A Story of Eighteen Years

by Centurious the Azure

A rewrite of A Story of Eighteen Years. "This is a love story. The story of a girl with a broken soul, and the boy who tried to pick up those shattered pieces and put them back together…only to fail in every single way."

17. Nocturne of the Deep III

Disclaimer: See Chapter One

A Story of Eighteen Years

by Centurious the Azure and Storm Wolf77415

Deepground Revival Pt. 4 (Nokturne of the Deep III)

(Alabaster City, Land of Seas, one week ago)

I know you didn't expect this but we're going into my perspective, finally! I know you've wanted to hear, and experience the perspective of the one and only, Ivory Maiden Lanca Lilywhite-Kanitz! What you've never heard of the Lilywhites? Hmph! You will soon enough! I wish I could say my life before meeting Ezra was pleasant. It wasn't, just going to get that little bit out of the way right now. But this is how the two of us met, and it was one of the happiest days of my life.

Sad to say, it started like any other day. I would like to say that my job was glamorous, but no. The life of an Ivory Maiden was never meant to be Yule. I was a decorated knight, apparently. Did you know knights were also sanitation workers? Because I didn't expect to be shoveling horse poopie from day one!

Suffice it to say that was what I was doing before my trip underground. I was walking the streets of my hometown, beautiful Alabaster City, with a shovel in one hand and hauling a trash can with the other. Trying to keep the city streets clean and unobstructed. Which is a lot easier than you think given horses and other livestock walk by leaving such lovely gifts all over the place.

Being called Alabaster City, it's all white or a close variation thereof. But the streets? The streets are almost always brown, because the horses, cows, and whatever other animals pass through make it that way all the time! Not to mention there's trash everywhere! We have very strict rules in place against littering and leaving garbage in plain view, and they carry very heavy fines. I should know I've written enough citations. But people still do it, I guess when you're rich, then the rules don't apply to you.

I suppose the best words to describe Alabaster City are "upper crust". There's no real poverty, no slums anywhere in the city. Even the household servants live in buildings most people could only dream of. Massive white spires, capped with pure twenty-four karat gold, reach into the skies. All of the structures are made of specially enhanced marble, featuring dragon fire and ancient magics to meld the architecture together to create a city of such stunning beauty.

It's the Leyndell Style, or as it would be known in the Old World as Byzantine. I'm very well read as you can see. I'm not a scholar or anything. It's merely to prove one point. That I'm a genius. Even knowing pointless trivia like this proves one's superiority. I'm better than a Targaryen even! Do you see Daenarys doing what I'm doing? No! I don't need dragons to cause mass casualties! A flick of my wrist and boom. Not to mention I'm way more intelligent and beautiful than her!

Lanca, honey? You going to keep hyping yourself or tell everyone how we met?

My apologies, Ezra. What can I say? I've got to hype myself up, because let's face it. I am just that good. It's no lie. You should know that better than anybody!

Yes, Dear.

But to get this story rolling, let's get back to the horse poopie. It goes without saying but it stinks to high heaven. You can never get it all on the first go, especially after it's dried out. The brown streaks take forever to get out of the paving stones, even with water magic, which I'm fairly adept at. Still, it's a time-consuming, laborious job. Especially when it's a sweltering day like that day was.

I groaned in disgust as I dropped another horse patty into my trash can. Even the scarf I wore over my face didn't completely get rid of the terrible odor. But I continued on with my usual precision and grace, effortlessly cleaning up the brown piles of gunk littering the roads. Hey, even if the job is degrading, I always give my full effort in whatever I do, just because you have to find pride somewhere.

I then heard a cry and a loud banging sound. I didn't need any kind of precognition to know what that was about. Oh Crym, she can't say she doesn't try. Sadly, she's a total klutz, ended up slipping in some horse dookie and fell backwards into her trash can, leaving her stuck. Only Crym could pull that off.

"Help! Help! My lady, I need your assistance! Please don't leave me like this!" Crym pleaded, her legs aimlessly kicking about in the air. "Ew! Ew! EWWWWW! I can feel all the manure on my butt! I don't want to die like this! Mother! Father! Don't look at me like this from heaven!" I tried to ignore her at first, but Crym just got more hysterical as the citizenry stared at her as they passed by. I felt completely embarrassed by it. It's bad enough being a knight forced to do this.

No, a Maiden's very dignity was being tarnished by all this crying and whimpering. The simple indignity of it all was too much to bear. And from a pragmatic viewpoint, Crym is still my attendant, and her actions reflect on me. So I put my shovel aside and went over to pull her out of her little predicament.

A group of young children had come up to Crym and started pointing and laughing at her. All of them dressed in white, their hair and skin also pale as driven snow. Their eyes a shade of gloam pink…just like me. Just like everyone else in this city.

And Crym, with her dark hair and swarthy complexion, sticks out like a sore thumb. Even if her whining and blubbering gets on my nerves. No one deserves to be put through that. "Hey! Scat!" I called out, clapping loudly. "Stop mocking her if you don't want to get noogied, and let me tell you they hurt!" This had the expected reaction as the kids squealed and quickly bolted. Those types are only strong until someone with true authority comes along and puts them in their place.

Crym winced as I came up to her, hands on my hips. "Seriously, what am I going to do with you?" I said in mild disappointment. Other days I'd be far more irritated. But today I just felt sorry for her. The poor girl just cannot get a break.

"I'm sorry." Crym sniffled, tears in the corner of her eyes as her lips trembled, ready to start another crying fit.

I held up my hands to stop her. "Please spare me. I don't need it today. Just give me your hands and clench your rear. I'll pull you out." I grabbed both her hands and pulled with all I had. After a few tries, Crym came flying out and we landed in a heap on the ground. Crym's entire rear was colored a dirty brown from all the gunk.

"Thank you, Lady Lanca!" Crym said, trying to preserve whatever dignity she had left, only for me to put her in a headlock. My fist was balled up, but at the last minute I relaxed my hand and gently just started stroking her hair. It was quite soft, but don't let her know I said that. She squeaked, getting all blushy. "I wasn't expecting this! Is my lady actually being gentle this time? Am I dreaming?"

"No, you're not dreaming. I just don't have the energy to properly discipline you today." I then pinched her cheek, causing my companion to cry out. "So don't make it weird, Crym. Once again, I'm only interested in a man who will put me up in a mansion and spoil me. Hire help to deal with the horses instead of me!" I have my priorities straight and I know exactly what I want.

"Please don't abandon me, my lady. I know you have many prospects. Your father likely has them lined up. But…I'd be lonely without you." She sniffled. Again, Crym is quite capable when she's not flaking out, and she has been one of the few real people I could call my friend before meeting Ezra. I just wish she wasn't so needy at times. Of course, that paled in comparison to what was coming down the road. My entire body clenched at the procession coming our way.

Like you know who, speak of him and he shall come. Who is this you ask? Why the man who gave me life in the first place. My dear father, Saul Lilywhite, lord and master of Alabaster City. The devil in white I call him, but only in my mind. My feelings for him are…complicated to say the least. I may as well not exist to him. He's the reason I spend all my days degrading myself in this way and never allowed to show my full potential. He told me it was a special assignment. More like a punishment if you ask me!

Back then I felt I only had two options, either keep slaving away and hoping that I'd finally be able to prove my worth to that man or as I told Crym, find a wealthy nobleman and marry him. At least I could live in some degree of comfort and didn't need to swelter shoveling up animal droppings. Another thing you should know is that my father only showed up when he needed me for something. Most of the time it meant being dragged around on some pointless errand, but this would be the one time I didn't regret it. Because it led me to Ezra, and this is where it started.

My dear father showed up on his white steed, covered in gleaming silver plate armor with a red cross, followed by a similarly dressed contingent of the Alabaster City Guard. What truly did surprise me more was the appearance of Commander Crossman and the other Seal Guardians of the Golden Order. I knew them by reputation but never had the chance to actually meet them in person. The crowd all murmured and knelt down in reverence. Crym and I did so as well. "Greetings my lord," I said in a deferential tone, glancing upwards at my lord father. Psh…Seems like a joke to say that now, but you'll hear why much, much later. "As you can see, we're aiding in the clean-up to the best of our abilities. I dare say it'll look spotless by sundown."

"That is no longer your concern. You and your…assistant have other duties to attend to." I didn't miss the disdain when Father spoke of Crym, he not so subtly narrowed his eyes on her. Crym quivered like a leaf beside me. I wished she would have dared to narrow those eyes back at him. It simply wasn't in her at the time, unfortunately. "There is a vital mission, and I require your assistance. Prep your gear and weapons and meet at the east gate in three hours. Do not be late." It really did take me by surprise when he said that. I figured he wanted Crym and I to go down into the sewers and clean those. It was probably the one place we hadn't swept up yet. But to go on an actual mission? Could you blame me for being excited?

Of course, the others didn't feel the same excitement. The greasy-looking middle-aged man in the golden armor snorted, letting out a snort full of derision. "Do we need Brownie for this one, Lord Lilywhite?" He looked over Crym in appraisal, I saw on his face he wasn't impressed in the slightest. He shook his head, stroking the pointed end of his oily black beard. "I mean she made her cape brown back there. How can we expect such a klutz to be useful on such a sensitive operation?"

Ugh, Georg Crossman is such a vulgar individual, Ezra told me of how he was in Minas Tor. At the time, I was experiencing it for myself with no foreknowledge. His subordinates found it funny given how the Elf Dandy laughed.

"Are you so sure of that, Grandmaster Crossman?" The depressed goth lady asked, glancing at the oleaginous-looking man on her midnight blue mare. A disparaging chuckle escaped her cracked, dry lips. Those sickly-looking bloodshot eyes with bags underneath them contained an abyss of dark joy. It made me sincerely disconcerted to feel them rake over me. Like I was being covered in a viscous slime of bad intentions and black thoughts. "This one has great hate in those pink eyes. She could probably take a few heads before she dies. I suppose it would be worth at least one small poem."

Wow, loving the vote of confidence! And would I really want to be memorialized in one of your stupid poems, Hanch? I'd rather take one of Fianna's bawdy songs any day! At least she has a degree of class in how she conducts herself.

The dwarf guy in steel armor with red highlights on a brown ass-like pony had no words to say, as he was currently stuffing his face with two very large chicken legs, one in either hand. It was so disgusting, the way he was tearing the meat off the bone! Seriously, have you never heard of swallowing?!

And he kept smacking his lips, they quivered in slow motion. It made my stomach turn in so many ways. He finished the thing in three bites…even the bones themselves were gone in several nauseating cracks. And then he belched loudly enough that they could have heard it all the way in Toussaint on the easterly mainland!

"Honestly, would it bother you to show some manners?" I couldn't contain myself any longer. I let out a disgusted noise, shooting to my feet like a rubber band snapped. Somewhere between a cry of disgust, and a call for help. His breath smelled that bad. "' Excusez-moi' is hardly difficult to say!"

Zhangpo scowled at me, wiping the drool off his chin as he kept licking his fingers. I think he was doing that on purpose just to annoy me. "As if I need a woman's permission to be excused," He replied condescendingly, rolling his disgusting, beady little eyes like a petulant teenager. Trying his best to look haughty. Get a clue! You're like thirty, right?! "Little girl, you should know to whom you speak."

Simply amazing! …Not! That would be intimidating if not for the flecks of meat stuck to your cheeks, you whoreson. I wouldn't let it get to me. I put my fists on my hips, glowering back at him. I had simply had enough, and would not be dishonored like this anymore.

"I know exactly who YOU are, Lord Zhangpo." I spat his name as if it were poison, proudly tossing my gorgeous, flawless snow-white hair. I turned my nose up at him as well, showing him who the true master of haughtiness was. My gloam pink eyes swept over all the so-called Guardians with unconcealed revulsion. "You're one of the mighty Seal Guardians. Not that I'm really impressed with that." I shook my head, my white locks swayed back and forth. Touching my shoulders as if telling me to keep pressing the advantage. A malicious sneer played on my lips. I made extra sure to make sure they were perfectly white that morning.

"You all look like the High King picked you off some bargain bin from the slave pits in the capital. You, though! You goblin!" I jabbed an accusatory finger at Zhangpo. To which he pointed at himself, meekly muttering "…me?" Of course, I am speaking of you, stupid! There's nobody else as dumb looking as you here! "You're twice as stinky as that pit would suggest and not to mention three times stupid! Did your mother abuse fisstech when she was fat with you? No, she probably wasn't even human. You were likely sired by small folk who had taken a liking for large sows over human women."

I pride myself on being far less crass than Rose, but it didn't mean I couldn't deliver some mean burns when required. Words can hurt without filling my language with mountains of profanity. I had to learn how to do it in order to stay strong. Again, Crym is my attendant and friend, and I absolutely refuse to let anyone denigrate her.

The Seal Guardians all fumed in quiet fury at my remarks. Good, that means it worked.

"How dare you!" Zhangpo shrieked, bits of food flying off his face. He clumsily went for the axe on his back. Not that I was worried about that. I was confident in my prowess with both the blade and magic. Even if he did summon forth that overgrown demon, I would ensure he had to EARN a victory over me. My hand twitched, hovering over my faithful longsword. But daddy dearest brought any probable brawl to a quick end with a wave of his hand.

"That's enough all of you!" He commanded, turning to me with his eyes narrowed. Full of disapproval, and vitriol. They shifted from gloam pink to glowing crimson like the seasons. From a bright spring pink to a sweltering summer red, shimmering like the sun ready to go supernova. "Daughter, you wished for adventure. This is no manure clean-up assignment. We ride for the realms beneath the Earth itself. In pursuit of a prize, you might find both horrific and interesting. The specifics you'll learn once we make our way there." His red gaze fell back on poor Crym, the vile disdain was all too evident in his sun-like eyes. Crym shuddered visibly at the intensity of his hate. She bowed her head, hoping kowtowing might spare her at all. We both knew there was no reprieve. "But first, go clean yourself up. I can't stand the stench, nor the sight of you besmirching the uniform with such filth. It's as if the color of your skin wasn't unsightly enough! Irae left you here as an irritant for me. That much is certain. You don't match at all!"

I was about ready to tear my father a new one when Crym touched my shoulder. "Please, my lady, we don't want to keep your father waiting any more than we already have." I could barely bring myself to look her in the eyes, they were watering so much. I could tell she just wanted to find a quiet corner and weep. I wouldn't have blamed her one bit. She may be a pain, but she is MY pain. No one hurts what's mine.

"You said we have some time before departing, My Lord? We will be ready then." I bit that part out, clicking my tongue. My voice was thick with mockery. I would not hide from my father. I would stand my ground for my friend. "I'll probably want to get my weapons reinforced anyway. I'd like to visit Miss Accord's shop. They've got some new ice cream flavors that I hear are just to die for. Quite fitting for a death march, I think."

I shot him one last poisonous glower, sure to make my final words hurt him.

Before I turned on a very bright smile, all the wrath of an avenging angel welled up in my face behind my eyes. I flashed my purely perfect pearly whites, hoping with every fiber in my being he saw and felt the malevolence behind it. "You or any of your compatriots speak to my attendant like that again, then you'll have to listen to me sing. I know how much you hate my singing, father dearest."

Ah yes, that's the one little bit of leverage I have against him. The one thing that makes him cringe.

That man gritted his teeth for a moment before plastering on a magnanimous smile that was as fake as my own on his stupid dolt face. It was strained and tense as a sneer should be, and yes, I found great satisfaction in watching him sweat. "That's…very charming of you to offer, daughter dear. We both know we wouldn't want that. We've talked about that before, have we not?"

I noticed it made Georg look uneasy as well with the way he profusely sweated, looking more and more like a greasy goombah by the second. Judging from how he was gripping his horse's reins, I saw what I had sown with smug satisfaction. The Seal Guardians just looked on entirely bewildered. They had no idea what I was capable of unleashing on the world.

I turned my back on my father and the rest of his cronies, hoping they realized the sheer contempt I was doing it with. I went over to Crym, throwing my arm over her shoulder as we walked away. "Crym, I want to make this absolutely clear to you. I don't care at all about what he said. You are still my attendant, and will keep that position as long as I see to it. Sister picked you for a reason, and I won't forsake Irae's consideration of me. Always keep that in mind."

Crym sniffled, her eyes watering as always, but from relief this time around. "Thank you, Milady." She whispered as I lightly patted her on the back. Like I said, no one hurts what's mine. I always look out for my own. So we went to the stables to get our mounts. This is the one place where I don't mind the smell of manure. It's where it belongs. Unlike many others, we didn't have horses. I mean, horses are solid creatures, but I always have to be unique in my own way, and my mount reflects that.

"Wark!" A feathery white head poked out of the stall. Yes, Crym and I have Chocobos as our mounts. They are extremely useful as mounts, very fleet-footed, and can get over terrain better than even most horses.

"Hello there, Jan Rose~!" I said sweetly to my pure white Chocobo, giving him a love pat on the head as his plumage fluffed up. I did say I had to be unique in my own way, and my dear bird is no different. He's actually quite important to me. It was one of the few gifts that man gave me that didn't have a hint of malice behind it. Jan Rose is a name that gives me comfort, somehow. It makes that man visibly enraged any time I speak it aloud, so I decided to keep it, and it stuck.

Crym was across the aisle from me tending to her own Chocobo, colored the normal light yellow. His name is Mr. Prickles. It pains me to say this, but for the sake of the full record, I suppose I should say it anyway. Before she became my companion and aide, Crym lived in the stables. I can't imagine anything more degrading. Being forced to bed with the birds and horses. But as such she got to know the animals and treated them with much love and respect, including Mr. Prickles.

My older sister, Irae, found her and promoted her to attendant, and Mr. Prickles remembered how nicely Crym always treated him, so she became his sole rider. I remember that first time when she rode him. The other knights all sneered and bet money on how long it would take for her to go flying into the mud. I even threw in five hundred crowns, while making the bold statement she wouldn't budge an inch in handling him. They all laughed when I said that.

Needless to say, they were eating their words when Crym held her head high and guided Mr. Prickles around the corral twice, all the while the Chocobo never bucked once. I walked away 2000 crowns richer that day, hehe. That also showed me that Crym could be very competent when she would just relax and not freak out over every little thing.

With our Chocobos saddled up. The two of us made for the gates where my father and his entourage were waiting. I purposely ignored the dirty looks they gave us. "We're here and on time, my lord," I said primly, an edge of annoyance in it to punctuate the fact I didn't wish to be here. "I trust we didn't keep you waiting?"

"It will be sufficient." He sniffed disdainfully. Good, if he has his hackles up, it means he's in a bad mood. "You will be serving as our outriders for this operation. You'll be riding up front with Lord Zhangpo; an order from him is an order from me." Ugh, that ugly slob! He still had fragments of food on his armor. Is it that hard to keep up some semblance of appearances? I saw Father raise his hand and conjure up a swirling portal in front of us.

We stepped through and found ourselves in the middle of a towering mountain range. I had no idea how far we had traveled thanks to the portal. But I'd wager we had gone all the way to the mainland! Crym and I took the lead up front. As outriders we were the advanced scouts. Finally, we would have a chance to prove our worth! I certainly felt like this would get me the acknowledgement I craved so much. But then my gaze flickered back toward the Seal Guardians, giving us the same angry glares.

Crym whimpered and huddled in her saddle. I just glowered back at them before directing my attention to the mountain road. Despite my earlier excitement, I couldn't help but feel a great sense of uneasiness. While it was a great honor to join this mission, I also knew how fickle my father could truly be. Is this the time he decided I wasn't worth anything anymore? Was the talk of this big mission just a cover to finally end Crym and myself and leave our corpses to rot up here?

My hands clenched Jan Rose's reins. It seemed things were just worse and worse anymore, given how Irae left for Pythagoras. Something was going on and I had no clue. It wasn't a pleasant feeling to be sure. We soon arrived at the edifice of an old temple. The architecture wasn't something I was familiar with at all. But I could feel the power radiating off of it as we dismounted and marched into the building.

"From here we go down," Saul announced before stepping onto this odd stone platform. "The Deepground is not a place to take lightly, but we are of the Golden Order, and we will bring light of the Erdtree even to this fetid place." Not a bad speech, he was always very good at giving them. I saw Hanch raise a hand glimmering with magic. A lever was pulled telekinetically. The entire platform flared with a blue light and we began descending. How lazy can you be?

"So what exactly is this prize we're seeking?" I mustered up the courage to finally ask that man. "You mentioned it was horrific and interesting. It must be something of great value if we're venturing into this kind of place to retrieve it." It was a totally legitimate question to ask. I noticed the dismissive glance he gave me at first, as if I wasn't deserving of even knowing the purpose of our mission. But he relented, closing his eyes with an exasperated look on his dumb face.

"Fair enough, it's a weapon called the Fingerslaying Blade. The name alone should tell you what it is capable of." I quickly caught on to why it was so horrific. A blade that could kill the Fingers? If it could do that…then no divine being was safe! He just raised his chin. "The Order had been searching for many years. We knew it was hidden somewhere in the depths of the underground, but it's so expansive our scouting parties could never find it."

"How can this blade actually kill a god?" Crym timidly ventured, quavering at the very thought. My father just gave a harsh glare, but I quickly guided Jan Rose in front of her, answering with my own words.

"It is a legitimate question, my lord," was my simple statement punctuated by a deep frown, and narrowed eyes. I wouldn't back down. "Not to mention the trip into the depths will take a while. It would help us to pass the time." Not to mention I wouldn't mind learning it myself. Such knowledge is always valuable. Why might you ask? You never know. He let out an irritated groan. Shaking his head as if he were having to invest considerable time into explaining it.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate him? Yes, I know I have. I simply get so exasperated pondering him. What a horrid man he was, truly. I am glad he is gone. But yes, let us not tarry on the truth. No matter how painful it is for me to drag up. It must be heard so future generations will not mourn him. And mistake him for a hero of noble character.

"Very well, then. It's well known our divinity stems from the Greater Will. We are, in essence, its vassals, extensions of its very power in this mortal realm. The Nox discovered that the only thing that could overcome our power was the same power. So they forged weapons from the corpse of a fallen god. It's not that dissimilar to using the scale of an Ancient Dragon."

"Simply put, dragons, both of Placidusax and Bayle's lineage, can skew the Great Time. Warp it in such a way that reality itself bends to its whims. Gods are much the same. Our divinity, in a sense, warps the laws of nature just by existing with our innate power. It's why the blood of kings and Maidens are considered the best catalysts for magic rituals. And tell me, where do they get that blessing?" His crude smirk grew, making a grand gesture. His hands reached up to the heavens as he craned his head back. He closed his eyes, basking in gold's imaginary blessings. "From the Greater Will! You have to admit there is no greater poetry than twisting the power of your enemies to your own ends."

"Yes, yes," I nodded along, feeling quite off put. This was not my idea of a family moment in the slightest. "I can see quite clearly, my dear lord father." I really, truly did. The idea of something capable of overcoming our divinity was anathema to everything the Golden Order stood for and thus had to be disposed of in one way or another. I remember hearing old legends of the Nox and the grim materials that went into making their weapons.

Now I had the proof. My father continued on, his grin growing wider and crueler. Becoming a mask of rapturous madness. I'm sure the Lamenter would have found a friend in Father if he ever got his sentence commuted.

"In many ways I rather admire the Nox and their ingenuity. Old Woden went out of his way to make it possible. He was a clever bastard. I understand why the Queen Mother sealed the Nox in the depths underground. Their twisted genius was too great to just let them do as they pleased. Just imagine how far we could advance; what we could learn from them if we studied their magics." He shrugged; eyes gleaming like a child. I felt truly sick at how twisted my own Father was. "Oh well, their legacy lives on. I'm sure you can understand why we must either claim it and seal it away in our deepest vault or just outright destroy it so such power cannot be used against us."

Now I truly understood the urgency of this mission. Even with the Nox gone, one of their weapons still remained. A part of me burned with ambition. If I were the one to find it first, surely, they would lavish the praise on me! I wouldn't have to be on poop patrol anymore. I would become famous! But then something else came to mind. Something that felt off. "So what changed? Did one of our scouting parties find it?"

He hesitated; father almost seemed embarrassed to admit it. But his usual smugness returned, tinged with no small amount of irritation. "No, actually it found us, for lack of a better word." He reached into his armor to produce a scrap of paper, and a very sinister-looking dagger shaped almost like a boomerang. How weird. "Pinned to my door with this! I decided I'm going to flay this man alive when I find him. Let it be duly noted he shall be the final one to die, and not easily or fast." Wow, I've never seen anyone get under his skin like that before. Then again, my father isn't the type to suffer such disrespect, it's one of the few things I've inherited from him that I don't mind.

I took the parchment to read the message crudely scrawled in crayon? That or it could have been crystallized blood. I'm not sure I want to find out either way. "Hello, Dour Alabaster Pinkeye Man! I'm here to inform you of a fortuitous opportunity. It gets so droll down here in the depths, but now it's time for us to make our glorious return and we're throwing a party! My master wants to play a game, but not just any game. It's a death game! If you don't show up…we will release an unspeakable terror upon the upperworld! Won't that be delightful?"

My blood froze at the mention of an "unspeakable terror". It couldn't have been that, right?

It became clear that whoever was down there was not playing around. I continued my reading, as poised and charming as I could be. Which was hard considering how grandly concerning the subject matter was. "You're not the only one who's received this little invite, many others are coming from all over for the carnival of death that's about to begin. And what is the prize, you ask? The one, the only. Fingerslaying Blade! Kills gods dead! I sure hope your friend The Greater Will doesn't mind! We have it and it will be up for grabs. Just come to the location marked on the letter and we can begin! Ciao! Your boy, Melchior!"

The note was punctuated by a heart at the end. I did my best to stifle my laughter at the irony of it. Clearly whoever wrote this little missive had a very warped, twisted sense of humor. Why else would my father get so worked up? He hates being mocked, it's worse than actually being wounded. I can tell when he gets really worked up, his nostrils flare out. "He seems quite charming," I said as sweetly as I could, holding back my urge to break out in a fit of laughter, handing it back to my father.

"Charming is hardly the word I'd use." He crumpled up the parchment with a disgusted grimace. I think he would have happily thrown it away if he could. But instead, he just jammed it back into his horse's pack. My father smiled a beastly grin. It was the grin of a man who knew nothing besides vile cruelty, of a god of debauchery, and hedonism. His eyes gleamed with the sureness of a man that superiority was promised. A blessing promised by God's providence. A god of the self, and the self only. The Great I am was none other than Saul Lilywhite, in his opinion. If my father were God, then it was a world we were all unfortunately born into.

"Did you know what happened to the first man who mocked our family name, daughter?" His voice carried the tone of a man joyfully reflecting on the past. I felt a shiver go down my spine. There was a wintery coldness of the mountains in it. A high peak no other could reach ever. "One of Mother's husbands had a habit of stealing her jewelry, and selling it for extra booze money when she wouldn't give him any. When I grew to manhood, I beat him to a pulp, and forced him to walk the streets of our keep naked. I took a pair of Mother's brightest earrings and had them forcibly pierced straight through his little twig cock for all to see. How those diamonds shone."

I felt fear, I felt disgust, I felt anguish churning my stomach in the vilest way possible. I wouldn't show it because weakness was the last thing I needed to give him. I heard Crym gag behind me. I wasn't going to admonish her because I was doing the same thing myself. "Father…" I only turned my nose up at him, thundering, "sharing is not caring in this case!"

Father harrumphed and threw his cape over his shoulder, as if to say, "who is to say I ever cared?" That conversation was over and probably so much for the better. There was no talking for a few minutes when the center of the platform began glowing. An orb of light eerily flickered into existence. A ghastly white tone that would put death itself to shame.

"Ah, so the warriors of the age finally appear." A silky-smooth voice froze me in place. The orb pulsed with black, and white flame, hypnotizing me with all its uncanniness. I was completely fixated, for better or worse. Such as God demanded, in the end. "I suppose I would be a poor host to not personally welcome any guests into my home." The orb of light unfolded into the projection of a regal-looking man, perched on the throne with all the bearing you'd expect of a king. I was reminded of how my father would be when he was holding court, this man carried himself the exact same way. He smirked, folded one leg over the other. "Afterall, it's been so many years since we've had visitors."

Maybe it was the way the projection flickered in and out, the way the particles of magic chipped off the leading edges, as it remade itself with every moment as a ghost in the night. I actually took a step back from that little gesture. Even though this was just a magical construct like what Ezra described earlier, I could feel like this man was looking right through my very soul by those empty, soulless eyes of his. Like a snake sizing up its prey, spear-like in all their piercing nature injecting the poison of fear in me. It reminded me far too much of my father in that regard. Those slitted, snakelike eyes that looked so dead. Caring for nothing besides the pleasures of a life lived eternally.

He tilted his head slightly, gazing through us rather than at us. "Allow me to introduce myself properly," He lifted a hand as if presenting the answer to all my questions. "I am Saladin the Nightlord, King of the City of Nokturne. You are all here to partake in our little carnival of carnal pleasure. A game for the ages. A game of life, and death. As above as below, you shall find all here, dear guests. It's all quite simple. A series of duels to the death, while you will slaughter each other like the animals you truly are! Why deny what resides in the heart of everyone, whether they be Man, Mer, Dwarf, or anything else that reasons? Over the next two days, my city will be your battleground. Once you've drenched yourselves in the blood of your peers, children of chaos and order, you earn the right to face one of my pawns."

"Should you manage to subdue those under my command, the last team standing will gain access to my palace and then we will duel in the final climax. That is the long and short of it. You should also be aware that participation is required. As I have said before, this is a game for the ages. A game where all is on the line, not just your own lives, but the lives of every soul up on your precious surface." He indicated with a lazy finger, tracing a flaming monochrome X on the air, as if he didn't care about the countless lives who were just trying to exist.

I found myself transfixed with those flames, though. As a moth might be towards the light of a flame, I wished to seek out that power. Was this the power of one who could kill a god? The power to slay my own lack of agency. I had strength, yes. But not enough to truly stand above my mighty father. Like Oedipus, I wished to slay my own father who had stolen my agency, my life, my honor, and my family. Everything all my problems stemmed from him. I knew it innately. I hated him, and nothing could change that until I cast down my patriarchal oppressor.

But that was only a long-term goal. One very much out of my reach. I would need to settle for the terrible, crudely rendered god king in front of me. I told myself it was all baby steps. Yes, hate what is in front of you, Lanca. And then move ahead with the stabbing. Stab with need instead of wanting, for now, I told myself.

I saw the way Crym huddled in her saddle, looking like a damp kitten in a rainstorm as she mewled in fearful lamentation. Knowing her weakness just as well as I did my own. I reminded myself that she needed me as well. We were both two pretty kitties lost in a sea of fear, and weakness. Yes, I had to avenge her as much as I wished to do for myself. Her honor was as important to me as my own. I made a note to make this bastard taste steel for us both.

"Failure to do so will result in the Blight being released and wouldn't that be just a shame?" He inclined his chin, making his noble grin seem all the more callous. He made a dismissive gesture as if he was shooing a pack of mongrel dogs. "Go, children of this wanton Age of Fracture. Make your way to the city with all haste, once every team has assembled. We will give you the rest of the rules then."

My fear vanished in that moment, replaced by a burning rage that desired nothing more than to reach into that projection and yank him out here myself. I would happily let my spotless white hair turn the deepest of red if it meant ending him right then and there!

I could only silently give thanks as the projection faded out in a flicker of that ghastly flame, leaving only uncanny embers and the stench of stale decay on the air. My inner self-righteous flames were stoked, and left me with a new goal. A new enemy. We now had an idea of what to expect in our search for the weapon, and apparently, we were not the only ones seeking it. If that was the case, then clearly, they had been preparing for a very long time, and they were even preparing to release the hated Blight back onto the world. To say I was anxious was an understatement, it tore at me like a wild Crym on desert after a hard day's work of refuse flinging. My father and the guardians, on the other hand, sounded like it was just a mild inconvenience.

"Oh, so the world is going to end if we don't play the upstart's little game? Nice, things were starting to get boring." My father observed with dull amusement; a smile of anticipation split his lips with little subtlety. How could he be so casual about the destruction of all civilization at something as terrible as the Blight?

"Hmph, who isn't planning on ending the world these days?" Georg said with genuine disinterest, looking at himself in a mirror as he brushed his hair out of his face before adjusting that damned handlebar mustache of his with all the vainness of a perfect Adonis. Which he was anything besides! Give me a break, good Grace!

The sheer nerve of the man to not care about the most gruesome disease ever recorded, threatening to start a new epidemic of death across the entire continent! The other guardians all laughed at this like a sick joke. I was never so enraged at their sheer dismissal of the lives we're charged with protecting.

"I must admit the whole prospect of this little game is rather amusing, Lord Commander," Yaha spoke softly in a delicate, amused tone. A grim chuckle soon broke out into a crude leer. A smile in all but name. A stain on all that should be considered beauty. How gravely it angered me. "It is something indeed. Threatening us with horrific atrocities when we're the ones who normally commit them. It's simply too much, don't you think?"

That foul dandy, Yaha! He was one of the most insufferable of them in my opinion. My father let out something between a snort and a chortle as if Yaha had told an in-joke. A foul joke lacking a sense of any decorum, and proper respect for the great challenge and possible consequences ahead of us.

"As amusing as their little threat may be, it does pose quite a few pressing issues for us. We have our own plans in the works, and we can't afford to have them get pushed back if we're fighting off the Blight." Oh joy, so glad to see that man's priorities are straight! He folded his arms in thought. "Even the goddess herself hates that damnable plague. I have no desire to be the messenger who has to give that particular little bit of news to our ladyship." Despite their joking earlier, the guardians all became a little more serious. I thought maybe they were seeing the light.

"If there's a blight, there won't be any extra food for my belly!" Zhangpo whined, and with that, the last ember of hope I had for the Order died. But the flame of my righteous fury had erupted, and I was about to let everyone witness it!

"How can all of you act like this!" I finally exclaimed, shoving Crym aside as she tried to hush me in a panic. "We are supposed to be the wardens of mankind!" I pointed at the Seal Guardians, my beautifully well-maintained digit quivered in rage. "And the five of you especially! I mean, it's literally in your job titles! You are the guardians of civilization! The Seals have been the one foundation of all the world's order since the Elden Ring broke!"

And they all just guffawed at me in response! The rat in human form that I sadly share my blood with got right up in my face, pink eyes to pink eyes, before he lightly patted me on the head, only he could make such a gesture so mocking. It took Ezra to make it wholesome again.

"Lanca, dear girl, you are so naive in your thinking. 'Tis sweet like candy, sweet, sanguine daughter of mine." He grinned in a mocking manner, admonishing me with the wag of a finger. Its bitterness struck me in the heart like a knife as he continued his lecture. My own father hated me. Why else would he embarrass me like this? It felt the heat of shame light up my cheeks as I felt their jeering eyes upon me. He spurred his horse, commanding them to continue the berating with naught but a simple gesture. "It's exactly because we are the wardens of mankind, we can act like this. We're privileged that way. A divine privilege, that being the key word. We stand at the top of the world so we can do whatever we please with it. Our godly right was granted to us directly by Lady Marika. The only reason we are here is to preserve that privilege. Maybe if you weren't so shortsighted you'd appreciate it more."

"Forget the world if you ask me!" Hanch sniffed dismissively, her ghast face twisting with bitter fury. "The world never did anything for me when I asked for help, so I'll treat it the way they treated me. I just want my goddess-given privilege to laugh at the misfortune of my lessers and preserve their grandiose suffering in my poetry. That's their privilege!"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes! Hanch, you are always right!" Zhangpo clamored, his armor clattered as he vibrated with glee in his saddle on that ridiculous looking ass of his. I don't get where he got off with mocking me when he looked so stupid. "I can eat as much as I want! And no one can stop me! This world exists for us, and us only! Get that through your head, little girl!"

Yaha tossed his luxurious, long golden hair passive aggressively, gifting me a condescending look of utter pity. Hey! That's my move, you freak! How I wished to tear his hair out with my bare hands and shove it down his pretty throat. The utter f-... What? Oh, I can't use that word? Um, yes! Perish the thought!

"Yes, as our old boss once said: 'all the heavens and earth exist for me and me alone...!' Or something like that. What an overly dramatic man he was. You know what, though? He was right! All the pleasures of this world do indeed belong to us. Especially the ones of the flesh," he let out a perverse giggle, smiling lasciviously. Like a complete creep. "Little Lanca, it's either consume or be consumed in this world. You might as well be the consumer over the consumee."

I grit my teeth at the grating sound of that man's haughty, obnoxious laugh. Oh, how I would have loved to start singing in that moment. These people were so completely out of touch with reality I would be doing the whole world a favor if they died! As a bonus, I'd be remembered as a hero, maybe even put on the throne. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Georg let out his own obnoxious laugh. I'm not sure who's worse, him or Yaha in that department! "The world is our oyster, girl. That oyster is in danger of being upended. If I cannot play as I please, then it simply is not worth it. You see, young Lanca, if you had that same mentality, you wouldn't be shoveling shit for a living. That's your problem! You have no ambition! You have no killer instinct! It's your lack of ambition that leaves you at the level of shit shoveler!"

The Order Knights with us found it amusing as well, they were all twitching with laughter. I could see the mocking derision behind the faceplate of the knight leading them. He was in on the joke, his blue eyes shimmering with glee at my disgrace. Oh just you wait, Cross Boy, I've got plenty of ambition and it won't be long before I'm tap dancing on your face! Yes, I'm well-versed in all kinds of dancing, and I've been meaning to practice it somewhere anyway!

"Naaman could have used that speech!" Yaha spat out, his fist clenching in barely contained rage. It's surprising how lax he usually is. "That self-righteous attitude of his put us all at odds. You kill one man, and he loses his spine! Those damn traitors, him and Urick, I'd spit upon them right now if I could! Wherever they are, I hope they forever burn in Gehenna for turning on everything we believe in!"

Hanch's voice cracked, grinding her teeth in sheer hateful impotent fury. "Them and that bitch, Yesenia! Her little crotchspawn, Ezra, is still alive too. We thought he was dead in Minas Tor, but there he was! Hiding in some fucking village of knife ears. He had the unmitigated gall to try and stop me! Me! The no-good little shit!" I truthfully had no idea what or who they were talking about, but clearly they did something to get under everyone's skin. Which increased my respect of them by a factor of ten.

"Why is this Ezra such a great threat?" I asked, my sheer curiosity overcoming me. I did it with my best, most deferential tone. Although, I'm sure there was a smidge of snippiness in it as they deserved. "You're all so godly and secure in your power. I can't imagine a single mortal child would be such an issue for the likes of you."

There was an intense roiling anger in my stomach at this, but I kept my calm and try to suss out what they were saying. Not to say I didn't get great satisfaction at seeing them get worked up. It certainly made that man angry, giving how his face flushed the deepest red.

"That name! That abominable name! You understand not, good daughter, Ezra Kanitz is an unholy blight upon all of humanity. The undiluted essence of shame of the entire royal line of the Golden Order! He's a usurper and a destroyer, truly the vilest of vile. You think we are bad and lack a moral compass?" My father barked with condescending laughter at my ignorance. Still, the way I saw the vein in his forehead jerked suggested he was a source of endless consternation for my lord father. Good, I hoped his face fell off from the sheer stress. "Oh, trust me, he's an unparalleled monster! For you see, young Ezra is the reincarnated legacy of purest evil, the Prince of Blades, Enno!"

That…truly surprised me, for even I knew of Enno's history just a little bit. This was him reborn? I kept my tongue and listened to him continue to rant on about him.

"Enno is a true minion of darkness. He tricked the Queen Mother into imprisoning his royal highness. It was a frame-up, citing incompetence in the execution of his royal duties. It was a heartless scheme to progress his own standing in the court so he could get closer to the throne and destroy it. And he was his highness's own brother. It was like kinslaying without the bloodshed. The highest of dishonors, he might as well have ripped his heart out with his own hands. At least that would have been an honest kill!"

All the guardians started weeping, or at least fake weeping. All looking utterly fake as they did so with their crocodile tears. Bunch of bootlickers.

"It was such a sad day!" Zhangpo blubbered, looking mournfully up into the glimmering sky. "Milord was always so generous when he passed the gravy! All my chicken, beef, and zebra flank became dry from henceforth!"

"The saddest of days since he was the grandest of Lady Marika's children!" Hanch blew into a handkerchief, unable to meet the eye of her lord and master. She threw up her hands to the heavens themselves. That snotty rag flew like a disgusting flag to sheer absurdity. "Why, oh why?! Dear goddess! You should have taken me instead!"

"Truly the most radiant of them all!" Yaha wiped away a single salty tear, allegedly. I saw none at all. Georg said nothing, just holding his nose in the air. Despite the majestic display, they clearly could have cared less. I saw it in each of their eyes. All they really cared for was keeping their privileged positions as long as they could. How I wished I could have checked such nauseatingly unbound privilege with a kick to the throat.

Crym bit her lip nervously. I could tell she didn't buy it either. But at the same time didn't dare speak out of turn. She instead adopted a look of faux awe, stammering anxiously. Somehow, I get the impression she practiced more than enough with me. "E-even m-m-more than Crown Prince G-Godwyn?"

Wow, Crym is a far better actress than I gave her credit for. For me, I just kept quiet, because even being dubious of such a notion was a blasphemy of the highest order. My father stuck his chest out, as if he were the one they were speaking of.

"Yes, dear girl. He is the mightiest, wisest, and most perfect of the Queen's children. There was a reason why he was chosen by the Greater Will to lead in the queen's stead, that is until we could find a proper heir. But the world might be better off under the golden reins of His Majesty forever. Sadly, we cannot question providence. We should only trust."

"Trust in the honeyed light of Grace! Trust in the auspices of the Golden Order!" Georg and the Guardians snapped to attention, putting their hands on their hearts. Wow, quite the display of precision. Too bad it's completely hollow and meaningless. I shared a look with Crym. It was gestures like that which made me wonder if I had been part of a cult the whole time and never realized it. I had never been the most religious type, if anything Crym filled that niche. But she looked absolutely terrified at this disturbing turn of events. If this was how the top echelon felt, what did that mean for the actual gods themselves?

I didn't believe it personally, but I kept up my passivity as a proper Maiden should. And thus mimicked the gesture myself. Crym of course had to fumble around, taking precious few moments to even do it. I put on my best Maiden face, something I had plenty of practice with. I was the picture of poise, and beauty. Perfection embodied in my mild, demure expression. "I understand completely, father," I said with all the agreeable girlish charm I could muster. "The light of Queen Marika's grace is truly something we should always trust in. It's nothing but golden and holy. It's the same way my Lord Father is always perfect. Your wisdom is truly unsurpassed. Have you considered giving sermons in the cathedral? I know such fervor is something that should always have an audience!"

He straight up ignored me, the nerve of him. Like it didn't even matter. This is why I am glad he's dead.

"You are truly a majestic speaker, Lord Saul! I speak for the other guardians when I think you should always lead the holy mass. The congregations need to hear your passionate words." Yaha said, offering a refined gesture of placation. It bugged me so much that this jerkwad thought he was more of a queen than me. Hanch, Georg, and Zhangpo affirmed this with generic muttered butt kissery.

Hey! That's exactly what I said, you...! You! Argh! I couldn't muster the words to describe my vexation at the time. I wanted to scream. I wanted to shove a sword through his neck. That. Badly.

He preened at the words, soaking it up as if he was the High King himself. "Why, thank you, Yaha. I am merely a humble paladin of the order, and hardly the best at public speaking, but I'm glad to know some value the importance of my words." Oh, sweet Marika, could he be any more fake? I was all but kissing his rear, and he didn't even look at me, but these freaks say the same thing and he plays at being humble! If it weren't for my orders, I had considered ditching them all. Not to mention I've seen what he's done to deserters in the past. A quick death would be a blessing.

So Crym and I settled in the corner away from the rest of our cohorts. The platform continued on its downward course. She whimpered every so often. "What is your problem now?" I was so exasperated with that man and his entire coterie.

"I'm afraid, Milady." She whispered, her eyes red with unshed tears. "What happens to us if the platform gives out from underneath us? We all plummet into the depths and no one will know that we're here!" That was not what I was expecting her to say. I was about to respond, only for the entire platform to shudder and stop as the glow receded. We had made it to the bottom of the shaft. "Never mind." Crym bowed her head sheepishly as everyone filed out. The melancholy remained, and I knew what the issue was really.

Crym's faith meant everything to her. It was the one thing that kept her going somedays. The light of the Golden Order was her hope, but to see how everyone acted truly shook that hope to its very foundation. I could tell she was trying to reconcile things, so it made sense and wasn't succeeding at all. I really pitied her in that moment. Yeah, desertion was looking real inviting in that moment, forget anything my father would do to us. We had to escape, we had to be free, even death would be preferable than this horrific existence.

I took hold of her hand tenderly, wishing to allay those fears any way I could. "Stick to close to me, and do whatever I tell you." My order was clear and firm. Yes, I was going to run away, but I wouldn't abandon Crym either. She was my attendant and moreover, she was my friend. I gave Crym a pointed stare, and she understood in that moment. I could tell she was still reluctant, so I squeezed her hand. "Trust me on this, you do trust me, right?" To which she nodded tearfully and squeezed back.

"Good girl." I whispered warmly, running a hand through her dark hair. I swatted at her one tiny hair braid like a playful kitten to punctuate it. To which she flushed like a cherry in response, the dusky nature of her countenance offered a pleasing contrast. We were on the same page, but we would have to play our cards right. We mounted up and rode down that spooky cobblestone road toward our fateful meeting with Ezra and our possible escape from this nightmare.

Since Ezra already described the scenery, I'll simply call it macabre and leave it at that. Even sometimes I can be a minimalist, you know. Less said about that hole, the better.

Crym and I were out at the front, doing our duty as good scouts. Jan Rose seemed uneasy; I certainly wouldn't blame him for feeling that way, seeing the spooky ghost creatures milling about in the fields. I just gave him a loving pat. "Oh, don't worry about them. You're the fastest Chocobo alive. You can outrun them no problem!" It was true, Chocobos are some of the fastest creatures around, even most horses have problems keeping up with them.

I looked up at the artificial sky. There was a certain beauty to it. A shame I couldn't appreciate it more, not just because we were on the clock, but just because of the general dissatisfaction with my own life. I looked over my shoulder to Crym, looking like her usual nervous self. There were so many shadows in this place that I didn't blame her for checking every corner, blackened corner of this gloomy hole in the ground.

"Wark!" Mr. Prickles crowed once. He was always a bird of few words. Whatever he said, I imagine it was quite philosophical. Crym gave a rare smile and ruffled his feathers. Trust me when I say she's the only one who could ever get away with that.

This cavern seemed to go on forever. You'd think our gracious hosts would be more considerate of their guests getting to the venue on time. "Do you think we'll reach the city soon, Lord Father?" I asked, at least trying to start some kind of conversation if only to lift my unease. "It seems rather poor form for these folks to want us to partake in their little death game, and yet we have to travel such long distances to get to our destination."

"Are you that eager to race to your death?" Zhangpo sneered, gnawing on a whole wedge of cheese, sloppily, I might add, seriously, where did he even find something like that? He greedily chewed and sprayed bits of cheese everywhere. It stuck to his face, and armor like glue. I hoped he suffered constipation later. "Little Meter Maiden so desperate to show she can hang with the real knights? Oh, by all means, don't let us stop you! It just means you die faster!" This got laughs from the other guardians, and the regular knights. Their armor clattered as mockingly as their laughter. How I wished only misfortune upon them.

Father said nothing, but his smug expression showed he approved. "I'm sure we'll get there sooner than you think, daughter mine." He pointed with a gloved finger and that's when I saw it. A truly grand city that could put Alabaster or Pythagoras itself to shame. It had massive gothic spires reaching into the sky. Father looked delighted at the sight of it. "Behold! The lost Eternal City of Nokturne!" He held his arms out as if to embrace the entire city. "It's even more majestic than I initially believed!"

It really was. The tips of the spires reached into the depths of the glintstone-laden sky, the tallest of which vanished into that artificial dusk. Our path led through the walls that loomed over us. As we got closer, I came to understand just what the cause of the glow was: massive slabs of glintstone inlaid into the massive stone and brick walls themselves.

It made me think of stories I'd heard of the ancient capital of Leyndell in its heyday, but instead of having the brilliant, gilded sheen of the Erdtree, the entire city was bathed in the pale blue light provided by the mystic night sky. The city truly felt ancient. The one downside was that it was very cramped. The city streets were incredibly narrow and tightly packed. We could barely traverse them single file, not to mention numerous alleyways spiderwebbing out in all directions. It would be very easy to get lost here.

I found myself looking in every direction, and my instincts were telling me that someone was watching us, darting in and out of those alleys, but we continued on. The streets were getting narrower the further into the city we advanced. "Halt and dismount!" My father called out, coming down from his war charger. "We'll proceed from here on foot, you two stay with the mounts." He said to a pair of the nameless knights, who merely saluted. I felt this cloying shadow descend over me. All of a sudden, I felt quite vulnerable, wondering just how many eyes were really watching us. Or were the ones that I should worry about those I called my allies?

My hand went to my sheathed blade, touching on the silvered pommel. It was my sole comfort in this dreary place as I recalled Zhangpo's taunts from earlier, Meter Maiden! Just hearing that damnable title burned me up. Being a Maiden is one of the highest honors that could be bestowed, and the notion of it being demeaned in such a manner was something I'd never let go of! Even if I didn't agree with their attitude toward our current situation, I was still a knight of the Golden Order. I had my pride, and this was my chance to prove it. Regardless of the atmosphere of this city in the shadow of death, I would accomplish my mission.

It was then that a new smell permeated the air, one that Crym and I were all too familiar with, maybe not as much as horse dookie, but familiar, nonetheless. The smell of death. We found the source of it as we entered an open plaza. My stomach dropped into my feet, and my heart shattered at the sight of a giant pile of corpses, at least seven feet tall piled up like cordwood. All the while, ants as large as our horses and Chocobos were feasting on the decaying remnants. Their mandibles were as large as short swords, tearing through flesh with a gruesome ease. It reminded me of the sound of canvas being roughly torn in two. They were also strong enough to be able to crush bone into a fine powder as bodies and body parts alike disappeared into the gullets of these creatures.

I could hear Crym blubber beside me, and I'll even admit that some tears of my own escaped, not that I would let anyone else see it. My father held up a gloved hand in a balled fist, the signal to stop. "Ah, the legendary ant mounts of the Nox. It's amazing they were able to pull off such a feat. It's a testament to their skill in all branches of science and magic. They bred them to be far larger than they should be." The hollow laugh he let out was as cruel as his smile. "And now the beasts turn on their masters, and devour them in turn. It's simply poetic." I couldn't believe what I was hearing! He actually admired all this like it was some great work of art!

The guardians all laughed like they heard a good joke. "I'm getting hungry again just listening to it." Zhangpo piped up. Ugh, that sick pig! Perhaps you'd like to go over there and join those oversized bugs in their feast? I'm sure they'll be more than willing to let you have a taste! He then pulls a slice of chocolate cake out of nowhere and all but dropped his face into it. No fork or knife, just full-on splat into his mouth. Crumbs and icing all over his face and armor! I know it was chocolate because of how dark the crumbs were.

"I want some cake," Crym whined, jealously eying the wasted crumbs. I was worried she'd go for his leavings. I needed her to focus.

"This is not the time to worry about cake! Cake is the last thing that should be on your mind right now!" I hissed at her, which she flinched at in its unexpected harshness. Crym let out a sorry, unintelligible mewl. "Did you suddenly forget we're in the middle of a vital mission that could decide the fate of the world? Am I the ONLY one who cares about stopping these people?" Suddenly, I felt guilt sting me in the heart at the sight of it. I did make a mental note to get some cake after we were finished, though. Of course, I would get the larger piece. It's only fair!

"Your wit is spotless as your cape, General Lilywhite. I may have to ask you to school me so I can sharpen my own." He flashed what he considered a charming smile, playing with his stupid mustache; all I saw was the face of a man whose brain was greased far too much with cheap hair tonics for the specific means of defying the despoiling, insidious forces of male pattern baldness. Even if his suggestions made sense, I still hated his face. "This place is certainly becoming quite interesting. Perhaps it's best to split our forces so we can explore more ground faster? Perhaps we can find some locals that have a pulse and see if they can't tell us more about what we can expect during our time down here?"

Never knew Georg was such a brownnoser, but this is a guy who was making sure his hair was all in place while in the middle of a vital mission. Seriously, where did he even get the mirror in the first place? It was like they all used their great magic for frivolousness. I would have been in awe if I had fewer brain cells.

Father stroked his square chin thoughtfully. He then nodded in agreement, to which the greaseball gave a theatrical bow to. It irked me in all its smarminess. "You make a valid point, Commander Crossman. I can only imagine what other delights this place holds, and sadly, we can't get to it all in one day." His eyes shifted to our village idiot, calmly dishing out orders as if he were somebody to be relied on. Where did Father find these people? I swear. "Ser Zhangpo, take some of our knights and my daughter with you. Oh, and don't forget her…attendant."

Don't think I didn't notice how he said that last part, or that look of disgust he flashed at Crym. "Start covering the other streets. See if you can't find any of the locals and learn more about this little death game we're supposed to play." His smile turned chill again as his eyes flashed with reptilian-like predation. "Don't be afraid to rough them up if necessary. Or put them to the sword if you wish. I'll leave it to your astute decision-making skills, Ser Zhangpo."

This seemed to make Zhangpo happy, because he mirrored that predatory sneer, revealing those rotten yellow teeth. It actually made him seem halfway intimidating. The freak was strong in this one. "I would have done that anyway, general, but thank you for giving your official seal of approval. I don't have to worry about having my treats taken from me that way!" So glad he has his priorities straight. We had brought about twenty knights with us, a squad of eight broke off to join pigboy. He then looked at Crym and I with a far too lustful leer for my tastes. "You two take point, now get to it!" He hollered at us, showing us the vile leftovers between his teeth.

Remember what I said about those who pretend they're strong? Zhangpo is a prime example of this. He's by far the weakest of the Seal Guardians, and quickly defers to those he knows who could beat him in a fight with little trouble, Commander Crossman and my father being obvious. But if he's given even the littlest bit of authority, he'll readily abuse it at every turn and lord it over to those he seeks to impress. I said nothing, just turning my nose up at him and motioning to Crym. I was glad we were in the scout position. It meant not seeing any of this rabble.

We kept a respectable distance from the contingent, all the while stealing glances over our shoulder. My hand was inches from my blade at all times. I felt this sense of anticipation, or maybe it was better to call it dread. Despite my initial enthusiasm to be taken on an actual mission, and whatever my desires to prove my worth to the Golden Order. Another line of thinking was building in my head. Namely, this could finally be the end of the line for us. We were in a distant place within the very bowels of the earth itself. A place forgotten by time that few ever ventured to. It would make for an efficient tomb.

I heard rumors about how the High King would "disappear" particularly troublesome individuals who didn't agree with the regime. No warning, no trial. They were just gone and never seen again. I'm certain it wouldn't have been difficult for that man to do the same thing to Crym and I. How hard would it be for Zhangpo and those knights to stab us in the back and leave us in one of these filthy, cramped alleyways, never to see the light of day ever again? The more I weighed this in my mind, the more I could find nothing but fault with the Golden Order.

So far, I had followed the script like a good little worker drone, maybe it was time to deviate. I suddenly took hold of Crym's hand and yanked her into the first side alley I could find, out of sight of Zhangpo. I quickly covered her mouth before she could say anything, looking at her with all the seriousness I could muster. "Listen to me very carefully, Crym. Whatever issues I've had with you with over the years. You have been loyal and faithful as my attendant, and given our current company. You're the only person I feel I can really trust right now."

I continued. "We need to take care of ourselves, first." I sighed, looking upwards toward the brilliant dusky sky. I would have found it beautiful if the place under it wasn't macabre. "I thought this would finally be my big break. I could finally have my father's respect. But the more and more I see it's becoming clear it's just not going to happen. If they don't want my loyalty, then I see no further reason to give it to my father or the Golden Order as a whole!" Crym's eyes widened in recognition at what I was implying, and in a surprising move for her, she actually pried my hand off her mouth.

"Milady, think about this!" Crym exclaimed, sounding amazingly concerned. "It wouldn't be just treason; it would be blasphemy of the highest order!" I wasn't about to let her go into a religious rant, so I just kept walking down the dark alley, looking for any signs of life that wasn't my father or troll boy. Crym followed, still running her mouth. "If we don't report back in on time, people will wonder! And I seriously don't need to tell you how Lord Saul will feel about that."

"Duly noted, Crym." I responded while rolling my eyes. The alleyway was cramped, and smelled horrible. But then again so did the sewers back in Alabaster, so nothing new on that front. It was so eerily quiet back here. My heart raced a little more. Then I heard what sounded like footsteps and voices, so I picked up the pace, Crym huffing and puffing behind me.

"And let's face it, we're all alone down here!" Crym continued on as we rounded a corner, clearly not used to exerting herself so much. "There's safety in numbers. If we stay with Lord Zhangpo and the knights, then at least we'll be ready to face any dangers." Good argument, Crym. But I know better, I'm just willing to bet that man secretly ordered that gluttonous imp to kill both of us when the time presented itself. Well, I refuse to go out that way!

"Then we find one of the other parties and join up with them. We're not the only group that got invited to this wonderful little game." I bit out sardonically. "And I'm sure they'll be more than willing to have a pair of fantastic warriors such as ourselves. We could make quite a living as adventurers, you and I." I smiled at her. The way Crym looked at me in that moment, she looked ready to cry, and not in her usual manner. Like she was genuinely sad about something.

Regardless, we pushed on, hoping to find some semblance of life down here. The two of us saw a juncture up ahead where several alleys branched off in different directions. A good place to get our bearings. We came around the corner. "AIIIIIEEEEEE!" Crym screamed louder than I'd ever heard before, sounding like the wrong end of Scrodinger's Cat. I wheeled about to see what she was carrying on about this time. "M-m-milady! Look at that!" She sniffled, pointing at the wall with a trembling finger. I followed, and my stomach turned at one of the most gruesome sights to befall my eyes.

There were human corpses embedded into the walls of the building! Or at least I think they were human at one point. There were dozens of them, melted into the stone and plaster, their faces contorted in horrible agony, mouths open in screams that would never end. "What in the world is this?" I whispered beneath my breath, all the while my stomach kept churning. I really wished I had my trash can in that moment, because I had an immediate need for it.

"It's the sign of the end times! The devil's work is on full display for everyone to see!" Crym declared with a fearful cry. She had gone into a full religious fervor mode. Rather, I thought it was sheer frightful panic. "Save us, Mama! Papa! Lady Marika above!" She was running in circles, waving her arms all around. "I beseech thee of all the gods of the Golden Order, give us the honeyed rays of your divine blessing and salvation in this darkest hour! Mother Marika, full of grace! Please help us in our hour of need!"

I finally stopped her, pulled her into a headlock, and gave her a mega noogie. Rapping my knuckles against her thick head, she wailed in pain. That sniveling got worse, too. Very loud. In my defense, it was the only way I could conceive to calm her down in that moment. "That's enough, Crym! I hate to say this, but your prayers aren't going to be answered because your precious holy mother is dead!" I hated trampling on Crym's faith in that moment, but it was the truth.

"P-please don't say that, milady!" Finally, Crym managed to wrestle her way of my death grip. Her dark hair was a now a mess thanks to my relentless assault. She whimpered, fat tears in the corners of her dark eyes as she nursed her poor scalp with a hand. "My faith is all I have left! If we can't put our faith in the Gods, then who can we rely on?"

"There's better gods than our pantheon," I said this patiently, like a parent explaining to their child. "Do you really think they hadn't allowed this Crym? This was completely their doing in some way. The world wasn't like this before they came here. All of this." I indicated to the grotesqueries before us. "It's a violation of nature's very foundation. What my father is doing is a violation of all goodness, and it's goddess rendered and enabled."

I felt a few tears of my own form in her eyes, hating that I was tearing down my best friend's faith. Still, it was a delusion. A lie was still a lie, no matter how beautiful. "This cruelty is divinely approved. Look at it again and open your eyes, Crym! I know you're not a fool. Tell me this wasn't the queen's work!" I pointed at the melted sculptures. No, melted petrified people forever frozen in a state of perpetual anguish.

Crym looked around frantically, trying to find some way to poke holes in my arguments, but came up with nothing. All she could do was bow her head and weep. I came up and embraced her, saying nothing as she quailed in my arms. The best thing was to just let her cry it out.

"You finished?" I asked after a few minutes. Crym sniffled and meekly nodded, her eyes puffy and red. I handed her a handkerchief to wipe off her eyes. "Good, then let's get moving. The more distance we put between us and our former comrades, the better!" Crym said nothing as we continued our sojourn through the seamy underbelly of this forgotten city. Not long after that, we finally found life, or close enough to it. Now we've faced slimes in Alabaster before, but these were a completely different beast. Colored a brilliant silvery hue, they would adjust their forms and attack in numerous different ways. No matter, I was looking to vent my frustrations from earlier anyway. Crym hung back and just observed.

Aside from my prodigious skill with the blade and a practiced hand in the ways of the arcane, I'm also pretty adept with a spear as well. I figured that for a fight like this, extended reach would serve me well. Its long, silvery shaft appeared in my hands in a flash of white light. I spun it with the clean precision expected from a Maiden, using the butt of the shaft to knock back one Silver Tear before turning gracefully on my heels to impale another one. It gurgled and slumped to the ground in a puddle of sludge, dead. The other Silver Tears gurgled and attacked me. I just smirked; these things had no idea what they were up against. I shifted my spear into one hand, bringing out my wand with the other. Bluish sparks danced on the very tip as I waved it about. A final flourish sent numerous forked bolts of lightning at the slimes.

An acrid scent wreaking slightly of singed ozone, filled the air as the Silver Tears twisted and writhed under the divine judgment I sent down upon them. Truthfully, I was never a huge fan of slimes in the first place. It's like they have no soul with the way they jiggled heartlessly. My gaze would go back over to Crym, who was still waiting patiently in the background. She had her own blade out, gripping it quite nervously. "You're welcome to join me at any time, you know!" I called out, even as I sent two of the putrid things to Slime Heaven with a single thrust of my spear tinged with the bright red of a martial skill. Yet she just stood there, nervously clutching that oversized cleaver.

I paid it no mind and continued killing off the slimes, such persistent little buggers. But then they surprised me when several combined together. I was now facing a Silver Tear three times the normal size. But it's still just a slime. It launched several oozy protrusions at me. But I effortlessly vaulted over the creature, sending down my spear to impale with a defined javelin toss that engulfed the entirety of its shaft in brilliant pinkish red. I sailed through the air above it, summoning my magic wand into my hand with a mere thought. I just smiled, declaring brazenly, "Thundara!" With that, I called a wrathful thunderbolt down on it. I had enhanced the effectiveness of it by using my spear as a lightning rod.

I enjoyed the scent of ozone in the morning. Or was it night, technically? I don't know!

It wasn't often I got to use more than the bare minimum of my full strength, and it was so satisfying! I landed effortlessly on my feet, not even caring about the smoking pile of goo behind me. I had done so well. A shrill trilling sound filled the air as one of the slimes I had missed leapt at me.

Caught in my own hubris, I froze, unable to call back my spear to raise in my defense or cast a spell, only for an ivory blur to rush past me in that moment. There was the sound of metal cutting through slime as the Silver Tear fell to the ground in two neat piles. The buzzing of the magic coating of a sword skill hummed on the air. Crym stood in front of me protectively, her executioner-style blade coated with silver goop. She had just saved my life. That was a good girl!

She looked over her shoulder, as always with tears in her eyes. But it seemed different this time. She was always so quick to cry over the slightest difficulty. But if anything, she looked relieved, as if some great weight had come off her shoulders, and she smiled with gladness. "Thank you…Lanca."

My eyes widened in surprise. This was the first time Crym had ever called me by name. She knelt before me, laying her weapon at my feet. "I still don't know about this course of action, but I'll trust your judgement, Milady. I reassert the vow I took as your attendant." She looked up at me, those tears still unshed. "If you'll have me." I pulled Crym to her feet and embraced her.

"But of course. I said that you were the only person I could trust, and I mean it. We'll get out of here together, swords in hand and hope in our hearts." I then pulled her into a headlock and gave her a far more playful noogie. Crym actually laughed with joy this time. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you either! My standards have not changed at all. I expect you to hold up to those standards no matter where we go or who we align ourselves with." Our heartfelt moment at an end, we continued exploring the city, all the while hoping that Zhangpo or anyone else didn't shank us on the way out.

I'm not sure how much time passed after that. All we could do was walk, and pray we found someone with a pulse that wasn't hostile. Crym was sticking very close to me the whole time, but that was fine my me. I knew she had my back. I was using my spear as a walking stick, the maple shaft lightly tapping on the broken cobblestone streets. Maybe it wasn't the best idea, given that I'm certain Zhangpo and the knights were looking for us, but at that point I was just enjoying the peace of the moment. Until a shrill cry ripped our momentary joy away.

We had come close to a main road, and saw a herd of those giant ants trample by us. I now got a very good up-close look at them. They had a chitinous shell colored a deep black with a slight bluish sheen, it could have been the light from the glintstone, but I couldn't tell. What was most striking was their eyes. They glowed a brilliant purple, clearly some kind of magical influence at work, as if they were hypnotized in their emptiness.

Also, unlike the ants from earlier, these actually had riders. Tall figures in tattered white and gray robes, and weathered-looking bronze armor along their torsos. A few of them wore white veils over their heads, trimmed in gold thread, the lower part of their mouths covered by a high collar. Alternately, others wore a tall headdress with the veil covering their eyes and leaving their jaws exposed. I had to wonder how functional that was in combat. But what I did notice was the deep-seated malice coming from all of them. Could these be the Nox, or at the very least their descendants?

I was very glad we had heard them earlier. I still remembered the corpses being torn apart by those huge mandibles. I figured there were plenty of ways to die down here, and that was one I'd happily avoid. The two of us hunkered down in the shadows, watching the ants and their riders skitter away. I heard Crym sigh in relief, pretty much exactly how I was feeling in that moment. Waiting a couple seconds more, we finally exited the alley on the main drag, intentionally going in the opposite direction from the giant bugs and their masters. What I would have given for a giant spectral flyswatter in that moment, I should consider creating a spell to do that.

We were about to quicken our pace when the deafening sound of a trumpet ripped through the air. And then a second came to life, and a third, and soon an entire brass section was playing. The song was ethereal, and altogether terrifying. I was looking around for the source of it when Crym tugged at my sleeve. "Milady! Look on the rooftops!" I was very thankful she didn't scream this time. But I directed my gaze to the rooftops and understood.

I saw what I could only describe as malformed snowmen with thin, bony arms, their faces covered by layers of dirty cloth. They held aloft a series of horns with multiple bells, playing their song. Thunderous horns sounded, and massive symbols rang as they danced about in circles. On no legs! They spun, and danced about in a circular pattern. It was strangely hypnotic. I questioned what I was even beholding. A sign of the end times? I couldn't even say for certain as my youthful mind couldn't wrap itself around the sight. I was simply baffled by the image of these strangely angelic beings of unknown origin.

Any sense of reason would have told us to continue going in the other direction. But our curiosity won out, so Crym and I followed the music down the street where we found another plaza, and another giant pile of corpses, this one even bigger than the first and lit ablaze. Around the bonfire were the ant riders from earlier, and several other figures dressed in the same attire. They were dancing to the music, and we could hear them chanting.

"Our time is right! The time of the new lord has come, we cite! All hail the new Lord of Night! He sends the blight, the ones above he will smite! All hail the new Lord of Night!" They repeated this over and over again. This truly drove home how alien this place was. I can't even begin to put into words how messed up things were in the depths. I was also starting to get an idea of what happened to the poor souls melded into the wall. I'm sure that man and the Guardians would readily join in the dance if they could.

"Could they be speaking of that Saladin person we saw earlier on the elevator?" Crym wondered aloud, her voice barely above a whisper. Her reasoning did make sense. It was only the most basic of questions that could be answered. There were so many others that were unanswerable right at this moment. "He did call himself the Nightlord, and if he does rule this city then it makes sense his subjects might hold him up in the same way we do your father or Lord Hawthorne." I had no words for that. It really did make sense. If Saladin was the ruler of this city, then of course they would hold him in reverence, almost like he was a god in some ways. I gave Crym a headpat, she earned that much for a strong observation.

But still I shook my head, a hand tightening around the shaft of my silvery spear. "Be that it may, it still doesn't change our situation. We need to find another team as quickly as possible, and hope they're willing to take us in. We won't last long down here if we're discovered." I finally said, nodding strongly. Crym returned it with a swift nod, and so we moved away from the plaza down another side street. We both encountered of more tortured sculptures adorning the walls. We both shuddered at the sight of it.

Just how? I didn't get how this was a thing. I was starting to get frustrated with everything. But every step we took brought us closer to him. The one who would lead us out of the darkness.

And it just so happens that fated meeting was about to occur! Crym and I arrived in another plaza, one that thankfully was bereft of corpses, ants, and creepy hooded folk. "Can we take a short break, Milady?" My ever-faithful attendant panted, hand on the hilt of her monochrome dragon bone executioner's blade. "I know we need to keep on the move in order to stay away from the Order, but my legs are starting to hurt, and a little rest will do us some good." I'll admit my knees were getting sore as well. I couldn't help that my attendant was once more right as rain. Crym made a lot of sense when it was just us. It was like she was finally in her element now that we had removed those creeps, my father included, from the equation.

"Fine, but only a short break." I relented, and the two of us sat down against the wall of one of the buildings looking out on the plaza, it gave us a full view of the area while ensuring no one could sneak up on us from behind. "We're too exposed out here. We should probably think about finding a place to hole up for a while if we're not able to find any teams to work with in the next couple of hours."

"Yeah, the sooner we get off the streets, the better." Crym agreed, a stern look on her face. I did say she was pretty good when she wasn't flaking, right? "Although I can't imagine the buildings are any safer than being out here." Truth in those words, despite confidence in my own skills and Crym's, we were still only two girls in a very harsh, unforgiving world. We needed a place that we could use as a base camp and hiding spot if it really came down to it. I didn't realize how tired I had become because I was starting to nod off. But then the echo of voices brought me all the way back to full alert. We could hear footsteps coming from one of the larger side streets.

They were being led by a stately-looking woman with strawberry blonde hair. I saw she was an elf as they got closer. She was clad in expensive-looking robes colored a brilliant blue and wore very expensive-looking jewelry. Clearly, she was someone of great authority. She was flanked on the right by her daughter, I could see the strong resemblance between them, what with the hair color and the fact her clothing was the same shade of blue. And on the left was him. A young man with dark brown hair and brilliant green eyes. He wore a long green coat, with a pair of swords hung on his back in a familiar fashion.

He was beautiful, simply put. I could see a bright, warm glow about him. I didn't know how else to describe it. I was simply captivated by his aura for no reason. I was thunderstruck by his existence. I knew simply that I didn't want to fight him. I just knew this was the guy, somehow. I wished to put my trust in him completely. It was weird, I know. Just go with it.

I can't explain it, but the moment I saw him, I felt a connection. A sense of comfort and security, and more importantly, a way out of my predicament. I made a choice in that moment and willingly stepped out from concealment, ignoring Crym's pleas to remain where I was. The party immediately snapped to attention. The girl and the young man immediately drew their swords. They were joined by others, another girl in green, a young man a few years older in brown and red with a sword and shield. A young woman with white hair in red, wielding an axe, and my eyes widened at the girl with hair the color of fallen snow, and gloam pink eyes the same as my own.

It was such an impossibility. I was looking at myself, but she was dressed like complete slut despite having my angelic countenance. Least have a little self-respect if you want to walk around looking like me, you doppelganger.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The young man in green…no Ezra, declared with his voice like thunder. His weapon was at the ready, his pose indicated the possible initiation of a sword skill at any. Sharp Nail, that was it. "You come looking for a fight?" My hand tightened on my spear as I just stared at him. Crym came up, her own weapon in hand. It was a standoff. But for tens of seconds no one said or did anything; the rest of Ezra's friends were just as shocked at my appearance as I was at Rose when I first saw her. I put on my best Maiden face and took a couple of steps forward, all the while noting how everyone tensed for the next move.

I brought my spear up as the girl with the axe and the guy with the short sword and shield readied themselves, just gave them a cold stare before I dropped the spear to the ground with a great clunk. I then quickly drew my sword and wand and did the same with them, the resulting clank and thud left me feeling very vulnerable. "I surrender!" I said loudly and quickly, falling to my knees in the process with my hands raised in supplication. I splayed my fingers out to show I had nothing funny going on between them, magical or otherwise.

Crym looked at me with great askance. But I just threw a look at her, my orders would barter no arguments. "If we want to stay alive, this is our best chance! Do it!" She hesitated for a couple of seconds before dropping her own blade with a clang on the ground and kneeling next to me with her hands raised in likewise surrender.

Crym glanced at me with doubt and worry coloring her dark gaze. I understood her doubt, I truly did. "Crym," I whispered, my pleading eyes locking with hers. "Please trust me on this one. I know they aren't bad people. Don't ask why. I just know."

Crym's doubts vanished in a moment, replaced by trust and warmth. "Okay, milady," She nodded with strength, eyes steel once again, "I will. You're the only person in the entire world I trust utterly. I won't let you down ever. I'm with you until the end."

"Ride or die, I say the same," I added emphatically, a smile tugging at my lips. I nudged her with my elbow, entirely grateful. She returned it with a radiant grin. Thank you, Crym. There wasn't a truer friend than you in the entirety of Midgard for me.

There was a good awkward pause for a good thirty seconds. I saw them whispering among themselves, confused surprise on their collective faces. They were unsure what to do with us. I hoped they came to a conclusion. Soon! Like now! There was no telling when Zhangpo would come in looking us, dragging his butt on the carpet like the dog he was!

"Uh, I wasn't expecting that." The girl in blue, Felecia said, her gaze going over to her mother, Lady Quara, and then to Ezra. "Mom?" Lady Quara moved with purpose and grace that I'll admit would put even the staunchest Maiden to shame. Not that any of us lived long enough to gain that level of poise. She stood over us, examining the both of us with those brilliant aquamarine eyes. I didn't falter in my gaze, and Crym didn't either, good on her. Lady Quara gave a loving smile before holding her hands out.

"There's no need for that, my dears. You don't need to grovel to prove your case." Her voice held such kindness. I found myself being jealous of Felecia and Erik of the close relationship they had with their mother. She smiled warmly, clapping her hands together. "Aw, but you two are such cute little lost girls! Are you looking for a new mommy, because I certainly have plenty of openings over here! I have candy and pretzels, and my house. I even have a pony you can ride!" And thus, I became familiar with Lady Quara's very quirky personality.

"Mama! Don't bargain with Mr. Chestnut! That's MY horse!" Felecia whined in protest. My, my, someone is very touchy. Not that I thought it wasn't sort of adorable. I hoped we could bond with each other over our love for our mounts.

"My father never gave me a pony…not even on my birthday!" I shot back; my long-gloved arms folded inside the folds of my cape. I stuck my nose in the air, inclining my chin. Trying my best to look down my nose at them. It was the best impression of my father I could make, as unflattering as it sounds. "And besides, I already have a perfectly serviceable Chocobo, thank you very much!"

As you can see, my first interactions with the other girls weren't exactly smooth, but that is how it happened. I then heard barking, and this huge beast of a dog in a leather harness trotted out of the crowd up to us.

"Farram, come back here!" The girl in green, Kyana, cried out. But he just trotted up to us, barking happily, wagging its tail back and forth. Crym's eyes widened in delight as he stood in front of us, looking at us with those big brown eyes.

"No way! A Mabari Hound and he's not trying to kill us!" Crym squealed, animals were one of the few things she truly loved being around. "Is this actually real? Lady Lanca, pinch me!" I rolled my eyes and pinched her on the cheek. She yelped because I did it hard, but it did nothing to hide her joy at the sight of the very large dog.

"Can you focus right now?" I said to her in irritation. Only for Farram to come right up to me, tail wagging furiously at this point. He barked playfully once again. I just glared at him as his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth. I felt a sense of endearing irritation, "What is your deal anyway? Aren't you supposed to be a war hound? Act like it will you?" He tilted his head, whining in response. At least I knew he was paying attention. He sniffed at my hip satchel, barking one more time. "Oh, that's what you're after, isn't it? So typical." He had smelled my jerky. I pulled out a small piece and threw it at his furry feet. He barked happily and folded it down. Before looking at me with those big eyes again. Aw, I couldn't be more taken!

"What the fuck is going on here?" A coarse voice broke out. I saw a dwarf with blue skin, very peculiar, but I suppose I can expect crassness from the likes of them.

"I don't know, but it's working, whatever it is." A second dwarf with a brilliant red mohawk holding an equally large axe on his shoulder said. I paid them no mind, given the giant walking carpet seemed fixated on me. I held my hand out in front of Farram, who sniffed it, and then his huge tongue came out and licked it. I whined inwardly as slobber dripped from my hand.

"Ugh, such typical mabari behavior. You're nothing but a mongrel. I bet you're just doused in mange and can't even do your job. But still." I found myself smiling, patting his head. I was felt myself become completely untethered. It was as if I had my barriers broken by a simple act. "I don't want to fight you! No, I don't! You're such a good boy!" Farram barked in response, wagging his tail once again. Again, everyone looked at me in total confusion. "What? Crym and I are outnumbered. You have a cute dog and simply."

It was then I felt it all snap. I was suddenly on my feet. No more dignified, passive-aggressive fair flips. This was the honest me. All bluster, and red-faced frustration beneath the pearly facade, shouting up into the sky. Seemingly raging against the heavens themselves for dishing out these bad cards to me. "I DON'T GET PAID ENOUGH FOR THIS CRAP! I'M SICK OF BEING TREATED LIKE A CHEAP STREET CLEANER! I'M A KNIGHT AND A MAIDEN! MY FATHER IS ONE OF THE WORST HUMAN BEINGS IN EXISTENCE! HE CAN GET SOMEONE ELSE TO MASSAGE HIS BUNIONS! I REFUSE TO PICK UP TRASH EVER AGAIN!"

I had tears in my eyes by the end of my little rant, but wow, how freeing it was to finally voice all my frustrations. A huge weight was gone from my shoulders. I finally felt right as rain again for the I bowed low at the waist. Placed that maidenly mask on my face once more, deciding it was finally time for proper introductions. I made for not wiping away the tears for effect. I would call this move "dignified begging". "My name is Lanca Lilywhite, and this is my attendant, Crym." I pulled Crym up to her feet, motioning to her. Crym gave the most klutzy, ineffectual bow ever. This was the one time it would work. We had to be poor wretches, it was demanded, "Please let us join your party! We have nowhere else to go!"

I'm a proud woman, but I'm also an opportunist. This was our best shot at getting out of this place alive, and if it meant begging for a chance at a better life, then I'll gladly beg for it! Crym looked at me, totally shocked, as did everyone else. That is, except for Lady Quara. She actually seemed amused by this. Even threw her head back and started laughing.

"I don't see why not!" She said in between laughing fits, looking like she was enjoying our indignity too much. It irked me. Still, I would take it over dying, "Snrk... Ahahaha! You girls can stay!"

"Oh great." Felecia let out a deep-seated sigh, looking on in exasperation, "Well, it looks like you two are in. Mom likes you!"

"Yeah, she isn't easy to impress." The guy in brown and red, who I now know is her older brother Erik, rolled his eyes.

"What exactly are we going to do here?" Kyana asked, looking between us and the others, unsure, even as Farram rubbed up against her side. What a good dog!

"It appears there's only one option here." The white-haired girl in red with the axe said. She took Ezra by the arm and gently shoved him toward Crym and I. "What are you waiting for, Ezra? Work your magic!" He looked confused at what the girl, El, had said.

"Uh, care to enlighten me?" He asked innocently, trying his best to not look exhausted at the prospect. Poor guy seemed overwhelmed at what was being asked of him. The girls all looked at him with glowers of varying irritation. I wonder how he has the energy for all of us even now.

Another girl, taller than the others in clothing of Yuyakan tailoring, just looked at him with her mismatched eyes. I felt the magic radiating off the green one. A magic eye? Yeah, that was definitely the case with the way she scrutinizingly raked me over with it. "You should know by now, or are you just that naive?"

The red-haired girl, wielding daggers in a red shirt and white pants slyly smiled to Ezra, nudging him with her elbow. "Oh, come on, Ezra! No need to be modest! Go ahead and work your charms on them! Even Noa likes you by this point." The would-be ninja girl groaned in embarrassment, folding her arms while trying to keep a serious demeanor.

"I only respect his skills as a combatant and nothing else." Wow, talk about denial from Noa. She twitched, looking a little flushed from the implication of the accusation. She shook her head with a sigh, her ears red. Almost fond sounding. She put a hand on her side, shouldering her large boomerang. Kinda of an eyesore, if you ask me. But don't take offense, Noa. We both know you are skilled with it. "That being said, you're certainly an unusual type. Extremely hard to get a hit on, one minute you're bloodthirsty to the point it would put most Dremora to shame, and the next you're one of the kindest souls possible. It's an extremely weird combination that would not work in most other cases."

Ezra looked stumped at this analysis; He blinked those jade eyes wide with disbelief. "How did you know about that? I usually try and keep that side of myself hidden."

Noa scoffed, bearing a deep frown at his naivety. "Oh please, it's evident to everyone present. You're like an open book. You were enjoying yourself way too much topside when we were fighting those Misbegotten. You had all the eagerness of a child when you saw the announcement the head weirdo was making. You're looking forward to what's to come, and it's got you all heated up. Don't try to deny it at all."

Hm, I like this girl. Not only is she learned, but she's direct and to the point. I value that kind of honesty. I could see us getting along in the future.

"Then you're just like Hawke." A third dwarf, holding a formidable-looking crossbow, piped up. "The guy loved his magic, fighting anyone who crossed his path, and quipping in the middle of said fights. Maybe I should start calling you Little Hawke then." He paused for a minute, tapping the frame of his crossbow. He looked quite dissatisfied with that nickname. "Eh, I'll workshop that nickname for later. I suppose I'll stick with White Wolf Junior for right now." The dwarf walked up to Ezra, clapping Ezra on the back. "You got this, kid; it'll get easier with time."

Not everyone seemed to agree with this notion, as Felecia quickly grabbed onto Ezra's sleeve, giving him a warning look. "Don't get too intimate with her, Ezra! Let me remind you that I'm your girlfriend, not this Rose clone!" I bristled at this, as did the other girl who could have easily been my relative.

"Why the fuck are you bringing me into this shit?" Rose scowled and marched up to me, looking me right in the face with a squinty expression. "Yeah, I'll agree with you on that one. She's basically me without the chutzpah. El has the chutzpah." She grinned smug like at me. The nerve. "This chick doesn't have a single bit of my charisma, and on top of that she's fucking tiny. Look at her. She's about as tall as you, Hot Pants."

Felecia shook her head. "At least it's better than knife ear." She muttered under her breath. It was then she locked gazes with Rose, looking rather cross. "And I do have a name, it's Felecia! It can't kill you to at least call me that once!"

Rose grunted, looking quite skeptical. Like calling Felecia by her name was some great ask. "You're really worried about what name for me to call you when we have that dumbass Nightlord prick threatening to let loose the Blight on the overworld? Even I know how bad that is!"

Felecia bit her lip, muttering, "Point, but you could at least try learning my name..."

Now, getting back to me, I was furious at Rose's comments. My hand cut through the air as my fury rose, I growled, "How dare you say such things! Who do you think you are, saying I don't have chutzpah? I have plenty of chutzpah; my reserves of chutzpah are giant, massive even! I'll rub my chutzpah all over your face, you little strumpet!" I thought the Seal Guardians got under my skin, but they were nothing compared to this! "You say I have no chutzpah, look in a mirror! You're the bizzarro one here! The way you dress, and talk is simply foul! If you have my face, then at least serve it better!"

"Milady, recall our position! Please!" Crym pleaded, tugging at my cape. Trying to keep some sense of order. I give her credit for trying. I would have none of it, though.

I pinched her cheek with annoyance on my voice. Crym let out a cry of distress. I snipped at her, "quiet you! I have to put this doppelgänger in her place!" My pride had been besmirched, and once that wolf is out of the cage, it won't go back until it's been satisfied.

Rose snorted in an unladylike manner, not impressed or intimidated at all. "What the fuck does that mean?" But then she laughed mockingly. "Oh, wait a minute! I get it now! You're a VIRGIN! A well-spoken virgin at that. So let me ask the big question: have you ever had your sushi pounded at all?" A squeak escaped my lips as I felt my face turn red. The nerve of her to ask such a thing of me! "Ha! I guess not!"

I felt the heat in my cheeks burn brighter than the greatest fire magic, feeling scandalized. I was infuriated beyond measure. "Why does that even matter? I am the Ivory Maiden! I must retain my dignity and chastity at all times." I informed her, stamping on the floor as I leaned forward. Yeah, I had lost all decorum by now. How embarrassing that moment was. "Of course, you wouldn't get that given all the pickles you take in! No wonder your mind is so gross. All you do is bite down on them and suck up all the pickle juice you can! Swallow it, you commoner! Drink it down, hard!"

Sadly, my insults fell flat. She stood there, looking unaffected. If anything, it just seemed to embolden her further. That smug grin grew more incorrigible by the moment.

"Oh, honey, you have no idea! It was my job for quite some time." The perversion behind that grin was even more sickening than the corpse piles! "You better believe I suck it down, and I was fucking good at it!" She sauntered over to Ezra, putting her arms around his neck, pressing up against his chest very suggestively with her own... It was simply disgusted beyond measure. "This guy right here is my main man. He gives it to me every night, slamming me so hard my eyes rolled into the back of my skull. He swats my ass and calls me a bad girl. I'm basically his sex slave. Poor me. I can't get enough!"

Ezra fumbled for words, "w-what...? That's n-not...!"

Then the redhead, Fianna, decided to get in on the action. She came up from behind Ezra, hugging him around the waist and rubbing her chest against his back. Why are there so many perverts around? "And I'm his mistress." She began fanning herself, turning a lascivious red around her ears. "Oh Ezra, you're so huge! I can't contain it any longer! He railed me until I became an addict. I just can't seem to stop!"

Ezra gibbered a bit more, overheating at this point, "...F-F-Fianna, d-don't give them the wrong impression!"

The most scandalous thing was Lady Quara's reaction to all this! She was flushing herself, hand on her cheek. The chains in her hair tinkled as she tilted her head to the side, looking with admiration, "Oh my, my... Ezra, you have certainly become a naughty boy! Could you be building yourself a secret harem?" I couldn't believe my ears. Someone of such station lowering herself to be like that?

Cue Felecia screaming in rage and grabbing onto his left arm, rubbing her chest against his side, eyes blazing in challenge to the other women hanging off him. "Oh, to hell with those lies! I am his girlfriend, and I want it! G-gimme…" She stuttered a little, her face turning furious red. "Oh hell! I CAN'T say it! Please Ezra! Tell these hussies this isn't true at all!" She was shaking him madly, flustered tears forming on the edge of her eyes.

But Ezra was just babbling incoherently like a child. No words could stop this flood of depravity.

Could it have gotten any more ridiculous? Yes…yes it could. Kyana grabbed hold of Ezra's right arm, those malachite eyes quavered with jealousy. It was then mimicking Felecia's actions down to every fleshy flap of those things against Ezra's poor, innocent arm. I tried my best to look away, but I was so taken aback that I couldn't even move. "We haven't done it…but we cuddle plenty. And I've seen enough to know he's jacked and stacked!"

Ezra's mind fully shut down at this point, his entire face beet red. Steam leaked from his ears. He looked like he might die from overheating. Don't let these salacious hussies get the better of you!

The blue dwarf let out a loud whoop, his fist high in the air. "Ha! Not bad kid! I knew you had game!'

Zoltan, the dwarf with the mohawk, grinned with unadulterated pride. "Ha! Not bad, laddie! Aye, you might be living up to that title of "White Wolf Junior" after all at this rate!"

The dwarf with the crossbow stowed his weapon, producing a notebook from his pack. Graphite met paper in the foulest manner possible. This was recorded in his for everyone to know. Much to my horror, it became a bestseller all across Midgard. "I'm taking notes on this kid. This is prime material for my next book!"

Erik exhaled in exhaustion, finding himself very interested in the back of his shield. "I wonder if the blood on this will come out." I felt a little sorry for him in this moment if this was the kind of madness he dealt with on a regular basis.

As for El, she was at a loss for words. Her face was the same shade as her tunic. "Oh, Grace... I-I had no idea." She nervously fiddled about with her axe, trying anything to distract herself. "Please don't mind me. I'm just trying to comprehend everything I've seen here."

Phoebe seemed utterly hypnotized by the entire rude debacle. Both scandalized, and somehow...curious in all her redness from cheek to ear. She tried and failed to hide her face with her hands.

That ugly little creature made of light cackled as she fluttered about. "Come on, Phoebe!" The tiny beast teased like the devil in her ear, "just join in! What can it hurt...? I know you've got the ripe produce to add to this feast for the eyes!"

Phoebe let out a meek squeak, cringing as she hid her face in abject shame. "NOOOO! I will not! I will not! I WILL NOT!"

It was about this point that I was starting to lose my mind over the whole situation. "That is all so improper! Do any of you tramps have any sense of shame?" I screeched at the top of my lungs, even as I knew I was blushing like crazy. "You're nothing but exhibitionists! It's sinful! It's dirty! UGGGH! Just stop already!"

Steam would have been pouring out of my ears if it could. I cried out, and bargained with the goddess, but it would not STOP!

Meanwhile, Crym was curled up, twiddling her fingers about. She'd given up shielding her eyes halfway through. She looked utterly defeated, muttering strange things as if she'd lost it, "I want to…but I can't! Please be merciful, goddess!"

I learned fast that Noa is one of the only sane members of this little coalition. She sighed deeply, looking on at the entire carnival of madness with a flat expression. "We all know this is just a massive put on, right?" She flashed Fianna and Rose an irritated glare. "Both of you stop winding everyone up!" Her face turned hard. There was the hard marching, and clanking of armor that signified the coming of foes. "After all, we have company!" I heard a familiar sound as Zhangpo and his knights marched through an alley, surrounding us.

If this had been naught but about ten minutes earlier, I would have been petrified, but now I was just angry, and they had given me an outlet for it. My wand flipped into my hand with my force of will alone. "DON'T. MOTHERLOVING. INTERRUPT!" I screeched, swinging my wand with all the fury of a sword as I sent the knights flying in all directions, limbs flailing into walls and landing on the street with a big hard crunch of bones. You'll need to forgive me if I say that I enjoyed it!

One of them landed in front of me with a loud grunt. He was actually conscious. He looked up at me, I saw the in his blue eyes shimmering with tears behind the visor of his helm. "W-what in Gehenna are you doing, Lady Lanca?" I could hear the sheer terror in his voice, muffled by his visor. But I had no sympathy for any of them, remembering how they laughed at me earlier. My eyes were as empty as the pitiless dusk. "Don't act like you ever respected me ever."

I flicked my wand and rapidly spun him on the ground. "Oh shit, I'm going to puke!" The was a resulting sploosh noise of a fresh puke, and puke flew from his helm. It painted the street a dark shade of green in the shape of a complete circle as he went round and round. The stench stung my nose and my eyes. I smiled with all the hellish cruelty of a woman scorned.

"Lady Lanca!" Crym screamed, expression a frozen tableau of horrified disgust. I didn't care. I chose violence, and would not be persuaded otherwise. I didn't care if I would be covered head to toe in their blood if it meant my freedom.

"Oh, grown up! Stop being so dramatic! We have no reason to be loyal to my father or those who lick his boots!" I stopped spinning him and flicked my wand, sending the knight to Rose with the horrid noise of metal grinding against stone. "Here, show me that chutzpah you were telling me about earlier. I could care less about his life." She took this with gusto, Rose was elated at this, grinning from ear to ear as she unsheathed the cutlass and readily plunged the blade through the narrow slit of the visor, the knight gurgled as he choked on his blood, dying in seconds.

"How about that? Virgin Me has some balls after all. I like her! She's a cold-blooded bitch." I just gave her a cold-blooded smirk, one that she returned. Perhaps twice as disturbing as me in all its blood freezing chill.

"My knights!" Zhangpo wept like I had just broken his favorite toy. Oh, grow up you oversized baby troll! His angry grimace was nothing to me anymore. He angrily shook his fist at me. "You would turn against your own father to join with him?!" He indicated to Ezra, who just glared at him. "And you!" Crym flinched when he pointed to her. "You went against orders! The bothersome Knight Princess wasn't supposed to live!" She looked at me for a minute, looking devastated. Which confirmed what I had suspected. I was never going to make it out of here alive.

Crym picked up her blade with an audible metal hiss against pavement, her brown eyes blazed with hot fire. Its executioner's style blade was thin, like a rapier, one side black as death, the other white as fallen snow. It made me think that it was made from dragon materials, perfect to take me out. But then Crym's face hardened, marching forward, standing protectively in front of me. "I made a choice." I didn't think her voice could sound so frigid. "I am the attendant of Lanca Lilywhite, the Ivory Maiden of Alabaster City." She leveled her weapon on Zhangpo, crouching low in martial stance as she brandished it. "I will let no harm come to milady. You want her dead, then you'll have to do your own dirty work for a change! And furthermore, you'll go through me to make it happen!"

"Crym..." I murmured, taken by complete surprise. Crym was ice cold in that moment. I was both impressed, and touched by the sentiment at once. I marched next to her, my magics brought my broadsword into its sheath with a hiss of leather against steel. My spear of chill silver traveled back into my hand; I couldn't have more grateful at that moment to stand with Crym.

I liked it, a lot. I patted her on the back to show my appreciation. I then brandished my own spear as I sank into stance. "Crym, I'm grateful for your unshakable loyalty, but no one fights my battles for me." I smiled at Crym, who flashed on back. "However, I'll gladly stand alongside you Crym." I sharply looked to the Lamperouge Matriarch. "Lady Quara, let us prove we speak the truth in wanting to join you, help us bring down the Seal Guardian of Fire." It was perfect in my eyes, not only did Crym and I cement our survival, but my father's crew would be weakened.

Quara folded her arms, thinking about it for a few golden moments, before smirking evilly. "I never did like him, so sure! Ezra, be a dear and help the girls unalive him." Ezra's face darkened with a wicked smile as he drew both of his swords and joined us. They both collectively turned those bladed knife-like grins to Zhangpo. "So sorry dear, I'm afraid you're not going to survive."

Zhangpo nervously smacked his lips, looking like the rat wheel in his head was turning. The midget seemed to realize she wasn't making empty threats.

"Get up, you fools!" He started screaming at the remaining knights as they struggled to get back on their feet. It was then he looked at another member of the party, a young girl with blue hair about our age wearing a heavy fur coat over a simple tunic. She clutched a blue heavy tome in one hand a blue painted staff in the other. Zhangpo gaped in disbelief, stabbing one finger in her direction. "And you! What are you doing with that traitor? Also, why do you have...that book!" He then gritted his teeth, one gold tooth angrily shown in the light. Looking as if it might crack from the sheer pressure being pressed down on it. "Where did you get that book?!"

The girl looked troubled in that moment, pursing her lips together. After a few moments, she breathed out. Looking as if she'd confirmed something. "Phoebe?" Ezra asked her questioningly as she slowly came up to the front, staring at Zhangpo with big blue starlike eyes.

"You actually know who I am?" Phoebe asked sternly, hope tinging her question. "How exactly?" So apparently Phoebe had amnesia and couldn't remember who she was. But before anyone could say anything, a tiny green light flittered about her face. She winced at the bright light given off by the tiny thing, closing one eye in response to the light, "Trixie! What gives?"

"There's no time! We have to kill him before he pulls any other nasty tricks out!" A shrill, tinny voice insisted. Well, someone's in a hurry to off Zhangpo. Seemed very suspicious if you ask me, and when I looked over to Ezra, he felt the same way too. Phoebe sidled up next to the three of us. It appeared someone else had a beef with him. The more, the merrier if you ask me. I don't mind sharing the glory.

Zhangpo let out a hollow laugh, clearly trying to hide his earlier fear. "Pah! Fine, I suppose if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself!" he drew his wedge-shaped axe, a twisted, gnarled thing made of steel inlaid with bronze. "Lord Saul gave me special dispensation to have a taste of your attendant's tasty brown flesh, like freshly poured chocolate. I wouldn't have minded tasting yours as well, little Maiden, your flesh looks sugary and divine. It would have satiated me for days."

I shuddered; my grip tightened on my spear. I was so sickened. Sick with rage that this pervert dared to leer at Crym, and myself in such a way. I promised I would lay him lay myself, even if it meant the last of me burned up in this inferno blazing in my heart.

Recognition flashed on his face, viciously so. He then turned to at Rose with that malicious, lustful gaze of his. "This is surely a treat! You're here as well, my sweet tart! Much as you did years ago! So tart and full of flavor. I never forget a face, thorny one. You and those other girls from the Datura! It was a delightful, exquisite feast! Such fear! Such panic! I recall that one elf girl, Indigo. Oh, how she screamed!" He let out a maddening cackle, that one gold tooth gleaming with each flap of his rotten gums. Rose's face twisted into an expression of shock and sheer horror. But Zhangpo just continued his mindless ranting. "Such a pity that some of the girls didn't survive the experience. No matter, they had become part of a greater purpose! To feed the fire that grows in my belly!"

Okay, so he went from whiny little glutton to creepy, whiny little glutton. He smacked his lips, licking them with all the wanting panting of a predator. "There are many ways the flesh can be appreciated. I consider myself a gourmand, a connoisseur of its many forms. Even if it be stale ash in my mouth. There's the taste for the split second to consider. The impertinence of it all makes it that much more profound of a memory!" Flames started dancing around him as he let out a menacing laugh that made Crym and Phoebe both whimper and shrink back in fear. But it was Rose's reaction that sold it for me.

I watched Rose's face twist into a pained grimace. Clearly, she was reaching for a memory that was just out of her reach, but then her horror and shock shifted into recognition. And from there into sheer rage. No words came out of her mouth, but the way her eyes blazed was all the indication I needed. This wasn't a normal burning fury, oh no, she had snapped straight into a bone-chilling anger that little could escape.

Her cutlass gleamed in the fake evening starlight, but didn't move from where she stood. Somehow, the gleam of the blade indicated how ready Rose was to avenge herself. And the other girls on that horrific night of suffering.

Ezra maintained that stoic, unmoved stance. Yet, I could see the energy swirling around him with the subtle ways his fingers twitched on the hilt of his sword. He was enraged at the implications Zhangpo made. This had just become personal to him. He put himself in front of all three of us, swords in hand. "Don't worry about him, girls." He gave us a reassuring look over his shoulder, his jade eyes hardened into a promise of armored determination. "I won't let him lay a finger on any of you." I had always dreamed of a man who would take care of me, and now here was my literal knight standing in defense of my honor…and Crym and Phoebe's too. But the fact that he was doing this gave me so much hope.

"Don't even think of leaving me out of this, dummy!" Rose spoke up at the last minute, glaring daggers of electric flame at Zhangpo, cutlass in hand. "I want a piece of this action too! I thought had blocked out that fucking memory, but I remember now!" It was just as I thought, Rose was in a tranquil fury, focused and calm. "This creep did something fucking horrific to me, and now he needs to die!" Her rage was palpable. I wouldn't judge her in that moment. So now there were five of us. She glanced over to Felecia, who didn't look happy to be ordered around by Rose at all from her scowl alone. "Hot Pants, you and the rest of our little cavalcade of weirdos deal with the armored clowns. We'll take out the head freak!" For once, she and I agreed on something. Zhangpo WAS a freak!

Because Rose had killed one of the knights earlier, there were only seven of them to deal with. So, our crew had the advantage numbers-wise, not that it was an automatic victory. They were still knights of the Order. In fact, they were making it a point not to engage any of us one-on-one. They had split up with Quara and her children, along with El, against four of the knights, while the dwarves teamed with Fianna and Noa against the other trio. I could only get short glances at them, but it was clear how intense they were.

"Felecia, watch yourself!" Erik's warning was all that saved his younger sister from being impaled by one of the knight's lances. The younger elf hybrid rapidly parried with her Sword Breaker, managing to force one of the knights back, only to be met with his partner charging in with his own heavy blade. But he, in turn, got intercepted by both Kyana and Erik working together. "Stay away from my little sister, you pale armored goon!" He snarled, bringing his shortsword around to lock against the knight's own blade. "Go, Kyana!"

A green blur was on the knight in a second. Kyana switched from her club sword to her knife and axe, using them to try and get at the gaps in between the heavy plate armor the knights wore while Erik acted as the tank. She dipped in and out amongst the quartet of knights, trying to hit them where she could while the rest of her family provided cover. "Eat this!" She yelled as a green flash wrapped around her dagger. Kyana went for a rapid series of slashes and stabs to under the armpits of one of the knights, also where they had no armor. Erik then went for a downward slash, his blade flashing blue in the process, but was met by the knight's heater shield. He got knocked back by a strong punch.

Erik was wide open in that moment, the knight's sword coming down straight for his collarbone to turn him into neat, meaty chunks. Luckily, Farram had his back. The loyal war hound bodychecked the knight, keeping Erik from losing his arm. The knight cried out in pain as Erik slashed with his sword, turning blue, swinging from left to right before flipping his wrists and going the opposite direction, he managed to cut through the knight's shield, but he was still dangerous at that point.

Quara had pulled out Celestial Nirvana, not wasting any time with the small spells. A brilliant aurora of colored light flared like a halo around her for but a second, before it flashed outward, blinding them all with the purest white light meant to sear away the undead. Even as the light dissipated, Quara was weaving another spell, chanting in a long-forgotten language, waving her staff around as gold energy wafted off the edge of it. Clearly, whatever the Lamperouge Matriarch had in mind it was something impressive that could have easily torn the knights asunder.

Not wanting her to finish, two of the knights ran at her, one wielding a sword while the other carried a halberd. But she smirked, dropping the light show. It had all been a ruse. Instead, a golden hammer head with glowing runes formed at the top of Celestial Nirvana, and she swung downward. The knight with the sword leapt out of the way, but the halberd wielder wasn't so lucky, taking it full force on the head, helmet crumpling like a measly tin can as blood spurted everywhere. We had our first kill. He slumped down dead like a puppet with its strings severed.

Farram ran up and promptly relieved himself on the corpse. It was warm and frothy. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! "Good doggy!" Quara said sweetly, keeping an eye on her son.

Erik was making full use of his skill with the blade to try and keep up against their onslaught. The son of the Crimson Fox had been trained well, but his shield was getting a real beating in this fight, given the numerous large dents left from where one of the knights had punched it. But he couldn't worry about a battered shield. He rolled to the right, the tip of the knight's sword just inches away from getting his spine. But Erik used it to his advantage, springing up from the roll, his blade flaring red as he slashed diagonally from bottom right to top left, followed by a left to right horizontal slash, and culminating in a final diagonal slash from top right to bottom left.

It was a picture-perfect Sharp Nail with the flicker of molten crimson aura indicating its ignition. Erik then spun on his feet. He had just enough force of mind to twist his body and hit the knight with the edge of his shield, frowning at the newest dent. "I may have to get a new one after this." He remarked, remembering he was in an urgent fight, watching the spear wielding knight about to stab him in the face.

There was a sharp clap. A blast of water staggered him, tearing through his armor and flesh. There was Felecia, hands outstretched from her water spell. A vengeful smile twisted her cherry lips.

"Paying you back for earlier!" She declared, parrying against a strike from one of the knights wielding a heavy spiked mace, allowing it to glance harmlessly off of her sword breaker. El's axe gleamed in the pale light the midnight glintstone gave off, parrying away the knight's mace after he backed off from Felecia and went for her. This allowed Felecia to get in an azure-laden quick strike across the knight's armored chest plate, leaving a small rent. El capitalized on that, prepping for an axe skill. Her axe blade gleamed brilliant fuchsia as she let loose a basic two strike combo, building on what Felecia started, ripping open the armor before the second strike carved his heart to shreds.

Kyana wailed a piercing battle cry. She threw her hatchet, and it whistled through the air, decapitating the knight with a spray of viscous crimson. Now only two remained, the spear wielder and the other sword wielder, and they decided safety was better in numbers, standing shoulder to shoulder. It didn't bother Quara and her brood as they also joined forces. In the meantime, the other three knights were dealing with the Dwarves and Bards. Fianna was putting on a show in her normal fashion. Her natural speed and athleticism served her well as she danced in and amongst the Order Knights, her daggers flashing with red and green light as she unleashed one skill after another.

A spear wielding knight swung around to try and crush Fianna's ribs with the butt of his weapon, cue her dropping into a split, and the lance passed through empty air. It took a couple of seconds for the knight to register this, which left him open to a spray of crossbow bolts courtesy of Bianca, a couple catching him in the chest, and one in each of his knees. "He's all yours, Bard Girl!" Fianna smiled, spinning on her back, and kicking the knight's legs out from underneath him, falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Fianna's smile held no mercy as she grabbed at the knight's helmet to expose his neck. The dagger in her hand flashed red, before a simple downward strike ended his life. She didn't flinch at the blood splashing across her face. She then went to join her partner in combat. Despite how much grief she gave Noa at times, the two were devastating together, and it showed. Noa hurled her boomerang at one of the two remaining knights, looking to take off his head. But the knight swung his mace, sending the boomerang flying at an odd angle.

But Noa had it under control. She held her fingers out, and the boomerang came back to circle around her head, idly spinning as it glowed with purple electricity. Noa used her gravity magic to manipulate her weapon. Her stoic demeanor cracked just a little as a mocking half smile formed. "Let's see you deflect this!" With a palm strike at the air, her boomerang span rapidly toward the mace-wielding knight. He raised his shield, only for the blades kept in the tips to suddenly fly out, both flashing a brilliant yellow, one of them gracefully arced through the air, chopping through the mace's shaft while the other flew up and came down, impaling him square in the skull. There was no sound other than a slight gurgling as the knight fell to the ground dead.

She looked on in satisfaction at her handiwork. "Coming through!" Was all the warming she got as a bomb suddenly flew by Noa's head, going off in front of the other knights, exploding in a shower of fire and shrapnel as they were torn to shreds by the violent explosion, and merciless shrapnel. Violet electricity crackled on the air. Noa quickly used her gravity magic to deflect the razor-sharp metal shards and the explosion from herself, sending them flying skywards and away from the engagement zone. She looked over her shoulder to see Brok, his smithing hammer clenched in hand, let out a mad cackle. "Ha ha! These walking tin cans are nothing! They weren't expecting that!"

"Maybe give us some warning next time you do that!" She glowered at him, quite waspish as her one magic eye flickered a furious neon green, only to get a boorish toothy grin in response. Brok may not have been a warrior on the same level as his two companions, but he enjoyed a good scrap all the same. He zeroed in on one of the other knights engaging Zoltan, pulling out another bomb in the process. "Incoming!" He bellowed, lighting the fuse and throwing it. Zoltan saw his fellow Dwarf and wisely broke off. The knight gaped in surprise as the metallic sphere landed at his feet, as the fuse ended and the bomb exploded, sending him flying end over end in the air, the sheer force of the blast shredding off his right arm and both of his legs.

He landed, screaming in agony, only for Zoltan's axe, trailing purple light, to come swinging down and slice him in half at the waist. We had taken out six knights, and everyone was now ganging up on the last two. On some levels I would have felt bad at seeing them this way, but given how they were loyal followers of my dear father and willingly chose to do his bidding. I didn't. The knights held their ground as Lady Quara's crew surged forward. She now had another staff out, encrusted with glintstones. She waved it to send large crescent moon-shaped beams of light at the knights. But they cut through them with their weapons.

Erik, El, and Kyana converged on them as one, the former having abandoned the shield and short sword for his greatsword. Their weapons locking all locking together in a tangle of steel. It seemed like a deadlock. But then one of the knights started acting erratically, twitching in agony. His head cocked at an incorrect angle. "A…liza." A worn voice came from the depths of the helmet. "Aliza!" He said more forcefully. The knight suddenly broke the lock, swinging the sword around and to hit his own comrade in the back of the head before stabbing him dead in the chest. My new comrades in arms looked in complete befuddlement.

Okay…the knights are taken care of. But now we had a bigger problem. "WhERe iS AliZA?" He suddenly broke from the engagement and was heading straight toward us, specifically Phoebe.

Now keep in mind, Ezra, myself, and the others were still facing Imp Boy. And despite all of his big words, Zhangpo was in fact a giant coward. He mostly kept his distance from us, throwing out fireballs of different sizes in hopes of immolating us while trying to evade Ezra and Rose's sword strikes. They both looked very eager to turn him into a pincushion. He screamed impotently, swinging his axe around as Rose's cutlass turned blue, swinging upward diagonally at him. But he parried it, priming his own skill, the axe head turning yellow.

Rose barely had time to evade it when Zhangpo threw out a snaking whip of flames, but was intercepted by an opposing whip of water courtesy of Phoebe expertly spinning her staff around in a blur of movement, the crystal turned a sparkling azure. Flame sizzled away against water, creating a fine mist on contact. I'm not afraid to acknowledge her superiority as a pure mage. Her knowledge of the arcane is staggering. Not that I couldn't have learned such spells myself, but I find it to more important to be well rounded in physical and magical combat.

Still Phoebe continued to impress, the crystal turned brown and rocky protrusions suddenly jutted from the earth to try and contain Imp Boy. Rose demonstrated some impromptu parkour skills, leaping from one spike to the next before going in for a swinging vertical slash that took the form of a V. Ezra was on him in a second, the silver blade in his offhand flashing crimson as he launched a powerful thrust at Zhanpgo, who blocked it with his axe, as flames began swirling around it.

"Hope you enjoy finely seared flesh!" He snarled, banging his axe on the ground. A wall of fire loomed overhead, threatening to consume all in its path. But Phoebe was there to counter it with an equal sized wall of water. The two forces slammed into each other, producing a huge cloud of searing hot steam. Rose was on him in a second, having gone for a powerful Vertical strike.

Imp Boy just managed to parry it, but Ezra quickly hit him from the other side, the bronze blade with the glintstone producing a wave of fire in the process, but Zhangpo leapt back at the last minute, cackling. "You think you can use fire on me? I am the living embodiment of fire!" He let out a herculean roar, slamming his axe on the ground and producing a wave of magma that would have consumed both of them, before it hardened into a wall of rapidly cooling rock. "See you get past that!"

Phoebe took that challenge with gusto, waving her staff around as the crystal atop it glowed a brilliant icy blue. Water vapor coalesced, some forming into numerous spears of ice, while also creating rapidly spinning discs of water. She brought her staff down, sending her aquatic projectiles at Zhangpo's magma wall. It was beautiful in a way, watching them slam into it one after the other, chipping away a piece at a time until it became chill earth.

"No! No!" I could hear him screaming and I only picture the dismay on his face as his defenses crumbled right in front of him. Zhangpo stood there, holding his axe in front of him as if it were the only defense in the world. He kicked, and stomped petulantly at the ground. Quite IMPotent, wouldn't you say, Zhangpo? "How! How are you this strong? You're cheating! This was supposed to be an easy mission, and you ruined it!" It's amazing how much he sounded like a spoiled child in that moment. I was expecting him to jump and down in a full tantrum.

"This is all your fault!" He pouted, pointing at Ezra. He began growling, and huffing like the stupid beast he was.

"Oh really? This is my fault? How is it my fault?" Ezra's response was dry and with no care at all. "I'm just paying you back for what you and buddies did to us at Minas Tor. I promised one day I'd make you pay for all your sins. This is just me paying back debts."

The Guardian of Fire responded with a mirthless laugh. "Ha! You came out of that whore's cunt to cause the entire world misery! Your birth was the greatest sin imaginable!" Flames danced around Zhangpo, and the heat was rising so much even I could feel it. "You steal away the treats Lord Saul promised me! That chocolate was my snack! MINE! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" My word, his veins in his forehead throbbed when he screamed. The cobblestones shattered as his axe came down on the ground and produced a wall of fire even larger than the first that bore down on us.

That would have been a problem, but not for Ezra. He just shook his head disappointedly and raised his hand. With a simple clenching of his fist, the entire wall of flames dissipated in an instant. Nothing remained but smoke and the telltale smell of brimstone. Zhangpo was stunned at this. We were stunned at this! It was clear who truly controlled the fires here. Ezra just smirked, walking toward him with slow deliberate steps. "And let me correct you on something pal, you're not the embodiment of fire, you're not even close. A true master of fire."

He rushed toward Zhangpo, flames trailing as he released a sword skill, I had never seen him use before, he let loose a flurry of rapid thrusts, before swinging downward and up in quick succession before finishing off with a full force overhead swing downward. Zhangpo's screams echoed off the buildings with every jab and slice before Ezra finished with a nasty kick in the face. "Doesn't even feel the flames when he's hit with them." Ooh, nice burn, Figuratively and Literally! Maybe I've found Mr. Right after all.

"ALiZa!" We all turned to see the lone knight from earlier charging right at Phoebe. Lady Quara and the others were on its heels. Zhangpo was temporarily forgotten as we tried to deal with the new threat. "WhERE iS AlIzA? WheRe IS mY sIsTEr? LiTtlE SisTEr, cOmE HeRe!" Poor girl was rooted in place, with just enough time to bring her staff up to block his sword. Despite being an adept mage, she was weak physically, just barely able to push him back. I saw Ezra trying to intervene, all the while Phoebe struggled to endure the onslaught. Whoever this knight was, he had snapped onto a higher plane of insanity.

It was taking everything Phoebe had to survive. She ducked to the right, evading a wild swing. Her staff's crystal flared to that familiar crystalline blue, launching a wide spray of glintstone crystal shards at the knight. The magically charged rocks ripped through the knight's armor, sending him tumbling onto his back. But he immediately staggered to his feet, not paying any mind to the rents in his armor. "ALiZa!" He screamed again; pained terror ripped into the sky above. "I wANt tO sEe AlIzA!"

"Stay away! Back off! I'm warning you!" She let out a meek cry of a terrified girl, trying her best to make him back off. Phoebe threw out another one with a flash of midnight blue, but again it did nothing to slow the juggernaut's advance as it ripped into him uselessly. Blood, metal, and gore flying about the place.

One of the crystal's ripped apart his visor, and I saw glowing red eyes coming from the depths of the helmet. He let out a wordless scream thrusting with his blade at the poor mage girl. Phoebe was getting desperate now, she took the spear tip of her staff and jabbed at the knight's sword arm, trying to get him to drop his weapon. But he just caught it with his free hand dexterously. So she went for one of his legs, expertly jabbing him in the joints of his right knee. He cried out in pain, wheezing out a bloody choked cough as Phobe sent him backwards with a follow up magic reinforced blow to the midsection with the blunt end of her pointed stave.

Sadly, this was only a temporary fix. Again, he just stumbled around. "ALIzA…" He groaned, wobbling back. I didn't get why Phoebe didn't turn him into dust already.

"Nothing is working!" Phoebe cried, tears forming in her eyes. Zhangpo just sat there laughing his moronic head off, slapping his stupid knee.

"Then just kill him already!" The tinny voice spoke up and to my amazement a pixie flitted around her head. "Your knowledge of magic could end this in an instant. Or barring that just take that silver tip and stab him in the throat." Phoebe ducked under another mad sword strike. "You'll be doing him a favor at this point!"

"But he's still a human being!" Phoebe protested, compassionate tears in her eyes. She was a gentle girl who didn't like hurting people, much less killing them. But I had to agree with the pixie in this moment. It's either them or you when life and limb is on the line. If I had been in her position, then I wouldn't have hesitated to go for a killing strike. And that's not just empty bravado. Something Phoebe clearly hadn't even been taught.

"Not anymore, you idiot!" The pixie snapped back. "He's blighted with something horrific! All of these poor saps have been infected with it! A nasty disease that strips away any sense of reason you might have!" I took note of the red eyes coming from the visor, gleaming brightly than ever before. The pixie seemed genuinely angrily at the sight of those eyes. "Damn divine disease! Who thought it was a good idea to come up with it in the first place?"

Thankfully, Ezra dove into the fray to save Phoebe. He shoved her back with a nudge of his body, met the knight's blade with his own. Sparks flew as bronze age iron tinged with eons old star crystal steel met contemporary steel. Both were magical in their own right, but only one was mightier.

The two of them had their blades locked, faces inches from each other. Ezra's jade green eyes met those angry red orbs. His eyes narrowed, Ezra recognized whatever affliction had taken over the knight, forcing his opponent back. He was crouched, like a wolf ready to strike. Ezra wanted to end this quickly and get back to dealing with Imp Boy. The knight struck first, going for a big overhead chop. But Ezra nimbly side-stepped it, his glintstone crystal blade gleaming red before thrusting forward in a single powerful thrust, ramming his blade clean through the helmet and the skull.

A well-composed Vorpal Strike. Not bad. Ezra was showing he was my made man each second, I beheld him.

The red glow faded out, and Ezra pulled his sword out. "Sorry, pal. Aliza isn't answering your calls today." Okay, that wasn't a half-bad quip, but I think it could have been saved for a later date. That being said, I will reiterate that I love my man. I was very impressed with Ezra's performance in this moment. He showed great initiative in dealing with the threat to Phoebe's life quickly.

Not to mention how he was handling himself against Zhangpo earlier proved he wasn't all talk. And speaking of the Guardian of fire, now that all the knights were truly dead, the entire party was turned on him. He wasn't laughing anymore; in fact, he looked outright terrified. I could see it in his wide eyes, and the way his fingers quivered around his weapon. He was a tiny, cornered beast against a pack of wolves.

Huh, I was a part of a pack now? Ha, I enjoyed the sound of it. It felt very much right. I was so ready to rip this creep apart limb from limb. In fact, I was anticipating his blood on my palette. His death would be my first taste of real freedom. The first shackle would be undone here!

"Well, how about that? No one for you to fucking hide behind anymore." Rose's gleaming sneer was venomous, those perfect white teeth shone like daggers. "I'd start praying to your precious goddess right now, because you're going to be seeing her real quick." She looked to Ezra, a grim expression on his face. Zhangpo stood up, and his laughter started again, even more deranged than it had been the first time. "What's so funny, you little shit?" Rose demanded with a snarl, completely incredulous, "you can't tell you're beat?"

"Oh, little thorny one, how truly clueless you are!" Zhangpo holstered his axe, pulling out something that might have indeed been a worrying prospect. "If anything, I'm glad, because it means I get to partake in a truly resplendent feast now! This will be one of my greatest masterpieces yet!" He reached into his pouch and pulled out…a devilishly large golden needle and a similarly colored shining ball of thread? He laughed more, sounding like an utter madman with the way he chattered like a diseased vulture. "I'm sure all of you know about grafting! It's a stately art that goes all the way back to the great Lord Godfrey grafting the mighty Beast Lord Serosh to his back! It's been passed down through the Golden Lineage through the generations, all the way to the esteemed Lord Goderick. I had the pleasure of directly learning it from him in my youth! I never had the courage to do it to myself, but another's flesh is more than suitable to do God's work!"

I sucked in a tender breath in realization. It was then I realized the sick revelation of what he was going to do. He telekinetically plucked the corpses of all the dead knights in the air. He brandished his axe and sent it flying. All we could do was watch the macabre display as the axe began chopping the corpses into pieces. Body parts hovered in the air, blood still dripping onto the ground. "Good! That will be sufficient!" He threaded the needle with the golden string. "And now! We Graft!" He was like a mad conductor directing an orchestra that made nothing but discordant squelching noise as the thread bound these pieces of meat together in a way they were never meant to be.

Just a mass of limbs, pieces of torso, and human heads twisted in odd angles. It was little more than a corpse meatball, but Zhangpo reveled in his handiwork. "Ah yes! This is so lovely! I'll admit it's not anywhere up to the standards of Master Goderick's Grafted Scions, but it will do in this scenario. I dub thee the Grafted Losers!" As such, the name "Grafted Losers" flickered in my eye, as well as a glowing red bar above it. Zhangpo's now familiar cackle rang out one more time as he sat back. "I'll let my new pet have some fun, maybe he'll even kill a couple of you. Makes it that much easier for me!"

It lumbered on its numerous misshapen limbs, stumbling about as it did so. "A…L…i...Z...a…" It groaned out. Amazing that something human still remained within. It was disgusting and heartbreaking to think this monstrosity was once a group of proud knights, to be reduced to this. "PL…e…As...E, mY ALi...Za…" It uttered so pitifully, gasping for air even with the hole in its tortured visage. Zhangpo cackled further like a demented hyena. Laugh all you wish, once we've laid this poor creature to rest, you're next!

There were various gasps of shock, screams of terror at the sight of the poor soul's new shape, and looks of reviled disgust. Most of all, I felt rage at seeing the human form distorted in such an inhumane manner. I soon found a friend in that regard...

It was then that Ezra came up alongside me, pure disgusted rage boiling behind in his pretty jade eyes. I could empathize. This was truly an act beyond the pale of sense, and decency. Not to mention sanity!

"I'm about over this whole thing," Ezra muttered; he turned his head to me. His eyes were blazing steel, I was shaken by his conviction. I felt mine bolstered as a result. "What do you say we end this as quickly as possible and deal with the more pressing matter at hand?"

"You have an idea." I offered, resolutely nodding. Ezra leaned in close and whispered to me. My face lit up and I smiled as he told me what he had in mind. "What do you think? If the others buy us a little time so we can set this up? Then you can put it down?"

"Nothing is impossible for a Maiden!" I proudly declared. I then looked to the others and began barking out orders with as much authority as I could muster. "Erik! Rose! El! Fianna! Noa, and the Dwarves. I need you to distract our friend over there for a few minutes. Don't worry about beating it, just keep it at bay. Lady Quara, Phoebe, Kyana, and Felecia. You three and Ezra are going to help Crym, and I come up with something to take that thing down in a single blow. It will require precision on all our parts, so we have to get it right the first time."

It looked like Rose was about to protest, but Noa just put a hand on her shoulder. Fianna seemed up for it, given the salacious grin she gave me. "Mmm, I love it when somebody takes charge! Okay then, sweetie, you just leave it to us!" And so, the melee fighters set themselves upon the Grafted Losers. Erik was the first to strike with his claymore, spinning rapidly while trailing green light. Rose had leapt into the air with a Sonic Leap, cleaving off one of the creature's limbs, not that it was slowing it down any. But that was not my concern as I laid out the plan Ezra and I came up with.

"Okay, for starters, I'm going to need a large mound of earth, about two meters tall!" I looked to Lady Quara, who held out her staff. An ice-cold glower was directed at Zhangpo. Something which I saw Zhangpo flinch at visibly. The cracks once again showed in false bravado. It was such a visceral reaction, shuddering like he'd seen a ghost, on his end. Did they know one another? Time would only tell.

The glintstone crystal turned brown, and a huge spike of dirt jutted from the cobblestone ground. I then took over, telekinetically lifting it into the air. High into the air, above even the houses present. A good thirty, or forty feet into the air. "Kyana, you know earth magic, right? Then shape this mound of dirt into a point!" Kyana began chanting, and the dirt and mud quickly reformed and elongated into a comically large arrowhead. I saw Noa draw her twin blades and deliver a rapid succession of quick slashes to the grafted beast. So far, they were doing what I needed them to do.

"Heheheheahahaha! Whatever you're doing won't work!" Zhangpo chortled, rolling about in glee. Looking like an absolute moronic idiot Oompa Loompa as he danced about in around in a waddling fashion. "My pet can't be stopped by your friends' little swords, and your magic can't help you either!" Oh, just you wait. I'm just getting started. Paying Imp Boy little mind, I continued working on my little experiment.

"Felecia, can you freeze the dirt spike? I need it to be as solid as it can be." Felecia raised hands to it, chanting under her breath, and blue energy suffused the dirt spike. I could see the water quickly cooling and freezing, reinforcing my creation, before crackling blue lightning wrapped around it. I hadn't asked her to do it, but I wasn't complaining. In fact, the more the better in this case. I watched as Varric's precious Bianca pelted the monster with bolts while Zoltan called up his spectral skeletons, their blades coming down on the hapless creature that howled in agony. Good work, everyone, we're almost there! Just three more touches and we're set.

I leapt up, producing my spear and embedding it into the construct. I could feel my hair beginning to stand on end from the lightning. "Ezra! Light it on fire!" I yelled as loud as I could. Ezra conjured up a Great Chaos Fireball, and soon the entire thing was ablaze. We were almost there! "Phoebe! Give me a little boost!" Her staff's crystal turned a deep gray, tinged with purple…and I gave the entire thing a little nudge with my mind.

"EVERYONE!" I shouted to warn everyone, making one final forceful telekinetic downward wave of my wand. "MOOOOVVVEEE! THE END IS COMING DOWN!"

Everyone did as I demanded, all in a hurry to find safety. At the very last second, I jumped off this explosive crazy train. Using my mind to raise myself into the air, I floated slowly and safely to the ground like a pretty autumn leaf as my wonderous creation fell to the earth.

This massive creation of dirt, reinforced with water, lit on fire, and charged with crackling blue, and purple lightning started falling downward at an even greater rate than normal, thanks to the gravity magic pulling on it. And I aimed right at this grafted hunk of meat. This great, and horrid meatball of grafted evil would be no more.

To say I hit it with great force would be an understatement of the highest order, but I found my mark easy enough. The minute I connected, all the magic forces holding the spike together exploded in a violent flash of light and energy. It shook the very earth itself shook, and dust kicked up with the resulting kinetic disaster. Lightning sparked, and fire burned as the Grafted Losers took the full brunt of it.

"ALIIZZZZZZAAAA!" I wish my hearing weren't so acute. I could have lived without hearing that for the rest of my life. But when everything dissipated, our little combo had done the job. The grafted beast lay there, smoking and charred. "A…liZa…FOR…giVE…mEEEEE." One final gasp from the creature as it dissipated into grey smoke and ash. I heard Crym and, surprisingly Fianna, offer a prayer for it. It deserved that last due.

My favorite silvery spear lay there impaled in the earth like the weapon of some great ruler. I grabbed it and flourished it, posing for victory. I wanted to be epic because I was simply that. Unfortunately, this wasn't the end because the imp wasn't in the grave yet.

"RRRRRAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!" A primal roar echoed. I turned to see Zhangpo lunging at me, eyes bloodshot and axe raised overhead in both hands. I guess he didn't enjoy seeing his pet get roasted so quickly. When something blue flashed in my peripheral vision. It was a piece of aqua-hued paper, folded in the form of a dolphin. A blue magic circle appeared, and a water elemental rushed out, sending a spray of water at the Guardian of Fire. It's Crym's own special breed of magic. She folds origami creatures and, depending on what type of paper she uses, can summon any number of creatures for battle. She had just drenched Zhangpo, and he did not stop as he flew at me. His furious battle cry echoed off the tremendous cavern's walls as he brandished his battle axe.

I was not afraid as he approached, all sound and fury. Signifying nothing. I knew exactly what to do next.

"THUNDAGA!" I smiled terribly as I cried the spell out, holding my wand out, the heavens above shook, and thunder cracked. I called down a titanic bolt of lightning on Imp Boy. The crash of lightning kicked up a great amount of smoke, covering up the results of what I had done.

Try and hit me with a cheap shot? You'll have to answer to Crym. "Nice timing with the summoning," I said to her. She held her weapon behind her back in a reverse grip and basked in the praise with a toothy smile. Enjoy it, because it won't happen very often. That being said, even with that, I knew Zhangpo wasn't dead. He was a Seal Guardian after all, and they can take far more abuse than the average warrior. Ezra, how about you take it from here? This is more personal to you after all.

(A note from Accord: perspective change: LANCA to EZRA)

Don't mind if I do, Lan. Yeah, the water/lightning combo the girls hit the oversized troll with was impressive, but it wasn't going to keep him down. We all watched carefully as Zhangpo staggered to his feet as the smoke dissipated, coughing and sputtering. His smoking armor was dented and just a little on the singed side, not just from the magic attack, but also from my earlier Howling Octave. A neat little skill I had been saving for just this occasion, given that it has fire attributes. Both my blades clenched in hand I tentatively approached him. "Get up and accept your fate! I know that I couldn't have beaten you. So, spare us the trouble."

"Not that it's going to save you in the long run, Zhangy." There was a sadistic pleasure in Quara's voice. She was relishing this even more than I was on some levels. "I wasn't expecting to run into you at this point in the game. But if you're here, then it means the rest of your little posse is here as well. We're going to kill you. For Enno, Etoile, Enya, Ruth, Layla, and my parents. Not to mention all the other lives you've destroyed since then. You betrayed all of us along with your eleven other friends. We are coming for every last one of you. The Seal Guardians and the Landgraves. The Golden Fingers will be severed one by one, mercilessly. So consider this your last supper!"

He started crying, as if he couldn't get any more pathetic! "No fair! I'm supposed to win!" He sat up, growling like the jackal he truly was. "All my treats get taken away from me!" His yellowed eyes narrowed, while throwing aside his axe. "Well, no more!" He reached into his bag to pull out a small potion bottle. "You actually pushed me to do this. It's time for the real feast to begin!" He knocked it back in a single gulp, apparently, he had been taking lessons from Rodger in that department. The bottle shattered when it hit the cobblestone ground. I saw veins bulging out along his arms and around his eyes. "Oh yes! Such a sweet sauce!" He exclaimed as his muscles began swelling, turning a deep red. "It's time to savor the meal!"

Just as with Rodger, Zhangpo's upper clothing exploded outwards as he turned into a walking side of beef. Veins popping out all over his body, his skin turning a deep red while his nails transformed into razor sharp, bone white claws. Bone cracked, and reformed as he screamed in death inducing pain, voice becoming deeply distorted with each moment. I wager he was a good twelve feet tall in that moment. He truly looked every bit a demon in that moment. Perhaps he was chummy with those Dremora who came through the gate? Not that I was fazed. I finally had a chance to take down one of the people who ruined my life so long ago. I held Nightstar and Imperial Fang in hand, they were ready to taste Guardian blood. "Then I hope it gives you the runs!" I replied and lunged right for Imp Boy, or I guess Ogre Boy would be more appropriate now.

Zhangpo let out a roar to the artificial heavens and met my own charge, his claws gleaming in the light. I can't imagine being cut like that would hurt, but then I wasn't going to get cut, not by this roided out loser. I neatly sidestepped a clumsy swipe, Imperial Fang clanging against them as I brushed by. My blade flashed as I went for a blue-tinged Slant aimed upward, the silver-plated tip going through the thick, meaty wrist. A flash of white went past me as Rose decided to take her shot at him. The battered old cutlass that once belonged to her father was at the left side of her waist, turning purple.

Her blade swung left to right and back, it was so quick it appeared she was holding a second sword for just a fraction of a second. Wow, a Snake Bite, wonder where she learned that one. I didn't mind, as her blade found its mark, managing to slice into Zhangpo's right thigh. He let out another roar, trying to get Rose with a backhand, but she expertly backflipped out of reach. "Hey Dummy, I don't know about you, but I don't want to keep doing this. Think you can pull out something big and crazy against this guy like what Miss Prissy did to the grafted freak show we just killed?"

Hehe, why yes, I could easily match Lanca's handiwork. In fact, I knew exactly what to do. My training in the arcane arts under the Twins had been extensive. And there was one thing I had learned from Devola and Popola, something I decided to keep in my back pocket for a special occasion. I just gave Rose a wide, toothy grin, to which she cocked her head slightly, apparently, she was curious. "I think I can put something together." Was my simple response, speaking in an even tone. "It'll require a little prep work, though. Can you keep nipping at his heels while I set it up?"

"Just don't take too long!" She said, going to work on the wannabe demon who came at her with those claws of his. She just barely managed to parry the strike. Rose charged up a Sonic Leap, only for something to suddenly whip over Zhangpo's shoulder. It was nothing but good timing that saved her as something embedded itself in the rock.

She looked on in disbelief. "What the fuck?" She asked, terror-induced wonder in her voice. Zhangpo sneered as the hinged insectile tendril was pulled out, joined by three others jutting from his back. Each of them was equipped with a razor-sharp blade on the end, razor sharp, and sawtooth as they glinted horribly in the evening light.

Both Felecia and Phoebe screamed at the sight of them, and Erik was looking green about what must have been done. El looked disgusted. "I thought you said you didn't have the courage to graft yourself," Quara remarked in a mocking tone. "Because those don't look like standard equipment from where I'm standing, Zhangy dear."

"I LIED!" His voice thundered out, before sending all four of the appendages at us, followed up by a huge gout of fire from his mouth. I'm sorry for going off on a tangent, but the way he said that was just so amusing to me. I suppose it shows how weak and desperate he really is, trying to make himself sound loud and intimidating when he was anything but. But getting back to my little trick, I sheathed Nightstar and Imperial Fang, and went for Talion, flipping it into a reverse grip. I ran straight at Zhangpo's beast form, dodging fire along the way. "COMING AT ME WITH THAT LITTLE SLIVER? THEN LET THIS MARK YOUR END EZRA KANITZ!" He swung everything at me, bug arms and all in all their deadly vainglory. But in one second, I was there, and the next just empty air. "W-WHAT?" Zhangpo was stunned, when suddenly a small flash ripped across his face. "AAAAHH! MY NOSE! MY NOSE!" Everyone looked to see a small line along the bridge of his nose where blood was leaking out, and then he cried out petulantly again as another cut appeared on his right thigh.

Two more slices appeared on his right shoulder and chest, three more on his left hip. Before more started appearing on his stomach, and arms. It was puzzling where these were coming from. I then reappeared in front of him, Talion dripping blood. "What's the matter? Can't keep up? I just wanted you to see me before I carve you like a roast!" I vanished again and went back to work. You see, the strongest ability I have is the ability to manipulate time and space to appear wherever I want. In layman's terms, teleportation. I don't use it very often because it's very energy-consuming, but in this situation it's just what I need. I was using this neat little party trick of mine to zap all around tall, red and bladed, lunging, stabbing, and slashing multiple times with Talion before blinking to another side of the plaza, death by a million cuts if you will.

I kept going faster and faster at speeds as if I was tossing a hundred Talions all at once. These little cuts were starting to add up as I raked up and down his back. I wasn't kidding when I told Zhangpo I was going to carve him up like tonight's roast. I saw the mantis-like arms rush at me, ready to rend me into shreds. But then a pair of white blurs rushed past me before intersecting in front of my eyes. I heard metal cutting flesh and a cacophonic shriek from Zhangpo, as the grafted limbs fall to the ground. I saw Rose and Lance looking back at me with wide smiles, both of their respective blades coated in blood. They had set me up, and it was time for me to deliver the final blow. I flicked the blood off Talion, and vanished one last time, appearing up in the air. In my right hand, the fire everyone knew me so well for formed, while a swirling ball of wind materialized in my left.

They were both about the size of a large cannonball. I slammed both elemental balls together, and it grew to ten times the size before, nearly the size of this one boulder Kyana and I used to play on back in Bright River. The wind swirled around the flames in a mesmerizing display. "Something extra special for you! I call it the Blast Sphere!" I said, switching it to my right hand, feeling the roiling power. "This is for Minas Tor!" Quara, Phoebe, and Crym threw up barriers to protect everyone as I rammed that thing down right on his head.

I vanished and landed on top of a grand tower, holding onto the weathervane of a tall spire. I watched the massive explosion erupting skyward in a swirling tornado of flames. Wow, it really did rise up high, nearly to the bottom of the spire I was bracing myself on in that moment. Even if I was pretty much fireproof. I could still feel the heat of the flames, and the winds being thrown out could match the harshest storm. I really had to grip the weathervane to keep from being blown away. The bitter odor of brimstone fast permeated the air. Ah, the satisfaction of a job well done.

I saw everyone was okay, safe behind the barriers. But then I directed my attention to my handiwork, and boy, did the results speak for themselves. The plaza now had a massive crater in it, and I saw the mighty Seal Guardian of Fire lying flat on his back, charred and ripped up from the winds. He coughed up blood and began shrinking down, a sight I was long familiar with by this point. The potion's effects were wearing off, and Zhangpo was now weakened. I threw my dagger down and everything flickered one last time, and I caught it in the air one last time. I was right there in the crater, in front of Zhangpo.

He had completely shrunk down by this point, looking pale and emaciated as if like a corpse. Unsurprisingly, he was crying, tears leaking out of his eyes, and snot dripping from his nose. He was a shell of what he had once been. I was on top of the world in that moment. I was about to get my first real taste of revenge for what the Order had done to me and my whole family so long ago. I sheathed Talion, and brought out Nightstar, it seemed to have craved this moment as well, innately. "So, the masks have suddenly fallen away, Zhangpo. The wretch has finally shown his true face…ugly and weak. Tiny and frail." I held the tip of the blade inches from his throat. "Tell me, Zhangpo, how do you feel? Do you feel every bit as weak as I felt when you and yours mercilessly cut down my family? Do you understand my anguish one bit?" The venom in my voice was growing; I had been holding this in for so long, and it was cathartic!

He kept blubbering on, good, I wanted him to feel this. My heart sang with twisted joy. "Yes, show me your tears, you sniveling little creature. Give me every bit of your weakness and desperation for me to feast on!" That's right, I was going to throw his words right back in his ugly little face! I got right in his eye, burning with righteous fury. "You called yourself a gourmand? Well, I am too! But my tastes lean toward the humiliation of my enemies, and I've been waiting for this meal for a very long time. Fill my goblet with your tears, lay your misery and wretchedness on my plate, and I will sate my palate, finally, on your despair." He was full on wailing now and I relished every single minute of it!

I raised Nightstar, ready to cast the final blow when something welled up from the depths of my mind. A sense of doubt. Don't know why in that moment, but suddenly a question came to me. Do I really want to go through with this? Is this what sets me on the path of becoming what I saw in Potema's vision? And then something else circled up. But as I gazed on Zhangpo, looking so pathetic, I saw him again, and there was a sense of familiarity and…fellowship? Zhangpo was someone important to me? "Boss, I'm going to become strong for you! That's why I'll eat until I vomit!" That was Zhangpo's voice, and he sounded jovial.

"Heh, don't hurt yourself, Zhangpo. You'll choke if you're not careful, but keep it up. Take care, my friend. I expect to get a return on my investment in you." Oh. Kay. That voice was eerily familiar. I felt a tear running down my cheek with those words, and I was seeing something in front of me. The vision of a great feast materialized in front of my eyes. A sprawling table covered with all kinds of delicious-looking food. I could feel a very high-quality wine on the edge of my tongue. The feeling was intoxicating as the sound of music and people making merry echoed in my ears. It was a joyous moment crystallized in the memory of infinity.

I felt someone leaning against my right arm, a beautiful elven girl with golden, feathery locks and sapphire blue eyes looking at me with such love and affection. She looked like Felecia a little bit. I heard someone picking at a lute, and saw a young woman sitting on my left side in a rather provocative outfit with long red hair and green eyes, smile and wink at me. Fianna? And I saw who I realized were Radahn and Malenia arm wrestling with each other. Rykard, and his wife were having a quiet discussion when Rykard looked at me. He raised a glass, his signet ring clearly visible, as the sizable ruby mounted glinted in the light.

What in Gehenna is going on? It was then someone tapped me on the shoulder. I looked to see a face framed with beautifully unkempt white locks blurred by the torchlight. The man's face I saw smiling at me, unerring in his love. "Brother dearest, tell me. How do you see tomorrow? I hope we will always be like this. Hopeful for tomorrow, resplendently happy, and never wanting." I could see other faces, but they were all blurred by the honeyed light of grace. All haloed as they were blessed by the great one. I felt a perfect joy and a nostalgic love flowing through me. It tasted even greater than the wine. It was all chemical, my brain was faking me out, but I couldn't resist it.

Suddenly, I snapped out of it. What in the hell was that? I felt Nightstar drop to my side. "Hey, what gives?" Rose came up next to me, gazing at me with confusion-driven worry mixed with anger. "Why did you stop? He's not a problem, so finish the job and put the little fucker out of his misery!" She was absolutely right, Zhangpo deserved none such mercy, and yet I felt myself hesitate. What was it I saw? So many questions unanswered. I was getting a migraine from all this. I saw Erik, Felecia, and Phoebe approach; they all seemed rather worried for me. I suppose after that whole display; they have good reason to be. My gaze went back to Zhangpo, still blubbering and wailing. Seriously, didn't he know when to shut up?

"Ezra, finish it!" Quara on the heels of her children. She had her Glintstone Staff in hand, and looked ready to kill him herself. Not that I blame her. "After everything he's done, there is no room for discussion."

Of all times to be stopped by sentimentality that I didn't even know I had! Yet I couldn't shake those visions and the fact that I was apparently friends with him. I had to know the truth. I looked back at him. "Answer one question for me. Were we ever friends? Because in another life, I feel like something stupid happened. You were my subordinate, and I was your boss. So let me ask you then…why? Why would you waste all of that? We trusted you and then you go and soil that blessing! You betrayed me! For what then? Tell me!" I started becoming very emotional, it was as if someone else was speaking through me. "I gave you everything when everyone else spat on you. Nobody else would give you a pence! Not a bit of grace afforded! But…I saw you as one of the forsaken like me. How could you forget?! We were the same! Brothers even! Omens take you!"

It took a couple of seconds for Zhangpo to get the hint. But he stopped whining, and a twisted grimace formed on his face. It was a cross between disgust and pained fear. "So, you finally remember! I wondered when I saw you holding Nightstar, but you should know damn well why! Enno, you stupid bastard!" His voice rose higher, cracking as if he were a teeny boy and not hundreds of years old. "You were the one who betrayed us first! You betrayed all of us! We were just responding in kind! You spoiled the mead, everything! All you had to do was become the Thronebreaker! You were weak just as you are now! Soft, weak, sentimental! If you had inkling of self-respect, you have done as Elf Bitch said and killed me! Now you're going to regret it for the rest of your pathetic life!"

He began laughing manically, it was shrill, something between a squeak and a high-pitched laughter that people playing witches in stage dramas would do. He leveled a stare of piercing demise at Phoebe, weakly raising his hands as embers flickered at his fingertips. "And you!" There was pure, unadulterated hatred in his eyes. "You will pay for your foolishness with your very blood, little girl! His Majesty will have his satisfaction no matter the price!" The fireball formed so quickly, spinning like a hellish torrent. Phoebe raised her hands in a meek attempt to protect herself, tears in her eyes.

And then Zhangpo howled in pain, his arm was missing after I cleaved it off with a flaming swipe. I swung Nightstar again, finishing off Zhangpo with a massive sheet of blue flames, incinerating him completely and instantly as he let out one final agonized scream of unimaginable torment. Only leaving a tiny, blackened smoking skeleton behind. Good riddance to that rotten little turd.

No one said anything, we all just looked at the charred, soot-covered bones. We had done it; we finally won our first real victory. And then the skeleton caught on fire again, but these weren't my flames. They were flames of an unholy black. I took a step back, not expecting this at all. A menacing laugh rent the air asunder as the skeleton melted away to ash on the wind, and a red summoning circle was beginning to form. And then it hit me like a mace to the dome…with Zhangpo dead, that meant the pact he had with Ifrit had been broken. Which now meant he was unbound and coming out to play.

Something that was not lost on Lanca or Crym either. "Milady!" Crym crowed to her Maiden, who just gave a determined nod. Crym in turned to the whole of the party, her muddy gaze sweeping over us all. Her face rent a beautiful state of stoicism, and steel. "Every one of you, please get back! Lady Lanca and I will do what we can to try and contain the freed seal beast!" She hesitated, glancing at the flames with great distress before coming back to us. "We have some powerful magic at our disposal that can make it happen, and we would prefer not to have any collateral damage." With that, she pulled out more pieces of paper and began rapidly folding with urgency.

Lanca marched right up to me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "And I'm going to need your help as well." Her voice brokered no argument. That gentle hand tightened, and those gloam colored eyes became chill jewels. "This ritual requires three people for it to work, and you're the best candidate for it. I'll put it to you bluntly, how would you like me to become your Maiden?" I wasn't sure what she meant by that. But Lanca put her hands on her hips, narrowing those jewel-like eyes on me. Examining my truest worth every moment. "I've heard my father, and the guardians talk about you. The great and evil Ezra Kanitz. Everyone says you're the son of the devil himself. So let me ask the big questions! Who are you and what are you? The son of evil, or something else entirely? Because if you ask me, I think it's the latter. You have potential, and I have the ability to actualize that potential."

"Give me your hand, Ezra." She gently reached and took it, lovingly holding it with both hands, and she leveled it between us. I could feel the sheer power she had pulsing, the beginnings of a connection beginning to form between us. Still, that gentle gaze she had on me for a moment became innately sharp the next. "Tell me your thoughts, your ambitions. The principles you live by. We can forge an accord if I know these things about you. I can already tell you've accumulated a considerable number of runes. I can take those runes and turn them into incredible strength. It will make you able to do anything, even kill a god."

Now she had my attention! I remembered what Quara said about making my goals a reality, perhaps this was an avenue to it.

Lanca continued her little sales pitch, her voice was now unerring with its conviction. All the same, I saw those eyes shimmering with many emotions. Anger, hatred, determination, and grand sadness mixed into an intoxicating brew of captivating beauty. "Would you kill a god if it meant you could be released from the never-ending spiral of life and death? I know I ponder it all the time. The chance to kill the god who cursed me…cursed all of us with this fate. You can be sword for that task, Ezra, and I can promise you anything you want. You can have my body, my soul, and everything else that I call my own if it means escaping this maze. My very life is yours, Ezra, as long as you accept our pact." She bowed her head, cheeks turning red as her gloam pink eyes turned misty with tears. It was clear she was as desperate as me for a way out. "Will you take the jump with me, Ezra? A leap of faith if this gamble gives us the keys out of this prison?"

I really didn't know what to say to that, but my gaze did glance over to Crym. She hadn't protested either. In fact, she nodded every so often during the spiel, a firm steel in her eyes. I guess I had impressed them quite a bit already. My eyes then fell on the ever-spreading black flames and realized just how pressed for time we were. So, why not do something crazy? "I imagine there's a lot more to this whole Maiden thing you keep prattling on about, so fill me in on the details later. You said you could give me power by forging this pact between us. I wouldn't be against it." I didn't miss how she lit up at those words. I held up a hand, my gaze hardening. "But I've been at this gig long enough to know nothing comes without a price. What is your price to become my Maiden?"

"Lady Lanca!" Crym called out again, the flames were growing higher and higher by the minute.

"Hold that thought for a second!" Lanca turned and marched up to the flames. She took a deep breath before opening her mouth, letting loose a shrill cry. I winced, praying that my eardrums hadn't been ruptured. She paused for a minute and began singing in an enchanting, if haunting, tone. I wasn't sure where this whole thing was going until a golden magical circle with angelic runes all along the edges sprang to life, and suddenly a multi-layered barrier appeared. Five glowing, gilded walls held the flames of itself hell back.

Crackling flames of the abyssal wildfire surged against the auspices of gold as the translucent walls flickered with angelic power. Even with their heavenly powers in our favor, I knew it couldn't protect us forever. Now was the time for decisive action. Indecision would cost us everything if we tarried further.

Lanca heaved a little as I took hold of her arm to give her some support, looking exhausted for a moment. I tried not to pay mind to the way Felecia was glowering at me in that moment. "Okay, that should hold it at bay for a short amount of time. Those songs can take a lot out of you." She quickly recomposed herself, all the energy from before coming back. Lanca was doing her best to look professional. I found it very endearing.

"You were asking about what price would be required." She paused for a moment, her cheeks tinged with lovely pink that matched her gloamy pink gaze. "The price is simple…a kiss from you."

Forget the Blast Sphere, the true raging inferno just went off with those four words. I heard an incensed screech that everyone probably heard topside as Felecia stomped over to us, face red and fury blazing in her aquamarine eyes. "Oh, you can just forget that right now!" I'd tell Felecia she looked cute when she was angry, but this really wasn't the time. "I thought I was your girlfriend, Ezra! Why is it that so many women are so eager to put their lips on yours?" She looked genuinely distressed at this prospect, her hand on her heart. "Can't I just have them for myself?"

"Please understand, Lady Felecia," Crym spoke up quietly, struggling to hold Felecia's intense gaze as she explained with haste. "This ritual puts great strain on Lady Lanca's mind and body, she requires an attendant to assist her in this regard, otherwise the danger of her dying is very real. And from what we've seen, Master Ezra has the potential to be a perfect catalyst in that regard. And I needn't say we're not exactly in an ideal time for debate on the subject." Eyes went back to the flames, licking up against the barriers and slowly melting them down one at a time. Crym finally leveled an adamantine stare on her, emphasizing her grave seriousness. "It must be done now, with all haste."

Felecia gave me one last sad look, salty tears stinging the corners of her eyes. I just smiled and gently patted her face. "We'll talk about it later," I spoke with soft fondness. She gave a weak nod and moved to a safe distance with the others.

This left me with Lanca, the two of us standing face to face, while Crym stood beside us acting as the initiator of the sacred ritual. Ifrit's flames had burned down three of the walls already and were working on number four.

"Okay, let's do this!" I said to Lanca, not wanting to risk our safety any further. She held out both of her hands, implying I was to hold them, so I did so. Her hands were very soft. We both shared a deep look, green eyes meeting pink as we drank each other in. It felt like a wedding ceremony, almost even with all the blazing heat distorting the air. We heard something like shattered glass, watching as the fourth barrier collapsed, leaving only a single wall between Ifrit's emergence, smoke, ash, and fire smoldering as it hammered it down.

Our eyes fell on Crym in concert. "Do it," was the simple command Lanca uttered. Her loyal attendant nodded, producing four small origami talismans folded from different colored pieces of paper. Crym raised her hands to the skies, two intricate origami talismans in each hand. She offered them up in placation of the heavens above. The azure dragon, a black turtle, a vermilion bird, and a white tiger, slowly left her grasp to begin levitating in the air above our heads. The four holy beasts of the cardinal directions danced on the air in celebration of a bond soon to be born. "Oh, the four beasts that exist under heaven, Seiryu, Suzaku, Genbu, and Byakko! The Dragon, The Phoenix, The Turtle, and The Tiger that sit at the four cardinal points, open unto us the Gates of Paradise! Under the command of heaven, the laws of nature become unbound!"

The winds began picking up, whipping around us as Crym began waving around her monochrome executioner's blade in a circular dance-like motion. Her short brown hair whipped about, the one braid in it swaying violently. Despite the intensity of the moment, each movement was the epitome of grace under pressure. And pressure, as they say, makes even meek girls like Crym diamonds.

Lanca's pale white locks blew about as well, looking like the tail feathers of a white dove flapping in the breeze. She looked at me, composed, regal, and pink in the cheeks. Simply looking otherworldly. I thought they were both grandly captivating in that moment.

"Bend to my will, the will of heaven, and the heaven of pure love! Give our holy Maiden power in return for our grand sacrifice!" The winds were starting to howl ever more as we began levitating off the ground, eyes still locked on each other intently as Crym's voice grew louder. "We offer the gift of her pure lips! Of the love in her heart! The key to heaven! The first song! The last song! Open in the name of the Alpha and Omega! And the will that even gold bends to!" Another golden rune-filled circle appeared in the sky, this one far larger than the one from earlier. I heard thunderclaps in the background, and flashes of eerie red lightning stabbing through the otherwise cloudless skies.

Lanca gave me an expectant look, clearly this was the moment where we seal the deal. We both leaned in and kissed each other as we closely embraced one another. Not going to lie, it was electric, I could feel the power coursing through me and back into Lanca. A bond forged of the strongest iron in the hottest fire now existed between us. all the while, Crym kept the chant going. The gilded magic circle above us was spinning faster and faster. "Descend on gilded wings of Freedom! Unfurl in your immortal essence of stone! The time of liberation is nigh! Unyielding, almighty Zadekiel, AWAKEN!" Our lips were violently parted as Lanca threw her head back, letting out a primal scream. A distorted, discordant racket erupted from her lips as she began wailing like a banshee. A huge wave of power was thrown out in all directions.

I could feel her heart throbbing against my chest like crazy, I could even feel those great mounds of her against me. Was she as big as Rose? I couldn't help feeling rather taken by her at that moment. Sorry, Felecia. I was thinking bad thoughts. Forgive me.

We were in total sync with each other. Our hearts were beating as one with every second. The golden circle spun faster, cleaving a neat hole in time and space, an inhuman screech emanating from it. We saw a dark shape emerge from the summoning circle, trailing a golden light as it soared into the sky. It was a good thing, because seconds later, the dark flames shattered the final barrier, a second roar, equally bestial, came from the roiling inferno as it coalesced into a physical form. I knew plenty about Ifrit, and seen plenty of pictures of him. But what appeared from the flames was nothing I'd ever seen.

For one, I had never seen any pictures of Ifrit as a flaming red centaur. Nor had I ever seen him with what looked like chimneys billowing smoke for hands at the ends of those meaty arms. But you learn something new every day. His face had a piglike orcish look to it, its fangs bared in a tremendous underbite. It bellowed, rearing up on its hind legs before stamping the ground, kicking up small flames. It got a roar in response. Our gaze went up to the beast Lanca and I had summoned. It gracefully arced through the air before hovering a few feet above the ground.

Zadekiel was a dragon, and a grand one at that. It didn't look anything like Michael. Zadekiel moved on four, long legs that were slender, but muscular, all the while its tail lashed about. The dragon's scales had a rough, almost stone-like appearance about them, like any attack, physical or magical, would just harmlessly splash right off the rocky hide. Its four massive wings would flap every so often, the glintstone light reflecting off the golden feathers lining the inside of those wings. The storm grew louder and louder, red lightning bolts flashing in the sky above Zadekiel. This wasn't just a dragon; it was a force of nature given physical form.

Ifrit roared and launched the first strike, conjuring up a massive fireball that looked like a molten ball of rock between its chimney hands. It reared back and punched the fireball into the sky at the dragon, but Zadekiel just knocked it away with its tail. It flew into one of the buildings, exploding. Red lightning danced along the ivory scales, as the clouds that hadn't been there just minutes before thickened, growing ever darker, producing more of the eerie crimson bolts.

Lanca and I fell into a heap, slowed by our telekinesis, but just enough to keep from breaking any bones. We were pulled up to our feet by Crym and Erik and took off running from the plaza, we didn't want to be around for this fight. I was bridal carrying Lanca in my arms, she was breathing heavily, completely drained from her feat as both of her arms were latched around my neck, clinging to me for dear life.

She looked up with bleary eyes at the majestic beast. "So that's what it looks like, huh?" She smiled weakly, letting out a pleased, if tired, sigh. "I didn't do half bad," I said nothing, just lightly running a hand through her soft white locks for a job well done. Lanca, in turn, hugged me a little tighter. She looked at me with big hot pink diamond-like eyes, expectingly, wantingly, "That's nice, but I deserve a bigger reward for this, so you're going to have to hold me tighter. We're connected now, so you're going to need to get used to this."

Whatever my Maiden wants. She'll get all the headpats and cake she wants down the line. We all found cover in one of the buildings a couple of blocks down. Everyone was in total awe at the sight of the mighty beast fighting on our behalf. Felecia looked particularly shaken at the turn of events. Not to mention the sad look she gave me as I walked in with Lanca in my arms. We looked like long-time lovers in that moment. Lanca was the only woman in my life. Our resident mages threw up the strongest barriers possible around it. All we could do at this point was sit back and enjoy the show.

"I would never imagine this being possible," Quara remarked as Zadekiel roared and dove at Ifrit, the lightning building around its body as it took a mean swipe at the fire beast, who blocked with its chimney hands. It roared in challenge at its draconic foe, letting forth a spray of weak fire spells at it, but they didn't do much, just splashing off the unyielding scales made of rock. The lightning charged up and Zadekiel materialized a massive bolt of scarlet lightning, swinging it like a blade at its infernal opponent. "There's only a few people in recorded history capable of tonal manipulation on this level. Song magic, one of the oldest kinds in existence. It's said that creation itself was through tonal manipulation."

Felecia winced as Ifrit threw out a pair of fire streams from its chimney arms at Zadekiel, who threw out a huge gout of fire, creating a blazing inferno and a huge cloud of smoke that covered the city in heavy soot. Ifrit threw out a couple more of those molten fireballs at the dragon, who waved two of them away by flapping its wings and catching another in its hand and crushing it like it was nothing. It responded by rushing at the fire demon, charging another electrically fueled punch to sock it in the face, followed by another burst of fire. "How are we supposed to fight something that can conjure up something like that?" I think Felecia realized just how out of her league she really was. She was really scared in that moment, not able to hold a candle to Lanca pulling out her heaviest stuff.

"Oh, trust me, honey, it's better to have this girl on our side than not. Since it seems she's capable of using Marika's tonal magics." She paused as Ifrit dug into the ground, pulling up a massive piece of earth, lighting it on fire and launching it at the dragon. "It's not a kind of magic that can be learned by just anybody. It's a true inherent gift you're either born with or not. It's the same with our own holy magic. I hope you've been working on it, honey. If you said your prayers more, I bet you'd be even stronger than you are now." Felecia looked very dejected at that moment.

But then Quara leaned into her daughter, squeezing her shoulder lightly as she whispered conspiratorially into her pointed little ears. "There's one conciliatory thing to consider. You are a half-elf, which means you have the lifespan to go along with it. You'll outlive any of these girls. All you have to do is be patient and play the long game. Eventually, you'll be the last girl standing. Just give it time, my precious little star." She smiled warmly and kissed Felecia on the forehead. Erik came up to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. I didn't miss the sour look the elder brother threw my way. But then the entire room shook, and we remembered what was happening outside.

As we nervously peeked out the windows, we saw Ifrit and Zadekiel still slugging it out. Ifrit was pulling out some higher-level magic now. Several more tongues of flames, larger than the first time, sprouted to life. The fire beast roared and threw them right at the dragon. The barrage of flames actually did some damage this time, blackening Zadekiel's ivory scales, not that it bothered him any. If anything, it just made him angrier. Red lightning charged up along him as the mighty wyrm roared to the heavens, calling down a huge barrage of lightning bolts onto Ifrit, who groaned as it stumbled into a row of townhouses. Good thing it wasn't anywhere near where we were currently hunkered down.

I looked to Felecia, tears trembling in her eyes, whether it was from the whole thing with Lanca or being caught in the middle of a clash of titans, I didn't know. Phoebe then came over to her, taking hold of Felecia's hands and giving a gentle squeeze before running a hand through those downy locks. "You have such pretty hair, Felecia. Honestly, I can't wait to have some girl time with you later. I want us to be friends, posthaste. If at all possible." That was actually a very sweet thing for her to say, an indication of the kind of woman Phoebe would turn out to be down the line. It certainly did take Felecia by surprise, looking away as she blushed.

"I-I'd like that." She said in a small voice, sniffing. The first bonds were beginning to build even as the monster battle outside continued.

Ifrit and Zadekiel had gotten close to each other, engaging in close combat, each struggling to get dominance over the other. Ifrit kicked at Zadekiel with one of its forelegs, trying to stomp down on the dragon's foot, but the winged beast leapt up, kneeing the fire demon in the face before raking its claws down across its eyes.

Ow. But then, Ifrit pulled a strange move by conjuring up a pair of giant flaming hands. The left one threw a decent hook punch at Zadekiel's jaw, before the right hand flat out smacked the dragon across the face. Talk about Ifrit's Mother Fucking Pimp Hand, heh I'm stealing that one!

My attention was drawn back to the other fight going on down here, and truthfully, I think it was even more imposing than the giant monsters. Kyana flashed Lanca a jealous glare before walking up to them. "Is there room for one more in this growing circle? I'd like more friends that weren't crazy, grabby, or rude." She looked pointedly at Rose and Fianna while they said that. Our other white haired, pink-eyed companion just snorted, clearly not caring less what anyone thought of her.

Fianna just seemed to take that as a challenge. "Oh, please! I'll gladly crash that slumber party if that happens, whether you like it or not, forest girl." She smirked confidently. Yeah, I'd bet good money that little would deter a woman like Fianna when she put her mind to it.

Only for Noa put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Kyana, I'll be sure to keep this one in line." She smiled a strained smile as she gripped the bard tightly in a ninja girl death grip. That one neon green eye glinting threateningly in the dimness. "Otherwise, it will be the bathhouse all over again. You remember what happened in the bathhouse, right, Fianna?"

"I'll be good this time!" Fianna said quickly, her eyes full of dread and fear. Hm, whatever happens in the bathhouse stays in the bathhouse.

El herself had been silent through most of the bantering, I'm not sure she knew what she was getting herself into, but she was taking it in stride. "I wouldn't mind joining you for that myself. I wouldn't mind having a little girl time, myself. My dear brother means well, but he always keeps me so busy. I wish Hubert would understand the importance of relaxation. But he's what you call the motivated type, and he expects the rest of us to be the exact same way." Rose finally had enough, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah sure. We can paint our nails, talk about boys, and share our notes from Sunday School." The sarcasm was thick with this one, and it would only thicken further as time went on. All the other girls looked on with worry at the other grumpy white-haired kitty, unsure if she was going to bring out the claws or not.

Rose checked her own nails before just shrugging. "Eh, why the fuck not? Now that Indigo is feeding the fucking fishes at the bottom of the Vizima River, I need some new friends anyway." Wow, that was not what I expected. She sauntered up to the three of us, and she looked incredibly chill, a true refreshing smile on her face. "And since you helped me murder one of my worst enemies, you can join us too. I'll admit you two are badder bitches than I thought, given that thing you called up earlier. I guess I could call you my friends."

Crym lit up in delight, her eyes filled with stars as she shyly pressed two fingers together. "Really? Are you serious about that? I've never had any other friends besides Lady Lanca. I hope our friendship is a long and prosperous one!" Now Crym was easy to please, but Lanca wasn't so meek, she was establishing her place in the pecking order very quickly. She had regained enough of her strength, so I let her down and she stood up tall, gloam pink eyes to rose pink eyes with Rose. Two ivory clad beauties who wouldn't be submissive to anyone ever again.

"I prefer the term girl boss myself. But yes, Rose. I find the prospect equally respectable. It helps we both hate the same people. So I do think we could find some understanding between us. Nothing brings people together better than revenge. You like revenge, right?" Rose just smirked and nodded. "Good, because there's plenty of people who have wronged us, and they need to pay for their sins." Okay, might need to watch those two going forward.

Rose then got in my face, pointing with a delicate finger an inch from my nose. "Now as for you, dummy. You're relegated to the doghouse. So just make yourself at home and lick your own balls." She smirked and flicked at my nose. "You aren't invited."

I was about to open my mouth in defense when Lanca stopped me, a hand on her chest. "I'll take the blame for it, Rose. It's not his fault. It's part of my responsibility as a Maiden after all. We are responsible even for the mistakes of our contractees."

Crym then timidly stepped forward, delicately playing with her fingers as she flushed in her meekness. "I share part of the blame myself. I was the one who pushed Master Ezra to make the contract in the first place." She bowed low to Felecia. "I'm terribly sorry, Lady Felecia, for being a source of discord in your relationship. I will understand if you hate me for it." Poor Crym, I now understand Lanca's exasperation at times.

Felecia said nothing, just letting out a single breath. "Don't worry about it. You helped us without asking anything in return. I mean you two helped us bring down Zhangpo. I can't imagine anything worse than being stuck with the freak with the food obsession. I'd have escaped the first chance I had myself. If anything, we should be putting the blame on him and the rest of his buddies in the Order for pushing us this far in the first place." In the end, the Golden Order was the true enemy here, everything they touched was spoiled.

Varric grunted, a quizzical expression on his face. "It is strange to think that the Seal Guardian of Fire would even be here at all. Nothing I heard from my informants suggested the Order would be making moves down here." He frowned thoughtfully, looking unsure. "And if he was here, then that definitely means the other guardians are here as well."

"Crym and I will readily confirm that." Lanca spoke up quickly, eyes narrowing grievously. "My father, Lord Commander Saul Lilywhite is leading the lot of them with the remaining four Seal Guardians."

"The Golden Order can rust into nothing as far as I'm concerned!" Zoltan snapped, grip tightening on his grim axe. "They've done nothing but repress those they do not like them for centuries now. If it's not magic users, then it's the elves and other demihuman races. There's always someone they're trying to erase from existence."

"I'll agree with that sentiment!" Brok spat out a very large and disgusting loogie in a corner of the room, eliciting disgust from the more proper members of our party, namely Phoebe, Felecia, El, and Lanca. Not that Brok seemed to care at all. "Those fuckers deserve everythin' that's coming to 'em. Fighting one of those bastards was what my foppy brother would have put it, "cathartic'. More satisfying than fuckin' a whole forest fulla of fae ladies." Trixie then flitted by, glowing with warm pink light. Brok grinned and waggled his eyebrows. "I know for a fact you can bigger than that, buttercup. Give me an evenin' and I'll have you lappinin' like a babblin' brook!"

Trixie tittered, oh she was seriously considering it? "Oh, aren't you just a romantic? Maybe I can pencil you into my schedule. Just maybe! I need someone to tickle this fairy dust out of me after all." Wow, I'm equal parts disgusted and wanting to be a fly on the wall to see that go down…Phoebe was very flustered, and about to protest when the earth shook, as the entire sky turned red from what I could only imagine was a huge lightning bolt. Phoebe screamed, but nothing could be heard as the sound of the thunderclap was so loud it drowned out everything else. She grabbed onto the first thing she could for support. Which just happened to be me. Her face got redder, but I just held her tightly. The sky turned red again and our attention went back to the titanic clash outside.

My vision was nothing but red for a couple of seconds. I saw Rose standing at the window as my vision cleared. She cheered loudly, clearly enjoying the show. "Oh, fucking look at that! Your fucking dragon is kicking that stupid donkey's ass! WOOOT!" She raised a fist in the air, pumping it. "That's it, dragon! Let's fucking GOOOOOOOOOOO!" I had to see this with my own eyes. I started cheering myself, watching as Ifrit used its giant fire hands and broke off a really tall spire and ignited it in flames as they went to town on each other.

Ifrit swung rather clumsily. The broken spire trailing fire as it impacted hard against Zadekiel's scales. The dragon grunted, even if the flames did no damage, the blunt force trauma would still sting quite a bit. The demonic incarnation of fire swung again, now surer of itself, swinging overhead this time to his Zadekiel on the head, and he actually managed to hit his target. Zadekiel crumbled to its knees, roaring loudly, more out of irritation than any real pain. It rolled to the side, leveling a couple city blocks in the process, before conjuring up a massive crimson lightning bolt.

Zadekiel crouched low, waiting for Ifrit's next swing. The fire beast roared, swinging its crude bludgeon, only for Zadekiel to quickly leap out of the way, coming down on nothing. The dragon was quick to act, slicing through the club and getting Ifrit on its shoulder. The demon howled in pain, and Zadekiel tackled him. The two were once again locked a hand-to-hand struggle of strength. The dragon won out, managing to knock Ifrit off balance enough to lift him bodily overhead and chucking him in the opposite direction of where we were hiding, several more city blocks were reduced to rubble, a trail of absolute destruction left in its wake.

The magnificent, gilded wings flapped, and Zadekiel was once again skyborne. It roared and flew higher and higher, the red lightning coalescing around him once more. The dragon promptly turned downward and went into a full-on dive bomb, trailing lightning behind him. Ifrit was just beginning to stagger to its feet when Zadekiel hit it square on. The ground shook harder than ever before and left a massive crater. I wonder if Saladin had the place insured, but I'll wager the answer is no.

Zadekiel watched his quarry carefully. Ifrit was a far hardier foe than he initially thought. The demonic centaur once again got back on all fours. They both glared at each other intently. Ifrit bellowed once more, leaping into the air as the chimneys began blazing, huge gouts of fire and smoke billowing out. Whatever the big guy was about to do, this was a finishing move. It began charging Zadekiel at breakneck speed. But the mighty dragon had its own final attack as well.

It roared, planting its four limbs firmly on the ground. The red lightning sparked brighter and crackled louder than it had ever done before, while flames of a brilliant blue coalesced in Zadekiel's mouth. Massive crimson bolts streaked downward, covering the beast, while the fires got brighter and larger. The lightning bolts all gathered around the flames, and the dragon let it go. The lightning wrapped around the flames as it consumed Ifrit entirely. We quickly closed the shutters to protect our eyes from the brilliant flash of light, otherwise, we would have been blinded. It was only after the light receded, and the triumphant roar of Zadekiel that we dared to look outside.

There was no sign of Ifrit at all. It had been completely incinerated by the mighty dragon's attack. "Damn, what the fuck do you call that move?" Rose looked to Lanca, her head held erect and proud at what the summon had done.

"That was dear Zadekiel's most powerful attack, his Overdrive. Mega Flare!" She grinned widely. "All that remains after it's launched is dust and echoes." Yeah, I think dust and echoes is a pretty good description. What else needs to be said?

Zadekiel, the angelic dragon of freedom, roared in victory, somewhere between the trumpeting of an elephant and the roar of a lion. The song of triumph rang on the air, shaking the world above and below in all its bass. We had won now, but what else awaited us? Would we be as soundly victorious in the next rounds? Only time would tell the tale.