attached to his belt was a chakram, and sheathed at his side was a sword. I couldn't see his face, but what little skin I could see was tanned. His face was mostly covered by a red mask, as if he was hiding from something. His belt had an unusual pattern to it, as I'd noted when my eyes travelled over him to get a better look at him. His eyes, though, were as red as his scarf and mask. A crimson colour, if I was correct.
As we stared at each other, Izayoi wrung her hands a little, glancing away from me. Looking between us, the seraph sighed and gave me a slight shove back. Usually, I could catch myself but I felt overwhelmed and fell backwards into the grass. I could see spots as I hit my head on the ground, and covered my eyes to make sure the pain would go away. What was he trying to prove by doing this?
"She's not going to last much longer, Izayoi. Maybe a week at most. Look how far she's deteriorated just from being in a pact with you!"
"I-I know, I just..." Izayoi's voice was thick with grief. "I don't want to leave Lailah unprotected!"
"I don't care about your perceived feelings for Lailah. Instead of letting them go, you choose a human vessel not even two months after the previous one died because of you." Wait, what? "Now you're killing another because you want to be close to Lailah. I won't be able to save her unless you undo your pact now."
"I can't! Lailah needs me, and I-"
I heard the sound of a hand meeting someone's face and uncover my face, sitting up. The seraph had slapped Izayoi, who was holding her hand against her cheek. Her eyes were filled with tears, and she looked back at the seraph.
"Kain, you know that I have to be with Lailah..." Izayoi said, causing the seraph to grab her shoulders.
"You're killing this innocent human in the process! Didn't you learn about the Oracle Rules?! Dissolve the pact, or she'll-"
"Wait..." I stood up. "...I'm dying? Izayoi, is... the pact killing me?"
"No, of course not!" Izayoi said, lying to me. "You're just having some problems adjusting to being my vessel!"
"It is," Kain said bluntly, letting go of Izayoi and walking up to me. "With how far you've deteriorated, you only have about a week or less left to live unless Izayoi dissolves the pact with you."
A... week or less?
I was going to die without being able to go back home? My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes. I wouldn't be seeing anyone at home again, would I? Not my friends, my family... or my pets. I'd die in Glenwood, never being able to go back home and... It was just too much, so I left the two of them there as I ran off towards the camp. If I'm to die, then I'll do it with the others.
Not alone. Never alone.
Izayoi hadn't talked to me since. It'd only been about eight hours since we talked and I'd passed out once I reached camp. The burden of knowing my life was being cut so short was heavy, but not heavy enough to outweigh the weight in my chest. The sign that my life was close to ending. I didn't understand why this was happening to me of all people, but I had always had shitty luck. When I'd gotten back to camp yesterday, I'd informed them of the fact I only had a week or less to live due to Izayoi's pact with me. They all had taken it as well as they could, but I knew they were concerned.
Arvald's shirt was soft, and it felt nice against my face. Something I wouldn't feel again once I passed. Izayoi was being selfish, concerning herself with assisting Lailah with me being the Oracle without being concerned about my well being. She didn't even seem to care that I was dying because of her, as she continued on like nothing was happening. Kain, the seraph from before, was trailing behind with Aevar. We were headed in the same direction of Goddodin, so he had decided to tag along.
Once we were there, Arvald set me against the wall at the gate and Aevar sat beside me. I didn't really care about what was going on, more concerned about how short my life had been cut because of Izayoi, who was outright ignoring me now. I wouldn't help Sorey with taking down Cardinal Forton, I wouldn't be able to see the end of the journey. I was dying, and I wouldn't make it to Pendrago in this state.
I would be dead before then.
I hadn't taken much thought into my own mortality until I learned, and Kain had been brutally honest about it. I wasn't going to survive for much longer like this.
"Izayoi, please... I don't want to die..." I said, voice weak. "Just... dissolve the pact."
Izayoi didn't respond, like usual. For a moment, anyway. "When you die, I'll use your friend. I have to help Lailah, and I'll go through as many humans as I have to so she'll be safe."
That...
Was it.
"So you don't care, huh?" I stood up, the movement paining me as the weight had gone from just my chest to my entire body within the night. "If I die, you'll just use Aevar, right? Dissolve the pact, I'm not going to die because of you!"
"No. I won't." Izayoi turned to me, narrowing her eyes. "Lailah is the most important person in the world to me, and I won't let stupid humans keep me from protecting her!"
Malevolence... Izayoi's entire body was engulfed by it. I hadn't been corrupted, but... perhaps Izayoi had been even before we made our pact. It would make some lick of sense. A whirlwind of malevolence formed, and dispersed soon after to form a drake. I felt the pressure in my body increase, and my vision started to fade. I choked and coughed as I collapsed. I couldn't even keep myself up anymore. This entire time, that feeling... was malevolence? Izayoi... had already been corrupted by malevolence before making her pact with me?
"Damn it!" I heard the familiar rough voice of Kain as warmth spread throughout my body. "I hate it when this happens to old friends. Sorry, Izayoi."
But before I passed out, I saw Sorey and Mikleo move in front of me. Protecting me...? I...
I don't understand.
When I woke up, I felt better. The weight was gone, and I didn't feel as bad as I usually did. Sitting up, I noted I was in an inn room. The familiar décor of the Lastonbell inn tipped me off that it'd probably been some time since what happened with Izayoi. I rubbed my eyes, deciding to get out of bed. It was easy to move around, and I cleared my throat a little. My clothes had been changed, and I was just wearing a sleeveless nightshirt with a pair of shorts. Someone must have done that while I was out. Looking about, I didn't notice Izayoi anywhere. If she was a drake, like she had been, she should've been purified and here. When I went to the lobby, I noticed Arvald there without Aevar, and took note of only Edna and Rose there out of Sorey's crew.
"Hey, she's awake." Edna said, obviously meaning me. "About time, we were worried."
"Where's Izayoi...?" I asked, my voice hoarse from not being used for as long as I'd been asleep. "She... should be here."
"Dead," came Edna's response. "If she lived, she would've killed you regardless, so it was the only course of action."
Dead...?
They... killed Izayoi to keep me alive? "But..."
"It'll be hard to adjust, but Sorey's willing to take you on as a Squire too. You alright with that?" Rose asked. "He wants you to come along, and Lailah told us that there's nothing saying an Oracle can't become a Squire until he or she finds another Prime Lord of her own!"
A Squire? Me...? So early into the adventure? But for them, it wasn't as early as it was for someone who spent most of their time sleeping... was it?
"I guess her oath doesn't go into not saying anything about the Oracle business. Not that I know much about it myself. I thought Lailah said it was a fairytale." I took a seat next to Arvald. "Anyway, besides that, are you guys sure Sorey would be okay with it?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" I heard Sorey's voice say. Looking behind me, as best as I could, I saw him with a couple bags in his hands. Lailah, Dezel and Mikleo were with him. "I figured, since you'd probably still want to come with us, it'd be alright to make you a Squire too."
Arvald hadn't spoken up until that point. "Welp, since you kids are gettin' things squared away, I best be off. It was nice travellin' with ya for as long as I did." He was leaving? ...Well, he did have a group of bandits to lead... "I'll be seein' ya when you come back to Ladylake. Don't be a stranger!"
With that, he got up and left. I watched as someone else I knew left me behind... Izayoi, then Arvald..
"So, what do you say?" Sorey's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Gonna come with us?"
I pondered it for a moment, before giving a small nod. "I still have a lot to do, I guess, so I'll keep travelling with you."
End Note: Soooo, chapter 6. Nice, huh? I talked about a consequence, and it came sooner than I'd expected. I'd planned for it to be chapters away, but I figured I needed to resolve Rani's fainting issue before readers got impatient with me about it. Kain from the previous version of this fic made his reappearance with a new look and new personality, and I enjoyed it.
Arvald will appear in later chapters, don't worry! I just figured it'd be best to not overload the fic with my ocs in every chapter. Like there was four this chapter, now it'll be back down to one for a while!