Shadowbane

... God damnit, Blackwall.

Leaning down I clean the pin that's stuck on what little is left of his armor. After the dried blood is removed, I see the very same pin Godwin had. The one designating him as a leader of the Guardians.

Shana sits down next to the body parts and begins removing the armor from them. "This is going to crush Aresa. She may be considered old at this point, but I'm sure you've noticed how little life experience she has?"

"Yeah, she's kind of... Naive? Randomly she'll sound very adult, but for the most part, she still seems like a kid."

Shana nodded, "Because she is. Most of her life was spent in that chateau with no friends or parental figures. The only thing she had were worshipers begging her to take back Viseux. I only reached out to her after I heard Cera was attempting to befriend her. I was afraid she'd try and corrupt her, but..." Shana sighed, "She hasn't done anything like that. That cunt has been nothing but nice to Aresa... It's strange."

While I watch Shana clean the remnants of Blackwall's armor, I think back to the last time I met the man.

"Complications was the word he used at dinner... Right?"

Shana nodded.

"The only thing that comes to mind, is the fact that all the Guardians disappeared. So he must have been looking for them?"

Ishar and Alicia, who have been silently guarding the entrance to the temple, both affirm my theory at the same time.

Ishar continues from there, "Then the real question is, why only Guardians?"

True... That's exactly what is nagging at me.

Alicia hummed, "When I was being taught how Demons operated, I was told over and over that they're 'very clever'. Doesn't that mean the Demon was smart enough to take them out before they became a problem?"

Ishar shook his head, "It didn't just 'take them out', the damned thing lured them here somehow. And yet, it didn't do that with anyone else."

"Assuming it really did lure them here."

"Meaning?" Ishar asked.

"I'm caught on something else that looks unrelated, but I feel like it's connected... Tyrell's orders to capture me."

"... Hmm." Ishar rubbed his chin, "I see where you're going with this. You think they were ordered to check this temple out?"

Shana stood up, handing Blackwall's torso armor to me. She then bends down and picks up the rest.

"What about Blackwall?" Shana asked.

"... I don't know. Maybe the Demon grabbed him while he was tracking his men down? This is the closest temple to the one underneath Euphemia's village, but it is kind of far away. Still though, the trail would be rather fresh compared to when we were searching for them."

"Unless he was also given orders." Ishar followed up.

Shana shook her head, "No. Blackwall would have confided in us if that happened. It would've been suspicious for only him to get orders and not the others. But if he was tracking his men... I think he would have done it alone. We all had a job to do, and Blackwall is... Was, too nice for his own good. He wouldn't want to bother us till he found something."

"Let's leave it there for now. Looks like you two are ready, so let's head back to the manor and ask the others." Ishar said as he walked out the door.

The three of us followed him out of the temple.

"... Before I comment, may I ask what answer the three of you reached?" Seifer asked.

After returning to the manor, we all gathered together in Euphemia's war room to discuss what we found.

I'm sure it was just a bored princess naming her safe room something powerful sounding, but we have used it quite often for horrible discussions like these. I bet she never expected this to actually happen when she named it that.

"The prince's attitude during the meeting we had before is bothering me, but all I have is my instincts to go on... I have nothing concrete to offer you."

Seifer looks at Euphemia, "Princess...?"

For her part, Euphemia looks like she's fed up with everything. She looks at Seifer and sighs, "Reimia has a point..." Euphemia goes quiet for a moment, clearly lost in her own thoughts, then continues, "I wonder when it started? My brother was such a sweet kid who, I dare say, was rather weak. Father never expected him to properly hold the reigns, and that's precisely why he was considering passing the crown to Seifer."

Seifer blanches, "A-Are you serious, princess?!"

"Why wouldn't I be? You've always done great work and everyone can see that you love our nation. Father was more than happy with the prospect of leaving it in your hands. Both I and Parn agreed as well. Until..." Euphemia trailed off, eyes glazing over.

"Until...?" Alicia urged her on.

"... I'm not sure. It felt like a gradual change? Maybe that really is normal for young princes, but it felt like nobody expected him to turn into the man he did... Right, Seifer?" Euphemia said, looking at Seifer.

Seifer nodded, "Indeed. Before this very moment, I would have never imagined talking behind the prince's back, but I must admit, I had no expectations for the young man. I must also say though, I was not looking down on him, not even a little. Every person is different and has their own set of needs and desires. I figured the prince would just end up in a different role serving the kingdom. He seemed to love books, so the head of scholars or even just an advisor would've been a perfect fit for him."

Euphemia smiled and chuckled, "True... He was a little bookworm who loved to learn and read fantasy stories in his free time." Euphemia's smile faded, "... It has to be him. It pains me to say it, but I can feel it in my bones, there is something wrong with my brother."

{What are you going to do then?} Aresa whispered into everyone's ear.

Everyone but me looked at Aresa with a stunned look on their face.

"L-Lady Aresa, how did you...?" Seifer asked.

{ANSWER THE QUESTION!}

... I've seen her annoyed before, but this is my first time seeing her pissed off.

Aresa has yet to look up during the meeting. She's just been staring at Blackwall's mostly cleaned-up armor on her lap.

Seifer was clearly unsure of how to answer her, but Euphemia just looked at her expressionlessly, "I don't know. We would need to find proof that he somehow used Father's communication crystal and gave orders to the Guardians. I know we have someone here who could search his quarters for us, but would he be stupid enough to keep something incriminating in his private space? Assuming there is any evidence left to find..."

No evidence... An ability? Magic? There would definitely be no way to trace that. At the very least I have no way of tracing that through Tyrell's or the King's communication crystal.

Aresa stares at me, unmoving.

... She either wants me to do what Euphemia just suggested, or she wants me to kill him. This is Aresa we're talking about, so it should be the first option, but considering how upset she is right now...

Tyra breaks the silence, "I know we no longer need to warp Euphemia to Viseux so she can acquire your templar 'artifact', but I must request that you continue with your plans to take her away from here."

Euphemia's expression finally changes from one of pure exhaustion to pure shock, "Tyra?! You would have me flee?! The broodling is gone, I no longer have a reason to run from my own home!!"

Ahh, so she really was considering running away. Not that the broodling would have let her leave.

Tyra kneels before Euphemia, "Please, Euphie... Even if it's only for a little while. Please leave Kellog, I beg you. Look at how much has happened to us in such a short amount of time! I love my home, I truly do... But, I think it's for the best that you step away for a bit. A nice vacation while staying at Lady Aresa's chateau, how does that sound? That way your safety is guaranteed while we figure out how to move forward from here." Tyra looks at Aresa, "Is that acceptable, Lady Aresa?"

Aresa peels her stare away from me and holds her board up at Tyra. {Of course. I was planning on leaving tomorrow as well. We haven't been here very long, but at the same time we've also been here far too long...}

True. It's probably only been a few weeks and yet it feels like we've been here for half a year. I already acquired the strength I wanted, and quite frankly, I'm fed up with this place.

Teifa raised her hand, "Um... What about those souls in the corner there?" She points to the corner where I dropped all the souls from the Demon hunt.

Alicia sighed, "The plan was for me to warp back with them and bring them to Arkaios' temple, but I can't grab them and Rei is unable to place them in any bag we hand her." Alicia looked at me, "Didn't you say those Satyrs were placing souls in a fleshy bag or something? Did you ever discover what that bag was or how they did that?"

"I'm surprised you remembered that little detail from my past. Also no, I never did discover what that bag was. In fact, that was the only time I ever saw them with a bag made of flesh. I assume they were collecting souls for Viktor, but I kind of forgot about it until I was telling you guys my past."

Keith steps forward, "How about Nisha goes with you, Alicia? Her soul is unique, she can make herself as weak as a normal person. It won't be taxing to warp her and she'll have access to the temple. Nobody in Viseux has access to the temple besides those who have sworn their loyalty to Arkaios. She can grab the artifact and then you bring her back here, where we'll put all of the souls inside the artifact. Then you can finally take them back to the temple."

Alicia looks at Keith, "Wait, why didn't we do this before then instead of asking Euphemia to go?"

"I didn't want to send her there alone... Viseux is being tolerant with the Guardians, but branded members like us may end up under house arrest as well. Which means they'd make sure we can't leave the temple. Nisha won't have the strength to force her way through them if they grab her, but now it doesn't matter since we're all returning to Viseux anyway." Keith said.

"Hang on, I wanted to ask you something, Keith. Why did you volunteer to protect the princess instead of getting revenge on the grinning Demon? You sacrificed an entire fucking village for a chance to kill the thing. I know that's only half the reason you did it, but it's still part of it."

Keith rubbed the back of his head, "Ahh, that's simple. Remember when I told you about Arkaios keeping us in his realm for a year while forcing us to go through training? He made it clear that I was to drop my drive for revenge and treat all Demons with that level of vitriol. I had the perfect excuse here to get my revenge, but when Euphemia asked for people to guard her, I decided then and there to try and follow my Lord's wishes. It hurt to let someone else kill the Demon, but I felt something else as well. Something I can't quite explain yet..."

"Excuse me, um..." Teifa cut in, "What's the point of that when I can just send them to the afterlife right here and now?"

"I want to see if my sister's soul is there. Arkaios may allow her to stay in his realm, and it would make me feel much better if I had absolute proof she was able to move on or live on in Arkaios realm for all eternity." Keith said.

All eternity huh? I wonder what they actually do there? Arkaios seems like a good god so far, but who knows what he considers a 'happy afterlife'.

"I need to ask one more question, I'm sorry! It's very important." Teifa gripped her staff hard, "What is to happen of the 'Xerath' coming up from down below?"

Seifer looked at Teifa, "I'm sorry Teifa, all I can do is ask your people to wait for a little bit longer. Right now the king is attempting to negotiate with the fishmen Eldritch, but it's not going well. The Xerath are slowly worming their way into different areas underground, killing lots of fishmen as they go. Normally the Eldritch would've been more than happy to accept any assistance in killing them, but it hates the Goblins quite a bit as well. Because of this, the negotiations are going to take a while. The king says that the Eldritch is bound to cave eventually. It can't just sit there and do nothing as these powerful creatures slowly take the underground from it."

"But the broodling is dead, right? Is this a different Xerath then?" Euphemia asked.

Ishar nodded, "Yes. For there to be different types of spawn appearing, that means it has long since passed the broodling stage and is a full-fledged god. It must have been born far away from here, but from my understanding, there shouldn't be anything south of this nation?"

"There are settlements here and there, but you are correct that there are no nations south of us anymore. Xelba is gone, your Crotia nation was completely evicted, and both the Kitsune and Rai'ga were forced to flee to the north. There have been attempts to repopulate the south, but they've all ended horribly. At most, small settlements in resource-rich areas are all you'll find down there. Do you think one of them was fed to the broodling?" Seifer said.

"... Could be, but it doesn't need our souls. Monster, Demon, Eldritch... All of these souls will work just fine as sustenance for the creature. But those things are generally absent when a broodling appears in a humanoid nation, so it defaults to us for food. It's clear that they prefer us though. Keeping worshipers alive while slowly feeding off their souls is vastly better for the creatures." Ishar said.

"But the Xerath is turning my people and the fishmen into weird skeletons? Do those count as worshipers?" Teifa said.

Ishar sighed, "I am having trouble understanding that as well... Normally that would mean the Xerath already has a lot of worshipers and is only interested in consuming everything else, but Seifer here is telling us that there are no large nations to the south, so I'm really not sure how to answer that, little Goblin."

"Did you get anything from that journal, Rei?" Tyra asked.

"Yes, and no. First off, it's in code. Each unit had their own code so you'll need someone who can decipher codes like this to look into it."

Euphemia looks at her new maid, Yuki, who panics a little when she realizes what the princess wants. "Um, my brother Levy might be able to help with that!"

"Being a history buff and deciphering code is far from the same thing. Are you sure?"

Yuki nods.

"... Alright then, I'll give it to him after this." I continued, "Now for the second part of his journal. There's a chaos ritual diagram, I assume to summon the Demon, and a map. It shows Kellog with a bunch of red circles where the temples are, and another red circle far to the south."

"How south are we talking here? Xelba was at the base of the mountains far to the southeast. It's the most southern nation that ever existed on Urza, so is it near there?" Seifer asked.

"Farther. It shows the mountains and then a red circle past them in the dark lands of Urza. I'll admit, I don't know much about that area despite it being just south of the place I grew up in. Why would I? It's a hellish winter landscape with minimal light, just like the dark lands on Aetheria. I could survive there if there were monsters to eat, but my unit would have died easily."

"You're half right, Rei. Most of the dark lands on Aetheria are quite warm, but they're still a bleak nightmare everybody avoids." Alicia said.

Oh? I didn't expect that, but hopefully I'll never have to find out in person. Then again, didn't Ash's diary say they took a broodling there?

.............

... Yeah, I hope someone else takes care of that.

"That could mean one of two things. Either he was planning on attacking something there as well, or that's where he hails from. But how could either scenario even be possible...?" Seifer trailed off.

"Ishar, what are the dark lands like on your planet? Or do the Crotia live on a moon? I don't even know where you were exiled to."

"A shockingly beautiful moon. If anything, the people of Urza did us a favor. Some of my people are still warmongers at heart though, so they sent out raiding parties to other moons and planets periodically. During one of those trips, they made the grave mistake of assaulting Lord Terra'ka's forces. The Lizardmen subdued the group and then forced them to lead the way to our homeworld. And thank god for that... The bloodthirsty faction broke off and fled to who the fuck cares where, and now the rest of us spend our days willingly serving Terra'ka."

Ishar continued, "Oh right, you asked about the dark lands on the underside of our homeworld. They're much like any other. Eighty percent dark and filled with way too much ether. As a result, only the most powerful of Eldritch and monsters live there. We built a massive sensory system that wraps around the border of the entire dark lands so we have ample warning for when anything with ether crosses the border."

Tyra whistled, "I admit, I'm impressed. I can't even begin to imagine how big of an undertaking that would be. As for your 'bloodthirsty faction', it's a real shame they didn't return here for revenge..."

Ishar grinned at Tyra, "A shame indeed. My people would have welcomed the news that they had all died on Urza in a foolish attempt to reclaim their land."

"Who's to say they didn't come back?"

Ishar looked at me, "... It couldn't be. I think I know where you're going with this, but even they could not have survived in the dark lands alone. There wasn't that many of them... Maybe a thousand at most?"

Realization dawned on Seifer's face as he watched Ishar speak, "I really hope they're not the ones hiding out down there."

"Assuming there really is someone down there..." I sighed, "Okay, we've talked enough. What's the plan?"

"Alicia takes care of the souls with Nisha, and when she's done she'll bring the princess with her. Meanwhile, the rest of us aside from Rei will go to Viseux by wagon." Ishar continued while looking at me, "Take care of Parn in any way you see fit."

Seifer jumps out of his chair, "Wait!! Shouldn't you at least look for some kind of evidence first?!"

Euphemia looks down and closes her eyes, "... I heard nothing. Do what you must."

Seifer stares at Euphemia, aghast. "Princess..."

"Do you know what they're saying about me in our village, Seifer?" Euphemia asked.

"Huh? You're loved in this nation. What could they possibly be saying that would influence your decision in this matter?"

Euphemia sighed, "My lovely new maid and some of our friends here have told me more than enough. Think about it, Seifer. How many maids and butlers were employed here? And how many are still alive?"

"... Surely they are not blaming you for that? I sent out an emergency newsletter and I was one hundred percent honest in it. I told the people exactly what happened and who was to blame." Seifer said.

"Vampire... They're calling me a vampire. Apparently, I sucked out all their blood so I could remain empress in this insular nation."

"WHAT?!"

"It's true, Seifer... We could hear the townspeople speaking badly about her and the nation when we were outside looking for the Guardians. Vampires are a work of fiction from stories found in the Elven ruins, but I... I think these people believe she really is one?" Alicia said.

"... But how could..." Seifer sat down, resting his head in his hands.

Honestly, I was surprised at what we were hearing as well. I didn't know someone could go from loved to hated that fast. Hell, they're hating their own nation too... With that said, A lot of horrible things did happen, so it's not like there isn't a good reason for them to lose trust in the leaders here. And from what Shana told me, Euphemia purposely hired maids and butlers from every village, so as a result, people who lost family to the broodling are in every village. That act of kindly outreach of hers backfired rather spectacularly, but it's not her fault for not preparing for a monster to show up and eat them all.

"... I assume there are no other objections?" Ishar asked.

Nobody said anything. A few moments later Ishar clapped his hands and said "Let's get going then. I want to get the hell away from this place as soon as I can."

Everyone began to prepare for the journey ahead, but Aresa walked up to me while holding Blackwall's armor.

{You gonna be okay alone?}

I put my hand on her hair. "Even when I was in a unit with my friends in Xelba, I was still alone most of the time. That's just how it works out thanks to my skillset."

{I didn't ask that.}

"... I'll be fine. We'll see each other again soon, alright? I promise cutie." I smiled, shuffling her hair around.

{... I'm not cute.}

Aresa ran back to her chair and put Blackwall's armor down, replacing it with her board. She came back and held it up to me.

{I'm leaving this drawn on here till I see you again.}

On the board there is a cute drawing of a girl who looks like she is hugging another girl who looks like me.

"Ugh, I'm getting embarrassed just looking at that..."

Shana, who appeared behind me at some point, puts her hand on my shoulder, "It looks great."

Cera walks up to us, "Aresa, are you going to continue using magic to communicate then? It was already surprising enough when I saw you using magic to write on your board instead of chalk, but now you're going to avoid using your board entirely?"

Aresa nodded. {I don't know why, but after the ride to Thule that I spent talking to Rei, writing on my board began to seem really stupid. I was worried it'd alienate people even more if letters magically appeared on my board, but I shouldn't have been worrying about that. I'm going to try the same with 'speaking' too. It feels weird, and tiring, but I'm going to try all the same.}

I forgot that she used to write on her board... I only saw her do it a few times after all.

Aresa hugs me and looks up while smiling. {Just like the board, see?}

Shana hugs the both of us from behind, prompting Ishar to walk this way. "A group hug huh?! Families in my tribe do this all the time before one of us is going to leave on an extended trip. Like this!"

Ishar picks all of us up and crushes us against him.

{Urgh, too strong, Ishar!}

"That's the point! Now you'll have no choice but to remember this!" Ishar laughs and lets us down.

... Moments like this are rather nice. It's bringing back good memories from my unit.

"Alright, alright. Let's go you three. We've got a long way to go, and Rei has work to do." Cera said with a smile, surprisingly.

Take care of him... Huh? I need to figure out how I'm going to do that. He lives in the main fort area apparently, and there are only a few passages that come in from the side door. None of them come out to anywhere near his room. And worst of all is that his room is in the most heavily guarded area.

Everyone but Nisha and Alicia files out of the room.

Aresa turns around at the door. {See you soon, Rei!}

"I'll be right behind you guys, don't worry. If I run the whole way I'll catch up to your wagon in no time."

Aresa smiles and nods before turning around and leaving.

I walk up to Alicia who is currently explaining to Nisha how her warp works.

"I thought you were taking the princess with you?"

Alicia shakes her head, "Nope, that's later on. Nisha already powered herself down so we're going to leave soon, and after that it'll take about half a day for the dagger to recharge? Maybe way less actually, since Aresa's chateau is overflowing with ether. I can't recharge it myself. It has to be the ambient ether in the air."

Sounds like that was the perfect place for her to create a warp point then. It's a good thing Aresa let her do that...

Nisha glances at me, "How are you gonna get to him?"

"Hmm... I'm not quite sure yet. I want to search his quarters first, which is making this much more difficult than it needs to be. But I'd still like to find proof if I can."

"Alright, let's get this over with. We'll be back later, Rei!" Alicia said.

A few seconds later the two of them blinked out of existence.

I walk over to a couch and sit down. Closing my eyes, I enter my soul realm and change my view to the inside of the fortress. I move the view around while looking for a way to safely sneak through the area.

"Rei?" A voice calls out to me.

Looking at the TV, I see the princess and Yuki standing over me. I exit my soul realm and look up at her.

"What's wrong?"

"We're leaving once Alicia's dagger recharges. She's already finished all her trips with Nisha, so now it's our turn. You're going to be alone here... Are you going to be okay? I'll leave the master key on the table there."

I laughed, "You're just like Aresa. Don't worry, I'll be fine. If anything, you're the one who is going to need people around you. You lost almost everything in the span of only a few weeks... Which is something I'm all too familiar with. In my case, they literally died, but I know it's gonna be hard for you all the same. Aresa will help you get through it. That girl cares about the people around her far more than most people on Urza do."

Euphemia smiled, "She does... Doesn't she?" Euphemia continued, "And I know you're right... Especially you of all people. I'd be stupid to not listen to you right now."

I went to reply to her, but a low rumbling from above caught my attention. Moments later I could see both Euphemia and Alicia noticed it as well.

"What is that?" Alicia asked.

The low rumble continued to ramp up to the point I could feel the manor begin to shake.

"Alicia! How long until you can warp the three of you out of here?!"

Alicia grabbed the princess and threw her onto a nearby chair, "I think about ten minutes?! Maybe five! What the hell is happening?!"

"Stay here!" I got off the couch and ran out of the room.

I ran down the long hallway until I reached the main hall, where I quickly pivoted towards the main doors. Upon reaching them I stopped and slowly opened one of the doors, peeking outside.

... Once those three are gone I need to leave as well. The plan to kill or investigate the prince is off. There's no point now.

The pitch-black sky was lighting up just enough for me to see a large twister forming below it, but instead of forming into a bigger twister, it was turning into an obelisk of some sort. Activating my aura, I exit the manor and walk into the lot. From here I can see fifty or so people from the village gathered in the square nearby. They're all looking up at the obelisk with expressions taut with fear.

After the strange monument finished forming, it floated high in the sky for another ten seconds before it suddenly plunged down onto the fields nearby. Off in the distance I could hear the same crashing sound echo out, one after another.

Shit... There must be one appearing near every village. Hurry up Alicia!

Reddish-black lightning shoots out of the obelisk toward the plaza. I thought I'd see one of the villagers being blasted by lightning, but instead I saw one of the skeletons I fought underground appear next to the villager. The skeleton took its greatsword and lopped the woman's head off before any of the villagers could react. Seeing this, the villagers flew into a panic, with some of them attacking the skeleton while others fled to their homes. As this was going on, more reddish-black lightning began discharging from the obelisk, firing off toward different parts of the village.

I was about to head back into the manor when a sickly feeling came over me again. The same pulse I got hit with underground had just washed over me, and barely a second later several different lighting bolts were fired in my direction, leaving three skeletons around me in their wake.

... It didn't fire any into the manor, nor did I see any go into any homes in the village. So if I can get away from here, Alicia's group should have plenty of time to warp away before they find them.

I remove my invisibility since it's serving no purpose with this sickly aura encompassing my veil that's letting these creatures know exactly where I am. I enter a combat-ready stance as the sound of combat and screams mingle together from the direction of the village.

From different places in the distance I can see multiple bolts of reddish-black lightning firing off toward the ground.

... Alright. Kill these three, and then run in the direction I'm not seeing any lightning bolts...

Somehow I doubt it'll be that easy. I don't know what the range is on these obelisk's, but just like before, once I'm able to escape the aura's radius I should be able to get away from these creatures and catch up to Aresa's wagon... Here's hoping they aren't also under assault right now.