The three of them limped their way through the forest.
They continued to encounter strange and outlandish beasts.
Gigantic praying mantises with equally large human eyeballs and brown gorilla-like fur, flying flame-breathing goats with the horns of a bull, snake-men with six arms and three eyes…
Enemy after enemy, beast after beast they fought and slaughtered. They grew tired quickly, stopping for breaks every thirty minutes or so.
Now they sat around in a circle, poking at a fire pit they put together shortly. Dall moved over and sat on a large rock on the ground and brought his greatsword to his knee. He looked over it and rested his hands against the blade. He sighed.
Avice remained unmoved, only staring at the fire. Despite how close she was, she could feel nothing but the cold, depressing earth beneath her. She pulled at the grass, throwing whatever she grabbed into the flames.
Veral impatiently moved around, pacing and going in circles around the fire.
“Seriously, what’s happening…?” Avice said as she threw a stick in the fire. “What… what are those monsters?”.
“We shouldn’t… bother asking.” Dall sighed.
“And how long have we even been in here?” She asked.
“I don’t want to know,” Dall grumbled as he threw some sticks into the pit. “Everything’s just… so dark.”
After circling around for a few, Veral came to a halt and planted himself against a tree. He glanced to Dall and said, “You said you knew where we should go Dall. How long is that gonna take?”
“It’s been… so long since we came here. I can’t really remember.” Dall said, hitting his head lightly. Veral sighed and punched the tree behind him. Dall and Avice looked at him with wide eyes. “What?”
“The Capital’s probably under siege right now… The entire country could be in turmoil, and we’re sitting here in this fucking Death Hole wasting away doing absolutely nothing.”
“I know…”
“Not to mention that the entire Empire’s lost its greatest general!”
“Veral!” Dall stood.
“Your father is one of the greatest warriors that this Empire’s ever seen. So good that they granted him a Divine Name. And now he’s fucking gone because a shitty brat used the power of ‘words’,” Veral scoffed.
Dall scowled. “How dare you insult my father! Where did you respect and honor go, Veral?!” He yelled. His fists shook violently, a small droplets of blood flowing down his clenched fingers.
“Why should I respect someone who fled and left his people to die?!”
Dall bit his lip and glared at the ground.
“When we get out of here, and if the capital’s still standing, there’s no hiding his betrayal.” Veral sighed and growled. “So both of us are going to be branded failures across the country.”
“’Failure’? What the hell are you talking about?”
“You heard me.” Veral snarled and walked up to Dall. “I’ve failed the Empire. I let those Eldred bastards get the upper hand. I’m an assassin. A Knightblade. I’m supposed to be the dog of the Empire and I couldn’t even do what I was practically born to do. And you guys are part of the reason I failed.” He glared at Avice, who was staring absentmindedly into the fire. “Especially you. I told you that you being here is detrimental.”
She looked at him and frowned, “What the fuck did you say?” She shot up, stomping her foot.
“You heard me. We’re all to blame for this entire mess.” He jabbed his finger to Dall’s chest. “We were supposed to go on a mission to practically stop this invasion from happening. You heard Elran! We had at least a week to get our job done.”
“Yeah, but he also said that like they knew what was happening!” Dall shoved the finger away. “If this is going to be anyone’s fault, it’s going to be mine and mine alone.”
The three of them glared at each other.
Dall sighed and said, “Let’s just go… We’re taking too long here…” He brushed past them to put out the fire. But as he did so, he noticed something shimmer in the distance. He squinted to try to make out whatever he’d seen, and then finally saw what it was. “W-We need to go. Now.” He kicked dirt at the fire and hurriedly pushed the two from behind.
“What’s the rush…?” Avice turned around, her breath stopping shortly.
The transparent wall had edged closer to them, and it was moving ever so slowly. Despite the blackness of the Forest, they could make out what was in front of the wall, as bright, glowing blue orbs came moving forward. “Run… Run…” Dall whispered as the three of them ran forward.
The ground seemingly shook as they fled the area.
As Avice looked behind at the beasts, she felt a sharp pain in her eyes. She grunted and screamed quietly. She put her hands to her eyes, and her contacts were practically on fire. She ripped them off, and threw them on the ground.
But as she did so, she looked at what she’d done and her breath stopped, “Shit!” She tried reaching for them, but Dall kept pulling on her arm. “Let go!” She jabbed at his hands to get away from his grasp. He glared at her, and kept his grasp firm. “I need my contacts! Stop!”
But as she kept yelling him, he stared into her eyes.
“Y-You…” Dall’s breath was taken away and his arms quivered slightly. “Your eyes…”
“Dall! What the fuck are you doing, let’s go!” Veral yelled as he ran ahead of them.
Avice scrambled to the ground to try searching for them. Dall went further ahead slightly, but kept a close distance to her. She panicked, her hands trembling as her eyes darted across the ground. “Come on, come on!” She grumbled to herself.
“Ava!” Dall yelled at her.
She ignored him and kept looking around when she felt the air leave her lungs as she was violently tossed against a tree. She coughed up blood and gazed up to see a towering, White Wolf looming over her. Its saliva dripped down onto her. “H-Holy shit.” The wolf opened its jaw, revealing its chainsaw-like teeth and its deep, never-ending throat.
It dove in to bite her, but she slipped down and crawled under it. She looked over to see Dall coming to her. The wolf attempted to step on her, but she moved swiftly and got away from it. Getting up, she breathed heavily as she looked at the countless monsters slowly approaching them.
Avice ran towards Dall and said, “Let’s… let’s go.” She grumbled.
Dall nodded and started to turn when a booming howl echoed behind them. Dall started to run while Avice stood there, motionless. He glared at her. “Will you stop doing that?! Do you want to die?!” Dall yelled at her. Without waiting for her answer he said, “Nevermind, don’t answer that! Can you just get over here already?!”
But she stood still, tears swirling around her eyes, dripping down her cheeks. “Ifrit?” She said. The moment the words left her mouth she winced in pain and stepped back, blinking away the tears. “W-What was that?” She asked.
She turned to Dall and started to run towards him when a wall of blue flame erupted before her. She dug in her heels and stopped right in front of it. Once the fire died, she tried again, but it rose even higher than before.
Avice clenched her fist and bit her lip. “Dall! Go on ahead!” She shook her head. “I’ll try to get around this!”
“A-Are you sure?!”
“Yes, now get going! Trust me!” She yelled.
She couldn’t tell whether or not he ran away beyond the roaring of the flames, but it didn’t matter. She had to trust him. She laughed to herself quietly.
“Trust… huh…?”
She clenched her fist, resolving herself, and ran alongside the flaming wall. She ran and ran, her breath running short.
“Come on!” She yelled as she dashed horizontally along the wall. She turned to her left, seeing the blue eyes and the white skin of monsters approaching and getting ever closer.
The fire wall didn’t curve. It didn’t move.
“I’m not going to die to some stupid monsters.” She said to herself.
She ran out of breath when she emerged from the trees and found herself in a wide, open space.
The flaming wall disappeared, and she couldn’t take her eyes off everything around her. It was a smaller place than where they had been attacked before, but it was so much more beautiful. The sky above her was cleared and she breathed in a breath of fresh air. Bright and flickering stars dotted the dark sky above her. The grass beneath her was flat and soft, a plethora of flowers sprouting around everywhere. The aroma around her was sweet and nostalgic. A large, stone spire jutted out of the ground in the center of the circled area. As she looked at it, she once again got a splitting headache and started to cry. “Why?!” She cried out.
The smell of the flowers.
The coolness of the air.
The sky and stars twinkling above her.
It all felt familiar to her.
She saw a pearly white castle. She saw children running around happily. She saw an old man looking over her with a bright wide smile. “W-What’s happening?” She sobbed.
“Oh, look. I think this is it.” Elran’s voice touched her ears.
She saw across from her that Elran and his three remaining soldiers emerged from the trees. She quickly wiped away her tears and glared at him. “Is this what you were looking for?” She kept her distance from him as they came closer.
Elran kept his gaze on the stone spire, refusing to look at her. “Fascinating.” He looked around with a child-like sparkle in his eyes. “So many Spirits. Even if I try to limit the View there’s still so much.”
“What’re you talking about?” Avice asked.
And when she did so, the Elran turned his head quickly and looked at her. “You…” He said, his voice quivering. “The Spirits…”
Elran inched closer to her, looking at the space around her excitedly. Avice tried inching backwards, but she finally noticed that there were monsters lined against the circle. She scowled and kept moving away from Elran, who finally rested his eyes on her. He blinked slowly, and stared at her. “Aldrian…” He said quietly. “Aldrian. Aldrian… Aldrian!” He yelled loudly and happily.
“An Aldrian?! Pardon my disrespect, but are you seeing things, Elran?!” James said.
“Look at her! Her eyes!”
Avice panicked tried covering them. Even in this world?! Can’t they just stop making fun of them?!
“Sir! I-I understand but look!” Solace called out.
She removed her hands and looked at them. They were staring at the spire that now glowed a fiery red. “B-But! An Aldrian! Solace, an Aldrian!”
“Stop calling me that! What are you talking about?!”
Elran glanced at her with glee. “You… our armies could use you…” She trembled at his poisonous voice. “Ivan! James! Get over there and hold her down! Don’t you dare have your way with her either!” The two of them nodded and moved closer to her. “Accomplishing my father’s mission while giving him a gift this world hasn’t seen in centuries!” Elran laughed. “From worst to the best! Father will surely be pleased with me this time!” He approached the spire with a smile on his face. He lifted his hands and looked at them one by one slowly, then turned his eyes upward. He put his hands on the spire.
And when he did, a blindingly white flash exploded.
“Veral she’s an Aldrian.” Dall said, holding his head.
“What are you talking about?” Veral said.
“Ava. I saw her eyes. They were purple.”
The two of them walked side by side briskly. Dall had managed to find Veral, and now they were walking back to where he lost Avice. Veral rolled his eyes. “Are you sure? I got straight up in her face. Seemed pretty damn brown to me.”
“No, no, there was something. I saw her throw something away from her eyes.”
“‘Something’... you say.” Veral scoffed.
“Yes. I guess that’s how she got away with it.” Dall said. “They were physical, whatever they were. If it was magic, Elran could’ve sensed it.”
“What the hell could hide your eyeballs like that?” Veral asked.
“I don’t know…” Dall sighed. “It’s just… I’ve never seen something as violet as her eyes.”
“It doesn’t matter anyways. A fairy tale’s a fairy tale. Let’s just find her and get out already.”
The two walked in silence. “Hey, about that thing from earlier…” Dall shifted uncomfortably.
“What thing?”
“About my father.”
“What about him?”
“I want you to apologize.” Dall said.
“Not gonna happen.” Veral answered unceremoniously.
Dall stared holes into his back. “Why?”
Veral turned around. “I’ve already said. I won’t put my respect into a man who runs away from his people.” He approached Dall. “I’ve known you long enough to believe that you’d be a just man. A man that people can trust and be loyal to. But I thought the same of Lupin.” Veral said.
Dall winced. “Is your sense of loyalty so flimsy?” he asked.
“It is.” Veral nodded, leaving Dall stunned. “Loyalty is trust, got it? Without it… everything’ll crash and burn.”
“You would deny someone if they make even one mistake?”
“As long as they aren’t my master, then yes.” He said confidently. “One mistake’s everything, Dall.”
“But everyone is redeemable, Veral....” Dall and Veral stared at each other intensely. “Everyo-”
“‘Everyone but the Eldreds’, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Veral scoffed and continued moving. Dall tried catching up to him when the both of them slowed down, halting to a stop. They looked around warily, Veral turning around, eyes dashing left to right. Suddenly a bright flash of light erupted in the distance. “What the hell is that?” Dall said as he shielded his eyes from the brightness.
“Let’s follow after it.” Veral said, grabbing his knives.
“A-Are you sure?” Dall asked.
“Better than standing here doing nothing.” Veral glared at him. “And besides. Look.” He indicated behind Dall. Dall turned to see a similar wave of monsters and beasts approaching from behind. “Whatever that light was is probably the center. All these monsters are circling us in, for some reason.” Dall nodded. “And for the literal day I’ve known Ava, I can tell trouble seems to follow her, so she might be there already. So let’s get going.”
They ran off towards the light, and when they finally came upon the scene, everything was on fire.
